"How big a spaceship?" Minako asked.
"If it were to land, it would cover from Tokyo to Wakayama," translated Ami.
"Oh, is that all," said Minako. "I was afraid it would turn out to be a Death Star or something."
"There's also a... oh dear," said Ami.
"I have a bad feeling about this," said Minako.
"How long has this been broadcast?" Ami asked the plushy green fellow.
"Since you walked in," said Kachoo. "It's only fair since it is their fates on the line."
Ami twitched, turned towards the hovering little metal marble she now knew to be a camera. "Uhm. Hi Mom. Eh to. I realize I'm likely grounded but I really need to be able to go save the world."
"Your identities are being masked," said the plushy green Alien. "This too is only fair."
"I see," said Usagi, whose pigtails were still standing straight up from the thought of being on an international broadcast.
"So what level of technology are we dealing with?" Setsuna asked her colleague.
"According to the computer, it registers as Technology Level 15C." Ami was puzzled by this and began a Search function.
"It means that his race has solved the Grand Theory of Everything. Unified Field Theory, Matter, and Magic," said Setsuna, who had suddenly gone pale. "On that scale, Earth's current technology is rated a 5. Every full number represents an order of magnitude above the previous."
The other Senshi, upon seeing the normally tanned Senshi turn pale, were about ready to panic.
"No race, I'm afraid," said the Being, a sad note coming to his voice. "I'm the last of my species. We were born a few million years after the Big Bang. We were like you once. We fought our wars and struggled to survive. Eventually we went out and met other species. For a few million years after that there was a great Hegemony Of Worlds all pulling together in our 'Space Opera' days. One after the other, we met our eventual fates. Evolving past physical existence and moving on to greener universes for the most part. And then there was one."
"You," said Ami, shuddering as she imagined that. It was something she had pictured in the past when told about the longevity of the Senshi. Would she and her friends go through that? Watching all your friends and family and lovers grow old and die before your eyes while you continued on, aging to a clock that measured in centuries what others measured in years? What would it do to you to see the world around you die, and your children's children's children dying of old age?
Oddly enough, out of all the Senshi, it was the nearly forgotten Hotaru who made an intuitive leap. "You're not conquering the planet. You're adopting children."
"That is at least part of my motivation," admitted Kachoo. "I suspect that after the past ten billion years that I myself am about ready to pass beyond. That's when I ran into your world and discovered your mastery of flavors that I had long thought lost to time."
Everyone stared at Hotaru briefly, then at the Menace From Beyond, then finally at Shiro (the manager of the restaurant) who'd started crying for no apparent reason.
Haruka frowned at her bowl of beef ramen. "Damn! Now I'll feel guilty about killing it."
Ami frowned. Lose and this Alien Being would conquer the Earth, use his technology to bring about a new golden age of peace and posterity, guide the Earth into a leading role in galactic civilization, and put beef bowl restaurants and ramen stands across the galaxy. Win and she maintained Earth's independence, kept the current sad state of affairs they'd witnessed earlier, crushed the dreams of a Being older than the solar system that really didn't seem a bad sort despite being a Menace From Beyond, and had to face that the future was going to go the route she'd heard of.
"Well, how about volleyball?" Minako asked brightly.
"Volleyball? All right. The fate of Australia will be decided with a game of volleyball. Sunday at 8:00," said Kachoo. "Juuban High School has an auditorium that should work."
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(Posted Mon, 09 Jun 2003 12:36)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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