Disclaimer

I don’t own any of the characters herein.

Genesis

Chapter Four

December 23rd, 2022

"I’m tellin’ ya, Akane, it’s the weirdest damn thing!" Ranma was all but dragging his wife into the impound lot. "I dunno how it works, but--"

"You turn into a girl with a bit of cold water, and you have to ask how something weird works?"

"This is a different kind of weird." Ranma stopped in front of the police box. "This feels like technology, not magic."

Akane examined the box, and said, "It’s made of wood."

"That’s what I thought, but it took my strongest punch without even denting." He touched the lock, and again, the door sprang open.

"Tougher than it looks," commented Akane.

"Yeah, but that ain’t the really strange part." He stepped into the box. "Come on in."

"There won’t be room in there for--"

"Get in here!"

She shrugged, and stepped into the box.

And into the huge control room.

"Wow..."

"Yeah." Ranma walked around the central control column. "About half of these controls, I think I know what they do." He indicated a large lever. "This one looks like it controls the door."

"How do you know?"

"Because of the picture of a door above it."

Akane giggled. "Okay, you got me there. What other ones?"

"Well, this one looks like a calendar, except that the dials can be manually changed." He touched the dials carefully. "They’re currently set to 1973, so this thing has been sitting here for almost fifty years."

"You mean it’s a time machine?"

"Not necessarily. It just means no-one’s changed the dials since fifty years ago." Ranma shrugged. "Of course, the tech in this thing is so advanced that it must be from the future. Or another planet." He looked up at her.

"Nineteen-seventies, and another planet." Akane swallowed. "You think that this is about--"

"Yeah, I do." Ranma nodded. He glanced up, as ’John Smith’ walked in. "Yo. You didn’t come back yesterday."

"I didn’t think I needed to." The man nodded sagely. "I see you discovered that the travel capsule will open for you automatically."

"Yeah. What’s the point of havin’ a lock if anyone can just wander in?"

"This capsule is of an obsolete design, with the single redeeming feature that it can be remotely operated. It was sent back after three of our party decided to remain on Earth. Now that it has opened for you, that particular trick can be turned off." The stranger held up a key. "This will unlock it."

Ranma eyed the key. "Thought you were a cop."

"Really? I didn’t think that you’d believed that."

"I didn’t, really." He took the key, and tucked it into a pocket. "So what now? Do you drag me off to my so-called home planet?"

"No." The stranger tapped the dials. "You’re right about this. The travel capsule is capable of movement through time." He tapped another control. "This allows you to set the spatial locations. It can accept either cartesian or spherical co-ordinates." He indicated a pair of joysticks. "You can use these to manually fly the capsule." And yet another set of instruments. "These control the force field, and these allow you to scan the environment to test for safety."

"Any particular reason you’ve decided I need to know all this?"

The man turned back to Ranma. "We’re not going back. The three of us. We’ve decided to stay on Earth. But you deserve your freedom. Like I told you twenty years ago, you will eventually need to go back to our home planet. They can cure the curse, and can teach you how to operate the capsule better than I could."

"How did you--"

"It’s your father, Ranma." Akane’s voice was quiet. "He’s changed somehow, but--"

The stranger nodded. "I am. There’s a thing that my people can do, sort of a way of cheating death. But it means we have to change, to literally become a new man." His mouth twitched. "Often with a different personality. I feel terribly badly about how I treated you, Ranma. I hope eventually you will forgive me. But in the meantime..." He tapped the console. "Take the capsule. Explore space and time. If you wish, visit the homeworld. The co-ordinates are in the console."

"You’re really...Pops?" Ranma shook his head. "Can I do this trick, changing into a new man?"

"I think so, since your genetic makeup is mostly identical to our people. But Akane, I am afraid, is completely human."

"Whoa!" Ranma raised a hand. "Are you tellin’ me that Soun was an alien too?"

"No." Genma shook his head. "Her mother."

Akane’s eyes widened. "But if your people can cheat death--"

"Only twelve times. Thirteen lives, total."

"Oh." Akane looked down. "She was out of lives?"

"No. She was one of our party who chose to go home."

Her head jerked back up. "She left us?"

"To be fair," continued Genma, "She was truly ill, and could only be treated on our home planet. If she had not returned, she would have died. Permanently. And once she returned, she would not be permitted to leave again." Genma tapped the control console again. "She is probably still there."

Akane rubbed her eyes.

"You haven’t changed that much, old man." Ranma’s hands clenched into fists. "That’s still fightin’ dirty."

Genma shrugged. "Even across regenerations, often basic personality traits remain." He nodded to them, and said, "Have fun, kids."

He turned and walked out the door.

Ranma turned to Akane. "Hey, are you gonna be okay?"

She pulled her hands away from her face, and grinned happily. "Yeah, I am. She’s alive, Ranma!"

He didn’t want to do what the old man suggested. He was quite happy here on Earth. But he knew what he would have wanted, if he had been in Akane’s shoes.

"Wanna go see her?"

"Are you sure?" Akane stepped forward and laid a hand on his arm. "I mean, you don’t want to go, I’ll understand. Your father may have changed, but he’s still a lying coward."

He chuckled. "Yeah, but I ain’t. C’mon. It’s my homeworld, and yours too. Probably that would make it Ami’s, too."

Akane shook her head. "I don’t think Ami’s anything more than human. She’s been to enough doctors, and they’ve never found a second heart."

"So? You’re human enough, but your mom was an alien."

"I know." She laughed a bit unsteadily. "I guess I understand a little better how you felt now. Because I’d love to see my mother again...but I’m not sure I wouldn’t end up punching her out."

Ranma grinned, and walked over to the controls. He quickly spun the dials, pausing to check them against the settings recorded above. "Okay, co-ordinates set." He walked around the console. "This looks like it makes it go." He rested a hand on the control lever. "Give the word, and we’re off."

"Ranma." She bit her lip. "I’m really not too sure about this."

"Do you remember what Nabiki told me, back when my mother first came around?"

She blinked. "Yeah."

"Here’s your chance to see her again." Ranma indicated the controls. "Whether you smack her for leaving, or forgive her, you won’t know until you see her. And I know you won’t forgive yourself unless you go."

"How do you know?"

"Because I know you. I’ve lived with you for a quarter of a century, and in that time, I’ve gotten to know you somewhat." He grinned. "And because not a day goes by that I don’t kick myself for not meetin’ my mother properly for those first few awful months."

She smiled weakly. "But this is different."

"Yeah. It is."

He threw the lever, and the central column began to move. A grinding, wheezing noise filled the compartment.

"But people are always the same. Human or alien." He glanced down at the controls. "Next stop: Gallifrey."