A Mummy for all seasons...
"Tenchi Muyo!" and characters were created by Hiroki Hayashi and Masaki Kajishima, and is the property of AIC/Nippon Television, Geneon Entertainment and FUNimation Entertainment.
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A Mummy for all seasons...
By Daferge...
( Chapter 21, ... )
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( Southeastern Turkey... )
Professor Ryoko Hakubi stood near the covered portion of Gobekli Tepe, over looking the Archaeological site...
It had been a long day and a number of new, unusual finds had been uncovered...
It would take a few days to properly process the finds...
Photograph, sketch, measure, identify, etc...
All the detailed work that was the major portion of Archeology...
Unlike all those Adventurers every one saw in the movies...
And then there were people like Nobuyuki Masaki and her mom, Washu Hakubi, who seem to draw Archaeological discoveries to them...
As she smiled, a tingle began to run down her spine...
TENCHI?...
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All of a sudden she had a strange feeling, one she'd had before...
Every once and a while this would happen to Jurai/Masaki females...
But for some reason, this time was far stronger than a few days ago...
That could only mean one thing...
WASHU!!!...
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( Office, Doctor Hawass, The Cairo Museum... )
Every one was back in the office, sitting around as Washu stood over them...
Imhotep-ra was holding Tenchi's arm tight, she seem to sense that something was about to happen and was nervous...
Tenchi turned and looked down at her...
He found her looking back at him, with the same kind of look that Sasami got when she wasn't sure what was going on and was scared...
He didn't know why, but he smiled and gently brushed her cheek with his free hand...
She smiled, closed her eyes and rested her head on his shoulder...
Every female in the room was now watching Tenchi...
Washu watched and smiled...
She could always depend on Tenchi...
She walked to the center of the room, so every one could see her...
Turning, so she could see Tenchi, Washu smiled...
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Looking around, Washu could see a lot of nervous faces...
The road to this point in time had been long and complex, especially for Imhotep-ra...
Washu was a scientist to the bone and she didn't use the word FATE too often...
But of late, she was beginning to think there just might be something to it...
Some one had once said something about, if you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth...
Perhaps she should do an in depth study of the subject, perhaps it would get her nominated for another Nobel prize, she hadn't seen her name on the list for some years...
She wondered if they'd forgotten about her...
The clearing of a throat brought here back to the present...
She saw Tenchi looking at her, shaking his head, her eyes must of glazed over again as she got caught up in concentrating on something...
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Sighing Washu placed a hand on her laptop...
" As most of you know, my laptop has finished processing the language data for my translation program... "
After years of lectures before collage students, she'd learned to keep it simple just so she could finish her lecture without explaining every fourth word...
Besides all the technical details was over their heads and in Mihoshi's case, completely meaningless...
She picked up a small item and tossed it to Tenchi, who caught it with his free hand...
" That's a wireless mike, connected to my laptop... If you'll have Imhotep-ra speak into it, we'll see what happens... "
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Tenchi looked at the mike, then Washu, then Imhotep-ra and sighed...
Reaching down, he gently touched her and got her attention...
With her eyes open and looking at him, he lifted the mike up so she could see it...
There was confusion in her eyes and she started to say some thing...
Tenchi smiled, put a finger to her lips and shook his head...
Her eyes widened for a moment then she nodded her head...
Smiling, Tenchi pointed a finger at her and then held up the mike...
Moving it before his face, he began to speak...
" Please... Speak... Slowly... Into... The... Mike... "
Imhotep-ra watched Tenchi speak and her eyes widened again as he held it up for her to speak into...
She looked at Tenchi, then at Washu and the others watching her, then at the mike...
Taking a deep breath, she slowly spoke to the mike...
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Standing next to her laptop, Washu had reached over and hit a few keys as Tenchi held the mike for Imhotep-ra to speak into...
This had started the program...
As Imhotep-ra began to slowly speak, Washu could hear the sounds of the laptop program starting to work...
She resisted the urge to turn and read what was being printed on the screen...
Imhotep-ra only spoke a little bit before stopping and looking at Tenchi...
Washu turned to look at what was on the screen...
THIS... WANT... YOU... I...
Washu was confused for a moment and then it hit her...
GRAMMAR...
With a big smile she turned to the others...
" We have contact... "
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( The Jurai home... )
Azusa had been sitting in the living room most of the evening, just watching Sasami and Ryo-ohki play on the rug...
It was a relaxing way of getting away from the rest of the world...
Funaho was in the kitchen fixing some more tea for him, a new Turkish brand Ryoko had sent them, quite good...
He was about to get up and help in the kitchen when Sasami suddenly froze...
Concerned, Azusa was about to get up when Sasami started moving again...
Turning, she smiled at Azusa before returning to play with Ryo-ohki...
Funaho returned with the tea to find Azusa rubbing his head...
Setting his tea on the coffee table, she put a hand on his shoulder...
Putting a hand on hers, he looked up into her face and sighed...
She didn't have to ask, she'd felt something while in the kitchen...
Washu was extremely excited about something and some how she knew they'd hear about it shortly...
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( The Masaki shrine... )
Katsuhito was relaxing his office, doing some weekly paperwork when he heard giggling coming from outside...
A short time later, the door opened to admit his lovely wife Airi...
A quick glance at the wall clock told him he'd missed lunch again...
But the smile on Airi's face told him there was more...
He'd seen that look before...
" Tenchi or Washu?... "
As she smiled, he remembered that Washu was joining Tenchi in Egypt...
Nobuyuki... Nobuyuki.... Nobuyuki...
What mischief had they gotten into now...
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( Back in Cairo... )
It had taken a while for everyone to calm down enough to continue, but Washu and the others sat and watch as Tenchi helped Imhotep-ra slowly talk into the mike...
Washu didn't let any one interrupt her until she was finished...
Then she sat at the laptop and began to process the collection of data just imputed...
Unlike a human mind, the computer wasn't able to process grammar as easily...
Washu was having to take the translated words and create sentences from them...
There were still a lot of untranslated words, but using what she had and what she could make out of it was more than enough...
For now...
As she finished, she realized that she was the center of attention...
All eyes in the room were on her...
Standing up, she took a deep breath and began her lecture...
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" Ladies and gentlemen... Let me introduce you to Imhotep-ra, personal Physician to Queen Aye-ka-Ra, better know in history books as Ankhesenpaaten... "
All eyes turn to the young girl clinging to Tenchi's arm...
" As most Egyptologist know, Ankhesenpaaten was the wife of the famous boy king, Tutankhamun... Also know as Nebkheperure... And it seems Tenchi tends to remind Imhotep-ra of her beloved Pharaoh... "
Tenchi found all eyes shifted to him...
" It seems that after the Pharaoh's untimely death, his chief adviser Kag-A-Too, better know by his common name Ay it-neyjer assumed the throne and became known as Kheperkheperure... "
All eyes were back on Washu...
" To improve his position, Ay tried to get Ankhesenpaaten's hand in marriage... But she refused and even tried to get the Hittite king Suppiluliuma I to send one of his sons to be her husband and Pharaoh... The son was killed at the Egyptian border and Ay had Ankhesenpaaten mummified, alive... "
There was a deadly silence...
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" However, Imhotep-ra here was able to get the priest, who didn't like Ay, to do a special process... The same process they later used on her... "
She had their attention now...
" Later, while trying to locate where Ay buried the Queen, Imhotep-ra was caught by Ay and he decided to sent to join her Queen and Pharaoh... As it turned out, the same priests who had worked on the Queen, processed her too... "
Washu noticed Tennyo's raised hand and nodded...
" So that would explain why she was buried so far from any thing, it WAS revenge... "
Washu smiled...
" That would be my guess... But it seems that some of Imhotep-ra's followers were able to learn where Ay buried her and left that encriptic message behind, in case they were unable to rescue her... Which it seems they weren't... "
Washu paused...
" After 4 years, 1 month, Ay's rule ended and Horemheb, the commander of Tut's Army took power... He ruled for almost 27 years, managed to re-stabilized Egypt and was the last of the 18th Dynasty Pharaoh... Ramesses the first, also a military officer, was next and began the 19th Dynasty... "
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After several minutes of silence, it was Tenchi who spoke up...
" Would it be a wild guess to say you didn't get ALL that from her?... "
Washu smiled, it was good to see Tenchi had been paying attention...
" I got the basic data from the translated information... As she made reference to Tenchi and Nebkheperure, I had collected data about the late 18th Dynasty era for background... Using that, I put together my little lecture... "
Washu paused...
" There is still a lot to learn, but at least we now have a way to communicate with Imhotep-ra now... "
She smiled at Imhotep-ra, who seem to be a lot calmer...
" But as I understand it, there is at least one, if not more, time capsules out there waiting for us to find them... "
Washu looked around...
" Imhotep-ra has asked us to help her find her Queen, Ankhesenpaaten... Known to her followers as Aye-ka-Ra of the Nile... "
To be continued...
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Main Cast:
Nobuyuki as Egyptology Professor Nobuyuki Masaki (43)
Tennyo as Egyptology Professor Tennyo Masaki - his daughter (21)
Mihoshi as Mihoshi Masaki - Nobuyuki's assistant - adopted daughter (20)
Tenchi as Tenchi Masaki - his visiting son (17)
Washu as Professor Washu Hakubi - (Aunt) - California Institute of technology (45)
Ryoko as Professor Ryoko Hakubi - (cousin) Minoan/Mycenaean Archaeology (23)
Katsuhito as Katsuhito Masaki Jurai - ( Tenchi's ) GrandFather (65)
Airi as Airi Masaki Jurai - ( Tenchi's ) Grandmother (62)
Azusa as Azusa Masaki Jurai - Great-Grandfather (Katsuhito's father) (90)
Funaho as Funaho Masaki Jurai - Great-Grandmother (Katsuhito's mother) (85)
Sasami as Sasami Masaki Jurai - GrandAunt ( Katsuhito's little sister ) (10)
Ryo-ohki - a sumxu, a rare type of cat with long hair and lop-ears
Imhotep-ra - A 3300 year old Egyptian female mummy and Washu look-a-like
Zahi Hawass - Secretary General of the EHCA ( Egyptian Higher Council of Antiqities )(60)