Disclaimer

I don’t own any of the characters herein.

Genesis

Chapter Five

Date Unknown

"Are you sure you have it this time, Ranma?" Akane’s voice was amused, but there was a touch of worry. "I mean, I don’t mind seeing all these exotic planets, but some of the places we’ve gone have been...dangerous."

"I think my first guess was right," groused Ranma. "This space ship musta been designed by a Hibiki."

Akane laughed. "Maybe Ryouga is an alien, too. That might explain a lot."

"It would, wouldn’t it?" Ranma grinned, then spun the wheel. "Okay, I’ve entered the co-ordinates, just like Dad gave ’em to me. I think I got that crystal thingy set up right this time." He glanced up at the cycling central post. "Dematerialization process is complete, and we’re ready to try again."

He pulled a lever, and the ship shuddered, tilting to starboard, then straightened up. The grinding, wheezing sound of the primary dematerialization coils cycled up in volume, then stopped. The center post came to rest, and telltales blinked to life on the console.

"We’ve landed. Rematerialized. Force field is...not coming up. Great." He sighed. "Something else is broken."

Akane checked her controls. She didn’t have Ranma’s education in mechanical engineering, but the pair of them had been nursing the somewhat damaged ship for the last...how long? She honestly had no idea.

"According to the readouts, the force field is fully powered, just...not working." She shrugged, and toggled a switch. "Yep. Full self-test, but no activation. Wait..." She peered at a readout. "Okay, the force field is being overridden by remote control."

"Overridden?" Ranma frowned. "I don’t like that idea."

"Neither do I. Scanner?"

"Scanner." Ranma flipped a switch, and the scanner screen sprang to life.

Outside the ship was a massive courtyard. There were several alcoves placed around the courtyard, a few of them filed with various outlandish objects - A Mercedes-Benz luxury sedan, a Grecian pillar - Dorian or Ionian? He hadn’t studied the classics - and a classic Wurlitzer jukebox.

Standing in front of the ship was a squad of guards. At least, Ranma guessed that they were guards, as they were uniformed and wore sidearms. One was doing something to the front of his ship; Ranma couldn’t see what, but he could make a good guess.

"I dunno who these guys are, Akane, but I think they want to talk to us." He rested his hand on the door controls. "Think I should let ’em in?"

Akane frowned. "Have you figured out where we are?"

"Far as I can tell, we’ve actually reached Gallifrey this time." He waved a hand at the scanner. "These guys might be the local cops. Maybe we’re parked in the wrong zone."

"Better let them in."

Ranma nodded, and pulled down on the door controls. The massive doors swung open, and a moment later, the head of the guard detail stepped in, sidearm drawn.

Ranma glanced down at the gun, and smirked. "Put that away, son, before you hurt yourself."

The guard looked startled, but did not holster the sidearm. "I am Security Corporal Andred. You have materialized a space/time travel capsule without contacting traffic control. This violates Statute 3359 of the Gallifreyan Planetary Legal Code. In addition--"

"You mean we made it?" Ranma grinned. "Hot damn!"

The guard blinked, and said, "You realize that by saying this, you cannot later claim to have violated our space by accident."

"That never works anywhere else. Why would it here?" Ranma shrugged. "Anyway, we’ve been tryin’ to get to Gallifrey for a while. About..." He glanced at a readout. "About a year and a half, I think."

"And why have you been trying to get here?"

"Training." Ranma drew in a long breath, and started into his prepared speech. "My father was a citizen of Gallifrey; my wife’s mother was also a citizen, and I believe still resides here. As the children of Time Lords, we are eligible for training in the Time Lord Academy. Our parents were members of the Prydonian College, and we wish to apply to this College."

"Prydonian, eh?" Andred smirked, and holstered his sidearm. "It all makes sense now. The Prydonians are a wild lot."

Ranma laughed. "Okay, so what do we have to do to sign up?"

"We’ll need to confirm your parentage, to begin with." He glanced over at Akane. "Your mother is on Gallifrey?"

"Last I heard," said Akane.

"We’ll get your name, and a quick DNA scan, and double-check with her."

- - - - - -

"Cardinal Borusa was able to confirm your identities," stated Andred, "but unfortunately, there was a small problem." He pointed at Akane. "This woman is not Gallifreyan."

"Her mother--"

"Her mother is indeed a Time Lady. However, Tendo has inherited her father’s genetic makeup; she is human. Because of this, she may not be enrolled in the Time Lord Academy."

"Ah. I understand." Ranma turned back to the console. "We’ll just be leaving then. You might want to step out, or you’re gonna be guilty of desertion."

"Ranma." Akane stepped up to him. "It doesn’t bother me."

"Well, it bothers me!" Ranma turned and scowled at Andred. "You guys are so superior that you won’t take someone just because they’re not the same as you? What the hell is wrong with you people?"

"Ranma." Akane sighed. "Weren’t you the one flying off the handle when your father told you about his origins?"

"That was a lot different, Akane." He forced himself to calm down. "That was because he lied to me. An’ I was scared about what it would mean for you. I mean, Ami hadn’t been born yet, an’ I didn’t know that we were gonna have a normal kid, because of what Pops told me."

"You have a daughter?" Andred looked surprised.

"Yeah. Don’t worry, though." Ranma’s voice was bitter. "She’s human. So I guess you won’t be seeing her here."

"Ranma, I really think you should reconsider leaving." Akane’s voice was quiet. "Remember how proud you were when you got your doctorate? I think that a degree from a Time Lord College might be worth a bit more."

"But--"

"It’s all right, Ranma." Akane smiled. "I doubt I could keep up with the curriculum anyway."

"There is also the matter of the time required," said Andred. "You appear to be in excellent health, but your lifespan corresponds to that of people of Earth."

There was a pause, and Ranma asked, "How long does the training take?"

"Twenty years."

"Well, that’s quite the long time, but--"

"Twenty local years. Earth travels around its primary at a considerably greater speed. It would be closer to fifty of your years."

- - - - -

"I’m gonna miss you like crazy, Akane." Ranma grinned weakly.

"I would say the same, but it’s going to seem like minutes at best for me." Akane giggled, and brushed at his hair. "At least we know why you don’t gray."

"Yeah." He sighed, and stepped back. "The controls were set up by that Borusa guy, so just step in, close the door and hit the activation button."

Akane nodded, and stepped back. "See you in a few minutes."

"Or twenty years."

The door closed, cutting off his last view of her, and the sound of the ship’s engines rang throughout the chamber. The police call box faded from view, and he turned to Andred.

"Okay. If you’re a guard, you might be able to help me with my next job."

"And that would be?"

"My father told me that five Time Lords went to Earth, and two came back. One was Akane’s mom, and I don’t really care who the other was. I wanna know who the three who stayed behind were. My pop, and two others."

"I am afraid that for reasons of security, I cannot assist you with this." Andred looked apologetic. "But I can tell you that one of them also had a child, who returned to Gallifrey twenty years ago."

"So I’m not the only one?"

"No." Andred grinned. "It took us some time to unsnarl the various problems he had - apparently, he’d been to a place called Jushenkyou--"

"No way!" Ranma stared at him. "My pop suggested that you guys can cure the curse, but--"

"You also have a Jushenkyou physical metamorph illness?"

"Yeah, a curse."

"Well, we have the procedure for treating it down pat now. We’ll remove it before you start at the Prydonian College."

"Hot damn!" Ranma grinned. "You said he had various problems. What other problems did he have?"

"Oh, he inherited a family problem. An inability to navigate."

"You just gotta be kidding me." Ranma shook his head. "Oh, man, it’s a good thing after all that you didn’t let Akane in. She still wants to kill him."