InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Kagome! Where are you?! ❯ aliens vs predator part 2 ( Chapter 15 )

Kagome! Where are you!?

Chapter 15 Aliens vs. Predator, part 2.

{English} in brackets

I don't think I fit this in the dialog, so . . . The company that runs Ryushi is owned by a Japanese family. As such, being Japanese or being able to speak/read Japanese is a good thing on your resume, ok. (And this taken from the novel)

corrected by Angelica Birmingham.

______________________________

From Ch. 14

**************

"{What was that?}" A woman cries. She points to off in the distance. A cloud of smoke is rising from a valley.

"{Something happened.}" The man next to says. "{We've got to investigate.}"

The man shows the woman his PDA.

On the screen is a picture of a man-shaped alien. By the scale next to it, the alien is at least 2 meters tall. The body is very manlike. But the head, that is very different. The head looks like some sort of mutated crab. Dreadlock like tentacles ring the skull. The mouth has mandibles, not a normal mouth. One of the tusks on the lower jaw is broken.

"{Remember if we see another alien predator like this, we leave. No heroics.}"

"{Yeah. I remember the orders.}"

The woman shifts the handles in front of her and the aircraft that they are in turns toward the cloud of smoke . . .

********************

After a few minutes of waiting for the dust cloud to settle, Sesshomaru's head twists and he looks up.

"What?" Kagome asks.
"A thumping sound. It is getting louder. From the air."

He points in the sky.

Kagome follows his finger.

A pause . . .

"That looks like a helicopter." she whispers.

She smiles. "Now you'll get to see some real wonders, Lord Sesshomaru. My bag only contains the barest glimpse of my times' wonders. Who knows what we'll find in the future."

"A helicopter?"

"Yes. A flying machine. No magic. Just technology." She smiles. "Let's make sure that they can see us." She moves away from the fallen cliff and starts to wave her arms.

The helicopter, sleek and futuristic looking from the distance, flies in circles around the area a couple of times. "Wave at them, Sesshomaru, sir."

He frowns, "Meeting them is not necessary, woman. In a few hours the cube will activate and we will leave. Why waste the time?"

She grits her teeth, "Because we have time to waste, ok?"

He sighs and slowly, reluctantly begins to wave his hand.

"Oh, thank you, Sesshomaru, sir. Please, when they land, remember to hold your temper. They are not going to know you and will not give you the respect you feel you deserve."

"Human woman, I do not need you to remind me of your idiotic feelings about killing. I will, in difference to your wishes, give them extraordinary leeway. But, If they are as stupid as most humans . . . " he trails off there, with a slight smile on his lips.

She frowns. 'Well that's the best I'm going to get. Hopefully things won't get too out of hand and I calm things down.'

"Oh, yes, lord Sesshomaru, I almost forgot."

"What, forgetful human?"

"Grr. Anyway. Don't touch anything in it, ok? I know I'm not going to."

"Why?"
"You have no idea what the buttons and switches in it will do. If you hit the wrong one, the machine might fall from the sky."

Kagome and Sesshomaru stop talking now, and start to cough. The helicopter is landing and the blades are kicking up a large dust cloud.

Since it is on the ground, both of them can see that the helicopter is not fresh off the showroom clean. There is a lot of wear and tear visible on it. Peeling paint, rust, dust and dirt stains on the windscreen are among the visible wear. 'It's not that big. A little bigger than those choppers I see in the sky for road reporting, perhaps.' Kagome thinks. Sitting in the cockpit is two human-shaped individuals, nobody else appears to be in the helicopter.

The blades on the helicopter slow down, a little, but do not stop. A person, a human female in a stained jumpsuit leaves the chopper and runs toward Sesshomaru and Kagome.

"{Who are you?}" She cries as she comes to a stop about 3 or 4 meters from them. 'The one with the bow is a young woman. And at first glance, I'd say the taller one with the bag over her shoulder is a human female too, but... those eyes, she's not human.' she thinks.

"{I am Kagome. He is Sesshomaru.}" Kagome says, after a short pause. 'English . . I can write it ok. But speak it . . . ' she thinks.

The woman frowns. "{Who?}" She looks at both of them. "{You two are not members of the colony. I'd recognize her}" she points to Sesshomaru. "{Anywhere. Where in the hell did you come from?}"

"{Slow. Please. My English no so good.}" Kagome says.

"Ok. You look Japanese. Is this better?" the woman says.

Kagome smiles and says. "Yes, we are both from Japan. My name . . . no. His name is Sesshomaru, lord of the western lands. My name is Higurashi Kagome. We are new here and just . . . "

The woman holds up her hands. "Stop. It has been too long. My Japanese is rusty."

"{Hey Ashley! Get them in here, now! I didn't want to be on the ground this long! Those aliens!}" The man from inside the chopper uses the chopper loudspeaker system to call out.

The woman, Ashley, looks around. "Ok. Get in the helicopter. I will take you to my boss. She'll want to talk to you."

"Thank you." Kagome gives her a small bow. "Come on, Lord Sesshomaru." She hurriedly follows the woman into the chopper. "Keep your head down, ok. If those blades hit you, I don't even think you're healing abilities will regenerate a head."
Sesshomaru thinks, 'I don't like letting her lead, but . . a machine like this . . . very well, but . . . ' He follows Kagome into the chopper, his tail whipping in the wind.

**************

At the fallen cliff, one of the boulders starts to smoke. The acid from the dead chest buster alien is eating the rock . .

******************

"{Who the fuck are they?}" the man says.

"{I don't know, David! She said that she's from Japan."} Ashley is strapping herself down in one of the seats of the cockpit.

"{That's fucked! Which girl?}"

"{The one with the bow. She says the other is a guy.}"

{"How in the hell is that a guy!"}

"{I don't know, ok! She apparently knows some English, too. Although the guy hasn't said a word.}"

"{But!}"

"{Shut up, David! Let me strap in and we can head back to Prosperity Wells and we'll let Noguchi handle them.}"

"{Bet you that they have something to do with those aliens that killed the Sheldon's.}"

"{We'll let Noguchi decide that. Let's fly.}"

*****************

While the two pilots are arguing .

"Sit down here, lord Sesshomaru." Kagome points to one of the pair of bucket-type seats they find in the back of the chopper.

Now that they are on board, the chopper it is even more obvious that this is a work helicopter. The interior is dirty. The seats are worn.

Sesshomaru places the bag on down and sits down in the seat. 'Weird.' he thinks, 'and small.'

Kagome bends over him. "Woman?" he asks.
"I saw a seatbelt. Give me a minute to strap you in." She says in a distracted voice. Kagome locates the two pieces of metal tipped cloth and starts to fiddle with them in his lap. "There. That should do it."

She lifts up, and only Sesshomaru's reaction time allows him to move his head fast enough, so her head does not hit his chin.

He lifts up the piece of cloth across his lap. It has trapped him into the seat. His claws rip the cloth, tearing the belt. "This Sesshomaru will not be trapped, woman."

"Lord Sesshomaru that was a safety device!" she cries.

"Sit down! Strap in!" The woman calls from the cockpit. "We're lifting off!"

Kagome quickly plops down into the other seat. She finds and snaps the seat belt on her. The helicopter shakes. "What is going on?" Sesshomaru demands.

"We're taking off! Just sit there, Sesshomaru." she cries back to him, yelling to be heard over the sounds of the rotors.

"Grrr . . . " Sesshomaru glares back at her. The helicopter lifts off. He looks around. 'Loud. Smelly. Weirdly built, waste of metal, human machine.' he thinks. 'I will not cough in front of her.'

As the helicopter tilts to pick up speed, Sesshomaru's hand grips the seat, twisting the metal. Once the helicopter stabilized, the woman turns back and yells, "{It'll take us about half an hour to get back. We should be there just before sunset!}"

"{Land at sunset?}" Kagome yells back.

The woman nods.

Kagome turns to Sesshomaru and yells. "We'll land about sunset, Lord Sesshomaru."

"Good. I will destroy this then." he growls.

"What!" Kagome cups her ears, "I didn't understand that?" He shakes his head.

'It is too loud to talk. He seems to be settled down, now. I'm going to look around and see what the scenery looks like.' Kagome thinks. She begins to look out the windows, admiring the desert landscape.

Sesshomaru looks around the strange machine that he is in. 'Weird. What's this under the seat?' he thinks.

He reaches under the seat and pulls out a brightly colored orange bag. He looks at, sniffs it. 'What is this substance? The smell, plastic. Yes, that is what Higurashi told me those clear bags are. This is the same.' His claws penetrate the plastic.

'Something metal, hidden in the plastic?' he rips the plastic off to look inside.

POP!

The orange emergency life raft expands rapidly. It quickly engulfs Sesshomaru.

"What!" Kagome yells as the life raft pushes against her. Only her seat belt prevents her from being thrown from the aircraft.

"{What the fuck!}" "{Shit!}" The two humans in the cockpit yell as they realize something is wrong in the back.

PHISSSSS. Rip. Sesshomaru's claws rip the life raft in half. The air bottle flies out of the helicopter, trailing an orange tail.

Sesshomaru's eyes are red with anger as he growls, "What was that, human?"

"It was an emergency device, Sesshomaru. I told you not the touch anything!" Kagome yells.

The woman, twisting her seat around yells, "{Stop playing around back there! You want to get killed?}"

"{He will stop.}" Kagome yells back. "{He not know.}"

"{Goddamned company policy. I knew that thing would cause problems, sooner or later.}" The man says to the woman.

"{Yeah. Whoever heard of needing a life raft on a desert world. But company rules.}" she complains back to him. "{Not to mention this piece of crap helicopter is how old? We only get third-rate, junk.}"

"{You know as well as I do, this colony doesn't rate real tech. Just this crap.}" The man replies, obviously with part of an old argument between the two them.

Kagome glares at Sesshomaru. "Have you learned your lesson? Sesshomaru. Sir."

He stares back at her. A pause. A slight nod from him. Sesshomaru directs his attention outside of the helicopter. 'I will not be embarrassed like that again. I will restrain my curiosity.' he thinks.

The rest of the trip is spent in silence, or as much as possible given the noise of the rotors above . .

Later . . .
Prosperity Wells, as seen from the air as they approach, reminds Kagome of some of the western towns she has seen in American movies.

The town, a village really, has only a few large buildings and about twenty or so even larger ones. All of them clustered around the obvious main building. The helicopter pad is off to one side, next to a good sized building with a red cross painted on the roof.

She can see men running around the edge of the town. They are positioning trucks, cars, large SUV-types, and other mobile vehicles around the town.

They are constructing barriers. 'Preparing for an attack.' Sesshomaru thinks as he examines the scene. 'Crude barrier. Easily destroyed.'

Surrounding the small town are large herds of the rhino-like animal they had seen before. Each herd is fenced in. The woman points to the herds and yells at Kagome, "The reason we are here. Ranching. We send them back to Earth and other worlds."

Kagome nods, "Like cattle ranching?"

The woman nods. "They are bigger and stupider than cattle. But the meat is tastier, and they can live in this wasteland."

"The ship to take them back to Earth." The woman points to the large ship a short distance from the town. A large ramp and door, obviously for loading the beasts, stands open. The ship itself is a huge square shaped hunk of metal. Various antennae and bulges stick out from it.

'I've seen castles that were smaller.' Sesshomaru thinks as he looks at the ship. "That is supposed to move?" he asks.

'She can speak!' the woman thinks. "Yes. It flies between the stars."

"It flies . . . " Sesshomaru whispers.

"What! Did you say something, Sesshomaru?" Kagome yells over the still beating rotors.

He waves her to silence.

"{It's supposed to be roundup time, but between the aliens and you two, bad things are happening.}" The woman says to herself.

"We will land. I will take you to the boss. She will decide what to do with you." she yells to Kagome and Sesshomaru.

"She?" Sesshomaru asks.

"Yeah, her name is Machiko Noguchi."
"{You talking about ms. hard-ass ice queen?}" The man asks.

"{Yeah. Just giving them her name.}" The woman replies.

***********************

Inside the main building .

The two pilots lead Sesshomaru and Kagome through a doorway. There is a lot of yelling happening in the room beyond.

"{BE QUIET!}"

A pause.

"{Perhaps if we all panic and turn ourselves into mindless animals, we'll get out of this situation! Who else wants to add to the problem!}" A young, mid to late 20's, Japanese woman yells to the crowd of about one hundred humans in the room. She is wearing a stained jumpsuit, with a gun belt. She is dirty and has a strained _expression on, obviously the last few hours have not been easy.

The crowd instantly calms down. Kagome, Sesshomaru and the pilots wait at the back of the room until she's organized the crowd and given them their orders.

'She may be a human female, but I've rarely seen Samurai warlords perform better when organizing peasants, especially since she hasn't killed anyone to gain their attention.' Sesshomaru thinks.

After the orders are finished, she walks to the back of the room. Most of the people stay in the room, even if their orders are for something else, they all want to see and hear what she's going to say to the two strangers.

"All right. It's your turn. Who are you? And how did you get here?" she demands, an angry _expression on her face.

"I am Higurashi Kagome. My companion is Lord of the Western Lands, Sesshomaru." Kagome nods to him. "We just arrived here a couple of days ago, by, I suppose magic."

"Magic?" Noguchi says with suspicion in her voice. "From Japan, I suppose."

Kagome cringes, "Yes, basically. And well . . . We're here by accident."

"Accident?"

"Can we help?" Kagome says quickly. 'This is not going well . . . '
Sesshomaru just looks at the crowd. His ears are hearing the whispers. Most of it is not in Japanese, but some is.

"Those eyes."

"They have to be part of this."

"Stop." Noguchi orders. "I don't have time for this right now. Do you know anything about the aliens that have killed the Sheldon family, and others?" She shows Kagome a picture of a predator alien.

"No." Kagome shakes her head. "We know nothing about them."

Noguchi glares at Kagome and Sesshomaru. "Very well. Since I've got to organize the defense of this colony, right now, here are my orders. You two will stay here. You will not do anything."

Sesshomaru looks at her, his normal bored _expression on his face.

"Once this is over, I will question you in detail, but this is all I can do now." She turns to the pilot, "Ashley Ikeda, since you know some Japanese, these two are in your charge." She turns to Kagome and Sesshomaru. "You two are to follow her orders. Do you understand?"

Kagome swallows and nods. 'She's trying to defend her colony and we are just extra problems. I don't want to add to her problems.' she thinks.

"You!" Noguchi barks at Sesshomaru, when he doesn't move.

"My name, human, is Sesshomaru, Lord of the Western lands. I will be addressed properly." he says in his normal bored tone. His hand, casually, swings back and forth, his fingers loosening up.

Kagome, goes white, but instantly moves between Sesshomaru and Noguchi. Her hand, by accident, (she'll swear) grabs the hilt of Tokijin. His hand grips hers painfully. "Lord Sesshomaru. Please. Do as she wishes. We can't add to their problems." she begs.

He glares at Kagome.

"Sesshomaru, then. Do you understand?" Noguchi says in a confused voice. 'Something just happened, but what?' she thinks.

"This Sesshomaru understands your speech, human."

"And you will follow my orders?" Noguchi growls at him.

"No. But, in difference to my companion, this Sesshomaru will restrain himself and not kill you."

"{Please. I can control him. I promise. He's my responsibility. We'll stay here and not cause any problems.}" Kagome says as she looks over her shoulder at the woman.
Noguchi and Kagome lock gazes. Noguchi slowly nods. "{Acceptable.}"

"{Now to the other problems.}" she says. She turns and leaves the room.

End chapter 15

Sesshomaru & technology . . I'm going to use the episode with the life raft as an excuse for him not to be curious. I know that there are readers that would like me to do a "Sesshomaru explores tech" chapter or three, but, right now, I want to keep the pace of the story up, and not have it get bogged down. I am planning on at least one more high-tech world (the star wars episode I've been teasing with) and at least one modern tech world, so . . . There will be future chances to do those chapters.

Please note: Chapter 16 will include a lot of summarization. I'm not going to retype the A vs. P novel. But, between Sesshomaru's embarrassment with the life raft & Noguchi telling them to stand & do nothing, they were are not going to do much anyway. At least not until the things go wrong . . .

thank you for reading jeff shelton