Till Our Lives Burn Out
Chapter 008 – Spiral Curricula
(Part 2)
Epigraphs:
"You should be able to strip a man naked and throw him out with nothing on him.
By the end of the day, the man should be clothed and fed. By the end of the week,
he should own a horse. And by the end of a year, he should own a business and
have money in the bank."
Cyril Richard 'Rick' Rescorla
Col. US Army, ret.
(Vice-president for Security at Morgan Stanley / Dean Witter, he
died on 9-11 in the collapse of the North Tower of the WTC, after
the successful evacuation of all but six of their 2700 employees.)
--
If you see a turtle on a fencepost, you know it didn't get there by itself.
-Arkansas proverb
--
Faust: I see you can destroy nothing great, so you
content yourself with destroying little things.
(Du kannst im Grossen nichts vernichten
Und faengst es nun im Kleinen an.)
Mephistopheles: Admittedly, not much gets done.
(Und freilich ist nicht viel damit getan.)
-Goethe's Faust, Studierzimmer II (Part I)
"What does that mean, opened to the powers?" asked Hotaru, with a bit of concern in her voice.
"It means I'm an attenuator, for want of a better term. You called yourself the Senshi of Destruction? I take it your powers are very wholesale when you do that? Everything gets wiped out? You're a nuke, as it were. I'm more of a smart bomb. Instead of using all their power, which could annihilate whole worlds, I bring to bear only that which is needed to destroy the enemy. In fact, these days I use as little of their power as possible, for reasons I'll explain later. It also means that they have a claim on me, as it were. When I get close enough to one of the enemy to …'lock in,' as it were, I have to attack immediately and the fight doesn't end until one of us is dead."
"You're a weapon," said Hotaru. 'Just like us.' Kuryakin had told her of how sometimes he wanted to pick her up and hug her because he understood, instinctively, how hard her life had been. Now she felt the same way about him. "Like a Vampire Hunter."
"Actually, that's not a bad analogy, but I prefer Rikki Tikki Tavi, the mongoose who rids the garden of snakes."
"So," said Hotaru, "those Oyéresu were the teachers who 'don't let people fail' you spoke of when we first met."
"Yes, indeed," he said. "And so began my education. I was a lousy student at first. I mentioned that Viritrilbia is the 'organ' of thought in the Field of Arbol. His 'activity' makes thought possible. As such, he would be my primary teacher. He took one look at me and said, 'I cannot fix him. His head is too bent.' That's where the 'can't fix stupid' comment came from, Miss Meioh. It was directed at me. Oyarsi-Viritrilbia was told- ordered really- to find a way. Not a very promising beginning though, ne? The others were singularly unimpressed as well, especially Malacandra who would teach me how to unify the powers into a way of fighting."
The hovering cylinder made a sound. Kuryakin looked at it and said, "Ah, okay, here comes the answer, I hope." The face and torso of an insanely handsome blonde headed man appeared and began speaking in a language none of the Senshi recognized.
"Hold on, I'll fix it so you can understand."
He touched it again, the image shuddered, then began to reset.
"It's not live. There's a 42 minute transmission time delay – at present- through the corridor … there we go."
The handsome blonde man began again, his mouth was forming Japanese and the translated message was synchronized to it:
"Sir," he said, very deferentially, "we think we know what happened. As you know, we were keeping a micro corridor network open to maintain contact with you. Two weeks ago, Signa Karagon fluctuated, radically and unexpectedly. None of the stellar fusion burn models caught it. It was too late to shut down, and besides we didn't want to lose contact with you, so the supervisors said to ride it out. The power surge overloaded the ring system for a few minutes, and there was a modulation of the main corridor. It opened up big enough for a small corvette to get through. A few life pods jettisoned from the control platform at about that time, but we thought it was just an accident because we were having minor malfunctions all over. The scanners showed one pod free falling into the corridor. At the time, it was checked according to procedure, and we didn't see anything inside. However, we were in a bit of distress from the overload, and we only checked the visible spectrum. When we got your message, we went back and reviewed the security records. We checked the other spectra, and though it was well hidden, we're pretty sure there was something inside. We're sorry. I just don't know what else to say. Right now, the amplitudes in the corridor mean about six days before we can get help to you. What do you want us to do, sir? End transmission."
He then took the cylinder in hand and spoke into it. "First of all, I've got to know how many of them. Make sure it was only one. Be as sure about that as you can. And find out what lapses in security allowed one of them to sit undetected in a life pod until a star fluctuated. Second, we have no permission for anyone else to come, and I am in touch with some people who I hope will be willing to help. Still, it is one of them, so I want you and Tara to set out at once. Just you two, understand? Get moving right away. End transmission."
Kuryakin looked at the TV again. "I've been hoping up till now that this is just some bizarre coincidence. Still, when I got home and found that my studio had been burned to the ground, I had little hope left of that."
"What?!" said Hotaru, jumping up. "It's gone?"
Kuryakin nodded.
"Everything?"
"Well, most of my personal stuff had been removed, and all my important documents, but yes, all that equipment I was going to donate to the local schools is gone."
"The fish tank?"
"I'm afraid so," he smiled sadly. "That's why I thought I'd better get over here quickly."
Hotaru looked positively tearful. "Hey, it's all right," he said consolingly. "You gave that little blue tang four months of life it wouldn't have gotten otherwise. That's something, at least."
"You saw, that did you?" she asked.
"No, but I did figure it out, and when you healed that boy at the hospital …well, let's put it this way: whenever you do that it sure lights up the place, for those with the eyes to see such light. So anyway, the enemy knows someone from Oyarandra is here. I just hope it thinks I'm merely a scout."
"I am curious, Mister Kuryakin," said Setsuna.
"Yes, Miss Meioh?"
"You spoke of permission to come here. From whom did you get permission?"
"It is not a proper thing to invade another's handra. Even though we are human and this is our ancestral world, we thought it best to get permission from your queen in the thirtieth century," he said. "I'm not quite sure how Nico managed that particular audience. I imagine Lurga, who governs time, had something to do with it. Nico based the request on a 'right of return', but really, they were just accommodating me."
"So what are you doing on earth?" asked Michiru.
"Part of the reason I came here was to do research."
"What manner of research?" asked Setsuna.
"General, and a little personal. Once humans were taken to Oyarandra and became acclimated, their children and grandchildren were very curious about 'the old country' as it were. The groups taken there are quite varied in both time and location, so from all that eyewitness testimony, we pieced together a great deal of earth's history from the fall of your Moon Kingdom to the present. My 'official' task here is to confirm this by observation and historical study. As for myself, I have solid evidence that my ancestors came from the Russian Diaspora into the Americas. So after a fashion, it is true that I am an American of Russian descent. I found out the families that make up my earthly ancestry settled at Fort Ross in Northern California in your year 1816. They were fur trappers and traders. Sometime between then and the time the Fort Ross colony was sold to John Sutter in 1841, the people who made up my family disappeared. But calling myself American is mostly a conceit. I had to come from somewhere as part of my 'cover.' However, the Americans are made up of immigrants, just as the people of Oyarandra are made up of "intergalactic immigrants. So I have an affinity for them."
"What is with all the tutoring stuff?" asked Haruka.
"Oh, well, we've only recently learned how to open these corridors between the galaxies. It took us a while to build what you call "Dyson rings," but we've got the hang of it very well now, and so they didn't mind me coming, as long as I stayed available for my 'real job.' However, I was taught to be quite self-sufficient. You can drop me anywhere and I'll make a go of it. Besides, how better to learn a culture than to live and work among a people, get to know them and find out their dreams and such? The truth is, when I did the Cram School, I came to like those kids. I'm really a bit of a softy."
"What are these corridors between the galaxies?" asked Setsuna. Her anger at Kuryakin had been set aside for a moment, for this sort of thing fascinated her to no end.
"As we grew in the knowledge of the technology left behind by the previous race, we learned that there is a more fundamental level of physics that your physicists are just beginning to suspect. Now maybe you can see why I was so impressed by your term paper, Miss Meioh. I'm sure you can understand this at least a little? Like leaves on a tree, all the galaxies in the local galactic super cluster are connected at that fundamental level. It is possible to exploit this once you know what you're looking for. For want of a better term, you can call it super gravity. It only works on things with a great enough mass. As for the distance involved, well, if you can harness enough power – it is possible to pull two sections of a galaxy together and create a traversable passage between them. Enoch, that super scout, came from a time long ago when this was well-known. He must have been the test pilot for a corridor system."
"So you must be very technologically advanced."
"Yes, but that's neither here nor there. Technological advancement isn't the be all and end all of societies, though I have been amazed in my travels to find out how many societies think it is. Sometimes technology is a substitute for virtue. Technology is power, of a sort, and that's no substitute for virtue. I'd rather live in primitive but good society than an advanced but evil one."
"How did you find out about us?" asked Michiru.
"There was some luck involved. I've been on earth for over thirteen years, but I only ended up here seven years ago. I just happened to like this country. It's a peaceful, interesting, relatively intact culture in a time of drastic change on this world. I also find the language interesting, and then there is your stellar national cuisine, which is very much like that back home. I've seen the tail end of a few of your fights, from a distance. Hotaru hinted that you have ways of making people forget what they've seen, but it doesn't seem to work on me. I have seen enough to be getting on with. Being somewhat troubled myself, I am naturally drawn to trouble spots. Some things one can't miss, like talking cats for example. As you may have noticed, I can also see things in funny ways, by wishing it. If I change my vision a little, I can see the planetary ensigns on your foreheads, even now. Once I lucked into the general vicinity, it was almost inevitable I'd see telltale evidence, and then run into you sooner or later. Though in this case, you ran into me. Deep calling unto deep, I suppose."
He took a sip from the glass of water Hotaru brought to him.
"But where ever I go," he continued, "I have to be extraordinarily careful. I don't want to cause too many ripples. There are unintended consequences, no matter how pure one's intentions. I cannot make too many ripples in the way things work here. I cannot help out too much, and certainly not until I know how things really work here. For example, I was very chary about helping out my conductor friend, but I thought that was one I could get away with."
"You're saying that you might 'intervene' under certain circumstances?"
"There are a few –very few, but a few- circumstances under which I wouldn't hesitate to do so," Kuryakin replied matter-of-factly.
"But, if I understand you correctly," said Setsuna, "you are saying that is what got you in trouble in the first place."
"It is. But I am not quite as stupid as I was before," he replied. "As I said, Kindness is eternal. It's the only thing that is. Even there, I am very, very careful. For example, I suspect you've figured out that I was pretty friendly with Dr. Mizuno that night at the hospital?"
Setsuna nodded. The familiarity between her and Kuryakin was unmistakable and it was obvious they had spent some time together in some context.
"I think she kind of fell for me. She was so lonely and so sweet, and I could see she was reaching a breaking point. I was trying to give her hope that her life wasn't going to be as tough as it seemed. I went out with her a few times, after Ami was done with the cram school," he emphasized. "I was clear at the very beginning that this was on a 'just friends' basis, but I wanted to encourage her. That was the real reason I had to end the cram school. There were some pretty bright kids in there, and some who, though not bright, were very determined. Natural leaders as it were. I feared I was causing too many ripples. On the other hand, helping someone who has given up on life is a ripple I am only too happy to cause, whatever the consequences."
As he talked, Hotaru smiled. Setsuna was 'doing it again.' She sighed, smiled, tugged on Setsuna's robe and whispered, "Why can't you stop staring at him?"
Setsuna flushed, and realized she'd been caught.
"Such eyes," she whispered, "always seeing what is there, and such a quick mind, always thinking, catching everything and so quickly. And he's so kind hearted. I do admire that."
"I'll never believe you don't feel something for him," she whispered back. Setsuna could only close her eyes and sigh. Hotaru had that firmly in her head and it was never going away.
Kuryakin was about to continue, but suddenly Michiru stirred, and then shivered. There was just the slightest suggestion of a cold in the room. No, it wasn't cold exactly; it was as if the debilitating power of anxiety had taken on elemental form and had begun to infuse itself into the very air. Kuryakin noticed her, and then suddenly went rigid. Quick as a flash he went into a crouch and his eyes turned a dark blue color: not just his irises, but the whites as well. The effect was eerie, and would have been frightening to less stout hearts.
"Everyone, quiet," he barked, as his head jerked about as though he were looking for the source of a sound. Then, as if he'd located it, he moved quickly on all fours to the south bay window. The Senshi followed. He crouched down, his back against the wall next to the window, but did not try to look out.
"Take a look out there and tell me what you see," he whispered and then seemed to go into some sort of trance.
At first, they saw nothing, except a path through the tress that led down to the highway. Michiru produced her mirror and looked into it. She could see something, and held it up for the rest of the Senshi to see. There was a translucent, black, cloud-like form on the path, quite far down the way, but definitely there. Then glowing yellow eyes opened and peered out of it, and they could see it was looking at their house, and at them.
"Do you see it?" Kuryakin whispered.
"Yes," Hotaru said.
"How far down the path is it?" he whispered back. "I can't get a lock. It must not be … entirely there."
"50 meters," said Michiru.
"If it'll just come closer …"
The ravager began his search when it had discovered Kuryakin's studio by the 'scent' of someone from Oyarandra hanging about the place. He was not happy to discover that one of them was here. This could be very bad for The Plan and he had - foolishly perhaps - destroyed the studio in a fit of rage. After calming down to think, he realized the travel time through the corridors would be days long at least, and so even if the occupant was able to call for help from Oyarandra, it would be too little too late. The plan would take only a few more days to reach fruition. It did however occur to the ravager that there was one and only one Oyarandran whose presence here would alter that equation. Surely, whoever it was, it was not him. The odds were very much against it. And yet, that 'scent …'
He would need to be sure. Before he set fire to the studio, he saw a picture of a young girl in a pool swimming with some local fauna. She might make an excellent hostage, and later, with her usefulness at an end, delicious prey. The 'scent' – faint, but unmistakable- led it here. The young girl was in that house. He could see her now. She was with her family. He felt like attacking now, but there was something wrong. They were looking out the window, and apparently, right at him. They could see him. Something about these people …
"It's coming closer," Michiru said.
"We should transform," said Haruka.
"No wait! Please!" Kuryakin whispered urgently. "In his present state, if he gets within thirty meters, I can lock in, and we can end this right here …"
The ravager stopped. Something was definitely wrong. These people could definitely see him and they were not at all afraid.
'Who are they?'
It wanted to get closer. These people had power, but if his was greater, they, for all their strength, might become even more delightful prey. How powerful were they? And could the Oyarandran be among them?
'I can't sense it, and the stink on the girl is now too much for me to tell if it's merely coming from her …'
"It's stopped," said Michiru.
"It's a him, and he's still too far away," said Kuryakin.
"We should transform," Haruka said with more urgency, this time. Setsuna appeared to be in agreement. Hotaru wasn't, but she understood what Kuryakin was doing. The trance he was in shielded his presence from the ravager's gaze.
"We should let it come closer," said Hotaru, who was not only interested in this new enemy, but also curious as to what would happen if Kuryakin-sensei lit out after it. 'Does he have a transformation?' she wondered. She was about to find out.
"Hotaru, open the window, like you're trying to get a better look."
She did so, as the others looked curiously at her.
"On the count of three, you all jump back, and let me through," he whispered. "I'm going to try to close the distance before it realizes I'm here."
"C'mon, everyone, do as he says," said Hotaru. "I want to see this."
Kuryakin, still in that trance, smiled nonetheless. The others nodded their agreement.
Three … two … one …now …
Kuryakin scrambled through the window and the ravager suddenly became more solid and visible to the naked eye.
'What!? This foolish man is … NO!'
As Kuryakin charged, the ravager quickly realized who it was, and like a deflating balloon spiraled into the air, trailing a Curly Q of black behind it. Hotaru missed this because she was watching the light that began sparkling around Kuryakin's body as he ran. It seemed to come from a point just in front of him and vaguely reminded her of the way the 'flux capacitor' opened a time door for the De Lorean in the Back to the Future series. Just as he had finished transforming, he disappeared over a dip on the trail and could not be seen. The one decent look she got was when he jumped into the air as if trying to follow the ravager, but he was too far away to make out anything specific out. What little she did see seemed rather cool, though.
He walked back, obviously upset that he'd missed his quarry. By the time he arrived back at the house, he looked perfectly normal, though he was breathing heavily and sweating profusely.
"I just missed him. I'm … sorry."
"So what are they?" asked Setsuna.
"Just a moment please," Kuryakin said, while he slowed his breathing. "He won't be back. He knows I'm here now, and he knows you have powers."
"So what are they?" Setsuna asked again.
"They," he said pointing at the television, "are the Ravagers of Andromeda. When the Oyarsi-Viritrilbia began my education, I began to see what really drives the histories of peoples and worlds. 'The devil made me do it' is both true and false. Very rarely does 'the devil' ever take someone in a direction they did not wish to go. Nonetheless, embodiments of evil do exist, always ready to encourage any wrong turns, or enflame any bad situation they can. Behind them is the power of The Bent One. Even in his diminished state, he is like the other Oyéresu in that his activity generates nature itself. Insofar as the history of a world is driven by the inherent flaws of a people, his servants are there to help things along. In every generation of the people taken to Oyarandra, there are some who fall away, yes, even in paradise. It has been this way with all the races that are taken there. In fact, if I had not turned myself in, I might have become one of them. As for their powers well, the short version is this: put the Marquis de Sade together with Jack the Ripper, and give them the power of an archangel. Fortunately, it's only one of them."
"You hope it is only one," Setsuna said, a very jaundiced look on her face.
"Yes, I hope it is only one."
"What, exactly, can they do?"
"Everything I could do, if I chose to. They exist only to destroy. No cruelty, no matter how small, is beneath them."
"Is there some reason for this?"
"Well, that gets in to some pretty heavy existential and theological questions, but my personal belief is that like a ghost, they terrify, lest they should fear the thing they themselves have become. They need the suffering of others to alleviate their own. They'll terrorize and torture if they have time, as they did in Edgeton. Really, I'm glad it knows I'm here because now he will keep his head down. Makes him harder to find, but there shouldn't be anymore rampages. They can attack you in a thousand different ways, not just physically, but emotionally, psychologically, you name it. See," he said pointing at the TV where the story was running again, "a lot of those people, maybe all of them, killed each other, under the influence of mass hysteria, illusions or some such. They're very creative, even artistic, in their destruction. They can raise you to perfect pique of euphoria, and then plunge you into deepest fear and suffering. Your worst fears can make you theirs, and they will milk your suffering for all it's worth, before they kill you."
"If killing them is your job, then I still do not understand what you are doing here," said Setsuna.
"I've killed many of them. It's been seven years since I was needed. And when I am not needed, so I've found, I'm pretty much free to do whatever I want. It was a pleasant discovery. In the beginning, I sort loafed around –other than keeping up with training. Then I begin to realize that my … well, servitude to Maleldil and the Oyéresu wasn't such a bad thing. During 'down time', I could, if I chose, live a life. I got educated, developed some talents, and learned to be happy, and … well, to love again."
"I understand," said Setsuna, "but that is not what I meant. You've endangered us – I mean the four of us- by coming here tonight."
"Actually no, Miss Meioh," he responded. "He didn't know I was here, in this house. He did know someone from Oyarandra was on this world, and that's why he came here. He was after Hotaru. She's the only person I've spent enough time with in the last few months to have my 'scent' on her. And please remember, Miss Meioh, that's because you came to me," he added because Setsuna was starting to look angry again. "I am sorry, Little Firefly, but you reek of me," he said, turning to Hotaru.
"It's okay. I'm not sorry at all. Tu ne cede malis …" Hotaru said, as she smiled at him.
"… sed contra audentior ito," he finished.
"Let him come," she said, a fierce look in her eye. "I'll teach him a thing or two."
"Yes, indeed, I'm sure you will. He knows that now. He won't back."
Kuryakin's tale was about over, but Hotaru felt as though there was something Kuryakin wasn't telling them. His brief exhaustion after the use of his powers had caught her attention. It was 2 a.m. in the morning now and the others might not have noticed it, but she had and she wondered what the effect might be if he had to fight for a longer time.
'Endurance training …'
"Kuryakin-sensei?" she asked, a look of concern on her face.
"Yes, Hotaru-chan?"
"It really wears you out when you use your powers, doesn't it?"
Kuryakin did not answer for a few minutes. He stroked his chin, looking thoughtful and at times wistful.
'She really does care about me. How … odd, but wonderful.'
"I have noticed," he began, hesitantly, "that you don't seem to suffer any ill effects from your transformed state. That is not the case for me. Hotaru-chan? Because your heart is so good and because you've trusted me with so much, I will tell you my biggest secret. If they found out about it, they could destroy me, after a fashion. I offer it to you – and to you" he said, indicating the other Outers, "as an exchange of good faith for the secrets Hotaru has entrusted to me. Unlike you, when I use the powers of my guardians, I get … used up faster. Whenever I fight a ravager, it can use up weeks, or months, or in cases, years of my life, depending on how much power I had to use, and how long the fight takes. Early on, I was very inexperienced, and it cost me a good deal. I have gotten extraordinarily good at this out of necessity. I am already older than I should be. I have taken down hundreds of them so really, to anyone on my world, I now appear to be about 320 years of age, which on your world would be the equivalent of 32 years of age or so. You see, I did not lie to you, Miss Meioh. On my world, I 'look' older than my father, my grandfather, and his father. Makes me rather chary about ever going home. I suppose I'll have to some day. I really do miss my family. Anyway, like you, Hotaru, I have been quickly aged. For that reason, among others, it was easy for me to spot the similarities in your own development. Over time, I have learned to use these powers very, very sparingly, but always, in every fight, there comes a point where I must not hold back. My … one hope is that I can get them all, before I'm finally used up."
"Did those Oyéresu tell you this would happen if you let yourself be 'opened to their powers'?" Hotaru asked, and looked almost angry.
Kuryakin continued to stroke his chin and look thoughtful.
"No," he finally said, "but they really didn't have to. I knew there was a price to be paid. You each have one Planetary Guardian fighting through you, as it were. I have six, and, boy, do they mean business. They were as good as their word though. My first assignment was to undo what damage I could to that world devastated by the war I helped to cause. There were three very powerful ravagers at work there. I nearly died, but I got them in the end. Then I went to the world that was responsible for my wife's death. I got them too, and to my credit I hope, it really wasn't a matter of revenge. The only satisfaction I took away from it was that that world has since become very peaceful again."
"I don't like it," said Hotaru huffily. "I don't like this at all."
"Ah, Hotaru, remember, the essence of romance is irrevocability. I've made my choice, and I will see it through to the very end. I really was for the best. After I quit being lazy, I saw that by bettering myself I became more skillful at using the powers sparingly. Music was especially helpful. A proper fight is almost a dance of sorts. If I call the tune, I can make it go the way I want. And I found that Viritrilbia's training enabled my to better use my natural mind. I can do some pretty interesting things without using the powers at all. Turns out, I am really quite gifted. I have to admit, it's been a damn fine adventure. And besides, if this had gone any other way, I would have never met you," he winked, "and now that I know you, there is no price I wouldn't have paid."
"I wonder if we should involve the others," Michiru asked, thoughtfully.
"No," Haruka, Setsuna and Kuryakin said simultaneously.
"There's no point drawing any attention to those you care about," he added.
"Besides," said Haruka, "it's an outside threat to this earth."
"Ah yes," said Kuryakin as if he'd just figured something out. "Of course. You have divisions of labor here. Takes different temperaments to do different … needful things, so of course, you would. You all would be the defenders of remote and crucial posts, tough minded enough to do what is necessary, able to stand alone if need be and powerful enough to do it, the best, the most self-sufficient, older and wiser than the others, geniuses all, the Elite Special Forces, the Military, pointed outward, as opposed to the local Constabulary. I should have seen that sooner. You really shouldn't involve those others, if you can avoid it."
"But if they're an outside threat, why did we not get wind of it sooner? Maybe because they're human? Aren't they, in a way?" asked Michiru.
"True."
"And besides, I don't like keeping things from them anymore," said Michiru.
"Well, Hino-san knows something is amiss," said Setsuna, "and she did see this coming before any of us. I will keep her informed, but I think it is best if they serve their proper function and keep the Prince and Princess safe. For now, at least."
Haruka turned up the sound on the TV. A few details about what the authorities thought happened in Edgeton began to come out. All told, 280 people were dead. It was a horrible massacre, but Haruka was paying close attention to the way the authorities were trying to explain this.
"This is all my fault, for wanting to come here," Kuryakin said sadly.
"Maybe not," said Haruka. "Well, yes, it is, but you seem to think this was happenstance. Perhaps not." She left the room, went upstairs and came back with her notebook.
"Take a look at this," Haruka said as she handed the notebook to Kuryakin, and then began to watch him to see if he would 'get it.'
"How did you figure this out?" he asked, after several minutes of leafing through the notebook.
"Oh, just paying attention to my surroundings," said Haruka, looking pleased with herself.
"This is good stuff, Tenoh-san. A good start. Well done, if you don't mind me saying so."
"So where do we go from here?" asked Michiru.
"If I may make a suggestion," said Kuryakin, "we should all get some sleep. And then I will start hunting this thing in the morning."
"We will start hunting him in the morning," said Haruka.
"Glad you feel that way, Tenoh-san," he said. "It will take all of us to follow up those leads of yours."
"Kuryakin-sensei?"
"Yes, Hotaru-chan?"
"Where will you sleep if your studio is gone?"
"Well," he said amicably, "there is a hotel down the way, but really it would be a bad idea to get too far away from you all just now, so I was thinking of sleeping in my van and I'll use this to set a watch around the house," Kuryakin said, holding up the cylinder in his hand. "I really doubt he'll be back, but then I didn't think one of them could ever get through here. So, no more assuming."
"Surely the hotel will be more comfortable," Setsuna suggested. "We can take care of ourselves, especially now that we are aware of the danger."
"Setsuna-momma, can't Kuryakin-sensei stay with us?" asked Hotaru.
Haruka and Michiru smirked at this suggestion, and what might be motivating it. This could be a fun little exchange.
"We have plenty of space and …"
"No," Setsuna said firmly.
Haruka and Michiru's expressions suggested they thought it was a pretty commonsense idea, not to mention hospitable, but Setsuna seemed adamant.
"My van will be just fine, Hotaru-chan. I've camped out in it before."
"Really, Mister Kuryakin, that will not be necessary," Setsuna said. "Surely the hotel is near enough."
"Look, I obviously make you uncomfortable, so if you tell me to leave your property, I will do so. But I swear to you I will park five feet away from the property line and stay right there. Miss Meioh, just think of me as a big guard dog. I'm very quiet, well-behaved and I'll only come if I'm needed. Otherwise, you won't even know I'm here."
'I doubt that,' Setsuna thought as she sighed. "Very well, you may stay in the circle driveway."
"Then I'll take my leave and set a watch," Kuryakin said. "If it gets within 50 kilometers, I'll know it. Good night, Kittens, Hotaru-chan, Miss Meioh."
"Hotaru," said Setsuna after Kuryakin shut the door, "I want you to stay with me the rest of the night."
"Yes, Setsuna-momma," Hotaru replied, looking a bit put out with Setsuna's lack of hospitality.
"Hmm," said Michiru as she and Haruka went back to their room. "I expected that to be a little bit more fun."
"I might still be," smiled Haruka. "Let's see what happens at daybreak."
