Book Five of the Crystal Knight Chronincals.
This is yet another of my early works and C&C, public or private, is always
appreciated.
-Komodo
**********
Prologue
Somewhere in Hong Kong......
The room was dark. Lit only by the screen dominating one wall and briefly by
the light from the hallway as the door was opened and then closed. The man
proceeded to the table in the middle of the room, and sat. Only then did he
look at the second man who stood in the shadows.
"Evening."
"Evening."
"I suppose you're wondering what you're doing here."
"I am."
"You were called here because you are the best detective we have. You're
being sent to Japan. We want information on some strange going ons there."
The first man thought for a moment.
"You're referring to these 'Senshi' that have been tearing up Tokyo and were
involved in the destruction of the Booster rockets and tanks that were to
lift the reactor flight last month at Cape Canaveral in America."
"Indeed. We have some partial information already." The Screen displayed a
festival at night. No one in sight. Then there was a flicker and several
shadowy figures appeared. One sprinted off into the trees, The biggest one
picked up two and then bounded off, followed by two more. One holding it's
right arm.
"Five minutes after this was taken, four girls checked into Tokyo General." A
picture of a black-haired Asian girl flashed onto the screen. "Raye Hino. She
was diagnosed as having a massive concussion, multiple bruises, and cracked
ribs. She was treated for her injuries and released in the morning."
An new Picture flashed onto the screen. Another girl. Her Brown hair was
pulled up into a ponytail. "Lita Kino. Diagnosed with dislocated arm,
multiple bruises and a few cracked Ribs. She too, was treated and released in
the Morning."
A third picture appeared. This one was a gorgeous Blond-haired girl. "Mina
Anio. Multiple breaks in her right leg, bruises, and a slight concussion.
Also, treated and released in the morning."
A fourth picture appeared. This one was also a girl, only her hair was cut
short and dyed blue. "Amy Anderson. Diagnosed with multiple concussions,
cracked skull, broken nose. broken ribs, punctured lung, and various other
bruises and broken bones. Spent 3 days in the ICU, poor kid. Still, she made
a full recovery, the only legacy being some slightly slurred speech and her
right eye has trouble focusing."
"What could have done that? For that matter, how did she heal so well?"
"Wasn't easy. She was in Physical therapy for some time. But surprisingly,
she has her full motor skills. A healing factor of some kind is suspected.
As for what did it, well the girls said it was muggers. But the level of
damage is far too great for that. We think it was these guys." The screen
displayed multiple images of men and women, some human, some only
human-shaped. "We have no idea who they are, although they all seem to be
extra-dimensional in nature. They're not human and are considered Class Zero
dangerous.
"What does HQ think?"
"HQ thinks there's a war of some kind going on. These guys want the Earth and
the energy it has. These 'Sailor Senshi' are doing everything they can to
stop it. All these people on the screen have disappeared and are presumed
dead." The Screen changed to display a man. His brown hair was thick and
long. "Except him. This is J. Maxsfield Stanton. Playboy and Jet setter. Made
his fortune in Real estate and World Banking." The screen displayed Stanton
dissolving while a girl held him and sobbed as three Sailor Senshi looked on.
"Taped recordings have identified Stanton as someone called Nephrite. From
what we can tell, he died.
Officially, Stanton disappeared under 'mysterious circumstances'. That was 3
years ago. Two months ago, he returned. He told the media that he had been
touring Europe and took up residence again at his mansion in the hills west
of Tokyo."
"Is it Nephrite?"
"Doubtful. We think it's an extra-dimensional duplicate. So far he has kept
mostly to himself except for once a week when he has been seen in the company
of a local girl, the same one, in fact, that was in the picture you just saw.
They meet at a coffee shop near Tokyo Tower. They have coffee and a Chocolate
Parfait. They talk for a while, then part.
Her name is Molly Naru. She's New York born and raised. Her mother moved here
some time ago and opened a Jewelry shop following a messy and nasty divorce."
"What's the mission?"
"Go to Tokyo. Track the Senshi. Gather intelligence. When you can't gather
any more, contact them."
"Recruitment?"
"Affirmative. They're using level one class Alien technology. ."
"Level one class? But that means.."
"We know." The second man's voice was weary.
"If Elurius is mixed up in this, it could mean interstellar war. Earth has no
allies and no way except for us to defend itself against that psychopath.
Nobody is going to want to get in his way except Emperor Azusa, and if they
fight, Earth will be devastated." Although the first man was saying aloud
what both knew, it served to drive home the problem they faced.
A CD-ROM was set on the table near the first Man's elbow.
"That's everything we have on the Sailor Senshi. Powers, possible civilian
ID, that sort of thing." The first man picked up the disk.
"Limits?" He asked, his mind already listing ways around them.
"Keep your cover. Howard arrived Last week."
"You're kidding."
"No. I don't need to tell you what might happen if that kid finds out about
us. We've both seen his record." The first man nodded. The Howard kid had
come very close to discovering The Project more then once.
"Keep your cover as best you can. Other then that, you're free to use your
discretion."
"Yes Sir." The First man sat back and watched a tape of the Senshi battle
various foes.
**********
Mina Anio hopped off the back of the motorcycle. Her black T-shirt and Jeans
hugging her slim form. Her long Blond hair was braided and swung as best as
it could from where it hung beneath the shiny black helmet. The Driver, Lita
Kino, pulled off her own helmet. Mina took off the helmet and set aside while
she dug through the saddlebags.
Lita was nearly 17. An Orphan, she lived alone, but she had a rich social
life. Mina was 16, but was subject to bouts of deep depression due to the
death of her boyfriend. But the bouts came less and less these days.
They both gathered their stuff, and headed for the house.
The house was huge. A Mansion that had resided in the Catskill Mountains back
in New York, it had been bought and shipped piece by piece to Japan. Where
the Owner, one Henry Spencer, who had made a fortune back in the 50's when
the U.S helped rebuild Japan after world war 2, bought a huge amount of land
and reinstalled the house on it. He then bought up more land and built a
company town for the workers at his textile and metal fabrication plants.
Although the Plants went belly-up in the 70's, the houses remained and thanks
to some ingenious marketing from the bank, had become a real estate hot spot
for the rich and Famous of Tokyo's elite .
Spencer's old house was now the Residence of the Howard Family.
Instead of going up to the Front door they went around to the side of the
garage and up the stairs to the Apartment above the Garage. Spencer's
butler/limo driver had lived here. Now it and the Garage below it were home
to Conrad Howard, a certified Genius and current victim of one hell of a flu.
Lita cheerfully knocked on the door. Neither one had been in the Apartment
before. The Door was opened by a spiky blue haired, black leather clad, gum
chewing apparition.
"Yo. Welcome." Having divulged this, the apparition turned and walked away.
Lita and Mina walked in. The Apartment was a pigsty. Video Tapes, papers with
scrawled calculations, plates piled high in the sink dirty and unwashed.
"Jeez, no wonder he got sick, look at this place." Lita set her bags down.
Mina shrugged.
"Conrad has been like this for years, his mind is always active and he can
get so absorbed in something he forgets general hygiene."
"Well he can't get well in this." Having said that, Lita headed for the
kitchen and soon the sound of dishes being washed could be heard. Mina
shrugged and headed down the hallway, she opened the door on her left and
squeezed through. The reason that the door didn't open very far was because
of the fifty or so arrows stuck in the back.
The room was also a mess. Clothes lay scattered on the floor along with
papers, circuit boards, books and duffel bags.
There were two other people in the room besides her. One was a young man, 16
years old, lying on the bed with an ice bag on his head and a thermometer in
his mouth. The other was a woman who reminded her of Janine Turner as June
Cleaver. The sick one was Conrad, the woman was his mother. Mary Howard, a
brilliant chemical and computer engineer. She was also very absent-minded,
tending to forget everything when she became caught up in a project. About
the only thing that could distract her was her children needing her. She was
seated on the bed and she reached over and plucked the thermometer out.
"104 degrees. A two degree drop. Hello Mina." She said without looking up.
"Where's your friend Lita?"
"In the kitchen doing dishes."
"Oh good. I was going to do that next. I guess I had better go help Shellie."
"Shellie's here?" Mina thought back to the apparition that had answered the
door. "Was that Shellie who answered the door?"
"Yes. She's 13 now and going through that whole teen angst thing. Her father
and I have decided to let her go and wear that outfit, instead of fighting
with her."
"Oh." Mina went back to the door and started pulling the arrows out.
"So how have you been?"
"I'm great, I've made some new friends. Without them, I don't think
I......I....." Mina closed her eyes, fighting back tears. Almost instantly,
Mary was off the bed and hugging her.
"There, there." She crooned. "Let it out." Mina sobbed hard.
"I miss him so much!" She cried between sobs. But even in her grief, Mina
knew she couldn't tell Mary the truth about David's death. That she and her
friends were the Sailor Senshi, Reborn Alien Princesses with superpowers. She
certainly couldn't tell her that David had been The Crystal Knight, an
armored warrior who had sacrificed himself to keep the Black Lady, an evil
woman from the future and another dimension who had come back in time to take
over the world. David had shoved her through a Portal into another dimension
and then followed her in to make sure she stayed there. As a cover story, the
Senshi had thrown his wheelchair off a cliff into the sea, then called for
help. When they dredged the ocean bottom, they found only his chair.
Officials assumed that the body had been dragged out to sea or smashed
against the rocks below the cliff. The story they had told the cops was that
David had rolled his chair to the cliff to get a picture of the sunrise, his
chair brakes had slipped and he went over the edge before anyone could reach
him.
They bought it, fortunately. Although there were a few people who refused to
believe that David could have slipped. But they had no proof. Chris was quite
good at covering tracks. There was simply no proof that David had been
pushed. The Case was considered closed.
But now there was a new Crystal knight Operating. Only this seemed
more.....Alien.......cold.
As though he was here to deal with the Negaverse, and that was it.
It was what was keeping Mina from going suicidal. She knew that she was
clinging to false hope, that it probably wasn't David, but if he had come
back to her, she wanted to know. She had to know. That need to know is what
had been keeping her going. She had begun to eat again, even smile a little.
Although much of it was due to Conrad.
Her eyes fell on the amazing Iggy, AKA 'Einstein', Conrad's pet iguana, who
was watching her from Conrad's bed, his beady black eyes open wide. Mina
sniffled, watching the iguana as Mary led her to the bed to sit down. Once
they had sat down, Iggy promptly picked up something in his mouth, carried it
to Mina, and offered it to her. It was the drumstick that Conrad and him
played games of 'Bat-Iguana' with. Mina smiled weakly then picked up the
drumstick, holding it level to the bed. Iggy promptly grabbed onto it with
his hind feet and as the drumstick was raised, he came to be hanging upside
down from it. Iggy blinked at Mina, an innocent 'I'm just a lizard ma'am,
don't mind me' look in his beady black eyes.
Mina set the stick back down and Iggy crawled back to rest by Conrad's arm.
By now, Conrad had dozed off.
"He's very intelligent for a lizard." Mina said. Mary shrugged.
"He's certainly loyal. He and Conrad haven't parted since David gave him to
Conrad as a gift." She smiled, got up, and left.
Since it had to be done anyway, Mina began to clean up. The Clothes were
tossed in the hamper, the circuit boards in a cardboard box. The Books and
Papers she stacked and set on the desk. The duffel bags were tossed into the
closet. Then she left the room and headed back down the hall. The Living room
had been transformed. The plates were gone. The tapes had been stacked neatly
on the coffee table. As had the papers. Everything was cleaned and polished.
"Wow."
"You like?" Lita was relaxing on the couch.
"Yeah......wow."
When Conrad woke up a few hours later, he found that Mina was sitting by his
bed. She looked at the strange expression on his face.
"You look like you've had a killer dream."
"Yeah. These Penthouse Pets wanted to take me to Funkytown. So I went.
Several times."
"Even your dreams are weird. You hate that song."
"Hate the song, enjoyed the company." He grinned wickedly at her. Mina rolled
her eyes and jammed the thermometer in his mouth.
**********
A Few days Later.
Conrad limped into the living room, his leg, as it often did, was hurting. He
set himself on the couch and stuck his leg on the coffee table. Making sure
his heel rested on a magazine.
A few minutes later, Shellie walked in, dressed in a T-shirt and cutoffs. Her
hair was an off-blue today and she wore her usual sour expression.
Neither sibling greeted each other. Instead, they sat in silence. Another few
minutes passed and their parents entered. Without a word, David Howard handed
Conrad a brochure.
After reading it, he tossed it casually in Shellie's direction.
"I assume the paperwork has already been put through." As he often did, he
said it as a statement, not a question. David nodded.
"We feel it is best. You both have many talents and we feel that Fugimyia
Academy is the best place for you two." Conrad considered this for a moment.
"Alright." Shellie was bit more vocal.
"What?! You're willing to let them ship you off to-" Conrad cut her off
"-To where they are not." Shellie's mouth snapped shut as she too, considered
the fact that they were going where there was no parents.
"Okay," she said quietly. I'll go."
**********
That Night......
David Howard stared as Conrad raked the last of the poker chips into a pile.
"I don't understand how you can constantly beat me at poker even with a
fresh, unopened deck." Conrad looked at him for a moment.
"Math."
"Oh?"
"Yes. 52 cards, 13 cards per suite. From top to bottom the suites are stacked
in the order of Spades, Hearts, Clubs, and diamonds." He left the rest for
his father to figure out.
"I see." David stacked up the cards. He knew very well that Conrad's IQ was
light years beyond the 145 the Mental Aptitude test that Conrad had taken at
age 11 had claimed. Statements like the one he had just given proved it.
"So?" Conrad took the deck and held onto it for a moment. Then he plucked
four cards from various parts of the deck and laid them on the table face
down. David reached out and turned them over. Each one was an Ace. Then it
clicked for him. Conrad had memorized the order of the deck, then watching
him shuffle and using some math, he could calculate, with a reasonable degree
of accuracy, what each card dealt would be. Amazing.
With a sigh, David handed Conrad the keys to the Sunboomer. He and Conrad had
been playing poker to settle arguments for the past 5 years. This one had
been to decide whether or not Conrad took the Sunboomer to the Academy.
Conrad had won after 2 hours of solid playing. Which made Conrad's trick all
the more amazing as he would have to keep track of the ever changing order of
cards. With chagrin, David admitted to himself that he had been flamboozeled
for the past five years. He decided not make an issue of it.
"You take good care of it."
"Like it was my very own."
**********
One month later, Raye's temple. Thursday After School.
Lita bit into the cookie. tomorrow, she and the others would be boarding the
bus for Fugimyia Academy, located near the north tip of Japan. She wondered
what they would find there.
"Oooh! I can't wait!" Serena smiled happily. "No parents, open campus! Free
Food!"
"At least she knows what's important." Chris commented sourly. Amy looked up
from her Trig textbook.
"But what about the Negaverse? If we're there, and they attack here, what's
to stop them?"
"Me, Chris, Kate and Hotaru, The Four sisters and Nephrite." Rose looked
around. "Besides, if they want us, they'll find us."
"True."
**********
The Next Morning.
Greg Morgan stood in front of his house. His luggage consisted of two
suitcases, a military duffel, and his backpack. Conrad had offered to take
him to the Academy. But he was late.
As soon as that thought entered his head, a dark blue convertible with the
Top down turned the corner and right into his driveway. Conrad grinned at him
from the driver's seat.
"Sorry I took so long, had to make some stops." He got out and stretched. He
was dressed for travel. Under the baseball jacket was what appeared to be a
Short-sleeved denim shirt over a T-Shirt that bore an Umbrella and read,
"Hail the Sacred Umbrella, or get thwacked!" His jeans appeared to be
well-worn and on his feet....Greg blinked. Conrad was wearing Bunny Slippers.
The really strange part was that it made sense for Conrad. Greg had learned
early on that Conrad did things that made no sense to anyone else but
apparently made perfect sense to him. For his part, Greg was wearing his
school uniform at his mother's insistence.
"Nice....slippers." He managed to get out.
"Thank you." Conrad picked up the backpack and tossed it onto the passenger
seat. "Just stick it on the rear floor." Sighing, Greg picked up his duffel
and was about to toss it in. That's when he saw that the back floor was
covered in bags and suitcases and on top of it was Shellie, stretched out,
her hands behind her head.
Seeing him, she snapped her gum and lifted up her legs.
"Suitcases first." She said simply. Conrad tossed in Greg's suitcases one on
top of the other. Then in went the duffel. Shellie dropped her legs on top of
it. Greg waved good-bye to his parents as he got in and buckled the seat
belt. Conrad got in.
"Ready?" He said with a smile.
"I guess so." The engine roared to life. The car backed out of the driveway,
pushing Greg forward against his seatbelt. Conrad shifted gears and put the
accelerator pedal to the floor, slamming Greg against the seat.
"Nice huh?" Conrad took one hand off the wheel and took out a pair of mirrored
sunglasses, turning the corner at top speed as he put them on. Greg gripped
the side of the car, positive he felt the driver's side wheels briefly lift
off of the pavement. Conrad didn't even bother slowing as they hit traffic,
weaving the car in and out between other cars. Greg winced as horns blasted
left and right. But finally they hit the stoplight. Greg discovered he was
breathing so hard he was practically hyperventilating.
"What's wrong? You're white as a sheet." Conrad drank from a travel mug that
bore the logo of the Statue of Liberty.
"What's wrong? You nearly killed us!" Conrad seemed puzzled.
"How did I do that?"
"Weaving through the cars like a maniac!" Greg's voice had risen to a fever
pitch. Conrad shrugged and hit the accelerator as the light changed to green.
"Greg, do you, and I'm saying this as a friend, do you know what your
problem is?"
"What?"
"You're too uptight."
Shelly popped up from the back seat and stuck her head between them.
"Yeah, you need to loosen up." She snapped her gum.
"Have a laugh now and then." Conrad said as he changed lanes without
signaling.
"I--" Greg gulped out, But Conrad continued.
"See Greg, how we grow up shapes how we react to life, how we dress, even the
kind of friends we choose. So if your parents are racist atheists, then
you'll be one too, unless you encounter an opposing influence. That's one of
the great things about being human you see, we can make conscious decisions
to change our behavior if we so choose."
"Uh-huh," was all Greg managed to get out.
"So if you want to loosen up, you have to make a conscious decision to
change. You told me that you wanted to learn how to relax and loosen up
didn't you?
"Uh-huh." They changed lanes.
"So as the first step towards loosening up, why not lose the monkey suit?"
"My uniform?"
"Just the jacket." Greg hesitated then pulled it off.
"Now what?" He said, crumpling it up into a wadded ball.
"Chuck it."
"You mean just toss it away?"
"Yep."
"I dunno......I mean, I could hit someone."
"And?" Conrad looked over at him. "So what? You wanted to be adventurous
right?"
"Well, yeah......." The Car stopped for a light.
"So chuck it." Greg looked down at the wadded ball in his hands.
"Where?"
"How about Cyrano over there?" Conrad pointed. Turing his head to follow the
finger, Greg saw a tall guy dressed in a gi with a wooden sword in his hand
reciting bad poetry to well-built redheaded pigtailed girl in Chinese clothes
who looked like she wanted to cream the other guy. Off to one side stood a
second girl holding a black pig with a yellow kerchief around it's neck. At
that point, Shellie sat up in the back seat and yelled.
"Hey! Cyrano de Moron!" They all turned to look at them.
Figuring what the hell, Greg pitched the ball and smacked it right into the
bad poet's face as the light changed. Turning his head to see the
aftereffects he saw Shellie giving Cyrano the finger with both hands as they
left the group in the dust.
Settling himself back in the seat as they turned onto the freeway, he felt a
grin spread across his face.
"That was fun."
"You're so right Greg," Conrad steered them into the Fast lane. "Right as
rain."
**********
It was about an hour later that Greg turned his head to say something to
Shellie and found himself face to face with a Lizard.
"AH!" He shouted as he reared back. Conrad looked at him.
"What?" Greg raised a trembling finger to point at the lizard, who was
hanging on to the headrest and backrest with it's claws. Conrad followed the
finger. "Oh. That's Iggy, short for Einstein."
"You have a Lizard for a pet." Greg said slowly. Conrad nodded. Despite the
fact that he had always had an irrational fear of reptiles, Greg forced
himself to relax. "Why am I not surprised?"
For some reason, Conrad found that hilarious, and laughed for the next five
minutes.