My thanks to my early Prereaders, particularly Hitomi Ichinohei, who read a copy which had the quote marks stripped out, and Brett Handy, who edited out the garbage in the file I sent him with his own word processor, to give me C&C.  (If your copy is garbaged up or stripped of quotes, notify me and I'll figure out a way to get you a better copy!)

Please do not repost this file, I may respond to your C&C by changing the story.

Thanks, 

Jim Nutley

 

Plague of Skulds

An Oh! My Goddess Fanfic

By Jim Nutley

jnutley@lvnexus.net
Please send me comments!  Good or Bad.

All characters created by Kosuke Fujishima were used without
permission, as were characters from products by Studio CLAMP and
Bandai.  This story may not be sold.  Many thanks to Brett Handy for
allowing me to use his character Brett, God of Destiny. Many thanks 
to Lloyd Goodbar for allowing me to use his character Riana, a 
Goddess of Relief Goddess Office.   

Please do not repost this fanfic, since I will be modifying it in 
response to comments from the ML.  I will make a repostable version 
available when I have had a chance to respond to comments.

Continuity Notes:  This Fanfic uses the OMG OAV as primary story
source, with some manga and fanfic influence.  A frame in OAV5 shows a
sign which says XMAS 94.  In another part of the same story Belldandy
comments that they have only been together 9 months.  This could
produce the following timeline, which is what I use for this story:

March 94:  Belldandy appears to Keiichi, he makes his wish. (OAV1)
August 94:  Urd interferes, get banished to Earth (OAV2)
September 94?:  Skuld moves in to the Temple too. (OAV3)
December 94:  Ring/Recall Crisis. (OAV 4-5)
January 96: Fanfic - Many Shades of Urd by Lloyd Goodbar
Feb 95 - Aug 95:  various Manga stories, including the Terrible Master
Urd and Peorth plots
September 95-Feb 96:  Fanfic - Oh My God! by Brett Handy
June 96:  Fanfic - Plague of Skulds (this fanfic)


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


June 1996.  Finals for the quarter were over, summer vacation was
starting, and right now Nekomi campus was becoming as empty as it ever
got.  Keiichi sat on the Temple house's porch and tried to find a center. 
Not that he had ever been too good at meditation and stuff, but the parts of
his mind were bouncing back and forth in wildly different directions,
taking in concerns of the upcoming weeks and mixing them with test
questions he'd already answered, for good or ill, and just generally driving
him crazy.  Like; in Mech 345, where the whole test had been one
question, different for each student, his was to design a six cylinder car
engine, in as much detail as possible, during the two hours provided; if
he'd increased the angle between the two banks of pistons by five degrees
would the torque have improved, or would that require too heavy a cam-
shaft, and did he have enough money to cover this week's groceries, and
the gas bill, with any left over or were a few quick hours at an odd job
necessary, and what WERE the favorite themes of the principal dramatists
of the Heian period? and had his answer made him sound like he was just
filling space on the page, not to mention the inevitable but unguessable
tasks that his Sempei's would think up for him at the motor club this
summer.  Gaaah.  If he was having this much trouble as a student, what
would his life be like when he graduated?


She startled him.
Because she never made a sound.
Walking around in her white socks, which were clean, always.
She had tea on a tray, and set it down beside them.  Again, not a sound.
Then she knelt, to sit on her heels, with perfect straight backed posture,
and made
the slightest rustle as she settled her skirt on the porch.
Hands folded neatly in her lap.
Large blue eyes turned to him.
Her small smile.

More than a heartbeat, and less than an hour later, or was he sure of that?,
it came to Keiichi that he was just sitting there, letting the tea get cold, lost
in her eyes while Belldandy waited for him to act.  Suddenly even his
breathing sounded loud and harsh.  He reached for the near tea cup, even
the fingers on his hand looked awkward as they spread to grasp it.  By
some miracle he didn't spill any as he lifted it up towards his face.  He
paused with the cup about even with his chin.

And she, all grace, took her own cup up, to the same position.
At the identical moment, both touched cups to lips and sipped.

He was going to get lost in her eyes again, Keiichi thought, and look like a
real fool this time because he was going to forget to move his cup away
from his lips.  He made himself blink, made himself lower the cup.

Belldandy bent to set her cup back on the tray,
and a wisp of her light brown hair, fell away from behind her ear
to brush her cheek near the corner of her mouth,
and slid back as she straightened,
as if in a caress.

And his throat tightened,
And his hand reached out to put the hair back behind her ear.
Which was just an excuse,
To touch her face.
She allowed it,  and her smile never faltered.
"ONEESAMA!!" shouted Skuld as she slammed the screen out of her way
and stormed onto the porch, "Urd is mucking around with the food again!"

Keiichi snatched his arm and hand back into his own lap so violently that
the tea cup, forgotten in his other hand, sloshed warm liquid out onto his
pants.  His face turned a bright shade of ashamed red.

"I was getting a snack!" Urd parried as she joined them.

"With that jar of yours under your arm?" countered Skuld.

"It's just spices!" replied Urd "I'm trying to dress up the taste of this bland
stuff."

Belldandy reluctantly opened her mouth, to quietly ask, "Sisters, must we
be so discordant?", but Urd flipped a few locks of snowy white hair over
her smooth bronzed shoulder, bent down next to Keiichi, and put her hand
on his arm.  Urd's tone of voice dripped soft understanding.  "You know
Keiichi, if you'll let me teach you a few exercises, and you practice
diligently, you'll be able to hold on till just the right moment."

Keiichi's face did a credible imitation of a sky at sunset.

"Don't let her change the subject Oneesama", insisted Skuld, "She's
always ...Ewww, you mean you just sat their and didn't even try to make it
to the bathroom?"

Maybe he could wish to drop dead, Keiichi thought to himself.

"No No," Urd said, with a smile growing on her face, "He just wasn't
using his head."

"IT'S TEA!", Keiichi finally lost it, "TEA, TEA, TEA!  I spilled some
Tea!"  He held up the cup for emphasis.

"Clumsy." commented Skuld.

"Denial won't help you improve."  Urd stated with a superior air.

"I'm....going to go change my clothes", Keiichi said through clenched
teeth.  Damn, he thought, once again Sisters-40 / Keiichi-0.  He headed
stiffly in the direction of his room.

Skuld was back on track as soon as the screen closed behind Keiichi.  Her
voice dripped sarcasm, "I think you should show us your 'spices' Urd,
maybe Oneesama would want to use them for dinner tonight."

Urd, instead of replying, sat down in Keiichi's place, and actually looked a
little regretful.  Skuld, surprised at Urd's reaction, followed her eyes to
Belldandy.  Belldandy had her head bent down, so that her eyes were
focused on the spot where her own knees were covered by her long skirt.

"We DID interrupt again, didn't we", Urd said.

Belldandy made no answer.

"But", started Skuld, "I wasn't trying to ..."

Belldandy lifted her head.  "One would think", she quietly said, "That a
Goddess first class, commercial license, having gathered under one roof
three of those she held most dear, could keep them and herself ... so
perfectly happy."

"Hey," Urd interjected, "how about me and the brat take a vacation? 
Keiichi doesn't have to be in school for a while.  You two could be alone
for once."

"No Way!" Skuld replied "I don't WANT to go anywhere with you!  And
if we leave them alone Keiichi might try some of that dirty stuff on
Oneesama."

"That's the point, brat!" hissed Urd, clenching her own teeth in her turn,
"What do you think is going on down here anyway?"


"It's a contract!", Skuld replied, horrified "Oneesama doesn't have to let
Keiichi do any pervert stuff to her!"

"Well" Urd turned to Belldandy "Except for you, I guess meddling runs in
our family."

"You take that back!" snapped Skuld.

"It's very clear now." Urd continued, turning on Skuld, "You've been
preventing them from getting together all along.  Orchestrating
interruptions, probably even sabotaging my efforts to help."

"It's not true!" wailed Skuld.

"Konichiwa, Skuld" said a small voice from off the patio.  Belldandy
immediately turned to the new person, was surprised at who it was but
also relieved that with all the distractions just now it wasn't anyone
malicious.  However, the small voice's volume, and unassuming tone,
were much too low to get any notice from Urd or Skuld.  Urd was
pressing her momentary advantage.

"If you hadn't moved in, brat, I'd bet they'd be sleeping in the same room
by now."

"You've got to be the most lecherous, disgusting person in all the
heavens!"

"Isn't it time you grew up?  If anything, her desire is much stronger than
his."

"Skuld?", said the small voice.

"Make her take that back, Oneesama!" Skuld was letting this line of
thinking get to her, and her voice betrayed a hint of panic, "It can't be
true!"

"Skuld", Belldandy answered, "You have a visitor."

Urd had another barb ready, "You can't expect to get any more power if
you aren't able to handle such simple, ADULT issues."

"That's IT!" shouted Skuld, and from out of a pocket hidden somewhere in
her outfit she snagged one of Skuld's Own, All Purpose, Modular,
Explosive Mini-Spheres.  She was ready to throw it at her offending and
offensive sister, grenade fashion.  Urd wasn't the least bit surprised, since
baiting Skuld into a frenzy would make everyone forget all about what she
herself had been about to do when the brat caught her.  As for that bomb,
her own 'fast cast' lightening bolt spell would set it off before little sister
had a chance to start throwing it.  The two of them might easily have
knocked burning holes throughout that part of the temple had not a
diminutive figure jumped between them at that very moment.

A bit shorter than Skuld, her hair was yellow, not blond, and hung about
her head in a mane of tiny curls.  She had a clean open face and bright
expressive eyes, but it was hard to say just what color they were.  Her
clothes were a conservative skirt and jacket combo, over a turtleneck
sweater that must have been terribly hot to wear at this time of year. 
Something about the way she moved, or maybe her aura, gave anyone
who looked at her the instant feeling that she was just a naive little girl. 
And there she stood, right between Urd and Skuld.  "Please excuse me,
Skuld," she said "but if you're very busy I'll come back later."

"Terai!" Skuld lost her bomb and embraced the girl.

Urd scooted back to whisper to Belldandy.  "Damn! Who let her on the
surface world!"

"Someone," Belldandy whispered back, "Terai's to sweet to disobey
regulations, she must have permission to be here."

"How did you get away?" Skuld asked, "Shouldn't you be very busy right
now?"

"No," replied Terai, "We've called a brief lull and Grandmother suggested
I come see this world for myself."

"We gotta get her out of here", Urd whispered.

"No", said Belldandy "And you'll not tease her, or offend her in any way
while she is here."

"I know what we're dealing with", Urd shot back, "And you and whoever
are taking a crazy chance that she won't loose it."

"Also Urd, I'll explain to Keiichisan, when the time is right."

Skuld and Terai were rattling on, about what had happened to Skuld since
they last met, about all the things to do in Nekomi City, about growing up
in general.  Terai had three questions for every statement or answer
Skuld gave her, and Skuld was so excited that she was starting to plan
itineraries for them.  Urd was listening skeptically and Belldandy was
beginning to pick up the tea tray to take it back to the kitchen when
Keiichi came out in a clean pair of slacks.  Belldandy immediately made
introductions.  "Keiichisan, this is Terai, Skuld's friend."

Keiichi saw a girl, maybe twelve but more likely eleven years old.  She
had no Goddess markings.  Keiichi went straight into host mode.  "Hello,
welcome to our home."

"Oh thank you, you're very nice to accept me", said the girl, with a bow
yet.  But she sounded quite sincere, and even with his experiences of the
past two years living with one or more Goddesses, the girl looked so
harmless and kind, Keiichi wasn't suspicious.  Her take on Japanese
speech and manners was too formal, maybe even archaic, old text books
wherever she came from, he guessed.

"Can you visit long?"
"Oh no, this will be a very short visit", she said sorrowfully.

Better and better thought Keiichi, though he felt a little guilty as he
thought it.  A polite, petite little visitor to get Skuld off our backs for a few
days, and then she goes home.  Keiichi decided he liked this girl with the
odd colored hair.  "Please come in and be comfortable", he said.

"You can stay in my room. Come on!" Skuld said.  And she pulled Terai
at a near run into the temple house.

"She seems nice" said Keiichi.

"Oh yes", Belldandy answered, "Terai is always polite, sometimes even
timid."

"She isn't a Goddess, because she doesn't have face markings, right?"

"That's right in this case, Keiichisan."

"Humph." commented Urd, as she slipped back inside the house.


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


Dinner, lovingly and expertly cooked as usual, left five rather content
feeling 'people' in the house.  Once the dishes were washed and put
away, Belldandy and Keiichi settled in the TV/Dining room, he with a
motorcycle magazine and she with her latest knitting project.  Urd was
flipping from channel to channel on the TV, bored with just about
everything.

"Terai just take it, I promise he won't mind" said Skuld in the hallway, but
Terai walked into the TV room and stood near Keiichi.

"Excuse me", she said "But may I look at one of your books, in the
hallway bookshelf?"

"Sure", Keiichi replied.

"Good grief" said Skuld, marching in with a coffetable volume under her
arm "You don't need to treat him like a king."

Belldandy looked like she was about to remind Skuld of her manners,
which always made Keiichi uncomfortable, he didn't want to come
between Belldandy and her little sister, so he jumped in before Belldandy
could speak, "Which book is that anyway?"

Terai retrieved the book from Skuld and handed it to Keiichi.  Keiichi
held it up and scooted over to the dining table.  "Ah" Keiichi said
"Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, I got this as a gift back in high school. 
Haven't read it much since."

"It has pictures of stars and planets on the spine" said Terai.

"Yeah," Keiichi answered, "There's a big section on alien worlds"  And he
opened the book and flipped to those pages.  "Ice planets, jungle planets,
desert planets .."  Keiichi had forgotten how cool the illustrations were. 
Terai and Skuld had settled at the table on either side of him.

"Ohh, what's that?" interrupted Terai.

"Aa,.. a Rosette," answered Keiichi, "That's where three or more planets of
about the same size orbit a common center of gravity, and that center
orbits the star."

"You realize," Skuld interjected dryly, "That the odds against such a
formation actually existing are so high, you'd need divine intervention to
make one".

"Well," Keiichi answered "You know more about science AND divine
intervention than I do, so I'll leave the rest to you."  Keiichi slid back from
the table and Skuld closed the distance between herself and Terai, who
was now completely enthralled in the book.  In a few moments the two
girls were quietly engaged in a very technical discussion, with Skuld
tapping on her calculator and covering pages in her notebook with
calculations.  'You can tell she's Skuld's friend', thought Keiichi, as he
buried his nose back in his magazine.  For a few minutes it was almost
peaceful.

Plop!  Into Skuld's lap jumped a half meter tall version of Urd, "Hey Sis,
whaca doin?"

"Calculating" replied Skuld, clearly annoyed.  "You wouldn't be
interested."

"Sure I would" said a second little Urd, who popped between Skuld and
Terai and snatched the notebook out of Skuld's hand.

"Hey!", shouted Skuld, "You bring that back!"  She would have stood up
to take it back, except the first little Urd was still in her lap.

"I can't follow any of this." said the second little Urd, "What do you
think?", and with that she tossed Skuld's notebook across the room, where
a third little Urd caught it.

"Oneesama!, Make her stop!" Skuld whined, while she shoved the first
little Urd off her lap and stood up.

"Urd." Belldandy called quietly.

"I'm not doin anything.", replied a fourth little Urd, who was still watching
television.

"Actually Urd," Belldandy said without even looking up from her knitting,
"One fifth of you is trying to sneak your newest love potion into my tea,
which IS what Skuld caught you doing this afternoon."

"Yikes!" said the fifth little Urd, as she froze on the kitchen counter, her
bottle in one hand, her other hand opening the Darjeeling tea canister.
"I KNEW IT!," screamed Skuld, as she yanked out her mallet and swung
down on the nearest little Urd.  The target dodged the blow and stuck out
her tongue at Skuld.

Belldandy spoke even more quietly, yet her words cast an echo,
"**Hollybell, I bid you appear.**"  This time, a tiny form flashed into
existence in front of Belldandy, about as tall as the various little Urds, but
thin in proportion to her height, she wore a slender white robe and
hovered on wings before her mistress.  "Hollybell, bring me the jar that's
just now in Urd's hand."  Hollybell spun toward the kitchen and swept in
like a hawk.

"No fair!" yelled one little Urd, dashing out of the kitchen with the jar
tucked in her arms like a football, "She'll never give up till she gets it!" 
As if to emphasize Urd's point, the diminutive angel was right behind her,
flitting from side to side, looking for an opening.  The other Urds were not
idle, two of them grabbed a magazine and rushed the embattled Urd with
the jar.  As Urd with the jar ducked low, the two jumped up and over her
with the magazine spread between them like a net.  Hollybell barely
managed to avoid being snared.  But Urd with the jar wasn't out of danger
as Skuld leapt toward her with mallet held high.  Urd with the jar dodged
out of the way but found herself cut off from escape.

"Excuse me," Terai said to Keiichi, "Would you explain to me how this
spaceship works?"

"You fit in well around here." commented Keiichi as he scooted back over
to the table.

Keiichi started trying to answer Terai's questions.  He was much less
accurate and knowledgeable than Skuld, but Terai seemed satisfied just
having him try.  Two Urds tackled Skuld at the ankles and her mallet
knocked a hole in the floor just to one side of Urd with the jar, while the
remaining Urds struggled separately to capture Hollybell, who was diving
at Urd with the jar with increasing accuracy.  Belldandy serenely
continued her knitting.  Then one Urd hit on the idea of batting Hollybell
out of the air with a handy pillow.  The stroke sent the angel spinning
through the air to the other side of the room, but so distracted the Urds, as
they sent up a cheer, that one of Skuld's Own, All Purpose, Modular,
Explosive Mini-Spheres landed between them and exploded, singeing
three of them nicely.

Eventually, after significant collateral damage to the TV/Dining room
furniture, Hollybell brought Belldandy the jar.  Squeezing a pinch
between her thumb and forefinger, Belldandy complimented Urd on her
latest work, pronouncing it almost undetectable, then she thanked Urd for
a sample and wrapped some in a bit of paper she had in her pocket.  Urd
was quite depressed as she reunited herself into her single normal size,
since that particular mixture would now be carefully scanned for.

Skuld and Terai went to bed a little later.  Urd, either angry or
embarrassed by her botched 'potioning' attempt, had sulked off to her
room as well.  Keiichi and Belldandy, with muscle and magic, set about
putting the TV/Dining room back in order.

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


It was late when they finished.  Keiichi would have crashed before then on
a schoolnight, but this was the beginning of summer vacation.  Still he
wasn't going to pull an allnighter just for kicks.  Belldandy touched his
shoulder on his way down the hallway to his room.  "Skuld was rude to
you tonight, and I will speak to her about it."

"She's excited about having her friend here, I'm fine" Keiichi apologized. 
"Where did they meet anyway?"

"Skuld met Terai...", Belldandy hesitated, remembering? "...on a field
trip."

"They were schoolmates then?"

"Skuld needed tutors, classmates would never have kept up with her."

"She IS smart," agreed Keiichi, "But Terai was keeping up with her
tonight, and she's not even a Goddess, I guess that's one reason they're
friends."

The next thing he would have asked was, "If she's not a Goddess, what is
she?", but the words never came out of his mouth.  He was looking at
Belldandy, wondering what he dared say, or do, and what was right, or
wrong.  He ought to have the nerve by now!  How often would all sisters
be occupied?  Why was he afraid of what they would say anyway?

"Belldandy?"

"Yes?"

...but the silence stretched, and to keep from saying nothing, he said "I
guess we'll be escorting them around tomorrow, huh?"

"Oh Yes.  If you don't mind, of course.  Both of them could use some
looking after."

"That will be fine, really."  The moment, and Keiichi's nerve passed. 
Damn, there I go again, he thought.  "Well, goodnight then."

"Goodnight Keiichisan," she said.  Then she kissed him.

But after a moment, she turned away, and went to her own room.


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


It was dawn.  Urd was asleep of course, so was Keiichi.  Skuld was
groggily getting herself together in the bathroom, because Terai was
already up, dressed and ready for the day.  Belldandy was at work in the
kitchen, but she noticed Terai step out on the porch, face east and a little
north, and bow directly into the Sun as it first rose over the horizon.
In a moment Terai turned and came into the house.  Belldandy sought her
out.

"Terai, did you remember to bring any other clothes?"

"Ohh, I'm sorry, I'm supposed to change each day aren't I?"

"Varying your wardrobe is well thought of, I can help if you like."

"Actually these clothes are all in my head, and I can bearly change
colors."  As an example, Terai changed her turtleneck to a bright pink,
which didn't match the rest of her outfit at all.

"Please let me help you." said Belldandy, and a ball of light began to form
in her right hand.  The light sphere entranced Terai, so she said not a word
as Belldandy carefully modified the outfit.  Terai ended up in a sun dress,
with long bloused sleeves in a print of flowers with yellow blooms that
matched Terai's hair.

"That should be much more comfortable," Belldandy commented.

"Why?", asked Terai.

"Well, weren't you hot in your first outfit?"

Terai looked at Belldandy as if she were crazy, then understanding
dawned.  "Oh! you mean relative temperature.  I can't sense that at all, I'm
so terrible at that.  I just match to whatever I'm standing on.  Is that going
to get me in trouble?"

"No, no, you'll be fine", Belldandy answered her, "Are you able to feel
anything at all?"

Terai drew herself up a little bit, "I'm good at textures.  I can tell when
something is smooth or rough, even with my eyes closed.  I can feel when
something is hard or soft also."

"How about smells?" Belldandy asked as she started back toward the
kitchen, indicating Terai should follow.

"Well, I can tell you the exact atmospheric composition, down to
1/millionth part per cubic centimeter.  But I don't have a 'good' or 'bad'
reaction to smells."  Terai hung her head,  "There's just so much that
comes naturally to 'people', I don't know if I can ever get it all."

"I'm sure you'll learn quickly," said Belldandy, "In fact, if you would be
interested, I can teach you to chop and cut some of the things I'm fixing
for breakfast."

"What's breakfast?"

"A meal, Terai, we eat three times a day; in the morning comes breakfast,
about noon we eat lunch, and in the evening we eat dinner, which you
shared last night."

"So often!" commented Terai.

"It seemed often to me when I first came here also," explained Belldandy,
"But humans, like Keiichisan, need to put lots of fuel into their systems,
just to stay alive, and water also, few of them can go more than three days
without at least drinking something.  They just aren't stable physical
systems."

"Ohh," said Terai, "That seems so strange to me."

Skuld wandered into the kitchen just behind Belldandy and Terai. 
"Mrnng", she muttered semi-coherently, but she was dressed, and smiling.

"Good Morning, Skuld," said Belldandy, "Would you please set the table
while I show Terai how I cook?"

"Srr" answered Skuld, rubbing her face with her hands.

Skuld came alive as she did small things to prepare for breakfast. 
Belldandy taught Terai what she wanted as far as chopped vegetables
were concerned, and the three of them were ready and waiting when
Keiichi joined them.  Urd, as usual, declined to attend breakfast.

As they were finishing, the phone rang, and Belldandy jumped up to
answer it.  "Morisato residence."  A moment later she called back down
the hallway, "Keiichisan, it's Tamiya-sempai, for you."

"Oh No." Keiichi said, but he got up and took the call anyway.  "Yes,...
Yes Sempai, but I'm sure it won't take all week so ..., No Sempai, I don't
want them to ..., Yes Sempai, I'll be there."  Keiichi hung up the phone.  "I
expected this, but not on the first full day of summer break."

"What's the matter?" asked Belldandy.

"Tamiya-sempai's got another idea for improving the speed of the club's
drag racing bike.  I've promised to go work on it."  Keiichi's face showed
just how thrilled he was at the prospect.  "You could escort the girls
anyway and we could meet for lunch..., will that work?"

"Yes" replied Belldandy, "But only just.  I'll have to spend the afternoon
with you.  Perhaps Urd could escort Skuld and Terai then."

"We've been apart longer than that before," commented Keiichi, "Not that
I like it."

Keiichi's remark brought the hint of a smile to Belldandy's face.  "The
Ultimate Force System measures our average time together during each
lunar month, Keiichisan.  It also tests for compliance with your wish every
twenty four hours, unless a special waiver is granted in advance and
implemented at the systems maintenance office.  Usually we exceed the
required time together by a solid margin, but during finals I tried to
minimize your distractions."  Belldandy had that 'I apologize' look on her
face.  "If we're apart all day today, we'll have to spend the next few days
continually together."

"Hey," said Keiichi, "I'll just come with you three this afternoon.  We'll
meet for lunch, and I just won't go back to the motorclub garage today. 
Where are we going?"

"This afternoon Skuld wants to take Terai to the waterpark" Belldandy
answered.  "You and I could sit on the chairs next to the wavepool, so you
wouldn't have to swim."

"Most of the pools there are shallow enough to stand in, even for me. 
Could you pack my swimsuit with your things?"

"Of course, Keiichisan."

"Perfect, then I'm off.  See you at Noon."

"Yes, we'll see you then, Keiichisan"

A short time later Keiichi rolled out onto the road in the sidecar
motorcycle.


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


Belldandy, Skuld, and Terai left on foot after the dishes were done.  They
walked to a train station and rode into Nekomi city proper.  It was shortly
after morning rush, so Skuld and Terai stood while Belldandy took an
empty seat.  Terai asked questions nonstop.

"Skuld, why are there windows on the train cars?"

"So people can see out, Terai."

"But they're all facing in, or reading.  Wouldn't it be easier to make the
train cars with no windows?"

"Ugh!", replied Skuld, "That would be like riding inside a box.  People
would get train-sick or claustrophobic."

"I don't understand either of those two words, Skuld."

"Well Terai ... did you ever feel, um, bad in your stomach, like you wanted
to spit out what was inside?"

"Usually, I don't have a stomach, Skuld."

'Oh Poo', thought Skuld.

The three of them spent the morning in Nekomi's shopping district.  Skuld
tried to be patient with her friend, but Terai seemed to literally have a
million questions.  Belldandy kept a few steps behind the two girls and let
them lead the way.  After two hours of being quizzed on the purpose,
construction, and reasoning behind every product in every store, Skuld
started suggesting that they visit a nearby ice cream shop.  Terai would
agree, but no sooner would they leave one store than Terai would see
something fascinating in the next shop window, and have to examine it
more closely, and have dozens of questions about it.

"Skuld, why do humans wear shoes?"

"To protect their feet, from sharp or hard things on the ground."

As she paused to ponder Skuld's answer, Terai reached onto the display
shelf and picked up a women's dress shoe with a stiletto heel.  Skuld could
see two or three interminable lines of inquiry about to begin.  To keep
from bursting into frustrated tears, Skuld focused her imagination on the
triple scoop bowl of ice cream she would order at the shop, no, make that
a Lucky Badger seven scoop super bowl.

"But Skuld, since human feet are designed to carry them across a variety
of terrain, not using them directly will keep them from toughening up. 
Don't they perceive that as counter-productive?"

She was going to order two Lucky Badger seven scoop bowls, Skuld
promised herself.  One for Terai and one for herself and Terai was going
to be lucky to get a single taste spoon of each scoop if they didn't get there
soon.  "Actually Terai, humans like to keep their feet soft and can we
PLEASE go get ice cream now?"

"I'm sorry, Skuld", said Terai, just as sincerely as she had said it in each of
the last four shops they had visited.  "Let's go right away."

The three of them trooped out of the shoe store, went ten feet along the
side walk, and then Terai cried out "OH! Look at that!" and ran into a
Kimono and Bridal dress shop.  Skuld stood outside trying not to scream. 
Belldandy came up behind her and put a sisterly hand on her shoulder.

"We are very close to the ice cream shop now, Skuld." said Belldandy. 
"And you are helping your friend have a very good time."

"Thanks, Oneesama."  Skuld gave her sister a quick hug  "Ooohhh, what
kind of questions is Terai going to ask me in here?"  But she steeled
herself and followed her friend inside and Belldandy came right behind
her.

Terai had passed the racks of bridesmaid dresses and the mannequins
with formal wear and had her hands full of four different kinds of lace that
was kept on rolls on a shelf.  "Skuld, come look at this!", she called.

Belldandy looked around for the clerks and/or the manager, and saw no
one.  She wandered farther back into the store and came to a spot full of
mirrors.  At that moment every working person in the store came out of
the dressing room, hovering around or carrying the train or assisting in
arranging the hoop skit of a fantastic and fantastically expensive wedding
dress, worn by Mishima Sayoko.  There was absolutely no escape for
Belldandy.   Sayoko was admiring herself in the mirror but spotted
Belldandy's reflection anyway.

Sayoko's voice was as smooth as ever, "Belldandy.  You must tell me
what you think of this dress.  And I'd like Morisato-Kun's opinion too,
where is he?"

"Keiichisan isn't with me this morning, Sayokosan."

"How unusual.  Is something wrong?"

"No Sayokosan, I'm escorting my sister and her friend shopping, we'll
meet Keiichisan for lunch."

"Well it's a pity he's not here, it's difficult to get a man's opinion of
wedding dresses, they seem to stay away from these stores as if they held
fates worse than death."  Sayoko turned back to the mirrors.

Meanwhile up front, Terai was holding the bands of lace in front of her
face and explaining something, probably preparatory to another question,
Skuld didn't want to be rude, but she was having trouble focusing on
anything other than her mental ice cream image.

"It looks just like this Skuld, except darker, and all around."

"Umm Hum", answered Skuld.

Terai went on.  "Grandmother held ... well kind of like my 'hand', until my
vector was just right..."

Back in the back, Sayoko was continuing on Belldandy.  "But you haven't
given me your opinion yet, Belldandy, what do you think of this dress?"

Belldandy thought that the dress cost more than the salaries for all three
clerks for a year, but then maybe that would keep the store profitable and
let them keep their jobs.  Struggling to think of something complementary
to say about the ostentatious dress, Belldandy tried to change the subject. 
"I didn't know you were getting married, Sayokosan."

"Oh I'm not, at least I don't think I am."  Sayoko observed Belldandy's
blank look and laughed.  "My father has arranged some introductions for
me, ambitious, connected young men I'm sure, or he wouldn't have
approved them.  Of course I wouldn't be so feudal as to simply select one
of them, but I suppose one might be cute and charming enough,...  In the
mean time, father's arrangements are a perfect excuse to try on every
wedding dress in Nekomi City."

Out in front, Terai was still talking, and Skuld was still pretending to
listen.  "...It seemed like I had to wait the longest time to start, but the
Gods and Goddesses had to check every variable before I could begin. 
They even had to measure my vector to ten decimal places, to be sure I
was complying with Kamisama's assignment..."

Sayoko spun to face Belldandy, and the clerks scrambled to keep the dress
in order.  Belldandy sighed, "Aren't you going to fall in Love, Sayokosan?"

Sayoko laughed again.  "Love is a game for college students, Belldandy. 
I'm going to marry a man who can keep me in the social strata appropriate
to my family's standing."  She turned back toward the mirrors and herself. 
"And what about you, Belldandy?  Have you fallen in Love?  Will your
story end happily or will Morisato's parents step in to, ... protect their
son's best interests?"

Out front, Terai was lost in her story and Skuld was just lost.  ".. so when
they finally said I could begin, I closed my..., well I didn't have eyes, but
..."

Terai, still holding the lengths of lace, stepped out into the middle of the
store, closed her eyes and raised one hand over her head.  Skuld was
startled back to the present as the hairs on the back of her neck stood up,
but it was too late.

"**Spin, spin around me, dusty womb.**", Terai intoned.  And the lace
began wrapping her in a spiral as She spun on her heel to her left, and
Skuld's hair stretched out in Terai's direction, and the dresses began to
reach their arms out and then fly off the racks to twist into a growing
maelstrom with Terai in the center.  Even in the back of the store, objects
and people felt an increasing pull in Terai's direction, as if the floor was
tilting away from level.  Belldandy found herself hanging on to Sayoko
with one hand and the wall with another.  The clerks were screaming, and
the shop seemed to lift up on it's side, while upfront, Skuld had been
pulled completely off her feet.

"TERAI!!!", yelled Skuld, as she traced a very elliptic orbit around her
friend "I GET THE POINT ALREADY!!!"

"Oh!" said Terai, suddenly realizing what she had been doing.  She made
a swift downward motion with her hands and the floor became a floor
again.  Belldandy found her footing and kept Sayoko from falling over as
well.  The clerks released their grips on door knobs and counters.  Skuld
plowed into a jumbled pile of clothing at Terai's feet.

"Was that an earthquake?" asked one of the clerks.

Belldandy shrugged her shoulders.  Keiichi would have encouraged such
an idea in this situation, she thought, but she could not bring herself to
deceive them.  Fortunately, distraction was provided from another quarter.

"Get me out of this thing NOW!" hissed Sayoko.  Her tone of command
was well practiced and it snapped the clerks into action.  Sayoko and the
clerks went back into the dressing room without a second look at
Belldandy.

Belldandy went forward to where Terai, with a sheepish expression, was
standing in the middle of a ring of silk, lace, mannequin parts and a few
metal clothes stands.  As she drew near, Skuld climbed to her feet, yanked
a wedding veil off her head, noticed that her skirt was bunched up around
her waist and frantically beat it back down to her thighs.

"Out!", said Skuld.

"Wait.", Belldandy injected.  She glanced behind her to be sure all the
clerks were in the dressing room, and she peeked out the window to be
sure no one was watching.  Belldandy shifted her purse to her shoulder
and formed her trademark globe of light between her hands.  "**Fabrics,
clothes, odds and ends-To your places now ascend**", she intoned.

Anyone looking might have thought they were watching special effects. 
The clothes and other things lifted of their own accord and returned to
their original order.  In moments, the store looked just as it had when they
entered.

"Thank you Belldandy, I'm very sorry", said a downcast Terai.

"No harm done" responded Belldandy cheerily, "But perhaps we should
continue to the ice cream store now."

"YES" insisted Skuld and the three of them trooped out the door.  Once
again though, they didn't go far before...

"Ohh!  Look over there!"

"Terai!", Skuld whined.

"But look Skuld!" said Terai, "Here's a picture of me, I mean us, I mean
my neighborhood!"  Terai had come to stop in front of a store that sold
science gadgets and pictures.  She was pointing to a poster in the window. 
"Humm, you can't see me though, ... I should be right ... there!"  Terai
poked at a spot. 

"Skuld," asked Belldandy, "Isn't there a delay between what is happening
there and what humans can take pictures of?"

"Speed of Light," replied Skuld cryptically, "7000 years, by the caption on
the poster, but that's way inexact, and now..".  Skuld reached over Terai's
shoulders and clamped her hands over Terai's eyes.  "We're going to
the ice cream store NOW.  Walk this way Terai, I'll guide you."  So the
three of them set off again, Skuld ensuring that Terai would see absolutely
nothing until they entered the ice cream shop.

"Umm, Skuld," asked Terai, "If everyone goes to the ice cream store this
way, doesn't it cause unnecessary traffic problems?"

"Teraiiiiii!"

As the three of them turned the corner, Sayoko walked up to the window
they had been looking into.  She hadn't overheard the conversation, but
weird things always happened around Belldandy and someday she was
bound to slip and leave a clue Sayoko could decipher.  Sayoko looked the
poster over, it was a picture of clouds in a night-time sky.  Her English
was quite good, but the words of the title of the poster 'Starbirth in
Serpens' meant nothing to her in any context she understood.  After a
moment she continued on her own errands and filed the incident under the
extensive 'Belldandy weirdness' file.


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


Later that afternoon, Belldandy and Keiichi staked out lounge chairs and a
table with an umbrella near the 'landing' pool, while Skuld and Terai went
on every waterslide.  Keiichi only had one swimsuit, which was rarely
used anyway.  Belldandy had her first swimsuit on, a pink and white one
piece.  The implied reference to their first trip to the beach was not wasted
on Keiichi.  While the girls were away though, Belldandy was giving
Keiichi a somewhat censored account of the morning's activities.

"... and then a shoe store and a Kimono/Bridal shop and then finally the
Ice Cream parlor, where Skuld ate her own and more than half of Terai's
bowl, seven scoop bowls at that."

"No wonder she had such a small helping of noodles for lunch,"
commented Keiichi.  "Do you think Terai's having a good time?"

"Oh yes, everything is interesting to her.  I think we're making a very good
impression." replied Belldandy.

Groups of squealing children were climbing out of the water and running
back to the entrance lines for the various waterslides, dispight signs and
adults imploring them not to run.  It was noisy and a little crowded. 
"Not quite as nice as that first trip is it?"  said Keiichi.

"Well, we're not free and on our own, and its not as beautiful for scenery"
said Belldandy, "but there are lots of smiling faces."

"Not including yours." Keiichi noticed, "What's wrong Belldandy?"

"I was remembering our first trip to the beach, and how frightened I was
for you, ..."  Belldandy put her hand to her face.  "After Sayokosan
slapped me and said I was troublesome to you I began to wonder if ..."

"SHE WHAT!?!", Keiichi was on his feet, really looking ready to attempt
some kind of violence, quite unusual for him, and everyone for fifty meters
around turned to look at them.

Belldandy turned her blue eyes on Keiichi.  "Please sit down Keiichisan,
let's continue quietly."

"You never said ...", Keiichi found his way back to his chair with one
hand, he calmed down quickly as his mind connected the next scene in the
story.  "And then I ...,Belldandy how could you forgive me?"  Keiichi
slumped in his chair and looked at the ground.  The people around them
resumed their own activities.

"There's nothing you did to forgive, Keiichisan."  Belldandy had that
beautific, pure aura palatably about her, so that it was almost impossible
to do anything but smile at her and nod agreement, Keiichi however was
looking at his feet.

"No Belldandy, I was careless and reckless.  I didn't tell you or Urd that I
couldn't swim because I was afraid to embarrass myself in front of you." 
Keiichi drew himself up like he was marching to an unpleasant fate.  "I
shouldn't have trusted Urd so completely on just her word she was your
sister.  Even accepting the sunscreen oil from her was too much.  I ..."

"Keiichisan!"  Belldandy had lost her supernatural calm.  "The sunscreen
oil was Urd's?"

Startled by her change in attitude, Keiichi lost track of the speech he was
trying to recite, "Um ... Yeah, she gave it to me just before you joined me
under the umbrella."

"Keiichisan did you know what would have happened, ... How I would
have acted if, ..."

"She said it would make you all 'Mellow Mellow'."  Keiichi said
sheepishly.  Moments before he had been resigned to sacrificing his pride
for her happiness, he now found himself actually in trouble with her,
although somewhat different trouble than expected.  He studied her
carefully to see what would happen next.  Even then though, he was
surprised by her reaction, since Belldandy almost never in his memory
had blushed.

"Oh Keiichisan, do you have any idea what would have happened to me if
you actually had rubbed me all over with that oil?"

"No."

"I know what would have happened to me." injected an unwelcome voice. 
As if called by the mention of her name, Urd swept up to the table,
wearing a French cut two piece bikini that could only be called skimpy,
and over that a transparent wrap that concealed nothing, in fact it was
damp in just the right places to cling in a fashion that ..., well you know ...,
oh never mind.  Urd breezed into the conversation without an invitation. 
"I would have gathered my 'fan club' around me in one of those shady
nooks we use for breaks among the roots of the Yggdrasil facility, where
the water flows out of the wells to make pretty little waterfalls, and
described your public deflowering in minute detail.  I can hear me now,
'...but really ladies I was so shocked when she immolated both their
swimsuits with White Flame.  He was as surprised not to be hurt as he
was to find himself naked, poor little thing.  And no, that's not a reference
to his manhood, not by this time anyway.  Then she sort of slithered all
over him, she's my sister after all.  I guess it had just been building up
inside of her all this time, ...' he he he he."  Urd looked from her sister to
Keiichi and back, gratified to see that they were both blushing as red as
the Rising Sun.

"Keiichisan," Belldandy whispered after a long moment, "If you'll go buy
us some drinks, I have money in my purse,..."

"No No, I have money with me."  Keiichi stood up, grateful for the chance
to put his mind on calmer thoughts.  "Two soda pops and a Kirin, Yes?",
too which Belldandy nodded and Urd gave the OK hand sign.  Keiichi
hurried away.

"Oh Urd," Belldandy began, "I can just hear Freyja, and Idunn and Fulla
laughing their heads off while you highlight every embarrassing detail. 
How could you even contemplate doing..."

"How did he take it?" interrupted Urd.

"What do you mean?"

"Our visitor, how did Keiichi react to your explanation?"

"Well, the right moment hasn't presented itself."

"Oh No?  Well this will be a better story than the last.  There they all are,
billions of human souls milling about while they wait their turn to be
escorted through The Door, to their eternal rewards.  And there in the
crowd is the Goddess Belldandy, begging the pardon of the virgin spirit of
her would be lover.  'I meant to tell you your world was in imminent
danger Keiichisan, but the right moment didn't come...'"

Belldandy frowned.  "Urd, that's unfair to Terai, and even my patience
with you is running thin."

Urd's expression and tone hardened in turn.  "You've been with her all
morning, and she hasn't slipped once?"

"She did, but it was nothing, some clothes knocked on the floor.  I put
them back and no one noticed."

"I noticed the gravity anomaly all the way back at the temple, which
makes me wonder if Malher or someone else may come looking to see
what's going on.  And you say you put it back?"  Urd snapped her fingers,
and a reddish globe of light appeared between them, it hovered there
while Urd muttered something under her breath, then she snuffed it like a
candle flame.  "Between that and making the Temple glow, which you
renew every morning when you get up, you've used more than half you're
daily energy budget.  And tonight you'll renew the protection wards with
the rest and probably some of your reserve, then collapse and sleep like
the dead.  Does this sound like any class one Goddesses you know?"

"I'll be fine Urd"

"No.  You've got some kind of variation on the theme of Anorexia. 
You've been stretching yourself to the limit of your magical energy but
doing nothing to increase what you have.  There's at least ten ways you
could draw power from your surroundings which you never use.  If you
have to be a straight arrow about it, you could appeal to have your Seal
modified to allow a larger power flow, but you'd rather go on falling down
every time you have to extend yourself."

"Urd stop this!  I'm not..."

"Not going to be ordered about by your half-breed half-sister?"

"Urd!"

"Well even half-breeds have their sources of information.  You're
reluctant to tell him who's visiting, when do you plan to tell him why
Kamisama lets you stay?"

Minutes before, Belldandy had been blushing red, now she quickly went
pale.  "Urd you wouldn't, ... you wont tell him."

"Doesn't he deserve to know?"

"He thinks he did this of his own free will!"

"He did.  That's obvious."

"If you tell ... I mean if he learns, he'll think he's a pawn."

"He IS a pawn, what mortal hasn't been a pawn, from the beginning of the
universe?"

"THAT'S not fair to Kamisama!"

"I'm talking about what's fair to you.  You have a higher purpose down
here, higher than granting a shy boy a wish, or letting your childhood
crush bloom."  Urd's face softened a little, and her expression took on a
hint of irony.  "Higher even than keeping your wicked, older stepsister
from Falling.  So when are you going to give yourself enough power to do
your job?"

Seeing her sister back off a little, Belldandy relaxed, and found her smile,
though it was soft and a little sad.  "I've always loved you Urd, you're my
own dear sister."

Urd's expression of irony deepened.  "With Fenrir the Wolf beside me and
Keiichi in a bottle in my cape, you still loved me?  Damned if I can figure
out why."

Even Belldandy could tease on occasion.  With a much bigger smile and a
shrug she said, "I'm just silly that way."

That comment brought a smile back to Urd's face, but just for a moment. 
"I'm serious about you getting more power.  I promise not to tell Keiichi
anything, but now I want your promise to appeal for more energy.  You'll
send the complete request in before the end of the week."

"It will take longer than that to fill out the forms."

"Not if Hollybell helps.  You can give her the basic idea and she can draft
it while you sleep."

"I shouldn't misuse her that way."

"If you don't," Urd made her eyes really big and spoke in a parody of a
little girl's voice, "I'll go everywhere looking very very pitiful and tell
people, 'Wahh, my sister is abusing herself'."

"All right Urd, You win. You can look over the draft request tomorrow
morning."  Belldandy smiled a happy if resigned smile and 'pitiful' Urd
was replaced with the usual one.

Urd still went for the last word though.  "I ought to make you break your
Seal, so you could contain her if she looses it, but I'll settle for no more
'BellWimpy'; and tonight, since you don't trust me to do it for you, you'll
draw some of my power for yourself before setting the wards.  Ah, what's
this?"  Urd turned away from her younger sister to face the approach of
her youngest sister.

Skuld, dripping wet, came up to the table looking a little bit green and at
least as pitiful as Urd had pretended to be a moment before.  "Oneesama,
I been taking Terai down all the slides backwards and spinning and
nothing I'm doing is making her the least bit nauseous!"

"Why would you want her nauseous Skuld?"  asked Belldandy?

"She doesn't understand what the word means and I can't explain it to
her."

"Even I'm not that stupid!", Urd butted in, "You can't possibly make her
motion sick.  She masses Billions of Tons!  All you've got here is her
personality projection, if we squeezed it into a pachinko ball and ran her
through a machine at Mach 1 all she'd do is squeal and say 'Do it again!'."

Skuld slumped , "That's exactly what she's saying now."

>From the line to the Super Double Twister slide, Terai called out to Skuld. 
"Come On Skuld!"

Skuld groaned and headed off in that direction, turning just a little
greener.  "I never thought I'd say 'I had too much Ice Cream!'."

As Skuld left, Keiichi came back, looking much more composed.  He
served the Goddesses their drinks and opened his own can.  Both
Belldandy and her sister seemed very calm and relaxed.  Was that a good
sign or a bad sign for him?  Finally, he broke the seeming silence.  "Are
you still mad, Belldandy?"

"Mad?"

"At me?" he asked.

"About what?" said Urd, deadpan, and for emphasis, she raised her
eyebrows and leaned in his direction.

"Umm, Ahh, ..", Keiichi looked at Belldandy, who looked serene but
confused by his remark.  He looked at Urd, who might herself be mad or
might just be trying to get him to shut up.  "Nothing, I hope", was all he
could think of to say.


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


Yamano Satoko had spent all day in the Electronics Lab on Nekomi Tech
campus, she was working on a research project for one of the professors. 
As the day went by she came out of the lab only to use the restroom
and to eat her lunch in the break room.  It was strange that each time she
stepped out of the lab, she saw one of her male classmates, Kagata-san. 
She didn't know his given name.  She wasn't aware that he had been hired
by any of the professors or had any other business in the Electrical
Engineering building during summer break, but that didn't mean he hadn't.
Satoko never spoke to Kagata-san, and had made a point of avoiding him
or silently discouraging him from speaking to her.  Which might not be
fair, she reflected, except that every time she'd seen him since the
beginning of the school year he seemed to be looking at her, and his
expression when looking at her made her skin crawl.  She tried hard to
focus on her work, but as the afternoon wore on she began watching the
clock, looking forward to meeting Ootaki this evening even more than
usual.


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


The sun was setting when the three Goddesses, Keiichi, and Terai came
back on Nekomi campus.  Keiichi and Belldandy would ride back to the
Temple in the sidecar motorcycle, while Urd, Skuld and Terai caught the
train.  Belldandy had promised them an excellent dinner by the time they
got home.  Terai was still finding a thousand things to ask questions
about, but at least, thought Skuld, she's asking everyone, not just me.

As the group crossed the street from the city into the campus, A voice
called out, "Morisato, you've added another girl to your collection again."

"Wha...?" Keiichi spun around, "Ah! Ootaki-sempai."

"Has Tamiya got you working on another club project?" asked Ootaki.

"Yes, but I took the afternoon off to help show our guest around.  This is
Terai, Skuld's friend.  Terai, this is Ootaki, one of my sempai."

"How do you do." said Terai, bowing.

"Quite pleased to meet you", said Ootaki, returning the bow yet. 
"Morisato's house is a very good one to visit, no girl who's come to visit
him has ever left, except for his own little sister."

"Those are spark plugs, on the rings through your ears?" asked Terai.

"That's right."

"Spark plugs are an important part of internal combustion engines, Yes?",
Terai continued.

"I can't stand it.", muttered Skuld into her hand.

The evening was pierced by a woman's scream.

"Where did that come from?", said Keiichi as he snapped his head around.

"Satoko!", gasped Ootaki, "I'm supposed to meet her in front of the
Electrical Engineering building!" 

The men took off in a run, with the Goddesses and Terai right at their
heels.  They came around the corner to the entrance of the nearby
building, and sprinted up to the entryway steps.  Nothing was to be seen,
but then the noises of a struggle became apparent behind one of the
shrubs to one side of the stairs.  Ootaki dived into the bush, with Keiichi
just behind him.  As the Goddesses angled for a better look, four figures,
arms and legs flailing, came crashing out into the open, with Ootaki
shouting the word 'Bastard' at the top of his lungs.

Satoko managed to separate herself from the fight a moment later, and
took a gasping breath as she peeled the thin rope from around her neck,
where it had left a bloody gouge.  Belldandy and Urd were immediately at
her side.

Then a wave of heat struck everyone, like a solid burning wall.

"He hurt her,"  Terai's voice was quietly, terribly calm.  "... on purpose."

An eyeblink later, there was a hole in the air where Terai had been, and
out of the hole burst unimaginable fire.


**********


To see the Eagle Nebula, humans must look in the direction of a group of
bright stars that they have named 'Serpens' or 'The Serpent'.  The nebula
itself only looks like an eagle the way clouds take on shapes during a
summer day.  The Eagle Nebula really is a collection of clouds.  Thick
and warm, in comparison to empty space, its a perfect place to incubate
baby stars, until they are ready to shine on their own.  

Terai had been there for millions of years, in the heart of one of the three
'tall' fingers of cloud that seem to drift at the center of the nebula, as seen
from Earth.  The lives of stars are ever so long, so the time that has passed
since she first spun the dust about herself and began to form seems quite
short to her brother and sister stars.  For many of those years she had
projected her personality through the tiny wormhole that Grandmother
taught her to make.  She had rarely been allowed to go to planets, and had
always been escorted wherever she went.  Usually you would find her
projection on the Balcony where the spirits and stars in attendance of her
incubation would stand to look out over her forming solar system.  The
Balcony itself is only partially in our universe, you could think of it as a
sub-sub basement of the Heavens, and it was always filled with many
Gods and Goddesses and Stars coming and going and supervising various
processes.

Not that day.  Where there was usually so much activity, someone visiting
the Balcony just then would have found it unnaturally quiet.  The floor,
normally so tidy, was cluttered with strange looking one handled bottles. 
And instead of tens or sometimes hundreds of figures going to and fro,
there were only two standing near the railing, overlooking Terai's
gathering orb.  

Two figures, in ornate black armor.  The light itself, that went anywhere
near them, seemed to be stolen away.

Suddenly, with a thunderous crack, two bolts of gas and lightening leaped
out of Terai, one from her north pole and one from the south.  This is a
time tested technique by which protostars become stars, expelling a paltry
billion or so tons of superheated ions to reduce angular momentum. The
expulsion of many such bolts allows them to collapse small enough to
ignite into maturity.

The shorter of the two figures was visibly startled.  "She's back!  She's
resisting us!"

"Calm yourself." said the taller figure.  "It is an emotional reaction.  She's
visiting a planet, after all.  She saw something that surprised her."

"This is taking too long, ...", began the shorter figure again.

"Do be quiet."  replied the taller one.  "Soon only Kamisama will be able
to undo what we are doing, if he bothers.  She will be OUR sister yet."

Neither of them were monitoring Terai's body carefully, so neither
realized that a few million tons of superheated ionized gas from one of the
bolts had disappeared.  Not that such a tiny amount would have concerned
a star.  It was less to them than a dandruff flake to us.


***********


Back on Earth, Nekomi campus melted.  During the first second, Terai
opened the wormhole wide in all dimensions and let her wrath pour out on
to that hideous man.  During the next second she realized she was burning
much more than a single rapist.  During the third second she pinched the
wormhole back down to the subatomic size that allowed her to just
present a seeming human being, and it took her an additional second to
project and stabilize the 'body' that allowed her to be seen, and to see,
touch, taste, and feel.  

What Terai saw, was the inside of a dark cloud.  She knew that wasn't
right.  There had been buildings here, and the evening sky had been clear,
with no clouds to reflect her sister's setting rays.  Then Terai remembered
just how small planets and their mortal inhabitants were.   "Skuld?", she
called out in a whisper, but with growing horror, she began to believe that
no one was there to answer.  Terai began to tremble and a single sob
escaped her lips.  

Then a sudden, brilliant light dawned inside the cloud.  Terai spun to face
it, still trembling.  "S-sister," she said "I, ... I ruined your planet."

Terai's sister, manifesting as any mature star would, was incandescent. 
She was also beautiful, even for a star.  Her 'body' was that of woman just
barely beginning middle age, but still more lovely than many young
maidens in their prime.  Her face was heartstopping.  She wore an
elaborate Kimono, more suitable to bygone eras, and her hair was pined
up and held with combs.  There was no anger or reproach in her
expression.  She spread her arms wide.  "Come to me, Teraichan."

When Terai didn't move, but just stood there sobbing, her sister walked a
few steps forward and took Terai in her arms.  As Terai buried her face in
her sisters clothes, the lady spoke again.  "Really, its not nearly so bad as
you think, Teraichan.  The planet isn't ruined.  You mearly vaporized
Tokyo Bay.  You've made a mess, that's true, but you and your friend can
simply put it all back if you act quickly.  So please dry your tears."

"But, ..I vaporized Skuld too!", sniffed Terai, looking up at her sister with
a glimmer of hope never the less.

"Goddesses are tougher than that." replied her Sister, who then began
looking around in the cloud.  "Ah, there she is."

Terai snapped her head in that direction.  "All I see is a big black ball."

"She's hiding in there."  replied her sister.  "Using a shield sphere to
protect someone weak, most likely, until after the wind comes."

Before Terai could ask what her sister meant, a blast of wind struck the
area.  It was so strong it might have carried Terai's projected body away,
but apparently her sister was ready for it, since they both kept their
footing.  Her sister's hair though, had the combs and pins blown out of it
and stretched out like a pennant in the direction which Tokyo Bay had
been.  

Terai looked around as the blast of wind faded.  The last rays from her
Sister's true body illuminated all the destruction Terai had wrought. 
Tokyo bay was dry and blasted.  A titanic mushroom cloud of steam was
rising into the air above them, it's ragged stem stretching up from the
bottom of the bay.  Far away, a wall of water from the Pacific Ocean was
rushing to refill the space.  Of Nekomi Tech campus, whose buildings had
been adjacent to the Bay, there was no trace, only an expanse of blasted,
molten earth.  Across the scorched zone, some broken buildings could be
seen, far away.  They had been knocked flat though, either by the initial
blast or by rush of air when the cloud began to rise.  Visible between the
two stars in human shape and the dry bay was a round black ball, as big as
a small car. 

"Here now", continued her Sister, as if no real harm had been done, "the
air is cool enough that whoever your friend is protecting will be able to
breath it.  So lets begin.  The fewer resurrections your friend has to
perform, the better Kamisama will like it."

"But, if Skuld even knows how, where will she get the power?"

"Oh Teraichan!," Her sister looked at her with an expression of shock. 
"I'm very sorry.  I've been quite cruel to you."

"What do you mean?" asked Terai.

"I accepted your promise not to harm my life bearing world, but I didn't
ensure that you could do it.  It's quite wrong to take a child's promise
when the child doesn't know how to keep that promise.  Now then, watch
closely in every dimension, and I'll show you what to do."

Terai's sister walked over to the Goddess's shield sphere and knocked on
it lightly.  It flickered and vanished.  There, kneeling in a slightly concave
depression in the cooling ground were all of Terai's companions and
Ootaki, Satoko, and the rapist.  As the shield fell, Belldandy and Urd fell
too, both of them flickering near unconsciousness.  The rapist was also
out, and bruised and battered.  Satoko was awake, though still clutching
her bleeding neck.  She stared at Terai and her Sister dumfounded for a
moment, as did Ootaki and Keiichi.  Skuld was trying to keep her two
sisters from falling unconscious to the ground.

Satoko found her tongue first.  "Amaterasu!.." was all she could get out.

Amaterasu stooped down near Skuld, her manner much more formal than
when alone with her little sister.  "Goddesses, who is first among you?"

Skuld replied respectfully.  "My sister Belldandy."  She nodded toward
Belldandy since she was using her hands to keep her sisters from falling
over.  "They'd rise to greet you, lady, but they both used all their energy
on the shield."

Amaterasu stretched out the index finger of her right hand and touched the
center of the goddess marking in Belldandy's forehead.  Belldandy's eyes
snapped open wide, then glowed, then literally became blue spotlights,
almost laser beams.

Amaterasu spoke.  "**Goddess Arise.  Revive all those struck down. 
Heal all wounds.  Restore all things, unto the blades of grass, above,
upon, and below the burned ground.  Let the burning cloud be cooled
also.  And let forgetfulness cover the memories of them all.**"

Belldandy stretched her arms wide and rose into the air and expanded. 
Her floating shape stretched out until the left hand hovered near the stem
of the mushroom cloud and the right stretched out beyond the city into the
country.  It was light from Belldandy which illuminated the scene now, as
Amaterasu's true body slipped below the horizon.  Belldandy pivoted
through the air circling the remains of the bay, and as She passed over, the
buildings sprung back up, the trees and plants were restored, the city
lights came on and the terrible cloud began to rain down into the bay as
she nudged it toward the open sea.  The air was unnaturally clear, and as
he looked out to the west, Keiichi thought he saw Tokyo Tower lift itself
back up.  

Amidst the resurrection of the urban area, Amateratsu was relatively
nonchalant.  She turned toward Terai.  "You see Teraichan, that's why
Kamisama has filled the universe with Gods and Goddesses, Angels and
Spirits, Saints and Heroes.  We stars are simply to clumsy to touch our
worlds directly.  Now did you see what I did?"

"It looked like a simple heat transfer."

"Yes, but which dimensions did I open the hole through?"

"The Fifth, Seventh, and Ninth only."

"Exactly."  Amaterasu smiled proudly at Terai.  "Now, don't actually
touch any of your friends, but let me see you prepare to do it yourself." 
Terai held out her own index finger while Amaterasu coached her.

Keiichi and Ootaki were mesmerized by Belldandy.  She was sweeping
across the opening between Tokyo Bay and the sea now, turning back
toward Nekomi.  Satoko and Skuld were dividing their attention between
Belldandy's progress and the two Stars, although Skuld was also
supporting a still very groggy Urd.  As Belldandy came close to Chiba,
Satoko stood up, and timidly approached the two Stars.  Amaterasu and
Terai paid her no mind at first.

"But Sister," asked Terai, "Don't you need Kamisama's permission to
resurrect people?"

"Only if there is some doubt as to the shape of their destiny, Teraichan. 
I'm quite sure Kamisama did not plan from the Beginning for you to lay
waste to even this much of Japan.  Now be sure to practice what I've
shown you on your friends here.  You'll certainly need this technique as
you form your own lifebearing world, and congratulations on your
Authorization."

"Thank You, Sister" replied Terai, but Skuld, watching them, thought her
friend was rather unenthused.

"Also, be careful how often you empower any one Goddess, since the heat
goes into their systems as nearly pure power, some of them have become
psychologically addicted to the process."

Belldandy came nearer Nekomi City, and the campus began to reform
around them, with buildings and trees lifting back out of the ground.

"Please excuse me." said a trembling Satoko from a short distance away. 
Amaterasu turned and regarded her with an impassive face, hinting
neither acceptance nor rejection.  "Please," Satoko continued, "Don't make
me forget.  I don't want to forget what I've seen.  I'll make any promise if
you'll let me ...", Satoko's eyes were suddenly very heavy, and she sank to
the ground, which now had the familiar pavement and landscaping that
Nekomi Tech had always sported, "... remember." was the last word she
uttered before falling asleep.

Ootaki let out a snore, already asleep himself.  Belldandy, shrinking back
to her normal size as she came, descended among them.  Urd, receiving
power from Belldandy, lifted herself to her feet and Skuld stood beside
her.  The cities were restored, though sleeping, and the Bay, hidden from
view by the campus buildings, sighed back to it's normal level on the
sands.  Belldandy, Urd, and Skuld arranged themselves to face Amaterasu
and Terai across Satoko's sleeping form.  The light went down in
Belldandy's eyes and an unnatural quiet settled on everything.  No one and
nothing was awake or moving except the Stars, the Goddesses, and
Keiichi.

Belldandy bowed, and her Sisters did the same.  Keiichi, seeing what they
were doing. quickly copied them as well.  "Thank You very much,
Amaterasusama.", said Belldandy, "I have done all that you ask, excepting
only Morisato Keiichi.  I hope you will not object to him remembering,
because he is my trusted friend."  Keiichi blushed, and didn't come out of
his bow until a few moments after the Goddesses had come out of their's.

Amaterasu had accepted their bows with a nod.  "I see my young Sister is
well cared for here.  Please excuse her childish error.  It is important that
she linger as long as she can, so she can learn some of what she herself
will someday face.  While she remains with you, call on me for any need
her presence brings.  Also, with reguards to this woman."  Amaterasu
indicated Satoko.  "Allow her to remember what she has seen, as if in a dream,
so that she does not draw unnecessary attention to herself."   Amaterasu then 
turned to Terai.  "Cheer up, Teraichan." she said cheerily, "Please enjoy the
remainder of your visit. It's too short a time to waste feeling glum."  Then 
her glowing image faded away to nothing, and she was gone.

And Belldandy fell to her knees.  Skuld was beside her at once, and
Keiichi closed the distance quickly.  "I'm fine." protested Belldandy, "Still
filled to overflowing with power actually.  But I'm remembering
everything, every person and living thing I restored.  The details are going
to make me dizzy while they sort themselves out."  Belldandy held her
hands over Satoko and formed her blue ball.

"If you heal her," commented Urd, "We can't have that thing arrested."

"I'll store up her health while restoring her memory, so she heals fast," 
replied Belldandy.

The sounds of the city began to be heard as people everywhere around
Tokyo Bay woke up.  Skuld was sent to a nearby telephone to call the
Police.  Keiichi tied the rapist's hands behind his back using his belt and
tied his shoelaces together for good measure, though he showed no sign of
regaining consciousness.  Belldandy finished her magic and began tending
to Satoko's wounds in a mundane fashion.  Urd woke Ootaki up, and
made him listen to a few strong words of warning about how Satoko
might very well flinch from any man's presence for a while and how he
needed to show her extra patience and support.  Only after she'd finished
was Ootaki allowed near Satoko.  Satoko was very calm as she woke up,
probably Belldandy's doing, Keiichi reflected.  As Skuld came back from
the phone they could hear a police siren in the distance.  But through it all
Terai spoke not a word, and simply sat nearby looking at the ground.

It took hours to finish with the Police.  Even Terai was asked for a
statement, in which she answered each question put to her with the facts
and nothing more.  Satoko and Ootaki left first, in an ambulance.  Finally
the group that had entered Nekomi campus so cheerfully just before
sunset made their way to the Motorclub garage.  Terai, still silent, rode in
the sidecar, while the three Goddesses shrank themselves down to about
 ten centimeters each and crowded in around Terai's feet.  Finally, much
later than expected, they returned home to the Temple house.  They had
barely removed their shoes and stepped in when the phone began to ring.

"Guess Who." said Urd.

Belldandy went to phone.  "Morisato residence.  Yes, Kamisama."

Terai immediately went to Skuld's room.  Skuld looked at her sisters then
followed Terai.

"I'll put tea on." said Keiichi, and headed off to the kitchen.  So Belldandy
and Urd were left by the phone in the hallway.  Urd leaned her head near
the phone to hear what was said to Belldandy.

"Belldandy" said the voice on the phone, "Your reaction with Amaterasu
to the crisis was well measured.  I'm pleased with your quick resolution."

"Thank You, Kamisama."

"However, the fact that their was a problem at all has led me to review
events in detail since Terai's arrival, and I find that some issues must be
addressed."

Belldandy bit lightly on her own lip, this was the part where unwelcome
surprises might come.

"First of all," said the phone voice, "Take no action regarding power
increase paperwork.  I have signed a directive ordering your powerflow
increased three fold."

"Yes!" squeaked Urd, just a little too loudly.

"That is Urd there?" He asked.

"Yes, Kamisama."

"I will speak to her when we finish.  It was quite detestable to observe her
blackmailing you."

"Eeee!", said Urd.

"She intended to help me, Kamisama.", replied Belldandy.

"I am also concerned that she achieved as much success as she did.  While
I trust your dedication, it is unwise to leave you weak on any side.  I am
considering speaking to the boy directly, to acquaint him with the details
myself."

"Yes Kamisama."  Belldandy bit back a protest for further delay.  Surely
after that debacle with the Bugs, Christmas before last, she knew better
than to resist her Master's wishes.  Or so she hoped.

"When Urd suggested that your Seal should be broken, Terai had not yet
lost her temper.  Considering that event, do you now believe Urd's plan is
wise?"

"Umm, not yet Kamisama," Belldandy glanced at Urd, thinking to spare
her feelings, but Urd had the crestfallen look of someone waiting to be
disciplined.  "I very much hope that Terai has learned her lesson now."

"Very well.  Belldandy, I preauthorise you to break your Seal during
Terai's visit, should you believe her in danger of making another error."

"Thank You, Kamisama."

"Now I will speak to Urd."

Belldandy handed the phone to her older sister.  Urd took the receiver in
her hand, shut her eyes tightly, and held it up to her ear.  "Yes Sir?"

Belldandy turned and headed toward the kitchen, but her ears were so
good she overheard the beginning of the conversation anyway.

"I grow weary Urd, of reminding you that the end does not justify the
means."

"Yes Sir."


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


Belldandy began fixing dinner.  Keiichi protested that it was too late in the
evening, but when she insisted that she had so much energy she wasn't the
least bit tired, he gave in.  A short time later Urd entered the kitchen. 
"Are you all right?", Belldandy asked.

"You mean am I suspended, cast down, or something like that.  No, not
this time."  Urd regarded her sister's quick dinner preparations.  "Good a
cook as you are, I'll bet you're the only one hungry tonight, Belldandy."

"I'm sure Keiichisan will eat.  But you mean that Terai hasn't come out of
Skuld's room, don't you."

Urd paused for a moment, "Yes." she finally said.

Belldandy didn't pause at all in her headlong preparations.  "You're not
saying what you think, Urd."

"I don't want to screw up twice in one day."

"Out with it.  I want to hear what it is."

"After what you've just done tonight, doesn't dinner seem a little, ... tame?"

"I don't want to go out and party, and I don't want to be separate from my
dear ones either.  Keiichi needs to eat and we all need to talk, about little
things, and laugh and be happy together.  The most natural way to do that
is with a meal."

Urd sighed.  "I hope it works out.", she said as she left the kitchen. 
Belldandy expected to hear the TV start up as Urd settled in to channel
browse, but no one turned it on and the house stayed quiet.


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


Dinner went on the table in record time, and it was beautifully arranged
too.  Keiichi and Urd took their places.  Belldandy noticed that Keiichi
was sitting up very straight, and trying to be more polite than was natural,
maybe that was because of Terai.  Skuld lead Terai out to the table a
moment later, while Belldandy set out the drinks.  Terai was still
downcast and silent.

A few minutes later Belldandy was beginning to wish that Urd had made
her point more forcefully.  It was the most strained, horrible gathering
Belldandy could have imagined.  Everyone was silent.  Terai and Keiichi
were avoiding making eyecontact with everyone else.  Skuld would watch
Terai or look pleadingly at Belldandy.  Urd was silent and depressed also. 
Belldandy attempted to start the conversation a few times, but failed
miserably.  And they were all just picking at the food!  Belldandy wanted
to cry, which of course would only make things worse, then Keiichi
surprised her.

"Terai?", Keiichi asked, at which Terai visibly jumped, set her chopsticks
down by her plate, stuffed her hands in her lap, and did not even glance at
Keiichi.  He continued gently, "You and Amaterasu called each other
sister.  I never imagined that Stars had families.  Did the two of you, um,
grow up in a house? or play together? or ..."  Keiichi trailed off watching
Terai watch her mostly untouched plate.

"The house that could have held us would have been very big.", Terai
replied, and the hint of a smile crossed her face, and she turned timidly to
look at Keiichi.

When they all went to bed, Belldandy thought fiercely, I'm going to follow
Keiichisan into his room and kiss his feet, maybe just for starters.

"We don't have parents or homes like you do, Morisatosan", Terai went
on.  "We call each other Sister and Brother when we come out of the same
clouds.  My generation comes from newer clouds with many chemical
elements in them.  There is an older generation, my 'Uncles and Aunts',
who formed when our galaxy was young.  They formed out of older clouds
which had few chemical elements in them, and there is Grandmother."

Keiichi, while he listened, had actually put a bite in his mouth, and was
chewing with some enthusiasm.  "Umm," He gulped the bite down,
"Grandmother?"

"In the beginning,..." Terai paused, but had warmed up to the
conversation so she continued, "Kamisama ordered the dust to gather
together into Clusters, and then into Galaxies.  While it was gathering
though, it clumped together to form a few isolated clouds, which were
eventually drawn into the galaxies.  Out of those clouds, before the
galaxies could begin forming stars, came the first stars, our Grandparents. 
They are terribly few in number.  In all our Galaxy there is only
Grandmother, orbiting by herself in a long ellipse outside the Core.  She
stopped shining long ago, but there is still heat and life in her.  Some
Gods and Goddesses call her Grandmother Cinder, but we stars only say
Grandmother."

"Wow," said Keiichi, "Have you met her?"

"Grandmother begins all our lives." Terai replied, "Which makes her very
busy, but she personally helps each little star spirit begin to gather dust to
form their own body, and she has been present at every ignition in our
galaxy also.  She herself arranged for me to come here, when she came to
tell me that Kamisama had granted me the Authorization."

"Th Whhh!" said Urd with her mouth full.

"h, Terai!" Belldandy was so happy she clapped her hands together,
"How wonderful for you!"

"Amaterasu congratulated you for that too," Keiichi remembered out loud,
"But what does it mean?"

"Only some stars qualify to have living things grow on their planets,
Morisatosan," Terai said.  "Of those, most are what you would call small
things, lichens and plankton for example.  Some Stars qualify to have
complex plants and animals,  and a few of those are allowed to have
intelligent beings come forth from among their creatures.  But the rarest
thing of all is to have a technical civilization, only a Star receiving a
special authorization from Kamisama can give birth to such a planet."

"Wow," Keiichi said again, "You're very special then.  Congratulations."

Terai smiled and looked a little embarrassed.  But a moment later her
happy face faded away.  "What am I saying?  I can't be trusted with a
planet full of people!  I've proved that beyond any doubt!"  Sobbing, Terai
leapt up from the table and ran back toward Skuld's room.

Skuld jumped up to follow her.  "Almost, Keiichi." she said as she gave
him a thumbs up sign and ran after her friend.

"Yes Keiichisan," said Belldandy "That was wonderful."

Now it was Keiichi's turn to look embarrassed.  "Didn't work though. 
What are we going to do about her?"

"How about nothing?" injected Urd, between mouthfuls of food, "She
screwed up, she feels bad for a while, she gets over it.  Just let her work it
out herself."

Belldandy sighed.  "I suppose we shouldn't wonder if she felt ashamed for
a while.  But no Urd, we're not going to leave her alone in this, not for too
long.  We're going to be sure she cheers up."


**********


It was Three AM the next morning.  Skuld startled awake and sat up on
her tatami.  Terai, still dressed, was sitting on her tatami nearby, head on
her knees and arms wrapped tight around her calves.

"Did you hear something Terai?"

"She just came out of his room.", Terai replied.  "They were talking and
cuddling at first.  I think he fell asleep a while ago, but she just lay there
with him, looking at him, sometimes stroking his hair, for the last couple
hours."

Skuld flopped back down on her tatami.  "Yeah, she does that."

"At first I thought they were going to ..."

"If they did, I'd know it.  And Urd wouldn't let them keep it a secret, even
if they did hide it from me."

"Don't they know these walls are transparent to high ultraviolet and
infrared light?"

"Think of it as a game Terai, we're all pretending to be human so Keiichi
doesn't freak.  We act like we can't see through the walls or understand
auras and we only use magic for things we can't do with our hands."

"Do you want them to ..."

"No Way!"

"What do you want them to do then?"

Skuld sighed.  "I was really jealous of Keiichi when I first came here.  I've
mostly gotten over that, but even if I don't mind Oneesama being in love
with him, I don't want her to do it.  I'd be the only virgin left of the three of
us then.  It would be like she'd left me and sided with Urd."

"You have to stay a virgin so you can fight with Urd?"

"Teraiii!  Don't be gross."

"Was I?" Terai asked.  When Skuld didn't answer, Terai changed the
subject.  "You three are really close."

"Um Humm", replied Skuld, starting to fall back asleep.

"I've met some double stars and triple stars that are close like you three."

Skuld didn't answer this time, and as Terai watched her friend she saw her
breathing even out the way it had when she fell asleep earlier.  Terai had
never slept, nor would, until she was older than Grandmother, and from
that sleep ..., well some things only Kamisama knew.  Last night she had
lay flat on her tatami with her eyes closed and reviewed and cataloged
every interesting thing that she and Skuld had talked about the previous
evening.  There had been so many interesting things she'd seen this
morning.  And the afternoon, she'd known about liquids, but never
imagined sliding or playing in them.  That happy, inquisitive Terai
seemed like another person now.

"I'm not close to anybody, Skuld.", she whispered to her sleeping friend. 
"You're the best friend I've got and still we're not close like you and your
sisters.  And today, I almost burned you up."

Terai was faintly surprised, she hadn't realized that this body she
pretended to have would cry when she was sad enough.  She wasn't being
terribly observant either, or she might have noticed Belldandy, lying flat
on her own tatami but with her eyes wide open and turned toward Terai. 
Terai shook with quiet little sobs, and answering tears of sympathy went
down Belldandy's face toward her pillow.


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


That morning, Terai was up at dawn again, and gave her Sister a
respectful bow as she rose over the horizon.  But then she went back to
Skuld's room without saying a word.


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


About noontime later that day, Urd called Belldandy at the Motorclub
garage on campus, where she had accompanied Keiichi that morning.

"You win," commented Urd from the Temple house hallway phone, "We
gotta cheer her up before I go crazy."

"What is she doing?"  Belldandy asked.

"The two of them are flopped on the floor like throw rugs in front of the
TV, pitiful as only preteen girls can get.  Right now they're watching that
anime tape Skuld keeps but almost never watches, the one with the gaki
named Sharon and the two warriors who've sworn to each keep the other
from bedding the girl."

"Oh dear, that tape makes Skuld a little sad even when she starts out
happy.", commented Belldandy.

"Well, what can we do?, what can I do?", asked Urd.

"I don't have any ideas yet.", replied Belldandy, "Have you thought of
anything?"

"I thought to call you, nothing else is coming.  When can you come back?"

"Keiichi is on a roll here I think, I don't want to pull him away.  We'll be
home for dinner but not before.  Maybe one of us can think of something
by then."

"Oohhhh, Think hard Sis."  Urd hung up the phone and went back past
the TV/Dining room.  Skuld and Terai hadn't moved an inch.  The story
was almost over though, since the gaki was seducing everyone with her
songs and was about to try to possess the giant, transforming spaceship. 
'Wasn't that thing in another TV show?', Urd wondered.


**********


In the Heavens, in the part of the Yggdrasil 'campus' devoted to the
Earth's Goddess Relief Office, Brett Handy, God of Destiny, looked out
through the eternal morning sunshine and across the titanic roots of the
Yggdrasil toward the other World Tree systems that towered up in the
distance.  There was absolutely no haze here to give scale to the view, but
his eyes still weren't entirely up to blocking the glare.  He turned away
from the view again, knowing he would likely start looking at it again in a
few minutes.  His eyes surveyed the luxurious lounge and waiting area. 
There was no glass picture window here, since outside was exactly as
comfortable as inside.  ALL the chairs and couches were comfortable. 
Still, Brett wasn't in a restful mood, so he paced for a while, and told
himself he ought to read something, or browse Heavenet, or do anything
that would keep him from waiting tensely.

At that moment Parvati entered the waiting area.  A petite person, she had
to crane her neck up to look at Brett's face.  She was one of the Goddesses
who had been very active in India and South East Asia, which was why
she continued to sport four graceful arms.  She had a daughter Skuld's
age, although standing next to Brett, she looked the right size to be a child
herself.  She came up to him, smiling her constant serene smile, and just
stood there.

After a moment, Brett decide to say something.  "Ah, Hello Parvati"

"Hello Brett," came the soft spoken reply.  And nothing more.

After another moment, "Um, Parvati, I'd really like to know if I passed."

"Of course you would.", she replied.

Brett stood there squirming for another minute, while Parvati looked on
serenely, then the corners of her mouth tilted up, which with Parvati was
as good as a belly laugh.  "Forgive me, Brett, I couldn't resist teasing you. 
Westerners are so driven."

Brett cracked a smile himself, not an altogether confident one though. 
"Parvati, does that mean I passed?", he asked.

"Of course you passed.  You are a fully qualified Wishbringer now,
pending successful completion of your probationary period.  Welcome to
the Goddess Relief Office."

"Whew.", said Brett as he relaxed, in all his .. months .. as a God, he'd
never had to actually test at it till now.  "I'm really pleased Parvati, when
do I start?"

"So driven.", she repeated, shaking her head.  "Go relax and get yourself
rested, then come back and I'll have your first assignment for you."

"But when, or, ... what time do you expect me back?"

Parvati shook her head again, and settled back into her most serene
expression.  "What time do you want it to be Brett?"

"Well, if it's alright, I'd like to pop in on some friends, maybe spend the
night if I could start tomorrow morning."

"In May 1996?"

"Actually," Brett sneaked a peek at his watch, "It was June, last time I
checked."

"And twelve hours there will be how long here?"

"Um," Brett suddenly realized what she was getting at, "35 minutes?"

"Seventeen minutes.  Not that it matters, I already have your assignment
ready for you.  If you would like more time, 1862 and 2040 are passing
much more rapidly per minute for the next few 'hours' here."

"Well, my friends are in 1996, though I hope they're in 2040, come to
think of it.  How do you keep all that straight in your head, Parvati?"

"Time isn't straight from this reference frame, Brett.  Your primary
instructor should have taught you a lot more about temporal topography,
and you can tell her 'Little Cutie Four-Arms' said so."

Not for the first time Brett found himself blushing for Urd's sake.  "I'm
sure she intends that name fondly, Parvati."  To which he received a single
raised eyebrow.  "No dice eh?"

"No.", Parvati agreed.  "Now run along and don't worry about getting
back 'on time'.  Here, time waits for us if necessary.  Oh that reminds me,
I had a clock put up in the hall so you don't have to use your watch to
teleport.


*********


Neither Urd nor Belldandy thought of anything in particular to do or say
before dinner.  Belldandy was afraid that there might be a repeat of last
night's fiasco.  However, Terai, while still depressed, seemed much less
despondent, and actually asked one or two questions.  Particularly
interesting was the one she turned on Urd.

"Urdsama, Do singing idols really receive a lot of adulation by the
people?"

"You bet, everyone admires a good singer.@

"But Skuld says that most of them aren't good singers."

"Yeah, you can hype someone up so that everyone gets excited about
them, whether they can sing or not."

"Then what are the people getting excited about, since it isn't the
singing?"

"Ummm, they're getting excited because everyone else is excited."

"Then, they don't need the idol to be excited?, They could just be excited
all by themselves?"

"Ha!", said Keiichi, "This is beginning to sound like Urd at a karoke bar. 
Everyone's excited and nobody's singing."

"Hey!", replied Urd, "I'm a good singer!"

"He he he he", laughed Skuld, "Good one, Keiichi."

"You stay out of this.", said Urd to Skuld, "Tell you what, Terai, let's all
go over to a karoke place tonight and you can see for yourself how good a
singer I am."

"Oh.  That wouldn't be proper." answered Terai, and looked back down at
her plate.

Belldandy didn't let her escape though. "Why wouldn't it be proper,
Terai?"

Caught in a question herself, Terai visibly squirmed.  "Well, I mustn't go
out."

"Why is that?", Belldandy continued gently.

"Because, ... I won't make mistakes if I just stay here."

"No.", Belldandy took a firm but still gentle stand.  "You're not going to
hide in here until your visit is over Terai.  The karoke bar may be too wild
an idea for tonight, but we will definitely go there before you leave."

"Hey!" said Skuld, "You and I can do a duet!, show Urd who really
inherited the good voice in our family."

"Brat!" replied Urd, "The day I can't sing better than you with marbles in
my mouth, I'll ..."

"Please sisters.", commented Belldandy.  "Now Terai, Keiichi is making a
lot of progress on his project for the Motorclub, so I was wondering if you
and Skuld would like to come with us back to campus tomorrow and see
the cart when he finishes it."  At the mention of Nekomi campus Terai
turned a little pale, but, gently as ever Belldandy continued.  "What you
saw there last night was very much out of the ordinary, Terai.  Not just for
the campus but for all Japan.  I'd like you to come back so that incident
doesn't make your only impression of the campus."

Terai hung her head for a moment, but then picked it up.  "I'll come.", she
almost whispered.

"Great.", said Keiichi, "After this I'll have a few days free, so Belldandy
and I can escort you two around.  Maybe we could even get up early one
morning and catch the trains to Tokyo."

Terai managed a half hearted smile.  It seemed she was moving out of
depression, though still very nervous about going among people.  The rest
of dinner went even better, so Belldandy was humming a little tune to
herself as she, Skuld and Terai cleaned up the dishes.  Urd turned on the
TV, and paused on a news program.

"In our next report," said the news anchor, "A sudden, drastic drop in the
salinity of Tokyo Bay has researchers baffled."

"Urrk." said Urd, and she flipped to another channel.

In a different news program, a doctor was being interviewed.  "I'm at a
complete loss to explain it.  There's simply no bacteria anywhere in the
hospital.  This is especially fortunate in the children's ward as some of
them with dangerous infections are now well, if still a little weak."  Urd
cut the report off by turning the channel again while Keiichi sent a
worried look toward the kitchen.  Neither Belldandy nor Terai nor Skuld
seemed to have heard.

"Air quality in the greater Tokyo area may have briefly improved due to
an unexpected rain shower, mostly falling in the bay, but health agencies
have disregarded this morning's near pure readings, attributing them to
equipment failure."  "Click" went the channel changer.

A stern looking man in a suit was editorializing.  "As further evidence that
violent American madness is spreading into our society, last night some
local college students interrupted a brutal rape in the nick of time."

"VCR!" said Keiichi.

"Right!" said Urd.  And turned on the tape player so that it blanked the
screen.


***********


The tape Urd and Keiichi insisted on watching when Belldandy, Skuld
and Terai joined them had no particular appeal to Skuld or Terai, so the
two girls adjourned to Skuld's room.  Terai was doing much better, so
Skuld was quite optimistic as well.  Still, they weren't nearly as giddy as
the evening Terai had first arrived.  Outside, Terai's sister's face had
passed below the horizon, and the rest of her family was beginning to fill
the sky with sparkling lights.

"Do you think I'm cheering up too fast, Skuld?"

"Give yourself a break, Terai."

"I killed all those people!"

"They're alive now."

"But, shouldn't I keep feeling guilty for ...", Terai shrugged her shoulders.

Skuld sighed.  "I don't know, Terai.  You're not like Urd, who almost
never seems to be ashamed of any screw up, but you're not like Oneesama
either, who's so freaked about the one mistake she made, ...", Skuld
paused, Terai was giving her her full attention.  "I'm not supposed to
know about that, I probably shouldn't talk about it.  I hacked Urd's
password a while ago, and I've been monitoring her E-Mail to Fulla and
the other Yggdrasil systems managers."

"What's a Yggdrasil?"

"It's a World Tree System, it moderates spiritual energy on a world with
animal or higher life forms.  You've got one, I saw them doing final
hardware checks when I came to visit and met you, remember? 
'YGGDRASIL' is just the nickname for the Earth's World Tree, it's the
first nine letters of the 144,000 character serial number.  Anyway, Urd's,
Oneesama's and my first jobs as Goddesses were as
programmer/technician's on the Yggdrasil, Urd got good enough to be one
of the system managers, but I was so good,", Skuld couldn't help but tilt
her nose up and look smug, "I was made system debugger, after about a
year, the ONLY system debugger!, but what I was trying to say was that I
started out spying on Urd to figure out if she was getting her friends to
tamper with the system parameters to manipulate Keiichi, or worse.  She
wasn't, but first, things went really crazy around here Christmas before
last, with such an outbreak of Bugs I ended up assigned down here to
stamp them out, sigh, then Fulla got a copy of a document about
Oneesama and forwarded it to Urd.  It was pretty obvious what had
happened then."

"What's a Bug, Skuld?"

"A spontaneous, spiritual life form, they're awful, yuck, anyway, when a
World Tree System has a loop, or some other screwup in code it can start
making bugs, YGGDRASIL bugs look like very stupid rabbits with
eight legs.  Fixing the code error is just the first thing you have to do,
those Bugs, once they're out there, can multiply by brachiating, like a
fractal creates more curves as you change the values, the longer they exist
at all, the more chance they multiply, ewwww."

"That's why you're here?"

"Yeah, enough Bugs popped into this world that some of them got away
from the immediate vicinity, so every so often, when something weird
occurs, I rush over to see if a Bug is there and if it's multiplying.  Then I
crush it back into ether.  Sigh, but there were enough that got out, I don't
know if I'll ever get them all."

"I'll help you, Skuld, then you'll get all the Bugs." said Terai, rather
solemnly.

"Well, I could get you a copy of my hammer, Terai, but ...", Skuld cut off
her sentence in surprise.

Terai had reached across from where she was sitting and touched Skuld's
forehead Goddess marking with her index finger.  "**Goddess, your will
is mine.**", she intoned.


**********


In the TV/Dining room, Keiichi and Urd were watching the video tape. 
Belldandy had been knitting, but her head snapped around to face Skuld's
room.

"Hey", said Keiichi, "I hear a sound, like popping popcorn."

Belldandy jumped up and raced down the hall towards Skuld's room.

"I can't believe they're cooking back there, not after the dinner we had.",
said Urd.

A door slid open and Belldandy could be heard, barely, going "Eeee!",
over the sudden patter of ...many  small footfalls?

"Now it sounds like a rain storm.", said Keiichi, and, thinking he might
need to cover the sidecar motorcycle, turned around to get up, so he was
facing the hallway and Urd had her back turned, still watching TV.

"KON'ICHIWA!" came the sound of literally a hundred, maybe more,
small voices as Waves of small Skulds, each about 1/2 meter high, and
with eyes streaming out light, poured into the TV/Dining room.  

In a heart beat, Keiichi was literally hip deep in them.  "BELLDANDY!",
he yelled, and tried to make his way toward Skuld's room.  It was very
much like swimming against a flood, he thought, which ,of course, only
started to make him panic since he was deathly afraid of water.  A few
laborious steps later he was a meter closer to the door to the hallway and
now up to his stomach, since Skulds were now carrying Skulds over their
own diminutive heads  He opened his mouth to call her again, but then the
tide of Skulds swept him away.

Keiichi was deposited outside the Temple house.  Here, the Skulds were
running the hose, making impromptu puddles and using them to teleport
away.  Skulds were still pouring out of the Temple house, and as he
circled around looking for a way back in , Keiichi saw that every door and
window was now pouring out Skulds.    It was obvious that Keiichi was
going to have to wait till something changed to get back in.  There had to
be thousands of Skulds by now, but the torrent coming out of the Temple
house showed no signs of ebbing.  Of Belldandy, Urd or Terai there was
no sign.


***********


"Hey, Brett!", called a voice.  Brett had been about to go into the
hallway wall clock and down to the Temple house in Nekomi, he was aiming 
for just after dinner dishes had been put away, so Belldandy wouldn't feel 
compelled to cook him something.  He turned and saw Riana running down the 
hallway to catch him.  She was about Skuld's age, and a work study student 
here in the Relief Goddess Office.  He had learned to recognize her by her 
height and face shape, since she changed her outfit, hair color, and sometimes
her skin tone on a daily basis.  Even the combat boots she had favored when 
he first met her had given way to some kind of sports shoe.

"G'day Riana", he replied, then looked at her face a little closer.  "Tiger 
stripes today?"
 
"Oooh!, I hadn't thought about Tiger Stripes!  That sounds cool."   Riana 
broke into a big smile, she loved to talk about her various looks.  "These are 
just stripes.  They started out to be Roscharh marks, so I could ask people 
what they saw on my cheeks.  But, I couldn't make them look like anything but 
stains.  You should have heard Mom go into her  'Och child, when will you be 
yourself' lecture.  I'll try tiger stripes tomorrow, maybe with little  
'B''s on the cheekbones to give you the trade mark.  Anyway, could you 
take this package to Skuld for me?", Riana held out a small package wrapped 
in brown paper, only a little bigger than a VCR tape.  "She's been asking 
for this when we E-mail each other, but I havn't had a chance to take it to her." 

"No worries",  Brett took the proffered package.  "Say, how'd you know I was 
going there?" 

"If you're not here, you're there.", Riana replied.

"Getting that predictable am I?" 

"Have a good trip." , Riana stated and turned to go.  "Thanks!"  she called 
over her shoulder.


***********


It seemed as though hours went by to Keiichi, even though his watch
registered less than 20 minutes since he had first ended up outside the
temple.  Finally the flow of Skulds seemed to be weakening.  After a few
more moments he saw a chance and slipped back in through the front
door.  There were still enough Skuld's coming out that he ended up
inching along the wall to stay out of their way.  When he craned his neck
around to peer into the TV/Dining room he found Belldandy.

She was sitting in her usual place, where she knitted, but the room was
crawling with Skulds.  They had the TV apart, they had the legs off the
table, they were climbing on and doing things to the walls, one was
hanging from a belt and doing something to the florescent light fixture in
the ceiling while another had poked a hole in the ceiling and was passing
tools and parts to the one working on the light.  One Skuld sat in
Belldandy's lap giving her a big hug while another sat right beside her and
snuggled close.  Two more were combing her hair.  At least three had
Belldandy's knitting needles spread out on the floor along with some
impromptu blueprint diagrams and one of Skuld's own toolsets.

"Belldandy!  Are you alright?" Keiichi asked.

Belldandy opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off by several Skulds. 
"What do you mean?", "Are you implying I/We would hurt her?",  "I still
hate you, Peeeeedah!".

"I am fine, Keiichisan.  Now please Skuld(s), he didn't mean you any
insult."

Muttering, the various Skulds turned back to their tasks, except for one,
who stood glowering at Keiichi with arms crossed.

"Oneesama.", said the Skuld in Belldandy's lap, "I want you to pay
attention to Me, not him."

"Right!" agreed the snuggling Skuld next to her.

"Please turn you head this way." requested the hair combing Skulds, as
they turned Belldandy's head away from Keiichi.

Belldandy sighed, "It's going to take a few hours, Keiichisan, for the
energy Terai gave Skuld to dissipate.  She isn't using it as fast as I used
Amaterasusama's.  None of us here can take it back from her, so I'm afraid we
just have to let this run it's course."

"Hey!", said the Skuld on Belldandy's lap, "You haven't given me a
chance!"  Other Skulds chimed in as well,  "We're not going to screw this
up!"  "We'll make you proud of us, Oneesama."  The Skuld scowling at
Keiichi growled, AYou're encouraging her to distrust me!"

"Well", replied Keiichi to Belldandy, "You seem to have everything you
need, I suppose I could just grab my magazine and wait here with you."

"Oh no you don't!", said the Skuld who was still scowling at Keiichi,
"You're just looking for a chance to take Oneesama away from me!"

"But .." began Keiichi.  He was reluctant to make trouble with Skuld
mostly because he liked her, and the fact that there must literally be
thousands of her around right now made him even more careful.

"Keiichisan," Belldandy had turned her head back toward Keiichi, despite
the Skulds wishes, "When someone divides in to many copies, and I've
never heard of anyone taking it this far, their whims and quirks can clump
into one or two individuals.  I'm afraid these parts of Skuld that
desperately want my attention intend to monopolize me until this is over."

"Humm", replied Keiichi as he bent down to 'face' the single, rather
unfriendly Skuld in front of him, "That would make you, ...".

"The Skuld who still hates you.", then she stuck out her tongue at him 
"Peeeedah!"

"Well," continued Keiichi, "Since there's nothing else I can do about this, I
wonder if you'd still hate me if I took you out for Ice Cream?"

"That's bribery."

"You got that right."

Skuld who still hated Keiichi raised her eyebrows and flipped her hair in
what looked like an imitation of Sayoko.  "I'll allow you to try."

"All right, lets go.  Belldandy, I'm taking this Skuld out for Ice Cream."  It
then crossed Keiichi's mind that thousands of Skulds might decide to horn
in on this, but, oddly, none of them seemed to notice.

"Have a good time," said Belldandy, "I'll see what I can do to keep this
from getting farther out of hand.", Belldandy stopped a passing Skuld,
"Please bring Terai here Now, Skuld.", She asked of her.

Then Skuld who still hated Keiichi slipped around behind him and with a
boost from a pair of passing Skulds ran up Keiichi's back, grabbed both
his ears and locked her legs around his neck.  "Ha ha, Skuld on your back
says, no more stalling, lets go!!"

"Ouch, yes Ma'am." replied Keiichi.  Keiichi left the TV/Dining room,
went down the hall and put on his shoes.  As he opened the front door and
stepped out, there suddenly appeared a Skuld with many chevrons on her
sleeve and a WWI era widebrimmed campaign hat, Sergeant Skuld
without a doubt.  As Skuld on his back reigned him in with painful pulls
on his ears, A troop of Skulds came around the side of the building. 
Sergeant Skuld opened her mouth and a parade ground voice came loudly
out.

She yelled, "MARCHIN' AT THE DOUBLE TIME, CORP SOUND OFF".

The troop of Skulds began trotting in cadence together, while many of
them clapped their hands in time to the rhythm their feet were making.  As
they went by they shouted/chanted;
"NASTY OLD SISTER, WE WON'T TAKE ANY MORE,
GONNA DO JUST WHAT WE WISH WE'D DONE A THOUSAND TIMES BEFORE,
GONNA TIE YOU UP, AND TURN YOU 'ROUND, AND KICK YOU OUT THE DOOR!
WE'RE SKULD'S OWN!, AWESOME!, ANTI-URD CORP!"

Hoisted above each block of Skulds in the troop, outnumbered by about
25 to 1, where each of the five little Urds.  They struggled and pleaded
and cried as they went by, but Keiichi couldn't even hear them over the
chant of the Anti-Urd Corp.  The last little Urd reached out pitifully as she
was carried past Keiichi, but the Skuld on his back leaned next to one of
his ears and said, "Don't even think about it."

A few minutes later the side car motorcycle pulled out onto the street with
Keiichi driving and a small Skuld in the side car, and went off into the
night.


**********


With a brief flash of blue light, Brett popped out of the hallway clock in
the Temple house.  He was surprised to find the clock on the floor instead
of the wall, and two small Skulds disassembling it.  Brett had seen Urd do
the 'divide by five' trick, but hadn't remembered Skuld having the power
or the inclination.  "G'day Skulds", he improvised.

"G'day Brett!", chorused the Skulds, obviously in a good mood.

Brett headed toward the TV/Dining room, and was passed by five Skulds
carrying what looked like the handle from the kitchen's manual water
pump.  'That was seven, wasn't it?' he thought.  'What was it Urd had said
about the maximum safe number of copies being proportional to a
person's power.  Hummm.'  Brett didn't think for a moment that Skuld
could have more power than Urd.  But then he entered the TV/Dining
room.

And just stood in the door for a while.  Some how a large lacquered table
had materialized, and Skulds in various costumes were all around it. 
There were big poster maps of Japan and white boards on the walls.  The
TV was in a different place, and had a much sharper picture than he
remembered, could it be new?  The place looked like a Hollywood version
of a war room.  Skulds were swarming everywhere, writing on the white
boards, placing handfuls of pins on the maps, fussing around the costumed
Skulds at the table.  Then he spotted Belldandy, judging by the walls, she
was sitting in her customary knitting spot, and there were Skulds all over
her too.  Next to her sat the only other non-Skuld in the place, a little pre-
teen girl with yellow, not blonde, hair.

"Welcome Brettsan, please come in."  Belldandy said.  So Brett sat down
beside them.  "This is Terai, Skuld's very helpful guest."
The little girl winced as if Belldandy had threatened to strike her.  Brett,
having known the gentle mistress of the Temple almost as long as he'd
been a Deity, didn't understand that at all.  "Quite ...active... around here
tonight", Brett commented.  "Well, I just stopped by to say I passed my
Wishbringer tests, and I'll be getting my first assignment tomorrow."

"Congratulations!", Belldandy beamed, "I'm so excited for you, Brettsan."

Brett couldn't help but grin back at her.  "I was planning on springing it
on everyone together, but then I'd also really like to hear any advise you'd
like to give me, without anyone else interrupting."

"Yes," said Belldandy, "And I'm sure she'll have a lot to say to you.  All
that I'll say is, Remember to encourage them to request what they
themselves desire most.  No one is chosen lightly, and what they desire is
worthy or they wouldn't have been chosen."

"Thanks, Belldandy.  I'll try to remember that."

A stuffy looking Skuld chose that moment to pound on the table.  "Deities
and Stars of the Heavens, Prime Minister Skuld!"  Two Skulds in
expensive three piece suits entered the room, one was clearly the PM, the
other, her personal assistant, walked a little behind and to the PM's left.

As the PM took her place at the head of the table, Brett suddenly had a
feeling of deja vu, although for some reason he thought the scene should
have been in black and white.  And what did Skuld mean by '...Stars of
the Heavens...'.

The PM spoke before sitting down, "Fellow Skulds and Honored Guests,
especially you, our Deific Sister, tonight, thanks to the help of our dear
friend", the PM nodded toward Terai, "The cause of Skuld leaps forward
to a dazzling conclusion!"

There was a cheer then, from every Skuld within earshot at that time, so
Brett clapped along with the crowd.  Belldandy kept her hands in her lap,
and Terai looked nervous.

"And now," said the PM, "General Skuld will begin the briefing."

A Skuld with lots of stars on her shoulders, but only a tasteful number of
medals on her jacket, stood.  "Skulds have been deployed from Sendai to
Okayama and are taking up their assigned stations."  General Skuld
pointed to a wall map.  Tiny stick pins covered central Honshu like a
blanket.  "There are 10,786,325 total Skulds at this time.  Materials have
been procured and, ..."

"Bloody Hell!", said Brett, "10 Million Skulds!"

"Yes.", replied the General, "Construction is well under way and
procurement teams are being reassigned to secondary tasks.  Debug Hour
will not be moved up, but will remain Four AM tomorrow morning, at the
request of Chief Scientist Skuld."  The General nodded toward a Skuld in
a white lab coat, who stood up as the General took her seat.

"I have requested the additional time be spent performing integrity tests of
the circuitry, since many components are being hand constructed in the
field.  The additional testing will ensure a high success rate at activation,
or, as the General puts it, Debug Hour."

"Excuse me," said Terai in a small voice.

The PM spoke at once, "The chair recognizes our friend Terai", there was
widespread applause, even from Chief Scientist Skuld, who had been
interrupted.

"What are you building, Skuld?" asked Terai.

"Hadn't we made that clear," said PM Skuld, "We're building Debugging
Machines."

"More than 500,000 machines will be deployed by Debug Hour." stated
General Skuld.

"Their simultaneous and successful activation will leave central Honshu
undebatably bug free." concluded Chief Scientist Skuld.

"We can arrange to have you tour two local production sites and inspect
the finished prototype which has had a long and successful run." said a
Skuld with the 'Public Relations' name tag in front of her chair.

"Oh dear.", said Belldandy, "Skuld, have you 'borrowed' 500,000 rice
cookers?"

With almost fifty Skulds in the room, not one would meet Belldandy's
eyes.


*********


Mrs Shido was rapidly growing furious.  "Hikaru!  Come here Now!".

Her red haired, 16 year old daughter bounced in, "Yeah, Mom?", she
asked cheerfully.

"Stop talking like a boy!  How will I ever find a husband for such an un-
feminine daughter?!"

"I'm very sorry, Mother.", said a suitably chastened Hikaru.

"Now," continued Mrs. Shido, "I have three men to feed, so they can teach
in the Dojo.  I need to begin cooking now for their next meal."  Mrs.
Shido went to one of the cupboards and flung open the doors.  "Where are
my rice cookers?"

Hikaru looked at the empty cupboard shelves, where she had put the rice
cookers after cleaning them.  "I don't know where they are, Mother."

"What do you mean, you don't know?!" answered Mrs Shido.
Hikaru would remember that evening unhappily for some time, since not
till the following morning would the fate of the Shido rice cookers be
revealed.

At that moment however, on the roof of the building that was both the
home and the Kendo dojo of the Shido family, a team of Skulds was
modifying one of the Shido's rice cookers into a copy of Skuld's own
debugging machine.  The scene was repeated on many roofs, throughout
the central part of Honshu Island.  Many Skulds were no longer needed
for debugging machine construction now that the necessary materials had
been acquired, and so millions had turned to 'secondary tasks'.  In a very
modern factory facility, running almost without human occupation thru the
night, a mob of Skulds had begun working on repairing a large but
dormant industrial robot.  In several dumps and used car lots, Skulds were
swarming over various cars considered unfit to drive.  At a base of the
Japan Self Defense Force, three F-16s scheduled for maintenance were
receiving their repairs tonight, as the Skuld maintainer squadron came
together.  Overall, Skuld(s) expected to 'repair' most of the unwatched
machines in Japan that night, except for the rice cookers.


***********


Keiichi pulled the side car motorcycle up in a parking area a short walk
from the Ice Cream store Skuld who hated him had specified.  She rapidly
climbed out of his sidecar and onto his back and neck again.  "Hey, let me
get my helmet off willya!", said Keiichi.  With his helmet in hand and a
Skuld on his back, Keiichi headed over to the Ice Cream store.  He was
absolutely certain that it would be closed, but this was the place Skuld
who hated him had insisted apon.  The lights were out inside the place as
they came up to the entrance, but then someone opened the door for them.

A Skuld in the Ice Cream places's waitress costume said, "Welcome
Skuld and Keiichi, please follow me to your table."  They were led to a
booth and Keiichi was handed a menu.

"Hey!", said Skuld who hated Keiichi, "I didn't say he could have any!"

"But Skuld," said Waitress Skuld, "We're going to have to get all this Ice
Cream eaten before it melts, since we had to get it out of the freezer."

"Hummph!!", said Skuld who hated Keiichi.

"Skuld," asked Keiichi of Waitress Skuld, "What's going on?"

Waitress Skuld leaned close to Keiichi, "We're tuning the Ice Cream
freezer and modifying the Ice Cream making machines, had to make some
space in the freezer for equipment."

'Well,' thought Keiichi, 'at least she hasn't turned on the lights, with luck
no one will notice we're here.'

"You know what I want!", roared Skuld who hated Keiichi at Waitress
Skuld, "Now get moving!"

"Don't be so grouchy!  It's coming already!", answered Waitress Skuld.


***********


Back at the temple, Brett was questioning a deceptively ordinary looking
young lady.

"You're a star?"

"Actually Brettsama, I haven't grown dense enough to fuse ordinary
hydrogen yet."

"A protostar then."

"Yes, Brettsama."

"Brett's enough.  Anyway, you're having an 'Out of body' experience
running around here on Earth in the shape of a girl?"

"Yes, Brettsama."

Brett sighed.  "And you've imparted so much power to Skuld that she's
made 10 million copies of herself and has blanketed central Japan to build
debugging machines?"

"Yes Brettsama."

"Why?"

"Well, Brettsama, Skuld is my friend.  I wanted to help her eliminate the
Bugs because that was why she was here."  Terai hung her head then,
looking sorrowfully embarrassed.  "Also, after killing everyone within
twenty kilometers of Tokyo Bay last night, I really wanted to do something
positive."

Now Brett was truly dumfounded.  He couldn't imagine what to say next.

"Don't worry, Brettsan", injected Belldandy, "Everyone Terai killed is
alive now."

Which only confused him more, if that was possible, so Brett found his
voice and moved on to the next order of business.  "Belldandy, where's
Urd?"

"I haven't seen her since Skuld began to multiply.  Skuld, where is Urd?"

"Out in the back under the trees." answered a Skuld.

"Oneesama," said the Skuld on Belldandy's lap, "Tell me a story."

"Please turn your head this way." said one of the combing Skulds.

"Come on Terai, cheer up!" said a Skuld, who plopped down beside her
friend, "Ask me more questions!"

"I'll go find her, then.", Brett stated.  He lifted himself up off the floor and
made his careful way through the crowd of Skulds toward the door.

As Brett left, PM Skuld leaned surreptitiously over to General Skuld. 
"General, what is the status of Special Clandestine Mission #1?"

The General smiled, almost wickedly.  "We have achieved 40%
satisfaction, Madam Prime Minister, and are well prepared to politely
pacify interference."

The PM Skuld smiled, the Chief Scientist Skuld smiled, soon every Skuld
in the area had a naughty grin of some sort on her face.


***********


Keiichi was slowly finishing his two scoops of Red Bean ice cream. 
Skuld who hated him was working on her second Lucky Badger seven
scoop super bowl.  Everything seemed quiet and peaceful.

Then two Waitress Skulds and three Ice Cream Scooper Skulds took
position by the counter.  "Here comes the first shift.", said one of them.

The door burst open, and hundreds of Skulds in her Standard Goddess
Uniform poured in, ordering every kind of Ice Cream under the sun.


***********


Brett hadn't much cared for Jonathan Swift when he was required to read
him back in High School.  Now that he found himself living out the
Lilliput episode, he was really considering hopping back in time and
punching the Irishman's face in.  There were at least twenty Skulds
assigned to 'politely pacifying' Brett, which meant that they had him
pinned on his back, spread eagle, under one of the trees, with ropes and
Skulds holding both his arms and legs down.  Sergeant Skuld was literally
standing on his chest, mini combat boots and all.  They had been smart
enough to filch all his watches too, so he couldn't teleport away.  From off
to his left came the noise of a loud 'Whack' followed by a pitiful little
howl of pain.

"Look Skuld," he said trying to reason with her/them again, "I'll admit,
there've been times when I've wanted to spank her myself."

"Hentai.", said Sergeant Skuld.

"Out of Anger!" growled Brett, getting a little red in the face, "But even
you should be able to see that this has gone TOO BLOODY FAR!"

"I have my orders.", stated Sergeant Skuld.

Off to the left, two little Urds were tied to a tree trunk watching the scene
(not Brett's) in tearful horror.  Two more were inside a compound guarded
on every side by members of the Anti-Urd Corp, where they were trying
to decide if their sore little bottoms were more comfortable standing up or
laying down.  The other little Urd, the third so far, was tied with loops
around her torso to the end of a rope suspended from a branch, far
overhead.  Behind her, members of the Anti-Urd Corp were turning the
cranks that drew back a long plank on the arm of a contraption that
resembled a medieval catapult.  When the plank clicked into position the
little Urd target started kicking and shouting "NONONO!" at the top of
her lungs.  A member of the Anti-Urd Corp raised her hand and watched
the kicks for an opening.  When the little target Urd's legs started to get
tired again, the Anti-Urd Skuld brought down her hand, and released a
lever and 'WHACK!' the plank connected properly with the little Urd's
bottom and sent her in an arc that almost took the rope parallel to the
ground, while the little Urd howled all the way.


***********


Back in the temple house, Belldandy was watching the continuing
campaign.  Since a passing Skuld had answered her question of "Are Urd
and Brett all right?" with "They're together outside.", she hadn't pursued
their status.  "Skuld@ she asked, "Are you treating Keiichi nicely?"

"He's fine, Oneesama.", said Skuld on her lap, "He's finishing two scoops
of Red Bean Ice Cream."  Skuld on her lap sniffled a little, "You left me
again, Oneesama."

"What are you saying, Skuld?" Belldandy asked.

The Skuld on Belldandy's lap was beginning to cry, and the Snuggling
Skuld next to her was starting to sniffle too.  "You always leave me,"
continued Skuld on her lap.  "You left me at home to go to school, then I
went to school and you left to go to another school, so I got into that
school and then you went to College."  Tears were running down both the
Skuld on her lap's cheeks and those of the Snuggling Skuld, the hair
combing Skulds were starting to sniffle and other Skulds were trying to
hurry by and not look at Belldandy.  Skuld who was trying to cheer Terai
up started looking sad herself and over at the big table the PM Skuld and
other Skuld VIPs were very subdued.  "Then," said Skuld on her lap, "I
tested out of College so we could all work together, and we were hardly
together for a year before you left for a new job."  Skuld on her lap sobbed
out loud and the other Skuld's moods went down a notch as well.  "No
matter how hard I try to stay with you, you always leave me.  Right now
I'm sitting on your lap and you're thinking of everyone else except me!" 
Skuld on her lap opened her mouth and keened as though her last friend
was irretrievably dead.  The other Skulds were close to joining her and
Terai looked as though she might cry as well.

So Belldandy gathered the Skuld in her lap into a hug with her head over
Skuld's head and her hair draped down to one side and rocked her back
and forth, and said, "Hush, hush, little sister.  There will always be a
place and time for you near me."


***********


Outside, the sky was completely clouded over.  100% satisfaction had
been achieved, and the Anti-Urd Corp, oddly quiet, had retired from the
field.  Urd had reunified and Brett was trying to make himself useful.  She
was leaning on him in a crooked position as he was trying to help her
walk back toward the temple house, but it was obvious that each step was
painful.  "Here, I'll pop off a healing spell and you'll be fine.", said Brett.

"You can't. OW, don't make me walk."

"Sure I can, you taught me."

"OW, don't make me think.  She spell-locked my butt, no magic can touch
it.  OW!  We'll have to get her passwords and probably need Belldandy to
take them off."

"Them?"

"Five interlocking lock spells.  OWW!  Or they would have interfered
with each other and evaporated.  Little brat really outdid herself this time."

As they crept toward the temple, Brett searched for something for Urd to
think about besides the soreness of her posterior.  "Say Urd, what can you
tell me about Temporal Topography?"

Urd stopped dead, not that she'd been moving very fast, and tried to stand
a little straighter.  "OOOWW!", clearly a mistake, she bent over again,
leaning heavily on Brett.  "And just who told you I had to take the test
twice!"

"Um, .. Nobody.  Parvati said I should learn something about the subject."

"OW.  Me and my big mouth.  I should make Skuld help you, She got a
perfect score at the age of SIX.  Ow.  What did you get on the test?"

AMy Wishbringer tests?  I passed, I didn't ask by how much.@

"I knew you'd do well on those, Ow!, Good job, on your test I mean."

"Thanks."

"But I was asking what you got on your Temporal Topography test."

"What Temporal Topography test?"

"The one you took to get into High School!  You know!  ...  Oh, sorry. 
Ow!"

Brett sighed.  "Urd, It's kind of you to forget I wasn't always a God.  Do
you mean to tell me that every God and Goddess has to take this Test, just
to get into High School?"

"Yes.  Ow!"

"No wonder I get confused so easily up there."  Urd started to giggle, in
between 'Ows'.  "Hey", said Brett, "If you're going to laugh at me I'll let
you make it on your own."

"Don't leave!  Ow!  I'm really sorry.  He, He, OW!  Don't make me laugh
either."

A few scattered drops of rain began to fall around and on them.  "We
better move as fast as you can, or We'll get wet.", observed Brett.

"Maybe the rain will feel good on my butt.  Ow!"


***********


Back inside, the sound of the rain reached Belldandy, who had managed to
calm the Skulds down, so that even Skuld on her lap wasn't crying
anymore.  "Chief Scientist Skuld!" she said, "Have you monitored the
weather conditions throughout the campaign area lately?"

"That's an odd request.", replied Chief Scientist Skuld, "Weather
throughout the target regions should be mostly clear."  Chief Scientist
Skuld went back to her seat and started fiddling with her PDA while
another Skuld turned to the Weather Channel on the TV.

"This just in", said the anchor, "Unexpected rain showers are suddenly
blanketing central Honshu, please take appropriate care if you are
operating a motor vehicle or traveling for any reason, ..."

"YYIIIIIIII!", yelled Chief Scientist Skuld, "This is a Top Priority
Emergency!".  She glanced around and saw that everyone was listening to
her.  "Our recent emotional state change has induced a sympathetic
reaction in regional humidity and precipitation!  This will surely overtax
the drainage infrastructure unless corrective action is implemented
immediately!"

Everybody in the room, including the other Skulds, just looked at her.

"Fine.", Chief Scientist Skuld muttered as she got red in the face, then, "I
SAID, IT'S GONNA FLASHFLOOD ALL OVER JAPAN!!!!!"


***********


Back at the Ice Cream store, there was a palatable change in the mood of
the Skulds, as they first became very quiet (though they never stopped
shoveling down the Ice Cream), then cheered up again.  Keiichi was
surprised then, when Skuld who hated him said, "I'm sorry I've treated you
so poorly Keiichi, I'll try very hard not to hate you any more."

"Thanks.", said Keiichi, "Say, if you don't hate me anymore then which
Skuld are you now?"

"I'm the Skuld who thinks you should keep your hentai hands off my
sister!"

Keiichi sighed, "I bet there are lots of Skulds like you."

Then the mood of the Skulds changed again, Keiichi was much more
sensitive to it now.  It felt like an unseen tide was washing around him,
but of course he was just watching all their faces change expression,
hearing them talk or breath differently, wasn't he?  The Skulds in the Ice
Cream store, who had been eating Ice Cream, began hurrying toward the
door, some of them actually leaving scoops of uneaten Ice Cream.

"When they're gone," said Skuld who wanted his hands off Belldandy, "We
need to leave too, and go straight back to the temple."

"What's wrong?" asked Keiichi.

"Oneesama will never forgive me if you drown in the flashflood."


***********


There came a point, shortly after he realized his underwear was soaked,
that Brett had had enough of standing in what was now driving rain.  He
swept Urd up in the 'over the threshold' position, ignoring her howl, and
with a few long strides was up onto the porch.  The rain was relatively
straight, so the overhanging roof protected them.  Surprisingly, a rather
deferential Skuld in Standard Goddess Uniform appeared with some
bath towels.  "Set them near the door.", said Brett.  The tone of his words
were a little tense, but he wasn't so happy with Skuld just now.

"Don't put me down yet.", Urd begged.

Brett's first thought was to make a joke about Urd's weight, but he bit that
off.  She wasn't as heavy as he would have guessed from looking at her
anyway.  They were both completely drenched. His God uniform, a rather
loose light blue shirt and matching pants was holding up rather well,
considering.  Urd had been lounging about in, gulp, a very white leotard
with a long sleeve black blouse over the top and what might be a very
wide scarf with a print on it tucked through a thin belt around the outside,
like a loincloth.  This last detail was quite fortunate, since the rain had
made the white leotard nearly transparent, but even then the scarf wasn't
exactly modest by itself.  If he didn't watch out, Brett thought to himself,
He'd say something stupid and get slapped.  Or his thoughts would
wander too far and she'd guess they were getting dirty, or some such
disaster.  He shifted his eyes resolutely away from her all too appealing
body.

"Something wrong?", asked Urd.

"No.  Suppose I carry you into your room and then go get Belldandy."

"Do it, Ow.", Urd replied.


***********


In the TV/Dining room, PM Skuld's cabinet was in chaos, many different
Skulds were running in many different directions and panicking in many
different ways.  The only unpaniced Skuld sat behind the 'R. Burr'
nametag at the big lacquered table in a frumpy gray suit and shook her
head slowly back and forth saying, "I fear for all Skuldkind."

Over the din, Chief Scientist Skuld, with a science staff standing behind
her, eventually began to get the other Skuld's attention.  "It's clear that this
plan will work but we must act now!", She said.

A hush settled over the Skulds.  Belldandy interrupted it.  "What must you
do, Chief Scientist Skuld?"

"Divide.  An additional 2,000,412 Skulds, spread precisely according to
my plan, will disperse the magical energy feedback which is powering the
rainstorm."

"Do you need more power Skuld?" asked Terai.  As she started to get up
though, Belldandy put a hand on her shoulder and shook her head 'No'.

"Additional power will not be necessary.", stated Chief Scientist Skuld,
"Only precision and expedience."

"Very well," said PM Skuld, "If we are ready,...", She looked at General
Skuld, who nodded an affirmative, "Then Begin!"

In various corners of the room, designated Skulds 'popped' like popcorn
seeds in a griddle.  Producing two Skulds where there had been one.


***********


A Skuld had picked up the towels and followed Brett and Urd to Urd's
room.  Brett decided to be grudgingly grateful rather than hostile to the
Skuld, since he needed to towel Urd off before he could lay her down
anyway.  Then, as he accepted the towels, the Skuld 'popped' and divided
into two right in front of him.  "What the ...!  More Skulds!", he said.

"Flood control.", answered the two Skulds in perfect unison with a shrug.

"Get out of my room!", insisted Urd.  "Brett, stay here, close the door
when they're out!"

The Skulds left and Brett slid the door closed.  Urd was on her knees but
definitely not sitting down.  Brett started wrapping one towel around Urd's
hair and handed her another.  "Here, work on your body while I dry your
hair some.  I wonder how many times she can do that?"

"She's already exceeded any limits I ever heard of.", Urd replied.

Brett began squeezing the water out of Urd's hair.  "The little star, um ..
Terai isn't it.  She said something about killing everybody all around
Tokyo Bay?"

"Yeah, I expected something like that when she showed up.  Can't say I
blame her though."

"What?!"

"OW!  Hey, don't yank that stuff!  Gee, they were resurrected within 5
minutes."

"I didn't think we could do that!"

"*We* can't.  It's Class One license only stuff, and usually takes a whole
lot of paperwork and permission from HIM, but Amaterasu can bend the
rules in her own solar system I guess."

"Amaterasu?"

"Terai's sister.  Step outside tomorrow morning and look up, she's the big
bright thing in the sky, you can't miss her."

Brett rubbed Urd's hair for a minute.  Urd yanked off the blouse and lost
the scarf, but left the leotard on.  It was starting to turn mostly opaque
again as Urd applied the towel everywhere except her butt.

"Urd, if we can bring people back from the dead, then why didn't they just
bring back the previous God of Destiny, instead of selecting me for the
post?"

"There's a door," said Urd, a little subdued, "The spirits of the dead have to
go through it.  If you're not resurrected before you pass through, you're not
coming back.  Only Kamisama has passed in and back out of that door."

"What's beyond the door?"

"He doesn't say.  Question him and he'll only tell you not to worry and that
you're not ready to learn the answer."

Being an imaginative person, that answer set Brett's mind to wandering a
bit.  He wrung her hair out in silence for a while.

There was a knock at the door to Urd's room.  "Excuse us," said a Skuld,
"Would you like to use the electric hair drier?"

Urd thought for a moment, "Bring it in."

A Skuld opened the door and offered Brett the hair drier.

"By the way", asked Urd, "Are you going to tell me the passwords to these
lock spells?"

"Of course," answered the Skuld just a little too readily, "But really there's
only one password, with an increment digit on the end."

"And they are?", growled Urd.

"They are; 'Wowwhatabigfatbutt1, Wowwhatabigfatbutt2,...'"

Urd screamed with anger and took a swipe at the Skuld, who bounced
merrily out of the way while Urd almost doubled over from the too quick
movement.  "OOOWWW!  Dammit Brat! OOOw!  You'll pay for all,
OW, this!"

But the Skuld, immensely pleased with her selves, hopped out the door
and shut it after her.


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


Keiichi was having a serious deja vu stress attack.  It was the same road
he'd driven a Goddess up a little over two years ago.  This time the
Goddess was younger and a lot smaller.  Also this time the rain was
coming down so hard he could barely see three feet in front of him.  He
should have stopped and waited it out, he told himself, in spite of what
this Skuld had said.  Plus, there must be three or four inches of water
running down this road now.  Once again he found himself blocked in by
concrete walls on either side.  Somewhere up here was the same blind
turn that had hidden a red sports car until the last second, and only the
magical miracle of his Goddess had saved their lives.  Keiichi edged as far
toward the outside of the curve as he dared.  For all Skuld's increased
power, he suspected that only he could get himself and this piece of
Belldandy's little sister home safely.


***********


The Skulds had gone most of the night being seen by few or no people. 
They had also done a good job of disabling security cameras wherever
they went.  But as the rain poured down, one stand out exception to that
rule sat helping two Skulds hold her mother's pink umbrella over a rice
cooker modification site.  Her name was Maho and she was a pre-
schooler in Tokyo.  The roof above her bedroom was thin enough to hear
the patter of little feet.  Her house had a proper stairwell up to the roof so
it wasn't hard to go and peep out.  The Skulds had been gentle with her
and she, impressed with their dedication and urgency, insisted on staying
and helping.  Mahochan had a serious bent but was still too young to be
anything but cute.  It was hours past her bedtime but she drove herself to
stay awake and hold up the umbrella, even when the Skulds gently
encouraged her to go to bed.  Since whatever they were doing was clearly
important to these magical things calling themselves 'Skulds', then Maho
must help them.

The rain had gotten very strong, and Mahochan was a little scared, but
then it got much softer, and the Skulds looked more relaxed too, so Maho
guessed that things would be all right.


***********


"It's working.", Belldandy breathed the words out like a sigh.  Her eyes
had been closed and her senses extended to their very limits.  Terai,
hearing Belldandy, let out a sigh as well.

The Skulds were, as might be expected, more boisterous.  "Success!",
yelled Chief Scientist Skuld as the weather channel began confirming the
reports from Skuld units in the field.  General Skuld was puffed up like a
peacock and PM Skuld appeared as serene as if she'd known it would
work all along.

A few minutes went past and Keiichi, soaked to the bone, popped his head
in the TV/Dining room to wave at Belldandy.  "Tadaima.", he called, and
then she heard his soggy footsteps going down to his room.


***********


Brett came in and found Belldandy just as a staff Skuld called out "Debug
Hour minus 30 minutes and counting."

"Scuse me Belldandy, but Urd's bottom is in desperate need of your
attention.", Brett said.

"Noooo", wailed the Skuld in her lap and the snuggling Skuld together,
while the hair combing Skulds insisted that they weren't finished.

"Do I detect a note of guilt in your protests, Skulds?", asked Belldandy. 
The Skulds couldn't help confirming Belldandy's suspicions by failing to
meet her eyes or blushing or some such activity.  "I've been just with you
most of the night little sister", she continued tenderly, and kissed the Skuld
in her lap on the forehead, "It's time for me to see to the rest of my dear
ones."

So Belldandy got up, gently setting the Skuld on her lap on her own feet,
and followed Brett down the hallway.  Keiichi, in dry clothes, was
standing outside Urd's door as they came.  They all three went in together,
where Urd, still in her white leotard, lay face down on her tatami. 
Belldandy 'Tsk, Tsked' as she examined Urd and not one Skuld was to be
seen around them.  While Belldandy began her lock removing
incantations, Keiichi began giving Brett a blow by blow recount of Terai's
appearance and subsequent acts.


***********


"**Al Byndynge Lquss 'Wowwhatabigfatbutt3'.**", Belldandy intoned.

"The Brat will Paayyy!", Urd quietly vowed for the ninth time in as many
minutes.

"I didn't get a good look at Satoko until later," related Keiichi to Brett, but
the bastard was garroting her.  So we got him off her, and Belldandy and
Urd were about to help her, when Terai disappeared in an explosion. 
Belldandy gathered us all inside a shield bubble and used all of her own
and Urd's power keeping it up while Ootaki finished pounding him into
unconsciousness.  Then there was a knock from outside and when they let
down the shield, there was Terai and Amaterasu."

"I feel like I missed the whole Olympics.", said Brett, shaking his head.

"Amaterasu was beautiful and incandescent.", said Keiichi.  He continued
in tones of awe, "But she had nothing on Belldandy.  When the power
transfer was complete, She spread as wide as a storm cloud and swept
away the devastation, ... like it was less than dust to her."

Belldandy jumped up and ran out of the room.

"Hey!", Urd yelled after her, "There's still two locks back there!"

"What's going on?", asked Keiichi.

"Ohhh!, why did she have to figure it out NOW?", Urd moaned, then she
turned on Keiichi, "Well you Idiot, go after her before she runs all the way
back to the Heavens!"

That brought Keiichi immediately to his feet.  "BELLDANDY!", he yelled
as he ran after her.

Brett watched them go.  "Well, I'm clueless, whats going on?"

"As expected of MEN!", Urd commented through clenched teeth.  "The
reason she's upset is that she finally figured it out.  The reason Keiichi
wont put the moves on her is ..."


***********


"Keiichisan is afraid of me."

Keiichi was facing Belldandy's back and Belldandy was facing that
damned cherry tree.  A handful of Skulds had followed Belldandy out, but
as they heard what she said, they swiftly made themselves scarce.  Keiichi
didn't know why he hated that cherry tree, he only remembered that it had
something to do with the crisis they'd gone through just before their first
Christmas together.  Also, Belldandy only came here when she was upset
about something, usually having to do with him.  He figured he had to talk
to her, he just wished he had a clear idea of what to say.  Judging by the
way her shoulders were shaking, she was crying, so he mustn't wait, and it
was worse than futile to try to lie to her.

"Yes, I'm afraid.  Of your magic.  I didn't believe in magic until ... some
time after I met you.  It still surprises and startles me."

She was crying, she couldn't hide it in her voice as she answered him. 
"I've tried so hard, ...to keep you comfortable, ...so that nothing would
disturb you..., but if I'm still not satisfactory.."

"Stop!", Keiichi surprised himself with his own vehemence.  Belldandy
jumped as if she'd been slapped, and then just stood there, trembling. 
Keiichi made his thoughts and voice as quite and calm as he could,
considering the way his heart was racing, 'screw this up', he thought to
himself, 'and its all over'.  "Belldandy, please turn and face me."  She did,
tears running down her cheeks, she looked at his feet.  "Belldandy, you
need to stop hiding from me.  I know that you're magical.  It flows in and
out of you like your breath.  It's unnatural to pretend that you're human. 
I'm in love with Belldandy the Goddess, she doesn't have to hide from
me."

"But, .."

"No.  No more hiding.  I'll get used to magic in my natural time.  It's none
of your affair if I'm startled, I should learn to expect it.  And if I'm
awestruck from time to time, that will help me keep from taking you for
granted."

Keiichi walked up to her and took her hands in his.  "Belldandy, You're
my present joy, and my future hope.  Put away your tears.  I don't want you
to be anything else except yourself."

"Keiichisan.", she whispered and pulled her hands out of his to clasp her
arms around his neck.  Still trembling a little, she buried her face on his
left shoulder and he embraced her in turn.

What happened next would puzzle Keiichi for the rest of his earthly life. 
At that moment, in the ear farthest away from where Belldandy had lain
her head, a small voice whispered.  He could never really remember what
it sounded like.  He didn't even consider not listening to it or questioning
it.  He said just what the small voice told him to say next.

"Belldandy, you should relax."

"Keiichisan?", she stiffened and whispered back incredulously, "You don't
mean what I think you mean!?"

"Yes.  Let them go."

For a moment there was only the sound of their hearts beating.  Then
came a rustling behind her back.  Belldandy had wings.  They stretched
out wider than she was tall.  Each feather was as shiny as a pearl, and
white as snow on a high mountain.  In a graceful rush they curled around
him as her arms had, wrapping him up like a blanket, caressing him with
a thousand feather touches.  And there was light, brilliant shades of gold
and white, that seemed to shine toward him from the exact opposite side
of her head.

The small voice spoke the only words he would clearly remember.  "Thus,
in Her Glory, Hold Her."  And then somehow he knew it was gone.  But
She was still in his arms, and still had him wrapped in her marvelous
wings.

He nestled his own face against her head.  Everything was hushed.  He
was willing to stay that way as long as they could, but after what seemed
too short a time, he felt her lift her head.  "Look Keiichisan.", she said, so
he turned his face to follow hers.  From the roof of the temple, and the
roofs of nearby houses and other houses farther out into the city, shafts of
light sprang up into the sky.


***********


"Five, four, three, two, Now!" called a Staff Skuld.  Terai was the only
non-Skuld in the TV/Dining room.

"There are no initial reports of failed ignitions.", said a different Staff
Skuld.

"Bugs!", yelled another Skuld, "Bugs are being sucked in at several
locations!"

"As expected.", commented General Skuld, looking fierce.

"Bug acquisition should continue for at least another two minutes.",
observed Chief Scientist Skuld.

"Four Minutes and Thirty seconds till cutoff", called a Staff Skuld.

"Where is our Deific Sister?" asked PM Skuld.

"She was last reported outside by THAT cherry tree," replied PM Skuld's
assistant Skuld.  "She was rather upset with Keiichi or some such mushy
thing."

"Send one of us to see if she can join us for cutoff.", replied PM Skuld.


***********


Belldandy gathered her wings back into her back, sucked in her halo and
drew a little apart from Keiichi, though she did take his hands in hers. 
"Skulds are coming.", she whispered.

Keiichi sighed, but nodded his head in agreement.

A generic Skuld came into view around the corner of the house.  "Hey you
two, If you've made up already, come to the control room for shutoff."

Belldandy kept one of Keiichi's hands in hers and they headed into the
house.

***********


Later, Belldandy, followed by Keiichi, reentered Urd's room, where Urd
and Brett were still waiting for her.  Belldandy was clearly upset.  "Damn,
Keiichi," growled Urd, "What did you say to her now?"

"It's not him at all.", replied Belldandy, "Skuld has, has, ULTRA-
MODERNIZED my kitchen!  I don't know where anything is, half of it
works by itself and I don't know what its doing and,..."  with a sigh,
Belldandy sat down on her own heels next to Urd's tatami and began the
next unlocking spell.

"How goes the Plague of Skulds?", Brett asked Keiichi.

"The Debugger machines are done, and General Skuld is supervising the
return and reintegration of all her bodies back into one.  The star power is
almost used up, so she'll be back to normal soon.", Keiichi replied.

"**Al Byndynge Lquss 'Wowwhatabigfatbutt2'.**", Belldandy intoned.

"The Brat will Paayyy!", Urd quietly vowed yet another time.


***********


Dawn was painting the eastern sky.  Literally millions of Skulds
were popping back in from all over Honshu, returning into a single figure
who was rising out of the middle of the puddle.  Terai hoped it would be
over before her sister peaked over the horizon, it seemed impolite to use
her own energy right in front of Amaterasu.

In a final burst of light, all the Skulds reunited into their ordinary singular
shape and size.  Terai rushed out into the puddle and caught Skuld before
she could fall over.  "Whoa!", commented Skuld, "Oneesama's right about
the dizzy part."

"Let me help you over to the porch, Skuld." said Terai.

They had just sat down when the door behind them slammed open, and
Urd, now wounded only in her pride, came out.

"BRRRAATT!  I hope you got a lot of good memories out of that, cause
this is going to be a LEGENDARY revenge!"  Lightening was crawling
up and down Urd's arms as she raised her hands, then she froze.  As
Belldandy, Brett and Keiichi rushed out onto the porch from behind Urd,
they came around her and saw, ...Terai, quite serious, holding her index
finger just centimeters away from the Goddess mark in the center of
Skuld's forehead.  And Skuld, looking at Urd, smiling the biggest, nastiest
grin ever yet seen on the young goddess.  Slowly, Urd lowered her arms
and dissipated her energies.  Just as slowly, Terai brought her own hand
back to her lap.  "She won't be here forever, Brat.", Urd growled.

"Yes, it's only a short visit.", agreed Skuld, "And I'm going to enjoy every
minute of it."

Urd retired back into the Temple house, with Belldandy, Keiichi and Brett
close behind.

"It will do you good to cool down a bit Urd," Belldandy commented.  "We
both know Skuld didn't mean you any real harm."  Urd was silent, and
didn't look like she was buying it.

"Actually," said Keiichi, "I'm just relieved it's over.  That and hungry." 
Keiichi looked at Belldandy who was wringing her hands and looking
through the kitchen door.  "Perhaps we could go out for breakfast?", he
added.

"I hate to make you spend your money like that Keiichisan.", Belldandy
replied.  "But when I consider how successful some of Skuld's inventions
have been at failing spectacularly,..."

"Well," said Brett, "I'll have a go at the terrifying 'Ultramodern Kitchen'. 
Why don't the rest of you relax a bit and I'll try to whip something up
quick."


***********


Maho's father came down stairs to get his morning coffee before heading
off to work.  His wife, who also worked, was on the phone.  The
conversation was so odd that it soon had his whole attention.

"Is this Hikawa Jinja? ... I'd like to make an appointment for a
consultation. ... It's my daughter, I think she may need your help. ... I'd
much rather wait if I can have an appointment with the young lady, I
understand the gentleman can't be trusted where women are concerned. ...
Your Grandfather?  Oh, please excuse me. ... After school will be fine,
We'll be there. ... Well, it has to do with rice cookers,... Ah! yours too. 
Well I think my little daughter may have actually seen, perhaps even
spoke to the perpetrators.  She went on and on this morning about 'The
Skulds' have you ever heard of such creatures? ... I thought at first it was a
vivid dream but then I saw what was left of my rice cooker, and heard the
reports on the TV news. ... She's fine now, but very sleepy, I've taken a
day off from work to stay with her. ... Yes, I hope you can help.  Thank
you."


***********


"Help!"  Brett called over the noises from the automated cooking
machines.  Belldandy and Skuld rushed in to see what was wrong with
Terai just behind them.  Keiichi shook his head and Urd switched
channels on the TV.

"And from more and more cities and townships across Honshu come
reports of further rice cooker theft and vandalism.  It seems that no
neighborhood is without some effected homes."  Click.

"That's right," said an older man to the camera, "I came in this morning
early and found the cars all lined up here in front.  This is a junkyard after
all, even though the owner doesn't like to have me call it that.  So I was
puzzled from the beginning, why should all these cars be lined up here in
front, and why would anyone put glass back in their windshields or clean
them up.  But I really freaked out when I walked down and tried to start
one on a whim.  I promise, every one of these cars runs perfectly now ...". 
Click

The other channels had similar stories.  Keiichi sighed.  The one saving
thing about the whole mess, so far, was that no one seemed to have seen
or had any pictures of cute little black haired magic girls.  Any such
evidence would surely tip off the people in and around Nekomi Tech who
had had any dealings with Skuld.

Belldandy and Skuld came back out of the Kitchen, with Brett and Terai
behind them.  Belldandy was telling Skuld, "... the counter tops and the
new faucet fixture only.  Everything else must go."

"Yes Oneesama.", replied a downcast Skuld.

"I guess We're going out for Breakfast?", asked Keiichi.  Both Brett and
Belldandy nodded an affirmative.  "Ah.  Well, no problem, I'll grab my
wallet and We'll go.  That reminds me, we needed to pick up some
groceries anyway.  Terai, if we knew just how long you can stay then that
will help us plan what to buy.  Do you know?"

"Oh yes, Morisatosan.", Terai replied.  "I can stay here for only ten orbits,
twelve at the most."

"Orbits?", asked Keiichi, but he guessed her answer even before she said
it.

"Of your planet around my Sister.", Terai explained.

Keiichi hung his head.  "I knew it.", he said.


***********


Satako put on a high collared blouse and a scarf to conceal the bandage
and went back to work that same morning.  Everyone was worried about
her and how she was going to 'recover'.  Their reaction to her returning
to her summer job after only one day of rest illustrated the situation.  Her
mother was appalled, Ootaki was almost subservient, and now still more
embarrassing, the Professor who hired her was bowing and apologizing
for her 'unfortunate incident'.

"Please Sir," she answered him, "I'll do much better if I can focus my
mind on work.  And I don't in the least hold you responsible."

"You're very generous, Thank You.", continued her professor.  "If you
absolutely, positively want to work, it just so happens that I am initiating a
new project and will have plenty of things for you to try."

"A new project, sir?"

"Yes, was your family one of those who lost their rice cookers last night?"

"No, but I heard about it on the news."

"Excellent.  If you'll follow me into the lab here, you'll see that I have
obtained 16 former rice cookers, each had been partially disassembled
before I could get to them, but these were the most intact ones I could
find.  I think you'll agree after you look at them that rather than random
vandalism, as reported in the press, these rice cookers were modified into
electronic instruments, and performed some kind of purposeful task.  I
intend to reconstruct a complete instrument of this type to determine what
the purpose was that they accomplished.  Does this line of inquiry interest
you?"

"I'm quite puzzled.", answered Satoko truthfully, "I'd very much like to
know what these things were intended for."

"Good, then I will go out and look for more rice cookers in states of
almost complete repair.  And after you've locked the door behind me
you'll begin cataloging what components each of these things still possess
and what the circuits appear to be.  Please don't disassemble this one
though, it might actually be intact.  And I want you taking no chances with your
safety!"

"Of course, Sir.  Thank you."

Just then there was a knock on the door and the Professor looked at his
watch.  "Ah!  That would be your boyfriend, and right on time too. 
Good."

Satoko had a happy but sinking feeling, as she peered through the frosted
glass of the door at Ootaki's silhouette.  Her professor confirmed her
suspicions.  "When you called yesterday to say you were coming back,
I contacted and hired your boyfriend to do simple maintenance chores
around the lab.  I'm sure this will make things much safer for you."


***********


Back on the balcony above Terai's real body, the short dark figure was
nervous again.  "How long will it take to get all the new dust inside her,
and how can we hope to hold on that long!"

"Only the tiniest amount of time, a little bit over a year."  replied the tall
dark figure.

"What's a 'year'?"

"The people on Amaterasu's planet use it to refer to one of their orbits
around her.  Terai is visiting that world, and would hardly leave in so
short a time.  It's less than one ten thousandth of a rotation of the galaxy."

"Oh," replied the shorter figure.  "I guess that's not too long at all."

"No, it isn't.", said the taller one, "And after that, weather we stay or leave
it will be too late.  She will become a Blue Supergiant star, rather than the
ordinary yellow mediocrity she was intended to be.  She'll burn her too
short life out and burst, irradiating every solar system for a hundred light-
years in every direction, and collapse into one of us, and begin to feed on
her siblings.  Ha ha ha.  Nyaa, Ha HA HA HA!"


The End?

***********


Well, hope you liked my story.  Once again, please send me comments or
questions.

Jim Nutley
jnutley@lvnexus.net


***********


 
_