May 15, 2021

       Siberia is cold year round.  May just means that you can plant
crops, if you're desperate enough to live there.  It also made the digging
easier for the team of GENOM employees, who had been digging around an old
meteor crater for a week now and wondering what the hell anyone expected
to find.  

       Vladmir Offsky was the head of the dig, and only he knew what they
were looking for, though he had no clue how his bosses had gotten the idea
that such a thing was to be found here.  He didn't care.  Digging in
Siberia was at least different from the usual round of reports and
pointless yammering of consultants.  Having grown up in Siberia, the
weather didn't bother him much.  

       The site was silent in a noisy sort of way, with only the sound of
machines and ocassional grunts by the labor operators breaking the
silence.  One of GENOM's new Labors, the H-5 Digging specialist was being
tested here and the five giant crab like mechs were hard at work.  Five
men could do the work of dozens. 

        One of the mechs raised a giant's handful of dirt and rock, and
within it was a huge metal cylinder covered with strange squiggly writing.
Vladmir blinked.  My God, they were right.  There IS something buried
here.  And I always through the Tunguska Incident was just a meteor... 

***************

Chapter 15:  Desperately Seeking Sailor Mars

**************

      A dark void of nothingness beyond measure or comprehension
surrounded Linna.  She stood upon a flat featureless plane that stretched
out to the edge of forever.  Three hooded and cloaked figures floated in
the air nearby, watching her.  She didn't know where she was or how she
had gotten there, but she knew they had come to pass some sort of
judgment.  "Where am I?"

      "In what sense?"  asked the first figure, who spoke with the voice
of a young girl.  In her hands, she held a short pointed stick and a ball
of tangled wool.  

      Linna wasn't sure how to answer that, so she repeated herself.
"WHERE am I?"

      "In a bed in Mega-Tokyo,"  said the second voice, that of a mature
woman.  She held a pair of crochet hooks.  "I assume you remember your
apartment number?"

      Linna blinked.  "This doesn't look like my...oh, I'm dreaming this."

      "You forget too easily, girl.  It may be your doom if you are not
careful."  The third voice was that of an old woman.  She held a pair of
scissors.  

      "Or the doom of another.  It depends on which proves the greater
fool."  the young girl said.

      Linna had a vague feeling she should recognize these people, but she
couldn't.  Well, if this is a dream, she thought, I might as well get
comfortable.  She concentrated and a huge plush armchair appeared.  She
plopped down in it.  "I don't suppose you could tell me what you are
talking about?"

       "Actually, you were supposed to sleep through this," the oldest
voice said.

      "I am sleeping,"  Linna replied.

      The middle aged woman laughed.  "She's got you there."

      "Oh shut up."  The old woman pouted.

      "I told you it is not so easy to enter the mind of a dreamwalker
unobserved.  Well, to tell you is just as good as what we intended.  We
are the Fates."

      Linna blinked.  "Uh, does this mean I'm dead?"

      "You will probably wish we had told you yes in the days to come,"
the oldest said.  Her voice sounded strange.  

      "..."

      The middle one spoke now.  "Remember us, Linna, dancer and warrior.
We shall come when you call us, but choose the time wisely."  Her voice
too sounded strange.

       Linna stared.  Please let this just be a funky dream, she thought.  

       "For we are the judges of the living and the dead.  Even the Gods
cannot escape the power of fate."  The third voice had shifted as well,
growing deeper.  She sounded more male than female now.

       The oldest one spoke with a voice now definitely male.  "Remember,
Linna Yamazaki, for your time to stand before our tribunal is soon."

       The middle man spoke, "Prepare your case."

       The youngest spoke, "This audience is ended."

       They faded away.  Linna shook.   Do they mean I'm going to die?
Was this a threat?  I don't understand.  I don't WANT to understand.  

***************

       Priss sat alone in her trailer, not because she had to, but because
she chose to.  She had been at Leon's again the previous night, but now
she wanted to be alone for a little while.  It was a very different kind
of alone now, though.  She looked around her disaster area of a home and
heard a tiny voice in her head that she hadn't heard for a very long time,
'Prissie, clean up your room!"  

       She laughed.  Mom was so obsessed with having a clean house.  Maybe
because Grandma was such a total slob.  She got out her well-concealed
photo album.  I haven't looked in this for a long time.  The first picture
in the album was of her and her parents in a fishing boat.  She was five
and holding up the first fish she had ever caught herself, while her
parents struck hokey triumphant poses around her.  She had short hair like
her father in the picture, while her mother bore a strong resemblence to
her current self.  

      I wonder if you'd be proud of me, Mom.  Why didn't you ever tell me
I was adopted?  And why do I look so much like you if I was?  I know...I
know my true past now, but...Priss felt herself beginning to cry and swore
softly.  I guess it doesn't matter.  I love you so much.  I miss you both
terribly.   I wish I could have said goodbye.  I wish you'd never gone
into town.  I wish...

       Priss sighed.  If wishes were bikes, we'd all be bikers, she
thought.  If only I could travel through time for real and not just in a
dream.  Or even see them in a dream.  She paged through the album,
traveling down memory lane.  An image of herself playing softball.  A
picture of her dad trying to cook fish, shrouded in smoke.  A picture of
her posing with her mom on her mom's motorcycle.  A picture of her with
the boy she had a crush on in the fifth grade.  They were both wearing
their little league uniforms.  With a start, she suddenly realized she
couldn't remember his name.  Slowly, she removed the picture from the
album and turned it over.  'Priscilla and Yamato Youta pose after another
triumphant game.'  Priss let her memories carry her away for a few
minutes, remembering the game as it all came back to her.  She had hit a
homerun, sending her, Youta, and Anna around the bases, winning the game
9-7.  How could I ever have forgotten this, she wondered.

       Because you tried to forget everything, that's why, she answered
herself.  The new you found the old you to be a horrible embarrassment,
fishing, laughing, playing baseball, chasing that silly little boy,
singing along to really cheesy pop music records.   You tried to pretend
it never happened so it couldn't hurt you anymore.  The dams she had so
carefully built over the years cracked and shattered, and everything she
had tried to bury rose from its grave to haunt her mind.  All she could do
was cry.

      She didn't know how long she cried for, but it felt like forever.
There was a knock on the door.  She shouted, "Go away and DIE!"

       The voice was muffled and female.  "Priscilla.  Are you okay?
Celia's been trying to call you for an hour, but you haven't been
answering."  Priss recognized the voice, but she couldn't actually put a
name to it.  

       She staggered over and opened the door, her face a tear-stained
mess.  Meylia was standing there, dressed in a outfit that looked borrowed
from Celia, a nice business suit for women.  "Priscilla!  What's wrong?
You look awful."  Her face was wrought with compassion.  

       It was more than Priss could stand.  She wanted to slam the door
and go cry some more, but she couldn't muster the energy to do it.  She
just stood there and cried, babbling incoherently.  Meylia stepped forward
and hugged her, letting Priss cry onto her shoulder.  They stood there for
a long time, and finally Priss pulled herself together enough to say,
"Why can't I ever be happy?"

      "Of course you can be happy.  You looked very happy yesterday."
Meylia's voice was soothing.   She hadn't been a mother for nothing.  

       "But it never lasts.  Something horrible always happens and
everyone dies and I have to go on without them."  Priss mustered the
strength to pull Meylia inside and close the door so at least the whole
world wouldn't be watching.  

       "It happens to everyone, dear.  I had to watch my mother slowly
waste away and die.  I had to watch my father ignore me, ignore everyone
after she died.  I finally ran away from home because I couldn't stand it
anymore.  I went through a lot of hell after that, trying to survive on my
own."  They sat down on Priss' bed, since everything else had junk piled
on it.  

      "I thought it was over.  I found someone I loved and I started over.
We had many good years, but then one day I got hit in the head and when I
woke up, my husband was dead.  My son was dead.  My grandchildren were
missing.   I had no home, no money, no family.  Nothing.  All I had was
the clothing on my back and powers I didn't understand.  My son's own
creations were trying to kill me."  Meylia's voice took on a harder edge.
"I was lost and confused, and when I started to understand a little more
of what was going on, I was angry.  Very angry.  I had days where I wanted
to just fly into Genom Tower, kill everyone in sight and work my way up
through the building until I was wallowing in blood."

       Priss nodded.  "After they killed my boyfriend, I wanted to get
even.  I was going to try and do something like that, but Celia found me
and convinced me to get even another way.  It was like...she...I can
hardly believe she managed to convince me.   I think I just needed someone
else to care.  I was so totally alone and I'd lost the only person who
gave a damn about me."

       Meylia nodded.  She saw the album lying open nearby and suddenly
understood.  "You've been thinking about your childhood, haven't you."

       Priss nodded.  "I was so happy.  I...I think about how I was and I
can't even see how that could be the same person as me.  After my parents
died, I closed myself off.  I've gotten so hard, so violent, so angry.  As
long as how I didn't think about how I used to be, it didn't bug me.  I
liked how I was.  But now...I feel like I've betrayed them.  Like I threw
away their memory and everything they tried to teach me.  I don't know who
I am.  Especially with this Moon Kingdom business."

       "Moon Kingdom business?"

       Priss explained everything as best she could, though it was bit
incoherent at times.  She felt a lot better, though rather drained, by the
time she finished.  "So I'm trying to figure out who I really am and what
it all really means.  I don't feel like a princess, but I am.  I want to
honor my parents and what they wanted me to be, but I'm not like that
anymore.  And then there's Leon...I'm afraid Pluto's going to be right,
but I'm sick of making myself miserable to avoid misery.  I can't do that
anymore."

       "Follow your heart, dear.  Do you love Leon?"

       Priss' voice was very quiet, almost a whisper.  "Yes."

       "Then it doesn't matter what Pluto says.  If you stay away from
him, he could die anyway.  Making yourself miserable to avoid getting hurt
doesn't accomplish anything.  We get hurt no matter what we do.  You can't
avoid pain.  All you can do is find the joys that make life worth living
despite the pain.  Otherwise, you might as well be dead, because that's
the only real escape from pain."

       "I never had the strength to do that, no matter how hard I tried
sometimes.  Like when I had to...to kill Sylvie.  I wanted to die after
that.  It was my old boyfriend all over again."  Priss shuddered and tried to 
fight off the memory.  

       "Did getting even for that satisfy you?"

       "No.  It couldn't bring back Sylvie.  Until...When I saw her
again...I owe Washuu big.  It's like...My deepest shame wiped away.  I had
to kill her to save the city...she begged me to kill her, but I always
felt like I should have been able to save her.  There had to be some way
we could have kept her alive.  And now she's back.  Everything's going so
right, but that's always when something horrible happens in my life.
Every time I'm happy, BOOM."  Priss got up and started pacing around.  "I
hate thinking, because I always end up making myself miserable."

        "I know this is useless advice, but don't bother yourself like
that.  There's no point in fretting just to fret.  Maybe we should go do
something to get your mind off this."

        Priss thought for a moment.  "We could go hunt for that thing Nene
fought last night.  Whatever it is, it's going around hurting innocent
people and I can't stand that."

        Meylia got up.  "Time for the Queen and Knight of Swords to ride
forth to battle, eh?"

       Priss laughed.  "Knight of Swords.   I like that.  Let's go kick
some butt.  That's what I do best."

       The hunt was on.

***************

      Quincy sat and listened to the report.  "In conclusion, whatever it
was, it wasn't one of ours.  However, our agents in US Robots and
Mechanical Men have reported that its capabilities seem similar to those
of their RX-34 model, though clearly it isn't using one of their brains,
unless its sensors are so damaged it can't tell it's dealing with human
beings."  

        The agent was Eve, one of Quincy's best intelligence coordinators.
She was lithe, with short brown hair and a penchant for archaic garb.
Despite her quirks, she was brilliant, and only part of it was due to her
augmented brain.  "My current operating theory is that the same person is
behind it who is behind the other major free agents operating in
Mega-Tokyo:  the Knight Sabres, the Queen of Swords, and that anti-grav
using boomer."

        Quincy raised an eyebrow.  "Anti-grav using boomer?"

       "We've had reports of a woman with spiky hair, either blue, green,
or somewhere in between.  The reports vary.  She possesses some sort of
particle beam generator, an energy sword, and some sort of anti-grav
flight capabilities.  Some of the informants claimed she could pass
through walls, but I find that implausible.  I suppose it could be done
with fusion technology, but not at the kind of speeds they claim.  Given
that the Queen of Swords demonstrates many of the same abilities, there
has to be a link.  Either a common origin or they're both getting armed by
the same person or organization.  The Knight Sabers are the only
organization in Tokyo who might possess such technology that we haven't
ferreted out yet.  I'm surprised we haven't penetrated their organization
by now."

       "The Sabers did not make the Queen of Swords or this other person.
If they were capable of such technology, they would be using it
themselves,"  Quincy said.  "I think gaining this anti-grav technology
should be a priority.  Have boomers ready to scramble should either of
these people be spotted.  So far our researchers haven't been able to
accomplish more than building those stupid gravity cannon, which don't
work any better than a good laser, but use more energy, which was not the
idea."

       "What about the Sabers?"

       "What about them?"

       Eve fell silent at that.

       Quincy turned to Katherine Madigan, who wondered once again why
Quincy did nothing about the Knight Sabers.  It would be so easy, she
thought.  Yet, Quincy does nothing.  Maybe they secretly work for him.
They certainly seem to have taken a part in ending the Hou Bang's efforts
to kill him.  They stopped Largo when they could have let him destroy
GENOM forever.  And yet...they killed Mason and have wrecked several of
our operations.  Maybe that was just Quincy's way of getting rid of
Mason...letting him stick his neck out and get it cut off in a way that no
one could trace back to him.  

        Quincy interrupted her thoughts.  "How was the meeting with Mr.
Shinohara?"

       "He taunted and defied me.  It was a complete waste of time.  I
suppose he's so petulant because GENOM was founded by an ex-employee of
Shinohara Industries.  They could have been us if things had been
different.  As it is, they can't compete effectively with us in anything
except their Military Labor manufactures, which seem to have remarkably
high sale rates in the less developed nations."

       "That's because with all the refining they've done over the years,
an Ingram, a Watson, or a Yama sells for about a quarter the cost of a
boomer.  In addition, they've upgraded the armnaments of their mechs to
include giant hand-gun shaped railguns, which lets people indulge their
macho instincts.  Many people find a certain thrill in being able to carry
a handgun that packs the power of a tank cannon.  There's also a
substantial collector's market for fools with money to burn.  And
Shinohara dominates the market for them absolutely."  Quincy didn't sound 
like he was talking about a rival, but almost as if he was discussing an old 
friend for whom he felt a certain admiration.  

       "Why haven't we been able to undercut them?"

       "Shinohara Industries inspires a great deal of loyalty in its
customers.  Also, the company is run by the husband of the most famous
Police labor pilot in the world."  Quincy's voice faltered oddly.  "How many 
companies can say one of its products, driven by the CEO's wife, prevented an
assassination attempt on the Prime Minister of one of the greatest nations
of the planet?"

       "So do you think this report about the disappearing labors warrants
further investigation?"

       "Yes.   Shinohara Industries doesn't lose labors, no one ever
steals them successfully, and they don't do covert illegal sales.  If
those labors truly went missing, then something funny is going on.  Six
new-model Ingrams with Abotex armor and a vast amount of ammunition are
out there, and they may be a dagger aimed at us."

       "Surely we can handle six Ingrams."

       Quincy frowned.  "Our agents in the USSD recently reported that
every single USSD military satellite was plucked from the sky and dumped
in their parking lot.  With the weaponry gone.   SOMEONE has over 200
laser weapons capable of devastating a ten kilometer radius when deployed
from a sufficient distance, such as from the top of Mount Fuji to
downtown Tokyo.  These weapon systems are also within the lifting
capabilities of say, a new-model Ingram."

       "..."  Kate Madigan stared at Quincy.  "Largo all over again."

       "There is no way that Shinohara Industries could be behind this.
They don't have the resources to somehow steal all the laser satellites,
but they would make a wonderful scapegoat for whoever is behind it."

       "But who is behind this?   None of GENOM's enemies have the
capabilities to steal all those laser satellites.  Not without someone
spotting them."  Eve said.  "SDPC possesses the only space fleet even
vaguely capable of pulling off such a feat without getting stopped, but
they would have been spotted.  Plus, they wouldn't do that."

      "You'd almost think aliens were responsible,"  Kate said.  She
thought for a moment.  "Perhaps someone has somehow duplicated the OMS 
and used it to..."

       "The OMS is not connected to this.  Aliens on the other hand..."

       Kate blinked.  "I was joking, sir."

       "I am not."  He turned to the nearby computer bank and called up a
report.  "Read this."

       Kate could hardly believe it.  Eve was less surprised, but there
were a few surprises for her as well.

**************

       Noa drilled her students.  Bit by bit, they were getting better.
It was about time.  She glanced over and saw Takeo lecturing the
forwards on their duties again.  They were starting to do work as teams
now, with forwards paired to each Ingram.  Unfortunately, the forwards
weren't paying enough attention a lot of the time and it wasn't working so
well.

       Giving her students over to Takeo, she got out of her Ingram and
went to talk to Hiromi.  "When are we going to go pick up the targets for
live ammunition practice?"

       "You want to do that right now?"  Hiromi was relaxing and watching.
The other labor carrier drivers were all professional truckers, so he
didn't have to train anyone.  In fact, he had started a vegetable garden
and spent most of his time at the training grounds tending it.  

       "Sure."  

       They got into the eighteen wheeler that had been used to smuggle
the Ingrams to the site one by one and headed out for the highway.
"You're so lively, Noa.  It just amazes me."

       Noa laughed.  "I never should have retired.  I feel like I'm as
young as those kids.  I love my restaurant, but it's not the same."

       He nodded.  "That's why Ohta stayed in the ADPolice after the
merger."

       "We ought to go visit him!"

       "Sounds good to me."

***************

       Leon and Daley pulled up outside the apartment building.  "I hope
she's home.  We drove a long way to get here and if this is all for
nothing..."  Daley said.

       Leon smiled.  "Don't worry about it.  I've got a good feeling about
this."  They headed upstairs and knocked on the door.

       Rachel Yamazaki answered the door, dressed in a workout outfit.
"Hello?"  A workout tape was playing on her TV.  

       "Hello, Ms. Yamazaki.  I'm officer Leon McNichols from the ADPolice
and this is my partner Daley Wong.  Can you spare a few minutes to talk to
us?"

       "Uh, sure.  Come on in."  She ushered them into the living room.
They could hear shower noises coming from the bathroom.  The apartment 
was a tiny one-bedroom apartment with a combined living room and kitchen, 
plus two closets and a small bathroom.  Rachel gestured to the couch and the
two officers sat down.  "What is this about?"

       "We stumbled across this by accident while investigating another
case, but we believe you might be a potential target for a cyberpsycho
we're trying to track down."  Leon said.

       Daley sighed.  "I'd like to stress POTENTIAL target.  We aren't
sure we've nailed down this nutcase's pattern, but you match one potential
pattern due to your physical appearance.  You bear a strong resemblence to
the urban legendary figure 'Sailor Mars'."

        "If she's an urban legend, how can anyone know what she looks
like?"

        "Unlike Vampires, it appears that they could be photographed, and
someone a few years ago got enough footage to try to make boomer
duplicates of them.  You and several other people match the Mars
template."  Daley watched Rachel to see how she reacted.  She was clearly
nervous, but that could be for a variety of reasons.

       Leon looked around the apartment.  There were three paintings, very
nicely done on the walls, all originals.  One depicted a swan rising from
a lake, one depicted a starry sky over the mountains, and one showed an
angry cow charging towards the observer.  There were also two photos on an
end table.  One showed a woman with long blonde hair holding up a trophy,
the other showed Rachel posing in front of a fitness club, 'The Fitness
Bee'.  There were several other people in the background.  To his
surprise, Leon recognized Linna as one of them.  "You work at the Fitness
Bee?"

       Rachel blinked.  "I guess you did your research.  Yeah.  I've been
working there about a year or so."

       "Do you know a Linna Yamazaki?"

       Rachel laughed.  "Funky coincidence, eh?  No relation at all as far
as we can tell."  She looked at Leon.  "You're not her new boyfriend, are
you?"

       Daley smirked.  "Priss'll kill you if she hears about this."

       "And if she hears about it, I'll know who told her.  Anyway, have
you seen anyone unusual in your neighborhood?  We think the psycho
resembles a female wrestler with multi-colored hair  and possibly some
tattoos."

       "I haven't seen anyone who fits that description."  

       The bathroom door opened and the blond from the picture walked out.
She looked vaguely familiar to Leon, especially in the flesh, though he
couldn't place the face.  She was also buck naked from the waist up,
though she had a towel wrapped around her waist.  "Rachel, I can't find
the ... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!"  She let out 
an ear piercing shriek that almost knocked Daley out of his chair.  She fled
back into the bathroom.

       Rachel got up.  "Ursula, you bonehead!  Couldn't you hear us
talking out here?"

       "I thought it must be the TV.  Why'd you invite guys over while I'm
taking a shower?"

       "Because they're police officers!"

       Another howl cut through the room.  "I'm really sorry about the
parking tickets!  I'll send a check as soon as my next set of paintings
sell!  PLEASE don't arrest me!"  They could hear her almost crying on the
other side of the door.

       "We're not here about any parking tickets you might have.  We don't
do that sort of thing in the ADPolice, anyway."

       "I swear I'm not a rampaging boomer!  I haven't killed anyone!  I'm
not starting riots, I..."

       Things only degenerated from there.

**************

       Professor Hiyama waited quietly at the airport.  She was waiting
for two people.  The first one was her husband, who had finally gotten out
of all that nasty trouble in Afghanistan.  He stepped into the lobby, as
handsome to her as the day they had first met, though his once blond hair
was now a tousled grey and he sported a beard like his fathers',
though she no longer mentioned it since he always shaved it off whenever
she actually pointed this out.  

       She ran forward and hugged him tightly.  "Welcome home, dear."  

       He smiled.  "Hello, Hikaru-chan.  Trying to break my bones, are
you?"

       "Not as hard as you keep trying.  So what went wrong this time?"

       "You remember Franklin, right?"

       She thought for a moment.  "Which Franklin?  Jessie's son or..."

       "Yeah.  That one.  Well, he was at the conference, but these Thugee
were after him and they hijacked our plane on the way home, then..."

       Hikaru listened to her husband rattle on about his latest
adventure.  Whatever else life was in her household, it was never boring.

**************

       "So what do you think, Daley?"  Leon asked as they drove to their
appointment to see the Bishop.  

       "I think I've seen that Ursula somewhere before."

       "Well, she did win that art award.  Maybe you saw her on the news."

       "Maybe."  Leon zoomed around a corner far too quickly.  "But I
don't think so.  Something was different the other time...It'll come to
me."

       "I think she is the escaped sexaroid.  We looked at pictures of the
other ones.  Ursula might be another escapee.  You and Nene did a real job
getting all that data."

       "Now we just have to figure out how to talk to the Bishop about
this without offending her."  Leon said.

       "Just don't blurt out, 'You look like an escaped sexaroid that a
cyberpsycho might be after', and we'll be fine."

        "And don't mention parking tickets."  They both laughed.

***************

      Priss and Meylia had been cruising around the town on Priss' cycle
for hours.  "You know, we really need a better plan."

      "Well, unless we had an orbital satellite to watch the entire city
at once from or search for the person, we..."

       Priss laughed.  "Let's go pay Sasami a visit."

***************

      Ryouko sat on the roof of Ryu's dorm, looking out at the university.
This brings back memories, she thought.  I spent some of the happiest
years of my life here.  She could see the whole university from atop the
massive, ugly dormitory.  It looked like a brick with windows.  Most of
the campus was beautiful, the result of massive rebuilding after the Kanto
Quake.  Somehow, Ryu's dorm had survived the quake intact and ugly as
ever.  Tenchi had lived here for four years when he went to Tokyo U.  Next
door was Miyaki Hall, which had been rebuilt after the quake, and renamed
after the millionaire wife of a billionaire industrialist.  It still
looked largely the same.  In fact, she could see her and Aeka's old room.
We must have destroyed the interior of our room 2000 times, she thought.
At least once a week.  I wonder if the people living there now have any
idea that beings from another planet lived in the same room as them.  

      I'll go peek, she thought.  I have to see what it looks like.  She
flew over.  No one noticed since they didn't expect there to be flying
people on campus.  Phasing her head through the wall, she spotted Aeka
talking to some college student.  Better move before Aeka spots me.  She
flew around to the window at the end of the hallway and clambered in, then
walked down the hallway and knocked.

       The college student, a young girl with wild light brown hair and
odd blue tattoos on her forehead answered the door.  "Hi!  I take it
you're looking for your old roomate?"

        Ryouko blinked.  "I...uh, how did you guess?"

        "She said you'd be here in just a minute."  The girl let Ryouko
into the room.  Aeka was sitting in a chair, dressed in one of her usual
formal kimonos, laughing faintly.  

       "I see we both had the same idea,"  Aeka said.  

       "Yeah."  Ryouko looked around.  The posters were different, the
carpet had changed, but the room was largely the same.  In fact, the same
corner of the carpet was slightly turned up.

       The girl noticed her glance.  "So you're the one who carved 'R and
T' in a heart in the floor under the carpet over there?"

       Ryouko blushed.  "Yeah."

       Aeka said, "Ahh, defacing school property as usual."

       The girl looked over at the far corner from that one.  "I don't
suppose you're the one who carved 'A and T' in a heart over there in the
other corner, Mrs. Masaki?"

       Ryouko cackled.  "The pot has been caught by the kettle, eh,
Aeka-hime-chan?"

       "I suppose living with you for four years was a corrupting
influence, eh, Ryouko-HIME-chan?"

       Ryouko fumed.  "Don't call me Princess!"

       "Would you prefer your full title?"

       "Oh wow, you two are nobility?"  The girl looked excited.  "Oh,
Mrs. Ryouko, my name is Keiko.  Morisato Keiko."

       Ryouko said, "I'm Hakubi-Masaki Ryouko.  Nice to meet you."  She
looked at Aeka.  "Didn't we know someone named that?"

       "Yeah.  The boy who went to Nekomi Tech.  He was dating that
exchange student, who was really a..."

       "Oh wow, you knew my parents too?"

       "I think so, but I'd expect all their children to be older than you
are."  Aeka said.  "You're not over 20, are you?"

       "Well, I'm the youngest of eight."

       Ryouko visibly boggled.  "Wow.  I think I'd go mad.  One keeps me
busy enough.  Sort of two if you count Manami."

       "She's mine, thank you.  I remember the labor very clearly."

       "How about if I take her and you can have my mother?  Three moms
are more fun than two."  Ryouko said.

       "If my father ever marries your mother, I'm going to hide in
another galaxy."

       "I'll join you."

***************

      "Alright, Maggots!  Let's see some serious shooting this time."
Ohta marched up and down the line of ADPolice desk personnel who Lt.
Yamano had dragooned into more gun practice.  They were getting used to it
by now, actually.  Ohta would never admit it, but some of them were even
starting to get pretty good.  Too much praise would only make you weak,
Ohta knew.  The only way to make compliments mean anything was to be as
sparing as possible.  

       They opened fire.  Ohta marched back and forth.  Ohta was
semi-retired, but he had been happy to come out on Yamano's request and
give the desk staff a refresher course in shooting.  Ohta remembered the
Yoshida incident from last winter and he didn't want anything like that
happening again.  This time, they'd be ready.  If only I'd still had my
Ingram, he thought.  I could have solved the whole situation myself.  I
can't believe they sold them all.  Still, those new battlesuits are pretty
good.  They can't hold a candle to our old Labors, though.  Damn
bureaucrats.

       He paused by one of the better shooters, a young redhead named Nene
Romanova.  He wasn't certain what her normal duties were, though he had
the impression she worked in communications.  Whatever they were, she was
in better shape than a lot of the desk jockeys and her shooting was better
too.  She was up to 320 of a possible 500 points.  "Not bad, Romanova."

        "Well, the last person I shot didn't even notice the bullets, but
I keep trying."

        "You've seen actual combat?"

         Nene stopped shooting because her laughter was throwing off her
aim too much.  "Among other things, I tried to go out to eat last night
and a cyberpsycho wrecked the place.  Then the roof collapsed.  I shot the
woman three times, but the bullets just bounced off, basically."

        "Subdermal armor, no doubt.  I hate that stuff.  Someone looks
perfectly normal, you fill them with lead, they just laugh."

        Nene decided not to ask how many times this had happened to Ohta,
who proceeded to launch into a long anecdote about it anyway.  Her sanity
was only saved by Ohta suddenly falling silent because two huge hands had
closed over his mouth.

        The huge man behind him said, "Guess who."  A middle-aged redhead
with greying hair stood next to both of them, laughing.
      
      Ohta said, "You're dead meat!  That's what!"  He spun around.
"Yamazaki-san!"  Nene recognized the big man now as Linna's uncle.

       "Hi, Yamazaki-san!"  That's not his wife, though, Nene thought.  

       The woman hugged Ohta, who blushed.  "We heard the sound of gunfire
in the street, so we thought you must have dropped by ADPolice
headquarters, Ohta-san."

        "Just teaching these desk jockeys how to shoot, Shinohara-san."
Ohta said.  "I don't suppose you've decided to come back and show them how
to fight too?"  There was a hint of eagerness in his voice.  Back when
Goto had been forced to resign as head of the ADPolice, almost everyone
from the old SV2 who was left had resigned en masse in a show of support
for him.  Ohta had been the only one to stay.  The police force was his life.
Also, he couldn't legally carry a gun if he wasn't a cop.  Still, it had
been very hard for him, and his friends knew he was always still hoping
they'd come back.

        "What, you're getting too fragile to do it yourself?"  Noa teased
Ohta.  Ohta was twenty years older than her, but he was made out of stone.
You'll probably outlive me, she thought.  Assuming you don't get yourself
shot, anyway.  

       Nene looked at the woman again.  Something familiar about that
name...Ahah!  "Are you Lt. Shinohara's mother?"

       Noa nodded.  "Shinohara Noa at your service.  I served in SV2 from
1999 to 2026 and then in the ADPolice for a year."  

        Nene bowed.  "I'm Romanova Nene, communications.  Nice to meet
you!  So you're the one who saved the Prime Minister?"

        Noa smiled.  "Yes.  Oh, and this is..."

        "Yamazaki Hiromi, right?  I know your niece, Linna."

        Hiromi smiled.  "Ah, so you're that Nene.  It's nice to meet you."

        "So where's your wife, Yamazaki-san?"  Ohta asked.  

       "Browbeating the young into line."

        Ohta laughed.  "Romanova-san, go back to your shooting.  Us old
fogies are going to talk for a while.  C'mon.  Shige will want to see you
guys since you dropped by."

        Nene went back to her shooting, and they headed downstairs.

***************

      Priss and Meylia got a few stares as they roared through the upper
class neighborhood.  "Maybe I should go airborne and scout from above,"
Meylia said.

       Priss nodded.  "Good idea."

       They pulled onto a side street and Meylia transformed, going
airborne.  Priss resumed searching the neighborhood where Sasami had
spotted a possible subject.  She roared past a cathedral which looked
oddly out of place in the neighborhood, among other reasons because it
looked to be decades older than the rest of the housing, which was
simultaneously high class and pre-fab.  They all looked hand made in
exactly the same way.  

        There was a parking lot on the other side of it and she spotted
Leon's car.  She turned and roared into the parking lot and drove over to
double check.  Getting out a pen and a scrap of paper, she scribbled,
'Tag, you're it.' on the paper and tucked it into the windshield.  

        Her cellular rang.  "Priss, I see someone heading for the small
house behind that cathedral."

        "Right."  Priss parked her cycle and transformed.  

***************

       Leon and Daley had been beating around the bush for a while, trying
to ask questions without outright asking anything they didn't think would
get a real answer.  It wasn't going too well.

       Bishop Hino was short and dignified, her face and bearing noble,
her hair long and black.  She was dressed in a nice business suit at the
moment and could have easily been mistaken for an average corporate
executive if she had looked less honest.  Whenever she looked at Leon or
Daley, they felt like she was penetrating into their very souls and
ferreting out their innermost secrets.  Her voice had a faint musical
tinge to it, making it easy for them to believe she had recorded musical
albums in her youth.  The hard to believe part was that she was around
sixty years old and looked twenty-five.  She looked like an older,
mature version of Rachel Yamazaki.  She would still make a good idol
singer, Leon thought.  

       "So why exactly did you come to see me?"

       Leon decided to be blunt.  "There's a nutcase running around
attacking people who resemble your basic physical type and we're trying to
both warn people and figure out what this person is up to, exactly."

        There was a disturbance at the front door and the sound of
smashing echoed through the building.  Leon leapt to his feet.  "Oh
great."

        Daley and Leon drew their guns.  "If you know a good place to
hide, you might want to use it."  Leon said.  "Daley, call for backup and
cover the bishop.  I'll check this out."

       The bishop cocked her head and her eyes got big.  "Demon."

       Leon blinked.  "What?"

       Bishop Hino got up from her desk and picked up a long staff with a
hooked end leaning against the wall.  "There is more in heaven and earth
than is dreamed of in your philosophy, officers."

        The wall shattered and a huge crazed woman with multi-colored hair
and a warped, monstrously muscular physique crashed through the wall.  She
charged towards the bishop.  Leon and Daley opened fire on her, but the
bullets were almost as much use as firing tiddlywinks at someone.  They
flattened against her skin and fell to the ground.  "Nene was right,"
Leon said.  "Must be subdermal armor."

        Bishop Hino sighed.  "No, it's a demon.  I suggest you run while
you still can."  She raised the staff and leapt over her desk, moving
towards the creature and began chanting something in Latin.  

        The creature backed up, keeping a wary eye on the staff.  

        "What, you run into demons often?"  Leon asked, reloading for
another round of fire.

        "Not since I left the Sacred Office and became a Bishop."  She
took a swipe at the wrestler, who dodged backwards.  

        Daley took off to call for backup and to try to get better guns
from the car.  Unfortunately, the wrestler spotted him and went after him.
Leon and Bishop Hino chased the wrestler through the rectory.  Daley ran
out through the front door, and the wrestler was about to follow when
someone blocked her.  

        Priss stood in the doorway, sword in hand.  "Give up now,
punk."  Protected as she was by the glamor of the house of Serenity, clad
in her battle garb, Daley didn't recognize her.  The bishop wouldn't have
recognized her in any case.  Leon paused briefly to remind himself not to
call her Priss with anyone watching.

        The wrestler wasn't willing to give up.  "URANUS!"  she bellowed
and lunged at Priss, who stabbed her with the sword while the Bishop
struck her on the back with her staff.  Multi-colored light enveloped them
and the wrestler transformed into a horrid black shadowy beast with a
reddish gem floating in its heart.  She lashed out and sent Priss flying
out into the parking lot.

        Daley ran to the car and got out some heavy rifles for himself and
Leon from the trunk.  Leon ran over to join him, while Priss and the
Bishop faced off with the thing.  Meylia dove down from the sky and boxed
the thing in on a third side.  "What is this thing, anyway?"

        "It's a demon."  Bishop Hino said.  

       Priss said.  "It's TOAST!  That's what it is."  She charged it,
slashing through it with her sword.  However, the shadows simply reformed
behind the swing.  It lashed out, sending her flying again.  

       A few pokes from the bishop only got her tossed aside as well.  The
creature turned to Meylia.  "Jupiter?"

       "I always preferred Venus, myself."  She fired a bolt at the
gemstone, guessing it was important.   It shattered to tiny bits, turning
black and falling to the ground.  The blackness dissolved away with a
final incoherent cry.

        Leon stared.  "What the hell was that?"

        The Bishop turned to him.  "Are you DEAF?  That was a demon."  She
turned to Priss and Meylia.  "I thank you for your assistance."

        Leon suddenly recognized Meylia.  "Hey, the Queen of Swords."

        She turned and looked at Leon, smiling.   "Hello, Officer
McNichol."

       "How did you know my name?"

       Priss laughed.  "Take a wild guess.  Have fun writing this one up,
officers.  I feel the need for food."

       Meylia laughed.  "Are you all right, Ms. Bishop?"

       "My last name is Hino, not Bishop,"  the Bishop said, smiling.
"I'm fine."

       Daley got some gloves and a bag and swept up the remains of the
gem.  "The lab boys are gonna think we're nuts."

       "I'll happily make a statement for you, officers, if you think they
won't believe you."  Bishop Hino said.

       "Thanks."

***************

       Ryouko and Aeka sat on one of the benches on the Quad and watched
students bustle about.  "Looks like some of them overslept,"  Ryouko said,
pointing to two students running at full tilt with half-buttoned shirts.

       "You would be the expert at that."  Aeka observed.

       "Hey, I wasn't late to all my classes!"

       "True.  Every time I dragged you out of bed or threw you out the
window, you usually woke up in time."

      "Hey, I wasn't that bad!"

      "I seem to remember someone with spikey hair sleeping through her
world history final."

      "I thought it was the next day!"
 
      Aeka laughed.  "I seem to remember someone trying to convince her
biology professor that her spaceship ate her biology project.  Perhaps
carrot research was not the ideal choice, ne?"

      "It was the only idea I could think of!  I hate science projects.
Anything really interesting would have been so far past this planet's
capabilities that they wouldn't have understood anything I said.  Also,
even Mom hadn't done a serious carrot research project."  Ryouko sighed.
"But nooooo, Ryo-ohki decided to eat the whole thing.  She even ate my
notes just because they had pictures of carrots.  She didn't get carrots
for a month after that."  

       Aeka could hardly stop laughing.  "I didn't do much better with
that speech on whether or not Japan should invest in space exploration.
When I started talking about the Khunds, the teacher must have thought I
was insane."

       Ryouko got up and struck a pose.  "The fleets of the Khunds are within
thirty light years of this system!  In days they could strike and over run
this world unless we are ready!"  She mimed drawing on the chalkboard.  "I
think the teacher liked you, or maybe he just had a good sense of humor."
The crowds were thinning as the next round of classes began.  "Why did we
ever leave here, Aeka?"

       Aeka blinked.  "Even you managed to graduate."

       Ryouko turned back to Aeka.  "That's not what I meant, and you know
it.  Why'd we ever leave this world?  We had so much fun here."

       "Because after the Alpha Cygni incident back in 2010, Father needed
us.  All my brothers and sisters except Sasami and Youshou died and
Father almost died.  We're the only family he has left and the most likely
heirs to the throne."

        Ryouko sat down again, staring up into the sky.  "That doesn't
explain why I went."

        "Tenchi had to go, and you wouldn't let him go without you."

        "He never asked to be part of all this.  All he ever wanted was a
normal life.  We could have had so much fun..."

        "What's eating you, Ryouko?  This doesn't normally bother you this
much."

        Ryouko sighed.  "I'd forgotten what it was like.  For thousands of
years, I lived day to day like this, not knowing where my next meal was
coming from, not knowing who I'd meet next.  Thousands of years of
adventure and excitement."

        "You were Peter Pan and the universe was Never-Never land."

        "Yeah."  Ryouko pretended she had some idea what Aeka was talking
about.  She had gotten good at this over the years.  "I couldn't be a kid
anymore.  But I miss being a kid.  It was fun.  It was carefree.  No one
ever called me Princess.  That's why I hate being called that.  It's a
reminder that my youth is dead and gone.  This is all bringing back too
many memories and taunting me with the knowledge it can't be like that
again."

        "Then why do you stay?  Why not take off and be free?"

        "Because I can't stand to leave the people I care about anymore.
I seem to been infected with this damn sense of duty.  I have the kids, my
husband, and you to look after.  It's my job to protect you four, and you
all seem to need it a lot."

        Aeka smiled faintly.  "I'll be happy to rescue you next time."
She paused.  "Treasure your memories of freedom, Ryouko.  You had
thousands of years of it; I only had fifteen and I'll always treasure
them.  I learned a lot in a little time."

        "What are you talking about?  You sound like you had been held
prisoner most of your life."

        "I have been.  You know how strict Juraiian etiquette can be.  You
get away with far more than I ever could, especially when I was young.  I
was a slave to my duties.  Everything I did was for the greater good of
the Juraiian Empire and very little of it was anything I really wanted.
The thing I wanted most I never got."  She fell silent.  "That's one
reason I was so desperate to find him.  It was something for me, and I
never got anything for me."

        "Is it really that bad?"  Ryouko asked, then remembered Aeka
asking her the same thing.  "I seem to have gotten some of your sense of
duty over the years."

        Aeka smiled.  "I think I've gotten some of your wildness, your
freedom, your passion over the years.  I always envied you how you could
say exactly what you felt, did what you wanted, indulged yourself.  We
were such total opposites when we met."

       "I'm surprised that Sasami didn't walk off with Tenchi while we
were fighting over him."

       Aeka laughed.  "I figured that out a few years ago and it helped me
understand why Youshou never came back to me."

       Ryouko blinked.  "There's a connection?"

       "Youshou was about as old compared to me as Tenchi was compared to
Sasami.  Well, actually Sasami was older than Tenchi, but you know what I
mean."

       Ryouko nodded.

       "The first impression someone makes on you tends to stick in your
mind.  It can shape how you see that person.  To me, Youshou was this tall
handsome man who I loved, at first almost like a father, then as I grew
older, as someone I wanted to marry.  But to Youshou, I was always his
little sister.  The same for Tenchi and Sasami.  I think he still sees the
little girl when he looks at her.  Tenchi was an only child.  He always
wanted a sister.  That's what Sasami became, regardless of what she might
have wanted."

       "While you and Tenchi, being the 'same age', didn't get into that
kind of relationship."

       Aeka nodded.  "That psychology class really did come in useful,
even if the teacher didn't actually believe anything he was saying.  I
think Father would have freaked even more over Sasami marrying Tenchi 
than me marrying him."

       Ryouko nodded.  "You know, I still don't know what made him finally
decide to let me marry Tenchi.  I know he and Tenchi had a very long talk
that night, but Tenchi claimed he still was refusing to allow it when they
finished talking, even after Tenchi threatened to go back to Earth.  Then
the next day, no explanation, he reversed his position."

        Aeka laughed.  "Do you REALLY want to know?"

        "Of course I want to know!  I don't ask rhetorical questions!"

        Aeka's face got very flat and calm.  "I promised him you'd sleep
with him."

        Ryouko got huge eyes.  "You WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?"

        Aeka fell over, laughing.  "You are SO gullible, Ryouko!  You
actually believe I'd do something that insane?"

        Ryouko fumed.  "What happened to a Princess' word is her bond?"

        "Even a Princess may yank someone's chain every once in a while.
Seriously, what really happened was that I went to him and told him that
if he didn't approve the wedding, I'd run away with Tenchi and never come
back.  And if he tried to marry me to someone else as a punishment, I'd
kill whoever he picked.  If he tried to find another wife for Tenchi, I'd
kill her.  You and I would be Tenchi's wives, or else."  Her voice was
quiet now.  "I think he almost decided to take his chances, but I wouldn't
back down, no matter how loudly he yelled and lectured me about my duty.
I didn't care.  I've always done everything his way, the empire's way.
For once, I was going to do it my way, to follow my heart.  No champions,
no one to fight my battle for me.  I had to do it myself.  I fought and I
won.  I think it's the moment I'm most proud of in my entire life."

       Ryouko thumped Aeka on the back.  "Good for you, girl!  I guess all
those arguments we had made a good warm-up for this, eh?"

       Aeka smiled.  "I just asked myself what you would do in my
situation, then left out the part where you blasted him."

       Ryouko laughed heartily.  "I think you should have left that part
in."  She sobered a little.  "I never knew you did that.  I wish I had
known so I could have thanked you."

       "I owe you more than I could ever repay, Ryouko.  I'd be dead many
times over and lost the man I love if not for you.  Now, if you only
wouldn't leave your clothing all over the floor..."

       "What's the point of having servants if you don't have work for
them to do?"

       "We don't have servants in the hotel room!"

       "Oh, THAT floor."  Ryouko paused.  "What do you think your father is
going to think about Nene?"

       "The forecaster predicts periodic explosions, followed by rantings
about bloodlines and what the Senate will think.  I plan to teach Nene as
much Juraiian etiquette as possible so that she will be able to put on a
good show.  I think I can also use the case of Ryalin IV as a precedent."

      "I think I'll teach Nene how to blow up your father."  They both
laughed.  "I hope she'll be able to adapt.  It's so completely different
from her life here.  She'll be giving up a lot if she sticks this out."

       "Every choice you make forces you to give something up.  We start
with infinite possibilities and one by one, we narrow our choices by the
decisions we make, carving out the story of our life, stroke by stroke,
with everything we do.  She'll gain a lot too, you know.  A longer life
and a universe to explore.  Knowledge beyond her imagining.  Jurai does
have some good things ."

       "Yeah.  Life in the palace has its advantages, and I have to admit
I love doing spy stuff."

       "Just don't set up any more matchmaking sessions with Orandans for
our kids, okay?"

       "How was I supposed to know they were all giant snakes who use
illusions?  The one I met was really cool, and he looked like a Juraiian!
I thought Ryu and Manami might meet someone they liked!  Mom never
emphasized interstellar geography when I was little."

       "The worst part of it was that Mother knew you were messing up and
she let you do it.  She knew all along."

       "She KNEW?  And she let me embarrass myself like that?"

       Aeka smiled.  "She's a lot smarter than she acts.  You know that.
Besides, she thinks Orandans are cute.  She nearly crushed the poor
ambassador to death."

        They reminisced for a very long time.

**************

     The Old Man ruled the ADPolice HQ repair facilities.  He had been
doing mechanical work for the police since the dawn of time as far as
anyone knew.  In 7 years, the ADPolice had gone through four chiefs, but
the Old Man had outlasted them all.  He'd been doing mechanical work for
decades before that.  He could identify any part to anything on sight.  He
could fix a broken K-11 battlesuit with a ball of twine and bubblegum and
have it work better than before.  You couldn't speak without him hearing
you, he was everywhere at once, and he rode them all like a mad dog.  They
feared him, they respected him, and they loved him.  The rest of the
ADPolice never had the equipment they needed;  the Old Man made sure the
mechanics had the most up to date equipment available, even if the stuff
they were fixing wasn't of the same quality.  

       The Old Man was unmarried.  He was married to his job and his
machines.  Thus, the entire staff nearly fainted when a woman walked into
the facilities and hugged him.  Several staff members swore off alcohol on
the spot.  "Hiya, Shige-san."  Noa said.  "We thought we'd come down and
visit you."

       Shige laughed.  "You sure you're not trying to get me to come do a
house call on Alphonse?"

       "He's just fine.  Hiromi and I were driving around town and thought
we'd drop by and see you and Ohta-san."

       The crew continued to stare.  A woman.  Talking to their boss.
They couldn't believe it.  Shige looked around.  "What are you people
staring at?  GO BACK TO WORK!"

       They dove back to work, but the whispering had started.  Shige
smiled faintly.  "Come into my office."

        They adjourned to his office.  Shige pushed a button on his desk,
then closed the door.  "So the chief came to see you too?"  Everyone sat
down.

        Noa blinked.  "I...how did you know?"  

        "You look more alive than I've seen you in years.  It's not that
you were unhappy, but I know you.  You're just not alive unless you're
driving a labor.  That's why I plan to work 'til I drop dead with a wrench
in my hand.  I know you only left to show your support for the chief.  So,
while it's possible you've just been showing off for someone in
Alphonse..."

         Ohta laughed.  "You sure you're not Sherlock Holmes now?  If the
chief needed labor pilots, he would have called me in too, ya know."

         Noa and Hiromi got a little uncomfortable.  They had sort of
assumed that Ohta knew.  On second thought, Noa realized that Ohta would
have been out there every day if he knew.

         Ohta continued.  "I know something is up, though.  The chief and
his wife and some friends of his came to see me the other day.  It was
supposedly a social call, but I'm not dumb.  He told me he suspected there
might be an attack on the ADPolice HQ again, though he wouldn't explain
why.  That's one reason I've been working so hard with those desk jockeys.
That incident with Dr. Miriam showed we were vulnerable because the desk
staff doesn't know how to fight.  I tried to convince the higher ups we
needed more and better mechs, but they wouldn't listen.  I would have been
happy to train the rest of the staff in using them."  His voice was eager.
They could tell that what he really wanted was another chance to go into
action; that he would almost welcome such an attack.

       "They wouldn't do it because they're not nuts, Ohta."  The door
opened and an unexpected voice dominated the room.  "And the chief didn't
tell you anything because he was waiting for your forward to arrive.
Luckily for you, I had some vacation time coming and so did my husband."

       Ohta spun in surprised.  "Kanuka Clancy-san!"

        Kanuka smiled.  She was older now, with grey hair like the others,
but she had kept in fine shape.  "That's Assistant Commissioner Kanuka
McClaine now.  I've been married for twenty years; you ought to
remember it since you came to the wedding, Ohta-san."

       "McClaine is such a goofy sounding name."  Ohta said.  "Clancy was
much better."

       "You'd sing a different tune if you had to put up with all the
jokes and questions about whether you were related to Tom Clancy."  Kanuka
smiled.  "Don't everyone say hello at once."

       Noa ran over and hugged Kanuka.  "Where's your husband?"

       Kanuka laughed.  "Switching hotels.  He's soooo paranoid about
finding the right hotel.  Not to mention wherever we go, we usually end up
changing hotels every few days.  Getting him onto a plane's really hard
too.  He won't go back to the Kennedy Space Center anymore, either."

       Shige laughed.  "I'm surprised you two even try to take vacations
anymore."

       "If I don't get out of New York periodically, I go mad."

       "How could anyone tell?"  Ohta asked.

       Hiromi said quietly, "Don't taunt your forward, Ohta.  You'll
regret it."

       "How is CLAT doing, Kanuka-san?"  Shige asked.

       "Better than you guys, but then US Robots and Mechanical Men
doesn't make half as much trouble as GENOM and Gulf and Bradley is based
in Houston, so the Texas Rangers get to play with their creations instead
of us."

        There was a lot of catching up to be done.

***************

      The chief stared at Leon and Daley.  "All that's left of the killer
is a shattered gemstone?"

      "And some dust, sir."  Daley said, pointing at the other envelope.
"We have a sworn statement from the bishop."

       "What am I supposed to tell the families of those dock workers?"

       "The killer died fighting the police.  Which is what happened."

       "Plus the Queen and Knight of Swords.  What's next, the King and
the Page of Swords?"

       "I suppose Quincy is the King of Coins and Kate Madigan the Queen,"
Daley said.

       Leon laughed.  "Linna must be the Queen of Cups, the way she
drinks."

       "Seriously, this city is starting to crawl with unexplained beings
and events, like that weird outbreak a few weeks ago which we still
haven't solved.  People have been turning up dead in weird ways.  The
Queen of Swords, who must be a boomer, but why GENOM would make a
super-boomer to kill its own boomers, I don't know.  This new person, the
Knight of Swords.  I had two officers report they saw a woman with green
spiky hair leaving the site of a boomer death by phasing through a wall.
Good, honest officers who don't drink on duty or hallucinate.  Rumors of
something strange happening at USSD.  Spies in the force who were admitted
on the recommendation of city leaders.  Rumors that one of the Sailor
Warriors has crawled out of whatever hole they've been in all these years
and is going around smiting evil.  Someone from GENOM was here this
morning inquiring as to what happened to the old Ingrams after they were
phased out in the 2020s.  I can smell a storm coming, gentlemen, and we
make a mighty big lightning rod.  I want answers and I want them now."
Chief Todo was agitated, not with anger, but with concern.

       Leon said, "What did happen to those Ingrams?"

       "Sold to Thailand, I think.  Provided a lot of the cost of this
building, actually."  Chief Todo said.  "The funny thing is that GENOM
could have found that out without bugging me.  I wasn't even in Japan yet
at that point in time.  That was Saito's first action after he replaced
Goto as Chief.  Saito was practically on their payroll.  Everyone thought
GENOM was behind the move...yet, they had to come ask."

       "In other words, someone too new to GENOM to know wanted to know
for some reason."

       "Why would anyone CARE?"  Daley asked.  "Do they even make those
things anymore?"

       "I know where there's one in this city.  There's a restaurant run
by an ex-SV2 officer.  She has one."

       "..."  Daley was surprised.  "A functional Ingram INSIDE the city
limits in the hands of a civilian?"

       Leon nodded.  "You've heard of Izumi Noa, right?"

       "Oh...her."

        The chief laughed faintly.  "She's in the building visiting some
old friends.  Most of her old team resigned when Goto did, back in the
late 2020s.  There's still some of them here, though, like that lunatic
Ohta that Yamano dredged up to teach our desk staff to shoot."

        "What's the point of that anyway?"

       "Having the ADPolice HQ taken over by boomers last Christmas didn't
exactly help our reputation.  It's almost certain to happen again
eventually, especially with all this weird stuff going on.  I'd rather we
be ready."  The chief sighed.  "Anyway, you two go home.  Consider this
case closed, I guess.  I'll let you know if I need you."

        They both headed home.

***************

        Wasyuu finished the final adjustments.  This should work, she
thought.  It had taken her all of ten hours to build this machine, but
THIS time, it WOULD work, she was sure.  She and Ryu took cover behind the
blast shield as extra-cosmic energies surged through the control chamber,
warping the very fabric of space and time around a single flat silvery
disc with a hole in the middle.  

         Finally, a bell pinged and Ryu popped his head up.  "I think
we're done, grandma."

        She nodded.  "Right.  Let's test it out."  Putting on radiation
suits, they entered the chamber and extracted the disc, then inserted it
into a small testing device.  Soon the strains of 'Bob and his Chainsaw'
erupted through the room, sending them both fleeing.

       "You're right.  You really can't record over those damn things."
Wasyuu said.  "What use is a storage media you can't change?"

        "That's gonna make this a lot harder."

        Ryu nodded.  "Wait...could you make a duplicate that LOOKED the
same, but had different sounds stored on it?"

        Wasyuu slapped herself.  "I can't believe I didn't think of that.
You sure she doesn't like Zylcanian Xsither music?"

        "She once got so aggravated with it, she tried to toss the
musician out the window."

       "Right.  Now I just have to find that recording I made once of
Mihoshi singing at a karaoke bar."

       "What ever possessed you to do that?"

       "I realized it made a great burglar deterrent.  They hear that and
they run and never come back."
 
       Ryu couldn't argue with that.

***************

      Priss pulled the motorcycle to a halt, and she and Meylia got off
it.  This was Priss' favorite stretch of beach.  She always went here when
she wanted to think or to have a private conversation with someone.  "Here
we are."

      Meylia stretched.  The shadows were long on the ground; the air was
cooler than in the city.  Waves crashed gently against the shore.  The beach 
was isolated and quiet despite the highway nearby.  "So why do you think that 
thing was after her?"

      "It thought she was Sailor Mars for some reason.  If we knew where
it came from, maybe we could guess."  Priss parked her bike and walked
over to the edge of the sand.  "Some old monster looking for revenge, I
guess.  Maybe she trapped it for thirty years and it just now escaped."

      A voice cut through the stillness.  "It was a droid, created a
thousand years in the future and brought back through time by the Weird
Sisters close to forty years ago.  It was revived by a fool tampering with
powers he doesn't understand."  It was Pluto.  How she had snuck up on
them, Priss had no idea.  

     Meylia blinked and turned to Priss.  "A friend of yours?"

     "No.  Here to spout more enigmatic bullshit at me, Pluto?"

     "The reason it was looking for the bishop is that the bishop IS
Sailor Mars.  She is one of those you must awaken.  Z draws ever closer to
finding the crystal.  You must not delay.  You must find it before he
does, or this city will perish and this world with it."

      Meylia listened quietly, trying to figure out who this person was
and what was going on.

      "I don't know how to get to where it is!"

      "Ask the master of sub-space.  She can open the door, and the
dreamer can guide you to what you seek.  Gather your court, princess, for
you will need them."  Pluto turned and began to walk away.

      "Hey, are you gonna just LEAVE?"

      Pluto smiled.  "I don't think you really want me to stay."

      She passed behind a tree and vanished.

      "Who was that?"

      "I don't suppose you know who the master of sub-space is?"

      "I think Wasyuu calls herself that sometimes."

       "Right.  We have another trip to make."

***************

      Linna sat at the bar and sighed, drinking another beer.  Damn dream,
she thought.  Were those really the fates?  What the hell were they
talking about?  And where the hell is Priss?  I need to tell her what I
found out, but I can't find her anywhere.  Heck, I can't find anyone
except Celia, and she wouldn't know anything about this.  So what am I
doing?  I'm sitting in a trashy bar drinking lousy American beer.  

      She shoved away the beer, paid her bill, got up, and stormed out.
I feel like hopping a train to Hokkaido and hiding for a few weeks, she
thought.  I hate all this pressure.  I'm surrounded by enigmatic
all-powerful beings.  

       The streets flew by.  She didn't know where she was going; she just
went.  It was the best she could do.  No one paid any attention to her.
The streets of Mega-Tokyo are a great place to be anonymous.  However, she
wasn't paying attention to where she was going, either.

       Thus, when she rammed head on into someone, she didn't even realize
what she had done for a few seconds.  Packages flew everywhere, as did a
sheaf of papers in a huge spray of white rain.  Linna started picking
things up.  "I'm sorry.  I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."

      "That's okay.   I wasn't in any hurry, anyway."  The woman's voice
was soft and pleasant.  She had ash-blonde hair in an odd style, a little wavy
with a spiky tuft in front.  More unusual was the blue tattoo on her
forehead and her turban-like headgear.  "Are you okay?  You look like
something is bothering you."

       Linna started.  How could the woman tell?  "Yeah.  I just feel like
my life is out of control."  In a more sane moment, Linna would have asked
herself why she was telling this to a woman she had never met before.
This wasn't a more sane moment, however.

       "Oh, by the way, my name is Belldandy.  Nice to meet you."  

       "Nice to meet you too, I'm Linna."

       "Linna Yamazaki, the dancer and health instructor?"  Belldandy
smiled as she finished picking up her packages.

      "I...you know me?"

      "My eldest daughter goes to your gym."

      Linna laughed.  "It's not exactly MY gym.  I just work there.  How
did you know I used to be a dancer?"

      "I can just look at you and tell.  You move like a dancer.  Thanks
for helping me pick up my packages."

       "You're welcome."

      "Maybe I can treat you to a drink somewhere in thanks?"

      "Sure."  When Linna looked back on this, she would wonder how
exactly she had forgotten that she herself had been responsible for the
packages being knocked down in the first place.

***************

      Leon dropped Daley off at his apartment.  Daley paused in the
doorway of the car.  "Be careful, Leon."

      "Eh, what?"

      "I think the chief is right.  Something funny is up.  Maybe we're
going to have another night of chaos like the Millennial riots.  Maybe
worse.  I've got a really bad feeling about all this."

      "I'll be careful,"  Leon said, trying to soothe Daley's worries.

      "I wish I could believe that.  You're not any better at being
cautious than your girlfriend is.  I don't want to go to your funeral."

      "What's eating you, man?  You're not normally this morbid."  Leon's
usual grin wavered.

      "That thing we fought.  Whatever it was...I wish I'd never seen it.
If it really was a demon, then there's more where that came from...What
good are guns and police departments against supernatural monsters?  If
those things are real, why does everyone think they're imaginary?  Is
there a cover-up?  And who's conducting it?  The government?  Or worse,
the monsters?  They might be..."  he shook his head.  "I really am not
looking forward to going into my apartment.  I feel like something's
waiting for me."  He shook his head.  "I'm really being a goober, eh?"

      "You want me to come up with you?"

      "No.  I'll be fine.  I'm just being an idiot.  I think I'm gonna go
buy a crucifix and have the local temple bless my apartment though."
Daley turned to go.  "Or maybe go find out what else the bishop knows
about demons."

       "She did act like she'd encountered them before."

      "Goodnight, Leon."

      "Goodnight, Daley."  Leon watched Daley until he disappeared into
the building.  I hope he's gonna be okay.

*************

     "So apparently they're going to judge me for something or something.
I dunno.  Maybe I'm going nuts."  Linna finished telling Belldandy about
her dream.  She could hardly believe she had told her about it, but it was
too late now.

      Belldandy frowned.  "The Fates rarely make house calls, and no one
ever likes it when they do.  Are you going to be in a dance contest of
some kind sometime soon?"

      "Not that I'm aware of.  I haven't been in one in a few years."

      "Do you have any enemies?"

      "Living or dead?"

      "Do you have any enemies who dance?"

      "I've never seen any of my enemies dance.  You think this has
something to do with dancing?"

      "They called you two things.  Dancer and warrior.  Warfare doesn't
normally require judges, but a dance contest..."

      "You think the fates will judge a dance contest between me and
someone?"

      "I can't imagine why the Fates would be interested, but it seems
likely."

      "I guess I need to practice."

      Belldandy nodded.  "Also, if you see a woman with something like
this on her forehead,"  she said, drawing a v-shaped symbol on a napkin,
"run as fast as you can and call me.  I don't know if she has anything to
do with this, but..."  She scribbled a number on her napkin.  "You can
usually reach me here."

       "Who would this woman be?"

       "Her name is Marller.  She's a demon."

       A few weeks ago, Linna would have laughed her head off.  She had
now reached the point where she simply quietly accepted this as almost
normal.  "Does she dance?"

       "She can't abide Disco music.  You can drive her off with it.  I
pray you won't have to have a dance contest with her.  She's very good."

       Linna copied down the phone number and started thinking about where
she could buy a disco CD.

**************