Ami regarded the excavation site. The excavation site consisted of large holes dug sporadically throughout the land in front of her. The site itself looked like it was out in the middle of nowhere, nothing but dirt in all directions. It was hot out. Very hot. It was a little past noon and the sun beat down with great ferocity. However, the heat never bothered Ami, Ami's body immune heat exhaustion. It was the distant future and 'humans' no longer existed, having gone extinct almost a century ago. By definition, humans were no more. However, there were over 15 billion so-called human that would contest that technicality. In the eyes of Heaven, humans were no more, having gone extinct the very moment the last true natural human died. Humanity's extinction started sometime in the early twenty first century with the invention of quantum-machines, the many-generational descendants of the nano-machine. Quantum-machines were molecular in size and invaluable in purpose. These machines were believed to have artificially jumpstarted human evolution several million years, making humans faster and stronger, and smarter than pre-quantum- machine humans in every conceivable way. A long time ago, quantum-machines were once feared because of its pervasiveness of human society. Shortly after the invention of quantum-machines, humans began incorporating such machines into their bodies as a form of 'upgrading'. Before long, everyone 'upgraded' themselves with such machines. People feared that there might come along a virus that would wipe out humanity if that virus fed on quantum-machines. That fear was quickly quashed when it was realized that quantum-machines made people much more resistance to any and every form of disease, the machines capable of mutating on the fly to fight new strands of viruses. It was similar to men thinking that there might be a virus that would come around that would attack the Y-chromosome found only in males and wipe out the entire male population. It was a completely unreasonable fear. Over time, quantum-machines evolved to the point where they were carried over to offsprings. Eventually, quantum-machines were forgotten as artificially created components that were originally injected into a body and believed to be a natural aspect of life. It was similar to human kind believing musical inclination was actually natural when it was actually developed centuries ago and carried over to succeeding generations, eventually forgotten over the span of time. Human kind became extinct when the last human, a human without any form of quantum-machines in his body, died. It was no big deal though, similar along the lines of when the human with the only natural trait for blond hair had died. "Something the matter?" came a male voice. Ami was a bit perplexed at the question since it was verbalized. Considering everyone can communicate with each other telepathically and verbal communication was considered inefficient in comparison, it was rather odd hearing someone's voice spoken. Ami paused for a moment as she mentally accessed the Net and extracted the information needed to respond verbally. It only took a short moment before she opened her mouth for the very first time in ten years and spoke. "Everything's fine," she responded. She regarded the person in front of her for a moment. He was a young looking man and didn't look to be a day over a hundred years old. He had black hair and blue eyes, a very rare genetic combinations. In the two hundred and twenty years she had been alive, Ami could recall having seen only one person with blue eyes and a couple doze people with black hair, let alone one with both characteristics. She mentally accessed the Net for information on the individual in front of her. She knew he was new to her excavation team and had only met him for the very first time earlier today. After a moment, she realized she couldn’t find any information about him. "Why are you speaking to me?" she asked, "Why are you talking in the first place? Verbal communication's really inefficient," "We used to be a speaking race you know," came the reply accompanied with a smirk. "That was before you and I were born, yes," Ami replied. "True," the man nodded. "You're new here. What's your name?" Ami asked, "I'm Ami," "Yes, I'm new here. The name's Ranma," the man said. The name 'Ranma' was a religious name. It was believed a person named Ranma once fought Demons from Hell to save Earth from total annihilation. "You must come from a religious family, huh?" Ami asked. "Nope," Ranma said. "Your parents aren't religious even though they gave you the name of Ranma?" Ami asked. "Right," Ranma said, "They gave me that name because they liked that name. Why do you ask?" "Oh," Ami said, "I figured you came from a religious family since your name seemed derived from Christianity," "Oh?" Ranma perked an eyebrow, interested, "My name was derived from Christianity, huh? That's interesting," "Sure," Ami said, "Why don't you access the Net and see for yourself?" "Nah," Ranma waved a dismissive hand, "I'll take your word for it. Something like that's not important to me," Ami smirked, "You're a rather odd individual if I may say so myself," Ranma smirked, "How would you like it if I asked you if you come from Edo because your name is Ami?" "Edo?" Ami asked. "Where you're standing now used to be called Edo," Ranma said. "Edo," Ami accessed the Net for answers, "That's the name of the prefecture before it was known as Tokyo, which was later known as MegaTokyo, which was later known as Neo-Tokyo. Edo, huh? That's way back," "Ami is derived from Ami Amusa, a Shinto priestess believed to have fought ghosts in Edo around five thousand years ago," Ranma stated, "For you to assume my name has a religious connotation should mean I should do the same for you and believe that you come from a family that has some kind of belief in ghosts," "Hm, that's a very interesting analogy," Ami said, "I'm sorry to have assumed something like that. I guess it's no different than assuming people with the name John might religious," "Right," Ranma smiled. "Well, it seems you know your history really well," Ami said, "I guess I should be glad you're here helping us," "No problem," Ranma said. "As a matter of fact, you might find this excavation a real treat," Ami said, "Because that's actually what we are trying to confirm, whether or not a person named Ranma, actually existed," Ranma said, "Oh, he existed, I'm sure of it," Ami asked, "Are you sure you're not religious. How can you believe he exist yet not be religious? You sure have convictions like that of a religious person," "It's not conviction," Ranma smirked, "It's actual knowledge of the truth," Ami laughed at the statement, "Wow, I guess you're the only individual out of fifteen billion that seems to know the answer first hand. Your statement kind of remind me of the way people used to think back then," "Oh?" Ranma asked. "You know, like those people that hang out in front of court houses in the past with signs that say 'He's guilty. I know it'," Ami chuckled, "Gee, if you 'know' that he's guilty, then it should be your civil responsibility to let the prosecutor know this bit of information. Afterall, you seem to have that one piece of evidence in your mind that proves the defendant is guilty while the prosecutor does not have the piece of evidence," Ranma laughed, "I like the way you argue. You counter by changing a person's argument against them to reveal the flaw in their statement," Ami smiles, "So, care to explain how you know Ranma was actually real? There are around fifteen billion people on this world that have reason to believe that he existed yet there is no true to life evidence that he existed, "Not really," Ranma shrugged. "So you have no plausible explanation for your conviction?" Ami smirked. "Not exactly," Ranma said, "I just don't care if you believe me or not. What I said is true and that's all that matters," "That's circular logic," Ami said, "It's like you saying 'What I say is true. Therefore, since I'm saying that, it must mean it's true'," Ranma chuckled, "Sounds like it, doesn't it?" "Pretend I know nothing about what happened after Ranma's time," Ranma said, "Wanna explain it to me?" "Why are you asking that?" Ami asked, "Are you asking such a question for the sake of conversation?" "Well, we are gonna be working together, right?" Ranma asked, "Might as well pass the time chit chatting," Ami shrugged, "I guess so. Still, I don't understand why you care to have me answer your question and verbally. It's easier and more efficient to just access the Net for your answers and come to your own conclusions. What I say can be viewed as subjective," "So?" Ranma asked. "Okay, if that's the case, what would you like to know?" Ami asked. "How long have you been doing archeology?" he asked. "A hundred and fifty years," Ami answered, "Okay, sure, you might think a hundred and fifty years in archeology means I'm just a newbie in this field of research, but I've already made discoveries people that've been in the field twice as long as me that have yet to make," "Perhaps you were lucky," Ranma grinned. "Luck, huh? You believe in a thing called luck?" Ami smirked, "Luck is just a term that was created by people that didn't have the ability to factor multiple variables for an accurate prediction," "I know that. I know luck doesn't exist," Ranma said, "I'm just merely saying it as a figure of speech. It's no different than someone who doesn't believe in god saying "Goddamnit'," "Well, if that's the case, it isn't 'luck' as you put it," Ami said, "'Luck' would apply to people that just go out to some random area and start digging and discovering some ancient civilization. I spend my time doing research and hypothesizing before even contemplation digging. "For instance, pretend you throw a six-sided die and need to get a certain number," Ami said, "It's believed that you have a 1:6 chance of getting a certain number. Back then, people would've believed luck had to do with it but it was proven that luck is just some fabricated belief to explain the supposedly unexplainable," "Care to explain?" Ranma asked. "Back then, humans didn't have perfect muscle control," Ami said, "For instance, thousands of years ago, if a human threw a ball toward target, there was a chance he would miss. This was because their lack of muscle control generated a large margin of error when throwing a ball. Of course, practice can decrease that margin of error. A person that practiced throwing a ball took into consideration many factors which helped shrink that margin of error, like wind speed and gravitational pull and ball spin. The problem is that due to lack of complete muscle control, there will always be that margin of error. Well, a thousand years later, we've evolved to the point where we have perfect muscles control and capable of throwing a ball at the perfect speed and spin needed to hit a target perfectly. At that point, hitting a target is no longer 'luck' because humans are now capable of factoring in all variables and adjust accordingly. "Think about it, if I threw a ball toward something one hundred feet away and hit a target perfectly, a person unaware that I have the muscle control and the mental ability to factor in variables like wind speed and gravitational pull would believe I was lucky to have hit that target," Ami said, "Words like luck and psychic were created as a way of explaining things that seemed supernatural when, in reality, they're not supernatural in any way," "Care to give an example?" Ranma asked. "Sure," Ami said, looking around. She pointed toward a bird, "Okay, see that bird flying in the air up there? Okay, if I factor in all variables like windspeed, its weight, the time of day, and many others, I hypothesize that that bird will land right by that large boulder," Ranma and Ami watched the bird fly around in the air in a seemingly random pattern. After a moment, the bird swooped down from the air to land on the large boulder Ami had been pointing to. "Nice prediction," Ranma said. "See? To a person back then that is unaware that I can calculate all the variables in the environment, I would've been viewed as some kind of psychic or god. This is why there is no luck," Ami snickered, "All I did was factor in that the bird looked to around five grams lighter than the average bird of its kind meaning it should be getting hungry. That kind of bird has distinct feeding patterns and times and usually feeds at around noontime. The height of its flight path indicate that its ready to land because those birds tend to climb up in the air to survey its surroundings for food. I saw a worm located right by the boulder. The windspeed would've made the bird look more toward a southern direction to keep the wind more toward its back where it would’ve seen that worm. Therefore, because of all those factors, I concluded that the bird would see that worm and eat it. It's not that hard to predict. However, from the point of view of someone unable to take in such factors, I would seem like I'm some kinda psychic," "Good explanation," Ranma said. Ami looked almost embarrassed, "I'm sorry I may seem like a nerd explaining it like that, but it's the best I could do," "Not at all," Ranma said, "It's actually a pretty good explanation. You actually have a good grasp of understanding things. It's slightly off in some ways, but close nonetheless," Ami seemed almost offended, as if this young man was critiquing her of what she knew. She believed she had a very good grasp of the world around her. "What do you mean by that?" she asked. "The problem is that you can only do so many factors at once," Ranma said, "You can only predict with excellent accuracy within a short period of time. The problem is that if you can factor in everything and then some, you should come to the realization that we have no Free Will," Ami scratched her chin, "Interesting. I never really thought of it like that. The bird itself might believe it had Free Will to choose where to land, but factors seemed to point out otherwise," "Exaclty," Ranma said, "If you bring in enough factors, you can expand upon that five second prediction to that of its lifetime instead," "But at that rate, you'd need to factor in an astronomical amount of factors," Ami said. "Yep," Ranma said, "But if you think about it, it's possible in theory," "Yes," Ami nodded, "But that would be inhumanly possible," "Yeah, but if you think about it, I'm sure a thousand years ago, people would believe it to be a inhumanly possible to accurately predict where the bird would land five second before it does," Ranma chuckled. "The story indicates that a person named Ranma fought Demons from Hell," Ami said, "It's believed to have taken place around a thousand years ago. Unfortunately, there is no documented proof of such an event taking place since all records were destroyed during World War IV," "Demons from Hell, huh?" Ranma smirked, "That's interesting," "What's so funny?" Ami asked, "That's what the legend is," Ranma shrugged, "Hm, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Time usually distorts the truth," "Very true," Ami said. "Afterall, we celebrate Hitlerday," Ranma chuckled, finding the statement amusing. "What's wrong with that?" Ami asked. "Have you ever heard of Santa Claus?" Ranma asked. "Yes," Ami nodded, "He's a myth, just like Hitler," Ranma laughed, "Um, okay," "This world is divided by believers and non-believers," Ami said, "Science has come a long way to have so many people that don't believe in any form of deity. Over the thousands of years, science has been slowly picking away at all forms of religion and discrediting them as nothing more than stories made up to control the masses in an attempt to explain away the supposedly unexplainable. And, no, science isn't picking away religion like some bully where religion wants to be left alone. Science is an inexorably progressing entity and discoveries in science continue to further reinforce my belief that religion "The New Bible is human fabricated," Ami said, "It's believed that the New Bible was derived from certain documents, a story believed to have been written by an actual disciple of Ranma," Ranma chuckled, "You mean by Shinji?" "Ah, so you know the story," Ami said. "More or less," Ranma said. Ami extended her arms outward from her, "Look around, in all the centuries of searching, there isn't a single shred of evidence that such a document that exist," "Just because you have yet to find it doesn't mean it doesn't exist," Ranma said. "And I suppose the story about Noah's Arc and Moses is real?" Ami countered, "In all the millennia since it was written to have happened, not a single shred of evidence has been unearthed," Ranma said, "Perhaps you need to look harder. A few thousand years is actually a short period of time. Think about it, humans discovered fire millions of years ago. It only took a few million years of interacting with fire before humans figured out how to use pyro-kinesis," Ami snapped her fingers where a small flame appeared above her hand, "You mean this? Well, okay, you have a point there. These things do take time, but just how much more time do you think we have to search? Pyro-kinesis took so long to be realized because it was based on passive evolution of the human genome. That's passive and much slower. With this search, it's active and should be much quicker. It's like discovering dinosaur bones. You can take the passive approach and wait for the ground to erode and eventually reveal such bones, or you can take an active approach and dig for them. If you took a passive approach, then it should have taken us millions upon millions of years before we became aware of the existence of dinosaurs," "True," Ranma said. There was a moment of silence. "I don't even know what we are talking about," Ami said, "It feels like I'm trying to argue against you yet not," "I'm just playing Devil's Advocate," Ranma said, "I'm just trying to help you keep an open-mind. That's all," "I do believe I have an open-mind," Ami said. "You sure about that?" Ranma smirked, "For all we know, you might be like everyone else," "How so?" she asked. "You might possess the inability to see beyond your human comprehension of your own role in existence," Ranma said, "How would you feel if you found out you are of no significant value? How do you think this world would react if you make a discovery that reveals that humans were not only abandoned by God, but doomed to go extinct?" Ami said nothing. "Well, your reaction says it all," Ranma said, "For an open minded individual, dontcha think it's awfully close-minded to thing that that isn't a possibility?" "What do you know of this person named Ranma?" Ranma asked. "Well, it's believed that he existed sometime during the twentieth century and was the reincarnated Messiah, Jesus," Ami answered, "There were prophesies written in the Holy Bible that a new Messiah would come around two thousand years after the first so the appearance of Ranma seems to coincide with such a prophecy," "Interesting," Ranma said, "What's your take on it?" "I come from a religious upbringing," Ami said, "I'm hoping what I find will confirm my belief that such an individual exist," "Why should it matter if this Ranma person was alive or not?" Ranma asked. "Because, we live in an immoral world," Ami said, "We live in a world full of murder and greed and such. We need examples of moral individuals to use as an example to set us straight," "What makes you think Ranma was 'moral'?" Ranma chuckled, "Has it ever occurred to you that time has distorted who he was?" Ami smiled, "Man, you talk about him as you know him," "I'm just trying make sure you keep an open-mind," Ranma said, "Not everything is what you believe it to be," "Okay, let's pretend he's an immoral person, then why would he, as the myth says, fight on the side of Earth against the Demons of Hell?" Ami asked. "What makes you think that they're actually Demons?" Ranma smirked, "For all we know, they could've been Angels from Heaven," "Angels from Heaven? That's the exact opposite then," Ami seemed baffled, "It'll be like saying Jesus was actually a murderer," "Perhaps he was," Ranma shrugged, "For all you know, he could've been a regular person. Perhaps Ranma was just a regular person," "You sure have an active imagination," Ami snickered. Ranma shrugged. "I'm surprised religion still exists in this day and age," Ami commented, "With everything in the Bible having been proven wrong, I find it mind boggling that people could still believe in something so discredited," "Yeah, it's about as mind boggling as all humans believing they have Free Will," Ranma chuckled. Ami seemed confused for a moment, "What?" "You know, Free Will," Ranma said. "You don't believe we have Free Will?" Ami asked, almost laughing, "Wow, you are definitely an intriguing individual. And I suppose you believe in supernatural stuff like near death experiences?" Ranma shook his head, "Nah. Heaven doesn't work that way. Once you're on your way to Heaven, you're going there. You don't start making your way there and then make a U-turn," Ami regarded Ranma for a moment, "Man, I wish I could have such convictions as you about something, even if it is something like religion," "My convictions has nothing to do with religion," Ranma said, "It has to do with facts," "Facts pertain to science," Ami said, "Irrational thinking pertains to religion," "Ooh, aren't we a bit hostile toward religion, huh?" Ranma asked. Ami paused for a moment, "I didn't mean to sound like that. It's just that I really have a thing against religion. My brother died during The Second Holocaust. He didn't need to die fighting a religious war," "Sorry to hear that," Ranma said, "What makes you think he didn't need to die?" "Now you sound completely off the deep end," Ami replied. "Has it ever occurred to you that your brother's life is insignificant in this world?" Ranma asked. "You take that back!" Ami found herself angry. Ranma said, "I find it rather amusing that you truly believe we have some kind of significance in the grand scheme of things," "What do you mean?" Ami asked, perplexed at the statement. "Rather than think we are the masters of our domain, perhaps you should consider the possibility that you are puppets of a puppet master," Ranma said. Ami said nothing. "Just curious, what makes you think you can find clues one who Ranma was here?" Ranma asked, "Why are you digging here? The New Bible said he lived somewhere in China, right?" "There are descriptions of him throughout the New Bible," Ami answered, "I refuse to believe he's of Chinese ancestry. Just because the clothes found is of Chinese origin, that doesn't necessarily mean that that's where he's from," Ranma smirked, "Gee, I wonder if the fact that you're of Japanese ancestry has anything to do with it," "No, it doesn't," Ami said. Ranma smirked, "Are you sure? Sounds to me like you're trying to make Ranma Japanese just to make you guys feel like your race own is closer to divinity than other races. All races try believe their own individual gods to be of their own race. Why do you think pictures of God is depicted as human? Might it have something to do with the belief that if God looked human, humans would seem all the more divine?" Ami said, "You have a point there. However, I have nothing against the Chinese and their belief that this world's savior was Chinese, but I genuinely believe there is something missing," "Religion is heavily heavily researched," Ranma stated, "What makes you think that you figured something out that thousands and thousands of scholars before you haven't?" "Because, with the discovery of molecular archeological analysis, it's now possible to ascertain a general timeline and location of an items origin," Ami said, "The piece of the Relic was recently analyzed and it seems to have originated in Japan, not China," 'Relic' was the name of the small shard of what was believed to have been a forearm bracer worn by Ranma. It was common knowledge that 'Relic' meant that. It was the only item currently in existence that actually possessed some aura that could not be measured by scientific means. The religious world called the unexplainable aura 'Ki', which made the scientific world laugh. "And what makes you believe it's Japan and not elsewhere?" Ranma asked. "Analysis of the Relic reveals that it dates back to the year 1990," Ami said, "There was also traces of abnormally water wear on the Relic and the water seemed to have a certain PH balance. The PH can be linked to that of rain around Japan," Ranma smirked, "That's some mighty good detective work. I'd really like to know exactly how you managed to pin-point this location from such an analysis though," "It's actually really simple," Ami said, "When we discovered the PH balance of the water wear on the Relic, some quick research revealed that the PH balance was that of rain located over Tokyo, especially the district of Nerima. That's because the city was located a certain distance from China's coal factories," "Oh yeah, China used to rely on coal back then as a means of energy and that polluted the environment considerably," Ranma stated. "Yes," Ami nodded, "The coal factories created pollution and that ended up polluting the air and changing the PH balance of rain of surrounding areas. Based on the low but detectable PH balance, it was determined that the Relic seemed to have originated at a certain distance from the heart of industrial China," "Well, what means the Relic would've originated somewhere around a large circle on a map from China," Ranma said, "How'd you pin-point it to this location, though?" "Well, the abnormal water wear on the Relic indicates that it was exposed to rain all the time," Ami answered, "Some quick research revealed that Nerima is located at just the right distance from those coal factories and had an abnormally high amount of rain fall," "Hm, I guess you have a point," Ranma said, "That's some pretty good detective work," "While I have no idea why it rained so much here back then, it doesn't really matter to me," Ami seemed excited, "All evidence points toward the Relic having originated around here. We didn't discover the water clue until recently because we were never able to study the Relic at a molecular level of that caliber," Ranma smiled, "Well, it seems like you're on the right track. What do you plan on doing now?" Ami seemed very excited. "What else? Dig for more clues,"