"Kirra, could you please get the Semi-conductive relapser for me?" Washu asked as she sat under the hull of some type of chamber. Her workroom was cluttered with various scraps of metal, and a few bits of wire. Kirra stood in a corner of the room, doing whatever Washu asked her, and nothing more. She would get a tool, then retreat to her shadows.
"Yes, Miss Washu." Kirra said, walking quietly away. She never made much noise…all that Galaxy Police-ing must have force that into her, Washu supposed. At least she was less hostile than before. Always looking for a fight, fights that she knew she would lose. Suicidal and scared…a bad combination. Washu wondered if Kirra enjoyed being mysterious. Probably not. Kirra didn't act as if she enjoyed anything.
Poor girl. Her eyes were so sad, and she must have laughed once, to have such a lively face. It was so full of emotion…or, it must have been once. Now it was just filled with sadness.
Kirra still wouldn't talk about whatever had happened to her. Whenever someone asked about it, she would go into a screaming fit. Washu and Kiyone had been talking about some space pirates on the most wanted list when Kirra had walked into the room. She sat down and listened for a while, getting more and more nervous before she finally screamed, clawed at her throat, and fainted.
Washu had tried to analyze Kirra's thoughts, and had been nearly killed trying to get her into the machine. When she finally managed it (with the help of Tenchi and Ryoko), all that she could see was an image of black crisscrossed with red and a few images that passed too quickly to tell what they were.
Well, this new machine should help, at least a little. "Kirra, do you know what this machine is?"
Kirra shook her head. "No, Miss Washu."
"Well, it's only my latest and greatest invention in the past 100 years! I call it…the Energy Cell Compounder, Expander, and Swapper, or the ECCES. The ECCES takes any type of energy, like Ryoko's, and works with it. If you already have energy that you can use, it can store it for later use. If you have some that you don't know about, you can 'expand' is by…like…well, like a opening a locked file on the computer!"
"What?"
"It takes that hidden energy and gives you the key to use it. And, as I said before, it can exchange your energy with someone else, even someone who has no natural energy. See, it's even got a little spot for cabbits like Ryo-Ohki. So cabbits could use it too."
"Nice." f
"Thank you. Now that that's finally finished, I can sleep!"
"Good night, Miss Washu."
"Good night, Kirra."
~
Kirra wasn't naturally curious-anymore, at least. But something Washu had said about the machine must have made her curious, because later that night she found herself standing next to the ECCES, and climbing in. She lay down inside and began pressing the buttons on the ceiling. It was kind of like a space pod- a space pod was the only thing that had saved her life. Barely enough time to get into one, even less time left to blast off. She had made in only a short distance away from the ship before it blew and had still been lucky to survive. The pod had been caught in the blast, but it had been closer to earth and didn't get as much damage.
Kirra began to get nervous. Was this really a good idea? She asked herself. Calm down…he's not here, calm down.
The machine finally turned on and she heard gears whrr-ing around her. The machine rattled, then started to glow.
She was uncertain what happened next, but she thought that greenish-blue balls of light had appeared before her eyes, changing through a rainbow of colors as they flew at her. Washu had been right—it was like being handed the key to a room full of power and light. It was pleasant at first, a lovely warm feeling, but it began to hurt as it grew. The light before her eyes turned molten red, rolling like a sea of magma. It burnt into the walls, ran down the wires, leaving them in little pools of copper.
Kirra screamed. "HELP ME!!! Oh god, I'm really going to die this time…this is the space pod…no escape pod from here…he's never going to LET ME BE!!!" She screamed, not in pain, but in anger.
It wasn't helping. Her anger made the lava pour over the machine, out of the sides.
"No…" She whispered, suddenly frightened for the others there. Washu didn't deserve to die…it didn't have anything to do with her. Tenchi, too…he had been so kind. Kirra wasn't worried about Ryoko or Ayeka, or even Sasami. They could all take care of themselves.
"Please stop…" She pleased with the fire. "Not them…no. Stop, now." The lava was slowing now. It wavered, as if uncertain of what to do. One more word would stop it. "No."
And with that work, Kirra fainted.