Chapter Nine

"Lord Tenchi - this morning's meeting is unexpected."

The Council elder drew his brows together in a frown as he surveyed the assembled councillors, then turned his gaze back to the young prince on the podium. Tenchi nodded his head, determination and apprehension both burning in the depths of his dark eyes.

"I realise that, honoured councillor, and I am sorry to call you together at such short notice." He said quietly. "However, it seemed the only thing to do in the circumstances."

"Lord Tenchi?"

At that moment, the door of the chamber swung back to reveal Ayeka, dressed in delicate formal robes and with a confused expression on her face. "Azaka said you'd called a meeting this morning - what's going on? Am I late?"

"No, Ayeka-kyou. You're quite in time." Tenchi smiled at her, gesturing for her to join him and slowly and sedately she did so, bowing her head to the councillors as she passed. "I'm sorry to disrupt everyone like this. But I really hope that it will be the last time that I do."

"The last time that you do what, exactly?" Ayeka's head shot up at this, all pretence of formality gone as she absorbed his words. Alarm flickered in the back of her red eyes, and despite himself, Tenchi felt a pang of regret. He would be hurting her, he knew that. For the Council of Jurai, he cared not a jot. But the last thing he wanted to do was hurt the feelings of someone who had become dear to him - almost as both sister and friend.

But then, he mused darkly, you didn't marry your sister. And you certainly didn't do so in order to settle the future of a distant planet.

He raised his head as Ayeka took her seat, gazing out across the room as he did so.

"Everything is so beautiful on Jurai." He murmured. Ayeka shot him a startled glance.

"Tenchi?"

"Lord Tenchi, what is it on your mind?" The Council elder rose to his feet once more. "Is there something that we can do to assist you?"

"Yes. Maybe there is." Tenchi hesitated, then sighed, closing his eyes briefly. "Honoured councillors, I've thought long and hard about this in every respect. You have all been so kind to me - taking me in and adopting me as one of your own even though I am a stranger to your planet. You have all treated me with the utmost trust and loyalty since our arrival and I'm grateful for that."

He paused, then,

"But I feel it is impossible for me to stay here, as your Emperor." He added softly.

Immediate commotion broke out among the ranks of the council and Tenchi was aware of Ayeka's hand on his arm, a gasp escaping her lips as he made his declaration. He turned his gaze to hers, his heart clenching in his throat as he saw the tears welling deep in the depths of her red eyes. She did not speak, and for a moment they just stared at one another, as if strangers once more. Then Ayeka lowered her eyes, taking a firm hold of her composure, and releasing her grip.

"Lord Tenchi, we beg you to reconsider!" The Council elder's voice rose above the hum of the room, dismay in his eyes. "You are the grandson of Lord Yosho, the true heir to the Juraian throne! You have the Jurai Power running through your veins...you are ideally suited to be King of this planet!"

Tenchi frowned, shaking his head slowly.

"No, I'm not." He said quietly. "Every decision, every plan made so far - it's all been with the help and guidance of the Lady Ayeka. She is your true Queen - it's not me that should be crowned. I'm just a simple Earth boy who found out about all of this too late to really understand it. But you have to realise that where I come from...everything is quite different. And even though you've all treated me so well here - I miss that home. I miss my friends and my ordinary life. I miss sweeping cherry blossom or autumn leaves and the people who visit Grandpa's shrine. I miss walking through the forest in the evening, or visiting the annual carnivals. I just miss...I miss my home, honoured councillor. And no matter how much I try, Jurai is never going to be that to me."

Silence greeted his statement, and another councillor rose to his feet, holding his hands up to beg permission to speak. Tenchi nodded at him, and the councillor bowed his head.

"Tenchi-sama, you have been here a very short time." He said quietly. "But you must realise that your Jurai power has changed you. If you were to stay here, you would be given every convenience. Your own spaceship tree. The loyalty of a good and honourable people. I fail to understand what it is about this Earth that holds such an appeal for you."

"It's my home." Tenchi said simply. "That's all I can tell you. I just know that it's where I belong."

"Then you will be leaving Jurai, Tenchi-sama?"

Ayeka's words were soft-spoken, and Tenchi knew her real feelings were concealed behind her formality. He nodded, regret in his eyes.

"Yes, I'm afraid so. I know that Father and Grandpa will be leaving anyway - Dad told me when we walked the other day that Kiyone has offered to take them both to the Earth now Grandpa is fit and well enough to travel. Grandpa has his shrine to tend and Dad misses his work and the people there - and that's another reason why I can't stay on this planet. I would have you and I'd have Sasami-kyou, I know that. But I'd miss Dad and Grandpa a whole lot, you know. It would be like leaving a huge shred of my life behind, to watch them go and not return with them."

Ayeka's eyes reflected sadness.

"I see." She murmured. "I had not realised that your family were also planning to leave. I suppose I had understood that they would be here, now...that you would all be staying on Jurai, and not just you."

"I suppose that we're all too attached to the Earth, in the end." Tenchi said gravely.

"Then this is your final decision, Tenchi-sama?" The council elder spoke once more, and Tenchi nodded his head firmly.

"Yes, councillor. I'm afraid that it is." He said softly. "I beg permission to leave Jurai with Mihoshi-san and Kiyone-san aboard Yagami, and return to my homeworld with my father and my grandfather. Ayeka is your true leader, not me. She's the best suited for the job - she knows you all and knows what you want from a great Queen. She has the Jurai power too, and she will do far more for Jurai than I ever could. My mind is made up. Will you grant me this request?"

"Ayeka-denka?"

The councillor's gaze flitted to the older princess, who held her head erect, solemnity in her red eyes.

"The wishes of a Prince of Jurai should always be respected." She said levelly, although Tenchi thought he heard a catch in her voice as she spoke. "If this is Tenchi-sama's will, then the council should abide by it. I won't stand in his way."

"Ayeka." Tenchi shot her a glance, but the princess did not meet his gaze.

"If I am now the true heir of Jurai once more, then I ask that this meeting be adjourned." She added, still addressing the room. "Clearly I have much else to do."

"As you wish, Ayeka-sama." The council elder bowed his head, and his companions followed suit. Then, almost as one, they rose to their feet, filing out of the chamber in respectful silence.

"Ayeka, are you all right?" Tenchi asked, once they were alone. Ayeka met his gaze for a moment. Then she spread her hands.

"I have things I need to see to." She said softly. "Forgive me, Tenchi. I...we will speak later, but not...not right now."

She took a step away from him, casting him a look which made new regret flood through Tenchi's heart. Then she turned on her heel, making her way quickly down the steps and across the walkway to the chamber entrance.

"Ayeka!" Tenchi called her name, but she did not pause or turn back, and he sank back down into his chair, rubbing his temples.

"Now she's mad at me, and hurt, and she thinks I've rejected her." He mutters. "Which sucks and I don't want to leave Jurai on bad terms with her. Or anyone, for that matter. Maybe when she's had time to think things over, she'll understand that it's not because of her that I'm leaving. There are other things calling me away, and this life may be hers but it just isn't mine. It would have been unfair for me to ask her to stay on the Earth forever and this is the same thing. We come from two such different worlds - it just wouldn't make any sense."

He closed his eyes, burying his head in his hands.

"Tenchi?"

A voice echoed through his thoughts, disembodied and almost ghostly, and he jerked upwards, glancing around him. Then he sighed.

"Imagination playing tricks on me again." He said with a sigh. "I've been working too hard and it's starting to drive me nuts."

"Let me help you. I know the way there!"

"Oh, Ryoko."

Tenchi got to his feet, walking slowly down the steps to the main level of the big chamber. "Would you be mad at me, running away from my responsibilities like this? After all, you might have died to get me here. Would you be annoyed with me, if I jack it all in and go home to the Earth? Because it's what I have to do, I know that. My life is there, not here."

He closed his eyes, remembering their turbulent journey to Jurai.

"No matter what they threw at her, she didn't give up. Not once." He murmured. "And now I'm giving up at the first hurdle. But I know that I have to leave here. I'm sorry, Ryoko. I hope you'll understand - wherever you are. And I hope that you don't feel you sacrificed everything in vain."

He pushed his hands together, as if in prayer, and for a moment he just stood there, contemplating all that had happened since he had left the planet Earth. Then he sighed, raising his head to the high domed ceiling of the chamber.

"Well, either way, I'm going home." He muttered. "My holiday is over now, and that's all there is to it. Back to normality - back to humdrum everyday life. That's what being Tenchi Masaki is really about, after all. Back to how it was...before all of this even began."

He bit his lip.

"I hope I can remember what that was like. No matter what I do, I still lose some part of me!"

---------

The house seemed deserted.

Ryoko opened her eyes, blinking against the bright sunlight that flooded in through the room's only window. A quick check of the room told her that she was alone, save for the small cabbit curled up on the end of her covers, and a smile touched her lips. Were they so simple as to leave her to her own devices? Did they really think they were going to keep her here, against her will?

She struggled into a sitting position, being careful not to antagonise her healing wound. Her head still felt tired and fuggy, but better than it had done, and she found that, if she was cautious and slow in her movements, she could get out of bed without causing herself too much pain. She stood, hesitating for a moment, and then padding across the worn carpet to the window, in order to try and get some idea of her location. The gentle buzz of Ryo Ohki's dreaming flickered at the back of her senses, comforting her that she wasn't completely alone, at least. But she still felt unsettled. She had no idea of how long she had been there, or how far Nagi had brought her to this edge of the world building. It made her feel helpless and she didn't like it. She could be right on top of the Earth, for all she knew, she mused.

Or at the opposite end of the universe completely.

She glanced down at herself, taking in the unfamiliar whiteish gown and drawing her brows together in distaste.

"I look like I'm wearing a pillowcase." She muttered. "Where are my clothes? What exactly is this...what are they trying to do to me?"

She put a trepidant hand to her side, realising as she did so that thick bandages swathed her body from ribcage to hip, covering the wound completely.

"All right, this is just too creepy." She muttered. "What has that weird woman done to me now? Is this her house? Does Nagi even have a house? And what's going on here, anyway? Is she so desperate to fight me that she'll save my life for me first? What kind of logic is that - I just don't understand it. Does she have some other ulterior motive that I don't know about?"

She glanced around herself at the barren bedchamber. Aside from her bed, a table and an old wooden cupboard with broken door hinges, the room was devoid of all furnishings, and she frowned, stifling a shiver as a cold wind whipped around the room, teasing at her hair and sending chills through her battered body.

"Sure doesn't look like the kind of place a bounty hunter would live." She decided. "Not considering how much blood money Nagi's made over the course of her career. Which brings me back to the question - where the hell am I?"

A worn blanket had been tossed over the top of the table, and she grabbed it up, feeling it's harsh fibres between her fingers. It was scratchy and threadbare in places, but at least it was clean and she drew it around her shoulders against the cold. She paused for a moment, her gaze falling on the sleeping Ryo Ohki, but the cabbit did not stir, and Ryoko remembered the conversation she had had with Nagi.

"Ryo Ohki brought me here." She murmured. "Well, in which case, I think I'm going to find out where here is without her help. She'll only freak out again and I guess she is only a young ship yet, as Ryo Ohkis go. I'll let her sleep. Right now, I want to know what's going on, while there's no Nagi here to spy on me."

She pushed open the door, walking slowly and carefully down a long, narrow hallway towards a steep flight of stairs. For a moment, she considered phasing down to the level below, but a twinge from her side decided her against using her abilities, and instead she made her way cautiously down the steps, pausing at the bottom as she found herself in another dimly lit and barren hall. Doors flanked either side, paint peeling and handles rusting around the edges, and she frowned, struggling to get her bearings.

"This place is depressing." She murmured. "What kind of sad case lives here?"

After a moment of hesitation, she headed to the end of the corridor towards the door with the least damaged handle, turning it and giving the door a feeble push. It creaked open, revealing a small sitting room complete with a motheaten sofa and armchair and a beleaguered coffee table with one leg chipped. She pulled a face.

"Wonderful. More inspiring decor." She muttered, padding across to the window and pulling open the thick, grey curtains to allow light to filter into the room. "And it doesn't look any better with sunlight, either. Is this really where Nagi lives? Where she comes home to, after a long day out slaughtering people and stalking me? I can't believe that. Surely not?"

"You shouldn't be up, you know."

A voice from the doorway made her start and she swung around, jerking pain through her injury. She fought against the impulse to cry out, fixing the newcomer with the most malevolent glare she could muster as she struggled to regain her countenance.

"Who the hell are you!" She exclaimed.

The man offered her a slight smile, running his gaze over her thoughtfully as he did so. Despite herself, Ryoko felt strangely vulnerable and her expression darkened as she folded her arms defensively across her chest.

"Well?" She demanded. "Answer me. I'm not someone you mess with, you know...I'm a space pirate and if you don't talk I'll blow you through the wall onto the street outside."

"Will you?" The man seemed amused by this suggestion. He shook his head, leaning up against the doorframe. "No, I don't think that you will. Calm down, Ryoko. You really aren't in any danger, so you don't need to be so hostile."

"How do you know my name?" Ryoko's eyes narrowed. "Are you Galaxy Police? Is that why you're here? Or are you just stalking me, hoping to get a reward for tracking me down? Because it's not so easy to capture a space pirate, you know. Even less easy to beat one in battle."

She spread her hands, energy flickering across her palms. "So you better think about answering me. And fast."

"You don't have enough strength to do that." The man said mildly, reproach in his dark reddish eyes. "Hold your fire, Ryoko, and just listen to me for a moment. I'm not with the Galaxy Police. In fact, they're no friends of mine either, if you want the truth. As for who I am - I'm the man who saved your life. If you're really interested to know."

The light faded from Ryoko's fingers as she eyed him warily, slowly lowering her hands to her sides.

"Saved my life?" She echoed. "Meaning what, exactly?"

The man gestured to her.

"You had a nasty injury." He said simply. "It's beginning to heal now, though, so you should give it a chance to do so. You shouldn't expend your strength trying to keep face with me...you really don't need to. You've been very ill. You need to conserve your energy for getting better."

"Don't patronise me." Ryoko's eyes narrowed. "I don't remember asking you to save my life, so don't talk to me like you have a right to tell me what to do."

She put a hand out for the wall, leaning up against it as exhaustion and dizziness flooded over her senses. "I don't need your help, so you might as well tell me where we are so I can get Ryo Ohki and get the hell out of this place. I don't ask for charity from anyone...and I didn't ask you to intervene."

"You haven't the strength to even think about leaving here just yet." The man approached her slowly, taking her gently but firmly by the arms and guiding her across the room to the sofa, coaxing her to sit down. "You know it as well as I do - and I can see it in your eyes that you're fighting just to keep yourself upright. Don't fight against it, Ryoko. You're convalescent, and you need to accept that. In fact, I wasn't sure you were going to make it at all. You should count your blessings that luck was on your side."

"I'll do no such thing till I know where I am and what's in it for you to help a Space Pirate." Ryoko said darkly, pulling her arms from his grip. "Take your hands off me!"

"All right." The man held up his palms in a conciliatory gesture, sitting down opposite her in the room's one battered armchair. "But if you carry on this crazy talk about leaving, I really don't have a choice but to try and stop you."

"Why does it matter to you if I live or die? I don't even know who you are!" Ryoko snapped.

"True." The man acknowledged. "But that's easy enough to change. My name is Kazuki. And as for where you are - this is my home."

"That doesn't mean much to me." Ryoko muttered. "What have you got to do with Nagi? I know she's the one who brought me here, as some kind of twisted game she has going on. What does she have on you, that she makes you help someone like me?"

"I'm trained as a doctor. Our duty is to help those in need."

"Really?" Ryoko raised an eyebrow, glancing around at her surroundings. "And since when did a doctor live in this kind of squalour? Try again, genius."

Kazuki eyed her thoughtfully for a moment, then inclined his head slightly.

"You're right." He acknowledged. "There is more to it than that. Actually, I haven't practiced medicine in a while. But Nagi isn't someone you refuse favours to - and I know better than anyone that she's not someone you disappoint. She seemed certain that I could save you, and I admit, I liked the challenge of trying, even if it did go against my better judgement. Does it really matter why she brought you here? You should be thankful that you're alive, at the very least."

"Thankful?" Ryoko sighed. "Yeah, right. Maybe. But I didn't ask you - or her - to make that decision for me."

"I thought it was your cabbit friend that took the final decision." Kazuki looked pensive. "I can't understand what she's saying myself, but Nagi has spoken to her through Ken Ohki. She seems quite devoted to you, the poor little thing. And determined that you were going to survive this, too. You know that she flew herself half way across the galaxy in search of Ken Ohki? You could show her a little more gratitude for her concern, you know - it was touch and go for a while there."

"Ryo Ohki is too loyal for her own good, sometimes." Ryoko said quietly. "So what exactly does Nagi have on you, then? Something, I'm sure."

"Not exactly." Kazuki shrugged his shoulders. "But sometimes I guess blood is thicker than water."

"You're related to her?" Ryoko's eyes widened with surprise. Kazuki laughed.

"Yes. She's my sister." He agreed, amusement flickering in his red eyes as he took in her expression. "Is that such an impossibility?"

"I didn't think of Nagi as having family." Ryoko's eyes narrowed to mere slits. "So this is all done out of brotherly love, then? You come running whenever big sister calls - is that the basic size of it?"

"She's never let me down, and I'm not going to begin letting her down, either." Kazuki gestured at the room. "This place isn't much to you, but it's freedom for me. It could have been a prison cell, but Nagi's intimidation made sure that I kept my liberty, even when I lost the right to practice medicine in a big galactic hospital. I'm grateful to her for that."

"Prison?" Ryoko pursed her lips. "What did you do?"

"That's neither here nor there." Kazuki shrugged. "What's more important is your state of health right now. And you look tired, Ryoko. Tired and drawn. Without the fever flushing your cheeks, you're deathly pale. I think you should be in bed - and maybe I need to come look at that injury."

"Do you think I'm that naive, that I'm going to let some strange guy grope me on the pretence of 'medical examination'?" Ryoko recoiled from him at this. "Whatever you were kicked out for, buddy, you're not going to put your hands on me any time soon...trust me on that!"

"I'm not going to hurt you, or take advantage of you." Kazuki said quietly. "I wasn't struck off for that kind of thing, and my interest in you is strictly professional. Besides, I cleaned your wound and stitched it up already. Strangely, I didn't hear you making an objection then."

"I wasn't exactly conscious enough to do it!" Ryoko snapped.

She raised a hand to her head, sending him a dark look.

"I feel strange." She added. "Have you been doping me? Is that it? Is that why I feel so tired?"

"Nothing to dope you with." Kazuki shook his head. "All I have is rudimentary tools and the basic herbal remedies they taught me to mix when I was in training. Nothing else. It's almost a shame, actually. If I had a strong sedative, I'd certainly have used it on you by now."

"I knew it." Indignation flashed into Ryoko's eyes. "You are trying it on with me!"

"No, I just want you to keep still." Kazuki replied levelly. "You'll undo your stitches if you move around too much. You're too impatient. Nagi did warn me about this - she said you'd be up and out of bed before you were ready to be, and I guess she was right."

"I guess she was right." Ryoko mimicked. "Bah. It's my body. If I want to move around - or even leave this hell-hole - what are you going to do to stop me?"

"Nothing." Kazuki said calmly. "But Ryo Ohki knows that you're not ready to leave here, and she's quite decided that she's not going to let you try until she deems you ready to go. Nagi had a long conversation with her the night you woke up - with Ken Ohki's help - and things were resolved between them. Like it or not, you're stuck here."

"I have legs. I can walk."

"See sense." Kazuki shook his head impatiently. "Leaving now would only return you to the condition you were in when Nagi found you. Is that really what you want?"

Ryoko hesitated for a moment, then she shook her head, sitting back in her seat and sighing heavily.

"No. But I don't like decisions being made behind my back." She said slowly. "Noone controls my life but me...and all the decisions are being taken out of my hands."

"You should relish the time off." Kazuki said acidly. "Considering the nature of your injury, you probably need it."

"Perhaps. It still doesn't change how I feel about it...or about being brought here against my will."

"It wasn't really my choice either, you know."

"Where is here, anyway? I mean, aside from being your house."

"Somewhere a long way from your home." Kazuki said softly. Ryoko started.

"Home? What do you mean, my home?"

"According to Nagi, you've made your base on Planet Earth." Kazuki spread his hands. "Is she mistaken?"

"I'm not such a rookie as to give that kind of information to someone aligned with Nagi." Ryoko said coldly. "It's not your business or hers where I make my base."

"True enough." Kazuki nodded his head. There was a moment of silence, then,

"I only wondered if he was waiting for you."

"Who?" Ryoko's brows knitted together in confusion.

"Tenchi. That is his name, isn't it?"

"What?" Ryoko stared, horror and dismay flickering in the depths of her amber eyes. "What business is Tenchi of yours? What has Nagi been saying to you?"

"Nothing of any consequence." Kazuki shook his head. "You told me about Tenchi yourself."

"I did no such thing!"

"Fever often brings out the things we wouldn't talk about normally." Kazuki said contemplatively. "You said his name quite a lot, when you were delerious. I got the impression you were trying to...to help him, or save him, or at least you thought you were. Either way, he came up far too much to be just simple coincidence. Is that why you are so eager to leave here? You're worried that he'll forget about you?"

Ryoko bit her lip, tasting blood on her tongue as she fought with her composure.

"He's not waiting for me." She said softly. "And you have it all wrong. Tenchi's not my man. He never has been, not really. He's just...just someone I knew. Before. That's all."

"You're not a very good liar, you know." Kazuki's tones were reproachful. "I expected better from a notorious space pirate."

"Well, it's really none of your business, anyway." Ryoko flared up at this, and Kazuki shrugged.

"Perhaps not." He admitted. "But in some respects I do understand. There was someone in my life once - but she passed away some years ago now. It's not always an easy parting, when it comes too soon to properly comprehend."

"You don't understand anything about it." Ryoko said sullenly. "And I'm not going to talk about it with you, so change the subject. Or even better, don't. Go away instead and leave me alone."

"As your doctor I can't do that."

"You're not my doctor. You're Nagi's brother. That's all."

"But I did save your life. You can't get away from that."

"And I didn't ask you to do it. You can't get away from that." Ryoko snapped back. "You don't have to spend all your time spying on me now you've done so, either."

"That depends on whether you're determined to take silly, reckless decisions like wanting to leave here when you're barely fit enough to stand." Kazuki told her bluntly. "Like it or not, I have a vested interest in your recovery now, and I like to see my cases through to the end."

"You're not even legally allowed to have cases, by your own admission. Don't come the Good Samaritan with me."

Ryoko got gingerly to her feet, casting him a look of disdain.

"I'm going back to that thing you dare call a bedroom." She added. "And later, I'm going to take this up with Ryo Ohki once and for all. You can take it from me that I won't be staying in this dump one moment longer than I need to - so take that and write it in your case notes."

"Perhaps I will." Kazuki said quietly. "Be careful how you go, Ryoko. Your stitches aren't going to hold against too much activity, and you probably need your reserves if they're going to heal the wound completely. As it is, you'll probably have a scar. I never saw a wound quite like it."

"One more scar won't matter, when added to all the others." Ryoko muttered. Kazuki frowned.

"What others?"

"Never mind." Ryoko shook her head. "I wasn't talking to you. Just stay here, all right? And do whatever it is you do now you're not practicing medicine. I don't want company and I don't want you coming to examine me. I just want to be left alone."

With that she phased her form through the door, pausing on the other side to catch her breath as she realised how much strength it had taken just to do such a simple thing.

"He's right, damn him. I am weak." She muttered, leaning onto the doorpost as she gathered her senses together. "Too weak to use my magic except in short bursts. Oh, I hate this! I don't want to be here...I need to get away."

She sighed, turning and making her way slowly up the stairs to the room where Ryo Ohki still slept, oblivious to their discussion.

"But even if I did get away, I don't have anywhere to go." She acknowledged. "Or anyone to go back to. Maybe it would've been easier if they hadn't intervened and had just left things how they were. I don't want to live an empty life...but there's no place for me with Tenchi or on Jurai, that's blatantly clear."

She pursed her lips, pushing open the bedroom door and dropping down onto the bed, discarding the blanket and leaning up against her pillows.

"I suppose we'll just have to find something new to amuse us, you and I. Try and forget the Earth and him and everything we've done." She said out loud, her gaze falling on her snoozing companion. "At least I have you, Ryo Ohki. Even if I am a touch mad at you for all of this. I guess we'll have to discuss that, won't we? I keep forgetting how young you are compared to the others...but sooner or later you're going to have to understand what it means to be a pirate ship for real. And when to make sacrifices, too."

She paused, then reached over a hand to stroke the animal's soft fur.

"I guess I can't be angry at you for caring about me. At least you do." She murmured. "Oh well. You sleep, Ryo Ohki. We'll talk about it later. If you want the truth, I'm pretty tired too, much as I hate to admit it. I suppose it won't hurt to have a quick nap...at least while I ponder out a way to get us both out of here once and for all!"