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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A Scientist's Tale
Chapter 2
Problems and Solutions
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I was sitting at one of the multi-function terminals in the main lab when Kagato rushed in. "Professor Washu!" he called. Whenever he called me "professor" I knew he was excited by something. "Professor Washu! This is amazing!"
Swiveling on my comfy cushion I gave him my best evil eye. "What's amazing my apparently-not-so-well-trained student? You have to be more explicit." I had no idea what had him so worked up, but from the way he was waving papers around, papers which were now becoming scattered all over my nice, neat lab, it must be something important.
"That sample Washu, the one you gave us the sequences for. It's amazing. I must meet the donor!"
I shook my head. "I'm afraid that's impossible. She insists on remaining anonymous. But what's so amazing about it? It's just a humanoid ova." Since I knew the donor on a – ahem – very personal level, I wondered just what had him all worked up. If there was something odd I really needed to know about it. "Calm down and tell me about it. What's so amazing?" I repeated. By now he was so worked up he could hardly speak. His mouth moved like he was trying to tell me, but no sounds were coming out. I held up my hand and his mouth closed with a snap. "Take a deep breath and start over. Remember, you are a scientist; we don't get excited like this. Calm. Be calm." I noticed his face starting to turn blue. "You CAN breath you know."
Kagato took several deep breaths before attempting to speak again. This time he was much more understandable. "The DNA sequence for the ovum you gave us to work with. We've just finished running the simulations and…"
"Well! It's about time," I broke in. "It's been what? Eight months since you started?" I was teasing him and he knew it. He smiled at me.
"Eight and a half," he replied. "Ahead of schedule I believe?" It was his turn to tease me. "Yakage and I finished determining the strands we'd need to change to achieve the results you want. There's still the problem of the power source though and the long-distance transport."
Heh. I'd already worked the power problem out, but I'd wait a bit to spring it on him. Surprise is fun. All of this banter was fine, but I was starting to become impatient with him. "And?" I prompted to move the conversation back on track.
"You won't believe what we found."
I thought I'd annoy him a bit more. "Try me." I was started to tap my foot on the floor.
He noticed and swallowed hard before continuing. "We don't need to make all the required modifications. Most are already in place."
I was busy watching the expressions fly across his face so at first I missed the implications of what he'd just said. "That's nice," I said and then his words struck home. "What? That's impossible! Which ones are already there?"
"Teleportation, telepathy, telekinesis. The last two are very weak though. The ability to form and focus energy, although as I said, a power source still has to be found."
I was stunned. "Flight?" I asked trying to hide my excitement. I failed miserably. I knew the donor had the potential, but had never attempted it.
He shook his head. "Possibly, but that's one we might have to add, along with the astral projection defense mechanism. There seem to be others that we can't qualify too."
"Such as?" I was starting to shake with anticipation.
Kagato laughed at my state. "Why Professor Washu! I'm shocked! If we knew that then we'd be able to qualify them. I will say that the donor must be an amazing woman. She must have godlike powers if she shows even a fraction of the potential of her DNA. That's why I want to meet her. Please?" He was almost begging.
Once again I had to disappoint him, I wasn't ready to reveal the true source of the sample. Not yet. "As I said before, that's impossible right now. But maybe someday I'll be able to arrange it. Now tell me more about your findings." It seemed that the donor was a bit more unusual than I'd suspected. I started to wonder why but for some reason my mind switched over to another train of thought. Something always intervened whenever my brilliant mind turned to that subject.
My answer seemed to satisfy him and he shrugged his broad shoulders. "What's to tell? Yakage is finishing up the sequencing to add flight, molecular phasing and the projection ability. We'll be ready to apply them to the sample in a few days, then once we find a power source we can begin the growth process."
I chuckled to myself, it was time to tell him. I'd been working on the power problem almost non-stop for the past three weeks and thought I'd finally come up with a solution. "Don't start the resequencing yet," I said. "There are a few more sims I want you to run."
His eyes widened as he caught my meaning. "You've solved the power problem?" he asked.
"Maybe. Have you heard of a species called "Mass" or "Masu"?"
He closed his eyes in thought. "Mass?" His eyes opened even wider than before with an almost audible 'pop'. "Of course! A life form that contains both matter and anti-matter. They are entirely self-sustaining and don't require anything outside their own bodies, aside from an occasional intake of raw material, to survive. You can't be thinking…"
I was grinning from ear-to-ear now. "Of course I am. Think of it, our super soldier won't need to eat or breathe, although she could if she wanted to… She'll be impervious to most extremes of heat and cold and still be able to generate enough power to use all her functions."
"But only for short periods," he reminded me. "As I recall, a Mass that uses all it's power for long periods self-destructs with cataclysmic results."
I waved his concerns off. "We can include safeguards against that. Tie the power level and duration into the brain chemical emitters. If she uses her power at too high a level or for too long she'll feel exhaustion."
He pondered that for a moment. "That could work," he said. "But it would be a false feeling. What if it's overridden? Adrenaline could do that."
He had a valid point there. "True," I agreed. "We'll have to cut adrenaline production at the same time."
It was his turn to disagree. "Can't do it. What good's a super soldier that gets tired just walking down the street? We need a way to regulate the power, not cut it off."
I considered his words and saw the truth in them. "Ok then, I'll start working on that, you start running the sims with the Mass data."
*****
A week later the sim results were back and looked very promising. But I was still stymied by the power regulation problem. There had to be a way to do it. If only there was a way to store the excess or bleed it off somehow. I lay in my bed and contemplated the rough pattern of the ceiling. Power. Storage. No organic battery known would be able to handle the load I was dealing with. There was no solution; maybe I should just give up. Could Clay actually win this one?
I hopped out of bed and staggered over to the mirror on the wall. My bloodshot eyes glared back at me. Damn, I looked like I hadn't gotten any sleep in weeks. Maybe that's because I really hadn't. Swallowing another stimtab, I regarded my reflection with some amusement. "There MUST be a solution to this," I told myself. "I only need the one, there'll never be any more." My eyes fell to the small jewelry case that I always kept on the table. Flipping it open I once again admired the softly glowing beauty of the three red gems it contained. I could feel the power bound within them and knew that with a little effort I could tap into it. But something held me back from doing so, as it had my entire life, a silent warning in my head that I wouldn't like the results if I gave in to temptation.
Three gems of power, infinite in capacity. Unique. Alone in this universe, just like me. An idea suddenly occurred to me. Slamming the box shut, I snatched it up and ran for the lab, not even noticing my state of total undress. Yeah, good thing it was late and everyone else was in bed. Where I should have been.
Upon entering the lab I grabbed a chair and sat down in front of a terminal. I shivered a bit because the hard plastic of the seat was cold on my bare bottom but I didn't let that interfere. Quickly I began entering new parameters into the data, based upon what little I knew about the gems. The results came back within minutes. It would work. The prototype would only require one gem for storage, but I planned on giving her all three. After all, I had no real use for them; they were just pretty baubles to me. Let's see. Build receptors here, here and… yes, right there. Functional and aesthetically pleasing. Excellent. My creation would be a real man-killer in more than one sense of the word. Not that I really intended for her to actually kill anyone. If I had my way, she'd be kind and gentle along with powerful. And beautiful of course, like her 'mother'. I chuckled. I would have my way and Jurai would never realize it.
Satisfied that I'd finally solved all the power problems, I saved the data and made my way back to my room where I fell into bed and didn't remember anything for the next twenty hours.
*****
I awoke to a thunderous banging on my door. "Washu! Professor Washu! Wake up!" called a muffled voice. It was Yakage; obviously they'd found my data.
Jumping up, I threw on a handy robe (why did these things always seem to be there when I needed them?) and cracked open the door. "Yeah? Wadda ya want?" I mumbled in my best 'just woke up' voice. I usually wake up fully alert and today was no exception, I just wanted to put him off a bit.
"Professor, I'm sorry. I wanted to wake you yesterday but Kagato wouldn't let me. We're done integrating your new data into our models and we think the project is ready to move into the next phase."
"Uh huh," I mumbled. "Whatever. Let me get dressed and grab a bite to eat then I'll join you in the lab. Yesterday?" I asked. He nodded happily. "Geez, it coulda waited until tomorrow at least." I hid a grin as I watched his face fall; he thought I was upset. "Oh, go on," I told him. "I'll be there in about half an hour. Start setting things up." The smile reappeared on his face and he turned happily away and headed off down the hallway. I sighed as I eased the door shut. Oh, to be that young again. I considered what to do next but a quick sniff told me that a shower was first on the agenda, then a meal. I was humming a nonsense song from my youth as I shrugged out of the robe and stepped into the hot spray. Today was going to be a good day, everything was starting to come together and in a few more months I'd have my dream. My daughter.
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To be continued
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Argh! I've fallen into a trap of my own making! As this story develops I'm finding minor inconsistencies with my other work. I'm going to play Devil's Advocate here and point them out before one of my loyal readers (that's you guys) finds them and does a number on me. (Some people love to do that, right Dragonbard? Hell, I do it myself sometimes.) All of them (so far) concern Washu's gems. In Conversations II Washu told Ryoko that she no longer needed them, she had Tenchi for focus (the focus part will come later – hint: think Dumbo…) but what about their power restricting function? What's taking over that? (Don't know, but I have a couple of ideas.) Secondly, even though Minagi won't be in this I have to take her into account. This Yakage never creates her, but she does cross paths (and dimensions) with this Ryoko. They do share something of a common background so what did her Yakage use to restrict her power? He had no gems available and since he supposedly took a finished DNA sample to create her, does that mean that she also has the receptors for the gems? Probably. I know these are all minor details, probably not worth giving myself an ulcer over, but I also know I won't be happy until I come up with a solution. Still, this is a fun one to write and I hope no one takes it too seriously.
Now, about one other thing. If the narrative seems kinda choppy, short sentences and ideas, that's intentional. It's meant to show how quickly Washu's thoughts flow.
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Review Responses
Dennisud – Sorry, no Minagi here, that's an alternate Reality. Although if you read my notes you'll see that I do have to allow for her.
Thundergod – It's my first attempt at a first-person story. It just seemed to me the best way to tell of Ryoko's origin was in Washu's own words.
Smack54 – I too like origin stories, that's why I decided to try my hand at one. The Ayeka story on the other hand… I don't know, it's going awfully slow and I don't want to try to force it. Those tend to turn out badly.
Wharpt – Yes, another multi-chapter extravaganza. You're absolutely correct about dull and repetitive stuff spurring my imagination (I love my life…) My idea for my first story (Conversations) occurred to me while driving home along the turnpike from a vacation in Virginia last year.
Lizzy Hakubi – Did I surprise you (or anyone else) with this one? Heck, I didn't even know I was going to write it until half an hour before I actually sat down to do it.
Vsdefender – Yep, a Washu POV story. But it's only going to cover a brief period in her long life. I also have an idea (spurred by this story) for a short Misaki POV about Ayeka's childhood. We'll have to wait and see if that one ever develops though, right now it's just a few random thoughts.
Taxzombie – Hey, I haven't heard from you in a long time. Glad you're enjoying this one.
Solitareone – Glad you like it, but as you can see from my notes things don't fit together as well as I'd like them too. Close though… very close.
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BobR
5/21/2002