Outsiders, chapter 5 Withdrawal A fanfic by Whitestar Just two more to go folks, hope you like them. Standard disclaimers apply, don't sue me and so forth. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There was a slight sound as the space-bubble struck the underside of a gravity incline and emptied its contents into normal space. As the slight sense of disorientation faded, Danza said to Tenchi "Much better than last time, hm?" The younger man's face flushed slightly as he recalled his recent attempt at interstellar travel. Treeships don't function well without a mind to guide them, and when one must move without a controller, it must use a secondary method of travel. Humanoid minds, in turn, do not function well in hyperspace. Tenchi's experience was one he would just as soon forget. That may not be possible, however, if Washu somehow got her hands on the results. The Outsider's thoughts turned flittingly to the space pocket in which he had enfolded said product. Perhaps when this mission was over and things had been returned to what passed for normal for these people, she would get her sample after all. He sighed inwardly. His presence here had long since caused this dimension to split. He might as well use the opportunity to test a few more possibilities. He cleared the quantum-photonic pathways that passed for his mind. Only a second had passed since the ship emerged. He stood and joined the three already scanning nearby space. An image flickered into existence before them, covering the blank forward wall. It showed the space in front of the ship, and in the center was what looked like a small silvery object with streaks of red. As the magnification increased, it became identifiable. "It's really big." came from behind them. "How can you tell" Tenchi replied A slightly puzzled look covered Sasami's otherwise blank expression "I just can." "Take us closer" Danza's order was quickly followed, and Ryu-Oh began to accelerate. "Everyone get ready." They all waited silently. Tenchi's hand rested on Tenchi-Ken, but he did not draw it yet. A few breathless seconds passed. Danza noted they were inside the enemy's teleportation range. They waited some more. He sensed the others were becoming anxious. Washu was about to say something when the Outsider suddenly moved. In a flash he was by Aeka's control alcove, energy blade in hand. A few orange sparks flew as it moved up to block the initial strike. Suddenly Ryoko was there fighting him. They traded a few more blows before anyone else could react. He feigned momentary distraction as the true enemy appeared just in front of the screen image. Ryoko took the advantage, and scarlet energy sliced down through the side of Danza's neck and into his torso. He dissolved in an incandescent blue flash. Everyone there was stunned for a second, then the princesses in their alcoves started screaming. It was a scream of pain. This was enough to shock Tenchi back to awareness. He quickly realized why as a distinctive black ray appeared between each of them and the bloated evil one's outstretched hand. Dark beams culminated in equally distinctive clear bubbles at each princess's chest. Suddenly, something began to appear behind Ryoko. Yellow light beams twisted themselves around her neck and arms. She collapsed to the floor, struggling vainly to use her bound power. Tenchi was oblivious to this, though, for he had already started charging his enemy. He didn't get very far before a force wave knocked him back to the wall and sent the inactive energy sword sliding away. As Danza made himself apparent again, the princesses' crystalline star seeds emerged and flew towards their would-be captor. One of them was intercepted by Danza's white beam. A piece of crystal flew away and bounced off a wall, but part of Aeka's star seed remained in the grip bubble, as did Sasami's. As they reached his hand, the evil being disappeared again. The princesses collapsed into unconsciousness. Washu immediately teleported over to Sasami and tried to figure out what was happening. The newly reformed Outsider brought himself and the shattered star seed to Aeka and started to regenerate the crystal. "Finally showing your true power, ne?" A swift change of subject. "What's happening to them?" Danza sighed, "This is what he wanted. He's taken their star seeds. I believe you're familiar with the concept." "Star seeds.." A quick search through her memory. "But that's just a theory." Surprised, "And after the AT field was confirmed.." "They're both possible. When it crystallizes, the light is surpressed. The technique is known only to a few." He let the self-proclaimed genius figure out the rest on her own. In a few seconds he had finished regenerating Aeka's seed and restored her. There was nothing they could do for Sasami. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The group was understandably dismayed. Washu broke the silence with "I believe you owe us an explanation." "Indeed," he responded, "It's time you know what's really going on." They were back on the platform where Danza had first taken Tenchi when they arrived, suspended against the starfield. Aeka's presence was rendered by a holographic incarnation as she guided the ship. Ryoko was there as well, still quite stunned from the recently broken influence upon her. He explained to them what he was. About the Outsiders and their civilization. They were quite surprised to find out what he was, that his body was artificial, and generated by what he called a 'core'. They were even more surprised when he told them about their enemy, and that he was almost the same thing, except for using someone else's body. Ryoko and Aeka were a little skeptical about the parallel dimensions thing, and that the body The Culler was in came from Earth, but not their Earth. Its previous owner was a young man of little consequence. Even so, only a twisted being would kill a Human and take his body. Only a more twisted being would try what the evil one was trying now. Finally he explained about the Phoenix. The semiorganic creature that destroyed without thought. What was left of the former unit's pseudo-mind imagined it could control the blazing mass of souls. Even if that was true, whatever he/it decided to do with the Phoenix would undoubtedly involve the death of a few billion innocents. Eventually Ryoko asked why he had taken her. Danza lowered his head for a second before replying. The inception of the Phoenix required a living organic base. Ryoko was the only known being with enough power to provide a seed for the creature. He had taken what he wanted from her, after bringing her under his control, and then used her to get the rest of what he needed. Two souls, crystallized into star seeds, must be brought together with the embryo and infused with several terajoules to complete the creation. "Therefore, we know where he will go next. He can't go to another dimension without attracting too much attention, so he has to find an energy source here. There's only one close enough to even consider. That's where he'll go. We must stop him here. If we don't.." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The final destination drew near. Everything had been gathered, and all that was left was to hold off Mr. Goody-Goody out there. A memory of the body welled up from within him. If this worked, he reflected, Sasami would be dead by his hand. That made him no better than-. He stifled the thought. The princess would live, protected from him and the Phoenix alike by the laws of dimensions. None of the infinite myriad realities could never be truly changed. Everything that can happen will. It's just a matter of which path one takes. After all, this body had come from someone with a destiny, no matter how small. By taking it he had not affected the reality from which it had come. The young Human called Jason would continue living, and yet he had also died when that bio-core had snatched him so many years ago. How long was it now? Even so, he couldn't help but feel the slightest twinge of guilt, even as numbed and jaded as his emotions were. Sasami would die. For that matter, everyone would die. And what use was it. To kill a billion even though they would go on living somewhere else. But then, he thought, the same could be said of his counterparts, the ones who saved those who were fated to death. Perhaps the Phoenix had the best lot in this. To exist in ignorance and be for the sake of being. Ignorance may be bliss, but once you've tasted knowledge, regression becomes impossible. No matter, he thought, I chose this path, and at its end either the phoenix will be born and a universe doomed, or I will be gone. Either way, things will continue elsewhere. What happened here was not significant except to the copies made by dividing destinies. Outside, the ship continued to push forward. In its wake, a cabbit floated silent yet alive. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Glad you were able to sit through that. As K'Thardin was nice enough to point out for us all, apparantly I can't write. Tough for you, huh? Well I can imagine. At any rate, come back or don't for the big finish. Either way, I still don't get paid.