And now all those beings had been amalgamated, into, well, her. Sailor Pluto, a Specialized DeLorean with many nifty features, leaned into her comfortable seat in front of the main controls of the Time Gate and smiled to herself. In her Senshi form, she had a lot of nifty things indeed - a 1.21 jigowatt flux capacitor (she'd have to check what that actually did, as it seemed to be separate from the Subspace bubble generator), Mr. Fusion power supply (It let her 'eat' and convert organic stuff normally inedible to most cars into energy - very nice to have around in a pinch), and flying capabilities, as well as the Worklinks with the Time Gate and the Subspace bubble generator being just part of the list. Even she wasn't sure of all of the special features, actually, but there would be lots of time to check those things out, surely? And - hey, a personalised license plate! "IN TIME", huh? Nice.
Her life had gotten quite complicated all of a sudden, true - at least from the Uni student Setsuna-the-DeLorean's point of view - but then, that was something that would have happened anyhow, sooner or later, as far as she could tell, so...
Ahh, well. It was time to start scanning again. More info was always welcome, and she was curious if things would look different from her Humanoid self's viewpoint, too. It ought to, anyhow - they were rather different types of Lifeforms, after all, even if they were both sentient...
"Hey, hey, look - Core incoming!"
Tennou Haruhiko looked up at the skies, along with a lot of other couples waiting in line. Yes, there came the Car Core, a shining little ball, flying under it's own power to the local Factory Complex they were now in...
"Awww. It's so strange, you know, to think such a small thing is the beginning of everything, you know? Now a small flying ball, in six months to a year, a real Car..."
Haruhiko sighed, hearing the couple behind them chattering like flying cassettes. To have to stand in line, with all those odd-looking people...
"Husband?" His wife Kaoru murmured, looking at the ground in front of her.
" - Yes?" Damn, he shouldn't have let her come. Even if it was for the birth of their child. She looked ready to wilt on the tracks...
"It's - it's been more then a full year..."
"Some Cars just take more time to get made then others, you know that, Kaoru."
Even though that had been nothing but the truth, Haruhiko was rather worried himself, to tell the truth. A especially long time to birth usually meant that the Factories were having a hard time making the new Car. There hadn't been a resource shortage or energy famine in his lifetime, so that meant the problem had to be something about the blueprint generated by the baby's Core itself.
Both he and his wife were rather goodlooking Luxury Sedans, who were descended more or less from other Luxury Sedans (never mind the reported pickup truck 6 generations ago on his side...) - there was nothing in their genetic patterns to take so much time, surely? Luxury models did tend to take a bit more time then other kinds, but it wasn't like they were Supercars or anything like that...
Haruhiko sighed, remembering how happy his wife had been to see the little Core go whizzing off. Well no, who was he kidding, he'd been happy too... No faltering or falling to the wayside with that one, surely.
But then the months had passed, and passed, and he'd called this particular Factory Complex at least six times or so, and...
And now they were waiting in line with all the other parents, most of whom looked very odd indeed. Which meant that yes, this was the line for parents of babies who had taken a very long time indeed to be made...
Tennou Haruhiko was worried. Even though he wasn't going to show it, not in front of his wife, ever - she had enough stress without having to worry about him. Even though he was quite aware that worrying about such things wasn't going to help at all, at this point in time.
What if it was a stillbirth, or even worse, seriously deformed and malfunctioning? Modern Medicinal Mechanics could do a hell of a lot, and it wasn't like he lacked the financial means to give the child the best medical treatments, but...
Oh, hell. He looked up at the skies, silently praying to the gods, the merciful Buddha or any other Being that the kid be healthy. And intelligent. Just the basics, please, Higher Powers...
Hell, at this point in time, he wouldn't care if the kid was a 1 box miniwagon or a truck or a forklift just as long as it was healthy and had normal intelligence, damnit.
Haruhiko came back to earth as his wife jerked forward.
"Our number! They're calling our number!"
And so they were. Haruhiko swallowed at drove forward, his wife at his side.
"Mr and Mrs Tennou?"
"That's us." Haruhiko answered. His wife was edging around, watching the ramp from the Factory like it might bite her or something. Haruhiko didn't blame her - he felt like volkswagon beetles were crawling all over him, frankly.
"And here it comes..." The attendant Car with the white and blue patterns called out. The resident Master Mechanic rolled her way to the front, where she could get a better look.
Haruhiko swallowed. As did his wife.
And then blinked. And blinked, again.
".....It's a...it's a..."
The baby Car blinked at the headlights all the adults (and some of the children they had in tow) were pointing her it's way.
Flat. Streamlined. Nice lines, very aerodynamic.
"...It's a racecar!?"
The Master Mechanic was waving it's scanners over the baby, talking to herself.
"Good, very good... Yes, female racecar, enclosed wheels - no, wait..."
Haruhiko and Kaoru looked on, disbelievingly,, as the baby Car's wheels started to reposition themselves and move out. The baby was making chuckling noises, smiling at the crowd. Kaoru rolled herself forward.
"Awww, you're such a cutie..."
The Master Mechanic was still scanning, oblivious. "Whoo, she has adjustable wheels! I don't think I've ever seen that type before..."
Haruhiko groaned. 'Special 'even for a racecar, was it... "What is she, a Circus Car?"
There was a cough from the left, at that. "What, you have something against Circus Cars or something?"
Haruhiko blinked. A couple with matched paint jobs, with the logo 'Saotome Traveling Troop' across the doors was looking at them. The male was quite obviously some kind of acrobatic car, though a bit on the bulky side, while the female looked like a more or less ordinary sedan, at first glance anyway. And then he gulped, again. The female had a very large sword on her rooftop, for some reason...
"...No, not at all. Sorry." He hadn't meant to speak aloud at all, much less give offence, after all.
The couple shrugged, but seemed ready to let it go. Haruhiko was relieved.
But wait.
"Doctor, doctor - Is it healthy?"
"As far as I can tell now, yes, totally, Mr Tennou, Mrs Tennou. Racecar, female, one-seater, sports-type hybrid maybe, adjustable wheels... She'll probably be easier to take care of then a open-wheeler baby, I think. She's basically a racing sports car, and those are generally hardier then the more specilalized types. Though it depends on the induvillid, of course."
"Of course." Haruhiko murmured numbly, watching his wife coo over the baby, giving her nudgies. Well, it was healthy and seemed to have normal intelligence. A great relief, that.
And then the other bomb hit him. Wait. She.
"Doctor. Did you just say female?"
"Why, yes."
Haruhiko stared. Yes, now that he really looked at her eyes and lines -
He had a racecar daugher.
"....Arrrggghhhh...."
"Husband, what's wrong?" Kaoru came over, nudging the baby with her.
"She's going to want to race all the time, with all those flashy racecar types, and , and - "
"Oh, don't be silly. We can worry about that when she's actually a teenager, alright?"
Haruhiko groaned. And sighed.
His wife was right, of course.
"And next, Mr and Mrs Saotome..."
Haruhiko gave the new arrivals a glance. Two Cars had come crawling out of chute-ramp, dark brown and scarlet, side by side, both of the 'acrobatic' type as far as he could tell. They both were rather more stylish then their father, though.
"Awwww! Twins!" The female with the Sword on her roof coo'd.
"So now we have both a Ranma and a Ranko, and I have a Heir for the Anything Goes Saotome Style Motor Arts..."
And then girl-twin started to crawl over her brother.
"Awwww!"
Haruhiko sighed.
Well, on the other hand, at least they didn't have twin racecars...
"Now give your daugher a nudgie, silly." His wife smiled at him. She looked so much better, now...
And Tennou Haruhiko did just that.
Setsuna shook, watching the baby Haruka quite literally driving rings around her father.
Awww, that was so cute...
OK, now let's see what else the scanners had to show her...
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(Posted Thu, 21 Sep 2006 08:22)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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