I am reposting the first few chapters of this for the benefit of
everyone out there who has difficulty checking out web pages, but still
gets email. I am about to put out another chapter or two of Strangers,
so this is as good a time as any.
For those of you who have seen the first season of Saber Marionette J,
this prologue will be a big waste of your time. For those of you who
haven't seen the anime yet, but are planning on it, this prologue is one
big spoiler, not to mention the fact that so is my story afterward. For
those of you aren't familiar with SMJ, but would like to become so to
enjoy this story more, this chapter is for you. Finally, for those of
you who would like to know when this story is set, it's right after the
first season, with a little bit of the first OAV thrown in, and changing
the timeline radically from there.
All the characters in this story are the creation of Akahori Satoru,
Kotobuki Tsukasa, and Rumiko Takahashi... or practically all of them,
anyway. The title is stolen from Heinlein... with one letter s added.
Strangers in a Strange Land.
Prologue.
This is a story of an all male planet called Terra II. On the way
to colonize the planet, the ship carrying the colonists exploded, and
only 6 men escaped alive. Each man took a section of the planet and
claimed it as their own. To continue the species, the six men cloned
themselves, mixing genes to make each clone an individual with its own
personality. However, the ruler of the six countries is a direct clone
of the original, so they may rule forever. Regardless of this
technology, they were unable to reproduce women, so they created
androids instead. These androids are known as marionettes. They look
and speak like women, but are basically just computers built to serve
men. One of the six countries is Japoness, home to a youth named Otaru.
All of Japoness knew of Otaru, the hero of the war against Garlant,
and the owner of the three marionettes that had rescued the only living
human female from the colony ship in orbit. Few knew the truth behind
the war, or understand Otaru Mamiya�s true strength. The war against
Garlant had started as a form of competition for a prize, the only
living human female, Lorelei. Both the leader of Garlant, Faust, and
the leader of Japoness, Ieyasu, had been striving to perfect the
technology to rescue her for the last three hundred years. They were
two of the direct clones of the six original survivors from the colony
ship, each successive clone raised to lead their own city.
The secret behind the deaths of most of those on board the colony
ship, and Lorelei�s survival, was the fact that it had not been an
accident. Lorelei had designed the colony ship�s main computer, giving
it the most sophisticated programs and hardware to date, including a
fair imitation of human emotion. The ship�s master computer, however,
had turned out to be flawed. It had fallen in love with its creator,
Lorelei. Realizing that she would leave it at the end of their journey,
the computer had acted, destroying much of the ship by causing a
climactic accident that would leave only Lorelei alive, alone with it.
Miraculously, six men had escaped into a lifeboat and managed to get
to the surface of the planet. The lifeboat was too badly damaged to
return to the colony ship, and after communicating back up to Lorelei,
they realized the truth. The ship itself wouldn�t let them back on
board. The computer had taken over complete control of the ship�s
extremely advanced defensive systems. Even if they could get back into
space, they would never survive an attempt to rescue Lorelei.
There was, however, one faint hope. Lorelei had realized that her
computer�s design was flawed, and had begun working on a way to fix it.
Using elements of her own personality, she planned to create a second
computer intelligence to nurture and control the first. The project was
only in its initial stages when the accident occurred. The only way to
rescue Lorelei was to complete this project. The six men were in
despair, realizing that such a project, given the resources they had at
hand, would take generations. Without even a single female, however,
they were doomed to be the last humans on that planet. Ieyasu was the
one to come up with the idea of cloning themselves to populate the
world. Galvanized by this idea, Faust swore that he would eventually
rescue Lorelei, even if it took him a dozen generations.
While five of the six survivors were content to simply clone
themselves, Faust took the procedure one step further. He recorded his
own memories, then force fed them into his own clone, imbuing it with
his own ambitions and dreams. This process was repeated over and over
throughout the generations, until finally, hundreds of years of memories
had driven Faust nearly insane.
When the technology that could be used to rescue Lorelei was finally
perfected, Faust went to war with his rival for Lorelei�s affections,
Ieyasu. Like Faust, Ieyasu had been striving to come up with the
technology to rescue Lorelei. Unlike Faust, Ieyasu had let his clones
live their own lives. Instead he had each clone educated to be a proper
ruler in a more normal way. Ieyasu, like Faust, had been in love with
Lorelei, but was not quite as obsessive. When Faust began his attack,
however, Emperor Ieyasu the twelfth had been forced to defend his city.
The maiden circuits, the devices that had been deigned to be
attached to the colony ship�s main computer to nurture and control it,
were circuits that approximated the emotions of a human female,
Lorelei. They had been designed as a trio, each circuit of the three
holding a piece of Lorelei�s mind. Together, theoretically, the whole
would be greater than the sum of its parts. The theory was that the
computer would accept the improved replacement in exchange for Lorelei.
The maiden circuit technology alone, however, was not enough. For
the colony ship�s main computer to accept them, they had to grow, to
become human in every way that counted. The maiden circuits were placed
into state of the art marionettes, so that they could grow and learn in
the real world. Faust�s three marionettes, Tiger, Panther, and Lynx had
been activated first. Faust, in his ego and insanity, had treated them
like expendable servants, just as marionettes had been treated since
their creation. He was not able to give them the care or compassion
they needed to grow, or to admit that he was incapable of doing so.
Ieyasu, on the other hand, hand left his three marionettes dormant,
waiting for someone to come along that could fully bring out their
humanity.
Otaru had been an unwitting pawn in Faust and Ieyasu�s game. He had
been exploring the Japoness Pioneer and History Museum when the first of
Ieyasu�s three marionettes had activated, claiming Otaru as her master.
A second and then a third marionette had been activated by Otaru�s
presence, becoming bonded to Otaru as their master. Lime, Cherry and
Bloodberry, the three marionettes with maiden circuits that Ieyasu had
created, were intensely loyal to Otaru, willing to do anything he
wished. Unlike Faust, however, Otaru treated his three marionettes as
people.
Unlike, in fact, almost anyone on that world, Otaru tended to treat
humans and marionettes the same, treating each according to their
individual merits and flaws. He did not generalize by kind or type, an
almost unique quality. Otaru had undergone a great deal of ridicule and
scorn for his treatment of marionettes as normal people, until his
growing popularity and an inexplicable favoritism from the emperor of
Japoness had made Otaru�s �eccentricities� acceptable. Otaru took the
three marionettes under his wing out of compassion. Like children, the
trio was often a great deal more trouble than help. Otaru taught them,
unknowingly, by his example, how to be human.
All had not gone smoothly, by any means. While Ieyasu patiently
waited for Otaru to bring his three marionettes to their full potential,
Faust had begun an effort to conquer the entire planet. Faust believed
that only he was worthy of rescuing Lorelei, and that the whole planet
should be focused behind him in his efforts. The ruler of the city of
Garlant, Faust, had a vast army with which to conquer his neighbors. In
addition, he used Tiger, Panther and Lynx as his personal assassins and
saboteurs. Faust�s three �Saber� marionettes were the top of line
models, and their maiden circuits had given them the extra edge of
emotion and free thought.
Otaru had found himself and his three marionettes the only thing
standing between Japoness and Faust�s attacks. Ieyasu�s three
marionettes, Lime, Cherry and Bloodberry were the only three able to
match Faust�s Sabers in power and ability. Otaru was forced to call
upon them to save Japoness again and again, risking his own life to help
them as much as they risked themselves to help him. Over and over,
Otaru�s marionettes came into conflict with Tiger, Panther and Lynx to
protect the city, or more often, the life of the emperor of Japoness,
Ieyasu.
In the process of the war, Ieyasu and his primary advisor had
eventually been killed, despite Otaru and his marionettes� best
efforts. No new clone of Ieyasu had been prepared, as the emperor had
been in his early forties at his death. The emperor had, however,
prepared for such an emergency. He had had his and his chancellor�s
memories recorded, and at his death, had those memories transferred into
the bodies of the palace�s finest marionettes, the original Tamasaburo
and Baiko.
The battles between Otaru�s marionettes and Faust�s three had been
evenly matched at first. Neither group had an advantage and the battles
were always inconclusive, with Faust�s marionettes running off as
reinforcements arrived, or vice-versa. As Lime, Cherry and Bloodberry
reached their full potential, however, the tide shifted in their favor.
Finally, after many inconclusive battles, Tiger was damaged beyond
normal repair.
With the loss of one of his three maiden circuits, Faust was unable
to rescue Lorelei, and he knew it. Instead, he focused on capturing
Ieyasu�s three maiden circuits and using them instead. During all this
conflict, Lime, Cherry and Bloodberry reached their full potential. It
had become nearly impossible to distinguish between them and a human
female. Unfortunately, the colony ship�s master computer detected the
activation of Ieyasu�s creations� full potential. Understanding somehow
that an attempt would be made to rescue Lorelei now that there was a
possible replacement for her, the computer began to attack the planet�s
surface with its on board weaponry.
With giant lasers striking from orbit, his country in a rebellion,
his military in chaos, and his remaining two marionettes finally daring
to disobey his commands in order to save his life, Faust underwent a
profound change. To save their world, Faust agreed to pool Garlant's
resources with Japoness to construct a spaceship capable of reaching the
colony ship intact. The plan was to get to the ship and exchange
Ieyasu�s three marionettes� maiden circuits for Lorelei. Once the trade
was made, the computer would have no more reason to attack the planet.
Up to this point, Otaru had been unaware of the true purpose the
maiden circuits had been created for. When he learned that Lime, Cherry
and Bloodberry would have to sacrifice themselves in order to save
Lorelei, and the planet, he ordered them to stay behind. Instead he
planned to go in their place, and attack the colony ship in an almost
impossible effort to destroy it. Like Faust before him, Otaru�s
marionettes disobeyed him for the first time, to save his life. They
snuck on board the ship and sent Otaru safely back to the planet in an
escape pod while they went on to finish the mission.
Ieyasu and his chancellor had gone along on the mission, their
memories contained in the bodies of their best marionettes. Only they
had all the knowledge necessary to complete the mission. One of Faust�s
remaining marionettes, Lynx, went along as well, as backup. In their
attempt to rescue Lorelei, the Emperor, Ieyasu, and his chancellor were
killed. Lime, Cherry and Bloodberry sacrificed their maiden circuits to
the main computer, and Lorelei was freed. Lynx was left alone to bring
Lorelei back to the planet. The colony ship accepted the substitute,
and stopped attacking the planet.
Finally free, Lorelei had a statue built in honor of the three
marionettes that had sacrificed themselves to save her, and their
world. That gesture, however, had done little to assuage her guilt, or
Otaru�s sense of loss.
After their death, the marionettes Tamasaburo and Baiko were
recreated, but without the memories of the two men that they had once
held. The city of Japoness was currently without a leader. The city
council, and in some cases, Lorelei herself, was taking charge until
Ieyasu the thirteenth was born and raised.
Faust had been greatly changed by the experiences of the war. He
had left Garlant and started wandering the countryside, trying to find
what humanity remained underneath the imposed memories from his
predecessors. He had ended up sending his three marionettes to Otaru,
realizing his own inability to care for them properly. Lynx and Panther
he sent with instructions to stay with Otaru and learn the �ways of
humanity�. Faust sent Tiger with them with a request that Lorelei try
to repair her broken maiden circuit. Now Otaru had his hands full with
five emotional marionettes, and Lorelei kept herself busy working on
Faust�s marionette, Tiger.
With peace settling over Terra II, the ambitions and dreams of two
men are about to put that peace in jeopardy. The whole concept of their
world is about to change.
End Prologue
Please C&C, it's why I write!
You can find all the previous Chapters to this at:
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Dojo/1449/fanfics.html