Philosophers have argued for centuries over whether or not there was
a prime mover, an uncaused cause.  If everything is caused by something
else, then either we must have an endless chain of causation, a circle,
where the end is also the beginning, or there must be an unmoved mover, a
cause that has no cause.  If such is the case, then all stories are but
part of one story, with a single beginning, and perhaps a single end.
Life seems often a variegated tapestry, an interweaving of stories, of
lives that come together and move apart, an endless dance to an unseen
tune.  Thus, every story is many stories as well, for the life of every
person in a story is their story.  

	Thus, to start a story at the beginning is always a challenge, for
often there is no single beginning, unless there is a beginning to all
things.  Perhaps this story begins on a train in Russia, in 1918...

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

	The locomotive rumbled through the wastes of Siberia.  For nearly 13
years, Andrei Andropov had driven the transcontinental line back and forth
from the Pacific to Moscow almost every day of his life.  This was the
first time he'd ever transported royalty, though.  The monarchy might have
fallen, but Andrei was still loyal to it.  The Czar himself had given
Andrei a medal for his faithful service in 1905 during the aftermath of
the Russo-Japanese war when he had defied a group of mutinous soldiers and
diverted the train to take them to where they could be dealt with.  He
didn't have a left foot anymore because of that, but he kept going.  

	Now, the last survivor of the Russian royal family was on his
train.  A young girl named Anastasia Romanova, and her uncle, Sergei.
Andrei was somewhat suspicious of Sergei.   His Russian was flawless and
the girl clearly trusted him implicitly, but he didn't look Russian.
Something...something just wasn't quite right.

	They had stopped in a small village to get more coal.  Andrei
prayed that the Soviet forces of those damn revolutionaries hadn't spread
this far east yet.  He and the coalman finished loading coal onto the
train.  Soon, they were moving out across the tundra again.  He didn't
know they had another passenger...

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

	Or perhaps it began a hundred years later, somewhere in Japan.

                            ************** 
     
	Dr. Stingray parked his car in the garage and unloaded a very large
crate.  He could barely move it on his own.  His daughter, Celia, helped
his son, Macky, get out of the car.  Celia was twelve and Macky was six
now.  They had taken a family vacation to a shrine out in the mountains.
You could hardly tell from the joy in his children's eyes that their
parents had just gotten divorced.  

	Celia did her best to help her father haul in the crate while Macky
opened the door for them.  Her father took the crate to his lab, then went
to fix some dinner for the three of them.  Celia helped him, of course,
while Macky watched 'The New Adventures of Astroboy' on the TV.  

 	Later that night, Dr. Stingray opened the crate hesitantly.  Inside
was a giant cylinder of what looked like wood.  There were the remains of
a kanji painted on it, faded by age.  But it was what was INSIDE the
cylinder which concerned him.

	He didn't get any sleep that night.

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

	Or perhaps it all started long, long ago, on a planet far, far away.

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

	"The sentence is death.  For the destruction of an entire planet of
sentient beings, you have been condemned to disintegration, Walyn.  Do you
have any last requests?"

	Three figures sat behind a bench, shrouded in darkness by the bright
lights that shone from behind them onto the figure before them, an
unimpressive man in a simple blue robe.  "As I said before, I did not kill
them all.  I made sure eight of them survived.  Destruction for its own
sake is pointless.  You must make sure some survive so you can see how
they respond.  I did it all to advance knowledge.  I did it for science."

	One of the three judges shuddered, her spiky hair visibly shaking.
"Don't talk to me about science.  The Academy has repudiated you and all
your work.  We've destroyed every known copy of your results.  Nothing you
have done will live on."

	The third judge spoke, a tall willowy woman with long blue hair.
"As you have destroyed, so shall your legacy be destroyed. By the
authority vested in me, I pronounce the sentence of death."

	He smiled.  "My work will go on without me.  For a year of
centuries, it will go on.  Do not think I do not know who you are.  This
is only the beginning."

	They were his last words before the third figure pushed a button
and he was reduced to subatomic particles.  For him, it was the ending,
but for them, it was the opening of a door they would long strive
unsuccessfully to push shut.

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

Prelude:  Meylia

The Dance of Shiva,
A crossover of many series.

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

	But we shall begin here, in Mega-Tokyo, in the year 2034...

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

	The woman lay in the bed that morning, as she had lain in it every
day for the last thirteen years.  She had been injured by a rampaging
drunk in a labor.  She had in fact, been a cause celebre for a time.  This
had been one of the last straws leading to the passage of the 2022 laws
that had massively restricted the use of labors.  Combined with the
release of the first models of boomers in that year and the years
following, labors had almost entirely disappeared from use.  The giant
mechs had become the playthings of the rich, or were used only by very
backward and desperate companies that had acquired them cheaply.  Even
Shinohara Industries, once the giant of the Labor market, had gone on to
other things.  

	Meanwhile, she lingered, almost forgotten, in a coma.  Rich
relatives--or at least SOMEONE--was paying to keep her alive.  Once a
year, two people came to see her, on the anniversary of her accident, a
boy and a girl, growing older over the years.  The staff could almost mark
the passage of time by their arrival.  Her grandchildren, they thought.
The woman herself was old, though she looked younger than her records
claimed. They asserted she had been born in 1956, and the year was now
2034.  Yet, her hair had only begun to gray in the last five years, and
she had far fewer wrinkles than some women a decade younger.  A few of the
nurses made jokes about how much good beauty sleep really will do you.
Still, she was the healthiest person in a coma they'd ever seen.  

	She was also perhaps the least visited patient in the hospital, and
thus the head nurse was stunned when four men in suits came to the front
desk and asked about visiting hours to see her.  She would have been
perhaps more stunned if she could have looked upstairs and seen the woman
suddenly jolt, yawn, and sit up.  Where am I? she thought, then rather
quickly realized she was in a hospital.  She instinctively felt her head.
It was free of bandages, huge bumps, or other obvious signs of damage.  I
must have gotten a concussion or something.   Why are all these machines
attached to me?  A nurse walked by and she hailed the nurse.  "Excuse me,
Miss.  What is today?"

	"It's March 15, 2034."  The nurse blinked.  Wasn't this patient
supposedly in a coma?

	The woman stared blankly.  I must be dreaming.  The last time I
was awake, it was 2021!  Her head felt funny too.  There was this strange
buzzing feeling, a feeling of danger.  She'd felt it before, right before
her accident, the one that had put her here.  "I...have there been any
visitors?"

	The nurse smiled.  "Once a year, just like clockwork, these two kids
come to see you.  Well, I guess they're not kids anymore, really."

	Heavy footsteps echoed down the hallway.  The sense of danger, of
power approaching, grew stronger.  "Can you get all this stuff off me?"

	"Well, let me go get a doctor to get approval."

	As the nurse turned to go, the woman said, "I...has my son come
to see me?"

	"Not unless he's around 17 or so now.  At least not since I've been
working here, and I've been here ten years."  She turned and left.

	The woman sat quietly on the bed.  Has something happened to my son?
Why hasn't he come to see me?  And why do I feel like I'm in danger?

	Four men came to the door, carrying briefcases.  They stepped
inside.  One of them looked at her chart.  She said, "Umm..hello?"

	The man looking at the chart said, "She's the one."

	To her horror, they proceeded to pull out submachineguns.  They
opened fire.  To their surprise, as she screamed, "NO!!!!!!," a glowing
field of light appeared between her and them and the bullets quietly
melted to slag as fast as they came.  She wrenched herself loose from the
machines and leapt out the window desperately.  The chase was on.

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

	Daley put down the phone.  "Come on, Leon, we've got a really weird
one this time."

	Leon got up and tossed on his jacket.  "Giant rampaging Vision
Boomer?"

	Daley laughed.  "Worse.  Four boomers chasing a flying woman in a
hospital gown."

	Leon blinked.  "WHAT?"

	"This town gets more insane every day."  They ran for their car.

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

	Celia was talking to a customer when Macky ran up to her.  "Phone
call for you."

	Celia went into her office.  "Yes?"

     	"You're not going to BELIEVE THIS!"  It was Nene.

     	"You shouldn't call me here."

     	"Turn on the news!"

     	She turned on the small TV in her office.  The 'Live Action News
Crew' of Channel 52's newscopter was broadcasting live footage of what
rather distinctly looked like a middle-aged woman in a hospital gown
flying over the city, with boomers shooting at her.  Then she turned and a
beam of energy fired from her palm vaporizing one of the boomers.

      	Celia said into the phone, "I can't believe this."

      	Nene said, "I assume we're going to scramble?"

      	Celia paused.  "Yes."  This was going to be a strange one.  She
could smell it.

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

     	Leon and Daley raced down the highway.  It had been blocked off
where the battle seemed to be occurring.  There was a heavy weapons squad
deployed here.  They drove up.  Looking around, Leon quickly spotted the
ranking officer.  "Lieutenant Shinohara, what's going on here?"

     	Lieutenant Shinohara Moemi was a skinny, boyish woman, one of the
first graduates of the ADPolice Academy, back in 2030.  She was in her 
late twenties now.  Her hair was short, reddish, and straight, though
you could hardly see it under her uniform cap, and her figure was slender.
She was the one of the shortest Lieutenants Leon knew, and also one of the
best.  Her parents had both been cops, though they were retired now.
"Three boomers trying to kill some boomer that looks like an old woman and
fires energy beams.  She's already killed two boomers.  That we know of."

      	Daley looked up.  "If she's a boomer, why is she wearing a hospital
gown and..."

      	There was a sudden glow.  They looked up and saw the woman now
seemed to be wearing something that rather resembled a ceremonial kimono.
Leon said, "I feel like I'm in a bad episode of 'You thought it couldn't
happen to you'."

      	Daley said, "Hmm, they're heading towards the new Mall aren't they?"

      	Leon swore.  "Shinohara, let's get moving...Time to make a really
big mess."

      	Shinohara smiled.  "Right.  They'll be putting this one in the
history books..."

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

     	The first warning the mall had of impending doom was when the
roof over the food court shattered and a middle-aged woman in a kimono
zoomed through the ceiling, followed by three boomers.  People began
streaming out of the mall in a panic.  The woman turned and fired a blast,
sending flaming chunks of boomer crashing into the McDonald's in the food
court.  

     	The ADPolice squads crashed into the mall through the east entrance
as the Boomers chased the woman into Victoria's Secret's newest store in
Japan.  Soon, bits of underwear were flying everywhere.   

     	The need to get the civilians out of the way slowed down the
ADPolice squads.  By the time they got everyone out of the way, the
boomers and woman had crashed their way into a record store and there was
one less boomer.  The woman flew right at the ADPolice squad, a look of
terror on her face, pursued by two boomers, their guns blazing away.  

     	Ignoring the woman for the moment, the ADPolice squad opened fire on
the boomers.  They were a heavy weapons unit, with a mixture of low-grade
battlemovers and high powered hand weaponry.  The boomers themselves were
high grade models, 56-C, designed for Polar Combat conditions.  While they
weren't as heavily armed as some models, they were fast and maneuverable
and could fly for a long time.

	Daley spent a few moments, wondering again how something so
completely unaereodynamic could possibly fly.  Of course, the woman was
flying too...and she didn't even have a jet.  He stared at her as she
touched down by him and Leon.  She looked human.  He'd never seen a boomer
look terrified, and he'd rarely seen any designed to look old.  He glanced
at her palms.  Flesh just like his.  How the hell was she firing those
energy bolts around?  This reminded him of those old magical girl shows
too much.  She was middle-aged, but in remarkably good shape, with long
black hair with a few strands of grey.  Her eyes were a clear blue, though
shrouded by tears, and she had some sort of tattoo on her forehead that
looked like three triangular wedges in blue.  There were also dark brown
wedges along her cheeks; the overall effect reminded him of warpaint.   
She was wearing a long formal blue and green kimono with a positively
humongous and rather stiff bow in the back.  

      	Leon said to her, "What the hell is going on here?"

      	The woman tried to pull herself together.  "I was in the hospital
and they tried to KILL me!"  She shuddered.

      	"You were visiting someone?"

      	"I was a patient.  There was an accident with a malfunctioning labor
and I got a concussion, I think."  She looked at the battle.  One of the
boomers was wrestling with Lt. Shinohara, who was in a battlemover, while
the other was busy wasting a large portion of the Heavy Weapons Squad.
"What are these things?  Aliens?"

      	Leon blinked.  "They're combat boomers."

      	"They're what?"  What's a boomer?, she wondered.

      	Daley coughed.  "You mean to tell us you don't know what a boomer
is?"

      	She thought for a moment.  "Oh wait, they're some kind of robot?"

      	"Yeah."  Daley paused.  "Wait, you got injured by a labor?"

      	The woman nodded.  "Over in the Ginza."

      	Leon said, "Wow, there haven't been many of those in the city for
a long time."

      	Lieutenant Shinohara finished off her boomer and went after the
second one, which was busy dodging shots from the remaining members of
her squad.  "Damnit, where's our backup?...why aren't the rest of the
people showing up?"

     	"What's your name, anyway?,"  Daley asked.

     	"I'm Meylia.  Meylia ..."  The rest of what she said was drowned out
by an explosion.  The Sony Store at the far end of the hallway exploded
and four more boomers came zooming out of it.  The woman shrieked and took
to the air, zooming off down the main court of the mall.  Glass shattered
in her wake.  

      	Daley just stared at her in utter confusion.  Maybe this is a
nightmare, he thought.  

      	We're fucked, Leon thought.  He pulled out his gun and snapped a
shot at the boomer as he dived behind a large potted plant for what little
cover it could provide.  He took off the boomer's lower right leg, for
what good that would do.  

     	The boomers mowed down the rest of the ADPolice squad, except for
Lieutenant Shinohara, who was still going mano a mano with the remaining
boomer of the first squad, and three other members of her squad who kept
their heads and took cover in an electronics store.  The 'electrical fuzz'
from the 3000 or so functioning devices in the store were bad news for the
boomers' senses, and provided just that extra incentive to forget about
the three hapless policemen and chase their target instead.  

      	Leon and Daley fired at the boomers as they passed overhead.  This
was almost as effective as trying to stop a nuke with a flyswatter.  Leon
turned to Daley and said, "Someone wants this woman very thoroughly dead,
whoever she is."

      	"My theory is that pizza I had last night is causing me to
hallucinate the entire thing."

      	The woman darted into the S-Mart at the end of the mall.  Before
the boomers could follow her, three lithe figures dropped down through the
cupola at that end of the mall and blocked their path.  

     	Daley laughed.  "Here comes our guardian angels.  I wonder where the
pink one is?"

      	Leon turned and saw Lieutenant Shinohara slam the boomer she was
fighting into the ground.  He fired and detonated its head.  Well, at
least we accomplished something today, he thought, then settled back to
watch the show as the Sabres took the four other boomers apart.  

      	Lt. Shinohara rounded  up the remains of her squad and radioed for
medical help, then came over to Leon.  "We just watch now?"

      	"Feel free to pitch in and help them...My general experience is that
it works best to not get in their way."  Leon said.

       	The fight was over quickly.  Bits of boomers were scattered
everywhere.  The Sabres paused, then plunged into the store.

      	"They're after the woman too,"  Lt. Shinohara said.

      	Leon and Daley nodded.  Leon said, "Stay here and wait for the
medical teams.  We'll go take a look."

      	"What if they're hostile, sir?"

      	"You think any of us could stand up those hardsuits?"

      	She frowned.  "We need better equipment, not stuff that's five
years out of date.  Street punks are almost as well armed as we are."

      	Leon laughed.  "We could be the Tank Police."

      	They both laughed at the thought, then Leon and Daley took off
running.

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

      	The Sabres flew through S-mart.  Unfortunately, it was real big,
they were real small, and pretty soon they had mainly succeeded in getting
lost and discovering a really good sale on toilet paper in Aisle 4-b.

      	"This place is a maze", Linna said over her radio.

      	Celia nodded.  "Quite."

      	"What the hell is this thing we're chasing, anyway?  Whoever heard
of a boomer in a kimono?"  Priss asked, zooming through women's clothing.

     	"I don't know.  But I'm interested in finding out why Genom sent
this many boomers to kill it."  Celia was increasingly wishing Nene had
been able to come.  The one brief reading she had gotten on the woman
seemed to indicate she was either completely organic, or was capable of
faking human heat signatures and cloaking all of the EM emissions she
should have been giving off.  On the other hand, she was emitting some
sort of strange energy.  Her own equipment didn't have enough
sophistication to really give her a clear idea of what.  More important,
the woman had been flying, and humans don't fly under their own power.  

     	The Sabres zoomed about through S-mart.  After a few minutes, Daley
and Leon reached the entrance, right about the same time as the Sabres
realized that the person they were looking for was gone.

     	As Leon was about to speak, the Sabres zoomed off.  He sighed.
"When do we get to learn to fly?"

     	Daley laughed.  "My wings are still at the cleaners."

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

     	Meylia stared at herself in the mall bathroom mirror.  What's
happened to me?  Where did these tattoos come from?  How did I get into
this outfit, anyway?  The events of the last few hours were a blur of
fear, anger, and power in her mind.  She stared at her hands.  Was I
really flinging blasts of energy around like some sorceress?  

     	She looked at the newspaper she had found abandoned in the bathroom.
The date was March 15, 2034.  For a moment, she just stared at it in
shock, then started to skim through it.  People and places she had never
seen.  Politicians she had never heard of.  Talk of a space station.  

     	It's time to go home, she thought.  Assuming Douglas hasn't moved in
the last 13 years...Maybe I should go back to the hospital...someone has
been paying my bills.  I should be able to get my son's address or my
husband's.  

     	She turned to go.  Wait, what if there's more people waiting to kill
me?  More of those...boomers.  The word was strange in her mind.  I can't
go back to the hospital...not openly.

     	She paused and laughed faintly to herself.  A phonebook.  If
they're in Mega-Tokyo, I can find them in the phone book.  As soon as I
figure out how to make myself stand out less.  

	She tried willing herself into normal clothing.  A rush of light
washed across her and she was once again in her hospital gown.  This
wouldn't do, although at least the tattoos were gone.  She tried willing
the kimono back. The light rushed across her and she was once again clad
in tattoos and a fancy kimono. She realized now that her hair was done up
as well.  It was tied in the back with a deep blue ribbon into a
pony-tail, with two shorter tails, one on either side of it.  The overall
effect was almost regal, except for the tattoos.  

     	She was starting to like them a little.  I never thought I'd like
tattoos, but these seem so...natural.  I wonder what Douglas will
think...She laughed.  He'll think I must have been in a biker gang all
those years.  Well, first I'll try finding a phonebook, and then I'll go
to the hospital if I have to.

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

       	Celia and Nene sat in the computer room going over the logs of what
the three hard suits had been able to record from the encounter.  "This is
really weird, what we're getting off this woman...or rather not getting,"
Nene said.  

      	"She has to be some sort of boomer, or else she was wearing a
completely transparent hardsuit.  But she didn't act like a boomer,"
Celia said.  "From what little we saw of her, she looked like a terrified
human."  She looked familiar, Celia thought.

      	"Lemme see if I can augment this footage."  Nene began playing with
image enhancement equipment.

      	Macky ran in.  "Bad news, sis."

      	"What?"

      	"That boomer attack...started at the hospital where grandma is."

      	Celia had a sudden sinking feeling.  "Was she injured?"

      	"She's gone."

      	The sinking feeling got stronger.  "She's missing?"

      	"The boomers blew up her room.  They think she's dead."

      	Nene said, "Ahh, here's a clear shot of her face."

      	Celia turned to look at the picture and her jaw dropped, for just
a moment. It was the first time Nene had ever seen Celia in shock.

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

      	Meylia hovered over the apartment complex.  It was a very nice
apartment complex, with an indoor pool, security guards, a very large
covered parking lot and truly beautiful architecture.  It was a joy to
behold.  There was only one problem with it.  There was supposed to be a
house here.  HER house.  The one they had saved for years to afford and
finally had built.  Now it was gone and someone had built an apartment
complex.  This had been her last hope.  There were no Stingrays in the
phone book.  

      	I'll have to go back to the hospital, she thought.  Face the danger.
Either that or...Go to see Father.  If he's alive.  Or my sister, if I had
any clue where she was now.  

      	It'll have to be the Hospital.  She turned and flew.  It came
naturally to her now.  The cool night air blew past her, but the outfit
kept her warm.  The really strange thing was that even her uncovered face
felt warm.  She flew through the city, wondering if maybe this was all
just a horrible dream.

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

     	Leon and Daley went over everything with the head nurse for about
the one hundredth time.  "So, she's been in a coma since August 1, 2021."

     	"Yes.  According to our records, her name is Meylia Stratford.
She's been here since December 1, 2021, when she was moved here by her
husband, now deceased.  She was injured by a rampaging labor and suffered
a concussion and other injuries. She went into a coma and never recovered.
Until today."

     	"The nurse on duty reported she woke up."

     	"Yes.  About a minute later, the boomer attack started.  We
haven't seen her since, but there's no corpse, either."

     	"Do you have any visual records of her?"

     	"We have enough x-rays, lab reports, and other paperwork to
wallpaper a house, but unless you saw her spleen, it wouldn't help."

	Daley looked around while Leon did the questioning.  The outside
wall was gone from the woman's room, and the inside walls were heavily
damaged.  It looked like there had been multiple explosions.  He could see
bullet holes as well.  Someone had REALLY wanted this woman dead.

      	"So who has been paying to keep her alive?"

      	"A trust fund.  She does get visitors, though.  They usually visit
on the anniversary of her injury.  Two kids.  I guess they're
grandchildren.  One of them is a dark haired woman in her mid-twenties,
the other is a younger boy with black hair in his teens.  I wish I could
tell you more, but we haven't seen them since last August."  She blinked.
"Or then again..."

      	Leon turned to look.  It was Celia and Macky Stingray.  They were
minor celebrities of a sort, the daughter and son of the famous inventor
of the boomers, Dr. Katsuhito Stingray.  He had a rather strong suspicion
she was something else too.  A few seconds later, he realized what the
nurse meant.  "Come looking for your missing grandmother?"

      	Celia said, "Hello, officer."  She paused.  Leon suspected she was
trying to decide on a good load of bull to feed him.

      	Macky said, "She still hasn't been found?"

      	Celia didn't seem pleased by this slip.

      	"Oh, we found her, but she ran off again,"  Leon said.

      	"What?"  Macky asked.

      	The head nurse started to say something, but Leon cut her off.
"She is tall, slender, with long dark hair starting to grey?  Blue eyes,
doesn't look more than about two thirds her age?"

      	Macky nodded.  "Yeah."

      	Celia said, "You said she ran off?"

      	Leon stared at Celia.  She knew something.  He could tell.  The
question was how much she knew.  Could this have been some boomer she had
made?  If she was responsible for what he suspected she was, she might
easily be capable of such a thing.  But why make one and spend years
setting it up to supposedly be her grandmother?  For that matter, why the
hell would anyone want to kill some old woman who had been in a coma for
thirteen years?  And why in such a messily dramatic fashion?  Unless..she
knew something.  If she had known something, while she was in the coma,
there was no point in killing her...What could she possibly know that was
still important 13 years later?  Leon's head spun with questions.

      	Daley said, "Assuming that the woman we saw was her.  Which is
unlikely, unless your grandmother flies and fires plasma bolts from her
hands.  Oh, and has tattoos, too.  On the other hand, whatever it was, she
looked and acted more like a human than a boomer."

      	Macky goggled.

      	Celia quirked an eyebrow.  "Flew?  Fired plasma bolts?  I suppose
she proclaimed herself Magical Princess Evangelia too?"

      	Leon sighed.  "Someone at least wants us to believe that your
grandmother is flying around tossing energy blasts.  Something strange is
going on.  Can you think of anyone who would want her dead so badly they
would send four boomers to do the job?"

      	Daley spent a few seconds wondering why anyone would engage in
such gratuitous overkill against someone they should have expected to be
in a coma.  

      	Celia shook her head.  "She had no enemies.  And if she did, they
could have easily killed her a long time ago."  She paused. "If...If you
do find her, let us know."

      	Macky nodded.  "I'd really like to be able to talk to her...she's
been in the coma since I was really tiny."

      	Meylia hovered outside the building, listening through the holes in
the walls.  My grandchildren, she thought.  They must be all grown up now.
It sounds safe...those two cops are there.  

      	Unseen by her, Nene, Linna, and Priss were watching her from the
roof of the hospital.  The three had come in their hardsuits just in case
more boomers showed up.  "Watching her is so creepy..."  Priss said.
"Can't you find what's holding her up, Saber-Pink?"

      	Linna laughed faintly.  "Maybe she's using the Force."

      	Nene frowned.  "I can't find ANYTHING holding her up.  She's
emitting all sorts of weird electromagnetic stuff and some low level
radiation, but nothing capable of keeping her from plummeting to her
death.  It's not consistent with her being a boomer either.  She's got a
completely human heat signature.  If she is a boomer, then she must be
some sort of heavily modified sexaroid...that uses the Force."

      	Linna said, "Tell me you're kidding."

      	"Maybe she's thinking about her new boyfriend when she ought to
be figuring out what's going on..."  Priss said, teasingly.  

      	"Maybe he could figure this out...he's the scientist.  I just
play with computers...Maybe she's an alien."

      	Linna started to laugh.  "I suppose she's Obi-Wan Kenobi's sister?"

      	"Maybe she's Superman's mom."  Priss said.

      	"Maybe you should shut up and let me think!"  Nene shouted over the
radio link, then looked gratified when the other two winced and tried to
clutch their ears...hard to do with a helmet on.  

      	It was then that the Sabres spotted a knot of six boomers
approaching.  "Yee gods, someone wants this woman DEAD,"  Linna said.  

      	Priss frowned.  "We need Celia if we're going to take that
many."

      	Meylia spotted the boomers.  She bolted at high speed and the
boomers turned to pursue her.  

      	Nene said, "I hate these high speed chases."

      	Priss sent a message to Celia, "They're chasing the woman.  Soon as
we're sure they're not going to double back here, we'll give chase."

      	Unfortunately, Celia, still talking to the cops, could not reply.

      	They gave chase.  A few boomer explosions later, they lost the
woman, but were rather impressed by her at the same time.

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

      	Late that night, Meylia sat in the woods, tired and alone.  I had
to steal my dinner, she thought. I feel so vile.  I know my grandchildren
are alive, but I don't dare approach them or they might get killed by
those 'boomer' things.  She stared at her hands, at the outfit she was
wearing.  What's happened to me?  Did they try some really experimental
treatment on me?  Am I the six billion yen woman now or something?  Where
can I go?  

      	The only other person I know who might be alive is...father.  No,
I can't, she thought.  I haven't seen him since 1969.  He's probably dead.
She thought about how she had looked in the mirror.  So should I.  Or at
least my hair should all be grey.  If I'm in this good shape...I have to
look.  Maybe he'll be gone.  But if I can find him...or my sister...She
must be out there somewhere.  It's been so long...

      	Meylia hopped a ride on top of a train.  Flying is fun, she thought,
but I'm getting so tired...

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

      	Back at the Saber headquarters, Nene and Celia were pouring over
data again.  "You think this woman is your GRANDMOTHER?"  Priss said for
the fifth time.

      	"At least someone wants us to believe that.  It could easily be a
sexaroid made to look like her."  Celia said.

      	"Since when did sexaroids FLY?"  Linna asked.  

      	Nene said, "If she is a boomer, she's one of the best at
impersonating a human I've ever seen.  In fact, in this one close up,
you can see her breathing.  Boomers tend to forget that."

      	"They don't normally wear kimonos either...She looked like some
kind of medieval noblewoman or something,"  Priss said.  

      	The conference dragged on into the night, accomplishing nothing.

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

     	Meylia flew into the clearing.  The pond was still there, as was
the shrine.  Yet, there were changes.  A house sat there that had not been
there during her childhood.  The fields were untended, just gardens now.
She hesitated.  Would anyone here even know who she was?  What will Father
think of me?

     	She swallowed her pride and flew down to the front steps of her
childhood home.  She remembered the day she had last seen it.

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

     	The date was June 1, 1969.  Meylia stood on the doorstep of her
home.  Well, what had been her home.  Her father had withdrawn after her
mother Kimiko died last year.  What affection he had to give had been
showered on Meylia's older sister.  She couldn't take it anymore.  It was
like living in a mausoleum.  Her out of touch with reality older sister
seemed to be quite content to live in the middle of nowhere, doing
nothing, playing as if she was Mom herself.  Meylia was out of here.

      	She didn't know what she was going to do, but anything was better
than this.  She ran off through the fields to the tree.  It always made
her feel better.  It was supposed to be a holy tree.  It was wreathed in
prayer ribbons.  She knelt by the tree, which stood on an island inside a
series of moats.  "Watch over me, kami.  Help my sister take care of dad.
I don't know if they'll even notice I'm gone..."

      	She felt a presence.  The world began to go fuzzy, but she dimly
saw rays of light begin to shine down from the leaves.  A nameless comfort
ran through her.  Unseen, something shone upon her forehead.

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

     	Back in the present, Meylia started.  The tree.  Was it still
there?  She looked around.  If anyone was here, they were asleep.  But
trees...they never sleep.  The tree...had it done this to her?  So long
ago?

     	She flew across the clearing and into the woods. The tree was still
there, looking the same as always.  As she approached, rays of light began
to fire down from it's leaves to the ground.  She could feel its presence,
its power.  

     	Power like hers.  Did Father know about this?, she wondered...were
you watching me the whole time?  She flew forward, and had the first
conversation of her life with a tree...

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