Chapter Four
"You know, Tenchi, you sure do think of romantic places for us to spend time together in."
As she pushed back the door to the stationary Sumire, Ryoko turned to send her companion a rueful grimace. Tenchi offered her a sheepish smile, shrugging his shoulders.
"Well, you did say you were bored." He reminded her. "And you are the one who doesn't like ordinary, run of the mill dates. Besides, you should have seen Ayeka when I walked in on her in the Throne Room. She really looked at the end of her tether - I didn't think you'd mind if we helped her."
"No, I suppose not." Ryoko reflected, looping her arms absently around his neck as she watched the Juraian military team shut off the walkway that linked the ship to the restricted docking bay. "Well, I suppose I should take it as a good thing that we are alone together and even if it is one of the weirdest places you've invited me, you did at least think to do so."
"Ryoko, people died on this ship." Tenchi reminded her softly. "Don't flirt with me here...please. It's...well...it just isn't right."
"Oh, you are so silly sometimes." Ryoko sighed, loosing her grip with an amount of reluctance. "They're not here now - the military have long since taken them away. Don't be so squeamish - it's not like I'm going to seduce you up here."
"Considering that the military people gave us these, I'm glad to hear it." Tenchi said darkly, reaching up to touch the thin black band that encircled his brow. In the centre, a glittering dot gave away the presence of a miniscule portable camera and as he fumbled with the side of the device, he switched the camera on. "They - and Ayeka - want to see a thorough view of the inside of this ship. Not what kind of underwear you're wearing."
"Perhaps I'm not wearing any." Ryoko bantered back, extending a lazy finger to follow his example. "You'll never know, now."
"Ryoko." Tenchi rolled his eyes, but there was a glimmer of a smile at the edges of his lips. "All right. Enough. I'm going to switch on my communicator, and I don't think Ayeka wants to hear this kind of talk."
"No, probably not." Ryoko admitted. "Even if she is over you, I guess she's too prim and proper for some of the things we've been known to do."
"Ryoko, it's going on now." Tenchi said warningly, flicking the microphone to 'on'. "So behave."
"Tenchi?" Ayeka's voice crackled through the receiver. "Behave? Why? What do you mean?"
Ryoko chuckled, setting her own comm device to on and stepping back as she cast a glance around her. They were in a narrow, dimly lit tunnel, she realised, a walkway within the main body of the ship and from further down the corridor the eerie glint of steel and glass indicated doors that led to various points on the vessel.
"Looks like there's probably a prize behind each door." She mused aloud. "Okay, Ayeka. This is your gig. You have the ship blueprints, don't you? Where do you want us to start?"
"The drive room." Ayeka said decidedly. "It's the third door on the right, along a narrow walkway like the one in which you're standing. The captain's body was recovered here, so it is likely to be a bit...well...unpleasant to enter. However..."
"We need to go into those places if we're to find anything out, because that's where the things happened." Tenchi said quietly. "It's all right, Ayeka. We're prepared for the worst."
"Thank you both for doing this." Ayeka sighed, then, "Political agendas are all over the place at the moment. I'm glad to know you two don't have any."
"We're on the side of whatever keeps old Azusa from getting angry and invading planet Earth." Ryoko said frankly. "Besides, at least this is something to do."
"Where is the other room, Ayeka? The one where the girl was found?" Tenchi asked.
"It's further down another corridor - second door on the right will lead you there." Ayeka responded.
"Then we'll split up." Tenchi said quietly. "Ryoko, you take the drive room. You're more familiar with electronic ship stuff than me and you'll be better equipped to find any recordings it made of the incident. I'll go check out the girl's room. See what I can find."
"Aw, but that's no fun, Tenchi." Ryoko pouted. "You're abandoning me already? No fair!"
"Ryoko, Tenchi's right." Ayeka's voice echoed in her ears and the pirate almost thought for a moment that she heard an element of relief in the princess's voice. "I can split screen your cameras here and keep an eye on both of you as you progress. It will be quicker that way, and the sooner we have some data to relay, the better. I need something to tell these people, and so does Uncle."
"Fine." Ryoko sighed, rolling her eyes. "Then I guess I'm heading to the drive room."
Before Tenchi could respond, she had set off along the corridor, counting the doors methodically until she came to the right one. After struggling for a moment with the door lock, she slid it open, stepping through the archway into the corridor beyond.
"Gee, charming decor." She muttered, glancing at the slate-grey walls as she made her way slowly along the hallway towards the door Ayeka had detailed. "This ship really has a 'come here to die' motif about it, that's for sure."
"Ryoko, that's hardly appropriate." Ayeka's voice scolded in her ear and Ryoko frowned, holding up her hands in mock surrender.
"Hey, forgive me for thinking aloud." She said unrepentantly. "I get it - I know people died and I'm sorry. But seriously, this place has creepy written all over it. No wonder something horrible happened to them. It's asking for trouble, having a corridor with barely any lighting."
"The panels to each side of you are light-beams. They should be controlled by the ship's engine." Ayeka told her wearily. "But the engine died as a result of this incident, and so the lights did too. Whatever we've done, we've been unable to reactivate them. The force that scrambled the circuits must have been strong. But surely you're not afraid of the dark, Ryoko? Fancy, a big, strong pirate like you?"
"I'm not afraid." Ryoko snapped. "So shut your mouth. I was just making an observation."
She hesitated, eying the doors up ahead.
"There are two doors - which way do I go? Left or right?"
"Let me check." Ayeka responded, then, "Right. The other leads down to the engine rooms and the cargo bay."
"Didn't people get sorta vaccuum packed into space down there?" Ryoko asked. There was the sound of a sigh, then,
"Ryoko, please try and be a little more sensitive about this." The princess pleaded. "It's a very distressing incident for all of us - please try not to treat it so casually."
"I know, I know, Im sorry." Ryoko muttered. "Okay, so right. Fine. I'm going in...has Tenchi found the little girl's room yet?"
"Yes, he's just about there now." Ayeka agreed. "You focus on your job and let Tenchi handle his, okay?"
"You know, Ayeka, did anyone ever tell you being in a position of power makes you bossy?" Ryoko reached out a finger to touch the door, then phased her form through it, finding herself in a compact but well-laid out drive room. She let out an exclamation as she registered the blood stains on the floor around the control panel, hovering some inches above the ground as she approached the ship's main console.
"This is truly gross." She said aloud. "You weren't kidding when you said it might be unpleasant. Are you sure you can handle this on your film up there, Ayeka? It's not the kind of thing refined princesses are used to seeing, I'm sure."
"Perhaps not, but future Empresses have to do what they have to do." Ayeka responded stiffly. "And so do former space pirates."
"I don't remember this being in the job description, but I'll bite." Ryoko shrugged, scanning the dashboard for the familiar logo of the ship's memory device. "And this looks intact, Ayeka, even if it's a bit bloodstained. I should be able to access it and get into the ship's log - just give me a moment to kickstart it."
"Can you do that without the engine power? I told you, it's dead." Ayeka said doubtfully, but Ryoko nodded, energy flickering from her finger-tips.
"I'm a career looter. I've stolen ships which have been in worse shape than this after the heated battle to claim it." She said flippantly. "All it takes is a bit of creative hotwiring, that's all. And this is intact, it just lacks juice. Well, I'll give it some juice. Can't hurt, and it might just help."
"Ryoko, don't you dare blow it up!" Ayeka sounded alarmed, and Ryoko laughed.
"What do you think I am? Some crass vandal?" She demanded.
"Yes, actually, there are times that I do." Ayeka said apprehensively. "Are you sure you won't wreck it?"
"I'm not going to damage it." Ryoko objected. "Just a little energy, that's all. I'm only going to use enough to boot the memory drive, not the whole engine so you can relax. I doubt I could re-juice a whole ship of this size anyhow, not without seriously exhausting myself and this really isn't my type of spaceship. But my magic is enough like electricity to power it up, even if it's just for a short time."
She glanced at her hand, then down at the blood-spattered control panel, uttering a sigh.
"The things I do for Tenchi's relatives." She muttered, pulling up the panel that protected the switch and running her finger alongside the thick cables, sparking energy into the ship's memory. The lights in the drive room flickered briefly for a moment, then went out, and then the monitor creaked into life, a bevy of whirling white dots gradually clearing to reveal the name of the ship and the logo of the Kanemitsu envoy.
"There, you see?" She said triumphantly. "Just a little bit. Like I said."
"Can you get any further in than that?" Ayeka pressed. "It's very pretty, Ryoko, but not very useful."
"Give me a minute." Ryoko frowned, pressing a sequence of buttons on the console and standing back to eye the results. "I've never been much good with the technical hacking stuff - you should have sent Washu aboard, if that's what you wanted."
"Washu would probably turn it into a missile launcher." Ayeka said with a sigh. "At least you won't do that."
"True for you." Ryoko grinned. "Well, it doesn't look like there's a lock on this thing anyway. Which is odd. I've never been on any ship that didn't lock it's log at least with a basic password. It's just letting me push buttons and I'm opening it right up."
"Maybe your magic hurt it more than you thought."
"Will you drop that? It did no such thing." Ryoko pouted. "But then I guess I wouldn't bother password protecting something that didn't have any information in it."
"What?" Ayeka sounded incredulous, and Ryoko shrugged her shoulders.
"The log is blank. Something has wiped it - and no, it wasn't me. My magic couldn't have done that." She said quietly. "But as far as this ship is concerned, it never flew at all. It certainly didn't leave Kanemitsu, stop at Headquarters or wind up here, with the Jurai military. It's telling me it's still in it's home dock. The flight to Jurai never even took place."
"But that's impossible. It is here!" Ayeka protested. Ryoko spread her hands.
"I'm just telling you what it's telling me. No need to get bent out of shape." She said simply, hovering back from the console and glancing around the room as she did so. "This place is messy and obviously someone died here, but that's pretty much all it's going to tell you. Unless you do get Washu or someone more technologically anal to dig through the files, you'll have to accept that the ship's memory is blank. And if you want my opinion, something that could do that without blowing up the ship is something you probably don't want to meet on a dark night."
"Meaning?"
"Well, I met a lot of pirates in my time." Ryoko pursed her lips. "Some of whom were really good with gadgets. But I never met one who could infiltrate a place, erase the ship's log so as it thought it never travelled and then evacuate the premises without a trace. There's no sign of anything here, Ayeka. Whoever it was who did this to the crew of this ship...well, it might as well have been a ghost."
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"Well, little sister, it's good to see you smiling today."
Washu slipped her hand into Tokimi's, dropping down beside the girl's bed as she offered the former priestess an amiable grin. "You seem better every day that I see you, you know...I'm glad."
"Washu-oneesama." Tokimi squeezed the hand tightly, then, "I was lonely. Have you come to play with Tokimi?"
"If you like." Washu agreed. "But what's with all the formality, Tokimi-chan? You never used to call me onee-sama when we were children. What's changed, now? Do I seem that much older to you than I did then?"
Tokimi eyed her cautiously, then nodded her head.
"Onee-sama is older than Tokimi." She said slowly. "Washu has changed."
"You think so, huh?" Washu looked rueful. "Maybe you're right. It has been many years since we last spent so much time together. I suspect I've changed a lot."
She squeezed the hand in return, then,
"But I'm still oneechan. Okay? It's not been so long that you need to be so formal with me. Really, Tokimi...I'd prefer it that way."
"All right." Tokimi shrugged her shoulders. She glanced down at the floral print nightgown which she was dressed in, smoothing the fabric absently across her lap as she pushed back the bedcovers.
"I wanted to go play in the flowers, Washu-oneechan." She said quietly. "But the demon stopped me from going. Can we go now? Tsunami and Suki and Nii-chan were going to come with me."
"It's getting dark out now, so maybe tomorrow." Washu said gently. "And Tokimi, didn't Sasami tell you not to call her that?"
"Oh...yes." Tokimi giggled. "Her friends call her Sasami. Not Tsunami. But she is Tsunami. She is an angel, isn't she?"
Washu bit her lip.
"Why do you think that?" She asked softly. Tokimi shrugged.
"I just do." She said thoughtfully. "Because Tsunami was with Tokimi and I saw her. And now I see her always when Sasami is here. She's Tsunami and Tsunami is a Goddess. The settlers had a Goddess and she was called Tsunami...she had a golden tree and rays of silver light. Tokimi felt that light, Washu. She was like an angel - Tsunami gave Tokimi hope."
"Hrm." Washu pursed her lips, then, "Well, I'd rather you didn't talk to anyone about that too much. You might confuse people - it's a special secret and only Sasami's most important friends know it."
"Is Tokimi important?" Tokimi looked doubtful, and Washu laughed at the expression of genuine innocence on the girl's face.
"Yes, you're very important." She said affectionately, hugging her tightly. "And I'm very glad you're here, believe me."
"Washu always said the Settlers were good." Tokimi said slowly. "Tsunami is good, so Settlers were good...does that make Father bad?"
"No, Father wasn't bad." Washu shook her head. "Not at all. They just had different views, that's all. That's why they argued. Like you and I did, the last time we spoke on Kihaku. It doesn't mean either one was evil. Father did what he thought was best and so did the Settlers. That's all."
"I see." Tokimi sighed heavily, then, "I wondered if the demon came here because people think the Settlers are bad."
"You need to tell me more about this demon, Tokimi." Washu said gravely. "I'm afraid I really don't know what you mean."
"I saw a demon." Tokimi's voice shook slightly. "I saw her and I thought she came to get me."
"And what happened?"
"Tsunami helped me. She took me back here...I'm safe with Tsunami." Tokimi responded. "The demon didn't come after us then."
"Sasami." Washu corrected automatically, and Tokimi nodded her head absently, twisting her hands together as she glanced down at her nails.
"Do you think you could tell me what this demon looked like?" Washu asked after a moment of silence had elapsed between them. Tokimi sighed heavily, fluttering her hands in the curious gesture of protection.
"It might curse me." She said anxiously. "I don't want to be cursed."
"I promise that noone will let you be cursed." Washu said gently. "I promise, Tokimi. Seiryo and Sasami and Suki and I will look after you and you'll be fine. No demons will be able to hurt you."
Tokimi frowned.
"The demon is here, when Tokimi sleeps she could come." She whispered. "I don't like it. Don't want the demon to come, so I don't like to sleep. Please, Washu, when you leave, take Tokimi also? Then the demon won't come and take Tokimi when she sleeps."
"I just told you that noone is going to let you get hurt, Tokimi-chan." Washu reassured her. "We just wouldn't."
Tokimi chewed down hard on her lip.
"Tokimi had a demon inside her before." She whispered. "Tsunami took it away, but it might come back. Tokimi doesn't want the demon to come get her again. Please, Oneechan...please take me with you, when you go. I want to stay with you. I want to be away from here."
Shock flickered in Washu's eyes as she realised what Tokimi meant, and she sighed heavily.
"Oh, I see." She said sadly. "That's what you're afraid of. I'm sorry, Tokimi. I didn't realise that you remembered as much as that. But you've been ill and this is the best place for you to be while you recover."
"I'm all right now." Tokimi said firmly. "I can stand up. And walk. And go play with flowers."
"That's true." Washu admitted unwillingly.
"So I can come with Washu?" Tokimi clasped her hands together hopefully, and Washu sighed again.
"All right. All right, I'll take you back with me to the palace." She agreed reluctantly. "So long as you promise not to leave my room unless I'm with you - you don't know your way around."
Tokimi beamed, and Washu offered her a rueful smile.
"I'm glad you're so happy about it." She said wryly. "You might find you like this place better."
She cocked her head, eying her companion thoughtfully.
"Will you tell me about the demon you saw, now?" She asked softly.
Tokimi hesitated for a moment, then nodded her head cautiously.
"She was glowing and bright and her eyes were evil." She said seriously. "Her head was yellow and her heart was empty. She was cold and angry and I didn't like it. It was scary, Washu. I didn't like it at all."
Tears sparked in the girl's eyes and Washu frowned, hugging her sister tightly.
"All right, enough talk about this." She said comfortingly. "We'll find you something to wear and I'll tell the doctors you're coming back to the palace with me. All right? Forget about the demon now, because it's gone and it isn't going to come back. I promise, Tokimi - we'll make sure that noone is ever going to hurt you again."
-------------
"I won't accept this as the final verdict."
Ayeka sat back in her seat, taking a sip of her drink as she glanced between her companions, frustration on her face. "There's nothing aboard? No clues at all? Nothing that might indicate what happened to the people on board the Sumire?"
"Nothing, Ayeka. Just blood, that's all, and that doesn't tell us anything we don't know." Tenchi looked apologetic. "I'm sorry - we've let you down, haven't we?"
"No, but it doesn't pacify the people of Kanemitsu any, if that's the best we can do." Ayeka set down her mug, rubbing her temples. "Can you imagine it? I'm sorry, sirs, but it seems your good representatives were killed by a ghost? It's impossible."
"Not necessarily." Tenchi exchanged glances with Ryoko, and despite herself the Princess felt a pang as she interpreted the look between them. "You could say that Ryoko and I have come into contact with ghosts in recent weeks...but even so, I find it difficult to believe that's what happened on the ship."
"Ghosts don't go in for random slaughter." Ryoko relaxed back on her seat, resting her hands behind her head as she contemplated. "Truth is, they're not really capable of anything much involving the living. Not in an actual sense, anyway. For this to have been ghost related, surely they'd have been attacking other ghosts, or whatever it was happened to me before? Not living, breathing people who are right there. How would they hold the weapon? It doesn't make sense, and yet it's the only thing that does make sense."
"Ryoko, speaking of things that don't make sense..." Ayeka raised an eyebrow pointedly, and Tenchi smiled ruefully.
"Ryoko had an encounter with a former acquaintance, and he just happened to have left this mortal plane." He said quietly. "But I agree with her. Ghosts might be the only explanation but it doesn't seem like the right one. I'm sure that we must have missed something - but we checked and checked and I can't think of anything that we did."
"I even activated the cargo bay doors, and re-enacted the whole being sucked out of the ship thing." Ryoko glanced absently at her scuffed nails. "Which is going above and beyond the call of duty, if you ask me. It's clear to see that anyone who can't breathe in space would be killed pretty much straight away - but it didn't explain how the mechanism was released if there was noone alive in the drive room at the time. Sure, it happened, we established that. But how? Beats me. It's a real mystery."
"Then we're going to have to hope that Kumashiro-san's daughter remembers something about what happened to her father." Ayeka said slowly. "Poor girl. I'm reluctant to delve too deeply into her suppressed memories, because I'm sure they must be unpleasant. Sasami has visited her and she's very upset, poor child, about the whole business. To interrogate her seems insensitive, but we have no other leads. She's the only survivor from the ship's mission. She's the only one who knows anything about it."
"Wait a minute." Ryoko's eyes narrowed. "You're telling me something boarded that ship, ripped the vocal chords out of three men, zapped the rest into deep space and yet left a kid unscathed? Are you serious?"
"That's what happened." Ayeka agreed, shrugging her shoulders helplessly. "Sakuya Kumashiro was found huddled up in a corner of her cabin, in a deep state of shock. Her father and his aide were nearby - both dead."
"And what's this girl made of, titanium?" Ryoko demanded. "How is that even possible?"
"How is any of it even possible?" Ayeka sighed. "None of it makes any sense. This is just another thing that doesn't."
"Maybe whoever killed the crew didn't believe in killing children." Tenchi suggested. "Ryoko, you said that the Balta pirates that Hotsuma flew with once had that motif - they wouldn't bring kids into an adult fight. Is it too far fetched to lay this at the door of an organisation such as that?"
"Balta pirates do not randomly slaughter people they have no fight with." Ryoko said acidly. "Daluma pirates, yeah. Probably they wouldn't think twice about putting a blade or a bullet through one of them. But random diplomatic trips to Jurai? Not their thing. I doubt we're dealing with a pirate guild."
"I agree with Ryoko." Ayeka said reluctantly. "Because if it were pirates, we'd have some tangible evidence. Pirate raids are too crude to be completely concealed from view."
She paused, then cast Ryoko a sidelong glance.
"No offence meant."
"None taken." Ryoko shook her head. "You're right. Most pirates don't commit crimes with the intention of them being left undetected. Symbolism is big to the guilds. Heck, even to a lone raider like I was. We leave our mark, so everyone knows who to blame and that we're not someone who's easily messed with. That's part of the pirate way. There'd be no point in them attacking a ship like this and not telling the world they did it. And besides, I thought nothing was stolen?"
"Nothing was." Ayeka confirmed. "Ship's inventory checked out completely. That was our first line of enquiry, but the motive does not seem to have been theft."
"Political mercenaries, perhaps?"
A fresh voice came from the doorway and Ayeka glanced up, a tired smile touching her features as she gestured for her husband to join them.
"Takeru! I was wondering when you'd get back." She said softly. "Has my Uncle discovered anything new from his discourse with the Kanemitsu representatives?"
"Nothing except that they're angry, although I think he's talked them into holding their panic until he's had a chance to investigate fully." Takeru shook his head. "And I have also discovered nothing from the military coroners, either. They have confirmed the causes of death but haven't been able to identify a specific weapon. Each of the three men who were stabbed seem to have been attacked with a different blade. In fact, the coroner suggested that they had been killed with their own blades...though the blades were clean when they were examined."
"Mercenaries would bring their own blades." Ryoko said dismissively. "And there's nothing on that ship, Takeru. Take it from me, nobody got aboard that thing. I'm a professional looter and even I couldn't have got aboard without leaving any trace. We're not dealing with anything logical."
"Ryoko, stop acting like you know everything." Ayeka snapped. "Telling us what's not possible isn't helping us to figure out what is."
"Well, we've ruled out pirates at the very least." Tenchi reminded her hurriedly, before his hot tempered fiancee could react. "And it doesn't look likely that it was mercenaries. What does that leave us with?"
"With you two being dragged into something that is not your concern." Takeru looked guilty as he took his seat opposite his wife. "I am sorry that your holiday has been so disrupted. It is much appreciated, you helping us out like this."
"It's not a bother." Tenchi assured him. "In some respects I suppose it is our business, also - since the Earth became aware of Jurai and the Universe in general, we've been more connected to Jurai than not."
"True, but being a diplomatic liason is one thing and paddling through blood is another." Ayeka sighed heavily. "Takeru is right - we are grateful to you both."
"It's no problem. We were helping friends, after all." Tenchi shrugged his shoulders. "We didn't mind. Did we, Ryoko?"
"Well, it was a unique afternoon out, I'll give you that." Ryoko pursed her lips. "Ayeka, about this little girl. How old did you say she was?"
"Who...Kumashiro-san's daughter?" Ayeka looked surprised. "About Sasami's age, I think. Why?"
"I still think it's strange that that ship was a bloodbath and yet she survived the whole thing." Ryoko's eyes narrowed. "That doesn't add up. Are we sure she's not a closet psychopath?"
"Ryoko, that really makes no sense." Ayeka shook her head. "Can you imagine a small, slight child wielding a weapon and overpowering stocky, well-muscled men with significant military experience? Kanemitsu is a volatile planet and both Kumashiro-san and his aide Toyonaga had extensive fighting pedigrees. It's not logical."
"And besides, it's not an isolated incident." Takeru added. "Ayeka-san, have you told Ryoko-san and Tenchi-dono about the Galaxy Police agents and what happened there?"
"I think Ayeka mentioned to me that the Galaxy Police had concealed something from her." Tenchi frowned. Takeru nodded.
"Two agents were killed there, days before the Sumire arrived at Headquarters." He agreed. "The Commander was convinced to send their reports over to us and the manner of death is identical. There has to be a correlation. Which - even if you did think a girl of Sakuya's size could overpower her father - does give her something of an alibi. Sakuya Kumashiro was on Kanemitsu and then the Sumire with her father when it docked at Headquarters. She couldn't have been involved in any of it."
"Always assuming we're dealing with normal boundaries." Ryoko muttered.
"What do you mean?" Ayeka looked startled. Ryoko shrugged her shoulders.
"Nothing, possibly." She admitted. "Just that there was a really bad vibe aboard that ship. I know you thought I was creeped out but it wasn't that so much as something else. I can't explain it. And the fact that the ship's memory was erased so carefully and specifically...it just makes me think that this isn't your average murder for hire."
"Of course, it could have been some kind of murder-suicide." Takeru suggested at length. "That the man or woman responsible was one of those jettisoned into space - even one of the Galaxy Police officers, perhaps. That seems plausible."
"Which is how they were able to erase the complete ship's flight plan after they were dead and floating in space, I suppose." Ryoko said acidly. "Takeru, I told you, it doesn't make sense! I might not know everything under the sun about spaceships but I know about raiding and looting and I'm telling you that this whole scenario doesn't make sense! Whatever creature did this, it's not someone you're going to find just by walking down the street and peering in at windows. That ship is thick with something horrible...and I don't mean the blood of those people, either. It has a dark feeling to it."
"It would help if you could explain that more clearly." Ayeka looked weary, and Ryoko shrugged.
"I'm sorry, but I can't." She responded. "I just know that's how it is. That's all."
"Well, have you ever felt anything like it before?" Tenchi asked her gently. "You're not usually given to feeling moods like this, Ryoko - it must be something significant if it affected you this time."
"I guess I'm Kii enough to have a trace of Washu's weirdness." Ryoko said quietly. "I know when there's evil around, that's all. And no, I don't often have those kinds of sensations, because I'm not given to airy fairy musing about mood. But there have been times. Souja's tree, for one. Kain, for another."
She frowned, pursing her lips.
"Seiryo Tennan." She added slowly. "When he launched his attack on the Earth, he was reeking of it."
"Well, we don't have Kain or Souja's tree." Takeru said thoughtfully. "But we do have Seiryo Tennan and we do have Tokimi. I suppose that's a line of enquiry we should have thought of before...Tokimi astrally projected many times before Sasami-chan and Washu-sama brought her to book. Perhaps she hasn't been comatose all this time after all. Perhaps she's just been murdering her way across the galaxy."
"Washu says Tokimi no longer has any magic, and nor does Lord Tennan." Tenchi objected. Ryoko frowned.
"Washu is subjective." She said frankly. "Tokimi's her sister and she's soft on her...she wouldn't want to see it even if it was there."
"And Lord Tennan?"
"I don't trust Lord Tennan." Ryoko's eyes darkened. "Not after what he did to Kiyone."
"Well, I can think of more pleasant members of the Council to deal with." Ayeka said heavily. "But without any evidence, that line of enquiry is just as dead as the others. Seiryo-sama has been here on Jurai continuously since the Hearing six months or more ago. The Unko is in Takeru's custody and his transport papers are being held by my father. He is too much under public scrutiny to be able to sneak away from the planet without being noticed. Much as I'd like to lay this on his head, I'm not sure that we can."
"I still think you need to talk to that girl. And really talk to her, not play up to her and go along with her fake amnesia story." Ryoko said firmly. "Then you'll know what happened on that ship."
"Ryoko-san, there is no way that..." Takeru began, but Ryoko shook her head.
"I didn't say that she did, only that she must know something and she's hiding it." She said simply. "Find out what that is, and maybe you've got your answer."