"But what does it MEAN?" asked Akane, still clutching P-chan to her chest.
"It means just what the newscasters are afraid to say," mused Cologne, sipping her tea and looking fairly inscrutable. "It means that the aliens have been intercepting our broadcasts for some time and are judging us on the basis of that."
"OH SHIT! WE'RE DOOMED!" exclaimed Akane, drawing a few stares.
"Actually, they may not be attacking us right now because they're waiting for magical girls and giant robots to defend the planet and they're thrown off because we haven't got any such thing," said Nabiki, a good deal calmer. "If they're extremely gullible, we may just have a chance."
Ranma slowly awoke, coming to consciousness in a nice little grassy meadow. The aches and pains made his getting up actually fairly slow and uncertain. Considering his last memory had been of a ruptured space ship and with metal piercing what was left of his body, this wasn't all that bad. It STILL felt as if someone had taken him apart and slapped him together again without much regard for things like the pain of the subject.
Grass. Thick grass. None of which was over six inches high. The clearing itself was some twenty feet across, with a pond taking up half of that area.
"No bugs," noted Ranma, immediately noticing a little detail that was off. The air might have been a bit cold, but still, he would have expected SOMETHING.
There was a vibration in the ground, not an earthquake though. More the kind of steady rumbling of some big machine.
The water in the pond turned out to be warm enough that it didn't trigger his curse.
That the plants were a shade of blue-green wasn't all that odd, but that the clearing was moving WAS considered odd. Not that you could really tell that much, but the sensation of movement added to the vibration told him something.
Going through the woods to the edge of the forest told him more.
"Okay, I'm naked," said Ranma, speaking aloud to better get a handle on his situation, "I'm out in some red desert on a mile-wide ship with a park on top that is apparently spraying something on all that dirt. There's active volcanoes going on in the background. There's really only one explanation for this."
"CURSE YOU, RYOGA! BECAUSE OF YOU, I'M IN HELL!"
Ranma stopped, considered his situation and shrugged. "Huh. That feels better. No wonder Ryoga's always doing that stuff."
The soletta is in place. Planetary mass has been increased to 0.75 and the core has been returned to molten with the attendant magnetic field generation. Overall temperatures have increased but not to the point where liquid water will exist plentifully. Atmosphere has thickened to 0.65 and climbing.
The specimen has awakened and is cognizant of his surroundings. Data indicates considerable agitation.
Well, that's understandable. I think it's more telling that even with his being actually confronted with events - he's handling it better than most of the other natives of his homeworld.
Whatever. This is fascinating stuff. My term paper this year is going to be quite exemplary.
You're such a nerd.
So are you going to modify the planetary inhabitants?
Already started.
I'm still collecting - wait a minute - what?
I've already abducted, experimented, and returned 422 natives of the third planet. I haven't found any superior specimens but I've done it.
If you've been doing that, then why haven't their EM broadcasts mentioned it?
Perhaps because the specimens were all out of direct line of sight of their fellows. Perhaps because I've been so selective about the process. Perhaps because some of them haven't realized I've done so.
In other words, you've been subtle and active. Unlike some others I could mention.
Hey now.
All I've done after taking the samples is duplicate our primary specimen's transmorphic field onto them.
Oh. So when liquid H20 of a certain temperature range strikes their epidermal level in sufficient quantity the gender shift occurs. Is that all? I frankly expected more from you.
I almost take offense at that. Of course there's more to it. The specimens change into an almost idealized, by their own cultural standards, appearance of the opposite gender utilizing their own genetic pattern. Which is exactly how the original specimen's transmorphic field templated.
I thought you were planning to turn them into small fuzzy things.
That was my plan, actually.
Oh yeah? Well, I'll show you. I'll show you all! Watch this!
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(Posted Thu, 23 Oct 2008 18:39)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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