Ranma Slave World
By David Farr
The darkness of the wings were her only comfort, and they wouldn't last long. Light flooded the stage before her, illuminating the young man standing proudly there, staring out into the darkness beyond, facing the determination of his fate . Across the other side of the stage the auctioneer prattled, calling the bids.
There was still one person between Nabiki and a similar destiny, time for her to prepare herself, more alone than ever before in her life. Ranma would not appear to save her, she was no Akane, always being rescued in the nick of time. No last minute reprieves, especially not from any offical sources.
This strange world the middle Tendo sister found herself marooned in accepted the sale of other humans. In fact slavery was institutionalised, certain conditions needed to be met before a slave could change hands and their standard of living was protected. Some considered it better than living in the poverty trap.
Unfortunately for Nabiki this land had never heard of bankruptcy. If your debts stretched beyond your means, then to pay them back ultimately slavery was your only choice.
Clothed in shadows Nabiki closed her eyes and thought back to what had landed her in this mess.
The evening business news blared on the TV. Nabiki had no personal stakes in the stock market, she was still to young for that, but she kept track of a portfolio as practice for the day she became a serious business woman. At first she'd "lost" money, but after a number of bad starts she learnt many important lessons. Unless there were some major changes she could make a decent living in investment.
"It's mine! Mine! You can't have it!" Nabiki turned and saw Happosai's diminitutive form bounce off the shogi board, sending black and white stones scattering into the two fathers' laps.
On cue Ranma dove into the room, reaching out for, and missing, the old man. "Give that here ya old letch!" He was followed moments later first by Colonge, then Shampoo, Ukyo and finally Akane.
Happosai backed up against the door opposite the yard. Clutched greedily in his hands was, not the expected piece of underwear, but instead what looked like a crystal ball.
"Be careful son-in-law," the dwarfed amazon elder advised, "should the sphere break, we would all be doomed."
Ranma retort was interrupted by the sound of tearing tissue paper. Out of the corner of her eye Nabiki could see the wooden point of a bokken protuding from a wall. Moments later Kuno stepped through the newly created hole, followed by Mousse and Ryoga. Kodachi skipped in through the opened doors and joined the insanity.
Everyone was here, which troubled Nabiki no end, everyone that is except...
The door rattled slightly as it was shoved open. "Dinner's--" It would be the last word Nabiki would here Kasumi utter. Oblivious to the small prevert covering in the doorway and somehow not alerting anyone, Kasumi stepped into the room carrying a tray of food. Her foot struck Happosai, sending her, crockery, dinner and most importantly the crystal ball, flying into the air.
Instictively Nabiki leapt forward and about her others made similar moves, but none, not even Ranma, were fast enough. The ball struck the ground and shattered as if made of the finest glass.
In that moment everything stopped. Nabiki was frozen mid-leap, as if the air had turned solid. Kasumi hung motionless above Happosai, the look of surprise still on her face. Colonge, Ranma and Shampoo all had their backs to Nabiki, but looked for all the world like a very realistic painting.
But something was moving in that frozen room. Whatever had been held in that sphere, an invisible thing that Nabiki could only feel with some strange part of her being, bounced free of the floating shards of glass. It arced through the air, unseen, but never the less there.
As it struck the ground the world vanished in a flash of light.
Nabiki flew from the light like a bullet as if all her efforts to move had been compressed into that instant of freedom. She never had a chance to see her surroundings, smashing head first into something and blacking out in pain.
She had awoken two days later in a hospital. There were no scars from her injury, she had healed fully. Unfortunately she was in trouble worthy of Ranma.
Whatever had been inside the sphere had carried her to another place, another world, and deposited her in a very bad predicament. She'd crashed head first into a museum display case containing what had been a very valuable vase. Even back home Nabiki wouldn't have been able to get herself out of that mess. Her only choice was plead guilty and throw herself on the mercy of the court.
The court wasn't merciful. Nabiki had no way of paying the fines, she had no local currency and no job. It was ruled by the courts that she would enter indentured servatude to work off her debt. Considering the legal definitions, they might have just said slavery.
What followed was three weeks of intense study, in both obedience and her specialty, business. This new world was more advanced than her own and when cares for the student went out the window they had some excellent teaching methods. By the time of her sale Nabiki understood enough of the workings of the local econmy to make a decent accountant or bookkeeper.
Or, unfortunately, an executive assistant.
The slam of the gavel startled Nabiki out of her memories. She looked up to find that the woman before her shuffling back towards the wings. In the darkness she saw the guard's head turn to look at her. Nabiki nodded and started forward, it was considered both bad form and very stupid to have to be forced out on stage. For one thing it lowered the chance of getting a kind owner.
Striding proudly Nabiki walked out into centre stage. At brightest spotlight she halted and twirled, showing herself off.
Packaging, she been told, it all came down to packaging. Wear the right clothes and you'll get the right owner. Don't sell yourself as something you don't want to be.
Nabiki ignored the auctioneer as first he read out her details. It wouldn't do to look annoyed as he read her measurements to a room full of strangers she couldn't see, or to puff out when he desribed her skill with numbers. Also the amounts he called once the bidding started.
She just stood there, staring out into the darkness. Looking like a professional business woman in her suit jacket and knee-length skirt, a reserved smile on her face and hopefully in her eyes.
Finally the gavel slammed down and Nabiki spun once more and strode off the stage, passing the next slave to be sold. A guard stood waiting as she passed out of the wings.
"Your new master's the impatent type," the guard commented gruffly. "He's already making his way out of the auditorium."
A thoughful frown passed over Naiki's face. "Is that a good sign?" she wondered aloud.
"Probably you're just what he's looking for." He took her arm. "It also means we shouldn't keep him waiting."
Nabiki nodded. First to the changing area, the clothes she was wearing were still the property of the auction house, then she would be presented to whoever had won the bidding war.
Both the guard and Nabiki came to a halt as they came through the door into the "sales" room. She had cast off the suit and put on what was considered to be the standard outfit for slave girls, a simple smock and pair of trousers. Not too revealing, thankfully, but the thin collar about her neck would take some getting used to.
Despite that she wished she had more on as she saw the scene. Only two people were standing in the room and one was wearing the uniform of a clerk. A pair of arms reached across a desk and gripped him by the lapels.
Nabiki ran her eye over the man she guessed would be her new master. Casual dress, slightly dishevelled, so he wasn't trying to impress anyone. Nestled in his sandy hair were a pair of glasses. Obviously he didn't need them to walk around, so they were reading glasses. Wearing them like that meant he did use them often, like Mousse. Despite his angry stance his face was peaceful, almost Kasumish in its expression, except the eyes. Nabiki disliked quiet people, you couldn't read their emotion until too late.
The guard gently nudged Nabiki's arm. Snapping out of her Nabiki started across the floor. She strode across the room, getting close enough to hear the man's hissed words.
"... illegal to use slaves for experimentation!" He released the man's clothes. "I wouldn't risk my reputation on something so stupid."
The clerk laughed weakly. "I only meant it as a joke Doctor Lands."
Nabiki's ears perked up. Even she had heard of the Lands family in her short time. Over a century ago they had served the Emperor, but had at some time seperated from his court. Every generation produced at least one exceptional doctor and a large number of advances had their names somewhere in the credits.
"Jokes can be extremely hazardous," Nabiki interjected, smiling at the Doctor Lands, "especially if timed wrong."
Both turned to look at her. The clerk was annoyed, but probably thankful that someone had come to take some of the doctor's fire. Nabiki's attention was fixed on the doctor. As he focused on her his gaze softened, and a slight smile came to his face. Strangely Nabiki got an image of Doctor Tofu.
"Ah, Nabiki Tendo isn't it?" He didn't wait for an answer, instead turning back to the clerk. "So have you finished running her papers yet?"
"Ah yes sir," the young clerk grabbed something from a tray on the desk. "Just this left." He held up a small metal disc that reminded Nabiki of dog tags.
Doctor Lands snatched it from the man's hand and tossed it to her in a single move. Nabiki had to scramble a little to catch the disc. She examined it. Blank on both sides, with a hook to attach it to her collar being the only feature. However Nabiki had been told that it contained her slave registration and being caught without it would cause trouble, so she slipped it onto the collar.
By the time she'd done that simple move, Doctor Lands hads already started towards the door at a fast pace. Nabiki glared at the clerk, his stupid remark had certainly made her day darken, just as she was thinking things couldn't get worse.
The cityscape slid past the window in silence. As the monorail whispered its way up through Nabiki got her first sight of the full splendor of Tilana city.
The Emperor's palace had long ago been built at the top of a single small mountain looking out across expansive plains. Strategically it was the perfect spot, you could see all the way to the horizon on a good day and the slope gave you an advantage once your enemies arrived. Never had the fortifications fallen to an outside host.
As time past and the power of the nation that had come to be known simply as the empire grew, so too did the city of Tilana. At first it had been forbidden for any new structures to be built on the mountain, so the city was built around its base, but over time emperors had allowed trusted vassels to build their homes on the protected slopes.
Of course much time had past since them, and the mountain side was now dotted with estates of the rich and noble. Tilana was now the capital of a world spanning empire, and the city stretched from horizon to horizon.
As was the want of monarchies there had been some surprising edicts past, many of which were never repeeled. The strangest, Nabiki considered, was the law that no polluting machinery could be used within the city limits. Thankfully that same emperor had funded massive alternate energy and public transport projects, so Tilana had prospered without scarficing its beauty. Certainly there was no clinging cloud of smog that Nabiki expected of large cities in her world.
Nabiki glanced down at the tourist pamphlet she'd grabbed while they boarded the monorail. It also noted a later emperor had dictated that no building in Tilana could rise above five stories. This lead to the strangest city you could imagine as, excluding a few special cases, every building had risen to this height in order to maximise the usable space, thereby created a sea of coloured roofs. Finally she notticed that the buildings presented a colour coordinated face to the sky, or more appropriately, the emperor.
Turning from the scene Nabiki found the car's only other occupant watching her. He'd been silent throughout the voyage, sitting reading from a small computer he carried with him, but now that sat closed beside him. His soft blue eyes regard Nabiki quietly, causing heat to rush to her cheeks.
'I feel like a school girl,' she thought, 'how... strange.'
"You've never been up the mountain before?" Doctor Lands asked, pulling his glasses up to rest in his hair. He shifted across to sit facing her and gazed out at the city below.
"No, I'd arrived in the city the same day I was arrested," Nabiki admitted, "didn't get much chance to see anything. Master." The last was added as an after-thought.
His soft smile seemed to calm her as he turned to face her. "Please call me Kryst."
"Yes master Kryst," Nabiki replied, meaning it.
"No, no, just Kryst." His voice was playful, not angry, and somehow that struck at Nabiki.
Nabiki lowered her head to stare at her hands clasped tightly in her lap. "I'm sorry, but I'd prefer if we kept it formal, ah sir."
She didn't see him nod. "I see, your afraid if I let our relationship get too familar I might... expect something more from you. I understand, sir is fine with me." He turned back to gaze out across the city. "I hope you're good with accounts."
"Sir?" Nabiki asked, caught off guard by this sudden change of tack.
"I'm afraid I have been very lax about keeping track of my finances, you'll have your work cut out for you."
Nabiki smiled. "Well at least there's a promise of continued employment," she said hopefully.