Once there was a very rich little girl.
She lived in the stars, and she was surrounded by everything she could want. Her people were very wealthy, very advanced, and VERY long lived. She would spent that long lifetime in the lap of luxury, surrounded by good things. Her loving Mommy doted on her, and she did not want for anything.
Except excitement.
She was BORED.
There just wasn’t any excitement in her life, and interacting with her peers wasn’t much better, since they had everything they wanted, when they wanted it, and they saw no problems with it. The little girl was different, though, and impatient.
So one day she took the spaceship her doting Mommy gave her for her eighteenth birthday, overrode the safeties in the computer (she was a very CLEVER little girl), and flew beyond the security perimeter of home and into the Unknown.
Where she promptly became very lost.
She might have found her way home easily enough, but she was in the Unknown far enough to stumble across an uncharted Dimensional Rift, and she fell through it.
As (mis)fortune would have it, the little girl landed on a backwards little planet in the middle of nowhere on the other side of the Rift, became separated from her starship, and fell victim to a nasty little lingering piece of rogue magic left behind by a long-dead ancient kingdom that had once presided over the backward little planet in arguably better days.
When Mommy found out her precious little girl was missing, she started turning over every rock and log in their home solar system, then in nearby solar systems, then in the galactic arm. Mommy pulled many favors, and she and her friends searched all over, but to no avail.
The Mommy was very rich and very patient, as as mentioned before, her kind were very long lived. She sent out word, offered rewards for information on her daughter. She waited for ransom demands to come in, and then patiently culled through all the crank demands for the real one, but they were all crank demands, and her little girl was still missing.
She even went to those crazy magic users in the United Worlds of Warlock, to see if they could magick, scry, or hoodoo up any hint at where her little girl was. She went from magic user to farseer to mystic, and paid them lots, but to no avail.
Finally, she found a mage who promised her a definite answer. By this time, the Mommy was becoming quite annoyed with the soothsayers, but she humored the man, and sat through the long ceremony, ewwed and ahhed appreciatively at the pretty display of lights as magic energy went into the creation of a powerful scrying crystal.
In the end, all the mage could tell her was that her daughter was dead, but not dead, alive, but not alive. The pretty crystal he had created said she was out there, but not where, but it would, when she appeared again.The Mommy took the news with some resignation, expecting as much, but she took the crystal, paid the mage most handsomely, and returned to her home. There she put it in her house, assigned a low-level servant to watch it, and went on to continue her search elsewhere, by other means.
Years passed, then decades, then over a century. The Mommy joined her people’s military, so she could continue searching for signs of her daughter elsewhere, and in the process she, too, discovered a certain attraction to adventure. In the meantime, back at her house, several generations of servants passed, watching the crystal, that remained as inactive as the day the mage had created it.
Then one day, the crystal awoke. It not only indicated that the missing little girl was ALIVE, but told WHERE she was.
And Mommy came running.
Captain Goto looked down from the steps of the auction house at the angry crowd milling in front. The situation was getting ugly fast, and he knew he had to do something or it would get bloody very quickly, and NOBODY would come off well in the ensuing chaos.
He was about to step forward, bullhorn in hand, when he noticed the street suddenly becoming dark. Looking over his shoulder to see what could be causing the large shadows, he stopped and unabashedly gapped. As did the crowd below, and more than a few of the riot-armored police officers.
Normally a distinctly unflappable man by temperament, Captain Goto’s eyes grew wide at what he saw.
“Okay. THIS is different.”
The floodlights illuminating the nude form on the stage effectively blinded her as she stood there, unable to see the crowd she knew was there, bidding on her.
The light also hid the faint beams that appeared from the air, briefly circled around the room, briefly touching on everybody seated there, before zooming in on the stage and the young girl posed there, then played up and down her body, scanning, focusing, before they cut out as quickly as they’d appeared.
“Next up; Ranko, female, temporary contract, full-use slave! Bidding begins at-”
“(STOP!)” Came the unexpected command.
The auctioneer was taken aback by the interruption, as were many in the crowd, many of who craned their necks around to see who had just issued that unexpected command. There was a sudden roil of activity in the back of the large room.
The commotion resolved itself into a phalanx of dark mechanical-looking shapes rapidly marching into the room. In the forefront of them, a tall woman in a black and purple jumpsuit, chased in glowing silver accents and unfamiliar sigils, a short cloak swirling from her shoulders, strode purposefully towards the front of the auditorium. Behind her, more mechanical shapes filed into the room, as well as several floating ovoid shapes bristling with antennae and ominous-looking devices.
The woman was quite beautiful, striking even, with long red hair, framing a fine-featured face, and slanted silver-blue eyes that narrowed in cold, cold, displeasure as she advanced forwards the auctioneer’s podium.
The auctioneer was wondering how the HELL a bunch of sci-fi cosplayers had gotten past the beefed-up security to interrupt the sale, and was already planning on having a few harsh words with the police about it. In the meantime, he was in no mood to entertain these hooligans.
“Madame! You are interfering with a legal auction! Remove yourself and you-”
*CHAK*CHAK*CHAK*(HHuuuuummmmmmm)
The phalanx of security that had been advancing quietly from the sides of the room, suddenly stopped in their tracks at the crackling, glowing big muzzles, pointy-tipped racked projectiles, and sudden sense of GUNNESS that filled the room. More than a few bodyguards in the crowd slipped in front of their employers at the sight. A few employers slid down under their chairs, either consciously for cover or unconsciously in fright. A definite tension that cosplayers lacked filled the room, emanating from the newcomers.
The woman gestured with one slender, gloved hand. The robots lowered their weapons, but they remained primed. The tension and sense of paused danger remained, however.
“(I am Cima Haman-Khan, Duchess of Ayanikar-Zyvult, Seenth Armoria, of the Altess Dynasty, and I have come for my daughter!)”
More than a few onlookers noticed that while the woman’s Japanese was clear and flawless, the movement of her lips did not match her words.
“Your daughter?” Mifune repeated, getting an awful feeling.
“(Yes! My daughter! The one up there! The one you’re subjecting to this barbaric spectacle!)”
Of COURSE she was pointing at the stage and the only person standing up there.
“(THAT is my little girl you’re holding!)”
Several of the robots, or whatever they were, had marched up to the stage, grabbed the nude girl on display there with almost invisible speed, and were quickly carrying her, locked in tight grips, protesting, back to where the recently identified Cima Haman-Khan, Duchess of Ayanikar-Zyvult was looming over Mifune, now ringed by heavily armed robots.
The woman’s expression softened the moment she looked over at Ranma.
“(Hello, dear! I’m finally found you, and just in time it seems! )”
Ranma glared at the strange woman who was gazing back at her with undisguised affection. She struggled in the grip of the whatever-they-weres, trying to get an arm free to do some damage, but the damn things were unexpectedly strong! What the hell was going on around here, that it seemed NOTHING could go right without something like this happening?!
“(Don’t your recognize your own mother, dear Aisha-sha? Your Ma-Cha?)”
Ranma scowled at the assertion; “I don’t know who you are, lady, but you’re definitely NOT my mo-”
“(Oh hush, dear! You let Ma-Cha handle this, and once we’ve straightened everything out, we’ll undo whatever they’ve done to you to make you forget who you are!)”
“But I already KNOW who I am! I’m NOT whoever you thin-”
*ZEEEP*
“--eihhh--!”
Ranma never saw the device that suddenly appeared in the hand-claws of the roboid behind her. Nor did she have a chance to dodge it when it limned her in soft light, rendering her unconscious. She fell into the cloak that snapped open to receive her, was wrapped around her, and was picked up and put into the cradling arms of another roboid.
Cima Khan clucked and fussed for a moment over the unconscious girl, tucking in the cloak that she had been wearing into the room, but which now covered Ranma. “(My poor, poor, dear. Ma-Cha will take care of this! Now! I’m a reasonable person and I’m willing to entertain compensation for whatever this matter is about. So talk!)”
The look she turned on the auctioneer was the opposite of the maternal look she’d just been lavishing on the zap-stunned girl. This look was in no mood to take crap from anybody.
To his credit though, Mifune, for all his anxiety about rioters and feuding clans earlier, was bearing up under the invasion of his auction house remarkably well. Even when the brief interruption afforded by the woman attending to her declared daughter allowed a secretary to sneak up and whisper urgently in his ear about what was going on outside. His stiffening of spine might come as a surprise to many, or, in retrospect, as a display of unprecedented idiocy, but damned if Mifune was simply going to fold under a hard stare and the threat of heavy weapons! He had a reputation and a name to defend!
“Madame, you cannot simply bull your way in here and take this girl as you wish! She voluntarily signed a contract to pay off outstanding debts! Debts that MUST be paid to the Kuno clan and a contract that MUST be served!”
“(So it’s about contracts and money, is it?)”
“Yes, a lawful contract entered into between Lord Kuno and this girl-”
“(Who did NOT have her mother’s permission to enter into it, nor, do I doubt, she had proper legal counsel at the time! )”
“She did not NEED legal counsel to enter into the contract!”
“(She is ALTESS. She has EVERY right and expectation to PROPER legal counsel in any action! As there was none on this backwards little world, the lawfulness of this entire proceeding is suspect! )”
“I agree! Your actions have no legal basis, and she is not Altess, whatever that is! Her records show she was born here, whatever you claim!”
“(Her genetic scans prove she is Altess! She, alone, of all the people in this room, and this city, this island, aside from myself of course, registers as ALTESS! THAT, alone, justifies the presence of myself and my ship here. That her genetic scans match those of my daughter, makes this matter MY business all the more!!)” There was that ominous hum again!
“She has assumed responsibility for a debt!”
“(Again, this is a matter of money?)”
“Yes, a significant amount of money, I should point ou-”
“(Excellent! How much?)”
“Huh?”
“(I’m asking, how much to settle the debt?!)”
“If Madame wishes to purchase the girl, she can take a seat and join in the bidding, but you’ll have to send your...ah, bodyguards?...out for the duration!”
“(I will not bid on my own daughter! I am paying to settle this supposed debt! HOW MUCH?!)”
“We do not hold the debt contract!”
“(Then WHO does?!)” Had the ominous hum around her gotten louder? What was with the electricity crackling in the air?
“THAT man’s the steward of the Kuno clan. Ask him!”
The cold silver-blue gaze locked on the indicated man. So did more than a few of the gun barrels.
Morimasa, steward of the Kunos, who up until now had been trying to remain unnoticed long enough to slip out of the room perhaps, quietly cursed Mifune as he suddenly found himself in the (literal) sights of this madwoman as she seemingly materialized in front of him.
“(Very well! You there! How much is this supposed debt? )”
“Ah, it is some [massive yen amount],” the steward automatically reeled off the figure.
“(Good! I shall offer you [ quadruple aforementioned massive yen amount] to settle this!)”
“I must refuse.”
“([Ten times aforementioned massive yen amount] then!)”
“I truly doubt, Madame, you possess that much. And even then, we do not take whatever ‘space money’ you would be likely to offer!”
“(Oh? If you do not accept good Galactic Credits, then, we shall deal in units more compatible with your local currencies. Minerals, perhaps? Pre-space economies always seem to place value on metals. Gold? Silver? Platinum? Plutonium? Iridisite? Adamantium? Kisenite? Crystalline minerals? Sapphire? Flame-oro? Starkkrite? )”
A small floating device popped up next to the woman, and several floating screens appeared in next to her. A low alien murmuring could be heard as something was being related to the woman. The gadget prompted more than a few more gasps and stares of interest on the part of the audience.
“(Perhaps nonproprietary technologies? I noticed no evidence of fusion power on your world, or contra-gravity, or room temperature superconductors! I can provide the templates to those to your industries, for an equivalent value in your local currency, of course.)”
Several of the scions and representatives of zaibatsus and high-tech firms that had attended the auction suddenly perked up and began to advance on the center of attention. If the woman’s offers were true, and from what they could see of the technology around her, they had increasingly little reason to doubt, then there was no way in hell they could afford to let the Kuno clan strike a deal for exclusive rights to the stuff!
Morimasa was loyal, but not an idiot; he could see the growing interest in whatever the woman was offering. Though no tech-nerd (he left that to the hired and indentured help), even he could tell that the technology surrounding the woman was like nothing he’d ever heard of before. And while he lacked a martial artist’s chi-senses, as a man who spent much time around money, he HAD developed an acute sense of wealth. That sense was making itself known; however oddball this woman might seem, she had a powerful aura of WEALTH about her. However, he had orders and the funds not to give up on his lord’s heart’s desire.
“ On behalf of my lord and master, I still must refuse.”
“([GODAWFUL amount of yen])”
“Ah, no?” His wealth sense was REALLY starting to peg now. How could he NOT have seen it before?
“([EXORBITANT amount of yen], and I throw in [EXCESSIVE amount of yen] to the agent personally!)”
Morimasa’s heart was beating, and his control was about ready to collapse; that named amount, if indeed the woman was good for it, would DOUBLE the total value of the entire Kuno fortunes! The implied bribe alone would allow him to set up his own business and homestead in one of the better colonial territories! His lips went dry as he contemplated it. Surely Lord Kuno would not object to such a deal. It was only one girl after all.
“I cannot in all good conscience acc-”
“([LUDICROUS amount of yen] then!)”
“I acce-”
“STOP! CEASE THIS MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE!”
Unfortunately, that was when there was another commotion on the other side of the room.
This one quickly resolved itself into a small spearhead of family retainers of Clan Kuno, headed by the young Lord Kuno himself. Either he had already been in the building or had made excellent time over here once it became apparent something out of the ordinary was taking place. But there he was, leading the charge towards where his steward was haggling with the outsider woman.
*CHAK*CHAK*CHAK*(HHuuuuummmmmmm)
Kuno’s retainers suddenly ground to a halt as Cima’s mechanized accompaniment brought their weapons to bear on this latest intrusion and painted the lackeys with sighting spot-lasers. Kuno, however, forged on ahead, shouldering his steward aside, to confront the woman standing between him and his prize.
“(And who would YOU be?)” Cima drawled, with a dissecting look, at this latest example of the local lifeforms.
“I am Lord Kuno Tatewaki, of the Illustrious House of Kuno, Chosen Lord of Nerima, Heaven-Touched Son of the Proud Line of Kunos, The Risen Blue Thunder of Furinken High School-”
“(Yes, yes, yes, that’s all very nice. So you’re the one ultimately holding this ridiculous little contract over my little girl’s head? Good, I was getting tired of dealing with the puppets! )”
“You claim relation to my fiery-haired goddess?!”
“(I’m her MOTHER.)” Cima reiterated for the slow of mind.
“That cannot be! She is borne directly of the heavens, not of some ill-mannered mortal flesh! You delude yourself, claiming such relation!”
To her credit, Cima’s control didn’t break, though one eyebrow twitched dangerously.
“(How many times do I have to explain it? I am Altess, SHE is Altess, there are NO other Altess on this world. She is my daughter. You have unlawfully held her and put her up for sale. I am here to rescue her.)”
”This matter is not your business, gaijin! She has given herself up to me in this manner!”
“(This matter is about a debt? I am here to settle it. I offer [GARGANTUAN amount of yen] to make this matter go away.)”
“You insult me with your crass offer!”
“([INSANE amount of yen])”
“You do not understand the troubles and travails I had to surmount to free the crimson-haired goddess from her bondage!”
“([ABSURD amount of yen])”
Kuno’s steward was trying not to faint at the amount of money being offered up. Worse yet, the more and more he was around this woman, the more and more he became convinced that she COULD and WOULD pay it. Her manner just REEKED of immense wealth!
A lot of other people were getting the same impression. While many had taken the opportunity to slip away outside the room, unstopped by the mechanical invaders, most had stayed to watch what was becoming the best show ever that day; either an argument of financial titans or delusional psychotics.
“No amount of material wealth can separate my true love from my awaiting arms!”
“([OBSCENE amount of yen])”
“TAKE THE #%^*&ING MONEY!!!”
Oh my, did I really say that out loud?Morimasa asked himself.Kuno either didn’t hear his steward’s outcry, or just plain ignored it.
“You cannot place a worldly price on true love!”
“( But you can place a price on flesh and blood on this world?! How about this? How about a price on your head? The aforementioned sum of money goes to whoever kills you and ends this little farce! I’ll even throw in transportation and relocation outside local legal jurisdiction if they want!)”
There was a gasp throughout the room. Had she just blatantly solicited a hit on a peer of the Empire?
Cima’s glare at the suddenly speechless Kuno was pure venom. Her next words were liquid nitrogen.
“(I could have simply taken my daughter away the moment I set foot in here but I chose to respect local customs as much as I could stomach them and compensate you for your troubles. You wish to enslave an ALTESS? You wish to hold my DAUGHTER ransom? You should have taken my generous offer and accepted my tolerance of your ignorance. Now reap the consequences of your stupidity. )”
Yes, she had.
Captain Goto peered around the edge of the police armored car at the wall of mechanical shapes that now ringed the auction house, lethal looking weapons in their arms, or sprouting directly from their bodies. Above them floated bulbous mechanical jellyfish-like machines, or cruised long, lean, lethal-looking sharp shark shapes.
And above them all, eclipsing the sky, were the angular lines and alien curves of the great craft that had brought all those mechanical shapes.
So far, besides simply appearing, ousting the police from their positions, and taking up their current cordon, the aliens (that was surely what they were, unless the Americans or the Europeans had REALLY gotten advanced) hadn’t done anything hostile apart from looking really hostile. Behind them, on the giant screen that had originally shown the auction slaves and the results of the bidding, some fast thinking technician inside had begun panning the cameras to show what was going on inside. Thus Goto was relieved to see that nobody was being harmed, yet, and it didn’t look like the woman who was apparently in charge of the whole circus was inclined to sprout tentacles and begin eating people.
At least, Goto thought, it didn’t LOOK like she was inclined to sprout tentacles and begin eating people. Though she had looked awfully close to snapping a few heads off.
If anything, the self-designated ‘Duchess of Ayanikar-Zyvult’ was acting much like a very wealthy and powerful aristocrat. That was both cause for hope, and cause for worry. In Goto’s experience, the noble-born could be easy to sidestep but treacherous to cross.
Still, they’d had to forcibly restrain and disarm Ohta from going on a ‘Bug Hunt’ (damn American movie) against the ‘invading aliens’. The man was currently locked up in a police van, cooling his heels until and unless they really needed him to defend Japan and Earth.
Then the woman’s offer had come over the speakers, and Goto just knew everybody’s week had gotten a LOT more interesting.
Crouched not far away behind the dubious cover of her food cart, Ukyo also looked at the imposing wall of alien metal. When the outside screen had shown naked Ranma-chan being hauled off-stage by the fearsome-looking alien robots, she’d almost charged the building herself. So had a lot of other people.
The scream of artificial lightning later, those same people had been running back, some of them cradling blistered hands where something had vaporized the signs and improvised weapons they’d been holding. The few rocks and bottles that had been in midair were either disintegrated in-flight or had bounced off some invisible barrier short of the line of alien metal.
Nope, Ukyo had faded back to cover after that. Though she had almost charged out again when poor Ran-chan had been knocked out on screen. Instead, Ukyo remained where she was, raptly listening to what was happening inside.
Damn, Ran-chan, doesn’t ANYTHING go normally for you? Now you’re being saved from slavery...by being kidnapped by ALIENS?!
The Shogun looked across the skyline at the huge shape that hung unnaturally, in defiance of the laws of gravity, motionless above the Imperial capitol. The tiny shapes of helicopters buzzed around it like insignificant aerial tadpoles around a killer shark. They maintained a respective distance; those that had approached too closely or behaved too aggressively had found themselves given a shot across their noses by some sort of ray weapons from the alien craft. One military gunship had staggered back to base missing a wing that had been vaporized off by a precise shot. The army scout teams had reported seeing even larger weapons on the large craft’s hull.
“Has Lord Kuno gotten us involved in a war with an extraterrestrial species then?” His companion on the overlook asked.
“Not yet, but the day’s still young.”
”Not funny.”
“I wasn’t trying to be.”
“At least they’re still talking over there.”
“Unfortunately, so’s Kuno.”
“Hmmmphh.”
“Shouldn’t you be on the way to the Imperial Redoubt, Your Majesty?”
“To what end? The imperial heir and his mother are already there, and my place is in the capitol with my people. If they turn out to be hostile, I for one won’t be hiding in some hole in the ground, and if this turns out well, then I still won’t be hiding in a hole in the ground.”
“Very progressive thinking of you, Your Majesty.”
There was moment of quiet as the two most powerful men in the Empire gazed at the latest unexpected wrinkle in recent events.
“Kumazo, did you ever, in your wildest imaginings, think that you’d be witnessing First Contact?”
“No.”
“Or that its outcome might well rest on a delusional idiot?”
“No.”
“Good. I’d hate to think I was the only one who’s feeling he didn’t adequately prepare for this sort of thing.”
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(Posted Fri, 19 Feb 2010 17:26)
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