Disclaimer: Ah! My Goddess and all its associated characters are owned by their creator, Kosuki Fujishima ( © 1988 – 2008 ) Any other characters specifically created for this fictional work are fictitious. Any similarity to any persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.
My personal gratitude goes to Mr. Kosuki Fujishima for creating the wonderful Manga, characters, settings, and plots that this fiction is based on.
Chapter One: Infestation
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The heavy rain slammed into the window pane as I sat there pouting, my chin resting on my balled up fists. My older sister, Belldandy, came up from behind and gently put her warm hand on my shoulder.
"Come have some tea with us." Belldandy smiled at me and gave a slight tug at my sleeve forcing me to turn towards the table. Urd and Keiichi were already sitting in their usual spots, patiently waiting for my sister and me to join them. Keiichi put a goofy smile on his face, probably for my benefit, and Urd, well… she was probably plotting another way to strengthen Big Sis's and Keiichi's love life. Slowly taking a seat next to my oldest sister, I exhaled deeply. A moment later, pain struck the back of my head.
"Whadya do that for!" Yelling near the top of my lungs, my eyes pierced Urd's soul with vengeance.
"Because you've done nothing but moped around here all morning with that glum face of yours! Snap out of it Skuld! It's really getting boring." She protested and paused for a moment before dangerously adding, "I had really hoped you would have blown yourself up by now or something."
"I hate the rain. It's so ... so boring! I can't work on my latest projects outside in the rain." Urd gave me a glare that warned that my whining wouldn't be tolerated today. Belldandy had just sat down next to Keiichi. A moment later she set down a fresh cup of hot tea in front of me, and opened her mouth to say something, but the telephone began to ring.
"Well, Skuld dear" Urd started with her usual lectorial tone, "if you're so bored, then why don't you go answer the phone like a good little girl."
"I'm not a little girl, you old maid!" My voice echoed inside the room over the sound of the ringing phone as I got up to get the phone. Urd stood up for a challenge, but luckily, Big Sis put her hand up stopping her act of aggression.
"Hello, Morisato res--" The dullness of my voice was quickly transformed to one of annoyance as Peorth spoke loudly into my ear with a sense of urgency.
"Skuld? Is that you?!"
"Yeah, it's me, what's up?"
"Thank God!" There was genuine gratitude in her reply as she exhaled deeply. "Listen, I need you and Urd to come up here right away. Yggdrasil is under serious distress."
"Okay. I'll tell her. But like, why do you need her? She's totally not allowed up there anyway. Remember?"
"Yeah, I know, but right now, it's not an issue. We need her admin abilities. Yggdrasil has a bug infestation--"
"But, my firewall and bug defender three-thousand should be able to take care of that?"
"It worked for a little while, but it has stopped working. -- Hey, I got to go, just please hurry up, okay?" A second later nothing but dial tone came through the receiver. My firewall program is flawless. I gripped the receiver tightly in my hand as I stood there. Could there be that many bugs? There was a hard lump in my throat. Swallowing became painful. Both Big Sis and Urd were now standing, obviously waiting for whatever news I had to announce. Slowly I put the receiver back in its cradle and looked straight at my Big Sis. I already missed her and I hadn't said anything yet. All I could do was simply look at her, a warm tear slid down my right cheek.
"We've been recalled to Heaven." The tears came streaming down my face as I couldn't hold back any more. I just proved that Urd was right, grown women don't cry. Everything became a blur.
"Then why are you crying? I thought you'd be happy. You finally get to leave." Urd paused. Her voice was bland. Already I could tell she was bored and didn't want to leave the excitement of Earth. She finally finished saying, "With all of us."
"No. Only you and I are going. They need your administrative access." Cringing at the thought of being alone with Urd was almost as bad as being stuck up there alone by myself. At least if I was going alone, I know I wouldn't get picked on for the simplest of mistakes. "There's been a totally huge bug infestation, and my stupid firewall program has stopped working and... well, I don't really know the rest. We're so screwed."
"Of course your piece of junk stopped working. You think too simply." A menacing smile formed on Urd as she criticized me. How dare she insult me like that! I'm like a totally awesome genius!
"I do NOT!" Belldandy quickly stood up extending her arms to defend her beloved Keiichi against my hot tempered aggression. I pulled a Skuld-Bomb out of my shirt pocket and raised my arm to throw it at Urd.
"Skuld! Stop!!" Her voice froze me solid as she pleaded with me to settle down. Now was not the time for this fight. Lowering my arm to my side I nested my bomb back inside my shirt ready to recall it for another argument. The next time, there will be no stopping me.
"She's right. Come on. We have a fight in Heaven that's waiting for us." Urd declared, practically reading my mind as she walked towards the television leaving me stand there like a post. With a renewed sense of urgency, I raced for my bedroom. If I'm going to crush bugs, then I'm going to need my debugging hammer. On my way out the door, I caught a glimpse of myself in the wall mirror that hung next to my door. Wearing a blue and white stripped short sleeve shirt and black knee length shorts simply weren't going to be acceptable in Heaven. My closet was crammed stuffed of favorites. Every time I slide open the door a fancy red dress greets me, waiting for the day when it will be worn on its first date with a boy. Starting at the left, hung various dresses which haven't seen the outside the closet since the day I put them inside. Moving over towards the middle, hung moderately decent skirts of various shades and lengths. Some were pleated, while others were thin and straight. Lastly on the right, various colors of full length pants with matching shirts hung for the chiller days of autumn and early spring. On the back of the door rested my pink and red over shirt with matching skirt. A pair of matching pink gloves rested in the inside pocket of the shirt.
Quickly I threw off my clothes, allowing them to land on the floor wherever gravity felt it was best, while I put on my pink delight. The bathroom was the next door down the hall and only took me a couple of seconds to get to. Before I passed the threshold of the bathroom, I saw my beloved older sister sitting down next to her Keiichi. What they were talking about I really have no clue. Do I really want to know? Probably not. It would be weeks before she'd see me again. Time moves slower in Heaven than it does on Earth. One time quite a few months ago after I got to Earth I figured out just what the ratio was. One day in Heaven is about four months on Earth. A lot can happen in that time, and who knows how long I'll be away from her. What will he try on my Big Sis while I'm away? I can't do anything to stop him this time; there simply isn't enough time to craft anything. I guess I'll just have to trust my sister and hope for the best. With those thoughts lingering in my head I managed to utter a finally good-bye flashing a smile followed by a strong wave. She stood up with a smile and ran over to me giving me one of her fabulous full body embracing hugs. Calmness filled my soul as we stood there in the doorway and as we separated she whispered in my ear, "Hurry back Skuld."
"I will." The promise sounded completely empty. We both knew that with the System being as screwed up as it Peorth said it was I'd be gone for quite a while. Backing away I turned and hopped up in the air, as the fronts of my pink shoes made contact with the steaming hot water I slowly vanished from Earth.
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Swirls of rainbows whizzed past me and all I could think about was my firewall defender program. How could the bugs have gotten past it? Its design is flawless. It has algorithms to not only actively search out bugs as young as nymph-worms but it also has logic to predict the next two most likely action paths a bug would take.
The way to Heaven is quite simple. Two rights followed by a left and then an immediate right. Go straight for five Parsecs and then turn downwards through the curly-Q and then up, up, and up all the way to the Master Control Room where Yggdrasil stood, controlling the Universe with calculated precision. Finally at the end of the tunnel I came to my destination.
"State Street?" This clearly isn't happening. A street corner surrounded by sky scrapers stared back at me as I stood there. A gusty wind blew at my over shirt sending a cold chill down my spine as the cold air quickly penetrated me. Heavy footsteps approached from behind, the clicking of wood on concrete was impossible to mistake.
"Hey. Are you lost little girl?" A rather large man dressed in blue jeans and a black leather coat asked. What the hell! I'm not a little girl, thank you very much. Just who does he think he is? Of course I'm lost but that's beside the point. I need to get to heaven and now! I hope he doesn't try to hurt me. Water. I need to find some hot water and try again. With that thought in mind, I took off running down the street as fast as I could go. Why am I still on Earth? That's impossible! I've followed that path perfectly before, several times, and each time, perfect, I ended in heaven. Maybe the stars are out of alignment… or maybe…. Could it be the bugs have wrecked that much havoc on Yggdrasil? If that's the case, then before I can go anywhere, I've gotta find out what city I'm in.
"Hey! Kid! Stop!" The older man shouted down the road towards me and began running after me. Hide. I've gotta find a place to hide. Looking to the left and the right I found nothing but concrete walls and the open road filled with traffic.
"STOP!!" The man yelled again. As I turned round the corner I nearly tumbled into a couple of police officers. Luckily, I dodged their grasp and continued sprinting down the sidewalk. Looking back I clearly earned their interest. Oh great. This day just keeps getting better and better.
"Hey kid! Stop!" One of them yelled and then blew on his whistle. Up ahead there was a steady stream of rush hour traffic. To my left I saw nothing but moving cars, and to my right nothing but more barren concrete.
"Halt!" The officer yelled again. Peeking over my shoulder I noticed him point a small firearm towards me. His partner began sprinting towards me. Looking forward again I spotted an entrance to a corner building.
Yes! An entrance. A way out of this mess. Congratulating myself, I turned hard to my right grabbing the door handle. The momentum pushed me almost spinning as I flew inside past the information desk. People stared at me as I continued to sprint down the hall towards an open elevator door with the up arrow illuminated. I jumped inside; my chest hit the floor pretty hard. That's going to leave a mark in the morning. Just as the doors were coming to a close, I saw the hallway reflection in the mirror shine in front of me. The two police men followed me inside the building. One ran towards the information desk, while the other one, the one with the gun, continued to follow my path towards the elevators. Finally the doors shut. At last, I'm safe.
"Slow down, and take a breath." An older man in a navy blue business suit looked down and gave a smile. He offered his hand and I gratefully took it, putting all my weight into him, I pulled myself up. His gaze continued to look over me and a look of puzzlement glazed his face. "I think you're kind of early for Halloween, don't you think?"
"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" My eyes met his like hot coals on a snow filled field. He straightened his posture.
"Nothing, nothing at all. To tell you the truth, I haven't seen anybody dressed quite as... fashionably as you in a long time. It's nice to see young girls wearing skirts again." He smiled firmly. "But I think you're a bit young to be wearing makeup. Is that a new trend? Wearing it in the center of your forehead?" He asked, half a complement, part critical, and some genuine curiosity filled his voice.
"Um... thank you?" I answered, not really sure to just take it all as a compliment or something else. There was something about this man. Maybe he didn't see the cops chasing after me; maybe he did and didn't care. At any rate, he wasn't after me and that was just perfect as far as I was concerned.
"So why the hurry?" He asked outright. I wasn't really prepared for it. I stood there, my mouth hung open as my mind rushed to find something to tell him. Finally, I managed to answer him. Not my brain, but my bladder instead.
"I have to pee really, really bad." It wasn't quite a lie, and Big Sis wouldn't look down at me for it. After all, up until a few seconds ago, I didn't have the urge. At any rate, the bathroom would be the best place to hide. Those cops were boys, and I don't think they'd dare enter a woman's restroom for just me. By the time they found somebody to come in after me, I would already be gone. Perfect. I smiled at my ingenuity. As luck would have it, the bell rung again indicating the elevator had reached a destination. The fifteenth floor in this case. The doors slid open and revealed a short hallway followed by a maze of grey cubicles.
"Follow me. I'll show you to the ladies room, okay?" Nodding my head in response, I followed him outside of the elevator. The doors closed behind me and the sound of a hydraulic motor came alive moving downwards towards the lobby.
He led me through the maze to the other side where the restrooms were located. No conversation took place during our journey. Besides our footsteps crushing the deep blue carpet with each step we took, only muted office chatter, the quiet ringing of telephones and keyboards clicked as workers typed while we walked past the other employees. Office workers running errands from one cube to another would give me the 'who is she' stare, but quickly returned to working after receiving a stern look from my escort. He must be important like some kind of manager. Our travel ended as we stood at the end of the cubical farm just outside the ladies rooms' wooden door.
"Here we are." He said as he made a gesture towards the door with an outstretched arm.
"Thank you, sir." Walking past him I pressed on the door and begun to enter the white tiled room. It was about time, by now I really did have to go pee badly.
"Hey." He called, "You can call me Thomas. What's your name?"
I stood there for a moment thinking of how I should answer him. I didn't really want to start another conversation about my name; he already thinks I'm weird anyway. So I reached into my shirt pocket and pulled out a card which read:
Skuld, Goddess Second Class, First Category, Limited License.
He took the card and I watched him read it through the large wall mirror in front of me. Taking another step inside the bathroom, he called me by name, "Skuld huh? Okay." He exhaled and put the card in his pocket before continuing with a tone of disbelief, "I'll take you back downstairs after you're done, alright?"
Turning my head to face him over my shoulder once last time I nodded. This would be the last time I saw him ever again. "Okay." Taking another step, I let go of the door, allowing it to slowly swing shut. It made a soft boom as felt pads on the door met the metal door frame.
Bursting through the first open stall, I quickly let the urine leave my body. The only sound in the room besides a quiet hum of an overhead fan was the echoing of water splashing into more water underneath me. Once done, the toilet behind me automatically flushed for me. It caught me off guard as I let out a scared squeak and hit head first into the locked stall door in front of me. For a moment I thought I heard a snicker in another stall, but as the flushing water silenced, I was met with nothing but silence.
Opening the door, Urd's voice whispered in my head. Should I double check to make sure I am really alone? What difference would it make if anybody is in here? It's not like they could see me anyway. Shrugging the thought off, I turned on the hot water and shoved a wad of paper towels in the drain. Before too long, the water was deep enough for my transport. Getting up on the counter I stepped into the water, and just then the door began to open.
Figures right now somebody would have to barge in on me. Oh well, it's too late to stop now, I really hope she doesn't see. Dematerializing from the room, I caught a glimpse of Thomas still waiting for me just outside, standing by the entrance behind the female employee. His gaze was fixed somewhere else. Thank God.
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The rainbow swirls past by me once again. Refusing to breathe while my journey took place, thoughts raced through my mind. Would it be Heaven this time, or would it be another city? The transport finally ended. I stood there at the base of a fountain I knew only too well at the opposite end of the Master Command Center where Yggdrasil stood. Urd's voice echoed in the massive room as she barked commands, one after another sitting in her Administration chair high above the other terminals in the room. Standing there for a moment to catch my breath she paused tying just long enough to snap at me.
"Well. It's about time you finally got here." Her voice was filled with disappointment and disgust. What, no snide childish comment to anger me? Looking back up at her waiting for more, she said nothing more to me. She must be too busy, or the problems with Yggdrasil are that serious and she's just too busy to bother.
"They've gotten into the historical archives system!" A red haired goddess yelled from across the room.
"Initiate lockdown protocol on it! Quickly!!" Urd rapidly commanded.
"Initiation begun!"
Things are that serious! Finding the familiar terminal I used to debug at, I grabbed the chair and plopped down into it. After typing in the key codes to log into the system, the screen immediately filled up with error message after error message after error message.
"Damn bugs." I muttered.
"Skuld! Watch your language!" Urd violently yelled at me.
"I'm soooo sorry." My tongue left the insides of my mouth as I stared dangerously up at her, puffing my cheeks out for effect.
Launching the command terminal was the only thing I could do right now. Quickly I coded a program to start clearing the messages, but it had an adverse effect on the System I had never seen before. I typed a few more keys, and nothing. No response whatsoever from Yggdrasil.
"Urd?" I called over my shoulder, taking just long enough to see what she was doing while I waited for my command to complete executing. She had several screens up she was pouring though.
A moment later, she replied a distracted "What!?"
"How many bugs are we dealing with?"
"Urd!! I'm locked out!" Another goddess grabbed her attention before she could answer.
"Try the secondary programs!" Urd commanded almost hysterically. I've never seen her so stressed.
"I just did. I still can't access the system!" The other goddess replied.
Oh no. Did I do that with my command? It was a simple program, nothing too complicated. The evidence all pointed to me. Standing up with pure fear, not with the system slowly seizing, but with the thoughts of what Urd was going to do to me later. I took a step backwards, bumping the chair out of my way.
"Peorth! We have to run the Ultimate Quarantine Protocol...now!" Urd shouted.
"Right."
"Turn you key in five... four..."
Watching my eldest sister count down like watching the ball falling at New Years Eve was intense, but I just had to know what it is. I knew one thing, it didn't sound friendly. "What's the Ultimate Quarantine Protocol, Urd?!"
She just waved her hand at me and continued her countdown. My gaze switched back and forth from Urd to Peorth. Those five seconds seemed to go by as if they were years.
"Two... one... Execute!" Urd commanded. Both goddesses turned their keys at preciously the same moment. All the lights faded to total darkness.
"That's great." The sarcasm in my voice was dripping off. Whatever this program was, I really doubt this was supposed to happen. Did the bugs compromise it?
"That's not supposed to happen." My sister's voice sounded just as confused as mine was sarcastic. A few seconds later the doors slammed open. A glowing beam poured into the room from a small flashlight.
"What the hell is going on in here?!" A harsh feminine voice demanded.
"I know that voice anywhere." Urd said
At the same time as Urd said it, my lips formed her name. "Lind."
"Backup power source has been initiated." The sound of a goddesses' report broke through the tension. Moments later the lights came back on, flooding the room with a bright light.
"Who let you back in, Urd? I heard you're still banished." Lind sneered. "For abandoning your post."
"Hey! That wasn't—" Urd tried to defend herself, but was on uneasy ground. Truth be told, she did in fact leave her post. She left me all alone up here to do her job, and she knows it to. I couldn't help but smile seeing Urd squirm.
"And what are you smiling at… pipsqueak?! We have a crisis here and you're standing here laughing?!" Lind screamed while pointing right at me.
Opening my mouth preparing to defend myself, it was Urd that beat me to it. "Who do you think you are, Lind? Calling my sister a pipsqueak?!" Urd barked back. "She's got more—"
Urd? Defending…. me? No way!
"More what?" Lind got up in Urd's face as she waited for Urd's reply. "More cuties?" She finally finished, laughing in her face and gave me an evil stare. Once again, my tongue spoke for me.
"Okay, that's enough you three. We have a serious problem that needs to be solved." Peorth interrupted, walking in between our triad.
"You're right, Peorth. Let's begin, shall we?" Lind dropped her aggression just as quickly as she came barging in the room in the first place. She unrolled a large blueprint onto a table on the side of the room. It was marked with all the critical backup systems for Yggdrasil's, along with several notations scribbled in the margins with lines hand drawn to various systems.
"Where did you find this? I thought everything was digital?" Lind looked up at me and gave a sigh.
"I guess you're too young to know that we, in the Combat Division, always have a paper backup. Just in case for emergencies like this one." She turned her gaze from me and started pointed out some of the affected systems, mainly communications, transportation, the historical archives, and personnel data files. While she listed the corrupted areas, I noticed something on the blueprint. Something I've never seen before in all my years of working with the Yggdrasil system.
"Well we could try to run the manual numerical sequencing program. That would at least clarify the specifics of the damage." Urd suggested.
"No, that would take way too much time. We can worry about cleaning up the mess later. We need to get rid of these bugs, before they multiply again." Peorth objected.
While the three elder goddesses discussed battle tactics and restoration procedures, my curiosity got the better of me. "Excuse me."
"Yes, Skuld?" Urd was the only one to acknowledge me as she looked into my eyes while addressing me.
"What's that?" My finger pointed out the mystery component.
"That? Oh, that's just the Surface World Conduit." Urd answered, dismissing it as nothing.
"You mean like a … transport to Earth?"
"Yeah. It's there in the event of an emergency evacuation to the Surface World. You know, Ragnarok? It's always available, but it hasn't been used for quite some time." Urd explained.
"Why not?" Urd shot an angered glance at me, clearly my persistence wasn't welcome.
"Because you never know where you're going to end up on Earth. It's completely random, and very inconvenient." Lind finally spoke up with an agitated edge in her voice.
"Hey… wait a minute." Peorth obviously got an idea. "Couldn't we have Skuld here build a device to suck the bugs up and attach it to the Conduit, thereby flushing the bugs out of Yggdrasil?"
Both Urd and Lind stood there for moment thinking about the idea. They exchanged nods before Urd turned to me and asked "Do you think you can do it kiddo?"
Kiddo? How I hate that word! Putting my feelings aside I eagerly and proudly answered. "Of course I can do it. I am a genius after all."
"Does anybody know how many bugs are currently infested?" Urd never answered that question. "I'll need to know to determine how big to make the machine."
"At the last count, it was somewhere in the ball park of 35 trillion, but that was about two hours ago." Peorth said.
"That's a lot of bugs on Earth." My eyes opened wide while I calculated an approximate reproduction rate.
"And that's a lot of things to go wrong. Everything from microwaves not working to the most critical computer systems could malfunction." Urd added.
"So, it's just a few bugs we've gotta crush." Sometimes I just don't know when to keep quiet. I felt Lind's piercing stare penetrate my soul.
"So?" Lind said dangerously. "So… I guess it's okay by you if the whole global economy goes down the toilet, or better yet…" She clapped her hands together in front of her in mock praise and plastered a fake smile on her face, while singing, "what about Armageddon?"
"I… I didn't mean for—"
"Is that what you want? Total global chaos?! Those bugs are multiplying at a rate of five per second—" Lind continued to bear down on me like a pack of hungry wolves that just found a half eaten hot dog.
"As of two hours ago. I'm sure it's a lot higher now." Peorth interrupted.
"Thanks for the update." Lind angrily broke her gaze off me and glanced towards Peorth.
"Okay, stop you two. We're wasting precious time here. Skuld, I want you to start building your machine. Take parts from wherever you have to. Just make sure you can connect it between this point here in the System and the Conduit. Lind, I need you to gather some combat forces. We need to divert all the bugs to the point where Skuld's machine connects. Peorth, I need for you to access the emergency lockout procedure. Round up as many gods and goddess as you can here. That way it will give the Valkyries additional support. Meanwhile, I'm going to personally inform the Almighty One of our plan." Urd described her plan while pointing out several key points on the blueprint in front of us.
"Why do you get to inform Him?" Lind asked with a touch of jealousy. "It's my duty as Commander –"
"Because with communications down, it's the only way, and you'll be too busy leading your Valkyries. Besides, it's my plan." Urd summarized.
"Yeah, there you go trying to earn brown-nose points." Lind corrected.
"Hey!" Urd glared at Lind, who in return glared back.
"Um guys…. The plan? Time's a tickin'." Peorth reminded both of them while wiggling her extended finger from left to right in the motion of a pendulum swinging.
Both goddesses replied with a unanimous "Humph."
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Since Yggdrasil was still offline…at least to us, I decided it would be best if to grab my portable computer and drafting supplies, since my apartment was only a short walk from where I used to work.
The streets were empty as I reached up and slid my access card into the reader. Standing there impatiently waiting I tapped my foot on the ground in a rapid rhythm. Trying again, still nothing happened. Great, I was locked out of my own apartment! This day is really starting to suck.
Those supplies are needed, and I had to start working immediately. There's no time for screw ups, and I had to get this job done right, the first time. The pressure felt as intense as two ton weights dragging on my shoulders. Fine. I'll do this the hard way. Taking my debugging hammer off my back, I configured the head density to about a factor of twenty higher than normal. That should give me enough punch to break down my own door.
Swinging has hard as I could, the head made contact with the door. The results weren't what I had hoped for. Instead of throwing the door of its hinges, only a dented door stood in front of me. Taking a step back, I wound up my swing, this time using some additional momentum with my attack. This would surely bust the door open.
Again, contact was made. The desired results still were not produced, but now I'm making progress. My door is now concave! One more time should do it. Picking up my hammer again I readied myself for another swing.
"Skuld? Is that you? I thought you were on the Surface World doing some training? And what are you doing to your door?" The sound of a familiar friend spoke behind me. Turning to confirm who was there, I couldn't help but smile brightly seeing my young goddess friend, Yumi, standing there. When she saw my face, a grin from ear to ear formed on her face. She had the same blond pigtails and green eyes that I remembered. We embraced tightly. "Yumi, I've missed you."
"Time flies when you're having fun, right?" We pulled apart. She was still the cheery Yumi I had always known.
"Yeah, I guess you could say that."
"Wow, look at you, you've grown since last week!"
Yumi didn't understand that time flowed differently on Earth as it does in Heaven. What a week was to her, had been just over three years to me on Earth. The last thing I remember Yumi doing was studying for a magic placement test to determine which style of magic she would end up taking. At the time I left I still hadn't learned magic, and even with three years of Earth to study it, I still was clueless on how to activate my powers.
"I have?"
"Yes. So, do you have a boy friend down there now that you're all grown up?" She was obviously teasing me, she knew better.
"No. I've been too busy trying to keep Keiichi off of my sister."
"Keiichi? Who's he?" Yumi had always been boy crazy, dreaming of the day she'd go to Earth to meet a mortal to fall in love with.
"My sister's boy friend, I guess."
"Oh! How romantic!" She squealed, folding her hands in front of her chest, much like how I do at the creation of a new invention. "How can you not have a guy down there when your sister does? Earth guys are soooo cute!"
"Most of them are actually jerks or creeps. Like this one guy, Aoshima, he's a total creep. One time when Yggdrasil ran out of power, I like grew into an actual adult woman! He tricked me by giving me the ice cream I needed, and then tried to take me back to his apartment. I have no clue know what he wanted to do there, but he felt icky. I guess Keiichi's alright, his intentions seem warm, maybe that's why Big Sis insists she wants to stay with him."
"Of course! You should just let things happen if you sister feels that way. And besides, you can't fool me, Skuld. You are a hopeless romantic. I remember the time Wyasle gave you that card. Anytime he came near you, you would blush as red as the roses he gave you with it."
"Wyasle was just trying to steal my formula for purified organic rain."
"But still, you had the hots for him at first."
"Yeah, at first! He was the first boy to take an interest in me. Then when I learned of his true intentions …"
"Yeah, I remember. Say, let's not rub salt in old wounds, okay? You need to get into your apartment, right?"
"Yeah, can you give me a hand?"
"Sure. But you're going at it the wrong way. All you've got to do is…" She slid the door towards the open position, but due to my beating it, it just fell off the hinges with a loud clank.
"Oh…. Thanks. Man I feel stupid now."
"Don't worry about it. I'm sure you'll get over it." Yumi said with a smile. "After you?"
My apartment was just as I remembered leaving it. A complete mess of chaos. Components were strung all over the floor, my desk had a pile of books on it, each open to a specific page relating to the project I was working on at the time, a crystal cellular recalibration unit. A small personal notebook computer sat open, the cursor rested, blinking at the bottom of the screen awaiting for the next set of formulas to be entered.
"Whoa. What a mess, Skuld. You always seemed like the neat freak type in school."
"Sorry to disappoint you. You really should see my room on Earth. It's very tidy – usually."
"I'm sure it's probably really clean. After all, Belldandy was never one to put up with messiness. She probably cleans up for you, huh?" Yumi predicted. It's true that Belldandy does help me keep up with my chores. All she has to do is look into my room and give that look of disappointment. That single look is enough to send shivers down my spine. Enough to make me want to skip dessert for that night. I wouldn't be surprised if she already cleaned up my mess from earlier this morning. Of course, on Earth, that would have been like three days ago now.
"She probably did earlier since I had to leave in such a hurry, but ordinarily, I pick up after myself."
"Yeah, right." Yumi obviously had her doubts. "So about these bugs? What do you need?"
"I need my drafting materials, and my portable. They should be in the closet over to your left." While she grabbed those, I folded up my portable and tucked it under my arm.
"Is that everything?"
"Yeah. Come on, we've gotta go!" We raced out of my apartment as I led the way towards the Control Center.
"Will I be allowed in there with you?" Yumi asked, rushing to keep up beside me.
Jokingly I answered her, "I'm sure of it. You've just been drafted."
"Great." She replied sarcastically.
"Yumi?"
"Yes?"
"Have-- have you get any of your powers yet? I mean, you passed the tests, right?" It was clear to her that I was nervous. At the same time, I felt ashamed. After all, three years in training, and still nothing to show for it.
"Sure! Watch this." She beamed. She stood in front of me holding her arms out to both sides and whispered something under her breath. A moment later the golden beam of sunlight illuminated her body and she slowly began to ascend off the ground.
"Wow. That's pretty cool." Amazed that she had picked up something so cool in such a short period of time. My voice betrayed me though as I looked at her. Yumi was sure to pick up on my own disappointment.
"So, can you use your powers yet?" She asked as she floated back down to the ground as gently as a feather landing for its first time.
"No." Sighing, I just confirmed my depression and stared down at the ground in front of me.
"Give it some time, Skuld. You've been on Earth this whole time only under the guidance of your older sisters. I've had some of the best teachers up here instructing me in the ways of magic. I'm sure you'll start soon." Yumi reassured me and gave me a smile. "You know what?" She stared directly into my brown eyes. Her voice was confident and optimistic.
"What?"
"Magic begins with an open heart."
"Huh?" Was that a riddle?
"It's the very first thing you're taught in class." She paused for a moment before taking a step closer to me. "And I have a feeling Belldandy has said something similar to you too."
Standing there in a daze, I recalled everything Big Sis has ever taught me regarding magic. Yumi stood there waiting as I tried to remember. Finally she set the things down she was carrying and embraced me saying, "A goddess's power comes from the love she gives to others." Her body became very warm, almost to the point of being hot. I stepped backwards and saw she was embodied in a brilliant white glow. A gentle breeze tickled my neck as my black long hair danced. I stood there in awe as I watched her glow. She took a hold of my free hand and a tingle started traveling through my fingers and up my arm.
"Feels pretty good, huh?" She commented as the rest of my body began to tingle the same way.
"Whoa." There was no sound to my voice, only a tiny whisper. It felt wonderful, like being served a bucket full of ice cream on the hottest day of the year. "What is that I'm feeling?"
"That's what it feels like to give love freely, Skuld." She said. You have to open your heart and accept and, love people for who they are before you can accept the responsibility of using your powers.
"Oh. But--"
"Now, come on, I think we have some work to do, huh?" She said as she gave my free arm a tug, scooping up my drafting set with her other hand.
It wasn't far to the Control Center from where we were. As we ran up the stairs my body still tingled with what Yumi did to me, and all I could think about was what she said. I have to open my heart. Okay, so that's the first step. Great. How do I do that?
"Well, we're here. Do you wanna lead the way?" Yumi asked finally stopping by the door. Taking the lead again, we started down the long entrance hallway. There was an eerie feel to it, since nobody was around. Our footsteps echoed with each step we took. The silence was deafening.
"Here we are." I announced as I walked over to the table with the blueprints laying on it. Glancing over to my sister's terminal, I caught the attention of a bright red dialog box set in the middle of the screen.
"Oh shit!" Yumi snapped her head to see what I was reading that prompted such concern. Both of us approached the terminal to get a closer look.
Unanimously we both read out load in horror, "System Shutdown Imminent!"
"Can that happen?" Yumi asked with genuine concern. I had to take a couple of moments and figure out the best way to tell her. It wasn't supposed to be possible. Only the Almighty One could initiate a complete shutdown of Yggdrasil. Somehow the bugs got to the protocol. If that command executes, it would mean…
"Ragnarok." Leaked out of my mouth. It means the end of all. Everything we know to exist would just …. collapse. First the Heavenly realm would fall, cascading into the other realms. Earth would be last to go as the system completely crumbles into nothingness.
"But… … That's impossible! We're not in a war!" Yumi exclaimed still in a state of shock.
"Come on. We've gotta build this, and fast. Do you remember the conversion rates of particle flux versus gravity?
"Yeah, I think so. Why?" Yumi asked, still in a state of shock.
"Because that's how I intend on getting rid of these bugs." Raising my pointer finger in a triumphal pose, I declared my plan on saving the Universe from extinction. "Start grabbing whatever materials you can find. We're also going to need Heximonitum and lots of it."
Sitting on the table, I cracked open my portable and began writing the interface program. Completing the simple coding I picked up my drafting pen and drew the first lines in creating my invention. Ten minutes later, the complete sketch was finished of what needed to be built. Now it was just a matter of figuring out the calculations.
"Okay, I got all that I could find. I hope it's enough." Yumi said dropping all the metal plates on the floor in front of her.
"It'll have to do." The computer screen glowed with equations and formulas. Only two more had to be completed and then my masterpiece would work. I knew it would. It just had to!
Yumi walked over to my initial design and studied it intently. "I'll go get some tools, okay?"
"Okay." Stopping and looking up at Yumi for a brief moment I watched as she ran down the hall once again. She still sounds so optimistic. How? I couldn't let these thoughts interfere any longer. This had to get done… now. Only one last equation, only one more, I told myself.
Yumi returned almost as fast as she left, with her arms filled with wrenches, screwdrivers, a hammer, and a wielding torch. "I'm back!" She announced as she placed the tools on the floor next to the pile of scraps she found earlier.
Together we both looked at the blueprint and my machine sketch. "We need to connect these pieces here to that conduit, and then those pieces over there need to be connected and filled in with the Heximonitum. Then we connect that piece over there with the mainframe.
"What conduit?"
"We'll assemble the pieces here and carry it to the conduit….it's marked on that blueprint on the table. It's not too far from here. We also need to find some fiber cable and string it between here and there."
"Okay. I'll go hunt down some cable for you." Yumi offered just as cheerfully as she had the times before.
"Please hurry, we don't have much time!"
Sitting down, slowly piece by piece began coming together as I set forth on constructing my newest, universe saving invention, Mr. Bug Blow Bye-Bye Mark 1.
Yumi came running down the hall with a bunch of fiber optic cable wrapped around her shoulder. "I hope this is enough!" The exhaustion marked by her heavy panting was a signal. She too was getting tired quickly. No matter. Soon this will all be an event in the past and we'll be able to relax by a pool or something. At least… I think was her favorite thing to do on her days off?
"Okay. Connect all the ends together and start laying a path from here to the Conduit. We only have a matter of minutes to flush all the bugs. Do you think you can get this connected and laid out in about five minutes? I should be finished wielding by then."
"Sure thing!" Yumi reassured, and begun to unwind the cable walking backwards towards her destination. Two minutes passed, and she was already out of sight. This was the last piece to be added. I had to very carefully refine and pour shavings of Hexiimonitum into the upper compartment. This stuff is ordinarily pretty stable stuff, but when it's ground up into tiny shavings it becomes very volatile. The computer terminal started beeping with critical warnings as the system had reached its upper tolerance limit from the bug infestation. Time was running out. It was time to connect the cable to the Mark 1.
"I hope Yumi's ready…." With nobody else in the room my comment echoed back to me. Okay, here's the moment of truth. God… I really hope this works. The oversized red button watched my shaking finger as it approached its shiny surface. Finally, my fingertip rested on the button. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes tightly, refusing the air to be released from my lungs. With a final bit of effort, the button was depressed.
"Switch on!"
The machine came to life with a grinding noise, scaring me half to death. I stepped backwards and tripped on the cable. Falling on to my butt I twisted my body to read the nearby console. Slowly, one by one, error boxes vanished. Whipping my head back around to marvel in my genius, the Mark 1 began to nest itself in a cloud of cold fog. Standing back up and walking to the terminal, I tried the keyboard. Yes! It's accepting my input again. How long would this take, I had to find out, and the only way to do that was with a Bug Counting Algorithm. Cracking my fingers backwards in front of me, I sat down and quickly keyed the program.
"It's working!!" For a brief moment I wondered if anybody could hear. Probably not, since the generator was making so much background noise. Oh well, I guess I could inform everyone of my glorious achievement after the system was completely fixed. Ten-thousand more bugs down the drain. Yippee! The cloud of fog that enveloped my Mark 1 was beginning to dissipate. Walking over to check it out, my foot found a hunk of black ice and gave way as it shot forward in front of my body. The end result, I found myself back on my butt. The air was very cold over here. Standing up and very carefully, I approached the monitoring gauges. Everything is still within normal operating parameters. Still not totally convinced, I walked around the machine, inspecting it meticulously for flaws. Yumi joined me in the room half way through my inspection.
"Be careful, Yumi, watch out for the ice on the floor."
"Sure! How's your machine working?"
"So far, so good."
"How many bugs are left in the system? I swear that a billion have flown down the Conduit already." Yumi stood there holding her arms out to each side emphasizing the large number.
Just as my foot hit the floor with my first step, the housing manifold on the Mark 1 exploded. A cold blast of frozen air blew past me. The first sign of our new troubles tugged at my long hair as it was pulled towards the Mark 1.
"Skuld! What happened?"
"It's the Heximonitum! Quick! Grab onto something – anything!!"
"It's getting stronger!!" Yumi screamed as it started pulling her towards the Mark 1.
She was right. The tug of artificial gravity pulling on me was tremendous. There's nothing to anchor myself to! Freezing cold air filled the room, turning the fountain in the corner to a frozen work of modern art in a matter of seconds. Taking a step forward away from the super cold vortex was my only mistake. Losing my balance I was lifted off the floor and flew backwards into the center of the gravitation field.
"Yumi!!" My voice shrunk as I was pulled out of the room into the housing chamber. At first my legs tingled as they were transformed into bits of ones and zeros. The force created by the frozen Heximonitum reaction pushed me through the fiber optic cable that Yumi laid down not more than five minutes ago. I felt a mile long. It sucks not being able to see anything. A moment later I felt something hard hit my back. As I turned, first I saw my friend Yumi. Beyond her frightened face, I saw the beautiful stars in the blackness of space. Yumi's body shook as she clung onto me. Time seemed to stand still as her heart beat against my chest.
"Skuld!" Her voice was full of panic. The planet Earth reflected off of her sapphire eyes. Orange flames surrounded our bodies, whipping in the air much like my hair tickled Yumi's face.
"We're totally falling."
Yumi smiled and laughed quietly.
"Of course we are."
"Hey look! The bugs! They're burning up!" Yumi cheered and giggled a little. Her face switched from glee to horror like a flip of a switch. "Will be burn up too?"
"No. I don't think so."
The air that was once hot now sent shivers down my spine. Black was replaced with blue. There would only be a few more seconds before we hit. I wrapped my legs around Yumi's. It was so cold. She had closed her eyes. Quietly she hummed a lullaby.
"I didn't know you knew that one." She snapped her eyes open, abruptly stopping her soothing melody. Blush raced to her cheeks.
"Yeah, Belldandy taught it to me once. We found a scrap book of when you were little.
I smiled at her and held my breath as we passed through the last remaining clouds in the sky.