“Hmm…” The staff made a sucking sound as it gradually fell from the Luggage.
“I already told you that would happen,” Rincewind said testily. “Can we please move beyond the poking and prodding portion of the analysis?”
“You make it sound like there’s another part to it,” retorted Mustrum Ridcully, Archchancellor of Unseen University. “Now, you say the boy touched that box of yours and both froze?”
“Yes.”
Ridcully huffed at Rincewind’s lack of common sense. “Well then, we’ve just got to pull them apart, now don’t we?”
“Sir,” said Ponder Stibbons, Head of Unwritten Writings, “they appear locked in a bizarre magical interaction that has effectively halted the progress of time around them. I don’t think just tugging on one of them will move either.”
“Bah,” Ridcully bahhed, “your problem, Mr. Stibbons, is that you think when you should be doing something. Being a wizard means performing actions that man was not meant to, regardless of the consequences!”
“You could also get stuck in time, Archchancellor.”
There was a beat. “Right then. Dean, you do it.”
The Dean of the University balked at this. “What? I thought you were going to!”
“Yes, well, it’s rather beneath the office of the Archchancellor to be wrenching a lad off some luggage, now isn’t it?”
“And I suppose I’ve been reappointed as Lad Luggage Off-Wrencher, then?”
“Well, if you keep on like that, you’ll think yourself lucky to be in such a prestigious position.”
“We could get the Librarian to do it,” offered the Lecturer in Recent Runes.
The bickering mages considered this.
“Alright.”
“Certainly.”
“Fellow’ll do near anything for a banana or two,” offered Rincewind, happy that he hadn’t pushed into the situation.
Before this line of reasoning further strained the collective imaginations of those present, the rotating Earth model stopped, tilted, and began to enlarge. As it did so, it dropped to floor level, curvature becoming less and less apparent as it pulled in on the eastern coast of the United States. Manmade structures became apparent, highways glowing like leylines. Soon only a single city was apparent; roads around and within it like a shimmering spider web. Finally, the zoom-in ceased on a group of buildings loosely spaced out across a field, centered on one upon which was a symbol which looked a bit like connected and overly curlicued versions of the English letters V and S, or perhaps a very stylized quadruped. This symbol blinked a few times, then the entire image vanished.
“Well…” said Makoto, breaking the silence. “That didn’t tell us much.”
“I understood.” Setsuna and Motoko said this simultaneously. They looked at one another, then the green-haired woman nodded to the sword user. “The knowledge came to me rather clearly,” she explained. “The image was for your benefit. The building indicated is the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, in Washington, DC. I don’t know if the Amulet is actively on display or where it is in the museum. I believe I am to bring the Crystal there before I can ascertain a more specific location.” She looked to Setsuna. “How did you recognize it?”
“Standing at the Time Gates for millennia gave me plenty of time to familiarize myself with Earth’s geography, and history is a matter of professional interest, recent or otherwise.” That she’d spent a few decades trying to prevent a certain species of icky, yucky, crawly bugs from developing 300 million years ago went unmentioned.
“This is nice and all,” said Sarah, “but do you guys actually have any plans for getting to America? Not exactly on the Shinkansen, y’know.”
Setsuna restored her inscrutable grin. “I can make arrangements for that.”
Ami had been concerned over logistics as well, and was curious as to her teammate’s plan. “Setsuna-san?”
“Let’s just say I’ve made some wise investments over the years and will have little trouble affording plane tickets.”
Haruka and Michiru both looked rather annoyed by this. “Funny,” the musician said coolly, “there always seems to be an emergency at the Gates whenever your rent is due.”
“Shinobu-chan,” said the Senshi of Time, smoothly ignoring her irate roommate, “you should see where your Amulet is as well.”
Haruka was not about to let this subject change go by easily. “Now just a—”
“Didn’t Motoko say she needed the Crystal to find her Amulet?” asked Shinobu.
“This sneaky little—”
“She has a point,” Rei noted. “If we try to go after both at the same time, one group will only have a general location to go by.”
“Will you all—”
Setsuna clarified. “Be that as it may, knowing even the general location of two Amulets while this null magic field interferes with any scrying our enemies may be attempting will put us at a significant advantage.”
Shinobu seemed to find this reasonable, as she took the Zodiac Crystal in hand without further comment, while Haruka dragged a certain freeloading greenhead to the kitchen for some very serious and loud words.
Unlike Motoko’s experience, the hologlobe did not enlarge until a single structure was indicated. Instead, the sphere grew to fill the room nearly from floor to ceiling before another odd symbol began to slowly and blinkingly approach Japan. The symbol appeared to be a cursive English M with an added flourish that looped around and through the third leg, and was moving steadily over the Pacific. The globe winked out.
“Well?” All eyes were on Shinobu, who shrank into herself a bit before explaining.
“I-It wasn’t really clear, but it’s moving towards us. I think it’s on a plane. I couldn’t really get more than that, but I did get the feeling it will come here.”
The phone rang as she finished that sentence. Mutsumi was closest. “Hello? …Oh, yes, one moment.” She turned to the stairs. “Kei-kun, phone! It’s your grandmother!”
Keitaro emerged from the Chamber of Death™ his room with the utmost haste, some rope still loosely binding his left arm to his body, a sword stabbed through his pant leg, and his head sticking out of a sleeve of Nyamo’s tank top. “Coming!” As he shed the accoutrements of unwanted affection, (and the sword. He had no freaking idea why Tsuruko had tried to impale him after he mentioned Motoko’s writing.) he grabbed the mouthpiece. “Hello?” There was a pause, the Hinata residents worrying over the fate of the dorm. “Oh. OK. Certainly. No, no problem at all. Love you, too. Right. I’ll pick you up at the airport. …Really? Are you sure? All right, then. OK, see you soon.” He hung up.
Su expressed the dread. “We still a dorm, Keitaro?”
“Of course! Grandma’s just coming to visit for a bit. Said she wanted to relax for a bit before picking up Kanako.”
Shinobu made the connection. “Did she say where she was?”
“Eh? No, not right now. Said she was coming from Australia, though. Why?”
“I think that would put her in the right point now,” said Hotaru.
Motoko nodded. “Indeed. Now, how to approach her about this…”
“We don’t even know if this lady has it,” Ranma pointed out.
“Sempai,” said Shinobu as she sketched out the symbol, “does this look familiar at all?”
Keitaro took the scrap of paper. “Eh? Looks a bit like an M. Hmm…” Everyone leaned in as the ex-ronin examined the glyph. “Ah!” Enough breath was baited for a fishing tournament. “I’ll ask Kanako, she might know. Um, guys?” Keitaro looked around confused at the mass facefault.
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(Posted Sun, 23 Sep 2007 18:22)
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