THE EXTERMINATORS
Chapter 8: "A Future Rebuilt"
By Bill K.
The temporal limbo that housed the Door of Time seemed as sepulchral as ever to Usa when she and Diana entered. If anything, it seemed even more silent and alone without the presence of Sailor Pluto, a presence the young princess had come to expect every time she entered. Diana seemed more accustomed to the place, for she had spent three years substituting for Sailor Pluto during the senshi's temporary "death".
"Puu?" the pink-haired teen called out, just to make sure that saving her mother from assassination hadn't already put everything to right.
There was no answer.
"OK, how do we get this to work, Diana?" Usa asked urgently. "Do I just tell it to take me to Puu?"
"It's a shade more complex than that, My Lady," the gray cat replied.
She gestured for the key and Usa handed it to her. Holding the key in both paws, Diana closed her eyes and concentrated. For a moment she seemed to be communicating with the key. Then, amazingly, the key levitated up from her paws and floated into the lock of the Door of Time. The key turned in the lock, glowing bright ruby all the while, and the door creaked open.
"This way, My Lady," Diana strode confidently toward the open door as the Time Key floated out of the lock and hovered overhead like a beacon. "The key shall lead us down the proper path."
"Where is she?" Usa asked.
"Let's find out," the cat smiled.
The pair walked through the swirling mists of the time corridor, the key leading them the entire time. As always there was some trepidation in the heart of the young princess, for the time corridor was still an ominous place. The warning she received from Sailor Pluto many years ago about the dangers of becoming lost in time should she stray in the corridor came back as she walked. Rather than daunt her, though, it strengthened her resolve to see this through and find the missing Sailor Pluto and restore her history to what it was.
Then the mists dissipated and the pair of time travelers found themselves in familiar circumstances.
"This looks like the palace!" Usa gasped, amazed at what she saw once more. "Puu isn't being held here, is she? That's impossible!"
"My Lady," Diana cautioned, "the corridor only takes one through time, not space. That's an entirely different dimension. We've arrived at the 'when' that Sailor Pluto exists in. We've yet to determine the 'where'."
"Rats," scowled the Princess. "There's always a catch."
"Buck up, My Lady. At least you've managed to restore - - at least most of the present we've come to know."
"And if that's the case," Usa continued the thought, pushing on the send button of her senshi communicator, "then I can call up some reinforcements."
"Yes, Princess," Jun-Jun's voice came through the communicator as her holographic image projected from it. "Is there trouble?" Surrounding her were holograms of her other senshi.
"Afraid so," Usa replied. "Everybody meet me out by the garden. I'll fill you in there." She turned to the hologram of Hotaru as the others disconnected. "Sorry to ruin your birthday, Hotaru."
"It can't be helped, Usa," Hotaro replied, then logged off.
Diana was about to scamper off, then noticed the princess lingering. She looked up inquiringly and found the teen with an immense look of relief on her face. After a moment, Usa noticed Diana's gaze.
"In Viluy's future, Hotaru was dead," Usa replied misty-eyed.
"It is truly amazing the difference one person can make, isn't it My Lady?"
A stiff January wind whipped through the royal garden of The Crystal Palace. Turning her back to the gust, Cere-Cere shivered.
"Why did the Princess have to pick THIS spot?" the girl whined.
"Nobody said you had to go outside in just your blouse and slacks," chided Jun-Jun.
"JACKETS AREN'T FASHIONABLE THIS YEAR!" Cere-Cere retorted.
"Neither is freezing," Hotaru replied. She slipped out of her own jacket. "You can wear mine if you like."
"What about you?" Cere-Cere asked.
"If I concentrate, the cold won't affect me much," Hotaru shrugged. Everybody wondered, but nobody asked why.
"Well, thanks," Cere-Cere said. She took the jacket, but looked it over with less than enthusiasm. "But I don't think ultra-petite is going to fit me. You might as well keep it. But thanks."
"Wow, that is small," marveled Ves-Ves. "Where do you buy your clothes, the children's section?"
Hotaru flushed and looked down. "Yes."
Further discussion was silenced when the five heard someone running up. They turned just in time to witness Usa bend at the waist and wrap Palla-Palla in a huge bear hug.
"Palla-Palla, you're alive!" the teen squealed.
"Yes she is, Princess," Palla-Palla squeaked, clearly as perplexed as the group. "Shouldn't she be?"
"Yes, you should," Usa replied resolutely, to everyone's amazement. "And you are. And I'm going to keep it that way!"
"Somebody wants to hurt Palla-Palla?" Ves-Ves demanded, her ire already beginning to smoulder just beneath the surface.
"More than just Palla-Palla," Diana spoke up. "All of reality."
"Maybe you better fill us in, Princess," Jun-Jun ventured.
"Um, yeah," Cere-Cere added, her arms crossed tightly across her chest, "but could we do it someplace WARM"
As the six teens moved off to a restaurant near the palace to plan their attack, observation drones monitored their every move, as they did the entire city. They were the drones of King Endymion and they reported back everything that the city did or knew, in the palace or out in the streets. They were Endymion's eyes and ears, sources of information that he needed to fulfill his never-ending quest to protect his city, his people and his family from any and all who might do harm to them. The king knew the value of information and set up this sophisticated network of observation drones to give him that information so he might use it to benefit all.
While the scene replayed on a remote monitor hooked into the video and audio relay narrow-cast, a hand absently fingered a crystal stud on the control panel beneath. Recorders were suddenly engaged, in case the video and audio to come might prove useful enough to be referred back to. All the while, the observer listened intently to every word that came from each of the teens and the cat.
For Viluy knew the value of information just as much as Endymion did. That's why she'd hacked into his observation network a long time ago.
"I don't know how," Viluy mumbled to herself as she studied every teen's gesture and listened to every word, "but Princess Usagi has managed to prevent everything I've done in the past." Viluy searched her memories, all the while multi-tasking on observing the teens and their plans. "It's strange. I captured Sailor Pluto in the time-space phenomenon and brought her here, then dispatched an android assassin to the past to kill Queen Serenity. And yet, nothing's different. And from what the princess has already said, she was aware of my plans somehow and altered them - - which shouldn't have been possible."
Viluy glanced over to a crystalline tube on the other side of the small monitor room. Inside the crystalline tube was the figure of a woman.
"Apparently this situation requires further study," Viluy said to the woman in the tube. "Somehow the princess thwarted my plans. I'll need to learn just what she's done and what she plans to do in order to effectively countermand her actions and set my plan back into motion. Don't you agree?"
Sailor Pluto, staring rigidly ahead in cryogenic suspended animation, did not reply.
"Usa, that's terrible!" Hotaru gasped after she and the Asteroids listened to the entire story of the alternate future Viluy's actions had conjured up.
"You don't know the half of it," Usa grunted, and everyone could see she was even now haunted by visions of that future. "You guys only listened to it. I lived it."
"But you changed it back, didn't you?" Cere-Cere asked. "I mean, we're all here and everything's the way it's supposed to be, right?"
"As far as I know," Usa shrugged. "Except Puu - - Pluto's still gone."
"And Viluy is still at large," Diana added. "And there's no assurance that she won't make another attempt until she's been neutralized."
"Then let's go find her," Ves-Ves glared.
"Wait a minute," Jun-Jun interceded.
"Wait nothing!" snapped Ves-Ves. "Wait until she makes another play for the Queen? Wait until she snapped Palla-Palla's neck for real this time? No, we track her down and we do whatever needs to be done to make sure she can't do anything like this again!"
"I'm not saying we shouldn't," Jun-Jun argued. "I'm saying we need to tell the King and Queen and the Elder Senshi first. This Viluy is a dangerous character. She's all over the history files."
"Are you saying we can't take her?"
"I'm saying that having the elders in on this too makes it that much more likely she can be found and stopped. That's what's most important, Ves."
"Cold," Hotaru whispered suddenly. Everybody turned to her.
"Hotaru?" Usa asked.
"Miss Hotaru-ma'am is looking for Miss Pluto-ma'am with her head," Palla-Palla explained. "Palla-Palla can feel her."
"Have you found her?" Usa asked quickly.
"Cold," Hotaru repeated. "Numb. Vacant. Nothing."
"You didn't find her?" Cere-Cere asked.
"I-I don't know. I think it's her," Hotaru murmured, spooked by what she felt, "but I don't feel anything from her."
"She's not - - dead, is she?" Usa asked fearfully.
Hotaru seemed genuinely afraid. "I don't know," she squeaked.
"Can you lead us to her?"
Hotaru nodded.
"Let's go," Usa said, springing out of her chair. She and Ves-Ves hustled Hotaru up and out into the street, transforming into their senshi guises as they went. Cere-Cere and Palla-Palla quickly followed.
"We need to call the Elders!" Jun-Jun called after them.
"Fine, call them!" barked Cere-Cere. "You can call and run at the same time, can't you?"
Jun-Jun emitted an inarticulate grunt of frustration and followed.
Everyone was following Hotaru, who was so busy concentrating on her psychic link to Sailor Pluto that she hadn't transformed. They didn't have to travel far. At the end of the retail district, near the border of Naru Park, was a small crystalline media shop. It sold recording and playback media, parts and accessories, and seemed to dabble in repairs as well. Hardly what one might expect for the lair of a legendary criminal like Viluy.
"Something's weird here," Sailor Juno told the others. "I've been trying to com-link with the palace the whole trip and I can't get a carrier signal. It's just static."
"It's not broken, is it?" Sailor Ceres asked.
"No, it's not broken," Juno replied. "I just hope it's not being jammed."
The group looked over the storefront.
"Are you sure this is the place?" Sailor Vesta asked.
"At the moment I'm not sure of anything," Hotaru responded, her brow furrowed with confusion and worry. "Everything I'm feeling seems contradictory. It makes no sense. But the strongest feeling I have is that Sailor Pluto is here."
Suddenly Sailor Pallas turned to Sailor Moon.
"You know this place, Princess?" she asked. Then Pallas grew embarrassed. "Oopsie. Pallas is sorry. She heard your thoughts without saying 'May I'."
"Sailor Moon?" Hotaru asked, turning to her friend.
"Yeah, this is it," Sailor Moon whispered. "Viluy had a huge fortress right on this spot in that other reality!"
"You're right, My Lady!" gasped Diana. "This is the spot! When you changed history back, the area reverted to what it was before. And no doubt Viluy is here, because space didn't shift about her, only time!"
"Good enough for me. Let's go," Vesta snarled. She and Juno entered the shop while Hotaru hung back and transformed into Sailor Saturn.
"Good afternoon," the young saleswoman said, smiling and bowing crisply. "Thank you for patronizing our shop. How may I assist you?"
"You can show us where Viluy's hiding," Vesta said, projecting all the street menace she'd learned on the streets of Sao Paulo.
"I apologize," smiled the clerk. "I don't recognize that. Is it a device or a brand name?"
"Dolly!" squealed Pallas. Everyone turned to her and saw Sailor Pallas was pointing directly at the saleswoman.
"Dolly?" queried Juno, puzzled.
"It's an android!" shouted Diana.
In an instant, the saleswoman was over the counter and lunging for Sailor Vesta. Vesta fell back defensively, but seriously miscalculated the woman's speed. She was seconds away from feeling the woman's attack. Then out of the blue a gleam of metal flashed and suddenly the woman's head was separated from her neck. Only when it stopped could anyone see Saturn's glaive.
Ceres shrieked and the others looked on in startled horror as the severed head fell to the floor. It bounced twice, then rolled to a stop near a display. Only then could they see the sparking circuitry rather than muscle and blood in the neck. The Asteroids gaped in wonder, for this was the first time any of them had ever seen an actual android.
"You broke the dolly!" pouted Pallas.
"That's an android?" Juno gasped, staring at the non-functional entity. "It looked totally human!"
"That's part of what makes it an android," Sailor Moon replied. "It's probably part of what creeps Mom out. After fighting them, I can kind of understand why. If Luna-P wasn't shorted out, I could have spotted it."
"But we've got our own spotter right here," Ceres smiled. She knelt down to Pallas. "Pallas, you can tell the difference between a person and a 'dolly', can't you?"
Pallas nodded energetically. "Pallas can tell right away!"
Ceres turned to the others. "No android's going to sneak up on us now."
It was then they noticed Sailor Juno examining the walls of the small shop.
"What are you doing?" Ceres inquired.
"This shop is probably a blind for Viluy's lab," Juno explained. "I'm trying to find the door to it. I've already checked the back room."
"How do you know it's there?" Vesta asked.
"The moisture content in the air is different behind this section of wall than the others," Juno explained. "Stagnant air has a lower moisture content than air that flows because the moisture has a chance to condense. I can sense moisture and my senses tell me the passage to an underground level is behind this section of wall." Juno kept feeling along the wall. "I just can't find the sensor that opens it."
"It's probably opened electronically, either from below or through a broadcast signal," reasoned Saturn. "We'll have to force it open."
"Ohh! Let Pallas do it! Pretty please!" Pallas exclaimed.
"Think you can, Stupid?" Vesta asked.
"Just watch! Pallas will show you!" The diminutive senshi gestured at the wall. "Beautiful Incantation!"
For moments there was nothing changed save for the silent strain of Sailor Pallas. As time passed, each senshi wanted to call the effort to a halt, but held back, fearing they might bruise Pallas' confidence. And yet the fate of Sailor Pluto and of the world at large hung over their decision as well.
Then metal began to rend as gears were forced back and magnetic couplings were broken. The wall inched to the left, slowly at first. Finally resistance disappeared and the wall flung back, revealing a gliding stairwell behind it. Pallas beamed in triumph as she received a congratulatory pat on the back from Vesta.
"Keep your guard up, everyone," Juno warned as she led the group through the wall section and onto the gliding stairwell. "Stay back, Princess. Let us go first. Vesta, you guard our rear. Pallas, up with me. Keep watch for androids."
"Right, Juno," Pallas nodded as everyone formed up.
"Forcing that door was kind of loud," Ceres speculated. "You suppose she knows we're here?"
"She already knew," Juno replied.
"How?"
"If she had some telemetry from the android, our deactivating it would have tipped her," Juno explained. "And she's probably got the shop monitored. Maybe this gliding stairwell, too."
"Do you HAVE to be so smart ALL the time?" huffed Ceres.
Juno smiled to herself. "Sense anything, Pallas?"
"No," Pallas squeaked. "But Pallas doesn't like this place."
"Saturn?" Sailor Moon asked, turning to her friend.
"I'm with Pallas," Saturn replied. "There's something about this place. I can't explain it, but I'm getting bad vibes from it. But I can't understand any of the impressions I'm getting."
The six senshi reached the floor of the below ground level and stepped off. There was little light. It seemed mostly to be emitted from display terminals of environmental control computers at the far end of the room. The distance from them told the senshi that the underground level dwarfed the shop above.
"I wish we had some light," Vesta muttered.
"There are banks of lights in the ceiling," Diana told them. "But I can't tell you which computer controls them."
"Leave it to Pallas," Sailor Pallas said suddenly. She pointed up at the ceiling. "Beautiful Incantation."
One by one the lights came on, illuminating in succession a room housing the most gigantic computer complex any of them had ever seen - - with the exception of Diana and Sailor Moon. To them it was hauntingly familiar, only not as large - - and didn't have a screen for a holographic representation of Ami Mizuno's face. As one bank of lights lit, they illuminated a cryogenic chamber.
"Pluto-mama!" Saturn gasped out. The senshi bolted for the cryogenic tube.
Without warning, Saturn crashed face first into an energy barrier. The energy gripped the violet senshi and she cried out in agony. As Saturn lost her grip on the Silence Glaive, Sailor Moon lurched forward to try to pull her away. But the energy flung her away itself and Saturn staggered back, then fell to the floor. Pallas let out a squeal of shock and fear while Juno and Ceres knelt down to tend to their fallen comrade.
"It's just like before!" Sailor Moon whispered.
"Indeed," a voice echoed from the darkness. It was a voice familiar to Sailor Moon and Diana, dimly so to Sailor Saturn, but new to the rest. The click of high heels on the floor pinpointed her for them. Stepping from the shadows, wearing a form-fitting anti-contamination suit much like the one Dr. Mizuno often wore, her platinum hair falling softly across her left eye to a large inward curl at the shoulders, was the infamous Yui Bidou - - Viluy.
Continued in Chapter 9
