Dirty Pair: A Problem of Godly Worship
by Fred Herriot
450 Clare Avenue South, Welland, Ontario L3C 3B3 Canada
fdh@caffeine.havajava.com
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edited by E.B. Kushnir
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Based on the works by Haruka Takachiho
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WRITER'S NOTES: This story was originally written as a trib
in April 1993
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The Angels warped out of hyperspace over planet J-210-B.
Until a month ago, the United Galactica believed that no one had migrated to this planet; hence the numbered title. This planet's system was located at the far edge of Delta quadrant, one of the most remote sections in the galaxy. About thirty days ago, the UG Space Fleet destroyer "Parkinson" had picked up an emergency communications beacon from the pre-warp ship "Pathfinder," which had been missing for almost a century. The "Parkinson" reported the fact to UGSF headquarters on Mars, who relayed it to the UG Central Computer on Earth. The situation warranted investigation, and the 3WA was alerted. The Chief Administrator relayed the order to Goulet, who then assigned the task to Kei and Yuri.
J-210-B was a typical class-M planet, second out from its low-G class star. The planet's surface was almost all water, save for a single Australian-sized continent at the equator. The starship's ECM picked up the "Pathfinder's" beacon immediately, tracking it to the western coast of the continent. Kei guided the "Angel" to a landing site. "This ought to be easy," she commented.
"Hmmm," Yuri nodded in agreement. "Something easy, for once." The Angels had completed a major relief/terrorist suppression mission about three weeks prior to this assignment. That mission, on the planet Lahanne, had almost ended in tragedy for the Angels and their friends, the Silhouettes. What with having been poisoned with chemical agents, the two had just come out of a two week rest in the hospital.
Cutting through the clouds, the Angel hovered over the wreckage of the "Pathfinder." The large colony ship had survived an atmospheric re-entry only to land hard on its side in a shallow lake. Kei landed the starship on a strip of beach nearby the crash site. The Angels and Mughi disembarked to take a look.
"Wow!" Kei studied the pile of twisted metal. "Not too many survivors from the looks of it."
"True." Yuri agreed. She let her eyes wander down the beach. "There's a boat."
"Huh?" Kei looked up. Sure enough, a small wooden dock stood a ways down the beach. Beside it rested a canoe-type vessel.
The two women walked toward the dock to continue their search. Mughi began scenting around the dock beach. At the boat, Yuri observed, "This was recently built."
"You got that right." Kei agreed. "Where did these people come from?"
"Japan, I think," Yuri responded. "This mission was launched before the ship that brought my ancestors to Yocha."
Suddenly, the air was shattered by a piercing scream. "What th...?" Kei snapped about, her particle gun drawn in an instant.
A young woman stood just on the outskirts of the trees. She was dressed in what looked to be a locally-produced skirt. She stared at the Angels, anger blazing out her eyes. "Defilers!" she yelled. "Demons from the sky! Get away from there!"
Kei lowered her weapon. Yuri moved forward, her hand raised in the universal sign of peace. She called out, "Wait! You're wrong. We're not demons. We're friends."
"Liar!" shrieked the girl. She began moving in their direction, brandishing a long stick over her head. Her eyes fell on Kei and she stopped dead in her tracks. Her facial features changed from utter rage to stunned shock and then to outright disbelief. The two Angels paused also. Then, she dropped to her knees. "Camra-sama!" she breathed.
"What?" Yuri asked.
"Oh, Most Supreme One," the girl softly crooned. "Forgive my anger. I truly thought you were defilers of our sacred place." With that, she fell face first on the ground before the astonished Kei.
Clumsily, Kei reached forward and pulled the girl to her feet. "What are you talking about? I am no god."
"You are Camra," she persisted. "Most Holy of Overlords, Supreme Goddess of the Sky, and Great Protector of the people of Camrahana!"
As the girl rattled off her deity's title, Kei did some fast thinking. Obviously, the "Pathfinder's" crash-landing had done something to the survivors. *If she thinks I'm a god,* she thought, *then I might as well go along for the ride until Yuri and I can figure how to get out of here.* Taking the girl firmly by the chin she asked, "What is your name?"
"I am called Miko," she answered.
"Okay, Miko," Kei nodded. "Where are the rest of your people?"
"In the village, Camra-sama!" Miko replied, pointing into the forest.
"Good," Kei instructed. "Go to the village and tell your leaders that I am here. Tell them that I will come in two hours' time."
"Hai!" the girl bowed and turned to obey.
Yuri walked up to stand beside her partner. "Do you mind telling me what that was all about?" she asked.
Kei looked at her partner. "It's something that I remember from my history classes. When the Europeans first discovered the Americas back in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the aboriginal population believed the explorers were gods. That gave the Europeans an advantage when it came to developing territory and settlement." She looked in the direction in which Miko ran. "Something happened to these people, Yuri, and we have two hours to look through that mess to find out what it was."
* * *
"I think I found it!" Yuri called out.
The Angels stood hip-deep in stagnant water, somewhere in the upper levels of the "Pathfinder." Since the generation star ship was leaning over on its side, getting around the place was difficult. The partners were located in what was once the central control room. "What is it?" asked Kei.
"This!" Yuri pointed at the computer board.
"What is it?" asked Kei.
"This computer controlled the cryosleep chambers that were fitted on board this ship," Yuri explained. "They used tricarbonate in the cryogenic gas formula."
"Tricarbonate?!?!" Kei gasped. "Are you sure?"
"The main element in Galcron-Sigma," Yuri shuddered, the memories of their near-death experience on Lahanne rushing over her. "By itself, tricarbonate is horrible - direct exposure results in memory loss."
"So the survivors couldn't remember that they came from Earth!" Kei cried out.
"That's right," Yuri nodded grimly.
"Since tricarbonate is not needed in cryofreeze," Kei figured, " that has to mean that someone *deliberately* put it in there. What I want to know is who is this 'Camra' that Miko referred to."
"That'll come with more investigation!" answered Yuri. "Well, shall we meet your worshippers?"
As the Angels strolled back to their ship to prepare themselves for their encounter with the "Pathfinder" descendants, two metal spheres hit the ground by their feet and blew out their contents. It was knockout gas. The girls dropped instantly to the sand. Out of the forest, two men, dressed in long priestly robes, moved to where the girls lay, lifted them up and returned to the forest.
* * *
Yuri awoke in a dark hut-like building. As she looked about her surroundings, she discovered that she was bound and tied to a stake that was stretched across the bare ground. Furthermore, she had been stripped of her weapons and uniform. All she had on was a simple white gown, similar to the one worn by Miko. "Terrific!" she hissed. Fortunately, whoever took her clothes off ignored her earrings. That meant that, with a bit of luck, she could contact Mughi should things get out of hand. She looked about the room. No sight of Kei.
The door to the hut opened, revealing three men. Each men were dressed in long red robes, indicating high status in some office. Yuri glared at the three. "What's going on here? Where's my friend?"
Ignoring her first question, one of the men said, "She is being prepared."
"For what?" Yuri persisted.
"Her debut as the High Goddess Camra," he smiled.
Yuri was going to ask what that meant, but suddenly it all made sense. "You're descendants of the 'Pathfinder's' crew!" she accused them. They all smiled - long thin lines slashing across their faces. "You must know about the tricarbonate!"
The three men looked at each other. One shrugged slightly and answered. "We do. It was my great-grandfather who used the chemical in the chambers."
"Why?"
"It was necessary for the colonists to forget about Earth," he snarled. "Our forefathers had no desire to associate with the people of that degenerate planet."
"When you first landed," continued another, "we thought that your arrival would present a problem. Fortunately, the young woman, Miko, swore that the goddess Camra had descended upon us. We could not miss such an opportunity."
"Opportunity?"
"Her presence will placate the colonists. No matter what we do, it will be in the name of Camra."
Yuri tried to follow their story. Her mind raced about trying to understand what it was they were after. In trying to buy some time, she began, "Listen. I represent a very powerful intergalactic agency. If you people want, we can persuade the United Galactica to declare this planet off-limits to any settlement, until such time that you people decide differently."
"I'm afraid that will not be possible," one of the men shook his head. "Your friend has to stay here as Camra. You, I'm afraid, will become the first sacrifice to her..."
"Sacrifice?" Yuri gulped.
* * *
Miko gasped in stunned belief at what she had overheard.
After running from Camra at the sacred lake, she immediately reported the High One's presence to the priests. They blessed her, thanked her and sent her home. They walked into the forest obviously seeking Her and Her Divine Wisdom. While the priests were away, Miko went to work on her garden, located behind the Temple of Camra. When the priests returned, she was ordered away, so she returned to her home to eat. After a while, she returned to her workplace - only to overhear evidence that totally shattered every belief she had been raised to accept as Truth.
*What do I do?* Miko asked herself in complete shock. Obviously the two women she met on the beach were travellers from afar, seeking out the descendants of the voyagers from the great space-ark in the Sacred Lake. Thinking for a second, she remembers the two women had a companion - a large black beast, undoubtedly a pet of some sort. The beast might still be by the women's space-ark, and might know how to save its mistresses. Thus resolved, Miko placed her tools away quietly and walked into the forest.
A half-hour later, she returned to the beach, where the "Lovely Angel" was waiting on the sand. The landing ramp was retracted after Mughi had walked into the spacecraft to await Kei and Yuri. Miko had never been near a space-ark before - no one but the priests could approach the great ark in the lake. She cautiously approached the "Angel's" underside and quietly begged "Please...is there anyone there?"
The ship's sensors picked up the noise and transmitted it to the central computer. It analyzed the noise, interpreted the fact that the woman outside wished to contact Mughi, and signalled the bear-cat. Mughi woke up, looked out through the window to see the strange woman he and the Angels had met earlier standing in front of the ship. Mughi pressed the reception control, and Miko's voice sounded through the cockpit. "...please...your friends are in terrible danger..."
At the words "friends" and "danger," Mughi reacted immediately. Obviously the woman had come to the ship seeking his help - which meant that something happened to Kei and Yuri! The big cat reacted immediately by pressing the controls to lower the boarding ramp. He then bounded out of the cockpit to the entrance to bring Miko inside.
Miko watched as a great metal door lowered down, and the great beast walked out of the space-ark. While he was enormous to say the least, the beast had an almost peaceful, very friendly look on its face. Mughi let out a questioning growl. Miko nodded "Your friends...they're being used by the priests to manipulate my people! You must help them!!" Mughi nodded in understanding, then turned and re-boarded the "Angel." Miko remained standing there. Mughi noticed, turned and growled again, nodding with his head for her to follow. Gulping, Miko walked onboard the ship.
* * *
Yuri woke up to find herself at the top of the Temple of Camra.
Looking around, she immediately took in her surroundings. The Temple was a simple one-story structure, built like an old- style pyramid. Surround the temple were people, dressed in the same way Miko was. In front of her was a reclined ramp, with the priests - about a dozen or so, all men -lining both sides. In between the two rows of priests, dressed in solid white with a blank, drugged expression on her face, was Kei! "This is not my day," Yuri mumbled to herself. Her hands were still tied to her sides, so she could not reach her earrings to call Mughi. The expression on her partner's face told Yuri that the priests must have used tricarbonate on her - enough of a dosage, probably, to erase Kei's sense of self-identity, but to keep her knowledge of advanced twenty-second century technology intact.
Yuri braced herself as Kei walked slowly forward. The priests turned as one to face her. As Kei became visible to the general populace, the people fell to their knees and looked at the ground. None were willing to look their goddess in the face. Yuri nodded grimly as she tried to read Kei's expression. There was nothing there.
Before anyone could say anything, the loud rumble of starship engines filled the sky. Yuri looked up to see the "Lovely Angel" hovering over the temple. The people looked up in confusion, then began wailing in disbelief at the sight of a space-ark hovering over their heads. "It's a vision!!" people began to chant.
"NO!!!!" a woman's voice cried out. Yuri recognized it immediately - it was Miko - and she was onboard the "Angel!" "LISTEN, EVERYONE!!!!" Miko's voice rang out loud and clear. No one could possibly ignore the starship's loudspeakers at that close range! "WE'VE BEEN TRICKED!!!!"
"Tricked?!" some of the people began to mutter.
"THE PRIESTS HAVE LIED TO US!!!!" Miko carried on. "THAT WOMAN IS *NOT* CAMRA!!!!"
"*Not* Camra?!?!" one man cried out.
"They're demons!!!" a woman declared.
"THEY'RE NOT DEMONS!!!!" Miko yelled out. "THEY'RE LIKE US - THEY'RE PEOPLE!!!!"
"People?!?!" some voiced muttered in complete confusion.
The priests began to mutter about themselves, wondering what to do in the face of the 'Lovely Angel' and Miko's revelations. Yuri, however, reacted immediately to the confusion. "Mughi!!!" she screamed out. "Kei's been poisoned with tricarbonate!!! Send a package!!"
The starship's sensory picked up Yuri's outburst, and Mughi responded immediately. He keyed the weapons control to fire down a pattern burst of smoke bombs. As clouds of fumes filled the air around the temple, he pressed more controls, releasing one of the three ship's remote cargo pods to fly down to the top platform of the temple.
It landed right beside Yuri. The backwash of the rocket motors caused the stake to fall back and land hard on the ground. The ropes that bound Yuri were severed, and she scrambled back to her feet. The pods hatch opened, to revealed a nice batch of presents from Mughi - uniforms, armour, weapons, and for special emergencies, a first aid kit! Yuri grabbed an electromag, a Bloody Card and the first aid kit. She reached into the kit and grabbed a long canister. As the priests realized the sacrifice to their false god was free, they moved forward to restrain her. Yuri chucked the canister at her partner, who had remained still all this time. The canister shattered on the earth at Kei's feet. The gas - a general solution meant to counter chemical- warfare agents - floated up. Kei took in a lung full, wavered a bit, then fell in a heap on the earth.
The priests were totally ignorant as to what was going on with their "goddess" - they wanted to retain their power at all costs! Yuri reacted immediately - she fired several shots from her electromag and sent the Bloody Card flying! The tengoid metal card ripped through the air, lancing through the throats of every priest on the ramp. They dropped to a heap on the ground as Yuri regained her weapon.
The people had watched the last bit, and, convinced that demons had possessed Camra, they moved as one towards the temple. "Uh-oh!" Yuri muttered to herself, bracing for a new attack.
Kei woke up, and looked around in confusion "What the heck's going on here, Yuri?!"
"Kei!" Yuri tossed her a particle gun. Kei grabbed the weapon, looked around to see a whole lot of hostile faces walking towards them, then aimed and fired. The bolts ate into the earth in front of the crowd. The people fell back in fear from the energy blasts. At that time, Yuri tapped her earring and said "Mughi, bring her down!"
* * *
"So what happened to the colonists on the 'Pathfinder?'" Kei asked.
The "Lovely Angel" was bound back for Shimogu after departing from Camrahana. As soon as the starship had landed in front of the temple - and disgorged Miko, alive and unharmed - the Angels were able to persuade (with Miko's help) the local populace that they were not gods *nor* demons, but space travellers like their grandparents and great-grandparents. The Angels vowed that others would soon come to help the citizens of Camrahana back into the general society of the United Galactica. As the 3WA ship was on its return flight to base, several aid ships were deploying from other worlds to proceed on the rehabilitation mission.
"That'll remain a mystery until someone explores the wreckage and analyses the evidence," Yuri sighed. "But, I think that the crew - including Commander Cameron, I'd suspect - decided they would do anything to keep control over the colonists. To do that, they made the colonists forget everything about Earth, and when the people arrived at Camrahana, they were persuaded by the newly-minted priests they were the special children of Camra. The rest became easy."
"What happened to Commander Cameron?" Kei wondered.
"I found out while looking at the computer. She was killed in the crash."
"Uh-huh," Kei sighed. "Well, I hope Miko and her people'll be alright."
"They should," Yuri smiled. "Oh, by the way?" she snickered. "How did being a goddess for a day feel?"
"Feel?!?!" Kei snapped. "I was asleep half the time!!"
*** The End ***
