The Answer

By: Joshua Sako

	"I've done it!" Washu exclaimed with glee as the information scrolled across her
computer screen, "Months of research and I finally have the answer! I know why Mihoshi
is so inconceivably lucky!!" She let loose a ream of mad laughter. It had taken her so long
to find this final Answer. A few months to the Greatest Scientific Genius in the Universe
when trying to solve a scientific enigma is an incredibly long time. But Washu didn't care.
The results were there, on her screen. All that remained was one final formality; to see if
her lab research carried through on the real thing. She was sure it would. And the
possibilities for this new line of research were staggering, even excluding the military
applications.
	It all started just a few months prior. Washu was working on molding collapsed
stars into geometrical shapes when Mihoshi found her way in.
	"Hi, Little Washu!" the blonde chirped cheerfully, "Whatcha doin'?"
	The red-haired scientist spun around and blinked, "What... how.... how did you get
past the moat...? And the booby traps...? And the thirty meter dragon I engineered just to
keep you out...?"
	Two blue eyes blinked uncomprehendingly in response, "Huh? I don't know what
you're talking about, Little Washu. I just came through the door like always."
	Washu sighed, "Nevermind. What are you doing here, Mihoshi?"
	"Well, um... Sasami said it's time for dinner and Tenchi didn't want to come down
and Ayeka wasn't going to let Ryoko alone with Tenchi, so I came down to get you!"
	Washu humphed and turned back to her computer, "Well... I'm not really all that
hungry. I've got some research to do. Tell Sasami I'll be up later."
	"Oooh, you should eat, Little Washu," replied Mihoshi, moving over to lean on a
console of one machine, "I mean... it can't be good for you to not eat, right? When I don't
eat I get really hungry and can't concentrate and--"
	"I'll come up LATER!"
	This startled the Galaxy Police officer and she stumbled backwards -- right onto a
big red button marked 'Do not push'. Immediately, alarms and klaxons began to blare.
Warning lights began flashing and several machines began to spark.
	"AAAAAAH!! What did you do, you bubblehead?!"
	Tears formed in Mihoshi's eyes as she surveyed the growing chaos, "I'm sorry... I
didn't mean to... it just happened..."
	That's when the main console exploded.
	Several minutes later, an enraged and soot-covered Washu was advancing
menacingly on Mihoshi, "What... did... you... do?!"
	"I-I don't know!" Mihoshi stammered back, trying to back away, "Y-you just s-
startled me and I--" A beep from Washu's computer cut the blonde off. "What's that?"
	Washu frowned and turned towards the computer. There, on the screen, was the
collapsed star the scientist had been trying to mold. It was in an octagon. "What...?
How...?" Washu typed hurriedly on the transparent keyboard and gawked at what she
saw, "Well, in you're own wheat-brained way, Mihoshi, you've solved my problem. Of
course, it's going to take me days to fix the equipment so I can run a proper experiment,
but..." The words faded off.
	"Does... um... does that mean you're not mad at me?" asked Mihoshi hopefully.
	Washu frowned. Why did this always happen with Mihoshi? Suddenly, molding
collapsed stars lost it's interest as a new project entered into the scientists' mind. She
turned around and smiled sweetly at Mihoshi, "No, of /course/ not, Mihoshi. Saaaay...
would you mind if I took some samples from you?" Thus began the scientific quest to find
The Answer.
	Washu chuckled to herself. It seemed rather silly, now. The Answer was so
simple... she was amazed she never noticed it before. It took her a month before she even
recognized their existence... elusive little buggers. Washu had designed a more powerful
genetic sequencer than had ever been invented in order to delve into the secrets of
Mihoshi's probability altering power. All had gone well until it had come time to actually
/building/ the device. That's when she got the contamination warning from her computer.
	"Contaminated?! How? By what?"
	UNKNOWN was the computer's answer.
	Annoyedly, Washu began zeroing in on the area that the computer had identified as
contaminated. She didn't see anything. Increasing the magnification didn't yield results,
either. Aggravated, Washu tried a dimensional scan (something generally reserved for
mucking about in subspace) and got a shock. There, before her eyes, were millions of
viruses. Or, rather, they appeared to be viruses. What was odd was that they were partially
in a separate dimention... it was the ultimate camouflage for such an entity! No biological
immune system would even be able to detect these things, much less combat them. 
	"Hold on a sec..." Washu muttered to herself, "My lab screens out all biological
containments... these things couldn't get past the subspace threshold... could they? And
why had the computer taken so long to identify them...?"
	Washu took samples of everything in her lab; computer chips, bits of metal, old
notes, even a kazoo, and began to examine them... sure enough, they were all
contaminated. So, being the ever diligent scientist, Washu began taking items from the
Masaki household as well. Again, they were all infected. And what's more, she had
dimensional dated these things to existing several billion years... they might have existed in
the universe before any other life! She theorized that they covered everything, even the
vast distances between stars and galaxies.
	Then she began to hear their song.
	On a hunch, Washu hooked up the dimensional scanner to an auditory converter
and got a surprise. They were /talking/ to each other. The song was disjointed and
unmelodic, but there all the same. It took her near a week to find out what the signals
meant. Apparently, each individual virus was sending it's current condition to all the others
in the vicinity. And that's when she discovered the different strains.
	As far as she could tell there were three; one type of virus broke things down on
the molecular level, one type built things on the molecular level, and one altered forms of
energy. According to her instruments, the actions were completely random with no order
involved. 
	Then she scanned Mihoshi's blood.
	This painted an entirely different picture. The viruses in her bloodstream were
organized and their song was coordinated and melodic. Washu took a sample of her own
blood and scanned it. Only the same slight, random actions occurred. Washu began getting
samples of the rest of the household. Ryoko, Nobuyuki, Tenchi... (Washu smiled to herself
as she remembered THAT session) of all of them, only Mihoshi's blood contained the
subtle organization.
	That's when she learned that Mihoshi's Song effected other nearby viruses. This
was an accident. She had set a sample of Mihoshi's blood near one of Tenchi's, when she
noticed that Tenchi's sample began emitting the same Mihoshi Song. She took a closer
look and noticed that the viruses had adopted the predictable Mihoshi Pattern and were
effecting the blood... re-organizing it at the molecular level. Washu tried it with a non-
organic microchip. Interestingly enough, the same thing happened. Now she knew what
was going on.
	The viruses caused luck, specifically Mihoshi's luck. That strange mix of disaster
and rightness was a result of the molecular antics of these viruses, somehow controlled by
Mihoshi. Oh, sure, it would take another few weeks to figure out the specific dynamics of
everything, but in the end she had the Answer. Now all that was left was to test it... to see
if the same Song was in Mihoshi now and if it affected other viruses.
	"Um... Little Washu? You wanted to see me...?"
	Washu grinned maniacally as she viewed Mihoshi, "Ah! There you are! Yes, yes...
please, sit down..." She motioned to a chair she had specifically constructed for this
meeting. Mihoshi sat down and smiled, "What did you want to see me about?"
	"I just want to run one quick little test."
	Mihoshi frowned, "Not like last time? I mean... last time it hurt a little..."
	Washu laughed and shook her head, "No, no... this won't hurt a bit..."
	"Oh good..."
	The green-eyed scientist moved to the console on the chair, ready to make history.
She kept her eyes glued to the screen in anticipation of what was to come. The Answer,
the Proof... it was all going to be there... Washu pressed the button.
	"Yes!! Yes!! It's true!! Mihoshi, for the first time, I'm HAPPY you're around!! I've
DONE IT!" Washu began dancing around her lab, "I am such a GENIUS!!"
	She realized her mistake a tad too late. Mihoshi was out of the chair and playing
with the console, "I'm SO happy everything's good now, Little Washu... hmm... what does
this button do...?"
	Washu stared in horror as the blonde's finger moved down to the button in
question... one marked 'Do not push.' The look of horror stayed as the fireball tossed the
short scientist against a bulkhead.
	"Oh no! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! Little Washu? Little Washu...?" Mihoshi
coughed a bit in the lifting smoke and began shifting though the debris, eventually
uncovering the sooted form of Washu, "Um... are you okay? I'm really sorry..."
	Washu groaned and opened her eyes, "Wha... what happened? Last thing I know I
was about to find out what causes your odd luck..." Suddenly she sat bolt upright. She
couldn't REMEMBER! She had lost all the data regarding that subject! She still
remembered she had found out what the cause was, be she couldn't remember any
specifics. The explosion knocked it out of her! After a moment, though Washu calmed
down and called up her computer. The information would still be in there... no need for
worries. 
	That's when she saw the blank spaces. Only in the files concerning that project had
been damaged. Everything was gone... everything she found out about why Mihoshi had
the luck she had. Washu's eye twitched as the realization began to sink in.
	"Well, at least you're okay," Mihoshi said cheerily, "Isn't that good? Um... Little
Washu...? You are okay... right?"

	For miles around the Masaki household, a reverberating anguished
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" was heard.