Adventures in Parodyverse - Saving the Future Part 18.1.2

    A man wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt was threatening an old lady outside of Norby’s Department Store.  With one hand he held on to her purse strap, as she tugged from the other side.  His other hand held a knife, and he was threatening to cut her if she didn’t let go.

    The old woman was sobbing.  She just came from the bank, and a month’s social security was in that purse.

    “Oh f---!”  He then cursed as his eyes widened, and he let go of the strap, causing the old woman and the purse to fall to the ground, spilling its contents into the gutter.  He began running, and didn’t turn back.  The knife clanged to the sidewalk a few yards away as he dropped it and kept going.

    “May I help you with that?”  A small hand took the old woman’s arm and helped her to her feet.  It was an Asian woman, and she didn’t seem the least bit shaken by what happened.

    “Oh, my.”  the old woman exclaimed as she realized that the Asian was carrying a sword.

    The Psychic Samurai knelt and shoved the spilled items back into the purse carefully.  She then rose and handed it back to the old woman.  “I’m sorry for allowing the neighborhood to deteriorate so much.”  she apologized as she handed her a handkerchief from the purse.

    There was no response from the old woman.  She was still stunned, her hands shaking, because of the whole thing.  She quietly took the purse offered by the Asian.

    “Where would you like to go?  The cab ride is on me.”  Chiaki Bushido stepped into the street and waved down the first cab to approach.  She opened the back door for the old woman, and then leaned into the front passenger window, handing the driver fifty dollars.  

    “Take this woman wherever she wishes to go.”

    “Absolutely!”  the driver exclaimed, surprised to be getting such a large fare.

    Chiaki closed the door and watched the cab drive away.  She looked around and noticed two or three people who she sensed were going to be up to no good, except now they were walking quickly with their heads down, trying not to be noticed.

    The word was out.  The Psychic Samurai was taking back the neighborhood.

---

    Lara Night felt a little self-consious as she sat in a soft chair just behind and to the left of Captain Shen Rae, aboard the Heart of Light.  There was another chair parallel to the one Lara sat in, also behind the Captain, but to her right.  Both chairs seemed reserved for guests...or perhaps Company executives.

    As the ship prepared for what they called an Anchor launch - it was some device which triggered a short-lived wormhole - the Captain explained to Lara about the Galactic Government and the Company that owned the ship.  Lara wasn’t entirely sure if she understood, but she got the idea - that the ship was privately owned, not by government, giving them a little more freedom politically.

    Even though the Anchor had been explained to her, it still looked amazing to Lara.  Even though the Earth she was from was fairly advanced - as she told the Captain, convincing her to explain some about their secretive technology and social structure - they still hadn’t developed a way to travel vast distances of outer space quickly.

    A tiny device about the size of a missile, only more conical, fired from the ship.  It travelled a short distance away, and then what seemed like an invisible tether tugged the ship along behind it.  Then Earth was gone, and another planet was visible in the distance.  The Anchor then self-destructed in a shower of sparks and molten metal.

    “Are we still well-stocked with Anchors?”  Shen Rae asked.

    The Navigator replied, “Yes, Captain.”

    The Captain nodded and spun her chair around to speak to Lara.  At that point, Lara tried to see if her chair moved too, but found it didn’t have the same luxury - it was fixed.  At the same time, the First Officer left the bridge.

    “This is Shee-Yar.”  Shen Rae explained.  “It’s currently quarantined.  My first officer is conferencing with the Company to get special permission for us to accompany an expert to investigate it.”

    “Special permission?  Investigate?”  Lara asked.  “Who’s the expert?”

    “You are.”  Shen Rae responded with a smile.  “All of Shee-Yar has been wiped out by someone.  Someone who killed them one at a time.  We have no idea what happened beyond that.”

    Lara turned pale as she sat up in her chair.  “I...I’m no expert.  I’m not even an investigator.”

    “You’re also all we have.”  Shen Rae said, her smile disappearing.  “We are seriously running short of time.  There may be a war over this, and if we protect the wrong side, or remain neutral in error, the consequences could be disastrous.”

    “I see.”  Lara whispered.  She finally stood, and walked closer to the screen.  “How much time do we have before we get permission?”

    “A few hours, perhaps.”  the Captain responded.  “Why?”

    “I have an idea.”  the blonde said.  “But you’ll have to trust me.  I have to leave your ship for a bit, and bring back a real expert.”

    Shen Rae nodded.  “I’m willing to trust.  Please return quickly, Lara Night.”

---

    Shen Rae was in her office when a nervous security officer from her ship escorted Lara Night to her office.  She wondered exactly why her crew was skittish enough to ask for an escort.  Then, she noticed someone with the blonde...someone the crew or herself didn’t recognize.

    “Good evening.”  the woman greeted, bowing her head politely.  She had dark brown well-kept hair, a much different accent from the blonde, and a winning smile.  She was also dressed in blue jeans, a white  buttoned shirt, and a leather jacket.  “I’m Sharon.”

    The Captain glanced at Lara, expecting some kind of explanation, but didn’t say a word.

    “She’s a friend of mine.”  Lara explained.  “And an expert in, well, almost anything.  She’s very well educated.”

    “Very well.”  Shen Rae motioned for them both to follow.  The guard attempted to follow too, but the Captain waved him away.

    They exited the bridge and walked down a long, narrow carpeted corridor that had some sort of wood from the floor to about waist height.  Above that was what looked like some kind of opaque glass material, and the ceiling had rounded glass-like corners that gave off light, and large white metallic tiles in the center.

    Every once in a while there was a rectangular opening with rounded corners, made of the same white metallic tile as the ceiling, with a door set deep into the opening.  A small, round light was above each door, focused on the floor directly below it.

    Shen Rae stopped at one of those openings and stepped into the light.  The door slid open sideways.  Lara and Sharon followed.

    Through the door was a short corridor like the one they just left, only with a lower ceiling, and another door at the opposite end.  As that one slid open, it revealed a much larger room with a high ceiling, and white metallic tile on the floor instead of carpet.  There were sets of rectangular reticles painted on the floor, and in the center of each sat smooth, metallic spacecraft, about the size of motor homes, that appeared to have no windows or doors.

    Just ahead of each set of reticles was another spotlight in the floor, pointing up.  Shen Rae stepped into one of those, and a seam appeared in the spacecraft parked next to it.  A door popped out and slid upward over the top of the craft.

    “How could that door be there when we couldn’t see it?”  Sharon asked.

    “Energy field.”  Shen Rae and Lara replied at the same time.  Lara clarified by noting, “I can feel it from here.”

    “It protects the Energy Glider and provides propulsion at the same time.”  Shen Rae explained.

    “Ah.”  Sharon answered.  “We have something like that back home.”  Without hesitation, she stepped aboard the Energy Glider.  Lara followed quickly, and then Shen Rae.  Lara looked around as she entered, noticing that from the inside it appeared the entire craft was lined from end to end a window.

    The Captain sat at the front, and placed her hand on a flat, dark glassy panel.  It lit up with all sorts of information, and the craft began to hum gently.  “Captain Shen Rae, requesting departure.”

    “Request granted.”  came the reply.  “And Captain, I have a single day permission to investigate.”

    “Good.”  Shen Rae said.  She turned to look at Lara and Sharon, who found side-facing seats behind the Captain.  They noticed that the seats had no belts, but exerted a light pulling action as they sat down.  “Let’s get to work.”

    The Energy Glider lifted off of the ship’s deck gently and floated backwards toward the opposite wall from where they entered.  That wall had a large indentation and a door which was split horizontally.

    As they approached, all of the lights in the room turned red and began flashing, and the large door separated and slid open silently.  As they passed through the opening, Lara looked up, and saw that the door was as thick as the Energy Glider was wide.  They sure took security seriously.

    Then they were in space.  The Energy Glider picked up speed rapidly and silently, and they headed toward the Shee-Yar planet.  As they entered the atmosphere, the ship was still silent - the only way they could tell they were entering it at all was the moisture trail forming white smoke around the ship as it went.

    Within only minutes, they discovered the surface of the planet, in what looked like a heavily wild area somewhat close to a residential settlement.  The Energy Glider never actually touched down - it remained floating inches above the surface.

    “It’s not safe to go out there yet.”  Shen Rae spoke up.  “We must observe proper quarantine procedures.”

    “The Lair Legion has breathed the air here before.”  Lara pointed out.

    “It doesn’t matter.”  Shen Rae shook her head.  “It’s possible an agent was released after the population was wiped out as a secondary measure.  Or that all of these dead bodies has caused a natural pathogen to accelerate to lethal levels.”

    “She’s right.”  Sharon noted.  “Even with humans, if enough of them die in one place you can have lethal bacterial or fungal contamination in the air.”

    “So we wear some kind of enviromnental suits?”  Lara guessed.  “It’s going to be tough to work in those.”

    “We have more advanced ones than you’re used to.”  Shen Rae suggested with a smile.

TO BE CONTINUED?

-- Story written and copyrighted (C) 2008 by Jason Froikin, and may not be 

--    reprinted without permission.  

-- Yuki Shiro designed by Jason Froikin, based on designs by Masamune Shirow

--  Liu Xi Xian and the Psychic Samurai are original design by Jason Froikin

--  Lara Night is an original creation by Jason Froikin