by Bill K.
The doorbell rang. Setsuna walked to the door and peered out the decorative window in the top.
Minako stood on her front step. Reluctantly Setsuna opened the door. She would have preferred running out the back door and fleeing so as not to refuse the request of a friend. However she was hardly dressed for it, as she still wore the maroon bikini.
"Um," Minako stammered, thrown off by Setsuna's attire. Recovering quickly, she smirked and cocked an eyebrow. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"
"I was merely sunning myself in the back," Setsuna replied with a smirk of her own.
"Giving the neighbors a thrill, huh?"
"Not to my knowledge," Setsuna said, flushing ever so slightly. "But it is a compliment to be found attractive. How may I assist you?"
"We've got trouble," Minako sobered. "We just found out somebody kidnaped Ami and put a robot in her place."
"Indeed?" gasped Setsuna, genuinely shocked. "When did you find this out?"
"About fifteen minutes ago. Rei sniffed her out. And we can't get a fix on Ami's communicator signal. I added those two things up and got somebody from the future. Any ideas?"
"It is a logical assumption," Setsuna nodded thoughtfully, "and one worth pursuing. Were there any other clues?"
"Not yet," Minako replied. "So - - think you can give us a lift to the future?"
"Any ability to traverse the time stream has not yet developed within me," Setsuna told her. "Those times you have been ferried to the future were by my future self."
"Bummer," scowled Minako. "Can you at least give us a time to look in?"
"I have no way of knowing or sensing that."
Minako sighed in frustration.
"I am sorry," Setsuna offered.
"We can only do what we can do," Minako shrugged. "Hey, maybe you and Rei could get together and between the two of you sniff out something."
"I don't," Setsuna began, turning from the blonde before her. "That would not be a good idea."
"Why not?"
"The time stream is a very delicate thing," Setsuna rationalized. "Rei does not possess the skill to safely navigate it - - and at this stage of my life, neither do I. I-I might do more harm than good."
"But this is Ami we're talking about!" Minako countered. "We just can't abandon her because it might be a risk to go after her!"
"I-I am sorry," Setsuna said. "I wish no harm to come to Ami. I pray that you are able to rescue her. But there can be more at stake here than just the life of one woman, even a woman as important to us as Ami. I dare not take the risk."
"Setsuna!" pleaded Minako.
"No," she replied firmly. "Please go. You are wasting valuable time, time which could be used to find Ami."
Minako scowled. Without another option, she turned and left. Setsuna closed the door behind her. She lingered at the door, in pain, then turned away. Sailor Pluto was waiting for her.
"I am sorry to put you through this, Setsuna," Pluto offered.
Setsuna's eyes began to tear. In response, Pluto gathered her in and hugged her.
"It will work out for the best," Pluto whispered to her. "So long as you stay true to your
vow, all will work out in the end."
- - - -
The buzzer interrupted Michiru Kaioh's silent reverie. Shutting down the vacuum, the
woman turned from cleaning the drapes and headed for the door. Pausing only long enough to
brush a lock of green hair from her eyes and peer out the side panel windows, she grasped the
knob and opened the door.
"Well this is unexpected," Michiru said, finding Usagi and Makoto on her front step. "But a pleasant surprise nonetheless. Please come in."
As the girls entered, Michiru examined them surreptitiously. Makoto was her usual gruff,
sullen self. It amazed Michiru just how long some people could carry ill-feelings. Perhaps she
needed to do something about it. Then Usagi caught her eye. The girl seemed pensive and under
considerable mental stress. That was never a good sign. When the irrepressibly ebullient Usagi
Tsukino was quiet and pensive, there was trouble brewing, trouble Michiru knew she wouldn't
like.
As the pair took Michiru's invitation to sit down, the artist noticed Makoto glancing around suspiciously.
"You can relax, Makoto. Haruka's not here," Michiru said. "She has a race in Frankfort and will be gone for at least three more days."
She had intended it as a harmless little jab to lighten the mood. But Makoto glared at her and Michiru knew she had struck a nerve again.
"I believe congratulations are in order for you two," Michiru began, taking a different tact. "Didn't you both just graduate high school?"
"Can we just get to the point?" Makoto replied gruffly. "That way, you don't have to keep pretending that you give a damn about us."
Usagi flushed with embarrassment. Even Makoto realized she'd said more than she wanted to, but defiantly stood her ground.
Yes, Michiru was definitely going to have to do something about this.
"Michiru," Usagi began, before Michiru could respond to Makoto, "we have a problem. Ami's missing and I think only you can help us!"
"Ami?" Michiru gasped, genuinely upset. "Of course, Usagi, I'll do anything I can!" Her open anxiety seemed to impress even Makoto. "Tell me exactly what happened."
"Well sometime," Usagi began, "we don't know when - - Ami was replaced by a machine - - a machine that looks just like her! It acted just like her, too! It fooled us all, Michiru - - all except Rei. That's how we found out!"
"Replaced by a-a mechanized duplicate?" Michiru marveled.
"And we thought you might be able to use your mirror to find out where she is," Makoto said, a hint of suspicion still in her voice, "or at least who has her."
"Of course," Michiru nodded, numbed by the startling revelation. "Just let me transform." Her henshin stick came out. "Neptune Planet Power Make Up!"
Within moments, the imposing Sailor Neptune stood before them. Without another word to them, she summoned the Deep Aqua Mirror. Usagi and Makoto watched as Sailor Neptune slipped into a light trance while holding the mirror up to her face. She seemed oblivious to everything around her. Curiously, the two girls peeked over her shoulder. They could see nothing but Neptune's reflection in the glass. However, Makoto noted that Neptune seemed to be viewing something. The expression on her face hinted that she saw something they could not.
Finally Neptune's shoulders slumped with fatigue. The hand mirror fell to her side and her head drooped as she refocused on reality.
"Michiru?" Usagi whispered desperately, her hands going up to Neptune's shoulders. "Are you all right?"
"Yes," Neptune replied, smiling sheepishly. "Sometimes the mirror takes a little out of me. I appreciate your concern, Usagi."
"Did you see anything?" Makoto asked.
"Yes," Neptune whispered breathlessly. "Ami is alive. She's being held in a small cube about the size of a bathroom with clear walls, probably some sort of plastic. The cube is in a room with bare, white walls. It's very well lit." Neptune's brow furrowed. "She has some sort of electronic band around her throat. I don't know if it's some sort of restraint or some means of tracking her."
"Do you know where she is?" Usagi asked.
"Beyond that, no. It seems like she's in Tokyo, but I can't pinpoint where."
Usagi's hopes visibly sank. Makoto instantly began massaging her shoulders.
"Come on, hon'," Makoto said. "We know she's still alive and we're that much closer to her. Maybe Rei or Minako found more."
Usagi nodded her head and started to go. Absently she stopped and turned back to Neptune.
"Where are my manners?" she grimaced. "Thank you for your help, Sailor Neptune."
Neptune reverted back to Michiru. "It was nothing at all. Usagi, may I come with you? I'd like to do more to help. Ami's a good friend and a valuable member of this team - - possibly more valuable than I am. Maybe my help can allow us to find her that much faster."
"We'd love to have you, Michiru," Usagi beamed. And once again, Michiru found that making this girl smile inspired the warmest feeling in her.
"There's one other thing I think needs to be said," Michiru announced. She turned to Makoto. "I realize Haruka and I got off on the wrong foot with you. We did what we thought was best given the situation, but clearly we didn't handle things with as much skill as I believe we're capable of. The fact that we've allowed this to fester over the years is as much our fault as anyone's. Makoto, please accept my apology for all that we've done to offend you over the last three years."
And Michiru bowed at the waist to her. Usagi was in shock, but it was nothing compared to the astonishment Makoto felt. Suddenly any ability she had to articulate words left her. But Michiru didn't wait for an acceptance of her apology. She straightened up, walked over to a bureau and took out her purse.
"Shall we go?" Michiru asked.
"Um, sure," Makoto replied softly, seeing the green-haired artist in an entirely new light.
- - - -
Viluy returned for Ami's empty tray. Ami immediately began typing.
"What was in the food?" she typed and the voice synthesizer recreated. "A mind control drug?"
Viluy smothered a laugh.
"Now, Mizuno, if I wanted to introduce a mind control agent into your body, it would be much easier to release it in gaseous form through the ventilation port, wouldn't it?" And she gave Ami that superior look she had.
"Then why am I still alive?"
"You stimulate me," Viluy replied.
"How soon are you going to send out another duplicate?" Ami typed.
"Soon. I have to download the cerebral synapse patterns first. Otherwise my android wouldn't act exactly like the original, would it?"
"How do you manage to copy the subject's thought patterns so exactly?" Ami posed. "Is it your nano-bot technology at work?"
"Very good, Mizuno!" Viluy replied, genuinely pleased. "Your intuition hasn't dulled a bit. Let me tell you how it's done. I managed to modify my nano-bot in the future with the improved microcircuit technology of the era. The nano-bot is injected directly into the central nervous system of the subject as a high-speed projectile. At most the subject dismisses the momentary pain as an insect bite."
Ami listened with rapt attention.
"The nano-bot sends a small tracer electrical current through the nervous system,
recording the current's pathways through the brain and transmitting those recordings to me. In
seconds the entire neural network of the subject's brain is recorded in my hard drive. The
nano-bot is then destroyed by the subject's white blood cells, but it's done its job. I have a pattern
to program my android with, duplicating the subject's brain as well as I can duplicate the subject's
body."
The beep of Viluy's chronometer drew her attention.
"The download should be finishing up," Viluy announced. "Time to meet my latest recruit."
Ami watched Viluy strut off. She felt confident that the woman's arrogance would be her downfall. But how soon? And what could Ami do to hasten that downfall? All she had to work with were plastic furniture and a computerized vocal synthesizer with the four key words she needed blocked out.
Or were they? Seized with an idea, Ami began typing.
"Merc," the synthesizer replied.
"Good," Ami thought. "She programmed slang into the vocabulary. Very thorough,
Viluy - - how typical of you. I wonder if you included proper names, too."
Ami typed another word.
"Curie," the synthesizer responded.
Ami smiled triumphantly.
- - - -
Artemis and Luna eyed the jumble of scorched and melted circuitry and synthetic flesh
shoved off in the corner of the room. Rei had hidden the remains of the Ami android in the room
so her grandfather wouldn't spot it. She'd just finished when the cats arrived. Ushering them
inside, Rei brusquely departed to start her fire reading.
Though she wouldn't admit it to Artemis, the sight of the android's remains put Luna's fur
on edge. There was something unearthly about the android scrap to begin with. To top it all,
though, part of Ami's replicated face clung to the android's skull.
That made looking at it quite unnerving.
She was brought out of her trance by her partner's back flip. The white cat's laptop computer appeared, as well as a pair of sensory goggles. Once armed, Artemis approached the heap.
"Do be careful, Artemis," Luna warned anxiously.
"Didn't know you cared," Artemis smirked as he studied the machine parts.
"Don't get a swelled head over it," Luna scowled.
"Relax, Luna. I'm getting zero energy output from this thing. It's just a pile of inert metal and foam plastic now." He crossed around to the back. "I wish Mars hadn't done such a good job toasting this thing."
"No doubt she felt it was a threat to Sailor Moon."
"No doubt. Funny how strong a reaction that drew out of her."
"Implying what?" demanded the black cat.
"Nothing," Artemis smirked knowingly. "From what little intact circuitry I can scan, this is mighty sophisticated technology."
"More sophisticated than currently possible?"
"Yeah," Artemis commented, then turned to Luna, "but then I thought some of the stuff Tomoe was throwing at us was too sophisticated for Earth normal, too."
"Well, he did have alien help," Luna replied. She looked up. "Artemis, does this mean this could be alien technology?"
"Not unless their planet has the same mineral make up ours has," the white cat said,
looking at his readouts. "My scan is showing chemical compositions and mineral alloys all
native to Earth. You'd think a different planet would have something different about it." The cat
frowned again. "Oh, how I wish I could download something from this central processing core!"
"Well, there's no sense crying over spilled milk, Artemis," Luna advised him. "You'll just have to glean what you can from this wreckage and put the rest of the puzzle together yourself."
"Wish Ami was here to trade theories with," Artemis muttered.
Luna watched over Artemis as he recorded his scan readings and tried to extrapolate from them. It was easy to see now why she was attracted to him when he was like this. He was so commanding in this state, so brilliant that a feline couldn't help but fall in line behind him. If only he were like this all the time, he might be her dream lover. But for every moment of brilliance and charisma he demonstrated in his life, he always seemed to demonstrate at least one corresponding act of laziness or immaturity. It was so frustrating.
"Artemis?" Luna asked, hoping to keep his brilliant streak going, "could the technology capable of this - - device - - be capable of blocking the senshi communicator signal?"
"I'd like to think not," Artemis said distantly as he paw-typed a question into his computer. "We're already at a technological disadvantage just from the presence of this android. We don't need more of a handicap."
The door slid open. The cats looked and saw Usagi, Makoto and Michiru enter. Michiru's eyes popped upon seeing the android, but she quickly fell back behind her controlled expression.
"You've brought Michiru into the case. Good thinking, girls," Luna said.
"And she was able to get some information for us with her mirror!" Usagi reported happily. "Ami's alive, Luna!"
"Jolly good news indeed," Luna replied. "Were you able to locate her?"
"Not specifically," Michiru told her. "She's being held prisoner in a plastic detention cell,
but I couldn't see where."
"You two find anything?" Makoto asked.
"Just that this robot doesn't belong to the technology of this age," Luna answered.
"Android," Artemis corrected. "This ANDROID doesn't belong to the technology of this age." Luna turned and scowled at him. "Wait a minute. I've been looking at this problem based on assumptions."
"You've thought of something?" Luna asked and the others leaned forward expectantly.
"I'm assuming the android is from this time period," Artemis explained. "What if it's from the future? This construction might be common science in the future. And maybe that's why I couldn't lock onto Ami's communicator signal - - because she's not here. She's in some future time!"
"No," Michiru replied. Artemis looked at her, a silent challenge on his face. "I'm sorry to disagree with you. The android may be from the future, but when I was looking at Ami in my mirror, I could sense she was in Tokyo."
"Yeah," Minako said, entering dramatically, "but Tokyo now or Tokyo to come?"
"And the Oscar goes to . . ." muttered Artemis.
"Hey, Fuzzy, you have to take your grand entrances when they come," Minako shot back.
"What led you to that conclusion?" Michiru asked.
"A lifetime of pursuing the spotlight," Minako shrugged.
Makoto rolled her eyes, calmly walked over and smacked the back of Minako's head.
"THAT AMI'S IN THE FUTURE, genius!" Makoto said.
"Oh, that," Minako said, rubbing the back of her head. "Put the ideas Artemis had together with the vibes I got from Setsuna and that's the conclusion I get. Setsuna was pretty tight-lipped when I talked to her and didn't want anything to do with this. Now usually when Setsuna clams up, it's got something to do with the future. I think that's where we'll find Ami. I said that before and I'm even more convinced I'm right now."
"But where?" Usagi asked. "How far in the future?"
Minako shrugged helplessly.
"If we only knew who was behind this?" Luna speculated. "If we knew that, it might lead us to where, or in this case, when she is. There's no clue in the wreckage at all, Artemis?"
"No. There might have been some clues in the central processing core, but it's just a hunk of silicon now."
At that moment, Rei entered the room. Her face was flushed and glistening with sweat as it usually was after a fire reading. Instantly Usagi got a glass of water and gave it to the miko. She took it gratefully.
"Anything?" Minako asked.
"I got a vision," Rei said, her brow furrowed and her tone hushed, "but I'm having trouble believing it."
"What did you see?" Usagi asked.
"I saw - - Viluy," Rei said.
"Viluy?" Makoto gasped.
"Little Miss Snowflake from the Witches 5?" Minako added incredulously.
"Yes," Rei nodded. "And my visions aren't wrong. Viluy's the one who kidnaped Ami."
continued in Chapter 6