BLINDED BY SCIENCE
Chapter 10: "Science Versus Philosophy"
by Bill K.
"There were six of you!" Viluy exclaimed to no one in particular, for no one else in the room was worth speaking to. "I'm positive that's what the history records said! It quoted me specifically!"
As the captive senshi watched in confusion, Viluy frantically searched her memory. It was clear on her face that she hoped she'd recalled it incorrectly and at the same time knew she hadn't. They all prayed as one that this malevolent plan of hers was built on a precarious house of cards and that this small change was the sign of it toppling. As they watched, though, Viluy willed herself to calm.
"This can still work," Viluy told herself. "It's a good plan."
She turned and focused on Sailor Neptune.
"When faced with the unexpected, the superior intellect adapts and evolves. I can still kill an outer senshi."
Viluy reached over to a counter and picked up a syringe filled with a metallic silver liquid. With a slow, deliberate pace, she approached Sailor Neptune.
"I've heard what an injection of mercury into the bloodstream can do to the human body," Viluy said, coldly, raising the syringe, "but I've never witnessed it's effects first hand. Shall we both find out?"
Neptune glared at her, the senshi's body rigid against the magnetic field, prepared to act at the first opportunity. The other senshi strained and struggled to no avail while Sailor Moon howled in silent hysteria, tears streaming down her face in rivers.
"Ironic, isn't it?" Viluy smiled as she aimed the syringe at Neptune's uncovered upper arm. "Your death being brought about by - - mercury"
- - - -
"Shine Aqua Illusion!"
The words echoed over the barren, rocky incline, reverberating off of the distant factory complex embedded in the side of the mountainous area. Following the words was the sound of rushing water. Freezing water engulfed the android ten meters below and to the left of Sailor Mercury. It toppled down, barely missing the android to its right as it climbed sheer ice to reach Mercury's perch. Mercury scowled, for she'd hoped the frozen android would have taken out the one next to it. There was little time for recriminations, though.
Whirling to her right, bellowing out her power phrase as she turned, Mercury fixed onto the nearest android threat and let loose with another blast of freezing water. The human-looking machine was engulfed and toppled down the side of the icy incline, frozen solid. And again Mercury had to dismiss from her mind the idea that these were actual human beings. They were so lifelike. Were it not for the fact that they were burrowing their hands into ice and rock to climb up to her, the illusion would be complete - - that and their expressionless faces.
Turning to her left again, Mercury let loose with another blast. Even as the frigid water exploded from her, Mercury could feel the first signs of fatigue. There were only three more androids to go, though. If she could just hold out long enough to pick them off, she'd be safe for the moment. Then she could think of a way to find out what means Viluy used to travel through time and where that means was.
"No!" Mercury gasped in surprise. The android she'd aimed at launched itself from its handhold on the side of the incline, driven by legs and arms far more powerful than a normal human. It shot up two meters in the air, then landed on the ice-covered rock face and dug in. "They're intelligent enough to adapt!"
Unable to waste any more time on the prospect, Mercury turned and launched another blast at the android directly below her. It couldn't move in time and took the attack full in the face. But Mercury noticed she was breathing harder and her limbs were more leaden. She turned back to her right, more slowly than she liked, and shot off a blast of freezing water at the far right android.
However it jumped out of the way, too, avoiding the blast. Mercury staggered back against the wall of her perch, gasping for air.
"They're coming too fast!" she thought as the stress of fatigue gripped her upper body. "It's more and more unlikely that I'll manage to hit them both before one reaches me! And I'm not sure I have enough strength for more than two shots!"
Bringing her visor back into play, Mercury quickly scanned the area. The drop from the ledge was roughly forty meters along jagged, icy terrain. The climb to higher ground would be slow and hazardous. She had to make a stand here.
At once her visor warned her of an android entering her defensive perimeter. Whirling to her right, Mercury raised her hands to fire.
"Shabon Spray!" she called, blanketing the area with a thick fog. "The androids will be less likely to jump if they can't see the terrain - - unless they're equipped with some sort of sensor array that can penetrate it." Mercury scowled. "Why did I have to think of that?"
Using her visor to pinpoint the position of the android on her right, Mercury took a deep breath and let go with her "Shine Aqua Illusion" attack once more. Through the visor's sophisticated sensors, she saw the attack hit the android squarely and freeze it in place to the side of the incline.
Suddenly her visor's sensors screamed out a warning. It picked up something just one meter behind her. In total panic, Sailor Mercury turned around and fired her "Shine Aqua Illusion" blindly. As the attack left her, she could feel that it would be the last one she'd be able to manage for a while. This was all or nothing.
- - - -
"Ironic, isn't it?" Viluy smiled as she aimed the syringe at Neptune's uncovered upper arm. "Your death being brought about by - - mercury?"
The syringe plunged down toward her. Neptune mentally said good-bye to Haruka. Sailor Moon's eyes jammed shut and she whipped her head away, unable to look at the tragedy in the making. As such, she missed the sudden appearance of a red rose, the stem buried an inch deep in the back of Viluy's hand.
The syringe fell to the floor and clattered away, unnoticed. For to the surprise of everyone, including Viluy, her hand sparked with blue-white electricity. Then her entire left arm exploded.
Hot metal shrapnel sprayed onto Neptune and Venus, burning them in several exposed places on their face and neck, while the magnetic fields repelled the rest. Viluy staggered back against a counter, propelled by the force of the explosion. She lost her balance and flopped awkwardly to the floor. Stunned, the woman could only stare at the stump of her left arm and the exposed wires and circuitry dangling from it. What she couldn't see, but what the senshi could, was the patch of her face the explosion had torn away. Underneath was a gleaming metal skull. As she stared at the stump of her arm, Viluy trembled in all too human a manner.
"No," she whispered in shock. "I thought I was the real one. No!" Anguish overcame her and she threw her head back, screaming, "NOOOOOOOOO!"
Then she froze into a ghastly still picture, as lifeless as the counter top she sat beneath.
Struggling to his feet on shaky legs, Tuxedo Mask staggered over to Sailor Moon's table. He examined the control panel as Sailor Moon struggled in utter futility to reach out to him. Finally he snarled in frustration and snapped a rose into it. The panel shorted out and the fields disappeared. Instantly Sailor Moon grabbed Tuxedo Mask around the neck and hugged him to her breast. He struggled for a bit, but was too weak to break free and ultimately gave in.
Rising from the table, Neptune examined the collar around Venus until she found the release. Venus ran over to free the cats while Neptune worked on Mars and Jupiter. After Mars removed her collar, Neptune knelt down to examine the broken android. Artemis quickly joined her.
"So Viluy was an android?" Jupiter asked, bowled over by the thought.
"Looks like," Artemis said, in the machine's lap examining it up close. "Which makes me wonder who built her and why her?"
"I'm sure it's still Viluy," Neptune replied. "Remember what the android said? She thought she was the real one. I'd say Viluy built her."
"But why?" Jupiter asked.
"How about we find her, knock her down, sit on her chest and ask her nicely?" Venus muttered. She glanced over at Sailor Moon and found her still hugging Tuxedo Mask. "Hey, get a room, you two!"
Sailor Moon snarled something that the vocal mute snuffed out. Mars tried to hold in a laugh, because she didn't want to encourage Venus, but couldn't. Embarrassed, she glanced at Jupiter and found her friend in similar straits. That opened the flood gates and soon everyone was enjoying a cathartic laugh.
"I suggest you all split up into pairs and search," Luna recommended. "And keep your communicators open so you all can keep in constant touch with everyone else."
"Dibs!" Venus shouted, pulling on Jupiter's arm. "Come on, Jupe. You can tell me how much you miss me being your roommate."
"That won't take long," Jupiter smirked.
Mars' eyes drifted over to Sailor Moon, but she was still in the arms of Tuxedo Mask. Then she felt a hand on her forearm. Turning, she found Sailor Neptune.
"I guess we're the only ones left," Neptune smiled neutrally. Mars turned back to Sailor Moon. "Come along, Mars. Three's a crowd."
Mars felt her cheeks burn as she followed Neptune down a nearby corridor.
"Are you sure you're all right?" Sailor Moon asked Tuxedo Mask.
"I'm recovered enough," Tuxedo Mask replied patiently.
"Are you sure? I don't want you to take any risks!"
"It'll take more than that to stop me," he smiled, trying to reassure her.
"But I can . . ."
"Come along, Sailor Moon!" Luna said impatiently. "You have the rest of your lives to dote upon each other! This isn't doing anything to find Ami!"
"Right, Luna," Sailor Moon grimaced. She and Tuxedo Mask headed off.
"Bit hard on her, weren't you?" Artemis whispered. "She did go through a pretty harrowing stretch just now."
"As did we all," Luna replied. "I do what I have to in order to get her to focus. She's a big girl now. She can take it." Unseen, Artemis nodded approvingly.
Restrained by Tuxedo Mask, Sailor Moon approached the first door they came to cautiously. As they got closer, Tuxedo Mask insinuated himself in front of her and held out his cape protectively. His walking stick was brandished out before him like a bow stick or staff. For her part, Sailor Moon was eager to find out what lay behind the door, for she was eager to find Ami. Yet she also feared what might be behind the door. This entire business had been unsettling from the start and she wasn't eager to experience more.
"It's some sort of work station," Tuxedo Mask judged as he surveyed the deserted room. "It doesn't look like anyone's been here for a while, and yet it's fully equipped."
"Is that strange?" Sailor Moon asked.
"Why equip an office if no one's going to use it?" he posed. "That suggests someone was using it, but hasn't for a while." They moved on to the next door.
"What do you suppose happened?"
"I hate to think it," Tuxedo Mask mused, "but if Viluy went to the trouble of replacing the security staff with androids, why would she leave the staff alone?"
"She replaced them, too?" Sailor Moon gasped.
"Possibly just key assistants and management personnel. Everyone else may have been just laid off to get them out of the way."
"Thank the gods they weren't killed," Sailor Moon said after another empty office was found. "It's bad enough to think what may have happened to the people who were replaced. Oh, Tuxedo Mask, how could she be so - - unfeeling about human life?"
"You faced her, I didn't," he answered. "But she strikes me almost as the superego run rampant. It's as if she's trying to suppress her emotions so much that they're escaping in pathological ways and affecting her rational thought process. And she seems to lack any sort of emotional connection with her fellow human beings. It's hard to imagine what kind of childhood could have produced someone like her."
Sailor Moon pretended she understood more than half of what Tuxedo Mask was saying. As she nodded her head thoughtfully, she silently prayed that they were close to finding Ami. Tuxedo Mask's hand reached out, grasped a knob and pulled at the door.
"Locked," he said. "Now what would be so valuable to Viluy that she would keep a door locked in a complex she had total control over?"
"Should we break in?" Sailor Moon asked.
"I think so," he smiled at her. "Stand back."
A mighty kick from Tuxedo Mask forced the lock and the door flew open. Tuxedo Mask burst in, ready for any attack that might come. Sailor Moon was behind him, peering curiously over his shoulder. She gasped audibly.
"AMI!" Sailor Moon cried.
Sitting on a bed was what looked like Ami Mizuno. She wore nothing save a very sheer red nightie that seemed as alien on the modest Ami Mizuno as would full samurai armor. The girl looked up, anticipation and elated relief etched on her pretty face. However the elation died into alarm when she saw who stood in the doorway.
"You're not my Yui!" Ami gasped in alarm. "What are you doing here?"
"Ami?" Sailor Moon asked, stunned and in shock as she inched forward. "Ami, it's me!"
"Stay away from me!" Ami pleaded fearfully, pressing up against the headboard of the bed.
"Ami, what did she do to you?" Sailor Moon wailed.
"Yui?" Ami asked, perplexed. Then a warm glow came to her face. "Yui protects me. She cares for me. She keeps me from danger."
"Ami?"
"She gives me a home and a life and - - and love. She loves me so!" Ami proclaimed. "And all I have to do is love her and obey her. It's not much to ask. She's so brilliant. You should see what she's created! She's a genius - - far more than I could ever hope to be." Ami's face fell a little as her loving expression sobered. "She does punish me when I'm bad, but I know I deserve it! My Yui could never think of hurting me." Suddenly Ami grew agitated. "Where is she? She's been gone so very long!"
"Ami, snap out of it!" pleaded Sailor Moon.
"Who's Yui?" Tuxedo Mask asked.
"Viluy's real name - - Yui Bidou. Tuxedo Mask, what happened? Has she been brainwashed?"
"Possibly," he commented, his eyes riveted on Ami the entire time.
"You've done something to her!" screeched Ami. "Bring her back! Bring my Yui back to me!"
Desperately Ami lunged at Sailor Moon, hands extended menacingly. Without hesitation, Tuxedo Mask leaped in between them and caught Ami. But the moment he felt her strength, he knew.
"Get back, Sailor Moon!" he shouted. "She's not Ami!"
As Sailor Moon watched, Tuxedo Mask managed with great effort to fling Ami back off of him. Once he had distance from her, he swung his walking stick. It connected with the side of Ami's head and knocked it off. As her neck sparked from the severed wiring, the android Ami's head bounced on the floor to the sound of Sailor Moon's scream of alarm.
"Another one!" Sailor Moon gasped. Tuxedo Mask took hold of her and she clung to his strength.
"Yes," Tuxedo Mask replied with distaste. "Apparently programmed with a - - specific job in mind. I guess Viluy saw Ami as more than just a peer."
He felt Sailor Moon growing rigid in his arms. Looking at her, Tuxedo Mask saw the wide-eyed look of disbelief, the growing revulsion on her face. Sailor Moon literally shook in his arms, then pulled away.
"No," she gasped, staring at the fallen android the entire time as she backed from the room. "That is SO WRONG!" Turning, she fled the room with Tuxedo Mask in pursuit.
- - - -
Mars and Neptune eased down a corridor in the oddly deserted laboratory complex. Each time they would come to a door, they would peer in and find nothing except automated experimentation or testing, or empty offices.
"You know, that's the second time you've hinted that I have strong feelings for Sailor Moon," Mars said suddenly.
"Is it?" Neptune replied neutrally.
"Yes, it is. What exactly are you getting at?"
"Merely that you're very devoted to Sailor Moon," Neptune replied calmly. "And that devotion demands that you seek to protect her and care for her. You're in love with her."
Mars tensed.
"We all are," Neptune continued. "Sailor Moon has touched something in all of us. Whether it's a hope or a dream or a resonant belief, she's made us love her to the point where we'd die to perpetuate her or the hope for the future she embodies." Neptune glanced at Mars. "You just tend to wear your emotions on your sleeve a little more than the rest of us."
"She is important," Mars replied, chastened.
"Of course she is," Neptune nodded. "You don't have to be omniscient to know that." Then she glanced at Mars with a impish smirk. "Kind of cute, too - - don't you think?"
Mars felt her cheeks burning again. "I don't know why I talk to you," the senshi muttered and stormed off ahead. She entered a juncture and turned right.
Ahead of her were several security guards she immediately recognized as androids. Just as immediately they recognized her as human and an intruder.
continued in Chapter 11