"…the Truth Is Out"

by Furor Scribendi

2008 Scribendi Productions

April 3rd

The main conference room in Vesper HQ was a rather imposing area. It was exceptionally tall and wide, with a bank of seats on either side, but these sat atop a huge podium, so whatever person was on the floor would be dwarfed. These benches were angled inwards so at the point of the "V" was The Wall, from where Commander-In-Chief Don Vesper spoke.

Some referred to it as the Radio, as one only heard his voice emanating from it. All in all, it was not a pleasant place to be. Despite the size, it was stuffy, especially when Don decided to drone on with one of his three-hour lectures. But today, it was made even worse, as one member of the panel was tardy. Everyone had been waiting and waiting and waiting.

Sub-Commander Gunji tried to stay alert, but was struggling, nodding off. He snuck a peek at his watch. Almost two hours they had been waiting for Professor Hokaze to show up and deliver the report on the status of Mahoro. She had received a horrific beating at the hand of Professor Metherius almost two weeks earlier and there were concerns at one point that she might not make it.

Whatever the reasons for the delay, one NEVER kept Don Vesper waiting. Looking over to his friend, Commander Daimon, he saw he had been making doodle after doodle. Things were not going well, as Gunji's eyelids fluttered again; he wanted to sleep.

Then, the Radio spoke. "Ms. Shiina…"

Eimi Shiina was the secretary, but in title only, as she did much more than that. She was more of a liaison between Don and the rest of the staff. She stood up crisply. "Yes, sir."

"The word did get out to EVERYONE about this meeting, correct?" Don sounded rather irritated.

"Yes. Everyone received a message and I personally reminded everyone this morning." Shiina was very terse. No one ever questioned her efficiency. She was so good at what she did, there were whispers that she was an android as well.

"I want security to find Professor Hokaze. Now."

Gunji stood up. "Do you think it would be best of we all hunted him down? It might be faster and…"

"No. The rest of you will stay. I do not want the professor be found, only to have some other person missing. We will wait here a bit longer. As soon as security finds him, I want…"

Suddenly, there was a hard pounding at the huge doors of the conference room and a muffled request. "Hey! Hey, does someone want to open these damn doors for me? I'm full. My hands are full. 'Bang, bang, bang, open the door, baby!'" Then came two hard knocks, and another reply from the doors. "'Knock a little louder, honey.'"

Everyone looked at one another as Shiina went to the doors. Gunji turned to Daimon and whispered. "That doesn't really sound like Hokaze." Daimon shook his head 'no'.

Just as Shiina got to the door, it flew open and Professor Hokaze nearly fell on the floor. The only thing that prevented that from happening was his forearm being jammed into the door handle to force it open. Shiina recoiled and moved backwards.

Professor Hokaze was a mess: his hair was rumpled, his clothing wrinkled and stained with who knew what and he was disheveled. In one hand was a thick sheaf of paper and the other held a half-filled bottle of some fluid. He removed his arm from the door and looked to Don.

"Am I late?" He tried to focus on his watch, but he couldn't, then he took a swig from his bottle. He turned to the back side of the door and shoved it closed with his foot, then staggered up to the Radio. Shiina remained close, just in case he fell over.

Whispers of "He's drunk!" could be heard underneath as he wended his way closer and closer to Don. He tried to maintain his balance, but it was tricky.

Don roared. "You're drunk, Professor Hokaze!"

Hokaze looked up, a bit perplexed, and then broke into laughter. Taking a long draught, he responded. "Yes, and you're stupid! But tomorrow…tomorrow, I'll be sober!" He pointed at Don with his bottle hand. The staff sat in uncomfortable silence, uncertain what to do. It was like watching a train wreck. They wanted to turn away, but they couldn't. What was happening?

"What is WRONG with you, professor?" People could barely remember the last time Don got this mad.

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with YOU! YOU! Do you know what your problem is, Donny-chan? You are a lying liar! LIAR!" The professor had another swallow.

"Ms. Shiina, will you get the report from the professor?"

Shiina tried to, but he kept it out of her reach and behind his back, so they spiraled about in a game of keep-away. Then, he brought her close. Shiina grimaced from the stink and stench about him, but he spoke in low tones.

"Ever know a secret? A secret only YOU know?" He tapped her on the nose with the pinky of his bottle hand before he had another sip. "And…and…and…this secret is of such a nature that…" The doctor began to laugh. "…that rather than tell anyone, you'd prefer…" He looked about to make sure no one was watching, and then came back to her. "… to kill yourself?" He stifled a huge horse laugh, snorted through his nose and politely shoved Shiina away, reeling backwards from the force.

"Wheee! I'm a plane!" he said as he spun about.

"Professor Hokaze, the report, PLEASE!" Don was out of patience.

"The report?" The doctor looked at his other hand to see the report still tightly clenched. "Oh, the report. Well, where to begin?" He tried to flip through the pages, while still holding the report in one hand and the bottle in the other, but it was tough going. "Well, perhaps this would be best if I presented it this way."

The doctor screwed himself up like a spring and jumped as high as he could, flinging the paperwork at the peak of his leap. It exploded outwards, scattering and fluttering its way down to the floor. The professor admired his handiwork. "Oooh. Snow." He took a long drink, and then tottered over to Shiina, who was paralyzed with indecision. He put his arm about her shoulder in a friendly manner, staring at the bottle while he spoke.

"Now, let me tell you about sake. The drinking of sake is to be done in a very delicate ceremony. You are to offer it gently warmed, not hot, about 35 degrees C, although some are better at 7 degrees C. It should be served in tiny porcelain bowls, although small cups are acceptable, but they are not to exceed one ounce, and it is to be sipped." He had another massive slug, released Shiina and staggered towards The Radio, taking loudly.

"Contrary to popular belief, sake is not a rice wine but a beer made from rice. OK, there are some folks who would argue that sake is sake, deserving a special category all of its own, but we'll discuss this aspect later.

"People get confused because the alcohol content is so high, 17 to 18 percent, whereas regular beer is around 5 to 6 percent. Now, the best sake needs the best rice and that comes from either, or both, Bizen-Omachi in Okayama Prefecture and Yamadanishiki in Hyogo Prefecture, both exquisite rice-producing districts."

"MS. SHIINA!" Don voice boomed about the room and everyone winced at the volume, except the professor. "Please escort everyone from the room; I will speak with the professor alone!" The tone was stern and unforgiving. Everyone stood up to leave, as they did not need to be asked twice and practically fled to the door. The professor continued on unabated.

"Fermented from rice, rice-koji, that's the mold used to convert the starch in rice into fermentable sugars, and water, it is then pressed through a mesh to strain away the solids and yield a clear beverage and….hey, where is everyone going? I still haven't commented about the fire-brewed nature of this Green Star Refined Sake and…" The doctor's tone changed to sarcasm.

"Oh, I see, I'm in BIG trouble now. Looks like I'm gonna get a whoopin' for being bad." He offered his bottle as the last of them left. "Sure you don't want a swallow? Absolutely exquisite. They really should promote it as fire-brewed, but you have to really look hard for it." The door slammed with a dreadful finality. "I have more," he said, holding up the bottle. Shrugging it off, he turned to face Don.

"And what do you have to say for yourself, Professor Hokaze?"

The doctor smiled. "I have never liked you. Not even in the tiniest way. I could hurl epithets at you all day long and it wouldn't matter to you." He took another draught of sake. "So I hurl something at you that you will UNDERSTAND!" The doctor heaved the bottle as hard as he could at the Radio. Despite his condition, the bottle flew straight and true, shattering on the face of the Radio. Glass shards and sake residue showered everywhere.

"How do you like them apples!?"

Don was silent for a moment. "So, it is bad?"

The doctor started to laugh. "Bad? Bad? I would LOVE it if it was merely bad. Bad would be an improvement. I could work with bad. Bad, bad, bad." He fell to his knees, arching backwards, laughing and laughing, and then it evolved into crying. Huge, body-wracking sobs as the tears gushed from him. He pitched forward, staring at his hands. "Useless! Useless!" he croaked out.

"It would have been better and kinder to have left her in Warrior Mode! Instead…" The doctor looked up with hatred burning in his eyes. He staggered to his feet and lurched towards the Radio. "Instead, you tortured her, you tortured me. You tortured us all, you ungrateful monster!"

Don said nothing.

"Do you remember the meeting of June 17th? I do. That was the day you gave her a choice. Some choice! You should have let her die with dignity and not string this whole mess out for so long! That day is burned into me, for after we removed what we could and sent her for training at the Vesper Housekeeping Services, you spoke to me."

The doctor cleared his throat and tried to imitate Don. "'Professor Hokaze, I have a special project for you. You know Mahoro the best out of any of us. All of Vesper's resources are at your disposal. I want you to find a way to save Mahoro. Whatever it costs, whatever it takes, you must do it.' But you knew. You already knew!"

He went right up to the Radio and began to rant. "You knew full well that there was NOTHING that could be done. Our technology prevented us from cracking the energy problem. I must have clear-cut Saskatchewan with my useless and futile efforts to save her. Endless reams of paper and calculations and scenarios that were DOOMED TO FAIL! DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMED!" The professor's voice was remarkably clear, as his grief echoed off the hard surfaces, reflecting back upon him like a Greek Chorus. He staggered backwards, and then went to the Radio, laying his face against it and tapping his finger on the surface, speaking through clenched teeth.

"We couldn't protect her THEN, we didn't protect her NOW, we can't protect her EVER! Do you know what it is like to watch someone you care about die before your eyes and you stand, impotent, unable to do a thing? Do you know what that feels like? I want to die, but I can't and the torture continues for us all!" He stepped back and walked in an unsteady circle.

"War means people die, I know that, but this isn't war, it's the peace and she still dies! And it's YOUR fault! You sanctimonious prick! You do not have to stand there and look Mahoro in the eyes and tell her she has very little operating time left. That cold, steely knife of anguish, twisting in your guts; the words like razor blades, cutting and slashing as they leave your throat. You can taste the metal in your mouth!" He clutched his hands to his face, as though he wished to rip his tongue out.

"She was so happy that Minawa and Nanami would be all right, then, watching that smile turn south, her complexion go ashen, every fiber of her being droop and sag, as I told her that she was not that lucky! My pain is that I am the ONLY one who knows when that horrible date is! Even she did not choose to know. That, my friend, is true courage. I suffer along with her. And when she is no longer here, I get to carry that pain with me, FOREVER, no thanks to YOU!"

Hokaze placed his hands on his head, pulling his hair into a ball as he tried to catch his breath. He was sweating profusely and getting overheated as well, as sweat stains were apparent on him, like giant gray spots. He attempted to unbutton his shirt, but his hands were too clumsy to work right, so he tore at his clothes. A couple of buttons popped free and could be heard to clatter against the unforgiving floor

Don's tone was more subdued. "So, how much time is left?"

Professor Hokaze turned his face upwards and put his hands over his eyes. "You know, life is not without a sense of irony, for it mocks us all. Do you really want to know?" He turned to vent his full fury upon the Radio. "Are you willing to join in the suffering? Great! Misery LOVES company!"

The doctor tried to make himself presentable and stood dead center in front of the Radio. "As it stands right now, Mahoro has…37 days left! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! 37 days! I labored for 280 days and did NOTHING for her!" He jabbed a finger in Don's direction. "If you have some kind of miracle to give me, I need it NOW! Otherwise, you can watch as she slowly dies and we can all be prepared for May 10th!"

He then rushed the Radio and began to attack it with an unmatched outrage: punching kicking, pounding. He barked his knuckles against the face of it and gashed his hands, leaving bloody smears. Dents appeared as his rage gained with every passing second.

"I hope you die! I want you to roast in the fiery pits of Hell for all eternity for this one, Don! Why did you even think to put in a termination code on her? I'll tell you why! You are a COWARD! You hide away from everyone so you don't have to feel anyone's pain and suffering! You were terrified that she couldn't be controlled, so this was something to protect us all!

"But by the time you figured things out, that she was pure of heart and gentle of heart and kind of heart, it was TOO LATE to change anything! Or maybe you thought she would be destroyed in battle and we wouldn't HAVE to deal with this problem. Come out from behind there, so I can give you the beating of a lifetime, a beating you have EARNED!

"Maybe I don't know hand-to-hand combat that well and my martial arts skills aren't that refined, but I will still beat the smack out of you! I don't care who you are, what you are or whatever tricks you can pull out of your magic hat, you don't scare me AT ALL!

"Mahoro is not a machine or an android or a cyborg or whatever you wish to call her to strip her of her humanity. She is a PERSON, and certainly has more heart and soul and decency in one fingernail than you will ever gain in an eternity of lifetimes! She is the sister I never had!"

The professor staggered backwards, hands bloodied and staining his lab coat, gasping and panting for air. He wiped his brow and left a bloody smear on his forehead. Mixing with his sweat, it streamed down his face. "God, I could go for some sake right now!" He reeled about, trying to shake something from his head. "Is the room spinning?" Spiraling around in a graceful pirouette, he collapsed to the floor in a dead faint.

The room was quiet, and then a chirping sound was heard. Shiina came into the room and gasped at the sight: papers strewn everywhere, glass fragments, the Radio dented and bloodied, the professor in a heap. She rushed to check Hokaze.

"Ms. Shiina," Don asked.

She looked up to Don. "Yes?"

"Get the medical unit over here and have Professor Hokaze tended to. Then, this room is to be cleaned and repaired. All that paperwork in regards to Mahoro is to be bagged, shredded and burned. NO ONE is to look at them. The staff is to be advised that today never happened and it will not be spoken of again. The professor deserves that degree of consideration."

"But…what of Mahoro?" asked Shiina.

"We are to respect her wishes, but we will continue to work in resolving the situation. As long as there is time, there is always hope. And we still have time."

MAHORO'S SYSTEMS WILL CEASE TO FUNCTION IN 37 DAYS.

End Notes

The date is conjecture, but a solid guess. Based on the manga, President Greg is killed on April 2nd and Mahoro is still in hospital at that time. Whether she was released later that day or the following day is open to interpretation, but I opted for an additional day of observation, sending her home on the 3rd.

The problem is the storyline gets so convoluted at this point, dates are hard to truly establish. It almost appears that she is released early on the 3rd.

This story came upon me full force, because of a quote. Initially, I resisted doing any stories after March 20th, as I wanted to think about the "happy" times, such as they were. (I mean, if you think about it, Mahoro was 18 seconds away from destruction during the Crab Robot episode and, if it wasn't for both Slash and Suguru making an appearance at the hospital grounds, she would have met her end on September 23rd, where that one was about 15 seconds away.)

I ran into a quote attributed to Sir Winston Churchill, in his long-running battle with Lady Astor. He was in his cups when encountering her and she remarked, "You're drunk." Churchill retorted, "And you're ugly, but tomorrow, I'll be sober."

I had been writing a fanfic for September 23rd, which would cover Mahoro getting called into Vesper HQ, as they learn of her fight with Ryuga, and some of these points are raised in that story (but this one was completed before that one) so I drew on those ideas that were ventured forth here.

A lot of the professor's anger comes from me, as I still feel that, although the driving force for the anime/manga is her End Time, there had to be something that could have happened to prevent it. I would have even accepted that they cracked the energy problem, only to have her fall in full battle. That might have made for a more poignant ending, but I only do fan fiction, so I have little say in things. I mean, I didn't even hear of this show until it was long off the air, and only because I am a bit of a pervert and ran into the Pi Deal Alpha segment on YouTube.

I really wanted to cut loose with the language, going into my black bag of scathing insults and profane language, but, it's bad enough I'm pushing a "T" with these stories. I don't need to run afoul of inappropriate dialogue and get removed, but there are words that you would really say: mean, nasty, cruel, ugly talk for those who need a verbal beating.

Hokaze's rather cryptic comment, before he gets into the Conference Room, comes from the B-52s song "Love Shack", as part of the bridge chorus. As least I didn't hurl in the "Tin roof….rusted." line.

Hokaze's "useless" line is the actual last words of John Wilkes Booth, as he lay dying outside the burning warehouse where he was shot, staring at his hands.

The reference to Green Star Refined Sake is where Mahoro and Ryuga first met on August 31st, which resulted in a building fire at the end of their fight. I used to drink a fire-brewed beer, and since sake is a beer, why not have this little twist in things?

The reference to the conversation that Hokaze and Don had on June 17th can be seen a bit better in the first chapter of this Grand Opus, "A New Life". It is a touch of a throwaway line, as Mahoro hears it as she is getting in the elevator to leave the lab after her armaments have been removed from her, but it is referenced.

Folks familiar with the storyline know that this really is the end. A series of events over the next (about) three or four days result in the end of Vesper, the exposing and destruction of most of Management and the demise of Mahoro. Again, because of the rather fluid nature of the events (plus the slightly divergent story lines from the manga and the anime), there is no rock solid day and my ending story, "A Sprig of Hope", is actually dated too late when it potentially happens.

My problem with this story is that I can actually see it as an anime (and it will never happen). I envisioned some of the sequences, storyboarding them in my mind. When Hokaze talks about the sake ceremony, I see Suguru and Mahoro, dressed in traditional Japanese garments, approaching the drinking of the sake with much decorum, done in a woodcut style of art.

Oh, and for those you cannot do Celsius to Fahrenheit conversion (like me) 7C equals 45 degrees F and 35 C equals 95 degrees F.

Now, the next story in the sequence should be "A Sprig of Hope", but that was already posted some time back and I didn't think you wanted to reread it, even with my corrections. I am half tempted to place it here, so all the stories are together, but I must ponder on this point.