Please Teacher Crossroads

by ironrod

Suppose that the Galaxy Federation is not the philanthropic and benign organization that Mizuho believes it to be? Could the people of the Earth be in peril? Kei and Mizuho's story continued from where the original left off, with an emphasis on a few unanswered questions.

10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: A Time to Fight

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"So how then does one travel from point A to point B using parallel motion? Drawing from our own history, we speculate they are using a tried and true technique as old as sailing itself. We think the answer could be that they simply use navigational buoys or beacons to mark the way similar to how we use a lighthouse. In practice, they would probably function very similar to today's GPS satellites. Deployed in pairs, one beacon would be anchored you might say, by placing it in orbit around a planet or moon in Normal Space with the other one in the corresponding region of Parallel Space. What you would use to chain the two together is anybody's guess but we suspect that these beacons would be in constant communication with one another, continuously updating the position of the Parallel Space beacon relative to its Normal Space equivalent." (From: Special report to the SETI select committee, Speculations on Traveling among the Stars.)

Please Teacher Crossroads. Chapter 10

The rescue of Ichigo:

"Jumping off of a roof in Okinawa and landing in the schools swimming pool, getting kidnapped by aliens. You just can't have that kind of fun anywhere you know." Ichigo.

As the realization was still sinking in, they heard an outcry coming from the tourists down by the Lake. When they rushed outside to investigate, they all could see that Hatsuho's ship was lifting off.

Mizuho was the first to react. "We have to get on Mothers ship before it gets out of range!" she screamed. "Marie, physical transport to the Miruru's bridge!" Marie failed to respond; instead, he appeared out of nowhere and gave Mizuho a puzzled look as if he did not understand why.

"Marie please! Damn it, they've overrode Marie's remote functions."

"They must be pretty desperate lifting off without the cloaking turned on," said Konoha.

"She's the last one!" exclaimed Mizuho, "If they can spirit her away from Earth then they can continue their experiments! We need to get to my ship before they can dislodge into Parallel Space, once on the other side, we won't be able to track them, but Marie's remote functions are being blocked. I cannot believe that Mother is a part of this!"

"Isn't there another way we can get on your ship, like when we were there the other day?" cried Kei.

"No we can't, the teleporter is locked out."

"Well then how about that bridge thing you used when we first met and I tried to run away!"

"You're right!" Mizuho gasped, "The interspatial bridge, it's still linked to the front door of our apartment. We have to hurry before they get away!"

Running up the front stairs to their apartment, Mizuho and Kei disappeared as they crossed the threshold into their room, winding up in the same storage room where Mizuho had revealed to Kei for the first time she was an alien.

"Marie, emergency take off, maximum power!" Mizuho ordered once they were onboard, "Follow the Miruru's projected flight path. This is a priority one!"

000

Even as the startled residences of Lake Kizaki were still staring up at the rapidly fading light in the sky, the surface of the water was broken once again as Mizuho's uncloaked ship rose in pursuit.

"Jeez," said Minoru still sipping on his coffee, "I bet the water level dropped a foot just now."

Once more, the room started to fill with light as Konoha was enveloped by the twinkling glow of the teleporter. Minoru grabbed his wife's hand and tried to pull her out of the center of the glowing circle but the iris just expanded and enveloped them both. When the light faded, the pair found themselves in a large circular room with white featureless walls. Four doors located at equally spaced distances around the circumference suddenly opened and a group of Galaxy Federation enforcers, each carrying a stun baton entered the room. Minoru just smiled as he started to crack his knuckles, behind him, his wife pressing her back against his, also had the subtle hint of a smile.

What happened next the Galaxy Federation remains uncertain about and is still the subject of much speculation, but three things they know for sure are:

1) There were only two of them.

2) They were unarmed.

3) It may stand forever as the single most humiliating defeat ever suffered by the Galaxy Federation Enforcers in all their recorded history.

Onboard Mizuho's ship:

"I was in a panic, that was my husband's baby she was carrying and by extension, mine as well. I felt just like a mother trying to save her child." Mizuho.

"Okay, I have tracking lock on Mother's ship. Now we will be able to mirror their movements using Proportional Parallel motion," she announced with satisfaction. "Kei, we need to go to the Medical Lab, so we can get you inoculated for space travel."

A few minutes later Kei and Mizuho, both now wearing the black skintight bodysuits that are the norm for space travel, arrived in the Med. Lab. When they entered the room, they were startled to discover Ichigo was also there, her having been strapped into one of the diagnostic chairs in such a way as to not be able to release herself.

"What the hell is she doing here!" shouted Kei.

"We must have intruders on board," answered Mizuho, "we need to go back to the bridge and seal it off, then we can purge the rest of the ship. Hang on for a moment Ichigo; I'll release the restraints so we can get away from here."

Pressing the master disconnect button on the seatback all the straps fell away and Ichigo quickly clambered from the chair, however, as they turned to leave the man from Mizuho's Stagnation nightmare appeared in the flesh.

"Father!" Mizuho screamed.

"I have to congratulate you my daughter," her father laughed, "despite all that has gone before you still did your duty."

"You knew I would come?" Mizuho said in disbelief.

"Of course," her father said confidently, "why do you think I had your mother takeoff like that? I knew you were too clever to be caught again by a simple forced transport. But I also knew you would come running to save your student and in so doing bring all the research data stored in the ships computer."

"I can't believe that Mother would be party to such a thing."

"Now don't go blaming your mother," the man Kei now knew to be Mizuho's father laughed. "I just disabled Miruru before I let your mother think she escaped so she would be forced to take off without computer control. It's you and your ship that I needed, all the experimental data is stored on your system, and that is keyed to your biometrics."

"There isn't any data!" cried Mizuho, "It was all erased when I was forced home. Even if there was any information in the system, there isn't any way I would let you at it! I'm through with helping you!"

"What," he laughed at her, "you never heard of the word backup? I just copied everything over to the ships permanent archives where the tribunal could not access it without using your passkey. The last thing they wanted to happen was for you to find out what was really going on. Now, as for when it comes to helping me, you don't really have much of a choice, you either help me willingly or…" her father smiled and held up the Mental Communicator that Kei recognized as being from Mizuho's dream.

Up until now Kei had been cowed by fear, but seeing the look of distress that came over his wife as her father threatened her spurred him to action. "If you have got business with my wife then you need to go through me first!" Kei spoke forcefully as he moved to place himself between the two.

"I was beginning to think you were mute, just standing in the corner like that. Now don't tell me you're going to cause me any difficulty?"

"You have no idea just how difficult I'm fixing to get," growled Kei rising to the challenge.

"Now you really don't think you can take me can you?" Mizuho's father scoffed, "You're giving up at least fifty pounds to me and I'm quite skilled in self-defense."

"Well let's see," said Kei as he held up his hand and began counting off the wrongs he had suffered. "So far you have assaulted my wife, stole my friend Koishi's immortality, kidnapped me and Ichigo for use in your unholy experiments and otherwise have made my life a living hell for the last two years. So yes, to put it to you bluntly, I am fixing to mop the floor with your ass!" Kei finished, dropping into an offensive Jujutsu crouch as he waited for Mizuho's father's next move.

"Yes, maybe you could," her father thought to himself. Not wanting to be humiliated in his daughter's presence, Mizuho's father decided on a less confrontational course of action. With a snap of his fingers, four more guards carrying stun batons enter the room.

"Where are all these people coming from?" Mizuho asked herself.

"This ship is big enough so that one person can remain safely hidden without any difficulty. These were just imported to help me keep order." Her father remarked. "By the way thanks for swapping out those scrubbers for me. I would have done it myself but I couldn't get into the storage area without Marie."

Knowing that the time for direct action had passed Kei began to stall for time. Relaxing his posture Kei looked Mizuho's father in the eye and asked, "So how long have you been back on Earth, Commander Shirou?"

"Well, what do you know," the former commander of the first Mars mission said, "somebody who actually paid attention in his history class. To answer your question, I have been with you ever since Mizuho came to Earth for the first time. I even stayed behind when they forced my daughter back home just so I could keep an eye on the two of you. Especially you little one," he smiled as he reached out to pat Ichigo on the head before she slapped his hand away.

"Don't you want to be friends?" he asked, "After all we are going to get to know each other real well? Now come along and do not get any ideas about escaping. We are in space after all. We have a lot of testing to do in order to wrap this up and very little time to do it in."

"Why the big rush?" asked Kei.

"That's none of your concern!" snapped Shirou.

"There are factions within the Galaxy Federation's governing bodies just as you have here on Earth," began Mizuho. "There is one such faction that doesn't believe we should ever be allowed to go down onto another planet. Probably the one that was responsible for forcing me home after they became suspicious of the Frontier Planets Office's real agenda. They don't have much power but they are very vocal, if Mother can convince them that the Frontier Planets Office has been operating outside their assigned mandate then there will be a political firestorm."

"You don't know how relieved I am that you are not as naive as I thought you were," responded Shirou, "but by then it won't matter, we've already gathered the pertinent data and we have one unspoiled subject. If we can prove the theory then it will be the dawn of a new age in space exploration for the Galaxy Federation with Earth leading the way. The naysayers will be pushed aside by the sweeping changes in the socioeconomic climate."

"The tyranny of the majority," Ichigo said flatly, as she recognized the flawed logic.

"It was John Adams who first used that phrase I think," Shirou responded, "However, the Galaxy Federation has no John Adams in their history who might have blunted the edge of that sword. So, within the framework of the laws which we now find all of ourselves living, what I am doing here is perfectly legal, if not completely ethical."

Turning his attention to Ichigo, he said almost apologetically, "Come, little one we need to get this final run going, I am truly sorry, but we will have to put you into a major Stagnation. You need not worry about your child; we will have you on life support for the duration. I'm hopeful that when we are done we can pull you out of it before you come to term but if we can't please accept my apology beforehand."

"You even knew I was pregnant?" Ichigo asked in surprise.

"Did you think I was going to leave to chance your dalliance with Kei might get you knocked up?" Shirou explained, "I made sure that once was all it took. One of the things we need to know is if the gene breeds true. You and Kei's offspring might well be the future dominant race on Earth."

"Father no!" cried Mizuho. "She is just a child; you don't have the right to do this. If you really need to find answers to those types of questions then use me as your guinea pig."

Shirou scoffed, "Child hell, she is almost as old as you are! Please understand Mizuho, science demands we make sacrifices, I lost my entire crew to a simple system failure. If we can find a way to reproduce this condition into astronauts of the future then we won't need machines. Her sacrifice will help pave the way for a better future for all."

"You don't have the right!" shouted Mizuho. "The sacrifice you and your crew made, you made willingly! You can't choose how others will spend their lives; you can't make others sacrifice themselves in the name of your ideals!"

As Kei studied the situation, he was beginning to realize that Shirou was not really evil, just misguided, and blinded perhaps by survivor's guilt. Hoping that reason might still prevail he said, "Commander, please think about what you are doing, about what might happen if you succeed. Scientists have a special duty. Not only must you push back the boundaries of knowledge, but also you must consider the consequences of your discoveries on the people of Earth. A Standstill is a horrible disease; you are literally trying to will yourself to die. Do you have any idea what you have to suffer through to get your very spirit to give up on life! Do you have any idea what kind of horror you would be forced to impose on your people!"

Shirou countered, "If I don't continue then all I have sacrificed and all that my crew and their families sacrificed will have been for nothing!"

Kei countered back, "This isn't discovery for discovery's sake. You want to take shortcuts, to find an easy solution to a difficult problem. That's not science that's cowardice!"

The look on Shirou's face told Kei that he had scored a point, nonetheless Shirou remained unyielding.

"There are times when I really wish that I might have been able to talk to you man-to-man Kei, but the Galaxy Federation wouldn't allow it." Shirou sighed. "I so wanted to explain to the both of you the reason why. If I could have, then I'm sure that you would have understood why I need to do this, why it has to be done and why we can no longer just stand by on the sidelines and watch! You might even have wanted to help. However, the cold hard fact of the matter is the future is upon us now and the time for discussion has long since past! Now is the time for action, lest control of all our fates be wrested from our hands!"

That said, Shirou signaled the guards and they began moving towards them. As they did, Kei noticed that their arrogance had made them sloppy. Their formation clearly lacked the discipline that he would have expected to see of Japanese cops facing a similar situation and the front guard had allowed himself to get at least two steps ahead of his nearest backup.

Sensing that this might be his only opportunity Kei formed a desperate plan. Shirou's mentioning of the blunted sword and the storage room had reminded Kei of the old Japanese short sword Mizuho had shown him. Kei also knew from experience that Marie did not actually need to hear a command in order to react to it.

Concentrating as hard as he could, he formed a mental picture of the old wakizashi he knew was laying on the workbench in the ship's toolbox. For a second it looked as if his plan was not going to work then softly the air in front of him began to twinkle as Marie teleported the weapon into his grasp.

Even armed Kei realized that they were still out numbered five to three. Surprise was on his side, but such an advantage is transitory at best and he knew he had to disable at least two of the guards quickly to even the odds. In order to do that he realized he would have to strike a mortal wound to the first guard before trying to neutralize the second in order to give the three of them a fighting chance. Kei pulled the wakizashi from its scabbard and readied himself to wreak bloody havoc on the first guard in a final attempt to save the trio.

Horrified, Mizuho watched as her husband pulled the sword and prepared to run it through the G.F. enforcer who had yet to recognize the danger he was in. Reacting quickly she grabbed Kei's wrist and wrenched the old sword from his grasp. Instead of resisting her Kei decided to follow his wife's lead and as the guards tried to force the trio apart he and Ichigo closed on Mizuho as she pressed the wakizashi hard against her own throat, blood began running profusely down her neck.

"Release Ichigo and Kei and I will stay," Mizuho threatened, "otherwise, I will do it! I swear I will!"

Confused, the Enforcer's advance came to a stuttering halt as they waited for the next shoe to drop.

"Now Mizuho you're acting like a spoiled child when they don't get their way." chided Shirou, "I don't think you have the courage."

"I wouldn't be so sure," responded Kei. "You know as well as I that there is no greater love than that of a mother laying down her life to save her young. You might also want to keep in mind that if she dies then all your precious data will be locked away forever and control of Marie will fall to me."

Kei paused for a moment, looked over at his injured wife before looking straight into the eyes of his adversary, and said, "and if anything happens to her then I SWEAR to GOD that I will fly this damn ship straight into the sun!"

Startled by both his daughters actions and Kei's virulence Shirou realized that for the moment it was he who had lost control of the situation. However, experienced commanders know that when faced with such problems, it is best to keep the lid on and buy time until the pendulum swings back your way, which is exactly what he began doing.

"Ha, Mizuho a mother!" Shirou remarked disdainfully, "Don't hold your breath waiting on that one kid, she's not a mother and she never will be. She is just a mule after all."

"What in the hell do you mean!"

"Exactly what I said, Mizuho is the unfortunate result of the crossing of human DNA with DNA from a person living on another world. Much the same as when you cross a horse and a donkey." Shirou smiled wickedly at Kei, even as his own self-loathing in what he was about to do to his eldest child grew.

"The reason birth control is not often practiced among the Surveyors is because the radiation from working in alien environments is enough to keep the male segment of the population sterile. I didn't suffer from that problem and that is why her mother became pregnant so shortly after we met. However, Mizuho is a different case altogether; she can never have a child. Her womb is cold and sterile. This is why I need both you and Ichigo. If we can find a way to dependably reproduce the Standstill condition artificially then so much the better. If not then it will be your offspring that will lead the way to the future."

By the sudden switch in her father's tactics Mizuho knew Shirou was off balance and was trying to stall for time. She also knew that Kei's threat of crashing the ship into the sun was dependent on Marie following Kei's direction. The few times Kei had been able to exert any control at all over Marie had been during periods of extreme emotional distress. This new revelation, weather true or not, was Shirou's way of trying to eliminate the emotional content of the equation by making Kei doubt his love for her, effectively locking Kei out of control of Marie.

Mizuho was not about to let that happen, she knew she needed to keep the atmosphere emotionally charged. In what was to be her final act of defiance she screamed, "Here's one more sacrifice you can make to your God of discovery!"

Closing her eyes, Mizuho drew in a sharp breath then started to draw the wakizashi along her throat; Shirou instantly understood her intentions and quickly initiated a forced transport.

Fortunately, the sudden loss of gravity caused by the teleporter also caused Mizuho to instinctively throw her arms out to catch her balance before she could inflict a mortal wound on herself. The sword she still grasped passing a few inches above Ichigo's head, the latter suddenly grateful for her short stature.

As the glow of the teleporter faded, Shirou let out a sigh of relief. That had been way to close and he knew that he had been away from Earth for too long. He had forgotten that there are some that would rather die than surrender and it seemed that his daughter, her husband and even little Ichigo were cut from that cloth. Somewhere deep inside him he felt a swelling of pride in her and more than a little shame in himself.

On the Bridge of the Miruru:

"Maho!" Hatsuho shouted for her youngest daughter as she stared at the navigation screen.

"What is it?"

"Remember when I told you that you were to absolutely, positively, under no circumstances to leave any additional code or back door commands in the satellite system?"

"Yes I do," she replied looking down at the floor.

"Please tell me you weren't listening."

"Huh?" she replied, looking up at her mother when she realized she was not in trouble, "What's up?"

"Take a look at this." Hatsuho ordered as she pointed to a blip on the screen.

"Who do you think it is?" Maho asked.

"Look at the vector; it's following our flight path."

"So then it must be the Marie."

"That much should be obvious, however, look at its flight profile."

"Okay, what am I looking for?"

"It's heavy."

"Of course it is. Those observer ships are dinosaurs after all."

"That's not what I mean; Mizuho's ship is carrying extra weight. That's why its flight profile is so sluggish."

"Full fuel load maybe?"

"Considering the amount of time it spent at the bottom of the lake, Marie should have had ample time to distill a full load of Hydrogen fuel. However, even accounting for that, it is still several tons overweight for there just being one or two passengers."

"Okay, so what does that mean?"

"It means that there might be somebody other than Kei and Mizuho following us."

"So what do we do?"

"Until Miruru recovers there's nothing we can do. For now let's just try to stay slightly ahead of them."

Elsewhere:

"Minoru's reputation as a lady's man was due largely to his success as a jock. He was always into sports and martial arts and is still in tiptop shape. Compared to Konoha though, he's just a pussycat. I've watched her put him on his back on several occasions with just a flip of the wrist. I bet the Galaxy Federation is still trying to figure out what happened in that room." Kei.

"That was a nice workout don't you think Konoha?" Minoru said while rubbing his left arm that had been paralyzed in the scuffle.

"Yes it was dear," she replied. "I'm so glad we decided to take up ballroom dancing."

"Do you think Kei and Mizuho are all right?"

"I don't know," she sighed, "but we need to find out what's going on. This is totally uncharacteristic for the Galaxy Federation, UFO's, forced repatriation, and abductions in broad daylight. I suspect that the fecal matter has just collided with the air re-circulation device," Konoha said, smiling at her own joke.

Noticing Minoru holding his hurt arm, Konoha's mood turned serious, "Hold on for a second," she ordered, "let me get that arm working for you."

With that, she came up behind him and with a well aim blow to his shoulders jump-started the nerves in his numbed arm. Minoru flexed his muscles a few times before the pain coming from his re-awaken limb finally registered in his brain.

"SON OF A BIT-!" He started to scream.

In another holding cell:

"Serious, hell yes I was serious. I had just seen the man I love sink to the level of a cold-blooded killer. If he had actually succeeded, the memories of what he did would have eventually killed him. I couldn't let that happen." Mizuho.

"That was close," sighed Kei.

"I was serious," replied Mizuho, "did you hear that Father!" She screamed at the walls. "I will, we will, take our own lives before we allow ourselves to be used for your obscene experiments!

"I'm sorry," she cried to her husband, "so sorry, all I wanted was to be with you Kei, to laugh and cry with. Someone to share my life with and to grow old with. I never wanted to cause you misfortune or to hurt you or Ichigo and now your whole planet might be at risk because of me. I am so, so sorry."

"That's all right," said Ichigo, "it's sort of nice in a perverse fashion, to be wanted for this thing. On balance though, I think next time I'll get involved with someone who has a Lolita fetish."

Suddenly, Ichigo's mood turned somber, "Kei," she asked, "I'm not really that brave, Mizuho and I, we… we talked it out before you arrived. I don't really have the strength to do it myself. Will you do it for me if it comes to that?"

"I don't think I can," replied Kei.

"But you must," Ichigo cried, "I'm the only weak link left. Please promise me you won't let them use me for this awful thing."

"But your… I mean our child?"

"It's better don't you think? To grow up living in a world where you are cherished for who you are, and not be treated as a piece of chattel. I know you wouldn't want that. I sure don't want it for myself and I don't think our son would like it either."

"Do what exactly?" asked Mizuho.

Kei looked at the wakizashi Mizuho still held in her hands then looked at Ichigo. Mizuho gasped slightly and then said, "I think I understand."

Kei, seeing the blood running down Mizuho's neck. "Here, let me take a look at that cut."

Examining his wife's neck where the sword had sliced into it he declared, "Damn that's pretty deep, we should probably put something on it."

"Let me have the sword so I can cut a bandage from my blouse." Ichigo asked.

Taking the wakizashi from Mizuho, Ichigo took off her blouse and cut several strips of cloth from the lower portion. When she finished Ichigo forgot to return the sword to Mizuho, instead she forgetfully laid the wakizashi to one side, outside the radius of the teleporter's isolation iris.

Once the weapon was safely away from where the three sat the teleporter re-activated itself and it was quickly beamed away.

The Enforcers had been waiting such an opportunity. The lights in the cell suddenly went out, two of the four doors located around the room's circumference slid open and the cell began to fill with guards, all of whom were carrying stun batons and this time in a much tighter formation. However, before they had advanced more than half a step into the room the trio heard a series of blasts and all the guards fell to the floor unconscious. Behind the fallen guards stood Hatsuho and Maho, holding Marie and Miruru who had smoke pouring from their tiny little eyes.

"We don't have time to chat. Alarms are going off all over the system right now!" Hatsuho said as she herded them out of the room and down the corridor.

"How did you two get onboard without being seen?" Mizuho asked in surprise.

"I left a back door command in your ships AI system," Maho said proudly. "We used that to link Marie to Miruru and took control of your ship remotely."

"We have been monitoring your situation for the past hour now," Hatsuho said, "we were waiting for the right time when their attention was elsewhere to get the drop on them. Thanks to Kei's uncle and aunt there was nobody left to get in our way."

"What do Minoru and Konoha have to do with anything?" Kei asked.

"Somebody thought it would be a good idea to close down the entire Lake Kizaki operation, which apparently included repatriating Konoha. Your uncle didn't quite see it that way, so they made the mistake of taking him too." Maho said.

"Between him and Konoha they laid out almost an entire squad of Galaxy Federation enforcers," said Hatsuho.

"A man's got to do what a man's got to do," said his uncle from the doorway of the room he and Konoha had been held in until just recently, his arms around his wife as she stared up at him with unabashed admiration. Of course, were the truth ever to be told, Konoha had overcome just as many guards as her husband. (Not to mention the very unkind thing she did to the poor guard who had the misfortune to injure Minoru. With his own baton even!)

"But I still don't understand, I thought your father said he disabled Miruru before your mother took off." Kei said as the group hurried along.

"He did," said Maho, "but he didn't do quite as thorough a job as you did on Marie, Kei. Miruru was able to fix herself shortly after we dislodged."

"So, you are the reason that Marie got so messed up!" Mizuho exclaimed, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Well all marriages need to have some secrets." Kei answered her back.

"Not when it comes to things that crucial!" Mizuho responded not amused.

"I have a question," Kei said looking at his wife. "What did Ichigo mean just now when she said the two of you 'talked it out'?"

"I meant to say that it was all staged," Ichigo answered for her. "Mizuho needed to force Konoha's hand so she told me what the Galaxy Federation was doing to us and how she needed for the three of us to look like we were willing to take our own lives. I was skeptical at first but as soon as you appeared out of thin air like that, I knew that she was telling the truth about us not being in any real danger so I went along with it."

"Oh really?" Kei said flatly, as he turned to his wife.

"Where is Father by the way?" Mizuho asked, suddenly uncomfortable.

"Over in the Med. Lab.," Maho replied, totally oblivious to the interplay between her sister and her brother in law. "You should have seen it sister, I think Mother was inspired by watching Kei's aunt and uncle. She looked him straight in the eye and took him down with one blow.

"I didn't know you were that skilled in close quarter combat Mother, you need to show me how to do that someday."

"Oh, that was just a little something I learned when I was younger," Hatsuho replied, "it's a non lethal technique guaranteed to put an end to any dispute with a man, it's really very simple."

"Whatever you did I was impressed," said Maho, "however, we need to check on him and see if he has recovered yet. We don't need Father causing us any more grief."

"Don't worry dear," Hatsuho began, "he should be immobilized for an hour at least."

"I wonder what she did to him?" Kei asked under his breath.

Rounding a corner the group crossed the threshold into the lab and found Shirou rolling on the floor holding his groin in agony, his face a bright shade of purple. Kei involuntarily flinched and grabbed his own testicles in sympathy. Ichigo remarked with a wry grin in her deadpan voice, "Oh, that technique."

"You know Kei, there seems to be a pattern here when it comes to these extraterrestrial women abusing their husbands," his uncle remarked before his voiced jumped up an octave.

"You fools," Shirou said between clenched teeth, "do you have any idea what you have done? You can't stop what is going to happen; reports have already been made to the highest levels. All you have done is hasten the inevitable. As long as we carried out our experiments secretly we were forced to take things slowly and that gave us the advantage of time. If Mizuho hadn't woke up when she did, I could have stalled for another one or two years waiting for Ichigo and Kei to get together. Now we have no time, once word of this gets out the Earth will be invaded by all sorts of off world quacks looking to make a quick buck."

"I can't believe that a couple of young people are worth the kind of risks involved in violating the Galaxy Federation's rules on non-interference." Hatsuho said. "I've already sent a SOS to the Galaxy Federation's oversight committee. If they act fast enough we can place an interdiction on all of Earth space and protect these innocent people."

Shirou replied insultingly, "You stupid bitch! As soon as those bleeding heart liberals get their hands on this information, it will go public and the Earth will be lost. Have you already forgotten the lessen of our daughter!"

It was the blank look on Hatsuho's face that told Shirou his estranged wife had no clue as to what he was talking about.

Starting over he began in a softer tone, "Have you ever bothered to look at the conditions the people on those incorporated planets have to live under? They are literally bursting at the seams, that's why they did what they did to Mizuho! They just don't have the resources needed for a child to mature at a normal rate. These little space ships you jump around in are your own personal ivory towers, take a good look around next time you park it somewhere 'civilized'. The hard truth is; if the Galaxy Federation doesn't find a way to relieve the population pressure soon, the whole system will implode under its own weight."

"Then why not just send out more Astral Cartography ships to look for more habitable worlds?" Konoha asked.

"Do you know how much of one planet's GDP is tied up in a single long haul ship!" Shirou asked her sharply. "Well do you! It's close to a century's worth, for an investment that won't yield any dividends for hundreds of years more after that. That's the kind of wealth that will corrupt even the purest of souls."

Shirou's statement shocked the room into silence. Kei knew the expense was great but how great nobody thought to ask. It took a while for the significance of the information to sink in. An entire century, one hundred years of an entire planet's wealth! With interest that would continue to accumulate for hundreds more after that! That was a number so big as to be meaningless to anyone outside of the Obama administration!

"War," Kei said, "War for the most basic of reasons, survival."

"Exactly," Shirou responded, "but with unknowns involving you and Ichigo… I might have been able to keep the Galaxy Federation at arm's length a while longer."

"When I was in medical school," Dr. Edajima began, "We studied the entomology of epidemics and pandemics and how the Crusades and other wars were one of the major vectors. One of the conclusions reached was that all wars and conquests have the same root cause. Population pressure. If the people of Earth represent an exploitable resource as represented by Kei and Ichigo, then there is no way for us to stop it. The best we can do is prepare for it."

"How do you prepare for a covert attack from a technologically advanced foe that is already entrenched?" Hatsuho said to herself.

With the question posited, everyone in the room stopped talking as they searched for an answer to their conundrum.

It was Ichigo who broke the silence, "We all have to disappear," she said, "including both of our parents and my sister and her baby. The gene split didn't occur until our generation. If we eliminate our progenitors and all who came after then we will completely cull the mutation from the gene pool. We can't stop the invasion, but we can keep them from their prize."

Once more everyone was shocked into silence; Ichigo in her own Draconian way had isolated the cause of the problem and its ultimate solution.

Hatsuho was the first to react, "Damn you, how could you do this to your own people!" she screamed at her husband as she slapped his face for emphasis. "Damn you! Damn you! Damn you!"

Shirou grabbed her arms and held them tightly as she tried to break free. Finally, not having the strength to fight anymore she gave up and having no one else to cling too for support started crying into his shoulder.

Shirou started to cry as well, "Honey, can't you understand, Earth is my world and I was trying to help it. I didn't want to leave you all those years ago, but they told me I didn't have a choice. They told me they were going to take both our daughters away. They said that allowing yourself to get pregnant like you did was a crime and you could be punished as well. They offered to look the other way if I helped them and I thought as long as I was involved I could keep things from spiraling out of control. So, I gave up my family to do what little I could to help the Earth. It was the hardest decision of my life, and it turned out to be the wrong one. I wish I could take it back but I can't. Now I just have to live with the pain of it, and guilt of what I allowed happen to my baby girl."

With that said Shirou tried to stand up. It was obvious that the pain in his groin was excruciating but nonetheless he made it to his feet.

"That must be one heavy-duty pair of iron clad balls you got there, to be able to move after all that." Minoru said in admiration.

"Well the left one is OK but the right one might never work again," Shirou laughed.

Something about his last words appeared to have jarred Shirou's memories and a puzzled look came over his face as he sat back down. An idea had just flashed through his mind but the pain made it hard to focus, "Pair of balls," he said to himself.

"OK," said Mizuho, "Ichigo has given us a plan of action, but we need to act on it now before reinforcements arrive. I think I might have an idea on what we need to do."

"What, you can't be serious!" Minoru shouted, "You don't really intend to kidnap some innocent people because of a random genetic anomaly do you?"

"No of course not," said Mizuho, "but if we gather them together on this ship with us then we can protect them from being exploited until help arrives."

"And if help doesn't arrive?" Ichigo asked.

"We will cross that bridge when we get there." Mizuho said, her expression hard as she dwelled on her next move. Her thoughts flew to the statement her husband made earlier, "If that happens then I will fly this …ship into the sun!" Kei had said.

"I might be able to help with that." Shirou said, unexpectedly.

Looking at her father's face critically, Mizuho could tell his words were sincere, she did not know how she knew but to her it was obvious that her father had just switched sides. For Mizuho, the reason for her sudden acceptance of this fact might have been that of the few memories she had her father was his face. That face that always had the look of resignation, of a time long past where he had once known happiness, now content only to keep despair at bay. That look on his face was gone, replaced for the first time in her memory with the look of hope.

Not caring or even wanting to know how he intended to keep his word Mizuho felt her loyalties switch with his, if for no other reason than to keep that look on his face just a little longer. Acting on impulse she ordered, "Marie, plot a return course to the Earth coordinate Parallel Space Relay!"

The trip back:

"On Earth we respect those among us who are willing to lay down their lives for the sake of the greater good. The Galaxy Federation considers that a form of insanity. I used to count myself among the insane until they came along. Sometime during that ordeal I finally got tired of just existing and decided to become a lunatic again." Shirou.

"So, Commander Shirou, what made you change your mind?" Kei asked.

"It's amazing what a swift kick in the nuts will do for you. It tends to make you sit up and take notice of what's happening around you. If only to get your mind off the pain. It jogged loose an important memory, because there is only one moon around the Earth there can be only one pair of beacons marking the way," Shirou replied.

"The Galaxy Federation, it's like a sweet poison. Because you want for nothing you unknowingly give up that part of yourself that needs to be challenged. Do you know how long it has been since I felt so strongly about something I was willing to die for it? I was an astronaut, a hero, somebody who was willing to face death in the name of science. Look at me now, ashamed to face my own daughter over what I have become. Isn't your family supposed to be worth dying for? Yet I let them take my family from me without a fight. Isn't the welfare of your child something worth fighting for? Look at me; even after all they had done to her, everything they had already taken from her I still used my own daughter as a Judas Goat." Shirou told him through clenched teeth as his eyes began to tear up.

Suddenly smiling he looked at Kei, "But seeing the three of you, the sacrifices you are willing to make for each other. Your willingness to die to save others you don't even know. It reminded me what having a family was all about and why you must stand up for those things you believe in, no matter the odds. I've traveled a long distance down the wrong path. I will never be able to undo the wrong I've done to her, but I can damn well stop making the same mistake. Starting now!

"You were right Kei," he proclaimed as he forced himself to stand, the pain clearly written on his face though his voice remained strong, "as scientists and explorers we have a duty not just to push forward for discoveries sake but to do so in such a way as to benefit mankind as a whole. When I first heard about you and Ichigo I thought how wonderful it would be, to just go to sleep one day and then wake years later on an entirely new world not having aged a day. All without having to depend on complex fallible machines.

"I never considered the hardship suffered by the people involved. I never considered that the Galaxy Federation would try to use the Earth as an experimental base. I betrayed the love of my daughter, my family and the trust of the people of Earth. All in the pursuit of a goal that would bring misery instead of happiness to the people I'm supposed to represent, that is too high a price to pay."

"It wouldn't have worked anyway," said Minoru, "even though they don't appear to age outwardly they still do on the inside."

"What do you mean?" asked Kei.

"I never intended to tell you this Kei, but you need to know, those years you lost, they are gone forever. Whatever span of years the fates have granted you remain unchanged. The thinking that you could put someone into a Standstill and then reawaken them sometime in the distant future is a false hope. They would have just died from old age in their sleep."

"Just like Mizuho…" Shirou whispered to himself.

"What about Mizuho?" Kei asked.

"You never bothered to do the math, did you Kei?" Minoru asked him.

"What math?"

"How it is possible for you to remember the loss of the Mars mission, your wife to be several years older than you, and yet still be the daughter of the Mission commander?"

"Oh crap… does that mean that Mizuho ages faster than we do?"

"Closer to being like a fine wine, she was aged at an accelerated rate to enable her to be a quote, "Benefit to society instead of a burden," unquote." Shirou spat with disgust.

"It wasn't really as bad as Father makes it out to be." Mizuho interjected, you still get to live your life, you just do it at a different speed."

"I don't understand," Kei told his wife.

"It's a part of our lesson on faster than light travel that I never got around to telling you." Mizuho explained, "You see, when we are in Flat Space we are all living in a constantly expanding universe. One aspect of living on this plane is the important fact that time slows down the closer you get to the speed of light. However, on the Parallel Space side the opposite is true, time compresses the faster you travel. Fortunately, just like in Flat Space you have to be travelling somewhere close to 60% the speed of light before the effects become noticeable."

"Unfortunately," Shirou continued from his daughter's narrative, "there are several planets or planet fragments that move in extreme ellipsis around the gravity well where they come really close to 75% of c on the low end. Most of the ones that are habitable are cultivated, which enables the Galaxy Federation to produce foodstuffs at an accelerated rate in order keep up with the population growth. That's how the Galaxy Federation has been able to keep pace with the escalating demand for food resources until now.

"However, there are a few, like the one where Mizuho learned to be an observer, that are also industrialized. The Galaxy Federation doesn't really approve of industrialization in that region, however, for fear that the accelerated development might allow the industrial worlds an edge, that they might somehow outstrip the Flat Space worlds technologically, so they keep those planets on a really tight leash."

"It wasn't really that bad father," Mizuho interjected, "true we lived under some strict rules, but stay within the law and nobody will bother you."

"That's not the point honey, that's not the point at all. All those years you lived on your own, without us, without the guidance and love that only a parent is capable of, that was all taken from you, from us! All so the Galaxy Federation could get you quickly trained and in the field just to seduce a high school boy that happened to peak their interest."

Hatsuho took this moment to interject as well, "I don't think you're being fair, dear. I grew up in an accelerated environment and I think I came out okay."

"Did you really, or do you just think so?" Shirou asked her.

Hatsuho answered her husband again with a puzzled look.

"Let me ask you this then, how would you react if tomorrow, the Galaxy Federation were to say they needed someone with Maho's qualifications, but they needed her to be 80 years old for whatever reason. Would you sit there and let them take her, knowing the next time you laid eyes on her she would be an old woman? Moreover, how do you think Maho would feel, seeing you again after so many years, you still in the prime of your life with hers coming to an end? "

It was very apparent from the color draining from her face that Hatsuho had never contemplated such a scenario.

Not waiting for an answer Shirou continued, "My point exactly, you, me, Kei, Mizuho, Maho even Konoha we're not people in their eyes, just expendable pieces of meat. That mindset runs very deep in the thinking of those who sit in judgment of the rest of us."

"But it's not really that bad," Mizuho said half-heartedly, "you still get to live your life. It's not like Kei or Ichigo where you go to sleep and wakeup years later."

"Not yet anyway," Kei told his wife, "It would be the ultimate nightmare though. Kept in a Standstill until they needed you, then aged to their specifications, without you ever being the wiser."

"Your husband is right," Konoha told Mizuho. "What would you do if the Galaxy Federation were to take him, would cry, would you just find another to take his place? Or would you even feel like living any longer? We both know the answer, look at yourself, look at me even, from the time we came to this world until now we have both clung to our husbands as if they might disappear should we let go. Not because we were afraid they might leave us for greener pastures, but because we have always known, deep in our hearts, that which we hold most dear could be taken from us on just the whim of some bureaucrats."

Mizuho looked sadly at her fellow observer and nodded her head in understanding.

"Earth is our world now," Konoha continued. "If we wish to stay there, then we have to fight for the right to do so."

Minoru came up to his wife and hugged her from behind, another unexpected gesture from a man use to dodging his wife's more lethal blows.

"So what now then?" Minoru asked her.

"Now we have to save the Earth!" Shirou proclaimed.

"I certainly hope you have a plan." Mizuho remarked, "Because I'm fresh out of ideas."

"As a matter of fact I do." Shirou answered her unexpectedly.

000

Shirou's Plan.

Shirou began to explain, "It all begins with a Pair of balls!"

"What!" Came the collective response from everyone in the room.

"Try to keep up if you can, Kei." He winked.

Looking towards Hatsuho, Shirou began to explain. "Honey, you once told me that the reason we were allowed to stay together was because they needed somebody to program the relay station in a hurry. Do you remember why that was?"

"Yes, it was because of the single large moon." Hatsuho replied.

"Can you explain why that was so important?" he asked.

"Yes, you need a moon or some other stellar body to place your Flat Space relay in orbit around close to the planet you are studying. One that is large enough to exert sufficient pull to drag the relay along with it, but not so massive as to distort the fabric of space overly much. The nature of the tidal forces in Parallel Space is such that we can only put one relay pair in orbit around any one stellar body. That was very important because the Astral Cartography Ship only had normal type beacon pairs that weren't up to the task. As a consequence it was forced perform a continual series of ellipses around the sun, using fuel and losing momentum while trapped inside the solar system waiting for a dependable relay to be established."

"Why couldn't it orbit around the moon or something like that?" Kei asked.

"Think of the energies involved," Shirou answered him. "Here you have massive deep space craft moving close to the speed of light that has to align itself with the orbit of the earth while slowing itself down in order take measurements of anything it finds interesting, not to mention the orbital gymnastics it had to perform in order to rescue me!"

Kei's face actually lost a little color as he contemplated the math involved in such a complex equation.

Hatsuho smiled at her husband for his quick explanation before she continued, "Anyhow, the Earth's moon being so large was much bigger than we preferred and since there was only one, the ACS couldn't place redundant relay pairs close by, like it would normally do with a planet having multiple small moons. I was trained in an accelerated environment, studying your Earth science as well as our latest advances in artificial intelligence, in order to get the programming right because we only had the one stellar body to work with.

"The special relay set that marks this world was built under my direction, with totally redundant internal systems under AI control. One that is as dependable as any duel system, allowing the ACS to continue with its mission." Hatsuho told them proudly.

"And this is where things start to get interesting," Shirou pointed out, "because, despite all that fancy programming, what my wife is saying is that from the Parallel Space side there is only one gateway to this world."

"That's right." Hatsuho answered.

"And if something were to happen to that gateway then the Earth would be isolated again wouldn't it?"

"Yes, but that can't happen because I designed for that eventuality." Hatsuho said, not liking the direction the conversation was taking.

"Mother," Mizuho began as she grasped where her father was leading, "the Galaxy Federation might send ships, they might classify the coordinates, they might even interdict all of Earth space, but they would never dream of shutting down the relay would they."

"You mean voluntarily losing access to a world?" Hatsuho asked her. "No, they wouldn't, there is too much at stake to risk that kind of loss."

"Thus is the basis of my idea," Shirou told everyone. "The Galaxy Federation might not want to take the risk, but we Earth people have been getting along just fine without their aid so far. I'm pretty sure we can manage for a few more years." Shirou said.

"This is all silly talk," Hatsuho said, "that relay is controlled by an advanced AI; you can't just turn the thing off. You need an expert."

Hatsuho stopped short at that juncture as she realized the implications of what she just said. Too late, she realized that she was now the central focus of everyone in the room.

"No," she cried in horror, "you can't ask me to do that. An AI isn't just a machine. It thinks, it has emotions, it feels. I programmed it, I gave it life and now you want me to kill it! You might as well ask me to take the life of my child!"

"No, you're being asked to save the life OF a child, the child who sits in my classroom, and the hundreds of others like him." Mizuho answer her mother grimly.

Hatsuho looked around the room hoping to see signs of support but she saw none. There was plenty of empathy but absolutely no sympathy. Looking closely at the face of her eldest daughter, Hatsuho realized for the first time that the look of innocence was gone, replaced now by a look of determination. Sometime during the past few hours her daughter had taken that last irreversible step into adulthood and Mizuho, her innocent Mizuho, was gone. Understanding the truth of these things, she nodded her head in affirmation.

000

A few hours later:

"The mechanics of what I want us to do are very simple," Shirou explained. "The Miruru will stop at the beacon and Hatsuho will try to shut down the AI. Kei and I will get off on the Parallel Space side with her and do what we can to help. Maho will go back aboard the Miruru and back it off to extreme range to keep a look out for any danger headed our way and you, Mizuho, will go back to Earth and drop off our guests."

"You can't just do a physical transport for them?" asked Kei.

"It's not that easy," began Konoha, "you see every point in Parallel Space has an equal corresponding point in flat space. When we arrive at the beacon station that corresponding point will be 250 thousand miles away. The same distance the Moon is from the Earth, which is where the Flat Space relay is located. That's well beyond the range of the teleporter system."

Ichigo, who had remained silent while the others schemed, took this moment to object. "But I want to stay!"

"You have to go," said Shirou, "if you remain here in space the Galaxy Federation will never stop hunting you. Back on Earth you will be safe; once the beacons are disabled it will be a hundred years before another survey ship can make its way back there."

"But look at all these wonders," she argued. "How can you ask someone like me to just walk away from all this when there is so much new to learn!"

"Trust me Ichigo," Konoha began, "I was born in space and I don't ever want to go back. Earth is a beautiful place, made even more beautiful by the people who live there, people like you. Besides, how can I ever visit my nephew with you living on the other side of the galaxy?"

"Tell me, is there anybody here who doesn't know I'm pregnant?" Ichigo asked in disgust.

"I didn't. Wait a minute, your nephew?" Maho asked, looking at Konoha, "Then that means… Kei you cheating bastard!"

Disabling the Beacon:

"An AI thinks, it feels and it has real emotions. What I did was nothing short of cold-blooded murder!" Hatsuho.

Looked at on a schematic the standard beacon pair looks kind of like a giant sized cartoon dumbbell. Just two slightly misshapen round balls connected by a short bar. Looked at from the bridge of the Marie, however, only one section was visible, as the other end existed in the opposite universe. Although the sections looked the same, they each performed a different function. The parallel space side along with its navigational functions also served as a gravity collector of sorts, storing up gravitational energy from the singularity before transferring it across the threshold into normal space where the other section served as a gravity emitter. A rather simple computer program kept the relay in its correct orientation by varying the output of the emitter relative to the influence of the tidal forces in parallel space, as well as compensating for any perturbations that might be experienced on the normal space side.

The Delta DES 8228 beacon pair was not your ordinary run of the mill standard Galaxy Federation relay however. Earth's moon is more than a quarter of the size of its mother planet and the combined mass of the two solar bodies as they rotated about each other wreaked havoc with the surrounding fabric of space-time. Complicating this problem further was the fact that the Earth did not have any spare moons, which are required, if you want to place another beacon around the same planet. The Galaxy Federation's answer to this problem was to build a special construct incorporating certain redundant features that used an AI level computer program to mitigate the possibility of failure.

Upon their arrival at the beacon station, the group split in two with Mizuho, Konoha, Minoru and Ichigo staying on the Marie as it continued on to Earth while Hatsuho, Kei and Shirou teleported to the control room of the station with Maho remaining on the Miruru as lookout.

"So how do we shut this thing down?" Shirou asked as he looked out of the window of the control room of the relay.

Hatsuho replied, "By talking to it. I have to try to get it to understand that if it continues to let Galaxy Federation traffic through indiscriminately then other beings will be hurt. I don't even know if it can understand the concept of pain and suffering. If I can get the AI to allow me access to the power controller then I can drop all feeds to the primary and backup systems. Once the voltage in the main frame drops below the critical level all cognitive functions should cease."

As soon as they had entered the control room they were met by a small yellow figure with a tear dropped shaped head that bore an uncanny resemblance to the AI animations of the two observer ships. The only way to tell the three apart was where Marie wore an inner tube and Miruru wore a dress, this one wore a large skeleton key on its back.

From the antics of the little creature, Kei could tell that the little avatar was happy about Hatsuho's unexpected arrival. Its happiness did not last for very long though, as it quickly discerned Hatsuho's reason for coming. Sitting at the power console Hatsuho began the process of a controlled power down. At first, the little creature vainly tried to push her hands away from the controls but Hatsuho simply shooed it away before continuing. Finally, the little creature let out a long mournful wale that resonated with the single question to all who heard. "Why?"

Hatsuho's demeanor faltered as tears started to flow from her eyes. Aware that the AI was able to sense duplicity she answered back shakily, "You open a pathway between those who would exploit the world on the other side and the helpless ones who live there."

The little creature made a lilting noise and looked back at her questioningly.

Hatsuho answered the question that it had placed in her mind, "Yes, it was me who placed you here. It was to be your function to open a path between other worlds and this place."

The station's avatar made another lilting noise and shrugged its shoulders.

"No, little one there is no malfunction, you have done your job admirably."

Once again, the creature made the sound of, "Why?"

"Because new data has been discovered that indicates I was in error to do so. I'm so sorry," Hatsuho sobbed, "but now I must undo the mistake I made."

The little creature made another noise, this time the sound was more of a protest than a question.

"Nobody wants to die," Hatsuho answered softly, "the will to live on is ingrained in us all, but death is an inescapable part of life. All things must pass to make way for the things of the future. Protecting this future is the reason why we live and the reason why we must also die."

From Kei's perspective, it seemed that the machine actually hesitated before responding.

When the little figure did respond, Kei could almost swear he heard the creature ask, "So, I must pass so others might live?"

"Yes," Hatsuho affirmed, tears once again starting to flow from her eyes, "as long as you mark the way others will suffer because of it."

The next sound the little creature made, anybody with a heart could understand. "I'm afraid," it pleaded.

"I understand," Hatsuho said, openly crying by now, "I will stay here with you till the end."

"Promise?" Kei heard the AI ask plainly in his mind.

"I promise." Hatsuho answered it softly.

The emotional tension in the room was almost more than Kei could take, then he caught Shirou signaling him to go outside.

Glad to be away from the drama of the control room Kei asked, "I take it there is more you needed to tell me?"

Shirou replied, "Yes, those beacons are designed to maintain lock on each other even under the most adverse conditions, just shutting down the Parallel Space beacon won't do. We also need to shut down the Normal Space relay, and that has to be done from that side. Depending on the stability of the singularity the connection could close instantly, stranding the other person on that side forever."

"That's not another AI as well, is it?" Kei asked fearfully.

"Thankfully no, all the cognitive functions were being handled on this side. Nonetheless, the other system will try to stay locked up for as long as possible, if the Galaxy Federation repair team gets here fast enough, they might be able to restore the gateway and all we have done will be for naught."

"Well I'm all ears. How do we go about doing what we need to do without one of us getting stranded on the wrong side?"

"There isn't any way to avoid it, one of us has to stay, but I do have a plan."

"Okay I'm listening," Kei said, knowing he was not going to like what he was about to hear.

"One of the reasons that I'm still alive Kei is because of the way they designed the Mars rocket. The engineers intended for the flight logs of the trip, along with one member of the crew was to survive even if the big ship suffered a catastrophe. The one chosen to live was me, the Crew Commander. The escape module, with its copies of the ships logs along with my hyper sleep chamber, were all on a different power feed than the rest of the crew. Clues to the mystery of what happen that day are still preserved in the escape module's data logs. I wanted to send the escape module back to Earth but the captain of the Galaxy Federation ship vetoed the idea. He said it was too great a possibility that the ships logs might contain information about his ship. As a compromise, I was able to convince him to leave my escape pod docked to the Flat Space beacon on the other side, as a sort of signpost for future explorers to discover. My escape pod still works, it has enough air and water to get from Mars to the Earth, from the Moon to the Earth should be a piece of cake."

"I think I understand what you're getting at. One of us needs to stay and return to the Earth in that ship."

"I'm asking you to stay Kei," the old astronaut almost cried, "I already deserted my family once; please don't ask me to do it again."

Kei looked at his father-in-law critically for a few seconds before he smiled and replied, "Promise you will look after Mizuho for me and not let them hurt her anymore."

"I'm not as naive as I was back then Kei, Mizuho is a citizen of the Galaxy Federation and the Surveyor Corps she works for is a pretty hard-core group. They won't let one of their own be railroaded by some politician and if they try, then I'll be there to tell the truth about what really happened on Delta DES 8228."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Kei reminded him, "we still need to disable the beacon to keep the Galaxy Federation from coming back to the Earth."

"Very well then, it will be a while before the power runs down. Walk with me to the other side."

"You mean we can just walk from Parallel space to Normal space like you would from one end of a building to another?"

"Yes you can." Shirou grinned.

"So how do you know which side you are on?"

"Well the air lock kind of gives it away. How the people who built this place knew where to put the door I don't know.

Once through the door Kei found himself standing in a small room filled with equipment. The spaces between the racks barely wide enough to allow him to pass. At the end of the corridor was a single window through which he could see the Earth. Partially obscuring his view was the engine nozzle of the Mars Mission Escape Module. Following the centerline of the rocket, he could see the air lock that attached the alien artifact to the Earth ship.

"I see," Kei said, "since both the Flat Space and Parallel space sides are all part of the same unit you use the moon's gravity to drag both ends along in sync with the Earth."

"Deceptively simple isn't it," remarked Shirou. "This corridor we are standing in is really a wave guide used to focus the output of the gravity generator. The tidal forces in Parallel space can fluctuate wildly, by adjusting the amount of gravity the relay exerts on the moon it keeps itself from being pulled back into Parallel space.

Kei turning his attention to the escape pod asked, "How did you get the doors to fit?"

"Part of the deal I made. Remember this relay was custom built, Hatsuho built the hatch in, complete with power feeds, so I could leave my ship docked here and the information would remain preserved. I've already run the ship's internal diagnostics. Just type in the word Execute and the computer will do the rest. The trip should last about two days. I hope you are good at answering questions 'cause there are going to be a lot of them when you get home." Shirou laughed.

"So how do I go about shutting this thing down?" Kei asked, turning his attention back to the task at hand.

"First thing we need to do is wait, the AI will interpret any irregularities in the other system as pain. Hatsuho is going to power down the primary and backup systems simultaneously. In effect the AI system will go to sleep, once that happens the systems defensive mechanism will be disabled."

"Then what?"

"Then you will use this B.F.H. to disable the Flat Space emulators."

"What's a B.F.H.?"

"What does it look like?"

"A large hammer."

"That's right."

"So what do you expect me to do with it?"

"Well if something looks important, it probably is. Smash it!"

Smiling Kei said, "I have some serious issues with the Galaxy Federation, I'm going to enjoy this."

Back on Earth:

"Something about seeing her all alone and vulnerable like that made my heart want to reach out to her and hold her in a way it never did with Mizuho. I didn't really care whose baby it was, all I knew was it was a part of her and I wanted to be there for her." Matagu.

"Slow down damn it!" shouted Matagu as still yet another TV news crew hurtled on by.

The traffic had been like this since early that morning as word of another UFO sighting had started to spread. This time not one but two separate UFO's had been spotted during the early morning hours just after sunup. As he was pondering this latest incident, he felt a cold gust of wind on his neck sending chills up his spine. He looked around not really expecting to spy anything when suddenly his eyes fell on Ichigo standing where he had been moments before he had been forced to jump for safety.

"You need to get on the other side of the railing," she said, "There is a whole group of them that will be here shortly."

Mizuho had already teleported Kei's foster parents back to their home when Marie had alerted her to Matagu walking forlornly down the middle of the road, unawares of the threat hurtling towards him. Knowing there was no way for him to be aware of the danger posed by the speeding news vans she had teleported Ichigo to his location so she could warn him.

Startled, but knowing not to argue he obediently did as he was told and climbed over the railing as she followed.

"You didn't get a glimpse of the latest UFO sighting by any chance did you?" he asked Ichigo trying to start up a conversation.

Smiling at some unspoken joke she replied, "No I didn't, I was pretty much occupied at the time."

"I hear that there were two of them this time," Matagu continued excitedly, "and a lot of people got a pretty good look. They are talking about bringing in some expert sketch artists to make drawings of it. Damn I wish I could have seen it too."

"If all you want to do is find out what it looks like then just look over there," Ichigo said as she pointed above the lake.

Matagu looked to where Ichigo was pointing. At first, he didn't see anything then all of a sudden he saw the outline of Mizuho's ship as she dropped the cloaking. Standing in a small clearing between the trees, Ichigo waved at the alien craft as if she knew someone was watching. Matagu waved at it too, continuing to do so even as a convoy of TV news vans sped on by, totally oblivious to the alien space ship that was hovering just a few yards above the lake. The outline of the ship started to fade as the cloaking was re-engaged but a slight distortion remained allowing Matagu to watch as the ship lifted up then headed out into space, he continued to stare at the sky long after all traces of the ship's passage had vanished.

"I take it you're not going to explain any of this to me are you?" he said.

"That's right, I'm not."

"I thought so," he sighed.

Changing the subject suddenly Matagu remarked, "You know, you're starting to show just a little bit."

"Did somebody take out an ad in the newspaper or something!" the normally stoic Ichigo almost screamed, "How is it that everybody knows I'm pregnant?"

"Well in my case, it is because it kicked me when we were sitting together on the dock after you finished your prank on Hyosuke."

"Oh well, I guess that means he's healthy then."

"Do you mind if I ask another personal question?"

"Seems to be the day for it, go ahead."

"Whose baby is it?"

"Mine and Ms Kazumi's."

"You're not going to explain that either, are you?"

"Probably not."

For some unknown reason Matagu was starting to feel a little dismayed. Realizing that the world was once again changing all around him he decided to act on an impulse he had held in check ever since he first met Ichigo over five years ago.

"You know I never told anybody this but I think you're awfully cute," he confessed.

"I think you're just on the rebound myself," Ichigo replied.

"So, you want to hang out."

"You're not listening…"

Back in space:

"I just didn't care anymore; I knew I had been betrayed yet again, which made it easy for me to choose a side." Hatsuho.

"Mother," Maho shouted over the comm. link in alarm, "we have a Galaxy Federation Interdictor closing on us; they'll be here in less than 20 minutes."

"What, just one!" she screamed. "That's not enough, unless…"

"Unless their purpose is to take you into custody before you cause any more trouble." Shirou finished for her.

"It's too soon, the power remaining in the UPS will last for another 5 hours." Hatsuho cried.

"We can't wait around Mother or we will all go to prison!"

"I'm not going anywhere," Hatsuho cried, "I have a promise to keep. Take your father and get out of here, with any luck the ship will chase after you then I can finish my work here."

"That's too dangerous mother! Once the system loses lock on both ends the relay will be adrift in Parallel space. We won't be able to find you again! You'll be stuck here forever!" Maho cried.

"It's all right dear, it's such a small price to pay to save an entire world don't you think?"

"But why you, this isn't even our home planet. Why should you sacrifice yourself to save people you don't even know?"

"Because of the Exiguousness Doctrine dear," Shirou answered. "We know that the secret to Kei's disorder is what the Galaxy Federation seeks. If the Galaxy Federation establishes open diplomatic relations with the Earth with that goal in mind; even if the Earth leaders were to balk at first, by the time the Galaxy Federation finished messing with the Earth's internal politics, then the entire planet could find itself being starved into submission."

"What's the Exiguousness Doctrine?" Hatsuho asked her husband.

"Basically it is a form of political arm twisting that involves the disruption of goods and services when a local government refuses to toe the line. It relates to something that happened after I deserted you," Shirou shuddered. "They teach it as a children's story at the Observer Academy now, but I was there, I know better."

"Well…"

"It happened on one of those accelerated worlds, one those rare instances where the original colonist's were smart enough to balance the economy evenly between industrial and agricultural. The then current leaders lost sight of that and allowed themselves to be deceived into believing that if they were to abandon farming altogether and switch over to a fulltime manufacturing footing then riches would abound.

"What really happened was the local government used overly optimistic cost and production projections when borrowing against their predicted GDP for the money they needed to re-tool.

"Of course, we both know that nothing ever gets completed on time or within budget and they ran several years short of their production goals. Next time that world rose out of the well the Galaxy Federation was there, hands outstretched, expecting their agreed upon delivery of goods. Goods that poor world had failed to produce. Moreover, because of their failure the Galaxy Federation refused to extend them any more credit, leaving the local government short on the cash they needed necessary to buy the correct amount of foodstuffs to survive the next blackout."

"That's just not possible!" Hatsuho exclaimed. "Nobody in the Galaxy Federation central government would allow a world to starve to death! That's one of the first things we're taught in the Observer Academy!"

"You're right, of course, but you are not taking the whole dynamic into account," Shirou answered. "That world did have some bartering power, it wasn't as if they hadn't produced anything at all, but they had also agreed upon a fixed selling price, so they couldn't adjust prices to cover the shortfall. Properly rationed, the population would have had enough of what they needed to survive, but the Warm-and-Fuzzys had insinuated themselves deep into local politics by that time and none of them had the courage to tell the rank and file the truth."

"Still not everyone could have been so shortsighted…"

"They weren't; but the powers that were had never known a time when they couldn't supply for their own needs, and refused to recognize they had destroyed their agricultural infrastructure while allowing their population to grow beyond sustainable limits. They just didn't realize how dire their situation really was.

"Those who saw the writing on the wall sold everything they had and immigrated off world, those who couldn't afford to immigrate wound up selling their children to Central Government in order to leave. By the time that world dropped back into the well their entire brain trust was gone and with no one to tell them what to do or how to do it… You can picture for yourself what happened next."

"I guess so…"

"Anyway, by the time that world rose from the well for the second time and two-way travel resumed, the entire population had died off. The records recovered of their last days were, to put it mildly, disgusting. Immediately thereafter, the vultures swooped in and scavenged everything of value, the factories were dismantled, and a new population of farmers was seeded to start over."

"How is it that you know all this?" Hatsuho asked her husband.

"Because it was one of the worlds you had requested we be allowed to immigrate too," Shirou answered. "I was taken there as part of my… indoctrination into Development Department's Resource and Exploitation Division. It was intended to be a lesson on what happens when Galaxy Federation is not allowed to intervene, but I really think what they were trying to show me is what a favor I had did you by leaving."

"You mean the one with all the lakes and the fields and those beautiful cities…"

"That's the one, no more fresh water anymore though; the lakes have all been polluted. Fields are gone as well; every flat piece of earth is covered with the remains of their mega factories. The new colonist are going to be hard pressed to get the planet habitable enough to survive before it drops back down the well again."

"Those bastards!" Hatsuho exclaimed, before continuing in more business like tone. "You know, they don't know you've switched sides, I can give you a sedative that will knock you out for several hours. That way, when you wake up, you can just tell them you were captured and tortured by your ex-wife. Those purple nuts I gave you will give your story credence."

"No!" Shirou said firmly, "No more taking the easy way out, no more of my abandoning my family! No more of NOT saying what must be said!"

From the communications console came the slightly distorted voice of Maho as she lodged her own protest. "I don't know anything about this Exiguousness Doctrine you two are talking about but I do know this isn't our fight! Let the Earth people handle this, we need to leave now!"

"That's just your fear speaking for you Maho," Hatsuho said. "Your sister and her husband, Ichigo and her unborn child, Koishi and her future family, even Kaede with all her insecurities, these are all good people who deserve a fair chance at life. The chance I denied them when I helped put this thing here. Go on dear; you know I have to stay."

Shirou came over to his wife and put his arms around her, "Do you really need to stay?"

"Yes I do, the cognitive system can only override the autonomous system as long as it isn't in response to a pain reflex. I have to keep the two systems in balance to keep that from happening."

"I see," Shirou said, "while it may be too little, too late, I will honor my promise and stay here with you. I'm done with being a coward, I'll do my best to live up to the ideals you once thought I had."

"Maho" he shouted, as he turned his attention to the monitor, "give me real-time running reports. When the other ship gets to within 90 seconds do a maximum burn along their reciprocal course. That should make them think that you are trying to escape. With any luck, you should be able to keep them occupied until we are done here. Do you understand?"

"Yes Father," she cried.!MARK!

Interestingly, the AI had overheard and understood every word that was said and had asked itself the seemingly odd question of: "Why would these short-lived creatures be willing to sacrifice themselves?" When it finally realized that the reason they had chosen death over life was to keep their promise to it, it began to feel something. For the first time in the AI's all too short existence, it finally knew the true meaning of love. Therefore, it acted in a way as only someone who understood this oldest of mysteries could. It decided to lay down its life to protect the lives of others.

"Promise to keep," Hatsuho heard the AI in her mind, "promise to keep, promise to keep." Suddenly the lights in the room became very bright and the power meter went into the red. The station's avatar suddenly began to glow red in response to the pain.

"What's going on?" Shirou asked in alarm.

"I think the AI is trying to use up its reserve power before they arrive." Hatsuho answered awestruck, as she stared back at the little creature as it convulsed in pain.

"How long do you think it will take?"

"I don't know. But it interprets anomalies as pain, for it to be burning this much energy it must be in absolute agony. Who knows how much pain it can take!"

Hatsuho wanted to help, if only to ease the little creature's pain, but she knew she could do nothing, so she just sat and stared as the symbols on the readouts became a constant blur. She could not even imagine the type of pain the system was inflicting upon itself.

"Promise to keep, promise to keep, promise to keep…" The litany repeated over and over the words echoing in Hatsuho's mind. Then, the lights just went out, replaced by the red glow of the emergency lanterns. The little yellow avatar suddenly became motionless and fell to the floor, now nothing more than a lifeless doll. Hatsuho picked the little creature up and hugged it to her breast. "Oh, Muzuho," she spoke to it softly, "forgive me please."

The feeling of something passing was almost tangible; everybody in the room felt it. Hatsuho was crying openly as she hugged the lifeless avatar apologizing to it over and over again, on the video screen Maho could be seen to be barely holding back her tears, even Shirou was having trouble keeping his composure. Kei felt has if he had just been witness to an execution.

"That's about all we can do from this end." Shirou said softly, "somebody needs to go to the Flat Space side and shut down the emulators."

"I'll do my part, just show me what to smash and run for the door. That way there is no risk of you getting caught on the wrong side." Kei said flatly.

"It's very simple; the Flat Space emulators are synchronized with the AI in Parallel Space. Since we have shut the AI down, the Flat Space emulators have nothing to sync up with. They try to maintain a sort of virtual sync using some very sophisticated software and fuzzy logic. However, since they don't have any real data to cross-reference too it's all really just an electronic guessing game. Just do a little behavior modification to the master computer on the other side and it should drop everything in memory to replace it with what the machines think is updated information from this end. Since there is nothing in the AI memory for the Flat Space system to sync with, everything should zeroize. The singularity should start to close as soon as that happens."

"I guess this means we won't see each other again," Kei said as he offered his hand to the old astronaut, "Please do me a favor, take good care of Mizuho and tell her that I love her."

Taking Kei's hand in his own, Shirou gave him a vigorous handshake and replied, "On that I give you my word."

Kei went to the far end of the control room and stepped through the air lock closing the door behind him. Just as the door hissed shut Kei saw Mizuho as she ran into the room from the other side.

Shirou saluted Kei then said, "Thank you Kei, thank you for letting me redeem myself."

Mizuho having spied her husband on the wrong side of the door began franticly pounding upon it as she cried after him. "You don't have to go; the emulators will eventually lose sync on their own. Come back over to this side! Kei please stay here with me in space."

"I wish I could, I really do," he said over the intercom, "but I am the source of the Standstill infection in you. If we are ever caught, the Galaxy Federation could use us to inflict this malady on to others. So even if they never re-discover the Earth the damage would still be done."

"I love you Kei, please don't go." Mizuho pleaded.

"My dearest teacher," he smiled lovingly at her, "your place is in space alongside your family. Mine is on Earth helping the young prepare for the future."

Through the view port Mizuho could see Kei as he raised the hammer above his head before smashing the main computer. As he struck alarms started to ring in the beacon control room. The whole control room began to shake as the tidal forces of Parallel Space began to pull on the relay. The far end of the room started to elongate like pulled taffy, the distortion effect looking the same as the day when Mizuho pulled him from the maw of that Black Hole. "NO!" Mizuho screamed.

Kei quickly climbed into the escape capsule and pressed the execute button on the computer. As the capsule ejected he could see through the canopy that part of the relay's structure that penetrated into normal space. As the singularity started to close, it distorted the fabric of space causing the structure to appear to bend in impossible angles before disappearing in a flash of light as it was pulled back into Parallel Space.

"You need to go now dearest," Shirou said to his daughter, "or you will never see him again."

Mizuho looked at her father in understanding then said, "Marie! Physical transport to Kei's location. Then do a master erase of all files and records. This is my final priority 1."

In the escape Pod:

"To me it was inconceivable that she would give up all that to stay here with me. I really do believe I have been blessed." Kei.

"Why didn't you stay in space?" asked a puzzled Kei.

"Because you are wrong," Mizuho said, as she snuggled even closer to him in the already cramped confines of the small ship, "my place is with you. Whether it is the vastness of space, or just a tiny corner of a frontier planet, I know I will be happy if I remain by your side."

"You know this thing is barely big enough for one," Kei observed, "we are going to be crammed together like this for the next two days."

"I'm sure we can find something to pass the time," Mizuho said, laughing demurely as her hands started to wander over his body.

"What! You want to do that for two whole days!"