Of Probabilities and Programs, Chapter Four: End Program. Ayeka's eyes slowly adjusted to the light. 'I'm back in the work shed. Bed feels softer. Forehead wet.' She tried to get up and a hand gently pushed her back down, making sure the wet towel stayed on her head. "Hey Princess," said Ryoko's voice, "relax, you're not going anywhere for a few days." "How long?" whispered Ayeka, her voice sounding very small. Ryoko smiled and tugged the sheets around the Princess, "You've been sleeping for a couple of days. I bet you don't remember waking up a couple of times, do you? Sasami has helped me serve you some chicken stew and tea. Everybody has visited you, Princess. Even Tenchi." Ryoko looked thoughtful, watching as Ayeka seemed to fight off sleep, trying to stay awake. "Mihoshi got you a nice scarf too," said Ryoko as she went back to preparing a pot of herbal tea. "I'll have some tea ready for you in a few minutes. I'm sorry to say, I don't think we have any honey left." Ryoko got no answer and turned to see a sleeping Princess. Ryoko chuckled and stared at the soft skinned Ayeka. 'You crawled down that damn hill to get help. To get help for me.' Ryoko bit her lower lip and glanced down at her hands folded in her lap. Ryoko knelt by Ayeka and sighed, "Oh Princess, get well soon. I could blame Washu, but if you hadn't been with me you wouldn't have been hurt so badly." Ryoko hugged herself. 'Here I am, spending most of my nights and days watching over the sick brat. Lets be honest, some of it has to do with the nightmares of being trapped again in the cave. But some of it has to do with wishing the Princess to get well.' "Get well," demanded the demon as she turned back to the teapot. Rift's shuttle entered normal space near the center of the Milkway galaxy, a graveyard and a nursery for stars. The shuttle's energy reserve was spent and the engines only had enough fuel left to push the ship in the general direction of Rift's goal. Even as the engines gave out, the space before the shuttle started to ripple and withdraw, exposing a huge ship. The ship looked like a cross between a kid's model airplane kit and a steel spider all crushed into one piece, with extra parts glued here and there. The legs seemed to be slicing the very surface of space and time, pulling it out of the lake of pink nothingness. Now it stood before Rift's tiny ship, like a metal waterbug breaching out of the blood ocean of the bloated suns, holding the ends of the wound open. Rift instantly broadcasted its report, all of it, from start to finish. It did not take long, not in the high speed machine language it was using with the other ship. Finally the radio was silent, as Rift awaited its fate, drifting among aging red giants and their tiny white offspring. Suddenly the huge ship, the ship of its masters, started to dive back into the unknown. Even as the legs started to weave space shut, zigzagging between the edges, pulling them closed behind the ship its masters decided Rift's fate. A missile, going just under the speed of light, flared out of the disappearing hole in space. Rift watched it appear and home in on the shuttle. As the glowing dart grew closer and bigger, slicing through the gas clouds like a shark, Rift felt one final emotion. Relief. Ayeka slowly wake up and listened. 'Whimpering, somebody whimpering?' She sat up as best she could and asked the darkness, "Hello? Ryoko? You OK?" There was silence, than a voice very much like Ryoko's answered, "I'm OK Princess, you get back to sleep." "Are you OK?" Ryoko held back a snappish reply and said, "I had a nightmare about the cave. When I was in Rift's ship it placed me in a box..." Ryoko tried to hold down a sob and was only half successful. She hugged herself, sitting close to the door, where she had crawled to after her last attempt at sleep. Princess Ayeka blinked and pulled back the covers a tad. 'It works with Sasami. And Ryoko needs me after all she went through. After all we both went through.' "Ryoko, if you wanted, you can come share my bed?" "What?" exclaimed Ryoko, "No, no, it's OK, really." 'Go to bed with the Princess? No way. I want to go to bed with Tenchi! Anyway, I can't get any sleep, why bother?' "Listen, it might help you. My sister has lots of nightmares and it helps if somebody can be there for her." Ryoko stayed silent, but soon Princess Ayeka felt the demon slip into the bed with her. "OK, but only for tonight." Ayeka smiled and said, "Good night." "Good night." 'Maybe I can get SOME sleep this way.' ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------- Tenchi Muyo! and related characters were created and owned by AIC and Pioneer. I created and own Rift and related characters. Don't sue me. This story was my second one and the shortest so far.