Chapter Four

"Well, Washu, what is all of this about?"

First Class Detective Kiyone Makibi picked her way carefully across the rocky landscape, her expression quizzical as she greeted her companion. "I got Ryo Ohki's signal - but honestly, I thought it would be Ryoko waiting to meet me. What's going on - and why did you call me all the way out here? You have to know that it wasn't easy getting away."

"I'm sorry. You probably have six thousand things you need to be doing." Washu acknowledgd. "But I'm glad you realised the signal meant something important. And I'm afraid Ryoko knows nothing about this - not yet. Shall we just say things on the Earth have been eventful in the last twenty four hours? I hoped you might be able to shed some light on a couple of matters for me."

"Well, I can try." Kiyone looked confused, her gaze flitting from the scientist to the cabbit curled up on her shoulder. "But why do you have Ryo Ohki? Where's Ryoko? And what about Tenchi and his family? Are they here?"

"Noboyuke-san is at work and Katsuhito-dono is at the shrine." Washu said serenely. "Tenchi and Ryoko are in Osaka, and Ryo Ohki and I are here alone. Which is how I wanted it. The fewer people who know we're meeting like this the better - at least at the moment."

"Washu, you're starting to spook me." Kiyone's frown deepened. "What's going on?"

"Follow me." Was all Washu vouchsafed, however, lifting a hand and beckoning to the detective as she crossed the terrain towards the house. Kiyone hesitated for a moment, then followed the eccentric woman inside, stepping into her laboratory with more than a few misgivings.

"So you're stationed back down here now?" She observed, glancing around her. "Full time, or temporarily?"

"Time will tell." Washu shrugged her shoulders. "Sit down, Kiyone. I know this all seems very cloak and dagger to you, but it might well be your safety as much as my own that's at stake should people get to hear about this meeting. Did you bring Mihoshi with you?"

"No, the department couldn't spare both of us." Kiyone flushed red, shaking her head. "I had to lie to the Commander and tell him a relative of mine had been taken suddenly ill. Mihoshi wanted to come, but she had to stay behind. She doesn't know that I'm coming here, exactly - but she knows that I had a signal from somewhere. I just hope she can keep her mouth shut while I'm away."

"Mihoshi is not as stupid as people like to believe." Washu said thoughtfully. "And I'm sure you can trust her to be discreet."

Kiyone raised an eyebrow, and Washu laughed.

"Well, I won't keep you long enough for her to tell anyone anything." She amended. "And besides, as you said yourself, she has nothing to tell."

"That's never stopped her in the past." Kiyone sighed. "All right. So I'm here. Maybe you better explain what you want from me...and why Ryo Ohki sent Yagami an emergency signal."

Washu cast a glance at the cabbit, who flicked her ears, letting out a mew. She shrugged.

"Well, I didn't ask her to go quite that far, but I did ask her to contact Yagami." She said thoughtfully. "And she might have been right. I don't know if it's an emergency yet, Kiyone. But it might become one, if nothing is done to check it. Tell me, do you know a man called Seiryo Tennan?"

"Seiryo Tennan?" Kiyone's eyes became big with surprise. "Yes, of course - or rather, I know of him and his reputation. But I didn't know you knew him."

"I don't." Washu pursed her lips. "Tell me, what sort of a man would you say he was?"

Kiyone looked bewildered.

"I don't understand." She protested. "You call me here and then ask me questions about one of my colleagues...a superior officer? Washu, stop playing games with me! Tell me what's going on!"

"All right." Washu's eyes narrowed, and Kiyone was aware of the seriousness of her friend's gaze. "Last night a Galaxy Police craft piloted and commanded by a man calling himself Seiryo Tennan launched an attack on a nightclub in Osaka. An Elite Forces officer, no less. He was ostensibly looking for Tenchi, but when Ryoko challenged his authority, there was something of a scene. He left very suddenly, and the club is a complete ruin - burnt to the ground, from all I've managed to discover. Galaxy Police fire bullets...not Ryoko's magic. In fact, her interference probably saved a lot of human lives."

Kiyone blanched, and she shook her head.

"Impossible." She said frankly. Washu leant across to scoop up a folded newspaper from a nearby computer unit, unfolding it and holding it out to her.

"Well, you tell me what you make of that." She said simply, and Kiyone took the periodical in her hands, glancing at the picture of the wrecked nightclub. She scanned the article, her brows drawing together as she got to the end paragraph.

"I still think it's crazy." She said at length. "So what if someone blasted in there and claimed to be Seiryo Tennan? If you don't know him, and nor does Ryoko or Tenchi, he could have been anyone. An imposter. I'm sorry, Washu...I just don't believe this adds up. Seiryo Tennan is one of the most respected and capable of the Elite Galaxy Police...he's been awarded medals many times for his actions in service, and he graduated top of his class when he was at the Galaxy Police Academy. His reputation is legend at Headquarters - he's singlehandedly brought to justice more outlaws and troublemakers than any other agent in his division. Random raids on remote planets are not a usual part of his action plan."

She dropped the paper down on the unit, shaking her head.

"This is someone else's work, and an attempt to discredit the Galaxy Police. It must be." She added. "There are no officers on patrol in the Solar System at the moment, because of shortness of staffing. It would be easy for someone to slip in and cause trouble here without being picked up by our sensors."

"You think so?" Washu looked pensive. "Maybe you're right. See, there's more to this than I've told you, Kiyone. My laboratory is stationed here because it's stable and remote. I was forced to anchor it in one location because someone had managed to infiltrate it while it drifted between doorways. I know the man responsible - I picked him up on security film, or at least the insignia of his gown - but he was in the company of a shape-shifter. I haven't had a chance to review the file more closely, but he used this accomplice to access some of my most secure files. Files on Jurai's magic and on my creation of Ryoko."

"And you think the two things are connected?" Kiyone looked startled. Washu shrugged.

"Maybe." She admitted. "It seems too much of a coincidence for them not to be, don't you think?"

"Well, then there's your answer about Agent Tennan." Relief flickered in Kiyone's blue eyes. "If your thief had a shape-shifting accomplice, likely that's who came to the Earth last night. Most Earthlings wouldn't know a Galaxy Police craft from a fake and certainly wouldn't recognise our uniform. It's easy for panic and rumour to begin but all you have to tie this to Seiryo-san is his name...which isn't much at all, really."

"No, which is why I hoped you might help me." Washu mused. "You're right, of course, that on this planet the Galaxy Police badge means little. Except that Ryoko was there last night, and she has a better knowledge of your operation than most people. She was pretty adamant when she spoke to me that it looked like the real deal. I've convinced her it was a hoax - an elaborate one, but a hoax nonetheless, because she's afraid of being taken back into custody for breaking her parole. That's why I haven't involved her in this. She's emotionally unreliable at the best of times, so I haven't told her that Seiryo Tennan is a real Galaxy Police officer."

Kiyone's eyes narrowed as she digested this, thinking it over carefully.

"Tennan-san's department and mine don't cross over very much, but I have seen him from time to time at Headquarters, generally at a distance." She said slowly. "But not really of late. Do you think he could be in trouble? I mean, if someone is impersonating him..."

"It's possible." Washu got to her feet, crossing the laboratory to a big computer screen and keying in an override code. "See, I pulled this up - I presume you know about the murder of his father, Seiji, just a short time ago?"

"Yes." Kiyone inclined her head. "But I don't think Seiryo-san is the kind of Agent to let his personal problems interfere in his professional life. As I said, he's one of our most respected men, Washu. Men like that don't just turn vandal on the least excuse."

"Well, I hadn't thought about the shape-shifter, and you do have a point." Washu acknowledged. "But I don't know...there's something about all of this that bothers me. Recently I've taken readings from the Earth's atmosphere which indicate anomalies...as if something very powerful has been tweaking at the outer layer, shifting particles and changing the normal chemical values. Last night, those readings were once more off the chart...at about the time Seiryo Tennan - or the imposter - launched his attack on Osaka. They flared up again about the time Ryoko said the man and his ship vanished. That can't be a coincidence. Those changes tie this in with the man who robbed my laboratory - because he's wanted by the Science Academy. The night he escaped there, the same data anomalies were recorded by the Academy's master computer. There's got to be more to this. I just can't see what it is yet."

"Did you say vanished?" Kiyone looked startled. "As in what...a hyper-speed jump?"

"No...Ryoko described it as teleportation." Washu shook her head. "But on a major scale. Not just Tennan-san, but his ship and his accompanying officers. They just disappeared."

"But...Galaxy Police ships can't do that." Kiyone shook her head. "And I don't know of any officer on role who teleports. Most people were deeply suspicious of Ryoko when she was in custody because it was a talent she had. Some of them thought it was devil magic - and these were trained officers of the law! It's not a common magic...could she have been mistaken?"

"I don't think so." Washu shook her head. "As much of a flake as she can be, Kiyone, when it comes to battle tactics she knows more than most people, and if anyone understands teleportation, it's her. No, I think Ryoko's reported things pretty accurately this time...I just have to try and make sense of what she saw. It has to match the science somewhere - I just need a clue as to where."

Kiyone fell silent for a moment, running this over in her mind. At length she glanced up, a frown touching her face.

"Are they in trouble?" She asked softly. "Ryoko and Tenchi, with Earth authorities?"

"Not yet, but they may be." Washu replied. "If people make the connection between Ryoko and the girl people keep talking about. They haven't come back from Osaka yet - Tenchi telephoned his father this morning to say they were going to try and brazen it out and stay there another night rather than risk using Ryoko's teleportation or venturing too far out into the street, but I don't expect they'll be there for too long if there's a real risk of them being found out. I don't think either of them want to bring trouble here, but in the end I suspect they'll have no choice...and at least here is more remote than the middle of a bustling city. That's one reason why Ryo Ohki is with me. It began as an innocent enough trip, but now Ryoko is worried that if people see Ryo Ohki in Osaka, they'll make too many connections. There are no cabbits on the Earth, after all. Just her."

She reached up absently to scratch her furry companion under the chin.

"And of course, this man might yet come back...and if he does, Osaka is too obvious a place for Tenchi to be. I'm of the opinion that his raid was a diversion - a smokescreen for some other mission. But I may be wrong and he may come back for Tenchi. Whatever he wants, you can guarantee it's probably not good."

"Have you spoken to Jurai?"

"No." Washu shook her head. "And at the moment, I don't intend to. I know the name Tennan, Kiyone, even if I've not met Seiryo or his late father. Many, many years ago they had ambition enough to lead expansion parties across space. They invaded and looted many planets of their natural resources and built up a huge fortune as they went along. It's one of the reasons why they're such a rich and powerful Juraian family, even though they don't possess an iota of natural magic. I suppose it's not beyond the possibility that they're doing a similar thing again."

"Invading the Earth? But why? What has Earth got that Jurai hasn't?" Kiyone looked non-plussed. "I thought you believed in logic, Washu-chan. That doesn't seem very logical to me!"

"No, but not everything operates within logical perameters." Washu sighed. "As the recent events with Kagato-dono on Jurai illustrated for me very clearly. I'm not sure of anything, if I'm truthful. I'm just running over possibilities. Whilst I know Ayeka and Sasami wouldn't mean the Earth any harm, I have a lot less trust in their father and their uncle. They may seem like dignified and honourable men, but they've broken their own rules and laws before to get what they want. I suppose I can't help harbouring a little suspicion. After all, it's there in the Tennan family history, and there has always been a Tennan on the Holy Council of Jurai."

"Well, I think you're jumping to wild conclusions." Kiyone said matter-of-factly. Washu spread her hands.

"Perhaps." She acknowledged. "But right now, it's all I have."

"Is there something I can do to help?" Kiyone asked at length. "I mean, if someone is trying to bring the Galaxy Police into disrepute, I want to be involved in stamping it out. And I like the Earth - the people here shouldn't be used as pawns in someone else's battle, even if there aren't enough of us to patrol here regularly."

Washu's eyes lit up with hope and Kiyone began to wonder if she'd offered her help rashly.

"I mean..."

"There is something you can do for me." Washu cut across her, nodding her head. "One small thing, Kiyone."

"All right." Kiyone relented. "What is it, Washu-chan?"

"Keep your finger on the pulse at Headquarters." Washu said seriously. "And anything you can find out about Seiryo, well, the better. Either we exonerate him or we condemn him, but we need to know who we're really dealing with and if he and his family are involved in whatever is going on. Can you do that?"

"Spy on an Elite officer?" Kiyone's eyes widened. "Are you sure that's a good idea? I could lose my job!"

"No...you're too smart for that." Washu smiled. "And I have faith in you to find out the truth, whatever that is. I know you're loyal to the Galaxy Police, Kiyone - but I know that above all of that you're fair-minded. If you find something that's amiss, you'll let me know and you'll tell me it straight. I need someone to be my eyes and ears where I can't go myself. Will you do that for me?"

Kiyone sighed, rubbing her temples.

"I'll try." She said finally. "It's not as easy as you think it is, Washu - but all right. I'll do my best."

"I knew you would." Washu squeezed her hand, and Kiyone felt something being pressed into it. "Here. Attach this to Yagami's comm channel and it will transmit direct to my lab here. Thank you, Kiyone. I'm counting on you to root out the truth!"

Kiyone opened her hand, glancing down at the small microchip. She bit her lip.

"What have I got involved in now?" She murmured, more to herself than her companion. "God help me if anyone finds out I'm turning spy against someone like Agent Tennan!"

--------

The Earth was a strange place.

Zero picked her way slowly between the rows of houses, pausing occasionally to gaze up at the tall blocks of flat that soared up towards the sky. She frowned, biting down on her lip as her gaze drifted to the stars beyond.

"Tokimi-sama." She murmured. "Oh, I don't understand this! Nothing in my databanks explains why she should have had such a violent effect on my circuits, but since the meeting with her none of my units have been operating correctly. I'm thinking and feeling too much like one of the Earth people, and I don't like it. Dr Clay will have to look at my program and see if he can eradicate all of this corruption from my files. It must have been a high level of radiation - but I cannot find any data readings to explain it."

"Zero."

At the sound of his voice, she stopped in her tracks, her eyes flickering with uncertainty as she gazed wildly around her. There was noone there, and she berated herself for the surge of alien fear that had shot through her system.

"Dr Clay?" She focused her transmitter on sending the signal. "What do you require?"

"Lady Tokimi is impatient." Clay's words reverberated around her core program, causing her to wince involuntarily at the unfamiliar vibrations. "Submit your report. Now."

Zero hesitated for a split second, as memory of the night at the club flashed back through her head.

"Zero!" Clay's voice rang with impatience, and Zero swallowed her misgivings, a look of determination flashing into her pale lilac eyes as she processed the instruction. Tensing every sense in her manipulated form, she flickered out of view, shooting her molecules towards the Earth's upper atmosphere.

"I am ready to make my report, Dr Clay." She said soberly. "I have encountered the man, Tenchi Masaki Jurai. I have made his acquaintance and have gained his trust."

"And the biological samples?" Clay sounded somewhat mollified at this. "Lady Tokimi has informed me of all she asked you to do. You must obey her every command, Zero, as if it came from me. She is not one to be argued with. Do you understand?"

"I understand, Doctor." Zero bowed her head, as if to hide her doubts and her fear from her creator. "I will obey Tokimi-sama. I have taken some skin samples from the subject."

"Good girl." Now Clay's voice was approving, but somehow Zero was not comforted as she usually was by her master's pleasure. "And what have you found?"

"Preliminary examination indicates that Tenchi Masaki Jurai has the biological structure of an earthling and a Juraian." She said quietly. "He is born of both worlds, Dr Clay."

"Yes, we know that." Clay agreed impatiently. "And of the Light Hawk Wings? Of Tsunami? What of that?"

"I am unable to detect magic in Tenchi Masaki Jurai of the nature Tokimi-sama seeks." Zero said slowly. "He does not seem magical to me."

"Well, you are just a foolish robot, and you have your limitations." Clay snapped. "Return to the Earth and take more detailed samples. I will collect them from you and analyse them myself."

"Yes, Doctor."

"I trust you won't find that difficult?"

"No...no, Dr Clay. I have gained his trust." Zero fought to keep her voice level. "He believes I am the earth girl Yume, who he rescued from the fire at the nightclub."

"Then it should be no problem to obtain the data that we require." Clay sounded relieved, and Zero realised that Tokimi had put pressure on him already that evening. The realisation surprised her - she had never before intimated anything about the rapport between Clay and his mistress, nor questioned any part of it. Uncertainty flooded through her, and she fought to keep it under control, fear flickering in her humanoid eyes.

"Dr Clay, I must speak to you. I fear there is an error in my program. Not all systems are operating correctly." She began.

"Zero, this mission is of the utmost importance and there's no margin for error or failure." came back Clay's reply. "I don't have time to nanny a droid. Just obey my - and Tokimi-sama's - instructions. Everything else you can leave to us. Just get us the samples we need and keep close to Tenchi Masaki. I'll be in touch again soon...and await your next report."

With that the contact was abruptly broken, and Zero found herself once more alone. For a moment the isolation washed over her, then she got to grips with herself, forcing her programming back into an even pattern as she slowly returned to the Earth's surface.

"He's right." She told herself, though her thoughts lacked some conviction. "All I have to do is obey my instructions. That's what I'm programmed to do. It's not right to question it...I'm programmed to obey Clay and if he supports Tokimi's orders, then I have no reason to have doubts. I must complete my mission. That's all there is to it. It's simple. Really."

She dropped to the ground, walking slowly back through the deserted streets towards the burnt out ruins of the nightclub. The venue was surrounded by police tape, with earth officers stationed at convenient points across the location, and she decided it would be better to keep her distance, so as not to be seen.

As she stared at the blackened rubble, she began to replay her video of that evening across her sensors. A frown touched her lips as she paused the recording, taking a moment to consider the scene.

"He didn't know who I was, but he helped me anyway." She reflected. "He didn't know that fire can't destroy me. And it can hurt him, yet he turned back to rescue me."

She frowned, forcing the image out of her head as she turned her back on the damaged club.

"It doesn't matter, anyway." She told herself. "It suits Tokimi-sama's purpose that he did, because it gave me the chance to involve myself in his life. That is why I am here."

She walked on through the city for a while, taking in little of the surrounding scenery as she mulled over the conundrum. Try as she might, her mind kept getting drawn back to the night of the fire.

"Perhaps I have a looped file in my database." She decided at last. "Whatever it is, it's confusing me and distracting me from my purpose. I should erase the memory. It is not important to keep an account of my arrival on the Earth."

Absently she shunted the file across to be erased, but before she could do it, something made her pause. She stopped, biting her lip as she slowly returned it to its original location.

"What's wrong with me!" She muttered. "Why does this file matter? Why does any of it matter? I have never had this problem before!"

"It's awful late to be out alone at night, girlie."

A voice up ahead startled her and she glanced up rather like a rabbit caught in car headlights, afraid that someone had overheard her heated conversation with herself. Three young men stood blocking her path, all well built and stocky and the tallest of the three - the one who had spoken - carried a knife in his thick fingers. At a signal from him, his accomplices advanced on her, grabbing her by the arms and holding her tightly to the spot. She stared at them, not comprehending what was going on.

"You shouldn't be out this late. The aliens might get you." The leader sneered, leaning close to her as he met her gaze with a challenging one of his own.

"Let me go!" At last Zero managed to get a signal through to her vocal units and she struggled against their grip. "You have no right to touch me. I am on important business and it does not concern you!"

"Oh, it doesn't concern us, boys." The leader laughed. "What a shame. And I was so hoping we might spend a little more time getting to know one another. Guess I'll just have to rip you off right now, huh?"

He raised his knife, holding it to her throat, and Zero saw the steely glint in his eye.

"Your money, or you die." He said, all humour gone from his tone. "I mean it."

"Let me go, or you will regret it." Zero said coldly. "I have none of your money."

"Final warning, girlie." The blade of the knife pricked against Zero's throat. "Money, or you get it. I don't bluff. We don't like any trouble, but we're plenty able to give it."

"You will not interfere in my plans." At last Zero found the right file in her database and she seared upwards, flinging the man off her as she launched herself into the sky, pausing some feet above the startled youths and glaring down at them.

"You make a mistake, trying to interfere with what we do here." She said flatly. "You will be the ones to die."

"Hey...she's one of them! One of the aliens!" One of the young men exclaimed, taking a step backwards.

"There ain't no such thing as aliens, bonehead!" His leader hissed, though Zero could see the doubt in his own eyes. She smiled a hollow smile, raising her hands and engulfing them all in a white beam of light.

"You will be terminated." She said softly.

"Please...lady...whatever you are! We meant no harm!" Now the bravado of the youths was gone, and one of them dropped to his knees, clasping his hands together as he pleaded for his life. "Please. Let us go. We...we didn't mean to bother you. Just a game, that's all! No need to get violent on us now!"

Zero eyed them all for a moment, narrowing her gaze as she surveyed them each in turn.

For a moment, nothing moved. Then she let out a sigh, and the beam of light wavered and faded.

"Go." She said quietly. "But do not come here again. If I see you, I will make good on my promise. Do you understand me? Do not interfere in what we do."

"Hey, message received, loud and clear!" The men scrambled to their feet, knocking one another over in their hurry to escape, and for a moment Zero watched them go. Then she flickered out of view, re-materialising herself on the street outside Tenchi's apartment building.

As soon as she realised where she was, her anger faded and she frowned, kicking idly at the pavement as she wondered what exactly he was doing inside there.

"I must not fail Tokimi-sama." She muttered. "But now I have left witnesses...I should have terminated them. Why did I not? Is it because I know he would hate me, if he knew I killed people from his world?"

She gazed up at the floor she knew Tenchi's apartment was on, her gaze softening as she noted the light blaring from the bedroom window.

"Maybe he is why." She murmured. "Perhaps this is the power of the Light Hawk Wings."

She sighed, Ryoko's image flitting across her memory banks and she leant back against a nearby wall, contemplating.

"I need to get her out of the way. He trusts her too much and I don't think she's as convinced by Yume as he is. She may yet be a problem." She mused. "I must find a way to dispose of Ryoko Hakubi."

A slight smile touched her lips.

"It will give me great pleasure to eliminate her." She added. "And I think I know just the way to do it."

Her gaze drifted to a news-stand, the day's headline still boldly announcing the potential alien threat, and a low chuckle escaped her lips.

"Well, that should pose me no challenge." She murmured softly, glancing down at her hands as they glimmered and shifted into a new form. "Everyone is looking for this mystery woman, but I know more about her than she could even imagine.Information that could yet prove useful to these people. Dr Clay programmed me well, after all. I know exactly how to act. Ryoko Hakubi will be eliminated - and this time, there will be no suggestion of extra-terrestrial involvement!"