Chapter 14 – It's What's on the Inside That Counts


The crew of the Nadesico and her sister ships were drained. Actually, one could argue that drained wasn't a strong enough description for the amalgam of fatigue, relief, and anxiety that currently plagued its crew. They had nearly come within the grip of death twice in the last twenty-four hours and it did not seem like they had much to hope for in the future. Their Jovian pursuer had held back after the massive damages it had sustained in the previous battle, however, it was little comfort seeing how the Nadesico had nowhere to run.

Ahead of them by about eighteen hours lay their destination. The one thing that had started this whole mess which had dragged their lives out of the comfort of routine and normalcy and back into the uncertain hell of war. It had pitted chairman against secretary, government against admiral, boyfriend against girlfriend, and finally the Nadesico against every other power in the solar system. For these reasons there was more trepidation than excitement in everyone's mind as they drew nearer.

And once they achieved their objective what was left? At their backs was the full force of the Jovian Empire. Even if by some miracle they made it through, back to UEF held space, what kind of reception would they receive? Would the be welcomed as heroes, would they be arrested and shamed once again, or could they even face the unthinkable? These thoughts weighed heavily on the mind of Captain Misumaru and the entire crew.

Inez was not oblivious to these concerns but she had more pressing problems that made her load even heavier than the already onerous mental burden that depressed the Nadesico. No sooner had she made it back to the ship, she was again thrust back into duty as the ship's medical officer. The Nadesico crew was short staffed since not every single minor staff person had answered Ruri's call to arms back on Earth. Sick bay needed all the help it could get with injuries from the last battle. So after the hugs and congratulations Inez went right back to what she did best.

If this was only the standard case of injured patients and crewmen though she would have been busy, but not alarmed. However, one case was entirely different. Suzuki Miaka was dying and this caused problems for Inez in more ways than one. First, Inez felt a personal responsibility to cure her bullet riddled body since she had saved her from the clutches of sure death at the hands of Admiral Kusakabe. Second, she seemed to have a very checkered past to say the least if the information Admiral Misumaru and Jun had collected was correct. She had not only lied about her age and identity but probably other things as well. Everyone had a million questions to ask her that needed to be answered but they would not be able to as long as she lay here holding onto dear life.

Third, and finally, Inez was at a loss on how to treat her. Normally Inez prized herself on being a miracle maker. A just-in-time genius who could tackle any problem with the correct application of rational analysis and creative problem solving. Indeed, her quiet demeanor would lead many to believe she was devoid of ego when it in fact was quite the opposite. So her impotence against Suzuki's condition hurt her not only in terms of its human element but in terms of her pride. Suzuki's condition absolutely refused to stabilize no matter what she did. In fact, it seemed that her actions only worsened her tenuous hold on life.

At first, Inez believed she was rusty. All the time of boson research with the Jovians had left her little time to keep up on her medical skills. However, several things began to make her wonder whether this was a question of her skill, or something deeper? First, of all she tried giving Suzuki the standards medicines and nanomachine treatments to stabilize her condition. However, these treatments were either completely ineffectual or caused varying degrees of rejection and allergic reaction by Suzuki's body. Inez immediately halted the protocol. It was unusual but not unheard of. Some body chemistries could not take those medicines. No cause for alarm, there were alternatives. But then it happened again. And again. In fact, nearly 95% of all the medicines Inez tried either did nothing or caused allergic reactions. A few of the medicines even elicited an autoimmune response where Suzuki's body began attacking itself. Just about the only thing her body did accept were archaic painkillers such as morphine.

In a panic, Inez stopped all medication and purged it from her system. Though she did not think they had time, there was only one solution left. She was going to have to analyze Suzuki's DNA and biochemistry and create drugs tailor-made for her body chemistry. Usually this was only done to treat chronic diseases since it took time to analyze the data and synthesize the drugs but in this circumstance she had no other option but to watch her die. Inez immediately took samples and went over to the laboratory workbench. Perhaps there was hope. What took a normal scientist a month, Inez could do in a day. Or so she would like to think.

In another part of the ship, the leaders of the crew had their own problems and decisions to sort out. They were assembled on the bridge joined by Jun, Admiral Misumaru, and Erina on the communicators. They had little time to breathe, much less lament their condition. Decisions had to be made.

"First, of all I don't know how to interpret your data Admiral Misumaru," Erina started. "I've known Suzuki for five years and I have never seen any sort of anomalies in her character or behavior that would cause suspicion. Additionally, this other woman who worked for the Tenkawas may just be someone who Suzuki was cloned from. I don't see any direct evidence they are the same person."

"As I told you before Erina, when I called her by her real name, Heather Snowden, she responded as if she recognized it," Admiral Misumaru started. "Second, the internal scans of her body show that traits usually identified with clones such as the elimination of recessive traits for genetic diseases or signs in her bones of accelerated growth and puberty are not present. Finally, if she grew up on Earth as her records claim how come she can boson jump? Do you have an answer to this Erina?"

"I didn't say I have all the answers! I just question the logical leap you are making. OK, they may have the same DNA but that does not necessitate them being the same person!" Erina shot back. Yurika decided to step in before this turned from an orderly meeting into a melee.

"Listen! I know we all have questions and theories but it will all just be useless extrapolation until we can get the real story directly from Suzuki herself and she is not in the condition to do that right now," Yurika said bringing order back to the conversation.

"How is she Yurika?" Jun asked.

Yurika's downcast face said it all. "She hasn't gotten better yet Jun. Inez promised me an update soon but we have nothing now but hope," she finished.

"I understand. Now, I motion we move on to our next topic, what the heck are we going to do in under a day when we arrive at our destination?" Jun asked.

"That's a good question. Erina, you have the data from the probe. What exactly is this thing?" Yurika asked.

Erina was recalcitrant about sharing her information but relented realizing her position. "We've worked on it day and night and so far the only information we have decoded successfully are the coordinates. The other 99% of the data is currently still unintelligible. It could be a source of amazing power," Erina stated.

"Or it could be Santa Claus but you really don't know do you Erina?" Akito replied sarcastically.

"It's not like you or that blue haired ditz have anything better, Akito!" she spat back.

"Blue-haired ditz!? You have a large mouth for being a two-timing power hungry heifer!" Yurika shot back. The order quickly degenerated once more into accusations and arguments. The stalemate would not have been broken if the voice of reason and calm had not restored order.

"Captain, perhaps we should just plan a course of action upon arrival," Ruri suggested, her face intimating her typical distaste for this kind of behavior.

"Great suggestion, Ruri!" Admiral Misumaru said relieved someone had finally regained their sense. "I suggest two of the ships patrol while the other begins investigating."

"You can also send a landing party in the Hinagiku after the Admiral returns in the shuttle," Jun suggested.
Yurika nodded in agreement. "Let's organize a search team. We will probably need to have officers from all three ships in order to placate their respective commanders."

"Damn right!" Erina exclaimed.


As much of an emotional roller coaster the Nadesico was currently going on, the Jovian ship Leviathan was much worse. At least the Nadesico had victory to comfort themselves with. The Jovians only had humiliation. In the end Admiral Kusakabe didn't kill anybody. He just sat in his ready room for three hours straight. The crew went right to repairs and surveying the damage. No one bothered him fearing that such and interruption would be an excuse for a swift execution. After three hours he reemerged. The bridge crew sat in fear that they would see that wild eyes of a fanatical madman when he came out but instead they were surprised. His uniform was pressed, his face was calm, and he was in perfect observation of the decorum.

He waited for a moment to speak. Partly to gauge how in awe and fear his crew was of him. If they spoke up before him they were questioning his authority. In this situation where the seeds for mutiny could easily be planted that would not be tolerated. Seeing he was still in control he finally spoke up.

"I have contacted the High Command and the Jovian Assembly about these recent events. They have agreed to send large reinforcements promptly. We will wait here for their arrival and then proceed to deliver divine justice and vengeance upon our foes!" he declared finishing his speech in a crescendo. The crew needed no prompting raising a loud cheer at his orders.

Next, he turned to Chairman Akatsuki. "Chairman, please come with me back into the ready room. We must talk." Akatsuki followed him in not letting his pompous swagger slack in the slightest. Once they entered the room and closed the door behind them, Kusakabe did a quick about face. The docility in his eyes vanished and were replaced by the venom that one would expect of a commander that had endured what he had in the last day.

"I have been humiliated beyond belief, my ship is damaged, my crew's morale is low despite outside appearances and you my friend have not helped a damn so far. Perhaps you would be more useful as a hostage and a bargaining chip?" Kusakabe snarled.

"Do you think they would actually concede anything to save me? Indeed I doubt if even the super idealistic Yurika would do such. I'm sorry Admiral, that is not an option," Akatsuki calmly replied back. If Akatsuki had anything, it was keeping his cool in the worst situations.

"So maybe you're better off dead then. That would raise my crew's spirits. The telecast execution of the greatest criminal the Jovian Empire has ever known. Yes, perhaps that is more fitting," Kusakabe said leaving no room in his voice for doubt or sarcasm.

"Very well. I'm sure your superiors will appreciate you taking justice into your own hands instead of leaving the honor to the High Command of prosecuting public enemy number one," Akatsuki said in his usual slick fashion. However, Akatsuki thought he had more control than he did because he was completely unprepared for the right hook the admiral threw that connected with the left side of his face. Akatsuki fell back stunned. If this man was desperate enough to reduce himself to physical violence than maybe he was over his head. However, as he was wont in his insanity, Kusakabe a moment later became calm and composed again as if nothing had happened.

"I will spare your life, however, not on account of what you have just said. I have an idea. If I send you back to your ship with a detachment of Jovians, do you think you could regain control?" Kusakabe asked. Akatsuki gave no reply as he sat holding an injured cheek and swallowing blood. "I hope you can or you will truly have lost your use and the High Command be damned, you will die. If we cannot beat them united we will divide them. In any case the High Command will forgive your execution if I give them a nice specimen of UEF technology to investigate."

Inez tried to allow the computer to formulate the correct medicines and compounds but after repeated error messages she went back to doing it herself. She worked frantically knowing she was in a race to beat the devil and she was already far behind. Yurika was going to be expecting a report soon and Inez wouldn't feel right giving her a no progress report. The great Inez couldn't possibly report "no progress". She did all she could a put the system back on automatic to spit out the results.

Inez knew that often the best way to handle a difficult problem is to let it go for a bit. She decided to concentrate on some of the other patients. Most were stable or doing fine. Their smiles and relief at her presence was a credit to her skills as a physician. However, she was not a perfect doctor because she had such a poor bedside manner. She asked the required questions, smiled at the patient, and then moved on. In time, she came to young Amano Hikaru who was sitting upright in her bed reading the latest manga that they had intercepted from Earth public broadcasts.

"Inez!" Hikaru said in her typically cheerful manner putting the computer aside. "We're so glad to see you, especially after having the feared the worst for so long," she continued with a smile.

"Hello, Hikaru. It's good to be back. I think the more pertinent question now is how are you. I hear you went for quite a tumble out there," Inez replied.

Hikaru smiled. "You fight so long in a war but swear it will never happen to you. You keep thinking you will never be the one shot down, helpless, grasping for life. It was the most frightening experience I have ever had and I pray I never repeat it."

"But you are better now. Almost miraculously so. Why? I hear you claiming Suzuki had something to do with it?"

"Ryoko keeps trying to convince me it was just a dream but I know better. I know what I saw even if it was only a short glimpse. Suzuki was there…" Inez nodded and told the computer to take the appropriate fluid samples for later analysis at her bench. She then walked over to check Suzuki's vitals yet again.

Inez had already begun to write down the prognosis as she walked over. She was so sure that it could be no other way. When she finally looked at the computer readout she was shocked beyond belief. Suzuki was getting better. Much better. And very quickly in fact.
Inez immediately commanded Omoikane to do a full diagnostic of the medical systems. There was nothing wrong. Inez pulled up the system's history and noticed that Suzuki's upward trend toward recovery had started soon after Inez had given up giving her any medicine whatsoever. Something was very wrong here.

Inez checked her body three more times to make sure the data was correct. She even used a stethoscope to make sure that the heart rate matched what the computer indicated it was. There was no mistake. Suzuki was stabilizing and may yet make it. Inez rushed back to her console hoping the computer had finished its work formulating the drugs. The computer replied it needed more time. Lots of it. Confused, Inez asked for a detailed reason why this simple test was taking so long. This was a relatively simple compound she wanted and shouldn't require much analysis at all. When the computer returned the data on Suzuki's biochemistry it sent a chill up Inez's spine. She asked Omoikane to check all the medical systems again. Omoikane once again replied everything was fine.

Inez put her hand to her mouth as if she would scream. Hikaru noticing this became slightly alarmed.

"Inez? What's wrong?" Hikaru asked fearing it was her own medical data Inez was looking at.

"Nothing," Inez said absent mindedly and continued work. This couldn't be right. No matter what Omoikane said these readings were impossible. She thought for a moment and then had an epiphany. She dialed up the Excalibur on the communicator. It rang for a moment until Jun's face appeared.

"Hello, Inez. What's up? How is Suzuki?" he asked.

"Jun…I'll be honest. I don't know," Inez replied. Seeing the shock in her face disturbed Jun.

"Is something wrong?"

Inez was about to reply no but then she knew she would just be lying to him. "Jun, something is very wrong. Has Admiral Misumaru left yet?"

"No, why? Is there anything I can do to help?" Jun asked.

"Yes. Please have your medical crew send over their best diagnostic equipment with him, please Jun," she pleaded. Jun was becoming even more worried now since he had never seen Inez look so lost.

"Yeah, sure…should I tell Yurika to do anything?" he asked.

"Tell her to push back our meeting. I want to be sure I know what the hell is going on before I say anything. Thank you for your help. Inez out," Inez said and closed the communication. Inez thought through all of her work. The surprises on Mars, the research on the chulips, organic boson jumping. They had all had their bizarre elements but never anything like this. She turned around in her chair and looked at the still comatose form of Suzuki. "What the hell are you?" she said aloud.

The meeting between the crew had gone reasonably well. Everyone took off to their quarters for a well-needed rest before the trials ahead. Akito and Yurika first decided to take a brief stop in the garden room whose relaxing views of blue skies and pastures always helped alleviate the stress of long-term spaceflight. Akito twiddled his fingers nervously. He expected the first thing she would ask him would be "What is it between you and Suzuki?" However, he was wrong in that there was something else more pressing on her mind.

"Akito, what do you think your father wanted you to do with the information?" Yurika asked him as she stared into a beautiful simulated sunset.

"Well, I haven't really had much time to think about that lately but you raise a good point. What is it that he would have hoped I would do with such a powerful secret that was hardly accessible. I thought he would want me to destroy it but he could have done that himself. No. There has to be something greater. I'm not even sure though he knew exactly what it was," Akito continued.

"True, if he wanted you to find it he probably figured you could decode it but you don't have any idea do you?" she replied now looking at him. Akito shook his head.

"Maybe he never completely decoded it himself. He just realized it was something big and something he didn't want Nergal to have," Akito continued. "Perhaps he just wanted me to publicize it and that would be all. Maybe he had even hoped to evade his own assassination and pick the data up later and use it himself. The disc wasn't clear."

Yurika smiled as she took one of his hands in her own. "Whatever it is I trust you as much as your father to figure out the right thing to do with it. Especially more than Nergal or the UEF," she said now looking in his eyes.

"Speaking of Nergal, I wonder how Suzuki is?" he asked. His question was genuine but he soon realized it was off time as Yurika was jolted from the mood and turned red in the face.

"Well, I could ask…Jun said earlier Inez needed more time," she said as she withdrew her hand.

"Come on Yurika, I didn't mean anything by it I was just asking as a concerned friend…" Akito started.

"Is she a friend Akito? Now we know she lied to us…no she lied to EVERYONE. Do you really trust her? I now understand my father's foreboding," Yurika finished as she pulled up Inez on the communicator. "Any news Inez?" Yurika asked.

"I need a bit more time. Something strange is going on. Your father just arrived back with some equipment I need. I'll hit you back in about an hour," Inez finished.

"I understand. Yurika out," Yurika finished. She turned back to Akito who was a bit downcast and contemplative. Slowly she smiled. "I'm not mad at you silly," she said gently pushing him. "I love the sunsets in this room but nothing beats the real thing back on Earth," she finished. Akito agreed and put his arm around her as they stared into the horizon.

They had fallen asleep on the grass when Inez called them back one hour later on the dot.

"Hello! Wake up captain!" Inez said raising her voice. Yurika and Akito jumped up as if they'd been splashed by cold water. "My final results are in. Please come to sick bay immediately," Inez asked and then closed the communication window. The two looked at each other and hurried to the sick bay.

Inez was waiting for them as was Admiral Misumaru, Ryoko, Ruri, Mr. Prospector, Goat Hoary, and Jun and Erina in holographic form.

"This some kind of big announcement Inez?" Akito asked wondering about the complement in attendance.

"The biggest kind Akito. I'd say bigger than my elucidation of the mechanism behind boson jumping," Inez started. Yurika and Akito looked at each other and then took a seat like the others. Inez started her lecture.

"Before I tell you my conclusions I will first show you the evidence I have accumulated over the last twelve hours," she began. A holographic screen with Suzuki's biography popped up.

"First, you will wonder why I am the first to tell you what you are about to hear. Why has no other doctor discovered this? Well, if you look at her records from Nergal as both Suzuki Miaka and Heather Snowden you will notice one similar feature. Their medical records are blank. No allergies, no medications, no history of doctor visits. Just a record of the required immunizations."

"But that could just mean she is especially healthy," Erina said playing devil's advocate.

"True, but when I tested her for the antibodies that would be residuals of such immunizations I found none," Inez replied. Everyone looked at each other with shocked and dumbfounded looks. "Obviously, her immunization record was faked." Inez pressed a button and the computer went to another screen.

"Second, her record says she has no allergies. However, when I was attempting to help her she had an allergic reaction to over 80% of the common medicines I gave her. Any less skilled doctor might kill her giving her normal treatment. This was the first anomaly that aroused my curiosity." Akito looked at Yurika's blank face and then the stern and triumphant ones of Admiral Misumaru and Ryoko. A chill went up his spine. Where was this headed?

"Third, one of the most shocking things I will tell you now is her condition. One hour ago she stabilized and is well on her way to full recovery. This is AFTER I stopped medicating her."

"This is insane! What are you driving at Inez? Even my wildest guesses on her identity didn't veer on this route. What are you trying to prove?" Admiral Misumaru asked her thoroughly perplexed. Inez looked around for additional questions. Seeing only confused faces she continued.

"Fourth, I found a strange nanotech compound in her blood that I found was doing most of the healing. It is very advanced and I have never seen anything like it in UEF or Jovian technology. I found it in one other place though. The bloodstream of Amano Hikaru."

"WHAT! She put some kind of stuff in Hikaru!?" Ryoko yelled casting an enraged look at the oblivious Suzuki.

"Yes, she did. And I think it is precisely what healed her," Inez told Ryoko trying to calm her. "I think I can fairly say whatever it is, it is beyond our manufacturing capabilities."

"Make your point Inez," Erina said getting impatient with her slow annunciation of her points.

"I was just getting there Erina. The final piece of evidence, however, is what shocked me the most. Everything else I have mentioned can be explained away in multiple ways but not this last bit." A new screen showing biochemical data flashed up.

"This is the biochemistry of Suzuki Miaka. It seems normal but it is incredibly abnormal in one minor detail." Another screen popped up showing several molecules in detail. "I discovered the reason why Suzuki rejected all of the medicines I gave her. To explain we need to talk about life in detail. What do you think life is?"

"I'm alive!" Yurika said raising her hand. Erina shook her head in disgust.
"I know this is a difficult question. I doubt I could answer it myself. However, as far as life on Earth and the simplistic life we know is native to Mars and Europa is concerned, they all have a similar feature. Their amino acids are 'left-handed'. Technically, in chemistry we call handedness 'chirality'."

"How can a molecule have hands?" Hikaru asked from her bed.

"They don't have hands Hikaru, they have structural orientations. If you were to get the 3D structure of many molecules and put it in front of a mirror, the reflection would have the same atoms, and technically the same structure, but it would be 'backward' like all mirror images are. This is the other 'hand' of the molecule. Amino acids, which make up all the proteins in our body, can have both right-handed and left-handed versions. When you do a normal lab experiment to synthesize them you get some of both. However, in all life we know, only the left-handed amino acids are used." Another screen showing data that everyone recognized to be boson jump information appeared.

"As you know one of the key problems of our age has been organic boson jumping. Why can't living beings jump? I have asked this question for a while and continued to investigate it while under captivity. The answer is this. The boson jump computer is set up to convert only right-handed amino acids to particles and back again. Left-handed amino acids get misinterpreted killing whoever jumps. Only in native Martians, who have DNA which adds chemicals that allow the computer to compensate, can survive a jump and I have learned it still hurts us. Every time Akito, Yurika, myself, or a Jovian jumps it does subtle intracellular damage which may require treatment to fix a few years down the road. In summary, the boson jump computer was made to jump life. Just not our kind of life."

"Don't tell me this is going where I think it is," Jun said looking visibly alarmed. Inez turned to him and nodded.

"In analyzing Suzuki Miaka's biochemistry I found almost all of her amino acids are right-handed. This explains why she rejects the drugs made for us," Inez finished.

"So this means she's some kind of special person right Inez?" Yurika asked innocently.

"No, I don't think that's what Inez is saying at all Yurika," Ruri spoke up.

"Ruri is right. I am not saying she is a special person Yurika. I'm saying science and logic point to the fact she isn't a person at all," Inez concluded. Hikaru dropped her manga. Admiral Misumaru's eyes went so wide one would swear they would pop out. There were gasps and cries and then a deathly silence descended upon the room.

"Oh shit," Akito of all people said breaking the verbal impasse. "This is crazy. I mean do you all know what this means? This is even bigger than boson jumping. Do we have any idea who she is? Where she came from?"

"No, I don't have any definite idea Akito but I would say my instincts point to the fact that she is intimately connected with whatever race built the boson jump computer and the other relics we have found across the solar system," Inez commented.

"We must put her under armed guard immediately!" Goat yelled. "We have no idea what she or should I say 'it' is capable of!"

"No, but we do know she can jump," Yurika broke in. "That would make the concept of an armed guard a bit ludicrous. Besides she hasn't hurt anyone so far. Why would she wait until now?" Akito nodded in agreement, surprised at Yurika's softening stance towards the sleeping patient.

"I do know this. We arrive in about six hours and I hope she is awake by then because she may be the only one that can explain to us what the hell it is we will find," Jun observed. "Besides that I would just say monitor her constantly."

Inez nodded. "Now are there any other questions?" she asked. Everyone's hands shot up in unison. Yurika even held up two to show she had an extra amount of questions. Inez sighed. Sometimes being Ms. Know-it-all had its disadvantages. However, addressing the ignorance of others usually helped to reveal your own ignorance so it would be time well spent. She knew though that the only sure cure to this ignorance would be Suzuki's awakening. When that would happen was anyone's guess.


A/N: OK, that's it for now...I really think I can wrap this up in either one extra long chapter or two more chapters so the end is in sight. I never imagined that it would be this long but I've had fun writing it and I hope you have had fun reading it. I am really appreciative of all the comments and criticism I have received. I originally started this to improve my writing skills so feedback is just what I need. Happy New Years to everyone and best wishes for a great 2003!