Hoshigumi - Watashi Ni!
"The Lady Lilith to see you, Milord."
"Send her in, then!" A tall woman, her face hidden by a mask featuring a triangle with seven eyes engraved on it, walked into the room.
"Well, stand up, then! Don't you know how to treat a lady?" The Lord Morningstar hurriedly stood – Lady Lilith was the only being he was scared of in any dimension – or at least, the only one he would admit, even to himself. "Well? Why did you want to see me?"
"The next phase of the Plan. The necessary lifeform is under your jurisdiction."
"Ah. Them. Unfortunately, they are extinct."
"WHAT?!"
"Extinct. Some human killed them off, over a hundred years ago. Don't tell me you didn't notice?"
"No, of course I didn't. Why would I?"
"No, you wouldn't. Anyway, I can restart the race, but I'll need a victim."
"One of the Councillors, maybe?"
"You and your Council…" Lilith sniffed in disdain. "What do they do, anyway?"
"They are facilitators. They do my bidding. Why not a Council member?"
"Spirit energy is needed. None of the Councillors is suitable. Well, your facilitators can find me a victim, high in Spirit. Young usually helps, the body is more likely to survive the transition. I'll leave the rest up to you." With that, the Lady Lilith left the Throne Room of the Pit.
The day after the party, Gendo stared at the ceiling, feeling annoyed. Try as he might, he couldn't complete more than a few lines of any song. He glanced at the clock by his bed. He had a few hours to go before the guests for the Grand Opening arrived. He turned on his laptop and logged on to the Internet.
You have E-mail
He opened his inbox.
FROM: TetsuNoOtome@yahoo.com
TO: GendoKamijin@hoshigumi.gov.uk
Hi, thought you might need this. Reply if it's any good, I've got loads. Enclosed is a MIDI of the tune. I put the notes for each instrument on as well.
Love, Tetsu no Otome XXXXX
Below that were the lyrics to a song called "Don't Surrender." He scanned them quickly – below each syllable was the guitar note, bass note, and attached was exactly what TetsuNoOtome had said - a midi of the tune. He checked out the e-mail again, and saw that she had marked out when each instrument was supposed to begin.
"VLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!"
"Vow, zis really iss an excellent sonk. Vot does the name mean?"
"Literally, Maiden of Iron - Iron Maiden." Vlad picked up his guitar and played a few notes. Frowning, he flicked a switch, and played them again.
"If you use zer right amp model, it doss sount like Iron Maiten."
"Amp model?"
"Iss thing that copies sount off any type off amp unt makes your guitar sount like it. For example, if I set zat to "Gibson SG" and zat to "Marshall" it sounts like AC/DC." He strummed a few bars of "Highway to Hell" to make his point. "Ozzervise you haff to use different amp for each bant you cuffer. My fayforite iss the Iron Maiden model."
"Well, what should I do?"
"Vot? You are craysy person? Keep zer lyrics unt ask for more. Zen you credit her as Tetsu-No-Voteffer you said if ve effer get an album out. Oh, unt don't tell anyvun. Zey may sink you are cheatink."
"Obaa-chama, we are nearly there. Please tell me where Arataka is!"
"You know enough about me to know where I have put it. Think, Kimiko-Chan. Think!" Kimiko Shinguji thought about her grandmother's clue again. It is where I can always find it, but it can never be stolen. For one moment, Kimiko wondered if it could be hidden in her walking stick. But as soon as she looked at it, she realised it was too thin.
"Well, here we are, Shinguuji-saama."
"Sama, Dave-kun. You make the 'a' sound too long."
"How did you know my name?"
"What? I am not stupid! Old, but not senile." Sakura Shinguji stood up and stepped out of the Cadillac, barely using her stick. Kimiko watched for a few seconds, then followed glumly.
I'm a failure. I can't even find a sword. A simple, little sword. And I go and mess it up. I'm not worthy to be Shinguuji.
Yes you are. No one is perfect. No one gets everything right first time, even your Great-grandmother.
Who are you? What are you doing in my head?
Gendo Kamijin. I always monitor psychic energy. You were practically screaming. Think laterally. What is always all around everyone?
…Air? Gendo said no more. Frowning, Kimiko caught up with her great-grandmother.
The entire Hoshigumi stood at the entrance to the Millennium Dome. Dave looked very uncomfortable in his dress uniform, which was several sizes too small. Sakura walked slowly across the stage to the microphone and addressed the crowd.
"I am proud to announce the opening of this, the world's most advanced military base." Dave passed her a small remote control, and she pressed the single button on it. The roof of the Dome folded away into the sides, leaving only a gate, held shut with a ribbon. "If you don't mind, I would like my great-granddaughter to cut the ribbon. Kimiko?" Kimiko stepped forward and stood facing the door. She stuck out her right hand.
"Arataka, WATASHI NI!" The soul-sword, Arataka, materialised in her hand. Without pausing, she raised it and brought it down on the ribbon, leaving a trail of pink light.
"I now declare the Millennium Base open," said Sakura, with a trace of amusement in her voice. The whole team, except Kaede, who knew what to expect, stared in amazement. The Millennium Base didn't look like a military base. It looked more like a housing estate. Twenty-five houses stood around a central area. Each had a small garden behind it and a garage at one side.
"I think I speak for all of us," stated Dave, "when I say…bloody hell." Several others nodded.
"We thought that, as we don't know how long this war will last," Kaede informed them, "we'd better make the accommodation suitable for adults. We could have done apartments, but those can't be extended. In a battle situation, all of the houses will become submerged. They were each decorated according to your choices a few weeks ago, but feel free to redecorate whenever you like. I'm only in charge in a battle. Otherwise, you're all mature enough to look after yourselves…I hope."
"Vy are you lookink at me? Vot haff I done?"
"Here are your keys." Kaede passed a plastic card to everyone.
"What are these?" asked Rebecca.
"Smart cards. If you get into a fight because of your job, show this to the police and they'll probably let you off. Abuse it and I dock your pay. And you can use it to pay for things, like a credit card. Your pay goes directly into an account connected to this card, so pay with this for everything you want. If you want to claim expenses, plug it into your PC and mark the purchase on the file. If it's for team business, the government'll pay it for. Don't loose it, because we might not be able to get your savings back. And you'll be locked out of the base and your house."
"Could you by any chance show me your Mechs now," asked Jikariel, manifesting suddenly. People in the crowd screamed, and Gendo grabbed the microphone.
"Everybody, calm down! I'd like to welcome our supernatural attaché, the Angel Jikariel."
"Blasphemy! There is no Angel Jikariel," shouted someone in the crowd. "That is Satan."
Oh, god. A bible-basher, thought Dave.
"Like hell. If I was Satan, would I appear in the middle of an anti-Demon base? He isn't stupid. And neither am I," Jikariel stated archly. "Anyway, if you know the Bible so well, is there an Angel named Israfel in it?"
"No," replied the God-botherer, clutching a crucifix.
"That's where you're wrong. Israfel will announce the Day of Judgement and, as such, was mentioned in the Revelation of St. John of Patmos, although not by name. I was edited out. You can see me in the Director's cut."
"What the heck are you talking about?"
"There are four gospels in the New Testament. Several more were not included in the first copy of the entire Bible, for example, that of Thomas and Mary Magdalene. I was in the Gospel of…I forget. Have a look through the Dead Sea Scrolls. Maybe Peter. Anyway, the Mechs."
"Of course. Sarah, could you launch yours, please?" Sarah nodded and ran into the base. A minute later, a twelve-foot robot burst out of the ground. It was less squat than the earlier Mechs, with a missile pod on the left shoulder instead of cannon on each. Sarah jump-jetted over the crowd, turned in midair and landed beside the rest of the Hoshigumi, then pirouetted. Finally, she launched a salvo of missiles from its shoulder pod, and let off a burst from her Vulcan cannon, which, as she demonstrated, could be mounted on the wrist or the right shoulder. The crowed oohed and aahed appropriately, and eventually got bored and went home. The Hoshigumi set about finding which house went with which key card, as nobody had bothered making a note. The younger members (everyone under 21) then spent the afternoon attempting to visit every other person on the team, hampered by the fact that it was nearly impossible to time visits correctly – unless you were hoping to visit Maiku or Kimiko, who were standing just between their respective houses talking for six hours straight, until Kaede and Wilhelmina broke up the fun, pointing out that most of the team had school in the morning
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Another chapter complete…bloody finally, and all. The bit about the Bible is true. Israfel will announce the Day of Judgement, and there were gospels left out. The new Mech is supposed to look like a Grizzly, for any MechWarrior players out there. Sorry about the ending, it's a bit, um, crap. But I wanted to finish it as soon as possible. (Due to my Internet access being currently more f**ked up than Dale Winton's anal cavity, this chapter will be uploaded at the same time as chapter 4, and, unless I'm careful, chapter 6 as well. Sorry…)
