...

-- Attached file included as plaintext by Ecartis --
-- File: TRTC2-1.txt

	The year is 2005. For six years, mankind has waged a Secret War
against an enemy from Beyond the Stars. After attacking the Unryu Farm,
the Unknown Enemy followed a dumbstruck lost boy back to Nerima, Tokyo,
revealing the location of a small clique of unique martial artists.
Together, Ranma and Ryouga managed to overpower the depleted Sectoid
crew of the Abductor that had attacked the Dojo. Now, the Tendo Clan,
Ranma, and Ryouga are stranded on the alien craft, suspended far above
the earth.


-----

	The Road To Cydonia

	Chapter II "In the Sky with Diamonds"

-----

	Written by: 
Capn Chryssalid 
jbw@wpi.edu

-----

	"Where do you suppose we are?"

	"You're asking ME?"

	The earth shone line a jewel, more reflective and sparkling than
the pictures of it led one to believe. Light reflected off of the water,
both on the surface and in the swirling chaotically arranged clouds,
giving the slowly rotating sphere far below an almost gemlike afterglow.
But that was just a sliver of the whole picture. The veil between dark
and light slowly crept over the endless, trackless expanse of ocean
below.

	When Ranma didn't respond, Ryouga tried to answer him.

	"We're in space," he said, confidently.

	"Ya think?" Ranma quipped. "I can't believe we're lost in space.
We should rename the ship the 'Jupiter 2.'"

	"Huh?" Ryouga grunted, not familiar with the name. "Wait! Are
you implying this is MY fault?"

	Ranma sighed. "No, you idiot. It was a movie I saw! Don't you
have a TV on that farm of yours? But now that I think about it... you
did kill the alien using that control panel thing. Maybe this is your
fault!"

	Ryouga opened his mouth to defend himself, before grumbling and
looking back out the window. He reached out, and ran his hand down the
clear material. It wasn't glass, or plastic, but seemed to be a part of
the hull itself, turned transparent. There were a few of them, along the
outside of the ship, all square in shape, and a little less than a meter
in to a side. Oddly, none of the 'rooms' seemed to have any 'windows.'

	"Maybe... No. Not maybe. This is all my fault," Ryouga said, and
watched the Pacific Ocean from a thousand miles away.

	"Hey, I was just kidding, man!" Ranma slapped him on the back.
"If not for you showin' up, who knows what kinda trouble we'd be in!"

	Ryouga did know.

	He just nodded and changed the subject. "We should go let the
others out."

	"Oh yeah, I can't wait." Ranma joked. "I let Akane out, she hits
me for me bein' naked, and then she hits me for her bein' naked, and
then for everyone 'cept you being naked, and who knows what else?"

	Ryouga didn't like Ranma making fun of Akane, but he detected a
certain tone of endearment in his rival's words, so he held his tongue.
Besides, the pigtailed martial artist had a point. Akane didn't handle
nudity very well, from what he had heard and seen. Especially where
Ranma was concerned. Not that Ryouga handled it well either, but his
normal response was to get a nosebleed, and sometimes pass out (not
slap/slam the hell out of those nearby). He was lucky earlier that he
had been angry and distracted enough not to dwell on the three nubile
female forms on the lower deck of the ship.

	"Ugh." He wiped a trickle of blood from under his left nostril.
He felt terrible even having that reaction, like it was betraying Akari
in some way. Ranma looked at him as they walked, and the other boy shook
his head sadly.

	"Still gettin' nosebleeds, P-chan?"

	"Don't call me that, Ranma!" Ryouga warned, for what felt like
the thousandth time.

	"Ah, but there's no one awake but us." Ranma pointed out. "Now
that I think of it, there's something I've always wanted to do..."

	"Eh?" The lost boy grunted.

	Ranma took a deep breath.

	And yelled, "RYOUGA IS P-CHAN!! P-CHAN IS RYOUGA!! ARE YOU ALL
BLIND?!"

	After a few seconds of silence, Ryouga deadpanned. "Well, I'm
glad you got all that out now and didn't let it eat you up inside."

	"Ohhhh, but that felt so good!" Ranma shook his fist in
exclamation. "I can't believe no one else has figured that out yet!"

	The lost boy had to agree. "You'd think Nabiki, of all people,
would have."

	"It isn't like she isn't even there when..."

	"When you all but screamed it out? Ryouga is P-chan, P-chan is
Ryouga. No: you had to be creative, and just call ME that, and P-chan,
me." Ryouga grumbled, angrily. "Look. I don't care what you did. Just
don't call me that anymore. I'm not sleeping in Akane's bed, and I don't
plan to. I just want to leave whole mess in the past."

	"Yeah, yeah." Ranma waved his right hand dismissively. "It
wasn't exactly your proudest moment."

	"No. It was not."

	They reached the lift.

	Then:

	"And Kasumi! How many times did she find your clothes lying
around? Times that just happened to coincide with P-chan appearing?
Didn't she make the connection?! Didn't she even get suspicious?" Ranma
was venting now, and Ryouga let him. It was funny to hear, in a way,
just how frustrated his old enemy had been with the whole P-chan thing.

	"Tendo-san knows. I'm sure of it." Ryouga added. "I mean: he's
seen me transform. At least twice."

	"Kuno and Kodachi have seen me turn right in front of them. They
still don't know any better." Ranma complained. "Then again, Tendo-san
knows about the curses. I wonder why he hasn't told anyone."

	"Who knows?" Ryouga asked. "I tried to bring it up once, and he
just kind of zoned out."

	They went down the lift to the lower deck.

	"Azusa figured it out right away." Ryouga admitted. "And,
frankly, she's an airhead."

	"I dunno..." Ranma argued. "She was real childish, yeah. But
'airhead?'"

	"That's the impression she gives."

	"True."

	"Maybe she's an observant airhead."

	Ranma and Ryouga approached where the Tendos were 'stored.'
Ranma frowned, and looked to his side at his partner. "So: how are we
going to do this?"

	"I'm not letting Nabiki out," Ryouga said, quickly. "She'd
probably charge me for the view, or blackmail me saying I felt her up."

	"I'm not letting Akane out," Ranma responded. "I ain't been hit
in a week, and I don't want to get walloped now."

	"What about Kasumi?"

	"Come to think of it, I'm not lettin' any of 'em out in my
birthday suit!" Ranma pushed Ryouga towards the cylinders. The forms of
the four Tendos were indistinct from even a ten or so feet away,
obscured by the faintly glowing orange fluid they were suspended in.

	"Er..." Ryouga hesitated, and turned away, seeing Akane's murky
features.

	"Don't be such a pussy!" Ranma egged him on, and then snapped
his fingers. "But if you really don't want to, I've got an idea."

-----

	Kasumi's capsule opened with a hiss, and she fell out into his
arms, the orange suspension fluid slouching off her slender arms and
body. He looked down to see if she was all right, while she coughed up
the ooze that had been in her lungs. Slowly, she looked up at him, and
recognition dawned on her.

	"Father?" she asked, looking up with surprise and relief.

	"It's all right, Kasumi-chan." Soun smiled reassuringly. "You're
safe now."

	"Oh father! I had the most terrible dream! It was so horrible!"
Kasumi cried, more hysterical than she had been in years. "There were
these little youkai, and they broke into my room!"

	"Ano, Kasumi-chan..." Soun held her at arms length, his fatherly
tone firm and reassuring. He then held up a large yellow and black
tunic. "Could you please put this on and let your sisters out?"

	Kasumi just then noticed that her dear father's clothes, or lack
thereof. And over his shoulder, she saw Akane and Nabiki suspended in
some sort of giant metal and plastic jars, also sans clothes. Looking
hesitantly to her right, at the wall, she saw a window with a view like
few had ever witnessed firsthand.

	"Oh dear." Kasumi's trademark calm set in. "Are we on that
Russian space station, or the new American one?"

-----

	It took some time, but the entire Tendo family assembled in the
command room. Ranma and Ryouga waited outside, while the girls got
dressed. Ranma still lacked any sort of covering, and Ryouga had
stripped to his boxer briefs. With the door closed, and talking in the
room just behind them was completely muffled. The ship, which seemed to
have power if not direction, operated in perfect silence.

	Ranma also seemed to be in a more serious mood, now that the
girls were up.

	Ryouga, for one, didn't mind the quiet. It was a nice change of
pace, and he and Ranma had shared many hours in silence on the Tendo
roof, usually contemplating their next fight, or their martial arts
techniques, or just appreciating the Art in the presence of one who felt
the same way. The more the lost boy thought about it, the more he came
to think that he and Ranma fought the most when they exchanged words.

	Either Ranma would say or do something that got him going, or he
would do or say something that had the same effect. It had been the same
when they were younger, except even then there had been no real
appreciation of the other as a test for their skills. Maybe, just maybe,
Ranma had been more casual about it back then, but to Ryouga (who had
had little experience with other martial artists) it had struck him as
persecution.

	Still waiting for the signal to enter, and that the three girls
were decent, the boys waited. Ranma was the first to voice his thoughts.

	"Ki flows... strangely here."

	Ryouga grunted in agreement.

	"And the air... it isn't just the smell," Ranma said, mentioning
the sudden and strong reek of decay that came from the slain aliens
still scattered around the ship. "It feels wrong."

	The other boy smiled, wanly. "It'll seem worse when we start to
run out, I think."

	"Depressing as always," Ranma replied.

	Ryouga laughed sadly. "I aim not to please."

	"You have a point, though," Ranma said, still speaking
seriously. "How long can we stay up here before we run out of air? How
long before we run out of water?"

	Ryouga gave Ranma a quick, appraising look. "You think we
should've kept the Tendos in...?"

	"No!" Ranma answered, quickly. "Definitely not. I don't know
what those things do. No one does. But I wouldn't be surprised if it was
bad. When we looked over the ship before, that table..."

	Ryouga was surprised at this, but curious about his rival's
observations. "What about it?"

	"Why would they have a table there? And there were machines
hooked up to it." Ranma licked his lips, the slightly dry air taking its
toll. "I've seen programs. Stuff on the TV. I think they put people on
that table."

	Ryouga snorted, the topic of conversation bringing back his
anger from before.

	"Ranma..." he started to say, but couldn't follow through. He'd
wanted to sound angry, but his voice had come out pained. It hurt to
talk about. It hurt to think about. And the last thing he wanted was to
break down, to show weakness, in front of Ranma. No. If he couldn't say
it like a man, he wouldn't say it at all.

	Thankfully, the door opened, and Soun's head popped out. Ranma,
knowing what this meant, picked up one of the large alien weapons lying
on the ground from before to cover himself.

	"They're ready," the older man said, and motioned them inside.
Ranma and Ryouga exchanged glances, and walked in, the lost boy taking
the lead. Both knew Ranma only followed to use Ryouga as a shield for
his own nudity. Normally, something like this would've provoked a fight
over the last scrap of clothes, or some other affair. However, with the
lives of others in the balance, they didn't have the luxury of showing
signs of panic, nervousness, or internecine hostility. This situation
was another enemy to overcome. Their personal rivalries and differences
could wait.

	At least for a little while.

	Kasumi was the first to greet them. She had made due with
wearing Ryouga's tunic, as she was the tallest of the three sisters,
Nabiki being about an inch shorter, and Akane two. She looked somewhat
strange, wearing a heavy shirt with long sleeves that went past her
small wrists, but it also went south far enough to cover her. She bowed
politely.

	"Thank you both so much!" she said, with a smile. "And thank
you, Ryouga-kun, for the clothes."

	He chuckled, embarrassed. "No, that's quite alright!"

	Behind Kasumi, Akane was unbowed, but grateful looking. As the
shortest, she wore Ryouga's mustard colored undershirt, but used her
hands to keep it as low as possible. Nabiki, meanwhile, had his pants,
and she had fashioned a makeshift bra for herself out of most of his
remaining bandannas. Of everything he had surrendered, Ryouga disliked
parting with those the most. The bandannas were his most effective and
lethal weapon against the aliens onboard. What if more aliens showed up,
somehow? She even had his belt around her waist, since the pants would
never fit otherwise.

	"Hey, Ryo-baby. Here." Nabiki walked over, and handed him a
handful of bandannas, six in all. He took them, and forced out a smile
for the mercenary girl.

	"Didn't use them all, I see," he said with forced mirth. With
his eyes, however, he watched Akane walk up to Ranma, and whisper in his
ear. Even though he had, for some time now, come to accept the
eventuality of their pairing, it still grated on him. Even seeing Ranma
obviously embarrassed didn't diminish the feeling of... was it jealousy?

	Akane hugged him, obviously happy to be free and alive.

	'Yes...' Ryouga confirmed it. 'It is jealousy. That could have
been me and Akari. But it won't be. Ever again.'

	"Ryo-baby?" Nabiki asked, still in front of him. His eyes went
back to her, a little narrower than before, and he watched her turn
around, showing off her handiwork. Facing him again, she grinned. "I
guess we do owe you one for this."

	She leaned in closer.

	"And not just for the clothes. If you hadn't shown up..." She
trailed off.

	"Yes." Soun choose that moment to interrupt. "It is a strange,
but not unwelcome, coincidence that you showed up when you did.
Especially since you don't drop by as often as before."

	Ryouga treated Soun with a measure of suspicion. It was
difficult to measure the man properly, and there could be no doubt that
he knew more than he let on, even if he choose not to act on that
knowledge very often.

	"What do we do now?" Akane asked, probably only catching the
last half of her father's comments. "How do we get back home?"

	Ryouga wished he had an answer.

	He looked at Ranma again. The other martial artist had only the
large alien stun weapon covering himself, but still he managed to keep
an air of dignity. It was something Ryouga suspected he would lack in
identical circumstances. As he was, he felt extremely embarrassed of
being in his underwear, but tried not to think of it. Knowing that the
man he had hated for so long was worse off helped a lot in that effort.

	"Yes. We need some sort of plan," Soun replied. He sat down on
the floor, after giving a quick nervous look to the two alien bodies
pushed into one of the room's corners. Kasumi sat to his left, and Akane
to his right. Ranma sat down next to Akane, and Ryouga next to Kasumi.
Nabiki walked around, and sat between the two boys. Altogether, they
formed a rather rough circle.

	"We should consider our options, our abilities, and our
objectives." Nabiki immediately took the lead, speaking confidently and
convincingly. Ryouga wondered if she sounded like her Professors in
college. Either way, he knew she was smart - the smartest of the group
without a doubt.

	"Options. Abilities. Objectives," Nabiki said, repeating the
words to drill them into the minds of those present. "Then, we should
brainstorm for solutions. And after that, we can produce a bulleted
final course of action."

	The other four people in the room started at her.

	"What?" Nabiki asked. "Come on! What are our options?"

	"Well, we sure can't stay on the ship!" Ranma said, the first to
work up the courage to speak. "Ryouga and me were talkin' earlier. We
don't know how much air is on this thing."

	"And water." Ryouga spoke, then, from experience. "We don't have
any water. Dehydration is an ugly way to die."

	"This ship seems very advanced." Soun pointed out. "Maybe it has
some way of replenishing air and water."

	"It doesn't even have bathrooms," Akane interjected.

	"So where did these... iseijin go, when, ah, they..." Kasumi
struggled to phrase it without being vulgar.

	"Maybe they hold it in," Nabiki said, with a sly smirk, quite
enjoying her remark.

	"We should set aside an area for... that." Soun offered,
coughing to make sure he had everyone's attention. "Perhaps one of this
spare... pod. Things."

	The other members of the group nodded, and mumbled in agreement.

	"Alright," Nabiki said, again assuming the lead. "We can't stay
here for more than... how long, based in the water problem?"

	Everyone looked at Ryouga.

	"What? I'm some kind of wilderness survival expert now?" Ryouga
asked, and rolled his eyes. "Look. It's hard to say. It depends on what
you do, how much you sweat, if you eat anything. Longest I've gone
without a drink is ... about two weeks four days. I think I was in the
Gobi Desert. Or maybe the Australian Outback. But that was a special
case. None of you could last that long, except maybe Ranma."

	"What do you mean, 'maybe Ranma?'" Ranma asked, annoyed as being
compared unfavorably to anyone or anything on or off the earth.

	"And what do you mean, it was a 'special case?'" Nabiki pressed.
"Be more specific."

	Ryouga sighed. "I'm used to that sort of thing. I've trained for
it."

	At that, Ranma and Soun nodded, understanding. Nabiki, for one,
still did not. "You trained for it?"

	"Yes," Ryouga said, and elaborated. "I've exposed myself,
sometimes just out of bad luck or planning, to depravation. Cold. Heat.
Dehydration. Exposure. Ranma - tell her what I mean."

	"A martial artist," Ranma lectured. "Can overcome any obstacle
through training."

	"Well put," Soun seconded.

	"If you want a time limit to work within..." Ryouga then said,
"I'd say a week, if you do nothing but sit around. Half that, if your
activity is minimal."

	At that, the group was silent.

	"How long'd you go without takin' a piss?" Ranma asked,
lightening the mood.

	Ryouga puffed out his chest proudly. "87 hours, I think."

	"Man..." the pigtailed boy quipped. "You ain't even human..."

	Instantly, Ryouga's good mood vaporized. Ranma quickly realized
he'd said the wrong thing, at one of the worst times, and felt worse
about it than usual. Ryouga had some sort of thing going against these
aliens, probably related to what happened before at Akari's farm. Maybe
they'd probed her? Then, rethinking Ryouga's tone and mood and cold
hateful precision in his attacks, Ranma entertained a far worse
conclusion.

	Ryouga's enraged scowl didn't fade, and the tension in the room
raised a notch.

	"You take that back..." Ryouga said, his voice a low hiss.

	And then, Ranma did something he never expected to do.

	He apologized.

	"Sorry," he said, and meant it. "I didn't mean it like that. I
didn't."

	Ryouga let out a deep breath, controlled himself (a feat in and
of itself), and looked up at the ceiling, hiding his face. Another
uncomfortable silence descended, before Nabiki clapped her hands
together.

	"Back to business?" she asked, sounding hopeful. "Ok. So we have
less than four days. We have to either land the ship, get someone to
come to us, or get whatever life support system this thing has working
to prolong our stay. Can anyone think of any other options we have?"

	Everyone looked around, no other ideas being proposed.

	"Ok, then," Nabiki continued. "Then what are our abilities? What
can we do with this ship, and with what we have at hand?"

	"Nothing and zilch," Ranma replied.

	"We can open doors," Akane replied, more seriously. "And that
weapons locker you guys found."

	"But we can't use the weapons!" Ranma argued.

	"We could learn!" Akane shot back.

	"And what, blow up the ship?!" Ranma replied in kind. "Great
idea!"

	"Ranmaaaa!" Akane growled, getting angry.

	"We can look outside," Kaaumi spoke up, hoping that her calm
tone would sooth the rising ire of certain parties. It seemed to have
the desired effect. "At least the view is very pretty."

	"Makes me wish I had my new digital camera," Nabiki added,
though Ryouga suspected that if she did have her piece, the earth and
stars wouldn't be her only targets.

	"We also need to get everyone else out of their ... pods," Soun
said, and everyone nodded in agreement with his surprisingly common
sense statements. The people in there were his neighbors and
acquaintances. Ranma didn't seem to know them, and Ryouga certainly
didn't, but the girls and Mr. Tendo had a special concern in getting
them free.

	"We don't have much to work with. We need to get some systems
operational on this ship." Nabiki looked over her shoulder, at the south
end of the room. "You boys said there was some sort of alien control
system over there, right?"

	"Yeah," Ranma answered. "But it went dead when Ryouga went all
axe murderer on the pilot."

	"Have you tried to get it working?" Nabiki then asked.

	Ranma and Ryouga looked at each other, Ryouga's scowl diminished
slightly. And then the pigtailed boy laughed, abruptly.

	"Yeah, right!" he said, and shook his head. "Ryouga and me? Do
we look like the types to try and hack into some alien computer? Maybe
upload a computer virus while we're at it?"

	"Huh?" Ryouga asked, again not quite getting the reference.

	"Well, we have to try something!" Nabiki snapped. "Maybe it
isn't as hard as you think. Just because it isn't some new martial arts
thing doesn't mean you shouldn't even give it a try!."

	As if to prove her point, she walked over to the blank looking
console. It looked like a solid plate of the ubiquitous alien metal the
made up the ship. There weren't any depressions, or keys, or buttons, or
anything. It didn't even glow. She bent over, and started looking at it.
There was nothing on the underside, either, and the rest of the group
went back to talking.

	"We really need to find where they put our clothes." Ranma
grumbled. "Why'd they strip us, anyway?"

	All three men present waited for Akane to make a 'pervert'
comment.

	It never happened.

	"What?" Akane finally said, sensing that they were waiting for
her to say something. "Who knows why they do anything? They're ALIENS."

	"It is a good thing Grandfather Happosai isn't here." Kasumi
remarked. All three and a half girls shuddered at the thought.

	"We'll keep looking. I'm sure we'll find everything," Ryouga
spoke up, trying to sound reassuring.

	'After all,' he thought. 'They always returned me with all my
clothes.'

	"They better!" Nabiki said from where she worked. "Those were my
favorite PJs!"

	"You mean, your favorite of my PJs?" Akane inquired, knowing
Nabiki's long-standing policy of permanently borrowing her sisters'
clothes.

	Nabiki's response was little more than a mumble.

	"Which reminds me..." Ryouga jumped in. "Where's my wallet? And
my passport?"

	Everyone looked at Nabiki, who was currently wearing the lost
boy's pants. She slowly turned, and gave then an innocent smile. "How
would I know?"

	Everyone just frowned.

	"Ok. Ok. Here," She reached into the back pocket and took out
the two items. Ryouga stood up and took them. Having dealt with the
middle Tendo before, however, he checked the wallet first.

	"It seems a little light," he said in a deadpan. "I remember
having five thousand in here, not three."

	Nabiki sighed, sadly. She wasn't getting any sympathetic looks
either. With a flourish, she reached into her makeshift bra (made out of
HIS bandannas no less), and pulled out the two thousand yen. Opening his
wallet, Ryouga looked at the picture of Akari in it with longing, but
quickly closed it, not wanting to think about that before he got more
depressed. Already, bits of green ki were leaking out into a weak aura.

	"Sorry. Bad habit," Nabiki admitted, after getting caught red
handed.

	"Very," Ryouga agreed, taking back the money. He was about to
stomp away, when he noticed something strange about the panel. His ki
seemed to be drawn to it. Without a word, he stood in front of it, and
held out his hand, concentrating more energy into his palm. The ki was
still drawn to the blank panel, but nothing seemed to be happening. To
his side, he saw Nabiki looking at him quizzically.

	Getting self conscious, Ryouga cursed the damned thing.

	'Work, you piece of alien junk!' he thought, angry already.
'WORK!'

	WORK

	The panel lit up, an explosion of light sending Ryouga stumbling
backwards. Green projections, an expansive hologram, appeared out of
thin air. Alien text, some like strange chicken scratchings and some
block like, scrolled up and down and left and right. Pictures and
diagrams then appeared as well.

	A voice spoke, chattering and shrill, like a thousand insects.

	"Hey! Watch out!" Ranma quickly got to his feet, as the floor in
the middle of the room began to warp and bend. Kasumi yelped, and Ryouga
saw Akane and Nabiki back up against the walls. The bulge in the floor
grew, like liquid metal reshaping itself. He readied his fists, and saw
Ranma react similarly.

	Then the bulge flattened out, became an oval, and solidified.

	It was a table.

	And around the new table, chairs rose in similar fashion,
forming out of the floor itself. They were small, too small for normal
people, and after forming they (and the table) pigmented a shade of dark
purple. Ryouga moved to the side, as another small chair formed in front
of the console.

	"Wow. Awesome," Ranma said what they were all thinking.

	"You know what this means, don't you?" Nabiki squealed happily.
"We're going to make a fortune! A fortune!!"

	While the others smiled and celebrated this first little
victory, Ryouga looked back at the alien equipment with distaste and
undisguised hostility. Everyone was being too optimistic. He only hoped
they didn't get the hopes up, just to be dashed to pieces later, against
the uncaring rocks of reality.

	Life was just like that, at least in his experience.

	Soon enough, they went to work.

-----


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