[Ranma][NGE][HPL][AMG][Fusion][Fanfic] Sic Semper Morituri Chapter 38 -
Know That He Who Finds Himself Loses His Misery
Author's Notes: Thanks to Sniper for correcting my German.
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.
C&C, MSTs are welcome
E-mail: dan_s.comments@worldnet.att.net
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http://www.cs.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/ftp/archive/anime-fan-works/Ranma/type/Sic-Sem
per-Morituri
(these are the original versions)
What has gone before:
About Book 11 of the Tankoubon Manga, 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.
With the return of NERV Tokyo from the Great White Space, everyone is
celebrating, except Asuka who realizes their enemies are taking a direct
interest in the pilots. Nabiki and Rei are returned to Tokyo separately,
Rei by express, Nabiki aboard the Spruce Goose with cargo for the EVAs.
Shinji, Asuka, Toji and Hikari meet with Yumiwashi.
Rei locates and confronts Jeff on the anniversary of Samuel's death.
She remembers her feelings on the death of Yui Ikari, and how she arranged
Naoko Akagi's death. Jeff wants to be left alone, Rei decides he needs to
talk about events, and doesn't take no for an answer. Including revealing
how he killed her years earlier in Boston.
At the welcome home party for Nabiki and Rei, the Azores mission is
revealed. Ranma will move in with Asuka and Sammi. Three shoggoths, once
fragments of Ritsuko, fight and are defeated by combining Ritsuko, Ranma
and Jeff, there are some side-effects as the trio's personalities
temporarily bleed into each other. Among them: Jeff, under the influence
of Ranma, confronts Belldandy sending her, then her sisters, into a tizzy,
Keiichi managed to defuse it. Ranko, under the influence of the others,
gives Jeff the passionate kiss from the bet he lost to Asuka at the
carnival. Then Asuka and Jeff tickle Nabiki remorselessly. Rei begins
calling Asuka mein Grossfeldmarschall {Gro�e}. All the pilots are giddy
from recent events.
To help Misato and Hiro's relationship, Asuka, Rei and Shinji throw
together a Sunday in the park picnic. Asuka invites Keiichi, Belldandy and
Megumi. Megumi volunteers her services and Belldandy's as caterers. They
work through the night to get everything ready.
The baseball captain Usagi and her allies are introduced, and what
they worship before their softball games.
The picnic is a success until Usagi and Yuki decide to test the
pilots. Ranma easily intercepts the batted ball, but transforms and must
leave. The picnic ends. Asuka and Ranma are sulky after the failed
picnic. Asuka also has a letter from Anna reminding her of home, to which
she can never return.
With the aid of a narrow board and two sawhorses, Asuka begins
teaching Ranma both sword fighting, and how to teach. Only he believes his
first class with the others was an unmitigated disaster.
Asuka contracts Keiichi and his sister to construct several bicycles
for the pilots. She shoots a bug and has her second clash with Skuld.
All four senators from Wyoming and Massachusetts begin investigating
the Boston incident and Misato's part in it. Admiral Simson scrambles to
begin his own investigation of what has been happening in NERV before and
after the war. Shinji and Rei console and watch over Misato.
Asuka and Ranma wash each others hair, Shinji washes Rei's. They
discuss children while doing this. Asuka doesn't want the responsibility,
Rei appreciates her advice.
The Kitten Who Thought It Was Robespierre
July 12, 1947
Jeff walked the corridors of the U.S.S. Bennington, the noises of the
ship asleep were a relaxing sound, but he couldn't sleep. He hadn't heard
many others awake at this hour, although some Marines were walking standing
patrols. He nodded to them as he headed down into the machinery spaces.
The engines that drove the carrier weren't markedly different from the
Coral Sea's. The snipes of the evening steaming watch seemed pleased by
the chance to discuss their charges and their duties.
After an hour of learning the differences and similarities of the
plants and their arrangement within the ship, listening to the gossip,
commenting where he could on the EVAs and their mission, he excused himself
and headed back to the hanger deck. He'd read to Unit 04 for a while, then
try to get some sleep.
The man at the base of the ladder wore evening dress of the latest and
finest kind. Handsome, patrician features and a bemused, saturnine facial
expression practically screamed 'vampire' to the world. The man had all
the characteristics, including the impeccable manners and weary amusement
at the foolishness of mankind to complete the stereotype. Only one thing
went against, and it was a major impasse. He was standing in a magnificent
sunbeam, the kind of sun you hope for on a day at the beach or at a picnic.
Enough to warm without burning, a light that makes most things look better.
Jeff glanced around, sure enough there was absolutely _no_one_ around to
see this. He wondered if there had been people around the moment before he
laid eyes on this `man`.
Jeff checked his suit for any spot of lint, or other imperfection. He
always felt merely being human was sufficient imperfection, although the
man would never be so crass as to admit it.
"Miss Tendo needs to learn magic."
Jeff was sure the creature's mouth hadn't moved, except to quirk into
a momentary smile, but he heard the words clearly enough. He could see
through most illusions because his Synthesia gave him the wrong secondary
sense impressions. Fires burned merrily and felt hot. However, they never
tasted hot, the flavor was either completely lacking, or the wrong one for
that temperature. The beast roared, but the conversation block was the
brown of curiosity, not red of rage or the white of pain. This appearance
was always completely correct, to the finest detail. The man was either
there or was such a masterful illusion that the difference was unimportant.
"Just like that? She is not going to be the most cooperative student,
she is just learning firearms," Jeff replied, stepping into the sunbeam,
tasting the rich chocolate that confirmed this was real sunlight. Quite a
trick for the core of an Essex-class carrier at 23:30 local time.
"You will find a way," command gave way to amusement. "You generally
do. She has been considering the possibility of broaching the subject with
you again. This time you will find an excuse to say yes."
"Glad I'm so entertaining," Jeff replied sourly, "You could have been
more forthcoming about the side effects of the combination technique, I
nearly got into a knockdown drag-out with a Friend of Man. If I miss one
of these informational briefings of your's, I might not know something
critically important and might actually have to come to a conclusion
myself. I screw up like that, and it will blow my entire reputation of
being all-knowing and always prepared."
"Waiter, may I have some cheese and crackers with my whine? You
assume that the future is yours simply for the asking."
"You were quite specific about maintaining a facade of absolute
certainty," Jeff retorted, "That it was 'Imperative beyond all measure that
they have confidence in one leader/advisor until they can find their own.'
Well I played the part, I believe both Langley and Miss Ayanami are capable
of standing on their own, with Shinji's help they can even stand together.
It was not an easy role to play."
"Arrogant, overbearing self-confidence particularly suits you, you
have a flair for it, and they still depend on your surety."
"Terrific, I'm thrilled, if I were any more excited, I'd emit light,"
Jeff said sardonically, managed to get a Rei-style ghost of a smile from
the man, "All I am saying is things have gotten a great deal more
complicated. Other forces are moving - "
"Some are your allies," slight disdain colored the words, "You can
contact them for assistance."
"Sir, do not take that tone with me. You knew very well who I worked
for and why I did, when _you_ approached _me_," Jeff said, paused, "I
apologize. Your advice on Nyarlathotep's assassin came late, and on
dealing with the anniversary came not at all. It is extremely
frustrating."
"Ayanami came to your rescue on both occasions," the man told him,
"You are not the only tool, your increased and true helplessness,
respectively, encouraged her actions and allayed the fears of others. The
sabre-halberd parts were adequate recompense I believe."
"Yes, thank you. So what else do I need to know?"
"Many things," the man actually sounded sympathetic, "All wrapped up
into 'Sharon has escaped'."
"Oh, crap," Jeff said as the world slid out from under him.
"The problem with omniscience is seeing all is perhaps seeing too
much. You can't let her reach the others, fortunate because you will be
her first and primary target. Should you die without killing her, her
obsession will transfer to another, and another. El Nureenen's curse will
serve you well, this is not the final battle, so have no fear in utilizing
it."
"So if I blow up a nuke, it's okay then." Jeff glanced around the
walls, wondering when and how she would get aboard, or if she would wait
until they made landfall. "Any idea of what she's become? How far she's
gone?"
"Beyond you."
Jeff closed his eyes. He could feel the man's gaze on him, he also
knew the man was gauging him, testing for suitability for . . . something.
But Jeff could only be himself. "Is there anyway to bring her back to our
side? She would be a powerful asset."
"To regain your lost friend . . . ?" The pause was longer this time,
as if the man were sifting through the possible futures, seeking some
answer. "Doubtful, she seeks your death, that may serve, or it may incite
further madness. Too many answers."
"That figures." Jeff sighed, he hated acting confident all the time,
he hated having to dole out what he seemed know slowly, piece by piece,
because he actually only found some things out slowly, piece by piece.
Most of all he hated being alone, but Sharon would only be the latest in a
long list. He thought briefly of Langley: so frightened that anyone might
care for her and then leave her when she cared back, and the bitter irony
that he did care, and he was just as afraid of her for the exact same
reasons. "Sometimes I wonder if the universe is actively plotting against
me, or if I am just lucky."
"You can judge a man better by the quality of his enemies. Yours are
of the highest caliber."
Just like that, he was gone. Leaving only the dimmed light of the
carrier at night, the sounds of the water against the hull. Jeff decided
he'd head for the hanger deck and read a few poems to Unit 04. After that,
as depressed as he was, he would have little trouble getting to sleep.
"Oh, Sharon I hardly knew ye," he cursed as he climbed the ladder.
----------------------------------------
July 13, 1947
Nabiki opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling. She wished the
dream had continued. She'd dreamt of having difficulty sleeping because of
her pregnancy, yet she had also had her husband Ranma's arms around her,
his hands caressing her, his lips kissing her, his. . . . She angrily
grabbed the weight on her belly that had induced the dream and shoved it
aside, the holster caught her nightshirt and tightened it nearly to the
choking point.
"AHHHA!" she shouted and sat up suddenly. The entire room shifted as
if the carrier were on a heavy sea. Vertigo and nausea warred briefly,
then ebbed away. She winced at the bruises the pistol made on her tender
skin. But she had to wear it, awake and asleep. Worse, Ritsuko came in
every two hours to check.
She really didn't mind mornings, since they began the day. She didn't
mind Mondays, since they began the week. She didn't mind them when they
waited patiently and let her meet them on her own terms. However, when
they attacked her in her bed at, she glanced over, 05:00 on a Sunday, then
she felt that warranted a little animosity.
"I have to get used to the gun, learn the gun is my friend," she told
the lump of metal in the holster she wore, "I have to wear it at all times
to get used to the weight and how to move." She sighed. "And now I'm
talking to it as if it could answer." She growled at the world in general.
"I hate this."
She knew she should have worn the holstered weapon when she went to
the bathroom late that night. She hadn't expected to catch Maya in the
bathroom, not carrying the rifle she was supposed to wear at all times
'except when you're asleep'. She'd thought Maya would be reasonable, she
wouldn't tell if Maya didn't. Instead Maya had dragged her to Ritsuko and
told her they both had failed.
"What's gotten into her?" Nabiki asked as she ran a hand through her
hair, held one strand and stared at it hatefully. "Asuka wakes up with her
hair behaving. 'Just let it grow out a little, and it will behave, Ice
Princess.' Some people are just born lucky." She considered getting up,
cleaning up and getting some breakfast. She just wanted to crawl back in
bed and ignore the world.
----------------------------------------
Nabiki walked through the mess hall, every few steps she bumped the
holstered pistol into something with a clunk. The sailors in the mess
seemed not to notice, their sudden silence indicated they were scrupulously
not noticing, and making sure none of their messmates noticed either. She
noted Maya clunking ahead of her with the rifle slung across her back
muzzle down.
What Nabiki dreaded most of all was that today both she and Maya would
spend the whole day learning to shoot. Ritsuko had very patiently
explained the necessity of the procedure to both of them. Maya had turned
very green, Nabiki just felt depressed. The problem was that Ritsuko and
the group's Admiral had backed each other up. The sailors and Marines had
been extremely polite, doing their best to make the experience painless.
That made it worse. They had even presented Nabiki with the holster and
belt she currently wore, including the small pouches to hold reloads. Not
loops for individual shells like in the movies, but all nine bullets held
in formation by a metal piece. She hated how everyone was making her
carrying this disgusting thing as painless as possible.
As Maya wove through the mess tables, the more experienced men got out
of the way of the errant rifle barrel, it stuck out from Maya's hip.
Nabiki followed in her wake, noted the bemused expressions on all the
faces. Several Marines and Navy personnel, from seamen to officers, had
assured her they had to go through much the same. She sat next to Maya,
she was ashamed she'd picked the side away from the rifle barrel, but that
also put her pistol between her and Maya. Neither spoke, they were both
too embarrassed by the sudden weight gain and deformity they hadn't learned
to compensate for.
After wolfing down her breakfast and escaping the mess hall without
maiming anyone, either by accident or on purpose, Nabiki walked through the
cavernous hanger of the Bennington. She started at the bow and walked the
length of that multicolored metal cave, glancing at the walls, the floor,
the roof that were all supposed to be gray, but were many colors and
decorated with brightly colored signs all over the place, from 'No Smoking'
to 'Beware Propellers'. The roof was the most worrying. The sight was
terrifying. The EVA had been walking so gently, and still made those foot
prints in the metal. Now she looked at them from below. She knew they had
discussed trying to crawl in through the bow, stern or side openings.
However, only the big deck elevators were large enough holes to allow the
EVA into the hanger deck. She wondered about the metal of the hanger
floor. It didn't seem to be damaged like the flight deck had been. She
paused by the stored EVA external batteries, the special ones that would
survive the extreme pressure of the deep ocean. She looked at the
protective covers over the battery terminals, some were cracked.
"Problems, ma'am?" A man with the chevrons and rockers of a Chief
Petty Officer had noticed her stop walking, and he had come over.
That was another thing that worried her, warriors who were as old as
or older than her father called her 'ma'am'. Their tone wasn't
condescending or patronizing.
"Master Chief, I think someone better check on this," she told the
man, "If Dr. Akagi sees this, she'll have someone's guts for garters."
The chief knelt beside her, checked the covers. "Thank you, ma'am,
I'll have someone repair these immediately."
She nodded and left, walking along the center of the hanger, looking
around. She stopped next to the hole for the forward elevator, looking
down at the massive lifting machinery.
"Ma'am, Miss Tendo, please step away." A young Marine who was
probably about her actual age approached nervously, his Adam's Apple
bobbing. Nabiki did as he asked.
"I was just wondering what it would be like to ride this to the flight
deck," she told him, sounding wistful. He melted a little as they always
did when she charmed them. She knew Kasumi would never approve, but she
didn't approve that much of Kasumi anymore. That saddened her. Growing
up, Kasumi had been an ideal to aspire to, her older sister hadn't just
stained her armor of perfection, but cast it away and let Nabiki clearly
see the corruption and cruelty underneath. Because it was `traditional`
Kasumi didn't have to rise above it.
Nabiki watched the young man stumble a bit from her sudden pout, then
smile.
"I'm sorry ma'am, they're doing a walk down up there," the Marine told
her.
"May I watch?" she asked, "What is a walk down?"
"They form a line and walk the entire length of the flight deck and
pick up every piece of debris. It, aha, really isn't that interesting
ma'am."
"I thought I was going up there with Miss Ibuki, for shooting
practice," Nabiki said. She noted the looks at the Marine talking to her
by the other Marines and sailors. Jealousy, curiosity, a few other things.
That too was odd: nobody looked at Tendo Nabiki, or Tendo Kasumi for that
matter, not when they could look at Tendo Akane, the Tigress of Furinkan.
Nobody got jealous of a young man talking to Tendo Nabiki, the Ice Queen of
Nerima, everyone pitied such boys. Yet here, she was 'Ice _Princess_',
'Nab-chan' or 'Nabiki-kun', and men, young and old, looked at her. With
interest that had nothing to due with the Prime Rate.
"No ma'am. We've got a plane coming in, your practice is probably
after that."
"Thank you." She walked on. Past the forward elevator there were no
more footprints in the ceiling. She wondered what Ritsuko and Raccoon were
going to be doing while events were humiliating her and Maya.
No one bothered her as she walked. That was the other thing that
bothered her. Kuno always wanted to be 'sempai' upperclassman, here she
was 'ma'am' by real soldiers. Senior Sergeants and Petty Officers didn't
'ma'am' anyone except officers. She'd gotten both a Bluejacket's Manual
and the Marine Field Manual from ship's stores. She wanted to know what
was expected of her, how she should act and expect others to act. In some
ways she was more confused now than before she read those books. They were
treating her as an officer. Her, a fourteen-year-old, Japanese girl. She
could think of nothing she'd done to deserve the honor. She walked alone
with her thoughts all the way to the fantail. She walked to the rail, and
realized with disgust she had just walked past the 40mm gun battery that
she'd avoided just days ago. They were making her used to the things.
In the distance she saw a plane coming in.
"Ma'am, you'd better clear the area, if he hits low . . . " the
battery commander told her.
Nabiki nodded and put more of the heavy metal of the carrier between
her and the incoming plane. She heard the swish of the water, then the
squeal of tires and a metallic snap, then just the noise of the airplane's
engine receding. Then a strange, dragging, clicking sound.
"The plane's down?" she asked of the gunners. When they nodded, she
headed back to the fantail, banged the pistol against the wall, or
bulkhead, whatever they called it. She frowned, but when she looked up,
the gun crew were all staring at her, wearing the stony expressions of
those who _refused_ to laugh. She sighed and walked to look out the stern.
"Terrific," she noted she couldn't see the smaller carriers or the two
battleships, "They must be afraid I'll accidentally shoot them."
"I doubt that ma'am. They probably didn't want the plane landing on
them," the battery commander told her.
Before she could reply, "Miss Tendo," the Marine Sergeant stood behind
her, he seemed on the verge of saluting, "The flight deck is ready for
you."
"Cleared away all the breakables and got everyone under cover?" Nabiki
asked.
"I wouldn't know ma'am," the Marine said with professional and
practiced politeness.
Nabiki knew she would never get a straight answer out of the man. She
saw the plane being lowered on the forwardmost elevator. Once down,
several men got out. "That's a big plane, for one engine. Those aren't
American markings."
"Yes ma'am, Royal Navy, but the plane is an AD-1, an American plane."
He followed her up the ladder, a sharply tilted stair. Another reason she
wore slacks everywhere instead of a skirt.
The wind over the flightdeck was strong, Nabiki figured that would
make shooting even more `interesting`. They were already setting up the
targets, a small thing they were weighting down with sandbags, a man stood
behind it.
"Let me guess, that's what you test the planes' guns on?" Nabiki
asked.
"I couldn't say ma'am," the Marine approached several others, two were
older men, sergeants older than her father, but Nabiki doubted you could
make them cry outside a funeral, except by playing the National Anthem.
Her escort saluted and withdrew.
One man looked her over carefully, she wondered if she should open her
mouth to let him check her teeth. Maya was approaching, the other man went
to greet her.
"Miss Tendo, we'll be training you with your pistol and the M-1 rifle.
We will also give you some training in using rifle grenades. The things
you fight will be more vulnerable to the Anti-Tank and ironically, the
Practice Grenades. Don't worry, I've trained plenty of men. Some hated
the touch of weapons, they were conscientious objectors. They quickly
discovered even medics had to be armed."
Against Japanese troops, to protect their charges, she mentally added,
but just nodded.
"First we let you see the sight plane." Maya's coach was lying next
to a rifle-on-a-box, he was calling out to someone moving her target.
"We'll put the target where it belongs, then let you see how it's supposed
to look."
Nabiki nodded. She felt the movement of the EVA below through her
feet. She wondered what Ritsuko and Raccoon were doing directly below
them. She concentrated on her lessons. She knew that as soon as she
mastered this, she wouldn't have to wear the pistol all the time.
----------------------------------------
God Forbid I Should Know Myself
Ritsuko watched the EVA walking slowly down the length of the hanger.
She hadn't thought of it before, but the walking pattern was the same one
as a centipede. A half dozen feet on either side touched the ground at any
time, the entire body took on a slight sinusoidal movement. Ranma divided
the 37 pairs of legs into four groups and walked like a quadruped, straight
ahead. The centipede pace wasn't normal for a human, and it was too smooth
for Jeff to be intentionally using it.
The EVA itself must be doing some of the thinking, she thought
worriedly. She walked along behind the huge machine watching carefully,
other techs were collecting the telemetry for later review, she needed to
watch the EVA, not the data.
The EVA came to a dead stop at the end of the hanger. "Back up or
turn around?" came Jeff's voice through the external speakers.
"Back up." She watched the legs go through the same pattern. She
walked along beside the EVA and realized the tips of the feet were moving
in circles, almost like wheels, it was a deceptively simple pattern, all
the `wheels` `rotated` at the same rate. They were at different positions
along the circle, but the legs stayed out of each other's way. The whole
thing disturbed her.
"Okay, turn around backward." She glanced at the plane in the hanger,
the space was tight, she wanted to see how he handled it.
It was the standard type of turn used by most navies, like ships in a
column, as each segment reached a point, it turned while the others held
tightly to their course. Again it was the movement of an expert, Ranma and
Asuka could match that easily. There was no way someone with less than a
50% sync rate could move that smoothly that fast. The EVA backed across
the hanger again, until it reached the end. That was the other thing.
When Shinji first operated the EVA, even with his higher sync rate, he fell
down several times, his EVA mirrored his uncertainty of where his body was.
That was normal for a growing child, their arms and legs got longer and
their clumsiness increased. She walked to the back, the EVA had stopped
some centimeters from the wall. But the _EVA_ knew where its legs and body
were, she thought.
Ritsuko felt a chill go through her. `Raccoon` reading poetry to the
EVAs no longer seemed like such a crazy thing, he grew up around large
animals, and had to learn how to control them. This was just an extension
of that. The animal weighed 700 tons, but a 1000 kg angry bull would kill
you just as dead. She'd certainly have a great deal to talk about on the
following days.
----------------------------------------
Admiral Adams waited in his day cabin for two of the three arrivals to
be issued in. The guards would keep anyone else away while the briefing
was going on.
The first man was tall, gray, balding, he had His Majesty's Regimental
Sergeant Major practically stamped on him as he came to attention. An
American-style salute, which Adams returned. The other man was fully gray,
deeply lined and of Chinese extraction.
"Major ggreg late of His Majesty's forces, and Adam Smith, reporting
as ordered, sah," Major ggreg told him.
"Any particular branch, Major? Please sit down." Adams gestured to
the two additional chairs.
"Boats and aircraft, and any combination there of," ggreg said
offhandedly, the way junior officers did when they were politely trying to
dodge the question, and could not tell you straight out it was classified.
"Your two friends' qualifications?" Adams asked, "You aren't NERV, or
Royal military."
"I hold a roving commission from Her Majesty," Mr. Smith's English was
Oxfordian, not Chinese accented.
"'Her'?" Adams asked.
"Her Imperial Highness Victoria, yes, I am that old," Smith said
contentedly.
Adams believed it. "You fully understand our problem?" Adams asked,
"Supposedly you have been trained, I don't see the training that would let
you deal with this."
"Assassination and demolition would be a favorite," ggreg suggested
quietly.
"The reports of the other surviving pilot's psychosis are . . .
disturbing. Right now he's down there running tests with an EVA, the only
protection we have is that the batteries will run out and we can externally
disconnect the tether." Adams wanted to stand and pace, but the size of
the cabin prevented that. "How sure are you the limiters are still in
place?"
"It's much more serious than that," Smith told them, "He's piloted
once against an Angel, he might have gotten something from the other Angel
he was part of the battle against. The limiters may be in place and
undamaged. What they are limiting may have escaped from their bonds."
"Terrific, what then?" Adams asked, he could feel the fear in the room
rising, not just his own.
"We do what our governments sent us here for. There is no danger of
the Axis pilots having the same problems, their governments recruited them,
rather than prepared them," ggreg said it as if it were the most natural
thing in the world.
And I thought you two were friends, or at least student and mentor,
Adams kept the thought to himself, But you'd snuff him out for the good of
the Crown.
"Are you planning to invite them to the Captain's Table?" Smith asked.
The question startled Adams, "I hadn't planned on it, not this early.
I would have thought . . . "
"Better to relax them first, get them to lower their defenses," ggreg
said, "That means treat them all as you would any dignitary. Or any
non-seasick dignitary."
They won't be the ones sick at that table, Adams considered he'd never
had dinner with a blameless man he might have to kill for the good of his
world.
----------------------------------------
"There they are," Nabiki grumbled about Ritsuko and Raccoon as she
trudged into the mess hall with Maya behind her, "All rested and happy."
Nabiki heard an answering grumble from Maya. The line cleared away to let
them go ahead. Nabiki preferred to think that her icy glare cleared them
all away, rather than the men saw these were 'ladies', and their anger was
so cute. Considering that everyone of them had gone through the same
trials, they could chuckle at another's misery.
Nabiki and Maya managed to get over to the table where Ritsuko and
Raccoon were. Nabiki did notice she only ran into one post, and Maya only
hit one of the younger sailors, and his mess mates chided him for not being
aware. Neither Nabiki nor Maya was in a good mood as they sat. The fates
did not smile on Nabiki, she wasn't able to `accidentally` clobber her
fellow pilot. Nabiki also grimaced at the tape on her thumb.
"Didn't get your thumb out of the way when you loaded a clip?" Raccoon
asked of her injury.
Nabiki managed not to dump her lunch down his shirt and beat him
unconscious with the tray. Instead she gave him a sunny smile. "Has
anyone told you that you are an exasperating know-it-all, who needs a
muzzle or a cork?"
"No." Raccoon smiled right back.
The treacherous monster waited until she had a mouthful of liquid
before adding, "They don't smile as cute."
Nabiki plotted her revenge as she tried to figure out why cold milk in
her nose felt so strange.
"I know where you're ticklish," he told her in German, "So does
Ranma."
She glared at him. Once I was well and justly feared by people who
could reduce you to a puddle, she thought behind her murderous glower, One
tickling session, and you think you're immune?
"Nabiki dear," Ritsuko said in English, "You and Maya should hurry up
and eat, as soon as you are proficient, you can end this terrible onerous
trial and accept your laurels as true heroines of sterling character," she
said in theatrical tones and `swooned` after making her pronouncement.
There was one guffaw, swiftly silenced.
Probably by someone's elbow, Nabiki thought.
"They won't let us shoot," Maya complained, "We just make marks on
paper, and then they tell us how to make the marks closer together."
"I thought you didn't like shooting," Raccoon said so innocently.
Nabiki watched Maya's embarrassment war with her deep need to unlimber
the rifle she still wore, and beat Raccoon to death with it. She thought
of her own pistol, unlike the rifle, it _was_ loaded. "It would be so
easy," she said, smiled.
Raccoon gave her a dewy-eyed look right out of a girl's manga, "You
wouldn't hurt something as cute and fluffy as me?" he sniffed tearfully.
"Could you?"
"Then I would fry you up and hang your skin on my wall," Nabiki told
him. It felt eerie how quiet a room full of men eating could be. She
lamented that they weren't terrified into silence, but they didn't want to
miss the repartee. "They eat rabbits, don't they."
He wiggled his nose at her. She wondered if a pistol whipping would
be acceptable.
"There's not enough meat," Ritsuko observed, "Have to use him in soup,
although the L.C.L. probably isn't good marinade."
Nabiki sighed, glanced at Maya. "Are we the only rational people at
this table?"
Maya smiled, patted her shoulder and said, "You're half right."
Nabiki suspected she wasn't going to get any help or sympathy, from
anyone.
"ATTEN'SHUN!" Echoed through the room. Every man shot to his feet.
Nabiki and Ritsuko were perhaps a half second behind them, Maya a hair
slower.
"As you were," Captain Casey snapped. The men all sat with the same
machinelike precision. Nabiki kept up this time. She also noticed the
Captain seemed to be heading directly towards them.
Nabiki's instinct to joke with Maya about one of them having shot
someone was smothered, Casey looked too serious.
"Ladies, sir," Casey said, "May I join you?"
"Of course," Ritsuko said, "To what do we owe the honor?"
"The Admiral asks the pleasure of your company at dinner, formal, full
dress uniforms if you have them, at 19:30," Captain Casey told them, "If
you lack the appropriate coat and tie," Casey joked with Raccoon, "One can
be provided."
Nabiki noted that Maya had gone very pale. From Rei's report, Nabiki
knew Maya only had one formal piece of clothing, the rest of her baggage
was all work clothes or her uniforms. NERV didn't have full dress
uniforms, which meant only one thing. Nabiki hid her smile, Rei was a very
useful coconspirator.
"Of course," Ritsuko said, "I'm sure we all have appropriate clothes.
Except perhaps Miss Tendo."
Nabiki felt an icicle dragged down her spine. I have some nice
clothes, I packed them!
"Maybe Miss Ibuki has something that wouldn't be out of place and
appropriately formal," Ritsuko said. Sipping her coffee.
Probably to hide her smile, Nabiki thought.
"Well," Casey said as he stood, "I'll let you work out the details,
19:30 hours."
Nabiki looked at Maya's malevolent smile, felt a cringe and a simper
building. The tap on her shoulder brought her around to face Raccoon, who
seemed to be studying some piece of food at the end of his fork with utter
fascination.
"I have something that might fit," he suggested offhandedly, "It is
formal, just not from this century."
Shakespeare costume, or Maya's little black dress, Nabiki thought
desperately, the icicle's cousins and brothers had shown up and were
following along the same path.
"Well, I think I've got some appropriate clothes," she said
desperately, "But if I don't, I'll take you up on your kind offer." She
turned back to Maya, tried to look sympathetic, "I'm afraid I'll have to
turn down your kind offer."
Maya's stricken expression was worth whatever Raccoon would do to her
later. She fervently hoped.
----------------------------------------
Nabiki wasn't sure if she had walked into a dream or a nightmare.
Ritsuko had vetoed everything Nabiki had brought with her, her `finery`
didn't measure up. One look at the dress Ritsuko would wear, and Nabiki
had reluctantly agreed. The costume was traditional all right, a kimono
and obi, of pure silk. It looked like it would fit Nabiki very well. That
was the dream. It was a bright yellow with colorful patterns of
butterflies all over it, and the obi was a deep forest green. It was . . .
irresistibly cute, that was the nightmare. The words 'little Madame
Butterfly' floated unbidden in her mind. Maya's little dress was beginning
to look better. She looked around Raccoon's cabin, wondering if he had a
suit and tie that would fit.
"Isn't it lovely?" Raccoon asked, "Excellent stitching, easy to get
into and out of. A marvelous blend of costuming and engineering." He
smiled. "Finding the patterned silk was the real triumph." He sighed.
"Then they canceled the production, lucky you."
Nabiki could only manage a sick grin, she couldn't bring herself to
say what a hideous thing it was, it might be fine for a 6-year-old, but
_not_ her.
"I am especially proud of this feature," he told her as he detached
the obi that was hung on with hooks and easily came off. Then he folded
it, the garment changed radically. "It's reversible," he said as he
reattached the obi to the now midnight blue kimono, a peregrine falcon and
an eagle design seemed to be swooping from opposite shoulders across the
breasts and to the center of the obi.
"It's beautiful," Nabiki didn't have to manufacture her enthusiasm.
"The only problem is I'll have to sew you in, it was only meant for
the stage, not walking and dining aboard a carrier."
"Sew, like with a needle?" Nabiki worried.
"I have _never_ stuck someone by accident," he said sincerely.
"By accident?" she asked archly. Folding her arms across her chest.
"Well I've never done it on purpose either, but my costuming teacher
told me to always say it that way."
She relaxed a bit, then came the fright of what she'd wear under it,
and the thought of standing in his cabin in her underwear. She knew it was
an irrational thought. Feminine modesty was one thing. But considering
what tests Ritsuko and Maya regularly did on her, the things they stuck all
kinds of places and the samples they took . . . and that a plugsuit left
practically nothing to the imagination, she thought she'd be immune to that
kind of embarrassment.
"Shorts and a T-shirt," Raccoon said as if reading her mind, "You
think this is the first time I had to play costumer? The first time boys
are as nervous as the girls. You want something to catch the sweat and
that keeps the costume from chafing sensitive bits. This is not a suit of
clothes, it is a costume. It's only meant to be worn for an hour or two."
"Right." She felt relief, then irritation at his calm demeanor.
"Doesn't anything ever bother you? Get you all jittery?"
"Yes, and no, respectively. You'd better hurry and get changed," he
told her.
She headed back to her cabin to get changed. She grumbled at her
fellow pilot's cold-bloodedness, she wasn't sure whether she envied or
pitied him. She could get worked up about things, she wondered how he'd
react to 'Sigmund's Religion Test', Asuka's uncle told Asuka 'Let me take
the most devout Communist or fervent Atheist down in my submarine under
water bombs, and he will be on his knees praying to his God.'
She changed quickly. She looked at her holstered pistol, she sighed
and put it around her hips, then dashed back to Raccoon's cabin. She
thought that being worried or excited by this was ridiculous. She put it
down to being a 14-year-old again, she hoped she hadn't been this silly
when she was that age the first time.
----------------------------------------
I Know Myself, But That Is All
Nabiki walked carefully, afraid of damaging the costume, or the seams,
or catching the holster on something. Nabiki glanced at Raccoon next to
her, holding her arm. He looked good in his black tuxedo, top hat and
walking cane, and a holstered pistol. She paused, instantly Raccoon sensed
it and stopped.
Nabiki glanced back at Maya, she looked very attractive though
extremely uncomfortable in her dress. Her only capitulation to modesty
was, the strap of the rifle covered the decolletage. Nabiki thought that
was funny, the hated thing now kept her from embarrassing herself further.
Nabiki also wondered where Ritsuko had gotten the blue pistol belt and
holster. She wished they'd walk hand in hand, but there were limits to how
far they would push things. Ritsuko's dress didn't look much different
from her usual blue shirt, black skirt outfit, except it reached the
ground, and it wasn't solid colors, but gently spiraling stripes that
accented her figure. Ritsuko managed to remain elegant, despite the
surroundings.
"I should have changed upstairs," Nabiki said as she looked worriedly
at the ladder leading to the next floor. She was not looking forward to
climbing all the stairs.
"If you want. I can carry you," Raccoon suggested.
Nabiki felt her cheeks color. "No, thank you," she said as she
climbed slowly. She wondered what the men who got out of the group's way
saw. A little girl in a fancy dress and make up trying to act grown up?
Or something else? A glance at Ritsuko and Raccoon showed they carried
themselves as if _they_ were deigning to meet with a mere Admiral. She
couldn't erase the memory of her humiliation aboard the Spruce Goose. She
had eventually calmed down and had a brief, composed conversation with the
men. She'd refused an offer to a poker game, she'd hidden in her berth for
most of the remaining flight. She couldn't figure out why she felt like
going to pieces again. She ran Nerima, she could intimidate or blackmail
anyone. Here she had her friends to back her up and cover for her. She
still felt terribly vulnerable. If she did act like a fool - again - and
they didn't cover for her, or worse they humiliated her further, she didn't
know what she'd do. That she intellectually knew they wouldn't, didn't
alleviate her fears. The butterflies got worse with every step. She had
realized that in Nerima she had been a big fish in a puddle, for most of
the populace insanity and obsession masqueraded as brains. Most of the
people in authority here were there because they had brains. Maybe they
didn't have her instincts, but none were stupid.
"Maybe I should have worn the other side," she joked as she walked.
"He's just a man, remember your manners," Raccoon said, "Otherwise be
yourself, if you want to answer his questions or ask your own, do. If
something is out of line, treat it that way, politely."
Be myself, Nabiki thought, I'm not that sure I _want_ them to see me.
She frowned, as she walked in a borrowed dress to meet a man who literally
had the power of life and death over her, if he wanted. She also glanced
at the guns they were all wearing and suddenly she got a cold chill that
_all_ of them were in the same position, all of them had the power of life
and death over the others riding on their hips. She felt the cold sweat
starting, she was used to people who threatened and hit. Death was
something that happened not from combat, but from disease and old age. She
remembered Hiroko, she still didn't have any answer to those eyes. She
didn't know if what she was doing made her happy, most of the time she was
frightened or confused. But when she did pause and look back, she was
amazed how far she had come.
The line of Marines in dress uniforms and white gloves, and rifles,
stood outside the room where the Admiral, his chief of staff, and the
Bennington's senior officers waited. Nabiki was in the lead of the NERV
group, the Navy officers smoothly came to their feet. Nabiki cringed
inwardly at the appraising looks, looks she was usually the deliverer of,
not the recipient. Raccoon cut the steward off and held Nabiki's chair for
her. She half-expected him to slide her in right against the table. But
he's a gentleman, she reminded herself. Raccoon took his seat, while the
stewards seated Ritsuko and Maya.
Nabiki waited for some comment about the kimono, and waited.
"The steaks came in from Pearl," Admiral Adams said, "Admiral Nimitz's
own dog-robber claims you could cut them with a sharp look."
"Dog-robber?" Nabiki asked.
"An officer who sees to it a high-ranking officer has all his personal
logistical needs filled," Captain Garibaldi said, glanced at a Lt.
Commander down the table.
"You mean like a man whose suit coat weighs forty pounds because of
all the stuff he carries?" Nabiki asked, glanced at Raccoon.
"Something like that," Captain Garibaldi said.
"I am curious about the operation against Choohooga - " Captain Casey
began.
"Cthugha, Captain," Raccoon interrupted, "Miss Tendo and I would
appreciate a change of subject."
"My apologies," Casey said. Raccoon nodded.
So that's how it's done, Nabiki thought, she'd dreaded that subject.
She'd heard it referred to in glowing terms, but she'd been down in the
muck for the entire operation. All of it was very painful.
"What about Chaugnar Fa . . . " Admiral Adams shook his head.
Stewards glided in and served the soup. Nabiki felt better about
someone else being in the spotlight.
"A nightmare," Raccoon said quietly, "Girls get intensively trained
before their first combat, boys get thrown into the first fight that comes
along. Learning how to direct the unit while in combat with a powerful and
dangerous enemy . . . not - fun."
"That's not true," Ritsuko commented testily.
"It has been so far," Nabiki commented, feeling a little better on
familiar ground. "I still haven't seen combat." The soup was something
tomatoey, but spicy. "Raccoon you should get the recipe for this."
"I've heard that, and all the other nicknames," a Commander down the
table asked, "Where did they come from?"
"Your witness," Raccoon told her. She frowned as the Navy personnel
chuckled.
----------------------------------------
Having to be cut out of a dress seemed strange.
Considering how tight a lot of Shampoo's costumes were, Nabiki
wondered Is that was how the girl got into them? She felt tired, but at
the same time she hadn't wanted the evening to end.
"Get ready," Raccoon told her. Bringing her back to her cabin in the
present.
"Won't it stay?" she carefully gripped the kimono to keep it from
dropping.
"It may not." Raccoon cut the threads. Carefully held the dress.
"It seems to be holding. You can return it tomorrow."
"You're leaving?" she asked, then thought what a stupid thing to say.
"You don't have to leave."
"You're going to undress and take a shower," Raccoon commented, "I
wouldn't think you'd want a boy around for those activities."
Nabiki felt her cheeks coloring. "It's not like I'm going to
immediately get naked."
"No." He finished packing away his small sewing kit. "But probably
soon after."
"And you don't want to watch?" she asked, "I don't believe that."
"You have more practice in the morning, you need your sleep." He left
before she could find something to throw at him. She walked over to the
door, hatch whatever, and locked it. She unhooked the costume and
carefully hung it up. She noted she'd have to pay for it to be cleaned.
She'd sweated a good deal more than she thought. Standing there in her
T-shirt and shorts, now she felt hot and sticky. She needed a shower
before she went to bed. Fatigue was coming down on her hard. "I guess
once you relax you come down fast," she said as she headed towards her
closet to get her robe and clean underwear to change into.
----------------------------------------
"Nabiki!" the cheerful voice woke her instantly. Nabiki looked up at
Kasumi, then looked again and wondered whether she was actually awake or
not. She felt awake, but demure, decorous Kasumi was wearing a postage
stamp, a smiley button, and a snake. Not snake skin panties, but a live
snake. The idea of a snake crawling around down there almost drove away
the question of how Kasumi had affixed the smiley button like a pasty. The
obvious answer seemed much too painful and kinky for Kasumi.
"You have a board meeting," Kasumi supplied, yanked the blanket away,
and chivvied Nabiki out of bed. Nabiki looked around what had been a cabin
aboard a U.S. Navy Aircraft Carrier, it looked like a half-set of her old
room. The door, window and furniture were all there, but not the walls.
She idly wondered how the window frame simply hung there in space. The
rest of the house seemed the same way.
Any second she expected Rod Serling to make an appearance. In the
dining room she saw Akane, Genma, Tatewaki, Kodachi, Shampoo and Dr. Tofu,
all sitting around the table, all stark naked. They all looked at her and
screamed their outrage. Nabiki leaped back before looking down.
I hate when I'm naked in dreams, she thought, and saw she was wearing
a business suit of conservative cut and styling.
"That's it, I'm going back to bed," she grumbled and marched back to
her room. Inside there was a three-way poker game. Belldandy, Raccoon and
a figure in a cowl were playing. The entire pot was a single glass sphere
with a rather sickly green flame within it. Scribed around the
circumference was the name 'Tendo Nabiki'.
"I win," the cowled figure announced in a voice that even sounded like
it was rotting, while a skeletal hand with rags of flesh hanging off it,
raked in the pot.
Nabiki could feel the miasma of evil roiling off the figure. My soul
goes to the devil, she thought that was laying the symbolism on a little
thick. Her pistol was an uncomfortable pressure on her stomach. I
probably rolled over in my sleep and I'm lying on the stupid thing, she
thought as she drew and fired, not at the figure but at the prize. The
glass shattered, and the flame went out.
She brandished the pistol. "I am - through - playing - games," she
announced, "Everybody vacate the premises."
"It doesn't work like that," the deep, gravelly voice came from behind
her. She whirled around, leveling the pistol. Her fingers abruptly went
on strike, and her knees and bladder were preparing a walk out of their
own.
It was _big_!_ Maybe the Spruce Goose or the carrier was bigger, but
this thing looked like it could eat an EVA for breakfast. A black cloud of
opalescent darkness, this wasn't a patch where the light hadn't gotten too.
Light took one look and ran the other way screaming for its mommy. There
were different intensities of the absolute blackness, so the whole shone
like a mockery of pearl. Then, like a window opening onto another
universe, two distant yellow suns appeared. They were old suns, forbidding
suns that had long ago eaten all their planets and anything else they could
draw in.
Nabiki felt the draw of those eyes, as they extracted any thought or
volition out of her, replacing it with a numbing cold. She was certain the
only reason she hadn't wet herself was everything inside her was now frozen
into a solid lump. She knew she should run away, but every instinct told
her to remain motionless. Attempting to escape would only make it angry.
>From Ranma's wild stories, she finally put a name to this apparition before
her. "Sc - Scho - Dr - Drag."
"The Scholarly Dragon, at your service." There was a movement, some
differentiation of the darkness as it spoke and bowed. Individual scales,
the huge, sharp, black teeth, and the smell of pine, jasmine and spices
assailed her nostrils. Ranma hadn't been able to tell her if the creature
was good or bad, 'irritating/scary' was about the best he could describe
it, and even then, he'd been extremely respectful about it.
"You are under attack by three separate forces. Any of them could
have overwhelmed you, but each is attacking a different terror it
understands, and thus interferes with the others. So they each attribute
your resistance to your own resources," the Dragon told her, "You would not
survive even a single assault, their combined might would even give me
pause. Fortunate they will not coordinate."
Nabiki dragged her eyes away from the Dragon's eyes and teeth, and
gazed numbly at the two odd, pink, wormlike things that were lifting and
stretching themselves from the Dragon's skull. She missed his next words
as the pink things writhed and expanded, growing longer, and . . . fuzzier.
The Dragon's eyes lacked pupils, but she got the distinct impression
that it was looking at the growing bunny ears it had sprouted. "Excuse me
a moment," the huge creature said politely, "I have to go kill some
things." The massive creature stood and turned around. Nabiki saw the
size of the hands and claws. Despite the ridiculous bunny ears, she was
still too frightened by the rest of it to move. She doubted anything could
disperse the aura of absolute and maleficent power the creature seemed to
fill the entire area with. Even when she saw the lashing tail racing
towards her, her terror transfixed her. She braced for the impact, then
the tail passed well over her head. She felt and smelled the breeze of its
passage. Not a reptile stink, but again pine, jasmine and spices. In
another context, it wouldn't have been an unpleasant smell. She doubted
she would ever smell pine again without thinking of her current peril.
The monster vomited forth a stream of something even blacker than
itself. Wherever and whatever it touched burned away instantly. The
Nerima Wrecking crew, the odd house, huge windup cars with keys, a powder
blue teddy bear the size of an EVA, and a horde of tiny Godzillas riding
miniature tricycles. In an instant, only she, the dragon, a pile of large
white blocks, and a bowl large enough for her to swim in remained.
The Dragon seemed amazed that any target had survived. He carved off
a section of a white block with a massive claw, sniffed then tasted it. He
then marched over and peered into the bowl.
"Is there any reason you are dreaming so fervently of miso soup and
tofu?" the Dragon asked, his voice full of almost benign amusement.
"I guess I miss Japanese food," Nabiki managed, paralyzed again when
those eyes returned to focus on her.
"Concentrate on the ears, they seem to amuse you," the Dragon ordered
with a jaded mirth.
Nabiki made those cute, floppy _immense_ ears the entirety of her
visual universe, trying desperately to block out the massive horror they
were attached to.
"Tell the boy about the attack, the Circle of The Twilight Reeving may
suffice, tell him that."
Circle of the Twilight Reeving, Nabiki mouthed, but no sound came out.
Then those eyes filled her field of view. She couldn't imagine her
mouth getting any drier, but it had. She saw a yellowed reflection of a
terrified girl staring back at her, her hands clasped in a silent prayer to
whatever might be listening. Nabiki wished she knew what the girl was
praying to, there was nothing out there she could have that much faith in.
"Or you could offer training in Martial Arts, in compensation for
controlling your own dreams. The boy managed to train the Iron Horse,
Langley managed to teach `Spineless`, although he was a natural."
She couldn't manage to make 'why?' come out of her mouth, but the
dragon understood. "Because lessons are more valuable if you must pay for
them. You will awaken now, the boy is awake. Go tell him immediately."
When she couldn't move the Dragon thundered "GO!" at her. With the
menace of its mocking laughter echoing after her, encouraging her, she
could have broken the sound barrier.
----------------------------------------
The Proud The Cold Untroubled Heart of Stone
Jeff heard the bare feet coming down the cross corridor and running
towards his door, a moment later he saw Nabiki pass in front of him and
crash through the door into his cabin. She was wearing only her nightshirt
and pistol belt. Jeff jogged down the corridor after her, he wondered what
was so important about his cabin at this hour of the night.
He looked through the door at the girl practically spinning in the
center of his room, the mattress and bedding were on the floor, as if she'd
desperately searched the bed. He turned on the lights.
"AIEEEE!" He was sure her scream went on longer, but he couldn't hear
any more than that.
"Corporal of the Guard, Post number five!" he shouted, he knew he was
bypassing the post's sentinel, but he could apologize after his hearing
returned. He turned back to see Nabiki cowering in the corner. Ritsuko in
her night gown and robe was his first reinforcement.
"What's going on?" she demanded.
"She crashed into my room and screamed," Jeff explained. Maya
arrived, carrying her rifle correctly. Although the fixed bayonet was a
little much, and a longer nightgown or robe probably would have been a good
idea, he approved of her priorities.
Ritsuko walked into the room, moving slowly towards Nabiki. A squad
of Marines was approaching, looking ready for a fight.
"Possible intruder in Miss Tendo's room," he told them, was prepared
to go with them, when Ritsuko called him back.
He stepped into his room, Ritsuko motioning impatiently. He knelt
near Nabiki, the leap-grab he almost expected. Nabiki sobbing in terror
was not. He held the shivering girl, glanced at Ritsuko who shook her head
slightly. Both were ignorant of what had brought this on. Jeff was
content to wait, massaging Nabiki's knotted shoulders. He checked the
wards he had within the room, nothing had disturbed them. The place was
still as secure as he could make it. Maya stuck her head in the room and
shook her head, the guards had found nothing in Nabiki's room to justify
her reaction.
He suspected it was just tension, events had been pushing her very
hard lately. The dreams that came with that had probably been the cause.
"Bad dreams cannot reach you here," he said softly, weaving a spell that
eased the tension he could feel in her back. She looked up at him with her
eyes half-lidded and her face slack, like a toddler who was determined to
remain awake, despite being asleep on her feet. She tried to say something
as her exhaustion caught up with her, and her eyes closed, and she
collapsed into his lap. As he reached with his cane to collect the bedding
she'd strewn on the floor, he could feel her gentle snoring begin.
"Now what are you going to do?" Ritsuko asked as he wrapped Nabiki in
the sheets.
"I am going to sit here, and do something I rarely do," he told her as
he brushed Nabiki's hair out of her now peaceful face, "I'm going to get
jealous of Ranma Saotome."
Ritsuko chuckled quietly but stayed seated next to both of them. She
draped an arm around him. "You should understand how Ranko feels, or
rather why she feels that way."
He smiled back. Except you don't know what I am. If they don't catch
Sharon before she gets here, you may just find out, he thought sullenly,
while he kept the cheerful smile on his face, You don't understand, even
you. Maybe you can't, and without that understanding I can't even begin to
explain.
----------------------------------------
July 14, 1947
Nabiki woke with a start, she hadn't told him, she hadn't . . . but
she'd been asleep, no bad dreams? She became aware that her pillow was a
lot bonier than she remembered it. She twisted around and looked up at
Raccoon. He smiled, she returned a rather sickly version as her mind
filled in the details that she had been asleep curled up in his lap. "Uh,
hi."
"Hello, sleep well?" he asked, that faintly amused look on his face,
the 'I know everything and you don't' expression that irritated her so
much. She released his leg and crawled out of his lap. What really
irritated her was he never took advantage of either the romantic or
blackmail opportunities of such events, as if it was all somehow sordid, or
he couldn't be bothered.
"After your behavior last night," he said.
She tensed, she remembered grabbing him in a Shampoo-style hug.
"I can understand why Saotome calls you _nab_ chan," he told her.
It's too early for this, she thought, Besides, he's probably been up
for hours.
"I guess I should go back to my room and go back to bed," she
suggested.
"I'm afraid I can't allow that Miss Tendo," he said. Nabiki felt a
faint trace of fear, what had she - they done? She could barely remember,
she vaguely remembered Ritsuko, surely she wouldn't have allowed them to do
anything untoward.
"You have an hour to get showered, dressed and eat breakfast before
your rifle practice begins." He said it with such a detached air, as if he
were her father, not a kid her own age she'd spent the night with. "And
keep the sheets, you striptease in your sleep." He reached over and handed
her her nightshirt and panties, from where she'd probably thrown them.
Her plan to belt him vanished as she took the garments without
loosening her grip on the covers. She briefly considered simply dropping
the bedding and putting her clothes on with him watching. If it had been
Ranma, she wouldn't have hesitated, but she knew she wouldn't get a
reaction out of him, and getting a reaction out of Ranma would have been
the whole point of doing it.
"I'll make my apologies to Ritsuko, and put up some defenses in your
room. Unless you'd like to switch," he told her, catching her eye, "They
tried again, whoever they were. I'd very much like to meet them, a good
ambush would be enormously entertaining."
"You're cruel," she said with some rancor, "You know that?"
"Only to those who attack the helpless," he replied breezily, "Merely
having the power to do a thing, does not give you the right to do it. I
could step on your train as you walked outside, give the guards an eyeful.
But what benefit would I gain?"
"You could laugh at me," Nabiki suggested darkly, making sure she had
a good grip on her covering.
He stood up. "And what benefit would I gain? Tell me something Miss
Tendo."
Uh, oh, she thought, He only talks like that when things are going to
get really nasty.
"If I could teach you a spell that would bring Hiroko back from the
grave, would you use it?"
Nabiki felt herself start to shake, rage and tears in equal measure
rose up to overwhelm her. If he had such a spell, why hadn't he used it,
why hadn't he brought Hiroko back?! Why did he make her suffer through the
loss of her friend?!
"Would you use it, even if you knew that anyone who said the spell
again would return her back to dust and ashes? And she'd know that too.
Would you bring Hiroko back knowing that if she made you angry, you could
send her back to whatever Hell you plucked her from, even if you could
restore her a moment later when your anger cooled? What about her family,
would you restore her family with the same spell? What would you do if
some of them didn't want to be back, but Hiroko wanted them? Would you put
aside their wishes to please Hiroko? And . . . what if she wasn't in Hell,
what would you do if you plucked her out of Paradise to bring her here?
Would you keep her here because you were lonely, or would you let her go?
Or would you only call her up to get you through the bad times?"
Nabiki was ashen, she hadn't even considered that. She wanted Hiroko
back, wanted the hurt to go away. She'd thought about such a spell to
bring her mother back, but if she were dragging them out of a better place
. . . she knew Hiroko, she thought she knew her mother. Neither would
complain, but the knowledge would eat at them constantly.
"I don't know," Nabiki said quietly.
"So I'm cruel, I didn't give you the decision because the stakes were
too high. It was a burden you shouldn't have until you are ready. You no
longer want revenge on your sisters and father for what they did to Ranma.
But it's no fun when you can change things that radically. It's only 'whee
powers' when you don't have to live with the consequences. You've done
triage on a scope I hope neither of us ever sees again. But when you have
to live your life like that." He shook his head. "It isn't the powers,
it's the responsibilities you think of. A wizard's natural place is the
edges, light and dark, good and evil, life and death, too much and not
enough. There are no grays at the edge, the black and white get very
precise, a hairsbreadth between true mercy and real cruelty. That thing on
your belt is the first step. That's life and death in one metal package,
everyone around you now lives or dies because of your conscious choice.
Your enemies and those who irritate you live only because you decide to let
them. Consequences are for later, the choice you make is for now."
"So the ones attacking me, you've decided they should die," she said
quietly, "Being a wizard gives you that right?"
"Being alive gives me the right, being a wizard gives me the
responsibility. And I said 'ambush' Miss Tendo. You - suggested murder."
Nabiki sighed and walked to her room. The weight on her hip a
reminder that if he had stepped on her train and humiliated her, she could
have turned and shot him - shot at him. The way she shot now, the safest
place was where she was aiming. She didn't want to have to think like
that.
"Edges, huh?" she said, she didn't want to think about that either.
She suddenly realized he'd scared her out of asking about learning
magic, _AGAIN_!_ She was half tempted to march back and demand . . . then
she decided it would be more fun and effective to trick him into agreeing
to teach her. The poor guy wouldn't know what hit him. "In a few days
you'll tell me everything you know, whether you want to or not," she said
grinning with satisfaction.
----------------------------------------
Nabiki was getting sick of this. The morning had been more directing
someone to make marks on a piece of paper while she looked at it through
the rifle's sights, this time at the exciting distance of 200 yards! The
only breaks came as they taught her different ways to sit, stand, squat,
kneel and lie to hold the rifle, with the strap wrapped around her arm.
This was worse than martial arts training, she smiled at that. Learning
how to shoot a rifle _was_ a martial art. Moving smoothly from one stance
to the other was simplicity itself. Ranma might have learned the stances
and transitions with one demonstration, but Nabiki learned and mastered
them all before lunch.
After lunch came the most tedious part. She'd been shown the dummy
rounds, a case and bullet, but no powder, no primer, a hole drilled in the
side. She'd learned to load and insert the clip, without the rifle
catching her thumb as it had the first time. She wondered if they'd
reduced the spring strength or if Nerima durability kept her thumb from
being broken. The job was simple, pull the trigger, then work the action
to eject the cartridge, all just to get used to the feel. Reloading when
the clip emptied.
She always thought she'd enjoy a handsome boy laying at her feet
looking intently into her eyes. Except he kept commenting on her blinking
when she pulled the trigger. She didn't know why she was flinching that
way, she knew very well nothing terrible was going to happen, she'd fired
her pistol a number of times and it hadn't exploded or turned into a
monster. These bullets were dead as a doornail. I couldn't be afraid of
being successful, could I? she wondered.
"Oh beauteous maiden, why do you hide your eyes, when doing your
warrior's duty," the man said the haiku in accented Japanese.
Nabiki nearly dropped the rifle. "What was that?!" she demanded in
English loudly enough to draw the attention of most of the people around
them. Including Maya, who was still making marks on paper.
"Well, Mr. Davis and Doctor Akagi gave us these inspirational messages
to say if you were having trouble." The young Marine was sweating
slightly.
"Do you speak Japanese?" Nabiki asked.
"No ma'am," he said, handing her an index card, on it were several
more `inspirational messages` in phonetic English.
Nabiki handed it back. "Yes, they certainly inspire me to learn how to
use a rifle better," she told him. "Do you think I can learn how to use
the bayonet?"
"That's amazing!" the Marine said, "He told us you'd really be
encouraged to learn all about the rifle."
Nabiki sighed and concentrated on learning how to shoot this thing.
Once she was good enough, she'd turn that particular rooster into a capon.
----------------------------------------
Ritsuko stared at the violet medicine. She hadn't needed it, she
didn't need it right now. She didn't understand that. The pain had been a
constant problem, the medicine dulled her wits, but kept the pain away. It
was impossible that she didn't need it now. She returned the bottle to the
wall safe her cabin came with. She locked the safe door and stared at it
for a few moments.
Maya burst in, nodded to her and flopped onto the bed. "Please,
sempai, I don't want to do this anymore. Can't you just tell them I can't
do it and . . . ?"
"And what Maya?" Ritsuko said as she sat next to the girl, "Let you
get killed when you cannot defend yourself? Nabiki is going through the
same thing."
"But she's good at it!" Maya wailed, still face-down in the bedding.
Ritsuko rested her hand on the trembling girl's back. Then froze,
wondering what she was doing. They had shared the cabin, but Maya was in
_her_ bed. She decided comforting a frightened subordinate wasn't too
much. She handed the girl a handkerchief and waited.
----------------------------------------
Nabiki was sitting in Raccoon's cabin, going over the little triangles
from her exercises. Groups of three `shots`, the ones at the end of the
day were smaller and smaller almost equilateral triangles. The last two
were less than 2.5 cm across, which was very good, 4 cm was the minimum
standard. If she could get over closing her eyes when she pulled the
trigger, she could be a good marksman. The little haiku's Raccoon and
Ritsuko had provided were _very_ good incentives. She wondered if Raccoon
had any way to help. Ways that weren't so embarrassing. She did wonder if
the Marines knew what they were saying, or if they didn't. Their tone
indicated they knew it was something special, but not any specifics.
Raccoon walked into the room in his robe and with a towel over his
head. He glanced around. "I didn't know we had switched rooms."
"We haven't," Nabiki said, she handed him the papers. She looked and
saw the shirt and pants under the robe.
Does he go dressed everywhere? she wondered, she was also bothered
that he wasn't reacting to her in shorts and shirt in his room. Instead,
he concentrated on the papers.
"This is very good," he told her with a smile as he handed them back,
"Once you get over flinching you'll be most of the way there. I had to
pick up, in bits and pieces, the techniques you're getting whole. I'm a
little envious."
"You can have it," she said angrily, "I should thank you for your so
useful little haiku's. You won't believe how much I want to learn how to
shoot now."
"You don't react well to being humiliated, even if only you know. You
and Langley are very much alike in that respect, very proud," he told her
as he headed for his closet.
"So you manipulate me by humiliating me and tweaking my pride?" she
asked angrily, she was considering hitting him, hard and repeatedly.
"A little pain now to save a lot of pain later. If you had to shoot
to save Saotome, and couldn't do it, I don't think you'd be very happy with
yourself." He removed a fresh suit coat, pants and a tie. He hung up the
robe and stood in his pajamas. He stood and stared at her. "Was there
something else, I would like to dress for dinner."
"I could bring you a tray and feed you," Nabiki commented suggestively
as she glided out of the chair and stalked towards him. Ranma would have
retreated in a delectable panic, Raccoon just stood his ground and
impassively stared.
"I don't think that's such a good idea," he commented, "You'd be too
tempted to do something unfortunate. Then you'd be so worried about my
revenge . . . no, not a good idea at all."
Nabiki growled, she disliked anyone who couldn't be put off their
feet, and refused to even acknowledge an attack had been made. A knock on
the door interrupted them. Nabiki stepped aside and let Raccoon go past
her to the door.
"Jeffrey Davis?" A tall, distinguished-looking Briton stood at the
hatch, "Major ggreg."
Raccoon greeted him neutrally, "I take it you've cleared this?"
"With Dr. Akagi, yes. There is a wardroom reserved," Major ggreg
said.
Nabiki remembered the name, "Sarah's uncle?" she asked.
"Father now, I formally adopted her," Major ggreg told her, "Of
course, Miss Tendo." He glanced at Raccoon. "Brown Bess indeed."
"Brown Bess?" Nabiki asked, raising an eyebrow at Raccoon. She had
the sinking feeling she was standing in the ring of a prize fight, the bell
had rung and the two fighters were too polite to simply throw her out.
"Some privacy Miss Tendo?" Major ggreg said as he cleared the door for
her. His posture made it clear she would be going through it and then
watching it close behind her, with a minimum of force and a maximum of
politeness, and in the very near future.
She walked slowly, making it clear she'd gotten the unspoken message,
but she wanted an answer. "Brown - Bess -?"
"In the days of lace-ruffles, perukes and brocade; Brown Bess was a
partner whom none could despise - an outspoken, flinty-lipped, brazen-faced
jade, with a habit of looking men straight in the eyes - at Blenheim and
Ramillies fops would confess; 'They were pierced to the heart by the charms
of Brown Bess.' Though her sight was not long and her weight was not
small, yet her actions were winning, her language was clear," Major ggreg
said, as if reciting.
Nabiki felt no small amount of rage at Raccoon for calling her such
insulting things. Her lips formed a hard, thin line and she was definitely
staring _someone_ straight in the eyes. "Brazen faced - jade - whose
weight - was - not - small -?" she asked as carefully as she could. She
had better control over her temper than Akane, but she still had a temper
and her pride. That the pair of men were smirking at each other did
nothing to quell the coming explosion.
Major ggreg didn't take the hint, and continued, "If you go to Museums
- there's one in Whitehall - where old weapons are shown with their names
writ beneath, you will find her upstanding, her back to the wall, as stiff
as a ramrod, her flint in her teeth. And if ever we English had reason to
bless any arm save our mothers', that arm is Brown Bess. Rudyard Kipling's
tribute to the Brown Bess musket. Very touching I believe," Major ggreg
said, nodded to Nabiki, "Sarah thought the correspondence 'remarkable.'"
Nabiki felt a little mortified again, now neither man cracked a smile,
maintaining their stoic expressions that even Rei would be hard pressed to
match. They were merely discussing a poem. She glanced from one to the
other, got no hints to their feelings. She refused to slink out of the
room. She reminded herself that unlike Nerima, people _often_ worked
together. As skilled as she was, two clever people working in concert
could still best her easily. She removed Raccoon's Kipling book from the
desk's book shelf, and closed the door behind her quietly as she left. She
looked up the poem in the index and read it while she waited a distance
down the corridor. All in all, it wasn't completely inaccurate, at least
as far as she wanted to be thought of, or would tolerate to be thought of.
Major ggreg left Raccoon's cabin, Nabiki had hidden herself with all
the skill that had served her so well in Nerima.
"Ma'am." Major ggreg clicked his heels, bowed slightly in her
direction, then turned and walked away.
She wanted to scream. How did he see me? she wondered, Even the
nervous martial artists never spotted me. How did he?
A few minutes later, Raccoon stepped out, wearing his usual
three-piece suit and tie, looked right at her where she'd concealed
herself. "Since I can't stop you from following, give us about half an
hour. I can guarantee you will be severely punished if you eavesdrop or
interfere. There is proof a pilot could operate an EVA just as well with
no feet or legs, no, I am _not_ joking." Raccoon bowed, turned on his heel
and marched away.
Nabiki stood there a few moments, then she checked her watch. He said
30 minutes, fine, she thought. "Thirty minutes."
----------------------------------------
Self-Knowledge Tends To Make Man Shallow Or Insane
Nabiki slipped in among the stewards, she explained that she needed
their help to play a joke on Mister Davis, she was late for dinner and
wanted to see if he noticed. Most of these men were Filipino, they spoke
among themselves quickly in a language she didn't recognize, then they
provided her a uniform and a tray with a tea pot, cups and all the fixings.
They also helped her pin her hair up and hide the resulting bun under a
simple cap. Most of them shook their heads, the loser in their hidden
lottery told her she obviously wasn't going to fool anyone. She was a
little taller than they were, and a girl, but she knew that servants were
invisible. Two of them stood near her to help as she lifted the tray and
transferred it to her shoulder. She was glad of the training she'd gotten
from Cologne at the Nekohanten. She walked steadily down the corridor, one
of the stewards waited at the wardroom door to open it for her. She felt
very worried and disoriented as the man closed the door behind her.
"So what, ugh, brings you to, ow, this part of, ah!, world?" Raccoon
asked as Nabiki walked through the door. Raccoon was sitting backward on a
chair stripped down to his T-shirt, while an older Chinese man in shirt
sleeves was standing over him and using acupressure on Raccoon's Chakra.
She recognized him as Adam, the pilot who had flown them to San Francisco.
A short distance away Major ggreg stood and stared out the porthole, he was
also in suit and tie. They looked like a trio of merchant bankers in
varying states of undress. None of the three seemed to take notice of her.
Adam turned on her in a fury. "Why you interrupt us, we not ready to
order yet! You go away!" he shouted in Mandarin.
"Honored Elder." She bowed to hide her face and stammered in Mandarin,
"Please forgive the intrusion." It was a stock phrase she'd learned at the
Nekohanten. She suddenly realized she shouldn't have understood or
responded in Chinese. But no one seemed to notice.
"You think I am an old man?" he shouted back in Mandarin, "So frail
that a little cold will freeze my bones?"
"No Honored Elder." Nabiki bowed again, "We make the tea available to
all."
She felt a little relief, He would have said something, she thought.
Adam straightened, turned to Raccoon who was putting his shirt on.
"You were right. But does your wife follow you ev-rywhere?" he asked in
English. He sat down, smiled and waggled his eyebrows at her. "Bring the
tea," he commanded in English, "You can be mother." Nabiki, chagrined,
complied.
"We are not married," Raccoon said. Pulling his vest and coat back
on. "And being mother means you serve the tea."
"Ha," Adam mocked. "When I was your age, I had a wife," he teased.
"I'm not a randy old goat who can't keep his mouth shut," Raccoon said
sweetly. Nabiki nearly spilled the tea when the old man shot to his feet.
She backed out of range hastily.
"You call me or . . . " He sat down, smiled. "I came to test your
balance and learn you can upset mine. Joma!"
A huge man, who Nabiki hadn't noticed, stood up from his place by the
hatch and blocked her path to that door. With Major ggreg at the porthole,
Nabiki suddenly realized that there was now no way out of the room. A
glance at Raccoon gave her no clue to what would happen next. She wondered
if even Ranma would do well against this giant. He was so tall and broad
he'd make Sammi look petite. She decided Major ggreg and the sea was
definitely the safer option.
"Give the young lady your chair and get another from the staff," Adam
commanded in a conversational tone, never taking his eyes of Nabiki.
Nabiki barely heard the Major step up behind her. "Allow me," he
said. She stepped aside to let Joma place the chair at the table. The
huge man said nothing, the Major continued, "Alfred Kelsey ggreg. Three
g's, two lowercase at the front, late of His Majesty's armed forces." He
pulled the chair out from the table and held it for her. She gauged her
chances, she could make a run for the door or porthole, if she moved this
instant. If she stayed, she could sit down of her own free will, or they
would coerce her. She sat.
She thought the best course of action was to go along, keep things
civil. "Arigato." She saw that he understood her, but returned to
English. "So how is Sarah?"
"Do Itashimashite. She has had some trouble settling in, but she has
enjoyed learning a number of things from . . . her father. Things I
wouldn't think such a refined young lady would be interested in." He sat
beside her, a quizzical smile on his face.
"Daughters often like to emulate their fathers," Nabiki said
pleasantly.
"Except that Major ggreg's teaching includes what you've been learning
the last few days," Raccoon said, "Martial arts, firearms, explosives."
"I have _not_ taught her about the last," Major ggreg complained.
"I bet she hasn't bypassed a chance to convince you otherwise,"
Raccoon commented.
"I usually hit him with a frying pan at that point," Nabiki said. Saw
the other two nod sagely. "What part of His Majesty's forces were you in?"
"He used to be `deployed` out of airplanes, boats, submarines. Land
on something and blow it up," Raccoon explained, "Usually while he was
still standing on it. The Germans developed the 'Fritz' radio-guided bomb
to counter the 'ggreg' that the British had developed."
"Ah, a smart bomb." She smiled. She also felt more relaxed. It
seemed that if you were 'inside' there were fewer secrets. She suspected
that she'd later be told what was secret and what she'd never be able to
talk about.
"Anyway." Raccoon winced at the joke. "Major? You didn't finally
get your colonelcy?"
"For San Francisco I got my permanent Major's rank and an O.B.E., I
understand there was some talk of a Medal of Honor, not possible
unfortunately," the Major sighed. "My sunburned, Birmingham colleague goes
by the name Adam Smith."
"My ascension name to honor the man who codified the most _POWERFUL_
magic known to man: Supply and Demand," Adam said theatrically. His
cultured English accent seemed vaguely out of place.
"I think I like him," Nabiki commented to Major ggreg.
"Strangely enough, most people do," the Major said with a good deal of
distaste.
Joma returned with the chair and gingerly sat next to the door.
Nabiki couldn't figure out how someone so big moved so quietly. He too
wore a suit and tie, she felt very underdressed.
"Isn't he going to join us?" she asked.
"He only eats a crumb of the Host on St. Walpurgis Night," Raccoon
explained, "He's a golem, an artificial lifeform. The man with the
flip-top head." Nabiki remembered the events in San Francisco, it seemed
like a century ago.
"You interrupted the Major," Adam said, "Yes all people like me."
"Honsata," Raccoon said.
"Aieeu!" the British-Chinese mage shrieked and threw up his hands, "Do
not say that name unless you have warded all nine mystic directions against
evil!"
"His second wife. At fifteen she grew up." Raccoon held his hands
more than a foot in front of his chest. "At thirty she grew out." He held
his hands over a yard away from his sides and puffed his cheeks.
"I could have lived with that, but her four sisters and their mother
ate me out of house and home!" Adam lamented.
Nabiki could sympathize, remembering Genma and Ranma practically
eating them into the poor house. She was relaxing slightly, but in the
back of her mind she wondered if they were sedating her before they struck.
"Did that demon you fed them to ever get over his indigestion?"
Raccoon asked.
"That has never been proven." Adam crossed his arms, and stared
angrily. "Are you going to introduce your wife?"
"You met, Tendo Nabiki, in San Francisco, we pulled her out of the
trunk before everything hit the fan. She was with me when you recovered
Sarah. And we _aren't_ married. I mentioned that before also."
"Destiny writes for those to see." Joma commented from his place at
the door.
"He used the I-Ching to plumb my future," Raccoon explained tiredly,
"According to Joma, what keeps you away from Ranma and me away from Ranko
will be spread among all of us and thus eliminate the problem. I think
he's implying a menage a qua."
"Not implying, it will be interesting seeing who will father and who
will bear your children," Joma said.
"I wish someone would explain what it is about pilots that encourages
this behavior, the girls and guys at school speculated on it _endlessly_:
who's going to 'get involved' with Ranko, who is Langley sweet on, are
Shinji and Ayanami going to marry, if so when, will Ranma ever take up?"
Raccoon said testily, "I'd like to survive first. The survivors can think
about home and hearth _after_ the war is over."
The others smirked at him Nabiki noticed.
Nabiki knew Raccoon wouldn't have revealed the curse to them, no
matter what clearances they had. She wasn't sure if that meant Saotome
would be split, or if the curse spread to her and Raccoon as well. She
remembered how Ranko carried on with Raccoon in Asuka's room before they
left, and wondered what that would be like if Ranma ever opened up that way
to her. She felt the heat of a blush climbing her chest and neck. Raccoon
merely looked disturbed and a little peeved.
"Wasn't he on the opposition last time?" Nabiki asked, trying to
change the subject. She remembered the living statue with the demonic
face.
"When Mister Davis defeated me, he took my Khem." Joma touched his
head.
"A slip of magic paper with the spells to animate the golem," Raccoon
told her.
"Cheeky bugger threw in my commission in His Majesty's forces
instead," Major ggreg complained, aimed a frown at Raccoon.
"Rule Britannia," Joma intoned with no emotion but absolute
conviction.
"And my copy of the Federalist papers. Had to make sure he was as
confused as the rest of us, so he could fit in." Raccoon smiled.
Nabiki was wondering if the Mad Hatter and the March Hare were going
to wander in for tea, or if they had already listened in and run for the
hills.
Joma nodded his thanks. "A trained sculptor and painter of statuary
helped, now I can pass as a human, in bad light." Nabiki agreed, he looked
more human than Gosenkugi, the voodoo man.
"Back to business," Adam insisted, "There are things that bring us out
here. There have been Cthonians sensed in this area. Until last month,
when all traces ceased. They could only have been here to attack NERV and
the pilots, were you aware? Have you made precautions?"
"I was aware. The most formidable precautions have been taken,"
Raccoon said, "They also are staying away because of the rainy season.
They may be back in August, they'll definitely be back in November after
the second rainy season is over."
"About the disappearances?" the Major asked. It didn't seem to be
possible anyone would call him Alfred. His father would probably call him
'the Major' or 'Major ggreg'.
Raccoon shrugged, "Maybe it swam away."
"Water is their bane they . . . " Adam stared at Nabiki. "Have you
heard him play piano?"
She was about to answer.
"Stop!" Raccoon warned, he seemed desperately worried now, "Miss
Tendo, if you answer that question, you're stuck. Right now you can stand
up, and walk away. No one will stop you." He scanned the others, the
threat lay unspoken but for the moment she had safe passage, if she wanted
it. "Answer that question, and you take a step you can _never_ call back."
"With all the divided loyalties and half-truths at NERV, you think I'd
give up a chance to find out what side _you're_ really on?" she asked
levelly, "I've asked you twice. You scared me away both times. Not this
time."
"He sides with the human race," Major ggreg told her gently, "And he's
right Adam. By getting involved with us, she's putting her soul in
jeopardy. You may leave, my dear, right now. In the end it will be safer
and none of us will think any less of you."
Nabiki considered, they were all trying to convince her, but they were
not forcing her, "If, if I say yes to getting in, will this give me an edge
surviving the craziness of NERV and SEELE?"
The trio looked around at her mentioned of SEELE. She kept her face
as solemn as theirs were, but she wanted them to know she had a few
resources as well. Although Belldandy hadn't been around lately. She
wondered what the others would do if she introduced them.
No, she'd never allow that, Nabiki thought, Stay in the background
unseen and unknown.
"The hardest, sharpest edge known to mankind, but a double edge,"
Raccoon said despondently as he toyed with his empty teacup, "For a price,
a _high_ price."
She considered, considered the mission, her mission, that had brought
her to this world, "Then, I'm in. The price, I'll pay it, when it comes
due."
Raccoon put his forehead on the table and shook his head. "Before we
continue, we are not talking sales of souls or some dark contract. You
have to set the price, for yourself. In many cases it is a test of
character rather than a traditional contract. To . . . " He paused, he
couldn't seem to find the words.
"Have you heard him play piano?" Adam alluded.
"Yes," she whispered, remembering. It had been as if he were plucking
her emotions this way and that. Considering his awful singing, it seemed
impossible that he could make music like that.
"Enchanting, was it not, almost as if he could see your soul and draw
it one way or another?" Adam asked.
"Yes, and he wouldn't do it for a paying audience," she admitted,
frowned both at Raccoon and at the nebulous ideas that refused to form
fully.
"That isn't magic, that is just foolishness," Adam shouted, "You
always were a fool."
"To take what came and prepare was my way. Better to sip from the
river than try to catch it all and dry it up," Raccoon retorted angrily, it
had the feeling of a longstanding argument that wasn't going to be resolved
anytime soon.
"This fool had $30,000 a month flowing through his hands! And he kept
none of it! His flunkies had better pay than he did!"
"$30,000?" Nabiki asked, smiling broadly at him. Raccoon looked from
her to Adam with a deepening frown.
"About 10,000 troy ounces of gold, a year," Major ggreg added, not
knowing she knew all about it, except where the profits went. Where that
pile of money was. Raccoon would have had an eye on the future.
"There was a _war_ on, I was raising money for the war effort,"
Raccoon defended angrily, "I had no right to make myself rich. Besides
there were always the poker games." That stopped Adam's rant.
"And I'm not going to tell you how much I made on _those_, old man,"
Raccoon added.
"You have no respect for your elders!" Adam shouted.
"How does playing the piano relate to the edges you were talking
about, and preparing the way?" Nabiki asked. After getting so close, she
didn't want to get sidetracked.
"Magic," Adam said, as if it was obvious, "Any fool can start an
avalanche with a howitzer, and expert can start one with a pebble, but a
mage can set the pebble to aim that avalanche where he - "
"Or she," Raccoon said darkly.
"- wants it to go," Adam explained, "This one - " He nodded at
Raccoon. "Masters spirits, souls, dragging them one way or another, making
deals, arranging things. Seeking to `balance` things, so they fall _his_
way. He never speaks a lie, but twists things so your ears and
expectations lie to you instead. Gadfly negotiator, or godflea,
considering some of his `clients` and patrons."
"You're a fine one to talk, riding ebb and flow like an Eskimo and his
kayak," Raccoon replied disdainfully, "You never hold on to anything, or
make anything permanent. That's why you don't match me!"
"It is the flow that is important, not the rocks in the river!" Adam
thundered back.
Nabiki decided she did not want to be present at a full blown wizards'
duel. "Since you're `late` of His Majesty's service, who's calling the
shots, and who's paying the bills?"
"His Majesty's government, unofficially of course. NERV has everybody
worried, well everybody who knows anything. America's own Delta Green
chappies are nearly frantic," the Major explained, "Sooner or later, you
are going to go against something that can't or won't fight against those
giant monsters of yours."
"Another watchdog," Nabiki commented, "How do all the spies keep from
tripping over each other? And we've already done that, the mortar attack
for one thing, the Lliogor for another."
"We don't, that's why it's cloak _and_ dagger," ggreg explained, "And
those were still _in_ Japan, in Tokyo. There is a whole other world out
here. You're sailing through part of it."
"I assume you want my help, how are you going to arrange it without
raising suspicions?" Raccoon asked. Nabiki tensed, since her discussions
with Brother Jonathan, she'd realized there were other powers interested,
at least one was a Great Old One, and that one a powerful one.
"You two are studying the search and rescue techniques, including
underwater work?" ggreg asked.
"Yes, Nabiki and myself," Raccoon admitted.
"Splendid, you'll both need training in underwater demolitions, using
small explosive charges to force entry, free trapped equipment or simply
blowing up `Angel` corpses," ggreg explained.
"Where the Hell were you a month ago?" Nabiki said bitterly. Raccoon
patted her hand.
I will not cry, I will not cry, she thought as she clenched her fists
and squeezed her eyes shut, Why couldn't I have known how to do that a
month, two months ago. That girl and the others might have lived. Why
now, when it's too late for them? She could almost hear the confusion and
embarrassment in the silence around her. She wondered when the memories
and emotions would quit leaping out of the darkness to ambush her whenever
someone even mentioned that day. A few moments later she opened her eyes,
looked around at the faces. Raccoon looked grim, the two older men looked
chagrined.
"I apologize," Major ggreg said, "I should have realized. Your
exploits . . . I suspect this is not the right time, but even Their
Majesties were impressed."
He paused, they all let the abashed silence drag on for a moment.
"I am a fully certified instructor," the Major began carefully, "I've
used contacts in His Majesty's government to `expedite` things. The cover
story can be Great Britain and His Majesty's personal interest in the
progress and project. The Atlantic is definitely of greater interest to
Great Britain and her Commonwealth than Japan. Gibraltar as well as the
Home and Mediterranean Fleets are already on high alert."
"We're going to be spied on." Nabiki shrugged, she knew the guard
also reported the pilots' activities.
"That is the cover," Adam explained, "Actually we . . . " he paused
and glanced at Raccoon, who nodded gravely. "You may not have heard of the
Manhattan project."
"The atomic bomb project," Nabiki said. Her pulse quickened she knew
it was super secret, she wasn't sure when they declassified the project.
She also knew something they might not have. "The first pile was in the
squash court of the University of Chicago, in 1942."
Raccoon's head came up, he stared at her. He'd made the connection.
If the others needed to know, she'd let him tell them. His parents, a
chemist and a physicist, had been in Chicago, they'd died there in 1943.
It seemed an awfully big coincidence to her. She'd let him investigate
further if he wanted to.
"Well, there was another project," Adam continued, staring alternately
at the two pilots, "This one was a joint Anglo-American project. Our
governments suppressed the findings of the 1930-31 Antarctic expedition,
but what the Axis spies were able to discern began their frantic race to
develop a counter. First their own expeditions, which the British and
Americans tried and failed to beat to the source. They failed."
"There were only three survivors," the Major took up the tale, "Gendo
Rokubungi, Kozo Fuyutsuki and Misato Katsuragi, you are familiar with those
names?"
"Yes," Nabiki said quietly. She didn't even want to think about the
implications. "And Gendo changed his name to Ikari later, correct?"
"After his actions in Nanking, yes," Adam said.
"The city they found was ancient, and humans did not build it,"
Raccoon said, "They took a great deal of equipment. The Magi computing
engines are just one such piece of equipment."
I wonder if that's where they got Penpen too, Nabiki wondered, she was
sweating now. The implications were too big, and there was still this
other project.
"The Americans and Britons shared something the earlier expedition
found. Something we firmly believe that the Axis forces were searching for
and we know didn't find. That something was the basis of the Chicago
project," Adam said, "An experiment in bioengineering, creating weapons
capable of engaging and defeating our enemies by force and guile. Weapons
that also could pass among the normal population without being noticed.
Not all of the enemy are giant monsters, some were born human and still
pass themselves off as human."
"To do this," Raccoon said, "It would have to be able to simulate
humanity in all its aspects. Not just apparent physiology, but psychology
as well. Emotions, thought processes, that sort of thing."
"I believe that simulate is the wrong word, share might - " Adam said.
"Simulate is the word I used, and I would appreciate it if you would
accept that I know a great deal more about the reality than you, sir. You
know the theories, I know the facts," Raccoon responded coldly, now he was
shaking, but she couldn't bring herself to comfort him as he had her.
Nabiki had already reached the conclusion they were all dancing around.
She wanted to end it, but there was other data she suspected she wouldn't
hear anywhere or any when else. Joma seemed the only one who wasn't tense
now.
"The Americans and Britons prepared 15 subjects a piece," the Major
continued, "When the war was won and we could evaluate the data on the
EVAs, there were three American and six British experimental subjects left.
EVA Unit 03 destroyed all six British, and I _mean_ destroyed, there was
nothing left of any of them. The American pilot - "
"Jason," Raccoon interjected.
"Yes, Jason," the Major said, "Fell victim to the same phenomenon, a
sudden incredible increase of sync ratio. There seems an upper limit to
the safe sync ratios, but we have no idea what it is."
"And Sharon became a monster," Raccoon said with no emotion at all,
"In mind and body, contact with the EVA did that to her. So they are here
to see if the last Chicago Project unit has slipped a cog and has to be put
down."
"That's hardly - " Adam said jovially.
"Miss Tendo deserves the truth," Raccoon said carefully, "She deserves
to know that if I disappear tomorrow, it was for her safety and the safety
of the others."
"How can you be so cavalier about this?" she shouted at him, he was
talking about being murdered as if it was of no consequence. "Don't you
care? Care about yourself, care about anyone else's feelings?"
"I care about their survival - more," he told her, "When I said
simulate, I meant simulate. Five years studying acting were part of it.
Perhaps if I spent time as someone else, then I might have the feelings
they would have. I'm not without emotions, my own simply don't burn as
hot."
Nabiki got the message, and it was the opposite of the message he'd
given the others. The dream where he'd been Ranma, he must have had Ranma
'I wear my heart on my sleeve' Saotome's tremendous emotional reserve and
glacial calm. She wondered how that would have hit him, since Raccoon was
normally such a hysterical drama queen. She also knew Ranma's honor and
Raccoon's relentless logic would come to the same conclusion, if he became
the enemy, an ending was mercy, not murder. She almost didn't want to hear
any more, but it was like watching a train wreck, you could not tear
yourself away. "So what did you find?" Nabiki asked, she almost didn't
want the answer.
"There has been no cause for concern," the Major said carefully.
Nabiki could have hidden an ocean and two continents in what that
statement didn't cover. _Ranma_ could have hidden an ocean and a continent
in what that didn't cover. The first thing was 'yet.' She didn't
understand how anybody could be under a death sentence and go on as if
nothing was wrong.
"What they aren't telling you is that no one really knows what was
supposed to occur, only their plans and estimates. Contact with the EVA
threw all those plans and estimates in the dump. I don't think anyone ever
thought the pilots would absorb what they do. I went from being able to
walk only with a cane to being able to sprint up to highway speeds."
That revelation alarmed the two older men. Nabiki thought that might
be unwise, given the circumstances.
"The concern you should be having is why the sudden concern," Raccoon
told them, "Something must have changed. I take it Sharon woke up, she was
completely catatonic when I last saw her."
"Yes," the Major said, "Quite around the bend."
Raccoon looked at Nabiki. "As odd as you think my behavior is, I
don't think I'm around the bend."
"All you westerners are crazy, as far as I've been able to tell,"
Nabiki made an attempt at humor, it fell flat. "So you're the last hope of
the Allies and the rest of us are semi-reformed Axis?"
"Crudely stated," Adam told her, "But basically correct. How reformed
is a question for others."
"The initial plan was for there to be one American, two British and
one ex-Axis on each team. Jason and Sharon would head the combat teams.
Miss Langley and I would be doing mostly R&D work with the EVAs, assisting
Dr. Akagi. Rei and Anna would be the other ex-Axis pilots. You, Shinji,
and the Saotomes would have been well out of it, or they would have made
the teams five strong instead of four. The Units would have been 00, 02,
03 and 04. Unit 01 was thought too dangerous, then they encountered Unit
03, and that changed everything."
"You believe that Rit - Dr. Akagi saved your life?" Nabiki asked
quietly, this was making her very nervous. The entire project was a lash
up, a series of clever improvisations, a disaster waiting to happen. Only
a series of fortunate accidents and interventions kept things from spinning
off into disaster.
And Gendo acts like he's keeping the whole thing running on rails,
Nabiki thought angrily, He's doing a juggling act and insists on doing it
alone. Nabiki felt her fear and fury warring in her mind that anyone could
be so foolish.
"Yes, I believe Dr. Akagi prevented me from going the way of every
other Anglo-American pilot," Raccoon admitted, "It is difficult not to come
to that conclusion. Don't you agree?"
You really do care about her? Don't you? And you _aren't_ eager to
die, just desperate not to be a threat to others. To us humans? she
thought as she looked at his expression, there was an almost Ranma-like
embarrassment there. Yet you're too much of a gentleman to declare it, she
thought, Because of your age and the age difference, there is nothing
you'll do about it. Nabiki sometimes thought honor should only be a
guideline, whenever you used it as a set of rules, you cut yourself with
it.
"I could argue, but it wouldn't make a difference," she said, "You'd
still believe what you believe." She saw he'd gotten the message.
"You were asking what else sparked our concerns," the Major sounded
embarrassed, "In truth, we were worried about you and the other pilots. It
seems we lost the Twins."
Raccoon stood up so suddenly, he knocked over his chair, "You assured
me that thing was securely locked away in the bowels of the British Museum.
That was the _only_ reason I let it live."
"As we said, some of your enemies don't wish to fight you or your
machines directly. Even His Majesty's government harbors enemies to the
common good."
"Like Edward," Raccoon muttered, setting up his chair.
Major ggreg shot to his feet. "Mister Davis! If you and Adam want to
play `the belly game`, fine. I have no stomach for it."
Everyone stared at the Englishman's trim form while they winced. "You
know what I mean." He sat down irritatedly.
"The sad part is, he did that by accident," Raccoon explained as he
sat down, "Please don't tell me that idiot is in China or the Azores."
"We don't have to. He is in Tokyo," Adam beamed, "We are absolutely
certain of it."
"Terrific." Raccoon put his head back on the table, as if preparing
to drive his head through it, like a karateka. Instead he began massaging
his temples, "This time just kill it, okay?"
Adam and ggreg exchanged glances, then agreed. "It will give your
chaps something to do."
"Now we will eat, and I will tell your wife what a charlatan and a
two-faced man you really are," Adam announced. Joma left to get the
stewards, to tell them they could serve dinner. Raccoon shrugged
apologetically to Nabiki.
He didn't deny it, she thought As Ranma always did with his fiancees.
Then she put herself back on track. Or am I reading too much into this?
She couldn't figure out why he would be introducing her to all this weird
stuff if he wasn't interested. But he might want a colleague close at
hand, she thought, Or he's sick of fighting about it.
"It was a beautiful late fall day in 1944. ggreg and I were pursuing
another case in the Boston area. Harvard had many books we needed, but a
horse race on the grounds would have attracted attention anyway."
----------------------------------------
Nabiki walked back to her cabin, she was glad Raccoon was escorting
her. The evening had been long and amusing, terrifying and enlightening.
"Did you really do all that stuff?"
"I can get out the microscope and the film strips," Raccoon offered as
they walked along.
"Doesn't reading that book make you . . . well, insane?" she asked.
"Have you noticed that the pilots are immune to the mythos monsters
that force normal humans into Angel's Malaise or screaming madness? We
aren't immune to fear. There were one or two times you were sweating in
there, so was I. But the really weird stuff that should send us screaming
into the night doesn't have any effect."
Nabiki didn't like the sound of that. "So how can we tell if we are
crazy?" Nabiki asked as they reached her cabin, "Do we wait until we've
eaten someone or we're foaming at the mouth?"
"I think we watch each other for a serious change of behavior."
"Like you giving me a good night kiss?" she asked in a sultry tone,
pressing against him.
"I must keep you pure for young Saotome who pines for your release,"
he told her.
"Have you, uh, protected the room? I'd rather not have anymore of
those dreams."
"Already done. You'll sleep well. Maybe I should teach you about
controlling your dreams. You certainly have an interesting patch of
nightmares."
"You were protecting me after Hiroko died, weren't you?" she
practically accused him.
"Me, Shinji, Langley and Ayanami," he said and backed away from her
anger.
"I . . . I'm sorry, it's just the bad dreams, they just stopped . . .
and I felt guilty about not having nightmares about Hiroko anymore. It was
as if I were betraying her somehow."
"You will still remember and dream of her. But we knew you needed
unhindered sleep if you were going to survive," Raccoon explained.
"I would be interested in learning. Just not tonight. Maybe you'll
accept some lessons in hand-to-hand as compensation."
"Let you hit me after I gave the Marines those haikus? I remember
what happened last time I `sparred` aboard a carrier. Maybe after we're
done in the Azores. Good night, sleep well."
She knew that was the end, as far as he was concerned. She went into
her cabin. She almost wished she'd found Belldandy or Brother Jonathan or
something strange in it. It would make her feel a little better to be
reminded that her life had some odd elements to it as well. That somehow,
she was a paid-up member of this new club. As weird as Nerima was, it was
safe. No one killed each other. She still hadn't quite figured out how
you went from a horserace to investigating the mythos to walking around a
sewer with two platoons of armed mobsters.
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