Fushigi Ke'nak
Castellan@angelfire.com
Jennile-chan@juno.com
https://www.angelfire.com/wa2/thehelix
Disclaimer: The Castellan and Jennile-chan do not own any of the characters, but we did come up with the story. Watase Yuu and Paramount own Fushigi Yuugi and Star Trek, respectively.
Chapter 1
Data looked about the enormous room and his internal sensors noticed that the air had a faint musty smell. Tokyo Library was the only Library within the Federation that still kept ancient texts. They had copies of the Norton Anthology and even a copy of Narutu, which had been lost during the 2nd Reformation. Of course, all other designated libraries contained such works, but their copies were contained within the NetWork: a completely contained computer system that had works from every literary genre. The difference, was that Tokyo Library still had these texts printed on their original material, a rarity throughout the Federation. Data walked to an empty terminal and requested material on ancient Oriental literature.
"3-21-5-194A. Thank You," the Terminal responded in a clipped voice. Many people had found these voices disturbing and opted for the round droids that were scattered about the complex. Data felt the opposite. Talking to something of his own kind, although not as functional as him or as humanoid left him feeling uncomfortable. Data walked out of the terminal and headed for the lift. He entered requesting 3-21-5-194A. A light flashed signaling that it had received his request and soon the doors slid open. He stepped onto floor 3 and turned to his left searching for isle 21 and row 5. He walked through rows of books and manuscripts until he found 194A. A small sign identified the case as "Ancient Texts: Orient".
Back on the starship, life continued as usual. Captain Jean-Luc Picard was having a meeting with Commander Riker and they were discussing the upcoming mission. They had left Earth at 1100 hours and were headed for an outpost satellite that had been experiencing some problems.
"What type of problems should we expect to encounter, sir?" Picard looked up from his viewscreen at the eager Commander.
"I am not sure, No.1." He sighed and looked back down at the screen. "According to Captain Tyler, the satellite is surrounded by an immense energy field. Captain Tyler has tried to diagnose the strength of the field, but he can not get an accurate reading from within the satellite." He glanced at Riker. "So, they need us to go and see what it is. But we must reach them before they run out of supplies. It seems that their last supply shipment had left three months ago and they are do for another shipment in three days."
"But the field is building a barrier around the satellite and we have to find a way through the barrier to let the supply ship through. Am I accurate?" At that moment the Captain's doors slid open and a visibly distressed Lt. Commander Geordi walked in.
"Captain! Have you seen Data anywhere?" Picard looked up at Geordi with an annoyed scowl on his face.
"No, I have not. But he did mention that he was going on shore leave. He's probably on Earth." He glanced back down at his screen signaling the end of the conversation. Geordi normally would have taken the hint, but to him the situation was serious. They had left Earth two hours ago and he had not seen his friend since.
"Sorry, sir. But I checked with the shuttle and they reported that he had docked ten hours ago. He is usually down in Engineering, but he never showed up and I have checked his cabin and the sensors do not show that he is present on this ship." Riker turned to face Geordi and gave him a blank look. To him, this was not a serious matter. Data had been known to get into one of his "moods".
"Maybe he decided to have an extended stay on Earth. Anyway, it's not as if it's an emergency." Picard returned his gaze to Geordi and sensed that something else was bothering his engineering officer.
"Lieutenant, what else do you have to report?" fidgeting, Goerdi bowed his head. Picard waited. He knew that Geordi would tell them when he felt the time was right. They waited in silence for a couple of minutes until Geordi lifted his head and stood to attention.
"Captain! While I was searching Data's cabin I noticed something strange..."
"Yes, go on."
"Well sir, I noticed something lying on the reading table and it was glowing, sir!"
"Glowing? Were you able to identify it?"
"Yes and no. By looking at the cover it seems to be a book written in an ancient Chinese script. The book is being analyzed now, but I instructed them not to open it. We do not know what it contains, sir."
"Very good, Lieutenant. Let's go have a look at this book. Riker, come with me and bring Worf with you." Geordi, Riker, Picard, and Worf walked into exo-science and saw Dr. Mosic bending over a sterile terminal. Dr. Mosic was the leading scientist in ancient Chinese culture aboard the Enterprise and had even lived in China for ten years with a communal excavation group before she was commissioned to the starship. Her main area of study was in mythology. Picard walked over to where she was and glanced down at the book she was scanning.
"Dr. Mosic. Do you have anything to report."
"Well, Captain." She stood up and brushed her black hair from her eyes.
"I have never seen anything like this before. It seems to be emitting a very powerful energy, but none of the scanners can trace it. The script is also very confusing. See this character here." She pointed to the first curved character on the glowing cover. "That would be kanji for "book" if the line here wasn't there," She pointed to a thin line drawn through the symbol. "but with that line I am not sure what it says.
"Captain." Picard turned to Lt. Worf who was standing at the back of the group.
"Yes, Worf?"
"Sir, that sign means "four". The next one is "gods" then "sky" and then "earth" or "ground". Apparently it means "The Four Gods Sky and Earth", but I may be wrong."
Riker looked at Worf incredulously, but was interrupted from saying something by the Captain.
"Since it appears that you can read the script then I suggest that we see what is in it." He turned back to the doctor who was staring at Worf. "Doctor, have you had this verified?" The doctor jerked her head towards the Captain and stared blankly at him.
"Umm, yes," she ran her hand through her hair and continued to glance at Worf, "I checked with our records and Tokyo's databases, but the title does not register. It's new to me." Picard picked up the book and turned it within his hand. The book still emitted a faint red glow and he could feel the energy radiating form the cover. The pages appeared to be fading and crumbling, but something told him not to open it, yet. He handed the book back to the doctor.
"Continue to analyze it Doctor. Deliver it in 1400 hours to the Observatory Lounge." He turned to the small group surrounding him.
"I will meet everyone there. Just keep the situation to yourselves. I am sure Data is safe and we will find him. Dismissed." Everyone filtered out of the lab.
1400
The oval room was hushed and somber. Data still could not be located and it wasn't like the android to disappear for such a long time. The door slid open and Dr. Mosic appeared carrying the book. She left it on the table beside Picard and left. The book still glowed and everyone stared at it.
"Well, everyone has been briefed as to the situation?" Picard looked about the room and everyone nodded solemnly back. Dr. Crusher and Troi had been admitted to the meeting because of their knowledge of Data and they glanced uneasily at each other.
"Yes, well, I have this feeling that this book will lead us to Data." He slid the book over to Worf and leaned back into his chair. "Since you seem fluent in the script, I suggest you read it, Lt."
Riker looked at Worf smugly and smirked. "When did you acquire this talent, may I ask?"
Worf gave him a level gaze. "I have become interested in the Chinese fighting technique. In order to master the movements, I must master the language."
"Do you think reading it is advisable, Captain?" Troi looked at the book strangely. Ever since she had seen it, she felt something evil, well maybe not that strong, but something told her to be weary. It made her uncomfortable.
"We must find Data and I have a feeling that that book has something to tell us. Go on Worf, read it aloud." Worf opened the book and began to read.
"This is the story of one girl, who, having gathered the Seven Seishi of Suzaku, acquired the power to make any wishes come true. The story itself is a spell. The one who finishes the book shall acquire the same power as the heroine and her wishes will come true." Worf stopped, as the book's glow intensified. Suddenly, a bright light shot out of the book and engulfed the six people around the table. A beep could be heard as the sensors rescanned the room. The room was empty
Down in engineering, Wesley had been filling in for Geordi while he met with the Senior Officers. Geordi had seemed a little upset about something, but hadn't told Wesley what it was. He was wondering about it when he noticed a strange power blip in the sensors that showed up on the master systems display in front of him. He ran a quick diagnostic on the internal detection sensors. It was inexplicable, but the computer was telling him that the six officers in the Observatory Lounge had just vanished. They were not being detected by any of the sensors.
"That's funny. I'd better let Commander LaForge know we're having trouble with the sensors."
He tapped his comm badge and paged Geordi, but no one responded. He was now very perplexed and decided that they could not possibly be gone. It was more likely that some circuits had blown causing communications and sensors to go down in that area of the ship. He put the computer to work with some more diagnostics and left Lt. Alavarez in charge. He hated to interrupt a briefing, but Geordi needed to know what was going on. He went up to the bridge and walked nonchalantly through to the Lounge. He should have checked to see if the bridge sensors had detected the blip, but he decided it was better to just hand the thing over to Geordi. He walked into the Lounge and stared into the room. He stood there for a moment, stunned. No one was there. He glanced around and saw a red light coming from beneath the table. He went over and picked up what appeared to be a book. He stared at it dumbly and shrugged his shoulders and left the room. He should go find Dr. Mosic. She would know.
"OW!"
"Get off of me! You're not light you know!" Worf picked himself up off of Troi and offered his hand. She ignored it and stood up. Everyone was scattered and it took a while to congregate, especially when Riker found that he could not get himself out of a tree. Everyone stood under him and shouted advice to the distraught commander.
"Try moving your left leg to that branch."
"Place your hand over there."
"Just hurry up! Fall down if you have to."
Riker scowled down at the crowd under him. "Are you insane! Do you know what might happen if I did that? My suit might get bark on it!"
"Well, stay up there then!" Crusher yelled up to the rustling leaves. Picard suggested a briefing of the surroundings. Geordi scanned the area with his VISOR and detected no life forms.
"Now what!?" Dr. Crusher yelled at Picard.
"Quiet!" Picard hissed. He was quickly becoming annoyed at the normally calm Doctor that had just apparently lost it. She jumped up and down and continued to yell.
"We need to be sure to establish our surroundings. We also need to figure out what happened. Worf do you have any ideas?"
Worf was staring at the scenery around him and he was feeling a deep inner peace. Deeper then anything he had ever felt before. There was something about this land...
"Worf!"
Worf turned his head slowly and glared back at the Captain. "No I have no idea where we are, Captain. There seems to be a lot of fog and the terrain is mountainous. I also have no explanation for the round "bubbles" that are fixated around us."
"Well, they seem to have some sort of static electricity emitting from them. That's why there is that purple tint surrounding them." Geordi supplied.
"Will someone get me down from here!" Everyone ignored the stranded Commander, "I said...." He suddenly stopped. Something giggled.
"What was that?!" Crusher began again screaming at Picard and held his arm in a vice as she continued to jump. Riker lifted his hand towards one of the bubbles that floated near his branch. The "bubble" vibrated and the giggling could be heard again. He snapped his hand away and looked down at the Captain.
"Sir, I think there's more to these 'bubbles'..." Just then the bubble burst and an adorable girl with blue hair and an addictive smile stood, or actually floated, in front of him. She wore an embroidered tunic and little red shoes.
"Nyan-nyan think you're funny!" The little girl chirped at him. Riker stared at the smiling girl in front of him.
"We fix your position! Fix! Fix! Fix" The little girl grabbed his arm and began to drag him off of his branch. "Fix! Fix! Fix!" It continued to chant happily away as No. 1 fell to the ground with the girl floating above his head. The rest of the group continued to stare at the pair while other "bubbles" popped around them.
"We fix you, too! Follow! Follow!" The group was suddenly being pushed forward by identically dressed girls as they continued to chant. They had pushed them a couple of feet when Worf's dignity took over. Crossing his arms, he planted his feet into the ground. The little girl, who was pushing him, went crashing into his leg.
"I will not be pushed around. Reveal to us who you are and what is your intent." The little girl floated up to him and gave him a wide smile.
"Nyan-nyan like you! Nyan-nyan thinks you're nice!" Worf gave the girl a glare that would have defeated any foe. The girl's smile grew and she threw her arms around his neck.
"Nyan-nyan thinks you're kawaii!"
Written by: Jennile-chan and the Castellan
Authors' Notes:
We do not own any of the characters from Star Trek or Fushigi Yuugi. Star Trek is copyright by Paramount Pictures and Watase Yuu owns Fushigi Yuugi. Any comments can be e-mailed to castellan@angelfire.com
Translation:
Japanese: Kawaii = cute, adorable
Klingon: Ke'nak= opera/play