Conversations II
Chapter 6
On the Way Home, Part I
*****
Ryo-ohki fell into the Sol system slowly, on a convoluted trajectory that gave her passengers a panoramic view of each planet as they passed it. She thought of all the places they had been over the last few months, all the things that they had seen and done. She was glad that Ryoko had allowed her to tag along with the group, even though she had been forced to remain in cabbit form most of the time. She liked the fact that she and Tenchi had developed their own mental link and hoped that she could build one with Ayeka as well; she had always liked the princess, and now that Ayeka was married to her partner and Tenchi, she wanted to be able to talk to her too. Eventually, she thought. I'll have to work on her like I did Tenchi. Now that Ryoko is linked to Ayeka, it should be much easier for me. She smiled mentally as she remembered Tenchi's shock the first time she'd talked to him in the carrot field. She also wished her humanoid physical body would develop its skills faster so that she could communicate verbally with everyone else in the family.
The cabbit-ship passed the planet Uranus and had nine hours to fall before Saturn came into view. She made a minor course correction and put herself into sleep mode until then. She dreamed. She dreamed that someday she would find someone nice, like Tenchi, to spend time with. She loved her family, but there was something missing. She dreamed of a male version of herself, white furred with reddish eyes. Her ideal mate. They played together and ate carrots by the bushel. They traveled the stars and visited many strange places. It was a happy life. She dreamed of a strange buzzing sound. A buzzing sound? Ah, the proximity warning. Something was passing by outside her hull. She woke herself up and began a scan.
*****
Ryoko. Ryoko groaned and rolled over, pushing the princess off the bed. Ryoko, wake up. Ryoko rolled to the other side and bumped into their husband. "Wha…?" she said sleepily. "Whooz there? Go 'way I'm 'sleep."
Ryo-ohki sighed mentally, she almost preferred the old Ryoko, before she had calmed down so much. She tried again. Tenchi, can you hear me?
Tenchi was awake, having just been poked in the ribs by his wife's elbow. Yes, Ryo-ohki. What is it? Is there a problem?
No, not really. But I've found something out here that you all might be interested in seeing. Wake up the other two, if you can, and come up to the control cabin.
Minutes later Tenchi, Ayeka and a very grumpy Ryoko entered the domed chamber.
"This'd better be good you little twit. I was havin' a great dream," grumbled Ryoko.
"Ryoko! That was uncalled for," admonished the princess.
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever."
Tenchi spoke up to avoid the argument he knew was brewing. "What have you found Ryo-ohki?"
A popup display appeared and began scrolling text for everyone to read. *I've come across something you might find interesting. A scan of my ship profile database shows it as an old Juraian colony ship. It appears to have been orbiting out here for fifty or sixty thousand years.*
Ryoko perked up. "A Juraian ship? Are there any signs of life?"
Tenchi gave her a strange look. "After 60 millennia? You've got to be kidding."
"No, Ryoko is correct," said Ayeka. "On the early ships, the colonists were kept in cold sleep. If this is such a ship, and there is even minimal power, some may still be alive. If so, we must help them."
"Actually princess, I was thinking more about salvage rights. That's a whole lot of money floatin' around out there, just waiting for us to grab it. But if there's anyone left, we'll do what we can. Ryo-ohki isn't that big ya know." Ryoko suddenly became business-like. "Give me a visual on the ship and any sensor readings you have Ryo-ohki."
A new screen appeared with an image of the other ship overlaid with a schematic drawing.
Ryoko looked at the image. "You're database is wrong, I'll have to talk to Washu about an update. That's not a colony ship, it's an old Juraian Pirate Cruiser. I've seen holos of them, but I didn't think that any still survived. Look at all the damage. Wow! That ship was in one hellava fight before it died. And it's a whole lot older than sixty-thousand years, closer to ninety-thousand would be my guess. That means it drifted for a long time before it got here. And look," Ryoko pointed a slender finger to an area on the schematic that was blinking amber, "there's someone still alive and in hibernation, or at least a working power source on a cold sleep unit. I guess some of the crew managed to seal themselves into survival pods before the end. Wanna go over and say hello to your ancestors princess?"
"That might not be wise Ryoko. The Juraians of that time were rather… intolerant of other cultures. I don't know how they would react to us." Ayeka replied.
Ryoko glared at her. "Hey, you're the First Princess of the current ruling family, Tenchi's the crown prince and as much as I hate to admit it, I guess I'm a Juraian princess now too. Those are our subjects over there."
Tenchi took his eyes off the image of the other ship and looked at her. "Wow, Ryoko. A minute ago you weren't exactly thrilled with the idea of saving anyone on that ship. What happened?"
"Well darling, that was before I found out they were my kind of people. I didn't want to deal with a bunch of stuck-up, snobby old colonists, but just think of all the neat stories those guys might know. Like where all the treasure is and stuff."
"That figures," Ayeka mumbled.
*****
Ryo-ohki slowly inserted one of her docking spikes into an ancient hole blown into the other ship's hull.
"See how the edges of the opening are all shiny and smooth, Tenchi?" Ryoko asked as she watched Ryo-ohki's careful maneuver. "It's been worn that way by interstellar dust and the solar wind from your sun. And there isn't much of either way out here. This ship's been a derelict for a looooong time. Ok, Ryo-ohki, stop here and seal the area with a force field. Now give us an Earth-mix at about .75 atmospheres inside the bubble. That should be enough for anyone to breath, about like the atop a good-sized mountain, but not enough to blow out any weakened bulkheads."
"What now, Ryoko?" asked the princess.
"Well, first we put in a salvage claim. Ryo-ohki, dear, could you please give Mom a call and have her send Mihoshi out here? Since she's the GP rep on site, she can register it and put a salvage beacon on it for us. Then have her call the Juraian government and tell them about this, but not until the claim is filed. Ok?"
"Why do all that Ryoko?" Ayeka was puzzled.
"We need the claim to establish who found it first. And even if it's not worth much as actual salvage, it's certainly a museum piece and your, I mean our, government might be interested in it for its historical value. And there could be a finders fee in that case."
"Money, money, money. Is that all you ever think of?"
"Nope, I think about you and Tenchi a lot too, Ayeka."
That left Ayeka speechless for a moment.
Ryoko continued, pointing at the diagram. "The schematic shows the survival pods 'bout 250 meters forward of us along the central axis. There're three active power sources, all at maintenance level or below; if there's anyone in the pods they may not be alive." She marked out an arc with her finger. "Ryo-ohki's force bubble only extends around 100 meters, so you'll have to use your own force-fields after that. If there's anyone left alive, we need to get 'em back into Ryo-ohki's bubble before we open their pod. Everyone ready?"
"I can't believe we're going to be talking to people 90,000 years old." Tenchi shook his head in disbelief.
Ayeka giggled, "Why not dear? After all, Washu is 20,000 years old and even Ryoko here is at least 5,000."
"Look who's talkin' princess. You're pushin' your first millennium yourself, aren't you?" Ryoko came back at her. "Besides, after 900 centuries, the language is sure to've changed enough that we might not even understand each other. Let's go." She walked out through Ryo-ohki's hull, followed by Ayeka, then Tenchi.
"Hey! What?" Tenchi yelled as he stepped through the wall.
"Oh yeah. I forgot to tell ya, there's no gravity out here. Oops." Ryoko grinned and slowly flew off toward what appeared to be a hatch leading to another part of the ship.
"Come dear," Ayeka said as she pulled Tenchi after the ex-pirate. "We can't let Ryoko take all the glory, now can we?"
The hatch, or what was left of it, hung half open by one hinge. Ryoko grabbed hold of the edge and tugged, sending the door flying back towards Ryo-ohki. It made a loud CLANG as it rebounded off the cabbit-ship's hull.
Ayeka winced at the sound. "Ryoko, if you go on destroying things unnecessarily, this ship won't be worth much even as a historical piece."
"Tell ya what, next time YOU try to gently open a door that's been broken and frozen in place for 90,000 years, ok princess?" But the next hatch they came to, Ryoko was a little more careful with.
*****
"Ok, about another ten meters and you two run out of air. This might be a good time to activate your shields." Ryoko told them. Both Tenchi and Ayeka formed their Juraian battle armor and activated it. Ryoko phased into her battle suit as well, even though she didn't need to. Better safe than sorry, she thought and floated off further down the passageway.
Tenchi felt his ears pop as they left Ryo-ohki's force bubble. A year ago I would have thought someone was crazy if they told me that I would be doing this right now. He shook his head in wonder. Married to two beautiful women at once, adventuring in space. This is unreal. He saw Ryoko stop at a smallish hatch in the bulkhead. Unlike all the others they had encountered, this one appeared to be intact.
This is it, Ryoko sent to both of them through the link. Ryo-ohki says that there's minimal atmosphere behind this hatch. It's probably pretty stale after all this time though. The pods are in this next chamber; when I open this hatch, it's gonna get blown around a bit so get ready. She grabbed the handle and pulled. The handle came off in her hand. Shit! I'm gonna have to cut it open. She clenched her hand and her energy sword appeared. She plunged it into the wall next to the hatch.
Tenchi saw a thin stream of gas begin leaking where the sword entered. Ryoko made four quick cuts, then ducked as the hatch flew across the passageway to silently bounce off the far wall, leaving a large dent. Told ya. Even minimal pressure'll send it off like a rocket out here. She poked her upper body through the hole. Oh my God! I don't believe it! These aren't pirates; take a look you two! She phased the rest of her body through the wall, ignoring the hole she'd just made.
*****
To be continued
