Hi, minna. Umm... this is very different from my other fics. The prologue itself is full of
very important information that I hope you all understand. ^_^; This is going to be a
LONG fic, but I'm really excited about it. I got the idea for this plot one night before I fell
asleep (those are the best ideas!), but the real credit for the title as well as the fic go to
Madeline L'engle and her magnificent book, "A Wrinkle in Time".
The characters themselves belong to Naoko and Co. I'm just borrowing them. Please
don't sue!
This fic is set during the first season... or something like that. Hopefully that will all
become clearer to you as you read. Please enjoy! ^_^
Tesseract
By: Star Bunny (bunny28@hehe.com)
Rated: PG
~~~
Prologue
~~~
"Mercury, are you sure this is the only way?"
Sailor Mercury rechecked the data on her supercomputer before answering Venus.
"Without the silver crystal, this is the only way to amass enough energy to make it work."
"It really doesn't sound safe," Venus replied, worrying her lower lip as she thought. "I
would ask you to explain it again, but I don't think we would understand you."
"Yes, please try to explain it again," Jupiter nodded.
"There's no way I'm risking my life if I don't understand what I'm doing."
"Hmm..." Mercury's blue eyes narrowed as she racked her brain for the appropriate
layman's terms. "I suppose it wouldn't help if I told you that we were attempting to
complete a temporal time shift between dimensions by moving through the third
dimension of time?"
At their blank stares she sighed. "Thought not... the term `tesseract' wouldn't mean
anything to you, would it?" All she received was two shrugs and a sweat drop.
"My gosh, people! Don't you ever read American literature?"
"Ami-chan," Mars sighed, "We're Japanese. We can't understand
English."
"Wait a minute," Venus started. "That sounds familiar. I think I read that in England.
What that the book about Mrs. Whatsit?"
Mercury sent up a grateful prayer that she was finally getting somewhere. "That's right.
`A Wrinkle in Time' by Madeline L'Engle. What we are about to do is not unlike the
tesseract, or `wrinkle in time' that she describes in her book. The technical definition of
a tesseract is a fourth dimensional cube. Although, to be precise, the word cube is an
inaccurate description of what actually occurs..." At the senshi's blank stares she
hurriedly pressed forward.
"In any event, the tesseract in the book is not unlike folding space together in order to
obtain instantaneous travel, hence the title `a wrinkle in time'. Understand?"
"Mercury, I know what you're talking about, and you're still confusing me!"
"Then why don't *you* explain it, Venus?" Mercury replied, not a little bit miffed.
"Ok... let's see if I remember this." She then proceeded to take hold of her (very short)
skirt and face the others. "If I were an ant and
I were trying to go from one end of my skirt to the other, it would take a long time, right?
Wouldn't it just be easier to fold my skirt so that the two points were touching and the ant
could walk right across? That's a tesseract, right Ami?"
"You could put it that way," she sighed. "So what we're doing is just a bit more complex.
Instead of folding space, we're folding the third dimension of time. Let's see if I can
draw this."
She pulled out a wrinkled sheet of paper and began to write:
1.
/______
\. . . . . . .
2.
/______\
\. . . . . . ./
3.
. . . . |. . .
/___\/___\
\. . . . . . . ./
/___/\___\
\. . . .|. . . ./
"The first drawing is normal time travel, in just one direction. The second picture is of the
second dimension of time, or traveling backwards and forwards in time. The last is what
we are doing: traveling not only back and forth in time, but also between different time
lines. Does that make sense?"
"I think so..." Mars began. "But how is this going to help us find the princess?"
"Yeah, and why do need the Dark Kingdom's help?" Jupiter piped up.
"Well, according to my calculations, something went terribly wrong when Queen Serenity
sent us into the twentieth century. Somehow, instead of sending the princess and prince
with us, she sent them into an alternate reality - in other words, into another timeline
where they do not belong. So in order for us to find her, we have to go into another
dimension ourselves."
"But how do we know which one she is in?"
"Well, we don't. But I've programmed my computer to project the four most likely
timelines for us to investigate. There is an 85% chance that she is in one of these
timelines."
"So really, we're just going on luck that she will be in one of these places?" Mars sighed.
"Now tell me how we're going to get back."
"That's the trick. We can't get back without the silver crystal. We're going to have to find
either our princess or the princess of that time to send us back to our appropriate time
line. I will give each of you something to help you locate this dimension when you return,
as well as a locator which should tell you if our princess is in the timeline."
"And since we don't have a crystal here, we need the Dark Kingdom to help us get there,
right?" Venus sighed, finally understanding what they were about to do.
"Right. Our powers combined aren't enough to send us, so we need an extra energy
source that the Dark Kingdom can provide." Mercury hesitated, suddenly nervous.
"Minna, we don't know what we're getting into here. These timelines are all damaged in
some way, so they could be very volatile places. Be careful, and try not to stay in one
place for too long." She gently placed her computer on the ground. "Artemis, I want
you to keep my computer while I'm gone."
"What for, Ami-chan?"
"Just in case," was all that she would say. She handed each of the girls a crystal. "This
should help you find the princess, if she is in your dimension. It will also lead you back
here when you come back."
The air was tense as they accepted their crystals. Something about the way Mercury
was talking made them suspect that this mission was more dangerous than she was
admitting. But surely their princess was worth risking their lives for.
"Well!" Venus smiled. As leader, she felt very responsible for the morale of the group.
"Let's go kick some Dark Kingdom butt!"
Mercury finally smiled at that. "Right. Just remember not to do anything until I tell you
to." She would never tell the others, but she was much less sure of herself than she
appeared. As far as she could tell, nothing like this had ever been done before. There
was no way to tell if they would actually make it all the way to the next timeline, or if they
would be able to come back at all. What she wasn't even admitting to herself was that
they might not make it back. That is why she decided to leave her computer. If one of
them got stuck or... killed... all of the data would be safe here in this dimension.
But they were warriors, and fear was not becoming to them. Mercury swallowed her
doubts and followed the others to the arranged spot for the next attack. Of course it
would work out. It had to.
~~~
Battles always unnerved Venus. As the leader of the senshi, she felt inexplicably
responsible for all of the mistakes they made, and she couldn't stand the thought that
they might lose.
But if she were normally unnerved, today she was frightened. There was so much riding
on this one little battle.
Things were already tense, because all four of the generals had been invited to today's
battle. It was a necessary event - they would have a better chance at gathering enough
energy to make the jump successfully - but four Dark Kingdom generals together were
very dangerous.
Mercury had told them to power up and hold hands until she gave them the signal to
release their energy. That was easier said than done. You see, power does not like to
wait for an appropriate time. It wants to dominate, devour, engulf, empower. Something
akin to pain was what they all felt as they drew power into their reserves.
At first, the generals merely taunted them and sent little annoying blasts in their direction.
But, annoying or not, they still hurt. However, the girls were prepared to endure pain for
the mission.
Eventually, though, they became tired of being merely annoying and decided to finish off
the belligerent senshi for good. Annoying blasts became hot searing pain. But still,
Mercury did not give the signal. But then, just as Jupiter was beginning to think that her
back could take no more of this, each of the generals decided to simultaneously launch
an attack. Mercury checked the readings on her visor, nodded her head, and screamed
"NOW!" They each released their pent up energy in a big *whoosh* of power...
And then everything was silent.
~~~
Bunny ^_^
very important information that I hope you all understand. ^_^; This is going to be a
LONG fic, but I'm really excited about it. I got the idea for this plot one night before I fell
asleep (those are the best ideas!), but the real credit for the title as well as the fic go to
Madeline L'engle and her magnificent book, "A Wrinkle in Time".
The characters themselves belong to Naoko and Co. I'm just borrowing them. Please
don't sue!
This fic is set during the first season... or something like that. Hopefully that will all
become clearer to you as you read. Please enjoy! ^_^
Tesseract
By: Star Bunny (bunny28@hehe.com)
Rated: PG
~~~
Prologue
~~~
"Mercury, are you sure this is the only way?"
Sailor Mercury rechecked the data on her supercomputer before answering Venus.
"Without the silver crystal, this is the only way to amass enough energy to make it work."
"It really doesn't sound safe," Venus replied, worrying her lower lip as she thought. "I
would ask you to explain it again, but I don't think we would understand you."
"Yes, please try to explain it again," Jupiter nodded.
"There's no way I'm risking my life if I don't understand what I'm doing."
"Hmm..." Mercury's blue eyes narrowed as she racked her brain for the appropriate
layman's terms. "I suppose it wouldn't help if I told you that we were attempting to
complete a temporal time shift between dimensions by moving through the third
dimension of time?"
At their blank stares she sighed. "Thought not... the term `tesseract' wouldn't mean
anything to you, would it?" All she received was two shrugs and a sweat drop.
"My gosh, people! Don't you ever read American literature?"
"Ami-chan," Mars sighed, "We're Japanese. We can't understand
English."
"Wait a minute," Venus started. "That sounds familiar. I think I read that in England.
What that the book about Mrs. Whatsit?"
Mercury sent up a grateful prayer that she was finally getting somewhere. "That's right.
`A Wrinkle in Time' by Madeline L'Engle. What we are about to do is not unlike the
tesseract, or `wrinkle in time' that she describes in her book. The technical definition of
a tesseract is a fourth dimensional cube. Although, to be precise, the word cube is an
inaccurate description of what actually occurs..." At the senshi's blank stares she
hurriedly pressed forward.
"In any event, the tesseract in the book is not unlike folding space together in order to
obtain instantaneous travel, hence the title `a wrinkle in time'. Understand?"
"Mercury, I know what you're talking about, and you're still confusing me!"
"Then why don't *you* explain it, Venus?" Mercury replied, not a little bit miffed.
"Ok... let's see if I remember this." She then proceeded to take hold of her (very short)
skirt and face the others. "If I were an ant and
I were trying to go from one end of my skirt to the other, it would take a long time, right?
Wouldn't it just be easier to fold my skirt so that the two points were touching and the ant
could walk right across? That's a tesseract, right Ami?"
"You could put it that way," she sighed. "So what we're doing is just a bit more complex.
Instead of folding space, we're folding the third dimension of time. Let's see if I can
draw this."
She pulled out a wrinkled sheet of paper and began to write:
1.
/______
\. . . . . . .
2.
/______\
\. . . . . . ./
3.
. . . . |. . .
/___\/___\
\. . . . . . . ./
/___/\___\
\. . . .|. . . ./
"The first drawing is normal time travel, in just one direction. The second picture is of the
second dimension of time, or traveling backwards and forwards in time. The last is what
we are doing: traveling not only back and forth in time, but also between different time
lines. Does that make sense?"
"I think so..." Mars began. "But how is this going to help us find the princess?"
"Yeah, and why do need the Dark Kingdom's help?" Jupiter piped up.
"Well, according to my calculations, something went terribly wrong when Queen Serenity
sent us into the twentieth century. Somehow, instead of sending the princess and prince
with us, she sent them into an alternate reality - in other words, into another timeline
where they do not belong. So in order for us to find her, we have to go into another
dimension ourselves."
"But how do we know which one she is in?"
"Well, we don't. But I've programmed my computer to project the four most likely
timelines for us to investigate. There is an 85% chance that she is in one of these
timelines."
"So really, we're just going on luck that she will be in one of these places?" Mars sighed.
"Now tell me how we're going to get back."
"That's the trick. We can't get back without the silver crystal. We're going to have to find
either our princess or the princess of that time to send us back to our appropriate time
line. I will give each of you something to help you locate this dimension when you return,
as well as a locator which should tell you if our princess is in the timeline."
"And since we don't have a crystal here, we need the Dark Kingdom to help us get there,
right?" Venus sighed, finally understanding what they were about to do.
"Right. Our powers combined aren't enough to send us, so we need an extra energy
source that the Dark Kingdom can provide." Mercury hesitated, suddenly nervous.
"Minna, we don't know what we're getting into here. These timelines are all damaged in
some way, so they could be very volatile places. Be careful, and try not to stay in one
place for too long." She gently placed her computer on the ground. "Artemis, I want
you to keep my computer while I'm gone."
"What for, Ami-chan?"
"Just in case," was all that she would say. She handed each of the girls a crystal. "This
should help you find the princess, if she is in your dimension. It will also lead you back
here when you come back."
The air was tense as they accepted their crystals. Something about the way Mercury
was talking made them suspect that this mission was more dangerous than she was
admitting. But surely their princess was worth risking their lives for.
"Well!" Venus smiled. As leader, she felt very responsible for the morale of the group.
"Let's go kick some Dark Kingdom butt!"
Mercury finally smiled at that. "Right. Just remember not to do anything until I tell you
to." She would never tell the others, but she was much less sure of herself than she
appeared. As far as she could tell, nothing like this had ever been done before. There
was no way to tell if they would actually make it all the way to the next timeline, or if they
would be able to come back at all. What she wasn't even admitting to herself was that
they might not make it back. That is why she decided to leave her computer. If one of
them got stuck or... killed... all of the data would be safe here in this dimension.
But they were warriors, and fear was not becoming to them. Mercury swallowed her
doubts and followed the others to the arranged spot for the next attack. Of course it
would work out. It had to.
~~~
Battles always unnerved Venus. As the leader of the senshi, she felt inexplicably
responsible for all of the mistakes they made, and she couldn't stand the thought that
they might lose.
But if she were normally unnerved, today she was frightened. There was so much riding
on this one little battle.
Things were already tense, because all four of the generals had been invited to today's
battle. It was a necessary event - they would have a better chance at gathering enough
energy to make the jump successfully - but four Dark Kingdom generals together were
very dangerous.
Mercury had told them to power up and hold hands until she gave them the signal to
release their energy. That was easier said than done. You see, power does not like to
wait for an appropriate time. It wants to dominate, devour, engulf, empower. Something
akin to pain was what they all felt as they drew power into their reserves.
At first, the generals merely taunted them and sent little annoying blasts in their direction.
But, annoying or not, they still hurt. However, the girls were prepared to endure pain for
the mission.
Eventually, though, they became tired of being merely annoying and decided to finish off
the belligerent senshi for good. Annoying blasts became hot searing pain. But still,
Mercury did not give the signal. But then, just as Jupiter was beginning to think that her
back could take no more of this, each of the generals decided to simultaneously launch
an attack. Mercury checked the readings on her visor, nodded her head, and screamed
"NOW!" They each released their pent up energy in a big *whoosh* of power...
And then everything was silent.
~~~
Bunny ^_^