Ion 417: Raiju (31 page)

"Ok, we'll be up there shortly. Then I can translate what he's been able to find."

Sakura had been patiently waiting while I talked to Lafiel. As soon as I tapped to end the call, she was ready with a can of the spray tanning that we'd purchased yesterday.

"It might be easier if you took off the dress so that I can reach all the spots. What language was that you spoke?"

"We're only going up the hill to where the ship is landed. Are you sure I need to spray that stuff on now?"

"Outside is outside. The moment that you think nobody will see you, is the moment they will not only see you, but have a camera. So, unless you want that pretty midori face of yours to be seen on every television set in Japan, better be ready to use this stuff. And speaking of that ship of yours, how do you plan to keep it from  being seen?"

"I don't know for sure. I thought maybe make a dress big enough to cover it. Do you know where to get fabric?"

"A dress? Oh, I see. Cover it in fabric to hide it, but that won't really fool anyone that gets close to it."

"It's the only idea I had. I had no idea that I'd have to be hiding it from other Humans."

"Perhaps when you find your mother's family, they will have a better idea. For now, hold still."

The spraying went a little easier this time. With her help I soon had the wig in place, and looked just like the rest of the people I'd seen on the streets of Sendai. My feet wouldn't quite squeeze into the pair of shoes that she had to match the dress, so I was left with my boots once more.

From one of the cabinets in the kitchen she pulled out a woven basket with a flip open top. While I was trying to figure out what this had to do with meeting my ship mates, she folded a couple of cloths into the bottom. I finally realized her intent when she pulled out a pot to fill with water for cooking.

I reminded her of the doctor's orders, though I still had my doubts about such people. She actually listened when I told her to sit on the stool and I took over the preparations. Salt in the water, and wait until it was boiling steam from it before dropping those dried rice kernels into the pot. So that's the secret!

While waiting for that I had to thinly slice some fish from the chilled cabinet, which I know I was doing badly at from the strained grin on her face. Slicing vegetables went better, but twice I had to dump what I'd cut, and rinse my hand until the bleeding stopped. Both times I had to assure her that it was only a minor cut. I'd seen her cutting that first night, and her knife moved at a blurring pace.

I remember thinking that simple rice balls would be easy, until I was actually making them. That vendor didn't charge enough for the hard work that goes into forming them. Press them firmly, but not too firmly around the center chunk, forming it into a lovely triangle that looks like a rock instead. I could hear the stifled laughter from the stool behind me as I tried to keep the rice from squeezing out between my fingers. This was going to take a lot of practice, not to mention enduring the laugh as I wound up with rice stuck to my nose.

Under her guidance I carefully arranged the food into the basket she had prepared, and topped it with a large folded cloth. Everything had a specific place to be, and somehow it fit without the need to squish it into place. So much more work than the food packages, but much more satisfying to have done it all myself.

The walk up the path in daylight was much better than driving it in the middle of the night. The trees were giving it just enough shade from the sun that it felt nice and cool. They also blocked out the city sprawled below the mountain giving it the feel of seclusion and life. Every moment spent on this wonderful green world made me detest that cold orbital station even more.

The stone shapes that had glinted in the bike's headlight last night were actual lanterns set along the path. Sakura told me that when the temple was running, the priests would light them each night for people to walk the path. I could see that several of them had been broken.

She just sighed at my comment, "They haven't brightened the path for nearly twenty years. It seems useless to repair them when the temple is long gone. Very few make the trip to pray for their pets anymore."

"Pets?"

"Animal companions that people live with. The temple honored an inugami that stood as protector of the forest and pets."

"What happened?"

"The last priest died without a disciple to take his place. Now the belief is fading it seems. Very few make the venture anymore."

We passed by a few women out picking berries that grew wild beside the path. They seemed harmless enough, but it was a reminder that people did wander up this path. It wouldn't take much for them to climb to the top like Hiro and Sai had done. If they did that, then they'd have to tell somebody about the big blue starship sitting in the grass there. Sakura seemed to know every one of these ladies, and insisted on introducing me to them.

The path ended at the crumbling gates. Twin stone pillars rose from the wall, to be topped with a double top crossbar. The remains of simple wooden gates hung from rusting hinges. Only one of the halves was actually still attached, and it had been decorated more recently by swirls of color, like stylized kanji. The bright reds, blues, and black clashed with the underlying faded yellow. Sakura scowled at the mark calling it graffiti. If I read the one right, it said something about mating a cat, but that made no sense whatsoever.

As we stepped through the gate, the ship was immediately visible. The bright blue stood out boldly from the green and brown of the courtyard and surrounding forest. The sun was reflecting on the emblem, making the lightning wreathed comet gleam as if it flew through space. I hope Lafiel really likes her colors.

"Denkou Suisei, the lightning comet. How appropriate. I never imagined it would be so large."

"It's a lot smaller that some of the ships I saw along the way. The Reliance Guard Cruiser dwarfed it."

"This is what you wanted to make a dress for?"

"Somehow drape fabric over it; but yes, I need to hide it."

"That will take a whole fabric shop to cover it."

"I know that it's bigger than your house. It was difficult to find a place to land it that was out of the way. I certainly didn't wish to land in a populated area and squish people beneath it. Bad first impression."

Tapping the comm, I called Lafiel to let her know that we were coming aboard. Her instant answer told me that she had been watching us approach through the gate, "She looks like a bigger version of the little girl."

"Except Saiyuki didn't have her arm in a brace."

"What happened to her?"

"Remember how I said there had been an incident at the robotic demonstration?"

Lafiel's voice carried her concern, "To quote you, you said a little excitement. You didn't mention anyone else getting severely wounded. Hurry and bring her inside. Maybe we can do something for her."

"We'll be there soon enough. I don't want to rush her."

I took the time as we strolled through the tall grass of the courtyard to look at the building that dominated it. The signs were there that this had once been a grand place. Weather and neglect had taken their toll on it, as had more recent visitors with paint. A pathway of flat stones kept the grass from completely isolating the old temple.

I heard the sigh from Sakura as she looked around, "Seeing it this way shames my memories. It has been many years since last I visited this place. I let other things distract me more and more from it until I stopped coming all together. Did you know that there used to be an annual festival for the migrating spirits to welcome them with a place to rest?"

"Traveling what? Beings of dreams?"

"I guess that's one way to call them. Spirits -- beings that aren't really here in this world, and yet touch it. This temple hosted the forest spirits to guard the spirits of the villager's pets. That part that remains after the body has died. The priests had a shrine to the Inugami that was believed to guard the area."

"The things I have studied could never agree on something existing after the body ceased to breathe."

"It's the same here on Earth. Nobody can prove whether spirits exist or not, but who wants an angry ghost if they are wrong?"

"Why has nobody returned to care for this temple?"

"Only the local people knew it was here, and the new priests all go to more famous places."

Our discussion came to an end with the sight of Panzo coming down the ramp. Sakura was walking a bit stiffly, so we curtailed the greetings for getting her up to the common room. I had expected to find the others waiting there, since I'd been gone all night, but it was only Lafiel's holo lounging in a chair reading an upside-down magazine. The title on the cover said something about Kanari fashions, but I saw the edges of another book tucked inside it.

Lafiel had seen my glance, "He went running through the trees, Again. You know he found a tunnel, right?"

Sakura bowed to Lafiel's image and responded, "I'm so sorry, but I do not speak your star language."

I laughed a little as I carried on the translation and greetings, "This is Lafiel. She was telling me that the other member of the crew was out wandering through the trees, and he seems to have found a tunnel."

"Will I get to meet them in person?"

I waved a hand toward Lafiel's holo, "This is the closest you can get to Lafiel. Her core is sealed away in the middle of the ship, where she serves as the navigational AI. I mean not non-artificial AI." Extending the wave to the other Kanari, I added, "You've already met Panzo. He's an engineer. I don't know if Traxel will return soon or not."

Sakura glanced toward him, "This Panzo is the one who put on the show of being an Inugami, and frightened the police."

I nodded agreement, and shifted to Indigal for Panzo, "She says you made a great Inugami, but frightened the local law enforcement."

He curled the tip of his nose, "A what?"

"It's something of a dog ghost spirit that guards a place. In fact this place we landed in, used to be a temple to such a being."

He turned to Sakura and twitched his ears in greeting, "It is good to see you again in someplace that doesn't resemble a cage. Why is your arm bundled like that?"

I translated his greeting to her, and turned back to answer him, "I told you there had been some excitement yesterday. She got caught in it and doesn't seem to heal as fast as I do. On a brighter note; we brought food."

I began setting out the dishes that I had prepared under Sakura's watchful eye on the table for our picnic. She begged forgiveness for not helping, and asked if she could use the toire as it had been a long walk. I told her there was a sanitation unit in the corner of my cabin that she could use. I had gotten the dishes arranged in a nice setting that even made my rice balls look, well, not so bad, when she came out of my cabin coughing and gagging. That of course sent her into spasms of pain from her injuries as well.

Between coughs she managed to spit out, "Your water... is... bad. Salty..."

"I must offer my apologies. I hadn't thought to warn you about that. I like my water with a bit of mineral in it. Other water tastes just so bland that I had the engineers on Reliance install a special system just in my cabin. The water out here is normal."

I helped her walk back to the common room as Panzo hurriedly shuffled the picnic over to the counter. By the time we got there he had shifted the table into bio bed mode, telling her to lie down. I wish I had thought of that. All that fuss with those crazy doctors when I could have brought her to this.

She looked a little apprehensive as the arms swung over her. Taking a cue from Sakura, I made Panzo turn around so that I could pull her shirt off. I winced every time my movement brought a gasp from her, but I had to get it out of the way for the arms to work on her. Lafiel adjusted the settings to read for normal level with just treating the injuries.

A few humming beeps later it had performed the full scan, and was processing the information to be able to treat her injuries. The display flickered over to 'Species 74729, Female, Adult', and the manipulators swung into action. Sakura yelped in surprise as the one centered on her ribs and the other hovered over her face.

While the first was busily opening her side with a laser scapel, the other was misting a spray over her bruised face. Even as I watched, I could see the swelling vanish under the fine mist. It shifted tips into surgical mode, and aimed toward her abdomen. The display showed that it was removing a constriction there.

For twenty minutes it fussed over Sakura, getting her ribs set with tiny clamps, removed some constriction it found, opened a blocked vein in her leg, and even tried to repair the holes in her ear before Lafiel stopped it.

Lafiel's voice popped in: "Species 74729 original readings were taken seventy nine years ago. This file has been updated twenty four times, including one female with the same sub-genesis taken about twenty years ago. I guess we know who that is. I've updated the data to label you Human."

Sakura had two tiny patches of pseudo derm where the clamps had been inserted, and all but the barest trace of pain was gone. She stretched both arms up, testing the movement as I helped get her shirt back on.

"Will I now heal as fast as you? Did it make me different? How long before I turn green?"

"You're still you, just healed of the injuries."

The makings for the picnic were scattered along the length of the counter where Panzo had set them in his hurry. He was now trying to arrange them better, and doing his best to reassemble one of the rice balls that had begun to crumble. Sakura stood before Panzo and gave him a deep bow. For his part, Panzo was suitably surprised, and mumbled a hurried welcome and thanks. I think he even reddened a bit under his fur.

Turning again to me, Sakura asked, "Then how did you become this somewhat yellowish-green? And you heal so fast without that machine."

"You see, my major paternal component comes from, well..., an Andorian Eel -- which is why I'm a bit green and like salt. I'm just glad I didn't get the dagger teeth to go with it."