The Ramarian Crisis
By DarkHorse

Chapter 7: The Stuff of Legends

*National Military Command Center,
Pentagon*


  Bill Winters watched as Sergeant Gomez made some necessary
adjustments on his instrument panel. He looked to his right
to find Joan Rumsen equally focused on the work being done.
He was sure she was feeling the same way: giddy. It wasn't
everyday that you get to see the inside of the Pentagon,
much less witness the inner workings of one of the best-kept
secrets in the world.

  They were connected via a special patch to the VLA or
Very Large Array located in New Mexico. It was an array of
27 dishes already pointed skywards towards the direction
where they believed the alien ships were. The current
mission was to send a message to them.

  The actual content of the message was a subject of much
debate. They were going to send both a Behistun and an
English version of the message. In the end, it was a
ridiculously simple one:
    
     GREETINGS FROM EARTH.
     WE ARE A PEACE LOVING RACE.
     WE WOULD LIKE TO EXPLORE WAYS, WHICH WILL ALLOW US TO
     WORK TOGETHER IN PEACE AND HARMONY.
     PLEASE ACKNOWLEDGE.
     
  "How long do you think it will take for this message to
reach them?" Sergeant Gomez asked with his eyes still glued
on the console in front of him.

  "Based on our calculations, it will take a year for our
signal to reach them," Winters replied.

  "It would be nice if we had the same kind of power they
used when they sent their signal to us," Joan Rumsen said
wistfully.

  After a few more adjustments, Sergeant Gomez swiveled his
chair to face the two astrophysicists. "Ready when you are."

  Winters and Rumsen exchanged glances before looking back
at the Latino computer operator. Winters gave him a nod.

  "Okay," Gomez swiveled his chair back to face his
console, "here we go." He punched a button and just like
that without the fanfare one would expect from such a
historic moment, the message went out into the void of
space. Gomez stood and faced his visitors again. "I've
programmed it so that the message would send continuously
every three hours for 24 hours."

  Bill Winters reached out to shake the hands of the
Sergeant. "Thank you for your assistance Sergeant."

  Joan Rumsen did the same. Both astrophysicists were then
led outside, their little adventure already done. Once
outside, Bill turned to Joan. "What are you thinking about?"

  Joan looked at her companion. "What do you mean?"
  
  "You've got that expression on your face."
  
  Joan smirked. "You know me too well, Bill," she said. "I
just think those ships will get the message sooner than a
year."

  Bill merely nodded and began walking. "Those ships are
moving." It was a statement.

  "Towards Earth."
  
  "When will you make your report to the President?"
  
  "I'll have it ready by tomorrow."
  
  Bill said nothing more as he walked to the car and opened
the door for Joan to enter. After Joan had settled herself
inside, Bill went to the other side and got into the
driver's side. For a while they just sat there not saying a
word.

  "It's not very comforting, is it?" Bill asked
rhetorically after a while.

  "No, not at all," Joan replied stoically. "The funny
thing is you can't escape it just by going out of town."

  "Yeah," Bill responded with the same blandness. He
started the car and drove towards their hotel.
                              
                          * * * * *
  
  Tanaka stood stock still as he listened to his aide give
the report about the failed kidnapping attempt. Even as they
spoke policemen were already swarming the residence of the
one of the girls they were supposed to abduct. It was also
likely that one of his men was killed. How was it possible
that ten highly trained men could be bested by three girls?
He grilled the aide mercilessly with questions about the
night's excursion. Were there only three girls in the house?
Was it a trap? Did anyone come by the house while his men
were inside? Naturally, the man didn't have any answers.

  With a deep scowl, Tanaka dismissed the pitifully
sweating man and made his way back to his office. Damn! The
money he had been paid was a pittance compared to what he
had lost tonight. The only thing he could take solace from
was the fact that those men were trained not to talk. So the
likelihood that he would be fingered was slim at best.

  During the walk he had cursed silently continuously. Upon
reaching the door to his office, he fished for the keys
inside the pocket of his trouser. It was only when he put
his key on the lock did he realize that his door was ajar.

  Putting his keys quietly back in his pocket, he reached
inside his jacket for his gun. Once out, he silently cocked
it and flipped the safety off. With his left hand he slowly
pushed the door open. When the door was sufficiently opened,
he quickly reached in and turned the lights on, rushed in
and aimed the gun first towards his table, then to the left
side. Belatedly noticing that someone *was* at his desk did he
aim once more towards that direction.

  There reclining on his very expensive leather chair with
his feet up on the desk was the man who paid him to capture
three girls. Tanaka raised his pistol to aim more carefully
at the intruder.

  "I should shoot you right here right now," Tanaka said
through gritted teeth.

  The stranger merely smiled and dropped his feet. He
leaned forward, resting his forearms on the desk. "In your
position I could probably understand why you would feel that
way."

  Curiosity made the Yakuza hesitate on the trigger. "What
is your business here?"

  "Surely you already know that your men faired pitifully
against the three girls we sent you to capture."

  Tanaka narrowed his eyes. He was having real difficulty
controlling his temper. "You have made a big mistake coming
here to gloat, *gaijin*," his finger was already caressing the
trigger, "so unless you give me a good reason not to shoot
you..."

  The stranger merely smiled again and brought his hands
up, palms facing outwards in front of him. "Relax, Tanaka,"
the man said, slowly rising from the desk. He moved very
slowly to the front of the desk with Tanaka tracking his
every step with his gun. "I'm here to give you an
opportunity to get some payback." With one hand, the man
pulled at his left lapel to open his jacket. His right hand
slowly began to snake into the jacket.

  "Keep your hands were I can see them!"
  
  "Easy," the intruder said, "easy, I'm just taking an
envelope out." True enough, his right hand came out holding
a rather large brown envelope. He tossed it forward so that
it landed just in front of Tanaka's feet.

  "What is that?"
  
  "It's the second half of your fee," the man said,
grinning, "plus a sizable bonus."

  Tanaka cocked his head, eyeing his "guest" suspiciously.
"This is not how we do business in Japan, *gaijin*. I have not
delivered the girls, so why do you pay me?"

  "Because you may not have delivered the girls but you
have given us some valuable information about them."

  Realizing that the man was not a threat, he lowered his
gun and reached down to pick up the envelope. Holding the
envelope with his right hand between the gun and his thumb,
he pried the flap with his left. He peered inside and saw
quite a sizeable amount of money. He looked up once again at
the intruder. "Very well, you have my attention." Tanaka
walked towards and around his desk to rightfully take his
position. Before sitting down on his expensive leather
chair, he motioned for the man to sit down. Only when he
did, did Tanaka lower himself placing the gun facing
forwards on the right side of the desk and the envelope on
the left. He looked squarely at the face of the man in front
of him. "Perhaps we should start by you telling me your
name."

  "You already know my name," the man smiled generously.
  
  "That is not your real name."
  
  "It is for now," the man persisted, giving Tanaka an
expression as if daring him to contradict him.

  "Very well, Mr. Roger Simmons," Tanaka conceded after a
second of contemplation as he leaned back and steepled his
fingers, "how do you propose I get my payback?"

  "Simmons" smiled wickedly.
                              
                          * * * * *
                              
  The Hououji sisters looked at their house with dismay.
The Hikaru, Umi and the sisters were watching from a block
away. But even from that distance they could glimpse a
number of policemen coming in and out with abandon. They
could also see medics bearing stretchers that carried the
injured men that had tried to kidnap them. There was also a
yellow "Police Line Do Not Cross" tape that prevented the
crowd from obstructing the proceedings. The Hououjis only
saw these kinds of things on TV. *What would our parents say?*
was their collective thought.

  "Stay calm, Fuu, Kuu," Hikaru said standing behind them.
"Everything will be okay. Do you guys remember the story?"

  The sisters nodded. Hikaru turned to her right to look at
Umi. "How about you, Umi, are you okay with the story?" Umi
nodded mutely, her eyes glued at the drama before her.

  Hikaru squared her shoulders and stepped forward. "Okay,
let's do this." Without turning back, she walked past the
sisters and marched towards the police. Fuu, Kuu and Umi's
eyes widened in nervousness and amazement at the courage of
the redhead. They had no choice but to follow, of course. As
one, they pulled their robes more tightly around their
nightgowns.

  Hikaru walked up to a policeman who was facing forward.
He jerked when he felt someone tapping him on his shoulder.
He turned around at first not seeing anyone. It was when he
looked down that he realized that it was a redheaded little
girl that tapped him.

  "Excuse me, Officer..." Hikaru started to say.
  
  "Miss," the policemen was already wagging a finger at
Hikaru, "this is no place for young girls like you. Go on
home."

  Kuu walked up to Hikaru and looked at the policeman.
"Officer, that is our home," Kuu said pointing towards the
gate.

  "What!?"
  
  Kuu was going to say something more when a taxi and a car
came screeching to a halt a few meters away from where she
was standing. The vehicles had barely stopped when the doors
burst open to reveal Hikaru's three brothers and Umi's
parents."

  "Elder Brother! Masaru! Kakeru!" Hikaru cried as she
rushed to her brothers' waiting arms. Unexpected tears
spilled from her eyes.

  "Umi!" both Mr. and Mrs. Ryuuzaki cried out, rushing
towards their daughter. The reunion was a tearful one as
well.

  Kuu and Fuu watched on hugging each other and sharing the
feeling of relief that Hikaru's brothers and Umi's parents
obviously felt. Both also had tears on their eyes.

  Satoru drew back, holding Hikaru's shoulders tightly with
his hands. He looked deeply into the fiery eyes of his
little sister. "Tell me, Hikaru, what happened here?"

  "Elder Brother, there is much to say, but again this is
not the time," Hikaru looked hard into her brother's eyes,
willing him to understand just this one more time.

  "Excuse me."
  
  The four siblings looked up to see a policeman standing
there waiting for them to notice him.

  "I'm terribly sorry," the officer said as he looked at
Satoru, "but your sister is needed for questioning."

  Hikaru looked back at her brother. "It's alright." She
turned back to the policeman. "My brothers can accompany me,
can't they, Officer?"

  "Yes, Miss, they can," the policeman stepped back and
gestured towards his car. "This way please." The siblings
followed the police and got into the car. Hikaru glanced out
of the window to see that Umi, her parents, Fuu and Kuu were
similarly escorted to two waiting police cars. She caught
the eye of both Umi and Fuu and nodded encouragingly to
them. They both managed a small smile of strength before
disappearing into their respective rides. Hikaru sighed as
she faced forward. *It's going to be a long night.*

                          * * * * *
  
  "I told you a thousand times already!" yelled the
handcuffed man seated on what appeared to be a very
uncomfortable wooden chair.

  "You will tell us again," Investigator Hirota said calmly
behind the man, "what did you see just before you passed
out?" Hirota glanced at the one-way mirror knowing that
there were people on the other side watching and listening
to the proceedings. He was particularly curious as to what
the "observer" from the United States was thinking.

  The man on the chair, presumably the leader of the gang
named Abe Fukuda, sighed deeply. "I saw an oval something.
It was really bright. It really hurt my eyes. In the middle
of the oval was something like water, churning water. And I
saw one of the girls walk through it and disappeared."
Fukuda hung his head in fatigue and despair. It sounded so
crazy even he couldn't believe what he really saw.

  "What happened to the oval after the girl disappeared
into it?"

  "The oval just disappeared," Fukuda began shaking his
head. "It just disappeared."

  Hirota stared at the back of the Fukuda for several
seconds before straightening up. He turned to walk out the
door. He rounded the corner to join three people who
witnessed the interrogation. "So what do you think?" This
question, posed in English, he addressed to the "observer",
Special Agent Robert Jenkins of the FBI. Hirota didn't mind
that the FBI was here in Japan. He actually took advantage
of such opportunities to learn more about the way they did
things in the West. He was convinced that the Japanese
police force was very competent but that was just like
saying you were the best basketball player because you were
the tallest. The criminals in Japan aren't as...resourceful as
those in the United States. Hirota was open-minded enough to
admit that.

  Also he had come to like the American agent. He was tall
and bulky. Someone who, Hirota thought, would feel right at
home playing American football. But it was this man's
intelligence and insight that earned his respect.

  Right now, Jenkins had his arms crossed on his chest,
pondering the answer to Hirota's question. "Well, let's
see," he held out a hand and began ticking off fingers.
"First we have girls with amazing strength and speed;
second, these girls seem to also possess amazing powers; and
now third, there's this 'oval something' that they can
disappear into."

  "Don't forget that except for the 'oval something', we
got the same stories from this guy's companions when they
regained consciousness," Hirota added. "Their accounts are
amazingly consistent." *It was highly unlikely that they made
up this story*, Hirota didn't have to say.

  "Have we also already questioned the girls?"
  
  "Investigator Hashimoto is doing that now as we speak,"
replied Hirota. Hashimoto was a junior investigator but was
competent enough. If he handled himself well in this case,
it could earn him the recognition he was looking for.

  Jenkins nodded. The White House asked him to report
anything strange that happened in Japan. Well, this
qualified as "strange" in his vocabulary. He glanced at the
detective. "So Hirota-san, what do *you* think?"

  "It is truly bizarre, Mr. Jenkins," Hirota said as he
stroked his beardless chin, "truly bizarre."

  "Do you get bizarre cases here often?"
  
  "Not at all, Mr. Jenkins," the Japanese investigator
shook his head vigorously. "Why?"

  "Oh nothing," Jenkins said simply.
                              
                          * * * * *
  
  The ringing of the phone startled Joan out of her deep
concentration. She was performing deep calculations about
the movement of the alien ships sitting just outside their
solar system. *Damn! Can't a person have any peace around
here?* Joan pushed herself away from the terminal and allowed
her swivel chair to propel her towards the annoying phone.

  "Hello!" she said into the phone a bit too harshly.
  
  "Ms. Rumsen?" replied a female voice on the other line.
  
  "This is she."
  
  "I have a priority patch for you from Japan."
  
  "What?"
  
  "Hello? Ms. Rumsen?" This one was a male voice this time.
  
  "Who is this?" Joan was getting more annoyed by the
minute.

  "This is Special Agent Robert Jenkins of the FBI,"
replied the man. "I'm calling you from Japan."

  "Well, what do you want already!" the reception wasn't
very clear, further irritating the astrophysicist.

  "I have just one question for you Ms. Rumsen," a pause,
"what would a wormhole look like?"

  "A what? Did you just say 'wormhole'?"
  
  "Yes, Ma'am."
  
  Joan pulled the phone from ear to stare at it. *Is this
for real?* Delicately, she put the phone back to her ear.
"Why are you asking?"

  "Please, Ma'am," insisted the disjointed voice, "just
answer the question."

  *Why the nerve--?* "Listen bozo, I'm--"
  
  "Ma'am, this is official White House business," the man's
voice was serious enough to jolt Joan out of her retort.

  "Okay, okay!" Joan collected her thoughts for a moment.
"Listen, Agent Jenkins right? Nobody has ever seen a
wormhole so I wouldn't be able to tell you what it really
looks like."

  "If you were to guess..." the voice prompted.
  
  Joan leaned far back on her chair to allow her head to
hang backwards so that her eyes were looking straight up to
the ceiling. "If I were to guess...well, a wormhole is like a
door, you know, a passage way...and since it would take a *lot*
of energy to create one, I'd imagine a wormhole to be, I
don't know, bright or something...full of energy." Joan moved
forward to resume a natural sitting position as she waited
for a response. It took a long time.

  "We have someone in custody right now who claims to have
seen a wormhole."

  Joan audibly smirked. "Oh c'mon..."
  
  "I kid you not, Ma'am."
  
  After a moment, Joan's eyes widened and her mouth hung
open. "Agent Jenkins, where did you say you were again?"

  "Tokyo, Japan."
  
  Joan gripped the phone tightly. "C-can you...did the man in
your custody describe what he saw?" She heard the shuffling
of paper in the background. "Agent Jenkins?"

  "The man said it was oval-shaped. It was very bright. The
center was like churning water."

  *Could it be?* For at least five seconds, neither one
spoke. "Agent Jenkins," Joan whispered at last.

  "Yes, Ma'am?"
  
  "I cannot of course tell you with all certainty that what
your man saw was a wormhole. I mean...I would have to have
evidence after all..."

  "But...?"
  
  "...but," Joan sighed, "it would appear that what he saw
could very well be a wormhole."

  "Thank you, Ms. Rumsen."
  
  "Wait!" But the line was already cut. Joan could only
stare at the phone in her hand. "Bill..." Joan said, softly at
first and then: "Bill!" Joan could hear a crash from the
other cubicle and a scramble of feet. When Bill's head
popped in, his glasses were askew on his face.

  "What is it this time!?"
  
  Joan fixed her colleague with a glare that would brook no
argument. "We're going to Japan."

                          * * * * *


__________________________________
www.edsamail.com

             .---Anime/Manga Fanfiction Mailing List----.
             | Administrators - ffml-admins@anifics.com |
             | Unsubscribing - ffml-request@anifics.com |
             |     Put 'unsubscribe' in the subject     |
             `---- http://ffml.anifics.com/faq.txt -----'