tiny little satellite with a tiny little rocket more than a dozen years after the Soviets launched Sputnik. This time, you all get to be the flag they wave around.”
“That’s a pretty cynical way of looking at it,” Yoshizumi said with a laugh. When he smiled, he had dimples in his snow-tanned cheeks, and white teeth peeked out from between his lips. He looked much younger than his thirty years when he laughed. “But really,” he said, “we should be grateful for this boom, don’t you think? We should be smart and take whatever we can get while we can get it—save it for when this boom is over.”
“Well, that’s true after all.” Major Taguchi took out the pipe he had just put away but didn’t put it in his mouth. He just played with it, enjoying the feel of its bowl in the palm of his hand. “Booms have their good side too. They can be much ado about nothing, but they do leave us with substantial benefits, and with that we can progress little by little. Even this ship”—he clapped his hand against her rails lovingly—“she’s the offspring of the second atomic power boom. This may have been before your time, but in 1966, around Showa 30, Japan had its first boom in atomic power for peaceful purposes.”
“Yes, I remember.” Yoshizumi nodded. “I was still in junior high.”
“And two or three years later, the flame had completely fizzled out. But still, during that time, nuclear energy really soaked into the world of industry. Then, from the year after the Tokyo Olympics—around 1965—the second boom started. After the Olympics, the politicians wheeled out space development and nuclear energy as their latest symbols for Japan. And thanks to our climbing aboard that bandwagon, the nuclear ships they said we’d never have until at least the ’70s we had in almost no time. The Maritime Safety Agency announced the plan in 1964, which included a new polar research ship—”
Suddenly the Shiretoko ’s siren began to wail, and they could feel the reverberations in their stomachs. Twenty-two hundred hours: the signal that one hour remained until departure. From New Showa Station, another siren sounded as if in answer. A group of adelie penguins, inured to the noise of helicopter rotors though they were, took off waddling as though surprised by the sirens. One by one, they awkwardly jumped into the water through the tracks of the icebreaker. At the sight of their excited flapping about, the two men burst out laughing in spite of themselves.
“The nuclear energy boom probably had something to do with the reductions in weapons production, and the US and Soviet Union unloading their excess enriched uranium on the market.” Yoshizumi waited for the siren to stop wailing before he continued. “Lately, there’s a tendency for a lot of booms to stick. Even in Antarctica, there’s a huge nuclear energy boom. Leaving aside the old hands at it like McMurdo and Mirny Stations, there’s not a country represented here that doesn’t have a small nuclear power plant set up somewhere.”
“And now the space boom is starting to stick,” said Major Taguchi. “Is there anything to that story about NASA bringing a rocket down here?”
“Apparently so. They’ll be ready to start serious testing later this year, after they finish the gantry foundation and do a little terrestrial testing of the Centaur engines.”
They watched as the queer form of the Samson helicopter, resembling a crane fly on stilts, took off from the station and began to come nearer. To Yoshizumi, the helicopter looked like nothing so much as a tall, four-legged table flying through the air as it lifted off. The Samson pulled the five-ton container it was carrying into the sky like a bee with a grain of pollen.
“Well, then,” said Major Taguchi. “It’s just about time to say goodbye.”
“Hey, Taguchi …” Yoshizumi murmured unexpectedly. His voice was oddly hushed. His expression had grown more serious as he stared off
“That’s a pretty cynical way of looking at it,” Yoshizumi said with a laugh. When he smiled, he had dimples in his snow-tanned cheeks, and white teeth peeked out from between his lips. He looked much younger than his thirty years when he laughed. “But really,” he said, “we should be grateful for this boom, don’t you think? We should be smart and take whatever we can get while we can get it—save it for when this boom is over.”
“Well, that’s true after all.” Major Taguchi took out the pipe he had just put away but didn’t put it in his mouth. He just played with it, enjoying the feel of its bowl in the palm of his hand. “Booms have their good side too. They can be much ado about nothing, but they do leave us with substantial benefits, and with that we can progress little by little. Even this ship”—he clapped his hand against her rails lovingly—“she’s the offspring of the second atomic power boom. This may have been before your time, but in 1966, around Showa 30, Japan had its first boom in atomic power for peaceful purposes.”
“Yes, I remember.” Yoshizumi nodded. “I was still in junior high.”
“And two or three years later, the flame had completely fizzled out. But still, during that time, nuclear energy really soaked into the world of industry. Then, from the year after the Tokyo Olympics—around 1965—the second boom started. After the Olympics, the politicians wheeled out space development and nuclear energy as their latest symbols for Japan. And thanks to our climbing aboard that bandwagon, the nuclear ships they said we’d never have until at least the ’70s we had in almost no time. The Maritime Safety Agency announced the plan in 1964, which included a new polar research ship—”
Suddenly the Shiretoko ’s siren began to wail, and they could feel the reverberations in their stomachs. Twenty-two hundred hours: the signal that one hour remained until departure. From New Showa Station, another siren sounded as if in answer. A group of adelie penguins, inured to the noise of helicopter rotors though they were, took off waddling as though surprised by the sirens. One by one, they awkwardly jumped into the water through the tracks of the icebreaker. At the sight of their excited flapping about, the two men burst out laughing in spite of themselves.
“The nuclear energy boom probably had something to do with the reductions in weapons production, and the US and Soviet Union unloading their excess enriched uranium on the market.” Yoshizumi waited for the siren to stop wailing before he continued. “Lately, there’s a tendency for a lot of booms to stick. Even in Antarctica, there’s a huge nuclear energy boom. Leaving aside the old hands at it like McMurdo and Mirny Stations, there’s not a country represented here that doesn’t have a small nuclear power plant set up somewhere.”
“And now the space boom is starting to stick,” said Major Taguchi. “Is there anything to that story about NASA bringing a rocket down here?”
“Apparently so. They’ll be ready to start serious testing later this year, after they finish the gantry foundation and do a little terrestrial testing of the Centaur engines.”
They watched as the queer form of the Samson helicopter, resembling a crane fly on stilts, took off from the station and began to come nearer. To Yoshizumi, the helicopter looked like nothing so much as a tall, four-legged table flying through the air as it lifted off. The Samson pulled the five-ton container it was carrying into the sky like a bee with a grain of pollen.
“Well, then,” said Major Taguchi. “It’s just about time to say goodbye.”
“Hey, Taguchi …” Yoshizumi murmured unexpectedly. His voice was oddly hushed. His expression had grown more serious as he stared off
Similar Books
