Disclaimer

Tenchi and all associated characters are the property of AIC and Pioneer LDC.  I don't own any rights to them.  Any other characters are property of their respective copyright holders, not me.

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The Great Cabbit Search

Chapter 13

An Encounter in Space

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The small formation of ships, three cabbit and a GP patrol cruiser, were passing the orbit of the planet Mars when an unidentified blip appeared on Yagami's sensors.  It was moving very fast toward the inner system.

Kiyone poked at her partner and pointed to the screen.  "Mihoshi, get a reading on that ship.  If it's Juraian we need to know so that we can avoid it before it sees us."

Mihoshi fine-tuned her sensors until the blip resolved itself into an unusual vehicle.  "Kiyone, you'd better take a look at this.  I don't know how to describe it."

"Let me see," said Washu as she pushed her way up from her usual position in the jump seat between the two control chairs.  When she saw the image on the screen she materialized her holo-terminal and began typing rapidly.

Kiyone swung Mihoshi's screen around so that she could see the vehicle too, then fell back into her seat, shaking her head in disbelief.

What the sensors had caught was a sleigh of an ancient design being pulled by eight tiny animals with antlers and hooves.  In the vehicle was an old man, dressed all in red.  With white hair and beard, he was almost as round as he was tall.  At least as much of him that they could see on the screen.  Behind him was a large bag with what appeared to be a teddy bear peeking out of the top.  The entire thing was enclosed in a force-bubble of some sort.

Washu looked back at the screen, astonishment written all over her face.  "Why, I do believe it's Jolly Old Saint Nick, otherwise known as Santa Claus."

"It's Santa Claus.  It's Santa Claus," exclaimed Mihoshi, bouncing up and down and threatening several delicate engine controls with her flailing arms.  Suddenly she stopped.  "Uh, Kiyone?  Who's Santa Claus?" the blonde asked.

The cyborg detective turned to the red headed scientist, "Yes, just who is this person?  Why is he in such an archaic vehicle?  Why does he seem so happy?  And what's in that funny-shaped bottle he's waving at us?"

Washu glanced at her terminal, "Well, it depends on whose legend you believe; the person out there conforms to the American version.  I suppose he can appear however he wants though.  His mission is to bring toys and gifts to the children of the world.  The trick is that he only has twenty-four hours to do it.  One night."

"And that night is?" asked the teal haired GP officer

"Christmas Eve, the night before the Christian holiday of Christmas.  Some coincidence eh?  As for the sled, it's not what it seems.  The energy readings I'm getting correspond to Ryo-ohki; it's actually a pretty powerful vehicle.   And wouldn't you be happy if you were bringing joy to countless children?  The bottle seems to contain a non-alcoholic carbonated beverage of some sort.  I can't quite read the ingredients though…"  Washu leaned over the blonde to fiddle with the magnification controls.

"He visits all the children on Earth in one night?" Mihoshi wondered.

"Yeah, he must take the freeway," the scientist mumbled.

"He brings toys and presents?" the detective asked.

"Mmm Hmm.  That's what the legend says." Washu was still working with the controls trying to zoom in on the soda bottle.

Mihoshi's face fell, "Too bad then."

Washu turned to look at her. "What's too bad airhead?"

"Well, it's too bad that Sasami's with us.  She won't get any gifts," explained the blonde.

"We have two Sasami's with us, remember?  And I think that Santa knows they're here.  He's supposed to know where all the children of Earth are," the scientist pointed out.

"Yeah, but Sasami's Juraian," argued Mihoshi.

Washu was getting frustrated.  "Stop trying to make this difficult.  He knows she's with us."

"But…" the GP said

Washu clenched her teeth, "Shut up Mihoshi.  Just… shut up."

Kiyone broke into the argument, "Washu, he's hailing us.  He says to tell the princesses that their gifts are in the galley.  I wonder what he means by that?"

"Did he say anything else?" the scientist asked.

Kiyone listened to her headset then nodded.  "Well, he said that there's something for Mihoshi in her bunk and wished the rest of us luck on our mission."

Mihoshi scrambled out of her chair and disappeared out the hatch.  She returned a moment later, a giant teddy bear with a big red bow on its head clutched in her hands.  "There's two brand new sets of cooking knives in the galley.  Those must be for the Sasami's.  And there's a bunch of prettily wrapped boxes in the lounge too," the blonde said cheerfully.

The overhead speaker burst into life and a jolly voice came out, "Since you're all not Christians I'll just wish a happy holiday to all, and to all a good night!"  The speaker cut off and the strange vehicle accelerated and disappeared in a twinkle of light.

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Author's Notes

I guess it had to be written.  Anyway, back when I was a senior in high school 26 years ago, I wrote a really short story in Larry Niven's Known Space continuum for a project in an English class.  It was about a Belt Miner having a similar encounter with Santa.  That story is now lost in the mists of time, but I decided to try again, this time using my Tenchi story arc.  Although I have this as Chapter 13 in The Great Cabbit Search, it really doesn't add anything to the story but it does use elements from my other stories so it can hardly be classed as a stand-alone.  I hope you all enjoyed it though.  Expect the next official chapter in a day or three or four.

BTW:  The freeway part is in there because I was just listening to Cheech and Chong's Christmas bit on the radio.   And this shouldn't be too hard: can anyone guess what's in the bottle?

Cheech: "Yeah!  I seen the guy.  I jammed with that dude once."

BobR

12/23/2001