Galaxy Express 999 24

GE999 #24


p115
A space warrior in exile wrote: "blood flows where men can't tune their passions up. It's how it is in the universe." Meanwhile, the Galaxy Express is still on its way through the space void.

24th stop
The Maetel of Mud


p116-117
It seems like this planet is wet and slimy.
It's being called the city of rain. Since its creation, it's been raining non stop...


p118
Huh? It always has been raining on this planet?
That's right... The rain has never stopped, not even one second, and no one has ever seen the sun...


p119
Plants are amazingly big!!!
They're constantly growing. It's a true heaven for all plants.


p120
I recall having read a short science fiction story that was about a rainy forest on Venus. It must have looked like that.
Exactly! If you look at the sky while opening your mouth, you might actually drown.

Where all this water is going after falling from the sky?
All we know is that the underground contains a lot of absorbing canals that are draining water, but we don't know where it's going afterwards.


p121
I wonder if the inside is also full of water.

Anyways, the house here are really beautiful.

It's a place where life is good, even temperatures are ideal...
Please come in quick, miss Maetel.

People here are clean and have good manners.
It feels like inside a bathroom.

Me too! I'm going to take a shower!!!
Take your time, the train will take off in one week, you don't need to hurry.


p122
Everything is very clean here.

Waah!!!

Tetsurou!
?

Water took my trunks off! Don't come here!

You need to always keep your ticket on you. It's your most valuable thing...
Just put it in your trunks.
Er, okay!!!

The phone is ringing?!


p123
Yes, it's Maetel... Yes...
I see... You...

Understood.

Tetsurou, I need to go see someone.
When you'll be done with dinner, just lock the door and go sleep.
But I'm not sleepy yet.

Can I take a look around?
Yes, you can, even at night...

... But you mustn't go near mud ponds.

I'll be back later, but don't worry about me.
Understood!!!


p124
With all this rain, I don't really want to go outside anymore.

It's the phone...

Hello, er...
Is this Hoshino Tetsurou...?

Yes?
I'm waiting for you.

But who are you? How do you know my name?
I'm waiting for you since a long time.

I want to see you... I'm near you...

Come join me outside, I'll be waiting...
But...

Take the right path after leaving the hotel, I live at the bottom of the street.
Just borrow an umbrella...
... Or you can come naked if you prefer.


p126
If I keep going straight, I should reach the bottom of the street.

What? But there's no house here!!


p127
Tetsurou!!!
...

Where are you?

I'm here.
?
?

!!

Wah!!!

Ah!!!
Ah!!!
Ah!!!

I waited for you for so long.


p128
Here's my house...
Damn!! Though Maetel told me not to get near mud ponds!!


p129
Come in my humble house at the bottom of mud.
There's only a mud lake here!!

I'm gonna die!! I'm falling in a bottomless pits!!

Mae... Maetel!!

???
It's a little hard to get in, but you won't die from it.


p130
Where am I?
I told you, in my house...

... in a bubble of air that is floating in the mud. This is where us poor live.
In a bubble of air...


p131
If you're working for me...
someday we could buy a house at the surface.

So slums are in the mud...
Yes, because that's the only place we can live.

But how did you know my name and the hotel I was staying in?
Thanks to television!

The 10:10 train leaving from Camshises at destination of the town of rain will bring Mr. Nobotta, student, Miss Bijin-Mitai, student and Mr. Mou-Ukerunonya, businessman.
They will stay at Mai-Mai hotel.

Then, because of the rain, there's not much to do outside. Television is replacing a lot of activities.
We know everything that is going around.


p132
And if I told you that I don't want to stay here? Anyway, I'll be leaving in one week!! I absolutely need to go back...
Go back? And how? We're 200 meters under the mud, and I can sink my house even further. If you try to get away, you'll die from mud pressure.


p133
[nothing]


p134-135
I'm bored!!!
I wanna do something!!


p136
Because I'm staying here doing nothing, I got fatter!

And so? You don't need to be an athlete.
I'm happy as long as you're by my sides...

You have as many books you can ever wish for, and you can watch interesting shows on TV. What would you want?

It's been 6 days now...
The stop was one week... or seven days.

I can't bear it anymore!!!

I'll stake my all.
You idiot!!!


p137
....


p138
...

Of little height, he has brown hair with narrow eyes. His legs are arched.
...

They're talking about you on TV.
No one considers the possibility that you're in the mud.

The railway company of the galaxy will reward anyone who will find him with the recompense of their choice.


p139
If I had a ticket like yours, I could go anywhere I want.

Give it back, it's mine.
I'm not going to steal it from you.

And anyway, you're going to stay with me...

... until you die, you won't even need to work.

My name is Maetel.
M... Maetel?

But, this name is...
That's also my name.

There's nothing surprising about having the same first name.

Maetel must be worried about me.
She must also be mad after me for being so stupid.


p140
????


p141
!!


p142
Tetsurou!!!
Maetel!!!

...
I'm safe and sound!!


p143
Your house is destroyed now...
...

This woman saved me when she saw what happened to me.
...

Why did you empty the mud ponds? Why did you destroy my house?
The government has ordered the construction of residential districts here.

What about my house?
The government will buy new ones on the ground.

...

I must thank you.
Yes, and me too.

As promised, we're offering anything you want.

...


p144
...

Can I really ask anything?
Of course, as long as it's in our possibilities.

Then, I want a ticket for the Galaxy Express and Tetsurou!!!

!!


p145
Everything is alright since we left the town of rain, but I'm feeling odd...


p146
Tetsurou...

Go. Don't forget that you belong to her now.
Don't say stupid things!!!

I want to jump through the window all of a sudden.

Have a sit!!
I would have done so even if you didn't say anything!!

Come here!!
...

Take my hand!!!

I'm going to sleep... I ask you not to let go of my hand, Tetsurou...


p147
[nothing]


p148
Tetsurou!!!
Hm?

She's asleep. You can go back.
Ah!

...

Mud... She has turned into a pile of mud!!

Her cells have transformed.
Her body was adapted to live under the mud... So, when she entered an dry atmosphere...


p149
She was truly sad.

She loved living in the mud...

Even if her body was perfectly adapted for this lifestyle, there was no one to live with her.
...

If only I knew that earlier, I would have been kinder with her.
You had been really gentle with her. You even covered for her when you didn't tell anyone that she was the one that pull you in the mud pile.

Someday, it will be you your kindness will save...

Is there any person like Maetel of the town of rain?

Yes, people who lived in mud and lost their house...
... die little by little. People on the surface will never be able to understand their wish to live that way...


p150
What are you doing, Tetsurou?
In order to lose all the weight I got, I'm doing a marathon: 100 laps of the train.

Blood is flowing where people don't care about the preferences of others and don't try to understand them... An old space warrior wrote that during his long trip through the universe. No matter how far men are going, it is still true...