Chapter 7: Here Comes Earth!


    Driving down the highway,

    Miles from home.

    Itšs been that way since the day we started to roam.

    This is what we wanted,

    Hey look what we got.

    Leave that little town behind and move on,

    Move on.



    Well, the trees line the highway,

    As we roll down the road.

    At the wheel twelve tons of steel can be quite a load.

    In the distance the city lights are starting to glow.

    Sit back and watch them glimmer theyšre starting to grow,

    Sit back.

    ["Rhythm of the Road" by A String Cheese Incident]

    It was Monday morning. School had ended last Friday, but Tenchi was
up early again. He batted the alarm clock off of his nightstand and
stumbled toward the bathroom. Today was the day when everyone was off to
Jurai, and he could feel the buzz as everyone packed. Even Ryoko seemed
excited to go, although he doubted it was the destination that was
weighing on her mind, more like the prospect of going back into space.
With Tenchi.

    "Are you sure youšll be alright here without us?" Nobuyuki asked his
father.

    "I can take care of myself."

    "What about Mihoshi?"

    "Shešs leaving with Kiyone."

    "So youšll be here alone?"

    "Shouldnšt Tenchi be down here now."

    "Oh, yeah," Nobuyuki looked at his watch, "Itšs time to be going."

    "Tenchi!" called his Grandfather.

    "Coming, Grandfather," Tenchi replied as he lugged his two suitcases
and backpack down the stairs with him. When he saw Azaka and Kamadake,
though, he didnšt feel so bad.

    "How can someone need all this?" grumbled an overloaded Azaka.



    Washu had transported Ryo-oh from her lab out to the lake earlier,
and her robots were busy putting in last-minute touches. The ship was
impressive sitting out there in the lake, however it had a different
look than most Juraian ships. There hadnšt been enough wood left after
the crash for reconstruction, at least in a reasonable time, so Washu
had instead included lots of metal.

    However un-Juraian, it was still beautiful, the gold, stainless
steel, and bronze shimmered in the sunlight. Washu had taken pains to
make sure the ship didnšt look patched together. All morning she had
been going on about the modifications she had made to the original
design. Everyone came to a stop in front of it and admired it for a
moment.

    "You did a great job, Washu-chan," Tenchi said, putting his arm
around her and giving her a quick squeeze. Everyone agreed.

    "Thank you," she said, blushing, though she would deny it.

    Ayeka gave the silent command and they were brought aboard. The
inside was as beautiful as the outside. Washu had fitted chairs for
everyone on the control deck, making just slight modifications so it was
big enough to hold everyone. Ryo-oh the tree stood strong just behind
them.

    "Lord Tenchi, You may have the honor," Ayeka said as she sat down.

    "Hunh?"

    "The Tenchikin," Ayeka said under her breath.

    "Oh, right," Tenchi said, grabbing the sword from his pocket. It
floated in between his hands and glowed with a slow blue pulse. "Onward
to Jurai!"

    Ryo-oh gently lifted off and floated into orbit. The stars were
clear and bright and a big blue Earth covered the lower third of the
dome. A big grin spread across Tenchišs face.

    "Letšs go to light speed!" he shouted just before the ship lurched
forward.

    "Tenchi," his father scolded him with a not-so-well-hidden smile
forming.

    "Sorry everyone," Tenchi said, rubbing his neck, "I couldnšt help
myself."

    "Well, see that it doesnšt happen again," said Ayeka. Everyone sat
and looked at the stars for a while, until Sol was just another pinpoint
in the observation dome.

    Ryoko put her arms around Tenchi. "Oh, Tenchi, look at the stars.
They make me feel so free. Like I donšt have a care in the world. I wish
it were just you and me out here Tenchi." Her finger began to trace up
and down his chest as she looked into his eyes.

    "Ryoko!" barked Ayeka. The cyan-haired girl slumped off of Tenchi,
for some reason she didnšt feel like fighting right now. She looked back
up at the stars and thought of the trip Tenchi had promised to go on
with her one day.

    "Well, we might as well head down to stasis, itšll make the trip go
faster. Earth is one of the furthest planets from Jurai. Azaka,
Kamadake, your on duty now," Ayeka said getting up, "Remember our wakeup
times."

    "Yes, Princess," the guardians chorused.

    Everyone filed through the changing rooms and came back to the
stasis beds. "Wešll be awake about six hours before Jurai, so we can
bathe and prepare for the court," Ayeka said. "The beds will activate
when you lay down. Good night everyone," she turned toward the young
crown prince, "Good night Lord Tenchi."

    Ryoko lay in the bed on Tenchišs right and Ayeka on the left as they
drifted off to sleep. No one had any doubt who they were thinking of.



    Tenchi woke up feeling like he had slept for days, he was sure he
had overslept and his grandfather would be mad at him. The memory soon
surfaced that he had, that hešd been in stasis for the last few days,
and he felt a little relieved.

    "Tenchi?"

    Tenchi thought he was still dreaming and a goddess had called his
name.

    "Tenchi," Ayeka said, gently shaking him.

    "Humm? Oh, itšs you Ayeka. I thought you were a goddess," Tenchi
said. Ayeka blushed. "Ayeka, why isnšt anyone else up?"

    "Well I was hoping for some time alone with youŠ to talk about some
Jurai customs, my Lord." Ayeka stumbled through trying not to blush. A
sweat drop formed on Tenchišs head.

    Tenchi couldnšt think of anything else to do, so he let Ayeka take
him up to the control deck. Ayeka pressed a few buttons on the arm of
her chair, and a couple of files appeared on the window above them. Then
she walked over next to Tenchi. They spent a couple of hours discussing
the two documents, the first was protocol for a Prince of Jurai, and the
second was, most embarrassingly for Tenchi, on royal Juraian dating
customs.



    Ayeka blushed, "There, when we come in youšre supposed to offer me
your arm, as my escort. Remember, your royalty here, donšt act too
humble. Your allowed to order people around, and if you donšt they may
think your insulting them, and donšt worry, Išll tell you how much your
supposed to be above whom."

    Ayeka turned to face Tenchi now, "Your supposed to be my finance
here, the court is expecting it, so as we part we kiss each other on the
cheek. Letšs practice."

    Tenchi began to sweat, but he told himself it was just a formality,
and he didnšt want to embarrass Ayeka, so he had better get used to it
now. He leaned over to Ayeka and she kissed him gently on the cheek.
Tenchi turned to kiss Ayeka, and she turned quickly the wrong direction.

    Tenchi didnšt notice until his lips met hers.

    Ayeka inhaled with a little gasp. She was happy, it had looked like
an accident. Tenchi didnšt know what to do, his mind had gone blank, but
his instincts took over and he kept kissing Ayeka. She kissed back,
moaning happily.

    What am I doing? Tenchišs mind yelled as it came back to him. He
quickly pulled away. Ayeka looked down at the floor and blushed.

    Tenchi looked from side to side and started rubbing the back of his
neck. He began to sweat again. "IŠ Išm sorry, Miss Ayeka," He stammered.

    "Itšs ok," She said, "It was sweet." Ayeka and Tenchi just looked
into one anotheršs eyes for a few minutes. An alarm went off and broke
the silence.

    ""Itšs been three hours already?" Ayeka muttered. "Well Ryoko is
coming to now," she said to Tenchi, "We better get her and make her
study a little too, I think your father can handle a quick lesson from
you and Grandfather. We still have eight hours to go until we are in
Jurai space." The documents on the window changed and they went over to
get the space pirate.



    "Unnnh, where am I?" Ryoko said. She looked up and saw Tenchišs face
and smiled. "Well, as long as youšre here, it must be alright."

    "Come on, Ryoko, everyone else is still asleep, but Ayeka has some
things for you to look at," Tenchi said. Ryoko frowned. "Will you
please, so you donšt embarrass me?" Tenchi said, offering his hand, "It
would mean a lot to me."

    Ryoko smiled, "Anything for you Tenchi," she said. She took his hand
as he helped her up.

    Ayeka looked at Ryoko and seeing she wasnšt about to let go of
Tenchišs hand, took his other and said, "Come on."

    Just about two hours later everyone else wandered over to the
bridge. Ayeka led them to the baths and everyone began to clean up for
arrival. Ayeka and Sasami went over things again with Ryoko and Tenchi
gave some pointers to his father.

    Just as everyone had gathered on the bridge in their court dress, a
call came in.

    "Welcome to Jurai Princess Ayeka, Princess Sasami, Prince Tenchi,
Lady Washu, Prince Nobuyuki, Lady Ryoko. I am Torao, captain of Juraišs
second military unit," the stranger on the monitor said.

    "Oh, they called me a Prince!" Nobuyuki quietly exclaimed.

    Everyone hushed him.

    "We are honored to have the privilege of escorting so many Juraian
nobles" the captain continued.

    "Thank you," Ayeka replied, "We will follow you to Jurai." She
closed the channel.

    "Alright, that nuisance is done with," Ayeka said as three ships
took up formation around Ryo-oh.

    The trip through Juraišs solar system was slow, but beautiful. Ayeka
described to them the reasons for the slow approach, most of them ritual
and to present a show for the people. More and more ships fell in line
behind them.

    Everyone looked out the window at all the ships and structures they
passed. Many were in the style of Jurai, very organic and tree-like, and
many were living plants engineered by Jurai. Of the rest, some were
obvious GP structures, some dignitaries from other empires in their
style, and others amalgamations of junk belonging to space drifters.

    Finally they reached the fourth planet from the star, Jurai itself.
They could see the crossed rings of the Planetary Defenses shimmering in
the starlight.

    "Oh! Home is always so beautiful," crooned Ayeka.

    "When itšs not shooting at you," grumbled Ryoko.



    The four ships floated slowly down through the atmosphere and landed
at the private spaceport near the palace. The extended Masaki family
departed into a small waiting-room. As they arrived servants and guards
came in, some gathered the luggage and went out through the side door,
while others took up formation around the arrivals.

    "First Class Detectives Mihoshi and Kiyone, reporting for duty!"
Mihoshi barked as she saluted.

    "This way my lords and ladies," Kiyone said. She turned smartly, and
led the procession through the crowd toward the palace. Tenchi thought
making them part of the guard was a nice touch. Azusa was standing at
the top of the stairs, Funaho and Masaki at his sides. The Masaki
residence made its way to the top of the stairs and knelt.

    "My daughters, Ayeka and Sasami, it has been too long since you were
home. My house has been dark without your light." The two girls moved up
and to the left of their mother.

    "My people, the others before you, you have not met before. Prince
Nobuyuki." Tenchišs father stood and went beside Azusa. "And Prince
Tenchi, your new Crown Prince." Tenchi walked over and stood beside
Ayeka. "The Princešs Companions, Lady Ryoko." Ryoko rather nervously
glancing at Tenchi went beside his father. "And the great scientific
genius, Lady Washu."

    Tenchi noticed Washu was now in her adult form. He glanced down at
himself to make sure he hadnšt changed either. Washu made her way beside
Ryoko. Tenchi also noticed how Ryoko was blushing. Well, she had never
expected this, not after attacking Jurai, Tenchi thought.

    The crowd roared for a long time before Azusa could continue his
speech.