Far Horizons: Tales of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror. Issue #11 February 2015 | Page 46

had been very proud of him. Although they had assumed he would follow his father into his profession
of fisherman, serving the Emperor and country in the
Army was certainly an honourable option. It helped
that his parents had been rather prolific, producing
8 children. Hiroshi’s brother Toshi was only a year
younger and was already working on the family fishing
boat. He would follow in his father’s soggy footsteps.
Hiroshi had gone to the massive training complex
in Yokohama and learned how to use a gun, dig a
proper trench, wear a vacuum suit, and perform the
thousand-and-one other tasks needed to be a proper
soldier. He found the training to be relatively easy,
accustomed as he was to physical labour.

“Japan declares war on Imperial Russia; Russian Pacific
Fleet sunk; Japanese spaceships rout Russian Lunar Task
Force; Washington, London condemn”
- Heading of the
New York Times, 8 February 1904.

The Lunar caverns echoed with screams and gunshots.
Private Hiroshi Yoshinko crouched behind the body
of a creature the men had dubbed a ‘Moon cow’ and
winced at each sharp sound. He pressed against the
chitinous flank of the 3-meter-long caterpillar, hoping
that it would protect him.
As he did so, he reflected on the series of events that
had led to him being here. His reverie kept his mind
off the more pressing concerns, namely, being killed
by a Russian bullet or the razor sharp tip of a Lunarite
spear.
When he had joined the Imperial Army, his parents

PAGE 46

He was assigned to the 4th Division, just in time to
participate in one of the many short wars with China
that had been fought during the last decade. His first
taste of combat was against men who still used spears
and 100-year-old guns. The Chinese never stood a
chance against the modern armies of Japan. Although
dangerous, it still felt like a grand adventure to Hiroshi.
Nothing, not his upbringing, his training nor his experience in fighting on Earth, however, had prepared him
for warfare off-world.
A grenade, he thought. They’re still fighting. And here I
am, hiding. Get up, you coward, get up!
Hiroshi didn’t move. He sank below the bulk of the
Moon cow. He tried to justify his immobility, telling
himself that he was going to be able to block any advance by the Russians down the cavern. He knew it was
a lie, even as he told himself; but, it worked, quieting
the hec-toring voice in his head for the moment.
He closed his eyes against the sickly purple light that
permeated the habitable areas of the Lunar caverns.
The Lunarites probably found the light as pleasant as a
sunny day. But it made Hiroshi’s eyes hurt. He knew it
wasn’t natural. His platoon commander, Captain Takahashi, had briefed them on what they would find in the
caves when they arrived on the Moon. The light, the
atmosphere, the Earth-like gravity, even the frequent
shallow trenches filled with clear, cold water, were artificial, technological leftovers of a time when