FILE 731 by WALTER MANCUSO

FILE 731 by WALTER MANCUSO

A Novella, unabridged.

He liked Americans. The Americans liked him; they called him Teddy. This was the spring of 1941 and he was leaving behind the beautiful state of California, a bitter sweet departure. Two years after earning his medical degree, the University of California Los Angeles conferred upon Tetsuya Katayama a doctorate in neurology. Years of laboratory procedure had habituated his mind to construct lists, to graph, or to catalog and analyze the personal data he consigned to memory. As the HINOMA MARU made preparations for entering port at Tokyo,his mind reviewed events of the past five years for the consignment of these, his American years, to memory. This would preserve impressions and feelings. Those open, often dismissive American attitudes toward tradition and family, and the bright, young beautiful Americans with whom he’d grown for five years presented a dichotomy of refreshing independence paired against that peculiar American irreverence for tradition so difficult to fathom. Physically beautiful, academically they were sloppy yet superbly innovative.

Yes, he liked them, envied their beauty and the magnificence of their land, but such a fickle and childish lot he found difficult to respect. Though twice he had become romantically involved. Charlotte Lowell, doing her post doctorate in physics, had introduced and initiated him into those pleasurable facets of American life he may never had discovered on his own. Parties, dancing, fast automobiles and trips to the mountains and beaches to sleep and fuck under the stars or under blankets in tents and rented cabins. He’d never been in love, but she had occupied, in fact dominated, his thoughts and all of his free time for a long while. However, this independent minded woman took pains to make clear that their relationship, no matter how intimate, was fated and with the completion of her project would have to end. And the affair did indeed end when she left the university for a faculty post in Berne, Switzerland. During that last year at his post-doctorate assignment in the neurochemistry laboratory at UCLA he and a medical student, Neil Anderson, had fallen into an affair. For the final six months in the United States, he had shared an apartment and bed with Neil who had fallen in love with Teddy Katayama. Each man knew and accepted the term limit of the affair that the inevitable parting would impose, albeit sadly. Teddy returned to Japan; Neil took an internship at Queen of Angels Hospital in Los Angeles. Each realized painfully that the circumstances imposed by distance and the threat exposure of their affair demanded that they sever the relationship. On their last night together, Teddy presented Neil with a signet ring wrought in gold bearing the katakana symbols for Sayonara. This heartfelt gesture had saddened the two men yet drawn them closer. They had embraced for a long while, kissed then made love first in a hurried, thrusting, passion then lingering throughout the night with lips and hands always gently touching. “Oh Teddy, I do so love you. God, how I love you,” Neil’s last spoken words to Teddy had reverberated ever since.

Once back in the homeland, the thrill of seeing his family helped to ease images of California, the university, and the Americans into their own special compartments of his mind. His return home to Hiroshima was good. He had long anticipated seeing his father and sister. Pleasing his father, whom he loved, brought deep satisfaction, and the old man beamed when Tetsuya showed him his published journal articles and the photographs of himself with American scientific luminaries. He had left a fourteen-year-old sister but had returned to a beautiful young woman. Akira had blossomed into beauty. Both his father and sister were thrilled with the Zenith Transoceanic short-wave receiver he had brought home from America. Beyond simple familial joys, he delighted in enjoying good food once again, those colors, sounds, and smells peculiar to Japan, and in seeing the beauty of the morning mists on the hills and waters, as well as the comings and goings of the country people from the surrounding hill villages on market day. Years abroad and a superlative, sophisticated education had not affected his love for his homeland and his people. While he continually cautioned himself against becoming smug, fulfillment of his father’s expectations and pleasing the old man were every bit as important to Tetsuya as his own appreciation of status and gain. His father, author of a widely used chemistry text and Professor of Chemistry at Hiroshima Prefectural Institute of Science, had groomed Tetsuya for an academic career and had urged him to apply for positions at the large universities in Tokyo. But the poor economy due largely to the war in China and the new powerful political influence of the military had frozen faculties throughout Japan. The anti-intellectual policies of the militarists had closed the doors to nearly all civilian and university opportunities.

“However, Tetsuya,” his father had advised, “the military is in the process of absorbing all the larger laboratories. It appears that only passage to science now is through the military gate.”

After Dr. Tetsuya Katayama presented his credentials to the provost at the Imperial War College in Tokyo several interviews were conducted. Two weeks after these initial rounds he was summoned for an appearance before a panel of two generals and two civilians at which he was congratulated on the good news of his appointment to the Imperial War College staff. By the Holiday of the Summer Moon Dr. Katayama had completed indoctrination and familiarization training and was issued orders to the Imperial Army Unit No. 731, Pingfang, Manchuko.

Katayama quietly disdained the military. He was Japanese. He understood the necessity for the strict adherence to tradition and rules, but the rigid compliance without question demanded by the military he saw as foolish. Mistakes were denied, covered up by bluster and often lies. During his years at the university, he had suffered under the usual professorial arrogance all PhD candidates endure, but that was nothing compared to so many stiff-necked poppinjays among the officer corps. Yet in current military thought he detected a strong current of respect for science, and those scientists serving the Imperial Army were well funded, well paid, and respected.

Subtle, not Kabuki

Before transfer to his duty in Manchuria two days were spent at Imperial War College Headquarters in Tokyo receiving top secret briefings on the organization and operation of the laboratories at Unit 731. The unit was generously funded to investigate, develop, and refine biological, chemical, and psychological warfare agents. Located in a large new two-story brick building Unit 731 housed its own thirty-five bed hospital, and several laboratories, two with class four triple sealed chambers. Tetsuya would head the neurological section with his own laboratory. An irregular chain of command removed him from the bureaucratic middle strata of the command. Each head of department answered to Dr. Hideo Saito and General Hiroshi Kobayashi, Commanding Officer only. His department was charged with the development and testing of nerve agents. The final briefing received at the Imperial War College concerned the imperative for complete secrecy. The colonel delivering the briefing made clear that the compromise of even the existence of Unit 731 would be cause for immediate arrest and possible summary execution without courts-martial. So secret was Unit 731 that it was under the watchful aegis of the Kempetai, the Imperial Military Police, a feared organization with extraordinary powers.

The new appointment to a high post as head of his own laboratory marked the measure of his success. As much as he wished to share the details of this news with his father, he could say nothing other than the new assignment held great responsibility and promise. The old man well knew the military’s obsession with secrecy and was comfortable with the absence of details concerning Tetsuya’s new post.

But not every facet of Katayama’s life balanced evenly. It was one thing to say an affair was over but quite another to accept the absence of love. He had not anticipated the strength of his lingering desire for Neil. As the time for his departure had drawn near he had tried to convince himself that the affair with Neil Anderson would blend gradually into the broad patchwork of his California years. The peculiarity of experiencing love with another man he initially rationalized as experimental, really no different than his adventures and intimacies with Charlotte. But the memories of his time with Neil refused to fade; instead, he found his heart aching for the presence of the kind, fair-skinned young man who had loved him so earnestly and with such passion. As the length of their separation grew Tetsuya realized fully that he was indeed deeply in love with the other man. Despite their promise to sever all contact, he wanted very much to write Neil, but knew that due to the assignment his mail would be intercepted, especially any mail leaving Japan.

In Japan as elsewhere, homosexuality and bisexuality, though not uncommon, were considered criminal. One letter could be devastating. Still, desire tugged at his heart and in the quiet moments before sleep sensual and loving thoughts of Neil prevailed. The frustration of his unfulfilled desire to express his love to Neil, to let him know the strength the flame in his heart was constant. The challenge of the new post in Manchuria, he thought, might cloud or dampen this pining.

Neil Anderson had grown up in the small California desert town Yucca Valley where his father was the town doctor. Neil had wanted to become a doctor for as long as he could remember and his acceptance to UCLA’s medical school marked the proudest day of his life. During his first year of med school his father died suddenly from a brain aneurism. Before his death he had begun construction on a twenty bed clinic and had incurred a large personal debt. With no inheritance Neil was left in a quandary. To pay tuition for his final year and residency he enrolled in the Naval Reserve Officers Training Program newly established at UCLA. The Navy paid all expenses including a stipend for personal expenses, relieving Neil of financial worry.

Even before high school he had realized that he was sexually attracted to other boys. He understood the taboo and had had only one, albeit powerful, sexual encounter during a summer camping trip. However, at UCLA he quickly became fitted into that sub rosa strata of queer young men. Until he met Teddy Katayama he had enjoyed an occasional fling but no serious liaison. However, after enrolling in the NROTC program, he wisely kept his distance from other queer men who understood that if the Navy had suspicions, Neil’s situation could be wrecked. He and Teddy met at a lecture on California’s deserts given by a famous visiting naturalist. Afterwards they fell into conversation about deserts and Neil invited him to spend a weekend with him camping in the Joshua Tree Desert. Neil had not intended to seduce his exotic new friend but when at their campfire Teddy innocently told Neil “You have a most beautiful American face, Neil,” an inner flame was lighted. About midnight in the tent Teddy awoke with that beautiful American face on his stiff, throbbing Japanese cock. Both young men enjoyed the pleasurable event which was repeated several times that weekend with mutual participation. Beyond sex, Neil found Teddy engaging, intelligent, kind, witty and sexually thrilling. The two men fell into a friendship easily and naturally, the sex a sweet collateral and with him Teddy began to learn of his strong desire for sex with a man and the profound power of love, love that transcended gender.

Arriving in the provincial capital of Hsingking in late August, he travelled across Occupied Manchura by rail then army motor transport to Pingfang. Upon arrival in Pingfang, he stepped down from the army bus, stretched and gazed out upon the flat treeless plain and watched an afternoon dust devil rise and dip its way across the offing. A trio of soldiers marched a column of a dozen Chinese laborers who began unloading the cargo and baggage from the autobus. A sergeant escorted Tetsuya to the administrative office where, as an official now of Unit 731 he signed the top-secret security pledges, billeting documents, and established his account at the officers’ mess.

A young officer approached, tall with that refined, confident bearing of the privileged. “Dr. Katayama, I am Lieutenant Nakamura and assigned to your staff. I am your liaison for all military matters. Anything concerning your billeting, pay, transport, anything …please …I am most honored to assist you,” he said rendering a slight bow.

Thank you, Lt. Nakamura,” he said returning the bow. Please show me to my quarters and then the bath house. I am tired, thirsty, and dusty.”

“Please come this way, Doctor.”

The next morning Nakamura escorted Tetsuya to his laboratory. Everything was pristine, clean, new, with rows of new Zeiss microscopes, burners, flasks, sinks, one closet stocked with nothing but glassware, another with chemicals, another with protective clothing. There were a spectrograph, a gas chromatograph machine and a pressurized chamber. It is magnificent. As he strolled through the lab, opening drawers and cupboards marveling at the abundance, Dr. Saito quietly entered.

“Quite lovely, is it not, Dr. Katayama? I am Dr. Saito. Welcome, Dr. Katayama, welcome to Unit 731.”

Tetsuya rendered a low bow.

“Please, please. In this building we are scientists. And here you will find sanctuary from the military, Even the Kempetai here appreciate our work and do not interfere,” he gave a slight chuckle. “Yes, welcome, colleague.”

“Thank you, Dr. Saito. I am honored to be here.”

“Good. Good, Tetsuya Katayama. Let’s come to business right away. In this laboratory, you will be the law, the professor, the president, the shogun and if necessary, the executioner. Heh heh. Your credentials are exemplary and for that you will have complete control of this domain. Only I or General Kobiyashi, can overrule you within these confines. In return, for such extraordinary powers for such a young scientist, Japan expects something akin to magic. Your principal task will be to develop controlled neurological agents for weaponry. Chemical agents. The chlorine and mustard gasses the Europeans have used in their wars are considered primitive and too difficult to control. You will develop agents capable of destroying or paralyzing an enemy army but agents with complex catalysts or antidotes to protect our own forces but not easily duplicated by the enemy. Whatever you need in this endeavor will be provided. I wish to have a weekly report on your progress. Please rejoice in your work, Katayama.”

That afternoon he met with his staff, assigning duties regarding security, lab protocols, and areas of responsibility. He threw himself into the work and drove his staff to acquire familiarization with the known aspects of nerve agents. Unit 731’s science library was remarkably up to date with current articles from foreign journals, and Dr. Saito held an encyclopedic knowledge on the subject. In his third weekly briefing with Saito, Katayama presented him with his research idea to utilize rusts common to rye fields to produce bacteria cultures capable of producing and sustaining large quantities of vectored benzo-oxylysergic acid diethlamide with the shortened name VOyD. As his lab now had sufficient concentrated quantities of the agent and had tested this on rats then rabbits, he asks Dr. Saito whether primates could be obtained?

“But of course, Katayama. Simply inform Lt. Nakamura of your needs, males, females, ages ….whatever. Your primates will be condemned prisoners.”

“Humans? You wish me to experiment on human subjects?”

“Well, almost. These are Chinese,” Saito stifles a chuckle, “rebels, coolies, orphans, criminals. Don’t be squeamish. These are prisoners already condemned to death. It is practical, I’m sure you agree, to extract valuable scientific knowledge from this trash. It’s no different, Katayama, than a farmer making beneficial compost for his fields from night soil. We refer to them as logs. Use as many logs as you require. We have an abundance, a forest of logs. Keep me advised.”

The protocols for the first series of experiments were established and four male subjects requisitioned from what the camp referred to as the “log pile”, the confinement compound. The subjects were placed in a classroom and administered fractional sub-lethal micro dosages of VOyD, each hour the dosage doubled. Dr. Katayama and his staff observed reactions through a one-way mirror as lab technicians recorded vital signs of the patients every ten minutes. During the course of the experiment simple questions were asked testing the subject’s reasoning ability and memory. The questions and responses are translated by an interpreter through a closed microphone system.

“Number One: Tell me the sum of two plus three.

“Five”

“Number Three: What tool would you use to dig a hole?”

“A shovel.”

As the dosages increased, confusion set in.

“Number Two: What is the color of this apple?”

“Uhhh,”

“The apple, what color is it, Number Two?”

“Uhhh seven.”

Confusion increased accompanied by muscle spasms and tics.

When the fourth dosage was administered all but one male patient suffered hyper-salivation, convulsions, and death. The cadavers were transported to the hospital’s morgue for autopsy and the one surviving subject hospitalized to be kept under observation. By the next morning, his cognition and vital signs normal, he was returned the prisoners’ compound. As Katayama made his report, Dr. Saito rose from behind his desk.

With a raised voice pointing a finger he scolded Tetsuya. “Katayama, this is not good science.”

“I don’t understand, sir…”

“Why did you return the fourth subject to the compound? Why did you do this? His brain needs to be autopsied. Can you not see his is the most important! You disappoint me, Katayama. Have Nakamura requisition that log immediately for autopsy.”

“But, sir, he is alive.”

“I assure you he will not be alive by the end of the autopsy. Keep me advised, Katayama. Dismissed!”

Tetsuya summoned Lt. Nakamura, passing to him Dr. Saito’s orders. Nakamura roseto leave, but Tetsuya called him to his side.

“Nakamura, do you not find this….uhhh…extreme?”

“Katayama-san, one follows orders, no? May I please speak in confidence?”

“But of course.”

“Let us walk outside.” The two stepped into the inner courtyard of 731. “Perhaps it’s best that we speak in English. Please know, Katayama-san, that what happens here at 731 is by any measure reprehensible. However, Japan is now guided thoroughly by the Imperial Army. Dr. Saito has complete authority and encouragement from the army to use these Chinese prisoners as if they were rabbits or laboratory mice. The camp exists for two reasons: firstly, for human subjects for his experiments and secondly for slave labor.”

“But…”

Nakamura gently touched Tetsuya’s forearm. No, please let me finish. Because of these ‘extremes’ to which you allude, the military is determined to maintain complete secrecy and security. That’s why we are out here beyond the rail line, beyond any settlements out in this desolate damned steppe as if we were wild horses or Mongols. No word of Unit 731 or the camp will escape this place. Would you care for a cigarette? Here, let’s sit here and smoke. I know of no way to put it as delicately as you have. It’s dangerous to reveal any negative word or show and disdain when it comes to these heinous activities. Listen to me. Most dangerous. 731 Is riddled with informers. Dr. Saito no doubt informed you the the labs were beyond Kempetai interference? Don’t believe it, not for one second. An informer nestles in each scientist’s staff like a worm in a peach. No matter what your true feelings, your words and actions must reflect disregard in matters concerning the prisoners. You must now become, as I have, an actor; you must deflect your sensitivity and appear to be dismissive concerning these….these…. logs. Accept the Army’s rationalized interpretation. They are not Chinese. They are not prisoners. They are logs. I sense that you are a decent and kind man, Katayama-san. Please realize that my sharing of these confidences places me at great risk. But I do not wish to see you fall from favor. I hope you understand, sir.”

“I am indebted Nakamura-san and for your candor I thank you. While this misery, such appalling and abject misery certainly distresses me, I find your sensitivity and confidence heart-warming. You are a friend, Nakamura.”

“And you Katayama-san, you, sir, would please me much to be my friend. And please, between us I am Koichi.”

“And I am Tetsuya”

“Now, Tetsuya I have that most unpleasant duty. Remember, my fellow actor, when you report to Dr. Saito you must affect a complete disregard for the logs. And a suggestion, Tetsuya, subtle, not Kabuki.”

Later Katayama attended Number four’s autopsy, his façade cool and dispassionate, the consummate professional.

“Well, well Dr. Katayama very nicely done. Very nice. And while the results of the autopsy reveal nothing of value –yet. Who knows? Good science and nicely done, Dr. Katayama I am proud of my young department head, yes, yes, well done, Katayama-san. Tell me, what is the progress of the antidote.

“We’ve designated an antidote Q-VOyD, basically the calcium carbonate molecules are attached to activated carbon atoms on the blocking agent. The compound is vectored by injection or airborne as an aerosol. The efficacy of the airborne vectoring is still unclear. Our first tests have been remarkably successful, but it is too early. Many more tests will be required.”

Over the next weeks Tetsuya carefully examined the data collected from the first human experimentation and designed a stair-stepped program of increased experimentation with slight modifications to Agent VOyD. He directed his chief assistant to outline protocols for additional experiments with phosgene gas and no subjects survived to repeat the initial blunder. Witnessing the effects of the experiments presented a grueling paradox. The science starkly revealed in the most powerful terms the potency of his team’s products and efforts, but the cruelty and suffering imposed a burden terrible to endure. The old hands at 731 advised him, “You’ll grow used to it, Dr. Katayama; everyone does. Just remember they’re logs.”

Yearnings

Doubting that intelligent, sentient beings could grow used to such disregard for other humans, he reasoned that the Army’s enforced discipline and the wartime aura of Bushido had convinced men superficially of Japanese superiority. Defeat of lesser peoples conferred insensitivity and sanctioned brutality. Where do the thoughts of the hundreds of officers and soldiers at Unit 731 turn to in the small hours of the night? Do not the images of their own mothers, fathers, sisters, and younger brothers sometimes emerge through the fog this horror? Ultimately a price would be paid. Military ambition had overpowered reason with fear, pushing truth and logic into dark recesses. Still, he would have to wear the mask of indifference like everyone else. What, he wondered, will be the price I pay? How and when might such an onerous debt come due?

On the nights he did not eat in his laboratory, he dined in the officers’ mess usually with Nakamura. This was the social hub of the camp. Most of the younger officers were, like him, unmarried, and the mess featured a lounge area where off duty men could relax. In the evenings, whiskey, beer, and heated Saki were served by stewards. He learned that Koichi Nakamura came from Tokyo, the son of a prominent diplomat. He had grown up in London, England. Where he’d taken a Masters in Economics at Cambridge. His father, retired from the diplomatic service, held a seat in the Diet. As one of the vociferous opponents of the army’s initial incursion into Manchuria he was held in disfavor by the Army. His son Koichi’s conscription and posting to Manchuria was arranged to silence his further opposition. Alone, the two frequently slipped into English, but Koichi cautioned Tetsuya that in the mess any language other than Japanese was suspect. Soon the friendship strengthened to include sharing of confidences. The launching point for this, their shared experiences abroad. Each man’s view of the world has been broadened by deep exposure to foreign cultures.

One evening the two sat in Tetsuya’s quarters sharing some bottles of plum wine, smoking Canadian cigarettes Koichi had finagled. “I think as a boy in England I learned truly the importance of grit. Cricket was my game. I liked very much rugby, but only as a spectator–too rough that rugby. At prep school I was wicket keeper on my cricket team and later at Cambridge I captained a team during my last term. That British spirit of competition—what a marvel and how they detest self-pity. Tetsuya, let me tell you in the strictest of confidence, I came to love the British. What marvelous, beautiful people. What pluck. Were I not Japanese, I would beg the gods to cast me as an Englishman.”

“Ah Koichi, this falls so softly on my ears, for I too became so engaged with America and the Americans who can be once so fucking crass, so jejune, so damned sloppy, and ever so blunt but at the next moment engaging, creative, amazingly graceful and open. I do love them. Physically, they are so beautiful yet culturally so immature. Yes, this I confess to you, dear friend, I do. Do you know they called me Teddy. I loved that hearing that name.”

“Ahh then, when we are speaking English, I’ll call you Teddy, Tetsuya?”

“I’d be honored.”

 On the first really cool evening of summer, a harbinger of the fall to come, Koichi suggested they move the wine and discussion to the bath house. There the two men soaked amid the wisps of steam with glasses of plum wine. The conversation drifted to women, specifically sexual encounters each man had experienced.

Later in his quarters as he lay upon his tatami, he recalled Koichi’s kind demeanor, his intelligence, his skill in conversation, his athletic frame. He blamed the wine. He became erect. He tossed and turned uncomfortable. Imagining holding Koichi as he masturbated. Still, he blamed the wine.

The next day, Autumnal Equinox Day, a holiday, and all are required to attend the military ceremony at the parade field. The regimental band played beneath fluttering banners and flags, the field’s aroma of disturbed turf and horses permeating the dusty air. Families of officers with their children in little straw hats waving paper emblematic Japanese flags filled the stands as Tetsuya scanned the field to look for Koichi among the file. Following the parade Koichi approached Tetsuya mounted on a beautiful chestnut mare.

“Tetsuya, go to the stables, I’ll meet you there. A horse is ready for you. We’re riding.” Koichi laughed, “Did I forget to tell you?”

One of the grooms had a white gelding saddled and ready for Tetsuya.

The pair rode for an hour. The stark terrain featured only an occasional low rise or ravine to break the flat, treeless plain.

“To be out here, away from camp, feels free, no?” Koichi asked.

“Yes, a splendid idea. To ride. Yes, completely free. Do you realize that out here one is free to do anything.”

“Anything? What do you mean, Teddy?

“Well… it’s just…just the … It’s hard to explain but let me try. Remember when you were old enough to be left home alone? That sort of feeling. It’s the feeling these mounts would have if we let them have their heads. Without other people around we’re unobserved so here, in a sense, we’re unconstrained, independent and we’re the captains of the ship; we set our own course to hell with rules”.

“I know exactly. Teddy, I began piano lessons when I was 5 years old. To my dad classical music was the only real music, classic Western and classic Japanese. He couldn’t stand the American popular stuff that I loved. As soon as he left the house out came the Cole Porter set of records. I learned to play every song; I think there must have been twenty or so. Surely you know Cole Porter?”

“Oh, I loved Cole Porter and Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw too. You must know them too? Another thing. When I got older, as soon as I was alone, down came the pants–chinko time! Senzui – and it only took a few rubs. Ha!”

“It must be the same for all boys. It was for me. I was twenty years old before I realized my dick wasn’t supposed to be hard all the time.

The two men laughed.

“When I was fifteen it was fun time with our maid. Ah Teddy, she was so delicious, so small and tight. She liked to get me off in her mouth. Once we made a cunt print. She let me ink her lovely box then pressed herself against a paper. I kept the print rolled up with my lessons. When my father found this one day I told him it was from school, a Rorschach test we were supposed to interpret. ‘Looks sort of like a keyhole or maybe half of a pear, huh Dad?’

This sexual banter charged and excited Teddy and he endeavored to pass it off as nothing, however he could feel the beat of his heart through his tunic. His desire for Kloichi was now absolute and had crystallized; it was not some hazy alcoholic fantasy. Still, he could not reveal himself. It wasn’t simply the fear of rebuff. Although unlikely, it was not impossible that Koichi could be an informant for the Kempetai, testing him, those hated bastards stuck their noses into everything.

Turning their horses, they headed southeast, riding side by side. Koichi reached across touching Tetsuya’s shoulder gently. “We’ll rest the horses for a bit. I have bottles of beers in my pack, Teddy-san.”

Heading back later that afternoon they trotted at a slow pace. Clouds blocked the sun and Tetsuya felt awash in sentimentality. This, he reckoned, would become one of those indelible moments he would always be able to recall. He glanced at his friend with the feeling that Koichi was experiencing the same reverence for the moment. Just then Koichi quoted a short poem about two motes of dust picked up by the wind, swirling and swirling ever faster until they become a storm. Then, a rush of cool air hit the riders.

“We better head back, or we may become those little motes of dust, ha!”

 For weeks he pondered the possible meanings of the poem, and Koichi’s comparing themselves to the dust motes in the storm. Was it insignificant? That little poem had long been popular and was often used as lyrics in songs. Just a little poem. His heartbeat pulsed with strong desire which he resisted, but ultimately caught himself surrendering nightly to a strong yearning for Koichi’s presence and his sex.

A Crush of Logs

Work at the lab intensified. Director Dr. Saito, pleased with the rounds of VOyD tests summoned Katayama to congratulate him on the rapid progress.

“Dr. Katayama. VOyD appears to be most effective. Of course we shall require much more extensive testing. Now is not too early to begin the tests of the Q-VOyD antidote. How much of the antidote have you prepared?”

“Just now we have seventy centiliters prepared for atomizer dispersal.”

“Good, good. Arrange a test this week. Let’s use thirty logs. Fifteen exposed to VOyD, and fifteen exposed to Q-VOyD and VOyD. Simulate battlefield conditions. I’ll be present. Let me know as soon as this is arranged. Good work, Katayama-san, very good work.”

Within a week special trenches were dug about a mile from camp and all preparations for the tests completed. An early winter had set in and two days of wind and snow delayed the tests. Then on a calm, sunny morning the logs were placed in the prepared trenches. Heavy metal grates were drug by mules and placed over the trenches by soldiers who then donned gas masks and took cover in a cement blockhouse. Motion picture cameras and flood lights placed in the block houses filmed the evolution. By now, the half-frozen subjects in the trenches realized their peril and clawed at the heavy steel gratings, their cries clearly heard.

Just after the pressurized canister releasing the QVOyD antidote was placed on the grating above the Beta trench, two gas grenades burst between Alpha and Beta trenches. An eerie silence suddenly blanketed the area as a heavy vapor permeated the trenches and soon choking and sobs were heard. The all clear sounded ten minutes later and teams of soldiers brought in the mules and removed the gratings. No one emerged from Alpha trench but survivors begin clawing up from the Beta trench, choking and crying. The ten surviving Beta subjects were escorted by soldiers into a field tent where Katayama’s medical team performed examinations.

The survivors were segregated into an isolated compound for thirty days’ observations by the team then duly executed and autopsied. Executions, Nakamura’s responsibility, weighed heavily. Kempetai procedure was followed when subjects were to be shot. With hands bound behind their backs, victims were stood before the brick wall that formed the back of the stables. As the officer in charge, Nakamura, raised his sword, the sergeant of the firing squad barked the orders to aim and then to fire. Were there more than three subjects, the condemned would first dig the trench that would serve as a common grave, then with hands bound, kneel beside the trench. With the officer in charge present, a sergeant would troop the line delivering an eight- millimeter bullet to the back of each head from a Nambu service pistol. Subjects requiring autopsy were taken to the morgue and garroted by a noncom from a special Kempetai Interrogation unit, in a chamber adjacent to the autopsy room. Kempetai’s Manual for Interrogators and Interrogation Techniques stressed that “deployment of a sword or garrot as means of execution conferred merit, honor, and strength.” All deaths required Nakamura’s presence. Immediately after conducting executions, he would write the required reports before an interval of heavy drinking.

Work on this and phosgene programs advanced while plans were designed for production facilities for VOyD and QVOyD with most of the tasks carried by Katayama’s staff.

The Blossom Opens

During this time, Tetsuya Katayama and Koichi Nakamura took many meals together. On weekends they rode onto the plains. Koichi Nakamura and Teddy Katayama shared disdain for the Army and loathing for the killings of Chinese prisoners. Having lived abroad they shared a cosmopolitan view unfathomable to most Imperial officers. These things in common were shared covertly. A secret entrusted to another is much like the gift of a highly valued coin which clamors for an equal exchange. So, the friendship strengthened. The empathy, understanding, and sensitivity each could offer softened the pains of participation in those heinous activities of Unit 731. Tetsuya could painfully relate the agony he felt for helpless Chinese, his aversion to the haughtiness of the officers of the mess who laughed off the “disposal of so many logs.” So too, was the shame in appearing to be liked-minded within their company. “Yes, such large lab rats, no? “Nakamura ventured that were one able to peer into the hearts of those callous, arrogant officers one would find plenty of the same guilt he and Teddy suffered. “Group Think, Teddy-san, it’s Army Group Think. Group Think. Group Think – how could the Army exist without its mind-numbing stupid Group Think.? Still, you know as I do the expression of true feeling…this taboo…well, it could be lethal, no?”

“Yes, my dear friend, I know. And may I say that you are the one window bringing light to me. When we speak so, I know how the donkey feels after the heavy bags of grain are lifted from his back.”

Their Sunday rides usually halted at the ruins of an old farmhouse, there to rest the horses, smoke and drink beer. On such a day Teddy sat against the wall of the house. His beer finished, he stubbed out his cigarette. Koichi, standing, offered his hand and pulled Teddy up. On his feet Koichi did not release his grip, instead drew Teddy near to him, embraced him and softly said into his ear, “Always know that you are my friend, Tetsuya” Then abruptly he mounted, “Time to head back!.” On the ride back Teddy recalled his feelings the day Koichi had recited the dust mote poem. They were, after all, two tiny specks awhirl on these arid plains, but little atoms blessed by an inexplicable bond. After the evening meal they repaired to Teddy’s apartment where they drank their favorite plum wine exchanging stories about schools, girls, and their lives abroad. Later in the bath house, slightly drunk, they lolled amid the plumes of steam. Koichi gently placed his foot across Tetsuya’s leg and soon Tetsuya found his hand upon that leg. Soon both erections were obvious. An hour later the two lay naked atop Tetsuya’s tatami mat, completely spent.

“I have wished for this to happen since that first ride onto the plains. Now we must be extremely careful, you know and oh shit, it’s time for me to go, as much as I want to stay.”

“Ah, Koichi. Now I can survive this hell. Good night, sweet, sweet, Prince.”

For two days Koichi Nakamura kept a distance. Teddy Katayama had begun to despair when Koichi approached him on the porch of the camp’s store.

“Koichi, I was worried…..”

“You have no need to worry, dear Tetsuya. Tomorrow night?”

“With great anticipation!”

Once they are again together in private Koichi outlined a schedule for their meetings designed to avoid attention. They would eat together in the mess no more than twice a week but still ride on weekends, occasionally inviting Dr. Saito on a ride to quell any suspicion. Two or three nights a week they could pass three or four hours in one another’s arms

In his private thoughts Teddy Katayama pondered the relationship in which this passion had exploded as intensely as a bursting seed pod. Was this a product of the repression engendered by Unit 731, perhaps a simple, necessary release of emotion? Were this not forbidden would it even occur? Was he responding to Koichi’s actions or were his feelings truly his own? Of this he was not certain. And Neil Anderson? Neil remained in that special holiest chamber of his heart and thoughts. He even found himself conjuring Neil’s image during love making with Koichi. Was it then, a simple transference? His uncertainty and confusion did nothing to lessen the passion and desire for Koichi. Alone his thoughts raced to Koichi’s embrace, his lips, and his soft voice.

However, something he could not identify precluded that deeper kind of obsession that so often befalls new lovers. Work filled his days. Fear shrouded everything. Living amid the sinister Kempetai felt as if having been swallowed by a dragon. And how he wished he could be sure Neil knew the strength of his feelings. A letter of a single page, two minutes telephone time, an international cable, normal lines of communication severed by war and fear. And he must talk with Koichi, tell him of Neil.

Banzi! Banzai! Banzai!

The news of the glorious attack on Pearl Harbor electrified the officers’ mess. The commandant declared a holiday and many glasses were raised in celebratory toasts late into the night. The days that followed the surrenders at Hong Kong, Wake Island and then the invasion of the Philippines stirred enormous pride throughout the military. Now with the Empire of Japan standing on equal footing with the Third Reich nothing would be impossible. Victory will follow victory. Germany will rule Europe, Japan Asia for 10,000 years. “Banzai! Banzai! Banzai!

One evening in the Officer’s Mess, Captain Sawa of the Kempetai took a seat at Katayama’s table. In the middle of polite conversation about horses he faced Tetsuya and asked, “I’m curious, exactly where is it you and Lieutenant Nakamura ride off to on your weekend expeditions?” The question piqued his paranoia but with some effort he held composure.

“Ah, no specific place, Captain Sawa, just out onto the plains. Lately we’ve been looking for a place to fish. You should come with us sometime.”

“Perhaps, I will Katayama-san. Yes, that would be… would be…refreshing, no?”

In Tokyo the films of the experiments at the trenches were viewed by the highest officials at the Imperial War College who issued a directive for a further series of controlled experiments involving larger populations of subjects. More data was requested concerning the autopsies of those Betas who did not survive the experiment. Why did those five die while the other ten lived? From the autopsies Katayama knew that the ten survivors were each in a healthier state. The five dead had clear signs of insipient starvation. He had been hesitant to include this information in his original report thinking the evidence of starvation could possibly impinge the reputation of the camp’s leadership. Now it was clear to him that disregard for the prisoners was officially sanctioned policy. Once the information concerning the subjects’ health had been forwarded to Tokyo, the orders for the mass experiments were postponed. Healthy well-fed British prisoners from the recent surrender of Hong Kong and Americans from Wake Island would be shipped to Unit 731 for conclusive experimentation.

Berlin

The interim allowed Katayama’s lab to concentrate on, a chemical toxin developed by Germans. Six liters contained in stainless steel tubes had been delivered to the Imperial War College by the German Embassy. Then, guarded by six armed Kempetai, had been placed on the first flight to Manchuria and delivered to Dr. Saito.

“I have very good news for you. The staff at War College is so impressed with the VOyD project, you have been promoted to Full Professor! Full Professor, Katayama, and you are not yet 35! I congratulate you. Now, with this honor comes still more responsibility. Dr. Katayama, these steel vessels contain possibly the most toxic substance known. Your laboratory’s job will be to test, develop delivery systems, and provide guidelines for production. This is an honor, Katayama, a great honor, Professor.

The literature accompanying the was a translation from the German but contained serious errors in the interpretations of graphs. It had been done in haste no doubt. Dr. Katayama, reluctant to begin, shared his concern with Dr. Saito who, in accord, exchanged a series of top priority messages with Tokyo resulting in a set of orders for Katayama to fly to Berlin for three weeks indoctrination in the German Army Weapons laboratory with the German’s leading expert.

Berlin, he found beautiful, blanketed with snow, the cleared wide streets and avenues teeming with happy shoppers and soldiers. His host, Professor Doctor Karl Von der Lunken, himself a Berliner with a beautiful house on Unter dem Linden Boulevard, with much pride treated Tetsuya Katayama to the most beautiful sections of the great city, the parks, the museums, galleries, and restaurants. With flags and bunting everywhere he’d never seen a more festive city. In the crowded cafes and restaurants, the buoyant spirit was palpable despite the first allied bombings and everywhere there was talk of the war and victory. Poland, Belgium, France and Scandinavia had tumbled so easily. Russia would fall next! Posters proclaimed the invincibility of the Wermacht and the Third Reich.

Tokyo too had been festooned with all the trappings of military power, but unlike Berlin, the restaurants, noodle shops, and theaters catered to thin crowds of predominantly military. Civilian feelings, one easily adduced on the streets of Tokyo, were angst, worry, and fear festering under the masked bravado demanded by the military.

Karl Von der Lunken was the soul of hospitality and the two men genuinely like one another. The laboratory work had been exactingly prepared for his visit and Von der Lunken as one of the original developers of was intimately familiar with its properties. He had blanched when Tetsuya had shown him the botched translations. Dr. Von der Lunken invited Dr. Katayama to stay with him at his home. The Japanese Embassy had no objections and the two scientists speaking English discussed not only but their schooling, England, America, Beethoven, Cole Porter and the war late into the evenings.

One morning he approached his host. “Karl, I wonder if it is possible to place a telephone call to Switzerland?”

“Ja, for Switzerland so easy, Tetsuya. Ach so easy, my friend, in Deutchland such things are so easy. Unlike so many places, here always the telephone the call makes. If you wish just use the telephone in my library,“ he lowered his voice to a whisper, “it’s completely safe. The other phones probably on wire recording are. The war, you know, he whispered.”

Koichi asked the Berlin operator to connect with the Berne operator. To his amazement in less than two minutes the Swiss operator had the University of Berne on the line.

“A call for Dr. Charlotte Lowell from Berlin, please.”

“I will send a messenger to Dr. Lowell’s laboratory. You will please to wait,?”

Shortly Charlotte’s voice sounded.

“Dr. Lowell hier. Wer ist dieser, bitte?

“Charlotte, it’s Teddy. I’m calling from Berlin.”

“Teddy! Oh Wonderful. Wonderful. Are you coming to Berne then?

“No, no, I am here from Japan on business. How are you and how is the job”

“Couldn’t be better, Teddy. This war has Berne bursting at the seams. We’ve had to turn away maybe a thousand students; can you believe that? Can’t you take a train? I would love to see you. Oh, please say you will.”

“Ah Charlotte, it is so beautiful to hear your voice. No, no. There’s no way. I leave for Japan tomorrow night.”

“Teddy give me your address. I will write to you.”

“Unfortunately, no. Complications. It’s difficult to explain on the telephone, you’re able to understand, I’m sure. The war has everything upside down. It’s a miracle we’re even able to speak. Charlotte, can you get a message to Neil? Neil Anderson?”

“Oh yeah, the doctor, yes, I know Neil. He used to come to our staff parties. Nice guy. I heard he’d been drafted, Teddy. But I’ll try. I know he was interning at Queen of Angels. I know someone there. I should be able to get a forwarding address. What do you want to tell him if I can find him?”

“Tell him…, oh Charlotte this is awkward….please tell Neil,” now Teddy was astonished to feel tears rolling down his cheeks. He choked back a sob… “Charlotte tell him that when the war is over…tell him …please…excuse me, Charlotte, for just a minute.”

“Teddy, I think I understand. Go ahead, please. We can still be intimate. You and me we’ll always trust one another, Teddy. And if what I think you’re feeling needs to be kept secret, you have no worry.”

“Ah Charlotte, you are such a love, an understanding love. Tell him please that I love him and we will meet after the war. Tell him I will then contact him through the American Express Office in Lisbon. Please do this for me, Charlotte.”

“Of course, my love. You are so special, Teddy. I’ve missed you, my own Mister Moto. I don’t suppose there’s any way I can get a message through to you?

“Can you write this down? Doctor Karl Von der Lunken telephone Berlin 72648. If you get through to Neil, simply tell Dr. Von der Lunken, that’s Von der Lunken, tell him that the package arrived safely. My lab has communication with his.”

Charlotte, will you stay in Switzerland?”

“Probably, although there is enormous opportunity back home now. Especially for a woman with credentials. Teddy, are you safe wherever you are? Will you have to do army time? “

“Yes, safe. No army, thank the gods. Charlotte, I am so grateful you are there. Ten thousand thanks, my lovely one. And you and I also will meet after the war. Leave a forwarding address if you depart Berne. I love you.”

“And I you, Teddy. Take care, love. Until the Peace. Bye, bye.”

Back in Karl’s living room Tetsuya thanked him, telling him of his love for an American girl in Switzerland, now a love forbidden by the war – “An early casualty of the war.”

“Ach such misfortunes. So bad.”

“Karl, I told her that if she was willing to wait for me until after the war to let me know, through you. I know I have taken a great liberty…taken advantage of your gracious hospitality….”

“Of course, Tetsuya, of course. No, no, do not trouble yourself. Before you such a terribly sentimental old fool you see. I too at university, ja, with a magnificent French girl in love I became. Ja love! For years we love letters exchanged, les billets doux, eh?, until my Frau…well you can guess.”

“I hoped you would understand. She may one day telephone this number from Berne. Her message will be “the package arrived safely.” You can easily pass that information to me.”

“But of course. A pleasure always it is a friend to help.”

At the Templehof aerodrome, gifts were exchanged. Karl presented Tetsuya with a departing gift, a beautiful Blauplunkt short-wave receiver and Tetsuya gave Karl a magnificent two-hundred-year-old jade carving of Fujin, God of Wind, encased in a hand carved teak case.

“I hope for many other trips to Berlin, my friend.”

“As do I, dear Karl. You help has been invaluable…in the laboratory, as elsewhere. I am in your debt. “

Enough Room for Love

Back in Japan Teddy took a few days leave in Hiroshima with his father and sister, the quietude of home after the Berlin trip was refreshing. He and his father discussed shortages, the new laws the military government had imposed, and the war.

“Father, these generals…ughh these arrogant fools, these overconfident actors, they, they are plunging Japan into boiling oil. This attack on the Americans will bring disaster. Have they even considered America’s unlimited resources? Or that cowboy nature of the Americans. These are bad times.”

At home he camouflaged the outside antenna for the Zenith radio, fearing that the military might confiscate radios as the war heated up.

“Use the radio only at night an only with the head set. The BBC and the stations in Hawaii and Australia will be the best sources of war news. Keep the radio secret. If anyone asks of the radio your son brought you from America, tell them it has gone with me to Manchuko.”

“Your sister now is being seen two, three times each week by a naval officer, a pilot Lieutenant Akiro Watanabe, a very polite young man from a good Kyoto family. I think soon he will ask to marry.”

“And her feelings, do you know?”

“I think she is much in love. For two weeks now she has been working on a delicate thousand stitches silk scarf for him to wear.”

“Ah… I pray I will be allowed to come to the wedding.”

“And you, my son, you are of an age…”

“Rather bleak prospects in Manchuko, father. In time, I suppose.”

Returning to Unit 731 in the stinging rain, he was nervous. How would it be with Koichi? He imagined orders directing more and more multiple sacrifices of logs. The army truck dropped him off at his laboratory where until late in the night he checked the data of ongoing projects and read mail. The next morning a messenger from Koichi said that the lieutenant would be pleased to dine with Dr. Professor Katayama that evening in the officers’ mess. This brought joy and helped make the meetings with Dr. Saito and his staff endurable. He had brought Saito a bright green bottle of Kustermann Schnapps.

“Ah Katayama-san, I see we may will have to send you to Berlin many times, no? Ha, ha. Prepare your report on the Berlin visit as soon as possible, I am most anxious.

“The report has been finished, Dr. Saito. Dr. Von der Lunkin has given us a wealth of information, and requests that we share our information with his laboratory on an exchange basis. In the report you will note that the Germans had many good things to say about QVOyD. They have provided two excellent dispersal vectors we had not considered”

“Well done, Katayama, well done. Now I will go over the report immediately then let us meet at my office after the evening meal.”

The scheduled meeting was, of course, of great importance, however it precluded the hoped for evening with Koichi. The two men met at the officers’ mess with banal greetings though they quietly read the delight that shone in each other’s eyes. It was truly a joy to see Koichi and indeed he longed for those first few hours alone together. He had imagined their first evening alone upon his return sharing the bottles of Kirchwasser and Biernenschnapps he’d brought from Berlin. However, his history with Neil had to be revealed to Koichi; he had grown apprehensive of how it might be received. Until this issue had been faced he would remain unsettled.

An enthusiastic Dr. Saito again congratulated Katayama on the success of the mission and the quality of his first rate report. He then outlined a time table for the tests. The first British POWs had already arrived and Americans captured on Wake Island were awaiting transport from Shanghai. Katayama was to prepare weekly schedules, testing VOyD and QVOyD one week, the next.

“Tokyo is eager for our reports and has ordered everything to be filmed. A special naval photographic crew is coming with modern equipment. You will test in groups of twelve: nine Chinese logs with three British or American logs. Doctor Ito’s lab will be conducting biological tests with plague, cholera, smallpox, and botulism. You will, in a sense be in competition with him for these Western logs. So we must devise plans to stay ahead of him. He’s very efficient and as he sees you as a competitor so you must stay alert. I tell you this in confidence, Katayama-san, Ito is well liked by the War College; he is ambitious. So be careful.

The meeting ended, Tetsuya walked across the compound to his apartment. Entering his quarters was surprised to see a glow from the hibachi. There wrapped in a quilt beside the hibachi was Koichi.

Teddy set his briefcase on the table as Koichi rose and the two men without words joined in a long embrace then kiss.

“At last, at last. Come, Teddy, under the quilt with me; it’s cold, no?”

After a rapid love making the pair lay in the dark smoking cigarettes.

“I missed you…and this…, Teddy, my sweet Teddy.”

“And I, Koichi. Thoughts of you arose whenever I was alone. Something….something delicate though has been crowding my thoughts, clawing at me.. I think now it demands your knowledge, my dear Koichi, so let me get this off my chest. Bear with me, love.”

“Yes? Tell me. Aren’t we beyond secrets?”

“Exactly. I don’t wish to keep from you any secret, but this has a potency….”

“Ha, Teddy, come on, out with it. My hide is thicker than yours. Tell daddy, little boy.”

“I told you of my love time with Charlotte Lowell at University.”

“Ah. I know what you are about to say….You still love the American. Ha, Teddy, the world is wide and there’s enough room for two. Does not a mother love all her children?”

“That is different, Koichi. No, no, Listen. When Charlotte left, we agreed that although there were strong feelings between us, distance and circumstances made a continuance impractical, impossible.”

“Maybe not so impossible, then?”

“No, no. Please, Koichi, just listen.

“In part you were right to say I still love the American. But the American is not Charlotte Lowell, it is Neil Anderson, a doctor. A man, Koichi. We, Neil Anderson and I, we too shared this love but like Charlotte and me, we agreed that to continue would be impossible because I was returning to Japan and he would practice medicine there in America. But I have come to realize how very much I love him. I love him, Koichi, I love him so much. Now what is most difficult is this, now that you know that I love Neil can you and I remain lovers? What I feel for you is in no way diminished by my love for Neil. As you say, it’s a wide world with much room.”

Koichi stubbed out his cigarette then took Tetsuya’s arm, wrapping his own arm around him in a strong embrace. “Say nothing, Tetsuya. Allow me to gather my thoughts.”

After minutes of silent caressing, Koichi kissed him then spoke.

“Teddy, my dear Teddy-san. We met and feeling these strong attractions we fell into each other’s arms. I feel great passion for your touch, but far beyond that is my respect, my admiration and my love for you as my friend. Should we not always be lovers, I’ll know we shall always be great trusting friends. This deep friendship abides, my Tetsuya, my Teddy.”

“Oh Koichi, how I love you. I had so hoped that you could extinguish that fire of doubt and at the same time quench my thirst for your love. Yes, yes, we, above all are friends but let us enjoy the flesh for as long as we can. Kiss me, Koichi.”

“Teddy….I had reckoned it your good form and manners that you never inquired of my past with men. I am not so naïve to believe that you thought our, our… our liaison was …was a singularity? So let me bridge your confidence, love. At Cambridge men sleep with men, I think, as often as they do with women. During my first term I awoke one night to find my roommate’s delightful blonde head bobbing above my middle. He was a pleasant but rather dull boy, the son of an earl and the soul of kindness. And he loved to suck cock. To put it simply I allowed the pleasure not only that night but the next morning and well, just about every day. However, it was one way sex. While I liked this very pretty boy, I felt no real attraction toward him. One holiday his older brother Paul was down from Oxford for the weekend. We all were drunk. Charles, my roommate, delicately asked if I would allow his brother Paul to watch as he pleasured me, which I did. A week later I received a letter from Paul who expressed, eloquently his desire to know me better and invited me to travel with him to Scotland and the Netherlands that summer. I was young, I found Paul brilliant and attractive and we came back from Holland as lovers. He joined the foreign ministry and was posted as a junior officer to Turkey. He returned to Britain often and we made plans to go into business as a means of our staying together. His absence made Cambridge miserable the next term. I braced up in time though and fell into an affair with a Norweigan girl studying chemistry, Paul, ever so understanding, said this was good therapy. But Paul and I remain our hearts locked together. The hardest thing about having been pulled into the Army was that I had to burn my treasure, the scores of letters from Paul. Sure, there were other sleeping partners both men and women. But, like you, I have this burden, this love for Paul from which the war has ripped any hope. He would like and I would like more than anything to be together. More than anything, Teddy. Now I know that you, better than anyone else, can understand this. So, you see, we find ourselves at the same port with foreign coins in our pockets hoping for ships that may never come.”

“Koichi, do you think we are no more than substitutes? Substitutes for Paul and Neil? “

“Of course. Yes, yes, I have thought so of myself from the first time. But to be honest since that first ride onto the plain my feelings have grown so that I believe we have evolved beyond that. And again, my dearest, the world is wide enough, the intelligent heart big enough for the love two, and Teddy, I do love you.”

They made love once again that evening before Koichi slipped away to return to officer quarters.

For the first time in over a month Teddy slept peacefully.

Neil

The first British prisoners, soldiers, sailors, and policemen from Hong Kong were confined in a compound separate from the Chinese. In the officers’ mess there was an ongoing discussion concerning their status with some holding the Westerners as military were superior to the Chinese, most of whom were peasants. The more conservative officers, including the majors and two lieutenant colonels argued the shameful dishonor of their surrender placed them as no better than the Chinese and argued that in the surrender they had forfeited any military respect. Further they cited the despicable treatment Japanese émigrés had suffered in Europe and California.

“These barbarians need a lesson that we shall gladly teach.”

After Teddy Katayama left the States, Neil Anderson felt as though he’d lost a limb. He fought down the grief by keeping eighteen-hour shifts at the hospital. The Sayonara ring had become his touchstone. For weeks he had hoped Teddy would, after the reunion with his family, change his mind and return to the States. He created images of Teddy and him finishing the clinic his dad had begun in Yucca Valley, growing old together. Or taking vacations together in the summers. But the war had fucked up everything. All over the country now there were “Rap a Jap” signs and the president had thrown anyone with a drop of Japanese blood into concentration camps, Neisei and even Sansei. This country might never again admit Japanese. Why did those son’s-a-bitches have to go and bomb Hawaii Goddamn ‘em. Goddamn ‘em to hell. Maybe he and Teddy could live in Mexico or Canada or operate some jungle clinic down in the Amazon. Daily he expected his active-duty orders which arrived two days after Pearl Harbor. Then on his final day of embarkation leave while packing, his landlady called him to the phone in the boarding house parlor. “Hurry Neil, it’s an overseas call. I don’t think we’ve ever had an overseas call before.”

“Hello, hello, this is Neil Anderson…”

“Neil it’s Charlotte Lowell, I’m so glad to get to you. Can you hear me, Neil.”

“Yeah, Charlotte. Gee, what a surprise. Where are you anyway?”

“Berne, Switzerland. Listen this is important Neil so let me get this message through before we get cut off. So, listen close. Teddy called me. He’s desperate for you to know….You still there Neil?

“Yes, yes. Charlotte, please tell me what Teddy said. Where is he?”

“Neil, he wants you to know that he loves you. He loves you. You are to meet in Lisbon at the end of the war. He’ll leave messages at the American Express office. He really loves you Teddy does, do you understand? Now do you have all that? The part about American Express in Lisbon?”

“Yes, yes, the American Express in Lisbon, yes, after the war. Of course, of course I understand Charlotte. God knows I feel the same, can you please tell him that. Yes, yes, yes tell him, please.”

“I think I can get a message to him. You see he’s back,…. he’s back…home. You know what I mean.”

“Yes, yes, I understand. You don’t know what this means to me, Charlotte. God bless you; you’re an angel. I can’t thank you enough.”

“Teddy’s a love, Neil. If anybody knows that it’s me.”

“It’s a miracle you caught me, Charlotte. I leave for the South Pacific tomorrow. I got called up to active duty.”

“Stay safe, sailor. Bye, bye.”

Lieutenant Neil Anderson, Medical Corps, U.S. Naval Reserve arrived on Wake Island via Pan American Clipper in December of 1941, the island’s first doctor. With four Navy hospital corpsmen the young doctor would manage the island’s infirmary with its tiny ten bed sick bay serving the 500 military and civilian workers on Wake. Only days after his arrival the island was surrendered to 1,000-man invasion force of Japanese Marines. Anderson along with other prisoners was confined under the tropical sun in hastily erected pens for a month then marched aboard the NITTA MARU where the Americans were confined in cargo holds that had delivered munitions and food. They were fed turnips and water only. The ship docked in Shanghai in early February. The officers had been permitted to wear their dress blue uniforms which afforded some protection to the cold of Shanghai experiencing nighttime temperatures as low as zero. Enlisted prisoners in tropical uniforms, some wearing no more than shorts and tee shirts suffered terribly, twenty of them dead before reaching port. At disembarkation the prisoners were marched from the dock area through the city to a military prison. Japanese Army cameras with tripods mounted on several platforms filmed the sad procession. Ultimately half of the prisoners from Wake Island were sent to work in the coal mines in the north, the other half sent by train to Manchuria thence by truck to Unit 731 near a place called Pingfang which the Americans will call Pink Fang.

Tokyo clamored for additional chemical and biological experimentation. The new compound for the Anglo-Americans receives its first American POWs on the first day of March. There had been much anticipation in the officers’ mess over their arrival and most of the camp had gathered to watch the trucks unload the arrival new prisoners. Koichi watched sadly from the 2^nd floor window of his lab as cocky soldiers pushed and shoved the 150 ragged, tired, sailors and marines from the trucks to the Anglo compound. Tests of were scheduled in three days and he wondered if any of the Americans would be included in his requisition for four Westerners.

As Scientific Director of Unit 731, Dr. Hideo Saito held responsibility over the three laboratories: Dr. Katayana’s chemical warfare lab, Dr. Katashi Ito’s biological lab, and Dr. Madoka Tanaka’s new Human Endurance lab. He particularly liked Katayana who was a good scientist, thorough, methodic, and well read. He knew his field. Katashi Ito likewise knew his field but unlike Katayama, had a caustic, arrogant mien. Probably Japan’s foremost expert on biologic pathogens, he had volunteered to manage this lab. But he was clearly ambitious and self-serving. Saito had caught him forwarding a report directly to the War College and had upbraided him severely. The two men shared a dislike, but Saito could ill afford to lose his recognized expertise.

Dr. Tanaka had arrived one month earlier and completely engaged in the construction of his facilities had yet to begin conducting science. Saito’s observation of Tanaka’s leadership revealed meanness in the man even worse than Ito’s. He was quick to deliver a forceful kick to any Chinese POW who failed to pour concrete, or drive a nail to his satisfaction and he on three occasions had slapped his own lab technicians in public. His lab would test the limits of human endurance to cold, heat, noise, sleep deprivation and various other stresses. He had recently returned from a three-week tour of German facilities so engaged. Tanaka who was wealthy, it was believed, had powerful friends in Tokyo. Dr. Saito could not appear to favor any one of the three scientists and labored to appear detached and neutral on the personal level while deeply engaged in each man’s science. But he would carefully watch Tanaka whose rough treatment of his own staff boded ill.

Saito realized the importance of morale, always a precarious situation at Unit 731. The weekly and often daily executions of prisoners were highly stressful. This he well knew. Despite the feigned public posture of disregard toward the logs, the pall of death hung over the camp at all times. The reports of shots from the execution site behind the stable were heard by all. In the mess, descriptions of bizarre last moments or an execution gone bad or some other anomaly, were a constant topic of conversation. In the summer everyone had complained about the stink and ash from the crematorium. And while everyone affected his own bravado or nonchalance, few escaped the silent, inner, unarticulated guilt and hidden compassion. The increasing degree of drunkenness in the officer’s mess attested to this. Junior and senior officers drank excessively nightly, and on a holiday or weekend they drank themselves into stupors. Everyone knew that the camp’s adjutant smoked opium. No, life at 731 was grim enough and additional pain unwelcome. Dr. Saito would watch Dr. Madoka Tanaka.

In early May, there was great jubilation with the news of the fall of Corregidor. A three-day holiday was declared, Teddy and Koichi secured horses, a tent, and supplies for a camping trip out onto the plains. With the coming of spring the days were bright and calm, the nights cold. The men rode thirty kilometers into the steppe for two days of uninterrupted bliss. Tetsuya has saved the Kirchwasser for a special occasion and on the first night out the two became very drunk and sentimental. For the first time they were completely uninhibited. The freedom of privacy, the glory of springtime engenderd bold language and sexual experimentation. They bathed in a wide stream spending the best hours of the next afternoon lolling naked on a blanket amid an explosion of wildflowers.

“Tell me Dr. Katayama, is it true that ingestion of Kirshwasser stimulates the production of testosterone and sexual urges? Never I have enjoyed so many orgasms, you goat, you.”

“Must be true, Lieutenant. I think it’s mathematic, monkey man.”

“Mathematic? How so?”

“Do you remember ratio problems from school?”

“Of course.”

“So, you’ll understand that pi is to the circle as the number six is to you and the number nine is me, now over here; fill my mouth with stiff pleasure then really do me.”

This excursion drew the pair even closer. Riding side by side they frequently extended hands to touch. At a village six kilometers from camp they purchased some trout from a boy. After stabling the horses Katayama carried the string of trout to Dr. Saito’s quarters.

“The fishing was good, Dr. Saito, next time you must come with us.”

“Ah doubtful. I heard at the mess that orders have arrived for Nakamura, but yes, you and I. One day. Thank you, Katayama-san.”

His heart sank. Orders? No orders were expected. His stomach turned and he felt nauseous. Back in his quarters he lay on his side staring at the wall. Fortune always turned unexpectedly. He hoped that Saito had misunderstood, that the orders are for another but within an hour Koichi appears his face ashen holding in his hands the dispatch containing his transfer orders.

“Saito said there were orders….”

“Yes.”

He watched a tear fill slowly then roll from Nakamura’s eye. “Singapore. I go to Singapore, Teddy.” Indeed, Lieutenant Koichi Nakamura was to report to Imperial General Staff Headquarters in Singapore for instructions and further transfer as Adjutant, Changi Prison.

“The British surrendered 130,000 English, Australian and Indian prisoners, all speakers of English. It’s my fluency in English. This is why I am transferred.”

Their last night together was a long tearful embrace during which they whispered of their brief past, the future, the war, and devised code words for “love” and “desire” and references to the special times they’d passed together, words that would pass a censor as innocuous. They made plans to meet after the war. An hour before dawn Tetsuya faded into a sleep. Koichi quietly dressed and slipped out the door. By ten o’clock he was at the aerodrome boarding his plane.

Blowback

Katayama threw himself into work at the laboratory. Even though summer had arrived his days were winterish, cold, confined, and sad despite excellent results with the QVOyD trials. His hypothesis was proving correct, the healthier Westerners exposed the QVOyD were surviving the blind tests 100%. Before the first tests Katayama studied Dr. Von der Lunken’s journal articles and viewed several times the German live human test film. The film showed twenty dark haired men marched naked into a shower facility with a large clock face with a sweep second hand fixed on a wall. Each man holds a bar of soap. Once the sealed door to the shower room is secured the men gaze upwards at the shower nozzles from which nothing visible comes. Then as if a puppeteer has cut all the strings, every man collapses in an instant. In less than forty seconds from the closing of the sealed door all movement ceases. The film continued rolling focusing on the heap of corpses with the clock face in the background. At the two-minute mark hot steaming water sprays from the shower nozzles for ninety seconds then stops. The sealed door opens and two doctors wearing gas masks enter and examine each victim with a stethoscope. At the six-minute mark gas masks face the camera and the doctors give a thumbs down signal. It was an incredible demonstration of potency. After viewing these films, the powers at the War College were thrilled with and wanted Katayama to advance at full speed. Von der Lunken, however, had annotated in a hand-written note that in his opinion was far too volatile and unstable for use as a military agent, unstable enough for the German army to dismiss its potential as a tactical weapon. Only the Gestapo had use for small amounts. Japan was welcome to the existing stocks remaining. He recommended Cyclon-D, a gas, he said, that had tested quite successfully. When he found a proper method for shipment, he would send enough Cyclon D for Katayama to conduct a study.

Dr. Saito directed Katayama to accelerate testing on the QVOyD. Despite Katayama’s protests over his concerns regarding the weather, a series of tests was arranged to be conducted within two weeks. Each test would employ only Chinese subjects. As requested by Tokyo, battlefield conditions would be simulated. Rolls of concertina wire were arranged in a seventy-meter funnel shape at the edge of a large field. Chosen groups of twelve prisoners were instructed to run from the larger end to a tent erected at the smaller end of the funnel. Soldiers drilled the prisoners. Each group was to be tested with a diminished exposure to determine minimal lethal dosages. In summer the vast flat plains of Manchuria absorb heat faster than waters of the ocean waters to the east. The ensuing low pressure over land draws in wet monsoon winds from the Pacific, winds which often rise suddenly. Consequently, Katayama’s laboratory watched the weather carefully and had managed the tests, with everything necessary in place, so that the tests could be held in rapid succession on the first calm day.

On a clear, calm morning in late July four groups of twelve logs were in place near the field in canvas covered trucks. Soldiers with fixed bayonets lined each side of the field with two film crews, one at the narrow end of the field, the other on the south side. The first group of Chinese prisoners formed.

A sergeant with an interpreter stood before them with a live chicken in his hands. “This chicken will be the prize awarded to whoever is first to reach the tent! When you hear the whistle, run!”

Dr. Katayama gave a hand signal to his new aid Lieutenant Koga. Seeing Koga raise his sword the soldiers guarding the field donned gas masks. General Kobiyashi, Lt. Koga, Dr. Saito, Dr. Katayama and the three laboratory technicians donned their masks. The Chinese prisoners grew restless on the verge of panic when Lieutenant Koga sharply lowered his sword, the signal for the whistle to blow. Simultaneously noises like exploding fire crackers popped the length of the field as the gas canisters spewed the colorless chiral molecules into the heavy humid air. In an instant Chinese prisoners dropped as if a giant invisible scythe had swooped from the sky. None came within forty meters of winning the prized chicken.

The masked soldiers then stacked arms and entered the field and began dragging the fallen logs to an awaiting truck. One of the soldiers on the recovery detail suffered a sneezing fit and lifted his mask to clear the inside lens, dropping dead on the spot.

Lieutenant Koga present at the scene, shouting orders muffled by his own gas mask. “Get him in the truck with the logs. Now!”

Within five minutes the field was cleared and new gas canisters in place, the sergeant with the chicken and the interpreter ready to receive the second group. Upon seeing the gas masks, the second group panicked and was forced by bayonets to enter the field. Although they had been reduced by half, no Chinese victim survived beyond thirty meters.

As the sun rose higher, the masks became increasingly uncomfortable. General Kobiyashi left the field after the second run. But no one, however uncomfortable dared remove his mask. As the third group began its run, a slight breeze arose wafting the colorless, odorless gas across the soccer field to the stables killing nine of the dozen horses. The fourth run was cancelled. Results of the tests under battlefield conditions: 36 logs, 1 soldier, and 9 horses dead.

Dr. Katayama and Lieutenant Koga returned to the lab full of fear. As soon as the wretched masks were removed Koga addressed his boss.

“Katayama-san – the blame will fall on our heads, no?”

“We’ll know soon enough, Koga. Try not to worry.”

He walked heavily up the stairs to the Director’s officer where Dr. Saito and General Kobiyashi awaited.

Bowing deeply to the general, then Director Saito, before he could say a word Dr. Saito spoke.

“Please sit down, Katayama-san. Sit, sit. Do not worry. Here, share a brandy with the General and me. General Kobiyashi?”

General Kobiyashi’s face revealed nothing. Katayama faced him not knowing whether to expect a scathing tirade or even a death sentence. When he spoke, his voice was almost gentle.

“Dr. Katayama, Dr. Saito and I are well aware of the most excellent work you have performed. Do not allow today’s upset to disturb you or your staff. Such things happen. Especially in war. When your laboratory was planned discussions included just such possibilities. Yes! The nature of our tasks at 731 must envelop this…this…high degree of risk. Dr. Saito had related your concerns before the experiments today. The loss of Private Shimizu is most unfortunate, but where does the fault lie? Eh? It was stupid for the private to remove his mask. He had been well trained. Stupidity? A glaze of snot in his mask that could not be endured? And this a soldier? No. Death by mucus, Katayama, death by mucus is a joke to be laughed at in the officer’s mess. Do you see?”

“Yes, my General.”

“As to the matter of the horses, this too is most unfortunate. But here we are in Manchuko. Here in Manchuko there are more horses than there are pretty women, eh? Though much more expensive…heh heh. Still, they are easily replaced. Now Dr. Katayama, Shimizu’s death, fortunately, will not appear in the report nor in the films we must perforce provide the Imperial War College. No mention of the loss of the horses is necessary. We will beg a delay in further testing, citing the German concerns as well as the weather here. In the meantime, Dr. Saito has suggested and I will recommend a holiday leave for you. Three weeks in the homeland! What do you say?”

“I humbly thank the General and the Director.”

“A final word though, Katayama. You will necessarily brief your aid, Lieutenant Koga on the importance of silence, eh? There will be no mention of your protests to Dr. Saito prior to the tests. Ever. Is that understood? Clearly understood?”

“But of course, my General. Dr. Saito.”

“Very well then. Let’s drink up. You’ll need to pack to meet tonight’s flight, Katayama.”

Lieutenant Koga was waiting at Katayama’s quarters. “The gods have favored us Koga. We’re safe, and I catch the night flight to the homeland for three weeks leave. While I am away, enjoy yourself, Koga and keep your mouth shut.”

Handwriting on the Wall

The unexpected leave lifted his spirits. Lieutenant Akiro Watanabe had the week before proposed marriage to his sister. Akiro had two weeks leave before reporting to his flight squadron aboard the carrier JUNYO. There were several formal meetings between the two families to hastily arrange the wedding. During a late night discussion with his future brother-in-law, Lieutenant Watanabe confided that despite the constant stream of positive war news, the Navy had suffered severe losses, particularly the loss of carriers and pilots.

“Tetsuya, in one day four carriers and two-hundred-and-fifty of our planes were destroyed by the Americans in our attack on Midway Island! In one day! We’re scrambling to replace those pilots and air crews. These Americans have quickly become a formidable enemy. They’re angry now and prepared. They’re coming at us like hornets whose nest has been riled. No more easy Pearl Harbor attacks. If we cannot break them in the next year, I fear the worst. The Japanese people have no idea!”

Tetsuya was strongly attracted to Akiro’s sister Yoshi who met his glances in a most delicious manner. Tradition placed the two seated together at the wedding feast. There were many toasts into the night and no one escaped the effects of the plum wine and sake. The two soon found themselves in the garden of the Watanabe’s home. Standing on the soft pea gravel next to the stone lantern Tetsuya clasped her hand. She averted his gaze but returned a slight squeeze. Alone cloaked by the safety of night, the sake having shed no small degree of inhibition he drew her near and placed his open hand gently against her cheek. Now she looked into his eyes directly, openly, her expression so tender, so desirable that he drew her face to his and they kissed for the longest time. After they withdrew from this kiss they sat upon a little oaken bench beside the koi pond. Despite the alcohol he felt clear-headed.

“You are so beautiful. There is much more I could say, good things…but …but…just know that I feel something in my heart which I will not jeopardize with words that could be misunderstood, most beautiful Yoshi.”

“Ah, Tetsuya. For the past hours I have hoped for words like that from you. Something similar presses upon my heart.”

Then the two heard their names being called as the wedding party dispersed.

“May I see you again?.”

“Oh yes, Tetsua, oh yes. And soon, please. Soon.” Once again, they kissed then rejoined the wedding revelers.

Akiro and Teddy’s sister left the next morning for their wedding week on Cheju-do Island in Korea. Tetsuya took the train several times from Hiroshima to Kyoto to formally call on Yoshi, each visit endearing the pair even more. Yoshi anticipated a proposal.

Within Tetsuya was buffeted by a storm of emotion. How strange! he thought as his scientific mind attempted to categorize his loves in a sensible, understandable order. He reckoned himself fortunate and recalled that long discussion with Koichi concerning loving more than one. Yoshi’s presence melts my heart. I know I have loved, and love three people. I love Neil. I love Koichi. Now Yoshi.

 Neil Anderson was ever present on his mind, but so too was Koichi. He had noted an aging of his father which concerned him and now this heavy, sweet attraction for his beautiful twenty-year-old sister-in-law. She was the most alluring woman he had known, so beautiful and so sweet, and so desirable that away from her, her image rested atop some clouded pedestal. With her near he was sexually aroused, but away from her his reverence for her denied him the pleasure of imagining sex with her. Away he could define individual features of her face, but he could not fit them together to complete her image, so sacred was she. During his time with Charlotte, he’d frequently masturbated thinking of her, something he could not bring himself to now do with Yoshi’s incomplete, sacred image. Yoshi at their last time together, had not so subtly extolled the charms and beauty of Cheju-do, indirectly implying that she expected him to propose. On the evening before his return to Manchuko he met with Yoshi again beside her father’s koi pond.

“Yoshi, my dearest, please listen to me. The war will keep me away for how long I do not know. Soon I must return to Manchuko. The war has stolen our lovers’ time just as it robbed Akiro and my sister. Oh, to pass a year or even weeks exchanging poems or sitting together in your father’s garden. So, our time is unnaturally compressed. Perhaps this is why we feel so strongly for one another, eh?”

“Tetsuya I have worried every moment since I met you that you would leave, you would return to Manchuko without saying those very words to me. I have never loved anyone so. I would follow you anywhere, do anything you would ever ask of me, just to be with you.”

They hugged and kissed softly, then stood and gazed into another’s eyes for a moment then joined again in a passionate embrace, hot and fervid with the kiss of tongues. Tetsuya felt Yoshi’s fingertips brush across the small of his back then lowering to his bottom. Aroused he pressed himself against Yoshi’s middle and she responded, swaying to the natural rhythm.

“Ahh, Yoshi. Oh, that we were married.”

“Tetsuya, you’ve said the war has compressed time, perhaps we can do this.”

“No, my love, for respect of our fathers and there is not time enough.”

“Oh yes, Tetsuya, yes there is,” Yoshi whispered as she forcefully massaged the fabric against his erection, with her soft hand fumbling for buttons as her other hand guided Tetsuya’s hand to her breast. Very shortly the two lay in an undulating froth atop Yoshi’s gown spread on the soft pea gravel of her father’s garden. They kissed hard and passionately caressing one another with hands damp with sex.

“Oh yes, my Tetsuya. Never will my heart let you go, my love. If this is shameful, I don’t care. This stupid, unholy war compresses and sullies everything. Everything! Not just time, no, but feelings, passions, hopes, and most of all fears. Akiro or you could be sacrificed to this monster at any time. Now I have known you, Tetsuya. If you fall at least my loss will be diminished by these golden memories of tonight. Oh, how I treasure you. Enter me once again, now Tetsuya, now!” Her words and love making would reverberate within Tetsuya’s mind daily in his waking moments and nightly in his dreams.

Yoshi, Neil, Koichi and his father dominated his thoughts during the flight from Tokyo to Hsingking. Perfection, he imagined as an impossible house, with three chambers for Yoshi, Neil, and Koichi, all of whom would love one another – in this heavenly palace. But he was enroute to an earthly hell, Unit 731 where human life was valued no more than used chop sticks from a filthy market stall. Admittedly the leave had lifted his spirits and given him a reprieve from the stresses of 731, albeit temporarily. The intensity of his love for Yoshi was fervent. Her cautionary words concerning the war’s ominous influences rang through his mind continually, coloring darkly his love for her, for Neil and for Koichi. He found himself contemplating the seemingly limitless bounds of love a man might endure under the dark shadows of war. Is love limitless? Was this the sinister influence of war, a powerful emotion introduced in joy to be rendered in tragedy?

Such a paradox, he thought, that something so wicked and so horrible as the war had, in essence, engendered three soul stirring passionate loves. And he knew he was but a miniscule atom among the swirl of millions of lovers all over the world, now and forever. Love, he wondered, did it exist to exacerbate the agony of war? Once back in his lab he planned to again lose himself in his work.

A stack of journals and some photos had arrived from Berlin sent by Karl more than six months earlier. A handwritten note on Karl’s personal stationary was tucked into one of the journals. His hands shook as he opened the envelope.

“Tetsuya, my dear friend,

Here some relevant articles you will have. Very much did I your visit enjoy. You soon must again to Berlin return. No city is more beautiful in the Spring. The package you were concerned about arrived safely, just before an unplanned sea voyage with much joy and affirmation clearly expressed.” Below I list the cogent paragraphs in the journal articles to which serious attention is deserved. The pictures of us together at Unter dem Linden and Brandenburg Gate you will enjoy. Aufweidersehn, Karl.

 “The package you were concerned about arrived safely just before an unplanned sea voyage with much joy and affirmation clearly expressed.” He promised himself there and then that he would never give up hope. His naval commission surely would have been activated after our attack on Hawaii. Neil is now a doctor on an unplanned sea voyage aboard a naval ship. His heart soared.

Sayonara

He and his new aide Lieutenant Koga had become friends much as he and Koichi had though without intimacy. They often dined or bathed together and like Nakamura, Koga disdained but silently endured the horrendous abuses at 731. Further experiments were on hold and he had set the lab to work testing atropine and pralidoxime as antidotes.

For the next months he buried himself with work at the lab. He compiled an exhaustive sixty-five-page report on the use of Sarin and its antidotes. The comprehensive data and clearly established the extremely volatile nature of which precluded reasonable usage as a tactical battlefield weapon. No mention was made of accidental deaths of Private Shimizu or the nine horses. Skillfully citing a case against gas warfare in battle, the report opined that the blowback potential of this gas was too great an endangerment to Imperial soldiers and mariners. The report’s findings of fact substantiated all recommendations and closed with the suggestion that the use of “be limited to singular usages such as executions and assassinations. Its odorless, colorless nature make an especially useful tool for assassins.” Tetsuya hoped that the report would satisfy Tokyo’s blood lust.

Upon reading the report, Dr. Saito allowed, as he personally was in full accord with the report’s findings and recommendations.

“However there is one ranking general on the staff,” he said, “who is not a scientist and who has only limited understanding of scientific method. I worry that he will make the case that the use of Sarin will accelerate the victories. Bringing the war to an early end, saving a million lives. The report needs a stronger argument against usage.”

The final report included full texts of translations from the German reports citing numerous facts that supported Katayama’s contentions forcefully. As the opposing general had attended the Prussian Military Academy, Saito and Katayama correctly anticipated that the report’s recommendations supported by the Germans would be approved.

About once every six weeks a letter arrived from Koichi. He was surprised that he had adapted so well to the new assignment, though using their prescribed code conveyed anguish in their separation. Koichi was back among his beloved British and positioned with great authority in the structure of the Changi Prison. Among prisoners were several classmates from Cambridge for whom he could insure a degree of protection and comfort.

The following week, the chief topic of discussion in the mess was Dr. Tanaka’s Ice Box. For two weeks, his lab had been testing low temperature endurances. Logs were locked into a large freezer with a thick double-paned observation glass and filmed as they froze. Those surviving the ordeal all suffered frostbite to extremities. Their slow deaths from gangrene were meticulously recorded by charts and photographs. During the middle-summer, fifty logs had perished in water deprivation observations. No one said it, but everyone knew Tanaka to be a sadistic monster. Some believed the doctors Tanaka and Ito to be in a contest to determine whose fires could consume the most logs. While Tanaka was painted in much darker colors, Ito’s work conveyed the most fear. Each month logs were purposely exposed and contaminated with disease strains of cholera, typhus, smallpox and who knew what other communicable diseases. Any officer or soldier coming down with a cold or diarrhea had to endure the worry that some of Ito’s microbes might have broken loose. The enlisted men assigned to assist Ito’s lab’s experiments were considered to be on shit duty. Katayama withdrew from these speculations privately wondering how the mess measured his own lab’s activities. It had been a full year since the debacle and the neurological lab’s work since had been with safeguard antidotes. Because the officers freely bantered the issue of Tanaka’s and Ito’s evil wizardry, Katayama reasoned the he might be considered comparatively humane alongside them. But he had no inkling of what they said in the mess about him or his laboratory’s work with tongues so frequently oiled with liquor and mental depression. That summer there had been two suicides among the enlisted troops supervising the new crematorium. And a corporal had been court-martialed for refusing an order to scorch the backs of a row of fifty Chinese logs with a flame thrower for Tanaka’s laboratory’s burn studies. He made it a point to pass at least two nights a week with the officers after the evening meal. This in itself set him apart from Ito and Tanaka. Dr. Saito occasionally joined the mess but most often dined with General Kobiyashi and his staff in the senior officers’ mess.

Most evenings, Tetsuya preferred spending alone, writing to Yoshi or Koichi, reading and listening to the Blauplunkt. The war had turned against Japan. His brother-in-law Akiro’s prediction concerning the Americans was correct. Their forces were sweeping across the Pacific like a tsunami. Another staggering loss of aircraft occurred in June in the Marianas Islands with the Americans claiming to have shot down nearly three-hundred aircrafts. Should Akiro happen to have been one of those pilots, Yoshi and his sister must comfort one another. He crafted a letter to his father disguising this concern trying to say in code to convey that within a year, two at the most, Japan’s military would be on its knees before the upstart Americans and British. And then there were the Russians. The BBC had already broadcast possible venues for war crimes trials. When the allies learned of the chamber of horrors at Unit 731, surely the military leaders and scientists would be hanged.

One evening, sipping a scotch and soda in the officers’ mess, he noticed the ring on the finger of the mess sergeant’s tending bar.

“May I see your ring, sergeant?’

In an instant he turned ashen and felt the loss of his balance. He braced himself against the bar.

Dr. Katayama, are you sick? May I help you…get you anything.”

“No, no thank you sergeant. I’m fine. Just a little dizzy spell. I’m on medication and I’ve been working hard lately.”

“Here, sir, take this brandy.”

“Sergeant, may I ask where you came by this beautiful ring?”

“Of course, Doctor. I bought it from one of the Anglo compound guards, Private Saito. Nice, eh. And I paid only fifty Yen. Like it?”

“Sergeant, my mother had a ring just like this. May I ask, would you consider selling? I would happily double what you paid.”

“Sold! Thank you, Dr. Katayama. Thank you,” he said as he slipped the ring from his finger handing it to Tetsuya.”

His heart raced all the way back to his quarters as he clutched the sacred relic tightly in his fist. There he examined it under a bright desk lamp. There was no question this was the very ring he’d presented Neil.

The next morning, he sent Lieutenant Koga for Private Saito. “Koga, Saito sold this gold ring to a mess sergeant for fifty Yen. Find out where he got it. Squeeze the bastard if you have to. But keep this quiet and when you’re done with Private Saito make certain he keeps his mouth shut.”

Later, Lieutenant returned smiling.

“That was easy Katayama-san. He traded a bottle of aspirin, ten packs of cigarettes, and a kilo of rice for the ring to some American; he’s the doctor that runs the logs’ clinic in the Anglo compound.”

Now Katayama’s heart raced. “Koga, get me this American.”

Twenty minutes later Koga reported. “This doctor, the American, he’s quarantined. He’s in Ito’s clinic, Katayama-san.”

Now Tetsuya’s hand’s trembled and his heart raced as he climbed the stairs to the clinic of Ito’s lab. There Dr. Ito’s lab technician tried to block his entry.

“Most honorable Dr. Katayama, my instructions prevent anyone from entering. I am sure the esteemed doctor realizes that the danger of contamination.”

“Give me a mask and gloves, you idiot. Now!”

Entering the twenty-bed ward he noted some patients thrashing, others comatose, and even through the mask he detected the putrid odor of shit, vomit and unchanged linen. Although peppered fly paper strips hang over the beds the drone of fat blue-bottle flies is heard everywhere. Halfway down the ward, Neil Anderson lay unconscious, naked in a soiled bed.

Running to Neil’s side, quickly feeling his forehead and eyes, Tetsuya examined the chart at the foot of the bed before again approaching the recumbent form that lay still before him. The stench is sickening. Across the aisle, he spotted a low bench which he moved to Neil’s bedside. Taking his wrist, he found with difficulty a weak pulse. Neil’s eyes are sunken and his natural color drained from his face. However, the light band of freckles across the bridge of his nose were visible. Lice duck in and out of his perfectly formed eyebrows. Tetsuya vigorously rubs Neil’s hands.

“Neil, wake up. Open your eyes, Neil. Neil it’s Teddy, wake up.”

“This log’s about ready to go, Dr. Katayama. Can I be of service.”

Beside him stood Dr. Ito with the lab technician who had tried to block his entrance into the clinic.

“Dr. Ito I would like to use this log. My people have learned this one is a doctor quite familiar with atropine. I want to squeeze every bit of information from him before he leaves us.”

Ito chuckles. “But of course, esteemed colleague. We’ve all we need from him. He’s yours if you want him. But his chart must remain with us, you understand,” he said with a smirk.

“Thank you, Ito-san. Your cooperation is appreciated. May I ask to have your lab techs move him into my lab right away and I’ll need some drip IV’s.”

Within thirty minutes Neil lay, still unconscious, on a cot in Tetsuya’s lab bathed in a clean diaper and with an IV. Listening with his stethoscope he realized how hard cholera had slammed Neil’s system. The chart he’d read in Ito’s clinic indicated he’d been administered the cholera bacteria eight days earlier. He was number seven in a twelve-person test aimed to determine–the number of days between administering the bacterium and death–in the absence of treatment. Tetsuya knew the crucial element in his recovery would be rehydration. If he could revive him, get him to drink and to eat, his system could reengage, but his low pulse and blood pressure indicated how very near he was to death. For thirty hours Tetsuya remained awake massaging Neil’s wrists, changing his diapers, cleaning vomit and speaking to him in soft, sweet English. Exhausted, he began slipping in and out of cat naps but always his hand on Neil’s arm or chest. Startled out of a nap he felt his hand brushed away. He lit the lamp by the cot to see Neil’s eyes open, fluttering.

“Neil it’s Teddy. Do you hear me, it’s Teddy………. Good, Neil, good. This is what you need. Here sip this. I’ll hold your head.”

“Aghhhh. Is it you Teddy? Really?”

“Oh yes, my love, it is I and we are at last together and I do so love you.”

“Aghh, Teddy? Am I dead? Am I dead, Teddy?”

“No. No. And you’re not going to die. I’m going to take care of you. You.. are …not …going… to… die! Do you hear me? You…are…not…going…to…die!”

“Teddy, I love you,” he said as Tetsuya lay his head softly on the pillow.

Both men fell asleep. Tetsuya awakes to find his treasure, his love, his true love forever gone.

Never had he been as miserable or enraged. Tears poured down his face as he choked back the sobs. In the dimly lighted office, he bathed Neil’s body and kissed the lips a final time. In the morning, he summoned Lieutenant Koga.

“Koga, I knew this American. I had hoped to use him in our lab but unfortunately, he has died. He was one of Dr. Ito’s. I need you to help me. He’s not to be dumped into Ito’s damned crematorium. I want you to get a truck and shovels. You and I will take the body off-base and we will bury it properly. No one need to know of this, Koga. Tell the motor pool we’re out looking for specific soil samples. Will you help me, Koga?

“Of course, Katayama-san, of course, my friend.”

Once the grave had been dug, the two men lowered Neil’s body. “Would you please sit in the cab of the truck, Koga-san. I’ll fill in the grave.”

Again, tears and chocked back sobs wracked Katayama. He’d had placed the gold ring on Neil’s finger and an ammunition box over Neil’s head so that he would not throw dirt in his face, remembering their sitting by the campfire in the Joshua Tree desert.

“You have a most beautiful American face, Neil. Sayonara.”

The next morning in his lab he injected himself with the antidote atropine then added just enough to cover the bottom of a flask. He knocked on Dr. Katashi Ito’s office door.

“Yes?”

“Dr. Ito, it’s Dr. Katayama, may I have a minute.”

“Ah but of course, Katayama-san. So? How is your American? he asked with a wry smile.”

“I’m afraid we were too late with that one. No, I am here because I need a professional’s opinion with an antidote I’m working on. I’m not sure about this compound. It has such a strangely familiar odor I just cannot identify.”

“Pass it here. Let me smell.”

Ito removed the stopper, placing the flask beneath his nose, saying, “I smell nothing,” as he fell dead.

Tetsui put on the rubber gloves and lifted the flask and stopper into the rubber bag and placed them in his brief case.

“Quick, quick,” he yelled to the Ito’s clerk, “I think the doctor’s suffered a heart attack. Quickly, fetch Dr. Saito, call for him now – we must waste no time!”

No one doubted the cause of death and Ito was rendered a suitable funeral with military honors the next day. Teddy, however did not attend. He had awakened with nausea and severe diarrhea. Lieutenant Koga called on him after the Ito funeral and tried to convince him to report to the hospital but he would not.

By the third day Katayama was drifting in and out of coma and Koga called for stretcher bearers who carried him to the military infirmary. “Dr. Katayama, you have cholera. Can you understand? You must take fluids, Katayama.”

He well understood. But he did not take fluids. In the drab military infirmary Tetsuya Katayama, MD, PhD willed himself to death. He too was given a proper funeral with military honors and buried next to Dr. Katashi Ito.

Epilogue

In August of 1945, it all came to an end. As invading Russian troops entered Harbin province in Manchuria, all prisoners were executed by the Japanese, their remains destroyed in the crematorium. Military officials, the scientists, and laboratory technicians fled to Japan. Dr. Madoka Tanaka fled with dozens of boxes of collected germ warfare data he later traded to the Americans who, as his reward, granted a parole. Dr. Hideo Saito was arrested and hanged himself in his cell two days before his court-martial. General Hiroshi Kobayashi was handed over to the Russians and died in 1952 in a Siberian labor camp. In August, Tetsuya Katayama’s father, sister, and sister-in-law perished in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Yoshi’s brother Akira never returned from his flight, in a battle the Americans called “The Marianas Turkey Shoot.” Lieutenant Koichi Nakamura survived the war to enter into a successful trading firm partnership with Lord Paul Worthingon.

* * * * THE END * * * *
Copyright Walter Mancuso 2025

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