Interface - A Ranma 1/2 / Matrix Fanfic Crossover
Chapter Eight
Authored by XStylus (Troy Alan Williams)
Begun on: 10-25-99
Revisions made on: N/A
Special thanks to prereader Kevin D. Hammel
and to the patient members of the FFML.
Please see Chapter One for disclaimers, all of which
apply to this chapter and all forthcoming chapters
unless otherwise noted.
All previous chapters are archived at www.sofaspud.org.
Got comments? Let's hear em'!
Please visit www.sofaspud.org and send comments to XStylus.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So this 'daughter' of Makoto's is a farm body, eh'?"
Paragon muttered as he looked at Akane's unconscious body.
"I was wondering why you hadn't pulled the plug yet."
"Pulled the plug -yet-?!" Neo amazed.
Paragon shot Neo a haunted look.
"Yeah. You know, cut your losses, death with dignity,
forced retirement, whatever you want to call it."
"Wha-...?! You make it sound like it's no big deal!"
Paragon cringed. "Hey! I'm not saying it isn't, but
sometimes it's necessary! I don't know how long you've been
out, but I've had to pull the plugs of seven captured crew
members since I've been in command. What am I supposed to
do? Go after them?!"
"Yeah, you WERE!" Neo retorted. "-I- did so for
Morpheus, and I'm doing it again for her! It's the job of the
leader to -protect- those under his command! Jesus, I'm glad
I'm not on your ship...!"
"Don't you DARE tell me how to run a command, boy!"
Paragon shouted, getting nose to nose with Neo. "You got
lucky with Morpheus, so don't let it go to your head! If you
want, you and I can have words about it the sparring program
later on..."
"Yeah... I'll make sure you choke on every one of them."
Neo cringed as he smelled Paragon's breath.
"All right now, CHILDREN..." Makoto chided.
"Hey Zipper, why are you so quiet?" Tank whispered
to the blond man beside.
"I found that If I keep my mouth shut, my life
expectancy triples." Zipper whispered in reply.
"That's advise you should'a learned with me, Tank."
Tone quietly muttered.
Morpheus stepped forward between Neo and Paragon.
"Parry, that'll be enough for today if you don't mind. I
should get my ship underway." Morpheus said.
"Yeah..." Paragon replied, not taking his vengeful eyes
off Neo for an instant. "You and me, Neo. Don't forget it.
C'mon gang, out we go."
"Well, wish I could say it's been fun, Tank." Tone
muttered.
"I can't say that life with you was ever boring..." Tank
replied.
"Zipper, do me a favor..." Makoto requested, far from
earshot of Paragon.
"Yeah?"
"Staple Parry's damn mouth shut, will ya'?"
Zipper chuckled. "I'll ask if Tone could -accidentally-
forget to digitize a mouth for him in the construct one of these
days. How's about that?"
"That'll cure half of one problem at least." Makoto
chuckled as she patted Zipper on the back. "Take care bud.
I'll miss ya'."
"Be sure to send me a postcard when you get to
San Angeles. I'm told that Disney Ditch is quite a spectacle."
Zipper grinned.
Paragon, Tone, and Zipper at last made their eventual
depart through the hatch that came in. Moments after it was
sealed, a metal-grinding noise signified the retraction of the
Escaflowne's docking tube.
"So... which one of you chuckle-heads do I bunk with?"
Makoto inquired with a sigh.
"Don't need to. There's plenty of vacancies here if you
hadn't heard already. I suggest Dozer's quarters. He had the
largest ones, and he's the guy you're replacing anyway so
it's only fitting..." Morpheus answered. "Oh, by the way,
you'll probably be going with us back to San Angeles with us
when this is over. I don't know when you'll be able to get
back to the Escaflowne, so you may be stuck with us a while."
"Let me save you some trouble then..." Makoto
responded, setting down some of her luggage so that she could
perform a formal bow. "I respectfully request an official
permanent transfer to the Nebuchadnezzar."
Morpheus chuckled. "Yep, I suppose that would make
things a bit easier... Request granted. Gotten sick of Paragon
and his nicknames, I take it?"
"Not at all. Parry I can handle, the names I can
handle..." Makoto grabbed her luggage and continued her
stroll toward her quarters. "...but his breath I can't handle. Add
to it the fact that he never shuts his damn mouth, and the air
recycler's busted to boot..."
Morpheus shook his head as he laughed.
~~~
Ranma twiddled her thumbs in and nervousness as sat
on the floor of her quarters with Trinity. She felt ashamed that
she had lost her temper before her lesson with Trinity even
had a chance to start, and even more ashamed that she took
her rage out on her student.
"Trin, look... I'm sorry for yelling at you and... well,
I mean, everyone's treating me like I've lost my mind or
something and your comment didn't help, so I, uh... kinda
over-reacted." Ranma kept held her head low as she nervously
twiddled her fingers. "So, I wanna say I'm sorry, and I hope
you'll forgive me."
Trinity smiled. If she was at all upset with Ranma,
there was no hint of it. "It's no problem, Ranma. It's just-..."
"Son of a-...!" Ranma shouted, denying Trinity the
chance to finish her sentence. Ranma's expression quickly
changed from apologetic to enraged in a matter of moments.
"I keep TELLING everyone..." Ranma didn't even
bother to finish her own sentence as she stormed out of her
quarters. "Would everyone on this damned ship QUIT calling
me Ranma?" she yelled.
"Then what do you want to be called?" an unfamiliar
female voice bluntly inquired. "I'd rather use a name instead
of 'hey you' when I ask someone to get out of my way."
Ranma quickly turned to face the familiar looking
stranger who's path Ranma had abruptly obstructed. A look of
total shock washed over her Ranma's face as if she'd seen a
ghost.
"Who are you?" Trinity asked as she stepped out of
Ranma's quarters.
"My name is Makoto. Don't call me anything but." she
answered. "I've been 'volunteered' for the job of navigator."
"Don't tell me I missed a dock..." Trinity inquired.
"Yup." Makoto dryly answered. "That and a brief
immaturity contest between my ex-cap and boy 'one'der."
"Really? Who won that one?"
"No winners." Makoto replied, forming a slight grin.
"Just a pair of total losers."
"You... you look..." Ranma mumbled, barely able to
continue the sentence. "...just like Ak-... Ak-..."
"Like that Akane girl? Yeah, so I'm told." Makoto sighed.
"I went through that story with the others already."
"What do you mean? Went through what?" Trinity
inquired.
"I tell you, It's been a fun first day. Switch ships, tell
off the old captain, meet the daughter the never knew you
had... barrels of fun. I wonder what other surprises are waiting
for-... OOF!" Makoto wheezed as Ranma latched onto her in a
tight hug.
"Mother!"
Trinity blinked.
Makoto blinked twice. Loudly.
"P-p-pardon?"
Ranma said nothing as a fountain of emotional tears
welled up in her eyes.
Makoto coldly glared at Ranma. "Listen here, girl... I
am NOT your mother."
"You have to be." Ranma replied matter-of-factly as
she hugged tighter.
"Urggg! No I don't, because I'm not! Let go of me!"
"You HAVE to be!" Ranma insisted.
"Look, enough is enough. You don't WANT me to be
your mother. Trust me."
Ranma slowly released Makoto from her embrace.
"Mom, please... You HAVE to be." Ranma said,
stressing the word -have- just a little too much.
"Why?" Makoto curiously inquired.
"PLEASE!" Ranma begged.
Makoto gave the idea a little more thought, and
eventually gave a relenting sigh.
"Aww shit." Makoto cursed as she rubbed her
forehead. "Fine. Whatever. What difference does one more
make?"
The dam holding back Ranma's tears finally broke.
"Oh god yes... thank you!!" she managed to mutter.
"We're a family at last, Akane... all that's missing
now is you." a repressed voice whispered silently in Ranma's
mind.
"Cripes... What in the hell have I gotten myself into?"
Makoto wondered silently.
~~~
One of Tank's ill appreciated duties was constantly
debugging and rewriting the interface software since the
Matrix had the quiet habit of remodulating it's broadcast
signal each time someone hacked in.
Several more lines of character gibberish scrolled
across Tank's computer display, one of the characters in those
lines being a key piece of information for his current task. His
progress was coming along at a steady pace, that is, until Neo
entered the room.
"Tank, I'm still unclear on this." Neo muttered. "How
can Makoto be Akane's mother?" Neo inquired.
"C'mon. You should know that." Tank answered,
trying his best to keep his concentration on his work.
"There's still a lot I don't know, or so I'm
discovering." Neo replied.
"Yeah. I'll bet." Tank muttered, still diligently keeping
focus on his work. "It's quite simple. Egg plus sperm equals
kid. Even schools in the matrix teach you that."
"You know what I meant." Neo retorted.
Tank sighed as he was forced to elaborate. "Certain
individuals are harvested for reproductive purposes. Makoto
was probably one of them."
"Harvested?" Neo questioned.
"Okay, junior. I'll spell it out for you." The now
agitated Tank saved his progress and shut down the program,
since Neo wasn't likely to stop bothering him unless he gave
the topic his full attention.
"The matrix injected her with sperm and extracted the
fertilized eggs from her where they are grown in the harvest
fields and later grow up to become wonderful upstanding
members of our happy little matrix community." Tank
explained, adding heavy buckets of sarcastic emphasis.
"Akane is a textbook example. Understand now?"
"Whoa..." Neo muttered.
"Yeah, whoa is right. Lots of fun when you extract
someone like that out of the matrix too."
"Why's that?" Neo questioned.
"Because most likely when you do, there's usually a
fertilized egg or two still in the womb that didn't get
extracted." Tank sighed as he continued on. "Take my brother
Dozer for example. When mom was extracted from the matrix
he arrived nine months later. The crew of the ship she was on
at the time had a hell of a blast trying to care for her and my
brother."
"And you?"
"I came about the old fashioned way. You know... one
girl, one guy, semi-private room... you know the bit."
"I see." Neo muttered.
"We have a nickname for people like Makoto and my
mom, you know."
"What would that be?" Neo inquired.
Tank shook his head in disappointment. "If you
haven't figured it out by now..." he muttered as he went back
to his work.
~~~
Several of Makoto's few belongings had found a home
in Ranma's quarters. Makoto relished the idea of having her
own quarters all to herself at first, but as she took a moment to
think about it she concluded that it sounded far too lonely...
and boring.
Thus prompted her decision to bunk with Ranma. Of
course, she had yet to ask Ranma, who was peacefully asleep
on her bed with Trinity keeping a watchful eye over the girl.
They both had little doubt that Ranma wouldn't mind..
While Makoto had unpacked her sparse belongings,
Trinity had quietly discussed Ranma's previous 'life' in the
matrix. Makoto understandably had a hard time believing it.
"No way! You're full of it!" Makoto shouted.
"Shhh! Not so loud, will ya'? She needs her rest."
Trinity quietly replied. "I wasn't making it up. Ranma was a
guy in the matrix, and quite comfortable with it too."
"I don't believe a word of it." Makoto sternly
muttered. "How could the matrix possibly pull something like
that? Come to think of it, why?"
"We've got a good idea why. It's just as screwed up
itself." Trinity answered. "Ranma was handling the gender
issue pretty well. It's when her family got shot up that she
crumbled."
"I don't blame her." Makoto muttered. "I know that the
family that raised me in the matrix aren't really my family, but
still, if something ever happened to them..." Makoto trailed off
her sentence and shook her head in pity. "Sucks to be her."
"Yeah, exactly. She just couldn't handle it anymore, I
guess. I mean, she just... you know, hit the reset button or
something. Poof. Just like that." Trinity muttered. "You saw
how she acted. She thinks you're her mother, her fiancee is her
sister, I'm her cousin, etcetera. I wish I could rewrite my life
like that."
"Did you say fiancee?" Makoto inquired.
Trinity nodded. "Uh huh. Akane was her fiancee in the
matrix."
"Oh really? Hmm. Now I get it." Makoto gave the
slumbering girl an assessing look. "It makes perfect sense now.
What a clever girl."
"What does?"
"Why Ranma wanted me to be her mother." Makoto
mused. "It's a long story. I think this is Ranma's way of
making herself part of Akane's family. Not that easy I'm
afraid... but I'll see that things work out."
Trinity shrugged. "Sounds complex."
"It is." Makoto nodded. "You know, I had a child
shortly after I got out of the matrix."
"Really? How old is she?"
"I don't know. I didn't want anything to do with her at
the time." Makoto muttered. "I haven't seen her since she was
born. Doubt I ever will either."
"Maybe you should find her."
Makoto shrugged, then shook her head. "No, I suppose
it's too late for that. I have no idea where she is. Probably for
the best. She should be almost two years old by now..."
"Any regrets?"
"You bet." Makoto bluntly answered. "I would've
liked a daughter to train in the martial arts... other than
through brain-tapes, that is."
"Ranma and Akane know martial arts." Trinity informed.
"It's their family's own unique style."
"Really? My father in the matrix had a dojo where we
practiced the art." Makoto stated. "I only wish I could have
restored the dojo's honor."
"What happened?" Trinity inquired.
"I... I don't want to talk about it." Makoto answered.
"That was in the matrix. Let it stay there."
Trinity respectfully nodded.
Makoto sat in a seat closer to Ranma's bed.
"I think we've got some work ahead of us, little one."
Makoto quietly spoke as she reached over and gently stroked
her adopted daughter's short fiery hair. "I doubt I'll be much
of a mother, and I can already tell that you're gonna be a
real hellion of a daughter. I promise I'll give you my best,
though. I'll try not to dump some of my life's baggage on you
in the process."
~~~
Morpheus sat in a small chair on the ops deck staring
at a screen which displayed data on some of the latest
occurrences in the matrix. Unlike the raw character display,
this one translated some of the rudimentary data into
something similar to a news report. There wasn't anything
particularly interesting to read, but it gave Morpheus
something to look at.
As Neo entered the room, Morpheus maintained his
poker faced expression as he prepared his next course of
action.
"Call up your 'friend' in the matrix." Morpheus
ordered. "Let him know we'll meet him in one hour."
"'We'? As in you and me?" Neo questioned. "He'll
recognize you, Morpheus."
"I know." Morpheus replied. "I want to meet him
properly this time."
"With or without guns?" Neo jokingly questioned.
"I haven't decided yet." Morpheus eerily maintained
his impassive expression.
"Just to be frank, I don't think you meeting him is too
hot of an idea." Neo muttered. "And why an hour?"
Morpheus broke his facade, forming a small grin. "In
ten minutes I have an appointment with someone. I'd hate to
have to make two trips." Morpheus walked over to one of the
interface couches and prepped it for activation. "Let's go."
~~~
After spending a great deal of time searching, Ryoga
finally found his way to the hospital room he was assigned to
guard. He took a silent peek into the room and saw that the
scientist had his back turned, concentrating on whatever
experiment he was working on.
Seeing this his chance, Ryoga quietly stepped into the
room hoping that he could dodge the bullet for being late.
"Mister Hibiki..." the agent ominously muttered as he
turned around.
Ryoga cringed. "Yes sir?"
"I don't think you're allowed to carry non-official
cellular telephones on duty." the scientist pointed to Ryoga's
cell phone which was clipped to his belt.
"It... uh, it was a gift." Ryoga nervously answered.
"From whom?"
Ryoga hesitated to think of an answer. "A friend."
The scientist rubbed his chin. "I see."
-Ring!- -Ring!-
Ryoga flinched as the phone rang, yet remained
perfectly still while sweating buckets.
-Ring!- -Ring!-
Ryoga gingerly glanced at the phone, then at his boss.
"I think it'd stop ringing if you answered it." the
scientist bluntly muttered.
Ryoga brought the phone up to his ear, pushed the
green button, and spoke.
"Hello?" he nervously answered.
"Hello, Mister Hibiki." Neo greeted.
"We'll whaddya know?! It's my friend." Ryoga
nervously said to the scientist. "I, uh, I'll ask him not to call
while I'm at work..."
The scientist gave an eerie grin. "I wasn't
complaining."
"Did I call at a bad time?" Neo inquired over the
phone.
"Yes! Uh, I mean, no! Not at all! Uhm, what's up?"
Ryoga asked.
"We're on our way to meet you. One hour."
"Where at?"
"Just find a place and stay there. I'll find you."
"Okay."
Neo hung up the phone without so much as a formal
goodbye.
"Mister Hibiki, I doubt Ms. Tendo's associates will be
showing up here. Perhaps you should take the rest of the day
off." the scientist suggested.
"Really? Perfect! See ya'!" Ryoga hastily departed.
The scientist's grin grew wider.
~~~
I would like to thank you for reading 'Interface'.
It would be greatly appreciated if you would take
a moment to send a comment or two to myself (XStylus)
telling me what you liked or disliked, or any potential
errors or typos.
The archive to this fanfic, as well as my email address,
can be found at www.sofaspud.org.
Thanks for reading!