Galaxy 1001D presents:
Washustein; or the Modern Mad Scientist
Starring Washu Hakubi as Doctor Washu Fitzgerald von Washustein
Tenchi Masaki as Tenchi Mancini
Mihoshi Kuramitsu as Mihoshi Gerstell
Aeka Masaki Jurai as Ayeka Jurai
Sasami Masaki Jurai as Sasami Jurai
And Ryoko as the Monster-woman
Tenchi Muyo and all related characters are © AIC/Pioneer/Genon/Funimation. This story is written solely for entertainment and is not intended to make a profit in any way.
Based on "Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus" created by Mary Shelly
And "Tenchi Muyo" created by Masaki Kajishima
Chapter Six: It's Alive
"It's moving!" shouted the raving Washu. "It's alive! It's alive! It's alive! Alive! By God! Now I know what it is like to be God! Aha-ha-ha!"
"It's… It's…" Tenchi stammered.
"A girl!" Ayeka finished for him. "Washu, I thought you were going to create a man!"
"God already created man," Washu snorted. "Why make the clunky prototype when an improved model has already been designed? I made my homemade human a woman because I wanted it to be perfect! I wanted to make sure my creation would never…" suddenly she jumped over to Tenchi and shouted through a megaphone, "BREAK A WOMAN'S HEART!"
"Yah!" Tenchi clutched his ears and backed away as he grimaced in pain.
"Those eyes," Ayeka gasped as she stared at Washu's creation. "Those topaz yellow eyes. They're so unnatural…"
"We better get used to them Ayeka, because we have weird looking eyes now too," Sasami muttered.
"Don't remind me," Ayeka grimaced.
"Mihoshi!" Washu ordered as she wrestled a hand crank under the tank. "Help me get it out of the tank!"
"Yes master!" Mihoshi nodded.
"Don't call me 'master'!" Washu growled as she loosened a valve that drained the water. Her creation just looked at her quizzically, her golden eyes blinking innocently. "My baby," Washu cooed as she climbed the steps to the catwalk to join the blonde at the top. "Okay help me grab its arms," Washu instructed. "Under the shoulders, like we practiced."
With the water emptied out of the tank, two sets of hardwood steps could be seen pressed up against the back of the tank. Washu and her assistant entered the tank and hoisted her creation out of the tank by lifting the naked woman up by her underarms and depositing her on a stool on the catwalk. A blanket was placed over the nude woman and then the Washu and Mihoshi walked her down the steps to a second bench at the floor level of the laboratory.
Washu turned to face the stunned Tenchi, Ayeka, and Sasami. "Behold! Feast your eyes on my creation! A woman I have built with my own hands! Endowed with the strength of Hercules and the intellect of its creator, it will lead the world into a new golden age! Behold, and tremble!"
The trio took a good look at the new arrival. Washu's creation was the same height as Tenchi, but seemed taller. Her body was curvy and well developed but slender, with long graceful limbs, a flat stomach and a full bosom. The woman's skin was smooth and unlined, like a baby's. The pupils of her eyes were a golden yellow color, and by the light of the lamps her hair appeared to be an unnatural greenish-white. Tenchi wondered if Washu had mixed up the blood of Pan for the blood of Hercules, for the woman had long flappy ears that gave her an inhuman appearance. Her head glanced about her like a bird's. Her face showed no expression aside of curiosity and attentiveness.
Tenchi, Ayeka and Sasami involuntarily moved closer to get a good look at her. The new human being looked at each of them in turn and blinked in curious objectivity. Everyone was so quiet that every movement seemed as loud as an explosion. The sounds of the distant storm could be heard even here, down below the foundation of Castle Washustein. The engrossed onlookers could hear a soft grunting from the creation's throat. Her lips trembled and she opened and closed her mouth a few times, as if to practice.
"What's this?" Washu's whisper seemed deafeningly loud. "Could it be? Less than two minutes old and already she is going to speak! She's amazing! I am such a genius!"
Suddenly two doll-size plush Washu's appeared on her shoulders.
"You are a genius, Washu!" the one on her right shoulder with the letter 'A' sewn on its blouse announced in a high chirpy voice.
"You've really outdone yourself, Washu!" the one on her left shoulder with the letter 'B' sewn on its blouse chimed in.
Her creation opened and closed her mouth a few times and then said, "Goo-goo ga-ga."
So flabbergasted was the redhead that she lost her footing and fell to the ground. Her two puppet-like dolls rolled off her shoulders and out of sight.
"Wha?" Tenchi gasped.
The naked woman poked a hand out of her blanket and seemed fascinated with her own thumb. Finally she stuck her thumb in her mouth and started sucking on it.
It was Ayeka who found her voice first. "Congratulations Doctor Washustein, you've created a five-foot-six-inch infant."
"Aw," Sasami walked right up and spoke to the cabbit she held in her arms. "I think she's cute, don't you Ryo-ohki?"
"Meow," the little furball nodded.
Suddenly the naked woman's hand shot out from her blanket and tore the frightened cabbit right out of Sasami's arms. Before anyone could react she took her thumb out of her mouth and tried to stuff Ryo-ohki between her jaws. The cabbit yowled in fear.
"Ryo-oak…Oh!" Sasami gasped as the savage woman spat the little furball out and sent it tumbling to the ground.
"Ryoko!" the naked woman said as she slid off the bench and out of her blanket to crawl naked about on all fours. The cabbit scrabbled to its feet and ran off towards the closed door.
"Hey you!" Washu commanded as she ran in front of her creation and spread her arms. "Don't go wandering off; you might hurt yourself…"
Before the little scientist could react her creation reached out and grabbed her by the lapels of her lab coat.
"Hey!" Washu shouted. "Let me go!"
Her creation seized Washu's head and started examining it, turning it to various angles in her study, each time causing a yelp of pain from the mad scientist.
"Hey! Ow! Don't just stand there you fools!" Washu shouted. "Help me before she rips my head off!"
Mihoshi ran up to help her mistress. "Now try to calm down, you don't want to rip your mommy's head off, do you, baby Washustein?" The blonde pulled the woman up to her feet, causing her to let go of her creator. "That's better," Mihoshi said as she let go of the naked woman. "Give your mother a chance to breathe and huh?"
The creation's arms flailed about helplessly before she fell down. The woman seemed confused as she rolled to a sitting position and then she started to cry. Tears trickled out of her eyes and she started wailing with thoughtless abandon.
"Oh! Oh! Don't cry!" Sasami walked forward to help her.
"Sasami!" Ayeka seized her sister in a fearful embrace. "Don't go near it! She doesn't know her own strength!"
"Meow!" an agreeing Ryo-ohki hissed from the door. It then turned to resume scratching to be let out.
"Don't cry," Mihoshi said comfortingly. "You aren't hurt. It's going to be okay." She put her arms around the feral female and rocked her back and forth.
"Washu! I don't believe you!" Tenchi scolded. "This is all your fault!"
"Whadda'ya mean?" Washu rubbed her neck painfully. "It didn't do anything to you!"
"Look at her!" Tenchi gestured at the naked cyan-haired woman being consoled by Mihoshi. "You've created a baby trapped in the body of a full grown woman! How is she ever going to lead a normal life?"
"It isn't going to have a normal life," Washu explained. "It's going to be carefully tutored and be at college level before the year is out. In five years, it will be teaching us."
"My God!" Tenchi sneered. "Just listen to yourself!"
"What do you mean?" Washu took her hands off her throat to put them on her hips. "I want my creation to be great!"
"Don't you see?" Tenchi gestured in exasperation. "You're calling her 'it' or 'my creation.' You never call her 'she'; you call her 'it'! What kind of parent dehumanizes her own offspring?"
"WAAAH!" her cyan-haired creation howled.
"I feel sorry for her," Tenchi sighed. "She was made from hubris, not born from love. You've created a woman who will never fit in this world, someone who is cursed to be a stranger for the rest of her days. How is she supposed to find a place in normal society when she starts life as a grownup baby?"
"Aren't you listening?" Washu snarled. "That gal is a genius! It has its creator's intelligence. It isn't going to be an infant very long."
Tenchi glanced over to observe a fully-grown young woman rolling on the floor naked and sucking on her own toes.
"Oh yes," said a sarcastic Ayeka. "I am humbled by her great intellect. "Congratulations again Doctor Washustein. When the people from the madhouse come they won't know whether to take you away or your creation. Come along Sasami. Let us go before this madwoman decides to turn us into centaurs or something."
"You can't leave now," Mihoshi protested. "In this weather? You'd be lucky if you made it back to town!"
"She's right, and that really scares me," Washu sighed. "Mihoshi prepare rooms for our guests." She turned back to her infantile creation. "And you, young lady! Put some clothes on!"
"Ryoko!" Washu's creation said as she rolled around on the floor.
"Ryoko! Is that your name?" Sasami asked the feral female. "I'm Sasami! How do you do?"
"Ryoko!" Ryoko smiled.
"She's smiling!" grinned the cheerful blue haired girl. "I think she likes me!"
"Yeah, she's a little angel," Washu said dryly. "Come on you," she gestured at the woman Sasami had named 'Ryoko'. "Come on. Out the door and up the steps. Unless you want to live down here."
As soon as she opened the door, Ryo-ohki launched herself out and ran off. Washu's creation scampered after it on all fours.
"Ryoko!" Sasami shouted as she chased after them. "Don't hurt Ryo-ohki!"
"Lady Ayeka, I've got to dress baby Washustein, and I'm going to need your help," Washu said as they climbed the stairs. Her creation and Ryo-ohki were ahead of them, but they couldn't open the door at the top.
"At the risk of being a poor houseguest, why would I want to help you?" Ayeka retorted, still sore about being cursed with purple hair and red eyes.
"Fine, I'll ask Tenchi," Washu shrugged. "I know he'd never hesitate to help a damsel in distress. It will give us a chance to get reacquainted."
"Ooh, all right you harridan!" Ayeka scowled. "I'll help you dress your monster-woman, but you owe me!"
"Meow! Mew!" Ryo-ohki cried in fear as 'baby Washustein' picked her up and started petting her.
"Aw, look how gentle Ryoko is being with little Ryo-ohki!" Sasami cheered.
"Meow! Rowr!" With a Herculean effort, Ryo-ohki kicked herself free of the Washustein human's grasp and hopped into Sasami's arms.
The Washustein human blinked her topaz yellow eyes and smiled as she reached out for the frightened furball.
"Just a minute," Washu plucked the miserable cabbit from the child's grasp. "Let me borrow her for a minute, will you?" She brushed past her crawling creation and opened the door to the ground floor. "Here girl, do you like Ryo-ohki? You'll have to follow me!"
"Ryoko!" her infantile creation hooted as it scrambled after her.
"Awk!" Washu turned and dashed away. Her creation could go faster on all fours than she had expected. All in all, the mad scientist and her creation were quite a comical sight as the naked woman chased the little redhead down the hall and up another flight of stairs.
"God help us," Ayeka murmured as she and her sister followed.
In a dressing room, Washu had released Ryo-ohki and her creation was hugging and cuddling her. Tenchi had pulled an old steam trunk out the attic and Washu opened it with a key.
"Okay, some of my aunt's old clothes might fit her," Washu told Sasami and Ayeka. "We'd never be able to squeeze her into my clothes."
"You got that right," Ayeka grumbled. "You're so tiny that I've got bigger pieces of corn on my…"
"Okay, raise your arms like this," smiled Sasami as she raised her arms. "Woo…!" She wiggled her hands in the air.
"Woo…!" The naked woman mimicked her actions and raised her arms in the air and wiggled her fingers. Ryo-ohki used this opportunity to flee.
"Okay… now," Ayeka murmured as she and Washu moved forward with a diaphanous white gown in their hands.
Women's fashions from their mothers' day allowed a lot more freedom of movement than the current trend of corsets and whalebone hoop skirts. An evening gown at the turn of the century was often little more than a sheer nightgown. Known as the Empire dress style, the soft muslin dresses of 1800 clung to the body, highlighting the natural body outline, so stays were unpopular unless the figure demanded them.
'Baby Washustein' had so much energy, that it was unlikely they would be able dress her in more than a nightgown, or an archaic dress that appeared to be a nightgown. Dressing her was certainly a challenge. When they slipped the gown over her head, 'Baby Washustein' became claustrophobic and started struggling.
"Ow!" Ayeka gasped. "She elbowed me in the face!"
"She just has too much energy," Washu told her. "She'll calm down after a while. Yow!" the little scientist cried out when her creation kicked her away.
"Come… on…" Ayeka growled as she heroically struggled to get the wild woman's head through the appropriate opening in the gown. "Don't… make… this… difficult!" she said through clenched teeth. Washu rose to her feet and rejoined the fray.
A mane of cyan-white popped up as Ayeka struggled to get the feral female's arms through the correct holes. "Wah! Wah!" Tears trickled out of the woman's golden eyes as Ayeka and Washu struggled to dress her.
"Don't worry," Sasami consoled her. "Everything will be okay."
"You should be consoling us instead of this monster-woman!" Ayeka sneered.
Next: Don't Be a Baby