Bubble Gum Crisis
An Alternate Story of the Knight Sabers
2034 Year of the Tiger
Neo No Armour Against Fate (Section 5 of 5)
No Armour Against Fate (7 of 10)
by Shawn Hagen(2000;2005)

Based on situations and characters created by Suzuki Toshimichi.

Nene ran her ID card through the reader then put her eye up to the retinal scanner. After several seconds the door opened and she passed through. Security had become tougher and tougher as she had gone along.

After the dinner at Sylia's suite had ended Nene had decided to wander about the Tower. At first it had been an experiment, to see how far she could get. Now, having passed through most of the security, Nene was beginning to think she might actually make it to her target.

Would Genom really have given her that level of clearance? It did not seem possible, but she was almost there.

Two more doors and she was suddenly standing in front of the last door. Her heart was beating fast. If things worked she was going to end up in a place that was only rumoured to exist.

She ran her card through the slot causing a section of the wall to open. When she was directed to put her hand against the panel Nene was disappointed. A palm scanner? They were relatively easy to fool. Genom would not have used one in a high security area. She must have been led in a circle, back to the low security areas. So much for her hopes.

Sighing Nene placed her hand against the panel, only to pull it away, yelping in pain.

"That hurt!" she said, bringing the palm of her hand to her mouth, sucking at the blood

She looked over at the screen. It told her that her DNA was being checked.

A DNA scan was the sort of security measure she would have expected. Her heart was beginning to speed up again as she took her hand from her mouth and looked her palm. The bleeding had stopped but there was a small, red hole. The least Genom could have done was give her some warning.

After four minutes she was asked to place her eye against a retinal scanner than unfolded from the wall. She did so. After a moment the door opened.

Moving back from the scanner Nene squared her shoulders and then walked into the room.

The Tower's main computer was an off white cylinder, she guessed it was nearly five meters high and probably two meters in diameter-and it might go deeper into the Tower. There was a padded bench around it that looked really comfortable. It was probably the world's most expensive couch.

Other than the computer the room was featureless.

She walked all the way around the cylinder, looking for some sort of input device. There was none. "Hello," she called out, feeling a bit stupid. Nothing happened.

Sighing she took a seat on the bench. It was as comfortable as she had expected. Then a screen flashed into existence in front of her causing her to jump slightly. It took her a moment to realise that it was a holographic projection.

"WELCOME ROMANOVA-SAN, DO YOU WISH TO ACCESS ANY FILES ON THIS SYSTEM?" typed across the screen. "YES/NO," flashed just below the question.

After a moment Nene reached forward and put her finger though the area where the 'YES' was.

"PLEASE ENTER THE ROOM TO YOUR RIGHT," appeared on the screen.

Nene looked to her right and saw seams appear in what had been a featureless wall. A moment later the concealed door had opened.

Getting to her feet, passing through the holographic screen, she walked to the doorway.

It led into a small room with a chair that looked like something from a dentist office. A small screen on the far wall told her to take a seat.

Nene moved forward and sat.

After that she found herself undergoing quite a thorough medical examination, some of which was more than a little uncomfortable.

When it was finished she rushed from the room, pulling her clothing straight.

"That was really unpleasant, " Nene said.

"I'm Sorry Miss Romanova," a soft voice said in lilting English. "I'm sure you can appreciate the need for security."

"Who?" Nene looked around.

"I am the Genom Central computer."

"Really?"

"Yes Miss Romanova."

"Why are you speaking English?"

"Because I can."

Nene laughed softly and shook her head.

"Are you a boomer?" she asked it, her English a little rusty.

"No, just a rather powerful computer that has possibly developed sentience."

"Possibly?" Nene walked over and took a seat on the bench.

"My programs for dealing with people may have just become really good."

"You don't know?"

"What do I have to judge by Miss Romanova?"

"True."

"What can I do for you Miss Romanova."

"I'd like to access some information."

"Of course. Would you like voice command or a manual input device?"

"Manual, key board, split, about here," she held up her right hand, "and here," she placed her left hand. "Screen here." She waved her right hand through an area in front of her.

A moment later holographic projections simulated the set up she wanted. Nene nodded and began to type.

"Why that medical examination?" Nene asked as she began running search programs.

"A required procedure before you can access my data banks."

"Do you know why they let me in here?"

"So you could get the information you are searching for. It is only available from here."

Nene stopped and looked around, wishing there was actually someone one to speak with. "What?"

"So you could get the information you are looking for."

"Give it to me then."

"Here."

Nene looked at the screen and found herself looking at exactly what she had come for.

"How did they know?"

"It has been my experience that the Chairman knows everything," the computer told her.

"That's very scary."

"If you have feelings perhaps. You would like a copy of all that?"

"Hai," Nene said. She reached into her pocket and took out her NAVI. "Can you transfer the files into this?"

"Of course," the computer said.


Sylia's aide had left at the end of the workdayto a room somewhere else in the Tower; the aides were not going to be let out of the Tower until everything was finished. Sylia did not mind. It gave her a chance to work in the outer office without having to send Kimi away. She was looking over a number of Genom's security reports concerning Largo and his forced associates.

Those and the other reports were giving her a very good picture of what had been happening, filling in the many blanks in the information puzzle she had been putting together. It was slightly disturbing to find out she had not known quite as much as she had first thought.

She looked up when she heard a knocking at her door. "Come in," she called

Domino Odotte entered. "I hope I am not disturbing you Stingray-san," she said.

"No."

Domino nodded and closed the door behind her. "You don't like this plan do you Stingray-san."

"I don't like this entire situation Odotte-san," Sylia said.

"But you don't trust the plan."

"How can you be certain that they will stay for me?"

"I know."

"How can you?"

"Do you know that Largo had Mason's memories, through Stingray-hakase's process?" Domino asked.

"I suspected as much."

"Mason made a number of mistakes where you were concerned. It ultimately led to his death. You made him sloppy."

"Perhaps. How can you know that these people will react similarly?"

"I know."

"Again, how?"

Domino sighed and looked around. She appeared as if she were at a loss for words. "May I have a seat?"

"If you wish."

Domino took a seat across from Sylia.

"When you were eight, your mother brought you and your brother down to that lab where your father was working. She brought a picnic lunch with her. Everyone else there was displeased with the impromptu break that your father took the time to eat that lunch with his family. You ate in the upper office. You stood at the windows looking down at everything, fascinated, for several minutes before your mother pulled you away."

"So?"

"That was when Mason first became interested in you, I think. It was that intense look on your face as you looked down on everything. It was such an odd thing to see in a child of that age."

"An interesting theory."

"After your father's death, at the funeral, Mason cornered you for a few moments when you were alone. He did not do anything. He did not say anything. He just stared at you."

"He was possibly interested in me. You have no proof that carried over," Sylia said. There was something very familiar about the woman.

"You were sixteen, your second year in senior high school. He came to your school, a guest lecturer. You stared at him, anger barely concealed in your eyes. It seemed he did not even see you."

"I wasn't angry."

"Then what were you feeling?"

Sylia stared at her, unable to think about the question. The way she was feeling, it was very odd. "I'm not sure," she finally answered.

"I think I, he, would have liked to know," Domino said very softly.

Sylia looked at the woman across from her. "You're a 33-S aren't you?" It was a guess, but with the way she felt, what else could explain it?

"Yes."

Sylia stared at her for several seconds. The feeling of familiarity was growing stronger. She started ever so slightly. "You're him, aren't you?"

"No."

"You have his memories," Sylia threw it like an accusation.

"As you have your Otousan's," Domino said, parrying the verbal attack.

Sylia said nothing. Everything that she had ever worried about came at her at that moment. She was too much like her father.

"What are memories, Stingray-sama?" Domino asked.

"Pardon?"

"What are memories?" Domino stood, leaning over towards Sylia.

"They are what we are," Sylia said. "Our sum total."

"Yes." Domino smiled. "This body, this mind, was a blank. It was built and never activated, put into stasis right off the line because it was built when Genom was recalling the First Generation sexaroids. There was nothing there when Mason was put in."

Sylia stared up at her. She was beginning to breathe a little fast. A sexaroid so close to her, she was being strongly effected.

"Mason hated Okami-san, did you know that?"

"No."

"I care for him, Devon-san."

"What?"

"Memories mean nothing without their emotional attachments. They are cold facts without those emotions. Like, dislike, they are easy. People Mason liked, I usually like. People he disliked, I usually dislike. Love or hate? Those are too strong. I can't fake those; I can't make myself feel them. I have tried some times, but failed more often than not."

"So what do you feel about me?" Sylia asked.

"You fascinate me. You will fascinate them. They will be careless about you as I have been careless."

"I see." Sylia nodded, her heart was beating fast, she could feel the heat as blood made her face flush.

"But that is not important Stingray-sama."

"What?"

"If there was nothing here," she placed her finger against her head, "when Mason was put in, and I am not Mason," she leaned even closer, "how could you be your tousan when there was so much here before hand?" She reached forward and touched Sylia's temple.

The touch, the words, both were like electricity, touching off the situation. Sylia reached up and grabbed Domino's hand as she began to take it away. She pulled the hand down, pulling Domino close, looking into her eyes, looking for any signs of the man she had known. The man she had killed. They were the eyes of a stranger. Only a few things, gestures, ways of speaking, remained.

"Why are you telling me this?" Sylia whispered.

"You needed to know. You needed to know one way or another."

"Why tell me?"

"It may have effected your performance."

"Is that the only reason?" Sylia could smell Domino's perfume, her shampoo, and maybe the subtle pheromones just below those.

"Perhaps I care about you?" Domino said.

"Why?"

"You fascinate me. First it was just something left over from Mason. Then it was respect for all you had done. Now, now I'm not sure."

Sylia began to pull Domino closer. She did not quite know why she was feeling the way she was.

The woman was a sexaroid. That was part of it.

She had just taken a fear that had always been in the back of Sylia's mind since she was 12 and freed her of it. That was part of it.

Domino was beautiful. That was part of it.

There was something between them. That was part of it.

They were alike in many, many ways. That was part of it.

Most of it was something she did not know.

She moved forward and kissed her, lightly biting the other woman's lip.

It had been too long since she had last been with someone she could truly respect. Maybe that was the reason, she thought.

Then she suddenly pulled back. "Too fast," she said, a little breathless.

Domino stood straight in front of her desk, as if she had never leaned down for the kiss. "I hope the information I gave you tonight will be of use," she said in a perfectly calm tone that Sylia did not think she could manage. "Goodnight Stingray-sama," she said, turning to leave. "I will see you in the morning." Then she left the office, closing the door behind her.

Sylia watched her go, not quite sure what had happened. It would seem the sexaroid design was more efficient than she might have previously thought. Somehow though, she was not quite sure she believed that.


April 16th, Sunday, 1:53pm

All of the Knight Sabers met in Priss' suite the next day. It was a bit of a mess. Clothes were strewn all over the place, a CD collection covered the floor near the stereo and the three TVs were all tuned to different stations with the volume off. Priss was wearing one of the suits again, but she had covered the jacket with concert and band pins.

The four of them sat around the table, eating lunch, or at least occasionally picking at it.

Nene looked like she was barely listening to the conversation. Her attention was instead given to a pad of paper that she was covering in notes and the laptop computer she had brought with her.

Priss was distracted, Sylia noticed that she would occasionally reach into her jacket, as if to get something, then stop. It was odd behaviour for the singer and Sylia almost asked her about it, but decided not to.

Linna was leaning back in her chair, looking half-asleep. She had spent a good part of the night in one of the Towers gymnasiums, practising her dance.

"Our greatest strength at this point is that they do not know about you three," Sylia told them.

"You sure of that?" Priss asked, showing she was paying attention.

"Yes," Sylia told her. She had asked Domino about that.

"So how do we use that to our advantage?" Nene asked, staring at the screen of her computer.

"We take them by surprise," Sylia told them. "When I show up they will not expect me to have any back up."

"They might not know who we are," Linna said, leaning forward in her chair, "but they will know there are three other Knight Sabers."

"That has been taken care of."

"How?" Nene asked, finally looking up from her computer.

"Tonight the Knight Sabers are going to attack the Tower."

"Pardon," Linna was the first to say.

"It won't be us of course. Boomers, much like those that Largo used, will make a run on the Tower tonight. It won't be a very visible attack, but some people will see it and rumours will start. Only one of the Knight Sabers will come back."

"You," Priss said.

"Yes. Furthermore a bounty will be placed on my head for my capture."

"So it will look like you decided to take on Genom and lost and now are on the run," Priss said.

"Yes, which means that when I show up at the colony these people will think I am running and that the rest of the Knight Sabers have been killed or captured. It will make me an attractive recruit I think."

"It's a good idea," Linna said.

"But won't people think the Knight Sabers were killed?" Nene said, no longer interested in the work she had been doing.

"She's got a point," Priss said. "It seems like a bad note to leave the scene on. It will make it sound like we lost."

"I don't see that it matters," Sylia said, trying to be practical, but she had to admit Nene's question bothered her a little.

"Of course it matters," Linna said. "We can't let people think that we lost when we did not."

"If things get rough on the colony then we are certain to be seen," Sylia told her.

"But what if they don't?" Nene asked.

Sylia sighed. "If they don't then once we get back to Tokyo we'll make another appearance, perhaps wait for a boomer incident to occur."

"Okay." Nene nodded.

"Sounds fair." Linna leaned back in her chair.

"We'll probably have to arrange our own boomer incident to make sure it is big enough to go out on," Priss said, smiling.

"I'm sure that we will be able to arrange something with Genom. Now, once I have been approached by our targets and have ensured that we can capture them all, you will move in and we will capture them all."

"Any ideas how we are supposed to do that without killing them?" Priss asked.

"Just be gentle."

Priss looked at Sylia then laughed. Sylia smiled as well.

"How did we get into this?" Priss asked after a moment.

"Bad karma," Linna suggested.

"I think I want to get an omamoru(protection charm)," Nene said.

"There is a shrine about sixty floors down," Priss told her.

"I wonder if there is anything this Tower doesn't have?" Nene asked.

"Not that I have seen."


April 17th, Monday, 2:13pm, Kobe, Japan

The woman who looked back at her from the mirror was a stranger. A bottle of black hair dye, copious amounts of hair gel, and a set of tinted contact lenses had altered Priss' appearance drastically.

She had left the Tower earlier that morning, riding out in the trunk of a sedan.

Genom had thrown up a lot of blinds.

Four women had left the Tower the night before for a complex in Okinawa, just in case anyone was curious as to where the four women who had been brought into the Tower had gone. Three women had been sent to a holding facility in Australia, just in case anyone wondered what had happened to the three Knight Sabers that were rumoured to have disappeared.

Only four other people, excluding her and the other Knight Sabers, knew where she and the others truly were.

She had exited the car when it had parked in a garage in Yokohama. There she had hired a boat to take her out to a floating restaurant.

She had eaten lunch and afterwards a young man had picked her up. He had taken her out to a rather large yacht, complete with helicopter. The helicopter had taken her to Kobe.

Three times she had changed her appearance since getting up that morning.

Priss opened the small purse she had. The larger purse she had started out with was in a garbage can by dock she had hired the boat from. The medium sized one that she had used afterwards was back at the yacht, in the possession of another look alike. She removed a locker key from the purse then tossed the purse into a garbage can.

She left the small washroom, walking out into the empty VIP lounge. She looked at her watch as she took a seat. Her flight was not due to leave for another hour. She wanted to get up and start moving but she had been told to maintain a relaxed facade. So she sat for a while and leafed through a magazine, then she got up and poured herself a cup off coffee and got a sandwich from one of the refrigerators in the lounge.

Somehow she managed to sit there for forty minutes without destroying the relaxed façade she had been told to keep. Finally, with a sense of relief she did not let show, she left the lounge, heading for her gate. Along the way she stopped by a row of lockers, opened one, and then took a small bag from it.

As she approached passport control she opened her bag, removing her ID and ticket.

She showed both to the bored young woman at the counter then went on to security.

"Here," she told the man, handing him all of her ID.

"Do you have a weapon?" he asked her.

"In the bag," she placed it in front of him.

"It will have to go with security."

"I know."

"It will be returned once you reach your destination Johnson-Keibu," he told her, putting her bag beneath the counter to remove the pistol that was in it. He put the bag back up on the counter. "Enjoy your flight."

"Thanks," Priss said, continuing through security.

She wondered whose idea it was for her to head up to the colony posing as a police officer. It was kind of funny in away.

A few minutes later she was sitting in the business class section of a transorbital, waiting for it to take off. Not so long ago she had been on her first sub-orbital. Now she was going into space. She wondered what it would be like.


April 17th, Monday, 12:49am, Mexico City, Mexico

The woman carrying the crying baby looked worn as she exited the flight in Mexico City. She bounced the bawling infant in an attempt to quiet it with limited success. Carrying too much carryon-luggage, she made her way to one of the washrooms, obviously in need of a place to take care of the child.

It was unlikely that anyone would have recognised Sylia. Her hair, dyed black to remove the blue highlights, had streaks of grey in it. Padding under her clothing and in her cheeks made her look twenty kilos heavier than she was. The baby crying in her arms was yet another layer of camouflage.

She pushed the door of the washroom open with her shoulder and entered. The woman waiting for her behind the door locked it once it had closed.

"Let me take him," she said, relieving Sylia of the baby.

"Is he yours?" Sylia asked as she began to pull off the clothing she had worn on the flight.

"No," she said.

As Sylia undressed, removing the layer of padding she had worn, she wondered where Genom had got the baby. Who had just given up their child, probably without an explanation of why? She would likely never know.

"There are some clothes and things in that bag," the woman said as she lay the child on the changing table.

Sylia nodded, having finished removing the last of the outer-clothing she had worn.

While the woman took care of the baby Sylia removed the items from the nylon bag, placing them on the sink. She soaked a towel then used it to clean herself up a little. Next she opened the bottle of hair dye and changed her hair colour to a uniform brown. The other woman, having finished up with the child, was putting on the padding and clothing that Sylia had discarded.

Sylia was still working on combing her hair into the proper style when the other woman picked up the baby and the bags that Sylia had brought with her.

"Keep the door locked," she told Sylia. "When you are ready to go there is a grate in that stall, lock it behind you. Go right, follow the shaft for fifty meters, it will be a tight squeeze but you will make it. There will be another grate when you come to a bend. Go out that. Get on the bus leaving for the spaceport with everyone else."

Sylia nodded.

"Good luck," the woman said, unlocking the door.

Sylia moved out of sight as the woman left and then locked the door again once it was closed.

Several minutes later she was dressed in the coveralls of a mechanic, an ID badge clipped to her jacket, the nylon bag that held everything else she needed by her side. She had thrown the hair dye and other things away, pushing them deep into the trash.

She followed the directions she had been giventhe shaft was indeed a tight squeezeand reached the bus a few minutes before it left. None of the other people on the bus gave her a second look.

She'd be riding up to Genaros as part of a shuttle's engineering crew. All she could hope was that there would be no actual problems. Of course dealing with a cranky engine would probably be a lot easier than dealing with a cranky baby.


April 17th, Monday, 3:21pm, Misawa, Japan

Linna did not like the haircut she had been given. It was only a littler shorter than it had been, and would grow back to its previous length soon enough. It was the style mostly that bothered her, but she guessed a JASDF (Japan Air Self Defence Force) lieutenant could not really wear a headband while in uniform.

Other than the haircut she was not entirely displeased with her cover. The uniform was sharp and the rank got her a lot of respect. A girl could get used to being saluted. And it was far better than the blonde dye job she had had to endure on her way to Misawa.

She was, according to her Genom supplied cover story, an intelligence officer. She had been told to say little and talk to as few as people as possible. Supposedly this would be expected.

She would be getting a ride into space aboard one of the JASDF's reconnaissance planes. She thought the plane was called a Vacuum Hawk but was not entirely certain. She just hoped that no one would expect her to fly it.

"Lieutenant Koda," she heard someone say.

It took Linna a moment to remember that she was Koda-chuui. She turned to see a young man walking up to her. A crash course in military matters helped her identify him as a captain, and the wings on the uniform told her that he was a pilot. She got to her feet and did her best to give him a proper salute. "Hai."

He gave her a smile. "No need to get all formal here," he told her. "I'm Rika Sakon, I'm flying the mission today."

Linna nodded.

"Do you mind if I ask you want this is about? Normally I just make fights pole to pole with a few spins over Antarctica. Making a stop at one of the low stations is not often on the schedule."

"I'm sorry Captain Rika, but I'm not at liberty to say," she told him, spouting off the line she had been given.

It seemed to satisfy Sakon. "Well, I'm going to prep the plane. You even been on a military ride like this?"

Linna shook her head.

"Well, I'll get you through it. Soon you feel the only way to get into orbit is in a Vawk."

"Thank you," Linna said, bowing slightly.


April 17th, Monday, 4:02pm, MegaTokyo

Priss got to go as a cop, as well as several other things, Nene thought, a little angrily.

Sylia, a harried mother, then a tech.

Linna a military officer.

Her own disguise did not please her.

Oh, she did not mind dying her hair black, nor the slightly uncomfortable contacts that made her eyes brown. It was the clothes.

Was this someone's idea of a joke?

She sighed, reaching up to straighten the school pin on her blazer.

Not that the uniform looked all that bad. When Genom had set up their schools they had found some big names to design the uniforms. She supposed it was fitting.

Grey skirt, blue blazer, white blouse and a sharp, red tie.

As Nene walked towards the car that would take her to the spaceport she decided that it was not a bad cover. And it was not like Sylia could have used it, or Linna, or Priss. Well, Priss maybe, until she opened her mouth. Nene smiled slightly at the thought.

She got into the car. The driver closed the door then circled around to get into the front seat.

During the trip to the spaceport Nene thought about the alterations she had planned for her hardsuit. It would not take much. She had found a processor-well, had requested it from Genom's computer divisionwith a bit more punch for her suit's computer and had written new software. Easy modifications, no real changes. But if they worked... the thought trailed off. She was not sure what she would do it they worked.

Some time later the car pulled up in front off the main terminal.

The driver opened the door for her then went to the back of the car to get her two bags.

She was, thanks to the cover Genom had given her, the daughter of a Genom official. Not so highly placed as to attract attention, however.

The larger of her bags was checked then she said goodbye to her driver and passed through security. One of the women at the security check-in directed her to the lounge where the others were waiting.

The door slid open as she approached it and Nene was confronted by about thirty young women and men, also in school uniforms.

Nene had known about Genom sponsored trips, their way of giving back to the community. She had thought it just part of their image control. She had not thought of how it might make a very good way of discretely moving agents into places.

It was going to get her into space unnoticed.

She put her knapsack on the floor and took a seat. Closing her eyes she began taking deep breaths, through her nose then letting it out her mouth. She was nervous and a little scared. Working for Genom did not set well with her either.

Certainly Sylia was right, the people they were dealing with were ultimately dangerous and had to be stopped, but she did not like being on the same side as Genom.

It was like she was tainted somehow. She was no longer pure.

Her faith in Sylia had been shaken. The cool, perfect leader she had respected, had loved like an older sister, perhaps sometimes like a mother, had betrayed her. She had sold out. It did not matter what her reasons, she had sold out. That hurt.

"Wow. So they actually come down to Earth with the rest of us sometimes," someone said very close to her.

Nene opened her eyes and found a young woman staring down at her.

"Excuse me?" Nene said.

"Sorry." She smiled. "Just having a little fun. I don't often run into Tower brats," she dropped down beside Nene.

For a moment Nene was suspicious of the newcomer, then relaxed. Every person there came from different school. Few would have any friends. If Nene was really what she was pretending to be, or less concerned with Sylia and everything, she would probably be looking to make friends as well.

"Well, with boomer teachers we have a hard time sneaking out of the school," Nene told her, straight faced.

The young woman gave Nene a surprised look. Nene began to laugh. She smiled after a second.

"Akinori Miku," she said.

"Abe Aiko," Nene lied. "Pleased to meet you."

"Same here."

"Looking forward to the trip?" Nene asked her, deciding that Miku might make good camouflage.

"Of course," she smiled. "Free trip off planet. I've never been in space before."

"Me too," Nene said. She really was excited about the trip, though she felt she should not be.

"Genom, other than a few things, is a pretty cool company," she told Nene.

Nene stopped short of a denial and nodded instead.

"So, your parents give you any grief about taking off at the beginning of the school year?"

"Some," Nene told her.

"This is such a great thing," Miku said and something in her tone sounded a little forced.

"You're not scared are you?"

"What? No!" She looked away then turned back, a sheepish smile on her face. "Maybe a little."

"Nothing safer than space travel," Nene told her.

"Yeah, so they say." Miku shrugged her shoulders. "I really want to go, but, well, space, not really a friendly environment."

"Other than a lack of atmosphere and obscene temperatures, what is wrong with it?"

Miku laughed. "Well, put that way..."

Nene reached down and opened her carry on bag, removing a package of chocolate covered Poki Sticks. She tore it open then offered a few sticks to Miku. "Poki?"

"Thanks," Miku said, taking the sticks. "Hey, what's it like being at a Genom school?" she asked.

Nene bit the top half of a Poki Stick off, chewed, then swallowed as she thought about the question. "Like any other school I guess."

"But that snazzy escalator system you have. I mean, guaranteed entrance into a Genom University, unless you are really stupid," she smiled again. "That's kind of nice."

Nene nodded. It was much like Kate and the others had said some time back. Of course they did not know about teachers basically setting their students up. That was certainly not a good thing. Nene finished her Poki.

"Abe-san," Miku said, sounding a little perturbed.

"What?" Nene turned to face her.

"You went away for a second."

"Sorry, thinking of something else."

"You're not afraid are you?" she threw Nene's earlier question back at her in a teasing manner.

"Only that the stewards on the flight won't be cute."

That earned a laugh from Miku.


Domino stood by one of the huge windows that looked out over Tokyo. By now all of them would be on their way into space, to deal with the problem Genom had found itself in. She hoped they would be all right. She hoped that Sylia would be all right.

"Odotte-sama," she heard Rei say from behind her.

"Everything taken care of?" Domino asked.

"Hai."

"Good." Domino turned to face her. "Come with me. We have some work to finish." Domino walked past her, making her way to one of the elevators. Rei followed, not certain what Domino was planning.

They took the elevator from the executive levels down to one of the lower floors. Then they switched to another elevator, one that required a high security clearance. Rei thought they might be going down to the war rooms, but it became obvious they were moving into an area of even higher security.

Eventually they stepped out into dark, sterile corridors far beneath the ground. Rei wondered just how deep they were.

Domino just walked through the corridors, taking various turns, threading her way through what was almost a maze. Finally she stopped in front of an armoured door. Opening it required her ID card, a voiceprint, a palm print and a retinal scan. Even when it opened there was further security in the form of two 99C super boomers, ready to attack anyone who looked to be a threat.

Domino walked between them without giving them a second look. Rei was a bit more wary as she followed after Domino into the short hallway. At the end of the hallway was another door, opened in the same way as the first, though the retinal scan came before the voiceprint.

Rei thought they might have to pass through a series of such security points but the door opened up on a large room with high ceilings. She and Domino walked into the room, the door closed behind her.

"Where are we?" Rei asked Domino. It was a lab of some sort and they stood upon a raised catwalk. It was not like any lab Rei had ever seen before. There were a large number of cylinders, made of some clear material, filled with liquid in which things floated. A number of people moved about the lab, working with any of the large number of supercomputers in the room.

"We are in Majima-hakase's lab, Majima Yoshiaki. You will have never head of him. As far as the outside world is concerned Majima-hakase does not exist, has never existed. We do not know that name."

Rei nodded. "I understand."

"Good, and when you meet him, don't call him cute, or anything like that. Come along." Domino started down one of the staircases to the main floor. She led Rei through the glass cylinders, people, and computers. Rei looked into the cylinders, seeing what was in there. Boomer parts mostly, floating in some liquid. Sometimes there was a whole boomer, but most of the time it was just parts.

She stopped at one point, looking at what had to be a 33-S. She floated, unmoving, in the cylinder. She looked young. Her long green hair floating about her, her light blue eyes wide open, seeing nothing. Rei wondered who she was, had been. Then she pulled her eyes away from it and hurried to catch up to Domino.

"Majima-hakase," Domino called out.

Rei moved to the side to see whom Domino had called to. The diminutive Yoshiaki might indeed be considered cute, until one met his gaze. Domino need not have warned Rei against thinking him cute, she realised it almost instantly.

"Odotte-sama," he said, bowing slightly. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"It is time."

"We have only just reached ninety eight percent recovery."

"I understand, but now is the time."

Yoshiaki nodded. "Gentlemen, ladies, it is time," he called out.

The other scientists in the room looked up from their work, almost as one. Then again, almost as one, then went to work.

"What are we doing here?" Rei asked Domino.

"Majima-hakase, would you please explain?"

"Of course," Yoshiaki said, taking his glasses from his face, then pulling out a polishing cloth. "Please McErie-kun, walk with me." He began to polish the lenses.

"You see," Yoshiaki said as he set off between the cylinders, "I tend to work with boomers that have been destroyed, which is why I tend to get only parts." He indicated a cylinder they were passing. Floating inside were a pair of legs, an arm and a head. They looked like they came from an older combat model-the predecessor of the C class. "You can learn a lot from a boomer that fails. Not only from the non-volatile memory, but just from the pieces."

He stopped by one of the cylinders. "This one has the potential to tell me much."

Rei looked at the contents of the cylinder. The boomer that floated inside was badly burnt, though still whole for the most part. It looked familiar. Suddenly she gasped and took a step back. "Largo," she said.

"Yes," Domino told her. She took a step closer to the cylinder and put her hand on the clear material. "Quite, quite dead though."

"Many of the higher mind/brain functions were destroyed by the hit from the satellite beam and the fall. Those functions that were not taken out by the beam were deactivated by the retrieval team that picked him up afterwards. They were unfortunately a bit rough about it.

"The non-volatile memory survived, mostly intact," he continued. "We have been working to extract all that information from that memory. It required building copies of the system, putting in data, and then damaging the system in the same way as the one inside Largo. Then we try to extract the data.

"Initial trials were less than pleasing." He put his glasses back on. "We only saw a retrieval of forty percent of the data. We have become better over the last several months, however."

"Ninety eight percent," Rei said.

"Yes. Some of my assistants think we can get one hundred percent with just a little more fine-tuning, but I believe some of the data will have been corrupted beyond recovery. I think we may only be able to get ninety nine percent, at best. We may only be able to recover ninety eight and a half percent at this time."

"If you have ninety eight percent of the puzzle you can discern the missing pieces with only a little work," Domino told him. She was still looking up at Largo's body.

"Of course," Yoshiaki said.

"Majima-hakase, we are ready to begin", someone called.

"If you will excuse me," Yoshiaki bowed slightly and then turned and walked off.

"What was he like?" Domino asked.

"Who?" Rei asked.

"Largo."

Rei looked up at the blackened body floating in the cylinder, seeing the boomer, the man who had freed her and used her. "I've never met anyone like him. He was unique." Rei paused, cocking her head slightly. "He was a lot like you Domino-sama."

Domino turned to face Rei. "Really?" she asked, sounding a little surprised.

"Hai."

"Interesting." Domino turned back to Largo's form. "I think I would have liked to meet him."

"No, you wouldn't have."

Domino turned back to Rei, a smile on her face. "That is a curious thing to say."

"It is just what I think. What do you hope to find in Largo's memories?"

"Quite a bit, but right now we want to know if he set up any other groups like the one we are dealing with now. If there are, we deal with them, now. It is time to end the threat the Largo represented, once and for all."


April 17th, Monday, 9:11am, GMT

Priss had never experienced zero-G before, and she hoped to never experience it again.

As soon as the ship had cut its engines, removing the force of acceleration, Priss had felt violently ill as gravity left her. She brought the tube of the vac bag to her mouth and started throwing up.

The large mouth of the tube was an easy target and the low power suction ensured that the vomit did not end up floating around the capsule.

When she finally was finished Priss put the tube back into the bracket on he back of the seat in front of her. She let her arms drop, or more the point, she relaxed the muscles in her arms and they floated.

She put her arms down then leaned back in the chair, breathing deeply. She still felt nauseous. One of the stewardesses came by and offered Priss damp a towel. Priss took it gratefully and used it to wipe her mouth.

"Can I get you something to drink?" she asked.

Priss was about to tell her no when the thought of trying to swallow anything made her stomach flop. She grabbed the tube and began throwing up again.

The stewardess patted her gently on the back and made comforting sounds.

Sick as she was Priss was still able to feel embarrassed. If anyone ever found out about this she would never live it down.


Sylia took a sip of water from the tube then let go of the water bottle, which remained floating in the air beside her.

She was sitting up, floating a meter off the deck, her computer resting on her knees.

The markets were active and interests rates were high. If Genom were not financing the creation of her company things might get very expensive. Still, it was a good time to bring a new company into the world.

The work kept her mind occupied. Sylia was a little uncomfortable in the zero-G environment but was not really bothered by it as long as she kept busy.

She had been in space a few times before, trips made out of curiosity for the most part. She really did not like it, though she was not frightened. It was just that she felt a little uncomfortable. She was too much a groundsider.

After stretching she pushed the computer gently from her lap, leaving in to hang in the air then reached over and grabbed one of the many handholds. Turning around she put her feet against the wall and pushed off. She sailed across the compartment, carefully gauging the distance as she went. She was weightless but she still had mass so hitting the far wall would hurt.

She stopped herself by grabbing another handhold. Once she had come to a halt she released the handhold and gently pushed away from the surface. She floated down until she was in front of one of the control terminals.

The engineering software was all very user-friendly and Sylia did not have too much trouble maintaining the facade that she was who she was supposed to be. Once she was sure everything looked fine she crossed the room again and went back to her work.


Friends had told Linna about trips into space. While they did say it could be unpleasant, they had not made it sound that bad. Obviously none of them had ridden up to space in a Vawk.

While civilian transport traced out a fairly oblique flight plan, accelerating over time, a Vawk was basically stood on its tail and the engines brought up to full.

As Sakon had told her, it was quite a ride.

Even once they had reached low orbit Linna still felt uncomfortable. It was partly due to micro gravity sicknessthere was no such thing as Zero-G Sakon had explainedthough she had taken various medications that helped a lot. It was more due to nervousness of being in a Vawk in space.

Civilian transports came with all kind of safety features and redundancies. A Vawk, and all similar craft, were made as light as possible to minimise the fuel needed to boost them into orbit. It ensured they had the fuel to manoeuvre once they were in space, and could land under power.

Knowing that if something were to go wrong they were basically doomed was not a good feeling.

"How are you feeling," Sakon asked.

"Just a little queasy," she told him.

"You should be all right now. Just relax and enjoy the flight. We'll be passing over China soon. If the cloud cover is light we might see something interesting."


Nene had waited patiently until one of the stewards came by then made her request politely. The dangers inherent in space travel gave the cabin crew a lot of extra authority and they could use any force they deemed necessary to deal with problem passengers.

Once he had asked her how she was feeling and a few other questions and she had assured him she was fine he gave his okay, telling her to be very careful.

Nene released her Seat belt and pushed gently from her seat, floating into he air. She had read the pamphlet on zero-G manoeuvring and was very careful to keep all her movements controlled.

Turning, she leaned over Miku and looked out the window, at the Earth far below her.

"Aiko-chan," Miku looked at Nene, a little jealous that the girl was not suffering at all from being weightless.

"Hai," Nene said, distracted, amazed at how her planet looked.

"Is zero-G and a skirt such a good combination?"

Nene looked down at Miku, and her cheeks began to colour slightly, then she laughed. "I don't care," Nene said. "This is too much fun. I'm going up top." That said Nene skilfully turned herself around, pushed off and shot down the aisle at head height, heading towards a set of stairs.

Miku watched her go, impressed at how well she moved. She was a natural if it was true that it was her first time in space. She also noticed that Aiko -Nene - kept her ankles crossed, not that it made too much of a difference.


Priss had not enjoyed the trip through the transfer station, floating in Zero-G was the last thing she had wanted to do. It was only that there had been nothing left in her stomach that kept her from being sick again.

The ship that was to take her to the colony was an odd one. It looked like a pie plate.

She soon realised the value of the design. The seats were aligned perpendicular to the thrusters.

It moved off from the station, accelerating at 2Gs for almost two minutes then slowed to only a tenth of a Gravity. Still, it meant that there was gravity, simulated, and Priss felt much better.

One of the cabin crew gave them a safety lecture and explained at the halfway point the ship would flip around and decelerate to target. During the time between the engines firing they would be at Zero-G again.

Priss listened to everything they had to say then went to sleep. She was not looking forward to the halfway point.


Sylia headed out into Genaros with the rest of the tech crew. When she got to the hostel where crew stayed she went to her room, changed her clothes and her hair once again, then sneaked out through an emergency exit.

Several minutes later she was seated in the first class section of the shuttle that would take her to another station. From there she would transfer to a shuttle that would take her to the colony.

When the ship stopped accelerating she pulled out her computer, letting it float in front of her and went to work. She had to figure out how to write-off all of the initial start-up costs if she hopped to make the profit she wanted.


The Pacific Rim Alliance station was kept in low orbit, almost directly above Vancouver, Canada. The Vawk moved slowly towards a docking clamp that extended some distance from the station. Linna had not known she was going to have to go EVA in order to get to the station where she would transfer to a shuttle.

A shudder ran through the ship as the docking clamp locked on it. Sakon fired off his thrusters, bringing the Vawk to a full stop, relative to the station. "We're here," he said cheerfully."

"Right," Linna said, wondering what she was going to do.

"When you get out of the plane hook up to the line on the docking clamp and just pull yourself along. See the clamp that passes over this one, the one that the Arrow is docked to?"

"The Arrow?"

"The one with the Maple Leaf on it."

"Oh, yes," Linna said, seeing which plane he meant.

"Use your second lifeline to clip onto the line on that one, then release from this one. You can follow it right to the airlock. There will be someone there to help you in."

"Right," Linna said, beginning to release her safety harnesses. "Thank you Rika-taii."

"No problem. Take care." He released the locks on Linna's canopy so she could open it. "And don't look down Koda." He laughed

Great, Linna thought, Another thing I have to worry about.


Nene looked at her watch. They were about twenty minutes from the docking with 'Merdian' station where the rest of the students would be spending several days. Nene covered the action by offering Miku some Poki. Miku refused, still a little green.

She smiled, unable to help herself, then ate a few of the sweets, at the same time taking the pill that Genom had given her.

A minute later her vision went blurry and she felt hot.

"Aiko-chan," Miku looked over at her. "Aiko!"

"What?" Nene looked over at her. Aiko saw that Nene's eyes were glittering.

"Are you all right?"

"Hai," Nene lied, managing to smile. Her head hurt a little and there were chest pains.

Miku put a hand on her forehead then placed the other on Nene's forehead.

"You have a fever!" she said then looked around, trying to get some help.

When the steward arrived, Nene was sort of out of it and she was not even aware a doctor was soon at her side. She might have been pleased, in a way, with the attention she was getting.

Once the doctor had ruled out any sort of Zero-G sickness he had Nene moved up into one of the seats, close to the main hatch and made sure the pilot called so an ambulance would be waiting for them.

The pilot got them into dock seven minutes faster then projectedat the cost of the emergency reaction massand Nene was loaded into the ambulance right away.

In the back of the ambulance the female attendant pulled out a hypo-gun and gave Nene a shot.

A moment later Nene sat up.

"I feel great," Nene said.

"Considering how you were just feeling that is not a surprise," the woman told her as she put the hypo-gun away.

"I guess."

"There is a change of clothes in that bag, your ID, your ticket, everything you need."

"Thanks," Nene swung her legs down onto the floor of the ambulance and began loosening the buttons on her blouse. The woman turned away to give her some privacy.

A few minutes later Nene had changed her clothesa casual business lookand the colour of her eyes again.

The ambulance stopped and she got out, walking off, not looking back.

Later she boarded a shuttle that would take her to the colony.


April 17th, Monday, 11:27pm, MegaTokyo

Majima-hakase had done his work well. While they would never be completely certain how much they had recovered from Largo's non-volatile memory, Domino was fairly certain that they had close to all of it.

Now they just had to decipher that data and learn all they could of it.

Domino had put herself on the project, as well as Rei. They could work without rest and had an innate understanding of how the data was organised. They were not the only ones working on it of course. Quincy had assigned a large number of people to putting together reports on what they found. It was hoped that they would have a complete report by morning. It would represent thousand of man hours, all done in one night.

She did not look away from the screen at the knock on her door. A few keystrokes put a vid window on the screen, showing her who was outside her door. She was a little surprised to see Rebecca Lin standing there.

"Come in," Domino said as she unlocked her door.

Rebecca pushed the door open and looked in. "Can we talk Odotte-san?"

"I'm busy. Make it quick."

Rebecca walked into the room, closing the door behind her. She looked nervous, the effect amplified by her child's form. "I'm sorry," Rebecca said.

"Sorry for what?"

"For being such a problem. This body, it is as much a curse as it is a gift, it's given me the chance to find something I thought I had lost. I've realised that, and I should at least say thank you."

"You are welcome then."

"I want to work for you again."

"Why?" Domino turned her attention back to her work.

"Because I may look like a child, but I am not one, like you said. You are one of the few people who know who I am and ignore my form. Sayako is nice, but she sees me as a child. Only you and Akiko knew who I really was."

"So you want to be one of my agents again?"

"Yes."

"Fine." Domino looked up from the screen. "I have some data here that needs to be interpreted and collated. Think you are up to that?"

"Yes," Rebecca told her.

"Good," Domino said. It looked like she might be able to make use of Rebecca Lin after all.


"Things That Have Lost Their Power A large boat which is high and dry in a creek at ebb-tide.
A woman who has taking off her false locks to comb the short hair that remains.
A large tree that has been blown down in a gale and lies on its side with its roots in the air.
The retreating figure of a sumo wrestler who has been defeated in a match"
-Sei Shonagon