BIRTHRIGHT
Chapter 2: "What's Inside"
A Neo-Sailor Moon fanfic
By Bill K.
"Are you feeling OK?" Usa leaned in and asked. Av'Rith, the seven foot alien girl who Usa had found and brought back to the Crystal Palace, gave her an uncertain look.
For several hours Av'Rith had been in the Infirmary of the palace. Since Usa and Helios, accompanied by two Civilian Defense Patrol officers, brought her in, the alien had been in the infirmary. She sat in a sensor chair while Ami subjected her to every scan the doctor could come up with, as well as every question that could occur to her. Usa had been there the entire time for support. Helios was there as well, a fact Av'Rith took comfort in. Both the dream guardian's knowledge of her language and the uncanny familiarity she seemed to feel for this being put her at some semblance of ease.
King Endymion and Queen Serenity were there as well, accompanied by Luna and Artemis. Though the Queen also put the visitor from the stars at ease, Endymion's scrutiny and authoritarian bearing did not. Neither did the steady stare of the little black cat.
Rei was there, too, and her stare was even more unnerving to Av'Rith than Luna's was. And in the back of the room, watching her every breath, were two women Usa identified as Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune. Of all the people in the room scrutinizing and probing her, Av'Rith trusted them the least, for she sensed that they trusted her not at all.
"I am," Av'Rith responded, "well. Princess Usa, when will these tests be done?"
"Aunt Ami?" Usa inquired, her question carrying an undertone to it that implored the doctor to finish.
"Soon, Av'Rith," Ami assured her. "I apologize for the length of the scan, but scans of new life forms necessitate a test scan and calibration of the scanning mechanism in order to achieve accurate information regarding endocrinology, cardio-vascular and neurological levels and norms."
"T-M-I, Doctor," Artemis murmured Ami's way as he studied the readings.
Ami colored. "Um, forgive me for being pedantic," she grimaced.
"Let's get back to what brought you here," Endymion interjected calmly. "You said you were being pursued by males from Tevrii who wanted to kill you, correct?"
"Yes," Av'Rith nodded. The question made her even more anxious. The girl averted her eyes and seemed to contract within herself.
"And you don't know why?"
The girl didn't respond for the longest time. It was as if she was embarrassed by the answer - - or trying to think of an acceptable one. "No," she replied at length. Endymion seemed to study every aspect of her response.
"Are you someone important on Tevrii?" the monarch asked. "A member of a wealthy family or someone in a powerful position? Perhaps related to a powerful person?"
"I am like all other of my people," Av'Rith responded quickly. Emotion seemed to bubble beneath the surface. "I am not different." Finally she looked up at Endymion and Serenity. "Must I answer these questions again and again? I vow I am no threat to you!"
"Nobody thinks you're a threat," Serenity cooed. She knelt down next to Usa, looking up into Av'Rith's face, her deep blue pool eyes so soothing. "We just want to find out what's going on - - so we can help you."
As Serenity talked to the alien, Neptune eased up next to Rei.
"Are you reading anything from her?" Neptune asked softly. "Is she telling the truth?"
"I can't tell," Rei responded. "I don't read aliens very well. Sometimes not at all. If you ask me personally, everything she's told us is sincere."
"But she isn't telling us everything?" Neptune continued the unspoken thought. Rei glanced at her. "I got that impression as well. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't being - - overly suspicious."
Neptune and Uranus exchanged a silent glance.
"So how did you end up here again?" Uranus spoke up. Her manner was calm, but her eyes were cold - - Uranus at her most skeptical.
"I," Av'Rith began haltingly. "The jump ship."
"Neptune and I passed through the Orion System once," Uranus stated. "Orion 4's civilization only had intra-galactic space travel. They didn't have the capacity for intergalactic travel then."
"If I remember your logs, you passed through the Orion System eighty-five years ago," Artemis interjected. "Technology can advance a lot in eighty-five years, particularly in a computerized society."
"That's a short range ship," Uranus countered. "Inter-planetary at best. No way she could have made it all the way from the Orion System in that. Her fuel cells would have burned out. Her life support systems would have crashed."
Artemis couldn't counter that fact and he knew it. The white cat looked over at Av'Rith.
"I do not comprehend the science of it," the girl answered. "I only know what I know."
"Go over what happened again, please," Endymion prodded gently.
"I was aboard a ship, in space," Av'Rith began, eyes downcast. "They intended to terminate me. To end my life and cast my body into our sun - - to remove all traces of it."
"Who?" Endymion asked.
"The males," Av'Rith responded. The girl was barely repressing her emotions. "Something happened. The ship was caught in a meteor shower. It momentarily threw the ship off-course. There was some confusion." Her mouth quivered. "I tried to escape. I fled to a jump ship and launched. I had no course. I did not even know how to pilot it. My only thought was to escape."
Fearfully she glanced up at Usa. The Princess silently encouraged her.
"Somehow the ship flew itself. It began toward Tevrii," Av'Rith recalled, "but a meteor struck it. The ship spun away."
"The impact probably threw the navigational gyroscope off," Artemis commented. "It should have auto-corrected, though, if it was an escape pod headed for Tevrii. Did something else happen?"
"There was a bright flash," Av'Rith continued. "Like a burst, but not of light. White, and then colors. I became confused. It was hard to concentrate. When I recovered, my ship was here, entering your atmosphere. I could not control the ship and crashed." Her face twisted up. "I vow I am repentant for that!"
"Nobody blames you," Usa assured her.
"From what she describes, I would theorize that her ship passed through a wormhole," Ami spoke up.
"It would explain how a short distance craft got this far," Artemis said, to Uranus and Neptune in particular.
"Ami, is there anything else you need to know?" Serenity asked.
Ami exhaled. "No, the scan is complete. She had a hairline fracture in her left scapula, but I've already treated that. Other than that, she's healthy."
"Come on, then," Serenity smiled, gently pulling the alien to her feet by her hands. The girl towered two feet above the Queen. "You must be tired and hungry from your ordeal. Let's see what we can do about making you a little more comfortable."
"I could have done that," groused Usa.
"I'm sorry, Honey. I didn't think," Serenity gasped.
"What else is new?" Usa sighed in frustration. "Go ahead."
"No, she's your guest. You see to her."
"Go on! You'll probably bust otherwise!"
"Oh, you are such a little brat sometimes!"
As the Queen and her daughter escorted their visitor out, bickering the entire time, Uranus and Neptune gathered with Rei and Ami.
"That left some questions still unanswered," Neptune scowled.
"She seemed somewhat reluctant to identify her attackers," Ami judged. Rei nodded. "Perhaps when she's settled, she'll be more forthcoming."
"Assuming the entire 'attacked' story is the truth," Neptune proposed.
"Yeah. And that's not the only consideration here," Uranus added. Ami and Rei looked at her curiously. "Suppose it is true. How soon until the ones who are after her come looking for her here?"
Cere breezed into the quarters she shared with her three adoptive sisters in the Crystal Palace. She wore a very provocative ensemble consisting of a very short dark green metallic skirt, a tight-fitting top of the same color that bared her arms, her neckline and her midriff, and gold metallic calf boots. A gold belt and gold jewelry accessorized the outfit and her face was painted to attract. She sought out the sofa and plopped down on the center cushion.
"How was the hunt?" Jun asked, glued to her computer. She wore casual beige slacks and a yellow top with flowering short sleeves.
"Am I unattractive?" Cere scowled.
"Well, you're not MY type," Jun quipped.
"Then explain to me why I can't seem to attract an interesting man?"
"Nobody hit on you at all? Did you go to a gay bar?" Jun asked. Cere replied with an impatient look.
"Oh, guys hit on me," Cere fumed. "Guys who couldn't count to twenty without taking their shoes off. Guys who look like some evolutionary throwback. Guys who are so obviously married and playing around on the side that they should stamp it on their forehead. But not one guy worth my time."
"Too bad," Jun murmured. She hadn't looked away from her computer the entire time.
"ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING?" Cere hollered. That brought Palla-Palla out of her room. She was in her footed pajamas and clutched one of her dolls to her chest.
"Not really," Jun mumbled. "I've practically got this whole scene memorized."
"Palla-Palla is glad you're back, Cere-Cere!" Palla-Palla declared.
"Hiya, Palla-Palla," Cere nodded. "Let me guess, Jun: You found something else on line about your mom, Colombia or the revolution."
"Actually, Minister Gomez sent me some video files they unearthed," Jun exclaimed, her level of excitement rising. "There's some news footage of the rebels being beaten back from some government building by government troops. Cere, she's IN THE FOOTAGE!"
"Wow, obsessive much?" Cere muttered. When Jun didn't react, she continued. "She's not getting shot, is she?"
"Cere-Cere, that isn't nice!" bellowed Palla-Palla indignantly.
"Don't mind her, Palla-Palla," Jun smirked, glancing at her sister. "She's just sexually frustrated."
"You would be, too, if the nicest boy you ever met was a tree," scowled Cere. "OK, let's see it. I can tell you're dying to show it to someone."
As her sisters crowded around her monitor, Jun rewound the video file to the beginning. It was video of a news report from 2982, showing anti-Almonte rebels in a fire fight with Colombian security forces. Forty seconds into the file, it stopped and an electronically superimposed red arrow pointed to a Colombian woman with short cropped brown hair wearing a light brown jump suit and carrying a hyper-projectile weapon. She was in the distance in the footage, but Jun enlarged the frame and clarified the picture.
"She's pretty," Palla-Palla commented. "But she looks like a boy."
"Well, she's in a battle, Palla-Palla, not a dance," Jun replied.
"Kind of looks like you a little bit," Cere added. "It's not hard to believe she's your mom."
"Yeah," Jun replied, looking wistfully at the picture on the monitor.
Suddenly both Jun and Cere felt Palla-Palla tugging on their arms. The two girls looked at their sister and found her very agitated.
"It's Ves-Ves!" Palla-Palla said, moisture bubbling at the corners of her eyes.
"What's wrong?" Cere asked.
Just then, the door to the quarters hissed open and Ves entered very quickly. Her clothing was mussed and torn, and there were scuffs and bruises on her face and arms. One of the gold ringlets in her hair was missing, causing the coiffure to list slightly. As the door hissed closed behind her, Ves made a bee-line for her room.
"If anybody asks, you never saw me," Ves said as she sped past her sisters.
"But we see you right now," Palla-Palla maintained with some confusion.
Ves scowled. "If anybody asks YOU, don't say anything, Stupid."
"What did you do NOW?" Cere demanded impatiently.
"She got into a fight!" Palla-Palla answered, her lip protruding.
"On the way home from that club you were going to," Jun inquired, "or on the way there?"
"Uh, during," Ves replied, anxiously eying the door.
"I'm amazed you didn't get arrested," fumed Cere.
"She did get arrested," Palla-Palla whimpered.
"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" bellowed Ves.
"You got arrested?" Jun exclaimed in horror.
"Hey, that guy in that club disrespected me! I don't have to take that, especially from some guy who probably shuffles memory crystals during the day!" Ves defended herself.
"Which one of the elders sprang you?" Cere asked contemptuously.
"I wasn't going to wait for them!" Ves frowned. "I sprang myself. Those energy barriers on those detention rooms aren't big enough to hold a flea.
"You're a fugitive?" Cere gasped.
"This just keeps getting worse," Jun said, her head in her hand.
"Look, all I have to do is lay low for a few weeks," Ves proclaimed. "It'll all blow over."
"But Ves-Ves, that's wrong!" Palla-Palla cried.
"It'll be a lot more wrong if the elders catch up to me and kick me out of here. Look, I know what I'm doing. I just stopped by here to grab a few things and let you all know . . ."
"DUMMY!" Cere yelled. "They probably already know you're here! The King has the entire palace under surveillance! And the streets are monitored by both the King and CDP! How far do you think you'll get?"
"She's right, Ves!" Jun argued. "Your best bet is to give yourself up! It was just a simple brawl. Maybe Kino-Sensei can smooth things over."
"Yeah, and maybe she won't want to anymore," frowned Ves. "I gotta go. I've been here too long as it is."
"But Ves-Ves!" Palla-Palla wailed. Tears were streaming down her face and perhaps for the first time Ves realized just how much of a mess her rash temper had made of things. Maybe she should just face up to it. It couldn't be any harder than looking at the sense of betrayal in her sister's face.
And then the point became moot.
"King Endymion is entering this room," announced the environmental control computer. Ves briefly considered going out the window, but thought better of it.
King Endymion entered the room. He was flanked on either side by a CDP officer. Behind them was Minako Aino. Ves recognized the look on her face. It was the same look she'd had on all the previous times Ves had let her down. As for the King, he had that look that instantly told you not to mess with him.
"Ves-Ves," Endymion began, his tone calm but with an undercurrent of barely restrained anger. "I understand you're supposed to be at the Central Holding Facility."
A defiant reply formed in her throat, but Ves didn't deliver it. Imprisoning it behind clenched teeth, the teen only looked down. The two officers approached to take her into custody. Reflexively, Ves backed up as they approached.
"Let's not go through this again," Endymion advised her sternly. Ves halted her retreat and allowed the guards to post to either side of her. "Escort her to the holding facility here in the palace. I'll inform Chief Nakamura of the change in detention." His gaze shifted to Ves. "They're going to take you to the palace detention room. You are TO STAY in that room until such time as a hearing can be convened to consider your behavior tonight. Do you understand?"
"You're the boss," Ves sneered. Sullenly she was led out of the quarters. Endymion turned to leave, but he felt a tug at his sleeve. Turning back, he found Palla-Palla holding him back.
"Please, King Endymion-Sir," Palla-Palla whimpered. "Ves-Ves is very sorry for what she did. Honest."
"That may be," Endymion replied, his anger diminishing in the face of the teen's watery eyes. "But we all have to be responsible for our actions and we all must face the consequences of them - - especially someone who holds the responsibility and power that you or Ves or I do. And we can't keep excusing those of us who can't live up to that responsibility." His hand rested on her head. "I will take what she means to you three into consideration." The King turned and left.
"Oh man, she has really done it this time!" sighed Cere. "What goes through her mind? To maybe throw everything away over a stupid brawl . . ."
"Cere," Jun interjected. When she had her sister's attention, she nodded toward Palla-Palla. The teen was hunched over, clutching her doll to her chest like it was her only means of salvation. She crouched down until she surrounded the doll like a ball. Cere gave Jun a worried look and got the same in return.
Continued in Chapter 3