On Thu, 17 Jun 1999, Jason Liao wrote:

On Wed, 16 Jun 1999, Vincent Seifert wrote:

The Tape, of course, was the videotape
her estranged (and very strange) husband Kyusaku Natsume had made
just before absconding from the company labs with their young son
Ryunosuke and as much expensive equipment as would fit into a
Land-Rover; it never failed to whip Lady Akiko up into a frenzy
of rage and grief for one reason or the other.

Question.  After what episode are you placing this story?  After the
events of #3, that's no longer likely to be true.  (Though the random
attacks certainly are!)

No particular time.  Eimi doesn't figure into it, and I didn't want to get
into the question of how Nuku-Nuku got down from orbit.  In my mind, it's
some time after Phase 0-VI, Kyusaku and Akiko had another fight, and Kyu
and Ryu are living back at the apartment.  Long enough to accommodate any
necessary changes; short enough that things are essentially like they were
in most of the OAVs.
 

     She didn't look up as Arisa and Kyoko marched into her
office until they were standing before her desk.  "Ah, you are
prompt," she said, inspecting them.

Not that I've had the chance to meet with many CEOs, but this seems like a
strange thing for anyone to say.

In this century, yes.  Darshian's reverting to her customary speech
patterns as she gets used to her new language; I may need to be less
subtle about that.

     Akiko stood up, picked up two envelopes from her desk, and
moved around it to her subordinates.  "As your performance this
last month has been exemplary," she told them, "I am pleased to
give you your bonuses."  She held out an envelope to each of
them, inclining her head.

Again, which episode does this follow.  In the beginning of #5, they
mentioned that the bonuses were canceled.

... and now they're reinstated, making this even more unusual.

     "Voiceprint accepted.  Stand by," the cube responded.
"Central online."

Wait a moment.  They're identifying by voicemprint, when they're taking
over human hosts?  There's a fundamntal security problem in that...

I'm using the theory that voiceprints are affected not only by the body,
but by the mind, and even by the state of mind.  Darshian/Akiko's voice is
enough like Akiko's to fool humans, but not voiceprint analyzers... or
catgirl androids.  :)

     "Technocrat Darshian reporting," Akiko said to the cube. "I
have completed phase one.  Production of strobolators,
diagliders, and interociters using local materials and labor is
underway.

"However, the wazoos and the thingamabobs are behind schedule."

"More funding for wazoo production!"  I cannot see Akiko saying that with
a straight face.  :)

I have begun phase two; the immobilization of the NK-
1124 will render Dr. Natsume Kyusaku vulnerable to capture.

Immobilization?  Or neutralization?  It sounds like they're going to rust
her joints, or something. 

They don't want to balance her ions, they just want to keep her from going
places where they don't want her, such as where Kyusaku happens to be...
it's unusual phrasing, I'll grant you, but it's intended to be.

     Nuku-Nuku bicycled like a super-powered android with digital
reflexes and a cat's understanding of traffic regulations, which
was exactly what she was.

If I read this right, you just said she's a traffic regulation.

No, a super-powered android etc.  I'll admit the sentence is a bit
unwieldy.

     Nuku-Nuku's long pink hair streamed back in the wind of her
passage, and her high-school uniform flapped in time with her
pedaling.

I still maintain to people who tell me it's pink that her hair colour is
red, but that's just a minor nit.  To each, their own opinion, I guess.

What do you think of "fuchsia"?

month-- well, almost."  She guiltily recalled The Incident With
The Soda-Vending Machine.

How could she have known that Tsubasa was inside the thing?

How, indeed?  :)

"Nuku-Nuku PUNCH!" she cried, aiming a blow at
the leg's "shin".

You know, in six Episodes, all filled with Nuku Nuku in combat, she only
says this in the last one, and only two or three times.  Why are you
bringing it back?

Just felt like it, I guess.  Why did she say it in in Phase 0-VI?
 

She darted between them, bounced off the Lexan slab in

What's Lexan?

Transparent plastic often used in "bulletproof" windows.  I would have
said "polycarbonate", but that sounds like a soft drink.  :)

     "And when I sniffed around a bit, I started running into
security checks.  People in those labs wouldn't talk to me at
lunch, even when I wore the special blouse."

Ah, yes.  The *special* blouse.

Everyone thinks Arisa is sexy and Kyoko isn't.  I had to even the score a
bit.  :)
 

     Arisa stared at the oddly-shaped structure at the heart of
the small vehicle.  She was intimately familiar with every
principle humans had devised to get craft into the air, and this
wasn't one of them.  Worse, it had none of the flavor of a device
conceived by human engineers.  "It can't be...."

Of course, Arisa *also* had a certain skill indentifying alien technology,
thus allowing her to recognize the artifact as such.

What was it Holmes said?  "Eliminate the impossible, and whatever
remains, however improbable, is the truth"?  Something like that.  I'm an
engineer, and I've seen a lot of weird stuff made by humans; I think I
might recognize weird stuff not made by humans.

     Kyusaku looked embarrassed.  "Er... 'Mad Scientist Mailing
List'.  It's just a joke name, really," he said over an
assortment of snickers.

Unless Kyusaku goes without sleep, that is.

Which he does, apparently... the guy appears to thrive on caffeine and
nicotine.
 

"Oh, really Ryu-?  Darn. And I was leading in frags..."

     "So were we, once," Kyusaku observed, stubbing out his
cigarette.

"But Ataru had to ruin all that."

Yes, this Kyusaku saying that sounds strange.

Yes, perhaps... I was thinking that Kyusaku might be bright enough and
well-read enough to be up on current thinking in Japanese anthropology,
which is pretty clear that the current Japanese population is descended
mostly from the second or third wave of human migration to the Home
Islands.
 

     "Damn my eyes, but it's TIGHT in here," she gasped in
Fellani.  "Darshian?"

Wait a moment.  This guy just got stuck in a cat's brain.  And that's all
he has to say?

He hasn't figured out that he's in a cat's brain yet.  He was stuffed in a
databank of some sort for the interstellar voyage, and hasn't possessed
anyone before for comparison.
 

     Kyusaku smiled mysteriously and held up a forefinger.  "Ah.
That... is a secret."  He grinned.  "I've always wanted to say
that."

*WHAP*

Sorry.  Couldn't resist.  :)

the meantime, we're all wearing little jammers that will prevent
us from being forced to host Fellani.

But obviously, this didn't stop Nuku Nuku from getting posessed.  Either
this is a bluff, which is too easily called, or it just doesn't work.  I
don't believe the third option, that Kyusaku didn't give one to Nuku Nuku,
is likely.

Kyusaku rigged Nuku-Nuku as a Fellani-trap on purpose, to get someone to
talk to (at best) or grab a hostage (at worst); it may seem a bit hard on 
Nuku-Nuku, but Kyusaku was confident (probably overconfident) that she'd
be all right. Trapping Mareg was a stroke of luck.

Thanks for your comments.  I tried to stay original-flavor and canon, but
that's filtered through my perception of the Nuku-Nuku OAVs, and having
your perception is very helpful even if I don't quite agree with it all
the time.  I hope that you'll call me on other errors you see. 


Vince Seifert    Network Analyst     seifertv@csus.edu
Techie: http://webpages.csus.edu/~seifertv/
Fanfic: http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/seifertv/toth/
CSUS hired me to build their LANs, not to give away the homeworld.