Once that was accomplished, Trakal teleported them both 
back to Tokyo Tower. He hadn't wanted to use the teleport in 
a crowded area, which was why he hadn't teleported to the 
temple, but now, alone with Tanaka, he felt there was no 
reason not to. He had been reading the local newspapers and he
knew the observation deck was closed for repairs, so he teleported
them there.
	"Damn," he cursed as they arrived on the stairwell instead.
The time journey must have damaged the teleport. He would have to
have Washu look into it. If he needed it for emergencies it would
not do to have it land him in the middle of the ocean or the city
incinerator.
	

	Tenchi held his sword up, his face red with anger at the
creature that meant to harm his mother.
	"You're not going any farther." 
	"I'll eradicate you and put you out of your misery." 
Kain sneered.
	Tenchi bristled. If he'd had fur like Trakal, it would
have been standing on end.
	"I won't let you touch my mom!" He shouted.
	Achika spun around, everything falling into place. It
was impossible, but the truth of it was so evident, she found
herself accepting it without hesitation. A power within her
was awakening after a long sleep. One that had been dormant
ever since the death of her dear mother. She'd used it then,
the part of her which held it remembered. Not deliberately as
she was doing now, but as a reflex. And she'd been so scared,
she had locked that power away and had forgotten it until now.
	But now her own son, the child she would one day bear,
was being threatened, while trying to protect her.
	"Enough!" She told Kain, "This will stop!"
	The glass on the display case shattered abruptly
and flew at Kain, imbedding in his amorphous form.
	Nobuyuki stared at her in awe and wonder as she stood 
there, looking as if wind was blowing her uniform about her,
even though there was no wind. 
	"Achika?"
	Kain spun around in surprise and focused on Achika.
	"You are the one I've been looking for. You and no 
one else. I've come all the way here to this remote planet
to destroy you."
	"Who are you?" Achika asked.
	"I am a being who has suffered grieviously from the
power I sense in you." Kain snarled at her
	"Push the red button!" Tenchi called to his future 
father. "Then, get her out of here fast!"
	Nobuyuki pushed the button and took Achika by the hand,
leading her away.
	But Kain had other plans. With a roar of rage, he lashed
out a stream of energy and caught Achika by the throat. 
	"If I have to go," he vowed, "I won't go alone!"
	Achika screamed and tried to grab one of the railings,
but Kain continued to drag her along with him, toward the 
pulsating gateway into oblivion.
	Trakal and Tanaka ran into the room and Trakal, emitting
a snarl of pure rage and hatred, opened fire on Kain.
	Kain paid him no attention. He had more important things
to do than play cops and robbers with this insolent upstart.
He'd deal with this pathetic creature another time. 
	Trakal grabbed Achika's arm, to help Nobuyuki pull
her free of Kain's grip.  "Lady Achika," he told the stunned
girl, "I won't harm you. I'm from ..." Tanaka's scream sent 
a chill through his spine and he turned to see that Kain 
had also grabbed her!
	Without hesitation, Trakal released Achika and dove 
after Tanaka. A moment before he reached her, however, 
the sleeve of Nobuyuki's jacket ripped and Kain, Achika, 
Nobuyuki, and Tanaka were suddenly gone, sucked into 
oblivion by  Washu's device.
	Ryoko arrived and sprang on Tenchi, holding him back 
from the closing gate.
	"Tenchi," she told him, "it's too late. They've been 
pulled in."
	They both heard an odd noise and looked down. Trakal 
was lying on the floor, inches from the machine, face down. 
He wasn't moving, the only indication of life in him the 
muffled keening, like that of a some forlorn and lonely
creature.
	Kiyone and Ayeka ran in.
	"Lieutenant Trakal?" Kiyone asked.	
	"Detective Kiyone," Trakal said, solemnly, as he
got to his feet. He ripped the badge off his uniform and
handed to her without a word. He knew it was procedure for
an operative inform their superior of their reason for
retirement, but Kiyone already knew, and he was too ashamed
to utter it.
	"Your request for retirement is denied, Lieutenant."
Kiyone told him, handing him back the badge.
	"But I..." Trakal realized she would not let him go
until he told her why. "I failed in the objection of my
mission."
	"You mission isn't over yet." Kiyone told him. "Now
if you want to retire when it's over, you're welcome to do
so, but until then, I suggest you pull yourself together
and get back into uniform."

	Trakal gazed down at his badge for a moment, 
then put it back on. "Yes, Detective." He saluted 
Kiyone. 
	Kiyone rolled her eyes. "Gods, you're worse 
than Mihoshi sometimes." She remarked, shaking her 
head, slowly.
	Trakal had spend a week tracking down Kain and 
doing all he could to avenge the deaths of the Galaxy 
Police. To hear one of their ranks speak so poorly of 
him now that the woman he loved had been lost was like
 having an icicle plunged into his heart. He cast his 
gaze down, in utter shame and dejectedness, his lips 
trembling.	
	Kiyone sighed. "Lieutenant," she began.
	Trakal was trembling. If he started keening 
again, Kiyone was sure it would drive her over the edge. 
She'd been subjected to Mihoshi's wailing all week long, 
she didn't need Trakal joining in.
	"Look," she told him, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't 
have said that about you. You're not worse than Mihoshi." 
She was grateful that Washu had already sent Mihoshi back 
home. "I'm just really on edge right now."
	Trakal nodded. This was something he was familiar
with. He himself had been on edge all week long and he was
sure if anything else went wrong, he would go straight 
over it. 


	Nobuyuki crossed the windblow landscape, searching.
He had no idea how long he'd been looking. In this place, 
time had no meaning. The sand blew past him as he made his
way across the mesa, an arm up to help shield his eyes.
	The landscape around him was the proverbial 
barren wasteland. There was no light, but no darkness either.
On every side, he could see treacherous cliffsides, steep
moutains, and the cold, blink, windy desert. And upon that 
dismal plain, he knew, a being even darker and more evil than
all the dictators and overlords the Earth had ever known
waited for him.

	Nobuyuki had no idea how he would get them 
home or even where they were, but his heart would not permit 
him to simply give in. He saw a dark speck in the distance,
becoming more distinct as he neared it until he realized it
was...
	"Achika!" he called out to her. He scrambled down
the short cliffside and ran to her, kneeling at her side and
brushing the dirt from her face.
	All at once, Kain emerged from the ground beneath 
them, forming around Achika, one large hand grabbing Nobuyuki 
and hurtling him across the plain.
	Nobuyuki landed violently, and winced in pain as he
heard a loud snap. The pain that coursed through him overcame
him, and he curled up on his side.
	"NOBUYUKI!" Achika screamed from her prison. She 
pulled herself free of Kain's grip, somehow, and ran toward
him. "NOBUYUKI!!!" She cried out again. She knelt down at his 
side and carefully lifted him into her arms.
	"Achika," he whispered, through his pain, "you and I
will build a dream house together. Won't we?"
	"Yes, Nobuyuki." She replied. "I promise. When we wake
up from this nightmare."
	"Have you ever considered counseling?" a female voice
asked nearby. "I read in a magazine recently that aggressive
behavior is often the result of emotional anxiety."
	"Tanaka!" Achika exclaimed. Despite the seriousness
of the situation, Tanaka's suggestion that Kain go to a
psychiatrist threatened to send her into endless waves of
laughter.
	"Achika!" Tanaka replied. She studied her friend's torn
uniform. "Are you okay?"
	"I think so. But Nobuyuki's hurt. He needs a doctor."
	"We'll get him one as soon as we get home."
	"And how do we get home?" Achika demanded. "Call a
taxi?! Tanaka... WE ARE IN ANOTHER DIMENSION! WE'RE STUCK! GOT
IT?! S-T-U-C-K... STUCK!"
	"Trakal wil rescue us." Tanaka declared. "Wait and see.
He loves me and nothing will stop him!"
	
	
	Tenchi leaned against the wall in the observation deck. 
"There must be something you can do." He moaned. "Please, Washu?
I will die." A wave of emotion swept through him. The fear of his
own impending doom, and the even more painful loss, for the second
time, of his beloved mother. His heart ached as he though of his
parents, of the love they would now never share, the video that
would never be made. He thought of the ruins that would stand now
in eternal decay, never knowing the sound of a mother's lullaby
or a pitter-patter of tiny feet.  "Mother," he whispered, in his
own thoughts. "Washu? Please?"
	Washu thought about it. "Tenchi, I'm going to try to
make a telepathic bond between you and your mom. You'll be able
to see through her eyes."
	"What good is that going to do us?" Trakal asked.
	Washu teleported a helmet with a strange looking eyepiece
to Tenchi. "When you see what she's looking at, transmit that image
with this helmet and I'll be able to locate her coordinates. Once
I've located those coordinates, Ryoko it will be up to you to 
teleport to that location, and then the rest of you can follow."
	"And what about Kain?" Trakal asked.
	"It's risky." Washu replied. "But I'll use the Dimensional
Cannon."
	"Now just a minute!" Kiyone protested. "The Dimensional 
Cannon is for taking out a small galaxy."
	"We don't have any choice." Washu explained.
	"Miss Washu..."
	"is right, Kiyone." Trakal told her. "I've seen what Kain 
can do. I witnessed the murder of every officer and at headquarters 
by him. We can't allow that to happen again." 
	"Kiyone," Washu told her. "you're in charge of the cannon.
Trakal, you'll go with Tenchi and the others. 
	"The cannon is my..."
	"No." Kiyone told him. She looked him in the eye. 
"Lieutenant, we both know that you're at your breaking point. I'm 
not letting you anywhere near the dimensional cannon. There's just
 too much at stake."
	"I *MUST* avenge the Galaxy Police." Trakal told Kiyone.  
He'd lost too much. First his parents and his home, then the Galaxy 
Police, whom he'd come to view as a second family, and now Tanaka, 
his last chance at having a true family, this time a wife, and maybe 
children one day, was in mortal danger. He hated Kain for butchering 
the other members of the Galaxy Police, and utterly despised the 
wretched being for abducting Tanaka. "As a member of the Galaxy 
Police it is my sworn  duty to..."
	"I'm a member of the Galaxy Police, too." Kiyone pointed out.
"And there are other lives at stake here. Washu's right. We can't risk
putting the Dimensional Cannon in the hands of an unstable operative."
	"Whatever!" Trakal returned in exasperation. "Look, can we 
hurry up? I have to get Tanaka back here."
	"Oh?" Ryoko teased him. "Gonna do the horizontal hop?"
	"You have a really perverted mind, Ryoko." Trakal shot back.
"Actually, she's supposed to help me with my history homework
tonight."
	"Homework?!" Kiyone asked.
	"In case you forgot, I'm posing as a student." Trakal told
her. "Or have the fumes from all those industrial strength cleaners
eroded your brain?"
	"I thought you were in love with her." Kiyone pointed out.
	"I was." Trakal replied.
	"But, you're not any more."
	"I can't love her." Trakal exploded. "Don't you get it?! 
EVERYONE I LOVE DIES! I loved my parents when I was a baby and 
they died. I loved the Galaxy Police like a second family, and 
they died. And now Tanaka's probably being slowly murdered and 
its all my fault."

	Washu began the brainwave transfer.
	
	On the fearsome plain, Achika stood up straight and 
looked Kain in the eye. "I've had enough." She told him. "I 
will not allow this." She shook her ponytail free as she spoke. 
Her long hair stood on end and changed color from jet black to
a pale violet grey as a power surge stronger than all others 
coursed through her turning her brown eyes to lavendar. "I
will pay you back!" she vowed as her torn clothing vanished from
her body. Modestly, she covered her breasts even as she felt the
comforting presence of new clothing replacing the torn uniform
as a beautiful kimono, white with intricate patterns of violet
and mauve, formed around her. The kimono fully formed, Achika
nonetheless kept her arms folded in front of her. "Because 
forgiveness for one like you," she concluded, "can never be an
option."
	
	Tenchi threw his head back and cried out as a
backwash of power coursed through him. "MOTHER!!"

	In her mind's eye, Achika saw a small child, about ten
years old, crying. He was standing outside a house with a red
roof, the house in Nobuyuki's drawing she realized, wearing
a pair of dark pants and a boy's overkimono in grey. An arm
was thrust up in front of his face as he rubbed his tears from
his eyes and cried in that open, unfettered manner of crying
which she was sure the private domain of small children. In that 
instant she knew her fate, her future. She would die early in 
life. But before she had to leave this earth, she would recieve
enough happiness to last most people a lifetime, and it would 
come to her in the form of a loving son called...
	"Tenchi?" realized it was he who had made the connection.
Her son had come back to rescue her from the creature who had
kidnapped her and Nobuyuki. Not to mention, Tanaka. 
	
	Through his mother's eyes, Tenchi saw them. His father was 
hurt, but alive and his mother was in Jurai form. He couldn't see
her, but he could feel the power emanating from her like energy from
a giant tesla coil and he could see parts of her kimono. "I can see 
them. Mother needs my help. Badly."
	"What about Tanaka?" Trakal asked.
	"I can't see her." Tenchi told him. "I..." He realized he did
not want to have something with sharp teeth and a cybernetic weapon
going berserk, so he let the sentence die in his throat. He wondered
what he would say to Trakal when they go there if Tanaka was dead as
he suspected.
	Achika turned and Tenchi could now see Tanaka. She was lying
there, face down, motionless.
	"Is she alive?" Trakal asked.
	Tenchi looked at him, his face full of sympathy. "I don't 
think so." he told Trakal.
	Trakal felt the universe crashing down around him. Pain 
became a living thing and that dark creature grabbed a hold of 
his heart and plunged a black dagger called despair deep into it. 
All hope of hearth and home was now lost forever. One by one, he 
saw his dreams shatter into bleak shards until all that remained 
was one single purpose for living.
	Revenge. He would avenge Tanaka's murder and then he would 
turn his weapon on himself and join her in death. Steeling himself,
 he turned to Tenchi. "You get your mom. I'll deal with Kain."
	"Trakal," Kiyone began.
	Trakal turned toward her and Kiyone's words died in her 
throat when she saw the look of utter despair in his eyes.
	"Washu." Ryoko announced. "We're ready to transfer."
	A disc of light formed at Ryoko's neck and travelled down 
her body. Her ill-fitting school uniform slowly vanished, a snug 
maroon space-pirate battlesuit appearing in its place. Two more 
discs began at Ayeka's midrift and travelled in opposite directions
up and down her body, replacing her school uniform with her Jurai
battlesuit. Still another disc appeared at Tenchi's right wrist and
travelled up his arm, and over his body, replacing his street 
clothes with his Juraian battle kimono. The final disc of light began 
at the floor at Trakal's feet and travelled up his body, replacing
the school uniform he wore with his Galaxy Police battlesuit and 
replacing his cybernetic hand with an impressive-looking plasma
cannon.

	Achika screamed in pain and rage as she was struck by an 
energy blast from the amorphous mass that was Kain. The force of
the blast drove her back several feet. She dug her heels into the
 dirt and fought back with all her will.
	"If I can't destroy you," Kain explained, "then I'll absorb
you!"
	A vortex opened in the vile creature's gut and began to draw
everything toward it. Rocks, sand, and wind disappeared into the
pulsating hole. Achika held her ground, unflinchingly.
	Then Nobuyuki's unconscious form was lifted off the ground
and drawn toward Kain's vortex.
	"NOBUYUKI!" Achika cried out as she let herself be picked
up and tried to catch up with him. She couldn't let Kain kill him.
This, she knew, was the man she'd spend her life with. "Too far
away..." she despaired as Nobuyuki neared the vortex.
	All at once a blade of light ripped throught Kain's eye.
The vortex vanished as Kain grabbed his damaged eye and howled 
with pain. At the same time, Ayeka and Ryoko grabbed Achika and
Nobuyuki and gently set them upon the ground.
	The boy who'd struck Kain removed the headgear Washu had
given him and stood there, sword at the ready.	
	Achika spoke, her voice sweet and gentle. Her voice was
filled with wonder, yet it accepted the fact it now spoke as 
readily as the human eye accepts a rainbow.
	"You are... my son Tenchi."
	
	The Dimensional Cannon didn't look too much different
from Trakal's plasma cannon. This was not terribly surprising 
since they had both been created by the same person and made in
the same weapons plant. Like Trakal's cannon it was white and
its shape and components were essentially the same, though
the Dimensional Cannon was designed to deliver a blast that was
hundreds of times more powerful.
	Kiyone stepped into the enormous weapon that sat in the 
parking lot at Tokyo Tower and hoped the local authorities would
not show up. She took her seat and strapped herself in. "Disengaging 
safety locks," she told Washu. "Dimensional Cannon armed and ready."
	"We've got three minutes of power left." Washu told her.
	"And Tenchi?" Kiyone asked, concernedly.
	"I pray that he makes it." Washu replied.

	Tenchi swung the sword at Kain, but Kain dodged easily.
	Kain was finished playing. The time for destruction was now
at hand. He drew himself up and the remainder of his mask vanished.
	They watched as his face elongated, as hideous fangs 
appeared in the monstrous jaw. Jagged wings formed at his shoulders,
with under-ribbings of intestinal pink. 
	Kain spread his wings out and a barrage of electrical power
surged from them.
	Tenchi gritted his teeth with pain as Kain sent volley after
volley of pure electricity through all of them. The sword fell from
his hands and lay there on the ground.
	Trakal struggled to his feet, ignoring the pain. The blasts
were nowhere near as painful as Tanaka's death had been. He raised 
his plasma cannon and openned fire.
	The blasts were absorbed easily by Kain. Kain looked down
at the Operative and glared at him. How had this pathetic creature
survived the... Kain reached down and tore the Galaxy Police visor
from Trakal's face, seeing the black markings which bordered the
Draalthi's eyes. 
	A Jurai/Draalthi hybrid.
	Kain's fury rose to a level beyond all those it had risen
to before. A hundred years ago the Galaxy Police and the House of
Jurai had worked together and had captured him. He'd spent a hundred
years in isolation because of them. Now, a week after being free,
he was looking into a face he hated even more than the beautiful
face of Lady Achika. This single creature was a descendant of one
of the foes who'd imprisoned him; and a defender of the other. He 
reached down, and grabbed Trakal by the throat, drawing him up and
strangling him. 
	Trakal's head swam with dizziness and pain as he let out a
cry of anguish. The world began to fade, as he lost consciousness.
	Kain was so intent on destroying Trakal that he didn't see
Achika pick up the sword. She gripped it firmly in both hands. As
her power flowed into it, both its handle and its blade doubled
in length. 
	"Lady Achika?!" Ayeka gasped in wonder.
	"Will ya look at that," Ryoko was impressed. "She's 
Tenchi's mother all right."
	Achika let out a battle-cry and charged toward Kain, hacking
off the hand that held Trakal in it's deadly grip. Then, with a 
scream of rage she leapt up into the air and brought the sword 
down through her foe, slicing him neatly in half.
	Kain cried out in rage and defeat as he dissolved into
nothingness.
	Tanaka, who'd been lying there unconscious all that time, 
sat up.
	"Tanaka?" Ryoko asked.
	"Are you okay?" Ayeka wanted to know.
	"Trakal!" Tanaka cried out as she saw him lying there,
motionless, on the ground. She ran to him and knelt at his side,
drawing him up into her arms. She buried her head in his chest...
	...and heard his heart beating.	

	Trakal felt consciousness return to him and cautiously
opened his eyes. He expected to see Kiyone or Tenchi staring down
at him, or maybe Washu. Instead, he saw Tanaka, the woman he loved
looking down at him with tears in her eyes.
	"Tanaka?" He asked, tenderly.
	"Yes," she replied, her voice gentle and filled with 
kindness.

	Trakal was beyond words. He wanted to tell Tanaka how glad
he was she was all right; to tell her how much he loved her. But
in all the universe, there were just no words that could encompass
the feelings that now surged through him. All the love, hope, and
happiness he had feared were lost forever were now holding him in
a gentle embrace, in the guise of a young Japanese girl. 
	"Shall I send a rent-a-truck with your things?" Ryoko 
called to them.
	Trakal and Tanaka got to their feet and rejoined the others.
Then they and the others made their way to the glowing portal that
lead back to 1970's Tokyo.
	They were nearly home safe when Kain began to revive. The 
largest puddle of Kain-matter snared Achika's hair.
	"The Jurai will not escape me!" Vowed a voice they'd all
hoped had been forever silenced.
	"He's still alive!" Achika gasped, struggling to free 
herself.
	Trakal spun and fired his plasma cannon. The blast clipped
Achika's hair just above where Kain had grabbed it and Achika, who
had been tugging backward, trying to free herself, suddenly toppled
backwards.
	Kiyone fired the dimensional cannon. The blast travelled 
upward, arched toward the tower, enterred the observation deck, and
entered the portal into Kain's dimension. As the dimension Kain was 
trapped in imploded, it drew the remaining energy from the five
generators into itself. Then, at last, the portal collapsed. The 
leftover energy from the cannon exploded on the observation deck, but
it held no more power than a small bomb.
	Fortunately, Washu had the foresight to know this might
happen and she had transported the group into a small pocket 
dimension, out of blast range.
	Everyone blinked as their eyes adjusted to the daylight.
Trakal slipped on his visor and took a deep breath. At last, his
nightmare, the one that had begun the day Kagato had slain his family
and destroyed his homeworld, was over.
	"So you knew?" Ryoko asked Achika.
	"Yes." Achika nodded, gazing down at Nobuyuki. "The power of
the Jurai opened my eyes and I saw that, when Tenchi will need me 
most, I won't be able to be there for him."
	"The timeline is almost back to normal now that Kain is gone."
Ayeka told Achika. "However..." She turned sadly to Trakal and Tanaka
who held each other close. Her heart ached as she wondered how she
would tell them that Trakal would have to return to his own time, that
the happiness they clearly thought was theirs was about to be once
again taken from them. She didn't have enough memory erasers for all of
them and one of them, probably Trakal, would have to retain the memory
of that lost happiness. Tanaka would exist in 1996, but she would no
longer remember Trakal or the love they shared.
	Kiyone knew this also, and she wore a look of trepidation on
her face. She was sure that Trakal couldn't handle one more loss. If
that happened, his mind would snap and he would probably be looking at
a lifetime of hospitalization. 
	Happily, however, this was not to be the case.
	"There's no reason Tanaka can't come with us." Washu told her,
utilizing the link with them once more.
	Kiyone breathed an inward sigh of relief. 
	"We must erase your memory of all that has happened here." 
Ayeka told Achika. "I'm sorry."
	Achika nodded acceptingly, and allowed Ayeka to place the
small triangular device on her forehead, watching with interest as a
second device was placed on Nobuyuki's forehead.
	"Take care of Tenchi for me." She told them. "Tanaka..."
	Tanaka turned toward her best friend. "Achika," she said,
forcing a smile, "you've always been my closest friend in all things.
I remember how when you were a freshman you failed to make the 
volleyball team."
	"I stuck it out, though." Achika reminded her.
	"It took you nearly four years though," Tanaka went on,
"back then, I never would've figured you for saving the universe."
	Achika blushed.
	"I shall miss you." Tanaka told her as tears began to run
down her face.
	"I will miss you, too, Tanaka." Achika replied. "But I'm sure
Trakal will be a fine husband."	She looked over at Trakal. "Of course, 
you might have to rescue him from time to time."
	Although Tanaka couldn't see the skin under Trakal's fur, his
posture and the fact that he was gazing determinedly at the ground
suggested that he was blushing.
	The two classmates hugged for an endless moment and wept, 
their bittersweet tears infecting the hearts of those around them until
everyone's eyes were brimming with tears of either joy or grief.
	Finally, Tanaka broke away from her and Achika's final embrace
and took her place at Trakal's side.
	Washu made a few adjustments to her retrieval system to account
for Trakal's unorthodox method of time travel, so he would not be lost
in transit and made a few minor adjustments to Tanaka's cells to minimize 
any adverse affects that living in a timeline that was not her native
temporal home might have on her.
	While she did so, Achika had a few more minutes with Ayeka and
Ryoko. "Please, try not to fight so much," She scolded them. "I know you
both love my Tenchi, and I'm grateful to you. But you needed squabble 
over him. I'm sure there's enough love in his heart for the both of you,
and he's going to need you both some day." she fished around in her 
jacket, then found what she was looking for. Tenchiken. Smiling, she
handed the sword to Ayeka. "He's also going need this." she told them, a
hint of regret in her voice. "When he needs me most, I won't be there
for him. Please, make sure he gets it."
	"I will." Ayeka told her as she returned to where Ryoko was 
holding up Tenchi.
	"I'm glad you came." Achika told them, then she turned her 
attention to the boy who hung, unconscious, between them, wounded, but
alive. "Now goodbye," she whispered to him, "my son Tenchi."
	Washu's calculations were complete, and a moment later, Achika's
protectors from the future, and her closest friend were gone.
	Then, she slumped forward over Nobuyuki. 

	The paramedics found her and Nobuyuki in the damaged elevator
with the other students a short time later.  They questioned her and 
others about what had happened, but none of them could answer, for none
of them knew.