Jurai's debt part 4
Sail the Sea of Stars
by
Douglas Whiddon

"No man is invincible, and therefore no man can fully
understand that which would make him invincible." -
Miyamoto Musashi.
'The Book of Earth' from 'Book of Five Rings'

        Zelgadis returned home just as the sun was setting.
He parked his vehicle and went inside. He ignored the
greetings of his parents and siblings, went straight to his
room, and didn't emerge for four days.

        ********

        Tenchi Masaki. Crown Prince of the Jurai Star,
slayer of Kagato and Yuzuha, a young man destined for
greatness, tripped on the doorjamb of  his quarters and
landed flat on his face.
        "Are you okay, Tenchi?"
        Tenchi picked himself up. "I'm fine, Sasami" Tenchi
looked around his quarters. Spacious was a good word.
There was more square feet of space in this room than in his
entire house on Earth.
        "Are you sure you want a room out here? There's
lots more room in the interior unit." Misaki asked.
        "No, I want a room with a view." Tenchi's trunk
floated behind him, he touched a button on its surface and it
stopped.
        Ryoko floated into view and came down on Tenchi.
"Don't forget, Tenchi, in space no one can hear you ...
moan," she whispered in his ear.
        Misaki grinned, "Save that for later."
        Tenchi set his sword and Washu's gift on the table.
"How long is the trip to Jurai?"
        "Well, usually it's 3 days. We will be making a
stop along the way, so our trip will take about 6
days."
        "Where will we be stopping?"
        Misaki walked to the table, she pressed her palm
against the top and said something in Juraian. there was a
dim glow in the center of the table and a tray appeared. On
the tray was a bottle of green liquid, four glasses and a tray
of cookies. "We’re going to stop at the Galaxy Police
station." She poured the green stuff into the glasses.
        Tenchi took a seat at the table and Misaki placed a
glass in front of him.
        "After all, you should meet all your in-laws, and
then, it's home to Jurai."
        Tenchi looked at the glass. Whatever was in it
looked like swamp water. He looked across the table,
Sasami was on her second glass. Ryoko had drunk about
half of hers, but she had no sense of taste. It was probably
some exotic Juraian drink. Tenchi brought the glass to his
lips and took a small sip. It was a little like apple juice from
green apples. Tenchi took a bigger sip. "This is good, what
is it?"
        "Its just apple juice. It's from green apples."
        So much for 'exotic', Tenchi thought. He took
another sip.
        "May we enter?" Ayeka's voice came from the
doorway.
        Tenchi smiled. "Sure, come on in."
        Ayeka, Mihoshi, and Funaho filed into the room.
Three more glasses appeared on the table, and another full
pitcher of apple juice.
        Soon everyone was sitting around the table chatting.
Tenchi felt like a fifth wheel. Mihoshi and Funaho where
discussing something, and Misaki seemed to be lecturing
Ayeka and Ryoko. No one was speaking Japanese, so
Tenchi had no idea what was being discussed. Not him, he
hoped. Tenchi looked around. One of the walls had a metal
plate set into it, he walked over to the wall and examined
the plate. It was just a gray metal plate set into the wooden
wall.
        "katek - dai."
        Tenchi almost jumped at the sound of Sasami's
voice. The metal plate went black, Tenchi realized he was
looking out a window. He turned to Sasami, “what did you
say?"
        "I turned on the viewer."
        "You mean the window?"
        "No, its a viewer, like a TV." Sasami  said a few
more Juraian words and a man appeared in one corner.
        Tenchi had seen him before, Washu had rigged the
TV at home so it would get galactic signals. This was a
newscaster hated by every female member of the household
for his extremely bad habit of interrupting their soap-operas.
        As he spoke rapidly in Juraian, an image appeared
behind him of what apeared to be a giant snail floating in
space, then the picture changed to an alien creature.
        The creature might have been speaking, but it was
hard to tell. It was definitely making noise.
        "Sasami, what are they talking about?"
        "Something about space pirates... I didn't catch it
all."
        Ryoko materialized next to Tenchi "Don't tell me
someone’s mooching in on my action!"
        "Ryoko, you're part of the Juraian royal family now,
YOU CAN'T BE A PIRATE ANYMORE!" The veins on
Ayeka neck where standing out.
        Thwap! Misaki slapped her daughters back. "Stand
up straight, and don't yell at your sister."
        Tenchi turned, "Sister?"
        Ayeka sighed, "Yes, sister. Mihoshi, Ryoko, and I
are now sisters. Under Juraian law, anyway." She said
Ryoko's name as though referring to something unpleasant
she had just stepped in.
        Misaki yawned. "I think it's time for bed, it's getting
late."
        Tenchi looked around for a clock, anything that
might be a timepiece. He saw nothing. "How do you tell
time around here?"
        Sasami tugged at Tenchi sleeve, when she had his
attention she pointed to a glass globe sitting on a shelf.
        Tenchi picked up the globe and examined it. It was a
lot like a snow globe, only without the snow. Inside was a
tree and a nights sky. "How does it work?"
        "It shows the sky over the Juraian palace. During the
day you can see the suns position, just as you would on the
planet. We don't divide the day into hours and minutes, like
on Earth. We just use morning, midday, evening, and night."
Ayeka took the globe and placed it back on the shelf.
        "That doesn't seem very scientific. Must be hard to
schedule things."
        "Tenchi," Funaho interrupted, "schedules are somethings
for others to worry about.  You're royalty now.  Do things as you
feel they need to be done.  Still, it is late at the palace.  You should
start adjusting to the Jurain day cycle now."
        With that, She turned and left the room.
        Tenchi turned to Misaki. "Are there any windows on
this ship?"
        "Go out the door, turn left. There's a lounge about
fifty meters down the hall." Misaki turned back to the girls.
"Come with me, I'll show you your rooms and the baths."
        And then, Tenchi was alone again.

Meanwhile (relatively speaking) on Ahmista...

        "Hey Zack, what's with your brother?"
        Zackterin Turned off the soil reclaimer he
was working on. Once the noise died down completely, "no
Idea. You're his girl friend. Why don't you find out?"
        Aerin T'ckell glared at Zack. "I am not his girl
friend. I'm just a friend."
        Zack grinned. "Yah. Right. Lovers is more like it."
        "Just what is that supposed to mean?" Aerin made a
fist with her left hand.
        Zack decided to drop the subject. At five and a half
feet Aerin wasn't exactly imposing but her left hook was
legendary. Zackterin had no desire to be sifting the dirt for
his front teeth.
        “Look,” he replied, “If you want to find out what
he’s up to go ask him.”

        Zelgadis sat at his desk studying the display in front
of him. The door to his room was blocked by a heavy, metal
chest.
        There was a knock on the door.
        “Go away!” Zelgadis’s response was brief , and to
the point.
        The door opened. The chest was swept aside and
went through the closet door.
        Aerin crossed the room and dropped down on
Zelgadis’s bed.
        “So, what have you been up to?”
        Zel ignored her.
        “You’ve been locked in here for four days. You
must have been doing something.”
        Zel sighed. “Aerin, have you ever heard the name:
Tenchi?”


[more to come on Ahmista]

The next morning...

        Ayeka quietly entered Tenchi's room, walked
across the room to the curtained alcove that held his bed,
and opened the curtain.
        "Good morn..." Ayeka's voice trailed off in surprise
at what she saw.  Ryoko was expected, but seeing Mihoshi
as well was surprising.
        On one side of the bed, barely covered by the sheet,
lay Ryoko.  On the other Tenchi and Mihoshi lay curled up
together.  There was no evidence of clothing, nor what
Ayeka would consider appropriate modesty.
        Ryoko turned from the light. “Go away,” she
mumbled.
        Ayeka cleared her throat. “IF,” Ayeka yelled,
“Anyone cares, we will be stopping at the Galaxy Police
headquarters in an hour.” With that, she turned and left the
room.
        Tenchi sat up. “What was that?”
        “Our little prude, that’s what.” Ryoko yawned and
climbed out of bed.

Tenchi showered and dressed, deciding to wear earthly
clothing given to him by Ryoko.  It wasn't quite his usual
style, but Tenchi had to admit that the black slacks, long
-sleeved black shirt and thin blue tie looked pretty good
on him, even if he did look a little like a junior Yakuza
member
        He was nervous about meeting Mihoshi’s
grandfather, the Marshall. He was also nervous about
meeting the royal court, but that was days away.
        “Tenchi, are you ready?” Sasami stood at the door,
Ryo-ohki on her head.
        Tenchi peered into the mirror, adjusting his tie. “I
think so, how do I look?”
        “You look... very good.”  Sasami almost blushed.
“What’s that?” Sasami pointed to a box on the table.
        “It’s from Washu, I haven’t opened it yet, too busy.”
        “You could open it now, we have time.” Sasami
displayed the simplest of joys, that of the child and the
closed box.
        Tenchi smiled. “I guess so.” He opened the clasp on
the box.
        The largest object in the box caught his attention. It
was a silver cylinder, six inches high and four wide. A
segmented metal band around it’s midsection.
        “What do you think this is, Sasami?”
        “I don’t know, push the button.” Sasami pointed to
a green light on the metal band.
        Given some of the things that Tenchi had seen in
washu’s lab, it took a lot of courage to press a button on
anything that came from her.
        Tenchi was relieved that nothing exploded. The
cylinder melted, revealing an egg.
        Ryo-ohki hopped down from Sasami’s head to tap
the egg with her paw. “MYAA?”
        “Sasami, do you think this could be another
Ryo-ohki?”
        The egg started to shake.
        “I hope so.” Sasami watched the egg.
        The egg began to roll off of the table, Tenchi caught
it before it could fall off the edge.
        History tends to repeat itself, but Tenchi managed to
keep hold of the egg when a foot poked out of it.
        Unlike Ryo-ohki’s dark coloring, or Ken-ohki’s gray
coat, the foot was a solid white color.
        Tenchi held the egg close to his body, waiting for it
to hatch completely.
        Ryo-ohki climbed back onto Sasami’s head and
peered over her hair at the hatching egg.
        The top of the shell fell off completely, leaving a
newborn cabbit sat in the remaining shell.
        Tenchi carefully picked the newborn up from its
shell and cradled it gently in his hands.
        “Tenchi? Sasami? We’re docked at the station, are
you two coming, or not?” Funaho stood in the doorway,
flanked on either side by the other girls in Tenchi’s life.
        “Auntie Funaho, Mom, come see this!” Sasami
called to them with excitement.
        The horde approached Tenchi and the newborn
cabbit. Everyone crowded around to get a look.
        “Where did he come from?” Ryoko asked.
        “He was in a box Washu gave me.”
        The newborn opened its eyes for the first time and
saw everyone. He made ‘miya’ sound. Tenchi set him gently
on the table.
        The newborn stood unsteadily, he took a few steps
then sat down, apparently exhausted from the effort.
Ryo-ohki hopped down onto the table and began to give the
newcomer a tongue bath.
        Tenchi noticed something odd about Funaho, her
expression was neutral, but her eyes seemed to burn. She
was upset about something.
        Everyone was ‘ahing’ and ‘oohing’ and ‘how cute’
-ing over the cabbits. Mihoshi’s head popped up from the
crowd.
        “We’re going to be late!” She grabbed Tenchi’s arm
and dragged him out of the room.
        Sasami picked up the new cabbit in one hand and
Ryo-ohki in the other and followed.
        Funaho turned to Misaki. “I’m going to go make a
call, you go with them. Okay?”
        Misaki nodded.

Earth. (more or less.)

The subspace-tranceiver array in Washu’s lab made a loud
beeping sound. Washu hit the ‘on’ button.
        “I THOUGHT WE HAD A DEAL!!” A demonic
Funaho appeared on the screen.
        Washu blinked. “What are you talking about?”
        Funaho took a deep breath. “You promised that you
would not make another Ryo-ohki.”
        “Actually, I promised that I would never make
another RYOKO. Also, had you considered that I might
have already made more than one Ryo-ohki?”
        “Did you?”
        “Actually, I made three. Ryoko has one, one went
missing and somehow found it’s way into the hands of Nagi,
and I gave the third to Tenchi. Don’t you think a prince
deserves his own ship?”
        “We where planning to partner him with one of the
royal trees, his status requires it.”
        Washu leaned back in her chair and put her feet up.
“It won’t work. No tree ship will partner with him, they
know what he is. Now, if you don’t have anything else, my
soap’s about to come on.”
        Funaho’s image disappeared. Washu stood and
walked to the labs elevator. She rode down to one of the
many lab areas.
        In a room the size of a football field stood  more
than fifty domed cylinders. When Washu touched the dome
of the nearest cylinder, it faded away. Inside the cylinder
was ring within ring of eggs. Each one identical to
Ryo-ohki’s.
        “Of course, that doesn’t include all the ones Kagato
made.” Washu grinned. We all have plans, sisters. Washu
thought.

The GP station.

        Mihoshi ran full tilt down the corridor, dragging Tenchi
with her. However, when she came to a sudden stop, he had
been trying to keep up, and wound up crashing into her,
tumbling them onto the deck.  From his sudden position atop
his blonde wife, Tenchi was struck by a feeling of deja vu.
"This is becoming familiar." he mumbled.
        Mihoshi stood up and brushed off her clothes. “Do I
look okay?”
        Tenchi smiled at her. “You look great, Mihoshi...
weren’t you wearing a hat?”
        Mihoshi’s hands flew to her head. “Oh no, I.. I must
have dropped it, what will I do?”
        “Go find it? Or get a new one.”
        “I’ll go and see if I can borrow one, you wait here,
okay?”
        Tenchi nodded “Sure, Mihoshi.”
        Mihoshi diappeared the way the came, Tenchi
turned to the window. He took a moment to adjust his tie,
he didn’t want to look sloppy when meeting his new
in-laws.
        “It’s quite a view, isn’t it?”
        Tenchi turned. Behind him stood a GP officer. She
was cute, with short red hair and a bit of a smirk.
        “Uhm, yes it is. What’s the planet called?”
        “Oh, it doesn’t have a name. We use it to mine ore
to build ships, but beyond that it has nothing of value, so no
one ever bothered to name it. You must be new, my name’s
Mitsuki.”
        “Tenchi, Tenchi Misaki. I’m just here to see the
Marshall.”
        Mitsuki turned up the charm a notch. “Y’know, I
have a break coming up, mabye when your done we could
go done to the cafateria and get a drink.”
        Mihoshi tapped Mitsuki on the shoulder.
        Mitsuki turned.
        “WOULD YOU PLEASE NOT TRY TO PICK UP
MY HUSBAND!?” Mihoshi’s face was an inch from
Mitsuki’s.
        “Wha... your husband?” She shot a questioning look
at Tenchi.
        Tenchi nodded.
        Mitsuki tossed her hands up. “Why are all the cute
ones taken!?”
        Tenchi and Mihoshi watched her leave.
        “Who was that?”
        “Mitsuki Aida, GP special investigation unit. My
roomate at the academy. Second in her class.” Mihoshi
rattled off.
        “Who was first?”
        “Me.”
        Tenchi decided to let it drop.

********

        Detective Seargant Tekern looked up from his
paperwork as Funaho slipped into his office. He stood and
placed his palm on the desk. “And they all lived happily ever
after, the end.”
        The room darkened the computers voice spoke rang
out. “The password is accepted, the official record is
deleted going back to the time of access. I will now run the
shadow program.”
        “Is the room secure?”
        Tekern nodded. “I have the latest in jamming
software, and the central computer is kept in line by a
powerfull virus. We can speek freely.”
        “I need the latest data on raider attacks.”
        “The most recent attack was on a ship blonging to
the,” He looked at his screen, “Grrrllcck.”
        “Who?”
        “The Grrrllcck. They are a minor race, part of the
Kintall Collective. Miners mostly, we believe their cargo
included Nectelite ore.”
        “Hardly worth stealing.”
        “Yes ma’am.”
        “Findings to-date?”
        Tekern sighed. “Almost nothing, I’m afraid. We
don’t know who they are, where they are hiding, what
equipment they are using, how they get in and out so fast,
where they are selling the cargo.... I could go on forever
about what we don’t know. All we do know is that they are
only attcaking worlds that have trade and mutual defense
treaties with jurai. They haven’t directly attacked Juraian
property, but they are most assuredly trying to draw the
Jurai Star into a direct conflict.”
        Funaho closed her eyes for a moment. “They
couldn’t be stupid enough to want a war with us, there must
be more to this than meets the eye.”
        Tekern held out a data tab. “This is everything we
have.”
        “Thank you Detective Seargant, good day.” Funaho
left the room, the lights returned to normal as the door
opened.
        Tekern sank back into his chair with all the relief of
an inmate who has recieved an eleventh hour call from the
governor.

********

        The Marshall of the GP Remined Tenchi of a lion,
complete with a mane of blonde hair.
        Despite this man’s obvoius age, he was not someone
to be taken lightly, either professionally or personally.Tenchi
had felt an enormous personal strength in his grip when they
shook hands.
        He had served them some sort of fruit juice and
snacks, Tenchi ate one out of politness.  A few more days of
‘politenss’ and he was going to start gaining weight.
        The Marshall asked Tenchi about his home and
family, and other subjects.
        Tenchi began to feel like he should have an attorny.
Usually this kind of questioning involved a bare room and
bright light aimed at the interviewee’s face.
        Tenchi felt an enormous amount of relief when he
and Mihoshi where shown out of the office.
        The Marshall promised Mihoshi that he would visit
them on Jurai when he could.

        Tenchi and Mihoshi met up with the rest of their
party at the cafeteria. Ryo-ohki was introducing the new
cabbit to the joy of carrots.
        The new cabbit caught on quickly.
        “He needs a name.” Sasami said.
        Everyone looked at Tenchi, who shrugged his
shoulders.
        Ryoko teleported behind him and put her arms
around his kneck. “Well, since mine is called RYO-ohki we
should call yours TEN-ohki.”
        Tenchi reached into the carrot bowl and scratched
the new cabbit under the chin. “Well? What do you think?”
        The cabbit ‘miya-ed’
        “I think he likes it.” Sasami giggled.
        “Who likes what?” Funaho joined the group.
        “We named the new cabbit Ten-ohki, we think he
likes the name.”
        A GP officer approached the table, he cleared his
throat to get Funaho’s attention. She turned to face him.
        “Yes?”
        “Lady Funhao, the technician is ready.”
        Funaho smiled. “Good.”
        The group exchanged questioning glances.
        “Let’s go.” Funaho left the cafateria, the group
followed.

        A few minutes later the group came to stop outside
a medical office. Tenchi recognized the the symbol on the
door, an inverted triangle with a circle on top. Basically, it
looked like an ice-cream cone. Sasami had drawn the
symbol on the first-aid kit they kept in the house.
        The group was met by a young woman in a white
lab coat. She ushered them into a waiting room.
        “So, who gets it?” The lab tech asked.
        Funaho pointed at Tenchi. “He does.”
        The tech pulled out two hypospray’s. and advanced
on Tenchi. He decided that running was a good idea.
        “What are those for?”
        The tech held up one hypo. “This is a wide spectrum
inoclute, so you don’t catch anything.” She grabbed
Tenchi’s arm and injected him.
        She dropped the first hypo back into her pocket.
“And this, is a memory inhancer and a Juraian languge
module.” She stuck the second hypo into Tenchi’s neck.
“All done.”
        Funaho nodded. “Good, we can go now.”

        As the ship departed the station Tenchi got his first
good look at the GP station.
        “Does it look like that on purpose?” he asked.
        “Actually, no. In order to keep the construction
secret it was built in subspace. When it was brought back to
normal space it... well, it just looked like that. It took as
long to fix it as it did to build it in the first place. After that
no one ever tried building anything in subspace again.”
        Ayeka was sitting in the lounge with Tenchi.
Ten-ohki was perched on his shoulder like a mutant parrot.
        “So, how long is it to Jurai?”
        “Four more days.”
        Tenchi looked back at Ayeka. “Four days? That’s a
long time, whatever shall we do to pass the time.”
        Ayeka blushed. “Well, I’m sure we’ll think of
something.”

To be continued.... on Jurai

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

Authors notes.

When the new cabbit emerged it imprinted on Tenchi. When
Ryo-ohki emerged she was already imprinted on Ryoko.
Tenchi’s connection to Ten-ohki is only empathic, he can’t
make a telepathic connection.

Ryo-ohki doesn’t turn into a humanoid in this universe, the
introduction of Nagi in the TV series happened in this
universe too.

I had written this really vindictive anti-trakkal bit during the
visit to the GP station, but in the end decided to drop it. I
wrote ‘Kiyone’s Report’ awhile back and aired my views
about ‘the operative’ anything more would just be mean.

My room is plastered with print-outs of anime 148 pictures
total, 62 of them are from Tenchi Muyo, 15 are from
Ranma 1/2.

has anyone noticed that Mihoshi’s GP uniform is very
flatering to her figure? (It’s 1am and I’m tired, so
shoot me.)