Here's the final of CMD 32. Cleaned up anything people pointed out and
expanded on the 'ticklers'. Please let me know if you spot any last minute
errors.

Enjoy!



=======================================================================
Childhood of a Modern Dynasty
Chapter 32: The Storm's End; Reunions and Good-byes

Ranma 1/2 characters/situations created and copyright by Rumiko
Takahashi/Shogakukan/Kitty/Fuji/Viz - Used without permission

Childhood of a Modern Dynasty series created, written, and
copyright 1998-2000 by Jim Lazar

An ongoing series set after the end of the Ranma 1/2 manga and anime.

<Speech text in angle brackets is thought by character.>
"Speech text in double quotes is spoken as Japanese."

E-mail comments and/or criticisms to: mailto:jimlazar@animeprime.com

Make sure to check out my Modern Dynasty website for
all released CMD stories, graphics files, and other information:
http://www.animeprime.com/ff/md
=======================================================================
Inside the Buyierfei Monolith


     Deedee was trembling as she looked up and watched Ranma walk away.
"Don't leave me!!"

     Ranma glanced back. "Don't worry, you'll be safe there. This will
all be over soon." He turned away and added something to himself.  <One
way or another.>

     Deedee dropped to her knees. "But I love you, Ranma!"

     "Sometimes it's better to lose the love of your life," a weak
female voice said.

     Deedee looked over at Rant, but saw that she was standing guard and
had not spoken. She looked down at Ukyo's body. "I thought you were
dead?" It took her a little over a second to realize just how bad that
sounded. "Sorry..."

     "Not yet... soon." Ukyo coughed violently.

     "Can I do anything to help?"

     "I don't think so." Ukyo studied the girl's face. "So you love
Ranma, huh?"

     "Yeah... he's so cool and handsome."

     "He's married now, you know." Ukyo paused to consider that she was
also married. Maybe not legally, but emotionally. <Mrs. Ukyo Saotome.
Too bad I won't be able to enjoy that for long.> She coughed up a glob
of black pus.

     Deedee tried not to react to the disturbing sight. "Yeah... I
guess. Is it true about Ranma and his sisters being the same person?"

     "Yeah...  it is. Do you see now what I mean about it being better
to lose the one you love?" Ukyo glanced down at her burned side.

     "Not really. I've tried to do everything I could to keep Ranma, but
it looks like I've lost him now." She glanced at the receding figures of
Ranma and Akane. "At least I've had fun while I was with him." Deedee
awkwardly looked around. "Well, until this."

     Ukyo actually managed to smile slightly. "I was like that once. In
love with Ranma and desperate to keep him no matter what I had to do."

     "Didn't you have any fun with him?"

     Ukyo frowned as she thought about that. Suddenly, she let out an
amused chuckle. "Yeah, I guess I did. I just never thought of it as fun
while I was chasing him."

     "That's too bad. Well, you have his sister now."

     Ukyo absently looked at the point where Sanma and the others had
disappeared into the heart. "Yes, but will he still have me or just a
fond memory?"

     "I..." Deedee's response was cut off when the last heart exploded
and sent them all sliding across the ground. The large strands of golden
material were whipped around by the blast and caused large welts where
they hit the three women. They struggled to avoid being overpowered by
the storm that raged around them. Well, two of them were struggling.
Ukyo wasn't in much condition to do much other than flail her right arm
around hoping to grab something.

     Or be grabbed by someone, Rant in this case. The Amazon managed to
grab Ukyo's arm before Ukyo was flung out of her reach. She held on
while screaming something in Mandarin.

     Deedee shouted the translation. "She said they destroyed the heart
and we should be safe now!!"

     Ukyo wasn't sure they were safe yet, but she smiled. She didn't
bother telling Deedee she understood enough Mandarin to get the meaning
of Rant's shout. She was content to know she wouldn't die in the
nightmare world of the Buyierfei.


***********************************************************************
January 1-2, 2000 - Canyon of the Blackness and the surrounding desert,
Middle East


     A local army officer dressed in a tan uniform looked at the Third
Monolith through his binoculars. "Stay sharp. If this one explodes like
the one in America, we'll be needed to fight the creatures," he
commanded his troops in Arabic. He wiped his sweaty forehead off and
looked up at the hot mid-day sun. <I wish my commander had given me more
details on the explosion of that monolith. I have no idea what to expect
here.>

     He scanned the area around the small camp they had setup near the
deserted tent city and dried up lake. The later of which had dried up
after the monolith had become dormant and stopped feeding water into it.
Now it was just indentation in the sand, it's muddy bottom long since
baked into a hard crust by the harsh desert sun. Most of the followers
of Shuma had quickly fled the area after it became clear that he wasn't
the Son of God and wasn't coming back. The more stubborn followers who
wouldn't believe that Shuma was evil only left after their water and
supplies ran out.

     His troops looked very uneasy, as well they should be. "Sir, should
we be this close?" one of his privates asked.

     The officer looked at the private who had spoken. "It's our
orders."

     "Yeah, but..."

     "Private, you will obey your orders!!" The officer's shout quickly
silenced the private.

     The squad's sergeant saluted his commanding officer and then spoke
in place of his subordinate. "Sir, those women said we should pull back
and they seemed to know what they were talking about."

     The officer glared at his sergeant. "When I want the advice of a
woman, I'll ask her about how to wash my clothes, not fight a war. Now,
I am in command here and we will observe from here as our orders
indicated."

     "Sir, I must respectfully disag... urk." The sergeant's body fell
lifelessly to the ground with a thud. Blood poured from the bullet wound
in his chest and seemed into the sandy desert floor.

     Smoke rose from the barrel of the officer's handgun as he looked at
his other men. "Anyone else want to question my orders?"

     The other soldiers snapped to attention. Two soldiers quickly
removed the Sargent's body while the rest of them watched the monolith
through binoculars.

     Several hours passed before a startled cry echoed down the canyon.
"Something's happening!"

     An understatement, to say the least.

     In the space of a few seconds, the monolith folded in on itself and
then exploded outward.

     Since the monolith was at the far end of the Buyierfei-built
canyon, the towering cliffs acted as a funnel and sent a ton of debris
straight up into the sky above the canyon. The tall plume looked almost
like a geyser, except it was blacker than black.

     The shock wave rebounded off the sides of the canyon walls, causing
them to crack and collapse. The collapsing walls made a thunderous roar
as they followed the front of the shock wave rolling down the narrow
canyon. When the wave reached the end of the canyon, the lost hopes and
dreams of the pilgrims who had come to worship their resurrected Lord
were buried along with the rest of the canyon.

     The soldiers were also at that end of the canyon, which quickly
became their graves. The rubble that buried them was too deep and heavy
to ever be removed by any manmade method. The sand would eventually bury
their gravesite and leave no trace that they were ever there.

     After the shock wave was done transforming the once majestic canyon
walls into a shallow, boulder filled desert canyon, the sun gradually
pierced the thick cloud of black dust and lit up the ruins.
 
                    -C-           -M-           -D-

     Ukyo was elated that she could open her eyes when the blast
finished scrambling her insides. She shut them again when the bright sun
threatened to burn through her eyes and out the other side of her head.
"Gaaaa..." Despite her injuries, she tried to move her arms and legs,
but found that she was being pinned down by something.

     "Are you alright?" a voice asked.

     Ukyo felt a shadow pass over her face, so she carefully opened her
eyes. "Deedee?"

     "Yeah... that warrior woman is okay too." Deedee glanced to the
side, where Rant was searching the area. "She wants to make sure nothing
came out with us." She pushed a large rock off Ukyo's legs, knelt down
and then brushed off the smaller debris from Ukyo's body. "What a mess.
Florida used be so lush and green."

     Ukyo turned her head and looked around. She was a little surprised
to see that the golden strands from inside the monolith were piled all
around the rubble they were lying on. When she saw the desert stretching
out into the distance, she realized where they must be. "It's a desert
in the Middle East, I think. I'm sure Florida is alright."

     "Huh? But we..."

     "It happened the last time. The monoliths are all connected, so you
can't be sure where you'll end up when they blow."

     Deedee frowned. "Damn, I should have studied Arabic."

     Ukyo smiled. "You're still young."

     Rant walked up to Ukyo and Deedee and reported in Mandarin. "We're
safe, no sign of the Blackness." She looked down at Ukyo. "Let's see
about getting you out of here."

     Rant and Deedee tried their best to carry Ukyo out of the canyon
themselves, but found it was an impossible task to do themselves without
causing Ukyo's wounds to reopen. So they reluctantly waited for someone
to come and look for survivors. Since she wasn't exactly the most
optimistic girl in the world, Deedee was worried that there might not be
any by the time help arrived. It didn't help matters any that she kept
mentioning her fears to Ukyo and Rant.

                    -C-           -M-           -D-

     They waited under the hot desert sun, making rough sun shades out
of the rubble of the canyon. When the sun was low in the western sky,
Rant decided she would have to go find help. She had gotten about a
hundred meters from Deedee and Ukyo when a troop of Amazons led by
Eyeliner appeared on the horizon.

     Eyeliner had some of her warriors construct a stretcher out of
Amazon bras, since they were the strongest and most elastic material
available. Normal bras might not be strong enough, but Amazon bras are
made to restrain their ample assets during the most vigorous combat and
are considerably stronger.

     Rant had the rest of the Amazons collect as many of the golden
strands as they could carry. Since the strands appeared to be the same
material that the First Matriarch's armor was made out of, the Amazons
wanted to take as much of it as they could carry.

     They trudged through the desert for the entire night and into the
hot daylight hours. They would have preferred to travel only at night,
but they couldn't chance delaying Ukyo getting the proper medical
treatment she desperately needed any longer. It was mid-day before they
finally reached a small desert town.

     The local doctor treated Ukyo's wounds as best he could and then
arranged for her to be airlifted to a hospital in Kuwait. There she
would receive the operations needed to remove the destroyed tissue in
her body and repair the extensive damage done by Shuma's blast. Rant and
Eyeliner went with her to ensure she received the care she needed.

     After resting, the other Amazon's continued their journey to the
coast, in hopes of finding a slow boat to China that could carry them
and their load of golden strands.

     And Deedee? Deedee contacted the closest U.S. Embassy to find a way
home. Only to find out that 'home' wasn't there anymore.


***********************************************************************
December 31, 1999 - Florida, USA; Georgia, USA


     Angela Rodriguez disappointed face looked out the window of her
photographer's car. "We should have stayed and covered the Army pulling
back."

     Her photographer, an older black man with graying temples, shook
his head. "Angela, sometimes you don't see the big picture."

     Angela looked at him. "What do you mean, Tom?"

     "I don't know what these creatures are, but you can't get your
story if you're dead."

     "I know that..."

     "Do you? Being too close to that thing might get you a great story,
but it'll also get you killed. And then who'll write that story?"

     "I get your point. I'm sorry I put you in danger."

     Tom smirked. "I'm all for getting the story, but I'd like to be
able to celebrate my Pulitzer Prize winning photos with my family
instead of posthumously, thank you."

     Angela nodded her understanding and thought about her son.
<Bobby...> She looked down at the floor of the car. "Where's your
family?"

     "I got them to some relatives in New Orleans as soon as I saw your
first article on that thing. I'm starting to worry that even that might
not be far enough."

     "Yeah, I sent my son to New York."

     Tom looked over at Angela briefly. "I didn't know you had a son."

     "Bobby; my pride and joy."

     "I wouldn't expect a mother to be as daring as you are."

     Angela stiffened. "Are you calling me a bad mother?!"

     "No... no... I just meant that... OH SHIT!!" Tom slammed his foot
on the accelerator and the car sped forward down the empty freeway.

     Angela felt herself pressed into her seat. "What are you doing?!"

     "Look behind us!" Tom glanced at his rearview mirror and pushed
down even harder on the gas pedal.

     Angela looked back and saw a huge black cloud rolling towards them.
Black lightning bolts crackled between the advancing shock wave and the
ground around it, causing the ground to explode in huge plumes of dirt.
"Oh.... crap. STEP ON IT!!"

     "What do you think I'm doing!!"

     Angela started to shake as she looked at the advancing Blackness,
which was approaching faster than the car could ever go. She looked down
at her purse and came to a decision. She crawled into the back seat and
pulled a small thirty-five millimeter camera out. Pointing it out the
back window, she started snapping pictures of the approaching blackness.

     "Angela!!"

     "Just drive! I'm not passing this chance up." She started to roll
down the window and the inside of the car was blasted by wind.

     Tom fought the steering wheel's attempts to jump out of his hands.
"Dammit, close the window! I can't control the car at this speed with it
open!"

     "Just a couple shots without the window in the way!" Angela shouted
as she tried to steady the camera.

     "You'll get us killed!"

     Angela ignored Tom and started to take pictures.

     "Is the story more important than the life of Bobby's mother?!"

     That finally got through Angela's determination to get her story.
She slid inside and rolled up the window. As the window rose, she
started at the reflection in the glass, wondering who it was that stared
back at her with such haunted eyes. "Mike was right, I have let my
career take control of my life." She traced the face on the window.

     "We're not going to make it!!" Tom shouted as rocks and other
debris started to rain down on them.

     Angela looked back and saw the shock wave was less than a mile
behind them. Then she scanned the area ahead of them. "We're close to...
Tom, take that exit!!"

     "Huh?"

     "Do it!" Angela shouted as she crawled back into the front seat.
She re-buckled her seat belt as she frantically scanned the roadway
ahead. "Take that exit and stay right. Gun it when you hit the
straightaway!" she shouted, hoping that they were where she thought they
were. Despite her horror at seeing what she had become to get the story,
she absently slipped the camera into her purse for safe keeping. If
asked, she wouldn't be able to say why she put the camera into her
purse. A reporter's instinct to get the story or just putting it back
where it came from, she couldn't be sure.

     "I hope you know what you're talking about!"

     Angela looked back at the onrushing Blackness. "So do I."

     Two of the car's wheels left the ground momentarily as Tom made the
maneuver. As the wheels touched down, he floored the accelerator again.
He frowned when he saw the road divided into a 'T' ahead. "Which way?"
He released the accelerator a bit, preparing to make a very sharp turn.

     "No!! Go straight!"

     "But the lake!!"

     Angela wasn't in the mood to argue; she had her son's mother to
save. She slammed her foot onto Tom's foot and thus, the accelerator.

     As Tom cried out in pain, the car sped forward and crashed through
the barrier separating the road from the lake. The car plunged into the
cold water and started to sink.

     The shock wave passed over them and blasted the surrounding land
and vegetation into burnt chunks. The surface of the water boiled and
caused huge plumes of steam to billow into the sky.

     Tom swore as the shock wave rocked the car back and forth. "What
the hell are you doing!!" He looked down at the floor. To his horror,
water had already started to seep in.

     "We weren't going to outrun it, were we?" Angela asked rhetorically
as she watched some water make its way around the window seal.

     "Maybe..."

     "My son and I have visited this lake millions of times. Any place
that made him so happy couldn't be my grave!"

     Tom had no way to respond to that, so he just looked around. "Well,
now what?"

     Angela shivered as the cold water rose over her bare legs. <Guess I
shouldn't have worn cutoff jeans today.> She glanced at Tom and realized
he was in the same situation with his shorts. "When the water gets too
high, we open the windows and swim to the surface and hope... whatever
that was is over." The water had reached their waists by the time she
finished explaining.

     Tom raised an eyebrow. "That's... that's actually a pretty good
idea." He reached for the buckle on his seatbelt.

     Angela smiled as she unbuckled her seat belt as well. "I owe it all
to you for mentioning my son. Every time I took him to Disney World he'd
insist on coming to this lake. Sometimes I wonder if he liked the lake
more than Disney."

     The water was lapping at his chest while Tom tried to see something
outside the car that would indicate the storm--for lack of a better
term--had passed, but the water was dark and filling with black debris
so he couldn't tell for sure. "Is... is the water getting warmer?"

     Angela nodded. "Yeah, but I'm trying not to think of why it might
be getting warmer."

     "Yeah... that's probably for the best." Tom looked around as the
water touched his chin. "We'd better go."

     Angela nodded, made sure Tom was ready, took a deep breath, and
then started to crank down her window. The in-rushing water blasted her,
almost causing her to open her mouth and lose the precious air that
filled her lungs.

     After the pressure eased, Angela swam out her window, but then
stopped when the strap on her purse caught on something. She pulled on
the strap frantically, her air running short. Things started to become
dark and she saw her son splashing around in the shallows of the lake
that she was now drowning in.

     Without any memory of doing so, she released the strap and rose to
the surface. She gasped and took a long overdue breath. She spat out
some water as she treaded water and looked around. "Bobby!!"

     "Behind you."

     Angela swung around and was a little surprised to see Tom and not
her son. She opened her mouth to speak, but got a mouthful of water
instead. It was then she noticed something. "It's salty..."

     "Huh?" Tom replied, licking his lips. "How?" We're just south of
Orlando, the ocean is at least fifty miles away!!"

     Before Angela could answer, the dark sky suddenly lit up with a
huge golden beam that soared upwards into the southern sky.

     Tom and Angela silently watched the beam rise.

     "We'd better start swimming..." Tom suddenly suggested when he
realized he never was the strongest swimmer and treading water wasn't
going to help his children see their father again.

     "Yeah... which way?" Angela asked after she realized that she
couldn't see any land nearby.

     "Away from that beam..."

     Angela considered that a very good idea and started swimming away
from the golden beam that lit up the sky. After swimming for several
minutes they spotted a rock or something rising from the water.

     And that's when the Moon lit up like a Chevy Chase Christmas tree.

     The additional light was so sudden and so bright, that they were
compelled to look for the source. They were terrified to see the Moon
burning above them.

     "I should have gone to New York with my son."

     "Yeah... me too."

     "And I hope New York is still there."

     "Yeah... I hope New Orleans is too."

                    -C-           -M-           -D-

     When the First exploded and took southern Florida with it, a
husband and wife were in a hospital turned evacuation center in Georgia.
As the tremors spread northwards from the ruins of Florida, the building
shook. She looked up from the bed her husband lay on as plaster from the
ceiling fluttered down and covered them. Some small pieces of equipment
crashed to the floor, but didn't cause any major damage to the
well-built hospital.

     After the shaking stopped and the emergency sirens started blaring
outside, she looked down at her husband and touched his face tenderly.
"Don't worry, dear, I'm sure Deedee is safe." She bent down and gave her
a husband a tender kiss.

     She couldn't remember how long she sat there, but she clearly
remembered when the nurses pulled her away from his side and covered his
body with the sheet. "Goodbye, dear."

     She walked stiffly down to one of the many evacuation information
desks and asked the question she had asked many times before. She
received the same answer.

     "I'm sorry, Mrs. Ledesma, we don't have any word of whereabouts her
yet."

     "I hope she's not still in southern Florida," Mrs. Ledesma said
absently.

     The woman at the information desk looked at her partner and
frowned. They both decided not to mention what they had just heard about
southern Florida.

     Mrs. Ledesma clutched her chest. <Ranma, if you're with her, take
care of my little girl.>

                    -C-           -M-           -D-

January 1-7, 2000 - Orlando Coast, USA; JFK Airport, New York City, USA

     Angela awoke to find herself surrounded by black. If not for the
sun she felt shining down on her bare legs, she would have assumed it
was still night. She used her arms to rise from the sandy surface she
found herself on. She winced as her sore body protested moving.
"Ughhhhh..."

     "Angela?"

     "Tom?" Angela looked over and saw a mound move nearby, the black
dust falling off as it rose.

     "I guess we're alive."

     Angela grunted. "Yeah..." She winced in pain from her sunburned
legs as she sat up and looked around. "What the..."

     Tom looked up and saw what she had just seen. The black sea lapping
up at the black shore. In the distance they could see jagged points of
land sticking out of the sea. "Where are we?" He tried to brush the
black dust off his legs, but stopped when a shooting pain flowed up his
spine. He realized that they must have been unconscious for most of the
night and well into the morning for his legs to get sunburned. A glance
at Angela confirmed that she was burned even worse than he was.

     "I don't know. Maybe we were washed down to the Keys or something?"

     It wasn't until a search party rescued them that they realized they
were the first people ever to get sunburned on the new Orlando Coast
beach.

                    -C-           -M-           -D-

     Later, Angela and Tom huddled in blankets as they were driven
through the ruins of central Florida. They sat in the front of a bus
filled with refugees.

     The reporter in Angela took over. "How bad is it?" she asked the
driver.

     "Bad."

     "How bad?"

     The driver briefly turned to them, showing his agonized face. "The
monolith in the Everglades exploded first and you see the result." He
gestured outside. The area they were passing through was strewn with
large black rocks of all sizes. Houses and cars were smashed to pieces.
"Southern Florida is nothing more than some small islands now. The other
two blew shortly afterwards.

     "Damn... so much for Tokyo."

     "Actually, the other monoliths didn't cause anywhere near as much
damage from what I've heard."

     "Really?" Angela wondered why that was. "What about the creatures?"

     "The Buggy-things? They're gone. There were billions of them all
over the Earth after the First blew, but they crumbled to dust after the
last monolith in the Middle East wiped out some cult's encampment. No
one knows why."

     Angela rubbed her fingers together and watched some black dust fall
off. <There's still a big story behind all this... but where do I
start?> Despite brushing herself off several times since she awoke that
morning, the dust was everywhere on her body. <I really need a bath.>

     "Damn!" Tom shouted suddenly. "We left all the cameras and film in
the car!"

     Angel smiled, her thoughts of the story vanishing as she remembered
why she had left her purse and camera behind. "It doesn't matter as long
as your children's father is safe, right?"

     Tom smiled and nodded.

                    -C-           -M-           -D-

     Almost a week later, Angela stepped off an evacuation
plane--walking a little stiffly due to her sunburned legs, which were
mostly healed, but still made walking a bit uncomfortable--and made her
way through the almost empty terminal. Normally after New Year's the
airports would be packed. But there was nothing normal about this New
Year's. She ignored the signs leading to the baggage claim area. She had
nothing with her. Her apartment in Miami was either at the bottom of the
Atlantic or vaporized. It didn't matter to her; she would never see
'her' Florida again. It was gone.

     After making a call, she walked down the concourse with a few other
passengers who had come in on her plane. The reporter in Angela pondered
what she knew about recent events. <Three monoliths appear a year before
the end of the millennium, invisible creatures that can't be stopped by
bullets, the strange women warriors who disappeared as suddenly as they
had appeared, half of Florida gone and the other half in ruins, Disney
offering to help reclaim the blackened remains of Florida, the Moon....
what... why did that beam blast the Moon and then return to cause more
damage? There's a reason for all this, but what?>

     Angela stepped onto the sidewalk outside the terminal. She sighed
as she didn't see her ride or any answers to her questions. <All that
and no reason for their disappearance. Just the black dust, the
devastation, and the human casualties they left behind. It's still
early, but my sources say that the Red Cross is expecting the casualty
numbers to easily reach into six figures and maybe seven, mostly due to
the earthquakes and the attacks by those flying things. The 'Three
Harbingers' won't be forgotten any time soon.>

     She sighed at the name the more sensational newspapers were calling
the monoliths. <Those rags are already predicting a return of the
'Blackness' next year when the Third Millennium arrives. Of course,
these were the same papers touting that two thousand was the beginning
of the new millennium just a few weeks ago.> Then she chuckled to
herself at realizing something. <Come to think of it, my paper was doing
the same thing. Anything for the advertisers, I guess.> At curbside, she
rocked back and forth on her heels. <What I really need to do is talk to
someone who was closer to the action. A witness or someth...> Her
thoughts were interrupted by a long drawn out sob.

     She looked over and saw a young girl sitting on a nearby bench. She
felt her heart go out to the girl and realized that there must be many
more people just like her around the world. She walked over and sat down
next to her. "Your ride late too?"

     The blonde haired girl looked up with tear stained eyes. "Yeah...
they said my mom was supposed to be flying in here from Georgia to meet
my plane."

     "Hmmm... I just landed on an evacuation plane from Georgia, maybe
she'll be here soon."

     The girl sniffled. "I hope so. What was it like down there? All
they told me is that they aren't allowing people back into Florida."

     Angela tensed. "Pretty bad."

     "How bad?"

     Angela found herself lost for words.

     After several seconds, the girl looked at Angela. "That bad, huh?"

     "Yeah... So, what's your name, kid?""

     "Deedee."

     Angela held her hand out to Deedee. "I'm Angela." They shook hands.
"Hang in there, kid, things will get better."

     "I hope so. I lost my boyfriend and my home."

     "That's too bad."

     Deedee wiped her eyes. "How about you?"

     "Just my home... my son is here in..." Angela was cut off as a
speeding bullet tackled her, sending her and Deedee crashing to the
ground.

     "Mommy!!"

     Deedee pushed the ten-year-old boy away from her breasts where his
face had landed. "I'm not your mommy, you little brat."

     The kid looked around and saw Angela. "Mommy!"

     "Bobby!" Angela reached for her son and pulled him tight against
her chest. "There... there."

     "Oh... that's your son? Sorry."

     Angela looked up at Deedee and smiled. "No problem." She looked
down at her son. "Bobby, apologize to Deedee."

     Bobby looked over at Deedee. "Sorry." He clutched his mother
tighter.

     "That's okay." Deedee ruffled Bobby's hair.

     Bobby smiled and then looked at a man in his forties as he walked
over.

     "Angel."

     Angela looked over and smiled. "Mike. Got some room in your house
for an out of work reporter?"

     Mike Davidson raised an eyebrow. "You giving up writing?"

     "Nope. But I figured I'd need some time to recover from this and
maybe write that novel I've been wanting to do."

     Mike smiled and nodded. "My home has always been your home, Angel."

     Angela walked over to Mike and gave him a deep kiss.

     "Icky..."

     Deedee looked down at the little boy. "You'll like it someday,
kid."

     "No way!!" Bobby scurried off and wrapped his arms around his
mother's legs, causing her to wince at the pain from her sunburn.

     The first smile in quite some time formed on Deedee's lips. "I hope
I like it again someday." She watched the reunited family walk away
towards the car Mike Davidson had pulled up in. "Goodbye, Ranma. I hope
you and that les... woman are happy."

     Deedee waited there for almost twenty more minutes before someone
called her name. "Deedee!"

     Deedee looked up and practically tipped over the bench in her haste
to get to her mother. "Mommy!!"

     Mrs. Ledesma wrapped her arms around her daughter and held on
tight. "Deedee... I'm so glad you're safe."

     "Where were you?"

     Her month tensed. "Sorry... I had to take care of something after
the plane landed." Inside she wondered how she should tell her daughter.
<At least by having Deedee wait out here she didn't have to see the
casket.>

     The mother and daughter held onto each other for several more
minutes until they finally separated and looked into each other's eyes.
Mrs. Ledesma brushed the hair out of her daughter's eyes. "How on Earth
did you end up in the Middle East?"

     Deedee tensed. "It's a long story. Where's Daddy?"

     "Um... let's go to your aunt's place and we can get cleaned up and
catch up." Mrs. Ledesma started to usher her daughter to the taxi stand,
but stopped when Deedee resisted being pulled away.

     "Where's Daddy?!"

     Mrs. Ledesma hadn't wanted to tell her daughter at the airport, but
knew she had to be honest with her daughter. "Deedee, you know your
father has been sick, right?'

     Deedee nodded. "Yeah.  What... is he in the hospital again?"

     A mother put an arm on her daughter's cheek. "Deedee, your father
had a stroke."

     "What?!" Deedee shuddered. "I've got to see him!"

     "It's too late, dear. He passed away down in Georgia."

     "No!!" Deedee dropped to the ground and started to shake. "Daddy!!"


***********************************************************************
>From the personal journal of James Davidson:


November 3-5, 2057

     My mom's hands shook as she held her parent's wedding photograph.
"I... caused my father's death."

     "Mom, you didn't. You, of all people, know that his family has a
history of strokes," my sister insisted.

     "Mary's right, Mom. It was just a coincidence that it happened
then."

     "That doesn't change the fact that he was only down in Southern
Florida because I ran away."

     "No, but who's to say that he wouldn't have had the stroke during
the evacuation from your home in Kissimmee?" I asked, trying to calm my
mom down.

     "Or that grandfather might have stayed behind since Disney World
didn't close?" Mary suggested. "Your parents' home was destroyed by the
tidal wave after all."

     "I've heard all this before, kids." My mom looked at Mary and me.
"I appreciate it. I've lived with this guilt for most of my life. All
the facts don't lessen the pain of losing him."

     Akane slid onto the bed next to my mom and hugged her. "No, it
doesn't. I'm sorry you had such a hard time after all you had to deal
with inside the monoliths."

     My mom sighed. "I lost the first two men I ever loved to the Three
Harbingers. One to you Akane and one to death." She looked over and
picked up a photo of my late father from her nightstand. "But I also met
a boy that would later give me two beautiful children and a very happy
life." She smiled at my sister and me.

     "I'm glad you found happiness," Akane said and hugged my mom again.

     When the hug broke up, my mom looked at Akane. "And what about you?
Did you find happiness?"

     Akane stiffened and looked over at the two Sanmas and at Yohachi.
"Yes, in between the bad times, I've had some very happy times with all
of my husbands and the family that I love dearly."

     "I'm glad. I hope Ranma was happy with you until..." My mom
stiffened. "Sorry."

     "That's okay. The pain is still there, but life has to go on." A
long silence followed until Akane suddenly looked at the rest of us.
"Can I have some time alone with Deedee? I'd like to talk woman to
woman."

     I nodded. "No dirty stuff, okay?"

     Akane smirked. "No promises, now scoot."

     I laughed and followed the rest of them as we filed out of my mom's
bedroom. We were in the living room for a few minutes when we heard my
mom scream. "Mom!!" We all started for the door, but stopped when my
mother's voice stopped us.

     "Don't worry, I'm alright," my mom shouted.

     "Are you sure?" I asked.

     "Yes."

     "My wife isn't making a pass at you, is she?" San-kun asked,
producing laughter from my mom's room.

     Any further conversion was interrupted when the doorbell rang.

     Mary looked up. "Door view." A second after she spoke her command,
the house system displayed an holo image of who was at the door. "What?"

     I recognized what that crowd of people represented. "Reporters."

     "Not those scum."

     I looked at San-kun. "Very funny."

     "That was rude, brother," San-chan scolded.

     "Door connect." Mary waited for a second for the house system to
open the two-way link to the front door. "May I help you?" my sister
asked the little popup hologram showing several people pushing to get in
the front. I could hear the irritated tone in her voice that I have been
on the receiving end of more times than I care to count.

     One of the reporters in front spoke. "We'd like to talk to the
Matriarch."

     "I'm sorry, but I don't know what you're talking about."

     "We know she's in there."

     "Please go away. This is a private residence." Mary turned away.
"Door off. Privacy on." Her last command would keep the doorbell from
ringing over and over. It would also put up indicators of the property
line and give out warnings if the reporters didn't vacate it.

     San-kun cracked his knuckles. "Want me to go chase them off?"  He
grinned.

     Mary smiled and shook her head. "No, that's okay. I'm sure they'll
give up soon."

     An hour later, Akane walked out of my mom's room after the crowd of
reporters started getting unruly and began knocking on the doors and
windows. "What's up?"

     "The press have found us. Can I blast them, Sparky?" San-kun
snapped his fingers and formed a small chi ball.

     "No... I guess we'll have to leave New York earlier than I'd
hoped." Akane sighed. "I was enjoying it here."

     "You're welcome anytime," my mom said from her doorway.

     "When you can travel, please come to Nerima," Akane offered as she
hugged my mom.

     I looked over and saw my mom wipe tears out of her eyes. "Are you
alright, Mom?"

     My mom nodded. "Yes, Akane just reminded me what it's like to be
young again."

     I smiled in San-kun's direction. "She didn't hit on you, did she?"

     "No... just girl talk." My mom and Akane exchanged an amused smile.

                    -C-           -M-           -D-

     I awoke when someone shook my shoulder. "Huh?" I looked up and
rubbed my cheek. I must have fallen asleep on the full sized keyboard I
had hooked up to my palmtop because I could feel indentions from the
keys on my face. I looked up and saw the holo-screen was full of Ns and
Bs.

     "Honey?"

     I looked behind me and saw my wife in a tiny see-through negligee.
"Hanaki? What time is it?"

     "Ten A.M."

     "What?!"
 
     "Well, after we got back from dinner with your mother and sister,
you dug into your research and started writing something."

     "You should have told me you were going to bed."

     "I did." Hanaki twirled around to show off the revealing negligee.
"I even showed off my new sleepwear."

     I frowned. "I don't remember that."

     Hanaki harrumphed. "I'm insulted."

     I pulled my wife onto my lap and gave her a long kiss. "Sorry, but
after the stories Akane told us all at dinner last night, I got a sudden
brainstorm. I suddenly realized how I could end Childhood and wanted to
write it down before I forgot it."

     "What was it?"

     I stared blankly at Hanaki for a few seconds. "Um... I forgot. But
it's all in my palmtop."

     Hanaki smiled. "Well, let's go get cleaned up. The reporters are
starting to get real bold in trying to get to my aunt and she wants to
leave before things get out of hand." She looked at the window, just in
case another reporter was trying to scale the building with suction cups
like one did the night before.

     I smiled. "I understand. How soon until we take off, Captain?" I
saluted the pilot.

     Hanaki giggled. "That depends on how long it takes us to wash up."
She gracefully strolled over to the bathroom, peeling off her negligee
as she walked.

     Well, I guess there's no reason we couldn't wait until afternoon to
fly back to Tokyo.

                    -C-           -M-           -D-

     "So what did you and my mom talk about?" I asked Akane again as
Tendo One climbed away from New York the next morning, since we never
quite managed to get to the airport yesterday.

     The grin on Akane's face showed she didn't mind having some time
alone with her twin husbands. She shook off my question as she always
did. "Girl talk." She looked out the window at the clouds flashing by.

     I sighed. 

     San-kun opened the door to Akane's cabin and smiled. "Want to join
us in the hot tub?" He was wearing a very small towel around his waist.

     Akane giggled. "If you insist." She looked over at me. "Care to
join us, James?"

     I shook my head. "No thanks, I think I'll visit my wife instead."

     "To each his own."

                    -C-           -M-           -D-

     "Can I come in?" I asked from behind the hatch to the cockpit.

     "What's the secret code?"

     I smiled at Jaki's question. "John told me all about your date."

     The hatch slid open without almost any hesitation and Jaki
hurriedly said, "Come in, come in."

     I smirked and walked into the cockpit. Right in front of the hatch
there were eight flight seats with the usual straps, levers, and
pull-tabs you would find on many military planes. The first time I had
been inside the cockpit I was amazed at the contrast between the luxury
of the rear cabins and the military look of the cockpit.

     Those eight seats were able to swivel and move down a long track
that ran along the two outside bulkheads. Those bulkheads had eight
control stations covered with keyboards, three-D displays, and controls.
In addition to various pop-up holo displays, the three-D displays were
displaying various maps and flight information, most of which made
little sense to me. Yohachi, Makato, and Naoyuki were in three of the
seats, the rest were empty.

     In front of those seats were the two chairs for the pilots, which
were suspended by a series of hydraulic arms. They were currently
positioned forward to allow the pilots to see out of the windows that
made up the front of the cockpit. On the flight to New York, Hanaki had
let me sit in the co-pilot's chair briefly and I was amazed at the
incredible field of view the arrangement of the seats and windows gave
the pilots.

     The various flight controls were all attached to the chairs within
easy reach of the pilot and co-pilot. Hanaki and Jaki, in this case.

     Various holographic displays hovered all around them, feeding the
pilots the information they needed to fly Tendo One. I could recognize
displays for altitude, airspeed, engine status, terrain maps, and other
common flight displays. Between Hanaki and Jaki, a three-D display
showed a miniature Tendo One and the surrounding airspace, which seemed
to be clear except for a couple commercial spacejets at the very edge of
the display.

     Ahead of Hanaki was a holographic line showing the programmed
flight-path. As my wife had explained on the flight to New York, there
wasn't much to flying a routine flight like this. That didn't mean her
eyes didn't light up when she handled the controls, proving beyond a
doubt to me that she loved flying.

     "Hi, honey. Yohachi, let James sit behind me."

     Yohachi smiled and slid out of the seat and into another right
behind it. His active displays followed him automatically. "Sure, the
pilot's husband always gets the good seat."

     I smiled as I sat down. "I'm only trying to avoid getting pulled
into the hot tub with Akane and her two husbands."

     Hanaki giggled. "I'm sure their offer was only in jest, honey, that
hot tub is barely big enough for the three of them."

     Yohachi smiled. "It's not like the old woman gets as wild as the
old man."

     Jaki laughed. "Don't be fooled by grandma's shy and good girl act,
I know she loves Akane."

     "That's exactly what I was afraid of when I turned their offer
down." I looked at my wife. "How's the flight coming?"

     Hanaki looked back at me. "We're about to burn. You can stay, but
you have to strap yourself in."

     I nodded and started doing up my four-point harness.

     "Jaki, will you make the announcement?"

     A devilish gleam appeared in Jaki's eyes. "Yes." She looked up.
"Intercom on. Ladies, gentlemen, and my poor excuse for a grandpa; this
is your sexy co-pilot speaking. Prepare for warp speed in one minute."
She paused. "Grandpa, that means to stop doing whatever you are doing
with your wife and face forward. You too, grandma. Intercom off."

     I could have sworn I heard an irritated shout from behind the
hatch. "How can there be a hot tub, anyway?"

      Yohachi laughed. "It's designed with high walls to hold the water
in during acceleration. They just have to face forward or they could
hurt themselves."

     "Ah..."

     Jaki smirked. "They found that out the hard way."

     Hanaki laughed. "So did you the last time you brought a boyfriend
onboard."

     Jaki patted her chest and batted her eyes. "Who, me?" No one was
fooled by her innocent act.

     Hanaki checked her status boards. "Everyone's signaled ready. On my
mark."

     Jaki suddenly became very professional. "Yes, Captain. Trim at burn
level. All engines green."

     Hanaki tensed and then took a deep breath. "Intercom on. Burn in
five, four, three..."

     Suddenly, a good percentage of the displays turned to red from
their normally multi-colored appearance.

     "Abort burn!" Hanaki snapped, her hands flying across her controls
and checking her controls. "Matriarch to the cockpit."

     Jaki removed her hand from a control and toggled some other
controls. "Burn aborted."

      The words 'global alert' were plastered over most of the displays,
telling me that it might not be a mechanical problem. "What's going on?"
I asked Yohachi.

     Yohachi glanced up from his displays at me. "Global alert from
control. Basically it means: stop whatever you're doing and report your
status to control."

     "Get used often?"

     Yohachi just shook his head with a grave look on his face.

     "Control, state the nature of the alert," Hanaki called out.

     A second later, a female voice replied through the speakers.
"Monolith sighted. Type four or three. Your grid. What is the status of
the Matriarch?"

     "She is..." Hanaki started to answer, but was interrupted by the
hatch opening and three bodies stumbling in. "Getting dressed."

     Some grumbling was heard from the speakers.

     Steam was still rising from Akane's wet body as she came in,
pulling a yellow gi shut around her naked chest. The gi was like the
others I've seen Task Force members wear numerous times. It was a heavy
white fabric, with strands of golden material woven throughout making it
appear yellowish or even golden if the light hit it right. Akane told me
once that the material was resistant to Buyierfei energy. Resistant, but
not totally impervious to the dark energy.

     The pants had an assortment of pockets that were kept closed with
Velcro, many of them bulging with whatever assorted items they
contained. The top covered the whole arms and upper body with a padded
quilted pattern, while the lower part of the top was covered with more
pockets. There was some additional padding around the end of the arms
and collar as well. The outfit looked a little top heavy, but Akane told
me it was very comfortable and carefully made to not get in the way
during combat.

     San-kun, who was also wet, was pulling on his pants as he hopped
in. San-chan casually followed him in while she tied her top closed.

     "Control, status," Akane commanded as she took the seat behind
Jaki.

     San-kun pulled me out of my chair and indicated one of the rear
chairs next to where San-chan had sat down. Another Task Force member
came in and sat down in the last free seat. "I should leave."

     San-chan shook her head. "No, sit there." She indicated the same
seat that San-kun had.

     A voice responded to Akane's inquiry. "Matriarch, we have a
monolith sighting at grid five, cross..."

     "Shashiki, just tell us where it is without all the tech talk,"
Akane interrupted, a little irritated.

     So that was Shashiki's voice, I didn't know she was on the control
staff. Of course, there's a lot I don't know.

     "Behind you, one hundred-twenty kilometers and closing fast."

     "What?!" Hanaki snapped, scanning her displays. "Magnify rearview.
Ten times." A visual display showing the view behind Tendo One zoomed
in. "Hundred times." The image zoomed more and a black dot appeared in
the center and slowly started to get bigger. "Crap!" She adjusted some
controls and the speed of the jet increased. "Jaki, burn engines on red
standby. Team, deploy all pods. Repeat, deploy all pods. All, brace for
sudden acceleration without warning." She paused and then added one more
item. "And drain the hot tub."

     San-chan trembled and reached under my seat. She pulled out a
medium sized backpack and handed it to me. "Put the outfit inside on...
fast." Then, much to my amazement and embarrassment, she started undoing
my belt and zipper. She was blushing just a little more than I was.

     While she relieved me of my pants, I opened the backpack and saw
that there was a gi inside like the others were all wearing, except for
Hanaki and Jaki who were wearing their flight suits. I gulped at what
San-chan giving me this gi to wear meant: Things could quickly get real
nasty. My shaking hands pulled off my shirt and donned the gi's top. By
the time I had managed to tie the top closed, San-chan had my pants off
and I quickly slipped the gi pants on. "Thanks."

     "No problem." I could hear a noticeable tremble in San-chan's voice
as she stowed my clothes in a webbed pocket on the side of my seat.
"Keep that backpack with you."

     I nodded as I slipped the straps of the backpack over my shoulders.
Then I fumbled with my seat's four-point harness for a few seconds
before finally managing to secure the straps with the center buckle.

     "Where did it come from, Control?" Akane asked after Hanaki had run
through her preparations. From what I understand, the pilot of a Task
Force aircraft has full command while in the air. Only the
highest-ranking Task Force member on board can relieve the pilot of
command if the situation warranted it.

     "Reports indicate it appeared over Central Park, but shot off to
the south after only a few minutes hovering over the area."

     "Crap... the reporters were right," San-kun remarked.

     "There's a first time for everything." Akane turned towards me. "No
offense intended, James."

     I smiled to show I wasn't insulted. I was amazed at how casually
they were taking having a monolith on our tail, but then this was my
first time being this close to one. Unless you counted the unfertilized
egg I grew from that was in my mom's ovary when she was inside the
First, of course. I shook my head to clear it. Talk about an odd thing
to pop into a person's mind in a stressful situation.
 
     The rearview display showed the monolith drawing closer to us. I
could now make out that it was rectangular in shape like most of the
other monoliths.

     Akane pulled an object out of her gi that looked like a small
curling iron. She grabbed a finger thick bundle of her hair from the
left side of her head and then ran the 'curling iron' down it. The
bundle of hair turned bright red, just like the streak that all the
active Task Force members used to identify themselves.

     Then I noticed that San-kun and San-chan were doing the same thing,
except their highlights were black. Since their hair was already red, I
guess a red streak wouldn't be of much use to them.

     I was a little humbled at the calm way that they all prepared for
battle.

     Akane put away her little hair tool and then spoke. "Control,
verify that Mrs. Davidson and her daughter are safe."

     I shuddered at the possibility. My mom may have survived her first
encounter with the Buyierfei without getting hurt, but at her age and
current health she wouldn't stand much of a chance now.

     "We already checked with the team you left behind, no situation
reported."

     "Good, keep them on high alert."

     "You left..."

     Akane answered my question before I could finish it. "Yes, I left
four of my best hand to tentacle fighters back in New York just in case.
We don't take chances with innocents when we can."

     "Thanks."

     "To tell you the truth, it was more to keep the reporters from
upsetting your family than worry about a possible attack." Akane turned
back to the front. "Options."

     San-kun spoke first. "Let it catch up to us and we'll destroy it
from the inside." He cracked his knuckles.

     Hanaki spoke up fast. "In my current condition, that wouldn't be an
acceptable risk."

     San-kun shuddered and clutched his stomach. San-chan mirrored the
gesture in almost perfect synchronization with him.

     "What?" I asked.

     Akane looked back at me. "Remember what the Buyierfei do to
pregnant women?"

     My heart tightened and skipped several beats. "No..." I could see
Hanaki tense at Akane's words.

     "I won't let them hurt another innocent child, James, trust me."
Akane gave me a very determined look and then turned forward again. "A
direct attack is out then. Control, status of the other teams."

     Shashiki replied almost at once. "Two from the East Coast, three
from the West Coast, two from Brazil. Earliest intercept with you at
present course and speed, one hour, ten minutes."

     "We don't have that much time, It's already closed to sixty.
Hanaki, do a burn and see how far we can leave it behind. Vector our
flight path south to get us over water as soon as possible. Control
adjust intercepts as needed."

     Hanaki checked over her displays. "Already working on the course.
Fifteen seconds. All, prepare for burn in thirteen. Jaki, stand by burn
engines in ten."

     "James, do as I do." San-chan turned her chair around to face the
front, locked it, and then tightened her harness. I followed her
movements, although I had already strapped myself in very tightly.

     Akane checked the entered course on her displays. "Agreed. Burn
it."

     "Five... four... three... two... one. BURN!" Hanaki commanded.

     Jaki thrust a control forward and held on tightly as the orbit burn
engines kicked in.

     I grimaced as the G-force crushed me into the seat. The sky outside
the cockpit windows blurred as we accelerated. I had experienced a full
burn on the flight to New York, but this almost seemed worse. That could
be due to the terror I felt at the approaching monolith.

     It must have been three or four minutes of acceleration before
someone spoke again. "It's falling behind. One thirty. One thirty-five.
One four-" Yohachi recited.

     Suddenly, Hanaki shouted. "Shit! Cut the burn!!"

     Jaki responded without hesitation and released the control she was
holding. The burn engines cut out and the G-force pressing me into my
seat eased after a slight jerk forward. I could still feel the regular
engines pushing me back, but it was nothing compared to what we had just
been experiencing.

     That thought had barely left my consciousness when I was pulled
violently to the side as the spacejet was put into a tight turn. I
clenched my teeth and grimaced.

     My wife reeled off a series of instructions as she wrestled with
the controls. "Yohachi, track the incoming avians. Jaki, configure the
engines for battle maneuvers."

     That was when I saw the hundreds of black dots coming at us from
multiple directions. "The monolith herded us into a trap," I commented
to myself, but was overheard.

     "Yeah, smart little bastards, aren't they?"

     I was a little amazed to hear that comment come from San-chan of
all people.

                    -C-           -M-           -D-

     In the countless minutes that followed, Hanaki had tried her best
to force my stomach out my throat, but the avians stuck to us like my
mom to Ranma. Unfortunately, my breakfast didn't stick as well to my
stomach as the stain on my formerly clean gi will attest to.

     "I count at least five hundred pipers and sixty large avians,"
Yohachi informed us.

     "Damn, I can't shake them all and the monolith is getting too
closer every second," Hanaki snapped.

     "Fifty kilometers and closing," Yohachi thoughtfully informed
everyone at that point.

     "Control, E.T.A. of hoverjets?" Akane called out.

     "Twenty-five minutes at your current course and speed."

     "The monolith will catch up before then," Yohachi reported.

     Akane sighed. "We'll keep them busy. Hanaki, take us in. Keep as
many avians between us and the monolith as you can, maybe they'll slow
it down. Team, prepare to fire when the avians are in range."

     "Here we go." Hanaki accelerated towards the avians in front of us.
I could see the flapping of their wings now, which almost seemed
designed to hypnotize us with their slow graceful movements.

     As we neared the closest large avians, a series of red chi balls
flew out ahead of us. About half impacted and exploded, but only slowed
the avians down briefly.

     "Oh no you don't!" Hanaki shouted and put the spacejet into a tight
horizontal roll. I held my breath as three closely spaced avians flew by
the cockpit windows. On a display next to me, I could see the avians
just miss the wings as they flashed by. The rearview showed several chi
balls shoot out from the pods and hit the receding avians. Pieces of
black flesh fell from the injured avians and one veered off and hit
another. Then there was less than a second for me to dig my fingers into
the armrest of my seat before the shock wave from the huge explosion hit
us.

     The spacejet shook under us, but Hanaki didn't have time to worry
about what was behind us, she had already started a steep dive to avoid
a pack of pipers that were coming at us. Then she spun to the left to
avoid a large avian. "Jaki, drive the forward engines to one-twenty!"

     Jaki's hands blurred as she adjusted her controls. "You aren't..."

     Hanaki gritted her teeth. "I am. Ready on the orbit burn primers."
She looked back at us, maybe hesitating a bit when her eyes met mine.
"All, hang on!" She pulled back on the stick and we started to rise into
the sky. "Ten second orbit burn!!"

     Jaki pushed a lever forward. The whole aircraft strained for a few
seconds as we were blasted vertically past dozens of avians. And then
through a large avian.

     Like their ground dwelling brethren, the avians had a tough outer
skin that covers a softer gelatinous internal structure. Ramming into
one at high speed was like dropping a brick on an egg, the insides went
everywhere. The black blood and guts of the avian streamed down the
cockpit windows and slid down as the intense speed we were traveling at
cleaned the remains off the glass.

     And then the remains of the large avian exploded below us. The
plane shook and rocked as the explosion lapped at our tail.

     Jaki released her engine control and the thunderous roar of the
orbit burn vanished.

     Hanaki then twisted the spacejet into a horizontal path. "Damage?"

     One of the Task Force members spoke up. "Some damage to the port
canard wing, some fluctuation on number two prime engine, pod five has
seized up, but Furiko is alright. No injuries."

     I heard Hanaki exhale deeply. "Yohachi... how are we doing with the
avians?"

     "Down to... forty-three large and about four hundred pipers."

     "Not enough..." Hanaki maneuvered the spacejet around a huge black
chi ball that had been spat at us by a large avian and then checked her
displays and picked a lightly occupied area to head towards. That didn't
exactly mean it was empty of avians, just not as many as other potential
headings. Of course, one heading was completely free of avians, but
there was a bigger problem in that direction.

     "Monolith is eight minutes away, lead hoverjets in twelve," Yohachi
reported on that problem.

     "Four minutes difference... have to buy us some time." Hanaki
muttered as she deftly maneuvered the spacejet between the flocks of
avians. "Port pods, I'll need a spread of medium chi balls in ten.
Starboard pods, I'll need full beams along the horizontal axis in five.
Everyone else, strap in and hang on tight!"

     I held on because I knew my wife had something up her sleeves.
Which usually meant that my stomach was in for a wild ride.

     I was right.

     She accelerated towards a large pack of avians like a glomping
Amazon to a group of single men. "Now!!" As she yelled, she put Tendo
One into a corkscrew dive. All around us chi balls flashed out from the
pods and the beams the Task Force was generating sliced through avians,
big and small alike. Exploding avians shook the spacejet and rattled my
bones.

     "Monolith is falling behind."

     Hanaki grinned. "All the chi flying around is confusing them."

     Without warning, the spacejet shuddered and buckled.

     "We've been hit!!"

     "Crap..." Hanaki fought her controls, trying to get us out of the
controlled dive she had put us into, but couldn't. Meaning that the dive
was now uncontrolled.

     Yohachi started reciting a damage report. "Not sure what hit us,
but we have a hull breach. Starboard-rear. Number one and three engines
are out, number two is fluctuating."

     Hanaki fought her controls. "Jaki, transfer engine mains to the
forward engines and balance the rears as best you can."

     Jaki was frantically adjusting controls. "I'll try, but... there's
a gap in the control grid."

     Yohachi continued his report. "Starboard pods are offline, Hiro is
injured, but stable. They are shutting down the starboard grid due to
electrical fires. I'll reroute what I can. And the star..."

     Hanaki completed his statement. "The starboard ailerons are
damaged. By the feel of it, at least five holes."
  
     Yohachi's jaw dropped and checked to see if Hanaki had a damage
control holo display up. She didn't. <Damn... she can feel it through
her stick?> "Yeah... six holes, but one is very small."

     Hanaki wrenched her stick to the side. "It's always the small
things that'll kill you." She pulled back on her stick and we finally
started to pull out of our dive somewhat, but I could hear the spacejet
straining all around us, threatening to tear apart at any second.

     The speakers came to life. "Tendo One, this is attack leader. We
have engaged the avians. Do you need assistance? Monolith is still
vectored on your tail."

     "I can see that..." Hanaki gritted her teeth. "Negative on the
assistance. Take out the avians first, I'll keep the Matriarch in one
piece until you deal with the targets." When she glanced at Akane, I
could see the strain on her face and the fear in her eyes. "Matriarch,
we have to..."

     Akane nodded and agreed. "Understood. Do what you have to."

     Hanaki snapped her head forward. "All, evacuate the rear section.
No pods or dropjets. Repeat, no pods or dropjets. Come forward and cram
into the cabins any way you can."

     San-kun frowned. "With the hoverjets handling the avians, the
dropjets should be safe..."

     Hanaki cut off her uncle. "The hull is buckled and half the rear
systems are down. Launching the dropjets now could..."

     "But..."

     Hanaki snapped her around and glared at Sanma. "Not now, Uncle!
That's an order!"

     I know Sanma wasn't one to like taking orders, but he did stop
arguing.

     'The pilot is ultimately responsible for his or her aircraft.'
Those words echoed in my mind as I started to worry how far that
responsibility would go.

     "Attack force is engaging the avians." Yohachi scanned his
displays. "Monolith is fifteen kilometers and closing. E.T.A. three
minutes, four if we're lucky."

     Akane looked over at her son. "Will it intercept the hoverjets?"

     Yohachi shook his head. "No, it's headed right for us."

     "Good."

     I can't say I shared Akane's attitude about the monolith's course,
but I understood her concern for her friends and family who were likely
in those hoverjets. I had the same concern for the person sitting about
six meters in front of me.

     Jaki scanned her displays. "All clear in the rear."

     Hanaki gripped her stick and tensed. "Blow the interconnects and
detach aft section."

     Jaki nodded and hit a switch.

     The spacejet shuddered. The cockpit lights flickered. The sound of
steel tearing reverberated through the spacejet. Displays all around the
cockpit flashed warnings and displayed images of the spacejet. The pilot
swore worse than I ever heard her swear before, and that's saying a lot.

     On top of all that, the spacejet started to drop out of the sky
like a rock. 

     Hanaki strained at her controls. "Rear section didn't disengage...
rear engines out completely and the fronts can't keep us aloft."

     "Twelve thousand meters... Eleven-nine... Eleven-eight..." Jaki
recited as she fought with her engine controls.

     Yohachi strained to check his displays. "Crap... the servos didn't
release the rear latches. We're pulling a dead rear end."

     "Cycle them again!" Hanaki shouted.

     Yohachi hit a couple controls, but nothing was heard from the rear.
"Negative. Trying the explosive release." More controls, more silence
from behind us. "Negative. All the data umbilicals are out to the rear
section. Looks like the sequencer was damaged when we were hit."

     Hanaki swore and scanned her displays for a solution to their
problem. "Dammit... are all the forward latches released?"

     Yohachi nodded. "Yeah... only the rears failed."

     I saw Hanaki take a couple deep breaths. "Jaki?" she said flatly.

     "Nine-fi..." Jaki turned towards Hanaki. "Yes, Captain?"

     "Can you..." Deep breath. "Can you go back and blow the rear
releases manually?" My wife's voice was trembling. I wasn't sure if it
was the shaking of the spacejet or due to the situation we found
ourselves in.

     Jaki tensed. Several heartbeats and several hundred meters later,
she nodded. "Yes, Captain." She reached for a control on the side of her
seat and pressed a button. Her seat retracted from its position over the
forward array of windows.

     Yohachi started to undo his straps. "I'll go."

     "No!" Hanaki snapped. "Jaki's the only one onboard who knows those
systems." Deep breath. "Besides me."

     Yohachi looked at his mother, but Akane did not return his look.

     Sanma looked at his granddaughter and then at Akane. "Akane..."

     "You all heard the pilot's decision," Akane said through clenched
teeth.

     "Yohachi... please take the co-pilot's seat." Hanaki commanded as
she fought her controls. "I'm sorry, Jaki," she said softly.

     Jaki's seat had swung around and deposited her on the deck. She
slipped her straps off and stood up. "Don't be, Hanaki. That's a
decision for the captain to make. That's what I couldn't handle,
remember?"

     I gasped. Hanaki had told me many stories about her time training
together with Jaki to be Task Force pilots. Jaki would consistently beat
my wife on every test, simulation, exercise, and combat exercise. Except
for command.

     Whatever it was about Jaki's personality, she just did not handle
command well. Shortly after we started dating, Hanaki had told me the
story about the tests designed to gauge a person's ability to command a
mission or an aircraft. Jaki had run through the simulations dozens of
times and her instructor would fail her every time. In the end, Jaki had
become so flustered she intentionally crashed the simulated hoverjet
trying to please her instructor. Needless to say, it didn't. Jaki was
taken off the command training roster after that last test. She could
still be a co-pilot, but she could never command a mission or sit in the
pilot's chair.

     The chair that Hanaki had issued her order from.

     Yohachi exchanged a worried look with Jaki as he passed her. He sat
down in the seat she had just vacated. The seat swung around and
suspended him in front of the windows.

     Jaki spared a second to look at Sanma. "Don't worry, old man, I'm
a..." She let her statement go unfinished as she made her way up the
length of the sloped cockpit floor. I could see a tear running down her
cheek.

     I didn't know what to do or say, so I just watched her silently as
the others all attended to their tasks of keeping the spacejet in the
air as long as possible.

     Jaki paused briefly in front of my seat. Before I knew what was
happening, she leant down and gave me a very passionate kiss. She
straightened up and the walked through the hatch. Before it closed I
heard her say, "Take care of Hanaki."

     "I will," I said softly to the closed hatch.

     Yohachi was adjusting controls and reading off altitude marks as
Hanaki silently struggled with the controls.

     About a minute later, the spacejet bucked and shuddered. I glanced
at the nearby displays and saw the tactical displays showing an outline
of Tendo One suddenly delete the rear section, leaving just the forward
half with it's canard wings. As I felt us start to climb, I watched the
holo displays showing the wreckage of the rear half fall away from us.

     There was a huge hole in the bottom side of the fuselage, extending
out to the starboard wing. Various buckled plates and twisted pieces of
the airframe could be seen.

     Hanaki pulled back on her stick and glanced at Yohachi. "Balance
the four engines for a burn."

     Yohachi nodded. "Yes, Captain." His hands hesitated over the
controls and then went to work.

     The rearview showed the rear section start to tear apart just
before it crashed against the black surface of the approaching monolith
and then exploded. A huge fireball washed across the monolith's black
surface, but didn't seem to slow the monolith down.

     Hanaki looked away from the rearview. "Goodbye, Jaki," she
whispered, but we all heard it in the dead silence of the cockpit. A few
seconds later, Hanaki initiated the burn.

     We were all pressed back into our seats for a split second before
the spacejet shuddered.

     "Crap!! The burn engines won't cycle! Yohachi, check the primers!"
Hanaki commanded as she toggled her controls.

     Yohachi scanned his displays. "Primers... primers..."

     "Engine group five, section eight!" Hanaki reminded Yohachi at the
top of her voice.

     "Yeah..." I could see that Yohachi wasn't used to being in the
co-pilot's chair, but he did find the information. "Only one primer is
online."

     "Shit! It's always those damn primers," Hanaki muttered.

     "The monolith is gone!" Akane suddenly called out, looking at her
displays. "Control, do you have a location on the monolith?"

     Everyone scanned their displays for sign of the monolith while they
waited for a response from the control center.

     "Control?"

     Yohachi checked his status displays. "Long range comm is out... I'm
going to bounce a signal off one of the hov... BANK RIGHT!!"

     Hanaki trusted Yohachi's shout and banked hard to the right, just
barely avoiding the large black monolith that had suddenly appeared in
our path.

     Hanaki checked her terrain map and grinned. "I'm taking it to the
deck! Yohachi, rig the forward terrain grid," she commanded as she
pushed her stick down and sent us screaming towards the Mexican coast.

     San-kun was the first to comment on the monolith's sudden change in
position. "That's no type four!!"

     "Only a type one can become entirely invisible for short periods
like that," San-chan remarked.

     From what I knew about them, type ones were the most powerful type
of monoliths. They were very mobile and they were able to become
invisible for short periods of time. But they needed a lot of energy to
do it. "Where... where could it have gotten enough energy?" I asked, not
really expecting an answer.

     But San-kun did answer me. "Good question... it must have found a
way to escape our notice or sucked the energy very slowly to avoid a
large dieback."

     I nodded. One of the ways to find a monolith is to look for unusual
dieback of plant and animal life. That made type ones very rare these
days since the Task Force usually found them before they got that
powerful.

     To avoid the monolith, Hanaki had taken us down close to the
ground. The desert terrain of Northern Mexico flashed under us. I could
see the rearview showing the monolith lapping at our tail.

     "It's only a hundred meters behind us and closing," Akane remarked.

     Hanaki fought her controls, trying to get every last ounce of speed
out of the crippled aircraft. "Damn, we can't outrun it in this
condition. What's the status of the hoverjets?"

     San-kun responded. "Still dealing with the avians. It'd take them
ten minutes or so to get to us."

     "No time... Matriarch, permission to ground the monolith?" Hanaki
glanced back at her aunt.

     "Where?"

     Hanaki indicated a spot on the terrain map.

     Akane frowned. "It's populated."

     San-kun checked the displays. "Yeah... but it should be possible to
evacuate it in time. I'll notify the hoverjets." He looked at Hanaki.
"But why there?"
 
     "Because that's what Jaki would have done."

     No one dared to argue with that.

                    -C-           -M-           -D-

     The spacejet screamed across the desert, dodging high hills, mesas,
and even a couple of tall cactuses. Yes, we were flying that low to the
ground. Apparently, the monolith could now catch up to Tendo
One-half--as they referred to the forward half now--in a straight
contest of speed, so forcing it to get close to the ground prevented it
from overtaking us. But it was still close enough to see its ugly black
surface swallow most of rearview image despite Hanaki having turned off
the magnification long ago.

     We crested the top of a mesa and saw a wide expanse of open land
ahead of us. Hanaki pushed the engines beyond their limits to gain a
little breathing room. "Hold on!!" she shouted as she aimed Tendo
One-half for an arch with a circular opening.

     I grinned as I remembered the arches Hanaki had flown us through
the last time we had flown over this part of Utah during our
'honeymoon'. Come to think of it, this was the same arch. Which means...

     The spacejet shot through the first arch and then turned violently
to the left and shot through the next arch. The first arch was just wide
enough to let us slip through, the second clipped the edges of the wings
and caused the spacejet to creak and shudder.

     The rearview showed the monolith slip through the first arch,
hitting the edges and demolishing the arch. Unlike Hanaki, it--or
whatever was controlling it--had no idea about the second arch and
couldn't change course in time. It plowed into the second arch and was
driven into the hard Utah ground by its momentum.

     When the dust settled it was half buried in the remains of the two
arches and the land that surrounded them. Hanaki had successfully
'grounded' the monolith. Once a monolith touches ground, it can't fly or
move unless acted on by some external force.

     Unfortunately, we weren't able to celebrate just yet. The spacejet
was severely damaged after its wings were torn up going through the last
arch. Hanaki fought to keep it above ground as long as possible. "Damn,
that caused more damage than I had hoped."

     "Try not to hit a casino this time," San-kun mentioned.

     "Hardly... there's no way we can make it as far as Vegas." Hanaki
scanned the desert ahead of her, both visually and via the terrain grid
that was superimposed over the real terrain. "I'm going to get us as far
away as possible, but I don't exactly have a lot of control at the
moment. Jak..." She took a deep breath. "Yohachi, ready on the landing
gear and keep an eye on the fuel level. We must have punctured a tank,
the level is dropping fast."

     Yohachi nodded and adjusted the controls. "Number one is dry,
number two at eleven and dropping. Do you want me to transfer the
remaining to tank one?"

     "No! Tank one's gone according the damage tickler." She gestured at
the little indicators that gave the pilots information about the
spacejet in a special abbreviated form. The ticklers allowed the pilots
to absorb the information quicker and allow them to concentrate on
piloting. They were similar to the telltales and tickers they used in
the old days, but were more advanced and designed to give information in
more than just a visual manner. In addition to visual and audible
indicators and warnings, the various controls where covered with small
devices that could transmit small tactile pulses to the pilots' hands.
Hence 'tickling' them and leading to the 'tickler' name.

     Yohachi gulped as he checked the display and flexed his fingers on
the controls. "Sorry... I'm not used to these pilot ticklers." He
frowned as he cycled the landing gear servos to test them. "Um... the
landing gear servos aren't responding."

     Hanaki looked over at Yohachi. "That's not good."

     "No."

     "Try lowering them fully and see what happens."

     "I just did." 

     Hanaki took a deep breath. "Crash positions!!" she yelled and
started pushing buttons and adjusting controls. "I want just enough
power to brake this thing when our belly hits the ground, so let me know
when tank two is at three percent."

     San-chan looked back at me. "James, not like that."

     I look up from my position with my head between my knees and my
hands on the back of my neck. "Huh?"

     "You're in the wrong position." San-chan indicated a red pull-tab
on the right side of my seat. "Lean back against the back and then pull
that tab."

     "Okay..." I leaned back in my seat and then pulled the tab on my
seat that she had indicated. Suddenly, a thick, gooey foam-like
substance poured out of tiny holes in the seat and engulfed my body. I
tried to move, but could only manage to shift a small amount. Amazingly,
I found that I could still see, hear, and breathe through the foam.

     San-chan had turned her seat to face forward again and then pulled
her own tab. She was quickly encased in the same foam. All along the
sides of the cockpit, the others followed suit.

     Except for Hanaki and Yohachi. I tried to call out my concern, but
couldn't open my mouth. I only managed some groans.

     Hanaki must have heard my failed attempt at calling her name,
because she turned around and met my eyes. "Don't worry... no one else
dies today." She turned back to Yohachi. "Flood the cabins with the foam
and then encase yourself."

     Yohachi nodded. "Cabins flooding, but I'll stick with the
controls."

     "No, I'll handle the landing..."

     "I'm your co-pilot now, my duty is to help you land this thing!"

     Hanaki flinched backwards from the outburst, but knew he was right.
"Okay... but be ready for anything."

     "Anything Goes Spacejet Crashes are my specially."

     I could tell Hanaki appreciated Yohachi's attempt to calm her down.
"Tell me that when you've crashed as many aircraft as I have." She
looked forward. "There's our landing field." She indicated a long
stretch of desert ahead of us.

     "Just in time, tank two is at three percent."

     "When we hit the ground, throw the engines into reverse." Hanaki
said as she eased her stick forward.

     "Two percent. Fifty meters."

     The stick started to vibrate in Hanaki's hand as the spacejet
descended towards the desert floor. "Getting some vibration, feather
number two."

     "Aye, Captain." Yohachi adjusted a control. "One percent, ten
meters."

     The stick stopped vibrating and Hanaki pushed down. "Reverse
engines! Flood the dome! Impact!"

     As the belly of the spacejet scrapped the desert floor, Yohachi put
the engines into reverse and then hit a switch to retract the two
pilot's chairs and inject foam into the glassed-in area at the front of
the cockpit.

     Hanaki fought to keep the spacejet straight as it skidded down the
improvised landing field. "Come on... hold together... just a little
longer...."

     Without warning, the left wing snapped off and sent the spacejet
tumbling across the desert.

     I heard Hanaki curse and then everything went dark. The next
sensation I felt was something sharp break_ng m_ skIn a_d pierc__g my
stom__####


holoprocessor_stop
holo-mem_check_error[grid_checksum_bad]
grid_445.678.343.991.ZAS
pos_GHI.022.871.334.901
hw_TendoCard_3500c
os_Tendo_PalmOS_20.56_SP3c
app_global_dictator_plus


[End - Chapter 32]

Coming soon: Epilogue: Childhood's End
=======================================================================
The real author's (Jim Lazar) notes/ramblings:


(Almost) Finished! 


I'd like to thank my pre-readers Michael A. Chase, Jonathan Ng, Jyh-I
Lu, EBJ, Thomas C. Kinnen, and David Johnston for helping me find and
fix problems with this story. FFML members Rebecca Thomas, Elsa Bibat,
and Xstylus were also helpful in fine tuning this story. Thank you all.
Of course in the end, any mistakes and botched characters are my fault.


Revision 0.0 - Rough draft began (January 6, 2000)
Revision 0.1 - Rough draft finished (January 12, 2000)
Revision 0.3 - Pre-reader draft (April 9, 2000)
Revision 0.4 - FFML draft (April 27, 2000)
Revision 1.0 - Final version (May 14, 2000)

-- 
Jim Lazar

FanFiction - http://www.animeprime.com/ff
Please sign the Uncut Kite Petition -
   http://www.crosswinds.net/~jimlazar/kite.html
-=-
What do you do after you save the world? Save it again...and again...and...
Adulthood of a Modern Dynasty



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