Subject: [FFML] [Ranma][NGE][HPL][AMG][Fusion][Fanfic] Sic Semper Morituri Chapter 48 - They're Sharing A Drink They Call Loneliness, But It's Better Than Drinking Alone
From: "Daniel Jess Gibson" <dan_s.comments@worldnet.att.net>
Date: 7/22/2005, 7:33 PM
To: "FFML Post" <ffml@anifics.com>


[Ranma][NGE][HPL][AMG][Fusion][Fanfic] Sic Semper Morituri Chapter 48 -
They're Sharing A Drink They Call Loneliness, But It's Better Than Drinking
Alone

Disclaimer:
I do not own any of the characters from Ranma 1 / 2, Neon Genesis
Evangelion, Ah My Goddess, or the Lovecraft Cycle involved in these
stories.

C&C, MSTs are welcome
E-mail: dan_s.comments@worldnet.att.net
Stories are available in Rich Text Format and HTML at:
     http://home.att.net/~danjess.gibson
(these are the most updated versions)

Stories are available in Plain ASCII at:
     http://archives.eyrie.org/anime/Ranma/Sic-Semper-Morituri/

ftp://ftp.cs.ubc.ca/pub/archive/anime-fan-works/Ranma/Sic-Semper-Morituri/

http://www.cs.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/ftp/archive/anime-fan-works/Ranma/type/Sic-Sem
per-Morituri
(these are the original versions)

What has gone before:
     About Book 11 of the Tankoubon Manga, Akane and Soun Tendo throw Ranma
out of the house.  Nabiki, in the guise of a wish, follows him.  They meet
EVA pilots Shinji Ikari, Rei Ayanami, Asuka Soryu Langley and Jeffrey
Davis.
     With the aid of a narrow board and two sawhorses, Asuka begins
teaching Ranma both sword fighting, and how to teach.  Only he believes his
first class with the others was an unmitigated disaster.
     Asuka contracts Keiichi and his sister to construct several bicycles
for the pilots.  She shoots a bug and has her second clash with Skuld.
     All four senators from Wyoming and Massachusetts begin investigating
the Boston incident and Misato's part in it.  Admiral Simson scrambles to
begin his own investigation of what has been happening in NERV before and
after the war.  Shinji and Rei console and watch over Misato.
     Asuka and Ranma wash each others hair, Shinji washes Rei's.  They
discuss children while doing this.  Asuka doesn't want the responsibility,
Rei appreciates her advice.
     Aboard the Bennington, Jeff meets with one of his patrons and receives
an update on Sharon.  Nabiki is coming to realize the differences in the
way the military treats her and the other pilots.
     Major ggreg and Adam Smith arrive, to cover their `spying` on NERV,
they will teach Nabiki and Jeff about explosives.  Ritsuko investigates the
unusual way Jeff syncs with the EVA, she is terrified by the contact.
Later she realizes the spirits power the EVAs.  Nabiki and Maya train to
operate firearms.  Nabiki adds hand-to-hand training with the rifle.
     Jeff and the Scholarly Dragon teach Nabiki about control of her
dreams, concentrating on infiltration.  Bad dreams continue to plague her.
The Scholarly Dragon prevents a dream attack by Usagi and company.
     The Azores Mission heads through the Panama Canal, and the principals
are treated to the effect of their celebrity.  Nabiki and Maya don't like
it.
     Nabiki discusses Hiroko's death with several of her instructors.
Ritsuko looks over Jeff and Nabiki as Nabiki comes under dream attack.
     Joma and Ritsuko discuss the desires of made things for their
creators/users.
     Ranma begins teaching the others the insult techniques that are part
of his art.  He also senses Asuka growing injuries, cause by ignoring her
own limitations and trying to keep up with him.  He disobeys her demand,
and heals her injuries.  She accuses him of using his Code of Honor to
justify any action he cares to take.  Ranma attempts to discover a way make
things right, while Rei tests methods of returning Asuka to normal.
     The Russians go over a newsreel of the Azores team, and discuss their
growing maintenance problems.
     The Azores group discover a second entry plug port in Unit 04 and
begin select Maya and Captain Madison of SAR to accompany the pilots to the
bottom.
     The recovery itself goes off without serious problems, Nabiki carries
the Great Old One back to the EVA.  She is revolted and horrified by the
experience.
     Something is killing the leaders of the project.
     What she has taken looks like a fried egg, Nabiki is ashamed of her
weakness and terror in the face of a Great Old One.
     The creature awakens and the battlegroup is surrounded by clouds and
all the pilots are plunged into a dream, Rei awakens, but the others do
not.  Shinji dreams of a city deep in the ocean, and then to the city he
designed in the dream challenge.  Rei is with him and they lead the human
race of planet and to the stars.  Then Shinji heads off to battle an enemy
on the Moon.
     Ranma, Jeff and Nabiki find themselves in a faceless Nerima duplicate.
They join the group who repairs Nerima from the marital arts battles.
     Asuka finds herself walking through the spectrum, eventually falling
to hunger and dehydration.
     Rei and Erin temporarily move in with Sammi.
     Rei merges with Sarah and the other Reis to send Shinji to the moon to
battle the enemy there.
     Ranma and Jeffrey begin investigating the mechanism of healing spells,
and Nabiki's reaction to Jeff and Ranma/Ranko's proximity to her in bed.
     Ranma reveals what he did to Asuka and gets advice to deal with it.
Ranma Also investigates why he locked himself in his female form.
     After nearly killing Jeff, Ranma decided to surrender his male
identity or his life as redress, Jeff ask forgiveness for his actions
instead.
     Nabiki anonymously delivers a large amount food to the Tendos as
revenge for their treatment of Ranma.
     Ranko/Ranma leads Jeff to Saotome Eiji's home to discover if he has
any relatives and a clan.
     Jeff and Nabiki return Cthylla to her temple.
     Jeff uses an AT field to disrupt Cthylla's control over Ritsuko.  He
accidentally transfers all his memories, including the dreams from Nerima,
to her.  Maya and Nabiki don't understand what to do.  Ritsuko and Jeff are
disturbed by events.
     Anna Alise and an American Alpine troop encounter 3 EVAs in
Switzerland, Anna captures one EVA and is ejected by remote.
     Nabiki learns the extent Jeff was willing to go to to assist Ritsuko,
changes he made to himself and the studies he made.
     Nabiki invades Jeff's dream and encounters a family and children.  She
later displays her talent to Ritsuko who controls the dream herself.
     The Bennington arrives in Boston, while Jeff, Maya, Nabiki and Ritsuko
are having dinner, Major ggreg fights and escaped from something.  Ritsuko
finds out the true about the project that created Jeff and Sharon, as well
as others.
     Sharon Lauren kills Sgt.Malkowitz, then rescues Nabiki from an angry
crowd, before revealing their `shadowless` existence.  Nabiki confronts
Belldandy about it, Belldandy has no explanation.  She confronts Jeff,
kills Belldandy, then Jeff detonates his prepared bomb.


It's nine o'clock on a Saturday
The regular crowd shuffles in
There's an old man sitting next to me, makin' love to his tonic and gin
He says, "Son, can you play me a memory?
I'm not really sure how it goes, but it's sad and it's sweet and I knew it
complete, when I wore a younger man's clothes"

Piano Man - Billy Joel

July 27, 1947
France is Alone, God is Alone
     Asuka had gotten the needles out of her arm, then taken a quick shower
and changed into some clean clothes.  She wasn't ready to go home yet.  She
also noted that Horseface was up and around.  That only leaves Spineless,
she thought as she headed for the room they usually kept him in.  She found
him there, and Wondergirl sitting on a chair, staring at him.
     "He has not awakened," Wondergirl, "It is my fault."
     "You didn't do anything wrong," Asuka told her, she was a little
uncertain about the time Wondergirl had spent talking to her, to get her to
wake up.
     Wondergirl stood up and stared at her, Asuka took a step back, the
intensity of such a gaze usually presaged violence.  In normal people,
Asuka thought, I have no idea what _she'll_ do.
     Wondergirl walked past her, and yanked open a cabinet.  Asuka would
have sworn they kept those cabinets locked.  The `ping` as Wondergirl
yanked it open also implied that.  Wondergirl withdrew a scalpel with a
blade.
     "What are you doing?" Asuka asked with as disapproving a tone as she
could manage.  She also moved in.
     "I do not feel anything," Wondergirl said as she brought the blade to
her arm.
     Asuka grappled with her.  "Horseface!  Get in here!" she shouted as
she peeled Wondergirl's fingers loose of the scalpel, which dropped to the
floor.  Asuka kicked it away.  Wondergirl began flailing around, not really
trying to hit Asuka, nor trying to escape, just a machine that had jumped
the track.
     Just reacting against any resistance, Asuka realized, She's just _too_
strong.  Asuka had her arms under the smaller girl's arms, and picked her
up off the ground to keep her from stomping the floor, Wondergirl's odd
silence bothered Asuka, this wasn't a tantrum as she understood them.  "Get
her waist!" Asuka told Horseface as `she` arrived.  Even she can't hold
Wondergirl, Asuka thought as she watched Horseface catch one leg and get
shaken off.  Wondergirl's flailing arms hadn't even landed a glancing blow,
and her head was moving violently from side-to-side.  Asuka worried what
would happen if she started flailing with her head, the safe point Asuka
had picked would cease to be safe.  Aside from the rug burn I'm getting
from Wondergirl's hair, she thought, then she realized that there was a
pattern to the movement, her head and each limb had a different frequency
and the range of motion changed, giving the illusion of random, frenzied
motion, but it was all repetitive.
     The four guards and Stoneface Ikari all rushed in.
     "Saotome, get her around the waist," Stoneface commanded, "Langley,
watch her head."
     "Yeah - I - got - that," Asuka told him as Wondergirl shook violently
from side-to-side, not hard enough to hurt Asuka, but hard enough to hurt
Wondergirl.
     With Horseface supporting her waist, Wondergirl's arms windmilled, her
legs kicked, and her head shook.  Stoneface tried to find a way through to
get to Wondergirl's head.  None of the guards could close to restrain
another part.  Asuka was a little shocked at the elder Ikari gently but
firmly holding Wondergirl's head.  The girl flailed around that way for
several more minutes, only the flap of clothes and the breathing of those
restraining her was heard.
     Once Wondergirl had calmed down somewhat, Stoneface told them, "I can
take it from here, please leave."
     Asuka decided discretion was the better part of valor.  "She didn't do
anything wrong," she told him as she left.
     She walked back towards her room.  She wanted to do something.  She
glanced at Horseface-the-girl.  No, she thought and returned to her room to
watch for old Stoneface leaving Spineless's room, then she could ambush
him.  She thought she recognized Wondergirl's behavior, from when she was
in Germany with Tatewaki and Kodachi Kuno, trying to get them healthy and
comfortable with who they really were.  It had been a hard time for her as
well, and not one she wanted to ever discuss again, with anyone.  But
Wondergirl needs those memories, she thought, And I won't leave her like
this.  'It just isn't done.'
----------------------------------------
     Her quarry appeared, and Asuka struck.  "Commander," she said as she
closed, she ignored his glare, as `scary` as he was, she had seen worse
things, she'd survived the `opening strains` of her own worst nightmare on
the roof, and her second worst had been Wondergirl's way of waking her up.
There was little left to fear.
     She waited until she could speak privately.  "I was in Nerima of the
1990's, and into the early 21st century."  That got his attention, she
thought, then continued, "That included some psychological research.  I
might not like W - Pilot Ayanami, but I do want her to be dependable.  I
believe I can help with that."
     Stoneface paused and stared at her, she weathered it without
flinching.
     "She does _not_ have autism in any form," he intoned, adjusting his
glasses.
     He'd quit doing that, if he realized what an idiot he looks like when
he does it, Asuka thought, waited for the rest of the profundity from on
high, And why did he spe . . . oh, _he_ looked into it as well, dummkoft
Asuka.
     "However, submit a plan, I will approve it . . . or not."  Stoneface
turned away.
     "Thank you, sir," she called brightly after him.  Returning to her
scowl.  I'm not doing this to help you, or your robot, Asuka thought, I'm
doing it because I _owe_ her.
----------------------------------------
     Asuka was so tied up in her disgust at the situation, she missed the
smile that appeared and vanished on Gendo's face.
----------------------------------------
     From her handstand on the bedrail, Ranko stared at the wall of the
infirmary.  There were a lot of things to consider, a lot she didn't want
to talk about, even to the point of abandoning what _he_ was, and if it was
related to the current condition.  Is he or she a question of how I look at
myself, rather than how I look? she wondered.  All the blood rushing to her
head didn't make thinking any easier.  The other thing that bothered her
was how she, and he, had acted towards Nab-chan and Jeffrey.  It had felt
right, more than that, it felt necessary.  Not just their Ki injuries,
she'd taken care of Jeffrey's in the first week.  But why did _Ranma_ spend
so much time with him? Ranko wondered, We don't like each other.
     Ranma dropped onto the bed, stopped, considered the change, flipped
back into a handstand to see if the position affected whether he was Ranma
or Ranko, he stayed Ranma, in a redheaded girl's body.  He frowned, dropped
into a position lying on the floor, and continued to think, this time in
terms of motions that he, and she, took with Jeffrey and Nab-chan.  How
they danced around each other . . . That's it.  Neither Nab-chan nor
Jeffrey would close on the other unless they knew Ranma or Ranko were
present! Ranma realized, then he exaltation faltered, And that tells me
what?
     He rolled over, got another not-so-subtle reminder he was currently in
female form.  Adding another question.  Why did _I_ lock myself into my
girl form? he asked himself.  "What was I hoping to accomplish, and when
can I `tell` myself I'm done?" Ranma asked anyone who was listening to his
thoughts.  Okay, _why_ would they need someone else around to close with
each other?  They seemed to get along, but they . . .  Ranma thought,
wondering why _he_ and _she_ were drawn to them and they to him/her, as
questions chased themselves through his mind.  No answer immediately
presented itself.
----------------------------------------
     Asuka walked past Spineless's room.  Of course Wondergirl was waiting,
sitting in there.  "Wondergirl.  If he hasn't woken up, you staring at him
in silence isn't going to help."
     "I do not know what to say," Wondergirl said.
     Asuka shook her head.  "Look Wondergirl, when he wakes up, they'll
call us."
     "I cannot leave," Wondergirl said.
     "Well, I could wait until you fall over and sneak you out.  I
understand you stayed in one of the rooms at Sa - Krasnyzamok's apartment."
     "I will want to know when he recovers."
     Asuka marched over in front of Wondergirl and picked the girl up under
her arms, so they were face to face.  "You aren't going to help him by
making yourself sick," she angrily told her, "I can get Horseface and we
can carry you out of here."
     "I . . . will go," Wondergirl said even more softly than normal,
bowing her head.
     In shame or in defeat? Asuka wondered.  Asuka led her out of the room,
past the nurse's station.  "We want to be informed as soon as - Pilot Ikari
regains consciousness," Asuka told the head nurse.  The woman nodded and
Asuka continued to half-lead, half-carry Wondergirl to the jeep waiting to
take them home.  Asuka steadfastly ignored Miss Carter.  If I don't trust
my own guard, Asuka thought, I'll have to depend on just myself.
     Asuka practically had to carry Wondergirl up the stairs to the
apartment and into the room.  "Go to sleep," Asuka told her quietly, "Maybe
you'll dream about him."
     "Jawohl," Wondergirl said quietly, closed her eyes and immediately
went to sleep.
----------------------------------------
     Ranma had run to Ayanami's place.  Carter-san had taken some of her
stuff.  Ranma collected the rest of the critical stuff, clothes, her
violin, some of her books, there were a _lot_ of those.  He nearly
staggered under the load, but he stopped just outside the apartment to rig
a chair to help wedge the door closed when he finished closing it.  He
could help them `break in` later.
     The load was such that he couldn't run back, the wind resistance on
the boxes messed up their balance, and his smaller girl frame meant his
shorter arms prevented him from using one big box for everything.  If he'd
been training, he could have let the boxes fall, but they weren't his
stuff, so keeping them undamaged was more important than speed.
     If I could change back to a guy, I could carry this stuff better, he
told himself, Nothing, still a girl.
     He continued home at a fast jog, a snail's pace compared to his normal
speed.  He still hadn't figured out why he would have stuck himself as a
girl.  Okay, he thought, glanced down at `himself`, No, I'm still Ranma,
Ranko's . . . Ranko's all talk and cuddling with her friends . . . no,
that's not fair or accurate.  He searched for the _words_ that went with
the image and behavior pattern in his head, of Ranko staying a _lot_ closer
to those she cared about, rather than leaving them to their own devices and
taking the fight to the enemy, as Ranma would.  "I guess I'll have to Ask-a
Langley . . . I've been hanging around Jeffrey too long."  When he arrived
back at the apartment, he slowed down until he and his burden were
absolutely silent.  No sense setting off `Megorofeld-chan`, he thought, By
waking up `Wondergirl`.  He walked into the room Rei-chan was staying in.
Asuka's back was to him, she was holding a shivering, tearful Rei, telling
her it wasn't her fault.  Ranma silently set the boxes down and Ranko began
soundlessly rummaging through them.  Ranko paused.  The mental change had
come instantly, smoothly, and as seamlessly as changing a stance or
changing from a dodge to a counterstrike.
     I needed to be a girl, Ranko thought as her hand closed on the
hairbrush and comb Ranma hadn't really understood he'd been looking for,
And I am one.  Ranko knew if she needed to be `Ranma` again, the change
would be just as smooth, but in mind only, bodily the change hadn't
affected her.  Okay, overall I need to _look_ like a girl, but not always
_be_ one, she thought as she sat on the bed, shocking Asuka.  "I brought
some of your things," Ranko said quietly, holding up a hand where Rei
couldn't see it and Asuka could, to urge Asuka to hold her protests within.
Ranko remembered how Shinji and Jeffrey had soothed Nab-chan, she carefully
began combing, then brushing out Rei's hair.  It had worked wonders on
Nab-chan, and a shampoo had nearly put Ranko to sleep.  Ranko had also
tried stronger versions by massaging Nab-chan.  But this should work, Ranko
thought.  Asuka had returned to what she'd been saying, ignoring Ranko.
Fine by me, Ranko thought as she combed through carefully.  She found the
tangles with the comb, and carefully worked through them.  It also made it
clear that Rei needed another shampoo.  Ranko waited until Asuka took a
breath, she held up a small bit of Rei's frayed hair.  It's very dry, she
thought as she rubbed the hair between her fingers.  Asuka simply glanced
and nodded.  She understood, Ranko thought, she was amazed.  The
communication, a complex message had traveled between them clearly, without
the fog words always seemed to put in the way.  Asuka lay Rei back down on
her bed, took Ranko's hand and led her out.  Although Ranko knew if she
didn't go, Asuka would drag her.
     "Okay, so she's going to stay," Asuka said as she pulled Ranko
upstairs to the kitchen.  "What's all this nonsense about she sent
Spineless away?"
     "I don't know," Ranma answered, again the change was smooth, he noted
the changes in how things seemed to interact, different from what Ranko
noticed.  Asuka clearly wanted to fight, whatever had afflicted Rei as a
first choice, anything handy as a second.  "Why are you asking me?  I was
with Jeffrey and Nab-chan, in 1992 Nerima," Ranma said, keeping his tone
submissive, although it galled him, it was an excellent tactic, Asuka got
_more_ angry, but not at him.
     "I was walking through the spectrum."  Suddenly she stepped away and
hugged herself, and shivered violently.
     Ranma threw a flying tackle and a plethora of killing blows at the
impulse to speak.  Emerging bloody, but unbowed, he said nothing, searching
for a technique, not words, but a series of pictures.  He found one in an
instant.  Now to remember the words that go with it, he thought, knowing
that would be the hard part.
     Finally, he had it.  He put his hands on her shoulders, ignored her
angry gaze.  "I have another problem I need your help with," he spoke the
words of a `spell` Raccoon had used on Asuka repeatedly, with universal
success.  It worked just as well for Ranma.  She let him lead her to the
dining room table.  He was aware that `Ranma`-the-male would not have been
allowed to do that after the incident.  As they sat down, Ranma recalled
another set of movements, removing papers from a file folder.  "What do you
know about Autism and Asperger's Syndrome?" Ranma asked.
     Asuka sat back and considered.  "You would have to bring up something
I went over in a psych class at university, 15 years ago it seems."  She
breathed in.
     Ranma watched closely as Asuka literally changed before his eyes.
Most people wouldn't have noticed, _he_ hadn't really paid attention
before, but now he was fully aware of the difference.  For an instant, she
was older, and vastly more at ease with herself.  She also got a faraway
look of longing.
     Asuka shook her head.  "Give me some time, I can't recall.  I might
have come across something while Tate and Koda-chan were in Germany."
     "Tatewaki and Kodachi Kuno?" Ranma asked incredulously, his voice
filled with disgust at any dealings with the mad swordsman and the deranged
gymnast.  He saw the changes in Asuka's expression.
     "He was more of a man, more of a gentleman, more of a man of honor,
than _you_ could ever hope to be," Asuka replied coldly as she stood and
walked off.
     Ranma let her go, and growled at himself, Why didn't I just keep my
mouth shut?  He laid his head on the table, quietly so as not to further
set off the other redhead, and not to start a cycle of pounding it on the
table, for his ability to say the worst thing, in the worst way, in any
circumstances.  My secret talent, he thought.
----------------------------------------
     The lieutenant was out of uniform, she was on leave after all.  She
lowered her binoculars.  Someone from ordnance shouldn't be the one leading
a combat team, she thought as her brigade commanders and the leader of the
martial artist's people moved up.  The martial artist's people didn't
eschew weapons, but they hadn't stockpiled them the way her people did.  My
people, she thought, When did _I_ become the leader?  She paused to
consider.  Because I was first, she realized, I became leader when my team
`captured` Ayanami Rei, me a glorified clerk in an ordnance company found
an unconscious girl and took her to the U.S.S. Hope.  She hadn't understood
why.  Later she'd understood everything, and she'd done all she could to
help her, without revealing herself or her growing organization.  Tried to
help the girl learning to be a woman, the mortal learning to become a god.
She'd left the books on the German language where Ayanami would
automatically pick up and read them, she'd given Ayanami the silver bullets
because of a dream.  She had led her entire force up here because of
another dream.
     The martial artist's people had arrived soon after, offering help.
Now she commanded the equivalent of seven entire brigades of light
infantry.  They had surrounded the small, shabby compound: small cabins in
the tree-hung shade.  The martial artist's leader had the difficult job of
keeping anyone from escaping.  The man was ex-Wehrmacht, many of the
`soldiers` under his `command` were French, British, Czech, etc.  She
understood how that worked, she knew how the Japanese/Korean and
English/Welsh troubles were put aside in her own command staff, she could
only attribute that to the placidness of their divinity.  However, placid
was not something that could be applied to Saotome.  Now they gathered
around the map on the ground, and adjusted the assault plan, as the reports
of the scouts came in.
----------------------------------------
     Urd didn't think much of the truck driving into the compound, the
speakers on top barely warranted her notice.  All kinds of trucks came in
and out of the compound while they covered up the footprint.  Urd was alone
in the temple, Belldandy was out with Keiichi, and Skuld was with her
little friend.  The first promised bicycle waited to be picked up in the
shed, and two others only had a few hours of work to complete.  She
frowned, Skuld had threatened all manner of vengeance if Urd tried to
`improve` the bicycles.  "It's not like I meant it to explode," she
muttered, "Bicycles are _supposed_ to go fast."
     When the speakers atop the truck started blasting out enka music, Urd
didn't even have time to scream.
[A.N. Enka music became Polka music in the Dark Horse translation.]
----------------------------------------
     Ilyana Romanov glanced at her fellow MGB operatives.  Most were women,
'swallows', and the men 'ravens'.  Trained for seduction and intelligence
gathering, not necessarily combat.  She could and had passed as a Swede
across Europe.  She could speak Swedish like a native of Helsingborg, she
even spoke fluent English and German, with a faint but distinguishable
Swedish accent.  Her career had been seducing, usually disgusting, men for
their secrets.
     After the end of the war, she'd been sent to an 'elite' school to
learn the tricks to use on women.  Clerks and typists often saw as much if
not more than their bosses, and were often more eager to talk about it,
especially to an attentive, beautiful woman.
     The side effect of all this training was she could rarely if ever
strike up a conversation with anyone that wasn't business.  Her fellow
citizens could somehow sense she was from the Ministry of State Security,
further she was recruited from SMERSH, so her MGB `comrades` all suspected
that she was trying to get close to them only to ferret out their secrets
and disloyalty.  She'd been trained by Mother Russia with skills that would
put the finest French courtesan or Japanese Geisha to shame, and she stood
as much chance of finding any warmth in this world, as a snowflake in a
Siberia winter would.
     Then she'd been recruited again, by other swallows and ravens, to a
new way.  A way of outward stoicism, of acceptance of what is, and working
towards a better way, while the emotions and passions boiled within, they
were let free only to those very few whom she could trust and who served
the same cause.  The passion of those days and nights made up for it all.
Even if they were politely distant to each other normally.  Sometimes
arguments, sometimes concerts, sometimes chess and sometimes lovemaking,
the passion was there, its sole release.  The additional duties were
slight, and did not threaten Rodina, the beloved Motherland, rumor had it,
you had to be devoted to Rodina before they even approached you.  Even
hunting trips like this served both causes.  The cult that met in this
Leningrad apartment would be dealt with, for the Rodina and for the 'Gray
Lady'.
----------------------------------------
     Urd woke in a pit.  She managed to glance up at the roof of a Quonset
hut, high above, and at the one or two people in sunglasses, black suits
and ties, at the edge, watching her, before the enka music filled her ears
from the headphones she was wearing.  Unconsciousness came again.
----------------------------------------
     The doors burst open and the troops poured in, expecting trouble of
any kind, and prepared for it as much as humanly possible.  Few of the
denizens even looked up at the invaders.  Of the few who did look up, only
a tiny handful, in all the bungalows, maintained eye contact for more than
a few moments.  Those were the ones collected and quietly added to the few
the assault force had found standing guard.  Twenty-seven individuals, some
human appearing, others clearly not.  The lieutenant shivered at the
appearance of those who weren't.  She managed the mask of stoicism her
beliefs preached, as she stared at them.  Beyond the appearance, she could
only think of how pathetic they were.
     "Kill us, let us go, there is nothing for us," one `woman` said.
Cleaned up and in decent clothes, she might have had a cruel beauty, all
she looked now was filthy and wretched.
     "So you are the mighty Children of Nyogtha," the lieutenant said
without contempt or pity, "How the mighty have fallen.  Your master is
dead.  I give you the offer to join him, or join us."
     The others stared at them, as if trying to see what wasn't there.
     "You service those . . . puny things that destroyed . . . our master."
A misshapen thing bubbled in a ghastly parody of human speech, then it
laughed.
     The lieutenant simply waited, she and her allies had time.
     "Us, stoop to serve those jumped up mongrels, they don't even _know_
they are gods."  More laughter.  Several of the others joined in.
     The lieutenant noted the cruel woman trying to rearrange her ragged
and dirty clothes into some semblance of dignity, then she stood.  The
lieutenant waved the guards back.  "I will _not_ serve you and your . . .
god."  There were angry growls from some of her troops, she already knew
what would happen to those who would not serve, it was happening all over
the world: New York, Chicago, Paris, Kiev, Birmingham, Leningrad, Nanchang,
Sydney, Lima, and her operation here outside of Tokyo.  Lead, follow or get
out of the way.  They had found none who could lead, most would be gotten
out of the way.
     "But I will follow you," the woman told the leader for the martial
artist, the ex-Wehrmacht sergeant, who nodded once and turned to the
lieutenant.
     "By your leave."
     She nodded, if he thought he could use her, so be it.
     They managed 12 more recruits from those they'd sequestered.  Most of
the rest preferred death to serving the `usurpers` or doing anything at
all, death they were given.  The more human in mind and body received the
cold box, liquid helium temperatures.  Those who were inhuman in body or
mind were destroyed by magic.
     "I still think this plan of yours is insane," the ex-Wehrmacht
sergeant told her quietly, after they had withdrawn from their followers,
to `confer`.
     "We have better relations with . . . other groups."
     "We have good relations as well, under certain circumstances.  But
even manipulations as complex as this, don't guarantee anything."
     "Doctor Akagi showed us the way, while we can't follow precisely in
her footsteps, we'll soon have resources you cannot match.  We will be
equitable.  Most will be divided between our - groups, but some will go to
the others.  We cannot and will not prevent them from seeking the truth as
they see it."
     "Church shopping," the man said, and smiled, "An interesting way."  He
bowed again.  "I'm glad you thought of it.  I hate waste."
     "As do I," she replied with a smile.
----------------------------------------
     Urd woke again, but gave no sign.  Until she whipped off the
headphones and leapt . . . some 14 centimeters before the enka music cast
its evil spell over her.
     As unconsciousness and gravity claimed her, she realized that
headphones could keep sound _out_, as well as in.
----------------------------------------
     The celebration would have seemed sedate to some, but not to those who
participated.  Joy did not have to be displayed in drinking, dancing or
copulation.  Music, talk, games and food had their own joys.
     Ilyana opened the door for the man who waited outside.  A strange
figure called simply 'The GRU man', some said because he was the template
for the bland, but oddly effective agents who were the real core of the
GRU.
     "I must congratulate you Ilyana Petrovich," he said warmly, "To locate
such a band, so close to Moscow, my congratulations."  He took her hand,
kissed it as he bowed.
     "A cult of - Azathoth - does _no_one_ good, Comrade Inspector."
     "True enough," the man replied, his wary smile indicated he knew that
labeling something a cult of Azathoth sent the Politburo into a state of
panic, any means or action became acceptable to exterminate them.  "Comrade
. . . Major."
     "Major?"  She nearly lost the stoicism she tried so hard to achieve.
     "Yes, all of your people have been advanced one step in rank.  A poor
substitute for the Order of Lenin you each deserve, but better to conceal
the . . . legitimate concern of our fellow proletariats towards the . . .
elements you found in our midst."
     Keep quiet about what happened, she translated, And that not only the
Rodina can produce swallows and ravens, although ours are all humans.  And
the appetites of the `great men` are not so different from those of our
capitalist foes.
     "I could claim I never really left SMERSH," she continued with a truly
dazzling smile.
     He answered with a wintry one.  "Actually, I have a favor to ask, in
the name of the Rodina."
     "Ask," she shrugged, she idly wondered if he could be recruited, but
it was rumored that only the Rodina was his god.  Which means, like me, he
only gets the shit jobs, she wondered why that was so.
     "I will soon need four of your best, two men, two women, or rather,
two boys and two girls, pretty, friendly and open-minded enough to . . . "
He left the comment hang.
     "Playful and curious?" she asked, "Inventive and charming?"
     "Just so, fluent in English, German and Japanese."
     "Trouble at Tunguska?" she asked carefully.
     "Ah, no, the plan is on track, and our soldiers and laborers are still
acquitting themselves as true Soviet Men and Women."
     Dying like flies against an implacable enemy, she translated for
herself.  "I had heard an additional 3 Motor Rifle and two Armored
divisions are being sent, if things are going so well, need we fear General
Borodin is setting up an empire of his own in the trackless wastes?"
     "Machines break down, besides, many are the T-44 and IS-4 tanks,
better to assemble them all in one place to centralize the spares and
logistics concerns."
     And some of the new T-54's, even though the design for the rest of the
army is being revised, she added to herself, That's a _huge_ amount of
firepower, but more is needed?  She sought to retain her equilibrium.  "I
take it you have some idea how to . . . accelerate the goals set by Central
Planning?"
     "Just so," he answered, "Your help would also be useful in,
reacquiring something that slipped through SMERSH's fingers at the end of
the war."
     "They wouldn't be stupid enough to deliver that into our hands."
     "Never underestimate the usefulness or stupidity of useful idiots in
the West," the GRU man chided and smiled.  She considered volunteering, but
she'd never master Japanese in the requisite time.
----------------------------------------
A Favorite Has No Friends
     Ranma walked into Asuka's room, unannounced.  Asuka didn't even look
at the other redhead.  Ranma carefully left the door open a crack and made
certain he never got between the door and Asuka, so she would always have
'a golden path to retreat', as Sun Tzu said.
     Don't understand why I never learned that until Jeffrey and Nab-chan
made me sit and read the whole thing, he thought, Should be a core book to
understanding the Art.  Then he remembered the times he'd spied on
Panda-puffs, and realized the last thing that man wanted, was someone
capable of long-range planning.
     He sat down, just out of arms reach, the paths to the bathroom and the
door to the living room were clear.  He had a strange suspicion, something
he'd seen with both Nab-chan and Jeffrey.  But he hadn't seen it in Asuka,
now he had the perfect opportunity to test it.  Why am I hesitating? he
wondered, I _know_ there's going to be an explosion, why don't I just set
it off and be done with it.
     "I forgive you," he said plainly, and waited.
     "_You_ - forgive - _me_?_" Asuka said as she turned.
     Ranma couldn't get rid of the image of a battleship's gun turrets
being brought to bear.
     "You refused to tell us what happened in Berlin, left it out where
anyone could trip over it and hurt you," Ranma said the words Ranko and
Jeffrey had practiced, until either Ranma or Ranko could recite them
perfectly and effortlessly in their sleep.  "You used that ignorance to
hurt yourself.  I don't like people hurting my friends, so I forgive you."
     Asuka still looked ready to launch a devastating verbal barrage, but
couldn't seem to find the target.
     "Jeffrey told me what he knew.  What he found out through various
sources," Ranma continued, the `attack` had to be relentlessly delivered,
no matter the distraction.  "You and Anna Alise collected all the records
of the EVA project that Doctor Schikelgrubber could assemble.  Then you
rushed out to meet your father at the air strip, outside of Berlin.  He was
to take you and the records to the Allies.  He stowed the records in the
one-engined Bf110 he `borrowed`, while you and Anna painted the black and
white Normandy stripes on the wings."
     Asuka's lips were quivering, her eyes shown with unshed tears, it made
it nearly impossible for Ranma to continue.  The idea of a girl having a
`good` cry was almost unfathomable, even though both Ranko and Nab-chan had
had several during the dream, a cleansing release of emotions, a safety
valve.  Only warning, training and his will to see this through let him
continue.  'Like pulling a spear out of someone, it's going to hurt, or
they're going to die.'  Both Nab-chan and Jeffrey had told Ranko and Ranma,
each in their own way.
     "Then he left you there, sent you off on some pretext and took off
without you."  He couldn't listen to her or look directly at her, or her
tears and the little sounds she was making would distract him too much to
continue, he was almost at that point now.  "You returned to the lab to
find Dr. Schikelgrubber being interrogated, when he wouldn't tell where you
two were, the Russians shot him."
     Now he paused, risked a glance at the tearful girl, then looked away
and steeled himself.  Just thinking about it was tearing him up inside.
The treatment Panda-puffs had reportedly heaped on his `son`, which Ranma
could see as effective though cruel training.  But to abandon your daughter
to a bloodthirsty enemy for a buncha papers? Ranma couldn't imagine that
without filling with rage.  "You escaped into Berlin, then watched that
family . . . and the Russian soldiers.  But there was someone looking out
for you.  Even if you didn't know, Anna did.  Somebody had contacted
British Intelligence to pluck you out of Russian controlled territory.  So
Unit 02 went to the Americans, so did Anna, while you were flown to a
British Headquarters hospital to recover.  Do you want to guess who
arranged it?" Ranma paused, risked another glance at Asuka, she'd covered
her face so he couldn't see her tears, her shoulders shook with her quiet
sobs.  Continuing went against every instinct Ranma had, as a Martial
Artist, and as a man.  But he'd seen the medics working, and Ranko had an
experience similar to the one Asuka was enduring.  Pulling a stake from
your heart _hurt_, but it had to be done, and Ranma was the only one
available to do it.
     "Raccoon, from clear across the Atlantic, was looking out for his
friend."  Ranma took a deep breath and braced for the hardest part.  He
hated doing something he barely understood, but he trusted Nab-chan and
Jeffrey, and they had agreed.  "Your father didn't abandon you because you
are a bad person, he did it because _he_ is.  Too many others thought and
think you are important for you to be . . . a . . . bad - "  The expression
on Asuka's face was something he could deal with, what she would do in the
next moments he could deal with.
     With a cry of inarticulate torment, Asuka threw herself at Ranma with
every intent of inflicting maximum damage.  Ranma blocked and deflected the
onslaught, rather than dodging it as he normally would have, even allowing
Asuka's initial charge to knock him on his back.  There was no science or
sophistication to the attack, just an immeasurable rage, a desire to
inflict pain on another to alleviate it in herself.  Feeling her blows make
contact was all Asuka cared about, the shouts of rage were animal snarls.
All she had was the desire to strike and hurt and kill, but it just beat on
the rock of Ranma's defenses.  He let the blows fall on his blocks, all the
time watching Asuka's aura and expression, leaving defense to his reflexes
while his mind analyzed and absorbed.
     At some point he noticed Rei blocking the bedroom door, preventing
Sammi and Erin from intervening.  Asuka's rage and energy wound down
quickly enough, the blows falling now undeflected, on his shoulders and
arms.  Blows fell along with tears, the tears hurt Ranma worse than the
blows.  Finally, Asuka collapsed.  Ranma had little choice except to let
her land on him.  He carefully took the larger girl in his arms and sat up.
Asuka was simply draped over `Ranko`, still sobbing and occasionally
hitting Ranma's back, as if trying to continue her tantrum out of pure
stubbornness, but there was no force behind the blows anymore.  Rei walked
past the two redheads, after closing the bedroom door in Sammi and Erin's
faces.  She returned from the bathroom with a comb and brush, and began
duplicating the comb and brush out Ranko had done to Rei a few hours
earlier.  Rei carefully eliminated the tangles in Asuka's hair, then began
brushing.
     Asuka kept hitting Ranma, but the blows kept getting weaker and
further apart, like a windup toy at the end of its spring, it kept going,
but almost without purpose.  Her cries had also slowed, becoming sobs.  He
hated doing this, hated hurting anyone this way, but he'd promised Nab-chan
and Jeffery.  They'd shown him the necessity, taken him and showed him what
could happen with an infected wound or an ingrown nail, and what had to be
done before the injury could heal.  It had sickened him, what he had just
done sickened him.  But he'd asked how to make things right and this is
what they told him.  She'd hate him a lot more, at least initially, but it
would mean she could move forward with her life, and Raccoon had guaranteed
she'd beat him up for doing it.  Somehow, that made it better.
     "Knock knock, who's there?" Rei asked as she brushed rhythmically,
"Impatient cow, impatient cow - moo.  How many Asuka's does it take to
change a light bulb?  None, she just yells at Shinji-kun that it's dark and
he'd better fix it.  How many Raccoons does it take to change a light bulb?
None, he's too busy asking you why you're so concerned it's dark," Rei said
in her emotionless tone, repeating jokes she'd heard from others.  "Knock
knock, who's there?  Little old lady, little old lady who?  Don't let Asuka
hear you yodel, she'll get mad.  How many Horsefaces does it take to change
a light bulb?"  Before Ranma could protest, Rei covered his mouth with her
hand.  "Just one, but it's his fault it's out."  Ranma frowned at Rei, but
noted that Asuka had stopped sobbing.  "A man walked up to Wondergirl and
said he hadn't had a bite in weeks, so she gave him a dollar and directions
to a cheap restaurant.  She dislikes meat."
     Asuka was shaking now, but Ranma could tell she was no longer sobbing,
but laughing instead.  Ranma thought Rei's recitation of jokes was more
like being hit repeatedly with a blunt instrument.
     "A man walked down the street eating a bag of oranges.  No one had
ever seen oranges, so the mayor walked up and asked what the orange food
was.  'An orange' the man answered, 'What do you grow around here?'  'Wine
purples,' the mayor said.  The village idiot ran up to the man and asked,
'What's that blue thing you're eating?'  'It's an orange,' the man said,
poor idiot, he must be fruit blind.  Knock, knock, who's there?  Violet,
violet who?  Your Aunt Violet don't be cheeky let me in."  Rei continued
relentlessly repeating jokes Asuka had told, never faltering in her rhythm
of brushing Asuka's hair.  Asuka's quiet laughter shook her and Ranma, who
still held her upright.  "Knock, knock, who's there?  Orange, orange who?
Orange you glad I didn't say banana?  Knock, knock, who's there?  Red, red
who?  That's what Nixon and the HUAC committee are asking.  I have done a
full spectrum of knock-knock jokes, I believe that you need rest.  And we
will need you for the field tests . . . I will need you for the field
tests," Rei said as she carefully gathered Asuka out of Ranma's arms and
carried her to the bed.  Ranma rushed over and turned it down to allow Rei
to set Asuka down in it.  Asuka looked terrible, eyes red and puffy,
exhaustion lined her face.  She managed to give them both a frown as Ranma
tucked her in.  Rei and Ranma left quietly, walking past Sammi and Erin as
they returned to their own rooms.
     Ranma had his reasons for snubbing them, he guessed that Rei also had
one.  He idly wondered why just talking, then listening to Rei's _awful_
jokes made him feel so wrung out and exhausted.  The sleep that claimed him
when his head touched the pillow was welcome.
----------------------------------------
     Urd awoke suddenly, this time she did nothing precipitous, except
plaster herself in a corner as far as possible from the Angel Eater that
was tethered in the pit with her.
     "I'm glad we have your attention," the voice through the headphones
told her.
     Urd knew enough not to antagonize them, if they started the music,
she'd be completely helpless against the Angel Eater.  A woman walked to
the edge of the pit.  She was wearing a throat mike.  And probably a dead
man switch, Urd reasoned.  "Why are you doing this?" Urd asked.
     "Because we can, anytime we want," the woman in the dark sunglasses,
black suit and tie told her, "And so you will pass on a message, that is
your purpose, isn't it?"
     Urd grimaced, but nodded, she would listen, until she could figure out
a way to escape.  But I haven't seen one, she admitted, They might even
have Keiichi or one of his friends as a hostage.
     "Your activities are not without consequences.  Personal
consequences," the woman said.  Several other figures appeared at the pit
edge, all female, all middle-aged or older, and dressed exactly the same
way.
     So a show of skin would have no effect, Urd realized, she also
suspected through other senses, that all of them either mourned their
husbands or were still deeply in love with them.  That gives me no wiggle
room with advice or suggestions, Urd realized she couldn't embarrass them
like she did the kids at the college.  I've gotten lazy and sloppy.  I
_still_ don't know anything about them, she thought as she glanced around.
"That's it?" she asked.
     "That's it.  Please repeat it back, word for word."
     Urd did, and enka music filled the headphones.  Urd slipped into
unconsciousness, uncertain if she would reawaken.
----------------------------------------
     Keiichi and Belldandy were enjoying the end to a busy day of food
shopping.  Then the truck, a military truck, pulled up next to them and a
number of soldiers climbed out.  One was the JAG officer who had
investigated the EVA footprint in their yard.
     "Mister Morisato, I'm afraid you and your girlfriend will have to come
with us."
     Keiichi wondered if they had found the Kyushu Shinden he had hidden.
"May I ask why?" he asked nervously.
     "Your housemate, Urd, was found in a very secure portion of the base.
She stepped in front of a truck.  She wasn't hurt," the man reassured him
and Belldandy, "Although the driver is sure he hit her.  Maybe she pushed
off from the truck."
     Keiichi glanced worriedly at Belldandy, he fervently hoped Bell and
her sisters appeared human to a medical exam.
     "There are some questions we need you to answer," the man explained,
"Don't worry about Skuld, we sent someone to pick her up."
     That did not reassure Keiichi one little bit.
     "Of course," Keiichi said as he climbed into the truck.  Two soldiers
helped Bell into the truck, she gave him a worried look which did nothing
for his equanimity.
----------------------------------------
     Commander Kevin Keller was getting home after a long day.  A security
scare at the base had everyone running around like a bunch of chickens.  He
was even given the job of driving a group of Japanese nationals back to the
temple they all lived in.  Since he spoke no Japanese, he hadn't the
faintest idea what they'd discussed so worriedly.  Then everyone was told
to keep quiet about it.  His wife met him at the door with a hug and a
kiss.
     "We waited dinner for you."  She leaned close.  "Margaret insisted on
cooking, she tried hard, so please appreciate it, and she is getting much
better."
     Kevin nodded.  He was still amazed at the transformation, his wife and
teenaged daughter had spent most of their time screaming at each other.
Then they'd joined a theater club, and the change was amazing.  They still
argued, but it was much more civilized.  He'd been afraid of the suddenness
of the change.  But Naval Intelligence had cleared the group.  'Eccentric,
but harmless,' they had told him.  So he'd dropped his worries about `girls
day out`.
     "It smells wonderful," he said, loud enough for his daughter to hear.
     "Thanks dad!" came the shouted reply.  He winced at that, but let it
go as a teenager's enthusiasm.  Even his wife merely chuckled and shook her
head, instead of exploding, as she would have only a few months earlier.
     "So, what did you two do?" he asked.
     "Oh, just a lesson in communication," his wife said with a smile as
she led him towards the table, "I also got to practice my Japanese, I'm
getting quite good."
     "Me too," his daughter added as she sat at the table, obviously proud
of the simple pot roast with potatoes and vegetables, it did smell good, "I
also got to run the sound board," she said excitedly, "And I got to back up
a truck!"
     "So, ready to join the Navy as an Electricians Mate?" he asked.
     "DAAAADDY!" Margaret said, as if he'd suggested she eat a handful of
live worms.
     "Hard day?" he asked sympathetically.
     "You have no idea," both women said, then they smiled at each other.
----------------------------------------
     The Mi-Go did not dream as humans did.  The concept of a nightmare did
not occur to their logical, mycoidal minds.  For millennia, they had
tunneled deep beneath the surface of the moon, to alter the orbit and the
resulting tides, to see to it that R'lyeh would never rise.  The servants
of Dread Cthulhu raided occasionally, a reason the Mi-Go needed special
weapons to combat such creatures.  Cthulhu was merely a legend.
     The appearance of a huge, winged, vaguely-humanoid biped elicited a
preprogrammed response.  But none of the weapons long stockpiled, nor the
tactics long practiced, slowed the advance of this ersatz Lord of R'lyeh.
     The figure marched to the stock of war machines awaiting deployment to
Earth, to recover the Seed of Azathoth from the humans.  It passed its
immaterial hand through the machines, and the controlling intelligences
would die.  None of the preprepared weapons seemed to function against it,
as it was drawn inexorably from one point to the next, without noticing the
effect of the weapons, walls or other defenses.  The few Mi-Go who threw
themselves at the creature, ceased to exist some distance away.  They
burned away before they made contact.  The panic filled them as it
destroyed decades of work, nothing they did could disturb its
concentration.
----------------------------------------
     Shinji walked among the strange energy flows.  Since leaving Rei
behind, he'd felt . . . odd, unreal.  So he'd flown to the target and had
looked around.  There he'd found the minds, in canisters.  They begged,
they pleaded for release.  Or they yammered and gibbered insanely, their
rationality long lost to their long and alien imprisonment.
     There was only one kind of release he could offer, and he gave it to
them.  He passed his hand through their prisons, then he watched their
spirits depart.  He didn't feel as if he were killing them, although that
is what he was doing.  He felt, and they felt, he was freeing them.  He
cared nothing about the piles of metal and webs of wire that stood between
him and the caged minds.  He ignored them as he passed through.  Likewise
he ignored the myriad alien energies that struck and danced over the
surface of his body, sometimes he watched them, marveled at how they
interacted.  It was like watching fireflies, or ladybugs, as they flitted
around.  Landing, pausing, and disappearing into the air again.  He wished
he understood them better, he knew Asuka would be fascinated by them.  And
furious that `Spineless` didn't pay better attention, he thought, I hope
they're all right.
     Most of the time he listened, heard the faint cries of despair, and
sought them out.  It was a surreal experience.  He'd thought there would be
a grand battle, like he experienced in the EVA.  It was more like 'policing
up' an area, collecting _everything_ that didn't belong.
     He was content, at peace, he knew what he was doing might have been
considered mass murder, but all of those who called out to him honestly
wanted an end, or were in no condition to ask or refuse.  He always gave
them some last opportunity, to turn him away at the last moment.  None took
it.
     So he continued.  There were so many.  Some places had rows and
columns, as if they were stacked on rows of shelves.  In such places, the
cacophony was nearly deafening.  In others, a lone voice called out into
the void.  In every case, he went to them, apologized that he could not
return them to their bodies, then offered the only release he could.  And
they eagerly accepted, sometimes he listened to their final statements.
Like what Nabiki had done, he remembered the names, the last words, to pass
on to the families of the fallen.  The pathos of their tales saddened him,
then made him angry.  He wished he could find these captors they all spoke
of, but he'd seen not a trace of them, only their handiwork.
     Slowly, he ran out of the voices that sounded human.  Others were
still imprisoned, Shinji could not leave those aliens trapped in the
terrors the humans had related to him.  He suspected that the humans had
been his `job` here, what Rei-chan had wanted him to do, what the dream had
pointed to.  He could never live with himself, if he left these others.
     He gave these alien minds the same apology, the same offer.  Some
screamed defiance as if they could eventually escape by their own efforts,
most were long past any reasoning.  The small minority who understood,
asked for release, even though they understood what they were asking for.
Some demanded vengeance, but Shinji had seen nothing to vent his or their
desire for vengeance on, and vengeance was not what ruled him.  He knew
there were others who could extract retribution, he would tell them and let
them act.
     So he moved on, searching, deeper and deeper into the moon.  He also
heard inklings of another place to go, another planet to visit once he'd
finished here.
----------------------------------------
July 29, 1947
     Asuka couldn't believe she'd slept through an entire day, especially
after being unconscious for days.  She'd woken occasionally during the
day/night.  On the table next to her bedside, she always found something to
drink and something to munch on before she fell back asleep.  They skipped
the morning practice, as even Horseface slept late, and concentrated on
eating breakfast.  All three pilots shoveling down food as if there was no
tomorrow.  The knock on the door that interrupted this process was
unexpected.
     "I'll get it."  Asuka headed downstairs, Miss Carter followed her,
Asuka ignored that.
     She opened the door to Megumi, her brother, Dishwater and his
girlfriend, Little Miss Happy, and three bicycles.  "Hey!  You got them!"
Asuka said enthusiastically, "Wondergirl, Horseface, get down here!"  She
admired the bikes.  "Looks good.  I see my lessons in welding came in
handy."
     "Yes," Dishwater said, surrendering the bike he'd ridden to the
apartment.  The gears appeared to be the ones Asuka had made all those
years ago in Germany.  She scrambled to the others, and found the gear
clusters were a close approximation or exactly the same, so close it would
require a count of the teeth to determine the difference.  "You certainly
earned your pay," Asuka said enthusiastically, she gave Dishwater a quick
hug, then leaned over to Little Miss Happy.  "That's how you show you
really appreciate his efforts," she whispered to Little Miss Happy, "You
might try it occasionally.  Despite their denials, they do actually like
it."
     Asuka stepped away from the furiously blushing girl.  "Well, I think I
know what we're going to do today."
     "You are still under arrest," Wondergirl reminded them, Asuka froze,
so did the others.
     "What did you do to get arrested?" Megumi stammered.
     "I threatened you," Asuka said quietly, "I shouldn't have joked about
that, about an EVA stepping on your house, and someone did it for real."
     "But you didn't do that," Megumi said, "Rei-san said you didn't, it
didn't have an EVA's tread."
     "I made the threat," Asuka said dispiritedly.
     "I'm sure an exception can be made," Miss Carter said.
     "No," Asuka stated, "I have to serve my sentence.  I can't ask for
special treatment.  Horseface, I think teaching Wondergirl how to balance
will keep you both busy."
     "What are you going to do?" Horseface asked as he accepted the bicycle
from Megumi.
     "I've got some things to do.  Would you three care for some tea and
cakes?"
     "Sure," Megumi said, she followed Asuka inside.  Horseface was
standing on the seat of the bike, balancing perfectly.
     "I'm going to have to teach him to use the pedals and the gears,"
Asuka said.
     "Can't Ranko do that?" Megumi asked.  Outside there was a cry and a
crash.  "I think she discovered the pedals.  When are you going to teach
Ranma?"
     "Later," Asuka said, "Before Ranko kills herself."
----------------------------------------
     "Are you enjoying playing the martyr?" Miss Carter asked after the
trio from the University had gone home.
     "I don't know what you're talking about.  If I say the wrong thing,
I'll be punished; if I do the wrong thing, I'll be punished," Asuka
replied, "Or have I missed something?"
     "Look!  We're sorry, we miscalculated," Miss Carter said.
     "Oh, don't trouble yourself, I've forgiven you," Asuka said brightly.
Imagine _Horseface_ of all people teaching me that lesson, she thought
disgustedly.  Then she lowered her voice, "But I will _not_ forget."  Asuka
walked away, she'd learned to ignore her minders before, let them fade into
the background.  Miss Carter had tried to seem her friend, but had then
betrayed her in the most fundamental way.  Asuka couldn't ignore that.
That they'd used Horseface-the-hapless as their instrument, that was nearly
unforgivable.  She understood she would have to protect herself, not depend
on others.
     Henceforth, Miss Carter wasn't her guard, she was only a spy peering
at her life for the U.S. Navy.  She thought of the pistol, a bribe from an
enemy for amnesty, now her only real defender.  That, and her other
abilities.
----------------------------------------
She Dwelt Among The Untrodden Ways
     Asuka took some pleasure at cleaning and bandaging Horseface's badly
scraped elbows, knees and hands in his bathroom.
     "You didn't tell me those things were so dangerous," Horseface
muttered an accusation, "No fight hurt me this much."
     "Most people don't start out in the top gear.  Most people aren't
strong enough to start in the top gear," Asuka replied as she cleaned the
scuffed knuckles.
     "Rei-chan could," Horseface replied, while wincing at the
Mercurochrome Asuka applied, thoroughly.
     "Most people aren't as strong as you two," Asuka countered with a
winning smile, "And why didn't _she_ get hurt?  Can you tell me that?"
     "I discovered the brakes," a completely undamaged Wondergirl told them
as she stood in the doorway and watched Asuka patching Horseface.
     "Always messing up my lines.  I want to hit you, you know that?" Asuka
yelled at her.
     Wondergirl stepped within reach, bowed to present her chin.  " 'You
always hurt the one you love.'"
     Asuka frowned, then turned quickly to stare at Horseface, who was
doing a very good Wondergirl impersonation.
     "Sometimes I wish there _were_ two of you, then I could hit both of
you at once.  And if _you_ say 'You always hurt the one you love.'" She
leaned close.  "I'll show you it's not accurate."  She added some more
Mercurochrome to Horseface's knuckles to accent her point.
----------------------------------------
July 30, 1947
     Ranma woke and rousted Asuka and Rei out for practice.  Rei had told
everyone that she was going to visit with 'Shinji-kun' before the field
test.
     "Okay, let's do the basic katas," he told them.  He was glad he'd
practiced all this in his female form, so he lost little now that he was
stuck this way.  He let his mind flow, watching the others go through the
exercises.  He walked among them, he didn't try to explain it with words,
merely did the exercise slowly, correctly so they could watch, and leading
them through the correct move.  It didn't get the message across perfectly,
but he realized he needed to understand the individual names of the body
parts to use words.  He wished Nab-chan were here, she'd know the names of
the muscles and bones, maybe Rit-chan would be able to help break the
correct movements into separate pieces.
     Practice the pieces, then combine them, he thought, Considering how
out of shape Asuka and Rei-chan are, it isn't too bad.
     He did have some harsh words for the guards.  "Didn't you keep
practicing while we were out?" he asked, trying not to sound
confrontational.  The guards all looked guilty.  "I'm surrounded by
idiots!"
     "That's my line!" Asuka protested.
     "I'm just agreeing," Ranma shot back.
----------------------------------------
     "Admiral?" Asuka looked at the man waiting outside the pilots' locker
room, wearing civilian clothes and carrying an A10 nerve clip.
     "I'm going with you," Admiral Simson told them, "I know it's just a
field test, but I should get an idea about what the EVAs, and more
importantly, the pilots see and experience."
     "Have you ever _been_ in L.C.L.?" Horseface asked on entering.
     "No, it can't be as bad as I've heard," Simson said as he followed.
     Asuka smiled at her fellow pilots, they glanced back at her.  Yes,
this is going to be fun, Asuka thought.
----------------------------------------
     "God Almighty!" Admiral Simson `shouted` through the nerve clip, "I
don't believe _anything_ could taste so . . . "
     "Foul?" Asuka `asked` as she directed the Admiral to the rear seat of
the two place command chair, before she settled in the front seat.  It was
an odd construction, but it was better than two of them squeezed into one
seat.  She had the highest sync rate, so she could easily overcome the
`noise` of having another person in the plug.
     She was also going to be the leader.  Their target was a standard
division, mixed armor and infantry, as well as artillery and air support.
They would have to play 'capture the flag.'
     Or 'flatten the command post', Asuka thought, remembering a game with
the same kind of purpose.  One great big unit against a battalion of
regular troops.  She loved that game.  Here she had the advantage of speed,
and surprise.  They also had the last of the July storms drenching the
area, ordinary soldiers would be more concerned about keeping dry, rather
than looking for the EVAs, on the incorrect assumption that their opponents
were as miserable in this kind of weather as they were.  Asuka planned to
make them pay for that assumption, and she'd told both Horseface and
Wondergirl to use the rain, and to punish the troops for letting them use
it.  Horseface and Wondergirl, she intended to use as a diversion, unless
one or both of them saw a weakness, then she would be the diversion, and
they would be the real axis of attack.
     "No hints?" Asuka teased the slightly green admiral.
     "No, I'm strictly an observer."
     The trio moved out.  She directed the trio into overwatch tactics, as
well as avoiding the `enemies'` recon vehicles.  There was nothing she
could do about a lone man with a radio.  But those men were defeated by
displaying the others at as many places along one flank as they could.  All
the while, she maneuvered out of sight to sweep around the enemy's
position.
     "They seem to be doing a good job," Admiral Simson told her as they
monitored the frantic radio chatter, "I'd like to know how you broke the
scrambler codes so we can listen in."
     "They follow directions," Asuka replied, "And if there's anybody
better at making a spectacle of himself, it's Horseface."
     "Her, don't you mean?  And you didn't answer my question about the
radios."
     "Him, Admiral, him," Asuka replied.  Asuka moved towards something
that caught her eye.  A radio man taking a leak against a tree.  She had
Unit 02 scoop up the backpack radio while she got Unit 02's head right
behind, and waited until he turned around.
     "Boo!" Asuka said.  The man ran off screaming, Asuka let him go, she
was busily connecting the pack radio to the communication system of the
EVA, a handset that allowed the ground crew to communicate with the pilot.
Once hooked in, Asuka began broadcasting a series of panicked reports of
where the EVA had been, while she moved on.  "Now you can't say I can't
transmit on their frequencies," Asuka told the Admiral.
----------------------------------------
     Rei watched the reserves racing off to where Mein Grossfeldmarschall
was reporting her presence.  The Fourth in Unit 01 was also attracting huge
amounts of attention.  She wasn't as good as they were at being noticed.
One reconnaissance group had ignored the huge orange object crouching
behind a line of trees.  She'd taken advantage and approached, as ordered.
Although she kept Mein Grossfeldmarschall informed.  She did wonder why
Captain Ramsey and the Commander had issued no orders of their own.
     "Command post in sight," she reported.
     "Well, take it, Wondergirl," Mein Grossfeldmarschall told her, "The
job gets done by whoever."
     She thought it was an unusual opinion, considering Mein
Grossfeldmarschall's personality.  But who am I to understand her, Rei
thought as Unit 00 broke cover and sprinted through the pouring rain
towards the target, I barely understand myself.  She avoided the tents and
parked vehicles, leaping a long distance to clear them, landing near the CP
and not _on_ anyone.  She bent over and grasped the top of the tent and
pulled.
     The shocked crew stared up through the rain at the EVA.  Rei simply
stared down at them.  "You are dead, we are victorious," she told them.
     "Good grief, Wondergirl," Mien Grossfeldmarschall complained, "You
won, you just put down an entire division, show some enthusiasm.  Act like
you're glad."
     "I wanted the exercise completed, so I can return to Shinji-kun," Rei
explained.  All she wanted was permission to return to base and be with
him.
     "You can't go until you celebrate."  Mein Grossfeldmarschall's image
appeared, she pointed at Rei out of the image.
     "Hip hip hoorah," Rei recited.
     Mein Grossfeldmarschall covered her face.  "One of these days I'm
going to understand you Wondergirl, that's the day I shoot myself in the
head.  Admiral, I leave it to you."
     "I think she can check on him in a little while, but stay in your EVA,
consider it a delicacy test."
     "Yes," Rei said, not showing her despair at the problem.  She could
not touch him from within her EVA.
----------------------------------------
     Ranma had been dancing with a couple of armored battalions, then had
spotted a collection of tanks on a ridge.  He'd been forced to avoid them,
then danced back, while keeping the other tanks occupied, then discovering
the ones on the ridge had been shot full of holes.
     With the exercise over, and plenty of time left on the S-type engine.
He had something he wanted to try.
     "The tanks on that ridge," Ranma said as he sent the image to Asuka,
and hopefully, Admiral Simson, "They're targets, right?"
     "Can you give me a map reference?" Simson replied, Ranma could see
Asuka, but not the Admiral.
     "Grid 43 by 90, the ridgeline in the northeast quadrant," Asuka said,
then shrugged, "I studied the topography."
     "I'm sure you did," Admiral Simson said sourly.
     "Ranma, this is Captain Ramsey, sorry to interrupt Admiral, but yes,
those are targets, and the order has been given to clear the area.  No
troops are supposed to be there."
     "Okay," Ranma said.  He remembered the feeling of the healing spells.
Ranko had been able to duplicate the shape of the filaments of the healing
spell that Jeffrey cast, but not the effects.  Ranma couldn't make the tiny
filaments.  But tiny was relative, and the real purpose was a path to
transmit power, like a pipe or an electrical cord.  Although this was
technically more like a lightning bolt.
     He envisioned the mass of the AT field ball he'd created before, but
instead of the whole mass shooting out, he sent out filaments, tendrils.
They moved too slowly for combat, but speed would come later.  Precision
and multiple targets was what he was after, Ranma felt himself sweating
under the plugsuit, concentrating this hard, maintaining tight control over
that much energy, was hard work.
----------------------------------------
     "Are you getting all this?" Simson asked.  Asuka was feeding him
directly what her EVA `saw` and it was a lot more than just the visible
spectrum.
     "Of course," Asuka murmured, as deep in concentration as Ranko
appeared to be.
     "We're getting both feeds," Gendo replied in a slightly awed tone.
     Simson returned to watching the tentacles reaching out of the mass
Saotome had between the hands of Unit 01.  They quested forward, seeking
the targets, avoiding the few treetops they encountered.  They seemed fully
under Saotome's control, currently not usable in combat, except maybe a
sniper weapon.
     Not Saotome's style, Simson thought.
     "Shit," Asuka said softly, then louder, "Horseface, tighten your
concentration, you're dissipating."
     "Trying," came the reply, "Hurts."
     "Quit whining like a boy and just do it," Asuka replied coldly.  She
quietly told the Admiral, "I noticed the problem at 1600 meters, at 2400
meters they'll be too diffuse to deliver a meaningful charge no matter how
big the target is."
     "You did that all in your head?" Simson asked.  The frown from Asuka
was his only answer.
     The tendrils vanished, both Saotome and Unit 01 sagged with
exhaustion.
     "Didn't work," Ranko gasped.
     "Close to 2000 meters, take a breather and try it again.  Nothing
works perfectly the first time," Asuka told him.  The _exact_ words Simson
had planned to say.
     "Getting ahead of yourself?" Simson asked her on the private channel.
     "There's always some cross-contamination between two people in the
plug," Asuka explained, avoiding the actual question.
     "You mean, if I stay in here long enough with you, I could climb out
and get a Nobel Prize in Math?" he asked.
     "Two," she replied.
----------------------------------------
     "Wondergirl?" Asuka asked angrily, "What _are_ you doing?"
     Unit 00 was squatting near headquarters in the mud, rain pouring down,
holding the headquarters' tent just low enough that some of the staff,
mostly very junior officers, tried to leap up to grab it.  Only to have
Unit 00 jerk it away.  Like a man teasing a kitten with a handkerchief.
One officer delivered a swift kick to the Unit, and hopped away clutching
his foot.
     "Pilot Saotome explained the importance of taunting an opponent,"
Wondergirl answered, "A nonverbal method must be found."
     "Great," Horseface complained, "Blame your vicious streak on me."
     "Horseface, if you can talk, you can walk," Asuka told him, "And
Wondergirl, you don't do it after the exercise is over."
     "I had considered the information incomplete," Wondergirl said as she
draped the tent over the headquarters and walked a short distance away.
     "Pilot Ayanami, why don't you go check on Pilot Ikari as we
discussed," Simson told Wondergirl.
     "Yes," Wondergirl said as Unit 00 picked its way through the bustling
camp.
     "She needs to get out more," Asuka complained.
     "Are you volunteering?" Simson asked.
     "I'm still under arrest, remember?" Asuka replied brightly.
----------------------------------------
     Ranko stopped the EVA 2000 meters from the tanks.  She was getting a
little worried about these constant mental shifts, but Ranma had done the
hard part and `Ranma's` control of the AT field was a little better than
hers, although no where near as subtle.  Subtlety, persuasion were her
skills, he tried to brute force it.  Misato versus Rit-chan, she thought
with a smirk, Funny, Rit-chan is a lot stronger, but she tries to persuade.
     The filaments were only as thick as a pencil now, instead of as tall
as a man.  Also they clustered and twisted together, like a cable or a
braid.  She couldn't get any more speed out of them, if anything, they were
slower than Ranma's, but the advance was almost effortless.  It didn't
resist and hurt the way Ranma's attempt had.  She was simply doing it.
About 100 meters from target, the filaments separated, she carved a very
poor horsehead in the turret mantlet of each of the old tanks.
     That done, she relaxed, and caught the ground before it could rush up
and hit her.
     "Horseface? You - I'm sorry," Simson's voice penetrated the fog,
"Pilot Saotome, are you all right?"
     "I wanna nap," Ranko managed, she thought she might be able to crawl
back to base.
     "Okay, you and Asuka head back to the barn," Simson said, "After your
nap, you will explain how you did, what you did."
----------------------------------------
     Ramsey met Simson outside the pilots' locker room.  The Admiral had
changed back into his uniform.  His civvies had been taken to be burned.
The pilots' locker room was the only place that had the cleansers that
could remove the stench of L.C.L. from hair and skin.  Simson sniffed his
fingernails and frowned.  "Still smell it, sir?" Ramsey asked his superior.
     "I can't really smell anything," Simson said, "Except L.C.L., Langley
and Saotome say it goes away in a few hours.  So, what's the situation?"
He started walking.  Ramsey fell in behind him.
     "General Tomlinson is in the hospital, he hurt himself laughing at all
the brown-nosers trying to catch the tent."
     "He deserves it," Simson replied, "Where the Hell was the air support?
I didn't see one plane!  If I'd known the new Air Force wasn't going to
support the Army, I'd have given them Marine and Navy planes."
     "With the switch over to an independent Air Force, there's all kinds
of new regulations," Ramsey said, "They should have it straightened out in
a few days."
     "You tell them that if a real Angel shows up, and they don't do their
damned job because somebody didn't fill out the right form, I'll have their
balls on a platter and their whole family will watch them getting sliced
off," Simson said angrily, "Assuming there's any of the Human race left.
They're still part of Task Force 7N, Tomlinson is my deputy commander, when
he gives an order it damn well better be obeyed.  This was supposed to be a
test of conventional forces against the EVAs.  That means _all_ the
conventional forces.  The ground pounders never knew where the EVAs were,
until Ayanami was staring down on them.  She could have decapitated the
whole division and been gone before anything heavier than a few rifle
grenades could have been fired at her.  You're awfully quiet."
     "Waiting for you to take a breath, sir."  Ramsey smiled.
     Simson stopped and frowned.  "Langley was right, the people in the
plug sort of rub off on each other.  I never realized how mad she got at
things, especially people who didn't do their jobs.  Funny, she gets more
mad if a capable person fails, than an incapable one."  He started walking
again, so did Ramsey.
     "Don't mention the Air Force snafu, or is it a janaffu, Joint Army
Navy Air Force , er, Foul Up."
     "I may, and leave her the floor for a few minutes," Simson told
Ramsey, "What else?"
     "Well aside from Ayanami making herself a folk hero with the
sergeants, who all want to buy her a beer, when she's old enough.  The team
examined the tanks, and the photos are being processed for the meeting."
     "Let her stay with Ikari until Saotome is ready," Simson said, "After
that little stunt with the tent, she deserves it."
     "Well, the tanks are an M-26 Pershing, two type 97 Chi-Ha, a
Churchill, three Shermans: an A2, an Easy Eight and a Jumbo; and an M3
Stuart.  The same pattern was carved into the armor just to the left of the
main gun, I mean the _exact_ same pattern.  Also, despite the differing
thicknesses of the armor, there was no evidence of any damage except to the
armor itself.  Whatever Saotome used, it penetrated the armor, and
stopped."
     "Precision over firepower, slow to use, but it does have its uses."
     "So, sir.  Enjoy your ride?" Ramsey asked, smiled.
     "It was . . . " Simson said thoughtfully, "I still don't know why more
of the other officers . . . who _can_ sync with the Magi," Simson said,
letting Ramsey off the hook, "Why they don't take a test ride."
     "It isn't necessary," Ramsey repeated the oft-heard comment, "It's
`beneath` them."
     Simson snorted at that.  He'd learned more about the personalities of
the pilots in a 3-hour ride along than from all the reports he'd ever
received about them.  "I do think you should take a ride, even though you
can't sync with the systems, perhaps Pilot Langley can piggyback her data
feeds to you."
     "Perhaps, sir, I still think Pilot Saotome might be a better choice.
It seems strange, that Ranma, and Ranko, seem so arrogant, but when faced
with a powerful leader, especially a woman, his resistance seems to
vanish."
     "I'd noticed that," Simson replied, "It's something we should
consider.  Each of the pilots have their own dynamic.  I've watched Pilot
Langley willingly surrender control to certain people, Pilot Tendo, Dr.
Akagi, Pilot Davis, or dig in her heels and fight to the end against
others.  I think today I've figured out why."
     "Maybe we should call Miss Alise back and return to the original plan
of two teams."
     "With Langley running one and who, Davis the other?  I don't think
that's workable anymore."
     Ramsey shrugged.
----------------------------------------
     Ranma stared at the ceiling of the locker room, while he rested on the
benches.  Everyone had cleaned up and left, hurriedly.  Leaving Ranma and
Ranko to consider things.  The `wire-guided` attack was good news.
Although sneaking up and assassinating something . . . that very much went
against a lot of what Ranma stood for, even against their enemies, it was
unacceptable.  But a faster attack would be useful, Ranma thought as he lay
there, But shooting it face-to . . . well-whatever, that would be okay.
The different ways Ranma and Ranko had approached the problem was worrying
Ranma.  Ranko couldn't have done the groundwork, Ranma wouldn't have been
able to make the enhancements and corrections.  That something deep inside
him could understand and use the different parts worried him.  Perhaps
whatever it was would also switch the `other` in and out the same way.
     The other thing that worried Ranma was he almost had the answer to why
he, and `Ranko` had acted that way towards Nab-chan and Jeffrey.  What drew
out that part of both parts of him, that Ranma and Ranko were protecting
them from something, something inside them.  So I was protecting them from
some part of themselves . . . but what? Ranma thought, It makes sense, I'll
do almost anything to win a fight, so did I do what I did to beat them, or
to protect them?  Neither his ability to interpret combat maneuvers or
Ranko's better skill with words got him any closer to defining the problem.
Instead, it kept escaping him.  It's important! he reminded himself.  He
couldn't imagine how `Ranma`, even as a girl, could get close to a guy,
except as a combat tactic.  But Ranko clearly felt differently, there was
something important about it to her.  Something that led back to beating
them and protecting them.  Anything Goes, Ranma thought mirthlessly.  Also,
why did he want to get close to a girl who could be so nasty and callous,
and why was he pushing them towards each other as well?
     He could define the effect, but not the cause.  He was frustrated by
this, frustrated by the seeming facts that contradicted other things he
`knew`.  It implied he understood _himself_ less than he was comfortable
with.  'Don't assume you understand any of the pilots, they're too complex.
Including Saotome Ranma,' ran through his mind.  He was also worried about
the implication, that the dream was a distorted representation of where he
actually came from.  The way the denizens of Nerima talked about him, like
they all knew him, bothered him.  More than the nut with the wooden sword
calling Jeffrey a 'sorcerer'.  All those girls claiming him, yet they
seemed more interested in fighting each other.  And not one of them could
answer more than a handful of questions about _me_, one fact, usually
incomplete if not distorted or just plain wrong, and they build an entire
world around me and them, Ranma grumped silently, Heck, Jeffery, Nab-chan,
even Rei and Shinji know my favorite food, my curse, my honor, that I would
always save anybody in trouble, that I am smart - in my own way.  Nab-chan
and Jeffrey know I like to draw, that I . . . that I like being held, and
holding somebody who trusts me.  And I really like being apologized to.  He
smirked at that.  Maybe that's why I stay near them, he laughed inwardly.
Fighting seemed all they did.  Had any of the girls adopted Nab-chan's,
Rit-chan's or Jeffrey's tactics, they would have been way ahead of the
others.  Heck, with Nab-chan or Jeffrey's sneakiness, they'd figure out a
way out of the conflicting claims, Ranma thought, Or they'd figure out a
way to get two at once, and convince _me_ it was all right, even honorable.
As good as he was, as good a training area as that dream was, he wanted to
be home.  Here, an EVA pilot, not `just` a Martial Artist.  He wondered how
they got all the weird ideas about him, like some of the weird ideas the
people _here_ had about him.
     "They sure were right about those peoples' `honor`," he said with
disgust as he sat up, rubbed his eyes.  He knew as soon as he was `awake`
they'd order Rei-chan back from Shinji's bedside.  He suspected that she'd
rather stay there until the EVA's life support failed.  But he wanted to
get Asuka's and Rei-chan's input on what he did, he also wanted to see if
he could do it with his Ki attack.  He got up and headed for the conference
room.
----------------------------------------
     "The diffusion didn't seem to follow the square or cube laws, but an
initial zeroth, to sixth to eighth order reduction depending on the
distance past the diffusion point," Asuka told the others in the conference
room, "The diffusion might actually increase with distance from the initial
point of discontinuity, rather than from the point of origin.  Perhaps the
multiple waveforms in the braided version cancel the nonharmonic elements,
making the whole self-resonant, until some critical, minimum signal
strength is reached."
     "Perhaps," Rei-chan said.
     Ranma thought his brain was bleeding.  From the other expressions
around the conference room, he wasn't alone.  "Can you translate that into
Japanese from math?"
     "Of course," Asuka said, "Once it starts to break up, it breaks up
fast.  By letting the strands twist and tangle with each other, the part
that causes the break up is ground away.  Now, as far as the speed problem
- "
     "In Japanese," Ranma insisted, he glanced at the others in the
conference room, and their now merely glazed expressions.  She got them
too, he realized.
     "Very well," Asuka grumped.  Ranko resolved to call her cute next time
she did that in a private argument.  "You had to push the tips forward.
Your usual attack seeks out its target."
     "Makes sense," Ranko admitted, it _had_ felt like that.  She glanced
at Colonel Stedman, Capt. Ramsey, Adm. Simson and Commander Ikari, along
with the pilots and their guards.  Only Rei-chan looked like she was
keeping up with Asuka's analysis.  "So how do I get the strands to seek out
their targets?"
     "I haven't the faintest idea," Asuka admitted.
     Ranko wanted to pound her head on the table, the sudden shift from
Ranma to Ranko had nothing to do with it.  But a lot to do with how she did
respond.  "Then why are we discussing this?"
     "Because we need to," Gendo intoned, as he pushed his glasses up.
Ranko thought it made him look silly, trying to boss everyone around, but
he couldn't get a decent set of glasses.
     "Fine," Ranko said with frustration, "What did you want to know?"
     "How did you come up with the idea?" Ramsey asked in a reasonable
tone.
     "Wires," Ranko said.
     "Okay, huh?" Ramsey said, "Can you translate _that_ into Japanese?"
     "Certain German air to air missiles were wire-guided," Asuka said, "I
bet he was using the same wire-guided concept.  The missile trails a
control wire, allowing the firer to send control inputs and adjustments to
the missile."
     "Actually, in the dream I watched a healing spell and it moved through
the wounded cells like filaments, wires," Ranko replied, "I figured I could
do the same, since the wires were only transmitting energy."  She looked at
the confused faces around the table, except the other two pilots who were
looking thoughtful, each in their own way.
     "Ah, yes," Admiral Simson said, "I believe Pilot Ayanami wants to
check in on Pilot Ikari face-to-face.  Congratulations on not disturbing
the hospital earlier, Miss Ayanami, very well done.  Ranko, please continue
your experiments, and remember to document all your findings.  Dismissed."
     Ranma reached the door first, remembered his manners, and held the
door for the other two pilots and their guards.  None of the military
people had moved.  Ranma also did it to cover his surprise at the sudden
change again, he was _almost_ used to it, but not completely.
     Rei-chan moved off quickly, Asuka stayed near the door.
     "You were making all that stuff up," he accused.
     "And you weren't?  That's what a hypothesis is, Horseface.  You want
me to show you the equations?" Asuka asked too innocently to be anything
other than smugly self-satisfied.  Her posture was also a dead-giveaway.
     "What makes you think I'd understand them?" Ranma countered, "I think
that 'Dismissed.' meant, 'We don't understand either of you, you're making
our brains hurt, get out of here!'"  He stood there.  Asuka crossed her
arms across her chest, and stared at him, he duplicated the stance,
exactly.
     "Well?" Asuka asked.
     "Well, what?" Ranma asked, duplicating her tone.
     "Are you going to ask my help?"
     "Naw, I just wanted to see how long you'd just stand there."
     "ARGH!" Asuka threw up her hands and stalked off.
     "Rei-chan's right," Ranma called after her, "You are cutest when
you're mad."
     Asuka whirled to face him, he could practically hear the spate of
insults being loaded into their launchers.  Suddenly, Asuka turned back and
started walking away.
     "You shouldn't do that," Sammi told him.
     "Why not, she enjoys it," Ranma commented, he wanted to head out to
the rifle range to try out his new ability.  If he could duplicate it with
his Ki attack, he could practice practically anywhere.
     "That's my point, she may take it as a marriage proposal," Sammi told
him.
     Rather than being upset, Ranma remembered `his` Nerima suitors and
told her, "Considering some of my options, that isn't as bad as you think
it is."  At least she can cook and all she does is yell at me, he thought,
In a language I can't understand yet.
----------------------------------------
August 1, 1947
     'Ranko-chan, I have such a cute fuku with bows for you to wear.  It
will show off your figure adorably, but frilly panties -' Ranma heard in
his sleep, then glanced down from the ceiling he was hanging on to at Rei,
who was staring up at him.  Rei carefully replaced the book she had in
hand, in her skirt pocket, then looked back at Ranma.
     "Why couldn't you do something civilized," he shouted at her, "Like
douse me with cold water?  Or set me on fire?"  He shuddered at the images
that were still coursing, or coarsening, through his mind.
     "If you are going to be female," Rei said indifferently, "You will
require suitable clothing."
     "You just want an excuse to go shopping," Ranma accused while trying
to pull his toes out of the plaster.  Once he'd done that, he released the
grip his fingers had.  He had no idea how he was going to explain the holes
in the ceiling.
----------------------------------------
     'They're in Boston,' Asuka heard as she woke.
     "Who?"  She identified it was Wondergirl who had spoken,
     "Roku-kun and Nabiki-kun are in Boston, they arrived safely, and will
take a train to San Diego, and a carrier back to Tokyo."
     Asuka blinked, stared at Wondergirl's insipid face, so bright and
chipper, for her, so early in the morning.  "Was it necessary to wake me
for that?"
     "I am testing different methods," Wondergirl told her, it took Asuka's
brain a moment to remember that Wondergirl woke her by suggesting she'd
takeover Asuka's EVA.  "I hate you, Wondergirl," Asuka said as she punched
her pillow, then made the mistake of looking at the clock.  She'd never get
back to sleep before Horseface started the morning practice.
     Mourning practice, Asuka complained inwardly.
----------------------------------------
     At least it isn't raining, Asuka thought as she stared down through
the windows, and watched Horseface race around on `her` new bicycle.
Wheelies, sitting on the handlebars to ride it backwards, even remaining
perfectly still for what seemed like hours.  Wondergirl was shakier, she
fell a lot, but landed on her feet and kept the bike from falling
completely.
     "Like a kid with a new toy," Tomiyo said, "You, not them."
     She turned and frowned.  "Aren't you supposed to be watching
Spineless?" she hinted at him.
     "Juri's taking a turn, she's been feeling like a fifth wheel since
Pilot Tendo went on her ocean cruise.  So, what's up?  You and Erin used to
be friends."
     "I can't trust her, it's as simple as that," Asuka snapped, and
returned her attention to the two pilots and their new bicycles.  In truth,
she wanted to be down there `playing` with them.  But she wasn't going to
ask for or accept any charity from Miss Carter or Miss Krasnyzamok.
"Besides, it was Vice Admiral Simson and Commander Ikari who punished me,
any 'special dispensation' has to come directly from them."
     "I think you're using this to punish them," Tomiyo said.
     "Shouldn't they be punished?" Asuka asked sweetly, "Violating two
pilots' trust that way?"
     "You're exaggerating."
     "You can believe what you want."
     "What about forgive and forget?" Tomiyo asked.
     "Forgiveness is for me to offer," Asuka said, "It has nothing to do
with not holding someone accountable for their actions, and not remembering
they betrayed you once.  Forgive doesn't suddenly make you stupid, forget
does.  Have you asked Horseface about his dream?  I understand he
encountered the Tendo family, in 1992.  If you filter out the insanity of a
Great Old One, it's an interesting take on the future."
     "Maybe I should, did he bring back the World Series winners?"
     "Ask him."
----------------------------------------
August 2, 1947 - Tokyo (GMT +9.0 hr)
     Keiichi heard the scream, like nothing he'd heard since the end of the
war.  He was at Belldandy's door before he was even awake, or aware he was
running.  He opened the door, Bell was curled up in the middle of her room.
The place looked like a hurricane had whipped through it, everything was
disarranged and overturned.
     "Belldandy?"  He approached her, kneeling next to her, "Belldandy?"
     "Gone, lost, all lost," she stammered tearfully as she turned away
from him, "I failed, I failed . . . "
     He wanted to comfort her, but Urd interrupted.  "Keiichi, you and
Skuld fix some tea, let me talk to her."  She was using the tone she only
used when she actually knew, instead of the cajoling tone she used when she
was afraid of getting caught, he couldn't refuse.
     Skuld looked ready to chew nails.  "What did you do?"
     "I didn't do anything," he quietly protested.
     "Then . . . you should have done something," she insisted.
----------------------------------------
     Urd sat Belldandy up, she was immediately aware something was
seriously wrong with her sister, far beyond her emotional upset.  "What
happened?"
     "She . . . she killed me, not just the part of me on Earth, but almost
_all_ of me.  She blames us for Gwendoline's mistake, she's going to take
it out on the pilots and then the world," Belldandy said in rapidfire, to
get it all out before she broke down again.
     Urd wasn't feeling very secure herself, a group of ordinary humans had
captured _her_.  Now this.  "Maybe the other pilots can stop her," Urd
offered.
     "Only Tendo and Davis," Belldandy replied, with tears running down her
cheeks, "And only one EVA."
     We could send in Ayanami, Urd considered, then rejected the idea.
"Tendo, who we brought into this, Davis, who was trained by Agenor, Achen,
Menefelius, and K'naar?" Urd said soothingly, "They'll stop her.  Or
they'll keep her occupied until a trouble squad can deal with her."
     "You aren't . . . to tell them."
     "I am going to alert them.  As if they don't already know."
     "I've worried you all, needlessly," Belldandy said, bowed her head in
shame.
     "Not needlessly.  But you might want to tell Keiichi you're all right,
poor boy looks like he saw a hungry ghost."
     "Yes," Belldandy said softly.  Urd left her and headed for the
telephone.  She glanced at the kitchen.  "Keiichi go in there, she has
something important to tell you."  The poor kid still doesn't understand,
Urd thought as she reached the phone, dialed the number.  She ignored Skuld
coming up behind her, her little sister probably recognized the number.
All she got was the signal that the circuits were busy.  Nothing for it,
she thought, glanced around and decided _this_ she had to report in person.
She passed Bell's room again, her sister had her head in Keiichi's lap and
was fast asleep.  Keiichi just sat still and looked both happy and
mystified.  Skuld stormed up to Urd as she reached her room.  "What's going
on?" the youngest goddess demanded.
     "Sharon Lauren is free of all constraints and she hurt Belldandy in
response to Gwendoline's failure."
     "I'll kill her!" Skuld said darkly.
     "You'd better be talking about Gwendoline, because if Sharon could
hurt Belldandy, you wouldn't have a prayer."  Nor would I, Urd thought
worriedly.
----------------------------------------
Something to Live For, Great Enough To Die For
August 1, 1947 - Boston (GMT -5.0 hrs)
     Lauren returned to wakefulness, and pain.  There was a perforated
piece of sheet metal lying on her.  She found she couldn't push it off, her
arms wouldn't work.  She couldn't kick it off either.
     Someone dragged it off her and tossed it aside.  She blinked at the
sudden light.  Jeff stared down at her.
     "You really thought that would get me, that you could kill me that
easily?" she shouted contemptuously.
     "No," he replied, smiling, "This is more like the story of the mule
trainer.  When the mule didn't respond to commands, he clobbered it with a
fence post,"  He pulled off the work gloves he was wearing and slipped them
back in his inside coat pocket.  "First he had to get its attention.  Do I
have your attention?" he asked, "A simple trick with a little planning, and
I nearly got you.  A professional _will_ get you."
     "I'll survive, I'll recover," she answered him.
     "Evidently not," he said, shaking his head.  "You're lying there, your
legs were blown off and your arms are either gone or bloody rags.  _I_
don't have a hair out of place, I've even still got my hat.  Being a few
feet to 50 feet from that big an explosion shouldn't have made that big a
difference."  He squatted down beside her.
     "All right," she said, she surveyed the damage, both to herself, which
was considerable, and the railyard, which was if anything, far worse.  Her
condition was exactly as he'd said.  She knew she'd recover, but he didn't
seem to have been touched by the explosion he'd set up.  That infuriated
her.
     "The human race is stronger than you are, stronger than I am.  Of
course individual humans are all `squashies`, but the entire race will find
a way to get you."
     "Is that why you want me to knuckle under and crawl?  Because _you're_
afraid?"  She was disgusted by the display of cowardice.
     "This is like talking to those Third Empire idiots!" he lamented, "Why
fight and bite and claw for what you want when it will all be given to you
on a silver platter, with praise and affection.  And all you have to do to
get it, is listen to them.  Smile and mouth some meaningless words.  And
you know, they _might_ actually tell you something that _is_ useful.
Should I blow you up again?  I don't think you're listening yet.  My point
is, that I intend to stand with the human race, not because I fear, but
because I respect them and I choose to.  They still have a great deal to
teach us.  All I'm asking, is that you bide your time.  Don't make enemies
you don't need to.  Adding you and Anna Alise, we'll go back to the way it
was planned, two teams, there are things about the EVAs and our enemies
that put us so far beyond the realms you're talking about it's
unbelievable.  Some of the skills you can learn from the others would amaze
you.  The pilots and staff are good people.  You used to not have a problem
listening to experts, have you suddenly become omniscient and beyond the
need to learn new things?  That also completely leaves out what you can
learn from our enemies.  You talk of vistas unimaginable, well guess what,
I've seen what's on the far side of those vistas.  It's beautiful and it's
terrible and it's awe-inspiring, but it would be better to go with
friends."
     He sounds like such a Pollyanna, she thought, It's disgusting, he used
to have guts and a spine.  'Peace, love and joy!'  "I am through serving
_them_!_" she told him.  Or anyone else! she added silently.
     "The project members were an aberration," he said soothingly, brushing
her hair out of her face, "Most humans are decent enough.  They just want
to raise their kids, live their lives, anything that keeps the monsters
from the door will receive a little praise and a lot of benign neglect."
     "Why should I care about them, if they don't care about me?"  She
jerked her head away from him.  I'm not falling victim to _that_ trick, she
thought.
     "I thought you were the one complaining about the limited world view
of the others.  They won't worship you, if that's what you want.  It would
be up to _us_ to keep track of the bigger picture, the higher things, the
greater vistas you were talking about.  I didn't disagree with you, but for
each of us with our heads in the clouds, there has to be a platoon of
people with their feet on the ground, making sure the streets are cleaned,
the food gets grown, the mail gets delivered, etc.  The entirety of that,
is what I'm suggesting.  Join us.  With you and Anna we'll have two
battlegroups, Asuka, Rei, Ranko and I can do the deep investigation into
the answers you're looking for.  You may even find the friends you've
always been looking for."
     "A pack of Axis mutts?" Lauren laughed, "I remember when you were
training to destroy the lot of them.  What could they possibly teach me?
To be weak, like you've become?"
     "Maybe enough that you'll be able to tell the difference between
standing on your feet and negotiating from strength, and lying in a puddle
of your own blood and stubbornness," he said harshly, "Be clear on this, I
want you on my side, I don't care if you're the leader, the follower, the
assistant or the gadfly.  But my job is to defend the human race, until
they're ready to follow us, or until the threat is ended."
     "What do I need friends, or a leash for?" she spat back at him.
     "My friends gave me the heads-up that you'd escaped, so I had _days_
to plan and consider.  My friends will be arriving soon to reinforce me, my
friends have dragged me back from the abyss, by my leash if necessary, and
will do so again.  They can arrive as _your_ friends and allies, or as your
executioners.  As for my `leash`, I've learned things that even _you_ can't
imagine.  I know who has been manipulating the project, the doctors, and
tried to manipulate us.  The `leashes` you choose give you the things you
need.  Freedom isn't about being without chains, freedom is getting to
choose the ties you want, and what someone has to pay to put them and keep
them on you.  You want power?  I've gotten that.  You want information?
I've gotten that.  You want other delights?  You can choose them, or the
skills to make them yourself.  If you strike out entirely on your own, all
you'll be is victimized - I'm not suggesting you completely surrender your
freedom forever, just biding your time until you _are_ strong enough to
strike out on your own.  Better with allies to guard your back, to rein you
in if necessary, to make you laugh, to help you cry.  You'll find being
`independent` and alone is not as attractive as you think."
     "Trying to recruit or seduce me?" she asked disparagingly, "Ha!  I'm
stronger, I'm better than any of them."
     "True, but not _all_ of them, that's my point."
     "That's all hogwash," she insisted, he always could spin words around
to make a web of gossamer, until you moved too late and discovered the
cobwebs were real steel.  "I will not be a servant, I will not submit to
your `friends`, or _you_, or your stupid dreams!  I have information you
need, the real truth.  I have the power here, and since you are so willing
to bend and twist and bow to those with power, maybe I should hold that
over your head and force you to do _my_ bidding.  I know how desperate you
are to know all that is.  Holding that over your head should end your
yammering about all this stupidity," she told him, exulting at his
crestfallen expression.  He'd failed, she'd won.
     "You may know a great deal, but you still haven't gotten the most
important facts," he told her sadly, "Something that you could only
understand after being an EVA pilot, something that brings you to an
entirely new level, one the project members didn't really consider.  But
the Axis forces did."
     "Oh, murdering racial minorities?  Cruel and unusual experiments on
the helpless?"  She smiled.  "We were a minority and we were pretty
helpless, so nothing new and different there.  That's what humans are,
vicious animals!  That's really something _I_ need to be taught."
     "It's along those lines," he said as he placed his hand on her head,
"It's that creatures like the Great Old Ones can't really be destroyed.  It
also has to do with you being right about me having to know everything.
Wouldn't my first priority be finding a way to achieve that?  Great Old
Ones can't really die, but can be devoured."
     Before Lauren could respond, she felt him tighten his grip on her
skull as her eyes rolled up in her head.  Her eyelids started fluttering,
she couldn't understand, she couldn't even scream.
----------------------------------------
     The girl turned gray, flaking to powder that blew away on the wind.
That was unusual, it normally sat there untouched.  He hoped she found
peace in the next world.  Her knowledge flooded his mind.  Most of it
dropped into expected `boxes`.  There was a good deal that he hadn't
expected, as well as the outrage she had felt at being beaten, not so much
at the betrayal, she had clearly expected that, but that anyone else was
stronger than she.  Jeff shook his head, the whispered poison that
Nyarlathotep had offered her, he recognized the Inspector's words and
phrasings, had given her so many mistaken beliefs.  "If I was willing to
die myself if I proved to be a threat, what made you think I would spare
you?" he asked quietly, shaking his head, "Did you really understand me so
poorly?"  The Crawling Chaos had actually convinced her she could go out,
alone, and beat all of her foes.  None of the pilots were at that stage
yet.  He considered what he'd done, to Sharon, to Ritsuko, to everyone and
how they'd react.  "Well congratulations are in order, I guess I've really
cut all ties now," he said.
     Jeff stopped, stumbled for a moment as some of the stolen memories
meshed with things he already knew, or merely suspected.  "Staggering," he
said as the revelations began exploding throughout his mind.  Consciousness
fled in the face of what he had learned.
----------------------------------------
     Ritsuko drove through the flaming wreckage of the railyard.  She
shifted rapidly, swinging the wheel back and forth to avoid barriers.
Overturned boxcars, some still on fire, rails and ties scattered as if the
EVAs had been playing mumbletypeg.  Maya and Nabiki held on desperately, as
Ritsuko dodged around these obstacles.  Maya gazed at all the damage,
Nabiki was silent.
     "This was bigger than the bombs they dropped on us," Ritsuko said, as
she slowed further to pick her way through the denser patches of debris.
The 6x6 truck Maya had commandeered could get over most obstacles, but not
some of the tangles of wreckage that the explosion had created.
     "I don't think this was a nuclear explosion.  In Texas City, a few
months ago, there was a fire and an explosion in a fertilizer ship.  The
blast was larger than the bombs of Hiroshima or Nagasaki.  If this was a
feed and supply store, maybe they had a lot of fertilizer or dynamite
around."
     "So, no radiation?" Nabiki asked, chagrined by her fear.
     "No, afraid of not having healthy children?" Ritsuko asked.
     Nabiki blushed and turned away.
     "You could always let Ranma have your kids," Ritsuko teased, then fell
silent as Nabiki froze.  Ritsuko added that to the list of things she had
to ask them, if and when they calmed down.
     Ritsuko drove into the exact middle of the disaster area, the crater
proved that.  Shattered box cars, ripped up rails and ties, dozens of fires
dotted the area.  She took the flamethrower, Maya had the bazooka, Nabiki
took the backpack of reloads.
     "Do you know how to fire that?" Ritsuko asked.
     "Uh, no," Maya admitted.
     "Yes," Nabiki said, the pair exchanged glances, then exchanged
burdens.  The trio advanced slowly.  Ritsuko covering Nabiki and Maya, then
they covered her.  Ritsuko saw the pattern of destruction, the direction
that things had been thrown by the explosion.  She figured the center of
the explosion would be the best place to start searching.  What they would
do depended on what they found, and in what order.  She didn't want to
separate to cover more ground.  She doubted that nothing, except all three
of them together, could deal with what they found.  Whatever it was.
     "There must have been some railcars full of dynamite," Ritsuko
commented, only a few of the wheel/axle pieces remained at the blast
center, everything nearby had been thrown away.
     "A couple boxcars of dynamite," Nabiki commented, "I hope it was
overkill."
     "It must have at least wounded . . . whatever it was.  Or it would
have come after us, right?" Maya asked nervously.
     "Probably," Ritsuko said, "Unless it ran away."  She heard the nervous
laughter.  She was much more worried what they'd find if this had been a
suicide attack.  She _knew_ Jeff would get close, to make sure the attack
would have maximum effect.  Ritsuko was actually more afraid of what Miss
Lauren might have _told_ Jeff, rather than what had happened here.  She
doubted he would have taken his own life in despair, but she had no idea
what damage Sharon's words would have done before they arrived.  "Where
would he have been?" she asked herself as she looked around.
     "There," Nabiki said as she headed towards her goal.  "Look at these
posts, all driven into the ground.  A tower of some kind, close to the
blast center."
     "A water tower to refill the steam engines," Ritsuko said, "All right,
let's assume the blast threw him in a line.  Let's head out in this
direction."
     "You don't expect to . . . " Maya fell silent.
     Find him alive? Ritsuko thought, After what I learned.  I'd expect to
find _both_ of them alive.  She didn't know what they'd do in that
circumstance.
     "There," Maya called, pointing.
     Sure enough, there he was, sitting out in the open, not a scratch
apparently.
     "Only he could set off a bomb like this and come through unscathed,"
Nabiki complained.
     "Let's get the truck over here first, then we'll see if he's alive,
last we can worry about unscathed," Ritsuko said as she ran back to where
the truck was parked.  The others followed her.  She parked the truck near
the fallen pilot.  She climbed out, taking a bazooka with her this time.
Maya climbed out and selected the heavy backpack flamethrower, she could
barely stagger under the load.  Nabiki seemed content with her Le Mat
pistol as she looked at everything except her comrade.  Ritsuko saw no
evidence that Sharon Lauren had survived, she wondered what it had cost her
charge to kill an old friend.
----------------------------------------
     Nabiki walked along behind the luggage cart that was stacked with her
belongings, and his.  Raccoon was already aboard the train, so was Unit 04.
The last she'd seen to personally, piloting it off the Bennington, and to
the railyard where the double wide railcar awaited.  Once she'd helped lock
the Unit down, she'd cleaned off as best she could, before returning to the
carrier for a proper and more thorough cleaning off of the L.C.L..  Maya
had seen to getting Raccoon aboard, Ritsuko was elsewhere, doing something
she refused to talk about.
     Nabiki felt empty, she couldn't imagine actually killing a friend, she
would have given almost anything to have Hiroko back.  The idea of Hiroko
doing something that would make Nabiki willing to kill her . . . Nabiki
couldn't get her mind around it.
     "Miss Tendo," she heard Sergeant Kilrain call to her, "I was wondering
where you had gone off to."
     "Pilots stick together," she told him, feeling a little less empty
now, "Are you here to see me off?"
     "No ma'am.  Since Bennington is going to Norfolk for repairs, and
probably mothballing, they decided to send all the nonessential crew to the
Bunker Hill at San Diego, especially if they had any experience in EVA
handling.  So they're adding locomotives at the front, and cars at the back
to house us all."
     "How many is 'us'?" Nabiki asked.
     "About 1600 troops, don't worry, we'll behave."
     "They'd better," Nabiki said and gave him the best shark's grin she
could.
     "Yes, ma'am," Kilrain said hurriedly, he gulped, "Oh, there is one
other thing."  He pulled a box out of his uniform pocket, it was too big
for a pocket watch, almost big enough for a wallet.  He carefully opened
it.  Inside was a large arrowhead on a solid-looking gold chain.
     "If I may?" he asked, holding the chain open.
     Nabiki nodded and leaned over, letting him slip the chain over her
head and around her neck.  She pulled her hair out from within the chain
and lifted the arrowhead from where it hung.  It looked like a glassy
mineral, it wasn't sharp enough to be real and seemed authentic Amerind or
a good copy.   The metal plaque on the chain said it was 'From the Crew of
U.S.S. Bennington, July 11 - Aug 1 1947'.  "It's lovely, thank you."  She
hadn't the faintest idea what to do with the obviously heartfelt gift.
     "It's flint, Bess," Kilrain said, desperately keeping a straight face,
or a strait face.
     Nabiki carefully placed the arrowhead between her teeth, and while
staring straight into Kilrain's eyes, gave him her most evil smile.  I'm
going to kill Raccoon, the moment he wakes up enough to properly understand
what and why I'm doing it, she thought as she watched Kilrain, a
long-service, hard-bitten veteran, pale and take a step back.
     "My, what - ah - big teeth you have.  Beg pardon ma'am, but you are
violating the Geneva Convention."
     Nabiki removed the arrowhead from her mouth, letting it hang down over
the hollow of her throat.  "Why certainly, Sergeant," she said as sweetly
as she could, fluttering her eyelashes at him, "You only had to ask.  You
can tell the others how much I appreciate your gift and the spirit in which
it was intended."
     Only the maxim that an officer, or the man in charge, never runs away,
kept him from bolting on the spot.  Instead, he saluted, turned on his heel
before she could return it, and marched away.


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