Most of this story takes place after the end of the Sailor Moon S
series.  There are spoilers, though I have tried to keep these to a
minimum.  It assumes that there were several weeks between then and the
events at the start of the Sailor Moon Supers series. Except for one
minor reference, it has no relation to my previous stories.

This is not so much fan fiction as it is an exercise in creative
anachronism.  I guess you could call it a crossover.  Basically I have
taken some of the plot and characters from one story and thrown them
into the Sailor Moon universe, just mixing up two fictional worlds to
see what would come out.  I think the result is best appreciated by
anyone who is familiar with both the Sailor Moon and the Draka series
(and those of you who are familiar with both are by now probably
thinking "This guy must be nuts!"  You may be right), though I don't
assume the reader has any knowledge of the latter.  Also, some parts of
this story are rather grim, some readers may find it disturbing.  I
really put some of the Sailor Senshi through hell.  I'd probably give
this a PG-13 rating.  Be that as it may, I hope most Sailor Moon fans
will be entertained by the story.  Let me know.

Ken Wolfe     ken_wolfe@mbnet.mb.ca

This story contains characters created by Naoko Takeuchi and S.M.
Stirling.  All the usual fanfic disclaimers apply.


     Kiss of the Enemy

        Prologue

     Rei's first glimpse of the temple was not until they were almost
upon it.  The road that brought them up the mountainside was tortuous,
and a thick stand of pine trees pressed closely on both sides.  This
high up, they were the ancient first growth trees, not the spindly
saplings planted in unnaturally straight rows in a vain attempt to hide
the clearcutting that had been done at lower elevations.  The car had
just gone around another switchback when abruptly the road opened onto
the temple grounds.
     Rei strained to get a good look at the main building.  It wasn't
easy.  Seated in the back of her father's big Mercedez, her head barely
came up to the window.  She had finally had a good burst of growth this
year, thank the Gods, but she was still short for her age.  On top of
this, the fading twilight and the tinted glass conspired to transform
the building into little but an imposing dark shadow that towered over
her as they approached.
     But the fluttering of her heart had nothing to do with fear, only
eager anticipation.
     Her father killed the engine and the headlights.  He turned to face
her.  "Wait here Rei, I'll be back shortly."
     "Yes, father," Rei replied.  She hid her excitement, succeeded in
assuming the calm, serious demeanor that her father seemed to approve
of.  He wasn't that hard to please.  Not really.
     He got out of the car, closed the door, and walked over to the
temple.  Immediately, Rei undid her seatbelt and kneeled up on the seat,
careful not to mess up her shrine maiden robes or let the soles of her
shoes dirty the upholstery.  Now with a better view, and with her dark
adjusted eyes, she could see the building more clearly.  Old, much older
than her own Hikawa Shrine.  Lovingly maintained, but showing its age in
the worn statues, the cracks in the supporting timbers, the faded
colors.  She smiled, and her eyes sparkled.  It was so beautiful, more
than she had expected.  She wanted to cry.
     The big double doors were open.  Her grandfather suddenly emerged
from the doorway and greeted her father with a smile and a wave.  Her
father did not return the latter, and Rei could guess that he hadn't
returned the former either.  He climbed the rest of the stone stairway
and stood towering over her grandfather.  *Not too hard, since
grandfather isn't much taller than me,* Rei thought, chiding herself
only slightly for the disrespectful thought.  Her father looked so out
of place in this ancient setting, standing there in his fine new
tailored suit.  Her grandfather continued to smile cheerfully as he
alternately listened and spoke.  Her father's back was turned, but his
hands clenched stubbornly at his sides told Rei everything she needed to
know about his mood.  She had overheard this argument more than once,
she could recite it from memory.  "It's all very well you training her
as a shrine maiden, but she's only eight and she shouldn't be neglecting
her normal studies.  This takes too much of her time, she should be
widening her horizons, doing other things."  And her grandfather's
reply, "In fact her training with us is helping her other studies.
She's near the top of her class, and is taking special advanced tutoring
in history and comparative religion, remarkable for her age.  The
discipline is doing her a world of good."
     Her father was stubborn, but he wasn't stupid.  He sincerely wanted
to give Rei every advantage, and he could see how her training and work
at Hikawa Shrine was helping her.
     But still, it was probably just as well he wasn't aware of exactly
what sort of training she was receiving, or what they would be doing
here tonight.
     Her father walked back down to the car, and opened the back door to
find Rei seated with hands folded in her lap, exactly as he had left
her.  "Rei, I've spoken with your grandfather.  They're ready to receive
you.  I will be here to pick both of you up at eight sharp tomorrow
morning.  We'll go to the hotel in Hakone to pick up your things and
then go straight back to Tokyo."
     "I understand, Father," Rei said.  She got out of the car, and her
father closed the door.  They both said formal goodbyes, and her father
got back into the car.  She watched sadly as he drove away, simply
because it would be impolite for her to move from that spot until he was
out of sight.  Just then, when they said goodbye, he had let it slip
just a little.  It happened every now and then.  For an instant, she
could see past the stern disapproval, could see in his eyes what he
really felt.  The pride.  The pride in what his little girl was
achieving.  It was the closest thing to love he had ever shown to her.
It was enough for her.  It would have to be.
     She turned around, and climbed the ancient stone stairs.  She
resisted a sudden urge to take them two at a time and leap into her
grandfather's arms.  He gave her a lot more latitude than her father
did, so he wouldn't mind.  But tonight, she felt honored to be here.
She wanted to show it.  "Hello Grandfather."  She bowed formally, but
couldn't suppress her cheerful smile or the eagerness in her voice.
     He stood there grinning, hands on his hips.  He was in his snow
white priest's robe, which made him stand out like a lantern in front of
the dark temple building, even in the fading light.  With his bald head
and round face, he looked like a little statue of the Buddha.  "Hello
Rei.  What do you think of the place?"
     "It's simply beautiful!  Tomorrow morning I want to get up at dawn
and see as much as I can before father comes to pick us up!"
     Her grandfather chuckled.  "We'll see how you feel about that after
tonight's work, we may have to drag you out of bed tomorrow."
     "I'll never forgive you if you let me sleep past dawn!" Rei said in
a huff.
     Suddenly a voice like thunder came from the dark temple entrance,
saying, "I think you'd better do as she says old man, she sounds
serious." A man who Rei decided was only slightly smaller and a little
less hairy than a bear emerged from the darkness.  He wore a robe
identical to her grandfather's, but about six sizes larger.  His long
wavy black hair and beard surrounded his square face like a mane.  He
stood towering over them and smiled down at Rei.  "This must be the
young lady I've been hearing so much about."
     Her grandfather did the introductions.  "Rei, this is Kozukuri
Akira, of whom we have spoken."
     Rei bowed.  "I am Hino Rei of Hikawa Shrine."
     "Welcome to our temple.  I'm glad to finally meet you.  I wish we
had more time to talk right now, but we should be getting started."
     "I understand.  I'm grateful for the opportunity," Rei said.
     The giant man grinned.  "I believe you've more than earned the
opportunity, Rei.  Please follow me."  He turned, and they followed him
down the dark corridor.  The ancient floorboards sang under his bulk.
Rei could smell the age of the place.  The corridor was all in wood
darkened by the years.  The small, widely spaced lanterns gave barely
enough light to see by.  Rei felt like she was in heaven.
     The walls gave way to rice paper panels through which lantern light
emanated.  Kozukuri drew one of them aside.  He motioned for Rei to
enter, and she did so.  She stopped dead as she saw who occupied the
small room.  A pretty young woman with long raven hair stood smiling at
her.  She wore shrine maiden robes of the same pattern that Rei wore.
"Hello, Rei-chan," she said.
     "Onesama!" Rei cried, addressing the woman as her big sister.  As
was fitting, since she was the closest thing to a sister Rei had.  All
her carefully maintained dignity melted away and she ran into the
woman's outstretched arms.  "I thought I wouldn't see you until the
ceremony!"
     The woman hugged her back.  "I just wanted to talk to you first.  I
see you've finally met my father," she said, disengaging herself from
Rei's embrace and standing up straight again.
     Kozukuri laughed.  "And high time I met your young protege, Himiko.
It would have been sooner, but alas I don't get out of this place much."
He looked at Rei.  "A shame your father wouldn't let you come here
sooner, I would like very much to have more time to talk."
     Rei smiled shyly.  "I hope I can come visit here many more times,
sir."
     "I hope so too," Himiko's father said.  His expression suddenly
became more serious as he addressed his daughter.  "Himiko, you have
confirmation?"
     She nodded. "Yes father, just now.  They confirmed the time, so we
can begin."
     Kozukuri nodded.  "Then we'll leave you to prepare."  He and Rei's
grandfather walked back into the corridor and slid the panel shut behind
them.
     Himiko knelt down onto the bamboo floor and indicated for Rei to
join her.  "Rei, I want you to review what we will be doing tonight,"
she said.  Her tone indicated that she was now speaking as Rei's Sensei.
     "Yes, Onesama," Rei said dutifully.  She had hoped to be able to
visit at least a little with Himiko, whom she hadn't seen in days, but
she understood the importance of what was happening.  "Last week your
father was called by one of the other members of his order.  A fellow
Temple Guardian in a temple in America."
     "Upper New York State," Himiko said, her tone encouraging Rei to be
more accurate.
     "Yes.  One of the shrine maidens there, a Fire Oracle like you, had
a premonition of a great evil that would enter their land.  More
readings were done, but the only thing they can guess is that it is a
single being of some sort that will enter their land tonight.  The
Temple Guardian has called his brothers all across the world.  Tonight,
every temple that is part of the order will have their best Oracle doing
a reading.  Whatever this creature is, we can find out the most about it
at the moment it appears."
     Himiko nodded.  "That's good.  Now remember, I will be the one
controlling the fire, so it's important that you strictly be a passive
observer.  If you try to influence the fire, it could interfere with the
reading."
     "I understand," Rei said.  This was all review of course, Himiko
was simply making sure she understood what was important.
     Himiko lost her stern expression and smiled warmly.  She reached
out and laid a hand on Rei's shoulder.  "You'll do fine, Rei-chan.  Just
empty your mind and open your heart to the reading like you've done
before.  Observe and remember.  Details may be important."  She rose to
her feet.  "It's time.  We should join the others."
     Rei tried to hide her sudden trepidation, but the frown on Himiko's
face told her she had not been successful.  Her frown suddenly became a
nod of understanding.  "Rei, you shouldn't feel intimidated.  You will
be the youngest one there, but you are the most gifted spiritualist
among them, bar none.  I am depending upon you to help me the most."
     Rei smiled, uplifted by her Sensei's confidence in her.  "I'll do
my best, Onesama."
     Himiko nodded.  She went to slide open the panel, and led Rei out
into the hall.  They walked farther into the temple, and presently came
upon a long row of rice paper panels on their right.  Yellow and orange
light danced across the paper.  The effect was familiar to Rei.  When
Himiko opened one of the panels, as expected she saw a fire burning in a
fire pit in the middle of a large room.  Unlike the rest of the temple
she had seen, this room looked brand new.  The vast array of bamboo mats
were bright and clean, as were all the wooden frames and rice paper
panels.  The ceiling and wood beams were all brightly painted.  With a
pang of regret, Rei wished she had been able to see this room in its
original form.  She knew that was irrational: the room probably looked
very much like this when it had been built so many centuries ago, they
had simply restored it.  This was a living temple, after all, not a
relic.
     About a dozen young shrine maidens sat in two lines before the
fire.  They watched as Himiko and Rei approached.  Rei recognized some
of them who had visited her shrine or who worked at shrines Rei had
visited or who had trained under Himiko with her.  A couple of these
nodded in greeting.  Some of the others seemed to have figured out who
she was, knowing of her by reputation.  Their expressions ranged from
grudging admiration to open hostility.  It was only natural, Rei tried
to tell herself.  She was the rich man's daughter who was the apple of
the Sensei's eye.  No matter how much she deserved to be here, she had
to expect this sort of envy.  But it still hurt.
     She took her place among them, and watched as Himiko sat down
before them, facing the fire.  The familiar chant began, and Rei slowly
gave herself over to the process.  Her sense of time was lost, so before
she was consciously aware, the line of yellow flames rising up from
between the sticks in the fire were transformed into a single large blue
flame that danced over the fire pit.  The rest of the room and the
people around her no longer registered on Rei's consciousness as she
lost herself in contemplation of this flame that was fed no longer by
simple combustion but rather by the directed energy of Himiko's spirit.
     Rei was dimly aware of the passage of time.  She had been told that
they would be keeping this up until something showed up, or until dawn
if need be.  The small part of her conscious mind that she allowed to
remain active thought about what maintaining this flame must be doing to
Himiko.  As yet Rei could barely project her spirit into an oracle flame
for a few seconds without becoming exhausted.  Her sensei obviously had
much greater endurance, but still...
     Rei was alarmed to see the flame suddenly waver.  It became
distorted, wildly expanding and contracting, surging this way and than
over the fire pit, as if trying to escape.  Was Himiko tiring?  No, her
chanting did not falter for a second, and more importantly Rei could
feel Himiko's hold over the flame, solid and unwavering.  Rei tried to
calm herself and open her spirit to receive the vision, but within the
flame there was nothing but random dancing light.  There was no vision
being projected here, something different was interfering with the fire.
     On a hunch, Rei did something she was not supposed to: let her
conscious field of vision expand beyond the flame, encompass the space
around it.  In a flash, she saw what was happening.  The flame was
unchanged, it was the space around it that seemed to be wavering!  The
fire pit and the wall beyond it rippled and distorted as if seen through
the rushing water of a river.  But the phenomenon was clearly centered
on the flame itself.  Rei had never seen or even heard of anything like
this happening, she was utterly baffled.  Some of the other shrine
maidens, up until now as still and silent as statues, shifted slightly
or stifled exclamations, as they too began to realize that something was
wrong.  Rei suddenly realized that Himiko may not be aware of what was
happening: her direct link with the flame must be short-circuiting her
awareness of what was going on between it and her.  Himiko's
single-minded effort to reach out into time and space and draw in a
vision was drawing in something else, something utterly different.  As
the distortion around the flame became more intense, Rei started to
panic.  She desperately wanted to leap forward and shake her Sensei out
of her trance, break the link, put an end to what was happening.
     The flame suddenly blazed like the sun, lighting up the entire hall
bright as day.  Rei threw her arms up over her eyes, blinded by the
dazzling light.  She heard cries of alarm all around her.  A
high-pitched squeal like acoustic feedback assaulted her ears, quickly
building to earsplitting intensity.  Rei felt a wave of intense heat
wash over her.  She threw herself down on the floor and screamed.  It
was the end of the world, she was going to die, she was sure of it.  She
lay there, shivering and sobbing, arms wrapped over her head, waiting
for the end.
     It didn't come.  But something changed.  As her adrenaline rush
slowly subsided, Rei became aware of the single astonishing fact that
she was still alive.  The room was no longer being assaulted by
apocalyptic forces.  She opened her eyes, tried unsuccessfully to blink
away the afterimages that clouded her vision.  Her ears were still
ringing, but she was slowly becoming aware of sounds around her.
Sobbing, desperate chanting, the crackling of the fire.
     She looked up.  The room was dark again, lit only by the scattered
remnants of the fire.  There was somebody standing on each side of the
fire pit.  On the right, a towering giant that could only be Himiko's
father.  On the left, a tiny figure in a white robe with a shiny bald
pate.  Grandfather.  They must have come into the room while she was
recovering from whatever had happened.  There was a slender figure
standing silhouetted in front of the fire.  Himiko.  They all seemed to
be silently regarding something in the fire pit.
     Somebody was standing in the middle of the fire.
     Rei blinked, trying to clear her vision, wondering if her eyes were
playing tricks on her.  But no, it was a woman and she was definitely
standing in the fire.  Her tall, lithe form was hugged tightly by some
dark skintight outfit that covered her to the neck.  She didn't seem at
all concerned about the flames licking at her shins.  It didn't seem to
be hurting her at all.  She appeared more concerned with the people
standing around her.  She crouched in a defensive stance, her head
darting about wildly as she seemed to try taking in all her surroundings
at once.  Rei couldn't get a good look at her face in this light and
with her still recovering retinas, just an aquiline profile and a single
long braid of hair that swung about the back of her neck at each turn of
her head.
     The woman suddenly looked right at Himiko, pointed to her and said
something.  The voice was harsh, loud, commanding, yet seemed desperate,
nearly panicked.  But the words were gibberish.  It sounded vaguely like
English.
     Rei saw Himiko shake her head.  "I'm sorry, I don't understand,"
she said.  Himiko's voice was expressionless, as if she were still in
shock.  Rei knew that Himiko was fluent in English, if she couldn't
understand the woman then...
     Suddenly the woman leaped out of the fire pit and landed right in
front of Himiko.  She grabbed the front of Himiko's robe in one hand and
effortlessly lifted her into the air.  She looked up at Himiko's face
and repeated whatever she had said before, this time almost screaming.
     Some of the other shrine maidens were just starting to stand and
cry out in alarm when an immense shadow flew straight at the woman.  Not
a shadow, Himiko's father.  *How could he have moved so fast?* Rei
thought.  In an instant, he had become a towering juggernaut rushing to
steamroll the intruder that threatened his daughter.
     Rei didn't even see it.  There was just a blur of motion where the
woman used to be, a meaty impact and the sickening sound of bones
cracking.  Himiko's father was suddenly flying in the opposite
direction, limbs flailing.  He fell heavily to the floor.
     There was motion again, and Rei looked to see that the woman had
not even released Himiko.  But this time the motion was from Himiko.
She pulled her hand back from the woman's face, and Rei could see that
she had placed a ward there.  The little white sheet with a glyph of
power written on it stuck to her forehead, hanging down in front of her
eyes.
     With a howl, the woman grabbed the ward with her free hand and
swept it away.  It had either hurt her or simply enraged her.  Her arm
became a blur and Himiko's head snapped back with a horrible cracking
sound, her body now flying through the air.  She landed amongst the
scattering, screaming shrine maidens.  Himiko's head lolled to one side
at an impossible angle, her eyes open but unseeing.  Rei could just
stare wide-eyed, frozen in shock.  Her child's mind could not grasp what
she was seeing, her carefully nurtured mental discipline shattered by
the impossible events happening around her.
     What was left of her conscious mind was attracted by the sound of
several of the sliding panels to her left snapping open.  She looked to
see a group of men carrying big bo sticks pour into the room.  They were
wearing simple yukatas and in bare feet, as if they had just been roused
from their sleep.
     None of them had taken more than two steps into the room when there
was a bright flash and a loud crack like the discharge of an immense
condenser.  An impossibly bright beam touched one of the men and he
disappeared behind a blue-white fireball.
     Rei snapped her head around to see where the beam came from.
Standing just a few meters from Rei, the woman was pointing something
like a gun at the oncoming men.  As she watched, the woman adjusted her
aim, fired again.  And again.  Rei sat transfixed as each flash of light
illuminated the woman's face.  A beautiful, ice-chiseled triangular
face, copper hair, green eyes, full lips.  But the eyes were wild, the
lips curled back in a wolf-grin, the face twisted in a berserker's
ecstasy.
     Somebody suddenly grabbed Rei from behind, lifting her roughly up
off the floor.  Still in shock, she put up no resistance.  Short but
powerful arms crushed her into the folds of a white robe.  A familiar
voice breathed desperate words of prayer between gasps for air.
Grandfather.  He was running with her.  She couldn't see well as she was
jostled about, but she could see that flames were engulfing the part of
the room where the men had been.  The ceiling was hidden behind
billowing black smoke that threatened to smother them.
     Her grandfather crashed straight through a rice paper and
wood-frame panel on the other side of the room, hardly slowing down.
Rei was only dimly aware of being carried down a corridor lit only by
the spreading flames, out onto the grounds, into the inky black woods
that blotted out the light from the inferno behind them, blotted out
even the dim starlight.  Her mind was filled with but a single vision.
In the darkness, what stood before her eyes was that predatory face,
grinning like a death mask.  The face that would come to her in her
dreams and make her wake up screaming for years to come.

*****

     Gwendolyn Ingolfsson stepped into the elevator at the base of Tokyo
Tower along with the rest of the people who had been waiting.  The
elevator doll, a young uniformed woman who had perfected the art of her
job, moved her arm out of the doorway with robot precision, and with a
high voice showing no more expression than a talking computer cautioned
passengers to stand clear of the closing doors.
     Polite silence descended upon the elevator car as it raced up to
the Observation Deck.  Gwen stood quietly as she sent a wave of
pheromones into the air.  She already had a pretty good idea what effect
they would have on the humans, this was more play than it was
experiment.  She could already hear some of the heartbeats around her
quickening.  The elevator doll, who had been still as death, was now
fidgeting and glancing around the room.  She met Gwen's eyes, and
returned her friendly smile.  She seemed to suddenly remember she was on
duty, and with an effort she averted her eyes and put on the
expressionless face her job demanded.  She did well, the only outward
change was the flush slowly spreading from her cheeks to the rest of her
face.
     The elevator chimed, the doors opened, and with a quiver in her
voice only Gwen was conscious of the elevator doll cautioned the
passengers to watch their step when exiting.  They all filed out, and
Gwen walked straight to the window that wrapped around the Observation
Deck.  She was amused to find that most of the people were involuntarily
clustering around the part of the window she had walked to.  Without
knowing why, they seemed to want to be near her.  Freed of the confined
social space of the elevator, couples and families were busy telling
each other about how nice the view was, trying to distract themselves
from their inexplicably raging hormones, trying to pretend that Gwen
wasn't there.
     Even without the benefit of chemicals, Gwen would naturally attract
attention, especially in this country.  She was over six feet tall, and
even with the heavy jeans, cotton shirt and black leather jacket she
wore over her thin body armor it was still obvious she had a body to
kill for.  And her face had a fox-like predatory look that seemed to
transfix anyone here who met her lustrous green eyes.
     She leaned on the railing and looked out over the city.  It was
early spring, so the rainy season hadn't started yet.  The noonday sun
bathed the city through a scattering of small clouds.  Tokyo stretched
out as far as the eye could see.  A mass of humanity going out to the
horizon.
     Eight million people.  It was hard to believe, but that's what the
almanac had said.  In the past weeks, Gwen had mastered enough of the
language to be able to read things like newspapers or simple reference
books with little difficulty.  But as she could read more and more, what
she found out became more and more unbelievable.  She was on the Japan
islands, late nineteen eighties.  She'd been hurled over four hundred
years into the past.  But not her past.  A different one.  Just how
different became more apparent as she had been able to read more and
more advanced history books.  The divergence with the history she knew
started at least two hundred years ago.  In her history, defeated
loyalists from the American Revolutionary War had taken sail to southern
Africa, to start a new nation there.  They were soon joined by refugees
from an Iceland devastated by massive volcanic activity.  Other groups
of dispossessed Europeans joined them.  They came to call themselves the
Draka, and they slowly carved out an empire built on the slave labor of
the local inhabitants.  An empire called "The Domination" that had swept
up through Africa and the Middle East and arrived in Europe just in time
to swallow the Third Reich whole.  By this time, the nineteen eighties,
The Domination had swept through most of Eurasia, adding its inhabitants
to the millions of serfs who labored for their harsh masters, the Draka.
     But on this world, in this universe, none of that had happened.
Her country, her people, did not exist.
     She thought back to where this had all started.  Four hundred years
after the Final War that had left the Draka undisputed masters of the
Solar System, they were beginning the molehole experiments that they
hoped would let them travel faster than light.  Gwen had been
supervising such an experiment, in a facility buried deep under
Manhattan Island.  Something had gone wrong.  The molehole had gone out
of control.  Gwen had been directing the evacuation of the facility when
the nexus of the molehole had suddenly seemed to leap out at her and...
     She suppressed a shiver as memories of those horrible first days
came flooding back.  The blinding flash.  Landing in the middle of a
wood fire.  The musky smell of feral, undomesticated humans all around
her.  The strange room.  The humans closing in on her, the smell of
their fear and aggression overpowering.  Her attempt to get control of
the situation backfiring.  That thing the woman had slapped on her that
seemed to rip into her soul, that she thought must be a contact nerve
poison.  Panic.  Lashing out.  Running.
     She had wandered further into the mountains, expecting pursuit.
None had come.  She lived off the land for a few days, prey falling
easily to her improvised weapons.  Then she had descended upon a small
village.  At night, when her enhanced senses would give her the
advantage.  She looked, listened and learned.  Learned enough to confirm
that she was no longer on the Earth she knew.  She stole books and some
portable electronics and spent time up in her makeshift shelter teaching
herself the language and exploring the airwaves of this new world.
     She kidnapped a local inhabitant, questioned him long enough to
convince herself that she was proficient enough to communicate with the
locals.  She also learned that these undomesticated humans were not as
easily dominated as the genetically engineered slaves back home were.
The man had actually tried to escape.  Gwendolyn had found that the
local bamboo made a serviceable field expedient for the traditional
Draka form of impalement.  It had been four hundred years since she had
dealt with wild humans, she had forgotten how fragile they could be.  It
had only taken him a few hours to die.
     It was time to move on to the big city.
     She needed money.  That wasn't difficult.  Rich Tokyo businessmen
with fat wallets seemed to have a habit of staggering through alleys
late at night after bouts of drinking.  Easy prey, good enough to get
her lodging, food and some better clothes.
     But she had no intention of living at a subsistence level.  She had
bigger plans.
     The molehole accident had confirmed for her what their scientists
had suspected for decades: there really were parallel universes, they
weren't just an abstract byproduct of quantum equations.  And more
importantly, it was possible to travel between them.  Her duty was
clear.  She had to try to get back to her people and give them this
information.  If the molehole apparatus and its experimental data had
been destroyed, they may not be aware of what had happened.  There could
be no thought of building a molehole generator in this primitive,
backward world.  But she just might be able to build a beacon, something
to send a signal back to her own timeline, communicate with her people,
get them to open up a more stable molehole to this timeline.  The
transducer implanted in her brain had complete information on all the
necessary technology.  It would probably take years to learn how to
function in this world, gather the required resources, develop new
technologies and build the actual beacon.  But to a four hundred year
old Drakon who was genetically programmed to never age, a few years was
nothing.  It would be fun.  And when it was done, her people would have
a whole new world, a whole new universe, to conquer.
     Gwendolyn grinned as she surveyed her new hunting ground.
Involuntarily, she released a rather different set of pheromones into
the air.  Moments later, the people who were still clustered around her
grew restless and nervous.  Within a minute they all found some excuse
to move to another part of the Observation Deck.

End of Prologue



Part One

     "Well finally this line is starting to move!" Usagi said.  "We've
been standing here so long my legs are starting to get cramps."  She
shifted her weight from one foot to the other for emphasis, which set
her long pigtails swaying.
     "Well, if we'd come any later we probably wouldn't have gotten in
at all," Rei said.  "Look at all the people in front of us."
     "Doesn't seem like that many," Makoto said, going up on her toes
and looking over the line of people between them and the entrance.
     "This 3D theater is smaller than most regular movie theaters," Ami
reminded her.  "Inside it looks more like an Omnimax theater, though the
technology is a lot different."
     "Does that mean it'll look crummy if we don't get good seats?"
Minako asked, sounding very concerned.  She had been the one who
persuaded them all to come to the opening night performance, she was
anxious the event turn out well for them.
     "I don't think so," Ami assured her.  "With this 3D system,
apparently it looks exactly the same no matter where you sit.  And the
acoustics are supposed to be pretty revolutionary too, so it will sound
pretty much the same from any seat."
     "If you know so much, can you tell us anything more about the
movie?" Usagi asked her.
     "Not really, I was reading about the 3D system in an electronics
magazine in the library."
     "They've been pretty hush-hush about the movie itself," Minako
confirmed.  "About all I know is its an SF action picture taking place
in Tokyo in 1999."
     "How original," Rei said dryly.  "Let me guess, the end of the
world is coming and they're going to avoid it by the skin of their
teeth."
     Minako shrugged.  "Your guess is as good as mine.  But that reminds
me, I did find something on the company that makes this 3D system."  She
rummaged around in her large cloth tote bag, pulled out a magazine and
started leafing through it.
     Makoto looked over her shoulder.  "Minako, since when did you start
reading Business Week?"
     "I borrowed this from my dad," Minako said, still flipping through
the magazine.  "Ah, here it is!  Rising Wind Technologies."
     "Rather hubristic name," Rei commented.
     Minako scanned the article, confirming her information.
"Incorporated in Japan six years ago by a German national with dual
citizenship named...  Guenudorin Ingorufuson," she read, rolling her
tongue around the difficult foreign name.  "One of the fastest growth
records of any high technology company in the world.  Already sales of
over a billion yen last year, remarkable for such a new company."
     "Minako."  They all looked at Usagi who was glaring at Minako, her
arms crossed imperiously in front of her.  "Is there some particular
reason we are supposed to care about all this?"
     Minako grinned.  "I'm going to be meeting with Ingolfsson-san next
week."
     "What?" her friends all exclaimed in perfect unison.
     Minako seemed to delight in their surprise.  "Her company is
holding a luncheon welcoming new business partners.  The company my dad
works for just signed a big contract with Rising Wind, so we got
invited!"
     "What do you mean *we*? You mean you too?" Makoto asked.
     "And my mom.  We all got these cool invitation cards in the mail."
     "Isn't that unusual?  I mean, inviting your dad's whole family like
that?" Rei asked.
     "From what my dad tells me, there are a lot of unusual things about
the way Rising Wind does business."
     "Minako, doesn't your dad have more of an engineering background?"
Ami asked.
     Minako nodded.  "Yes, he does technology assessments of venture
capital proposals."
     "Well, don't they usually just invite, you know, the bean counter
types to these luncheons?" Ami asked.
     "Like I said, the way Rising Wind does business is a lot different.
I've never seen my dad get so excited about a project.  He can't tell me
any details, but it sounds like if it works out the way he thinks, it
will be one of the biggest payoffs his company ever had.  A real feather
in his cap!"
     Makoto looked at the magazine Minako was still holding.  "Hey, is
that a picture of what's-her-name, Ingolfsomething?"
     "Yes, that's her," Minako answered, holding the magazine out to her.
     Makoto took it.  "Whoa, you're telling me *she* is the President of
some big company?  Man, nobody that smart has a right to look that
gorgeous."  She didn't notice that Ami was suddenly glaring at her.
     Makoto passed the magazine on to Usagi, who suddenly seemed more
interested in Business Week now that there was a picture to look at.
"Are you going to need to shop for a new dress?" Makoto asked Minako.
     "Nope, I'm going to wear the pink one."
     "Which one?" Usagi, Ami and Makoto asked in unison.  Minako had a
closet full of pink dresses.
     "Well..." Minako began, then stopped, a frown of concern suddenly
coming to her face.  "Rei, is something wrong?"
     The other three girls all turned to look at Rei.  She was holding
the magazine Usagi had just handed her, staring at it with a look of
primal fear.  All the color had drained from her face.  She did not seem
to be at all aware of her surroundings.
     Makoto took her by the shoulder, gave her a gentle shake.  "Hey
girl, you still with us?"
     Rei started, as if snapping out of a trance.  She looked around,
suddenly aware that she was the center of attention.  Still looking
rather confused, she mumbled "It's nothing, I'm fine."
     "You sure didn't look fine," Makoto said, unconvinced.
     Rei managed a weak smile.  "I just felt a sudden chill, I may be
coming down with something."
     "Maybe you should go home," Ami suggested.
     "No, really I'm fine.  It just came and went."
     "Well, if you say so," Makoto said, still eyeing Rei suspiciously.
She glanced down the line of people.  "You know, I do believe we're
getting closer."
     A few minutes later they picked up their tickets and headed into
the theater.  As Ami had said, it looked something like an Omnimax, or
maybe a planetarium tilted at an angle.  They managed to find five seats
in a row.  Presently, the lights went down and chatter died down.  Then
the screen above them lit up and hundreds of people gasped in unison.
     You could reach out and touch it.  In fact, some people in the
audience were trying to do just that... obviously to no avail.  They
were racing down a back alley in a slum of some western city, and it was
like they were really *there*.  They were following a squad of soldiers
who were running, desperately trying to escape from something.  As they
ran from street to street, there were signs of recent fighting all
around them, dead bodies, burning vehicles, crater-riddled buildings.
Suddenly bolts of searing white light ripped through the squad.  People
in the audience screamed as they seemed to see men die right in front of
them.  In seconds, the entire squad lay dead before them, horrible burns
marking where they had been shot.  Noises came from the right, where the
laser bolts had come from.  As one, the audience all turned their heads
to see what it was.  Four giant baboons loped towards them.  They were
clad head to foot in segmented black armor.  They carried impossibly
large guns in their great, hairy claws.  They moved with the too-perfect
precision that suggested computer-generated images.  Still, people
shrank back in their seats as the creatures seemed to tower over them.
One of them bent down and snuffled at one of the dead soldiers.  It
shouldered its weapon, reached down to the body, and with one quick
motion tore an arm off.  There was probably not as much blood as there
would have been had this happened in real life.  The creature began to
gnaw at the arm, the picture froze, and with a flourish of music the
title of the picture materialized in front of the audience.  The Final
War.
     A narrator gave the background as various scenes played out before
them.  In 1999, a group of people in a secret lab enhanced themselves
genetically, and declared themselves the Master Race.  With their
superior intelligence, they quickly developed advanced weapons and
genetically enhanced various animals to act as their semi-intelligent
slave soldiers.  They had swept across the world in a matter of months,
and now they were poised to invade Japan.
     The members of the self proclaimed Master Race were played by the
usual muscle-bound denizens of cheap action movies, the ones with the
Greek God look.  But the real star of the show was their leader, who
never left his high-tech throne.  Subtle hints showed that his image was
computer generated, but it was certainly convincing.  His inhuman
leopard-like grace made the human actors look clumsy and wimpy by
comparison.
     The action quickly moved to Tokyo, where the protagonists in the
Japanese Self Defense Force fought a losing battle with the advancing
demi-human slave soldiers and their Master Race officers.  A series of
elaborate firefights were staged at various famous locations within the
city.
     The main protagonists, two JSDF officers, found themselves
desperately running through the subway tunnels to a hidden entrance to
the secret JSDF base under Mount Fuji (a development that elicited a
groan from more than one member of the audience).  They found the
entrance, the huge door swung aside and on the other side stood none
other than the leader of the Master Race.  He calmly told them that his
forces overran the base hours ago.  He leveled a laser pistol at the
audience, grinning, his green eyes sparkling.  "Long live the Master
Race."  Bang.  Fade to black.
     The lights came up.  People started to stir.  There was excited
talk all over the place, punctuated by kids exclaiming, "That was sooo
coool!"
     Makoto stood up and stretched.  "Well, that looked pretty neat, but
the story was kind of... hey!"
     Her friends, and people around them, started at her exclamation.
She was looking at Rei, who was slumped down in her seat, eyes closed.
     Ami, who was sitting beside her, quickly got out of her seat and
bent over her friend.  She took Rei by the shoulders and gently shook
her.  "Rei, can you hear me?  Are you okay?"  People around them were
staring.
     "How long has she been like that?" Minako asked.
     Usagi, who had been sitting on Rei's other side, said, "She
practically jumped out of her seat when that guy shot his gun just now.
She must have fainted after that."  She was holding Rei's hand.  Like
Ami, she was trying to get some response out of her friend.
     The raven-haired girl stirred, groaned.  Her eyes fluttered open.
"Ami...?" she said weakly.
     Ami put the back of her hand over Rei's forehead.  "Your
temperature seems more or less normal.  How are you feeling?"
     "Not too good.  What happened, did I fall asleep?"
     "No, you fainted," Usagi said.  "Was it because of that guy
shooting at us?"
     Rei didn't seem to understand the question.  "Umm... I don't
remember."
     "Just try to relax," Ami said, now holding her other hand.  "When
you feel up to moving, we'll take you to a doctor."
     "I see a nurse coming," Minako said.  "Looks like they were
expecting something like this to happen."
     Makoto watched her stricken friend with a worried look on her face.
Rei would be the last one she'd expect to faint dead away just over a
scary movie.  There was something very wrong here.

*****

     Gwen stepped into the limousine and sat down facing the back of the
car as the attendant closed the door.  She rapped twice on the window
that separated them from the driver's section.  The car pulled smoothly
out of her office's underground garage and onto the street.
     She checked herself in a mirror, smoothed out her black dress and
glanced at the man seated opposite her.  "We don't have much time, so
give me the short version," she said without preamble.
     "Yes Mistress," he said.  Doctor Van Kreveld was a short, thin man
with unkempt graying hair that went down to his shoulders.  He wore a
rumpled wool suit without a tie.  To Gwen's enhanced olfactory, he
smelled awful.  It was a testament to his abilities that Gwen was
content to put up with him exactly as he was.  He cleared his throat
elaborately.  "This morning I and my staff went over the results of the
diagnostics they ran at the Hakone site yesterday.  We are satisfied
that the magnetic containment system is working according to
specifications.  We are recommending that we sign off with the
contractor and proceed with system integration testing."
     Gwen nodded.  "Fine.  We'll get the contractor's people moved out
of the beacon facility today so that your staff can take up residence as
soon as possible.  I want that to be tomorrow."
     Van Kreveld bowed.  "I don't foresee any difficulty with that."  He
frowned as he saw a slightly wistful look past across Gwen's face.  He
had long since learned to become well attuned to her moods.  "Was there
anything else you wanted to ask, Mistress?"
     Gwen smiled.  "Now that we're so close, I find myself once again
thinking on our original dilemma."
     "I see."  That could mean only one thing.  The molehole beacon they
were building seemed to be perfect in every way.  There was nothing left
now but to do final tests to see that all the systems worked together,
then to finally switch on the beacon at full power and wait for a
response from Gwen's people.  But in all this, they had never been able
to resolve the original dilemma Gwen spoke of.
     Why had she disappeared in Manhattan Island and appeared in Hakone?
     "Despite all that you have shown me, the physics behind the
molehole is still beyond me, Mistress."
     "Makes two of us," Gwen said, grinning.  Van Kreveld was one of the
most gifted physicists on the planet, but was about four hundred years
out of his element.  And Gwen was no physicist at all.  They were simply
collaborating to build a device designed by minds greater than their
own.
     Gwen turned to face the young woman whom up until now the two of
them had been ignoring.  "Yohko, any cancellations for the luncheon
since we last talked?"
     "No, Mistress," her executive secretary answered immediately,
having been awaiting permission to speak.  They were all speaking in
English, the default language of Gwen's inner circle.  Like the other
twenty or so members of her inner circle, these two were aware of what
she was and what she was planning to do.  Each of them was firmly under
her domination, and each had been lured by a particular plum that Gwen
had dangled before them.  For Van Kreveld, a level of understanding of
the physical world he had never dreamed of.  For Yohko, a high position
in the brave new world to come.  For others, the promise of youth or
health from the geneticists of the Final Society, or simply the promise
of power.
     Each of them had been Fausted in one way or another.
     "Fine.  The two of us will be spending most of our time at the
Hakone site starting this week, so we'll have a lot of work wrapping up
various things in Tokyo today and tomorrow.  Let's go over the
schedule."
     "Yes, Mistress,"  Yohko said, picking up her organizer.

*****

     The introductory speeches having been much shorter than was normal
for such a luncheon, all the people in the banquet hall were soon
delving into their first course.  Nobody seemed to have a problem with
Gwen's fast-paced approach.  Gwen simply couldn't stomach the way that
the formal style of the Japanese language could draw out a simple
declarative sentence into something three times as long as it needed to
be.  Still, there were some aspects of the language she simply adored.
Especially the way that different levels of politeness and deference
were built right in to the structure of the language.  It seemed to be
geared specifically towards maintaining hierarchy.  Ideal for the Final
Society, Gwen thought.  Ironic that this language was extinct in her
timeline.  Not that such a thing would be of any use in her time.  The
Final Society maintained its hierarchy with genetics and hormones.  The
Draka's various engineered slave races were simply designed to be
faithful.
     As she ate, Gwen had Yohko point out various people she would be
interested in meeting later when they were mingling, so that she could
identify them by sight.  Gwen could not exert the same level of chemical
control over these feral humans as she could over the Homo Servus back
home.  But her physical presence and pheromones could still exert a
powerful influence.  Personal meetings with potential business partners,
even if very brief, could be useful.
     Her eyes lingered on one occupant of a table further down the hall.
She leaned over to her secretary.  "Yohko.  Third table from the right,
second from the back, seated in the middle, facing us.  Who is that
gorgeous creature?"
     Yohko squinted.  It was quite far away for human eyes to see
clearly.  "You mean the child?  I believe that is Mister Aino's
daughter.  I don't recall her name."
     Gwen smiled.  It still amused her how they referred to young men
and women as children.  In Draka society it had always simply been
assumed that adulthood started at sexual maturity.  "You mean she's
their natural daughter?  Remarkable, her hair is so light, almost
blonde."
     "Yes, it is unusual."  Yohko glanced at her mistress' face, decided
there was nothing in her expression indicating they should pursue this
any further.  They went back to discussing tomorrow's agenda.
     When the lunch was done, the guests were invited to move to a
showroom that had been set up by Rising Wind in the accompanying hall.
As they wandered through the hall, looking at the displays and munching
dainties, Gwen weaved her way through them, working her subtle magic on
one person here and another person there.  As well as greasing the
wheels of Rising Wind business, she was always on the lookout for people
valuable enough, pliable enough and amoral enough to bring into her
inner circle.
     Gwen suddenly came upon the young woman she had noticed in the
banquet hall.  She was standing on her own, admiring a painting.  It was
one of Gwen's.  As a personal touch, Gwen would often have one or two of
her oil paintings put up in a Rising Wind showroom.  This was one of her
favorites.  It showed two nude women dancing in a garden full of flowers
and blossoming trees.  As Gwen approached, she took in the girl's scent.
It was more remarkable even than her exotic beauty.  Behind the sharp
human scent there was a hint of the orderly sweetness that she usually
associated with one of the carefully engineered races of her own world.
She had not encountered its like since arriving in this world, not among
the thousands of humans she had scented.  It was almost like a taste of
home.  Gwen wondered if she were imagining things, if this was just a
bout of homesickness.
     "Good day, Aino-san," Gwen said from beside and slightly behind her.
     The girl turned to look at her.  "Good day," she said
automatically, her eyes slowly widening and her heart racing as she
realized who was talking to her.
     "I'm Gwendolyn Ingolfsson of Rising Wind.  Thank you for coming to
our luncheon."
     The girl stepped around to face her fully and bowed.  "I am Aino
Minako.  Thank you very much for inviting me."
     "Do you like the painting, Minako?"  Gwen asked.
     "Yes, very much.  The two women seem to resemble you.  Are they
relatives?"
     "Very perceptive.  Yes, the one on the left is my mother, the other
is a more distant relative."
     "They're very beautiful," Minako said.  Gwen could hear her
subvocalize what she was thinking: *You're displaying a nude of your
mother?*
     "People seem to find it odd we would wander around our garden in
the nude, we never really thought much about it."  Gwen immediately
chided herself for involuntarily responding to Minako's subvocalization.
It would probably scare her.
     But Minako didn't seem the least put off by what must appear to her
as mind reading.  In fact, Gwen could hear that her heart rate was
already back down to normal.  She suddenly realized that she had been
releasing pheromones to soothe Minako's nervousness.  The girl was
responding to it almost as effectively as a Homo Servus would.  "Your
family must be very close," Minako said.
     "Well, I'm living very far from my family now, but yes, we've
always been close."
     "What is the dance they're doing?  It looks unusual."  The two
women were executing a leap high in the air, their arms outstretched,
the only contact between them being the fingertips of each hand.
     "Ah, that's something we call shadow dancing.  Do you dance at all?"
     "No," Minako answered.  Gwen perceived in her tone some
embarrassing experience that had prompted her to avoid at least some
kind of dancing like the plague.  "About the closest thing to dancing I
do is Tai Chi.  I spend a lot of my time studying martial arts, you
see."
     "Really?  Well, shadow dancing is actually less a dance than it is
an extension of martial arts training.  The two disciplines are closer
than you might think.  You shouldn't let a bad experience prevent you
from expanding your horizons."  *There I go again,* Gwen thought.  *And
why am I suddenly giving this motherly advice to her?*  The answer came
immediately, *My protective instinct is kicking in.  I'm responding as I
would to a Servus who is looking to me for guidance.*
     "I've never heard of shadow dancing, is there some place in the
city that teaches it?"
     Gwen chuckled.  "Right now I'm probably the only person in Japan
who knows anything about it."  An instant later she could read Minako's
reaction: disappointment, and wanting a favor she dare not ask.  It made
no sense, she had no time but... she was very close to her ultimate goal
now, and she felt like just working with her instinct this one time.
"I'll tell you what," she said, opening the elegant little black belt
pouch at her waist and drawing out a calling card.  She handed it to
Minako, who accepted it.  "I've built a villa for myself in the
mountains around Hakone, and I'll be moving in there this week.  If
you're not busy this weekend, I'd love for you to come help me break in
my new workout room.  It's just a couple of hours by train.  If you've
been diligently in your martial arts training, we can have you shadow
dancing in no time."
     "Oh, I couldn't..."
     "Oh, don't worry about how busy you think I am.  As you can see,"
she waved at the painting in front of them, "I always find time for the
finer things in life.  And it will be a lot more fun for me, having a
partner to work out with."
     Minako smiled contentedly, calmed by Gwen's verbal reassurance and
her chemical lullaby.  "Thank you Ingolfsson-san, I'd love to."
     "Oh do call me Gwen, my full name is such a mouthful.  I'll tell my
people to expect a call from you.  Just let them know when you can make
it to Hakone station, they'll send a car for you.  We have plenty of
room, so I hope you'll pack an overnight bag, I'd love to have you stay
for the weekend."  She glanced at her watch.  "Well, I really should be
going now.  If I don't do some more schmoozing, my secretary will have
kittens."

*****

     Kenneth Lafarge slid open the blind that had been covering the
window next to his first-class seat, and looked down at the Pacific
Ocean.  He glanced at the map on the overhead television that charted
the progress of the JAL 747.  Not too long now.  Just another hour or so
to Narita.  Then the hunt could begin anew.
     He reached for the seat in front of him and pulled the issue of
Business Week out of the pocket.  It was already open to the feature
article on Rising Wind Technologies.  He glared at the photograph of
their CEO.  His first good look at the Snake that meant to swallow up
this world whole.
     He had spent six years in America, the homeland of his ancestors.
The homeland the Snakes had driven them out of four hundred years ago.
Six years, probing, searching, looking for any sign of the Snake's
activity.  He had almost begun to think that it wasn't here at all.
That it had died in the molehole accident, or had been somehow killed
soon after arriving here.  But then the intelligent agents he had
cruising the net started bringing in reports from the other side of the
world.  A rapidly rising high technology company founded seven years
ago.  Large purchases of certain exotic rare elements.  Contracts for
very sophisticated magnetic containment devices.
     Then he finally managed to find a photograph of the elusive
Gwendolyn Ingolfsson.  Instantly, he knew he had found his target.
     The man next to him leaned over to look at the magazine.  "She
looks altogether too young to have founded a company like that seven
years ago."
     Lafarge smiled.  "Oh, these photographs can be too flattering,
Takeda-san.  I imagine she's quite a bit older than she appears." *Maybe
by centuries,* he thought.  Lafarge was now fluent enough in Japanese to
have had little difficulty starting up a conversation with the Japanese
businessman seated next to him on the flight from Los Angeles.  His
weeks of crash learning had paid off.  As they talked, he had been more
than a little dismayed to discover that Rising Wind Technologies had
long since become a household name among the business class in the Japan
islands.
     *How could I have let this get so far?* he wondered.  *How could I
have overlooked it for so long?*  The answer was obvious: he had been
looking in the wrong space.  The Samothracian stealth ships hiding at
the edge of the Solar System had gotten clear readings on the molehole
accident.  A single figure, massing almost a hundred kilos, displaced
four hundred years back in time, into this timeline.  It should have
appeared in Manhattan.  Assuming it had figured out what had happened,
it would be trying to build a beacon in the same place, for the greatest
likelihood of success.
     But all indications were that the Snake was building its beacon in
Hakone.
     Even though the Samothracians were ahead of the Draka in molehole
technology, there was still much they did not understand about the
phenomenon.  So Lafarge had to assume that either the Snake had appeared
in Japan or had some legitimate reason to believe that the beacon should
be built there.
     "It seems to be a big mystery where she got her start," Takeda
continued.  "Some rich German family nobody has heard of.  Well, if she
was born with a silver spoon in her mouth, she's certainly succeeded in
turning it to gold."
     Lafarge grinned.  "Transmutation?  Considering the stuff her
company has come out with lately, I wouldn't put it past them."
     Takeda chuckled.  "Just before I left Los Angeles, my son dragged
me to see the English version of that dreadful movie they're using to
showcase their 3D system.  Nice graphics, but what a waste of
supercomputer bandwidth."
     "I couldn't agree more," Lafarge said, suppressing a shudder.
After hearing about it, he had gone to see it himself.  The Final War.
It had been like a warped parody of everything he had ever heard about
the final conflict that had driven his people from the solar system, all
brought to life in front of him.  Too close to be coincidence, the Snake
must have had some hand in its making.  A sort of monumental joke,
thumbing its nose at the world saying, "This is what we have in store
for you."  Either this Snake was particularly reckless about attracting
attention, or it simply hadn't considered that the Samothracians might
be able to send an agent into this timeline to hunt it down.
     "So have you given more thought to where you plan on touring after
you've found a place to stay in Tokyo?" Takeda asked him.
     "I've heard that Hakone and the mountains around it are very nice,"
the Samothracian cyborg warrior answered. "You were telling me that
you've vacationed there, can you recommend a good guidebook?"

*****

     Minako sighed as she lowered herself into the pool.  "That feels so
good!  I don't think I'll ever be able to drag myself out of here."
     Gwen smiled at her from the other side of the pool, where she sat
half immersed in the water with her arms spread out on the rim of the
white marble bathing pool on either side of her.  "Are your muscles
still aching?"
     "No, that massage you gave me did the trick.  It was really nice of
you."
     "Well, I really drove you hard today, I think you earned a reward.
You looked about ready to drop."
     "I was!"  Minako exclaimed.  "I thought I was in good shape, but
there I was half dead and you hadn't even broken a sweat!"  Once again
she looked enviously at Gwen's form.  Her muscles looked inhumanly well
developed.  Not in a muscle-bound way, more like the way she would
imagine a panther transformed into human form.
     Gwen chuckled.  "Well, I've got just a few more years of training
under my belt than you.  But don't feel bad, you did very well today.
You've got the basic patterns mastered, I think it's just a matter of
practicing to learn the variations, get your timing right and learn to
anticipate your partner's moves."
     "You're right about one thing, it's more like a sparring match than
a dance.  Was it your mother who taught you?"
     "No, I learned it from others.  After her lover passed away, my
mother pretty much gave up the dancing part of her training."
     Minako blinked, suddenly confused.  "Her lover?  Are you talking
about your father?"
     "No, I mean the other woman in the painting," Gwen said casually.
     "Oh."  Minako felt herself blushing.  Grasping for something to
say, she asked, "Gwen, I have a couple of friends who I sometimes train
with, would it be okay if I showed them the basics of shadow dancing?"
     "Of course, it's always good to work with a variety of partners.
I'll have somebody run off a copy of that tape we were using, the music
you've got over here just isn't right for it."
     "Thank you.  I really liked the music, I've never heard anything
like it."
     "I put that together on a synthesizer I've got in my home in Tokyo."
     "You *wrote* it?" Minako asked, astonished to find yet another of
Gwen's talents she didn't know about.
     "It's not exactly original, I just did variations on some music I
had heard back home.  The originals are... hard to obtain."
     "Did you write it to help you from getting homesick?" Minako asked.
     "I suppose so," Gwen said wistfully.  "I don't regret being here,
not by any means.  I can accomplish things here that I couldn't back
home, and I think I've made a pretty good life for myself here so far.
But yes, sometimes I do miss the friends I left behind."
     Gwen looks so sad, Minako thought.  She suddenly regretted asking
her about her home.  "I'm sorry, I wish I could say I understand how you
feel.  I couldn't imagine being separated from my friends."
     Gwen gave Minako an odd, but still friendly look.  She suddenly
sank down into the water and moved to the center of the small pool, just
in front of Minako.  She sat down on the bottom and wrapped her arms
around her knees.  "So tell me a bit about your friends, it sounds like
they're more than just sparring partners."
     "There are four girls I mostly hang around with.  There's Usagi,
she can be a bit of a clumsy ditz.  But she's the sweetest person I've
ever met, nobody could ask for a nicer friend.  Ami is the smart one, a
real genius, always top of the class.  But she's not stuck up about it,
not competitive or anything.  She helps me out with my schoolwork a lot.
Then there's Rei, she's always fighting with Usagi.  It's not that she's
mean, Usagi just does some dumb things sometimes.  Rei's a shrine
maiden, so she's very spiritual.  And really pretty, too.  Makoto is the
one I train with mostly.  She can be a bit short tempered, in fact she
was thrown out of her last school for fighting.  But she's actually very
sweet.  And she's really tall and graceful, I get jealous of her
sometimes."
     "You're lucky to have such a nice group of friends to grow up
with," Gwen said.
     "I know," Minako said.  "We all met just over the past few months
actually, but it's like I've known them all my life, they're all very
dear to me."
     "Sounds that way.  So are you sleeping with any of them yet?"
     It took a couple of seconds for Minako to realize what Gwen was
asking.  She abruptly averted her eyes.  "No, of course not," she
answered almost involuntarily.  She could feel herself blushing again.
Memories of events following the fall of the Death Busters came flooding
back.  Was she a liar?  No, what she and Ami had shared then had simply
been about being alive at a time when they had fully expected not to be.
That didn't count.  She looked back at Gwen, who was regarding her with
a look of slight amusement.  Not mocking, more like a half-hidden smile
between friends who shared a secret.  Minako couldn't shake the
unsettling feeling that Gwen was reading her mind.
     "That's surprising, an attractive girl like you must be very
popular.  I was sleeping with one of my girlfriends from the age of
fourteen.  When I was growing up that wasn't at all unusual."
     Minako didn't know how to take this.  She wasn't exactly an expert
on German society, but she had certainly never heard anything like that.
"I guess things are a little different in Japan," was all she could
think to say.
     "Interesting.  Any boyfriends yet?"
     "No, between my school and my training, I don't really have time
for dating."
     "Well, I suppose that's all right.  Personally, I don't think girls
should start getting involved with boys until they're at least
seventeen, though I suppose I'm a bit of an old obasan in that regard...
what's so funny?"
     Minako was giggling uncontrollably.  She couldn't help it, it was
such a blessed release of tension after she was feeling so nervous under
Gwen's scrutiny.  Presently, she got her breathing under control.  "I'm
really sorry Gwen, for some reason it was just so funny hearing you call
yourself obasan.  You're the last person in the world I would call
that."
     "I guess I should be happy about that." She suddenly took Minako's
hand, held it just above the water.  "Would you prefer to call me
Onesama?"
     Minako was at a loss for words, unsure what Gwen meant.  And she
was wondering why her heart hadn't stopped pounding now that her fit of
laughing was done.  Her whole body felt flushed.  Had she simply been in
the hot water too long?  Her body was racing, but her mind was shutting
down.  For some reason, the only important thing seemed to be for her to
give Gwen the answer she wanted.
     "Yes, Onesama," she answered, squeezing her hand.  All she could
see was Gwen's face, it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.
     Gwen reached out, pulled Minako to her and gave her a long,
passionate kiss.  Minako's higher brain functions shut down with the
abruptness of a fuse being tripped.

*****

     Rei completed the final part of the tea ceremony, placing the cup
in front of her grandfather and bowing.  Her grandfather picked up the
cup, turned it twice in his hand, and drank from it.  When he was done,
he put the cup back onto the bamboo floor and bowed.  When he raised his
head again, his serene expression was gone and he was grinning ear to
hear.  He winked at her.  "Delicious as always, Rei.  You haven't lost
your touch."
     "Thanks Grandpa," Rei said, also relaxing from the formality of the
ceremony.  "I guess it has been a while since I treated you.  I'm glad
you liked it."
     "So what's the occasion?" her grandfather asked, getting into a
more comfortable position.
     "Well, I just wanted to talk to you about something," Rei answered
hesitantly.
     "Hmm.  Are you having problems in your relationship with Yuichirou?"
     "Grandpa!"  She brandished the priceless ladle of the shrine's
finest tea set threateningly.
     "Okay, okay!" her grandfather said soothingly, his hands raised
protectively.  "So it's not that.  What, then?"
     Rei's righteous indignation melted away.  She put down the ladle
and averted her eyes.  "It's about what happened in..." she couldn't
even speak the name of the place.  She forced herself to meet her
grandfather's eyes.  "In the mountains around Hakone."
     His cheerful face fell, took on a pained expression.  It was a few
seconds before he answered.  "Rei, it's been years since we have spoken
of that.  Why do you suddenly bring it up now?"
     "I'm not entirely sure.  I've just been thinking about it lately,
that's all."
     "Have the nightmares come back?" he asked gently.
     Rei shook her head.  "No, there are just some things I've been
wondering about.  Some things I'd like to know."
     The old priest slid closer to his granddaughter, looked up at her.
"Rei-chan, you fought a long and hard battle to put all that behind you,
and you won.  Do you really want to dig it all up again now?"
     "Grandpa... please."  She couldn't think of any other way to ask.
     He looked at her for a few seconds, then nodded.  "What do you want
to know?"
     "The thing that attacked us... you always told me that the order
Himiko was part of, those other temples, they had taken care of it.  Do
you know what happened?"
     Her grandfather sighed.  He suddenly seemed so much older.  "Rei,
the truth is, nothing happened.  Nobody has any idea what that thing
was.  As far as we know, it has never been seen since.  There was that
one premonition of a great evil, and then nothing.  We have no idea
where it came from or what might have become of it."
     "Grandpa, you keep saying 'it', we both saw that it was a woman."
     "No!" he said vehemently, startling her.  With effort, he calmed
himself.  "No, it was no woman.  It was nothing human.  It was a
monster, something that reveled in slaughter.  We can only hope that it
was consumed in its own holocaust, or at least gone back from whence it
came."
     Rei felt a pang of guilt.  She hadn't even thought of how much it
would upset her grandfather, talking about these things.  He had lost a
dear friend to this creature as well.  But there was one more thing she
wanted to know.  "Grandpa, why was the temple never rebuilt?"
     "Nearly all of its occupants had been killed.  The few that were
left... well, they were mostly young, hadn't really gotten attached to
it yet, preferred to put it behind them.  One can hardly blame them."
     Rei cast her eyes down, shook her head.  "It was such a beautiful
place.  It's so sad to think of it just lying in ruins, all alone,
nobody to care for it."
     Her grandfather fidgeted uncomfortably.  "Well, the truth is, the
ruins aren't there anymore."
     Rei's head snapped up.  "What?"
     "It was torn down a couple of years back."
     Rei was shocked.  "But why?  Why would the order do that?"
     "They didn't do it themselves, it was done by whoever bought the
land."
     Rei stared at him for several seconds.  "They sold the land?"
     Her voice had been utterly calm, but her grandfather knew full well
what that hid.  "Rei, I know how you feel about these things," he said
as soothingly as he could.  "I didn't like the idea at the time either.
But you have to understand, there was really no hope of reestablishing
the temple.  And they were being offered such an amount of money... they
really were better off using it to help expand the order elsewhere.  Try
to understand, they aren't in the business of preserving old buildings,
they are pledged to be guardians against the darkness.  That always has
to come first."
     They sat in silence for a while.  Presently, the priest cleared his
throat.  "Rei, I never wanted to ask you this before, but did you ever
consider contacting the order again, maybe working with them?"
     Rei shook her head.  "It's been in the back of my mind, but I don't
think I'm ready to make that decision yet."
     "Hmm.  Quite right."  He seemed a little disappointed, but
obviously didn't want to press the matter.
     "Grandpa, do you know who bought the land?  What was done with it?"
     "It was rather unusual, as I recall.  Some high technology company
needed a site at high elevation for some sort of research, and they
wanted it in close proximity to their Tokyo operations.  This site was
apparently ideal.  They were certainly willing to pay enough for it.
Odd name, too.  Rising Wind, I think."
     Rei took a deep breath, and in her mind recited a mantra she would
often use when she felt herself on the verge of panic.  "I see.  Thank
you, Grandpa.  I think it's helped a little.  I mean, talking about
this."
     He smiled and nodded.  "Well, I hope you can set it behind you once
and for all now."
     "Yes, I think I can."  She rose from the floor.  "I feel the need
to go meditate for a while, I'll clean up here later."
     "Of course, go ahead."
     Rei left the room, went down the hall, and entered a storage room
where she was unlikely to be disturbed.  She immediately fell to her
knees, wrapped her arms around herself, and finally gave in to the
shivering she had been suppressing in front of her grandfather.  Her
mantras were of little use against the primal fear of a childhood demon
coming to haunt her.

*****

     "Ready?" Minako asked.
     "Ready!" Ami replied.
     Minako pressed the play button on the boom box, and ran over to
join Ami in the middle of Minako's small workout room.  Minako's new
aerobics outfit was rather more flamboyant than her own, Ami noted, it
looked like its green, blue and pink would glow in the dark.  The girls
faced each other, raised their arms, and brought them forward until they
touched each other's fingertips.  Then the music began with hard beat.
     Minako signaled the first move with a dip of her shoulder.  Ami
tensed, prepared to follow, and they began.  She tried to watch all of
Minako's body at the same time, looking for signals, trying to
anticipate, striving to become Minako's shadow.  It took all her
concentration.  *Minako was right,* she decided.  *This is more like
combat than dancing.*
     At this beginner level, there were proscribed times in the sequence
when the lead switched from one partner to the other.  Ami waited for
her cue, then began to lead them around the room. Leading was even
harder, if she gave the wrong signal with her body language, Minako
would make the wrong move and they would either break contact or crash
into each other.  And she was always supposed to strive for originality,
to conceive new variations of the basic moves on the fly.
     The lead went back to Minako, and she stepped up the pace.  Ami was
getting winded.  But despite Minako's sudden zeal, she managed to
persevere.  When the music indicated that the end of the set was near,
Minako had them in one corner of the room, then signaled a new pattern
with a sudden upthrust of her head.  *Oh no.  Not that, we've never done
it right yet.*  They took two running steps, leapt high into the air,
and landed in the opposite corner of the room that simply was *not* big
enough for that sort of move.  Their fingertips never parted.  They
worked their way back to the center and resumed their starting position
just on time for the music to end.
     They linked fingers and pressed their palms together, both
hyperventilating.  Far too winded to talk, they just grinned
triumphantly at each other.  This was the first time they had completed
an entire set without a single mistake.  They staggered over to the
bench, where Minako stopped the tape.  Ami picked up her water bottle
and took small swallows from it in between great gulps of air.  Minako
just ran the water from her own bottle over her face, letting it drip
down her neck.
     When she had enough of her breath back, Minako said, "Ami, after
that, I think we have to get married."
     Ami smiled.  Minako had been saying the oddest things these days.
A few days after she'd met this eccentric millionaire woman she'd
suddenly been all fired up about this training she'd been doing with her
"Onesama," and begging Ami to try it with her.  Ami would have thought
Makoto would have more of an aptitude for this.  "It's more like
physical chess," Minako had replied, "much more your style."  They'd
been practicing for days now, Ami diligently but Minako fanatically.  If
not for Ami's firm refusal they probably would have been skipping
classes and study to practice more.
     "Minako, that was definitely the last set for me.  I'm dead."
     "Yeah, but it was worth it, wasn't it?  Finishing off with a
flourish like that, what a rush!"
     "Uh-huh.  The next time you see Gwen, please thank her for me.
I've really enjoyed learning this dance of hers."
     "I'll do that.  You know, that woman is just unbelievable, she can
go through an entire set like that and not even break a sweat."
     "Well, maybe Europeans sweat in places you can't see," Ami said
playfully.
     Minako smiled.  "Nope, there is no place I can't see.  Her and I,
we shadow dance in the nude."
     Ami blinked.  "Are you serious?"
     "Yep.  It's the greatest!  In a big room you can go all over the
place and really get a breeze moving over your body.  Next time we'll
have to try it that way."
     Ami hummed a noncommittal monosyllable.  "I should probably get
ready to go, I have some homework to finish for tomorrow."
     Minako waved at the door.  "You know where the shower is."
     "Thanks.  See you in a bit."  Ami picked up her duffel bag and
walked down the hall.  She went into the bathroom, stripped out of her
blue aerobics suit and stepped into the shower room.
     She had just turned on the shower when she heard the smoke-glass
door to the anteroom slide open.  She looked to see Minako enter wearing
nothing but a towel over her hair.  "Uh, did you want to go first?" Ami
asked hesitantly.
     "Ami, in case you hadn't noticed, there are two shower heads and
plenty of room.  We both stink and there's no reason for either of us to
stay that way any longer than we need to.  Besides, I can do your back
this way."
     "Okay,"  Ami said.  She really didn't mind, this just seemed so
unlike Minako, who normally wouldn't dream of imposing on a guest like
this, even if it was a close friend.  They finished showering, and went
back to the anteroom where Ami changed into her street clothes and
Minako put on a yukata and set to brushing her long hair.  When Ami was
ready, Minako followed her downstairs and walked her to the door.  "My
parents are going out tomorrow night too, so we can play the music as
loud as we like," Minako said.
     "Well, I think we ought to get together with the others and go back
to our normal training for a while.  We can't afford to neglect that,
you know."
     "Yeah, I guess you're right.  Thanks for coming over tonight Ami, I
really had fun."  As if it were the most normal thing in the world, as
if they did it every day without thinking, Minako suddenly took Ami by
the shoulders and kissed her tenderly.
     Ami's heart skipped a beat.  Her mind was abruptly cast back to
several weeks ago.  Just days after their defeat of the Death Busters,
the two of them had been sitting on Ami's bed talking.  Their physical
injuries had healed, but they were still trying to deal with their brush
with death, with Armageddon.  Ami had started crying.  Minako had taken
Ami in her arms, kissed her just like this...
     Ami stepped back, involuntarily bringing a hand up to her tingling
lips.  "Minako..." she breathed.
     Minako, her hands still resting lightly on Ami's shoulders, smiled
warmly.  "Ami, I've been thinking lately, about the relationship that
you and I almost began a few weeks ago.  I'm sort of regretting we
decided to end it there.  I was wondering, do you think there's any
chance we could, you know, pick up where we left off?"
     Ami tried to calm herself.  Her body was telling her what answer it
wanted to her to give.  It was a few seconds before she could clear her
mind sufficiently to give the answer she knew she must.  "Minako, we
talked about this.  We both agreed that there are just too many reasons
that would be a bad idea.  I still don't think either of us is ready for
this."
     Minako's smile faded slightly.  "You know, Ami, you were wrong
about one thing.  I've gotten over what happened... what almost happened
to us at the Mugen school, but I still feel the same way about you."
     *And I feel the same way* Ami thought.  "Minako, however we feel,
those same good reasons will still be there."
     Minako let her hands drop to her sides.  "I'm tempted to ask you to
at least think about it.  But I guess that's the problem, isn't it?
You're thinking too much about it."
     Ami suppressed her sudden anger.  This was so unfair of her, why
couldn't she understand?  "Minako, you know that starting something like
this without thinking about the consequences is the worst thing we could
do."
     Minako regarded her for a few seconds, then averted her eyes,
nodded.  "I suppose you're right.  I'm sorry Ami, I didn't mean to upset
you.  I'll never mention this again."
     *Don't say never* Ami wanted to say.  But that could be dangerous
just now.  "I should be going now," was all she could think to say.  She
stepped down to the doorway and shuffled into her shoes.  Minako stood
silently, watching her.  Ami hated herself for not being able to find a
kinder way to end this.  She opened the door, stepped outside, and
turned around.  Minako was holding the door, watching her with a look of
profound regret that tore at Ami's heart.
     "Minako... are you sure you'll be okay?"
     Minako's face suddenly brightened.  "Don't worry Ami, I'll be
fine." Her smile broadened into a devilish grin.  "I'll just have to
seduce you, that's all."  She winked and blew Ami a kiss. "'Night."  She
shut the door.
     "Good night," Ami said involuntarily, too late for Minako to hear
it.  She just stood there for several seconds, then suddenly had the
silly notion that Minako might be watching her from one of the windows.
She turned around and started walking down the street.
     Ami was lost in thought as she made her way home.  Minako had been
so good about this, back then.  They had agreed not to pursue the
relationship, and nothing had been said about it since.  What had
suddenly brought this on?  And she really didn't know what to make of
that little performance at the door.  She thought that she knew Minako
well enough to be able to tell when she was serious and when she was
kidding.  But this time she just didn't know who was real, the
heartbroken little girl or the grinning seductress.
     *Which one do you want to be real?* an inner voice asked.  Ami had
no ready answer.

*****

     It was a cloudy, starless night, so the woods were absolutely pitch
black.  Even with the light enhancers in his retinas cranked up to the
max, Lafarge had to make his way carefully down the slope, often by
feel.  He had no intention of using ultrasound, radar or any other
active sensors.  Not this close to the Snake's nest.
     He had long since adapted his internal navigation system to access
the primitive satellite location system available on this world, had
even cracked the code that let him use the one-meter precision available
only to the military location devices.  This and his inertial guidance
implanted in his brain confirmed that he was still headed in the right
direction.  He dropped down and crawled the rest of the way to the
clearing on his stomach.  He had set his street clothes to morph into
the silvery flexible body armor that was their true form.  It produced
tractioned and frictionless surfaces in the right places, allowing him
to slide easily and silently up to the clearing.
     As he poked his head through the last of the foliage, his eyes
adjusted immediately to the much higher light level.  A few meters in
front of him was a high steel wire fence.  Signs all along it warned
that it was electrified, which was confirmed by the electromagnetic
fields he was detecting.  Beyond it was a slope gentler than the one he
had climbed down, its smooth, shallow peaks and valleys covered by a
well manicured lawn.  The fence and the lawn went off to the left and
the right, and then curved in to wrap around the complex proper.
     On previous nights he had examined it through a high-power spotter
scope from the balcony of the apartment he had rented across the valley.
It was partially obscured from that vantage, but he had seen enough to
know more or less what to expect.  Still, he was surprised by the extent
of it.  On his left was a rambling, walled villa.  The many rooftops
thrusting up over the villa wall spoke of an elaborate house with
multiple wings and courtyards.  On his right, connected to the villa by
both a paved road and a stone foot path, was the building housing the
beacon.  From the outside, it looked like a featureless black box, fifty
meters on a side and almost as high.  Floodlights all along the top of
the villa wall and all along the side of the beacon enclosure lit up the
Snake's rolling green moat.  Looking in between the two complexes, on
the far fence on the other side, Lafarge could glimpse the gate and
gatehouse that provided the only access to the complex, and the power
lines that arced to the villa and the beacon.  He had to smile at the
irony of the latter.  If the Snake got its beacon going full throttle,
it would generate enough power to light up much of Tokyo.
     He marveled at the extravagance of the Snake's nest.  Obviously, it
had accumulated wealth faster than it knew what to do with it.  Physical
resources had not been the main bottleneck, then.  Collecting the right
people to help it develop the technologies it needed must have been the
hardest part.  Whatever the case, the physical facilities appeared to be
complete.
     The increased activity here confirmed what he had gleaned from news
items and tidbits pulled off the net.  Ingolfsson had set up shop here.
That had to mean they were close to activating the beacon.
     Lafarge reviewed his options.  Now that the Snake, its entourage
and its beacon were all in one place, on the surface it looked like one
fusion bomb would solve the problem.  But it wasn't quite that simple.
He wasn't supposed to be here in this timeline.  If he did something
that radical, it would cause a shift in the timeline that would stand
out almost as conspicuously as the beacon the Snake wanted to use.  He
would be doing the Draka's work for them, inviting them to show up in
hordes.  No, it would require a more subtle approach.
     Of course, subtle was a relative term.  Vaporizing its rancid skull
with a plasma bolt and burning its playhouse to the ground would do just
fine.  But that too would have to wait.  There were other
considerations.  However careless this Snake had been about hiding its
presence, it would almost certainly have taken other precautions, just
as a matter of course.  There would be dead man switches that would trip
soon after the Snake's demise.  They would set in motion its secondary
plan, the Draka's natural response to anything that could not fall under
their domination.
     That which cannot be dominated must be destroyed.
     No, Lafarge would have to find out as much as he could about the
Snake's nest first.  A premature attack could be just as dangerous as a
late one.  The timing would be tricky.  If he failed once, there might
not be a second chance.
     So he certainly couldn't afford to be squeamish about dealing with
whatever locals the Snake had pressed into its service.

*****

     Ami woke in a state of overwhelming anxiety.  Something was wrong.
She was in her old familiar room, but something was wrong.  She felt
warm, relaxed and well-rested.  But something was still wrong.
     She turned her head to one side.  The sight of her lover sleeping
peacefully next to her brought her fully awake in an instant.
     Slowly and carefully, Ami pulled aside the light cotton sheet that
covered her, sat up and crossed her arms over her knees.  She rested one
side of her head on her arms, and for a few minutes contended herself
with just watching the figure stretched out next to her.  Minako was
sleeping on her side, faced away from Ami, the sheet covering her up to
the shoulder, her light hair spread out all over the pillow.  Even in
the dim early morning light filtering in through the blinds, Ami could
see that her hair was a mess.  *Not surprising,* Ami thought,
*considering what we were up to last night.*
     Presently she closed her eyes and rested her bowed forehead in her
hands.  She tried to fight through the guilt and anxiety, to think
clearly.  *How did I let this happen?  What was I thinking?*
     As objectively as she could, Ami reviewed the events of the
previous evening.  Minako had come over ostensibly to teach Ami some
more advanced shadow dancing, but instead showed her two tickets to a
new musical everyone had been raving about.  Since they would have to
leave immediately to get there on time, Ami could hardly stop to wonder
about the change in plan.  It had been a wonderful show, a magical,
romantic fantasy full of charming songs and glittering spectacle.
Walking home in the fading twilight, singing show tunes, they had found
themselves walking along the fence of Juban park.  Minako had suddenly
stopped and showed Ami a section of the fence that could be swung aside,
letting them in.  Ignoring Ami's protests that the park was closed for
the night, Minako dragged her to the lake.  They took a rowboat, and
spent an hour or so wandering across the lake under the moonlight.
Ami's anxiety over breaking into the park had gradually been replaced by
the thrill of treading forbidden ground.  Back at Ami's house, she had
invited Minako in for tea.  It being so late, Ami had suggested she stay
the night.  In her room, Minako had complained of sore muscles from
doing all the rowing.  Feeling a bit guilty, Ami offered to give her a
massage.  Naturally, Minako had to return the favor.  Somehow or other,
that had led to something more intimate.
     In the cold light of day, with no raging hormones to cloud her
judgment, Ami could clearly see what had happened.  Ami had been very
carefully and very skillfully manipulated into wanting things to turn
out this way.  Put simply, she had been seduced.
     But it still made no sense.  When had Minako become so
manipulative? Her calculated pursuit of Ami seemed almost predatory.
And there was something else.  She thought back to their first night
together, after their defeat of the Death Busters.  However tender, it
had been halting and clumsy.  They had been two frightened young girls,
hardly knowing what they were doing.  But last night, Minako had been
so... well, creative.  Ami shivered as her body responded to the memory.
She suppressed the reaction, still trying to figure out what she was
missing here.
     The last piece of the puzzle slid into place like a deadbolt.
Gwendolyn Ingolfsson.
     Shocked by this flash of insight, Ami once again turned to look at
Minako, who was still sleeping contentedly.  It would explain a great
deal, but... could that woman really be sleeping with a fifteen year old
girl? Ami only had a vague picture of her from what Minako had told her.
A rich, eccentric, aggressive business woman who worked like the devil
but indulged in decadent excesses.
     She shook her head, ran a hand through her tangled hair.  This was
all getting to be too much, her head was spinning.  No sense trying to
think any further on it now.  She was becoming more acutely aware of
just how badly she needed a shower and something to eat.  Very quietly,
she eased herself off the bed, went to pick up a bathrobe, and tiptoed
out of the room.
     She looked at the clock on the hall thermostat.  Her mother would
be back in town in a few hours.  She would most definitely have to wake
up Minako and get those bedsheets washed before then.

*****

     Makoto sat in the Hikawa Shrine residence, enjoying the warm
afternoon breeze that blew through the open panels.  She saw Usagi come
up the stone steps onto the temple grounds, and waved at her.  Usagi
waved back, came trotting down the stone path.  "Hi Mako-chan," she
said, taking her shoes off at the door.  "You all alone?"
     Makoto smiled.  "Not any more."
     "Hey, don't get technical on me."  She came in, sat down, and
flopped down spread-eagled on the bamboo mats, panting.  "Hah! I made
it!  Why is it whenever I manage to make it here early, everybody else
is late?"
     "I think you just answered your own question.  Early and late are
relative."
     "Oh no, you're starting to sound like Ami."  Usagi pulled herself
over to the table, rested her chin on her hands.  "Anyway, why isn't Rei
here?"
     "Said she had to finish up some work in the main building, she'll
be here shortly."
     "Oh, you mean you *saw* her?  Has she grown at all since we last met?"
     Makoto smiled.  "No, but she did look a little less spooked."
     Usagi's expression sobered.  "Seriously, did she look okay?  I
really haven't seen much of her since she had her fainting spell."
     "None of us have.  But yeah, she looks okay.  She's got that calm
look she gets after doing a lot of meditating.  I think she's dealt with
whatever was bothering her."
     Usagi smiled.  "I'm glad.  I was getting worried about her.  When
she called to invite me here, she sounded a little spaced out."
     "Well, I was just happy to hear we'd all be getting together.  It's
been a while."
     "Tell me about it!" Usagi said, looking up as if seeking strength
from Heaven.  "It was bad enough when Minako started spending all her
time with that German woman, now she's got Ami doing that dance thing."
She sighed, her face developing an exaggerated wistful look.  "It's like
they're too busy for us, we can't even get them all together for just a
soda after school anymore."  She took Makoto's hand, smiled at her.
"You're not going to abandon me too, are you Mako-chan?"
     "Don't be silly," Makoto said, patting her hand.  "Nobody's
abandoned you."  But Makoto had also been wondering about how their
three friends seemed to be off in their own worlds lately.  They were
like family to Makoto, to even think that they might be drifting apart
was...
     "Hi, sorry I'm late," They heard Rei call as she approached the
house.  She doffed her sandals and came into the room through the open
panel.  "Hi Usagi.  Mako-chan, why didn't you help yourself to tea?" she
asked.
     "Well, that's your specialty, if it's made by you then it's worth
the wait."
     Rei smiled warmly.  "Okay, coming right up."  She walked over to
the side of the room that had the kettle and tea set, and busied herself
with it.  When she brought it to the table, there was also a magazine on
the tray.  She put it on the table next to Usagi.  "I picked that up
yesterday, I thought you'd like to look at it."
     "Hey, I didn't even know this was out!" Usagi said, grabbing the
issue of Nakayoshi and flipping through it.  "They must be ending this
chapter of Rayearth.  I've been dying to find out how that turned out.
Don't you dare tell me!"
     "Actually I haven't read it yet," Rei said.  "You can take that
home if you like."
     There was dead silence in the room for several seconds as Usagi and
Makoto stared at Rei.  Usagi slid over towards her raven-haired friend
and without a word put a hand over the girl's forehead.  Makoto watched
the two of them stare at each other, Rei with a look of mild amusement,
Usagi with growing worry.  Hesitantly, Usagi said, "Rei, you're not
still feeling...  um, weird or anything, are you?"
     "It's nice of you to ask, but I'm feeling fine now."
     "Oh.  Good."  Usagi withdrew her hand and went back to her original
place.  "Actually, I think I'll read this later, but tea sounds like a
great idea."
     Rei poured her a cup.  "Did you and Mamoru manage to get out to
that Millennial Project theme park last week?"
     "Yeah, it was great!"  Usagi was about halfway through her minute
by minute account of their date when Ami showed up at the door.
     She smiled shyly.  "Hi everyone.  Minako sends her regrets, she
couldn't make it."
     "Aw jeez, I knew somebody would bum out!" Usagi said.
     Ami went to join them at the table.  "Well, she's been getting
behind in her schoolwork, she really had to do some studying today."
     "That's too bad," Makoto said.  "It seems you're about the only one
who's seen much of her lately."  She was puzzled at how Ami suddenly
seemed uncomfortable, unable to look anyone in the eye.  A flush came to
her cheeks.
     "Yeah, did she join a convent or something?" Usagi asked.
     "Oh no, hardly that," Ami answered.  Makoto thought she detected a
hint of irony there.
     "Well, I was hoping all of us could be here, but I guess it can't
be helped," Rei said.
     There was something other than mild disappointment in Rei's tone.
"Did you have something in mind for today?" Makoto asked.
     Rei looked at her and seemed to force a smile.  "Actually, there
was something I wanted to talk to all of you about."
     *I knew it, something's up,* Makoto thought.  Usagi and Ami also
seemed to have picked up on Rei's tone, they were looking at her with
puzzled expressions.
     Rei took a moment to compose herself, then began.  Eyes downcast,
glancing only occasionally at her friends, she told the story.  In as
straightforward a fashion as she could manage, she told of the ritual
she had participated in seven years ago in the remote mountain temple in
Hakone, and of its disastrous outcome.  She then told of the aftermath
of that night, the years of nightmares, the professional and spiritual
help that she had to obtain.
     When she was done, they all just sat in silence for over a minute.
Finally, Makoto looked back up at the shrine maiden sitting quietly
beside her.  The stricken look that had come over her face as she told
her tale had faded now.  Hoping that her timing wasn't wrong, but
desperate to know more, Makoto asked, "Rei, this has something to do
with your fainting spell, doesn't it?"
     Rei nodded, then met Makoto's gaze.  "That last scene in The Final
War... it was just so much like what happened on that night seven years
ago."
     "Oh no!" Usagi wailed, bringing her hand up to her mouth in alarm.
"Oh Rei, I'm so sorry!  You didn't even want to go to that, and Minako
and I, we..."
     But Rei was shaking her head.  She smiled reassuringly at Usagi.
"No, Usagi, it wasn't your fault, it wasn't just the movie.  You see, a
few days ago, I found out that the ruins of the temple where... where it
happened, have been torn down now.  Rising Wind, the company that made
that 3D system, they've put up some big complex there.  Nobody seems to
know much about it, other than that it's some sort of research
facility."
     Makoto exchanged glances with Ami and Usagi.  They looked just as
confused as she was.  "Rei, I don't understand," Ami said.  "Are you
saying there's some connection?"
     Rei hesitated, then seemed to find her resolve.  "The creature that
destroyed the temple, it... she looked exactly like Gwendolyn
Ingolfsson."
     Silence descended on the group again.  With an effort, Makoto
avoided looking at Usagi and Ami.  She could guess that they were
thinking the same thing she was, and she didn't want that to show.  Not
in front of Rei.  Choosing her words very carefully, she said, "Rei,
don't you think that might just be a coincidence?  I mean, that was a
long time ago, you were scared, and you probably couldn't see properly.
Seeing a face that was kind of similar, it might have just triggered the
memory."
     It looked like Rei had been expecting that reaction.  "I know,
Makoto, I was thinking the same thing myself.  But I've never had that
sort of reaction to any face I've seen, not just that it reminded me of
that night, but that... well, that I was looking at something inhuman.
And when I heard that this same person had torn down the temple, I had
such a feeling of dread."
     "Rei, couldn't you do a reading, try to find out for sure?" Usagi
asked.
     Rei looked stricken again.  "I've been doing little else these past
few days."
     "Did you find anything?" Ami asked.  She suddenly sounded very
anxious.
     Rei looked down, shook her head.  "No, nothing.  I've tried to
approach this like any other potential threat, but I might have a blind
spot for anything to do with what happened to me back then.  I may not
be of any use... I mean, in finding out whether Ingolfsson really is
that creature."  There seemed to be an unspoken plea hidden in her last
statement.  *Please help me.*
     Makoto met Usagi's eyes, and they both nodded in understanding.  It
didn't matter what they thought of Rei's concerns.  Their friend was in
distress, she needed their help.  "Okay, so we've got to find out more
about Ingolfsson," Usagi said, suddenly all business.  "Rei, I know it's
sort of personal, but would it be okay if I told Luna about what
happened to you?  I want to ask her advice, she may see something we
missed."
     "Yes, of course," Rei said, sounding almost bewildered at Usagi's
sudden zeal.
     "Okay.  I'll talk to Mamo-chan too.  He was telling me about some
economics course or whatever he had to do research on, he may know where
to find out more about this Rising Wind company.  Especially what
they're doing in Hakone.  If he can't find out, maybe we can hack into
their computers or something.  Ami, I feel bad asking you to do
something like that, but do you think it would be possible?"
     They all looked at Ami.  For a second it looked like she hadn't
really been paying attention.  But she recovered quickly.  "Of course,
Usagi.  Um, just ask Mamoru to call me if he needs help."
     Usagi smiled.  "Thanks, Ami.  Could you also fill in Minako on
what's happening?"
     "Why me?" Ami asked.  *She sounded almost defensive,* Makoto thought.
     "Gosh girl, because you're the only one who *sees* her these days!"
Usagi said, exasperated.
     "Ami, you might want to ask Minako to watch what she says around
her Onesama, at least until we find out more," Makoto suggested.
     "Is Minako still seeing that woman?" Rei asked, sounding very alarmed.
     "Oh yeah, they usually manage to meet whenever she's in town on
business.  And Minako goes up to her villa every weekend."
     "Villa?" Rei asked.
     "Sure, didn't you know?  She's got a villa somewhere in Hakone..."
her voice trailed off as she made the connection.  She whipped her head
around to face Ami, sending her pigtails flying around her.  "Ami, is
that the same place?"
     "It must be, Minako told me about some big research building right
beside the villa."
     "You mean she's *been* there?" Rei asked.  "We've got to warn her!"
     "Hold on a second," Makoto said, trying to head off the rising
panic she could hear in everyone's voices.  "We still don't know if
there's anything to warn her about.  I mean, they've been friends for
weeks, right? Nothing bad has happened."  She tried to gauge her
friends' reactions.  Rei still looked worried.  Ami was on the verge of
saying something, then seemed to decide against it.
     "You're right," Usagi said. "Rei, I think we should just tell her
about what happened there, and that we think something may be going on
in that building.  That way she can at least be on her guard.  It sounds
like Minako really likes Gwendolyn, I... well, I don't want to accuse
her of anything until we know more."
     Rei didn't seem to like this, but after a moment she nodded
reluctantly.  "Okay, I guess that makes sense.  But as soon as Mamoru
and Ami find out what they can, I think we should all meet here."
     "Okay.  Well!" Usagi's face suddenly brightened and she sat up
straight, looking like she was ready to leave.  "It sounds like I've got
an excuse to go visit Mamo-chan!  No time like the present!"
     "Usagi teleport, activate!" Makoto chimed, grateful to her friend
for relieving the tension.
     "Maybe I should go too," Ami said.  "I hate to interrupt Minako's
studying, but I'd like to fill her in on what's going on."  She seemed
to be even more anxious to get going than Usagi.
     "Sure, you two go ahead," Rei told them.  She walked them to the
door.  When they were on their way down the path to the stairway, she
rejoined Makoto in her room.  "I'm going to feel really dumb if I've
sent everyone out on a wild goose chase," she said.
     Makoto didn't return her smile.  "Rei, do you really think
Gwendolyn is the woman who killed your friend seven years ago?"
     Rei seemed shocked by the blunt question.  It took her a few
seconds to find her answer.  "Makoto... for all our sakes, I hope that
I'm wrong."

*****

     In a room that would have been pitch dark to any eyes but her own,
Gwen sat cross-legged on her immense round bed, seemingly a nude statue
staring into empty space.  The transducer embedded in her brain fed her
data from the latest system integration trials, converting it to
graphical form.
     On the surface, everything seemed to be working as planned.  She
kept telling herself that all the numbers were right.  All the readings
were well within acceptable tolerances.
     But.
     There were subtle anomalies in the power output, barely detectable,
but utterly inexplicable.  Van Kreveld was treating it as just a
curiosity.  But then again, he didn't really care whether the beacon
worked or not.  As long as he could delve deeper into the mysteries of
the universe, he was happy.  There was little Gwen could do but hope it
would not affect the functioning of the beacon.
     With a thought, Gwen made the graphs dissolve from her sight.  For
the first time in over an hour, she moved something other than her
eyelids.  She turned her head to contemplate an enigma of a different
sort.
     *Minako looks lovely even in infrared,* she thought.  Her body
stretched out on the bed formed a smooth silhouette.  In Gwen's visual
cortex, its warmth became subtle monochrome shadings.  A far cry from
the way she had looked to Gwen just as she had fallen asleep, all her
passion spent.  The slowly fading afterglow had made her body shine like
a white-hot ember.
     Of all the feral humans Gwen had encountered on this planet, this
was the one she felt closest to.  Yet this was the one that she
understood the least.  To her Onesama, Minako was as responsive and
devoted as even a Homo Servus could be.  Yet under Gwen's influence, her
personality seemed to be changing in quite a different way.  The
chemistry between them - both literal and figurative - was having its
effect.  She was developing an aggressiveness and assertiveness that
would be worthy of a Draka.  It was showing up in fairly subtle ways.
The way she had worked so hard to get that bookworm friend of hers into
bed, for instance.  She had told Gwen all about their night on the town,
making it sound like it was the most normal thing in the world.  But
Gwen could easily read between the words, could see the way Minako had
planned it all out with the precision of a bombing sortie.  It seemed
that she really was utterly oblivious to the changes in her own
behavior.
     Gwen smiled.  Poor little Ami probably didn't even know what hit her.
     And there was something else.  Subtle hints of a deep, well-guarded
secret.  Something that even Gwen with her Drakon bag of tricks could
not penetrate, could not even guess at.  Whatever it was, that secret
was the source of her inner strength, her vitality.  It was almost like
the easy confidence of war veterans who had been forged in grim battles
they dare not speak of.  Somewhere, somehow, Minako had become a
warrior.
     Once again, Gwen felt tempted to bring Minako into her inner
circle.  But the mystery, the unknown factors surrounding the girl held
her back.  It probably didn't matter much, she decided.  Soon, the
beacon would call her brothers and sisters to this world, and together
they would pacify it.  Gwen would be recognized as the founder of this
new colony, the one who had laid the groundwork for its conquest.  There
was a good chance of her being declared Planetary Archon.  With that
sort of authority, she could contemplate doing something that hadn't
been done in the Final Society for centuries.  Have the geneticists turn
a feral human into a Drakon.  Let Minako take her place among them.
     But in the meantime, Gwen thought of how nice it would be to have
Minako here at the villa on a permanent basis.  Maybe there was
something she could...
     Her transducer warned her of another probe of her outer computer
network.
     Gwen snapped her head forward, resuming her former position.  The
probe had already withdrawn.  It had lasted milliseconds.  Her
transducer displayed the relevant data.  With a subvocalized command,
Gwen integrated it into the log of past probes, and examined what she
had so far.
     The probes had started in earnest a few days ago.  None of them
were traceable to a source.  They had come through a variety of
channels, used a variety of techniques.  They could be rival companies,
intelligence agencies, hackers, anything.  But when she went beyond the
numbers, analyzed the style of attack more deeply, a definite pattern
emerged.  She could identify two distinct probers.
     The first was getting through by the simple expedient of having the
correct passwords.  This did *not* point to a traitor in her midst:
anyone who knew those passwords would also know of the other precautions
taken to protect the outer network.  No, somebody must be pulling the
encrypted versions of the passwords from network packets and cracking
them.  That had interesting implications, since the encryption they used
would take all the computers on this planet centuries to crack.  The
really baffling thing about this first set of probes was how amateurish
they were: they had been stopped cold by fairly simple firewalls.  Gwen
had an image of a clever but inexperienced hacker with access to
computing power that was not likely to be available on this planet for
decades.  Very curious.
     The second prober was a different animal altogether.  Careful,
subtle, cunning, experienced.  This one also had access to unlimited
processing power, but knew how to use it.  Probably the only reason it
hadn't been able to penetrate further was that this prober seemed
paranoid about being detected.  In fact, normally it would not have been
detected.  There was no similarity in any of its probes, no pattern,
nothing to link them together.
     Nothing, that is, except the smell.  Gwen's sense of smell was four
hundred years old, and this was beginning to smell more and more like a
Samothracian.
     Gwen's lips curled back, and a low growl came up from the back of
her throat as she bristled at the thought of her people's ancestral
enemy invading her new territory.  So, her activity had finally
attracted their attention away from America, where no doubt they had
been engaged in a fruitless search for her.  It had been amusing her to
think of Yankee agents roaming over an alternate version of their own
country, trying to flush her out while she carried on her merry way here
on the other side of the planet.
     Assuming she was right about this, they were likely in the early
stages of probing her defenses.  Their real target had been her inner
network, the one linked directly to her transducer, the one that
controlled her dead man switches, her doomsday bio-bombs.  They had
little hope of penetrating it, but they would dearly want to at least
confirm its location.  So that they could target it when they attacked.
     She would move around a bit more in the next few days, send out
false signals hinting where her center of operations was, buy some time.
Enough time to activate the beacon and end the game.

*****

     Without warning the door slid open with a bang, startling Makoto
and everyone else in the room.  They all turned to see Minako walking
in, waving at them.  "Hi everyone!" she said, already walking to the
empty spot at the table.  "How are we this fine day?"
     "We are all busy twiddling our thumbs waiting for you," Rei said,
clearly irritated.  "You're half an hour late."
     "Got a little sidetracked," Minako said, still smiling.  The
shopping bag she was carrying hit the floor with a thud, and she plopped
herself down on the unoccupied cushion near the end of the table, next
to Chibi-Usa.  She playfully pulled on the young girl's nearest pigtail,
eliciting a yelp of surprise.  "Hey squirt, long time no see.  What you
been up to?"
     "Just sitting here waiting," she said, sounding like she didn't
like the treatment she was getting one bit.
     "What, Rei didn't give you any of her manga to read?  Well, I'll
fix that," she reached into the shopping bag behind her, pulled out a
small paper bag and dropped it down between them.  "I passed by the shop
today, help yourself."
     Artemis, who had entered behind Minako, jumped up onto the table
beside her.  "Hi everyone," he said, looking very sheepish.  He had been
tasked with making sure Minako got here on time today.  "I'm afraid we
took a slight detour."
     "What, to buy some manga?" Luna asked.  She was sitting on the
opposite side of the table, near Usagi and Mamoru.  "You do realize we
came here to discuss Sailor Senshi business, don't you?"
     "Sure he does," Minako said, patting Artemis roughly on the head.
"That's why he followed me all around the shop meowing at me.  It was
full of people so he couldn't talk.  I couldn't figure out what his
problem was until I looked at my watch.  It was hilarious!"
     "Minako, that's not funny," Ami said, sounding angry.  "You should
think of Artemis' feelings.  It's really frustrating for him, not being
able to talk in front of others."
     Artemis laughed nervously.  "That's okay, Ami.  I probably should
have just scratched her.  Ouch!" he pulled back the paw Minako had just
pinched.
     "Like to see you try, furball," Minako said, grinning dangerously..
     Artemis looked back at her.  He didn't say anything.  Makoto
studied him, frowning.  She could swear she saw genuine fear in his
manner.
     "Well, now that we're all here, maybe we can get started," Luna said.
     "Couldn't we at least have some tea first?" Minako said.
     "Minako, we finished the tea before you got here!" Usagi said
indignantly.  "That's what you get for being late."
     "Oh, and you're one to talk," Minako said sarcastically.
     "I think there is some left," Rei said, rising to her feet.  "I'll
get you a cup."
     "Gee, maybe she'd like you to make a fresh pot," Usagi said in a huff.
     "Usako..." Mamoru said gently, putting a hand on Usagi's shoulder.
That seemed to calm her a bit.  She contended herself with glaring at
Minako, who just crossed her arms and returned Usagi's gaze with a smug
look.  Usagi shifted her gaze slightly, then frowned.  She leaned
forward, looking intently toward her future daughter.  "Chibi-Usa, what
are you reading there?"
     "A really weird Sailor V manga," she replied, not looking up from
the book she had open.
     Ami, who was seated on Chibi-Usa's other side, leaned over to have
a look.  Her jaw suddenly dropped down.  "Uh... Chibi-Usa, we're about
to start, maybe you should put that away."
     Usagi had caught the look on Ami's face.  She leaned out over the
table and held out her hand.  "Chibi-Usa, could I see that please?"
Chibi-Usa looked a little annoyed, but handed the book over without
complaint.
     Usagi started flipping through it, then stopped at one page.
Impossibly, her jaw dropped down even further than Ami's had.  Makoto
leaned over the spot Rei had vacated to get a look.  She glimpsed a
picture of Sailor V writhing in the clutches of a grotesque, inhuman
monster.  It had torn off most of her Sailor Senshi suit and was busy
probing every orifice of her body it could get its tentacles into.
     Usagi dropped the book down on the table, her flushed face twisted
with shock and outrage.  "Minako, this is utterly vile!  How dare you
give something like this to my daughter!  Are you out of your mind?"
     Minako just shrugged.  "Hey, she's got to learn about this stuff
sometime."
     "Is that all you have to say for yourself?" Luna asked.  She looked
almost as angry as Usagi.
     "Oh chill out already," Minako said, sounding bored.  "If it
bothers you that much, give it back and I'll put it away."
     "Minako, get up."
     Standing behind Minako, Rei had gotten everyone's attention without
even raising her voice.  Minako turned around to look up at her.  Makoto
couldn't see her face any more, but the way she sat frozen showed that
Rei had her full attention.  Slowly, Minako got to her feet and faced
her.  When Rei spoke again, she still didn't raise her voice.  She
didn't need to.  "Minako, I don't know why you've suddenly developed
this attitude problem, but I'm not putting up with it any more.  And I'm
not going to stand by and let you humiliate my guests either.  If you
can't behave yourself then I don't want you in my house any longer.
Either smarten up or get out."
     Makoto held her breath.  All she could hear was her own heart
laboring under the unbearable tension.  Nothing moved.
     Minako bowed her head.  "I understand.  I'm sorry."  The voice was
expressionless and low, barely audible.
     Rei nodded, and went to resume her place.  Nobody else spoke as she
and Minako sat down.  Makoto was shocked by what she saw in Minako's
face.  It was not the shame and humility of a friend who had been made
to apologize.  It was the suppressed rage of a wolf that had been made
to bare its throat to one of the pack.
     "Luna, I apologize for the delay," Rei said formally.  "Perhaps we
can begin."
     "Very well," Luna said.  By unspoken agreement she seemed to be
standing in for Usagi, who still looked far too upset to speak, let
alone conduct a meeting.  "Mamoru, why don't you tell us what you've
found out about Rising Wind?"
     Mamoru nodded.  "Well, there's no shortage of information on it,
that's for sure.  Every economic pundit in Tokyo seems to have written
about them.  They've had an incredible string of successes, all of them
surrounding some new piece of technology.  Ingolfsson seems to have a
talent for attracting brilliant people, she's got some of the world's
top minds in a whole host of fields working for her.  On top of that,
she seems to have a nose for a good technology venture that is flawless.
Every single Rising Wind project has been a spectacular success.
     "Supposedly she started off the company after she inherited her
family fortune seven years ago.  That's a bit of a mystery, though.  As
far as anyone can see, she has no living relatives.  Also, it's like she
has no past.  I've read a dozen profiles on her, and I've never seen any
mention of what she did before founding Rising Wind.
     "As for what they're doing in their Hakone facility, that seems to
be their biggest secret.  There's just lots of speculation.  Cold
fusion, hot fusion, nuclear rockets.  Nobody seems to know for sure.
Sorry, that's about all I could find."
     Luna nodded.  "Ami, anything to add?"
     "Not much, I'm afraid," Ami said, looking around the room.  "I did
all sorts of scans on the network for her name, and like Mamoru said
it's like she dropped on to the Earth seven years ago.  I even read
profiles of her that I hacked from a couple of intelligence agencies.
They've been curious about her background, but even they couldn't find
anything.  And as to the Hakone facility, I was able to get into its
network but it's got security like I've never seen before.  About all I
got was a general rundown of the departments they've got there.  It's
definitely high-energy physics of some sort.  And it's a *lot* bigger
than most people seem to think.  Rising Wind must be sinking at least
half their assets into it.  Maybe more."
     "Rei, it looks like you were right after all," Usagi suddenly said.
All her anger seemed to have melted away now.  She was looking at Rei
with an expression of sympathy, as if apologizing for having doubted
her.  "Ingolfsson must be the one at the temple, just like you said.
But what could she be doing?"
     "Maybe she's just trying to get home," Makoto suggested, wishing
she could believe it.  "I mean, open up a gate like the one that brought
her here, the way the Dark Kingdom used to do."
     "Hold it."
     Everyone looked over at Minako.  Since her confrontation with Rei
everyone had been involuntarily avoiding her gaze, trying to ignore her
sullen silence.  It was almost a shock to hear her voice again.
     Minako looked around the room with an expression of growing
outrage.  "I don't believe this.  You just admitted you know nothing
about her and now you're saying she's some sort of monster?  Are you
serious?"
     "Well, how would you explain it?" Makoto asked, showing more anger
than she had intended.
     "Explain what?  That you can't find anything on what damned schools
she attended?  You should have asked me, I could have told you.  She had
private tutoring because her family was always moving, regular schools
would have been no good to her.  She comes from an old family who value
their privacy and don't publish their affairs in society magazines,
that's why nobody can find anything about them."
     "She told you that?" Usagi asked.
     "Yes, she told me that," Minako answered in a mocking impersonation
of Usagi's voice.  "And in case you're wondering, she also told me about
that research they're doing.  Not that it's any of your business, but I
just want to show you how stupid you're being.  It's a new kind of
nuclear reactor, that's all."
     "Well, why did she have to build it on very spot where the temple
burned down?" Rei asked.
     Minako threw her hands up in frustration.  "How the hell should I
know?  Rei, don't you get it?  The temple has nothing to do with it.
Maybe the reactor works better in low air pressure or something, I'll be
sure to ask Gwen the next time I see her."
     "Minako, you shouldn't mention any of this to her, or to anyone in
her household," Mamoru said firmly.
     "What, you think she's going to eat me?  Fine, I wouldn't want to
mention any of this to her anyway, she'd think I'm hanging around with a
bunch of idiots."
     "Minako, that's enough..." Rei warned her.
     "Yeah, I guess that is about enough, isn't it?" Minako got up,
picked up her shopping bag and without another word headed for the door.
     "Minako, where do you think you're going?" Rei asked.
     Minako stopped to glare at her.  "Home.  I'm not going to waste my
time listening to your paranoid fantasies."
     Makoto watched Rei's reaction.  Her face betrayed no emotion.  But
her clenched fists and irregular breathing indicated what she was
holding back.  After a moment, she nodded.  "Fine.  Go then.  I'm sorry
to have been a burden to you."
     Minako's expression seemed to soften just a little.  She went to
slide open the door, hesitated again, and looked back.  "Rei, I was
really sorry to hear about how your Sensei got killed.  I know it must
have been awful for you.  But that's no excuse for going off half-cocked
and accusing my friend of murdering her.  I don't think I can forgive
you for that.  Good bye."  She walked out into the hall, not bothering
to close the door behind her.
     Rei closed her eyes, rested her forehead on her steepled fingers.
She looked drained,  infinitely tired.
     Makoto put a hand on Rei's shoulder.  "Rei, she's just angry.  She
didn't mean it."
     "Oh Gods, what if she's right?" Rei said in a small, despairing
voice.  "Maybe I'm just going crazy, chasing childhood nightmares."
     "No, I don't think so," Makoto said.  "If anyone's going off the
deep end it's Minako.  Artemis, do you know what's gotten into her
lately?"  She was wondering why Artemis had made no move to follow
Minako home.  He looked very shaken.
     "I wish I knew," Artemis said.  "I've tried to talk with her but
it's like she's a different person now, she won't listen to anyone."
     "I can guess what the source of the problem is," Mamoru said.  "She
really seems to have become infatuated with Ingolfsson."
     "Boy, you got that right!" Makoto said.  "You know, at this point I
don't even care whether she's a demon or an alien or just some eccentric
genius.  She's having a really bad influence on Minako and the girl
can't even see what's happening.  Somebody is going to have to talk to
her and set her straight."
     "I'll do it."
     They all looked at Ami, who hadn't spoken a word since delivering
her report.  She looked very troubled, but there was firm resolve in her
voice.  "I'll talk to her.  But I think we need to give her at least a
couple of days.  She's too angry right now."
     "That makes good sense," Luna said.  "But we seem to be no further
in solving the puzzle that Rei has given us.  I'm at a loss as to what
we can do next."
     "Well, if we can just get Minako out of that woman's clutches, I'll
be happy," Makoto said.  "Then we can start worrying about what she's up
to in her batcave."
     Nobody had any further ideas to offer, so by mutual consent the
meeting dissolved.  People were soon headed home.  Makoto stayed behind
to help Rei clean up.  When Rei went out to put the tea things away,
Makoto went to sit down at the table by Artemis, the only other guest
who hadn't left yet.  "You going home soon?" she asked.
     "Yeah, I guess."  He looked closer at her.  "Something on your
mind, Makoto?"
     She hesitated.  "Artemis, I don't know how to put this but... well,
not to put too fine a point on it, more than once today you looked
really scared, like you were really expecting Minako to hit you or
something."
     Artemis cocked his head.  "Your point being...?"
     "Well, if you'd prefer to crash at my place for a while, that would
be okay."
     Artemis seemed to consider her words carefully.  "Thanks for the
offer, but I don't think that would be a good idea.  Minako is already
feeling as if we've betrayed her, that would just make it worse.  I
think you know that."
     "Yeah, I guess you're right," Makoto said.
     "There's something else, isn't there?" Artemis asked.
     Makoto sighed.  Minako had always talked about how she couldn't
hide anything from Artemis.  She could see why.  "I just thought maybe
we could talk.  Try to figure out what's going on in her head, how to
get through to her."
     "Mako-chan... you're crying."
     She was suddenly aware of the tear that had made its way down her
cheek.  She self-consciously wiped it away.  They sat in silence for a
few moments while Makoto tried to find the words.  "She's like family to
me Artemis.  I couldn't love her more if she were my own sister.  I
don't understand what's happening to her, but I just can't shake the
feeling that she's being taken away from us.  Sure, I've almost lost her
before, almost lost all of them.  But that was in battle, where I can
always be there to help them.  This time I just feel so helpless, so
useless.  I've lost one family already, and..." her voice broke.
     "I understand," Artemis said soothingly.  "Until we can figure out
what's going on with her, I'll watch over her.  I always will."
     Makoto sniffed, tried to smile.  "Let me walk you home, okay?  It's
getting dark and I don't want any alley cats picking fights with you."
     "Sure."



Part Two

     Racing her red Ferrari through the twisting streets of Juban, Gwen
was really beginning to see the appeal of a well-tuned internal
combustion engine.  It was remarkable the way that a trifling four
hundred horsepower pushing her along the ground at a few tens of meters
per second could make her feel like a primary force of nature, an
unstoppable hurricane.
     Many of the streets here were too narrow to have a sidewalk proper,
there was often just a white line reserving a narrow strip of the road
for pedestrians.  The jaded inhabitants were well used to sharing the
road with speeding vehicles that swerved around them.  But even most of
them were taken aback by the passage of a car whose driver could direct
her vehicle to a tolerance of centimeters and had a reaction time
measured in milliseconds.  Gwen's progress through the town seemed to be
a continuous stream of narrowly averted disasters.  In fact even with
the small amount of concentration she was devoting to her driving, they
were quite safe from the Drakon who had no intention of denting her new
toy on anything so unworthy as a feral human.
     Minako seemed to be only mildly shaken by Gwen's apparent
recklessness.  She had the door's handhold in a white-knuckled grip, but
her scent had more thrill than fear in it.  Minako's trust in her
Onesama was absolute.
     "So Minako, have you given any further thought to what we discussed
yesterday?" Gwen asked.
     Minako hesitated.  "Not too much, actually.  I wasn't sure how
serious you were."
     "Well of course I was serious, girl!" Gwen said, giving Minako's
leg a squeeze that would be at least slightly painful, then shooting her
hand straight back into a downshift with the speed of a striking viper.
"I think it would be a splendid idea..  I see a lot of potential in you.
I think you could master the Ingolfsson family martial arts in a matter
of years and then start teaching it, start up a whole new school here in
Japan."
     "You really think so?"  Unsure, but Gwen could hear the eagerness.
She was breaking down.
     "Of course.  I've already had my people work out how the schooling
would work, too.  It could all be done by tutoring and computer based
learning.  Rising Wind has really advanced that field, you know, you can
beta test our latest multimedia workstations."
     "It's... so sudden."  Insecurity, feeling unworthy.
     "That's what all of my best people said when I offered to bring
them into Rising Wind.  That's the secret of my success, girl, I scope
out people with potential and give them the opportunity of a lifetime."
Put her in the same league as the adults, bolster her confidence.
     "I'd have to talk to my parents."  She was afraid they would say
no.  Good.
     "Why don't I ask them for you at dinner tonight?"  Her father had
sent her an invitation to join his family for dinner at one of t