For Washuu, Ch. 12 and 13

[it’s a long one!]

[spoil]12: “Seina Who?”

With the resident genius ditz of the Galaxy Police out on another week-long patrol, and with there being chores to be done (and ignored) by some in the Masaki home, and with there being food to be prepared and fields to be tended to…

And with none of the above having anything to do with our mysteriously slidden teenager, we find him once again where he has spent the vast majority of his time:

In Washuu’s lab.

“Y’know, Elliot,” the red-headed genius noted to the boy, “most of the readings I can make of you don’t even yield any useful information concerning you and where you come from.”

“Really?” Came the reply of the seventeen-year-old. He sat on a floating cushion, bathed in a luminescent yellow egg-shaped aura of energy.

“No kidding. Only the most subtle differences show any differentiation between you and any Earth-grown human on the planet.”

“You mean the earth in this reality.” The boy countered. Yes, he had grown up on Earth (Iowa to be more precise), but this Earth was clearly having a strange effect on him.

For example, he was having an exhaustingly hard time just making himself sit still and eat his all-American MRE. And NOT freak out about being in his favorite anime. Talking to his prime hero of fiction.

Washuu smirked. She wasn’t missing a beat of the boy’s tension, and it was proving to be both entertaining and a detriment to her testing the boy.

“Settle down, Elliot. You’re going to mess up those “subtle differences” if you remain this agitated.”

“Washuu.” the boy demanded.

“Yes?”

“I am sitting in a five-planet-huge scientific laboratory, on a LEVITATING cushion, eating an American “Meal-Ready-to-Eat” that is obviously from a surplus store, while in JAPAN-“

“And your point is?” The scientist retorted. Elliot smacked himself in the forehead.

“Don’t I have at least a little right to be hyper right now?”

They both sat there for a second before busting out laughing.

“Oh, gosh. I think I really do need to loosen up a bit.” Said the Iowan through chuckles.

“No kidding! You keep this up and you’ll spill all the rest of that ‘special imported meal’ all over my lab floor.”

Elliot looked down from where he sat, nearly buckled over laughing. “Aww, really?”

“Come on, now. No whining, you know the drill.” commanded the other.

With a flick of a switch, the aura dissipated and the teenager hopped down to the lab floor to hunt down a mop and incineration bag.

“Hey, Washuu! Care to tell me why you’re still using -or having me use- such a ‘primitive’ cleaning device as a mop?” he snarked.

“Hey, stalker! Care to tell me why you’re eating an American MRE while in Japan?” The scientist shot back.

Elliot stopped, mop in hand. His mouth didn’t say what it was going to say (maybe it had nothing to say in the first place) but eventually managed to find the words “Um… why DID you get me this, Washuu?”

The petite redhead also stopped and thought. It wasn’t like it had been the simplest of tasks to even get the MRE there in the first place, and now no fitting justification for such an action was coming to mind.

“I… I guess… just a friendly gesture.” She concluded. “I mean, you have been quite a patient test subject after all!”

The scientist gave off a cackle while the boy just smiled the way people were meant to smile, and then he turned the mop back to the floor.

“Hey, you’ve been through a lot for a kid less than a thousandth of my age, so why not treat you to something you like?” reasoned Washuu “Somehow like…”

“I guess that’s true.” Agreed the boy. “I mean, heck, with all the info you have on me, you know me better than most of my friends do.”

“Oh, yes. Especially after duplicating the data on your hard-drive; that was especially informative!”

“Wait a second.” The boy froze, kneeling with his incineration bag of spilt food. “The whole hard-drive?”

A blank stare and nod in reply.

“ALL of it?”

Just a grin answered that, and the boy suddenly got quite red in the face.

“Oh. Well, I guess you know me a bit better than I though.” He confessed.

Washuu tried to respond, but found herself too stricken with the Chuckles to formulate a coherent response. His pride forcefully set aside for the moment, Elliot finished bagging the bits of his lunch that he had let fall onto the floor in his previous mirth. He stood and chucked the bag into the designated disposal point before turning up the volume on the song he had looped on his mp3 player.

‘”Studio Junkie”, huh,’ He thought to himself. ‘More like “Lab Junkie”‘.

He grabbed the next green, thick-walled plastic bag of army food and tore it open.

“So tell me more, Elliot.” Washuu asked, once she had caught her breath.

“What do you want to know about?” He replied, digging around in the bag for something sweet.

“How about ‘who’. As in, ‘who else do you know of around here?’”

The teen extracted an out-of-place bag of Twizler Bites from the cramped food package.

“When in the world did the US Army start putting *these* in our troops’ MREs?” he asked incredulously.

“Outsourcing,” declared the voice of science. “It’s an easy trap to fall into.”

The boy eyed the package sidelong before sitting and opening it.

“Whatever.”

He popped a couple of the candy bits into his mouth, chewed, and proceeded to answer.

“Lemme see… People around -no, connected to- the Masakis.”

Washuu returned to her floating Cushion-O’-Comfort.

“The Jurai Royal family is currently as follows: Azusa, Emperor; Funaho and Misaki, his wives; Yosho,” here he cracked a bit of a grin “their duty-shirking son. And his progeny with Airi being Keyone, married to Nobuyuke, bearing the son Tenchi, who…”

“Who what?” Inquired the redhead, seemingly more cute than normal.”

“Nope. I already told you that I’m not going to be making any prophetic statements, so I’m shutting up about it.”

Elliot shut his eyes and leaned back against the consol pillar behind him. He reached up and turned the music down.

“I know there’s a Mitsuki in there somewhere, but I’m not sure where, and then there are at least two other families: the Kamiki house and the Kurmitsu house. The Kamiki house is that which Seto is in charge of, if she isn’t in charge of pretty much everything she wants to be, including the GP. Which brings me to the Kuramitsu family, with… Minako?” Another two pieces of chewy candy entered the seventeen-year-old’s mouth. “No, that can’t be right, maybe Misato? Mikamo? Eh, I don’t know. Mitoto is Mihoshi’s mom, and I could really use her help cleaning my room.”

The two laughed again at the humor of the self-warping Kuramitsu mother-turned-cleaning-lady.

“Oohh, boy.”

“My, my. You certainly do seem to know your names. Is that all, though?”

“No. By no means is that all, Washuu.”

He continued on.

“Your rival Doctor clay, as well as your friend at the Science academy on Todain, Naja Akara.”

“Naja? I’m surprised that even you would know that name.” Washuu interjected.

“Oh, I do. She seems like someone I’d really get along with.”

“Hmm. You could be right about that.”

Another moment, another small helping of Twizler bites.

Elliot continued.

“Random people… Amane, Amagasake, Kiriko Masaki, and of course how could I forget Tenchi’s friend Seina, and along with him-“

“Who?”

Washuu looked at the boy slightly confused.

“Seina.”

“Seina who?”

“Um, Yamada. Seina Yamada.”

The greatest genius scientist in the universe grumbled for a second before rising from her comfy spot. Plucking up the open MRE package, she dropped it in the teenager’s hands before unceremoniously yanking him off of the lab floor and then shoving him through a portal door.

He followed, and they descended a flight of stairs to a very different section of the lab.

The boy couldn’t help but ask himself, “Why do I get the feeling this is going to be happening a lot?”

A few turns later (and after passing some stuff that he was quite certain that he would not live long enough to see the people of Earth create), the two of them arrived in a small, metal-floored data-feed station. It overlooked a vastness that seemed to transcend vastness itself.

“Oh… Um, Washuu. could you..?”

“What? What is it?” Washuu asked. She followed the boy’s finger as it pointed out into the vast nothingness.

“OH!” The scientist exclaimed as she threw a switch. The great void dissipated, replaced by close charcoal-colored walls. The boy relaxed.

“I brought you over here because of a correspondence, or similarity if you will, between your mention of the “Seina” character and a hole in the continuum. Actually, less of a hole and more of a lack of ending-points for several threads or connections.”

“Oh, I see. Then this must be a four-dimensional point overlooking the “fabric” of space-time.” Figured the boy.

“Close!” Washuu praised. “It’s actually five dimensions, but you guessed its function spot on.”

The boy grinned. “Cool.”

‘So that’s why the headache came.’

“Yes, and it’s pretty unusual to find such a correspondence. Quite a surprise, so please,” the redhead gestured to a floating pillow as she turned to one of the consoles, “have a seat and tell me more!”

“Sure,” Elliot agreed, “but aren’t you going to-“

Pause.

“Waitasecond… why is the bag of Twizlers suddenly empty? Washuu…”

The Choshin grinned through her “scientific” demeanor. She shoved the remaining handful of Twizler bits into her mouth and sat back down on her hovering pillow.

“So, who is this ‘Seina’ character, anyway?” she asked, through her full mouth.

The boy grimaced at his sudden loss of candy, but continued.

“Well, his surname is Yamada. He has a sister, Yoshiko, and mother and father.”

“Who?” Washuu asked

“I don’t remember. Anyways, by some twist of luck, Amane Kaunaqe found him at the Masaki home when she came to recruit Tenchi for the GP, so she gave him a handout (after her usual flirting), and Seina took an interest. Jump ahead a few months, and the GP had made him the captain of the Kamidake, a decoy ship for luring in pirates.”

“My, my.”

“In time he became the scourge of pirates. All he would have to do would be to call for a random warp and -Bam!- there would be pirates for the take-out squad to clean up… or for Lady Seto to have fun with.” They both grimaced inwardly at that last remark.

Washuu pondered for a second before rising again.

“If you will, Elliot… try to look at this.”

“Very well.” Agreed the boy.

Red hair obscured young hands as they typed and commanded the nearly-eldritch machinery.

And the void retured.

Elliot squinted at the indescribable depth of darkness he was beholding. Not darkness in an evil sense, just a lack of light, lack of mass, lack of existence… a lack of everything! So much infinitely more than he could take in even if he were able to perceive every bit of the void of space that is in our three dimensions all at the same instant.

It was seriously starting to mess with his head.

“Over there, Elliot! On your…’Right'” ordered the scientist.

The boy turned his head… left. And his vision shifted right and a little down, so he moved his head… forward, and that corrected it.

“Washuu…”

“Hang in there, human.” Washuu comforted the boy as she took his hand. “I’ve got you.”

Elliot took a deep breath and focused his eyes on the over-vision before him.

“The pock-marks and tiny, frayed patches are what I’m referring to.” Washuu explained. “Now hang on a minute…”

The view beheld by the Iowan narrowed to a pinpoint as the whole of everything around him condensed into a single hyper-sphere.

“I’m keeping the five-dimensional space out of view as much as possible, but that 3-sphere ‘glome’ is the texture-space you’ll have to put up with to see this.”

The boy sighed. “If you start talking about Octonians, I’m going to have to slap you Washuu…”

‘Or kiss you’ he added in thought.’

Elliot returned his attention to the ineffable shape before him.

“Okay, I can see the inconsistencies aligning on the… hypersphere? Right?”

“Correct.” Came the reply.

The vision before him held steady before returning to the charcoal walls, and then changing again to a very familiar section of Washuu’s lab.

“Oh, boy. I hope I never have to force that much beauty through my eyes again.” Elliot marveled at his simplistic, flawed memories of the past two-thirds of a minute.

Washuu was a little ways off, looking through some books. “You will. Knowing Tokimi, you will.”

The boy didn’t even bother to try to reply to that. He just sat down at the holo-top before him and sighed. Again.

The next thing he knew, he was holding a book of terminal commands and standing in a very 80’s sci-fi area of the lab.

“Um… what?”

Washuu cackled. “Go on, Elliot! You’ve got a lot of data to crunch, considering how much you must know or have data on concerning this ‘Seina Yamada’!”

The petite genius pushed the seventeen-year-old to the console there and switched on the screen.

“Oh, and I think you’ll want this.” she added, handing over the boy’s laptop bag. “Have a good time! And don’t forget to eat every now and then. Ta-taa!”

And with a door and a phase, all 4′ 4″ of her were gone like the wind.

“…….’kay.” Elliot concluded, and turned to examine the book in his hands.

…some hours later…

Data was being inputted to Washuu’s mainframe computers.

Rather, memories of an anime floated from an HP Pavilion ze4900 laptop screen into a 17-year old’s eyes, through his fingers, and into the computer’s databanks via the keyboard. The keyboard that, just a hour earlier, he had no clue how to use.

“Maaaannn… This layout trumps even Dvorak!”

And Elliot was grinning like a maniac.

Why? Because he had the run of the lab, or at least this square mile of it, and was currently blaring his 80’s glam metal tracks as loud as he could stand.

And singing along.

Yes. Elliot was grinning like a total freaking nutcase metalhead.

Unbeknownst to the high-school senior, a space pirate of five millennia was standing outside the door to that same section of her mom’s lab.

She was staring at the sign on the door.

The sign that read, in blaring 72-point Comic Sans MS font:

NO SWEARING IN THE LAB

-Cat Invader

Ryoko stared at the sign a little longer before promptly opening the door… to be met by a wall of sound that threatened to toss her right back out of the lab.

I HAVE NO FEARS

I HAVE NO NEED TO APOLOGIZE

The ex-pirate made her confused way to the other side of the room, where she made quick work of finding the boy.

DON’T TELL ME

“What the-?”

DON’T GIVE ME

He turned to her, and, yes, grinned like an absolute lunatic.

DON’T TEACH ME

“Welcome to Cat Invader’s Data-Crunch Center! May I be of assistance?”

I CAN’T BE DECEIVED!

“Oh, it’s you” she replied, leaning on the back of the chair Elliot sat in.

The boy reached over to the amps he had placed nearby.

“Hang on, lemme turn this down”

He did so…. a little.

Ryoko shook her head. “Yeah, so have you seen Washuu around here?”

“Erm, can’t say that I have.” Came the younger one’s reply, with a blink.

The cyan-haired one stared at Elliot, then at his hands on the keyboard, then at the screen that quickly switches from a Notepad text file to VLC playing a clip of Tenchi Muyo GXP. With Seina getting sold off by his family to become a Galaxy Policeman.

Again Ryoko looked at the seemingly metal-crazed teenager.

Again, the madcap, Cheshire grin.

“Um, just what… ARE you?” She asked.

DON’T USE ME FOR

“I am …a seventeen-year-old human.” Elliot replied, thinking to himself that he sounded far, far too much like his brother.

EVIL, EVIL, EVIL THAT MEN DO

“Hey, Ryoko, when or if you find Washuu, could you do me a favor?”

evil, evil

“What’s that?”

evil that men do

And of all the times for a princess to arrive, “ah, there you are… Elliot.”

evil, evil

“Making sure that Ryoko isn’t with Tenchi?” he observed at Ayeka.

evil that men do

The Jurian began to reply indignantly, but was cut off by the sudden wail of Dale Thompson and the sudden build in the music.

EEVIIILL

EVIL THAT MEN DO!

The princess’ eyes went wide open.

“My, that man has quite a voice. Is it enhanced in any way?”

EVILEVILEVILEVILEVILEVILEVILEVILEVIL THAT MEN DO!

“Not a bit, my princess. That voice is one-hundred-percent natural Kentucky vocal chords”

EVIL! EEEVIL!

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Ryoko deadpanned.

EVIL THAT MEN DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

As the song ended, Elliot reached over and stopped the player before the next song began. There was a moment of stunned silence as the two others tried to come to grips with what they just heard. Ryoko was the first to recover.

“I… think I have… some chores to do… or something.”

“Finding your mom” the boy retorted.

“Right! Find mom. got to find.. mom.” the cyan-haired woman mumbled as she floated off.

Ayeka, after a minute… well, a couple minutes, was able to regain her composure and opened her mouth to say something, but just barely hesitated.

“Tenchi’s out in the fields, isn’t he?” cut in the teenager.

Ayeka’s mouth snapped shut and she half-turned away.

“Ah, yes. That’s right.”

The princess demurely hurried off, muttering a couple variants of “Must find Washuu.”

Again, the grin… just barely keeping the boy’s laughter contained as he giglishly loaded another track.[/spoil]

13: Seto and Trees

Note: the formatting and punctuation in this chapter is intentional. It is intended to create a variable mental tone in which the characters are telepathically “talking”.

[spoil]13: Seto and Trees

‘andrews’

.

‘yes’

.

‘what are you watching?’

.

‘things’

.

‘yes, things ַַַַַַ what are you studying shayne?’

.

.

‘what has happened’

.

‘are you not happy to have your memories back?’

.

.

‘happy?’

.

‘happy ַַַַַַ content if that makes more sense to you’

.

‘i will be happy when this makes sense’

.

‘what do you refer to?’

.

‘uh-huh ַַַַ all of this ַַַַ all of that’

.

‘shayne, what are you referring to?’

.

‘i arrived ַ in ַ you from the hall of trees’

.

‘for it is my home ַַַַַ i reside beneath all the trees of jurai’

.

‘yes and ַַַ somewhere else in the palace is where i ran from until i stumbled into all the trees’

.

‘what of it?’

.

‘i was running from’

.

‘yes?’

.

‘your people’

.

‘do you mean mikumo?’

.

‘Don’t play Dumb with me, Tsunami’

‘ANDREWS’

.

‘yes’

.

‘you were running ַַַַַַ explain what you saw’

.

‘why?’

.

‘for you’

.

.

‘that crazy b ַַַַַַַַַ woman ַַ wanted me to stay’

.

‘but you probably already knew what seto is like’

.

‘true ַַ though i Had forgotten she isn’t funny when i’m the one she looks at’

.

‘shanyne andrew ַַ you are here for a purpose’

‘bull’

.

‘You are here for a purpose, Shayne Andrews.’

‘then tell me’

.

‘that is not for even me to know but it is to be’

.

‘sure ַַַ you didn’t even bring me here ַַ unlike that prettyboy of yours’

.

‘no shayne i did even if i did not know it at the time, i did’

.

‘jesus that doesn’t even make any sense’

‘shayne’

.

‘yes’

.

‘you are here ַַ so you must have a purpose ַַ all things happen for the

‘yea yeah i’ve heard that one before’

.

‘what is it shayne?’

.

‘when did you move us from the static to these blocks in your tree ַַַ room? ַַַ area?’

.

‘when did i not? ַַַ this is all inside of me ַַ the tree’

.

‘gee thanks ַַ makes about as much sense as Seto Elliot Mikumo Earth and HERE

“Shayne, I will not be talked down to! Know your place, or move not from here.”

.

.

.

‘okay ַַַַַַַַַ just don’t expect me to help you willingly’

.

‘fear not for there is no other way to help’

.

.

‘let me get this un-reversed ַַַַַַַ i went with mikumo to the palace ַַַַ he brought me as a gag hoping that seto would go lightly on him because he brought an oddball ַ me ַ with him’

.

‘keep going’

.

‘i remembered about seto just as we came to her, and bolted ַַַַַ scared ַ and then mikumo did something to anger seto and i found the room with all the trees’

.

‘and i rescued you’

.

‘rescued ַַַ Yeah right. you’re more like a savior-captor than help to me’

.

‘shayne ַַ please don’t hate me for moving you out of your circumstances’

.

.

‘if i ever forgive You, i’ll make sure to let You know.’

.

‘Thank you, Shayne Andrews. Rest.’

-._:_.-[/spoil]