Chapter 8: "An Android's Song"
by Bill K.
Setsuna heard the buzzer announce that someone was at the front door. However she was loath to get up and answer it. It had not been an easy time for her since Minako left. The silent accusations on her face were still fresh in the woman's mind. It broke her heart to refuse Minako, for she had found a common bond with the inner, a mutual respect that she hadn't established with any of the others save the princess. To see the look of disappointment on Minako,disappointment that she had caused and couldn't explain away was difficult.
But Minako couldn't be as disappointed in her as Setsuna was. A threat loomed over the world, a threat that menaced the princess and her fellow senshi as much as innocents around the globe and she could do nothing about it. If anything, to try to stop it would only result in a far greater calamity. Though she couldn't know what, the thought that a single action of hers might forever bar Crystal Tokyo from occurring tortured the woman.
The buzzer sounded again. Was she reduced to this now? Was she reduced to hiding in her home so as not to confront more troubling things? With no enthusiasm, the tall woman pushed herself out of her chair and trudged to the door.
"I hope I'm not interrupting anything," Michiru said. Setsuna looked at her. Though there was nothing accusatory about her voice or manner, Setsuna read more meaning into the words than just what was on the surface. Her greeting was as much a question of why it took so long to answer as it was a greeting.
"You interrupt nothing," Setsuna replied and drew a curious look from the green-haired artist. She stood waiting to be invited in and for a moment Setsuna considered asking her to leave. But that would only create more concern and curiosity in the woman. She knew Michiru. It was hard to hide things from her trained artist's eye. "Come in."
"Are you feeling well?" Michiru asked, slipping out of her shoes. "You look depressed."
"I have received," Setsuna began, "information that I am - - reluctant to believe. However, I cannot doubt its veracity, therefore I have no choice but to believe it."
Michiru nodded and silently communicated that she would be a sympathetic ear. But Setsuna didn't continue and Michiru thought it rude to pursue it.
"Minako said she was here earlier," Michiru said, changing tacts, "so I assume you know what's happened to Ami." Setsuna nodded. "We haven't found her yet. We haven't given up hope. But, frankly, we're at a loss for leads."
"I can offer you no help in that regard," Setsuna choked out, avoiding Michiru's eyes. "Please know that my prayers are with you and I will rejoice at Ami's safe return."
Michiru nodded, though her eyes were taking in more than she revealed. At once, she reached over and touched Setsuna's hand.
"As outer senshi, we both know there are times when we must follow the path we know is best," Michiru told her, "even if the correctness of that path isn't evident to anyone else. There are times I admit I don't always understand your abilities, but I trust them and I trust your judgment. If what you're doing is difficult for you, I'll help in any way I can. If you just need to know that you're doing the right thing, I'm sure you are. I trust you, Setsuna. Anyone who doesn't is a fool."
"I thank you for your words of faith, Michiru," Setsuna nodded with difficulty. "But I cannot help but fear that I am at this moment playing the fool - - and I do not know whether it is foolishness born of lack of faith or foolishness born of too much." The woman exhaled deeply, solemnly, while still refusing to make eye contact with Michiru. "And the worst part of this is I will not know for certain until it is too late to change things - - until someone else may suffer for my choice."
"Setsuna, Haruka and I have both done many things we didn't like doing because we saw a greater good would come out of it," Michiru said. "I don't know what's torturing you, and since you haven't confided in me, it's clear I shouldn't know. But I'll stand by your choice, because you had the courage to make it and the intent for greater good. Please believe that."
At last, Setsuna nodded. "I pray I am worthy of your faith," she murmured.
"You are," Michiru told her.
Just then her communicator signaled. They both listened to Luna's summons with growing exhilaration. When the message was finished, Michiru looked at Setsuna with an encouraging expression.
"You see," she smiled. "Whatever you're doing is working. I'd better take this summons. Keep up your courage, Setsuna."
Setsuna closed the door behind Michiru, then sagged against it.
"You give me far too much credit, my friend," she whispered in her melancholy. Then a hand touched her shoulder. She turned and found Sailor Pluto behind her.
"Perhaps in this instance," Pluto said gently, "but so long as you do not waver, you will be rewarded at length. Keep up your courage. I go now to reclaim our friend from the clutches of evil."
Sailor Pluto turned her staff a quarter turn and faded from view. Setsuna's gaze lingered on the spot, then slowly turned away.
"Best wishes upon you," she offered through her heavy heart, "my future self"
- - - -
A red sports car roared through the morning streets of Tokyo in a northeast direction.
Even at this early hour there was some traffic, but the woman behind the wheel wove expertly
through the cars without losing much speed. Though Michiru was hardly the driver her Haruka
was, she knew how to handle a car in traffic.
Riding with her in the red convertible were her fellow senshi. Usagi was in the front seat, trying to stay awake, while the cats rested in her lap. That left Makoto, Rei and Minako to squeeze into the back.
"It's a good thing Haruka got a four-seater," Makoto said, pinned between the side of the car and Minako's shoulder.
"I offered to bring my car," Minako grumbled.
"Like I said," Makoto replied.
"WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?" Minako howled.
"It means we've all driven with you," Rei said sourly.
"WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?" Minako howled.
"You're a lousy driver!" Rei shot back. "Why do we have to keep explaining this to you? No wonder you flunked your college entrance exams!"
"I'm surrounded by jealousy," Minako huffed.
Michiru glanced down at Artemis. The cat was busy studying the screen of his laptop.
"Am I still headed in the right direction?" Michiru asked.
"Hmm? Yes, keep on this heading," Artemis replied.
"That'll be a little hard," Michiru replied. "The street veers north."
"Um," Artemis started to say. He seemed divided in his concentration. "Keep going north until you can hit a side street that will take us back northeast." Michiru nodded.
"Artemis?" Luna queried. "Is something the matter?"
"Hmm? Oh," and the white cat searched for a moment, seemingly for an alibi.
"Artemis? What is it?" Luna demanded.
"I'm not sure. I think I'm getting ghost transmissions on the frequency the carrier wave is on."
"Viluy may be aware of our tracking us?"
"No," Artemis shook his head. "But she might be controlling other androids in the city besides the one that impersonated Ami."
Usagi's head shot up from its slumbering position while the bickering in the back seat quieted to a hush.
"Maybe that's her plan," Minako whispered. "Maybe she plans on flooding the city with robot duplicates until she's replaced everybody! She's trying to take over Japan one person at a time!"
"You really need to lay off the monster movies," Rei muttered. Minako pulled down her eyelid and stuck out her tongue in a very animated manner.
"We can worry about the possibility of other androids later," Michiru said calmly and rationally in an attempt to regain control of the group. "Right now our first priority has to be making sure she doesn't progress any further and to rescue Ami." She glanced over to Usagi. "Right, Usagi?"
"Um, yeah," Usagi squeaked. "We can't forget about Ami."
"No one's forgotten about Ami, Usagi," Luna reassured her. "We'll get her back."
Angling northeast in a general direction as best she could, Michiru kept heading along the directions Artemis gave her until everyone saw they were out of the city. She finally brought the car to the outskirts of a research and production facility owned by Golden Fortress Heavy Industries. Part of the building was built directly against the mountain range that formed the west perimeter of the complex. She stopped at the fence, away from the main gate.
"The signal's being broadcast to this spot," Artemis nodded. "There's an underground facility, sort of a lab, in the west wing of the building, against the mountain. It's shielded enough to withstand a bomb attack."
"What would they be building in there?" Makoto asked.
"Golden Fortress Heavy Industries builds everything from aircraft parts to farm equipment," Michiru told them, "but they have been doing some work in the field of new energy sources in conjunction with Tanaka Electronics. Tanaka Electronics primarily builds computer systems and micro-circuitry."
"And according to this history I just brought up, some of their micro-circuitry has been adapted by other firms in the production of robotics," Artemis reported.
"Hey, I'm sold," Minako pronounced. "Let's go."
As they piled out of the car, Michiru turned to them.
"It would probably be a good idea if we all transformed," she said. The others nodded and complied.
"So how do we get in?" Sailor Moon asked. "Can we use the front gate?"
"Might as well phone Viluy and tell her we're coming if we do that," Sailor Venus remarked.
"I can fry it with a little lightning," Jupiter offered.
"And alert any security that we're breaking in," Neptune cautioned. "As effective as your attack is, it's a bit too noisy in this case."
"I can probably cut through that fence with my Crescent Beam," Venus estimated.
The others backed up so Venus had room to work. Concentrating on the task at hand, Venus brought her hands up to fire.
"Crescent Beam," she whispered. A golden beam of energy lanced out and struck the links of the fence. Though they didn't sever at first, the metal quickly began to smoke. Venus kept up the pressure, beads of sweat forming on her brow. As one link severed, she moved on to the next one. Though it took several minutes, Venus cut enough of a gap in the fence for an adult to squeeze through. When she finished, she sagged from fatigue.
"Going to make it?" Artemis asked as the others looked on with concern.
"Just a little winded," Venus gasped out. "That was too much like work. Think the rest of you can handle anything else that comes up in the next few minutes?"
"Count on us, Venus," Sailor Moon nodded resolutely. "And thank you."
"Ah, you're just soft," Artemis jabbed as he passed through the fence.
"You're begging for a surprise in your litter box, Fuzzy," Venus shot back.
However, the group wasn't twenty yards into the complex when they were confronted by a squad of private security guards. Jupiter, Mars and Neptune all moved to the front to take the squad head on.
"No, please," Sailor Moon said. "They're just doing their jobs. Let me. I can stop them without hurting them."
The others deferred to Sailor Moon, Neptune reluctantly. Sailor Moon produced the Moon Tier.
"Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss," Sailor Moon called out, invoking the power of the Moon Tier and the Silver Crystal it was connected to. Calming, healing waves of silver energy radiated out from Sailor Moon. Her senshi could feel the power emanating from the orb atop the tier, feel the power tug at their minds and hearts, dampening their aggression and fanning their peaceful side. The waves washed over the squad of security guards, blanketing them in silver energy designed to leech the aggression from them.
But to the surprise of everyone, the squad kept coming, unaffected by Sailor Moon's
power.
- - - -
Sailor Mercury stood amid the wasteland of gnarled vegetation and scorched rock, too
stunned to move. The deep purple sky cloaked her in a deathly depressing mood, a mood of
hopelessness and destruction and loss, loss of all that made Earth habitable.
"If this is indeed even Earth," Mercury thought, climbing up from the swirling whirlpool of depression she was falling into. "It's hard to tell what Yui has her hands in."
Thinking of Viluy brought Mercury back to reality and the immediate moment. Using her visor, she scanned the area in all directions to get a schematic of the terrain.
"Several clustered energy sources over there," Mercury thought, spotting readings to her southwest. "The configurations look like machines, but they're mobile. More androids, perhaps?" As she scanned behind her, Mercury received more immediate bad news. "A blip coming from where I just escaped - - showing human. No doubt Yui has pursued me out here,wherever here is."
Mercury replayed the schematic.
"Androids to my left and Yui behind me, with nowhere to go on my right but up this mountainous area," Mercury thought. She hastily considered her options. "The logical thing to do would be to climb up to that ledge above me. It's defensible from attack from below and it will give me time to rid myself of this collar and plan my next move."
Mercury began climbing. The terrain was rugged, but not steep enough to require mountaineering gear. With some considerable soiling of her gloves and boots, and a nasty scrape of her right knee, Mercury made it to the ledge. Once safely on the ledge, Mercury looked around until she found a shard of stone. The stone was slipped under the collar, the sharp side against the band, and Mercury began sawing. As she worked, she pressed a stud on her visor to change scan modes.
"Assuming this is Earth and that the magnetic lines haven't altered, I should be able to use them to get a fix on my geo-position," Mercury thought.
Multitasking with the shard and the visor, Mercury began observing the data that came in. She didn't like what she was seeing.
"This is Tokyo?" Mercury gasped silently. "Impossible! There's no possible way this much environmental damage could have been done in so short a time, not even if another nuclear warhead was exploded!"
Her gaze shifted upward. The visor's scan penetrated the deep bruise purple haze above her. The sky almost seemed like it was about to bleed on her. Mercury ignored it and concentrated on the scan. Her visor picked up star patterns in the heavens and, linked with her computer, matched them to all known estimated positions in relation to various dates, projecting along the time-line.
The band around her throat gave in and parted. Mercury barely noticed. She was trying to process her startling discovery.
"I'm in the future," she whispered. "The stellar patterns match up to April 18, 2219." Mercury surveyed the devastation of the Earth, aghast. "It's true. Everything Yui told me is true."
She wanted to cry.
"Figured it out, Mizuno?" she heard Viluy call up to her. Peering over the ledge, Mercury saw the woman about forty feet below her. The energy pistol was in her left hand. "I knew you'd be here. It was the most logical move to make."
"Why?" Mercury asked, almost in a sob. "Is this your idea of improvement?"
"Not yet," Viluy replied, miffed by Mercury's accusatory tone. "Some of the inferiors still resist. Stupidity can be annoyingly tenacious."
"You've destroyed the entire planet!" Mercury wailed.
"In order to rebuild it into something better. In order to obliterate a culture that admires ignorance and emotionalism and shuns intellectualism and logic. If there was a better way, don't you think I would have thought of it?" Viluy remained emotionless. "But sometimes you have to break a few eggs."
Mercury stared at her like she had ten arms. It was not the reaction Viluy was looking for.
"Come down here, Mizuno," Viluy demanded, taking a step up the rocky incline. "You still have a part to play in this little experiment. There's no logical point in resisting. As your own eyes can tell you, what happens in the twentieth century is destined to come to pass." Viluy's face hardened. "Don't make me come up there and get you. You won't like it!"
Mercury's reply was to shove her hand down to her side, fingers splayed.
"Mercury!" she shouted with just a little too much emotion. "Aqua Rhapsody!"
To Viluy's amazement, since she'd never witnessed this attack, a cascade of water suddenly poured down the embankment from the ledge. The platinum blonde had just enough time to leap out of the way and avoid the wave. But she landed wrong and tumbled down the side of the incline to the ancient industrial complex at the bottom. Looking back up, she found the side of the rocky incline covered in a thick gleaming coat of solid ice. Viluy was cut off from Mercury's position.
She was about to roar defiantly at Mercury, but a beeping device on her belt cut her off. Looking down, Viluy read the message and scowled in frustration.
"Don't think you've escaped, Mizuno!" Viluy called up angrily. "In a few minutes, you're going to be wishing you'd surrendered to me!"
From her vantage point above, Mercury watched Viluy turn and hurry back to the door of the industrial complex built into the rock of the mountain. Wondering what could have made her quit like that, Mercury scanned the area quickly. In moments her visor locked onto what had sent Viluy running.
"The androids," Mercury thought. "They're advancing on me."
continued in Chapter 9