TENCHI WAKUSEI

by Joe Meadows

A sequel novel to "Tenchi Universe," full and complete.

15. CHAPTER 14: No Need For A Stowaway

TENCHI WAKUSEI, BOOK ONE: "NO DREAMS FOR TENCHI"

By Joe Meadows (gpabn@yahoo.com)

NOTA BENE: This novel (comprising 24 chapters, a Prologue, and an Epilogue) is a sequel to the "Tenchi Muyo Television Series" ("Tenchi Universe"), with some "Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki!" original OAV series characters and elements included where--in the author's opinion--they don't conflict with "Tenchi Universe." For example, in order to flesh out a family background for Ayeka and Sasami, rather than create new characters, I used the existing parental figures of King Asuza and Queen Misaki from the OAVs. In order to bring the Galaxy Police more into the story, I re-instated the Grand Marshall as Mihoshi's grandfather and used an existing character from the Tenchi Muyo mangas, Chief Tor Bodai. And so on.

AIC and Pioneer LDC, whose kind indulgence I am counting on, own the copyrights on the original Tenchi Muyo characters. The character of Chief Tor Bodai was created by Hitoshi Okuda for the Tenchi Muyo manga series and is also copyrighted by AIC and Pioneer LDC. All truly new characters are my creation. Those characters and the actual story are copyright 2002 by yours truly. The lyrics for both versions of the theme song for "Speed Racer," the Beatles' "Abbey Road" album, the Beach Boys' "Surfing USA," the theme to "The Brady Bunch," and "That's Amore" are copyrighted by their various owners. The events that comprise the "Tenchi Universe" series are discussed in this novel; consequently, spoilers lurk within. Be warned. Please check out the "Chapter Notes" at the end of some of the chapters. Feedback is very welcome! I can be reached at gpabn@yahoo.com and thanks for taking the time to read this novel.

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CHAPTER FOURTEEN

No Need For A Stowaway

______________________

Everyone saw Kiyone, Mihoshi--and Tris--off. Even Washuu and Ryo- Ohki.

The group had gathered some distance from the house, by the edge of the lake. Kiyone had already used her control cube, rather than her earring, to summon her Galaxy Police starship, the Yagami.

The cabbit rubbed against the two Galaxy Police officers and then Tris, affectionately. She "meow-er"-ed at them plaintively. Tris imagined Ryo-Ohki was telling them to be careful and to come back.

Washuu looked up at the Yagami, that great red constabulary starship, as it hovered overhead. Then she looked at Tris.

"You're cuckoo to be doing this," she told Kiyone.

"Hey, I think she's cuckoo, too," Tris said. "I wouldn't trust me on that starship." He was wearing his father's old A-2 pilot jacket. Tris had decided he wanted at least a part of his Dad to share this trip with him. He also carried his nylon overnight bag in one hand.

Washuu grinned. "Well, cutie, if you think that way...maybe she isn't so cuckoo. Just a little cuckoo."

"Thanks, Washuu," Kiyone gritted. She looked like she wanted to employ the travel bag she carried in an unorthodox but satisfying way.

"You're welcome, Kiyone." Washuu grinned at her, but remained out of range of Kiyone's travel bag.

"It'll be okay, Washuu," Mihoshi told her. She had her travel bag in one hand and Trissy under her other arm. The plush pooch looked as doleful as ever. Perhaps it got airsick easily. Kiyone had tried to convince Mihoshi to leave her stuffed puppy dog behind, but Mihoshi had given her such a tearful look that Kiyone had relented. "We'll be able to handle it. It'll be fun!"

"Okay, Mihoshi," Washuu told her. "If you say so."

"I say so," Mihoshi said brightly.

Ryoko walked up to Mihoshi. "You're taking that ugly mutt, huh?" she asked, eyeing Trissy.

"She's not ugly!" Mihoshi insisted. "And she's not a mutt. She's a Cocker Spaniel. That's a real breed. Tris said so."

"Whatever...as long as it doesn't breed," Ryoko cracked.

Now Ayeka walked up to them. "Hush, Ryoko. Do not antagonize Mihoshi when she is all set to leave."

"Okay." Ryoko grinned. "I'll save it all for when you get back, Mihoshi."

"Ohhhh...thanks." Mihoshi sounded as if she wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

"That is not what I meant!" Ayeka told Ryoko.

"Do I look like I care?" Ryoko became airborne and floated over to where Tenchi and Tris stood talking.

Ayeka looked after her, annoyed. Truthfully though, part of her annoyance was prompted not by Ryoko, but by what she considered this foolhardy venture. Taking the Earthling, Tris, on a Galaxy Police ship was dreadfully risky. Ayeka had remonstrated with Kiyone about it. But Kiyone had pointed out to Ayeka that she, herself, was risking her own throne to stay with Tenchi--and did she think it was worth it? Ayeka, of course, could only give one answer to that. But she was worried for Kiyone--and Mihoshi--and, yes, Tristram, too-- nonetheless.

A short distance away, Tenchi was saying to Tris, "I'm not sure if this is a wise thing, but it's a real break for you, buddy. Space travel is awesome. You'll see."

"Yeah, I'm looking forward to that part, anyway," Tris said. He swung his nylon overnight bag, which was well stuffed, somewhat pensively.

Tenchi raised his eyebrows. "What part aren't you looking forward to?"

"Well...I think maybe someone is hearing wedding bells."

"What!" Tenchi nearly jumped. "You mean Kiyone is--" then he spotted Ryoko floating toward them. "Later, huh?"

"Yeah, later."

"Later for what?" Ryoko asked, landing softly beside them. She took Tenchi's arm.

"Later for me, Ryoko," Tris said. "I'm outta here, you know."

"I know. You're going to love it. I'm glad you're going along, Tris. You should experience everything. Right, sweetums?"

"Well..." Tenchi really didn't want to answer that.

"Yeah, Tenchi said it would be a great trip," Tris replied.

"Oh, he knows. Many is the time Tenchi and I went up in Ryo-Ohki. We sailed though the stars...it was so romantic. Wasn't it, Tenchi?" Ryoko snuggled against him.

"Well, now, really--" Tenchi began.

"Ryoko! You never took Lord Tenchi up in Ryo-Ohki all by yourselves and you know it!" Yes, Ayeka had now joined them, too.

"Did, too...lots of times, Princess."

"Name one time!"

"Oh, when I first came back, before you showed up again. Those were the lovey days. Weren't they, Tenchi?"

"Not really," Tenchi said.

"So!" Ayeka exclaimed triumphantly. "Caught in another lie! That is just disgraceful, Ryoko."

"A girl can fantasize, can't she?" Ryoko still gripped Tenchi's arm.

"Yes and she can keep her sordid fantasies to herself...unhand Lord Tenchi!"

"I won't!"

"Very well, then." Ayeka took Tenchi's other arm. Tenchi groaned. They would probably start pulling at him next. He hated that.

"You two shouldn't argue," Sasami said. She had just joined them after conversing briefly with Mihoshi and Kiyone. She was carrying Ryo-Ohki. "It's not very nice, you know, and this is supposed to be a farewell for Kiyone and Mihoshi and Tris."

"Meow-er!" Ryo-Ohki appeared to agree.

"Hey, who's your mistress, anyway?" Ryoko said to the cabbit.

Ryo-Ohki didn't make another sound.

Sasami petted Ryo-Ohki and put the cabbit down on the grass. She thought this trip was about the most romantic thing she had ever heard of and the bravest. Kiyone was definitely at the forefront of Sasami's Hall of Heroines now. Sasami absently bent down and petted Ryo-Ohki again. She wondered if she would be as brave as Ayeka and Ryoko and Kiyone were when she found a boy she especially cared for. She hoped so.

"Tris!" Kiyone called. "We're leaving now."

"Right-o." Tris looked at Tenchi.

"Just keep cool, Tris," Tenchi advised.

"Yeah." Tris left to join Mihoshi and Kiyone.

"Hmmmm..." Washuu said as she walked over to Tenchi and the others. "Do I detect an undercurrent?"

"Don't go there, Washuu," Tenchi requested.

"Okay." The great scientist shrugged. "None of my business anyway."

"Don't go where? What's up?" Ryoko demanded.

"Yes, Lord Tenchi," Ayeka added. "Is something wrong?"

"I'm not sure," Tenchi said truthfully. "Besides, like Washuu said, it's none of our business."

Neither Ryoko nor Ayeka looked very satisfied with that answer. Sasami felt a bit mystified herself, then decided to ignore it. As Tenchi said, it was none of her business. She rose from petting Ryo- Ohki. "I'll sure miss them," she said sadly. "You will too, won't you, Ryo-Ohki?"

"Meow-er." Ryo-Ohki's response sounded affirmative. She would most definitely miss the rub-a-tummy sessions.

------

Both Lord Yosho and Nobuyuki, standing a distance away, waved at Kiyone, Mihoshi, and Tris as the three young people took their places beneath the hovering Yagami. They, in turn, waved back to Tenchi's father and grandfather.

"You know, father-in-law," Nobuyuki said. "It's an odd thing. Here I was earlier, ranting for all these people to leave. Now three of them are leaving and I want them to come back."

"Nothing odd about it at all, Nobuyuki," Lord Yosho said. "Fortunately, we know they will be back, and soon. We can only wish them good luck...and Godspeed."

"Yes, indeed." Nobuyuki suddenly chuckled. "That reason Kiyone gave, about her thinking Tris should get a chance to see some of the Galactic Union since he's part of our group...it seemed a bit flimsy. That's one diehard career woman, and she's risking her career to take him along. I know what I'd be thinking if I was young Tristram."

"I agree." Lord Yosho nodded. "The fact is, they both are very serious about each other--more serious than at least one of them realizes. Again, we can only wish them good luck."

"Those poor kids. They'll need it."

Now the two men watched as a broad light, an almost blinding luminescence that seemed somehow solid, issued from the Yagami's underbelly. Kiyone had transmitted the order to transport via her control cube. The luminescence streaked down and instantly covered the three figures of Kiyone, Mihoshi, and Tris. The two Galaxy Police Officers stayed put. Tris ducked a bit. Both Nobuyuki and Lord Yosho heard Kiyone yell, "Stand still, you idiot!"

Tris grimaced, but straightened. Then the three of them, transfixed within the dazzling wide beam emitted from the Yagami, began to ascend. Their forms lifted from the ground. Slowly they were drawn to the underbelly of the Yagami.

"Close your eyes if you can't take it, Tris!" Tenchi shouted up a piece of advice.

"Yeah, don't get airsick again," Ryoko added. "Remember, we're right under you!"

"You guy are loads of help!" Tris managed to shout down from around fifteen feet in the air.

"Will you please shut up!" Kiyone shouted to him. "You're not supposed to talk during transport--and don't shut your eyes, you--"

Thus, as it turned out, she was doing the talking when all three of them disappeared into the Yagami.

On the ground, Lord Yosho and Nobuyuki were silent a moment as they stared up at the starship. Then Yosho said, "Not an auspicious beginning to their trip."

"Nope." Nobuyuki grinned. "I'd love to be a fly on the wall in that starship right about now!"

------

"You can open your eyes, now, clown," Tris heard Kiyone tell him dryly. He also heard Mihoshi giggle. Tris opened his eyes.

He had been all right until they had reached around thirty feet in the air. The ride overall had been fine, not bumpy at all, and he had not been the slightest bit airsick; it had, rather, seemed like riding up an elevator...without an elevator. However, when the figures on the ground had grown teensy-tiny and they still had not reached the ship yet, Tris decided that not watching his ascent any longer was the wiser course and shut his eyelids. He had been dimly aware of Kiyone shouting something at him when blackness had closed in and they were on board.

His first sight of the interior of the good starship Yagami was not impressive. He and the two women were in a well-lit but tiny antechamber, with smooth, circular gray walls and a firmly closed exit door. There was absolutely nothing in the chamber aside from the diffused light from above and that closed door. It was hardly welcoming. Now he watched as Mihoshi and Kiyone quickly moved to that door and faced him. Then the two of them laughed.

"Huh?" he asked.

"Sorry, Tris," Kiyone explained. "This transport chamber is designed for when we bring prisoners up to the ship. This is a police vessel, you know. Sometimes a prisoner will try to make a break when we first trasport in, so Mihoshi and I always immediately guard the exit first."

"Well, you can take the handcuffs off now," Tris told her. "I'm not going to make a break for it. And I'm not wild about the idea of jumping around sixty feet back to Earth. It could be hard on my arches."

"You weren't wild about transporting either, buster," Kiyone pointed out, remembering she was supposed to be mad at Tris.

"What do you mean? I loved it so much that I just had to close my eyes and dream that it would never end."

That did it. Mihoshi, still holding onto her travel bag and Trissy, doubled over with laughter.

"Quiet, Mihoshi!" Kiyone said, to little avail. There was no way she could prevent Mihoshi from having a good laugh this time. So she glared at Tris, trying to squelch the smile that struggled to relax her frowning visage. "You really didn't like it," she told him. "And that's just one of the little shocks you're likely to encounter on this trip. Do you still want to go along? Seriously?"

"You mean you'd just set me back on Earth--right now?"

"In a heartbeat. If you ask me to."

Mihoshi stopped laughing. She looked worriedly at Tris and Kiyone.

"What if I ask you to get us out of this jail cell--so we can take off and get this trip started?"

Kiyone slowly smiled. Mihoshi relaxed. Fortunately, Tris had said just the right thing.

"I'd say...okay, idiot, you asked for it!" Kiyone waved her hand over some panel--it was indistinguishable to Tris from the rest of the wall, no doubt to ensure a prisoner couldn't open the door--and the door slid open faster than the blink of an eye. Warm light flooded the antechamber.

"Let's go," Kiyone said. "Goofballs first."

"Nope," Tris said. "Mean old lady cops first."

Mihoshi started laughing again.

"Mihoshi!"

Mihoshi squelched her laughter. But she smiled broadly. Then she went first, stepping out of the teleport chamber and into the ship's main corridor.

Tris made a sweeping bow to Kiyone. "Age before beauty," he murmured gallantly. Kiyone swung her travel bag at him. Tris jumped out of the way and banged his head against what must have been some sort of security camera. Kiyone laughed and took his hand, the one not holding his bag. They followed Mihoshi out of the transport chamber.

"I was just waiting for that big head of yours to hit something on this ship," Kiyone told him, with something akin to satisfaction. But she also looked closely at Tris's head and made certain he wasn't really hurt.

"Well, now you can stop waiting and..." Tris stopped. "Wow!"

"Like it?" Kiyone asked with a smile.

"I'll tell a Klingon!" Tris enthused.

The main corridor of the Yagami actually ran along the starship's bulkhead, with the various rooms and functional areas placed amidships. Accordingly, one entire wall of the corridor--actually, the bulkhead--was sheathed in a transparent material (Tris knew better than to call it glass). The transparent panels ran from high overhead to just a few feet above the marble-like floor. Before them sprawled the outside world, primarily the Masaki Shrine, the nearby village with its tiny lights (evening shade was falling), and the rural landscape beyond. It seemed almost as if one could just step off the corridor and into that high-altitude scene. It rather reminded Tris of that incentive flight he had taken in the back seat of his Dad's F-15...the cockpit of the F-15 was cut so low that it almost seemed at first as if you zooming through the air without support. It had provided an exhilarating sight and a somewhat dizzying sight as well. So did this.

"You really like it?" Kiyone asked.

"I love it," Tris said simply, earnestly.

"You should see it when we're in deep space," Mihoshi said excitedly. "All the planets and stars whizzing by...it's so grand!" One reason why the blonde young woman adored being a Galaxy Police officer was now evident. She was jazzed by space travel. And who wouldn't be? Tris's affection for Mihoshi, whom he was beginning to regard as the sweet, caring sister he never had, was ratcheted up another notch.

"I'm glad you feel that way, Tris." Kiyone took his hand again and her touch was soft. "Let's go put our things in our quarters and then we'll take off. After that--a tour of the ship!"

"Yay!" Mihoshi said.

"That's my line now." Tris grinned. "Yay!"

------

Many light years away at Galaxy Police Headquarters, a sort of welcoming committee was meeting. Only, it was not exactly welcoming.

A cardinal rule of the good staff officer at Headquarters was: Put in the hours, even if you're not being particularly productive. Thus, newly pinned-on Detective Sergeant Mitsuki Sakakibara, her superior officer (and fiancée), Lieutenant Kamin Zay're, and another of their little clique, Detective Sergeant Youri Katzaar, were grabbing a quick dinner at the main GP canteen before they would spend another hour of paper-pushing and apple-polishing.

The huge canteen itself could have hosted several pro football matches (not arena football, either) in its spacious breadth and width. It certainly could have accommodated the mother of all food fights, but, of course, such a lack of decorum was reserved for the Junior Officer's Club a few floors below.

This central canteen helped serve the nutritional needs (if not the gourmand cravings) of the 14,527 Galaxy Police officers, trainees, clerks, contractors, and occasional visiting members of the High Commissioner's staff (not to mention the High Commissioner himself) who populated the Headquarters. The actual solid walls ended at about five feet up. Then the transparent paneling was employed, which not only presented the vista of stars and black-blue space, but also a nice view of the adjoining planet Vestra, in whose gravity the Headquarters orbited.

Vestra provided the Headquarters staff with living accommodations, shopping, recreation, ferocious taxation, price-gouging...in short, a steady drain on most GP officers' and civilian workers' paychecks. A favorite saying among GP staffers was that although they owed their allegiance to the Union, they owed their souls to the Vestra company store.

That view of Vestra and deep space could be altered to project the lush greenery of a pleasure planet or some other appetizing spectacle. But no one had requested a change of scene to the canteen staff-- certainly not the three staff officers huddled so close to each other. They couldn't have cared less about the view.

Lieutenant Zay're was a tall, thin drink of water, resplendent in a razor-sharp creased uniform, with a high forehead (like the others of his race), only tufts of actual hair on his cranium, and a sharply pointed chin. He was hardly prepossessing, not exactly the type one would expect a ravishing redheaded woman like Mitsuki to take a shine to. But he was a highly competent and politically savvy GP staff officer, destined for high office, and his family were movers and shakers back home on planet Ouum. That planet was extremely important to the Galactic Union due to its strong alliance with other powerful planets, a de facto coalition that had constantly challenged the planet Jurai for supremacy since the early days of the Union. The Juraians had to pay attention when that coalition made demands...even King Azusa and his royal court. For any female wishing a brilliant political match, one that would open many doors in the future, Lieutenant Zay're was a dreamboat.

Sergeant Katzaar was certainly no dreamboat. He was a burly, low- browed, hard-looking specimen from a minor planet in the Union, planet Takawii. Like Detective Kiyone Makibi, he had parents of little political consequence and, also like Kiyone, he had been compelled to work very hard for what he had achieved. Unlike Kiyone, however, he had leaned to play the political game and to play it moderately well. He was now Lieutenant Zay're's official subordinate and chief unofficial sycophant. To Katzaar, it beat busting his butt chasing small-time perps out in some godforsaken patrol area. He was on his way to making Lieutenant early, thanks to Zay're.

The commissary was not crowded at this time of the GP workday. Most of the regular staffers (those doomed to endure mundane careers) had gone home to enjoy their real lives. Seated in their booth, the three officers ate the rather tasteless but nutritious fare served at the canteen without enthusiasm. It had been a long day of rolling and unrolling red tape. In addition, Mitsuki's meal was not sweetened by what Sergeant Katzaar had just told her.

"Kiyone and Mihoshi--those two--coming in for PT?" she asked him.

Katzaar nodded. "I wanted to refuse them, but I had no real reason to do so. They haven't used much PT since they messed themselves up. And you know how dead their patrol area is...its only importance is to enforce the restricted area around that boondock planet Earth. Besides, Chief Bodai would have questioned me pretty closely had I refused their request."

"Yeah, Kiyone would have gone crying to Bodai, no doubt," Mitsuki said sourly. "I wish the Chief would stop coddling those two."

"It's understandable," Zay're said. "Kiyone was sort of his protégé once. It's hard to be forced to realize your special pet is a rotter."

"They're both rotters, if you ask me, sir," Katzaar grumped. "That Mihoshi--Lady Mihoshi, if you please! Little stuck-up bit of useless nobility...incompetent and feeble-minded. Used her grandfather to stay in the GP and then to keep her little pal Kiyone in, too." Like many people born without advantages, Katzaar was keenly resentful of those who had.

"No argument from me on that," Mitsuki agreed. "When I heard Kiyone had drawn Mihoshi as a partner, I actually felt sorry for Kiyone. Back then, I hoped Kiyone would make something of Mihoshi. Instead, it seems that Mihoshi made something of her!" Mitsuki shook her red head with faux sadness. "The Miho-Kiyo Team!" That was the latest nasty reference to the two outcasts that buzzed around Headquarters.

Zay're smiled fondly at his bride-to-be. "Such feelings speak well for you, dear. Especially since those two tried to involve you in their transgressions. It infuriates me that Chief Bodai would use the excuse that those two for once handled a case without causing a disaster to re-open the file on that Slaakive mis-identification matter."

"Without a disaster, sir?" Katzaar shook his beetle-browed head truculently. "Firing on a privately owned ship containing only two teenaged girls? They should have gotten a second official reprimand for that and booted out. We all know that, sir."

"That's quite true, Youri. I'm afraid Princess Ayeka Jurai is far too generous in spirit for one in her position at times." That was as far as Zay're would go in publicly criticizing any member of the Jurai royal family. He certainly wasn't going to add publicly that Princess Ayeka Jurai needed to be back on Jurai, not romancing an Earthling (Juraian Prince though he may be) out in the middle of nowhere. But that was how he and many others in the Union felt. Resentment of the errant Princess and her selfish and costly "fling" that kept her heavy-handed father on the throne of Juria was strong in the Galactic Union and grew stronger every day.

Mitsuki nodded. She had gone a bit pale at the news that Kiyone was coming back to GP Headquarters, even for a quick personal visit. She wished never to see Kiyone again, or that twit, Mihoshi, either. Her fiancée and Youri were right. Those two should have been axed over the incident with those Souiis youths. It would have worked out so perfectly, proving that those two were quite capable of prevaricating about that alleged full ID comparison report. That would have stopped Chief Bodai's re-investigation cold. Damn the Juraian royals and their interference anyway! Naturally, she would never voice such a sentiment aloud. The GP was directly dependent on royal Juraian support.

Lieutenant Zay're looked at Mitsuki with concern. "You appear to be troubled, darling," he remarked.

His fiancée quickly recovered herself. She gave a long, theatrical sigh. "It's just that it's so sad about Kiyone. Mihoshi deserves what she gets--she should never have made it through the Academy. But Kiyone...she was second in our class, you know, behind me. Such a waste."

With another fond smile, Lieutenant Zay're laid one of his hands--one with six fingers, another trait of his race--on Mitsuki's hand. "You're rather wonderful...do you know that? After all that hysterical woman has tried to do to you, you can still feel that way. You have a big heart, my dear."

Mitsuki smiled tenderly up at Kamin. She couldn't wait to be married to him. Then she'd have all the protection in the world...and Chief Bodai and his damned re-investigation could go hang.

Sipping at the latest soft drink craze (from Souiis, as it happened) and grimacing at the taste, Sergeant Katzaar was silent. He secretly thought that Mitsuki had a big ego and big ambition and about as much heart as a proton generator. But he'd never say it. After all, he wanted to make lieutenant early.

That made him think. Perhaps he could do something still about Mihoshi's and Kiyone's request for PT. Mitsuki clearly wasn't happy about them popping in for a visit. Stopping them would earn him her gratitude...and thereby Lieutenant Zay're's gratitude. That was worth a lot to Youri Katzaar.

------

"How do you like our ship's bridge?" Mihoshi asked Tris.

"Great! From what I can see of it."

"You just stay right there, buster," Kiyone told him. "And zip the lip! You too, Mihoshi."

They were in the forward operations and control section of the ship, referred to as the "bridge." It was a spacious compartment, about the size of the Masaki home's first floor, and quite tall...the ceiling would reach to the Masaki home's attic. It was dominated by the command-and-control module, equivalent to an airship's cockpit. The module consisted of the main navigation and weapons console behind which squatted two tall-backed cockpit seats sporting immense side and head bolsters. Kiyone and Mihoshi sat on those seats now. The console itself consisted of a brain-numbing array of touchpads and bar graph indicators, as well as two large screens, one facing each seat, which Kiyone and Mihoshi referred to as viewscreens. Finally, small data pods were attached to the two pilot's seats with telescoping arms, from which even more ship's information could be read and inputted. It was almost information overload, but the two women handled the mass of data efficiently and adroitly.

Facing them was the literal bow, or front, of the ship, much of it encased in the transparent material, so that the Yagami's pilots had an immense view of where their starship was heading. In addition, large panels were suspended in front of the two Galaxy Police officers which provided a constant, real-time readout of all the ship's functions and weaponry status. Every so often, numbers and words would just appear in the air in front of Mihoshi and Kiyone. Tris guessed these were heads-up displays but he saw no light source for projection--in which case, they were somehow generated and projected without light. Rather cool.

No doubt about it, Toto...he wasn't in Kansas anymore.

Tris knew that even his late father would have had quite a learning curve to master such a complicated array of controls to pilot this ship--and piloting an F-15E was a hell of a complex task in itself. Tris didn't even want to think about trying to pilot such a starship himself. Kiyone was right...the spectacle of her and Mihoshi so deftly handling the big starship, piloting it out of Earth's orbit and into outer space and doing so with only the slightest sensation of movement, was tremendously impressive. His regard for the two's professional abilities skyrocketed.

Unfortunately, he had to observe all this from a spot at the very front of the bridge behind the pilot console and the main screens, his back pressing against the transparent material that opened up the sights of outer space to the two pilots. For Kiyone had issued one of her first orders--that Tris, when entering the bridge, would keep himself pressed against the walls and quickly go the front and then stick himself into the little nook he now found himself in.

"Kiyone," Tris spoke up.

Kiyone looked up from where she was recording fuel pressure. She frowned. "I ordered you to keep silent when on the bridge, Tris."

"Can't I ask one question?"

"Please let him, Kiyone," Mihoshi urged.

"Mihoshi, you're supposed to back me up!"

"I will...only, let Tris ask his question. Please?"

"Oh, okay. What is it now, Tris?"

"How come I have to stick my sorry self in this corner?" Tris asked. Actually, it wasn't a corner, since the ship's combined forward operations control center and bridge was rather oblong shaped, achieved by an engineering Tris could only wonder at. Kiyone and Mihoshi seemed to know what he meant, though.

"Tris, it would be nice if you'd pay a little attention to what I tell you," Kiyone replied, grumpy at being interrupted in her fuel pressure recording--it was vital to accurately estimate fuel consumption so they'd be able to justify re-fueling at GP Headquarters. Also, she was ticked off at Tris for disobeying her orders so quickly. "I pointed out to you the two viewscreens on the console and the fact that they can be projected on the main screens. Oh, I understand now--I used two syllables! I'm sorry. Okay, let's go one syllable at a time, Tris. View...screen. Now, say it with me."

Tris was clearly getting a bit grumpy himself. "View...screen," he said through gritted teeth.

"Very good! Now, what do those simple words mean to you?"

"It means I wanna take my ball and go home," Tris muttered.

"What did you say? Don't mumble."

"It means it's a screen someone can view you from," Tris said.

"That's my smart boy. So that means when we get a call from our area Command Post or from our Headquarters, the caller can see us and what's behind us just as we can see them and their surroundings. Now, do you suppose it would be a good thing for them to suddenly contact us and see you hanging about?"

"No," Tris had to admit.

"That's right...no!" Kiyone returned to tapping inputs on the console.

Tris sighed, but did so quietly. It was going to be a long trip. He wondered if Kiyone's brusqueness was due to the fact that he had made fun earlier of the fingerless gloves she wore to pilot the ship. He had called them "driving gloves" and wondered aloud if Kiyone wore a tweed cap, too. Kiyone had not been amused.

Now he saw Mihoshi looking at him. Her wide blue eyes were sympathetic. He grinned at her and winked. Mihoshi smiled.

"Mihoshi, have you established our uplink to the nav buoy network yet?" Kiyone asked her.

"Ummm...no, Kiyone."

"Do you plan to do it before we reach retirement age?"

"I'll do it right now, Kiyone." Mihoshi returned to her tasks.

Tris stood and watched Kiyone and Mihoshi run through their post take- off checklist. Kiyone, of course, handled her tasks with aplomb, the compleat professional pilot. Mihoshi also performed quite well. She was no ditz, no air-headed blonde now.

Without lifting her eyes from the console, Kiyone said, "Tris, once we have the ship properly underway and locked on its course, Mihoshi and I like to have a meal together in the galley inside the recreation room. Yagami will be on automatic pilot while she travels through your solar system, anyway. After that, we take turns manning the bridge. You're welcome to join us for the meal." She glanced at him. He nodded.

Then Kiyone smiled that special smile at him.

Tris now understood. Kiyone was all business when it came to business, police business, that is. But she could and would unbend when that business was completed...at least, completed for the moment.

------

After a quiet evening of watching TV, Ryoko found herself baby- sitting Princess Ayeka in the women's dorm room. It was around ten- thirty p.m., and the Princess and Sasami were snuggled in their futons, eyes closed. Ryoko sat on hers. As a concession to Ryoko, the lights in the room were on, but their intensity had been lowered via the light bezel on the wall.

Ryoko was bored, really bored. So bored that she was reduced to wiggling her bare toes and trying to determine which foot was faster at toe-wiggling. It was a tie, she finally decided.

Man! When she found herself engrossed in watching her tootsies twiddle, it was a sure sign she was going wacky. This baby-sitting-- actually, Princess-watching was a better term for it--wasn't turning out quite as Ryoko had planned.

Since she could subsist on little sleep (although, rather like Mihoshi, she preferred lots and lots of sleep), Ryoko had volunteered to take her shift tonight, although she'd been awake all day. The thought that she could sack out all day tomorrow, free of the Princess's not-so-subtle hints to perform housework, was gratifying, as was the way Tenchi had smiled at her when she announced she would commence her Princess-watching that night. Now that had been just lovely...her sweetums thought she was a real trouper and Ayeka could only burn in silence. That alone was worth a little boredom.

Of course, Ryoko didn't think there was any real danger. That crud Klove had shot his bolt. Ryoko truly believed that Ayeka could not and would not harm any of them, despite all that hypnosis stuff. Tris might be wrong, but Washuu almost certainly wasn't. Washuu was a real pain in the rear sometimes but she was usually right about things...annoyingly right, to be perfectly honest about it. Ryoko pictured Washuu again in that one-piece swimsuit with all the peek-a- boo panels. And Washuu thought that was hot stuff! It just showed you what happened to a girl when she became an old maid.

Ryoko had no intention of being an old maid. She planned to age into a feisty old babe with Tenchi. Tenchi would make her world and life complete. She loved him to distraction, she dreamed about him (no nasty old Professors messing with her dreams, thank you!), and even fantasized about him. Maybe she fantasized too much. Reading those sexy hentai books had gotten her really aroused, and it was all she could do not to go zipping into Tenchi's bedroom. Hmmmm...come to think of it, Tris was gone and...she shook her platinum head firmly. She had promised Ayeka a "fair fight." Ryoko would stick to her promise.

Not that Ayeka always fought fair. When the Princess had come crawling back to Earth (some dedicated Princess she was!) as Ryoko had predicted, Ayeka had even ordered her royal galleon to depart without her for Jurai. It was a clear indication that she planned to stay on Earth this time...although all she really had to do was contact her snooty family via her two Guardians and there'd be a ship to take her back, toot-sweet. But the ploy definitely made her look like she had made an irrevocable commitment to Tenchi, while Ryoko always had Ryo-Ohki to take off in again.

"That was dirty pool, Princess," Ryoko muttered at Ayeka's silent, slowly breathing form. "Real dirty pool."

Still, most of the time they both observed their fair-fight pact, Ryoko admitted to herself. It had to be that way. Their days of actual physical combat were over. This was so for several trenchant reasons. First of all, the best the two of them could do was fight to a draw...one simply couldn't defeat the other. This fact had amazed them both--they each had thought themselves invincible. Secondly, the last time they had fought with their powers, the house had been seriously damaged, which caused a lot of expensive repair work and some problems with that insurance stuff that Ryoko really didn't understand. Tenchi had been so angry he had almost sent them both away and that Ryoko understood all too well. So now they went at each other in other ways--verbally and by exploiting any opportunity to advance themselves in Tenchi's eyes, such as her volunteering to watch over Ayeka. Ryoko grinned. She stuck her tongue out at the silent and still form of the Princess. Hah! Got her that time!

"Put that disgusting thing back in your mouth, Ryoko!"

Ryoko nearly bit her tongue with surprise.

Ayeka sat up. "Do you call this watching me? Playing silly games with your feet, muttering things at me, and sticking your tongue out like a spoiled child? Really, Ryoko!"

"What? You're awake?" Ryoko was stunned.

"Of course I am awake. How could anyone sleep with all the silly things you are doing?"

"Hey, Sasami's asleep!"

Now Sasami sat up. "No, I'm not." She smiled. "You sure were funny, Ryoko."

"Aw, nuts!" Ryoko groaned. Talk about being hooked and reeled in, but good!

"That is just the kind of intelligent response we expect from you, Ryoko. I know Lord Tenchi will greatly enjoy hearing about the valiant way you watch over me."

"You wouldn't tell him!"

"And why not?"

"Because...because I have been watching you! I haven't left this room!"

"She's right, Ayeka," Sasami said.

Ayeka appeared to mull this over. "Very well. I shall not say a word to Lord Tenchi. But you must sit there quietly and do your duty, Ryoko. That means no trips to the living room to watch television, or trips to the kitchen to eat leftovers...and certainly no trips to anyone else's bedroom!"

"Okay, okay," Ryoko stewed. The Princess had her over a barrel. The last thing Ryoko wanted was for Tenchi to hear about her toe-twiddling competition. Then a thought occurred to her. "But can't I at least go to the bathroom? What if I have to...you know..."

Sasami giggled.

"Ohhh, how vulgar! I suppose that is all right, but you must not dawdle, and--"

Ayeka was interrupted by a tapping at the door.

"Now see what you have done, Ryoko?" Ayeka snapped. "You have awakened Lord Yosho or perhaps poor Mr. Masaki!"

"Have not! You've been yak-yakking all this time!" Ryoko shot back.

"Come in!" Sasami called.

The door slid open. It was Tenchi. Dressed in his kimono, pajamas, and slippers, he carried his stereo radio and a pair of earphones.

"Hi, girls." He grinned, a bit sleepily.

Instantly, Ryoko and Ayeka forgot their argument. They eyes sparkled at the sight of Tenchi in his kimono and pajamas. Their faces glowed with love.

"Hi, sweetums," Ryoko sighed.

"Hello, Lord Tenchi," Ayeka breathed.

Sasami watched the two of them melt in Tenchi's presence with amusement. But, she had to admit, she felt a little like melting, too.

"Ryoko, I know it must be pretty dull just to sit here and watch Ayeka," Tenchi told her. "So I thought I'd bring this old radio for you to listen to. It's the one we took to the beach. The earphones will keep you from waking up Ayeka or Sasami."

Ryoko nearly wriggled with delight. "Oh, that is so wonderful of you, sweetums. You deserve a big kiss for that."

Ayeka glared at her. "Lord Tenchi brought that radio so that I could get a good night's sleep without being awakened by your hijinks! If anyone should kiss him, it is I."

"Girls..." Tenchi began.

"You said you wouldn't say anything about--you know!" Ryoko returned Ayeka's glare.

"I did not say anything...but I should!"

"Girls...girls..." Tenchi tried to moderate.

"Perhaps you should show Lord Tenchi that wonderful pastime you have discovered. I am certain he will be as enthralled by it as we were," Ayeka suggested acidly.

"Leave my feet out of this!" Ryoko stopped, realizing that she had just rather put her foot into it herself.

"Feet?" Tenchi asked, looking at both Ayeka and Ryoko.

Ayeka laughed the peculiarly brassy laugh she used when scoring against Ryoko. Ryoko glowered.

Then Sasami rose from her pallet. The little girl walked over to Tenchi and took the radio and earphones from him. Then she motioned for him to bend over. He did. Sasami gently kissed his cheek.

"Sasami!"

"Junior Princess!"

"Thank you for your thoughtfulness, Tenchi," Sasami told him. "I know you're tired and want to go back to bed. They'll be quiet now, I think. Good-night."

Tenchi grinned down at the little Princess. "Good night, Sasami. Good night, girls."

Ayeka and Ryoko just stared after Tenchi as he left, sliding the door shut behind him. Then they stared at Sasami.

Sasami smiled to herself. She walked to Ryoko and handed the radio and earphones to the space pirate, who accepted them numbly. Then Sasami walked back to her futon, slipped benath the covers, and laid her head on her pillow. "Good night," she said to her big sister and Ryoko.

Both Ayeka and Ryoko continued to stare, dumfounded, as Sasami smilingly drifted off to sleep.

------

"It's not very tasty, is it, Tris?" Mihoshi asked the American.

"It's okay, Mihoshi...if you crave cardboard."

Mihoshi laughed. "I think it tastes like cardboard, too!"

"Mihoshi! These are our official rations!" Kiyone objected.

The three of them sat at a low table in the small, but functional, ship's galley, located just adjacent to the pleasantly decorated and furnished ship's recreation room.

The galley was small, with a food preparation area that consisted of several instant-cooking modules, rather like microwave ovens, and a dining area, where they were seated now. Although the floor of the galley, as in the rest of the starship, was carpetless, and the walls were largely devoid of anything resembling pictures and posters, the overall effect was still cheerful and inviting. The ship's interior at least didn't have that rivets-in-the-wall look of many military sea and air vessels on Earth. Here was a ship where people could spend a great deal of time in and not feel as if they were traveling in a crate. Of course, a few pictures on the smooth, bare walls would not have hurt, either. Tris had briefly glimpsed Kiyone's and Mihoshi's private quarters during the tour of the ship and those rooms were more intimately furnished, at least--Mihoshi's quarters were a riot of pink.

The recreation room itself had proved a welcome surprise to Tris, compared to the severely functional, almost Bauhaus design of the rest of the starship, with its music and video entertainment modules, comfy couches, and huge library of instructional media for GP officers to brush up their knowledge of Galactic laws, history, and various planetary cultures. There were even discs on protocol, useful when entertaining royalty such as the Juraians. In addition, there was, interestingly enough, a shelf of what had to be books in one corner, next to a device that Mihoshi told Tris was a alien kareoke machine. The recreation ("rec") room proved that Kiyone's and Mihoshi's patrols were not all work and no play.

At the moment, Kiyone, Mihoshi, and Tris were eating the boxed food rations stored aboard every GP ship--the prepared food units that required no cooking, no baking, no frying, and no taste buds. Most GP officers stocked their ships with more appealing foodstuffs--of course, most GP officers had money to spend on such luxuries.

"You mean these are your official rancid rations," Tris replied to Kiyone. He pushed a cube of something orangish around his flat translucent plate with a kind of fork-spoon combination utensil (something like a spork, but weirder looking). He'd seen lumps of old plaster that looked more appetizing.

"Rancid! That's right!" Mihoshi hooted.

Around the table were four armless chairs--well, they were sort of like chairs. Mihoshi had placed Trissy in the fourth chair. The plush pooch looked dolefully at the table, as if worried that someone would offer her some of those rations.

"The official rations aren't meant to tickle your taste buds!" Kiyone said, exasperated with both of them. "They are purely nutritional edibles and they'll give you all the vitamins and minerals you need. So eat!"

"Yes, Mom. Hey, what do you think this is, Mihoshi?" Tris asked, pointing at the orange food cube on his plate. "A vitamin or a mineral?"

Mihoshi laughed again.

"Tris...!" Kiyone glared at him.

"This stuff is crud, Blue Eyes," Tris told her. "I've eaten MREs-- Meals, Ready To Eat--on Earth and they taste like food...sort of. This tastes like grade school modeling clay, except the modeling clay had some taste to it. This is the product of your advanced civilization?"

"Oh, most of the food here is awful!" Mihoshi said. "So many different people and so many different tastes, you know. So it's all really bland like this--not like on Earth!" Mihoshi's eyes glowed at the thought of the yummy food on Earth.

"There's more to life than food, Mihoshi," Kiyone said crossly.

"There is?" Mihoshi said. "I mean...sure, Kiyone. But food is awfully important!"

"You tell her, Mihoshi," Tris said.

"Okay, so don't eat it, buster," Kiyone gritted at him.

"Thanks!" Tris said. "I won't."

Kiyone stared at him, shocked. "You're going to go hungry?"

"Nope."

"What do you mean, then?"

"Well, why do you think my overnight bag was stuffed so full--lots of jockey shorts?"

Mihoshi was lost in another fit of laughing.

"Hey--what is this, you clown? What did you bring?" Kiyone demanded. "I wondered why you stopped in the kitchen before we left."

"Well, now you know. I brought a bunch of those freeze-dried cups of noodles--you know, ramen."

Mihoshi sprang to her feet. "Yay! Oh, I love you, Tris!"

"Mihoshi!" Kiyone cried.

"Well..." Mihoshi smiled at Tris. "Let's go open your bag, okay?"

"Why don't you bring it here? It's in those so-called visitor's quarters, remember?" Tris suggested.

"Sure--right away!" Mihoshi walked, happily--all but skipped--out of the galley and through the open doors of the recreation room.

When she was gone, Kiyone said, "Tris, what's the big idea?"

"Tenchi told me how bad the food was on your ship and how you never brought enough food, anyway, and everyone almost starved."

"That was Ryoko's fault!" Kiyone denied the charge.

"Was it her fault you didn't have enough food?"

"We weren't expecting to carry the whole damned Misaki family with us!" Kiyone retorted.

"Okay, that's your story. You stick to it. Of course, everyone else says different."

"That does it!" Kiyone stood up and walked around the table to him. "You asked for this!"

Just as she got ready to poke him a good one, Tris picked Trissy up.

"You wouldn't hit a fellow with a puppy dog...would you?" Tris asked her sadly. He made his face look as doleful as Trissy's.

Kiyone stopped. Then she shook with laughter. She took Trissy away from Tris, dumped the pooch back on its seat, and was bent over and kissing him before he could even react.

"No," she chuckled. "But I can sure kiss him silly!"

At about the time the third kiss was delivered on target, Mihoshi walked into the galley carrying Tris's overnight bag.

"Awww..." Mihoshi said. "I thought we were going to eat some yummy noodles."

Kiyone parted from Tris. "Yes we are, partner. You get a vessel of water boiling and this idiot and I will open up some of the cups."

Even Trissy almost looked pleased.

------

Tenchi did not immediately return to his bed from the women's bedroom. He noticed that light showed under the door of his father's bedroom. He knocked on the door softly. He heard his father's voice and Tenchi slid the door open.

He saw his father sitting on his bed, clad in his pajamas. Nobuyuki was peering in a cloth-bound ledger that Tenchi recognized as the one containing the household accounts.

"Come in, son," Nobuyuki said genially. He placed his pencil behind an ear, something Tenchi had seen his Dad do as long as he could remember.

Tenchi walked in and closed the door. "You shouldn't stay up too late, Dad. You need to..." He stopped, abashed.

But his father just smiled. "Well, no, I don't have to get up to go to work in the morning. Quite a shock to realize that, eh?"

Tenchi forced a smile. "Well, Dad, now you're on vacation."

His father shook his head. "Tenchi, unemployment is not a vacation. It's a time of high anxiety, peppered with moments of pure desperation. Working at a job is much easier than looking for one. I'm beginning to recall all that. When the first firm I worked for went belly up, I had to look for the job I've had until today, when you were just a baby. No fun, I can tell you. Thank heavens for the moral support of your dear mother and your grandfather during that time."

"I'm sorry, Dad," Tenchi said. "But you sure have all our support."

"Thank you, son. That really means a lot. I don't know how single folks make it during times like this...I really don't."

"I hope I never have to find out, Dad," Tenchi admitted somberly.

"You won't son. You'll always be surrounded by friends and family. At least I can count on that for you."

"Uh-huh. Any prospects at all, Dad?"

"Well, I'm considering going with one of the contracting firms, if I can. Practically everything is done by contractors these days, rather than regular employees, it seems. No wonder! What a deal it is for companies, having workers but not having to do anything but pay a flat fee for them...no health insurance or investment plans to cover and hire-at-will to boot."

"Hire-at-will, Dad?"

"It means they can fire you at any time, without a stated cause, and without any severance pay."

"Man!"

"That's the way it is, Tenchi. If I go in as a contractor, I do the job, get paid by the contractor, and then have to wait for another job to come up before working again. Lots of folks like it, but it can play havoc with trying to budget yourself. Some firms actually pay you during the idle time. Perhaps I can get on with one of them."

"I guess it's better than nothing, Dad. But it sounds pretty iffy."

Nobuyuki nodded. "Oh, it is. My age is against me and also the fact that I held a senior position for so long. The contracting firms want young people who aren't accustomed to doing anything but taking orders. So even contractor work may well be beyond my reach."

Tenchi walked over to his father. He laid a hand on his shoulder. "Something will turn up, Dad. I know it. Are you checking the household accounts?"

"Yes. Sasami is certainly a precise little shopper...every cost entered, down to the last noodle!" Nobuyuki chuckled. It was a welcome sound to Tenchi. "We'll make it this month, and the next before we have to dip into the savings. That's a little time to get re-employed again, at least."

"Good!" Tenchi clapped his father on the shoulder. "Washuu already said she's going to monitor all the airwaves and the Internet for local architect position openings and send it to your computer daily. Ayeka and Sasami and Ryoko said they'd get the newspaper first thing each morning and pencil all the possible openings. It'll be all right, Dad. You'll see."

"Of course it will, son," his father said. But the household accounts ledger, lying on his lap, seemed to say differently.

------

Thanks to the substitution of hot noodles loaded with goodies for GP food rations, the mood around the galley table was significantly more companionable now. Tris was even able to ask dumb questions without receiving sarcasm from Kiyone.

"Okay," he asked. "Explain again how you're able to know where you are in deep space? Finding a way to navigate outside of the solar system is one of the problems that makes routine deep space travel sound pretty implausible to us knuckle-draggers on Earth."

Kiyone nodded. "I know...I heard that sort of talk on your TV. But it's quite simple, Tris." She was actually enjoying explaining her world and its marvels to Tris. She hadn't been sure she would find it enjoyable or that Tris would take it so well. After kind of a rocky start, Tris was really being kind of wonderful; he absorbed new information and concepts quickly. Although he marveled at the Yagami, he accepted the ship and its functions and capabilities as new technology, not as magic or science fiction. It all made her feel much easier in her mind about him. Already, she thought, the trip was paying off. That is, as long as they didn't get caught.

"My simple mind is open. Fire away."

Mihoshi, who was on her third cup of noodles, giggled. She had just gotten the knuckle-dragger bit.

"Okay. Many years ago, survey teams explored space away from their planets and placed what we call nav buoys, or navigational buoys, in strategic places, such as next to a planet or a planetoid. For example, there's a nav buoy positioned close to the planet you call Saturn...the one with the rings. These buoys are programmed to use their little rocket stabilizers to maintain that position precisely. They also communicate with other buoys to keep their positions fixed and to report any failures that they either repair internally or wait for a maintenance crew to come out and fix. The positions of all these buoys are mapped and the mapping parameters are loaded into navigational control computers, or navcoms, which all ships, private or governmental, must have and which must be updated periodically. The navcoms on the ships search out the nearest buoys and the particular identification numbers of those buoys tell the navcom exactly what sector of space--your solar system counts as a sector, incidentally--the ship is in. The use of several buoys to get one's bearings is a technique that I think on Earth you call triangulation. It allows the navcom to pinpoint exactly where the ship is at."

"Phew!" Tris said. "That's a little complex but I understand the principle behind it. It's sort of like a plane on Earth navigating with the help of radio signals or using satellite geo-positioning."

"That's right, Tris," Mihoshi said, gratified that he understood. "It's kind of like having landmarks that are always there, you know? That's how I see it, anyway."

Tris nodded. "The folks who went out and set up your buoy system-- they must have been real trailblazers," he commented.

"Uh-huh! They were pioneers," Mihoshi said.

"Oh...and are you a Pioneer?"

"Huh?" Mihoshi said. "No...but I've read a lot about our celestrial navigation system."

Kiyone smiled. "Mihoshi is the navigation expert on Yagami. She scored very high at the Academy on navigation and has passed all her certs--that is, certifications--to get her navigator's warrant."

"Gosh, Kiyone..." Mihoshi looked down at the table, her cheeks flushed, embarrased and pleased by the unaccustomed praise from her partner. It was a nicer surprise than even the noodles had been.

"That's doesn't surprise me, Mihoshi," Tris said. "I was really impressed by the way you handled the ship earlier. I don't think I could ever do what you did even if they trained me for a decade."

Now Mihoshi's entire face blushed. Her eyes sparkled. She loved praise and got so little of it that it was exceedingly special to her whenever she received any accolades. The fact that Tris was always nice to her and showed respect for her didn't dilute the effect of the praise he gave her now. "Thank you," she said, very softly. She suddenly had the overwhelming urge to hug. So she picked up Trissy and hugged her plush cocker spaniel. She wished it was Tris she was hugging, though.

"Speaking of the ship," Tris asked, "and since you're the Answer Lady today, Kiyone...how about telling me what powers Yagami? Washuu tried to explain it to me but it sounded like ancient Greek."

Kiyone rolled her eyes. "That Washuu! She takes a simple subject and makes it sound so damned complicated. Okay, I'll try, Tris. You know what antimatter is?"

"Sure. The so-called Big Bang that created the universe was a combination of matter and antimatter. Lots of folks think antimatter is some science fiction invention, but it exists. My country is working with the Japanese right now to find true antimatter molecules in our atmosphere. We've found antiparticles such as anti-protons and anti-electrons and we've even created anti-hydrogen molecules in particle accelerators."

Kiyone's eyes widened. She had no idea her goofball was so well read.

"Gosh, Tris--that's really good! You know about antimatter!" Mihoshi smiled fondly at Tris.

"And so you know why it's the answer for interstellar travel?" Kiyone probed a bit.

"Well...sorta." Tris racked his brains for what he had read about antimatter as a rocket fuel. "With antimatter, supposedly, no more than a thumb-sized amount would fuel a rocket to travel at speeds many times the speed of light," Tris said. "Is that what fuels Yagami?"

Kiyone nodded. "We call our engines reactors, but they're really positron generators--you know, the antimatter to electrons. We mix the positrons with plain old protons, plus antiprotons, in a cloud of electrons. The "soup" creates a terrific thrust that carries Mihoshi and me all over the galaxy."

"Cool. Like I said, we're already creating antimatter in particle accelerators, and--" Tris began.

"Yeah, but at the stage you're at, your scientists are expending millions of times more energy to make the antimatter particles than those particles produce, Tris," Kiyone pointed out. "You'll need a lot of quantum leaps forward in your technology to make antimatter fuel viable, I'm afraid. That's why Earth hasn't been approached for membership in the Galactic Union--you're too far away from inter- stellar flight. Sorry."

Tris looked a bit led down by her words. Mihoshi knew it had to be discouraging for him to sit in a spacecraft whose equivalent no Earthling would pilot until long after he was dead. She felt sad. She would never had told Tris that stuff about his people not being able to travel to the stars for centuries. Why make him feel bad?

Kiyone decided to change the subject. "I hope you don't get too used to all the space in this ship, Tris." She smiled apologetically. "Because when we get to our apartments, you're going to think you're back in the teleport chamber, almost."

"That small, huh?"

"I'll say!" Mihoshi exclaimed. "I really thought Tenchi and his father and grandfather lived in a palace when I first went to Earth chasing Ryoko. So much space in that house...so much nice space! Full of nice people!"

Kiyone nodded. "Even our old apartment in Okayama City seems vast compared to our apartments back at Headquarters. Of course, that was a pretty chintzy apartment we leased. Remember, Mihoshi?"

"Sure I do. I didn't mind it all that much, though."

Kiyone shook her head. "Mihoshi! It was right next to that awful elevated train that shook the whole building about every fifteen minutes, don't you remember? Half the time the heat didn't work and we wouldn't get hot water sometimes, either. We couldn't afford hardly any furniture and the place was almost bare." Kiyone gave a small shudder. "The worst thing was trying to launder our clothes."

"How so?" Tris asked.

"We couldn't afford a washing machine in our apartment, so we had to cart our clothes to a tiny coin laundry down the street. That place was always packed! Night and day! People with families and kids running around. We were lucky to get one washer and then we had to wait around for a dryer. There was nothing to do but listen to your clothes in the washing machine or watch them tumble in the dryer. Awful!" Kiyone grimaced.

"Uh-huh," Mihoshi agreed. "We couldn't even find a place to sit down. We tried leaving once when our clothes were in the dryer and when we came back, they were stolen! My best pink pullover and everything!"

"Yeah...and I don't know how we scraped up enough money to replace those clothes," Kiyone added.

"I almost asked my Daddy for money--the first time ever! But I didn't. We just went to second-hand stores to shop," Mihoshi recalled.

"That was great...wearing other people's cast-off clothes," Kiyone commented ruefully. "But, we got by."

"It was better when we could hold down those part-time jobs," Mihoshi said. "Although we didn't hold them long."

"Yeah, I wonder why?" Kiyone spoke with heavy sarcasm.

"I don't know why...something always happened. I tried my best." Mihoshi seemed defensive.

"Oh, forget about it, Mihoshi. Those jobs stunk! They paid little and they were demeaning. There I was, second-ranked in our class at the Academy, and I was directing trucks on a construction site! A paid laborer!" Kiyone looked indignant.

"But we didn't have any references or anything, Kiyone," Mihoshi reminded her. "We were lucky to get any jobs at all. That bath house job wasn't so bad."

"Handing out towels to overweight, middle-aged biddies? I hated it!" Kiyone gritted. "And having to wash all those towels afterwards? You're kidding!"

"It wasn't so bad, Kiyone. At least we got to use the bath house for free."

Tris listened to the tales of the two young women with amusement, sympathy, and a bit of wonderment. Their story could have been told by just about any two girls out on their own...only these two were from outer space and were professional law officers, to boot. Yeah, it must have really stung to be forced to perform the most menial of jobs for low pay. It amazed Tris that Kiyone and Mihoshi had pulled it off for so long--full-time jobs with the Galaxy Police and that moonlighting on the side. Of course, that was the first go-round. This time around, the two officers could not afford to be caught moonlighting and so they ended up rooming at the Masaki homestead. It was obvious from Kiyone's expression that she did not wish to pursue that subject any further. So Tris changed the subject.

"Speaking of laundry, Tenchi and I are supposed to use the washers and dryers in the dorm but they're always spoken for," Tris said. "So we just wait until we run out of clean clothes and pile into in the Mustang and go to this coin laundry nearby. You're right...it's not much fun. Come to think of it, I reckon Tenchi was supposed to bring his laundry home on the weekends. I can imagine Ayeka and Sasami wanting him to. But he always did his laundry with me. Maybe he was sort of trying to be independent."

Kiyone looked sardonic. "You mean, proclaiming his freedom!"

"How's that?" Tris asked, puzzled by Kiyone's comment.

"Oh, you don't know, Tris...you've only been around us for a little while," Kiyone said. "But this thing between Tenchi and Ayeka and Ryoko has been going on a long time, you know? You weren't there to see how it was the first time those three hooked up. Ayeka and Ryoko were at each other's throats. They had these terrible firefights, and I mean firefights, over Tenchi. And poor Tenchi was just a clueless high-school kid back then. He didn't really understand what was driving those two."

"Yeah," Mihoshi said somberly as she remembered their earlier days with the Masakis. "It could get awful scary. Ryoko and Ayeka would get mad at each other, or one accuse the other of messing with Tenchi, and suddenly force beams and fireballs were zooming all around us! Sasami and I used to hide together, we were so scared! Poor Mr. Masaki would come home from work to find the house wrecked again. He had to put in those ceiling beams and extra walls and all, and I know it must have cost a lot of money. I think there was trouble with the insurance, too. He was nice about it, though." Mihoshi frowned as she thought of something else. "Of course, he really had roving eyes back then, but I didn't mind so much. Ayeka and Ryoko did, though. They called him a pervert. I thought that was mean."

"Surrounded by all you pretty women, and he was supposed to not notice? That's a little rough," Tris said, shaking his head. "Tenchi told me his Dad embarrassed himself over you girls, but he's a widower, for crying out loud. He's not dead."

"Yeah, well, he got a lot better about that stuff, anyway," Kiyone admitted. "He still gives us the eye sometimes, but we're used to it now. He has his good points. He's worked so hard to support everyone and then he gets fired. That just stinks."

"It's awful, all right," Mihoshi agreed in a sad voice.

"It sure is. We'll have to hope for the best there. Anyway, what did you mean about Tenchi proclaiming his freedom, Kiyone?" Tris asked again.

"Oh!" Kiyone laid a hand on Tris's arm. "Sorry about going off the subject, Tris. Anyway, like I said, Ryoko and Ayeka fought like wildcats over Tenchi. Then we got involved in that Kagato civil war, we got promoted, Ryoko took off, Ayeka elected to stay on Jurai, and Tenchi went back to Earth. Well, those two weren't about to let Tenchi go that easily. As you know, they came back. Then they started fighting again, and wrecked the house again, until Lord Yosho and Tenchi really put their foot down. Then those two changed tactics. They stuck to Tenchi like glue. They put constant pressure on him to choose one of them, and quick! They're both not getting any younger and," Kiyone smiled a little wickedly, "Tenchi is really growing up to be a one hell of a handsome man. I mean, he was cute before, but now...well, I know it's got to be killing Ayeka and Ryoko."

"Uh-huh!" Mihoshi nodded. "I mean, they don't fight rough anymore, and things are a lot quieter. But I think they're even more stuck on Tenchi than before. He's awfully good-looking now. They're not going to let up on him until he chooses one of them. So he couldn't hardly take a step around the house without one of them being right there."

"That bad?" Tris asked, amazed.

"That bad," Kiyone confirmed. "He wanted to be free of them, at least a little bit, I suspect, and who can blame him? I think that helped him decide to go to college in the city and to live in the dormitory there. I also think his grandfather and his father endorsed the idea of his going away to college, partially because they wanted Tenchi to get a little relief from those two. And let me tell you, both Ryoko and Ayeka were hell on wheels when they found about Tenchi's college plans. They argued, they cried, they pleaded...you should have seen them at the bus station when he went off to your college the first time. It was embarrassing! Poor Tenchi."

"And poor Ayeka and Ryoko," Mihoshi commiserated.

Kiyone nodded. "Yeah, poor Ayeka and Ryoko...especially Ayeka. You know, Tris, the first time she got together with Tenchi, it was really an accident. When she stayed on, she chose to call it a "vacation." Well, now she's here again and it's no accident...and no vacation. Her intentions are damned obvious. Meanwhile, her father, that King Asuza, is pressuring her to come back to Jurai, marry a suitable Consort, and take over the throne. He wants to retire again...and I can tell you this, lots of folks want him to retire again, too! So, Ayeka's really between a rock and a hard place. Tenchi won't leave Earth. So she either turns her back on Jurai for good to live on Earth with Tenchi or she goes back to Jurai and never returns. There's a sizeable movement on Jurai to petition the King to order her back. He would, probably, but her mother, Queen Misaki, still backs her play."

Tris shook his head. Tenchi had told him before how things were for Ayeka. Now he realized that the pressure on her was worse than he could have imagined.

"You know," Mihoshi said softly, "Tenchi really does need to choose one of them. But when he does, it's all over for the rest of us. Tenchi's wife won't want any single girls hanging around. We'll all have to leave and I don't want to leave. No one does. Not Sasami, or Washuu, or..." Mihoshi looked at Kiyone.

"I don't like sponging off the Masakis--you know that, Mihoshi," Kiyone said firmly.

"I know. But you do like it there...don't you, Kiyone?"

"Well...yeah." Kiyone relented, a bit. "At least we aren't starving there, like we just about did on our own."

"Living on our own wasn't as good as we thought it'd be," Mihoshi agreed.

"Yeah. I'll admit that, too. The only good thing was that we were independent...for a while. It was pretty lonely, though." Kiyone looked bemused. "I never thought I could feel so lonely."

"I felt that way, too, Kiyone." Mihoshi brightened. "But Tenchi and the girls--even Washuu--did come to visit us that one time at the apartment and brought food! Remember? It was so good after all the cheap food we were buying." As always, the topic of food was near and dear to Mihoshi's heart.

"Oh, God!" Kiyone winced. "Tris, Ayeka and Ryoko got into a fight during that visit and started using their powers--they blasted each other and the apartment, too! It was wrecked! Mihoshi and I had to spend some of our food budget to buy the cheapest paint we could find to try to cover the scorched walls. They still looked awful even after we painted. I was so angry with Ryoko and Ayeka. I couldn't believe they did that to our home."

Mihoshi nodded. "That's right, Kiyone. But Tenchi made Ayeka and Ryoko come back and help us fix the apartment. Tenchi and Lord Yosho and Tenchi's father came too, and they worked so hard to fix our place...remember that?"

"Yeah, they did their best, I guess. But we still lost our security deposit when we gave up the apartment."

"Hey!" Mihoshi suddenly laughed. "Do you remember what the other girls called our apartment?"

Kiyone winced again. "Don't remind me!"

"Why? I thought it was cute."

"It was not cute!"

"What did they call your place?" Tris asked.

"Don't tell him, Mihoshi--"

"They called our apartment the "Miho-Kiyo Place"! You see, it's "Miho" for my name and "Kiyo" for--"

"He can figure it out, Mihoshi!" Kiyone gritted.

Tris laughed. "Miho-Kiyo...that's great!"

Kiyone glared at him. "Lips that say that rotten name again won't kiss mine any more, buster."

Mihoshi shook her blonde head, obviously unable to comprehend her partner's attitude. "It was just a joke, Kiyone. You know. The girls didn't mean anything by it."

"The hell they didn't!"

Tris decided to again steer the conversation along safer lines. "So, your apartments back at your Headquarters are really dinky, huh?"

"Dinky is right. You'll see. It's just a small living room and bedroom and the necessity room," Kiyone said.

"She means the toilet room," Mihoshi explained to Tris.

"Mihoshi! He knows!"

"Oh."

"Well, then you need to see Tenchi's and my dorm room at Okayama U.," Tris told them. "Just enough space for two amazingly uncomfortable beds, two wardrobes, two tiny desks...and that's all she wrote. We share a bathing room and a "necessity" room with two other guys.(1) Cozy it is. Comfy it ain't."

"That sounds like the rooms we stayed in at the Academy...right Mihoshi?"

"Right!" Mihoshi nodded.

"Of course, you expect those kind of accommodations in a college dorm," Tris admitted. "But how come you two career women are living in cracker boxes?"

Kiyone grimaced. "You see, Tris, our apartments are located in this huge housing complex called the Compound, on the planet that the Headquarters orbits, the planet Vestra. That rotten planet only exists to service the people who work at Headquarters--and "service" is too nice a word, boy! They gouge the hell out of us, those damned greedy Vertrans, but what can we do? The other nearest inhabitable planet is far enough away to make communing a real pain and it's not much cheaper than Vestra, anyway. We rent the smallest apartments on that planet and the rent still eats up a lot of our salary."

"They're awful small, our apartments," Mihoshi agreed. "I don't like living there, much. When I first saw how little money I had after paying rent and utilities, I wanted to cry. Ohhh, it's so nice to live at Tenchi's!" Mihoshi smiled happily.

"It's so nice to sponge off Tenchi, you mean," Kiyone countered.

"Kiyone! We don't sponge off anyone. We pay Tenchi's father every month to live there."

"What we pay isn't enough to cover what we cost them, Mishoshi," Kiyone retorted. "It really hurts to know that. But it's all we can afford to pay."

"Well, we don't sublet our apartments anymore," Mihoshi said. "We'd have lots more money if we did."

"Why don't you sublet again?" Tris asked. "That's a natural solution to your money problems."

Mihoshi didn't say anything. She looked at Kiyone.

Tris regarded Kiyone too. "How come?"

"Well..." Tris now felt Kiyone's hand slip into his beneath the table. "It was pretty dumb of me. But I was so eager to get back to Headquarters and get our rank back, too. I just wanted our apartments to be instantly ready for us when we returned. Then, when time passed and there was no reversal of our punishment, Mihoshi tried to get me to face facts and re-sublet the apartments, but I wouldn't listen."

Mihoshi's wide blue eyes were sympathetic. "I didn't mind, Kiyone. Really. I understood how you felt."

"Besides, you could have been right, Kiyone. Who knew?" Tris added. He squeezed her hand, gently.

Kiyone smiled gratefully at Mihoshi. "You've been pretty patient with me over that issue," she told her. She gave Tris a soft look. Then she released his hand and squared her shoulders. "And I'm going to make up for it, right now."

"How do you mean, Kiyone?" Mihoshi asked.

"While I'm at GP Headquarters looking up the information on that Klove character, Mihoshi, I want you to contact our landlady and authorize her to sublet our apartments--immediately. Tell her we'll settle just for the rent being covered--that will get them sublet fast. There's a big waiting list for apartments on Vestra," Kiyone added for Tris's benefit.

"Yay, Kiyone!" Mihoshi was thrilled. "We'll have so much more money each pay period! I can spend it on--"

"We can spend most of it on--contributing a lot more to our room and board at the Masakis," Kiyone interrupted her, quietly and firmly.

"Sure, Kiyone!" Mihoshi agreed. "I want to, too. But we will have a little left over...won't we?"

Kiyone nodded, smiling.

"Good! Then Tris can take us to our favorite kareoke bar in Okayama City--our treat!"

Kiyone looked at Tris. "What do you say, Tris?" she asked with a smile.

"What else is there to say, but...yay?" Tris replied amiably. Tenchi had been right. Those two were going to get him to a karaoke bar. Oh, well.

"That's a date, Tris," Kiyone said. "We're going to hold you to it." She rose from the table. "Now we're going to start our shifts. I'll go take a nap first and Mihoshi will handle the bridge. In a few hours, I'll switch with her. You can do what you want, Tris--sleep a little now, use the video and audio facilities here. You remember how I showed you to use them?"

"Yup."

"Good. So the ship is yours to explore. You'll have to obey my orders concerning the bridge, of course, and don't touch any controls or anything anywhere, especially in the engine or reactor bays. Okay?" She was asking him nicely about things of the utmost importance to her. Tris knew better than to make light of it.

"Okay," he said.

"He'll be good, Kiyone," Mihoshi said.

"I think so too, Mihoshi, but if he visits you in the bridge, he has to follow our procedures. Right, partner?"

"Right, partner."

Kiyone looked immensely pleased. "Such cooperation...I don't know if my little heart can stand the shock. Okay, I'm off for my quarters. Tris, will you walk me there?"

"Glad to," Tris said, rising.

"Can I have just one more cup of noodles before I start, Kiyone? I'll eat them real quick, I promise," Mihoshi asked.

Kiyone surprised Tris by not arguing with Mihoshi. "All right, Mihoshi. Just don't dawdle."

"I won't."

In a few minutes, Tris found himself walking with Kiyone in the star- lit corridor. Kiyone had taken his hand. They were walking slowly, not talking verbally, but communicating in a very real way, nonetheless. The language they used was as old as mankind itself.

When they reached the door of Kiyone's quarters, she touched a panel and the door slid open. Then she turned to face him. "I'll get some sleep now. So give me a nice big kiss so I can have a lovely dream."

They embraced and kissed. Kiyone finally broke off the kiss, laying her head on Tris's shoulder. "I don't dare ask you into my quarters, Tris, the way I feel right now...you know?"

"I know."

"Do you, Tris? I just want you to want me as much as I want you. Is that too much to ask?"

"No, of course not."

"Well...you aren't kissing me like you used to."

"Aw, it's just being on this ship and all. Maybe I'm just a little intimidated."

Kiyone laughed softly. "Good! I want my boyfriend to be intimidated! Well...not really."

Tris gently raised her head from his shoulder. Then he kissed her, and this kiss was one for the record books. Whatever Kiyone's intentions might or might not be, she was very dear to him.

"Wow," Kiyone murmured when they parted. "That's the way you used to kiss me, all right...even better. I'm going to have some really nice dreams now." She kissed his nose. "See you later, darling." She slipped from his embrace and entered her quarters. The door slid shut automatically behind her.

Tris stared at her door a long moment. Then he shook the fog from his head and walked to the guest quarters. He doubted he could get any sleep now, but he'd try.

------

From force of habit (rather like Tris), Nobuyuki woke up early the next morning. He was out of bed, in kimono and slippers, and trudging out the door for the bathroom when he suddenly realized-- there was no need to hurry. The realization hit him like a body blow. For a moment, he felt lost and panicky.

Quickly, he pulled himself together. It was a dreadful feeling to get up and really have nowhere to go...and no work to go to. He would have to get used to that feeling. Hopefully, not for too long a time.

Taking a long and deep breath to settle himself, he sat down on his bed. Something crackled beneath him. He rose and reached behind himself. It was the morning newspaper--in particular, the help-wanted classified section. All the architect positions were circled--circled with big, red heart outlines. On the paper's margins, words were written. They were: "We know you'll succeed!" and "You're the best architect on Earth!" At the bottom margin was written, "We love you, sir."

Tears brimmed in Nobuyuki's eyes. He did nothing to stop their flow. He knew that Ayeka and Sasami...and even Ryoko (he recognized her wobbly handwritten "Earth") had gotten up early in order to mark the paper like this for him. They had put it on his bed while he was still asleep. His father's heart recognized the love and support. He let it fill him and warm him and strengthen him. A person with the love and support of others had the strength of ten without--he had read that somewhere.(2) It was true.

He heard a soft tapping on his door. "Come in," he said. He quickly wiped his eyes.

The door slid open. Yosho stood there, smiling at him. "Come to breakfast, Nobuyuki. The women have it all prepared." He glanced at the newspaper on the bed. He nodded. "It looks as if you have some prospects already."

"Yes, it does." Nobuyuki smiled. "Breakfast is already prepared? But there is no need...any more."

"Nonsense! You are still employed--employed in the great job hunt. You'll want to keep your usual hours, will you not?"

Nobuyuki understood. Everyone was trying to ensure his normal routine was not changed so he could ease into the transition. It made practical sense, too. Keeping good work habits was essential to job- hunting.

"I will indeed." Nobuyuki rose from the bed. "I'm rather hungry for breakfast this morning. Let's go, father-in-law."

------

As it turned out, Tris finally had to call it quits on getting some shuteye. In fact, he ended up taking a cold shower in his guest quarters lavatory. He was pleased to see the GP still used water for bathing. He had been expecting to encounter some ultrasound gizmo or whatever that performed such ablutions. But even the cold shower did not help much. He decided to look in on Mihoshi, whom he figured was still pulling her shift on the bridge.

Leaving his quarters, Tris walked up the starry-walled corridor to the open doorway of the bridge. Then, upon entering, he carefully walked with his back against the wall of the bridge and parked himself in his assigned spot.

Mihoshi watched him do this, smilingly. She was very glad to see Tris. She got so bored with manning the bridge alone when the Yagami was in routine flight; with the navcom locked into a preset destination, the starship literally flew herself. But Kiyone insisted that at least one of them stay on the bridge, even though the Yagami would alert them when and if something untoward happened. It was just her way.

At the moment, Mihoshi was occupying herself by preparing the report on recent activity in their sector that they had to turn in periodically. It was a short report, since nothing much had happened. As usual.

Tris was amused to see that Mihoshi had seated Trissy in Kiyone's pilot seat. Now Mihoshi and Trissy were piloting the Yagami. Tris hoped Kiyone didn't catch the plush pooch in her seat, though. Kiyone's humor meter just didn't register when she was carrying out her duties.

"I'm glad you came to keep me company, Tris," Mihoshi said, lifting her eyes from the report she was inputting on the console.

Tris nodded.

"You can talk to me, Tris," Mihoshi said.

Tris raised his eyebrows. Kiyone had given him strict orders concerning neither being seen nor heard on the bridge.

"It's okay now," Mihoshi said. "I fixed it."

Tris pondered this. Mihoshi had proven to him that she knew what she was about as far as her duties on the ship were concerned. And Kiyone had told him that on the Yagami, Mihoshi's requests were tantamount to orders.

He asked, "Are you sure, Mihoshi?"

"Sure, I'm sure. I told you. I fixed it."

"Oh." Tris wondered why Kiyone hadn't "fixed it"...whatever "it" was.

"In fact, Tris," Mihoshi said. "You can sit here--in Kiyone's seat."

"Huh?" Tris could not believe what he was hearing from Mihoshi. This was diametrically opposite from what Kiyone had very plainly told him.

"Oh, it's all right. I fixed it, I told you."

"But what about the viewscreens and main screens and all that?"

"I fixed that."

"You sure?"

"Sure! I know what I'm doing, Tris."

Well...that much was true. Mihoshi had proven that.

"Kiyone won't like it," Tris pointed out.

"She doesn't have to know," Mihoshi countered. "Besides, the viewscreens aren't a problem anymore and that's why Kiyone didn't want you here at the console. Isn't that right?"

"Yeah. That's what she said. I still don't know, though, Mihoshi."

"Don't you want to sit next to me...and see how we run the ship?" Mihoshi regarded him with those wide blue eyes. Clearly, she was becoming upset at Tris's intransigence. She might think maybe Tris didn't trust her or like her all that much anymore. Which was wrong, of course, but Tris knew the only way to prove it to her was to accede to her request--a request that could be considered an order, really.

"Well...okay." Tris left his spot, gingerly walked around the console and stopped at Kiyone's chair. He looked down at his stuffed namesake.

"You think Trissy will mind?" he asked Mihoshi.

Mihoshi giggled. It was so nice to have Tris around. He made her laugh.

"No, silly..." Mihoshi lifted Trissy from the chair and set the plush pooch down at her feet beneath the control console. She reached over and patted Kiyone's seat. "Come and sit down, Tris." Her voice was friendly and inviting.

"Okay."

Tris sat down on the pilot seat. It was comfortable and supportive, with some sort of gel-foam padding that instantly adapted to one's contours. It was a seat designed to be sat on for many hours and yet not cause aches and pains in the sitter. Smart ergonomic technology. Tris liked that.

Staring at the vast array of touchpads, digital readouts, narrow swipe paths (presumably for authenticated cards) and assorted small levers and buttons, along with the two large viewscreens, Tris felt instantly overwhelmed by the console. The first time he had stared at Dad's instrument panel in the F-4E his father had flown at the time (Dad had graduated from that old warhorse to his F-15), the young American had felt overwhelmed, too. But not nearly as overwhelmed as now. There was a numbing amount of indicators, readouts, alerts, status bar graphs, and other vital bits of instrumental information about the starship's general operating condition, not to mention the separate navcom readout that reported the ship's position in the heavens.

Then Tris looked up and stared at the two panels positioned in front of the seemingly vast transparent bulkhead that was filled with blackness and stars, and at all the information that scrolled across those twin overhead screens (they rather reminded him of screens at a drive-in move at night). To top it off, heads-up displays flickered information before his eyes from time to time. For Kiyone and Mihoshi to have mastered all this bespoke the fact that they were indeed part of an elite group

"It's a lot to keep track of, huh?" Mihoshi seemed to read his thoughts.

"Sure is. You two are amazing. I'm not worthy to sit here...I'm really not."

"Tris, that's silly. You could learn to pilot Yagami if you had the training."

"Hah!" That was a laugh.

"Yes, you could," Mihoshi insisted. "You put yourself down too much, Tris. I like it that when you poke fun, you usually poke fun at yourself...you don't want to hurt people and I think that's so lovely. But I also think you take it too far sometimes. You're one of the nicest boys I've ever met and you're real smart, too. Sometimes you don't act so smart, but I think it's because you have a big heart and you have a brave heart, too. Kiyone feels the very same way about you, you know."

Mihoshi said this softly, but with as much firmness as Tris had ever heard from her. She clearly believed all that and believed it deeply. Tris felt slightly overwhelmed again, but for a different reason this time.

"Well, Mihoshi. I...I don't know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything, Tris." Mihoshi smiled.

"Actually, I do know what to say. Thank you, very much."

"You're welcome...very much." Mihoshi reached over and put her hand softly on Tris's arm. She gave his arm the smallest of squeezes.

"And I'll tell you something else, Tris. I...I really shouldn't. But I just have to." Mihoshi blushed, but pressed on. "If you and Kiyone weren't together--well, you'd have to fight me off!"

Tris smiled at the beautiful blonde young woman. "No guy would ever fight you off, Mihoshi. No guy who had any sense."

Mihoshi's beautiful blue eyes glistened. Tris by now knew the signs. She would begin crying (from happiness) unless he could distract her.

"Say, how do you know when that viewscreen thing has an incoming call?" he asked.

"Oh...that indicator, there." Mihoshi's tanned short-nailed forefinger pointed at a wide yellow bar. "It lights up and makes a buzzing sound."

"Yeah? Well, I'm not going to get caught napping. When it goes off, I'm going to zip out of sight...like this."

Tris relaxed his body completely. He slipped out of the seat and headed to the footwell in the console below, where he could curl up below the vista of the viewscreen. He was sure he would fit there easily.

"Tris!" Mihoshi cried. "Don't!"

Too late. Tris had misjudged the slope of the console beneath his seat, due to the amazing uniformity of the lighting on the bridge that threw few shadows and the equally uniform color of the lower console. It actually bulged out slightly before it concaved into the footwell. Tris's head met the hard metallic bulge with a ripe thump.

"Yeow!"

"Tris!"

Tris grabbed his head and groaned, lying on the bridge floor. He had been right about one thing, at least...he did fit in the footwell.

Mihoshi rose from her seat and bent over Kiyone's seat. She helped Tris to his feet. "Oh, Tris! Are you hurt?"

"No more than usual--damn it!" Tris rubbed the appreciable swelling on his head. "Sorry, Mihoshi."

"That's all right." Mihoshi had heard much worse cursing than that before, especially from Ryoko, although Kiyone could turn the air blue if sufficiently riled. "Your poor head. Does it hurt much?"

"Only when I look out of my eyeballs," Tris muttered. He wondered if there was a Guinness world's record for bumping one's head.

Mihoshi's soft hands eased Tris back on Kiyone's chair. "You know, when I used to bump myself, I remember my Mommy used to kiss it and make it better. Did your Mommy do that, Tris?"

"Huh? Oh, I suppose so." Then Tris realized what Mihoshi had said. He ignored the throbbing pain. "You lost your Mommy--your mother-- when you were pretty young, didn't you?"

"Uh-huh...pretty young. I remember that she was very beautiful and sweet. My Daddy and my brothers were terribly crushed. I didn't understand what had happened...until later."

"I'm sorry, Mihoshi. That's a tough break for a kid."

Mihoshi smiled sadly. "Uh-huh. That's why I think I can understand how you feel, losing your parents like you did. Just like I think I can understand how Tenchi feels sometimes when he's reminded of his Mommy."

"I'm sure you can, Mihoshi. Sometimes they just kind of pop into your mind...and you can feel the loss all over again. I guess it doesn't matter how many years pass."

"I think that's true, Tris." Mihoshi nodded. "Sometimes I don't think of my Mommy at all. Sometimes, I think about her a lot. You know?"

"I know, Mihoshi."

"That's one thing I really like you for, Tris. I think you do know. Kiyone and Ayeka and even Sasami...I try to talk to them about it, and they act nice to me, but I feel they just think I'm being silly. And I don't dare talk to Tenchi about it. You know why."

Yes, Tris knew why. Her talking alone with Tenchi was certain to rouse the ire of Ryoko and Ayeka. They still weren't certain about her in that regard. Impulsively, Tris slipped his hand over Mihoshi's hand. She had small, delicate hands for such a tall woman, he noted. He patted her hand. "Well, they don't understand, I guess. But you can talk to me about it, whenever you want."

"Can I, Tris? Really?"

"Sure."

"I'm glad." Mihoshi wanted to hug Tris--she had that powerful urge to hug again. After all, a hug wouldn't hurt anything--

Suddenly there was the buzzing sound she knew so well. The yellow bar on the console flashed.

"Yipes!" Instinctively, unthinkingly, Tris slipped off the seat again. His judgment of confined spaces had not improved. There was another thump and another cursing groan. Again, Tris was on the floor, grabbing at his head. The same place, damn it! Owwww!

"Tris!" Mihoshi cried, above the insistent buzzing from the console.

"I'm alive," he moaned, huddled into the foot well.

"But you hit your head again--"

"I'll survive--aren't those viewscreen things on yet?"

"No."

"Huh? How come?"

"Oh," Mihoshi said brightly. "I turned them off when you came in."

"Great..." Tris muttered.

"So you didn't need to--"

"I get it. Shouldn't you answer that thing?"

Mihoshi knew he was right. She fingered some touchpads on the console. The viewscreens blazed with light. Then a face was staring at her from the viewscreens. It was the face of Detective Sergeant Youri Katzaar. It was neither a handsome face nor a friendly face.

"Detective First Class Kuramitsu," Sergeant Katzaar said with no trace of greeting or amiability in his voice. "It took you exactly 10.5 seconds to respond. My indicators reveal that your viewscreens were turned off."

"Uh-huh, yes, Sergeant Katzaar," Mihoshi said.

"Are you not aware, Detective, that Section 111, Subparagraph 76 of the Instructions for Operating Galaxy Police Vessels states that the viewscreens are to be switched on at all times when the vessel is in operation and the bridge is manned?"

"Ummm...yes sir." Mihoshi mentally shrugged. That was one of about a thousand picayune instructions for operating a ship like the Yagami. Practically everyone ignored the real anal-retentive ones, like keeping the viewscreens always on. Kiyone said she suspected some officers kept their viewscreen off because they didn't want to be caught picking their noses. That was disgusting! But probably true.

"Do you have a suitable explanation for ignoring this instruction?"

"No...no, sir." Mihoshi didn't and she never lied.

"Very well. I have no choice but to write you up for this lapse, Detective Kuramitsu."

"What?" Mihoshi couldn't believe it. Nobody got written up for such a tiny infraction as that!

"Are you going to add lack of courtesy to an officer superior in grade to the offense?" Sergeant Katzaar asked stonily.

"No...no, sir. But, sir..."

"Yes, Detective?"

"It's such a little thing--and to get a write-up over it! That's something that could affect my pay and future promotion...sir." Mihoshi tried to reason with Sergeant Katzaar.

"You should have thought of that, Detective, before you turned off your viewscreens," he said pontifically. "I would think you'd be more careful, considering your record...and your partner's." If any voice dripped contempt, Sergeant Katzaar's did.

Huddled beneath the console's right foot well, Tris forgot about his aching noggin and listened. He would have liked to spend five minutes alone with that bastard, Katzaar. It was obvious that Mihoshi was being penalized for something that otherwise would have gone unremarked. It was a strong indicator of the lack of esteem in which Mihoshi--and Kiyone--were held. Tris knew now this was not going to be a happy visit to Headquarters for either Kiyone or Mihoshi--and probably not for him, either.

"That's not fair...sir." Mihoshi showed some spirit now. She didn't like anyone showing disrespect for Kiyone. "Please leave my partner out of this."

"She's equally responsible for what occurs on your ship and she gets written up, the same as you, Detective."

"Written up? But she's not even here!" In her consternation, Mihoshi had forgotten to add the vital word "sir."

"Again, you show a lack of courtesy, Detective Kuramitsu. I must now officially warn you that you are on the verge of commiting insubordination."

Mihoshi's face paled. Insubordination! That was a court-martial offense!

"I...I..." Mihoshi gulped. "I apologize, sir."

"Very well. But I shall have to write you up for lack of respect shown to an officer of superior rank. Do you understand?"

"Yes...yes, sir." Mihoshi sounded defeated. She was.

Huddled underneath the console, Tris understood as well. The gloves were off. Any excuse--any excuse--Mihoshi and Kiyone's superiors (some of them, anyway) could latch on to worsen their already bad records would be used. The two of them had the proverbial sword of Damocles dangling over their heads by a string...and there were lots of bastards out there with scissors.

"Now, as to the reason I contacted you," Sergeant Katzaar said officiously. "I read again your reason for requesting PT. I do not like such specious reasons."

"What...what do you mean, sir?"

"Your partner said you two needed to attend to private matters. That is too broad. I want specifics."

"But our PT was approved...sir."

"I can disapprove it--and will--unless I am given a satisfactory reason to grant it."

Mihoshi's face reddened with aggravation. Sergeant Katzaar had already approved their PT! But she also knew that the Sergeant could change his mind, too. Mihoshi realized she had no choice but to cooperate. It wss vital that they get to Headquarters. She wished desperately that Kiyone were with her now.

"We...we need to see to our apartments and talk to our landlady, whom we rent our apartments from," Mihoshi said. "Sir."

"Really? And why is that so urgent?"

"We want to sublet our apartments, sir. We haven't for a long while."

"Detective, I don't see the urgency."

"We really need to sublet, sir. We're...we're just about broke." Mihoshi's voice quavered.

From where he crouched, Tris could hear the tears in Mihoshi's voice. This was humiliating for her. And didn't that sergeant know it, just! Just two minutes, he growled to himself. Two minutes with that bastard...that was all he wanted.

"That is disgraceful! You are charged as commissioned officers to keep your finances above reproach." Katzaar's officious voice didn't hide his obvious satisfaction. "Very well. We cannot have you embarrassing the service with your deadbeat ways. PT reaffirmed. Nevertheless, I shall have to bring the sorry state of your finances to Lieutenant Zay're's attention. It may lead to further disciplinary action or at least remedial financial responsibility training--and if you start sobbing now, Detective--!"

"I-I won't...sir." But it was clearly taking an extraordinary effort for Mihoshi to hold back the tears.

"See that you don't. You become emotional far too easily. You have no proper constabulary bearing, Detective Kuramitsu. I despair of you--and that's official. Sergeant Katzaar out."

Mihoshi was silent.

Knowing the comm link had been broken, Tris scrambled to his feet.

Mihoshi sat there in her pilot's chair. Tears streamed from her face. Her expression was tragic. Tris could guess why. That little tête-à-tête with the sergeant could have been the end. Poor Mihoshi! She already knew that many of her GP colleagues didn't like her and Kiyone anymore. But she hadn't really understood until now just how deep in the doghouse she was with the people who had such control over her career. It had to be crushing to her simple, sweet spirit, Tris knew.

There was only one thing to do. Mihoshi was a person who needed to be liked and accepted. Tris went to her and gently lifted her to her feet. He smiled at her.

"You're the best, Mihoshi--don't let anyone tell you different," he said. "That jerk of a sergeant is off his rocker, and--"

Mihoshi looked at him, teary-eyed. Then she threw her arms around him and bawled...simply bawled.

"It's all right, Mihoshi," Tris said. "Don't worry about that Sergeant Meathead. He's an idiot. He doesn't know you and he doesn't know Kiyone. You two are going to crack a big case and help Ayeka and make him look sick."

"Do you...think so?" Mihoshi sniffled.

"I know so."

"Tris." Mihoshi held him closer. "I don't know...we might just fail. If we do..."

"You won't."

"She won't what? What are you two doing? Tris!"

It was Kiyone's voice.

Tris groaned. What perfect timing!

Kiyone strode up to them. "Tris! What are you doing in front of the console! I ordered you--I told you--!"

"It's my fault, Kiyone!" Mihoshi wailed. "It's all my fault!"

"What the hell...!" Kiyone stared at Mihoshi, who now regained some control of herself. She released Tris.

"I did a bad thing, Kiyone--a couple bad things. But I didn't know they'd be so mean!"

"Huh?" Kiyone now looked at Tris.

"It's not good, Kiyone," Tris said. "Not good at all."

"What's not good, damn it?"

Tris looked at Mihoshi. The blonde Galaxy Police officer slumped back into her seat. She stared at the console. Then she told Kiyone everything. She left nothing out.

Ashen faced, Kiyone now dropped on her own seat, stunned.

"Mihoshi...I could just kill you!" she rasped. "I ought to. Then I'd be free of you!"

Mihoshi began to weep again.

Tris wanted to remonstrate with Kiyone, but he knew he would only make matters worse. "I'll go back to the rec room," he muttered. "I'm sorry, Kiyone."

"It's not your fault," Kiyone said. "I told you to obey this--this ditz!"

Tris scuttled away.

For a while Kiyone sat, listening to Mihoshi's soft sobbing. She thought and thought. She rested her face in her hands for a moment. Then she rubbed her temples. Although she had taken a nice long nap, she felt very tired again.

Finally, she sighed. Then she said, "Please stop crying, Mihoshi."

"You hate me!"

"No, I don't. I couldn't hate my best friend."

Mihoshi stopped crying. She stared at Kiyone.

"Your...best friend, Kiyone?"

"Yes. You are, aren't you?"

"Oh, yes. Yes, Kiyone!"

Kiyone turned and looked at her partner. "I know you disobeyed me, but you had a reason. Shutting off the viewscreens is no big deal. Lots of officers do it and no one says anything. They're just out to get us, Mihoshi. If you had committed some other tiny infraction, they would have written us up for that. At least you did what you did because you were trying to be nice to Tris. How could I hate you for that?"

"Oh, Kiyone!"

"Don't start crying again!"

"I won't."

"Good." Kiyone set her jaw. "The thing is...they've made me mad now. That rotten Katzaar! He's just a lapdog for that persnickety poof Zay're. And Zay're's engaged to Mitsuki. It's all very clear." Kiyone's hands balled into fists. "It's one thing to belittle us and laugh at us behind our backs--but to write us up on ridiculous tiny violations and scare you half to death in the bargain--that's it! I won't take it from them! We're going to nail that bastard Klove and then we're going to rub those staff pukes' noses in it. They're going to be sorry they messed with me--and you."

"Yeah, Kiyone!" Mihoshi said spiritedly. She wiped her eyes. "They won't make me cry again. I promise!"

"Okay, partner. I'll hold you to that. I'm depending on you, now."

"Yes, Kiyone."

Kiyone sat quietly for a moment. Then she said, "As far as what I said to you before..." She pointed to Trissy who still sat at Mihoshi's feet. "Hand that mutt over."

Mystified, Mihoshi complied. Kiyone petted Trissy several times. "That's my penance, Mihoshi. Every time I say something mean to you, I'll pet Trissy. All right?"

"Sure! I want you to like Trissy!"

"Well..." Kiyone made a show of examining Trissy. "At least she's better looking than that lug, Katzaar."

Mihoshi laughed gaily.

"Seriously, I'm sorry I said those things, Mihoshi. I don't know why I still can't control my temper. I thought I had gotten it under control, too."

"I know why." A voice spoke behind them.

Kiyone and Mihoshi turned their heads. It was Tris's voice, but he wasn't on the bridge. Yet, the doors were still open. He had to be standing just outside the entrance. It was obvious that he had been listening.

"Huh?" Kiyone said.

"It's all because," Tris's voice replied, "your Mama don't dance--and your Daddy don't rock and roll!"

They heard his laughter...then his footsteps as he walked away.

Mihoshi bent over laughing, nearly banging her head on the console.

Kiyone groaned, rolling her eyes to the ceiling. Two ditzes...two ding-dongs...two...wasn't one enough? Wasn't one too much, already? But she was stuck with both of them.

She stood up and handed Trissy back to Mihoshi.

"I'll be back, partner," Kiyone said. "I just need to go tell Tris something."

"Aw, please don't hurt him, Kiyone."

"Hurt him? Me? Mihoshi...what a thing to say."

Kiyone chuckled. She walked out of the bridge, still chucking. Oh, yeah--she had something to say to Tris, all right!

------

All the while, the Yagami rocketed silently and efficiently through deep space. The red starship was close, and getting closer, to Galaxy Police Headquarters. Soon it would be there. The three souls traveling in the Yagami could not have known it, but the cold reception they would receive at the Headquarters would be nothing compared to the bitter shock that also awaited them there.

____________________________________________

CHAPTER NOTES

(1) The Japanese system of bathing rooms and toilet rooms is often quite surprising to us who are accustomed to having showers and bathtubs and toilets in one room. The Japanese benjo, or toilet, is a porcelain trench upon which one must squat to relieve oneself. It is located in a different room than the bathtub or shower stall. Kiyone and Mihoshi's low-rent apartment in Okayama City had a benjo only--they had to cleanse themselves in a nearby public bathhouse. The Koreans also use the word "benjo" to describe their system of open sewer ditches.

(2) Actually, Nobuyuki likely came across that idiom in the famous collection of Japanese idioms, "Nihongo-Eigo No Kotowaza Jiten." A good translation of it was recently published by Trey Roper.