--- Michael Roberts <mikedr@gte.net> wrote:
Has
anyone ever considered the possibility that the
Great Freeze was actually
the result of a nuclear war (nuclear winter)? All
the references I recall
about the Great Freeze were rather vague.
<raises hand>
One that the Senshi tried, but were unable, to stop,
and blamed themselves for. I got a small part of the
way through it before losing the time to continue,
but here's what I had. I'd been spacing it out as the
intro scenes for each chapter; I've left out the rest
of the chapters here.
---
Sailor Mercury's personal office was rather sparsely
decorated. While 30th century Crystal Tokyo's most
famous scientist conducted many experiments, she did
most of her work remotely, for Queen Serenity insisted
that Mercury oversee all of the potentially hazardous
tests that Crystal Tokyo's populace was using to
rediscover magic.
The powers of magic had been common during the Silver
Millenium, but forgotten during the fall of the Moon
Kingdom almost 2000 years ago. Not until Serenity's
powers brought forth Crystal Tokyo did humanity in
general remember magic. These powers proved extremely
convenient, responding to the user's merest thoughts,
even if the average human could wield nowhere near as
much as the Sailor Senshi.
Tempted by this easy power, people sent an
overwhelming load of requests for magical experiments
to Mercury, to the point that Mercury could not
personally oversee every single test even if she
wanted to...but through her computer, she could
virtually be in many places at once. With all her
attention elsewhere, Mercury's office was merely a
place to be when she did not need to physically be
somewhere, even when she wished she were elsewhere.
Like now.
Chibi-Usa, having kept her younger self's name despite
her eighteen years of age, regarded Mercury with
folded arms. "Tell me about The Ice."
Mercury looked up from her console. "Surely the
history books could tell you better than I."
Chibi-Usa shook her head. "You wrote those books.
And you left something out."
Desparately seeking to avoid the subject she feared
Chibi-Usa had discovered, Mercury replied, "I can not
record every single detail. Those books are a summary
of what happened, nothing more."
"According to the books, there were over fifteen
billion people on Earth when Serenity froze the world,
and more beyond. But after Serenity unfroze everyone
twenty years ago, there were only forty two million,
most of them in Japan. And you mentioned a 'first'
space mission after The Ice, seeking to 'reclaim the
solar system' as if there was no one already there,
but you also said people lived on Mars just before the
Ice. What happened to them?"
Mercury sighed. There was no escaping it now. "They
died. Life support failure."
"And the people on Earth?"
A single tear rolled down the ice warrior's cheek. "I
killed them."
---
"And the people on Earth?"
A single tear rolled down the ice warrior's cheek. "I
killed them."
Chibi-Usa had been hardened to shocks before. She had
seen the monsters her mother had had to deal with in
her youth, and travelled through time to fight some of
them at her side. Even at home, the Dark Moon clan's
assault had given her nightmares both before and after
she fled to the past to escape it. Years of peace
after that had lulled her into thinking she could
handle any horror unflinchingly. That illusion slowly
shattered as Mercury's words sunk in.
Seeing Chibi-Usa's reaction, Mercury stood up, pulled
over a chair, and sat Chibi-Usa in it before she could
faint.
"You...by the..." Chibi-Usa shook her head. "How?
Why? Why didn't you tell anyone? Everyone just looks
at me strangely when I ask them about it."
Mercury sat back in her chair. "You have to remember,
not many people know who really caused The Ice, or
WANT to know. Most people assume it was some kind of
accident, or a monster. Some even think that Serenity
did it to save us."
Chibi-Usa blinked. "You mean, she didn't?"
"Even if she wanted to, that was never one of her
powers. I mean, who do you know who can shape ice?"
Chibi-Usa counted on a finger. "You, and..."
Comprehension spread across her face. "You froze the
world?"
Mercury nodded. "The atmosphere, at least."
"Why?"
"Remember the books? Humanity had the power to
destroy itself at the time. Someone decided to use
that power."
"Who?"
"We had created a race of machines, a few of which
sought to repay us with extinction. They launched
weapons of mass destruction, and we had only minutes
to react. Serenity was out cold, but we were with
her, as was her crystal."
"Huh? But...only she and I can use it."
"Not true. Anyone can use it; we just tell people
they can't to keep them from trying. Luna and Artemis
told us that for the same reason, but I knew we'd
helped your mother with it before. I thought it could
not hurt to try it without her. Between myself,
Venus, Mars, and Jupiter, I was sure that it would
respond to at least one of us."
"What happened?"
"It acted as a power amplifier. Mars' fire blew off
the top of the atmosphere, where all the weapons were.
It destroyed them, along with all the satellites we
had in orbit. Jupiter's and Venus' powers combined to
produce an electromagnetic pulse that disabled every
manmade object in the solar system. L5, Moonbase, the
Martian terraformers...none of them were able to fix
their life support systems before running out of air.
And my powers...they were The Ice."
---
Now that her shock had worn off, Chibi-Usa saw that
Mercury was crying. Slowly and quietly, so as not to
disturb Mercury, she stood up and crept over to
comfort her.
"Even frozen, we all still had some conciousness, but
vastly slowed down. Our burst of power burned us out
until after The Ice, and it took centuries for
Serenity to realize what had happened and call out to
her crystal. When she did, it unfroze us instantly,
and started to undo my ice."
Chibi-Usa gently hugged Mercury, trying to keep her
from breaking into sobs.
"Something went wrong just after it spread to the
Chinese coast. Instead of melting and evaporating,
the ice shattered, killing everyone still trapped
within it. A few managed to survive by not being
where the cracks spread, but..."
"...it was not your fault. It was mine."
Chibi-Usa and Mercury looked up at the figure in the
office's doorway.
Mercury frowned. "That's not true, your majesty. If
I hadn't suggested using your crystal..."
"...we would all be dead now," Serenity replied. "I
erred in removing The Ice. The blood is on my hands,
not yours."
Chibi-Usa gasped. "Mom? You knew? Why didn't you
ever say anything?"
Serenity looked into her daughter's eyes, with the
well-practiced emotion that was her namesake.
"Because I wanted you to see Mercury's pain. I knew
that, when you were ready for the truth, you would
look to her for this answer. I have never been able
to assuage her guilt in this matter, but I thought
that together, we might be able to do something."
Mercury held her face in her hands. "It was my idea.
My fault. I would give anything to undo it. I even
tried asking Pluto if I could go back, disable the
missiles, and stop myself, but she insisted that that
disaster was critical for our timeline. Without it,
Crystal Tokyo might never have existed. I sometimes
wonder if it...if WE were worth that price."
Chibi-Usa frowned. "We weren't. And I will do
something about it."
Before Mercury or Serenity could ask what Chibi-Usa
meant, she ran out the door.
---
At Sailor Pluto's request, research into time travel
was highly classified. The Dark Moon clan had managed
to develop a few devices capable of travelling to 20th
century Tokyo only through deliberate leaks by Pluto,
in order to introduce Chibi-Usa to her mother as she
was before she was Serenity, and to give the Sailor
Senshi enough experience to surive their future
battles. These devices were collected and destroyed
after the Dark Moon clan's defeat. Likewise, the Time
Key that Chibi-Usa had used was secured by automated
defenses and magical wards that only a Sailor Senshi
could pass, in case Sailor Pluto ever needed backup.
Having sensed a time transit, Sailor Pluto appeared a
couple minutes earlier, curious to see who would
travel through time without checking with her first.
Upon seeing that the alarms had not gone off, she
relaxed; this was just a Sailor Senshi seeking to undo
some past wrong, which Pluto could easily talk them
out of...or maybe allow, if they just wanted to say
goodbye to a past acquaintance.
When she saw which one it was, Pluto drew herself up
to her full height, interposing herself between the
key and the Senshi. "Where are you going, Chibi-Usa?"
"The past, to change history."
Pluto blinked. Chibi-Usa had to be joking. "You know
I can not allow that."
Pluto had expected a struggle, possibly even minor
magic if this event held special significance. She
did not expect Chibi-Usa to pluck an autopistol from
the defenses and empty its clip into her abdomen.
Although her uniform kept any of the bullets from
penetrating, they still knocked her down.
"I know," Chibi-Usa said as she dropped the pistol and
ran around Pluto to grab the key. "And I'm sorry.
But, when I get back, none of this will have
happened." With that, she concentrated on the key,
then fell upwards through the portal it created.
Being the Guardian of Time, Sailor Pluto was
especially sensitive to disruptions in the time
stream. Minor alterations gave her a headache,
paradoxes left her mind clouded, and Chibi-Usa's
actions in the past caused her to scream as if she
were being tortured to death.
Which she was, in a sense.
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