[Ranma][NGE][HPL][AMG][Fusion][Fanfic] Sic Semper Morituri Chapter 24 -
Explain the Tameness of Wolves
Disclaimer:
I do not own any of the characters from Ranma 1 / 2, Neon Genesis
Evangelion, Ah My Goddess, or the Lovecraft Cycle involved in these
stories. And I'll put them back when I've finished with them.
C&C , MSTs are welcome
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per-Morituri
(these are the original versions)
What has gone before:
About Book 11, Akane and Soun Tendo throw Ranma out of the house.
Nabiki, in the guise of a wish, follows him. They meet EVA pilots Shinji
Ikari, Rei Ayanami, Asuka Soryu Langley and Jeffrey Davis.
Asuka and Jeff begin deriving the equations to manipulate the AT
field. Asuka solves the equations, but is unable to explain them to the
others.
The Scholarly Dragon sees a battle between mythos creatures, he
reports this to Jeff and Asuka, Toji `overhears`.
Search and Rescue training continues. The fogs and mass absences from
school are explained by an attack by the Lliogor, sentient energy. The
pilots and their schoolmates fight them.
Meanwhile, Misato learns Asuka and Shinji are being moved out of her
apartment, and that one of Ritsuko's kids is also going to leave.
Jeff admits his attraction to Ritsuko. New security guards are
recruited.
The pilots react to the rearrangement, none like it.
Nabiki finally goes over the pilots bios, including her own. She is
shocked by some of the things she finds there.
Ritsuko and Jeff finally have it out over their feelings, they agree
the separation is probably necessary.
The meetings between the pilots and their new guards goes well. Ranma
gives Shinji, Rei, Nabiki and Ritsuko the first lessons in Martial Arts.
Captain Ramsey encounters the cults of the pilots, when Nabiki's High
Priest walks into his office.
The pilots, and Toji go into the realm of spirits to rescue Hikari
from the legacy of the Lloigor's spell. Rei leads the rescue, while Asuka
and Jeff destroy the spell.
Now this is the Law of the Jungle--as old and as true as the sky;
And the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the Wolf that shall break
it must die.
As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk the Law runneth forward and
back--
For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is
the Pack.
The Law of the Jungle - Rudyard Kipling
May 30, 1947
Chapter 24 - Explain the Tameness of Wolves
Wash daily from nose-tip to tail-tip
Asuka walked out of her room, angrily wondering who had snuck in and
rearranged all the furniture. What was worse, they'd also hidden the
bathroom.
"Toilet!" she demanded of the two figures who had invaded Misato's
apartment. She recognized Raccoon, but her mind wasn't reporting anything
on the large brunette woman.
The pair pointed back into the bedroom she'd just barely managed to
find her way out of.
"Door next to the closets," Raccoon yelled with a voice too loud to be
truly human. Asuka covered her ears and headed back in.
----------------------------------------
Gendo wasn't often surprised when he entered his office, but his wife
had been gone a long time. Besides, she _hated_ sitting behind a desk, as
this woman was doing.
"You can't be here," his hand found the pistol he always kept in his
pocket. His fingers brushed the other weapon he kept there, he hoped that
one wouldn't be necessary.
"I'm not," his wife, or what appeared to be his wife, even to wearing
her favorite lab coat, came out from behind his desk.
Hairstyle, shoes, hands in the pockets carriage, it was a picture
perfect image of his beloved wife. Gendo had been there when she was
destroyed, body and soul destroyed by an accident in Unit 01.
"Something is searching, searching very hard, when its eyes fell on
this planet . . . who knows what effect that could have on receptive or
sensitive minds?"
Gendo wasn't inclined to let whatever it was get too close,
ironically, it was as good as his former wife at detecting his moods.
"You always were suspicious," she smiled at him, as she leaned against
his desk, "I told you, you'd be perfect for this job. The plan is going
well I take it?"
"Who are you?"
"A bit of your own fear, made manifest," she cocked her head as Yui
always had when some new discovery amused her, gave the same smile, "Only
you never were afraid of very much, always too wrapped up in plans and
detailing contingencies to actually worry about things. Unlike the rest of
us mortals. You were right, Naoko did kill me. I always wondered who
hated her more for that, Rei or Ritsuko, not that it matters."
"It still affects both of them," Gendo nodded, but didn't release the
pistol or relax.
"Shinji, I take it, is progressing as we planned?"
"He is competent."
"High praise from you," she, the image of Yui told him, "But don't let
him hear you say that. We need them for now. I doubt they'd understand
what we'll need them for later. Children by their very nature can't
comprehend the greater mysteries and more complex needs of society. You
have to be a parent for that."
Gendo agreed, "You haven't asked about Kozo," Gendo ventured.
"Dear Professor Fuyutsuki, still ferreting out secrets, eh. I often
wondered why we kept him around, he was always much too squeamish. On too
high an ethical plane. As if morality could actually save us."
"He has changed, since your accident," Gendo felt an irrational need
to stick up for his old friend. Even if he was effectively arguing with
himself.
"Has he now?" the image vanished.
Gendo took the warnings for what they were worth, the rest of the
conversation he could discard. "Perhaps I did need to talk to someone, now
I have."
----------------------------------------
Asuka returned, feeling more human after her morning ablutions, "I
hate mornings," she told them. She felt especially tired this morning.
"Oh," Sammi said in a singsong voice, "Someone is a grumpy bear before
she's had her breakfast."
Asuka focused on Raccoon, offensively wide-awake and chipper at this
UNGODLY hour. She was trying to verify what her ears had reported, "Grumpy
bear?" Asuka asked, then hid her face in her hands at Raccoon's nod.
"God," she said in German, "Just shoot me now!"
"Oh, you speak German," Sammi chirped as she set a plate of food in
front of Asuka, "Mine's a little rusty, but I'll get plenty of practice."
Asuka looked at Raccoon, hoping he'd take mercy on her and shoot her,
if he was feeling particularly humane, he'd use a silencer. Only focusing
on the breakfast made her feel any better. Sausages, pancakes, orange
juice. "I've died and gone back to Germany," she said happily. She did
feel better, although she was a little irritated that Raccoon had already
made breakfast, and lunches, for all three of them.
"I'm making dinner," she threatened him. She was glad he had the good
sense to surrender on that point, "So how do we get to school," she glanced
out the window and saw only partially cloudy skies, no cloying fog.
"There's a tank being sent," Sammi told them, "I have to get to
Saotome's practice, keep him from hurting himself or anyone else," she
smiled, "Why don't you come with?"
Asuka's glower was matched by Raccoon's, "No, thank you, I'd rather
tap dance in a minefield."
"I don't trust him," Raccoon added, "Certainly not enough to get into
a fight with him. Not even in practice."
Sammi stared disappointedly at both of them, "Very well." The cutesy
act dropped away, "Stay in the apartment until the guards arrive.
Understand?"
"Understood," Asuka and Raccoon replied. Sammi headed off.
"I'm not _that_ stupid," Asuka said, "Besides, I remember a savateur
and pankratiast who I can practice with, later. All that 'Eastern Mystery'
crap, the West has arts too, and they're a lot older than Saotome's stuff."
"I'm no where near Saotome's skill levels," Raccoon admitted.
"You, sir, are a superior teacher. That counts for a _lot_ more."
----------------------------------------
Night is for hunting, the day is for sleep.
Nabiki held out her hand, Raccoon handed over the book of differential
equations, then pulled two more from his left coat pocket and another his
right: Chemistry, Child Psychology, Metallurgy. He pulled a fifth from an
inside coat pocket, Kipling, that one he didn't hand to her.
"I could take that," Ranma said, "Any time I want to." He smiled at
the other boy.
Raccoon returned the smile, "You could. But you have to sleep
sometime."
Nabiki felt teeth pressing on her hand, not breaking the skin, but
making their presence, as part of the book on differential equations,
known.
"Knowledge is power," the book said, opening and closing in a
disturbing parody of a living mouth. "Both power to hurt and heal have
their responsibilities."
Nabiki looked up, anything not to look at that book. She was in the
classroom-tent at school, with no memory of how she'd gotten there. She
remembered practice, breakfast and . . . nothing else after that. Asuka
and Shinji were skeletonized corpses at their seats, Ranma was burning
away, skin and muscle turning to ash as she watched. Raccoon was melting
like a candle, running down his sides and pooling on the floor. She
glanced at Rei, who stared intently back at her.
"How can you save them? If you do not want to save yourself?" Rei
stood, stepped away from her desk, and walked to the front of the tent they
were holding the class in. Growing with each step, becoming immense as she
approached the front of the `class room`, yet still contained within it.
As if the front of the tent was miles from floor to ceiling, while the back
rows Nabiki was seated in, were still human-sized.
"You want to shed your body, your worries, your cares." The huge Rei
spoke, "We offer you power. Power to achieve all you must do, all you want
to do. None could prevent you from taking what is rightfully yours. No
one will ever be able to stop you again. Think of all the good you could
do. Think of the suffering you could end! To allow all to be secure in
their role, to know their place and be happy."
"Hey, Boss," Hiroko got her attention, Ranma was only a skeleton now,
Raccoon had melted away completely. Hiroko seemed to be shrinking, or her
desk grew larger. "Do you need someone to show you around?" She shrank to
the size of a mouse, then a microbe.
Nabiki knew when Hiroko was small enough, she'd slip between the
molecules of the chair, and fall to her death.
"You can save her." The huge Rei was melting too. Building-sized
pieces of molten flesh fell for miles to land with a thunderous crash.
"You can save me. You can rescue the others."
The pile of molten matter that had been Raccoon was now making a sound
that was both screams of agony and hysterical, insane laughter, as it
writhed on the floor.
"You can save us," Rei said as she finally collapsed. The resulting
wall of molten material surged through the class, burning and drowning the
other students. They seemed oblivious to it, until it touched them, then
they screamed and struggled for life.
The book bit her again, "Don't forget what I said."
----------------------------------------
Nabiki opened her eyes, the teacher was staring at her. "Well
Tendo-san, do you have the answer or not?"
English class, translation, she remembered. "Yes, I apologize. I was
trying to remember where I put it." She rummaged through her folder to
cover her uncertainty. Was it real? Was this another illusion? she asked
herself.
"Ode to A Grecian Urn," Nabiki managed to finish the passage, her
English flawless, better than the teacher's, thanks to the goddesses and
their gifts.
Nabiki also noticed Rei staring at her, weighing if she should speak
or not. Rei's obvious uncertainty was as alien and surreal an experience
as the toothed book and the offer. She knew that it wasn't an ordinary
dream. Someone or something had tried to contact her, or she was going
mad. But which, and how would she find out? The experience was entirely
in her mind. Then she looked at her hand. On the meaty part of the heel
of her hand, just below the thumb, were the deep bruises where the math
book had bitten her twice. She touched them, they were tender, but the
skin wasn't broken.
"It wasn't a dream," she whispered, noticing Rei's stare had focused
on her hand.
The quiet girl gave away nothing, other than her absolute interest in
those bruises, and the corresponding set on the back of Nabiki's hand.
Nabiki shuddered. She'd never blacked out before, never hallucinated.
But this wasn't a hallucination, she chided herself, Hallucinations don't
leave marks, and . . . "Raccoon? Do you have a math book on you?"
Raccoon nodded, and handed her a pocket book on Linear Algebra and
Matrices. It didn't look or feel like the other book.
She frowned, and handed it back. She leaned back in her desk. Whom
should she ask? Who would believe her? When I don't believe it myself,
she thought, Does Rei's stare indicate she knows something, or that she is
simply aware of the spontaneous injury?
----------------------------------------
Cub-Right is the right of the Yearling. From all of his Pack he may claim
Nabiki waited for the door to Akagi-sensei's apartment to close
completely before she spoke. "You insufferable, self-centered _jerk_!_"
She stopped, the logical `Ice Princess` reasserted herself. "No, that's not
fair. He cares about the Art, he cares about honor, not himself."
Inhaling the food at their candle-lit dinner, then going out to do his
evening practice still hurt, even if Ranma didn't mean anything by it.
She marched over to the refrigerator and yanked the note off it, and
crumbled it in her fist. Then she set it on the counter and smoothed it
out.
'Don't' rush, take a deep breath,
open the icebox
and proceed as you think best.
Roku-kun.'
She read it aloud, smiled and considered the day, after her odd
vision.
----------------------------------------
"Please!" Nabiki asked, batting her eyelashes and smiling more cutely
than even Ranko could. She would have had better luck charming his walking
stick.
"I'm sorry, no," Raccoon replied, as he put his books away, "I warned
you that Asuka had a compatibility test. You should have guessed Shinji
would go along as moral support. Rei and I are working on our project, and
I don't know my way around Sammi's well-enough. What about Hikari?"
Nabiki frowned at him, even after the rescue, she wouldn't ask the
class president for anything, if she had any alternative. "Her? Clean the
classroom instead of me? She'd assign me a week of cleaning all alone to
make up for it. Sweeping all the grounds."
"You're exaggerating. You told me to be out of your apartment by the
evening, it's not my fault you made a mistake. Maybe I could help you, if
you'd tell me what your deep, dark secret is."
"If I tell you, you'd take my place?" she asked hopefully.
"I didn't say that. I said I'd help."
"That isn't good enough," she grumped. She had to admit she'd gotten
so wrapped up in her plan, she'd missed a few vital clues. Asuka was
having a compatibility test with the other EVAs, that meant no Ritsuko
until late. She'd been overjoyed that Shinji had decided to make himself
scarce, so it was just her and Ranma, all afternoon and evening. Maybe
she'd finally make some progress on what originally brought her here all
those months ago.
But she'd owed Asuka a cleaning day, and Asuka had told Hikari that
Nabiki was taking her duty, and they had only told _her_ at the end of
lunch.
All her plans were collapsing, and everyone else either couldn't or
wouldn't help, even Hiroko, even Ole` Reliable.
"Well, I'd better catch up with Rei, she'll be quite cross if I make
her wait. I think she'll enjoy these little lessons."
"How can you tell?" Nabiki said glumly and watched him go. She also
knew Hikari would critique every little bit of her work, so she couldn't
just rush through and be done.
----------------------------------------
"Why does the thought count?" Rei asked as she chopped vegetables in
Dr. Akagi's kitchen.
Roku-kun stood by, watching her, letting her do everything, but ready
to give suggestions, advice, or avert disaster. "It's a shorthand phrase
for the idea that any gift is a symbol of one person considering the likes,
dislikes and needs of another person. The closeness of the intent to the
actual needs and desires of the recipient indicates how much thought about
the other person went into the gift."
"We make so much extra because Ikari-kun would want the Second fed as
well?" she asked.
"Exactly, he won't have to cook and Langley can't complain 'Wondergirl
only made enough for Spineless!' She'll simply gobble down the food and
Shinji won't have to listen to her say how hungry she is, while he's just
as hungry."
"Yes, long testing makes me hungry." She selected a daikon and
considered which of the various slicing/chopping methods would best
preserve the flavor.
----------------------------------------
"Thanks a lot you two," Nabiki said, as she jogged past the pair
leaving Dr. Akagi's apartment with the trays of food.
"You are welcome," Rei replied. Raccoon just held the door for both
girls.
"I was being sarcastic," Nabiki frantically removed her outside shoes.
"Ooo, she's mad. Let's run," Raccoon told Rei.
Nabiki considered yelling at them, as the pair beat a hasty retreat.
"Ranma will be here any minute, what am I going to do?" She slipped on
her inside shoes and headed to the kitchen.
----------------------------------------
Nabiki smiled at the memory. "I didn't tell you anything, and you
still rode to my rescue. Ranko saw it, and I didn't. How blind have _I_
been?" She put the note and the recipe in her room, and headed back to
wash the dishes.
Ranma had returned, "Hey, Nab-chan." He brushed the back of his head,
"Would you, I dunno, like to practice with me? Some katas, maybe some
sparring for you?"
Nabiki thought he sounded hopeful, "Sure, you can put the dishes in to
soak while I change. After all, a girl should keep her options open."
He smiled, slightly confused. He was cute when he was slightly
confused.
The image of another grin intruded for a moment, "Okay, Raccoon," she
whispered, "I owe you and Rei one too." She changed into her exercise
clothes.
----------------------------------------
May 31, 1947
When ye fight with a Wolf of the Pack, ye must fight him alone and afar
The Admiral had called Sammi and the other guards into his office, for
the end-of-week debriefing on the pilots, and the progress of the
relationship between the pilots and their guards.
"What is this I heard about a fight between Davis and Langley?" Simson
asked.
"Just an argument that's been brewing for a few days," Sammi
explained, "They almost had a fist fight, two hours later, they're as thick
as thieves." She shook her head in amazement.
"Keep an eye on them," Simson warned, "How are the martial arts
lessons going?"
"Saotome hasn't killed anyone," Tomiyo joked, "And Ayanami hasn't seen
any reason to kill him. I'd call that a rousing success."
Simson chuckled at that, "Two days, and even the pilots aren't trying
to kill the pilots. I think it's working."
----------------------------------------
"Why are we really doing this?" Asuka asked as she unlocked the door
to Misato's apartment.
"Are you claiming _I_ have an ulterior motive for this?" Raccoon asked
with an offended tone and posture.
"I'm convinced you have an ulterior motive for breathing," she replied
as she entered. She'd never let on, but the sight of Misato passed out at
the dining room table, horrified her, a pile of beer cans surrounding her
like some kind of fortification. The Maginot Line didn't work to keep out
the world either, Asuka thought, and she bent to her task of helping
Raccoon inventory what Misato actually had in her cupboards and
refrigerator. "This is disgusting," she commented, "You want to have a
_real_ contest now? Leave her with some leftovers so she won't starve to
death?"
"I'm up for it," Raccoon said, "Won't we wake her up?"
"You have _got_ to be kidding," Asuka said.
----------------------------------------
"We have to do something!" Asuka stared as the snoring woman, while
Raccoon packed away what they had made in the refrigerator and the freezer.
"Of course," Raccoon agreed, "We have to know who won."
"HEY!" Raccoon reacted to the splash of cold water.
"I was just curious if you turn into an idiot with cold or hot water,"
Asuka said angrily, "Don't twit me about this."
"Okay," Raccoon accepted the towel from Asuka, "What exactly?"
"Stick your finger down her throat, and then clean her up, and get her
to bed?" Asuka suggested.
"Langley," Raccoon said quietly, "You can't save her, not from
herself."
Asuka thought that was an unacceptable situation, she sighed, "Does
that mean we don't try?"
Raccoon shrugged.
Asuka considered, she saw the well-concealed look of bitterness on her
friend's face. "Look Raccoon - Jeff, I don't know what's betwee - "
"You don't want to," Raccoon coldly insisted, "You really don't."
"Okay."
"So what do we do?" Raccoon asked.
She could see he wasn't that interested in helping Misato, he was only
doing this because she asked. She worried about that, "Let's get her face
off the table first. Then get her to the bathroom. Isn't there something
- more effective?"
"Not really, a temporary respite, but nothing permanent," Raccoon
admitted, "With a few extremely unpleasant side effects. Simple chemistry,
they had similar treatments in the future, counter conditioning."
"Without dealing with the underlying problem," Asuka said, "Something
else would take its place. Until then," Asuka sat down at the table,
stared at the woman before her, "We do what we can."
"Let's get her up," Raccoon slung Misato's arm over his shoulders.
Asuka stood to help him.
"You!" Misato slurred as she started moving, "Damn you," she piled
into Raccoon, surprise and her greater weight gave her the advantage. Both
wound up on the floor, "Waz wron wit'ya? Ya st'pid, er blin'?"
Asuka wasn't certain what to do, once Raccoon was face down on the
floor, Misato quit moving.
"Don' care 'bout me!" Misato shouted, raised her fist to start
pummeling Raccoon, "Kaji, why'dnt ya care?!"
Asuka caught Misato's fist, before it could descend, she remembered
Kaji's betrayal and abandonment of her in the dreams. She could sympathize
with Misato's pain, she still thought it funny that the 'honorable
samurai'/clueless lunatic had been the only one to see and reach out to her
when she was so hurt. She wondered whose fault this was, Misato's, Kaji's,
or some combination. "Kaji's not here. It's just us, Misato. We want to
help you."
Misato suddenly focused on her, "You? Who cares 'bout you!? Jus'
trouble! Jus' noise! Yer reason Shinj's gon! I hate you! I hate ya, the
whiny little snoop! Who car's 'bout you! Us'l'ss lil' g'rl!"
'Langley, NO!' she heard Raccoon's voice, it penetrated the curtain of
hurt and fury that had blinded her for a moment, she stared at her own
fist. She'd been ready to smash Misato for what she'd said, wished she'd
had a knife instead. As an alternative, she turned and ran. She didn't
want anyone, even Raccoon, to see her like that, weak, teary-eyed. She
told herself it didn't matter, Just words in a drunken rampage, she tried
to remind herself, that Kaji had hurt her almost as badly. But it didn't
stop. She didn't stop, until she was back at Sammi's apartment, locked in
her room, her face buried in her bed.
She pulled a pillow over her head, so no one would hear her screaming,
screams of righteous rage she told herself.
After a long while, she heard the bedroom door open. Someone pulled
the pillow aside. She whirled to face him, as Raccoon pulled her to a
sitting position.
She punched him in the chest, a weak, ineffectual blow, typical of a
'useless little girl'. Hitting him and his coat was like punching a brick
wall. He held her shoulders while she delivered the blows, mechanically,
too weak to be an attack. He just weathered them, staring at her saying
nothing. She knew he was waiting, abiding until she wore herself out. A
stoic look of resignation as he took her rage away from her.
Exhaustion finally came, I won't cry, not over what she said. Not
over what she meant! I can't let her hurt me! She slumped forward, unable
to raise her arms anymore, grateful for Raccoon's silence, his
understanding at a time like this. "I tried. I _HATE_ her so much!"
"Yes, you hate her. Because you see her running down the same road
your mother took, and you can't save her either. She won't even let you.
Even if now you are The GREAT ASUKA SORYU LANGLEY, ELITE PILOT OF UNIT 02,
let the incontinent pigeons fly and the languorous oboes throb."
"You're a rotten bastard," she said, smiling, "You know that?"
"Well, I flunked the compulsories, so I never got my certificate, but
I made it up on the essay and work experience portion. I think I do rather
a good job, considering."
She shook her head, "I wanted to help her, I . . . "
"She wants to destroy herself, there's nothing we can do - except
remind her there are alternatives, and make sure she doesn't take us down
when she goes."
"That's no answer," she hung her head, then let Raccoon put her head
on his shoulder. She wouldn't cry, even though he'd never breathe a word
of it to anyone.
----------------------------------------
Ranma wasn't sure whether it was him or Shinji that Rei kept visiting
at night. 'Come' was all she said, in a tone that implied dire
consequences if he didn't comply.
Now they were standing on a building, well into the night, looking at
the lighted roof of another building. The two figures were moving as if
doing katas, he finally recognized them as Raccoon and Asuka. Raccoon
would do a move, then if Asuka didn't duplicate it perfectly, he'd stop,
and help her through it. He'd support her weight with one arm while he
literally moved her through the move with his arm. She rarely needed to be
shown twice.
"They have no need of you," Rei told him.
That rankled. "We'll see who's the real - " slamming into an
invisible wall stopped his mouth and his leap.
"They do not need you!" Rei insisted, hauling him to his tiptoes by
his pigtail, then tightening her grip until he thought she'd tear it right
out of his head, "If you will not hear, does this focus you?"
"Owowowowowowow! Yesyesyesyes! Just let go!"
Rei tightened her grip and tried to lift him off the ground.
"Please!"
She dropped him.
"Okay," he rubbed the pain at the back of his head, "_They_ don't need
_me_," he said carefully, he knew the wrong word would get him booted right
off the building. "Not, _I_ don't need _them_?_" When the pavement didn't
rush up six floors to hit him, he considered. The Art, or was it Arts,
there seemed to be two styles, were like nothing he'd seen before.
No, that's not right, he rubbed the back of his head in thought,
winced at the contact, Rei, you are a sorehead! "Sa -, Sav - and Pan . . .
the Arts Raccoon mentioned in the dream."
"No."
Ranma cringed, expecting an impromptu flight any second. Except Rei
kept staring at the pair on the other building. She looks hungry, Ranma
thought, Or jealous. He stared at the distant pair, he was thunderstruck,
Asuka was laughing! That was impossible! She'd really blown a move,
Raccoon demonstrated the move and gestured wildly, obviously shouting at
her. Instead of getting mad, Asuka started laughing so hard she could
barely stand. A few minutes later Asuka wiped her face, then they started
inside.
"GYAH!" Ranma reeled back when Rei stuck her face in his.
"What did you see?" she asked impatiently.
"I don't know," Ranma admitted.
"You _are_ hopeless," Rei turned and walked away, leaping off the
building.
"What was I _supposed_ to see?" he shouted at the departed girl, he
turned and watched the two go inside. Asuka had her head on Raccoon's
shoulder, she was acting like a real girl. Ranma turned away, it wasn't
that he didn't see, he saw a lot, he just didn't know which of the things
was the one Rei wanted him to see.
----------------------------------------
June 1, 1947
If ye kill before midnight, be silent, and wake not the woods with your bay
"This is impossible!" Asuka was _sick_ of trying to explain the
simplified math system to Jeff. "You know if _you_ don't get it, there is
exactly zero chance that Spineless, Ice Princess or Horseface will."
"All right," Jeff said, "Let's attack the problem from another angle.
All math is, is a convenient way to describe something, there are other
ways to represent it."
"How are we supposed to 'describe' something, with 15 dimensions?"
Asuka asked disgustedly.
"In pieces, then see how they interact. Also, it isn't 15 dimensions.
It's actually a mixture of lines and rays, or more accurately, lines, pairs
of rays that simulate lines, and some entities that can be either."
Asuka was staring at him slack jawed, "You're making that up!"
"Honestly, I'm not."
She frowned, "That certainly simplifies things, now it's impossible,
we can give up."
"No, we can test your theories and equations on a practical target,"
Jeff gestured, forming his AT field as a square about a meter on a side, at
knee height off the ground.
Asuka stared at the invisible object Jeff was touching, she reached
out carefully, laying her palm on the surface. As far as he knew, it was
the first time she'd actually touched an A.T. field. She stood, so she
could press down with both hands, putting her full weight on the field.
Jeff was glad of all the practice he'd gotten in `Ranma's future`, his
field was immensely stronger now than it had been only a month and a half
ago. It hardly seems that short a time, he thought. What dragged his
attention back to the present, was Asuka climbing onto the invisible square
and laying down on it.
"Ooo, nice," Asuka said as she laid her cheek on the field, then
rolled up her sleeves so her bare arms were resting on it also.
"Langley?" Jeff asked, watching his friend curl up on top of the
field.
"Uh huh?" Asuka told him, with her eyes half-lidded, "Soooo niiiiice,"
she cooed.
Jeff released the field and caught her before she hit the floor.
He glanced down at the girl in his arms, she seemed to be waking up.
"Would you like to tell me what that was all about?"
Asuka glanced around worriedly, pulled away from Jeff before she
answered, "Nothing! It never happened. Agreed?" she asked plaintively.
"I can live with that," Jeff half-suspected Langley was setting him up
for a practical joke of some kind.
"Do you think Spineless and Wondergirl . . . " Asuka began, "You
know?"
"What?" Asuka's behavior still mystified him, "Get naked and lie on
top of each other's AT fields?"
"It's not like that!" Asuka insisted, "It's . . . "
"If you say 'nice' I'm having a full psych work up done on you."
"Okay," Asuka reluctantly admitted, "It was wonderful. I haven't felt
that good since the last time my whole family was together, before mama's
accident. I, I . . . it was wonderful. Warm and safe. I can't believe
we've only been using these for combat."
"I don't think I want Misato and Gendo running experiments on this new
effect."
"What about _Rit-chan_?_" Asuka leered at him, then laughed as he
blushed.
"If you say one word about Ranko, I'll reform the field, plop you down
on it and charge admission!" Jeff threatened.
"Not one word," Asuka agreed, she sighed.
The pair stared at each other for several moments.
"I think we'd better get back to the math," Jeff finally broke the
stalemate.
"Yeah, okay," Asuka returned to the desk, shuffled the papers, "Do you
know what might cause a reaction like that?"
"I wasn't the one doing the reacting, so I can't judge," Jeff
admitted, The way you were acting, I'm not sure I want to know just yet,
Jeff thought, Although I don't think it was carnal, the only time I've seen
anything look that happy, was a cat that discovered a warm radio top, with
a sunbeam on it.
----------------------------------------
They ground through the various mathematical permutations and
variations. Checking dependency of the variables against dimensional,
paired half-dimension, and mutable possibilities.
"I'm ready for a break!" Asuka said, "We've been at this for hours."
"I think we're getting close," Jeff admitted that he too was nearly
exhausted, he lacked Asuka's inherent understanding of mathematics, and he
was having difficulty translating the changes in the formulae to affect the
AT field. It seemed that the physical orientation in normal four
dimensional space-time was scattered across at least 16 variables of the
matrix of equations, as a 15-x-15 matrix gave them 225 'entries' that could
be three effective sets of values: dimensional; the sum of two paired,
opposing half-dimensional values; or dimensional value and the percent of
the time it was dimensional, and the paired, opposing half-dimensional
values and the percent of the time they were in _that_ state. He was
developing a severe headache. Both of them were tired and wrung out after
all the hours of the effort.
"Why do you think we're getting any closer?" Asuka grumbled as they
headed upstairs to the kitchen. Sammi was in the `drawing` room, she
looked up from her security reports. "I thought you two were - GAHH!" she
saw the time, "I should have set a timer! I'm sorry, I should have started
dinner hours ago."
"Relax," Jeff told her, "I'll whip up some - "
"_We'll_!_" Asuka shook her finger under his nose, "'Oh, I'll be noble
and cook'. Anybody can cook."
"Misato," Jeff and Sammi chorused.
"I didn't say _well_!_" Asuka replied huffily, "Besides," she turned
to Sammi, "How do you know?"
"I tried some of her coffee. It must have been developed by or for
Unit 731 at Harbin. I think Ritsuko uses it to burn stubborn material off
her lab glassware. How she makes it?" Sammi shrugged, "There are some
things man was not meant to know."
"Okay. So what do _we_ fix?" Jeff asked.
"Eggs, omelets, I haven't had a decent plate of scrambled eggs since
the Coral Sea."
"You want a full Denver Omelet with everything?"
"Yes," Asuka said, "Anything except more math and thinking," Asuka
paused, "I _never_ thought I'd hear myself say that."
"What were you two doing in there? I looked in a couple of times,
because you were so quiet, and all I could see was you two hunched over
reams of paper filled with, I don't know."
"We'd prefer not to discuss it, until it works," Jeff said as he
entered the kitchen.
Asuka followed him to the refrigerator, and took the ingredients he
handed her. She laid them out on the counter, got the kitchen knives, and
once the vegetables were washed, started slicing and chopping.
Asuka noted how closely Sammi was watching them, her fascination, "Is
my head on backwards or something?" Asuka asked.
"You two were fighting, or so I thought."
"I'll beat him," Asuka said, "And we both know it."
"I'm not going to argue with her, when she's got a knife," Jeff said.
Asuka glared at him, dumping the diced ham in the pan as Jeff poured
the egg mixture.
----------------------------------------
Asuka admitted to herself that Sammi's delighted attention disturbed
her a little. She didn't know why they, and the other Children, fascinated
her so. She wasn't worried, It's as if she's never seen kids before, or .
. . Asuka considered, Or she's gone 'Oh, Sempai' on us or something.
Asuka stood and watched Raccoon, while watching their guardian out of
the corner of her eye. Sammi's behavior was something she'd never gotten a
handle on, of all the people at NERV, only Maya and some of the new
security guards weren't completely morose. None of them were as ebullient
as Sammi, Asuka knew she was being paranoid. Considering what's been going
on around here, she thought, It's not a bad idea to be a little paranoid.
She ate dinner, asking a few questions about Sammi's background,
education, family. The huge woman seemed unconcerned about answering these
questions. It still rankled Asuka that someone conveniently had someone
waiting in the wings, when Misato had her blow up. She disliked felicitous
serendipity, it always told her _somebody_ was working to a plan.
----------------------------------------
But kill not for pleasure of killing, and SEVEN TIMES NEVER KILL MAN
June 2, 1947
Ranko desperately wished the girl would quit screaming. She also
wished it wasn't raining. She could have used Ranma's extra inches and the
leverage they'd give.
"Don't drop me!" the girl in the sinkhole yelled as she held on
desperately to Ranko's leg.
Ranko's other toes and finger tips rested on the folded folding chairs
someone had placed on either side of the sinkhole that had suddenly opened
up in the middle of the school grounds, and started swallowing the girl.
Ranko had been the first on the scene. She was aware of the scramble
around her. She just hoped the others had something in mind, she felt like
a stork, one leg down the hole, everything else was trying to keep her and
her rescuee from sliding in the hole.
"OKAY, and STEP, and STEP, and STEP," she heard Nab-chan yelling,
"KNEEL!"
Ranko felt a pair of thin arms encircling her waist.
"STAND!" Nab-chan ordered.
Whoever had looped her, pulled her into the air, but not enough.
Raccoon was sliding across the ground on his belly, a lot quicker than
Ranko would have thought possible.
He's going to get his shirt filthy on this wet grass, Ranko chuckled
at the absurdity of that thought.
Raccoon reached into the hole and grabbed the girl's arms, "More
height!" he demanded.
"CHAIRS!" Nab-chan ordered. They lifted Ranko and the girl farther
up.
Ranko took a look around. Rei was hanging from a long cord, like a
wire walker gone wrong. Tomiyo and Sammi were the piers of Rei's
suspension bridge with dozens of students holding the lone cable in
tension. They knelt to lower Rei, and are standing on chairs to get more
height. Some of the punier students were steadying the chairs for the
burly students holding the cable.
Raccoon finally got his arms completely around the girl, she wasn't
going anywhere. "Saotome, withdraw your leg."
Ranko did as ordered, wondered why the girl had let go and wasn't
screaming anymore.
"Off chairs!" Nab-chan ordered. They dropped Ranko down. Raccoon
couldn't pull the silently sobbing girl loose. "KNEEL!" Nab-chan's voice
carried.
Now Ranko could grab Raccoon by the belt and collar. 'Stand!' She
was pulled up, felt Raccoon's and the girl's weight.
"Okay, step, and step!" Nab-chan commanded.
They pulled the entire groups sideways, pulling the girl the rest of
the way out of the hole.
Other students took the sobbing girl to the medics. Rei dropped Ranko
on Raccoon, then let go of the cable herself.
"Oh, thank you," Raccoon said from under the pile.
"Okay!" this time it was Sammi shouting, as she pulled the cable off
her shoulder, "Everybody clear out! Leave everything! We'll sent trucks
and tanks in to recover your belongings. I want everyone off the grounds
now!"
Hands pulled Rei and Ranko off Raccoon, who was also pulled to his
feet. They, the students, the guards and teachers trooped off the grounds.
No one wanted to argue with the woman, or risk other sinkholes. Their
guards assembled the pilots, none were hurt.
"How are you still clean?" Ranko noted the total lack of grass stains
on Raccoon's shirt, as he reclaimed his jacket. Sammi had used it as a pad
on her shoulder.
"I think you know. Langley and I have made some progress."
Ranko stared at him, "You . . . !" she shouted, then abruptly lowered
her voice, "You figured it out?"
"Not completely," Raccoon admitted, "But we've managed to create a few
shapes other than a flat plane. An immovable torus, or doughnut has its
uses."
"When do you think we can do some other things with it?" Ranko had no
idea why Raccoon and Asuka paled at that.
"We've had some side effects, it's not safe to release to the rest of
you. Nobody got hurt," he reassured her, "But until we work things out,
we're keeping quiet."
Ranko sighed. Looked around at the other frightened kids and wondered
what they were going to do. Especially until the term ended.
----------------------------------------
"What happened?" Admiral Simson was _not_ in a good mood. His
irritation hovered around his office like a cloud.
Sammi was glad Ranko and the others had agreed to wait for her and the
other guards, while security got the dressing down they honestly deserved.
"The Lloigor left sinkholes all over the school grounds," she admitted,
"Before the incident today, we'd only probed down 4 feet. With the rains,
the soil loosened and one collapsed. While the trucks were picking up the
students' belongings, we discovered two more. Evidently they dug them some
2 meters or more down. With the rainy season, there would have been more
collapses, more days of some kid screaming in terror."
"Considering those things live on despair, it would have provided them
an ample food source," Admiral Simson concluded, "If we would be stupid
enough to keep using the school." He turned, stared out his office window.
None of the guards wanted to say anything.
"They were planning on staying here for the long-term. To do what . .
. I'm not speaking rhetorically people," Simson said, "I want some answers,
guesses, wild hunches."
"Call the kids in," Tomiyo suggested, "Then ask the same questions."
Simson nodded.
----------------------------------------
"Are they in trouble?" Ranko asked worriedly, glancing at the other
pilots waiting outside the Admiral's office.
"What?" Asuka smiled, "Getting a crush on her? Do you like powerful
women?"
"It's not like that!" Ranko insisted, blushed at the laughter of the
others.
"How'd you coordinate all that?" Ranko desperately tried to change the
subject.
"Asuka and Shinji on one line, Hiroko and Toji on the other," Nab-chan
said, "Everybody had to be coordinated. It worked pretty good."
Ranko turned to Rei, "Why didn't you just pull me out?"
Rei stared back at her.
"It's not possible, Saotome," Asuka said in disgust, "Hanging ropes
form a catenary - "
"Say no more," Ranko said desperately, glad she hadn't come into
contact with it, and that they hadn't told her while they were working.
"That's the name of the drooping arc the line forms! You - !"
"Asuka!" Raccoon cautioned her.
"You ailurophobe!" Asuka shouted at him, "Increasing the weight makes
them droop. You can't pull on the ends hard enough to have pulled you up."
"It worked," Rei added.
The door opened, Juri Kon stepped out, "The Admiral wants to speak
with all of you."
"Now see what you did!" Asuka accused Ranko, then headed in before
Ranko could reply.
----------------------------------------
Sammi watched the kids troop in, none of them objected to having to
stand in the now crowded office. She also saw they stood near their
assigned guards, that made her less uneasy.
"I asked why the Lloigor were setting up what appeared to be a
permanent base. The floor is open for discussion, I want to hear some
sound, people."
"Forward observers, spies, assassins, fifth columnists, terrorists,
colonists, because they could," Rei said.
Sammi had read the reports about the Children and the roles they had
played fighting Nyarlathotep, Rei evidently had decided her role had some
additional usefulness.
"Yeah," Asuka said, "What she said." Asuka kept staring at Rei in
disbelief, Rei evidently had said her piece and fell silent again.
"That certainly covers all the bases," Simson seemed as nonplused as
Asuka.
"Or it could be a combination of any or all of those things," Jeff
added, "I think it's more dangerous they were actually working to a
coherent plan. If they'd wanted to kill us, they would have."
"Or at least tried," Shinji said.
"The pathfinders or perhaps the beachmasters?" Simson asked, "Not the
assault troops?"
Sammi saw the concern flicker across the Admiral's face, she wondered
what was troubling him, besides the obvious.
"I think we should expect our enemies aren't going to be the pushovers
we've come to expect," Asuka offered, "Coordinated, well-thought out battle
plans may be the wave of the future."
None of them liked the sound of that.
----------------------------------------
When Pack meets with Pack in the Jungle, and neither will go from the
trail,
Ramsey watched literally dozens of martial artists practicing with
staves. He was no martial artist, but he recognized the moves were a
synthesis of bayonet drill with Karate or some other armed art. He also
had no illusions about the effectiveness of such training in close combat,
this was no `art` it was practical, not pretty.
The bearded man who approached wore a red gi with black trim and black
pants. On the gi jacket was a patch depicting a horse's head in 3/4
profile. The horse was red, the mane black, and the background was an odd
moire pattern.
The man bowed, "Those are some of our advanced students," he
explained, "We have beginner classes, and special classes for self-defense
techniques. Including classes with all female staff, if you are here in
regards to your wife or your daughter."
Ramsey was glad he was in civilian clothes, and he also had to admire
the man's salesmanship, a little roughness to show another man he meant
business, and a hint of delicacy for a husband or father who worried about
his wife or daughter. It was an excellent cover for their other
activities, aside from the instructors' and senior students' uniforms,
there was no evidence of their `god`.
"Thank you. I was more interested in the - spiritual side. After my
friend Captain Walters died . . . "
"Yes, a great loss," the man said sympathetically, then caught
himself.
Why would they even know who Everett Walters was? Ramsey wondered, And
why would he not want others to know he knows? Besides the obvious?
"If you would come with me?" the man gestured, "I'm afraid I am a
martial arts instructor. The philosophical and spiritual elements, I leave
to others."
"Of course," Ramsey followed him around the edges of the practice
floor. He felt a little naked without his uniform or a weapon, then he
reminded himself, If these guys are even a tenth as good as Saotome, I
wouldn't stand a chance.
The office he entered was small, a harried, younger man was contending
with mountains of paperwork. Ramsey knew about the endlessness of such
battles himself. No amount of training ever made them easier. The symbol
on the wall behind the desk was an odd modification of the one on the
now-departed instructor's jacket. Two horses heads face to face, the one
on the left was red with a black mane, on the right was black with a red
mane. Opposite the direction of the instructor's patch. The background
was brilliant blue, almost the color of Saotome's eyes.
Ramsey glanced around, Considering the sale of pictures of the pilots,
I would have expected to see at least _one_ in here. Ramsey waited to be
noticed.
"My apologies," the man stood, bowed, "My work seems to expand to . .
. fill . . . the day . . . " The look the man gave him as he came around
the desk made Ramsey want to bolt for the door.
Instead, the man did a complete kowtow, "I humbly apologize, sir. If
I had known it was you, I would have never allowed petty paperwork to
distract me."
"Stand up," Ramsey said mildly, to cover his own unease. This was the
sixth such `temple` he'd visited. Each had a very different spin on what
they considered worship, from simple meditation to active community
service, to things in between. What they all had in common, was the upper
hierarchy recognized him almost immediately. He'd made no special effort
to disguise himself, beyond eschewing his uniform in favor of civilian
clothes, and no bodyguards. But he knew he wasn't a spectacularly
memorable person either. So how did they always recognize me? he wondered,
"If I had wanted ceremonies, I would have called ahead," he reassured the
man, once he was standing. He got a nod of acknowledgment.
"Will you take tea, I could send for coffee if you like - I'm handling
this badly."
"You're doing fine," Ramsey told him, "I do need to talk, with you and
some of your senior priests and military personnel," then Ramsey stepped
towards the man, his demeanor serious, "It's very important."
The man nodded and practically ran from the room.
Ramsey wasn't sure whether he should be happy or terrified that things
were going so well. So far, none of the cults seemed a threat to the
Children, although the deference they paid him put him off. So far, all
had agreed to the meeting. If he could get all the leaders together, and
talking, he could either drop a net on all of them and bag the whole crowd,
or find out how much he and the Navy could actually trust them.
----------------------------------------
Ramsey entered the Admiral's office. It had been a grueling couple of
days.
"The sun's above the yardarm," Simson poured two glasses of Scotch,
Ramsey's was noticeably larger, "What have you learned."
"More than I wanted to, sir," Ramsey accepted the drink, sipped and
stared at the bustling Naval Base outside the office. "I learned that if
we need to hide the kids, we've got ready-made places, although I'd avoid
sending them any of their patrons."
The Admiral nodded for him to continue.
"I learned what you were doing up in Kyoto."
The Admiral frowned at that.
"And that they have a total of 25 people guarding them, Langley's and
Davis's. You could have told me Admiral."
"The information would have come to you in the event of my death or
incapacitation. Go on, Captain."
"I learned that we should call the monster we saw flying around, the
Scholarly Dragon. I learned that Langley, Davis, Ikari and Ayanami live
out an entirely different life in their dreams. I also learned that the
cult leadership are all willing to meet, it's scheduled for the morning of
the 8th."
"Are they a threat?" Simson asked.
"To the Children? I'd say a conditional absolutely not. The Children
could wind them up to act against the others, but nothing less. To us . .
. " Ramsey drained the glass, "Were the first Century Christians the threat
to Rome the politicians said that they were? That's something we can't
really answer. I think the estimate of four divisions to quell their
rioting is optimistic, unless they were all full strength Armored, with
full naval gunfire and close-air support. Less than that, and it's Iwo
Jima all over again."
Simson nodded, "So, can we use them?"
"Carefully at first, sir. They're already blanketing the city, every
wall has eyes and ears on it. Frankly, they hate the other cultists more
than we do."
"Of course, it's a personal affront to them," Simson said.
"There is one other thing, someone has been leaking some seemingly
trivial information about NERV to someone, none of the groups know who. I
set them to look into it. It's all junk, consumption of paperclips and
coffee, expense vouchers for gasoline, spare parts for typewriters, that
kind of ridiculous stuff."
"Unless it _isn't_ ridiculous," Simson agreed. The IJN had filled the
airwaves with false transmissions before Pearl Harbor and Midway. It had
been a distraction and a warning. They fooled the Americans the first time
and cautioned them for Midway. Also, critical information could be
slipping out with the mess, and only the recipient might know which was
which, until it was too late.
----------------------------------------
June 4, 1947
Lie down till the leaders have spoken--it may be fair words shall prevail
Ranko sat with Raccoon, both of them seated at a table in Ritsuko's
lab, her palm rested on the table with the heel of her hand on the edge.
Her eyes were closed. She thought Raccoon's `experiment` was kind of
stupid. But since she hadn't seen him since they closed the school after
the sink hole, she was glad to spend time with him. That made her even
more worried, Ranma Saotome, man-among-men wants to hang around as a girl
with another guy. But Raccoon and Nab-chan had been doing
Search-and-Rescue stuff from morning to late at night since the school
closed. Nab-chan would inhale her food and go immediately to sleep. Ranma
still didn't know what they were doing with all their work. Frankly, he
was a little bored.
"Just relax, concentrate on stretching your fingers. Feel them
getting longer," he told her in a dulcet voice as he stroked her fingers.
She extended them as far as she could, she was stretching them as far
as they would go.
Raccoon had been concerned that 'her links with Ranma might have
effects she might not be ready to deal with.' So she had agreed to work
with Raccoon after hours of harmonics tests, and Raccoon and Nab-chan's
Search-and-rescue training. But Ranko really wanted to spend some time
with Raccoon, Ranko thought with embarrassment as he stroked her finger,
And he doesn't do things like this for no reason.
"Okay, relax your fingers, just let them return. _DON'T_ open your
eyes," he snapped.
"What are you hiding?" Ranko asked.
"I've actually anesthetized you, and Rei's been fondling you," Raccoon
told her, "Would you believe Gendo? Would you believe anyone off the
street who could pay the 10,000 yen asking price?"
Ranko frowned at that, aside from the fact she would have detected
anyone else by their chi, her hands had felt very strange, she wondered
what he had been doing.
"Okay, open your eyes."
She did. The saki-cup-sized crucibles on the table, which had been
practically touching her fingertips before she started stretching, had
moved out 4 cm.
"I don't envy you telling Ranma about this," Raccoon said.
"What?" Ranko dreaded what he was going to say.
"Your fingers pushed those crucibles forward."
Ranko felt all the blood drain out of her face, she'd felt them the
whole time.
"Part of what you gained when Ranma destroyed Nyogtha, is an almost
fluid flexibility. It's minor, and your natural control over your body,
should make it completely controllable," Raccoon's voice was getting
farther and farther away.
I'm a monster, Ranko thought as everything went gray, I've become a
monster.
She barely heard Raccoon, "I think you can completely master these
abilities, and there's zero chance of you flowing away like water, or any
other nonsense like that."
The world narrowed to a gray tunnel, He calls them `abilities`, she
thought desperately, I'm not even human anymore, and he calls them
`abilities`. When will I lose control? Do something terrible? Lash out
with my body when I just think about it?
"Ranko, you should breathe," Raccoon was far away now, "You really
should keep breathing, purple clashes with your eyes."
----------------------------------------
Ranma was drifting, floating, in a sea of despair. He'd lost his
humanity completely. Rei had warned Ranma that all he was, was a body, now
that body wasn't even human, he'd lost that, it was gone. The body was an
alien thing that circumstances had trapped him within, more so even than
Ranma being in Ranko. When would it take over? When would he be lost and
helpless inside it?
Ranma became aware that `his` body was still in female form, Ranko, as
he floated along in a tide of sorrow and self-loathing. At least being
Ranko, he was still human. Not anymore, Ranko lamented.
Voices now he, or rather she, could hear. Raccoon's voice, his
comforting tone.
He just doesn't understand, Ranko thought, He must be repulsed -
The touch of warm lips on her ice-cold ones shocked her out of her own
thoughts, warmth suffused her.
She wanted to laugh, he still cared for her; she wanted to cry, He's
just pitying me!
The kiss broke off.
No! Please! Don't abandon me! Don't throw me away! she silently
pleaded as she tried to fight her way back through the darkness. The
contact came again, offering warmth and hope, even if she despaired,
Raccoon wouldn't abandon her. Even in this, he would stand by her.
She managed to get her arms to obey her, reaching out and holding that
marvelous warmth, that reassurance to her, Maybe there is a chance! Ranko
thought, Maybe with Rit-chan and the others . . . maybe we can think of
something, somehow I can stay human.
"Ranko," Raccoon told her, "I think you're squashing Rit-chan."
----------------------------------------
Ranko opened her eyes, releasing her grip at the same time. Rit-chan
sat up from where she'd been leaning over Ranko, she inhaled desperately,
trying to get air to replace what Ranko had squeezed out of her.
"Raccoon!?"
"Here, I - gently!" he squeaked.
"Please! I don't want to be a monster! Tell me I'm not a monster!"
Ranko pleaded and demanded.
"What's this?" Rit-chan took Ranko's arms, loosening her grip
slightly, so Raccoon could breathe.
"Lets just say Ranko is ready to join our earlier discussion," Raccoon
gasped, "Without much preamble."
"You talked about this," Ranko was unwilling to let go completely.
"Dr. Akagi has been involved with the EVAs for a long time. I've
noticed a number of changes in myself, we've discussed them," Raccoon
twisted slightly to stage whisper to Ranko, "Dr. Akagi thinks she's a
monster."
Rit-chan's and Ranko's eyes widened.
"You aren't a monster Rit-chan!" Ranko insisted as she released
Raccoon, and took Rit-chan's hands, "You could never be a monster." She
glanced at Raccoon, "Tell her!"
"I've told her until I'm blue in the face," Raccoon said, "She doesn't
believe me."
"What could you have ever done to think you were a monster? You
aren't turning into something inhuman," Ranko lost her enthusiasm, "Like we
are."
"I don't think we're 'losing our humanity'," Raccoon told her, "That's
the basis of the argument."
"How can you say that?" Ranko asked quietly, "You saw, you expected,
_YOU_KNOW_!_" Ranko was in near hysterics.
Raccoon put his arms around Ranko as Rit-chan closed in from the other
side, they both looked down into the frightened girl's eyes. "Because I've
met too many `humans` who have lost their humanity, some got it back, but
only those who wanted to. I don't believe 'humanity' is biological, it's a
psychological or sociological trait."
"You're right," Ranko said firmly, "You aren't human, you're a lecture
waiting for somebody to land on."
Rit-chan laughed at the two frowning at each other.
"My point is!" Raccoon said with a haughty air, "Humanity isn't
something you lose, it's something you give up, or fail to practice."
"What about . . . ," Ranko wondered about what had happened, then she
remembered her enhanced vision.
"What about it?" Raccoon asked, "Ranko, six months ago, I couldn't
walk 10 miles in a day, because of what happened to my legs. Now I can run
10 miles, in less than 18 minutes, without breaking a sweat. That's a
sustained 55+ kilometers per hour. No human can do that. I told you, I go
looking through those memories. How do you think I found out about all
this stuff? As you said, 'Yuck.'"
"Yeah," Ranko was calming down after the initial revelation, "So
that's how you knew. Knew I might have changed?"
Raccoon nodded, "Chaugnar Faugn was an expert in genetic engineering,
from selective breeding to surgery on the genes themselves. So I had some
idea that there might be some changes."
"You know about these . . . alterations?" Rit-chan asked.
"Considering what came out of the plug simulator after Sharon's
accident, I knew there would be changes to the pilots. I never really
expected to live through mine."
"What happened to her, that would make you think that?" Ranko asked,
"Did she fight one of those monsters?"
"No," Raccoon told her, "First contact with an EVA simulator. The
most dangerous part of it. She went in sane and human, and came out . . .
not."
Ranko remembered the argument about what happened to pilots on their
first contact with L.C.L. and the EVA's harmonics. That scream that
paralyzed many of the staff and all three pilots on the first day. Ranko
relaxed a bit. "So, I shouldn't be worried?"
"You're a martial artist," Raccoon shouted with outrage, "You should
be mastering this new technique! Now get to work!"
Ranko smiled at that, somehow it reminded her a how a father should
act.
"Ready to go home?" Rit-chan asked Ranko.
"Yeah, I guess."
She felt a little guilty about Raccoon's expression when he left at
that point.
----------------------------------------
Ranma stared at his hand, trying to extend his fingers as he had when
he was Ranko. It wasn't happening. Unfortunately Rit-chan had found out
exactly what Raccoon had been testing, and Ranma, and Ranko, were facing a
whole new range of motion experiment/measurement.
Ranma sighed, Raccoon, I think I may just _kill_ you for that.
Ranma lay back in his bunk and wondered what Raccoon had done to cause
the changes. He said the one he ate by himself was a master of genetic
manipulation, was he unconsciously accelerating the process while he was
testing it? Ranma wondered. He could analyze it in the morning, so he
closed his eyes, wondering what _other_ surprises awaited him tonight.
----------------------------------------
June 5, 1947
Keep peace with the Lords of the Jungle
The dream dojo seemed strange, everything was so much taller. Ranko
tried to stand up, tottered and crashed down again, her dozens of feet
waving in the air.
"_RACCOON_!_!_" she shouted, even her mouth felt weird, "What did you
do to me!?" she shouted in fright and rage.
"You haven't been using Unit 04 to its best advantage."
The voice she heard was nothing like Raccoon's smooth tenor, a
gravelly basso-profundo, "Raccoon isn't here. I'm more an interested
bystander."
Ranko recognized the voice, it was the huge creature she'd been
rescued by, when she had been rescuing Rei. The claw that came through the
wall was as immense as she remembered it, as it closed around her. She
screamed, a moment later she was out, amid the blackness. She could barely
make out the shadowy figure of the huge creature.
"There are martial arts styles based on animals? Correct?" the
creature asked.
"Yes," Ranko was feeling a little more secure.
"This is the reverse. You are in the form of Unit 04, use that form.
Don't fight it as a human, learn to fight it as it is."
Ranko grimaced.
"Analyze the form: 37 pairs of legs, heavy crushing jaws, a striker
tail, as well as the ability to constrict. You need to master them all."
"What are you?! What right have you to do this?"
"Your life, and Rei Ayanami's," the creature thundered, "Or don't you
honor your debts?"
Ranko twisted inwardly, "Okay, what do I do?"
"Analyze, learn, improvise," the creature chuckled, "And you'll lose,"
the creature's laughter was galling.
Ranko tried to charge the creature, got her legs slightly tangled and
veered off target. The kick she landed was pathetic, especially
considering the immense size of the creature. It could have carried an EVA
under each arm. She opened her jaws and snapped, the creature barely got
its fingers out of the way.
"Very good. Instead of one strike, consider multiple sequential
strikes," the creature maneuvered to receive the blow on a non-vital,
well-protected area.
----------------------------------------
Ranma woke slowly, he felt _terrible_. He had learned a lot of new
techniques to use with Unit 04, but that monster had treated him with
undisguised contempt. Justified contempt, Ranma had to admit, I wouldn't
have done much better if I was actually _in_ Unit 04. It was just playing
with me.
He wished he knew why the creature was doing this. It had saved his
life, and now it had dragged him into lessons, kept belittling and
insulting him. "Why?" Ranma remembered the creature kept calling him,
actually Ranko, 'Ladyfinger-chan', he didn't think it was referring to a
body part.
"I shouldn't ask questions I don't want the answers to," Ranma sat up,
decided as bad as he felt, he had made promises to the others, to teach
them. "Ranma Saotome keeps his promises." Ranma rolled out of bed, and
got dressed for his morning teaching.
----------------------------------------
"How about you? Were you able to duplicate what I showed you? Was
your other half?" Raccoon asked Ranko as she met him leaving the Search and
Rescue testing. She had also finished the exhaustive and exhausting
range-of-motion experiments Rit-chan and Maya had subjected Ranma and Ranko
to.
"No," Ranko said despondently.
"Don't push, you're already doing some of it subconsciously,
increasing your flexibility and resistance to injury."
"I guess I'm not going to turn in . . . to . . . "
"A puddle of orange goo?" Raccoon asked, "No. Nabiki should be along
in a little while. Take it easy on her, we were on helium-oxygen all day.
We're both a little tipsy."
"How does that work?" Ranko asked.
Raccoon opened his mouth to answer, then looked confused, "I don't
believe I can remember."
Now Ranko was _really_ worried.
----------------------------------------
June 6, 1947
The Kill of the Wolf is the meat of the Wolf. He may do what he will
Ritsuko peered into the diving tank at Nabiki and Jeff, who were in
the `new` breathing units: face masks and a long supply tether. A throat
mike and a waterproof earphone had been tried, and failed to operate as
promised, she would help them work on that. Nabiki had suggested chalk and
chalkboards as a temporary substitute.
Their abbreviated training had come to this, open a heavy piece of
machinery, rewire it, clear some blockages and reassemble the thing. The
pressure simulated 300 feet, and both were on a helium-oxygen mixture.
From their gestures and movements she could tell both were feeling
slightly giddy from the helium, the pressure, and the fatigue. The piece
weighed over a ton and several of the assemblies took both of them to move.
Misato and the pilots were also watching their progress. Oblivious to
this, Nabiki and Jeff labored at their `final exam.`
'Gasket in place.' Read Jeff's board. Ritsuko moved around the window
to better view what they were doing. Nabiki nodded and grasped her end of
the iron plate, which had nearly squashed the two of them the first time
they'd tried to move it. They lifted it into place, careful not to pinch
the gasket, which had been their bane on their previous attempts. With an
exchange of glances and a nod, they shoved it in place and bolted down
three locations where it slipped most often. Then came the other 15 bolts,
of a half dozen different sizes, some backward threaded to make this test a
true `bitch` as the divers referred to it.
Captain Madison, the Dive Master, checked his stopwatches as he
approached her, "Their best time yet," he commented, "They have fifteen
minutes to finish the job, and then if they don't screw up the
decompression, and they have in fact done the rewiring and cleared all the
jams . . . "
They'll be fully qualified as far as he, his team and NERV are
concerned, Ritsuko nervously completed the thought.
The two pilot/divers had marked the reverse bolts and the holes they
went in with chalk when they removed them. The job went swiftly. They
moved to the return rope, simulating their first assent and first
decompression halt.
The chief of SAR, Akira Kuroda, was growing concerned, he called over
Ritsuko and Captain Madison, "They're both showing signs of extreme
fatigue. If they come up too fast, we'll have to get both of them in the
decompression chamber fast."
Both nodded. Captain Madison left to get a team together.
"What are the dangers?" Ritsuko asked, she was certain she knew, she
was hoping she was wrong.
"The bends, at that depth they could simply explode. My main worry is
the first two decompression stops are done by decompressing the tank. If
they don't hold position for long enough, then the entire decompression
routine will be fouled up. Helium mixtures are like that."
Ritsuko paced nervously, she didn't like taking unnecessary risks, and
this training was completely unnecessary. Neither has anything to prove,
she thought, In a few months, we'll have enough EVAs for all six pilots,
and an extra, then Davis and Tendo will be fully trained. She also knew it
was completely out of character for the pair, if there was something to do,
they'd want to do it. She couldn't force Misato to rotate the pilots, but
she thought it would be a good idea, to both rest pilots whom they
overworked, and to keep the morale of the alternates up.
"Two eighty," the chief at the pump reported. Neither of the kids
advanced up the line for nearly two minutes beyond the required time.
Captain Madison approved, they could come up as slowly as they needed to.
'Don't let pride compel you to make a stupid mistake.' They ascended to
the marker that indicated the `250 foot` mark. "Take'em up to two fifty,"
the Captain told them.
"Depressurizing to two fifty."
"As soon as the tank's at atmospheric pressure, put a couple of divers
in the tank," Kuroda ordered.
She could see that now he was worried, at each decompression stop the
pair waited longer than was strictly necessary. The tank wasn't heated,
neither were their suits, and hypothermia would soon get to be a problem on
top of the fatigue.
"I was so angry with those two pilots," Kuroda quietly admitted to
Ritsuko, "Staring at my team and talking, then the punks had the guts to
actually challenge me in front of my men. Now, they're part of the team."
Then louder, "Come on."
"They need to speed up. Davis's lips are blue and Tendo isn't far
behind," Ritsuko said, her own nervousness making standing still more
difficult.
"Hypothermia? We'll have blankets and Coffee Royale waiting for
them," the Master Chief in charge of the decompression team assured her.
"Aren't they a bit young?" Misato asked the rescue team's most rabid
barracks-room lawyer.
"Navy regs," the chief replied.
Both made it to the surface. Neither one could make it up the ladder
out of the tank, even with the weight belts and tool kits removed. The
dive team hauled both out of the water and wrapped them in blankets, then
they removed the masks.
"This cooffee has alcohol in it," Nabiki managed through her
chattering teeth.
"Just a drop, administered by a navy corpsman."
"Trying to be heroes?" Misato teased.
Ritsuko saw the flash of anger from the two blanket-wrapped pilots,
Search-and-Rescue members, Ritsuko thought.
"I proved my bona fides on that score last time I was in an EVA," Jeff
said grimly, "Trying to prove something more important: that we're useful."
"What was our time?" Nabiki asked, deflecting Misato's angry counter.
"Ten minutes to spare, with the class work and the rest, if the
repairs were done properly, well you're too young and civilians, so there
can't be anything official," Captain Madison explained, "You can dive with
us any time."
Nabiki nodded, drank more of the doctored coffee, "I'm gonna sleep in
the furo tonight, I'll never be warm."
"At least you won't have a problem going to the bathroom," Jeff joked.
Nabiki blushed.
Ritsuko glanced over at Sammi, she nodded, they would look after their
charges carefully tonight.
----------------------------------------
Rei was traveling through dreams. She had been worried ever since she
and Roku-kun had prevented the death of the Fourth in his dreamscape. The
wounds had been beyond her ability to repair. Even with her help, Roku-kun
shouldn't have been able to prevent the demise of the Fourth from wounds
and the attendant shock. Yet when they left, the Fourth was whole. She
had been too tired to analyze it, now she had. She needed to find him,
soon.
Since here she could use her full abilities to find him, her search
was dreadfully short.
The Scholarly Dragon, intimidating, forbidding, as she'd seen in the
Dreamlands and in Shinji-kun's dreamscape, was there with Roku-kun. She
saw the magic circle Roku-kun lay within, the circle the Dragon was clearly
monitoring.
"Do not disturb the lines," the creature's voice sounded listless, as
if it were too weary or too saddened for more effort, "Too much, he will
need time, Little One."
"To heal," Rei approached carefully. She was still terrified of the
creature, its horrid aura still set her one step from fleeing, while at the
same time, she knew he would not move against her here.
"I can," she made her decision, but she was still dreadfully worried,
"He cannot see how." She couldn't think of how to retain her veil of
secrecy, yet bring her true, full might to bear.
"A blindfold, or proper timing will suffice. Also, I doubt anything
you can do, would restore him to absolute health instantly," the creature
was trying to reassure her.
She nodded and headed towards her dreamscape. She didn't think the
Dragon was lying to her, merely underestimating her. She found that oddly
reassuring.
She arrived, and was surprised to find all her counterparts waiting.
She would not need to assemble them. Two in particular stood out from the
others: the littlest, who the Second had called 'Baby Wondergirl', she
wondered if the Second had made the connection, the answer to why Rei had
followed her and her `career` so closely; the other was black-haired and
brown-eyed.
That confused Rei, so did the pleased greeting.
"I couldn't stay away. Especially considering what happened and what
you had planned," #29, `Sarah`, told her.
Rei nodded, then enjoyed the look of horror on #29's face, as the
Dragon arrived with the subject of their gathering. Rei hoped the Dragon's
assurances would serve, she did not know how Roku-kun would react to the
revelation of their earlier `relationships`.
The littlest one had already begun, standing beside Roku-kun and
making a song like the howl of a grieving wolf. Others reached out to
touch him and picked up the song, weaving their contributions in and out,
the Dragon withdrew to allow them to do their work. Rei took her place in
the song and circle, as did `Sarah`.
They felt the extent of the damage, the wounds he'd transferred to his
dreamself, when he lacked the power to heal them.
All of them, us, are failures, to a greater or lesser extent, even
#29, she considered, But not here. Here, _we_ are strong. Their voices,
their power, wove in and out, and they all felt the changes. Rei wasn't
worried that the Dragon would discover the whole truth, he seemed to have
already figured out most of it.
They finished, remarkably quickly. The Dragon collected 'the boy'
before he regained consciousness. "Thank you," he intoned before he
vanished with his charge.
Rei turned to `Sarah`, "How?"
"There's really not too much for me to do, so when I felt what you had
in mind," Sarah shrugged, "I had to help."
Rei felt a twinge of jealousy at the other girl's easy use of language
and its nuances, further proof that she was an inferior element in the
chain. What was equally confusing was the other's easy acceptance of the
separation from Shinji-kun, and the others. Rei knew she'd kill anyone who
took Shinji-kun away from her, yet this `Sarah` had easily accepted it.
She lacked the enforced distance of Roku-kun, or the callousness, feigned
or real of the Second and Fourth, respectively. However she did it, she
controlled her emotions, what to Rei was a volcano she could neither
control, express, nor understand.
More proof, as if any were needed, Rei thought with considerable
self-loathing, That I am inferior.
"I am curious if Roku-kun got my letter. I'm going to get some
training, then off to a boarding school in England. I think I've had
enough running and hiding for one life," Sarah told her, as if oblivious to
the turmoil, and even fear, Rei was feeling. "Well, give Shinji a kiss for
me," she turned and vanished.
The others had dispersed while she and Sarah had been talking. Even a
`perfected` copy could not hold the attention of the others, while _any_ of
the other pilots seemed utterly and completely compelling. She wondered
about that.
----------------------------------------
June 7, 1947
In all that the Law leaveth open, the word of the Head Wolf is Law.
As the alert sounded, Ritsuko sat at a console on the command deck,
and narrowed the scan arc, trying to get a better idea of where, and what
the Angel was.
"I'm here," Maya took her usual seat that happened to be beside
Ritsuko, "The pilots are their way, Commander," she reported.
"We're still trying to classify it," Ritsuko leaned over and told her.
The sensor systems were now showing an immense spider to those who could
link with the Magi. Otherwise, the map table put an icon where the target
was.
Ritsuko thought the creature looked and moved like an actual spider, a
wolf spider to be exact: eight legs, two pedipalps, except for the scale,
That can't be right! she thought. It didn't look like any of the
spider-like Great Old Ones.
"The pilots are aboard their EVAs, Pilot Tendo is on standby," Lt.
Baker reported.
Ritsuko stepped away from the console, trailing the wire to the
headset that allowed her to access the data from the Magi, Misato and the
other `bridge bunnies` wore similar headsets. Like what the pilots wore in
the EVAs. Admiral Simson didn't. Ritsuko smiled at that, they had tested
the man, and he could easily have doubled for any of the regular bridge
crew except Maya. But he still hates interfacing with the Magi, Ritsuko
thought. She didn't have to remain seated at the console to manage the
battle, the virtual keyboard would appear in front of her wherever she
stood, if she needed it. She could analyze the enemy's and the pilots'
condition while she stood back and watched. I'm just avoiding Maya, again,
she chided herself, Considering what a disaster my attempt at manipulating
a dream was, I shouldn't continue to hold it against her.
"Launch them," Gendo ordered.
The four EVAs moved out. The creature moved steadily, angling away
from the EVAs.
"Commander, it's moving exactly like a spider," she said.
"I agree," Gendo confirmed her suspicions that this was _not_
Atlach-Nacha, the Great Old One. She wasn't sure what it was either.
Nothing normally that size should have been able to move that way. Yet it
was, headed towards a cluster of tall buildings, giving cover to the
creature, and limited the approach vectors for the EVAs.
Admiral Simson stepped to the console. He had been eagerly awaiting
the outcome of Asuka and Jeff's contest.
As were we all, Ritsuko admitted.
"Captain," he told Misato, "With your permission."
Misato nodded uncertainly.
"Saotome, Ikari, approach from the northwest; Ayanami, Langley stay
together and approach from the south. Hit and Run, don't commit, we're
trying something new, stay on tether power. Let's see if we can take down
some other way than strictly force-to-force."
----------------------------------------
"Acknowledged," Shinji said from the entry plug of Unit 01. He was
glad to let Saotome take the point on this. He had a bad feeling about all
of this.
Saotome suddenly dropped down, no longer imitating a badly
misproportioned human, Unit 04 dashed forward on all its legs. Before the
creature was even aware of him, he opened Unit 04's jaws and bit its
hindmost leg, nearly biting through it.
The creature turned rapidly, facing Shinji in Unit 01. It raised both
its two foremost legs and the shorter ones, and charged with its fangs and
mouth parts moving furiously.
The creature horrified Shinji, but he stood his ground, acting as
bait.
"HA!" a red EVA leapt out between the buildings and stabbed the
creature with a prog knife, it whirled to face Asuka and Unit 02. Unit 04
raced in and walloped its wounded leg with its tail on the way out.
The creature leapt to the side. This time placing itself between
Shinji in Unit 01 and Ayanami in Unit 00, each grabbed a leg and pulled
back on it. Asuka rushed up to support them as they held the confused
creature immobile. As strong as it was, it couldn't pull its legs back.
Ranma dashed under the creature, throwing a body check into the legs
opposite Asuka. She grabbed two flailing legs and heaved, flipping the
creature on its back. All four EVAs pulled back as the legs twitched a few
times, then stopped.
"That's it?" Asuka asked.
Shinji couldn't believe it either, it had been too easy.
"Do we dismantle it?" Rei asked.
"We're getting some odd readings," Ritsuko's voice and image appeared
off to the side in their cockpits.
"Stay wary," Admiral Simson's voice added, "Stand by."
The creature vanished.
"Where - ?" Asuka shouted, "Ayeah!" The spider had leapt down on her.
Something unseen smashed the creature in the face, before it could sink its
fangs in Unit 02. The ends of its two forward arms had transformed into
the heads of huge vipers, one managed to sink its fangs into Unit 02.
Meanwhile, Ayanami in Unit 00 collided with the creature, throwing off
the aim of the other head. It twisted and snapped at her. Asuka wrenched
the viper head loose and took a solid grip on its `neck`.
"Wondergirl! Have you ever had a wishbone?" Asuka shouted, "Grab it
like this and PULL!"
Ayanami managed to trap the snake's neck under her unit's arm. The
two EVAs backed away from the huge spider. Ranma's Unit 04 dashed in like
a centipede, he caught a burst of webbing, entangling almost half the legs
on one side. Unit 04 simply raised the fouled sections off the ground, not
slowing a bit as he moved in to leap and land atop the creature.
"OW!" Asuka shouted as the leg she'd been pulling came loose, and her
Unit fell on its behind.
"Ayanami-san won," Shinji teased as he moved in to distract the
creature from Asuka's fallen Unit 02. The fight still worried him, the
creature itself had made no sound, and Ranma had been equally quiet. He
was sure he wasn't seeing something in this fight. He closed on the
creature, slashing to cut the fangs away from the spider, gaining its
undivided attention. With Unit 04 on its back, and Unit 00 still dragging
one leg, it's leap was thrown off target. Shinji dropped back to get Asuka
on her feet.
Ayanami `climbed` up the leg, hand over hand, until she could kick the
creature in the face, destroying one of its huge dark eyes.
Ranma in Unit 04 delivered the rippling pattern of punches, executing
them at maximum speed, for several seconds, then pulled back.
Ayanami released the wounded leg after breaking the snake head's
`neck`.
"Come on Asuka!" Shinji called as he readied his prog knife again, and
charged to knife the creature repeatedly wherever he could hit, leg, body,
anywhere.
"Back!" Asuka shouted as they jumped back, then Ranma and Ayanami
leapt forward to duplicate their move. The creature vanished again. The
EVAs scattered, to await its reappearance.
"North of Rei!" Simson warned them.
Shinji yelled a wordless battle cry as he leapt at it. Rei ducked
Unit 00 and rolled out of the way. Shinji had gathered the spider's head
alongside his unit's hip and hung on with both arms. He tried to crush the
creature's head.
"While he distracts it," Admiral Simson told them, "Cut off all its
other legs. Then slit it open throat to crot - to tail!"
"Hurry!" Shinji wasn't about to let go, but he hated carnival rides
like this. The spider was bucking up and down, shaking violently from side
to side. He was standing in the one place none of the spider's attacks
could land effectively. The others cut the legs off, in one piece, like
Ranma biting clean through one, or in pieces as Rei slashed at one. They
hurled the pieces away from the main body. Shinji watched Asuka pick up
his fallen prog knife, to replace the one she'd lost. She stabbed the
creature less than a foot from where his Unit held the creature, and she
slowly drew the blade back. Foul ichor poured from the wound, enticing the
spider to more frantic movement. Shinji's grip didn't waver, reducing the
desperate turmoil to mere twitching. Ayanami had started at the abdomen
and worked backward. Ranma was starting just forward of the spinnerets and
slicing forward, he occasionally had to dodge a gout of webbing.
"Next time we should do what Shinji did," Ranma teased as the
creature's fluids all poured out of the gaping wounds.
"Naw," Asuka corrected, "Let our cowboy break it, like a bronc rider.
What a silk factory! Just keep it in cows. Imagine that Admiral, no more
jute or hemp lines, all silk."
"How's the bite?" Ritsuko asked.
"Nothing, it doesn't even hurt."
"Well, the venom could be a hemotoxin. I don't see any problems here,
but you'll have to undergo complete decontamination."
----------------------------------------
"What!"
Everyone on the command deck flinched from Asuka's shriek of outrage.
"I have to get naked in front of those men again?!"
"We'll have a female officer see to it," Ritsuko said, then covered
the mike, "I hadn't realized the advantage of Nabiki being in Search and
Rescue."
Maya nodded, "Pilot Tendo, report to Search and Rescue, immediately."
"Wait until the Technical team can get out there," Admiral Simson told
the pilots as Ritsuko and Maya left the command deck, then he cut the
connection, "I think two things. One, I need more practice and two, the
pilots need to learn to coordinate better."
"Yes, sir," Misato said nervously.
----------------------------------------
Asuka stepped into the partitioned alcove in her plugsuit. Nabiki
noticed her relief when she saw her.
"They've got you on decontamination duty?" Asuka asked.
"I need the practice," Nabiki admitted, "We're also testing some new
procedures and equipment." That got Asuka more agitated. "It should speed
things up," Nabiki reassured her.
Standing there in an 'isolation suit', a primitive spacesuit with
higher pressure inside and it's own internal air supply, Nabiki was already
uneasy enough. She didn't want to make Asuka more wound up than she
already was.
"Lung flush first," Nabiki sat Asuka down and affixed a gas mask-like
appliance to her face.
"No more sticking my head in a bucket?" Asuka asked.
"Side benefit of pilots as part of Search and Rescue," Nabiki opened
the valve to the five-gallon reservoir.
Asuka braced to inhale the cold, oxygenated liquid, and was confused.
She couldn't speak with her lungs and throat filled with L.C.L.
"We had them warm it up," Nabiki smiled as she started removing
Asuka's plugsuit.
"Jeff," she called as she put the plugsuit in a bucket and handed it
over the partition. Then she started rinsing down Asuka as she sat
breathing the special L.C.L..
"Rinse," Nabiki helped Asuka take off the mask and purge the L.C.L.
from her lungs.
Asuka stood and bent over at the waist, letting the last of the L.C.L.
pour out, while Nabiki held her steady. Then Nabiki attached the mask and
reservoir of 'rinse' L.C.L. once Asuka was seated again.
"I'm glad these suits are liquid tight," Asuka admitted, "Can you
imagine all the other places you'd have to wash?"
"I'd rather not," Nabiki started the flow, cutting off further
conversation. She couldn't imagine how agitated or worried Asuka had to be
to be talking about such things to her.
As soon as the job was done, Nabiki pulled off the mask and wiped down
Asuka's face and cleaned the fluid out of her ears with water and swabs,
while Asuka donned a sterile robe.
"There's lemon juice in the showers," Nabiki told her as she hurried
away. She walked out to where Raccoon was, to help decontaminate him after
he'd exited his isolation suit.
"Weird," she told him, "You've really got her shook up."
"That was not my intention, shaken up, but not that shaken up,"
Raccoon sent Rei ahead to check on the progress of events.
"Why do I think you planned all of this?" Nabiki accused.
"Well, there are spells to summon Angels, but what they fought, wasn't
an Angel."
"Then what was it?" Ranma wandered in, "You two better hurry,
everybody has already started digging in."
"Oh MY WORD!" Raccoon spoke in a terrified and terrifying tone, shrank
back.
"WHAT?" Nabiki glanced around.
"Saotome doesn't have his face in a plate slurping down food!" Raccoon
wailed, "It must be terrible! WAAAHH!"
Nabiki shook her head as she was helped out of her suit, told the
frowning Ranma, "Remind me to drown him later. Meanwhile, let's go eat."
Ranma agreed, "So what was that thing?"
"Spider of Leng, they aren't normally that big," Raccoon said.
"How big were they?" Ranma asked again, "Normally."
Nabiki wondered why Ranma was so interested.
"About the size of a horse, ton to a ton-and-a-half. Although I've
seen some that were five to 10 tons, eight to 10 meters body length,"
Raccoon told him, "I hope Ranko gets a look at it. She wonders why I won't
take her to the Dreamlands, I doubt even _you_ could deal with the Cats of
Saturn, let alone walking through Ulthar."
"Cats!" Ranma stood stock still.
"Creatures vaguely catlike. In Ulthar it is against the law to harm a
cat, so they're all over the place," Raccoon said, "Even _I_ stay clear of
Ulthar."
The sound of people eating and talking drew their attention. Ranma
rushed forward before everyone ate everything.
"You'd better go keep an eye on him, maybe stop him long enough to
find out if he prefers what I cooked or what Asuka did."
Nabiki smiled and hurried ahead, she stopped at the door to the
command deck to savor the smell, Asuka and Raccoon had outdone themselves.
----------------------------------------
Sammi glanced down as Davis carried an exhausted Asuka through the
door into the apartment.
"One word about 'over the threshold' and you're sleeping outside," he
warned quietly.
Sammi only smiled, "I was going to say how gallant you're being,
considering how things turned out."
"I know I'm the best," Davis carried Asuka into her bedroom, "A
contest doesn't change anything." He placed her on her bed and tucked her
in.
"Rei seemed very happy. She even participated in the festivities,"
Sammi said, "That is new, from what I've heard."
`Raccoon` smiled at her, "Maybe that's what I was after all along.
Good evening, I want to turn in, ma'am."
Sammi nodded, once he'd left, she made a few changes to make Asuka
more comfortable, a gentleman would never remove a sleeping lady's clothes.
Then Sammi headed to her room to consider.
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