***This Fanfic is written without the permission of both Pioneer and AIC but I'm not selling it so please do not sue me. Actually what you can do Pioneer and AIC is reopen sales of Tenchi in the UK (you know how much it costs to get the stuff from America!!!!!!!) PLEASE!!!! *** "Good morning Earth" Ryoko yawned as she looked out of the patio doors to the Masaki house. Dawn was only just beginning, yet Ryoko couldn't sleep. She looked up into the morning sky and saw why. Though not thoroughly visible, an outline could be seen high in the sky, the moon was still out and reflecting the sun's rays. This illuminated the object for all to see, as it got closer. "Soja" she thought to herself as she rubbed her eyes. "What where?" Washu said manically in Ryoko's mind. "This thing genuinly freaks you out doesn't it Washu" Ryoko smiled in her head. "Uh...no way!" Washu snapped back "did you see it?" "I think so, it's still quite far away" "Good" Washu smiled in Ryoko's mind "we've still got time" "You got any idea why I can't sleep?" Ryoko asked Washu. "None" Washu shrugged. "Ryoko?" Ayeka said as she walked down the stairs "what is it?" Ryoko blinked and looked at Ayeka "up there" she pointed outside. Ayeka walked over the window and gasped as she saw the silhouette. "It's here?" "Not yet" Ryoko shook her head. They both turned to look at each other, both looking the other firmly in eye. "We are rivals Ryoko" Ayeka said quietly. "A 'busy' rivalry" Ryoko smiled. "We will have to work together" Ayeka said "is that okay with you" "If it is okay with you Princess" Ryoko said, eyes narrowing. There was a moment of silence as the two stared each other out. Then Ayeka brought her hand up, Ryoko did the same. The two clasped each other's hand in a mark of mutual respect. "We're going to do this" Ryoko grinned. "Together" Ayeka nodded. As the pair smiled warmly someone was watching from the stairs. Tenchi rubbed the back of his head as he yawned, "At last they've sorted it all out," he thought to himself. Gary and Mihoshi's room was quiet, except from the snoring of the two. However the canvas partition did nothing to keep the pair apart. On one side of Gary's partition was Gary, snoring happily away on his futon. However under a meter away was Mihoshi who had during the night moved her Futon into Gary's partition. Gary mumbled to himself as he rolled towards Mihoshi, somehow rolling off his futon. Mihoshi clenched her eyes shut, in the latter stages of a dream she rolled quickly off her futon, still asleep she rolled right into Gary, their noses touching each other. As soon as they hit, Gary and Mihoshi started to emerge from their slumber. As soon as they saw each other though, their eyes went wide open. Gary gasped and tried to roll away, only to fail and somehow land his head in Mihoshi's lap. "Mihoshi what are you doing in my partition?" Gary demanded as he looked up at the young detective. "I..well" Mihoshi said with a blush "I was just...erm.." "Is this about those flashbacks I've been getting?" Gary frowned. "I'm worried about you!" snapped Mihoshi. Gary blinked. "I'm sorry" Mihoshi said, "I care for you that's all, you are the best commander I've ever served under". "Uh" Gary managed before blushing himself. "Oh what am I saying!" gasped Mihoshi as she stood up, letting Gary's head fall on the futon. "Oh Mihoshi Gary smiled "I was just surprised, I think you would be too in my position, lets go get some brekie huh?" Mihoshi nodded. "Mihoshi, look I'll make sure I'll look after myself" Gary said as he got up. "You promise?" "On my honour" Gary nodded. Mihoshi turned, that innocent childish twinkle in her eye. "Oh I knew I could depend on you" she squealed as she glomed Gary. "Next time I'll just stay asleep" he mumbled to himself. "Breakfast!" Sassami called. The feeling was muted and tense, though for once it didn't revolve around Ayeka and Ryoko. "So how much sleep did everyone get?" asked Ryoko. "I slept through the night okay" Mihoshi shrugged "How about you Tenchi?" "Me too" nodded Tenchi. "I slept fine" Ayeka added "and Sassami didn't have any nightmares did you?" "No I didn't" Sasami said as she piled some rice out of the holder. "Why did you ask Ryoko?" Gary said as he received his food from Sasami. "Well I didn't sleep a wink at all last night" Ryoko yawned a bit as she gulped down some of her food. "Did you have something on your mind?" Tenchi asked. Ryoko simply shrugged "I don't know I just couldn't really sleep that's all" "Strange" Gary murmured as he eat some rice. **** Washu took a break to look at the read-outs from Gary's flashbacks. Yawning a bit she looked over the many graphs and charts of Gary's mental image. "Question is" she thought "will the real owners of these gloves have found out yet". Thinking back to when she first got the gloves, it was when she was experimenting with Dimension space and time, she opened a portal and shoved a pen-camera in see what was on the other side. Wondering why it was just showing her lab she popped her head through. Then she came face to face with the Washu of another dimension. This Washu gave her the gloves as a hello present, and so here they are. She looked at the registration number etched into the metal design of the gloves "n.53a5w" she said aloud. She smiled "they'll be looking for what gave the signal, Watchman will be...well...watching!" She giggled to herself "Man the amount of trouble me and my comrade Washu's have caused to those Secret Agent bozos" she thought "still that's their job". Washu looked up at her dimensional monitor "I wonder what they're doing right now?". Lieutenant. Colonel Waiserdau sat at his desk overlooking the vast control room. The day had been slow, Red Marauder had won the Grand National the day before (losing him half of his pay for the month) and Commander Amnasaki (or 'Amna' for short), the Commanding Officer who picked Waiserdau as his G2 wanted him to stay in all night to watch for anything suspicious. He yawned, the bin next to his desk filled with empty coffee cups from the night before he looked at the many incident reports that adorned his desk. One from D.14a21D reported a major fluctuation in Space fabric, causing a Black Hole. Yet it was the extraordinary amount of energy expelled after the creation of a black hole (normally the four or five main types of energy recede after the creation of a black hole), closer analysis showed that the energy was based around a single point. Previous scans showed that a large ship was there just before the split but a much smaller ball was now there. The conclusion was like most of these reports: HCE was stamped at the bottom of the document. "Higher Class Entity" he smiled as he looked at another incident report, this time from D.14b74D. Here this incident had taken place right on Earth, trouble was scans had to pushed into a very rare part of dimension space: the past. At first there was alot of communication signals sent to and from two dates in time. Secondly time seemed to be collapsing around a certain individual. Then a colossal amount of energy appeared, this time from the past, there were three major signals, after a flurry of conflict between the three sources, one faded away after a while. What surprised him was the intervention of a man-made source of energy, similar to the experimental Earth-shaker cannons. He flipped the files closed after reading them for the umpteenth time, he had seen worse, there were many people like that HCE with near enough the same amount of power and capability, the problem is they use it too quickly. The life expectancy of the poor bastards is not a year past 72. He shook his head with a smile. Waiserdau looked out over the control centre, in this massive hall were over a thousand operators, Watchman controllers and intelligence officers, monitoring constantly. He was about to stand to go get yet another coffee when he saw a flurry of activity near him at the far right, a controller had called over one of his superiors in what looked like to get a second opinion on something. The officer then played over the operator's computer, snatched a printout and sprinted up towards Waiserdau's office. "What is it?" Waiserdau asked, surprised that something had actually happened today. The officer (an intelligence Captain) was nearly out of breath "One of operators in C section has just found something big" Waiserdau grabbed the print out and read it, rubbing his forehead. "A rouge?" he said, looking up. The officer nodded. "Get Amna in here, we've got a serious crisis" "That's not all sir, read the second graph" the officer said pointing to the bottom of the printout. Waiserdau looked down and froze "What?" The officer nodded. "I want Operation Watchman on high alert, every Watchman be warned, we have a unknown power that has just gained Dimensional ability" "Yes sir" "Bring the Navy's status to 'high alert' position them at the most vital systems around earth. "Yes sir" "And get me some coffee" smiled Waiserdau, his thick Bavarian accent showing through "we're in for a long night". The Captain nodded and paced off, he looked out of the control hall, the place had erupted in panic. He looked back down at the graphs. These graphs showed the amount of artificial disruption in Dimension Space. He stared at the most important part of the 2nd graph. At 10:04am last night, an unknown foreign power sent a test probe through the depths of dimension space. Watchman n.643 had intercepted it and paid the ultimate price as the thing blew up in her hands. The standard cover story would be used in her case. Killed in a Real-IRA pipe bomb attack. As for the rouge, this was different, because the signal had come from Operation Watchman's main piece of equipment: the Dimensional Modulator variant-e (or DIM-e for short). Worse still the DIM-e from which the signal had come from belonged to Watchman n.53. "McCann's favourite pupil" smiled Waiserdau. He looked at the printout again. McCann was forced out years ago, n.53 had quit to live with the subjects he was meant to monitoring. The prat. Therefore the DIM-e must be a stolen one being used by someone else. "Waiserdau" Amnasaki said as he paced into the room "I was briefed on what was going on, any new developments?" "No sir" replied Waiserdau "guess we'll have to wait for them to make the first move" Amnasaki nodded "yes, do you know who the rouge is?" Waiserdau shook his head "its not n.53 he went with your predecessor" Amnasaki again nodded, his sight focused on the massive main screen in the control hall "of course, that rouge is our priority for now" "What sir?" Waiserdau blinked "shouldn't the biggest threat be addressed" "They can be handled easily with the limits we placed on them" Amnasaki said firmly walking over to look at the chaos "but you find out who our Rouge is ASAP" Waiserdau nodded and rubbed his forehead of sweat "will do sir". He walked off into his office and plonked himself down in his seat, waiting for him was a pile of reports and readings taken from the last week. "I hope I get my 12 days off" he muttered as he opened the first file and compared it with the existing records. **** "Twenty four hours and closing" said Washu as she sat with Sasami. "Are you sure you should go with Tenchi and the others?" Sasami asked worriedly as she filled up a bucket with water. "Sasami, I have to go back, I have to face Soja" Washu said putting a hand on Sasami's shoulder "I am the only person who can shut it down" "Really, you're the only one who can shut it down?" "Yeah" said Washu "didn't I tell you guys that already?" "Not that I know of" Sasami shook her head. "Oh" Washu said as she laid back on the grass "You're normally preparing food right now Sasami" "Yeah I normally do but Ayeka and Ryoko demanded that they'd do it" Sasami giggled. "Why the enthusiasm?" "Well, today is the day Tenchi is working through lunch" Sasami winked. "Oh you haven't" Washu grinned, trying to keep in the laughter. Sasami giggled as she nodded. "Ryoko!" Ayeka shouted "I thought we were finely slicing the carrots not hacking them to death" "How many carrots have I done?" Ryoko said back. "That doesn't matter" Ayeka glared. "It does now answer the question!" "Six" Ayeka said. "How many have you done?" "Two" "Well then" Ryoko humped as she turned back to her 'chopping' "when you have chopped more than me then you can complain" "You can't call them 'chopped' though!" Ayeka shouted "chunks maybe but not slices" "Are you saying I can't cook?" spat out Ryoko. "I might be" Ayeka said "figure it out for yourself!" "Why you little!" Ryoko dipped a bit of carrot in some soy sauce and threw it at Ayeka. She squealed as it hit her squarely on the eye. "Haha!" giggled Ryoko "nice look you got there". Ayeka grumbled something under her breath as she picked up an egg and threw it at Ryoko's face, hitting her on her nose and spreading egg yolk all over her face. "You shouldn't take the term 'egg on your face' so seriously Ryoko darling" laughed Ayeka as she picked the carrot off of her face. Sasami groaned as a full-scale food fight erupted in the kitchen "Oh well, it seemed like a good idea at the time". Washu giggled "oh those two crack me up!" "Hey have you two seen-" Tenchi began as he walked into the living room, a cabbage flew past his face. "You have such bad aim for a Space Pirate!" shouted Ayeka. "I'll show you!" Ryoko shouted back. "Whoa!" Tenchi gasped "don't worry I know where they are" When Tenchi walked into the room, Ryoko had Ayeka pinned on the floor and was about to pour soy sauce all over her face. "Ryoko?" Tenchi grinned "Ayeka?" "Huh?" they both said as they looked up, covered in food "Tenchi!" they gasped as they got up quickly. "What have you two got up to!" Tenchi groaned as he looked at the kitchen, the walls covered in food. "Well we had a-" Ryoko began. "Slight disagreement" Ayeka finished. "Oh man Dad's gonna go ballistic over this!" Tenchi said as looked at the kitchen devastation. "I'll clean it up Tenchi!" Ryoko smiled "for you" "No let me do it!" Ayeka pleaded as she kicked Ryoko off of her. "Why don't they both do it?" Washu called in from the other room. "Good idea" Tenchi grinned "thank you Washu" The pair groaned. "Thank you Washu!" Ryoko mumbled in her head. "That's no way to address your mother" Washu smiled sweetly. "It's getting old I am not your daughter!" "You always say that though" sighed Washu. "You taking a break Washu?" Tenchi asked as he walked out of the kitchen "you're normally working?" "Yeah, I've done what I need to do" Washu nodded, "all we have to do now is wait" "Wait?" Tenchi blinked. "Well I'm gonna wait anyway, but you guys still need to prepare" Washu shrugged. "Mihoshi!" called Gary as he carried a bin bag of leaves along one of the many forest paths. The place had a strange silence that went with outstanding beauty. The leaves were falling faster than he could sweep them up, fortunately he had read through one of these Earth catalogues ordered a primitive personal mini-disc player to while away those hours cleaning the place. As he walked he noticed the strange way one of the large trees that spanned this path was moving. Gary shrugged and walked on, as he was however he felt a warm sensation in a small area in the back of his head. "Hold it right there!" a calm female voice shouted from up above behind him. He stopped, dropping the bag and putting his hands up slowly. "Laser pointer" he thought to himself with a smile. "Turn around slowly, very slowly" the voice said. As he turned around to face his potential opponent, he blinked as he saw Mihoshi, packing some heat with her classic RPG. "Bloody hell!" he said, surprised to say the least "you could poke an eye out with that!" "You stay right there" glared Mihoshi, keeping the RPG resolutely still and aimed at his head. A moment of calm fell over the path, Mihoshi up on a branch bearing down at Gary who was on the floor below. Suddenly Gary closed his eyes and formed his gloves, Mihoshi in an instant fired off a round, the ultra hot shell streaking towards its target. Gary just managed to jump out of the way of the explosion, jumping up into the air and bouncing off the trunks of the trees, gaining height and getting closer to Mihoshi with every jump. The RPG rounds however were getting closer and closer to Gary, blowing trees apart milliseconds after Gary left it. Gary, sensing he could get at Mihoshi jumped up and formed his sword, aiming for a perfect slice to the gut. Mihoshi's reaction was one of shock and fear as she held out her hand right at Gary, as Gary got closer he felt a very cold sensation come over his body, he looked down to see his body was turning into one big ice block as he fell short of Mihoshi's branch and slammed into the ground, the ice breaking his fall. "Gary!" Mihoshi called worriedly as she jumped down "are you alright?" "I hate it when you do that Mihoshi" Gary mumbled as he thawed out. "Well it was in self defence sir" beamed Mihoshi "did I pass?" "Am I incapacitated?" Gary said trying to lift a temporarily paralysed arm "yep I am alright" "So I passed the test?" "Yes Detective I guess you did" "Yes, yes, yes!" shrieked Mihoshi as she danced around Gary, who was still in a crumpled heap on the floor. "Uh...some help here please" Gary groaned as he continued to thaw out. **** "Oh please tell me your joking Officer!" Waiserdau groaned. "No sir, we traced the user of the gloves back to one Professor Washu of D.14b74E who then gave them to Professor Washu of D.14b74F" "Who cares!" Waiserdau said as he put his head in his hands "One Washu is as bad as the other!" "Pardon me for asking sir but who is this Washu?" the young Captain asked. "You're new aren't you?" Waiserdau looked up. "First week on the job after service in the JDF sir" the Captain smiled. "Professor Washu's file is somewhere on the server somewhere, but she frequently vandalises it anyway" Waiserdau said "Washu is the greatest Scientist and thinker the Universe has ever seen, and regrettably one of the childish and troublesome" "Why is that?" "Case D.1974, Washu single handed manages to prevent the capture of the known Space Pirate Ryoko (who had inadvertently stolen a dimension portal converter) , thwarting one of Operation Watchman's biggest surveillance ops in it's history" Waiserdau started. "But sir that was" the Captain said. "Ah, ah!" Waiserdau said waving his finger "Case D.6219, Washu somehow captures a Watchman and experiments on his 'laughter complex', her mischief caused him to laugh uncontrollably for about two years, five months, twelve days, seven hours and oh...fifty five minutes" "But she hasn't harmed, let alone killed anyone" the Captain said "why should she be such a threat?" "Because she's so annoying!" snapped Waiserdau "That's why!" The Captain raised an eyebrow as Waiserdau collapsed into his chair in exasperation. "I can't even begin to think what pranks she'll think up now she has a DIM-e" he groaned "she'll has to go some to beat the last one" "When was this" "Oh about a month ago, I opened my car and got in. When I closed it however the car instantly filled up with water" "How did you know it was her?" "The insignia on the steering wheel had changed to a red crab" he sighed "that was an 1960 Jaguar E-Type as well...all ruined!" The Captain shrugged and walked out of the office and walked straight into Commander Amnasaki. "Have you told him?" Amnasaki asked. The Captain nodded "he didn't take it well" "That's been really the same reaction of most of the veteran staff" blinked Amnasaki. "well keep close tabs on Washu, we need to know what she's doing with these gloves" The Captain nodded and paced off. Washu giggled to herself as she paced through one of the three labs that made up her linked up research complex. "Man what shall I do to those poor bastards after all this has finished?" she thought as she walked. "ms-uh...little Washu?" Tenchi called as his head peered round the door. "Ah Tenchi boy!" Washu smiled "what can I do for you?" "Oh lunch is ready now the mess has been cleaned up" Tenchi said, walking into the lab. Washu blinked as she looked down at her holo-pad that she carried with her from time to time. Looking at it she suddenly felt a strange feeling. "Is something the matter Washu?" Tenchi asked as Washu shivered for a second. "Oh nothing, it's just cold in here" Washu shrugged "could you stand still for a second?" "Uh..okay" Tenchi shrugged. Suddenly out of nowhere a metal box fell from a point above Tenchi, exactly the same height and width of Tenchi. He blinked as he looked out of the small viewing slit as Washu called up a holo-keyboard. "Washu!" cried Tenchi "what is this?" "Keep calm Tenchi" Washu said her fingers danced across the keyboard, she looked up "Commencing Nuclear, Chemical, Biological extract and analysis" "Wait!" Tenchi shouted "aren't all of those dangerous?" "Nah" Washu smiled "well not to me anyway". Tenchi suddenly felt a thousand needle pricks all over his body. He closed his eyes as they dug in for a second, then nothing. The box was gone. He Looked down and saw no visible marks on his body. Tenchi stared in bemusement at Washu who was giggling. "Thank you for your co-operation" grinned Washu as she pushed him out of her Lab. "But...but...lunch!" "Yes I know lunch is nice but I have work to do" said Washu as she slammed the door. "Tenchi?" Sasami called as he walked out of Washu's door "where's Washu?" "She's...err...busy" Tenchi said, rubbing the back of his head. "She's up to something" mumbled Ryoko as she eat "I know it" "Of course I am" Washu said in Ryoko's mind. "Then what is it?" Ryoko asked. "It's Tenchi" Washu said "there is something strange about him now Soja is coming closer"~ "What exactly?" Ryoko said as she eyed Tenchi with interest. Tenchi cowered a bit, think Ryoko was about to glom him yet again. "I can't quite place it yet" Washu shook her head "it's getting stronger, every second" "Well if I see anything" sighed Ryoko "I'll see you" "Thank you my Ryoko" Washu said warmly. "What was that?" Ryoko frowned, both in Washu's mind and at the dinner table. "What was what?" Washu said innocently. "Cut the crap!" Ryoko said, agitated "you still got this idea that you're my Mom?" "But I am Ryoko!" Washu said softly "I am" "Not now" screamed Ryoko in Washu's mind "not ever!" "Ryoko?" Tenchi asked, concerned with Ryoko, scowling right at him "did I do something to upset you?" Ayeka watched with interest. Ryoko then blinked, shook her head and blushed sheepishly. "You!" she gasped "oh no, no, no!" as she stood. "Oh no here it comes!" Tenchi cowered. "Tenchi-boy I could never be mad at you!" said Ryoko lovingly as she flew at him, arms outstretched to hug him "let me prove it to yo-oof!" she gasped as Ayeka poked her out of Tenchi's way with a bokken. "Thank you Katsohito" smiled Ayeka as she bowed her head to him. "Only glad to oblige to such a young lady" nodded the old man as he raised his head, the sunlight glinting heavily on his glasses. Ayeka blinked as she strained her eyes through sunlight. She gasped as she saw Katsohito's eyes. Redeye. "His eyes" she thought "so much like my peoples". "Lady Ayeka?" Katsohito asked "why are you staring" "Yeah you of all people should know its rude to stare" grinned Ryoko as she rubbed her side. Ayeka shook her head and looked at Ryoko. "Oh here we go again" sighed Tenchi. **** Washu was startled by Ryoko's sudden outburst. She sat there, staring at the screen. She had predicted Ryoko's denials but this, this virtual act of disowning her, embracing the fact that she has never had a mother in her life shook Washu to the core. She held her head suddenly. Teeth clenched. "Damn" she cursed "the safety drugs are wearing off". Closing her eyes she fell on her levitating cushion as she drifted off into unconsciousness. Washu opened her eyes, she was in her many testing chamber control rooms on Soja. She sighed happily with the familiarity of it all. A scream added to the familiarity. It was one of a young girl as she looked up she saw the Cyan hair of Ryoko as a controlled Robotic laser cut through her left arm. "Ryoko!" Washu shouted in shock as she fell to the floor "Soja end test program 'Golin'". Running into the test chamber she found Ryoko on the floor. This Ryoko however was younger, she had the physical appearance of a 12 year old. She was damaged pretty badly, synthesised blood covered Ryoko's left arm. "Mommy" Ryoko sniffed "I'm sorry I failed" "No you didn't" smiled Washu as she picked Ryoko up and carried her to a anti-grav bed "You just weren't expecting that" "How long till we return home" Ryoko said, holding back the tears despite the pain of the deep cut "how long till I see my classmates?" "Soon" Washu said as she sealed the wound with a liquid clotting agent, wiping away the spilt synthetic blood "very soon we're almost done with the tests" "I'm glad Mom" smiled Ryoko weakly. "Sleep now" Washu murmured as she kissed the head of the daughter she loved so much "Mommy needs to finish her work so we can get back home in time for you to take part in the Wintermas trip" "You...you're letting me go!" Ryoko said with hope, her eyes lighting up with joy. "Of course, the teachers council said it wouldn't be the same without you!" laughed Washu softly. "I love you Mommy!" said Ryoko as she tried to hug Washu, but the pain in her left arm kept her at bay. "Hey keep still and preserve your strength" said Washu and she keyed in the co-ordinates for Ryoko's bedroom "otherwise you'll be too weak when we return!" "Okay Mommy!" said Ryoko happily as the Anti-grav bed flew round a corner at the end of the corridor outside the testing chamber. She smiled warmly as she returned to her control room to ponder over the printouts, she liked the hope in her child's spirit, and it would serve her well in the future. Ryoko was in the second phase of her adult morphing programming (or AMP to Washu). This would make everyone see who Ryoko really was, a person rather than a thing or a test subject. The next and last phase would incorporate the use of her powers, her ability to fly, her ability to phase from one place to another and most importantly, the implementation of the mk.4a Energy Sword. All of this would be powered by the Gems that Washu had ever since she had the ability to think. It was only a decade ago that she discovered what potential they held, the amount of power and energy that they could pump out indefinably. Washu nodded to herself as she fed the printouts into Soja's data scanner. Waiting a couple of seconds she tapped out a couple of notes at the bottom, just some Scientific equations about the Universe and beyond that she needed to solve before lunch tomorrow. She yawned as she pressed to confirm the order for Soja to compute the information. Stretching her tired body after a long days work with Ryoko, she blinked her eyes tiredly. She looked down at the holo display and noticed something was wrong. The progress bar on it had stopped for some reason. Shrugging the tried to enter a cancel code. Nothing. Her eyes went wide gasping with fear as the holo-display disappeared from view. This only meant one thing. A crash, the first one ever! Suddenly the lights clicked out, bathing the whole ship in darkness, the ventilators stopped, cutting off the supply of air. But to Washu's horror the circulation fans that sucked out the unused oxygen and carbon monoxide and dioxide for re-use stayed on, sucking out all available oxygen. Washu gagged, clutching her throat as the air-supply was cut off. Then the emergency lights flickered on, as did the ventilators. The whole ship shuddered as all the main systems restarted and came back online. Her breathing ragged, Washu got up slowly to look at the Holo-display, the message read: "Soja AI OS beta 1.221. Phase one of System Restart complete. AI self determination programming in place Override period expiring in 5 minutes and 10 seconds" Washu rubbed her eyes as she stared at the countdown. No way could this happen. Then it sunk in. The time to enter the Override codes and get confirmation would take exactly 6 minutes and 30 seconds. She must've been out for that crucial minute. Shaking in terror she got up and ran out of the control centre. "Mommy?" Ryoko said quietly as she looked around her room as she lights went back on "Mommy I'm scared" She didn't worry about the ventilation turning off; she didn't breath so nothing to worry about there. It was the darkness that scared her. Silence. Usually there'd be the whirr of Soja's daily maintenance teams outside her door or the engines as they powered the massive battle cruiser to it's destination. But now silence. She was still on her bed, too weak to move as the anti-bio tics in the clotting agent worked their magic on her body. "Mommy" she thought to her mother via their link "where are you?" "Please" Washu said back sternly "stay where you are we'll be together soon" "What?" Ryoko blinked "what are you talking about?" "Just keep calm, this'll be a bit scary" "Wha-" Ryoko began to ask in Washu's mind as the Bed started to whir. The anti-grav bed's control unit started to bleep in high frequency burst Morse. Ryoko listened carefully and gasped as she heard what it was saying. "Emergency pod ejection sequence activated" the bed beeped. Screaming, Ryoko tried to get out, to be with her Mother, only to grimace in pain as the bed's shield formed. Beating her hands against it she cried out, tears streaking down her cheeks. "Mommy!" she cried out "please don't leave me mommy no!" The bed rose up as the ceiling opened, the bed was covered in a protective plas-steel coating, covering bathing Ryoko in darkness. "Please!" screamed Ryoko, in hysterics now "I'll be good from now on please!" A tear fell from Washu's cheek as she watched the feed from the video camera. "Activate AMP progression stage three" she whimpered, only just containing the raw emotion of what possibly could be the last time she would see her daughter again. Pressing the button to prepare the newly made pod for launch into deep space she turned and sprinted down the corridor to her own escape shuttle. Ryoko, sobbing deeply, gasped as she felt her arms pulled down to the bed each side of her by robotic straps. Then she saw the three melding tools appear. Screaming now she strained, trying somehow to avoid this excruciating pain. "Why?" she sobbed in Washu's mind. "I'm sorry, we'll be together soon my child" said Washu solemnly. Ryoko gasped into unconsciousness as the first melding tool hit her arm, connecting the first of three gems to her control circuits in her right arm. Then came the left arm's turn to have a gem implanted in it. Then came the third one, which slowly and carefully was attached to the centre of her forehead. "AMP progression 45% complete" the console said in the Escape shuttle as it left Soja "1 minute remaining till override period expires" Washu nodded "eject Ryoko, AMP procedure can continue in the pod" she put her head in her hands a sobbed openly as the shuttle burned away from the dormant Soja. "I'm sorry my child, oh my dear, dear child I'm sorry" she wept. "Soja has restarted under permanent AI self determination" the console read "Ryoko has been ejected" Washu woke up. She looked around through the tears; she had fallen off of her cushion and onto the floor where had been laying, sprawled for some time. A small puddle was round her face where she must've cried while she was unconscious. Getting up she suddenly thought "Did Ryoko see this?" searching the link she found Ryoko wasn't responding. Then she sighed in relief, Ryoko had shut down the link when she went off sulking. Wiping her eyes clean of tears she fumbled for a packet on a nearby anti-grav desk. Opening the packet a pair of gel capsules fell on the table. "My safety medicine" she smiled as she swallowed them both. She needed this to stop the nightmares of Soja, anti-hallucinogenic medicine designed to keep anything from flashbacks to the normal dreams and nightmares at bay for weeks on end. Rubbing away the headache, she looked up at the main screen. Sighing she got up and walked to the exit. The message on the screen read, "Soja has arrived" Fin