Outsiders, chapter 2: the message a fanfic by Whitestar Did u think I'd leave the series unfinished? Sorry, no such luck (my "friend" wants me to get to the part where his char. scores -_-). Anyway, here's the second part of "Outsiders" Disclaimer: I don't own Tenchi Muyo or any of its native characters. In other words, don't sue me. Now back to the story. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "I told you, I didn't mean to crash here. If I had, I would've been able to do it without wrecking my ship." He was standing before a congregation of Masaki residents trying to explain his situation. "I was passing through the system on my way to the Silver Millenium (this drew a barrage of curious stares, which he pretended to ignore), when my spindrive modifier misfired and I had to shut down the field" "In other words," Washu clarified, "his ship started drifting and he had to land here." "And since this is the only place on Earth with people who wouldn't be surprised by an alien falling on them, I decided to crash here." "But if you were in the system before you crashed, why didn't someone see you?" Kiyone was still justifiably skeptical. The newcomer smiled at that question. "I could explain the tetraspatial mechanics of my concealement, but I doubt anyone but Washu would understand." "And he already explained it to me." Everyone just stood, trying to think of what to say next, until Sasami piped up, "What should we call you?" A grin appeared on his face as he answered, "you can call me.. Danza." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *If we go through the Sigma Epsilon system, we'll have to take out this outpost, or we could make a straight jump through Proxy Gamma, and then refuel at Qel'Therex 6.* The Culler, self-appointed scourge of the galaxy, tried to divine a relatively unnoticable course around the rim of Jurian space from the latest readouts he had recieved. *Only then we'll have to silence xj193hrtm, and that's commanded by the emperor's great-nephew.* he stamped an evade order on the aforesaid listening post, and a new set of possible routes to Sol popped on the screen. "Here," he exclaimed, stabbing an bizarrely curved azure line with a single iridescant digit. *We can jump just short of the Zeta Da'al pulsar, interface and pull a 270 around it,* he traced a line around a white dot and towards a small blue one, *then we just hyperflip through to Orion Theta 8, and raid the base there.* Scanning the composite personnell records of that base, and finding none of particular importance among its 300-some inhabitants, he confirmed the course and returned to his command console. *After this, just two more jumps in to Sol* The ship, and its distortion envelope, continued towards their designated jump position, resuming the long trip to Earth. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- He looked left, he looked right, the hall was clear. He sneaked over to the door, and heard faint splashing sounds from beyond. There was only one way that was possible, and Noboyuki had been waiting for an opportunity like this ever since beautiful girls started falling on them. Now he just hoped Sasami wasn't alone in there (-_-). The aging Hentai opened the door a crack more, revealing the one room in his house heretfore inaccessable to him. The video camra hanging from his shoulder almost hit the floor as he crouched, jaw aslack, gazing at the sight on the other side of the door. It was Mihoshi who had neglected to close the dimension door completely, therby allowing Noboyuki to access the sealed sub-dimension contained therein (go figure). The sometimes-voyeur hurried to set up his video camra, but almost dropped it at the sound of an unexpected voice. "Whatcha doin'?" the enigmatic visitor didn't quite seem so enigmatic with a huge grin on his countenance. Noboyuki picked himself up off the floor and told Danza (so I suck at thinking up names, I'll try not to use it too much) to go mind his own buisness. "Go mind your own buisness!" "What's it look like I'm doing?" he pointed to a small device hanging from his wrist. It took Noboyuki, in an uncommon display of intuition, only a few seconds to deduce the two were here for the same purpose. "Well,.. just try to stay out of my way" "Not a problem." was the distracted reply as Danza set one foot on the wall, then the other, and then did the same on the ceiling, after which he applied his device to the door, which extended a thin eyestalk with a tiny globe at its terminus through the dimentional interface. The two continued to indulge themselves, one above and one below, while doubtless entertaining multiple fantasies regarding the improbably endowed blonde they observed, for several minutes. They were interrupted by an untimely appearance at the end of the hall. Aeka's face turned several shades of reddish purple before finally settling on a deep scarlet. Sensing the nearby buildup of hostile emotion, and similar intent, the presently inverted voyeur quickly retracted his imager's eyestalk, and looked up, (or down). "Gotta run." he notified his companion before floating off at an impossibly speed down the corrider, away from the impending storm. Noboyuki's gaze followed him for a second before he realized a rather disturbing probability. Wearing a sheepish grin, he turned apprehensively back to face the consequence of his indulgence. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WHAM.. BANG.. BOOM.. *That's strange,* thought the beauty lazing half-covered in her ethereal hammock, *usually when I hear stuff like that, I'm part of it.* she sat up and stretched, deciding whatever it was either could use her attention or was more exciting than just staying here. The composite of aggrivated gravitons and static photons beneath her dissapeared as Ryoko floated lazily towards the house, the source of the recent noise. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "What's going on down here?!" shouted two contrasting voices in unison, as their bearers descended the stairs to find Aeka still shouting at Noboyuki. Noboyuki turned with a pleading look to his son, an if to say "please help me, you can make her stop." Said son, however, had no intention of interfering. "What'd he do now?" Tenchi acted as though his father doing something to warrant such a beration by Jurai's princess was a regular occurrance. The response was jumbled, as the assaulter and victim both tried to plead their cases simultaneously. "One at a time! You first Aeka." At this, Noboyuki shrunk away, dreading the coming testimony. "I caught HIM looking at Mihoshi in the bath!" With that, Aeka pointed an accusatory finger at the man huddled in the corner clutching the charred remains of his video camra. That man retorted with the exceedingly bright remark, "Danza did it too!" His alleged accomplice immediately burst through a hexaspatial bubble and tried to defend himself. "He started it!" "Nuh-uh, you started it!" (amazing what mature men can be reduced to, isn't it?) Their juvenile routine was interrupted by a shout. "Stop it!" ordered Sasami, speaking up for the first time since coming downstairs with Tenchi, "You're both Ecchi! Now go to your rooms and think about what you've done!" "Yes ma'am" came the replies, both with the suppressed knowledge that they would be thinking about it anyway, as they trudged upstairs. Ryoko appeared, and asked what was going on. "What's going on?" Tenchi and the gang just looked at each other. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BLEEP-BLEEP-BLEEP Kiyone woke up with a start at the sound of her videophone's beeping. "Oh DAMN, I must have fell asleep." With this keen piece of deductive reasoning, she grabbed a nearby mirror and tried to get her hair back in order. BLEEP-BLEEP-BLEEP "Shut up, I know!" The vidphone didn't seem to notice, or care. Reasonably satisfied with the state of her appearance, she collected her thoutghts, put on a smile, and pressed the key to recieve the incoming message. "Oh, ohayo Sakura." Kiyone's smile grew at the sight of her alleged friend, in contrast to her feelings at the moment. Usually, whenever Sakura called, it was usually to gloat about something or to deliver bad news. Somehow, the look that reached across the light-years now didn't indicate the former. "Hi, Kiyone, I take it from your location you're still stuck with that nepotistically pampered ditz." It was a question. Kiyone sighed inwardly. Apparently, Sakura was in a mood to gloat, and to deliver her news. "Yes, the ditz is still with me." Kiyone played along, knowing that to do otherwise had a tendency only to annoy Sakura more. "Hmm," suddenly Sakura seemed quite disinterested, "well, as for the reason I called. It seems a situation has arisen which the Jurai Royal Family feels necessary to notify their crown princesses about. As you know, your station is the only means they have of contacting Earth short of bypassing the blockade and sending a ship." The way she emphasized the obvious seemed almost condescending. "So, you called my up just to tell me about the message from Jurai?" She barely hid her annoyance at being awakened behind her annoyange at Sakura's chronic need for superiority. "Actually," pouncing on the opportunity to point out an obvious but unmentioned point, "it's required for a top priority message to be accompianied by visual transmission." "Top priority?" barely concealing her surprise. "It would appear there is a rather large situation facing the Jurians. At any rate, the message is incoming now. I'll leave you to resume babysitting that scatterbrain now. Sayonara, Kiyone" As the screen flashed into darkness, Kiyone sighed and congradulated herself silently at having survived another encounter with Sakura. Her repose was interrupted as something buried in the mess on the desk behind her began to make its presence known. BLEEP-BLEEP-BLEEP She started, and began digging through the clutter covering Mihoshi's desk, searching for the other terminal. Upon finding it, she silenced the noise and accepted the message. Finding a data crystal for the message, however, was another matter, as it bore a disheartening resemblance to looking for a needle in this clutter stack. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Well if she had thought to close the door in the first place, neither of them would have been able to see her." Had he been human, Danza's face would be reddening by now with the knowledge that he could have seen her quite easily, with or without the dimension door closed. Washu continued, "There's only so much science can do in the face of such unprecedented neglectfulness" She continued to list the qualities Mihoshi exhibited so often which "precluded the protection of her privacy by outside means". The object of her abuse, meanwhile, continued to sit there and look vacant while munching something which vaguely resembled popcorn. When the scientist felt she had sufficiantly exhausted the supply of terms both applicable to Mihoshi and within the realm of understanding of the majority of those listening, she broke off the lecture and left to return to her personal realm. Those remaining did likewise, but Aeka and Sasami were intercepted by Kiyone from the direction of her office's gate. "This came from Jurai for you two." She notified them, handing over the small crystaline object she held. "It was marked top priority, so you should probably read it right away." "Domo Arigato, Kiyone-san. We will do so immediately." Once the detective left, she added absently to the younger princess, "Father probably wishes to know when we will return. But why would he send it top priority in that case?" she wondered. The two progressed back to their shared room to replay the crystal's contents. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Five minutes later, they both sat, stunned. That something like this could happen to the Empire, which had seemed to the princesses well nigh undamageable until viewing the contents of the data crystal which now floated, spent, in its port. Sasami, as usual, broke the silence. "Are we going back, oneesama?" The object of her question did not respond for a few seconds, when she said.. "Of course. Jurai needs the entire royal family to be there in this time of crisis. Besides, the message said the enemy may be headed for Earth next." "Well then what about Tenchi?" She asked the question that had been nagging Aeka since the message ended. The older princess took a deep breath and answered levelly. "Tenchi is a Jurian prince. He can protect himself and his planet." Her voice began to quiver very slightly as she said the last. "Now, we must tell the others. The Muramasa will be here tomorrow." As she rose, Sasami had a strong feeling her sister was trying to convince them both. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "So, we'll finally be rid of you, ne princess?" Aeka took a moment to control the anger rising in her and answered. "We will be returning for the duration of the emergency." "I'll take that as a yes." As the ensuing bickering reached a fever pitch, Danza mulled over this new piece of information. The princesses had been recalled to Jurai, supposedly because of an impending danger to the Empire. The mission appeared to be proceeding in an unforseen direction. He made a decision. Washu had become predictably disinterested in the fight when Tenchi was almost hit by a stray energy projectile. Ryoko really should know better than to provoke Aeka when she was so obviously disturbed. *sigh* Next, both the girls would express concern their for Tenchi, which would spark another round of fighting, probably resulting in some ammount of collateral da-. Her thought was abruptly interrupted as she observed another apparantly losing interest in the fight. But Danza was headed towards the girls' room. Deciding he was probably up to something akin to the event earlier, she slipped into the lab, closing the door just in time to avoid Aeka involuntarily joining her inside as she came flying. *Whump* ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Deep in the dark, crowded expanse of her lab, Washu peered into one of her remote monitors. Aeka would probably try to kill, or at least maim, the scientist if she found out about such covert monitoring of the house, and the sentiment would be soon expressed by most of the rest of the residents. Now, though, she was using the device to observe someone who would shortly know of the monitors' existance. The dark haired alien floated silently into the room and made straight for the desk on which rested the princesses' message scanner and the crystal which lay therein. As he approached, a slightly distorted patch appeared around the desk. As he stepped into it, the visitor ceased to be visible. Washu snapped back with a look of shock, but then began quickly tapping controls, switching rapidly through various energy spectrums. When each setting proved as innefective as the last, she switched to another camera bug, (a good scientist always has a few backup systems) with the same results. The alien was momentarily proven not to have truly vanished, though as he floated away from the vicinity of the desk. Before leaving the room, however, he turned and waved at the camera, then exited. Washu did a facefault. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A tiny photonic burst passed through the spatial hole, and sped towards its destination. A gargantuan piece of metal hovered in the darkness. Within 2 seconds, the burst had covered the 3 light-minutes between the omnipresent dimension wall and the behemoth which dominated here. It found its target, a tiny patch of jet-black on an array dotted with such patches. The organized photons struck within nanoseconds of each other, and were absorbed. Their discharges were translated into a pattern of radiation, which bounced along through its mirrored conduit, less than 5 nanometers in diameter, through a seried of relays and junctures, until it merged with an innumerable number of similar signals and entered the large polished black sphere which represented the nexus of a million minds. This initial transmission signaled the rejoining of yet another unit to the massive thoughtstream that was the outsiders. A series of signals followed, representing the sum total knowledge of the unit which now rested in a small chamber on the Earth which had seen the rise of Jurai's empire. When the transfer was completed, the minds joined to form the thinking forebrain of the Outsider civilization accepted this new information and formulated a new plan. This was translated into radiation, then back to a photon pattern, which crossed the void to once again become part of the unit on Jurai's Earth. Danza stepped away from the port and continued to work on the pod which now lay behind the Masaki's house. It could be ready to fly again in an hour, but the plan said otherwise. ******************************************************************************************* Sorry about the length this time, I guess I got carried away^_^. This concludes another installment of Outsiders. Now you finally see what the name means. I hope this doesn't turn into the usual "I'm invincible" fare common to SI fics (don't tell me you didn't notice it's me). The Culler is still pressuring me to hurry up on this, so the next section probably won't take too long coming. Until then, Hasta la vista, Sayonara, Aufwietersehen, bye-bye.