---790, July 4th, West Capital
 

Young Azusa Finmore nearly jumped out of her seat as the face of her chief engineer materialized above the monitor.

"Ah, Chikouri-san, what are you doing here so early?" She asked ingenuously.

"Well, Miss Finmore, " Chikouri replied with equal graciousness, "I'm just checking if you're not committing any serious federal offense..."

Reaching over the monitor, he clicked once on the keyboard, and the flying balloons screen saver disappeared to reveal a far less innocent document.

"...Which once again you are, " Chikouri added, finishing his sentence. "Miss Finmore, what do you have to say in your defence?"

Azusa sat up proudly. "I was only trying to find relevant information for the safety of mankind."

Chikouri raised a sardonic eyebow. " By searching through the boss' husband's ID files?"

"Why, yes..." Azusa said in a small voice. Then, with renewed conviction, she declared: " I have reasons to believe that Vejita-san is not Human. He has no school records, no proof of any professional activities, his birthdate and place seem highly improbable, if not downright phony. And...just look at the guy and the things he does all day long__"

"Miss Finmore," Chikouri gently, but firmly interrupted her impassioned demonstration. "If you had been under my orders when I was still running an office at the Secret Services Bureau, I would have commended you for your efficiency and dedication to the task. But under the present circumstances, I'll have you know that what you're doing is unacceptable. You can't just hack your way around, digging up private information, and then make wild accusations and judgements! Aliens..! I agree many things are possible in this world, but we all know there's no such things as aliens! And what if you get caught on video?"

"I...huh, worked on the cameras in this room, " Azusa replied sheepishly.

Chikouri rolled his eyes. "And that, I'm sure, makes it all better."

A strange noise outside the computer lab was heard, and Azusa immediately disconnected her modem.

"What was that?"

"I don't know," Chikouri said slowly as he walked towards the glass door. What he saw in the still dark hallway was a trembling, huddled form struggling for balance as she steadied herself against the wall.

Chikouri gasped. "Oh my God, Bulma-san!"

Rushing to help her up, he asked: "Do you want me to call a doctor?"

The woman's eyes slightly widened in panic, but she replied in a much calmer, collected voice, "Thank you, Chikouri-san, but I'm all right now. Just a little dizzy spell. Didn't sleep well last night..."

Then her gaze fell on Azusa, who almost shyly stood behind her superior.

"Miss Finmore," Bulma said with a warm smile, " Chikouri-san here tells me you've done an excellent job so far with the programming. I'm glad to finally meet you. Chikouri-san."

With a nod at the chief engineer, Bulma turned away from the two of them and left.

"I hope she's fine," Azusa said wistfully. "You know, when I was growing up, that woman was my idol. She still is. I wish I could be like her."

"Well, " Chikouri said after a short silence, "there's only one way to do that: get back to work."

"Hai!" Azuza replied energetically.

"Work, Miss Finmore, I said work, not__"

"Haaai."

Author's reminder: Chapter 2 deals in part with Azusa and Chikouri's future. If you want, you can go back and read it to see how these two drastically evolved. ^^;

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