Another short chapter, but we will start seeing things really picking up very soon, once the Scouts and their companions unexpectedly encounter Sylvia and Rolando later. But this chapter will have them meeting up with Darien's cousin, who is currently helping run the Moon Kingdom's joint project with the Nipponese Empire, in hopes that more sentients might be savable from the Moon, if and when there is a direct attack on the Moon from the Negaverse, as many people think there will eventually be, in the future.
There will be at least some discussion of certain population numbers, as well, in this chapter, for various populated worlds in the system. And they will also go somewhere that may be a very important place for many in the future, even if it isn't that way at the present time for the late 10th Century AD.
With no further ado, then, seeing as this chapter will also be short, I'll close this. TUS out.
Edo Bay Docks
Edo, Japan, Earth
June 17, 987
About three or four days later, more or less, Darien and the rest of his non-Terran friends arrived in Edo Bay on their ship. And they eventually docked at the Edo docks there. They'd sailed aboard the Chrysanthemum for a few days, in fact, and the weather was quite pleasant as they sailed toward Edo from Osaka. They all arrived at Edo's docks. And they were soon enough met by a cousin of Prince Darien's there. This certain cousin of his was somebody named Prince Isaiah. He was the third son of one of Empress Elaine's younger sisters, as well. Prince Darien soon introduced Serena and all the other non-Terran members of their current traveling group to Prince Isaiah, if he'd not already done so by that time, in fact.
Prince Isaiah was one of the main people running things with the joint project of the Moon Kingdom and of the Nipponese Empire. He wasn't the main person running things with it, of course. But he was still one of the main people running things with it, whenever possible. And he often helped to handle things relating to that project, whether or not Prince Darien was actually visiting Serena and others back on the Moon in his very own life.
Prince Isaiah had known Prince Darien for most of either of their lives, as well. Prince Darien was about two or three years older than his cousin. He'd assigned Isaiah to the aforementioned joint project not long after Isaiah had turned eighteen years of age. Ever since, Isaiah had spent a great deal of time working on that project, whenever possible, in his life. He worked a great deal on things that related to the whole project, and not just certain parts of it. In essence, he worked not only on the "Operation Kaleidoscope" part of the project, but also on any number of other parts of "Operation Cocoon" as well.
"Operation Cocoon" was the name that the Japanese Empire's rulers used for the entire joint project and everything that related to it sufficiently well, for those people that actually didn't already know that here well enough yet. "Operation Kaleidoscope," however, was the part of it that had to deal with the construction of certain towers in the necessary areas of Japan, at the very least, if it didn't also have to deal with anything else as well that related sufficiently enough to the overall joint project here and now.
The towers would later detect the globes and canisters that'd be coming from the Moon after the end of the Moon Kingdom, if at all possible, in the future. Supposing that they could do so, of course. And then they'd send those containers certain instructions which'd hopefully maintain each of their occupants in a state of suspended animation for an unknown length of time into the future. How long exactly, nobody yet knew for sure, in fact. But they still quite often suspected that it might actually be for about a millennium, more or less, per occupant of each and every single one of those containers here. That was only supposing that Queen Serenity was actually somehow able to save at least a few of the Moon Kingdom's inhabitants, if not a lot of them, by the simultaneous use of her connected Imperium Silver Crystal and Crescent Moon Wand, of course.
"How are things going with our joint project of late, ever since the last time I checked on things here, Isaiah?" asked Darien, as all the members of his current traveling group eventually got ready to ride again, of course.
"Some of the people here evidently have now decided to try to slow or stop their work progress, whenever possible, on our joint project with the Moon Kingdom. It seems that they really don't like the fact that they have to be here instead of being elsewhere in our nation, Darien."
"What have they done, or not done, to not help us here, if you can tell me that here, Isaiah?"
"They've slowed construction on at least one of the necessary towers, if not more than one, Darien. They've also not been transporting things to the necessary locations in this place's local area, Darien, when they should be doing so."
"What do you suggest that we do, then, Isaiah?"
"We could turn them over to the local law enforcement officials, Darien. But then we'd not be able to utilize them in terms of the project for as long as we do so, of course. And we need all the workers that we can get. At the rate that things are currently going for us here, I don't know if we'll have the entire project completed well enough by this time two or three years from now, at the very earliest."
"That's when we hope to actually complete it by, somehow, if I remember correctly enough, Isaiah?" All the members of Prince Darien's current traveling party then began riding with Prince Isaiah toward where they'd need to go with each other at that time.
"Yes, I believe that it is, Darien. Does Queen Serenity still have those dreams and visions that she's been known to have for many years?"
"My friend Serena here could tell you, I'm quite sure."
"She can?" asked Prince Isaiah.
"Yes, she's Queen Serenity's oldest daughter, Isaiah."
Serena then said, "As far as I know, Prince Isaiah, she still has them periodically. And she seems to think that we have only a few more years, at most, before we'll eventually need to come here. At least those of us who are actually able to be saved by her, of course."
Prince Isaiah knew why that might be the case, because he'd known about those dreams and visions of Queen Serenity's for at least as long as he'd been part of "Operation Cocoon," if not even longer than that. He was also one of the strongest supporters of the joint project in Japan's current Parliament, in fact. Where others might not want the Nipponese Empire to contribute much, if anything at all, to the project, he really did want his people to do so, as well. And he quite strenuously supported that joint project whenever possible in his life, no matter what.
"And what do you think of this idea, Moon Princess Serena?"
"I don't like the fact that she has them periodically, of course. Nor do I like the fact that at least a few of the rest of us do too."
"Like Prince Darien, for example?" asked Prince Isaiah.
"Correct, Prince Isaiah. I wish he didn't have them. I wish none of us had them. In fact, I wish we didn't have to jointly work on this project of both our peoples. But we do, because our enemies will come against our Moon Kingdom, and wipe it out, most likely."
"How sure are you of that, if I may ask you this here, Moon Princess Serena?" asked Prince Isaiah.
"Totally sure of that, Prince Isaiah. There's no doubt in any of our minds that they'll most certainly come in full force to destroy us, if at all possible. And when they do, we'll probably not be able to keep them from invading us, and making our worlds desolate as much as they possibly can. Our time is short in the Moon Kingdom. I know it, and so do a lot of other sentients in it. Even if there are people who deny the peril that we're now facing here, many of us know it. Our Moon Kingdom will fall, at least in name, if not totally in actual reality, it seems. Even if we might actually prefer otherwise in each of our sentient lives. No matter what we may try, our worlds who they are able to conquer or destroy won't be the same as they once were in our lives, if they have their ways with them sufficiently well enough. Billions of our inhabitants may very well be killed by them in countless ways. And we might not be able to stop them from doing so somehow."
"How many billions, Moon Princess Serena?"
"I'd estimate at least one or two billion, if not more. That's depending on the actual populations of each of our worlds here in this solar system of ours, if I'm not too mistaken here, Prince Isaiah."
"If they ruin Mercury, for instance, how many do you think they'd kill, at the very least?"
Amy said, "Let me answer this, Serena."
"Fine, Amy. Go ahead, then, if you wish to do so here."
"Thank you, Serena. The last I heard about Mercury's population, including the people on any of its ships or space stations, of course, I believe that the total population of Mercury and its mini-system of sorts was somewhere in the area of at least 280 million, more or less. I believe that there are several Mercurian-founded colonies of sorts on the Moon, or on any of the present Moon-orbiting space stations. But if that's so here, there probably can't be more than about 840,000 Mercurians in those various colonies, if I'm not too mistaken here. For only a small percentage of our people can live well enough off Mercury, its space stations, and its ships. Mostly, if not entirely, just because our people are quite often tied in some likely yet-unknown way to Mercury, its space stations, and/or its ships, if I'm not too mistaken here. I presume the same thing is true for sentients from other worlds of our own Moon Kingdom, as well, Prince Isaiah, to at least some degree, if not totally, here."
"And evidently, you must be among those people who can live well enough off Mercury. Because of the fact that you're here with all of us now, Princess Amy."
"Evidently that's the case. But sometimes, I still wish that I could spend more time back on Mercury, its space stations, or its ships, for all the obvious reasons."
"I suppose that's logical enough, Princess Amy."
"Of course it is, Prince Isaiah."
"Princess Mina, what would you estimate your planet's total population at, including all of your space stations, ships, and colonies?"
Mina thought for a few moments, at least, while she and the others continued riding their respective horses to the necessary location in the Edo area of Japan. After at least a bit of thought, she said, "I'd estimate the total population of Venus, its space stations, its ships, and its known colonies, to be at least 495,600,000 sentients, if not more, based on what I'd last heard about its total population about a year or two ago, if I'm not too mistaken here, Prince Isaiah. And in its colonies, I estimate that about 200,000 or so of those sentients live somewhere on the Moon or on any of its space stations, at the very most. Other colonies of ours are elsewhere in the solar system, as well. And most of them are larger than the ones we have on the Moon or on any of its space stations, I think."
Isaiah considered this, and then he asked, "How do you think your enemies might ruin your world?"
"Probably by poisoning it, I believe. I suspect, though I don't yet know this for sure, if I ever will, that they'll kill as many of us as possible by making our world's atmosphere turn into one that will be a quite unbreathable atmosphere. I also believe that they'll bombard Mercury, at least, in such a manner that it'll be unable to sustain sufficient amounts of life for quite some length of time. Like by leaving countless numbers of craters, for example. And I feel that they might try to do the same thing for Earth's Moon, as well, at the very least. I don't know about any of the rest of the known planets or moons in this system. But I still feel that they'll kill a whole lot of sentients from Mercury, Venus, and the Moon, with similar enough manners, in our own solar system, Prince Isaiah. They won't want to destroy Earth at least as long as we still are around. For they'll still actually need to have a base from which they can possibly attack our various Moon Kingdom worlds here in this solar system. Even I know that for a fact, and I sometimes do mix things up in my life."
"Anyone else want to comment here, by any chance at all, right now?"
The assembled people besides Prince Isaiah looked around at each other for a while, whenever possible, before Bethany, through Serena, said, "I don't really think so, Prince Isaiah. Or at least not about the number of our sentient enough inhabitants that might actually wind up being killed by our various enemies, if nothing else as well. We'd prefer to think of other things, I believe, for at least the time being, whenever possible, while we're still here in Japan with you and your people."
They all conversed to at least some degree with each other for a while longer, and at least until Prince Isaiah brought them all to the general location of where the Crown Arcade might actually be in the Tokyo of the 20th Century AD, if not the exact same location of it. In fact, in that general location, there happened to be a considerably large inn. This particular inn was a three-story inn. And it had at least a dozen rooms in it, as well. The members of Serena's traveling party would likely make this their main base of operations in the Edo local area, for all the obvious reasons, if at all possible. Any expenses that their traveling party actually incurred while they did so would most likely be taken care of by the necessary Japanese governmental official or officials, if the need arose for them to be taken care of in such a manner or in such manners. Those expenses might actually be taken care of right here by either Japanese Prince, if not both of them, whenever it was at all possible for them to do so here.
This particular inn called itself Chrysanthemum Crown Castle, as a matter of fact. It wasn't actually a castle, for it surely wasn't large enough to logically enough be considered one, by most, if not all, of the people that actually knew of it well enough in each of their lives. But the owners of it still called their inn what they called it here. And they'd owned it for many years of their lives, as well.
Little did anyone now present know that this place might actually prove to be where the Crown Arcade might be located in Tokyo. But if it actually was the case, nobody mortal yet knew that here, quite naturally. Just as they might not for many more years yet to come in the future, if they were somehow actually be able to be saved at some later time for the future, quite undoubtedly.
By local nightfall, then, everyone in their current traveling party was settled as much as possible in whatever rooms in the inn they'd been assigned to, no matter what. Serena, Destiny and Bethany took one room. Solomon and Renaldo did the same for a second. Princes Darien and Isaiah shared a room as well. Greg, Andrew, and Ken found themselves together in a room, as did Chad and Steven. Amy and Mina took a sixth room, while Raye and Lita took a seventh, as well. Lita and Raye's room was on the ground level of the inn, as were the rooms for Amy and Mina, and all three of the Moon girls. The non-Terran boys all found themselves in second-story rooms. Except for Solomon and Renaldo, who found themselves in a third-story room near where Darien and Isaiah were also staying on that level of the inn. Darien and Isaiah took a room directly opposite that of Solomon and Renaldo.
They all soon fell quite asleep in each of those rooms. And they didn't generally leave them for the rest of the night, once they'd retired for the night. Unless they had certain other things that they either wanted or needed to do in the middle of the night, of course. All of them slept rather soundly in their respective rooms, in fact. And they generally had rather pleasant dreams in them as they did so, whenever possible.
There will be one more chapter between this one and the chapter in which we will see the Scouts and their companions unexpectedly encounter Rolando and Sylvia again. Once that chapter is over, it will be almost time for us to re-meet them, for sure. And they won't be the only people that the Scouts will encounter while down on Earth, either. There's still a great deal of the story to tell. Something like three-quarters to four-fifths of it, maybe, at least for this volume, more or less, if I'm not too mistaken here, folks.
Until the next chapter, then, I'll close this here. TUS out.