------------------------------------------------------------------------
SAILOR MOON 4200: What has gone before
------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the year 3478, Crystal Tokyo was destroyed. A nameless evil awoke
deep under the city, and transformed much of the world's population into
mindless crystalline creatures. An attack on the Ginzuishou itself left
Queen Serenity impotent, and she and her Senshi died fighting a hopeless
battle against the invaders.
Civilisation fell; a new dark age began. Now, centuries later, a new
world order has arisen, centred on the city of Third Tokyo, and governed
by the shadowy Serenity Council -- and through them, by the unseen Enemy
that destroyed Crystal Tokyo.
Artemis, Rei and Setsuna all survived the final battle. Now, Artemis
and his young great-granddaughter Bendis have formed a new generation of
Senshi: Mercury (Sharma Dhiti), Venus (McCrea Beth), Mars (Kodama Iku),
Jupiter (Hayashi Miyo) and Uranus (Itagaki Suzue).
The Council have a hidden plan that involves the Senshi. They create
monsters known as vitrimorphs, ostensibly to hunt the Senshi, but really
to lure them into fulfilling the Council's purpose. The vitrimorphs are
commanded by Twelve, a council member given strange powers by the Enemy.
The first exploits of the Senshi are national news but public opinion
soon takes a disturbing direction: some people hate them; others want to
worship them. One of the new Senshi, Suzue, is actually a member of the
Church of Serenity, a group who believe that the queen was a goddess.
Meanwhile, the other survivors of Crystal Tokyo have become involved:
Pappadopoulos Itsuko (previously known as Hino Rei), and Fumihiko Sadako
(once Meiou Setsuna). Itsuko, now powerless, lives quietly as the owner
of the Olympus Gymnasium. The Olympus comes under Council investigation
when Itsuko tries to aid Artemis, and to preserve the secret of her past
she seeks help from an old friend in the criminal Sankaku Clans; however
this only makes the investigators more suspicious.
Artemis realises that Miyo is actually Kino Makoto, now reborn into a
third lifetime. When he tries to reawaken her past memories, though, he
accidentally restores her memories of the Silver Millennium too. Later,
when her family learn of her past, they are shocked; her father formally
disowns her, and she moves into the Olympus with Itsuko.
Meanwhile, a friend of Beth and Iku has learned that they are Senshi,
and is looking for the identities of the others as well ...
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tsukamoto awoke with the siren song of the plants in his ears. His eyes
snapped open in indignation. It was no longer just his hedge; the green
conspiracy was obviously spreading. He'd tried to warn the authorities,
but would they listen?
Outside, the singing rose and fell. He scowled, and clenched his teeth
in resolution. Very well, then; it fell to him to save the world. He
would not flinch from his duty.
He rose from his bed, staggered a little at the pain in his back, and
set about girding himself for war. Solemnly he wrapped a loincloth
about his hips, and then flung open the wardrobe in the corner of his
tiny room.
His eye fell upon a long bundle standing at the back, wrapped in faded
silk. Forgetting his search for suitable battle-raiment, he lifted the
bundle, removed the wrapping reverently, and held up the weapon thus
revealed to catch the light.
It was a katana: a family heirloom, ancient and fabulously valuable.
Tradition said that it had been forged by the legendary swordsmiths of
Kyushu in 3927, only a few years before the city fell to the raiders.
His arm shook, just a little, as he drew the blade. He held it aloft
for a moment, his lips moving in a silent vow of dedication.
Then, with a defiant battle-cry on his lips, Tsukamoto Akira strode
forth to war.
--**--
It was, his neighbours later agreed, one of old Tsukamoto's better
mornings. He emerged from his room at the nursing home, scaring one of
the nurses almost to death, and shouting that the plants were out to
conquer the world. The bit about the plants, at least, was nothing new.
The fact that he was wearing only a threadbare loincloth, and waving a
baseball bat as if it were a sword ... that part was different.
Followed by a small but steadily-growing crowd of delighted young
children, he marched down to the botanical gardens, approached a stand
of rose bushes, and challenged them to a duel. Nobody quite heard what
the rose bushes replied, but it must have been inflammatory. Tsukamoto
yelled at the top of his voice, and attacked.
It was quite a match. The roses gave a good accounting for themselves,
judging by their assailant's shouts and curses. The battle raged back
and forth for some time, or at least Tsukamoto did, with both sides
taking a good deal of damage. Rather to everyone's disappointment, the
proceedings finally drew to a halt when 'P' Division arrived.
"Did I win?" he asked the two harassed-looking officers plaintively as
they disarmed him. "Is the Earth safe?"
The crowd gave him a round of applause as the officers helped him into
an ambulance and drove off.
A teenage girl was walking through the gardens. She paused for a moment
at the edge of the crowd, watching unobtrusively, as she went by. At
last, unenlightened, Kodama Iku gave a baffled shrug and continued on
her way to school.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
S A I L O R M O O N 4 2 0 0
------------------------------------------------------------------------
by Angus MacSpon
macspon@ihug.co.nz
http://shell.ihug.co.nz/~macspon/fanfic/index.html
Comments and criticism welcome!
Based on "Sailor Moon" created by Naoko Takeuchi
------------------------------------------------------------------------
C H A P T E R T E N
"Discovery: Night Excursions, Day Trials
and the Danger of Taking a Bath"
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Beth sighed as she walked through the school gate. It felt like forever
since she'd been here. The previous day alone had seemed to last an
eternity. It had been seven hundred and twenty-two years long ...
And yet, she saw, the school was the same as ever. The sun still shone;
the courtyard was filled with boys and girls, talking and laughing.
Nothing had changed; yet at the same time, it seemed somehow unfamiliar.
That meant something, she thought; but what? Was it she, and not the
school, that was different?
She did not have long to brood about it, however. Nanako intercepted
her as she walked toward the school building. Some things, she realised
wryly, never changed.
"Hiya, Beth-chan!" the girl said cheerfully. "Have a good weekend? You
look tired," she added, frowning at her for an instant.
"Umm. Fine," Beth answered. In fact she'd been beaten nearly to death
on Saturday, and then spent all Sunday listening to the story of the end
of the world; but she could hardly mention that. And she did feel
tired; she hadn't gotten much sleep the night before. Her head still
ached, and her dreams had been bad.
"Oh. Good," Nanako answered, not seeming to notice her lack of
enthusiasm. Then she frowned. "You're limping."
"I went out jogging," Beth replied. "I fell, and got banged up a bit."
All three statements, she reflected morosely, were literally true. They
just didn't quite go together the way they sounded.
"You should relax more," Nanako advised her sagely. "All that ...
action stuff is bad for you." She laughed, as if she'd said something
funny.
"I suppose so." A moment later Beth brightened as a familiar figure
approached. "Good morning, Eitoku-kun," she carolled.
"Good morning, Beth-kun," he answered solemnly. "Hi, Nana-chan. What's
new?"
Nanako's eyes lit up. "I heard there was another Senshi battle on
Saturday," she said.
Eitoku let out a groan. "Hooray," he said.
"You did?" Beth blurted out at the same moment, startled. [But that
wasn't in public,] she thought, alarmed. "Um ... where did you hear
that?" she asked.
"Beth-chan, please. I hear everything. You know that." Nanako looked
insufferably smug. "Apparently a burglar alarm went off at an abandoned
warehouse, and 'P' Division found a lot of wreckage there, and piles of
those crystal shards all over the place. _And_" -- she played her trump
card -- "there were two dead bodies in one of the buildings. And they
were surrounded by photographs of Sailor Venus!" She fixed Beth with a
gimlet stare. "What do you think of _that_?" she demanded triumphantly.
Beth shrank back. "Bodies?" she asked, shocked. "And -- photographs of
m-- of Venus? I -- how? Where?"
Eitoku sighed. "Where do you hear all this stuff, Nana-chan?" he asked.
"Sometimes I think you're making it all up."
"Don't be silly. My father is a 'P' Division officer, remember?"
Nanako smirked at him. "I should start charging you guys for all this
information. I could make a fortune."
He snorted. "You think people would _pay_ to hear you spread rumours?"
"Well, that's true." She pulled out her purse and studied it
mournfully. "Besides, it'd be too much trouble. All that running
around, collecting debts ... Hey, you all right, Beth-chan?"
"I --" Beth swallowed. "Bodies?" she repeated. "Who? What happened
to them?"
Nanako studied her thoughtfully for a moment. At last she said, rather
more seriously, "A pair of caretakers, I think. Dad didn't say much."
Beth waited for her to ask why she wanted to know, but she didn't.
Instead, for no apparent reason, she said, "All the photos were blurry,
like always."
"Oh!" Beth hadn't even thought of that. "Umm, right." Then a happier
thought occurred to her. "So they still don't know who Sailor Venus
is."
Nanako winced, as if in pain. "No," she said heavily. "I guess they
don't. Hey, Beth-chan, have you ever heard of the word 'subtlety'?"
"Huh?" Beth stared at her. "Yes, of course. What are you talking
about?"
"Oh, nothing. So, Eitoku-kun, anything exciting happen to _you_ over
the weekend?"
"Who, me? No." Nanako rolled her eyes at Beth, who stifled a giggle.
But then Eitoku brightened and said, "Oh, wait. I was doing some
reading at the library --" Nanako rolled her eyes again "-- and I saw
this announcement on the notice-board. 'D' Division is sponsoring a
new political-studies program for students. I sent off an application
form."
Nanako blinked. "I asked if you did anything exciting, and you tell me
about a political-studies program?"
He glared at her. "That _is_ exciting!" he protested. "You know I want
to join 'D' Division when I graduate, and this could be a big help!"
Beth could not keep the laugh in any longer. "'D' Division? You want
to be a spy?"
"Diplomat!" he retorted.
Beth and Nanako glanced at each other. Then, "Spy!" they chorused.
"Diplomat!"
"Spy!"
"Diplomat!"
"Is this a private game, or can anyone join in?" came a voice from
behind them.
"Spy!" shouted Nanako happily. "Oh, hi, Iku-chan. No, roll on in.
We're just telling Eitoku-kun how he --"
She blinked. "Iku?"
It was Iku, all right, but she was smiling: faintly, nervously, but
definitely. It made her whole face look different. "Hi, Nana-chan,
Eitoku-kun," she said. "Hi, Beth."
Her smile faded as the other three stared at her. "Umm," she said
hesitantly, "what were you telling Eitoku-kun?"
"Um. Right." Nanako gave her one more look, then shook her head.
"We were, um, just telling 'Toku-chan how he --"
Beth listened with half an ear as Nanako effortlessly spun the story out
into a lengthy drama, with frequent interruptions and complaints from
Eitoku. Most of her attention was on the girl standing beside her.
Iku had been so upset yesterday and on Saturday; now, suddenly, she was
acting almost ... well, normal. She wasn't cringing whenever anyone
looked at her; she was speaking without being spoken to; and she was,
well, smiling. Beth had never seen her this way before.
-- Well, no. Actually, she _had_ seen Iku this way -- weeks ago, back
when Beth had been watching the three secretly; before she'd dared to
speak to Eitoku. Iku had seemed a lot more alive then. And come to
think of it, even yesterday, once she'd calmed down, she'd seemed pretty
relaxed. What was going on?
She was jolted from her reverie by a shout from Eitoku. "All right, so
I'm interested in politics!" he complained. "What's wrong with that?"
"It's the most boring subject on the planet!" Nanako shouted back.
"That's what's wrong! You might as well spend your time watching snails
climb a brick wall! At least the snails get somewhere!"
"It is not boring!" Eitoku insisted. "It's the most important thing in
the world!" He clenched his fists, struggling to find the words. "It's
... politics is what lets people live together, work together! It's not
just about governments and who rules who. Politics is ... is what
separates us from animals!" He gazed at her earnestly. "Look, if two
animals disagree, they fight. But politics is what lets humans _not_
fight! If two people have a disagreement, instead of coming to blows
over it, they can settle their differences and work out a solution they
can both live with. And that's politics! Politics is _everything_!"
Nanako gave him a suspicious look. "You've been practising that speech,
haven't you?"
He exploded. "Damn it, this is serious!" he shouted.
Her eyes widened; then, to Beth's surprise, Nanako actually backed down.
"All right, all right, it's serious," she said placatingly. "Only ..."
She gave a melodramatic sigh. "Why did you have to be interested in
something so _dull_? Give that brain thing of yours a rest, Eitoku-kun.
Live in the real world for a change."
He snorted, shaking his head; but his anger had faded as quickly as it
had flared up. "Real world? If I get into 'D' Division after I finish
school, and work hard ... who knows? I could end up on the Serenity
Council someday. Is _that_ real enough for you?"
Nanako made a face. "You, a Serry? What a horrible thought." She
looked over to Beth. "Beth-chan ... does this boy look like Serry
material to you? Be honest now."
Beth thought about it. Eitoku was wearing that earnest, determined look
that made her heart want to melt. She opened her mouth to answer --
"Beth," Nanako said sharply, "you're getting a 'yes' look on your face.
Stop it."
"Fine," Beth huffed. "I'll just join 'D' Division as well, and be a spy
like Eitoku-kun."
Eitoku groaned. "Diplomat," he insisted.
"Spy!" shouted Beth, Nanako and Iku together. Then they looked at each
other and started to laugh.
At last Eitoku joined in. Once the laughter had died down, though, he
said, "Come on, you know that's just in bad anime, that all the
diplomats are really spies. It's an urban legend."
"Hey!" Nanako said indignantly. "'Shadow Ambassadors' is not a bad
anime! It's great! Anyway," she added more quietly, "my father says
half the staff in our embassies are sending back coded reports every
day. You want to bet they _aren't_ spies?"
"A lot your father would know about it," Eitoku said.
"He's a colonel in 'P' Division!"
"He's a lieutenant. You told me six months ago, remember?"
"Oh, that's right." Nanako hesitated. "Well -- anyway --"
He shook his head sadly. "The bell's going to go in a couple of
minutes. I'm going in to class." He turned and started toward the
school building. Nanako gave a startled squawk and ran after him.
Beth waited for them to get out of earshot, and laid a hand on Iku's
arm. "We have to talk," she whispered.
Iku jumped at the touch, then recovered. "What about?" she asked.
Beth took a quick glance around. Nobody was nearby. "After that fight
at the warehouse on Saturday," she said quickly, "Nanako says the police
found two dead bodies in one of the buildings. Surrounded by pictures
of me -- I mean, Sailor Venus!"
Iku said nothing for a moment. "You think somebody knows who you are?"
she asked cautiously.
"Maybe!" Beth hissed. "And maybe somebody killed those two people to
find out, too! Iku, what do you think I should do?"
"What do _I_ think?" Iku seemed taken aback. At last, tentatively, she
said, "You ... could ask Bendis? Or Miyo-sama?"
"'Sama'?" Beth asked, startled. Then she shook her head impatiently.
"Yeah! Great idea!" She pulled her sleeve back to reveal her
communicator. "Geez, this thing's fast again," she muttered. She
tapped the 'send' control gingerly and waited.
After a few seconds the tiny screen lit up to show Miyo's face. "Beth?"
she asked, startled. "What's the matter? Another attack?"
"No --" Quickly, Beth outlined what Nanako had told her. "What do you
think we should do?" she finished nervously.
Miyo was silent for some time, frowning in thought. "Maybe that's what
she was talking about," she said at last.
"Who?"
"Lady Blue. After the battle, she gave me a photograph of you. She
told me that she'd ... 'taken care of it' for me. For us."
Beth stared at her, open-mouthed in shock. "You mean ... she killed
them so they wouldn't -- they couldn't -- No! That's impossible! You
can't think that!"
"I think," Miyo said slowly, "that there might not be much she wouldn't
do. I think that she wants us to ... to do something for her, and maybe
she doesn't want us ... distracted until we've finished."
"No --" Beth began.
"And I think," Miyo went on, overriding her protest, "that I want Sailor
Mercury to scan the site with her computer. If Lady Blue was there
before you were, setting a trap ..." She smiled, showing her teeth.
"This time, she might just have made a mistake."
She broke the connection before Beth could answer her. Beth and Iku
exchanged a long look.
"She said she'll look into it," Beth said at last.
Iku licked her lips nervously. "Bodies," she said, and shivered.
"Yeah." Beth felt like shivering too. Unconsciously, she reached up
and rubbed the spot on her arm where she had been shot, a month before.
The bullet had left a scar, so faint as to be almost invisible. Then,
someone had shot her; now, two people were dead because of her. It was
a dangerous game that she was involved in. And seven hundred years ago,
all the players had died ...
She tried to push the thought away, think of something else. To her
relief, at that moment the school bell rang. She trudged in to class,
still worried. She found it very difficult to concentrate on her
lessons all day.
****************
Wright Mark and Keenan Liam sauntered down the school hallway, talking
animatedly. They were on their way to gym class, and taking their time
about it; the PE teacher was notoriously late on Monday mornings. In
the meantime, they had time to catch up on the weekend.
The two of them made a strikingly similar pair, except for their hair:
Mark's was short and well-groomed, while Liam had a wild mane of a
ponytail. Both attracted admiring glances from some of the passing
girls. Both of them ignored the glances, for different reasons.
"So how was Saturday?" Mark asked, giving his friend a knowing grin.
"Big date with the dream girl?"
Liam looked startled. "Who? Oh, Kin." He snorted, and rubbed his
cheek. "Not so great," he admitted after a moment.
Mark grimaced. "You're not getting grabby, are you? I told you, wait
until the third date --"
"It's not that!" Liam was blushing. "Anyway, we've had more than three
dates already ..."
"Oho!"
"Idiot!" He sighed. "It's just ... I like her, she likes me, so what's
the problem? But on Saturday ..." He rubbed his cheek again,
reminiscently. "I don't know. I must have said something wrong, I
don't even know what. But she tells me I need to sort out what I'm
looking for ... whatever that means. And now she's not talking to me,"
he finished mournfully.
Mark whistled slowly, and laughed. "You've got it bad, all right," he
said.
"I suppose. I'll have to find a way to apologise to her, I guess. If I
can work out what I did."
"You'll manage," Mark told him. "If she cares, she'll forgive you ...
eventually."
"Oh, that helps," Liam said sarcastically. "You think Miyo's ever going
to forgive _you_?"
"Oh, man. Maybe in a thousand years." Mark grimaced. "I don't know
what else I can do. Lately, she even looks at me and she gets mad. If
I could just find out what happened to her --"
"Poking around and asking questions is what got her mad at you in the
first place."
"Yeah. But still ..."
They reached the boys' changing rooms and found their lockers. Mark
began to unbutton his shirt, then paused as Liam touched his shoulder,
holding a finger to his lips. Mark listened. Some other boys were
talking, just out of sight around the corner.
"-- Hayashi? Come on," one of them was saying. "The big cow'd hit you
as soon as look at you!"
"Great tits, though," said another. They laughed.
"Yeah. Oooh, wouldn't mind getting a handful of that --"
"Is it worth your life, though?" More sniggering.
"Dunno why she's so snooty about it. You heard why she got thrown out
of home, didn't you?"
"Oh, yeah, one of her customers complained to her father, right?" They
laughed again. "Hey, did you hear what it was the customer complained
about --?"
There was more, but Mark stopped listening. He looked down at his
hands, frozen on the buttons of his shirt. Slowly and carefully, he
removed the shirt and put it in his locker. Then he stepped around the
corner and tapped on the shoulder of the nearest speaker.
"Excuse me," he said in a very calm voice. "What was it you were just
saying?"
****************
Bendis prowled through the McCrea home restlessly. She was bored beyond
belief. It was not, she reflected frustratedly, shaping up to be a good
day. For one thing, she was stuck inside.
When Beth's mother had left for her afternoon job, an hour before, she
had absent-mindedly closed the little side-window that the cat used to
get in and out of the house. Bendis didn't actually want to go
anywhere, really; but the knowledge that she couldn't have even if she'd
wanted to was driving her crazy.
She wandered into Helen and Edward's bedroom and stared around dourly.
For a few moments she thought about leaving a hairball on the bed, just
to let them know how she felt, but then reluctantly discarded the idea.
Beth might get annoyed when she heard about it, and Bendis was trying to
stay on Beth's good side at the moment.
The Senshi meeting the previous day had finally cleared the air between
them. All the little untruths and prevarications were out in the open
at last; and amazingly enough, Beth had accepted it all without
hesitation. She had even taken Bendis' part against Artemis; and _that_
had been a moment beyond price.
After the meeting, when they'd come home, the girl and the cat had
played it very cool. They were old friends, that was all; and there was
absolutely no need to mention certain uncomfortably emotional scenes
that had played out earlier. They had said good night to each other
calmly and gone to bed without any fuss, and Bendis for one had slept
soundly. Eventually.
All the same, she had a nagging feeling that sooner or later the two of
them were going to have to talk about it, and frankly she'd rather that
it be later than sooner. Therefore, it was imperative that she not get
Beth upset, because Beth might want to discuss Bendis' imagined
shortcomings, and who knew where that might lead?
Abruptly, she realised that she was sitting on the windowsill, staring
longingly out the window. With a snort, she turned and leaped down to
the floor.
She landed next to a book that was lying open, face-down, on the floor
by the bed. [Rotten way to treat a book,] she thought automatically.
It was something she'd heard Beth say rather often. Beth was not a big
reader, but she had definite ideas about how to look after the books she
did have.
Then Bendis realised what else had caught her eye about the book, and
forgot about the dangers of cracked spines. The cover showed a dim,
ghostly picture of a woman's face. Superimposed over it was embossed a
stylised crescent moon. The title of the book was, "Secret Warriors:
The Women Who Built Crystal Tokyo."
She stared at it uncertainly for a few minutes. It didn't necessarily
mean anything, she told herself. It certainly didn't mean that Beth's
parents knew too much. With a new group of Senshi operating in Third
Tokyo, it would be perfectly natural for them to be reading up on the
subject. She should almost have expected this.
All the same, she couldn't help remembering the time, weeks before, when
Beth had told her that her mother distrusted the Senshi and had, in
fact, made her promise to stay away from them. Beth had managed to word
the promise so that she hadn't actually had to break it; but still, the
situation had shaken her.
Now Bendis was the shaken one. The book meant nothing; surely it meant
nothing; but still ... did Helen McCrea suspect something?
It was possible. Bendis had to admit that Beth was not the best in the
world at keeping secrets. (That Nanako girl had seen through her pretty
quickly.) Historically, parents were not very good at realising that
their daughters fought evil in their spare time; but she was not certain
that the precedent would hold up in this day and age. There was Miyo's
case, for example.
Perhaps it would be as well to have a word with Beth when the girl got
home from school, she reflected. Just a caution, to be a little more on
her guard. After all, if Beth got thrown out like Miyo, Bendis might
end up back at the Olympus again.
She gave the book one more glance, then sighed and walked slowly out of
the room. Maybe she could persuade Beth to read the book herself; it
might give her a better idea of _why_ secrecy was a good idea. Things
had been pretty chaotic for Serenity and her friends, back when their
identities had been revealed to the world at the end of the twentieth
century.
Actually, it might do Beth good in other ways, too. Her ideas of the
past were still a little distorted by that wretched viddy program,
"Queen Serenity and her Senshi." It didn't help that, infuriatingly,
Bendis still hadn't seen an episode herself.
That thought brought the cat to a sudden halt. She was in the living
room. The viddy set was right there. And the remote control ... was
right _there_. She held up a paw and studied it, then looked at the
remote control again.
Hmm.
****************
"Well?" asked Miyo. "Did you find anything?" She was lying on her bed
in her room in Itsuko's suite. It was growing dark outside.
She saw Dhiti sigh on the tiny screen of her communicator. "Did you
have to call me on this thing?" her friend asked peevishly. "I was
watching the viddy when it started beeping. I nearly had a heart
attack. I thought it was a real emergency."
Miyo waved a hand impatiently at the screen. "Yes, but --" she began.
"My father was pretty surprised, too," Dhiti went on obliviously. Then
she brightened. "He started asking nosy questions, so I told him it was
my pacemaker going off."
"Yes, but ... but ... What did he say about that?" Miyo found herself
asking involuntarily.
"He said good, if I ended up in hospital maybe he'd finally get some
peace and quiet."
She took a deep breath, and counted to ten. "Yes, but what did you
_find_?"
Dhiti gave a haughty sniff. "Anyone would think you _want_ me to have a
heart attack, Hayashi. Oh ... all right. Yeah, I went back out to the
warehouse and did some scans. The whole place was full of weird energy
signatures, but I think that was from the shards of that vitri-whatsit.
They matched --" She hesitated suddenly. "They matched other scans
I've made of shards," she said at last.
Miyo noted her sudden reluctance, but decided to leave that point for
later. Instead she focused on her direct concern. "What about Lady
Blue? Did you get anything?"
"Not really." Dhiti shook her head. "I'm still pretty new at this
stuff, Hayashi, and you know computers were never really my thing. I
did check the room where the bodies were found." She grinned for a
moment. "It was covered in 'P' Division markers. Easy to find."
"And?" Miyo insisted.
"And, nothing!" Dhiti gave her an annoyed look. "There wasn't anything
there. The only other energy signature I could find was a burglar alarm
on the wall; and even that had an 'M' Division label. No clues at all,
Hayashi. Sorry."
Miyo sat down on her bed sharply. "Damn," she said. "I thought for
once -- I was so certain --"
"Yeah, well." Dhiti did not sound too sympathetic. "It was kind of a
long shot, wasn't it? Old Lady Blue's been pretty clever so far."
"Yes, but if there'd been some remnant of the trap -- anything we could
have used to try and trace her ..." Miyo sighed. "I just can't help
thinking we're missing something obvious. Like the way she always looks
so familiar for some reason ..."
Dhiti rolled her eyes. "You keep saying that, but _I_ can't see it.
Look, don't knock yourself out, Hayashi. There'll be other days. Maybe
next time she'll accidentally drop her business card, or something."
"You're a big help, Dhiti."
"Oh, I know. But it's always nice to have confirmation. I'll send you
a bill at the end of the month." Dhiti smirked at her. Then, suddenly,
her eyes widened and she said, "Oh! While I remember -- did Kin give
you the news after school today?"
Miyo blinked at the sudden shift in direction. "News? No. What --"
"She didn't tell you about Mark-kun?"
She felt a sudden sinking feeling. "Oh, no. What about him?"
Dhiti was actually jigging up and down in glee on the communicator
screen. "Oh, you're going to love this! This is so great! I heard
some of the other girls talking at school today. I was going to tell
you about it, but then I had to run off to this old warehouse for no
good reason --"
"Will you get on with it?"
"Calm down, Hayashi. You'll give yourself a heart attack." Dhiti
chortled at her own wit, then rattled on, "It's just sooo romantic!
Apparently he heard some of the other guys talking about you at gym, so
Mark-kun -- no, wait, I think I'm going to start calling him Mark-chan.
Do you think he'll mind?"
"I'm sure he'll be ecstatic. Talking about me?" Miyo asked. "What were
they saying?"
"Err." Dhiti came to a sudden stop. "Well -- um. Err. You remember
what some people were saying about you at school last week? About why
you got ... you know?"
"Yes," Miyo growled.
"Umm. It was like that, only, well, kind of worse. Anyway, when
Mark-chan heard them, apparently he went sort of berserk. I can just
see him as a Viking warrior, can't you?"
"Oh, no." Miyo clutched her forehead. "Tell me he didn't."
"Of course he did! That guy's got it for you pretty serious, Hayashi.
When he was finished with them, they could hardly walk. You know," she
went on thoughtfully, "you have all the luck. You've got your own
knight in shining armour, ready to leap to your defence and do battle
for your honour at a moment's notice ..."
"He can't defend me! He's the one who started the problem in the first
place!"
"Well, _yes_. But that was an accident, you know," Dhiti told her
seriously. "He had no idea what had really happened. He was just
trying to find out the truth so he could help you somehow --"
"You think I don't know that?"
"-- And he's apologised, like, at least twelve thousand times since
then. And now he's actually _fighting_ for you. Doesn't that count for
something?"
"You idiot!" Miyo burst out. "You have no idea what you're talking
about!"
She broke the connection before Dhiti could reply, and sat back on her
bed. Her hands were shaking. The immense unfairness of the situation
made her want to scream. That Mark should want to defend her -- as if
he had some kind of _claim_ over her! It made her feel ... not angry,
somehow, but almost afraid.
At last, unable to stand the silence of her room any longer, she went
out into the living room. Itsuko was sitting there, watching the viddy.
A news program was showing; Araki Mamiko, the director of 'K' Division,
was giving a speech. Itsuko looked up as Miyo came in, saw her
expression, and said, "She didn't find anything, did she?"
"No!" Miyo snapped. Itsuko raised her eyebrows at her tone, and
maintained a discreet silence. Miyo picked up a paperback romance that
she had been reading earlier and began to scan it determinedly.
She was so upset that she quite forgot to call Beth back and tell her
that Dhiti hadn't found anything.
****************
The Serenity Council met on Tuesday afternoon. All fifteen members were
present. This was rather unusual of late; but then, there were certain
topics that could not be discussed at a full meeting. Two of the
councillors, Thirteen and Fifteen, had not been initiated by the Master,
and they might not approve of some of the Council's less public
activities.
It was, the Chairman sometimes thought, a pity that they could not
initiate the two. Still, there were long-term advantages in leaving a
couple of members untouched. It helped the rest of them to keep a more,
well, human perspective. After all, whatever else they had become, they
were still the government of Japan.
Human perspective could be a relative term, of course. He glanced at
Twelve, seated at the table around to his right. She looked perfectly
human at the moment; but when the meeting was over, she would drop her
mask and become something that few of them, few even of the initiated,
could face with equanimity. She was the Hand of the Master on Earth.
She was also a reminder of what could happen to the rest of them, if
they failed.
As if in answer to his thought, she looked up at him and gave him a
friendly, normal smile. He managed to suppress his shudder.
The meeting had been a long one, but strictly routine, concerned with
nothing more than the business of government. They debated several
shipping regulation changes for 'R' Division. They accepted a request
for foreign aid to the Uluru Republic, subject to the Republic's
approval of a local 'D' Division listening post (or, as it would
officially be known, "embassy"). They listened to a briefing on the
expected yields of 'A' Division's new logging belt in Shikoku. They
heard a perennial request from the automobile industry to increase
electric car ranges. (That one was refused, as usual. If cars could go
further, the Council would have to spend a lot more on road maintenance
outside the major cities. People who wanted to travel long distances
could catch a train.) They did this, they did that ... sometimes he
wondered what it would be like if all their meetings were this way. If
the Council truly was nothing more than the government of Japan.
That was wishful thinking, though. He had a higher duty. One forged in
ice and pain far below the surface of the Earth.
"That concludes our general business," he announced at last, as the last
item on the agenda was finally cleared. "Does anyone have anything else
to bring up?"
A silence fell around the table. He nodded, and was about to drop his
bombshell when Thirteen spoke up. She was a demure-looking middle-aged
woman with greying hair, an old-fashioned pair of pince-nez glasses and
a razor-sharp mind. "I have a question for Number Three," she said.
Across the table, Three gave her an inquiring look. She fixed him with
a piercing stare. "I would like to know," she said slowly, "why 'S'
Division is putting enormous resources and a quite incredible amount of
time ... into looking for a missing cat?"
Two seats away from her, Fifteen sat up suddenly. He was a younger man,
with short fair hair. "A cat?" he asked, startled.
"Indeed. A cat." Thirteen looked around the table, frowning. "Judging
from your reactions," she went on, "I assume that most of you knew about
this already."
Three did not flinch; he simply raised his eyebrows. "It was discussed
in one of our meetings several weeks ago," he said calmly. "I believe
you were absent at the time. Did you not receive a briefing paper on
the subject?"
Thirteen smiled sourly. "'S' Division briefing papers do not, of
course, list every active investigation."
"Ah. So they don't."
"So would you care to tell me why you're looking for a cat?" she asked
again.
"Wait a minute," said Fifteen, looking at the two intently. "Is this
something to do with --" He hesitated, and glanced at the chairman. "I
know you asked me not to talk about it openly --"
The chairman sighed, and steepled his gloved fingers on the desk in
front of him. Three could carry on being polite and unhelpful almost
indefinitely, but there was no point. Thirteen already knew too much;
whether he liked it or not, it seemed that there was no hiding the
affair now.
Still, he thought, perhaps it was still possible to make the search
appear reasonably innocent --
"Very well," he said, drawing the others' attention instantly. "Let's
go over this again. Just over a month ago, Number Fifteen observed a --
a rather unique creature ..."
Fifteen reddened. "I was feeding my own cats," he said, looking
embarrassed. "There were a couple of strays in the alley behind the
house. I threw them a bit of fish. And --" He shook his head in
wonder. "One of them thanked me."
Around the table, the rest of the Council showed surprise -- some of
them more convincingly than others.
"A black cat?" asked Thirteen sharply. "Or a white one?"
"Neither," he said. "Oh, I know what you're thinking. But it was a
tabby cat, and it didn't have a crescent moon on its forehead." He
frowned suddenly. "It had a plain white circle instead. I don't know
if that means anything or not. And I didn't get a clear look at the
other cat, I'm afraid."
"All the same ..." mused Thirteen. She looked over at Three and said,
"You're looking for a moon cat. Correct?"
"Potentially, yes," he admitted, unperturbed. Around the table, Twelve
stirred, watching him with hooded eyes, but said nothing.
"Why?" she demanded. "And why in such a clumsy way? You've got agents
running around all over Third Tokyo watching cats instead of doing their
regular jobs! Do you _want_ to alienate the very people we're trying to
contact?"
"It is not," Three said firmly, "quite that bad. The investigation is
as restrained as we can make it. May I ask how you learned about it,
incidentally?"
She visibly considered not replying. At last she said, "My nephew is
one of your Irregular agents. He got a message a few weeks ago, telling
him to look out for cats. A couple of days ago, he worked up the nerve
to ask me why."
Three frowned. "His name, please? Irregulars are not permitted to
disclose that they --"
"I suppose he thought a Council member could be trusted," she said
acidly. "Leave him alone, Ryobe. I mean it."
"Your wish is my command," Three replied, tugging an imaginary forelock.
"Nevertheless ..."
"Nevertheless," she interrupted, "why are you hunting the cat at all?
I'd have thought that the last thing we want to do is annoy the Senshi.
For heaven's sake, we just issued them an invitation to come and talk to
us!"
"Of course we don't want to alienate them," put in the chairman
smoothly. "But bear in mind that the investigation began before the
Senshi began to appear. All we had at the time was a possible sighting
of a Moon Cat; and of course we wanted to contact it. The directive to
'S' Division was only to _find_ the cat, remember; not to harm it." He
caught Three's eye and held it as he added, "In any case, since the
Senshi appeared, 'S' Division has been scaling the investigation down
quietly."
Three gave a tiny nod of acknowledgement. The investigation would not
be scaled down, of course; but he would see to it that it was kept
quieter.
Thirteen leaned back in her seat, somewhat mollified but still looking
unsatisfied. "Well, that's not so bad, I suppose," she muttered.
Fifteen shook his head, chuckling. "All this fuss, over one cat," he
murmured. "It might have been better if I'd never mentioned it to you
at all, Number One!"
"Quite." The chairman gave him a thin smile. He sneaked another quick
glance at Twelve, but now she was simply listening to the argument,
looking interested. Damn her, anyway.
Thirteen and Fifteen appeared satisfied, in any case. That was a minor
victory. "Does anybody _else_ have any further business?" he asked with
a sigh. This time there were headshakes all around the table. "Good.
In that case --"
He opened a folder on the desk in front of him, and pulled out a long,
heavy envelope. "I do have one more point. We have received a message
from the Senshi. A reply to our offer to speak with them."
Around the table, everyone sat up. Murmurs of consternation filled the
air. None of them had expected this. Twelve's eyes blazed with blue
light for an instant; thankfully, neither Thirteen nor Fifteen noticed.
"It's difficult to be certain that it's genuine, of course," he went on
calmly, opening the envelope and pulling out a single sheet of paper.
"But I'm fairly confident that it is. There is a, ahh, seal at the
bottom, in wax. Made with the head of a henshin wand, I suspect," he
added with a dry smile. "The symbol is for Mars."
"Mars?" muttered Fifteen. "I didn't think Sailor Mars had appeared
yet."
"Possibly a new, er, recruit," the chairman suggested. The new Mars had
appeared three days before; but that had not been in public, and only
Twelve had seen her.
"Odd that a new recruit should be their speaker," murmured Five.
"Never mind that," snapped Nine. "What does the message _say_?"
"I'll pass it around." The chairman handed the sheet to the councillor
on his left. He'd already had both sheet and envelope tested for
fingerprints or DNA traces. His people had found nothing, so there was
no reason not to handle the message. "Essentially, it says that the
Senshi appreciate our offer, but that they don't want to become, hmm,
politically involved at this time."
"What? We were offering to help them, not involve them in politics!"
burst out Fifteen.
"Is there a difference?" said Thirteen acidly. Fifteen snorted.
"In any case," the chairman interrupted, "they say that they will
contact us if they need assistance ... but for the moment, they have the
situation well in hand, and would like us to, ahh, let them get on with
it." He could not restrain a smile as he spoke. Well in hand, indeed!
His smile froze as he accidentally caught Twelve's eye. She held his
gaze for an instant, then gave him a single, barely-detectable nod. Her
lips parted for an instant, showing her teeth. He swallowed heavily.
Tearing his eyes away, he looked around the rest of the table, studying
the others' reactions. Thirteen was the biggest potential problem. The
re-appearance of the Senshi did not affect her portfolio, 'A' Division,
but she had already noticed that the rest of the Council were keeping
things from her. If she made too much of a nuisance of herself, he
would have no choice but to initiate her, human perspective or not.
She frowned as he finished speaking; but then, slowly, the frown faded
and she began to look thoughtful. The chairman relaxed. Uninitiated or
not, Thirteen was still a politician.
The Serenity Council was sworn to govern "in the name of the Queen,
until her return." If they chose, the Senshi could present a good case
for replacing the Council. True, there was no sign yet that the Queen
had returned; but still, things could get awkward. It would be bad
publicity. Far better, if they wanted to concentrate on fighting evil
instead ...
All around the table, the councillors were nodding at the news. "That
suits us fine, doesn't it?" said Eight.
"It will help lift a lot of the foreign pressure," noted Two.
"We can afford to let them continue as they are, I suppose?" asked
Eleven.
"We'd stand to get lynched if we tried to stop them," said Seven.
"Especially after that fire downtown. Hell, let them have their fights.
They haven't done any major damage so far --"
"A number of people were hurt at the theatre," contradicted Nine.
Seven waved it off. "That was the monster, not the Senshi. Anyway,
there were no fatalities ..."
The chairman listened, well content. There had been fatalities at the
warehouse on Saturday, true; but that wasn't public knowledge, and none
of his people would bring it up. Instead, all of them were playing
their parts to the letter. An outsider, listening in, would have
thought that the Council genuinely approved of what the Senshi were
doing.
Even Thirteen and Fifteen, who were the only innocent ones there, seemed
to be content. "They do seem to have better quick-response capabilities
than 'P' Division," Thirteen was saying. "Of course, we should continue
to monitor the situation ..."
"Perhaps we should consider briefing 'P' Division to keep people clear
when they're in action," added Fifteen. "Look at the way they were
mobbed after that fire ..."
The chairman smiled to himself. The Senshi had responded as he had
hoped. Now the public would be satisfied; international pressure would
ease; and he and the Council would have all the time they needed to push
those silly girls into doing what they were supposed to do.
For a moment he felt a twinge of alarm, thinking of what the future
would be like once that happened. Then, with the ease of long practise,
he shrugged it off. Let the future take care of itself. That was the
only way to stay sane ...
****************
"What was bothering Miyo so much last night?" asked Artemis. "I said
'Good evening' to her and I thought she'd bite my head off."
"I'm not sure. She had a lead on Lady Blue that didn't pan out, but I
think this is something different," said Itsuko calmly. "My guess is
it's something to do with that boy at school. Hmm, how's this look?"
Artemis stared thoughtfully. "It's a little ... daring, don't you
think?" he said at last. "If it slips, people will be able to see
everything."
Itsuko looked down, reconsidering. "I suppose so," she said
reluctantly. "I just thought it looked ... You're sure?"
"Quite sure," he told her firmly. "Try something a little less
transparent. What _about_ this boy at school? You mean Mark?"
"Mm. First romance is always tough. And the topic's a little too, ahh,
distant in her other two lives to give her much perspective this time
around. Perfect memory or not."
"Plus she's sixteen again, with the hormones to match."
Itsuko sighed. "Well ... yes. Also, she's scared to like him too much
because she thinks he's Mamoru reborn. And she might be right ... I
wish you'd agree to check him out."
"Itsuko, you know why I don't want to do that. What if he _does_ turn
out to be Mamoru? Do you really want to awaken his memories -- and then
have to tell him that Usagi's dead?"
She shuddered. "Not me. I'm just afraid that, sooner or later ... we
might need him." She shook her head, and looked down again. "What
about this, then?" she asked presently. "Any improvement?"
Artemis looked it over. "Better," he said grudgingly. "But still too
risky for my liking. One false move, and it'll all be out in the open.
Face it, Itsuko. This just isn't going to work."
"Well, you suggest something then!" she snapped, slamming a fist on the
pile of sketch-plans on the table in front of them. "I'm out of ideas.
How are we supposed to hold a general Senshi training session, let them
all really cut loose with their powers, without anyone noticing?"
"I don't know either!" he grumbled in return. "But the Olympus is just
too risky. If it comes to that, anywhere in town is going to be
dangerous. Look at what happened at that warehouse."
"Oh, I suppose so. But if nowhere in town's going to be safe --" She
paused, looking suddenly thoughtful. "Wait a minute. What if we went
out of the city entirely?"
"Like where? A town car won't do more than a couple of hundred
kilometres before the battery's dead. That doesn't get you very far."
"Well, it does cover quite a bit of territory, actually," she said
dryly. "But forget that. What if I could get hold of a long-range
vehicle?"
Artemis gave her a skeptical look. "Long-range licenses are pretty hard
to come by in the city," he pointed out. "Where would _you_ get one?"
"Well ... it's not in my name. But --" She made an impatient gesture.
"You know I have underworld contacts. I have to get new identity papers
from time to time, apart from anything else. And, um ..." She coughed
into her fist, abruptly reluctant to meet his eyes. "I, er, kind of do
a little smuggling, now and then. Just to keep my hand in."
He stared at her, open-mouthed. "Why, Hino Rei," he said in a
mock-admiring tone. "You're a wanted criminal!"
"Don't be absurd," she sniffed. "I'm not wanted; nobody in authority
knows a thing about me." She shrugged. "But I _do_ have transport.
Alcohol engine; I could take us anywhere in Honshu if need be."
Artemis nodded, still taking it in. "I assume you have somewhere in
mind?" he inquired.
"Well -- there's a nice spot I know, a couple of hours out of Third
Tokyo ..."
****************
[End of segment 1 of 6]