Sister, Dark Sister
Chapter One
*SPLAT!*
Oh, frag it!" Cutey Honey gritted between her teeth. She tried to twist the
wrench just a hair more, but again the tool slipped, rewarding her with
another dollop of oil delivered with fiendish accuracy dead-center on the
right eye of her working goggles.
"A fine thing," she thought to herself, "I, Cutey Honey the Lovely Warrior,
savior of the downtrodden and angel of justice to the oppressed, spend my
days cutting down the demon scum of the universes, and yet when I try to do
something even remotely domestic, I find I can't even tighten a fragging
BOLT!!!"
"Wait a minute, Honey-Girl," she chided herself, "Lefty-loosey, righty-
tighty, re-MEM-ber?" She continued her struggle with the troublesome bolt,
and finally got it securely nested within its hole.
Wearily, she wiped her brow and "plunked" the wrench down onto the tech
manuals which partly obscured the dolly cart on which she was lying prone.
Under normal circumstances, this scene might have been quite mundane, save
for a few very important factors: One, that life in the Hayami household, no
matter what the situation, was never, EVER even remotely to be considered
mundane, and the second was Honey herself. Externally, she was completely
human in appearance and never engendered stares from others; save for openly
admiring ones from the men she might encounter on the street; and venomous,
envious ones from the female mates of those aforementioned individuals. In
plain words, she was extremely shapely and beautiful. Not only beautiful in
a physical sense, but in a psychological one as well. She had a gentle,
intelligent, dignified air which was coupled with just a hint of whimsy,
making her eminently approachable, an able conversationalist, and any inter-
lude in her immediate company a delight.
However, Cutey Honey herself was a paradox; a corporeal bipolarity of two
vastly different personae. One was the quiet, angelic Honey, but the other
could not have been more different; for in reality, Honey was a woman with an
hastounding secret; mainly, that she wasn't a woman at all, but an android,
created for the purpose of battling evil and the nemeses of goodness and love
within the expanses of weary, crime-ridden Cosplay City. This other Honey was
a raging tigress, unleashed with savagery when those she loved were
threatened, or when the innocent, workaday populations of Cosplay were
persecuted. In this phase, Honey became a chimera, able to physically change
herself to deal with any and all circumstances which her opponents might mete
out.
At present, however, her opponents seemed to be laying low, and had been for
several weeks. With time on her hands for the first time in a great while,
Honey was engaged in starting an untried new hobby: tinkering. Until now,
her freetime had been limited to one of four main pastimes: Tennis, shop-
ping, flowers and fencing. She enjoyed all of these immensely (especially
shopping) and she was just as wicked with an epee as with a tennis racquet,
she was occasionally given to wishing for an avocation more of the "thinking"
type. Although she had never used tools extensively in the past nor been
formally trained in mechanics, her interior databases had the plans and
schematics for an astounding array of accessories, accoutrements, and even
vehicles. Thus, not only could she change her attire to suit any situation,
but she could even create weapons in the blink of an eye. She had once had
an aircraft in her arsenal, a sleek, graceful craft she named the "Honey
Comet." However, that redoubtable vehicle was no more, having been
sacrificed in the line of duty during an assault on the airborne stronghold
of the late crimelord of Cosplay City, Lord Dolmeck. She had never managed
to replace the "Comet," and on more than one occasion she felt the loss quite
strongly.
"Um...Honey?" A young boy of about fourteen craned his head around the
hangar door. "Mind if I come in?"
Honey looked over and beamed at him. "Why of course, Chokkei. You can keep
me company while I work."
Chokkei Hayami was the youngest member of the household, and the closest
thing Honey had to a best friend. At fourteen, he was just entering that
precocious age of life called "adolescence," and his attentions towards her
had been elevated, occasionally to embarrassing levels. On several occasions
this attention level had been the point of many a quarrel between Chokkei and
his girlfriend, Natsuko. That duality, at least from Honey's point of view,
appeared to just be in its infancy, with neither Natsuko nor Chokkei entirely
sure of what to do next. They were both quite young, and Honey had sworn to
look after and protect them both, much to Natsuko's chagrin. However, Honey
herself had never considered her own relationshipwith Chokkei, at least from
her own point of view, to be anything more than the affections a loving older
sister might bestow upon a favorite younger sibling. Right now Chokkei was
simply being Chokkei. He walked over towards the new aircraft ensconced
within the workshop area, and sat down on an oil drum.
"I'm nearly done with her," Honey declared proudly, swinging her grease-
spattered blonde ponytail back over her shoulder. "What do you think?" She
lifted her smudged work-goggles and smiled at him expectantly, her bright
blue eyes twinkling.
Chokkei, not really having much of a mechanically-oriented mind, was none-
the-less impressed. "It's beautiful! Very good work, but different somehow
from the original 'Honey Comet.'"
"True," Agreed Honey, "but still pretty good for a slapdash effort from a
nonmechanical-minded tyro like me."
There was nothing at all slapdash about this new craft. It still had the
grace of the first craft, but rather than simply being graceful, there was an
air of aggressive power about it. The first craft had seemed rather swan-
like, but this one boasted the lines of a mighty eagle. The tight, strong
lines, sturdy wings and massive fuselage seemed to be streaking ahead beyond
the sound barrier, all the while remaining motionless, poised for takeoff on
the floor of the hangar. Honey had wanted something with "a bit more
'oomph'" than the original craft, and had explained her need to Natsuko. In
an uncharacteristic display of amity, Natsuko agreed to lend her expertise in
mechanics to Honey's new project.
"The 'Comet' was a single-seater," explained Honey, "But this ship can seat
all six of us in a pinch. It can go hypersonic in under a minute, and can
even go into the stratosphere. Care to give it a quick spin?"
"Right now?" Chokkei's eyes widened. "Sure! I'd love to go!" Eagerly he
rose from his seat and strode to the cockpit of the craft.
"Wait a minute," said Honey, her eyes narrowing. "What day is it?"
"Why?"
"Just. . .What day is it?"
"Wednesday."
"Aha! Homework!" Honey folded her arms across her generous chest and looked
at him masterfully. "That settles it. You can go AFTER you get your home-
work finished."
"What?" Chokkei looked crestfallen.
Honey chuckled gently. "Tonight's a school night, love. Priorities have to
be priorities."
"Oh, priorities!" fumed Chokkei, all the more frustrated because he knew she
was right. "All I hear about from people are priorities! Dad asks me what I
want to do when I grow up, my teacher tells me to learn something I'll
probably never need because I just might need it, and you tell me that I
can't go for a short ride in your new fighterplane until I get my homework
done!"
"Chokkei!" scolded Honey, planting her greasy-gloved fists on her lushly-
curving hips and leaning forward to glare Chokkei right in the eye. "I'm
surprised at you! I know you're a three-point-oh grade average at Cosplay
High School, but you of all people ought to realize that to keep that score
you need to set priorities!" Inwardly, she sighed. Her Chokkei was growing
up, whether she liked it or not. The innocent, loving child she had always
known was being replaced by an obstinate, argumentative teenager. Never
having gone through puberty herself, she could only guess at the hormonal and
psychological turmoil the boy was going through. "Rather than argue," she
thought to herself, "Maybe I can try to persuade him."
"Chokkei," she said sweetly, "If you agree to do your homework, I promise to
help." She even batted her eyes a bit for effect. A cheap trick, but very
effective in one as comely as Honey. "Just give me a second to change."
The effect was not lost at all on Chokkei. "Okay," he said, melting under
her gaze. He meekly turned and headed toward the exit, while Honey moved to a
concealed area for a bit of privacy. As Chokkei paused at the doorway, he
cast an adoring gaze at the svelte figure of Honey as she disappeared into a
small closet. "Unbelievable," he thought to himself. "She really is the
girl who's always in fashion. Criminy, I never thought I'd see it, but she
even makes baggy coveralls and aeromotive grease look good."
"HONEY FLASH!!!!!"
A blinding, coruscating flash of light erupted behind the shut door of the
closet, accompanied by a loud rushing sussurus of wind. As the commotion
died down, Honey reappeared. Instead of being a grease-spattered mechanic,
she was now clad in a form-flattering vest-stitch top with pleated white
skirt and matching flats. her long, soft blonde hair now cascaded freely
down her slender back. A small, neat bauble winked from each ear, a golden
band graced her left arm, and a matching heart-shaped choker collar adorned
her neck.
"Okay," she said, winking sportily at Chokkei. "Ready? Let's go!"
Arm-in-arm they left the hangar.
***
"WHAT IN THE NAME OF HELL WERE YOU TWO THINKING!!???" thundered Danbei
Hayami, the family patriarch. "You were supposed to photograph that buffet
table, not steal it!!!"
"Sorry, sorry, sorry!" whimpered Akakabu, his grandson-in-law. "We ran out
on breakfast, and I was hungry! Besides, old habits are hard to break,
y'know?"
"Grandpa," said Daiko, Akakabu's shapely but fiery-tempered wife, "You know
how it is with us working stiffs...Eat and run, eat and run. You know how it
is, don't you?" Her words trailed away into an ueasy, self-conscious laugh.
Hotheaded though she was, she was no match for the incediary wrath of Danbei.
"Yeah, yeah, I know how the nine-to-five grind is," replied Danbei gruffly,
"but you two ain't working! How can I get you two to forego stealing if you
don't put some effort into it?
"Admit that we're certified kleptomaniacs and have us committed?" offered
Akakabu, an instant before Daiko gave him a resounding "THUD" on the head.
"Shaddup!" she hissed.
They were seated on the living-room futon while Danbei paced before them in
agitation. He was a very small-statured man, but his outward aspect
commanded immediate attention and deference. Like Honey, he was a fore-front
statement in technology. However, unlike her, he had once been fully human,
now gone to cybernetics and electronic prostheses. Occasionally he would
joke that he found new gadgets on parts of himself he didn't even know
existed.
However now he was anything but jocular. His eyebrows were fiercely drawn
together, and his wiry moustache bristled like the hackles of an enraged dog.
"I try and try," he was saying in exasperation, "but you two just do NOT get
it. The name Hayami should have never been allowed to go to pot like this!
I try to restore honor to our family, but you two keep pulling these crack-
brained stunts and botching things up!"
"We're sorry, Grandpa," apologized Akakabu. "Just 'cause we slipped up once
doesn't mean we're hopeless, does it?"
"I daresay ya slipped more than once, judging from the rapsheets you two
lunatics have!"
"But don't these things take time? You yourself say that the best things to
have take time to develop. You're not going back on your word, are you?"
Danbei's demeanor softened a bit. "No, of course not," he sighed. "But you
two have just GOT to learn some other trade than stealing!"
"We're trying!" said Daiko. "Aren't we, Dear?" she stared at her husband.
Akakabu fidgeted. "Well," he faltered, "I'm trying basket-weaving at the
community college." He held up something that looked like an insane cross
between a fishing net, a cat's ball of yarn and what looked like a spider
doing cross-stitch with a fire extinguisher.
"Say, that's good, hon!" beamed Daiko with a forced smile. "Um... What is
it?"
"It was supposed to be your anniversary present for next month!" exploded
Akakabu. "If that's the type of comment I get for trying to..."
"Hey, will you ease off?" snapped Daiko. "I was just trying to..."
"Will you both get back to the subject?" demanded Danbei.
"Quiet!" Akakabu and Daiko shouted in unison. "We're discussing our anniver-
sary!"
Across the room, Chokkei and Honey sat unnoticed, watching the fracas.
"Honey," said Chokkei, "Do you think we should step in before they kill each
other?"
"I suppose so," sighed Honey, "Though I've seen it lots worse." She put two
of her fingers in her mouth and let out a piercing blast which effectively
froze the row before them.
"I'm sorry to interrupt," she said, "but Referee Honey wants you both to have
a time-out." She nodded graciously to Chokkei.
"Uh...Mom, Dad?" smiled Chokkei self-consciously. "I'm...um...home, and
Honey and I are going to work on my homework now." He edged carefully
through the room, giving the futon a wide berth.
"Chokkei just needs some help," explained Honey, "with biology."
The two of them left the room, heading down the hall to Chokkei's room.
"Biology?" cried Akakabu, grinning from ear to ear. Eagerly, he leaped off
the futon and started to run. Abruptly he was pulled up short and went
sprawling.
"And just...where...do you think you are going?" asked Daiko in a sugared
voice, her grip like iron around her husband's ankles.
"Um...I was just...uh...going to see if Chokkei...um...wanted some exper-
ienced advice, is all, Dearest," stammered Akakabu.
Daiko's smile vanished. "Expert advice," she snorted scornfully. "Right."
She resumed dragging Akakabu back to the futon and plumping him firmly back
down in his seat. "It's not enough that you two perverts keep trying to
sneak a peek when Honey's showering, or changing or whatever, you have to be
a peeping tom when she's with our own son!"
"I just wanna make sure he develops the right technique!!"
"Techniue? In Biology??"
"Um...Yes!"
Danbei chuckled. "Ah, to be young again," he thought. "I'd probably put some
spark back into Honey's programming, that's for damn sure!"
"Ye Gods," fumed Daiko. "MEN!!!! Now about our anniversary: What were you
trying to say?"
"Now let's not start that again," replied Akakabu testily.
***
"Okay," said Honey, leaning over Chokkei's textbook. "You take the symbol
'AABB,' which is the dominant gene, and cross it with the symbol 'aabb,' and
then fill down the rows to find out what gene combinations you have. See?" She handed Chokkei the worksheet, covered with neatly-penciled figures. There was no reply. Glancing over at her young friend, she realized the figure he had his attention on was not exactly on the paper. "Chokkei!" she cried, snapping her fingers under his nose.
Chokkei started, and immediately began reciting at an insane rate. "YES!!
TheconceptbehindPunnettsquaresistodeterminetherateofgeneticdiversitywithin
agivensetofgenes...Um...Huh?" He blinked, and refocused his attention on
Honey's face. She was frowning severely at him.
"Now pay attention to that figure," Honey stabbed a finger at the paper, "and
not to mine!"
"Gomen Nasai, Honey-chan," apologized Chokkei, blushing to the tips of his
ears. Meekly, he picked up his textbook and began reading the chapter on
Punnett squares again.
"Now then," resumed Honey, "where were we?" She scanned the worksheet.
"Knock, knock!" chirped a voice from the door. Natsuko craned her neck
around the doorjamb and waved. "All quiet on the western front? I hope you
don't mind if I come in and get some refuge from 'The Perfect Storm.'" She
pushed a thumb back over her shoulder, in the direction of the living room.
Honey and Chokkei sighed in unison. "They're all still at it?" sighed Honey.
"Yup."
Natsuko entered the room, dropped her own books heavily on the floor and
wearily collapsed on Chokkei's bed. "What a day! I have two papers due next
week and four finals the week after! I'm bushed!"
"Do you need help too?" asked Honey solicitiously.
"Nah," sighed Natsuko. "I got my immediate stuff done in study hall this
afternoon." Natsuko was eighteen, and was studying to be a mechanical
engineer at Cosplay Community College. Danbei and family had rescued her
from a criminal life on the streets the previous year when her gang had been
wiped out by the monstrous reincarnation of the demon-queen, Panther Zora.
She was quite pretty in her own way, with a petite figure and soft, short
brown hair. To an ordinary observer, Natsuko's elfin physique may have
seemed to be unusually youthful and feminine to cultivate an interest in
something like mechanics, but she possessed a mind like a steel trap when it
came to topics of engineering. In fact, she had put in every bit as much
time with the new aircraft now sitting ready in the hangar as Honey herself
did. When Natsuko had first joined the Hayami household, Chokkei's attach-
ment to Honey had caused a great deal of jealousy on Natsuko's part, but
Honey had withheld no amount of effort in trying to make her feel not only
welcome, but like a loved and cherished member of the family. Natsuko, never
having been treated kindly before, had objected at first, but the feelings of
resentment had faded once Natsuko had actually gotten to know Honey as an
individual. Now they were civil, even friendly to each other, and the
feeling was quite genuine.
She rolled over onto her stomach, propped her chin up on her fists and stared
out the window. "I can't wait until I get my degree," she sighed. The day
outside was lovely beyond compare, with rich blue skies punctuated by enor-
mous, fluffy white clouds. The afternoon sun slanted warmly through the
branches of the willow tree outside the window, and a soft zephyr blew
through the screen to caress Natsuko's cheek and toy playfully with her hair.
"I'd like to be flying right now."
"Oh, would you now?" said Honey, her eyes twinkling. "What would happen if
we did that this very afternoon?"
Natsuko sat bolt upright. "You got it done?" she cried eagerly.
"Yup," laughed Honey, "Just about an hour ago. We can go for a spin as soon
as SOMEONE..." Here she stared pointedly at Chokkei, "...gets done with his
homework."
"Well, hurry up, Chokkei!" said Natsuko, nudging him with her elbow. "I'm
getting restless!"
"Almost done," replied Chokkei, jotting a few more notes into his textbook.
"So, Honey," he asked "What are you going to name your new ship?"
"I don't know," replied Honey, following Natsuko's gaze and looking out the
window herself. "I was thinking of Honey Comet II, but that just seems a bit
contrived."
"How about the Lovely Flyer?" suggested Natsuko.
"Or maybe the Honey Hurricane?" said Honey.
"Why does it have to be something like that?" asked Chokkei. "I'd think you'd
be more apt to have a name which dealt more with power, rather than beauty."
"Oh, I don't think so," said Honey, a bit ruffled. "How can you get more
powerful than a hurricane? Besides that, my pilot nickname is 'Hurricane
Honey.'"
Natsuko snapped her fingers. "How about Mjollnir?"
"A hammer?" laughed Chokkei. "We're talking about an airplane, not a tank!"
Natsuko looked hurt for a moment, but it passed quickly. "Well, how about
Andurin, or maybe Glamdring, or Orcrist."
"Shippei-taro?" suggested Chokkei.
"Or Excalibur," mused Honey.
"Yeah!" the others agreed. "Perfect!"
"Ex...CALIBURRRRR!" cried Chokkei, laughing and throwing a fist into the
air. "We have power and grace, so what else do we need?"
"Excalibur it is, then," laughed Honey. She looked at Chokkei's textbook.
"So what problem are you on now?"
"Last...one," said Chokkei, slowly, scribbling furiously. "And...I
aaaaaaammmmm...FINISHED!!!" Triumphantly he slapped his book shut and placed
his papers and pencils within his satchel. "Now, then," he said, leaping to
the floor, "let's head into the wild blue yonder!" He hurried from the room
on the way to the workshop.
"Chokkei, wait a minute!" cried Natsuko. "Wait a minute! Let me get my
coat!"
***
"Mom, Dad," said Chokkei as he ran through the living room "Honey, Natsuko
and I are going for a quick ride. I don't think we'll be long."
The argument had been in full swing for quite some time before, and it was
still going strong now.
"And furthermore," Daiko was saying in irritation, "It really PISSES me off
that...Oh, that's nice, Chokkei, darling. Don't be late for dinner!" And
back she went into the fray without missing a beat.
"Hey, kid!" said Danbei. "Got room for an extra passenger? This scene is
getting nowhere fast." He indicated his bickering offspring with a measure
of exasperation.
"I suppose so," said Honey, following behind a heavily panting Natsuko, who
was hurriedly donning her flight jacket.
Shaking his head, the oldster left the room to the loudly arguing "happily
marrieds."
***
"Say!" said Danbei in admiration. "That's one nifty hunk of hardware!" He
was standing before the newly-baptized Excalibur, admiring its fiercely
beautiful lines, its swept-back wings, its powerful engines. "I'm amazed you
got all that into one package! But," he said, with a sly, sidelong glance at
Honey, "I don't know why that should amaze me, with Honey around." He
chuckled.
Blushing, Honey walked back to the closet. "Excuse me for just a bit,
oji-san," she said. "I need to change." The door closed.
In a split second, Danbei was at the door, trying to peek beyond it.
"Grandpa," protested Chokkei, "We don't have time for that nonsense right
now! You just can't go around spying on Honey!!!"
"He's never been stopped before," snickered Natsuko. Chokkei glared at her
but she said nothing; simply returned his glower with an innocent, noncom-
mittal smile of her own.
"Oh, we always have time for a little fun," snorted Danbei, not bothering to
turn round. "Ya gotta realize that a little T & A every now and then is part
of being a man!"
"Being a man!" scoffed Chokkei. "Mayor Light says that to be a true man is to
be upright, true and honest, and always to work for the betterment of
others."
"You really go off bigtime on that stuff don't ya, Chokkei?" mused Danbei,
holding his chin with one metal hand. "Mayor Light really has you on a
string, doesn't he?"
"And why not?" replied Chokkei. "He's fighting with all his strength to rid
Cosplay of all the crime and illegality in its streets."
"I know that," said Danbei. "But it ain't happening overnight, kid, and it
shouldn't. One thing I've learned," he faced his grandson with a stern,
professorial look, "is that once things go too smoothly, THAT is when you
need to be most on your guard. And another thing..."
"HONEY FLASH!!!!"
Danbei paused in midphrase, and whipped around to stare with horror at the
door. "Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, DAMMIT!!" he shouted, falling onto
all fours and pounding the floor in exasperation. "Chokkei, you did it again!
You made me miss Honey's big scene! I've been waiting for that opportunity
for weeks, and then you made me get on that damn soapbox and I bollixed the
whole thing! How could you spoil an old man's fun? HOW?"
Chokkei couldn't reply, but simply shook his head in exasperation at his
elder relative's feisty habits.
"Now if you two are done," said Natsuko, "Let's hop aboard!" She scurried
under one wing, found the access hatch, and disappeared inside. Chokkei and
Danbei followed suit.
Honey reappeared, clad this time in a form-fitting jetpilot's aviation suit.
Rather than blonde, her hair was now black, although the baubles and choker
were still present. She lifted the cockpit canopy and swung athletically
into the pilot's seat. She placed the pilot's helmet over her head and
adjusted the strap.
"Honey?" asked Chokkei, frowning in puzzlement.
"Yes, Chokkei?"
"Um...I don't want to contradict an experienced airplane pilot, but..."
"What's on your mind, my Chokkei?" Honey smiled.
"Well...What's that Ikebana doing on the control console?"
"Oh, that!" Honey blushed. "I just thought it could bring luck."
"And it looks spiffy?" interjected Danbei, rolling his eyes.
"And it looks spiffy," admitted Honey, blushing even deeper. She placed the
flowers in a secure area of the cockpit. "All aboard?" she asked. "Okay.
Please remember, no smoking during the flight, please keep all valuables in
the provided compartments beneath the seats, and please do not remove your
seatbelts until the plane is fully airborne. This is a nonstop flight, so
please make sure all lavatory requirements have been addressed. Thank you
for flying Cutey Honey Airlines. That is all, so sit back and enjoy the
flight." She chuckled.
Chokkei adjusted his seat harness, and sat back with his head against the
headrest. Better an ounce of prevention than a pound of whiplash.
Natsuko was already buckled in, and was adjusting her coat beneath the re-
straints.
Danbei was ready, although he was forlornly wishing for the same "handgrips"
he'd had during his first ride on the Honey Comet.
"Everyone ready?" asked Honey. Seeing that all was in order, she went
through the preflight checkup. "Flaps, check. Fuel lines, check. Landing
gear, check. Takeoff and landing thrusters, check," and on it went. She
flipped the "main fuel induction" switch, and the Excalibur began to come to
life. There was a faint humming far back in the engines and a faint vibra-
tion which rapidly grew in intensity to a deafening roar and an earthshaking
concussion of jet turbines. The Excalibur began to inch forward on its run-
way, and slowly it left the hangar. It taxied over to its launch ramp, and
automated grapplers chocked it securely into the ramp's catapult.
"Five, four, three, two, one," screamed Honey over the tumult, "TAKEOFF!!!"
She stabbed her thumb on the "release" button and threw the control joystick
full forward. She was thrown back against her seat, her helmeted head
cracking heavily against the headrest.
All inside the cockpit was vibration and noise. The roaring of the engines
reached a new screaming crescendo as the main thrusters kicked in, launching
the Excalibur into the air. Chokkei wrenched his head to one side, fighting
against the G-forces, expecting to see a rapidly receding suburban landscape.
Instead, all he saw was blue. The noise and vibration, although still
present, seemed to lessen now that they were airborne.
"Honey!" he breathed. "Where are we?"
"Nearly a thousand feet up and still climbing, from the looks of it," said
Danbei, looking over Honey's shoulder at the controls.
In wonderment, Chokkei stared out the cockpit dome and could just barely
discern a brown-and-green patchwork far, far below. He had no idea the
ground was so far below. The Excalibur arrowed higher and higher into the
blue atmosphere.
Suddenly, a strange, unpleasant pressure in Chokkei's ears got his attention.
"My ears are popping!" he exclaimed.
Honey clicked the "cabin pressure" control. She banked the plane left, and
the golden sun went from the starboard side of the airplane to aft.
With the merest twitch of the controls, the Excalibur executed a deft series
of barrel-rolls and hard-banking turns.
"Ugh," groaned Danbei. "Of all the things I forgot to have replaced, why did
it have to be my stomach? He clutched the armrests of his seat, looking
quite green.
"You think that was keen," snickered Honey, "get a load of this!" She sent
the Excalibur into a ferocious cannonball spin, and then straight up as high
and fast as it could go. The screaming of the afterburners died out, and the
sky went from blue to indigo. Honey jerked the control joystick hard left
and the Excalibur performed a quick, decisive, vertical hammerhead turn.
Before they could blink, the plane was spearheading straight back down.
"I'm lucky she didn't do a lamczevac!" Danbei croaked, turning from green to
purple.
"Don't give her any ideas!" moaned Chokkei, feeling distinctly airsick
himself.
"I do believe there's a 'no-barfing' clause in the travel brochures," pointed
out Natsuko, totally unaffected by the plane's aero-gymnastics.
The Excalibur leveled off at three thousand, and started playing tag with a
wispy row of cirrus clouds. It darted in, around and through them like a
playful dolphin trying to best a stately procession of giant whales.
Ahead, looking like an immense mountain of the whitest marble, was a towering
cumulonimbus.
Honey suddenly got a daring, mischievous idea.
"Hang on," she laughed. "I've always wanted to do this!"
The Excalibur streaked toward the cloud and then broke right. Out of his
side of the window, Chokkei saw the billowing flanks of the cloud streak by,
almost like a glacial landscape floating above the far-distant earth.
Isn't it magnificent?" murmured Natsuko, tapping Chokkei's arm.
"Uh-huh," replied Chokkei distractely, utterly mesmerized by the magical,
otherworldly scene before them.
"Yeah, keen," said Danbei, more interested in corraling his wildly-bucking
innards and watching the controls than sightseeing.
The cloud loomed up into the heights like an unscalable rampart occupied by
mythical beings from some far-off Mount Olympus. The Excalibur circled the
cloud, and then abruptly was thrown into shadow as it went around the far
side. Deep inside the cloud they all saw flashes and blinding arcs of
lightning, and could only guess at the rainstorm the ground was experiencing
far, far below.
Chokkei craned his neck as far out as he could manage, and saw a limitless
expanse of blue, adjacent to the hazily-visible landscape and substantially
darker than the celestial medium they were now streaking through. It seemed
possessed of a strange, almost infinitesimal movement.
"The harbor!" cried Natsuko. "It's the harbor! And that means the dark brown
is the ground!" She lapsed into thought. "How high up we are. If something
happened to us, I wonder if anything would be left of us to reach the
surface!"
"Don't worry, Natsuko," said Danbei. "We've got Honey with us, so we're in
good hands."
Honey didn't say anything, but she glowed inwardly, pleased that she was
making a positive difference in their lives, and grateful for the simple fact
they were there with her. She smiled.
The Excalibur finished its circuit of the cumulonimbus cloud, and its next
trajectory took it over the top. The flyers within the plane found them-
selves gazing out at an improbable tableland made entirely of cloud. It
seemed to be a part of heaven brought close to earth. The whiteness of the
cloud stretched seemingly as far as the eye could see, and appeared to be
close enough to touch. The Excalibur streaked along, making a blue shadow on
the brilliant white surface beneath.
Suddenly, without warning, all the controls began to spin wildly, and a
corona discharge sparked and crackled through the cockpit. Electric currents
began arcing over the control panel, and a warning klaxon began blaring.
"Honey!" roared Danbei. "What happened?
"I think we got hit by a sprite!"
"A WHAT??"
"A sprite! It's a form of electrical discharge found on the top of thunder-
clouds. What we see as lightning from the ground is only half the phenome-
non. The other half streaks up, out of the top of the cloud, where it's
never seen except by aircraft. Oh, stupid, stupid, stupid!! Why did I have
to pull this stunt?"
The Excalibur was rapidly losing altitude, and entered the top of the cloud
at an oblique angle. What was once serenity and calm abruptly turned into
screaming wind, flashing lightning, noise and tumult. Natsuko screamed and
clutched madly at Chokkei's arm. Danbei was holding the armrests of his seat
so tightly that a seam burst in the aircraft-grade vinyl upholstery.
Honey's hands seemed to take on an independent life of their own. They flew
with impossible speed over the controls, attempting beyond fate to bring this
wildly bucking, gyrating juggernaut back under control. Beads of sweat con-
densed on her brow, and her teeth clenched in a vice grip. As she was
fighting the controls, she was casting a worried gaze upon the much-too-
rapidly falling altitude meter.
"Come on, come on," she was pleading to the madly spinning controls. "Ease
up, won't you?" She pulled back on the joystick for all she was worth, and
slowly, sluggishly, the Excalibur began to respond. Inch by inch, the nose
of the craft nudged upwards, back towards a level orientation. The altimeter
began to slow its fall, and eventually slid to a halt.
Abruptly the Excalibur left the body of the thundercloud, and the passengers
found themselves streaking along over the surface of the ocean, only scant
hyards above the storm-tossed waves. The short-circuiting of the controls
was gone, the klaxon had ceased, and the instruments which were still func-
tioning registered all systems nominal.
Honey's eyes rolled back in her head, and she let out a heavy, heavy sigh.
"Let's...uh...NOT do that again, shall we?" She chuckled sardonically.
"You got that right, Honey," replied Chokkei. "Let's go home. I think it's
nearly dinnertime."
Danbei had lapsed into silence, and was staring out the window.
"Grandpa?" asked Chokkei, "Grandpa, you all right?"
Danbei started as if disturbed from a reverie and looked back at Chokkei.
"I'm fine, kid. Just spaced out for a minute."
"Well, for a minute I thought you'd gotten knocked out of commission like the
plane was, and...Hey!" Chokkei frowned, and looked out the window. "What's
that?"
Natsuko and Danbei followed his gaze, but all they saw on the ocean was an
enormous, rapidly expanding ring of water, as if something huge had just
impacted with the surface, and then submerged.
"I don't see anything," said Natsuko. "What do you think it was? A whale,
maybe?"
"Nah, it wasn't a whale. It looked more like an...I dunno, like some sort of
crustacean, or maybe a..."
"A vehicle of some kind?" asked Danbei. He didn't admit it, but he had
suddenly gotten severe misgivings about something...Feelings like those he
experienced when confronted by powerful sources of pure evil. Feelings which
very well could have originated with whatever had just surfaced on the water
below them.
The Excalibur lurched sickeningly for a second time. Danbei was thrown hard
against the canopy, and one of his sensors shorted out.
"HONEY!!" screamed Chokkei. "Honey, do something!"
There was no reply.
"HONEY!!"
Honey stiffened convulsively, and then slumped into the cockpit.
Natsuko wasted no time in springing to action.
"Just a minute," she said, her jaw set grimly. She unbuckled her harness and
wrestled her way forward to squat beside Honey. She looked over and to her
dismay, saw Honey sitting limply, her wide-open eyes utterly devoid of
characteristic. No iris, no pupil; just blank, blank, expressionless white.
Natsuko grunted and wrenched her attention back to the plane's controls. She
didn't have much time, so she pulled the joystick out of Honey's unresponsive
fingers and banked the plane hard right. The Excalibur responded reluc-
tantly, and swing its nose about on a heading for home.
"Are you sure you know what you're doing, young lady?" inquired Danbei
nervously.
"I helped put this bird together," snapped Natsuko, "So I'd better goddamn be
able to fly it!" Slowly, carefully, she nursemaided the controls, coaxing
the crippled plane back towards land. With an eye on the still-sagging
altimeter, she made the best of the engines, pointing the nose up and giving
them a quick flare to gain precious altitude. At last, the familiar stretch
of the runway in back of the Hayami mansion greeted her eyes, and she flipped
the switch for the landing gear.
Slowly, heavily, wearily, the Excalibur touched down and coasted to a halt
neatly in front of the hangar.
"That," said Danbei, "Was one hellofa bit of fancy flyin, kiddo. You ever
done any flying before?"
Natsuko shook her head wordlessly, her eyes on the prostrate form of Honey.
"Crap," she thought. "There are really gonna be bugs to get out of the system
this time." She sighed, and clambered back out of the cockpit. "Get Honey,"
she instructed. "I think something's really wrong with her." Chokkei and
Danbei followed, carrying the inert form of Honey with them.
Natsuko looked at the belly of the plane, and made a move of disgust. Sure
enough, the formerly immaculate white of the Excalibur's paint had been
seared and blistered a dusty brown and black.
"Jeez Louise," she groaned, "Did that EVER chip the paintjob."
"It's about time," said Daiko, walking out onto the tarmac and wearing an
apron. "You lot were very nearly late, and...Sweet Jesus! What happened?"
"It's a long story, Mom," said Chokkei, his face twisted with grief and
worry, "But something's happened to Honey!"
They all clustered around the prostrate Honey and stared, not really knowing
what to do. Danbei took one of her hands for a second, and let it fall back
with a soft "thump." He shook his head.
"There's a pulse," he said grimly "Thank God Honey was built with that
feature. At least we know she's in there somewhere," He pointed at Honey's
head.
Honey's mouth had gone slack. Suddenly, a burst of sound came from her
motionless lips. "1010100100001111111010110011100010101010101011111111000101
0101110111011101110110111011110000010000010101010100010110111111111110101010
1111111111111100101000001011000000101010101011010101010"
"WHAT THE..." shouted Danbei, leaping back. "That's binary! What the hell
is Honey doing that for?"
"Can you understand what it means?" asked Chokkei.
"Nope, it's coming out too fast," replied his grandfather. "C'mon, let's get
her into bed. We'll see if there's something we can do for her in the
morning."
Chokkei and Danbei lifted Honey's body and carried it in, but nothing on
earth could lift the heavy burden of sadness and worry within Chokkei's
heart.
"One thing is certain," said Danbei grimly, "Whatever happened was no
accident. I'm sure of it. Whoever or whatever did that to Honey is gonna
fry, I promise."
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