Pioneers: Creation

Introducing the Greatest Scientific Genius in the Whole U...

Introducing the Greatest Scientific Genius in the Whole Universe


         It was near silence and as dim as dusk with only the occasional beep and the light from various monitors showing the world around her.  In a place like this most would call it creepy.  She called it home.


         This was her personal playground, a place to do whatever her mind came up with - and she had a hell of a imagination, she knew.  Metallic floor as far as the eye could see was lined with what she’d come up with.  Her little creations.  In front of her stood her latest prize.  The machine was the cause of the only noise, the beeping, but the machine wasn’t what she was looking at.  It was what was inside the machine.  A man.  What would become her latest pet.


         ‘And one which will prove as uncontrollable as the others,’ she thought with a grin.


         There was a louder, longer beep and she didn’t need to look down at the status monitor to know he was done.  Her grin widened and, with the snap of her fingers, the lights went on in this section of the playground.  It was time to become acquainted with her newest pet.


-------------------------


         Kenshi awoke to the feeling of warm liquid surrounding him and a breathing mask covering the lower half of his face.  He opened his eyes to find himself floating in a metallic tank filled with a strange, green fluid and a single large window which led to what looked like a medical facility of some sort.


         'A healing tank,' he thought to himself as he closed his eyes.  'But how did I get in here?'  He thought back, remembering losing power during his fight with Ruki and hour after hour huddling against the cold, but nothing beyond that. ‘Did Ruki come back for me?’ he thought with mixed hope and bitterness.


         He looked back outside the window to see a small, teenage girl with wild, blood red hair and wearing a white coat and skirt was now standing before him with a huge grin on her face.  Kenshi tilted his head and the girl responded by tapping something beside the window of the tank.  Suddenly he felt the warm liquid start to drain away below him and, a minute later, disappear.  Kenshi stood slouched in the tank, feeling weaker than he had been in years.  The mask flew up and off his face as the door of the tank flew open and cool air rushed in, alerting him to his own nudity.  Before he could do anything about it, however, the girl's head popped around the edge of the opening and she greeted him with a nasally, "Hello!"


         Kenshi blushed deeply, but was too weak to try to cover up his nudity.  Instead he fell forward, barely catching himself with his right arm on the edge of the tank.


         "I see you're still pretty weak, but that's alright.  You're lucky to be alive you know.  Not many people survive being in the middle of space without any source of energy."  Kenshi looked up at the girl, still blushing madly.  "Well you look a little embarrassed!  Looks like I still have that effect on men!"  She cackled - sort of annoying in that nasally voice of hers.  "What's say we get you onto a stretcher before you collapse and break yourself.  Wouldn't want to fill up that tank again so soon, now would we?"


         The girl grabbed him behind the waist, making his blush go even deeper, and lifted him out of the tank with surprising strength.  She set him down onto the cold metallic floor and guided him over to a nearby stretcher.  Kenshi sat himself down and the girl helped him lift his legs over the side, increasing his blush even further.


         "You know, the way you're blushing would make someone think you're laying naked next to some 15 year old teenager."  Kenshi tried to respond but only got out a short series of coughs.  "No, I'm a lot older than I look."


         Kenshi tried talking again and managed to rasp out, "What's going on?"


         "Oh!  Silly me.  I forgot to explain myself. And I don't often forget things.  Your huge, masculine body must be corrupting my teeny wittle mind!"  She looked down at his crotch and started giggling girlishly.  Kenshi coughed and flopped one of his hands over in a vain attempt to cover himself. 


         "Heh heh.  Don't worry.  As I said, I'm a lot older than I look."  The girl grabbed a blanket and swung it over Kenshi, much to his relief.  "As per your question, I rescued you.  You’re on my ship, the Wonderland.  You might have heard of me as I am..." there was a lengthy pause where Kenshi looked up to the supposedly older teenage girl.  "...THE GREATEST SCIENTIFIC GENIUS IN THE WHOLE UNIVERSE!!!"  She looked down at him expectantly.


         Kenshi raised an eyebrow and shook his head.


         "No dice, huh?  Well you can just call me Ally then.  Or, if you prefer, Alice, Alicia or plain old Al.  But anywho, I have a deal to offer you."  She raised a small plastic tube and jammed it into his mouth until he inhaled.  When he did, he found his throat back to normal...or as normal as it had gotten since Ruki had given him that choke hold those three long years ago.


         "What do you want?" he asked, annoyed and slightly angry with the strange girl.


         "Well it's more of an offer for you with a few samples in return.  If you say no I'll still take the samples so you might as well agree to it," Ally said with the first hint of seriousness he'd heard from her.


         "What interest do you have in me?  You could find a more willing guinea pig anywhere."


         "But you're different.  You're rare."


         "I'm Terran.  I've heard it before."


         “Kinda.  It's hard to find a Terran as intelligent and fit as you are."  Her playful smile came back.  "Or as well endowed."  Kenshi visibly squirmed but Ally just cackled at his discomfort.  "Besides, you were the first I came across so I figured, 'what the hell,' you know?"


         "Fine.  But what can you offer me?  I can't think of all that much."


         "Great sex."  Kenshi jumped and almost fell off the stretcher, but Ally was there to hold him down.  "After all, you don't often come across a big handsome man such as yourself!"  Ally hugged him close.  "I like you!"  Kenshi struggled to get away, but the little girl had an iron grip on him and he was too weak to do much.  Ally started cackling again and let go.


         "Just kidding.  Geeze.  You're pretty jumpy.  Kinda cute though."  Kenshi sat as far away from her as he could while not falling off the bed.  "But yeah.  What can I offer you?  Hmmmm..."  Ally seemed to think for a minute before looking back at him with a grin to make the devil proud.  "How about everything you need to catch Ruki?"


         Kenshi shot straight up then promptly slumped back down onto the bed, too weak to be tense.  He looked at Ally.


         "What do you know about that?" he asked.


         "Only that you've been chasing her for three years to redeem yourself in the eyes of the universe for the blame you took in the Orlius Massacre and that you hold her responsible for that blame.  Oh, and did I mention that she's kicked your ass every time you've faced her?"  Kenshi sighed and looked at the distant ceiling, not bothering to respond.  A cigar sounded nice about then, or a toothpick if nothing else.  "Yeah, I know a lot.  After all, I am a genius!"  That annoying cackle again.


         "Couldn't you just prove my innocence then?"


         "Nope."


         "Why not?"


         "Let's just say the law doesn't like me too much, ok?"  Kenshi sighed.  Somebody out there hated him.


         "So what can you offer me?" he asked.


         "I already told you!  I can give you everything you need to catch Ruki."


         "Like what?"


         "Everything."


         "What is everything?"


         "It is a term describing..."


         "I mean what is everything you can give me to help me catch Ruki?" he asked, quickly becoming impatient with the annoying girl’s games.


         "You'll see.  It'll be a surprise!"


         "I don't like surprises."  It was true.  He had received his fair share of surprises in the past and couldn't remember a single good one.  Except for that one night he’d come home on his birthday and found Kyrie grilling steaks while wearing the suit of the day.  Yeah, that was a good one.  Steaks burned though.  ‘Bad thoughts right now, buddy,’ his mind reminded him.


         "You'll like mine," Ally said cryptically.


         The two glared at each other for a good minute as though it were some test of wills.  Ally finally looked away with a "Hmmph," but Kenshi kept staring holes into her.


         "Fine,” he said, curiosity getting the better of him.  “Let's just do what we need to and get it over with."  Ally turned back to him with  excitement written all over her face.


         "Great!  And since I'm so nice, we'll even take care of your part of the deal first.  I've taken most of the samples already anyway."  Kenshi just lay back down.


         "Figures," he mumbled under his breath.


         Ally went to the head of the stretcher and started pushing him while whistling some kind of strange, wacky tune.  The fingers of his left hand tightened into a fist apprehensively, clenching and unclenching over and over again.  After a few minutes of going down a large, dark open space filled with hundreds of strange, often unfinished machines and gizmos of varying sizes and shapes Kenshi couldn't put a name to, they arrived at yet another tank.  This one was slightly larger than the healing tank he'd woken into and held a number of odd looking pads and sensors and a larger mask which covered the entire face instead of just a half face mask, like the healing tank used, in the inside.


         "What's this supposed to do?" he asked.


         "Wouldn't you like to know?" she countered playfully.


         "Yes, I would."


         "Then why don't you step in and find out?"  With that, Ally threw off the blanket and pulled Kenshi off the stretcher.  Kenshi tried to protest, but was silenced when he was thrown brutally into the tank.  He tried once more to talk to the odd girl, but was silenced once more - this time by his own embarrassment as Ally stepped into the tank and started to attach the numerous pads and sensors to his still nude body at a rather awing speed.  When she was done, she grabbed the mask - more like a helmet - and smiled up at him.  "Have fun!  And don't struggle.  You might end up doing some irreversible damage to yourself."


         "Wait now..." he tried but the helmet was slammed down onto his head, blinding him and silencing any further protests.  He tried to grab the girl, but she had already left.  Soon he felt a liquid start to move up his feet and he held as still as possible, remembering the strange girl’s words.


         It took a good ten minutes, but the fluid - colder than the kind in the healing tank - finally came over his head.  A few moments later and he felt a strange tingling coming from the pads.  Another few moments and the tingling had spread all over his body.


         'That damn kid is going to kill me.  I just know it.'  Kenshi thought for a moment, his left hand itching to tense itself as was habit.  'Not that that's such a terrible idea, come to think of it.'


-------------------------


         The Reaper sat on the outer edges of civilization, in a place off to the side and between galaxies, but not so far away from either as to be beyond navigation should she lose her sense of direction.  The nearest colony was nearly 150 light-years away and the nearest star not much closer at just over a hundred light-years.  That area of space was darker than most and few stars pierced that darkness.  It also didn't help that a black hole sucked up most of that light another 50 light-years away.  The result was a cold, dark portion of space that no sane creature would ever try to colonize or control.  It was useful, however.  It was one of the few safe meeting spots for a famous pirate and a rogue scientist, both with enough people after them to colonize a large world.


         "Come on, were the hell is she?" mumbled a very impatient Ruki.  'If she wasn't one of the few contacts that could offer me something useful for a change I swear I’d kill her.'


         She almost changed her mind on keeping the late scientist as a regular employer when a gigantic pink spaceship appeared from seemingly nowhere.


         'She always seems to do that just when I'm about to decide to leave her,' Ruki thought bitterly and steered her ship into a large opening on the side of the much larger ship.  As the Reaper passed into the enormous hangar, she spotted the familiar banner reading in bright lights, 'WELCOME TO WONDERLAND!  ENJOY YOUR STAY!'


-------------------------


         Ruki walked down the ramp of her ship with a bag slung over her shoulder and her tail wrapped tightly around her waist - she'd worked for Ally long enough to know the crazy scientist would try something if that tail happened to be waving around next to her face.  The said scientist was standing at the foot of the ramp with a wide grin.


         "You know, sooner or later I'm going to stop working for you if you keep showing up late like this," Ruki said as she reached the seemingly fifteen-year-old girl.


         "You'll stop working for me when you stop pirating," the small redhead replied.


         "First off, if you keep this up, no I won't.  Second, I'll be dead long before I become an ex-pirate."


         "First off, yes you will with all the equipment I provide you with.  Second, we'll see," Ally responded in a cheap imitation of Ruki's voice.  Ruki growled angrily, but held back for the time being and looked around the dim hangar which, although was filled with hundreds, perhaps thousands, of smaller ships and vehicles, still looked empty in the enormous space provided.


         "Where are we off to this time?"


         "Just this way."  Ally turned on her heel and started skipping off to one of the many pathways, Ruki following reluctantly behind her.


         Ally's lab was a creepy place, to say the least.  Most of the areas were dark and dreary, though Ruki knew that the scientist kept a facility resembling a white hospital to 'entertain' guests sometimes.  The rest of the place was cold and dark, covered with strange machinery that Ruki was sure would never be seen again in the universe.  All in all it sent chills down her spine to look at the ship.  She didn't know how the girl...woman could live here.


         The two walked for what seemed like hours to Ruki but was only a handful of minutes before they came up to one of Ally's many tanks situated around the gigantic lab.


         "Here's where I left it," Ally said triumphantly.


         "Left what?"  Ruki looked into the tank to see a man floating in an orange liquid and covered by a number of strange patches and an even stranger breathing mask.  "Who's this?"


         "Oh just another experiment.  Found him in the middle of nowhere so I rescued him and threw him in here as repayment."


         "What are you doing to him?"


         "Nothing much.  Just a little something for my twisted, sick and perverted mind."  Ruki gave a disgusted look to Ally and the scientist cackled.  "Just kidding.  Wanna stay long enough to find out?  I'm sure you'd love to play a nice little game of ‘hide the salami’ with him.  I hear you like going around."


         "Ally!" Ruki growled.


         "Hey, it's just what I've heard!  Like a neighborhood bicycle - or so the rumor goes."  Ruki considered strangling the scientist but decided to hold off until she received her payment.


         "Let's just get this over with.  What's my payment?  And if it's him," she pointed to the tank, "then you better find a new merc to do your dirty work."


         "First let's see the merchandise."  Ruki gave Ally the bag she'd been holding.  Ally looked inside, studied the many expensive jewels for a moment and smiled.  "This should cover the payment for my power cells for a good three months."  She handed over a thin silver bracelet.  "There you go.  Hope you enjoy."  Ruki grabbed the bracelet and held it up delicately.


         "What's this supposed to do?"


         "It's simple.  You press the little button on the side there and, VOILA!!!  You can phase through any and all materials.  Mostly," she was quick to add.  Ruki took  closer look at the bracelet.


         "What?  It can let me walk through walls?"


         "That's what I just said!"  Ruki put the bracelet on and pressed the button.  She ran her hand through a nearby stretcher and grinned.  Then a thoughtful expression came over her face.


         "How come I don't just sink through floors?"


         "It's a little complicated for someone like you, but lets just say it took me a while to figure that one out."  Ruki nodded her head and flipped the switch again.  "Just make sure you keep some batteries in it.  It will take a normal watch battery and last about an hour and a half.  I suggest you don’t get caught in any materials when it's turned off.  And don't try to touch any form of strong energy, such as a shield or plasma.  It might hurt.  Even unburned fuel would likely sting a bit.  Sound and light will still affect you normally, however."


         "Got it.  Can I take anything with me?"


         "Sure.  Whatever you're wearing and holding.  Just has to be relatively small.  Like man sized.  So no going through walls with a car.”  This gave Ruki a small smile.


         "Damn.  Well if that's all, I'll be leaving.  See you in what?  Three months you said?"


         "Yep.  The usual.  Hey!  By the way, where are you headed next?" Ally asked, all the innocence of the galaxy plastered upon her face.


         "What?!"


         "You heard me."


         "The hell makes you think I’d tell you something like that?" Ruki asked, incredulous.


         "Just curious.  Geeze, you're untrusting."  Ruki looked at the scientist suspiciously for a moment before turning away.


         "None of your business.  Besides, that would breach my confidentiality agreement and I just can't have that."  She felt th scientist pat her rear a few times and jumped forward.  Spinning around with a growl, she looked to see the genius with an amused grin taking her lower face.


         "Following rules.  Yes.  Sure you don't wanna stay?  Our little friend here will be coming out any time and I bet he'd love to see you," Ally said.  Ruki shivered.


         "No thanks.  I think I'll just leave him to you."


         "Suit yourself.  Bye."  With that last word Ruki suddenly found herself standing just outside the Reaper.


         "How the hell does she do that?" Ruki mumbled to herself.  She walked back up the ramp of her ship and took off as quickly as she could.  Ruki didn't like sticking around Ally's cold and dark Wonderland; it reminded her too much of a past best forgotten.  As she flew away from the gigantic oval-shaped ship, she looked back to find it already gone - like it’d never been there in the first place.


         'One of these days...' she thought to herself.  Ruki typed in a few coordinates into her control panel and sat back as her ship shot off into hyperspace. 


         She had a new contact to meet soon.  A big one.  She didn't trust him much seeing as he was a high member of the Midolloni royal family, but Ruki doubted he’d try anything stupid.  She'd looked the guy up and discovered he was on bad terms with both the family and council for suspicions of consorting with known criminals.  The guy was either trying to get on everybody's good side or, more probably, really needed her help in something at least very illegal.  Not that she cared much in any case.  Politics were never a bother to her.  She only wanted to see what someone with so much power wanted from her...and what he could give her.


-------------------------


         It seemed to Kenshi that he was in the tank for days.  He couldn't see or hear anything and the only taste and smell he had was that of his own saliva and breath trapped inside the mask/helmet.  What he felt, though, was not pleasant.  Whatever the fluid was which surrounded him was cold, but that wasn't what worried him.  The light tingling in his body had grown stronger every second he floated inside the tank, sometimes becoming a light pain but mostly just an annoyance.  He had no track of time and was reasonably worried about what the girl was doing to him.


         'That's the last time I trust a 15-year-old redhead who claims she's older and owns a lab that would make the MMC science division jealous,' he thought.  The pain was coming back again, this time stronger than before, and Kenshi unconsciously tensed his body as his muscles started to spasm.  'What the fuck is she doing to me?'


         The spasms continued for a seemingly eternal minute before stopping altogether.  The tingling disappeared and Kenshi could feel the fluid begin to drain out below him.  As soon as only a few drops remained a spray of what he guessed was water came down from above him, cleaning off what the drain didn't.  The spray stopped after another minute or two and Kenshi waited for the scientist outside to let him out again.


         'What's she doing out there?'  A thought came to him of the little girl leaning back on the stretcher with her skirt up and her hand between her legs while staring at him through the window of the tank.  Kenshi cut off that line of thought and started sweating.  It took a few moments for Kenshi to realize something.


         'I feel great.  More than great.  It's like I've slept for an entire week.'  Any further thought was cut off when the mask/helmet was ripped from his head and Kenshi came face-to-face with a grinning Ally.


         "How do you feel?"


         "Great, actually.  What did you do to me?"  The grin grew.


         "Oh nothing much.  Just increased your muscle strength by about five times."  Kenshi's jaw dropped disbelievingly.  "Yep, your even stronger than Ruki now.  Plus the added density will give you a much stronger resistance to plasma burns and the like.  Won’t cook nearly the volume of flesh it normally would.  But I'm not done with you yet!  Come this way."  Kenshi stepped out of the tank - more like leapt - and fell to the floor trying to balance himself out.  Ally’s cackle made him look up.  “By the way, it might take some time to get completely used to your new strength.  I recommend you use the bare minimum unless otherwise required until you get used to it.”


         Nodding, Kenshi slowly made his way into a standing position, falling twice when he pushed himself too far forward.  Once he had gotten his new balance worked out, he followed the small scientist with deliberately slow steps, not sure what to think or say and not even noticing his lack of dress any longer.  He was in a sort of shock. 


         Ally stopped by a table covered with all sorts of equipment he didn't recognize and another stretcher.  "Lie down here."  Kenshi merely nodded and lay down on the stretcher.  As soon as he set his head down, four thick metal bands came around his limbs and secured him tightly.  Ally appeared above him with some sinister looking gizmo in her hand and a mischievous smile on her face.


         In that moment, he could have sworn he'd seen her before that day, but before he could figure out where she was speaking again.  "I know you're wondering what I'm doing now, but I'm not going to say.  It'll ruin the surprise.  I can say that this is going to hurt."  Two metal bricks came and squeezed his head like a vice while a third went beneath his chin, holding it firmly in place.  "A lot."  Kenshi' eyes widened and Ally flipped a switch on the gizmo, giving it a strange mechanical hum.  He started struggling but she just stuck the device in his eye with a smile. 


         The first scream was the quietest.


-------------------------


         Three hours.  Three hours of torture.  Three hours of endless pain.  Three hours of some sick little kid who claimed to be older than him flirting with him while gouging his eyes out with what looked like a cross between an electric razor and a spoon, then sticking wires and tubes all over his body and literally burning away a layer of bone.  For the last ten minutes it had been easier.  There was just the after-affects of the torture - heavy breathing, dull pain and soreness, etc - while a needle stuck in his arm pumped God knows what into his veins.


         Ally watched over him with a smile the entire time, making crude jokes and laughing at his inability to do anything but curse during all the pain.  At least she’d allowed him a blanket - after much argument. 


         When she decided the needle had finished it’s task with his arm she took it out and announced, "Fini!"  The metal bands came off his wrists and ankles and the vice left his head, but Kenshi was too sore to break the sadistic child's neck...for now.


         "Well that's about it.  And since you're breathing a little too heavily to ask, 'What the hell did you do to me?' I'll just tell you.  First I increased the bloodflow to your eyes, allowing you to see movement more easily.  Then I increased your reaction time and pain tolerance.  Sorry, but that meant screwing with your brain a little."  She cackled.  "Then I burned away a layer of bone, as you guessed already.  Why, you would like but can’t find the strength to ask?  So I could put a tougher layer on over them.  If I had just thrown on the extra layer you might have had trouble moving so it was necessary.  That tube gave you a heavy dose of organic nanobots to mix into your blood.  They reproduce on their own so you don't have to worry about them ever dying off.  They'll also give you that extra kindathium- or adamant steel, if you prefer - bone layer and provide a hefty boost to your regenerative system.  No worries about metal detectors; your added muscles and the nanos will block out all but the best ones.  As an added bonus, the nanobots will keep you from overheating now that you have a significantly denser mass.  You should be thankful.  This is all really illegal everywhere so I've given you quite the service."


         Kenshi tried to say something but ended up in a coughing fit.  Ally leaned closer and he managed to wheeze out, "It's illegal because it's considered torture you twit!"  She smiled. 


         "Yes, but the end justifies the means.  You'll be tough enough to take on two Rukis, now.  And just as long-lived."


         He felt his voice come back to him and the dull pain decrease increasingly faster.  "Long-lived?"


         "Well yeah!  You have noticed she heals real fast, right?  She has nanobots, too.  Of course, she's a little different seeing as how her body is practically made up of them, but at a certain point regenerative nanobots slow down the aging process to a speed where you can't really even notice it.  You are now long past that point.  The only problem can come from the brain and the currents running through it, but even that can be overcome with the correct programming."


         "And so how long until I might die?"


         "Don't know."


         "What?"


         "I took a dose of less powerful nanobots about 5000 years ago - give or take a decade.  I was fifteen then.  Just look at me now."  Kenshi looked at Ally straight in the eye and started sweating.


         "So...I'm practically immortal."


         "Not really.  You can still die and all.  It'll just be more difficult.  And it won't be from aging."


         'Great.  And I was almost hoping she'd just end it.  Now even if I'm accepted back, I'll have to hide all these...modifications unless I want the MMC back on me again.  I am so screwed.'


         "You probably think the rest of your life is screwed now, don't you."  Kenshi looked up in surprise.  "Well let me just say..." Ally scooted a little closer.  "...if you ever get a little lonely you can come back and spend your time with me."  Her grin grew and Kenshi almost fell off the stretcher, once again being caught by a 15-year-old horny child who wanted to rub herself against him.  "It'll be just you and me all alone in this big ol' spaceship!  We could have ever so much fun!"  Her voice turned strangely seductive.  "I'm told I'm pretty good."


         "Just let me out of this place!" he pleaded.


         "Come on!  Everyone has a little pedophile in them!  And I don't look that young!"


         "Yes you do!"  Ally let go and looked at him with a frown.


         "Fine.  But you're the one missing out."  She started walking away.  "Are you gonna follow me or are you waiting for me to jump back on you?"  Kenshi nearly jumped right out of the stretcher but stopped himself and pulled his blanket tightly around himself.


         "As much as I'd like to continue walking around naked with my torturer,  get me some pants first."  Ally flashed her mischievous smile and he swore once again that he'd seen her before.


         "Spoil sport."  She walked over and threw him his old black uniform pants.  Kenshi struggled to get them on under the covers causing Ally to burst out laughing at the loss of any lasting dignity.


         As soon as he rolled off the bed he felt his first true experience with his newfound strength.  The dull pain and soreness was gone by now and Kenshi felt lighter than air.  Like he was floating almost.  He lifted one arm experimentally and tensed it's muscles.  Next he clenched his fist as tightly as he could and was surprised to hear a loud cracking noise and feel a quick, dull shot of pain, as if he’d broken his own fingers.  He opened his hand and saw deep bruises where his fingers had dug in.  Blinking once, Kenshi opened his eyes to find the bruises almost gone and disappearing quickly.


         "Like what you see?"  Kenshi looked up to see Ally standing just before him with a wide grin.  "I'm sure you'll have a great time with all that, but for now let me show you the rest of your part of the deal."


         "There's more?" Kenshi asked, afraid of what else the scientist might do to him.


         "Of course!  I did say everything you might need to catch Ruki, didn't I?"  He nodded.  "Good.  Now follow me.  I'm sure you'll like this part."  Kenshi gulped but followed the scientist.


-------------------------


         "Whoa."  That was all Kenshi could say.  The little brat had given him a ship.  A very high-tech looking ship.  It looked like an enlarged version of his old fighter with it’s long, angled nose, thick body and swept wings, but was more streamlined, not to mention the entire surface was like a gigantic mirror and there were blasters and missile tubes all over it.  'It's beautiful.'


         "Is that all you can say?!  I take a good five hours to upgrade your ship and all you can say is, 'Whoa.'  Some appreciation would be welcome!" Ally ranted next to him.


         "This is my old ship?"


         "Yeah.  I kind of figured it might hold some sentimental value to you so I just upgraded it.  New hyperdrive, armor, shields, blasters, missiles, thrusters and subspace radio.  More rooms and a larger armory and bedroom.  Come to think of it, the only thing that will really look the same is your cockpit."


         "And this took you only five hours?"


         "Yep!  I am such a genius!"  She started cackling.


         "So...why don't you give me a tour?"


         "Sure thing!"  Ally skipped to the outer hatch and flipped a panel.  "The codes are all the same, so you don't have to worry about memorizing new ones."  She pressed a nine-digit code and the hatch opened.  Ally skipped inside with Kenshi following right behind her, looking in awe at his new vehicle.


         They stopped just on the inside and Ally touched a barely visible panel - the armory panel.  Another hatch slid open and Kenshi could only stare.  His weapons closet had turned into a carrier armory.  Two racks spread down a 30 foot hallway, at the end of which stood some sort of heavily armored monstrosity mostly concealed by enclosed area.  Both racks were jam packed with weapons - some he recognized, most he didn't - and when those could hold no more others hung from the ceiling.


         "This is some of the most advanced weaponry in existence.  The MMC would be jealous.  You can find descriptions of it all on this datapad."  She handed him a small black terminal which looked more like a long phone than anything then walked into what was once his living quarters.  Kenshi followed to find an impressively sized room trying to make due on the word ‘cabin’ with an L couch, chair, table and fireplace with a large HV inserted in the wall.  "Welcome to your new living room.  I saw you had a distinct lack of one so I figured, 'what the hell.'  The bathroom is over there, complete with a toilet and shower.  Both normal this time.  None of that MMC “sonic disintegrating” crap they give you."  She walked over to a doorway next to the one she had just pointed at.  "And this is your bedroom.  I gave you a larger bed and a brand spankin’ new PC - complete with full access internet which you can shut off at any time.  None of that computer library crap they give you.  Former should be good for those restless nights when you're showing off your new pad to those ladies you meet at the nightclub."  Kenshi gave Ally a strange look and she cackled, walking back into the living room.  "I gave you a new food dispenser too.  State-of-the-art materializer.  You won't go hungry unless you run out of power again - and unless you really screw something up that won't happen for a good 30,000 years at least.  I gave you a power cell equal to the output New Terrioc City's fusion power plant uses for a period of approximately five years."


         "How the hell..."


         "Trade secret.  Follow me."  Kenshi followed Ally to the cockpit of the ship.  He found it to be pretty much the same with the addition of a few new gears, a rear seat and a number of new  buttons and switches here and there.  "I left your cockpit pretty much the same.  Upgrades to your radar and navigational systems as well as your subspace radio.  Also, you can find a number of different functions to command your weapons system to perform.  Tracking, full auto defense, crap like that.  You have 20 blasters, six pointed forward for optional manual use, and six missile tubes, two revolvable, with a recharge rate of 22.7 seconds each.  Under the nose is stored a high-powered blast cannon for longer, more accurate shots.  That has a refresh rate for every seven seconds.  You probably also saw your new armor.  That armor reflects most radiation types, making your ship almost completely invisible in space unless up close.  I gave you a stealth engine, too, so no common detection system - radar, sonar and the like - can see you.  If you, for whatever reason, want to be visible just press..."  she pointed to a button.  "...that button right there.  Your engines will emit a frequency any radar can detect and the ship's armor will turn to more of a dark grey.  The second seat is mostly a ‘just in case thing’.  Most ships of this size and complexity operate better with larger crews so I threw one in just in case you got a partner.  Let me show you the engine room."


         The two walked over to where Kenshi's old engine room was.  When they entered Kenshi could only stare.  The engine itself was huge.  It was covered by a thick silver shell, but it was still at least twice as large as his last engine.


         "This baby pushes more power than the engines of most light battleships.  Your fighter just became maybe the fastest ship in the universe.  It can hold hyperspace very well and, obviously, has the capability to catch up to any ship you happen to be chasing after, such as the Reaper, or, if the case may be, have the ability to run away from any ship.  You'll also be a lot more maneuverable.  With all your new weapons and whatnot you'll be pretty much invincible in a one-on-one dogfight.  Your shield system has also been given an overhaul.  You know the protection they use on the bridges of super carriers these days?  It’s something akin to that."  Ally walked out of the engine room with a wide-eyed Kenshi behind her.  "If by some chance this thing needs repair, just hit this button."  She pointed to a bright red button on a display panel next to the hatch of the engine room.  "Since this puppy is a little too advanced for someone like you to tamper with I created little repair bots for the more technical equipment on the ship.  Now I have one last thing to show you."


         Ally led Kenshi to a last door across from the living room.  She opened it to reveal an elevator which they took down to the largest room yet.  Black panels covered the walls and ceiling while the floor was a bright white in an oval shaped room which must’ve taken up nearly the entire lower portion of the ship.  Along one wall four small doors sat without a latch or panel to enter while the opposite had some sort of terminal built into the wall.


         "This is a nice little training room for you.  I figured that with all your new abilities you'd want somewhere to test them.  Just bring a weapon down that you want to train with and go over to this computer over here."  She walked across the room to the computer built into the wall.  "You can customize what you want to train with right here, as well as the setting you want to be in.  Depending on what you get hit by - if you get hit by anything - you will either feel a concussive force equal to that of whatever hit you or a small shock.  If, for some reason, you want a much more interactive and larger program just set the program as normal and enter one of the doorways along the wall.  You’ll be automatically hooked into VR.  It isn’t as new as other technology I have, however, so it suffers many of the same limitations as other fully realistic VR systems.  Five hours recommended, eight at max or your brain will be fried and you will no longer be able to tell the difference between fantasy and reality, not to mention have a high probability of continual mental regression.”


         Ally looked up at him and smiled brightly.  "So whadoya think?  Like it?"  Kenshi looked down at the small scientist in awe.


         "Yeah.  It's incredible."  The smile grew even brighter and Ally jumped up and hugged Kenshi, making him stumble back a bit.


         "I'm so happy!  Let's celebrate!"  She gave him a wet kiss and tried to stick her tongue down his throat.  Kenshi grimaced and grabbed her, throwing her to the ground and backing up a few steps.  "OWWW!!!  You know, you're a lot stronger now!  You can't just throw people around anymore!"


         "I guess you should have thought of that before you kissed me."


         "Yeah, well I thought you'd give me a little more thanks.  I only gave you a practically brand new ship!"


         "And torture."


         "You'll thank me later for that."


         Kenshi grunted.  "Whatever.  Is there anything else?"


         "One more thing.  And I'm only giving it to you now because I promised."  She handed him another datapad.


         "What's this?"


         "A tracker.  Just follow the coordinates and you'll find Ruki.  That's the only other thing you'd need to catch her."  Kenshi once again stared in shock at the scientist.


         "How'd you do all this?"


         "Easy.  After all, I am the greatest scientific geniuses in the universe!"


         "How?"


         "Trade secret."  Kenshi looked at her suspiciously before nodding his head.


         "Fine. Thanks."


         The two exited the ship quietly, Ally with a skip and Kenshi with a clumsy walk.  At the bottom of the ramp Ally turned around with another playful smile.


         "Well if that's everything I should head off again," Kenshi said and held out his hand hesitantly.


         "That's not everything."


         "There's more?"  She nodded.


         "Our deal was that I'd give you everything you needed to catch Ruki if you'd give me a few samples."  That smile turned mischievous again.


         "You said you took them already."


         "Correction!  I said I took most of them."  The smile grew and Ally came closer.


         "What else do you need?" Kenshi asked nervously.


         Four metallic tentacles shot out from some unknown place above him and grabbed his limbs, lifting him into the air.


         "Only the most important sample!"


         'Shit.'  "You don't mean..."


         "I still want some semen.  And you're going to throw some overboard!"  She took a pair of plastic gloves out her pocket and slipped them on her hands  She looked up and smiled seductively at him.  He had a sense of deja vu once again, but was struggling too hard to think on it.


         "Get away from me you horny midget!"


         "Now that''s no way to talk to your rescuer!"


         "I'd rather be dead than have you try to..."  He couldn't finish the thought or the sentence.


         "Come on!  I've got magic fingers!"  Kenshi struggled even harder.  "You really don't want me to do this?"


         "NO!!!"  Ally seemed to think for a moment.  She frowned lightly.  Then she suddenly smiled again.


         "No, you want me to do this."  She pulled on the waistband of his pants and looked down.  "HELLO!!!"  Kenshi struggled as hard as he could, ramming his hip into her cheek and knocking her down.  "I said be careful!" Ally said, rubbing her bruising cheek.


         "Let me out of here!  I'm not letting you touch me!  You're just a kid!"


         "I'm older than you!"


         "You don't look older!"  The girl seemed to look sad for a very brief moment in which she looked infinitely older to him, but this was quickly replaced by a look of rage followed by a look of some kind of happy acceptance.  She smiled at him.  This time there wasn’t playfulness on her face as she look him over.


         "Good.  If you'd done otherwise I might have been angry."  Kenshi looked at the girl in confusion.  The tentacles suddenly let go and he landed on the ground with a hard thud.  He picked himself up, nearly losing his balance a couple times, and found the scientist suddenly standing right next to him.  She held out her hand with that same kind smile on her face which made her look all the more older.  "You should head off now and get Ruki.  I'm sure she'll be surprised to see you again so soon."  Kenshi hesitantly took the hand and she shook it.  Kenshi smiled.  "You should do that more often.  It looks good on you."  Letting go of her hand, he turned around, walked up the ramp to his ship and stepped inside.


         "Kenshi?"  He turned his head and looked back at the scientist.  "Say hello to my daughter, will you?"


         Suddenly it all made sense - the feeling of deja vu.  She had the same sharp and smooth features.  The same hawkish eyes.  The same predatory smile.  If her hair was a dark blue and her eyes slitted and red, she'd be the spitting image of a younger version.  Ally looked just like Ruki.


         He might have said something then, but Ally pressed a button on the panel beside him and the hatch closed in his face.  He felt the ship ascend and accelerate and he ran to the cockpit.  Kenshi arrived just in time to see a huge pink sphere disappear into nothingness.  He stood there for a few minutes wondering what was going on, what had just happened and if it was all really just some fucked up dream, but eventually decided not to think on it.  The scientist was odd, probably insane in her own loneliness.  She’d given him a present and that’s all that mattered.


         Instead he reached into his pocket and produced a datapad.  He turned it on and a three-dimensional map of the universe appeared with two blinking dots - one green and one red - and a pair of coordinates.  He fiddled with the buttons on the device a few moments until it zoomed in on the red dot.


         'I don't know what the hell just happened back there, but whatever is going on I've finally got the edge on Ruki.  It’s time to end this.'