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Episode #108:  A Few Good-byes
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	"Oh come now Eileen, it's not the end of the world!"

	Eileen looked up from the clothes she had been busily packing into a
trunk.  It was moving day at the School.  "Easy for you to say.  You *know*
where you're going to go."

	"It's not that bad!" she retorted.

	"The hell it isn't!  You've got a ship, you're probably going to see
it soon, aren't you?"

	"Wednesday," admitted Jennifer.

	"There you are!  You've got a ship, a mission, and something to do. 
What do I have?  A 'wait and see' message, no job, and a lover who's going
to leave me in a couple of days!"

	Jen dropped the pair of jeans that she had been about to toss into a
bag; neatness wasn't one of her attributes.  "For the last time, Eileen, I'm
doing everything I can to have you put aboard Pleiades.  Everything."

	Neither mentioned exactly how much clout a rookie Senshi had in the
Royal Star Navy.

***

	Jennifer Sakachi had arrived at the school in a conventional family
car.  She left in a fifteen car motorcade.  There was quite a difference
between the two times.

	For one thing, there were no bombings.  Terrorist activity had come
to a standstill in recent months, which had some overjoyed and others scared
witless.  Either the anti-Serenity crowd had decided that the party was
over, and decided to go home, in which case there was little to worry about.

	Or, they were biding their time, gathering strength for a more
pivotal battle that would transcend car bombs and mail threats, in which
case the Senshi would have to prepare for a full military defense of Crystal
Tokyo.  And the last two times that had happened, Serenity had been
victorious by only the narrowest of margins.

	But today was a day to put all that in the back of one's mind. 
Ticker-tape parades were rare in Crystal Tokyo, and were usually reserved
for the graduation of a Senshi, or the launching of a new ship.  Orion,
America, and Pleiades fell under those categories.  And thus, several tons
of confetti and other random bits of paper were being showered upon the
formerly neat and tidy streets of Crystal Tokyo.

	Sailor America was loving it.

	"Isn't this great?" she cried as the motorcade began to move off. 
They were in an open limousine, along with Jen's parents.  Eileen's parents
would have loved to come, but various circumstances had prevented it.

	"Very," answered Sailor Orion.  "I'm beginning to like this fuku,
you know.  You'd never think that it's this warm, but it is.  Skirt's still
way too high, though."

	"Shall I let it out for you?" asked her mother jokingly.  They all
laughed.  Orion was rather glad of it; her mother was growing increasingly
pensive since the graduation.  The realization that her only daughter was
going off into the *really* great unknown was just sinking in, and she
needed the laugh.

	"That's okay, Mom.  I think I can manage, especially after all the 
trouble I went through to get this."

	They neared Crystal Tokyo, and could now see the distinctive
skyline.  It was truly dazzling, with glistening towers almost growing
towards the blazing sun, a yellow splotch in a sea of cerulean blue.  It had
been said by numerous travel agencies that you needed sunglasses when
looking at Crystal Tokyo from afar.  On days like these, one was inclined to
believe them.

	"Wow.  You know, Orion, I never get used to seeing that."

	"America?"

	"Yup?"

	"You've never seen it before?"

	"No?"

	"No.  Remember, it was cloudy when I arrived."

	"Was that from natural meteorological processes or the storm that
gathered over Sailor Mars's head?"

	"Oh, bite me," she said playfully.

	"I'd love to," came the reply.

	They descended into the maelstrom.

***

	At long last, they arrived at the CT Hilton, or so it was called. 
The Hilton's parent company had gone out of business over a thousand years
ago, but the Queen's nostalgia took weird turns at times, and the creation
of a hotel named CT Hilton was one of them.

	The two newly-anointed Senshi hadn't realized exactly how draining a
simple parade could get.  There was the happy, frenzied arm waving of the
first couple kilometers, followed by the more subdued hand waving, followed
by the perfunctory polite hand waving, followed by the
please-god-make-it-stop hand waving.  They had finally arrived at the
Hilton, where a pile of dignitaries would make a heck of a lot of speeches
which they both had to politely sit through.  They were still brushing the
paper out of their hair when Jen's parents made their leave.

	"We'd stay, really," said Isao, "but speeches aren't really for us."

	"And you think *we* like them?"

	"Easy now, Orion," said America, giving Orion a quick hug.  "This 
can't take more than a couple of hours."

***

	Five hours later, the artificial lights were coming on all over
Crystal Tokyo, and the guests of honor were going insane.  While the
speakers had come and gone, none staying for the entire program, and several
guard Senshi had done the same, Orion and America had been condemned to sit
and listen to dozens of speeches following precisely the same pattern.

	They generally ran the politically safe route of congratulating the
Senshi on their recent graduation, another sign of cooperation between
nations, keeping the world safe from outer space, please don't invade our
country, etc.

	"Orion?" whispered America during the nth speech, while they were
desperately trying and failing to give the appearance of being attentive,
"you know what?"

	"What?" came the response.

	"These things would be a lot better if there were some kind of
copyright restriction on speeches."

	"Really?  And I suppose Naoko Takeuchi can be sued by Sailor Venus
for copyright violations on her character?"

	"You can't copyright a person!"

	"No more so than an idea."

	"What original ideas have you heard from that podium today?" asked
Sailor America witheringly.

	"Touche," replied Orion.  "Oh, look sharp."  And they both applauded
politely as the current speaker completed his piece.  Three more to go. 
They waited until the next speaker began before resuming their hushed
conversation.

	"But the fact remains, Sailor America, that ideas shouldn't be
copyrighted.  Inventions, yes."

	"Ah.  but they're the same thing, are they not?"

	"No!  Okay, suppose some hack writer sitting at home wakes up and
says, 'gee, maybe I'll write a story about Sailor Orion.' You know, how she
came to be, what she did, stuff like that.  The idea of chronicling my life
is original, but the recounting of my life in and of itself wouldn't be. 
So-"

	America didn't get a chance to attack Orion's logic, mainly because
she had fallen asleep.

***

	The next morning, Sailor America was trying to reach her parents on
the phone.  She had a talk show appearance to do in a couple of hours, and
she wanted to get the call out of the way.  After ten busy signals, someone
finally picked up.

	"Pearcy residence," came an extremely slow and deep voice.

	"Cripes, didn't you check who is was, Chuck?"

	"Sorry, Leenie, but-"

	"DON'T CALL ME LEENIE!"

	"-but everyone's out right now, and-"

	"Chuck?  I know nobody's home in your head, but for crying out loud,
tell the computer that Sailor America has to talk to her parents!"

	"Oh, okay."  A click followed.

	"If that bastard's cut me..oh, aunt Leda, hello!"

	"Is that you, Eileen?"

	Silly family, she thought.  The concept of vidphones had left her
part of Pennsylvania behind centuries ago.  There were some pockets where
they still used land wires for communication.  "Right now I'm Sailor
America, Auntie, but you can't see me, can you?"

	"No.  My, but it's good to talk to you. You've gotten quite an
accent over there, haven't you?"

	"Yeah, same here."  Whatever.  "Listen, I've got a message I want
you to give to mom and dad, okay?"

	"Shoot."

	"Okay, tell them . . . tell them that I love them and all that, and
that I'm going to miss them."

	"Miss them?  Honey, aren't you coming home?"

	"Nope.  Her Majesty's got all sorts of stuff to do around here."
Like baby-sit, guard the jewelry, take out the cat . . . actually, that
wasn't completely accurate.  The Princess hadn't been seen in a couple of
years, and it was generally assumed that she was either grown up, or she had
gone back into the past.  Eileen personally thought that Small Lady's
parents were inexcusably liberal with their child, letting her go
gallivanting throughout the twentieth century, but it wasn't her kid, 
and . . .

	"What was that you were saying, Auntie?"

	"I was saying," repeated Leda, "that your parents will be home in a
few minutes, and you might as well wait for them."

	"No, that's okay," said America, for whom it wasn't, "I've got some
other obligations to clear up.  Tell them that I'll try to call them next
month sometime, okay?  Bye!"

	She gave the button a savage poke, and the screen reverted to its
usual blank default.  It was a state of the art device, capable of
communication in real time with any other computer within two light seconds. 
After that, the delay became noticeable.  It was also waterproof, which came
in handy as Sailor America silently wept tears onto it, weeping for a world
she'd just abandoned.

***

	"Why so blue?"  asked Jen.  She and Eileen were relaxing in the
small temporary apartment provided them by the government.  As they were in
a domestic setting, there was no need to assume Senshi garb, and they
hadn't.  Jen wondered idly if the planetary Senshi were subject to the same
rules.  She couldn't imagine Sailor Mars in anything casual, or anything as
revealing as what Jen was wearing at the moment.

	She had worn the sheer nightie in hopes of raising Eileen's spirits,
but the attempt had failed, and Eileen was nowhere close to her normal,
bubbly self.  Jen threw on a housecoat and sat down beside her.

	"Well?"

	"You wouldn't understand."

	"Try me."

	"It still won't work.  You parents are just a couple kilometers
away, mine are halfway around the world, and you tell me that you can
understand?"

	"Oh come now, Eileen, I thought we meant more to each other than 
this."

	Eileen flounced back on the rather large and sumptuous bed, and
sighed.  "Oh, we do, Jen.  But you . . . you've got everything.  I've got a
fuku."

	"Please don't start with that again."  Eileen turned to face her,
expecting to see a grin on Jen's face.  Instead, a look of sadness sat
behind those now black-rimmed glasses.  "You know I'd do anything to make
you happy.  Even give up Pleiades."

	Eileen had always thought that having one's mouth fall open was
something that only happened in bad stories and cartoons.  She definitely
had never thought that it might happen to her.  "You would do what?"

	"I'd give up Pleiades.  Right now, you're a hell of a lot more
important to me than some old moldy ship."

	"Moldy ship?  Jen-chan, Pleiades is the chance of a lifetime!"

	"Is it?  Look at me, Eileen."  Jen stood up and turned around
theatrically.  "Do you see a starship commander?" She began pacing back and
forth, which was the signal to Eileen that she was moderately upset.  She
had never seen Jen when she was pissed off, and it was not something she
looked forward to.  "I see a historian.  A historian who should be sitting
around, working on a Ph.D., writing a textbook, something like that.  Now
I'm going to be placed in a position where I have to decide who lives and
who dies.  D'you think I like that?"

	There was a pause.

	"You know what?" said Eileen.  "I think you *do*.  I think that if
you wanted a nice cuddly desk job, you could have turned down the spot at
the School.  I think that you want to be a senshi more than anything else in
the world.  I think this was a ploy to get me out of my bad mood." She got
up and hugged Jennifer tightly.  "And I think it worked."

	Jen just hugged her back.  Four out of five suppositions wasn't bad. 
Of course, she wasn't going to tell Eileen that.

***

	On the twenty-third of May, 3029, at 03:16 Japanese Standard Time,
Jennifer Allison Sakachi turned eighteen years of age.  This was not
celebrated until 08:23, when she and Eileen decided to spend Jen's last few
hours on Earth shopping the hell out of Crystal Tokyo.  One of the
advantages to being a senshi was an unlimited credit limit, which they
utilized to the fullest.  After having virtually bought out a couple of
shops, they arranged for their purchases to be sent to their respective
homes: Eileen's to the senshi group accommodations, Jen's to Pleiades.

	Around two in the afternoon, they were visiting the usual tourist
traps, and enjoying themselves while doing it.  At Itsuko Promontory, from
which one had a gorgeous view of the Crystal Palace, the two leaned over the
rail, looking out at Serenity's house in the distance and the waters of
Tokyo Bay which were a few dozen meters below them.

	"Nice view," commented Eileen.

	"Yes."

	"Did I wish you a happy birthday?"

	"Yes."

	"Oh."

	A bird flew overhead, and the sun disappeared behind a cloud, to
reappear a few seconds later.

	"Jen?"

	"Yes?"

	"Happy birthday."

	"Thanks."

	"I'm going to miss you."

	"Same here."

	They stood in silence for a bit.

	"Don't you have an engagement to get to?"

	"I'd rather be with you."

	"Don't I know it."

	Jen looked at her watch.  It *was* getting late.  "I guess I've got
to leave."

	"Yes."

	"Bye, Jen."

	"Farewell, Eileen."

	As they said goodbye with a huge and a long kiss, both meant it in
the most literal way.

***

	Everything was packed.  Her belongings were already on a shuttle to
Pleiades.  In a few minutes she would attend the first in a number of
briefings on Pleiades.  She would be expected to know the ship inside and
out within a day.  Capabilities, dossiers on the crew, limitations.  And the
man who probably could have helped her the most at doing this was her
father.

	Of course, due to the quasi-caste system that occasionally reared
its head, he wouldn't be able to.  It smacked too much of nepotism and of
letting the lowly classes mingle with the senshi to allow him to attend the
meetings.

	So it was just her, her father, and her mother, standing at the gate
to Earth Headquarters, just outside Crystal Tokyo.  There was so much to say
on both sides.  So much longing, sadness, happiness, and a billion other
emotions.

	"See you," said Sailor Orion.

	"Bye," said her parents.

	She walked through the door.

	They walked to the cab they had taken out there, got in, and went
home.