I have a message from another time...

                     Eyrie Productions, Unlimited
                               presents

                UNDOCUMENTED FEATURES FUTURE IMPERFECT
                      - SYMPHONY OF THE SWORD -

                   Second Movement: Christmas Rose

                         Benjamin D. Hutchins
                                 with
                             Martin Rose
                               MegaZone

                (c) 2001 Eyrie Productions, Unlimited


                 10:47 PM EARTH EASTERN STANDARD TIME
                      TUESDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2404

        Utena Tenjou had never traveled in outer space before.  She
-had- left the world of her birth, it was true, but that had been more
of a translation than a journey; and since arriving on Earth she
hadn't left it, even if her passport did claim she was a citizen of
the Republic of Zeta Cygni.  That claim, as it happened, even had the
advantage of being technically true, and the document genuine; but
nevertheless, she had never been there.
        Thus, as she sat in the copilot's seat of the private starship
Daggerdisc (New Avalon, SAE-6650), she had never before seen anything
like what she was seeing now.  Outside the windows was a swirling,
sullen maelstrom of scarlet and black, dull red light permeating a
formless black infinity.  It was awesome, and beautiful, but also a
bit frightening and depressing.
        The cockpit door sighed open behind her, and Utena turned her
head to see Kate's brother, Corwin, entering.  He smiled at her, then
quickly looked away, busying himself with some readouts that didn't
need to be checked on the astrogation panel.  With a private grin,
Utena turned back to contemplating the weirdness outside.  She
supposed it was a bit cruel to be entertained by the boy's
discomfiture, but she couldn't help it.  There was something sweet
about his awkwardness, and she got the impression he was as baffled by
his own reaction as she was amused.
        Corwin duffed around with the astrocomputer for several more
minutes before finally deciding that there was nothing for it; to get
the next part of the required instrument check done, he was simply
going to -have- to sit down at the pilot's console.  This he proceeded
to do, slipping through the gap between the two seats and plopping
into the left-hand one with a minimum of grace, then burying himself
furiously in the checklist.
        Utena watched him out of the corner of her eye as he fiddled
and flipped, then asked, "What are you doing?"
        "Oh!  Uh, instrument check.  It's required every two hours in
metaspace.  Fed flight regs.  Make sure we don't go off-course."
        "What would happen if we did?"
        "Well," he said, awkwardness forgotten with a technical
subject to discuss, "if we were using the metaspace gate network
because the ship didn't have any other FTL drive, then we'd be lost in
metaspace and probably die.  But Daggerdisc has hyperdrive, so we'd
just have to lay in a course, punch across and take the long way
around instead."
        "Oh."  Most of that had gone over Utena's head - she hadn't
started studying that sort of thing yet - but the last bit was
encouraging.  He didn't seem very worried about getting lost in space
and probably dying, so "hyperdrive" must be a backup system of some
kind.  Good enough.
        He seemed to notice that he'd lost her, but rather than
becoming irritated at her ignorance, he asked, "Want a quick course on
FTL?  I just had to learn it all for my master's certificate exam, so
it's still fresh in my mind."
        "Hm?  Oh, uh... sure."
        Corwin grinned and swiveled his seat to face her, sliding it
back on its two-way track to make a little more space between them.
She did likewise, and he spread his hands and began,
        "OK, well.  Realspace is easy, realspace is... well, real
space.  Where the planets and stars and such are, and the speed of
light is the limit, and all that."  She nodded.  "So since the speed
of light is -it- in realspace, we have to figure out ways of either
getting around the limit or getting out of realspace.  Right now there
are basically four useful FTL methods.  Two do one and two do the
other."
        Utena nodded, to let him know she was paying attention.
        "The oldest method is one of the second kind, hyperdrive.  It
pushes ships into a parallel universe called hyperspace, where the
speed of light limit doesn't apply.  In hyperspace, a ship can go as
fast as its hyperspace motivator can push it.  You still have to
navigate as if you were in realspace, because real objects,
planet-size and bigger, cast sort of 'shadows' in hyperspace.  Gravity
distortions, that kind of thing.  They have to be avoided or you can
crash into them just like hitting the real objects in realspace."
        "Which is bad."
        Corwin nodded.  "Real bad.  There generally aren't survivors;
even if the ship isn't destroyed outright, if you lose your hyperdrive
envelope without transitioning back to realspace, your ship and
everything in it get converted instantly into random mathematical
junk.  It's not pretty.  Still, that doesn't happen much, and with
careful astrogation, hyperdrive is still the cheapest, safest FTL
method out there.  It takes a long time, though.  If we were using
hyperdrive, it'd take us a week to get from Earth to New Avalon, and
Daggerdisc is one of the fastest ships around."
        "And that wouldn't leave us much of a vacation," said Utena
with a grin.
        "Nope.  That's why we're using metaspace.  It's the newest
thing - just discovered in 2386, during the WDF gear-up for the War of
Corporate Occupation.  It's like hyperspace, but weirder.  You don't
need any special equipment to navigate in metaspace - your regular
drives will do the job just fine - only to get in and out of it.  So
ships don't actually have to have metaspace drive to travel in
metaspace - there are gates, fixed points where any ship can enter and
exit, at most of the major systems.  They're hoping to have the
gate network fully up and running for all the major sectors within
five years."
        "Why do you say it's 'weirder'?"
        "Because of the way it works," Corwin replied.  "It doesn't
really map to realspace one-to-one the way hyperspace does.  There are
some weird ripple effects and some warping... it's really complicated,
I don't understand the math myself, but that's the meat of it.  You
navigate entirely based on course, not distance, so there have to be
radio beacons at the destination points or you won't know where to
come out.  You can't just time it the way you would with hyperdrive."
        Utena nodded.  "OK... that -is- weird."
        "But there are no mass shadows, and it's a lot faster than
hyperspace," Corwin went on.  "We left Earth, what, two hours ago?
We'll be in New Avalon in another two and a half, and a half-hour of
that will be realspace maneuvering."  He stopped, awkwardness
descending upon him again, and rubbed sheepishly at the back of his
neck.  "This is probably really boring you, huh."
        "No, not at all.  I... er, never learned much about this kind
of thing before, and now I'm finding it all very interesting.  Tell me
about the other methods, the ones that get around the light barrier
instead of leaving realspace."
        "Oh."  He smiled, gratified by her interest.  "Well, they're
really esoteric, and like I say, I'm not dialed in on the math yet or
anything."
        "That's OK," she assured him, grinning.  "Math and I don't get
along very well either."
        "OK, let me see.  There's warp drive, that's probably the
most common method after hyperdrive.  Warp drive ships kind of bend
space around them... it's hard to explain without a holotank to show
you the energy fields with.  They sort of create a wave in space
that's traveling faster than light, then surf on it - so that they're
moving faster than light, but not relative to the space around them,
so they get away with it."
        Utena scratched her head.  "Weird.  I think I get it, but not
why it works."
        "Not many people do.  -I- sure don't.  I just think it's cool
that it does."  He grinned.  "Then there's fold drive.  That one's
-really- weird."  He rummaged around in the utility bin alongside the
control console and came up with a clipboard, took a sheet of paper
off the top, and said, "OK, say this is space."  He took the pen from
the clipboard and made an X at one edge.  "This is where you want to
go."  He made an O at the other.  "This is where you are."
        "OK," said Utena.
        "Fold drive is really funky.  It basically does -this- to the
space in between where you are and where you're headed."  He took the
paper and bent it, folding it in half (but not creasing it) so that
the X and O were adjacent.  "Then you just pop across, and voila."
        Utena blinked.  "Whoa.  What happens to everything in
between?"
        "Oh, it's still there.  And the people traversing inside the
curl, so to speak, never notice, because if the space itself that
you're traveling in is curved, you follow the curve without ever
noticing it's there.  The effect lasts for a really short time, too -
something like a billionth of a second.  You have to know where you're
headed already, so it's no use for exploration, but with a fold drive
you can get anywhere in the known universe -instantly- from anywhere
else."
        "Then why doesn't everybody just use those?  Seems like it'd
be easiest."
        "Well, it's easy on the crew, but the equipment... it takes a
hell of a lot of power, orders of magnitude more than any other
method, and the computing power required for navigation is inSANE.
The Wedge Defense Force used to have a class of space bomber, about
the size of this ship, that had fold drive.  They had to stop
operating them.  Too expensive.  And if something's too expensive for
the WDF... "  He shrugged.  "It's really only viable for military
ships.  A freight consortium tried to build a fold-capable
superfreighter a few years ago and went bust just soliciting the
design."
        "Huh."  Utena nodded, impressed.  In a little under four
minutes, he'd made sense - not very deeply explained sense, but sense,
nonetheless - out of the way all these people got to and from all the
different stars that formed the framework of their civilization.
        With the technical topic exhausted, silence suddenly returned,
awkwardly.  Corwin, the confidence with which he had spoken deserting
him, swung his seat back into the forward-facing position and started
uselessly manipulating minor controls again.  To make things easier on
him, Utena did the same with her seat, then leaned it back, put her
hands behind her head, and looked out at metaspace some more.
        "Kind of creepy-looking, isn't it?" she observed.
        "Huh?  Oh... yeah," Corwin agreed.  "Hyperspace is pretty, all
blue and white, and it rushes past so you really feel like you're
getting someplace.  And with warp drive you get this cool rainbow
effect and the stars whip past."
        "What does fold drive look like?"
        "Nothing.  One second you're here, flash, you're there."
        "Oh.  That's not too exciting."
        "No, not really."
        "So... how old do you have to be to fly one of these things by
yourself?" she asked after a moment's silence.
        "For humans, thirteen with evidence of training, fifteen
without," Corwin replied.  "The test you have to pass is brutal,
though, so most people don't bother trying until they're out of
school."  From his tone, it was clear he wasn't boasting, just
explaining.  "This is my first long trip.  Dad's friends think he was
nuts to let me go by myself, especially with this ship - she's a real
hotrod."
        "Seems like you're doing OK," said Utena.  "You haven't gotten
us killed or anything.  Though I wasn't so sure you weren't going to
while we were still on the ground," she added with a grin.
        "You don't like my driving?" he said, hurt.
        "I don't like having to do long division to figure out how
many times the speed limit I'm going," she replied.
        "It's not my fault you don't like math," said Corwin.  Utena
opened her mouth to challenge his assumption, realized she'd told him
as much not ten minutes ago, and burst out laughing.
        "You should probably get some sleep," he told her when she'd
finished.  "New Avalon is on Earth Eastern Time, the same as
Worcester... it's nearly eleven now, going to be the middle of the
night when we get in."
        She considered this, decided he had a point, and rose.
"Thanks for the science lesson," she said.  "It was fun.  Maybe you
can help Kate and me with our exams," she added with a grin.
        He blushed a little and managed to say that it would be his
pleasure.  She resisted the urge to scruffle his thick black hair and
left the cockpit.  Corwin's gold-ruffed white cat passed her in the
door as she did so, ambled across the small room, and jumped up onto
the control panel, deftly avoiding all the controls as he curled up on
the flat dashboard above the panel.
        "So," said the cat.  "How'd it go?  Were you smoooooth?  Is
the lady impressed?  Is there a torrid romance in your future?  Do I
get kicked out of your room?"
        "Shut the hell up, Nall," said Corwin grumpily.

        Corwin would have awakened them to show off the grandeur of
the Zeta Cygni Dyson Sphere, except he was too busy arranging
everything for his first solo approach and would probably have been
too nervous to accomplish it with them watching him anyway.  He wasn't
sure what it was about Kate's roommate that made him nervous, but when
she was around he couldn't seem to think straight.  The phenomenon was
starting to worry him a bit.  He'd already made a mental note to get
himself thoroughly checked out when he got back to his lab.
        Without any observers but Nall, who had irritated him too much
earlier in the evening to make him nervous now, Corwin made his
approach, transitioned into the Sphere without incident, and put
Daggerdisc down in his father's private revetment at Mathews Memorial
Spaceport without incident.  Once he had the ship locked down and
everything secure by the checklist, he went aft and realized he was an
idiot.
        "Forgot to tell her there were staterooms, huh?" Nall inquired
from his shoulder as he stood frowning down at the wardroom sofa,
where Utena had made a pillow out of her jacket and was having the
recommended nap.  She didn't look too terribly inconvenienced by the
conditions, curled up on her side with one arm under her head and the
other hand tucked up under her chin, but he still felt like an idiot
for not pointing out the fact that there were actual places to sleep
aboard ship.
        He stood looking down at her - all she wore under that jacket
was a tank top?  She must have been kind of cold in the air-conditioned 
cabin - his frown slowly easing into a sort of blank look, and
wondered what he'd been trying to think of.  Dammit, there it went
again!  What the hell was the matter with him?  He shook his head.
Nall made a soft noise that might have been a snicker, but hid behind
Corwin's own head when Corwin tried to give him a look.
        "... know what the hell's so funny... " he muttered, then
reached hesitantly out, paused, and finally, very tentatively, touched
Utena's bare shoulder.
        "Hnnh?"  She turned slightly onto her back, opened her eyes
and looked up at him, focusing slowly.  "Oh... Corwin... " she said,
her voice a little blurred with sleep.  "Everything OK?"
        "Uh... yeah," he replied.  "We're, uh... we're here."
        Well, that was a stupid way to put it, he thought.  Nall made
that noise again.
        "Here?" Utena replied.  She sat up, wiped a hand down her face
with a soft groan, and focused on him again, more easily this time.
"New Avalon?"
        "Uh... yeah," Corwin repeated.
        She grinned a little at him - he wondered what for - and stood
up, then slowly and gloriously stretched.  Corwin felt his ears get
hot and thought about absolutely nothing whatsoever.  Nall made that
noise again.
        "Is something wrong with your cat?" Utena asked as she
shrugged back into her jacket.
        "No," said Corwin.  "He's just enjoying this all a little too
much for some reason."
        "Are you gonna set her straight, or should I?" Nall asked.
Utena did a double take, then blinked at him.
        "Go ahead, you've already started," said Corwin, a note of
resignation in his voice.
        "All right then."  Nall drew himself up to his full seated
height (a whopping, oh, eight inches, maybe?), cleared his throat, and
announced grandly, "I am Nall Silverclaw, White Dragon of Alfheim,
faithful friend and boon companion to this hopeless lout."  He
gestured with his little feline head at Corwin, who was now scowling,
arms folded across his chest.
        Utena blinked again, then smiled.  "You're... a dragon."
        "That's right."
        "So you're not a cat?"
        "No.  I am not a cat," Nall replied pompously.  "I am a Great
Alfheim Cat Dragon.  Entirely not a common cat."
        "Oh," said Utena with a mischievous grin.  She reached out and
started scratching the top of Nall's head between his ears.  "So you
probably don't like this then."
        "Well... there are... many -similarities-... between common
cats... and... Alfheim Cat Dragons," said Nall - haltingly, as his
instinct to purr kept interfering with his speaking voice.
        "Is that a fact?" Utena asked conversationally, stepping up
the speed and force of the scratching.
        "Mm," Nall replied, sagging down into a limp bundle.  "We... 
don't like... to talk about it... but... it's true... mmmm... I
like her, Corwin... let's keep her... "
        Corwin reddened.  Utena finished scruffling Nall and again
suppressed the urge to repeat the procedure on Corwin, opting instead
for whacking him companionably on the arm and saying, "Where's Kate
hiding?"
        "Oh, uh... there are a couple of staterooms on board.  I'm
sorry... I, um, forgot to tell you about them.  You didn't have to
sleep on the couch."
        "That's OK," she said, unconcerned.  "I've slept on worse."
        "W-w-worse than w-what?" asked Kate as she emerged from the
curving corridor which led forward to the captain's cabin.
        "The couch," said Utena as she buttoned her jacket.  "Corwin
forgot to tell me there were real beds on board, but it's OK.  It was
only a short nap anyway."
        Corwin unloaded his car from Daggerdisc's small cargo bay, and
the four of them climbed aboard and set off.  It didn't look like much
at first; Mathews Memorial Spaceport looked much like Burke Lakefront
Spaceport in Cleveland had, right down to the fact that there was a
lake nearby.  It was only after they got out onto the highway ramp and
negotiated the long, sweeping righthand turn onto Highway 29 that the
City in the Sphere suddenly sprang into glittering view, making Utena
(to whom Kate had deliberately yielded the shotgun seat) gasp in awe.
        It rose up out of the shores of Daniels Lake, rising high into
the velvety, starless blackness of the night sky in a blazing golden
gleam, its spires and towers reaching upward to dizzying, impossible
heights.  Several of the buildings - the Gothic spire, the shimmering
Art Deco monolith, the smooth, glittering silver tower - were so tall
their tops couldn't be seen from inside the car, even at this
distance.  One enormous building in the center was not all that
tall-looking compared to its neighbors, but was enormous in bulk - a
great scarlet and chrome stepped pyramid, proudly displaying the name
of the Aztechnology Corporation on its highest, narrowest step.
Surrounding all this was a colony of lesser buildings, which would
have been remarkable in themselves in either of the Earth cities Utena
had seen, but here were merely humble neighbors to the giants that
lived in the center of downtown.
        The skies above this great city teemed with activity, even at
this late hour - some aerodynes and aircars, but mainly airships,
rigid, semi-rigid and non-rigid alike, cruising here and there on
errands known only to their crews and dispatchers.  Some were just
flying advertisements; others monitored traffic; a few were owned by
the New Avalon Police Department.  As for the rest, who knew?
Deliveries, pickups, people just out for a cruise.  Hundreds of them,
filling the skies with an orderly and leisurely pattern of winking
lights and glowing gasbags.
        "Wow," Utena murmured.
        Corwin grinned, fully at ease for the first time since his
impromptu science lesson.  "Great, isn't it?  Dad's best work."
        "Your father made this?" she asked wonderingly.
        "Well, designed it," said Corwin.  "He had a little help
putting it up.  And it's grown since then, of course.  They broke
ground in 2381."  He pointed to the Gothic spire.  "That's the Entire
State Building - it's the tallest freestanding structure in the known
universe."  His finger traversed to the silver tower.  "GENOM Tower,
which I think is number two, or maybe three.  And that gorgeous Art
Deco job - that's my favorite, I love that retro stuff - is the
Imperial Hotel Monolith, the galaxy's largest hotel.  I stayed there
once last year just to do it.  It's awesome.  As beautiful inside as
out.  And of course the Aztechnology Pyramid.  They use it for their
corporate symbol."
        Utena nodded.  "I thought I'd seen it before.  Wow," she
repeated.  Now she was speaking of the whole city again; she hadn't
made a verbal transition, but Corwin somehow understood as she went
on, "It's so beautiful."
        Corwin glanced smiling at her rapt profile, opened his mouth
as if to say something, then thought better of it and returned his
attention to the road.  Nall made that noise again.  Corwin idly
swatted the dragon with his free hand, which caused him to abandon
Corwin's shoulder in a huff and go take up a similar position on
Utena's.  In the back, Kate just smiled as though to herself and said
nothing.  She was enjoying everybody else's reactions too much to
bother with her own.
        He took them the long way around, taking half an hour to drive
a lap around New Avalon on 29 so that Utena could take it in from
every (grounded) angle, before finally turning off and making his way
through side streets into a quiet residential neighborhood out on the
edge of town.  Here, on a pleasant little loop of a street, he guided
his long black car about halfway around anticlockwise before pulling
into the driveway of a big gray house on the left.  It was hard to see
much of the house in the dark, but Utena got the impression, from the
little carriage lamp that lit the edge of the driveway, that it was
shingled rather than sided, and probably three stories high.  A large
brass plate next to the front door, just visible in the stoop light,
read "105 MORGAN LANE".
        Corwin got their bags from the trunk of his car and led
both girls along a walkway shoveled out of the two-foot-deep snow
lining the front yard, up four steps, and to the front door of the
house.  Here, he fumbled a bit with his keys until Kate, with an
exasperated sound, took her suitcase from him so that he'd have at
least one free hand.  With mumbled thanks - like all of them, his
energy level was flagging, it had been a long day - he got the door
open and led them inside.
        Utena didn't see much of the inside of the house either.  She
took off her shoes in a foyer-type thing, then went through an
archway, across a large, comfortable living room, and up a staircase
to a longish hallway that had six doors and another stairway.  With a
whispered "G-good n-n-night, s-sleep w-w-well," Kate took her suitcase
and went up the next flight of stairs.
        Corwin quietly showed Utena to the door at the opposite end on
the right.  "Here's the guest room," he murmured.  "I'm next door.  If
you need anything... "  He trailed off, realizing how what he'd been
about to say sounded.  "... Um... well, I'm next door, anyway."
        She smiled, resisted yet again that powerful urge to muss up
his already-mussed hair, transferred the now-profoundly-asleep Nall
from her shoulder to his, and patted him on the arm again.
        "Good night, Corwin," she whispered.  "Thanks for the drive
around the city - it was beautiful.  I'd like to see more of it before
I leave."
        "I, uh... I think I can arrange that," said Corwin with a
rather shy smile.
        Impulsively, Utena touched him briefly on the cheek, then
scratched the sleeping Nall behind the ears and went into the guest
room, closing the door behind with another whispered, "Good night."
        Corwin remained standing in the hall, fingertips raised in
puzzlement to the burning spot on his face where she'd touched him,
for several minutes, before he finally shook his head and made his
way, still confused, to his bed.

        Utena awoke slowly, noted as she did every morning that she
was still alone (what was she expecting, she wondered every time,
elves to come in the night and give her her old life back?), and
turned onto her back as she came fully awake to look up at the line of
sunlight the closed curtains were allowing to track across the ceiling
of the guest room.
        She didn't know what time it was, and was feeling entirely too
lazy to turn her head the requisite fifty or so degrees and look at
the clock she could hear ticking on the bedside stand.  The bed was a
great deal more comfortable than the narrow institution-issue rack she
slept on at WPI, and she just wanted to lie here for as long as she
could get away with it and go back over the events of the last few
days in her mind.
        Where the hell had Saionji sprung from?  It was a shame he
hadn't been coherent enough to mention that.  Still, paradoxically,
his sudden, violent appearance had given Utena something like hope.
If -he- could come -here-... then why couldn't -she- go -back-?  She
just had to figure out how he'd done it.
        Unfortunately, that would mean talking to him for long enough
to get him to explain it, and since his pupils had been the size of
purely theoretical particles when she'd last seen him, she didn't have
high hopes of finding him in a chatty mood the next time they crossed
paths.  In fact, now that he was around, she was going to have to get
back into training - find a sword somewhere, figure out a way to carry
it hidden like Kate did, be ready to protect herself.
        The thought didn't disturb her as much as she'd have thought.
In fact, she noted with a little self-mocking smile, she was kind of
looking forward to the next time he came around.  Toward the end, back
home, he'd started acting kind of like an actual person, so she had to
wonder what had happened to set him back - maybe just being brought
here, she supposed - but all the same, it would be good stress relief
to whack the stuffing out of her old pal Kyouichi, without anything on
the line but her own life.  A pang of guilt stabbed at her as she
reflected that life was certainly -simpler- without all the trappings
of the Tournament and the Academy surrounding her.
        She sighed, took a deep breath, and then held it for a moment,
given pause by something she'd smelled in the air.  She sat up in one
smooth movement as though propelled by a lever, let out her breath,
sniffed, sniffed again.
        "Waffles," she murmured.
        She got up, put on her slippers, belted her dressing gown on
over her pajamas, and went out into the hall.  There she had to pause
for a moment to get her bearings - it had been -very- late when she'd
arrived - before remembering that the stairs were at the end of the
hall to the left.  From there, navigating to the kitchen was easy.
She rounded the corner from the den and passed through the archway,
then stopped short with a gasp.
        Standing in the middle of the kitchen, juggling sausage links
and patties in a frying pan while a waffle iron steamed happily on the
central counter, was a tall, dark, slightly menacing figure in black
clothes and an apron emblazoned with the slogan "EAT OR DIE".  Utena
recognized him instantly, but had never expected to see him here -
wasn't really certain she'd ever see him again.
        "You!" she blurted, eyes wide.
        MegaZone looked up from his work with the sausages and
grinned.  "Ah, you're awake," he said.  It was the same first thing
he'd said to her last time, and it ricocheted through her brain and
brought the whole thing rushing back in a solid block.
/--
        Utena heaved herself up from a nightmarish vision of falling,
of shattered stone and hatred given wing, a cry on her lips, her left
arm extended before her until she thought her shoulder must break...
        ... to find herself in a bedroom.  A lavish one, large and
sumptuously but tastefully appointed in black marble, chrome and what
looked like teak.  She had never been in it before, never seen the
black and red striped coverlet she'd thrown off herself sitting up,
never seen the pale blue, ruffle-fronted nightdress she was wearing.
        The cry died away into a question mark, and the bowstring
tension drained out of her body, leaving her slumped with her face
buried in her hands, trying to figure out what could possibly have
happened to her.
        The door to the room opened, and she looked up, tensing, ready
to fight or run as the occasion demanded.  In the doorway stood a man
she'd never seen before.  He was very tall, and quite broad, with
long, dark brown hair and an imposing brow over deep-set, dark eyes, a
sharp-pointed nose and a fringe of beard.  He was dressed entirely in
black - black jeans, a black T-shirt with a stylized logo reading
"LINDBLAD MACHINE GUNS - ANTI-PERSONNEL FOR THE 23RD CENTURY", and a
long, flappy black leather trenchcoat.  He didn't look particularly
hostile, but his aspect was threatening just by its very darkness.
She drew back, fists tightening, but he only smiled.
        "Ah, you're awake," he said.
        "Who are you?" she demanded.  "Where am I?"
        "Ah, the eternal questions," he said in a musing tone.  "'Who
are you?  Where am I?'  They are the two most fundamental things
everyone wants to know."  He regarded her steadily for a moment,
making her feel even more uneasy, then grinned.  "Sorry.  Lost my
train of thought.  I'm MegaZone - you can call me Zoner - and you're
in the Palace Suite of the Worcester Crowne Plaza Hotel."
        "Worcester?" she said, the word unfamiliar on her tongue.
"Where in the world is that?"
        "Well... it's not in the world you're used to, I'm afraid."
        "-What-?!"
        "You... well...  Hold on a second."  He held up a hand in a
"one moment please" gesture and rummaged through the inside pocket of
his coat for a few seconds, then pulled out a blue and white book that
didn't seem like it would have fit and tossed it to her.  She picked
it up, turned it over, and looked at the cover.

                              SO YOU'VE
                             JUST ARRIVED
                                FROM A
                               PARALLEL
                              DIMENSION:

                              A Survival
                              Guide for
                              Cross-Time
                              Travelers

                        Lt. Cmdr. Derek Bacon
                            Morale Officer
                         Wedge Defense Force

        "Parallel dimension... ?" Utena said, then looked up at him
with skeptical eyes.  "What kind of trick is this?  Where am I?  Are
you working for -him-?"
        Zoner blinked.  "Um... well, I don't -know- what kind of trick
it is.  You're the one who appeared out of nowhere.  I told you where
you are.  And I'm not working for anybody.  Well, nobody you'd know,
anyway.  Well, no, not really anybody at all, more like some
-thing-... "  He waved his hands dismissively.  "But that's not
important right now."  He crossed the room, staying well clear of the
bed, and opened the closet.  "I got you some clothes.  Didn't know
what you'd like, so I just got a couple more of what you were wearing.
Interesting style choice, very martial, but it looks good on you.  I
couldn't decide if you'd prefer a nightgown or PJs, so I flipped a
coin."  He turned, saw the utterly baffled look on her face, and
sighed elaborately.  "Damn!  I knew I should've gone with PJs.  I'll
put in an order right away.  Anyway, you know how to use a telephone?"
        Blank-faced with the conflicting mix of emotions and
impression rushing through her mind, Utena only nodded silently.
        "OK, good," said Zoner.  "If you're hungry, order room
service.  Get whatever you want, just bill it to the room.  Palace
Suite, room 2.  I'm in room 1 if you want anything."
        And with that, he was gone.
        Slowly, numbly, she started reading the book.  It was
well-written, concise, and somehow, completely believable.  By the end
of the first chapter, describing the conditions under which a person
might find him- or herself transported to a parallel dimension, she
was starting to be convinced.
        She got up as if in a trance and looked out the window, and
looked out through the gap in the curtains.  Outside was a city, but
not like she had ever seen before.  It gleamed in what looked like
noonday sunlight, an assemblage of concrete and glass towers, with
flying machines scooting back and forth between the buildings.  There
were still trees and green patches; off to the left was what looked
like a park, and perhaps a school campus.  But this city could never
be Cephirean; the glass, the lights, the flying machines, all made
that perfectly plain.
        So the book was right.
        Then it hit her what that meant.
        Utena spent the rest of the afternoon huddled under the
covers, shivering uncontrollably, tears pouring down her face until
she felt she must eventually run out of them through sheer
dehydration.
        Finally, drained and exhausted, she got up from the bed,
dragged herself to the bathroom, and regarded her red-eyed,
tear-streaked face in the mirror.
        Was -this- what it was all for?  The ultimate prize?
Banishment from her home - well, such as it was, she supposed, but
Ohtori Academy had still been her home - and everyone she loved?  Her
life's work a lie, and the truth she'd fought so hard to discover in
its place stolen away from her forever?
        What a cruel joke.  The universe couldn't really be that cold
a place, could it?  Could it?!
        She leaned on the counter and looked down into the sink,
feeling another wave of wrenching grief pass over her.  Her head swam,
but no more tears came.  She noticed a bandage at the base of the
third finger of her left hand.
        The next thing Utena knew, she was sitting in the tub, curled
into a ball, with the shower pounding down over her.  Somewhere along
the line, she'd taken the scissors from the little sewing kit on the
counter and cut off most of her long pink hair; it lay scattered on
the bathroom floor like discarded straw, along with shattered drinking
glasses, torn towels and the twisted remains of the towel rack.  This
wasn't grief; it was rage, incoherent, useless rage, her soul
rebelling against the idea that she might - probably would - never see
Wakaba or Miki or Juri ever again.  Never know if she had succeeded.
Never hold Anthy in her arms, never hear her say that it was all over
and done with at last and they could finally have their lives to live
for themselves and each other.
        She came back to herself cold, and sore, and feeling a bit
foolish on top of everything else.  She got up, turned off the shower,
and climbed out of the tub.  She picked her way through the rubble,
startled now at the amount of havoc she'd wreaked, and dried herself
on the one surviving towel, which had been hidden on a rack on the
back of the door.  Her reflection was distorted somewhat by a network
of cracks raying out from a dent in the mirror.  She glanced down at
her smarting left hand to see the cuts on her knuckles, the blood
washed away by the shower.
        Sighing, she treated them with the first-aid kit she found in
the cabinet under the sink (from which she'd wrenched one of the
doors), then picked up the scissors from where she'd flung them and
touched up her impromptu haircut as best she could, converting it from
a demolished haystack into a serviceable gamin bob.  Now she looked as
strange to herself as she felt; her hair hadn't been this short since
she'd been too young to remember.
        Wearily Utena cleaned up as much of the mess she'd made as
possible, put on the bathrobe hanging on the inside of the door, and
went outside.
        Her bed had been made while she was in there (how long it had
been she had no idea, but it was dark outside the windows), the
tear-soaked pillowcases replaced, the coverlet turned down, with a
neatly folded set of pink flannel pajamas and a little round chocolate
mint placed squarely on the fold.  She looked around, but saw no one.
She put on the pajamas, then ate the mint, which reminded her suddenly
that she was ravenously hungry.  Remembering MegaZone's advice, she
ordered a hamburger and fries from room service, scarfed them down,
called for another order, and took her time with that one while she
perused the second chapter of the book.
        Utena Tenjou was a fundamentally resilient young woman.  Her
reaction to setbacks, even ones as profound and shattering as this
one, was generally to pick herself up, dust herself off, grit her
teeth, and climb back on the horse.
        But in this case, the horse himself seemed to have gone
missing, so she felt at a little bit of a loss.  She slept uneasily
that night, plagued by dreams of all she had lost.
        The next morning, the man called MegaZone knocked discreetly
and came in only when invited, to find her sitting up cross-legged on
the bed, the book beside her.  He made no comment on her revised
hairstyle and brushed off her halting apology for the undoubtedly
expensive damage she'd dealt the bathroom.
        "I've been asked," he told her, "to see that you're kept safe.
As luck would have it, I think that can probably be best accomplished
right here in Worcester.  There's a private school here in town,
Worcester Preparatory Institute - very high academic standards, very
well-run, extremely safe.  I have other responsibilities that make it
impossible for me to look after you myself, but the people at WPI can
do a better job of it than I could anyway."
        "I don't have any money," Utena told him.  "I don't have
-anything-, other than the clothes I showed up in."
        "Don't be silly - why, you have four of that outfit, and three
sets of pajamas, and a suitcase.  As for money, I can set you up with
a stipend.  Did you get through the book?"  She nodded.  "Good, then
you'll know about bank cards and all that."  He dug around in the
inside pocket of his coat and tossed a handful of documents onto the
bed in front of her.  "There's all the identity documents you'll need,
passport, personal ID card, and all that junk.  You're a citizen of
the Republic of Zeta Cygni.  No guardian, you seem together enough to
be an emancipated minor.  Easier that way, too, nobody to report to.
No fixed address, don't need 'em."
        She blinked down at the pile of vital documents.  There was
indeed a passport, and an ID card; also a registration document for
something called the Psi Corps certifying her to be devoid of any
quantifiable telepathic or other psionic talent (whatever -that-
meant), a red plastic card bearing the sigil of the Wedge Defense
Force Members' and Veterans' Federated Credit Union, and several other
official-looking oddments whose purpose she could not immediately
divine.
        "Is this all... legitimate?"
        MegaZone grinned.  "But of course, m'dear.  The guy who runs
Zeta Cygni is an old friend.  Nothing could have been simpler."
        "Why are you doing this?  It must have been harder than you're
letting on, and expensive.  You've never seen me before in your life,
and you're taking me in, buying me clothes, giving me a whole
-identity-, talking about sending me to an exclusive school?  Who
-are- you?"
        Zoner stood up, still smiling - she got the impression not at
her, but at something just outside her view.  "I'm a strange
attractor," he said, "a throw of the dice that's gone your way... and
from the looks of things, you were due.  Tomorrow, if you want to go,
I'll take you to WPI for the admissions test.  Your previous school
records are unavailable - some sort of tragic mishap, you understand,
with the files - so you'll have to test in."
        She gave him a dubious look.  "Or you could call a cab," he
said, "and I'll meet you up there."
        She weighed it.  He was big, sturdy, very strong-looking.  If
there were some ulterior motive, some darker purpose in his kindness,
he could have exacted whatever price he felt like right here, at any
time in the last twenty-four hours.  Something in the way he moved
told her that if such a thing had crossed his mind, she'd never have
been able to stop him, not as she was now, anyway.
        Something else, maybe in his eyes, told her it hadn't.
        She nodded.  "OK.  I'll go with you."
--/
        "Um, hello?" said MegaZone, waving his hand before her blank
stare.
        Utena blinked, surfacing from her dive into memory.  She must
have been standing there lost in it for several minutes - he'd
finished with the sausage and put it aside on a paper-towel-lined
plate, and was starting in on what looked like French toast.  She
shook herself and said, "What are -you- doing here?"
        "Cooking."
        Her look told him that answer would not be sufficient.
        "I live here," said Zoner.  "Well, sort of.  My best friend
lives here.  Technically I live next door, but we've all got keys to
each other's places on this block, and we come and go - very informal,
you understand.  I heard you and Kate were going to be back for break
today and figured you'd like some breakfast.  Gryph never gets up in
time to make breakfast," he added in a confidental tone, leaning close
and darting his eyes about comically as if looking for someone who
might overhear.
        "You know - you - Kate's parents," Utena sputtered, then
stopped herself and tried again, asking him for the fourth time, "Who
are you?"
        "Haven't we had this dance?  I'm MegaZone."
        "I know that, but who -are- you?" Utena asked, somewhat
edgily.
        "How far have you gotten in Galactic History?" Zoner replied.
        "Um... 1985."
        He nodded.  "You haven't gotten to me, then.  In 1985 I was
only 14, I hadn't done anything really notable yet.  I won't show up
for another six years."  At her astounded expression, Zoner went on,
"What, didn't Kate tell you?  I, her parents, a few others - we're all
immortal.  Perpetual college kids from the late twentieth century."
He grinned.  "Explains why the universe is so screwed up, doesn't it?"
        "She told me," Utena replied after a moment, "I just wasn't
entirely sure she wasn't kidding."
        "Nope," said Zoner.  "It's all true.  You'll meet her father
today, if he ever gets out of bed, the lazy bastard.  Give the guy a
week off and he spends the whole thing asleep.  In the meantime, sit
down, I'll get you a waffle."
        She sat and waited patiently while he worked.
        "Now zhen," said Zoner, suddenly and for no apparent purpose
adopting a ridiculously exaggerated fake French accent.  He leaned
over the central counter toward Utena, his arm held at his side as if
a towel were draped over it, and inquired, "Pardon me, Mademoiselle -
was zat ze sausage -leenk-, or -patty-?"
        Utena looked back at him for a second, then grinned and
replied, "Oh, what the hell, I feel gigi - let's say 'link'."
        Zoner smiled broadly.  "Aha, I see you've been absorbing
Kate's old audio tracks.  You grow lovelier by the moment.  Link it
is!"  So saying, he plied his spatula, and three links of sausage
landed toward the left side of Utena's plate, followed shortly
by a couple of waffles that dropped neatly into the space left for
them to the sausage's right.
        "As to syrup," he announced, displaying a rack of small oblong
bottles he hadn't had a moment ago, "we have a wide variety available;
please permit me to help you with your selection.  Blueberry?
Strawberry?  Boysenberry?  (I don't know what the hell boysenberries
are,)" he added in a confidential tone, "(but it's traditional.)
Perhaps a nice dry maple?  It is busy... "
        "... but never precocious?"
        Zoner put a hand over his heart and gave a rapturous little
sigh that went ridiculously with his imposing countenance.  "Ah,
Mademoiselle, you are too wonderful," he declared.  "If only I were
not... "  He screwed up his face in concentration and made a little
fiddly gesture.  "... you can't take three from two, two is less than
three, so you look at the four in the eights place... 420 years too
old."  Brightening, he took the brown-capped bottle from the rack,
handed it to her, and made the rest disappear.  "Maple, milady, you
shall have."
        As Utena started on her first helping and Zoner kept working,
the smell of cooking food started to draw other members of the
household.  First Kaitlyn appeared, yawning, in her eye-shattering
tiger-striped pajamas; then Nall, who came wafting scruffily in on
little wings like a cartoon character following a visible scent,
moaning softly, "saaaausaaaage... "  Utena took this in stride; she
hadn't seen him do it before, but he claimed to be a dragon, so it
only stood to reason that he could fly.
        Next to appear in the doorway was a young man Utena hadn't
seen before, dressed in a kendo costume, white quilted jacket over
gray hakama.  He looked to be about the same age as Corwin - a couple
of years younger than Kate - and was a bit taller, with long, thick,
dusty-red hair tied back in a heavy fall with a ribbon and impressive
upstanding bangs that crested in front and then fell to obscure one of
his eyes.  As Utena looked more closely at him, she realized that his
honest-looking face had the same pale blue eyes as Corwin; so this
must be Leonard.
        "Morning, Len," said Zoner, confirming this suspicion.
"Laundry day again?"
        "Mm," said Leonard, nodding.  Then he seemed to notice that
there was someone at the table he'd never seen before; a touch of red
entered his cheeks and he tugged the overlap of his jacket a little
more tightly closed.
        "L-Len," said Kate.  "M-my r-r-roommate, Utena T-T-Tenjou."
        Len bowed and said, "I'm very pleased to meet you, Miss
Tenjou.  I'm Leonard Hutchins."
        "Mister Leonard W. Hutchins the Third," said a voice behind
Len grandly, and Len stepped aside to look with an expression of
mingled irritation and fondness at a girl who looked as much younger
than he as he was younger than Kate.  She was a slim, cute little
thing with a pageboy mop of coal-black hair and eyes to match, and she
favored Utena with an insouciant grin.  "Hi, I'm Sylvie Daniels, Spawn
of MegaZone."  She angled a thumb behind her.  "Priss and Guy are
still lazing around in bed.  Boy, are -they- in for a surprise when
they wake up," she added, snickering darkly.
        "Sylvie, what have I told you about your little pranks?" Zoner
said in a tone of resigned semi-severity.  "Go back up there and put
the twins back the way you found them before they wake up and Guy has
a heart attack or something."
        Sylvie slumped.  "Awww, Dad... some Avatar of Chaos -you-
are," she muttered.
        "Go!" said Zoner, pointing with a spatula.
        "OK, OK, I'm goin'," Sylvie said, and she turned and slouched
out, mumbling about people being no fun at all.
        Utena looked at Kate, who shrugged as if to say, "Hey, none of
-my- business."  A few minutes later, Sylvie trooped glumly back with
two more redheads in tow, a boy and a girl, both about her own age,
both with rusty red hair a shade or two darker than Leonard's dusty
sheaf.  They looked sleepy, and disoriented, and in most other
respects a good deal like each other.  She, it was obvious, would be
beautiful in adulthood, and he strikingly handsome.  The boy's hair
was a little lighter and coarser, his gray-blue eyes a little darker,
but they had similar faces, and the family resemblance to Len and
Kate, though somewhat muted by the twins' beauty, was still obvious.
        "I guess the gang's all here now," said Zoner.  "Except for
your lazy parents," he added, flipping out another waffle from the
iron and passing it to Kate.
        "Kate's roommate, Utena Tenjou," said Sylvie, indicating the
aforementioned.  "These," she went on to Utena, "are the galactically
famous Morgan twins: Priss, and her tragically scrupulous brother Gai,
who'd rather you spelled it 'Guy'."
        "Um... nice to meet you," said Utena.
        "SYL-viiiieee... " said Priss testily.  Guy looked
embarrassed.
        "What?" Sylvie replied, her face the picture of innocence.
        "Sit down and get ready for waffles," said Zoner briskly,
passing out sausage.
        Utena glanced at Kate, who shrugged again with her little
private smile.  "I-interesting f-f-family, i-isn't it?" she asked.
        "Well, we try," said a voice from the archway, and Kate was up
out of her chair and across the room in a moment, big smile on her
face, to embrace the shortish, stocky fellow who was standing there.
For a moment, Utena thought he must be another brother, perhaps a
somewhat older one, for he didn't look far out of his teens if at all;
then she remembered what MegaZone had said about perpetual college
kids and realized he was Kate's father.
        Now that she'd realized that, she understood.  He had the same
brown hair as Kate, though without the hint of a curl Kate's had - it
hung straight and fine, pulled back into a ponytail - and his eyes
were the same ice blue as Corwin's.  His face somewhat resembled both,
but moreso Kate, with that same effect of being pleasant to look at
without being particularly striking.  The redheaded twins, Utena
reflected, must have inherited more of their looks from their mother.
        For that matter, so must Corwin, but then, he had a different
mother.  This was indeed an interesting family.
        "Welcome home, Kate," said the new arrival softly.  "Oh, it's
good to see you home."
        Kate held onto him for a few seconds, then let go, backed up a
little, and said, "Dad - I want you to meet my roommate, Utena
Tenjou.  Utena, th-this is m-m-my f-father, B-Benj-... "  She shook
her head, sighed, and started again.  "B-Benjamin H-Hutchins.  M-most
p-p-people c-call him 'G-Gryph-phon'."
        "Or you can call me 'Ben', or whatever," he said, extending a
hand.  "I'm not as militant about the nickname as -some- people I
could mention," he added, cocking his head at Zoner with a grin.
"Anyway, I'm glad to meet you."
        Utena took the hand and shook it (each favorably impressing
the other with their handshake, not a contest of strength but not one
of those disappointing "wag 'em by the fingertips" deals either), and
laughed as Zoner protested with mock primness,
        "'MegaZone' is my name.  My full, proper, legal and only name.
I understand not this 'nickname' of which you speak."
        "I'm pleased to meet you too, Mr. Hutchins," said Utena, only
to have her host wince.  "Uh, I'm sorry?" she added uncertainly.
        Gryphon laughed it off.  "Nah, it's OK.  You just make me feel
so -old- when you say it that way," he said.
        "You -are- old, Dad," Kate pointed out.
        "Oh, thanks, Kate, you're a big help," Gryphon grumbled.
        "So where's Kei?" Zoner asked.
        "Yamaki," said Gryphon in a rather disgruntled tone as he sat
down next to Kate's place.  "She left last night."
        "At Christmastime?  She never takes holiday assignments
anymore."
        "Oh, she'll be back for Christmas Eve, or there'll be -hell-
to pay," Gryphon assured his friend.  "What about Yuri?"
        "She's with the Other Man," said Sylvie offhandedly.
        "I thought -I- was the Other Man," Gryphon protested.
        "The -other- Other Man," Sylvie said patiently.  "The
Corporate One."
        "Oh, him," said Gryphon with a dismissive gesture.
        Utena glanced at Kate, realized that she was never going to
get any help from that quarter, and went on with her breakfast.
        Corwin arrived last, to whistles and applause from his
siblings and derisive hoots from Nall - not for his tardiness, but for
the reason for it.  Unlike the rest of them, who had wandered down at
the smell of food in dishabille, Corwin had showered, dressed neatly
in fresh, clean clothes, and - and this was the part that really got
Nall howling - combed his unruly mop of inky hair into sleek, gleaming
order.  The effect was temporary; as it dried, his hair reassumed its
own devices, jutting up at random angles in that rather pleasing
disarray that Utena found almost irresistibly mussable at times.
        "... act like you've never heard of anybody -bathing- before,"
Corwin muttered as he took the only remaining seat, to Utena's left.
"Um... g'morning... Utena," he added in kind of a strained mumble, his
face reddening.
        "Morning," said Utena brightly.
        "Ohhhhh my," Sylvie mused, sing-song fashion, into her milk
glass.  "Whaaaat's happened to Corrrr-wiiiiin?"
        "This is new and different," Priss concurred.
        "He looks the same to me," said Guy, puzzled.
        "Oh, Guy, you're hopeless," said Sylvie.
        Gryphon and Zoner shared a glance of private amusement.
        "Lay off, Sylv," Corwin grumbled.  "I'm not in the mood."
        Sylvie grinned at him.  "Not feeling well, Cor?  Little
lightheaded, maybe?  Heart going too fast?  Blood rushing to your - "
        "Sylvie," said Zoner sharply.
        " - face?" said Sylvie without missing a beat, causing the
very phenomenon she'd named.  Nall rolled right off the edge of the
table laughing.
        "Go easy," said Utena.  "He had a long day yesterday.  You
can't expect him to run on all cylinders first thing the next
morning."
        Corwin glanced at her, saw her dart him a quick, private grin,
and felt a curious combination of further embarrassment, relief, and a
strange kind of warmth he couldn't identify.
        Dammit, what can -possibly- be the matter with me? he
wondered.  I have -got- to get this checked after breakfast.

        After breakfast, the troop broke up, scattering to their
respective rooms and morning (well, noontime - Utena discovered when
she got back to her room that she'd awakened at about eleven)
activities.  Utena thought there was something vaguely decadent about
a house where every bedroom, including the guest room, had its own
bathroom, but she certainly wasn't in the mood to argue with Kate's
father's design decision; with that many kids, it was worth the
extravagance.  She used the facilities (where, she wondered, had
Gryphon found all those huge old-fashioned clawfoot tubs, assuming the
other bathrooms all had one too?), and dressed for the day, then went
upstairs to knock on the door of Kate's room (easily identifiable by
the large sign reading "Kate's Chamber of Secrets").
        Kate opened up, wrapped in her tiger bathrobe, still drying
her hair, and gestured Utena in.  Utena did so, and looked around,
taking in her first sight of her friend's room at home.
        Like the guest room, it was a comfortably sized bedroom - a
little bigger, perhaps, but with a slope to the ceiling and dormered
windows that gave it pleasingly odd proportions.  It had simple,
substantial-looking furniture made of an attractive reddish wood - a
king-size bed, a desk with four drawers and shelves above, a large
(mostly full) bookshelf along one wall, a bureau and wardrobe.  The
walls were covered in a wallpaper that was printed to resemble old
sheet music, yellow with age, its handwritten notes faded to brown.
Utena wondered what piece of music it was.
        The bed seemed a bit empty with just the pillows and coverlet
on it; it was odd to see any bed Kate slept in devoid of stuffed
tigers.  Well, almost devoid.  Seven, the ancient, battered specimen
which was Kaitlyn's oldest and favorite toy, still had pride of place
next to the pillows.  Seven went everywhere with Kate, and had since
her infancy, which might help to explain his rather bedraggled,
threadbare state.  He'd even gone to Toronto, though he hadn't come
out of Kate's duffel bag except on the second night, at the Raiderdome
Hotel.
        "So," said Utena as she plunked down on the edge of Kate's
bed, "what's on the agenda for today?"
        "I h-h-have to f-finish my Ch-Ch-Christmas shopp-p-ping," said
Kate as she hunted through her closet.  "I th-thought I'd ask C-Corwin
t-t-to t-take us to the G-G-Galleria.  B-but f-first there's s-someone
I w-want you to m-meet."
        "Mm," said Utena.  She let herself fall onto her back, looking
up at the ceiling, and toyed idly with Seven's yarn whiskers.  "Kate?"
        "Mm?" Kate replied as she dressed.
        "Thanks for inviting me.  I'm already having a good time.
Your family's a lot of fun."  She chuckled.  "The domestic
arrangements are a little weird... "
        "Oh?  Y-you think s-s-so?" Kate replied.  She pulled her head
through the neck hole of a New Avalon Institute of Science sweatshirt,
raked her hands through her hair to free it, and looked back over her
shoulder at her roommate with an impish grin.  "T-t-tell me ag-g-gain
about your eng-g-gagement?"
        Utena sat up, going a little pink across the bridge of her
nose, rubbed at the back of her neck, and said with a wry grin, "OK,
so, you've got a point."

        Below the city of New Avalon, below the utility channels and
the tunnels used by the New Avalon Transit Authority's galactically
famous subway system (known by its friends as "the N"), there exist a
further set of tunnels and bunkers, oversized and overbuilt to support
military hardware.  These tunnels had been envisioned as a civil
defense network, enabling the quick and easy transfer of Destroids,
armor, and other defense assets throughout the city in case of attack.
        Only after these tunnels were in place did the city planners,
foremost among them Gryphon, realize that it was completely silly to
have them; the city was inside a Dyson sphere made of carbon
neutronium.  If anybody breached the sphere, the city of New Avalon
had bigger problems than civil defense.  So the tunnels had been
sealed up and left unused.
        Corwin Ravenhair had, in the thirteen and a half years of his
life to date, annexed about ten miles of them, centered around the
downshaft under his father's house on Morgan Lane, as his own private
playground.  The son of the Norse goddess of technology, he dabbled in
robotics, weaponry, and other such wholesome pursuits, and his
underground lab in New Avalon was where he liked to do his dabbling.
        Now he lay on a Medicom 3000 diagnostic table, fretting while
the beam of marker light swept over him.  Eventually, it snapped off,
and he sat up and turned toward the operator's station.
        "Well?" he asked.
        The girl standing there, a pretty if slightly sullen-faced,
pale creature in perhaps her middle teens, raised her auburn head
slowly and deliberately from the panel to look at him with unimpressed
dark eyes.
        "Everything seems normal," she replied, her voice as flat and
uninterested-seeming as her expression.
        "Are you sure?"
        "I checked twice, as you requested," she said.
        "Slag," he cursed, and hopped down from the table.  "There's
got to be -something- wrong with me, Dorothy."
        "Describe the symptoms," Dorothy instructed him, not sounding
as if she cared much.
        "I keep losing my train of thought.  My concentration's shot.
Sometimes my hands tremble and I feel like I've forgotten how to
talk.  My stomach feels funny and I get lightheaded."
        Dorothy gazed impassively at him for a moment.  "When did this
start?"
        "Yesterday afternoon."
        "When you arrived in Worcester?"
        "Yes."
        "When you met Kaitlyn's roommate?"
        "Um... well, yeah."
        "This roommate is presumably a girl?"
        "What the hell's -that- got to do with anything?" Corwin burst
out, waving his hands exasperatedly.
        Dorothy stared at him for several seconds, her face blank.
        "... Question withdrawn," she said, pivoted with a smart
about-face, and disappeared into the next room.
        Corwin sighed.  "What's gotten into -her- runcode all of a
sudden?" he wondered.  "Maybe it's time to clean out her logfiles
again... "

        "Seems kind of silly to me," Utena complained, her breath
escaping in white wisps as she marched behind Kaitlyn.  "Getting all
bundled up just to cross the street."
        "C-can't be h-helped," Kate replied as she hopped up the step
at the curb, giving the word "Rose" on the side of the mailbox a
glance.  "He f-fusses ab-bout that k-k-kind of th-thing.  Anyway,
w-we're l-lucky he's at h-home.  He's a c-cop so he w-works most of
the t-time.  Next real ch-chance would be th-the big Christm-mas Eve
d-dinner."
        "He wh - " Utena started, but by that time Kate had already
pushed the doorbell.  Rather than the usual chime, this act was
greeted by the sound of some enormous choir singing,
"HAAA-lle-lu-jah!"
        "... what the hell??" she finally completed on a completely
different train of thought, giving Kaitlyn an opportunity for an
indulgent chuckle.
        It was only a few seconds' wait before the door opened, the
gasket around the door sounding a muffled crack as it did, and Utena
got her first good look at 'he'.  All things considered, he seemed
pretty unremarkable: dull brown hair, lighter than Kaitlyn's, eyes
that seemed stuck in indecision midway between blue and brown, and no
particularly distinguishing features.  Save, of course, for the fact
that he looked about as tall as Moose MacEchearn (who was a
Hoffmanite), but definitely wasn't built like him - much, much too
thin.
        He got out a "Hello," and then looked down.  "Kait!" he cried,
breaking into an enormous smile and pushing the door wide open.
        "Marty!" she grinned, and hopped forward, arms open.  He
caught her readily, and they collided into a long, quiet hug with
Kate's toes dangling at about mid-shin on him.
        Utena blinked with momentary surprise, and then smiled at the
tableau.  She suppressed a small twinge of jealousy, though she wasn't
sure who exactly she was jealous of: Marty, for making her so happy
just from his presence, or Kaitlyn, for having someone that made her
that way.
        Soon, he stepped back, Kaitlyn still draped in front of him,
and waved Utena in with his left hand.  "Come in, come in!" he
muttered through Kate's hair, and Utena did so, stomping some bits of
slush from her feet on the mat just inside the doorway.  "We'll just
be a bit here yet."
        "Take your time," Utena replied, pushing the door shut and
quietly slipping out of her coat.  Seeing nowhere else convenient to
put it, she slung it over the arm of a nearby sofa.
        Kaitlyn's feet finally touched down as she slipped off of him
and stepped back.  "There, that should about do it for four months,
give or take."
        "I'll get in touch with Accounting," he smiled.  "We can make
up the difference later.  At any rate, you seem to have brought - "
        Marty brought himself up short, Utena guessed, from saying the
next thing on his mind.  He regarded her with an expression of mild
surprise, and finally finished, "a refugee from the Barbie aisle."
        Apparently, what he'd finally decided on wasn't much better
than the initial reaction.
        Kaitlyn tsk'ed and wagged a finger at him.  "Now, now.  You
know the rules - you're not allowed to tease people you don't know."
        "Yeah, I know," he groaned.  "I'm sorry, but even considering
Wapiko, that's more -pink- than I see on a regular basis.  Plus,
you're supposed to be fixing the 'people I don't know' part."
        "Of course," Kate nodded, and Utena stepped up, recognizing as
clear a cue as there could be.  "Uncle Marty, this is Utena Tenjou, my
roommate at the Big W.  Utena, D-detective Chief Insp-spector M-Martin
Rose, CID."
        He smiled pleasantly and bowed a bit, taking Utena's proffered
hand.  "A pleasure, Miss Tenjou.  I hope my comments haven't put you
off too badly."
        She stared at him, quietly scrutinizing his face as she had
ever since she heard his name, seemingly lost in thought.
        He blinked and cocked his head slightly to the side.  "Uh... 
you okay, there?"
        "Huh?"  She shook herself lightly as she emerged from the
contemplative funk.  "Um, yes, yes, sorry, I'm fine, it's..."  Her
voice trailed off as she resumed gazing at him.  "I'm not sure... do
I know you?  We haven't met, but you seem familiar somehow, just
not... directly... "
        He gave Kaitlyn a knowing glance, and one corner of his mouth
quirked into a faint smile.  "Perhaps on TV," he replied.  "After
all - " He shifted into his Business Voice and rumbled, "I -am- the
Terror that Flaps in the Night, you know."
        "I knew you were going to work that line in somehow," Kaitlyn
grumbled in mock exasperation.
        The line, however, had the desired effect; Utena's eyes
widened, and her lips rounded in surprised recognition as puzzle
pieces assembled within her mind.  "Oh," she said quietly, then more
firmly, "Oh, right!  Yeah, I remember now!  You're Kate's crazy
prudish old superhero unc - "
        Her speech processes came to an abrupt halt as Martin watched
her with a silent, knowing smile.  To her side, she heard a light
slap, and turned her head to find Kate with her glasses pushed up onto
her forehead and her hand covering her eyes.
        " - le," she completed, flushing bright red behind a sheepish
grin.  "Oops.  Guess I shouldn't've said it quite like that, huh."
        He stifled quiet laughter.  "Don't feel bad.  At least now I
know what she really says about me to her friends."
        "That d-does it," Kate muttered from behind her palm, pointing
at Utena with her other hand.  "Next t-time we c-c-cover Santana's
'S-Smooth' in c-concert, I'm n-NOT dedic-cating it to y-you."
Martin found his laughter a bit harder to contain.
        "I hear guests!"  A new voice, feminine and a bit on the cute
side, called out from around a corner.  Utena looked toward the
source, and saw the outside edge of a kitchen.  "Who goes there?"
        "I-it's me, Aunt E-Eiko," Kate responded, pushing her glasses
back down to her nose.  "I'm home f-for b-break."
        "Kaitlyn?"  There were a couple brisk footsteps on tile, and
then Utena saw where the voice was coming from.
        Well, the 'cute' part was accurate, that's for sure.  The girl
who emerged from the kitchen had bright red hair that reminded Utena a
bit of someone she'd once known.  No other aspect of her resembled
him, though - particularly not that warm smile or those cheerful blue
eyes.  She looked fairly young, maybe around the same age as herself
and Kate, and a couple inches shorter to boot.  That phenomenon was
taking a lot of getting used to, seeing all the exceptional adults who
surrounded Kate's life in person for the first time.  These two,
according to Kate, had been married for something like forty years.
        "Kate, hi!" she beamed, pulling Kate into a quick hug.  "We've
missed you so much!  How've you been?"
        "Fine, A-Aunt Eiko," Kate smiled.  "I b-brought m-my roomie
f-from school to v-v-visit."
        "Roomie?" Eiko asked, glancing over to Utena.  "I thought you
were getting a single this year."
        "Sh-she came after th-the f-first day," Kaitlyn explained as
Utena stepped forward; there was, after all, no reason not to be
polite.  "It's O-OK, she's been g-great.  Utena, th-this is Eiko
R-Rose, M-Matron Saint of B-Band-Aids.  A-Aunt Eiko, Utena T-Tenjou."
        The two smiled, clasped hands, and exchanged the usual sort of
pleasantries.  Utena then looked over to Kate.  "'Saint of
Band-Aids'?"
        Eiko giggled and responded with a cheerful smile.  "Oh, sure.
Seems I was patching poor Kaitlyn up every other day when she was
little.  Her Mom and Dad had such busy jobs, and, well, being the only
real homebody around, I was happy to pick up the slack."
        "W-want to see s-s-something c-cool?" Kate asked Utena, who,
suspecting she knew what that something was, grinned and nodded.  Kate
turned eager eyes to Eiko.  "C-can we?" she asked.
        "Oh, OK," said Eiko with a cheerful semblance of resignation.
She vanished in a scarlet blur and a gust of wind for a few moments,
and then, just as abruptly, reappeared.  "I keep it on the dresser
when I'm cooking," she explained, lifting her arms.  Her right forearm
now bore a polished metallic armlet, and set into the armlet was a
large, circular gemstone which glowed a soft scarlet, which Eiko
covered loosely with her left hand.
        The sight of the shining gem made Utena gasp.  That very
moment, she knew, with no doubt whatsoever, exactly who this was.
        "COME TO MY HAND!" Eiko commanded, and the soft scarlet glow
exploded, reaching straight up, forming a long, thin shaft with what
looked like a cross-mounted cylindrical head.  She grabbed the
not-yet-solid shaft with her left hand, pulled it out and away from
the gemstone, and spun it in her fingers as it congealed.
"STORM-BREAKER!"
        With one final slap, she caught the spinning shaft in her
right hand.  The glow shattered like a dropped plate, revealing the
object's true form: a tremendous warhammer, nearly as long as the
woman holding it was tall, its head larger around than her own.
Grinning ferociously, she twirled it as effortlessly as a cheerleader
would a baton, skillfully spinning it around herself, and finished her
routine by stopping it in a high-held vertical position.
        "ZIZZDT!!" is an approximate spelling of what Martin blurted,
and Eiko pulled her final gesture short.
        "... What?" she asked testily.
        "Please don't stake it into the floor," he muttered through a
grin made of pure cheese, waving his hands in a futile
panic-dispelling gesture.  "We've already had to fix divots in the
foundation this year."
        Eiko huffed, shouldering the hammer.  "Oh, all right.  But the
ending pose is part of the motif."
        Utena, who had watched many episodes of "Thunder Force" with
Kate, and was in her own right no stranger to mysterious, mystic
phenomena involving melee weapons, was nonetheless impressed.  "Wow.
The strongest woman in known space...  Is that thing really as heavy
as they say?"
        Eiko smiled, lifted Storm-Breaker from her right shoulder, and
dropped it into her left hand.  She let her hand slide down the shaft,
stopping when her thumb was nearly touching the head; then, propping
the head up with her right hand, she turned the handle around to face
between Utena and Kate.
        "Push down," she offered, opening her left hand to act as a
fulcrum.
        Utena regarded the white metal shaft for a moment, noticing
some detail work in the smooth surface and a bit of gold inlay near
the tip that she hadn't noticed before, and then wrapped her hands
around it and pushed down.
        It didn't budge.
        "Harder," Eiko suggested.
        Utena grunted and pushed down harder, still with no results.
Snorting through her nose, she adjusted her grip on the handle so that
her elbows were raised, and tried again.  And again, leaning onto it.
And again, laying across it with her chest.
        Eiko just watched with that same smile.
        Baring her teeth with a growl, Utena jumped up, locked her
elbows, and applied her full weight to the task, hanging on it with
her feet completely off the floor.  She tried bouncing a few times in
an effort to at least jar it loose, and squealed with surprise when
that maneuver resulted in her flipping head-over-boots like a gymnast
on the parallel bars.  Kate chuckled as she completed the flip and
finally let go, landing with her feet together and rising with a grin
and a self-mocking gymnast's bow.
        "Whoa," Utena said.  "If I didn't believe it before, I sure do
now."
        Eiko nodded with satisfaction, then twirled the weapon in her
left hand again and touched the tip of the handle to the gemstone.  It
was instantly absorbed in that familiar red light, and retracted back
inside the gem.
        Utena regained her poise and pointed to her arm.  "And that
jewel...  that means - "
        "Yes, it does," Eiko replied, still smiling.  "Like Marty, I'm
a Gray Lensman."
        "'Gray'?"
        "We qualified for the badge," Martin pointed out, tapping his
own Lens, "but don't get assignments from Experts of Justice HQ.  Sort
of roving discretonal agents.  I couldn't be an active-duty Expert and
a CID officer at the same time - my Flying Yak post takes enough of my
time as it is.  And God knows the fun I'd be missing if I couldn't go
gallivanting after Carmen Sandiego anymore," he added, rolling his
eyes.
        Utena peered at Martin's Lens, though not so much at it as
around it.  It was surrounded by a segmented metal ring, which
obviously held it in - but what it was being held into wasn't a
bracelet or a vambrace, but, apparently, the back his actual -hand-.
        "That looks like it must have hurt," she remarked.
        "You really shouldn't show that off, Marty," Kaitlyn sighed,
pushing her glasses up.  "That usually even grosses out people who
already know about it."
        "Sorry," he said, sheepishly lowering his hand.
        "Well, I hope we can count on you for dinner tomorrow," Eiko
smiled.  "We'll be having - well, everything I can get enough of, as
usual."
        "I'm s-sure it'll b-b-be great, Aunt E-Eiko," Kate nodded.
        "I, ah," Utena began, somewhat unsure, "I'll be with Kate
pretty much the whole time I'm here, so if she's coming, I guess I am,
too.  I wouldn't want to impose on you, though."
        "Ah, phooey," Eiko grunted, waving away the mere thought of
it.  "Another mouth to feed means we might have less than five pounds
of leftovers this year."
        "The Utoniums are out of town this year," Martin reminded.
        "Ten pounds."
        "And the Overstreets."
        "Twenty, oh, Crom, I forgot that," Eiko groaned, putting a
hand to her forehead.  "We need a bigger freezer," she whined.
        Martin chuckled and lifted the tiny redhead into a playful
hug.  "We'll just leverage the weather like we always do, honey.  At
least you remembered the W'harnyrs had to stay for official business
on An-Vlannia."
        Eiko groaned louder and pounded her head on his shoulder.
        "Or not.  Jeez, this'll be the smallest group we've had in
years."
        "Just as well," Kaitlyn smiled, clapping her roommate on the
shoulder.  "Poor Utena's had enough surprises today, I wouldn't want
to blow her mind when half the town showed up for the dinner bell."
        "Speaking of which," Eiko chirped, hopping down from Martin's
embrace, "I'd better get back to work on mine or we won't be having
any tonight!  Thanks for bringing your friend over, Kate, nice to meet
you, Miss Tenjou!"
        "Thank you, Mrs. Rose, you too!" Utena called and waved as the
redhead vanished behind the kitchen corner.
        "I guess we'd better hit the trail too," said Kate.  "I've got
to finish my Christmas shopping, and Corwin ought to be awake enough
to drive us to the Galleria by now."
        Martin nodded and hugged Kate again.  "See you tomorrow, then,
at the worst," he said, then released her and took Utena's hand,
bowing again.  "We'll see you again, Miss Tenjou."
        "Thank you," Utena replied pleasantly, then buttoned up her
coat and followed Kaitlyn out the door, pulling it shut behind her.
        "Th-there, see?" Kate grinned, hopping down from the porch to
the walk.  "H-he's a -fun- p-prude."
        Utena hummed a reply, something odd striking her mind as she
followed Kate to the street.  "Kate... "
        "Mm?"
        "I just realized... the whole time we were there, whenever
you were talking to Mr. Rose... and before, when you were talking to
your dad - you never stuttered once."
        "You n-noticed," Kaitlyn smiled, spinning around to look her
roomie in the eye, then back around to watch where she was walking.
"Yeah, th-that happ-p-pens.  O-or rather d-d-doesn't."
        Utena opened her mouth again, but decided that was as much of
an answer as she would get to that question, and let it drop.

        They were having a good time, the three of them, wandering the
corridors and shops of the Avalon Centre Galleria that afternoon.
Kate accomplished most of her shopping goals in the west wing, and was
now faced with the interesting challenge of getting Corwin and Utena
to go off somewhere else for a while so she could buy -their- gifts.
Each had ranged off alone at one point or another, probably to pursue
similar goals, but Kate had always been with one or the other, and now
she had to try and think of some errand she could send them both on.
        She was about to turn to Corwin and suggest that he show Utena
the Valkyrie fountain in center court when something oddly familiar
caught her eye.  She didn't notice it consciously - it merely fit an
impression somewhere behind her eyes, and made her realize she'd just
passed them over something she'd seen before.  She looked back over
the area her gaze had just swept, wondering what it had been.
        She stopped making the suggestion in mid-sentence - which,
admittedly, wasn't all that unusual for Kate, so it didn't get
Corwin's attention for a few moments.  In those few moments, he'd
walked five paces past where she'd stopped walking as well, before he
finally realized something was odd, stopped, and turned.
        "Kate?"
        Kaitlyn stood stock-still, her face wearing a look of utter
disbelief.  Slowly, steadily, the color drained out of her face.  Her
hands went slack and she dropped her zatoichi and the shopping bags
she held to the floor.
        "Kate?" Corwin repeated.  His sister made no response.  He
turned, his eyes searching.  Utena had gone on, unaware, her attention
absorbed by a kiosk some way along the gallery which boasted a large
collection of stuffed animals.  Kate, still frozen in place, was
beginning to tremble, her eyes filling with tears.
        "Utena!" Corwin snapped, his voice uncoiling through the space
between them like the crack of a whip.  Utena froze, her shoulders
tensing, then whirled, the question already on her face.  It was
answered the instant she saw Kate, and she came running back.
        "What is it?" she asked.  "What's wrong?"
        "I don't know," Corwin replied.
        "C-C-C-Corw-w-w-w-win," Kate whispered, her voice barely
audible.
        He put his hands on his sister's quaking shoulders, looked her
squarely in the face, and said, "Kate, I'm here.  What's wrong?"
        "G-g-g-get m-m-me... out," she said.
        Utena started hurriedly picking up the dropped bags and sword.
"What's the matter with her?" she asked Corwin.  "Is she epileptic or
something?  She's never show any signs since I've been with her."
        "No," Corwin said, "this is something else.  I don't
understand.  Kate, please, what's wrong?"
        "G-g-get mm... mm... m-m-me... " Kate said again, then took a
breath and suddenly wailed, "OUT!"
        Then she whirled, her paralysis broken, and hurled herself
away from them in a dead run back toward the west end of the mall.
        "Kaitlyn, wait!" Corwin cried, starting after her.  Utena
tucked the zatoichi under her arm, juggled the last of the bags into
her hands along with her own, and followed.
        "She's heading for the street level," Corwin said to Utena
as she caught him up.  He had good wind, she noticed - he was running
flat-out and didn't pant when he talked, only paused for well-measured
runner's breaths.  "You see if you can catch her - I'll go get the
car!"
        Utena nodded.  "Right!" she replied, and they split up.
        Kate was half a block down Centre Street by the time Utena
caught up to her.  Talking was of no use.  Utena had to drop
everything again and seize her panic-stricken, completely irrational
roommate in a fierce embrace to stop her, nearly sending the two of
them tumbling down the stairs into the Centre subway station.
        "Kate, it's me, it's Utena," said Utena pleadingly as Kate
struggled, her breath hissing through her teeth, her brown eyes
totally blank.  "I'm not going to hurt you!  What's wrong?"
        It sounded like Kate was trying to say "Let me go," but she
was so far from coherent that it was only a guess on Utena's part.  A
moment later Corwin's long black car pulled up with a screech of
plasteel-reinforced rubber on asphalt, and Utena bundled Kate into the
back, collected the dropped things again, and climbed in after her.
Corwin drove, grim-faced and silent, while Utena tried in vain to
soothe her violently trembling, incoherently sobbing friend.
        When they got back to 105, everyone else was out, off on their
own pre-holiday errands.  Kate, recognizing her surroundings as
familiar, dashed inside, pelted up the stairs, and slammed her
bedroom door behind her.
        At the bottom of the stairs, Utena turned to Corwin.
        "What the hell is going on?" she asked.
        "Search me," Corwin replied, so deeply troubled that her
speaking directly to him failed to have its usual effect.  "I've never
seen her act that way before."
        They went up the stairs together.  Corwin knocked on Kate's
door and got no response but the muffled sound of his sister's awful,
gut-wrenching sobs.
        "Kate?" said Utena.  "Can I come in?"
        There was a long silence, and then, barely intelligible,
"O-o-on-n-nly y-y-y-y-you."
        Utena turned to Corwin again.  "Um... I guess you'd better
go... I dunno, shovel the walk or something."  She shrugged
apologetically.  "I mean... sorry, but... you heard her.  I think
she'd freak out again if we both went in."
        Corwin considered this and nodded.  "Yeah... I think you're
right.  If you need me I'll be downstairs.  Something about this has
me feeling like I should be keeping an eye out for something... "
        Utena, who had that same feeling, clapped him gently on the
shoulder.  "Good guy," she said, and went quietly into Kate's room.
        Kate lay huddled at the head of her bed, curled into the
smallest ball she could manage around the reassuring, soft solidity of
Seven.  She looked up, briefly, to note Utena's entry, but then buried
her face in Seven's back again.  The tatty tiger looked at Utena with
his button eyes as if to say, Any ideas?
        "Kate, please," Utena said, climbing up to sit cross-legged at
the foot of Kate's bed, facing her.  "I've never seen you like this
before, and frankly it's scaring the hell out of me.  Can't you tell
me what's wrong?"
        "I h-have t-t-to g-go b-back," Kate sobbed, her words barely
understandable.  "H-have t-to g-g-g-get out of N-New A-A-Aval... va...
Ava-l-lon.  G-g-get C-C-C-Corw-w-win.  H-h-have t-t-to g-go... g-g-go
b-b-back t-to E-Earth."
        It took considerable concentration for Utena to sort out what
Kate was saying, between the worse-than-ever stuttering and the
racking sobs, but she managed.  "Kate, we -can't- go back to Earth.
The dorms are closed until January 8th."
        "N-n-no!" Kate replied, clutching Seven even tighter.
"H-h-have t-t-to.  S-sleep i-in th-th-the W-W-W-Wedge.
A-anyth-th-thing.  J-just g-g-get a-a-w-w-w - "  She stopped, drew a
deep, shuddering breath, and tried again: "G-get aw-way."
        "OK, look," said Utena.  "You've got to calm down.  There's
nothing here that can hurt you, OK?  I don't know what you saw that
scared you so bad, but it isn't here, and it can't get here.  Corwin's
outside, I'm right here with you.  Whatever it is, it can't get to
you, not while we're around."
        Kate began to shiver violently.  "S-s-s-sure," she faltered,
bitter fatalism mingling with the terror in her voice.  "B-b-but c-can
y-you s-s-stay w-with m-me f-forev-v-ver?"
        "If we have to," Utena replied flatly, her face grim.  In
this, even though she had known him for a little less than twenty-four
hours, she felt perfectly qualified to speak for Corwin.
        Kate looked up at her sharply, saw the unwavering
determination in her bright blue eyes, and reached out a trembling
hand.
        Utena took it, and Kate pulled her down, so that they were
lying face to face on their sides with their hands linked over Seven's
ragged head.
        "I-I've n-never t-t-t-told a-anyo-one ab-bout th-this," Kate
murmured haltingly.  Utena's bald declaration of loyalty seemed to
have broken the grip of panic on her, but she was still frightened,
still trembling, her voice still more broken than usual.  "N-not even
D-D-Dad.  H-he th-thinks I l-l-left N-New Av-valon b-bec-cause of
th-the m-m-music p-p-progr-ram at th-the D-D-double-U."  She took
another shivery breath, closed her streaming eyes, and went on, "I
r-r-really l-left b-because of h-h-him."
        Utena frowned, confused.  "Who?  Your father?"
        "N-n-no!" Kate replied hurriedly, shaking her head vigorously,
eyes going wide.  "G-God, n-n-no!  N-no."
        "Well, who then?" Utena wondered.
        Kate took another deep breath, closed her eyes, and drew their
linked hands to her face, pressing their knuckles against her lips.
Utena felt the stricken girl's breath flow hot over the back of her
hand.  After a moment, Kate seemed to have gathered herself enough to
continue; she relaxed her arms, letting their hands fall back to
Seven's head, and said in a tiny, hollow whisper,
        "M-M-Mike C-C-C-Carp-pent-t-ter."
        Utena blinked.  "Mike Carpenter?" she repeated, and Kate
stiffened.  "OK, OK, sorry," Utena hurried on, trying to make her
voice as soothing as she could.  "I won't say it again, I'm sorry.
It's just... a -guy-?  Did this to -you-?  It's... it's a little hard
to believe.  You stared down Saionji without a -blink-, and he's one
scary guy when he gets going."
        "I-it w-w-was the s-s-spring b-before l-l-last," Kate said
haltingly.  "I w-was in th-the eighth g-g-grade.  H-he's t-two y-years
o-o-older.  W-we m-m-met at a b-baseb-ball g-game.  I-I w-was in the
p-p-p-pep b-band.  He a-asked me o-out.  I w-was f-flattered.  H-he
w-was a p-pop-pular g-guy, w-went to K-Koopm-man High.  F-for a
w-w-while it w-was n-nice."
        Utena felt her blood begin to heat toward boiling.  She
thought she knew the rest of this dance, knew it far too well.  She
tried not to tighten her grip on Kate's hands in involuntary reaction
to the emotions that were starting to build inside her, forced herself
to stay calm and soothing and work out the rest of the story.
        The rest of it was just exactly what she thought.  The charm
and solicitude, steadily eroding into greedy, grasping control.
"Suggestions" becoming less and less veiled commands.  Eventually,
there had to come the crisis, where his will met Kate's head-on, and
hers would either crumple or hold.
        "O-one d-day t-toward the e-end of the s-s-summer, he s-said
he w-w-wanted me t-to g-give up m-music," said Kate softly.
"B-bec-cause it t-took up s-so m-m-much of m-my t-t-time.  I s-said
I-I w-w-wouldn't.  He g-grabbed my arm and t-t-told m-me it w-wasn't a
r-req-quest.  I y-yanked m-my a-arm aw-way and t-told him to g-go
t-t-to h-hell."
        She closed her eyes and gathered herself for a long time, and
when she spoke again, it was with her eyes still closed, in a tone of
voice that might have meant she was digressing:
        "W-when I c-c-came t-to," she said, "it w-was me th-that w-was
in h-h-hell."
        Utena closed her own eyes, squeezing out hot, stinging tears
in the process, drew in a deep, deep, hissing breath through her nose,
then blew it out again slowly.  Her own hands shook a little as she
fought for composure.
        "I'm n-no p-p-prude," Kate said in that same quiet digressive
tone, "b-but I d-didn't w-w-want... n-not then.  N-not the f-f-f-first
t-t-time, n-n-not l-l-like th-that.  N-not w-w-w-with h-him.  I-I
f-f-fought... f-from the i-ins-stant I c-came to, G-God, I f-fought.
If I'd h-h-had my b-blade b-b-back th-then, I'd h-have k-k-killed
o-one of us.  At th-that m-m-moment, I-I d-didn't m-much c-care
w-w-which one."
        Utena couldn't stand it anymore.  She disengaged her hands
from Kate's, moved Seven gently out of the way, and pulled her
roommate close, as close as they had been on waking in that motel room
in Toronto.  She wrapped herself around her tormented friend, linking
their legs, combing her fingers through Kate's long brown hair.
        "God, Kate," she whispered, "I'm sorry."
        "Y-you w-weren't there," Kate pointed out.
        "That's what I'm sorry for," Utena replied.
        "O-Oh."  Kate declined to comment, instead remaining silent
for a moment before going on in a softer, brittler voice, "He n-never
t-t-touched m-my f-face.  I m-m-managed to h-hide it f-f-from M-Mom and
D-D-Dad.  S-s-said I w-was j-just h-having a b-b-bad m-month.  L-lying
to D-Dad hurt alm-most as m-much as... b-but I kn-knew if I t-told him,
h-he'd k-k-kill M-Mike."
        "And you -protected- him?" Utena murmured incredulously.
"After what he did to you?"
        "N-no," Kate replied.  "I p-prot-tected D-D-Dad."
        "... Oh," Utena said after a moment's thought.
        "H-he's s-s-seen enough p-pain and v-violence in h-his
l-life," Kate went on.  "I c-c-couldn't l-l-let him b-become a
m-m-murderer f-f-for m-me.  And I d-d-didn't w-want him t-to know.
H-he l-loves me s-so m-m-much... it w-would h-hurt him as m-much as it
h-h-hurt m-me."
        They lay in silence, except for Kate's shuddering breath and
occasional resurgent sobs, for several minutes.  Utena, her own eyes
burning, rubbed her friend's back and murmured wordless reassurances
and tried in vain to banish the images of pain and blood and terror
from her mind.
        "Kaitlyn," she said after a long struggle with herself.
        "Mm?"
        "If you still don't want him killed," Utena said urgently,
"tell me so, straight out, right now - because you're the only one in
the world who can stop me."
        "N-no," said Kate, recoiling from Utena's embrace to look her
in the face with horrified eyes.  "F-for G-G-God's s-sake, no!  I
w-won't have y-you c-c-crossing th-that line f-for m-me, either.
P-promise m-me you w-w-won't."
        Utena looked back at her, then closed her eyes and solemnly
nodded her head.
        "I promise," she said.  "I want to - I can't tell you how much
I want to, and maybe I could never completely explain all the reasons
why... but I promise I won't."
        "G-g-good," said Kate, allowing herself to be drawn back in.
"H-he's c-c-caused e-enough s-suff-f-fering."
        "You never told -anyone- about this before?  Not your father,
or your Uncle Marty, or anybody in the Federation?"
        "N-nob-b-body.  I l-l-left N-New Aval-l-lon for E-Earth a
w-week l-later.  I h-heard his f-family m-m-moved to M-Meizuri or
s-s-someplace, so I d-d-dared to c-come home f-for b-breaks... "
        There was a soft knock at the door.
        "Go away," said Utena.
        "Um," came Corwin's voice, "sorry, but... "
        "What is it?"
        Corwin opened the door, put his head in, and blinked at the
tableau he found; several possible explanations flitted clearly across
his face before he found the right one, at which point he stepped
fully into the room, then hesitated, agonized by indecision.
        "Kate?" he whispered.
        Kate disengaged herself from Utena's arms enough to turn on
her back and sit up a little.  "Y-yes, C-C-Corwin?" she said.
        "Are... are you OK?" he asked.
        "N-no," Kate replied honestly.
        "Is there anything I can do?"
        "I'd o-o-only h-have to a-ask you n-not to d-d-do it," Kate
murmured, looking down.
        "Huh?!" said Corwin.  Confused, he looked at Utena, who had
propped herself up on one elbow.  She'd been crying too, he could see
that clearly even in the dim light, and it drove an icicle into his
chest.  "What's -wrong-?" he asked plaintively.
        "It's... kind of a long story, Corwin," said Utena.  "What did
you need to talk to Kate about?"
        "Oh... uh... her old boyfriend from last year is outside."
        Kate stiffened, her eyes going wide.
        "I, uh... I told him he should get lost, but he won't go.  He
tried to come inside, but I got the door shut on him... but he's still
out there.  He keeps saying he wants to talk to Kate.  Should I,
um... -make- him leave?"
        Utena scowled, then swung herself decisively off the bed,
stood up, and wiped her eyes with her sleeve.  That done, she tugged
her jacket straight with an angry jerk and said to Corwin in a flat,
commanding voice, "Stay with your sister, Corwin.  I'll take care of
this."
        Then she strode from the room, fists clenched.  Corwin watched
her go, then turned to Kate.  She was getting up as well, her face
stricken.  Corwin desperately wanted to know what was going on, but he
knew Kate well enough to know that he'd never get an explanation from
her in this state, so instead he followed Utena's instructions and
stayed by her side as she followed her roommate's path down the
stairs.
        "What's going on?" Nall inquired sleepily as he emerged from
Corwin's room on the second floor.  "Kate, are you crying?"
        "Be quiet, Nall," said Corwin, and the tension in his voice
silenced the little dragon instantly.  Nall took up his station on
Corwin's shoulder and said nothing at all, his senses alert for
trouble.
        Downstairs, Utena put on her shoes, then opened the door to
see a young man of perhaps sixteen or seventeen, standing rangily on
the top step.  He made as if to enter the house when she opened the
door, but she strode right on out without breaking stride, ramming her
shoulder into his chest and slamming the self-locking door behind her.
Thrown off-balance, he stumbled backward and ended up sort of
hop-dancing all the way down to the bottom of the steps.
        He was a fairly big fellow, long arms and legs, sturdily
built, looked like he might know what to do with himself in a fight.
He was well-dressed, in dress shirt, letterman's jacket, clean jeans,
decent shoes, and his blond hair was cut and combed tidily.  He was
handsome, a particular sort of smooth, refined, smug handsomeness
which reminded Utena unpleasantly of days past.
        Good.  That would make this easier.
        "Who're you?" he asked.
        She descended the steps, and as she came down each one, he
backed away, until she had him halfway to the street.
        "Mike Carpenter, I presume," Utena said, keeping her voice
even.
        "That's right," he said calmly.  "I think I asked you a
question."
        "You don't get to know my name," said Utena.  "You'd only get
it dirty.  What the hell do you think you're doing here?"
        Carpenter looked irritated, folding his arms across his chest.
"I came here to talk to my girlfriend, if that's any of your
business," he said.
        "Your girlfriend doesn't live here," Utena told him flatly.
"Beat it."
        "-You- don't live here," he replied.  "Maybe -you- should be
the one who beats it."
        "I'm going to beat -something- if you don't get away from
this house," Utena said.
        "I don't know what side of whose bed you got up on this
morning, baby," Carpenter replied with a tone of arrogant dismissal,
"but if you're bent on making trouble, I can oblige.  You want to
wrestle and see who's stronger?"
        "Baby".
        He called her "baby".
        Good.  That would make this easier still.
        She took another step toward him, but this time he didn't back
away.  So much the better.  She was actually stepping toward something
else anyway.
        "It's not about stronger," said Utena calmly, "it's about
smarter.  Now go on.  Kaitlyn doesn't want to 'talk' to you, you son
of a bitch.  She never wants to see you again in her life, and if I
have anything to say about it she never will.  Get out of here before
you get hurt.  I'm through warning you."
        Carpenter looked her up and down, from angry eyes to saddle
shoes and back again, then threw back his head and laughed at her.
        "Baby, you're out of your cute little mind," he said.  "C'mere
and let Uncle Mike teach you some manners."
        He reached out one big hand for her, surprisingly fast, but
she moved faster.  Her left foot flicked over and then stomped down on
the scoop of the snow shovel Corwin had left sitting by the side of
the walk.  The shovel levered up, straight into her outstretched left
hand, and she whirled it and clobbered him with a great resounding
BLONG.  He staggered back, his hair knocked askew, and shook his head.
        Mike Carpenter's calm, languid charm didn't survive the
transition to mussed hair, bloody face and murderous eyes.
        "You shouldn't have done that, baby," he murmured, wiping at
his bloody nose with his sleeve.  "Now I'm gonna have to take you
apart.  Teach you a -real- lesson."
        Utena spun the shovel in her hand, gripping it just above the
scoop with one hand and just below the Y of the handle with the other.
        "We'll see," she said.
        "So what's the deal?" Carpenter asked as he lunged.  Utena
slipped out of his path, gave him a poke to the gut with the handle as
he passed, then swung around him and got between him and the house
again.  Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a flicker of motion
at the living room window.
        I hope to God Corwin did what I told him, she said to herself,
because if this son of a bitch gets past me, it'll all be up to him.

        "What the hell's going on?" Nall demanded.
        "I have no idea," Corwin replied.  He was holding his
trembling half-sister's hand.  As she looked out the window with avid,
horrified eyes at the proceedings, she gripped his as though it were
her only anchor to reality.
        "So what do we do?" Nall went on.
        "I have no idea."
        "Well, you're a big help."
        "No.  Scratch that.  I have -one- idea.  Get ready for a
fight.  I don't know what's happening or why, but he wants in here and
Kate doesn't want him.  If that son of a bitch gets past Utena, it'll
all be up to us."

        "What's the deal?" Carpenter repeated as he and Utena circled
each other, trading feints and never managing to make any real
contact.  "Where'd Katie find a tough chick like you to watch out for
her?  Did she turn dyke at that fancy school of hers?"
        Utena crossed him up on his next lunge and sent him sprawling
back into the snowbank on the left side of the walk.  Her only reply
was the soft, angry sound of her breath through her teeth.
        "That must be it," Carpenter nodded to himself as he pulled
himself up out of the snow.  He was deceptively quick on his feet, had
some training of some sort or another.  He feinted toward the house,
getting her to commit her defense in that direction, then swung
himself and struck from the side.  She got the shovel up, and his hand
smashed right through the handle just above the scoop, narrowly
missing her own hand.  Undaunted, she ducked under his next wild
swing, then slammed the scoop into his face and let it go.  It
clattered to the walk as he stumbled backward.
        "Yeah," he said.  "Must be.  She was lonely at that place, so
far from home, and you moved right in, huh?  Is that it, baby?  You
took advantage of my little Katie, all homesick and lonely?"
        Utena's face flushed scarlet.  She had no words for the spurt
of rage that hideously hypocritical assertion unleashed deep within
her.  She just gave an inarticulate scream of fury, then struck,
spinning the broken shovel shaft into her hand and driving the jagged
end into his middle.  It didn't pierce him, but it drove the wind from
him and sent him to his knees, coughing and clutching at himself with
one hand while he flailed the air with the other, trying to get hold
of her.
        She jumped -over- his flailing hand, completely over his body,
twisting in midair to land behind him, facing his back.  Locking the
Y-handle of the shovel shaft into the crook of her right elbow, she
whipped the round wooden rod under his chin and hauled it back with
her left hand.  He gagged, grabbing at it, trying to pull it away.
        Leaning down, she murmured into his ear, "You're only going to
survive this because I keep my promises.  Remember that."
        He pawed at the shaft for a few moments longer, then subsided,
slackening.  She held it a few seconds longer, stomped a foot down on
his ankle to be sure he wasn't faking, then let him go.  He collapsed
onto his face on the walk, his resumed breathing stirring little puffs
of residual snow near his face.
        Utena stood over him, panting, sweat running down her back
inside her jacket.  There was a flicker of motion beside her, and she
whirled to see Martin Rose standing there, a mingled look of
puzzlement and severity on his face, as if to say, "What the hell's
going on here, and why don't I think it can possibly be good?"
        "You're some kind of cop, right?" said Utena.
        "Of a sort," Rose replied.
        "Then get this miserable bastard out of my sight," Utena said,
"before I go back on my word and kill him."
        "At the risk of seeming dense, why would you do that again?"
        "Sorry.  I can't say."
        Giving her a scowl, Rose knelt down next to the inert form,
turning him over and tsking at the purple bruise that ran across his
throat.  "Dangerous game, using that hold."
        "I wasn't playing," Utena said.
        "Mm.  Say, wait a second.  I know this guy.  He used to date
Kait.  She went to Earth because he dumped her, summer before last."
He turned, looking up (but not far - he was almost as tall as she was
even on his knees) at Utena with a "why don't I think I like this at
-all-?" look on his face.  "Didn't she?"
        "That's not for me to tell," Utena repeated, knowing that in
the process she was telling him anyway.
        Martin's face darkened.  He regarded the unconscious shape on
the ground for a moment longer, then straightened, effortlessly
slinging the young man over his shoulder in the process.
        "We'll talk about this later," he said to Utena, and then
disappeared by leaping straight up into the air, vanishing into the
overcast.  There was a curious sort of ratcheting noise, and then the
snarling scream of afterburners fading away into the afternoon calm.
        Utena stood looking after him for a moment, then dropped what
was left of the shovel, shook herself, and went to knock on the locked
front door.

        Corwin answered it, his face wearing that same look that
mingled frustration, confusion and desperate concern.
        "Where's Kate?" Utena demanded, still breathing hard with the
lingering rage that rattled around inside her.
        "She ran back upstairs when she saw Hammer," said Corwin.
"I sent Nall after her - had to let you in."
        For a second, she looked as though she were going to yell at
him for leaving Kate's side.  Then she realized that he was right -
Nall could hardly have opened the door for her - and instead nodded,
hurriedly removed her shoes, then ran past him.  He slammed the door,
deadbolted it and followed.
        Utena's already-fairly-high regard for Corwin went up another
notch as they climbed the stairs.  She could almost feel the terrible
curiosity burning inside him, but he kept silent, not allowing himself
to pester her with the questions that crowded his mind.  Instead he
simply followed, ready to do whatever he was asked in aid of his
sister.
        Kate's door was shut, but couldn't bar the sounds of fresh
sobbing from the hallway.  Utena knocked, got no answer, and slowly
opened the door a little.  "Kate?"
        Kaitlyn looked up from where she lay huddled on her bed and
beckoned without speaking.  Utena slipped inside, then looked back at
Corwin, the question on her face.  Kate weighed it for a moment, then
nodded, and Utena guided him inside as well.
        Utena climbed up on one side of Kate, propping her up into a
sitting position; Corwin stood next to the bed, his hands working
uselessly, unable to do much more than -not- ask the questions ringing
in his mind.  Nall, who had been perched on Kate's headboard with a
terribly worried expression, jumped down and climbed up on Kate's
shoulder, pressing himself he-hoped-reassuringly against her neck.
        "It's all right, Kate," Utena told her softly.  "It's all
right.  I kept my promise."
        "N-n-not all r-r-right," Kate replied miserably.  "M-M-Marty
kn-knows, d-d-d-doesn't h-he?"
        Utena nodded.  "I think so.  I didn't tell him, but... I think
he worked it out for himself."
        Kate shook her head, moaning in despair.
        "C'mon, Kate, it's OK," Utena insisted.  "It had to come out
sooner or later.  You couldn't keep it all sealed up inside you
forever.  It's not going to change the way he feels about you."
        Corwin's face was starting to shift from puzzled concern to
dreadful concern.
        "Ut-t-tena," said Kate in a small voice.
        "Yes, Kate," Utena replied.
        "T-t-tell C-Corw-win," Kate said.  "I... I c-c-can't... 
c-can't s-say it t-to him n-now, b-but... he... h-he... d-deserves to
kn-know."  She reached up and scratched at Nall's ears.  "I... I'll
t-tell Nall," she murmured, "b-but... p-please... you t-tell
C-C-Corwin."
        "Are you sure?" Utena asked.  Kate nodded.  Utena patted her
shoulder, got up, and led Corwin into the hall, closing the door
behind them.
        "Kaitlyn didn't transfer to school on Earth just because of
the music program at WPI," she told him, softly, just to be certain it
wouldn't carry if anyone had come home and they'd failed to notice.
"She left New Avalon to get away from Mike Carpenter."
        Corwin frowned.  "I knew he had something to do with it," he
said angrily.  "I always thought he was kind of an asshole, but Dad
said it was just because I'm so close to Kate that I was jealous.
What the hell did he - "  The color drained away from Corwin's face
as something linked up behind his eyes.  "... No," he murmured.
        Utena watched him follow the thread to its conclusion, decided
that Corwin was capable of handling an explanation every bit as blunt
as Utena was capable of making it, and said, "Last year, he decided to
see how much control he really had, and told her to give up music."
She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then opened them and
continued, "When she refused, he raped her."
        Corwin stared at Utena for several seconds, his face utterly
blank.  Then, slowly, with the awful inevitability of machine tools,
his hands curled, closed, knotted into fists.  Utena had never noticed
before how big his hands were compared to the rest of him - hands he
would have to grow into, like a German shepherd puppy's paws.  They
had big, bony knuckles that now jutted out like white spurs of bone.
Something gleamed behind the pale blue of his eyes, something ancient
and awful, climbing up out of the primeval heart of him to look with
naked hatred through his eyes.
        "I'll kill him," he said, his voice incredibly quiet for the
amount of energy that was packed into it.  He lapsed into another
language, a rolling, consonant-rich tongue that was faster-paced than
Standard, and muttered, though Utena couldn't understand him, >I'll
tear out his heart and feed it to the dogs of Jotunheim.  I'll strew
his entrails across the peaks of the Tindalos for the ravens of Hel to
feast upon.  His head will decorate a pikestaff at the gates of the
Golden City.  He will walk among the damned and dishonored on the
Final Day, and I will find him among their legions and I will KILL HIM
AGAIN!  This I - <
        POW!
        Corwin staggered.  For an instant, it looked like he would
counterattack, his left fist drawing back as he recovered his footing;
then he blinked, the sharp pain in his right cheek breaking the spell
he'd been under, and dropped his hands slack to his sides.  Utena,
ignoring her smarting hand, grabbed his shoulders and looked full into
his face, her eyes intense.
        "Get ahold of yourself," she commanded him, her voice quiet
but firm.  "Kaitlyn doesn't want anyone to kill him.  We've already
been through that.  Why do you think I let him live?"
        Corwin looked right back at her, not flinching, not blushing
now, with more important things on his mind.  He rose again in her
estimation as, with a visible effort of will, he put aside whatever
thoughts he'd been giving voice to in that strange tongue, nodded
solemnly, and said,
        "I understand."
        "Promise you won't try to find him?"
        "Kate said she wants him left alone?"
        Utena nodded.  "She says there's been enough suffering
already."
        Corwin considered this, sighed deeply, and again nodded
gravely.  "Then I'll make you that promise.  I won't go against her
will."  He took a deep, uneven breath.  "So that's why she freaked out
at the mall.  She saw him there.  We all thought he'd moved to
Meizuri... Ymir's bones, what are we going to do?  The others will be
home soon.  Even if Hammer doesn't say anything, and nobody else saw
you fighting with him, we'll have to explain what's wrong with Kate
somehow.  But... but we can't just... -tell- everybody what
happened... "
        Utena shook her head.  "No.  It's not ours to tell," she
agreed, unconsciously echoing something Kate had said about Utena's
own life story.  "I won't speak of it to anyone without Kate's
permission."
        "No," Corwin agreed.  "But... what are we going to do?" he
repeated.
        "I don't know," Utena admitted.  "Right now, we're going to go
back in there and do what we can to help her get through this.  After
that... "  She shrugged.  "We'll see."
        Corwin's still-pale face (except for the slap mark on his
right cheek) took on a look of determination, and he nodded.  They
went back inside to find Kate now lying down on her bed, looking up at
the ceiling, cuddling Seven in one arm and Nall in the other.  It was
plain from the look on Nall's little face that he'd been told; he lay
quiet and pensive, not complaining about sharing the job with a
stuffed toy.
        Utena got up where she'd been before; after a moment's
hesitation, Corwin climbed up on the other side, and together they
held her.  She wasn't crying now; she was just silent and still,
almost as though she were asleep, but her eyes were open.  Utena and
Corwin flanked her like a human shield, their arms thrown across her
as if to ward off any further harm.
        Finally, after almost half a silent hour, Kaitlyn said softly,
bleakly, to no one, "M-Mom and D-D-Dad will h-have to kn-know now."
        "Mm," said Corwin noncommittally.
        "M-M-Marty w-will t-tell them if I d-d-don't," Kate went on,
thinking out loud more than talking to any of those with her.
        "Dad... "  Corwin trailed off, as though not certain how to
phrase what he was thinking, and finally said, "Dad will be... oh,
this is going to sound awful.  Relieved, sort of."
        Kate glanced at him strangely, but said nothing, understanding
that there was an explanation coming.
        "I didn't say anything because I didn't want to come off like
I was trying to give you a guilt trip," said Corwin, "but when you
went away, Dad was really bummed.  You guys were always so close - he
wasn't expecting you to just up and go like that.  He still thinks it
must have been something he did.  So to know that it was because of
something else... well... it'll tear him up what that something else
was, but at the same time, he'll be relieved.  That the distance
between you wasn't his fault.  I dunno, maybe I'm not making any
sense... "
        "N-no, I und-d-derst-t-tand... it's... i-it's the t-t-tearing
up... "  She squeezed her eyes shut, shook her head.  "H-hasn't
th-there b-b-b-been en-nough p-pain?" she asked in a desperate
whisper.
        "It'll just go on hurting if you don't get it over with,"
Utena told her softly.  "Like I let my own problems fester for four
months before opening up to you, remember?  If I had trusted you
sooner, I could have saved myself a lot of heartache.  Well... this is
your own father.  Surely... "  Utena trailed off, then said, "No, I'm
sorry... I have no business lecturing you about that.  Fathers and
daughters... I don't know anything about that."
        "Well, -I- do, and you're right," said Corwin.  "Kate, if you
let this lie, then you'll go on being miserable, holding in this
secret, and Dad will go on being miserable, thinking you left because
you don't... don't love him as much as you used to.  If you bring it
out, he'll rage, he'll cry, but he'll be there for you.  Just like we
are.  It'll be better in the end.  You'll see."
        "I... I c-can't... g-go d-d-down to d-dinner... t-tonight."
        "That's OK," Utena told her.  "We'll tell the others you're
not feeling well - no lie there.  Once your brothers and sister go to
bed, we can bring your parents here.  In the meantime, one of us will
always be nearby if you need anything."
        "I'm staying right here," Nall agreed.  "I won't leave you
unless you tell me to."
        Kate smiled weakly, ducked her head and kissed the little
dragon on top of his head.  "Th-thank you, N-Nall," she murmured.
        The house shook a little, and Corwin and Utena picked
themselves up on their elbows almost in unison to glance across Kate
at each other.
        "Front door.  Someone's home," Corwin observed.  "I guess we'd
better get busy."
        "I guess so," Utena concurred.  "Kate, are you OK for us to
leave you for a while?"
        "I-I'll b-be OK w-w-with N-Nall here," Kate told them.
"Th-thank you... b-b-both of y-you... f-f-for s-standing b-by me... "
        "Hey," said Corwin with a brave attempt at a grin.  He leant
down and kissed her softly on the cheek, then got to his feet and went
on, "What's a brother for?"
        "Or a best friend?" Utena added, kissing the other cheek.
"Why don't you try to get some rest?" she added as she got up.  Then
she scruffled Nall and added with only-slightly-forced cheer, "Nall
will chase away any bad dreams that come around."
        "Yeah," said Nall.  "They won't get past me!"
        Kate mustered a weak chuckle, let herself be tucked in, and
cuddled up with the tiger and the dragon.  By the time Utena and
Corwin reached the door, she was breathing slowly and evenly, already
asleep.
        Utena paused before closing the door, looking back; then she
shut it, leaned her back against it, and sighed.
        "Dammit," she said with feeling.  "I wish there was more I
could do.  I feel so... useless."
        "Yeah," Corwin agreed wholeheartedly.  "But... we're not doing
too bad, considering there's nothing we can do."
        Utena gave him a strange look, and then somehow parsed his
meaning and grinned a little.
        "God, I want to mess up your hair so bad it hurts," she said.
        "So go ahead," Corwin replied.  "I'm not proud."
        So, at last, she did.  She'd been right about it - it was
great hair to tousle, soft and thick, eminently mussable.  Now that
she'd done it once, she reflected, she'd have a much harder time
resisting the urge to do it again.  On the other hand, he didn't seem
to mind; in fact, it gave him a little bit of a glow, which went some
distance toward offsetting the still-pinched pallor of his face in
this instance.
        "You're a good guy," Utena told him again as they walked
toward the stairs.  "How's your face?"
        "I'll be OK," he said.  "You pack quite a wallop, though."
        "Sorry... you went all weird on me, I didn't know what else to
do.  You mentioned hell in there someplace, I think... "
        "I was about to make an unwise promise," Corwin told her.
"You saved me a lot of trouble whacking me when you did.  Thanks."
        "Heh... first time a guy's ever thanked me for slapping him,"
Utena observed.  Now they had reached the second floor, and as they
crossed to the other stairs she asked, "What language was that?"
        "My mother's," Corwin replied.  "Old Norse."
        "Norse?  You mean, like Vikings and stuff?"
        "Mm-hmm."
        "I didn't think anybody still spoke that," said Utena, though
she admitted to herself as she did so that her only exposure to
ancient Norse culture and history was through Kate's copy of "Myths of
the Vikings" and the writeups on Viking weapons in the Museum Replicas
catalog.
        "Mom's family does," said Corwin.  "You'll meet her, day after
tomorrow."
        "I'm looking forward to it," she said.  They reached the
living room to find Gryphon sitting down with a book.
        "Oh, hello," he said.  "Shopping go all right?"
        "Uh... fine," said Corwin.
        "Where's Kate?" Gryphon wondered.
        "In her room," Corwin said.  "She, uh, has a headache."
        Gryphon frowned.  "Oh, that's too bad... maybe I should go see
if she needs anything... "
        "She just got to sleep, Mr. Hutchins," Utena told him, which
made him wince again.  "Uh... I'm sorry... "
        He waved it away again.  "It's OK, it's my problem, not yours.
Call it a hang-up... well, if she's sleeping then I don't want to
bother her.  I hope it's not one of the really bad ones.  She used to
get terrible migraines when she was little," he explained.  "I hoped
she'd outgrown them."
        "I think it's just that she's still tired from the trip,"
Corwin told him.  "You know, tried to do too much the first day back."
        "Mm.  I hope so."  Gryphon nodded thoughtfully, then looked
back at his son and said, "By the way, what happened to the shovel?"

        Dinner was a preoccupied affair for Corwin and Utena.  Nall's
absence was noted; Corwin explained that he was feeling especially
lazy today, and was probably sacked out on his treasure hoard.  (Of
course, thought Utena, don't all dragons sleep on treasure hoards,
after all?)  Sylvie taunted Corwin mercilessly until Zoner finally
told her to knock it off, at which point she switched to flirting so
blatantly with Guy that it seemed almost to be causing the boy
physical pain; Priss rolled her eyes a good deal and didn't say much.
Leonard and Utena got into their first real conversation, a discussion
of swords and their use; Len, like Kate, was very keen on the family
kenjutsu form, and took the news that Utena had been a champion
duelist at her old school with delight.  He was, it seemed, always
happy to talk shop on the subject of swordsmanship.  Utena wasn't sure
why she'd told him that, but he had the kind of face you could talk
to; after some consideration she chalked it up to that.
        After dinner, the younger children scattered.  Len was off to
bed early, having a full morning of sledding with his fellow Ragnarok
products, the Shannon twins, Achika and Tenchi, planned.  Priss and
Sylvie darted off to Sylvie's parents' house to attempt a complicated
scam that would, if successful, net them a second dinner.  Guy, unable
to believe his luck, retired to the room he normally shared with his
sister to enjoy the rare treat of an evening of peace and quiet.
        "Can you handle things here?" Corwin asked Utena after
dinner.  "I've got something I have to get finished by tomorrow.  It's
for Kate.  It's important."
        "You're not going to - " Utena began, but he cut her off.
        "No, it's nothing to do with him.  I promised, didn't I?  It's
for -Kate-, not for me.  Please?"
        She nodded.  "Go for it.  I've got things covered.  Where can
I find you if we need you?"
        "Downstairs," said Corwin.  "Ask Dad."
        "OK," she said, and clapped him on the shoulder as he passed
her in the arch and headed for the den.
        Gryphon fretted about Kate not getting any dinner, but was,
having been convinced to do so, now determined to let her rest.  Utena
spent an uneasy evening in the living room, watching television with
him.  She wondered when Kate's mother was going to get home, and
whether she should ask Gryphon to hear Kate's story alone or wait for
her, and how she could approach him about going up to hear what his
daughter had to say to him in the first place.
        She was just about to give it a try when a key rattled in the
door, and then a woman entered, stomping snow off her boots and
cursing fluently in mixed Standard and German about the uselessness of
the Yamaki field office.  She carried a curious staff of golden metal,
about as long as she was high and possessed of a curious hooked head,
which she left standing in the little corner made by the door of the
coat closet.  Gryphon got up and went to embrace and kiss her, then
helped her off with her bulky down jacket and introduced her.
        "This is Kate's roommate, Utena Tenjou," he said.  "Utena -
Kei Morgan, my wife, Kate's mother."
        Utena was going to bow and say it was nice to meet her, but
the tanned, athletic redhead stuck out a hand, so Utena modified her
tactics accordingly and was rewarded with another very satisfactory
handshake.  Good, solid handshaking people, Kate's parents were.
        "Good to meet you, finally," said Kei.  "Judging by her
letters home, you and Kate get along pretty well, huh?  A lot better
than her last roommate," she added with a pained look.
        "I never actually heard what the deal was with her last
roommate," Utena admitted.  "So many people have said things like
-that-, that I've been kind of afraid to ask."
        "Ah," said Gryphon, looking a trifle uncomfortable.
"Well... Hiroe was, uh... "
        "Different," Kei finished for him.
        "I think I was going to say 'difficult'," Gryphon mused.
        "That, too.  Anyway, ask Kate about the significance of
eighty-cycle alternating current sometime, but make sure you stay an
inch or two out of kicking distance."
        "Um... OK," Utena replied.
        "By the way, where -is- Kate?" Kei wondered.
        "Sleeping off a headache," Gryphon said.  "I hope it's not one
of her old ones."
        "Um... actually... " said Utena, causing both of the elders to
look at her curiously.  "That's not quite true," she went on.  "Sorry,
but... there's something Kate has to talk to you about, and she didn't
want to worry the others, so... we took the liberty of... "  She made
a "finish the line" kind of gesture.
        "Bullshitting us?" Gryphon supplied.  Utena nodded.  "Hmm,"
said Gryphon.  "Must be important."
        "It is," said a grave voice from the stairs, and everyone
turned to see MegaZone descending them, his face like a thundercloud.
"Maybe the most important thing she's ever had to tell you.  You'd
better go.  All of you.  Now."
        Gryphon and Kei had known him too long, and Utena had
instincts too good, to miss that tone of voice.  Without a word, with
growing dread on the faces of Kate's parents, they all went, leaving
Zoner standing gloomily in the living room alone.
        Only later would it occur to Utena to wonder how the hell he'd
gotten up there in the first place.

        Utena had wondered beforehand if she would have to do most of
the talking, but she didn't.  Once an exhausted, drooping Nall was
dismissed with many thanks to his bed, Utena merely sat cross-legged
on Kate's bed next to her, held her hand, and nodded encouragingly
from time to time.  Slowly, painfully, the story came out; and when it
had, Kate's parents sat in stunned silence, Gryphon on the other edge
of the bed with his arm around his daughter, Kei in Kate's desk chair.
        "Oh my Christ," Gryphon murmured, tears rolling down his face.
"Kaitlyn... I... "
        Kei slammed a fist down on the arm of the chair, levered
herself to her feet, whirled, and started for the door with murder in
her eyes.
        "Mrs. Hutchins - "
        By the time Utena got that much (respectful if inaccurate)
out, Kei was already out of the bedroom and at the end of the hall.
        "Ah, damn," Ben growled, getting to his feet a little after
Utena, who had already scrambled off the end of the bed and gone
rushing down the hall.
        "M-M-M-M-Mom, n-n-n-no," Kaitlyn stammered, pulling herself up
with her father.
        Utena pounded down both flights of stairs after the
fast-walking redhead, then skidded to a fast halt a step from the
hallway in the living room.  Kei had already pulled on her down jacket
and shot Utena a harsh glare as the girl grabbed her arm.
        "Wait, please!  What do you - "
        "I'm doing what should have been done a year-and-a-half ago,"
Kei spat, pulling her arm loose to zip up the front of her coat.  "Or
a few hours ago, for that matter - why the fuck didn't -you- finish
him when you had the chance?  You call yourself Kate's friend?"  She
picked up the gleaming golden rod she'd left leaning by the closet.
"I'm going to finish the job you blew, kid - I'm going to hunt down
that son of a bitch and show him what happens when you fuck with my
family."
        "No!" Utena shouted, and grabbed Kei by the arm again as she
tried to push past.  "No, that's not what Kate wants, can't you see
that??"
        Kei snarled and shoved, throwing Utena hard against the wall,
right next to where MegaZone was standing.  She crumpled to the floor
with a slightly dazed scowl, holding the back of her head.
        "All I see is my daughter in pain.  And I don't need some
wide-eyed kid telling me how to take care of my children!" Kei
barked.
        Zoner stepped forward.  "Kei."
        "Fuck off, Zoner."  Kei grabbed the front doorknob, twisted
and pulled.  "Don't try to lecture me, and don't try stop me."  She
started to pull herself through the doorway.
        She immediately pushed herself away and backpedaled, swearing
under her breath.
        "Ultimately," Hammer rumbled as he let himself in, pushing the
door shut behind himself and standing between it and Kei, "no one ever
could."
        He looked toward the side, and his eyes locked with Utena's as
she forced herself up to her feet; a chill raced through her (good
Lord, was this even the same man she'd met just a few hours ago?), but
she held her ground.
        "The secret's out, I see," Hammer continued.  "Good.  That's a
burden that should never be carried alone."
        "Son of a bitch," Kei muttered, shifting into an aggressive
stance two steps away from him.  "All right, Marty, spill it.  Where
is he?"
        "Where you'll never look," Hammer replied mirthlessly.
        Kaitlyn made a small noise and gripped her father's arm.  She
wanted desperately to scream for them to stop, but even that one word
refused to come - only a staccato, meaningless noise.  Gryphon, his
face as hard and pale as scraped bone, patted her head and made soft
shushing noises, his eyes riveted on his wife.
        "Wrong answer."  Kei whirled the Cosmic Rod into a ready
position, triggering its sizzling light.  Snarling, she leveled its
shining crook at the interloper's head.  Utena was too wrapped up in
the tension of the situation, and becoming too inured to the
weirdnesses surrounding this group of people, even to blink at the
sight of it.
        "Let's try this again: Where is he?" said Kei.
        "Beyond your reach," he replied, his tone unchanging.  Kei's
hands tightened, but her voice wasn't the one that spoke next.
        "Mr. Rose?"
        His head turned to regard Utena.  "Yes, Miss Tenjou?"
        "Please," she asked, stepping forward, "I... we all need to
know - what did you end up, well, doing with him?"
        He watched her in silence for a few moments.  She saw his eyes
close as he drew a long breath, releasing it as a tired sigh.
        "After a quick stop at the Caine Health Center," he explained,
"to tend to that gratifying beating you laid on him, Mikey and I had
a... discussion.  I presented a couple options for him, and he chose
one."
        "And... which would that be?"
        She detected a small smile in his voice - but not on his face,
nowhere near his face - as he continued, "It seems our 'friend', Mr.
Carpenter, has been suppressing an altruistic streak.  Why, just this
afternoon, I was on hand to see him selflessly dedicate the next fifty
years of his life to the Zardon Far Legion.  Quite amazing, those
people.  They ship out for the remotest parts of the galaxy
practically the moment they sign up a new recruit."  He straightened,
his cape parting as one of his arms emerged to snap a salute.
"Monsieur Charpentier has become a brehve Lezhionnairre who has
zhoined ze Lezhion to foerget."  His previous stance returned as he
completed, "Hopefully to forget how to be a jackass."
        "You," Kei hissed.  "You smug - fucking - BASTARD!" she
roared, holding her weapon unnervingly still as the rest of her body
shook with fury.  "How DARE you cheat me!"
        "KEI."  Zoner's hand closed around the shaft of the Cosmic
Rod, its energy crackling and sizzling across his skin.
        "I said FUCK OFF, Zoner.  This is between ME and the GODDAMN
SELF-RIGHTEOUS BOY SCOUT here."
        "No."
        The entire room watched with surprise as Utena marched out
proudly, stopped directly between Hammer and Kei, and faced the
redhead with her arms held wide.
        "You move it or you lose it, little girl," Kei growled.  The
light from the Cosmic Rod threw harsh shadows on Utena's face.
        "Then I lose it," Utena replied, her voice hard and
uncompromising.  She locked eyes with Kei and stood fast.  "The only
reason that guy's alive now is because I promised Kate I wouldn't do
what I wanted to do.  If someone's going to die for letting him live,
dammit, you're going to have to start RIGHT HERE."  She jabbed a thumb
at her own chest.  "Because I have no doubt that I did exactly what
Kate wanted - and what she still wants now.  Don't you -ge