Meanwhile...
"Francois! Let's go!"
Edward sighed and gave no response. Instead, she kept on doing the thing she did best: surfing the web. It's been three weeks since she left the Bebop. At first, she was glad to be with her father. But Macintyre and her father were too engrossed in their work. The only time her father paid attention to her was at night. Those nights were always fun. Her father would toss her around like a rag doll and they would laugh so hard that they turned blue. Macintyre had to bring in a canister of oxygen for her father one time when he nearly fainted.
Then she had the "brilliant" idea to create a program that calculated where the next big meteors would hit Earth. She thought by creating the program would free her father from tracking the meteors. But now her father spends all his time at night planning routes to the next big hit.
[Flashback]
"Father-person, you could use this program to change the map for you," she stated.
"Ha ha! " exclaimed her father. "That's great, Francois! N..."
"Edward, Father-person! My name is Edward!"
"Oh, sorry Francois. You're program is great. Now we can plan a route each night and arrive before the meteor hits and map it!"
"But Father-person, the program will map it for you."
"I know. But we must be at the spot where it hits and map it at the exact spot. Remember, we are doing this to bring the chaotic Earth back to order. If we don't map the exact spot, the Earth will never come to order."
[End Flashback]
Edward sighed again. She hated her father's work. She thought the whole thing was boring. Even the days when the crew of the Bebop wasn't chasing bounties were more exciting than this. Faye was always thinking up ways to get money from Jet. Spike would practice his kung fu. And Ein and her would explore the many compartments of the ship looking for the "Spooky Alien."
But on Earth, there were no "Spooky Alien" to find. Just miles and miles of rocks and dirt. Just like the way it was before. There was nothing there for Ein and her to explore. Her only entertainment was her "Tomato." But even that had turned into an enemy. For it was only a week ago that she found out Spike had died. She didn't want to touch her computer afterward. But it was the only thing that kept her entertained.
Ein nudged his little black nose on Edward's knee. She stopped staring at the screen to look down at her companion. She gave him a small smile and scratched him behind his ears. She could tell that Ein was also affected by Spike's death. His eyes did not have the same sparkle as before. Ein was with her, watching the screen, when she found the ISSP report.
"Francois! Come on, girl! We're going to miss the next meteor if you keep playing on that computer!" an all too familiar voice yelled.
She sighed, picked up Tomato, and walked to their vehicle. Ein followed, close behind.