November 28/97          Surprises all Around

Wow! Who would have thought that after writing my first Fan fiction that
I would end up at chapter nine already. Again I would like to extend
thanks to Brazil who helped me extremely with the editing of my stories
and setting straight anything that I had wrong and also to you, the
readers of my work.

Legal Crap: All the characters and Cabbits of Tenchi Muyo belong to
Pioneer Inc except for Samantha Jones. Please don't sue me, I am only
entertaining, just like you do.
________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 9

"Now you have to promise no major hitting on Tenchi while you're on this
date with him, promise," asked a tall, athletic redhead.

"I assure that, as a Princess of The Royal family of the Empire of
Jurai, I shall do no such thing. I shall simply go out on this date with
him and allow him to make up his own mind," said the woman, a head
shorter then the red head, with purple hair and wearing flowing white
and blue robes.

The redhead sighed and hoped that she would, feeling extremely guilty
about doing this to Ryoko. "Just remember that this is a simple date
between two friends to see, at least for you, where it could lead."

"I understand," Aeka said, nodding her head in agreement.

"Okay now there's quite a nice path along these hills that you could
take him on and when you do, just talk about stuff," Samantha instructed
her.

"Please Miss Jones, I am not totally incompetent in the ways of dating,"
the princess replied, slightly insulted.

"Sorry. Look, here he comes now. Just stay here and I'll handle
everything."
                                *               *               *
"I had a really nice time Ryoko," Tenchi said, carrying the picnic
basket in his right hand and holding her hands with his left. The two
had just exited the small path they had found leading from the top of
the house to the valley, walking towards the house and stopping in front
of the door to the living room.

"I did too Tenchi. Do you think we could do this again sometime," Ryoko
asked, a bit of her old eagerness there but not enough to make him
nervous.

"I would certainly like to," the young man replied.

The Cyan-haired woman looked at him with her coy smile and embraced him
in a gentle hug. The change that had come over her was still something
of a shock for the young man but he was quickly getting used to it,
returning the hug gently.

"Whoa, I guess we had better stop before Aeka sees this. Don't want a
fight," Ryoko said,
breaking off the embrace and backing up a little bit. "Almost forgot,"
she added, taking the picnic basket from him.

Now the young man was really surprised. Usually Ryoko would welcome a
fight with the princess and now she was breaking off something that
would invariably have lead to one. He wasn't given much time to ponder
the complete depth of Ryoko's change when Samantha came through the
door.

"Hey Tenchi, I need to speak with you," she said. "Hi Ryoko."

"Hello Samantha," she replied.

For a second, Tenchi saw a small flash of guilt cross the Canadians face
but Ryoko, in her happy mood, did not take notice of it. He was
wondering what she had to feel guilty about when Samantha pulled him out
of Ryoko's hearing range and began to talk to her.

"Um...There's something I need to ask you Tenchi," Samantha said.

"Yeah sure, what is it," he asked.

She paused a moment, casting a look at Ryoko, who had gone into the
house and was now talking with Aeka, before replying. "Aeka wanted me to
ask you out on a date with her for her."

Tenchi seemed to be not at all surprised that Aeka had indirectly asked
him out on a date.

The young man's thoughts suddenly brightened as he realized that this
could be the perfect opportunity for him to discuss his feelings with
Aeka as he had talked with Ryoko. He smiled and told Samantha to tell
Aeka that he would like to go on the date with her. The young man just
hoped that Ryoko would not grow jealous or angry by this.
                                *               *               *
"Hello Aeka," Ryoko said cheerfully, not wanting to ruin her happy mood
by getting into a fight.

"Hello Ryoko. And how are you doing today," she asked.

"I feel like I'm happiest person in the world!" Ryoko actually did a
twirl, her white dress whirling about her as smoothly as a summer wind.

"I see. And do you think that you could tell me exactly *why* you feel
like the happiest person in the world?"

Ryoko stopped, not sure if she should tell Aeka or keep it as a secret.
The young man had admitted that he liked it when the two girls did not
fight over him. And telling the princess why she felt like she felt like
she did would definitely provoke a fight.

"Sorry Princess. My secret." She giggled a little bit, having never felt
so giddy in her entire life.

Samantha opened the door and leaned in a bit. "Okay Aeka. He said yes,"
she said. Then, upon seeing Ryoko, a look of guilt came onto her face.

"What do you mean yes?" the former space pirate asked.

Samantha saw the thoughtful look on her face as she finally pieced
together what was happening, and moved in to try and explain things.

The princess sneered at Ryoko, which did not help matters in the least,
and Ryoko growled, her simple white dress fading into her blue and gold
one with the tail.

"Wait Ryoko, don't do anything until you've listened to me," Samantha
said, walking up and stopping the former Space Pirate with a restraining
hand.

"Why? She's going out with my Tenchi!"

"First of all, he's not your Tenchi nor hers. Second of all......"

"Second of all what?"

"It's my fault," Samantha finally said.
                                *               *               *
Washu studied the information upon her computer screen, very glad with
what she saw.

"The DNA scanner is done scanning the hair and is now searching for any
unusual genes. That'll take a little while longer, but it'll give me the
chance to try out my Limited Range Weather Manipulator," the genius
scientist thought as she looked over the various displays hanging in
midair about her.

"Hey wait a minute! I can't reveal my latest invention without an
audience! Why else build one in the first place if you don't have people
to share it with?"

Making her way into the house from her subspace lab, Washu called out
for everyone to come and see her new invention. Sasami and Mihoshi, with
Ryo-oh-ki on her head, quickly rushed in to see what new and bizarre
machine the genius scientist had made. Samantha and Ryoko followed after
that, albeit at a slower pace and talking almost nonstop.

"But she might try to seduce *my* Tenchi!" Ryoko pointed out.

"No she won't. I had her give her word to me as a Princess of Jurai and
some other stuff that she would *not* do anything in the slightest to
Tenchi," Samantha countered. "And don't go following them either. Show
Aeka that you can be more mature then her by acting like it."

"What's all this about Tenchi and Aeka," Washu asked.

Ryoko grumbled something and went inside the subspace lab while Samantha
remained outside a few seconds to explain things. "Well you know how
Aeka pressured me into finding Tenchi and Ryoko for her so that she
wouldn't interrupt them." Washu nodded. "Well Ryoko is a bit upset about
it."

"Hmm I see. And you never bothered to see if *I* would like to date
Tenchi," Washu said.

"You never asked, Ryoko did," Samantha replied, stepping into the
subspace lab and following the others.

"So what is it that you have to show us Washu," Sasami asked. Ryo-oh-ki,
perched upon her heard, issued a questioning meow.

"I'm glad you asked that Sasami. It is the one invention that this
planet did not have....until now," the genius scientist said.

As they all followed her inside, the group spied a huge picture of the
Masaki house and a one kilometer diameter of the area about it. To
Samantha, it looked as if it was being shown from a satellite. Before
this image sat a huge control board with blinking lights and dials of
all colors. Floating in midair alongside the board was four round balls.
Behind the control board was what appeared to be a pole with a tapered
end sticking out of a twenty sided icosahedron attached to a big cube.

"I give you, the Weather Manipulator!" Washu said with a dramatic
flourish.

"What does it do," Mihoshi asked.

The genius scientist seemed a bit insulted by this question but
proceeded to explain to the group exactly what it did. "By casting
specific ionic wavelengths from here through the distribution pods, and
through a molecular diffusion high pass filter, several of which are
placed about the house,  I can effectively control all the factors
leading up to certain meteorological patterns."

Seeing the groups blank faces, Washu said, "It can control the weather."

There were mummers of understanding.

"And now," she shouted, brightening up. "On with the demonstration!"

Walking up to the control board, she rapidly typed on it, twisting a
dial here and there. Four subspace gates appeared over the pods and they
flew straight up, disappearing from the lab. Their reappearance was
marked by four red blinking dots on the satellite view of the house,
forming a square.

"With the distribution pods in these spots, I can now manipulate the
weather to suit my needs. Does anyone have a suggestion?"

"I do," Ryoko said.

Samantha looked at her and saw the sneer the former space pirate had on
her face. "Oh no," she thought.

"Look, whatever you're planning, don't do it," the Canadian warned her.

"And why not? I'm just suggesting an idea," Ryoko whispered.

"Come on daughter, we don't have all day," Washu said, irritated by the
wait and impatient to show off her new invention.

"A nice gentle snowfall to cool us down after a hot summer," Ryoko
suggested proudly.

Samantha hid the groan of exasperation that rose to her lips and hoped
that bad would go wrong.
                                *               *               *
Tenchi walked alongside Aeka though the path in the woods. Although he
had been happy at the chance to explain his feelings as he had to Ryoko,
the young man suddenly felt apprehensive. How was he supposed to say
anything without bringing up what had happened between Aeka and her
father? He felt that saying the wrong thing would only depress her
further since she was already in a bad mood because of her father.

".." He honestly tried to think of something to say but came up short.

"Do you know how I feel about you Lord Tenchi," Aeka suddenly asked.

This totally caught him off guard and he fumbled for an answer. He knew
that Aeka could be as forward as Ryoko sometimes, but it was still a
surprise to him when she was.

"I know that you like and care for me, just as I do for you."

"That is true Lord Tenchi. But my feelings for you go beyond mere liking
you." Here she stopped to think about what she had to say next, not
wanting to convey her feelings in the wrong message. "I truly love you
Tenchi, deeply, and I wish that you could return that love for me as
well. But you won't. Why? Why won't you return that which I offer in
such abundance?"

Tenchi turned to face her, seeing the sadness in her eyes and the hurt.
He winced, knowing that he, himself, had brought this upon her. The
young man had known for awhile now that she and Ryoko were in love with
him, but it had been today that he found out just how *deeply* that love
ran for Ryoko. Now he was finding out that Aeka's love ran just as
deeply as Ryoko's.

The two stopped their walking and Tenchi, spotting a large stone near
the path, motioned for her to sit down with him.

After they were seated, he forced himself to look into her purple eyes,
taking her hands in his. It was not that they were ugly in any way, but
because of the raw emotions they held. The pain seemed to take on a life
of its own, drilling into his soul and accusing him of being such a cold
and unfeeling monster.

Regardless of how he felt, even though he knew that was a factor in all
of this too, Tenchi knew that he had to choose his words carefully and
speak from the heart. Any wrong slip or intent could shatter Aeka,
something which she did not need.

"In my own way, I love you as well Aeka." He saw her face brighten a bit
and continued. "Why I did not return it was because I was..."

She waited, eager, but kept it well hidden.

"Afraid. Afraid that if I were to choose between you or Ryoko, it would
hurt either one of you. That is something that I don't think I could
ever do, hurting either of you. It's..." He stopped, knowing what he had
to say and yet, finding it difficult to summon the words. "Very hard to
make a decision like that."

The pain in her eyes did not lessen as he spoke, in fact it almost
seemed to grow. "But how could he not return my love," Aeka thought
despairingly. "Are his feelings for that monster woman more then for me?
What a silly thought! How could he ever be in love with Ryoko when it is
clear that *I* am the more appropriate person to return his love."

But little did Aeka know that were Tenchi to admit and return the love
which the two women gave to him, there could be the strong possibility
that... No, it was not a possibility, it was hard fact, that the two
women would get so jealous over each other that violence would follow.
Aeka would do anything for Tenchi, battle demons, walk through hell,
swim the deepest oceans, but she knew very little as to how much their
fighting hurt him.

"Oh how much this seems like the tales that father told me about his
time courting Misaki and Funaho," Aeka thought. "So different they were
from each other and yet he loved them both that he could not stand the
idea of choosing one over the other... Oh my.... Is that how Tenchi
really feels? The reason why he won't choose is because of hurting
either one of us instead of loving one more then the other?"

Never before had Aeka thought over her present situation by comparing it
with the one her parents had once been in. And yet, as she thought about
it more, it made more sense. Misaki was so much like Ryoko in that both
were direct and powerful, like a force of nature, where as she was more
like Funaho, in that they were both normally the centers of calm.

"Oh how I wish father could be here to give Tenchi advice. He would not
what to say...." The thought brought back the cold words exchanged
between father and daughter with all the gentleness of a dull knife
digging in her heart.

Before she could stop herself, the wall that had been keeping her
emotions surrounding the event broke out, flooding her with grief, pain,
and regret. Her father, whom she loved very much, was more concerned
with her desertion of duty then of her true feelings. The first tear
came, rolling down her cheek and splashing on the rock. When he saw
this, Tenchi felt a knife in his own heart, afraid that his admission
had hurt her.

"What's wrong Aeka," He asked.

She drew a hand back to wipe the second tear that came to her eye even
as she fought her emotions. It was hard to do so in front of him, and
that concerned look in his eyes merely made it harder to contain the
feelings inside of her.

*Do you really want to contain your emotions?* asked a voice inside her
mind. *He's there for you. Let go.*

She realized the truth behind it and allowed the tears to flow. She
couldn't stop them now. The quiet sobs racked her body and Tenchi,
knowing of no other way to comfort her, drew the princess into his arms,
simply holding her. He didn't say anything and neither did she.
Eventually her arms wrapped around his body and she let everything go,
finding comfort in his embrace. Despite differences between her and her
father, Tenchi was there for her and that was all that mattered.
                                *               *               *
"All systems check! Now, prepare yourself to be delved into winter! Or
at least a very light snow," Washu pronounced with all the style of a
ringmaster and hit the ENTER key on the control board.

The device hummed and whirred, the pole began to shiver slightly and
glow a dull white. A Subspace portal opened above the pole a few seconds
before four beams of white light shot out at different angles from the
tapered end. Four more subspace holes appeared below the distribution
pods and the white light flowed into them, brining energy and data into
each.

>From those pods flowed an invisible wave of energy unseen to the human
eye, traveling in huge pools until it meet the other pods. As soon as
each pod had been hit with the invisible energy, the temperature began
to lower and clouds started to appear, made from moisture pulled from
the air. A few minutes later, the clear blue sky of summer was replaced
with thick fluffy clouds. A minute after that, the first snowflake
appeared. It was quickly joined by another and then another until it was
snowing thickly.

The group watched all this from the lab, but as soon as the clouds had
blocked out the picture of the house and valley, they all went outside
to see the fruit of Washu's labor. Sasami giggled as the first snowflake
fell on her nose and she wiped it off with her hand. Samantha, who was
not accustomed to the amazing feats that the genius scientist could do,
was more awed then they were. She closed her eyes and felt the coolness
in the air and the snowflakes on her bare skin.

"You are amazing," Samantha told the small scientist.

"Indeed I am! Now all I have to do is design a planet wide model," Washu
said.

Little did the group know one of their number had teleported away back
to Washu's lab, intent on a bad deed.
                                *               *               *
"Will you be all right Aeka," Tenchi asked.

"Yes, I will," came the muffled reply.

"Is it about your father?"

"Yes."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No, not yet. Just hold me."

Silence again. The initial sobs had not been repeated and the tears had
stopped, leaving Aeka in Tenchi's arms. She liked it there, held in his
warm and caring embrace that could protect her and never hurt her. So
oblivious was she to the outside world that she missed Tenchi's words.

"What was that Lord Tenchi," she asked.

"It's snowing," he repeated, pointing to the flakes of snow falling
through the sky.

"But how can that be? It is the middle of summer," she pondered aloud.
The young woman also realized that it had gotten darker and looked up,
seeing the thick lawyer of clouds.

"It could be one of Washu's inventions. She's the only one capable of
doing something like this," Tenchi reasoned.

"It's getting cold Lord Tenchi. Let's head back before we catch a cold."
As if to emphasis her point, the princess sneezed.

Tenchi nodded his agreement and they got up, then proceeded to head back
home.

                                *               *               *
For Ryoko, it was like a preprogrammed command in her mind, teleporting
back into Washu's lab and fiddling around with the controls. They were
simple to manipulate, with a dial for the kind of weather, the
intensity, and the duration. Pretty soon, the machine was set to deliver
a blizzard about the area. All she had to do was push the ENTER key.

She wavered as her finger got close to the big green button and stopped
altogether an inch away from it. A memory replayed in her mind at how
upset Tenchi had been at her after the cruel trick she had played on
Aeka, pretending that Ryo-oh-ki was her child. If he had been mad at her
for such a little trick, then Tenchi would be extremely angry at Ryoko
for unleashing a blizzard upon him and Aeka.

"And you might hurt Tenchi as well," said a voice from inside her mind.
The former space pirate thought that it sounded a lot like Zero. She
tried to find the resolve to push the button but instead found herself
agreeing with Zero.

"I can't do this. Not only would Tenchi get hurt *and* angry at me, but
I'll have ruined everything that I accomplished at lunch today. No, I
won't do it," Ryoko thought determinedly and teleported away so that she
would not be tempted.

Mihoshi walked inside the subspace lab, having found out that snow was
too cold to play with her bare hands, and was now searching for some
winter gloves.

"Gee, she must have some gloves around here somewhere. Maybe she has
some by the weather thingie! Where else would you put such clothing then
beside the machine that makes the weather?" she reasoned, rushing
forward to the weather manipulator control board.

After a few minutes of searching, she came up empty.

"Oh dear, I could have thought that Washu would have such a thing near
her new invention. Hey what's this," Mihoshi asked to no one in
particular.

Her attention was now focused on the sky picture of the clouded valley.
At the bottom of the screen it said current weather: Light Gentle Snow.
Below that it read new weather: Very Strong Blizzard.

"Hmmm, I wonder what a blizzard is? Maybe it's a fun kind of weather!"

Immediately Mihoshi started to push buttons, trying to find the one that
made it go before she finally found the big green button labeled ENTER.
She pushed it eagerly and ran outside to experience a blizzard for the
first time.

                                *               *               *
"Lord Tenchi? Is it just me or has it gotten colder," Aeka asked.

"No it isn't you. It *has* gotten colder. Quick, let's get back before
it can get any colder," Tenchi said, shivering despite himself.

Aeka nodded and the two started to pick up the pace. With every minute
that passed after that, a cold wind grew and bit at the two, who were
barely protected by the summer clothes they wore. Both started to get
cold and they drew near each other for the warmth.

"We n-need t-t-to g-get to the h-house before w-we f-freeze," Tenchi
shouted to her above the roaring of the wind.

Aeka could only nod, her teeth were shivering so violently that any
other response would have been inarticulate and impossible to
understand.

The going was hard for the falling snow was now blowing into their faces
and stinging their eyes. Aeka stumbled and fell, but she was caught by
Tenchi. Through the snow they stared, trying to determine where they
were but it was no good, the thick snow obscuring their vision.

                                *               *               *
As soon as the air had gotten colder and the wind began to pick up,
Samantha immediately turned to Ryoko, who had reappeared outside to
enjoy the snow.

"Don't even ask Sam. This is not my fault," she said.

"How can I be sure of that," Samantha asked. "You seemed pretty intent
on messing up Aeka's date with Tenchi."

"Well I was, but I decided to be mature and let them continue on," Ryoko
countered.

"Someone's been messing with my weather manipulator," Washu shouted as
soon as she had noticed the difference in the weather and ran inside,
the group quickly following her inside.

She opened the door and ran into Mihoshi, who shouted and tripped over
the smaller person and onto the floor.

"Get off me you big lout," Washu said, scrambling out from under the
detective and rushing inside her lab.

"Are you okay Mihoshi," Sasami asked, having come in and was now helping
the blonde up.

"Oh I'm fine. I just want to see the blizzard," she replied cheerfully.

"You mean you messed with Washu's machine," Samantha asked

Before the blonde could respond, there was an inarticulate scream of
rage from within the lab and rapid footsteps could heard coming towards
the door. They all backed up, expecting a demon faced little scientist
to step out. All were surprised when Washu, smiling a small, simple,
smile without a hint of malice, stepped out instead. To Samantha and the
others, this was even more unnerving.

"Excuse my *dear* Mihoshi, but perchance did you touch the weather
manipulator," Washu asked calmly.

"I sure did," Mihoshi replied cheerfully.

"Then do you think you could tell me how you managed to lock up the
entire system?" There was a slight twitch to her smile and Ryoko,
through the mental link she shared with her mother, could tell that she
was close to losing it.

"Um, hmmmm. I don't know. I just wanted to make a blizzard and started
to push some buttons before I found that big ENTER button."

"I think I'll go find Aeka and Tenchi. Come on Ryoko, you're helping,"
Samantha said, deciding that it was best they left lest they incur the
genius scientist's wraith simply by being around.

"I'll go put the kettle on for some soup and tea," Sasami said, walking
into the kitchen, Ryo-oh-ki following her.

"Then please come inside with me to help remedy the problem," was the
last thing the two women heard Washu say before entering the cold.

"Hey aren't you cold," Ryoko asked, spying Samantha's ensemble of a pair
of jogging pants and a T-shirt. She also noticed that her eyes were
blazing white.

"Nope. An aspect of tapping into my chi is that I don't feel the
extremes of temperature for a long while," the Canadian replied.
"Beside, I was born in Canada and that means I'm practically immune to
the cold."

                                *               *               *
"Lord Tenchi, I can't feel my toes," Aeka said through shivering teeth.

"I can't feel mine either," the young man replied, shivering violently.
"No, don't sit down. We have to get back to the house."

The princess had sat down on the cold snow, mumbling something about
needing a moment to catch her breath. Tenchi dragged her to her feet and
picked her up, feeling her body heat against his cold skin. Placing one
foot after another, he continued to where he thought the house was, his
vision blurred by the snow and the wind that blew it into his face.

"Some day this has turned out to be," he thought.

"If I get out of this alive," Tenchi swore silently, "I'm going to have
a talk with Washu about testing her inventions without telling us
first!"

                                *               *               *
"I'm telling you Samantha, I did not get Mihoshi to push the button!"
Ryoko told her, floating about three feet above the Canadians head.

"But you *were* thinking about doing it nonetheless right?"

The former space pirate went silent at this, feeling guilty for having
even thought about doing such a thing. She was also angry that this
woman could even accuse her of doing it. She sighed, finding no other
answer then to nod her head.

"How could you think of doing something like that? Are you that jealous
of Aeka," Samantha asked, wiping the snow that had gathered on her face.

"If I was that jealous of Aeka, I would have pushed the button," Ryoko
shot back.

The Canadian cursed herself for going too far.

"Look," she started gently, or tried to since she had to shout above the
wind in order to be heard by Ryoko. "Once we rescue Tenchi and Aeka,
we'll head into Tokyo and I'll buy you some sake."

Nothing.

Samantha cursed herself for alienating herself from the woman.

Suddenly two forms stumbled into their view, covered in snow and
shivering. Samantha and Ryoko immediately recognized them as Aeka and
Tenchi.

"Aeka's in worse shape then Tenchi. Get her back first then come back
and get Tenchi," Samantha said, lifting a cold and shivering Tenchi in
her arms.

"Okay," Ryoko said, easily lifting Aeka up and disappearing from sight.

                                *               *               *
As soon as Ryoko had appeared, Washu told her daughter to bring the
princess into the lab. Aeka's skin was white and her lips were blue.

"Put her on that table," Washu instructed her.

Ryoko did so and shimmered from sight, reappearing a few seconds later
with Tenchi in her arms. She laid him on a table directly across from
Aeka and hovered about him like a mother hen would over her young. Washu
typed busily on the smoky black computer she had pulled out of midair
and the tables began to energize.

"Both have a case of hypothermia, but it's not too bad since you got to
them so soon. Nonetheless I'm going to have to warm them up slowly," she
explained.

"But why not push the gauge up to full," Ryoko asked.

"Doing that would put them into cardiac arrest." At the confused look on
her daughters face, Washu explained. "By warming them up too quickly, we
run the risk of cold blood being pumped back to the heart. If that
happens then the person goes into cardiac arrest."

"Now I get it. Did you have any luck with that weather thing?" Ryoko
asked.

A frustrated sigh from Washu was her only reply so the former space
pirate sat back, hovering in midair, and watched over Tenchi. It would
be some time before he regained consciousness, but she would be there
with him when he did.

"Say dear daughter, where is Samantha?"

                                *               *               *
"God where is that Ryoko? I don't care if I can stand the freezing
temperatures, this is really beginning to wear me down," Samantha
thought.

She waited a minute where she and Ryoko had found Tenchi and Aeka,
hoping to see the former space pirate shimmer into sight and whisk her
back to the house. When it became apparent that she would do no such
thing, the Canadian had no other option but to hoof it back to the
house. The blizzard was still going strong, blocking out the sun almost
completely so that it was very dark, and the heavy falling snow was not
helping her in any way.

The Canadian jogged about for about ten minutes along the way she had
come, and then a vague outline of the house appeared. Relaxing slightly,
she broke into a run for the house and did not stop until she was
inside. Once inside, she relaxed her hold on the chi and finally felt
the cold from the snow she was covered in.

"Hi Samantha," Sasami greeted her cheerfully.

The young princess of Jurai had just come out of the kitchen, carrying a
tray with four cups of steaming hot tea. Samantha wiped the snow off of
her and asked if she could have a cup of tea.

"Of course! That's why I made it!"

"Where are the others?" the Canadian asked, gratefully taking one of the
cups of tea.

"They're all in Washu's lab. I was just going there when you came in."

"Thanks. I think I need to speak to Ryoko about forgetting to bring me
back."

"She did? Well you really can't blame her. She's been keeping an eye on
Tenchi ever since she got back," Sasami explained, walking into the
subspace lab.

"Ryoko really likes him," Samantha said.

"Oh yes indeed! That's why she and Aeka fight most of the time. But
lately they haven't been doing it much." She sighed. "Maybe they're
finally realizing that he doesn't like it when they do."

A sudden thought occurred to Samantha and she looked down at the young
girl. "Have you been having anymore of those nightmares? I know it's
hard to bring up, but since I haven't been having them lately....."

Sasami shook her head. "No I haven't. But I know it's only a matter of
time before they come back. They always come back."

The Canadian saw the dour look on the young girls face and wished that
she hadn't even brought the subject up. "Hey don't worry, you've got
your friends to help you out whenever you do have those bad dreams."
Never to anyone else would the proud woman admit that she was a little
envious of Sasami having so many people to call friend and family.

It was something she never did have much of lately, her admission to her
parents about her alter ego a few weeks back had driven a wedge between
her and her parents that seemed impossible to cross. But after seeing
how close Tenchi and his own family were, she made a vow to cross that
gap between her and her parents once her vacation was over.

"How are they doing Washu," Sasami asked, holding the tray out to the
genius scientist so that she could take a warm cup of tea.

"Tenchi and Aeka are doing just fine. I've injected each with a little
formula to boost their immune systems so that they won't catch any nasty
little sickness floating around. Plus, they are warming up a lot more
quicker then I thought they would. They should be okay later on
tonight," Washu said.

"That's great! Now what about the weather machine?" Samantha asked.

The genius scientist sighed, the kind given when one of her caliber
faces a problem that seems impossible to defeat. "Now that is something
that's going to require the rest of today and maybe even tomorrow to
fix. Thanks to bubble head over there-" she gestured to Mihoshi, who was
standing still beside the control board. "- I haven't been able to
unlock the controls and she doesn't know either."

The Canadian walked over to Mihoshi even as Sasami took a cup of tea and
offered the last one to Ryoko. Ryoko mumbled her thanks and continued to
keep an eye on Tenchi, taking only an occasional sip of the tea.

"Hey Mihoshi," Samantha started.

"Yeah," came the blonde's not so cheerful response.

"Do you think that you could remember which buttons you had pushed
before to make this thing lock up?"

"Umm....Hmmm...Nope."

Samantha sighed, thinking that this was going to be a long night. Then,
upon remembering Mihoshi's incredible luck, she had a stroke of genius.

"Do you remember how many buttons you pushed," Samantha asked, hopeful.

"Yeah I do! It was five buttons I pushed," Mihoshi replied, now more
cheerful.

"Well what I want you to do is to push any five buttons on the board.
But remember not to hit no more then five buttons," the redhead
instructed her.

Washu, upon hearing this, came over and got in-between the blonde
detective and her precious machine. "Oh no you don't! You screwed up my
invention the last time you touched it, remember? If I allow you to
touch it one more time then you could very well destroy the entire
house!"

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to," Mihoshi said, sniffing a bit and looking
ready to cry.

"Just trust me Washu. I know what I'm doing," Samantha said.

"But she'll just screw things up more then they already are," Washu
almost shouted.

"And she could have all this fixed in less time then you could. Believe
me," Samantha argued. The argument wasn't strong but it was better then
nothing.

Washu looked from the confidant look on the Canadian's face to the near
tear filled one on Mihoshi's. The genius scientist knew that the blonde
had incredible luck for getting into and out of impossible situations.
It had been Mihoshi's blind luck that had led to Washu's escape from her
imprisonment in the stasis pod on Kagato's ship after all.

"All right," she said with a heavy sigh. "But if anything goes wrong,
I'm personally holding you responsible Samantha."

The Canadian nodded and Washu got out of her and Mihoshi's way, a sense
of dread building up inside of her.

"Now remember, hit only *five* buttons. No more or less then that,"
Samantha reminded her.

"Okay," Mihoshi said.

With a look of concentration, she guided her hand over the control board
a few times, trying to remember which buttons she pressed. She finally
gave up trying to remember and proceeded to hit five buttons totally at
random. Nothing happened.

"Oh no," Mihoshi cried. "I forgot! I pushed six buttons!"

"See I told you so," Washu said. "At least nothing bad has
happened...yet."

"Wait a minute. Maybe it was the enter key," Samantha offered and,
leaning forward, pressed the ENTER key.

The screen went blank for a few moments with the words PROCESSING
pulsing in red. A few seconds later, the words AWAITING NEXT COMMAND
came into view.

"I can't believe it! There was over three million possible codes to be
tried and she got it on the first try! How did you know she would do
it," Washu asked.

Samantha looked decidedly sheepish. "Actually I didn't. I was counting
on her blind luck to come through."
________________________________________________________________________

This series is coming to an end pretty soon. I can only do a few more
chapters before running out of ideas. If any of you have any, give me a
shout and I'll try them out.

My e-mail address is: xwing@perf.bc.ca