This story takes place between the Sailor Moon S series and the Sailor Moon
Supers series.  It contains some spoilers for anyone who has not seen up to
the end of the Sailor Moon S series.  It is based on characters created by
Takeuchi Naoko.  The usual fanfic disclaimers apply.

This is my second attempt at SM fanfic.  It has no relation (other than one
rather vague reference) to my first, "The Four Horsemen."

Ken Wolfe        ken_wolfe@mbnet.mb.ca


                        Frozen Time


     The little tanuki was parched, famished, exhausted, frightened, and
utterly, utterly lost.
     She had been roaming across this alien landscape for days now,
encountering horrors in abundance but precious little sustenance.  No sooner
would she find a place that looked relatively safe than she would be found,
chased out and forced to run once more through this desolate, hellish maze.
     Her home was a quiet mountain forest, where she had been raising her
children in relative peace.  The tanuki, which some might call a badger or a
raccoon dog, had encountered the two legged ones before, and knew well enough
to avoid them.  She was, however, not yet familiar enough with their habits
to associate them with the gleaming, boxy objects they rode in.  When she
came across the parked vehicle, all that was on her mind was what she could
smell inside.  An open window was all the invitation she needed to crawl
inside and rummage through the piles of strange objects in the back, looking
for the food she smelled.
     She had barely found it down near the bottom of the rubble when she
heard them approach.  She instinctively froze.  The vehicle lurched as they
entered it.  She could not see them from down where she was, but there was no
mistaking the incessant chattering of the two legged ones.  There was
suddenly an even more horrific noise, and the whole world started to shake. 
She was old enough to have felt earthquakes, but this was utterly different,
it just went on and on until she lost track of time.  Daring only to peek out
on occasion, she could see the world whizzing by at a dizzying pace.
     An eternity later, it stopped.  When the rear of the vehicle suddenly
swung away, she darted out between the startled, screaming two legged ones
and ran as fast as she could.  Ran straight into the heart of Tokyo.
     It was twilight, and now she wandered through the ruins of a toppled
building, an area the two legged ones seemed to be giving a wide berth.  She
had hoped to find another of the ever so tiny green growing places that
dotted the grey desolation, but she would have to stay here for the night. 
Facing the flat grey expanses at night, dodging the gleaming boxes with their

horrible noise and smell and eyes like blinding sunlight was more than the
terrified animal could bear.  And the streets held so many of the two legged
ones, so very many...
     She was surprised to come across a small lake.  She did not understand
the idea of a circle, but noted its odd, regular shape.  She thankfully
slaked her thirst, then went back to the ruins to find a hiding place.
     She smelled something.  Food, possibly.  She crawled under a twisted,
shattered school desk to find... an egg?  It looked something like an egg,
but the smell was wrong.  She took it in her mouth, tried to break it.  It
wouldn't crack.  Driven by desperate hunger, she set it firmly between her
jaws and clamped down as hard as she could.  Harder.  She whined with the
effort.
     Her teeth slipped, and it went down whole.  It almost choked her, but
she managed to swallow it.  The pain as it went down was excruciating. 
Exhausted and no less hungry, she curled up and was soon asleep.
     Her body heat and stomach acids penetrated the daimon egg, snapping it
out of its dormant state.  It did what it was designed to do: it took control
of the object it found itself embedded within, reshaped it, made the object
its own.  But it encountered resistance: this object already had a life force
of its own, one that fought tenaciously to keep its life for itself.  The
daimon egg was nothing if not flexible: it merged its own essence with that
of the object, merged its own consciousness with that of the object.  It
translated the fear and hunger and hatred it found into a single directive:
find the heart.  Hunt down the two legged one and find its heart.  Feed on
it.
     The daimon stood up on its hind legs, effortlessly pushing aside the
twisted desk and the rubble that was piled on top of it.  The world seemed
much smaller now.  No longer afraid, it strode out into the night.


     Growling with frustration, Makoto tossed aside what may once have been
part of a blackboard, and glared at her companion.  "Ami, give it up.  We've
picked this place clean."
     Ami still stared at her computer.  It looked like a palmtop organizer,
but was really a piece of Silver Millennium technology that had more
computing power than all the PCs in Tokyo put together.  She shook her head. 
"I could have sworn that yesterday I picked up readings around here."
     "Well, you're not picking up anything now, are you?"
     Ami sighed and folded down the computer screen.  "Well, maybe they lose
their potency if they're left untended for a while."
     Makoto sat down to take a rest.  The early morning sun had cleared the
mist from the ruins of the Mugen school.  So there was enough light for them
to look for daimon eggs.  They had been doing this off and on over the past
few days.  Ever since a daimon had emerged from the ruins of the Death
Busters' base and nearly claimed their lives.  They had found a few eggs, and

destroyed them.  They had even found a few artifacts of Death Busters'
technology which Ami had insisted upon taking for study.  Makoto thought it
was too dangerous, but Ami seemed to know what she was doing, so she let it
slide.
     The powers that be were making a production of downplaying the
destruction of the school and surrounding area.  A sinkhole, clearly.  A flaw
in the foundation of the building, just waiting for an earth tremor to
trigger its collapse.  Couldn't have been foreseen, nobody at fault.  And
rumours of selective amnesia among the students were to be discounted. 
Perfectly natural reaction to such a trauma.  Nothing unusual.
     No Weird Shit going on here.  Nothing to see, move along.
     The authorities, wanting to appear nonchalant, had abandoned the site
after a cursory investigation.  The locals, who knew better, steered clear of
the ruins.  And it appeared that the government was having trouble finding
contractors willing to submit bids for clearing the rubble.  So the girls had
the run of the place.  Usually under the direction of Ami's scanners, Rei's
divination, or Usagi's just plain good luck, they had  taken turns rummaging
through the ruins, making sure there were no more unpleasant surprises
waiting to spring upon them.
     Last night, Ami had picked up what she thought might be a daimon reading
in this particular area.  But it was getting too dark and they had to give up
the search.  Now it appeared to be gone.
     After a while, Makoto stood up again. "Well, maybe I'll make one more
sweep around the crater, see if anything's floated up."
     "Not likely, anything inside the radius would have been pulverized," Ami
said from where she sat.
     "Well, I'm tired of picking through garbage.  Feel free to leave without
me, you've got a longer trip than me if you want to go home and change before
class."
     Ami smiled.  "Okay, I'll do one more scan and if nothing turns up I'll
go.  Thank you, Makoto.  As usual, you've done more than your share."
     "Better believe it.  Bye."  Makoto picked her way through the rubble and
stepped into the clearer area that surrounded the crater.  She shuddered as
she looked out over the placid water that filled it.  It still felt like
looking at Loch Ness.  Only worse, because she knew full well the horrors
that had almost been unleashed upon the world from this spot.  The horrors
that the four senshi had laboured to contain while Sailor Moon and Sailor
Saturn made their desperate bid to seal off the gateway the Death Busters had
opened.  The gateway had been sealed... at a cost.  But what had passed
through?  What lay in wait?
     Makoto shook her head, turned right and started her walk around the
crater.  There's enough to be scared of without making up things.
     Intent upon watching the water, she was taken unaware by the sudden
noise and the movement at the periphery of her vision.  Her heart leaped and
she spun around to face... huh?

     A gaijin stood looking at her.  It was a young man, a caucasian dressed
in a grey jacket with lots of pockets and zippers, loose casual jeans and an
incongruous sun hat.  He'd just stepped down from a fallen wall fragment he'd
been standing on, knocking loose some of the crumbled concrete in the
process.  The movement and sound had just been him stepping down and the
little pieces of concrete hitting the ground.  
     Makoto remembered to breathe again.
     In accented but fluent Japanese, the man casually said, "Miss, are you
planning to cast a spell on me or something?"
     Makoto suddenly realized that she had instinctively brought her arms up
crossed before her, second and fifth fingers extended, ready to call up a
defensive shield or to launch the Supreme Thunder.  Suddenly feeling very
embarrassed, she lowered her guard.  "Uh... sorry, you just startled me,
that's all."
     "I'm sorry about that.  You really looked like you were expecting a
monster to rise out of the lake, though."
     You don't know the half of it, she thought.  "Yeah, well, what happened
here was kind of spooky, the place gives me the creeps now."
     "So why are you here?"
     Oops.  Better think of something.  "Well, you see, I was taking a course
here and... and we all had to run out of here so quickly when it started to
collapse, I left some... mementos behind.  They're kind of important to me, I
was hoping to find them."
     "And you were expecting them to rise out of the water?"
     "Well, I've pretty much given up, I was just... sort of saying good bye,
you know?"
     "Sure."  He had come closer now.  He looked younger than what she had
first thought... and not bad looking either, a round naturally cheerful face
and stocky build, just a shave shorter than her.  "Where are my manners?  I'm
Jeff Clarke from San Francisco, pleased to meet you." he said, extending his
hand.
     "Kino Makoto, pleased to meet you." Makoto said, shaking his hand.
     "Ah, your name means 'truth,' that's very encouraging."  Makoto raised
an eyebrow at this odd remark, and he laughed.  "Everything else around here
seems to be a pack of lies."
     "What do you mean?" Makoto asked, very confused.
     "Well, just look at this place,"  Jeff said, spreading his arms and
looking around.  "You must have read the crap in the papers.  A sinkhole
collapsed by an earth tremor?  A broken gas pipe?  Hell, the place looks like
ground zero!  You were here, you must have seen with your own eyes, this was
more than just a collapsing building."
     Feeling suddenly very uncomfortable, Makoto wanted to turn the
conversation away from her.  "So what's your interest in this place?"
     "Me?  I'm a sort of amateur debunker, or skeptic, if you will.  I like
to find the truth behind so called evidence of ghosts, psychics, abductions,

that sort of thing.  I've never published or anything, except on the
internet, it's just a sort of on again off again hobby.  Since I've been in
Japan I've been meaning to visit this neighbourhood, it's gained a reputation
as a sort of Bermuda Triangle of the East."
     Wanting to steer the conversation even further away, Makoto abruptly
asked, "So how long have you been in Japan?"
     "About a year.  I've been here before, but it's my first extended stay. 
I've been taking more advanced language instruction than I could get back
home, in preparation for entering a University here.  In fact I just finished
my entrance exams, now I'm just working part time while I await the results."
     "Really?  Well, I wish you the best of luck,"  Makoto said, hoping she
could break away at this point.
     "Thanks.  Listen, I hate to be a nuisance but I'd really like to hear
more about your experience here.  Maybe we can get to the bottom of it if we
put our heads together.  Can I treat you to lunch?"
     This really took Makoto off guard, but luckily she had a ready excuse. 
"I have classes today, I'll be having lunch at my school."
     "Dinner then?  I saw a Thai restaurant two blocks from here on the way
from the station, I've been dying to try genuine Thai."
     Makoto knew the place.  Agreeing was probably the easiest way to get him
out of this place.  She and her friends had most likely cleared the area of
anything dangerous, but if this guy didn't get his dinner date he might just
start poking around here and she just didn't like that idea.  Well, it
couldn't be helped.  "Uh... sure.  I could make it for seven, is that okay?"
     "Great!  Thanks ever so much, it's nice of you to indulge me.  You're
probably starting classes soon, so I won't delay you any more.  See you
tonight," he said.
     "Okay, see you later," Makoto said, and watched him leave.  Were all
Americans so pushy?  But that was unfair, he really hadn't been aggressive at
all, he just seemed genuinely interested in what had happened here.  So now
just what the *hell* was she going to tell him?


     The bus dropped Makoto off just a couple of blocks from the restaurant. 
She straightened out the simple green dress she wore, making sure those
damned bus seats hadn't creased it.  She wanted to look casual, not slovenly. 
As she walked, she tried to convince herself that she had made the right
decision.  She had considered just not showing up, hoping he would just go
away mad and not come back.  But even at their brief meeting Jeff didn't
strike her as a quitter.  She would have to give him something before he was
satisfied, even if it was a cock and bull story.
     Besides, it was a free dinner at a nice place, so she could hardly
complain.
     He was waiting in front of the restaurant, twirling around his closed
umbrella playfully.  He was now in a dark sport jacket and plain open collar

shirt.  It looked good on him, she thought.  As did the closely cut sandy
hair that his sun hat had hidden this morning.  He smiled as he saw her
approach.  "Hello.  You look great, Makoto-san."
     "Thank you.  I hope you thought to make reservations, because I didn't." 
She was feeling a bit uncomfortable.  Jeff seemed to suddenly be treating
this like a date.
     "Of course."  They went in, got their table and ordered.  Jeff seemed to
want to know everything about her, he was full of questions.  He was very
surprised and impressed to hear that she had been managing on her own for
quite a long time, after she had lost her parents.  When she started telling
Jeff about the various sorts of traditional Japanese cooking she did as a
hobby, he surprised her with his own knowledge of the subject.  Apparently,
one of his language instructors had also been giving him cooking lessons, and
he had taken to it very nicely.  He claimed his main interest in Japanese
cuisine was to gain the benefits that gave the Japanese the longest lifespan
in the world, which struck Makoto as a rather odd reason to take up cooking.
     Their meals arrived, and this seemed to be the cue to move on to the
main subject at hand.  Makoto had been debating with herself all day over how
to handle this.  Obviously she could not tell him the whole truth.  She
decided to tell it from the point of view of one of the students... or
rather, one of the students who didn't know what was really going on.  That
wouldn't be too hard.  She knew some of the girls who had entered the school,
and had talked to them since the incident.  From that first hand testimony,
she could concoct a plausible story.
     The days before the explosion were very fuzzy, so her story went.  She
vaguely remembered feeling tired and ill.  She had passed it off as simply
the stress of the upcoming entrance exams.  But it got to the point where she
felt like a zombie, going through the motions of life, without really being
conscious.  That had all ended abruptly during one of the endless computer
based mock exams, when everything had happened all at once.  From that point,
time had extended to reveal everything with the clarity of slow motion.  The
earthquake came first, with the panicked mob stumbling over the shaking
ground, dodging falling debris, desperate to escape.  Somehow she got clear
of the building.  Then the explosions started, massive fireballs billowing
out from all parts of the building.  Behind the billowing smoke, she could
hear the building collapse.  Then they had all just ran, as far and as fast
as they could, far beyond the need of safety, as if desperate to distance
themselves from the place.  She had run herself to exhaustion, staggered the
rest of the way home, and collapsed.  As to the really weird stuff that was
supposed to have happened there the following day, well, she had been nowhere
near and didn't know anybody who was.
     Jeff listened intently to her story, then looked very thoughtful. 
"Well, it almost sounds like a coincidence of events.  A slow gas leak of
some sort that makes everybody sick, which builds up just in time for an
earth tremor to collapse a flaw in the foundation.  In the process, something

ignites the gas.  Quite a fluke, to say the least.  What do you think?"
     Makoto shrugged.  "It's as good as any theory I've heard."  Please,
Jeff, fall in love with your theory, accept it.  You really don't want to
know the truth.
     "They didn't let anybody into the area for a day after the explosion,"
Jeff continued.  "It would be pretty sad if that's all it was, just to let
somebody sneak in and cover evidence of a gas leak in the Mugen school, make
it appear like the leak was in one of the older buildings nearby."
     "Somebody high up in the city administration covering his fat backside,"
Makoto said encouragingly.  In fact, evacuate and wait had been the
authorities' SOP ever since the transformation and destruction of the Star
Light Tower, the first really serious piece of Weird Shit to hit the
neighbourhood.  Just get people out of there, let it sort itself out, and
then find some way to explain it away.  Couldn't let people know there were
aliens and extradimensional demons wandering about.
     Jeff nodded. "And as for what happened the day after... well, anyone
could claim they sneaked in past the barricades or were left behind during
the evacuation, and then make up any story they want.  There were even
reported sightings of the Pretty Sailor Senshi."
     Makoto's heart skipped a beat.  "You mean you've heard of them?"
     Jeff laughed.  "Urban legend turned media phenomenon, living in Tokyo
it's pretty hard to miss.  Of course, from what I hear, in Minato-ku you can
hardly have a lost kitten turn up without somebody saying it was the Sailor
Senshi who found it."
     "That's true enough," Makoto said, relaxing.  She had forgotten she was
talking to a damned proud of it skeptic.
     "That reminds me, I noticed there's going to be a Sailor V revival in
Shinjuku next week, have you ever seen it?"
     Makoto blinked.  "You've heard of that movie?"
     "Surprised?"
     "I guess so.  Most gaijin... sorry, most foreigners know who Gojira is,
but I didn't think Sailor V was popular outside Japan."
     "It's not widely known, but it has a cult following.  I got the laser
disk as soon as it was out, so did a lot of other collectors in the US.  It's
an even bigger phenomenon in England, you know.  When I went to London for a
SF convention they actually showed it in 35mm film!  There were all sorts of
fanzines, there were even those dreadful sightings 'zines that talk about
crop circles and such, they were reporting sightings of Sailor V and assorted
demons in London."
     "I never would have thought," Makoto said, though she could well imagine
why Sailor V was such a hit in London.  "I saw it on opening night here, I
had to stand in line all day to get that ticket."
     "Ah, a fellow fan, I knew it!  Well, hopefully we won't have to wait in
line this time," Jeff said, smiling.
     I guess that means we're going, Makoto thought.




     "Hey baby, where you been all my life?"
     When Makoto heard that coming in through her open window from the alley
below, two thoughts came to mind.  First, that was just about the most
coherent, eloquent and original statement she had heard one of those two
hoods utter since they had started hanging around the street corner under her
window.  Second, she wondered what girl would be dumb enough to be taking a
shortcut through the alleys in this neighborhood alone after dark.
     Presently she heard a woman's footfalls approach her apartment, and
there was a knock on her door.  Well, I guess I'm about to find out, Makoto
thought as she got up from her bed, where she'd just been lying down
daydreaming.  She walked over and opened the door. "Ami!  What are you doing
here?"
     Ami looked very nervous.  She clutched her school bag tightly to her. 
"I'm sorry to bother you this late, but can we talk?"
     "Of course, come on in," Makoto said.  "Ami, you really look spooked, is
something wrong?"
     "Yes, I think something is very wrong," Ami had taken off her shoes and
was walking over to the low table.  "I need to show you something."  She sat
down on the tatami mats, next to the table, and started pulling papers out of
the bag.
     Makoto sat down beside her and looked at the paper that Ami handed her. 
As she read, it became apparent that it was a transcript of a police report
from a crime scene... a murder scene.  These were transmissions that police
made from computer terminals in their cruisers.  Ami was not supposed to have
them.  Naturally the transmissions were encrypted, but to a Silver Millennium
quantum computer with nearly infinite processing power, such encryption was
little more than a curtain to be drawn aside.  As she read further, the
comments from the police became less clinical and more unrestrained.  We've
got more Weird Shit here.  Another case for the spooks, they'll no doubt be
taking this ones off our hands too.  Good riddance, they can have it. 
Couldn't pay me enough to hunt down whatever did this.  The time stamps on
the messages put them at just a few days ago, about when she had first met
Jeff.  She looked up at Ami. "Where did you get this?"
     "I hacked into the police archives network earlier today.  Don't worry,
they can't trace me.  There are five more cases, all pretty similar."
     "What do you mean similar?"
     Ami handed her a black and white facsimile picture.  Makoto looked at
it, then dropped it as if it were on fire.  "My God!"  It was a picture of
one of the murder victims, a young man.  Something had sliced him open from
chin to crotch, and then had literally pried open his ribcage.  The whole
area was covered in blood.
     Makoto held her head in her hands for a few moments and breathed in

gasps, waiting for the nausea to pass.  Ami was gently stroking her back. 
"I'm sorry Makoto, I should have said something to prepare you for that.  I
wasn't thinking."
     "I'll be okay.  Who the hell could have done that?  Were they all like
that?"
     "Yes.  They all had their hearts removed."
     "Their *hearts*?"
     "The coroners' reports said it looked like some large animal had
literally eaten their hearts while they were still beating."
     Makoto shivered and turned away.  Then something clicked.  Hearts. 
Eating living hearts.  She swung around to face Ami again. "A daimon!  It's
got to be a daimon!"
     Ami nodded.  "It fits.  The first victim was found near the school.  The
very next morning I couldn't find that daimon reading anymore."
     "It fits, but no daimon ever did... *this*!  Why all of a sudden?"
     Ami shook her head.  "Who knows.  Maybe without the Death Busters to
guide it, without them to extract a heart crystal for it to consume, the
daimon is just acting on instinct."
     Makoto's eyes settled on another of the fax pictures, a map.  She looked
closer at it, and gasped.  "Ami, the last of these was just a few streets
from your place!"
     "Yes, I saw the police line on the way home.  That's what got me prying
into the police network."
     Makoto suddenly understood.  "And that's why you came here."
     Ami looked down, obviously very uncomfortable.  "My mother is away on a
conference.  I just suddenly felt... very alone."
     Makoto surprised her friend by suddenly embracing her and holding her
tightly.  "Silly girl.  Why didn't you call me?  I'd have come over.  And
coming here all alone at this hour... this part of the neighbourhood isn't
what it used to be, and that thing is still out there."
     Ami returned her embrace. "I'm sorry.  I didn't think I could explain,
just over the phone, why I was..." her voice trailed off.
     Makoto slid back to look at Ami.  "It's okay to admit you're scared."
     But Ami smiled at her. "I'm not really scared any more.  But I still
feel silly, just barging in like this.  I've already been a burden, I should
get back home."
     "Don't even think about it.  You're sleeping here tonight.  No argument. 
You can wear one of my pyjamas."
     "They won't fit."
     "Then you can sleep in the raw!" Makoto said, exasperated.
     Ami blushed and averted her eyes.  Then she smiled again.  "I guess
you're right.  It's hard for me to admit that, sometimes, I'd rather not be
on my own.  Even now, after we've become such good friends."
     Makoto squeezed her hand.  "Well that makes two of us.  The habits of a
loner are hard to break.  Believe me, I know.  Come on, we'll get your futon

set up."
     It really was getting late, so in just a few minutes they had settled in
for the night.  Ami stared up at the ceiling of the darkened room.  "I guess
we'll have to tell the others tomorrow."
     "Yeah.  I'm not looking forward to that."
     "I've been thinking, we should get Rei to do a reading on this, so we'll
have to fill her in.  But when we tell Usagi and Minako..."
     "We can gloss over the gory details," Makoto interrupted.  "No sense
upsetting them more than necessary."
     Ami was silent for a while.  "Makoto, is that man you met at the ruins
still asking about the Mugen school incident?"
     "Jeff?  No, he seems to have lost interest.  He came up with a theory
that he liked."
     "That's good, considering."
     "Oh, I see.  No, he's not about to start poking around there in the
middle of the night.  In a way I'm glad the police are keeping these murders
a secret.  It would be real X Files stuff, right up his alley."
     "Really?  It sounds like you're getting to know him quite well."
     "Good night, Ami."


     "A tanuki?" Minako asked incredulously.
     "Yes, that's what it looks like,"  Rei replied.  She had just come back
from doing her reading at the shrine, having said she wished to do this
reading alone.  She and her friends were now sitting around a low table in
the temple residence.  Thought it wasn't cold enough to be using the space
heaters, the sliding doors were all shut against the cool of the evening.
     "But they're such cute little things!" Usagi protested.  "They'd never
hurt anyone!"
     You didn't see the pictures, Rei thought.  But she wouldn't say that. 
She had promised Ami.  "It's been changed almost beyond recognition.  If
Ami's right about it being a daimon, then the daimon egg must have merged
with a tanuki."
     Usagi turned to Ami.  "So what can we do?  Can we find it?"
     Ami shook her head.  "I don't think we can easily detect it.  Ever since
that daimon we fought in the ruins, I've had the scanners on the computer
sweeping for any activity.  I had the sensitivity turned up so high I was
getting false alarms from background life signs.  But even though there was
an attack just a little ways from my place,  there was no reading out of the
ordinary.  It's as if merging with a terrestrial animal has sort of...
cloaked it."
     "That's bad," Artemis said.  He was sitting on the table next to where
Minako sat, but now he got up and started pacing the table, a sure sign to
everyone that he was really worried.  For a cat, even a lunar one, he could
display remarkably expressive body language.  "It seems to be attacking

people at random, so we can't track it and we can't predict it's movements
either."
     "Maybe if we could figure out where it's hiding during the day, and how
it's moving around," Luna suggested.  She remained seated on the table near
Usagi, but she too looked troubled.  "But it's moving over such a wide area,
it seems hopeless.  Where would we even start?"
     "We could bait it." Makoto said.  The others all turned to her.  "It's
doing this because it can't find a heart crystal.  Let's give it one."
     "But how do we do that?" Usagi asked.
     Makoto looked over at Ami and was about to speak, but Ami was already
shaking her head.  "No.  Even if I thought we could do it safely, even if one
of us volunteered, I won't turn one of those Death Buster weapons on another
person.  Not ever."
     "I agree with Ami," Minako said.  "There must be some other way."
     "Maybe just discharging one of those guns would attract it," Rei
suggested. "It's probably attuned to the kind of energy the weapons use."
     "I'm really nervous about using those machines at all," Luna said. "We
were lucky to get some technical files out of the ruins, but we barely
understand how they work."
     "Well, you have to admit we barely understand how our own devices work,"
Ami said, waving her computer as an example. "I'm sure I've hardly scratched
the surface of what this thing we naively call a 'computer' can really do. 
Those guns seem to be designed to be used by people who have only a minimal
knowledge of how they work, they're full of fail safes."
     "Do you actually have one of those guns working?" Artemis asked.
     "Not yet, they were all at least slightly damaged.  I've got the most
promising one in the shed at the back of the temple grounds here, stripped
and cleaned.  Rei gave me the key to the place."
     "And I have the only other key," Rei added.  "Usually it's pretty much
just my own work space, I told Grandpa I'm lending it to Ami for a class
project."
     "Well, right now we don't seem to have a lot of options," Luna said.  "I
guess it can't hurt to try to get one of them working.  But please be
careful, Ami.  If you're not sure it's safe then just don't go any farther,
we'll think of something else."
     "Okay, Luna.  Makoto, could you come over here tomorrow night and give
me a hand with it?  It's going to require some delicate work and you have
steadier hands than I do."
     "Sure, sure," Makoto teased, "You just want somebody to massage your
shoulders while you're hunched over those infernal machines."
     "Well, if you're offering..."
     "I'll be there, just show me what to do," Makoto said, showing with a
warm smile that she had just been kidding.
     "I'm surprised you have the time, Mako-chan," Usagi said slyly, "I
thought you were too busy going out with your new boyfriend these days."

     "Usagi, your timing sucks," Rei chided.
     Actually her timing is perfect, Makoto thought, I was hoping to change
the subject away from the daimon business for a while.  "Well, it's not like
I'm seeing Jeff every night, you know, we've gone out just a couple of
times."
     "So tell us about him," Usagi said, crossing her arms on the table and
laying her chin down on them, child-like expectation in her eyes.  "He's a
gaijin, right?  Does he at least speak Japanese?"
     "He's an American, and yes of course he can speak Japanese, do you think
my English is good enough to be dating a guy who can't?"
     "So what does he talk about?" Usagi asked eagerly.
     "Well, lately we've been talking about philosophy."
     "What?" Usagi looked crestfallen. "You're not dating an egghead, are
you?"
     "Does he plan to study philosophy in college?" Ami asked.
     "No, he actually wants to study engineering, but he's been interested in
something called Extropian philosophy for a couple of years now."
     "Sounds like a rare disease..." Usagi said, sounding even more dejected.
     " 'Extropy' is the opposite of entropy, right?" Ami asked, ignoring
Usagi's whining.
     "Yes.  It's meant to express what life does, building spontaneous order
out of chaos.  Like evolution making more and more complex living things,
such as us."
     "But what sort of a philosophy is it?" Ami asked, looking fascinated and
also relieved at having a diversion from the grim business of hunting daimon.
     "It's mostly a way of looking at science and technology, I think. 
Extropians want to advance technology so that it becomes part of us instead
of just tools we pick up and use.  They want to merge people with
technology."
     "You mean that literally?" Rei asked.  "Like replacing our bodies with
machines?"  She sounded more than a little revolted by the idea.
     "Well, it sounds a bit different the way Jeff describes it, he calls it
becoming transhuman.  It's going beyond the human condition, so that you can
live longer, be smarter and do more things.  It's all long term though, he
doesn't expect much of that to happen for many years."
     "Still, it sounds kind of scary," Minako said. "I mean, what would a
transhuman look like anyway?"
     "Maybe something like a sailor senshi," Ami said.  The blank stares she
got begged further explanation.  "Well, think about it, we use devices from
the Silver Millennium to transform us into something that is stronger than a
human and can do things a human can't.  Isn't that like the transhuman that
Makoto's talking about?"
     "But Ami, that's *magic*, not technology." Rei protested.
     "Have you ever heard Clarke's Law?" Ami asked.
     "No, but I'm sure I'm about to," Rei said with a crooked smile.

     "Arthur C. Clarke once said..."
     "Who?" Minako interrupted.
     "He wrote 2001: A Space Odyssey," Makoto said.  "We rented the movie
once, remember?"
     "Oh right!  The one where a flying bone turns into a spaceship or
something."
     Ami sighed.  "Anyway, Clarke's Law says that any sufficiently advanced
technology is indistinguishable from magic.  In other words, there really is
no difference."
     "I still think magic is different though," Minako protested.  "Luna, you
probably remember most about the Silver Millennium, did they use science or
magic?"
     Luna did the best approximation to a shrug that a cat could manage. 
"I'd have to agree with this Clarke fellow, it probably doesn't matter what
you call it.  They made devices that harnessed various sorts of energy, and
then they learned how to use the devices to do things.  What would you call
that?"
     "I'd call it boring," Usagi said, suddenly lifting her head up off the
table.  "Makoto, because we decided that we shoudn't get Chibi-Usa involved
in this daimon hunt, I had to *persuade* Mamoru to take her out to a concert
tonight where I am sure she is having a *marvellous* time with him."  She
looked Makoto squarely in the eyes, with comically exaggerated seriousness. 
"I deserve some compensation.  Information.  You can at least answer this:
what does your new boyfriend look like?"
     "Well, he looks nothing at all like my first boyfriend..." Makoto
assured her.
     "We figured that one out already, Mako-chan," Rei interjected.
     "...but he does dress a lot like him."
     There was a collective groan.  Rei lowered her head down onto the table. 
"God, I think I'm gonna hurl..."


     Makoto was just about to give up and hang up when she finally heard
somebody pick up the phone.  A familiar voice said "Hello?"
     "Hi Jeff, it's me."
     "Makoto-san!  How's it going?"
     "Sorry for being such a stranger lately, I've been tied up with school
work."  Actually it had been only three days since they last met, and she had
spent much of that time helping Ami with the Death Busters machines.  They
had made good progress, and Makoto was eager to reward herself with a change
of pace.  "It turns out I'll be free today, I thought we could go out
somewhere."
     "Actually, I was on my way out, I'm... visiting a friend."
     "Oh.  Gee, you've never really talked about your other friends here in
Japan, is this somebody from your language school?"

     "Uh, well no."  Jeff seemed suddenly evasive.  "It's somebody who's been
my penpal for a while."  There was an unusually long silence.  Makoto was
beginning to wonder of she had lost the connection when Jeff abruptly said,
"Actually, why don't you come along?  I'd like you to meet her."
     *Her?*  "I don't want to intrude..."
     "Not at all, I'd been wanting to introduce you to some of my other
friends.  Uh... we won't be able to stay long, so the two of us can go out
for dinner afterwards, how does that sound?"
     "If that's okay with your friend..." Makoto said hesitantly.
     "Sure.  It probably makes most sense for us to meet at Shibuya station,
that's where both of us would have to transfer."
     "I guess that means we're meeting at the Hachiko," Makoto said, naming
the famous statue beside the Shibuya train station.
     "Okay.  From where I am I'll probably get there first, so I'll be
waiting."
     "I'll be as quick as I can."
     "No hurry.  See you there."  They said goodbye, and Makoto hung up.  She
stood and thought for a moment.  Jeff had seemed ill at ease, something was
wrong here.  He wasn't taking her to meet the competition, was he?  That
would certainly take some chutzpa.  And just when had she started thinking of
his other lady friends as potential competition?  She shrugged, and started
getting ready to leave.
     On the subway ride to Shibuya, Makoto's thoughts naturally strayed to
the daimon hunt.  They had a plan of action for when the daimon showed up
again, but Ami had heard no further reports of it as yet.  Theoretically they
should have been devoting all their time to the hunt: each day the monster
was loose could mean another death.  But all of them had learned some time
ago that they could not live permanently in the realm of the sailor senshi,
the realm of demons and aliens and magical powers.  They needed to be part of
the daily bustle of normal live, needed it just like food and air.  To lose
touch with the human world they had been growing up in  would be to lose
sanity.
     Jeff was waiting when she arrived.  He led her down to the subway line
to go further out into the outskirts of Tokyo.  In between finding out what
he'd been up to in the past couple of days Makoto asked about this friend of
Jeff's as casually as possible.  All she could get out of him was that her
name was Akiko and he had known her for a couple of years.  Despite his
cheerful banter Makoto could see that Jeff was uneasy about something.  She
was becoming rather apprehensive herself.
     When a twenty minute walk from the station took them into the heart of a
light industrial park, Makoto really began to wonder what Jeff was up to. 
"Jeff, are we going to visit her at her office?"
     "No, not exactly.  It's just at the next block."  A couple of minutes
later he stopped them in front of a small nondescript grey single story
industrial building, much like many of the others in the area.  There were no

windows, just a steel and glass door with an intercom and a company name in
small characters.  It read Cross Time in stylized roman characters.  The
Japanese characters below it were plain enough, but Makoto had never seen
them used together this way, the meaning seemed to be "human cold temperature
preservation."
     Makoto turned to Jeff to ask him what this was, and stopped.  He was
looking at her with a grim expression she had never seen before. "Makoto-san,
there's something I have to tell you.  About Akiko, I mean.  Over a year ago,
she was very badly injured in a traffic accident.  She was taken to a
hospital but... well, they couldn't do anything for her."
     Makoto gasped.  "You mean she's...?"
     "They declared her legally dead, but it's not quite what you think.  A
few months before her accident, she had opened a special insurance policy
with this company."  He nodded towards the building.  "Right after the
doctors had given up on her, the Cross Time people put her through a process
to slow down and then stop her metabolism.  Eventually she was brought here,
where she's been kept ever since."
     Makoto shook her head in bewilderment.  "Jeff, I'm sorry, I don't
understand.  What exactly is this place?"
     "It's called a cryonic preservation facility.  You can think of it as an
intensive care unit for people that today's doctors can't help.  The purpose
of it is to keep their patients safe until a time when doctors *can* help
them."
     It took a moment for Makoto to grasp what Jeff was saying.  "You mean...
doctors in the future?"
     "Yes, maybe decades from now or even centuries from now if need be."
     "So then... what we're doing is like an *o-mimai*?" Makoto asked, using
the Japanese idiom that meant visiting a sick friend.
     Jeff's expression suddenly brightened, as if Makoto's quick
understanding came as a welcome surprise.  "Yes, that's exactly what it is. 
Look, I'm very sorry about the way I just dropped this in your lap, it's
really inexcusable.  It was really stupid, my bringing you here without any
warning.  It's just that, well, somehow it's easier for me to explain it when
I'm actually here, close to her."  Makoto could see that he was getting
fidgety.  "It won't take long, if you'd prefer to wait for me out here,
that's okay."
     "What are you talking about?"  Makoto said, surprising Jeff and herself
with her sharp tone.  "We came here to visit your sick friend, didn't we?  If
she's in a coma or something... well, all the more reason to show her our
support, right?"
     Jeff leaned forward, kissed her on the cheek, and smiled warmly. 
"You're a treasure."
     Makoto felt a flush come to her cheeks, and she glanced around
nervously.  "Jeff, cut it out, someone could see."
     "You really are a treasure.  Come on, let's go in."  He stepped up to

the door and rang the buzzer.  A man's voice came on the intercom, and Jeff
identified himself.  The electronic lock buzzed, and Jeff pulled open the
door and held it open for Makoto.  She preceded him into a small, spare foyer
that reminded her of the waiting room of a doctor's office.  The next room, a
small office, was visible through a glazed partition with an open slot,
something like a bank teller.  Behind the glass was a man in a white lab
coat.  He smiled, and he and Jeff waved and greeted each other in a familiar
fashion.  They walked up to the partition and Jeff made the introductions. 
The man was Ueda Yoshio, one of the technicians who watched over their
patients.  He was a short, bespectacled man with long straight hair and an
infectious smile.  He signed them in, passed two visitors' badges through the
slot and disappeared to go open the inner door for them.  It opened into a
short hallway, where Yoshio led them past the door to his office, over to
another door, which he opened with a pass card.  He ushered them in.
     Makoto had no idea what she was expecting to see, but it certainly
wasn't this.  The room had a high ceiling and was dominated by four
featureless shiny metal cylinders, each standing nearly three meters high and
over a meter across.  There were a few pieces of equipment she couldn't
identify and not much else, it looked more like a warehouse than a medical
centre.  
     Yoshio politely excused himself, and went to a desk at the far end of
the room to continue with some reading he had to do, leaving Makoto and Jeff
standing in front of one of the cylinders.  Jeff pointed to it.  "Akiko's in
there," he said in a low voice.  "With one other patient.  Each of these can
hold four."  He smiled sympathetically.  "I guess it's not quite what you
were expecting, is it?"
     "I don't know, I guess I was expecting to see her lying in something
like a hospital bed."
     "I suppose you could say she's in a very deep coma.  This dewar is just
like a big thermos bottle, it's full of liquid nitrogen to keep her cold."
     Makoto's eyes widened in surprise.  "You mean... she's *frozen*?"
     "Well, the process they put her through kept any ice crystals from
forming in her body, so it's more like being encased in glass."
     Glass.  Encased in glass.  Makoto's mind suddenly leapt forward a
thousand years, to Crystal Tokyo.  To where King Endymion showed her into the
room that held the still form of his beloved wife, Serenity.  To where Neo
Queen Serenity, Usagi's future self, was lying embedded in the shimmering
clear crystals that held her frozen between life and death.
     Maybe that's what I was expecting to see, Makoto thought to herself.
     Jeff's voice snapped her out of her reverie.  "I never thought about it,
but I guess you don't even know what Akiko looks like.  Next time we meet
I'll bring one of the snapshots she sent me," Jeff said.
     A sudden revelation hit Makoto.  "You never met her in person, did you?"
     "No, we'd just exchanged electronic mail, a few letters and photos, and
talked long distance.  We were intending to meet when I came over here to

study, but I heard about her accident just a couple of months before I got
here."
     "Oh Jeff..." Makoto just put a comforting hand on his shoulder, not
knowing what more she could say.
     But Jeff suddenly smiled.  "You shouldn't be sad.  You see, it was
Akiko's dream to make a world where there was no sickness.  When I first
started writing her she was already in premed.  This freezing of terminal
patients, it was just another part of her vision, she really wanted to be
able to save everyone.  If she couldn't help bring about that world herself,
then she at least wanted to live to see it."  He looked away from Makoto to
the shining dewar looming over them. " I guess now she'll just have to wait. 
Wait for others to create the science that will bring her back out of frozen
time."  He laughed nervously.  "Sorry, I'm rambling.  I guess it's kind of
morbid, this planning for your own death."
     Makoto shook her head.  "No.  I think it's a wonderful dream, wanting to
see a world with no sickness.  I hope she makes it."  She looked at the
gleaming cylinders around her.  "I hope they all do."


     Since her association with Michiru, Usagi had been inspired to expand
her musical horizons.  Having been so impressed by Michiru's virtuosity with
the violin, Usagi was particularly keen on finding any concerts with lots of
violins playing something romantic.  Her friends were inevitably drawn into
this mission, Ami quite enthusiastically, the others somewhat less so.  But
be that as it may, they were all in agreement that they couldn't pass up a
performance that included Gustav Holst's The Planets.
     It was intermission, and the five girls stood with Mamoru and Chibi-usa
on a balcony overlooking the expansive foyer of the concert hall.  Ami was
holding still while Minako helped her straighten out the ribbon on the back
of her dress.  "There, I think that's got it now," Minako said.  "Honestly
Ami, do you have any dresses that *don't* have a big ribbon on the back?"
     Ami laughed cheerfully.  "I think I might have one."
     "Well I've never seen it then."  They had all taken the opportunity to
dress up for the occasion, the girls all in their best dresses and Mamoru in
a tuxedo that was just one cape away from being his Tuxedo Kamen outfit.
     "So how did you like the concert so far, Chibi-usa?" Mamoru asked her.
     "It was very pretty music,"  Chibi-usa beamed.  "But I still think it's
not fair.  He wrote music for all the other planets, but not for the moon. 
And not for Pluto."
     "The planet Pluto hadn't been discovered when he wrote the piece,"  Ami
explained.  "And the moon really isn't a planet, it's a natural satellite."
     "I still feel sort of left out, and I think Pooh does too," Chibi-usa
said, speaking for her absent friend Sailor Pluto.
     Rei chuckled.  "I think he had Roman gods in mind when he wrote it, not
us."

     "Oh, I don't know," Usagi said, "Somehow the Mars part always makes me
think of how you are when you lose your temper."
     "Are you saying I have a temper?" Rei said in an utterly calm voice that
set off warning bells in the back of everyone's heads.
     Showing the impeccable timing that seemed to be her birthright, Chibi-
usa suddenly tugged on Mamoru's arm and said, "Mamoru-san, I'm thirsty, come
buy me a juice!"
     "I'm not sure they're serving juice here,"  Mamoru said nervously as he
was dragged towards one of the bartenders.
     "I'd better go make sure she doesn't persuade him to buy her a martini,"
Usagi said in explanation as she followed them.
     Rei shook her head as they watched Usagi catch up with the other two. 
"Usagi's become so paranoid about letting those two do anything together. 
Doesn't she understand that Chibi-usa is Mamoru's child as well?"
     "It must be very difficult for her," Ami said in her friend's defense. 
"Chibi-usa is her daughter, but right now she's more like a little sister. 
Just how is Usagi supposed to treat her?"
     Minako giggled.  "I feel most sorry for Mamoru, actually.  He's always
caught in the middle of their bickering.  He must feel like a referee sometimes."
     "I think the three of them will work it out somehow," Ami said.  She
turned to Makoto.  "You've been very quiet tonight, Mako-chan.  Are you
feeling okay?"  She sounded genuinely concerned.
     Makoto smiled and nodded.  "Yes, I'm fine."  At some point over the past
couple of days they had all found out about Makoto's odd experience visiting
Jeff's friend.  They were all aware that it had left her a little shaken. 
"After Jeff took me to see Akiko, I've just been thinking about things that I
normally don't think about at all."
     "You mean about life and death?" Rei asked gently.
     "Exactly.  I just didn't know what to think.  There she was frozen in
this tank, yet Jeff was talking about her as if she were still alive.  Rei,
do you think...?"
     Rei was already shaking her head.  "I know what you're going to ask. 
You're not the first to think of that.  We've had people come to the shrine
who had relatives in a coma, begging with us for some way to tell them if
their loved one was really gone.  If they could still hope or if they should
just let go.  I'm sorry, Makoto, I have no way to tell if a spirit has fled
it's body."
     Breaking an awkward silence, Ami said, "I did find out about that
company, Cross Time.  It's only been there for a couple of years, but it's
actually the first overseas branch of an American company that's been doing
this for about thirty years.  They have dozens of patients in suspension, and
hundreds more signed up for the treatment if they're declared legally dead."
     "Why were you looking for information on the company?" Minako asked.
     "I asked her to," Minako said.  She was nervously rubbing the back of
her neck, a sure sign to her friends that she was embarrassed. "I was afraid

that Akiko had become part of some scam or cult, taking her money and giving
her and Jeff false hopes.  I was even thinking it was some bizarre plot to
steal life energy, some new enemy we hadn't seen before.  Or even that it was
all an elaborate joke, that they were just storing embryos or something.  I
was imagining all sorts of things, I can tell you."
     "But do those people have any hope?" Minako asked, looking at Ami.  "I
mean, of ever being brought back to life?"
     Ami shrugged.  "I couldn't say.  Anyway, nobody knows more than we do
that the line between life and death is a lot more blurry than we would like
to think."  Her friends were shocked into silence by Ami's implicit reference
to their own death and resurrection.
     Only Makoto, who in the past little while had gotten used to thinking of
these matters, was not taken aback.  "You know, this all reminds me of
something.  Do you remember what the Snow Dancers did to a lot of Tokyo?"
     "How could we forget," Rei said.  Their thoughts were cast back to the
time when Princess Kaguya had descended upon the Earth on her shimmering
white comet, intending to add this world to her collection.  She had sent her
Snow Dancers first to Tokyo, where they began the task of encasing every
living thing they found in their glittering clear crystals, leaving them
still living yet frozen in place.  Only the intervention of the Sailor Senshi
had prevented them from putting the entire planet into eternal frozen sleep.
     "I see what you're getting at," Minako said.  "When we defeated the Snow
Dancers, the people they had frozen went back to normal, almost as if nothing
had happened."
     "Right.  They were freezing those people for the wrong reasons, just to
make them like butterflies in a collection.  But just think, if somebody's
life was in danger and there was no way to save them, maybe that would be the
only thing to do."
     "I'm not sure if I like the idea," Rei said. "I mean, what if they
started freezing  everyone who is dying of AIDS until a cure was found?  I
just have this horrible vision of thousands upon thousands of people stored
away in big freezer vaults for a hundred years."
     "Or five billion people for a thousand years."
     Ami had simply been thinking aloud, but she was suddenly aware of how
her friends  were staring at her.  One look at their faces told her that they
had all grasped the significance of her comment.  "We haven't had much time
to think about it since the Death Busters showed up," she continued.  "But if
what King Endymion told us in Crystal Tokyo is true, then the world will be
frozen over sometime in the next few years."
     Rei sighed.  They'd had this argument before.  "Ami..."
     "I know," Ami interrupted as gently as she could.  "There is no fate,
except what we make ourselves.  You taught me that.  But I still think it's
something we should prepare for."
     "How do you mean prepare?" Minako asked.
     "I'd saved some of the crystals left over from the Snow Dancers'

attacks.  I want to see if I can analyze them and reproduce the process."
     Makoto was shocked by the enormity, the incredible hubris of what Ami
was thinking. "You mean prepare to do what Princess Kaguya almost did..." she
said, awestruck.
     Ami was visibly upset, and abruptly averted her eyes.  "I know how that
must sound.  But what if someday the only alternative is to just watch the
whole world die?  What if we have no other choice?"
     "You're right."  Rei walked over and gently brushed aside a wisp of
Ami's hair that had fallen forward near her eyes.  "Like last time, you're
right.  If we want to head off what fate has in store for us, then we have to
be ready to fight it.  Or, to just work with it, if need be."
     "Rei..." Ami couldn't think how to thank her friend, thank her for
understanding.
     "Hey, what's with all the long faces, did somebody die?"
     "Usako..." Mamoru said sternly, chiding her for startling the girls. 
The two Usagis each happily held a drink festooned with carrots, celery,
maraschino cherries, little umbrellas and whatever else you could conceivably
stick into a drink.  They each also had a firm grip on one of Mamoru's arms,
which had pretty much precluded the possibility of him ordering something for
himself.
     Rei laughed out loud.  "Well, you'd both better drink, eat or inhale
those pretty quickly, the intermission is almost over."


     "Here's to the best curry rice in Tokyo, kanpai!" Jeff said, raising his
wine glass high.
     "Kanpai!" Makoto returned, clinking her own glass against his.  They
both took another drink and put their glasses back down on the kitchen
counter.  She looked at the clock on the wall.  "Should we give it a try
now?"
     "Certainly not, we serve no curry before it's time.  We promised we'd
wait until we knew it was perfect."
     "I know, but the aroma is intoxicating."  The two of them had decided
that today they would collaborate to make the penultimate curry rice.  It had
been an all day affair, right from the morning shopping to the upcoming
culmination of the long simmering process.  Two perfectionists in one kitchen
could have been a recipe for trouble, but they had found that they worked
together splendidly.
     "Let's sit down for a while," Jeff suggested.
     "Good idea, it will take me further from temptation."  They removed the
slippers they wore in the kitchen and went to sit on the tatami mats by
Makoto's low table.  The bottle of wine was there, still more than half full. 
Makoto knew she shouldn't be drinking, but it was hardly her first time.  And
besides, she had been the one to suggest that Jeff get them some.
     "Shouldn't you be getting the results of your entrance exams soon?"

Makoto asked.
     "Probably starting next week."
     She smiled sympathetically.  "Nervous?"
     "A bit.  I'm not too concerned about getting into a big name university. 
It's some of the smaller universities with less conservative administrators
that are doing the most exciting research, that's where I'd like to get my
start."
     "You're talking about nanotechnology, right?"
     Jeff grinned. "Mentioned it already, have I?  Yes, that's my real dream. 
It's only in its infancy, but just think of what we could do with it, if we
really could control matter right down to the molecular level.  We could make
just about anything we wanted, cure any disease, even reshape our own bodies. 
It would be a whole new world."  He chuckled.  "Listen to me, you must be
getting tired of hearing this."
     "Not at all," Makoto said, meaning it.  In fact, she loved nothing more
than listening to him talk about the world he wanted to build.  She wondered
how much of his enthusiasm had been inspired by Akiko's example.
     The phone rang.  Annoyed at the interruption, Makoto walked across the
room and picked up the receiver.  "Hello?"
     "Makoto, it's Rei.  I knew you had company, so I didn't use the
communicator."
     "Yes?" Makoto said as casually as she could manage, but her heart had
started racing as soon as she heard Rei's urgent tone.  Rei having considered
using their communication wristbands could only mean one thing.
     "There's been another attack in Juban.  We have some idea where it's
probably gone to ground, Ami wants to try the bait."
     "Where?"
     "The playground three blocks north from my school."
     Makoto kept a detailed map of Juban pinned to the wall beside her phone. 
She traced her finger from where she knew Rei's private school to be, to make
sure she understood where to go.  She tapped the little green spot marking
the playground. "Got it, I'll leave right away."
     "Right."  They both hung up.
     "Makoto, is something wrong?"
     Makoto turned to look at Jeff, and saw worry in his face.  I guess I did
a poor job of trying to sound casual, she thought.  "Jeff, I'm really sorry
but something's come up.  I have to go out right now, I'm not sure when I can
come back."
     Jeff frowned, looking even more worried.  "Makoto, I don't mean to pry,
but that sounded really serious.  Is there anything I can do to help?"
     Makoto was aware of just how obvious the tension she was feeling must
be, there was no point trying to hide it anymore.  The other girls had long
since come up with ready excuses for all the times they were suddenly called
out at odd hours, to allay their families' suspicions.  Living alone, Makoto
had no need for such excuses.  Until now.  She drew a deep breath. "Jeff, I'm

sorry but I don't have time to explain right now.  I have to go help a friend
of mine, it's something important."  She turned towards the door as she
talked.  "Please start dinner without me, and just leave what's left to
simmer.  I'll have it later."  She was pulling on a jacket and shuffling into
her shoes.  "If it gets really late, just lock up when you leave, okay?"
     "Okay," Jeff said hesitantly.  "I'm just worried that you're in some
kind of trouble, that's all."  Makoto got the impression that he wanted to
say more, but was reluctantly respecting her privacy.
     Makoto wanted to say more too, but she just didn't have the time.  She
tried to smile.  "Please don't worry about me, I'll be fine.  I'm really
sorry about this, I hope the curry at least turns out well.  Bye."  With
that, she was out the door.
     She cleared most of the outside staircase in one leap, and went into a
dead run.  A couple of streets down she ducked into an alley, her
transformation pen already in hand.  She skidded to a stop, raised it above
her head, and the words "Jupiter Star Power!" set the now so familiar process
in motion.  Local time and space bent out of shape.  A startled alley cat was
sole witness to the transformation.  It saw a blinding flash of light, heard
a sound like a thousand static discharges, then there was little more than a
blur as Sailor Jupiter shot out the other end of the alley at blinding speed.
     Taking full advantage of the superhuman strength the transformation
afforded her, and of her knowledge of the local terrain, Jupiter raced
through the night.  She sped down streets like a hurricane, cleared obstacles
with graceful leaps that no gazelle could match.  She would be at her
destination in minutes.
     Traversing the dark urban landscape at such speed took tremendous
concentration, and anticipation of the coming hunt took up the rest of her
attention.  But some small part of Jupiter's mind was still rankled by the
lies she had to tell, or more accurately the truths she had to conceal.  She
hated herself for thinking it, but this wasn't the first time she felt
resentment for Usagi and Ami having boyfriends that they could fully confide
in.  Mamoru and Ryou already knew about their alternate lives as sailor
senshi.  But Makoto had to live a lie.  Suddenly Jeff's words rang through
her head: "Your name means 'truth'..."  Not today it doesn't, she thought
bitterly.
     She slowed down as she approached the playground.  The other four senshi
were already gathered there.  She noted with satisfaction that the area was
otherwise deserted.  Especially when word was out that more strange things
were afoot, not too many people in this neighbourhood ventured out after
dark.  It was a small playground, with the usual jungle gym, sandbox and
swings.  One side of it was occupied by several huge old oak trees, like
silent old sentinels watching over this realm of children.  It was here that
the senshi were congregated.  Mars was apart from the others.  She was in
front of one of the trees, performing what looked like a prayer.
     Mercury nodded a greeting to Jupiter as she came to join them.  Jupiter

could see now that she was holding the Death Busters gun that the two of them
had been working on.  It was a plain metallic cylinder with a simple
buttstock at one end, a short barrel at the other end and a pistol grip
underneath.  Mercury held it delicately in both hands, pointed upwards;
Jupiter understood that she had the weapon primed and ready.
     "We're proceeding as planned?" Jupiter asked in a low voice.  She had
noticed as she approached that the others had been talking very quietly, as
if afraid to make too much noise.
     "Yes, as soon as Mars is done," Sailor Moon said.
     "What exactly is she doing?" Jupiter asked.
     The others looked at each other as if deciding who should answer.  At
length, Venus said "As far as we can figure, she's apologizing to the tree."
     Jupiter decided to just let that one slide.  She looked over to where
Mars still stood with palms placed together in front of her, her mouth moving
in silent prayer.  Not surprising, considering what we intend to do, Jupiter
thought.
     A few moments later, Mars finished whatever she was doing, and walked
over to join them. "Any time," she said simply.
     "Are you ready, Ami?" Sailor Moon asked.
     "Yes."  Sailor Mercury walked over to stand a little further from the
tree than Mars had been standing, placing it between her and the playground. 
The other senshi stood flanking her, keeping some distance.  Mercury fell to
one knee, and brought the gun to her shoulder.  She took a moment to settle
into position, aimed and pulled the trigger.
     They all flinched at the sudden loud discharge, even though they had
been expecting it.  The bright white beam that shot out of the gun hit the
tree trunk dead centre, then abruptly dissipated.
     They stood silently for a moment.  As the afterimage of the beam cleared
from their eyes, they could see that it had left no visible mark on the tree. 
Mercury stood, now holding the gun more casually.  No doubt she had loaded it
with only one charge, Jupiter thought.  Mars walked up to the tree to look
beyond it.  Suddenly she pointed into the playground and turned her head to
look back at the others.  "There."
     The others followed her into the playground, and formed a circle around
what Mars had been pointing at.  They looked at it in silence for a moment. 
"Well, it looks like we got something," Jupiter said.
     Dim but clearly visible, a little silvery ball of light floated in front
of them.  As they watched, little tendrils of sparkling light would slowly
emerge from the fuzzy little ball and then lazily fall back into it.
     So this is what the life force of a tree looks like, Jupiter thought. 
Of course a tree did not have a pure heart or any sort of heart, but it did
have a life force.  Mercury's bet had been that the Death Buster gun would
extract that life force and give it some sort of concentrated physical form,
just as it gave physical form to the pure heart of a person it was fired at.
     Now the question was whether the daimon would be attracted to the weapon

discharge, or to the weak little concentration of life force floating here.
     "We should get ready," Mercury said.  She turned to Jupiter.  "The trees
are probably the best place."
     "Okay," Jupiter said.  Apparently this had been decided on before she
arrived.  She headed for one of the huge oaks.  Even the lower branches would
have been too high for Kino Makoto to jump to, but in her senshi form it
presented no problem.  She climbed up to a higher branch and settled down to
stand vigil.  The other senshi were already out of sight.  The tree's life
force was barely visible below her as a little point of light in the dark
playground.
     Makoto tried to stay alert, but couldn't keep her mind from wandering. 
How am I going to explain this to Jeff, she thought.  What must he be
thinking now?  He must know that I was hiding something.  I'm such a poor
liar, no matter what I come up with he'll know it's not the truth.  I'll lose
his trust.  And why do I suddenly care so much that he trust me?
     A movement caught her eye, snapping her back to the present.  Somebody
was walking towards the playground.  It was a man, though through the leaves
Jupiter couldn't see very clearly.  He came under the light of the
streetlight that was in front of the park, and suddenly Jupiter's heart went
into overdrive.  It was Jeff.  Fighting panic, she tried to think clearly. 
How could he possibly be here?  She tried to think back to when she had
spoken to Rei.  Had he overheard her say something that had tipped him off? 
Then she thought of the map, and cursed herself as she realized her mistake. 
She had pointed to exactly where she was going.  Jeff was obsessively
observant.  Out of curiosity or worry or suspicion, he had decided to come to
the same place.
     Her heart sank further as she saw Jeff walk into the park.  Without
hesitation, he headed straight for the floating ball of light.  If he hadn't
spotted it from the street, he could certainly see it now.  Now what was she
supposed to do?  If she didn't act soon, one of the other senshi would
probably do the obvious thing: go down there and get him out of here, by
force if need be.  Just how would he react if he saw a real live sailor
senshi right before his eyes?
     Well, I guess I'm about to find out.
     Jupiter leaped down to a lower branch, then down to the ground, going
down low as her bent legs absorbed the fall.  Jeff, who had been intent upon
the strange floating anomaly he was approaching, whirled around at the sound. 
He was even more startled when Sailor Jupiter cleared the distance between
them in two prodigious leaps.
     Without preamble, she said to him, "You're in great danger here.  I'm
going to escort you to a safe distance and then you're going to go home, is
that clear?"
     There was no fear in Jeff's face, only wonder.  "My God, you're real..."
he whispered more to himself than to her.
     "Yes of course I'm real, now come on," Jupiter said sternly, reaching

for his arm fully intending to drag him from this place if need be.
     Jeff stepped back with his hands raised before him, his expression
suddenly becoming desperate.  "Wait a minute!  I think that a freind of mine
is coming here, if this place is dangerous I need to find her first."
     Jupiter took a deep breath, made her decision.  "Damn it Jeff, we don't
have time to argue!"
     Time stopped.  As comprehension began to show in Jeff's expression,
Makoto thought she heard leaves rustling and a barely stifled curse behind
her.  Probably Mars, thinking that I just blew it.  But I didn't, this is my
choice.
     She reached for his hand, clasped it.  "Jeff-kun, do I have to carry
you?" she asked as gently as she could manage.
     He opened his mouth to say something and hesitated, looking like he
wanted to ask a thousand questions.  Then he too seemed to come to a
decision.  "Mako-chan, I... okay.  You told me the truth, so I'll just trust
you."
     Sailor Jupiter smiled at him in a way that was so familiar he wondered
how it was possible he hadn't recognized her immediately.  She tugged him by
the hand and they moved toward the street, walking briskly.  "We need to
hurry, do you mind running?" Jupiter asked.
     "Not at all, you set the pace."  He said it casually, but he was still
staring at her with wonderment in his eyes.
     Makoto smiled, wondering how much of the irony in the statement was
intentional.  She picked up the pace to a brisk jog, which Jeff matched.  She
figured they could maintain this until she got him to the nearest subway
station, which she thought of as the quickest way to get him well out of
danger.  With a little thrill of sudden realization, it occurred to her that
she could transform back to Kino Makoto and take him right into the station. 
After all, he already knew the truth.  She was just debating how much extra
time that would take when the daimon leaped out of the alley entrance they
were approaching and swung at her.
     There was no time think.  All she saw was an enormous dark muscled arm
and four long white claws.  Impossible to avoid completely.  She sidestepped
toward the leaping creature and met its thick forearm with her own two
slender arms.  The impact threw her down to the ground.  She landed hard on
her back as the creature flew over her.  She would have cried out in pain if
the wind were not already knocked out of her.
     Momentarily paralyzed with shock and pain, she looked helplessly up at
the creature as it killed its forward momentum and turned back to face her. 
It was a hunchbacked, powerfully muscled giant covered in brown fur.  It's
small head was split by a wide mouth with two rows of sharklike teeth, and
it's glowing green eyes were surrounded by a mask of black fur over a short
snout that would have looked funny under other circumstances.  It raised its
arm over her and a pop bottle suddenly went caroming off its head.
     The daimon snarled and looked to its side, facing its new attacker. 

Jupiter followed its gaze.  She almost whimpered in despair when she realized
it was Jeff.  It should have been comical, seeing him grab another bottle out
of the nearby recycling bin and wave  it over his head, as if he could
threaten the giant creature with it.  He was screaming at it in English, what
little Makoto could understand sounded vaguely obscene.  The daimon
hesitated, looking at each of the two humans, as if deciding which to deal
with first.
     Jupiter took advantage of its indecision.  She flipped herself up to her
feet, crossed her arms and shouted "Supreme Thunder!"  It would have to be
the speeddraw version, not too powerful but hopefully quick enough to get the
drop on the creature.  It was just crouching to spring at her when the
lightning forming around Jupiter's tiara leaped out at its head.  Like all
daimon, it had an effective shield that absorbed most of the magical attack,
so it was more surprised than hurt.  Jupiter was deciding whether to attack
again or try to lead it away when the daimon twisted and launched itself
towards Jeff with a speed that belied its bulk.
     Jupiter screamed impotently, but then was astonished to see the creature
unceremoniously scoop Jeff up in one arm, fling him over one massive shoulder
like a rag doll and run with him.  Immediately Jupiter guessed its intent: it
was cutting its losses, taking the easier prey and escaping the immediate
threat.  Desperately, she ran off after it.  The pain in her bruised back
muscles was agonizing, slowing her down, she could just barely keep up.  She
was aware of voices behind her, calling her.  The other senshi, attracted to
the sounds of battle, were catching up with her.
     The daimon led her on a tortuous course down dark alleys and back
streets.  It was all she could do to keep it in sight.  She would have to be
closer to get a clear shot at it without risk of hitting Jeff.  She could see
him flopping up and down on its massive shoulder.  He was offering no
resistance, no doubt having been knocked senseless by the violent jarring of
its movement.  She drove herself beyond the limit of endurance, trying not to
think of how badly Jeff was being injured by this chase.
     The alley suddenly opened up, and Makoto realized where they were: one
of the big canals that crossed the city.  The daimon leaped over the edge of
the canal and down into it.  Jupiter did likewise, and landed on the dry
concrete canal floor.  The daimon was heading for a storm sewer exit that
pierced the canal wall some distance away.  In a flash Jupiter realized where
it had been taking its recent victims, how it had been moving about.  It
meant to take Jeff underground, to a dark quiet intimate place where it could
open up his ribcage and...
     The others would be here to back her up in seconds, but that would be
too late.  She wound up, cried "Sparkling Wide Pressure!" and with the last
of her strength threw the crackling, shimmering ball lightning she had called
forth straight at the fleeing daimon.  If she could just knock its legs out
from under it, maybe even make it drop its prey, then she and her approaching
friends could deal with it.

     The creature turned its head to look back.  What passed for a
consciousness in the daimon's head registered the incoming threat by its
light, its noise and its psychic power.  The evolved cunning of the tanuki
and the programmed ruthlessness of the daimon egg that controlled it somehow
immediately agreed upon how it would block the threat.
     It threw Jeff straight into the incoming missile.
     "No!" Jupiter screamed, severing her link with the speeding ball of
energy, willing it to disperse.  Not quickly enough.  The rapidly dissipating
tendrils of lightning hit Jeff in midair, enveloping him.  His body
convulsed, most of its momentum lost to the impact, and he flopped to the
ground.
     Jupiter fell to her knees.  Her mind went blank, unable to accept what
was happening.  She watched with a sort of calm detachment as the daimon
moved to reclaim its prey.
     A red streak like a laser angled down, striking the creature across its
eyes and hitting the ground.  It embedded itself in the concrete there,
resolving itself into a rose that was not really a rose.  The daimon threw
its hands up to its face and shrieked in agony, temporarily blinded.  Sailor
Venus appeared close to Tuxedo Kamen and jumped down from the canal rim
above, landing right behind the creature.  Without hesitation, she pointed
up, called forth the Crescent Beam and shot the daimon point blank in the
back of the neck execution style.  At that range, the daimon's natural
magical barrier was of little use.  The creature's misshapen head disappeared
behind a fireball as the beam detonated.  Both it and Venus went staggering
from the blast, but neither of them lost their footing.  Mars jumped down
right in front of the stumbling, blinded giant.  Perceiving that its
defensive barrier was wavering, she spun her arm around and the shining
golden circle of her Burning Mandala materialized in front of her.  A stream
of glowing golden rings shot out of the shimmering circle, hitting the daimon
square in the face, enveloping it in flame.  Its head now a charred ruin, the
thing finally fell to the ground at Sailor Mars' feet.
     In the meantime, Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen had come down into the
canal a short distance away.  They approached to join their friends who were
standing warily over the motionless creature.
     Sailor Jupiter was aware of what was happening simply as a backdrop to
her shock and despair.  What finally caught her attention was Sailor Mercury
jumping down into the canal and kneeling over Jeff's body.  Jupiter got to
her feet, staggered over to where Mercury was rapidly but calmly checking
Jeff's vital signs.  For just a moment, Jupiter allowed herself to believe
that maybe, just maybe, she hadn't killed Jeff after all.  Mercury looked up
as she saw Jupiter approach, and all hope was dashed from Sailor Jupiter's
heart as she saw the look in Mercury's eyes.
     Sailor Mercury shook her head once.  "I'm so sorry, Makoto."
     Jupiter looked down at Jeff's body.  "But why...?" she whimpered.  There
was no sign of serious injury, no blood.

     "His heart's stopped.  I don't know why," Mercury said, wrapping her
anguish up in  an analytical veneer.
     Of course you don't know, Jupiter thought.  You showed up too late to
see.  You didn't see me kill him.  She looked at Jeff's face, and right away
her vision was blurred by more tears.  He should look peaceful, shouldn't he? 
Why does he still look like he's in such pain?
     Because he hasn't given up.  He's not ready to let go.
     "You can't *have* him!" Jupiter screamed.  She threw herself down beside
him, and with two quick motions she unzipped his jacket and  threw it open. 
She grabbed the collar of his shirt in both hands and ripped the shirt right
in half.
     Momentarily startled, Mercury now reached out to her friend.  "Makoto,
what are you...?"
     "Stay back!" Jupiter snarled.  She held out her open hands inches over
Jeff's bared chest and tried to calm herself.  This is what interrupted the
flow of his lifeblood.  Fight fire with fire.  Streams of little blue-white
sparks began to dance around her tiara.  Abruptly, she slapped her hands down
on Jeff's chest and there was a loud discharge.  His body seemed to jump up
off the ground, then fell down limp again.
     Mercury grabbed her roughly by the shoulders.  "Stop it!  Makoto, he's
gone!"
     Sailor Jupiter grabbed Mercury by the collar of her uniform, and pulled
her even closer.  "Check his pulse.  Now."
     Whatever she saw in Jupiter's face caused Mercury to relax her grip and
nod in agreement.  As soon as Jupiter released her, she immediately went to
once again place two fingertips against Jeff's throat.  The fear in her face
soon gave way to astonishment.  "It can't be..."  she whispered.  Suddenly
she was in motion again.  She repositioned Jeff's head, bent down and clamped
her mouth down over his.  Jeff's chest rose as Mercury blew air into his
lungs.
     Jupiter watched this in silence.  Yes, I forgot about that, she thought. 
The breathing.  That's important too.  She was barely able to think
coherently, her head was still reeling from having absorbed most of the shock
of the discharge into her own body.  If she hadn't done that, she would have
fried Jeff's heart instead of restarting it.
     Now Mercury was listening for Jeff's breathing, resting one hand lightly
over his chest.  She nodded with satisfaction.  "He's breathing on his own
now."  Jupiter noticed that Sailor Mars was now kneeling over Jeff as well,
one of her hands laid over his forehead.  She wondered what Rei was doing. 
The other senshi often spent a lot of time wondering what exactly Rei was
doing.  The secretive mystic had already developed arcane powers before she
even became a sailor senshi.  For the most part, these powers were something
she would not or could not discuss with her friends.  About all they could
agree upon was that Rei could be trusted to call upon those powers if and
when they would be of help.

     Mars lifted her hand from Jeff's brow and looked at Mercury.  "He's very
weak.  I don't think he'll last an hour in this condition."
     Mercury nodded.  "There's nothing more we can do here, we have to get
him to a hospital."
     "Preferably in an ambulance," Mars said.
     "I'll see to it," Jupiter heard Sailor Venus say from behind her.  In a
flash, Venus had leapt up to the rim of the canal and was gone.
     Mars and Mercury were already carrying Jeff between them, heading over
to take him back up to street level.  Jupiter moved to help them, but a hand
on her shoulder stopped her.  She turned to see Sailor Moon looking at her,
shaking her head.  "You're hurt, you can barely stand.  Let them do it. 
He'll be okay."
     Jupiter had no strength to argue.  She just nodded and leaned on her
friend for support.
     "Sailor Moon," Tuxedo Kamen suddenly called, some urgency in his voice. 
She and Jupiter looked over to where he still stood watching over the fallen
daimon.  It was no longer motionless.  It still lay on it's stomach, but now
its limbs were making small, convulsive movements.  As the two senshi went to
stand by Tuxedo Kamen, the daimon made a feeble attempt to rise, but couldn't
seem to get proper control of its body.  Jupiter could hear the sick, wet
sound of its laboured breathing.  She tried not to look too closely at what
was left of its head.
     "Oh, how can it still be alive?" Sailor Moon said, upset at seeing the
creature's suffering.
     "Usako, you have to end it," Tuxedo Kamen said to her gently.
     She looked up at him, horror showing up on her face. "But Mamoru!  If I
do that, it will be a tanuki again, and it will be... it will be..."
     "I know," Tuxedo Kamen said soothingly, taking her hand.  "Just do it,
then go find  Jupiter some place to rest.  I'll take care of whatever else
needs to be done here."
     Sailor Moon stiffened as the meaning of this sunk in.  With supreme
effort, she steeled herself.  "Okay."  She turned towards the daimon, and by
the power of her will, the Spiral Heart Moon Rod that would free the animal
from its alien tormenter appeared in her hand.
     As Sailor Jupiter looked on, part of her wondered what she was supposed
to be feeling for this creature that had killed that man in the photograph,
that had nearly killed her dear friend.  But right now, she was beyond
feeling anything.


     For the hundredth time, Makoto reviewed in her mind the things she
wanted to say.  As she walked, she assured herself yet again that this was
what Jeff needed to hear.  Even in these circumstances, she still owed him
the truth.  The truth about what happened, and about her own feelings.  As
she walked into Jeff's room, she realized just how difficult this was going

to be.  But her mind was made up.
     She walked across the room and stood motionless.  Her mind briefly
wandered back to the events of the past few days.
     He had made it to the hospital, but by the time Kino Makoto had shown up
to ask after her stricken friend, the doctors already were warning her not to
expect  him to last the night.  Pacing the hallway, maddened by helpless
rage, she was suddenly confronted by the kind, sympathetic face she
remembered from her visit to Cross Time.  Ueda Yoshio, the cryonics
technician.  Even before he began to patiently explain the situation to her,
she had guessed why he and the other cryonicists were here.  Soon after
coming of age, Jeff had followed Akiko's example and made the proper
arrangements.  They were here to wait for the moment the doctors would give
up.
     You would never guess it from the way they all treat me so nicely, but I
couldn't have made it very easy for them, Makoto thought.  Her memory of that
night was blurred by a haze of exhaustion and anxiety, but she certainly
remembered going into hysterics more than once.  When they had finally gotten
her to accept the situation, she had insisted upon staying with Jeff through
the entire process.  By the time the moment had come, she had calmed down
sufficiently to convince them that she could go through with it.
     It had been a long series of complex processes, spread over several
days, none of which she fully understood.  At each stage, she had watched
with an ever changing mix of wonder and anguish as they did the things that
would slow down the flow of his life, and then bring it to a halt.
     Now Makoto stood in front of the shining metal dewar that held Jeff
frozen in time.  She was ready to begin.
     "Jeff, I'll be honest with you right now.  This is probably the last
time I'll be here.  I hope you won't be disappointed with me.  Most of all, I
hope you won't think it's because I don't care.  It's probably because I care
too much.  We didn't know each other for very long, but I was really starting
to feel like you might be the one.  For me, I mean.  I guess you must think
that's silly, but...  you see, if I don't let go of you right now, once and
for all, this is going to drive me crazy.  I know they told me this is just
like you're in a coma and you'll come out some day, and maybe they're right,
but I can't get my mind around that.  It's too big.  I have to just accept
that you're gone from my world.  I haven't given you up for dead, I will
never do that.  It's more like you've gone away for a very, very long time. 
Right now, I can only think of you as an old friend who I might meet up with
again many, many years from now, when we'll both be different people with a
lot of catching up to do."
     Makoto sighed.  That was the easy part done.
     "I don't know how much memory you have of what happened, wherever you
may be right now, but I want you to know one thing.  I was the one..." she
hesitated.  This was a high security area, those cameras probably had
microphones too.  She didn't care.  "I was the one who put you here.  I don't

just mean that I foolishly led you right to the place where you were
attacked.  I mean it was my clumsy attempt to save you that crushed the life
out of your heart, that forced them to put you in this place.  Jeff, I can't
tell you how sorry I am, I would give my life to bring you back, I truly
would.  If I had told you the whole truth about myself sooner, you might not
be in here.  I hope and pray that you can forgive me.
     "Even though it was too late, I'm glad I was able to tell you about my..
my little secret.  There's something else I want to share with you.  I've
been to the future, I mean really, actually been there.  I know that's hard
to believe, but I wasn't the only one there.  Friends whom I love and trust
saw the same things, so I know they're real.  What I saw really frightened
me.  The world was changed beyond recognition, by forces both terrible and
wonderful.  I felt lost, completely out of place.  When I saw that I would be
living in that future, that world I barely recognized, I didn't know what to
think.  I've been living in fear, having nightmares of being lost in that
alien world so far in the future.  
     "But then I met you, and you started telling me about how you wanted to
embrace the future and make it your own.  The future you talked about was
just as wildly different from my own comfortable little world as the future I
saw with my own eyes, yet you weren't the least bit afraid of it.  In fact,
you welcomed all these changes, you wanted to change yourself to become part
of the world you dreamed about.  I'm not sure I could embrace this self
directed evolution the way you want to.  I'll probably still be thinking in
straight lines a thousand years from now, making the same stupid mistakes I
am now.  I just wanted you to know that, after I met you, I haven't been
nearly as afraid of what's to come as I used to be.  I can't thank you enough
for sharing your dreams with me, it will help me more than you can know.
     "That's about all I wanted to say.  Wherever your future lies, whether
it's in this world or the next one, I hope you'll be happy.  And I hope that,
one way or another, we can meet again."
     Makoto  reached forward and gently rested her fingertips on the cool
metal of the dewar.  "Good bye for now," she whispered.  She turned, and
walked out the door.
     Either Yoshio had been watching her over the cameras, or somehow he had
been alerted to her coming out through the door, for he emerged from his
office as she approached.  She stopped, and bowed formally.  "Thank you very
much for letting me visit with your patient, I'm very grateful."
     He waved off her formalities with a smile.  "Please, Makoto-san, we
don't need to stand on ceremony, you're welcome any time."
     "I know you probably weren't supposed to be leaving me alone in there, I
really appreciate it."
     "It's the least I could do, the way you stuck it out with Jeff right
through the whole process.  You couldn't have gotten much sleep in the past
week."
     "I did, here and there," Makoto said, warmed by Yoshio's concern.  "Did

Jeff's family show up yet?"  Yoshio had told her earlier that Jeff's parents
and elder brother were flying in from San Francisco.
     "Yes, in fact they were here with a priest for a service yesterday, I
guess while you were getting some well deserved sleep."  He smiled at
Makoto's obvious surprise.  "You see, his family didn't really accept his
decision to sign up for the cryopreservation process, as far as they're
concerned this is just a fancy way of intering bodies.  They think of Jeff as
being dead and gone.  We have to respect their beliefs, so we allowed them to
hold a funeral service right here."
     Makoto was shocked by this, and was suddenly questioning her own
feelings.  But no, it was clear in her heart, and she had made it clear with
her words: she had not given him up for dead.  She would not.
     Yoshio walked with her to into the front foyer.  "You know, I'm long
since used to most people not taking what we do seriously, but it always
warms my heart when one of our patients has at least one friend who hasn't
given up on them."
     Makoto smiled back at him.  "Well, I have friends who perform miracles
on a regular basis, so in my books anything is possible." She bowed to
Yoshio, less formally this time.  "Thank you for everything, and please take
good care of my friend."
     "We will."
     They said their goodbyes and Makoto walked out of the Cross Time
building, leaving Yoshio to puzzle over her enigmatic parting words.


     Since she had opened the windows to let the early afternoon breeze pass
through, Makoto could hear Usagi and Ami talking down in the alley before
they even got to her door.  She pulled off the apron she had been wearing
while cleaning up, and went to let them in.
     "What's this?  I thought we were supposed to meet at the spa," Makoto
said as she ushered them in.  "Is there a change in plan?"
     "Nope.  Ami just needed to drop something off first," Usagi said with a
smug expression that simply cried out "I know something you don't know!"
     Usagi and Ami had a duffel bag and knapsack respectively, no doubt with
the change of clothes they were taking to the spa.  But Ami was also carrying
a grocery bag that had a small cardboard box in it.  She held it out to
Makoto.  "This is something I'd like you to keep for me for a while, if you
don't mind."
     Makoto took it and looked at it.  "Sure, but what is it?"
     "Why don't you open it and see?" Usagi encouraged her.
     Makoto looked at Ami and raised an eyebrow in question.  Ami smiled
shyly and nodded.  Very curious now, Makoto went over to put the package down
at her low table and lowered herself to the bamboo mats.  Usagi practically
teleported herself down to the other side of the table, looking like a little
kid at Christmas.  Somewhat more leisurely, Ami moved to join them.  Makoto

undid the strings that held the box closed, and opened up the top.  All she
could see was crumpled up newspaper.  She carefully removed enough of it to
get a look at what was packed in the middle.  She simply stared in wonder.
     "It's not as delicate as it looks," Ami said encouragingly.  "You can
take it out."
     Makoto reached in with both hands, and carefully removed the single
object the box contained.  She held it up for them all to see.
     It was a butterfly encased in crystal.  The insect could be seen clearly
through the transparent, glass-like material.  The flat, angular facets of
the crystal formed a multi-pointed star that roughly mirrored the shape of
the butterfly wings on a larger scale and projected that shape into three
dimensions.  The colors of the butterfly wings were being reflected
throughout the crystal and all over Makoto's hands as she turned it around to
examine it from all sides.
     "Isn't it pretty?" Usagi said excitedly.  "She gave one to me this
morning, and she said she's going to give one to Rei and Minako too!"
     "I *lent* it to you," Ami corrected her gently.
     "I know that!" Usagi said, totally unconcerned.
     "It's beautiful, where did you get it?" Makoto asked Ami.
     "I sort of made it.  It's something I've been working on for about a
month."
     A month.  With a sudden pang in her stomach, Makoto was reminded that
Jeff had now been frozen in time for a month.  That thought suddenly led to a
revelation.  "Ami, I've seen this sort of crystal before.  Isn't it what the
Snow Dancers used?"
     "Very much like it," Ami confirmed.  "I think I've pretty much
duplicated the process they used."
     The implication of that sank in.  "You mean... this butterfly is still
alive?"
     Ami nodded.  "It would be more accurate to call it viable, but yes, it's
alive.  They emerged from pupae that Umino raised for me.  I've used the Snow
Dancers' technique to suspend six of them in crystals like this one."
     "And in one year we're going to set them all free!" Usagi chimed.
     Makoto finally understood.  This was an experiment.  Ami was trying to
develop the power to put people into suspended animation.  This was the first
step.
     "You think they'll be alive after a year?" Makoto asked.
     "Yes, I think so.  I released others after a day and they were fine. 
This should be no different."
     Makoto put the butterfly down on the table.  The lower points of the
crystal formed a nice four-point base.  "It's incredible, Ami.  You really
did it."  She shook her head in wonder.  "And it's one of the most lovely
things I've ever seen.  Not only have you performed a miracle, you've managed
to turn it into a real work of art."  Makoto suddenly took Ami's hand and met
her eyes.  "You truly are your father's child as well, Ami-chan."

     Ami grinned at her, unashamedly basking in Makoto's praise.  "That's
such a sweet thing to say, thank you."  Ami hadn't exchanged a word with her
father in years, not since his divorce from Ami's mother.  But as her friends
knew, she still felt very close to him.  Regularly he would send her packages
from whichever part of the world he happened to be in.  They would contain
nothing but landscape drawings he had made.  The drawings for which he was
justly famous, and for which many serious collectors would gladly give up
body parts for.  Those glorious drawings were the only messages Ami needed
from her father, the messages that inspired her to always look for the beauty
in everything she saw and everything she did.
     "Mine looked a little different, I can't wait to see the ones Rei and
Minako are going to get!  I bet each one will be different!"  Usagi seemed to
be unperturbed by the wider implications of what Ami was trying to do.  It
occurred to Makoto that Ami might not yet have discussed with Usagi just what
it was this was all in preparation for.  Makoto decided that would be fine
for now.
     "Well, it's still too early to go meet the others, I'll go make us some
tea," Makoto said, rising to her feet.
     "We'd be happy to finish off any leftovers you want to get rid of,"
Usagi suggested.
     "Usagi, we just had lunch," Ami reminded her.
     Makoto smiled down at them.  "I'll see what I can find."


     Makoto and Usagi emerged from the sauna room with the health spa
standard issue towels wrapped one each around their bodies and their hair. 
After the sauna, the humid air of the huge room with all its various baths
seemed almost frigid.  They walked past the cold tub, where Rei was immersed
to her chin, eyes closed, motionless.  Makoto pointed with her thumb.  "Care
to join her?" she asked in a low voice.
     Usagi shook her head vigorously, and then started readjusting the towel
she had nearly shaken loose from her head.  "No thank you.  The last time I
tried that you could hear me scream all the way in the men's section, it was
embarrassing.  The jacuzzi is more my style."
     "Too decadent.  A jacuzzi tries to give you a bath and a massage at the
same time, like it's in too much of a hurry."
     Usagi sighed.  "I guess we've settled on the warm tub then."
     The warm tub looked like a small shallow swimming pool, with water jets
gently churning up the water here and there.  They picked an unoccupied
corner and lowered themselves into the water. "Aren't Ami and Minako done
with their massage yet?" Usagi wondered.
     "They spent more time at aerobics than we did," Makoto reminded her.
     "Tell me about it.  They were still at it when I was practically
staggering into the showers."
     "I figure Ami's found them a way to run their bodies on cold fusion."

     "Cold what?"
     "It was just a joke, Usagi.  Forget it."  Usagi pouted, and Makoto
realized how abrupt she'd been.  "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you."
     Usagi shook her head.  "You didn't.  It's just that lately you're using
a lot of new words I don't understand."
     "You shouldn't mind me.  I've just been doing a lot of reading on new
technologies and stuff."
     "I know.  Mamoru told me about the books you borrowed from him."  She
closed her eyes and recited. "Artificial intelligence.  Genetic engineering. 
Nanisomething."
     "Nanotechnology," Makoto said, smiling indulgently.  "Don't be too
impressed, I didn't borrow his really technical books, just general reading. 
I just want to get some idea of what our future is going to be like."
     "Oh I know exactly what it will be like!" Usagi said, stars in her eyes. 
"I'm going to live in a big crystal palace with King Endymion and Chibi-usa
and all my friends."
     "That's a thousand years from now," Makoto said.  "Don't you ever wonder
about what's going to happen between now and then?"
     "Sure I do.  I wonder about when Mamoru will ask me to marry him, when
Chibi-usa will be born, when Crystal Tokyo will get built.  I wonder when Ami
will become a doctor and when you will become a famous chef."
     "Is that all?"
     Usagi frowned. "All?"
     "Don't you wonder about how much the world will change in a thousand
years?  About how much you will change?"
     Usagi looked thoughtful for a moment.  "Chibi-usa keeps telling me that
I haven't changed a bit between now and then.  And the Sailor Mars of the
future agrees with her.  But even Chibi-usa admits that Sailor Mars doesn't
make fun of Neo Queen Serenity.  I guess somewhere between now and then I
must get a little bit smarter.  That would be kind of nice."
     Makoto chuckled.  "You know what I'm looking forward to?  In Crystal
Tokyo, it looks like the Sailor Senshi don't have to hide who they are any
more."
     Usagi nodded.  "I know how much you hate hiding the truth, Mako-chan."
     Taken aback by Usagi's sudden serious tone, Makoto was at a loss for
words.  "Yeah, I guess it does get on my nerves."
     "You know, Mako-chan, if you meet somebody really special, somebody you
really care for, I think it would be okay for you to tell them the truth."
     Makoto frowned.  "What do you mean?"
     "I mean if there ever is somebody you really, really want to share your
secret with, our secret, I think you should.  Even if the others think that
it would be a bad idea, I'll back you up."
     Makoto marvelled at how Usagi could so innocently cut to the bone. 
Since she had revealed her identity to Jeff - revealed it too late to save
him - the secrecy in her life had rankled all the more.  Somehow, Usagi had

caught on to that.  "Usagi, I... I don't know what to say.  It's a generous
offer.  But aren't you ever tempted to do the same?  I mean, tell your family
all about who you really are?"
     "Oh, I couldn't!" Usagi said.  "Can you imagine if Mom found out?  She'd
be worried to death every time I stepped out of the house!  That is, if she
would ever let me out of the house in the first place."
     Makoto reached out, pulled Usagi close, kissed her on the cheek, and
released her.  "You really are a treasure."  She had to laugh when Usagi
blushed and looked around to see if anyone was watching.
     "Mako-chan, did I miss something there?"
     "No, forget it.  Come on, let's go invite Rei over here.  If she stays
any longer in that cold water tub she'll freeze solid, and I'm not ready to
be putting another friend on ice just yet."


          The End



--

Ken Wolfe                    |  Fax:        I hate fax machines
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada   |  Compu$erve: 73527.2203@compuserve.com
Ken_Wolfe@MBnet.MB.CA        |  GEnie:      k.wolfe8@genie.geis.com