Altair system, Near Altair XI, Juraiian Year 23224 (3060 AD, 3811
Years after the founding of Rome, SY 68, Federal Year -926)
Ryo-ohki's report from her sensors was almost unbelievable to
Ryoko. According to the Juraiian Navigation Database, Altair had
thirteen planets and three asteroid belts. Now, it had three planets
and thirteen asteroid belts. It also had a two hundred mile long
cone orbiting Altair XI, a gas giant, like the five moons which it had
formerly possessed, all of which were now absent without leave.
A dozen strange crystalline ships surrounded the cone in a
glittering cloud, though it dwarfed them. A Planet-Smasher. The
Sidar had made them millenia upon millenia ago, along with a
network of gates, artificial worlds, and other wonders. There was
little enough of their glory left. Rumor had it that their gate
network had been capable of time travel and that the Sidar had
somehow destroyed themselves through that dangerous science.
Others claimed that some creation of their technologies had turned
on them. The BORG was sometimes blamed on the Sidar, and one
common rumor was that the Planet-Smashers had been built to
battle the BORG. However, there were no reports of the BORG
existing more than 10,000 years ago, and the Sidar had been long
dead by then.
The gates were gone now, with a few exceptions like the poor
pathetic world that Ryouko had once visited that was plagued by
malfunctioning Sidar gates that had been spewing strange chaos-
stuff across the planet. That was her theory as to their demise;
they had opened a gate to the wrong place and been eaten by
something that came out, then used their gates to travel around
destroying them.
Still, since no Sidar were likely to show up and say hello,
Ryouko dismissed thoughts of the graceful fallen elder race and
turned her attentions to the fleet. The ships were among the
funkiest she had ever seen, although in some ways they reminded her
of Ryo-ohki, although entirely inorganic.
The magic meter meowed, alerting Ryouko that the ships being
observed seemed to primarily power themselves through magic.
Ryouko frowned. Magical things had a tendency to pull annoying
abilities out of their butt and make your life miserable. Not
that Ryouko was a marvel of planning and precautions, but what
little planning she indulged in was easily wrecked by magic.
"Okay, maybe I should have taken Celia's offer," Ryouko
muttered to herself.
There was a shimmering around the radio, and Linna Yamazaki,
Knight of Jurai and goddess, second class, appeared, stepping out of
it. "Your wish is granted." She laughed. "How's that for timing?"
Ryouko shook her head. "You creep me out when you do that."
"At least I don't pop up out of people's bathtubs."
Ryouko looked out at the Planet-Smasher. "So what do we do
about that thing? I don't suppose this qualifies for you to take off
your limiter earring and blow it up?" She sounded hopeful.
"Skuld gave me a bomb." She pulled out a bowling ball covered
with circutry with a long fuse that looked like a braided thread. "All
we have to do is make sure they don't activate the thing while we fly
down its mouth and toss this thing into its main gun."
Ryouko had dived behind her command chair at the word Skuld
and winced at the word bomb. After poking her head out and looking
at the bomb, she suddenly shrank down to about a foot tall and ran
and hid inside a control panel, with only her head sticking out. In a
squeaky voice, she said, "All we have to do is fly several hundred
miles through a Planet-Smasher and toss an exploding bowling ball
into the main gun, capable of levelling planets, then get out before
we are turned into a few grains of space dust?"
Linna nodded.
"Call me when you finish." Ryouko pulled her tiny head in out
of sight.
Linna would have gotten mad, but she had done the same thing
when Skuld explained the plan to her.
******************
Black Moon Rising
Chapter 5: Strange Emissions
By John Biles
******************
Earth, Ruins of Crystal Tokyo, SY 1532 (4524 AD, 5276 Years after
the founding of Rome, Juraiian Year 24688, Federal Year 538)
Makoto Gelbenwald pored through the equations. He had to be
sure of what was going on. Astro-history was a precise science, but
it was precise probabilities you derived from it, rather than
certainties. It was 95% likely that no Saturn would be born
in this century. Only a Saturn or a Pluto held the power to make and
power a time key. Well, a Serenity could do so, but there hadn't been
an awakened Serenity with the full power of the line in centuries,
and she wouldn't leave traces of dark power behind, either. At least,
he hoped she wouldn't.
However, it was possible that something like the 'Bunny'
disaster was about to begin. Makoto prayed that wasn't the case.
Every so often, beings of great power appeared for no reason that
Astro-history could discover. Such beings could wreck decades or
centuries of work and force a complete recalculation of the
equations. The Bunny had been a benevolent monarch on the planet
Kalgon, who had wielded vast magical power, turning her planet into
a magical utopia. Worlds had flocked to her, seceding from the dying
Solar Kingdom, the feeble Juraiian Empire, Khund, and even the
Federal League, all gaining vastly in magical power. This had been
completely unpredicted, and it had thrown the Inner Senshi, the
secret guardians of the Stingray Plan, into chaos. Some had called
for moving to support her, in the hopes that the golden age of
Serenity could come again under her guidance. Others argued for
sticking to the plan.
Then the nations around her had begun to panic as their worlds
dribbled away. They declared war, but every army that crossed her
borders instantly defected. Those who didn't fall under her spell
were easily crushed by their fellows.
She had only one problem: she was infertile and had no heir. In
addition, the vast magic she wielded exerted its cost. She had
lasted ten years, just long enough to plunge several of her neighbors
into anarchy and to earn a place in history, then she died. The
effects of her powers ceased in an instant. Buildings collapsed,
people died, and her realm swiftly fell as deeply into chaos as it had
climbed towards heaven before.
It had taken close to a century to clean up the mess she had
made of the Stingray Plan, and things still weren't entirely on track.
A manifestation of Saturn could make a big mess as well. An entire
world had died the last time they hadn't found Saturn before
her awakening. What really worried Makoto was that Pluto hadn't
shown up. Normally, she'd have at least briefly appeared and said
something vague and not very helpful by now.
A burst of air and a loud oof drew him away from the computer
screen. It was his wife, Rita. "Bad news, Makoto. Intruders. And Dr.
Anderson picked up a time distortion when they appeared."
He cursed and sprung to his feet. At least this means we don't
have a long search ahead of us, he thought.
**************
Earth, Low Earth Orbit, 815 Years after the founding of Rome, (64
AD, SY -2925,
Juraiian Year 21228, Federal Year -3918)
Commodore Ruby frowned. His entire fleet had been either
scattered or destroyed by a single lunatic courier ship. If he was
lucky, it had only pulled him along, but the sensors had recorded
several of the other ships being pulled into the jump distortion as
well, and who knows how many might have been sucked in after it
was too late to sense them. Then some idiot in the engine room had
tried to engage the Jump Drive to jump out of the jump, and
succeeded only in turning the Jump Drive into slag. Subspace radio
was picking up nothing but static. However, the Fusion Drive was
still functional, and they had enough to fuel to last them another
twenty years. It wouldn't be too hard to get more, either. Hydrogen
was thankfully plentiful in this system. Of course, hydrogen
was plentiful in just about any system.
The second major problem was that while the system they were
in highly resembled the Solar System, it was far too primitive to be
the real one. The outworld colonies didn't exist. None of the
cultures had even invented gunpowder or even simple eyeglasses.
"If I didn't know better, I'd think we'd gone backwards in time,"
Ruby muttered to himself.
Zircon, a tall woman who set new standards of ugliness, in
Ruby's opinion, turned from her station and said, "According to the
team we sent down to that major city we're currently hovering over,
the inhabitants are completely human and according to the team
leader, the architecture is that of the ancient Roman civilization, or
possibly the Greek. Unfortunately, we don't have anyone who speaks
any of the languages of the natives. Either this entire system is
someone's idea of a joke, or we ARE backwards in time."
"You can't travel through time with a Jump Drive. Otherwise,
everyone would be doing it."
She shrugged. "How many people actually understand HOW Jump
Drives work? How often does anyone try to activate one inside
another Jump Field without synchronizing the drives? Especially
inside a system. Unless you have a better theory, we have to assume
we're in the past." After taking a moment to stretch, she said, "The
team has discovered a powerful magical energy source inside the
city. Should I have them investigate?"
"What kind of source?" This could be useful, Ruby thought.
"They aren't sure. It seems to be mobile."
Ruby blinked. Strong magical sources didn't usually move
around. "Have them investigate."
*************
Earth, Crystal Tokyo, SY 68 (3060 AD, 3811 Years after the founding
of Rome, Juraiian Year 23224, Federal Year -926)
Arcadia woke up back in her bed. Hotaru was sitting on the floor
with Ami-chan, playing a game that resembled 'Lifepath', a popular
game on her world, although the track was different and there
weren't any Crystal Palaces in 'Lifepath'.
She watched quietly as Ami-chan spun the spinner, and moved
her little skimmer five spaces. Drawing a 'lifefluke' card, she read
"Your brother is eaten by a youma. Move back three spaces," she
read, moving back three spaces, and landing on 'You win a vacation to
Rigel. Gain 25,000 Serenities, but lose next two turns.' "Waaah!"
Ami-chan said.
Hotaru looked up and smiled. "How are you feeling, Arcadia?"
She sighed. "Did you have to carry me all the way back from the
mountains?" Her stomach rumbled loudly, and she blushed slightly.
Hotaru nodded. "Let's get you some food. I think you pretty well
wore yourself out." She got up. "We'll be back soon, okay, Ami-
chan?"
"Okay!"
Once they reached the kitchen, Arcadia said, "Neptune's not
really going to try to seduce Haruka, is she? They were teasing me,
right?" She hoped that was the case, although it wouldn't surprise
her too much if Neptune DID intend to do so.
Hotaru laughed. "Neptune is Michiru. They were teasing you."
"Have I met Uranus' normal form yet?"
Hotaru started digging through the cupboards, pulling out some
bread, then started digging in the fridge. "They'll probably drag this
out as long as they can, but Haruka is Sailor Uranus."
Arcadia almost fainted again. "Haruka is WHAT? He's a guy!"
"Actually, Haruka is female most of the time, but she's pretty
boyish looking. Also, she can turn male if she wants to. You can only
barely tell the difference unless she's in a bathing suit, though,
when she does." Hotaru started making some sandwiches, pulling a
handy chair over to the counter by the fridge.
Arcadia leaned against the fridge. "That doesn't mean that I..."
"Probably not. Most Uranuses didn't change sex, but Haruka was
a guy in a past life and..." Hotaru trailed off. "It's unique to her, I
think. None of the other Senshi change sex, although there was that
blood transfusion disaster." Sandwich number one was done, so she
moved on to number two.
"Blood transfusion disaster?"
"Minako would kill me if I told anyone about it." Hotaru sighed,
then laughed. "I'll tell you anyway. We never did figure out where
the stuff came from. Minako had to get a transfusion after we
fought this weird thing that was injecting strange chemicals into
people's bloodstreams. Her blood was totally messed up, and she
ended up needing a transfusion, but we couldn't go to a normal
doctor, since we couldn't explain what had really happened, so we
went to this doctor that Tomoe-san knew, who covertly provided
medical care for...well, for a variety of supernaturals. Apparently,
there was a labelling error and..."
"She got the wrong blood type and had a bad reaction?" What
does this have to do with changing sex?
"She started turning male whenever she was stressed. Such as
combat, for example."
Arcadia began to laugh. "A blood transfusion did this to her?"
"It wore off after a while, but Minako was SERIOUSLY freaked
out until it stopped."
"I would be too."
Hotaru finished the second sandwich and Arcadia began snarfing
it down. "Pluto and the others are conferring with the Queen right
now, but once they finish, I think Uranus wants to start training
you."
"I dunno if I'm going to be here long enough to really get much
training." Arcadia frowned. I want to go home. Part of her was
fretting that this was all part of some elaborate trap. Or a dream
she was having as she died.
"Haruka isn't likely to take no for an answer. More
importantly, it'll help you defend yourself when you return to your
own time. If the Black Moon Cult is after you then, you'll need this
power to help take care of yourself." She finished making a third
sandwich, as Arcadia began scarfing down the second.
"Shouldn't Pluto junior be back by now?"
Hotaru frowned. "Yes." She paused. "Something big is going to
happen, Arcadia. I don't know what, but this only happens when..."
She trailed off and stared at the knife in her hand, which was
covered with mustard, as if it somehow spelled out secrets of the
universe.
"When what?"
"Pluto vanishing is never a good sign. Want another sandwich?"
Arcadia ate it, but the edge was gone from her appetite, more
from the new worries than the food.
******************
Gabrielle was sweating inside her robes. If I get home alive, I'll
never make fun of the Church of Serenity again, she thought. She had
been sent by Jade to plant a droid inside the huge statue of Serenity
in the main temple of the Church. Things had begun to go downhill
from the moment she had stepped in the doors. She had thought that
being disguised as a High Initiate would make it easy to get to the
statue. Unfortunately, a horde of people had pressed in on her asking
for blessings and guidance the instant she stepped inside. Then to
make it worse, a grand initiate had arrived and roped her into
assisting in a worship ceremony, along with several other high
intitiates. Now she was stumbling through the rite with thousands
upon thousands of people watching her, or so it seemed. She could
almost feel the droid in her pocket.
To make matters worse, the sun seemed to have been turned up
to a higher volume today, and as it shone down through a high
window, she felt like she was going to melt in her robes. The light
was not just hot, it felt like it was watching her. Several times,
she almost saw a figure in the sunlight, a being of some kind,
staring at her. And it wasn't happy.
I must be hallucinating due to nerves, she thought. Yeah, that
has to be it. Her lips spoke the words of the rite, and then the grand
initiate began sermonizing. She was too busy being nervous to
notice much of what he was saying.
She ran through the rite in her mind. During one part, she and
the other two high initiates would kneel before the statue. That
would be her chance to act.
\It won't work\, a tiny voice said in her head. It wasn't her
voice. It sounded female.
Only an effort of will restrained her from looking around. I'm
so nervous, I'm starting to imagine voices, she thought.
\I'm as real as you. Maybe more real if you listen to certain
philosophers\, the voice replied. It was louder now.
This time she did glance around. No one else could hear it.
The voice laughed the tiniest bit, then said, \Look into the
light.\
She looked up and could see the figure more clearly. A woman
floated in the light with feathery white wings that matched her
white hair. She was wearing some sort of clothing, although it was
tight and hard to distinguish from her skin due to the back glare. It
was hard to judge her height, but she couldn't have been more than
three foot at most. Gabrielle glanced around, but no one seemed to
notice her.
\Only you can hear me.\
I'm going nuts, she thought.
\This is your warning. If you continue down the road you are
walking, you will doom yourself.\ The figure began to fade.
Who ARE you? Doom myself how? What if I'm not
hallucinating? Gabrielle stared at the figure. It matched none of
the Senshi known to her, or any of their servants.
The woman smiled. \The Grand Initiate is quite a cute fellow.\
She laughed slightly and lightly knuckled her forehead which held a
symbol of some kind, though it was too shadowed to see clearly. She
began to fly towards the huge monitor embedded in the wall across
the vaulted chamber from her. It was showing the events of the
ceremony for those in the back who couldn't see the front clearly.
\As to who I am...I suggest reading the book of Serenity a little more
carefully, oh 'High Initiate'\ Her mental voice was a little sarcastic
in that last sentence. She plunged into the monitor and vanished.
Gabrielle had another twenty minutes to make her decision, and
it wasn't easy. She never did find out that the being talking to her
had only originally come simply to gaze upon the cute Grand Initiate.
Bad luck had always been her specialty.
******************
Solar System, Library of the Zodiac, SY 68 (3060 AD, 3811 Years
after the founding of Rome, Juraiian Year 23224, Federal Year -926)
Astra sat quietly and paged through the ancient scroll. She
looked quite studious, but actually she was reading an old Greek
comedy and concluding it was definitely a case of 'you had to be
there'. After a while, she sensed someone was staring at her.
"Hello?"
The young apprentice, a blonde boy who she thought might be
Cancer Istarii, but she wasn't sure, said, "Scorpio sent me to find
you."
She got up. "Lead on."
The boy took her to Scorpio's chambers. Scorpio was short with
dark black hair and a sneaky look on his face. "Bad news, Astra."
"What is the news?" She sat down on one of the chairs, made of
hard wood. Scorpio's quarters were spartan, with only a few hard
wood chairs, a table, and a simple bed.
"There's a huge asteroid infested with byakhee that just passed
Pluto and is on the way right towards where this place is going to be
by the time the asteroid makes it to our orbit. And one of the Great
Old Ones is also on its way into the system." He sighed. "I told you
we need to find where the Black Moon Cult hides and wipe them out."
Astra frowned. "Contact the Senshi. We'll deal with the
asteroid and let them deal with the Great Old One. How big is this
asteroid?"
"About half the size of the moon."
"Which moon?"
"THE Moon."
*************
Earth, Crystal Tokyo, SY 68 (3060 AD, 3811 Years after the founding
of Rome, Juraiian Year 23224, Federal Year -926)
Watching Haruka transform was intensely uncomfortable for
Arcadia, even though she knew Haruka was female. The thought of
changing sex was just...creepy. Her own transformation was a rush.
You could get hooked on this feeling, she thought. It wasn't quite
better than sex, but it came close.
They had gone out in the countryside again, up in the mountains,
in a small rocky valley. "So now what?" Arcadia asked.
"You learn your first attack, then I beat the hell out of you to
see how much you have to learn," Haruka said. She grinned. "Just
focus on the direction you want it to go and shout, "EARTH SHAKING!"
Arcadia focused her mind and looked down the slope at some
rocks. "EARTH SHAKING!" Energy crackled. A tiny bit of it came
from her, but she could tell most of it was coming from somewhere
else. Where that was, she wasn't sure. A huge yellow sphere fired
from her hands, striking the ground repeatedly, and finally hitting
the rocks, blowing them to bits. "Wow!"
"A good start. The hard part is learning control. Let's see you
aim past THOSE rocks," she pointed at them, "and hit the ones beyond
them."
Eight efforts didn't succeed once, but she did manage to blow up
a LOT of rocks. They sparred next, a blur of attacks and counter
attacks, that felt like hours to Arcadia, but actually lasted about
five minutes. In the first four, Haruka felt out her strengths,
then in the last minute, she kicked Arcadia's butt. She had Arcadia
pinned upside down against a tree when she was finished.
"You're good," Arcadia said, "Would it be bad for me to pass out
now?"
Haruka put her down. "You've got a lot to learn."
I just want to get home, she thought. Still, this could come in
useful. "I'm not hungry like the other times."
"Most of the power you use isn't coming from yourself. We
Sailors all draw power from outside sources, planets and stars and
whatnot. Mercury calls it the 'Silver Force', and the Silver Crystal is
sort of its...umm...connected to it." Haruka shrugged. "I don't get into
metaphysics much. Ready for another beating?"
"I guess so."
Haruka's communicator began to beep. The conversation that
followed was terse and made Haruka look very displeased. Finally,
she turned to Arcadia and said, "We have to go back to the Palace. I
gotta go to space and kick some butt."
"Okay. Khunds raiding or something?"
"We have to go help the fleet clear out an asteroid full of
Byakhees and maybe fight something called a Great Old One." They
headed for their skimmer.
"A what?"
Haruka shrugged. "We'll kick butt and take names. We always
do."
*********************
Nemesis, Royal Palace, DY (Demand Year 305)
Demand smiled. Everything was going according to plan.
"Esmaurade!"
She walked over from where she had been busy gossiping with
some other nobles. "Yes?"
"The time has come. Let the fleet be prepared. The invasion of
Crystal Tokyo is about to begin." He smiled. We will break you,
Endymion. And then...Serenity will be mine, as she was meant to be
from the beginning. The prophecy will be fulfilled.
**********
Earth, Crystal Tokyo, SY 68 (3060 AD, 3811 Years after the founding
of Rome, Juraiian Year 23224, Federal Year -926)
Having completed their missions, the four Black Moon agents
went out to eat dinner. The Red Cafe was a little bit oppressively
red, but the food was good, although a bit spicey. Uriel said, "Well, I
just walked into the market, planted mine, and got out. How
about you, Gabrielle?"
Gabrielle was staring off into space, looking disturbed, and
didn't answer.
"Did something go wrong?" Raphaelle asked. "I didn't have any
trouble hiding mine in the war memorial."
"I got stuck attending a church service," Gabrielle said quietly.
"Did anyone try to channel Serenity?" Michael asked, laughing.
Everyone laughed except Gabrielle. The waitress, a cute blonde
woman, came over and asked, "Can I get you guys anything else?"
"Some donuts," Michael said.
"Kinda hard to get on Nemesis, eh?" the waitress asked.
He nodded. "Yeah. Earth whiskey sucks, though, in comparison
to..." I really need to learn when to shut up, he thought.
The others turned and stared at the waitress, who suddenly
transformed into Sailor Venus. Two of the patrons in the next booth
suddenly became Mars and Mercury. Four more patrons suddenly put
on Troubleshooter badges and stood up. "Do we do this the
easy way or the hard way, ladies and germs?" Sailor Venus asked.
Uriel tensed, as did the others. Gabrielle said quietly, "I
surrender."
Michael boggled.
Raphaelle sighed. "Well, if she won't fight, we REALLY don't have
a chance. I surrender too."
"Hey, we swore oaths of defiance!" Uriel said.
Gabrielle sighed. "I never promised to commit suicide."
Michael sighed. "Right." He tried to teleport away and nothing
happened.
Mercury grinned. "Teleport dampeners. We came prepared."
Now I know why Gabrielle didn't just run, Michael thought.
"Okay, we surrender."
"HEY!" Uriel said.
"Maybe we can escape later," he whispered. "And if we're lucky,
the city will fall soon anyway."
Uriel nodded. "Just don't put me in a cell with Michael. He
snores."
"HEY!"
**************
Altair system, Near Altair XI, Juraiian Year 23224 (3060 AD, 3811
Years after the founding of Rome, SY 68, Federal Year -926)
Slowly, Ryo-ohki crept towards the Planet-Smasher. Ryo-ohki
was in stealth mode, which bent light around the ship so that it
vanished against the background of the stars. The flaw with this
was that it also blocked Ryo-ohki's visual sensors, but otherwise,
they knew they would have the fight of the century on their hands.
Ryouko was terrified, but determined not to show it. No one
would notice the way her hands were constantly clenching and
smashing small objects, she told herself as she broke a pencil into 2
millimeter segments.
"Uh oh", Linna said.
"WHAT?" Ryouko said, teleporting over and looking at the 'Radar'
screen. It showed fifty blips entering the system.
"Looks like a Khund fleet coming to pick up their new toy. The
crystal fleet is moving back from the Planet-Smasher except for one
ship."
"Maybe we can take control of the Planet-Smasher and blast
them all." Ryouko said, trying to think of a clever plan.
Linna sighed. "Do you know how a Planet-Smasher works?"
"Surely they wouldn't sell it if they knew how it works," Ryouko
said.
A beam of pure energy fired from the mouth of the cannon,
obliterating the Khund Fleet. The Planet-Smasher began to drift
towards the wreckage.
"Hmm. Either it's hungry, or they decided to cheat the Khunds.
Much as the idea of the Khunds not getting a Planet-Smasher makes
me happy..."
Ryouko sighed, then said, "Aha! That's how we can get inside it.
We can drift in with the wreckage. It won't fire again for fear of
hurting its food!"
Linna gulped. Well, it was a plan...but a dangerous one. Better
than the one she had been thinking of.
***************
Earth, Italy, 815 Years after the founding of Rome, (64 AD, SY -
2925, Juraiian Year 21228, Federal Year -3918)
Imra's head was starting to hurt. She had to psychically
translate all of the conversations around them for the benefit of her
companions, since none of them actually spoke Latin. Given that
they had been wandering the streets of Rome all day, this was
starting to wear her out. "We need to find an inn, Marcus," she said.
The commander had taken the name 'Marcus Aurelius', she was 'Julia
Aurelius' and Moemi was now 'Lucia Aurelius'.
"We don't have any money to pay for an inn." He frowned. "Blast
it, where is that thing?"
They had been wandering all over town looking for something,
but 'Marcus' wouldn't say what. Imra had concluded he actually had
no idea what he was doing, but neither did she, and it beat waiting
for their rations to run out. At least we won't starve, she thought.
Chanting from the distance caught their attention, along with
the ringing of bells. They turned and saw a statute of a handsome
man, carved of obsidian, that appeared to be moving through the
crowd under its own power. A few seconds later, it became clear
it was actually being carried on a litter by some sort of religious
procession. Some god, Imra assumed. The clothing didn't look like
anything the natives were wearing, so she surmised it was a foreign
god.
"Yeah, this city does smell pretty bad," Moemi said. She didn't
seem sick at all.
Most of the people carrying the statute or following it, singing
its praises, looked like ordinary Romans, although a few looked
Nubian in origin, and one, to Moemi and Imra's surprise, looked
Japanese, or perhaps Chinese. He seemed to be the leader, or at
least the most expensively dressed and the oldest. The other leader
was a woman with green-black hair, clad in traditional Egyptian
garb, although she looked Roman in origin. She led the singing, which
seemed to be some sort of praises of the great Lord of Secrets, who
shares his wisdom with his followers and brings prosperity and the
secret of overcoming death to the most faithful.
The Commander said, "Let them pass, then we're following
them."
"What do those nutcases have to do with us?" Moemi asked.
"That statute has chi in it," the Commander said. "I'm curious,
and the thing bothers me. We can find Saint Peter's, later."
"What, you expect the Pope is gonna send us back to our own
time?" Moemi laughed.
He frowned. "I've got reasons." He stalked off after the statue
without explaining to them. They followed him.
*************
Earth, Crystal Tokyo, SY 68 (3060 AD, 3811 Years after the founding
of Rome, Juraiian Year 23224, Federal Year -926)
Arcadia was bored. Everyone was busy coordinating responses
to something they wouldn�t tell her about, and she couldn�t find
Usagi or Rei anywhere to just hang out with someone. She didn�t
want to wander around the town by herself, either.
So instead, she was playing her 1000th or so game of Lifepath
with Ami-chan and Small Lady, who loved it to death. Ami-chan
rolled a five and landed on �You become a beloved Idol singer. Gain
23,000 Serenities.� �Woo! Your turn, Arcadia-oneechan.�
Arcadia spun the dial and got an eleven. �Your wife leaves you
to become the Celestial Madonna and marries a plant. Go back four
spaces. I don�t HAVE a wife!�
�I guess your husband leaves you and marries a plant,� Small
Lady said. �What�s a Madonna?�
�Some sort of legendary monster that killed people with
music, I think,� Ami-chan said.
Arcadia had no clue. �Do your parents get this busy a lot?�
she asked.
�Nope,� Small Lady said. �Mom usually has lots of time to
play with me.� She sighed. �I hope everyone�s gonna be okay.�
�They�ll be fine,� Ami-chan said. �Aunt Plano and Uranus and
Saturn and Neptune can beat anything! I bet they could even beat
Mom if they tried really hard.�
The two kids never did quite figure out why Arcadia had a
laughing fit for the next fifteen minutes.
****************
In the orbit of Saturn, Solar System, SY 68 (3060 AD, 3811 Years
after the founding of Rome, Juraiian Year 23224, Federal Year -926)
Uranus sat in the observation deck of the CMS Rajputana and
yawned. �We could have just teleported out here, you know.�
Pluto frowned. �Without the fleet, this would take far too long
with just the four of us. Also, we didn�t know exactly where the
asteroid is to teleport to it. Nor would teleporting directly into the
heart of the asteroid have been very safe.� She stared off into
space. Rarely had Uranus ever seen her so tense.
She�s expecting something to happen, Uranus realized.
Something bad. She glanced over at Neptune, who was gazing into
the space mirror. �See anything interesting?�
�I�ve found the asteroid. It�s heading for Titan.�
Uranus frowned. There was a new colony on Titan, but it was
still pretty fragile. �Can we intercept it in time?�
�We will.� Pluto said, then glanced at Saturn.
Saturn said, �Hmmm?�
�When we reach the asteroid, the fleet will draw their main
fire while we penetrate the asteroid to kill the Queen. They�ll turn
on each other after she dies. They�re not very bright, but they are
strong. We must cover Saturn so that she can deal with the Queen.
Understood?�
Everyone nodded. �How are we going to find the Queen?�
Saturn asked.
�She�ll find us,� Pluto said.
A crewman walked in, bowed and said, �We�ve recieved a
message from the Zodiac. They�ve engaged the being, whatever it is,
in the vicinity of Uranus. It has proven to be more powerful than
anticipated, but they believe it should be easily dealt with.�
**********************
In the orbit of Jupiter, Solar System, SY 68 (3060 AD, 3811 Years
after the founding of Rome, Juraiian Year 23224, Federal Year -926)
It wasn�t every day that the Zodiac was getting its butt kicked.
It had been years since the last time they had all been called out for
a threat, and it showed. The problem wasn�t being out of practice; it
was that they were acting like the bad guys in a Kung Fu movie,
attacking the monstrosity one at a time.
They had no idea what its name was, although Leo had dubbed
it, �The Evil Jello Monster.� It looked like a huge mass of amorphous
jelly about a quarter mile across, constantly bubbling and forming
eyes, mouths, tentacles, noses, ears, tentacles, teeth, polka dots,
pimples, hairballs, fur, scales, tentacles, swords, wombats, arms,
and very small rocks. And then sometimes, just tentacles. Most of
those seemed to be dedicated to doing the wave, or whatever the
heck it was doing, as its �arms� waved about in the background of the
battle in an elaborate pattern. Astra shouted orders to her warriors,
but kept an eye on the pattern. It looked familiar, but she wasn�t
certain what it was.
The void isn�t supposed to carry sound, but the blasts of energy
of the Zodiac made noises anyway, for the power of the stars is
most at home in space. It had a certain rythym to it, zap, thunk, zap,
boom, zap, zap, thunk. It was almost a dance, blow and counter blow,
advance and retreat. Of course, normally your dancing partner
wasn't a soul sucking monstrosity.
What really worried Astra, however, was that the stars had
given no warning. The Old Ones also drew upon the power of the
stars, and the stars extracted a heavy cost. When the stars were
right, they were nigh invincible, but when the stars were wrong,
they grew weak. But in all cases, the stars could be read to know
this. This Old One was unknown to the Zodiac, unknown apparently to
the stars and Astra didn't like that. In some ways, the being
reminded her of Ubbo-Sathala, but he remained locked away in
his caverns deep beneath the Earth's surface, breeding his spawn and
feeding on them in turn. He drifted ever onward, ignoring them
except when attacked, then retaliating savagely, but soon losing
interest. If he had not been heading directly for the Zodiac's
Great Library, and adjusting course to match its movements, she
might have just observed it for a while, but it could not be allowed
to reach the Great Library.
And yet...perhaps this is a mistake, she thought. We can't be
sure it's not hostile, but it won't or can't communicate and...
The Gemini twins went flying from a tentacular flick that
hurled them towards Mars at hundreds of miles an hour. They soon
recovered and charged in again, only to get tossed into Taurus.
Enough worries. I must take firmer charge. "Everyone fall back!
We must make a proper plan." As soon as I think of one.
**********
In the orbit of Saturn, Solar System, SY 68 (3060 AD, 3811 Years
after the founding of Rome, Juraiian Year 23224, Federal Year -926)
Byakhee died by the hundreds as the Outer Senshi plowed
through the depths of the asteroid. It was vast, and Uranus thought
they could easily wander around it forever, given it was larger than
some of the other moons in the Solar System. Why this thing
wasn't causing all the planets to get pulled out of their orbits was
beyond her, but she'd never cared about physics anyway. Battle was
more her style, and she was enjoying herself. It had been years
since she could totally cut loose. "You want some? Come and
GET IT!" she shouted, hurling a burst of yellow energy at an
oncoming wall of the giant insectoids, who exploded.
Saturn felt a burst of power down a side tunnel. A burst of her
power. A burst of Saturn power. Except that was imposible. "What
the..."
For a moment, she saw a figure down the tunnel. A woman
carrying a glaive. Her glaive. Her costume. Her power. She knew
the face that body wore. Mistress Nine. "You're DEAD!" she shouted.
I must be imagining things, she thought. What would Mistress Nine
be doing in the middle of an asteroid full of Byakhee, anyway?
And she's DEAD! I destroyed her.
The laughter mocked her. Images flitted before her eyes, her
body a puppet with Mistress Nine pulling the strings, her father
possessed, her friends battered down at her own hands. Once those
images would have shamed and paralyzed her, but she had long
ago faced those demons down. Now it did only one thing. It made her
mad.
She screamed and charged through the Byakhee filling the
hallway. Black ribbons of death trailed from her glaive as she raised
it high. Every Byakhee they touched evaporated, crumbling to dust in
instants.
Uranus shouted, "What the HELL are you doing?" and ran after
her.
Neptune turned and Pluto said, "The first hinge is upon us."
Neptune shook her head. She didn't want to know, and Pluto wouldn't
tell anyway. She ran after Uranus while Pluto held the intersection
to guard their backs.
Mistress Nine laughed and fled. The others could see her now,
though only just barely through the storm of energy trailing from
Saturn's glaive. Uranus frowned. "She looks familiar."
"That's Mistress Nine!" Neptune said. "How can you forget?"
"It was a thousand years ago. Even our great triumphs fade
after a thousand years." She sighed, then perked back up. "Which is
why we get to make new ones." She winked.
Luckily, Uranus enjoyed running, because they chased Mistress
Nine for a quarter mile, right into a huge cavern with a high arching
natural roof, studded with crystals and stalagmites and glowing
with a deep purple glow. Mistress Nine stood in the middle.
The whole place made Uranus uncomfortable, especially the way the
entrance had felt like she had stepped through a membrane. Mistress
Nine was holding up some kind of key in her hands.
Uranus looked back, and just as Pluto stepped forward to enter
the cavern with them, the entrance vanished, leaving only a stone
wall. "Shit."
Saturn screamed, "This time, you're going to STAY DEAD!" She
charged forward and swung down her glaive with every ounce of
power she possessed. "DIE!"
Mistress Nine blocked the blow with the key, which stopped
the Glaive as if the blade was a plastic toy. "You cannot stop the
Saturn Power with the Saturn Power. Power of Saturn, heed my call!
Come to me and be free of the one who has chained you! COME TO ME
AND FULFILL YOUR MISSION!"
For a moment, the room fell silent. Then Saturn screamed and
fell to her knees, clenching her fists. Uranus and Neptune charged
forward, only to find themselves pushed back by a growing storm of
energy, black and white ribbons whirling about Saturn. The black
ribbons began to flow into the key. Uranus tried to blast Mistress
Nine with a focused beam of her power through the storm and
succeeded.
Mistress Nine shattered like glass, and a hooded figure
clutching an orb in one hand and the key in the other appeared
admidst the wreckage, grinning. "I was getting tired of that cheesy
disguise, anyway." He was growing taller as more power flowed into
the key. Slowly, the storm around Saturn became more a white
storm as the darkness flowed into the key, but also became larger.
Her costume lightened, becoming a series of progressively lighter
shades of purple.
Neptune tried to contact Pluto with the Space Mirror and
failed. "Uranus, we have to attack him together."
Uranus took Neptune's hand and said, "Who the FUCK are you?"
"I am the Wiseman. Your power is nothing." He gestured with
the orb in his hand, and dark power flowed from the key into it. A
wave of darkness hurtled towards Neptune and Uranus.
"ROYAL EARTH ONSLAUGHT!" Uranus shouted.
"IMPERIAL TSUNAMI!" Neptune shouted.
Yellow and blue-green blended into a onrushing wave that
shattered the blast of darkness into a million shards, but those
shards reformed into a sphere. Uranus and Neptune were unharmed,
but as they watched, time outside the sphere seemed to speed
up. By the time they reached its edge, the Wiseman had left, and
Saturn was prostrate surrounded by shining light, light that
destroyed the black sphere.
Uranus tried to run over to Saturn. With every step she felt
more healthy, more alive. At first it felt good, as the pains of battle
felt away, but then it began to burn. Too much energy was running
through her. Her body felt like she was on fire, and every step was
an agony. She would have kept going, but Neptune braved the pain to
pull her back. "We can't reach her, Uranus."
"Dammit, we can't abandon her!"
The light was crumbling the cavern walls. The tunnel broke
open, finally letting Pluto in. "Her power will return in time. The
only question is whether it will return fast enough to save her life."
"Don't you know?" Neptune asked.
Pluto sighed. "We stand upon the final cusp, the hinge upon
which this age turns. There are a million possibilities for how this
will all end. The final uncertainty of my life. The last task along
the path I began to walk long ago." It was rare that Pluto sounded
nervous, but she did now. "I know what should happen, but not what
will, or even what is most likely. You must find him and force him
to spend his power. As he uses the dark side of the Saturn force, it
will return to her, for he is but a usurper, and the key is but a tool,
though how Saturn Power got into it in the first place...I do not
know."
"Aren't you coming with us?" Neptune asked Pluto.
"I must guard the gate of time and prepare for what is about to
happen, and you must take the war to him, for soon, he and his people
shall take the war to us."
"What about Saturn?" Uranus demanded.
"We can do nothing. Her power will destroy this place utterly,
given enough time, and no Byakhee can live long enough to reach her.
I will contact Serenity and the Fleet. She will not be left alone,
though soon even Serenity and the Crystal will be unable to pierce
her light for long, for good or ill." Pluto turned and stared at Saturn,
and a single tear ran down her face. "I'm sorry, Hotaru," she
whispered, then turned to Uranus and Neptune and gave them their
marching orders.
**********
Earth, Crystal Tokyo, SY 68 (3060 AD, 3811 Years after the founding
of Rome, Juraiian Year 23224, Federal Year -926)
The interrogation of the four captured Black Moon Cultists was
in progress. They had already grilled Raphaelle and Uriel. Michael
was on the spot now. Sailor Venus was conducting the interrogation
while some dark haired guy that Michael didn't recognize from what
little knowlege he had of the Sailors sat nearby in a troubleshooter
uniform. Mars was looming menacingly, tossing little balls of fire
back and forth between her hands and making tiny firebirds that kept
flying around the room. He was pretty sure the others were likely
going through all the stuff they had in their chambers.
"So, what was your mission here?"
"To scout and later to plant some droid gems in various
locations." Michael planned to tell the truth as much as he could
without giving away too much. Hopefully, that way he could hide or
obfuscate the most important things without making it too obvious.
Venus glanced over at the man, who nodded. She continued
with, "And where did you plant them?"
Michael told them the ones that he had planted himself, and a
few of the others, hoping that would satisfy them. Venus looked
over at the man, who nodded again. He smiled a little. I guess he can
tell if I lie, but not if I just omit some of the truth.
"How many of you are there? Are there more agents that you're
aware of?"
"Just the four of us. I suppose Wiseman might be lurking
somewhere, and maybe Jade. The only other ones just came, made
their raid, and left, as far as I know."
Another nod from the man. Venus perked up a little. "What is
your group's interest in Arcadia N'goya?"
Michael shrugged. "I have no clue. Gabrielle claimed she had
something to do with a time key. Where she would have gotten such
a thing...I dunno. So what are you going to do with us?"
"Lock you up until we can have a proper trial. You'll probably
end up on Demos for the duration of your sentence, experiencing the
joys of boredom. Likely for decades, possibly for life." She leaned
forward across the table a little. "Cooperating with us will
get you a lesser sentence. You're already likely facing a fifty year
sentence, assuming we don't find any deaths connected to your
activities, which could easily get you life. And given the level of
our health care, that could be a looooong time."
"What, you're not going to kill me? Even though I'm a spy?"
The man who had been watching silently finally broke his
silence. "You'll die eventually anyway. Of course, we could give you
to Uranus and Neptune for target practice if that's what you REALLY
want."
Michael didn't really want to think about that.
**********
Altair system, Near Altair XI, Juraiian Year 23224 (3060 AD, 3811
Years after the founding of Rome, SY 68, Federal Year -926)
This is completely insane, Ryouko thought as she and Linna
drifted deeper into the Planet-Smasher inside Ryo-ohki. A strong
tractor beam was drawing the other fragments of twisted metal and
plastics that had once been a Khund fleet towards a bunch
of huge ports around the main gun, which was thousands of feet
across and easily visible by the energy surges that flickered from it
constantly. The Planet-Smasher was huge, although Ryouko was
pretty sure that her fear of it was even bigger than its body.
"It looks like we have about a half hour before we reach its
maw," Ryouko said, consulting Ryo-ohki's instruments. "Who's gonna
do the honors with the ball?"
"You'd better. I can't teleport without a radio."
"That thing DOES have a time-delay, right? Or how do we get
out of this thing without blowing to bits?"
"You toss the bomb, which has a pretty short fuse. Meanwhile
Ryo-ohki turns into cabbit form so we can carry her. You come back,
I activate my subspace radio, then I teleport us all out of here with
my powers."
Ryouko frowned. "We'll have enough time for that? Also, I'm
not sure Ryo-ohki can survive in vaccum in cabbit form."
"Time it right and she'll be fine. I can protect her enough, I
think."
Ryo-ohki mewed nervously.
"Don't worry. Skuld and I worked out everything."
This was not the best way to reassure Ryouko.
*************
In the orbit of Jupiter, Solar System, SY 68 (3060 AD, 3811 Years
after the founding of Rome, Juraiian Year 23224, Federal Year -926)
Astra watched the creature, frowning. Now that the Zodiac
was acting in unison rather than running off in seven different
directions at once, things were going better. They had forced the
creature to halt its advance, binding it with strands of the Star
Power. Unfortunately, they had no idea what to do with it now that
they had trapped it. They couldn't stay out here forever.
More importantly, the creature was shrinking in on itself, and
growing denser. Possibly, it intended to try to use itself as a
battering ram if it could find a weak point. The Old One was forming
into a miniature version of the twelve vertexed shape that bound it.
It continued to wave little tendrils in the patterns with which it had
occupied itself all this time.
The stars shimmered for a moment, their colors changing, then
reverted to normal. Astra could sense they had lost an hour during
that shimmer in an instant. Now she knew what it was doing. Not
again, she thought. Bad enough I had this stunt pulled on me once.
"Everyone! PULL BACK! Back to IO!"
The White Knight blinked. "Why are we leaving, Astra?"
"Remember what happened with the Sun-Eater?"
"RETREAT!" he bellowed.
This time, they had warning. This time there was no danger of
being sucked into the thing as it condensed down into a black hole,
then winked out as space folded in around it too much and snuffed it.
However, the time dilation was enough to put them out of
commission for what was weeks in the world outside the effect.
Astra was quite certain that was exactly what the faux Old One's
creator had wanted.
************
The region of space near the burnt out cinder formerly known as
Nemesis, SY 1532 (4524 AD, 5276 Years after the founding of Rome,
Juraiian Year 24688, Federal Year 538)
Despite multiple beatings, the junior Pluto almost laughed at
the collection of metals, gems, creatures, petty artifacts, lead, and
very small trees that her captor had collected following her
instructions. Of course, with my luck, this is actually some evil
ritual Setsuna told me long ago to make sure no one ever performed,
she thought. "You actually found an ABANDONED clan forge in this
century?" That actually impressed her a little. Dwarves rarely
abandoned their clan forges.
"It wasn't easy." Dark Saturn shrugged. "I had to steal the yak
milk from a museum. So, what's the first step?"
"Fuel the forge with the rowanwood. You're gonna need a LOT
more rowanwood."
"How much more?"
Pluto thought a moment. "Enough to keep the forge burning for
two weeks, fairly continuously."
"Time to go do a little deforestation. I'd tell you not to go
anywhere, but...without your staff, you're not going anywhere." She
gestured and dark energies flowed into a sword that was among the
stream of objects floating in space. It reformed into a metallic
humanoid. "Blackrazor. Keep an eye on her. If she tries
anything...take just a small chunk of her soul."
Blackrazor nodded. Dark Saturn vanished. He perched up on the
forge and started staring at her.
"I don't suppose you'd be interested in playing poker to pass the
time?" the junior Pluto asked.
He simply stared at her with his solid black eyes.
"So you prefer bridge?" She pointed. "There's an actual deck of
cards there, you know. We might as well use it." Movement among
the wreckage caught her eye. The junior Pluto smiled. "How about
Go Fish?" She kept talking, hoping that rescue was on the way
instead of more trouble.
**********
Altair system, Near Altair XI, Juraiian Year 23224 (3060 AD, 3811
Years after the founding of Rome, SY 68, Federal Year -926)
Sweat ran down Linna's brow. What was taking Ryouko so long?
It wasn't that hard to fly over and toss the bomb into the main gun
then teleport back, right?
The radio crackled to life. "You there, Linna?" It was Skuld.
"Yeah, I'm here. What's up?"
"Umm...you know that bomb I gave you?"
It took most of Linna's self-control to keep from teleporting
through the radio to Skuld and smacking her on general principles, as
she had a VERY good idea what was coming next. "Let me guess. You
gave me the Evillizer Mark V by mistake? It actually conjures ice
cream? All it does is soften hands while you do dishes?"
"No, no, the bomb is just fine. However, I was doublechecking
my calculations, and I realized that when the bomb goes off, it's
going to scramble all radio transmissions in about a five thousand
mile radius."
Linna banged her head on the wall, which made Ryo-ohki mew.
"Which kinda buggers our escape route. AFTER Ryouko has gone out
and I can't tell her to stop."
"But I've got a backup plan!"
"You'd better make it quick."
"Brew some hot water and I'll come and take you all away."
Linna thought about it for a second and nodded. "Right." It
should work. "Ryo-ohki. Earl Grey Tea. Hot." She grinned.
Ryo-ohki mewed. <What does a nobleman have to do with tea?>
Linna laughed. "Just tea, then."
A little door opened in the wall, holding a cup of hot tea. Linna
put it on the floor. "Okay, Skuld."
Skuld popped out of it. She had a tea leaf on her head now, but
she didn't notice. Linna laughed a little. "Okay, I'm ready when
you're ready."
Ryouko popped into the room. "Bomb goes off in about twenty
seconds." She saw Skuld and her eyes widened. "When did you get
here?"
"No time to explain."
Skuld's plan went off without a hitch, except for the ending.
Ryouko requested they be taken to Tenchi, so they were.
The two goddesses and Ryouko popped up in the middle of
Tenchi's imperial bathtub on his flagship, the Star of Jurai. While
Tenchi was taking a bath of course. Tenchi stared mindlessly. Linna
stared back mindlessly, then turned away. Skuld blushed
horrendously and spun around to Ryouko. "YOU PLANNED THIS!"
"Did not." She was lying, of course.
***********
Jurai, Royal Palace, Juraiian Year 23224 (3060 AD, 3811 Years
after the founding of Rome, SY 68, Federal Year -926)
Celia smiled at Lord Rodrigo of House Flaem. He was only the
fourth son of Duke Cordego of House Flaem, but she knew he was his
father's favorite son, and that his father was seeking an appropriate
marriage for him to help him gain the position and prestige they both
felt he deserved. She was also quite certain that Rodrigo was
involved in House Flaem's treasonous correspondence with the
Khunds, although she couldn't prove it.
However, she was being quite polite, as he had requested a
private audience, so they were lunching together in the Imperial
Gardens. They sat at a nice table carved from a single block of
lylyandri, a blue tree that grew hundreds of feet tall and often two
dozen or more feet across in width. Protected by Imperial Writ, only
those of the five highest grades of the nobility could own such
furniture, and only the Imperial Family owned the actual trees. The
award of lylyandri furniture was a coveted award. Indeed, only the
ten highest grades could actually dine upon it, even if invited to do
so by the Emperor himself.
Today, Celia was dressed in highly formal garb, rather than the
more utilitarian outfits she wore when doing data analysis and other
spymaster work. With the help of her daughter, she had spent an
hour carefully arranging her hair in something that could pass for
the Imperial hairstyle, which she hated, and could only mimic with
the help of a wig, but which was part of the formal etiquette.
Enough layers of cloth to clothe the population of some small towns
covered her body in bright colors, and her fingernails were carefully
painted with the symbols of the Imperial House. Celia felt like a
china doll, but she had long ago steeled herself to the etiquette of
the court. The only aspect of being Empress one day that she wasn't
looking forward to was that it would entail spending more time like
this, and less squirreled away doing the truly important work.
However, while Celia had not been born to an Imperial house,
she was far better prepared and disciplined as it required than many
members of the Imperial House of Jurai. She looked over at Lord
Rodrigo, a tall man with elaborately curled black hair, who was
similarly gotten up in many layers of clothing in a style that
reminded her of her homeworld and her youth, the traditional garb of
Japan. His 'kabi', as it was called here, was a deep blue with small
red flames upon it, the symbol of his house, the 'flame imperishable'.
Many houses considered House Flaem to be quite arrogant for taking
that religious symbol as their own, for the 'flame imperishable' was
the fire of creation, said to have been weilded in the creation of the
Universe. House Flaem never seemed to mind being called arrogant,
probably because they were.
"I understand that Lady Tana of House Yuro seems quite smitten
with you, Lord Rodrigo. Is she one of the ladies you are courting?"
Celia smiled. Lady Tana was six ranks below Rodrigo, and the odds
of them ever being allowed to marry by his father was roughly the
same as those of a snowball surviving in Hell. However, they had
been having an affair for over a year now, which they both believed
to be secret. Sadly, her ladyservants were not paid well, and had
been quite easy to bribe.
Lord Rodrigo stared at Celia in shock, dropping some of his food
right out of his mouth and into his lap, then becoming hideously
embarrassed by what he had just done. He babbled incoherently and
tried to inconspicuously remove the food, which wasn't very
possible.
Celia ignored the error, as was the polite thing to do. Gesturing
to a servant lurking nearby, she said, "My daughter saw the two of
you at Dirigar III while she was enjoying the waters there." Dirigar
III was a minor resort planet, usually not frequented by the
nobility, however it had several excellent hot springs and ski
resorts which sometimes did get noble visitors. "Noriko informs me
that you won the 'Ice Prince and Princess' skiing competion as well.
She was quite disappointed, but pleased to see that a noble lord such
as yourself was the victor." Celia kept her tone light and cheery, as
if this was all just petty gossip.
The servant helped Lord Rodrigo clean up his mess, then
departed silently. Lord Rodrigo took a moment to eat some honey
bread, then said, "I...do not recall encountering her there," he said,
seeming at a loss for words.
"Well, she was elimated in the first round. She would have come
and said hello, but she was afraid of seeming syncophantic. I
understand quite a mob of ladies were surrounding you. A hazard of
winning." Celia ate some of her honeybread as well. "Galia makes
quite good honey bread," she observed.
"Yes." He said, clearly relieved by the topic switch. "I can tell
that they used Izquierdian honey, with a hint of salfro and perhaps..."
He took another bite. "Yes, just a tiny bit of gilfron and a very light
white wine. The wine is too faint for me to be sure of the vintage,
but I think it's a Calorian White. I couldn't even begin to guess the
decade, let alone the year, however. They probably didn't use more
than a few drops." He took another bite. "Clearly Juraiian wheat.
You can tell from the texture."
If only his brain could be harnessed for some useful purpose,
Celia thought. Such a feat was beyond her, despite centuries spent
trying to pick up the knack. Her senses simply weren't acute enough,
while most Juraiian nobles were quite sensitive to fluctuations of
taste and smell. She had to cheat and use the assistance of
mechanical means and databases to accomplish the sort of feat that
many Juraiian nobles could do in their sleep by age 30. "Yes, I
believe this recipie is Lady Tana's favorite. I took the liberty of
having an extra batch made up for you to take to her when you meet
tonight."
Celia wasn't 100% certain that they planned to meet tonight,
but the fact that they had both arrived within two hours of each
other, and that Tana was not noted for travelling on her own, yet had
arrived by herself, had convinced Celia that they likely planned to
rendevous while their parents were off at the war front. The look of
shock on Rodrigo's face finished the job of convincing her.
"I...we...uh..." He was babbling again, and dropping crumbs all
over himself.
"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. I am the very soul of
discretion," Celia said. "I know how difficult such an affair can be,
especially when one's parents find out. Or other potential wives. I
can just hear Lady Arrakis running up and down the Great Hall of
Visitors screaming at everyone as I sit here."
Rodrigo gulped. Lady Arrakis was the heir to a Duchy, and Celia
was quite certain she would make a good Duchess, but she was also
quite certain that being married to Lady Arrakis would make a good
punishment for most crimes as well. She was incredibly snobbish
about rank, and quite jealous to the point that she had driven off
four previous suitors who couldn't handle having to sever all contact
with anything even vaguely female but her. Given the recent
meetings between her father and Duke Flaem, it seemed likely that
she was Rodrigo's father's first pick for a wife for his son. "That
would be...bad."
"So what did you wish to speak to me about, Lord Rodrigo? I've
been wasting your time with this idle gossip, but you are such good
company to gossip with." Now that he was off balance, this would be
easier. She took a sip of wine and began eating some sliced carrots
and onions.
"I...um. I'd like to request a commission. I want to serve in the
war against the Khunds." He gulped nervously. "I have a degree in
Military Science and five years experience fighting the Rim Pirates
in my family's holdings." He gulped again. "Father has ordered me
not to go serve in the war, but I don't care. This is the best way I
can finally make a name for myself, and I know the Empire always
needs experienced commanders."
Celia ate some of her fried pork, and contemplated what he had
just said. She hadn't been expecting this. "You understand that I
can't simply give out military commissions."
"Yes, I know, but you have the ear of those who can. I can
provide more information if you need it, to help you decide. And
offer my friendship, for what it is worth." He sounded desperate,
which surprised Celia.
Perhaps I've put him more off balance than I thought. "Yes,
that would be good," she replied. "The Imperial Family needs true
friends. There is reason to believe that some one highly placed has
been corresponding with the Khunds." Time to judge his reaction.
It was horror. "Surely no one would be foolish enough to betray
our great empire to the Khunds. Even a greedy person would realize
that the Khunds would simply kill or enslave them when they won."
He sounded shocked at the very possibility. Celia couldn't tell if he
was acting; he sounded sincere, but so had several other people who
had turned out to be traitors. "It would be...DOWN!" He shouted,
suddenly grabbing her head and pushing it down into her plate, then
flipping over her. Of all the things he could have done, this was
perhaps the thing she least expected.
His motives swiftly became clear. The familiar beat of an
energy cannon sounded, again and again, and Lord Rodrigo howled in
pain. She spun and hidden sensors kicked in, creating a vividly
hallucinated readout by feeding data directly to her optic nerves. A
well disguised drone in a servant's uniform, armed with a 'bucket of
ice' that spat energy bolts. If she had only been wearing a kabi, and
if Lord Rodrigo had not intervened, she would have been dead by now.
However, her clothing was reinforced and designed to bend and
deflect energy, and he had indeed spotted the drone. As it was, he
was being hurt, but his clothing had been well designed to stop
energy blasts as well. At least from a low-quality, though well
disguised Khundish weapon.
Energy formed in her hands into a ball and became a hurled bolt
of energy, severing the drone's arm. A second bolt severed its other
arm, and the weapon fell to the ground. It turned to run, and she
blew its legs off.
Lord Rodrigo simply stared in shock, freezing in the middle of
converting his energy shield into an energy blade. The drone
twitched and stopped moving. He let his energies dissipate. "You are
indeed of the blood of Jurai," he whispered.
Her laughter was only mental and not physical. She only let a
tiny smile form on her face. "Are you alright, Lord Rodrigo?"
He laughed nervously, putting one hand behind his head. "I
thought to protect you, but I see you are quite capable of taking care
of yourself." He stared at the drone. "How did that thing get past all
the security?"
"Very simple. Someone is a traitor and let it in." She stared at
him intently.
He gulped. "Surely you don't think I did?"
"I believe I'm meant to believe that, but I don't think you did."
Or that you could if you wanted to, she thought. Unless you're an
incredibly adept actor, which is possible, but seems unlikely, she
thought. "I do think that you're going to help me catch the person
responsible." She smiled pleasantly at him.
He ruffled his hair nervously, and for a moment, she was
reminded of the Emperor with his wives. Or her husband with his
wives for that matter. I wonder if it's genetic, she thought. Washuu
probably knows.
************
Earth, Crystal Tokyo, SY 68 (3060 AD, 3811 Years after the founding
of Rome, Juraiian Year 23224, Federal Year -926)
Dr. Hikaru Hiyama, who also sometimes used the name Hikaru
Quest in honor of her now long deceased husband, Dr. Jonathon Quest,
was busy engaging in what an egghead might call "an exciting
cultural interfacing with a being from another planet, in which one
partakes of the entertainments to be found at night in Crystal
Tokyo", but which most people would call a hot date with an alien.
He wasn't really an alien. He was Lord Ken Asagiri, and while he was
born on Juraii, his parents were both humans from Earth, exiles who
had fled during the Great Exodus in 2066 AD. He appeared to be
thirty, but was actually slightly over 700 years old. He had
inherited his father's tall build, although he was more muscular than
his father, but he had his mother's distinctive reddish eyes and her
hair color. He was dressed in a casual Earth style which felt quite
strange to him, as it was neither the Juraiian garb he frequently
wore, nor the sort of casual garb he had worn at home, growing up.
He wore a long tunic, belted at the waist and embroidered with a
scarlet phoenix against a black background, along with dark
black pants with embroidered flames. The Phoenix was the sign of
his house, and it also emblazoned the long sash he wore like a
bandolier, covered with various pins, most of them gifts given him
by Hikaru, who gave him another one after each of their dates. He
wasn't sure where she got them, or how he was going to be able to
wear them all if this kept up, but some of them were quite beautiful,
so he didn't mind too much. It was a custom in Crystal Tokyo,
although normally, you collected the pins as honors or as reminders
of important occassions in your life.
She was lovely as always, her long blonde hair flowing freely
down her back. She wore black tights and brown sandals, along with
a loose green tunic with a blue belt. Her sash was red, and almost
entirely covered with pins. He knew the stories behind a few of the
pins: a JHS award for one of her historical works, a silver half-
moon from her first visit to the Moon colony, a cast pin from a
musical she had danced in before her leg injury that had put her out
of the entertainment business. Her leg was fine now, fixed
years ago, and he was quite glad, because he loved to dance, and so
did she. Other pins were more enigmatic: a tiny staff with an orb on
top, a small locket with a picture of a young blonde boy, a tiny silver
turban with an even tinier little gem set in it, a daisy made of
copper, an odd bit of gold that looked sort of like abstract art, or
perhaps some writing system he wasn't familiar with, and most
mysterious of all, two gold sillhouettes, a man and a woman facing
each other. They were well made, and clearly represented real
people, but neither of them was Hikaru, and she wouldn't talk about
them. The one time he had asked, she clammed up and looked quite
pained, so he hadn't brought it up again.
They had just finished dancing for about two hours, and now
they were walking quietly through Espero Park on their way to a
little restaurant that Hikaru had recommended. Hikaru looked up at
the stars and smiled. "The stars are so beautiful. I think I'd like to
visit Jurai once the war with the Khunds is over."
"Well, I have to stay here until I get moved to a new post, but I
suppose I could probably finagle some time off," he said. He was
head of security for the Juraiian embassy here. It was an easy job,
given that Crystal Tokyo was about as dangerous a posting as being
appointed a janitor in the Imperial Palace. In fact, being a janitor on
Jurai was probably more dangerous. He had been here for five years,
and only once had there been any actual break-ins or espionage. He
would rather have been with his sisters or brother on the warfront
with the Khunds. They should have sent Linna here, he thought. She'd
like a cushy job like this, but then I wouldn't have met Hikaru-chan.
"And I can take you just about anywhere." House Asagiri was looked
down upon by the Juraiian nobility as upstarts, but no one could deny
their power, or their achievements. Admiral Priss Asagiri headed
the main fleet in the war against the Khunds, and had pulled off one
of the most lopsided victories against the odds in the last Khund
war. Very, very few places on Jurai, other than a few bedrooms,
were off limits to him.
She smiled at him, and they kissed under the glittering light of
the stars. It felt like forever, but Hikaru broke off the kiss sooner
than usual, which startled Ken, who wondered if he had stepped on
her foot again. She glared past him. "You'd think the Senshi of TIME
would have better timing."
He froze. Sailor Pluto was here?
Sailor Pluto laughed faintly. "Would you rather I have waited
until your mouth was full of food? Or perhaps I could have waited
about an hour and a half and caught you..."
Hikaru blushed. "You could have tried about three minutes
earlier."
"I was running another errand at that time. I have need of you."
Ken blinked, turned around, and bowed. "Good evening, Pluto-
sama."
"Good evening, Lord Asagiri. I request that you go to the
embassy and tell the Ambassador and her husband that I'm coming
for them."
Ken blinked. "What?"
"We must go to the Queen, Hikaru. Now." She looked Hikaru up
and down. "Luna will likely die." She smiled a tiny smile.
Hikaru sighed and stepped away from Ken. "Go tell Nene-chan
and Ryu-kun what Pluto said." She turned to Pluto. "Next time, I get
to interrupt YOUR date."
"I give you permission. However, if we do not hurry, the
likelihood of either of us every having another romantic evening
with anyone at any time, will become very small." Pluto took
Hikaru's hand and they vanished.
Ken really didn't like the sound of that.
************
In the orbit of Saturn, Solar System, SY 68 (3060 AD, 3811 Years
after the founding of Rome, Juraiian Year 23224, Federal Year -926)
Uranus and Neptune teleported out of the asteroid onto the CMS
Rajputana. The fleet was mopping up the Byakhee as they fled the
asteroid, which was now breaking apart. They gave the fleet orders
to move back so the Saturn Power wouldn't fry them as well, then
waited to hear from Serenity.
Before she sent new orders, however, space rippled spinward of
the fleet. A single person appeared, and then behind him, a great
black portal. A huge sphere passed through the portal. It was five
hundred feet wide when it passed through the portal, but then it
shimmered and became a thousand feet across in an instant. Then
two thousand. It drifted back away from the glowing star that had
once been an asteroid full of Byakhees.
The thing's emergence got the fleet's attention. What really
got the fleet's attention was when every single person in the fleet
heard a voice in their head, a skeletal voice reeking of death and
hate. <Bid hello to your creator for me, for you are about to meet
him. Should any of you survive, tell Serenity that the end days are
upon her.>
Before the commanders could give orders, Ityl-Nat cracked
open in front in a huge arc and opened the eye that was him. The
portal closed and his summoner departed, his work there done. Only
the presence of the "Saturn star" prevented him from destroying the
entire fleet, but about a fifth of it successfully used the star as
cover for their retreat. The others soon were annhilated, or wished
that they had been.
**********
Earth, Crystal Tokyo, SY 68 (3060 AD, 3811 Years after the founding
of Rome, Juraiian Year 23224, Federal Year -926)
Subspace radio was somewhat less fun than a telephone, since
the sound quality was worse, and at the distance Nene was from the
people she was talking from, you had to wait twenty to thirty
minutes to get a reply. What made things worse was that this was a
conference call, and the other two parties were only about five
minutes from each other. Only the importance of the news kept her
from hanging up. As it was, she was watching 'Twilights of our
Lives' and doing a crossword puzzle while the �conversation�
continued. "I didn't MEAN to land in your bathtub!" someone shouted
in the background of one of the transmissions. "It's your WIFE's
fault!" Nene thought it was Skuld, but she wasn't sure.
"She's not MY wife!" Empress Aeka shouted back.
Emperor Tenchi tried to talk over the squabbling behind him.
"I'd ask if you could hear me, Nene, but I wouldn't find out for twenty
minutes, anyway. Anyway, the Khunds are falling back, but it's
likely to take at least three months to push them back across the
fronteir. We think the Planet-Smasher has been destroyed."
There was the sound of a glomp. "But Aeka-chan, that's not
what you said last night!" It was Empress Ryoko. Nene prayed that
the news networks hadn't found a way to tap imperial again. She
could see the headlines in her mind.
That signal degenerated into anarchy, leaving Nene laughing a
little. Five minutes later, she got Celia's reply to that bout of
silliness. "Sorry to dissappoint you, " Celia said, "But I'm afraid
that the Planet-Smasher is alive and well. It..."
The signal suddenly broke up into static. Nene sighed.
Something's broken again. "Going to have to fix this blasted thing."
"Don't waste your time. Pluto is coming for you." Ken said,
huffing and puffing.
Nene turned around and blinked. "I thought you had a date with
Hikaru tonight."
"Pluto took her off. She's coming to get you too." Ken sat down
on a chair.
"Why?"
"Because...uh..." Ken suddenly realized he had forgotten to ask
why.
************
"So it has begun, Pluto?" Serenity asked, sighing. She was
sitting on her throne in her full regalia, her sceptre in her lap.
Endymion stood nearby, looking stoic.
"Yes. I must go to guard the gate of time so that Wiseman can
not force it open once he finds it." She looked at the small posse
she had assembled. Noa Izumi-Shinohara, Nene Romanova, Jenni
Ognatz, Dan Hibiki, and Hikaru Hiyama. A five team, she thought,
quirking her lips into a very slight smile. If only all the futures
where I didn't send Dan hadn't been worse than the ones where I did,
she thought...But if wishes were horses, beggars would need stables.
"Are you sure that Nene-himechan should go? She..." Serenity
began.
"If she stays, she will die." Pluto said flatly. "Only she and
Hiyama-san MUST go, but I would like to send all five."
"How will they get back?"
"The junior Pluto can summon the Gate of Time and bring them
back."
Serenity frowned slightly. "And if they don't succeed?"
Pluto reached into somewhere and pulled out a small golden
key, handing it to Hikaru. "This is a time key. With it, Hiyama-san
should be able to summon the gate." She paused, frowning.
Something was wrong. She glanced at Hikaru, who looked thoughtful.
"Don't even think it," she whispered.
Hikaru frowned and glared at her.
"Let it be done." Serenity turned to Endymion. "Summon the
command staff and my Senshi. It is time to set all in motion."
"Don't worry, queenie," Dan said. "I, DAN HIBIKI, am
undefeated! We'll kick whoever has Pluto's daughter's butt and bring
her back in no time at all." He struck what he thought was a heroic
pose.
"She's not my daughter. Just my successor." Pluto said. "And
my friend."
"You have friends?" Dan said, then immediately regretted it.
Pluto simply smiled at Dan, and said nothing. He was sweating
a river by the time they departed.
***********
Valhalla, The Third Heaven, SY 68 (3060 AD, 3811 Years after the
founding of Rome, Juraiian Year 23224, Federal Year -926), not that
mortal Calendars have much relevance for them.
Belldandy sat and stared into the mirror in which she saw the
image of her sisters, Skuld and Linna. Well, Linna was adoptive, but
it didn't matter to Belldandy. "No, I already told you once, Skuld.
Kamisama has refused permission for direct divine intervention in
this problem. Nor is building a Death Star to duke it out with the
Planet-Smasher allowed. You must abide by mortal limits, or
withdraw." She sighed. I'm sorry, Skuld.
"No one knows how to stop these damn things!" Linna shouted.
"Even Skuld's bomb didn't kill it. It just slowed it down, it looks
like. A scout ship spotted it demolishing some planets in an
uninhabited system and trying to fix itself, but I don't think it's
going to just hang out there once it's done."
"I am permitted to tell you that you know someone you haven't
consulted yet who can help you." Belldandy sighed. They're going to
do something foolish. I may do something foolish. It was difficult
to resist the impulse to meddle, which was why all the gods and
goddesses operated under strict limitations. Sometimes those
limitations chafed.
"But I'm the greatest scientific genius there is!" Skuld
shouted. "No one could possibly do a better job than I did!"
"You forgot that your creation wouldn't have the full power of
Heaven backing it up." Belldandy said quietly.
Skuld jumped up and down. "I could have levelled a PLANET
with that thing! I based it on the Zyllcarian Donut of DEATH!"
Linna blinked. "Ahh, thanks for reminding me of who we need
to talk to, Skuld."
Skuld blinked. "All the Zyllcarians are dead. I'm probably the
only person currently on the Mortal Plane who knows ANYTHING about
them. I told them not to test that thing in their home system, but
no, they wouldn't listen." For a moment, she looked very depressed.
"I should have thought of this in the first place. If you want to
spread Mass Destruction, Wasyuu is usually the best place to start
your quest. Heck, with Wasyuu, you get mass destruction whether or
not you were looking for it," Linna said. "But how to find her."
The anvil that fell on her heralded Wasyuu's arrival in the
place on the other side of the mirror-connection. "Despite your
aspersions against my skills, I will gladly help you. I've been
wanting to add a Planet-Smasher to my collection for a long time!"
Linna waggled a finger at Wasyuu. "We're not going to study it!
We're going to kill it! Nuke it from orbit! Turn it into a..."
Wasyuu turned to face Belldandy. "Say hello to Dr. Ano Itai for
me!"
Belldandy smiled. "That would be difficult."
Wasyuu's face fell. "He's in Hell?"
Belldandy shook her head. "He's not dead yet."
"But I went to his funeral!"
"You're not the only person who has ever faked their own death
just to get some peace and solitude for a delicate experiment, you
know," Belldandy said.
"True," Wasyuu said. "Anyway, let's get down to business.
Round up the posse, Linna. It's time to take this bandit down." She
put a cowboy hat on her head.
The phone rang. Belldandy said, "Well, I need to be getting
back to work. Take care, sisters."
"Bye, sis!" Skuld shouted, and Linna waved. Wasyuu posed,
making a 'V' sign until the connection faded.
The phone rang again, and Belldandy picked it up. "Goddess
Relief Office. How can I help you?"
"This is Shinobu." The voice was friendly and firm.
"Why, Shinobu-chan, it's a pleasure to hear from you. How are
you and your husband doing?"
"We're doing quite well. Can you come over here? We have
something to show you." Her voice turned a little more serious. "I'm
at work."
"I'm on duty."
"Find a substitute. This is important."
"What's wrong?"
"We'd suspect demonic intervention, but the Destiny Room is
clean...but the doors are falling anyway."
Belldandy's jaw dropped. "They're WHAT?"
"And new doors are forming. Doors we didn't make."
Belldandy yanked Urd off her vacation and took off running.
***********
In the orbit of Pluto, Solar System, SY 68 (3060 AD, 3811 Years
after the founding of Rome, Juraiian Year 23224, Federal Year -926)
Space twisted and bent itself into knots, then spat out the
fleet that was making it sick. Hundreds of crystalline ships that
looked somewhat like rock candy shimmered into view. They began
to move towards Earth, hurrying out of the orbit of Pluto as fast
as they could before its inhabitants might notice them.
Prince Demand smiled. Earth's outer defenses had been
neutralized. Its greatest ally was pinned down fighting the Khunds.
The Outer Senshi had been destroyed. The Zodiac had been
obliterated. Endymion's fleet was in ruins. Indeed, if Wiseman could
be trusted, the very power to open the roads of Time now lay within
their grasp. There remained but a single step to insure his victory.
"Send out a signal to the fleet at Altair. It is time to deploy the
Planet-Smasher." With a Planet-Smasher at his command, he
could demand anything. It might not even be necessary to fire a
single shot. He wanted to rule the world, not destroy it, after all.
There was a twenty minute wait for a reply. By that time,
they had passed the orbit of Neptune. The young man at the
communications crystals gulped. "Bad news, sir."
Demand frowned. "What bad news?"
"The Planet-Smasher seems to have malfunctioned."
"..."
The boy nodded. "There was some sort of internal explosion,
and a huge flare that vaporized two ships and destroyed another one
of the planets of the system. Then it backed up 300,000 miles for no
apparent reason, turned, and is currently headed for the edge of the
system. They estimate it will likely jump in six hours."
"Where is it going?"
"No way to know until it jumps and we study the
afterdisturbances, and that's not reliable. "
Demand frowned. "Have two ships follow it, and have the rest
join us. We have a world to conquer. Even without the Planet-
Smasher, we will TRIUMPH!"
Only empty space and a few asteroids lay between them and
Crystal Tokyo. They would arrive in ten hours.
***********
Earth, Ruins of Crystal Timbuktu, SY 1482 (4374 AD, 5226 Years
after the founding of Rome, Juraiian Year 24638, Federal Year 488)
Wiseman looked around the ruins. A once great city was a
burnt out shell. Where is she? Was this her work? He was worried.
The Time Orb was much better at showing the present and the past
than the future, and it was possible that he was wasting precious
power in this quest.
Only animal noises livened the city, and not many of those. He
held up the Orb and gazed into it, seeking his target. Soon he found
her, a little girl with wavy brown hair dressed in a tattered dress
that had once been quite valuable, but now was only rags. An
old woman, only slightly better dressed, was trying to keep up with
her as she chased a butterfly.
Power slumbered within her, and the Orb showed him the path
she was destined to take. Several shrouded roads suddenly opened
their secrets to him, and he understood what he had to do.
He glanced at the golden key he held in one hand and smiled. He
knew what must be done, and he went to do it.
***********
Earth, Ruins of Crystal Tokyo, SY 1532 (4524 AD, 5276 Years after
the founding of Rome, Juraiian Year 24688, Federal Year 538)
The Time Gate closed and vanished. For a moment, the group of
five would-be rescuers looked around in shock, and then horror set
in. "Everything is...broken," Jenni said finally, breaking the silence
that had settled upon them as they gazed on the ruins of the city
they knew, loved, and lived in.
"I am Ozymandias. Gaze on my works, o traveller, and despair,"
Hikaru whispered.
Nene glanced at the small device in her hand, a very powerful
portable computer and sensor bank. "Well, Sailor Pluto is that way."
She pointed off towards a distant star. "Only about thirty light
years that way."
"..." Dan said.
Jenni acked. "Even I would take a long time to get there, and I
can't run through deep space."
"Why did Pluto send us to the wrong planet?" Noa asked. She
checked her wristband. Alphonse was still ready in subspace when
she needed him, according to its sensors. Pluto had been right about
that at least.
Hikaru sighed. "Because the gate of Time can't leave the Solar
System, that's why." She looked around. "Jenni, go scout. Nene, try
and find the communications frequencies and see if you can figure
out anything from them. Noa, I suggest getting ready in case we
have to fight someone."
"What about me?" Dan asked.
"Dan, try not to get in the way."
Dan frowned and started looking around, trying to figure out
where in the city they were. Jenni streaked off down the street,
leaving a trail of dust. Noa summoned Alphonse and clambered up
into him. Nene played with her toy, and Hikaru found a handy pillar
to lean up against.
She reached out with her mind, trying to find thoughts. She had
always been much better with the physical aspects of the power
than the mental ones, and so she kept getting distracted by everyone
else's thoughts. Usually, she didn't mind too much. Reading minds
was too tempting, and risked doing things that shouldn't be done, but
she was a little desperate.
A few seconds after a knot of minds appeared on a rooftop
nearby, she picked them up. "Up there," she said, pointing, as the
people came into sight. Everyone turned and looked and saw them.
A portly man with short, rumpled black hair, in grey pants and a
grey wraparound jacket with blue trim, stood next to a rather ugly
woman who wore a uniform they all recognized as that of Sailor
Jupiter. She and the woman next to her had the same long white hair
which sparkled in the moonlight, but the second woman was much
more attractive and wearing the uniform of Sailor Neptune. To the
right of the portly man was an old woman in a lab coat with long
grey hair tied back in a pony-tail. She was holding a small device
that looked like the one Nene was holding. "<There they are. One of
them is gone>," she said to the others. "<I'm trying to track her, but
she's too fast>." Only Hikaru could understand her, and that was only
through using telepathy.
Hikaru hoped she was translating correctly. "<We come in
peace. We're looking for Sailor Pluto."> She prayed she was doing
this trick right, so they would hear her speaking in their language.
Dan turned to Nene. "Is this the part where we get in a fight
with the local heroes before we team up?"
"This happens to you often?" Nene asked.
"Well, the beating up part does." He frowned.
"<So are we. So who are you?> the portly man asked.
"<We're from the year 68 SY. The Sailor Pluto of our time sent
us to find the Pluto of your time, who is missing. We know where
she is now, but not how to get there. We need a starship.>"
The portly man glanced over at the woman in the labcoat, who
nodded. Sailor Neptune said, "<How did you know our Pluto was
missing?>"
"<She also lives in our time. She came to investigate a time
key that was found by a girl named Arcadia in this year.>"
Sailor Neptune's eyes got big. "<Wait...you said, 68 SY?>"
"<Yes.>" Hikaru said.
Sailor Neptune began to curse until Sailor Jupiter put her hand
over Neptune's mouth. "<We will help you.>" She turned and looked at
the portly man, and he nodded.
"<I am the Guardian of the Earth. We are the Inner Senshi. Let's
go somewhere a little more comfortable.">
"So what are they saying?" Dan asked.
"They'll help us, but only if we let them eat you," Hikaru said.
Dan's scream was almost enough to wake the dead.
************
Solar System, SY 68 (3060 AD, 3811 Years after the founding of
Rome, Juraiian Year 23224, Federal Year -926)
Wiseman returned to the 'present'. There was one more thing to
be done in the distant future, but he had business to attend to here,
first. Not that it really mattered, but he wanted to do this while he
still had the power.
He appeared near Demand's fleet, reached out, grabbed space,
and folded it. Normally, this would be ridiculously dangerous, but he
had power to spare. The fleet appeared over Crystal Tokyo nine
hours before it would have otherwise arrived.
Now I must explain what I have done to that fool Demand, he
thought. Still, I don't think he'll mind getting the jump on Serenity.
Down in the streets below them, the city was still mostly blissfully
unaware of the threat the fleet posed, for it was late at night, and
most were either partying or asleep.
They would get a rude wakeup call. The Black Moon Crisis had
begun.
John Walter Biles : MA-History, Ph.D Wannabe at U. Kansas
ranma@falcon.cc.ukans.edu
rhea@tass.org http://www.tass.org/~rhea/falcon.html
rhea@maison-otaku.net http://www.maison-otaku.net/~rhea/
"...commerce with the American colonies and plantations was
severely disrupted by political controversy during the 1770s."
T. Griffiths, P.A. Hunt and P.K. O'Brien, 'Inventive Activity in
the British Textile Industry, 1700-1800', The Journal of Economic
History, vol. 52, No. 4 (Dec. 1992), p. 897.