THE OUTLAW

Chapter 4: "Do You Love Me?"

By Bill K.

The arcade was a favorite hangout for the segment of Crystal Tokyo society that no one ever talked about. They were merely referred to in derisive tones as "the dropouts". For rather than enjoy and participate in the peaceful, loving co-existence that made Crystal Tokyo as close to a utopia as humanity had yet experienced, they indulged in virtual reality games and the camaraderie of others who thought of the city-state as tedious and uneventful. Many of "the dropouts" were young, fifteen to twenty-five, disaffected and in search of something that excited them more than unyielding peace.

Of the many virtual reality games in the arcade was one called "Samurai Wars". In it, the participant could interact in a recreation of fifteenth century Japan as a samurai retained by the White Lotus lord. There were three scenarios: Guarding the White Lotus lord from assassins,
searching out a demon hiding among merchants and peasants, and participating in a full scale battle with the forces of the rival Rising Dragon lord.

As Quadrel participated in his daily game of "Samurai Wars", Kaoru watched patiently. She didn't like "Samurai Wars" - - she didn't like virtual reality games period. And Quadrel wouldn't let her play with him anyway, as "Samurai Wars" wasn't "for girls". But she waited for him to finish, because when he finished he might just pay a little attention to her.

It was important to her that Quadrel like her. She rode with him in his air-car, even though she hated high speeds and feared the reckless way he flew. She cut her black hair short so it would be easier to wear the protective g-helmet if he decided to ride his rocket bike. She gave up dresses, even though she liked dresses and they flattered her slim colt figure because pants and windsuits made it easier to follow him. She tolerated his friends, even though they were all idiots and wannabe hanger-ons. And she tolerated the times he ignored her for his games or his car or his obsession with zero-g soccer on the vid - - or his occasional infatuation with some other girl - - because the times he touched her were like heaven on earth.

So Kaoru expelled her boredom with a soft sigh, smoothed the dense crystal fiber weave of her protective bike jacket that was way too hot for the room, and glanced around for something to fill the minutes until Quadrel had time for her again.

A sight caught her eye. The girl from the previous day was framed in the entrance to the arcade. The one with the freaky hemp and green hair coiffure - - what was her name, Jun-Jun? And Kaoru's blood pressure spiked.

Jun-Jun looked around the arcade, glancing from one person interacting with things only they could see to another. Finally her hopes were rewarded and she spotted Quadrel. But as she moved toward him, an obstacle appeared out of nowhere in front of her. Taking a step back, she recognized the obstacle as the girl from yesterday, the one who was hanging around Quadrel like an eager puppy. What was her name - - Kaoru?

"What are you doing here?" Kaoru demanded menacingly.

"I came to see Quad," Jun-Jun replied. She was hoping to avoid a confrontation because she was a senshi and it wasn't really fair to this other girl. And a confrontation might get back to the palace.

"You don't need to see Quad," Kaoru hissed, eyes blazing. "He's already GOT a girlfriend."

"Why don't you let him decide that," Jun-Jun responded and tried to slide past her.

"It's decided, Bitch!" Kaoru snapped, shifting to block Jun-Jun again. "Don't try to make a play for my boyfriend or you'll end up getting hurt!"

Ignoring her, Jun-Jun tried to slip past her again. Instead, Kaoru reached out and shoved Jun-Jun back.

"Quad may not recognize you, but I do," snarled Kaoru. "You're one of those girls with the funny hair who run around with the Princess. What are you doing, slumming?"

"Let me past," Jun-Jun said. Kaoru shoved her back again.

"You think just because you're part of the royal family you can have anything you want?" Kaoru was drawing the attention of several people in the arcade, but she didn't notice. "Not this time! Quad is MINE! So just turn around and get out of here!"

When Jun-Jun didn't move quick enough to suit her, Kaoru lunged to shove her again. That's when she found out that girls who run around with the Princess know self-defense techniques. A moment of vertigo was followed by the heavy impact of the floor with her back and bottom. Kaoru lay there stunned for a moment. Jun-Jun looked at her without speaking, then turned and began to walk away.

But Kaoru wasn't finished. Spurred on by jealousy, the girl scrambled to her feet, pulling at her jacket pocket as she rose. Inside the pocket was a replica of an ancient wood-sheath tanto knife, of the type used during the years leading up to the Meiji Era. They were status symbols among certain "dropouts". Seeing red, Kaoru charged Jun-Jun, the sharp blade pulling free of its wooden sheath. A member of the onlookers spotted the blade's flash and gasped.

Both the gasp and the clack of Kaoru's boots on the floor served to warn Jun-Jun of her approach. The amazon turned in time to duck a vicious slash at her throat. Angrily Kaoru swung back and forward again, missing Jun-Jun each time. There was no fourth slash. Seeing her assailant was off balance, Jun-Jun lashed out with her foot and struck Kaoru's right knee on the side. Her leg crumpled beneath her and Kaoru tumbled to the floor. She landed awkwardly and before she could move to rise, Jun-Jun placed her foot on the wrist of the hand that held the knife.

"Get off me!" Kaoru roared impotently. "I'll get you! You'll never take Quad away from me! Never!"

"You two talking about me?" they heard Quadrel say. Both girls turned and found him leisurely ambling up to the situation. Again Jun-Jun was struck by how excited she felt just being in his presence. "Don't let me stop you."

Jun-Jun released her hold on the wrist. Kaoru jumped to her feet, pushed passed Jun-Jun and clung to Quadrel's arm like it was her right and hers alone.

"She thinks she's going to break us up, Quad," Kaoru said with a hint of desperation. "Tell her to get lost."

"You telling me what to do?" he asked her.

It took a moment for the words to sink in. Kaoru looked up at him, puzzled, and immediately realized she'd said the wrong thing.

"No," Kaoru whispered fearfully. "It's just - - you and her went up in your car yesterday and - - and here she is again. I thought I was your girl, Quad."

"You telling me who I can fly with?" the Japanese youth asked, his copper eyes emotionless like a shark's.

"N-No, Quad. Please don't be like this. I love you!"

"I thought we were straight on this," Quad said. He had an even tone and a calm manner, but from the way Kaoru was reacting, he could have been holding an energy blaster on her. "You don't tell me what to do and you don't tell me who to see."

"OK. I'm sorry, Quad." Kaoru nodded hopefully. Despite what had gone on between them just minutes before, Jun-Jun felt incredibly sorry for the girl now. And she could sympathize with her desperation.

"So what did you want?" he asked, turning to Jun-Jun. For a moment, she couldn't speak.

"Um," Jun-Jun stammered, swallowing. "Just to talk."

"OK," Quadrel nodded and flashed her a confident smile. Relief flooded through her body. "I feel like a spin in my air-car. We can talk there."

"Sounds great!" Kaoru spoke up, inviting herself along. Quadrel turned to her.

"Not this time," he said.

Kaoru stared at him, wanting to argue - - needing to argue - - but knowing she didn't dare. Quadrel turned and headed for the door, unconcerned whether Jun-Jun followed him or not. As she started to follow him, Jun-Jun caught the venomous glare Kaoru was giving her. Quadrel was blameless in the girl's eyes. This was all her fault.

Jun-Jun strapped herself into the passenger chair in the air-car. She glanced over at Quadrel as he engaged the superconductor to power up the car's turbines. He wasn't strapped in, just like yesterday. She was about to say something, but the car lurched into the sky, as apparently was Quadrel's habit. His trajectory would achieve the cruising lanes over the city in seconds, but in the process nearly impacted with a delivery vehicle on landing approach with the restaurant across the way from the arcade.

"You almost hit that cargo vessel," Jun-Jun chided him.

"Then he should have gotten out of the way," Quadrel murmured. He seemed pleased with himself.

"You know," Jun-Jun began, wondering for a moment if she had the nerve to bring this up, "you weren't very nice to Kaoru back there."

"That's an odd thing to say," Quadrel smiled. "She was going to slit your throat."

"She was desperate," Jun-Jun looked away. "She likes you - - and she's afraid she'll lose you."

"Kaoru's too possessive," Quadrel replied. "She thinks she has some sort of claim on me and she doesn't. No one does."

"No one?"

"The world does what it wants to and I do what I want to," he told her. "I don't owe anybody anything. I'm not obligated to anyone and nobody tells me what to do. Not Kaoru, not the Queen, not anybody. Not even you." He glanced over at her. "Is this what you wanted to talk about?"

"Well," Jun-Jun began. She felt her cheeks flushing and cursed her immaturity, but forced herself to take a chance. "Actually, I only - - wanted - - to-to see you again."

Being with Quadrel was like kissing a bomb. You never knew if or when it would go off.

"That's cool," he said. Then he flashed her a grin. "You're lucky I like flying with a pretty girl beside me."

It was all Jun-Jun could do to keep from wetting herself. Then she noticed their air speed increase.

"Where are we going?" she asked as he did a barrel roll to turn left when the safer maneuver would have been a gradual bank.

"Sea of Japan," he replied. "Ever hear a sonic boom over water?"

"No," Jun-Jun answered.

"Sound travels for kilometers. And the ship rattles like its about to shake apart."

"You create the boom with this ship?" Jun-Jun asked. Quadrel nodded. "How do you achieve sufficient speed?"

"If I can get high enough, then straight dive for the water, gravity will get me to mach one," Quadrel shrugged. "Then I pull out of the dive at the right moment and skim over the surface of the water just meters above it. It's a rush."

"What happens if you don't pull out of the dive in time?" Jun-Jun asked warily.

"Splat," Quadrel answered matter-of-factly. "That's all she wrote." As he nosed the air-car into an ascent, the youth glanced over at Jun-Jun. "No risk, no gain. You can take a risk,maybe flame out, but nail something really sweet if you hit. Or you can play it safe, be protected from the danger and be bored the rest of your dull life."

Jun-Jun was about to protest, but she realized that it would do no good. As the craft reached apex, she mentally calculated escape routes. Finding none, she speculated how Quadrel would react if she changed to Sailor Juno and took control of the craft. When it went into its dive, she realized it was too late.

The blue water of the Sea of Japan came up fast, faster than Jun-Jun anticipated. Her breath caught in her throat and her hands clamped onto the edges of the seat. Through the dive a voice in Jun-Jun's head was screaming at her, telling her that she was going to die. Just as an ear-piercing squeal began and the craft began to shake like it would flay itself apart, Quadrel engaged the steering boosters. Amid a thunderous clap far louder than anything she'd ever heard, Jun-Jun felt the craft turn. It skimmed along the water, kicking up twenty foot waves on either side of it while the sound waves rumbled toward shore and out to sea. Adrenaline was coursing through her body. Every muscle was pulled tight and she was panting like she'd run twenty kilometers. Mechanically Jun-Jun turned to Quadrel.

"Did I tell you it was a rush?" he asked, flashing that naughty boy smile of his that momentarily masked his devil's eyes.

Straining against her chair harness, Jun-Jun lunged at Quadrel. Her lips sought out his and she kissed him, hungrily, passionately, wantonly. It was a celebration of being alive, of the excitement he inspired in her and of all the pent up energy that she just had to release somewhere. Momentarily startled, Quadrel recovered and leaned into the kiss, extracting as much enjoyment from it as Jun-Jun was.

The control were momentarily forgotten. The pilot was busy. If they impacted with something - - at least they'd die happy.

"So the basic genetic material that all organic matter is made of is one particular compound," Makoto said.

She stood at the lecture podium, reading the text of the lesson from a prompter embedded in the podium itself. The text was prepared by a leading Tokyo University scholar in biology and used in classrooms throughout Japan. Sometimes Makoto felt like she was cheating in using a prepared lesson rather than teaching the class herself. But then, biology wasn't her strong suit. The only reason she was teaching the class at all was because Ami couldn't teach EVERY class and Minako always ended up telling dirty jokes. She'd matched Rei for it and Rei won, so she was teaching.

"That compound is dee . . .um, die . . .," Makoto began. After staring at the word for several seconds, she pressed a button on the podium.

". . . deoxyribonucleic acid . . ." a computer synthesized voice said pleasantly. To a girl the class giggled.

"Hey," Makoto shrugged, smiling herself, "it's the wise person who knows and accepts what her strengths and weaknesses are."

"Yo, Makoto," Minako said, popping her head into the classroom as the door hissed open. "If you're through embarrassing yourself, can you spare a few minutes?"

"Put your work stations into self-study mode for a few minutes, girls," Makoto said. Then she pointed at them, though she couldn't keep the smirk off of her face. "And NO gossip."

Giggles followed Makoto out into the hall. Once the door closed, the masks of congeniality dropped from both senshi.

"What's up?" Minako asked, for Makoto had summoned her.

"Jun-Jun isn't in class," Makoto reported. "I asked the girls where she was and they made up a lame story about her being sick."

"Wow," goggled Minako. "Of those four, Jun-Jun's probably the least likely to cut school. You think they know where she is?"

"Doubt it. They're covering for her, but they seemed surprised when she wasn't there when class started. Same with the Princess and Hotaru."

"Sounds like a mystery," murmured Minako, already deconstructing the problem in her head.

"And you love a mystery," grinned Makoto.

"Actually, I hate 'em with a passion. That's why I want to solve them so quick," Minako quipped, then winked at her friend.

"I figured since you weren't doing anything," Makoto began.

"I was rehearsing for the show I'm doing next week," protested Minako.

"Like I was saying," smirked Makoto. Minako pulled her eyelid down.

"I'll see if I can run her down," Minako said as she turned and ambled off. "Who knows. Maybe she met the man of her dreams and ran off with him."

"Sure, Blondie," chuckled Makoto. "Happens all the time"

When the sonic boom registered on his monitors, King Endymion focused his attention on his main computer screen while the computer shifted focus to the observation drones assigned to the area. He noticed several weren't reporting in and their diagnostics were registering terminal damage. The sonic shockwave itself was large enough to cause concern, and with some of his monitor drones out of commission as well, Endymion determined that further investigation was warranted. He was just beginning to put in a call to Chief Nakamura when the door to his computer study hissed open.

"Endymion," Serenity sighed peevishly. "How much longer are you going to hole up in this dreary little room THIS TIME?"

"I haven't been here that long," he replied.

"Five hours and forty-four minutes," Serenity rattled off.

"That's not even close to my record," he joked.

His wife didn't laugh.

"Endymion," she sighed tersely. "There's a beautiful sun in the sky. Could you please come up and enjoy some of it?"

"Serenity, we have a slight situation here," Endymion said. Chief Nakamura's hologram appeared on the control panel of Endymion's computer.

"What can I do for you, Your Majesty?" Nakamura asked brusquely. The royal couple could both tell he was occupied.

"I registered the sonic boom," Endymion told him. "Any damage?"

"Air cargo beacons for the Sea of Japan shipping lanes are all haywire," Nakamura reported. "We're in the process of halting and rerouting commercial and civilian traffic until the beacons are back on line."

"Is that bad?" Serenity asked, for just about anything technical was over her head.

"Potentially," Endymion replied. "The beacons are what the automatic guidance systems of robot cargo ships use to steer by when they're on approach to the harbors along the Sea of Japan. Nakamura, is it disruptive harmonics?"

"Looks like it," Nakamura answered.

"Disruptive harmonics?" Serenity asked.

"Certain crystals, like the ones used in the transponder beacons, have flaws in them that respond to powerful sonic vibrations. The flaws begin a harmonic vibration that interferes with the crystal's ability to transmit the energy through it and do the job it was designed for. In some extreme cases, crystal faults have been known to enlarge due to these harmonics until the crystal shatters completely."

"Oh my," gasped Serenity.

"Any idea yet what caused the sonic boom?" Endymion asked Nakamura. "Commercial haulers are supposed to decelerate below mach one before they enter sovereign airspace. Do you think one of them had faulty automation?"

"Doubtful, Your Majesty," Nakamura replied. "My guess would be the problem we talked about earlier - - reckless kids thrill-seeking in air-cars."

"I see. Carry on as you see fit, Chief. Let me know if I can be of any assistance."

"I will, Your Majesty," Nakamura replied formally. Then he nodded to the Queen. "Queen Serenity." The transmission ended.

"Someone endangered lives on purpose?" gasped Serenity. "How could someone do such a thing? Don't they understand what they're doing?"

"Maybe not," Endymion murmured, grasping his wife's hand. "Or maybe they just don't care."

Continued in Chapter 5