Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Hand Maid May Fan Fiction / Gatekeepers Fan Fiction ❯ Retake ❯ Wild Pitch ( Chapter 11 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Retake 11

"Wild Pitch"

Metroanime Misproductions

DISCLAIMER: An unintended fic that is well out of control.

----------

Her name was Akane Tendo, youngest of three daughters of Soun Tendo - an overemotional man who had mainly *not* raised his daughters. She had spent most of her young life being mistaken for a boy and being cast in school plays with the male roles. She normally suffered from Rage Disorder, a hate for the male gender in general (excepting a few individuals such as Doctor Tofu), and her hobby was breaking things (bricks, boards, and boys mainly) using her family's school of martial arts.

Normally she would be cast in a love-hate relationship with an arranged fiance who had never had the chance to develop anything approaching emotional maturity due to an abusive childhood. Akane was beset with a number of problems in her life that would plant the seeds for her to go completely and violently insane later on. Delusional kendoists and a beating on her self esteem for example. She would be trapped in this relationship with neither herself or her fiance able to grow as individuals, continually lashing out and seeking to either hurt or one-up the other,

Except that things were going a little different for Akane.

She had just begun being hassled by a crowd of hormonally addled boys and one deluded kendoist, when the whole thing had been brought to a screeching halt. Her self-image had been battered by losing a fight and seeing her more cerebral sister get a powerup, and then by being being killed herself.

She also had been the recipient of two major healing spells, had been brought back to life and her consciousness installed in a synthetic catgirl body that had a calming effect on her psyche. Other than she was currently a tigergirl, Akane had no idea about *this* part.

She was incorrect, but she was pretty sure that the gaijin alien prince was in love with her. Just that knowledge was proving a pretty reassuring and confidence-building thing for her at a time when most of the other things she'd been confident about had been thrown into disarray. When she had been thrown out of her house and effectively disowned by her father, she had found refuge in the arms of that very gaijin.

This all added up to an Akane Tendo who was smiling confidently, cutely showing a fang in the process, her tail making slow movements behind her, as she got ready to face a Terminator unit in some light sparring.

She was, after all, the Heir to Tendo School Of Anything Goes Indiscriminate Grappling. She was also a superpowered tigergirl at the moment, who quite frankly felt more alive and aware of her environment than she'd ever managed before.

She was Akane Tendo, hear her roar!

"Meow."

Akane covered her mouth and looked briefly embarrassed.

"Anytime," said the Terminator, trying to crack his knuckles. "Fess: please note to add sound effect generator so I can crack knuckles. Yah?"

"Noted," said the voice from mid-air.

Ranma came into the room, noting that there was something going on, and that the Fist Of Northstar cast were watching it. Well, if it was interesting to *them* then he was interested!

"Sparring match," announced Fess. "Reinforcing outer perimeter. In this corner: one of our finest armor reinforced multifunction combat androids - Arnie-02!"

"Yah, I haff already said I am ready." Arnie-02 chambered. "Besides you only haff the two combat androids so far."

"And in this corner, representing the Anything Goes school, the challenger - Akane Tendo!"

Ranma looked around, then remembered. That tiger (shudder) was Akane! Who was going to fight the Terminator?! Man, this was gonna be embarrassing.

"I'm rrrready," Akane said, already rushing forward.

Arnie-02 sidestepped, grabbed, and spun. Akane found herself heading for the wall at high speed.

Synthetic tissue sent signals simulating feline reflexes.

Akane twisted in midair, her body absorbing the impact and then springing away with a surprised yelp. Her arc descended towards the cyborg, who leapt forward to meet her in midair.

Ranma's jaw dropped. AKANE?! The girl who had given such a pathetic show in the dojo (and therefore needed to be challenged to do better) dodged the big cyborg and flipped around him in midair to attack from the rear?!

The two landed lightly on the floor and rushed towards each other again, charging in two blurs.

Kasumi stepped in, saw what Akane was doing, turned around and left again. Mumbling something about how Akane gets to be a superpowered catgirl, and Nabiki a superpowered cyborg, whereas what did she get out of all this? Kicked out of her house and a hangover. Kasumi was not a happy camper.

Meanwhile Arnie-02 was in the process of trying to hit Akane, who was flipping and ducking and rolling out of the line of fire but unable to really get a decent hit in herself.

Kenshiro exchanged a look with Rei and the two turned and left, Mamiya and Yuria in tow. Ranma was curious and tagged along, though he did take one backwards look at where Akane was continuing to do acrobatic flips around the slightly slower android.

Akane exulted. This was something she'd never felt before. It was as if mind and body were one, and gravity was almost something she could ignore.

A moment's inattention and a jarring impact to her middle threw Akane backwards. She was slow getting up but realized in that moment that the punch had been gauged to this tigergirl body. If it had been delivered to her original form, it would have torn right through her but this form only had a stomach-ache and bit of nausea.

Realizing that, Akane also realized that when she went back to being plain old human Akane Tendo that she'd miss this strength and clear-headedness. How strange.

------

"Well, since you're just visiting, i was hoping you could help me with something," Greylle said. "This is a marionette version of Makoto Kino, aka Sailor Jupiter II. Each of the Sailor Marionette series has a special enhancement to try to make up for the lack of magical Senshi powers. In Makoto's case, she has something called 'photographic reflexes.' If she sees a manuever or attack while she's in Analysis Mode, she can immediately add it to her arsenal."

"I see!" Rikku chirped and posed. "So you want to see me do my Mug technique."

"Well, your Mug and what she might be able to add of Rei's 'Waterfowl Fist' and Ken's most basic 'Hokuto Shin Ken'," Greylle held his hand up before Kenshiro could object. "i'm not talking about your head-exploder or anything sealed or absolutely secret. Things like your 'One Hundred Fist' technique for example. Heck, if you could just show her some of Toki's 'Gentle Fist' techniques it would be a big help."

Ranma looked over the tall pony-tailed girl and wondered how *she* rated.

Kenshiro shrugged. If it helped then this would still only be a partial repayment. First he'd have to see these "photographic reflexes" and then what could be done to increase that poor girl's ki.

--------

The Noachian era had been a time when large rocks (planets) had been repeatedly slammed by smaller rocks (asteroids and planetsimals) making all sorts of interesting changes to the landscape.

Other than the Pacific Ocean, which had disgorged the Moon, there wasn't that much on Earth that could be traced back to that era. Mars and the Moon were different stories altogether.

Water had once run free on Mars during a brief era in which volcanoes had belched out more of an atmosphere than it had now and asteroids had played a game of planetary tag. That water had either escaped into space through attrition or had frozen. There was a lot of water in the icecap, and there was a very muddy frozen ocean under a place known as Veritas Borealis.

Getting to this frozen water, carting it out, and making something useful of it was a lot easier if you didn't need things like water or food or oxygen. Which was why the robots hummed a happy little tune as they ran something unthinkable on a place like Earth.

It was an Ice Mine.

Other robots fused silicates together into glass. More robots took the thick plates of crude glass and laid them into position on a metal latticework extruded and fitted by other robots. Other robots came by later and placed another metal latticework over the glass to hold the whole thing in place.

While most of the robots were about as smart as an assembly line robot in a modern car factory (ie: not at all) the AI robots like the Workspiders were happy. To work and to be doing something useful = happiness. A simple enough equation, the Workspiders would not have been surprised if most humans could understand it.

So Mars was seeing a slower change than it had in the Noachian era, though it promised to be nearly as sweeping in scope, but there was one difference that would not have been foreseen even by such visionaries as Arthur C. Clarke.

It was a happier change.

Another thing likely unforeseen by visionaries was that despite having eight limbs, each of which terminated in something akin to a Swiss Army Knife full of grapples and tools, Workspider-03 could *not* carry a tune.

"Whistle while you work - dum de dum dum dum da dum! La da da de la da da de however this song goes..."

-------

Yuka and Sayuri waited outside the school gates for Akane. Seeing a redmaned, tigerstriped, catgirl stagger in was hardly what they'd expected.

"Uhm, Akane?!" Yuka blinked. Had Akane been *that* jealous of their hardsuits that she had to get a powerup like this?

Sayuri closed her eyes. She could not believe how weird things were getting. Bad enough Yuka was into this stuff, now Akane was getting weird. Weirder. Whatever.

Akane, for her part, grinned back at her friends. The sparring had ended with her getting pinned by the Terminator until she admitted defeat, but it had been thrilling nonetheless. Her strength and speed were much greater, her sense of balance and reaction time incredible. A sense of oneness - where mind and body and spirit had been forged whole into a weapon.

Yuka noticed that Akane seemed to have a certain glow about her indicating she'd found something to make her quite happy. It was something that transcended the tiger stripes and fur. Something that she had rarely seen in Akane and not in that measure before. "So, uhm, Akane how come you're..."

"Furry?" Akane held up a hand to display tiger stripes and her clawed fingertips. "Well, it's like this..."

------

Hotaru checked her clothing and straightened it as best as possible.

She had considered this nice kimono that Amaterasu-sensei had provided, black with gold dragonflies and a red sash. Very nice and tasteful. Also quite difficult to move in. While appropriate to meet one's iinazuke for the first time, it would also require her to make mincing steps. It also might not be appropriate for an American anyway.

She had considered her old school uniform. A comment from Amaterasu earlier had been remembered about how unflattering that was, so that too had been discarded. Her new school uniform had the benefit of being red white & blue and therefore likely to appeal to an American, but she still wasn't too sure about it.

There had been some consideration of a casual outfit she had recently purchased. The black turtleneck and black jeans had a certain appeal, and were certainly easy to move in. Unfortunately it didn't seem *quite* appropriate even if the iinazuke *was* American.

Which left the current outfit, which had the benefit of being both formal and casual. The red and white outfit common to a shrine priestess was also easy to move around in. Relatively. Amaterasu had said that she looked good in it, and while Hotaru wasn't 100% sure about that, she wasn't sure she should discard that advice.

Of course, if Hotaru Tomoe had felt like consulting Amaterasu regarding this little trip, she had no doubt that the sun goddess would have counseled waiting for a more auspicious time.

Hotaru, however, had not had any friends for a very long time. When a question to Amaterasu had asked if the goddess thought that Hotaru could be friends with this fiance, the goddess had absent-mindedly replied that they *had* been friends, and more than once. That, in fact, the main problem she would have to overcome with this particular American would be his tendency to look on her as a beloved little sister.

The young girl was nervous enough. Waiting around had just been making her stomach upset. As she understood it, she now had a new lease on life and as such it was time to actually live it.

Besides, one of the benefits of being around magic mirrors and the like, you could check out a few things and she'd seen something in one of those images that had given her hopes for something that would interest a young girl like herself a lot. She'd seen herself, a little bit older, a little bit more elegant, sitting next to her fiance in some sort of high tech lounge, and looking practically joyous.

Hotaru Tomoe couldn't think of a time when she'd been joyous. She wanted to give it a try.

Which brought her to wearing her Shinto shrine maiden "uniform" and standing before a concealed metal door and punching in a passcode. Magic mirrors *did* have their uses after all.

"Excuse me," said an unfamiliar voice.

Hotaru tried not to startle or look like she didn't belong here. "Uhm, yes?"

"I'm Doctor Mizuno," said the woman. "If you're going below, I might as well accompany you."

Hotaru considered briefly, then nodded. For all she knew this woman worked there.

A little blue "gem" on the door twinkled.
:Scan completed.
:Identification: Doctor Kumori Mizuno, pediatrician affiliated with Juuban General Hospital, mother to Ami Mizuno.
:Identification: Hotaru Tomoe
:Aural Pattern: Minor Silver Millenium Pattern in Mizuno. Major Silver Millenium Pattern in Tomoe. Tomoe has awakened as Sailor Saturn.
:Akashic & Overdimension Patterns: No evidence of demonic possession or dark taint.
:Items scanned. No weapons.
:Mana levels: dormant in Mizuno. High in Tomoe.

The door thunked and slid into a recess, having determined that neither were currently a threat.

The elevator did a more detailed scan. Both were exhibiting life-signs in keeping with a high state of anxiety. Power levels on the younger of the two were dangerously high, ridiculously low on the older one. This caused the problem to be brought to Fess attention. Who merely noted who the younger one was and issued a "stand down" order to various security protocols.

Neither Hotaru nor Kumori Mizuno realized that they'd been scanned and analyzed, and merely waited for the elevator doors to open.

They slid open and almost closed again as the two gaped at the scene.

Stepping quickly in the corridor, the young and inexperienced Hotaru gaped at something she'd never considered possible though there had been some glimpsed shapes in the mirror.

The far more worldly and sophisticated Doctor Mizuno *also* gaped. Not having expected quite this despite flying submarines earlier.

Little toaster shaped robots trundled along the corridor at high speed. A robot with an amazing resemblence to "R2-D2" from "Star Wars" sped along the corridor, pausing only to let one of those smaller bots zip past. A giant mechanical spider of some kind slowly picked its way through the crowded intersection to disappear down a side corridor. A little floating triangle shape was using a pair of extensible arms to engrave a bas-relief into the corridor walls, humming what sounded like Mozart.

There were a pair of Terminators standing guard outside one doorway and a floating spherical robot that bobbed merrily along in the air past them. There were robots trundling on treads, rolling on wheels, and walking on legs.

Just when the two were sure they'd seen everything: a large dog wearing a WWI aviator helmet gave the two Terminators a snappy salute before marching off down a side corridor.

A woman with long green hair walked up to them and seemed to stare briefly. "Hotaru Tomoe. Kumori Mizuno. Please accompany me."

"Uhm, you are?"

"Setsuna Meiou version II. If you will accompany me?"

"'version II'?" The doctor looked from the woman to the obvious robots and back. "You're a robot."

"Synthoid or synthetic lifeform would be more correct," responded Setsuna. "My internal systems resemble those of a human to a higher degree than would be indicated by the term 'robot'. If you two will accompany me, a briefing would likely be of benefit."

With a helpless look between them, Hotaru and Doctor Mizuno hurried after the "synthoid".

The meeting room turned out to be a cafeteria. A practically mummified old woman grinned briefly at all of them, causing Setsuna to display her first hint of emotion - surprise. There was also a younger woman who seemed to be having a very bad headache from the way she was holding it and groaning.

"Fess, request identification."

The voice speaking out of midair caused one raised eyebrow (the old woman), one further huddling down and complaining about the noise (the young woman), and two people practically jumping out of their shoes (Hotaru and the doctor).

"The young lady with the hangover currently waiting for water to heat for some medicinal tea is Kasumi Tendo. She's currently staying here with her two sisters because of an unfortunate instance regarding medical treatment and those sisters being returned from the dead through our medical facilities. The distinguished elder is a representitive of a hidden Chinese society that has managed to maintain a discrete existence despite the People's Revolution. Cologne of the Nichieju is here as a cultural ambassador and advisor."

Cologne considered briefly, then decided she *liked* at least one aspect of this high technology center she'd found. It was polite.

Doctor Mizuno had heard something in there that caused her to stop any further introductions. "Medical facilities? Returned from the dead?"

*Ping! Ping!*

The old woman looked over to where a dollsized android with a timer had just signalled that the hot water was ready. A moment later the kettle started whistling. With a few quick gestures she got the cup of hangover remedy (also good for concussions) in front of the stricken young lady. That did not mean she wasn't paying attention to the conversation behind her, of course.

"Yes, Doctor," responded that baritone. "Though mainly they're under construction and will be moved to the Arcadia when it has been completed."

"Arcadia?" Hotaru wanted to know, a dream of being on a starship returning to her.

"Yes, Tomoe-san," said Fess. A hologram showing the interior of the main hangar appeared. "As you can see, construction of the vessel is only 35% complete."

"Medical facilities?" The Doctor was not easily put off.

"Currently the medical facilities are capable of only minor repairs and the construction of bionic replacement systems. We just had a case of patient Nabiki Tendo." Fess began putting up different holographic shots, showing the patient going from being a burned carcass through her bionic reconstruction into a lifelike cyborg.

*THUD!* Hotaru was not nearly ready for that level of gore. Kasumi had glanced up and had likewise fainted on seeing the pictures of what Nabiki had been reduced to through the application of fire and shrapnel.

Cologne and Doctor Mizuno had rather different reactions.

---------

Greylle had been surprised, pleasantly for once. He'd come up top in order to deal with the problems he was sure Akane would face. Actually, she didn't seem to be getting bothered at all.

The guys were put off by her fangs and claws, and therefore were keeping their distance. The teachers were put off by her failure to wear a Furinkan school uniform, but had become sufficiently shell-shocked that this was a minor consideration.

The girls, in another unexpected development, were of two schools on this. One: Akane had been saved from death by her true love (which left Greylle wondering how they had attributed this feat to Ranma but who could understand women?). The second group seemed actually envious. He had had no idea racial dysphoria was widespread within Japan, but from the comments there were a number of girls here who felt that the bigger bust and overwhelming levels of cute a catgirl had were something to admire and wish that they themselves had.

Then an annoyance popped in. With his father.

"Aw c'mon. Ya got that girl training in Hokuto Shin Ken and Nanto Sei Ken," whined Ranma. "I just wanna learn a few special techniques, y'know."

Glancing back at where the eldest Saotome was trailing along listening, Greylle wondered if either knew why they were also called *secret* techniques. "Special techniques, huh. You just gonna keep going, dancing to your father's tune, until i show you something, is that it?"

"Ranma, don't bother. Martial arts *baseball*? If he can show you one move that the Anything Goes school doesn't do better, I'll..." Genma considered insulting and belittling this gaijin as an effort to get him to reveal his potential. It worked with Ranma, after all. The Saotome patriarch tried to think of something calamitous to threaten. "I'll go on a diet!"

That drew a few gasps from the people who knew Genma.

Greylle's eyes narrowed. This could *not* be passed up. "Okay. Let's see how you like THIS Ultimate technique. A woman named Urd taught me it."

"A woman's special technique. This WILL be lame," began Genma, who was following his own technique of insulting your opponent until they lost their temper. It *usually* made them sloppy. "Not that some pansy American foreign dog could do anything better."

Greylle put his hands together in the proper patterns, summoning mana.
"Spirit of thunder, who races in the sky,
and shakes the ground and the air..."

Clouds scudded in from all directions, turning black and swirling about overhead.

"with your great power
become thunderbolts in my hand..."

Genma looked up and saw lightning beginning to form a cat's cradle between the various tufts of cloud. "...okay, now maybe this is a bit much..."

"you - the power that shatters everything!" Greylle brought his hands up in supplication to the heavens, then down to point at Genma. "Gods and spirits of justice! i ask for holy judgement upon Genma Saotome!"

The ground began to shake and a cold wind began picking up in intensity.

Genma started looking for a bolthole, then decided to attack the youth doing this, thereby stopping this long-winded special technique.

"Cosmic Justice!"

Lightning flared from the clouds, twisting together like some divine drillbit as it speared down.

Everyone covered their eyes as the light grew blinding in intensity.

Greylle looked about. There was Ranma, the Tendo girls (Nabiki still ticking off the things she repented as a spell called 'Cosmic Justice' sounded quite dangerous), and the few other spectators. Where was Genma?

"Bweeeee!"

Oh. Hmmm. Must have had a Cosmic Irony angle in there as well. Hmmm. (Thud!)

Ami sighed and picked up the fallen boy.

"Is he okay?" Akane demanded, wondering if maybe she should take the boy off Ami's hands. After all, he *was* her boyfriend. Kind of. Well, maybe. Sorta.

"He overdid it again, channelled too much magical energy." Ami let out a very human sigh. "Can you tell the teachers I'll be right back?"

"No problem," answered Akane, still wondering if maybe she should administer first aid.

"...and for all these other things, I do repent," finished Nabiki, rather than take the chance of herself becoming a little black pig or worse.

"Bwweeeeee! Buqiii! Bwee!" A little black pig seemed very unhappy about this turn of events.

--------

Doctor Mizuno watched with some degree of horror. Her daughter and her friends were those Sailor Senshi? They fought demonic beings from a previous age? They endangered themselves regularly against evil? They had awfully darn silly attacks, no sense of tactics whatsoever, and ludicrous battle costumes?

Cologne hadn't even heard of the Sailor Senshi before and was properly mortified. This young woman was a doctor and one of her daughters was one of those girls on the screen? Young girls who fought demonic beings from a previous age? Who had awfully darn silly attacks, no sense of tactics whatsoever, and she dearly hoped Shampoo didn't see this. Otherwise Shampoo would likely get a costume like that herself.

Hotaru wondered why they hadn't come and gotten her. If that was how they fought, they needed all the help they could get.

Kasumi briefly wondered if she would be expected to dress like that. She'd have to insist on a mask, otherwise she'd never be able to manage a skirt that short. Mainly though she sipped on her tea and was grateful that her stomach was settling and her headache was settling down to a dull roar.

"That's the end of the available data on the Sailor Senshi," said Setsuna as the screen went to a stillframe. It had only taken an hour to come up with a composite that matched the data available on this timeline and display the summary. Of course, it had been thrown together on the fly but they'd had to wait for Kasumi and Hotaru to recover. "They vanished in the assault on Beryl's base. It has been determined that they are not dead, but their current whereabouts are unknown."

Doctor Mizuno excused herself. She had to sort all this out in her mind.

--------

Someone was calling him. Persistant. Annoying. "Fess."

"Sorry but this *was* on my list of priorities for you," said the computer.

Greylle yawned. "Uhm. Alien invasion? Dark Kingdom attack? Second Impact? Giant asteroid? Akane's cooking?"

"Actually, sir, it's the Prime Minister. Washington is rather upset with you claiming Mars."

"Put them on." Greylle tried unsuccessfully to suppress another yawn as the video and audio pickups were engaged and a holographic "screen" was displayed. "Ohayo, PM. Morning, Prez."

The Japanese prime minister looked as if he had gas. The United States President looked annoyed.

After waiting for the bluster to abate a bit, Greylle held up a hand. "Okay, getting around all this 'national security' and 'rights' and other Orwellian doublespeak with emotional buzzword crap, you think it's unfair that there are currently bases being built on Mars and in Martian orbit and that I've got probes in the Asteroid Belt?"

Another wave of indignitation and talk about things that frankly mattered damn little to the recipient of those messages.

"Fine." Greylle held up a hand. "Fess, can you project an image of those secondary sites?"

"Yes, sir."

"i'm not a sir, i work for a living," mechanically replied Greylle. "Dorsa Brevia region. Show site 3."

A topological map appeared in the hologram.

"What's this?" The American president asked, peering at the odd image and apparently listening to someone out of sight.

"It's a 3D representation of a lava tunnel in the Dorsa Brevia region of Mars. By the time you can get men there, i can have cracked nitrogen and oxygen out of the various materials there and have an airlock installed. This will give you an enclosed Earth-type atmosphere in a natural enclosure of two hundred meters wide, three hundred meters across, and two kilometers long. i suggest you bring plants that can handle cold and low water. Lichens work pretty well." The display changed to show the section mentioned.

The American President continued to make demands. "We demand access to your technology! We have a right to..."

"NO YOU DON'T!" Greylle yelled at the display, momentarily losing his temper. "You want to know *why* i'm keeping this technology secret? Look at this. Fess, display mechanism 'Curative Chamber'."

"I don't see why..."

"Consider this little gadget," said Greylle, noting idly that Doctor Mizuno had stuck her head in to see what the yelling had been about and was staring at the two people displayed. When had *she* shown up? "Here we have something that eventually could be used to extend life. DNA forms fractal patterns which then constructs the organism. That DNA breaks down eventually, error messages increasing in number, and you either have cancer or the breakdowns that lead to the problems of old age. This kind of gadget could be upgraded by me to scan a subject's DNA and then come up with a nanomachine treatment that could go into every cell, repair the damage, and then harmlessly be eliminated by normal biological methods. What would be the effect if this treatment, horrendously expensive as it would be, able to extend a lifespan to a thousand years, came into the open market?"

There was silence from the two leaders as they tried to process such an unthinkable thought.

Doctor Mizuno cleared her throat. She was reluctant to speak in front of the two, but this was within her purview as a physician. "Those who could not afford the treatment would demand it. Birth rates would skyrocket if this treatment did not somehow sterilize the patient. Riots, food shortages, and more riots."

"Thank you, Doctor." Greylle said with a nod. "i can't release portable fusion generators for much the same reason. There are terrorist organizations that would not hesitate to take advantage of such things. We're working on a few projects that *could* be released slowly into general use and will do so. Anything we do release has potential for misuse so we're not going to release anything without careful consideration."

--------

Doctor Mizuno had come in because it was something to concentrate on beyond her daughter apparently being a "sailorsuited warrior of love and justice" who was currently MIA and replaced with an artificially created at least partly organic artificial intelligence.

She watched as this young man managed to politely (for the most part) stonewall the American President while managing to make vague comments to the Japanese Prime Minister.

Doctor Mizuno nodded as a site on the Martian South Pole boundary was ceded to Japan. Borehole complex and water mines? Sounded odd but he was giving a gift to his hosts, and that was how the Doctor understood it. What the PM seemed to understand that the American did not was that if they had a livable area waiting for them on Mars, everything else could follow. This young man wasn't offering a free ride, he was trying to offer a hand up. Quite a difference.

The boy was also speaking English. She could follow his lip movements. She was hearing him in Japanese and she was betting that the Prime Minister was also hearing Japanese. The American President, in the typical manner of Americans, was assuming that everyone was speaking English.

Martian colonies. Knowledge of her daughter's extracurricular activities that even her mother had only vague suspicions of after the fact. Robots of all shapes and designs. Artificial lifeforms and medical miracles from what little she'd observed. That this boy was facing two world leaders with such calm and showing no particular deference to either. A resurrected AEGIS. All pieces of a puzzle that the pediatrician was trying to fit into place.

She was aware of the girl with the apron watching from the doorway. Doctor Mizuno had seen large numbers of girls just like her: the archetype of the Japanese housewife. At this point, she couldn't tell if this was an android or a real girl except for the obvious signs of shock. In way over her head apparently.

The younger girl, dressed as a Shinto shrine maiden, still in the kitchen apparently. She'd been slightly scandalized at seeing the length of the skirt on the senshi uniforms and had protested that she had bony knees. Well, Doctor Mizuno had been a little scandalized herself. If she had seen Ami running around in a skirt that short and a tight fitting top like that, she would have had a few protests about it.

Considering the puzzle before her, an idea took shape and she looked towards the ceiling. "Uhm, Fe-su?"

"Yes, doctor?" A pleasant baritone spoke out of midair next to her, causing the pediatrician to nearly go for an orbital insertion herself.

After her breath was under control again and she was no longer clutching her chest, the Doctor tried to regain some quiet dignity and remember what the question was. "Uhm, can I ask a question?"

"You can ask all sorts of questions, but I am afraid your security clearance is insufficient for a wide range of topics to be answered," came the amused reply.

"You're a robot?" The Doctor was considering possibilities. Was she, the aproned girl, the old woman, and that young shrine maiden the only humans here? How sophisticated were these AI? From what she had seen, very - which brought up some philosophical questions.

"Actually I am an AI construct. There are robot bodies I could fit in, but I am currently at the hub of some sophisticated networking systems throughout this complex. In a very real sense, I *am* this complex."

"How many humans are here at this complex?"

"Define human. Define here. There isn't any reason for you not to know, but I'm a little unclear as to what precisely you mean."

"I'm really not up to complex philosophical debates here," said Doctor Mizuno. "I just found out my daughter has been playing sentai hero when she vanished and that this boy apparently had a relationship with her in another life. My ability to deal with strangeness is getting a little overloaded."

"Then answering would probably be a bad thing," replied Fess in a reasonable tone. "Would a nice cup of tea help?"

"Actually, it might." Doctor Mizuno looked at the floor. "They *never* told me there would be days like this in medical school."

"I've just contacted Hotaru in the kitchen. She'll put an extra cup out for you and Miss Tendo," advised Fess.

The Doctor walked slowly back to the kitchen to find that Kasumi had already reached there and there were indeed three cups of tea set out in tetsubin cups. The older woman was not present. Her eyes darted to the side and she saw a formal teaset had been set to the side. "Someone getting married?"

Seeing blushes on *both* girls, the Doctor decided she wasn't going to inquire any further. She was already feeling that she'd wandered through the Twilight Zone and somehow Rod Serling was not going to be able to explain any of this.

"So, Fess, how would you detail the inhabitants of this complex?" Sitting down and gratefully accepting the tea, Doctor Mizuno wondered how to get in on the search for her daughter. So far, allying with the guy out there seemed her best chance but how to do it? She didn't want to wait around for a decision based on what the "Ami" had said yesterday.

"Three humans, one Silver Millenium reincarnated human, one dimension travelling alien reincarnated dragon from the Silver Millenium who is also a specialist in White Magic, three marionettes, two ARNIE type androids, one Workspider, four databots, one R2 unit, one android WWI Flying Ace, four paintbots, three Type II Workbots, six Welderbots, three K-9 units, one Timer class cyberdoll, two Maid class cyberdolls, one Defender class semi-autonomous powerarmor, and myself. Not counting those without any true AI at all."

Doctor Mizuno shook her head. Information overload. Maybe she ought to consider just getting back to work instead of taking personal time off.

---------

"Fess, relay the information about the two sites going to the United States and Japan from my conversation with those two."

"Yes, Greylle. Do you think it will satisfy them?"

"No, not really. I would expect that the Emperor and *his* allies will. Strengthen our defenses will you? I'd expect ninjas and Yaks from various corporations and possibly special forces from the States come to 'liberate' the sort of technology we've got here." Greylle slumped in his seat. "Fess, how old am i?"

"Currently you are sixteen years old."

Greylle glared at one of the walls. "No. Overall. How old am i?"

"I'm not certain of that data," came back a hesitant reply from Fess.

"Close to two hundred years back in that Third Labor timeline," speculated Greylle. "Seventy years on Gehenna. Twelve years as Orion in that timeline where I was Minako's pet dragon. Ten years as a very ersatz Ranma Saotome in that other timeline. Nineteen years in that Sabre Marionette world. Twenty years here and there. Close to ninety years as the incubus in so many different timelines i can't remember them all. i'm *old*, Fess. There are times i feel considerably older than that."

"I see..." Fess said. "You're likely tired from insufficient rest after casting that high level spell."

"Maybe," Greylle conceded. "After everything went to crap in that Fourth Labor, i was ready for rest eternal. Actually hoping for it to some extent. i'm tired, Fess. i just don't know if i can stay the course any more."

"By the way, Hotaru Tomoe is here."

Blinking, Greylle tried to process that change of subject. He'd thought they weren't going to build a false Hotaru because there had been something about the real one being around still. "Hotaru the marionette?"

"No, the human Hotaru Tomoe. Scans have revealed no presence of the Mistress 9 persona."

"Hotaru?" Greylle thought back. "Ah well, back into the role i guess. You know, Fess, she's kind of like the little sister i've never had."

"I don't think she's thinking of that sort of relationship," said Fess, really uncertain about how to broach this subject.

"Hmmm. Well, it looks like most of the projects are going well and don't require *my* immediate intervention. Just be sure to do something about the security uprating. It's best if we could finish the Arcadia or the Mars base first so we could relocate if need be. Though *i* am stuck in Nerima for the foreseeable future."

Fess checked a few things before responding. "Actually, Project Slideway should be ready for testing this afternoon."

"Good," admitted Greylle. "That *would* vastly simplify things if that was operating."

--------

Akane leapt, twisting about in midair, then brought her arm down in a precise manuever.

The volleyball was intercepted by Minako, who managed to return it with a sliding roll.

Most of the other players were gaping as Minako Aino managed to keep apace with Akane Tendo, and they were both operating a good deal of the time having leapt higher than the net.

Then Makoto (on Minako's side) began playing in a similar fashion. Then Usagi (on Akane's side) joined the festivities.

Yuka was wishing she could get her power armor. Sayuri was grateful Yuka couldn't.

Haruka (on Minako's side) didn't like feeling left out. Michiru (on Akane's side) likewise.

"Maybe a game of Wreckball would be better," suggested Rei from the sidelines.

"Wreckball? What's that?" Sayuri pounced on the cue of something to concentrate on besides *this* weirdness.

"Something a little like soccer, I think," said Rei, having only seen a brief notation on one file. "There's three forward linesmen, two guards, and a goalie, on each side. One scores points by kicking or throwing the ball into the goal net without the goalie catching or blocking it."

"Sounds simple," agreed Sayuri, wondering if this was something they played in Juuban.

"You can tackle, kick, hit, clothesline or otherwise attack anyone carrying the ball. Which is another way to score, by the way. You can get penalized for attacking someone besides the ball carrier, but the referee has to catch you doing it. Someone physically ejected from the field is considered out of bounds." Rei considered adding that from what she saw in the clips that went with the article that personal grudges abounded.

"Shampoo think this sound like fun. We play?"

"Yuka, if you even *think* of volunteering us for this sport, I'll never speak to you again," said Sayuri quietly. Especially considering how the volleyball game was going, Sayuri felt that if they tried this 'Wreckball' she'd likely end up hospitalized. At *least.* Considering what had happened to Akane and Nabiki, however, something even more horrible might occur.

Ukyo and Shampoo nodded at each other, then took opposite sides in the volleyball game.

"Tiger Acrobatic Forearm Smash!"

"Rolling Hyperspeed Defense!"

"Jupiter Lightning Return!"

"Amazon Flying Leap Volley!"

"Spatula Slam!"

Hiroshi and Daisuke stared. Usually they would be making comments about the girls and how this or that girl looked cute or more risque remarks. Instead they were just sort of gaping at the display and wondering what they could do to avoid getting bounced around like that ball. (Which they were pretty sure would happen if they tried being too suggestive with any of the girls spending large amounts of time in the air above net level.)

---------

"Why robot girls?" Doctor Mizuno wasn't entirely sure *why* this bothered her more than the Terminators or robot dogs or robot spiders or other robots but there was a definite higher number of robot girls running around.

"Oh, well, i know more about marionette technology than other kinds, and i just started building the replacement Senshi just to help cover for the lack of the originals. Then they started building these Rei Ayanami - i got them to stop after twenty of them."

Doctor Mizuno and Cologne both looked at the common sight of these albino fourteen year old girls, one of whom was fitting parts of a really big cannon together.

"The Rei units, one through twenty, are basic marionettes set up with an Ishii Kairo. One of them attends school then downloads her experiences to the others. Unfortunately the rest of them want to follow suit." Greylle shrugged to indicate how little control he had over aspects of this situation. "As for the Sakura, Maid, and Bunny types: the same thing occurring. i encouraged the original more advanced units to upgrade themselves and their operational parameters. The unfortunate thing is that they keep coming up with experimental systems to work out and develop these other series of units as test models."

Cologne mused as she watched several nubile blond girls working on welding armored plates to the hull. "Where do they get the designs?"

"i've travelled. Some of those are based off designs from those travels and others off of TV or movies that they themselves have watched." Greylle shrugged.

"Doesn't it worry you that you're giving machines such power?" Doctor Mizuno looked at an automated construction device and pictured the sort of wounds those pincers and welders could inflict.

"i have safeguards in place, and the experimental models have similar safeguards put in by the ones that came before. It's based on an imprinting routine used where i learned to make marionette androids." Greylle sighed. "Yeah, i *could* make self-aware androids specifically designed as war machines, but they wouldn't be nice people."

"Ah," said Cologne, nodding.

"Besides, if you were worried about raw *power*, i hear Hotaru's around someplace." Greylle looked up. "Fess, is Hotaru around?"

"Yes, Greylle," came the reply.

The Doctor debated for a moment before asking. "The little girl in shrine outfit? What has she got to do with 'power'? Does she have some spiritual sense?"

"No." Greylle considered then shrugged. "This is all confidential but you'd probably figure it out anyway. Each of the Sailor Senshi has a magical affinity to a certain element or type of magic, however instead of spells what they access is channelling the energy into a specific pre-set attack or form. Sailor Mercury, your daughter, is cold water: mist, fog, ice. There's another one who does just water but i've never understood *why* they had two Senshi for the same element. Mars-Fire, Jupiter got Plants and Lightning which *has* to be some Japanese thing because it makes no sense otherwise, Moon - Healing or Purification, Venus - either Metal or Love and i know that doesn't fit the pattern at all but then the progenitors of the Silver Millenium wasn't that consistent."

Cologne cut him off with a wave. "Yes. Yes. We've seen the summary of these Senshi."

"Well, OK, Cologne - then there's Pluto. She does Time. Which brings us to Sailor Saturn. The Senshi of Death and Destruction, whose power can destroy a planet." Greylle waited for them to catch up.

Cologne's eyes nearly popped out. "That girl?!"

"If she were sufficiently motivated, yes." Greylle sighed. "Fortunately she's a very nice girl when she's not possessed by demonic entities."

"I suppose that would help, yes," said the Doctor as she tried to reconcile the shy little girl she'd spoken to earlier with someone who could end all life on the planet.

"How do you know so much about them, and us for that matter? I didn't tell you my name," Cologne asked quietly as she wondered about inducting that girl into the Amazon tribe. Very very carefully to be sure.

Greylle considered what story to tell them. That he could have used magic? That he knew them in a previous life? That they were fictional characters from where he had originated? (Though in at least one timeline in which they were real *he* had been a fictional character. That had been rather alarming at the time.)

"Greylle, the probe of anomalous area south of Tokyo has produced odd results," said Fess' voice. "This is most puzzling."

"Bring up a holographic display. Pardon me, ladies, but this is the best lead i've had so far." Greylle expected the two to leave. He was disappointed in that regard.

Fess hesitated but this *was* a priority. "As you can see the probe was relaying video normally until it reached this fence, then was crossing over the fence from the other side of the property without sufficient time lapse or apparent interruption from the transmission."

"Time of lapse?" Greylle shelved the two hangers-on for the moment.

"Less than .002 seconds," responded Fess.

"Hyperspatial shunt around the manor?" Greylle asked. "Freeze frame on the approach of the manor."

"Possible, but no energy release was detected."

"So we're looking at folded space of some kind, used as an anti-intrusion barrier, of about 500 feet of space." Greylle looked over the old style manor with its neatly trimmed lawn and hedge-gardens.

"A bit more than that actually," Fess replied. "That's a three story manorhouse built in the manner of the American Southeast - period circa 1860."

"What's important about this?" asked the Doctor who was mainly focussed on this possibly being a lead to her daughter's whereabouts as opposed to terms like 'folded space'.

"That's what we're trying to determine," admitted Greylle. "We don't want to tip our hand too early, there's *something* there that's trying to remain hidden and has a lot of raw power. Experienced more with magic than with technology like the probe."

"How much raw power?" Cologne was still dealing with the idea that the girl with the really strong aura from earlier was able to lay waste a planet. Perhaps it was an exaggeration on this boy's part?

"Quite a bit. The shielding is too tight for me to gauge accurately by magic. Though my area of specialty is healing magic, not divination," Greylle absently answered while studying the image of the house. "The only way i could tell through magic that the place was even there was when i was bringing Akane back from the dead."

"It's hard for me to tell when you're joking," began the doctor.

Greylle blinked. "Hmmm?

"I don't think he was joking," followed Cologne as she looked back out at where the ship was being built. "He seems the sort to do eleven impossible things before breakfast. Why such big guns, child? No deficiencies that I need to apprise Shampoo of, are there?"

"Hmmm?" Greylle blinked again, his concentration on something else entirely.

"No, that's right, when the tour group went past the shower we *did* get a decent look," said the old matriarch with a grin.

"Hmmm," hmmmed Greylle, heading for the door. "Maybe if we used a satellite in geosynch... Have to use passive sensors, but..."

Both women looked once more back to where a space battleship was being constructed, then hurried to catch up.

Greylle walked from the hangar to the kitchen, still considering approaches to the problem.

Hotaru and Kasumi looked up from their tea party and stood up as if they wanted to say something, then each motioned for the other to go first.

"Greylle," said Fess, sounding suddenly upbeat. "Security precautions have been upgraded. This facility is also now hardened for biological, chemical, EMP, and nuclear attacks."

"Good, good," absently said Greylle.

"Are you expecting a fight?" Cologne wondered aloud. Privately she was wondering that if Shampoo changed her mind and decided to grab this boy instead of the other one, could they get some shelters like this made under the village? It could be quite a good thing to have just for the peace of mind value. Maybe she ought to send a message to the village in case one of the others would do the trick. Sash would be a good choice. Maybe Lotion or Clover. Hmmmm.

"No," answered Fess. "Not at present. There have already been attempts to breach the security of this base, but only one has been successful."

Knowing exactly what the computer was talking about, Cologne shrugged. "I'm old. I can't always wait around for permission."

Kasumi came to some decision. "Excuse me, why is everyone's lip synch off? I feel like I'm watching some dubbed TV series."

"I am currently maintaining a field that utilizes micro force fields to modulate wavelengths and alter a spoken language to another. Cologne is speaking and listening to conversations in Mandarin Chinese. Greylle is doing the same in English but through an earpiece and subvocalizer. Everyone else is speaking Japanese." Fess thought it was a little distracting, but good practice for when the inevitable dignitaries showed up.

Hotaru took another sip of tea. "Fess-sama. Is there a place where I can..." Hotaru's voice went down to a whisper.

"...maybe some mini-drones..." Greylle speculated about using burrowing or near orbital insertion of stealth probes.

Fess replied to Hotaru by manipulating the air just a few inches from the girl's ear. Her life signs were indicative of heavy embarassment, and so it was worth some consideration.

Cologne, Kasumi, and Doctor Mizuno silently wondered why Hotaru was so embarassed to go to the bathroom, and why she was taking that teaset. Greylle didn't notice.

"About this magic that you mentioned," began Cologne. She was more comfortable with martial arts or magic than technology, but could see the use of all three.

"Hmmm?" Greylle blinked, realizing he was just going around in circles. "Oh, healing magic. You know: curing diseases, healing wounds, removing minor curses, curing blindness or deafness, that sort of thing. i can raise the newly dead under very specific circumstances. Things like that. i'm not powerful enough yet to do regeneration or restoration spells."

To say Doctor Mizuno was interested would be like saying the sun was warm. Cologne also was tallying up uses for this young man and how many Amazons she could get over here. Preferably with one or two married to him.

"Do you have any magic you can show us," began Mizuno.

Greylle picked up a teaspoon.
"Gather ye the mana flow,
Bring it forth in magic glow.
Light!"

Staring at the glowing spoon, the two wondered how to secure that sort of talent for various patients that they knew of.

Kasumi merely raised an eyebrow. She liked doctors and was interested in medicine. This seemed quite handy. Perhaps her Father's marriage engagement between her and this gaijin had benefits and possibilities she hadn't been aware of previously.

-------

Watching a holoscreen that Fess had thoughtfully opened for her, Hotaru finished setting things up and reflected that this did appear to be a good match. "Okay, I'm ready here. Can you signal him, please Fess-sama?"

"Just Fess will do," responded Fess. "I'll let him know."

Hotaru began fidgeting. If only she were older, she knew she could get him to view her as something besides a little sister. If only...

If things had gone normally, Hotaru would have died and been reborn as a baby. She would later be able to advance her age to what she'd just lost through her own power. Adding two years was relatively simple.

-------

"We have just received confirmation that the initial test of the Slideway has been successful," Fess said. "It will still take some time before we're ready for massive transports or sending living subjects."

"Slideway?" Cologne asked.

"Did you notice that the Arcadia hangar did not have an exit?" Greylle asked. "The ship's too big for a normal hangar. So we're using a micro jump when it is ready. Same technology different application. Instead of using a ship to leap, it's just a room. Position is set three ways and we won't be able to operate it regularly due to the orbital positions of the planets and the differing rotational periods, but on occasion you'd theoretically be able to enter a room here, sit down in a crash couch, and then exit on Mars. Takes a lot of power but it would cut time and other costs down enormously."

"Oh, Greylle, Hotaru would like to see you in the auxilary meeting room," Fess interceded.

"Ah, excuse me, ladies." Greylle bowed to the three women and left.

"You said 'eleven impossible things before breakfast'," said the Doctor eventually.

Cologne checked the clock. "Well, before lunch at least."

"Fess," asked Mizuno-sensei of a wall, "is Hotaru in some sort of trouble? I'm a pediatrician, after all."

Fess opened a holoscreen.

-------

Even Ranma Saotome, Heir of Martial Arts Eating In A Disgusting But Rapid Manner, was appalled.

Akane belched. She looked a little embarassed afterwards, but everyone would admit that it was a mighty belch.

Yuka and Sayuri looked down at their empty plates and consoled themselves with the diet they had unintentionally gone on by sitting near Akane. Though the smell from a certain yattai operated by an enterprising classmate was suggesting their diet need not go on for long.

Ranma looked down at the broken ends of his chopsticks, noting that not only were the ends of the chopsticks sheared off but most of his bento (box included) was also missing.

Hiroshi and Daisuke noted the complete absence of their bento box lunches, box and lunch both being conspicuously absent from the table in front of them.

Ukyo merely grinned and made another fresh piping hot batch of okonomiyaki as she noted that lunches were not only missing from Akane's table but two neighboring tables.

"Ahhh, that was good," said Akane, licking her fangs. Then blinking. "Why is everyone looking at me?"

Shampoo merely grumbled about her great-grandmother saying that *she* wasn't allowed to turn into a catgirl. No. Shampoo had to be more responsible. Couldn't even get a power armor suit like those two schoolgirls. Shampoo never got to have any fun! Life was so unfair! And now she had to go buy lunch from stupid Spatula Girl!

Nabiki merely smirked from three tables away. One of the nice androids (Makoto) had made these bento lunches this morning, they were quite good, and she'd known darn well something like this was coming. Just Akane's natural competitiveness and that she was currently so much more free with her emotions, particularly the "positive" ones.

The middle Tendo daughter frowned slightly as she realized something and glanced over at the table where Ranma was yelling at Akane, and Akane's reply was to grin and shrug and say something indistinct. Nabiki thought back and realized that Akane was "mellow" - she wasn't nursing that little flame of anger constantly in her heart the way that she had been since grade school. There was this content air about Akane instead, as if she were unconcerned with such things as the current addition of fur, ears, tail and claws.

Akane, unconcerned by her sister's scrutiny or her fiance's comments about her pigging out. She was pleasantly full and would prefer finding a nice lap or sunbeam to curl up in and skipping afternoon class. Oh well, maybe after school.

-------

Greylle went to the appointed room to see what "little sister" Hotaru was up to. He had met Hotaru on, gee, it must have been six or seven wildly divergent timelines now. He hadn't gotten to know the marionette Grape well in that Sabre Marionette world. The sailorjin world with Saturn Hotaru had been scary: that Hotaru had been extremely confident and aggressive. For the most part she was a quiet sort that triggered all sorts of protective instincts.

Entering the room, Greylle noted that Hotaru was shifting around uncomfortably and looked different. Of course that was possibly because she was sitting on her heels in some formal Japanese position. Her clothes weren't quite so bulky on her for some reason, maybe she'd gotten them adjusted by sweet-talking Fess.

Fess' voice whispered to him through the earpiece. "You're supposed to take a place directly across from her, sitting in the same fashion, and say nothing."

Greylle nodded, understanding that the Japanese were very fond of ceremony and being inscrutable. This was apparently important to Hotaru, so he'd go along with it. As he'd said to Cologne - Hotaru was a nice girl when she wasn't demonically possessed.

Hotaru took boiling water off a hotplate, poured it into a cup (unfortunately splashing the water everywhere), took a wooden spoon full of loose tea, dumped it also into the cup, then used a whisk to stir it around.

This was worth staring at. Water and bits of tea stem decorated the table. Hearing a noise, Greylle looked over at where Hotaru was almost in tears. Tabling for the moment the question of what she was trying to accomplish, Greylle wanted to offer some encouragement but remembered Fess saying that silence was necessary. So he simply reached across the low table to briefly touch her hand, smile and nod.

Hotaru essayed a weak smile back and continued on with what little she could remember of the ceremony but her nervousness wasn't helping.

-------

Cologne watched with a certain degree of puzzlement. "I have long heard that the sharing of tea in the tea ceremony is heavily laden with meaning. That every move carries a meaning and is meant to carry great significance, that even a tiny change in the positioning of the hands can alter greatly the message being given by the girl performing the ceremony. Exactly what is she conveying with this?"

Still wincing, Doctor Kumori Mizuno felt like covering her eyes rather than watch any further. There was a certain fascination like viewing some horrible plane crash or automobile accident. Especially now as the girl somehow managed to dump the cup of tea while trying to set it in front of the boy, landing it in his lap with obvious results. "Other than she's nervous, not really familiar with what she's doing, and just knocked over the pot. I think maybe my professional services may be required at this point."

"The boy *does* look like he's in serious pain at this point," said Cologne, silently awarding the American some points for trying to assure the young lady he was all right despite being curled up around the splashdown site. "What's she trying to do now?"

"It looks like she's trying to get his pants off," said the Doctor. "Do you suppose she did that on purpose? Girls today can be *so* forward."

"Hmmm," hmmmed Cologne. Maybe she ought to suggest this tactic to Shampoo? "Well, being forward is a good thing. You're only young once you know."

"Well, there goes his pants," the doctor noticed. "I think she's trying to check his wound."

"He's not being very cooperative." Cologne said, pouring herself some more tea. My goodness, this was entertaining! She hadn't seen something like this since Lilac and Douglas began *their* courtship. Hopefully this wouldn't turn all syrupy sweet like *that* had.

Being a physician, Doctor Mizuno knew that it was impossible for someone to spontaneously combust from the force of one's blush. Hotaru seemed ready to test that as she suddenly realized what she was doing. Fainting was probably not her best choice of actions however. Now it was the Amerikajin who was turning redder than a firetruck. Considering how he was in his shirt and underwear with a girl draped over him, this was understandable. "Didn't she look younger previously?"

"Definitely, but I would guess that going from twelve to perhaps fifteen is a small change to someone with her reputed power level," opined Cologne.

"My services appear needed." The Doctor got up, inwardly gloating. This was just the opportunity she needed to check out the medical facilities.

Kasumi got up. She'd be able to check out the medical facilities in detail if she offered to help.

Cologne grinned secretly. If there were medical facilities here, she'd be able to see exactly what could be done with them.

---------

Fess checked the position of the V-1 space vehicle, en route to Venus. Likewise the X-1 which was more than halfway to a particularly interesting looking pair of asteroids. That was followed by checking the newest set of marionettes being manufactured with Ishii Kairo.

Nonthreatening packages were a consideration when dealing with humans not quite ready to deal with Artificial Intelligences that had superhuman strength among other things, hence the: Maid series, Bunny series, Sakura series, and now the Kitten series.

Most of Fess' attention was on Project Slideway. Building up the transport chamber so that the next available point could see a large amount of equipment and supplies transferred was a priority. Pressure loss needed to be allowed for in case there were any leaks for the brief moment that there was a connection between Mars and Earth. Not to mention the shock buffers, as there was a number of differences in velocity between the two planets. Which was why, ideally, this project would be discontinued as soon as a ship was actually ready to make the leap.

It just wasn't as efficient or safe.

Tomorrow was the day that Greylle had to leave the complex, go back to his tiny apartment, and stop contact with the base. Whether he'd be able to keep his hands off was another question.

Registering Hotaru Tomoe as a transfer student to Furinkan, especially now that she was apparently sixteen years old, was likewise simple. Fess simply made the request of the appropriate authorities and the Emperor's office sent back that it would be taken care of and that he wished that Tomoe-san and Shard-san would have a joyous courtship.

Fess also continued directing various simple construction robots to reinforce security measures, building the Arcadia, and monitored the development of the healing chambers. He was a Faithful Cybernetic Companion, after all, mult-tasking was natural to him.

--------

Next: Back To School