Kazuya Explains it All
                                       Chapter 3

    'From the Files of the Galaxy Police'  Reassignment of an officer.

    Meanwhile a certain Galaxy Police Officer was  receiving new
instructions.  Her boss, Megus was laying down the law.  "Now that most
of Crystella Reby's Earth based resources have been destroyed or
confiscated, your assignment will change substantially."

    Birdy Cephon Altirra wasn't happy.  "Reby is mine!"  At her boss's
dark look she modified that slightly.  "I mean, I was assigned here
originally primarily because of her interest in humans right?  So she
should still be my priority!"

    Megus nodded slightly.  Since her main objective has been apparently
unsuccessful so far, but she remains at large somewhere on earth, your
mission remains, but it's priority is not as high as it was.  Also since
certain 'events' prevent you from leaving earth, your assignment here
has been extended indefinitely.

    Birdy sighed, she had been expecting this.  A voice only she could
hear spoke then. <He means me right?  Is being assigned as a patrol
officer for Earth so bad?>  She replied. <It's not so bad really, but
I'm a special operative,  I've never been assigned a single location
before, It feels like a demotion.  I always figured that being a patrol
officer was so boring.>

    Megus got her attention again.  "You will meet your partners
tomorrow, at Tsutomu's school."  He gave her a level look and said in an
apologetic tone.  "Again, Let me say that I am sorry to disrupt your
life Tsutomu-kun.  I know this has been quite an imposition on you."

    Tsutomu then asked Birdy, <Can I talk to him?>  She nodded, and they
switched then. He looked nervously at Megus.  "Um, Sir, I guess it's ok
with me.  I mean, it's important right?  If I can help you and Birdy
stop people like Reby from messing up the Earth, then I feel like I'm
doing the right thing."

    Megus clacked his jaws in surprise.  "That is a very commendable
attitude young man.  If you like, we could begin to compensate you for
your time, perhaps even get you some training?"  He nodded, obviously
pleased with that notion.  "Yes, perhaps even make you a proper Galaxy
Police Officer?"  He looked down at an alarmed Tsutomu.  "What do you
think?"  Tsutomu blinked at that, and thought. <Birdy, is he serious?
I'm not sure I want to be a policeman.>  She acknowledged, <Yes, he's
always serious.  Did you mean what you said? About doing the right thing
I mean?>  He hesitated be fore answering either of them.  "I guess.  I
could use a bit of training if I'm to be any help."  He looked at the
floor then embarrassed at the approval he was getting from them." Um,
would you like to finish briefing Birdy now?"  Megus nodded, and Tsutomu
switched with her again.

    Birdy's expression as she appeared was both surprised and approving,
but she quickly changed it to a stern one and faced Megus again.  "So
what about the rest of my report?"

    Megus nodded slightly.  "The Lady Aeka?  You will be briefed on her
presence here by your fellow officers tomorrow, though I suppose I can
tell you now that she has been quite helpful recently, and was even
involved in the successful resolution of the criminal Kagato."  Birdy
looked surprised again.  "Kagato?  Someone finally captured him?  Wow,
how did that happen?"  She paused, "Wait a minute, resolution... you
mean someone actually managed to kill him?"

    Megus nodded.  "The report we got back from Officer Mihoshi was
clear on that point, if many of the other details are uncertain."  He
sighed suddenly,  "I hope you don't pick up any bad habits"  he said
softly.

    Birdy wasn't paying attention though, as she had just picked up on
something else that Megus had mentioned.  She suddenly shot a question
at him.  "Wait a second, partners? You did say officers, as in more than
one?  I thought this system was interdicted by Jurai?  Why does it need
more than one officer, let alone three?  What's so special about this
system?  They don't even have interstellar travel yet."

    Megus clacked at her impatiently.  "You will be briefed on that
tomorrow as well.  Now, as for Reby, we have come up with a scanner
attachment for you that will detect the telekinetic power used by Reby's
experiments.  We are still unable to pinpoint the genes that control
that power in humans, so you will be unable to track them directly, but
that will have to do until you can get a DNA sample from one of the poor
unfortunate victims of her experiments."  He paused to look at her, then
nodded, satisfied that he had relayed his message.  "Ok then, you have
your assignment Birdy."  He paused again, as if to end the conversation,
then reconsidered. "And Tsutomu?  We will see about that training.  I'm
sure you'll be a credit to the Galaxy Police!"  His image faded out.

    Birdy went over to a work bench  to fine tune her wrist sensor as
Megus had instructed.  As she worked, she spoke idly to Tsutomu.  "So
what about your school's Karate Club Tsutomu?  That might be a good
start, especially if your going to be working with me.  You mighta
noticed I don't exactly carry a gun."

    He responded.  <I guess I could do that, though my parents will
wonder.>

    She laughed.  "Just tell em your doing it to impress a girl!"

    <Yeah, sure.>  He paused while she worked on the sensor.  <Say
Birdy, why don't you use a gun?>

    She cringed.  "Um would you believe that It's because I don't need
one?"

    <Maybe, but what's the other reason?>

    "Other reason?  What do you mean?"

    <Birdy.>

    "Ok, Ok, I'm a lousy shot ok, happy?"  She concentrated on fixing
the sensor, then as she finished, she turned to leave.  She then heard a
beeping sound.  She looked around to determine the source, it sounded
very close.

    Tsutomu found it first.  <Um, Birdy, I think it's the new sensor.>

    She examined it.  "What already?"  Let's see, North West, 347
degrees, distance.. Darn it, it's stopped!"

    Tsutomu was encouraging though.  <Don't worry Birdy, I'm sure you'll
find it again.>

        -----End of File----

    My turn again Kazuya?

    Sure, go ahead, you know as much about that first day as I do from
that point.

    Great!  Back to the story.  At about this time, Ryo-oh-ki was
watching excitedly as a pinball machine settled slowly back to the floor
from it's flight of a few centimeters.  She thought it was wonderful
that her new friend felt he could share an important secret like that
with her.  She thought it was even neater than that, was the fact that
for the first time she knew someone she could properly communicate with,
other than on of Jurai's tree ships.  She realized that Kazuya had been
astonished to find that she was quite intelligent.  The fact that she
was sentient had been such a revelation to him that her other surprises
weren't half as mind blowing.

    He thought to her.  <So let me get this straight.  You're the
grandchild of a genetically engineered living starship,  and you're a
starship too sometimes.>  He shook his head in amazement.  "Well, your
the cutest starship I've ever met."  <So why are you having trouble
speaking?>

   She replied in the same fashion.  <I wasn't originally designed for
speech.  I suspect that several errors have crept into my code over the
last two cloneings, as well as the absorption of the Mass into my body,
have enabled me to overcome my previous limitations, but I don't have a
program for language, so I've been kind of in the dark about how to go
about it.  That and moving about as a biped, though I've been getting a
bit better at that, especially since I've lowered my center of balance.
I can't practice as much as I'd like though, since my humanoid form
doesn't look quite 'Human' enough.>

    He commiserated with her.  <Gee, that's too bad.  Maybe I can help?
I could try to coach you a bit maybe?  I do know something about those
two subject, me being human and all.>  The two shared a mental laugh.
He tickled her behind the ears, and said softly.  "It must be neat to be
able to fly, and travel in space."

    Ryo-oh-ki mewed in agreement, then thought at him. <But can't you
fly?  With your power?>

    He looked thoughtful.  <Actually, I suppose I probably could, but
it's sort of like your problem,  I can't do that sort of thing in
public, so I never tried.>  He looked away, trying to change the
subject.  "So your friends, are you their starship?  Or are they your
crew or something?

    She mewed sadly.  <Oh, I really shouldn't say, I don't think
that...>

    He interrupted her before she could say (or think) anything more.
"That's all right Ryo-oh-ki, I think I understand.  It's not your secret
to give.  I won't pry ok?  Maybe they'll learn to trust me hmm?"

    Ryo-oh-ki nodded, and mewed happily.  Her eyes widened then as a
shadow fell across her.

    The shadow's creator spoke up from where she had been watching for
the last few minutes.  "I think I can trust you know Kazuya-san,
especially if Ryo-oh-ki does."

    Kazuya looked over his shoulder to see Sasami kneeling behind him, a
slight smile on her face as she looked up at him, then down at
Ryo-oh-ki.  His startled expression soon turned into a confused but
grateful one.  "I, um, that's very nice of you Sasami.  Um, how much did
you hear? and, uh, see?"  He tried to conceal his nervousness, and
mostly succeeded.

    She grinned.  "About from the 'Starship' part,  I guess you didn't
believe Onichan when he told you Ryo-oh-ki was an Australian Cat?"  He
shook his head, still with a slightly worried expression on his face,
which deepened a bit at Sasami's next words.  "Hey Onichan?  How are you
able to talk to Ryo-oh-ki?  Are you from Earth?"

    Kazuya's eyebrow raised at that one.  <From Earth?  Meaning your not
I suppose? Well, I never figured..>  Out loud he grinned at her and
said, "Well, your a very cute little Alien Sasami-chan."

    She grinned back.  "Thank you!  But tell me, are you human then?"

    He nodded.  "Yup, I'm human Sasami.  I've just got this knack.  It
runs in my family."  He smiled at her and put one finger too his lips.
"It's kind of a secret.  We don't want people to be afraid of us, do you
understand?"

    She nodded and then smiled back warmly enough that the tightness in
his heart eased.  "We can share secrets then ok?  Wanna pinkie swear?"

    He locked pinkies with her and nodded solemnly.  "Sure,  Pinkie
swear."

    Later when everyone gathered back together, Sasami  whispered a
suggestion too her sister.  Aeka smiled down at Sasami and then turned
to their guide.  "Kazuya-san, since you have been so good as to show us
around the town, perhaps we could return the favor?"  She turned to
Tenchi then.  "Do you think that he might come to supper tomorrow
Tenchi-sama?"

    Kazuya looked at her as Tenchi considered it.  <Tenchi-sama?>

    Tenchi nodded.  "That seems like a good idea Aeka-san, I suppose
that it will be all right."

    Ryoko snorted.  "Sure, come on up, we'll show ya a good time."

    Kazuya nodded.  "Sure, since you ask so nicely, I can hardly
refuse!"

    Later, on the bus, Ryoko took a moment to scold Ryo-oh-ki.  "Hey,
what did Tenchi tell you?  You were supposed to stay hidden.  You don't
look much like a cat you know!"

    Tenchi winced at Ryo-oh-ki's pitiful apologetic meows.  "Oh I guess
it's ok Ryoko, we can't expect Ryo-oh-ki to stay in Sasami's bag all the
time, besides, Kazuya-san seemed to buy my explanation."  Sasami giggled
behind her hand, but when Tenchi looked at her she was watching the
scenery pass by out the window.  "Now if only everything will stay
fairly normal tomorrow."

(Hey, who's fan fic does he think he's in?  Richard Larson?)

    Much later that night, Washu was listening to Ryoko and Aeka tell
her about their first school day with half an ear, until they got around
to describing Akane's first reaction to Aeka.  "What? you say she
glowed?  You mean her aura actually radiated into the visible
spectrum?"  Aeka nodded, a bit surprised at Washu's excitement.  Washu
was saying, "Why that would have to mean that... yes"  She paused in
thought, then summoned up her portable interdimentional terminal.  She
made a few notations and computations.  "I'll have to get a few
readings, but I'd guess that that girl has a great deal of control,
conscious or unconscious, over her EM field."

    Ryoko looked mildly interested.  "EM field?  What's that anyway?"

    Washu managed to get into her teaching persona.  (To be impressed by
this, I suppose I'll have to tell you that this conversation was
occurring in the ladies bath, and Washu wasn't quite clothed
appropriately for the role.)  She stated, "A Human, in fact, all higher
life forms on Earth, produce a slight EM, or Electromagnetic field from
their bodies excess electrical energy.  This natural EM field is usually
fairly weak, but according to Earth legends, some warriors were able to
control and strengthen that field, and use it in various ways.  These
legends indicate that some of these warriors could use it to accomplish
amazing feats, such as fantastic leaps, amazing healing abilities, or
even to hurl away or injure an opponent, sometimes even at a distance.
Some were even supposedly able to totally cancel out the Earth's
gravity, and levitate themselves, presumably via magnetic repulsion.  To
accomplish this they probably even learned to tap into earth's own
Magnetic field."  Washu noticed at this point that part of her 'class'
was yawning.  "Ryoko!  Pay attention to your mother!"

    Ryoko snapped a wake, but shrugged.  "Ah why?  It's not like this
girl can do anything like that right?  Anyway, how dangerous could it
be?"

    Washu shook her head in disappointment.  "How little you know.  A
powerful enough EM field could easily disrupt your control over your
power gems Ryoko."

    Ryoko sat bolt upright at that.  "Oh."  She blinked.  "Your making
it all up, gotta be.  No way a human's gonna be a match for me!"

    Washu just looked sadly at her daughter.  Aeka was looking
thoughtful, but her mood turned to shock at Washu's next words.  "After
all, Tenchi is almost completely human, just 1/8th Jurai Blood in
fact."  Aeka blinked, astonished at that.  "That's right girls.  Did you
ever wonder why Tenchi was so powerful that he could summon the Wings of
The Light Hawk?  With so little Jurai blood it would be logical to
assume that it has something to do with his human side!  It's my next
great project!"  She started laughing in a fairly disturbing fashion,
and Aeka and Ryoko left, as the lesson was obviously over.

    Later that night, Washu was up late, doing research.  What she had
told the girls wasn't totally accurate.  She had gotten several genetic
samples form Tenchi.  He obviously possessed some of the more powerful
energy controlling genes from his Jurai DNA, but as she had said, his
DNA was mostly indistinguishable from other humans.  She really didn't
understand why that combination made him so powerful.  "But I will! Or
I'm not the greatest scientist in the universe!"  She was going over a
few recent papers from the galactic scientific community on DNA
analysis.  One paper in particular caught her eye.  It was the Doctorate
paper of a fairly recent graduate of the Science Academy.  The paper was
on the unusual DNA of human beings, and it's close relationship to
several other, much more prominent races DNA.  The scientist had gone on
to make several farfetched (at least to her board of review) claims
about the enormous potential of Human DNA.  Washu was interested in the
woman's theories, and disgusted by the attitude of the board of
review.   She finished reading the woman's proofs, and was even more
impressed.  "She even had the good taste to quote me twice!"  Washu then
set the computer to search for other papers by the same scientist, but
the computer kept coming up with the same answer no mater how she
phrased her request.  "NO OTHER FILES BY CRYSTELLA REBY AVAILABLE."

    Washu sighed, and looked over at the Cabbit who had been keeping her
company.  "I suppose I'll have to find her myself  and ask her if she
followed up on her theories, eh Ryo-oh-ki?"

    Ryo-oh-ki nodded.