The Argo Goes West

127, A Chinese Man Beyond Time and Space

Pat Garrett on horseback, and Billy Chen and Slim on motorcycles, slowly making their way through the burnt-out streets of Sacramento.

"Everything is badly damaged, but this one is especially bad," Slim groaned.

Most of the densely packed buildings were damaged, and the streets were crowded with people who had lost their homes. Most were Chinese. Their eyes glistened in their sooty faces.

"Their eyes," said Pat Garrett. "I feel hostility. Did something happen?"

"I will ask them."

Billy Chen, a Chinese, asked a middle-aged man with pigtails nearby. 

"We were atacked by the white man," the man said fast and furious. "White people set fire to our house in the midst of Carter's Raiders attack. Not content with just changing the law and taking away our jobs, the whites want to give us death throes. "

"It's not just the house," cried another man. "Charlie was killed. Burned alive. Called plague, plague."

Such anti-Chinese movements were frequent in the United States during this period. It is so-called Yellow Peril.

In the mid-nineteenth century, the United States brought in large numbers of coolies, or workers, from China for the gold rush and the construction of the transcontinental railroad. Chinese communities had sprung up all over the country. The Chinese also started a restaurant and laundry business. However, when the demand for coolies disappeared, the Chinese began to be shunned and ostracized. It all started here in Sacramento. Raiding and looting Chinatown. Many Chinese were lynched, including having their hair cut off, scalped, and branded with a trowel. Of course, that's what some hysterical mobs did. However, the United States government not only did not punish them, but even enacted the Chinese Exclusion Act to help them.

History repeated itself. In the 21st century United States, Yellow Peril has been revived. Economic friction, COVID-19... There should have been a clue to the solution. However, because both leaders suffered from paranoia, the brakes did not work, and in 2038, the world finally came to an end...

In the middle of the immaculate white control room of the United States Mars base, Billy Chen appeared out of the blue like a trick shot. Its position was confirmed in advance by three-dimensional polar coordinates from the center of Mars. The Americans who saw the young Chinese did not discriminate like nineteenth-century Americans did, but there was a little hatred.

Americans had different skin tones. Billy Chen realized once again that America does not have an American race equivalent to the Chinese race, only American citizens.

"Captain Joe Delaney," said an African-American man. His hairstyle was an afro, which did not exist in 1900.

"I'm Billy Chen." Billy also introduced himself. There was also a Chinese name, Chen Sili, but he decided to go by his English name.

"Where did you come in from?" asked the Shortcut woman. She was Heather Clover, a biologist.

"Ren Yi Men," Billy replied.

"What is that?" asked Dr. Judd Silverberg, with a long face and a beard around his mouth.

"It's a device that expands dimensions and connects planes of three-dimensional space," Billy replied. "The origin of the name is Japanese manga."

"You mean Anywhere Door, by any chance?" asked Clover.

"That's right."

"Jeez!" said Dr. Clover, her eyes twinkling back to his childhood fascination with magic. "I can't believe it! When I was a kid, I thought it would be great if I could actually do it!"

"Me too," agreed Delaney. "Did you guys develop it?"

"No, we found it in the ruins," said Billy.

"Are the ruins Martian ruins?"

"It's true that it was on this planet, but I don't know if it was made by Martians."

"Did you find any traces of living things?"

"None found. There was only one device in the ruins."

"Is that the device that transported you here?"

"That's right."

"You guys were able to move the device well. Was there an instruction or something left?"

"There was something like that."

"How did you decipher it?"

"They were not letters or numbers, but geometric figures. We had a lot of trouble, but Dr. Lao applied Pascal's triangle to decipher it. "

Further questions and answers followed. After most of the questions were exhausted, they had a coffee break (everyone was thirsty from talking too much). Then they got down to business.

"As Dr. Lao said on the hotline, we are unable to return to Earth," said Billy Chen. "We can use the Ren Yi Men to go back, but the Earth is radioactively contaminated and unusable for us."

The Chinese Mars base was already using the Ren Yi Men to bring in supplies from Earth. It would take two or three years with a rocket, but it was completed in an instant, and it was very convenient.

"I think your base, like ours, can continue to live on a self-sufficient system. But if possible, wouldn't you like to return to Earth?"

"Of course," Delaney nodded.

"There's a consultation," said Billy. "Actually, we're wondering if we can extend the dimensions even further and jump through time."

"Do you mean to build a time machine?"

"Yes. Could you please help us?"

Delaney avoided an immediate answer and called out to the Apple Watch that was wrapped around his left wrist. "Conrad."

After a while,

"Conrad speaking. What's wrong?"

"Conrad, please," Delaney said. "Come to Main Mission Control ASAP."