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 [email protected]





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