We are getting through this very slowly, yes. The fic will be finished on
the second tuesday of next week. ^_^
For those keeping track, we still need to actually complete 2:4, and 2:3
needs some work still - some added dalogue and such. Everyone's patience,
commentary, etc. with regards to this fic has been highly appreciated.
This still feels pretty rough cut to me, so please reply to me privately with
C&C.
Thanks,
-Dennis
DISCLAIMER:
This story is based off of the Tenchi Muyo! anime series, produced by
AIC and released by Pioneer Anime America. All characters from said
series are the property of such. The characters Hikaru Moriyata, Lucy
O'Bannion, and any Argelians are the product of the collective
imaginations of Dennis Carr and Karmin St. Jean, and belong to same.
The character Trakal, insofar as he is developed herein, is the
intellectual property of Karmin St. Jean.
The persons and many events in this fanfic are fictitious. Any
resemblance to any person, living or dead, or any event other than what
has obviously happened, is a coincidence.
Any military or police procedure outlined throughout the fic does not
necessarily depict any real life procedure or scenario. Any similarity
to real life procedure/scenarios is, again, coincidental.
Railfone is (r) Amtrak.
Tenchi Muyo: Unfinished Business
A fanfic by Dennis Carr and Karmin St. Jean
Chapter 2:2 - Dawn
November 8, 1998 at 04:30
Masaki Condo, Placentia, CA
Sasami and Aeka's bedroom
A short "gah!" and some movement punctuated Sasami's departure from
unconsciousness, now awake from a nightmare. As she calmed down, she
recalled it was something about several wolf-like creatures, and Kain.
She couldn't quite put a finger on what happened, but whatever it was,
it seemed to be a bit of a problem. But then, she considered, when she
had these dreams, that was to put it *very* mildly.
Ryoohki looked up tiredly at her and miya'ed inquizitively. Sasami, in
turn, picked up the small animal, who leapt up to her usual perch as
Sasami walked out of her room, through the hallway, and into Tenchi's
room.
Ryoko hovered therein, watching Tenchi. She was momentarily startled
when Sasami opened the door, but recovered quickly. There was a look of
concern on her face, Sasami noted, as she walked over to her.
"Bad dream?"
Sasami nodded. "Some creatures that looked like wolves, and Kain." She
paused, and walked towards Tenchi's bed. "I haven't had one of those
dreams for a while."
Ryoko looked at the clock, and then stared at Sasami. "Are you going to
be able to sleep?"
Sasami answered with a light, childlike snore from Tenchi's bed, as she
lay atop the blankets near him.
Ryoko sighed, and recommenced hovering. *I have a feeling it's going to
be one of those weeks,* she thought to herself, continuing her tireless
vigil.
---
The ship was impressive.
It was incredible, the amount of work that went into her, especially
that it had been created within the space of one year, with more adds
to it in the course of a few more.
It was just as well that he created it. Within a year of its
completion, the planet had to be evacuated. Simply put, all resources
on the planet had dwindled to the point where it could no longer
support a population. It was rather sad, actually.
It was all not wasted, though. The superior members of their race had
been housed within the ship, and had certainly thrived, while the rest
were left to their own devices. Maybe they survived, maybe they all
perished. It didn't matter much to Asal, however, since as far as he
was concerned, they no longer existed.
And besides, the universe was now his to conquer. He reflected on that
it had been twenty eight years since he sat in front of that wretched
terminal, grinding code out, when IT happened. What exactly "it" was
remained a mystery to him, but it was one of those things that mattered
very little.
Asal stepped into a small office, which only had a small terminal and
a pair of neural interface pads. He was the only one allowed access
into this room; anyone else who had been known to make an attempt was
eliminated by Kain. Exactly *what* happened, nobody knew, as there had
been very little evidence of what exactly Kain did with the bodies.
Maybe they were blown out into space, maybe they were incinerated. He
didn't really care, actually.
He placed his hands on the NI pads, and closed his eyes, asking himself
just why they were doing this, finding himself virtually transported to
another ether, inhabited only by a familiar alabaster face with three
eyes, who responded that he didn't need to concern himself with such
matters.
"You wished to see me?" Asal addressed.
"Yes. I have completed my scan of Jurai."
"And?"
"I have made the determination that the planet is suitable for
occupation. The planet itself contains fourteen commonly detectable
ores, and other ores that we are not yet capable of using. I am
certain, however, that your research team-"
"You mean you intend for us to gore an inhabited planet? Our policy is
to do no such thing. Might I remind you, those are innocent people down
there?"
The face smiled. "It's interesting what you can do with computers these
days," Kain remarked, showing Asal a picture of himself, which Kain had
altered to show him in bed with a woman of questionable integrity. "Nice
gift for the troops, don't you think?"
Asal felt himself grow flush. "You wouldn't...."
The face sighed, its three eyes closing in exasperation. "Do we need to
go through this *again*?"
Asal considered, and decided to recant. "No. We don't."
"Excellent." The image disappeared. "Your negotiation units are ready
to be dispatched. I have one hundred shuttles ready to go, and only
need the verbal from you." Kain paused, and considered his subject.
"You seem troubled by this."
"That we are taking an occupied planet, and of any of them, Jurai, goes
against our own policy. But, my friend, you have aided us well in the
past." He thought a moment longer, and finally gave the word: "Do it."
"Very well. This ship will hold position near Jurai's eighth planet. I
will dispatch one shuttle, which you will occupy, to Jurai's sanctuary
thirteen. There are four there to pick up that I am aware of. A second
shuttle will follow, containing four dissidents. It will be destroyed.
Departure is in four hours."
"Very well. Do you have anything else for me?"
"No. That will do for now. Report back to me when you have returned."
The scene dissipated, and Asal opened his eyes, finding himself in the
office. As he walked out to the shuttle bay, he couldn't help but
wonder for a moment if this were the right thing.
After another moment, he decided that yes, it was, and perished the
thought of having it any other way.
---
Esa crawled out of bed, once again ready to face another day.
Or maybe not. She did her job, she ate, she existed, she did various
things. One would never know she enjoyed them by her facial expression,
however. Or lack thereof.
Once again, she went through her routine of grooming, verifying that it
was indeed her in the mirror, and noticed a message waiting for her.
It was orders. She was to pilot a shuttle down with an engineer, off to
sanctuary thirteen-
*What?!*
Bewildered, she looked at the orders again. She was not hallucinating -
it did, indeed, indicate the Juraian sanctuary. Further, she was not to
report to her duty shift this morning, as she was doing this first
thing.
*Is Asal insane?! First, there's this run on Jurai, now we're raiding
one of their protected colonies? Is Asal-*
She stopped, mid reverie, and noted the names of a few friends on the
order. *Wait, he is insane. It's the computer.*
She exited her quarters and took the usual route, once again meeting
Etain in the corridor. "Later than usual," she said, sipping on coffee.
"Just got orders. Today I'm a pilot."
"You?"
"Yes. Guess you're doing the back up on the system today."
Etain sighed. "Wonderful, it's going to be one of those days. It's for
the Jurai job isn't it?"
"Yes. They want me to pilot over to their sanctuary thirteen, and pick
up hostages."
Etain stopped mid stride, skittering along the corridor a bit on one
foot. "Wait, is the ship's computer looking for a war declaration?"
Esa looked blankly a moment, staring at nothing in particular, and
replied: "I have no idea, Etain. Something's just not right about
this."
"Esa, I-" She was cut short by another crewmember who handed her a data
pad on the fly, indicating new orders. She read them as he disappeared,
looking just a little more nervous. "I'm with you today. Seems a nurse
and an engineer are joining us, just doesn't say who."
"Eoai and Naisi. Had it on my orders this morning. Didn't notice your
name, though."
They both stepped into the downbound shaft, Etain still examining the
orders. "Something *is* wrong about this. They didn't assemble a
pickup crew, this is...weird."
Esa shrugged. "We'll find out soon enough, I hope."
The conversation died on the two minute trip down to the shuttle bay,
where they pulled out and found their trip companions waiting by the
assigned shuttle, amid the melee of departing vehicles, "keep clear"
lights and other pedestrians looking for their assignments.
And they stared.
"So," Esa quipped, after a moment of silence between them, "is there
another pilot on board?"
"I think you're it," Eoai replied.
She shrugged, and decided it would be a pleasant break from the monotony
of system administration. As they boarded, she looked at the circuitry
implanted in her right hand, what allowed her to use a "wetwire"
interface to the ships massive computers. *You are a blessing and a
curse,* she thought.
---
November 9, 1998
Santa Barbara, CA Amtrak Station
13:45 PST
*Something isn't quite right,* Hikaru thought to himself, as he watched
the redcaps load his luggage into a boxcar. He wasn't quite sure *what*
was troubling him, but for some reason, despite the fact that he did
return home today, as he was supposed to, there was a certain urgency he
felt about it - almost as if somebody were in trouble.
*Nah.*
He looked around, taking a last glance at the station, a simple building
that used modern Spanish architecture - red ceramic tiles over eaves
that were supported by arches made up the perimeter of the building.
Within this was a simple structure, whose purpose in life was to serve
the multitude of train passengers that were served by this station,
whether they were going south to Los Angeles or San Diego, or as far
north as Washington state.
To the west of this, beyond the train, was the unchanging Pacific, she
who perpetually undulated in an odd song that spoke centuries old
memories of home to Hikaru. Mayhaps one day he would move here, but
today was not that day.
Despite the obvious differences, he still couldn't help but marvel at
the similarities between his home town on Jurai and this place. Maybe
it was just as well that those colonists from Akta came in, using a
different continent as a base, and migrating up here, but even despite
the differences, it was what he needed.
With that nagging feeling still present, he boarded the custom-class
car, and seated himself in a forward facing seat on the side of the
train that faced the Pacific Ocean, and turned his pager on, hoping he
would *not* see a "911" page pop up on it.
---
14:02 PST
Yorba Regional Park, Anaheim
It was peaceful here, in the park, Aeka decided as she meandered down an
asphalt pathway. Granted, twice she dodged a jogger, and at one point,
she wound up dodging a fast moving blue bicycle, its rider with shaggy
blond hair and black cycling tights (who profuselely apologized, only
after he nearly killed himself when he ate asphalt in the process of
nearly running her over), but it was rather quiet here.
Of course, it wasn't home.
Her thoughts wandered to memories of home - it all seemed wonderful, the
good and the bad. It was strange - she sort of missed the constant
tending to.
Within one second, her thoughts flew through the house in Japan, the
home they had here, Hikaru, her sort-of makeshift family, and then her
sister, who still exhibited a little bit of that walking-on-eggs
behavior around her.
Aeka stopped walking and looked out upon the water of a large lake. "I
almost killed Sasami," she said, softly. "I want to blame Ryoko, but I
can't. Not really... I'm the one who's pushing things. I... I'm being a
spoiled brat. I didn't get what I wanted so now I'm trying to make sure
Ryoko doesn't get what she wanted." She leaned against a nearby pine,
placing the back of her head against it and closing her eyes. "Oh
Kami-sama.. have I really sunk that low?"
She lost herself after that thought, and listened to the sounds of the
park - the ducks in the background off of the lake, a few children
playing and their mother scolding them in Spanish, a few songbirds in
a nearby tree - as a cool breeze blew in from the east.
On this breeze came a somewhat distant voice, as a leaf fell upon the
lake from a nearby gum tree. "Lady Aeka," Tsunami whispered, her tone
urgent, "please, be careful. Something is wrong. I'm not sure what. I'm
too far from the Juraian Water to see things clearly."
She listened, and pondered that for a moment. Then there was an
overwhelming urge to return home, which she gave in to. Aeka turned
towards La Palma Avenue, and noted that a bus was proceeding east; the
same bus would be heading west in about thirty minutes.
She headed straight for the visible westbound bus stop, and cut through
some high shrubbery that bordered the park and the street.
---
22:30 UTC
somewhere over the former USSR
Re-entry was easy enough, considering the lack of inertial dampening,
giving the onboard party a bumpy ride. From here, Esa figured, it was
smooth sailing using the small shuttle's thrusters.
Next to her, Etain sat tapping on a control pad, skimming through the
data on the planet - weather, odd disturbances, electromagnetic energy,
and just about anything else she wanted to know.
Behind them, Eoai and Naisi had geared up for the recovery operation,
both having second thoughts. Almost as if Etain could sense this, she
looked behind her. "We should bail out of this," she said.
Behind her facial fur, Esa's face froze briefly. "Are you suggesting we
defect?"
"Um, basically, yeah. I'm sure we could-"
"Etain, that's not even a safe planet!" Naisi was agast. "Sure, the
atmosphere is breatheable, but we're talking about a planet that has not
been openly colonized, not to mention that it's under Juraian
governing."
"And if there's a draalthi down there, as per the records, we could
probably pull it off."
Esa was quietly listening in on this, only interjecting to indicate that
the ship was crossing into the day side of the planet. "She's right,
you know. We're already near that location. Besides," she added, "I
don't think we'll have much of another choice, since the computers are
starting to go offline."
There was a collective "WHAT?!" just after she said this. "No matter,
we just switch to manual control." She sent an instruction to do just
that - and it failed. Realizing that she had lost control of the
computer, she reached over and opened a small panel. It was a manual
control system - and she realized that the term "was" was operative as
she looked and found the yoke removed.
And for what seemed to be the first time to everyone else, she broke her
usually dour expression, smiling with resignation. "Manual is gone.
Anybody have any suggestions?"
As if on cue, the usual noise of the ship ceased. The shuttle, now
somewhere over Japan, and not being designed for such things as
supporting itself in midair without thrust, proceeded to plummet.
As the four passengers strapped themselves in, Etain looked at her
friend. "Esa?"
"Yes?"
"You know that bad feeling we had earlier-"
She cut her off. "I don't think we need a reminder."
---
November 10, 1998
07:45 Tokyo time
Masaki Shrine
Little Mitsuki splashed happily as Trakal bathed him in warm water in
the sink. Tanaka was out in the temple, resting. She was close to her
due date and needed the rest.
Trakal tilted his son's head back and carefully poured a little shampoo
onto the top to clean his hair. Then he poured the water on, being
careful not to get the shampoo into the baby's eyes.
He lifted the baby out of the sink, drained the water, and then placed
the child on a drying towel and dried him carefully. He was in the
middle of dressing the infant when his GP implants went on full alert
status. Someone was out there, and not far off.
"Tanaka." he realized. He handed the baby to Yosho and raced to the
temple as fast as he could. With his heart pounding he threw open the
temple door...
... just as Tanaka vanished, along with someone else.
Trakal stared at the empty shrine in horror. "Tanaka!!" he screamed. He
closed his eyes, trying to calm himself. Then focused on his implants
his left eye switching several times along several wavelengths until it
picked up a trace of transporter activity. Someone had taken Tanaka. But
why? She was his wife and the love of his life, but other than that, she
had no significance.
"Tanaka!" he cried out again. He ran outside and turned upward,
directing his shouts toward the heavens.
"YOU BRING HER BACK! I ORDER YOU! WHOEVER YOU ARE, YOU HAVE NO QUARREL
WITH..."
He then watched as something came down from the sky, which *looked* like
it was trying to gain control over a Mihoshi style landing.
Then, due to a minor bug introduced into his implants, he passed out.
---
"Altitude, seventeen thousand."
Esa and Etain watched in horror as the view increasingly became the
surface of Earth. It almost appeared they were headed for a lake.
*A lake.* "Eoai, go for that body of water!"
"Where?" He was busy manipulating a series of wires, more or less
successfully firing thrusters in attempt to soften the landing, and
cutting his hands in the process. He then saw it, just a few degrees to
port, and fired the appropriate jets.
It was *almost* working. *With a little luck, we'll survive.*
And then the ship slowed to a stop, just centimeters above the surface
of the lake.
---
A door underneath the staircase opened, and Washu stepped out.
Something was happening, and it was *not* Mihoshi landing. She just saw
her at the other place.
"Yosho?"
"Mm?"
"What's been happening at this end, within the past five minutes?"
"Trakal handed Mitsuki to me, ran out, and started yelling up at the
sky. I don't believe he's retu-." He looked outside, at the cruiser
hanging over the lake in the same way that bricks don't, nose pointing
down, and abruptly stopped. They both stood, staring for a moment at
the ship, before Washu wordlessly brought up a terminal and built a path
to the ship. If they were intent on killing them, she had decided, she
could easily contain them.
In a moment, she had walked over to the ship on said path, rolled the
ship back so it was now level with the lake, and hacked into the defunct
communications system, which now showed four very frazzled Argelians on
the display. "Greetings!" she opened. "I'm sure you didn't drop by for
a social call, and seeing as even an Argelian wouldn't just drop by this
rock out here in the middle of nowhere" - her face now had a more stern
expression - "I'm sure you have a very good reason for nearly landing in
our lake."
The white one leaned toward the camera. "We're defectors. End of
story." Washu noted to herself that it was odd that this one's face had
about as much expression as a stone. She continued after a moment of
silence: "If you don't believe us, I'm sure you can hack the trip
recorder."
"Or maybe it was you who brought us down here?" This one who spoke,
evidently male, judging by the voice, had damp streaks of red through
the brownish fur on his hands. "We nearly died, and it's clear that
you're not from this planet. I was lucky to get the thrusters working
again."
The copilot turned around and spoke something in her native tongue, to
which the one Washu could only guess was an engineer responded to by
sighing and nursing his hands. The one next to him, slightly shorter
and exhibiting auburn streaks through his otherwise black fur, started
pulling open what appeared to be a first aid kit, and gave assistance.
Another x-term popped up on the monitor, and she started punching
through the black box. It told her all she needed to know - it was
almost like Kain was leaving a trail.
Seconds later, the door popped open, and four still frazzled Argelians
disembarked onto an invisible path, leaving the dead shuttle behind
them, which promptly disappeared, much to their surprise. "Subspace
pocket," Washu explained. "We can deal with it later. Right now,
though, we have to figure out where the other ship went to, where a
Draalthi is-"
"I think it went to a continent you call North America," Eoai said.
Washu froze. "Where?" She pulled up a map of said continent.
Eoai approached, and manipulated the map, pulling the location up from
memory. "There," he said, pointing to a particular location in southern
California.
She stared a moment, fearing the worst. At the same time, she pulled
another window up, located Trakal, and directed Yosho to retrieve him.
She then banished the terminal, and sighed in resignation.
"I have to make a phone call," she said.
---
November 9, 1998
16:30 PST
Masaki Condo
Tenchi would not need the computer today. It was simple stuff, a couple
of essays to be *written*, not typed, in English, the professor was
quick to state.
And so, Tenchi was laboring over a piece of horizontally lined paper,
doing his damndest to write in romanji. Speaking and reading it were
one thing, but writing it was coming out to be difficult.
It became even more difficult when Ryoohki, who was sitting on the table
watching him in fascination - and maybe in hopes of getting a carrot -
started miya'ing emphatically, almost as if she were panicked about
something, and ran under the sofa. He paused, watched as she watched,
and then looked behind him, finding two beings that resembled wolves
standing behind him, holding various items he didn't immediately
recognize.
Tenchi didn't have time to even scream as they grabbed him from behind.
One of them injected a drug into a vein in his neck and he went down,
unconscious.
A moment later, Mihoshi walked in, noshing on a carrot herself, idly
wondering where Tenchi went to.
---
Starbucks, Anaheim Hills
Ryoko, who was carrying a glass plate, had dropped it. It didn't break,
but instead hit a rubber anti-skid mat which was situated underneath the
coffee decanters. Within one second, the entire episode with two
Argelians drugging Tenchi and beaming out with him was fed to her via
the link, and just as suddenly her mother also knew.
She stood gripping the counter for a moment, hyperventilating, and
trying her damndest not to teleport out.
"Ryoko?"
She jumped, found the girl she worked with next to her, and relaxed a
bit. "I'm not feeling so good, Sarah."
"Want me to drive you home?"
She could only nod.
---
16:45 PST
Somewhere near the Santa Fe railyards in Los Angeles, CA
As fascinating as one could call the industrial bent along the rails,
Hikaru decided, it looked like hell. The ocean was much more enjoyable.
It wasn't terrible, however, as part of the track around Fullerton was
lined with flowers. At least they tried to make the view look nice in
parts, but there's only so much you can do with factories.
His reverie was interrupted by a persistent beeping coming from his
side. As two other passengers checked their pagers, he looked at his
own, which read:
714-555-4974-911
*Oh shit.* He was hoping it was Mihoshi simply complaining that the
water cooler was empty, and could he please bring a carboy of water home
when Kiyone picked him up at Fullerton?
At the end of the car, there was a small booth containing a railfone; he
entered the booth, pulled his own cellphone out and dialed the number on
the pager as he sipped on a glass of water. It would be cheaper using
this.
After two rings, there was an answer. "Kiyone?"
"No, Hikaru. Somebody paged nine one--."
"HikaruWashuwasjusthereTenchiisgonewehaven'tseenAeka--"
"Stop."
She stopped.
"OK, try that again, but slow down -" he switched to galactic standard
here - "and use this language."
"Right." She changed tongues to follow suit. "Washu was just here.
Tenchi is gone, we haven't seen Aeka, and Trakal's wife was just
abducted by Argelians. We need your help. When can you be home?"
*Dammit!* He looked outside - the landscape showed some backyards. He
was in East LA. "About thirty minutes, if Kiyone is at the station now.
I'm fifteen minutes out of Fullerton yet. Where's Washu?"
---
Masaki Condo
"She's in the lab," she said, looking over her shoulder. "I think she's
attending to Trakal."
"He's not gonna be happy. Kiyone?"
"She left just before Tenchi...oh no. They got him." She glanced at
the table, the evidence of a slight struggle having happened, with the
sword Tenchi on the floor to the right of it, as if it had been knocked
off of the table inadvertently.
"Who?"
"Argelians."
The line was dead for a moment before he spoke again. "Does Ryoko
know?"
As if on cue, the door opened, and a rather distraught Ryoko stepped
through, carrying a plastic glass of water. "Tenchi," was all she said,
her facial expression not changing.
"I think she knows."
"Put her on."
Ryoko took the phone from Mihoshi. "Tenchi?"
"No, Hikaru. Have you seen Aeka?"
"Aeka? Who cares about Aeka-"
"I do."
Ryoko stopped and got her bearings together. "Last I saw her, she had
stopped by for some tea. She was on a layover from the bus."
---
Hikaru looked outside the train, through a nearby window. They were now
passing a burger stand - they were in Norwalk. *If they got her too,*
he thought, *I can think of exactly three places they might get her
from.*
"Ryoko, I'm still about ten minutes out of the station. Is your mother
listening in?"
There was a pause, and then she spoke. "She is now."
"Good. There is a space station orbiting the local star on the same
orbital ring as this planet, but on the other side of the sun from us.
Tell her to log into it and start the life support systems. It's been
idle for a couple of years, and it was stored using carbon dioxide as a
fire suppressant."
"And what in hell are we going to do with a space station?"
"Pull some equipment out of it, get my ship, and use that as a staging
point." He looked outside again, and watched as Fullerton Airport
passed by, and the conductor announced the impending approach of
Fullerton station. The train was running faster than usual, he decided
- this was good. "Ryoko, I'm almost at the train station. I'll talk to
you when I get back in."
He ended the call and stepped out of the booth, shaking his head
nervously, as he walked over to the exit door, getting ready to jump out
at a moment's notice.
It was still another five minutes before the train arrived, and the car
attendant opened the door. The second the train stopped, he jumped out,
reboarded, collected his carryon luggage, got out again, and ran over to
the baggage claim to collect his other duffel.
The second he grabbed it, Kiyone ran up, chattering at him in GS about
the latest happenings. He stopped her, and they jumped into his car,
driving off for the condos.
---
Yosho bent to revive Trakal.
"No time," Washu said urgently in his ear. "We don't know if whoever
took Tanaka might be coming back for him. Just pick him up and get him
back here. Hurry!"
Yosho lifted Trakal and turned to head back to the house. Before he
could start, however, a portal opened, and he hesitated at this.
"Are you waiting for a formal invite?" Washu asked, sticking her head
through. "Come on!"
Yosho followed her into her lab. "Just making sure." he said. "I.." he
stopped abruptly, staring, and carefully put Trakal down on a
conveniently placed bed.
"Don't worry," Washu laughed, "they're defectors." She introduced the
Argellians who were sipping some tea she'd poured for them.
Etain and Naisi just stood there, mouths agape. "A Draalthi..." she
whispered.
"We'd heard there was one still alive." Naisi said, voice barely
audible. "But we thought he was...a legend."
Trakal, during this exchange, managed to regain consciousness, and had,
in about one half second's time, summed up the situation.
The Draalthi in question was up and pointing his arm at them, palm in
firing mode, a second later. "I am," he said. "Leastwise I'm quite
legendary to the countless criminals I've put behind bars for the Galaxy
Police. Now, unless you want to join them, you will tell me what you've
done with my wife."
"Wife?" Eoai asked, finally speaking. "You mean there are *two*..."
"We took no Draalthi." Esa's face didn't move as she said this. "For
that matter, *we*-"
"She's not a Draalthi." Trakal growled at them, "She's an Earth woman.
The one you took from the Shrine. You will give her back or I ..."
"Relax, Trakal." Washu told him. "These aren't the ones who took Tanaka.
But they do know them, don't you?" she directed the last two words to
Esa.
Esa nodded. "Yes. We don't know how this Draalthi is involved, but
recently our Captain has been following some odd commands from our
computer's AI program."
"Why is the Captain following the AI's orders. I thought it worked the
other way around," Trakal pointed out as he took his son from Yosho's
arms, somehow managing to keep his aim on the Argelians.
"So did we." Etain agreed, trying to look closer to examine the child in
his arms. "But unfortunately, the Captain and the AI both think
otherwise."
"Why not just shut it down?" Yosho asked.
"People have tried. What's left of them is orbiting several planets."
Trakal disarmed his weapon and placed the child in the crib. The
details now present about the AI were somehow familiar. "This AI..." he
began.
"Only the Captain has ever seen it." Esa explained "Its surrounded by
Black ICE. Impossible to hack from anywhere except the main access port.
And that's a deathtrap if you're not the Captain."
During this, Etain looked closer at the contents of the crib, no longer
in any apparent danger, although Trakal was keeping a close eye on her.
The baby took that moment to realize that no one was holding him at that
moment and started to cry.
Etain reached into the crib, intending to comfort the child. As she did
so, Trakal took a tentative step forward. Carefully, Etain reached down
to adjust the child's wrappings when she noticed that he'd apparently
got an arm twisted up in them. "Shhh, little one. It'll be okay." Then
she noticed. "A draalthi." she whispered, somewhat amazed at what she
was seeing. "but, how...?"
"I'll explain later," Trakal promised,
Washu stared. *Why the *hell* are they using a black ice firewall?*
"Let's stick with the issue at hand, shall we? What version of black ice
are they using?"
"I don't even know that. I don't even dare ask, if I value my life."
Washu looked at Esa and tapped a few keys. Out of nowhere, a pad
appeared and placed itself in the palm of Esa's right hand.
"What the...?!" Esa protested.
"Relax," Washu said. "I'm just going to probe your memory."
"For what?"
"Whatever was in the computer memory, your wetwire interface may be
holding traces of it," Washu explained. "It may have gotten into your
brain through synaptic seepage. That tends to happen in primitive
systems."
An eyebrow twitched. "Primitive?!" Esa nearly shouted, before regaining
composure.
Washu ignored this. She scanned, tightened the search, then scanned
again. An image formed on her screen, barely visible. She enhanced it
and frowned.
"Guess who's coming to dinner," she muttered.