ISLAND LIFE
Chapter 11: "Judgment"
By Bill K.
As night began to fall on the rural prefect that had in the last few days witnessed a lifetime's worth of turmoil, a National Security Force soldier looked out over the countryside. The impact crater of the meteor still lay open, ringed by caution tape and a few remaining science vehicles. They remained, hoping to draw the last bit of information from the gaping wound in the otherwise serene countryside. They had life again once it had been determined that there was no longer a fear of contamination from the area. The scientists within worked with heavy hearts, though, for two of their number remained hospitalized with the peculiar respiratory ailment that had gripped the nation with fear. A third had already died.
The soldier's gaze shifted to the right of the crater. The glen that had been there still gave off a faint acrid scent, the way charred wood always did. Like a cauterized wound, the roughly circular area near the impact crater sat blackened and lifeless. The soldier reflected on this. Nature would reclaim it eventually, but until then it would remain barren cinders.
Just then a noise caught his senses. The sentry at the roadblock turned to the sound and peered into the wooded glen that had been spared Sailor Mars' cleansing pyre. Something had moved in there. He continued to stare. It could have been anything: animals still roamed these woods, despite all the destruction, because they really didn't have anywhere else to go. And the local kids were often seen in and around the blockade perimeter, despite warnings from both the soldiers and their parents, for kids thought themselves invulnerable until proven otherwise. But he had to be sure it wasn't something else. That was his job.
He continued to stare. Then there was another sound, farther off. Something was passing through the brush on the run. It sounded too large to be a fox or a raccoon. A bear, perhaps? Hard to believe, but possible. At any rate, it was moving away from the perimeter. That was all he needed to know.
Another bush brushed against Sailor Pluto as she tried to keep pace with Sailor Uranus. As usual, Uranus set a difficult pace to match. They ran through the wooded glen following their sense of the alien craft, masked as a meteor. The craft no longer moved and the outer senshi mistrusted the intent of those inside.
"Carefully, Uranus," Pluto called out as quietly as she could. "We are nearing our target."
"I feel it," Uranus called back.
The woman slowed and stopped at a group of trees surrounding a clearing. Pluto caught her and looked out onto it. In the clearing, a plowed field growing sweet potatoes, the meteor hovered above the ground. It was two meters above ground, still smoldering from its entry through Earth's atmosphere. Pluto could feel the tension of her partner without touching her.
"What are they waiting for?" Uranus wondered.
"Perhaps to be certain there is no danger to themselves," offered Pluto. "Curious that this flight has attracted no attention from the government, given that there is a detachment of National Security Forces nearby."
"Some sort of camouflage?" Uranus asked her. "Then how do we see it? And why was the other one spotted right off?"
"I can offer answers to neither question," Pluto replied. "I merely make the observation. Clearly the government would be here if they were aware of it. And it would further indicate their caution."
"They're afraid of us?" Uranus wondered aloud. "Or are they pulling a sneak attack?"
"Of what strategic value would there be to attacking a field of sweet potatoes?"
"Who knows?" frowned Uranus. "Maybe that's how this bug that infected Michiru works. Maybe that's their plan. Kill off all the population with disease and then take over the planet without opposition."
Their speculation hushed when a fissure appeared near the bottom of the meteor. Miraculously the rock parted and a tube extended from the bottom of the meteor to the ground. The tube gave off an unearthly yellow-green glow for several moments. Then the tube retracted, leaving several shadowy forms behind. Cautiously the forms moved out from that point. When they emerged from the shadow of the meteor, Uranus and Pluto could better see them.
In every detail they were like the alien the outers had previously encountered. They had the same physiology and wore the same environmental suits and encompassing helmets. There were four of them in total, each one carrying a device. The lead alien had a metallic shaft about a meter long. The alien took several steps away from the group.
"It's going to stick that metal shaft into the ground," Uranus said. She stepped forward into the clearing. Pluto's hand shot out and held her back.
"Is a confrontation wise at this moment?" Pluto asked.
"We have to assume what they're doing is hostile," Uranus retorted sharply. "I'm not going to let anyone else end up like Michiru."
Shaking Pluto's hand off, Uranus stalked into the open. She walked with a determined gait, intent on communicating through her posture her confidence in her ability to stop her adversary's actions. Reluctantly Pluto followed. The aliens were less likely to attack two senshi, nor were they likely to flank two. And if they didn't attack, Uranus would have no reason to do so.
"HOLD IT!" Uranus called out belligerently. Startled by the senshi's presence, the aliens froze in place and eyed her cautiously. "I'm not going to permit you to do what you intend to do here!"
Pluto's gaze went from Uranus to the aliens. She doubted they could understand what Uranus was saying, unless they possessed an unheard of linguistic sophistication. But the hostility of the senshi's body language was a universal language, it seemed. Both parties stood at a standoff.
As she paced, Junko glanced at the clock. It was approaching seven. The teen sighed impatiently.
Boredom had long ago set in. Michiru had stopped hallucinating and was resting. The respirator taped into her mouth had also quieted her ramblings. Junko had turned away when they did that. The vibrant woman she'd seen just a few days ago hugging her sister looked so frail and beaten. Junko glanced back at her and, unbidden, memories of Michiru calling out her sister's name returned.
"What could be happening?" Junko wondered, glancing again at the clock. "Is she out being Sailor Uranus? Is she in trouble?"
"Junko," came the voice behind her, that of her mother. Junko closed her eyes out of frustration, because she was afraid she knew what was coming. "I thought I asked you not to associate with this woman."
"Don't call her 'this woman', OK," Junko scowled. "Haruka is my sister. I haven't disowned her."
"You are still my daughter and you will obey me," Himeko Tenoh said. Her gaze was steely and, though her daughter dwarfed her, she wouldn't back down.
"Excuse me," interceded the duty nurse. "A hospital ward is not the place for this."
"Please forgive me," Himeko replied, bowing to the nurse with mannered formality.
"It's nine o'clock anyway," the nurse continued. "I'm going to have to ask you both to leave."
"But," Junko began, stricken.
"Come along, Junko," her mother told her.
"But I promised Haruka I'd stay with Kaioh-San!"
"Miss," the nurse said patiently, "no visitors are allowed in the ward after nine p.m. Tenoh-San wouldn't expect you to stay past the time when even she'd have to leave. We'll take good care of Kaioh-San."
Her face scrunched up in disappointment, but Junko gave in and left. Himeko followed her out. The two women walked down the hall slowly, not looking at each other.
"I know you think I'm being harsh," Himeko said at last. "I'm only doing it to protect you."
"Protect me from what?" snorted Junko.
"Protect you from her," Himeko reiterated. "Protect you from that lifestyle she leads. Consorting with women, driving race cars, acting like a man - - it's not right."
Junko's jaw set into a scowl.
"Junko, you're a good girl," Himeko continued. "You're bright and honest and dedicated. That business just now in the ward, when you didn't want to leave because you felt you'd be going back on your word. That's so you, Junko, and it's one of the things that makes me proudest of you."
The teen's scowl softened.
"I know you're curious about - - her - - and it's only natural. But it's easy to get sucked into it. They tempt you with honey-coated lies and prey on a girl's curiosity, then suck you in."
"Mom," sighed Junko.
"I already lost one daughter," the woman mewled. "I don't want to lose another."
"Mom, you're wrong about her," Junko maintained.
"It's a crime against nature!"
"Mom, I'm not talking about Haruka's lifestyle. I'm talking about her. Haruka is a good person. She doesn't kill people and she doesn't seduce little girls at the primary school. She's led a real interesting life and yet she's not stuck up about it. And - - and she's my sister."
"Junko," Himeko said with finality. "I forbid you to see her and that is final."
"Mom, that is so not fair! You haven't listened to a word I said!"
"Yes I have. You just haven't said anything to convince me that I'm wrong. Now come along. You can still say good night to your father."
"Thanks for seeing my side of it," Junko grumbled. She loved her mother, but she hated talking to her mother when the woman's mind was closed.
Suddenly the teen understood a part of her sister just a little bit more.
The area was rife with tension. Pluto felt it. Uranus felt it. The aliens felt it, too, if they were capable of perceiving such things. Nobody moved and everybody stared. Uranus was ready to attack at the slightest flinch, and that at least the aliens seemed to understand.
"What now?" Pluto asked, her eyes never leaving the aliens lest they make a threatening move.
"Now I stop them from hurting anyone else," Uranus replied, her eyes also locked on the aliens.
"Which you have accomplished. Did you plan to hold them at bay for the rest of time?"
"I didn't get that far, OK? You got any ideas?"
"Given how little I know about them or their intentions, I fear not," Pluto remarked. "I would, however, caution against a direct strike. Recall that they are quite fragile."
"Yeah? It would serve them right for attacking," Uranus shot back.
"And potentially cause to occur what you intended to prevent."
"What are you talking about?" Uranus hissed
"The bacterial contamination," Pluto replied flatly. "The one that infected eight people, including Michiru. Was it intentionally planted, or was it caused by the decomposition of the alien - - the alien that you killed?"
Uranus felt her blood pressure drop to almost zero.
"Y-You mean . . .?" Uranus stammered.
"There is as yet no way to determine which is true," Pluto told her. "Therefore you must temper your next move with that fact."
As her mind raced, Uranus searched her thoughts, reflecting over the fateful events of the initial confrontation. She couldn't be responsible for what happened to Michiru - - could she?
But as her gaze dropped with introspection, the lead alien slowly moved the rod until it was horizontal in his hands. His hands slid along the shaft while his arms remained extended until the two hands were pressed together in the center of the shaft. Uranus noticed none of this.
Pluto did.
"Dead Scream," she spoke, her staff raising above her head. A sonic blast exploded from the Ruby Orb atop the staff and shot for the contingent of aliens. Fortunately for them, Pluto meant it only as a warning shot. It struck about a meter in front of the lead alien, chewing up a hole in front of it and kicking up dirt. The aliens fell back a step defensively, then froze and warily watched the two senshi.
"Don't hurt them!" Sailor Moon called out. Everyone glanced over and saw Sailor Moon and the senshi, minus Mercury and Jupiter, emerging from another part of the woodland barrier to the sweet potato field.
"My Princess!" Pluto said urgently. "Stay back! We do not yet know the danger!"
"Holy crap, they are spacemen!" gasped Venus.
Sailor Moon was set to ignore Pluto's warning, but Mars reached in and stopped her. The three senshi stood, aliens to their left and Pluto and Uranus to their right. Everybody eyed everyone else nervously. The aliens seemed more agitated than ever.
"I can't sense anything from them!" Mars exclaimed. "I can't read them! The impressions - - don't make any sense!"
"What are they here for?" Venus asked.
"They seemed to be doing something with that metal shaft," Pluto explained. "What, we have no way of determining."
"Maybe I can make them understand," Sailor Moon said.
Shaking Mars off, Sailor Moon stepped forward two paces. Some of the aliens regarded her warily while others kept watch on Uranus and Pluto. Sailor Moon smiled and spread her hands out from her body.
"Hello," Sailor Moon said sweetly. "My name is Sailor Moon. We don't mean to harm you. We'd like to be your friends. Do you understand? Friends."
The lead alien responded with a shrill series of chirps and clicks. At once the noise became too much for them and the senshi recoiled, holding their hands to their ears.
Concluded in Chapter 12
