Chimaera
Nabiki's eyes slowly opened, as she moaned at the low-keening sound coming from the wall panel by her nightstand. Grumbling as she sat up, she tapped her finger against the control pad next to the console built into the wall, and watched the small, softly lit screen that had flashed on fill with information.
The woman slipped out of bed, and donned a robe, tightening the belt around her waist, before walking over to the other side of the room, to Kasumi's bed.
"Kasumi, wake up." Nabiki's sister groaned, and pulled the covers over her head tighter. The younger sister had to smirk at that, "Come on, Kasumi, I don't," Nabiki yawned, "Don't want to be up any more than you do right now, but something just entered the atmosphere. We need to go verify it."
"We don't need to verify every meteor or piece of spacejunk that crashdowns, Nabiki," Kasumi stated from under the covers, bent on not having to awaken fully before she was ready.
Nabiki sighed, and sat down on the bed next to her sister's body, "Just get up, Sis. The sooner we finish this, the better."
Finally, realizing that Nabiki would be persistant about this, Kasumi sat up, "Alright, let's go identify it and catalogue it, but I don't see why this couldn't wait until morning hours."
"You know the drill, Sis. Verify ASAP, that way we don't end up with any complications." Nabiki got up off of Kasumi's bed, and pulled her sister's robe from the hook nearby, and tossed it to its owner. With her own irritated grumbles, Kasumi donned the robe, and then followed her sister out the room.
______________________
As the nights were longer than those on their origin planet, the residents were up and about well before the sun would ascend to the sky. Yet, that time for the beginnings of another day had not arrived. The rain had quieted down into a thin drizzle that pelted the surface of all in its way, laying a soothing static noise that was comforting in its own way.
Many of the creatures that inhabited the terrain took advantage of the drenching weather; the flora absorbed moisture through its roots or leaves, gelatenous beings moistened their bodies, insects and animals surfaced or came from hiding in the hopes that nourishment would be presented from the wet land, and so forth.
One such creature, unique to all else on the planet, also saught to take advantage of the rain. With well-honed stealth, it tracked its prey. The rodent-like creature was a pest, mainly suited as a scavenger, and well at the bottom of the food chain. It was aware that it was being hunted, but could not sense its predator anywhere around it.
Fear and instinct dominated its simplistic mind, as it crouched low, and scanned its enviorment. None of its physical senses relayed anything of importance, only its primal intuition gave it the sense of direness that nearly overwhelmed the raccoon sized rodent. Finally, with a sweeping glance of its two rows of eyes, all six of its legs tensed, prepared to flee. Unfortunately, its predator chose then to strike, pinning it down against the ground.
The rodent emitted a shrill scream, as it felt the surface of its flesh began to decay, and a lethargy begin to settle throught its body. It never ceased its cry, as it withered, cell by cell, while its own life energy was being siphoned from its being. Finally, the scream began to fade into nothingness, as the rodents body ceased any remote struggle. Brownish-green fur that was sparcely interrupted by dark yellow boney nodes turned to ash gray, before falling apart like the spent timber of an intense fire.
The predator felt the relief settle through its being, after being seemingly too long since the last time it was able to feed this way.
"I thought you would be out here..."
"Tarou!" Ranma-chan shouted in shock, as she retracted her hand from the pile of ash, and spinning to confront her friend, "Wha-what?"
Tarou shrugged under his water-proof cloak, "You always come out when it rains at night." Tarou stepped closer to Ranma, almost sighing, as the redhead fearfully stepped away, almost ashamed of herself. "I didn't ask you, did you... against Akane?"
"NO!" Ranma shouted, vehemantly, "I would NEVER! I told you that!"
Tarou shook his head, "You don't get it, Ranma. Like Nabiki and Kasumi say, any advantage in a fight is one that should be used. It's one of the founding principles of Anything Goes Martial Arts, remember?"
Ranma turned to the now soaken remnents of her meal; she had even sucked the energy away that allowed the cells of the bones to maintain cohesion, "It's not right, alright?"
"You still refuse to talk to Kasumi or Nabiki about it? They probably already know about it."
"They don't know about it," Ranma replied, as she started walking back to the dorm area from the inner wooded region.
"Come on, you've seen Nabiki! Both her and Kasumi are sharp as blades. Nothing ever escapes their notice!"
"You're right, nothing does, and you better remember that, you two."
"NABIKI!" Both Ranma and Tarou shouted.
"Ah... h-how much did you hear?" Ranma studdered, her eyes wide with nervous fear.
"Enough to know you have some secret you don't want us to know about," Nabiki replied, before waiving any explanations off, "Don't worry about it, as long as it doesn't cause any problems, you're welcome to your privacy.
"How did you know we were out here?" Tarou asked, pulling his cloak tighter around himself.
All three of them shifted their eyes upward, as the lightning flashed overhead. "Me and Kasumi were going to document an atmospheric entry, when we noticed the field gate to the woodedd region was down. I came down to check it out while Kasumi waits for me back inside."
Nabiki turned away, and motioned both Ranma and Tarou to follow, "You may as well join us, since you're already up. You'll have to do this once in a while yourselves, especially if me and Kasumi become... indesposed."
Both Tarou and Ranma looked at each other, when Nabiki's voice trailed off at the end. "Nabiki?" the former enquired.
"Nothing, just considering the extreme, as usual. Just like I trained you to, Tarou."
"Right, right," Nabiki's own potential successor replied, quickly.
"Let's go, Kasumi's waiting for us."
______________________
"What were you two doing out in the rain at night?" Kasumi enquired idly, as she sat down before the secondary moniter.
"Ah... nice night for a... walk," Ranma lied, towling his hair after a relieving quick shower.
Kasumi shifted her eyes towards her protoge, but said nothing at the obvious lie. "Nabiki," the elder woman turned back to her moniter, "It's apparently survived entry. it came in at an entry window."
Nabiki quickly sat down at her moniter, ignoring Tarou looking over her shoulder. The younger woman's eyes shifted through the information presented to her, before her expression grew serious, "It entered at a proper trajectory."
"You mean that thing's artificial?" Tarou enquired, no less surprised than anyone else in the room.
"Not necessarily," Kasumi replied, "Lots of things fall into orbit, this just may have been a meteor that had gotten lucky."
"Oh," Ranma stated, actually not all entirely sure of what they were talking about. "Could it be dangerous?"
"I doubt it," Nabiki answered, "but caution pays in the end." She entered a series of commands, and awaited the results, "It landed in the trundra region of the planet, quartisphere two..." Nabiki almost choked on air, "It's an artificial vessel! And it's almost burrowed into the ground!"
"You mean that thing is alive?" Ranma asked with concern.
"No, you idiot," Tarou quipped, "but something's running it."
"That isn't a good thing, is it?"
"No, it's not, Ranma," Nabiki admonished in a slightly scathing tone, earning a sideways glare from her older sister. Nabiki shrugged off Kasumi's ire, and continued, albeit in a less hostile manner, "We don't know what sent it here, or what it's doing here. Remote scan doesn't sense any rapid fluxuating energy signatures, so it may not be a world-bomb. Then again, it may just not be active... yet."
"I doubt it's a bomb," Kasumi said in a worried voice, "The scans are reporting life being emitted from it." Kasumi stood up from her seat, "I'm going to go investigate it personally. This planet may be big enough for new inhabitants looking to resettle, but they're not welcome if they're hostile. Nabiki, prepare satilite orbit... as a precaution."
The younger woman shifted her eyes towards her sister, only slightly turning her head towards her. Anyone who knew her intimately well knew this was a habit of her nervousness; attempting to hide her concern, but just barely managing to do so.
Kasumi knew her sister well, "Caution pays in the end."
"That may be a bit extreme, don't you think?" Nabiki enquired, though knowing full well that Kasumi was correct in her precautions.
"Not if that thing detonates, and takes this planet with it," Kasumi replied a little too casually. "Ranma, Tarou, you stay with Nabiki and help her keep an eye on what's going on. I'll be there in approximately a half-hour." With that, Kasumi left the room, heading for the hanger bay.
Nabiki leaned back in her seat, and let out a tensed breath. "Exciting, isn't it?" she asked with false mirth and levity.
Tarou looked over to Ranma, who met his eyes with an unsettled stare.
Nabiki's eyes slowly opened, as she moaned at the low-keening sound coming from the wall panel by her nightstand. Grumbling as she sat up, she tapped her finger against the control pad next to the console built into the wall, and watched the small, softly lit screen that had flashed on fill with information.
The woman slipped out of bed, and donned a robe, tightening the belt around her waist, before walking over to the other side of the room, to Kasumi's bed.
"Kasumi, wake up." Nabiki's sister groaned, and pulled the covers over her head tighter. The younger sister had to smirk at that, "Come on, Kasumi, I don't," Nabiki yawned, "Don't want to be up any more than you do right now, but something just entered the atmosphere. We need to go verify it."
"We don't need to verify every meteor or piece of spacejunk that crashdowns, Nabiki," Kasumi stated from under the covers, bent on not having to awaken fully before she was ready.
Nabiki sighed, and sat down on the bed next to her sister's body, "Just get up, Sis. The sooner we finish this, the better."
Finally, realizing that Nabiki would be persistant about this, Kasumi sat up, "Alright, let's go identify it and catalogue it, but I don't see why this couldn't wait until morning hours."
"You know the drill, Sis. Verify ASAP, that way we don't end up with any complications." Nabiki got up off of Kasumi's bed, and pulled her sister's robe from the hook nearby, and tossed it to its owner. With her own irritated grumbles, Kasumi donned the robe, and then followed her sister out the room.
______________________
As the nights were longer than those on their origin planet, the residents were up and about well before the sun would ascend to the sky. Yet, that time for the beginnings of another day had not arrived. The rain had quieted down into a thin drizzle that pelted the surface of all in its way, laying a soothing static noise that was comforting in its own way.
Many of the creatures that inhabited the terrain took advantage of the drenching weather; the flora absorbed moisture through its roots or leaves, gelatenous beings moistened their bodies, insects and animals surfaced or came from hiding in the hopes that nourishment would be presented from the wet land, and so forth.
One such creature, unique to all else on the planet, also saught to take advantage of the rain. With well-honed stealth, it tracked its prey. The rodent-like creature was a pest, mainly suited as a scavenger, and well at the bottom of the food chain. It was aware that it was being hunted, but could not sense its predator anywhere around it.
Fear and instinct dominated its simplistic mind, as it crouched low, and scanned its enviorment. None of its physical senses relayed anything of importance, only its primal intuition gave it the sense of direness that nearly overwhelmed the raccoon sized rodent. Finally, with a sweeping glance of its two rows of eyes, all six of its legs tensed, prepared to flee. Unfortunately, its predator chose then to strike, pinning it down against the ground.
The rodent emitted a shrill scream, as it felt the surface of its flesh began to decay, and a lethargy begin to settle throught its body. It never ceased its cry, as it withered, cell by cell, while its own life energy was being siphoned from its being. Finally, the scream began to fade into nothingness, as the rodents body ceased any remote struggle. Brownish-green fur that was sparcely interrupted by dark yellow boney nodes turned to ash gray, before falling apart like the spent timber of an intense fire.
The predator felt the relief settle through its being, after being seemingly too long since the last time it was able to feed this way.
"I thought you would be out here..."
"Tarou!" Ranma-chan shouted in shock, as she retracted her hand from the pile of ash, and spinning to confront her friend, "Wha-what?"
Tarou shrugged under his water-proof cloak, "You always come out when it rains at night." Tarou stepped closer to Ranma, almost sighing, as the redhead fearfully stepped away, almost ashamed of herself. "I didn't ask you, did you... against Akane?"
"NO!" Ranma shouted, vehemantly, "I would NEVER! I told you that!"
Tarou shook his head, "You don't get it, Ranma. Like Nabiki and Kasumi say, any advantage in a fight is one that should be used. It's one of the founding principles of Anything Goes Martial Arts, remember?"
Ranma turned to the now soaken remnents of her meal; she had even sucked the energy away that allowed the cells of the bones to maintain cohesion, "It's not right, alright?"
"You still refuse to talk to Kasumi or Nabiki about it? They probably already know about it."
"They don't know about it," Ranma replied, as she started walking back to the dorm area from the inner wooded region.
"Come on, you've seen Nabiki! Both her and Kasumi are sharp as blades. Nothing ever escapes their notice!"
"You're right, nothing does, and you better remember that, you two."
"NABIKI!" Both Ranma and Tarou shouted.
"Ah... h-how much did you hear?" Ranma studdered, her eyes wide with nervous fear.
"Enough to know you have some secret you don't want us to know about," Nabiki replied, before waiving any explanations off, "Don't worry about it, as long as it doesn't cause any problems, you're welcome to your privacy.
"How did you know we were out here?" Tarou asked, pulling his cloak tighter around himself.
All three of them shifted their eyes upward, as the lightning flashed overhead. "Me and Kasumi were going to document an atmospheric entry, when we noticed the field gate to the woodedd region was down. I came down to check it out while Kasumi waits for me back inside."
Nabiki turned away, and motioned both Ranma and Tarou to follow, "You may as well join us, since you're already up. You'll have to do this once in a while yourselves, especially if me and Kasumi become... indesposed."
Both Tarou and Ranma looked at each other, when Nabiki's voice trailed off at the end. "Nabiki?" the former enquired.
"Nothing, just considering the extreme, as usual. Just like I trained you to, Tarou."
"Right, right," Nabiki's own potential successor replied, quickly.
"Let's go, Kasumi's waiting for us."
______________________
"What were you two doing out in the rain at night?" Kasumi enquired idly, as she sat down before the secondary moniter.
"Ah... nice night for a... walk," Ranma lied, towling his hair after a relieving quick shower.
Kasumi shifted her eyes towards her protoge, but said nothing at the obvious lie. "Nabiki," the elder woman turned back to her moniter, "It's apparently survived entry. it came in at an entry window."
Nabiki quickly sat down at her moniter, ignoring Tarou looking over her shoulder. The younger woman's eyes shifted through the information presented to her, before her expression grew serious, "It entered at a proper trajectory."
"You mean that thing's artificial?" Tarou enquired, no less surprised than anyone else in the room.
"Not necessarily," Kasumi replied, "Lots of things fall into orbit, this just may have been a meteor that had gotten lucky."
"Oh," Ranma stated, actually not all entirely sure of what they were talking about. "Could it be dangerous?"
"I doubt it," Nabiki answered, "but caution pays in the end." She entered a series of commands, and awaited the results, "It landed in the trundra region of the planet, quartisphere two..." Nabiki almost choked on air, "It's an artificial vessel! And it's almost burrowed into the ground!"
"You mean that thing is alive?" Ranma asked with concern.
"No, you idiot," Tarou quipped, "but something's running it."
"That isn't a good thing, is it?"
"No, it's not, Ranma," Nabiki admonished in a slightly scathing tone, earning a sideways glare from her older sister. Nabiki shrugged off Kasumi's ire, and continued, albeit in a less hostile manner, "We don't know what sent it here, or what it's doing here. Remote scan doesn't sense any rapid fluxuating energy signatures, so it may not be a world-bomb. Then again, it may just not be active... yet."
"I doubt it's a bomb," Kasumi said in a worried voice, "The scans are reporting life being emitted from it." Kasumi stood up from her seat, "I'm going to go investigate it personally. This planet may be big enough for new inhabitants looking to resettle, but they're not welcome if they're hostile. Nabiki, prepare satilite orbit... as a precaution."
The younger woman shifted her eyes towards her sister, only slightly turning her head towards her. Anyone who knew her intimately well knew this was a habit of her nervousness; attempting to hide her concern, but just barely managing to do so.
Kasumi knew her sister well, "Caution pays in the end."
"That may be a bit extreme, don't you think?" Nabiki enquired, though knowing full well that Kasumi was correct in her precautions.
"Not if that thing detonates, and takes this planet with it," Kasumi replied a little too casually. "Ranma, Tarou, you stay with Nabiki and help her keep an eye on what's going on. I'll be there in approximately a half-hour." With that, Kasumi left the room, heading for the hanger bay.
Nabiki leaned back in her seat, and let out a tensed breath. "Exciting, isn't it?" she asked with false mirth and levity.
Tarou looked over to Ranma, who met his eyes with an unsettled stare.