To make things easier for me, I'm going to put the scene snippets in this comment thread while make separate threads for completed parts.
Anyhow, here's the first part of Part 2:
**** **** ****
Local Date and time: Sunday 9 May 2011, 4:24 PM EDT
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 alerted 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 current leader of Seito
and her favourite adopted cousin a kind look.
"I think it was Arami-chan and her NOT having any sort of
'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. "Negako-san
warned us of what Mizuho-chan sensed when she moved to bring 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?!" 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.
Hiromi rolled her eyes as the
others either laughed or snickered . . .
****
**** ****
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, Mike Smith and Gregg Sharp.
****
**** ****
Also
including characters, situations and references from 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; Ikkitosen, created by Shiozaki
Yuji; 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 Rimi went back to their home, which
was a Shinto shrine in Tomobiki, a suburb of Tokyo located west of Nerima
Ward. Of course, Mizuho had vowed that
if I changed my mind, she could come over right away to bring Maggie here, and
then we'd work together to finally get me home.
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 that could allow it 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.
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 proposed fleet.
Brian Gamblin 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 Kazanski – it took me just a minute to
realise where I had once heard that name; 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.
"We agree to disagree on
that," Gamblin told me, 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 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)
first.
The SCAA were popularly known
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 UNSCAA.
Hiromi and Brian – after I
explained it to them – found it pretty funny, too!
* *
*
After a delightful meal with
Brian, 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 or shore station – 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 in looks: Keep it clean, keep it nice and
keep it warm and welcoming for the people who lived on this ship.
Of course, the instant that
they learned that "Master Looney Tunes" – 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.
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.
And 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 – was 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 Fate 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 (until Friday evening) until near the end
of June, said Ordinary Seaman Matsu'ura had actually 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" . . .
. . . there were Avalonians
who served as surrogate daughters or sisters . . .
. . . and yes, even 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 pretty woman who had
been made as a replacement daughter for an elderly couple then resident on
Phentax Fourteen. A couple who didn't
care for the official "decrees of the One True Faith" when it came to
their bioroid daughter. 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 and Janice
were posted aboard the newly-commissioned destroyer H.M.C.S. Onondaga,
based out of Halifax in Nova Scotia.
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! – that exists in
all physical things, even the near-vacuum of deepest space.
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
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 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 physical proof of what the Te'a truly is, I can't say any
which way."
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 thing. 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?"
"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 whatever 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 then 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 . . .
* *
*
Local Date and time: Sunday 9 May 2011, 8:33 PM EDT
Location: H.M.C.S. Haida, Deck A10 Forward,
Senior Officer's Quarters,
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 sunny 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 Tunes, 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. "Anyhow, I'll
look in on you two later. 'Night."
And with that, she was
off. I watched her go, and then relaxed,
inwardly relieved that – despite their lack of practical life experiences – the
Avalonians on Haida were clearly quite diverse enough in their knowledge
that one could cover for another's mistake so that I didn't have to find some
way to prevent a "cold war" between Eimi and Asai Mayumi. After a moment, Eimi then sighed. "Doug?"
"Yeah, Eimi?"
"They're really nice,
aren't they?"
A nod. "Yeah."
* *
*
Anyhow, here's the first part of Part 2:
**** **** ****
Local Date and time: Sunday 9 May 2011, 4:24 PM EDT
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 alerted 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 current leader of Seito
and her favourite adopted cousin a kind look.
"I think it was Arami-chan and her NOT having any sort of
'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. "Negako-san
warned us of what Mizuho-chan sensed when she moved to bring 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?!" 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.
Hiromi rolled her eyes as the
others either laughed or snickered . . .
****
**** ****
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, Mike Smith and Gregg Sharp.
****
**** ****
Also
including characters, situations and references from 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; Ikkitosen, created by Shiozaki
Yuji; 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 Rimi went back to their home, which
was a Shinto shrine in Tomobiki, a suburb of Tokyo located west of Nerima
Ward. Of course, Mizuho had vowed that
if I changed my mind, she could come over right away to bring Maggie here, and
then we'd work together to finally get me home.
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 that could allow it 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.
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 proposed fleet.
Brian Gamblin 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 Kazanski – it took me just a minute to
realise where I had once heard that name; 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.
"We agree to disagree on
that," Gamblin told me, 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 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)
first.
The SCAA were popularly known
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 UNSCAA.
Hiromi and Brian – after I
explained it to them – found it pretty funny, too!
* *
*
After a delightful meal with
Brian, 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 or shore station – 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 in looks: Keep it clean, keep it nice and
keep it warm and welcoming for the people who lived on this ship.
Of course, the instant that
they learned that "Master Looney Tunes" – 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.
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.
And 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 – was 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 Fate 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 (until Friday evening) until near the end
of June, said Ordinary Seaman Matsu'ura had actually 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" . . .
. . . there were Avalonians
who served as surrogate daughters or sisters . . .
. . . and yes, even 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 pretty woman who had
been made as a replacement daughter for an elderly couple then resident on
Phentax Fourteen. A couple who didn't
care for the official "decrees of the One True Faith" when it came to
their bioroid daughter. 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 and Janice
were posted aboard the newly-commissioned destroyer H.M.C.S. Onondaga,
based out of Halifax in Nova Scotia.
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! – that exists in
all physical things, even the near-vacuum of deepest space.
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
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 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 physical proof of what the Te'a truly is, I can't say any
which way."
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 thing. 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?"
"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 whatever 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 then 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 . . .
* *
*
Local Date and time: Sunday 9 May 2011, 8:33 PM EDT
Location: H.M.C.S. Haida, Deck A10 Forward,
Senior Officer's Quarters,
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 sunny 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 Tunes, 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. "Anyhow, I'll
look in on you two later. 'Night."
And with that, she was
off. I watched her go, and then relaxed,
inwardly relieved that – despite their lack of practical life experiences – the
Avalonians on Haida were clearly quite diverse enough in their knowledge
that one could cover for another's mistake so that I didn't have to find some
way to prevent a "cold war" between Eimi and Asai Mayumi. After a moment, Eimi then sighed. "Doug?"
"Yeah, Eimi?"
"They're really nice,
aren't they?"
A nod. "Yeah."
* *
*
Canadian lighthouse to U.S. Warship approaching it: "This is a lighthouse. Your call!"