A few forewords. (this gets long, so skip to the row of equals signs if you're in a hurry). I now hate series with a vengeance. Writing twenty-six episodes for the first season was hell. Thus, think of this as a movie, because I'm not doing another weekly. Incidentially, I use a PC. This is based on the Sailor Orion series available at http://members.nbci.com/lbouyer/orion/. Out of nothing more than curiosity, please read it. A few reasons why: -little of what you are about to read will make much sense if you don't -it wasn't outright trashed by SM fans. -I think of it as my greatest achievement, since it was written at a rate of about 20kb per week for 23 weeks. A brief note: for reasons that will become clear, Chibi-Usa will be referred to as Small Lady throughout, to confuse avoision . . . I mean, avoid confusion (taking half a year to write a fanfic does strange and not altogether sick things to happen to one's mind). Sailor Moon and her pals are owned by Naoko Takeuchi, et al. Jennifer Sakachi and Eileen Pearcy were created by me, however, and so I'd appreciate it if you contacted me before using them in any fanfics you might be writing (that goes for Sailors Orion and America, too). Profuse thanks to everyone who read the Orion series, and even bigger thanks to those who wrote to me. You know who you are, and you all helped to make this possible. I guarantee that this ending will be far less predictable (knowing glare at a couple of people), and mathematically accurate to at least an order of magnitude (even bigger glare at someone). By name, I'd like to thank Jon Carp for previewing a couple of times, and Victor Naqvi, that lovable lover of punishment, who seemingly couldn't let a day go by without begging for the latest update of SMO. I'm sure he could recite the whole damned thing verbatim right now. ========================= Stage directions appear once in this story. This is it. [Open on a black screen. There is a very slight brightness at lower left that increases as the song begins] Kanashimi ga ima Sailor smile [the brightness envelops the entire screen and turns a subtle shade of blue-green] Kisekio okosuno Sailor wing [fade into a face in profile. It's outlined against the bright background, so we can't see who it is. The odango give a hint, though.] Daredatte kagayaku hoshio motsu [a spotlight goes on, and we see Eternal Sailor Moon, smiling as usual] Makenai! [begin a quick pan of a line of senshi. They are, in order, Sailors Eternal Moon, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Venus, Pluto, Moon, Uranus, Neptune, Saturn, America, and Orion. It takes as long as it takes for the next three lines to be sung.] Ashita e seeraa eru Zettai! Tsukamaeru! Seeraa sutaa Kono chikai todoke ginga made [pan ends. We now see the kanji and kana for: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon O ] [This next portion is very similar to the stars opening, mainly because it /is/ the stars opening, slightly modified. During this next portion, the screen will be split into two parts. The left hand side will show the senshi's civilian identity. The right hand will show them as sailors, at the end of their transformations. You can figure out the timing yourself.] [Usagi: Stuffing her face (if you must know, it's with some kind of pastry) Ami: Reading USENET (if you must know, it's soc.support.shyness) Rei: Sweeping the temple steps Makoto: Cooking (if you must know, it's shiitake mushrooms in a clam sauce) Minako: Playing volleyball ] Anata ga kieta sono toki kara Sagashitsuzukeru tabi ga hajimatta Kibanda chizu ni wa sutenshiru no tenshi no e [Fade to a red screen. The black silouettes of two senshi are seen. We don't know who they are. Yet.] Yubi sasu saki wa daaku na koroseumu ga matteru [Jump cut to a shot of the Tokyo skyline at night, with a full moon.] Furueru mune ni wa ano hi no himitsu no kisu [Jump cut to Tuxedo Kamen standing atop a lamppost (yes, I'm shameless).] Donna ni tsurai sadame demo oitsuzukeru kara [Switch to whiteout, which fades to show Eternal Sailor Moon brandishing the Eternal Tiar.] Kookai wa shinai seeraa aizu Anata ni tsuite ku seeraa uindo [Zoom out to show the other four inner senshi flanking her. Left to right: Venus, Mars, Moon, Mercury, Jupiter.] Kono uta wa hoshi no michi shirube [Jump cut to all five senshi and Tuxedo Kamen looking off into the distance. They're frightened by something, but we can't see what it is.] Makenai! Ashita e seeraa eru Zettai! Mitsukeru yo! Seeraa sutaa Tenshi no hane de tobitatsu no. [Slowly fade back to black. Just as the next line begins, suddenly brighten back to the scene described earlier. To recap, civilian identity on the left, transformation pose on the right, background colors match the sailor fuku. Setsuna: Looking keenly off into the distance Haruka: Popping out from under the hood of a car she's working on (if you must know, it's a Mustang.) Michiru: Looking up from a sheet of music, violin in hand (if you must know, it's Mahler's 6th, movement four, starting at measure 750.) Hotaru: Laying in a grassy field (yes, I know, there is no transformation sequence as of yet. Just think one up.)] Hitoride hashiru mishiranu michi Yatto tadoritsuita kono torideni Frasco no soko anata ga nokoshite itta [cut to a white background, where three senshi are silouetted. The background glare dimishes, and we have just enough time to see the faces of Sailor Chibi-Moon, Sailor America, and Sailor Orion, in that order.] Shirenno hoshi no hitokakera saa jumon'o tonaeyou [Jump cut to a starlit hill. Jen and Eileen are holding each other and looking up.] Kore wa futari no mirarsu na syukumei [Jump cut to a balcony of the Crystal Palace, where Small Lady is looking anxiously to the east.] Kakomo miraimo tobikoete oitsuite miseru [Bright flash, and now we see the Thirteen (Eternal Moon, Tuxedo Kamen, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Venus, Pluto, Uranus, Neptune, Moon, Saturn, America, and Orion) all lined up and ready to fight on one side of the screen. On the other are the two silouettes from before. We still can't see their faces.] Kurushisaga ima seera aizu Kisekio okosuno seera oisu [Eternal Sailor Moon raises the Eternal Tial.] Daredatte unmeino hoshio motsu [Bright flash and a whiteout ensue.] Makenai! [Slow fade back to black, with Earth in the center.] Ashita e seeraa eru Zettai! Tsukamaeru! Seeraa staa [A la most SM openings, we see the senshi flying towards the camera (and passing it) with smiles.] Kono chikai todoke ginga made [Sailor Venus brings up the rear, and her orange skirt provides a nice segway to an orange screen that darkens to red. Silouetted are the mystery senshi, now on either side of the screen.] Kookai wa shinai seeraa aizu Anata ni tsuite ku seeraa uindo [The two senshi start running towards each other.] Kono uta wa hoshi no michi shirube [AS they meet, there is a flash, and suddenly we're looking at the face of Neo-Queen Serenity. She fills the screen.] Makenai! Ashita e seeraa eru [She smiles. We zoom out slightly to see Endymion.] Zettai! Mitsukeru yo! Seeraa sutaa [He's smiling too. We zoom out a bit more to see Princess Usagi. Tenshi no hane de tobitatsu no. [She's smiling too. We do a slow zoom out for the rest of the song to see all the senshi there, striking chracteristic poses. On the last note of the song, we jump to black. Stay on black screen for five seconds, and slowly fade into scene one....] Peace Memorial Park Crystal Tokyo 7 July 3030 14:36 Local Time Jennifer Sakachi flopped her head down on the cool green grass and sighed. "You're absolutely correct, Sammy. And you thought you were stupid." She rolled over and smiled, ignoring the fresh-cut grass blades sticking to her jumpsuit. "I told you you'll do fine on the exam." "Yes," admitted Lieutenant Sammy Porter. "But I wanted to be sure." In reply, Jen simply looked out at the wide expanse of Crystal Tokyo. The gleaming city shone in the bright sun, a sun that radiated the perfect amount of light and heat. And if by chance you found that light too excessive, you could do as Jen and her friends had done and retreat under the shade of a wide tree. This particular tree was birch, and had been planted some years ago in commemoration of the end of the Second Sailor Wars. Around its white trunk, there was room for Jen, Eileen, Sammy, Vanessa, Kim, and Princess Usagi, all of whom were technically on leave. However, they all were in standard uniform. And Sammy hoped not to be in it anymore. It had been a couple months since their defeat of Selenite. After their triumphant return, Sammy had decided to go up for a commission as Lieutenant Commander. Doing so required taking a special exam, and it was a practice exam question on the Second Sailor Wars that she had gotten right. Small Lady looked up from the blade of grass she was playing with, looking dreadfully out of place in her jumpsuit instead of her colorful sailor fuku. "Why so quiet?" Jen replied without looking back. "Eric." "Ah." She would have added more if all their communicators hadn't started screeching at once. "EWO EWO Emergency War Orders, Emergency War Orders. All naval personnel are to report to their stations immediately. Say again, all naval personnel are to report to their stations immediately. We have a code one, say again code one." The insanely calm voice was cut off with a burst of static. Jen looked around at her senior officers. Without exception, their faces were pale as the birch tree. "Code One?" whispered Eileen. She worked in the press relations office, ran it actually, but even she knew what it meant. "Right," responded Jen. She stood, and began to fish around in pocket-space for her henshin stick. Trying to stay strong for her crew, she continued. "A direct attack upon Earth." She extended a fist into the air. "ORION-" She was cut short by the emergency sirens. Looking around, she saw Crystal Tokyo still gleaming in the sunlight as though nothing was wrong. But the air-raid sirens were going off, sirens that hadn't sounded since the last drill, twenty-five years ago. "Tsukino-san, tell me what you're seeing to the north." Small Lady was similarly shocked. "The anti-space batteries. They've been fired once, for Mother's thousandth birthday. They-" There was a bright flash, and everyone dove for the ground. "Cover your ears!" shouted Jen, bracing herself for the shockwave. It came a moment later, rocking the ground. Looking up, she saw a starship diving towards the city, surrounded by the blinding light of weapons intended only for use in space, not close atmospheric combat. The ship looked familiar from her history books. "Ursa Major! Sailor Pollux's ship!" But it was impossible; Ursa Major had been destroyed in the climactic battle of the Second Sailor Wars, along with her sister ship Ursa Minor, commanded by Pollux's twin sister Sailor Castor. That had been ages ago. She managed to crawl over next to Small Lady and shout in her ear; with all the noise it was the only way to be heard. "Where's your mother? She's the only one who can deal with a full-sized starship at close range!" "Hold on," replied Small Lady. "I may be able to tele-" There was a final, blinding flash. Royal Star Navy Headquarters Mare Crisium, The Moon 14:40 Crystal Tokyo Time 17:40 Lunar Time From the ruins of Royal Star Navy Headquarters, Sailor Mars slowly dragged herself from under a scorched computer console. She had been in Central Command when Pollux came roaring out of literally nowhere. Just popped out of hyperspace, guns blazing. Mars barely had time to get out a warning to Earth before the hell got blasted out of the Moon. In seconds, the kilometers of rock beneath the surface and the vacuum of space had molten, and fires were everywhere. Mars had rapidly gone from trying to organize a return strike to keeping what few base personnel remained alive. So far, she had confirmed two hundred survivors in the rubble of Naval Headquarters. Two hundred, out of the two million who lived and worked in the Navy's nexus. Even as she managed to pick herself up from another falling computer, she saw on a screen Earth getting blasted by Pollux's ship. She didn't need an overlay to see that it was Japan that was being targeted. She saw a bright spot in the midst of bright spots, and watched in horror as it expanded, overtaking Japan, China, the Korean peninsula. When it reached Australia and Hawaii she started looking for another functioning headset. Finding one, she rapidly dialed up the shipyards over the planet Mars. "Mars yardmaster, this is Crisium. Scramble and fold all ships. I say again all ships are to fold out of the system immediately. Restrictions on folding near gravitational bodies are hereby lifted. MOVE THEM DAMMIT!" Even as she saw the bright light expand outwards from Earth, even as it neared the Moon, she knew she was too late. It was confirmed for her when she, and the rest of the Moon, were wiped out of existence. A bit later, the rest of the universe was as well. Tokyo Juuban district 12 October 1998 6:23 AM Local Time "BWAAAAHHH! I'm late!" It had been a couple of months since the last coming of Typhoon Usagi, but Juuban was due. Luna responded to Usagi's antics as she had for the past four years: she put her paws over her ears. "Byemomi'llseeyoui'mreallylate!" Frantically munching on some toast, the sophomore raced off to Juuban High School, scarcely noticing the objects and people she passed. A mailbox, awaiting people to drop mail into it. Ami Mizuno, who glanced at the blonde blur with interest, wondering why she was in such a hurry; there were fifteen minutes until roll was called. With her walked Urawa Ryo, who had just recently moved back into town. Shaking their heads, they continued their discussion of current politics. Makoto Kino, who was in just as much a hurry. Three officers of the Royal Star Navy, who had just dropped back into reality after a protracted absence. "Aggh!" Eileen was the first to recover. She looked about wildly. "Wh-where are we? First we're about to die, and-" "Maybe we're already dead! Maybe we're-" "Ladies, can we calm down?" They both turned to look at Jen. "In case you haven't noticed, we're causing a scene!" They looked around to see that Jen was correct; a crowd of people had gathered around to see the three rather attractive women who had come out of nowhere. "Okay people, just carry on with your business!" shouted Jen, shooing them away. She hoped that her experience as captain would allow some authority to seep into her voice. Eventually the crowd dispersed, leaving the three identically dressed women standing on the sidewalk. "For future reference," said Jen, "when we drop into twentieth century Tokyo unannounced, try to do it more smoothly, okay?" There were nods all around. "Good. Now let's get going." They started walking together. Juuban district 6:27 AM "20TH CENTURY TOKYO!!!" A thud. Three of them, in fact. "Ladies, can I help you?" Juuban High School 2:00 PM Usagi, Ami, Minako, and Makoto walked out of Juuban High, discussing the usual things: homework, cute guys, how nice it was not having to worry about any kinds of supernatural events. They'd gotten rid of Galaxia over a year ago, and it seemed that the Sailor Senshi days were over for awhile. "So, guys," chirped Usagi, "who's up for the arcade?" "Not me," said Ami, "I've-" "-got some studying to do, right." Makoto and Usagi finished it for her. "Exactly," said Ami brightly. "Would you like to join me? Ryo-kun and I will be studying the latest modifications to the Standard Model!" The other three sweatdropped. "Er, not exactly...so, you with me, Mako-chan?" "Right! See you later, Ami-chan!" "Bye!" They went their separate ways. Juuban District Park 2:07 PM After walking halfway home, Ami decided to enjoy the Indian summer by studying outdoors in the park. Seeing her usual park beside her, the one she passed every day, she entered and found a nice tree which hadn't lost too many of its leaves yet. She settled down beneath it, waiting for Urawa to show up as she turned the pages of her book. She was fairly happy that he'd returned. She was, in fact, downright optimistic. With no sailor business to worry about, she could be like all the other teens for once and have a personal life. 'Well,' she thought, 'not quite like all of them.' She could still transform into Sailor Mercury; she'd tried it one night, just to make sure, and there was still lots of schoolwork to get done. But it was still nice to be able to have some personal time, which she was spending more and more of with Urawa. He had bulked up quite a bit in the intervening years. Not to the point of being a muscle builder, but enough that she was the envy of quite a few female classmates. She had just gotten through page 203 of her book on Welsh culture and history when a voice tore her away from her studies. "Good afternoon, Mizuno-san," said a voice that was familiar. Ami looked up, blinking for a moment since the figure had his back to the low autumn sun. "Oh hi, Furahata-san. What are you doing here? And . . . who are they?" The blond man laughed. "Oh, you don't think I work at the arcade twenty-four hours a day, do you? After seven years there, I think I've earned a bit longer lunch break than most." "And them?" Ami referred to the trio of women who accompanied him. They were a rather interesting group. One was a brunette, who from her body language seemed to have more than a casual relationship with the other, a rather tall redhead with glasses. Ami had hung around with Haruka and Michiru enough to tell that these two were lovers, and didn't mind letting others know about it. Then there was another interesting sight: pink hair, red eyes . . . Small Lady? But this person was far too old; she looked to be in her teens, perhaps even early twenties. In fact, the other couple seemed to be in their teens as well. They all wore black jumpsuits which appeared to be uniforms. With a bit more time, she would have liked to inspect their insignia more closely, but she didn't want to gawk. She resigned herself to the fact that they went to some school she hadn't heard of. Then again, they did look to be college aged. The brunette hanging on to the redhead had no problems with gawking, though. "Jen! Isn't that Sa-" "Hush!" "Oh, these girls?" Motoki grinned. "Believe it or not, I just found them in front of the arcade. I think they're immigrants or something, but they speak great Japanese. Odd accent, though. Anyway," and here he gestured to the redhead of the trio, who bowed, "here's Jennifer," the brunette, "Eileen," and the pink-haired one, "Usagi." It was Ami's turn to be shocked. "Usagi?" "Yeah. Weird, isn't it? She even looks a bit like meatball head." "Usagi?" Ami seemed to be having trouble getting past that. Small Lady winked at Ami, and made a silencing motion. "I'll explain later," she mouthed. "Furahata-san," said Ami slowly, "perhaps I can show them around Tokyo a bit?" From the nods Small Lady was giving her, she knew she'd made the right decision. "Well, okay. Now you girls have somewhere to stay, right?" "Well . . . ." "Yes, definitely," said Jen, cutting off Eileen. "We've got a place." "Good. Well, I'll be seeing you. Goodbye!" Once Motoki walked off, Ami almost grabbed Small Lady by the collar, undecided between giving her a hug and throttling her for showing up again. "Chibi-usa-chan! What are you doing here? Why are you so old? And who are these people?" "Sailor Mercury! It's so great to meet you!" Eileen pulled a scrap of paper from a pocket, along with a pen. "Could I have your autograph?" "Eileen!" "Ouch! Why'd you pinch me? You know I don't like that kind of thing in public!" Ami had turned a rather shocking white. "Who . . . who are you? And how do you know who I am?" She reached for her henshin stick. Jen sighed. "Well, I'd hoped that things would go better, but . . . Mercury, you're just going to have to trust us, here. We know your identity, and we haven't tried to shoot you. That's a good start, right?" "Well..." "Good. Now, we need you to contact . . . um . . . have to remember the names." She turned to Eileen. "We learned these, right? But it's been so long since they're used them. There's Rei . . . ." "Right, and Minako." "Um--hm, but there's another M, mmm . . . Makutu?" "Mekoro?" "Makotsu?" They hit upon it at the same time. "MAKOTO!" They did a high- five. "And Neo . . . Seren . . . her Highness." It was a supreme effort to get it out. "Right," said Jen. "Get all the senshi together. The outer senshi as well, if you can. The cat's fully out of the bag, and we need to tell you all about it." "All right." She trusted these people for some reason. It was something they just exuded; Rei could probably explain it better. She began scribbling a note for Urawa so he wouldn't worry about where she was. "But where are you from?" Small Lady smiled. "You couldn't tell? We're from the future!" Tsukino residence 2:30 PM Usagi was toiling over homework. It had taken years for her to get the message, but she was finally doing her homework on a regular basis. Luna simply sat at the foot of the bed daydreaming, when Usagi's communicator started beeping. "What?" Usagi fished around in her bookbag and dug out the device. "Ami? What's up?" "We've . . . well, we don't have a problem, but it's definitely something you should hear for yourself. I'm calling a meeting at the Shrine in half an hour. Be there, and make sure Luna's there too." "Is it sailor business?" asked Usagi seriously. "Yep." "I'm there." She closed off the connection and looked at Luna. "Come on, we've got go!" "Right!" Makoto's apartment 2:32 PM "Makoto?" "Yes?" She was rather annoyed; she had all four burners on the stove going to cook up a killer meal, and she really didn't want to bother with her senshi obligations. "Meet us at the shrine, half an hour. Something's come up." "Damn!" "What was that?" "Oh, nothing." Makoto mentally crossed off dinner from her list of things to enjoy today. "I'll be there." "Good." Aino residence 2:33 PM "Minako? Minako!??" Artemis looked in the laundry room, in the bathroom, in the kitchen. He had answered Ami's communication, and was now trying to find her to tell her about the meeting. After some more searching, he found her outside. "MINAKO! What are you doing?" "Climbing a tree, why?" "That tree's a sapling!" A bit of an exaggeration, but it was rather young. "So? It's not going to collapse or anythiiiiiiiing!" Thud. "Right, steady as a rock. Come on, we've got a meeting to get to." An apartment in Upper Juuban 2:35 PM "You have reached the home of Kaiou Michiru and Ten'ou Haruka. We're sorry, but we're not in right now. If you'd like to leave your name and number, we'll get back to you as soon as possible. Please leave your number at the beep." The machine beeped. "Hello, Haruka-san? Michiru-san? We're holding a special meeting at the shrine. I know you're probably not interested, but I think this will prove intriguing to us all. It's about Crystal Tokyo. Oh, and tell Setsuna-san and Hotaru-chan if you can, okay? Arigato." Click. USS Carl Vinson West Pacific Ocean 350 kilometers due east of Taiwan 2:59 PM Japanese Standard Time Rear Admiral Harold Bell had seen many things in his thirty year career in the Navy. He'd been through Vietnam and the Persian Gulf, both times being decorated for bravery and cunning. As his nuclear powered aircraft carrier plowed through the warm waters of the Pacific Ocean on its way to Auckland, New Zealand, he reflected to himself on how spectacular his career had been. He would have had another story to add to his list of favorites if he had merely looked out his cabin window. If he had, he would have seen a woman in a short sailor fuku materialize about thirty meters in the air, and would have seen that woman fall twenty of those meters before disappearing again. But he didn't, and so he continued pondering the past. Tokyo Hikawa Shrine 3:02 PM "Are we all here, then?" asked Ami. She and the rest of the inner senshi sat in the room. One call had been received from Haruka, saying that they had some other things to attend to, and would be a bit late. They had promised to contact Setsuna and Hotaru, though. "Right, then I guess I should start. We've got visitors." "What kind?" asked Makoto immediately. "Good guys. At least, I think so. I do know that they could have attacked us if they wanted to." "So they've got the jump on us?" asked Minako. "Hardly encouraging." Artemis nodded, while the others just looked baffled. Ami just shrugged noncommittally and turned to the door. "Okay, you can come in!" Perhaps she should have prepared them a bit better for it, but emotional impact was not something she dealt with very well. The three from the future walked in and sat opposite the senshi. "Good afternoon, everyone," said Jen. "And these are?" asked Rei. She had been rather unhappy when three strangers had come with Ami, not giving names. Ami had remained tight-lipped about where they were from. "In order, they are Eileen Pearcy, Jennifer Sakachi, and Usagi Tsukino." For the first time, they drew the connection with the pink hair. "Chibi-Usa!" Usagi leapt up to give her daughter a hug, made even more incongruous since the younger was now slightly taller than the elder. "I've missed you!" "Same here, Mama!" "Aren't they cute, Jen-chan?" "I suppose so," whispered Jennifer back to Eileen. "But we'll have to see how cute Her Majesty is when she hears the news." "Her Majesty?" Everyone snapped around to see who had said it. Outlined in the door were four figures. The one closest to them continued, "Exactly who would Her Majesty be to you?" Jen stood and squinted. If she could only get a good look at them, but that voice . . . add a few years, and you had: "Sailor Uranus!" The figure stepped forward suddenly and drew to within inches of Jen. "Yeah? What about her?" Jen thought carefully. The Sailor Uranus of the thirty-first century had toned down quite a bit from her twentieth century personality, she knew. From what she'd read, Uranus, or Ten'ou Haruka as she went nowadays, was a paranoid who barely tolerated the inner senshi, and would do anything for the Neo-Queen and her mission. The possibility that the history books might be wrong never occurred to her. "Well," said Jennifer belligerently, "I just happened to notice that you're her." "What did you say!?" Haruka got a calming hand on her shoulder from Michiru, as she and the other two stepped forward. The others wore similar looks of surprise: who were these people, and how did they know about the sailors? "Sailor Pluto? Sailor Saturn?" Jen asked it more or less out of formality. As an afterthought, she bowed. Pluto and Saturn returned it. Saturn took a moment to smile at the younger Usagi. Or rather, the elder Usagi, since the Usagi of the twentieth century was seventeen, while the Usagi of the thirty-first century was about 940 years old. Even taking her physical appearance into consideration, the pink-haired Usagi still looked about twenty. Haruka had calmed down somewhat. "Ami-san, you'd better have a good explanation for all this." "Well," said the blue-haired girl, "I don't." She gestured to Jen. "She does, though." "And she is?" asked Michiru. "She's someone I met at the park today. She said that-" "You know, you needn't talk about me like I'm not here." Jen drew up and stood, facing down the tall dusty blonde. Haruka immediately reassessed the situation; not many women were taller than she, and of those who were, fewer had the guts to remind her of that. "I'm Jennifer Allison Sakachi. And this-" "Where are you from?" "Usagi! Don't interrupt!" "It's okay, Luna-san," said Jen, the hints of a smile creeping up on her face. "To answer your question, Your Majesty, I'm from . . . around here." She closed her eyes and tried to recall a map. "About three kilometers north of here, and about 1000 years in the future." 'Now,' thought Eileen, 'why didn't that shock the twentieth century senshi more? Oh, of course! The Princess.' That more or less gave away their date. "Wait," began Rei, "isn't the Black Moon around in a thousand years?" "Rei," said Setsuna, "I believe that you may want to pay more attention to our guest here, and ask fewer questions." Rei thought of a retort for that, considered it, and decided to drop it. Setsuna was the expert on time, after all. "Fine. Please continue, Sakachi-san." "Jen-chan, please. I'm only nineteen." And the captain of a starship besides, but that's life. "A very *mature* nineteen," said Eileen, clutching Jen's shoulder with an air of propriety. Haruka and Michiru shared a raised eyebrow. "Anyway," said Jen, who had the grace to blush, "to continue the introductions, this is Eileen Pearcy. Here's the Princess, I think you know her already." Greetings were exchanged. "Now, before we get started, one question I still haven't had answered. What's today's date?" Ami answered. "12 October." At Jen's hard stare, she continued. "1998." "Oh shit," muttered Jen. Her companions blanched. "Huh? Is something wrong?" Visibly, Jen got herself back under control. "Oh, it's nothing." 'It's just that the world is, for all intents and purposes, going to end for you in about a year,' she thought. "Nothing at all." "I think we need to explain exactly who we are," said Small Lady. "Okay," said Jen. She stood. "Eileen, I think they need a demonstration. Perhaps this will convince them that we're on their side," she added, looked directly at Rei and Haruka. Eileen rose as well. "Right. Shall we?" "Let's." "Orion Star Power, Make-Up!" "America Star Power, Make-Up!" "Moon Crisis Make Up!" Their transformations died down. Artemis was the first to speak. "Call your parents; we're going to be here awhile." *** "And that's basically what happened with Selenite," concluded Jen, who had just finished explaining the salient points of H.M.S. Pleiades's campaign against the Dark Kingdom. It was slightly edited, of course, to remove references to Eric, or Chibi-Jen, or the Princess's adventures in the vacuum, or for that matter anything that might influence events in the future. This was a task made doubly difficult by the fact that the planet senshi had some knowledge of the future when they sent Sailor Orion off against Selenite. The tricky part was figuring out just how much the planet senshi had known. Eileen looked at Jen worriedly. "Jen, do you need a drink of water?" "I suppose so," said Jennifer. It had been a long speech. Usagi rubbed her eyes; staying awake for the whole thing had been difficult for her. "So we've got to face the Dark Kingdom again?" "Nope," said Eileen. She turned to Rei. "If you wouldn't mind, a drink please?" "Of course," said Rei, getting up to head for the kitchen. "There's one thing that doesn't make sense," said Michiru. "We know," said Small Lady. "Why are we here? Well, we think that it's a temporal problem." Usagi immediately brightened. "No, mama. Temporal, not temporary. That's why we needed to talk to Pu . . . Pluto. We were hoping that she could shed some light on things." Setsuna fought down the shiver of panic that threatened to run down her spine. She couldn't let them see her flustered. "I'm not too sure. My visions of the future . . . they're still the same." "Have you gone past 3030? Physically, I mean?" Michiru had the face of one who has just a couple more clues to fill in before completing one of those monster crosswords. "No," said a surprised Setsuna. "That is, I can't remember ever going beyond . . . beyond . . . ." "Beyond when, Pluto?" asked Jen, already knowing the answer. "Beyond July fifth, thirty-" She was cut off by an explosion. 4300 block of Cherry Hill Road 5:23 PM Captain Hiroshi Asokara had been with the Tokyo police force for twenty years. He was pretty certain that he'd seen it all. He'd seen far more than he wanted to when the sailor senshi popped up, that was for certain. Never in the history of the force had so many weird things happened to one particular district of Tokyo in so short a period of time. He'd been a grizzled veteran, though, and relished the uncertainty of duty in Juuban until the weirdness well had apparently run dry. He'd thrived on not knowing when the next youma, cardian, droid, daimon, lemure, paredory, or phage was going to show up. But now, it had been calm for nearly a year, without a peep from the senshi. Now, as he looked up at the thirty-meter high fireball that was rising up from a group of fenced off power transformers, he was rather anxious to see the senshi again. Heaven knew he wasn't in a position to do much about it. Nevertheless, he was nothing if he didn't have his duty. He picked up the radio in his car and dialed it in to precinct headquarters. "This is unit thirty-four, and I've got an emergency. Code 005, say again 005, at the transformers in the . . . 4300 block of Cherry Hill road. Need backup immediately, over!" "Roger unit thirty-four," came the cool voice of the dispatcher, "be advised nearest assistance is ten minutes away. Do you require military assistance?" "Hell yeah! And get the fire department down here, too!" "10-4. Understood." There was another explosion, and Hiroshi dived behind his squad car. He peeped back over to see that she was still at it. As a police officer he should be doing something. But it was now officially a 005, the code that the Tokyo police used to describe anything that was best dealt with by teenage girls in short skirts. Gotham City had the Batphone, and Tokyo had 005. Hikawa Shrine 5:24 PM 005 was far more efficient than the police realized. When there were only five senshi busy with Rubeus and company, Ami had had an idle interest in police band communications. She had noticed that they used various numbers and call signals to get things understood faster. And of course, she'd noticed that any fight that the senshi were involved in, or even were going to be involved in, got the 005 tag. So she'd set her computer to alert her to whenever the police called in a 005. Thus, while the others were frantically looking outside to find out the source of the explosion, Ami had already whipped out her computer and was finding out where it had hit. "The explosion was centered-" "-three kilometers west, by the transformers?" Ami was surprised. "Right! How'd you know?" Haruka simply pointed to where the smoke and flames rose into the air. "Oh." Meanwhile, Jen and Eileen were looking at the plume of smoke warily. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" asked Eileen. "Depends," said Jen. "Are you thinking about how to prevent those aches in the mornings afterwards?" "No." "Damn. I guess I am thinking what you were thinking." "Hm. I liked what you thought I was thinking better." "Me too." "Yeah." Eileen walked over to Usagi. "Your Majes . . . Serenity, we think we know who's causing this." "Who?" asked Usagi. "Are we going to have to deal with it?" she said in a tone that said that she wanted the answer to be no. 'And will you stop calling me Your Majesty?' she didn't ask. "Yes. We'll tell you when we get there." She nodded to Small Lady, who nodded back. "Everyone, transform!" 5:26:02 PM "America Star Power, Make-Up!" "Orion Star Power, Make-Up!" "Moon Crisis Make-Up!" The three future senshi did not make a speech or strike a pose. They just started running. 5:26:54 PM Haruka and Michiru shrugged. "Uranus Crystal Power, Make-Up!" "Neptune Crystal Power, Make-Up!" "Pluto Crystal Power, Make-Up!" "Saturn Crystal Power, Make-Up!" The four outers made abbreviated speeches and took off in the direction of the future senshi. 5:28 PM Luna only had to glare at Usagi. "Mercury Crystal Power, Make-Up!" "Venus Crystal Power, Make-Up!" "Mars Crystal Power, Make-Up!" "Jupiter Crystal Power, Make-Up!" "Moon Eternal make-up!" The five inners made several protracted speeches and a couple photo-worthy poses, and then ran off. 5:30 PM "Luna?" "Yes, Artemis?" "We've got to work on their timing." 4300 block of Cherry Hill Road 5:31 PM Hardly out of breath, Sailors Orion, America, and Moon arrived at the scene to find that things were not going too well. One squad car was already in flames, with the driver nowhere in sight. They could hear the sirens of fire trucks in the distance, but for now it was up to the senshi. "Where is she?" asked Sailor Moon, looking around frantically. They knew that she had to be behind it; given recent and future events, it was the only alternative that made sense. Sailor America had taken out her handlink from her pocket. In a pinch it could function as a scanning device. Normally, its range would be augmented by the local AIs. Unfortunately, the local AI wouldn't be built for several hundred years, so they were left to their own ends. "I'm getting a pretty strong trace here, Jen," said Sailor America, excitement at the back of her voice. It was due to a couple factors. The first was her inexperience. Unlike Sailor Moon and Sailor Orion, she'd never been in a combat situation. She had her powers, but she rarely practiced; a PR secretary didn't need them. She was leaning a lot on the experience of her two companions, and unconsciously edged closer to Orion. For her part, Orion was quite conscious of this. The second factor was that for the first time, she was doing more in a fuku than making announcements. She felt wonderfully alive, finally earning the title of sailor-suited soldier. Orion didn't share her enthusiasm, though. "Silly," she said in a tone totally unsuited for combat, yet quite appropriate for a bedroom, "would you mind giving me some space to work with here?" "Oh, sorry," replied Sailor America, backing away a bit. "Over there!" shouted Sailor Neptune. 'The cavalry arrives,' thought Sailor Orion. She looked over at where Neptune and the other outers were, surmised what they had to have seen to shout such a warning, and wheeled to face their threat. *** Eternal Sailor Moon and the other inner senshi came rushing up to see an extraordinary sight. Atop a blazing transformer was a senshi. She was in typical sailor fuku, with the white bodice, a midnight blue skirt and choker, and shockingly lavender bows and boots. Her tiara was gold, with a midnight blue stone embedded within it. As for her face . . . it was pure hatred. Right now, it wasn't a warm hate. It was a cold hate, the hatred usually reserved for Nazism or Judas Iscariot. It was a hatred of everything she saw around her, and it was a hatred that the inners had never seen before, even with all the enemies they had faced in the past. "Who is that?" asked Jupiter. "I don't know," said Mercury, pulling out her computer. She suspected that this new sailor was up to no good. A few meters away, she could see that the other senshi were arrayed in a more or less offensive position. She then realized that it was a mixed bag; while the outers were clearly in a mood to fight, Sailors Moon, America, and Orion were in a definite defensive posture. They even seemed to be backing away, which caught Uranus by surprise. "Hey," she shouted, "where are you going?" Sailor Orion began to edge towards the queen: that is, towards Eternal Sailor Moon. At the moment, she fervently wished that the queen was really there, and in her full power. "I'm moving back to safety, and I'd advise you do the same." "Why?" "Because she," she said, pointing up to the senshi that hadn't even moved yet, "is the most dangerous person on the planet right now." "Oh really?" said Uranus. "You haven't seen me in action then, have you? World Shaking!" The yellow blast of energy surged towards the new senshi, and flew right through her. Or rather, would have if she had not made a prodigious leap up and out of the way. Neptune was prepared, though. "Deep Submerge!" The new senshi dodged this as well. Neptune looked over to Sailor Orion, who along with the other Moon and America seemed to be . . . cowering behind Eternal Moon? That made no sense at all! "Um, Sailor Uranus? Sailor Neptune?" Both the addressed senshi snapped their heads around, looking for the speaker. They found her, perched atop a telephone pole. "Up here, idiots," said the voice derisively. "Nice to see that you haven't changed. Still just as incompetent." "Do we know this character?" asked Jupiter. "Know me? Know me? Kami-sama, will you know me?!?" Sailor Orion bent down to whisper in Eternal Sailor Moon's ear. "Your Majesty, I suggest you get out the ginzuishou and take out this senshi. Now." Beside her, Sailors Moon and America nodded their agreement. The new senshi smiled and leapt down from the pole, making a perfect landing. "Well, all you need to know is that I'm Sailor Pollux, and that I'll be destroying you. I've got other engagements, so . . ." She tapped an earring and disappeared, leaving a loud bang behind as the air slammed into where she had been. Behind Eternal Moon, Sailor America finally stopped shaking. "God, that was close." "Close? Close?!?" Sailor Uranus put her face to within millimeters of America's. "Dammit, aren't you senshi? And yet you just run away? Dammit, we were *fighting* out there! What the hell were *you* doing?" "WE," replied America just as heatedly, "were trying to stay alive. And if you knew half of what we knew, you'd have the same reaction! Why, if-" "Sailor America, you might want to calm down," said Orion quietly. "The hell I will! Call me a coward, will she?" "Eileen, please!" That shut her up. Sailor Orion detransformed and turned to Eternal Sailor Moon. "Your Majesty, we've got to talk." "Out here?" "Of cour . . . oh, that's right. Secret identity." She looked around. Luckily, no-one had seen her transform. But that brought up another question. "Your Majesty-" "Would you please stop calling me that?" "Oh, sorry, Your . . . Your . . . Serenity-sama. Won't happen again. Anyway, we don't exactly have a place to stay, and-" "Well, Small Lady can stay at my house," said Eternal Sailor Moon, smiling at her daughter. "Um . . ." began America. The cats finally showed up. "Right," said Luna, "*please* tell me why you're shooting the breeze in your senshi forms in public?" "Well," said Mars, "we were just discussing accommodations, and, er-" "Can it." Tsukino residence 8:21 PM Usagi and her daughter sat in the mother's bedroom. It had changed little in the three years since she had first become Sailor Moon. Back in 1995, there had still been the bunny comforter, the general rabbit motif, et cetera. There were a couple changes since then, however. A life-size poster of the Three Lights hung on the wall. It was autographed as well, which made it doubly valuable; in addition to the signatures of Seiya, Yaten, and Taiki, it also had the signatures of Sailors Star Maker, Healer, and Fighter on a back corner away from prying eyes. The poster wasn't the only item in what, for lack of a better term, could be called Usagi's trophy case. There was a solitary petal from a flower left over from their encounter with Fiore. There was a shard of glass that had been left over from one of Nehelenia's mirrors. There was a stack of Sailor V manga, every one painstakingly yet cheerfully autographed by Minako herself. Then there was the prize jewel, the pride of her collection. Dolls. Each thirty centimeters tall, one for each senshi. Mercury, Venus, Moon, Chibi-Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Tuxedo Kamen. All in the original packaging. All with lifelike detail. Except for her own, all personally autographed. These were not dolls you got at the local toy store. These were dolls that you ordered from special catalogs that wouldn't even let you subscribe if you weren't in the right tax bracket. They had been a present for her seventeenth birthday. She had been absolutely stunned when she got them, but the others had just smiled and told her that it was nothing compared to what she would get on her eighteenth birthday. Small Lady looked over the collection approvingly, listening as Usagi told her how she'd gotten it. She found it hard to keep from crying when she got to the part about her eighteenth birthday. She had to admit it wasn't as if it were unexpected, as she listened to her mother drone on. She'd known for centuries what would happen on 30 June 1999. She knew even better what would happen just two years later. More perhaps than anyone else in the world, she knew all the terribly fateful things that were destined to keep happening on Usagi Tsukino's birthday. But it wasn't fair for her mother to have such high hopes for a future that would come crashing down so soon. She couldn't dwell on that now, though. There were important things to worry about, such as Sailor Pollux. "Mama," said Small Lady, "there's some stuff I've got to tell you about." "Later," said Usagi. "I've got so much else to tell you, and-" "It's important, Mama," insisted Small Lady. "It's about Sailor Pollux." "Who?" Residence of Haruka Ten'ou, Michiru Kaioh, Hotaru Tomoe, and Setsuna Meiou 8:21 PM "So you two will be here," said a briskly walking Haruka. "The bed's a king size . . . or would you like doubles?" The sarcasm dripped from her voice. 'Gee,' thought Jen, '*she* sure has a lot of room to talk.' Eileen vocalized it. "Oh, a king-size will be fine, Uranus," she said, holding Jen closely. "We're inseparable. You can just stick to your doubles" "Oh?" said Haruka, bringing Michiru around and holding her around the waist protectively. "Well, where did you get that idea?" "It's common knowledge in the thirty-first, Uranus. We're also familiar with how you tried to hide it." "Hide what?" asked Haruka. "Oh, nothing," said Eileen, giving Jen a peck on the cheek that rapidly turned into something far more serious. "Really?" asked Haruka, doing the same with Michiru. 'What the hell's going on?' thought Jen and Michiru simultaneously. They might have stayed like that for hours if Setsuna and Hotaru hadn't come in at that point, carrying a couple bags that bore the names of Tokyo's more prominent department stores. "We've brought some clothes, we figured that those uniforms must . . . oh, have we interrupted something?" Her tone was mocking, but Setsuna remained as stony-faced as ever. Hotaru, however, didn't even bother to hide her smile. "Shall we talk, or are you guys going to go for the menage a quatre?" Mizuno apartment 8:34 PM The Mizuno's door bell was a typical doorbell. It gave a high tone and a low tone, in that quick order. It was easily audible from anywhere in the house, but it was especially audible when one waited right next to the door as Ami did. She peeped out the window and breathed a sigh of relief and happiness, then opened the door and let in Ryo Urawa. "How are you, Ryo-kun?" asked Ami politely. "Fine, thank you," said Ryo warmly. "Is your mother home?" "Right here," said Ayumi as she popped out of the kitchen. "Nice to see you again." "Same here," said Ryo. "So you're here for more late-night studying, right?" "Yes, Mizuno-san." "Okay. There's some coffee cake in the dining room if you want it. I've got the graveyard shift at the ER, so I'll be catching a nap now while I can. Ami, you know the routine: wake me at the right time." "Of course, mother." "I know you will. Good night." Ayumi padded up the stairs, leaving the two alone. "It's nice she trusts us," said Ryo as he picked up his bookbag and followed Ami to her bedroom. "Why wouldn't she?" asked Ami rhetorically as they entered. Her room surprised many; it wasn't in a blue motif, but a green one, and far from being sparse, the walls were covered with posters. Admittedly, they were generally related to the fields of astronomy and medicine, such as the life-size poster of the human muscular system, but they weren't bare and austere either. Urawa had raised an eyebrow once at the life-sized Sailor Mercury poster, but had never mentioned it. They both sat before her desk, on which were a computer, lamp, and a couple of books. Urawa shook his head once again. "What's wrong?" asked Ami. "It's just . . . you don't read the fan groups on the Internet, do you?" "No, definitely not." "Well, if they found out that the great Sailor Mercury uses a Macintosh..." "Right," said Ami with a laugh. It was, she felt, one of the best parts of their relationship. They'd been pretty good friends since he'd come back to Tokyo, and remarkably they'd stayed that way. They'd had numerous opportunities to take their friendship to the next level, but they hadn't, and in fact hadn't progressed past the kissing stage. Neither was particularly inclined to do anything more serious, and they were happy that way. Whereas most teens would have some sexual activity in mind when they said "study night," Ami and Ryo meant it literally. "Well I can't imagine using anything else. Windows hasn't come up with anything good for ages, OS/2 is dead and buried, and Linux still has some way to go. Anyway, what do we have tonight?" "Oh, we've got some good stuff tonight. Fresh, too. Anatomy and physiology; the unit test is next week, and . . . ooh, a surprise: American literature. We've got an exam on Fitzgerald, focusing on The Great Gatsby. But before that," he said, gazing levelly at Ami, "you want to tell we what was going on this afternoon?" There wasn't any point trying it hide it from him. There never was. "Oh, you know, the usual. Senshi from the future show up, and one of them tried to kill us all." "Chibi-usa-chan is back?" Ami pulled her A&P textbook from a satchel and opened it to the appropriate chapter. "Well, yes. But she's not so young anymore. She looks to be in her twenties." "Oh, and what are you calling her now, since she's obviously not chibi?" "You don't want to know. But she's not the interesting one. The fun part is the other two: Sailor Orion and Sailor America." "Who?" "That's what I said. They're from the future. Let's just say that they, well we change the rules about senshi in a thousand years. But the kicker . . . you know how Uranus and Neptune are, right?" "Yeah, they're . . . wait, so you're saying that Orion and . . ." "Yes." "Are like that . . ." "Yes." "With each other?" "Yes." "Wow." "Yeah. Well, it's the fourth one who's against us. We know almost nothing about her. All we know is that she doesn't stay around long, and that the three new senshi are scared to death of her." "Great." "But why worry about that?" "But-" "Don't give me that stuff about how you didn't sense it. You and I both know you haven't predicted anything bigger than the weather for years." "Yes, you're right, but . . .it's just that sometimes I feel . . ." he pondered for a moment on how to phrase it without offending her presumably feminist sensibilities. "Sometimes I think I'm . . . I have to, well, you know . . . ." "You mean you think you have to put on formal wear and protect me from the various and sundry forces of evil?" He sweatdropped. "Well, something like that, you know, would . . . er . . . um . . . ." "Ryo-kun," she said softly, "I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself." "And the senshi bit?" "If you weren't used to that by now," she said slyly, "you wouldn't be here studying, would you?" She was right. He had to admit that she was perfectly right. He didn't have to say it aloud, though. They both knew it. "I'm being silly, aren't I?" "Yes. But if you weren't silly every once in awhile, I'd never be able to put up with you." "Really?" "Really." She leaned over and gave him a peck on the cheek. "Now," she said, suddenly all business, "let's get back to work." She promptly returned to the land of academics, and in so doing never noticed the blush that spread across Ryo's face. North Atlantic Ocean 50 km SSW of the Azores 4:34 AM Atlantic Standard Time 12 October 1998 Splashdown. A few seconds later, Sailor Castor emerged spluttering from the cold green waters of the Atlantic Ocean. She treaded water, seeking land and not finding it. Where was she? One moment, she'd been tracking down Pollux, and before that . . . it hurt too much to ponder that. For now she had to find land. She liked to swim, but wherever she was it was cold, and she'd rather not stay in it too much longer. Drawing on a inner well of strength, she heaved herself out of the water to her waist, straining to see above the waves. She didn't see much; in the predawn light, all she could see was the faint glow of bioluminescent organisms that lived on the surface of the sea. But . . . there. Perhaps two kilometers away, a pair of winking lights: one red, one green. A ship. 'Or at least I hope it's a ship. Otherwise, I'm screwed,' she thought, and began breaststroking her way towards the lights. Several hundred meters below her, a single indigo earring drifted down to the bottom of the ocean. 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Washington, DC The United States of America The Oval Office 4:50 AM Eastern Standard Time 13 October 1998 President William Jefferson Clinton sighed. He'd had a long night, frantically drumming up support for the Democratic Party. There was a real chance that his party would regain a majority in the House of Representatives, and he was trying to ensure that it happened. He didn't really think that his second term had been a failure. True, fast-track had died a painful death in 1997, but things still seemed okay. With no worries about re-election in 2000, he could really try to concentrate on more important matters, such as the situation in the Pacific. Details were still sketchy, but it seemed that a new volcano was forming a few hundred kilometers east of Honshu Island. There were a couple small islands nearby that were being affected, and one of them had a large contingent of US citizens. It was a true pain, trying to arrange for their transport from an island that was accessible only from the water. He had been told that the easiest solution was to send a couple ships from Okinawa, Midway, or Pearl Harbor to pick up the nationals and their possessions. But he also knew what some of his advisors didn't: that certain Code Black projects were going on there, namely one Project Hourglass, and couldn't be retrieved by just any ship. Code Black projects weren't classified. Classified implied that there was something to cover up or conceal. Black projects were simply Black: there was no earmarking in the defense budget, and if you inquired about them, you got stony looks from federal agents or worse. He'd been assured that there was none of the stuff going on there that fed the rampant rumors of the American media. No secret alien research, no hidden UFOs, no extraterrestrials, no black helicopters, no plans for world domination. Well, there were black helicopters. And the potential for world domination was there, if they could only iron out some of the details. "So you recommend sending an *entire* task force?" he asked the Secretary of Defense, who was there with three other cabinet members. "Mr. President, we cannot allow any problems. This must be done perfectly the first time; Professor Tomoe insisted upon it." Chairman of the joint chiefs of staff Admiral Dennis J. Dell, leaned forward, his dress uniform sparkling. You couldn't tell from his appearance that the sun still hadn't risen on this day. "If it takes a task force to keep others from interfering, then so be it." He pointed at the map that had been set up next to Clinton's desk. "Carl Vinson is just doing maneuvers off Okinawa. She should be able to steam on over, sir." "Good. Do it," said the leader of the free world in his Arkansas accent. As is so often the case, the long-ranging implications of his decision were to him invisible. Residence of Haruka Ten'ou, Michiru Kaioh, Hotaru Tomoe, and Setsuna Meiou 13 October 1998 5:02 AM JST Jen opened her eyes slowly and moved her eyes over to the nightstand, where the digital clock gave the time in soft, reassuringly red numerals that were a beacon in the pre-dawn gloom. It wasn't there. She sat up with a start, disturbing the still form of Eileen at her side. She looked around wildly, disconcerted. This was a far cry from their bedroom at their apartment. Then it hit her. She wasn't in her apartment. She wasn't in Crystal Tokyo. She wasn't in the thirty-first century. She wasn't home. She was on the same planet at the same time as Sailor Pollux, and that frightened her more than anything else in her relatively short life. 'No time to waste,' she thought as she pulled aside the covers and walked to the closet. "Lights please," she said, and then tripped over a pile of uniforms. "Jen? You're up?" Jennifer picked herself up from the floor and glared at the lamp, dimly outlined in the predawn light that seeped in from the drawn window shades. "Yes, I'm up. How are you?" "We're still in the twentieth." "So is Pollux." Eileen nodded, and shivered in spite of herself. The past twenty-four hours hadn't been a dream. "Could you flip on the light, please? This place has a serious lack of AIs." "Sure." Eileen reached over to the pink lamp and switched it on, bathing the room in a warm yellow glow. As she moved, the blanket fell from her chest and revealed her breasts. Jen let her gaze linger awhile, then turned away. There was a time and a place for that sort of thing. Jen opened the closet, eyeing the purchases Sailor Pluto had made yesterday. But . . . her name was Setsuna. She had to get used to the senshi having civilian personas, no matter how awkward. She wasn't sure she could do it. Especially the Queen; she was the closest thing to a goddess that Jen was sure of, and calling her Bunny just didn't fit. There were a wide variety of outfits, from clothes appropriate for just bumming around the house to formal gowns. She had a suspicion that they would fit her and Eileen perfectly. Pluto was like that. "Right, so what shall we wear?" *** After showering, dressing, and so on, Jen and Eileen went to the dining area dressed in jeans and sweaters. Jen's sweater was a soft blue, while Eileen had chosen a forest green that was an interesting counterpoint to her lover's hair. Jen looked around; the place was silent. "What time do they get up?" "Well," said Eileen, "I suppose that when you're a planet senshi you get up whenever you like." "Hmph," was all Jen had to say in reply to that. She turned to check what was in the cabinets, and so didn't notice when Hotaru glided in clad in her school uniform. "Dammit, don't they have tea?" "We do." Jen was startled, jumping and banging her head on the open cabinet door. In the recoil from the collision she rocked back, stumbled over her own feet, and slammed her head against the refrigerator. She then said a string of very bad words. "You know," said Eileen calmly, "for such a small voice, you certainly can startle people, Sailor Saturn." There was no response. Eileen wasn't surprised; in her few meetings with Saturn in the future the Sailor of Silence had never been very wordy. "Um," said Jen as she rubbed a reddening spot on her forehead, "if we've finished the Jen-bashing part of the morning, I'd appreciate a little sympathy here." "Oh, I'm so sorry, Jen!" said Eileen, immediately hugging Jen closely and plastering kisses all over her forehead. They rather predictably went on to other parts of her face, and probably would have proceeded further if Michiru hadn't stumbled in groggily heading for the coffee pot. It had rather conveniently been set to an alarm, and there were already several cups of the stimulant waiting in the pot. Michiru wiped some sea-green hair from her eyes and looked blearily at the pair. She then muttered something to herself, poured a cup of coffee into an immense waiting mug, and went back to another part of the house, still muttering. Jen and Eileen stood unmoving, looking at the spot she had occupied. "What the hell was that?" they asked in unison. "Michiru-mama isn't much of a morning person." Jen simply blinked, while Eileen smiled slowly. "What's so funny?" demanded Jen. "Well, it explains why Sailor Neptune never attends Her Majesty's morning briefings." "Um-hm," muttered Jen. "I see there's a lot more about the past year that you're going to have to tell me about." "Among other things," said Eileen. She gave Jen one of those looks. Hotaru rolled her eyes and set about preparing breakfast. "So," she said, "you want to tell me a bit about what the hell's going on?" Jen looked at Hotaru strangely, then nodded. "Well, for that you'll need to know a bit of history, and I'd rather wait until the other senshi are awake and with us to discuss it." "History?" asked Hotaru, genuinely interested. "Great!" "But don't you have school?" "Not for a while yet." "I see. Anyway, I guess I'll start. After the Black Moon conflict-" "And what are you two doing up at this hour?" asked Haruka acidly. She was dressed in a T-shirt and boxer shorts, and Jen had to tear her eyes away from the blonde's body. 'Keep control of yourself,' she thought, 'or else you might fall in lust with her.' "We always get up this early," said Jen primly. "The Royal Star Navy keeps all hours, Uranus." "And a good PR secretary always keeps abreast of news." Haruka nodded, ignoring for the moment Jen's use of her senshi title. Truth be told, it was more than a little unnerving to be told that from a total stranger. But Setsuna had insisted that it was safe. Obviously another one of those times where the guardian of time had her reasons, and would not reveal them until she was good and ready. "So," said the sandy-haired woman, grabbing some coffee and putting cream and sugar into it, "what were you about to say?" "Well, before I was interrupted by you," said Jen as she turned back to regard Hotaru, "I was explaining how after the Dark Moon invasion-" "Good morning," said Setsuna as she padded in. She was dressed immaculately in a power suit and looked to be ready to go. "I trust you're all doing well this morning, especially our two guests." Jen buried her head in her hands. Eileen patted her on the back. "You want me to pick things up?" "Have I done anything wrong?" asked Setsuna. "No," said Hotaru calmly, "she's just been cut off for the second time." "Ah." Setsuna smiled. "Hotaru-chan, don't you think you should be heading off for school?" The black-haired girl looked at the wall clock and nodded. "I'll be going then." Eileen looked at Haruka for a moment. "Don't Uranus and Neptune have to go to school as well?" "No," replied Haruka. "We're in university now. With the Galaxia crisis over, we don't need to be so close to the Princess. Of course, we got full scholarships and went to university early." Jen and Eileen stared at her, disbelieving. She gave Eileen and Jen a hard stare in turn. "It would seem that recent events would nullify that." "Right," said Jen after a moment. She wasn't especially thrilled about it. True, she'd done her part to protect the queen, but again that had all been at relatively long range. She still wasn't sure how she would handle close-quarters combat, and she was almost certain that Eileen couldn't. "Anyway, I guess you're returning to high school. Shame, really. So, you guys are going back to twenty- four hour surveillance?" Haruka blinked for a moment. "How did you know about that?" Jen smiled. "Ancient history. So you're going back to high school?" "No. You two are." Jen blinked, then looked over to Setsuna, who had another one of her infuriatingly unreadable expressions. "What? Um, this may come as a surprise to you, but we're nineteen. We'd hardly fit into high school, and-" "Pardon me, Sakachi-san," said Setsuna, "but both you and exchange student Pearcy here will fit in perfectly." Silence. "Yes, it's very simple actually. You two are exchange students from North America, which will explain away the differences in your accents that are really due to a thousand years of linguistic drift. There are several states and provinces that require high schooling to the age of twenty, so you'll have no problems. Now-" "Wait just one minute here, Pluto," interjected Eileen. "Aren't you going a bit fast here?" "Yes. You've got class in half an hour; you'd better get going." "Oh no," protested Eileen, "there's no way you're getting me-" "Is there? Very well, since you leave me no option." Setsuna stood up straighter. "Sailor Orion, Sailor America, you are hereby ordered to assume undercover activities at Juuban High School until further notice for purposes of protecting Her Highness. Understood?" 'Two can play at this game,' thought Jen bitterly. If it was Naval regs she wanted, it was Naval regs she'd get. "Aye aye sir, but we will require funds for our use." Setsuna would not be baited. "How much?" Jen calculated inflation rates and came up with an answer. "Seven trillion yen." Haruka very calmly and deliberately got up and reached across the table. She then proceeded to give Jen a slap across the face. "Care to try again?" "Why you-" Eileen beat her to it. "Look, Uranus, what the hell's your problem? In case you haven't noticed, we're all senshi here, so unless you want to be no better than Sailor Pollux out there, I'd recommend you get real civil real fast. You hear me?" "Kindly remove your hand from my body," said Haruka in a voice that would have frozen helium. "Please." Memories of the movies she'd seen on the Second Sailor Wars flashed across Eileen's mind, and she let go of Haruka's collar. There was no need for a repeat of that when a relic from the real thing was wandering around outside. She'd sworn to protect her Majesty. She'd never thought that it might involve leaving her plush desk job behind. "Fine." Eileen backed away, then slouched with her arms crossed. "Now please tell me why asking for seven trillion is a bad thing." "Because," said Haruka just as icily, "that is a figure which approaches the gross national product." "Ah." Eileen cast an accusing eye towards her lover. "Jen, you did figure the inflation rates correctly, didn't you?" "Well, I tried. You know how I am with math." Setsuna remained implacable as always while Haruka held back tears of frustration. "If you'll check your history, you'll realize that the most convenient form of currency right now is the credit card, and you'll find those in your bookbags. Now, when you come home from school," and at this Eileen growled, "you can tell the rest of us what's going on. Otherwise, it's a Saturday, and you'll only have to put up with it for one day." "Well, if you put it that way-" "I do. Now, I've taken the liberty of getting you some uniforms, and you've got very little time to waste so you'd better be going. "Oh, and do try to keep the lovey-dovey stuff to a minimum." Juuban High School Front Courtyard 6:28 AM Juuban High's main trait was that it started so damned early. From 6:30 AM to 3:30 PM, the students were at work getting all the elements of a quality education. This didn't soothe Jen and Eileen in the least; they'd been through all this before and didn't care to repeat it. They stood under a street sign, looking as uncomfortable as possible in their uniforms. "You know," said Jen, "I never thought I'd say this, but I prefer our senshi uniforms. They seem more natural than these . . . things. I mean, in my book, a skirt isn't supposed to come down below my a-" "Sakachi-san! Pearcy-san! Good morning!" Their heads snapped around. It sounded like two people speaking in perfect unison with each other, which had to be impossible. No-one could think along the same lines like that, not unless . . . but that was ridiculous. 'Not ridiculous enough,' thought Eileen, as Usagi and Minako came around the corner walking in step. The two blondes seemed not to give a care in the world, which was probably why they both tripped over a crack in the pavement and went flying. Jen and Eileen shared a raised eyebrow. "That," said Jen, "is Neo-Queen Serenity?" "And Sailor Venus?" They sweatdropped. Oblivious to this, Ami and Makoto came around the corner as well, avoiding the blondes. Obviously it was a common occurrence. They bowed and gave their greetings, and the two from the future did likewise. "Going to school? Aren't you a bit old for that?" asked Ami. "It was Pluto's idea," growled Jen. "If you have any way of getting us out of this, Sailor Mercury, I'd appreciate it." Ami just shook her head slightly. "Where's Her Highness?" asked Eileen. "Her Highness?" said Makoto, puzzled. "You mean Usagi? She's right here." Eileen sighed. "No, Her Highness. The Princess. Sailor Moon." "But . . . oh. Small Lady." "Right." "Um . . . ." How to explain this to her? Ami took over. "She exercised her royal prerogative and stayed home, something Usagi would love to do sometimes." "But . . . but . . . it's not fair!" How dare she just stay home while they went to school! Jen crept up next to Eileen. "Come now, it can't be all that bad, can it?" "We're back in school, Jen. Surely you remember the last school we were in." "That's why it'll be fun. Compared to the School, this'll be a breeze." "I only wish I could share your enthusiasm." "Really?" Ami and Makoto watched the give and take curiously. It was almost like watching Haruka and Michiru, but with a couple almost imperceptible differences. Perhaps the most notable one of these was that Haruka and Michiru were much more subtle about their affections. "Anyway," said Jen, "it's not like we're going to be taking classes." "We aren't?" "No," said Jen, waving a finger, "I've already got it set up. We're student teachers." "Since when?" asked Eileen. "Since you went in there and told them." There was a pause. "Well," said Ami, "we'd better be going, right Mako-chan?" She punctuated this with a gentle elbow in Makoto's midsection. The brunette took the hint. "Right, we've got to get to class. Have fun!" They scurried off, leaving Jen and Eileen with the prostrate Minako and Usagi who were still twitching slightly. "So," said Eileen conversationally, "precisely how do you expect me to pull this off?" "Well, since you've got the silver tongue..." "Not in public, Jen." ". . . I figured that you could manage to convince the school officials that we're student teachers. After all, I'd think that your PR experience would help with some double talk, and-" "Ladies?" They snapped around to see a tall, rather official looking man peering over his glasses at them. "You'll note that you're more than a little late at this point, and . . . precisely who are you?" Eileen decided to go for broke. She bowed. "Jennifer Sakachi and Eileen Pearcy, your student teachers. We just arrived yesterday." "Ah. Meiou-san told me about you two. Delinquents in the United States, eh? Trying to fool me? Well ladies, I'm well aware of your tricks. Now I've got your schedules, so follow me." Jen forced a laugh. "Ah, you must have confused us with two other people, you see we're . . . ." She trailed off as the man produced a sheet of paper. To it was attached a color photograph of herself. The sheet had all sorts of personal information, and basically made her out to be an American exchange student. "Damn." SS Christine Fritz North Atlantic Ocean 7:05 PM Atlantic Standard Time Sailor Castor shivered again beneath the blanket. "Thank you," she said, taking the proffered cup of tea. She was in the wardroom of SS Christine Fritz, a cargo carrying ship on her way from Gibraltar to Halifax, Nova Scotia. After spotting the old ship, she had swum desperately and climbed aboard, passing out before anyone noticed her. A deck watchman had then seen her on his way from one point to another, and she'd been rushed down to the wardroom to be revived. Sipping at the tea, she looked at the faces surrounding her. If she had to guess, she'd say they were of Greek descent, though a thousand years of racial mixing tended to make hash of distinguishing characteristics. They looked to be apprehensive, and a little surprised. She couldn't blame them. How many times do you pick up one of the sailor senshi on a boat in the Atlantic Ocean? She swallowed a mouthful of the terribly bitter tea and decided she felt well enough to talk. "I am fine. Thank you for your assistance," she said in textbook Japanese. One or two of the men rocked back. The others stayed put, but incomprehension joined the other looks on their faces. "I said," she repeated patiently, "that I am fine. Thanks for your help. Could you please contact Crystal Tokyo and inform them of my whereabouts?" She thought about this, then amended it. "On second thought, could you take me to a radio?" Pollux is still running around out there. Got to warn CT. She didn't get an answer. The men still looked puzzled. 'What's wrong with these people?' she asked herself. Japanese was fast becoming the lingua franca of Earth. So much trade went through Japan that it was an economic liability not to speak it. She decided to try again in the only other language she knew. "I fine. You very much help." She knew her English teacher was probably rolling in his grave right now, but that was probably the best she could manage. At least this seemed to jump-start the men. They spoke among themselves for a bit, and then turned to her. One man spoke up. "You are most welcome," he said slowly. Obviously he was having as much trouble with English as she was. Another man went to the wall to grab a phone. 'With any luck,' she thought, 'he's dialing up a translator. Good. The sooner I get back to Crystal Tokyo, the sooner I can ice Pollux.' Looking around at her surroundings, her gaze fell upon a calendar. She blinked. The month was incomprehensible, but the year . . . the year was the kicker. 1998. Juuban High School Cafeteria 12:40 PM JST Jen trudged into the lunchroom, shoulders drooping. How was she supposed to know the reasons for the collapse of Sumerian civilization? That had been thousands of years ago; her history classes had simply mentioned that there used to be Sumerians, and that was it. True, she was now a thousand years less removed from Sumer, but she still wished the teacher had stuck to current events. Those were of far more importance at the moment. She found three of the inner senshi at a round table, along with Her Majesty and Eileen. Eileen had a completely different schedule, sharing only history classes. She made her greetings and sat down next to Eileen, who sat next to Usagi, who all sat opposite Makoto, Minako, and Ami. "So, anyone else unable to stand this hellhole?" "It beats the alternative," said Usagi mildly, wolfing down something unidentifiable. "Which is?" "Meeting that Sailor Polecat person." "Pollux," corrected Jen icily. "You can also call her the Scourge, if you like." "I take it you two have met?" said Makoto. "No," said Eileen, who was in culinary trouble. Everything at the cafeteria was traditional Japanese fare, she hadn't had a good cheeseburger in days, and it was starting to chafe. "Pollux was a few years before our time." "But you obviously know a lot about her," pointed out Ami. "You'd think she was some huge historical figure." "She is. You had Hitler, we've got Castor and Pollux." "Kami-sama, there are two of them?" Usagi seemed ready to faint. "No," said Jen. "Perhaps we'd better explain." "Why don't you get on with it?" asked Minako. "Oh, I will, Sailor Venus." Minako sighed. Was it impossible to get Jen and Eileen to use their real names rather than their senshi ones? "Okay," said Jen, "it goes a little something like this . . . ." The Tsukino State College (commonly referred to as the School) Vickroy Hall Room 48 29 March 3010 7:59 AM "Ai! Hurry up, we're going to be late!" cried Aii Furikato to her sister. The rehearsals for the graduation ceremonies were in exactly sixty seconds, and while she knew she hadn't a chance of getting them there on time she felt compelled to try. "I'm on my way," said Ai, her voice muffled from behind the bathroom door. "Um, could you toss my uniform in here?" Aii grabbed the garment from its place of repose on the floor and entered the bathroom where a dripping Ai was desperately toweling off. "Thanks." She took the uniform in one hand and finished drying off with the other. Then, in a rather complicated maneuver that defied description, she put down the towel, pulled on her undergarments, and reached the halfway point of pulling on the sailor fuku before getting hopelessly entangled. It was this contingency that Aii was there for. She helped Ai into her clothes, just as she had for the past year. "Thanks," Ai said again. "Now, where's the . . . thanks." She took the proffered hair dryer and began trying to make some sense from the shattered ruins of her hair. "How much time have we-" "We're three minutes over." "Damn," they said in unison, then laughed. "Come on," said Ai, "let's get going!" She raced out the door, and Aii was left to let out a sigh towards the ceiling and follow. Running through the halls, Aii pondered the long twisting road fate took. To start with there was the coincidence of their birth: they were identical twins. Both shared the same black, relatively short hair, rather liberal build, same bottomless black eyes. Ai was older by a mere five seconds. This was not a normal occurrence in the medical profession; twins were usually separated by a couple minutes. For all intents and purposes, Ai and Aii were the exact same age, a similarity reflected in their names. That single vowel had been the cause of many confusions over the years. Neither wanted it changed, though. The similarities hadn't ended there. Despite being in different classes almost all the time, they earned identically high marks from first grade to high school. When they took the Exam and compared answers afterwards, they found that they'd put the exact same ones. When Ai's results came in, they hugged each other knowing that they were both in. At the School the pattern continued, and so when they for all intents and purposes clinched the top spot in a tie, no-one was surprised. It all led up to today. Today they graduated, today they became senshi, today they got to join the hundred or so others who got to wear that damnably short skirt. There was some reason it was so short, but Aii had forgotten it. They reached the auditorium just in time for Pomp and Circumstance to start. Time for rehearsal. *** Sailor Castor, also known as Aii Furikato, and Sailor Pollux, also known as Ai Furikato, took a break from waving to the crowds. It was the traditional parade after the graduation ceremonies, and they were now letting the world see themselves. It was a first as far as sailor suits were concerned. For the first time, two sailors had identical fuku. The typical white bodice, a midnight blue skirt and choker, and lavender bows and boots. Their golden tiaras had midnight blue stones embedded within them. While it had been hard to distinguish them before, it was downright impossible now. The only way to really tell them apart was to either read their aura, a feat only the most powerful could accomplish, or ask them. "So what do you think will be our assignment?" asked Sailor Castor. They'd taken it for granted that they would get the same posting. "I don't know," said Pollux. "Tell me," she said suddenly, "our job is to protect the Queen, right?" "Of course." That answer was automatic. "But to a greater extent, it's to protect the people of Japan." "And the people of the world, yes." "Now . . . ," and here she faltered. She'd thought through this many times. It should have been easiest to talk about it to her sister. After all, they'd shared everything for the past eighteen years. So why was it so hard to talk to her about sedition? Because she hadn't spoken to the people her sister had? "Now what?" "Now," said Pollux, her resolve hardening, "suppose the safety of the Queen was contrary to the safety of the people." "I don't follow." "Suppose . . . suppose that the Queen did something wrong. She made an error. An unintentional error, but an error nonetheless." "Well . . . I can't imagine that happening." "Ai, just because it hasn't happened yet doesn't mean it won't. And it has happened. Remember, Serenity *knew* that the Black Moon would invade, and yet she did nothing," said Sailor Pollux with a finality that seemed to preclude response. "It worked out anyway." "For her. How many people died during that fiasco?" "If she had let on that she knew about them-" "They would have attacked sooner, and we would at least have had some idea of what we were up against." Sailor Castor frowned. That didn't make much sense, and she had an idea that Pollux knew it. "Is there any point to arguing what she should have done? Hindsight is twenty-twenty, sister. It worked out anyway," she repeated. Pollux sighed. "You just don't understand." "I guess I don't," said Castor sadly. "Once it wasn't like that." "Yeah. Guess we're finally turning out differently." Sailor Pollux looked up at a random point in the sky. Sailor Castor watched her and got a nasty suspicion. "Ai, exactly what was the point of this questioning?" "Just testing the waters," said Sailor Pollux, half to herself. "Hm?" "Nothing," said Sailor Pollux a bit louder. "Just wanted your opinions on a couple matters." She turned away, but before she did Sailor Castor could swear that she saw a smile in her eyes. Yumini Island 403 km east of Honshu Island 1:10 PM JST That smile . . . Sailor Pollux looked down at her handiwork. What had once been an island full of temporary buildings and laboratories was now an island full of smoldering embers. She'd taken the care of tossing the bodies of the eighty-seven American and Japanese researchers into the ocean. She didn't like the smell of death. There were too many bad memories associated with it. She stood on a promontory. Actually, it was the only promontory on the island, and that label was liberally applied; the rise she stood on was just six feet taller than the surrounding area. The wind picked up and ruffled her black hair and her skirt. It also brought the stench of sulfur, reminding her that a volcanic eruption was going on just a few kilometers away. Then again, the massive plume of smoke rising from the east did that job quite well. It was a shame that she'd had to kill them all; she had no real quarrel with them. She had enough hate for the Queen to last a lifetime; compared to that, any dislike she had for them was irrelevant. But they'd been so obstinate in protecting whatever secrets they had here, and so she'd had to remove them from the playing field. Now she had a base of operations. With an island being born nearby, interference would be spotty at best. She could just sit here and plan out how she would do it. She knew she would die in the process. That didn't bother her anymore; nothing did. As long as she took Serenity with her it would be okay. She looked out to sea. There looked to be some kind of aircraft. This deserved a closer look. F-14 Super Tomcat Fighter Aircraft BR-29 International Airspace A distance from Yumini Island 1:07 PM JST Captain Edward Barker squinted down through the light cloud cover, trying to pick out the tiny island. He had been sent from USS Carl Vinson following some disturbing reports from Washington. The Pentagon had lost contact with Yumini a couple hours ago, and he, along with his backseater Victor Naqvi, was to find out if the nearby volcano could have something to do with the loss of communications. Flying along at a relatively leisurely 240 kilometers per hour, he kept looking for anything suspicious. His backseater spotted it first through a break in the clouds. "Hammerman, I have eyeballs on the island. It's at four o'clock, you wanna pull us in for a closer look?" "Roger that, Mercury. Dropping to forty meters." Barker smiled again at his copilot's nickname. It had been automatic, considering his skills with the F-14's computer systems, as well as his self-professed obsession over Japan's infamous sailor senshi. Naqvi looked at a cathode ray tube that showed a radar display. True, the US military had been spending billions lately upgrading the electronics on all fighters, but the readouts still sucked. He infinitely preferred Canadian fighters. But they were technically one big NATO family, and he had to live with Yankee equipment. He didn't have to like it, though. "Hammerman, I'm still not picking up anything on radio. No chatter, not even emergency tracers. The beacon that's supposed to be at the helo pad isn't reading, either." He snuck another peek at the island, ignoring the two gee acceleration his partner put the plane through. His gaze fell for a moment on the plush Sailor Mercury doll that was nestled between Barker's ejection seat and the canopy. His good luck charm, he never went on a flight without it. They drew closer to the island. Naqvi peered out, using the twenty-twenty eyesight that made him such an asset for such a mission. "Getting clearer now, and . . . ." From the sharp intake of breath he heard in his headset, he knew Barker had seen the same thing. "Jesus H. Christ. It's like someone just scrubbed the island clean." "Mercury, you'd better phone home on this one." "Roger that, Hammerman." He toggled his microphone over and switched to the aircraft carrier's frequency. "Charlie, this is Bravo Romeo Two Niner, please acknowledge, over." "Roger, Bravo Romeo Two Niner, we hear you. Any news, interrogative?" "Unfortunately yes, Charlie. The island's clean. No signs of the settlement, say again no signs. We're pulling in now for a closer look, over." "Roger that, Bravo Romeo Two Niner, keep us informed, out." Naqvi squinted again, and then froze. It looked like . . . no, that simply didn't happen. Senshi weren't real, and there was certainly no reason to believe that there was one on the island. Yet that was what it looked like. *** Pollux smiled. How kind, the people of this time had given her a toy. Time to play. She brought her hands together and clasped them in what to the uninitiated would appear to be prayer. The F-14 was about to get an initiation. *** Barker was the first to see it. A purple streak almost too fast for the eyes, and suddenly a dozen cockpit alarms were going off. Barker quickly broke off their approach. "Holy shit! Mercury, tell me you saw that!" he cried, losing the cool all pilots traditionally had. "I hear you, Hammerman, somebody down there just shot at us. We've got an engine fire in-" "I'm on it." "Hammerman, something does not compute. Who the hell's down there?" "You got me, Mercury." *** Pollux smiled. The plane was coming back, probably to find out who was shooting. They'd find out shortly. *** "Hammerman, you aren't going to believe it, but it's a woman down there! She's . . . oh man, she's dressed like a senshi!" If it weren't for the fact that they had just been shot at, Barker would have sworn that Naqvi had gone crazy. Even with that, he was fairly sure that that was the case. "Get a hold of yourself, Mercury. There's no way . . ." And then he saw. He didn't have time to give the traditional last words of all pilots doomed to die in the air. *** Sailor Pollux watched the debris burn as it floated on the cool waters of the Pacific. It had been rather impressive. Obviously it was flying on a fairly large load of fuel. She thought she had seen something shoot up from the plane, possibly an ejection seat. It didn't matter though. She hadn't seen a parachute, and without it their landing in the water would be only marginally better than landing on concrete. It occurred to her that more would probably come to investigate the loss of the plane. So much the better. She was getting bored already. Juuban High School Hallway leading from the science to the social studies area 1:12 PM "So what happened next?" asked Minako She, along with Jen and Eileen, were on their way to their last class: Modern Japanese History. The pair from the future had just laughed when they saw the title. Jen's explanation of what brought about the second sailor wars had been cut short by the bell. Usagi and Ami had physical education, and Makoto had home economics. Upon inquiry, Jen had learned that Hotaru attended a private school elsewhere. The redhead thought a bit before replying. "Well, Venus-" "Please," said the blonde, waving a hand, "just Minako, okay?" "Okay, Venus. Anyway, after that . . . wait a minute." She stopped, which wasn't such a good idea in the crowded hallway. A couple of people bumped into her, knocking her books to the floor. Being new, several scratch marks appeared on their bright, shiny covers. Jen let out something akin to a sob and bent down to pick up her possessions. Her red hair fell down around her face, and she lost her peripheral vision. All she could see were her books. She felt her skirt lift up a bit and smiled to herself. "Eileen, I hardly think this is the proper time for this." "Proper time for what?" asked Eileen. She was in front of Jen and still held her books closely. Jen took some time to think this through. If Eileen was in front of her, then it was impossible for her to have been the one to take a peek up Jen's skirt. Which in turn meant that some random pervert had tried to goose her. Some random pervert who was going to pay. She whirled around, her fingertips reaching into her pocketspace and curling around her henshin stick. She saw the usual sea of anonymous faces. None seemed to be in a particular hurry. The suspect had escaped. "Damn," she muttered as the bell rang. "We're going to be late!" cried Minako in a tone that clearly indicated that she was familiar with the concept. Jen sighed. Hikawa Shrine 2:57 PM Sweep, sweep. 'This,' thought Rei, 'is probably the most relaxing part of my day.' Sweep, sweep. 'Forget meditation, forget showers, forget that warm fuzzy feeling you get when you just wake up. This beats it all.' Sweep, sweep. 'Just me, the broom, and all these goddamned leaves.' Sweep, sweep, whoosh, clatter, thud. Rei calmly walked over to where she'd thrown the broom. It had landed next to a planter which held a eucalyptus tree. She remembered it was a memento Grandpa had picked up somewhere or another. She'd always hated it. She picked up the broom and held it for a moment, then cast her gaze upwards. Being up on a hilltop as it was, the Shrine had a rather nice view of most of Tokyo. Today it was a bit obscured with smog, but still passable. Rei sighed. It seemed that every time they had a chance to just relax and enjoy life, something else came up to disturb them. This latest was the worst, though. They knew nothing about their enemy. They weren't even sure if they had an enemy at all. All they had to go on was a single senshi who apparently had it in for Usagi. Then there were those senshi from the future: an unknown quantity. There was a meeting scheduled for that night at the Outers' place, on the insistence of the redheaded one. Sakachi-san. She seemed only a couple years older than the planet senshi, and yet seemed to boast far more experience mixed in with truly incompetent intervals. The only reason she even trusted Jen was because Small Lady apparently did. She wasn't even sure she trusted Eileen. An American? As a senshi? She'd sooner buy into the idea of having a Sailor Earth around. Sakachi was truly annoying at times. She continued to insist upon calling them by their senshi names, which Rei didn't particularly like. One slip in a public place was all that was necessary to blow their secret, although the deference was rather gratifying. Nice to know she'd be keeping the masses in line in the future. Eileen seemed to know her place as well. Sometimes she seemed too much like Haruka, sometimes too much like Minako. She always seemed like the typical brash, loud-mouthed foreigner. Exactly how was this press flack supposed to help them against their as-yet unnamed foes? But Sakachi was the sticking point. From the way she avoided Rei, it was obvious to her that something happened between them, unless . . . no. There was no way that redhead could be interested in her. Surely she knew that Rei was off-limits. Then again, one could always use a bit of experimentation in . . . NO! She grabbed the broom. Sweep, sweep! Crown Game Center 3:08 PM Eileen looked around with her hands in her pockets. She was still in her school uniform, as were Jen, Ami, Small Lady, and Her Majesty. Her Majesty was in the process of getting annihilated in Sailor V vs. The Inhumanoids. Eileen was rather embarrassed to be here. The United States had worked long and hard to get rid of the stereotype that all American teens spent their time watching television, playing video games, and committing crimes. Here she was in a video arcade. "Serenity, could we please leave now?" The tiny animated Sailor V figure blinked out twice and then fell down. The machine mocked Usagi in a variety of musical notes. "See what you made me do?" yelled the future queen of Crystal Tokyo, gesturing at the screen. "Now I'm on my last life!" She turned her attention back to the screen. The other four blew sighs. "What's wrong Pearcy-san? Do you need to go anywhere?" Eileen blinked twice at the questioning from the blue-haired girl, then shook her head slowly. "I just need to be anywhere but here. Doesn't she have homework or something to do?" "Yes," sighed Ami, "but she's been putting it off lately." "Hmph. Mercury, here's-" "Please, call me Ami-chan." "Okay, Mercury. Anyway, have you considered just prying her away?" "Of course not, that would never work!" "Never know until you give it a try. Hey, Jen!" "Hm?" The redhead had been staring at the passers-by through the window, where it looked like a tour group was passing by. They were certainly off the beaten track; most tourist attractions were in other parts of the city. The only thing Juuban could really boast was a rather nice view of Tokyo Tower, and that only on clear days. "Jen, give me a hand please?" Small Lady watched this all silently. She knew her mother fairly well; she wasn't going to be moved from the game easily. But she was preoccupied with the future. It was strange for her to come to grips with it, though it had happened before. The problem was time. For the senshi, less than a year had passed between her first and second visits to the past. For her, it had been several years. Now it was worse, since from her vantage point it had been nearly twenty years since she'd last seen Tokyo as it was now. From the standpoint of the senshi, though, it had been a little more than a year. 'I really should be used to time travel by now,' she thought. By now she had done more traveling through history than anyone except Sailor Pluto. But every time seemed like the first time. She continued to watch as Jen halfheartedly tried, along with Eileen, to pull her mother away from the game. Their task was made immeasurably easier by Usagi's losing her last life. With no resistance, the three fell back, taking down Ami in the process. At another time, it would have been funny. Now, it was just distracting. She sighed and glanced out the window. The tour group now was gone far up the street. She wondered what kind of guide they had; he or she obviously had no idea how the city was arranged. Finally, the pile-up by the Sailor V game was sorted out, and those involved managed to right themselves. "Right, let's get moving!" declared Eileen. Usagi cast a lingering gaze on the game and then reluctantly made her way past the picture window to the door. This turned out to be rather unfortunate, because at that point the picture window exploded into a thousand pieces. *** The tour group numbered about twenty college students from Maryland who were taking an entire semester off to study in Japan. Their tour leader was also a student, which accounted for their being so far off the beaten track. They were paying for it. One girl, with blonde hair and curiously blue eyes, happened to be looking at the coffee shop they'd just passed. She wasn't sure if she'd blinked at the wrong time, but a woman in a very short midnight blue skirt had appeared out of nowhere next to one of the white wrought-iron tables. She had long black hair and appeared to be very upset, and the fact that she proceeded to blast the hell out of the arcade across the street merely confirmed this. The girl dove to the ground instinctively, and covered her head with her arms. Sparing a glance up, she saw that she wasn't alone in panicking. Jennifer Talbot's trip to Japan was turning out to just plain suck. *** Jen acted without thinking. She threw herself on top of the blonde Usagi, knocking her to the ground and hopefully out of danger. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Eileen doing the same to Small Lady. Ami had to fend for herself and dove for cover as well. Her Majesty let out a squeak and a protest. Jen looked up and saw a midnight-blue figure standing in the shattered frame. Their cover was obviously blown. "Transform!" "America Star Power, Make-Up!" "Orion Star Power, Make-Up!" Ami picked herself up from the dust and decided that secret identities would have to take a back seat for a moment. "Mercury Crystal Power, Make-Up!" "Moon Crisis Make-Up!" "Moon Eternal Make-Up!" *** Sailor Pollux smiled. All the make-ups in the world couldn't save them now. *** Transformation completed, Eternal Sailor Moon squinted through the dust which was still settling. A quick glance showed most of the other people in the center had left, which implied they were all at least well enough to walk. A good sign. Beside her, Orion gulped. Another dangerous situation, and there were no outer senshi to back her up. She couldn't use her own attack; Katsuragi-II had made that clear. Sailor America had an attack that might work, but she'd still never been in combat. Much as she loved her, she had to admit that the brunette was next to useless right now. Sailor Mercury's powers were among the weakest of all the senshi that existed at the time. That left either Sailor Moon. The Princess should be able to handle herself, but Her Majesty? 'Dammit,' she thought, 'it's *my* job to protect the Queen, not the other way around!' It didn't matter if she lived or died, as long as the Queen was safe. "Sailor Moon!" she shouted, trying to organize their attack. "Yes?" "Not you, the other Sailor Moon!" "Oh, sorry." Eternal Sailor Moon went over to Mercury, who was frantically trying to get a hold of anyone else. Sailor Moon heeded Orion's call and trotted over. "Just like old times, eh Skipper?" "Don't remind me, please, I'm trying to think." "Senshi! You know you can't stay in there forever. I'll be coming in soon, and it won't be pretty." "Liar!" shouted back Sailor America, who had crept over to Orion's position. "You'll never get in here!" Pollux's ears perked up. "You're a new one, aren't you? I don't recall meeting. Tell me, would you be from the future?" Sailor America looked over to Sailor Orion, who looked over to Sailor Moon. "Don't ask me," said the pink-haired senshi, "I don't know how she knows." "Right, perhaps you need another demonstration!" She raised a finger and casually pointed it at the arcade. A second later, the senshi were scrambling as red streaks laced through the dust and impacted on walls, games, and bows. "Lasers!" shouted Sailor America, panicking. The senshi dove for cover behind a bank of video games. They were rather thick, and provided some protection from Pollux's beam. Mercury pulled out her computer while the others took a moment to compose themselves. "No," said Mercury after a moment, "they aren't lasers. It's like Venus's Crescent Beam, but far more focused, and monochromatic." The others blinked. "Mercury, have you gotten any of the other senshi?" asked Sailor Orion urgently. She wasn't too keen on losing the Queen on her watch. They needed backup, preferably the outer senshi. "No, I couldn't get acknowledgment from anyone." "Great." Sailor Moon looked at Eternal Sailor Moon pleadingly. "Mama, you've got to use the ginzuishou. Now." "But . . . if I use it, won't I die?" "No! You're stronger than that!" Even as she said it, she knew it wasn't entirely true. This was Eternal Sailor Moon, not Neo-Queen Serenity, and the differences between the two were becoming more and more glaring. This woman couldn't beat Sailor Pollux single-handedly. Damn. Despairingly, she began to pull out the spiral moon heart rod. Sailor Orion rolled her eyes. "Sailor America, you're going to have to do something." "What? But I've-" "Never been in a fight, yes. Well, there's a first time for everything. Mercury, please back her up." Mercury noticed the 'please' that she'd included. It was exactly the please she'd give to a superior. "Right." She stood up and scarcely twitched as Pollux's blasts snipped at her short blue hair. "Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!" Simultaneously, America popped up and saw the figure standing there. Sailor Pollux. Without even taking time to blink, she raised her hands and shouted her attack. "American Blazing Eagle!" Wild and untamed, the blinding white eagle of flame swooped out of nowhere and raced for Sailor Pollux. The evil sailor simply smiled and tapped her earring, disappearing. The eagle took no notice of this and flew right into the coffee shop, which obligingly collapsed into ruins. "Dammit!" America looked around, the adrenaline of using her power in combat for the first time still running. "I missed! Sorry, I need more experience." Orion didn't have time to comfort her. With the near total absence of leadership she was becoming more and more like the old Captain Sakachi. "Sailor Moon!" "Yes?" "Yes?" "I meant Her Highness! Your Majesty, when I mean you, I'll say Eternal, okay? Now Sailor Moon, try and take out the overhang there!" She pointed at the cornicework that was on the top of the building across the street. Pollux had returned to her previous position, but looked a bit more cautious. "Okay!" replied Moon. She brandished the Rod. "Spiral Moon-" "Jupiter Oak Revolution!" Pollux was knocked sideways and landed scarcely a meter away from the American tour group. Eternal Moon popped up to see who had fired the shot. "Sorry we took so long," said Jupiter. "We weren't sure that it was a genuine signal," said Venus. "And we didn't know where you were in any case," concluded Uranus. Next to her stood Neptune. Mars, Saturn, and Pluto were conspicuous in their absence, and Orion took no time in realizing this. "Where are the others?" she asked, exasperated. "We don't know!" shouted back Venus. They still knew next to nothing about their opponent, and were beginning to get a bit wary of their supposed ally in the form of Orion. "Look, you go out there and distract her while we prepare a little special for her." "What?" "Dammit," yelled Venus, "you said we were all admirals or generals or something in the future, why don't you act like it!" "Fine!" Orion stalked off in a huff and nearly got her head blown off for her troubles. Diving, she slammed against yet another video game, reminded that Sailor Pollux was still very much alive and well. She shouted a word very unbecoming of one of Neo-Queen Serenity's senshi, then turned and said something even more unbecoming when she saw. "Hi!" "Eileen! What the hell do you think you're doing? Get down!" "I *am* down, Sailor Orion." The senshi name was like a slap in the face. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm wearing a fuku here. When this is all over and we're back at the apartment, you can Eileen me to high heaven, but right now, try acting like a damned soldier!" "Oh, and you have room to talk? You've never been in a fight in your life!" "I'm in one now!" "Oh ho." "Sailor Orion, we're waiting!" cried Uranus from somewhere else. "Damn." *** "Deep Submerge!" Sailor Neptune's attack lanced out, and for the fifth time Pollux avoided it. "It would seem that you're losing your touch," teased Uranus, who was rather predictably standing back to back with her lover. "I'm sorry, I hadn't realized you had rubbed so much off on me." "You know that there's only one place I like to rub." "Only one?" "Yes. Space Sword Blasting!" Once again, the attack missed. But with every shot, they were getting closer; Pollux was just one senshi against half a dozen, and this time she didn't have her cronies from the thirty-first. It was just a matter of time now. "Love and Beauty Shock!" Pollux dodged again, a bit slower. She realized that she was slowing down and tiring. What was needed was a hostage, someone she could hold against them. She spared a glance out of the corner of her eye. *** Laying flat on the ground, Jennifer Talbot brushed some blonde hair from her eyes and tried to deny what she was seeing. In the past few minutes, a woman in a sailor suit had come out of nowhere and started blasting the hell out of other women in sailor suits. One of these women was now staring at her with something akin to malice. In fact, it was rather clearly malice. Jennifer shivered in spite of herself. *** Sailor America saw the look in Pollux's eyes as well. Pollux was clearly aiming to get a hostage, or worse. 'Dammit, bad enough she's going after us, but civilians too?' She spared a glance over to Eternal Moon. The senshi of this time looked to be doing a good job defending her and the Princess. Good. America got up and started running. "Eileen!" "Be right back!" Orion risked another peep. America was running out of the center and headed for the group of tourists she'd seen earlier. "What the hell is she doing?" *** "What the hell am I doing?" asked America, alternately sprinting and ducking, making her way towards the tourists. She knew that someone had to protect them, and the others weren't doing too good a job at that. She also knew that her loyalties lay with the Queen, but that didn't seem as important right now. Now a dozen meters away, and the toughest stretch. She had to cross the street and get over to them, in full sight of Sailor Pollux the entire way. She turned over to where Orion had been. "Orion! Give me a distraction!" "What?" It was too late. America took a deep breath, prayed to a deity she hadn't believed in for fifteen years, and made her dash. Halfway there she noticed that she wasn't drawing any fire. Good, Jen was doing her job. She hunkered down next to them, virtually rubbing noses with a blonde. "Hi! Sailor America, at your service. I'm here to rescue you." She looked into the blonde's eyes, and had to turn away. The eyes looked exactly like Jen's. *** Sailor Orion looked helplessly at America. What the hell was she doing? Provide a distraction? Her only power would effectively annihilate the biosphere. Perhaps if she produced a small enough cloud . . . but that would take concentration. She stood in full sight of Pollux. "Orion . . ." *** Sailor Pollux turned away from the tourists; something more attractive had caught her eyes. That pesky Sailor Orion, seemingly the only one out of the bunch who showed her the proper respect. Perhaps she was from the future as well? She reached a decision. It wouldn't hurt to have her around with her. Perhaps she could be converted over to Pollux's way of thinking. She wheeled around and aimed a single finger at Orion. "Stellar Flare." *** America turned around just in time to see a black cloud surge from Pollux's hand and slam into Orion. The red-haired senshi flew back and slammed into a wall, falling without a sound. "JENNIFER!" Unheeding, Sailor Pollux disappeared, only to reappear next to the fallen senshi. As Sailor Pollux bent over to pick up Orion, Sailor Jupiter turned to fire. "Jupiter Oak-" "No!" screamed Sailor Moon. "You'll hit Orion!" "But I won't," said Sailor Uranus. Her more tightly focused attack should have better results. "Space Sword Blasting!" The attack crossed the distance between them in the blink of an eye, and was right on target. But Sailors Pollux and Orion weren't there anymore. "Dammit!" "They teleported," murmured Mercury, echoing Uranus's sentiments. *** "Jennifer?" Sailor America's voice was thick with disbelief. "Jennifer, where are you?" Jennifer Talbot blinked. "Um . . . you know my name?" Sailor America didn't pay attention. She just stood and looked at the spot where Sailor Orion had been. It was now slightly smoking, thanks to Sailor Uranus. America just sat and stared at the spot, then at Uranus, and drew a conclusion. "BITCH!" With all the considerable speed a senshi can muster, Sailor America rushed towards Uranus, who was too surprised to do anything until the brunette was a mere meter away. She barely parried America's first punch, and couldn't even manage that against the second one. There was no third; Venus and Neptune stepped in to break up the combatants. Or rather the combatant, as Uranus hadn't even gotten in a return blow. "Bitch!" spat America. "You killed her, dammit, you killed Jennifer! Let go of me!" she shouted to Venus. Tears were streaming down her cheeks, but she didn't care. "Dammit, I said LET GO!" "Little help here?" muttered Venus from the side of her mouth. Jupiter stepped in to help restrain America, who had reached a state of rage the likes of which Sailor America had never known. "Dammit, if I get my hands on you, I'll . . . I'll . . . damn!" She relaxed, and Venus and Jupiter did as well. She rubbed her face with her hand and tried to calm down. "Dammit, why'd you do it?" "Listen to me, Sailor America. She's not dead." "What are you . . . what? She's not dead?" "No, she's not," repeated Sailor Mercury. Sailors Moon and Eternal Moon stepped forward as well. Eternal looked particularly pale. "Pollux has her." Somehow, America managed to look even bleaker. "Pollux is alive?" "And she took Orion with her. We saw her teleport out." "Where is she?" "We don't know, and we won't know if you don't calm down. Can you do that?" The wild look came back into America's eyes. "Where is-" "Sailor America, I'm ordering you. Calm down, now!" That shook up America. For Sailor Mercury, the same quiet soul she knew in the 31st, to use that tone of voice . . . . "Okay. I'll try." She turned to Uranus, who was still seething yet kept it under control. "Uranus, I'm sorry." "It's okay," said Neptune, cutting off Uranus's reply. "I'm sure we all know how you feel, but I think the most important thing to do right now is to clear the area." They all looked around them, as if for the first time. The entire arcade was in shambles. Video games lay shattered or overturned all over the place, and many of the walls were either blackened or just plain on fire. Fortunately, everyone had gotten out in time so casualties were at a minimum. It was clear that no-one would be coming here for games anytime soon. "She's right," said Eternal Sailor Moon, who'd been silent for some time. "We've got to get to the shrine, and round up the others, fast. Things have taken a turn for the worse." They all nodded in agreement. "Um," said Venus, "do we run or something?" "Yes," was all that Neptune said in reply, and then she was off like a rabbit. "Damn." The orange-clad sailor shrugged and started off. The others also started sprinting to Hikawa shrine. "Sailor America." The brunette jumped at the words, and turned to see Jupiter place a firm hand on her shoulder. "Are you going to be all right?" America looked glumly at the scene. "Pollux is a monster. She wants one thing and one thing only: to see Serenity dead. She doesn't care what she has to destroy or who she has to kill to realize that goal." "If it's another long story, you'd better wait, then. But . . . would she . . . ." "Yes. If she thought killing Jen would accomplish her goal, she'd do it in a heartbeat." America wiped a tear from her face, her mouth becoming a thin line. "And if she so much as looks at Jennifer wrong, she'd damn well better wish she ends up in hell before she meets up with me!" Sailor Jupiter couldn't help but smile at the other's ferocity. "Keep that anger, and you'll be a warrior in no time. Tell me, how does 'In place of America, I will punish you!' sound to you?" HMS Ursa Minor 140 meters above Tycho Crater, Luna 28 December 3010 11:42 AM JST 2:42 PM Lunar Time Sailor Castor drummed her fingers on the armrest of her chair. She was phenomenally bored, with nothing to do but wait. Somewhere out there between the Moon and the Earth, her sister waited in a ship similar to hers. She wanted Castor dead. Castor looked around the bridge. It had seen its share of punishment. The War, which at this point was just The War, without any fancy titles, had only lasted half a year. But the effects were horrific: thousands dead, dozens of ships destroyed, with fully a fifth of Crystal Tokyo in ruins. The Taurus Offensive had been a mistake, and Sailor Taurus had paid for that mistake with her life. It hadn't ended there; her division of troops had been lost as well, and an unprotected sector of Crystal Tokyo had been laid waste by weapons meant to be used only in space. It had been the only effective ground force Serenity had, and now it was up to the Royal Star Navy to protect the city. So many mistakes in the past six months. Castor shook her head slowly. Hadn't they learned anything from the Black Moon? Well to be fair, they had. The defenses around the Palace itself had held, and Neo-Queen Serenity was as safe as anyone could be. The losses that the RSN had taken from Pollux's little band of rebels had not been without price to Sailor Pollux; it was assumed that Pollux was on her last reserves, and would be gambling everything on one final drive for Japan. Castor didn't think so. She was convinced that Pollux wanted to go after the one who had, in Pollux's eyes, started all this off. Sailor Castor. It was she, after all, who tried to convince her sister that fomenting revolt was a bad idea. It was she who had turned her back on Pollux after their falling out. It was she who was now the best hope Crystal Tokyo had to defend itself against destruction. She thought about the communiqué she had received from Headquarters. It had said that Pollux's ship, Ursa Major, carried a new type of weapon. What kind, Mare Crisium had been hesitant to say. Personally, she thought that they'd been caught making something they had no business making. Sailor Castor couldn't have known that Sailor Pluto had walked off Project Hourglass without another word, of course. She couldn't have known that Serenity had personally ordered Hourglass to be shut down. There was no way she could have known that Hourglass had proceeded under the strictest secrecy, installed on Ursa Major and intended for testing by Sailor Pollux. Only a handful of people knew under whose orders the project had continued, a fact historians would later lament. All she knew was that some obscure weapon was on Ursa Major, and that it was capable of taking out Crystal Tokyo in a single shot. It was her job to prevent that from happening. She didn't know how she was supposed to accomplish this, but she'd have to come up with something fast. "Sailor Castor, ship directly overhead!" "On screen." A camera mounted on top of the ship panned through 180 degrees, showing a sleek gray ship silently glide above them. It never noticed Ursa Minor; Castor's ship was hiding in the shadows created by the low, polar sun and the walls of the massive crater. It was unlikely that Pollux would expect Castor to be in such a disadvantageous position, anyway. "Right, here we go." Her plan would have to go into action: try to talk some sense into her sister. "Match course with Ursa Major and all ahead flank." "Aye, matching bearings. Proceeding at flank speed." *** "Captain!" cried an ensign, "ship bearing one eight zero mark two five five, identifies herself as Ursa Minor!" "Castor," muttered Sailor Pollux with a sigh. Couldn't anything go right? The last six months had been full of mistakes. Her attack on Crystal Tokyo itself had been a failure on so many levels. She hadn't gained any support from the rest of the world. She'd hoped that a successful attack would rally other nations to help her against a common enemy. Instead, she had lost what little support she'd had, as the other confederations chose to bide their time and await a more opportune time to attack. As for the morale of Crystal Tokyo and its inhabitants, it was stronger than ever. She'd wagered almost everything she had on the chance that a single, lightning attack on the shining symbol of Japanese prosperity would shake the resolve of Crystal Tokyo, and hopefully bring the people to rise up against Serenity. That was all she wanted, really: to remove Serenity from the throne, and put power in the hands of the people. Because . . . because . . . because . . . . She really didn't know anymore. Sometime in the last half year, all the philosophical arguments and debates and soul-searching had faded away, and all she had was the conviction that she was right, and all who opposed her were wrong. Serenity had to come down because it was what had to be done. All other reasons had long ago vanished. There was only the hatred of the Neo-Queen and her damned smile. Her third and final goal of the attack had been to get one last, golden shot in at the Palace. Just scoring damage would have been good enough for her, but to actually bring harm to the Royal Family was her ultimate goal. Damn them. Damn Serenity, damn her husband Endymion, damn her daughter Usagi, damn her planet senshi. All eight of them had been there: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto. They had combined their powers against Ursa Major's main cannon--the main cannon that could tear through a fully-armored dreadnought in the blink of an eye--and rendered the most powerful weapon in the RSN arsenal useless. Damn them. All she had now was hatred, hatred of a foe who seemed to thwart her at every turn, a foe who half a year ago had been an ally, a foe who above all had given her the very powers she used against them. She had had twelve senshi on her side. Now, all had been killed or captured, and she didn't know what had happened to those who lived. They could have been imprisoned on the penal colonies around Jupiter, they could have been handed over to the current Deputy Commander in Chief, Sailor Venus. She didn't know which was worse; the Senshi of Love could hardly be pleased at the destruction that had been wreaked so recently. Now, all she had was this one ship and its crew, now down to fifty who were loyal to her as she was sure no group could ever be. She knew they'd follow her to the ends of the earth, partly because they believed in her, but mainly because they knew the senshi would have no mercy on them if they were taken prisoner. It was her final goal: to go out in a blaze of glory. A thousand years ago, her ancestors had had a name for what she was going to attempt: kamikaze. The divine wind. She'd die, but her life had ceased to have meaning quite awhile ago. Serenity would die, and at that point nothing else mattered. Otherwise, what had she bent her efforts towards for the past year? She shook her head and got back to the present. Her dear sister was behind her, and undoubtedly prepared to make one last plea for peace. "Sir, she's trying to raise communications." "Ignore it." *** "Damn," whispered Castor. Things were not going well. For the duration of their trip from the Moon to Earth, Ursa Major had not replied to a single request from her. Now things were critical; Earth loomed big and blue on the screens, and it was clear that Pollux was gunning for Japan. "Sir, message from Crisium. They anticipate no assistance. Say again, we can expect no assistance. All other ships are either disabled or too far away. We're the last shot." "Anti-space batteries?" "Still off-line." A typhoon had hit Crystal Tokyo a week before, and a bolt of lighting had struck a central nerve in the city's defense systems. Only a single cannon remained, and it could only muster one shot. "We will be entering Earth's atmosphere in one minute. Ursa Major will be ready to fire on Crystal Tokyo in one minute twenty seconds. Wait, new orders. They're repeating themselves. We are . . . we are to prevent Pollux from succeeding in her attack at any cost." "Very well," sighed Castor. She was terribly tired. When this was all over, she was going to sleep, and damned if she'd wake up before a day had passed. "Put me on all frequencies. I want to make sure they hear this." *** "Another transmission, sir. All frequencies." Without being told, he put it on. "Attention Ursa Ma . . . no. Sailor Pollux, you are . . . no, no." A pause, and a crackle of static. "Ai, this is your sister. If what we had means anything to you, if you still have a shred of humanity left in you, please don't do this. You don't want Serenity dead, and I don't want to kill you to make sure you don't. As sister to sister, I beg you, don't do this. Just turn your ship around, and everything will be okay. Please?" "Fifty seconds to firing range, sir." Sailor Pollux pursed her lips. "Lock onto the palace. Divert all auxiliary power to the weapons systems and prepare the Gertie." "Aye, sir." "Sister, I'm waiting." "Turn that crap off," snarled Pollux, hoping she came off meaner than she felt. "Time?" "Forty seconds. Sir, Ursa Minor is powering up her weapons systems." *** "Forty seconds, sir. Weapons are now live." "Thank you," said Castor far more calmly than she felt. She had just ordered four nuclear warheads, fifty depleted uranium rounds, five batteries of x-ray lasers, and two batteries of grasers to be trained on Ursa Major. That kind of firepower wouldn't be enough to destroy the ship, though. That was what the Gertie was for. She lifted the cover on the control panel, wishing for a sign from her sister, any excuse to think that she would change her mind. "Thirty seconds, sir. Crisium wants to know what we're waiting for. They're *ordering* us to fire!" 'It's my boat, and I'll decide what I'm going to do,' was Castor's unspoken answer. "Steady as she goes. Prepare for atmospheric entry." As one, the bridge crew sighed. The ship wasn't meant to enter an atmosphere. The thinking was that if Pollux had managed it in an identical ship, there was no reason Castor couldn't do the same. The ship began to rock as it encountered friction with the atmosphere. Ahead of them, Pollux's ship was beginning to glow a dull red. "Ready the Gertie." "Aye, sir, Gertie is now being readied. Firing range for Ursa Major in fifteen seconds. Shall I reduce speed?" "Negative. Fire on my mark." *** Ursa Major plowed through the Earth's protective envelope of air with reckless abandon. Her crew had pretty much given up hope of surviving the day; their best hope was to take Serenity with them. "Ten seconds, sir. Castor is readying to fire." "Dammit." She swallowed. "Activate Hourglass." Yumini Island 13 October 1998 5:01 PM Japanese Standard Time "Activate Hourglass . . . ." Sailor Pollux looked over to Sailor Orion. The redhead still lay unconscious, sheltered from the wind by an outcropping of rock. Dusk was setting on and it would soon get colder, but she knew senshi could take very extreme temperatures. But it hardly mattered; her guest wouldn't be waking up anytime soon. She looked out to sea, still thinking about the past. She had to admit that on a day that had been full of mistakes, deciding to use that mysterious weapon had been the biggest one of them all. All she knew was what had been included in her orders, delivered a week before departure and two weeks before she decided to turn against Serenity. She'd thought that it would guarantee the elimination of Crystal Tokyo, but instead . . . well, no point dwelling in the past. She had more important things to worry about, such as how to bend this to her advantage. She had at her disposal a senshi who was obviously from the future. A future after 3010. That meant that her final attack had failed. Serenity was still in the far future. The only way to end that was to kill her now, before she was grown into her full power. Sailor Pollux was no fool. She knew that Serenity's death now would cause unimaginable paradoxes. Such a thing had never been done; that was what Sailor Pluto dedicated her life to preventing. But the senshi of time had been curiously silent during all this. Could it be that even she didn't know what was to happen? That was one of the many things that was bothering her. Another, more important one, was what had happened to her sister? JAL flight 4304 Great circle route between Los Angeles, California, USA and Tokyo, Japan 2:08 AM JST "Yes, thank you," said Aii Furikato in flawless Japanese to the flight attendant. She accepted the cup of coffee. "You're welcome," said the attendant, who went back to the front of the plane. Aii was the only passenger who was even awake. The past few hours had been mind-boggling. After finding out what year she was in, she'd somehow convinced the crew of the freighter to call for a helicopter. It was a minor miracle that they'd gotten one. It was a bigger miracle that she'd gotten all the way to Boston, from which she hopped a plane to Chicago, then to some place she'd never heard of, and then to Los Angeles, and then to Tokyo. She wasn't sure how all this was being paid for. One of the men on the ship had given her a piece of plastic and an English phrase book and told her to present these when necessary. Thankfully, the Boston airport had had the more important signs in Japanese. It was about at that point that some customs officers had demanded to see her passport. She had done the logical thing: run. Once she was sure she was far enough away, she detransformed into her uniform. By coincidence, it was still her dress blues. This had puzzled her until she remembered that she'd put it on as good luck before they'd gone into very low lunar orbit. Before Pollux . . . but that hurt too much to remember. She forced herself back to the chain of events that had led to her sitting in the first class compartment of a 747 somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. Somehow, wearing a uniform impressed people more. It logically shouldn't have. Unbeknownst to her, a thousand years of alliances formed and dissolved had made Japan's dress naval uniforms virtually identical to those of the United States in the twentieth century. Despite that, there were a few differences that were almost casually passed over by observers. She assumed that it was a side effect of the magic that kept one from identifying her as Sailor Castor. They'd overlooked her poor command of English and lack of baggage, and she was soon the possessor of a ticket to Crystal Tokyo, or just plain Tokyo as it was called in this time. She still wasn't sure what she was going to do when she got there. From her admittedly shaky knowledge of early Japanese history, this was the time at which the senshi were just beginning their activity; Sailor Moon had first appeared a scant three years ago. For that matter, they would temporarily disappear from the scene in just a couple more years. Her loyalty lay with Neo-Queen Serenity, that was rather clear. But did Serenity even know she was the Queen? More importantly, was Pollux still after her? Aii drained the cup. The plane couldn't land in Tokyo a moment too soon. Tokyo, Japan Hikawa Shrine 5:39 PM The car pulled up to the curb. It was a late model Honda with all the trimmings, and was driven by a girl who had once been at the brink of destroying the world. On the passenger side Setsuna nodded approvingly. "Good job parking, Hotaru-chan." "Thank you, Setsuna-mama," replied Hotaru, still using her pet name. "Next time I'll take you on the highway. Now, let's go." The two got out, Hotaru taking care to lock the doors. They walked sedately up the steps. "Setsuna, do you know why we've been called here?" "I have an inkling of an idea," said Setsuna. "But . . . time has been murky lately. As if I'm looking at the future through smoky glass. And I still can't recall anything past 3030. Beyond that it's a blank wall. Mind you," she said as they reached a landing, "I'm never completely sure of anything, unless I actually go there." She spared a smile. "But you already knew that." "Right," said Hotaru, panting slightly. She'd been working on her endurance a lot lately, but things like long flights of stairs still gave her trouble. "You taught me that last year." "Among other things," sighed Setsuna. "The others still don't truly understand how time works, not even Mizuno-san. You're the only one who really understands, you know." "I still don't see what's so hard about it." "Someday," said Setsuna as they reached the top of the steps and headed for the cluster of girls and senshi on the main porch of the shrine, "I'm going to have to teach you about linear thinking." She wiped off the 'pleasant conversation with Hotaru' face and replaced it with the 'enigmatic senshi of time' face. She found it better to hear and give bad news while wearing it. "Good afternoon, everyone," said Setsuna and Hotaru, bowing. "What seems to be the trouble?" asked Setsuna. "Sailor Pollux," said Makoto glumly. Around her were the rest of the senshi. All but America had detransformed. For her part, Sailor America sat apart from the rest, hugging her knees and looking dejectedly at the ground. "Ah." Setsuna blinked; she still knew a lot about her, but there was still . . . but someone was missing. "Where's Sakachi-san?" "That is the problem," said Small Lady, stepping down from her perch at the top of the porch steps. "Sailor Pollux has her, and we don't know where." Setsuna took a moment to digest this. "She's gone?" "Yes," answered Ami. She'd been using her computer and trying to figure out where the mysterious senshi could have gone, and having no success. "Sailor Orion was trying to provide a distraction while America helped out some bystanders. Orion took too long and Pollux got her. We don't know if she's just unconscious or worse, but we didn't see Orion move after Pollux shot her." "And after that, Pollux teleported?" asked Hotaru. "Yes." "Shit." Minako perked up, surprised that Hotaru would say something like that. "Well, right now we're trying to figure out what we should do about this." "Hmph," said Rei. "*Should* we do anything about this? I mean, it's not as if Sailor Orion was such a great asset to us. By your own admissions, her powers are next to useless on Earth or any other planet! I think we should wait; Pollux is sure to let us know where she is if for no other reason than to lead us into a trap." Sailor America looked over at Rei. Rei happened to catch the look in the brunette's eyes. Without a word, the brunette walked away. Usagi looked at her best friend with unconcealed contempt. "I certainly hope you're satisfied, Rei," she said coldly, and walked over to catch up with America. The others gave the priestess a glare that a blind man couldn't have missed. "Sorry," she said half-heartedly, "but you have to admit the possibility that I'm right, and-" "Whether you're correct or not isn't the problem, Rei-chan," said Ami. "The fact is that that remark was terribly insensitive, and furthermore, you had no reason for saying it to her face like that." "Very true," said Haruka. "And if you don't believe me, try saying something like that to me in a similar situation and see what comes of it. And you," she added after a decidedly Arctic pause. "Fine, fine," blurted Rei, "so maybe I screwed up. But that still doesn't change anything. Orion is still gone, and we have no idea where to find her. She could be anywhere on earth!" "Or off of it," said Small Lady quietly. The others turned to face her; she had been very quiet for some time. "There is no maximum range for teleportation. She could be on the moon, or even in orbit." "But . . . the energy expenditures-" "-Would be tremendous, yes," said Small Lady, cutting off Ami's protestation. "Not too much a problem, if . . . certain other conditions are met." "Such as?" "I'd rather not say." "Terrific," muttered Makoto, throwing her hands up in the air and standing to pace angrily. "I'm sorry, but it's something best left forgotten." "Small Lady," said Setsuna gently, "at this point, Sailor Orion has been captured by that which would best be forgotten. It will take something of equal magnitude to get her back. I think you should tell her about Pollux's rather special abilities." "Such as?" asked Minako in a none-too-friendly tone. "The ability to leach off human energy." *** Usagi desperately tried to catch up with the brunette. The other was in her senshi form, but Usagi had improved her running abilities in the past few years. Soon, the blonde caught up with her on the sidewalk of an empty street. "Sailor America!" "Go away," said America, barely audible. "Sailor America," and this time Usagi didn't call to her. She summoned her. America stiffened, and stood for a moment without moving. Then, slowly, she turned about to face Usagi. Her brown eyes glinted like ice as she spoke. "Yes, Your Majesty?" "Detransform." "Yes, Your Majesty." America complied. Usagi's features fell a bit, and she sat down on the curb. "Why do you always have to do that?" Eileen had expected a tongue-lashing. Well, to be precise she hadn't; in all her dealings with Serenity in the future, she had never heard the Queen say a truly harsh word. Not that it didn't happen; Eileen simply wasn't in the select group of people to whom Serenity showed her true anger. So far as she knew, that group was limited to the planet senshi. She simply hadn't expected Serenity to be the sad one. "Do what, Your Majesty?" "Obey my every whim and command like that." "Um . . . well, I thought that at this period in time, you would prefer the more formal title over what I usually call you-" "Which is?" "Serenity." Usagi muttered something inaudible and raised her head. "Don't you see that I don't want unswerving loyalty and devotion?" "You don't? Serenity, with all due respect, you've got . . . well, you'll have perhaps the most vulnerable post in known space. There are millions who will want you killed, thousands who will try, and out there is one woman who damn near succeeded. Serenity, if I were you, I'd *demand* upon complete obedience!" "But I don't want complete obedience!" "Well, congratulations, O Great Queen, because the last time I checked, Sailor Pollux wasn't exactly ready to pledge allegiance to you. In fact, I think she was looking to plant a Stellar Flare on your butt, Queenie." Silence. "You used to like it when I called you that. Drove Mars nuts." "Eileen-chan, I'm not Serenity. Not yet. I don't know when I will be-" "June 30, 2-" "And I don't care," she continued, cutting her off quickly. "But right now I'm Tsukino Usagi, a high-school sophomore who wants to know what it's going to take to get you back with the rest of us." "Insensitive," whispered Eileen. Usagi had to ask her to repeat it. "Insensitive Mars. From the day I met her, from the time Jen came back from . . . she's been after me. I've had enough. It's not worth it. After we save Jen, I'm quitting." "Quitting?" "Quitting the Sailor Senshi." She managed a bitter smile. "You have over two hundred protectors, Serenity. I think you can afford to lose one." Usagi didn't know quite what to think. Suddenly, she was in the unenviable position of trying to keep one of her future employees from calling it quits a thousand years before she could be born. "Eileen, didn't you just tell me a moment ago that I should have loyal senshi? And yet, you come now and tell me that you'd like to quit? Exactly who's being contradictory? Trust me on this, Eileen-chan, you don't want to quit. I've been there, and it's not fun." Eileen wanted to rail, wanted to tell Usagi that the blonde simply didn't understand, that she'd never loved anyone quite like she loved Jen. But she knew it wasn't true, and Serenity's ongoing marriage with Endymion was proof of that. No-one could hope to match that kind of love. No-one. "I . . . I guess I had that coming, didn't I?" Usagi smiled wisely. "For a PR secretary, your command of logic is rather lacking." "That it is." "Well, we need you, okay?" "Allrighty." "Good. Let's go." They stood, and walked back to the shrine. But for just a moment as Usagi was turning away, Eileen could swear that a small golden crescent moon appeared on Usagi's forehead. *** The pair returned to meet the others, who were embroiled in what appeared to be a rather bitter argument. Setsuna and Small Lady were almost shouting at Minako and Rei. Usagi watched for a moment, then decided to step in. "What's going on?" "NOTHING!" shouted Rei and Minako in an attempt to yell nonchalantly. It didn't work. "Usagi-chan," said Makoto, "we've got problems." "Such as?" "We've found out that Sailor Pollux can steal people's energy." "No way!" "She could have done it already." Usagi looked over to Eileen, but there was no change in her expression. Then she realized that there shouldn't have been; Eileen probably knew that about Pollux anyway. "But why would she be able to . . . that is . . . um . . ." "You mean why would you give a senshi the power to do that?" asked Eileen. "Elementary. First, it's a power intrinsic to all senshi. Took me three failed quizzes to realize that, but it's true. All senshi can also teleport, incidentally. The details are a bit complicated, and I certainly don't know all of them, but the upshot is that Pollux can pop into any place, steal life-energy, and pop out." "I allowed this?" "Why not? You can do it." She turned to the others. "So can the rest of you. And until recently, I would have been able to." Setsuna arched an eyebrow. "You see-" "I think I've found where Jennifer is!" Ami leapt up and brandished her computer. "She's in the Pacific, on a piece of land called-" "Yumini Island." "Right," said a puzzled Ami. "Haruka-san, how did you know that?" "I can see you're not interested," muttered Eileen, who walked over to lean against a wall. "Because it's right there." The dusty blonde gestured over to the television set, left on and forgotten in Rei's bedroom. Visible through the window, it showed NHK coverage of a US Navy task force converging on what maps showed to be Yumini Island. "Apparently, something's gone terribly wrong there, and a group of scientists has been killed." "Father . . ." began Hotaru. They listened to the news report. ". . . apparent that the United States views this as a grave threat to their security. Though the majority of their forces have not mobilized to maximum readiness, sources close to the Pentagon say that there is nevertheless the possibility of . . . ." "I see," said Eileen. "Well, it would appear that our friend Pollux is causing trouble." "How can you be so sure?" asked Minako. "Because," said Ami, holding up her computer, "several geosynchronous satellites picked up strange energy emissions in that area that correspond to the transport patterns produced by Pollux." She grinned sheepishly. "It took longer than I thought it would to find the information, but I have the latitude and longitude of Yumini Island right here." "Excellent!" said Makoto. "It's payback time! Let's get ready to teleport to-" "No." "What? Eileen, I'd think you of all people wouldn't be able to wait to go! Why?" "Because Castor and Pollux were . . . are . . . two of the best teleporters around. We teleport within a hundred kilometers of her, and she'll know in an instant before we even get there. That's one of the reasons why Serenity wanted her down, as soon as she realized what was going on. Maybe a dozen people outside of the planet senshi can teleport into the Palace without authorization. Sailor Pollux was one of them." "Well, what if we-" "No. I'm telling you, teleporting won't work. The only comparable teleporters are Sailor Castor and Neo-Queen Serenity." She gave Usagi a long hard look. "And neither of them are here right now. I have another solution, though, one that might work. Uranus, you have your car here, don't you?" "As does Setsuna. And please stop calling me Uranus when I'm not in senshi form!" "Sorry, Uranus. Anyway, we need to get to Tokyo Bay, specifically the festival pavilion." "Where USS Milwaukee is stationed?" asked Michiru. "Yes!" said Eileen, surprised. "How did you know?" "Naval history is a bit of a hobby of mine," admitted Michiru. "Especially modern navies. Milwaukee is a Los Angeles-class 688 nuclear attack submarine, identification number SSN-45-" "That's enough," said Eileen hastily. Haruka looked shocked. "You never told me about that kind of interest!" Michiru leaned in close to Haruka's ear and whispered. Haruka's face turned pink, then red, and then into the realm of indescribably candy-apple red. The others found it quite interesting. "I see," said Haruka shakily after Michiru finished. "Anyway," said Rei, trying to get things back on track, "what does this submarine have to do with anything? What are we going to do, sail it to Yumini Island?" Eileen grinned. Yumini Island 13 October 1998 6:43 PM She paced. How had things gotten to this state? True, she was after Serenity; that was the long term goal, the supreme goal, the goal above all others, but what she'd done to accomplish that goal . . . she wasn't exactly proud of it. She could philosophize later, though. Right now, she had more important things to attend to, such as the young sailor who lay on the ground before her. "Sailor Orion!" The redhead moaned and rolled her head from one cheek to the other, then lay still. 'Damn,' thought the woman. 'Is this what kind of lazy bones they're raising in the future?' "Sailor Orion, please wake up!" 'I didn't hit her that hard, did I?' She crouched down next to the redhead and checked her scalp. No signs of bleeding at all. Unfortunately, her medical training was paltry at best, and she really didn't know what else to do for her supposed enemy. Another one down. It had been so simple in the beginning. All she wanted was for Serenity to die. Why? She'd had plenty of good reasons at the time. By now they had all slipped away, and all she had left was the conviction that yes, there had been good, upright reasons, and could only reminisce on how much sense they had made then. But as for what those reasons had actually been . . . she just couldn't remember. She briefly considered the possibility that it was a residual effect from her attack. Her Steller Flare had been remarkably effective. In terms of raw power it was on a level with Venus's Crescent Beam, which was no small achievement. Senshi powers were more or less a function of luck; Serenity had little to do with it, and neither did anyone else. If they did, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, or other militant senshi would agitate for all senshi to be made into super-soldiers. As it was, a minority of planet senshi had believed that limits should be placed on just how powerful new senshi could be. Pollux supposed that that minority had won through after her tiff with Castor. On the ground, unheeding of Pollux's turmoil, Orion rolled over and moaned softly. Slowly, she cracked open an eye. Things appeared blurry and indistinct to her. She blinked a couple times, but the red curtain that overlaid everything refused to go away. With great effort she brushed a few stray bangs from her field of vision, and things cleared up nicely. She turned to her left and saw a figure in a sailor fuku. Sailor Orion blinked, then gasped. "Pollux!" "Ah, you're awake," murmured Pollux. She forced a smile and stood. "I apologize for the inconvenience I've put you through--" "Inconvenience?" asked Orion in the same way that a Jew would describe the Diaspora as an inconvenience, "you apologize for the inconvenience?!? Why, I'm . . . ." She recognized the situation that she was currently in. Her hands and feet were tied to the ground. A moment's effort showed her that she had been tied very well indeed; even with the augmented strength that went along with being Sailor Orion, she couldn't break free. And she knew she didn't have the maturity to use her attack without shouting out its name and making the usual arm movements. She'd heard that the planet senshi could do that, but she'd never seen it, except for that one time at Sailor Moon's side. "Ah, the ropes. Sorry about that, but you know how it is." 'Come on, Pollux, think evil!' she told herself. "Now, down to brass tacks. You will assist me in killing Serenity, or you will die. Frankly, I have ways of doing both. It's your choice. Please say you'll cooperate?" she asked in a tone that she hoped made Orion think that she wished the opposite. Orion considered her options. She thought about the oath of loyalty, she thought about Eileen. She thought about self-preservation. She reached a decision. She eyed the situation and decided that there was one thing she could do. She did it. "That was particularly disgusting," said Sailor Pollux. "And particularly futile." She wiped the spit from her eyelid and forehead with a white-gloved finger. Slowly and deliberately, she wiped it on the front bow of Orion's uniform. "You will regret that, my red-headed friend from the future. I swear it." "And I swear," answered Orion, "that I won't rest until you're back in hell where you belong." Pollux shrugged. "Sounds fair to me." She walked away to look at the Pacific. "Hell of a way to start a hostage relationship." Somewhere in the Pacific Ocean (Specific location classified by United States Department of Defense) USS Milwaukee Officer's Lounge 14 October 1998 8:43 AM JST Makoto looked about nervously. The walls were rather close together, and gave no sense of being outside. She'd never told anyone, but she was a terrible claustrophobic. People often wondered why she spent so much time outside. To her, it was obvious. Outside, there were no walls. More that anything, right now she wished for wide-open skies and trees, to feel a cool breeze ruffle her auburn hair, and above all to be *outdoors*. Inside a nuclear submarine was probably the worst possible place for her. "Pearcy-san, why the hell couldn't we just have teleported?" The other brunette sighed. "You've asked me that a dozen times today. So when do you plan to stop?" "When I get a satisfactory answer!" "Jupiter, I've given you the same answer every time. Teleporting to Sailor Pollux's location is like putting a huge sign up saying 'here we are!' It would be safer to walk there than to teleport." "So we couldn't take a plane?" "Nope. Too visible." "Or a boat?" "This is a boat." "A REAL boat, you silly . . . ." Makoto threw her hands in the air in exasperation and angrily began to stalk around the room. The room's only other occupant, Rei, looked on with interest. Rei still couldn't believe that Eileen had managed it. She had to admit it was the most ingenious solution to a problem that she'd ever seen. The problem: getting to Yumini Island without Sailor Pollux knowing it until the last possible moment. The solution: shanghai a super-quiet United States Navy nuclear attack submarine and take it there. The intricacies involved in that operation had left all but Ami and Setsuna completely in the dust, and even they had had a hard time keeping up with it. From nowhere, Eileen had attired herself in a Navy dress uniform complete with her rank of captain in the Royal Star Navy, a rank that she admittedly had little cause to use. She'd then escorted them all to the dock where Milwaukee was tied up, where she managed to convince the crew that they actually belonged there, as opposed to the truth, viz., that they were a bunch of teens and near-teens that were in fact trespassing on US property and engaging in the theft of a piece of machinery that was worth more than the gross domestic products of several third world countries, i.e. USS Milwaukee. The details had as stated previously been more than a little confusing. As far as Rei could tell, it had involved a lot of saluting, a lot of shouting, and the general assumption by Eileen that the entire crew was incompetent. Rei had silently wondered if some of Eileen's dominating nature had been picked up from Jen's command experience. She had also had a couple other thoughts about Eileen's commanding nature that she preferred not to dwell upon. Somehow the crew and its captain, Commander Kenneth Billings, had been convinced that Eileen was under secret orders to take USS Milwaukee to an undisclosed location in the Pacific Ocean, there to disembark with her teenage cohorts who were part of some special operations program that only a dozen people in the world knew about. Eileen had later remarked that it was the biggest, most far-fetched, ludicrous, and most successful piece of double-talk she'd pulled off in over a year of public relations. She was still amazed that they had bought it; her faith in the United States as a smart, intelligent, savvy people had taken a serious blow when she'd dropped the names of several Nazi generals as references and the young ensign at the top of the gangway had swallowed the bait. Now they were here, a few hours away from what the ship's charts showed as "Yumini Is., pop. 0, stra: 4-b." The others were elsewhere in seclusion; Eileen had managed to strike a deal with the ship's legitimate captain to give the senshi pretty much free rein over a few cabins. The circumstance of women on a submarine was unheard of, which made Eileen's accomplishment all the more impressive. Billings had agreed that having about a dozen attractive women roam a ship full of men who went for months at a time without seeing a live woman would probably be less than ideal. So they had a few rooms to themselves. They also got meals whenever they wanted them, which would probably land Billings in trouble with his superiors when he got back to Tokyo. To guard against unwanted surprises, Mamoru was with them as well. However, that was all irrelevant to their true purpose: getting Jen back. Rei didn't doubt for a second that Eileen would never have tried something this risky if her lover wasn't at stake. And truth be told, wouldn't Rei do the same for Usagi? True, she and Usagi weren't lovers, but the bond was effectively the same. Perhaps even stronger. "Calm down, Jupiter," said Eileen in a placating tone. "Look, we'll be seeing sunny skies in a couple days. That's no time at all!" "Bite me." "There's a shame," muttered Eileen in an obscure English dialect. "Old Crone Jupiter is a hell of a lot more creative with her abuse in the future." "Really?" asked Rei in the same dialect. Eileen perked her head up guiltily. Makoto just looked at them both curiously. "You understood that?" "It's English, isn't it?" "That particular dialect . . . it hasn't been spoken for over a thousand . . . oh bloody hell." "Exactly." Rei gave a rare unguarded smile. "Never underestimate a Catholic education, Sailor America." Eileen smiled in return, a smile that said that she had some long range plans. Thousand year plans, actually. "Oh, I won't. Don't worry about that, Mars." Then she was all business. "Come on, I need to talk to all the senshi." Just offshore of Yumini Island 12:00 PM Japanese Standard Time 15 October 1998 USS Milwaukee surfaced at noon, according to plan. The ship's real commander had been dumbfounded that the senshi were going to go ashore in broad daylight. Eileen had given a cock-and-bull answer about how the operation required solar power, but the reality was that their chances against Sailor Pollux were all too low to start with. Attacking at night would merely serve to compound the problem. Any advantage gained by attacking under cover of darkness would be canceled by their inferior power. That was a conclusion Eileen had come to reluctantly. She couldn't believe that this motley bunch was the same that had turned back innumerable enemy forces from Japan. In her opinion, the twentieth century senshi couldn't defeat a platoon of Crystal Tokyo Army regulars, let alone the Black Moon. Not for the first time, she wondered how the United States ever lost . . . would lose, to Serenity. Then she remembered that that was to whom the United States lost. Not Japan, but Serenity. She'd seen enough glimpses of future royalty from Usagi to lay aside any doubts she might have concerning the future of the country. Polluting the timeline was something she gave no thought to at all. From Milwaukee's slender, tapered command sail, about a dozen figures popped out, all dressed in black bodysuits. They were not the most formidable fighting force in the world. They hadn't transformed yet. Eileen was the last out. She lingered as the others climbed out and began to swim for the island. Peering down into the hatch, she looked at the submarine commander's swarthy face. "Billings?" "Yes, sir?" "You did good. Very good. I remind you that not a word of this operation is to go outside of this boat, understood?" "Perfectly, sir." "Good. Good work." She grinned, the first totally unguarded grin she'd given since she entered the sub. "See ya!" And with that, she executed a perfect swan dive into the slightly-chilly waters of the ocean. *** They came ashore without the stealth and secrecy that so often distinguishes Navy SEALs. They weren't trained that way. Nor should it be inferred that they came ashore noisily, announcing to all and sundry that they were conducting a lightning search and smash operation. It was something in between the two. Minako was the first ashore, closely followed by Rei and Haruka, with Michiru not far behind. The others then came in more or less an indistinguishable mob of shiny black bodysuits and hair of varying lengths and colors. As soon as everyone was on the beach, Eileen began issuing orders. "Okay, now-" "Eileen." The coldness in the voice caught Eileen by surprise. "Yes, Venus?" "Okay, first things first. Number one, I'm not Sailor Venus, not yet. If you need names, call me Aino. Second, with all due respect you don't know what the hell you're doing. You've been in a fight only once, and never with any forethought or planning. Right now I'd trust Usagi-chan to do a better job than you. You say that senshi take orders from us in the future? Well, the future starts now. I'm in charge, okay?" Eileen had limited dealings with Sailor Venus in the future. It had been some time since Venus's last tour of duty as Deputy Commander in Chief, and the blonde hadn't really had much taste for command. This was a different woman, though. Eileen nodded. "As you say, sir." The 'sir' bit at something on her tongue. It certainly wasn't something she was accustomed to saying. "Good. Now, here's the plan. We transform now, and then it's a simple matter of getting as close to possible to Sailors Pollux and Orion without her detecting us. Ami-chan, you're going to be key for this. You're our advance scout, okay? Makoto, you cover her progress. Ami, when you find where they're hiding, contact the rest of us. Exactly one minute later, we'll meet at a location decided by Ami and prepare our attack. Once we're ready to move, it'll be a two-pronged envelopment maneuver, okay? Everyone got that? Good." She took a deep breath; she loved this part. "EVERYONE, TRANSFORM!" *** On the other side of the island, Sailors Pollux and Orion were contemplating their present lots in life. Orion was desperately fighting off a serious bout of hostage sympathy. For the past few hours, she'd been thinking things over, and it had occurred to her that perhaps Pollux wasn't a totally bad sort of girl after all. True, she had as a goal the death of Serenity, but had anyone really looked into the reasons for it? The answer was yes, of course. She'd done it because of several disagreements over doctrine, specifically the lack of democracy which political scientists had been quarreling over. In many ways, Crystal Tokyo exhibited more signs of democracy than the United States had during its heyday of populism in the late nineteenth century. True, those ways were generally overshadowed by those matters in which the monarchy held sway, but the fundamental truth was that the Crystal Millennium was a rather nice place to live for a democrat. Sailor Pollux hadn't felt that way, though, and Orion was trying to figure out why. She suspected something else had been in that beam that Pollux had inflicted on her. But even that was hard to think about. It seemed so much easier to just go to sleep . . . but she couldn't. She'd have to stay defiant till the end. A few meters away, Pollux was drifting into deeper and deeper pits of depression. She was feeling more and more guilty about everything she'd done. Things that had just a few days ago (days? weeks? years?) seemed so clear cut and certain were now painfully murky. It was as if she'd been staring down in a stream that was crystal (crystal, it always came back to crystal, didn't it?) clear, and then something happened to stir up the muck and sediment at the bottom, turning a clear picture into a brownish morass. Except that the picture being obscured now was her raison d'être. "Sailor Pollux?" Pollux turned to face Orion, who was chewing on a blade of grass a la American farming boys in the nineteenth century Midwest. The redhead was looking off into the distance, apparently paying little attention to whether or not Pollux turned. "Yes?" "Why'd you do it? "Hm?" asked Pollux in a surprised tone. "Why? Are you some kind of psychiatrist or something?" she asked, trying to add a sneer at the end. It didn't come off very well. "No, I'm a historian. Or rather, I will be once I wrap up my Ph.D." Pollux laughed; she couldn't help it. "You've been kidnapped by someone who admits to wanting to kill Serenity, and the only thing you can think of is how to tie this into your doctoral thesis?" Orion smiled at that at well, in spite of herself. "I suppose it is a bit silly." Then she remembered to whom she was speaking and added a bit of an edge in her voice. "But I've got a thesis picked out, and it has nothing to do with you. Rather, I'm simply asking out of curiosity." "Really?" "Well, you are sort of a historical figure," said Orion sheepishly. Then she tried to get a hold of herself. 'Dammit Jen, no consorting with the enemy!' "Anyway, I'd think that I'd be amiss if I didn't ask the question if given the chance." "I see." Pollux stared into space for a bit. "Well, to tell the truth . . . I don't know anymore." A bit of silence, broken only by the calling of seabirds high above them. "You don't know? You're hell-bent on killing Serenity, and you can't even remember why? Kami-sama, isn't that enough reason *not* to kill her?" "Ordinarily, yes," said Sailor Pollux reluctantly. "But?" "But let's forget about that. How long does your friend plan on staying here?" "Huh?" "For that matter, what is she doing here?" "The hell?" Orion looked around frantically. "Where is she?" "No, she's not here physically, I meant in this time! You don't belong here any more than I do, so why are you here?" Orion frowned. "I don't know. What's more puzzling is . . . well, all I can say is that this has all the hallmarks of Sailor Pluto, and she seems to be just as much in the dark as we are." "Sailor Pluto," said Pollux with a grim smile. "Once upon a time, we were friends, or as close to a friend as you can be with that woman." Orion raised an eyebrow in invitation. Pollux told herself that there really wasn't any point in holding back anything. It was Serenity who she held the grudge against, she told herself. Have to remember that. "Well, it started with Project Hourglass. It was some sort of weapon, if I remember correctly." Orion didn't remember it at all. She partially blamed this on her memory, which was becoming very weak at times and very strong at others. This was correct in part, though it was also due to the fact that Hourglass had never been mentioned outside the planet senshi in ten years, and never in any history books. "Anyway, it had something to do with time travel. I'm not sure what, exactly, but I think it removes the target from the timestream." She looked up. "Or something like that," she added, watching the expression on Orion's face change. She thought she heard a shout, but wasn't sure. *** On the other side of the island, eleven women and one man had just completed their transformations into variously attired senshi and one man in a tuxedo. Sailors Mercury and Jupiter wasted no time; they quickly began their rush up a hill and out of sight. On the other side of the hill, both dashed for cover; they had seen two figures along at the far end of the island. Mercury tapped an earring and waited patiently while her visor fed her the data on the mystery persons. "No doubt about it," said Mercury after a bit. "The one standing up is Sailor Pollux. I'm not too sure about the other, but I'm fairly certain it's Orion." "All I needed to know," whispered Jupiter. She peeked back over the hill. "Okay, we've got them. They're about . . . what would you call that, Mercury?" "Five hundred meters." "Five hundred meters, on the other side. Pollux's back is to us; creep quietly enough and we should be able to nail her!" "Excellent!" squeaked Venus. "Okay guys, over the top!" Ignoring the World War I anachronism, Sailor America caught Venus's arm as the blonde was about to leap over the hill. "Venus, could Orion be hurt?" Sailor Venus bit down her first response and instead said, "Probably not. If all goes well, Pollux will be down before Orion even knows we're here." "Because we're effective, or because she's dead?" Venus ignored the pessimism inherent in America's half-accusation. "Because we're effective, Sailor America. And don't you dare forget it." With that, Venus leapt up over the hill. Sailor America looked at the ground a bit, muttered a prayer to a deity that even the twentieth century had long ago forgotten, and followed her colleagues over the top. *** The first warning Sailor Pollux had was a general sense of danger. Every senshi had it, to some degree or another. Call it intuition, luck, psi, whatever, all senshi somehow *knew* when someone was coming up from behind them. Some had this sense better than others. Pollux was rather bad at it, and the fact that she didn't even realize anything was wrong until Uranus and Neptune were a scant two meters away was adequate proof of that. "OOMPH!" The three senshi went flying into the sand. Pollux reacted as quickly as she could, sending a punch flying at the nearest body. She felt it connect with something, but decided not to gamble that it hit something vital. She threw two more punches and a kick for good measure, and then decided to play her trump card. Neptune knew that their joint attack had been successful when Pollux was reduced to throwing random punches. Venus's strategy had borne itself out; while Pollux was unusually adept at energy based attacks, she was particularly vulnerable to physical assault. Her next best choice for something like this would have been Sailor Jupiter or perhaps Pluto, and in fact she was holding them in reserve. Those reserves would prove to be necessary for at that point, Pollux teleported. The first inkling Uranus had that something was wrong was a slight tingling down her spine. Then there was an ear-popping thunderclap, and suddenly she was tightly holding on to nothing at all. She opened her eyes to see Neptune's face staring into hers. "What the hell was that?" A couple meters away, Sailors America, Eternal Moon and Mars were desperately trying to free Sailor Orion. "Could she have been drugged?" asked America with concern, picking at a particularly nasty lock and wishing that she'd thought to put a knife in her pocket. "I don't know," said Mars. "You'd have to ask Mercury, and- oomph!" "POLLUX!" warned Jupiter, but she was too late. The senshi had already executed a textbook karate chop with the butt of her hand. Mars fell without another word. Cursing, America frantically tried to get Orion out, berating herself for not noticing the characteristic change in air pressure that always announced a teleportation. She tugged desperately at Orion's bonds, ignoring Pollux for the moment. This turned out to be a mistake. "Ach!" exclaimed America, wincing as Pollux drove something sharp and pointed into her side. She waved her free arm wildly, but never managed to connect. Eternal Sailor Moon had a bit more presence of mind, with a bit more experience in hand to hand combat. Not much, though. She pulled the Eternal Tier from nowhere and prepared to administer a macing to the evil senshi, but was caught short in the middle of her swing by America's still-flailing arm, which knocked the Tier flying off in the distance. The foursome collapsed to the ground: Orion, Eternal Moon, America, and Pollux, three of the four fighting for their lives. In seemingly an instant, Pollux rolled on top, and was presented with a clear shot at Eternal's face. She didn't hesitate, but drew her fist back instantl and nearly lost her arm for her trouble. "Dead scream." "Aggh!" Pollux was blasted a good seven meters away, and the shock wave gave Sailor America a headache that persisted for several hours afterwards. Unheeding of this, Pollux rolled several times in the dirt. She got to her feet, but not fast enough: she looked up to see Death staring her in the face. "DEEP SUBMERGE!" "WORLD SHAKING!" Time for another instinctive reaction. Pollux teleported a split second before the blue and yellow spheres of energy blasted through the vacuum her teleporting left in her wake. Meanwhile, Sailors Mercury, Moon, and Tuxedo Kamen had managed to get to the place where Eternal Moon, America, and Orion lay. Mercury gave Orion a quick look, enough to ascertain that she was conscious, if only by a thread. She quickly turned to Sailor Mars, who hadn't moved since being struck by Pollux. "Usako!" Tuxedo Kamen immediately and predictably rushed to Eternal Sailor Moon's side to make sure that she was still okay. Sailor Moon was no less concerned for her mother, but she couldn't allow herself to be worried about such things. She'd seen Pollux teleport out, but she hadn't teleported in, and until she did Sailor Moon refused to let her guard down. She looked around cautiously to make sure there was no-one lurking about, then bent down to tend to her mother. Sailor Venus had by this time managed to survey the area. Seeing no signs of Pollux, she decided that now would be a good time to beat a hasty retreat. "Senshi!" Heads slowly turned to face her. At first glance, they appeared to be okay. But further observation told a different story. Mars was only beginning to stir, and Orion still seemed rather weak. She knew that they should teleport out as quickly as possible, but she didn't even know if they could; with two senshi effectively out of commission, and one man who really couldn't help in the teleportation process . . . Sailor Venus worried. "Sailor America!" "Yes, Venus?" came the reply, a bit slow in coming. Sailor America crouched next to Orion, who seemed to be out of it. "I need some assistance. How much do you know about teleportation?" America managed a grim smile. "Not nearly enough. We only learned the broadest overview at the School, enough to know that it's something senshi don't do since the war. We barely learned anything about how you guys do it. Something about fixing the place in your mind, and then just moving there?" "Something like that. There's no language that has the proper verbs for what actually happens, but that's not important. What's important is that I need to know how well Pollux can track us. What I have in mind . . . if we were to teleport to a location, then teleport to another location, and *then* teleport to Tokyo, would she be able to track us?" America mentally munched on this for a bit. It was a tactic she'd never learned at the School . . . or was it? After all, it had been ages since she'd done her year there, and she could hardly be expected to remember everything. But she remembered a certain tactic used by Sailor Uranus at the Battle of Yokohama. "Yes! It should work. But to be safe-" "-we should teleport a few extra times, yes that would be safest. But quite honestly, I'm not sure we've got the energy to even teleport twice. We may have to take an airplane, but that's something we can take care of later." A few seconds later, they teleported. Academic Quad Lebanon Valley College Annville, Pennsylvania, United States of America 8:00 AM EST 16 October 1998 The computer lab assistant chuckled at the joke that the lab assistant read. This particular assistant had a sense of humor. The assistant also had a love of Sailor Moon. For years, the assistant had read fanfics, watched the show, done everything a devotee should do. It would no doubt come as the most pleasant surprise of the assistant life if someone were to tell the assistant that the sailor senshi materialized just a few meters behind his back, outside of Lynch Gymnasium. But no-one told the assistant, and so the assistant carried on. Central Park New York City, New York, United States of America 8:00 AM The senshi materialized again. This time Pluto could see the looks of exhaustion on all of their faces, even Uranus and Neptune. Teleporting once took enough out of a person. Teleporting twice in such a short period of time would kill most people. Pluto didn't care to speculate on what might happen the third time they teleported. They took deep, beleaguered breaths, and disappeared again. Tokyo International Airport 8:03 PM JST 15 October 1998 They rematerialized for the final time in a baggage clearance room which luckily for them happened to be deserted. None of them had any energy left over to even groan. Pluto was perhaps the best off, and the most she could manage was to stagger to the door and make sure no-one else would disturb them. Then they slept for a long time. *** Several floors above them, Sailor Castor had just finished the bewildering experience of clearing customs, and was now wondering what to do next. It had been painfully proven to her that things were drastically different. It remained to be seen what else would surprise her. Her best guess: anything. She went outside to the curb and saw a taxi drive by. It bore little resemblance to what the thirty-first century called a taxi, but some things are universal no matter what time you're in. Hoping the cabby was a generous man, she hailed it and got in. "Juuban, please." University of Calgary Library University of Calgary Calgary, Alberta, Canada 5:40 AM Mountain Standard Time 16 October 1998 The library aide was fairly surprised to see a woman materialize out of nowhere. The other woman was surprised too, and for much the same reason. Pollux had teleported blind. It was something senshi were trained from day one not to do, but she hadn't had much choice. She knew full well that she could have been anywhere from the bottom of the ocean to inside Mount Everest. Well, strictly speaking that wasn't true; generally the laws of teleportation prevented such possibilities. But when dealing with a science that flouted the light-speed barrier, one tried not to take chances. Pollux was quite surprised and thankful to be alive. The library aide was also surprised. In three years of shelving books, this had never happened. So she did a logical thing: she screamed. Pollux sighed and gathered up the resolve to teleport again. Today was turning out to be a supremely sucky day. Tsukino residence Juuban district Tokyo, Japan 9:00 PM JST 15 October 1998 Usagi Tsukino and her future daughter trudged wearily into the small two-story house that sat in the shadow of a high-rise. Their main objective was to take a nice long soaking bath to get rid of the millions of aches and pains they felt. They were prevented from such by the appearance of Ikuko. "Usagi-chan! Chibi-usa-chan! Where have you two been all this time?" The two girls traded glances. "Er, we were just studying at the library," ventured the blonde. What the heck, it might even work. "Studying?" asked Ikuko mildly. "Right!" corroborated Small Lady. "Actually, I sort of had to force Usagi-chan into it, you know." "Did you?" "Yep." "All day?" "All day." "No interruption?" "None at all." "Ah." Ikuko sighed. "Then where are your books?" An artist would have been rather interested in the shade of red two faces turned at that point. Ikuko waited patiently for the response to come. Usagi and Small Lady shared a glance, trying to work out how they could explain this. They would never have a chance, because at that moment something terribly unexpected happened that changed the course of those pivotal events in autumn 1998. The doorbell rang. "I'LL GET IT!" they both screamed, pounding towards the door. They opened it together. "Your Majesty!" cried Sailor Castor, who immediately went to one knee in deference. While the two Usagi blanched, Ikuko sidled up behind them and looked at the woman. "Never mind. You can explain later." Shaking her head, Ikuko went to the kitchen. This was rather fortunate for her, because she missed the transformations and battle that followed. The Tokyo Hilton Hotel Room 644-B 8:57 PM Jennifer Talbot set her bags down. It had been a long day. She was rather looking forward to the next one being agreeably short and lacking in dangerous women in pleated miniskirts trying to kill her. Undressing, she collapsed onto the bed and fell into a deep and well deserved sleep. She never noticed the light blinking on the complimentary answering machine. In the end, it may have been for the best. 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Washington, DC United States of America Oval Office, The White House 10:05 AM EST 16 October 1998 The President was having a rather hard time believing his ears. "So Dr. Tomoe, you're saying that the deaths of all those researchers on Yumini Island, all the unexplained occurrences, and the downing of a rather expensive fighter jet were all simply side effects of your Hourglass project?" Tomoe waited a moment for the Japanese translation, and then replied. "Yes, Mr. President. It is of course most regrettable that this had to happen, but I believe that the potential benefits far outweigh the immediate results of this tragedy." "Over twenty people died, Dr. Tomoe. I certainly hope there are some damnably good benefits!" "Three will." Tomoe had no idea what, however. All he knew was the mission bequeathed him from the enigmatic Setsuna Meiou. He was to go to Washington and arrange for the heart of the Hourglass project itself to be brought to Tokyo, no matter what the cost. He had asked how he was supposed to do this, but gotten no answer. Apparently he was to just use his reputation as one of the finest minds in Japan, and quite possibly the world. "However, Mr. President, many of these benefits would best be served by further extended research in Japan. For this, I must make a request of you." Clinton sighed. "Our government has spent billions and billions of dollars on this project for the past thirty years. How much more do you need?" 'Honestly,' he thought, 'between Hourglass and the nuts behind Project Quantum Leap out in New Mexico, pure science was going to bankrupt the budget before the Defense department could even think about spending anything.' Tokyo, Japan Juuban district Tsukino residence 9:02 PM Japanese Standard Time 15 October 1998 Sailor Castor was very surprised. She had expected that the Royal Family, such as it was, would be overjoyed to have another ally. After all, she'd shown up and fallen into the traditional position of fealty. It hadn't occurred to her that she was a dead ringer for Sailor Pollux. After all, when you're one of a pair of identical twins, that fact tends to fade into the background. Despite their similarities, Usagi and Small Lady had never considered themselves as being close to identical twins, and so weren't acquainted with the problems at hand. Which was, of course, why they transformed and prepared to eliminate the person they thought was Sailor Pollux. Castor thought quickly. The two most powerful senshi ever were right in front of her, and were apparently about to kill her. What to do? "The Tsukino home is a place of domestic tranquillity, where mothers and daughters can relax together!" cried Eternal Sailor Moon. Castor frowned, puzzled. "For disturbing this peace, and forcing us to transform on our own doorstep, we won't forgive you!" agreed Sailor Moon. 'Ah,' thought Castor, 'that's it. They're still giving speeches now. That gives me some time to get the hell out.' "For love and justice . . ." She dashed into a nearby bush and crawled out the other side. ". . . we are the pretty sailor-suited soldiers . . ." Castor raced down the street, trying to figure out how to explain matters. "Sailor Moon!" "Sailor Chibi-Moon!" shouted Sailor Moon reluctantly. "And in place of the Moon, we'll punish you!" The two finished their poses and looked around. Of course, Castor was nowhere to be seen. "Damn!" The two dashed into the thankfully empty street to see Castor dashing away as fast as she could. They set off in pursuit. *** Three hundred meters away, Sailor Castor was puffing mightily. She'd never been especially good at running, and this was simply serving to prove it. At the same time, she was trying to recall what little she knew about history right now. She knew that at this point, Eternal Sailor Moon had but one attack. However, Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss was terribly accurate and terribly effective. She wasn't sure, but she thought that it approached total success rates at times. This didn't bode well for her. After all, she didn't even have the earring that helped her teleport. So she was stuck running from her own monarch. At another time she might have appreciated the humor in that, but right now all she had time for was trying to find places to hide, and failing. She spared a brief look back. The Sailor Moons were now two hundred and fifty meters away and closing. She knew she couldn't outrun them, and she was entering an urban area. With all the shops closed, and the lack of greenery, she had nowhere else to go. So she did the only thing she could do under the circumstances. She stopped. *** Eternal Sailor Moon and her daughter pulled up short, thirty meters from Castor and wary of any tricks she might be ready to pull. Castor looked at them, trying to hide the fear in her eyes and hoping she came across as nonhostile. 'Which,' she thought, 'shouldn't be so hard to pull off at this point.' "Sailor Pollux! Any last words you have to say for yourself?" demanded Sailor Moon. Eternal looked at her oddly, but didn't add anything. "Pollux?" Then it hit her. "Oh, you think I'm Sailor Pollux? Okay, I see. Well, this is all a big misunder-" "Three seconds! Do you surrender?" "Now wait just a-" "Two!" "Don't you think-" "One!" "Fine, fine, I surrender!" cried Castor, seeing Sailor Moon brandish the Cutie Moon Rod. "I give up, just don't shoot, okay? But I'm not who you think I am." "Oh?" asked Sailor Moon. "And just who would you be, then?" "Sailor Castor." Sailor Moon blinked. Eternal Sailor Moon breathed a sigh of relief. "You're Sailor Castor? Great, but why are you here?" "I don't know," admitted Castor. "One moment I'm ready to die, the next I'm in the Pacific. Your Majesty," and here Eternal Sailor Moon slapped herself on the forehead, wondering what possessed her in the future to let everyone call her by her title, "I don't know how I got here, but if there's an chance that . . . oh no. Pollux is already here, isn't she?" Eternal Sailor Moon nodded. "Shit." "Wait," said Sailor Moon slowly. "How do we know that you're who you say you are?" "I haven't tried to kill you yet, have I?" Sailor Moon simply glared. "What do you want, a birthmark? Won't work. We both had them, and our parents had them surgically removed. We're genetically identical, so DNA scans won't work, and I doubt you have the proper equipment here anyway. I don't have any distinguishing scars, and neither does she. And you won't think up the identification codes I have to know for another thousand years. So Your Highness, what do you propose we do?" "You're forgetting one thing." "And what's that?" "I know the identification codes." Castor was speechless. Eternal Sailor Moon wasn't. "What are you two talking about? Identification codes? What are those?" "Something we think up in the future," said Sailor Moon casually. Inwardly, she continued to worry about how much she was revealing about the future. But there didn't seem to be much choice; given the alternative, she'd gladly spill the beans about everything if only they could come back home. "So Sailor Castor, if that's who you really are, mind telling me them?" "You remember them all? Even codes for . . . dead senshi?" she gulped. She'd known intuitively that she had to have died in that final battle, but this was the first time that she'd admitted it to anyone. "Especially yours." "Sailor Pluto?" The self-confident smile faded from Sailor Moon's face. "I wish. Sailor Pluto hasn't been of any assistance so far. She knows about as much as I do. But . . . I just learned your codes, and Sailor Pollux's. It was just something I knew I had to know." "Destiny, huh," and for a moment she forgot she was speaking to the Princess of Crystal Tokyo. "Yes." "Well, I suppose I should tell you," said Sailor Castor, bowing her head. "It's-" "Never mind." Castor's head snapped up. "What?" "I think you're who you say you are. I believe you." Sailor Moon closed her eyes and detransformed. Eternal Sailor Moon blinked, then did the same. Taking her cue, Sailor Castor detransformed for the first time in seventy-nine hours, and then it was Usagi Tsukino, Usagi Tsukino, and Aii Furikato standing in the middle of the street. "You know we're in trouble, don't you?" asked Small Lady. "I'd sort of gathered, Your Highness." said Aii. Small Lady took it in stride, but Usagi winced. "Good. Now, we've got to get back to my . . . Mother's house. We've got things to discuss." "Yes, Your Highness." "And after that, we're going to visit a friend named Makoto. I think she can give you a bed for a couple of nights." They began to walk off, Aii unconsciously taking a protective stance in front of Usagi. Usagi sighed once again and wondered what terrible sin she would commit for things to come to this. Makoto's apartment 10:10 PM It was a rather unassuming object. It and its kind ruled the earth, however. There was no place where they did not hold sway, no matter how small the influence. They, and not humankind, had dominion. Makoto knew this, and relished it. She doted on her houseplants, watering them daily, giving them plant food when needed. It never ceased to amaze her that those little green growing things were part of a kingdom that was literally everywhere on the planet. Not that she ever told anyone else about that. They'd think she was crazy, and on some days she thought she might agree with them. "The thing with plants," she said softly, "is that they're predictable above all." Not like her sempai who she didn't even want to bring to mind, or like any other people she met. In the final analysis, people never did what you expected them to do. Take Usagi. When they'd first met, Makoto's first impression was of a whining, immature girl who could barely manage to walk down a sidewalk without tripping, and to a great extent that happened to be true. Then she'd seen how Usagi had come through at D-point, and she figured that that was the end of that controversy. After that their memories had been wiped; nasty job, and getting them back sometimes seemed like more trouble than it was worth, what with the nightmares. All the progress had been wiped away, only to come back in full force when Dimando came in full force. On and on the pattern repeated itself, with Usagi seemingly on the verge of collapse, only to come through. It was as if you could count on her unreliability. Next, you could take Sailor Pollux. At first, Makoto had been inclined to take the view of the senshi of the future: that Pollux was Judas Iscariot, Adolf Hitler, and the leaders of the early twentieth-century Japanese military all rolled into one. That is, the ultimate evil. It was rather true that she had done quite a bit of killing and had committed the unforgivable sin of trying to kill Usagi. But their tumble on Yumini Island had begun to change her mind about a few things. It would seem that Pollux herself was having a few second thoughts about the whole vendetta thing. Makoto liked to think herself a fairly good judge of character, and it looked like Pollux was all fired up about killing Usagi but had completely lost sight of the reasons why. If Pollux could still recognize that there was something wrong with a world-view where killing was to be done simply for the sake of killing, perhaps there was still hope that this whole conflict could be resolved without anyone else dying. Then there was Jennifer Sakachi. At times she seemed totally cool and in control, a bit like a younger Setsuna . . . even though a younger Setsuna implied that Setsuna was old, and all evidence to date seemed to indicate that she was at the least ageless. Sometimes Makoto thought that it was just an act, though. At other times Jennifer reminded Makoto of the senshi during the early days against Beryl: an ordinary girl to whom extraordinary things happened, and who usually turned out to be very very lucky. Which of course made no sense; if what she said was true, then Jen should by dint of her senshi training be better qualified than any of them were at the start, reincarnated memories notwithstanding. Thus the dilemma: apparently, in the future she and the other senshi decided that having a special school to train senshi was a good idea. But now she'd seen evidence that it might not be such a great plan after all. So how did they change the future without setting off another one of those damnable time paradoxes that seemed to crop up every time she wasn't expecting them? She didn't know. Time was unpredictable. So unlike plants. She blinked, and realized that she'd just emptied an entire one liter watering jug into a small pot of geraniums. She scowled at the mess of water and mud that now flowed across her formerly pristine kitchen floor, and spared another scowl at the geraniums, now undoubtedly ruined. "Oh well, they were almost out of season anyway," she sighed. She put down the jug and went to get the mop and bucket. It would seem that even the truth of the trees was unpredictable as well. Halfway to the closet, she heard the doorbell ring. She picked up an empty flowerpot, raised it as if to throw it, then thought better of it and placed the innocent pottery piece back on the table. She counted to a sufficiently high number and went to the door. "Mako-chan! It's Usagi!" Usagi, of course. She rolled her eyes and opened the door. A few seconds later, she managed to get her mouth to close. "Yes, I know what it looks like," said Usagi, who stood between Small Lady and what appeared to Makoto to be a civilian version of Sailor Pollux. "But trust me, she's with us." Makoto turned to Small Lady, who nodded her agreement. Sparing a withering glance for Aii, she gestured. "Come in, please." They entered and Usagi wasted no time. "Okay, here's the situation. This is Pollux's twin sister. She wants to help us, but she has no place to stay. Can you put her up for a couple days until this whole thing blows over?" Makoto blinked. "W-what?" she finally managed. "You want me to-" "-give her a place to stay." "But-" "Mako-chan," said Small Lady, "she's a sailor senshi, and a good one." She leaned close to Makoto's ear. "She died trying to stop Pollux from destroying Crystal Tokyo." Hearing Makoto's sharp intake of breath, she added hurriedly, "No, we don't know how she came back yet. But the most important thing is that she doesn't know she died, and we can't tell her. Understand?" Makoto could only blink, wide-eyed. "Right." Small Lady backed away. "Good. We're going to have another meeting tomorrow after school to discuss this. See you there. Bye!" She and Usagi made their bows and left, leaving Makoto with Aii. The two stood uneasily for a moment, one trying to recall what little she'd heard about Sailor Castor in the past few days, and the other trying to figure out how not to get on Sailor Jupiter's bad side. She'd barely known Jupiter before the War erupted, and afterwards every senshi was too wrapped up in their own little corner of the Millennium to worry about such things. Finally, Makoto decided to break the ice. "Care for anything? Cup of tea, soda, anything?" Castor sighed. "Any sort of muscle relaxant. Right now, all I want is an nice, good, long sleep." 'Sleep,' thought Makoto. 'That, I can manage.' Residence of Haruka Ten'ou, Michiru Kaioh, Hotaru Tomoe, and Setsuna Meiou 8:43 PM Things were comparatively calm elsewhere. Jen had left to go visit a museum and try to recuperate alone, and Michiru, Hotaru, and Setsuna had all gone to buy clothes or something; Eileen couldn't remember. That left Haruka and Eileen sitting on opposite ends of a couch, watching some old American western with token interest. Actually, Eileen had a slightly higher than usual interest, laughing at the pathetic Japanese subtitles that went along with the English dialogue. Haruka crossed her arms and put on her "I'm a grouch, stay away" look. When she wasn't laughing, Eileen had on her poker face. She wasn't good at poker faces, however, so it was pretty much an obnoxious smile. They didn't really realize how much time they had spent staring at the television; neither wanted to glance at the clock for fear of catching the other's gaze, for fairly obvious reasons. After all, one generally isn't chummy with persons who one has accused of murder, however erroneously and however profuse the apology. So they sat and sat. Surprisingly, it was Haruka who broke the monotony. "Show off." Eileen smirked, but quickly recovered with her 'what? I don't get it' face. "What?" Haruka didn't take her eyes off the television. "Don't be coy with me, America. You're a show off. Besides, me and Michiru started it first." At this point, it took Eileen all of her effort not to crack up and fall down squealing on the floor. Even so, she did stifle a laugh. Haruka was not pleased. "Show off." "Am not." "Are too." "Am not." "Are too." "Am not." "Are too." "Are too." "Are too." "Damn!" Eileen said as she pounded on the couch. Haruka took the opportunity to smirk a bit. "I'm better than you in every way." "Are not." "Am too." "Are not." "Am too." "Are not." "Are not." "Are too . . . Hey!" By this time, Haruka did lose control and crack up, slapping her knee with one hand. "Mmmph! You Americans slay me, Pearcy-san." "Yeah, well have your fun while you can, Uranus," Eileen said as she slumped into the couch, a dark frown on her face. Haruka giggled as she got up to go into the kitchen, willing to overlook Eileen's slip of the tongue. "Don't worry, most people are like that when they do find out. Want something to drink?" "Sure!" Haruka hummed a tune as she opened the fridge door, and was reaching for two orange sodas. The humming stopped. "Hey," Haruka said as she walked back into the living room, "that was all just a ploy to get me talking, wasn't it?" "Huh? Would I do that, Uranus?" asked the public relations genius. Haruka narrowed her eyes. "Yeah." Eileen threw up her hands in the air and gave a disarming smile. "Guilty as charged." Haruka shook her head as she gave a soda to Eileen. "You're a sneaky one, Pearcy-san." The discussion didn't end there. In fact, Michiru was quite surprised to open the door and find the two of them laughing at a shared joke. "I'm glad you two find humor in this situation," said Michiru in her usual mild tones. "It's a painfully long story, Neptune. Trust me on this." Michiru fought the impulse to arch her eyebrow. She wasn't going to do it. She just wasn't. She had better willpower. She'd seen weirder things than what she was seeing now, i.e., two she'd thought were two enemies laughing together. She wasn't going to give in. She arched her eyebrow. "I think I agree." Hotaru came in the door carrying a small white plastic bag. She went to the television and pulled out a number of oblong plastic rectangular boxes. "What do we have?" asked Haruka. Eileen peered over her shoulder at the boxes, trying to see what had taken the three so long. "Evangelion volumes two and three. Some Ranma 1/2 OAVs . . . I don't know which ones, though. Oh, and you'll like this. It's the Magic Knight Rayearth movie, you know, the one that came out on video." Haruka turned slowly to face the brunette, who had the smile of someone who has found out something on the scale of the Annunciation, or the smile one could imagine Adam Smith wore after penning The Wealth of Nations. "So Sailor Uranus, you like your magical girls, do you? You know, Pretty Sammy's still pretty big in the thirty-first. Look me up and we can go see the premiere of the latest one!" Michiru went to her bedroom. She really didn't want to break down laughing in front of Haruka like that. "Or, if you don't like that, I'm sure there's some other stuff in Hotaru's magic bag that we can watch, hm? Nurse Angel Lolita? Kekko Kamen? Or we could always grab some manga! There's always Wedding Peach. Or Amie, you know, that one by Naoko Takeuchi? Ask me, it's the only thing she ever made that's worth reading. Or-" "Pearcy-san, I think I could use some help with my history homework. Could you look at it a bit?" Eileen looked at the black-haired girl, then looked out of the corner of her eye at Haruka. She was sure that Haruka was millimeters away from starting an all-out brawl. "That sounds like a good idea, Hotaru." Yep, she'd reached the limit. It wouldn't do any good to press on. But this was clearly something to keep for future reference. "Lead the way, Hotaru-chan," she said, as the two made their way to her bedroom. But she couldn't resist one parting shot. "And good night, Magical Girl Pretty Haruka!" Tokyo Museum of Natural History 9:00 PM The museum closed at five in the afternoon. Jen knew this, but she didn't quite feel like going back home yet. In a way, she already had. She hadn't been able to resist. After finding the museum closed, she'd made her way to her old house, or more accurately where it would be in a few hundred years. At the moment it was the site of a set of rather nice and very expensive condominiums. She had wandered around them aimlessly, trying to find some sign of interest. Nothing, though. Aside from the name Unazuki Furuhata which seemed to ring a bell somewhere in her memory, she didn't know anyone there. So she'd walked back to the museum, where she'd found just a few employees on their way home. Wandering some more, she'd found a park and a swing. The chains looked rather rusty, however, so she opted for a bench. The bench was where she still sat at nine in the evening, as she watched the shadow created by a nearby street-lamp. The back of the bench was to some shrubs, which were in turn against a rather busy highway. She sighed, thinking back (or ahead) to the thirty-first century, where the constant noise of superhighways was nonexistent. Superhighway? As she remembered, Japan never had superhighways. There wasn't enough room. Could the history books be wrong? Or, she reflected, would it be more accurate to say that her definition of superhighway was too low? She looked back at the four lane highway. Could the Japanese have considered a concrete monstrosity like this commonplace? Inconceivable. She simply wouldn't stand for it, and- "A horse for your thoughts?" Jen's head snapped up, interrupted from her reverie. She looked to her left to see Minako. "Oh, hello Sailor Venus." Minako smiled. Unlike the rest of the senshi, Minako had no real problems with Jen and Eileen's persistence in using sailor names instead of their real ones. She rather thought that it was a nice touch. It made her feel that at least she and the other senshi were appreciated in the future. Jen was now thinking about something different, though. "A penny and a kingdom." "What?" "The correct phrase. Your kingdom for a horse. A penny for my thoughts." Minako frowned, then brightened. "Oh! One of those again!" She waggled a finger. "Never mind any of that. It's not important. What *is* important is-" "The next Sailor V manga? No, don't say it, I know I was out of line. It's just . . . I've have a lot to think about lately. I mean . . . ." 'Kami,' she thought, 'here I am, baring my innermost thoughts to a planet senshi. This is *really* pathetic, Jen.' "Oh, never mind." The next forty seconds passed in relative silence. Finally Minako spoke up. "I can see that you're upset about something, and it's obviously bad enough for you to be out at nine at night. Mind talking about it?" "But-" "I'm the leader of the sailor senshi, as much as I don't admit it." 'At least not unless things are really going badly, she thought wryly. "Anything that's upsetting one of . . . one of us," how strange that pronoun seemed when she included this stranger who had popped into their lives just a couple days ago, "it's my concern. So I'm asking you now, what's going on?" Jen took some time to gather her thoughts. Venus had always been sympathetic in the future, after all. Why not give it a try? The problem, as she realized later, was that she tended to be overly reliant on Eileen for support. Before they'd met, Jen had almost no friends besides Kanomi. Her post as yearbook editor had been a lonely one; she had basically been chosen by the advisor over the objections of the entire staff, and rather than lash out, which she could have understood, and could have dealt with, they had instead become taciturn, saying nothing more than what was absolutely necessary. The end result had been that until meeting Eileen, Jen had little to no experience telling her feelings to others. And since meeting Eileen, she still had little to no experience. All she had was Eileen, and while Eileen was . . . well, Eileen, the fact remained that she was just one person. Telling a fellow senshi like Minako things like what she needed to tell her . . . . She shook herself and looked up. Minako was still waiting patiently. "Well, Venus, it's something like this. I'm a senshi. I didn't really realize what that meant until Pleiades, but . . . there we are. I know that I'm a soldier, that I've got to be ready to fight and if need be, die." She looked in Minako's eyes to see if she was having any effect, but the blonde's usual cheerful composure had given way to a more serious glint in those blue eyes, a hardness that told her that the fun and games were over, at least for now. She shuddered, wondering what it must have been like to go up against the likes of her in battle. She was glad she'd never have to find out. "Well, I'd accepted that intellectually, and when we went up against Selenite, I guess I accepted it in actuality. I mean, I knew there was the chance I'd get killed, and I guess I got close a couple of times." A shiver ran down her spine, thinking of just how close she'd been on Katsuragi II. "But the thing was, I never really saw who we were fighting. In the back of your mind there's always the knowledge, or at least if you've been through a space battle, that there's usually a lot of distance between the two of you. The fact that both sides have weapons that can cross that distance in no time at all is irrelevant. "So, when Pollux attacked . . . I've never been in that situation. I've never looked an enemy in the eyes, and when I did . . . I froze. I'm sorry." Minako mulled over this. "I'd say you did a pretty good job, actually." "Such a good job that Pollux kidnapped me!" "Don't dwell on it. I saw you there. When it mattered, you came through. You made it safe for Sailor America to see to the safety of the civilians." "Okay," admitted Jen. "Eileen said she was going to call one of them today. She sounded like it was pretty important, too. Something about . . . er . . . damn, I can't remember!" She looked up at Minako. "Your time is doing a real number on our memories, you know." "What do you mean?" Jen sighed in frustration. "Ever since we got here, my memory's been going. First it was simple stuff: the date of a war, addresses, your civilian names, stuff like that. Now it's getting worse. I'm having trouble remembering things that were told to me just moments ago. Eileen's had the same problem. But Her Highness hasn't, however. I don't know if it's her previous exposure to time travel, or something genetic, or . . . ." "Hm. D'you think we should ask Setsuna about it?" "Sailor Pluto? I don't know, I mean, she really hasn't been much help so far." Minako smiled. "Give her a break, Jennifer-san. She's bailed us out of a lot of situations before. She deserves a break, don't you think?" There was no response. "You're not still upset about Pollux, are you?" There was no response. "Jen-san?" "Just thinking. About . . . Sailor Venus? Are you doing anything else tonight?" The question took the blonde by surprise. "Er, no, not really." She had an exam the next day, but studying for that could wait, couldn't it? "Why?" "Do you feel up to a practice session?" "Me?" exclaimed Minako, partly in surprise, and partly in relief. "I should ask you! Are you sure this won't overextend you?" "Not really." Jen forced a smile. "That's part of why I'm doing this." "And if I refuse?" "I'll go home and sulk." Minako thought about it, and reached a verdict. "Okay, but on one condition." "Shoot." Minako immediately had her henshin stick out, and assumed a defensive position. "Where?!?" Jen jumped back in surprise, then laughed. "Oh, no, it's an American expression. It means 'go ahead.'" Minako relaxed, and her henshin stick returned from whence it came. "Oh, sorry. Anyway, the condition is this: that Eileen come as well." "Hm?" "She could stand some training too, you know. Probably more than you, in fact." It was rather hard to argue about that, and Jen wasn't about to try. "It's a deal." "Great! Come with me, please." Residence of Haruka Ten'ou, Michiru Kaioh, Hotaru Tomoe, and Setsuna Meiou 10:02 PM "Moshi-moshi?" "Um, yes, I'm Jennifer Talbot, and, er, I'm returning a call from Eileen Pearcy?" "Nani?" "Hello? Do you speak English?" "Sumimasen, demo . . . eigo wa amari yoku wakarimasen." "What?" A pause. "Moshi-moshi?" "Hello?" "Pardon me?" "Oh, good, you speak English!" "Ah, sorry. That was my . . . daughter Hotaru. She doesn't speak English very well." "I see. Well, someone named Eileen Pearcy called, and I was returning her message. Is she there?" "Um, no. She just left a couple minutes ago, actually." "Damn! Do you know where she went? It sounded pretty important on the phone, and-" "Sorry, I don't know." "Hmph. Well, may I ask to whom I'm speaking?" A pause to parse complicated English grammatical structure. "This is Meiou Setsuna." "Meiou Set . . . how do you spell that?" "It doesn't matter." "Oh, that's right, I guess I could just make it phonetic. Well, thanks anyway, okay? Bye!" Click. Juuban Sports Center 11:39 PM "Isn't this a bit dangerous?" asked Sailor America as she, Sailor Venus, Sailor Orion, and Artemis crept about one of the soccer fields. It was terribly dark; the only illumination came from the lights in the parking lot, and they were quite a ways away from them. "I mean, what if we're caught?" "Don't worry," reassured Artemis. "The senshi train here all the time. If anyone happens by, they're generally smart enough to realize something's going on here that they really don't need to hang around and watch." "I see," said Sailor America. Too bad the press in Crystal Tokyo didn't have that kind of sense. "Okay," said Sailor Venus. She stopped at about midfield and dug into the sod with her foot. "This is the base." Artemis stepped up and obligingly occupied the position. "Artemis here is Queen for a Day," here the white cat had to bite back an impulse to groan, "and your job is to protect him . . . er, her, okay?" "Right," said Sailors Orion and America in unison. "Good. I'll be attacking in about two minutes. Bye!" She disappeared into the shadows. The two assumed defensive positions. Or to be more accurate, Sailor Orion assumed a defensive position, and Sailor America assumed what she thought was a defensive position, but was actually just a rather pretty and, if one was in the right position, rather distracting pose. "Sailor America?" asked Artemis. "Yes?" "What the hell do you think you're doing? You couldn't defend a fort in that position!" "Well, how should I stand?" "First," the cat said warily, "standing in a crouch isn't going to do anything when it comes time to start shooting. Stand more like Orion: legs wide apart back straight, head up." Sailor America complied. "Okay, now bring your arms up like you're about to do your attack, but don't actually say the words." He sighed. "Ordinarily, I'd try to work on teaching you to attack without shouting, but I'm afraid we haven't that sort of time." "Why haven't you taught the planet senshi?" "They're too young," he said instantly. "I don't think they have the discipline needed." "That's a big mistake, Artemis. I still remember what they drilled into us at the School. Every single victory the senshi have won has been due, at least in part, to the enemy underestimating us. I'd think that you would have the wisdom not to fall into the same trap." Artemis stood, slack-jawed. "That is absolutely right! Who came up with that idea?" "Er, as we learned it in school, it was known as the . . . the . . . damn!" Sailor Orion began stalking about. "*Another* thing I've forgotten!" "It's Artemis's Principle," offered Sailor America. "Artemis's Principle?" "It had to be named something," she retorted. "Fine, whatever," grumbled the cat. He suspected that he'd just been trapped in a time paradox. "But I think you've got other things to worry about." "Right," said Sailor Orion decisively. The two peered into the gloom, trying to find Sailor Venus. They didn't have to wait long. They were alerted to her presence by a spear of golden-yellow light and the cry of "Crescent Beam!" Sailor America ducked, simultaneously trying to figure out where the beam had come from. Halfway into her crouch, she realized what she had just done: left the very person they were supposed to be protecting completely defenseless. Fighting the momentum of her shift, she tried to get back up, hoping there would be a chance to atone for her error. Of course, there wouldn't be. Sailor Venus stepped out of the shadows, looking rather disgusted. "Two seconds. Two seconds and Sailor Moon is already dead." Orion looked accusingly at Sailor America. For her part, Sailor Orion had snapped around, hazarding her best guess of where the beam had come from. Minako had told them beforehand that she would be tightly controlling her powers: the worst one could expect from this beam was a slight tingling sensation. Sailor Orion had done her part trying to interpose herself between any attacker and their ward. It wasn't her fault that she was on the wrong side of Artemis, and she said so to Venus. "Not good enough," the blonde retorted. "I was being phenomenally sloppy out there; a dozen different hints that you should have picked up on." "Well, Artemis would have heard them too, right?" "To a certain extent, but nearly as much as you would have," said the cat sharply. "And even if I did, you can't count on Sailor Moon, or Neo-Queen Serenity for that matter, pointing out the enemy for you. You're the senshi, not her." "Oh, well gee, thanks," said Sailor Orion sarcastically. "Now," said Sailor Venus patiently, "want to try it again?" *** Several hours later, the first hints of dawn were beginning to show themselves near the eastern horizon. A pair of exhausted senshi sat panting near a goalpost. They had been put through the paces in every sense of the word. Orion was aching in muscles she hadn't known she had, and America was even worse off. Sailor Venus, on the other hand, was barely out of breath, and was busy lecturing the two of them on what they needed to improve on. After ten nonstop minutes of this, Orion decided that she'd had enough. "Okay, we suck. I'm ready to admit that. But is this much extensive training really necessary?" "You agreed to it, Sailor Orion," said Sailor Venus mildly. "I didn't agree to *this*! Dammit, when you planet senshi first popped up, you did less work during the entire campaign against Beryl than we've done tonight!" "Yes, and we paid the price for it." It took a couple moments for Sailor Orion to realize the importance of this. When she did, she blushed but carried on nonetheless. "It hardly matters. You're trying to cram years of experience into us in a single night, and it isn't going to work." "It will work, and it will have to work, unless you'd like another try at being kidnapped by Pollux. And I hardly believe that she'll be more clumsy this time." 'Why do planet senshi have to be so damned pessimistic?' thought Sailor Orion idly. "Fine, fine. But I have no intention of going to school now, you know." She punctuated this with a yawn. "Why not?" "Well for starters, it's 04:00 and we haven't gotten a lick of sleep?" "And?" Sailor Orion put two and two together, and cursed the circumstances that made senshi activity in the twentieth century a primarily nocturnal procedure. "Damn." "See you in school, Sailor Orion. And watch for Pollux." Juuban High School Front courtyard 12:34 PM 16 October 1998 "Usagi-chan?" asked Makoto "Yes?" answered the blonde. "You know how a couple years ago you were really lazy and just fell asleep in class?" "Um-hm?" "Doesn't this remind you of that?" Makoto referred to Jen and Eileen, whose heads lay motionless on the table, fast asleep. Their snoring was barely audible, but definitely noticeable. "A bit," said Usagi, able to remember without bitterness her middle school days spent sleeping through class. "Give them a break," said Minako. She was the only other one sitting with them; Ami was rather predictably doing some extra credit work in the library at that point. "Artemis and I put them through a lot last night, and they aren't exactly used to fighting evil by moonlight." "I see," said Makoto. "Are they going to be okay?" "Oh, sure," said Minako lightly. "They should be one hundred percent by evening." "Then you'll train them again?" asked Usagi. "Nope. If we're lucky, Pollux will be back, and we can put an end to all of this." "Oh," said Usagi. That wasn't something to which Usagi was looking forward. Being a soldier for love and justice was getting distinctly old, and she was getting the impression that even when her own job as Sailor Moon ended, her friends would have to continue. What she wanted, no, needed, was peace. That was all, really. Just peace. She sighed. "You know," said Minako, "this may be our shortest war yet. I mean, it's been less than a week since it started, and you have to admit that we've gotten off easy. No huge plans to gather energy or anything silly like that." "Yes," said Makoto. "But it's so much more tiring." "I suppose," said Minako, "that our main advantage is that Pollux is used to fighting in space. She simply isn't accustomed to fighting on land and not against superior forces." "Are we superior? I mean, she's got a thousand years of military history to fall back on." "Yes, and look at how well she's used it. We've waltzed-" "Tangoed." "Whatever. We've fought three times, and all three were pretty much draws. More accurately, she's been the one to break off every time. We have never had to retreat, and I find that very encouraging." The other two nodded agreement. Next to Usagi, Jennifer stirred a bit and yawned. "Hello?" She blinked a bit and rubbed her eyes. "Oh, Your Majesty." Usagi blushed once again. "Where am I?" "School. Lunch time. Semi-strategy session." "Oh," and she put her head down again. She then pulled her head back up. "So, anything new happen?" "Not really," said Usagi. "Good." Jen turned to Eileen and gave her a light poke in the shoulder. "C'mon, Eileen, time to wake up." Usagi looked pointedly at Minako. "Okay, okay, I won't work them so hard next time. Hopefully there won't be a next time, and we can wrap this all up." "I hope so too," said Makoto. The explosion from a few meters away demonstrated that things certainly weren't over yet. T*A Girls School 12:38 PM Rei's head snapped up from her math exam. 'Something's wrong,' she thought. It was the familiar feeling she felt whenever Usagi was in danger. All the senshi felt it, but in different ways. For her, it was a disturbance, a shivering in the world around her. For lack of a better term, she felt that something was wrong with the universe as she was accustomed to it. When she felt that feeling, she knew that she had to do something about it. Three or four times it had happened during school, and each time she handled it the way she was about to. Dropping her pencil, she raised her left hand while clutching her side with her right. "Yes, Rei-san?" "Soshitake-sensei, may I please be excused? Just for a moment?" She groaned for effect. Sister Soshitake nodded. "Will you be all right?" "Yes, Soshitake-sensei. I just have these cramps every now and then," she said, hobbling to the door. She bowed and exited, carefully closing the door behind her. Once was closed, she looked both ways and checked to make sure that the hallway was clear. "Mars crystal power, make-up!" Juuban High School 12:39 PM The courtyard was chaos. Several trees burned, as did a patch of grass. Students ran everywhere, trying to get away from the seemingly random potshots being taken by a senshi standing atop the building's roof. Below, Eternal Sailor Moon and the others had taken cover behind a tree trunk. As they huddled, Venus began to assess matters and reached a verdict. "Pollux is getting sloppy. Very sloppy. If we all concentrate on her at once, that may daze her long enough to get the opening we need. Sailor Moon, when you think you can use it to best effect, I want you to try the Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss. It's your most powerful nonlethal attack, aside from Moon Cosmic Power." No-one wanted to think about the last time she had been forced to use it. "Okay, everyone understand?" "Right!" "Good. Let's go!" Orion went out and immediately went into a tumble. She looked back at America. "You ready?" "Ready as I'll ever be!" God, I could have sworn I heard that from somewhere else. "Go for it!" "Okay." Orion knelt and crossed her arms. "Orion Nebula . . . !" As she said the second word, she flung her arms out, feeling rather than seeing that a stream of magical hydrogen was arching out to surround Sailor Pollux, who was busy with other things, namely a Love and Beauty Shock coupled with an Oak Evolution. Nor did Pollux notice America pointing outstretched arms at her and grinning like a maniac. "AMERICA BLAZING EAGLE!" The fire creation flew towards its target, and hit it right on the mark. Nanoseconds later, a mind-numbingly loud explosion rocked Juuban high School. *** Sailor Mars stopped in mid stride. She was just a couple blocks from Juuban High, and now looked up at the plume of smoke that rose from behind some trees. "Usagi," she whispered. *** Eternal Sailor Moon and the rest of the senshi had been thrown back quite a bit from the explosion. She lay in the branches of a tree, still trying to collect herself. She looked over to Jupiter and Venus, who were on the sidewalk and looked dazed. Pollux, America and Orion were nowhere to be seen, and the school . . . . "Damn. I know I fantasized about this, but I didn't want it to happen *this* way!" The school was on fire. Not a big fire, but it was clear that the fire department wouldn't get there in time to save the building. Eternal Sailor Moon's heart caught in her throat as she thought of all the students that could still be inside. She immediately started down the tree. She hit the ground running and dashed for the school, to be stopped by Sailor Mars. "Sailor Moon! You can't go in there!" "What, and let them burn to death?" Sailor Mars simply pointed to Eternal Sailor Moon's left. "Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!" A blast of water arced out of nowhere and slammed into the building. The twenty-year-old structure shuddered a bit, and the few surviving windows were blown out, but the fire was extinguished immediately. Eternal Sailor Moon looked over to Sailor Venus, who was now supporting Sailor Jupiter. It was clear that Sailor Jupiter had been injured; she merely hobbled on her left leg, and her right one wasn't touching the ground at all: she leaned on Sailor Venus for support. "Jupiter!" "I'm okay," said the brunette, waving off Eternal Sailor Moon's protestations. Sailor Mercury ignored this and took out her computer, checking to make sure there were no broken bones or internal bleeding. "But where's Sailor Pollux?" "Stellar Flare!" Everyone instinctively ducked, and Sailor Moon got a face full of dirt for her troubles. She chanced a glance upwards and saw their antagonist, who was now sniping at them from behind a bunch of trees. Sailor Venus noticed this as well and decided to try another tack. "Hey! Sailor Pollux! What's the matter, you can't beat us fair, so now you're hiding?" "Shut up! Stellar Flare!" Another potshot, and the senshi were running for cover. They soon found it, hiding behind the low stone wall that marked the name of the school. "I got her angry," said Sailor Venus triumphantly to Eternal Sailor Moon. "That's good." "Where are the others?" asked Sailor Mars. "Has anyone been able to contact anyone else?" They all shook their heads, and Sailor Jupiter took out her communicator, deciding that if she couldn't fight while Sailor Mercury was hovering over her), she could be of help this way. Another shot from Sailor Pollux left the top of the wall blackened. Venus scowled. "We can't stay here for long." "Really?" asked Sailor Mars sarcastically. "Right, I know, I know. But where are those two?" *** Those two were rather lucky to be alive. After the hydrogen explosion both had been flung backwards with incredible force. They were blown through the courtyard, across the adjacent street, and slammed through the plate glass windows of a cafe. The only reason they were still alive was because they were senshi. Only a sailor could take the multiple lacerations and blows to the body that they did. Even with an accelerated healing factor, blood still oozed from a couple of wounds as they lay unmoving. A couple of minutes later, America finally woke. "Kami-sama," she said, unconsciously taking one of Jen's oaths, "remind me *never* to do that again." She slowly pulled herself up to rest on her knees, ignoring for the moment the broken glass that covered the floor. "Jen?" Hearing no response, she looked around. The cafe's occupants had left in a hurry, relying on that instinct common to all Tokyo citizens who wanted to stay alive during the supernatural events that followed the senshi around. She saw Sailor Orion a few meters away, laying atop what had been a table. "Orion!" America stood up too quickly, her head spinning, and fairly ran over to where her lover lay. Ignoring the rules of first aid, she frantically shook Orion. "Sailor Orion, speak to me! Jen, dammit, wake up!" The redhead's eyes slowly opened, and for the first time, America noticed that her friend's glasses had disappeared. "America?" "Je . . . Orion." "America." She winced. "I think I may have really hurt something there." She took a deep breath and tried to get up. America immediately moved to help her. "Um, have you seen my glasses?" America could only blink. Here they'd just been blasted a good ten or twenty meters through the air and through a window, and all she could worry about were some glasses? "Um, no I haven't. Look, we've got some more important things to worry about here. We've got to make sure we finished off Pollux." As one, they looked out the window frame. A couple flashes of light told them that things weren't over yet. "Do you think you can handle some more, Sailor Orion?" asked Sailor America, appraising her friends condition. "I can last long enough," she said confidently. Disengaging from America's grip, she took a few tender steps by herself. "Yes, I'll manage." America doubted this seriously, but now wasn't the time to argue. "Good." She looked down and noticed a pair of blue circles. She picked them up and handed them to Orion. "Here are your glasses. I guess they make 'em shatterproof. Let's go!" *** Aii moped about Juuban. She had only been able to stand staying in Makoto's apartment for a few hours after the brunette left for school. Then she decided to wander about and sample twentieth century culture. She'd walked along and marveled over how much less tidy Tokyo was when she heard the explosion. Judging from the direction everyone was running, she ran in the opposite direction from which they came and soon found herself on the scene of a pitched battle. Only one person could be responsible for this. "Castor Star Power, Make-Up!" *** Just like old times, the inner senshi were huddled together and trying to find a way out. They had the numerical advantage, but Sailor Pollux had all the advantage of position. Sailor Mercury pronounced Sailor Jupiter fit for battle, provided she didn't overextend herself. They all knew that that was precisely what would happen, but no-one said anything about it. At that point, several things happened at once. As is so often the case in these matters, those involved were actually those who knew far less about it than they should have. Sailor Pollux stood up to get a better shot at the inners. Her arms were in a battle position and ready to use her attack when she drew her arm back, howling in pain. Looking at it, she saw a red streak. She looked at her feet. There was a red rose embedded in the ground. She looked up just in time to see. "King Endymion!" From out of the shadows of a tree stepped a man in formal wear and mask. "Have you no shame? You come here interrupting the education of these ladies? For beautiful maidens, I won't forgive you!" Five voices chorused at once. "Tuxedo Kamen-sama!" Things weren't confusing to anyone yet, except perhaps Sailor Pollux. They got worse, though. Sailor Pollux swung around, ready to attack Tuxedo Kamen, when a pair of voices stopped her in her tracks. "DON'T MOVE!" Sailor Pollux pivoted on a heel to see... "You two!" "Sailor America," said the brunette with a bow. "Sailor Orion," said the redhead, who bowed as well. "I hope you know," said the brunette, shaking ever so lightly, "that if you so much as twitch I'll have a Blazing Eagle on your ass before you can whistle Dixie!" Orion leaned over to whisper in America's ear. "Whistle Dixie?" "It's a long story," she whispered back. Louder she said, "Now, surrender or die!" Pollux sighed. Against the inner senshi she might have a chance. Against Tuxedo Kamen alone, almost definitely. And against those two amateurs? They wouldn't have a chance. But all of them? With Eternal Sailor Moon's closest bodyguards surrounding her, she couldn't even be assured that a suicide attack would work. The game was up. "Fine, I gi-" "HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!" As one, they all turned to look at the roof of the school. And as one, they asked, "Who's there?" "For twenty years I've known you. For twenty years, we were as close as two women can possibly be. Then you threw it all away. For betraying our trust, for trying to kill Serenity-sama, and for *not* being the sister I knew for twenty years, I WON'T FORGIVE YOU!" "Sailor Castor, no!" cried Orion, realizing what would happen. But it was too late. Panicking, Sailor Pollux swung towards Eternal Sailor Moon. "Stellar-oomph!" Sailor Pollux went down as Sailor America delivered an elbow to the small of her back. Seizing the opportunity, Sailor Orion dove as well into the fray. Almost without thinking, she reached for Sailor Pollux's earring. Seizing it, she ripped it out, eliciting a howl from the black-haired senshi. With a burst of furious strength, Pollux threw off both of the other sailors. They flew about ten meters and bounced a couple times. Otherwise, they were okay. Sailor Pollux turned once again towards Eternal Moon, but found that all the inner senshi and Tuxedo Kamen had formed a human shield around her. She turned and saw Sailor Castor smiling down at her. "It's over, Ai. It's time to meet your punishment." Sailor Pollux sighed. So close. No, she wouldn't be taken prisoner. She wouldn't allow it. "Stellar Flare!" The attack hit Sailor Castor full in the chest. Too shocked to even scream, the sailor fell the three stories to the ground. Taking advantage of the distraction, Sailor Pollux ran away, clutching her bleeding ear. *** The inner senshi crowded around Sailor Castor's fallen form. By an incredible stroke of luck, she had fallen in some shrubs. This by no means meant that she was injured; by Sailor Mercury's estimate, she had two broken ribs, a concussion, and numerous cuts and bruises, and they all could see that she was missing a couple of teeth. But she was still alive, and that was the important thing. "Sorry about that," she said wryly. "It's okay, just don't try to move," said Sailor Mercury, still checking her with her computer. "Damn! We lost her again!" exclaimed Sailor Jupiter. "Well, at least we got a few more licks in on her," said Sailor Venus, looking for a silver lining. The courtyard had been decimated, a good chunk of the school was gone, and . . . . "Sailor Orion!" Sailors Venus and Eternal Moon raced over to where the redhead lay, while Sailor Mercury continued to tend to Sailor Castor's wounds. The two came on the scene as America was tearing a strip of cloth from her skirt and tying it around Orion's left arm. For her part, Sailor Orion was slowly rising to a sitting position. "She really got banged up earlier," said Sailor America mournfully. "Dammit, I shouldn't have let her come back this early." "Don't blame yourself," said Eternal Sailor Moon. "I don't think you could have stopped her." Sailor America looked at Moon for a long moment, then back down at Sailor Orion. The redheaded senshi managed a smile. "Come now, I'm a senshi. We're built stronger than that, remember?" She hurt more than she'd ever hurt in her life, but she certainly wasn't going to let Eileen know that. She'd survived for months on Pleiades; she refused to die on Earth. Sailor Mercury hurried over, wondering silently how much longer they had before the authorities arrived. "She doesn't look good," said Sailor Venus tersely. "I'll be the judge of that." Sailor Mercury punched a few buttons on her computer worriedly and then looked up. "Not as bad as you might think. She's got a concussion and a dislocated left shoulder, but otherwise she should be okay. But the shoulder . . . Sailor Jupiter!" The tall senshi came bounding over. "Yes?" "I'm going to need some help setting this shoulder back in." "Back in?" asked Sailor America, aghast. "Don't worry," said Sailor Mercury, "she should be able to handle it. Putting your arm back in its socket isn't a pleasant experience, but you're a big girl, right Orion?" Sailor Orion simply gave her a withering glance. "Right. Okay, Jupiter, you have her? On three. One, two, THREE!" With an audible pop, Jen's shoulder popped back into place. "Right," said Mercury, panting a bit, "that was the hard part." Sailor Orion was still in a bit of shock from the pain, and was having quite a bit of trouble articulating. "I certainly hope so," she managed. "Okay, so we're going to Mako-chan's house so you can recover, and-" "Wait," said Venus, cutting off Eternal Sailor Moon. "What about Sailor Pollux? She could be anywhere!" "No she can't," said America, cracking a smile for the first time since she'd been tossed through a window. "Y'see, Jennifer got a little souvenir from Pollux before she left." The brunette brandished a small earring. "This little gizmo allows her to teleport without blowing out her magical circuit breakers, for lack of a better term. Without it, she's not going anywhere any faster than we can." Venus smiled and clapped Orion on the back. "Good job, Sailor Orion." Then she was all business. "Sailor Mars, Tuxedo Kamen, Sailor Moon, you three split up and start looking for Pollux. She's probably fleeing on foot, so she can't have gotten far. Don't try to take her on yourself. If . . . when you find her, follow her and contact the rest of us. Got that? Oh, and Sailor Mars, contact the others, tell them that they're no longer needed at Juuban High, but we need them looking for Sailor Pollux. Right now she's probably trying to find a place to hide. Got all that? Good. MOVE!" Sailors Mars and Eternal Moon, along with Tuxedo Kamen, dashed off in three directions. Venus and Jupiter took charge of shouldering a still-ginger Orion, while America and Mercury assisted Sailor Castor. The walking wounded made their way to Makoto's apartment. A street in Juuban 1:01 PM Jennifer Talbot wandered around the streets of Tokyo. Their tour guide had suffered a near-nervous breakdown from their activities the day before, so she and the rest of the group were on their own for the day. Jennifer didn't really know what she was looking for. She'd tried to call back Eileen, but there had still been no response. She knew that in a city of tens of millions of people, the chances that she'd meet someone who she'd only spoken to on the phone were next to nothing. But what else was there to do? Tokyo was terribly expensive, and she was determined to have some money left over to make some purchases in the south of Japan, where they were scheduled to spend a day or so the following week. She turned a corner and saw a woman running frantically. Something about what she was wearing caught Jennifer's eye, and she looked more closely. This was rather easy; the woman was running very, very fast, and towards Jennifer. Then she recognized her. "It's HER!" And with that, Jennifer turned tail and began to run from Sailor Pollux. *** Sailor Pollux was paying no attention at all to what Jennifer was doing. To her, the people on the street were simply objects to be avoided in her headlong dash from her pursuers. Or rather, who she supposed to be her pursuers, because she couldn't envision them not trying to follow her. As she ran, a single thought kept running through her mind. She'd been so close to capitulation. She'd been ready to surrender, and yet who had interrupted her? Her dear sister. 'Aii, Aii, Aii,' thought Pollux wistfully, 'if only you knew how much that hurt me.' Her attack on Castor had been a snap reaction; she'd panicked. If not for that, Serenity, or rather Eternal Sailor Moon, would be meting out punishment. Now? Now she was on the run, and she had little doubt that the other senshi were shooting to kill. She sighed. Why did it always have to come down to this? *** Sailor Mars raced through the crowd as well, unheeding of the uproar that was following her. She'd gotten a glimpse of Pollux, but lost her. Now she was--there! She tapped her watch. "I've found Pollux heading downtown at a good clip! She doesn't look to be very rational right now, so try to be careful. I'm going to stay back and follow. Out." Stay back and follow. It's all I can manage to stay at this speed, she thought bitterly. *** Four senshi raced down a freeway in a yellow convertible. Sailor Uranus was at the wheel, having just heard that Sailor Pollux had been sighted in downtown Tokyo. She made a quick judgment of how long it would take to get there, and floored it. To the speedometer, 170 km/h was just a blur. *** Jennifer ducked into a fenced off area and realized only once she was within where she was. Before her was a rather tall structure that bore more than a passing resemblance to the Eiffel Tower. Therefore it wasn't the Eiffel Tower, but rather Tokyo Tower. 'Fine,' thought Jennifer, 'there's no chance she'll be able to find me here.' Unconsciously and unintentionally, she slipped into the traditional role of an American tourist overseas. Tall, loud, and rude. "Excuse me! Pardon me! Make a hole, people, I'm trying not to get killed!" She barreled her way through the line that waited for the elevator to the top and got in as the last person in the car. She breathed a sigh of relief. Pollux would have to do a bit of work to catch her now. *** Sailor Mars stopped briefly after she confirmed that Pollux was in fact at the Tokyo Tower. Then she set her communicator to all call. "Sailor Pollux is at Tokyo Tower! I don't know what she's planning on pulling, but I'm going in by myself before she tries to take any hostages. Out." She dashed into the area and began shouting. "GET OUT! GET OUT! THERE'S A BOMB!" Not strictly true, she told the Catholic schoolgirl part of herself, but I need to get them out of here fast. It worked; before long the crowds were dissolving away. Before long, she could see Sailor Pollux. Alone. "Mars Flame Sniper!" The attack missed Pollux by inches, and instead melted a tidy hole in a girder of the tower. "Shit!" *** The other inner senshi, with three additions, came huffing through the streets. Sailors America, Venus, Moon, and Mercury could undoubtedly have gotten there faster, but they had to assist Sailor Orion, and to a lesser degree Sailors Jupiter and Castor. Surprisingly, Sailor Orion insisted upon going with them. Sailor Mercury had protested, but Sailor Orion had waved off all her concerns and began gamely trotting for the tower. Now all of them were getting there, though it seemed to be taking a terribly long time. "Sailor Orion?" She snapped around at the use of the full name. "Yes, Sailor America?" Then she did a double take when she saw how serious America looked. "Are you going to be okay? I mean . . . Sailor Mercury said that you were pretty bad, and . . . ." "Eileen," she said in a whisper, "our job is to protect Her Majesty, and I can't very well do that from a bed." "But what if you die?" Orion closed her eyes for a moment. She herself had answered that question a long time ago, on a small ship in the middle of nowhere. Now it was time for Sailor America to answer it. "What if I die? If I die, I hope it's so that Her Majesty will live." It was like a slap in the face to America. "But . . . but-" "No buts. Have you forgotten everything we learned at the School? Have you forgotten why we're wearing these fuku? It sure as hell isn't because they're fashionable!" America cracked a smile at that, and with that Sailor Orion knew she had won. The first step to winning an argument against Eileen: make her smile. "We're wearing these because we're obligated to protect Serenity at any cost. Not just in the thirty-first century, but whenever we happen to be. Anyway," and here she paused for a peck on America's cheek, "who said anything about anyone dying?" Sailor Orion smiled, ignoring the pain that still consumed her. She wasn't entirely sure how much help she would be in the coming battle, but she knew for certain that she would be. She had something new: confidence. She knew America would back her up. Sailor America swallowed. "Why do you have to be so damnably right?" "Because you're so damnably lucky." *** Jennifer Talbot stood in the observation deck of the Tokyo Tower, but she paid no attention to the panoramic view of the city that lay before her. Instead, she cast a wary eye towards the elevator door. At any moment she expected that crazy Pollux woman to come back and cause more trouble. She didn't know what would happen when she did. There was really nowhere to hide, except the one exit provided by gravity. the last time that sailor suited person had come, some others--the sailor senshi--had come to her aid. Would they come again? *** The inner senshi arrived on the scene at the same time as the outer senshi. Together, they stared up at the pinnacle of the Tower. "Well what is she going to do?" asked Sailor Jupiter. "We can't know," said Sailor Pluto. "She's acting very irrationally right now. She could do anything." "Including commit suicide?" asked Sailor Uranus hopefully. Sailor Castor gave her a baleful glance. The redhead blew a sigh. "We've got to go up all that?" "No," said Saturn. "She is." With that, Sailor Saturn pointed towards the outside ladder Sailor Pollux had been climbing. At the base, climbing rapidly, was another figure that looked a lot like the one that was higher. Sailor Castor was going to meet her sister. *** She growled to herself as she climbed. 'Here I am,' she thought, 'with a concussion, various wounds, two broken ribs, and my behind showing for all to see, and I'm climbing up a relic to try and talk my sister out of doing whatever it is she's planning to do.' She climbed on, never looking down. She had never had a very good head for heights, so she looked up. Sailor Pollux looked to have a lead of about ten meters. Sailor Castor was almost certain that in better condition, she could have closed the gap in little time. But now . . . . She could hear herself breathing and suspected that her lungs had been injured in some way undetectable by Sailor Mercury's computer. Or it could just be the pain. Her two broken ribs were pointing sharply into her lungs, and every breath was an effort. She was no medical expert, but she figured much more of this strenuous activity would give her a punctured lung. Sailor Castor was beginning not to care, however. She was thankful for one thing: that for better or for worse, things would come to a head here and now. After today, nothing else would matter. Sailor Castor happened to catch a glance down and immediately wished she hadn't. She was now a dizzying twenty stories above the concrete. She thought she'd seen the other senshi climbing up, but she wasn't inclined to take a closer look. She clutched the ladder and closed her eyes tightly. 'I'm on the ground,' she thought. 'I'm on the ground, I'm on the ground, I'm on the ground.' She opened her eyes and saw the skyline of Tokyo. It was a bit smoggy, but she could still see pretty far. To take her mind off matters as she climbed on, she thought about those last few moments. She remembered precious little about the end of the Second Sailor Wars. Presumably it had been an end; Makoto had told her about how life had progressed afterwards, and the presence of Sailors America and Orion proved that Serenity emerged victorious. But she had a different memory. For her, it had ended rather unexpectedly as her ship plunged after Sailor Pollux's through the atmosphere. Her next thought was of falling into what turned out to be the Atlantic Ocean. 'When I meet up with her, I'm going to talk so much sense into her it'll be coming out of her ears.' She laughed at the thought, and decided that if after everything that had happened thus far she could still have a sense of humor, then things would probably turn out okay in the end. That seemed so strange a concept that for the next few meters she laughed uncontrollably, peals of laughter echoing around the girders. *** Sailor Moon leaned against the girder. This wasn't because she was tired, although she was after having run several miles from the Tsukino household to the Tower. Rather, it was because other than climbing the ladder there was no other way to get to the top of the tower, which was where most of the senshi didn't want to go, other than waiting for the elevator. While she didn't like to admit it, they really had no definite plan. She had thought something would come out of the frantic discussion she had with Sailor Orion, but they had failed to come up with anything really plausible other than cutting off power to the tower. Sailor Jupiter had been dispatched to do just that, and she had been successful; as twilight drew near, the usual lamps and bulbs that illuminated the tower at night remained dark. If Pollux wanted a fight, they weren't going to make it easy at all for her. The downside was that they couldn't use the elevator either. They too were stuck with the ladder, and they realized that by the time they got to the top, the battle could very well be over. Their only hope lay in the possibility that Sailor Castor realized this and was willing to try and stall Sailor Pollux until Eternal Sailor Moon could use the ginzuishou to cure her of whatever evil she possessed. The logistics of a dozen senshi climbing a ladder were another matter. "Why doesn't Her Majesty just fly up there?" asked America, puffing mightily. She was just above Sailor Orion and below Sailor Mercury. "She's got wings, after all." "Yes," said Mercury, "but she really can't use them for very long distances. And . . . well, she doesn't like to admit it, but flying scares her terribly. She just won't do it unless there are no other options." "It would seem to me that there are no other options," said Sailor America. "Her . . . Sailor Moon apparently thinks differently," said Mercury, blushing for having slipped and nearly having used the term the future senshi kept using for Usagi, despite her true identity in this time. Below both of them, Sailor Orion grunted as she climbed another rung. She looked up and spared a smile, then saw what Sailor America was doing and her smile grew even wider. "Sailor America! Are you enjoying the view?" "Yeah," said the brunette idly, looking up at Sailor Mercury's skirt, or more accurately what was beneath it. "Oh." "Why'd you . . . JEN!" Sailor Orion snickered. Then there was an explosion, and the time for chuckling was past. *** On the observation deck of the Tokyo Tower, Jennifer Talbot knew two things. First, she knew that her trip to Tokyo had been perhaps one of the biggest mistakes of her life. Second, she realized that her time was just about up. Her first hint of the latter fact came as a meter-square piece of floor blasted up into the sky. She stepped back in terror, knowing of only one person who would want to so something like that. A split second later, she screamed as Sailor Pollux poked her head out from the aperture. "Hello, miss. I'm terribly sorry to inconvenience you today, but-" "Get away! You're the one who nearly killed me on the street!" Sailor Pollux looked genuinely sorry as she walked towards the woman. "I know. You weren't the target at all, please believe me when I say that. All I want is one person." "One?" she asked. In movies she always saw that victims bought themselves time by talking to their attackers. She decided that she didn't have anything to lose. "Then why are you trying to kill those other people?" "The senshi? The sailor suited ones?" "Yes." Pollux nearly cracked a smile. "They're in the way. I'd like nothing better than for them to just give up, but they're sworn to protect the one I want." "And what about you?" asked Jennifer, trying to apply her pre- law training and think of a way to talk her out of it. 'I knew I should have taken that psychology course,' she thought ruefully in the back of her mind. "You're wearing the same outfits they are. Don't *you* have an oath?" "I had one," said Pollux wistfully, and for a moment Jennifer thought that the woman wouldn't kill her. "Once, a long time ago . . . or a long time from now. It hardly matters. But my . . . Her . . . ." Pollux shook with frustration, unable to recall the clarity of her purpose. "I had an oath. A solemn one. One I thought would last forever. But she broke the agreement." "She, she, you keep on talking about *she*. Who is she?" Jennifer looked anxiously at her watch, hoping Sailor Pollux didn't notice and knowing that with the senshi now scant meters from her, there was no chance she wouldn't notice. "Who is it that you could hate so much?" "I DON'T HATE HER! No, no, I do, I DO!" Jennifer involuntarily backed away, hoping it wasn't too fast to startle, wondering what she had said to set Pollux off like that. "It was so *clear* before! She . . . she's Serenity." "Who?" asked Jennifer sharply. Was she talking about the goddess associated with the moon? "Don't you mean Selenity?" Pollux very nearly struck Jennifer. "I MEAN SERENITY!" Jennifer shrank back and waited for the worst. It didn't come, not yet. Pollux went on, in a voice slightly calmer, yet still taut with anger. "Serenity was . . . will be . . . the queen of . . . dammit, I don't need to explain myself to you!" A strange glint caught in Pollux's eyes, and Jennifer realized that she hadn't bought quite enough time. The cavalry may come charging over the hill, but it would be too late. "P-p-please," Jennifer begged, knowing it was over. Sailor Pollux grasped Jennifer by the throat. "Oh no, I'm not going to kill you. You, my dear, are my hostage, and with your help I'm going to put an end to Serenity once and for all!" Jennifer didn't have enough air available to breathe, let alone reply. Her face began to turn a disturbing shade of blue, and would probably have turned black if what happened next hadn't happened. "Hold it right there!" Sailor Pollux snapped around to face the source of the shout. Jennifer didn't; she was running out of strength. Silhouetted in one of the picture windows was a female figure in a short skirt that flapped in the wind. Her hair blew around her shadowed face as she spoke. "No more speeches, sister, no more poses. No hostages, no running away. Just you and me, Ai. We finish this, and we finish this now." In seemingly slow motion Sailor Pollux released Jennifer, who slumped to the floor lingering on the edge of consciousness. "You know I only want to kill one person, Aii." "Yes. And I think it's me. So let's get it over with." "I have all your abilities." "As do I." "We're evenly matched." "If you'd like to think so." "Then the best case scenario for me is a tie . . . ." ". . . and the best case scenario for me is also a tie." "Except, of course, that after I'm done with you, I must go after Serenity." Sailor Castor stepped from the window, and as Sailor Pollux saw her face, she saw that it was streaked with tears. "Don't you see, Ai? You *don't* have to go after her or anybody! Her Majesty . . . dammit, she's the most forgiving person I've ever known. You *know* she'll forgive you." "Society won't." "When Crystal Tokyo sees Serenity pardoning you, I guarantee you that they'll come around." Sailor Pollux shed a single tear of her own. "I wish I could share your optimism, sister." "You *can*, Ai. I'm telling you, you can!" For a single fleeting moment, Sailor Castor thought that her sister might turn from the brink. The moment passed. "I'm sorry, Aii," said Sailor Pollux, the tears falling freely now from her bowed head. "If I give up now . . . then I won't be able to live with myself. I wouldn't be able to live with myself, having killed so many, injured so many, ordered so many things . . . and breaking my word." She looked up, and her mouth turned into a thin line. "It has to be this way, Aii." Aii refused to give up the ghost. "No it doesn't Ai, believe me! We can do something, we can talk this out, we can-" Sailor Pollux had made her decision. She wouldn't be able to kill Serenity. She knew now that she couldn't force herself to do so. She also knew now the one reason she had fought so hard, the one reason that she was even now preparing to fight her sister to the death. She knew that she wouldn't be able to die knowing the shame her sister would be put to. In her opinion, the resulting ostracism would be far worse than death, and she loved her sister too much to allow Aii to do that to herself. If Sailor Castor had been able to listen to her sister's thoughts at that time, she would have been slightly appalled and probably tried more fervently to stop her sister from falling over the precipice into madness. But she couldn't, and so what happened happened. "Prepare yourself, Sailor Castor." Nodding through tears, she replied. "I am prepared, Sailor Pollux." On the floor, Jennifer could dimly understand what would happen. A corner of her brain was telling her that now would be an extremely advantageous time to get the hell out of there. That corner slowly marshaled resources, and the blonde managed to crawl away. She was just in time for the fireworks to start. The two said it simultaneously. "Stellar Flare!" *** "I think they're starting," said Sailor Moon mildly. Eternal Sailor Moon turned back to look at her daughter and took time for a rare sarcastic remark. "Really? I thought it was just time for the cherry blossom festival!" Ahead of them both, Sailor Venus tensed up. "Okay, it's time to go." She sprang up three rungs at a time, preparing herself to make the final 150 meter climb to the top. *** Their energy blasts met each other halfway, and the resultant explosion blasted them both backwards several meters. Sailor Pollux got the worst of it; she landed a mere meter from one of the windows, and she knew that a few more centimeters would have her decorating the pavement below. However, Sailor Pollux was also the first to recover. She sprang back up and aimed her arms once again. "Stellar Flare!" Sailor Castor was just getting up when she saw Pollux preparing. She waited till the last instant and then dropped back to the ground. Sailor Pollux's blast missed Castor by millimeters, and instead shattered the window behind her into countless pieces. Sailor Castor brought her arms back to cover her head from the falling shards. For a split second, she wondered if Jennifer was okay. Then she ceased to have time to worry about Jennifer or anyone else except her opponent. She closed her eyes and rose, immediately running to the left on the assumption that Sailor Pollux would be readying another attack. She had to think up a counterattack, and fast. "Stellar Flare!" Sailor Castor never saw it coming. It hardly mattered, though; Pollux's shot missed. Castor decided to make Sailor Pollux react to her for once. She spared the slightest fraction of a second to glance back at her sister and figure out bearings. Then she fired. *** Sailor Pollux managed a smile despite the situation. She had her sister on the run, which was always easier. She prepared another attack, and so was caught by surprise when Sailor Castor countered with one of her own. She leapt to the side, wincing as Castor's attack destroyed another picture window. 'She's fast,' thought Sailor Pollux, trying to get back to her feet. 'Just as fast as me.' The Tower was arranged in a sort of donut. The center hub held the elevators, a couple of restrooms, and supported the deck. Then there was a fifteen meter carpeted open space leading to the windows. Sailor Castor was now on the other side of that hub, and Sailor Pollux knew that she could pop out from either side. She bent into a crouch, ready to break into a run if Sailor Castor fired the first shot. When it came, she leapt five meters and landed in a tuck position. "Die!" snarled Sailor Pollux, rolling to her feet and sending off a snap shot. DIE! "Not today, sister!" cried Sailor Castor, leaping acrobatically over the ball of white energy and landing with an "oof!" on the ground. Ignoring the glass shards that poked through her white gloves, she came up in the set position. Sailor Pollux predictably began to move defensively, which was exactly what Sailor Castor wanted her to do. Sailor Pollux had run ten meters when she realized that white-hot death wasn't coming to claim her, at least not yet. The full realization of that came when Sailor Castor's gloved right fist came directly into her face. She went down howling, with Sailor Castor on top of her. Castor pressed in for another blow, but was surprised when her fist was stopped by Sailor Pollux's firm grip. The two wrestled for a moment, neither being able to secure an advantage. *** A couple meters away, Jennifer was returning from her anoxia- induced haze, and was beginning to take more notice of things around her. As her eyes focused, she saw two figures fighting on the floor. She squinted, and realized that the two figures were identical. She blinked. Same hair, same clothes, same size, same face. It was as if they were identical twins: which she realized was exactly what they were. Not for the first time, Jennifer wondered what sort of madhouse she'd dropped into. A couple seconds later, she realized that it was a madhouse with a dozen extra senshi, and a couple seconds after that her mind decided that the world could carry on just fine without it, so she gratefully slipped into unconsciousness. *** Sailors Mercury, Venus, America, Moon, Eternal Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, and Orion all sprang out of the hole in the floor. They formed an unorganized crowd facing the dueling sisters. Eternal Sailor Moon took a breath to begin her speech, and then was caught speechless. "That's certainly not something you see every day," said Sailor America, looking warily at the identical twins. One of the two landed a solid left to the other's cheek, and the other fell. She stood up shakily, blood oozing from a couple of light wounds. She looked the newly-arrived senshi in the eyes and remained silent. Unnoticed behind her, her mirror image stood as well. "I think we have a problem," said Sailor Neptune softly. "Yeah," said Mars. "How do we tell which is which?" Sailors Jupiter and Eternal Moon looked over to Sailor Mercury. "Sorry," said the blue-haired senshi. "I could do a DNA scan, but they'd turn out identical. Besides, I don't have any future medical records to base it on." "There's got to be *some* way," growled Uranus. "If you have any suggestions I'm more than open to them," said Mercury more acidly than she'd planned. "Sorry," she squeaked. Castor and Pollux had remained silent during all of this. Neither could muster the energy to start the fight again. Sailor Castor was terribly frightened, though. She still thought that Sailor Pollux might try to pull something and kill Serenity, even with her best bodyguards surrounding her. However, she couldn't pull up the reserves to point out who was the evil one. In a way, she felt that doing so would be somewhat like treason. Blood was supposedly thicker than water. Was it thicker than her pledge to the Queen? Sailor Pollux wasn't looking for a way to get to Serenity. She had given up that hope. Her only hope now was to save her sister from the blame. She also knew, however, trying to kill her outright in front of all of Serenity's protectors would probably fail. She didn't know what to do, and so did nothing. After a long moment, Sailor Moon pointed to the figure on the left. "She's Sailor Pollux." Both flinched. "You're sure?" asked Sailor Uranus, drawing the Space Sword from nowhere. "No she's not sure!" said the figure on the right. "*I'm* Sailor Pollux." The figure on the left took a deep breath. "Ai . . . ." "It's over, sister." Pollux stepped closer to her sister. "I give up. No more trying to kill Serenity." Even Sailor America withheld the impulse to make a smart-aleck remark in response. They all breathed a sigh of relief, hardly daring to believe it was true. Sailors Castor and Pollux stared into each other's eyes for a long moment, leaving everything unspoken and yet perfectly clear. Then Sailor Castor saw something she'd never seen before, and gasped. Sailor Pollux balled her left hand into a fist. "I'm sorry, sister," she whispered. "NO!" shouted Uranus, springing into action, ready to decapitate Sailor Pollux before she could harm anyone. Sailor Pollux clutched onto Sailor Castor's arm and sprang backwards two meters, backwards out of the shattered window, backwards and down a couple hundred meters to the earth. They all leapt to the window, but stopped short of exiting it. They stopped because Sailors Castor and Pollux were accelerating downwards at 9.8 meters per second per second, and there was no way they could catch them. Sailor Venus made a valiant attempt with her Love-Me Chain, but the targets were too far away and moving too fast. Eternal Sailor Moon made as if to jump after them, but she was stopped by the firm grip of Tuxedo Kamen. There was only one person in a position to do anything, and she was a scant two seconds from meeting a certain and very untidy death. *** As she fell, the thoughts ran through Sailor Castor's mind one by one. She knew instinctively how much time she had left, and she knew it wasn't very much at all. She reviewed her options. At this point, there were two: give up and die, or teleport. Giving up and dying wasn't very attractive to her. True, it would finally provide an end to all her trials over the past year, but it seemed like cheating to her, and besides, she still had a bit of live to enjoy. That left teleporting, which was another problem. She had lost the earring that helped to focus her inherent energies and assist with teleportation, and she could see that Sailor Pollux had lost hers as well. But there was another possibility. It was possible in theory for someone to put themselves in a dimensional pocket. That was in fact one of the principles behind teleportation: put yourself in a pocket and pull yourself out somewhere else. The catch was that the energy required to put oneself in a pocket was curiously unrelated to mass. The normal pocket rules didn't apply when it came to yourself. There was one way out, however. If she could get a lot of energy, very fast, she could pocket herself and her sister. There were two problems. The first was that the only source of energy was themselves. She wasn't advanced enough to willfully pull energy from the surrounding environment. She would have to drain both herself and her sister dry to do this, which led into the second problem. When they got into the pocket, they would most likely be near the point of death. As far as survival went, that was fine. Time had no meaning in the pocket; it moved in completely subjective ways that varied from moment to moment, with the upshot being that aging was meaningless. They could probably recover. However, all the theories Sailor Castor had read about said basically the same thing, the same thing that was the reason why pocketing sick patients had never lasted long as a medical treatment: it took a very long time to recover. Best estimates were in the neighborhood of two to three thousand years for most injuries. And after all that time, they would then have to guess as to where they would emerge: Earth, or inside Earth, or where Earth was three hours ago but wasn't anymore. After all, the Earth was moving through space. Thus, her choices: possibly condemn them both to a fate that would not differ greatly from death, or guaranteed death on impact. She reached a decision. Sailor Pollux's feelings on the matter never factored into it. *** As they fell, Sailor Pollux focused her energies and made a final effort. Then, she relaxed and let Sailor Castor make the decision she knew she would make. Everything was working out perfectly. The sisters would take a well-deserved sabbatical, Serenity would be safe, and she and her sister would have a bit of time to discuss matters. About three thousand years, if things worked out perfectly. "I'm ready, sis." *** From far above, the senshi watched helplessly as the pair fell and then the pair disappeared. Twelve pairs of eyes rounded on Sailor Mercury, who was already at work with her computer. "Why didn't they go splat?" asked Sailor Jupiter unnecessarily. "I'm on it. Apparently," she added a split second later, "they've disappeared into something remarkably resembling the dimensional pocket we use for our henshin rods and . . . other things," she said, eyeing the Space Sword which Uranus still hadn't sheathed. "Disappeared?" "Yes." Sailor Mercury made a logical leap that a thousand years later she would recognize as one of the greatest she would ever make. "They won't be back for a very long time." "How long?" asked Venus instantly. "Very long. At least two thousand years." "At which time-" "At which time," interrupted Sailor Pluto, "the timeline will proceed as planned. Sailor Moon blinked. "You mean-" "Yes, Small Lady. I can . . . feel that the timeline is back to normal. Or . . . ," and here she gazed levelly at the three visitors from the future, "as normal as can be expected with a couple of aberrations." "Sorry Sailor Pluto," said Sailor Orion. "But I think we'll be getting back soon, now that we can remember the future again. Or at least, *I* can." The other two nodded agreement. "Could it be," hypothesized Sailor Mercury, "that the instability created by the appearance of Castor and Pollux made the future untenable?" "That's a possibility," said Sailor Pluto softly, in that tone that told those who would listen that there was something she wasn't saying. "It's something else, isn't it?" asked Sailor Mercury. *** A bit away, Sailors Orion and America were discussing things with the outer senshi. "So, we've got bit of a problem as far as getting back home," said Orion. "It's pretty much a given that Pluto won't get us back; we've polluted the timeline enough, and she won't stand for playing more tricks with Time. But *we* certainly can't time-travel." "I've found," said Sailor Neptune, "that Pluto has a way of letting people draw their own conclusions. I have faith that you'll get home." "I should hope so." Sailor Saturn spoke up. "Perhaps I can be of assistance?" *** Sailor Mercury knelt down next to the still form of Jennifer Talbot. She had fainted from the shock of all the events of the day, but Mercury could see that she was fine. The blonde would wake up in a couple of hours. "She's the key, isn't she?" Pluto made not a sound. Sailor Mercury shrugged, since she hadn't expected any other reaction, and pulled up Sailor Orion's DNA from an earlier scan. She compared it to Talbot's DNA. Even the powerful Mercury computer had to chew on it for a few seconds before coming up with a result. It hardly surprised Sailor Mercury. *** Sailor Orion was still dumbfounded when Sailor Mercury came trotting over with Eternal Sailor Moon, Tuxedo Kamen, Sailor Moon, and a triumphant-looking Sailor Pluto. "Sailor Orion! I have some questions to ask you!" "Do you? And do they have anything to do with Professor Tomoe's invention?" "I don't think so," said Mercury, reminding herself to ask about the invention later. "But this may shed some light on a few other things. Sailor Orion, Jennifer Talbot is far more important than any of us realized." "She is? The blonde over there?" "Yes. I don't know how to . . . but . . . she's your ancestor." "What?" "It works out; either you're a direct descendant or it's an enormous coincidence." "She . . . she's my ancestor? And she nearly died?" "Yes." Sailor Orion made a connection. "Kami-sama." "What's up?" asked Sailor America. "Back . . . *way* back in my family, there was a bunch of engineers. They nearly went into the weapons industry, but got stopped by one of my ancestors." She'd never thought about this story before; she hadn't known how much stock to put into it. "Those ancestors might very well have gone into weapons making." Sailor America began to understand. "This is a pretty big chain of ifs, but if the weapons family continued, and managed to make some invention that led to another invention that lead to another invention that lead to the weapon Sailor Pollux carried on her ship, then isn't it possible that-" "-that Project Hourglass might have been far more powerful and wiped out the universe!" finished Orion. What's Project Hourglass? she asked herself. She hadn't even known the word until Sailor America mentioned it, and now it was like she'd known it all her life. "So," said Mercury, "the crucial point was making sure Sailor Pollux didn't harm Jennifer Talbot. Now that she's alive, the weapons making family will turn to making something else-" "-and the Earth will be safe after 3031," finished America. She smiled. "Case closed." "Wait," said Eternal Sailor Moon, who had barely followed all of this. "Isn't this a time paradox? And how do you plan to get back?" "In answer to the first question, Your Majesty," said Sailor Pluto, "yes, it's paradox. You've improved, to be able to pick it out so easily. And in answer to the second question . . . I think Sailor Orion has the answer to that." A promontory overlooking Tokyo Bay 22 October 1998 5:00 PM Professor Souichi Tomoe's twentieth century Project Hourglass was amazing not because it was advanced; that was to be expected from a mind of his caliber. The amazing thing was that it existed at all. When Sailor Pollux made her decision at the close of the Second Sailor Wars, it had had far reaching consequences. The fields created by the Hourglass device had behaved in rather unpredictable manners. Her ship had been sent to twentieth century Earth, and crashed into the Pacific to lie in one of the Western Pacific's many deep trenches. It would eventually be recovered in 2956 in an extremely secret salvage operation that was not run by Crystal Tokyo. Sailor Castor's ship had been sent to the Triassic period and buried under a lava flow in what would later be Washington State, near Seattle, never to be recovered. The Hourglass device, a top-secret device that would enable time travel without Sailor Pluto's assistance, had been sent to Roswell, New Mexico in 1946, causing such an uproar and such fear of discovery by other nations that the United States government was forced to invent an entirely new conspiracy hinting at alien visitation to cover up the real conspiracy. Project Hourglass had been sent to Yumini Island after a visit by Professor Tomoe while he was still with the Death Busters. The US had seen promise, and allocated funds for advancemen to the point where the senshi, thanks to some legal wrangling, arm-twisting, and outright illegal activities, were in possession of the only working time machine in history. It looked like an hourglass. "Just make sure you're within the circle I've drawn," said Ami, "and things will be okay." Ami had drawn a chalk circle delineating the outside boundaries of the time travel field the device generated, or at least where Ami thought the field would extend. If the others ever found out how much guesswork she'd put into operating the device over the past few days, they'd panic. Those who had no plans to time travel kept several meters from the chalk line anyway. "Oh," said Ami, "I've also rigged the device to self destruct upon your arrival in the thirty-first century." Jennifer Sakachi nodded. She and her companions were in their naval uniforms, which blew tightly around them as the sea breeze picked up. "Which time did you pick?" Ami smiled. "Pretty long ago." It had been decided too risky to attach explosives to Hourglass, and using their senshi abilities might have dangerous side effects. So, after Hourglass deposited them in the proper time, they would have ten seconds to get clear. After that, Ami had programmed it to travel back to a suitable time some six billion years ago. With luck, the pulse caused when the Sun was born would obliterate it, and if not that, an infant solar system filled with flying debris would certainly do the trick. The beauty of it, Ami thought, was that all that had already happened. Usagi and Small Lady said their good-byes. Actually, there wasn't a lot to more to be said. As they hugged, Small Lady put all thoughts of 1999-2001 out of her head. Jen bowed to them all in turn, lingering a bit when she turned to Rei. "See you all soon," said Jen. "Hopefully under less stressful conditions." "Of course," replied Minako. The others nodded as well. Rei looked like she was about to say something, but stopped herself. "Oh," said Haruka, "about the events of the past couple weeks?" "Yes?" "Don't remind us about them." Jen smiled. "Of course, Sailor Uranus." There was no way in hell she was letting them forget. Eileen, of course, shook hands with all of them. She couldn't resist; they technically weren't senshi unless they were transformed, as they had reminded her over and over again over the past couple weeks. So she had no qualms about physical contact, and they really couldn't have any either. When it came time to shake hands with Usagi, however, she hesitated. "Sorry, Your Majesty, but . . . I just can't do it. You're the Queen, after all." The future Neo-Queen of Crystal Tokyo settled the matter by enveloping Eileen in a bear hug. "Don't change, Eileen-chan," she whispered. "Done and done." 'Now I have an excuse at court,' she thought. When all was said and done, the three stepped inside the circle and shared an apprehensive look. Ami pressed a button on her computer, and with a slight flash, the device and three people were gone, leaving an ear-shattering bang as air filled the recently created vacuum. "I suppose that's it, then," said Rei. "Perhaps," said Ami cautiously. "Y'know," said Minako, "these people from the future are starting to get annoying. Don't you guys think that we should ban time travel?" Everyone looked expectantly at Setsuna. "Sorry. Every time I explain to the Queen that time travel is a bad idea, she overrules me." Everyone looked accusingly at Usagi. "Hey," she said frantically, "It wasn't my fault!" "Right," agreed Mamoru. "I don't think Usako should have to defend what she hsan't even done yet!" "Yay! I can always depend on you, Mamo-chan!" She punctuated this with a hug. "Of course," said Setsuna, "I might add that the King generally has no objections to the Queen's requests." Everyone looked accusingly at Mamoru, with a silence broken only by the call of the overhead gulls. "Well," said Rei, breaking the silence, "anyone want to hazard a guess as to who we'll meet up with next?" "No-one, hopefully," said Makoto. "What? Had enough of fighting, have you?" "Far too much." Usagi was munching on a thought from earlier. Her daughter had seemed awfully worried about something that night in her bedroom. She half suspected . . . no, *knew* that Small Lady was hiding something. Exactly what . . . well, perhaps some things were best left unknown. Sometimes the future was something you'd rather not know about. She sighed, and dipped into her seemingly bottomless well of cheerfulness. "Well then, I guess we've got some time to relax now." She was terribly, terribly wrong. But that's another story. Somewhere outside Time and Space The two floated in nothingness. They talked a bit. They thought a bit. They had a long time to wait. Peace Memorial Park Crystal Tokyo 7 July 3030 14:37 Japanese Standard Time -and the three popped back into reality. They reappeared on a slight ridge, and so naturally rolled away from Hourglass. This was no bad thing, because Hourglass disappeared on its trip to oblivion shortly afterwards. Small Lady leapt up and looked around. Things looked normal; the city of Crystal Tokyo was laid out below them as beautiful as ever. A couple meters away, the Bridge Bunnies were trying to figure out where the three senshi had gone. "We're home," whispered Princess Usagi Tsukino. "Woohoo!" cried Eileen, nearly crushing Jen in a hug. "It's over!" Jen hugged back, but looked up at the sky. "No, I think things are just starting. "And I like 'em." Epilogue The next few days were rather interesting for the three. First, they went through extensive debriefing, trying to confirm that it was, in fact, they who had traveled back in time. Once they had explained matters to the satisfaction of the planet senshi, or more accurately reminded the planet senshi and Serenity of the events of 1998, they were then expressly ordered to divulge nothing of what had passed. The entire incident was to be wrapped up in secrecy for two decades, by which time hopefully the public wouldn't be so upset. For the first time, Eileen agreed with the decision. After all, they couldn't simply let word get out that Crystal Tokyo had come very close to simply never having existed, could they? She was learning that while all senshi were sworn to defend Neo-Queen Serenity, those responsibilities extended at times to making sure that the public slept easy at night. If it took a bit of subterfuge . . . well, she still got the shakes sometimes at how close Jen had come to death. How they all had. She decided that she had a bit of work to do before she could truly call herself a senshi. *** Sailor Orion sat in her office. It was brand new, or at least it was her first day in it. It had been redone to look new anyway, on the same floor with the technical wizards who made the designs for the Royal Star Navy's ships. Half the shipbuilding engineers in the Crystal Millennium were on that floor. The other half were at the shipyards in orbit around Mars and Jupiter. She was there because planning the launch of H.M.S. Seiza was a task that would take several years. She planned to be aboard her much longer than she'd been on Pleiades, which would soon be occupying a spot at the Crystal Tokyo Naval Pavilion where all the important artifacts of the RSN were dumped. The office had a gorgeous view of the rest of the city, and she was busy looking out at it when the knock came on her door. "Yes?" she asked, turning to face her visitor and wondering why she didn't have a secretary. "Hi, Orion." "America! What are you doing here?" The brunette smiled. "Her Majesty is going on vacation. And that means that news around here is going to be very slow. I've got a bit of free time. Do you have any?" Sailor Orion simply gestured to all the pads and paperwork that littered her desk. Sailor America tsked. "Three years with you, and you still haven't learned to be neat." She jumped up to sit on the edge of the desk, and Orion sat in her swivel chair. "So, what do you want to talk about?" Sailor America was silent for a bit. "Um . . . when you first fought as a senshi, how did you feel?" Sailor Orion cocked her head to one side. "How did I feel?" She leaned back and closed her eyes. "Scared. Apprehensive. Panicked." She opened her eyes. "Just the way you felt in the twentieth, right?" America nodded. "Does it ever go away?" Orion looked out the window. "No. It goes to the back of your mind, but it never really leaves. You'll get used to it." "You say it like it's going to happen again." "Yep. We've time-traveled, you know. And strange things happen to time travelers. You've only got to look to Her Highness to realize that." "Yeah." Sailor America shook her head to clear herself of her melancholy mood. "Well, things will be okay for now. We're staying on Earth, after all. And besides," she asked, sliding down from the desk, "do all time travelers do this?" The kiss that followed rendered most of Sailor Orion's afternoon itinerary useless. *** Several floors above, the three most powerful people on the planet were relaxing after lunch. The Royal Family would be leaving shortly for the mountains of Hokkaido to enjoy the wildlife there. Serenity hadn't been there in a couple hundred years, and was rather looking forward to it. "So," said Princess Usagi, "*now* will you tell me if I go back in time anymore?" "No," said Endymion gently. "We've been through this before." "But . . . Mom!" Neo-Queen Serenity, the Second of her Name, born unto this Earth as Tsukino Usagi, the First of that Name, Princess of the Moon Kingdom of the Silver Millennium, Sailor Senshi of the Moon, Defender of Love and Justice, and Neo-Queen of the City of Crystal Tokyo of the Crystal Millennium, Japan, and all her Colonies, turned from the hiking backpack she'd been stuffing full of various items that this narrative will not discuss. "You heard your father," she said, then clapped a hand over her mouth. "Kami-sama! I sounded like my mother!" Endymion looked away so his wife wouldn't see him snickering. The three in the room had had more dealings with time travel than anyone, save possibly Sailor Pluto. As such, they were getting used to it. The princess had gone back three times, after all. And after each time, she asked her parents if it was the last time. And each time, her parents gave the same ambiguous reply. "Maybe you'll go back again, and maybe you won't," said Serenity. It was a terribly long story, Sailor Pluto had told them, but they had to keep Usagi from knowing too much about what she might influence. 'Sometimes,' Serenity thought, 'being Neo-Queen isn't all it's cracked up to be.' Then she thought about a couple of senshi who'd been sent crashing back into the past, the unique product of a society in which she had reigned, and thought about how they handled the situation, and the two hundred senshi who shared that task. At those times, she decided that it was all worth it. Serenity closed the backpack and wiped her hands on her blue jeans. She wore a pink sweater with white turtleneck and windbreaker. Her daughter had jeans and a sweatshirt, as did Endymion. "So," she asked, "are we ready?" "Yes!" "Sure!" 'The one good thing about time travel,' thought Usagi, 'is that I get to come back.' With that there was a flash, and the room was empty. Fin. [Ending credits. Song: Suki to Itte.] ================================ Thus ends the longest single-part fanfic I've written to date. I started when episode 114 of Sailor Orion was the furthest I'd written. As I write this note, Orion 318 is underway, along with 301 (302-317 are another story, of course, no pun intended). I tried a compromise with Small Lady. I knew that having two Usagi would be a problem when I couldn't call one Chibiusa anymore. After several other tries (the younger Usagi, Usagi-ni, etc.), I settled on Small Lady. Yes, I like the name Jennifer. Pre-reader: Victor Naqvi. Give him some credit for actually caring about this fic. Anyone else would have gone insane with my griping about this story. He asked for updates. Scary, scary man. That, I suppose, is that. What's next? Well, first I'm going to read a Mercedes Lackey book and see what all the fuss is about. Then I'm going to finish Ai to Seigi. All along, of course, I'll be working on Orion 203-5. And sometime in early spring, expect to see Sailor Orion back in the weekly zips on a regular basis. When will this blasted series end? When it's finished. Silly. Ja. LeVar Bouyer Annville, Pennsylvania 1 December 1997 23:45 (final edit: 6 December 1997) (another final edit: 14 February 2001)