(Rating: PG)

================================== 
Episode 406: A Moment's Reflection 
================================== 

	The two looked down at Jen as she lay silent under the sheet. 
 
	"Is she in pain?" asked Sailor America.  She and a doctor were in a
room in the infirmary of Valhalla, and being underground meant there was no
window.  It was a gloomy place, and Jen's condition didn't help the gloom at
all.
 
	"No more pain than you were in," Dr. Junko Kurukawa reassured her. 
She ran a pencil through her hair and sighed.  "But I'll remind you that
it's best that we not wake her as we did you."
 
	"I wouldn't think of it," Sailor America said quickly.  "I still
don't know how I recovered so fast!"
 
	"My guess is the transformation did it.  We've always known a
henshin results in a large amount of unaccountable healing; this could have
been an extension of this.  Or in your case, it could have been luck.  We'd
like to play it safe."
 
	"Right."  Her hand wandered to her back, playing with the long tail
of the bow there.  Sometimes she felt like she was in a dream, and that when
she woke up she'd have her regular bows and uniform back.  She was very much
awake now, though, and this was about as real as anything got.  "How long do
you think it might be?"
 
	"Hard to tell without a baseline.  Perhaps Antares has some info,
but last I heard the techs were still checking his power and coolant feeds. 
It'll be awhile until he's even on.  In any case you were out for about two
days, I'd expect at least that much from her.  Maybe more."
 
	Sailor America took another look at Jen.  She had detransformed
early that morning without incident, and the doctors were at a loss to
explain why.  Jen's eyelids fluttered slightly.  "She's dreaming," murmured
the brunette senshi.  "I wonder what she's thinking about?"
 
*** [title sequence] ***
 
8 December 3035 
Mare Crisium
The Moon 
 
	"How much longer?" asked Sailor America, yawning. 
 
	"Just a few more minutes," replied Sailor Orion.  "Couple more
senshi to go."
 
	Sailor America yawned again and stretched in place.  The two sat on
a brown couch in an out of the way lounge at Royal Star Navy Headquarters. 
Around them, a dozen or so other senshi milled about awaiting assignment.
 
	It had been eight months since the war had ended, eight months since
Japan as they had known it ceased to exist.  In that time there had been
plenty of work for everyone to do, with eighteen and twenty hour days being
the norm.  Sailor Orion hadn't slept in two days, Sailor America for three. 
Some senshi were going without sleep for a week at a time.
 
	For the eighth time, Sailor Venus walked to the podium at the front
of the room.  "Next up, Sailor Hyades." The first super sailor senshi of the
thirty-first century, the sailor with purplish-blue hair stood and presented
herself before Venus.  "You're going to Perikan-IV, better known as Nishin."
Sailor Hyades smiled slightly at the pun.  Perikan was Japanese for pelican,
of course; Nishin was herring.  "Don't blame me," protested Sailor Venus,
"it was the survey team that named it!"
 
	"It's okay, sir," replied Sailor Hyades.  "When do I leave?" 
 
	"Next week, on H.M.S. Taurus." 
 
	"Right."  She bowed and left; she'd have a week to pack her
belongings, get acquainted with her crew, and usher aboard two thousand or
so former citizens of Crystal Tokyo.
 
	That was the reason they were there: it had been decided that as the
Japanese people spread out across local space--relatively speaking; the area
they were encompassing was a sphere with a radius in the hundreds of light
years--a senshi or two should be assigned to each planet.  Not all of them,
by any stretch; half to two-thirds would remain in the RSN, the Moon with
Her Majesty, Mars, or Venus.  There was still a government to move to a new
homeworld, and a homeworld to find in the first place.
 
	The transition period had continued rather smoothly, with one
exception that most people tried to forget.  There were too many questions
surrounding the disappearance of H.M.S. Yamato with all hands, including
Sailor Centaurus.  Still, the monumental task of moving an entire monarchy
wasn't easy.  There had been mistakes, slip-ups, errors, omissions.  Sailors
Orion and America had done their part to help out, but now it was time for
the final decision.
 
	"Orion?" 
 
	The redhead jumped up and stood at attention.  "Yes?" 
 
	"You're assigned to H.M.S. Tuckwood, destination Hinansho, a planet
in the Nozomi system.  Nozomi-IV, to be exact." As Sailor Orion drew near,
Sailor Venus produced a handlink and handed it to her.  "Here's all the
vital information you need."
 
	"Y-yes, sir."  She slowly walked away, fighting the tears.  She had
in effect just been given her walking papers to leave the solar system
forever.  Even a seasoned star traveler like herself couldn't help but be
affected.
 
	"Oh, and Sailor Orion?"  She spun around.  "Sailor America will be
accompanying you."
 
	The redhead didn't know what to say for a moment.  "Thank you . . .
thank you very much!" 
 
	Sailor Venus smiled.  "Not a problem.  Oh, before I forget, there's
someone who wanted to see you.  Sailor Cassiopeia, could you show them up?"
 
	Sailor Cassiopeia popped out of seemingly nowhere, though actually
she had been waiting in the shadows for an order.  "Certainly.  Right this
way, please."
 
	The three senshi left the room through a side door, and immediately
Sailor Orion was lost.  She hadn't been on the Moon for very long and was
still unfamiliar with the layout of the new government complex at Mare
Crisum; it was easy to lose track of all the twists and turns and steps they
took.  She did notice, however, that as they went on they saw less and less
people.  Eventually they came to a completely deserted hallway that looked
like it had been abandoned since the base was built.
 
	"Sorry about not taking the scenic route," apologized Sailor
Cassiopeia.  "But it was the quickest way to get to her." Without ceremony
she reached for a door that looked like it had never been opened, threw it
open, walked forward five steps and bowed.  "Your Majesty, I present to you
the Sailor Senshi Orion and America."
 
	As if in a dream, Sailor Orion willed her steps forward and into the
room.  It was a normal looking room, probably a living room, but very well
kept and beautiful.  She realized that these were the private quarters of
Her Majesty Queen Serenity II . . . and her former first officer. 
 
	"Your Majesty," said Sailor Orion immediately, dropping a curtsey. 
Behind her, she felt rather than heard Sailor America step in and do the
same.
 
	The most powerful human in the universe got up from her couch and
sighed.  "I wish people wouldn't do that at times like these."
 
	"Your Majesty?" asked Orion. 
 
	"Do you know how embarrassing it is when people curtsey and bow and
go 'your majesty' and you're wearing jeans and a sweatshirt?" Serenity II
tossed a pink pigtail over her shoulder and straightened her sweatshirt, a
white one with an image of Sailor Saturn embroidered on the left breast. 
She had caught a lot of flak for having only a shirt for her best friend, so
she eventually had to get sweatshirts of all the planet senshi.  Then the
new senshi came along, and suddenly she had two hundred other sweatshirts. 
The war had sadly thinned her wardrobe.
 
	"Sorry, Your-" 
 
	"Usagi, please." 
 
	"But . . . I can't call you *that*, you're at the least my superior
officer-"
 
	"Now-" 
 
	"I'm sorry, sir, but at least you're Fleet Admiral . . . sir." 
 
	Serenity II sighed a sigh of defeat.  "Fine," she said, sticking her
hands in the pockets of her blue jeans.  She looked down at her white socks
and looked up at the three senshi.  Sailor Cassiopeia looked like she'd been
through this before, while Sailor Orion and Sailor America seemed at a loss
for what to do.  "Relax, please; I'm not here to lecture you or reprimand
you or whatever you think you're here for.  Have a seat."
 
	Sailor Cassiopeia remained at the door while the other two senshi
went to the couch and sat uncertainly.  Serenity II stood before them. 
"It's been awhile since Pleiades, hasn't it?" She smiled wryly, and just for
a moment Sailor Orion was strongly reminded of the woman's mother, Serenity
I.  "And we've both come a long way."
 
	"Well, I'm still Sailor Orion.  You're the Queen.  I'd say there's a
bit of difference between the two."
 
	"I didn't just mean position.  There was a time when you hated me."
 
	Sailor Orion took a moment to remember and then laughed.  "Yeah, I
guess so.  Well, you didn't make a very good first impression."
 
	Serenity II smiled.  "I guess I didn't, barging on board like I
owned the place.  Sometimes when I think back I'm glad of it, though."
 
	"Why?" asked Sailor America, leaning forward with interest. 
 
	"Because it taught me just how arrogant I was.  Can you imagine me
ruling with that streak I had?  It would be hell on earth!"
 
	Sailor Orion grinned: just seven years ago she would never have
expected to hear her first officer talk like this.  Now, as Neo-Queen, she
seemed completely at ease.  It was a very good thing to see, and it put any
reservations the redhead might have had to rest.
 
	"Anyway, you two have done a lot for my mother, myself, all our
subjects.  You've got all sorts of awards, and I know they don't mean
anything because you were 'just doing your jobs.'" Sailor America's mouth
closed; that was just what she was about to say.  "I just wanted to thank
you sincerely.  I know I'll never forget all you've done, even if the rest
of the universe does."
 
	"Not a problem . . . Usagi."  Sailor America said the last word
carefully, as if trying it out for the first time.  It seemed odd to refer
to Serenity II that way, but the Queen beamed.
 
	"Right," said Sailor Orion.  "It's been a pleasure, and who knows;
we'll probably meet again."
 
	"In a hundred years or so, perhaps.  I do intend to tour the 
Kingdom, but it'll take some time.  Oh yes, my mother and father send 
their regards as well."  Serenity I had taken up residence at the old 
Sea of Tranquillity, along with Prince Endymion and a few planet senshi.  
There were rumors that the planet senshi were just as tired as Serenity 
I, and all sorts of speculation on possible replacements, but the Palace 
refused to comment. 
 
	"Okay," said Orion, growing more casual.  It seemed sad that just as
they were getting to know their monarch, they had to go.  "We'll keep in
touch."
 
	"Of course," replied Her Serene Majesty, Serenity, the Third of her
Name, born unto this Earth as Tsukino Usagi, the Second of that Name, Sailor
Senshi of the Moon, Defender of Love and Justice, and Queen of the Moon
Kingdom.  "See ya around."
 
*** 
 
	"No, not a problem at all." 
 
	"You're sure?"  Maya Tokaji's breath condensed and swirled about in
the bitterly cold air.  She was dressed in orange survival gear: heavy
parka, thick pants, gloves, a hood, woolen cap, and even a wool face mask. 
She looked more like an Antarctic explorer than a supercomputer specialist,
but a supercomputer specialist she was.
 
	"Quite sure," replied Hoitsu Arakida, chair of the computer science
department at the University of Hinansho.  He was in his mid-forties, though
you couldn't tell by looking at him: he was dressed the same as Maya.  "Just
give me a couple of days to run the clearances through, and you'll be set."
 
	"Oh, thank you Arakida-sensei!" she exclaimed.  Her voice echoed in 
the darkened chamber.  She'd been trying to get on the third memory unit 
staff almost nonstop for the past forty-eight hours.  This time it looked 
like she'd done the trick.  Her eyes burned from the cold, and she could 
feel it seeping through her insulated boots and gloves, but she didn't 
care. 
 
	The two stood on an icy catwalk in what was now the most important
chamber in the world.  Below them, off in the darkness, were the two dozen
paired processors of Artificial Intelligence Unit Antares.  Elsewhere were
the memory banks, each capable of holding amounts of data that would be
inconceivable to the audiences who first watched HAL 9000 run amuck aboard
Discovery in the film 2001.  Still elsewhere sat the ROM drives which
contained Antares's actual personality, or simulated personality to a
minority of computer experts.
 
	Antares was a big computer, taking up three times the space he had
on Pleiades.  Much of this was simply because there was room to play around
with: two caverns had been dedicated to the AI.  However, some of it was
also due to upgrades.  Antares had twice the memory he had before, and seven
of the old processing units had been upgraded and replaced with the latest
Mizuno Mark IX's.  Sailor Orion had no small part in that: she had been sure
to call in some favors and make sure Antares was far beyond what most colony
worlds had.
 
	However, all that was dependent on a skilled and well-trained AI
maintenance and computer psychology team.  Sailor Orion had provided for one
of those too, one of the best in the Moon Kingdom.  They were scheduled to
arrive in mid-3042, which just a couple weeks ago hadn't sounded bad at all. 
The last of Antares's components had arrived two months ago, and only the
emergency had forced the techs to remove the parts from storage and install
them in a three hour frenzy of activity.
 
	The techs.  Hoitsu knew just how inexperienced a staff he had to
work with.  He himself had limited experience with AIs: a year of study at
Miyazaki, the Kyushu city that was home to both AIs and their designers, and
two years working with someone else who had spent time there.  That was the
most experience anyone on the planet had.  Two thirds of his staff consisted
of computer science undergrads at the University.  'Hell of an internship,'
he thought wryly.  His decision to allow Maya to work on the third memory
unit was therefore pretty meaningless; otherwise she would be on the team
trying to establish a reliable link from there to Valhalla, and she would
probably be equally incompetent there.  It didn't really matter which one
she did, she had a lot of learning to do in any case.
 
	A lot of work to do, too.  He would have liked two or three hundred
more people to work with, though he knew the professional crew would have
been closer to fifty or sixty.  Things were woefully undermanned, and that
wasn't even factoring in the time frame.  He hadn't slept in days, and
neither had anyone else.
 
	Yet he had to admit that things were working.  The cooling systems
were working flawlessly, and the frostbite he was risking was proof enough
of that.  A test boot of a single of the new processors had gone well five
hours ago, and a full boot was scheduled to commence in another three.  Then
it was a simple matter of hunting down the billions of bugs sure to be
present in the programming until Antares was sentient enough to fix them
himself, which would probably take a week.  Winning in the face of
impossible odds was the Japanese legacy, though.  They would manage, or die.
 
*** 
 
4 July 3036 
H.M.S. Tuckwood, in orbit around the planet Hinansho 
 
	"Happy birthday, Eileen."  Her voice didn't carry far in the crowded
lounge, but it carried far enough.
 
	"Thanks," replied Sailor America with a smile.  "That's what, the 
fourth time you've said that today?  And it's only one in the 
afternoon!" 
 
	"Fifth," said Sailor Orion.  "I can go for six, if you want." 
 
	"Go ahead!"  Sailor America laughed and kicked her heels up on the
table.  Before them, on the other side of a large picture window, spun a
blue-white world looking much like Earth.  The continents were in the wrong
places and in the wrong shapes, and there seemed to be a bit more water than
usual, but otherwise it seemed wholly Earth-like, except for the much larger
icecaps.
 
	This was Hinansho, the fourth planet in the Nozomi system.  Nozomi 
was a Sol-like star, a billion or so years younger and therefore a bit 
bluer in the spectrum.  It also had the interesting phenomenon of 
emitting large pulses of low-frequency radiation.  They had both read 
reports mentioning this and its effect on long range communications, but 
discarded it as unimportant.  Hinansho was also on the outer edge of the
liquid water zone for Nozomi, so they could expect cold temperatures.
 
	"Beautiful, isn't it?" asked Sailor Orion.  She'd thought she'd
never be able to see beauty again, after her near-mental breakdown just a
week out of port. She'd been in counseling since then, and the last session
had been the previous day.  In the official opinion of the ship's
psychiatrist, Orion had been cured of delayed post-traumatic shock brought
on by the 3035 war and the emptiness of space.
 
	Sailor America craned her neck to peer at a part of the planet a
support beam was obscuring.  "Yep." She smiled, and this one was enough to
melt Sailor Orion's heart.  "Thanks for the birthday present."
 
	Sailor Orion smiled in return and adjusted her glasses.  "No
problem." It was actually a coincidence that they arrived on Sailor
America's birthday, but it still made a nice present.  As far as they knew,
Hinansho would be their home for the next century or so at least.  It didn't
seem like such a bad place to spend a hundred years.
 
	"Sailor Orion to the bridge please," called the intercom.

	The redhead stood and stretched.  "Wanna come along?" 
 
	"Sure." 
 
	The two walked along the corridors of H.M.S. Tuckwood.  They
frequently had to stand to the side; the halls were as crowded as they ever
were, with people moving equipment, baggage, personal belongings,
everything.  In contrast to the orderly boarding that had taken a full week,
everyone seemed bent on being the first one off Tuckwood and onto their new
home.  Sailor Orion couldn't help but shed a tear or two; this would probably 
be her last starship command.  She'd had enough excitement for 
a dozen lifetimes; this was essentially her retirement.  To think that 
she would never walk the deck of a ship again was . . . painful.
 
	"Whatcha thinkin' about?" asked Sailor America, deliberately
thickening her Pennsylvanian accent and wrapping an arm around her lover.
 
	"Nothing . . . just that we'll be back planetside soon." 
 
	"Wondering what to do?" 
 
	"No, I know what I'm doing.  I've already received an offer from the
University of Hinansho, they want me to teach as an adjunct."
 
	"Adjunct?  You've got too much skill and experience to be an
*adjunct*!"
 
	"I guess you're right.  I'll probably try to talk them into letting
me on as a full professor."
 
	"Not probably, *will*.  You deserve it.  If they don't give you 
tenure, give 'em hell."
 
	"Yes, well . . . ."  She exhaled slowly.  "I want to teach high
school, too."
 
	"Why?"  

	They stopped at a hallway junction as two men moved a long metal
object that Sailor Orion couldn't identify.  If she had to take a guess
she'd say it was a lamppost, but she had no idea why a lamppost would be on
her ship.  "I'm not sure, actually.  It just seems like something fun to do. 
By university most students are so set in their ways; I think maybe I'll be
able to change more lives that way.  Nothing quite matches the enthusiasm of
a good high school student.  Especially the freshmen: you can see that they
actually care.  Sometimes they don't, but that's okay, because you stand a
chance of converting them."
 
	"And then you have the ones who are interested only to pump up their
GPAs." The men passed, and the two senshi continued on their way.
 
	"Well, that's a risk, but you keep going.  I worked in a high school
a bit while getting my doctorate, I think it would be lots of fun."
 
	"Yeah, lots of fun dealing with some rugrats." 
 
	"At least I won't be behind a microphone," she teased.  They reached
a final door, and it opened onto the bridge.
 
*** 
 
	"Pearcy-san?  He needs an answer now." 
 
	Eileen waved her hand at the aide.  "I'll be there late, and that's
that.  He doesn't like that, he can find a new anchor."
 
	"Okay."  The aide bowed and left the hospital room, leaving Jen and
Eileen alone again.  

	The brunette turned back to Jen's still-unmoving body and gripped
her right hand tightly.  "Jen, I know you can hear me.  It's been two weeks
now.  There's a substitute handling your job, but he's really doing a
miserable job.  The one they got for your university course is even worse,
and your grad student . . . I don't know how you survived his calling you at
two in the morning to ask questions, because I know I've been doing a lousy
job with it.
 
	"I really need you to come back, I really don't know how much longer
I can go on without you.  I need you to be back home, like we were before. 
Let's be like that."
 
	Eileen sat unmoving, hot tears searing their way down her cheeks.  
She didn't notice the slight pressure on her hands that grew and grew, 
didn't notice when Jen's reddish-black eyebrows fluttered and her eyes 
slowly opened. 
 
	She did notice when Jen managed to croak out, "Eileen . . . why did
you let your hair down?"
 
	Jen was soon too busy getting the bear hug of her life to notice
anything else.
 
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