Major spoilers ahead for the three OVAs.  Minor references to the manga as
well.  Oh, and if you can get some of the symphony in question to play
when Joker says "picking up a broadcasting of the opening bars"... it sets
the mood fairly well...

Read or Die: Time and Tide
By GBT

	"Sit down!" Drake Anderson called out to Yomiko as he started the
engine and flipped on the speedboat's running lights.  But Yomiko Readman,
also known as 'The Paper', didn't seem to hear.  She remained perched out
in front of the boat, staring into the thick blanket of fog like some
bizarre hood ornament.
	"Down!" Drake repeated, managing to reach forward and snare her
overcoat.  He yanked back.  "You'll fall out!"  The action nearly caused
Yomiko to overbalance anyway, but she quickly managed to right herself,
blinking back at Drake in surprise.  "You said he was in a rowboat," Drake
reminded his fellow agent.  "We'll catch him.  But not if I have to stop
to fish you out of the water."
	Yomiko blinked again, then nodded.  "Head that way," she
indicated, pointing into the fog as she sat down more carefully.  "And
hurry Drake-san, we have to get back my book!"
	"On it," Drake affirmed.  He executed a hard turn and peeled out,
noting absently that the name of their commandeered craft was 'Mata Hari'.
 It made him think of the last mission for the Royal British Library that
he'd been involved with relating to the I-jin.  Or more specifically, of
Nancy Makuhari, the double agent who had been able to phase through normal
matter... and whose allegiances had also been shifty at best.
	Admitedly, it was a little redundant to be thinking of Nancy now. 
Not only was she was no longer an agent, her only surviving incarnation
was still suffering from memory loss.  Yet at the same time, Drake found
that the thought of Nancy gave him a renewed sense of purpose.  Because he
didn't want this mission to go as badly as THAT one had.  If only being
around 'The Paper' didn't bring such misfortune...
	"Left!  Go left!!" Yomiko suddenly cried out.
	Drake executed a hard left, bringing his attention back to the
present and the necessity of steering the small yet powerful speedboat. 
He'd been subconsciously executing a zigzag search pattern in the
direction Yomiko had indicated before; however, while the speed with which
they could cut through the water was something of an advantage,  Drake
could only pray that any other boats - including those of fellow agents -
would be able to hear them coming in time to get out of the way.  For with
the unnatural amount of fog around, and at the speed they were going,
there would be no chance for him to avoid a collision.
	"There!  Straight - no, to the right!" Yomiko called.
	Drake saw what he thought was a blurry form in the fog, fog which
he could swear was growing thicker and thicker the further into it they
went.  And just like that, the form was gone - but Drake steered for the
approximate position regardless.  "Thanks, I've got a bead!" he called
out.  He took the safety off his gun.  "Get ready for a sudden
deceleration as we pull alongside, as soon as I have a shot I'll be--"
	Drake's voice cut out as they suddenly burst out of the fog into a
circular pocket of open water.  The pocket itself was completely enveloped
by the mist, above as well as all around - in other words, very well
hidden from any sort of sensory device that might be trying to peer in. 
However, at the same time, the area was large enough to hold a sizeable
sailing ship.  Which, in fact, it did.  An 18th century British naval
vessel, to be precise.
	Drake gasped and spun the speedboat's wheel to avoid slamming head
on into the side of the sailing ship.  The left hand side of their small
craft rose into the air, grazing the hull of the larger vessel, as water
from the bay threatened to spill into the right.  The engine whined, and
Yomiko let out a cry, grabbing for her case full of paper before it could
tumble overboard.  Drake was not so lucky in trying to snatch for his gun,
and it fell into the water with a quiet splash.  But overall it seemed a
miracle that they didn't capsize right then and there.
	"It's NOT ending like this," Drake said through gritted teeth as
he brought both hands back to the steering wheel and fought to get the
boat back under his control.  Their own wake was now buffeting them from
the side, making the craft bob and spin crazily about on the surface. 
After what seemed like ages, but could only have been a few seconds, Drake
was finally able to throttle down and bring the boat to a standstill. 
Letting out a long breath - and trying to keep his hands from shaking -
Drake cut the engine.  He and he and Yomiko then turned their attention
towards the sailing ship in front of them.
	It was obviously a terribly accurate replica of a vessel from the
mid to late 1700s.  The fact that it was not enshrouded in fog seemed to
be the result of a spinning object, which was glowing with a faint blue
light on top of the highest mast.  Thus, it seemed likely that the rogue
I-jin they were tracking was in control of more than just a small rowboat.
 "This could be a problem," Drake muttered.
	"Final Resolution," Yomiko murmured in reply.  Drake looked to her
in confusion, but then followed her gaze to see that she had been reading
the name of the sailing vessel.  It was stencilled clearly on the back.
	"He's recreated his ship," Drake realized.  "Damn.  I hope he
didn't also replicate the twelve carriage guns."
	Yomiko glanced back at him.  "Carriage guns?  What are those?"
	As if in reply, the gun ports flipped open, and with a loud
booming noise, a solid shot of iron blasted out of the ship, heading
straight for them.

	Of course, such an eventuality had not been unforeseen by the
Royal British Library's Special Engineer Force.  In fact, they had known
of the existance of this particular I-jin ever since certain items had
been discovered in the remains of the I-jin naval fortress.  Specifically,
handwritten blueprints for some pieces of the fortress itself, inventory
items that could not seem to be accounted for within the wreckage, and,
most damning of all, DNA evidence turned up in the lower decks.  They all
pointed to the involvement of one man: James Cook, noted English explorer
and master of the sea until his untimely death in 1779.  A death that had
occurred in Hawaii, not far from the location where the I-jin fortress had
first appeared.
	A little more digging, and it became apparent that not only had a
reanimation of Cook been involved with the I-jin, but that the reason that
he had not been seen during their previous battles was because he had been
tasked with a final backup plan.  A plan that was to be executed should
there be any failure in executing the Ludwig van Beethoven operation, and
a plan that supposedly had the potential for causing even greater
devastation to everyone on Earth.  As Wendy had put it when Joker had set
her to the task of researching this new threat:  "Geez, now their actions
go WAY beyond cheating!"
	Yet, rules of fair play aside, Wendy's research had been as
thorough as ever.  Moreover, the Special Operations division had even
discovered exactly what final backup plan Cook was executing - though it
had been a close call.  That knowledge had come a mere twenty four hours ago.

	"I have a book that needs refiling!" Wendy stated as she came into
Joker's office, making her rounds with the tea.
	"Oh?  What book is that?" Joker inquired, looking up from the
stack of books already surrounding his desk.  It had been the Gentleman's
suggestion to pull all books on Ludwig van Beethoven from the library, in
order to comb them for clues about the "final I-jin plan".  Every agent
had been putting in overtime for days now, trying to determine what the
great musician might have produced that could possibly be on par with his
"Suicide Symphony".
	Wendy carefully set the tea tray down before holding up the dusty
tome.  "This one.  Mister Giles said it had apparently been misfiled, so I
offered to return it for him."
	"A misfiling?  In our library?  How odd.  Let me see," Joker
requested, smoothing his immaculate blonde hair back with one hand as he
reached out for the book with the other.  Wendy promptly handed it over.
	"Hmmmm, 'Schubertiads'," the head of the library's Special Forces
division mused, reading the title.  He began flipping pages.  "You're
right.  It doesn't seem to be written by Beethoven at all, but rather
Franz Schubert.  I suppose it's an understandable error, since they both
lived in Vienna at about the same time and were buried right next to each
other... unless... wait a minute."  He paused, staring at a passage.
	Wendy watched as Joker began to shuffle through the large volume
of paper on his desk.  "What have you found?" she inquired after a few
moments of watching him work.  "Should I call in more help?"
	"No, wait," Joker requested.  "It's just that this passage here
reminded me of the passage that Beethoven wrote in his book during our
last I-jin operation."
	"The "Immortal Beloved"?  How so?" Wendy wondered, brushing some
of her own dark blonde hair off her shoulder as she leaned in to have a
look.  The action nearly caused a stack of papers to slide right off
Joker's desk, but he didn't even notice.
	"Schubert speaks of 'Die Winterreise', one of his greatest works,"
her supervisor answered, indicating the section.  "Completed in 1827, it
sets to music the story of a young man who, after being rejected by his
lover, sets off on a solo journey into a desolate winter wasteland while
sinking deeper and deeper into despair."
	Wendy sighed.  "Why didn't more composers lead happier love lives?"
	"What I find curious," Joker continued, ignoring her comment, "is
that while Schubert says he's quite enthused over his sad songs, he makes
reference here to them being an 'alternative' over the revised ending for
his Eighth Symphony.  Which he claims had 'too dark a quality to it'."
	His secretary frowned at that.  "His Eighth?  But... isn't
Schubert's Eighth Symphony 'unfinished'?  I mean, ignoring for the moment
the fact that he wrote a Ninth... and, well, that he never completed a
Seventh either..."
	"There are still a lot of theories about the missing parts of
Schubert's Eighth symphony," Joker answered with a shrug.  "I mean, even
though we only know of two movements, some people today still believe--
aha!  I was right!"  He pointed to the notes written in 'Schubertiads',
then a musical score on his desk.  "No wonder this book was filed under
Beethoven.  Schubert spends most of his time here making comparisons to
many of Beethoven's works!"  Joker snapped the book closed and rose to his
full height.  He then smoothed back his hair again with one hand, before
reaching into his green suit jacket and pulling out a deceptively
ancient-looking telephone.
	"Wait - what does this mean?" Wendy inquired.
	"Perhaps nothing," Joker responded.  "Perhaps everything.  Thank
you for bringing this book to my attention, Wendy."  The section head
began speaking urgently into the phone in his hand.

	One hour later, Joker's audience with the Gentleman confirmed both
of their suspicions - that there was nothing on record regarding a
conclusion to Schubert's Eighth Symphony, revised or otherwise.  At least,
not outside the references made in that single book 'Schubertiads'.  So,
immediately following that meeting, several agents were put to the task of
deciphering the text, while first attempts were also made to contact 'The
Paper', to verify the book's apparent authenticity.
	However, within the next two hours, the meeting with 'The Paper'
was put on hold as analysts discovered time sensitive information that
required immediate attention.  The ensuing scrutiny of certain passages
ultimately revealed four items of importance.
	Firstly, a score for the conclusion of Schubert's "revised" Eighth
symphony had apparently been written, and while the Library had no record
of it to date, it was conceivable that the I-jin had managed to obtain a copy.
	Secondly, the harmonic undertones within this missing Schubert
score apparently had the potential to set up a sympathetic resonance
within the Earth itself - at least, if his comparisons to Beethoven's
music were accurate, and there was no reason to doubt them.
	Thirdly, it was indicated that, on certain occasions and in
certain locations, those resonances would have potential to cause major
changes in global oceanic circulation patterns.  Changes that could, in
fact, drastically alter the entire climate of the Earth.  Perhaps even
ushering in a new ice age - creating a situation not unlike the setting
for the piece 'Die Winterreise'.
	And finally, comparative research revealed that an opportunity for
just such an occurrence was due to happen within the next eighteen hours,
when the tilt in the Earth's axis, along with it's location in relation to
the moon, made such an event possible.
	A strike team was hastily assembled.  Gentleman used his name to
obtain the necessary authorization to get agents to all possible locations
where James Cook could execute his plot, and arranged to have as many
civilians as possible kept out of those areas.  And Joker made contact
with 'The Paper', to not only secure an authentication meeting, but also
to have her personally comb through 'Schubertiads' for hints of how to
stop the Schubertian plan from succeeding.  In fact, in order to ensure
that they would have the best chance to act immediately upon learning of
the proper action to take, Joker scheduled that meeting to occur in a well
guarded warehouse, near the site of Cook's most probable location.

	The authentication at that encounter had been almost immediate. 
Yomiko had taken one look at the book and clasped it to her heart, her
eyes shining brightly.  Unfortunately, working out what to do next had not
been quite as clear-cut.  Even after a couple of hours, and with the
assistance of some of the library's best analysts, Yomiko was not able to
make much headway.  Which was when the fog had rolled in.  Then not long
after that, just as Yomiko had finally let out a cry of delight, the
windows at the top of the warehouse had shattered.
	Fog quickly spilled in to fill the area, obscuring everything. 
Fortunately, Joker, who had been the closest to Yomiko, was able to catch
a glimpse of the shadowy figure who grabbed the book she was holding. 
'The Paper' had immediately chased after the figure before Joker could
stop her.  Leaving the section head to wonder, what was it Yomiko had just
learned?  Was the answer they needed in that book 'Schubertiads'?  Would
Yomiko be able to retrieve it for them in time?  Making note of the
direction in which Yomiko was running, he radioed ahead to Drake.
	But, regrettably, whatever answers the book held, they were of no
use to Drake whatsoever in preventing a cannonball from striking his
commandeered speedboat.

	"Incoming!" Drake shouted, trying to bring the boat's engine to
life again.  Intuitively, he knew they could never get out of the way in
time, but he had to make the attempt.
	"No!" Yomiko gasped out, and she instinctively reached down to
flip open her carrying case.  Her fingertips brushed over the corner of
one sheet of paper, and then abruptly there were twenty-five sheets,
spreading out in a 5x5 square, with the centre one seemingly glued to her
hand.  'The Paper' spun, thrusting that hand out into the path of the
projectile.
	The shot of iron bounced off the pages, throwing off sparks, then
splashed down harmlessly into the water.  Yomiko collapsed back onto the
floor of the boat, having not been quite prepared to handle the transfer
of momentum.  The sheets in her hand blew off into the water.  After a
quick glance to make sure she was all right, Drake finished re-engaging
the engine and executed a hard turn back into the fog bank.  He reached up
to tap at the headset microphone still secured to his ear.
	"Hello!  Drake here!  Anyone still listening out there??"
	There was a pause, then, "Joker here, Drake.  What's your situation?"
	"We've made contact with Cook and his new ship, the 'Final
Resolution'.  Requesting backup."
	Another pause.  "We're having trouble getting a fix on your
position, Drake, there's a lot of local interference.  What's more, we
have started getting reports of other fog patches springing up in coastal
areas, along with usually strong tidal forces and... wait a moment... yes,
we are picking up a broadcasting of the opening bars of Schubert's Eighth
symphony.  Origin unknown."
	"It's begun then," Drake said tonelessly.
	"It would appear so."
	"So you're going to need me and 'The Paper' to attack Cook's ship
without backup."
	"That would be appreciated.  You do have experience fighting these
sorts of people at least."
	"Drake," Yomiko said, approaching him after managing to get back
to her feet.  "If Schubert's symphony is already playing, we'll need to
enter the counter measures by the third movement."
	Drake blinked at her.  "Then you know how to counteract this effect?"
	Yomiko nodded.  "But I'll have to be at the broadcast point to do it."
	Drake stared at her for another long moment, then nodded back. 
"Then let's get to it.  Joker!  We're going in," he advised the division head.
	Yomiko smiled and turned back towards the bow of the boat.  "My
book," she murmured, seemingly staring right through the fog.  "I have to
get back my book..."

	Captain James Cook, or rather a reasonable facsimile thereof,
stood near the stern of his vessel, regarding the large player piano that
was taking up a good deal of the upper deck.  The foot pedals and hand
levers now moved automatically, the chords sounding and their tones being
transmitted out on the proper frequency.  Good thing there was no need to
have the composer himself here to perform this particular piece, Cook
reflected.  He glanced once more at the book he had stolen from those
library workers before tossing it aside.  Soon it would all be over, and
he could see about recreating clones of Ikkyu and the others.
	Suddenly, there came the sound of a motor, and Cook saw the return
of the small boat which had breached his fog barrier earlier.  He frowned.
 He'd already liberated what had apparently been these people's only
recourse against him - didn't they ever give up?  How foolish.  He pulled
out the remote he was using to control the mechanical automatons at the
carriage guns and entered the command to fire.

	Drake was ready for it this time.  The 'Mata Hari' executed a
quick bank and flew back into the fog cover before the shot could reach
them.  The blonde agent dropped his binoculars.  "His gun ports are all
open," he remarked.  "And the mechanical constructs he's got there won't
have the ability to react to the unexpected.  Good.  You saw where he
fired from?"  Yomiko nodded.  "All right then, let's get to it!"
	Drake steered the speedboat around again, working to orient
himself in the thick fog while at the same time striving to get a little
extra distance in order to build up more speed.  "And... going in three...
two... one... NOW!"
	The engine of the boat whined as Drake brought the throttle up
fast, and it surged forwards through the water.  They burst out of the fog
again, Yomiko flipping open her case once more.  As the little speedboat
rocketed down the port side of the naval vessel, Yomiko grabbed several
sheets of paper and flung a handful in the direction of each of the
carriage gun barrels.  They stuck fast to the ends, and the third gun in
the sequence caused a small explosion as it attempted to fire.  Smoke
billowed up into the air.
	Drake executed another fast turn at the far end of the ship.  He
throttled back, idling near the stern.  "Go!" he shouted at 'The Paper'. 
In response, Yomiko grabbed another sheet from her case and threw it up
into the air.  It was followed up by a full paper chain, the top sheets
ultimately wrapping themselves around the railing on the aft deck and
holding fast.
	"Fools!" came Cook's voice from above, and as Yomiko began to
climb her paper trail, Drake saw the I-jin heading for what looked like a
swivel gun on deck.
	"Look out!" Drake shouted to his fellow agent as Cook took a
bearing on her position.  But even though he had lost his gun, Drake was
not completely without resources.  He aimed the boat flare he had
discovered, and fired.
	The action had even more of an effect than he'd intended.  The
flare slammed into the I-jin and went off, burning a bright red.  Cook let
out a scream, and for a second it seemed like he might be on fire, when
all of a sudden a surge of water roared up out of the bay to extinguish
him.  "FOOLS!" the irate I-jin repeated as the wave of water splashed back
down onto the deck.  "You think I can be defeated so easily?!  The entire
ocean is at my command!!"
	"Aw, hell," Drake muttered.
	With that, Cook stepped forwards again to fire the swivel gun,
except this time he aimed directly at the 'Mata Hari'.  He pulled the
trigger.  And instead of a lead pellet, it was a beam of light that shot
out, neatly cleaving the small speedboat into two.  It immediately went up
in an explosion of flames.
	"Drake-san!" Yomiko cried out in horror, jumping onto the deck of
the 'Final Resolution' and turning to look back down at the burning
wreckage.  The remaining paper that had been in her case was now up in flames.
	"My ship has some upgraded weaponry," Cook sneered at her.  "Now,
you're next!"  He swivelled the gun to aim at Yomiko, and fired.
	'The Paper' jumped back over the boat railing, grabbing for the
paper chain she'd used to get on board.  As the beam of light flew by
overhead, Yomiko grasped the paper at deck level and, with a toss, willed
the other end of the chain to fly up from the water's edge to a point on
the mizzenmast.  It was soon winding itself around the large column of
wood, and as Cook adjusted his aim, it kept winding, jerking Yomiko up
into the air and away from his next attack.
	Quickly arriving on the rearward mast of the ship, Yomiko found
herself a perch on the yardarm and looked down at her opponent.  Cook now
seemed to be having some difficulty getting his gun to point in her
direction.  That gave Yomiko the advantage she needed.
	Quick as a wink, her paper chain flashed back down at him,
wrapping around the barrel of the gun.  Grimacing a bit with the effort,
Yomiko soon had the gun barrel bent and useless.  Now holding her line of
paper like a whip, she stood.  "What have you done with my book??" she
shouted down at the I-jin.
	Cook glared up at her.  "So, it really is you," he observed. 
"Well, 'The Paper', you'll have to do better that that if you hope to
defeat me!"
	That said, he reached into his tunic and pulled out the end of a
pendant that he was wearing around his neck.  It was hard to tell from her
position, but Yomiko fancied it was in the form of a forked stick, with a
blue stone hanging in between the two prongs.  As she stared, the stone
flashed.  The sound of rushing water was barely any warning at all before
Yomiko was struck from behind by a powerful wave.  The force of it was
such that she was flung back down onto the lower deck, losing her grip on
the pages in her hand.  They fluttered away as Yomiko tried to keep from
choking.
	"Genjo Sanzo taught me a few tricks," Cook said offhandedly as the
water finally ebbed back.  "You can no more defeat me than you could a
rainy day!"
	"Rainy days are good for staying at home and curling up with a
good book," Yomiko responded, coughing out water as she rose to her knees.
 She shook her head to clear it, drops of water flying off of her face and
glasses, then she looked back up at Cook.  "Now give me my book back!"
	The marine captain stared down at her incredulously.  "If you must
know, I threw it down on the upper deck, by the piano.  But it won't do
you any good now!"  Quickly drawing his cutlass, he stabbed out at
Yomiko's chest.
	'The Paper' raised her arm, a purely defensive manoeuvre, though
it also allowed her to bring reserve sheets of paper from her sleeve out
to her hand.  The pages deflected Cook's attack off to the left.  Yomiko
rolled then, firing the pages at him like darts.  Their razor sharp edges
sliced at his clothing, one striking his hand and forcing him to drop his
blade.  The cutlass skittered along the deck, out of reach.  Cook yelled
out in pain.
	"You cannot escape from me so easily!" the I-jin bellowed as
Yomiko turned and charged for the stairs leading to the upper deck. 
Cook's hand went out, and again a wave of water crashed up over the side
of the ship.  However this time, as Yomiko was blasted back down, she was
able to snare one of the ropes leading up to the main mast.  The momentum
she had caused the rope to pull free, swinging her back out of the wave,
and in fact all the way off the far edge of the ship.  "Yaiiiiiie!" Yomiko
yelped out in surprise as she spun out and up.  On the main mast, a sail
unfurled.
	"Die!" Cook said irritably, two more columns of water spouting
from the bay and twisting around towards 'The Paper'.  The ship itself
began to pitch and heave, on account of the growing turbulence of the
water, as well as the wind catching the large sail.
	"Caaaareful you might daaaamage the booook," Yomiko pleaded as she
continued to twist around crazily on the rope, somehow managing to avoid
getting hit.  Cook seemed to realize the potential for damage to his
player piano at the same time, and the waters quieted.
	"I don't need to tax that ability to defeat you anyway," he
grunted.  "A small amount of water can be just as deadly."  He grabbed for
a nearby rope and swung out after Yomiko.  His pendant pulsed, and water
leapt up to his hand, forming itself into a crude aquatic cutlass.  Yomiko
ducked as his blade sliced just over her head.  The rope she was on
severed, and she dropped to the ground - but to her credit, she managed to
land on the deck.
	"You don't have to do this you know!" she called out to him. 
"Your leader, he didn't stop to consider that there are more people in
this world worth saving!  I'm sure if you stop to think about it you'll see--"
	She never got a chance to complete her sentence.  The last member
of the I-jin was already swinging back her way, his feet connecting
solidly with a barrel.  It flew through the air, knocking Yomiko back on
her rear.  "There is nothing left worth saving!" Cook bellowed as he
landed.  "Why, in the last hundred years alone there have been two world
wars!  Pollution in all the world's oceans!  In fact, there are so many
people on this planet now that your residences have taken over practically
every type of natural habitat!  Ikkyu was right, the only solution left is
to wipe the slate clean!!"
	Yomiko pushed the wooden barrel aside and back-pedalled
frantically as Cook advanced.  She groped in her overcoat pockets for more
paper, not finding any.  "You're only looking at the surface view," she
protested.  "Every person in the world, they all exist for a reason.  And
it's by interacting with them, listening to them, or simply by reading
about them that all we learn more about ourselves!  About how to make the
world a better place to live in!  Don't cut down everyone's hopes and
dreams so carelessly!"  Her back connected with the doors to the captain's
quarters.
	"I'm sorry, 'The Paper'," Cook said dourly as he stepped up to
her.  "I simply don't see it that way."  He raised the spear of water in
his hands.  Yomiko grasped the pages she'd just found inside her vest. 
Water and paper connected with an inexplicable clang.
	High above, Schubert's second movement began.

	The two combatants remained momentarily frozen in a tableau, each
of them staring at the other.  Both pressed forward with their respective
weapons.  Both met equal resistance.  Then, slowly but surely, Yomiko's
paper blade was forced back, a half inch closer to her neck.  Cook smiled.
 "You see, 'The Paper', it's as I thought.  You can make those sheets as
rigid or as sharp as you like, but underneath it all, it's still mere
paper.  And paper has a tendency to fall apart when left in contact with
water for too long."
	Yomiko let out a little gasp as her adversary pressed his
advantage.  Water beaded and ran down the pages in her hand, dripping onto
the deck floor.  "What's more," the sea captain continued, "you're down to
three small squares while I have an unlimited supply of ammunition.  Give
up now!  Death at my hands shall be more merciful than freezing on the
reclimatized Earth!"
	As if to emphasize his point, Cook reached his free hand back, and
another funnel of water from the bay met his palm, seemingly energizing
his attack.  The water cutlass began to dig into the pages, which despite
Yomiko's best efforts, were now completely soaked through.  Her hand began
to waver.  Cook laughed.  "This is becoming pathetic, really," he observed
at last.  "Why do you continue to fight?  What's the point?!"
	"Because... I must," Yomiko breathed quietly.  "And because...
things aren't always... what they seem."
	The pages in Yomiko's hand suddenly exploded into thousands of
tiny fibres, each of them razor sharp.  Cook let out a cry and
instinctively moved his arm to protect his face as the fibres flew out in
all directions.  This gave Yomiko the chance she needed to jump back to
her feet, and grab the one source of paper left to her.  The item which
she had spotted out of the corner of her eye.  A map of the world,
detailing the position of all the oceanic resonance receptors, which Cook
had left tacked up by his stateroom.
	"Never underestimate the power of the human spirit!" the
bibliophile cried out.  She lashed out at Cook with the map.  He jumped
back out of the way - but his body hadn't been Yomiko's real target
anyway.  As the corner of the map curled up, it neatly hooked the pendant
from around the I-jin's neck, pulling it free.  Yomiko immediately spun to
smash it into the wall.
	"NO!" Cook screamed out.  But there was no time to stop her.  A
splash effect rippled through the air as the blue stone shattered, and the
water funnel that Cook had been drawing from immediately spun out of
control.  The water cut across the deck - and through the deck in places -
shattering two barrels, a swivel gun, and hurling Cook's metal cutlass up
from the floor, driving it straight through the main mast.  The boat
pitched to the side and both combatants lost their balance.
	Then the water was calm again.
	"You WITCH!!" Cook howled at her.  "Fine - you've destroyed my
little trinket, so I'll destroy something of yours!  Like those glasses
you're wearing!"  He lunged for Yomiko, dodging around the map to make a
grab for her spectacles.
	It was the last thing he would ever do.
	"Not... Doni's... GLASSES!!!" Yomiko screamed back, and almost
faster than the eye could follow, the sheet in her hand unfurled to form a
wall in between them.  It then pushed back against Cook with great force. 
Enough force, in fact, to hurl the I-jin up into the air and right into
the main mast, from which there then came the sound of snapping wood.
	Slowly but surely, the tallest mast of the 'Final Resolution'
began to tilt to the side.  Yet Cook merely hung in the air, his back
against the mast, and something of a shocked look on his face.  It wasn't
until the map finally blew off of his front that Yomiko discovered the
reason for this - Cook was neatly skewered through the heart with his very
own cutlass, which kept him pinned against the wooden pole.
	'The Paper' fell back to her knees and looked away as the mast
creaked, then finally snapped and crashed down over the side of the ship. 
The item which had been at the very top, spinning and glowing a faint
blue, sparked and went dead.  The fog around the ship began to lift. 
Though it didn't dissipate fast enough to keep from drifting, and within
seconds there was a fine mist cloaking the entire area.  Letting out a
shaky breath, Yomiko reached up to clean off her cherished glasses.
	A hand fell on Yomiko's shoulder.  Letting out a yelp of
astonishment, she spun to see who was there.  A dour looking blonde man
stepped out of the fog.  "Drake-san!" the dark haired woman gasped.
	"Of course," Drake replied, lifting his hand to brush off his damp
and slightly singed clothing.  "In all your books, doesn't the hero who
gets blown up in the boat always return in time for the final act?"
	"But... how?"
	"I jumped clear just as Cook fired," Drake explained, frowning as
he pulled off his hat and discovered a hole in it.  "Swam around to the
bow and climbed up the anchor line.  Arrived on deck just in time to see
the I-jin go down - in fact, I almost got hit by the mast - then waited to
make sure I saw Cook actually slip beneath the surface of the water."  He
pulled his hat back on.  "How are you?"
	"I... I'll be fine..."  Yomiko said quietly.  She stood.  "It's
time to end this, once and for all."  She turned and headed for the stairs
leading to the upper deck.  Drake watched her go, before moving to follow.

	"Mr. Ander- son..."
	Drake frowned.  "Smith, I've told you not to call me that!" he
shouted into his microphone.  "Now where's Joker?  What's the situation?"
	There was a brief pause on the line.  "Joker here," the division
head said at last.  "We're finally able to home in on your position,
Drake, agents are on the way.  But they won't get there in time to
counteract Schubert's Eighth Symphony.  What's your status?"
	"Stand by, Joker.  We've located a player piano," Drake answered. 
He turned his attention towards Yomiko.
	The piano itself had weathered the sea battle remarkably well.  It
was even still attached to it's roll of music - one so large that the
spools had been set up outside of the piano housing itself.  As Drake
watched, the symphony scrolled down through the ending of the second
movement.  "So, 'The Paper'," he questioned.  "Can you do it?  I mean,
enter whatever code it is that Schubert created to prevent the ocean
currents from going haywire??"
	"I can," Yomiko replied as she brushed her hands lightly over the
keyboard.  "Except you've got it wrong.  Everyone did.  The counter
measures, they aren't something Schubert wrote himself - in fact, the
revised part of his Symphony was built up around the premise that only the
music of someone else could stop this sequence of events once it had begun."
	Drake blinked.  "Someone else?  But who?"
	"The only person that it could be."  Yomiko turned to look back at
Drake.  "Did you know that even though Schubert and Beethoven lived in the
same city, the two celebrated composers never actually carried on a proper
conversation?  Franz Schubert was always too shy, too modest to approach
the elder composer... and then of course Beethoven went deaf.  I find that
story very sad.  Don't you?"
	Drake simply stared back at her, so she turned away.  Then,
nodding slowly, Yomiko kicked aside the levers that were activating the
foot pedals and placed her own feet there.  "Please find my book while I'm
doing this?" she requested.  "Cook said it was up here."
	The known portion of Schubert's "unfinished" symphony came to a
close, and as the paper wound into the third movement, 'The Paper' began
to play a counterpoint.  It was a familiar rhythm, and one that Drake
recognized immediately.  After all, it was the same theme that had been
playing when the I-jin fortress had first risen into view.  Beethoven's
"Ode to Joy".  From his Ninth Symphony.
	At first, nothing seemed to happen.  Then lightning flashed
overhead, followed by a thunderclap so loud that Drake wondered if another
carriage gun hadn't just gone off.  He turned away from his search through
the fog to cast a worried glance at Yomiko.
	However, she didn't seem concerned.  Far from it, in fact.  Her
eyes were closed, her fingertips flying over the keyboard, and her lips
moving in an unspoken chorus.  Somehow, the "Ode the Joy" music was
harmonizing perfectly with the Schubertian tunes that had never been heard
before - and probably never would be heard again.  For as Yomiko reached a
cadence point, the whole ship shook, and the page that was currently
winding through the player piano actually caught fire.  Yomiko's eyes
snapped back open.
	"Feedback loop," she realized.  "The power's being channelled back
here.  I think I've played enough - Drake, do you have my book??"
	"What?  Oh... yeah," the blonde agent replied, holding it up.  "At
least, it's the only book up here, though I'm not sure it's..."
	Yomiko ran over to him, snatching the tome from his hand. 
"Ahhhh!" she sighed, cradling the book to her cheek.  "Thank goodness, oh
thank goodness..."  Behind her, the wooden bellows of the player piano
exploded out, and the entire ship began to spin slowly in a counter
clockwise direction.
	"Uhmm... say, we have a way of getting off of here, right?" Drake
said nervously.  No response.  He reached out to pull the book away from
Yomiko's face.  "RIGHT?" he repeated pointedly.  The deck pitched to the side.
	"Hm?  Oh!  Good point," Yomiko realized.  "Okay, hold on a second..."
	"Hold on to WHAT?" Drake protested as the ship completed one full
rotation and began to pick up speed.
	Yomiko tucked her book away into her overcoat and ran back to the
player piano, grabbing for the paper in the takeout spool, which
represented about twenty minutes of unfinished symphony.  "This should be
plenty!" she assured Drake, tearing off the end and running back, the long
length of paper trailing along behind her.  "Quick, over the side, I'll
fold on the way down!"
	"I beg your pardon?!?" Drake protested.  But even he found it hard
to argue when the player piano abruptly exploded in a ball of fire and
there was a loud crack as the 'Final Resolution' split in half.  Without
even breaking stride, Yomiko dove over the back end of the ship in a
flurry of paper.
	"Even if she did just save the world, that woman is still
misfortune," Drake decided.  Feeling somewhat foolish, he grabbed at the
spool of paper and followed after her.
	Royal British Library agents retrieved their paper boat about five
minutes later, after the 'Final Resolution' had been completely swallowed
up by a large whirlpool.

	"Congratulations, Drake, 'The Paper'," Joker said, stepping
forwards as their craft arrived back at the docks.  The fog had almost
completely dissipated by now, leaving the whole area glistening as if
after a morning dew.
	Drake nodded at his superior, accepting the proffered handshake. 
"You'll receive my expense report first thing tomorrow morning," he
remarked as he stepped ashore.
	Joker nodded back in response, then turned to look at Yomiko. 
"Now, 'The Paper'," he began.   "One thing I must know.  We found the book
'Schubertiads' untouched, back in the warehouse.  So what book was it that
the I-jin stole from you?  What were you trying to recover, which
apparently held the key to this whole affair for you?"
	Yomiko blinked up at Joker, then pulled the literature back out of
her pocket.  "Oh, it's one of mine," she explained, holding it up.  "A
first edition by Nenene Sumiregawa.  Also the first book she ever signed. 
I was going to bring it to class today, to show the students."
	Joker furrowed his brow as he took the book and looked at the
cover.  "I don't understand.  This book isn't even a year old."
	Yomiko smiled.  "That's because Nenene only wrote it last year. 
Look closer."  Joker did.  There on the cover was Nenene's signature,
along with the dedication - 'To by biggest fan, Yomiko Readman'.
	"I often take it out and reread passages when I'm feeling stressed
or upset," Yomiko explained.  "As I did in that warehouse.  I've even
taken to marking my place using the bookmark that Nancy Makuhari gave back
to me."  The dark haired woman hopped off the boat and reached out to take
her book back.  "See, what I realized was that the special connection I
share with Nancy and Nenene... that's the same connection which Schubert
had been longing to make with Beethoven.  So he revised his Eighth
symphony with that in mind, creating a piece that was disastrous on the
surface, but which could bring renewal when the music of both men was
blended together.  A shared symphony!"
	"I see.  How interesting," Joker mused.  "But then why was this
piece never performed during their lifetimes?"
	Yomiko sighed.  "Probably because Schubert never told Beethoven
about it.  It's so sad... I mean, you should always tell a person how much
they really mean to you.  You never know when you might be able to make
beautiful music together."
	"Indeed.  Well, thank you, 'The Paper'," Joker replied, rubbing
his chin as he looked up towards the sky.  It was turning out to be a
beautiful day.  "So," he said after a moment.  "How does it feel to be the
great hero who saved the world?"  There was no reply.  "'The Paper'? 
Yomiko?" Joker wondered, looking back down at her.
	But Yomiko was no longer listening.  She simply stood there, book
clasped to her heart, smiling out at the distant horizon.

FIN