Ah My Goddess Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Sailor Goddess ❯ Star Shell ( Chapter 19 )

Sailor Goddess

A Ranma One Half Fan Fiction

By Michael A. Ivins

 

Ranma, and all of his/her friends and family are the creation of Rumiko Takahashi. I do not own any of them, nor do I own any of the characters from Ah! My Goddess or Sailor Moon. I'm writing this for fun, not profit. I'm so poor that suing me wouldn't do you much good.

 

WARNING: This is a sequel to a previous fic I wrote called, “Nodoka's Lessons.” That was a Lemon fic. While there won't be as much emphasis on sex (it will be more implied than described) in this sequel, it will deal with subjects like incest. If these subjects offend you, stop reading.

 

Chapter 19

Star Shell

 

When Ranma teleported home he was surprised that he couldn't sense the children in the house. Akane and Nodoka were there but they didn't seem distressed at all. He went in the back door and called out, “Tadima”

 

Nodoka met him and greeted him with a hug and a kiss. “Welcome home Son. Your timing is excellent. Kasumi has agreed to babysit our little brood along with her one child so we are free tonight.”

 

Akane wandered in and Ranma immediately noticed that his wife was dressed (if you could call it that) in a transparent little nothing that emphasized more than it concealed. She rushed forward and embraced her husband. In a sultry tone she said, “I'm so glad to see you home and male. Mama No-Chan and I have plans for you.”

 

Ranma got a big grin on his face as he followed his wife to the bedroom. Nodoka followed behind him.

 

* * *

 

Three days later Ranma, the senshi and two platoons of Valkyries were gathered in an auditorium. Ranma was in goddess form. Hotaru looked at the redhead and compared her to the valkyries and realized that they had a great deal in common with Ranma. They were all tall and muscular as Ranma was. Indeed many had commented that Ranma, while plenty sexy as a goddess, looked more like a fighter than a sex deity.

 

Ranma glanced over to Sailor Pluto. The Senshi of Time looked around then leaned forward and rested her chin on her palm. She lightly tapped her finger to her temple. This was a signal she and Ranma had worked out. It meant, “I have something to tell you, but I don't want these people to hear. Read my mind.”

 

The redheaded goddess gave a microscopic nod and read in Setsuna's mind, “Michiru and Haruka talked about it. They agonized about the question of sex with your male side but they finally decided. Since it's you, they're willing to try it. But they said they were going to turn the occasion into some kind of ceremony with lots of symbolism on the deflowering of virgins. You would do Hotaru first, then Haruka and Michiru finally. They graciously allowed that I could have a turn, but I'd be last since I'd already experienced sex with your male form.” She was more amused than angry.

 

The eldest of the Senshi continued, “They are doing it as an experiment, but they did say that if they liked it they may want to do it again as many times as you were able. I didn't mention to them that as a sex god you have the stamina to keep going longer than they could.”

 

Ranma's trademark smirk made a brief appearance at that. She projected the question, “What kind of ceremony?”

 

The green haired woman answered, “They are still working out the details. Some of the ideas suggested were rather silly.”

 

The redhead sent back, “If they want to make a ceremony out of it I could ask Eros and Aphrodite for ideas. They know the sexual customs of every culture for thousands of years. I'm sure there must have been some deflowering ceremonies in there.”

 

Before Setsuna could mentally frame a reply Aries walked in front of the group. He said, “Settle down, everyone.”

 

Into the air at the front of the room there was projected a holographic image of the Harvester Ship. Aries began, “This is the target. Normally I would say this is the enemy, but that would imply some sort of hostile intent on the part of the foe. The apparent attitude of those who sent this Ship is indifference. It would seem that the energy thieves don't care whether or not there is life near the stars they draw their energy from.”

 

He paused to consider the image. “It is evident that they do realize that there may be life and even intelligent life in some of their target stars or they wouldn't even bother to conceal the ship behind its cloak of force field particles. It is also obvious that the only reason they do conceal the ship is to prevent its destruction by any race smart enough to attack it.”

 

He gave a look to the assembled team. “If this was the popular entertainment favored by the mortals there would be one central point that could be attacked to disable or destroy the Ship. The mortals are so fond of the idea that you blow up one key component and it would cause the rest of the ship to blow up. If an actual ship or major installation were built like that it would be a serious design flaw.”

 

“Mortals design spacecraft with the principle of redundancy. For any key component or system you build two or even three so that if one fails there is a backup that can take over and get you to where you need to go. The way this ship was built may have been because of the time it would be in transit or they may simply have a different design philosophy. Regardless of the reason, they have carried the principal of redundancy to a much higher level.”

 

“The computers aboard the ship use what the computer people tell me is a distributed processing system. Instead of one or two central processors, this ship has more than 500. Only a tenth of those are needed at any one time to manage the ship's functions. The first advantage of that is that 90% of those processors could be destroyed and the ship could continue to function.”

 

“There is a second advantage. If the ship encounters a problem, more active processors can be pulled into the network, in effect making the ship smarter. It will continue to add processors until it is smart enough to deal with the problem.”

 

“If any processors are destroyed the ship can replace the damaged units. In the analysis of the scans supplied by god/dess Saotome, experts found enough spares to replace the entire network 3 times over. There may have been spares that the scans didn't reveal.”

 

“Almost everyone who sees the internal structure of the ship has asked why a ship that just drifts has need of structural bracing. That question has been answered. The ship does have engines, lots of them. In keeping with the design philosophy of the computers there are many more engines than needed to move the ship. It would seem that the engines are only used when the ship has finished moving through a star system and the ship needs to change its course to the next target star. That means that the engines only get used once every few centuries.”

 

“There are reactors that could generate energy to power the engines, but the experts estimate they haven't been used in thousands of years. The ship is equipped with literally thousands of energy storage cells scattered throughout the structure. When they get charged to full capacity an energy beam gets fired off to the relay station. However, out of the energy that is sent off, there is always some energy that is kept to run the ship.”

 

“The ship communicates with the relay station through a subspace radio system. That is how the relay station knows when an energy transmission is coming through and what direction to face for best reception. The computer systems on this ship are dedicated solely to the functions of that ship so we can't use them to find any of the other Ships. Another probe has been dispatched to the relay station to see if we can read its computers for the location of all of the other ships. So far we have only been able to find one other ship based off the direction the relay station was facing when Saotome was there to launch her probe.”

 

“There is one bit of good news in this. The computer people have found that there is a command in the programming the ship recognizes that can be used to shut it down. In essence this amounts to the message, `the mission has been accomplished, you aren't needed anymore.' That would cause the Ship to deactivate its force fields and stop energy harvesting. It wouldn't activate its engines and would simply continue to drift.”

 

“The bad news (you knew there had to be some) is that the computer systems remain active for as long as there is energy in the storage cells. If the Home Base were to notice the ship had gone inactive before the task was complete, it could reactivate the Ship.”

 

“Those of you who were hoping for a glorious battle against strong foes will be disappointed. What we face here for the present is a job of hard work, but no armed foes. When we are ready, we will transmit the shut down code to the two ships we know about. The strike team (that's you people) will be teleported aboard. Your job will then be to place explosive charges on each of the computer processor nodes (all 520 of them). When you have placed the charges and vacated the ship the charges will be detonated. That should disable the ships so they can't be reactivated.”

 

Ranma raised her hand. When Aries pointed to her, she asked, “Are there any plans to do anything with the ships when they are disabled?”

 

Aries frowned before saying, “I was going to get to that. After the computers have been disabled a technical crew will go aboard the disabled ships and start their engines to fly them to the center of the galaxy. At the center of this galaxy there is a super-massive black hole that will swallow up the ships and destroy them. I wish we could just detonate the engines or power generators, but they are designed to prevent any kind of accident.”

 

“While the ships are in flight toward the center of the Galaxy, sensing equipment will be left aboard to monitor them and continue analysis of systems. We may be able to learn something useful from those ships, we may not.”

 

“Everyone going on the mission will be given a data device if you don't already have a computer. It will direct you to the computer processors and show you the most effective places to attach your charges. Since the ship systems will be inactive you will face no opposition at all, not even the ship's maintenance drones. Instead of a glorious battle, you will have a tedious and boring job. Still, it is a job that must be done.”

 

“The first target will actually be the second ship that we found from the Relay Station. The reason for that is simple. The second ship is actively harvesting energy and freezing the planets of the star system it is located in. The one approaching Earth is still years away and therefore not as urgent.”

 

“We have not yet heard back from the probe that was sent through hyperspace. That could mean that the probe has been destroyed, but it could also mean that the home base is a very long distance away, possibly even in another galaxy. It is our hope that we can find the home base and shut them down so we can track down all of the ships and shut them down with no chance of the home base reactivating them.”

 

One of the valkyries asked, “Would it be to our advantage to destroy the relay station?”

 

“Not yet,” answered the war god. “Before we do something like that we must use the computers in the relay station to locate all of the ships that are transmitting to it. Besides that that station is the only link we have to the home base. If our probe was destroyed, we may have to send another one. Until we have found the Home Base we will take out the ships as we can and wait to disable the relay station.”

 

There were no further questions. The people who were participating in the raid left the room to collect their data devices (or get their computers programmed) and to load up on explosive charges. A group of strong teleporters transported the group to the second Ship.

 

Now that it had been ordered to shut itself down, the interior was dark. The many different humming sounds were silent and just one sound of a low hum could be heard. The other sounds were silent as well. Ranma had thought that that it had been creepy before, but it was worse now. Each of the strike team wore a light on a headband. Most of the deities didn't need them, but the Senshi found them a comfort.

 

It would be nice to say that it was a grand adventure, but that would be a lie. It was tedious and boring. Several hours after they started, the group gathered back at the point where they had teleported in. Brunhilde, the commander of the valkyries, asked, “Has everybody planted all of their charges?” She got affirmative responses from all parties.

 

At her signal they all joined hands and teleported the short distance to the outside of the hull of the Ship. They floated there while Brunhilde sent in the telepathic signal to detonate the charges. Due to the mass of the Ship there was no visible reaction from the large structure of metal.

 

When they teleported back inside there was complete silence. Their lights revealed drifting bits of debris from the destroyed components along with some clouds of vapors. It was fortunate that the members of the strike team didn't need to breathe the atmosphere inside the ship.

 

Brunhilde checked her data device. She requested, “Ranma would you do a scan? Your computer has more sensors than this little thing.”

 

The redheaded goddess did as requested. After a moment she said, “Everything appears to be dead. There is no power generation, transmission or activity of any kind within the range of my sensors. It would appear that our mission was a success.”

 

“That's a relief,” replied Brunhilde. “Astrid, you will stay behind to place the sensors. The rest of us will `port back. Ranma is the strongest teleporter so she will lead. When we get back we will rest and recharge. In approximately one day's time we will do the same thing to the Harvester Ship in our Solar System.”

 

After the teleport back to the briefing room in Heaven, Ranma reflected that she was glad she had done all of those exercises to build her ki and magic capacity. Even with the long transport, she was not drained. She still gratefully accepted a couple of steaming mugs of Aztec style chocolatl.

 

While the rest of the Senshi were ready to teleport back to Earth, Hotaru asked to stay behind to talk to Ranma. Before they would give permission, Michiru and Haruka insisted that Hotaru promise that talking is all they would do.

 

With the promise given the rest left. Ranma and Saturn adjourned to a private home. Ranma explained, “I was granted this place when I got my license. I rarely come here, because I still live with my wives and kids.”

 

Hotaru looked around before she sat on a couch. “I can tell. This place looks too clean. There's no warmth or `lived in' feel to it.”

 

The redheaded goddess told her guest, “I had a little telepathic chat with Setsuna. She told me that Haruka and Michiru have been thinking about her suggestion that they try sex with my male side. I'm guessing that if this were any other man they would have rejected the idea out of hand. The fact that they have been engaging in sex play with me in my female form once a week for some months is what made them seriously consider it.”

 

The youngest of the Senshi giggled. “You should have heard some of the conversations the last couple days.”

 

Ranma grinned. “I can guess that the discussion got pretty lively. What was Setsuna's input?”

 

The girl continued amused. “She kept talking about what it was like for her and they should give it a chance. She described it in great detail.”

 

Ranma looked thoughtful. “I don't know if this will help, but let me tell you about how it was for me. As you know, I was born a boy and grew up that way. When I was 16 I got the curse that changed me to a girl with cold water and back to a boy with hot water.”

 

Hotaru frowned. “How does this relate?”

 

“Stay with me,” the goddess advised. “At first I hated being a girl. The very idea of even kissing a guy was totally disgusting to me.”

 

“Kind of like mama and papa.”

 

“Yep.”

 

Curious, the purple eyed girl asked, “What changed for you?”

 

Ranma paused a moment, just reliving the memories. “At first it was just getting used to the curse. That made me more comfortable with being a girl, but I was still didn't like the idea of sex with a boy. Then my mom and I got hold of a magic item called the Family Stone. It had the effect of increasing sexual desire and decreasing inhibitions - specifically those inhibitions against sex with family members.”

 

“My mom and I were spending a month with just the two of us living in her house. The idea was for us to get to know each other better after being apart for eleven years. Under the influence of the magic stone my mom and I got to know each other intimately.”

 

Ranma had been watching Hotaru's face. She now said, “Don't give me that expression. You knew I live with my mom and call her my wife.”

 

The younger girl apologized. “I'm sorry.”

 

Ranma smiled at her guest. “That's Ok. I need to find out something. I know from being part of their `games' that the other woman use sex toys including dildos. I want to know did you ever borrow any of their toys to use on yourself?”

 

The dark haired girl's face flared crimson. Ranma nodded. That was answer enough. “So you tried an artificial simulation of a man's organ and you are now feeling curious about how the real thing would feel.”

 

A slightly sullen expression on her face, Hotaru said, “It sounds silly when you say it like that.”

 

The goddess shrugged. “Maybe, but that's how I started with men in my girl form. My mom and I used dildos and after trying it that way I felt like I just had to experience the real thing. Because of the magic stone the man I chose to try it with was my father.”

 

The younger girl pictured her own father, an evil mad scientist. “Eww,” she said. “That made me think about my own father.”

 

Ranma had heard the history of professor Tomoe and Pharoah 90. She said, “My own father wasn't evil, just not a very nice man. In spite of that he was great in bed, really knows how to make a girl feel good.” Hotaru blushed again.

 

The goddess grinned at that. “I only tried it with him a few times. While I enjoyed the experience for the physical sensations, I had no respect for the man. In fact I decided that not only did I not love him, I didn't even like him. Still that was enough for me to decide that I liked being a girl part of the time and liked being with men `that way.'”

 

The younger girl's mouth was open in an “Oh.”

 

Ranma smiled, “Don't worry, I still like girls in both of my forms. After all I did get my wives pregnant and then Setsuna later.”

 

Now curious, Hotaru asked, “So was your dad the father of your twins?”

 

Still amused, Ranma laughed. “Thank goodness no. The original plan was for my wife to get a temporary boy curse and he would be the father. We tried but I wound up getting her pregnant first. Then there was a mixup at the fertility clinic and my male side wound up as the father.”

 

“Wait a minute,” begged Hotaru. Setsuna hadn't included Saturn in the talks she'd had with the other Outers about Ranma. “You're both father and mother to the same kids?”

 

“Yeah, weird, right? It's a good thing they get magic from both sides. They're good kids.”

 

Hotaru just sat with her mouth open. Ranma laughed again. “If we were on Earth I'd make some kind of comment about catching flies, but I don't know if they even have them here. Did I exceed your weirdness limit?”

 

The younger girl closed her mouth and nodded her head.

 

Ranma smiled. “Well then, I guess that's enough about my experience as a parallel to yours or to your mama and papa. I guess I'm closer to them than I am to you. That's probably why we got along so well.”

 

She shifted to male form. “I got changed into a god/dess the same day I found out I was pregnant. I spent so much time in female form, it's a bit of an effort to get used to being a guy again. I'm getting back to it.”

 

His manner sobered. “There are some things I have to tell you about the difference between mortal men as lovers and sex gods. This comes from the explanation that was given to me when I was learning about it. Sexual intercourse is a physical exercise. Mortals and most gods get tired from doing it.”

 

“For a mortal man, what that means can vary with how young he is and how much stamina he has. For the average man he will lose his erection after an orgasm and need rest and stimulation to regain it. A young man with lots of stamina might not lose his erection, at least not after the first orgasm. Eventually he will tire and be unable to perform.”

 

Hotaru was not sure what to think about this. No one had ever given her such details in such explicit terminology.

 

She wanted to sound intelligent. She asked, “How is it different with a sex god?”

 

Ranma smiled. “A sex god draws energy from the sex act. If he wants to he can keep an erection and keep going in intercourse as long as his partner remains conscious. He can have as many orgasms as he wants. It does take a little time in between to replenish the fluids that get ejaculated. If the sex god doesn't care about the fluids he can have just as many orgasms as the woman. That was really weird the first time I experienced it.”

 

The younger girl's eyes got big. “That sounds heavenly, but why are you telling me this?”

Ranma looked a bit sheepish. “Well, I want you to have realistic expectations, since your first man is going to be a sex god. I'm not going to marry you because I'm already married. Someday you will meet a nice mortal boy you like. If you want to get into a sexual relationship with him you should remember the differences I just mentioned. You should not expect a mortal to have the same kind of stamina. Another difference is that a mortal boy can get you pregnant.”

 

“Oh, I get what you mean,” Hotaru said. “So you I shouldn't hold a mortal boy up to the same standard as a sex god.”

 

The god said, “I know that sounds egotistical, but it's true.”

 

Hotaru nodded. “I understand the reasons for it.”

 

“Now about this `ceremony' that Setsuna told me about. She said your mama and papa want to do some kind ritual deflowering of the virgins. I have no objection to that as long as everybody understands it is symbolic only. Since all of you have used dildos that makes you only technically virgins. By `technically' I mean you have experienced penetration, you just haven't done it with a live man or boy.”

 

Now confused the young senshi said, “You're saying I'm not a virgin?”

 

Ranma smiled again. “It depends on how you define the word. If you use `never had sex with a man,' then you qualify. If you use `never experienced penetration' then you don't qualify. There's an even more extreme definition that goes, `never had any kind of sex.' Under that standard you aren't a virgin anymore even if you only masturbated.”

 

He paused. “One definition that doesn't get used as much is whether or not the hymen is intact. If it is intact that is proof of virginity by the first two of those definitions. If it isn't intact it isn't proof the girl has had sex. A girl's `maidenhead' can be torn from vigorous exercise. I'd bet yours tore during a fight against youma or daemons before you ever used a dildo.”

 

“Uh… yeah, it did.”

 

Ranma nodded emphatically. “I'll bet that that's true for the others. Mine tore a short while after I got the curse, while Shampoo was chasing me and Pop. It wouldn't apply to Setsuna. She hasn't been a virgin for thousands of years. I should know, I was her husband in two past lives.”

 

“Is that why you get along so well now?”

 

Ranma considered that. “I guess so. It was thousands of years ago. She's changed since then. So have I, in a lot of ways.”

 

Hotaru nodded. She wondered about the relationship. Since Ranma was the father of the baby now in Setusuna's womb, would she become another of Ranma's wives? Did it really matter if she did?

 

“So,” said Ranma. “After this little talk do you still want to have sex with me?”

 

“Yes!” Her vehemence surprised her. She ordered, “Come here. I want to hug you as guy.”

 

Ranma came closer and experienced a glomp from someone he hadn't been expecting it from. He returned the embrace. The young senshi was a cuddlesome bundle.

 

After a time he loosened his embrace. The girl's hand was up under his shirt and rubbing his back. He commented, “As pleasant as this, you did promise you wouldn't do more than talk.”

 

“I don't care!”

 

Ranma gently told her, “If you break your promise they could lose their trust in you. Do you really want that?”

 

Grudgingly the younger girl replied, “Well… no, not really.”

 

“Just try to have a little patience,” advised the sex god. “It sounds to me like they want to agree. They just have to get over their prejudices.”

 

They snuggled a little while longer before Ranma released his embrace. He told the girl, “We've got to go through that whole business with the ship again, you know. There is still at least one more ship we have to disable. I should take you home so you can rest up and prepare.”

 

Hotaru grumbled, but she recognized the wisdom of getting rested up before another mission. Ranma teleported to the back yard of the home shared by the Outers. As Hotaru went in the back door, Ranma sighed and said softly, “The Saotome charm strikes again.”

 

He changed into goddess form. She smiled. It was her turn to feed the kids. She loved breast feeding. She teleported home.

 

The next day was a repeat of the previous mission. There were no problems and things went faster because of the practice everyone had the previous day. After the mission Aries held a short briefing. “Don't let this become routine! I will agree that this went just like the previous one. It is when you plan for everything to go the way you expect that things go wrong. Always go into a mission expecting the unexpected. Sailors Pluto and Terra I need to ask you to go to the Gates of Time and check for any transmissions from the probe.”

 

When the two Senshi arrived at the Gates, Chronus was clamoring for attention. “Sailor Pluto, Sailor Pluto, the probe has arrived at the Home Base. We're also getting transmissions from the second probe that was sent to the Relay Station.”

 

Ranma asked, “Where is the Home base?”

 

Chronus projected a map. She said, “The home base is in another Galaxy. Cosmologically speaking the other galaxy is much older than ours. I'm not sure what that means or if it means anything.”

 

“What about the base?”

 

The image changed. In the image a structure appeared. Actually it would be more accurate to say that a portion of a structure appeared. Ranma frowned. “What is that?”

 

Chronus explained, “If this is what I think it is, I've never actually seen one. I've only heard about them in theory. Based on the curvature of the wall I think this is a star shell.

 

Confusion evident in her expression, Ranma asked, “That leave me no wiser. What is a `star shell?'”

 

The computer elaborated, “During the Silver Millennium there was a theory that the most efficient way to utilize the energy from a star is to completely destroy all the planets in the system and use them as raw materials to build a shell that completely encloses the star. In that manner it is possible to harvest every bit of energy that a star puts out. There is an additional benefit. If you can install artificial gravity generators in the shell so that the inner surface can hold an atmosphere, you would get a habitable surface equal to millions of earthlike planets.”

 

The computer went on. “It was thought to be mainly an intellectual exercise. The planets circling any one star wouldn't provide enough raw materials to construct such a shell. To do something like that, the builders would need to strip a dozen or more stars of all planets, asteroids, comets and everything else to get enough material. Such a thing is possible, but hardly practical.”

 

Puzzled, Setsuna asked, “If it's not practical, why do it?”

 

Chronus honestly admitted, “I don't know. Perhaps for the same kind of reason used in the creation of some of the great monuments of the past. Some of those were not created for practical reasons but as a demonstration of capability.”

 

Ranma's eyes went wide. “Do you mean to say they did it to prove they could?”

 

The computer said, “I only offer it as a speculation. However, other seemingly impossible projects have been built for no better reason than that. In some cases some of those projects were created to make the statement, `See how clever we are. We are a great people.'”

 

Setsuna commented, “I've seen such projects in the history of Earth. Most of them are now ruins. In some cases the civilization fell because too many resources were diverted to the building of the great project. Is this Star Shell still operating?”

 

Chronus said, “I don't think so. The portion of the shell that has been scanned by the probe is the same temperature as the space around it. The scan goes all the way through into the inner surface.”

 

Ranma and Setsuna watched as the image continued to build. They could finally see enough to actually detect the curve. After a time of silently watching Chronus announced, “I found something. I have discovered what appears to be a door into the interior. I should also mention that there is activity around that portal. I had thought that the material of the shell might have been masking radiation from the star at the center.”

 

There was silence for a moment. Then “I think something went wrong with this star shell. The star at the center is a dense neutron star. It is emitting radiations that would be fatal for most forms of organic life and damaging for most others. Your magic would protect you if you went to visit, but even so, it would be unwise to move there.”

 

Setsuna asked, “What kind of activity are you detecting?”

 

Chronus reported, “There seem to be a number of machines moving around. I believe they are robots or possibly some form of remotely controlled devices.”

 

There was another pause and Chronus told them, “I am detecting the opening of another hyperspace window.”

 

The next thing said was, “That was another energy beam. There is still energy harvesting going on. This beam didn't come from the relay station we have already found.”

 

Ranma ordered, “Order the probe to map the exterior first. For now avoid the door that has all the robots. After the probe has completely scanned the exterior look for a door that doesn't have any activity. The probe is only to use the door you just told us about if it can get in without being seen.”

 

Setsuna looked at the holographic image a moment. She turned to Ranma and said, “For the probe to scan a structure that large is going to take a long time. I can think of something more fun to do while we wait.” She inclined her head in the direction of the four poster bed.

 

Ranma stood and willed her clothing away then changed to male. Grinning, he commented, “For a twenty thousand year old woman you do a remarkable imitation of a horny teenager.”

 

Setsuna was grinning too as made she made her own clothing disappear and replied, “I do the best I can.”

 

When Ranma and Setsuna finished the probe was still scanning. No surprise there. The target was so large it would probably take several days to get a broad overview. It would take years to get all of the finer details of the entire surface, either inner or outer.

 

Ranma called Aries and apprised him of what they had found. He was not happy that it was going to take so long but understood the size of the task. He was going to look into getting more probes out to the star shell. If they could be teleported inside that would reduce the risk of detection by the robots.

 

The probe at the relay station had not found the computer network. Since there had been no more energy transmissions from the station the one they had detected at the star shell had to have come from a different relay station. That raised the question of how far the operation spread out.

 

When Ranma arrived home she went to feed the babies and sat up for a time playing with them. She chatted with Akane while doing this. Nodoka was away visiting her cousin.

 

Akane had news. “My dad called. Genma's pregnant again. I guess she was serious about being a woman.”

 

Ranma nodded. She said, “When I haven't been looking in on her myself, I've had other gods and goddesses doing it. She seems to be determined that she's going to be a good mommy. I might fault her on a few small details, but overall she's doing a pretty good job. A lot better than what she did with me. I think if she and your dad keep doing what they're doing, Akira should turn out to be a pretty neat kid.”

 

Akane heaved a sigh. “That's a relief to hear. So, if they're doing Ok with one kid, maybe they'll do ok with two.”

 

The goddess said, “They'd better. I'm going to keep watching them or having someone else watch them when I can't do it myself.”

 

They sat around while the kids got sleepy. Before they were ready to leave the nursery, Akane went out. A short time later a familiar baritone voice said, “Hey, girl. I'm new in town. Do you know where a guy can go to have a good time?”

 

A big smile lit up Ranma's face. “Akane?”

 

Akane came into the nursery in male form, wearing only a light robe. He looked incredibly good to the goddess right now. As they walked toward the bedroom Ranma reached a quick decision. She had the example of her female father to inspire her. She had often told people that a goddess couldn't get pregnant unless she wanted to. Suddenly she decided that she wanted to. She couldn't do it tonight because she still had the ceremony with Hotaru, Michiru and Haruka to take care of. Once that was done she was going to get pregnant again.

 

Later the two lovers were snuggled together and Ranma said, “I like being the wife, and you make a pretty good husband.

 

Akane admitted, “I wouldn't want to be this way forever, but I do like it sometimes.”

 

In a thoughtful tone, Ranma pointed out, “You know, one of the reasons for the plan for each of us to get the other pregnant was so you could experience being a daddy. Because of the mixup at the fertility clinic you sort of missed out on that.”

 

The man protested, “I love the twins, they're great kids. I don't feel like I missed out on anything where it comes to them.”

 

The redhead idly used a fingertip to trace the lines of the muscles on her lover's chest and abdomen. She finally continued her thought, “I know you love them and I can feel they love you too. I think it's really great that you feel that way, considering you're really their step mother… or step father.“

 

Akane came out of the semi-stupor he had been in. His wife was getting at something. “Why do you bring this up now?”

 

“Well, I don't think I could love the twins more but I still think about how we planned that I would be mommy to a child who was a part of you as well as a part of me.”

 

Her husband couldn't miss the longing in his spouse's voice. “Do you want to try again?”

 

Ranma grabbed her husband's hand and said, “Yes, I do. I've got some stuff I have to do before I can be locked in female form again, but that shouldn't take too long to resolve.”

 

Akane thought about it. “With the business tips you've been giving Nabiki, we're all doing pretty well financially. Another child wouldn't strain our budget. I know Mama No-Chan would love having another grandchild to spoil.”

 

In a hopeful tone the redhead asked, “So you wouldn't mind? I know we said we'd stop at four but the fourth is mine and mom's so I don't know that she belongs on the count of our kids.”

 

Akane looked into his wife's eyes. “This is important to you, isn't it?”

 

Ranma nodded.

 

The black haired man smiled. “I'm willing. Since Mama No-chan would be sharing in the child care, I think we should consult her.”

 

The redhead kissed her husband. “Thank you. I know she'll agree. Have I told you that I love you?”

The young man laughed. “I think you might have mentioned it a few times.”

 

“Well, I do, a lot.”

 

Akane had to admit that even at the times he was annoyed with his spouse, he still loved her. He kissed her back and told her, “I love you too.”

 

In a thoughtful tone Ranma said, “You do know you will need to spend more time in male form for while.”

 

In a mock serious tone Akane answered, “Well, it will be a sacrifice, but in the interests of keeping my wife happy, it's one I'm willing to make.”

 

They kissed and snuggled for a while. Eventually Akane fell asleep, tired from their love making. Ranma got up and puttered around the house. There wasn't much that needed cleaning and tidying as Nodoka was an excellent housekeeper.

 

 

Author's Note: I wanted to use a descriptive name for the home base of the energy harvesters. I felt it was a pretty safe bet that a computer constructed in the Silver Millennium would not have heard the name of Freeman Dyson. Yes, the Star Shell is a Dyson sphere.