CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Truth
Raye's apartment was a modest-sized, but comfortable studio situated on the second floor of a five-story building between a Caribbean restaurant and a hole-in-the-wall burrito place. She had no couch so she sat cross-legged on her bed while Serena collapsed into a soft papasan chair. Amy was perched on Raye's desk chair and the three of them listened rapt while Luna explained their mission again.
Amy had heard an abbreviated version of this story once before, but the inquisitive Raye, the latest addition to their team, kept pushing Luna for more information. Amy was grateful since Serena didn't seem to be too interested in the story or her role in it; Serena's eyes had glazed over and she stared at the wall as Luna spoke. Then again, Amy reasoned, Serena had learned of her alter ego well before the other two did so maybe she has all the information she needs.
"How did you know how to find us?" Raye asked.
"I communicate with a special operative through a portal. I call her Central Control."
"Who is she?"
"To be perfectly honest," Luna said, looking sheepishly at the floor, "I don't really know. She's extremely secretive about her identity. But when I found her, she unlocked certain memories of mine from the Silver Millennium. She told me my mission and ever since that day, I've been looking for you girls."
"Are there more of us?"
"There are," said Luna. "I'm to recognize them by their planetary symbols which are to appear on their foreheads at times of heightened emotional stress."
"So they're in New York?"
"Central Control did tell me that I would find you all here in the city."
"That's kind of a bizarre coincidence, isn't it?" Amy piped up. "I mean, there are six billion people in the world. What are the odds that a certain group of five would be in one city?"
"I'm a little shaky on all the precise details, Amy, but one thing I have learned is that there are no coincidences. There's something about this city that holds some importance for some reason. This is where the Negaverse concentrates its activity and this is where I was told I'd find all of you. And the Moon Princess as well."
"And what about this Moon Princess?" asked Raye. "Why is she so important and what are we supposed to do when we find her?"
"All I know is that the Moon Princess is the only one who can wield the Silver Crystal. And the Silver Crystal is the only power that can defeat Beryl."
At this, Serena chimed in. "I'm starving. Can we order food or something?"
Raye rolled her eyes. "How can you be so cavalier about this? Did you not see that monster that stole three city buses?"
"I've been seeing these monsters for months now," Serena said dryly. "I'm past getting all excited about it."
Raye stood up and walked impatiently to the kitchen area of her apartment and reached into a bowl that sat atop the refrigerator. She pulled out an apple and tossed it to Serena.
"I was thinking more like chips or something," Serena muttered.
"Well, I don't keep that crap in the house," Raye snapped.
Amy sensed that the tension in the room was starting to escalate and tried to diffuse it: "I love your apartment, Raye. The artwork is really beautiful." Amy gestured to a piece hanging on the wall depicting two Asian language characters. "That's really interesting. What do those symbols mean?"
Raye looked up at the painting to which Amy was referring and avoided the substance of the question replying merely, "Oh, those are Japanese symbols. I'm half Japanese."
"Oh, wow," said Amy. "Have you ever been to Japan?"
"No."
Raye didn't elaborate and Amy didn't want to pry so she quickly changed the subject. "So, I was working on something on a software program I wrote. I was trying to fix a bug, but then I thought that maybe it wasn't a bug. My program is a space mapping program and it found a huge distortion in the space between Mars and Jupiter. I'm starting to think that distortion has something to do with Beryl."
"What do you mean?" asked Raye.
"Maybe that's where she's hiding out, sending her minions from. I'm not really sure. The night I discovered my alter-ego, the demon destroyed my computer. I haven't had a chance to get another one because I've been so pre-occupied with all this Sailor business."
"If something weird is going on in space," Serena said, each word muffled by bites of half-chewed apple, "how come NASA isn't dealing with it?"
"Glad you decided to join the conversation," Raye muttered, eliciting a scowl from Serena.
Amy shrugged. "NASA is understaffed and underfunded. Chances are that even if they noticed the distortion, they'd attribute it to the Asteroid Belt or space junk or even to their own dated software. No one in this country really cares about space exploration anymore. Well, except for Galaxia Corporation, I suppose."
Amy hadn't gotten around to telling the Galaxia executives what was "wrong" with her program. If she'd told them that StarScape was working perfectly, she was sure that one of two scenarios would to play out: either they wouldn't believe her outright, or the revelation of the space anomaly would cause a worldwide panic. Amy wasn't sure what to do, so she'd been avoiding calls from Sam, Darien, and even Ken. Ken had left a few voicemails for her, each with an increasing degree of urgency. Apparently the Galaxia executives had interpreted her silence as reticence on her part to sell the product and they were beginning to panic. Darien and Sam were delighted with the effect this had on their purchase offer for CelesTech, but Ken sensed that something was wrong. It wasn't like Amy to avoid him or her responsibilities.
"Can we watch T.V. awhile?" Serena complained.
"I don't have T.V." Raye answered curtly. Serena stood up and searched the apartment. She was done in precisely thirty seconds.
"You don't have a T.V.!" she declared.
Raye narrowed her eyes. "Sign this one up for Mensa!" Serena glared; Amy coughed uncomfortably. "It's a waste of time," Raye added for good measure.
"But you have the Internet I see," said Amy, inspecting the high-speed DSL line under Raye's desk. "Mind if I check my email?"
"Go ahead," said Raye, returning to Luna. "So anyway, what do you know about…"
But Amy didn't hear their conversation. She was distracted by Raye's homepage on her web browser. It was set to the New York Post front page and there, staring Amy right in the face, was a photo of the three of them beneath a headline that read:
Skimpy-Suited Sailors Save City Straphangers
"Um…you guys?"
Raye, Serena, and Luna looked up to meet Amy's eyes.
"You need to see this…" said Amy. She leaned back as Raye and Serena crowded behind her. Luna hopped up onto Amy's lap and scanned the screen.
"What the hell is this?" Serena inquired, cocking her head to the side.
"Besides an alliterative nightmare," added Raye.
Amy clicked on the article and read aloud: "Put away your rat traps and roach motels, New Yorkers. A new scourge has hit the city that never sleeps. This time, it's demon bus snatchers! All of the city was abuzz with the news that three MTA buses were absconded with over the past two weeks. Initially it was thought that terrorists had hijacked the bus, but with no ransom demands and no trace of the buses, that theory was quickly dismissed. The sudden recovery of the buses – all three of which were found parked outside the Cathedral of St. John the Divine – shocked the NYPD. But what's even more shocking is the story of their miraculous return. The Post spoke with survivor Patricia Haruna, a school-teacher in Inwood, and when asked where they had been for so long, she responded: 'We were taken into an alternate universe by this gross monster thing. It did something to us. It didn't feel like we were gone as long as we were. We were all severely weakened and we couldn't figure out why. And then all of a sudden we were back uptown and these three young ladies with superpowers had saved us from the demon.' A crazy story indeed. But what's even crazier is that of the approximately ninety survivors from this ordeal, every one of them has told substantially the same story." Amy looked up at Raye, then back at Serena. "Contact The Post if you have any information, blah blah blah."
"How…who…what…" Serena stammered.
"How did this happen?" Raye demanded, as if Amy, the discoverer of the article, somehow had all the answers.
"I don't know! I guess someone there must've had a camera phone and sent it to the media. And shockingly, the media is buying it!"
A slow smile crept onto Serena's face. "This could be awesome," she said.
Raye and Amy glanced at each other, then back to Serena. "How exactly?" asked Amy, slowly.
"We're like celebrity superheroes!"
"Well, look who's finally getting excited about hero work!" Luna chimed in, glad to see Serena looking excited, even if it was only for fame.
"I don't want to be a celebrity," said Raye, sourly. "It's no kind of life. People are up in your business all the time."
"Being a celebrity is amazing," said Serena, matter-of-factly. "Look at Mina Van Arsdale. She has the best life. Nothing but fabulous parties and vacations to the tropics." Serena stared off in a moony daze.
Raye snapped to attention. "Mina Van Arsdale. Which one is that again?"
"She's in that ridiculous new movie about her and the guy and the Lighthouse and she's dying and blah blah blah," said Amy, dismissively.
Serena looked crushed. "That movie is amazing! He's rich and she's poor and they find each other and they fall in love but she's dying and wants to see the world before she dies but he can't go because he has to work in the family business so he sends her on all these trips and she sends him postcards from all these different lighthouses in all these different coastal cities and then…well I don't want to ruin it for you."
Raye rolled her eyes. "They've made that movie a hundred thousand times. And it sucks every single time."
Serena frowned. "Shove over, Amy." Serena scooted into the desk chair that was too small for both of them and typed in "Lighthouse trailer" into the YouTube search engine. "You have to see this trailer."
As it loaded, Raye reluctantly looked over Serena's shoulder to watch. When Mina Van Arsdale's visage, bright and lovely, graced the screen Raye's eyes darkened.
"That's Mina Van Arsdale?" she screeched.
"Yes, of course," answered Serena. "Who'd you think it was?"
Raye stepped into a pair of black ballet flats and threw on a hooded sweatshirt. She grabbed her keys, wallet, and phone and shoved them into the front pocket. "I have to go, I have to see someone," she said hurriedly, looking angrier by the minute.
Serena and Amy looked at each other and quickly collected their things. "Um, we'll walk with you for awhile," Amy said tentatively.
"Fine," Raye muttered. They hastily exited the apartment with Raye charging ahead and Amy and Serena hurrying to keep pace. As they bustled down the street, they came across an Irish pub called O'Brien's where floods of people were pouring out in a panic.
"Monsters!" one of them screamed as he ran past the girls.
"Oh no, not again!" Serena whined. Amy pulled the two of them down a set of stairs leading into someone's garden-level apartment. Hidden from street view, they quickly transformed and stamped back up the steps.
Twin demons, one with red lizard-like skin and the other with blue, darted out of the bar and skidded onto the street. A man with long dark hair and an imposing stance glowered at them from the doorway. "Castor," he commanded, pointing at the soldiers, "and Pollux! Destroy them now!"
"Mars fire ignite!" yelled Castor as she hurled a familiar fireball toward the soldiers. Raye escaped serious injury but her skirt caught fire. She threw herself to the ground and rolled around until the fire was put out leaving her skirt tattered and singed.
"Mercury bubble blast!" screeched Pollux. A flurry of icy bubbles came careening toward Amy. She leaped out of the way, but the bubbles, cold as ice, grazed her thigh leaving a three-inch gash. She cried out in pain and pressed her hands to the wound to quell the bleeding.
Serena was completely unharmed, having hidden behind a dumpster at the first sign of trouble. She timidly emerged when she saw her compatriots injured.
"Sailor Moon, you are the biggest wimp I have ever met in my life!" Raye screamed looking like she wanted to throttle Serena.
"Bite me, Mars," Serena replied gracefully.
"Stop it, you guys!" Amy cried, staggering to her feet. "Somehow they were able to mimic our powers."
"I'm on it, I'm on it," Serena assured as she raised her hand to her tiara.
"Not by yourself, you're not," Raye growled.
"Moon tiara…"
"Mars fire…"
"Mercury bubble…"
The soldiers took aim and fired with everything they had.
"MAGIC!" Serena's tiara took off and whizzed through the air.
"IGNITE!" Raye's fire infused into the metal tiara causing it to sizzle as it flew.
"BLAST!" A ring of bubbles encircled the blazing tiara and it cut through Pollux like she was made of paper. The tiara boomeranged back and tore through Castor and they both instantly dissolved into dust. Serena caught the tiara and dropped it immediately when it burned her hand.
"Owwww," she complained.
"Oh, that's some battle wound you got," Raye said, rolling her eyes.
At this, the dark, scowling man in the doorway came forward.
"I've been looking forward to meeting you," he drawled.
"Who are you!" demanded Raye.
"You're the one sending these monsters to the city, aren't you? Admit it!" Amy shouted.
The man smiled and bent his head in a simple bow. "With pride."
"Who are you?" asked Serena, as she bent down and placed a fingertip onto the tiara to see if it was still hot. Finding it cool enough, she returned it to her head.
"I am Nephrite. Second of the Four Knights. And you must be Sailor Moon. I have to say, I was expecting someone a bit more formidable."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I mean, the Sailor Moon I heard of didn't cower behind dumpsters while her friends took the hits."
"A good point," Raye muttered.
"Shut up, Mars!"
"In any event," Nephrite continued. "I don't suppose any of you has it in you to fight me."
"Well, we dusted those two monsters you sent pretty damn easily," Raye snarled.
Nephrite snorted. "Those are minions. I'm the real deal." To prove his point, he extended his arm out and summoned a ball of black energy. It swirled and emitted jolts of electricity around his hand.
"Um…" said Serena, not wanting to test him.
All of a sudden a voice bellowed: "Nephrite! Return home immediately!"
The girls looked all around. It seemed like the voice was coming from somewhere nearby, but they couldn't identify the source.
"I can finish them now," Nephrite protested.
"No. The Queen wants to wait," the voice bellowed, deep and sharp.
Nephrite turned around and began to walk away, but then stopped, looked over his shoulder and said, "I'll see you girls very soon. But don't plan on a similar outcome next time." He turned again and as he walked, he slowly faded away until he disappeared into thin air.
"This is getting really creepy," said Serena.
"Yeah," Amy agreed. "I guess there's some kind of hierarchical structure among these…things. Nephrite is a cut above the demons they keep sending down, but he took orders from that voice. But the voice mentioned a Queen. Which I assume they both take orders from."
The three looked off in the direction Nephrite left with a sense of foreboding. He would be back.
A few weeks later, Amy was sitting in a Brooklyn coffee shop by the name of Beans & Books with her computer in front of her and warm autumn drink in her hand. She chewed the cap of her pen, thoughtful for a moment. Demons sent by Nephrite. Nephrite takes orders from the Voice. But the Voice is subservient to a Queen. She sipped her pumpkin latte and stared at her blank computer screen. She had been trying to make a flow chart of the enemies hierarchy but wasn't getting very far. All of the attacks had one thing in common: the victims were deprived of energy. So…they're sucking out our energy and using it for…for…blah. Nothing was coming to her.
"Amy Anderson?"
Amy was startled. She looked up to see a tall man in a long gray trench coat standing over her.
"Do I know you?" she asked quizzically.
Amy was a little taken aback by his appearance. She couldn't tell how old he was. He had a youthful-looking face, but his expression was of someone who had seen a lot of tragedy in his life. Further complicating matters was his hair. It was long, pulled back in a low ponytail, and so blond that it appeared almost white. He smiled a tight, thin-lipped smile and replied, "No, not personally. But I'm a big fan of your work. I'm Kaleb Malcolm, C.E.O. of Galaxia Corporation. I believe we're doing some business together?"
Amy was aghast. "I've heard of you, of course, but…I can't believe someone of your stature is here talking to me!"
Kaleb smiled and gestured to the empty chair across from her. "Mind if I sit down?"
Amy nodded her assent so forcefully that her sunglasses, which had been sitting on top of her head, came flying forward and crashed into her computer screen. Blushing, Amy picked them up and shoved them into her bag. Kaleb chuckled and sat down.
"Listen, Amy," he began, "I wanted to discuss a few things with you. First thing's first: how is the design flaw coming along?"
Amy cringed at the word flaw. "I've been working on it for quite awhile, as you know," she said. "I'm not sure if they told you, but my computer was destroyed a little while ago – I, uh, spilled a soda on it – and so I had to start from scratch. But I've been plugging along pretty steadily now and I'm not entirely sure –" she paused for dramatic effect, "—that there is a design flaw."
Kaleb's expression darkened.
"What do you mean by that?" he asked, suddenly hushing his voice. Amy started to get nervous.
"Well, I just mean, I think that the distortion the program is picking up is the real thing. Well, I guess I mean I haven't ruled that out…"
"You know, Amy," said Kaleb, suddenly cheerful again, "I think you might be onto something. It's creative thinking like that that brings me to my next point. I'd like you to come work for Galaxia Corporation. We could use your talents in house."
Amy gasped and then her face melted into a smile. "That's very kind of you, Mr. Malcolm—"
"Kaleb."
"Kaleb. It's very generous, but I like freelancing. It gives me time to—" Amy looked away. "Pursue, um, other interests."
Kaleb laughed a big throaty laugh. "Amy, you could freelance for us. Set your own schedule. Just sort of be a one-woman think tank. We're really trying to expand our space exploration division. You could be a key part of that. Think of it, Amy. Exploring the final frontier."
Normally a Star Trek reference endeared Amy to whoever uttered it. But something about Kaleb Malcolm gave her an uneasy feeling.
Before Amy could reply, Kaleb held up his hands: "Don't answer me now. Think it over and get back to me." He stood up and extended his hand. Amy shook it and gave a small smile. They said their goodbyes and Amy returned to her work, but the feeling nagged at her: How did the C.E.O. of a major corporation know where to find me? Amy could kick herself for having been so star-struck that she didn't even bother to ask him that. And where have I heard that voice before?