By Yohann DeSabrais
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn
Prologue
One thousand years ago...
Technuma Saturn had always been a model of patience and self-control
to all guardians, calm and reserved to the point of attracting the
constant (if somewhat playful) teasings of the more emotionally
expressive Technulis Mercury. His cold outside was only one of the
many layers of serenity surrounding his centered spirit and peaceful
mind.
Until now.
The carefully stacked layers of his mind had crumbled into dust that
tragic night when Laurella and Kitechnum had died under his very
eyes, his Technum healing techniques failing miserably to bring back
the life Sailor Mars had stolen from them. Centuries of meditation
alongside the Prime had collapsed in the blink of an eye,
transforming the serene healer into a killing machine hell-bent on
getting bloody retribution.
Vengence would be his, and soon.
He could smell her, the ionized air particles track left by the
Technum ladden fire-haired girl was giving her away more surely
than the strong spicy perfume she loved so much to wear.
All the way from the moon, he followed her, all the way to the most
inaccessible reaches of the mars mountain ranges of the southern
hemisphere. Celeste was attempting to ditch him and reach her home,
but that would not save her. Neither would the other guardians find
her in time to protect her from Technuma`s erupting rage.
There she was, tired from the trip hidden in a trade ship cargo bay,
exhausted from running so much to stay away from him, he actually
SAW her limping her way along the mountain trail, foolishly believing
she`d escaped.
Not so. Technuma smiled for the first time in days, but not a smile
of joy, a deadly grin of murderous intent. He stopped running and
started charging his hands with the greatest amount of raw power he
had ever used in his long existence. Celeste was going to die by his
hands.
Either by intuition or dumb luck, Celeste happened to be turning
around when the huge sappphire blue bolt of Technum screeched in her
direction with lethal precision. Her athletic training saved her
life as she leapt out of the way a split second away from a more
than certain death.
The soaring bolt continued on its trajectory after missing its
target, colliding three seconds later with the red bedrock of
another nearby mountain. The noise from the explosion alerted a
young girl close by that something was happening nearby.
Fear fueled Celeste`s stamina into resuming her frantic race,
ignoring the pain of her scraped hands and knees. Blood spurted
from her open wounds, sending the mad guardian into a crazed frenzy.
He would not stop until her blood stained his hands and her bones
were shattered.
As much as she was energized by terror, this newfound endurance
didn`t last very long. Barely three of four minutes later, the
disgraced Sailor Mars was running on empty again. Feeling her angel
of death moving in for the kill, she began to wonder what the hell
she was thinking when she planned her energy drain on Kitechnum
Jendra and Laurella... the rush of pure power had lasted only an
instant, releasing itself out of her control within seconds. It was
all so clear back then, beautiful in its magnitude, glorious in its
implications. Now, her head was screwed on straight again and
looking back upon all this, she saw nothing but utter madness.
She had become a runaway criminal sought after by half of the solar
system, a renegade with nowhere left to go. Except maybe one place,
the only place where she had always felt safe no matter what happened
in her life.
Home. She knew her father would be there, as he usually was this
time of year. The captain of the third division of her majesty
Serenity`s riyal guards.
"Ronmar will protect me!" she thought.
Just as Technuma almost reached her, she couldn`t run anymore. Her
legs were wracked by the most painful cramps she ever felt, worse
than those incurred by her first hyper endurance marathon. She
collapsed on the rough rock mountain path, knowing for sure that
this time she couldn`t cheat fate.
But then again, fate doesn`t always expect of you what you might
believe it will. That is why the barely conscious Celeste saw above
her the silhouette of a young teenage girl she knew better than
anyone in the galaxy, better still than even the other scouts.
Her kid sister Rei.
Seeing how the frenzied guardian was going to kill her sister, she
interposed herself between them. Standing her ground, she refused to
see harm come to her sister... regardless of what she heard that
Celeste might have done.
"Step aside, Rei, it`s not you I`m after!" warned the furious
guardian.
"NO!" said Rei, crouching down to hug her older sister in a
protective fasion. "She`s always been there for me in the past, and
this time I`m doing the same... if you want to kill her, you`ll have
to murder us BOTH!" she added with tears forming in her eyes.
"She killed in cold blood, justice must be served!" said Technuma,
charging Technum in his hands again, pointing them towards the two
sisters.
"Justice... or your personal vendetta? Will another murder bring
back the dead???" pleaded Rei.
Technum supercharged in Technuma`s hand, preparing the fatal blow-
but he hesitated. Why was it that he still felt something for that
assassin? Was it the undying sistership bond between these two girls,
or the sight of Celeste curled up in a ball crying her heart out
without restraint?
The thundrous roar of the starship Pegasus screamed above their
heads, marking the arrival of Noratech Neptune come to stop him from
killing Celeste in a brash impulse. Technuma looked back upon his
inability to save the lives of those he cared about the most. He`d
already lost his good friend Technazul Terra, and now Kitechnum was
gone... he was the only left to know the truth. Maybe that was why
he felt so guilty about still being alive and having done nothing
to stop the real menace to the silver millenium. Maybe that was why
he was trying so hard to kill Celeste, because deep down he knew
himself incapable of putting an end to the mad designs of the
mastermind behind the Leviathan comet all those years before.
Regardless of the reasons, the end result was the same. He couldn`t
stand himself anymore... so he turned his hands to his own chest,
trembling as his limbs reverberated in a power that could destroy
all but the most resiliant inorganic alloys.
"No, don`t do this!!!" pleaded Rei, realizing what Technuma had in
mind.
"Tell Hotaru I love her..." said the guardian, crying silently while
the energies violently disrupted his cellular structure, igniting
his skin in a blazing golden inferno that did not emit any heat
whatsoever.
"Oh dear god no..." cried Rei as the golden blaze extinguished
itself, having consumed the flesh of the guardian in its entirity,
although leaving untouched his bones and his blue uniform.
While Rei cried, the essence of Technuma Saturn rose from amidst
his ashes and felt itself being pulled towards the place it least
wanted to be. It refused, and fought against this forced rebirth.
The soul in pain felt something horrible happening.
In a single tearing instant, one whole became two halves, each one
a single splinter of sorrow and suffering.
* * *
The Prime oversaw the regen-cloning pods in one of the more secret
compartiment of Saturn Station Alpha, awaiting the rebirth of his
child Technuma. Circling around the twelve different pods, he
wondered in which one the deceased Technuma`s soul would reenter
physical existence.
To his shock, not one but TWO souls entered TWO separate pods,
engaging the artificial generation of TWO identical bodies.
"Oh bloody hell..." thought the Prime.
* * *
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 22
KARMAGEDDON
"Here`s your refill, miss." said the hospital cafeteria`s waitress
as she poured the hot coffee into Robin`s empty cup. Many empty
plates, cups and glasses littered the table in the far-off corner of
the large hall where both Usagi and Robin had come for some food and
a place to talk.
So far, Robin had related in vivid details her revelation of being
Sailor Saturn to Usagi, the deadly conflict between Technuma Saturn,
Sailor Saturn`s creator and father, and Gallagher, whose obscure
motivations had pushed to acts of unspeakable violence.
Of course, Robin had no way of knowing what had transpired inside the
starship Avatar Mark II. Usagi was remembering it one piece at a time,
increasing steadily her uneasyness... had she really cut a deal with
Gallagher? Or had she even turned into a backstabbing conniver just
like him, manipulating those around her to fit her agenda???
"You look a bit pale, girl, you need more nutrition! Try this pie,
it`s incredible!" said Robin, noticing her nervous attitude.
"Err... why don`t you pick up where you left off? You were just about
to catch up to Gallagher." asked Usagi, lowering her voice as she
moved back onto the touchy subject of sailor business.
"Oh yeah... as I said, I`d just cornered him in an underground
parking lot. He was trying to hide from me, but I was pretty
psyched by then..."
* * *
"Show yourself!" yelled Sailor Saturn, peering through the
semi-obscure lot to find her black clothed prey.
"Right here, young scout." said Gallagher, stepping out of a shadow.
He made his way through the tight huddles of parked cars, taking his
time to achieve maximum effect.
"How dare you attack my father, you monster! I`ll make him proud by
destroying you!" she said with convinction.
"But I already AM proud of you, my dear Robin." he replied.
"Huh? Say what?!"
Gallagher removed his black cloth mask and showed his face to Sailor
Saturn... who couldn`t believe what she was seeing. This was simply
too much for her.
"You`re lying! I don`t know how you made yourself look like Technuma,
but you could never be him!" she said in total denial.
Sailor Uranus and Neptune arrived at that moment, ready to give
backup to warrior sister.
"I AM Technuma!" insisted the man in front of her. "I know you better
than anyone, my angel. I know all about your newborn soul and your
kind heart, your love of colorful birds that fly across the sky..."
"Shut up! Anyone could know that!"
"Would just anyone know what you said when you were born, when you
emerged out of the artificial womb where you grew as you smiled at
me?" asked Gallagher.
Robin was getting intrigued. She was hanging on his every word...
"You looked at me with those glowing eyes and said... 'kiss me'."
"D..dad? It`s really you! But why are you wearing those clothes? And
why did you let us all believe that you were Gallagher?" asked Robin,
confused.
"That`s what I`d like to know!" said another voice coming from behind
Sailor Saturn. It was a tall man with long blonde hair tied in a
slick ponytail.
"Noratech? What are you doing here?" asked Sailor Saturn.
"Putting an end to the greatest menace that ever lived." he answered.
He stepped forward calmly, his long trenchcoat floating in a gust of
wind that was created as a side effect of his hands charging up with
raw Technum power.
"No, he`s my father, I won`t let you!" said the young scout, standing
in his way.
"Keep out of this, Robin, you can`t possibly begin to comprehend the
stakes involved in this game of power!" he said, using a slight
amount of Technum to brush her aside as easily as if she`d been a
rag doll.
Uranus and Neptune chose this moment to charge forward into the
fray, but were blown back by the combined power of Technuma and
Noratech.
"STAY OUT OF THIS!" the yelled in unison.
The two guardians so fought each other in a fratricide conflict that
just made no sense.
Robin stayed there helpless, just like her two friends who watched
this battle unfold without being able to help.
* * *
"That must have been awful to stay there, not doing anything!" said
Usagi.
"It was... even more so that he was going to lose that fight." said
Robin, losing her joyful attitude as she thought of her comatose
father. "I never did find out what that whole mess was all about,
can you tell us at last, Usagi? Please don`t let dad`s sacrifice be
in vain!"
"Sacrifice?" wondered Usagi.
"Yes, you don`t know the rest yet..." continued Robin.
* * *
The fight was a terrible one. No amount of restreint was observed by
either Technuma or Noratech, unleashing the whole of their might
upon each other in blast after blast of Technum shockwaves. Cars
were smashed. Concrete pillars were cracked. In the end, though, not
much was accomplished as the two opponents were of equal power. The
powerblaze slowly came to a grinding halt, both the guardian panting
and heaving.
"I will stop you from destroying the great work, traitor!" said
Noratech, anger flaring in his eyes.
"You`re the one who`s helping the world coming to an end... I can
help you see the truth!" argued Technuma.
"Gallagher has clouded your mind. You must be stopped!" screamed
Noratech, charging in for what would be a bloody fistfight.
* * *
"Judging from the rubble, I`d say they were here not long ago. These
wood shards are still smoking." commented the Emerald Knight. Shingo
had finally settled on this new alternate identity to fight evil.
His entire body was covered with a lightweight metal armorplate of
emerald color, covered with stylish engraved motives of ancient
jendrean artistic design. His eagle head shaped helmet allowed only
his eyes to be seen through his retractable visor. He had also
fashioned for himself a matching green sword and buckler.
The effect was quite impressive, especially when standing next to
the sleek lookink Prince Endymion in black clothes, cape and
breastplate.
"They went that way." said the knight, pointing in the direction
the five fighters had taken. "I can feel the raw power of Technum
released." he added.
"But Sailor Moon`s not with them. I can`t feel her here... or over
there... it`s like she`s not even on this planet anymore!!!" said
Endymion.
He was absolutely right.
* * *
Technuma Saturn held his chest with both arms, feeling pain like he
hadn`t felt in centuries. Several of ribs were cracked, and he had
some internal bleeding he could actually feel... he was losing this
fight. In front of him, Noratech Neptune wasn`t feeling much better,
though his own bleeding was mostly superficial.
"You lose, Technuma. The messiah returns with me!" said Noratech,
using a single Technum blast to finish the job. The guardian of
Saturn was hit head on, propelled in the air a good five to six feet
behind.
Robin watched this whole scene, totally horrified; in her own mind,
everything seemed to play itself out in slow motion... the bolt of
power hit her father squarely in the chest, exploded violently and
sent him flying to land brutally on the badly smashed asphalt
covered ground.
"NO!" she screamed, running to her dying father. She held him in her
arms as Noratech watched coldly. He had won his bet to put an end
to Gallagher`s influence on Technuma.
Neptune and Uranus broke out of their silent observation to attack
and neutralize Noratech. With a simple wave of his hand, he crafted
a solid energy shield to contain the two warriors in place. They
tried to break free, to no avail.
"Father, please don`t die, I can`t live knowing you`re not there!"
said Sailor Saturn, tears running down from her eyes.
"It`s better this way... no parents should outlive their
children..." he whispered with difficulty.
"Noratech called me messiah... what did he mean?" asked Robin.
"He tought you... were the one... but he`s wrong... you are an
apostle, no more..." he said, coughing blood in between breaths.
"Robin... your seizures... the cure is... in you."
"I love you, dad!" said Robin, crying.
"And I... love you too... my angel."
With these final words, Technuma lost consciousness. He was barely
alive, but wouldn`t remain so for long if Noratech had his way.
Sailor Saturn kissed her father on his forehead. She felt love for
him in a way she had never imagined, in a tragic mix of affection
and sorrow. For a split second, she could have sworn she felt her
father`s soul kiss her back.
A signal clicked from deep within Robin`s soul, echoing inside her
whole body in a way that reached from her innermost mind to the very
surface of her body. A heavenly glow surrounded her with sheer
strenght enough to tear appart her sailor uniform and shatter her
tiara to pieces; the glowing light quickly covered her naked body
with a tight fitting full body senshi fuku in a color scheme of
crimson, cherry and black. Her right tigh bore the lettering that
read SORA NO SENSHI, senshi of the skyes. Her uniform completed
itself with five flashes of light solidifying into a visor and
metal guards similar to Sailor Moon and Neptune`s.
* * *
"NO WAY!!! You got soul power too, now?!?" asked Usagi in
astonishment.
"Will you let me finish my story?" replied Robin.
"Sorry."
* * *
"You did this to my father, I don`t know if he`ll live... and you
would take me out of his arms for your own purposes??? Oh, no, I
don`t think so." said the soul powered Sailor Saturn, holding back
her tears.
"You don`t have any say in this matter, young senshi. It is the will
of Prime that you follow the path drawn for you since before your
birth. So the prophesy has spoken." said Noratech.
At that moment, the guardian of Neptune realized something was very,
very wrong. Robin should have either accepted willingly to come, or
resist with all her might. Either would have worked out in the end
as he had more than enough strenght to subdue her. In theory. But
instead, she just stood there with an unnerving grin on her face.
The same grin that was ringing the very sound of his undoing.
Sailor Saturn extended her hands in front of her, palms reaching up.
A bright burst of crimson light flashed, in a single instant forging
her sacred weapon, a long halberd identical to Hotaru`s carved of
the purest ruby gemstone, the mighty Soulstar.
This sight was a glorious one indeed, freezing in amazed stupor the
guardian himself, both her warrior friends still encased in a
spherical energy shield and the two loyal allies of the scouts and
senshi, Endymion and the Emerald Knight who had just tracked down
the battlesite.
Saturn raised Soulstar above her head, crying out for the assistance
of those she knew would come if she only called, the beings who would
assist her when she would reveal the nature of her newborn soul.
"SERAPHIM WINGS OF WRATH!!!" she called out, a holy beam of light
flooding her as she stared right into it, into the glory of heaven
itself. From her body unfolded the purest of feathery wings, six of
them to be exact, and she began to float upwards in a graceful
manner that could have put cleopatra herself to shame.
"Oh dear god..." muttered Endymion, who couldn`t believe his eyes.
From the farthest reaches of paradise came a cohorte of the most
beautiful beings any of the present witnesses had ever seen,
thirteen female angels clad in golden silk gowns, bearing glaives
forged in heaven with the power of the almighty Lord of the Universe.
They circled in gleaming light around Robin who pointed towards
Noratech with her halberd, whispering words in ancient saturnine, a
language long forgotten to all but a few rare beings.
"Kortanis Angelim, Horrajim!"
The angelic cohort turned to Noratech, surrounding him rapidly and
flying in tight circles. The guardian`s heart was beating rapidly,
as he knew nothing of what to expect... if only that it would not
be something pleasant to go through.
"Prophecise THIS, you bastard!!!" screamed Robin.
The angels began slashing wildly, unleashing their timeless enochian
battle cries loud enough to drown out the screams of pain of Noratech
and his useless pleas for mercy.
When the angels vanished and the lights faded, the guardian fell
down, his body devoid of life before he ever hit the ground. The
dozens of sword wounds covering his corpse were the only evidence
that the godly servants had been there at all.
With the clanking noise of Soulstar slipping from her fingers and
hitting the asphalt, Sailor Saturn fell to her knees in total
exhaustion. She had a faint smile on her lips, one of the
satisfaction born out of vengence. And then she fell flat on her
face, sleeping so deep that nothing would wake her up for more
than twenty hours afterwards.
* * *
"Shortly after that, Umino noticed on Mercury`s laptop that an
explosion of great magnitude had occured in the rings of saturn.
Riding along the shockwave like a surfboard, there was an escape
pod with you inside. The story stops there, unless you have
something to add." said Robin to Usagi as she finished her coffee.
"It is coming back at a steady pace." observed Usagi.
Rei came at that point, accompanied by the cutest little pink-haired
girl in the whole of Tokyo.
"Usagi! You`re on your feet!" said happily Chibi-Usa.
"I`m so happy to see you feeling better." added Rei as she sat down
with the blonde girl and her classmate. Chibi-Usa did the same.
"I`m... still not too sure WHAT could have created this short-term
memory loss." said Usagi.
"You can tell us... no one else but you knows the whole truth behind
Gallagher." mentionned Robin.
"Assuming you manage to recall it." pointed out the small lady.
"Some more is coming back, maybe if I start telling you, it`ll come
back to me." said Usagi.
"Yes, please tell us that all this wasn`t in vain!" said Rei.
"Alright, here goes..."
* * *
Gallagher laughed as Usagi held him in a tight headlock and
threatened him by holding Avenger to his throat. He was amused that
someone had managed to see right through his plan to sneak back into
Saturn Station Beta.
"Strange how things work out... I was sure that the last piece of
Heresy was still on earth... yet you of all people, little Sailor
Moon, knew before me where to find it!" he said.
Releasing her grip and sitting in the copilot seat, the senshi of
the moon nonetheless kept Avenger pointed towards Gallagher, just
in case... and she was going to get answers out of him!
"Get talking Gallagher. Tell me what you know." she ordered him.
"Okay. The first thing you really need to know is this: Even if you
kill a guardian, he`ll just be reborn as his essence is captured by
the Prime`s regen-cloning system and rebuilds his body from his DNA
file and redraws his mental patterns artificially... which is how
the Prime controls his guardians, in combination with an odd
telepathic power that allows him to cloud memory and judgement in
an individual." explained Gallagher.
"So he`s a control freak, then. Why? And why weren`t Kitechnum and
Technazul reconstructed when they died?"
"Because the two of them discovered the Prime`s true motivations...
and because they were AWARE of his memory clouding abilities, they
had become IMMUNE! That is why he sent the Leviathan comet, to force
Technazul into self-sacrifice... and coerced Celeste into murdering
Kitechnum. And by the way, the link between guardian and planet isn`t
THAT close... simply killing a guardian is not enough to destroy his
planet."
"But... why was planet Jendra destroyed then?" wondered Sailor Moon.
"Because the Prime HAD IT DESTROYED, to squelch the rebellion
Kitechnum had begun to stir against his creator. And the fact that
CELESTE had been the instrument of this murder, it conveniently fell
into place that her father Ronmar was drawn into darkness and later
killed Hotaru, Technuma`s star pupil. Her death, the Prime supposed,
would allow an old prophesy to come to pass."
"You lost me there." admitted Sailor Moon, discreetly relaxing her
guard, and moving her gaze to Heresy. Something... familiar was
upsetting her about this sword.
"It goes as follow..."
And so it came to be that
the young messiah was
slain by the black weapon of
the evil lord of darkness
in his shadow of dread.
Thus she was brought back
to life, by the infinite power
and the will of Prime and his children.
For she was meant to cut
through the veil of cold winter
with the strenght of eternity
and the infinite Ouroboros.
"The Prime firmly believes that Sailor Saturn, recreated by Technuma
Saturn, would be that messiah. That is why he had her subconscious
programming additionned with a few lines of codes of his own... mind
control pattern that would make his telepathic mind clouding even
stronger on poor Robin! But he was wrong... she`s NOT the messiah,
only an apostle like you, Sailor Moon." said Gallagher, looking into
the distance at the approaching Saturn station Beta.
"Wait a minute... could this unnecesary programming be causing these
seizures she keeps having?"
"Precisely. But Technuma figured out a cure for these violent
attacks: her soul power MUST be unleashed. You probably didn`t know
that, but soul power makes you girls immune to the Prime`s subtle
mind altering techniques." said Gallagher. He pulled out his cards
and noticed one more scout had become senshi. "Well what do you
know? She succeeded already!"
"If you want to protect us, why attack us?"
"Because, by attacking you, I dragged you into the conflict much
sooner than the Prime would have wanted. By screwing his timetable
by several centuries, I made sure to keep him unbalanced and
confused." said Gallagher. "Besides... Sailor Venus`s mind was...
not exactly the strongest one of the pack. Her soul was like an
iron in a forge, it needed... motivation to evolve. Being hammered
this way helped ensure she`d be ready in time for things to come,
but that`s another story."
Sailor Moon got angry. She jumped up and placed her sword against
Gallagher`s neck again.
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn`t KILL you this very
instant!!!" she screamed.
"I`ll forego the obvious fact that you want to know WHY I`m doing
all of this and go straight to the real reason: you saw the contents
of that crystal I gave you at the museum, and it`s eating you alive!
You just have to know if you and your friends are nothing more than
clones dancing to strings held by the guardians!!!" answered
gallagher.
"Damn you for making so much sense..." mumbled Sailor Moon, lowering
her crystal two-handed sword.
"We`ll be reaching the docking bay any minute now. Once we enter the
station, I want to get the last piece of Heresy right away. Then all
will be clear." said Gallagher, punching a few buttons to send the
docking bay opening sequence signal.
"How can I know that you just haven`t made up all of this? That the
crystal isn`t simply a clever fake you made using your ressemblance
to Technuma? What assurances can you give me???" asked Sailor Moon.
"None, really. But the computer archives contain a file that has
laid dormant for hundreds of years... it should provide you with
the final answer you seek. I`ll give it to you... in exchange for
the location of the final piece of Heresy."
"Okay... but I hold on to the broken sword until I`m convinced you
haven`t lied to me all this time."
"I ask no more than this." replied Gallagher with a smile that made
Usagi shiver.
* * *
The Avatar Mark II glided silently through the large main docking
bay of the old Saturn Station Beta, a slightly smaller replica of
the old station Alpha that had been destroyed during the onslaught
of Beryl upon the silver millenium. The faint vibrations in the hull
that reverberated into the cockpit indicated that docking clamps had
taken hold, and that the boarding tube was secured.
"Come this way, Sailor Moon. It`s still night in the station, we can
move around without attracting attention." said Gallagher. He lead
her to the boarding tube at the end of which was a touchpad lock. He
pressed his hand on the pad who immediately verified fingerprints,
blood vessel patterns and DNA.
"Welcome aboard, Technuma." said a an emotionless computer voice as
the heavily shielded door opened smoothly.
"We`re in." said Gallagher.
* * *
In the security monitoring room, Litechnae Venus was checking through
the many video channels of the camera system that kept a watchful eye
over the whole station. Movement caught her eye in the primary
docking bay; she saw two people enter the station and take blue
corridor one towards the heart of the central dome.
When she reckognized who it was, she immediately turned on a video
communication channel. An image of the Prime appeared on the small
screen.
"Technuma`s come back, and he brought back someone..." she said.
In her mind, she received the telepathic response of her creator.
"It`s Sailor Moon, and I don`t know why he brought her here. I do
believe he might have been tainted while he was on earth... shall
I intiniate the quarantine plan we agreed on?" she asked.
The Prime smiled. His response was quite clear to Litechnae. She
pushed a serie of control buttons on her keyboard, activating two
mechanisms. First, all doors to the other guardians sleeping
quarters were bolted shut and sealed off. Next, a strong dose of
sleeping gas was pumped into their rooms, ensuring they wouldn`t
wake up until the Prime had dealt with the situation.
"It`s done sir, you might be interesting to know that they are
headed to the memorial room."
The Prime nodded. He was on his way.
* * *
The memorial room was probably one of the largest places in the
central dome of Saturn Station Beta. Huge plants and trees were
growing contently all around a large statue of Kitechnum Jendra and
Laurella, right next to a hologramatic model of the solar system.
"It`s beautiful." said Sailor Moon.
"Remind me why we came here." asked Gallagher.
"That last piece, remember?" said Sailor Moon.
"HERE? You gotta be kidding me!"
"Hey, this is the last place you`d expect, right? What better hiding
spot?" said the senshi. "And now... that file you told me about?"
"Come over here." said Gallagher. He pointed to a small computer
terminal on the wall. "Go to the archived files and ask for 'Queen`s
Gambit'. The password is 'King`s Rook'.
Usagi did just that. The password did unlock the file, revealing the
greatest secret that had ever been buried in the shrouds of the
silver milenium`s past. While she read, she barely paid any
attention to Gallagher who opened the dedication plaque of the
statue to reveal the final piece of the black metal sword Heresy.
Sneaking behind the engrossed Sailor Moon, he looked at the
incomplete sword in her hand. Now was the chance to make his move.
Grabbing her by the back of the neck, he violently smashed her face
in the computer terminal`s screen. The pain knocked her senses into
a haywire mess of mismatched sensations.
"Huh... what..." she mumbled, dropping Heresy to the ground.
"Sorry young senshi... but this I have to do." whispered Gallagher
in her ear before smashing her face in the screen again. This time,
it shattered under the impact. Without her visor, she would have
surely had her eyes gouged by the sharp shards of glass. She fell
down limply.
"Thus it came to be that it was forged anew, That Which Shouldn`t Be,
the Heresy!!!" said Gallagher, picking up the black sword and
reuniting the last piece to it. A huge surge of paradoxal energies
was unleashed, rocking the entire station in wave after wave of
temporal aberrant shocks. "Your forsaken son has returned, Prime!!!
Can you hear me, you ancient bastard?!?" he screamed as he held
forth the black sword that surged with energy more primal than
Technum itself.
The doors to the memorial room slid open, allowing passage to the
Prime himself. As he walked calmly towards the half-soul rebirth of
his original creation, his greyish skin began to stir. It transformed
itself from smooth skin into a jagged armor more resistant than the
strongest alloy known to human technology.
"Yes, I heard you!" said the Prime. As he spoke, his telepathic
abilities echoed each of his words into a bolt of mental force that
thundered in the minds of both Gallagher and Sailor Moon, waking her
out of her unconscious state.
"So that`s why you never speak... your could destroy someone`s mind
just discussing weather." commented Gallagher, a splitting headache
beginning to make itself feel in his skull.
"Correct!" said the Prime, with another psy wave crashing through
everyone`s head.
Gallagher held up the mighty Heresy in his hands, attempting to
ignore the crushing pain in his head, charged forward towards the
Prime. His blow was blocked by the Prime who created for himself a
sword of raw solar Technum.
"Time for you to die!!!" yelled Gallagher as the swords clashed
violently in a burst of power that threatened to destroy the station
from the inside out.
"You ungrateful brat, you never deserved what fate granted you!"
yelled the Prime, blasting Gallagher out of his mind.
With all these psychic screams bashing her hurting brain, Sailor
Moon barely realized what was happening. The final detonation of
Technum and paradox blasted the swordsmen away from each other,
smashing the Technum sword into nothingness and sending Heresy into
a flying spin out of Gallagher`s hands. It landed heavily and slid
all the way to Usagi`s feet who slowly bent over and picked it up.
Both enemies looked at her, wondering how she would react.
"You must destroy him, Sailor Moon, he`s responsible for all the pain
you ever went through!" urged Gallagher.
The Prime responded in his silent fashion. Sailor Moon knew that the
Prime was begging her to reconsider Gallagher`s conniving lies and
deceit to get the sword she now held.
"One of you has lied to me." she said with cold determination. "One
of you deserves to die."
* * *
Robin, Rei and Chibi-Usa were hanging on to Usagi`s every word. They
had been listening to her tale and knew that she had been holding the
fate of the solar system itself in her hands. Her choice at that very
moment was going to change history in an irreversible manner.
"... and then what?!?" asked Rei, the suspense killing her.
"Yeah, don`t keep us hanging like that!!!" added Robin.
"I... I don`t remember any more. Sorry." said Usagi, looking down in
embarassment.
"Come on, you remembered so much already! Don`t tell us you can`t
recall any more!" observed the small lady.
"No... there`s nothing more. Just a black hole in my head." said
Usagi defensively.
Her friends began to wonder. She looked nervous, as if she was
fighting a war inside her skull.
"Usagi, you can`t keep something so big inside you, let it out.."
said Rei as she stood up and approached Usagi to hug her. To Rei`s
surprise, her reaction was a very violent one.
Usagi pushed her away with all her strenght, throwing her over the
next table which she knocked over.
"NO! I don`t want to remember, you can`t make me!!!" screamed Usagi,
running away from her friends in a frenzied race. Before the others
realized what was going on, she was already too far for them to
follow.
"Dear god, WHAT could she be holding on to? It`s gotta be horrible,
considering all she`s gone through in her life so far..." said Rei,
catching her breath.
"Whatever it is, I`m sure it`s what caused Usagi to lose her memory!"
said Robin. "Come on, we have to help her!"
"How?" asked Chibi-Usa.
"I don`t know. But I do have a feeling though... come on, let`s find
Setsuna!" suggested Robin.
To be continued...
* * *
Yeah, yeah, I know... I promised everyone that I`d conclude the story
in THIS chapter... but I simply have too much to tell in this one to
complete it so fast! The next chapter WILL be the conclusion and all
questions WILL be answered. HONEST!
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn
Prologue
One thousand years ago...
Technuma Saturn had always been a model of patience and self-control
to all guardians, calm and reserved to the point of attracting the
constant (if somewhat playful) teasings of the more emotionally
expressive Technulis Mercury. His cold outside was only one of the
many layers of serenity surrounding his centered spirit and peaceful
mind.
Until now.
The carefully stacked layers of his mind had crumbled into dust that
tragic night when Laurella and Kitechnum had died under his very
eyes, his Technum healing techniques failing miserably to bring back
the life Sailor Mars had stolen from them. Centuries of meditation
alongside the Prime had collapsed in the blink of an eye,
transforming the serene healer into a killing machine hell-bent on
getting bloody retribution.
Vengence would be his, and soon.
He could smell her, the ionized air particles track left by the
Technum ladden fire-haired girl was giving her away more surely
than the strong spicy perfume she loved so much to wear.
All the way from the moon, he followed her, all the way to the most
inaccessible reaches of the mars mountain ranges of the southern
hemisphere. Celeste was attempting to ditch him and reach her home,
but that would not save her. Neither would the other guardians find
her in time to protect her from Technuma`s erupting rage.
There she was, tired from the trip hidden in a trade ship cargo bay,
exhausted from running so much to stay away from him, he actually
SAW her limping her way along the mountain trail, foolishly believing
she`d escaped.
Not so. Technuma smiled for the first time in days, but not a smile
of joy, a deadly grin of murderous intent. He stopped running and
started charging his hands with the greatest amount of raw power he
had ever used in his long existence. Celeste was going to die by his
hands.
Either by intuition or dumb luck, Celeste happened to be turning
around when the huge sappphire blue bolt of Technum screeched in her
direction with lethal precision. Her athletic training saved her
life as she leapt out of the way a split second away from a more
than certain death.
The soaring bolt continued on its trajectory after missing its
target, colliding three seconds later with the red bedrock of
another nearby mountain. The noise from the explosion alerted a
young girl close by that something was happening nearby.
Fear fueled Celeste`s stamina into resuming her frantic race,
ignoring the pain of her scraped hands and knees. Blood spurted
from her open wounds, sending the mad guardian into a crazed frenzy.
He would not stop until her blood stained his hands and her bones
were shattered.
As much as she was energized by terror, this newfound endurance
didn`t last very long. Barely three of four minutes later, the
disgraced Sailor Mars was running on empty again. Feeling her angel
of death moving in for the kill, she began to wonder what the hell
she was thinking when she planned her energy drain on Kitechnum
Jendra and Laurella... the rush of pure power had lasted only an
instant, releasing itself out of her control within seconds. It was
all so clear back then, beautiful in its magnitude, glorious in its
implications. Now, her head was screwed on straight again and
looking back upon all this, she saw nothing but utter madness.
She had become a runaway criminal sought after by half of the solar
system, a renegade with nowhere left to go. Except maybe one place,
the only place where she had always felt safe no matter what happened
in her life.
Home. She knew her father would be there, as he usually was this
time of year. The captain of the third division of her majesty
Serenity`s riyal guards.
"Ronmar will protect me!" she thought.
Just as Technuma almost reached her, she couldn`t run anymore. Her
legs were wracked by the most painful cramps she ever felt, worse
than those incurred by her first hyper endurance marathon. She
collapsed on the rough rock mountain path, knowing for sure that
this time she couldn`t cheat fate.
But then again, fate doesn`t always expect of you what you might
believe it will. That is why the barely conscious Celeste saw above
her the silhouette of a young teenage girl she knew better than
anyone in the galaxy, better still than even the other scouts.
Her kid sister Rei.
Seeing how the frenzied guardian was going to kill her sister, she
interposed herself between them. Standing her ground, she refused to
see harm come to her sister... regardless of what she heard that
Celeste might have done.
"Step aside, Rei, it`s not you I`m after!" warned the furious
guardian.
"NO!" said Rei, crouching down to hug her older sister in a
protective fasion. "She`s always been there for me in the past, and
this time I`m doing the same... if you want to kill her, you`ll have
to murder us BOTH!" she added with tears forming in her eyes.
"She killed in cold blood, justice must be served!" said Technuma,
charging Technum in his hands again, pointing them towards the two
sisters.
"Justice... or your personal vendetta? Will another murder bring
back the dead???" pleaded Rei.
Technum supercharged in Technuma`s hand, preparing the fatal blow-
but he hesitated. Why was it that he still felt something for that
assassin? Was it the undying sistership bond between these two girls,
or the sight of Celeste curled up in a ball crying her heart out
without restraint?
The thundrous roar of the starship Pegasus screamed above their
heads, marking the arrival of Noratech Neptune come to stop him from
killing Celeste in a brash impulse. Technuma looked back upon his
inability to save the lives of those he cared about the most. He`d
already lost his good friend Technazul Terra, and now Kitechnum was
gone... he was the only left to know the truth. Maybe that was why
he felt so guilty about still being alive and having done nothing
to stop the real menace to the silver millenium. Maybe that was why
he was trying so hard to kill Celeste, because deep down he knew
himself incapable of putting an end to the mad designs of the
mastermind behind the Leviathan comet all those years before.
Regardless of the reasons, the end result was the same. He couldn`t
stand himself anymore... so he turned his hands to his own chest,
trembling as his limbs reverberated in a power that could destroy
all but the most resiliant inorganic alloys.
"No, don`t do this!!!" pleaded Rei, realizing what Technuma had in
mind.
"Tell Hotaru I love her..." said the guardian, crying silently while
the energies violently disrupted his cellular structure, igniting
his skin in a blazing golden inferno that did not emit any heat
whatsoever.
"Oh dear god no..." cried Rei as the golden blaze extinguished
itself, having consumed the flesh of the guardian in its entirity,
although leaving untouched his bones and his blue uniform.
While Rei cried, the essence of Technuma Saturn rose from amidst
his ashes and felt itself being pulled towards the place it least
wanted to be. It refused, and fought against this forced rebirth.
The soul in pain felt something horrible happening.
In a single tearing instant, one whole became two halves, each one
a single splinter of sorrow and suffering.
* * *
The Prime oversaw the regen-cloning pods in one of the more secret
compartiment of Saturn Station Alpha, awaiting the rebirth of his
child Technuma. Circling around the twelve different pods, he
wondered in which one the deceased Technuma`s soul would reenter
physical existence.
To his shock, not one but TWO souls entered TWO separate pods,
engaging the artificial generation of TWO identical bodies.
"Oh bloody hell..." thought the Prime.
* * *
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 22
KARMAGEDDON
"Here`s your refill, miss." said the hospital cafeteria`s waitress
as she poured the hot coffee into Robin`s empty cup. Many empty
plates, cups and glasses littered the table in the far-off corner of
the large hall where both Usagi and Robin had come for some food and
a place to talk.
So far, Robin had related in vivid details her revelation of being
Sailor Saturn to Usagi, the deadly conflict between Technuma Saturn,
Sailor Saturn`s creator and father, and Gallagher, whose obscure
motivations had pushed to acts of unspeakable violence.
Of course, Robin had no way of knowing what had transpired inside the
starship Avatar Mark II. Usagi was remembering it one piece at a time,
increasing steadily her uneasyness... had she really cut a deal with
Gallagher? Or had she even turned into a backstabbing conniver just
like him, manipulating those around her to fit her agenda???
"You look a bit pale, girl, you need more nutrition! Try this pie,
it`s incredible!" said Robin, noticing her nervous attitude.
"Err... why don`t you pick up where you left off? You were just about
to catch up to Gallagher." asked Usagi, lowering her voice as she
moved back onto the touchy subject of sailor business.
"Oh yeah... as I said, I`d just cornered him in an underground
parking lot. He was trying to hide from me, but I was pretty
psyched by then..."
* * *
"Show yourself!" yelled Sailor Saturn, peering through the
semi-obscure lot to find her black clothed prey.
"Right here, young scout." said Gallagher, stepping out of a shadow.
He made his way through the tight huddles of parked cars, taking his
time to achieve maximum effect.
"How dare you attack my father, you monster! I`ll make him proud by
destroying you!" she said with convinction.
"But I already AM proud of you, my dear Robin." he replied.
"Huh? Say what?!"
Gallagher removed his black cloth mask and showed his face to Sailor
Saturn... who couldn`t believe what she was seeing. This was simply
too much for her.
"You`re lying! I don`t know how you made yourself look like Technuma,
but you could never be him!" she said in total denial.
Sailor Uranus and Neptune arrived at that moment, ready to give
backup to warrior sister.
"I AM Technuma!" insisted the man in front of her. "I know you better
than anyone, my angel. I know all about your newborn soul and your
kind heart, your love of colorful birds that fly across the sky..."
"Shut up! Anyone could know that!"
"Would just anyone know what you said when you were born, when you
emerged out of the artificial womb where you grew as you smiled at
me?" asked Gallagher.
Robin was getting intrigued. She was hanging on his every word...
"You looked at me with those glowing eyes and said... 'kiss me'."
"D..dad? It`s really you! But why are you wearing those clothes? And
why did you let us all believe that you were Gallagher?" asked Robin,
confused.
"That`s what I`d like to know!" said another voice coming from behind
Sailor Saturn. It was a tall man with long blonde hair tied in a
slick ponytail.
"Noratech? What are you doing here?" asked Sailor Saturn.
"Putting an end to the greatest menace that ever lived." he answered.
He stepped forward calmly, his long trenchcoat floating in a gust of
wind that was created as a side effect of his hands charging up with
raw Technum power.
"No, he`s my father, I won`t let you!" said the young scout, standing
in his way.
"Keep out of this, Robin, you can`t possibly begin to comprehend the
stakes involved in this game of power!" he said, using a slight
amount of Technum to brush her aside as easily as if she`d been a
rag doll.
Uranus and Neptune chose this moment to charge forward into the
fray, but were blown back by the combined power of Technuma and
Noratech.
"STAY OUT OF THIS!" the yelled in unison.
The two guardians so fought each other in a fratricide conflict that
just made no sense.
Robin stayed there helpless, just like her two friends who watched
this battle unfold without being able to help.
* * *
"That must have been awful to stay there, not doing anything!" said
Usagi.
"It was... even more so that he was going to lose that fight." said
Robin, losing her joyful attitude as she thought of her comatose
father. "I never did find out what that whole mess was all about,
can you tell us at last, Usagi? Please don`t let dad`s sacrifice be
in vain!"
"Sacrifice?" wondered Usagi.
"Yes, you don`t know the rest yet..." continued Robin.
* * *
The fight was a terrible one. No amount of restreint was observed by
either Technuma or Noratech, unleashing the whole of their might
upon each other in blast after blast of Technum shockwaves. Cars
were smashed. Concrete pillars were cracked. In the end, though, not
much was accomplished as the two opponents were of equal power. The
powerblaze slowly came to a grinding halt, both the guardian panting
and heaving.
"I will stop you from destroying the great work, traitor!" said
Noratech, anger flaring in his eyes.
"You`re the one who`s helping the world coming to an end... I can
help you see the truth!" argued Technuma.
"Gallagher has clouded your mind. You must be stopped!" screamed
Noratech, charging in for what would be a bloody fistfight.
* * *
"Judging from the rubble, I`d say they were here not long ago. These
wood shards are still smoking." commented the Emerald Knight. Shingo
had finally settled on this new alternate identity to fight evil.
His entire body was covered with a lightweight metal armorplate of
emerald color, covered with stylish engraved motives of ancient
jendrean artistic design. His eagle head shaped helmet allowed only
his eyes to be seen through his retractable visor. He had also
fashioned for himself a matching green sword and buckler.
The effect was quite impressive, especially when standing next to
the sleek lookink Prince Endymion in black clothes, cape and
breastplate.
"They went that way." said the knight, pointing in the direction
the five fighters had taken. "I can feel the raw power of Technum
released." he added.
"But Sailor Moon`s not with them. I can`t feel her here... or over
there... it`s like she`s not even on this planet anymore!!!" said
Endymion.
He was absolutely right.
* * *
Technuma Saturn held his chest with both arms, feeling pain like he
hadn`t felt in centuries. Several of ribs were cracked, and he had
some internal bleeding he could actually feel... he was losing this
fight. In front of him, Noratech Neptune wasn`t feeling much better,
though his own bleeding was mostly superficial.
"You lose, Technuma. The messiah returns with me!" said Noratech,
using a single Technum blast to finish the job. The guardian of
Saturn was hit head on, propelled in the air a good five to six feet
behind.
Robin watched this whole scene, totally horrified; in her own mind,
everything seemed to play itself out in slow motion... the bolt of
power hit her father squarely in the chest, exploded violently and
sent him flying to land brutally on the badly smashed asphalt
covered ground.
"NO!" she screamed, running to her dying father. She held him in her
arms as Noratech watched coldly. He had won his bet to put an end
to Gallagher`s influence on Technuma.
Neptune and Uranus broke out of their silent observation to attack
and neutralize Noratech. With a simple wave of his hand, he crafted
a solid energy shield to contain the two warriors in place. They
tried to break free, to no avail.
"Father, please don`t die, I can`t live knowing you`re not there!"
said Sailor Saturn, tears running down from her eyes.
"It`s better this way... no parents should outlive their
children..." he whispered with difficulty.
"Noratech called me messiah... what did he mean?" asked Robin.
"He tought you... were the one... but he`s wrong... you are an
apostle, no more..." he said, coughing blood in between breaths.
"Robin... your seizures... the cure is... in you."
"I love you, dad!" said Robin, crying.
"And I... love you too... my angel."
With these final words, Technuma lost consciousness. He was barely
alive, but wouldn`t remain so for long if Noratech had his way.
Sailor Saturn kissed her father on his forehead. She felt love for
him in a way she had never imagined, in a tragic mix of affection
and sorrow. For a split second, she could have sworn she felt her
father`s soul kiss her back.
A signal clicked from deep within Robin`s soul, echoing inside her
whole body in a way that reached from her innermost mind to the very
surface of her body. A heavenly glow surrounded her with sheer
strenght enough to tear appart her sailor uniform and shatter her
tiara to pieces; the glowing light quickly covered her naked body
with a tight fitting full body senshi fuku in a color scheme of
crimson, cherry and black. Her right tigh bore the lettering that
read SORA NO SENSHI, senshi of the skyes. Her uniform completed
itself with five flashes of light solidifying into a visor and
metal guards similar to Sailor Moon and Neptune`s.
* * *
"NO WAY!!! You got soul power too, now?!?" asked Usagi in
astonishment.
"Will you let me finish my story?" replied Robin.
"Sorry."
* * *
"You did this to my father, I don`t know if he`ll live... and you
would take me out of his arms for your own purposes??? Oh, no, I
don`t think so." said the soul powered Sailor Saturn, holding back
her tears.
"You don`t have any say in this matter, young senshi. It is the will
of Prime that you follow the path drawn for you since before your
birth. So the prophesy has spoken." said Noratech.
At that moment, the guardian of Neptune realized something was very,
very wrong. Robin should have either accepted willingly to come, or
resist with all her might. Either would have worked out in the end
as he had more than enough strenght to subdue her. In theory. But
instead, she just stood there with an unnerving grin on her face.
The same grin that was ringing the very sound of his undoing.
Sailor Saturn extended her hands in front of her, palms reaching up.
A bright burst of crimson light flashed, in a single instant forging
her sacred weapon, a long halberd identical to Hotaru`s carved of
the purest ruby gemstone, the mighty Soulstar.
This sight was a glorious one indeed, freezing in amazed stupor the
guardian himself, both her warrior friends still encased in a
spherical energy shield and the two loyal allies of the scouts and
senshi, Endymion and the Emerald Knight who had just tracked down
the battlesite.
Saturn raised Soulstar above her head, crying out for the assistance
of those she knew would come if she only called, the beings who would
assist her when she would reveal the nature of her newborn soul.
"SERAPHIM WINGS OF WRATH!!!" she called out, a holy beam of light
flooding her as she stared right into it, into the glory of heaven
itself. From her body unfolded the purest of feathery wings, six of
them to be exact, and she began to float upwards in a graceful
manner that could have put cleopatra herself to shame.
"Oh dear god..." muttered Endymion, who couldn`t believe his eyes.
From the farthest reaches of paradise came a cohorte of the most
beautiful beings any of the present witnesses had ever seen,
thirteen female angels clad in golden silk gowns, bearing glaives
forged in heaven with the power of the almighty Lord of the Universe.
They circled in gleaming light around Robin who pointed towards
Noratech with her halberd, whispering words in ancient saturnine, a
language long forgotten to all but a few rare beings.
"Kortanis Angelim, Horrajim!"
The angelic cohort turned to Noratech, surrounding him rapidly and
flying in tight circles. The guardian`s heart was beating rapidly,
as he knew nothing of what to expect... if only that it would not
be something pleasant to go through.
"Prophecise THIS, you bastard!!!" screamed Robin.
The angels began slashing wildly, unleashing their timeless enochian
battle cries loud enough to drown out the screams of pain of Noratech
and his useless pleas for mercy.
When the angels vanished and the lights faded, the guardian fell
down, his body devoid of life before he ever hit the ground. The
dozens of sword wounds covering his corpse were the only evidence
that the godly servants had been there at all.
With the clanking noise of Soulstar slipping from her fingers and
hitting the asphalt, Sailor Saturn fell to her knees in total
exhaustion. She had a faint smile on her lips, one of the
satisfaction born out of vengence. And then she fell flat on her
face, sleeping so deep that nothing would wake her up for more
than twenty hours afterwards.
* * *
"Shortly after that, Umino noticed on Mercury`s laptop that an
explosion of great magnitude had occured in the rings of saturn.
Riding along the shockwave like a surfboard, there was an escape
pod with you inside. The story stops there, unless you have
something to add." said Robin to Usagi as she finished her coffee.
"It is coming back at a steady pace." observed Usagi.
Rei came at that point, accompanied by the cutest little pink-haired
girl in the whole of Tokyo.
"Usagi! You`re on your feet!" said happily Chibi-Usa.
"I`m so happy to see you feeling better." added Rei as she sat down
with the blonde girl and her classmate. Chibi-Usa did the same.
"I`m... still not too sure WHAT could have created this short-term
memory loss." said Usagi.
"You can tell us... no one else but you knows the whole truth behind
Gallagher." mentionned Robin.
"Assuming you manage to recall it." pointed out the small lady.
"Some more is coming back, maybe if I start telling you, it`ll come
back to me." said Usagi.
"Yes, please tell us that all this wasn`t in vain!" said Rei.
"Alright, here goes..."
* * *
Gallagher laughed as Usagi held him in a tight headlock and
threatened him by holding Avenger to his throat. He was amused that
someone had managed to see right through his plan to sneak back into
Saturn Station Beta.
"Strange how things work out... I was sure that the last piece of
Heresy was still on earth... yet you of all people, little Sailor
Moon, knew before me where to find it!" he said.
Releasing her grip and sitting in the copilot seat, the senshi of
the moon nonetheless kept Avenger pointed towards Gallagher, just
in case... and she was going to get answers out of him!
"Get talking Gallagher. Tell me what you know." she ordered him.
"Okay. The first thing you really need to know is this: Even if you
kill a guardian, he`ll just be reborn as his essence is captured by
the Prime`s regen-cloning system and rebuilds his body from his DNA
file and redraws his mental patterns artificially... which is how
the Prime controls his guardians, in combination with an odd
telepathic power that allows him to cloud memory and judgement in
an individual." explained Gallagher.
"So he`s a control freak, then. Why? And why weren`t Kitechnum and
Technazul reconstructed when they died?"
"Because the two of them discovered the Prime`s true motivations...
and because they were AWARE of his memory clouding abilities, they
had become IMMUNE! That is why he sent the Leviathan comet, to force
Technazul into self-sacrifice... and coerced Celeste into murdering
Kitechnum. And by the way, the link between guardian and planet isn`t
THAT close... simply killing a guardian is not enough to destroy his
planet."
"But... why was planet Jendra destroyed then?" wondered Sailor Moon.
"Because the Prime HAD IT DESTROYED, to squelch the rebellion
Kitechnum had begun to stir against his creator. And the fact that
CELESTE had been the instrument of this murder, it conveniently fell
into place that her father Ronmar was drawn into darkness and later
killed Hotaru, Technuma`s star pupil. Her death, the Prime supposed,
would allow an old prophesy to come to pass."
"You lost me there." admitted Sailor Moon, discreetly relaxing her
guard, and moving her gaze to Heresy. Something... familiar was
upsetting her about this sword.
"It goes as follow..."
And so it came to be that
the young messiah was
slain by the black weapon of
the evil lord of darkness
in his shadow of dread.
Thus she was brought back
to life, by the infinite power
and the will of Prime and his children.
For she was meant to cut
through the veil of cold winter
with the strenght of eternity
and the infinite Ouroboros.
"The Prime firmly believes that Sailor Saturn, recreated by Technuma
Saturn, would be that messiah. That is why he had her subconscious
programming additionned with a few lines of codes of his own... mind
control pattern that would make his telepathic mind clouding even
stronger on poor Robin! But he was wrong... she`s NOT the messiah,
only an apostle like you, Sailor Moon." said Gallagher, looking into
the distance at the approaching Saturn station Beta.
"Wait a minute... could this unnecesary programming be causing these
seizures she keeps having?"
"Precisely. But Technuma figured out a cure for these violent
attacks: her soul power MUST be unleashed. You probably didn`t know
that, but soul power makes you girls immune to the Prime`s subtle
mind altering techniques." said Gallagher. He pulled out his cards
and noticed one more scout had become senshi. "Well what do you
know? She succeeded already!"
"If you want to protect us, why attack us?"
"Because, by attacking you, I dragged you into the conflict much
sooner than the Prime would have wanted. By screwing his timetable
by several centuries, I made sure to keep him unbalanced and
confused." said Gallagher. "Besides... Sailor Venus`s mind was...
not exactly the strongest one of the pack. Her soul was like an
iron in a forge, it needed... motivation to evolve. Being hammered
this way helped ensure she`d be ready in time for things to come,
but that`s another story."
Sailor Moon got angry. She jumped up and placed her sword against
Gallagher`s neck again.
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn`t KILL you this very
instant!!!" she screamed.
"I`ll forego the obvious fact that you want to know WHY I`m doing
all of this and go straight to the real reason: you saw the contents
of that crystal I gave you at the museum, and it`s eating you alive!
You just have to know if you and your friends are nothing more than
clones dancing to strings held by the guardians!!!" answered
gallagher.
"Damn you for making so much sense..." mumbled Sailor Moon, lowering
her crystal two-handed sword.
"We`ll be reaching the docking bay any minute now. Once we enter the
station, I want to get the last piece of Heresy right away. Then all
will be clear." said Gallagher, punching a few buttons to send the
docking bay opening sequence signal.
"How can I know that you just haven`t made up all of this? That the
crystal isn`t simply a clever fake you made using your ressemblance
to Technuma? What assurances can you give me???" asked Sailor Moon.
"None, really. But the computer archives contain a file that has
laid dormant for hundreds of years... it should provide you with
the final answer you seek. I`ll give it to you... in exchange for
the location of the final piece of Heresy."
"Okay... but I hold on to the broken sword until I`m convinced you
haven`t lied to me all this time."
"I ask no more than this." replied Gallagher with a smile that made
Usagi shiver.
* * *
The Avatar Mark II glided silently through the large main docking
bay of the old Saturn Station Beta, a slightly smaller replica of
the old station Alpha that had been destroyed during the onslaught
of Beryl upon the silver millenium. The faint vibrations in the hull
that reverberated into the cockpit indicated that docking clamps had
taken hold, and that the boarding tube was secured.
"Come this way, Sailor Moon. It`s still night in the station, we can
move around without attracting attention." said Gallagher. He lead
her to the boarding tube at the end of which was a touchpad lock. He
pressed his hand on the pad who immediately verified fingerprints,
blood vessel patterns and DNA.
"Welcome aboard, Technuma." said a an emotionless computer voice as
the heavily shielded door opened smoothly.
"We`re in." said Gallagher.
* * *
In the security monitoring room, Litechnae Venus was checking through
the many video channels of the camera system that kept a watchful eye
over the whole station. Movement caught her eye in the primary
docking bay; she saw two people enter the station and take blue
corridor one towards the heart of the central dome.
When she reckognized who it was, she immediately turned on a video
communication channel. An image of the Prime appeared on the small
screen.
"Technuma`s come back, and he brought back someone..." she said.
In her mind, she received the telepathic response of her creator.
"It`s Sailor Moon, and I don`t know why he brought her here. I do
believe he might have been tainted while he was on earth... shall
I intiniate the quarantine plan we agreed on?" she asked.
The Prime smiled. His response was quite clear to Litechnae. She
pushed a serie of control buttons on her keyboard, activating two
mechanisms. First, all doors to the other guardians sleeping
quarters were bolted shut and sealed off. Next, a strong dose of
sleeping gas was pumped into their rooms, ensuring they wouldn`t
wake up until the Prime had dealt with the situation.
"It`s done sir, you might be interesting to know that they are
headed to the memorial room."
The Prime nodded. He was on his way.
* * *
The memorial room was probably one of the largest places in the
central dome of Saturn Station Beta. Huge plants and trees were
growing contently all around a large statue of Kitechnum Jendra and
Laurella, right next to a hologramatic model of the solar system.
"It`s beautiful." said Sailor Moon.
"Remind me why we came here." asked Gallagher.
"That last piece, remember?" said Sailor Moon.
"HERE? You gotta be kidding me!"
"Hey, this is the last place you`d expect, right? What better hiding
spot?" said the senshi. "And now... that file you told me about?"
"Come over here." said Gallagher. He pointed to a small computer
terminal on the wall. "Go to the archived files and ask for 'Queen`s
Gambit'. The password is 'King`s Rook'.
Usagi did just that. The password did unlock the file, revealing the
greatest secret that had ever been buried in the shrouds of the
silver milenium`s past. While she read, she barely paid any
attention to Gallagher who opened the dedication plaque of the
statue to reveal the final piece of the black metal sword Heresy.
Sneaking behind the engrossed Sailor Moon, he looked at the
incomplete sword in her hand. Now was the chance to make his move.
Grabbing her by the back of the neck, he violently smashed her face
in the computer terminal`s screen. The pain knocked her senses into
a haywire mess of mismatched sensations.
"Huh... what..." she mumbled, dropping Heresy to the ground.
"Sorry young senshi... but this I have to do." whispered Gallagher
in her ear before smashing her face in the screen again. This time,
it shattered under the impact. Without her visor, she would have
surely had her eyes gouged by the sharp shards of glass. She fell
down limply.
"Thus it came to be that it was forged anew, That Which Shouldn`t Be,
the Heresy!!!" said Gallagher, picking up the black sword and
reuniting the last piece to it. A huge surge of paradoxal energies
was unleashed, rocking the entire station in wave after wave of
temporal aberrant shocks. "Your forsaken son has returned, Prime!!!
Can you hear me, you ancient bastard?!?" he screamed as he held
forth the black sword that surged with energy more primal than
Technum itself.
The doors to the memorial room slid open, allowing passage to the
Prime himself. As he walked calmly towards the half-soul rebirth of
his original creation, his greyish skin began to stir. It transformed
itself from smooth skin into a jagged armor more resistant than the
strongest alloy known to human technology.
"Yes, I heard you!" said the Prime. As he spoke, his telepathic
abilities echoed each of his words into a bolt of mental force that
thundered in the minds of both Gallagher and Sailor Moon, waking her
out of her unconscious state.
"So that`s why you never speak... your could destroy someone`s mind
just discussing weather." commented Gallagher, a splitting headache
beginning to make itself feel in his skull.
"Correct!" said the Prime, with another psy wave crashing through
everyone`s head.
Gallagher held up the mighty Heresy in his hands, attempting to
ignore the crushing pain in his head, charged forward towards the
Prime. His blow was blocked by the Prime who created for himself a
sword of raw solar Technum.
"Time for you to die!!!" yelled Gallagher as the swords clashed
violently in a burst of power that threatened to destroy the station
from the inside out.
"You ungrateful brat, you never deserved what fate granted you!"
yelled the Prime, blasting Gallagher out of his mind.
With all these psychic screams bashing her hurting brain, Sailor
Moon barely realized what was happening. The final detonation of
Technum and paradox blasted the swordsmen away from each other,
smashing the Technum sword into nothingness and sending Heresy into
a flying spin out of Gallagher`s hands. It landed heavily and slid
all the way to Usagi`s feet who slowly bent over and picked it up.
Both enemies looked at her, wondering how she would react.
"You must destroy him, Sailor Moon, he`s responsible for all the pain
you ever went through!" urged Gallagher.
The Prime responded in his silent fashion. Sailor Moon knew that the
Prime was begging her to reconsider Gallagher`s conniving lies and
deceit to get the sword she now held.
"One of you has lied to me." she said with cold determination. "One
of you deserves to die."
* * *
Robin, Rei and Chibi-Usa were hanging on to Usagi`s every word. They
had been listening to her tale and knew that she had been holding the
fate of the solar system itself in her hands. Her choice at that very
moment was going to change history in an irreversible manner.
"... and then what?!?" asked Rei, the suspense killing her.
"Yeah, don`t keep us hanging like that!!!" added Robin.
"I... I don`t remember any more. Sorry." said Usagi, looking down in
embarassment.
"Come on, you remembered so much already! Don`t tell us you can`t
recall any more!" observed the small lady.
"No... there`s nothing more. Just a black hole in my head." said
Usagi defensively.
Her friends began to wonder. She looked nervous, as if she was
fighting a war inside her skull.
"Usagi, you can`t keep something so big inside you, let it out.."
said Rei as she stood up and approached Usagi to hug her. To Rei`s
surprise, her reaction was a very violent one.
Usagi pushed her away with all her strenght, throwing her over the
next table which she knocked over.
"NO! I don`t want to remember, you can`t make me!!!" screamed Usagi,
running away from her friends in a frenzied race. Before the others
realized what was going on, she was already too far for them to
follow.
"Dear god, WHAT could she be holding on to? It`s gotta be horrible,
considering all she`s gone through in her life so far..." said Rei,
catching her breath.
"Whatever it is, I`m sure it`s what caused Usagi to lose her memory!"
said Robin. "Come on, we have to help her!"
"How?" asked Chibi-Usa.
"I don`t know. But I do have a feeling though... come on, let`s find
Setsuna!" suggested Robin.
To be continued...
* * *
Yeah, yeah, I know... I promised everyone that I`d conclude the story
in THIS chapter... but I simply have too much to tell in this one to
complete it so fast! The next chapter WILL be the conclusion and all
questions WILL be answered. HONEST!