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.God Lived as a Devil Dog.
Josh Temple

A The Precept and Ranma 1/2 crossover.


Ranma is owned by Rumiko Takahashi, and The Precept is owned by Jack Moody
no infringement is intended I'm not making nay money off this. Remember you
can't get blood from a stone; believe me I've tried.

This is a Ranma fusion set in the Precept universe.  This happens at the
same time as the events Fallen Tower, but it does not contain any of those
events.  I do use many concepts and themes that are used in Precept however.



Chapter 1 Journey's End

The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed.

This line kept running through Keith's mind as he crested the hill. He had
short black hair, it was that odd length where it was too long to be a buzz
but too short to part.  His face was slightly rugged, but the most
interesting feature were his blue eyes.  They were piecing, intense precise.
His skin was pale, but it was starting to tan, under the hot dessert suns.
He appeared to be an average twenty something man.
He chucked as the text repeated.  It was the first line to a saga. It was
arguably the best work of all time. Little known in the time it was written,
after hundreds of years  it was all but forgotten.
Keith was no gunslinger he was a nano-tech.  Right after starting this
quest he found a pile of books. Not vids, not data crystals, but actual
books made out of paper.  Each was a fist edition hard cover.  It was the
entire Dark Tower series Steven King's greatest work. He had read them many
times during his quest to find the man in black or as he preferred to call
himself, Walter.
Keith knew that the man in black was trying to force him into some sort of
strange quest. Granted there was a correlation between the book and real
world.  Places like Megis and Lud and Topeka, and regions like Outer Arcs,
but this was not mid-world.  The world has not moved on.  As far as Keith
was concerned the galaxy was doing fine.  The Precept and The UCA were just
as solid as ever.  There was no good man.  Farson is a myth.
Keith pulled on his coat. It was a gray great coat, made out of nython. A
material that despite being invented a hundred years ago was only a dream
when King was alive.  The fabric could have any property desired depending
on how it was programmed, including size, shape, color, heat gain, and
texture.  The trick was to have microscopic components controlling the
structure of the clothing. Considering Keith's occupation having all nython
clothing was very fitting, not that he had much in clothes, essentially one
set of clothing.  Nython was also expensive, but credits mattered little to
a mage like Keith.
Keith inhaled the stiff air of the desert.  He could feel the man in black.
Granted, Walter could render himself invisible to most sensors, but not all
of them.  Keith had spent twenty-one years tracking the man in black, and he
figured out how to track this wily prey.
No, Keith wasn't a child when he started following the man in black, he was
twenty-six, the same age he was 50 years ago.  Keith was nano-tech, a mage,
a man of magic. Like the man of black himself.  This was the largest clash
in Walter's fantasy.
The man in black would have said that Keith being ageless  was due to time
being strange, but the truth was that millions of microscopic robots,
Nanites, circulated in his body,  keeping it in perfect working order.  He
was also a cyborg, you had to have some sort of direct neurological
interface to correctly wield Nanites. Keith didn't have a exposed
components, and he looked very normal.  The only visible aspect was a small
connector jack behind his left ear, and only the most dedicated trads
refused that advantage.  Their was no need to look like some sort of sci-fi
reject. All his components were under the skin. They were completely
integrated with his natural body systems.
Keith had crested the hill.  One sun burned behind him while the other was
setting on the distant horizon directly ahead. He looked down into the
valley.  He saw the man in black sitting halfway down the slop in an
indented region.  His vision zoomed in on the bowl.  He saw bones thousands
of bones  and in the middle was the man in black.  He sat there wearing a
black robe.  His face, Keith knew it all too well, was annoyingly average.
Keith  hardly noticed the hundreds of small pools at the bottom of the
valley.

*********************************************

Ranma followed his idiot father though the desert.  A sun was setting
behind him and another burned in front of him.  It seemed that he had been
following this man all his life.  Ranma only had a few memories of his home
in the Avon system, but aside from those early fragments, he had spent his
entire life beyond the frontier line, on the rim.
"So what's this place Pops?" Ranma asked as the climbed a large hill.
"I heard about this place on the Stream.  Its called Jusenkyou. Its
supposedly and ancient training ground," Genma rambled.
"Ancient? Um Pop people have only been in space for 300 years," Ranma was
really starting to doubt his father, more so that usual.
"No people haven't been around long, but The Precept has been around for a
thousand or so," Genma said.
"So you went to some site that told of secret alien martial arts," this has
got to be Pop's most harebrained scheme, Ranma thought.  Then a faint memory
of Neko-ken emerged.
"It is not a fraud  there is something out here," Genma said pointing to
the top of the hill.
"All I see is that we went to the edge of the galaxy to trudge thought the
desert."
"Don't be insolent boy," Genma said as he crested the hill, "See here it
is."
Ranma peered into the valley and was surprised to see lush green plants and
hundreds of small pools.  As the two martial artists walked down the hill,
they ignored the two people on the other side of the valley.

*********************************************

"Hello Walter," Keith said as he walked up to the man in black.  "Where's
the slow mutants or the Clean Sea?"
"Sorry gunslinger you came too fast.  If you had just waited a little
longer I would have all been set up," the man in black said as he raised his
hands, encompassing all that surrounded him.
"I'm not a gunslinger. I'm a mage," Keith responded coolly.
"But you are both,"
"No I'm not."
The man in black only grinned.
"Get on with it," Keith said.
"Soon we will talk of many things," the man in black said as he pulled out
a tarot deck.
"No this ends now."
Walter glared at Keith, "This is necessary for your quest."
"No," Keith said, "My quest was simple vengeance."
The man in black arched his eyebrows then as recondition dawned on him
said, "Oh yes the  Oath of Tisen.  A shame what happened to her," a slight
pause, "and her crew."
"Remember Walter, you attacked that ship when it was in this system," Keith
said reaching in his coat.
"So it ends where it began," the man in black said while standing up.
In same instant Keith focused all his sensors on the man in black.  Before
Walter could compensate, blocking the sensor probe, Keith had all the
information he needed.  A quarter second later, Keith had pulled out his
hand gun, a Kotch 9mm, and fired three rounds at his chest. Each bullet
found a home in one of the three micro sub-nuclear cells, that powered the
man in black's Nanites.  The cartridges then exploded as the high yield
charges inside the slugs ignited.
Walter gapped Keith had moved too fast for him to even put up the most
basic shield.  He was now running solely on battery power and half of his
reserve was used containing the trio of explosions inside him.  The man in
black formed a snarl. He had let this foolish game go to far.  How could he
have been so foolish; to think that Keith would go along with this scheme of
his.  Walter had thought that maybe Keith had faced the same affliction that
he had, that all immortals had, boredom, and that Keith would enjoy a few
centuries of fun.  Walter pulled himself out of that daze.  He had wasted
precious seconds.  Keith may have gotten the drop on him, but Walter was his
elder and he would destroy him for his insubordination.
Keith was satisfied  when the man in black's chest burst open.  He grinned
slightly when the man in black healed his wounds pulling bust organs back
in, re-knitting tissue and flesh.  A small part of Keith believed that this
plan might not work; that Walter would simply crush him.  Keith had no
illusions the man in black may still win.
"You are a gunslinger," the man in black said, blood stained robe, energy
building up around him in some sort of aura.
"NO," Keith said simply and emptied the rest of his clip at Walter's face.
They were only a hundred feet apart, and Keith was an excellent shot
(having computer guidance systems built in and decades of experience
helped), but sill only two rounds hit the man in black.
Walter smirked, his shield deflected most of the rounds, the two that broke
though were of little consequence, one grazed the neck, the other took off
ear (that promptly re-grew).  Granted it took a lot of energy to deflect the
kinetic and explosive forces, but Walter had plenty in reserve.  It was time
for Walter's counter move he fired a blast at Keith aiming at his right
hand.
Keith felt a searing pain as the gun melted into his hand. Liquid metal
hitting burning flesh and bone.  Keith put up a shield preventing further
damage.   The gun was gone, it would take too long to rebuild it, as he had
other weapons, and his hand was already re-growing.
Using his left hand he pulled out a missile launcher.   It was folded at
the mid section and with a flick of the wrist it extended to its full
length.  Aiming one handed (the digits on his right hand weren't fully
formed yet), he started firing at the man in black.
Walter was starting to get really irritated. First the punk takes out his
power cells and now he's firing missiles at him.  Walter gathered up the
last bits of his power, saving only his emergency power and fired it at
Keith.

*********************************************

Ranma and Genma had just started talking to the guide, a half crazed man
who lived in the valley.  He supposedly knew everything about this place,
and was in the middle of warning them about something when shots erupted
from the opposite side of the basin,  They all looked up to see the two men
halfway up the slope on the other side fighting each other,  As the
intensity of their fighting increased, Genma became more and more repulsed.
"Lousy freaks," Genma said explosions and shields reflecting off his face,
"They trade in their souls, boy.   Infest their bodies with circuits and
wires, just so they can live longer.  And what do they do with this time
they gained?" he stated waving his hand at the two beings of light and power
fought.
Ranma shrugged.  Wasn't that what they were doing?  This training trip has
been going on as far as he can remember.  But still there was a difference
between The Art and nano-tech.
Genma continued, "But still they keep to themselves. The won't bother us,
right?" this was directed at the guide.
The guide stared off into space for a second then responded, "No the mages
understand the risks of such a place as this," he looked up at the two on
the hill, "I suggest that you sirs leave also.  No one use this place any
more.  Jusenkyou is very dangerous."
"Nonsense this is a training ground and we are here to train," Genma said
as he dropped his pack, and leaped onto one of the bamboo poles sticking out
of the pools, "Come on boy, don't act like a weak girl."
Ranma pondered the fact that there was a lush valley in the middle of a
desert.  With thousands bamboo poles sticking out of the water.  While there
were none of these plants, as far as he knew in the system.  These pondering
lasted only a second as Genma's taunting eventually got too him.  Ranma
placed his pack on the ground, then leap to a different pole.
The guide simply held his head. Today was a bad day, two more idiots would
soon get cursed, and he had a sinking felling about the  nature of one of
those mages.  If the man in black had returned then gods help them all.

*********************************************

Keith was starting to wear down.  His  missile launcher had been destroyed
when Walter managed to get a blow in.  It was now blast to blast each side
hitting the other with focused energy.  The problem was that while Keith had
six power cells and all of the man in black's had been destroyed, Walter had
a century more experience and could wean out his reserve power using it in
ways that Keith barley comprehended. Seeming to pull energy from nowhere.
Keith already had to shutdown two of his cells, to prevent them from
overloading, and the others would soon have to go.
Keith pooled all his power, including shields,  and fired it at Walter.
This would probably fry all of Keith's internal systems, but the only edge
Keith had now was raw power.  The blue energy formed from his hands and
shoot out to Walter engulfing his body in the swilling energy.
Walter was surprised such a novice move.  Manipulating and shifting was
what nano-tech was all about. The man in black knew that this young
(relative to Walter) punk would lose his patience and just try to end it.
Walter smirked, he slightly shifted his shields to absorb the wasted effort.
Once replenished he will teach Keith to spit at his offer.
Good, Keith thought he's falling for it.  Walter must have forgotten that
both can manipulate. Keith waited until the Walter started to fill his
reserves. Half of the man in black's Nanites  were occupied converting the
destructive energy into something useful, a third were used generating
shielding, and the rest for general maintenance.
Keith then shifted from a broad unfocused attack to a thin beam. He pushed
even more power into the stream, compromising some of his own systems.  The
shield crumbled under the beam and those Nanites used in the conversion
process were overwhelmed and exploded. Walter's cache was reduced by 50%.
The energy was still being absorbed by Walter's conduits, each trying to
compensate for the overflow, and in the end each failing.
Walter collapsed, he had lost millions or Nanites, he could rebuild them,
if he had the energy, but he didn't.  Now nearly all of his systems were
critical. Walter saw that now after all the centuries he would die. He found
some relief in that, he was bored.
Keith fell to his knees.  There was an incredible pain, his own systems had
surfed high damage.  But the pain was ebbing, he still had his sub-nuclear
cells and a full compliment of Nanites, so repairs were underway. Keith got
back to his feet, he looked at the body of the man in black, crippled, weak,
defeated.  He still had to finish the job.  He walked up the slope, their
directions being turned around during the battle, approaching the man in
black.
Walter looked up at Keith, and smiled, "You may have one now but-" and was
cut off when a blast from Keith destroyed his face.  Walter's last thought
was of joy.  Things would soon be very interesting for Keith, and he would
be back. There were bits of his conciseness scattered on the Stream, and in
time they will rejoin.
Keith looked at the gaping hole that was Walter's face. It didn't even try
to reform, and prepared to finish the deed.  When the man in black's abdomen
swelled and burst. The explosion launched Keith on a trajectory that sent
him right into one of the pools, at the valley floor.
Normally Keith would be ably to counter the explosion or at least change
his trajectory, but his maneuvering thrusters were still offline. Just
before he hit the water he detected large quantities of an unusual nanite
signature.

*********************************************

Ranma was holding his own against his father,  even with the distraction of
the two mages.  Then one of them fell into the pool right next to him.
Genma used this momentary distraction and charged at his son.
Ranma blocked his fathers thrust sending the old man into another pool, but
at the cost of his own stability.  He fell into  the same pool as the one
that the mage went into.

Keith had the strangest sensation as he entered the pool.  The Nanites in
the pool were like none he had ever seen before. Once under the surface the
Nanites integrated with him. Entering his body and taking hold.  He couldn't
prevent them from entering or get rid of them.  Then a second later they
started to change him.  He had seen physical transformations with
nanotechnology before but not like this.  This change was too smooth, too
fast and most importantly, drawing much less power than should be possible.
The another thought struck this body was lighter where did the mass go?
That was when he noticed that he had changed into, a 20 something nubile
woman.
After hearing that kid fall into the pool and have the nanites change him
the same way they did her.  Keith decided too swim out, it wasn't due to a
lack of oxygen. She really didn't need to breath, but something was about to
happen.

She came up alongside the small redhead, a panda was in front of them
waving at the guide.  It was probably the man who was with the kid. Odd the
panda seemed to have retained mental abilities, it was another mystery of
this place.
"Very bad sirs. You both fall into spring of drowned girl. Tragic story of
a girl who drowned here two hundred years ago,"  the guide babbled, "I was
just going over the curses with honored customer over there," indicating the
panda.
"You see," he continued, "hot water reverses the curse, while cold water
returns you to you're cured body." The guide then took out a thermos and
after pouring some hot water on the panda he reverted to Genma.
Keith was astounded changing once was amazing enough but this guy had just
demonstrated that this 'curse' caused two easily reversible states.  Her
sensors detected only a trace energy drain, she presumed it was from the
heat of the water.  She barley noticed that the old man's clothing returned
along with his body.  Considering this curse could change an entire organism
in its entirety these little details could be taken in stride.
The guide indicated for them to exit the pool.  After they got out, he then
used the water on Ranma and Keith both changes collated with Keith's earlier
observations.  He then said, "Honored customers, Jusenkyou is a dangerous
place, especially to those who have already been cursed once."
"So their is no cure?" Genma said hefting up his pack. This could put a
crimp in his plans
"Sorry, many have tried to find a way, but each cure ends up worse than the
original curse," narrowing his eyes, "Jusenkyou does not like to be
manipulated."
Ranma who was in a state of shock, whom had said nothing, and only
maintained his sanity by denying that he ever changed in the first place.
"Come on boy," Genma said handing Ranma his pack, "We have to get back to
the port. Don't act like a-" then remembering that Ranma was about to snap
and lose it, decided show a rare moment of tact and just pulled him away
from the valley, in the same direction they came.
"Damn trads," Keith muttered under his breath and then looked at the guide,
"Okay what's the deal with this place?"
"Yes honored mage, although most of the nano-tech who come here to study
don't get cursed themselves,"  The guide said looking at Walter's smoking
corpse.
"It was unavoidable."
"That is very true.  This place draws this people towards it, and tries its
best to make them fall in. Then once cursed it then attracts water making
you change frequently."
"So how come your not cursed yet?" Keith asked.
"How do you know I'm not?" the guide answered.
"Okay you know now that it's really little robots at work, and not magic
here."
"You are called mage are you not," the guide explained, "and any technology
significantly advanced enough is indistinguishable from magic."
"Very true," Keith said, "Okay question time. First where do they get the
energy to do this?"
The guide looked into the sky at the one remaining sun, and spoke "Yes and
where does the missing mass go, and how do those cursed to be animals retain
their intellect? I simply don't know.  My job is just to be the caretaker."
He continued: "I will tell you what I do know.  Right after The Precept war
a single colony ship "The Amazon Promise" was sent to this system.  After
the colony was set up it turned in on itself, decreasing the amount of
information it sent on the Stream. It was by no means a fallen colony.  It
was peaceful, and advanced.  We prospered.
"Then he came, the man in black.  He was an ancient and bored mage.  No one
knew how or when he came to this system.  He might even have been on The
Promise herself.  He spent time in the shadows lurking, waiting.  Out alone
in the desert, making advances with nanites that modern scientist are just
discovering. Unfortunately the years alone in the desert made him cruel and
insane.
(Keith agreed with him.  A mage could focus himself so far into a subject
that they lost all track of reality.  He had a fair idea about who this mage
was.)
"So he created this place.  From this point he could spread chaos.  Not too
much mind you the U.C.A. will try to take out any rouge mage.  He also added
a little trap for any mages who tried to steal his secrets, or try to cure
the curse.  But I'll get to that later.  Eventually he got bored with his
playground as all immortals eventually do.   So, he waited until something
interesting would come along."
"The Oath," Keith muttered.
The guide was startled, "Yes it was Oath of Tisen.  Gods that was him."
"Yes."
"You should be proud you have destroyed a great evil," he paused, "But no
offense how did you destroy him.  He is beyond you by centuries."
"None taken,  Walter was suffering from the worst disease for an immortal
to have. dementia.  He created a fantasy world that blinded him."
"Then you are indeed a very luck man.  If you had tried to take him in his
prime you would be dead," the guide said.
Keith nodded, "What about those traps?"
"Oh yes. These are very tricky nanites.  If you try to study them here, you
will get cursed.  If you try to remove a sample of the water it will infect
as many people as possible.  If you're cursed and you still try to study
them they will screw with you mind."
"Madness?" Keith asked.
"If you're lucky," the guide continued, "If you try to control the curse by
say erecting a small force field on the surface of your skin.  Preventing
water from touching you and hence controlling the curse.  These nanites
track instances when you should have changed but didn't.  They things can
mold you body any way they wish.  If you piss them off they will alter your
mind, body, and soul.  Trust me on this."
"You've had first had experience at this." Keith stated.
"Oh yeah," the guide said, "and I'm only telling you this because you
killed the man in black."
Realization dawned on Keith, "You've trapped here aren't you."
The guide smiled grimily, "Yup, I'm trapped in this little valley telling
people about the pools of sorrow, until the end of time.  At least I have
Stream access."
"Is that it?" Keith asked. He didn't kneed to know exactly what this man's
prison was. Keith had his own demons.
"Yup, and Gods bless you mage.  I may still be dammed but without him the
galaxy is a much better place."
"Where is the nearest port?" Keith asked.
"Frem," he said pointing in the direction that the martial artists had come
from.
Keith  started to walk up the hill he had come down from.
"Um sir," the guide asked.
Keith was once again standing over the corpse of Walter.  The blast had
burned him leaving only a pile of charred metal and bones. Keith grabbed
Walter's jawbone, and pulled it off.  "Why am I doing this?" he muttered,
"Because its ka and Sarah will understand what this means." He put the bone
in one of the many pocks in his coat.
On his was down towards the valley and up the slope on the other side.  He
saw that the guide had retired to the small hut at the end of the valley.
Once at the tope of the hill he looked at the horizon and say the spires of
a city. His quest was almost at an end, he had one last thing to do.  Genma
was thinking the exact same thing as he dragged his son across the desert.

*********************************************

A lone wanderer walked thorough the desert. He was a young man not much
older than the boy Keith had seen.  He was on a quest, a journey.  Much like
Keith, the young man in the bandana was on a quest for vengeance.  He had
spent ten years chasing the boy Keith had seen.  Unlike Keith, whose quest
was to punish the man in black for what he did to "The Oath of Tisen", this
wanderer was chasing Ranma for a reasons that others would call silly.  The
bread duel for example.  Also he did not stay the same age during his
travels, as Keith did.  Ryouga had left for his quest  when he was only a
child.  He spent ten years following Ranma.  Now Ranma and Genma were not as
difficult to track as Walter was.
Ryouga could have gotten to Ranma in just a year, but he had a slight
directional problem.  This was a genetic disorder that the whole Hibiki
family had had for generations (a botched gene slicing in the first days of
genetic engineering over 250 years ago),  this caused the Hibikis to get
lost extremely easy.  Ryouga himself would get lost in an empty room.  This
was why it took him ten years to get where he was, and Ranma was still far
off. He was closer than ever before.
The Hibikis would never fix this error because of pride and a distrust of
technology.  Keith would call it trad foolishness.
As Ryouga crested the hill he looked down.  He saw hundreds of small pools.
  He started to walk down.
King, the writer of the great tome that Walter was so wrapped up in, said
that "Ka is like a great wheel. If you stand in its way you will get
crushed," and that, "Ka is a wind."

*********************************************

Keith approached  the dome of Frem.  It was a medium sized city habitat.
About twenty kilometers in diameter, it was one of the larger domes on the
planet.  There were two guards at either side of the air lock to the dome.
Each was heavily armed and female.  He could tell this because they were not
wearing, full battle suits.  Only wearing the inner layer of armor.  This
layer was flexible and provide the added strength of synthetic muscular
fibers.  It also gave some protection, but there was another layer of  plate
style armor that went over the inner layer that gave the majority of the
protection.  The most unusual part was that they were not wearing helmets.
Their young faces, about the same age as Keith appeared to be, were
completely visible, one top of the rather form fitting armor.  The lack of
head gear surprised Keith the most because without it, they were vulnerable
to head shots, and more importantly dependant on a breathable atmosphere.
If he removed the oxygen around them, or he emitted the right poison they
would be dead.  He assumed it was trad pride.  These people were not wearing
helmets to show off their humanity.
"Halt," the one on the right said.
"State your reason for entrance," the other said.  They both had their
weapons at the ready.
Keith eyed them. He was fully repaired by now, and after battling a
creature like Walter these two could easily be neutralized, but he had no
reason to cause trouble.   "I am Keith, a wandering nano-tech of the Avon
Guild returning on a quest." He preferred not to give his full name; it
caused too many questions.
"A mage," the one on the right uttered, wonder in her voice.
The other maintained her composure, and said, "What was your quest?"
Keith pulled out the jawbone, and uttered one word: Walter.
The two guards looked at each other.  The amazement in the right one, grew
while the other became skeptical.  She spoke into the headset she was
wearing. "Um matriarch we have a mage at gate two," a pause, "Yes I know
it's the competition today,"
Keith could have hacked into the controls to the headset, or he could have
increased his auditory sensors and have just heard the output from the
headset, but again he had no need to.
The guards were getting more an more distressed. They were already on thin
ice, doing guard duty on the day of the competition was an obvious
punishment.  And annoying the matriarch during the competition where her
great-granddaughter was expected to win, was not a good idea.  She finally
managed to blurt out (in between the reaming she was getting) the point, "He
says he defeated Walter."
Relieve spread across her face this caught the matriarch's notice.  A few
minutes later the lock doors opened, and out came a creature that surprised
Keith.  This was saying a lot, Keith had spent over a century exploring the
galaxy and had seen a lot of weird shit.   A shrunken, gnarled, gnome-like
being was unexpected.  Granted he'd seen people who made themselves look
like elves, dwarves, or even mermaids, but this was no act of genetic
engineering.  The matriarch appeared to have turned out this way naturally.
"Inside both of you." the gnome said.
The two women looked at Keith, and walked into the lock.  The doors closed.
Keith focused on the creature, despite her desiccated appearance, she
contained mass amounts of power.  It was concealed, but mages were good at
routing for hidden things.
The creature smiled, "I see that you have discovered my power.  Yes I am a
mage myself; I have chosen to look this way, much as you have done.  I am
called Cologne, and you are."
"Keith," he said.  He then paused; those two idiots came from this
direction, and went back the same way.   What happened when they tried to
enter.  He remembered that the guide said that the 'curse' could act like a
contagion.  Were they afraid of an outbreak?

*********************************************

Genma led Ranma to the gate to Frem.  The boy was still in shock. Although
he seemed to be cooping a little bit better.  The two guards opened the
door. With none of the hassle the will soon give Keith.   They were standing
guard when those two exited the dome.  They knew where they were going, and
they knew what had probably happened to them.  There was no real problem
having them  they had dealt with Jusenkyou since the founding of Frem about
two hundred years ago.  They knew the problems that those two could bring
entering the dome, but the risk of infection was nil.  So they allowed the
fools to enter, hopefully they would leave soon.

*********************************************

Keith dismissed those thoughts.  The guards, and Frem itself, had ways to
deal with those who were cursed. He turned his attention back to the gnome
who called herself Cologne.  She chucked, "You say that you have killed
Walter."
Keith handed her the jaw bone, "I'll need it back," he looked at it, "For
closure."
Cologne  held it in her hand. She let sunlight filter on the surface of the
charred piece of bone and metal.
Keith felt her scanning the jaw.  She was ancient older than Walter.  This
lead to new issues why didn't she stop him when the man in black first
landed.
She gave it back to him, "It is Walter." She looked at Keith. How did he do
this; Cologne thought.  She had never dreamed of taking out Walter. She
didn't even know he had returned.
"You yourself are a mage. As old as Walter himself I believe. Why did you
not try to stop  him." Keith asked putting the bone back into his coat.
"I have my reasons."
Keith let the subject drop.
"You great mage, have destroyed one of the greatest threats to our
security, for this reason I would be honored for you to come to our annual
tournament."
"Okay," Keith said, "I've got some time to kill."
Cologne chuckled again.  She was getting bored lately, not a good thing for
immortals, and this young man, relative to her, seemed amusing.
"One question, why are you like that?" Keith asked.
"Cologne looked at herself, "What?"
"I mean you don't have too look so old."
"I guess I just got used to looking this way."
"I understand," Keith said, "I've stayed this way for almost a century."
Cologne nodded and opened the door.  Keith followed her into the lock.

*********************************************

Keith smiled as he entered the dome.  Inside, the ground sunk from the
walls of the dome creating a large depression.   The slopes were terraced.
Hundreds of rice paddies and other farms dotted the leveled steps.  On the
far side of the dome was a crescent shaped forest.  In the bottom of the
bowl was a small village.  The buildings looked wooden and rustic.   He
nodded at the two guards who were waiting by the inside edge of the lock.
Cologne started walking down a path that went straight from the lock to the
village.  Keith followed.  "The domes were  necessary in the beginning.  It
took years to get it to this point."
Keith nodded despite the twin suns, the air was breathable and reasonable
in temperature.  Yet the planet was still mostly desert.
Cologne continued, "Now we are concentrating on getting a functional biome.
  The bacteria and lichens that we have released are doing well."  She
looked at the sky through the clear ceiling of the dome.  "Now tell me how
did you kill Walter and why would you do such a thing?"
Keith took her everything from Tisen to Sarah to Jusenkyou.
"What color?" Cologne asked.
"What?" Keith didn't get what she was going at.  Then it hit him the kid
became a redhead. "Um, I don't know."
Cologne produced  a jug from somewhere. For a person who clamed not to be
that much of a mage she obviously knew some tricks, Keith thought.  "Do you
mind?" she asked.
"No."
She splashed him.   Keith felt the strange nanites do their thing.
"Blue," she chuckled, "I assume the guide told you not to fiddle with the
curse."
"Oh yeah," Keith replied in a voice that reminded her of her sister,
someone she had last seen seventy years ago; Christine was most likely dead.
  She then created a small hologram.  It was a small reflective circular
disk.  Keith looked at her image.  Her hair was a deep blue with highlights
of lighter shades.  She had dropped a couple centimeters, not nearly as much
as that kid did when he changed though.  All her clothing was lose now
especially her boots.  Keith used the mutable properties of Nython to make
the boots and other garments fit.
Cologne looked at the mage, after she had changed to a nubile young woman,
who simply modified her clothes.  They were small changes, the boots got
smaller, the pants and shirt got tighter, and Cologne thought she could see
bra straps.  "You seem well adjusted," she said nonchalantly.
"I've lived a long time, and I find this situation," Keith paused,
"interesting."
"Good," Cologne said, "Come I want you to see the tournament"
"Tournament?" this interested Keith.
"Yes, the best from the entire system are here." Cologne said looking at
the mage.
"And they are competing in?" Keith asked.
"The Art" Cologne said as she walked down the path.
"What is this art?"
"Martial Arts, the focusing of the mind and the body," Cologne stated
Keith had always thought that martial arts were a trad fabrication.  Their
way of glorifying primitive street fighting.  Then again these 'Amazons'
have proved to bear watching.  She then asked, "But you're not limited to
these arts, are you."  The two guards were both wearing battle suits and had
plasma weapons.
"Of course not," Cologne said, " I was the one who proposed modernizing the
amazons.  We use modern means to protect ourselves, but the Art is not only
about fighting"
As they walked the last ten kilometers to the village, Cologne talked about
her village, its history,  laws, and Keith talked about her travels.  As
they talked Keith learned that the Amazons were pushing the limits that the
UCA had over their systems.  The UCA (United Coalition of America)
represented nearly all of humanity.

The Precept and The UCA have a federal-confederacy government.  Each system
is semi-autonomous with a tri level federal government.   Each system had
representatives in a district wide senate. Their main decisions fall into
trade, and  other commercial activities.  Each district has representatives
in a parliament; currency, certain laws and military forces are regulated at
this national level.
- "Governing the Stars" Jack Moody

This means that the military forces that the Amazons had were illegal at
best, treason at worst.  When Keith asked her about this Cologne laughed,
"Out on the Frontier we have to protect ourselves."
Keith noted that UCA patrols on the rim took care of most problems.  There
were very few privateer attacks.
A ship had to be at least 500 meters in length to be interstellar, a full
kilometer if you wanted decent cargo and personal capacity.  This was
because mass amounts of energy were required to tune.  Ships at the minimum
size had to devote considerable space for reactors.  As a ship increased in
size, the energy required become proportionally smaller.  Until the ratio
stabilized at about ship length of two kilometers.
This meant that only the UCA and corporations could afford starships.
There were some exceptions, certain groups managed to get through various
means (grand theft, money laundering, venture investing) the money to buy
starships.  This formed two groups privateers and free-traders;  the Oath of
Tisen was the latter.
There were some pirates out beyond the frontier line, but they were a gross
exaggeration and the UCA could easily take then out.  Also Keith saw few
orbital defenses when she entered the system, and considering most attacks
come from space, Cologne's explanations of protection from external threats
was a veil.  But if they were not training for enemies from the outside,
what were they training for?
Cologne was definitely hiding something, for instance her explanation as to
why she did not thy to stop Walter was inadequate. Something was very odd
about these Amazons. Keith felt that she would have alert an old friend in
the UCA military, about a possible security threat.
And why did they suddenly reopen trade.  Only two ships had entered the
system when the Tisen had arrived, and now there were regular flights
arriving in the system. This change was very odd.
They entered the village.  Keith followed Cologne to the center of the
village. Keith found the architecture of the village very amusing.  In the
center of the town their was a small park.  Keith followed Cologne as she
pushed her way though the crowd that had gathered in the park.  In the
middle of the park was a suspended log.  On one side was a lavender haired
girl, about sixteen.  She was wearing a type of body suit that showed of her
figure nicely.  On the other end was a familiar redhead.
Cologne scowled at this.  She went to talk with another wrinkled gnome.
Keith watched the two dance around each other.  She was impressed with
their power.  These two youths were very skilled at this Art that Cologne
spoke of.  The purple one, being taller had more reach, but the redhead
seemed to be faster and had more skill.  They seemed to be evenly matched.
Intrigued by their skill, Keith focused her sensors on the two.  Purple hair
had above average flexibility and strength, but that was it.   The redhead
on the other had was a surprise however, she had extensive cybernetic and
bio-mechanical components.    The type of modules used indicated massive
physical trauma.  Akin to getting mauled or ripped apart.  The components
were extensively integrated with the girl's natural organs.  This indicated
that these systems and whatever damage that necessitated them happened when
the redhead was very young.  It seemed odd that the 'boy's' father, who
Keith believed to be a trad, would allow such things.
Most trads opted for re-growth when faced with sever damage.  This was the
acceleration of the body's natural repair mechanisms.  In cases of damage
similar to what the redhead must have gone through,  the process would have
been very slow and expensive.
This could be the reason that the kid's father opted not to go that way.
Keith wondered even if the kid knew that he was a cyborg.  Much like Keith
herself, these implants were undetectable by the human eye.   Whatever
happened to the kid that caused the damage occurred so early in his life
that he most likely did not remember.  She pulled herself out of the
thoughts on the condition of the kid.  It was really none of her business.
Cologne came back to Keith, "It seems that the redhead's panda ate part of
my great-granddaughter's prize."
"Congratulations," Keith said, "She looks much younger."
Cologne cut her off, "No, no, she's really that young.  Our generations are
spaced further apart here."
"So they're fighting for what, honor?"
"Yes that young one dishonored Shampoo by destroying the prize," Cologne
said
"And if red wins," Keith asked, knowing the probable answer.
"She won't," Cologne said eyeing the two teens fight.
The red head got a hit inside Shampoo's defenses, right in the solar
plexus.  Shampoo doubled over in pain.  Red then used this to knock her off
the log.
Shampoo got up.  She looked at the redhead.
Keith leaned over to Cologne, "You know that kid's cursed."
Cologne nodded, "I suspected as much, after all panda's are not normally
seen in this part of space."
"So you're going to tell Shampoo, before she does something wrong."
"Of course," Cologne said, "A husband is much better than a corpse."
Cologne turned to Shampoo and called her over.  She then whispered in the
young woman's ear.  Shampoo's expression changed dramatically.
Ranma had jumped off the log and was trying to get her glutinous father's
attention.  She turned around to see the strange purple haired girl walk up
to her.  When Shampoo was two meters away, she leapt at Ranma, planting a
deep kiss on Ranma's lips.  Shampoo continued to cling on Ranma for another
half minute until she disengaged  herself.  Ranma was confused, to say the
least.  Just a half hour ago this girl wanted to throttle Ranma, and now she
wanted to do what?  Ranma wasn't sure.
The panda saw all this.  Genma was very concerned that this would disrupt
his plans.  Granted he'd engaged his son dozens of times, but those people
would never find him.  It was too close,  if this girl followed them to, all
his plans would be in trouble. He grabbed his female son and ran to out of
the village.
Ranma felt her father pull her.  She went along with it.  This trip last
trip was a very bad idea, and she wanted to get out as much as Pops did.
Just as they left the park, Ranma looked back; she saw a woman with very
familiar blue hair.
Keith saw the two idiots run out of town.  She looked at Cologne, "Where's
the space port?"
"Just west of the park is a tube entrance.  That'll take you to the port,"
Cologne said, pointing in the same direction that the morons went.
"Thank you Cologne," Keith said, "Perhaps we will met again."  Keith
started walking.  Out of the park she saw the subway entrance.  She walked
down the steps.  Keith sensed that a train had just left the platform.  Once
she was in the station. She consulted the time tables, and found out that
she had missed the train to the spaceport.  It was a small problem since.
The rail line was a small loop that connected Frem, three other villages,
and the space port.  The train will complete the loop, and return to the
station in forty minutes.
In the mean time Keith had adjusted her clothing to its original form, and
had her nanites collect moisture from the relatively humid air.  Once she
had enough she heated the small sphere of water.  Keith then guided the
water to her skin where it hit and triggered the change.  Keith then used
his nanites to dry his skin.  He hopped that tricks like that would not be
considered manipulative by the Jusenkyou nanites.
He spent the next half hour surfing the Stream.  He used one of his
internal transmitters, to connect to the local Stream grid, and then linked
to a district conduit.  He checked up on  a few sites and  booked passage
back to Avon.
The subway arrived, and he got on.  Keith took a shuttle up to orbit.  From
there he took a flight out of system to a UCA support base.  The base was
out on the rim beyond the frontier line, not as far out as the Amazons were,
but it was still a deep station.  From their he took a flight to Sodus.
>From Sodus he went to the district capital of Iso.  From Iso he took a
direct flight to the Avon system.   In all it was over 10,000 light years of
travel, it took nearly three weeks to make the trip.  This last leg of his
two decade quest was the most difficult, because now the hunt was over.
Keith knew that once he gave Sarah the jaw bone, his quest would be over.
Boredom was the bane of immortals.
Genma was taking his son on a similar trip.  He was too cheep to actually
pay for passage.  So he hitched a ride on a freighter.  The ship was
surpassingly fast and it's route took the ship near the location that Genma
had aimed for.

*********************************************

Sarah Simmons returned from work.  She lived on Avon 2.3; more commonly
know as Dirk.  It was the third moon of the second planet in the Avon
system.  The gas giant it orbited was know locally as  Albert.  It was a
largish world composed of  bands of green and purple gas.
Albert's distance from the sun combined with the wide orbit of Dirk, made
the small moon impossible to terraform. She looked up at the ceiling of the
dome.  It was a bland gray with bands of lighting banks. Dirk kept the same
face aimed towards Albert, and this dome was on that near side. The
designers of the settlement, decided against a clear dome ceiling, because
they believed that looking up and seeing Albert loom above them, would cause
severe vertigo.  Dirk itself was a the largest moon in orbit around Avon 2,
but was still relatively small (gravitational adjustment of the core
combined with local grav. adjusters  made the gravity match the Terran
standard), and had no atmosphere leaving it a gray crater covered rock.
Making it resemble Sol 3.1 in appearance.  Dirk itself was inhabited fairly
sparsely. The only other planet in the system was Avon 1.  A terraformed gem
of a world.  Avon 2.3 was a harbor, storage center, and construction center
for  Avon.
Sarah worked for a company that made sensor and communications clusters for
interstellar ships.  She programmed the ports for these devices.  The ports
allowed these devices to communicate with the other systems, in a ship.  The
company itself had a relatively small staff.  A few programmers, some design
techs, and a fabrication team, that oversees the actual construction of the
components.  The factory was on Avon 2.2 and was completely automated.  The
fabrication team essentially worked as trouble shooters in case anything
went wrong.
Sarah was having a bad day. First she wakes up to a vid call, from her
girlfriend.  It turns out that Joanne was going out to the Disputed
Territory, "to find herself" as she put it.  Sarah knew that Joanne was a
flake, but this was ridiculous.  Then her boss calls ordering her to come to
the office.  Sarah almost never went in to the office; she was a programmer
so she could just telecommute.  Allowing her to keep very flexible hours.
The one thing that Sarah really hated about the job  was its dress code.
Avon still had some trad sentiments so her company could get away with
making its human female employees have to wear 'specific business attire'
She immensely disliked the skirt and blouse she was wearing.  The shoes also
irritated her. It wasn't that she disliked feminine clothing; she wasn't
that kind of lesbian.  She just hated the stuffy feel of business attire.
Sarah was a blonde of average height.  She looked about 25 but was really
32.  She had a fresh college look.  The only abnormality  she had were her
eyes.  She was born with green eyes then when she was eighteen she went and
got neon pigments injected.  These pigments reacted to specific nerve
impulses.  During the day she could make her eyes shine, and at night she
could make them glow.  She also could control the shade of green.
She had gotten out of the tube station, and was walking back home. They
thought that it was a software problem that needed her direct help.  The
problem that they had her fix was a simple hardware glitch.  Some temp had
turned off  a computer, and they overlooked it.
Her  eyes flashed emerald green in anger.  How could people be so stupid!
The two questions that solved 75% of all tech support questions are "Is it
turned on?" and "Is it Connected ?"   She was supposed to be working with
technical professionals.   If it weren't for the excellent pay and the
telecommuting she'd quit.  Her eyes turned gray green then flashed neon, and
then returned to their normal jade green.  Okay so things weren't so bad,
things had been bumpy with Joanne for a while now, it was only matter of
time, and so what if her job sucked.  Most people had crappy jobs, why
should she be so special.
Her house was in view, and sitting on the sidewalk near the gate to her
yard was a figure wearing a large gray coat.  It was a coat she remembered
seeing as a young child.  "Keith," she called to the waiting visitor.   This
was a pleasant visit, the last time she saw Keith was ten years ago.  Keith
had only stopped by because the trail had lead him close to Avon.  He stayed
the night and in the morning he was back to his quest.
Sarah missed Keith.  He was like a brother to her or an uncle.  She
remembered him hanging around the Tisen.  As she recalled he was a great
friend of her parents.  She held no anger for Keith, she wanted Walter to
pay for what he did.  It was only due to a fluke of chance that she was not
on the ship.  If things were slightly different she would have been tortured
alongside her parents.
Keith was standing now, looking at her with his piercing eyes.
She maintained her silence until she was a few meter away, then Sarah
spoke, "Is it done?"
He pulled a small object out of his coat, and tossed it to her.  Sarah
caught the object.  It was a small bone.  She held it in her hands.  She
felt no relief, no joy.  All that she felt was a sense of finality, that a
chapter of her life was over.  She had spent the last twenty-two years in a
kind of limbo, uncertain as to what would happen.  Sarah tossed the jaw back
to Keith.  Once it was in his hand, he vaporized it.  Millions of nanites
took it apart molecule by molecule, until nothing was left.
"Ka," Keith said.
"Ka," Sarah repeated, she had read the same books that Keith did.  The
whole epic was under her bed, in a small trunk. "Come on in.  I want to know
all about the last two decades."
"Only if you tell me what you've been up to." Keith replied, as he followed
Sarah up the walk and into her house.

*********************************************

Genma and Ranma had left the spaceport.  Genma was happy.  In an hour or
so, he would be with Soun, then the schools would be joined.  Ranma seemed
to have adjusted; well he wasn't in denial anymore.  But the further they
got from that godforsaken planet the more adamant Ranma got to returning to
try and find a cure.  Genma did not disagree in principle, he wanted a cure
himself, but first things first.
They were on a road, when some sprinklers turned on.  It was too late for
them to dodge it.  Things like this had been happing ever since they got
cursed.  This seemed to set off Ranma she started shouting.
"I don't care what harebrained scheme you've cooked up," the redhead
yelled, "I'm going back to the rim to find a cure."
The panda saw her turn, and start to walk towards the spaceport. He pulled
out a hypo-spray he had hidden in his pack.  He lunged, the end of the spray
made her neck.  He depressed a button on the device.  The chemical that
entered the girl's blood stream would render her unconscious, for a while.
The panda hefted her and their packs up, and made his way to the Tendou
Dojo.

*********************************************

Soun was sorting through his mail. He still subscribed to paper mail.  Some
would say that it was an amazing waste of time.  Hardly any one used paper
at all, let alone communicated with it.  Why wait for some text when you
could have instantaneous vid communication, in full, crisp 3-d audio and
video.  It was even worse for interstellar mail, because while the comm.
network allowed for instantaneous data transfer in nearly all of the galaxy,
physical objects from freight, to people, to letters all had the same
maximum rate of travel.  This meant that often people would precede the
letter they sent.  This was why the  postal service stopped giving mail.
They still dealt with packages and other goods, but you could only get
letters delivered upon special request.
Soun held the postcard in his hands.  The simple message on the back read,
"Bringing Ranma home from the Rim.   Genma."
Soun started to cry with joy.   After all the years of waiting the schools
will be joined.  He called his daughters to the foyer.  Akane came in from
out back where she was practicing.   He was so proud that she was caring on
the family art.
Kasumi entered next from the kitchen.  Soun thought she was a very
traditional woman, who would make an good wife.  Then again Akane would
share the devotion of the art.
Nabiki came down the stairs.  She had that damned headset on the one with
the oculars that fitted next to the eyes.  It was a compromise she wanted to
get ported, so she could interface with computers.  Soun would have no part
of his daughter selling her soul, just to be a little bit faster.
"This better be good, I was in the middle of a deal with a Mycota firm."
Nabiki said.
Soun frowned at this.  He disliked her dealing with aliens, and he found
her methods dishonorable, but the money she brought in was useful,  The
thing that really irked him was that she was so disrespectful always
challenging his judgment, and questioning the choices he made.
"An old friend of my Genma Saotome is coming in from the rim.  He's brining
his son.  We plan to engage one of you to Ranma."
Akane blanched at this.  Kasumi's face twisted slightly.  Nabiki kept her
poker face.  This sounded different from her father's other moronic plans.
She used her oculars to connect to the Stream.  Nabiki entered a search
algorithm for information on a Genma and Ranma Saotome, also adding the
restraint that they had to have recently traveled in from the rim.  There
were twenty hits.  She then narrowed it further to include having contact
with Soun Tendou.  This got a hit.  Nabiki then went to a low-level UCA
database, using some codes she purchased to gain entry.  Once there she was
reading  small bios on each of them, when something caught her eye.  She
linked to more information.  What she found was very disturbing, considering
what this monster did to his child it was amazing that the authorities let
him keep custody of Ranma.  She would have to be very careful about this
'friend' of father's.
"Nabiki!" Soun shouted.
"What?" she replied. Apparently she had gotten too immersed during her
search.
"I was telling you about the engagement and you just freeze up," Soun
ranted, "This is why I don't want you messing up you body with tech.  It
rots you brain."
Yeah, sure it does; Nabiki thought. "I just was a bit shocked about this
engagement thing.  I mean it's not done that much any more."
"Yes, it's a shame that such a noble practice has run into disuse," Soun
said.
My father the trad Nabiki sighed, "How much do you know about your friend?"
Soun fiddled with his mustache in remembrance, "We were real good friends
ever since we trained under the master, but after Ranma started to walk, he
took him on a training trip. I haven't seen him since."
Nabiki didn't remind her father that, if he really missed his friend he
could just call up a trace on him, and he would be in contact with Genma in
seconds.  But her father had gotten very weird about technology ever since
mom died.  He hated using any technology, he found it unclean, for gods'
sake he still used paper! Of course he only hated the tech he could actually
see, for instance he didn't seem to mind living on a barren rock dependant
on machines to keep him alive.  This was standard trad ignorance, be all big
about nobility, and ancient traditions, decrying the personal use of tech,
and viciously denying anything that clashed with your world view.
Nabiki was depressed at this her father was obviously a trad, Akane was so
angry and suborn she might as well be, and Kasumi was the poster child of
what a woman 'should' be.  There was only one person that she was close to
who honestly wasn't a trad.
There was a knock at the door.  Everyone turned to see a panda carrying a
struggling, redheaded young woman.
"Oh my, this is odd," Kasumi said.
"Thank you master of the obvious," Nabiki said.
The redhead managed to break free and clocked the panda in the head. She
then turned to the startled Tendous, "I'm Ranma Saotome, sorry about this."
This was wrong.  The bio said that Ranma was male.  This meant that this
was an imposter.  She was suspicious as to what this girl and her panda were
up to.  Soun on the other hand, "Ranma my boy, it's great to see you."
"Father that is a girl," Nabiki said pointing at the redhead, "Genma has a
son."
"I never saw Ranma myself, but Soun assured me that he had a son."
"That might not be Ranma," Nabiki pointed out.
"Hey," the redhead cried, "I am too Ranma."
"Prove it," Nabiki said.
"Fine, get some hot water," the strange girl replied.
This caused a slight pause, then Soun nodded.  Kasumi went into the
kitchen.  She returned with a kettle.
The redhead grabbed it and dumped the fluid on her head.  Her body changed
shape like some invisible hand was reforming living wax.  When it was done a
young man with a similar pigtail was standing in the door way.  He then
poured the water on the unconscious panda, who changed to a bald middle aged
man.
Nabiki compared the images in the bio to the two visitors.  They did match
although they still could be imposters, but chances were that they were who
they said they were.  There still were some questions that needed to be
asked.
"What is this?" Soun asked.
"A curse," Ranma replied.
"What did you do piss of some mage?" Nabiki asked.
Genma had gotten up from his little 'nap,' when Soun eyed him, "Yes tell us
how you came to be tainted in such a way."
Genma told them about Jusenkyou, while Ranma corrected him when he got a
bit to poetic in his explanations.  There was no reference to the two
dueling mages or what happened at Frem though.
Soun's face brightened, "This is not really a problem then," he said, then
he gestured at his daughters, "Akane age sixteen, Nabiki age seventeen, and
Kasumi nineteen, chose one and she will be your wife."
To say this shocked Ranma was an understatement.  He had spent his entire
life training in the Art.  He knew nothing else, and now he was forced to
chose a wife.  This caused his brain to stall in much the same way it did
when he was first cursed.
Nabiki noticed his indecision, "Oh he wants Akane, after all she hates boys
and he's half girl."
Kasumi followed, "Yes he's much to young for me. I don't like younger men."
She said tentatively
Soun nodded at this. It made sense Akane studied the Art, and Soun had
feared that she was corrupted into some unnatural state.  Akane often said
how she hated boys.  This should solve it.
Akane stated to protest, but was cut off.  "It is decided then.  Akane will
marry Ranma," Soun said enthusiastically.
"The houses will be joined," Genma said triumphantly.
Akane looked at the two morons then at the boy she had been engaged to. "So
you're a martial artist. Want to spar?"
"Um, alright," Ranma said.

*********************************************

Keith sat in Sarah's living room.  Her entire house was in the sparse
neo-modernist look, few objects, lots of chrome and metal, right angles, and
a sterile look.  "We might as well start from the beginning," Sarah told
Keith.  She meant the beginning of her story because even though she had
known him all her life she knew very little about his own past.  She knew he
was in the Spider-link war, nearly a hundred years ago, but that was it.
"Okay," Keith said, "I came on board the Tisen in 2283,  36 years ago.  I
had ended one chapter of my life and decided to start anew."

"The Oath of Tisen" was a free trader. Free traders are ships that are
owned by small co-ops usually their crew, or paid for by venture
capitalists.  They were small freighters, (only 4 kilometers in length)
that transported goods to systems too small to get the attention of major
corporations.  These ships operated in The Disputed Territory and the rim,
because of the large number of small frontier settlements.
The Tisen operated on the rim near the border to The Disputed Territory.
Their home port was Sodus, where they returned every two months to refill
their holds.  The Tisen carried fabrication materials, terraforming
equipment, constructors, and other heavy machinery.  It also had one hold
devoted to luxury items.  Massive freezers containing real meat not
synthetics, rare (at least on the rim) woods like, elm, oak, poplar,
ironwood, pine and other varieties, precious gems, and rare metals.  Despite
the value of the material in hold E the high tech machinery in the other
four holds was much more valuable.
The Tisen was composed of a support spine, with sensor and comm. clusters
in the bow. There were living and command decks aft of that, with life
support directly astern.  Behind those were the flight decks where twelve
cargo shuttles were stored, and two personnel landers. After that were the
five cargo holds.  These holds were cubic in shape, 600 meters to a side.
They accounted to three quarters of the length of the ship and 90% of its
volume.  After the holds came the power cores, engine rooms, and finally the
tuning conduits.

Starships used tuning to cause a vibration into the hyper dimensional
quantum structure of space time.  This resonance results in the ship's
"movement" to another location often hundreds of light years away.
- "Governing the Stars" Jack Moody

Free traders are profitable in that, they buy directly from their suppliers
and sell it without middlemen or crippling bureaucracy.  The problem it that
they are only single ships so they can't supply large systems with goods.
The realm of the Arcs on in is left to the big corporations and to the UCA
and Precept.
The Tisen herself had a small crew of twenty people.  There was simply no
need for a large crew compliment.  The loading of the cargo is done by the
dock workers of Sodus, and the offloading was done by the compliment of
cargo shuttles.  Each shuttle was a small craft about 12 x 12 x 4 meters in
size.  Each transported four cargo boxes.  A cargo box was a cubic container
20 meters to a side.   The shuttle attached to the side of a box, then there
more containers were lined up in a row.  Securing stapes went from the
shuttle to the front of the cargo line then back to the shuttle.  Each strap
was reinforced and had maneuvering jets on it.  This in effect, made the
shuttle and the four boxes a single ship, that could be transported to other
ships or to the surface of a planet.  When not in use the straps were folded
in making the shuttle very compact.
The crew therefore was only a small group that operated, and maintained the
Tisen.  She was a very profitable ship, being the largest in that area of
the rim.  The Tisen always returned to Sodus with empty holds selling all
the cargo inside, often with requests for more goods, next time she arrived
in system.
Jean Simmons was the cluster operator.   Her job was to make sure the
sensors and communications equipment were in working order, her husband was
the ship's diplomat.  Milt's job was to negotiate with the locals when they
arrived in system.  Keith did odd jobs, working whenever an extra hand was
needed.  It was a free trader belief that a mage on board was good luck. He
bonded especially well with the Simmons.
Five years later Jean gave birth to a girl, she named Sarah.  Milt and Jean
decided to raise her on the Tisen.  The captain approved, he was an old
military vet, and he thought the idea of a child on board was another good
luck charm.
Sarah grew up in the gulf between the stars.  She played in the cargo bays,
with machines and crates that dwarfed her.  Her schooling was repairing
components of the ship.  She learned tact and diplomacy from her father.
Keith was a kind of uncle to her doing tricks and telling stories of ancient
rights and fallen civilizations.
One day when Sarah was ten she was exploring the mammoth bays when she
knocked over a crate. I wasn't her fault really someone in Sodus failed to
secure it, when it was loaded on.  Inside were some volatile chemicals.  She
was only exposed for a few seconds.  Keith had been in the same hold, by
simple chance, and saved her.  She was taken to the medical bay and
stabilized.  The spill was cleaned up.  There was a problem however, the
chemicals she was exposed to were very cancerous, and had to be removed,
unfortunately the medical team on the Tisen was not equipped to purge her.
"The Oath of Tisen" rushed to he nearest settlement, a military outpost on
the rim.  The medical team said that it would take weeks to clean the girls
body of the chemical. Unfortunately  Jean was the only one who could fix the
clusters which were acting up lately, and Milt was needed to negotiate a
deal on the next system they were headed for. Despite man's technology most
people still wanted someone to be there physically to close the deal.  Her
parents decided to leave  Sarah in the care of Keith.
Every day Sarah would sit in her hospital bed with Keith by her side, and
talk with her parents light years away.  They were headed to a system that
had no name only a number.  Only one ship had entered the system it was
named the Amazon Promise.  The colony had reduced its contact to the Stream.
  The Tisen had made contact with a man who claimed to be a representative
of the local government.  He requested some terraforming equipment and some
additional things from E hold.
When the Tisen arrived Walter came to meet him in his own shuttle.  Once on
board he took control of the ship the first thing he did was cut out the
clusters so that the ship couldn't call for help.  He then drove the ship
out to an empty part of space an area where no ships usually traveled.
At first he did nothing other than take control of the ship.  The crew
tried to kill him, but he would disappear at a moments notice. Walter let
them stew for a few days.  Then he decided to have some fun.  Working
Jusenkyou got boring after a while, and now he had some new toys.  He
cleared out one of the holds dumping its contents out into space, and used
his nanites to create an arena.  He made the crew play games. If they
wouldn't cooperate he took control of their nervous system and made them do
things.  Even those in the waiting rooms weren't unaffected.  He did
everything he could to increase the stress and the fear.  One person tried
to hang himself, Walter couldn't allow that.  He made it so the man stayed
alive even though his neck was broken.  He also made it so that no one could
cut him down.  The poor man hung their rotting for weeks, unable to die.
This was only a warning of the horrors that awaited the crew.
Keith knew that something was wrong, the Tisen's beacon  had gone offline.
  This was bad a ship never went offline unless something was very wrong.
Keith suspected terrorism, the signal was lost just after they received
Walter. He spent his time comforting Sarah and finding what information he
could about this Walter.
A few weeks latter a UCA patrol found The Oath of Tisen.  The crew was all
dead.  Their were signs of cannibalism, torture, forms of brutality that
were beyond description.  Of Walter there was no sign.   No ship passed had
thought the area. He couldn't have used one of the shuttles, none were
missing even the one he arrived on was there, even if he took one he
couldn't get far none of the ships in the Tisen were capable of interstellar
flight.  He could have uploaded his personality and memories onto the Stream
and escaped that way, but the clustered were destroyed.  It was a mystery as
to how he escaped.
Keith was left with a choice raise Sarah or take his revenge against
Walter.  He chose the latter.  Sarah was raised by her grandfather, who
lived in Avon.  Keith started a twenty-two year quest.

Sarah then told her about what had happened spending the rest of her
childhood in Avon 2.3.  Her grandfather loved her, but she missed her
parents and her friend Keith.  She was told that a bad man came on the ship
and blew it up.  It was only later when she was told what really happened,
and she was shown the vids of the events.  Walter recorded everything.
After she was done she went out and got her eyes done.  She decided to work
on sensor clusters as a homage.  "So what was the final confrontation like?"
she asked.

Keith told her about the hunt, the desert, the fight, and the curse.
Sarah was intrigued, "Can you show me it."
Keith shrugged.  He gathered up some water, this time from inside his body,
and doused himself.  Keith then dried herself using her nanites.
"Interesting," Sarah said as she got up to inspect Keith's new body.
"Can I change back now?" Keith asked.
"Sure."
Keith then changed back in a manner similar to the way she changed before
only now the water was heated.  "So you were talking about your neighbors?"
he asked.
"Yes it's very sad the mother died in a botched medical operation.  The
father already a trad, descended into a fragile state where he would fly of
the handle at any moment.  His daughters were only little kids.  He was not
up to raising them.  I helped as much as he could, but he really didn't like
me.  He thought that I was tainting his daughters, especially the youngest
one," Sarah said looking out the window.
Keith nodded he had seen the house it was a traditional Japanese dwelling.
That in itself was not unusual.  Avon was originally settled by the
Japanese, but he had gotten a weird vibe by the place.

*********************************************

"Wait." Soun said to Ranma who was about to leave the room.
"Yes," Ranma replied
Soun then started to speak it was in a language that sounded vaguely
familiar, but he couldn't understand it.
Soun looked at Ranma's blank expression with distaste, "Genma how could you
not teach your son our proud native language."
"I'm sorry," Genma said, "but the boy is so slow when it comes to things
like that.  I thought that teaching him a second language would be a waste
of time, that could be spent training."
Soun looked at him angrily, but then relented.  "I suppose if the time was
spent training.  It's not so bad."
Ranma then followed Akane out of the house.
A note on languages English is the primary trade language of humanity.
This is because of the primary exploration done by the USA, the precursor to
the UCA.  Most systems have a native language that is reflective of the
ethnic composition of the system, but they use English when dealing with
other systems.

*********************************************

Ranma was looked around the dojo.  It looked reasonably well built.  Akane
was at the other end, still dressed in the slightly worn gi.  Ranma was
apprehensive, he could easily beat  her (gauging a person's attitude in the
art was one of the things he was trained in), it just was that he usually
didn't fight girls. OK there was that time in Frem, but that was different.
"Are you ready," Akane asked, taking a stance.
Ranma nodded.
Akane responded to this by charging him.  Ranma easily evaded this charge,
by leaping back.  He could have easily penetrated her weak defenses, and
taken her out with a single hit, but he really didn't want to hit girls.
Ranma analyzed Akane's tactics.  She had impressive quantities of raw
power, but she lacked focus, and control.  Her defenses were also pitiful.
This trend of Ranma dodging Akane, continued for four minutes.  Akane
getting angrier and angrier.  As her rage consumed her she became less and
less controlled in her attacks, and thus it became easier for Ranma to
dodge.
Akane snapped, "Quit dodging, and fight me," she roared.
"Ha, why should I hit an uncute tomboy like you," Ranma taunted still
evading Akane's blows.
Akane screamed at this and walked out of the dojo.  Ranma was left inside
confused whenever her spared with Pops insults always seemed to help.  He
left the dojo soon after to find his father.  Neither noticed the small
camera, located in the ceiling.

*********************************************

Keith sat with Sarah in her kitchen.  They were both eating some sort of
stew.  The package said it was beef, but neither of them had had real beef
so they had no idea if the claim was true.  Keith was a mage so he didn't
eat much, and Sarah was raised on a starship so she was used to eating
processed food.
Food animals required a large amount of space to be raised in and the
energy gotten from eating them was only a fraction of the energy form the
food that they ate.  This made real meat very expensive on unterraformed
planets, starships, space stations, and any other area that couldn't raise
its own livestock.  Most people ate synthetic meats a misnomer because they
were in reality constructed by genetically engineered bacteria and then
processed to resemble meat.  This made real meat a luxury item that could be
sold for impressive profits, hence the huge freezers in the Tisen's E hold.
Plants on the other hand could be efficiently raised by using hydroponics.
"So when are you going?" Sarah asked, in between bites.
This caught Keith off guard, he hadn't even considered what he would do
after he gave the bone to her, "I don't know.  Whenever you want me to.
It's not like I have a schedule or anything."
Sarah looked at her stew.  She had hopped that Keith had some reason to
leave. Keith was like an uncle to her, but that other form.  She pushed
those thoughts aside; she was on the rebound and liable to latch onto the
next person who came alone.  She decided to change the subject, "So what's
the curse like, how does it work?"
Keith put down his spoon, and looked at Sarah, "This is a creation of
Walter.  He built nanites that would cause a person to have two physical
states of existence.  These states are easily transferable by a common
trigger.  The change is complete down to the cellular level,  each state is
recorded with extremely high accuracy.  The change is extremely fast and
uses very little energy, there is also a disappearance in mass between the
two states.  I have no idea how this 'curse' works.  I was told that if I
investigated into the working of these nanites, the 'curse' would change.  I
agree with this, Walter would undoubtedly put little 'traps' in his nanites.
  They are clever little bugs."
"So you're stuck with them," Sarah stated.
"Yup," Keith said, "Well I could prevent water from ever touching my skin,
but apparently the nanites even track that, so it's not a good idea."
"Well I've got some work to do," Sarah said as she put the dishes in the
washer.
"OK," Keith said as he also placed his bowl and silverware in the washer,
"Can I sleep in the spare room."
"Sure, but I thought you didn't need to sleep," Sarah asked.
"I also don't need to breathe or eat," Keith said, "But I haven't slept
since, well."
"I understand, the dreams," Sarah said, "I've had them too."
Keith responded, "But it was my responsibility.  If I was there"
Sarah interrupted, "If you were there you'd be dead too."
"I know.  I just feel that it was my responsibility.  Nothing I could do
can bring them back," Keith said.
"Believe me I wanted him to pay," Sarah said her eyes glowing fiercely,
"The one thing that kept me going was that you were out their hunting him,
and now," her eyes returned to normal, "that it's over."  Sarah paused
looked at Keith then said good night.
Keith understood when to leave someone alone.  He walked out of the room
and up the stairs.  He heard Sarah activating her computer and begin to
work. Keith knew that she needed time. Hell he needed time, what was he
going to do?  The quest was over.
He entered the spare bed room and went to sleep.  He slept on top of the
covers still wearing his clothes,  he was exhausted.  Not physically, but
mentally, two decades is a long time.  His dreams were of the Tisen, but
only the good parts.
A few hours later Sarah entered the room.  She looked at Keith's sleeping
form, thoughtfully.  She took the glass she was holding, and pored some
water on him.  Keith had apparently powered down all of his systems so she
kept on sleeping.   Sarah looked at the slumbering woman, and left the room.
  When Keith woke up she would surmise what happened, but that was a problem
for tomorrow.

*********************************************

Nabiki was having her morning coffee.  She was digesting the footage she
had seen last night.   Her oculars were on and she was replaying the
interesting parts.  Ranma was a superior martial artist.  This was the only
thing he had in Nabiki's opinion, aside from that he was just a tactless
simpleton.  Although the curse could be profitable.  Akane was similar in
that all she had was the art, and now that someone better came along; she
had nothing.  The engagement only forced them together.
She turned her head to see Genma arguing with Ranma.
"Why do I have to go to school anyway?" Ranma said.
"Do you want to grow up an idiot." Genma said.
"But you always said that the Art was all I needed." Ranma stated.
"Bah don't be foolish boy," Genma said.
"I don't even have any supplies," Ranma said still trying to worm out of
school.
"You can use my wristpad," Genma said handing the device to him, "I never
used the contraption."
Ranma held the small computer in his hands.  The last time he had gone to
school something happened but what?  He was shaken out of the depth of
memory, by Akane coming down the stairs.
Nabiki took this opportunity to leave the house.  Ranma and Akane were
already arguing over something as trivial as walking to school.  She stopped
off next door.
Sarah was a the kitchen table having some juice.  Keith was coming down the
stairs. "Funny joke," Keith said as she sat at the chrome  table.
Sarah grinned, "Why didn't you change back?"
"No point," Keith said, as she poured herself some juice.
"Weird hair," Sarah said commenting on its color again, "Is it all blue?"
"Curios?" Keith said.
Sarah chuckled, "No, no unless you insist." Then she noticed something odd
about Keith's state of dress, "Are you wearing a bra?"
"Yes." Keith said taking another sip.
"It's not one of mine is it?"
"Nope." Keith said taking yet another sip.
Sarah found this odd, but Keith was a mage.  Her inquires were interrupted
by someone entering the front door.   Keith turned to see a teenage girl
enter wearing a set of oculars and a school uniform.
"Dear gods," Keith exclaimed, "They don't make you wear that do they.  Is
this whole system infected with trads?"
"Who's this?" Nabiki asked.
Sarah looked at Keith, and then said, "Oh she's just a friend."
"Name's Keith," she said extending her hand.
Nabiki paused odd name.  Then again Keith was obviously counter culture,
her hair was clear indicator are was the coat and boots.  "Just a friend?,"
Nabiki asked, "Does Joanne know about this?"
Sarah glared slightly at Nabiki, "I broke up with her yesterday."
Nabiki looked at the blue haired woman, then back to Sarah, "Anyway
something rather interesting happened yesterday."
"Will I have to pay for this?" Sarah asked an amused smile on her face.
Keith raised an eyebrow.
"No, you'd find out anyway," Nabiki said, this entitlement was one of the
few signs of affection she showed to anyone.  Sarah was one of the few,
perhaps the only, person who understood her.  Sarah was like an aunt to her,
and it was hard for her to not be the 'Ice Queen'  when Sarah was around.
"Go on," Keith said.  Feeling uneasy, 'something interesting?'
Nabiki stared describing yesterday's events. She got to the panda when.
Sarah looked a Keith who nodded.
"What?" Nabiki asked, stopping her the story.  What did this woman, know,
then it hit her.  She  was named Keith. "You're not cursed are you?" she
asked Keith.
"It's not technically a curse," Keith said, "Now can you describe these two
people."
"Why?" Nabiki asked. She wanted to get as much as she could from this
'woman.'
"Fair trade a tale for a tale, but you finish yours first," Keith said.
Nabiki hesitated if she continued it would be on faith, to a complete
stranger, but this was one of Sarah's friends.  She finished her description
of the previous nights events.
Keith nodded, "Those are definitely the two trads, I saw."
"Where and how did you meet them?" Nabiki asked.
Keith looked at Sarah, who nodded.  Keith then told Nabiki a highly
abridged version of the events from Tisen on.  She omitted what exactly
happened on the Tisen, and the years tracking the man in black.
"A mage," Nabiki said.
Keith nodded.
"This curse must be one hell of a job, for you to get stuck with it."
Keith agreed, but her thoughts were elsewhere.  Those idiots were here.
This was too much to be a coincidence.   She would have suspected that this
was Walter's doing, but this was not his style, but if it wasn't one of
Walter's games then what was it. Ka?
"My god," Sarah said, "I knew Soun was a trad, but an arranged marriage,
isn't that illegal?"
"Father never cared much for legality when it came between his principals,"
Nabiki flatly stated, "I mean this friend of his tortured Ranma when he was
a kid."
This caught Keith's attention. 'What did he do?" she asked.
"Repeatedly tossed his five year old son into a pit of cats," Nabiki said.
Sarah cringed, she knew trads were misconstrued, but what this man did to
his son was monstrous, "Why did he do it?"
"He was quoted as saying it was 'training,'" Nabiki said disgusted.
"How did a man who would let his son get mauled be allowed to raise him?"
Sarah said.
"The police report oddly omits that"
Keith was thinking.  The oculars that Nabiki wore were top of the line,
special order.  This meant that she had some expertise in hacking. It was
odd for a person to have such an expensive piece of equipment when a simple
cybernetic jack and wristpad would be much better and cheaper, but her
father being a trad did explain that.  "Now I understand why he had those
implants, when his father was such a trad."
"Implants?" Nabiki said.
"Yes, I'm sure the medical report said that there was sever trauma," said
Keith.
Nabiki said, "Yup, the report said that when the authorities found him he
was nearly torn apart."
"To save his life, many medical implants were placed in him.  Supplementing
the function of many of his organs, parts of his nervous systems, and
shattered bones."
"Does Ranma know about this?" Sarah asked.
"I don't think so," Nabiki said, "Mr. Saotome  seems to be the type of
person who would try to cover up any of his mistakes."
"True," Keith agreed, "trads never like to face the folly of their poor
judgment."
"Can they be removed?" Sarah asked.
"No," Keith said, "Medical implants are designed to be removed as soon as
the person heals.  This is to prevent the body from relying on the implants.
  Ranma has had these things in for over a decade.  His body has come to
depend on them, especially since he's gone trough puberty with them in.  His
body had changed and grown with them as a part of him.  There is a slight
chance they might be removable, I'd have to examine him myself.  If they
were taken out, he'd spend years in physical therapy recovering from it, not
to mention the expense, and that is only if he hasn't adjusted completely.
Which I doubt."
"The curse seems to handle the inorganic components in stride," Nabiki
observed.
"True," Keith said, "After all I'm a prime example of it."
A warning light went off in Nabiki's oculars, it was time for her to go on
to school. "I've got to go."
"Wait," Sarah said.
"Yes."
"Don't tell anyone about this."
"What?" Nabiki said.
"This information is of little value.  If told in the wrong way, it could
severely damage Ranma," Sarah said.
"What a mind job.  Spending your life taught that cybernetics are
corrupting, and then finding out you're a cyborg." Keith said.
"Fine, but you owe me," she said while she left the house.
Keith looked at the closing door, and then at Keith. "Well things are
getting interesting," she said.
"So you're going to stay," Sarah said.
"I don't see why the hell not." Keith said.
"You've go to get some new idioms," Sarah said.

End Chapter 1
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Sir Desaix, member # 116 of the Knights of the True Fiancee
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