A LITTLE KNOWLEDGE
Chapter 1: What We Do Best
A Sailor Moon fanfic
By Bill K.
Sailor Moon and all related characters are (c)2016 by Naoko Takeuchi and are used without permission, but with respect. Story is (c)2016 by Bill K. Special thanks go out to Toshimichi Suzuki, Junji Fujita and Masamune Shirow for the inspiration.
Luna walked into the room that Serenity had given her and Artemis as their official office in the palace. While Luna still lived with the Royal Family and Artemis still lived with Minako in their respective quarters, Luna felt it necessary to have a central office from which to manage the palace, monitor events of the world and coordinate responses should the Senshi be needed. Habitually the black cat spent at least part of her day there, if only to make certain that Artemis wasn't sleeping when he should be monitoring.
Today found Artemis hard at work at his laptop, not unusual, but of potential interest. What was unusual was that Ami was working beside him on a second computer. Silently the black cat circled around and leaped up onto a shelf behind them. Artemis was examining computer program command strings with an intensity of concentration matched only by Ami. She was examining schematics for something - - Luna couldn't really tell what it was.
"Morning, Luna," Artemis said distantly while he stared at the screen. "Get tired of harassing the security staff?"
"Your concept of harassment is as deficient as your concept of humor," huffed Luna. "What are you two doing?"
"Analyzing the artificial cybernetic module from Akaruimirai Corporation that ran amok two weeks ago," Ami replied, her concentration still on the schematic.
"The one the Mars impostor destroyed?" Luna commented. "Have you learned anything?"
"Quite a bit. This is an impressive feat of engineering. As a working model, this is quite sophisticated and potentially capable of everything Dr. Heiwajima hoped it to be. The only drawback, of course, is its unwieldy size."
"And the fact that it went rogue," Artemis added. "Dr. Heiwajima wasn't just aiming for a physically superior artificial humanoid form. These command strings were leading into something that, well, borders on artificial intelligence."
"A device that could think independently?" Luna asked.
"Yes, that was in the proposal I reviewed," Ami answered, looking up from the schematic. "Dr. Heiwajima wanted an android that was capable of making independent decisions so that it could deal with unexpected problems if injected into hazardous situations. Artificial intelligence has up to now been theoretical. If this project has made a breakthrough, it's a potentially revolutionary discovery."
"But the device went rogue," Luna warned. "The atom bomb was a wondrous breakthrough, but one that was ultimately a danger to civilization."
"It's a strained comparison," Ami replied, "but your concern is justified. We've all seen what harm a rogue A.I. can do just from the future experiments of Yui Bidou. But if we can find out why the A.I. went rogue, whether due to faulty programming or harmful external stimulus, in theory we can eliminate the problem, or at least guard against it. Artemis is attempting that now."
"And not having much luck," the white cat sighed. "I have to admit that some of this stuff is beyond me. I haven't found any programming errors, but I may have missed something because I didn't know what I was looking for."
"Perhaps there are other experts that could review the material," suggested Luna.
"I'm reluctant to do that," Ami said. "This work is proprietary and belongs to Dr. Heiwajima and the Akaruimirai Corporation. We can look at it because we are a governmental investigation and don't intend to profit from it. Someone else might, and that isn't fair to Dr. Heiwajima."
"Well if we can't be certain that Dr. Heiwajima isn't making a potentially dangerous apparatus, His Majesty's government will be forced to shut it down," Luna proclaimed. "I dare say they won't find that terribly fair, either."
In the port town of Tongyeong, South Korea, times were difficult. The ice disaster of the previous summer was gone, but the destruction left in its wake still had a grip on the area. Though Tongyeong was dotted with functional, egg-shaped housing and wild-growth fruits and vegetables, it was still a place dependent upon the port and industry connected to that port for its economic health. And Queen Serenity hadn't rebuilt the harbor, the storage facilities or the manufacturing that supported the fishing and cargo trade.
And neither had the private sector nor the government. The population was struggling. Government officials were busy protecting their power bases and businesses that were still functioning were preying on the ones who couldn't, motivated by a quick profit. And South Korea wasn't alone: Reports were coming in to Japan of countries all over the globe in similar situations. Japan was suddenly getting refugees from Korea, China, The Philippines and other nations along the western Pacific Rim and they all told the same story.
Which is why several workers trying to repair a dock in the Tongyeong harbor suddenly saw an amazing sight in the sky above them. It was a woman in a white gown, the bow behind her resembling wings. She had golden blonde hair fluttering behind her in twin trails. She seemed to glisten in the sunlight of dawn over the Korea Strait. She looked like a goddess.
And the woman with brown hair dressed in green and white who held her hand wasn't so bad either.
The women descended onto a road leading to the wharf. On either side of the road were two buildings which had been warehouses, but which were now rubble. Their feet gently touched the pavement. Then the blonde woman crumpled, her body braced by her companion.
"Serenity?" Sailor Jupiter gasped.
"I'm . . ." Serenity gasped. "My, that was a long trip!" She sucked in air like she'd run a marathon.
"I knew you were doing too much!" Jupiter clucked.
"It was the only way to get here," Serenity panted. "Teleporting would have REALLY knocked me for a loop! Maybe I should have brought Endymion."
"Maybe," Jupiter smiled. Even with all the changes her friend had undergone in her ascension from Sailor Moon to Serenity, sweet daffy little Usagi was still in there. Jupiter found that reassuring.
"Well, better get to work," Serenity said. Jupiter reached out and grabbed her wrist.
"Hold on, Hon'," Jupiter admonished. "Give yourself a chance to catch your breath! There's still time to do this."
"But everyone is suffering!" Serenity argued. "I don't want it to last any longer than it has to!"
Just then, they noticed several of the dock workers edging closer to them. Jupiter eyed them warily, but Serenity gave them all a warm smile.
["Are you a goddess?"] one of the men asked.
"I'm sorry. I don't speak Korean," Serenity offered. "Wait a minute," and she snapped her fingers. "Do you understand me now?"
"Ah!" the man gasped in wonder. His companions were equally impressed.
"Pardon, but are you Sailor Moon?" another of the men asked.
"You know me here?"
"Your anime," he smiled. "Very popular with my son."
"I'll bet," Jupiter said under her breath, smirking.
"Why are you here?" the first man asked.
"Well, I heard your country was having some trouble recovering from the ice disaster," Serenity explained. "And I wanted to see if I could help."
"You would help us?" another in the group asked. By now more people from the docks were approaching.
"Sure," Jupiter told him. "Who do you think built all of those egg-shaped houses and grew all of those fruit trees in your front yard?"
"But," the man sputtered, "you're Japanese."
"I'm a person," Serenity smiled, "helping another person the best way I can. That's all."
Turning from them, Serenity took several steps down the road. She spread her arms and let her head roll back. A silver light began to come from her chest. Everyone looked in awe as the Silver Crystal emerged from a warp over Serenity's chest. The dazzling gem seemed to shine over everything, giving the area a silver cast.
"Hon', you're sure you're up to this?" Jupiter inquired nervously.
Ignoring her companion, Serenity's hair trails streaming behind her, the Queen arched. A silver wave spread out from her, distorting everything visible as the wave passed. When their sight readjusted, everyone watching her exclaimed in amazement. The docks were as they were before the disaster. The two warehouses on either side of the road that had been rubble were now restored to their previous form. Everyone looked around. It was as if there had never been a disaster.
Serenity recalled the Silver Crystal into the warp. She sighed once. Then she sank to the ground, landing in a very ungainly manner on her bottom. Jupiter was by her side in an instant.
"I told you this was too much!" she fretted.
"Actually it gets easier every time I do it," Serenity said, though her eyes were unfocused and her voice slightly slurred.
"You," one of the men exclaimed, "you fixed the docks!"
"I've repaired all of the essential businesses that effect the economy," Serenity told him, her hand on her head to steady it.
"In Tongyeong?" he gasped.
"In Korea," she said. "Now maybe you all can stop struggling to survive and finally live."
Everyone looked at each other in amazement. But suddenly Serenity began struggling to get to her feet.
"Hon', what is it?" Jupiter asked.
"The time!" Serenity gasped. "I've got to get back home - - get Setsuko-Chan ready for school!"
"I don't think you're in any shape to travel just yet."
"But Jupiter!" Serenity whined insistently. Jupiter smiled.
"So how about I help you out?" she said. "Jupiter power."
The jewel in Jupiter's tiara began to glow. Instantly Serenity began to feel much better. Her eyes cleared and her posture straightened.
"Thank you," Serenity beamed.
"Hey, everybody needs help now and then," Jupiter beamed back. "Besides, I've got kids that I've got to get ready for school, too."
And with that, the pair levitated into the air and out over the Korea Strait toward Japan. Left in their wake were the amazed, the grateful, and even a few converts.
In an office in the Akaruimirai Corporation's Tokyo headquarters, two men were sitting at desks facing each other in the center of the room. One, Nick Devlin, was working diligently at a laptop connected to a mainframe under the desk. Devlin, an American, was forty-six with thick black hair, a square face and intense deep blue eyes that focused on the display of his computer. Devlin had been hired by Akaruimirai straight out of Cal Tech and had been in their robotics and cybernetics division for twenty years, the last ten in the Tokyo branch. His co-workers saw him as energetic and borderline brilliant in the field, but deferential to a fault to his superiors and amiable with his other fellow employees. If he had a fault, it was the intensity he could demonstrate when talking about a project or when working on a new breakthrough.
Because of this intensity, he only noticed what was going on in the room when he heard a pencil cup clatter on the floor. Looking up, Devlin surveyed the room and concluded that the cup had fallen because his colleague had swatted it in anger.
His colleague was Dr. Yogen Heiwajima. Heiwajima was the lead researcher in the department. Thirtyish, with medium brown hair to his collar, glasses and a bushy medium brown mustache in the middle of his long face, Dr. Heiwajima seemed more American than Devlin. At the moment, his eyes seethed behind his glasses and he glared at nothing in particular.
"I know you're upset," Devlin began.
"They had no right," Heiwajima fumed. "It's MY WORK! They had no right to take it from me!"
"I agree with you. But the government is just concerned with the welfare of the public. They'll give Daiyaku back once they've determined that it isn't a threat to anyone."
"What if they don't?"
Devlin looked at him. "I'm sure you don't have to worry about them stealing it."
"Serenity and Endymion? No, of course not," Heiwajima shook his head. "But what if they decide that it is a danger? That a single failed dry run makes it a threat to everyone?" Heiwajima became emotional. "The Daiyaku Project is my life. I've spent years working on it. I've put everything I have into it. And I'm close! Close to an A.I. controlled cybernaut that can revolutionize human life! You've seen it, Devlin-San!"
"I have. It's brilliant work," Devlin nodded. "The potential benefits to humanity are endless. And you are close. The Daiyaku Project could be up and in production by 2025 - - sooner with a little luck."
"If only I knew why it went berserk," muttered Heiwajima. "I've been over the A.I. command strings, and over them and over them! Nothing's out of place! Nothing's wrong! It should have worked!"
"Maybe it started evolving on its own?" Devlin suggested. "Given its potential in independent decision-making . . ."
"No, I checked for that. The A.I. was too rudimentary for it to begin to evolve. And by attacking people, it was violating its safety protocols."
There was a heavy silence in the room.
"Have you considered," Devlin began cautiously, "external sabotage?"
"A rival company?" Heiwajima asked.
"Maybe," Devlin shrugged. "Or, maybe the government got wind of what you were doing. Maybe they sabotaged it to give them an excuse to impound it."
"Sailor Moon?" Heiwajima responded with astonishment. Then he shook his head. "Impossible."
"You never know."
"No," he restated. "It's not possible. Not her. She's saved us too many times."
"OK," Devlin shrugged. "You know her better than I do. You've lived with her running around in your city. Back at Cal Tech, I just knew her from the old video tapes one of my lab mates had of her cartoon show." Devlin sobered. "But maybe it's somebody else in the government. You know, the 'old guard' isn't too happy about her taking over. Maybe they did it to embarrass her or make her look bad."
"Or they plan to use Daiyaku as a weapon against her," Heiwajima mumbled. He glanced at Devlin. His research partner didn't respond, but the look on his face echoed the troubling thoughts Dr. Heiwajima was having.
"You don't have to do this," Rei said far more plaintively than she wanted.
She was at the gate of the palace, talking to her great-grandmother Moriko. Waiting was a palace vehicle that would ferry her back to the farmland east of Tomisato. The old woman turned to her.
"You don't have to go to The Philippines," Moriko told her. "But you sense its for the best. I sense this is for the best."
"But I just found you!" Rei protested. Moriko smiled.
"I'm not going away forever, Rei-Chan," she said. "But I have never liked the city, Tokyo least of all. And with you gone, there is no reason for me to stay."
"But . . .!"
Moriko cupped her cheek. "Do the work of your calling. Bring comfort and enlightenment to others. And when you return, so will I. You are the only reason I would come back to this - - oppressive place."
"I don't know how long I'll be gone."
"As a Kitsune-Zenko, I have lived many years," Moriko told her gently. "And I have many more before me, by the grace of Inari. We will see each other again."
"How will I contact you?" Rei asked, resigned to the situation as inevitable.
"I will know," Moriko assured her. "Inari is kind. She will tell me."
The old woman turned and got into the back of the car. The engine came to life and the car pulled off and out of sight. Rei watched it go.
"By your mercy, wise Inari," the priest whispered.
"I haven't seen Minako around much," Makoto commented. She was walking down a corridor on the palace living quarters level. Artemis was on her right while Luna walked on her left. "She's not still down about Ace skipping out again, is she?"
"Well, she wasn't happy about it," Artemis informed them. "But he's skipped out on her so many times, she's developed a really thick skin about it. It's not like it was after the incident in China. Besides, she's got the script for that Sailor Moon movie she's going to do. That gives her the chance to bury herself in learning her lines and not dwell on Ace."
"That's good," Makoto nodded. "I know she puts up a big front, but every time she has a run in with Ace, he breaks her heart just a little more."
"Perhaps that's part of the problem," sniffed Luna. "If he were to stay, she might actually come to the realization that he's an untrustworthy cad and a bounder and stop giving in to him."
"Yeah, good luck with that," Makoto smiled knowingly. "Haven't seen you around much either, Artemis."
"I'm still trying to find out what made that robot freak out," the white cat told her.
"You're allowing Minako to corrupt you again," Luna advised him. "'Freak out' indeed."
"You'll find it," Makoto offered. "Between you and Ames, I can't imagine anyone hiding anything for long. Why do you suppose someone would try to turn that thing into a killing machine anyway?"
"The possibilities are as many and varied as there are human emotions," Luna philosophized. "And often quite as dark. I still hold out hope that Her Majesty can eradicate such behavior in this world. However I've come to the realization that it will be a long and arduous process."
Makoto and Artemis exchanged amused glances. Arriving at her quarters, Makoto bid the cats good-bye and went in. Her kids wouldn't be home from school for two hours yet. That gave her ample time to indulge in one of the things that kept her grounded and sane: cooking for them. However, she wasn't five feet into the domicile when her husband Sanjuro walked into the room and met her. Instantly she could see the troubled look on her husband's face.
"Babe, we've got a problem," Sanjuro said. Ten thousand different scenarios, each one more horrible than the last, raced through her head. "I got a call from school today. There was a fight . . ."
Makoto groaned. "What am I going to do with her? I have told Akiko and told her that fighting is not lady-like!"
"Babe, it wasn't Akiko," Sanjuro told her. "It was Ichiro."
You could have knocked Makoto over with a feather.
Continued in Chapter 2