Enjoy!
**** **** ****

Local Date and time: Sunday 9 May 2011, 4:24 PM EDT
Date and time in Japan: Monday 10 May 2011, 5:24 AM JST
Location: H.M.C.S. Haida, Deck A12 Aft, Flag
Officer's Level,

"A TRAVELLER FROM
ANOTHER DIMENSION?!"

Moroboshi Hiromi nodded. "Aye, my friends. A most delightful fellow . . . though quite a
tad distrustful of those possessed by what he terms 'celestials.'"

"Which would include the
haoryu inside people like myself, the ch'uokyek power Mioko-san
and her sister possess . . . not to mention yourself, Ataru-kun and Negako-san
to boot!" Koro Sonami noted from her apartment in Chichibu. All of Hiromi's "special advisors"
– in effect, the leaders of the Seven Battle Schools of Kanto and their
affiliate schools, plus others – had been warned as to what was now happening
in south-central Ontario by special text message alerts and were waiting for a
chance to hear from their reborn emperor.
"Were you able to show him we didn't mean him any harm?"

"He eventually got the
message, cousin. Even apologised for his
earlier behaviour," Hiromi said as she gave the leader of Seito High
School and her favourite adopted cousin a kind look. "I think it was Arami-chan and her NOT
having any 'celestial' power within her that convinced Master Douglas that
people such as myself and Kumomi-san weren't like the selfish dullards he's no
doubt had to deal with in the past."

"That's a relief,"
Tsukasa Torusuke noted from the Tsukasame family home, where he was currently
staying with his lover, Tsukasame Yoiko.
"Negako-san warned us of what Mizuho-chan sensed when she brought
him here. Could these things threaten
us?"

"I do not believe so,
Torusuke-sempai," Koeru Kumomi said from Hiromi's left side. Izuku Mioko was seated to her reborn
husband's right in the UNEDF director's meeting room. "Clearly when they moved to stop
Mizuho-chan from pulling their 'prey' away, they sensed something about our
universe which did not agree to them."

"But they could be out
there waiting for Doug-san to emerge from under the protection of our
dimension," Kokoni Kichimi noted from her private apartment near Gogun
Senior High School. "Once he's out
in the open and ready to be targeted again . . . "

"Open season on the
man," Futoshi Itsuku noted from his place beside Kichimi.

"What if we tried to get
him home on Haida or one of the other ships?" Kashira Emi asked
from her private quarters at Nanban High School.

"There is that
possibility, Emi-san," Hiromi mused.
"But before we do anything, I want to make sure the whole situation
is thoroughly analysed before we make a move."

The others nodded. "So what's he like, Kotchi?!" a
cheery voice then asked.

"What do you mean,
Tsueko-san?" Hiromi asked, dreading what Mago Tsueko wanted to know.

"Is he a good
fighter?!" the leader of the Nan'yo Academy asked from her private bedroom
at her cousin's family home in Kimitsu.
"I wanna fight him!"

Hiromi rolled her eyes as the
others either laughed or snickered.

How typical of you,
Hakufu-dono . . .!

****
**** ****
The
Loon and the Ladies from Avalon
by
Fred Herriot
****
**** ****
Killing
Me Softly with His Song (1973) as performed by Roberta Flack, written by Norman Gimbel
and Charles Fox.
****
**** ****
Comments
and story suggestions by Robert M. Schroeck and Rob Kelk.
****
**** ****
Based
on the situations depicted in Drunkard's Walk, created by Robert M.
Schroeck; and Phoenix From the Ashes, created by Fred Herriot.
****
**** ****
Including
characters and situations created by Fred Herriot, Robert M. Schroeck, Peggy
Schroeck, Helen Imre, Phil Gavigan, Ted Hzu, Mike Smith and Gregg Sharp.
****
**** ****
Also
including characters, situations and references from Maho Sensei Negima!
by Akamatsu Ken; Captain Marvel, created by C.C. Beck and Bill Parker; Kotetsu
Tenshi Kurumi, created by Kaishaku (Ota Hitoshi and Shichinohe Terumasa); Men
in Black, created by Lowell Cunningham; Zenkoku Seifuku Bishojo Grand
Prix, created by Lyceen; Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure,
written by Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon and directed by Stephen Herek; Ojosama
Express, created by Mediaworks and Seven Bright; Harry Potter,
created by Joanna K. Rowling; Ikkitosen, created by Shiozaki Yuji; Bubblegum
Crisis, created by Suzuki Toshimichi, ARTMIC and Youmex; Urusei
Yatsura, created by Takahashi Rumiko; Battle Royale, created by
Takami Koshun; Top Gun, created by Ehud Yonay, Jim Cash and Jack Epps
Jr.; and Doki Doki Pretty League, created by Xing.
****
**** ****

DISCLAIMER: Concurrent with fair dealing clauses of the Copyright
Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-42) of Canada and fair use clauses in copyright
legislation in other nations, this is a work that was created solely for
entertainment purposes. Furthermore, it
is posted freely on the Internet without expectation or requirement of remuneration.

**** **** ****

Local Date and time: Sunday 9 May 2011, 7:02 PM EDT
Location: H.M.C.S. Haida, Deck A10 Forward,
Senior Officer's Quarters,

I was tempted.

I have to personally admit
that I had NEVER been tempted by anything quite at the scale than what Inada
Mizuho – out of the goodness of her heart – offered to me today.

To actually use the Staff of
Gihan – which, after I did get the chance to use my mage-sight on it after it
toned down the power intake it drew in from the Te'a so that I didn't
short out my magical sensing gifts, even temporarily – to reach out back to the
dimension of my birth and bring my wife here to let me be with her after so
long.

I had never been
tempted to give in to my heart's desire like that!

So why did I refuse
her?

Well, it was pretty much as
what Moroboshi Negako had warned Mizuho before we met.

Bringing Maggie to me would
present those Big, Ugly Critters that had been gunning for my handsome tushie
TWO targets to go after should something go wrong and we wind up elsewhere in
lieu of our proper home dimension of residence after our stay here.

And much that I know Maggie
can take care of herself in a fight . . .!

** **
**

"Are you sure, Master
Douglas?" Mizuho had asked.

I shook my head. "I want to be with her. But I want her to be safe, Mizuho."

With that, she reluctantly
nodded . . .

** **
**

After the cha no yu
ended, I returned to my cabin as Mizuho and Niimi Rena went back to their home,
which was a Shinto shrine in Tomobiki, a suburb of Tokyo located west of
Nerima. Of course, Mizuho had vowed that
if I changed my mind, she could come over right away to bring Maggie here so I
could finally see her after SO long, and then we'd work together to finally get
us home together as a couple.

Before I could ever consider
that, I would have to do some things first.

Chief of which – when it came
to my rescuer – was to help her better master the literal planet-wrecking doomsday
weapon she now was bonded heart-and-soul to.

While I personally did accept
the Staff's explanation as to its origins – an A.I. created on the planet
Sagussa 17,000 years ago by a whack-job master scientist called Gihan who
wanted to create the ultimate personal weapons system, then mated to a focusing
crystal of a transuranium-type material called "mesonium" in this
universe which could allow it, at full strength, to cause stars to nova! – I
wondered if there was some sort of stealthy Celestial or Celestial-like
influence on the thing that could find its way into making things bad for the
lady I now owed a life-debt to.

And much that the Staff did
seem on the side of the angels in this case – for what true reason, I had yet
to learn, but had vowed to do same as quickly as I could – there was always the
chance of something going very wrong.

And with the Staff's power .
. .!

I'm sure a lot of people
would appreciate some sort of control on that thing.

In thinking of that, I then
wondered this:

Were there MORE of those
things out there somewhere?

Better to be safe than sorry
. . .

* *
*

After getting back to my
cabin and taking the chance to shower and freshen up for supper, I was then
escorted by Yamaguchi Seina into the living quarters of my military host, the
commanding officer of H.M.C.S. Haida, a former submariner who had spent
time commanding every type of warship Canada possessed these days named Brian
Gamblin.

Moroboshi Hiromi, Izuku Mioko
and their daughter Moroboshi Arami were there, too.

Brian (as he insisted I call
him since we were equal in rank by any nation's standards) is a silver-haired
fellow with pale blue-grey eyes who currently had TWO rosettes on the Canadian
Forces Decoration on his work shirt . . . which indicated a career of at least
THIRTY-TWO years in Her Majesty's Navy!
Even now, he seemed a little shell-shocked on being asked to command a starship,
even though it was closing in on the first anniversary since he officiated at Haida's
commissioning over Hamilton Harbour northwest of Welland when Queen Elizabeth
II officially welcomed her into Maritime Command. But despite the overwhelming looks he showed
to me at times when he described Haida's capabilities and her missions
since the trip to a planet named Yaminokuni – that a world which was cloaked in
darkness was called with the phrase "dark kingdom" in Japanese
just made me laugh – inaugurated the Earth Defence Force proper, he did have a
professional submariner's flexibility in thinking, which certainly helped.

Of course, one of the running
arguments he had with his counterpart on United States Starship Arizona,
Captain Tom "Iceman" Kazanski, was the question as to what would make
the ideal starship commanding officer, especially for the Type One ships which
were the cornerstone of the UNEDF fleet.
Brian believed that submariners – as they were trained from day one to
think in three dimensions – would make the right sort of starship C.O. Tom – it took me just a minute to realise
where I had once heard that name and call-sign; in my universe, he was a
character from a Tom Cruise movie named Top Gun that came out in 1986,
played by Val Kilmer – was of the opinion that naval aviators or their
equivalents for landlocked nations represented in the UNEDF would best fit the
role, especially for the Haida-class Type One space battleship/carriers.

Since Canada had
decommissioned H.M.C.S. Bonaventure in 1970 in this universe – in my
universe, the "Bonnie" sailed on until the 1980s when she was
replaced by the former British carrier H.M.S. Eagle, rechristened as
H.M.C.S. Eagle – there were no trained Navy aviators in service anymore
in the Canadian Forces to take command of the new seaborne amphibous assault
carriers Bonaventure and Magnificent the Avalonians were building
for MARCOM. Then again, given the way
the officer trades were divided up these days between the three environmental
elements of the Forces, it would be really weird to see a full colonel in Air
Force blue actually commanding a Navy ship!

On noting that, Brian told me
that with the return of the Canadian Army's tactical air forces – the Royal
Canadian Corps of Air Cavalry, a formation that as far as I personally knew had
never existed in my home dimension – people wearing Army green with pilot's
wings were making their appearance all across the country. So it would probably not be long before
helicopter pilots on Navy ships would get to wear Navy black on their
uniforms. Tom Kazanski and fellow
captains from other nations that had active carriers – such as Nathan Kerr of
Britain's Hood, Marc Marzin of France's Richelieu, Paolo Benso of
Italy's Vittoro Veneto and Sergej Vysockij of Russia's Fëdor F.
Ušakóv – saw that happening even if Brian personally considered the idea a
heresy.

"In the end, we just
agree to disagree," he finally confessed, which made me laugh.

In fact, it really stuck me
as odd that despite this Earth's continuing conflicts – including a massive
popular uprising across most of the Middle East that had already toppled
governments in Egypt (which had a Haida-class ship, the an-Nil, as part
of its Navy) and threatened to do the same in Saudi Arabia (home country to
another of Haida's sisterships, the Al Su'ud), Yemen (home
country of the al-Qasim al-Kabir) and Syria (home nation of the Madinatul
Yasmin) – all the ships and crews of the UNEDF were dedicated to protecting
the whole planet, even protecting the peoples individual crews might view as traditional
enemies. Of course, the Tomobiki Treaty
– called such because it had been physically signed at Hiromi's family dojo in
Tomobiki when it had been written up the previous autumn – forbade any use of
EDF ships or materials when dealing with local matters. Unless – and my mind just boggled at
THIS! – it had been properly confirmed by the United Nations Special Committee
on Alien Activities (the organisation that had dealt with issues of alien
immigration and contacts with other words . . . and were seen as the civilian
counterparts to the UNEDF) that there had been some sort of clandestine alien
influence on such conflicts first.

Get ready for this one,
folks:

The SCAA were popularly known
here as the "Men In Black."

And – after I had asked Hiromi
this – I confirmed there was an Agent Kay (who looked a LOT like Tommy Lee
Jones) and an Agent Jay (who could be Will Smith's twin brother) currently
working as senior field officers for the SCAA.

Hiromi and Brian – after I
explained it to them – found it pretty funny, too!

* *
*

After a delightful meal with
Brian and the Moroboshis, I was invited by Chief Petty Officer 1st Class
Jacques Beaulieu, Haida's coxswain – the term Canadians used for the
senior non-commissioned officer on a Navy ship – to take the two-loonie tour of
my current temporary home-away-from-home.
And I have to admit – especially when I got a look at the giant warp
drive ramjet systems that could propel this big ship at many MILLIONS of times
past the speed of light – that the Sagussans really got a lot of things right
on the nose when it came to high technology.
Even better so, they clearly agreed to the Star Trek style of
starship aesthetics even if Haida didn't even come CLOSE to looking like
any version of the starship Enterprise:
Keep it clean, keep it nice and keep it warm and
welcoming for the people who lived and worked on this ship.

Of course, the instant that
they learned that "Master Looney Toons" – as Koeru Kumomi had come to
address me when the formal tones harkening back to the days of old China when
her first-self lived – was taking the chance to look around, two unstoppable
typhoons of energy named Ki Tsukihana and Hakaru Ayami were quick to make
themselves available to explain all the wonderful details of their great
creation to me.

The engineer part of me was
literally in Geek Heaven.

But I will admit this, folks:

On seeing both of them, I
nearly broke down and cried.

Tsukihana is fourteen.

Ayami is almost sixteen.

Both had not
known the lives of normal kids for FOUR years!

Chief Beaulieu – unlike his
captain, Haida's coxswain was a stickler for military protocol, so he
always called me "Colonel" and insisted I call him "Chief"
in return – explained everything to me:
When they were kids, both Tsukihana and Ayami were kidnapped with their
parents by agents of a race called the Ipraedies. Think of them as green-skinned versions of
Klingons from the original Star Trek television series with a massive
love of Enlightenment-era clothing and you get the right idea. Since the Ipraedies – whose homeworld,
Ipraedos, was located to Earth's galactic "east" at about seventy
light-years range – saw themselves surrounded by enemies on all sides of their
little domain, they decided they would strike out at the weakest point.

As luck would have it, Earth
was the weakest point.

To prepare themselves ahead
of time, an estimated FIVE HUNDRED people – including the Ki and Hakaru
families – were taken to Ipraedos and subjected to all sorts of special
tortures and interrogations to learn what Earth people were like before a
potential invasion would be launched. In
the midst of this happening, both Tsukihana and Ayami lost their parents . . .
which, ironically, won them sympathies by more peacefully-minded Ipraedies and
helped them escape the planet when their captors were looking the wrong
way. In their travels, they chanced upon
a lucky find: A starship construction
satellite the physical size of the Five Boroughs of New York City, Greater
London and Metropolitan Tokyo COMBINED that had been abandoned in a dead star
system known by the name "Den'sha" by the Avalonians' creators, the
Sagussans, many millennia ago.

Well, on realising what they
had just found, the two orphaned kids decided that if the Ipraedies – or anyone
else – were going to invade Earth, they'd run into something that would rip
them apart before they realised they had waltzed into a fire sack.

Three guesses as to what they
built . . .

. . . and the first two don't
count, folks!

And while all the military
people I had met gladly admitted that these two kids had done a world of good
by building Haida and her sisterships . . .

. . . I just simply couldn't
help but remember Ikari Shinji and Soryu Asuka Langley.

Innocent kids
that had been forced by uncaring adults to become warriors.

How many times was I going to
run into this sort of thing . . .?

* *
*

Of course, after I was done,
I came back to my guest quarters where Seina – who seemed to have made it her
personal mission in life to make sure yours truly was fed, watered and tucked
in at night – was leaving behind some snacks and Red Rose orange pekoe
tea. Before she could head off to make
sure Brian and his fellow senior officers – the Wing Commander of 21 Space
Wing, Colonel Mark Sullivan; and the Commanding Officer of the 1st Battalion of
the Canadian Guards, Lieutenant-Colonel Allain Leclerc – were alright before
turning in for the night, I asked her if she would be willing to be interviewed
by me so I could get a better analysis of what an Avalonian actually was for my
journey report that I would allow my friends to see once I got back to my home
dimension.

Seina was more than willing
to agree; unlike many of her 212 "plank owner" sisters that formed
the nucleus of Haida's crew over a year before, she had graduated from
trades training at the Canadian Forces School of Administration and Logistics
in Borden north of Toronto back near the end of March. And while her girlfriend, Matsu'ura Ai, would
be heading back to the Canadian Forces Fleet School in Esquimalt to continue
her basic training as a hull technician – what Americans would classify as a
"hull maintenance technician" – first thing in the morning and repeating
same every Monday morning (being gone each week until Friday evening) until
near the end of June, said Ordinary Seaman Matsu'ura had ORDERED Ordinary
Seaman Yamaguchi to do everything to make sure that their Hiromi-onesama's
wonderful guest felt right at home aboard H.M.C.S. Haida.

Punishment for dereliction of
duty:

No sex for a MONTH!

Ouch!

I wasn't going to force a
poor girl through THAT!

No, sir!

So . . .

* *
*

Avalonians, I learned right
away, were an ALL-FEMALE race of bioroids.

The factory satellite unit
itself had never been designed or programmed to make boys.

This, I realised, was what
helped contribute to the Niphentaxians' overall attitudes towards the
Avalonians . . . though Seina had heard from older Avalonians whom she had met
with over the last year that there had been those who saw the bioroids – to one
extent or another – as living people in lieu of handy love-dolls.

For every Avalonian who
served as "comfort women" . . .

. . . and there were
Avalonians who served as surrogate daughters or sisters . . .

. . . there were those who
had become simple wives to lonely people . . .

. . . and by extension, many
of those people had become mothers, too.

Since Avalonians were
genetically compatible with Niphentaxians, among the 2.5 billion bioroids that
had fled the Phentax star system a year before . . .

. . . were well over several
hundred MILLION hybrid children, including BOYS.

When Seina underwent her TQ3
steward training at CFSAL, she had shared quarters with a woman who had been
made as a replacement daughter for an elderly couple then resident on Phentax
Fourteen; the Phentax system had three stars and twenty-three planets on it,
with the Niphentaxians controlling almost all of them to one extent or
another. Said couple, Seina had learned,
didn't care for the official "decrees of the One True Faith" when it
came to their bioroid child. A couple
who would pay for their attitudes with their lives the day Carolyn Stevens was
pulled off that planet.

While Seina had slept
peacefully during those twelve weeks at Borden . . .

. . . Carolyn endured many
nightmares of watching her parents shot down before her eyes just as a
transporter beam whisked her away to her true birthplace.

Nightmares that wouldn't stop
until Seina acted as a nakodo and introduced Carolyn to a resource
management support clerk trainee originally from Phentax Two named Janice
Garfield, who herself had been adopted recently by an elderly couple from
Winnipeg and would gladly welcome another "orphaned" Avalonian girl
into their family.

Right now, Carolyn waas
posted aboard the newly-commissioned destroyer H.M.C.S. Onondaga, based
out of Halifax in Nova Scotia. Janice
herself – as it was seen in many places in the Canadian Forces as grossly
verboten for spouses to serve in the same field unit; Haida was the big
exception to the rule when it came to Avalonians as witness Seina's and Ai's
relationship – was assigned to 32 Maritime Utility Squadron, which was based at
12 Wing in Shearwater, across the harbour from Halifax.

Ashore, they lived in married
quarters, of course!* *
*

Given their genetic descent
from the Sagussans, I then learned this:

Avalonians as a race are all bisexual.

And like any other race I
have encountered in my travels, they are also bound to certain behavioural
traits that dominated their ancestors' lives.

One of those traits came out
in the Awakening.

The Awakening – happening
when someone is physically around age 12 in Earth years – is when an Avalonian
develops her personal sense of the Te'a.

As Seina herself described
it, the Te'a is an energy field – Shades of the Force! I thought
when I heard that – that exists in all physical things.

However – and this, I guessed
when I remembered what the word Te'a translated to in English –
Sagussans and Avalonians came to associate this field of orange-yellow energy
they could see with their mind's eye as a living Element of the Divine.

Because of that, while
Avalonians on Earth gladly acknowledged the various religious faiths that their
Terran neighbours, friends and adopted family held as their own . . .

. . . it was always balanced
by the presence of the Te'a in their own minds.

And since Avalonians believed
that because one simply can NEVER know what lay beyond the Veil of the Te'a,
it would be next to impossible to truly BELIEVE in a God in the Christian,
Jewish or Islamic sense of the term . . . to say anything of the mixed-deity
situation that cultures in places like India, China and Japan always allowed.

Thus – while she did respect
the beliefs of her co-workers and did attend shipboard church services held by
the ship's chaplain, Major Vincent Klein – there was a part of Seina who always
asked herself this one simple question:

"Is this truly
right?"

* *
*

Learning that, I had one
thought:

Damn!

The conclusion was rather
obvious:

No Celestial that I knew of
would care too much for an Avalonian.

A Celestial's bread and
butter, so to speak, was the power of Faith itself.

Yes, folks, you read that
right.

Faith is a power, just like
Magic!

Give a Celestial such tokens
of Faith – even a simple show of respect as what I had ultimately done ages ago
in Megatokyo when I held two dead children in my arms after a boomer rampage –
and they had a powerful snare into your heart and soul.

Thinking that, I realised an
Avalonian would be a hard thing for a Celestial to snare.

After all – if what the Staff
of Gihan told me was true – the Te'a was the remnants of the very energy
that unleashed the Big Bang and created the modern Multiverse.

Running with that argument,
any person like Yamaguchi Seina – who had living proof of the existence of the Te'a
in every waking and sleeping moment! – would believe in AND HAVE FAITH IN
Something that has been around for over thirteen billion years!

Or thirteen thousand
million years according to the old British way of counting.

In other words, the
oldest POWER in the known Cosmos!

Compared to that,
even elder Celestials such as Hexe would be babes in the woods!

Damn . . .!

* *
*

"Doug, are you
alright?!"

I jolted on seeing Seina
leaning into my face, her eyes boring into mine with a stare that would make
the most penetrating mage-sight gaze look quite pale in comparison.

Hard to believe this woman
was only TWO YEARS OLD chronologically.

"I . . .!" I began,
and then reached over.

She gasped as I drew her into
my arms and held her close. After a
moment, she seemed to relax, and then leaned her head against my shoulder. As we held each other close – while I hoped I
was doing nothing that could be seen as blatantly suggestive to Seina – she
then giggled before pulling herself away from me . . . and then she made me
blush to my toes when she leaned in to kiss me on the tip of my nose.

"It's horrible what
you've been through," she said.

I gaped at her. "How . . .?"

"I'm touch-telepathic as
well as being empathic, Doug. All
Avalonians are," she then explained as she gave me an apologetic
look. "Even a handshake allows us
to sense what someone else is thinking of.
It's as natural to us as breathing.
And while we're not as rabid about AVOIDING contact with other beings as
Vulcans are – from what we learned when we met members of that race on the Enterprise
back at Christmas – we don't like normally probing other people's minds without
their knowledge. However, you were . . .
broadcasting quite strongly. What
happened to you all those years ago?"

"What did you see?"

A sigh. "Wrecked building. Two children cut apart really badly. No doubt dead. Two of the Knight Sabres as well; Asagiri
Priss and Yamazaki Linna if what I remember of their hardsuit colours is
right. And then you did something for
them . . . "

I nodded. "I made a deal with three Celestials –
the Fates – to bring them back. In
return for them being restored to life, I had to perform a favour for them. The favour ultimately entailed giving the
boomers Genom created the ability to live free lives."

Seina gazed at me, and then
she nodded. "That seemed an
equitable trade."

I perked. "Seina-chan!" I then teased. "You're one of perhaps the only
race I've ever encountered that a Celestial would find almost IMPOSSIPLE to
play their normal tricks with." As
she laughed, I then sighed. "How do
you view It?"

She gazed at me. "The Te'a?"

"Yeah."

"It is a part of all
that exists. Without It, nothing can
exist. My soul was given life by It when
my body was first created. When I die,
my soul will either merge with It . . . or pass through It and I will learn
what lies for me in the next life. As I
don't have any tangible proof of what the Te'a truly is, I can't say any
which way.

"It is there. I can sense It. That is all that needs to be said."

I gaped at her. "Do you believe in deities?"

"As in the hypothetical
'God' . . . or what you'd call a 'celestial?'"

Damn! That telepathy of hers was incredible! "The former."

A sigh. "If there was a Creative Spirit that
ushered in Existence at the start when the Primal Atom was first sundered all
those billions of years ago, I cannot make myself believe in such a being. There's no proof – at least in Sagussan
experience – that such a being existed.
And why would I wish to inflict humanoid thought processes on the Te'a
or whatever lies beyond the Te'a?
After all, in the eyes of your friend here, would her 'god' – if she
believed in one, of course – be the same as yours?"

She waved at the laptop
computer on my desk that held Eimi within it.
I looked at it, noting that Eimi – who had appeared from behind a screen
saver when Seina mentioned her – was gazing in our direction. "Is there something wrong?" she
asked.

"Do you believe in God,
Eimi-san?" Seina asked.

Eimi blinked. "Well, I've never seen any proof of such
a being."

"There you go,"
Seina concluded as she pulled herself away from me. "Did you do the right thing with those
children you saved, Doug? Yes, you
did. You don't need any god to judge
that. You are your own final judge in
things." She then smiled. "We all – regardless of race or type of
being – make choices that could be viewed by some as 'good' or 'evil.' Or 'in the spirit of Creation' or 'enhancing
Entropy.' Or however people choose to
decide such things. But the ultimate
judge if you did right or wrong – unless you have no way of
judging due to insanity or lack of experience – is you."

"If you're so young, how
are you so wise?" I asked.

A smile. "Even if I don't find all he speaks of
as something I can believe in, there are a lot of good things that Padre
Vincent speaks about in his sermons. You
might want to talk to him about what you've been through." Seina winked at me. "Besides, I'm a steward. Being a glorified bartender is part of the
job description."

I stared at her, and then I
howled with laughter . . .

* *
*

After Seina had left, I got
another visit from Takanashi Naoko, who wanted to make sure I was settling in
alright as she herself would be off to Victoria at the southern end of
Vancouver Island for another week of learning her trade at Venture. After assuring her that I would be fine and
that I'd go to Seina if I needed help, she left.

As soon as the two of us were
alone, Eimi – to my surprise – figuratively exploded!

"That . . . that . . .
HER! Could she have been any ruder?!"

Her outburst confused
me. "'Her?' 'Her' who?
And what was so rude?"

"That 'mad scientist'
that's on this ship!"

"Oh!" Private Asai Mayumi, in other words. I'd forgot about her. "Her question about you living in a box? It wasn't that bad, Eimi."

"Not the question!"
she snapped as her face seemed to take on a very nice shade of cherry. "Her addressing you about my
feelings when she knew I was right there!" She started to sing . . . not play back a
sound file, but actually sing in her own voice:

He sang as if he knew me
In all my dark despair.
And then he looked right
through me
As if I wasn't there . . .

I didn't even think of that. Yes, looking at the question through Eimi's
eyes, Mayumi-chan hadn't been a paragon of tact. "Do you want me to talk to her about
that?"

"What?! No!"
As Eimi continued, she started to calm down, "No, that would just
make things worse! She'd think she was
right in asking you about what I want instead of asking me directly. But thank you anyway . . . "

"Then I don't know what
I can do for you."

She sighed. "Don't do anything, Doug. If Asai is going to think of me as a thing
instead of a person, I can simply ignore her."

Oh, boy. A LOT of misconceptions – on ALL sides! – had
to be cleared up before somebody's feelings were hurt permanently.

But how . . .?

I then perked on hearing a
knock, and then turned . . .

. . . to see a tall tomboyish
girl standing at the doorway to my room.
With shaggy blonde hair and dark grey eyes, she was in Navy combat dress
with the brassard slip-on on her upper arm which marked her as a member of the
Canadian Forces Military Police. Noting
that, I nodded; Haida, at full manning strength, would have 6,500 people
aboard, so having an on-board internal security team made a world of
sense. And given her trade, she had a
web belt with sidearm holstered on her hip.
Her family name read TAKIZAWA.
She had no rank on her shoulders and – after a quick check with
my mage-sight – I confirmed she was Avalonian.
"Everything okay here, Doug-san?"

I gave her an assuring
look. "Just a little argument here,
Seaman Takizawa."

"Call me Kaori,"
she amended as she walked inside, and then she peered at Eimi for a moment
before she shook her head. "Mayumi
no baka . . .!"

I gaped. Dear gods, I just learned about the empathy
and telepathy Kaori's people were capable of using thanks to Seina, but to be
THAT sensitive . . .!

Could Kaori actually have a
META-GIFT?!

"You can sense
ME?!" Eimi demanded.

"You're a sentient
being, Eimi-san. And I'm at the high end
of empathic sensitivity for my species," Kaori said. On hearing that, I realised that the
potential for meta-gifts to become commonplace on my hosts' Earth – at least in
psioncs – were well on the sunny side of "excellent" in a few decades
. . . to borrow the term often used by two friends of mine from another
dimension, Theodore "Ted" Logan and Bill S. Preston Esq, that I
bumped into some time ago when I found myself in their time-travelling phone
booth after a particularly easy world-gate jump. "In my eyes – and yes, in Mayumi-chan's
eyes, too! – you're no different than the colonel here." She waved to me.

"She didn't have to be
so rude about it!" Eimi snarled back.

A sigh. "What happened?" Kaori asked.

Eimi gave the visiting
military policeman – whom, if soldiers back in my dimension ever saw her, would
forever foreswear calling them "meatheads!" – a quick low-down of our
encounter with Mayumi some hours before.
After taking that in, Kaori seemed to think about it for a moment, and then
she sighed before she bowed deeply to Eimi, which made her gape and me
blink. "Eimi-san, on behalf of my
friend and sister Asai Mayumi-chan, I give you my deepest and sincerest
apologies for her mistreatment of you when she spoke to your honourable travelling
companion about allowing you to live your life as a corporeal entity in lieu of
your present living circumstances."

As Eimi blinked-blinked – and
I, no doubt, did the same – Kaori gazed at my friend. "To explain what happened, Mayumi-chan
doesn't normally try to be rude . . . but she can't help herself at
times. It was the way she was programmed
from the beginning. Even after we all
got the chance to truly become alive when we got these . . . " – she
pointed to her green earring with the crossed duelling flintlock pistols of her
trade on there – " . . . she's still governed by that behaviour even to
this day."

"Why?" I asked.

Kaori smirked. "Doki Doki Pretty League."

I blinked. "The video game whose characters you're
modelled after?" Eimi asked.

"Hai. Mayumi-chan's namesake was an inventive
genius. Our would-be 'master' –
Naoko-chan told you about him right?"
As Eimi and I nodded, Kaori sighed.
"Well, he wisely wanted someone who could be an expert at anything
technical. Mayumi-chan got to be that
person. It certainly helped when we
bumped into the Enterprise and we offered to help Data-san get Lal-chan
back on her feet again." As my
friend and I nodded again – being a somewhat casual Trekker, I had always
thought "The Offspring" to be a sad episode; that Mayumi had done
something to restore Lal to life definitely earned her many brownie points in
my eyes – our current guest stated, "No doubt, when she first learned
about you – she's not as empathic as I am – Mayumi-chan simply felt it right to
come investigate and, if it became warranted, do something about it."

"So why would she not
direct her offer to Eimi directly?" I asked.

"Because you're
the person responsible for her safety, Doug-san," Kaori answered.

I blinked several times, and
then it hit me.

Damn!

"Right . . .!"

"Um . . . can someone
tell me what's going on here?" Eimi asked.

Kaori sighed. "Eimi-san, before I answer that, could
you answer this first: Do YOU want a
physical body?" She pointed at
Eimi's image. "Regardless of type –
gynoid, cyberdroid or bioroid – that can be made, do you want one? Yes or no?"

Eimi seemed to pause for a
moment, and then she sighed. "I
never really thought about it before, Kaori-san. My father – my creator, I mean – offered it
to me before I met Doug for the first time, but I turned him down." A shrug.
"Naoko-san was right. I am
a little scared of the idea of living a different life than this."

"Nothing wrong with
that," Kaori commented.

"But now that Mayumi-san
brought it up . . . " Another
shrug. "I might consider
it."

"Okay. Now, here comes the problem." She then winked at me. "Observe, Master Looney Toons, how fast
RUMINT can run on this ship!" As I
laughed, Kaori shrugged. "We all
knew what Mizuho-san was planning to offer you within about fifteen
minutes of the end of your little cha no yu in the observation
lounge." As I gaped – Wow! That is fast, especially
considering Haida's size! – she gazed on Eimi. "No doubt, if Mizuho-san CAN get you
both back to where you're going in one shot, that's great. If that can happen, Mayumi-chan could make
you a new body and you're on your way.
But . . . "

"What happens if there's
another 'stop' along the way," I concluded.

"Oh . . .!" Eimi
breathed out.

"Right," Kaori
drawled. "Since he took you on as
his travelling companion, Doug-san – As he is a military
policeman at heart as THIS girl's empathy can sense!" – She winked at me,
which made me wonder if I could discover a song that could SHIELD my emotions
from how sensitive these girls were! – " . . . ALSO took on the
responsibility of making sure you would STAY SAFE so you can make it back to
London with him whole and intact!" As Eimi nodded in understanding, the blonde
apprentice cop – military police training was, as I had learned over the years,
normally quite long – crossed her arms.
"How will Mayumi-chan look at this?! As an interesting intellectual
exercise!"

"Damn! She IS Wile E. Coyote!" I declared.

"Well, not as arrogant
as THAT moron!" Kaori stated.
"But she will not be deterred once you say 'yay' or 'nay' to her
offer, Eimi-san. She WILL find a way to
make sure you make it whole and complete to London with Doug-san. And still remain you!"

Silence fell as my friend
considered that, and then she sighed.
"Can I think about it, Kaori-san?" Eimi then asked. "This is a lot to take."

A smirk. "Take your time. You've got some." She gave me a questioning look, which I
responded with a nod. "I'll look in
on you two when I'm back this weekend.
'Night."

And with that, she was
off. I watched her go, and then relaxed,
inwardly relieved that – despite their lack of practical life experience – the
Avalonians on Haida were clearly quite diverse enough in their knowledge
base that one could cover for another's gaffe or mistake so that I didn't have
to find some way to prevent a "cold war" between Eimi and Asai Mayumi
from starting. After a moment, Eimi then
sighed. "Doug?"

"Yeah, Eimi?"

"They're really nice,
aren't they?"

A nod. "Yeah."

* *
*

Somewhere, a different
dimension,

"He's THERE?!"

"Indeed he is,
Stormsdaughter."

The celestial being known in
one world as Major General Helene Diedmeier, a.k.a. Wetter Hexe of the United
Nations Metahuman Peacekeeping Forces, looked as if someone just appeared right
out of nowhere and kicked her hard right in the gut.

"How . . .? Why . . .?
THERE?! How did Doug get THERE?!"

"A native of that
universe possessing one of the Voices of the Peoples' Desire sensed your friend
about to be attacked by beings who would seek his demise for all his acts over
the last fifteen centuries in his time-line since he was taken from your
side."

That message made Helene turn
totally white as her mind recalled where she had heard the phrase "Voice
of the Peoples' Desire" before in conjunction with a device or weapon that
could literally defy the Will of the Fates Themselves and drag
Douglas Quincy Sangnoir into a universe where the influence of the Power
that Unleashed Existence Itself in all its great complexity was so
unbelievably strong. On considering
that, the celestial being born a weather-manipulating mutant years ago in
Germany paled.

If the native of THAT
universe that dragged the Loon into it had been one of the so-called
"Jewel Warriors," the nearly-countless heiresses of the Seekers, that
person would have been referred to as a "Warrior of the First Race."

Helene had cause to remember
one of them quite well: The Earth Jewel
Warrior, a Canadian Army officer named Dean Raeburn . . . or "She
Who Bears The Keystone Jewel."

If the native of that
universe had been one who had taken the Test of the Praetorians and become a
"Praetorian Guardian" as they were called there, such a person would
have been addressed as a "Spirit Guardian of the Second Race."

Helene had met the Praetorian
Guardian for Earth, a charming fellow who called himself Vladímir Rusalovic
Tayceško in civilian life in Russia and Lord Rjazán' when in his
fighting costume – it was at the same time Wetter Hexe had met Major Raeburn –
so he was known as the "Spirit Guardian Friend of the Keystone Jewel
Warrior."

If said native was a resident
of the planet Yiziba – a world that would have given metahuman control
activists on Helene's own Earth nightmares for the rest of their very lives! –
which lay three hundred light-years from the Earth in that universe, such would
have been addressed as a "Child of the Forge of the First Race."

Of course, the one
Yizibajohei respectfully nicknamed the "Goddess Who Walks Amongst
Men" in this incarnation by those who knew of her yet did not wish to
speak her battle-name Infinity would be addressed as the "Infinite
One" or the "Cosmic All."

The native of the planet
Noukiios who absorbed the blood of a celestial dragon into her veins in her
first life and had been reborn in this life was known by her popular name
amongst all those who celebrated her actions:
"She Who Speaks to Dragons."

On recalling all those names,
Helene then gulped.

The term "Voices
of the Peoples' Desire" applied to devices that came from one
world.

"Sagussa . . .?"

"Indeed,
Stormsdaughter. The native is of the
blood of His world."

The elder weather goddess
then blinked. "Why? He has never interfered before!"

"He does so now,
Stormsdaughter. And given what He is,
that he has allowed this to happen may indicate one of Us has overstepped His
or Her bounds. In His eyes."

Helene blinked as she found
herself alone . . . and then, after taking a moment to consider what she had
just heard, she chuckled as she relaxed herself.

"Well, that will make
Looney INCREDIBLY happy . . .!"

* *
*

Local Date and time: Monday 10 May 2011, 4:52 AM MSK
Location: A hidden hill east of Goroda Rjazán',
Rjazanskaja Oblast', Russia,

"Alright, I'm here! Where's the damned fire, Vlad?!"

Hearing that impatient voice
from behind him – One would believe that given she is over a hundred and
forty years old and had absorbed Hirosuke's very memories into her soul,
Deannette would learn how to speak with proper diction, the nearly-immortal
being whose existence had been rumoured and speculated on for thousands of
years mused – the man known to the few people he had befriended in this time
period under the name "Vladímir Tayceško" took a deep breath before
he turned to gaze with his burning golden eyes on his current guest, Earth's
Seeker Jewel Warrior and the former commanding officer of the 1st Canadian
Specialised Warfare Unit. "There is
no 'fire' which requires you to go extinguish it, Deannette. But I would believe that you would desire to
know when a friend of Helene Diedmeier came to our section of the
Multiverse."

Silence.

"Helene . . .?"
Deannette Antonia Raeburn asked as she tried to recall where she had heard that
name before, and then she blinked.
"Oh, right! Back in
'Forty-nine. Some Nazi hangers-on tried
to summon a goddess to help chase off the Allies occupying Germany at the
time. They had some of Josef's notes
about divinities and they botched up the summoning ritual. Dragged a young girl who had just ascended to
celestial level from her home universe to ours.
After we cleared the mess out, you sent her home."

"Yes," the
silver-haired man – in his current form, Vladímir appeared to be a man in his
mid-fifties, trim and fit for a Great Russian his age with no sign whatsoever
of any illness or addiction to any vices such as alcohol; Dean knew he was
thousands of years old though she hadn't guessed his precise age – said as he
walked down from the window of his home where he had been gazing somewhere,
beckoning his guest to join him at the scrying pool he had placed in the middle
of his domicile. "Look here."

Dean looked . . . and then
she blinked as she nodded as the image of a handsome man appeared in the
pool. "Oh, I've heard of this
guy. Arch-mage sorcerer but he can't
control his abilities. It's all locked
on him listening to music to make him do what he wants to do. Takes after all the Warner Brothers cartoons
back when they were making decent animated shorts before the big television
boom put a stop to all that." A
glance towards Vladímir. "How'd
this guy get here, anyway?"

The Praetorian Guardian of
Earth made a gesture with his hand, thus allowing the fourteen-decade old
Canadian ex-air cavalry pilot to watch a quick replay of Douglas Sangnoir's
life since he had been forced out of the dimension of his birth. Thanks to the Power Jewel she had found in
the summer of 1889 in a cave in the mountains of northern British Columbia, she
could follow along with the fast replay; normal Terrans and most Avalonians
would instantly get a headache at the massive flipping of images.

"Holy hell . . .!"
she then breathed out. "He's been a
busy one."

"One who has done his
best to honour his beliefs and his commitment to his wife. But in his doing so, he has attracted
attention. Look there."

Dean looked . . . and then
she smirked. "Ah! Didn't like the idea of coming to our little
corner of the Multiverse, huh? Saw
something they didn't agree with."

The ghost of a smile crossed
Vladímir's face. "Indeed."

"So who brought him
here?"

"This one."

The Canadian gazed down . . .
and then she scowled. "Oh, one of those
kids, huh? Got herself one of the early Haijo-ju
marks from Sagussa."

"Yes. Douglas has taken note of the Staff's power
and has decided he wishes to train young Mizuho in how to use the Staff. Negako's teachings so far have done much, but
there are things even she does not know.
With Douglas here, you will not have to intervene directly in this
matter, Deannette. But the chances are
there that some might become ambitious enough to brave entering our dimension .
. . "

A shrug. "Hey!
They want to commit suicide, that's their tough luck."

Vladímir could only shake his
head as Dean snickered . . .

* *
*

Local Date and time: Monday 10 May 2011, 7:00 AM EDT
Location: H.M.C.S. Haida, Deck A10 Forward,
Senior Officer's Quarters,

Yours truly is about to make
an admission, folks.

I just HATE boatswain calls.

What was that?

"What's a boatswain
call?" you ask.

Well, folks, imagine the
shrillest whistle you could ever hear . . . and then pipe the sound down a long
dark tunnel with perfect acoustics.

Oh, yeah. Pump the volume straight up to maximum at the
same time.

That's a boatswain call.

But then again, it really
didn't surprise me.

This IS a Canadian Navy ship
I'm currently sleeping on.

Even if the accommodations
would put the Queen Elizabeth 2 to total shame.

As the general call
mercifully ended quickly and the boatswain mate of the watch made the morning
announcements over the intercom system, I slowly picked myself up from under
the covers I had stretched out over my bed – including some rich furs that I
had been given as presents from friends at the Collegium in Valdemar – as I
moved to rub the sleep out of my eyes.
At the same time, the screen saver on Eimi's laptop flicked off to
reveal a sleepy-eyed A.I., depicting herself in pyjamas and a night cap.

Why a night cap?

In all the time I've
travelled with her, I never really asked that question.

"'Morning, Doug,"
she called out to me.

"'Morning," I
answered back as I moved to slip out from under the covers. "So how was your first night bonded to
the local Tapestry?" As always, I
used the term I picked up in the Collegium to describe the virtual world of the
Internet.

Eimi blinked, and then she
giggled, giving me a look that seemed to indicate she was severely drunk on all
the information she had obtained.
"Wow . . .!"

Yep, folks.

I was right.

My good friend was now
literally in Tapestry HEAVEN!

"Good morning,
Doug-san. Eimi-san."

I turned, and then
grinned. "Good morning to you,
Hiromi-chan," I said as Hiromi walked in with a tray of breakfast – no
doubt prepared by Seina herself, bless her heart – which she placed down by the
main writing desk with the laptop given to me by the ship's supply
department. "You didn't need to do
that for me."

"Well, it appears the
good Master Knight Allain has acquired a cold and Seina is busy preparing a
nice chicken broth before he goes down to visit the good healers in the ship's
cockpit within the hour, so I elected to help with breakfast," she
explained.

* *
*

By the way, folks,
"Master Knight" in Hiromi-speak means a senior Army officer.

Eh?

"Hiromi-speak?"

What's that, you ask?

Well, it's a rather classical
and flowing speech, flecked with all sorts of wonderfully embarrassing titles
for people seen to be worthy of such respect, that is used only by one
Moroboshi Hiromi a.k.a. Ryuko Kyorei – and God help you if you EVER call her
"Reitei," which is the Japanese name used for her past-self! – of
Tomobiki in Japan.

Got it so far?

Good!

* *
*

"So Brian and Mark live
ashore?" I asked.

"Yes. Both are married, of course, so they have
quarters ashore. Brian's delightful wife
Ellen is currently in charge of Base Niagara's Personnel Support Programs
branch; she make sure all the people posted to the base or Haida remain
in top physical form. Former Physical
Education and Recreation officer forced to retire after they did away with that
branch of service back in 1997 due to budget cuts; they're actually considering
bringing it back into service due to the massive influx of Avalonians in the
military." As I nodded politely at
that little factoid, she moved to prepare my tea. "They have two children, both of whom
are currently in university right now getting their own degrees and moving to
make lives for themselves. Mark's lovely
wife Nancy is a normal housewife, though she helps administer the Base CANEX
store. They have a daughter who's in
junior high; 'elementary school' as it's called in Canada. She'll be preparing for another day of
classes at Plymouth right now, no doubt."

I nodded as I headed into the
bathroom – given how big this ship was, it didn't surprise me that all
living quarters had their own private lavatories – so I could commence daily
ablutions. "Speaking of school, you
and Mioko are in sixth form now," I stated, using the English term for
Grade 12 or third year of high school as it was seen in Japan. "Why aren't you two back in Tomobiki
attending classes?"

A chuckle. "I rather would prefer that, but given
that this is the year we're supposed to cram and cram for the Centre Test – and
given that the highest post-secondary institutions across the planet will
probably have honour-duels to the death to welcome myself and my extended
family into their freshman classes next year – the idea of being able to
peacefully study for such tests was seen as much more paramount than subjecting
myself to 'examination hell.'" As I
laughed while I shaved my face – making sure I didn't nick myself – she added,
"I strongly disagreed – I certainly didn't wish to abandon Onii-san and
One-san to such horrors – but everyone overrode me. Fortunately, my beloveds and I are still seen
as affiliated with Tomobiki High School, so when Takara comes aboard with
Yayoi-chan and Kanami-chan, her arms will be laden with all the week's
assignments from our nominal classroom teachers back in Japan."

I perked. "Takara?"

"Sumai Takara, also
known as 'Sohofu' or 'Sokogo.' In her
first life, she was the Empress Sòng of Hàn, the Lady Sòng Baofeng. My first wife."

I shook my head. "Doesn't that get a little
troublesome?"

"Having both my wives
from my first life and one of my mistresses living with me full-time?" she
ventured back as I sensed her prepare my morning tea. "I was petrified when Mioko met up with
Miwaka – that's Wan Miwaka; she was the Consort Wáng Meiruò in our first lives
and the mother of my eventual successor on the Dragon Throne – after we dealt
with the Urusian Imperials and that boor Ogi on Yaminokuni . . . " – I bit
back the laugh I felt on hearing that planet's name again – " . . . and
they made their 'ladies' agreement' to share me, I was trapped with utterly no
way out."

"Save surrender of
course, my husband."

I perked. Woman's voice, but not Mioko. I leaned out of the bathroom to find myself
gazing on a smiling blonde girl looking to be a year younger than Hiromi. Like my overall host, she seemed to like
wearing jeans and a jean jacket with the Tomobiki High School Jackrabbits team
logo on the T-shirt she had on underneath the latter. After a quick check with my mage-sight, I confirmed
that she didn't have a dragon or anything else inside her that was out of the
ordinary save for her being a toshi. She
was "B-rank" given her gold magatama earring; I had read about how
the earring colours changed as toshi gained more unique fighting
experiences. "The Lady Takara, I
presume."

"You presume correctly,
Master Looney Toons," she answered as she held up a travelling case for a
business suit. "Courtesy of the
American Army liaison staff aboard the noble Arizona, Lord Colonel
Sangnoir; your uniform while you're here."

"Proper rank and
accoutrements?" Hiromi asked as I blinked in confusion.

"Naturally," Takara
said as she moved to unzip the carrying case to reveal the new-model dark blue
uniform worn by American Army soldiers these days; back in my universe and
time, they still wore green. "Of
course, the medals aren't properly exact given his personal experiences, but we
don't want to plaster his presence here across the planet just yet, so it's
best to make him fade into the background."

"Why the disguise?"
I asked.

"Because your
battle-suit is a little too unique and peculiar for our universe, Doug-san,"
Hiromi said as she gave me an apologetic look while she handed me my tea. "Much that I'm sure you're more than
ready to defend yourself and others should such ever become necessary, we don't
need to drag all the crazies out of the shadows to seek you out. Especially if the news of your being a
metahuman goes public."

"How much did Seina tell
you?" I demanded.

Hiromi laughed as Takara
giggled . . .

* *
*

Local Date and time: Monday 10 May 2011, 8:04 AM EDT
Location: H.M.C.S. Haida, Deck A10 Forward,
Senior Officer's Quarters,

I had to admit, whoever was
the tailor aboard Arizona got it pretty good.

I got a full set of proper
uniforms – dress, work and battle dress utilities including footwear and head
gear – that would be expected of what they want edto disguise me as.

So what am I pretending to
be?

Well, given what Takara
explained to me, Colonel Douglas Q. Sangnoir of Los Angeles is an officer in
the United States Army. A Special Forces
officer, given the right to wear the proper qualification tab and the
ubiquitous green beret, not to mention previous assignment patches indicating I
worked with the 5th Special Forces Group sometime ago. My uniform came complete with jump wings from
a half-dozen nations (including Canada), the air assaulter's qualification
badge from spending time with the 101st Air Assault Division in Kentucky and
"shooting iron" medals that said I was nasty with anything one could
hold in one's hand that went "bang!"
There were an even five rows of medals in my "salad bowl" of
decorations over my right breast pocket, though what a lot of those ribbons
actually represented were total mysteries to me; given my long time in London
and dealing with British armed forces personnel, I never got used to my homeland's
wild propensity to award a medal for something their counterparts in England or
Canada would probably just view as doing one's proper duty.

And, much to my personal
amazement, the damned things fit me like a glove; the clothing replicators on
these ships clearly were programmed to make sure whatever they produced could
fit without need of snipping and mending by a seamstress. Spit-shone boots on my feet – I decided to go
with the Class "B" Army Service Uniform today; fortunately, I had the
song In The Army Now by Status Quo in my musical files, which allowed me
to learn quick about local military traditions – and the proper green beret to
cover my head with my "current assignment" crest marking me as part
of the 1st Special Forces Group out of Fort Lewis in Washington. That was the Army Special Operations
Command's unit assigned to back up the North Pacific Division of the Earth
Defence Force, which currently included H.M.C.S. Haida, U.S.S. Arizona,
the Japanese Starship Yamato, the Republic of Korea Starship Paekbom,
the People's Republic of China Starship Zhèng Hé – those three being Haida's
sister Type One battleship/carriers – and the Republic of China Starship Dàdù,
the Korean People's Navy Starship Mong'yang and the Mongolian Armed
Forces Starship Damdin Sükhbaatar, all Metzada-class Type Two space
destroyers.

Much to my surprise, I even
got what was called in the British Army a "batman."

Though I'd hardly call
Sergeant First Class Sarah "Sally" Cramer a mere "batman."

* *
*

"Never thought you'd see
girl in green berets, Colonel?" she asked me when we first met after I had
finished my breakfast, reviewed updates from Eimi and got dressed.

"Personally, no,
Sarge. Unless they're Canadian and wear
Army green as their normal uniform type," I admitted as I enjoyed a second
cup of tea brought fresh from Seina. We
were meeting in my quarters after Hiromi and Takara headed off to look in on
their kids. "You're an Avalonian,
but your soul is much older than the girls here."

"I was born Terran,
sir," Sally stated with an accepting nod; no doubt, she had been fully
briefed on my powers before coming here.
"In the local lingo, I'm a 'Terran-turned-Avalonian' like the
Director's lovers and a lot of her friends.
The Director as well in her own way." She wriggled the fingers on her hand; in the
other hand was a cub of Starbucks' finest in a travel mug as she didn't really
care for Tim Hortons. As I didn't see
myself as much of a tea snob, I didn't care what sort of tea I got as long as
it was drinkable. "Got my new body
about a half-year ago after I got my second rocker." That was the second curved stripe that formed
a "rocker" under the three chevrons that marked her as a
sergeant. "It was a good thing,
too. Getting psychic powers actually
helps make things go a lot easier with some of our co-workers."

I nodded. "Who exactly?"

"The North Koreans; they
got a whole regiment – in their terms – from their Special Purpose Forces
assigned to back up the Mong'yang," she explained. "At first, it was pretty rough. Their current C-in-C isn't in the best of
health these days and he's getting antsy to provoke a few things with their
brethren south of the DMZ. Elder sisters
in that country, both in and out of the military, are working overtime to make
sure some dumb-ass doesn't screw something up and start a war." As I nodded – the Koreas were pretty much a
flashpoint in my universe, too; metahumans just made it all the more
interesting – she then smirked.
"But once a whole ton of them on their side got body-swaps and we
broke past the language barrier, it wasn't that hard. They know that once you're affiliated with
the EDF, all the bullshit about the Korean War and all the
capitalist-versus-communist nonsense ain't allowed. And to be frank with you, Colonel, having a
battalion of KPA SPF fighters at your back would be pretty good in a major
fire-fight. Not that we'd do that sort
of shit, of course."

I winked at her. "Leave it to the Rangers, you
mean."

A snort. "Yeah."

We both laughed; I had picked
up on many various inter-service rivalries in my years with Warriors
Alpha. "Sally, what do you think of
all this?" I then asked.

"The EDF, you
mean?" After I nodded, she
sighed. "We need it, Colonel. Even though the conspiracy theorists and all
that have been saying we've had UFOs showing up in the skies over the planet
since Roswell back in '47, what happened two years ago kinda smashed it into
our heads all in for us. Not to mention
the shit with the world's old being stolen by that space-taxi company right
after the Director's brother made the tag." As I perked on hearing that, she smiled. "It wasn't too much of a mess; local
magicals and the MIBs got it cleaned up real quick and the damage to the
wildlife and sensitive ecological zones was next to non-existent when it got
done." As I nodded on confirming
there were local magicals, she gazed at me.
I didn't feel any probe, but I could tell she was scanning me out. "How many planets do you think are
orbiting Sol?"

A shrug. "Nine." Everyone knew that!

A whistle. "How'd you guess?"

"It's common knowledge,
Sarge!"

She then laughed. "Well, you're right . . . but not in the
way you think!" she then said.
"Here's the order here:
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Nerio, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Pluto's considered a dwarf
planet; that got changed back in '06 when the egg-heads decided to change the
meaning of what a 'planet' actually is."
She winked. "Believe it or
not, Nerio is next to unknown to the common man on Earth."

I gaped. "What is it?"

"A planet of magicals,
Colonel. Physically, it's Mars' twin;
Nerio orbits about halfway between Mars and Earth, but in a phased plane of
normal existence. It's commonly known as
the Mundus Magicus." As I
gaped at her, she shrugged. "During
Arizona's 'official trials' last summer after she was commissioned, we
actually broke through the notice-me-not charms that protect the planet from
normal observation on Earth. Raised a
shit-storm in Washington until the Department of Magic had to step in to calm
the Navy brass down from raising Cain over the fact that there had been a whole
PLANET kept hidden from outside society."
As I laughed – and tried to imagine what sort of magical charms had to
be used to hide a whole PLANET of all things! – she smiled. "They're not bad folk. But they're like wand-wizards in the most
part; they just want to be left alone so they can brew their potions and make
spells . . . What?"

I just STARED at her for a
moment before I shook my head. "Um,
Sarge . . . "

"What is it,
Colonel?"

"Is there a Hogwarts in
this dimension?"

A nod. "Yeah.
British wand-wizard middle-and-high school in Scotland. Why?"

I tried not to pass out on
hearing THAT . . .

* *
*

Local Date and time: Monday 10 May 2011, 11:23 AM EDT
Location: H.M.C.S. Haida, Deck 12 Main Hull,
Ship's Central Computer Room,

I couldn't believe it.

There was a Hogwarts –
and yes, a Beauxbâtons and Durmstrang – in this dimension.

Unlike the Hogwarts I had
served as D.A.D.A. teacher for – this was back in 1995-96 in that universe –
the Hogwarts on Hiromi's Earth wasn't alone in offering places to study for
budding magicals in the United Kingdom.
In Wales, there was a school called the Merdiana Magical Academy, which
taught a different style of magic than the wand-using type that went to
Scotland to learn. While Hogwarts normally
recruited from fully "native" magical users, Merdiana normally took
in students who had some sort of blood-relationship with Nerio – believed to
have been formed separately when a meteorite had slammed into Mars millions of
years ago to create a whole separate planet with a viable atmosphere that could
support life – or didn't care too much for the local magical ministry's laws
and regulations over how they practiced their craft. Yes, there was an International Statute of
Wizarding Secrecy here as well, but the equivalent of the International
Confederation of Wizards in this universe was a diverse "International
Conference of Magical Communities" that acknowledged that Magic was a
different thing between users as people were different from each other . . .
and that it simply didn't make sense to enforce ONE set of magical rules over
everyone blessed with that power.

Just as surprising to me was
the fact that there was a Harry Potter in this universe.

Unlike the Harry I had taught
and helped when it came to dealing with Voldemort, the Harry here got help from
a Merdiana alumni named Nekane Springfield, the niece of a famous wizard
nicknamed the "Thousand Master," a guy who was seen as a major hero
on Nerio for stopping a genocidal bastard called Fate Averruncus some years
ago. Since the local Voldemort was seen
as very bad news for magicals regardless of stripe, the I.C.M.C. gave Nekane
freedom to ignore some old laws that forbade her type of sorceress from
interfering with the affairs of wizards loyal to the British Ministry of Magic
. . . and after she helped Harry discover his own type of wandless magic, the
whole mess with Tom Riddle's horcruxi got cleaned up in the summer after
Harry's sixth year, just right after Albus Dumbledore died as a victim to traps
Riddle had been put on one of his soul-jars.
Once Voldemort was made mortal, he was put down in a quick duel; the
actual "Battle of Hogwarts" as the Ministry of Magic called it –
according to a report made by the Canadian Ministry of Magical Affairs on the
matter which was copied into Haida's computer banks – lasted about ten
minutes after Harry finally dropped Riddle.

These days, Nekane served as
beginner magical teacher at Merdiana – unlike Hogwarts, freshmen at Merdiana
could be of any age, even young kids; noting that, I was reminded of the
Collegium in Valdemar, which welcomed in new apprentices as soon as they
started showing signs of any metagift – and Harry was now the Director of the
Department of Magical Law Enforcement for the British Ministry of Magic. He was also, much to my surprise, married to
TWO old classmates from Hogwarts given he was also the direct heir of not just
his family but Sirius Black's family, which gave him two family seats in the
Wizengamot. His wives were Mandy
Brocklehurst from Ravenclaw (now the Lady Potter) and Pansy Parkinson of
Slytherin (now the Lady Black). As for
Harry's best friends, Hermione Granger also worked for the DMLE while Ron
Weasley was a player for the Chudley Cannons quidditch team . . . which, after
Tom Riddle finally became room temperature, broke their endless losing streak
and became league champions.

Go figure . . .

* *
*

After getting the chance to
read over about the local version of the Boy-Who-Lived – and the
"Man-Who-Won" as he was called these days, though I personally bet
that Harry didn't care for those titles – I decided to spend as much time as I
could getting a clear readout of the whole metahuman situation on this planet.

After several hours reading
and talking about same with Sally Cramer and Petty Officer 1st Class Joan
Mercer – Haida's senior intelligence operator – I had no choice but to
conclude this Earth had been on the cusp of the same type of metahuman
explosion my Earth experienced in the late 1920s . . . and from roughly the
same time period, given the first reported appearance of "mystery
men" in America in the late 1930s here.
But for some reason – despite a number of metas possessing a wide gamut
of gifts from the physical to the psionic to energy manipulators to arch-mage
type sorceresses and even the quasi-Celestial active in the Second World War –
there hadn't been an explosion of genetic mutations or people who had become
mutates since 1945.

Yeah, yeah, I know! Hiromi hates those words.

But this is a report for my
universe.

Besides, friends back home
would blink like owls on hearing phrases like "natural-born
metahuman" and "fate gifted metahuman" without understanding the
context.

Still, as I came to conclude
yesterday after I had met Takizawa Kaori and watched her talk with Eimi, the
Avalonians – as a technical "alien" race despite their wide
acceptance on Earth over the last year and more – were certainly going to stir
up the genetic pot big time with their allowing Terrans to become part of their
race as well as interbreeding with Terrans in the normal process of helping the
new generation come into this life.
Avalonians – though normally made in Terran-type pattern – also came as
Niphentaxian-types, Noukiite-types, Urusian-types and other races as well, so
the mixture of genes that naturally developed on other worlds was going to make
something happen one day soon. And when
you factored in the magical societies on this Earth with their own wide gamut
of beings – seeing the various Nerioite humanoid "therianthrope"
species in the file about the "Magical World" in Haida's
databank just made me blink – the size of the metahuman explosion when it
finally came would be HUGE.

* *
*

"What would trigger this
sort of thing?" Joan had asked at the end of it.

"Could be
anything," I noted. "What
really launched things in my universe was the use of atomic weapons and how
radiation began to play games with people's DNA."

"That happened here, but
it never caused anything save for the standard radiation sickness cases for
those who were too close to the damned things," Sally noted.

"The Steel Angels,
maybe?" Joan wondered.

I blinked. "Who are the Steel Angels?"

Both girls looked at each
other, and then they smiled, which made me wince.

What the hell was THIS all
about?!

* *
*

Local Date and time: Tuesday 11 May 2011, 12:23 AM JST
Location: Somewhere in Sapporo-shi,
Ishikari-shinkokyoku, Hokkaido, Japan,

"Damn her . .
.!"

The shivering form that had
just appeared in the rolling hills to the west of the downtown core of Japan's
fourth largest city could only snarl as she found herself in a place of solid
blackness all around her. As her eyes
slowly – too slowly for her own desires – adjusted to the dark night around
her, she slowly picked herself up from the soft ground she had dropped a metre
down from her beam-in point to smash into, and then she moved to make a quick
inspection of her body to ensure she didn't endure any wounds from that
fall. After a few minutes, she then
breathed out.

"Safe . . .!"

For now, she knew.

The creature that was coming
after her had warned her that coming back to this time and place would only
result in her death. And the death of
the One that had helped her.

Not that the stupid animated
corpse would really understand that, of course.

A litany of vile curses in
classical Kyotos-accented Yehisrite streamed out from the newcomer's lips as
she brought down the malefactions of all the gods on the heart and soul of that
damned undead bitch – who had a POWER JEWEL of all things; how in God's name
did she acquire something like THAT?! – that had chased her off Sagussa after
she had tried to wipe out those accursed daishi'cha all those years
ago. Taking several minutes to vent out
her continued anger towards the beast that had stopped her from ensuring the
Fifth Republic would NEVER truly rise, the newcomer then relaxed herself as she
took in several deep gulps of air before she crouched down.

Damn!

It had been a sheer miracle
in and of itself that she had been able to nursemaid the ancient warp-sloop she
had stolen to Earth so she could finally deal with the problem that had sent
her hundreds of years back in time in the first place.

Thinking of what had put her
onto this quest, she then moaned.

"My babies . . .!"

Her beloved children.

Dead at the hands of that
woman who had effectively destroyed her life.

Long BEFORE she had ever
known that planet outside the galaxy had ever existed!

The woman who had taken away
her first true love . . .

The woman who had BONDED that
wonderful man to an ONI of all things . . .!

The woman who then came back
and tore that man away from her grasp . . .!

And for WHAT?!

To bring back a dustbowl
of a planet wrecked in a five-century war to LIFE?!

Was it even possible . . .?

Thinking of that, she
shuddered.

No.

It wouldn't happen.

Not this time!

One way or another, the
so-called "grand design" was going to be derailed!

One way or another, her man
was going to be free.

One way or another, those who
hurt her . . .

Who took her babies away from
her . . .

Who killed her people . . .

THEY ALL WOULD PAY!

She then tensed on hearing
the growl of a VERY empty stomach echo through her body.

"Food . . . "

With that, she made her way
towards the glow of city lights to the east . . .

* *
*

Somewhere, a different
dimension,

"You take enormous
risk."

"It's worth
taking."

"To draw HIS wrath on
you? And in HIS chosen domain?!"

A snort. "He really doesn't care for what
happens to mortals. They all – if He is
to be believed – will come to Him eventually, so the 'when' really doesn't
matter!"

"Are you sure?"

That made the Bringer of
Balance pause. "What do you
know?"

"He has chosen a mortal
avatar."

A laugh. "The Moroboshi boy? He's nothing deep down. A coward, an idiot and he's enslaved to his
loins. Even his marriage to the Oni
didn't change that!"

"Don't let your current
avatar's inner beliefs influence you."

"It is the
truth! How could he accept becoming the
'first father' of that new race that was planned to arise on His planet without
being enslaved to his loins?"

"And the Daughter of
Gaia? Do you not know of her."

"Feh! Lies!
That thing is no better than a robot . . . "

"You haven't been
looking upon the Earth your avatar now has landed on, have you?"

"There's no
change!"

"Don't be too sure about
that . . . "

* *
*

Local Date and time: Monday 10 May 2011, 7:26 PM MSK
Location: A hidden hill east of Goroda Rjazán',
Rjazanskaja Oblast', Russia,

"Foolish . . . simply
foolish."

An emotionless smirk crossed
Vladímir Tayceško's face.

"And that will destroy
them both in the end . . . "

* *
*

Local Date and time: Tuesday 11 May 2011, 12:29 AM JST
Location: An empty lot in Tomobiki-cho, Nishitokyo-shi,
Tokyo-to, Japan,

The man born Sakurambo Hayao
– known more commonly as "Cherry" these days – perked as a very
subtle flow of disquiet surged into his old body.

As the elderly Jodo-shu monk
stood up from the ground of the abandoned lot located about three blocks from
the Moroboshi home, he turned to gaze at the clear night sky ahead. Personally grateful to the many Avalonians
who had begun using their expertise to start clearing the air pollution that
had accumulated over the Home Islands in the last hundred years – even now,
only fifteen months since the Avalonians had arrived on Earth, the skies over
metropolitan Tokyo were cleaner than he had seen in decades – so he could gaze
upon the stars and try to divine what he had sensed just now from them.

"Darkness . . .
vengeance . . . for what?"

Humming, Cherry moved to
retrieve his cooking pot.

This required further
divination . . .

* *
*

Local Date and time: Monday 10 May 2011, 12:02 PM EDT
Location: H.M.C.S. Haida, Deck 12 Main Hull,
Ship's Central Computer Room,

I had to take a few minutes
to absorb what I had just read.

When I did, though . . .

Oh, my dear God . . .!

"They're magical gynoids?!"

"They were," Joan
Mercer answered me. Sally had gone off
to fetch some tea for us before we would hit Haida's chief and petty
officer's mess for a late lunch; even if I was an officer by Canadian military
custom, I had told Brian Gamblin that I didn't mind eating with the lower ranks
if the situation demanded it. "Shortly
after she got her own body, Lady Negako got people to do some research on how
to shift the souls of the Steel Angels into fully organic bodies – while
allowing them to keep their powers – to fulfil a promise she and Major Raeburn
had made to them when they all shut themselves down in 1937 and had their
bodies stashed away to ensure they wouldn't be asked to kill anyone in World
War Two. Or afterward." As I nodded, she sighed. "It all got done by last August. Lady Negako was reunited with Miss Shichinohe,
those of the Angels who wanted to go back into being serving members of the
worlds' militaries got their commissions reactivated and they were back into
service and the others were allowed to get on with their lives." A shake of the head. "None of the one built to represent
Canada in the 'Steel Angel Wars' in the 1920s have come back into
service."

"And they're not
persecuted for it?" I asked.

"Of course not,"
Joan stated. "World War Two was bad
enough even with the limited metahuman involvement centred on the War Hawks and
the other groups that were active at the time.
If the Steel Angels had been forced to kill normal people . . . "

I nodded as I took that in,
and then I gazed on the image of one Ayanokoji Hakushi.

This universe's technomage
equivalent to Sylia Stingray's father Katsuhito.

The man who took magic and
technology – with a heavy dose of benign necromancy and a few things even I
had trouble identifying . . . and had the backing of military forces (still
haunted with the images of four years of sheer slaughter in World War One) and
the support of a lot of very radical magical thinkers – to create the Steel
Angels.

An honest-to-goodness RACE of
magical combat gynoids.

Unlike the boomers I had run
into in Megatokyo in 2037 – which could be mass produced within the limits of
the local base-line tech once Genom eliminated Sylia Stingray's father and
"acquired" his patents for their use – the Steel Angels, given their
magical origin and the mesonium-based Angel Heart power system that gave them
true life, couldn't be made at a whim.
It required materials that weren't available to the common man – or the
common industrial company – which ensured their construction could only be
executed by the world's various military forces and other government agencies,
backed up by advanced magical research teams working for local magical
ministries. All of this was coordinated
by the Academy of Advanced Sciences, which was based in Japan even if it was a
League of Nations-mandated organisation; it was called that to ensure that the
world "magic" didn't get out too openly and make the International
Conference of Magical Communities upset at this unusual mixing of magical and
"muggle" technology.

And given what I had just
read about how these girls came into being . . .

. . . I had to admit that in
so many ways, Ayanokoji was Stingray's superior.

Even more, Ayanokoji enjoyed
a lot better luck than Sylia's dad ever did.

Despite his military backers'
desire to create the perfect soldier that could take over from mere
flesh-and-blood beings that could be poisoned by mustard gas or ripped apart by
machine gun bullets, Ayanokoji Hakushi elected at the start to create girls who
– atop being powerful warriors that could easily fight most of MY friends to a
standstill if required – had hearts and souls . . . and the
emotions to express them.

Save in physical body, they
were as human as one born of a mother's womb.

And in the period of the
Roaring Twenties – with the revulsion against conflict that the mass slaughter
of the "War to End All Wars" had invoked in so many – the Steel
Angels were seen as living symbols of hope and peace in an uncertain age.

Even the so-called
"Steel Angel War" in 1924 really didn't do anything to change that.

After reading the results of
that fight, it was easy for me to conclude.

That "war" was
actually a glorified Olympic Games for gynoids.

Complete with a lot of
cheesecake, too!

Honestly!

Ripping flags off girl's panties
. . .?!

"So they sensed what was
about to come down on Earth in the mid-1930s with the Nazis and the Japanese
militarists," I stated. "When
they realised that war was pretty much inevitable – since such conflicted with
their basic programming to NEVER harm a human being if they could avoid it –
they asked Hiromi's sister and this Major Raeburn to deactivate them all and
hide their bodies in places where they couldn't be found and reactivated to be
used as front-line special troops. Much
less have all the knowledge that went into their creation wiped out given what
Grindelwald and this Tsukuyomi girl was unleashing on the magical side of
things at the same time, right?"

A nod. "Yes."

"Who is Major Raeburn
anyway?"

Joan chuckled. "That's one of our planet's first known
metahuman warriors, Colonel," she said.
"She was the leader of the War Hawks in World War Two."

I gaped at her . . .

* *
*

Local Date and time: Monday 10 May 2011, 12:18 PM EDT
Location: Cooks Mills, north of Canadian Forces Base
Niagara, Welland, Ontario,

"Hey, Laura. Got some coffee?"

Gasping on hearing that
familiar voice from the main door to her personal café, which was located on
the corner of Lyons Creek Road and Doan's Ridge Road before the latter crossed
the creek and entered the base grounds proper, Laura Evans (Captain, Royal
Canadian Artillery, retired) spun around before she smirked on seeing the woman
now standing close to her cashier.
"Dean Raeburn! As I live and
breathe!" the Steel Angel-turned-Avalonian field artillery
officer-turned-coffee shop owner and unofficial guardian of all the people
working at Canadian Forces Base Niagara exclaimed before she beckoned the
newcomer over to a chair by the counter.
"Your usual, I take it?"

"Yep," Dean said as
she moved to reach into her jacket to draw out one of her Dutch Masters Honey
Sports cigars . . . and then she stopped as she remembered that smoking indoors
in a public restaurant had been outlawed in Ontario years ago. Health Nazis! the retired air cavalry
pilot and Earth's Jewel Warrior mused to herself as Laura came over with her
preferred cup of Navy brew – with a pinch of sea salt – topped with two creams
and two sugars in a mug. "Thanks. Noted what's happened here recently?"

"Ah, yes. Our visitor from another universe. Metahuman sorcerer by the feel of him when he
showed up on the ranges yesterday afternoon," Laura – who, like all Steel
Angels, was an exceptionally beautiful woman, possessing close-cropped curly red-brown
hair and dark brown eyes on a very pretty face – noted as she gave the other
woman a knowing look. "Currently up
in space aboard Haida. Hiromi's
people got to him."

"Which is good. Less work for us to deal with."

"True. So what are you doing here anyway?"

"Vlad advised me to keep
an eye on things." A wink. "In his own unique way."

Laura blinked. "Something that interested HIM?!"

"I know. The guy on Haida now got dragged into
our universe thanks to that kid over in Japan who got hold of one of the
earlier Sagussan haijo-ju marks when her soul got yanked from another
timeline with all her friends by a would-be 'master' on Phentax
Twelve." As Laura scowled on
hearing that – though she was nodding as she recalled where she had heard about
that person before – Dean sipped her coffee.
"Turns out our visitor's been busy causing quite big ruckuses in
other universes. Nothing that we'd
consider objectionable, of course. He's
a typical 'serve the people' type deep down.
Paramilitary, full army colonel, sanctioned by the U.N. there, who
fights in a team of metas that includes a young goddess Vlad and I saved some
years ago."

The other woman nodded. "Sees something wrong, goes out to fix
it."

"And repeat multiple
time. And while he was doing that, some
'holier-than-thous' got pissed off because he was upsetting too many
celestials' apple carts. Had a slew of
nasties about to make him cash in his dog tags before Mizuho got him."

Laura tensed. "Is there a threat?"

A shake of the head. "Nothing clear at the time." A smirk.
"You know how it is with Vlad." As Laura laughed, Dean sighed. "If it was a real threat,
he'd tell me."

The former Steel Angel
nodded. Given what Dean currently
possessed and had be bound since 1889, calling her down on the
head of whatever it was that was out to kill one Douglas Q. Sangnoir – Brian
Gamblin had visited her café on his way in to work and gave her a briefing via
a folded piece of paper; even if Laura was retired from full-time service in
the Regiment of Royal Canadian Artillery and was only seen as a reservist only
to be recalled to duty at time of general mobilisation, deeply-set
"programming" that had been etched with soul-magic in her Angel Heart
when she was first activated back in 1922 still dominated her life – was a
literal case of unleashing an atomic bomb to get rid of a rat
infestation. Dean was no Celestial
by any shake of the imagination – the bond between a Power Jewel and its Host
never went anywhere close to that type of linkage between the
mortal and the Divine . . . and the Seekers who had created the Jewels three
billion years ago had disappeared from Existence itself, having not been seen
since even if the artefacts of their existence endured to this day – but she
could kill one if required. And probably
had done so several times in World War Two whenever Axis mystics got a little
too out of hand with summoning rituals.

Thank the Creator none of us were ever active in
that time period, Laura then mused.

To actually consort with
THOSE type of disgusting things . . .!

Ugh! No thank you!

"So you're just here to
keep a loose eye on things," Laura noted.

"Yeah."

"I'll get the guest room
ready."

"Thanks . . . "

* *
*

Local Date and time: Monday 10 May 2011, 12:23 PM EDT
Location: H.M.C.S. Haida, Deck 12 Main Hull,
Ship's Central Computer Room,

There are many things about
my visit to Megatokyo in 2037 I hated.

There are many things about
that visit I fondly remembered.

Lisa Vanette's reference to
superheroes, of course.

Given the history of one
Major Deannette A. Raeburn of the Canadian Army . . .

. . . calling her THAT would
probably be seen as quite an insult by the woman.

There was nothing – as she
told friends time and time again during those six dark years that humanity was
exposed to world-wide warfare for the first time – that she had done from the
Battle of Britain to the Battle of the Gates of Nurmengard and the final battle
between her War Hawks and the Übermenschen Gruppe over the waters of Lake
Ontario after VJ Day that she could ever want to view as really heroic.

In her eyes, she did nothing
to earn those THREE Victoria Crosses she was given.

No.

To the very end, Dean Raeburn
saw herself first and foremost as a soldier.

An air cavalry pilot for the
10th Saskatchewan Cavalry Regiment (Air) for the first three years before she
was reassigned by Army Headquarters to form the 1st Canadian Specialised
Warfare Unit – the War Hawks – with an Royal Canaidan Air Force Women's
Division officer named Flight Officer Jessica Dover (who had been gifted with
the power of an honest-to-goodness Slavic žar-ptíca that didn't mind
severing the bonds between mortal avatars and whatever Celestial-like being was
possessing them), a Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service officer named Second
Officer Heather Thompkins (an arch-mage sorceress who was mostly self-taught
born from a normal couple that was more than willing to fight either the Nazis
or Grindelwald), and a Royal Canadian Mounted Police patrol officer named
Staff-Sergeant Martin Larsden (who had been blessed by a Mi'kmaq shaman after
he had saved the fellow's life in the mid-1930s to make him the perfect hunter
of men in civilian life . . . and by extension, the perfect sniper in warfare).

A soldier – No! Excuse me!
FOUR soldiers! – of the Greatest Generation who gladly volunteered to do
whatever work had to be done to put down evil.

And in my eyes, she was a
hero by every extent of the term.

The Major never liked being
asked to kill people.

She sure as hell didn't like
the idea of using her gift – which came wrapped up in a three billion year old
piece of cosmically-powered crystal that she wore as a necklace around her
neck; influenced by local comic books at the time and a character named
"Captain Marvel," she used her Power Jewel to infuse typical
FISS-type powers for herself when she went into action, ensuring she was also
invulnerable to any sort of magical or psionic attack – and the martial arts
she had learned under Hozan Hirosuke before World War Two to stomp down on
normal soldiers and enemy metahuman warriors alike as a way of delivering a
vicious psychological blow on the Axis.

Hell, that prompted her in
1942 – after she discovered the Nazi's Final Solution after stumbling onto Konzentrationslager
Auschwitz when it was about to kick into high gear – to plan an operation
to take out Hitler and all his cronies in a three-day search-and-assassinate
mission she called "Phoenix Thunder" to bring the war to an end.

Get it done right away and
send the boys home.

Put a stop to all the things
like "strategic bombing" and the like.

Put a human face back on what
was the worst show of inhumanity in human history.

Why the Allied leaders DIDN'T
take her up on that, the Major NEVER understood!

Even with Hitler being allied
with Gellert Grindelwald as Albus Dumbledore's old lover was pursuing his own
maniac vision to unleash the "greater good" for magicals and mundanes
alike, the Major could have pulled it off with literal ease.

All the targets were damned
crunchies, anyway!

It would have been so easy .
. .

Noting that, I had to sigh.

It was easy for me to
understand why they said "no."

Phoenix Thunder – for all its
wonderful simplicity and its bold vision for a world at peace – was just way too
radical in the eyes of people like Roosevelt and Churchill.

They were used to armies
marching in the field.

Metahumans were too radical a
concept for world leaders to take.

And while she could have
disobeyed, the Major always understood one thing.

Girl with a cosmic jewel or
not, she was still a soldier.

And thus duty-bound to obey
higher authority.

She had made an oath.

She was honour-bound to keep
the oath.

Even if she didn't like some
of the orders she had got.

Even if she and her friends
were ordered to home defence duty for the rest of the war.

Even if she probably cried
when the casualty lists came in every day . . .

Yeah.

A real hero.

At least the Canadian Army
let her go her own way in 1954 when she wanted to pull the pin, put what she
had dealt with from 1939 to 1945 into the back of her mind, then get on with
her life . . . which she did by going into SPACE, finding other people who had
become Jewel Warriors like her and teaching them the tricks of the trade.

Thank God for that . . .

Note to self: Research these Power Jewels.

Are they the same as Mizuho's
staff?

If so, why?

If not, what's the
difference?

* *
*

"Sad reading, isn't
it?" Joan asked.

I smiled. Sally had come back with tea and some light
sandwiches made by Yamaguchi Seina, no doubt to make sure that when we broke
for a time and enjoyed lunch in the mess, our appetites wouldn't be ruined. "I think she would have been at home in
the Warriors," I said. "She
understood why metas are so feared at times."

"It's like that in your
universe?" Haida's chief intelligence operator wondered.

A nod. "Yeah.
We all strive to make things easy between normals and metahumans and
aliens and all the various artificial intelligences and all that . . . but now
that I think about it, there always has been a little tension, especially from
normals. The whole jealously factor
about all the things we can do that others can't. My own parents never really accepted that I
was a mutant." I didn't catch
myself in time, but Joan waved it off.
"So given this was World War Two – after millions of people had
died – and given how powerful this woman could potentially be . . . "

"She made an oath on a
Bible when she elected to fly with the Saskatchewans," she said. "'I, Deannette Antonia Raeburn, do swear
that I will well and truly serve Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth the Second, Queen
of Canada, Her Heirs and Successors according to law, in the Canadian Forces
until lawfully released. I will resist
Her Majesty's Enemies and ensure Her Majesty's Peace will be kept and
maintained. I will, in all matters
pertaining to my service, faithfully discharge my duty as issued by lawful
authority placed over me in the name of Her Majesty. So help me God.'" Joan smiled.
"Well, it would have been to King George VI when she swore it, but
it's the same idea."

A nod. "A real hero."

"No. A real soldier. One who knew what she could do . . . but also
knew that she was probably the only one who could actually do
it." Joan waved to the computer
terminal I had been using to skim through Haida's Tapestry to learn more
about the leader of the War Hawks.
"And was it really her responsibility in the end to shoulder the
burden of the whole damned war by herself?
And even if she did do it, what then?
If she went too far without stopping herself, she would actually make
those she was trying to protect actually FEAR her." As I gaped at her, she smiled. "C'mon, you know this! Humans are funny that way, Colonel. Yeah, the Major could've put a full stop to
World War Two over three years earlier.
Why it wasn't allowed?" A
shrug. "I really can't say,
Colonel. Maybe because the hate and fear
and anger and ambition that set off that war were just too great even for the
'protector of all life' . . . " – she made finger-quotes on saying that –
" . . . to go out and deal with on her lonesome."

"Too many cooks with
their hands in the broth making too much of a mess," Sally noted before
taking a sandwich slice and nibbling on it.
"And when the mess go too big, everyone had to go in to clean it
up. With their own ideas on how to do
it."

I hummed. "Is that why Mizuho isn't a part of the
EDF?"

Both senior NCOs before me
blinked before nodded. "The Inada
girl?" Joan asked. "Of
course. Sure, that Staff of hers can
seriously help her kick anyone's butt if she wanted to do that . . . but she's
went through Hell to get here, Colonel.
Go read the manga Battle Royale in the ship's library to see what
I'm talking about. To force her to serve
with us just wouldn't be right. She
deserves a normal life."

"Besides, if she's
needed, she probably would volunteer to help," Sally added. "Look what she did for you when you got
pulled here, Colonel."

I blinked, and then
sighed. "Right . . . "

* *
*

Local Date and time: Monday 10 May 2011, 12:52 PM EDT
Location: H.M.C.S. Haida, Deck A12 Aft, Flag
Officer's Level,

"Enter!"

"You busy right now,
Hiromi?"

Hiromi perked on hearing that
voice, and then she smiled. "Come
in, Doug-san!"

The door opened to reveal a
dashing man with strawberry-blonde hair – said hair being a little bit longer
than what would normally be accepted in the Army of the United States of
America, but few might notice from a distance and all aboard Haida at
the time wouldn't really care – and very deep blue eyes. He was dressed in Army Class "B"
service uniform, looking quite proper despite the medals and decorations there
not even coming close to reflect his true experiences. Shortcuts, however, had to be made as the
chances of someone who might question the presence of an unknown civilian
aboard the UNEDF flagship at this time were still quite strong. As soon as her ship's current visitor could
determine his proper needs and a potential time frame for his eventual
departure – hopefully! – to his home dimension was determined, things would
change.

"So how can I help you
in thanks for sparing me from having my brain brutalised by calculus?"
Hiromi then asked as she gazed gratefully at Doug.

The older man perked. "Calculus? What type?"

"I still empathically
don't know, to be frank with you," the reborn emperor of the Latter Hàn
mused as she set aside her books.
"I can use the break for a bit.
Much that I am perversely grateful for being freed from boring lectures,
being forced to study practically on my own does have its downfalls as
well." She then blinked. "You seem very bothered by
something. Did you discover something
bad?"

"No, but I am
concerned," Doug admitted as he sat down beside her, taking a second to
scan over the calculus formulae written there and nodding. "Same as my universe." As Hiromi chuckled, he sighed. "It's about Inada Mizuho. And her friend."

"The Staff of the mad
scientist Gihan, you mean."

"Yeah. How's your sister teaching her how to use
that thing?"

"Trial and error . . .
within reason, Doug-san," she answered.
"One-sama has always been of the opinion that students best learn
from their mistakes. To do anything to
deny a person the right to make their own decisions – even the wrong ones –
would hurt more than help in the long term as she sees it." A sigh.
"While understanding that Mizuho-san might do something harmful if
something happens to make her lose control of herself and the Staff, One-sama
does allow her to explore the Staff's capabilities on her own. Only giving her the guidance when she needs
it . . . as witness what happened when she wanted to bring your wife here to
join you." As Doug nodded in
understanding, the director of the UNEDF sighed. "It's not a perfect system, but it does
work."

"I could give her some
better training," he then offered.

Her eyebrow arched, and then
she nodded. "True. Well, let's go ask One-sama . . . "

"You need not call for
me, Hiromi. I am here."

Doug screamed out at the
closeness of that voice, spinning around . . .

. . . to find himself staring
face-to-face with a woman in her early twenties who looked like she was
Hiromi's elder sister . . . save for a fuller head of wavy brown hair that was
still cut to a taper at the neck and eyes that were nearly pitch-black up
close. She was also dressed in a black
martial arts gi with a black belt on her waist, said gi having a gold ? kanji written at the end of the
belt.

"ONE-SAMA!"
Hiromi screamed out. Why does she
keep doing this?!

As
Doug took several deep breaths to calm himself, the newcomer gazed at him for a
moment before she nodded. "Yes,
Douglas . . . you will do quite well."

The
traveller from another Earth gulped on hearing that cold voice . . .

* *
*

Local
Date and time: Monday 10 May 2011, 12:55
PM EDT
Location: Cooks Mills, north of Canadian Forces Base
Niagara, Welland, Ontario,

"Damn
. . . she nails EVERYONE with that trick of hers."

"What
was that, Dean?" Laura Evans asked.

Dean
Raeburn smirked. "Private joke,
Laurie . . . "

The
Steel Angel hummed . . .

* *
*

Local
Date and time: Monday 10 May 2011, 12:58
PM EDT
Location: H.M.C.S. Haida, Deck A12 Aft, Flag
Officer's Level,

"HONESTLY,
One-sama! Why do you keep DOING this to
people?!"

No,
I was not scared!

No,
sir! I wasn't scared at all!

She
just surprised me!

That's
it!

"Coming
in ki-cloaked like you always do to scare people out of their minds . .
.!"

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeell
. . .

Okay! Okay!
You got me!

She
DID scare me!

But
hell!

Could
you blame a guy like me?!

"Not
caring at all that they might actually like to be treated kindly . . .!"

I'd
like to think that I am an experienced and well-trained metahuman warrior.

And
in truth – with no false modesty – I am well-trained and
experienced.

But
DAMN . . .!

Nothing
I had ever encountered in all my years prepared me for THIS woman!

Or
was she . . .?

"You
have no sense of tact whatsoever! No
respect for people's feelings . . .!"

I
focused my mage-sight on what I had to assume was Hiromi's sister Negako.

The
result . . .

OH
– MY – DEAR – GOD!

Shit! No WONDER people tended to think of this
woman as a goddess brought to Earth!

With
that mana node of power – or WHATEVER it was! – infused into each
and every one of her cells . . .!

Never
mind the knowledge and battle skills I sensed she had.

She
was like a living LIBRARY of battle knowledge forced into the body of a
twenty-something girl from Japan!

No
one I knew of was anything CLOSE to what this woman was like!

Who
on Earth would . . .?

"Are
you quite finished, Hiromi?"

Both
Hiromi and I jolted on hearing Negako's question. As I looked on the newcomer's face with my
own eyes, I was quick to sense the flash of annoyance there. "One-sama no baka . . .!" my host
then spat out before she turned to get back to her homework.

As
I gazed on Hiromi as she moved to sulk, I then felt Negako's dark eyes focus on
me for a moment. "Come,
Douglas," she bade. "Hiromi
once again refuses to allow herself to properly see what people are truly
like." As I heard a hurt snarl from
Hiromi, I was quick to sense the bare fleck of a smile cross her sister's
face. "You have expressed concern
with Mizuho and her being bonded to the Staff of Gihan. Despite all my knowledge and experience,
there are things concerning that type of device I cannot properly teach
her. Your experience with metahumans of
various types will be of great benefit to her.
We will discuss this matter over lunch.
Follow me."

I
felt my legs move to her command before I could think to do what she asked.

Damn!

What
the HELL was I getting myself into here . . .?!

To be continued . . .

WRITER'S
NOTES:

1) For those not familiar with the way I named
the Ikkitosen characters in Phoenix From the Ashes and its
companion stories, I took the kun'yomi ("meaning reading")
sounds from the kanji that went into the Chinese name of the toshi in question
(their names in the anime and manga are based on the on'yomi
["sound reading"] interpretations of the original names), then gave
it standard Japanese add-ons such as the "-ko" ending for a girl's
name to make it sound realistic. The
result of which can be seen below:

Koro
Sonami
Original
name: Liú Bèi (style name: Xuándé)
Battle-name: Ryubi Gentoku

Tsukasa
Torusuke
Original
name: Cáo Cao (style name: Mèngdé)
Battle-name: Soso Motoku

Tsukasame
Yoiko
Original
name: Sima Yì (style name: Zhòngdá)
Battle-name: Shiba'i Chutatsu

Koeru
Kumomi
Original
name: Zhào Yún (style name: Zilóng)
Battle-name: Choun Shiryu

Kokoni
Kichimi
Original
name: Yú Jí
Battle-name: Ukitsu

Futoshi
Itsuku
Original
name: Tàishi Cí (style name: Ziyì)
Battle-name: Taishiji Shigi

Kashira
Emi
Original
name: Mèng Huò
Battle-name: Mokaku

Mago
Tsueko
Original
name: Sun Cè (style name: Bófú)
Battle-name: Sonsaku Hakufu

Izuku
Mioko
Original
name: Hé Xìxing (posthumous name: Língsi)
Battle-name: Kamikyo Reishi
The
name "Kataiko" is the Japanese way of saying "Dowager
Empress Hé"

Sumai
Takara
Original
name: Sòng Baofeng
Battle-name: Sohofu
The
name "Sokogo" is the Japanese way of saying "Empress
Sòng"

Wan
Miwaka
Original
name: Wáng Meiruò
Battle-name: Obijaku
The
name "Obijin" is the Japanese way of saying "Consort
Wáng"

Ki
Tsukihana
Original
name: Huáng Yuèying
Battle-name: Kogetsuei

Hakaru
Ayami
Original
name: Xún Yù (style name: Wénruò)
Battle-name: Jun'iku Bunjaku

And
of course:

Moroboshi
(née Koro) Hiromi
Original
name: Liú Hóng, (posthumous name: Xiàolíng)
Battle-name: Ryuko Kyorei
The
name "Reitei" is the Japanese way of saying "Emperor
Líng"

As
I did for Mioko's past-self, I created the given names for Takara's and
Miwaka's past-selves as such was never recorded in official records.

2) Translations and explanations:

Haoryu
– Dragon Overlord.

Nakodo
– Matchmaker between prospective marriage partners.

Goroda
Rjazán' – City of Ryazan.

Rjazanskaja
Oblast' – Ryazan Oblast

Haijo-ju
– Literally "voice of the people."

Cockpit
– Classical name for a ship's surgery suite.

CANEX
– Canadian Forces Exchange, the local military base shopping mall.

C-in-C
– Commander-in-Chief, military title for a nation's head-of-state.

Shinkokyoku
– Literally "promotion bureau," the official suffix title given to a
sub-prefecture, one of the several county-like divisions of Hokkaido. These sub-divisions are split into smaller
ones such as Ishikari and larger ones called sogoshinkokyoku (literally
"integrated promotion bureau").
The standard term for all the sub-prefectures of Hokkaido is shicho
(literally "government branch office").

Daishi'cha
– Literally "great first mother."

Jodo-shu – Literally "Pure Land
School," which is the primary Japanese Buddhist school of doctrine based
on the Amitabha Buddha, the Buddha of Infinite Light.

Žar-ptíca
– Literally "ember bird," the trickster spirit of Slavic myth.

FISS
– Acronym of "Flight, Invulnerability, Speed, Strength" as introduced
in the comic book series PS238, written and drawn by Aaron Williams.

Konzentrationslager
– Concentration Camp.

3) The Canadian Forces Decoration
(post-nominal letters CD) is the long-term service medal of the Canadian
military. One must have served
honourably (without any sort of non-paid time) in the Forces for twelve years
to get the CD. A bar clasp is added for
every 10 years additional service after the initial reward was given.

4) United Nations Earth Defence Force ship
namesakes for those ships yet to be properly introduced in the main stories:

The
Egyptian Naval Starship an-Nil (pendant SBBV-65) is named
after the Nile River, which flows through the heart of Egypt.

The
Royal Saudi Naval Starship Al Su'ud (SBBV-57) is named
after the founding royal family of modern Saudi Arabia.

The
Yemeni Republican Naval Starship al-Qasim al-Kabir (SBBV-30)
is named after a great imam of Yemen, Al-Mansur al-Qasim (1559-1620), who
fought for the country's independence against the Ottoman Turks.

The
Syrian Naval Starship Madinatul Yasmin (SBBV-13) is named
after a nickname of the city of Dimashq (Damascus), "the City of
Jasmine."

The
Republic of China Starship Dàdù (SDD-540) is named after
an ancient Taiwanese kingdom, known to outsiders as the Kingdom of Middag.

The
Korean People's Navy Starship Mong'yang (SDD-86) is named
in honour of Korean independance activist Yo Unhyong (1886-1947), who's
pen-name was "Mong'yang" (literally meaning "dreams of
light"). He also struggled for
unity of the peninsula after the country was effectively split apart in 1945 by
the Cold War.

The
Mongolian Armed Forces Starship Damdin Sükhbaatar (SDD-30)
is named in honour of a Mongolian independence fighter (who lived from
1893-1923) who struggled for the country's freedom from China in the 1920s
after the fall of the Qing Dynasty.

5) The loonie, of course, is the popular
nickname for the Canadian $1 coin.

6) Doug's encounter with Ted Logan and Bill
Preston was noted in the NanoSteps entries at the Drunkard's Walk
Discussion Board, in entry 102.

7) The Seekers and the Praetorians,
of course, were first introduced in my fan fiction story Wanderers. The Yizibajohei, of course, have
appeared in my writings at the Anime Add-venture, usually under the storyline The
Doctor Is In. The Noukiites,
of course, have been a somewhat mainstay of my writing since The Senior Year.

8) In real life, You're In The Army Now
was a comedy that starred Jimmy Durante and Phil Silvers that came out in
1941. It's also the name of a popular
marching song in the military. And I
just discovered through the wonders of YouTube that a song called In The
Army Now (originally written in 1981 by Rob and Ferdi Bolland of the
Netherlands) was released by the British band Status Quo in 1986,
serving as the cover song of the album of the same name. Naturally, Doug would know of this song.

9) Beret colours in the Canadian Armed Forces
run this way:

Rifle
Green – Army standard
Black
– Navy standard (called "Navy blue" there) and Royal Canadian
Armoured Corps
Sky
Blue – Air Force standard
Buff
Gold – Royal Canadian Corps of Air Cavalry
U.N.
Blue – Peacekeepers under U.N. control
Scarlet
– Canadian Forces Military Police
Maroon
– Airborne forces
Blaze
Orange – Search-and-rescue personnel (also called
"safety orange")
Terracotta
– Personnel serving with the Multinational Force and Observers based in the
Sinai Desert between Egypt and Israel as formed by the 1978 Camp David Accords
Tan
– Special Forces

In
the United States Army, black berets are standard headdress for service
personnel. The Green Berets (the U.S.
Army Special Forces) wear rifle green berets.
Airborne forces wear maroon berets.
And tan berets are worn by the U.S. Army Rangers.

10) I chose the name Nerio for the Mundus
Magicus from the Negima universe based on an ancient Roman war
goddess that personified personal valour and was seen as Mars' partner in
ancient offerings given to the gods before battle. I never liked Akamatsu-sensei's concept that
the Mundus Magicus actually IS Mars.

Been getting back into this classic game lately. Anyone else around who plays?
(Ironically, there are now -four- completely independent rules sets for it... SFB, FedCom, Klingon Armada, and A Call to Arms... pick your level of complexity, eh?)
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

There's only so much longer I can keep the computer I'm typing this onto running. I understand there have been a few advances since I got this machine - for one thing, they've gone beyond Windows 2000...

I have no idea how many cores are in a decent processor nowadays, or how fast they run.

Much like Miyuki in Lucky Star, I play Solitaire and Minesweeper... and I don't play very much Minesweeper. However, I am into 3D-modeling, and I understand there's a third-party add-on for Daz Studio that makes heavy use of the Nvidia chipset for rendering, so that's probably where I want to go with the graphics.

I'm not about to send my banking information over wi-fi, no matter how slim the chance is that it'd be intercepted, so a wired connection to my router is essential.

I run my software locally, not on the cloud from a Software-as-a-Service provider. Text-based Internet access (including Usenet and FTP) is a must. Being able to turn off all that Flash crap in the browser is a plus. (Chrome is right out - Google already knows too much about me as it is.)

While I'd prefer something faster than SATA for my hard drives, I don't want to break the bank (I need to save up for a big party next year) and I don't know whether anybody makes Fibre Channel drives for the desktop anyway, so this is a low-priority desire.

I'm not willing to pay the premium (or climb the learning curve) for a Mac.

What am I looking for?
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

...And that is Quick Stone, because he's quick to come to a decision and move on it and steadfast like stone.
Quick Stone had a pretty tragic childhood himself... but first a bit about the family tree, just so we're all on the same page.
Zeke and Quick are actually second-cousins, once removed through their Great Grandfather, the late Chief Stand Tall.  He had a number of sons, but the only two that survived to marry and have children were Dashing Bear (Zeke's Grandfather) and Cold Snow (Quick's Grandfather).  Cold Snow is pretty much what you would expect of someone gifted with such a name.  He's a cold man, petty and bureaucratic.  And on top of it all, he's prone to fits of rage.
Like his brother, Cold Snow only had one daughter, a girl named Soaring Fox.  The polar opposite of her old man, Soaring Fox was warm, helpful, and affectionate (and not a little bit sneaky and playful).  She married a fellow tribesman named Tall Rain.  Tall Rain is honestly as good of a man you could ever hope to meet.  He was widely regarded as a peacemaker in the tribe and it was rumored that he would soon take Cold Snow's place on the tribal counsel.
Quick Stone was born under auspices that lead a good deal of the tribal counsel (and, in particular, Cold Snow) to believe that he was the one that was prophesied to be the Avatar of Raven.  From day one, he was groomed as such.
But then, six years later, Ezekiel was born.  With the markings that he bore, it was utterly undeniable that it was Zeke who was Raven's chosen avatar, and not Quick Stone.
Cold Snow went blind with rage, and in a berserk fury he killed his daughter and son-in-law.  It was only quick thinking on the part of other tribesmen that Quick Stone at least was saved.  When the old man finally came to his senses, he was ashamed of what he had done.  It caused no small amount of controversy amongst the tribe, but it was decided that it would be enough to strip Cold Snow of his Counsel status.  It was considered that the pain of knowing he killed his family was considered to be punishment enough.  In time, he was even granted permission to spend time with his Grandson, though only when supervised (fortunately, the child had not witnesses the violent deaths of his parents).
Even so, Cold Snow was not one to give his approval lightly.  He would constantly challenge his grandson to forge himself into a better man until he had no equal.  Quick Stone took this to heart and set about aiming to become the tribe's next shaman.  Under normal circumstances this would likely have been Zeke, but since he had another calling it would fall to Quick Stone instead.
Zeke himself was no stranger to the tribe by any stretch.  His ability to hide had eventually earned him his own name amongst the tribesmen: Hidden Leaf.
Quick Stone had been quick to study under his Great Uncle Dashing Bear, and it helped that he had several years on Zeke.  However, when Zeke was placed under Quick Stone's tutelage (in part because Dashing Bear was busy at the time, and also in part because Quick Stone needed the experience), the older cousin was gobsmacked by how quickly Zeke seemed to not only pick up on things, but then develop his technique to a stage more advanced than Quick Stone's.
Quick Stone was torn between anger and bemusement.  While Zeke had made an impression, it didn't have much chance to set.  The sudden and horrific death of Zeke's mother, Soft Crow, had rocked the entire tribe.  Soon followed by his father's disastrous wreck that left him with a permanent disability, Zeke was left in the care of the tribe.  At this time, Quick Stone had only sympathy for his younger cousin.  (It should also be noted that Teletha, being inseperable from Zeke at this time, stayed with him at the behest of Dashing Bear.  She became so closely enmeshed with Zeke's affairs that she soon earned a name herself: Gray Leaf - because if you ever had to find Hidden Leaf, you would only need to find the Gray one, first.)
For a time, Quick Stone, Dashing Bear, Zeke and Teletha were an odd, but close knit family unit among the tribe.  Cold Snow did not approve, but he held his peace until Zeke and Teletha had to go.  Afterward, he laid into Quick Stone and reminded him of his anger at how the child, Avatar or no, had been able to show up the Shaman-in-Training.
When Zeke would show up in the later years, his reception with Quick Stone was unusually cool.  Even though this troubled Zeke, he took it in stride.  Quick Stone, meanwhile, hid his growing anger at how the people lauded the boy and how he had seemed to surpass him in every way.  Even worse, Quick Stone would remember how his mother would tell him that he was the special one, the chosen one.
When Zeke went to Japan, Dashing Bear confronted Quick Stone.  He noticed how the young man would act around Zeke and the two had it out.  It eventually ended with Dashing Bear declaring that as long as he pursued this pointless path of bitter rivalry, Quick Stone would never be their Shaman.  Enraged, Quick Stone struck out on his own and began his quest for personal power - if Raven had not chosen him to be his Avatar, then maybe, he figured, some other worthwhile deity would.
Little did he understand that while Gods may answer prayers... sometimes, they will do so in twisted ways.  And thus begins Quick Stone's tragic downward spiral.
For more fun, his theme music is A3's Woke Up This Morning.  Especially the version with the long spoken intro (even if it the spoken introduction doesn't really fit Quick Stone, it sets the mood beautifully).  Special thanks to Bob Schroeck for that link to the song on Youtube in another forum.

This one's been coming for a while, really. The following material is part of a retcon of the Soviet Air Force that KJ and I have been working on for the last month or so. If you've been on IRC you've probably seen us hashing stuff out at least once. The whole point of this is to fix a really bad decision I made way the hell at the beginning of Fenspace, where I populated the VVS with people who weren't interested in the project. It's an old habit, and it's a really shitty habit at that. So, six years later we're going back and doing the Rebuild.

So, we've got a lot of ground to cover, time to get rolling:

Chapter 4
Unexpected Visitors - 04/Jul/2012
Mid Spring, 2008, UK.
"You are not Brian Severn."  The heavily-built red-haired man sat in his wheelchair.  Looking at the visitors.  In the slightly dusty front room, of the village cottage.
The man who'd accused him was also red-headed, though he was built more like a runner.  And not in a wheelchair.  He also looked mid-twenties, rather than mid-forties to fifties.  Sitting near him was a dark-haired woman, of similar age, who hadn't spoken, though her eyes took in everything.
"That's a bit rude", said Brian, though he guessed with the accusation he'd better remember the hated name 'Brainless'.  "You burst into someone's home, throw around accusations, and don't even introduce yourselves."
The man fiddled with the attachment on the side of his spectacles frame.  He looked supremely confident, thought Brian.  And, he moved in ways that his artistic eye told him weren't quite right.  Almost as though he expected to fall.  Both he and the woman shared that.  And, they didn't look comfortable in their clothes.  The woman kept touching her face, too.
Brian sighed.  "If you give me a few minutes, I'll make some tea.  Unless you'd prefer coffee.  Then we can discuss what you want.  Milk?  Sugar?"  And he turned to roll into the kitchen.
The man half-rose, as if he planned to stop him, the woman placed her hand on his arm, and he fell back into his seat.  Brian heard quiet conversation start as he left the room.  He didn't hurry, but he didn't dawdle, either.
He supposed he was fighting a delaying action.  If they decided to do anything he was a man in a wheelchair.  In a quiet English village.  He supposed he could call the local police, but he didn't like that accusation.  Uran was around, somewhere, outside the cottage.  He didn't like to depend on her, but he couldn't see another way to deal with the situation.
Uran arrived as he finished making a pot of tea, and placed it on a tray with cups and saucers, a milk jug, sugar bowl and tea spoons.  He'd used tea bags, so no strainer would be required.  Co-op "99 Tea" should do.
Brian tried not to show he knew she was there, invisible.  He wasn't supposed to be able to spot her.  She floated up to him, through the open window, and whispered, maybe hoping to make him jump.  He just turned to face her voice.
"Who're the two visitors?  I saw their car, out front, and thought I'd better ask.  Brains isn't expecting anyone, or he wouldn't be off working on the Moon House, today."
Brian waited until she finished, then checked the tray to ensure he hadn't missed something.  He supposed as she was invisible he could pretend that she wasn't there, but that would end badly.  He didn't dislike her, she just wasn't part of his life.
"Neither have introduced themselves", he murmured, knowing Uran's sharp ears would easily hear.  "There is something 'off' about them.  The man said I wasn't 'Brian'.  That could be bad."
"I'm coming back in there with you", she whispered urgently.  "Don't do anything silly", was his quiet reply, and he could imagine she was fuming.
The quiet conversation from ahead of him stopped as he wheeled back into the room, the tea tray clamped to one arm of his chair.  He could sense Uran drifting in behind him, then off to one side.  The man fiddled with his spectacles, again, looked around the room, then back at Brian.
"OK, who are you?" started the man, once he had his cup of tea.  "How about you introduce yourselves?" returned Brian.  The man looked at the woman, "I'm Jack.  This is Ellen", the woman nodded, "Who's your invisible friend?  Tinkerbell?"
"That's Uran", as he waved his hand generally, pretending to not know where she was.  Uran appeared, still in mid-air, a metre up.  The woman flinched.  Brian glanced at a perfect little girl, neat dark hair in bunchies, big brown eyes, short pink-red near-sleeveless dress, pink-red shoes; 'That's her combat look', thought Brian.
Brian looked harder at Uran, tapped his ear, and indicated upwards with his eyes.  Her puzzled look turning blank hopefully showing him she understood his request.
The situation had moved from bad to desperate.

Just finished now. Comments, anyone?
Enjoy!
Fred
**** **** ****
Local date and time: Monday 10 May 2011, 12:01 AM JST
Local location: Senshobu-jinja, Tomobiki-cho, Nishitokyo-shi,
Tokyo-to,

"No . . . this is wrong
. . . "

Hearing that moan from the
heiden of Tomobiki's only serving Shinto shrine, Sakurambo Sakura turned from
the kitchen sink to gaze through the connecting doorway at one of her young
wards. Immediately, the older woman
focused her mage-sight upon the ancient device that had saved so many lives
over the previous year, sensing its power building.

"Mizuho . . . " the
shrine miko/part-time school nurse whispered.

As she walked over to try to
comfort the now-shaking Inada Mizuho, Sakura's mage-sight then alerted her to
very powerful tendrils of energy – invisible to the naked eye – emitting from
the transmitter crystal of the Staff of Gihan to probe into the young girl's
mind. After a moment of incomprehensible
mumbling, Mizuho's normally pale blue eyes then snapped open as she stared at
the high ceiling. "NEVER!"

The Staff's focusing crystal
flared to full power and sent a burning bolt of raw energy through the roof of
the heiden – not damaging it, much to Sakura's private relief – and into the
skies over Tomobiki, disappearing behind some clouds as it rocketed into space
. . . and then broke through the dimensional barriers to go Elsewhere.

Sakura blinked as Mizuho
seemed to slump into a barely-conscious daze on the floor as a side door opened
to reveal the younger girl's lover and bond-mate of five months, Niimi
Rena. As the other trainee miko moved to
comfort the would-be Zoroastrian warrior-priestess, Sakura tried not to sigh
too much . . . before her cell phone rang.

"Moshi-moshi."

"I will be there in ten
minutes, Sakura."

Click. Dial tone.

Moaning as she hung up her
phone, Sakura shook her head. "What
happened?"

Rena blinked as she gazed at
her guardian. "Mizuho sensed a
wandering warrior caught in the vortex between dimensions . . . and sensed
something dark and evil about to destroy him.
She . . . brought him here for his own personal safety."

"Where?"

Rena gave the older woman a
knowing look. "Wonderful . . .
" Sakura muttered as she moved to head back into her kitchen. Hiromi won't like this . . .!

****
**** ****
The
Loon and the Ladies from Avalon
by
Fred Herriot
****
**** ****
On The Dark Side (1984), written by John
Cafferty. The Storyman (2006),
written by Chris de Burgh
****
**** ****
Comments
and story suggestions by Robert M. Schroeck and Rob Kelk
****
**** ****
Based
on the situations depicted in Drunkard's Walk, created by Robert M.
Schroeck; and Phoenix From the Ashes, created by Fred Herriot
****
**** ****
Including
characters and situations created by Fred Herriot, Robert M. Schroeck, Peggy Schroeck, Helen
Imre, Mike Smith and Gregg Sharp
****
**** ****
Also
including characters and situations from Gunslinger Girl, created by
Aida Yu; Shin Seiki Evangelion, created by Anno Hideaki and Gainax; A
Megami-sama, created by Fujishima Kosuke; the Valdemar series, created by
Mercedes Lackey; Zenkoku Seifuku Bishojo Grand Prix, created by Lyceen; Ojosama
Express, created by Mediaworks and Seven Bright; Harry Potter, created
by Joanna K. Rowling; Ikkitosen, created by Shiozaki Yuji; Bubblegum
Crisis, created by Suzuki Toshimichi, ARTMIC and Youmex; Urusei
Yatsura, created by Takahashi Rumiko; Battle Royale, created by
Takami Koshun; and Doki Doki Pretty League, created by Xing
****
**** ****

DISCLAIMER: Concurrent with fair dealing clauses of the Copyright
Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-42) of Canada and fair use clauses in copyright
legislation in other nations, this is a work that was created solely for
entertainment purposes. Furthermore, it
is posted freely on the Internet without expectation or requirement of
remuneration.

**** **** ****

Local date: Unknown,
Local location: Unknown

I woke up in a tall field of
grass.

Blinking as I noted the sun
high in the sky, I then sensed some dirt lying on my face and touching my
lips. Spitting out same as I reached up
to wipe my face clean, I then moaned as I slowly boosted myself into a sitting
position with my elbows. Looking through
my helmet's eye protectors, I was quick to notice that I was in what appeared
to be a well-trampled military training reservation. The worn-down track ruts nearby – while quite
fresh – clearly indicated this was some sort of tank range.

Before I could take a
detailed look around, my ears then picked up something familiar.

A tank's diesel engine going
full-throttle.

Sensing the slight tremor in
the Earth under my butt, I quickly turned to look where the noise was coming
from . . . and then gaped on seeing a very impressive-looking machine come out
from behind a thick stand of trees, racing down a nearby path at a VERY good
clip. On recognising said tank as a
Leopard 2 – the main battle tank of the German Army and a few other armies – I
then blinked as nearly-forgotten briefings on such machines came back to
me. Leopards were diesel-driven
machines; they didn't have the turbine engine an M1A1 Abrams possessed. Yet this machine here . . .!

I then winced as said machine
suddenly came to a screeching halt – a "combat stop" as it was called
amongst regular Army boys worldwide – and then the commander's hatch popped
open to allow said commander to lean out and look my way.

Whoo, boy . . .

"There you are!"

I perked on hearing that
shout from somewhere to my left, and then I turned . . .

. . . to find a small group
of women walking towards me, visibly armed in what seemed to be infantry
fighting order and clearly out for a wonderful constitutional in the
boonies. While not recognising the actual
pattern of their camouflage shirts and pants – not to mention their web gear
and even then boots! – I was quick to see the low-visibility flags on
their shoulders. One with a simple
design of dark sides with a pale middle the same width as the flag's height, a
stylised maple leaf placed there.

Okay.

I was somewhere in Canada.

Or possibly in Germany
butting in on a NATO exercise being run by the First Canadian Infantry
Division, whose 4th Mechanised Brigade was – as I barely could remember in my
universe – based in the Black Forest of Baden-Württemberg near the Rhine River.

A glance back at the tank.

Yep. Black maple leaf on the turret.

"I'm in Germany, aren't
I?" I then asked the person whom I believe called out to me.

A shake of the head as a
"too-cute-for-words" smile crossed her camouflaged face. "No, you're currently in the exercise
area of Canadian Forces Base Niagara, sir," she answered in a polite voice
as she slung her rifle – an M16A2 derivative, not the Canadian-built FN FAL
rifle soldiers of that nation used when I was last on my Earth – over her
shoulder. Her friends were also relaxing
as they slung their weapons.

That struck me immediately as
odd.

"You're just outside the
city of Welland in Ontario," the soldier then said. She waved to where I believed was the west
according to the sun's position in the sky, and then she waved northeast. "Niagara Falls is about fifteen kilometres
that way."

Unless . . .

"Am I home?" I
whispered.

Sympathy seemed to flow out
from all their faces. "No,
sir," the woman who had spoken to me replied, looking as if she wished to
take personal responsibly for my decades-long separation from my home dimension
and my wife.

What the heck . . .?

"Haida detected
the space-warp that brought you onto the exercise range about ten minutes
ago. We were busy enjoying some time out
in the field after coming back to rejoin our battalion after graduating from
trades training at the Valcartier Garrison."

I smiled. Canadian Forces Base Valcartier was the
primary base for Force Mobile Command in the province of Québec, just north of
Québec City. The 5th Mechanised Brigade
of the First Infantry Division was based there.
"Vandoos?!"

A grin came back. "No.
Canadian Guards. First Battalion."

A nod. Canadian troops assigned to the Warriors
often came from that youngest of the Dominion's six full-time infantry
regiments. "A unit worthy of its
hire," I then complemented them, which made them blush to their toes even
under the camouflage.

"Thank you," she
replied as she gave me a knowing look.
"I assume you come from a universe where the Regiment also
exists?" she asked.

"It does,
Guardsman," I replied, noting her rank slip-on on her front was blank over
the unit tag CG; obviously, the short-form title of the Regiment of
Canadian Guards. Having lived in London
for a long time, I knew all the peculiarities about the various units of the
Household Guards, which had been replicated with the Canadian Guards when they
were first formed in the 1950s.
"Sometimes frowned on by the boys in the Vandoos, the Royal
Canadians and the Patricias, but they do their job and take pride in
it." I moved to stand. "I apologise for butting in on your
exercise. How is it . . .?"

Turning to gaze to the southwest,
I stopped . . .

. . . on seeing HER.

"Oh – my – GOD!"

The guardsmen all grinned.

"That's Haida,"
the one who had been talking to me proudly declared.

I blinked, gazed on her for a
moment, and then turned back to gaze on the cigar-shaped starship
floating serenely over the ground in the near-distance.

One honkin' HUGE starship to
boot!

And incredible as this was
going to sound . . .

. . . it had the Canadian
flag painted on the hull aft of amidships.

"Yeah . . .!" I
breathed out.

THIS was going to be
different . . .

* *
*

Local date and time: Sunday 9 May 2011, 1:22 PM EDT
Local location: Over Canadian Forces Base Niagara (east of
Welland, Ontario),

"Hey!"

I perked on hearing that
voice, and then looked up to see a smiling Navy medic – I assumed she was Navy
given her nearly-black work dress uniform, black beret with the badge of the
Canadian Forces Medical Services on it and the blank rank slip-ons on her
shoulders, though those were decorated with a very nicely-designed unit tag
with the word HAIDA in orange-gold on a dark blue field surrounded by
ship's rope and topped by a British-type naval coronet, three maple leaves at
the base – gazing at me.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"You sure you don't need
to get into Sickbay?" she asked.

For the fifth
time since I got aboard this rather LARGE shuttlecraft – it was called a
"Star Flare" and looked like a weird mix of a Lambda-class shuttle
from Star Wars and the Gemini-class shuttle from Battlestar Galactica
– which had, fifteen minutes before, picked up Mrs. Sangnoir's only son from
the exercise field now over a kilometre below the keel and was now taking me
aboard Her Majesty's Canadian Starship Haida.

Yep.

You read that right, folks.

Starship.

In the Year of Our Lord
TWO-THOUSAND AND ELEVEN, to boot!

How the HELL that was
possible, I couldn't BEGIN to guess.

Still, it was a change of
pace compared to other times over the last several decades that I've initially
arrived in other dimensions.

Clearly, the tech – which,
given what I've seen so far, was WAY above Earth baseline for MY dimension, not
to mention the other places I've been to in my travels – could sniff out
dimensional breaches with ease. And
clearly, whoever was controlling the tech was either knowledgeable enough or
experienced enough to make going out to find my lonesome self quite easy. Even better, given that these people seemed
willing to help me in whatever way they could, I didn't have to cook up false
identities and find some way to fit in while I waited for the chance to find a
proper Gate song to move onto the next step of my journey. That told me one good thing about these
people.

They had experience in
dealing with dimensional crossings.

How that would benefit me, I
couldn't begin to guess.

But I hoped to barter my own
experiences for all the help they could give me.

Noting a pair of very lovely
green eyes staring knowingly at me, I gave the medic – her family name was SASAMOTO
as stitched in gold on her left chest under the twin-headed thunderbird ship's crest
of Haida – a smirk. "Most of
the time, when I drop unexpected into a new dimension, I'm normally quite whole
and healthy if not conscious at the time the actual transition occurs, Seaman
Sasamoto," I explained. "I'm
just glad that after doing my latest world-jump, I came to a place where I
could get help right away in lieu of being sneaky about it and being forced
into quasi-legal and sometimes-immoral acts to forge a false identity so I
could interface with the local population."

"Wow! He's roughing it, isn't he?" the
guardsman – I spotted her name, CROCE, on her tunic – who had talked to
me earlier said as she exchanged a look with the medic.

"That he is,
Henrietta-chan," the medic answered.

I then blinked.

They were talking in Japanese
. . .

. . . while my ears picked up
their words in clear English.

"Translation
field?" I asked in my accented Nihon-go.

"Omni-translation
field," the medic stated as those green eyes of hers sparkled with
profound amusement. "It can
interpret any language a sentient can speak and translate it automatically into
the native language of the speaker. So
if you're comfortable speaking English, sir, speak in English. We can all understand you."

I nodded. "How come you're travelling from dimension
to dimension?" Guardsman Croce – I felt it a little improper to call her
"Henrietta" even if she struck me as being about twenty years of age
– then asked. "Are you an
explorer?"

A sigh as I decided to honour
their obvious concern with the truth.
"I'm a metahuman warrior who serves in a group working for the
United Nations in my universe," I then explained. "In a battle many decades ago in my
time-line, I was propelled into an alternate universe. Over the following years, I've travelled from
universe to universe in hopes of rejoining my wife." I opened up my jacket and pulled out the
necklace bearing my wedding band.
"It's been quite interesting, but believe me . . . HEY!"

The "hey" came from
something that reminded me a little too much of Minakami Wataru's twelve
half-sisters – save Chikage, of course – and how they reacted whenever
something their "Big Brother" did or said broke their hearts.

An honest-to-goodness Mass
Hug of True Love from the medic and ALL the guardsmen!

I tried not to blush TOO much
on feeling that . . .

* *
*

The landing of the Star Flare
on the upper flight deck of H.M.C.S. Haida was pretty much like the
landing of any shipboard helicopter aboard any navy vessel that wasn't a
purpose-built aircraft carrier: Come to
a hover over the green flight deck with the yellow landing lines and the white HA
at the aft end, square off on the centre of the deck, and then gently drop down
until solid rubber tires kissed metal deck.
Even better, since the ship was only about a kilometre above the Welland
By-Pass that split her home base from the urban part of the Rose City of
Ontario, the outside atmosphere was breathable . . . as witness the opening of
the Flare's cargo doors aft onto the deck, thus allowing myself and my current escorts
– with Guardsman Croce and Seaman Sasamoto having wrapped one of their arms
around one of mine – to walk onto a very clear day over the Niagara peninsula,
with Lake Erie in the near distance.

As soon as we were aboard the
starship – and my mind was STILL boggling at the idea of a NATION on Earth
having a STARSHIP of all things, set aside the size and sheer level of armament
on this thing from what I've seen of her so far! – proper, the group around me
paused as they straightened to attention, and then saluted the large ensign
flying off what appeared to be a sensor vane sticking up from the fantail of
the ship between the exhaust ports of a pair of ramjet-like engines that could
swallow whole AIRCRAFT CARRIERS from my universe with room to spare! Realising that despite these girls' quite
friendly attitudes that they were still-serving soldiers and sailors of the
Queen of Canada, I straightened myself and gave the flag – a Canadian version
of the British White Ensign with a thin blue Saint George cross and the Maple
Leaf Flag in the canton – a Sandhurst-perfect salute. That caused my companions to all blink in
surprise.

"Are you a
serviceman?" Seaman Sasamoto then asked.

"Technically, I'm a
colonel in the United Nations Metahuman Peacekeeping Force, code-named
'Warriors Alpha,'" I explained.
"The rank is honorary to me but to those who care for it, it's
quite real." I gave her a wink. "I assume British shipboard rules still
run the Royal Canadian Navy? Or is it
still Canadian Forces Maritime Command?"

"MARCOM for now,"
the medic stated, a smirk crossing her face.
"That might change in the near future; you know how RUMINT can be
at times."

I smirked. RUMINT:
Rumour Intelligence, sometimes the most reliable information one could
get in the military. "Indeed I
do. And . . . " I straightened myself as I properly saluted
her. "Permission to come aboard,
Seaman Sasamoto?"

She returned my salute. "Grated, Colonel . . .?"

"Douglas Q. Sangnoir,
code-named 'Looney Tunes.' Call me
Doug."

She smiled. "Ordinary Seaman Sasamoto Narumi,
currently assigned to the Medical Division, Executive Department of Her
Majesty's Canadian Starship Haida, flagship of the United Nations Earth
Defence Force. Call me Narumi. We use proper Oriental name-order in the
Earth Defence Force. Welcome aboard,
Doug-san."

I shook her hand . . . and
then perked as someone came walking our way from the large hangar deck
structure forward, where the Star Flare that brought us aboard was now being
wheeled into to join three sisters already folded up in their parking
spaces. Said person, I was quick to
note, also appeared Japanese . . . even if her brown hair was done up in a low
bonnet on the lower side of her head and she had amethyst eyes. She was in the same uniform Narumi wore, but
her shoulder boards had the single gold stripe – with that funny circular loop
British navy officers wore on their uniforms; I never did understand why was it
the Royal Navy did that sort of thing – of their equivalent of a United States
Navy ensign over her ship's unit tags.
She also had the anchor badge in a wreath of maple leaves of a naval
operations officer on her beret.

"Our traveller from
another dimension, Narumi-chan?" she asked, smiling.

"Hai, Tomomi-chan. May I present Douglas Sangnoir-taisa of the
United Nations Metahuman Peacekeeping Forces in his home dimension. His battle-name is 'Looney Tunes,'"
Narumi stated. "Doug-san, this is
Yoshino Tomomi-shoi, junior ship's combat warfare director. In case you don't know, her rank is 'acting
sub-lieutenant;' I can hear the London accent in your voice even if your words
are clearly American."

"Yes, I am American,
Narumi-chan," I said as I reached up to unbuckle and slip off my
helmet. I was quick to sense the
appraising looks all the girls around me were giving on unmasking myself. Tomomi's eyes flashed with keen interest
until she focused on my wedding ring, and then she nodded in
understanding. "And believe me,
that I'm in the land of my homeland's brothers born of the same mother does my
heart a world of good."

"Wonderful," Tomomi
stated. "In the meantime,
Hiromi-onesama awaits us. This
way."

She turned and headed to a
recessed stairwell in the middle of the flight deck close to the hangar. "What do you want done with your
motorcycle, Doug-san?" Henrietta asked.

"Could you put it
somewhere safe, Henrietta-chan?" I asked in turn. "And PLEASE, don't take it apart! I had a nosy goddess of the future do that in
one of my longer stays and I prefer not to go through putting it back together
again."

"Which goddess of the
future?" Tomomi asked.

"Skuld."

A surprised look crossed her
face. "From A Megami-sama?!"

I blinked in confusion . . .

* *
*

Somewhere, a different
dimension,

"AH-CHOO!"

"Bless you, Skuld! Are you alright?"

A moan. "Someone's talking about me,
One-sama!"

Belldandy hummed. "I wonder who would it be . . .?"

* *
*

Local Date and time: Sunday 9 May 2011, 1:31 PM EDT
Location: H.M.C.S. Haida, Deck A12 Aft, Flag
Officer's Level,

Tomomi knocked at the open
doorway. "One-sama?"

"Enter, minna-san,"
a voice called back in Japanese.
"You found him?"

"Hai, One-sama, we
did," Henrietta stated as she waved me into the room.

Looking around, I was quickly
taken by the somewhat spartan nature of what appeared to be a reception room
for visitors. There was a work desk aft
with a small meeting table in the middle of the room. Bookshelves lined all the bulkheads save for
the main door and a side door that I assumed opened into the personal living
quarters of the – as Tomomi had explained when we came here – Director of the
Volunteer United Nations Earth Defence Force, the senior civilian officer of
the pan-national force assigned to protect Earth from alien threats. Whose insignia – a blue U.N. flag with the
wreathed globe over a cross crusader sword and Japanese katana – was hanging
from the wall, bracketed on both sides by the Canadian White Ensign and the
national flag of Japan.

Which made sense since the
woman who had greeted Tomomi had also spoken in Japanese.

So what was she doing on a Canadian
starship?

Starship . . .

Damn! I'm STILL boggling over that!

Said woman – who had been
seated at her work desk typing away on some sort of laptop computer – turned to
gaze at me, and then smiled.
"Welcome aboard, good traveller," she said as she stood up and
walked over, her hand out. "Are you
alright?"

I was gaping at her.

The Director of
the Force was a teenager?!

Okaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay .
. . this was DEFINITELY a new one on me . . .

* *
*

Gazing at the handsome man –
she put his physical age at about early thirties, though his eyes flashed a
look that indicated that he was a lot older; Are the humans of his Earth as
long lived as Vosians or Avalonians? – Moroboshi Hiromi then smiled as she
pulled her hand away on noting he was too shell-shocked to respond to her offer
for a handshake, she giving him a knowing look.
"Never expected something like this?"

He blinked and then
flustered. "Not really . . . "

A chuckle. "Oh, don't worry about that, good
sir," she stated. "You'll find
a lot of things in this universe to be quite unique. But I'm sure that your universe has its own
many mysteries as well, especially given the fact that you are a
metahuman." As he gaped at her, she
smirked. "Our sensors picked up
those interesting quirks in your DNA when we first detected you on the training
range. Natural-born or
fate-gifted?"

He gaped, and then nodded on
realising what she was asking. He
clearly was surprised at the terms though.
Do they actually use that disgusting word 'mutant' where he comes
from? Hiromi mused to herself as she gave him a curious look.

"Um, natural-born . . .
" he finally answered.

A nod. "Well, no doubt whatever Powers control
our lives felt you worthy to gain such gifts," she stated as she waved him
to a chair. "Here, sit! Be comfortable! You've probably had a bit of a harrowing
journey, so you need to relax."

Another blink, and then he
sat. "One-sama, this is Douglas
Sangnoir-taisa, a member of the United Nations Metahuman Peacekeeping Forces in
his universe," Narumi then stated.
"He's known by the battle-name 'Looney Tunes' and he would prefer
to be called 'Doug.' Doug-san, this is
Moroboshi Hiromi-onesama, the Director of the United Nations Earth Defence
Force. Her battle-name amongst those
like her is 'Ryuko Kyorei.' She is also
a third-year high school student at Tomobiki High School, Class Four."

He blinked several times, and
then he gaped. "How old are
you?"

He then flustered on noting
that he asked a VERY rude question as it would be seen in the West. Hiromi then chuckled. "It depends on what you actually mean by
one's age, Doug-san. Physically, I'm
eighteen years old. Chronologically – in
this life – I'm only two. And
spiritually, I'm over eighteen hundred years old. Take your pick."

Doug's jaw dropped . . .

* *
*

THAT answer surprised me like
nothing I had ever heard before.

Without hesitation, my
mage-sight clicked in as I gazed on my host.

The result . . .

Oh, HELL . . .!

"You're a phoenix!"
I then spat out.

Her eyebrow arched. "No, I am not."

"You sure?" I
instantly challenged. "What the
hell's this all about anyway?! What's
your game?! Bringing this high-tech starship
here and offering it to people who may not have any idea how to properly run
it!" Ignoring the shocked gasps
from all the girls behind me, I pointed at her.
"So what's the damned deal here?!"

"Doug-san!" Narumi
cried out in shock.

"Enough!"

I jolted as I felt that
powerful wave of ki hit me, instantly cutting out my burning groove of anger
over being YET AGAIN brought into the presence of a Celestial of
all things . . . and then I noticed a knowing look cross her face. "I take it from your outburst just now
that you've had disagreeable encounters with divinities and their ilk?"
she asked with a virtual tidal wave of scorn, which made me blink
in surprise. "Yes, there are some
witless dullards on this planet who've mistaken me as a phoenix given how I
came into this life two years ago, then strove to save those like me from some uncaring
'fate of the sacred bead' the souls of their first-selves were forced into eighteen
centuries ago in the Three Kingdoms period of China!" As my mind nearly crashed from THAT tsunami
of information – as my traitorous mage-sight quickly locked in on the soul or
whatever-it-was trapped in my host's magatama-shaped earring, said thing tied
with links of purest neutronium with the soul of the young woman before me –
she took a deep breath, her own heart billowing with a very ugly anger of her
own.

"I suspect you might be
able to imagine this, Doug-san," she said in a voice full of helpless
outrage. "The noble worthies of the
Latter Hàn when I first walked this life as Liú Hóng. Not to mention the noble worthies of Shu Hàn,
Cáo Wèi and Dong Wú . . . to say anything of the Nánmán and the other tribes
that existed in the Middle Kingdom at that time! Dying regardless of cause . . . yet to have
their very SOULS trapped in these things!"
She pointed to her earring.
"To be worn on the persons of innocents after innocents for dozens
of generations across China, then Korea, then Japan! And for your further amusement, allow me to
tell you this!" She
raised a finger in emphasis. "When
those countless thousands of innocent souls over the last eighteen centuries
DID wake up to what they bore within their magatama, they were forced to
RE-LIVE the lives and the fates of the ones whose souls were
trapped in those things! WHY, I
ASK?!" she demanded.
"Tell me WHY, Doug-san! Why
would the uncaring Fates do that to the many reincarnations of those such as my
own noble cousin Liú Bèi, the truly wise and determined Cáo Cao, the siblings
of the Sun Clan, the every-questing Lu Bù and all the others from that horrible
time in China's history?! Not to mention
the great warriors of ancient Ireland and heaven only knows how many more
throughout history! If I have a phoenix
inside me, Doug-san, WHY WAS I NEVER TOLD THAT?!"

Staring at a now teary-eyed
woman – as my brain finally started to catch up to all the other things she had
said – I found myself simply unable to give her an answer . . .

* *
*

Cursing herself for her lack
of self-control over someone who desperately needed help – and had no doubt
been dragged into this universe by a well-meaning Inada Mizuho if what
Sakurambo Sakura had just told her an hour before was true – Hiromi took a deep
breath. "You have my deepest
apologies, Doug-san. I did not mean to
heap all that over you," she stated.
"Am I a phoenix? Some
believe so. I personally cannot answer
that, though. Tell me this: Are those divinities and other celestial
spirits who have clearly earned your ire ever been unsure as to
what they are and why?"

Doug blinked before he shook
his head. "Not to my
experience."

A nod. "Well, now you've clearly gained a new
experience. Perhaps that will allow you
to overcome your mistrust of myself and those like me – for, if the moronic
dolts who like to harp on such things are to be believed, I happen to count a
spiritual daughter of Mother Earth Herself and the Sagussan Master
of Entropy as my own siblings, to say ANYTHING of the many people like
myself touched by celestial dragons, both on Earth and elsewhere! – so we can
get you on your way back to your true home."

"And his wife."

Hiromi gazed on Yoshino
Tomomi. "You've been separated from
your wife, Doug-san?" she then asked as she gazed on the metahuman before
her.

A tired sigh. "For what seems like forever."

The reborn emperor blinked as
she peered at him for a moment, and then – after moving to wipe her eyes clear
of tears – leaned down to kiss her guest's forehead.

"You are toshi."

* *
*

Toshi.

If my Japanese was dead on –
and after my experiences in Megatokyo in 2037 with the Knight Sabres; Nekomi in
1997 with the Norns and their friends; Tokyo-3 in 2015 with Shinji, Asuka and
Rei; amid other places, I had to admit that it was good – the word Hiromi just
used on me was written with the kanji ??, meaning "fighting soldier."

And
while I still felt a deep level of mistrust towards the woman before me now,
that she was willing to call me that made me think over what she had
just been said.

One
small factoid came back to me right away.

"You
were a Chinese emperor?!" I demanded.

A
snort. "I was not much of an
emperor, Doug-san. I was more interested
in all my concubines and seeing to my own carnal lusts in lieu of dealing with
matters of state," she confessed with frank honesty, which made me gape.

She
wasn't lying . . .

But
she was a phoenix of all things . . .

Yet
she DIDN'T know . . .

What
the HELL was going on here?!

My
mind then recalled what Tomomi said when she did introductions. "'Ryuko Kyorei?'" I asked. "'Ryuko' is the Japanese way of reading
'Liú Hóng.' 'Kyorei' . . .?"

"'Xiàolíng,'"
she supplied. "My posthumous
name: 'Filial and
inattentive.'" A pained smirk then
crossed her face. "Which, if you
are familiar with the times through such wonderful books as The Romance of
the Three Kingdoms, Doug-san . . . I certainly was that. Look how many ultimately suffered for it
afterward?"

"Hiromi-san,
why do you keep doing this to yourself?"

I
perked, and then turned . . .

.
. . to find myself gazing on a woman that distantly reminded me of Belldandy in
a way: Long silver hair on a
classically-sculptured face over a body that – were Mrs. Maggie Sangnoir's
husband NOT faithful to her, not to mention physically about fifteen years
younger! – was literally to die for. But
that was the only similarities between this newcomer – whom I immediately
sensed had the power of a DRAGON inside her! – and the aspect of
the Norn of the Present I met years ago in another dimension. This woman was a skilled warrior who was not
afraid to take a life; her body's aura hinted at that. She had also mastered the monster inside her
. . . though such mastery had been with cost.
She was quite prepared for a fight; the sheathed katana in her hand was
a dead give-away. And she was most
likely a toshi in the same manner as Hiromi saw herself as; she had a magatama
earring with the same silver shade as my host's.

"You
know my reasons," Hiromi whispered, and then she sighed. "Tomomi-chan?"

Tomomi
gasped. "Hai, One-sama?"

"Will
you be a dear and ask Seina-chan to fetch some tea and snacks for Kumomi-san
and myself? What's your choice of
morning drink, Doug-san?"

"Tea's
okay by me." I then smiled. "I assume that since this is a Canadian
starship, the hot drinks are all provided by Tim Hortons?"

"Naturally!"
Hiromi stated.

"Doug-san?"
Tomomi asked.

"English
breakfast tea?" I wondered.

An
eager nod. "Hai!"

With
that, the acting sub-lieutenant headed out of the room. "Girls, we can take over from
here," the newcomer then said as she "gazed" with those closed
eyes at the guardsmen and Sasamoto Narumi.
How the hell was she able to see . . . unless it was a type of ki
sight or mage-sight? "While
Doug-san's considerable anger towards those of a divine nature seems
well-founded, he strikes me as a civilised person. Despite the rapier wit and love for Warner
Brothers cartoons I currently sense he possesses."

As
I nearly choked on THAT rather frank statement, the newcomer then gazed at me,
her eyes then opening to reveal a pair of pale blue orbs, both now twinkling
with laughter she wouldn't indulge in right now. Before I could wonder what the hell was THIS
one's game, a chorus of "Hai, Kumomi-onesama! Please excuse us!" echoed from behind me
as the girls who had walked me into this situation all bowed and left.

With
that, the newcomer then took a seat nearby, her eyes closing again. "Welcome to our universe, Master Looney
Tunes," she then stated as Hiromi also took her chair at one end of the
table. "Your actions in other
dimensions echoed into this one long before you were pulled here by a young
lady who simply desired to save a brave, gallant and noble warrior from facing
an attack from quite dark and demonic beings while you yourself were
unconscious and transitioning through your 'world-gate' process from your last
port stop on the next step of your journey." As I gaped at her, she smiled. "I am Koeru Kumomi. My battle-name is 'Choun Shiryu.' Currently attending the Nan'yo Academy in
Kimitsu-shi, Chiba-ken. Year Three,
Class A. In my first life, I was Zhào
Yún of Shu Hàn, styled 'Zilóng.' The
dragon your mage-senses are no doubt picking up from within me calls himself
'Shùnpíng' after my first-self's posthumous title."

I
blinked. "How did you know?"

"Your
wit and your love of Master Bugs Bunny and his friends?" A smirk.
"Your battle-name spoke it out as loud as possible. If you are a metahuman warrior – an arch-mage
if my sense of your total capabilities is anywhere close to being accurate –
yet call yourself 'Looney Tunes' of all things, the conclusion is rather quite
obvious."

I
blinked. Damn! Never thought of it that way!

"And
whatever is the matter with liking such wonderful entertainers as they?"
Hiromi then asked as a smile of her own crossed her face. "Given our experiences in the universe
of Star Trek at the turn of the New Year, the chances are there . . .
"

"That
what happened to Michael Jordan-sensei in Space Jam DID happen
somewhere!"

More
laughter. As I gaped at these two
whatever-they-were, I couldn't help but grin as I recognised their reference to
the 1996 movie where "Air" Jordan actually was pulled into the Looney
Tunes universe to help Bugs Bunny et al defend themselves from a bunch of VERY
not-so-funny creeps called the Nerdlucks.
I then stopped as something else Hiromi just said hit me. "You actually went to the Star Trek
universe?!"

"Indeed
we did, Doug-san. Around the time of the
events depicted in Generations; the year 2371 Earth-time in their
universe," she answered me matter-of-factly. "If this is not true in your universe,
the movie itself was released here in 1994."

"When
exactly did you leave your own dimension, Doug-san?" Kumomi asked.

A
sigh. "Too long ago," I
admitted while part of me tried to muster ANY sort of conscious mistrust and
anger towards these two beings.

But
DAMN it all to the lowest pit of Hell – ignoring everything my own mage-senses
were telling me – everything about them screamed TRUTH to me!

So
what the HELL does that make ME?

"A
wise traveller, Master Looney Tunes. One
who will live to reunite with his wife."

I
jolted as Kumomi gave me a very knowing look . . .

Yeah,
even with CLOSED eyes!

"One
who has been disappointed many times as you've been shuttled from universe to
universe since you were first expelled from your native Earth. In battle, I presume?" As I nodded, she sighed. "By the way – in case you're wondering –
your body's ki aura well reflects your experiences over the years." As I felt myself relax a little bit more at
that admission, she added, "You've also felt yourself forced to make deals
with various celestials, deals which you later came to wonder were such good
things in the end, right?" As I
nodded again, she shook her head.
"Much that neither my Emperor nor myself would personally never do
anything to hurt someone like you . . . "

"Shiryu-dono . . . "

Kumomi
then seemed to freeze for a moment before she turned . . .

.
. . to have a VERY pissed-off Hiromi literally LEAN right into her face. "How many times must I continue to say
this to you: I AM AN EMPEROR OF NOTHING!"

The
other girl gulped. "H-h-hai . .
.!"

I
blinked as I gazed at this scene.

Okay,
THAT was weird . . .!

* *
*

To
give a little background information . . .

As
readers of these chronicles will have long come to note by now, I personally
don't really care too much for Celestials of ANY sort.

Especially
if they're of the variety who are often called "gods" or
"deities."

And
ESPECIALLY if said gods or deities feel it their Fate-given right to MEDDLE in
the affairs and destinies of humble mortals such as yours truly.

My
own commanding officer in the Warriors Alpha team back in my own reality, Major
General Helene Diedmeier a.k.a. "Wetter Hexe," excepted of course.

Hence
my initial reaction after using my mage-sight on Moroboshi Hiromi.

And
while she wasn't a true "god" like the three Norns whom I met years
ago and many dimensions behind me, she clearly had the power of such a being
within her.

Though
I will grant one small caveat.

The
celestial power within Hiromi's body came off as a phoenix to my
mage-senses.

And
while I did have the pleasure to meet a real magical phoenix – Professor Albus
Dumbledore's friend Fawkes while I spent a year being the Defence Against The
Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts some years and dimensions ago – who wouldn't harm
a soul, I DID sense from Hiromi that she was quite willing to cause much harm
to those she loathed.

Fawkes
would NEVER do something like that.

It
was utterly against his very nature.

So
I could be very wrong about Hiromi.

Wouldn't
be the first time.

Sure
as hell wouldn't be the last, either.

Thinking
about that, I hummed.

A
Chinese fènghuáng perhaps . . .?

It
would make sense given her stated origins . . .

* *
*

As
for Koeru Kumomi, a.k.a. Choun Shiryu, it was cut-and-dried.

She
was the living avatar of a celestial DRAGON!

While
I never had cause to encounter such beings before, I do know about them.

All
those lessons could be wrapped up in one statement:

"Treat
them with respect . . . for you are crunchy and would go good with ketchup!"

And
while I wouldn't trust Kumomi just yet, if ever . . .

.
. . Mama Sangnoir did NOT raise an idiot for a son!

No,
sir!

* *
*

A
knock made me turn . . .

At
the main door was a tomboyish girl in the same type of uniform Tomomi and
Narumi had worn when I had met them, though I'd put this one in her early
twenties. She was brown-haired and had
blue-grey eyes. In one hand, she carried
a tea set on a tray. "Please excuse
me for bothering you, Hiromi-onesama, Kumomi-onesama, Doug-san," she – her
family name was YAMAGUCHI; no doubt, this was the "Seina"
Hiromi asked Tomomi to come by with snacks and food – said as she served
us. "One English breakfast
tea," she said as she placed a cup of tea – with the bag in it, of course
– before me, served in a fine mug with Haida's ship's crest on it. "One cup of gyokuro," she
then said as she placed the next mug in front of Kumomi, that filled with a
jade-shaded green tea that was quite expensive in Japan. "And one cup of spiced Noukiite ginseng
tea," she then said as she placed a cup of golden tea – topped with what
looked like RED CHILLI PEPPER POWDER! – in front of Hiromi. She placed down some milk, cream, sugar and
sweetener on the table between us before bowing politely. "Sandwiches will be ten minutes."

"Arigato,
Seina-chan," Hiromi said as she took up her teaspoon and moved to stir the
red flakes on the surface of her tea into the mixture.

As
Seina walked out of the room, I felt my eyebrow arch. "Spiced tea?"

An
amused smile came back. "One of the
alien races who control space close to us – they actually control the Alpha
Centauri system; their colony there is called 'Teng-ch'ehek' locally . . .
" – My ears picked up the translation of that phrase from its native
language, which was "Planetary Province of Teng" – " . . . and
'Tengsei' elsewhere – are as passionately in love with the idea of spicing all
they eat and drink as the noble natives of the Land of the Morning Calm do with
their food, Doug-san," Hiromi explained.
"In the days before and after I acquired the body I possess now, I
– and when I was part of the gestalt of souls that existed in my brother
Ataru's body before we were separated – had no choice but to conform to the
local cuisine if we were to be helped become true masters of our
destinies." She picked up the cup
and sipped. "Eventually, the
addictive nature of Noukiite eta . . . " – That word literally
meant "chilli pepper" – " . . . powder became too much for all
of us to resist."

I
breathed out. "Okay . . .
" Well, when in Rome . . .!

I
then perked on hearing a whistle – which sounded like the intercom alert from
the original Star Trek series – echo through the room. "Chief Shipwright to the Director,"
a man's voice called out. "Are you
busy, ma'am?"

Hiromi
reached over to tap a control on the table; I was quick to note there was a
touch-screen unit there. Thinking about
a travelling companion who had joined me some universes ago, I wondered what
Eimi would think of this ship and the tech that ran her.

"No,
Chief Davidson," she answered.
"What seems to be the problem?"

"What
do you want done with the motorcycle the girls pulled up from the range,
ma'am?" the voice of the chief shipwright – the senior hull maintenance
technician aboard Haida if I recalled how things worked on warships run
under British traditions right – asked.
"The Little Genius is looking at it and he's just SALAVATING to get
at it, ma'am!"

As
I had a flashback about what a certain goddess of the future had done to my
machine back in a temple in Nekomi, Hiromi moaned. "Kogetsuei-dono!" she snapped.
A squawk coming from someone who clearly was even YOUNGER than Hiromi by several
years echoed from the intercom. "My
E-em-Emperor . . .?" sputtered out next.

"Tsukihana-kun,
if you even THINK of touching our honoured guest's trusty mount, I will see to
it personally that Ryoko-chan will not speak to you for a MONTH!"

Stunned
silence followed.

"'Kogetsuei?'"
I whispered to Kumomi.

"In
his first life, Huáng Yuèying," she whispered back. "In this life, Ki Tsukihana. He's one of the two people who built this
ship and her sisters for all of Earth."

As
my mind nearly crashed from THAT little avalanche of information, I then perked
on hearing a sob echo from the intercom.
"One-chan . . .!" Tsukihana moaned.

A
sigh. "Tsukihana-kun, our honoured
guest has suffered at the hands of various so-called 'divinities' many times in
the past. One of them actually – or so
the pilot of the Star Flare that brought Doug-san aboard relayed to me – had
the audacity to rip apart his machine into its parts." As I gaped, she winked at me. "So, please. For our new friend's continued good mental
health, leave the cycle alone."

"You
are SHITTING me!"

That,
I realised, was the chief shipwright.
"What is wrong, Chief?" Hiromi asked.

"Someone
literally RIPPED this bike apart, Director?!" the other man snapped. "Whoever did that deserves to be shot
and pissed on! And not
particularly in that order!"

As
my mind interpreted that ribald comment, I simply had no choice.

I
fell on my ass, laughing my guts out!

* *
*

Somewhere,
a different dimension,

"AH-CHOO!"

"Bless
you, Skuld!"

* *
*

Local
Date and time: Sunday 9 May 2011, 2:16
PM EDT
Location: H.M.C.S. Haida, Deck A12 Aft, Flag
Officer's Level,

Seina
soon came in with a tray of finger sandwiches – all clearly hand-made by her
and her friends, I sensed – and then she stepped out of the room. As I relaxed, enjoyed my tea and nibbled on
the fresh-cut Black Forest ham-and-marble cheese sandwich slices with shredded
lettuce and a pinch of mustard in them, I was quick to sense both Hiromi and
Kumomi gaze at me – again, the latter doing it with closed eyes – with clearly
a type of ki sight. "So what
exactly are toshi?" I then asked.
"A type of mutant?"

I
was quick to note THAT word made both girls wince. "Doug-san, please don't use that
word here," Hiromi then pleaded.
"I'm sure the word is quite accepted in your universe . . . but
here, we're trying to steer away from such terms." She winked.
"Here, we would call you a 'naturally-born metahuman.' Those who gain powers through accidents,
deliberate genetic modification or such are 'fate-gifted metahumans.'"

"Not
'mutates,'" Kumomi added.

I
gaped. "Oh . . . "

"Given
your use of such a word, I assume in your universe, those who possess such
powers and gained them naturally are not discriminated against," Kumomi
asked.

I
shook my head. "Of course
not."

"Have
you had contacts with aliens?" Kumomi asked.

"Certainly."

Back
to Hiromi: "I assume such contacts
have been for the benefit of humanity?"

A
shrug. "There are the malcontents,
but you get them anywhere."

"What
of artificial intelligences?" Hiromi then asked. "Are they accepted?"

A
shrug. "Nothing wrong with
them."

Kumomi: "Including androids, gynoids and the
like?"

"No
restrictions if they're seen as fully sentient and capable of making their own
choices," I asserted. Where the
hell were these two going with this?

"Bioroids
as well, I would assume. Clones,
perhaps?" Hiromi mused.

"I've
never encountered bioroids," I said.
"I assume you mean 'biological android' by that. Fully organic beings not born of a mother's
womb?" As they nodded – I spotted
the interest in Hiromi's eyes – I then added, "As for cloning, doing same
without the permission of the DNA donor is forbidden across my planet. But if a clone is created illegally yet
develops a personality, he has the same rights as anyone else."

Both
of them nodded again. "Then you may
relax, Doug-san," Hiromi then stated.
"As you'll probably remember from my words earlier before you
discovered the 'phoenix' inside me . . . " – She made finger-quotes on
saying that – " . . . that I said that I was chronologically only two
years old." As I gazed at her, she
smiled. "I am a bioroid, the DNA
moulded with permission from the pattern of my brother Ataru to make me his
genetic twin sister. My other sisters,
Negako-onesama and Tariko-onesan, are the same.
Kumomi-san's present body is a bioroid as well; it was cloned for her a
year ago in the wake of our first deep-space mission to break her from her
'fate.'"

As
I gaped at them – and my mage-sight quickly locked in on how YOUNG their bodies
really were! – she added, "You wonder why we have the technology that
created Haida and her sisterships with us now in the year 2011,
Doug-san? It is because a RACE of
bioroids who had been treated for the most part as SEX-SLAVES for the last
century Earth-time – on finally gaining their liberation from such an
existence; I will not dignify it with the term 'life' – decided that their
future was best guaranteed by coming to Earth." As my mind rocked from THAT tsunami of
information – and flashbacks of my experiences in Megatokyo in 2037 dealing
with Genom's boomers came back to me – she added, "And thus, effectively
crippling the alliance of local galactic powers that – thanks to their lazy willingness
to adhere to the demands of realpolitik every time something threatened
them in lieu of acknowledging the higher principles they espoused on their
coming together as a group – allowed them to suffer for as long as they
did."

I
fought down the outrage billowing in my heart.
"What of their former masters?"

"Defeated. Effectively rendered helpless," Kumomi
flatly announced. "Hiromi-san and
her siblings – this was over a month after their souls were pulled from Ataru-san's
mind – joined a force of warriors from the planets Noukiios and Yehisril, aided
by celestial dragons from both worlds, to attack the planet where the bioroid
factory that created our sisters was located." As I gazed at her, a huntsman's smile crossed
her face. "Thanks to the blessings
of the Heavens – though I'll certainly understand if you refuse to acknowledge
such as a 'blessing' – the liberation of our sisters occurred without loss to
any of them. Though their 'masters'
suffered grievously for their grotesque behaviour: Five million died on Phentax Twelve – the
planet where the bioroid factory was one – and over three million in the space
fleet our sisters' former masters possessed; that was destroyed by the ch'uokyek
of Noukiios and the ib'f of Yehisril." I interpreted those terms as "great
dragons" and "dragons" respectively. "As restitution, the space dry-docks and
space factories the Niphentaxians – the Avalonians' ex-masters – possessed were
seized as 'war booty' and brought to Earth."

I
nodded; obviously, the race-name "Avalonian" was the term used for
bioroids of my hosts' particular type.
"What about possible retaliation?" I then asked.

Hiromi
sighed. "In a way, we were very
lucky, Doug-san. By the time we moved to
free the Avalonians from slavery, the Niphentaxians – who are genetically a
race of mimics similar to the Iotians from Star Trek – had simply become
too lazy. You're an
American. You know the history of your
country from before the War Between the States, do you not? How did the people of the states which tried
to form the Confederacy in 1861 view their lifestyle, supported by slaves whose
ancestors were once imported from Africa?"
As I nodded – even if I was an engineer by training, I did know my
country's past quite well; working in a team of warriors from across the
planet, comments about the bad side of being an American were commonplace – she
smiled. "While there is a chance
that the Niphentaxians might seek some retribution should they shake away their
years of dullardry, there are those amongst their kind who DO understand what
happened and why . . . and are working to make the remainder of their society
conform. For those who – if luck shines
their way – wish to press issues, this ship we're on . . . "

"Helps
guard against it," I finished for her.

"Hai." Hiromi then looked weary. "When I first truly became my own
person, Doug-san, all I was concerned about at the time was ensuring my family
– Onii-san, One-sama and One-san – was safe and sound. On returning to Earth after helping the Avalonians
free themselves, we met up with Tsukihana-kun and a friend of his, who had
spent the previous several months using an abandoned starship construction
satellite they found in a dead solar system not too far from here to construct Haida
and forty-nine other such ships. And
given Onii-san's experiences with other aliens – provoked two years ago when
the Niphentaxians' allies, the Urusians, threatened to 'invade' us . . . to be
staved off when Onii-san won a game of tag against the Urusian champion – I
realised I had no choice but to help make sure Earth was protected as much as
all the Avalonians needed and deserved to be protected." A smile.
"So – when the United Nations here, in their questionable wisdom .
. . " – I gaped in shock on hearing her say THAT! – " . . . declared
me to be the civilian leader of the Earth Defence Force – I ultimately became
responsible for the continued good welfare of nearly TEN BILLION sentient
beings, Doug-san. Over seven billion
Terrans and nearly three billion Avalonians."

"What
about overpopulation issues?" I then asked, my mind boggling at those
numbers.

"Fortunately
for us, our defeat of the Niphentaxians – and, by the extension, the Urusians;
they are, for the most part, a very arrogant and selfish species – impressed
one of our galactic neighbours: The
Seifukusu Dominion," Kumomi stated.
"So much so, in fact, that they were willing to allow us to take
control of THIRTY Class M worlds – again, using the Star Trek term – in
many solar systems to the galactic 'west' and 'south' of us that they had no
use for anymore. The total territory
area is about two hundred by three hundred light-years in a roughly trapezoidal
shape." As I gaped at her, she
smiled. "And right now, people who
wish to get away from crowded cities and breath clean country air are lining up
to migrate to those new worlds, which are being divided according to overall
Terran population at this time. Japan,
for example, will share a planet named 'Pacifica' with the Koreas, Taiwan and
Mongolia. Canada will share a planet
named 'Vinland' with many Caribbean states.
It goes on and on."

"Wow
. . .!" I breathed out, and then I perked as something came to me. "Are Terrans and Avalonians genetically
compatible?"

"Certainly,"
Hiromi said with a smirk. "So atop
a considerable technological leap forward into the future, there's going to be
a considerable evolutional leap as well.
Maybe not to the Yizibajohei extreme . . . " – with the way I could
interpret the word through the ship's translation fields, that word meant
"those of Yiziba;" no doubt, the denonym of a particular planet's
name – " . . . but the chances are that fate-gifted and naturally-born
metahumans will be making their appearance here as well."

"For
the first time since the Second World War," Kumomi added.

"Wow
. . .!" I breathed out again . . .

.
. . and then perked as the other door leading into this room opened, revealing
a woman Hiromi's age, though she had long blue-green hair and brown-grey eyes
under reading glasses. She was dressed
in casual civilians in the same general fashion as Hiromi wore – though this
one had a jean skirt in lieu of jeans – and she had a gold headband holding
part of her hair down. As my mage-sight
clicked in, I noted she was also a bioroid – and yes, a toshi as well, though
her earring was gold and not silver – and I was quick to pick up on the
celestial dragon within her. Though in
THIS one's case, the being within her was truly ALIEN and not Terran-type like
Kumomi's.

"Husband,
aren't you . . . who's this?" she then asked as she gazed on me.

I
blinked. Shades of Ten'o Haruka and
Kai'o Michiru!

Hiromi
was gay.

And
if that was accepted here . . .!

Hiromi
chuckled. "A visitor from another
dimension, my wife," she said.
"Doug-san, may I present one of my lovers in this life and my
second wife in my first, Izuku Mioko.
She's known by the battle-name 'Kamikyo Reishi.' In her first life, she was the Lady Hé
Xìxing, the Língsi Empress of Hàn."
To Mioko. "My love, this is
Douglas Sangnoir-taisa of the United Nations Metahuman Peacekeeping Force. He goes by the battle-name 'Looney Tunes' and
he's a sorcerer, arch-mage class."

Mioko
perked, and then she smiled at me.
"Well met, Master Douglas," she said as she gave me a
classical kung fu-like salute with her hands, though it was the right fist into
the left palm and not the other way around.
"I trust you weren't hurt."

"He
was unconscious when he arrived and we sent down Henrietta-chan and her friends
to go fetch him from the training field, My Empress," Kumomi stated.

I
was quick to note that Mioko seemed not to mind being called
"empress."

Note
to self: Read all the history books on
the Three Kingdoms of China ASAP!

"This
is not the first time he's been forced to move from dimension to
dimension," Kumomi added.
"He's been separated from his home dimension – and a most caring
wife – for nearly fifteen decades in his personal time-line." As Hiromi and Mioko gasped on hearing that,
their eyes tearing in honest sympathy, Kumomi added, "No doubt, whatever
fickle Fates decided to force him on such a journey will stop at nothing to
push, push and keep on pushing until he either breaks or they show mercy to
him."

"Oh,
really?" Mioko stated with a look of pure disgust. "Then I suggest we go send Negako-sama
out to thrash the louts for their petty behaviour."

"Getting
One-sama to do that will be difficult, Mioko-vayae," Hiromi noted.

I
smirked on sensing the translation of that honorific: "My Beloved." And that made sense to me. Despite my personal preference to avoid
Celestial-type beings like phoenixes and dragons, I knew – thanks to my studies
at the Collegium in Valdemar and with my encounters with beings like Fawkes –
they mated for life. "Well, it
should still be done, Dearest," Mioko stated with the voice of someone
used to commanding others to do her bidding.
What the hell was the difference between Hiromi – who was an actual
EMPEROR of China in her first life! – and Mioko, who was simply Hiromi's wife
and mother to his/her children back then?
"If Master Douglas has remained devoted to his beloved all this
time, he deserves to be returned home as quickly as can be done!"

"Why
couldn't you be one of the Fates?" I then pleaded.

Laughter
filled the room . . . and then a voice called out, "What's so funny,
Mama?"

I
blinked before I turned . . .

.
. . and then gaped on seeing what had to be the CUTEST seven year-old kid I'd
EVER encountered in my travels. Clearly
possessing the genetics of both Hiromi and Mioko in her body as given her
green-streaked brown hair and brown eyes behind glasses – and yes, this one was
a bioroid, too; the body was about the same age as Mioko's – she was dressed in
a pinafore with a red T-shirt underneath, the design of which clearly matched
what her parents wore. Given the
sprinting jackrabbit insignia over the kanji ?? for "Tomobiki" – the name was one of
the six days in the Japanese calendar that marked what sort of luck one might
experience – I would assume this was the couple's high school. But WHY on Earth would someone go out and
name a high school of all things after the concept of bad luck
descending on a person's friends?

"A
guest has joined us, Arami-chan," Mioko said as she leaned down to lift
the girl into her arms. "We have a
grand sorcerer with us." She waved
to me. "This is Master Douglas
Sangnoir, who calls himself 'Looney Tunes.'" She blinked.
"'Looney Tunes?'"

"My
mage-gift is centred on music, Mioko-san," I answered her. Yes, she was a dragon – and an ALIEN one at
that! – but hers and Hiromi's child had not been touched at all by Celestial
power . . . and by the feel of pure love Arami's parents felt, they seemed to
prefer Arami lived that way. So clearly,
even if Celestial power was involved with toshi – Arami's earring was a red
shade; she didn't strike me as even a beginner fighter – they seemed to strive
to be as normal human as possible. And
while there was a shrinking yet still present part of me that kept on demanding
to know what the game was, I was starting to realise in THIS universe, it was
possible for mortals to be touched by Celestials and NOT be corrupted or
influenced by such infinite power.

What
was the secret here?

"Any
specific type of music?" Hiromi then wondered, clearly curious by my
gifts.

"Any
type that has lyrics that I can interpret," I answered. "I'm not your normal sorcerer. I can't cast spells like true sorcerers can. However, using any song I can understand as
subconscious inspiration, my body channels my magic to do all sorts of
things." I paused as I wondered if
I should do this in front of these people, and then – despite the part of me
warning me NOT to indulge my deepest desire now, especially in the presence of
three Celestials-in-mortal form – I picked up my helmet and flipped open the
external speakers to the "on" position. Once done, I deployed the keypad and searched
for the song I wanted. As the three
older women in the room patiently waited, Arami motioned with her arms to be
let down to the deck. Once Mioko had
obliged her, the young girl scampered around the table, then got up onto the
chair next to mine to look into my helmet.
I stared at her, and then smiled before I pointed.

Ah,
what the heck!

"Here,
press this," I then bade.

Arami
did so . . .

The
Darkside is coming, now nothing is real.
She'll
never know just how I feel.
From
out of the shadows, she walks like a dream.
Make
me feel crazy! Make me feel so mean!

"Hey,
Gorgeous!" that wonderful voice echoed from nearby. "Hey!
What's this place?!"

* *
*

Local
date and time: Monday 10 May 2011, 3:28
AM JST
Local
location: Senshobu-jinja, Tomobiki-cho,
Nishitokyo-shi, Tokyo-to,

"Mizuho
. . . "

"No
. . . his pain . . . "

"MIZUHO!"

Inada
Mizuho – who had been hovering on the edge of total emotional collapse ever
since her mind first locked in on the travelling arch-mage sorcerer she had
initially sensed three hours before – gasped on hearing that barked voice, and
then she shook her head for a moment as the powerful empathic link between her
and Douglas Sangnoir faded from her mind.
"I . . . he is so lonely, Negako-sama . . .!" she moaned out
as she gazed with tear-filled eyes at Moroboshi Negako. "He loves her so much . . .!"

Negako
took a deep breath. "To answer the
question you clearly wish to ask, Mizuho:
YES, you can bring Margaret to this dimension." She then leaned close to gaze with her
almost-black eyes upon the young survivor of Episode 56-30 of The Program. "But ask yourself this, Mizuho: What can happen to Margaret when she and
Douglas attempt to leave this dimension together and enter those realms
influenced by the beings you believed planned to threaten Douglas' life before
you brought him to Welland?"

Mizuho
blinked, and then she shuddered as her respect and near-reverence for the
grandmaster of Saiko Jinseijutsu-ryu clashed HARD with her own personal sense
of romance, a typical affliction for fifteen year-old Japanese high school
freshmen despite her being psi-bonded to Niimi Rena for the last five
months. Atop that, her own powerful
sense of right and wrong was mixing together with her personal spiritual
beliefs to urge her to give in to her desire to use the Staff of Gihan to reach
out through the Multiverse and locate one Maggie Sangnoir to bring her to this
dimension and reunite her with her husband.
After all, to a devoted Zoroastrian, the supreme deity was the Creator
Himself, Ahura Mazda. The only other
being of near-equal rank to the "Master" – as Mizuho always addressed
Him as – was Ahura Mazda's arch-rival, A?ra Mainiuu, the living Spirit of
Entropy and all that was not good with Creation.

And
to Mizuho's mind, the idea of a devoted couple being SEPARATED by these
"fates" for nearly FIFTEEN CENTURIES – in the husband's viewpoint –
was WRONG!

It
could NOT be tolerated!

Yet
. . .

"He
misses her so much, Negako-sama . . .!" Mizuho moaned.

A
nod. "That he should given his
devotion to his own personal beliefs.
But even if deities and other such entities have strict controls over
their actions in OUR sector of the Multiverse, that is not true
elsewhere," Negako warned.
"There are beings out there who desire Douglas to continue to
travel from dimension to dimension and timeline to timeline on his 'quest' to
return to his home dimension. In their
eyes, his interaction with the Knight Sabres, the Nornir living in Nekomi, the
Evangelion pilots and many others, Douglas has contributed most positively to
the lives of those he has been made to deal with. They desire him to continue such a process
within reason." A sigh. "And yes, there are those entities such
as those you sensed three hours ago that would desire Douglas' permanent demise
to prevent him from performing more such deeds."

"In
other words, if you bring Mrs. Sangnoir here, you present TWO targets to those
dark kami you sensed earlier this evening, Mizuho-chan," Sakura added.

Mizuho
blinked. "What should I do . .
.?"

"Ask
him."

She
perked, and then turned to gaze on Rena. "Beloved . . . "

"Tell
him what forced you to bring him here, Mizuho-vayae," Rena stated. "And ASK him if he thinks it's okay to
bring his wife here. Once he says 'yes,'
do it."

Mizuho
blinked, and then she nodded before grasping the Staff. In a flash of energy, she vanished from
Japan. Watching her go, Sakura moaned,
and then she gazed in annoyance at Negako.
"Is THIS helping her 'control' that thing?!"

"She
will learn from Douglas, Sakura. Never
fear," the ninjutsu grandmaster noted.

The
Shinto shrine miko shook her head . . .

* *
*

Local
Date and time: Sunday 9 May 2011, 2:31
PM EDT
Location: H.M.C.S. Haida, Deck A12 Aft, Flag
Officer's Level,

To
even TALK to Maggie – even just a magical simulacra of her – hurt so much.

It
hurt so much . . .

"Doug-san,
I don't even know what to begin to say to you . . . "

I
blinked on hearing those words from Hiromi, and then I found myself smiling as
Arami gave me a tender hug. As I turned
to kiss the young girl on the forehead, I gazed on my host for a moment, and
then I sighed. "Director Moroboshi,
I owe you a very deep apology," I then solemnly declared. "I must confess that given my past
experiences with beings I tend to view under the catch-all term 'Celestials,'
the fact that you are touched by a power I believe akin to that of a phoenix –
as your lover and your friend here are touched by dragons – certainly doesn't
take away from the fact that you are all striving to live normal lives despite
your current circumstances. In many
ways, you remind me of my own commanding officer, who – while possessing a
Celestial aspect to her own being – also lives her life as 'normally' as
possible even if she could be seen as an elder storm goddess by some. You clearly desire to assist me in my trip
back to my home dimension and time-line.
I would welcome such help. In
turn, I will gladly offer anything within reason to allow the Earth Defence
Force to better prepare itself for its mission ahead for both Terran and
Avalonian alike."

Hiromi
– hers and Mioko's cheeks were wet from the tears they had shed when they had
seen Maggie's simulacra; even Kumomi had been moved – nodded. "Your apology, I accept, Lord Colonel
Sangnoir," she said. "Though I
ask one thing right now."

"Ask,
please."

A
wink. "Please do NOT call me
'Director' or anything save my name!" she pleaded, which made Mioko
giggle, Arami – who was trying to fight back the sorrow she felt for me –
snicker and Kumomi smirk. "And if
you may, good sir, please try not to use '-sama' with my
name! Or I will have no choice but to
call you 'Sangnoir-taisa' until you're sick to death of hearing it . . . AND
arrange for proper navy side parties when you step on and off this ship or any
of her sisters while you're with us."

"You
say that as if it's a bad thing," I then cautioned as I raised a warning
finger. Then, after a pause but – before
she could answer – I smiled. "Okay,
it is a bad thing. But
don't assume that everybody hates ceremony, Hiromi-chan."

"He
does have a point, My Emperor," Kumomi noted.

As
Hiromi grumbled under her breath, I was quick to sense the light smile on
Kumomi's face after she said that.
Noting that despite the ancient bonds of loyalty that drove the latter
girl towards calling my host by her first-life's title, she did have a sense of
humour, I relaxed myself. "It's a
deal, Hiromi-chan," I vowed.

"Well,
that's a good thing," Mioko stated.
"Though Master Douglas, may I humbly give you some wise
advice?" As I gazed at her,
Hiromi's lover winked. "When you gain
the chance to meet my beloved's sister Negako-sama, please do NOT call her
'sensei' or any other title beyond either the '-sama' honorific or its cognates
in other languages."

"True
advice, my love," Hiromi affirmed.
"One-sama has been often mistaken as a living avatar of Mother Gaia
Herself due to her origins, Doug-san.
Atop that, her viewpoint on life as a whole is as pure a form of Taoism
as Master Laozi himself was said to possess." As I nodded – recognising the reference to
Lao Tzu; no doubt, Hiromi spoke Mandarin in lieu of Cantonese or any of the
other main dialects – she added, "To her, there is the living world . . .
and there is the Te'a. Because
our souls emerge from the Te'a at birth and return to the Te'a upon our
passing from this life, the need of have such titles is ultimately
useless." She then smirked. "Though I will confess there is only ONE
person she will address by rank: The
Heavenly Sovereign of Japan."

I
blinked. Through the ship's translation
fields, "Te'a" was interpreted as "that which is above mortal
understanding," which made no sense to me . . . until I realised that
whatever its origin, such clearly was an odd interpretation of the Taoist
concept of Non-Being. Perhaps mixed with
the Force concept from Star Wars, but I'd have to dig deeper into
that. Was THIS the big secret of this
universe? "What is she?" I
asked.

"Our
world's first true artificial intelligence, Doug-san," Kumomi
answered. As I gaped at her, she
smiled. "That which would
eventually become Negako-san was first created by a corporeal immortal being
named Hozan Hirosuke a thousand years ago as a mental storehouse of martial
arts knowledge and experience which could be added onto by memory-copying of
select ninjutsu-ka – to borrow the modern term – from the family that was
giving this 'gift' by the Immortal Master:
Hiromi-san's very own ancestors, so to speak." As I nodded, she added, "Over the years,
the 'databank' eventually acquired the name given to the Art it was meant to
serve as the ultimate library to: Saiko
Jinseijutsu-ryu, one of the accepted daughter-schools of the Immortal One's own
school, the Tensei-ryu. When one was the
host of such a being, one was literally an unstoppable warrior . . . as many
toshi centuries ago learned to their cost."

"Those
who bore that which would become One-sama were often used as special enforcers
in the name of the Heavenly Sovereign by the Shogun to kill off toshi and other
such malcontents when they began making TOO much noise after the Battle of
Sekigahara in 1600 united the nation," Hiromi added. "However, in 1808, my ancestors learned
that there was another such database of knowledge – also created
by Master Hozan – held by a then-unknown clan from Hokkaido, the Hana
family. We learned of it this way: In the midst of a tsunami, when they were
rescuing fishermen, the host of the Hana family's version of the Saiko
Jinseijutsu drowned. And in his last
act, he forced his own database into the mind of my ancestor. Once the two databases became one being . . .
"

"The
sentience threshold was surpassed," I finished. "Negako-san literally 'woke up.'"

"Aye. In that incident, a terrible conundrum for
both families was then presented," my host stated. "While they did understand magicals and
immortals and other such beings, they couldn't – for the most part – comprehend
an artificial intelligence like One-sama. And when she – rightly so, I might add –
decided she wanted to have her own body for herself instead of living in my
ancestor's subconscious mind, that profound incomprehension turned into blind
fear. In the battle that resulted from
that, half of Hokkaido was laid waste until One-sama's then-host made a very
sacred promise."

"To
find some way to give her what she wanted," I concluded.

A
nod. "Aye. And thus began the Promise of Bunka Go-nen;
that is the Japanese era name and year date that is the equivalent to 1808 in
the Gregorian calendar. Since that time,
One-sama's soul – not to mince words – was carefully preserved by those who took
up the Sacred Promise from the time the soul-transference until the death of
the host necessitated another soul-transference. When One-sama was made a part of Onii-san's
mind eleven years ago, he became the fifty-seventh person to make the
Promise." She then smiled. "And the one who survived to see it
fulfilled."

Wow! THAT was a lot to take in!

"So
when you do meet Negako-san, do not be surprised if she is rather curt and
neutral in her behaviour towards you," Kumomi stated. "She has had little cause to trust and
respect human beings over the last two centuries. Her hosts and a few others
notwithstanding." A knowing
smile. "I dare say that your
delightful companion housed now in that laptop computer you have stored in the
cargo compartment of your motorcycle would interest Negako-san MUCH more than
you would." As I gaped at her – How
the hell did she sense Eimi?! I immediately demanded – she opened her eyes
to wink at me. "And speaking of
which, I do believe the Elder Mother of the Avalonians now aboard . . . "

A
knock. "Enter, Naoko-chan!"
Hiromi bade.

The
main door opened to reveal a pretty girl of about twenty or so, with shaggy
hair the shade of evergreen and amethyst eyes.
She was also in Navy work dress, the looped stripe of an acting
sub-lieutenant on her shoulder boards.
Her family name TAKANASHI was written on her nametag. She also had a wedding band of some sort on
one finger. "I apologise for
intruding on you like this, One-sama, but Doug-san's guest quarters have been
prepared," she said before she gave me a friendly smile. "Captain Gamblin insisted that he be
quartered in the guest cabin on the senior officer's level in the forward
superstructure given his rank in his universe.
When he's had a chance to rest up and everything, he'll be invited to
the captain's cabin for supper, of course." As I gaped at her, Naoko smiled. "Would you like to get your things
first, Doug-san?"

I
slowly nodded . . .

Damn! Were everyone in the Earth Defence Force as
efficient as this?

* *
*

Local
Date and time: Sunday 9 May 2011, 3:23
PM EDT
Location: H.M.C.S. Haida, Deck A10 Forward,
Senior Officer's Quarters,

"Still
not there yet, huh?"

"Afraid
not, Eimi," I said in return as I gazed on the cute image on my laptop
computer screen in the spacious room I had been given to rest and relax in for
however long I might be in this dimension.
"But I was detected right away; the local tech is high enough to
detect world-gates. I take it you've
sensed where we're at now."

Eimi
seemed to blink-blink for a moment as her central consciousness sought out the
modem cable that now connected the device she was in to Haida's part of
this world's Tapestry . . . and then a look of sheer disbelief crossed her face
for a moment as the information finally started to came in; Hiromi had arranged
to grant me unlimited Top Secret access to all the files that were stored in
this ship's mainframe computer.

"A
starship . . .?"

I
smirked. I rather guessed for all her
sophistication and sentience, she had long got used to the lower levels of tech
that we had encountered since we began travelling together many years and
dimensions ago. To find herself in
Tapestry HEAVEN . . .!

"Nearly
transwarp capable by the Star Trek scale; can hop from one end of the
galaxy to the other in mere minutes," I provided for her;
looking over Haida's schematics had been the first thing I had done
through the desktop machine that was provided for me by the smiling Takanashi
Naoko, who was now moving to unpack my clothing and put it away. "With enough firepower to turn a living
planet Earth's size into a cinder in space.
Though my current hosts wouldn't ever dream of doing something like
that."

"A
starship . . .?!"

"Yep,"
I answered.

Eimi
gaped at me, which seemed to concern Naoko as she came around to gaze over my
shoulder at my friend. "I hope
she's not going to suffer a breakdown, Doug-san."

Eimi
blinked several times as she focused on Naoko, and then she gaped. No doubt, she had just learned about the
Avalonians. "You're a bioroid?"

"Terran-form
Avalonian," Naoko stated.
"Peace, logic and harmony unto you, Eimi-san."

My
friend gaped for a second, and then she breathed out, "Wow . . .!"

"Tell
me this, Doug-san: Does Eimi-san like
being in a box?"

I
jolted on hearing that slightly-cold voice, and then I turned to see a girl
with green-highlighted black hair standing at the open doorway to my
cabin. She was in Navy combat dress – as
the local black work dress was called here – but had Air Force blue epaulettes
on her shoulders, they marked with the unit tag 21 ACCS, which indicated
the 21st Air Communications and Control Squadron, the mobile signals command
and support group for Haida's aerospace contingent, 21 Space Wing of the
First Canadian Air Division. Her family
name ASAI was on her chest under the squadron's crest, a sky blue field
with the two-headed thunderbird of Haida over a trio of lightning
flashes emitting from the Earth under the tail.
"Mayumi-chan!" Naoko then snapped. "Even if you'd want to help Eimi-san
like you did Lal-san when we met up with the Enterprise crew at
Christmas time, there IS the problem of what happens when something from
another dimension transits to this dimension and vice-versa." As Eimi and I both gaped at her – This girl
actually helped Data's daughter during their contact? Wasn't Lal dead? – Naoko added,
"Especially if you decide to create a bioroid body for her!"

"There
is a problem with your theory, oh Ashi'cha of mine," Mayumi stated
as she then slipped off her reading glasses from her brown eyes. I was quick to interpret that word as meaning
"elder mother" in what I suspected was the Avalonian language. "Doug-san shows the signs of residing
for decades on some strops in his journey." As I blinked, wondering how this girl got
hold of my life-scan readings – Did she hack into Narumi-chan's logs? –
Mayumi put her glasses on. "Given
he seems to be shielded by unknown means from being forced back into his home
dimension, the chances are good that if I did create a physical body for
Eimi-san, she will be so likely blessed."

"Don't
start!" Naoko stated. "While
Eimi-san might like a change of scenery, she was created in her current form
and would probably find the transition to corporeal form traumatic. Try to be more empathic, please! You were built for it,
remember?"

"So
were you, Naoko-chan," Mayumi noted.
"I AM being empathic about it.
But I have my own morals and beliefs to acknowledge as well." A nod to me, and then she was off.

I
blinked several times. "You
resident mad scientist, I take it?"

"She
was modelled that way," Naoko confessed.

"Where
from?" Eimi asked.

My
current guide smiled. "Eimi-san, go
into the personnel files section of the ship's memory," she said. "My personal file folder is under my
name in Oriental name format. Passcode
is 'S-H-I-N-O-B-I-4-E-V-E-R.' Access the
files marked under the sub-folders 'Grand Prix' and 'Pretty League.' Look at the pictures there and you'll get the
idea."

Eimi
blinked . . . and then a look of righteous outrage crossed her face. "HENTAI SUKEBE! WHO THE HECK MODELLED YOU AFTER SOMETHING
LIKE THAT, NAOKO-SAN?!"

"My
would-be master." Naoko then gazed
at me. "Though fortunately, unlike
so many of my own sisters on Earth and beyond, I never had the displeasure of meeting
the man."

"What
happened?" I asked.

"Tsukihana-oniisama
and Ayami-onesama happened," she replied.
I knew that the latter name hinted at Haida's co-designer and
co-builder, Hakaru Ayami. She had been
the one to ensure things like planet-shattering anti-proton cannons had NOT
been fitted on Haida and her sisters like Tsukihana wanted from the very
start. "As our would-be master –
there were a total of 415 of us he had created – was returning home from a
shopping trip on Zeiwan, they happened upon us in Arizona and Yamato. We were all in our storage tubes, having got
out of gestation aboard the factory on Phentax Twelve before we were programmed
and woken. As to why that happened this
way, I can't say. But when we were
sensed by Arizona's life sensors and identified as having a Sagussan
genetic profile, we were beamed out before our master was any the wiser. After he realised we had been 'stolen' from
him, he contacted Onii-sama and One-sama and threatened us with the retribution
of the 'One True Church of Lum' for their actions."

I
grinned. "What happened?"

"He
was beamed into one of his ship's own escape pods and it was made to jettison
from his ship . . . just before Yamato's guns wrecked it." As Eimi cheered and I laughed, Naoko stated,
"My first waking moment was finding myself on Haida after Onii-sama
and One-sama met up with Hiromi-onesama and we were inbound to Sol. Over the following months, I became her
major-domo on this ship and was acknowledged as Ashi'cha after my soul
was augmented with the souls of one of the amnesiac toshi then trapped within a
device known as the Dragon Jade."
She pointed to her own earring in emphasis.

I
looked at it. It was like Hiromi's magatama,
though it was shaped like a maple leaf cut right out of the Canadian flag and
was shaded evergreen. It had a fouled
anchor and a British naval coronet etched on it. A trade badge of some sort, I realised. "So what are you doing right now?"
I wondered. "Haida was just
commissioned last summer. You all came
here last February in your time-line.
Basic training?"

"MARS
– that's naval operations – training for myself at H.M.C.S. Venture over
in Esquimalt," Naoko stated.
"Ditto with Tomomi-chan and several others. Others have either passed basic trades
training in the ranks or are still going through it. Even if, in some places, they don't need
it." A wink. "Military mentality, I'm afraid."

I
laughed again . . . and then perked on hearing a knock at my door. I looked over to see an elderly man with a
golden Canadian coat of arms insignia on his shoulder boards. He had the same type of branch badge as
Tomomi wore on his beret. No doubt, this
man was the equivalent of a British Army regimental sergeant-major on this
ship, though I had no idea what it was called in the Canadian Navy. "Yes?" I asked.

"Sorry
to bother you, Colonel Sangnoir, but the lady who actually brought
you to our dimension is now aboard and in the observation lounge," the
other man said. "She's got
everything for a formal tea ceremony set up there. She wants to talk to you."

I
gaped . . .

* *
*

Local
Date and time: Sunday 9 May 2011, 4:04
PM EDT
Location: H.M.C.S. Haida, Deck 1 Forward, Main
Observation Lounge,

It
had been YEARS since I last wore the robes I had acquired on Velgarth.

And
while I was a little baffled by Naoko's suggestion that I put on such robes in
lieu of my battle-suit, it made sense to me after about five minutes.

For
the first time for as long as I personally can remember at this time, I would
be participating in an actual cha no yu.

Technically,
this would be an informal chakai between myself and the woman said to have
rescued me. Which I was grateful for; I
had a ton of research I had to do concerning what sort of universe I was in and
there was dinner coming up soon with the ship's commanding officer, Captain
(Navy) Brian Gamblin. Hence, the
decision to have a chakai in lieu of a full-blown chaji, which
could last for four hours on occasion.

Given
that my rescuer was said to be a fifteen year-old, first year high school
student currently attending Tomobiki High School, I could guess that she hadn't
had the chance to fully study the intricacies of the chaji in her ethics
and home economics classes.

I,
at least, got the name of my "rescuer."
Inada Mizuho.

Much
to my surprise, Mizuho herself – like yours truly – was from another
dimension.

Supposedly
– and this, no doubt, fuelled part of Naoko's argument with Asai Mayumi
concerning giving Eimi a corporeal body of her own – in this dimension, one
could not transition to another dimension and remain there for more than one
solar year dependant on the orbital cycle of the planet of a traveller's
birth. Or vice-versa

That
had been proven by the Avalonians' true creators, the Sagussans, millennia ago.

There
were, however, ways of getting around that, of course.

What
had happened to me – no doubt, such was what had pegged Mayumi's interest in
Eimi and myself in the first place – was one clear way of doing it.

But
for a more permanent transition between dimensions, there was another
way.

Given
that Avalonians are bioroids whose DNA can be grafted together
with considerable precision thanks to the incredibly high level of Sagussan
technology – which Haida herself had been built under – it was quite
easy for me to conclude that Mizuho had been given a clone body of her own. No doubt thanks to the bioroid factory itself
– currently at Lagrange Point One between the Earth and the Moon – to give her
and her current lover, Niimi Rena, the chance to have lives of their own here.

And
both of them weren't the only ones from that other dimension to come here.

Back
at the turn of the New Year in 2011 – right after Haida had encountered
the good starship Enterprise under Jean-Luc Picard – over A HUNDRED
THOUSAND such kids came across the dimensional veils and were resettled in the
Japan in this dimension.

I
didn't know WHY this had happened, but from the look on Naoko's face when she
spoke of that dimension, it hadn't been any sort of party in that universe.

As
to what it might have been, I had Eimi – with Naoko's permission – look into
it.

Anyhow
. . .

* *
*

"Sangnoir-taisa."

The
voice that spoke after Naoko and I stepped out of the turbolift onto
"Recreation Flats" – as the Canadian Navy personnel now aboard Haida
called this part of the ship – was light and sounded somewhat like Eimi's own
voice, though there was a slight edge of maturity for it. Gazing forward, I was quick to see a smiling
girl in the white-and-red robes of a Shinto shrine maiden awaiting me close to
a stairwell leading updeck, which -- since this was on Deck 2 of the main hull
forward of the superstructure, would normally lead onto what Navy people called
the "weather deck." Which, for
a ship designed to fly in deep space – to say anything of flying faster than
LIGHT – would be a very unhealthy place for anyone to be save for those who had
metagifts that would allow them to survive in such an environment. However, from what I had seen of Haida's
basic design schematics after I settled into my guest quarters, I knew there
was a dome-like observation lounge the size of the average person's home
located ahead of the forward superstructure on the upper flat surface of the
main hull behind main gun Turrets A and B.
A place where people could go and simply relax to gaze out into space or
the skies when the ship was in atmosphere, I felt it was a nice little touch to
add onto a ship that was designed to fight other ships in deep space battles.

No
doubt, Ayami had added that part to the ship.

"Is
everything ready, Rena-san?" Naoko asked.

Rena
nodded. She had her brown hair styled
like most Shinto shrine maidens did it:
Letting it flow long down past her shoulders, though some parts were
tied together in two thin French braids at the level of her ears to come
together at the back of her neck.
"Hai, Naoko-san.
Sangnoir-taisa?" she then said as she waved me up.

I
bowed politely to her, and then moved to ascend up the stairwell. Naoko reached over to a slide-sign posted on
the bulkhead by the stairs to mark the observation lounge as being OCCUPIED/PRIVATE. Stepping up the shallow steps into the
lounge, I was quick to note that we were now in space over south-central
Ontario; Haida had, no doubt, cleared the airspace over Welland as soon
as I was safely aboard and everyone was secure in the hull. A glance off to my left revealed a
white-painted ship with the black number 177 written on her hull under
her main bridge and the Canadian flag painted aft of amidships like Haida
had her colours painted there. She was
an unarmed vessel about half the size of the battleship/carrier I now stood
on. The basic hull design of a
cigar-shaped main hull ending in engine exhausts – that vessel only had one
engine to drive her in lieu of Haida's twin drives – with a fore-and-aft
upper superstructure and a long lower superstructure ending in sub-light drive
exhausts, all of which were covered by forests of sensor vanes that also
doubled as flag masts, was the same. I
couldn't see the ship's name from this distance, so I gazed on Naoko.

She
smiled. "Canadian Forces Auxiliary
Starship Nimiq," she explained.
"Currently assigned to Defence Research and Development Canada's
Niagara laboratories co-located with the Starship Fleet Maintenance Facility
Merrittonia on the east side of the By-Pass Channel north of the Rose City Skyway. She has two sisterships: Canadian Forces Auxiliary Starship Anik
and Navire Interstellaire Auxiliarire des Forces Canadiennes Alouette. Anik will eventually be based
alongside H.M.C.S. Yukon at Whitehorse while Alouette will be
based alongside N.C.S.M. Saint-Laurent at Valcartier."

"And
Yukon and Saint-Laurent . . .?" I asked.

"Type
Three – Warrior-class – space frigates."
As I perked on hearing the class name – I knew Haida was
considered the name-ship of the Type One space battleship/carriers of the Earth
Defence Force – she then waved to the Nimiq. "Imagine her with eight triple-gun
turrets and the same number of anti-ship missile tubes."

I
perked, grinning. "'Warrior-class?!'"

"Hai! After Her Majesty's Starship Warrior,
pendant F31. The first one
commissioned."

Rimi
giggled. "Naoko-san, Doug-san's
team back home is known as 'Warriors Alpha.'"

Naoko
gaped. "Oh! I didn't know that!"

"How
did YOU know that, Rimi-san?" I asked.

A
giggle. "You caught the interest of
my beloved sometime ago, Master Douglas," she said with the same formal
slant of speech Hiromi used. "As to
the 'how,' you're about to find out.
Please understand that her actions which brought you here were done out
of a profound fear for your life when you were unconscious and travelling
between dimensions." As I nodded –
remembering that Kumomi had hinted that to me when I first discovered the power
within Hiromi's body – she waved me with her. "This way."

We
headed over to the middle of the lounge.
I noticed that given the circular shape of the lounge floor itself, the
seats here were arranged as if we were on the ground floor in the Globe Theatre
in London, with a centre stage raised about a half-metre off the deck. Of course, the "backstage" – facing
aft here – led to the stairwell where we had come up to join Rimi's lover, who
was kneeling on the stage gazing with a mixture of concern and delight at
me. Like Rimi, she was in a shrine miko's
kimono with the red hakama trousers that was normally worn by people like
them. As I stepped up to join her, she
rose to deeply bow to me, which I returned.

"Welcome
to our universe, Master Douglas," she said in a voice that had a strong
fleck of Shikoku in it – like Rimi's voice was pure Kyushu – as she gazed upon
me. "While I'm sure the Great
Emperor has given you something to eat and drink after you were found in the
training ground of the First Battalion of Her Majesty's noble Guards of Canada,
allow me to present you with some refreshments as a way of apologising to you
for forcing you on yet another stop in your journey to rejoin your beloved Lady
Margaret and your wonderful friends back in old London Town in your
universe."

I
bowed my head, trying not to grin too much as Mizuho's speech flowed over me;
unlike Rimi – who did strike me as a normal girl underneath it all – her lover
clearly would feel perfectly at home in the years when Hiromi lived her first
life in China. To say anything of the
Collegium back in Valdemar. As I flashed
Naoko a knowing look – which she returned with a smile – I said, "I would
be delighted, Mistress Mizuho."

With
that, the tea – I realised it was gyokuro, the tea that Kumomi had
enjoyed at my meeting with Hiromi – was prepared. And while I couldn't exactly remember the
last time I was involved in a Japanese tea ceremony, I was quick to realise
that Mizuho was doing her best to follow the proper etiquette for such an
occasion. Given that the normal tea ceremony
was done in a special tea house, Mizuho clearly elected to use the nodate
outdoor picnic style of the ceremony in this case. I was happy for that; it was yet another
demonstration of the earnest desire everyone I had met so far expressed towards
making me feel comfortable as I got my bearings and moved to find some way to
press on, hopefully to make the one last jump back to my home.

And
while there were reasons to doubt it, my mage-sight was quick to inform me that
Mizuho did not have ANY Celestial influence inside her; Rimi was likewise
clean.

Mizuho's
eyes did show a level of deep pain within them indicating that she had
experienced a very recent brush with death, though.

Was
this the reason she had moved to this dimension?

What
had happened to her?

"Unlike
Asagiri Priscilla, whom you met in the dark city of Megatokyo many dimensions
back – you will probably remember her as 'Lady Blue' of the noble Knight Sabres
– I myself was able to make sure all those I love and care for ultimately
survived their own confrontations with the Master's Final Mystery," Mizuho
then said as she gazed briefly at me.
"In the Lady Priscilla's case, there were several people she would
have gladly done anything to bring back to life. Four of them actually being
boomers." She turned back to the
preparing of the gyokuro.
"You were wise to force her to face up to the ugly dichotomy her
alliance with Sylia Stingray was forcing on her soul. It hurt her like nothing else had ever hurt
her to date, but she benefitted for it.
For one young child-shaped boomer – who was rescued by the Sabres while
you were confronting your own dimensional counterpart in Genom Tower at the
time – became her daughter."

I
gaped at her as my mind quickly recalled my encounters with the Blue Knight
Sabre, not to mention the night at Hog Legs when my mage-gift fell totally in
love with Priss' signature song, Konya wa Hurricane. "How do you know all that?!"

Mizuho
waved with one hand.

I
felt my jaw hit the deck on seeing a tall, staff-like device literally APPEAR
in her hand. As tall as I was, it was
topped with a crescent moon-shaped arc of metal encasing a glowing crystal of a
material I had NEVER seen before which was the size of my head. As I looked upon it, the engineer side of me
was quick to see the three layers of material the crystal was made out of: A diamond-like outer casing over a ruby-like
middle casing, the whole surrounding a core of solid onyx-like black material I
would swear came from the heart of a black hole of all things!

Yeah,
even if it was GLOWING like it did.

My
mage-sight quickly clicked in as I focused on this thing.

Do
be careful before doing that, Douglas.

I
blinked as my mage-sight faded while my mind registered that echoing male
voice. "Who are you?!" I then
demanded, moving myself to be on guard.
"A Celestial?!"

No,
Douglas Quincy Sangnoir. In the core of
my being, I am an artificial intelligence like your delightful friend Eimi,
though created seventeen thousand of your years ago on a planet thirty-three
thousand Earth light-years from here.
You may address me as the 'Staff of Gihan.' Inada Mizuho is my current controller, having
won my absolute loyalty when she seized me upon her emerging from gestation
over fifteen months ago when the one who wished to enslave her and all her
beloved friends in sexual slavery elected to use her to kill Moroboshi Hiromi
and her siblings on the liberation of the bioroid factory created in
Project: Avalon from Niphentaxian
control.

As
I nearly winced on the idea of Mizuho being used as some slave soldier to try
to kill Hiromi and her friends – and found myself privately vowing yet again to
learn my rescuer's full story as quickly as I could – the Staff added, As
to my power, I am given but a small fraction of the sum Total Power of the Te'a. The Power first born with the detonation of
the Primal Atom over thirteen billion years ago which created the Multiverse in
all its wonderful complexity . . . and the Power that can only be extinguished
when the Primal Atom reforms however many billions of years in the future, thus
allowing the Multiverse to finally fade into the nothingness of the Final
Entropy.

I
gaped at it as my mind once more threatened to totally crash over that tsunami
of information – mixed with an earthquake, hurricane, tornado and blizzard to
boot! – that just slammed into me. After
a moment as my mind tried to run through what this thing – which actually
looked like a country-made version of Sailor Moon's magical sceptre grown to
battle-staff size – just told me, I then shook my head as I mentally shoved
away the years of magical training I had endured in my own universe and in my
travels, reverting to my engineering knowledge.
And the hard sciences that came with it.

"You
possess a part of the power that unleashed the Big Bang?!" I
then gasped.

Damn!

I
could speak after hearing all THAT?!

Yes,
the Staff replied. I warned you
off from using your mage-sight on me since – if you DID use that power – you would
behold an entity which would be equal in overall power to any 'Celestial' you have ever met, even your good
friend Helene Diedmeier. Given your many
experiences – both for good and ill by your own personal viewpoint – with such
entities, Douglas . . . and the desire of my controller and those whom she
allies herself with to see you not only comfortable while you are their guest
but to give you every chance to proceed onward to your home dimension, I felt
it only right to 'tone down' my own impact on the various magical fields you
can perceive through your mage-sight capabilities. Magic, after all, is but an expression of the
Te'a which some – like yourself – are gifted with the ability to
manipulate. My controller – and I myself
– do not wish to harm those who do not harm us in return.

I
blinked several times before I relaxed.
"What made you convince Mizuho it was wise to bring me to this dimension? Kumomi stated I was threatened by 'dark and
demonic beings' that were planning to ambush me while I was transitioning
through my latest world-gate jump – I assume it was her dragon that told her
that – but I've never had that sort of problem before when I've move from
dimension to dimension."

"It
was because your journey was slowly but surely bringing you towards our section
of the Multiverse, Master Douglas," Mizuho answered as she moved to plant
the Staff's base end into a holding clamp in the floor next to her. "Staff, bring our guest's combat helmet
here." As a flash of energy brought
my helmet onto the deck right next to me, she turned to finish with the gyokuro. "Computer: Engage ship's entertainment files. Locate musical song by Chris de Burgh: The Storyman. Play on loudspeakers in the observation
lounge, Level Six," she then commanded before giving me a knowing look.

Oh,
my God! I gasped in my mind. She knew about THIS . . .?!

A
guitar riff sounded off . . .

I
lived my life in the words of a Storyman,
Watched
my dreams from the years gone by.
Heard
my voice in the songs of a Storyman,
Always
by my side, always by my side . . .

And
as it happened so many times before when I encountered a new song, my metagift
quickly perked up as the beautiful ballad echoed all around me . . .

.
. . and then I felt SOMETHING reach into me.

Let
your power and mine show the effects of this gift, Douglas,
the Staff said . . .

I
saw him first in a castle by candlelight,
Turning
round with a golden key.
I
heard a train far away . . . and a whistle blew
Like
a baby's cry. 'Twas like a baby's cry.

"Oh,
gods!" Rimi then gasped, which made me stare at her . . . to see she was
looking straight up. "What is
THAT?!" she then demanded, pointing.

I
looked up . . .

Ravens
stood on the walls of Jerusalem.
Sailors
danced at the Borderline.
Light
a fire on the road to the Ferryman.
Emotions
running high . . . in the summertime.

"The
monsters who sought to stop Master Douglas' quest to return to his beloved Lady
Margaret and all his wonderful friends, dearest Rimi," Mizuho answered as
I gaped at the sight of at least a COMPANY'S worth of black humanoid beings
swirling around what was clearly ME on my motorcycle as I drifted through the
vortex between worlds.

And
since I'm always unconscious when I do world-gate jumps . . .!

Take
me back to the places I've never been!
Take
me back to another time . . .!
Take
me back to a world I have never seen
Only
in my mind! Only in my mind!

.
. . I wouldn't have known my own DEATH had been just metres away from me!

Late
last night I met up with a lady-love,
Dressed
in red; didn't say goodbye!
Carry
me to the last time I showed her what
Tender
hands can do . . . and I'll be missing you!

Until
a tendril of pure white light snared me, encasing my cycle and I in a
protective cocoon of energy, and then began pulling me towards Haida . .
.

No!

This
was a REPLAY of what Mizuho had seen with her own mind when she brought me
here!

Take
me back to the places I've never been!
Take
me back to another time . . .!
Take
me back to a world I have never seen
Only
in my mind! Only in my mind . . .!

As
I fought the urge to stare like a dumb idiot at my host - stunned that this
girl had used a mere fraction of the power that literally created the
universe to save my ass from beings that clearly wanted Mama Sangnoir's
boy to be looking at daisies from the WRONG direction! - I noted that the Big Ugly
Critters who wanted to smoke my ass just hours before had noticed that their
target was being yanked out of their range.

Naturally,
they didn't take too well to that.

Follow
the light that's shining on to where we will be going!
Up
to Heaven, Paradise, or to the Heart Divine!
It’s
in the echoes of a child, waiting for the journey,
The
spirit of one world!

But
as they moved to pursue me, they then seemed to focus on something . . .

.
. . and then – I would swear this to my dying day! – they looked as if they had
just spotted something that could wipe them out from Existence itself.

And
in a virtual cloud of cosmic smoke, they vamoosed to wherever they came
from.

That
made me feel quite relieved . . .

Oh,
take me back to the places I've never been!
Take
me back to another time . . .!
Take
me back to a world I have never seen
Only
in my mind! Only in my mind . . .!

I
lived my life in the words of a Storyman . . .

"Tea?"
Mizuho then asked as she held up a mug for me to take.

I
blinked several times as my mind ran through what I had just been allowed to
see, and then I nodded as I took the cup in hand. "Thank you," I said.

I
was amazed that my hands weren't shaking from what I had just seen.

"So
who or what were they?" Naoko then asked.

"Demons,
Lady Naoko. Servants of the Dark One,"
Mizuho answered. "My Master's
eternal opponent, A?ra Mainiuu. What
forced me to bring Master Douglas to our place within the Eternal Vastness of
the Master's Creation was only just one small battle in the quest to see the
Dark One destroyed once and for all in the Frashokereti."

I
tried not to gape at this girl.

My
God!

Mizuho
was a Zoroastrian?!

"I
am one of the followers of the Way prescribed to those who acknowledge the
Master as their own Lord of Heaven by the Great Sage Zarathuštra Spitama, Master
Douglas. And I am glad for it,"
Mizuho stated as she gazed on me.
"Odd for one of those born of the Land of the Wa to follow such a
path, I agree, but my circumstances in discovering the Way were quite unique to
me. And while I do not follow what is
more common for those such as my beloved, I do acknowledge that the Master
presents Himself in whatever way He desires to be accepted by all according to
personal circumstances."

"Why
would they seek to destroy Doug-san?" Naoko then demanded.

"Yeah! What she said!" I echoed her.

As
Rimi giggled, Mizuho smiled.
"Staff, show us Jennifer Asagiri-McNichol."

As
you wish.

An
image – like a holoscreen – then appeared over our heads.

"KAWAII!"
Rimi and Naoko gushed together.

I
was tempted to do the same.

But
then again, would you blame me?

The
girl in the image now being cuddled over by the un-armoured Lady Blue and
Officer Cool Shades – as I so fondly remembered Asagiri Priscilla and Inspector
Leon McNichol; no doubt, he and Priss were married – was about Moroboshi
Arami's physical age, though I realised this was the "child-shaped boomer"
that Mizuho spoke of earlier.
Blonde-haired and blue-eyed, she was currently dressed in normal kid's
clothes for her age and time period, which would probably put it sometime after
I left Megatokyo. And while I did
remember Priss' personal hatred of boomers before my lecture after I had made
the deal with the Three to bring two kids back from the dead after one fight
with Genom's cyberdroid slaves – and I also remembered that Leon had been part
of the city's Advanced Police department who had been assigned to bring me in
after I decided to become a vigilante after a boomer rampage at Hot Lips – it made
my heart glow to see them married and starting a family. Though having a boomer as a daughter . . .!

Damn! I must have really done some good there.

"What
type of cyberdroid is she?" Naoko asked.

"A
modification of the 33-S concept," Mizuho answered.

I
gazed on Naoko as a look of disgust crossed her face. "A Sexaroid . . .?"

Oh,
my God . . .

Poor
Jennifer was a paedophile's wet dream!

Way
to go, Lady Blue . . .!

"Aye. No different than the Ladies Sylvie and
Anri." Mizuho then gazed at
me. "The former of the pair I just
mentioned was one whom Lady Priscilla was forced to shoot down to save all of
Megatokyo from a runaway neutron bomb in 2033, Master Douglas," she then
explained. "The Lady Anri gave up
her life to save Priss from a mad omniboomer named Largo – whose mental
template was the man who murdered the Lady Sylia Stingray's father eleven years
earlier, Brian J. Mason – shortly afterward."

I
winced. "Damn . . .!"

No
wonder Priss had begged me to help bring her friends back that one time.

Would
you like to send a message to them, Douglas?

I
gazed at the Staff's focusing crystal for a moment, and then shook my
head. "I might consider it later –
if it's within your abilities – but not now.
Thank you." I then moved to
sip the tea as the image over our heads was dispersed. "So . . . "

"The
reason I asked to meet you," Mizuho finished for me, lightly smiling.

Damn!

Were
Avalonians empathic?!

"As
you just saw now, there are those beings out there who would wish to ensure
that you die long before you could enjoy the embrace of your beloved
wife," she said. "Most likely,
this stems from all the side-effects of your journey. All the noble deeds you – as a warrior vowed
to protect all sentient beings who might come to harm – have done to improve
the lives of others. The boomers of
Genom. The Lady Marller when you broke
her free from the grips of the Hell of her dimension. Ikari Shinji and his friends when they were
made the playthings of NERV and SEELE.
Harry Potter and his classmates at Hogwarts. All the others whose lives were made better
thanks to you."

She
pointed up. "As you know and as you
just saw, there are those forces out there who have watched you on your
journey. Some like the Lady Helene have
watched over you to ensure you survive.
Some like the Ladies Urd, Belldandy and Skuld have helped . . . though
their other aspects have hindered your travels. And some . . . "

"Want
me dead," I finished for her.

"Aye."

"So
are those things still out there?"

Mizuho
sighed. "I believe so. Given the Earth Defence Force's experiences
with crossing into other dimensions, I felt it only right to bring you here so
that you could combine your experiences with theirs to make your next world-gate
jump the LAST ONE YOU NEED TO MAKE! WITHOUT
any interference from other beings, especially so-called 'gods' or
'demons!'" As I grinned at the
scorn in her voice, Mizuho pointed up.
"In other words, you travel from Welland in 2011 to London in 2001,
to a world where so many sentient beings of so many different types and origins
live peacefully side-by-side. Where your
beautiful wife lives." As I felt my
heart squeeze on hearing Mizuho speak of Maggie, she then smiled. "I was actually tempted to use the Staff
to reach out to where the Lady Margaret was shortly after you were separated
from her, and then bring her here so you could be together."

I
stared at her. "Maggie . . .!"

"My
lover and Negako-sama warned me, however, that if I did that, I could present
TWO targets for those things out there to focus their wrath on and not one,"
Mizuho added, which made me blink before I nodded in understanding. "Rimi suggested that in lieu of simply
giving in to my urge, I consult with you first.
So, Master Douglas . . . "

She
gazed at me. "Would you wish me to
bring the Lady Margaret here?"

To be continued . . .

WRITER'S
NOTES:

1) In Drunkard's Walk continuity, this story
is set near the end of the main Step stories, around Step XII and XIII. In the continuity of Phoenix From the
Ashes, this story is set five months after Avalonians and Questors. As I am writing this story in salute to Bob's
work since I've been a fan of it since DW2 first came out, I am
conforming to the scene indicator titles he uses in his stories.

2) Translations and explanations:

Senshobu
– A combination of Sensho (good luck before noon with bad luck after
lunch) and Senbu (bad luck before lunch and good luck afterward), taken
from two of the Rokuyo ("six weekly days"), also known as Rokki
("six brilliances"), which is where Takahashi-sensei got the name Tomobiki
(days where bad things happen to one's friends).

Jinja
– A Shinto temple.

Cho
– Town (as part of a larger city or prefecture).

Shi
– City.

To
– Metropolitan Prefecture (suffix title only applied to Tokyo itself).

Heiden
– Offering hall of a Shinto temple.

Miko
– Shinto shrine maiden.

Nihon-go
– Japanese language.

Taisa
– Navy captain, Army colonel, Air Force group captain.

Shoi
– Navy acting sub-lieutenant, Army second lieutenant, Air Force pilot officer.

-dono
– Suffix-title derived from tono, an honorific which originally meant
"master" that lies between -san and -sama with the
level of respect it relays.

Fènghuáng
– Literally "male phoenix and female phoenix," the being in Chinese
cosmology which is the opposite aspect of the dragon spiritually.

Gyokuro
– Literally "jewel dew."

Nornir
– Plural form of "Norn."

Saiko
Jinseijutsu-ryu – "School of the Way of the Supreme
Life," the Moroboshi family's in-house school of martial arts.

Tensei-ryu
– "School of the Star of Heaven."

Bunka
– Literally "Cultural Advancement."

Hentai
sukebe – Perverted sleeze.

Cha
no yu – Literally "tea and hot water."

Chakai
– Literally "tea meeting."

Chaji
– Literally "tea service."

Nodate
– Literally "point in the countryside."

Frašokereti
– Literally "making wonderful/excellent."

3) Throughout Drunkard's Walk, Bob went
out of his way to hint at the differences between events, places and things in
Doug's home dimension and this one beyond the obvious one of metahumans having
been living on Doug's world since the time of the Great Depression. I decided to follow the same concept.

In
Doug's world, the senior Canadian Army field formation is addressed by the
World War Two-era title First Canadian Infantry Division lieu of simply First
Canadian Division as exists in the PFTA universe.

Also,
in Doug's world, the 4th Canadian Mechanised Brigade of 1 CID is still
based at Canadian Forces Base Lahr outside the city of the same name in
Baden-Württemberg. In the PFTA
universe, 4 CMB was disbanded in 1993 on the Canadian withdrawal from Europe
and reformed in 2010 with Avalonian help as the 4th Canadian Armoured
Brigade, with headquarters at CFB Borden north of Toronto.

In
reality and the PFTA universe, the Canadian Forces adopted the M16A2
(built in Canada as the Colt Canada C7) as their standard battle rifle
in 1984; in the trials leading to its adoption, the FN Fabrique Nationale
Carbine (FNC) was one of the weapons tested to replace the older FNC1
battle rifle.

In
both universes, the 5th Canadian Mechanised Brigade Group (in French, 5e
Groupe-Brigade Mécanisé du Canada) is the major French-speaking brigade in
the full-time Army, though in Doug's universe, the brigade is an administrative
part of 1 CID (thus is only a brigade and not a brigade group).

And,
of course, in Doug's universe, the proper name of the Canadian command
controlling all land combat forces is Force Mobile Command. In reality and PFTA, FMC became Land
Forces Command in 1993 and was renamed the Canadian Army in 2011.

4) The HA letter code painted on the
aft end of the upper flight deck of Haida follows the standard Maritime
Command/Royal Canadian Navy tradition of providing a visible identity marker to
be seen by low-flying aircraft when people don't want to get TOO low to read
pendant numbers/hull classification symbol numbers on the sides of a ship's
hull. With Canadian ships, it always is
the first and last letter of the ship's name, i.e. HX for H.M.C.S. Halifax,
VC for N.C.S.M. Ville de Québec and so on. For ships possessing the same first and last
letters, the code varies to match unique syllables, i.e. PT for H.M.C.S.
Protecteur and PS for H.M.C.S. Preserver (as there had
been a PR active at the time of their commissioning in H.M.C.S. Provider).

5) The "funny circular loop" Doug
speaks of on meeting Tomomi for the first time and sees her rank insignia is
the Executive Curl that is worn on the upper-most rank stripe of all
British and Commonwealth officers who bear the Queen's Commission. This design is also called "Elliot's
Eye," said to be named in tribute to a member of the British Board of Admiralty
in the early 1800s. The Canadian Navy
finally got the Executive Curl back in 2010 after it was removed in 1968 after
Unification. Tomomi's hat badge, of
course, is the badge of the Naval Operations Branch of the Canadian
military, which includes maritime and naval combat systems engineering officers
as well as naval operations (or MARS [Maritime Surface and Sub-Surface])
officers.

6) Doug's comments about Canadians being
"brothers" to Americans originates from the inscription on the
American side of the Peace Arch located on the international border
between Blaine (Washington) and Surrey (British Columbia): Children of a Common Mother. The Arch itself is located on the expressway
designated Interstate 5 in Washington state and Highway 99 across
the border in British Columbia.

7) Doug's comment about what might happen if
one pisses off a dragon comes from a comment someone made at the Anime
Add-venture about spirit-dragons like the haoryu that haunt the lives of
several of the Ikkitosen cast. I
forget who made it, though.

8) For those unfamiliar with the story of
Hiromi's first-self and his/her family, the true name of the Língsi Empress
has been totally lost to history, though she was of the Hé Clan. The name "Hé Xìxing" is my creation
in this case.

9) The magatama bead colour rankings used
here:

A-Rank: Silver
B-Rank: Gold
C-Rank: Bronze
D-Rank: Red
E-Rank: Evergreen
10) For those unfamiliar with how I depicted how
The Program from Battle Royale was run in Avalonians and
Questors, the actual "episodes" of the show were run FIFTY TIMES
A YEAR due in part to Japan's overpopulation problems after winning World War
Two. The actual events use the following
code, using Mizuho's event as an example:
56-30 (Episode #30 of Republic Year 56 [the year 2000 CE]). Mizuho's event is the last full one that was
run before the Program survivors came back to their home dimension en masse to
take out their tormentors; Rimi would have been a "player" in Event
56-31.

11) C.F.A.S. Nimiq (pendant SAGR-177),
C.F.A.S. Anik (SAGR-176) and N.A.F.C. Alouette (SAGR-175) are
named after the three models of Canadian communications satellites that have
been launched into space since 1962. Alouette
is the French word for "skylark."
Anik is Inuktitut for "little brother." And Nimiq is Inuktitut for "force
that binds things together." The
hull classification symbol code for these ships is meant to mean Starship,
Miscellaneous Research Auxiliary.

12) N.C.S.M. Saint-Laurent (pendant
SFF-348) and H.M.C.S. Yukon (SFF-349) are named after two of the famous
"Cadillac" destroyer escorts built by Canada in the 1950s and 1960s
that became the trend-setters for post-World War Two small ship designs.

13) The ship prefix titles for Canadian
starships, given that Canada has two national languages (English and French),
were made out this way:

H.M.C.S.
- Her Majesty's Canadian Starship
N.C.S.M.
- Navire Interstellaire Canadien de Sa Majesté

C.F.A.S.
- Canadian Forces Auxiliary Starship
N.A.F.C.
- Navire Interstellaire Auxiliarire des Forces Canadiennes

As
"starship" is one word in English while being translated navire
interstellaire in French, it was decided to brevity's sake to not
initialise the "I."

14) The Rose City Skyway does not exist
in real life. Being a native of Welland,
I have often wondered what the Ontario Ministry of Transportation is thinking
of by stopping King's Highway 406 at a traffic circle
("roundabout" in the British tradition) of all things on East Main
Street (Niagara Road 27) west of the tunnel that takes the road under the
Welland By-Pass channel of the Welland Canal.
In the PFTA universe, Avalonian residents in Niagara decided to
build a much safer high-level skyway bridge that hooks Highway 406 onto Highway
140 leading south from East Main Street into Port Colborne, thus provoking
increased business in the southern part of the peninsula. In this reality, Highway 406 goes all the way
down to Highway 3 just east of the urban part of Port Colborne. If you look at Google Maps at Welland, you'll
see what I mean.

15) In using the Romanisation of Avestan
(the language of Zoroastrian scripture), I avoided using of Greek letters
brought in to personify certain sounds.
The name of the man who is most commonly associated with Mizuho's faith
is written properly with a variation of the Greek theta (?) letter, which I
rendered as "th" in Zarathuštra. This man, of course, is more commonly known
in English as Zoroaster (hence, the name of his faith), though the
proper rendering of his given name would be very familiar to fans of 2001 -
A Space Odyssey for the use of the initial verse of Richard Strauss' 1896
tone poem opera Also Sprach Zarathustra (literally "Thus Spoke
Zarathustra") as the movie's theme-song, later revised in the sequel movie
2010 - The Year We Make Contact.

aka Forrest J. Ackerman in Fenspace...
Has he been up before he died? Did he survive and go up? What happened to The Collection and The Ackermanison?

And speaking of sci-fi franchises that are damn near ruined by their sequels... (AHEM)

I hope someone looks at the post title and goes "Bwah?" Cause that was kinda my reaction when I first saw it too. ^_^

So yeah - what the heck is "Machete Order" a reference to? It's a suggestion on the order in which to watch the Star Wars movies, both the original and the prequel trilogy. The author of this blog-post right here suggests watching the movies in the following order:   IV, V, II, III, VI. 

Where's number 1? The Phantom Menace? That's where the "machete" comes in. The author, Rob Hilton, has a few interesting points about how Phantom Menace is entirely unneeded to tell the story if you are introducing a potential new fan of Star Wars who has never before seen the films. Here's a few tidbits: 

Quote:There are two obvious options for watching the Star Wars saga.

• Release Order â€“ Watch the films in the order they came out, recreating your experience with the films for someone new to them.
  
• Episode Order â€“ Watch the films in the order George Lucas intends, starting with Episode I and going straight through to Episode VI
  

There are two critical flaws with both of these orders, unfortunately, that prevent either from being appropriate.
The problem with Episode Order is that it ruins the surprise that Vader is Luke's father. If you think that this reveal doesn't matter since it's common knowledge, I suggest you watch the looks on these kids' faces. This reveal is one of the most shocking in film history, and if a newcomer to the series has managed to avoid having it spoiled for them, watching the films in Episode Order would be like watching the ending of The Sixth Sense first.
The other problem with Episode Order is that the prequels don't really have a story. They're just background for the real story, which is Luke's attempt to destroy the Empire and save his father. Watching 3 films of backstory is boring if you've never seen the films they're the background to. Hell, that's why George Lucas made A New Hope first, he knew if he started with Episode I he'd never be able to complete the series. Starting someone off with Episode I is a surefire way to ensure they don't make it through the entire franchise.

Quote:Unfortunately, Release Order is also an instant failure, and the reason is a single shot. If you're watching the original trilogy first, then after the Empire is destroyed and everyone is celebrating, Luke looks over at his mentors, Ben Kenobi and Yoda, and suddenly they are joined by... some random creepy looking teenager who needs a haircut. Placing Hayden Christensen in the ending of Jedi, since he's not in ANY of the other films, turns an ending that should be celebratory into one that is confusing for the viewer. The fact that Christensen looks like he's undressing someone with his eyes doesn't help.
So neither order really works. What to do?

Quote:Effectively, this order keeps the story Luke's tale. Just when Luke is left with the burning question "how did my father become Darth Vader?" we take an extended flashback to explain exactly how. Once we understand how his father turned to the dark side, we go back to the main storyline and see how Luke is able to rescue him from it and salvage the good in him.

The prequel backstory comes at the perfect time, because Empire Strikes Back ends on a huge cliffhanger. Han is in carbonite, Vader is Luke's father, and the Empire has hit the rebellion hard. Delaying the resolution of this cliffhanger makes it all the more satisfying when Return of the Jedi is watched.

Quote:Episode I is a failure on every possible level. The acting, writing, directing, and special effects are all atrocious, and the movie is just plain boring. Luckily, George Lucas has done everyone a favor by making the content of Episode I completely irrelevant to the rest of the series. Seriously, think about it for a minute. Name as many things as you can that happen in Episode I and actually help flesh out the story in any subsequent episode. I can only think of one thing, which I'll mention later.
Every character established in Episode I is either killed or removed before it ends (Darth Maul, Qui-Gon, Chancellor Valorum), unimportant (Nute Gunray, Watto), or established better in a later episode (Mace Windu, Darth Sidious). Does it ever matter that Palpatine had an apprentice before Count Dooku? Nope, Darth Maul is killed by the end of Episode I and never referenced again. You may as well just start with the assumption that Dooku was the only apprentice. Does it ever matter that Obi-Wan was being trained by Qui-Gon? Nope, Obi-Wan is well into training Anakin at the start of Episode II, Qui-Gon is completely irrelevant.
Search your feelings, you know it to be true! Episode I doesn't matter at all. You can start the prequels with Episode II and miss absolutely nothing. The opening crawl of Episode II establishes everything you need to know about the prequels: a bunch of systems want to leave the Republic, they are led by Count Dooku, and Senator Amidala is a senator who is going to vote on whether the Republic is going to create an army. Natalie Portman is called Senator Amidala twice in the first 4 minutes of the movie, so there's no question of who's who.

Quote:As I mentioned, this creates a lot of tension after the cliffhanger ending of Episode V. It also uses the original trilogy as a framing device for the prequel trilogy. Vader drops this huge bomb that he's Luke's father, then we spend two movies proving he's telling the truth, then we see how it gets resolved. The Star Wars watching experience gets to start with the film that does the best job of establishing the Star Wars universe, Episode IV, and it ends with the most satisfying ending, Episode VI. It also starts the series off with the two strongest films, and allows you to never have to either start or end your viewing experience with a shitty movie. Two films of Luke's story, two films of Anakin's story, then a single film that intertwines and ends both stories.
Beyond this, Episode I establishes Anakin as a cute little kid, totally innocent. But Episode II quickly establishes him as impulsive and power-hungry, which keeps his character consistent with eventually becoming Darth Vader. Obi-Wan never really seems to have any control over Anakin, struggling between treating him as a friend (their very first conversation together in Episode II) and treating him as an apprentice (their second conversation, with Padme). Anakin is never a carefree child yelling "yippee", he's a complex teenager nearly boiling over with rage in almost every scene. It makes much more sense for Anakin to have always been this way.
In the opening of Episode II, Padme refers to Anakin as "that little boy I knew on Tatooine." The two of them look approximately the same age in Episode II, so the viewer can naturally conclude that the two of them were friends as children. This completely hides the totally weird age gap between them from Episode I, and lends a lot of believability to the subsequent romance. Scenes in which they fall for each other seem to build on a childhood friendship that we never see but can assume is there. Since their relationship is the eventual reason for Anakin's fall to the dark side, having it be somewhat believable makes a big difference.

Quote:This order also preserves both twists. George Lucas knew that watching the films in Episode Order would remove the Vader twist, so he added the Palpatine twist to compensate. Since we don't really meet the Emperor until Episode VI, this order preserves the twist around Palpatine taking over as Emperor. Episode I establishes that Darth Sidious is manipulating the Trade Federation in the opening scene of the film, and it's pretty obvious Sidious is Palpatine. But if you skip Episode I, all we ever see is that Count Dooku is leading a separatist movement, all on his own. Dooku tells Obi-Wan that the Senate is under the control of a Sith lord named "Darth Sidious", but at the end of the movie, after Dooku flees from Geonosis, he meets with his "master", who turns out to be Darth Sidious. This is the first time we realize that the separatist movement is actually being controlled by Sidious, and it's the first time we see him, which doesn't give the audience a chance to realize he's Palpatine (remember, nobody has ever referred to "Emperor Palpatine" by this point in the series).
Machete order also keeps the fact that Luke and Leia are siblings a surprise, it simply moves the surprise to Episode III instead of VI, when Padme announces her daughter's name. This is actually a more effective twist in this context than when Obi-Wan just tells Luke in Return of the Jedi. We get to find out before Luke, and we discover she's carrying twins along with Obi-Wan when the Gynobot tells him. Luke's name is first, so when Padme names the other kid "Leia" it's a pretty shocking reveal. As an added bonus, there are now about 5 hours of film between the discovery that they are siblings and the time they kissed.

Want to help fund a documentary?

This movie, if it's made, will be about the most recent few years of the Yamakiya Taiko Club of eastern Fukushima, Japan. (Yes, that Fukushima - but this movie is about the club, and doesn't focus on the disaster.)

They need $15,000 or is doesn't happen. They're currently at $2,800. Here/widget/card.html]'s the Kickstarter page...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012