On March 11 an American geodesic group made an announcement that sent an electric shock through the world: a massive shift in the crust of the earth was taking place on the continental shelf of East Asia, with the Japan Archipelago at its center. This came three days before the government’s intended announcement.
The American statement came at two in the afternoon, Eastern Standard Time. It took the form of an urgent exchange between Dr. Eugene Cox, chairman of the geodesic group, and the director of a satellite research group. The expressions used in the conversation were extremely reserved, but the burden of it was that the information gathered in the previous months by satellites and survey ships pointed toward an immense change, an alteration of the crust of the earth on a scale altogether unprecedented. And it would come, at the latest, within a year. When one of the reporters asked if the area described did not in fact take in the whole of Japan, Dr. Cox’s response was unequivocal: the Japan Archipelago would be at the focal point of the change.
Pressed for detailed information, the chairman avoided a direct answer, but said: “Well, it’s the kind of thing that makes you think of the Atlantis legend.” This was enough to galvanize the reporters. Three hours after the American announcement, the AFP in Paris, citing an “unimpeachable source,” sent out the sensational headline: “Day of Japan’s Destruction Approaching.”
An hour and a quarter before the Diet session was to open, almost all its members had already taken their places. At precisely one o’clock the presiding officer declared the session open, and the Prime Minister immediately stepped up to the podium, a grave expression on his face. Strobe lights flashed, and the television cameras zoomed in on him. He picked up his speech, coughed faintly, and, in a somewhat subdued voice, began to read it.
“Ladies and gentlemen of the Diet, as the one holding the foremost responsibility in this nation, it is my duty to inform you that Japan is now confronting an unprecedented peril, something that could well be termed national disaster.”
Just as the Prime Minister was beginning his talk, Onodera, wearing a topcoat and carrying a suitcase, appeared in the door of the D-l room at Plan D headquarters. Though it was time for the afternoon’s work to be under way, most of the men were crowded into the conference room to listen to the Prime Minister on television. The office next to the Display Room stood nearly empty. In a corner of it Yukinaga and Nakata, listening to the speech on a portable radio, were smoking with weary expressions on their faces.
Seeing Onodera, Yukinaga raised his hand. “You’re going today?”
“Yes. A three-thirty flight out of Narita.” Onodera smiled faintly, but his expression was melancholy, and he seemed ill at ease. His work was finished. He had faithfully discharged his duties, and yet . . .
“It’s good you are. After this speech, tickets and foreign currency alike will be hard to come by.”
“He’s begun to tell them.” Onodera indicated the radio with a nod.
“As some of you may have heard on the news broadcast from abroad this morning,” came the Prime Minister’s voice, “in the near future a vast change in the crust of the earth will occur, with the Japan Archipelago at its center. Japanese scientists and research organizations set up by the government have informed me of the certainty that this will deal an annihilating blow to our homeland. ...”
“I suppose that this is the first time the Prime Minister of Japan has ever been on radio and TV all over the world,” said Nakata quietly. He laughed faintly.
“... The various aspects of this change and the time of its occurrence became evident only recently. According to the forecast of our research groups, this change will occur within one year. And it will not only cause immense destruction in every part of the country through earthquakes, but the fact is that Japan in practically its entirety will sink into the ocean. ...”
A phone rang. Nakata picked it up and hung up after a brief exchange.
“Mount Fuji is showing more and more acute signs of erupting. Smoke is pouring up from two or three spots in the Hoei crater. In Hakone there have been smoke and minor explosions in Kamiyama and Owaku Valley.”
“Mount Fuji?” Onodera muttered. An ill-omened shadow seemed to pass over him.
“Evacuation began in that area yesterday. The earth’s been rising at the rate of nearly an inch a day in Tonozawa and two a day to the north of Mount Ashitaka.”
“Well, goodbye, gentlemen,” said Onodera. “I hope we meet again somewhere in the world.”
At that moment the glasses and ink bottles on the desks in the room began to rattle. A pencil rolled off and fell to the floor, and there was a light crack as the lead inside snapped.
“It’s started,” whispered Nakata, turning to the window behind him.
“It looks like it.” Yukinaga got up and stood beside him.
The window did not have a direct view of Mount Fuji, but a huge gray mushroom-shaped cloud was rapidly rising and spreading over the clear, pale blue March sky. Shock waves rattled the glass.
“This is going to be big,” said Nakata.
“Should we go up to the roof to see?”
The phone rang again. Yukinaga took it this time. His voice grew loud. The connection was apparently a bad one. Then, as though suddenly realizing who the party was, his expression changed and he held the phone out to Onodera.
“It’s for you. . . . It’s a woman.”
Onodera lunged for the phone.
“Hello, hello ...” Loud static crackled in his ear. Someone was shouting at the other end. “Hello, hello ...” The distant voice was Reiko’s.
“Where are you?” Onodera shouted into the phone, covering one ear with his hand.
“I’m at a place ... off the Manazuru Road. . . . Traffic is blocked.”
“The Manazuru Road?” Onodera’s voice grew louder in his excitement. “What are you doing there? We’ve got to be at Narita by three-thirty.”
“Yesterday ... it came up suddenly ... to Izu ...” The static, together with shouting in the background, grew so loud that he could make out little of what Reiko was saying. “. . . by train, but . . . early this morning ... I started to drive, but ...”
“Hello, hello . . .” Sweat began to roll down Onodera’s body. “I can’t hear you!”
“I got as far as here . . . eruption, stones . . . the road was blocked. ...”
There was a booming noise in the background, and then the sound of hard objects striking, like heavy hail on a roof. He heard the drawn-out screams of women and the cries of children. He heard the crackling sound of wood shredding and of breaking glass.
“Hot ashes are falling. Everything is white outside. Hot stones are flying through the air....” Suddenly he heard Reiko clearly. “Toshio—we were going to go together. You go ahead to Switzerland. Go ahead! I’ll meet you, whatever happens.”
“Reiko, no . . .” said Onodera, shouting into the phone as he gripped it tightly with his sweaty hand. “Don’t talk like a fool.”
A thunderous roar sounded in his ear. There were screams, the sound of the earth groaning, of something falling. Reiko’s voice had risen to a desperate pitch, but he was able to catch only a single word.
“. . . Geneva . . .”
There was a terrible crash, and the connection was cut. Nothing sounded in his ear but a faint hum.
Onodera stood stunned. The blood seemed to be draining out of his body. Covered with sweat, he turned to the window, and as he stared out, his eyes wide and frantic, he felt tears wetting his face.
“What’s the matter?” asked Nakata. “Onodera, where are you going?”
Onodera’s tall figure, however, had already disappeared through the door.
“... Such being the circumstances, then, I would call upon the entire nation to remain calm.,, The Prime Minister’s voice was still coming from the radio. Now he was addressing the people of Japan directly. “I ask your cooperation in the maintenance of order. Whatever course events take, this administration, this legislative body will give itself wholly to the task of saving the life of every Japanese in the face of the coming destruction. ...”
Some minutes after the eruption began, the first sound wave struck, having covered some fifty miles. It was like a thunderclap, shaking the whole sky. Once more the room vibrated with shock. Yukinaga, still in the doorway, instinctively glanced out the window. A pall of smoke already lay over the western horizon.