Ion 417: Raiju

by James Darcey

  The bike was in the garage, right where it had sat since I'd made Panzo walk back to the ship. Was that really only last night? So much had happened in so short of a time that I hadn't had time to think about my goal. It came to life with its quiet hum as I rolled it out into the courtyard. Feeling the soft vibration beneath me reminded me of the ship as it had traveled through high drive. I missed the subtle noise and feel that weren't noticed except by their absence.

  It took only a few minutes to wind my way up the path to the old temple grounds. Everything looked a little different in the faded light with the bike's headlight reflecting off small stone shapes periodically lining the path. With a bit of power they could probably light the way.

  I found Panzo sitting in the common room talking to Lafiel's holo while they searched through the connections to the internet. It had taken them only a few hours to find a way to tap into the networked communication grid of the planet, and access the information stored there. They were deep in a conversation so full of technical jargon that I had only a slight idea of what they talked about.

  Lafiel called out to me, startling Panzo who hadn't noticed my return, "Captain! can you help us? We need an interpreter."

  Peeking over Panzo's shoulder I caught what looked like a list of foods labeled in kanji that scrolled down the screen. Some of them I knew as varieties of fish, while others I could only guess at because of the main label for vegetables. I was beginning to realize that the years I had spent learning the language from my mother's recordings hadn't really prepared me for actually reading and speaking it well.

  "It looks like you have the product page for a food market. See that? That says Hamachi, which is one of the fish I know of. If I understand correctly, it's bigger than me. That's Sake; more of a red fish. Unagi is some sort of eel, though I doubt it's any relation. Rice, Edamame, Shinko, yes, I think this must be a food market in a place called Shiboto."

  "Thank you Captain. See Panzo? I thought it was about food with the little pictures of leaves. Captain! I just noticed that dress is torn and bloodstained. What happened?"

  "It's nothing to worry about. I am fully healed, though a bit hungry. Speaking of which, I burned up either a rehydrator or energy cooker. I'm not sure which it is, but I have to get food for this family."

  "There was a little bit of excitement when I went to see a robotics demonstration, and I got a little bit punctured."

  Now I'd gotten Panzo's attention, "Just what kind of excitement did you cause? And how did you change color? And..."

  "Can I tell you all about it later? I have hungry people that need food, and ooh yes. This looks good."

  I began cycling packages of steamed Stilfin in long noodles through the rehydrator as I tried to think of what else would taste good with it. The aroma coming off the prepared packages really got to me, and before I knew it I'd stacked half a dozen of them on the counter. I followed those with a bunch of Moatra Berries, and Tifa. On the third package of Fafaisl, Lafiel asked just how many I was planning to feed.

  "There's four of them. You think I should do a few more packages?"

  "I saw the size of those two children. I think you'll end up eating half of this yourself. What about something to drink?"

  "You're right. I tasted their water."

  I searched through the containers in the pantry and came up with a couple that could hold water. These I filled from the supply in my cabin before lugging everything down to the bike. What hadn't seemed very much while sitting on the counter, looked like a huge pile as I strapped it all to the back of the bike. There was barely room to fit the two four-liter jugs of water.

  I walked in to find Hiro showing his mother the charred remains of the controller from the cooking unit I'd damaged slightly. The agitated look on Sakura's face turned to curiosity as I brought the bundle of package through the door.

  I did my best to sound cheerful, "I had a little difficulty with the food fixing, so I brought back some things I think you'll like. This one is the Stilfin that I liked so well that I brought a bunch of it on the trip. I'm sure I can fix that cooking unit."

  Hiro promptly set the ruined controller aside to poke through the packages, "Where's this from? It looks like it's written in Martian or something. Wait, these are from the movie, aren't they?"

  I still remembered one of the comments Sakura had said to me, and I knew I had to clear things up, "About the movie, I..."

  "Sai! We're gonna eat alien food. Help me get some plates."

  "You mean like bugs and junk?"

  I laughed, "This is a kind of fish that comes from a planet called Reliance. That was the firs... Well, it tastes really good."

  As Hiro and Sai ran off to the kitchen for the dishes, Sakura tugged at my arm and whispered, "You still need to explain a lot."

  I needed to straighten this out right away. If I tried keeping the up the ruse with the kids, while Sakura had a different story, something would go wrong. Of that I was fairly certain. None of the biographies I had studied advocated keeping up multiple conflicting stories with people you were spending time around, and I was here for at least a day or two.

  It felt more difficult than facing down the Selstlaks as I opened my mouth to explain, "Alright everyone, I need to explain a little bit. I know that... "

  The comm unit on the wall, the house phone, interrupted my explanation with a ringing sound. Suddenly it was a race between the two children to see who could tear the phone off the wall as they struggled with the hand-piece. Between the two of them, they stretched the cord out as they vied to be the one to hand it to Sakura.

  She took it and did her best to smile, "Now quiet you two, this is your father on the phone."

  My explanation seemed to have been forgotten at the moment as she spoke to Akita about how I had prepared some dinner for them. It seems that I'm not the only one that gets interrupted as I try to explain things. She had to raise her voice to him as the announcer on the television talked even louder, "Yes, there will be some for you when you get home. Yes. We can heat it in the... well, we can do something."

  The television announcer was fairly screaming in his excitement about obtaining new images. Everyone glanced toward the screen as the scene came on showing the front of Saikou industries. The view panned around to show the crowd from the robot demonstration, before focusing back on the stage.

  "Hey, was that mom?"

  "Shh... here comes dad."

  Sakura was still attempting to hold her conversation with Akita, despite the announcer thinking we'd hear him better if he screamed, "Yes, she's here right now... watching it now... it... you can't tell much from..."

  The camera showed the rocket trail as the robot's head exploded. Even I jumped, though I knew it was coming. I heard a soft 'cool' from Hiro. Then the crowd surge and Sakura falling. There was a gasp from all of them at that. The image was swinging around to show my arm spreading lightning through the crowd.

  "Hey, that kinda looks like..."

  The announcer came back in that overly excited voice with the claim that it was shifting to the new images, and once again making a point of saying that they came straight for Saikou Industries. The view was replaced by one from higher over the platform facing the crowd. It showed pretty much the same thing from a different angle, at least until the crowd surged. Shortly before the crowd surged you could see a few scattered people removing weapons from under coats. The crowd surged, and toward the front a few people fell over, being stepped on by those behind them. I heard everyone gasp as they recognized Sakura being stepped on.

  The woman behind Sakura, me, spread her arms to the crowd and the lightning jumped from person to person in a wide fan shape. Wherever the lightning touched people, they paused for a moment before falling over. A few seconds later, one of the people on the ground seemed to jump with a puff of smoke. Still standing amidst the fallen people were three children.

  The phone made a loud thunk as it slipped from her fingers. The sound snapped Sakura out of
the daze that had gripped her with the images on the television. Sai grabbed it off the floor and handed it back to her.

  "Yes, I'm still here. Oh!... yes they just showed it... I... well... We can talk when you get home."

  The announcer reported that the image would be enlarged for a better view. This time it was much larger and centered on where Sakura was standing. A tall man was blocking the view of my face, but I was mostly visible behind him. When the surge happened it was obvious that the person behind Sakura had actually pushed her out of his way. He was still trying to pull a weapon loose. It showed me turning to face the crowd with lightning crackling along my arms. My face had been blurred by the motion and the tall man, but there was no mistaking those yellowish-green arms outstretched spreading the lightning.

  When the people fell, it was children who had been too short to get hit by lightning that still stood. The scene showed me bending down and carrying Sakura away. Her face was buried in my chest at that point, so that you couldn't really tell who we were. I was quickly out of the frame of the image.

  As the image faded to the announcer sitting at a desk they all turned to look at me. We stared at each other for what seemed like hours, but likely was only a minute or two. Finally to break the tension I announced, "I think I can make some tea to go with the fish."

  It worked. Suddenly all the questions that had been building behind the silent eyes began to be asked. At least the children were asking questions. Sakura was giving me a look that seemed almost wary, as though she feared me.

  "Was that part of the movie stuff?"

  "How did you get the sparks to jump like that?"

  "Were those guys stunt men?"

  "Is that when you got a bullet hole in your dress? The blood looked almost real, but you can tell it's fake or there'd be lots more."

  "I thought it looked real, but you weren't hurt."

  "How come momma got shoved down and kicked?"

  I took a deep breath, wondering how I could explain everything to children that knew nothing of my abilities. I'd learned enough in my short time on Earth to know that I was unique among Humans for being able to control electricity the way I did, and for healing a little faster. I also knew I had to come up with something that didn't involve movies.

  "I don't know for sure just what a movie is, but I'm just a little different than most Humans is all. My natural color is like you had seen me when we first met. And as you saw from the television, I can throw electricity. It's not really throwing it, more of creating an electrical surge inside myself that I can direct. It creates a natural difference of charges to allow the intervening air to ionize so that the pent up charge can bridge the gap."

  I might as well have been speaking Indigal for all the recognition I saw in their faces. Sai's hand slowly rose as though she were deciding just where it belonged. Her voice quivered a little as she spoke, "How did you get to be green then?"

  For all that, her biggest question was green? "My mother was just like you, born right her in Sendai. My father was from someplace else, and he was the green one."

  Sakura had recovered her composure enough and now tried to put a stop to the questions, "Enough for now. Help her make some tea. Your father will be home soon enough and he will decide what must be done then."

  Twin choruses of, "Yes, Mom."

  "The tea basket is in that drawer"

  I glanced to where she pointed, and opened the drawer. Which of these gadgets was a basket? She pointed out the little basket with its flip up top. With her aid I put several leaves into it, and closed the top. She counted them to ensure I had the proper amount. She then pointed out a pot to fill with water. She nodded when it was full enough. This went on the stove with the basket ready, and a flame under the pot. I hadn't set the flame to proper height, so she corrected that. We sat there waiting for it to complete preparation.

  "Does it hurt?"

  The question came without any hint as to what she was meaning. When I asked what she meant by that, her finger pointed to the bloodstained hole in my dress. I had shoved the thoughts of that from my mind. The pain hadn't lasted long, and I had been so busy getting Sakura to safety that it really hadn't mattered.

  "I was not badly injured. You can poke it if you want."

  Her finger started toward the hole, but stopped and rapidly withdrew. The uncertainty was clearly evident in her expression. I think we both jumped when the pot whistled with a jet of steam escaping the spout.

  With Sai's guidance I set the little basket in the ceramic pot, and poured the steaming water into that. That pot went on the special tray, surrounded by tiny cups that matched the pattern on the pot.

  Even Hiro piped in with help, "Adjust the handles so that they all point in the right way. We need the rice wafers too."

  I had to put the little dish into a specific place, lay a sprig of mint between it and the pot. I began to feel like I was assembling an intricate puzzle with all the little nuances there were to getting tea made. I wasn't beyond believing that half of that was Sai playing a joke on me either. It sounded so believable though, because she knew precisely how to arrange it, and when the whole tray was ready it looked right.

  We were carrying the tea tray out of the kitchen when Akita arrived. The greeting he called out upon entering drew the children to bounce around him as he shucked his coat.

  I found myself next to Sakura, and nearly spilled the tray when she gently tugged at my arm. She motioned for me to bring my ear closer for her to whisper.

  "Not time to explain, but please can you let me hold some of your money before he notices?"

  The stack of currency notes I handed to her were hurriedly slipped into the sling. I wasn't sure what it was for, but she could have it all for what I cared of it. She had been injured far more than I was, just for trying to help me.

  By now he had finished divesting himself of coat and turned to stare at me for several wordless moments. He was the one that finally broke the silence, "Hirohito! Saiyuki! Why is our guest left holding a serving tray?"

  Sai rushed to take the tray from me as Hiro led him to the chair at the head of the table. He sat down just like he had the previous night. Despite my protests that I could manage the tray, Sai took it from me to set it on the table and gently pushed me to my seat. Hiro was bringing his father to the table while doing his best to fit an entire day's experience into a few sentences.

  Sakura spoke up as she stood, "Hiro, hurry and heat them for a minute... oh, I forgot about the microwave."

  Her words caught his attention above Hiro's monologue, "What about the microwave?"

  I blurted out an explanation, "It sort of went pop, and, and... I'm sure I can get it working again. Not to worry though, as the packages retain the heat for an hour or so."

  He poked at the box, "Just what is this? From a new place?"

  "It's called Stilfin. Something of a favored fish on Reliance. It seemed close enough to the fish I saw at the cart today that I thought you might like it. That other one is some Moatra berries. I don't know if you have anything like them, but I enjoy them and thought you would as well."

  He didn't really even look at me when I said it; his only response being a muffled grunt. For the next several minutes we all ate in silence -- the children looking back and forth between me and Akita, while Sakura just watched him. Even after eating two packages on the ship I was still hungry from today's outing.

  Nobody said a word until his chop sticks were carefully laid in their rest. He looked up at me, "I had hoped that you would have finished your search before I arrived home, and been off to wherever you were going."

  Both of the children started to raise objections, only to snap their mouths closed as his stern glance shifted to them. Sakura took the lull in his words to add her own words, "But today at the..."

  "Yes, today happened, which is why I'll allow her here tonight. I am generous enough to allow her the extra day."

  Sakura smiled at him, "She might need more time than th
at, and I said she could stay."

  He raised his voice with anxiousness, "Do you know just how dangerous it is even letting her sit at our table?"

  She didn't actually yell, but her voice brooked no argument, "Dangerous for whom? I don't know if you saw the same show I did, but what I saw was a bad situation getting stopped with only minor injuries. Would you have felt better if she hadn't been there, and I was now in the morgue? I'll admit that watching that was shocking and scary, but after the umpteenth time of seeing it, I realized how close it came to you bringing me white flowers."

  I tried to calm things down a little, "I apologize if I have frightened you. I didn't want to tell you about that because I like you. I was afraid you would send me away. I became worried when they shoved Sakura down, and I reacted to stop them from hurting her more. I did my best to stop them without hurting anyone."

  Hiro tried to help my explanation as well, "It's so cool, Dad. She stopped those bad guys so fast!"

  Sakura brought out the money I'd given her, "I already accepted her first month's rent of Tsukune's room."

  He looked around at all the anxious faces watching him. I could tell he was tired, and facing something he didn't like. Sakura reached over and set the stack of currency by him, "I know I should have asked you first, but you can be the one to tell her to go."

  He stared at it like he was waiting for it to jump and bite him. With a sigh he shoved it toward me, "It would dishonor my house to take your money after what you did for my wife. You are my guest, and I nearly forgot my duties as host. It has been a long day." There were emotions running across his features that I couldn't begin to guess.

  I looked straight at him to explain, "I know I should have told you about this before. I won't go into details about the 'how', but I can use electricity." I let my gaze take in the rest of the family, "I started to explain earlier, but the video came on and you saw for yourselves. Sai, you asked earlier if this is what I looked like without movie make-up. Just the opposite -- this is the make-up and before was my natural color."