-----------------
Back at the house, all of the girls fussed over Tenchi, making sure he was
uninjured and comfortable, and then checking again just to be sure.
Katsuhiko came in, "Tenchi, I heard what happened. Are you alright?"
Tenchi sat there with his feet propped up, pillow behind his back, tea in his
hand, being attended to by numerous females and still managed to look
miserable. Kiyone and Mihoshi, who had shown up after the fact, were there as
well.
"Yeah, I'm fine, Grandpa. Can I ask you about something that's been
bothering me?" At his grandfather's nod he continued, "When we were in space
yesterday, the commander of the other ship called Earth a colony planet.
What did he mean?"
"Earth falls into the Juraian Empire's sphere of influence, but since it
doesn't have a great many resources nor is it strategically positioned, it is
pretty much ignored. The actual events are a rather sad tale that happened
well before Earth developed it's own recorded history. Why do you want to
know?"
"Well, Washu-chan is working on the virus in her lab and I just feel so
useless waiting for her to make a break through. Knowing that Earth has more
ties with Jurai than just us made me wonder what else there is to know."
Sasami ran off to make some tea and snacks as she felt a story coming on.
Katsuhito settled himself into a chair and drank some tea before he began.
The girls did likewise; neither of the princesses had heard this story.
"I found this story in the great archives of the palace. Ages ago, during a
time when Jurai was still growing as an empire, the emperor at the time
desired to expand its boarders. Using the great trees, explorers went to the
stars searching for new worlds. That was when they found Earth. Great and
dangerous beasts inhabited it at the time, but the king ordered it colonized
anyway. Slaying the beasts and still leaving the ecosystem undamaged was a
major undertaking.
"Once it was safe, volunteers and refugees were taken to colonize the planet.
Among the volunteers was one of the king's youngest daughters. Some say she
wanted her own toy kingdom, other's say it was to escape an arranged marriage
that might have furthered the expansionistic goals of the time. Whatever the
case, the king allowed it, and she was put in charge of the colonization
efforts.
"Now one thing you must understand is that each planet, indeed, each stellar
system has it's own amount of energy, what could be called magic. For Jurai,
it was the power of the trees, for the Sol system it turn out to be the
planets themselves. Not enough to export, but definitely enough to replace
the trees of Jurai altogether and become self-sufficient.
"Using this power, the princess, whose name was Serenity, not only colonized
the earth and its moon, but every planet in the system, or at least the moons
if the planet was uninhabitable. The King was very proud and satisfied with
his daughter's efforts and withdrew any Juraian influence. Serenity became
Queen of her own small kingdom. With the aid of magically enhanced soldiers,
her reign was one of piece and justice that was known as the Silver
Millennium.
"This didn't go unnoticed in the courts of Jurai. More than a few were
jealous of the King's favor and Serenity's toy kingdom. One in particular,
named Beryl, took action. She slipped into the Sol system using a
sub-dimension. There, using corrupted magic and dark energy generated by the
negative emotions all beings have, she raised an army of youma, and
influenced a number of turncoats and saboteurs. Even though its magical
soldiers protected Serenity's kingdom, when Beryl attacked the Silver
Millennium ended.
"By the time Jurai reinforcements arrived every habitable city, moon and
planet had been destroyed, in some cases, it's very life essence sucked right
out of it. Even the fifth planet was so thoroughly decimated it is now only
an asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and it's name forgotten. The only
thing remaining was the Earth, though it, too, had been reduced to almost
nothing. But, the question still remains 'what happened to Beryl'? Even
after her apparent victory, she disappeared without a trace.
"The King was distraught, but the seers of Jurai gave him only one hope. A
prophecy that said the Silver Kingdom would once again rise under it's own
powers and make its former glory pale by comparison and the echo of Serenity
would be heard again in the courts of Jurai."
"'... to rise under it's own power.' That must have been when the Solar
System was made a non-interference preserve. To make sure nobody interfered
with it." Kiyone interjected.
"Yes, and so it remains to this day."
"The seers of Jurai have never been wrong," said Ayeka. "But it's been so
long. Is there anything of the Silver Kingdom left?"
"In truth, I have never searched for it."
"So if the prophecy still holds true, then the power of the Silver Millennium
might be able to destroy the virus," Tenchi mused.
"Sounds logical," said Washu, "I know I'm not having much luck with it."
"Washu-chan, do you think you might find any traces of energy that might be
left from the power of the Crystal Kingdom?"
"I can try."
Everyone trooped through the closet door that led to Washu's lab. "If
Katsuhito is right, then I will need samples of the planetary energy of every
planet in the Sol system. Enhance it, modify for temporal delay... We
really won't be ready for a couple of days but I should be able to find even
faint traces of any power that might be left over. Once I do, I should be
able to pinpoint it exactly."
"It's in Jubaan."
Everyone turned and stared at Mihoshi.
"And just what makes you so sure, Mihoshi?" Kiyone growled.
"It was in this morning's paper."
The expression varied from person to person as Mihoshi's explanation started
to sink in.
For Sasami, she smiled, "Wow! That's awesome, Mihoshi!"
For everyone else, am eye twitched and a grimace appeared on their faces.
"Why didn't you tell us this sooner!" the dastardly duo shouted at Mihoshi.
Even Kiyone backed away.
"Let me see that," Kiyone said at the same time grabbing the paper from her
partner's hands and reading it out loud. "Another youma attack yesterday was
stopped by the Sailor Senshi. Sailors Moon, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, and
Mars were joined by the elusive Outer Senshi, Neptune, Uranus, and Saturn, to
put a stop to the youma rampage. Five hundred thousand yen were estimated in
damages though no lives were lost. The shopkeepers of Jubaan are grateful to
the super-powered defenders of love and justice."
"Allowing for some difference in interpretation, it certainly sounds like
them," said Katsuhito.
"Well, it's the best clue we got," Ryoko said, "Count me in. It's better
than sitting around here all day."
"Oh, and this letter is for you, Tenchi," Mihoshi said as she handed him the
last envelope.
Everyone watched the boy go pale and start shaking as he read the letter.
"What is it?" His grandfather took the letter and noted the official seal at
the top. "Oh, dear."
"What is it?" everyone demanded.
"It's an officially sanctioned Omiai." Ayeka and Ryoko immediately bombarded
poor Tenchi with questions and accusations. "Ahem!" Katsuhito got their
attention again. "It says here that if he doesn't show up he will be
conscripted into a 'repopulation' camp."
"But don't they know that Tenchi is suppose to marry me?" Ayeka said with
more than little whimper.
"No. Tenchi is mine. They can't have him." Ryoko declared as though those
were the final words on the matter.
Kiyone turned to them, "Need I remind you that alien princesses and space
pirates don't really have any official status here in Japan? According to
their records, Tenchi is healthy and unattached. Not to mention he's
supposed to be living alone with his grandfather." Knowing that what she
said next would more than likely start the cat fight over again but for a
whole different reason. Kiyone never got the chance.
"Of course, if you could prove to them that Tenchi was engaged or even
married," Mihoshi blushed as she said it, "then they might be willing to
forget the whole thing."
"MARRY ME, TENCHI!!" Ayeka and Ryoko exploded, but Tenchi was already running
for his life.
*What the heck,* Kiyone thought. "Hey you guys, remember that polygamy has
been sanctioned worldwide," she shouted after Ayeka and Ryoko.
If looks could kill, the one that Tenchi was giving her while running for his
life would have destroyed the Earth ten-times over. Now he was not running
away from whom he decided to marry but rather who he was suppose to marry
first.
Looking at Kiyone, "You are evil," commented Katsuhito with a grin.
"Ain't I?"
As the day wore on, Kiyone continued to plan with Washu and Katsuhito, "We
are going to have to find someone who can forge some documents and obtain
citizenship for those two. I don't like it, but I don't see where we have
much of a choice."
"We are heading toward Jubaan anyway, perhaps we will find someone in Tokyo
that can provide us with what we need."
Far away, Nabiki Tendo sneezed.
Looking at everyone present, "Don't worry if worse comes to worse, I'll hack
into this planet's primitive computers and give us all citizen status," Washu
smirked after having replied. "It's a piece of cake compared to this virus."
Having set a plan, the duo started their trip to Tokyo as Katsuhito started a
plan of his own, one involving wedding vows.
To be continued ^_^
Many thanks to my pre readers: Thomas Hackwood, Jason Wong, Brian Randall,
Octavian
By the way Thomas Hackwood gave me some calculations on how soon the Earth
would die. Have not had a chance to look at it much in detail but I am
taking bets.
6 billion people - (6 billon * .5)
3 billion males
3 billion males, 20% survived = 600 million males
600 million males, 20% fertile = 120 million "breaders"
Allowing for 80% of all surviving males to be between 12 years and 55
years, makes 96 million possible breeders.
Here is where I forgot the math... I *think*
Given a 4% chance of a male child surviving to 12 years and potential
breeding, each child would have to sire 25 *male* children in his life time
to *stabilize* the population. (I'm assuming an even distribution of births
over his lifetime, the availability of multiple mothers, a 100% infant
survival rate above what I've mentioned, and a even distribution of death
rates.)
You'll need to consider that wars, plagues, decrepit infrastructure, lost
knowledge and such will mean that each male will need to probably sire
nearly 50-60 *male* for the population to grow.
Assuming a low 20-30 children per fertile male in an optimistic scenario, I
*think* humans would approach extinction in six or seven generations.
Assuming a 20-30 children per fertile male in a pessimistic scenario, humans
should be approaching extinction in four or five generations.
For realism, you should take under consideration that males make up the bulk
of engineering fields in occidental countries. It isn't that woman couldn't
learn the jobs, but they don't have enough of the "lore" to keep things going
at the same level. If you want, we can discuss this off line. There's a lot
to this, I deal with information loss all the time, it's nasty.
<<By the way, Thomas just hinted on something I was planning for the Amazons.
Hint hint. China and its army is the only thing I will say.