Earth,  Boston Metropolitan Area, 2065 AD (Serenity Year -927, 
2816 Years after the founding of Rome, Juraiian Year 22229, 
Federal Year -1919)

       A storm of darkness and light erupted across Dr. Wise's living 
room.  A second later, the alarms went off, alerting the local police, 
kicking in automatic mana dampeners, and setting off the 
sprinklers due to a programming error.  Sailor Saturn frowned at 
the ceiling.  "I could understand if Mars set off the sprinklers, but..."

        Dr. Henry J. Wise let out a deep breath, then panicked.  "My 
computer!"  He sprinted into his study, then remembered that it 
had been enchanted to resist water when he had the sprinklers 
installed.

        "We don't have time for that!  Grab anything you can't live 
without, then we have to get OUT of here!"  Saturn looked around, 
twitching.  I wish I knew what to grab, she thought.  Instead I have 
to wait for him to remember where he put things and what he 
wants and...  She began counting to a million, although she didn't 
expect to reach it.

        Dr. Wise began grabbing pictures.  "I take it I should expect to 
never see anything again that I leave behind?"  He grabbed his 
Luftmann prize off the wall and stuffed it in his briefcase as well.  
"Should I take clothing?"

        "Only if you can't bear to lose it."  She ran over and took the 
briefcase.  "And hurry.  It will take days for it to take total control 
of the city, but I'll draw its' attention."  I should leave to distract it, 
but then it might find him anyway, and I can't protect the poor old 
man if I leave him.  "I'm sorry I dragged you into this."

        He shrugged.  "At least this way, I might live.  So what's 
this thing going to do?"

       "Take over the city first to make sure no one closes the 
gateway.  After that...who knows.  Hopefully, we'll finish with the 
Sun-Eater before that happens."  I shouldn't have mentioned that, 
she thought.  No need to panic him with what he can't stop.

        "The what?"  He crammed a battered old suit into his suitcase, 
along with all his ties and underwear.  Several books also jumped 
into the suitcase, along with four CDs and some disks.  

       "That's where I'm going once you're safe.  Whatever got loosed, 
it won't matter if we don't stop that thing.  The thing in the 
'accelerator' can't destroy all life on Earth in four days or less."  I 
hope, she thought.  "Ready to go?"

        "Ready as I ever am,"  he said quietly.  I wonder if I'll ever 
see this place again?  He went and turned off the alarm.  "Stupid 
thing flooded the apartment under mine last time."

        "I think they'll have more worries than that."  The world 
blinked out again, and they appeared in a very sophisticated lab 
which Dr. Wise recognized from his last trip to Japan.  Dr. Tomoe 
was nearby, sitting at a computer, watching something the others 
could not see on his glasses, though they could tell he was using a 
partial VR hookup, since his glasses didn't normally show a test 
pattern on the outside.  

        "Um, hi, Dr. Tomoe,"  Dr. Wise said.

        Dr. Tomoe started and poked his headset.  "Must be another 
glitch in this thing.  I'm thinking I'm hearing Dr. Wise," he 
muttered.

        Sailor Saturn walked over and gently pulled off his glasses.  
"It is Dr. Wise, poppa."

       Dr. Tomoe looked at both of them, pulled off the headset, then 
said, "Uh..."

       "I know your daughter is Sailor Saturn,"  Dr. Wise said.  

        Saturn hugged her father.  "Things didn't go so well, Poppa."

        "You know Setsuna-chan wouldn't have told you not to go if 
she didn't mean it, dear."  His voice was gentle, but it had a faint 
chiding tone, which didn't seem appropriate for someone 
addressing one of the most powerful people on Earth.

       "We lost Dr. Wise's Time Orb, Poppa.  Whatever broke through 
has.  Poppa...it..."  Her voice trailed off.

        "What, dear?"

        She turned to Dr. Wise.  "Can someone actually time travel 
with that thing?"

         He thought for a moment.  "I think it would help you not get 
lost if you tried, but the sheer power that it takes to travel 
backwards through time is enormous."

         Saturn cocked her head for a moment, and her little girl 
aspect that had come out went back where it came from.  "I note 
you didn't say anything about moving forward through time."

        "You're already moving forward through time.  Even those 
morons at the Chronos project have done that.  However, it's rarely 
done, because there isn't a lot of a point.  Basically, it's the 
difference between moving gently downstream, and paddling.  
Moving backwards requires going against the current, and it's a 
VERY strong current.  Even then, though, moving more than a few 
days forward through time requires a lot of energy."  He sat down 
on a handy stool.  "I assumed you'd know all about this from your 
mother's projects,"  Dr. Wise said.

     "I know the theory, but given that we haven't studied your Orb, I
don't know its capabilities," Saturn replied.

         Dr. Tomoe said, "It's chiefly intended for research, but in the 
wrong hands, it could make a mess."

        Dr. Wise nodded.  "Well, a bit of a mess.  It's easy to slow 
down or speed up time in a limited area with it.  No one is going to 
be nuking William the Conqueror or helping the Toltecs invade 
Medieval Europe with it."  He thought a moment.  "It would be 
great for a spy, though."

       "Does it add power or multiply it?"  Saturn asked.

       "Multiply, of course.  It was MUCH harder to make like that, 
but..."

       "I have to find Pluto now."  Saturn said, her voice hard.  "See if 
you two can work out a way to destroy it from a distance... 
somehow."  She vanished in a swirl of light and darkness. 

      "Why is she so worried?  It's not that dangerous an object."

      "In the hands of a mortal."  Tomoe said quietly.  "There are 
things in heaven and earth not dreamt of in your philosophy, 
Henry."  He laughed.  "I've always wanted to say that."
       
*************************

Black Moon Rising
Chapter 2:  The Window of the Present

*************************

Earth,  Crystal Tokyo, SY 68 (3060 AD, 3811 Years after the 
founding of Rome, Juraiian Year 23224, Federal Year -926)

       Arcadia woke up with something warm and heavy on her 
chest.  A quick peek revealed it wasn't Marcus, much as part of her 
hoped it might be, but was instead a little blue-haired munchkin in 
green pajamas.  

       She stared, wondering what the kid was doing in bed with her.  
As consciousness returned, so did some clue as to why she was here 
in the first place, but no clues as to why the little girl was here.  
This must be their daughter, she thought.  

        The child suddenly opened her eyes, stared, then said, 
"AAAH!!! I've been kidnaped!"  She jumped up, which hurt, since 
she was standing on Arcadia, leapt off the bed, and ran off 
screaming.

        Arcadia sat up and laughed, then slid off the bed and grabbed 
her pants off the floor, just in case someone came in, attracted by 
the screaming.

        A few seconds later, a rather ridiculous looking collie the
size of a cat stuck itself in through the door, then said, "I 
assume you're Arcadia and not an evil kidnapper from the planet 
Mongo?"  He had a thick Rigellian accent, which made him sound 
like Arcadia's uncle Nigel.  

        "You must be Hermes,"  she said, staring.  I've never heard an 
animal REALLY talk, she thought, unless some of the animals in Mr. 
Bluesleeves' Morning Romp really talked.  "Umm...I need to get 
dressed."

         Hermes moved the rest of the way into the doorway, then 
turned and said into the hallway, "I told you she wasn't a 
tentacular monster from Anabaxis XVI, Ami-chan.  She doesn't 
even have one tentacle."  He turned back to Arcadia.  "Has someone 
shown you how to use the wardrobe?"

        Arcadia had a very vague memory of someone having to help 
her make it into the bed.  "No."  She looked around.  The bed had 
simple sky blue sheets and a darker navy blue coverlet, with 
embroidered pillows.  There was a small desk in one corner with a 
small computer, or at least Arcadia guessed it was a computer.  It 
looked rather primitive, like something a street beggar might own, 
without even a holoprojector.  A very dim globe hung down over 
the bed, and a huge wardrobe took up much of one of the walls.  A 
second wall, the one over the bed, held dozens of actual printed 
books.  What a waste of paper, she thought.  They all looked 
battered and torn like they had seen better days.  

         She walked over to the wardrobe.  "What's so hard about 
using a wardrobe?"

         Hermes dashed over to the wardrobe.  "Allow me to 
demonstrate."  There was a brief rush of air, and suddenly, he had 
become a short man, about four feet tall, with a beard almost as 
long as he was tall, dressed in a rough red shirt and blue pants.  His 
hair was dark brown, and his face was wrinkled with age that gave 
the lie to his dark hair.  "Basically, you have to fix your mind on the 
sort of clothing you want, then open it.  It's important to be very 
clear on what kind of clothing you want, or you might end up with 
ANYTHING, and then it won't reset until you actually wear 
something."  He closed his eyes and concentrated.

        "So, are you actually a tiny dog or a human?"  she asked.

        "Neither.  I'm a Mercurian Hound."  He opened the wardrobe.  
"I can assume a Dwarven form, however.  I can also assume a sort 
of mixed form, but it looks so ridiculous, I never do it.  It's 
supposed to scare people, but even babies just think my battle 
form is cute and want to play with it."  The wardrobe was full of 
plain red shirts and blue pants, scaled to Hermes, along with a 
simple blue cap with a golden feather in it.  He pulled out the hat 
and put it on.  "Now you try."  He closed the door.

        Arcadia closed her eyes and tried to focus.  What would I like 
to wear?  A million possibilities whirred through her mind.  She 
tried to remember how everyone had been dressed.  Maybe a nice 
outfit like Saturn was wearing, she thought.  Well, before she 
turned into Saturn.  Yes, BEFORE that, she thought, trying to fix the 
image in her mind, but it kept bleeding over, changing to the angry 
Saturn, staring at the key that had brought her here.

        She gave up and opened the wardrobe, and found it was full 
of fukus, tiaras, and glaives, along with boots and bows.  Hermes 
laughed.  "I see you met Hotaru-chan."

       Arcadia closed the wardrobe and thought as hard as she could 
of a simple purple wrap around with a green belt and black tights.  
She opened the wardrobe, and Sailor Saturn's outfit confronted her 
again.  She frowned.  "It's not working!"

        "Didn't you hear what I told you, lass?  You have to wear 
something from the closet before it will reset."   He laughed faintly.

       "That's stupid!"  she shouted.

        He shrugged.  "Magic always has some flaw.  Permanent 
enchanted sleeps that aren't so permanent because they have a 
release condition.  Eternal life that doesn't stop aging.  Blah blah 
blah.  Still, you can just put on one thing, then do it again.  Maybe 
the boots?"

        I forgot about shoes the first two times anyway, she thought.  
She put on the boots, then closed the wardrobe.  This time she got 
the clothing she wanted.  "Okay, now you scoot while I change,"  she 
said.

        "I'll go tell Ryo you're awake,"  he said, turning back into the 
dog and scooting off.

        She got changed.  By the time she finished, Ami-chan was 
poking her head in the door.  "What's your name?  I'm Ami!"

        Her mom has no imagination, Arcadia thought.  Naming 
children after yourself is an act of pure ego.  She said, "I'm Arcadia 
N'Goya.  I'm from Sirius."

       "You shouldn't use a preposition like that.  It's 'I'm serious'."  
Ami-chan said.

        "No, no, I'm from the planet Sirius III."

        "Only monsters live on Sirius III!  You are a monster!  
AAAAAHHH!!!!"  Ami-chan ran off screaming.

        Arcadia sighed.  Maybe I should have seen if Minako and 
Steven had any free rooms.  

***************

Nemesis,  Royal Palace, DY (Demand Year 305)

       Prince Demand frowned.  "Are you sure, Wiseman?  We can't 
afford another fiasco like what happened to King Hari at Belkin 
Ridge."  He shuddered at the thought.  Serenity's army had been so 
huge.  Albernia had been the greatest power on Earth, not counting 
the Winter Queen's vast hordes, when Serenity came.  King Hari had 
thought he could easily take down Serenity once she was exhausted 
from battling the Winter Queen.  Hari had been an ignorant fool, fat 
with unearned pride.  He had ignored the prophecy at his cost.  
Serenity had swatted down Belkin without even noticing.  She 
hadn't even bothered to kill a single one of his warriors.  She hadn't 
bothered to stop their flight to Nemesis.  They were only the first of 
those who had fled.  

         The Wiseman was powerful, but not a match for Serenity, 
Demand thought.  He found the way here, he brought us all here, all 
those who fled Serenity's power, but he was no match for her, 
Demand thought.  He is a spider, who lurks in the shadows, a 
coward who flees honest battle, Demand thought.  So what does 
that make me, hiding on Nemesis instead of challenging Serenity?, 
he wondered.  No.  I must wait.  Time flows faster here.  We shall 
raise up an army she cannot stop.  For three hundred years, we 
have labored, but I must have time.  More time.  

        "You fear Saturn."  Wiseman said, his voice faintly mocking.  
At least, Demand thought Wiseman was a he.  You could see little 
beneath his hood but reddish burning eyes, and little beneath his 
robes but gaunt hands.  His voice sounded male, though oddly 
distorted, as if he constantly spoke through a farspeaking crystal.  
Maybe he does, Demand thought.  If it is just an animated robe and 
a farspeaking crystal...damned spider.

        "Of course I fear Saturn!  Alone, she could slay most of our 
army, even now.  With the others..."  He shuddered.  "Even the 
bravest man does not stick his head in the lion's mouth, then pull 
the jaws shut."  I am not a coward, he thought.  I'm just being 
sensible.  

      "I have a plan to deal with Saturn.  Imagine what could be done 
if her power served you rather than opposing you."  Wiseman's 
voice sounded mocking again.  Thinking a bit, Demand realized it 
always seemed to be mocking, so this wasn't much of a change.  

       "You interest me, Wiseman."  Perhaps he has finally gone 
senile, Demand thought.  It had to happen some time.  Yet, if he is 
right...

*****************

Earth,  Crystal Tokyo, SY 68 (3060 AD, 3811 Years after the 
founding of Rome, Juraiian Year 23224, Federal Year -926)

        Muffins, scrambled eggs, and an orange put Arcadia in a good 
mood.  "How'd you know I like this for breakfast, Hermes?"  She 
asked.  

       "It's what Ami-chan eats every morning, so I just made extra," 
he said, curled up on the table at one end.  "And you'd better eat it 
all, Ami-chan,"  he said.  "And no, you can't pour sugar all over it."

        Ami-chan pouted.  She was wearing a very simple blue dress 
that looked like someone had sewn a blue t-shirt to a long blue 
pleated skirt.  "But I love sugar!"

        "But would you marry it?"  Arcadia asked, then laughed.  

        Ami-chan stared at the sugar pot.  "You monsters from Sirius 
are weird."

        "Little girls are tasty with sugar."  She got up and got some 
more scrambled eggs.  "You use soy sauce for little boys."

        Ami-chan gulped loudly, then hid the sugar under the table.  
"Too bad we don't have any sugar."

       Arcadia laughed again.  I haven't had this much fun in days, 
she thought.  "Oh, by the way, I'm here to help babysit you, Ami-
chan.  Don't worry, I don't bite."  She paused.  "Much."

       Ami-chan hurriedly wolfed down her breakfast.  "C'mon, 
Hermes.  You've got to teach me something."  She dragged him off 
the table and ran.

       Hermes said, "I'll try to put some sense into her.  Somehow."  
He paused.  "You're not helping things, you know."

       Arcadia threw back her head and laughed loudly.  "Don't be 
naughty today, Ami-chan, or I get to have one of your hands for 
dinner!"

       A loud shriek receded in the distance.

       Hermes frowned.  Arcadia said, "I'm sorry.  I just...It seemed so 
right."  Now I remember why I had trouble keeping babysitting 
jobs.

       He sighed.  "Ryo should be here soon to take you out to the 
city.  He got called away to some sort of meeting."

       Ryo walked in with Ami-chan clinging to his legs and babbling 
derangedly.  He picked her up and hugged her.  "Ami-chan, say 
hello to your new friend, Arcadia.  She's come from far away to 
visit us."

       "She's gonna eat me!"  Ami-chan howled.

       "Don't be silly.  Daddy had a vision in which he saw she was 
going to be a really good friend to you."  He hugged Ami-chan 
tightly.  "Don't worry.  You're safe here in the Crystal Palace."

       Until it gets carpet bombed, Arcadia thought.  Until the Black 
Moon Cult attacks the first time.  Unless that already happened, she 
thought.  And you can't hide in a palace forever, anyway.  There's 
nowhere safe in this world.  I thought I found somewhere safe, but 
they found me anyway.  At least they can't follow me here.

       Unless the ones in this time know about me.  She shook off the 
thought.  If they could travel though time, they could have stopped 
Serenity XVIII from making their sun go nova.  "Well, I've had 
breakfast.  I guess I'll do the dishes."

       Ryo nodded.  "Just put them in the sink, and they'll clean 
themselves and put themselves away."

       Arcadia had seen that before, but probably only a few dozen 
families were able to afford such things on Sirius.  "You people live 
pretty well."

       Ryo shrugged.  "Virtually everyone has one.  Maybe 98% of 
homes."

       Arcadia stared.  "Why don't...uh...why only 98%?"

       "Some people like washing dishes."

       Arcadia laughed and put the dishes in the sink.  She stared, 
fascinated as the dishes rinsed themselves off, then sudsed up, 
were scrubbed by a brush, then rinsed again, then suddenly 
became dry, then floated away to various cabinets, which opened 
and closed.  She realized that unlike the ones she had seen, this one 
didn't teleport the dishes, it just telekinesed them.  "Why doesn't it 
just teleport them into the cabinets?  Less wear and tear that way."

       "Early models had a tendency to teleport your dishes into 
someone else's cabinet, or lose them in other dimensions, or put a 
monster instead of a plate in your cabinet.  Telekinesis requires a 
lot less energy, anyway."  He put Ami-chan down.  "Time for your 
lessons, Ami-chan."

       "Okay!  I wanna learn how to make giant robots today, 
Hermes!"  She announced, marching off deeper into the suite of 
rooms.  Hermes followed, laughing.  

       Arcadia stared at the dishes as they finished.  I bet a lot more 
people would have those if they did that, she thought.  Back in my 
own time, that is.  "What was your meeting about?"

       "It's classified," he said.  "Sorry.  Ready to go?"

        She nodded.  "Do we get to go 800 KPH?"

       "I foresee that not happening, and we can't avoid fate,"  he 
said, laughing.  

        They headed out of the suite and down the hallway.  The 
palace was huge, but there didn't seem to be a lot of people.  "So 
how many people live here?"  

       He thought a moment.  "A few hundred actually live here, but 
thousands work here during the day or visit."

       "Mostly servants?"  she asked lightly.

       "Not really.  Not unless you'd call the Minister of Finance a 
servant, for example.  Or her husband a servant.  Or their kids.  We 
have some hospitality staff, a handful of guards, some gardeners...I 
suppose you could call the royal Bard a servant, sort of.  He'd 
probably drop a piano on you if you did, though."

       Arcadia blinked.  "What, you have a coin laundromat and you 
all do your own laundry and stuff?"

       He laughed.  "I hope bellbottoms didn't come back in the 
sixteenth century too.  No, the laundry does itself."

       "..."

       "Nine tenths of what would be done by servants or janitorial 
staff does itself, or can easily be done by a skilled mage in seconds.  
My powers are feeble, but even I can clean up most messes, at least 
inside the Palace."  Everything was spotless, Arcadia realized. Even 
her mother, the biggest neat freak in the history of mankind, 
couldn't have found anything to critique.  "Food cooks itself, 
bathrooms clean themselves, laundry does itself.  We do hire 
caterers for special events, though.  Humans do a better job than 
magic on food.  We also keep gardeners, because people change 
their minds too often to leave it to automatic magic, and the 
hospitality staff escorts visitors around and makes sure their needs 
are met."  

       "If you have a hospitality staff, why are you showing me 
around?"  They stepped out of the palace through a pair of double 
doors, passing two guards, who saluted, then headed down a 
marble walkway through a pleasant row of shaped bushes towards 
the great plaza that spread out around the huge palace complex.  

        "Because you're not an ordinary visitor,"  he said.  "You're our 
guest, and we take good care of our guests."  He looked out on the 
city.  "And I'll admit you intrigue me."

        "Me?"  This all intrigues me, she thought.  Although I still 
want, no I need to get back home.  "I'm just an ordinary girl."  She 
paused.  "Well, an ordinary girl with a bunch of total loons after 
her."  After a moment's hesitation, she said, "Do you have any idea when
Pluto...the junior Pluto, can take me back to my own time?"

        "You want to go back, even though there are maniacs after 
you, and you'd be safe from them here?"  His voice sounded 
remarkably light and unconcerned.  He paused and patted one of 
the bushes, which was shaped like a curled up cat, though it would 
have been a house cat the size of a lion.  She looked back at him, 
and he gave her an odd look, and started mouthing something 
silently.

        "My friends are in danger.  I have to help them," she said.  
"And I'd like to see my family again, one day, now that I know 
they're alive."  Makoto, Rita, Marcus...I hope you're okay, she 
thought.  "Are you saying something or just making funny faces at 
me?"

       He laughed.  "Just indulging a bad habit of mine."  They 
emerged from the bushes at the skimmer lot.  He headed over to a 
bright green one which Arcadia thought was horribly tacky.  "Hop 
in."

       "Don't you own a less...umm..."

       "Nope."

        She gave up and hopped in.  "Where do we go first?"

       "Anywhere you'd particularly like to see?"

        "Actually, I was kind of curious about the Royal Library, 
but...ahh!  I want to see somewhere I can run, and I want to know 
how Serenity REALLY became Queen of the Earth."  Dr. Anderson's 
gonna die from joy, Arcadia thought.  We'll make a MINT if I can 
bring back some kind of historical text.  And we'll go down in 
history ourselves.  Historiography, anyway.  

        He glanced over at her.  "You like to run?  I know just the 
place."  He started up the skimmer, and they headed out onto the 
street.  Despite Arcadia's best efforts to egg him on, they didn't 
break any land-speed records.

*******************

       Serenity stood on the balcony with Jupiter and Pluto, watching 
the skimmer pull out of the lot.  "It was all a distraction,"  Serenity 
said quietly.

       Jupiter blinked.  "What?"

        Pluto smiled faintly.  "I assume you mean the temporal 
anomalies that the Unternehmen has been detecting?"

        "So you think she works for the Black Moon Family?  Why 
would they be stupid enough to give us a Time Key full of dark 
energy if they wanted it themselves?"  Jupiter sounded confused.

        "Jupiter, you will shadow them.  Keep her from harm."  
Serenity said.

       Jupiter boggled.  "But...I have to protect you, Serenity!  Who 
will..."

       "Who will threaten me here?  The worst that might happen is 
that I might overeat, or spill something on myself.  Besides, I will 
have Pluto with me, and Endymion."  She paused.  "And most of the 
other senshi are either within the palace or close enough to be 
called."  She turned to Pluto.  "Uranus and Neptune did return last 
night, did they not?  I didn't see them at breakfast."

       "They are here.  Uranus went jogging and hasn't made it back 
yet, while Neptune overslept."

        Serenity laughed.  "I guess something from me rubbed off on 
her." 

        They all laughed, though Jupiter frowned when it was over, 
but took off in pursuit of the now distant skimmer.  Pluto turned to 
Serenity.  "Surely one of the others would have been better for 
this."

       Serenity handed Pluto a hand-written note.  "Please get 
Makoto out of the palace while I prepare our chambers for our 
anniversary celebration tonight," it read simply.  

       Pluto laughed.  "Surely she remembers what today is."

       "Her husband slipped this to me at breakfast.  Apparently, she 
either has forgotten, or she's waiting for him to mention it."  For a 
moment, Serenity giggled and looked the child she had been when 
Pluto first met her.  "I doubt they're really in danger.  Ryo always 
has a vision if he is going to get attacked."

        "Yes, but he doesn't always tell people."  This was not what 
Serenity wanted to hear.
 
*****************
       
       "Do you want running first, or history first?"  Ryo asked.  

       "Running first.  I like to exercise in the morning."  Arcadia 
stretched, then pulled her bangs out of her eyes again.  The cool air 
blowing past made her shiver just a little, but it was a good shiver.  
"I wouldn't mind going hoverscootering, but they haven't invented 
those yet, have they?"

       "You'd have to ask someone who actually cares about vehicles.  
Uranus probably knows, or Steven or Daichi or Minako.  If you can 
crash it, Minako's probably driven it."  He laughed.  For someone 
who claimed not to care about vehicles, Ryo drove very well, 
gliding through traffic flawlessly and making every traffic light just 
in time.  

         They zipped around a corner and started heading towards a 
large park at the end of a broad boulevard.  They zipped past a 
blue-uniformed man leaning against a lamp post.  He was snoozing.  
Arcadia laughed.  "I guess cops sleep on duty everywhere, eh?"

         "Well, technically, he's a Troubleshooter.  And he's off duty."  
They pulled into the parking lot at one end of the park and started 
cruising slowly, hunting for a parking space.  

        "A Troubleshooter?"  The parking lot disturbed Arcadia.  It 
was huge, but it had looked pretty small when they had been 
coming up to it.  The air shimmered oddly around it as well, like 
heat rising from the...marble?  She blinked.  Did they strip the 
entire Earth of marble for this city?  "And how did you know that 
guy was off-duty?"

        "We don't have much crime in Crystal Tokyo, not that can be 
handled by non-Senshi, anyway, but we do have a variety of 
problems that have to be solved."  He pulled the skimmer into a 
parking lot, turned it off, and stepped out.  "And I knew the guy 
was off-duty because he wasn't wearing his badge, and he wasn't 
armed, either.  I guess he was up all night and clonked out on the 
way home."

        Arcadia vaulted over the door, instead of opening it, then 
stretched again.  "Is it safe to leave him there like that?  What if 
someone robs him or..."

       "Well, I can go check on him while you go run, but that sort of 
thing doesn't happen here.  There hasn't been a petty mugging that 
wasn't part of interplanetary diplomacy in thirty years."  He 
shrugged.  "And even those stopped about ten years ago when our 
intergalactic neighbors realized that arranging a 'mugging' wouldn't 
fool anyone over the age of five here."  

        "No mugging?  Do you execute all the muggers?"

         He shook his head violently.  "We don't have the death 
penalty.  People almost never commit crimes for one simple reason.  
You can't get away with it.  It doesn't stop all crime, but it stops 
almost all of it."  He turned and pointed off through the park.  "The 
track is that way.  I'll be right back."  He got back into the skimmer.

       Arcadia looked where he pointed and could see some people 
jogging through the trees.  "So why doesn't anyone get away with 
it?"

       "You can't escape the Troubleshooters unless you've got the 
resources of a major government behind you that can get you off 
the planet after you commit your crime.  They've got the best 
magical and technological crime-fighting equipment there is, 
although they spend a lot more time dealing with their real job, 
which is dealing with human stupidity."  He started up the skimmer 
engine.
         
       "Dealing with human stupidity?"

       "People driving 800 KPH over the city, for example."  He 
laughed.  "People who climb up onto places they can't get down 
from.  The occasional fist fight.  Children who eat rocks.  Getting rid 
of poverty and having a fairly iron-clad justice system stops 
property crime, but the laws and the legal system haven't been 
made that keep people from being stupid.  The Troubleshooters 
have branches beyond the Criminal Justice branch, which deal with 
cleaning up the problems people get into.  Anyway, we can talk 
more about this later.  You go jog.  I'll be right back."  He backed up 
the skimmer, then turned and zoomed off.

         Arcadia watched him go, then headed over to the track.  But 
how does anyone make sure the Troubleshooters stay honest?  She 
was curious now, but answers would have to wait.  The track had 
dozens of people, some walking, some running, some jogging, a few 
rollerskating.  She sat down in the grassy zone in the middle and 
did some stretching exercises, then started jogging.  The people 
were quite variegated, from old to young, with skin tones from 
normal human ones to weird colors like green or purple.  She 
recognized a Rigellian and a green-skinned Orioner, both wobbling 
on roller skates as some five year old tried to show them how it 
was done.  Arcadia threw back her head and laughed loudly, then 
tried to pretend she hadn't when they both stared at her.  She 
started running around the track, gradually speeding up.  

        It's been a while since the last time I really got to run like 
this, she realized.  Her muscles grumbled a bit.  I haven't gone 
running in close to two weeks, I've been so busy, she thought.  
Makoto works me pretty hard, but I had hardly realized it until 
now.  I haven't had this much time off since...since before I left 
home.  

        She felt a presence to her right and glanced over.  A girl was 
running along side her, easily keeping up, which startled Arcadia, 
who wasn't going all out, but was still outpacing everyone else on 
the track.  Her skin was just a touch lighter than Arcadia's, and she 
had large bangs which somehow were resisting blowing in the 
wind, unlike the long narrow pony-tail she had in back, which was 
whipping about.  She was wearing blue shorts and a white 'muscle 
shirt' with a yellow shooting star on it.  "Hithere,haven'tseenyou 
herebefore!"  the woman said, almost faster than Arcadia could 
understand.   

        "I just got here,"  Arcadia replied.  "I'm Arcadia N'goya.  Can 
you try talking a little slower?"

        The woman blushed.  "Sorry.  I get excited, and everything 
just speeds up."  She laughed.  "I'm Jenni Ognatz.  You're pretty 
fast."

        Arcadia resisted the urge to brag, but not very well.  "Faster 
than everyone here, maybe.  I can do the three minute mile, but 
that wouldn't even get me into the Pan-League games."  Actually, 
that was pushing the limits of what could be done without magic or 
cybertech.  She'd read an article claiming that professional athletes, 
even the magic-free ones had to be using magic somehow, that 
speeds approaching the two minute mile were simply impossible 
for human flesh to sustain or achieve without some degree of magic 
based on studies conducted on low-mana worlds, but Arcadia didn't 
buy it.  She had grown up on a low-mana world, and she could do 
the three minute mile.  She'd been able to do that since she was 
twelve.  Her coach thought she had the potential to do even better 
by the time the next Pan-League games came around.

       "Pan-League games?"  Jenni looked confused.  "Never heard of 
those."

       Arcadia laughed nervously.  "I meant the Solar Games."  She 
blessed her history classes.  "I was reading this history book and..."

        Jenni loped along.  She looked almost like she was forcing 
herself to slow down, which disturbed Arcadia.  "I know how that 
goes.  I'll read a good novel, then I start talking like everything in
itwasrealand..."  She took a deep breath.  "Or I just talk too fast."

        "Lemme guess.  Speed is your magical aptitude?"

        Jenni threw back her head and laughed.  "How'd you ever 
guess?  You too, I suppose."

        "I wouldn't even know how.  I want to run as fast as I can 
without magic."  The world seemed somewhat blurry around her, 
and Arcadia suddenly realized she was trailing a cloud of dust.  
How fast am I going?

        Jenni giggled.  "I think you passed that a while back.  I'd guess 
we're running somewhere between sixty and seventy five miles an 
hour."

         Looking back, Arcadia could see that the dust simply veered 
away from anyone who actually ran through it, dissipating rapidly 
without actually touching anyone.  "..."

       "I never realized how fast I could go either until I came to the 
Earth."  She grinned.  "Wanna see how fast you can go?"

       Arcadia liked speed more than she disliked surprises.  "Maybe 
we'd better get off the track."

       Jenni nodded.  "There's a racetrack reserved for this sort of 
thing.  I was on my way there to meet a friend for a little 
competition.  Follow me!"  She took off, speeding up.  Arcadia 
simply ran, hoping whatever was letting her move so fast kept up.  
It did.

        They roared down the path, dodging slow moving walkers like 
they were standing still.  Soon, they zoomed onto another small 
track, but this one had stands around it on two sides, and what 
looked like some kind of 'announcer box'.  One of the cutest guys 
that Arcadia had ever seen was here, tinkering with a bizarre 
looking double wheeled personal vehicle.  He had short blond hair 
and bore a strong resemblance to Arcadia's old boyfriend Tony, 
although he had paler skin and was a bit more feminine looking.  

       A weird thrill ran through Arcadia's body when she saw him.  
It wasn't exactly arousal, more like a confused mixture of 
recognition and terror.  Some tiny drum began to beat in her head, 
telling her to run far, far away, that she shouldn't be anywhere 
near this person.  At the same time, he wasn't at all menacing,  but 
rather quite attractive.  Arcadia wanted to run away from him and 
kiss him at the same time, but deep down had the feeling that 
either action would be a mistake.  She whispered to Jenni, "Is this 
the guy you're looking for?"

       The guy stood up and brushed his hair back, grinning.  "Let me 
guess, Jenni.  You ran all the way from New Rome, eh?"  He turned 
to Arcadia and smiled, with a twinkle in her eye.  "Who's your cute 
friend?"

       Arcadia blushed.  I'm being an idiot.  He's married, she 
thought.  I can smell it.  Marcus would call me a ninny.  "Uh, hi.  I'm 
Arcadia N'goya."

       "So you like to run too?  I'm Ten'ou Haruka."  He put away the 
tools he had been using on the bike, and wiped his hands with a 
cloth, then turned to Jenni.  "This time, I'm going to win."

        Jenni laughed loudly.  "Not unless you blast me in the middle 
of it, Haruka."  She zipped over to the bike.  "Tell you what, I'll let 
you ride this, and I'll still beat you."

       "No way!"  Arcadia said.  "That thing looks like something they 
used in the Stone Age.  If we were really running as fast as you 
said, I could outrun that thing."

       Haruka laughed.  "Oh really?  Let's get to it, then."

        Arcadia stared.  "Uh, right."  Me and my big mouth, she 
thought.  

       Jenni drew a line in the dirt of the track.  "Three times around.  
No energy blasts, no claiming you have a mission in the middle of 
the race."  She looked right at Haruka.

        "Hey, I did have a mission!  You heard my watch go off!"

       "I think you hid your wife somewhere and had her call you 
when it was clear I was going to win."  Jenni winked, clearly not 
serious.  "Everyone ready?"

        I must be insane, doing this, Arcadia thought.  Still, it is a 
piece of junk...  She hunched down, ready to run.  "Ready."

        "Three.  Two.  One.  GO!"  Arcadia went.  The world turned into 
a blur.  Her whole body was tingling, her muscles working like 
never before.  She ran, faster than ever before.  She made a 
complete circuit before she realized Jenni was pacing 
them...running backwards.  Glancing over at Haruka's strange 
vehicle, which she now realized bore some resemblance to a 
hovercycle, she could see it was near the top of its speedometer, 
although the weird glyphs on it were illegible to her.  He must have 
dug it out of some ruins, she thought.  

        The second circuit was made by the time she managed to 
shout to Jenni, "How fast ARE you?"

        "Seriously fast!"  she shouted back, grinning.  "Now you know 
why Haruka always LOSES our races."

        Arcadia pushed herself.  She could tell she hadn't hit her 
limits yet.  With an effort, she managed to get a twenty meter lead 
on Haruka and crossed the finish line, then skidded to a halt, 
raising a huge dust cloud.  "So how slow is that thing, anyway?"
     
        Haruka looked peeved for a minute then said, "About 250 
KPH.  Next time, you two get to use a bike too."

        Arcadia boggled.  "I was....no way!"

        Jenni grinned.  "If this is your first time on Earth, I think 
you'll find yourself exceeding your limits quite a bit."

        Haruka cocked his head.  "I hear someone shouting your name, 
Arcadia."

       She acked.  "I forgot!  Ryo was expecting me over at the jogging 
track!"

        Haruka gave Arcadia an odd look.  "Urawa Ryo?"

       She nodded.  "Um.  Yeah.  I'm sort of staying at the Royal 
Palace."

       Haruka grinned.  "I suspect I may be seeing a lot more of you 
then."

      "Really?  You work there?"

      "The Queen has heavy gambl..."  Haruka started.

      "Does everyone use that joke?  Minako tried to claim that too."

      "And she didn't even give me credit!"  Haruka said in mock 
outrage.  "She probably garbled it too."

      Ryo ran into the track, looking worried.  "ARCADIA!"  he 
shouted, then gave a sigh of relief, even though he was facing the 
wrong way to see her.  He turned around and walked over more 
slowly.  "I was starting to panic."

       Jenni said, "Hi!  I dropped in from New Rome to whip Haruka, 
but Arcadia here did it for me!"

        Haruka laughed.  "You knew you couldn't beat me, so you 
found yourself a ringer.  Admit it."

       Ryo looked thoughtful, then said, "Sorry I took so long, Arcadia.  
I had to give him a ride home."

      "No problem.  I think I got more exercise than I...I can't believe 
I ran so fast!  I've never run that fast in my life!"  Arcadia said.  I'd 
better not do that at the Pan-League games or they'll throw me out.

       "Crystal Tokyo is perhaps one of the five most magically potent 
locations in the galaxy at this time, and certainly the most 
hospitable to human life."  Ryo said.  "Even marginal talents become 
impressive here."

        Haruka said, "More than marginal talent.  Not too many people 
can outrun my bike, even here."

        Arcadia blushed.  "I guess Coach Stettin would be proud."

        Jenni said, "Speaking of marginal talent, it's your turn, 
Haruka."

        Haruka grinned.  "You shouldn't badmouth yourself like that.  
You two wanna play referee?"

        Ryo nodded.  They sat down.  Haruka and Jenni both got into a 
sprinting position and took off like rockets.  Arcadia could barely 
see them as they blurred along.  Ryo whispered, "Jenni's going to 
kill Haruka."

        "What makes you say that?"

       "Haruka's watch is going to go off now."

        A loud buzz, shifting frequencies as the two blurred around 
the track, cut through the sound of running feet.  They both 
skidded to a halt and Haruka groaned.  Jenni laughed.  "I TOLD 
YOU!"

***************

       Arcadia followed Ryo and Jenni, who had tagged along, into the 
museum.  The sign outside had proclaimed 'The Window of the 
Present'.  It was a huge crystal mansion, close to a block in size, 
that looked more like a house than a museum from the outside.  
Jenni dashed about, constantly in motion, looking at various things.  
Arcadia whispered, "Does she ever slow down?"

       "Only when she's asleep, I think," Ryo replied.  "She's not called 
the fastest woman on Earth for nothing."  He looked around for a 
moment, then said, "So where do you want to start?"

       "Well, for one thing, why did the Earth freeze over?  We know 
there was some sort of civilization before that, but all we have is 
crazy stories."  

       "Ahh.  We'll start at the beginning, then.  Follow me."  He 
walked out of the atrium past a huge statue of the Winter Queen.  
Jenni sprinted in, passing him on his way through the entry 
archway, while Arcadia followed at a more normal speed.
        
*****************
Solar System,  Vicinity of Neptune, 2066 AD (Serenity Year -926, 
2817 Years after the founding of Rome, Juraiian Year 22230, 
Federal Year -1920)

       Over 99% of the universe is cold, boring, featureless space 
occupied only by the occasional electron, proton, neutrino, or other 
tiny cold, boring, featureless objects.  If you've seen one electron, 
you've seen them all.  

       Thus, the space just a few million miles to the left of Neptune 
was a pretty boring place to be until space rippled and several 
living spaceships, a UN space monitor, and a few dozen individuals 
capable of surviving in deep vacuum appeared.  One of them, a red-
haired woman, turned to a second one, a man clad in white armor, 
and asked, "Can you explain what just happened, and more 
importantly, can you make me understand it?"

       "Yes and no,"  the man said, then smiled.

        She frowned and turned to another one of the people floating 
comfortably in deep space.  "How about you, Pluto?"

       "The Sun-Eater tried to take us with it by collapsing the space 
around us into a black hole, which would have been rather fatal.  If 
Tenchi hadn't been here, it would have succeeded, and we would 
probably have been dead."  Pluto said.  She turned to Tenchi, who 
was another one of the floating figures.  "I thank you."

       Yet another floating figure, this one blond with twin pigtails, 
hugged Tenchi impulsively.  "Thanks for coming when we called 
you!"

      He blushed a bit and said, "Well, I'd hardly let my home planet 
be destroyed by the Sun-Eater."

       Ryoko pulled out a sake bottle.  "Let's celebrate!  Drinks all 
around!"

       "Only you could find sake in deep space,"  Aeka said, shaking 
her head.

       "I grabbed this from your personal collection, so I think I'm 
not the only one,"  Ryoko said, winking.

        Aeka blushed.  

        Normally, sound doesn't travel in space.  If the Sun went nova, 
you couldn't hear it, although you'd certainly see it.  Most of these 
beings were far too powerful to be bothered by petty things like 
the lack of a medium for sound to carry through.  Thus, when one 
of the ships screamed, the lack of air was irrelevant.

        The sheer force of the scream sent the hapless UN monitor 
ship tumbling towards Neptune, made people fall down on the 
bridges of the other living ships as if they were on Star Trek, since 
no one had invented seat belts on Juraii either, and sent the tiny 
humans and aliens soaring through space in surprise.  

       Tenchi whipped his head around as soon as he stopped himself, 
although he managed to toss Sailor Moon into Ryoko, kick his son 
Ryu in the face, and tangle his legs with Aeka's in the process.  
"Tsunami?"

         A few seconds later, Tuxedo Kamen folded over and started to 
scream and throw up at the same time.  Sailor Moon ran over to 
him.  Let it be noted that watching someone run through deep 
space is strange looking.  

        Ryoko peeled off to save the poor UN ship, which was simply 
in over its head.  Tsunami's voice boomed through the void.  "The 
Tree of Life is under attack!  I'LL HAVE YOUR HEAD!"  In an instant, 
Tsunami streaked into motion, heading for the Earth.  

        Tuxedo Kamen whispered, "Mother..."  He tried to rise to his 
feet, and fell down, slowly drifting towards Neptune, although 
Sailor Moon grabbed him before he could go more than a few feet.  

        Pluto blinked.  "Time dilation.  We've been gone for a year.  
The black hole was just a distraction so I wouldn't notice this."

        Tenchi really didn't want to meet anyone who used black 
holes as a distraction.  "Right.  We've got to get to the Earth.  Now."

        Sailor Moon began directing everyone into a circle for a Sailor 
Teleport.  She got out the Silver Crystal.  Hang on, Mamo-chan.  I'll 
save you.  I will.

                               **************

Earth,  Mega-Tokyo, 2066 AD (Serenity Year -926, 2817 Years after 
the founding of Rome, Juraiian Year 22230, Federal Year -1920)

        Dr. Celia Stingray, Dr. Wise, Dr. Tomoe, Dr. Wu from Hong Kong, 
Dr. Hikaru Hiyama, Dr. Jonathan Quest, Dr. Noriko Udaigaku, Noa 
Izumi and Asuma Shinohara sat around a round table, deep 
beneath the ground.  Noa wished for the fifth time that she had a 
doctorate in something, ANYTHING, because she was starting to feel 
rather intimidated.  "Why am I here, anyway?"  she asked for the 
third time, hoping to cut through the chatter of twenty syllable long 
words that were starting to make her head hurt.

        "Because you're one of the most powerful people we have who 
haven't vanished off the face of the universe,"  Dr. Tomoe said.  He 
sighed.  "We can only assume that we may never see our missing 
friends again, since they've been gone so long without even a hint 
of what happened.  On the other hand, we still have a sun, so we 
can presume they won."

         "Maybe it got lost,"  Dr. Wu suggested, grinning.

        "They're not dead,"  Asuma said.  "Imprisoned maybe, but not 
dead."

       Dr. Wise blinked.  "How can you be so sure?"

       "If you constantly had to tell the dead to go bugger off, you'd 
be sure too."  Asuma said. Even before The Miracle, he had possesed a
medium talent, which had remained mostly latent except for one incident
when he was much, much younger.  Since then, it had become more active
than anyone deserved to put up with.  He was almost looking 
forward to death, as he had several people he wanted to go beat up 
in the afterlife for making his life difficult.  

        "We can't wait any longer.  If we don't close the New Delhi 
gate, Kali will turn this world into an ice cube.  Her armies and her 
ice have already overrun Russia, Canada, Scandinavia and most of 
Australia and southern Africa.  We have days at best."  Celia said.  
"Now, Shinohara-san, have you completed Dr. Wu's machine?"

        He nodded.  "I don't see how it's going to actually WORK, but it 
is finished."

        "It doesn't have to.  It's just the diversion to attract Kali's 
forces away from protecting the gate.  The real attack will take 
place with a small strike force teleporting past most of the 
defenses."  Celia gestured and a hologram formed over the table.  
"Macky, Noa, Hikaru, myself, and as many of the Kasuga clan 
members as we can round up will launch the attack in subspace to 
cut our way through to the gate and close it.  Dr. Wise, have you 
completed the calculations for the temporal shield we're going to 
need?"

        "Temporal shield?"  Noa asked.

        "We'll never make it through the temporal distortions around 
the gate without something to shield us from them.  We'd get 
slowed so that eons passed while we blinked,"  Hikaru said.  

        "Jonathan and I have determined that we can't build a 
suitable device in the amount of time we have.  Not that can handle 
the energies involved.  However, we have determined how Kali is 
producing the distortion."  His voice dropped.  

        "How?"  Dr. Tomoe asked.  He had already guessed the answer.

        "My Time Orb,"  Dr. Wise said quietly.  "I'm going with you.  I 
made it, and only I can stop it."

        "That's too dangerous,"  Celia said.  "I know you're a skillful 
mage, but you're also..."  She paused, considering her words.

       "Flimsy.  Old.  Weak.  I don't care.  Only I can do this.  Whoever 
makes a mystic object has a stronger bond to it than anyone who 
simply uses it.  I have to do this and no one else can take my place.  
Does anyone here have my knowledge of time magic, both theory 
and practice?"  He looked around.

       Silence.  

       "I take it this motion passes, then,"  Dr.  Wise said.  He had 
never been so scared in his entire life.

                               **************

Earth,  The Core, 2066 AD (Serenity Year -926, 2817 Years after the 
founding of Rome, Juraiian Year 22230, Federal Year -1920)


       Scientists believe the core of the Earth consists of molten rock.  
This does a very good job of keeping people from bothering the 
Tree of Life, which is normally what it wants.  You can't destroy 
something if you don't think it really exists.  

        Unfortunately, KALI was not easily fooled, and neither was 
her servant, the Winter Queen, who had turned the great chamber 
of the Tree, once a beautiful meadow into a Winter Wonderland.  
The Tree of Life screamed again, feeling its roots beginning to die, 
buried under a mountain of ice.  The Tree of Life is not easily slain, 
but it almost wished it was easily slain, just so the pain would be 
over.

        The air shimmered and a woman appeared.  Her name was 
Tsunami, and she was rage incarnate.  The ice around her melted 
by the heat of her anger.  For a moment, she paused, seeking the 
Winter Queen, who sat on a great throne of ice, holding a long 
scepter shaped like a dancing woman with six arms and a belt of 
skulls.  The Winter Queen had pitch white skin and pale red eyes.  
Her hair was long and utterly white.  She dressed, of course, in 
white.  "So you got free.   A pity."

         Tsunami gathered her power to strike.  Seconds later, she was 
unconscious, frozen in a block of ice.  The Winter Queen laughed.  
"How foolish of you to think you could stop me.  Your grandmother 
possessed power that dwarfs yours, and yet she is trapped."

         A few seconds later, several dozen humans appeared in the 
chamber.  The Winter Queen grinned.  "How nice of you to spare me 
the trouble of hunting you down."

         "I am Sailor Moon!  Freezing the Earth solid isn't very..."  The 
Winter Queen found freezing her in that pose to be very amusing.
 
******************

Earth,  Crystal Tokyo, SY 68 (3060 AD, 3811 Years after the 
founding of Rome, Juraiian Year 23224, Federal Year -926)

       Arcadia looked up from the series of maps, which depicted the 
rate of advance of the Great Ice.  "So this Kali was an out of control 
Archetype?  And the Winter Queen was an Avatar of hers?"

       "Basically, yes.  The Archetype of Destruction.  Sort of.  It's a 
long confusing story, but the only way to stop the Winter Queen 
was to close Kali's gate so it could no longer use all its power 
through her.  Once that happened, she wasn't totally invulnerable, 
but unfortunately..."  Ryo said, walking to the next display, a list of 
names, divided into three categories:  dead, suspended animation, 
injured.  "The Tree of Life survived, but it was too weak to undo 
the damage the Winter Queen had done.  Too many of the really 
heavy hitters were unconscious or out of action by the time the 
gate was closed.  Kali's master stroke had been to start to seal off 
the system from the outside.  Luckily, she was defeated before she 
could keep things from getting out.  The survivors fled.  The 
Juraiians evacuated everyone they could, and the Silver Crystal was 
used to put everyone else into suspended animation until the world 
could heal."  He pointed to the list.  "Right now it's showing people 
important to me, but it adjusts to show anyone the viewer is 
interested in."

        Jenni zipped over from halfway across the room.  "I'm really 
hungry.  What about you, Arcadia?"

        "Me too.  So the Silver Crystal put the entire population of the 
world into suspended animation?"

        "It tried.  Unfortunately, vast numbers of people died before it 
was used, or were somewhere that Kali's power had corrupted too 
much.  Some people survived by being around a node of power and 
formed small settlements that had to scrabble for a living on the 
Frozen Earth.  Albernia, the Watchers, Dahli, New Rome, and others.  
Anyway, let's go get some food.  I'm kinda hungry."

        "I feel like my stomach is trying to eat its way out of me."  
Arcadia said.  "All that running, I guess."

        "You two meet me out front.  I'll go see if Hikaru wants to join 
us for lunch.  And I know just the place."  He grinned.  

                             ***************

       Raphaella turned to Michael.  "We're being followed by Sailor 
Jupiter."  Raphaella was short and a little pudgy with long blond 
hair.  Michael could have been her twin brother, to look at him, 
probably because he was.  He wore a long blue tunic, belted at the 
waist and dark blue tights, while she wore a very nice green dress 
and a very silly looking pointed hat with a trailing veil.  

        Michael wished again he had never shown her the book he 
had found.  Even in a city of highly eclectic dress, she stood out.  
"She's following the girl and Mercury's husband.  Didn't you see her 
wandering around mindlessly looking for them earlier?"  Why did 
Albrecht choose us for this mission?  I'm the only person in this 
group with the brains to be a spy.  Of course, telling us why we 
have to follow these two around would have helped.

        He glanced over at Gabrielle and Uriel, who were the only 
people he knew who could make out while walking down the street 
and never bump into anything.  Maybe I should unleash the Droids 
we brought just so they would stop that.  He sighed.  I hate my life.

         "I think she's a time traveler,"  Rafaelle announced.

         Michael paused long enough to bang his head on a handy 
lamppost.  "I suppose she's Queen Serenity's love child too."

        "Ahh!  That would explain how she got a time key and was 
able to use it."

        "A what?"

        "Now who's an idiot? Wiseman said she was important in our plan to
get a time key and solve this whole mess ... by simply traveling through
time and keeping Crystal Tokyo from ever being created.  Didn't you
listen when we got sent on this mission briefing?"  She gave him that
infuriating smile which screamed, 'I win again, brother' at him.

       "That wasn't in the mission briefing!"

       "Okay, so maybe I learned that listening at doors, but still..."

        Michael's jaw dropped.  "You.  Spied.  On.  MSOKDFJLIS?"  His 
rising voice was cut off by her hand.  

       "Perhaps you'd like to just shout, 'Please come and kill us, 
Sailor Jupiter' while you are at it?"  Rafaelle shook her head, 
frowning.

       "The last person who spied on the Wiseman is still a smear on 
the wall of the throne room!"  Michael shuddered.  "You may have a 
brain the size of a pea, but I want you to live!"

       Uriel finally spoke, having apparently paused in his making 
out.  He was tall and black haired, though you normally couldn't tell 
because of the black hooded robes he tended to wear everywhere.  
He did a great Wiseman imitation, but only when it was safe, which 
wasn't very often.  Today, though, he was wearing bright green 
robes embroidered with the Sailor Senshi symbols, an outfit which 
marked him as a member of the First Church of the Senshi, which 
he wasn't, but it was a great disguise.  "I'd rather appreciate not 
dying myself."

       Gabrielle, who had short wavy brown hair, was dressed in a 
matching red outfit marked with the symbol of a High Initiate of 
the Cult.  She had stooped smooching Uriel, but was still clinging to 
his arm.  "You two should have dressed up like us.  It's a lot of fun.  
Everyone either stays away from you because you're a loony, or 
they get obsequious.  Sure, you have to memorize a lot of their 
crazy doctrine, but everyone deserves a good laugh or twenty."

       Michael shook his head.  He couldn't stomach dressing as a 
crazed heretic, no matter how good the cause.  Having to hide their 
black moon symbols was bad enough.  "We didn't have time to 
learn how to pass as the village idiot.  I'm sure it comes naturally to 
you."

        Uriel frowned.  "And which one of us started shouting?"

        Michael sighed.  "I'm sorry.  I'm just tense and I think we're 
wasting our time."

       "Well, the museum was a lot more interesting than watching 
people run, even if it was full of lies,"  Gabrielle said.  "Although not 
nearly as bad as that awful, 'Book of Truth' the Senshi worshippers 
quote from."  Cocking her head, she began to proclaim loudly, "And 
lo, Serenity cast her bread upon the waters and gave forth with the 
breath of life, and the ice melted and the grass grew, and Serenity 
said that it was good.  And it was good."  She continued onward, 
making blessing signs at passersby.  Soon, a crowd began to gather, 
and she harangued them on the glories of the gods and goddesses 
made flesh that walked among them.

       Michael took a moment to curse the day he was born.

****************
 
       Arcadia sat at a table with Jenni, Ryo, and several people she 
had just met.  One of them was Professor Hikaru Hiyama, a rather 
gorgeous blonde, who looked to be in her mid-thirties, and who 
wore an odd sort of navy blue suitdress, the likes of which Arcadia 
had already seen, along with what looked to her like some sort of 
blue cloth noose, decorated brightly with odd golden squiggles.  
Maybe she's an Odin worshiper, Arcadia thought.  They wear 
nooses and hang themselves for wisdom.  Bunch of loonies.  "So, the 
gate closed but Noa and I got stuck on the other side of it.  I 
grabbed Noa and we time-jumped.  We got lucky and Pluto found 
us and brought us here, since I had forgotten one thing when I did 
the time-jump."

        "What?"  Jenni asked.

        Noa laughed.  "She forgot that we'd STILL be trapped in 
subspace when we reached the future."  Noa was a short woman, 
who appeared to be in her early twenties, with close-cropped red 
hair.  She was wearing a tan uniform that looked somewhat like a 
Troubleshooter uniform, with a name tag that identified her as 'Lt. 
Commander Noa Izumi-Shinohara'.  Several holograms controlled 
by an AI were dressed in similar outfits as they walked around the 
brewery/restaurant, Memories of SV2.  

        Ryo sat quietly and sipped his soda.  I wish the formula for Dr. 
Pepper hadn't been lost in the Great Ice, he thought.  I'd almost be 
willing to kill for some real Dr. Pepper instead of this SynthPepper.

       "So what happened to your husbands?"  Jenni asked quietly.  
"And how'd you both get so young looking?"

       Hikaru sighed.  "Time jumping out of a temporal anomaly 
is...not a good idea.  Noa was a baby physically when we emerged 
and I was a withered old hag on the verge of death.  Pluto was able 
to help me learn how to fix my body, but I had to...well, I can't talk 
about that."  She squirmed a bit.  "As to my husband..."  She sighed.  
"Jonny is dead.  While we launched our attack, he was trying to 
carry out our backup plan and Kali pulled the plug on him."

        "Backup plan?"

        "Questworld, a VR environment he created has some strange 
properties.  I've long theorized it actually projects your mind into 
subspace.  Anyway, one of Kali's minions broke into the Florida 
compound and destroyed Questworld's power supplies.  His mind 
was trapped in Questworld, as far as we could reconstruct, and then 
it killed his body.  That assumes my theory was correct.  If 
Questworld isn't just another dimension, then he probably became 
a vegetable, pure and simple when the power was shut off."  She 
stared at her lunch, a simple ham and cheese sandwich.  "Anyway, 
I spent a long time looking for him, but I couldn't find him.  Even if 
his mind survived in Questworld after his body died, that was a 
thousand years ago."

        "Why don't you just go back and save him from being killed?"  
Arcadia asked.

        "I can't timejump a thousand years under normal conditions 
and Pluto won't take me.  I understand why, although it still 
irritates me.  I miss Jonny, desperately sometimes, but I know he 
wouldn't want me to spend the rest of my life mourning him.  In 
fact, I've started seeing this really nice Juraiian fellow.  But enough 
about me."  She started eating her sandwich.

        Arcadia listened, quietly shoveling away more food than she 
had ever eaten before at one sitting in her life.  Jenni was scarfing 
down burger number five.  I'm so hungry, Arcadia thought.

        "I, on the other hand, got to age normally back to my current 
state,"  Noa said.  "Pluto 'raised' me.  I had all my memories, but my 
body didn't remember things like walking.  You never realize how 
many kinds of things you've turned into reflex actions until you 
forget them all."  She paused and ate some of her soup.  "And as for 
my husband..."  She laughed faintly.  "He always wanted to get even 
with those ghosts for harassing him all the time, making him chase 
down people in retirement homes so they could apologize for things 
that happened fifty years earlier...He died fighting some of Kali's 
minions that had found our base in Tokyo.  Now he's a ghost, 
himself.  Say hello to our guests, dear."

        Noa spoke, but it wasn't her voice.  "Hello to our guests, dear."  
It was a soft male voice.

        Jenni, Ryo, and Hikaru laughed.  Arcadia's skin crawled.  Her 
husband's ghost lives inside her?  Ugh.  She started on another 
sandwich, gobbled it in seconds, then said, "So, to about sum up 
what happened with Kali and the Great Ice is that she kicked your 
butt and you basically got lucky that you beat her at all.  Your 
heavy hitters got their asses handed to them on a plate, the second 
string got stomped, the third string all died or ended up as ghosts 
and whatnot.  Am I right?"

         Noa glared at Arcadia.  Jenni choked on her food and spewed 
crumbs, which would have landed on Ryo, except he had scooted 
over just before this happened.  Hikaru laughed sadly.  "That about 
sums it up.  KALI learned from SHIVA's mistakes, I think.  Indeed, 
if Tenchi hadn't been stronger than KALI realized, I think KALI 
would have succeeded completely, because the Sun-Eater's black 
hole death trick would have killed off our first string entirely."  She 
finished off her sandwich.  "Being a historian, I can tell you that 
while luck is rarely the sole cause of anything, it can often play an 
important role.  Of course, Ryo here would tell you it was all 
destiny, but I disagree.  We make our own destiny."

        The conversation soon degenerated into the sort of argument 
that no one really wins, because everyone is simply making 
assertions that can't really be proven unless you're God, in which 
case you don't need to argue.  Needless to say, God was not one of 
the people taking part.

********************

Earth, Ruins of Crystal Tokyo, SY 1532 (4524 AD, 5276 Years after 
the founding of Rome, Juraiian Year 24688, Federal Year 538)

       Marcus ran down the hallway for the fourth time that night.  
"ARCADIA!"  he shouted.  His mother grabbed him as he passed the 
doorway she stood in.  

       "She's gone, Marcus."  Rita held Marcus in a firm grip.  "Either 
they have her or she's fled the Palace and is hiding somewhere in 
the city."

        The battle was long over.  Most of the Combine's members 
were trying to clean up the mess and collect the corpses that 
remained.  Marcus said, "They...She's not dead, right?  Right?"  He 
was frantic.

       She pulled Marcus into a crushing embrace.  "We would have 
found her corpse.  She wasn't what they were after."

       "But they've been chasing her for...wait, do you think they..."

       "They would have sent an army if they knew what we were up 
to here.  They would have probably used a nuke if they knew."  She 
sighed.  "The survivors won't remember anything they shouldn't.  
What we still don't know is why they thought there was a Time Key 
here."

        Marcus coughed.  "A...Time Key?"  He paled.  "I have a feeling 
we're not going to find Arcadia any time soon."

        Rita frowned.  "What, you found one under a rock and gave it 
to her?"

        "Um...I didn't KNOW it was a Time Key.  It's not like anyone in 
this place has ever seen one."  He thought a moment.  "Well, except 
for..."

       "Actually, the library is full of pictures of them."  Rita said.

       Marcus facefaulted, of course.

*****************

The region of space near the burnt out cinder formerly known as 
Nemesis, SY 1532 (4524 AD, 5276 Years after the founding of 
Rome, Juraiian Year 24688, Federal Year 538)

        The junior Pluto appeared in space, hovering over the charred 
hunk of cold bits of rock which had once been the world known as 
Nemesis.  Her eyes filled with tears as she remembered a world 
that had once been cold and grim, but full of life and hope as well 
as hate and desire for revenge.  Most of its inhabitants had been 
barely sane at best by the time it was destroyed, and it had been 
corrupted by Dark Power to the point where most of them were 
barely human, but she didn't care.  They had deserved better than 
mass murder.  Something could have been done.  Somehow.  The 
only thing that had kept her from killing Serenity XVIII was that 
someone had beaten her to it.  

        Actually, killing would have been a mercy, compared to what 
the junior Pluto had contemplated when she learned of this.  The 
dead feel no pain, but the living can suffer for as long as life lasts.  
Pluto could make you  live a very long time.  

        Her future sight became a haze, blurring and vanishing.  For a 
moment, the younger Pluto thought her own rage was clouding her 
sight.  It had happened before.  

        The black ribbons arcing at her  from what had previously 
been empty space changed her mind.  She flew upwards with a 
thought, dodging the destructive streamers.  Spinning, she 
confronted her assailant.  It was a woman with short, wavy brown 
hair.  She was somewhat attractive, if you liked pouty faces, 
although her brown eyes were quite beautiful.  Her body was 
slender, and she wore the uniform of Sailor Saturn, though the 
Silence Glaive wasn't normally made out of pure darkness.  The 
younger Pluto stared for a moment.  She looks like...if she tells me 
she sold her soul to get Daichi away from me, I'm going to scream.  
And what has she done to my future sight?

        "You have no future to see."  Sailor Saturn grinned.  "Or to be 
more precise, I don't think you really WANT to see your future."

        Pluto frowned.  None of the Sailor Senshi of this time but me 
are up to fighting a menace of this level, although...the mana 
decline should effect Saturn as well.

       "Not really.  The only reason I haven't Silenced the universe is 
that I need the right tools to do so, and you've hidden them away."  
Saturn began to glide closer.  "I will get them from you."

       Pluto said, "Never."  She concentrated to flee.  I need to make a 
plan, she thought.  Nothing happened.  "What..."

       Saturn laughed.  "This was a poor choice of places to confront 
me."

       "I didn't know I would be confronting you.  I was just..."

       "Sloppy.  You're a pretty pathetic successor to the first Pluto.  
Now, would you like to warm up your lungs for screaming, or shall 
we get down to business?"

       "I don't suppose you'd answer one question for me before I get 
slowly tortured?" 

        "No."

       "Hah!  You answered one any way!"

       It wasn't much of a trick, but it was some tiny comfort before 
agony set in.  Very tiny comfort.

*****************

Earth,  Crystal Tokyo, SY 68 (3060 AD, 3811 Years after the 
founding of Rome, Juraiian Year 23224, Federal Year -926)

        Ami and Ambassador Nene of House Hakubi-Masaki stared at 
the tiny key sitting on the table between them.  "I don't suppose 
you've figured out that this thing is actually charged with inverted 
tachyons or something else harmless, have you?"  Ami asked 
hopefully, not really expecting Nene to say yes.

        Nene tossed her red hair about, laughing.  "How would you 
invert a tachyon?"  She turned back to the holographic computer 
screen that hung in the air, then started typing on the holographic 
keyboard construct which linked to her real computer, which 
lurked somewhere in subspace.  

        "I have no clue.  About all my computer will tell me is, 'This is 
pure Evil.  EVIL!  Don't touch it, mother!  It's Evil!'"  She laughed.  
"Other than tossing it into a black hole, I still haven't figured out 
how to destroy it without releasing the evil.  Unless Serenity uses 
the Silver Crystal.  That might work."

       "The Radiant Hawkwings might work too.  You ought to consult 
Libra.  The Zodiac has so much stuff squirreled away in that library 
of theirs..."

      "Yes, but no one can ever find it.  They don't even have a card 
catalog, and I think the books are organized in alphabetical order 
by the first word of the eighth page."  Ami sighed.  "I feel like I'm 
trying to gain wisdom by banging my head against a book until it 
leaks in."

      "I still think we could lock the key away in subspace instead of 
the vault.  Subspace is too big for anyone to find it."

       "Subspace is also full of nasties that could find interesting uses 
for it."  Ami said.   She got up.  "Want to join us for dinner?  Maybe 
we can find out something useful from Arcadia."

       "Sure, I'd love to.  Ryu should be back by now.  I'm sure he'll 
want to come too."

       "I'm surprised he didn't teleport straight to you when he 
arrived,"  Ami said.

       "Perhaps the fact that you warded the vault and all the 
connected rooms against teleportation had something to do with it."

        "That didn't keep him out of my bedroom,"  Ami said, then 
regretted it.

        Nene cocked an eyebrow.  "And when did this happen?"

        "I said bedroom!  Not bed!  Not that Ryo and I always us..."  
She clamped a hand over her mouth.  A tiny voice snickered inside 
her head and she told it to shut up.  As usual, it didn't listen.

****************

        While Arcadia still had a lot of questions about how things had 
gotten from Great Ice to Crystal Tokyo, her morning had been 
enough history for one day for her.  Jenni had to take off, but 
Hikaru stayed with her and Ryo as he took her to an art museum 
and around the city to see various tourist attractions.  She could tell 
that Ryo and Hikaru were old friends, as they bantered back and 
forth.  

       They stopped in front of a monument, a simple black obelisk 
covered with names in a small park.  "What's that?"  Arcadia asked.
Several dozen people were kneeling around it, or searching it for a 
name.  

        "The Liberation War memorial.  It honors all those who fell in 
the war against the Winter Queen and her monsters."  Ryo said.  

         "Every name is recorded there."  Hikaru said quietly.

         "Not too many deaths, eh?"  Arcadia said.  "Can't be more than 
a few thousand names on there."

         "Actually, there's over two hundred thousand names on there.  
The monument identifies anyone who approaches and calls up 
appropriate names from its database.  A mixture of magic and 
technology,"  Hikaru said.  "There's a keypad on the other side if 
you want to find people you're not related to."

        A woman in blue robes approached those around the 
monument and began to declaim loudly.  "Yea, let us remember 
those who fell in service to the holy Serenity and her servants, the 
Senshi.  They are assured a place in paradise."

         Ryo gagged for a moment, then spun around on one heel and 
grabbed Arcadia's arm.  "We're out of here."

        Hikaru laughed.  "What, you don't want her to ask the blessed 
Mercury's consort to give them all a blessing?"

        "Huh?"  Arcadia asked.

        "The First, Second, and Third Churches of the Senshi think the 
Sailor Senshi, their spouses, closest allies, children, etc., are all 
walking gods and goddesses.  Well, to be more precise, the First 
Church thinks we're divine, the Second Church thinks this is the 
Millennial rule of the Saints, and the Third Church thinks...I'm not 
sure they even know what they think."  They hopped in the 
skimmer.  "They're not bad people, but they're utterly lost in space.  
Serenity goes on holovid and explicitly denies any claims to 
divinity at least once a year, but they won't listen.  Heck, Rei is the 
Archbishop of Crystal Tokyo.  She'd probably be Pope if she didn't 
have too many other duties.  But no, the Rei worshipers insist she 
doesn't really mean it when she tells them they're all idiots.  Ditto 
for all the other ones."  He sighed.  "Are they still around in your 
time?"

        "They call themselves Serenity's Children in my time.  My 
parents sort of vaguely raised me in that faith, but I never really 
believed any of it.  I dunno what I really believe.  I used to have 
fluff for brains, and once that cleared up, I didn't have time to 
worry about it."  She looked back at the ranting woman fading in 
the distance.  "I guess Rei would blow up if she knew they named a 
city after 'Saint Rei' in the future too."

        Hikaru laughed.  "I don't suppose I got a city?"

       "I don't think anyone remembers you,"  Arcadia said.  "I really 
shouldn't talk about the future, though."

       "We can't change it, so what would it hurt?"  Ryo said.

       "Don't listen to Ryo.  I've watched him let himself get dunked 
into blue paint because he foresaw it and didn't think anything 
could be done about it."  Hikaru said.  "Being a historian, I'd love to 
know what comes next as well as what came before."

       "You don't want to know what comes next.  It's not pretty.  
History is full of death, destruction, greed, murder, lust, and other 
nasty things."  Arcadia sighed.  "We make the same stupid mistakes 
over and over, a litany of pain and betrayal."  She waved her arms 
about at the city.  "Most of this is rubble in my time.  Only the 
palace is even inhabited."

       "One must risk the thorns to grasp the rose,"  Hikaru said 
quietly.  "History holds hope and joy and love as well as darkness 
and death.  Golden ages as well as declines and falls.  All things 
made by human hands die in the end.  If we expect to prevent that, 
we are fools.  All we can do is make the most of the time we have 
and do our best to make sure we add more joy than pain to the 
balance."

      I wish I could believe that, Arcadia thought.  I used to, but then 
I got a wakeup call.  She stared at the visions of beauty that 
surrounded her and tried to forget their fate.

**************

       Michael frowned at Gabrielle.  "Now we've lost her!  Thanks to 
you."

       "Not really,"  Uriel said.

       "What do you mean, not really?"

       "I put a bug in the skimmer the first time they both left sight 
of it.  They're headed back to the palace."

       "You know, we wouldn't have had to follow them through the 
streets if you had told me that."

       "I felt like a good walk."

       The beatings were about to commence.

*****************

       Dinner was a crowded affair, with Ryu, Nene, Hikaru, Ami, Ryo, 
Ami-chan, Hermes, and Arcadia, all crammed in around the table, 
which looked designed for maybe four people at best.  They made 
do.  "Tomorrow, you'll dine in the Great Hall, Arcadia, as we usually 
do for dinner, but I believe Serenity and Endymion are going out 
somewhere tonight, so you'll meet them tomorrow."

       This scared Arcadia just a bit, though she wouldn't admit it.  
Bits of church services drifted into her mind.  Mother Brown would 
be so jealous, she'd explode, Arcadia thought.  "Okay."

        Dinner was soup, nicely spiced salmon, some cheese sticks, and 
enough rice for a small army, along with orange tea.  "This is really 
good,"  Nene said.  "So, Arcadia, how long will you be visiting 
Crystal Tokyo?"

       Arcadia looked over at Ami, who gave her a thumbs up.  "I 
don't know.  Depends on when Pluto takes me home.  Is it normal 
for her to take this long to...uh...whatever exactly she's doing?"

       Hikaru laughed.  "Pluto will take you home when it suits her.  
Not a moment before or later.  I'd take you myself, but I can't make 
that long of a jump."

        "Why don't you just take a spaceship?"  Ami-chan asked.

        "I'm from the future."

        "Do they have any fun games in the future?"

        Arcadia paused and munched on some salmon.  "Sure.  I'll 
teach you some later."

        "Cool!  Small Lady's gonna be jealous!"  Ami-chan said.  "She 
never gets to meet time travelers."

        Ryu said, "So, got any advice for me when I become emperor, 
Arcadia?"  He grinned at her.  Arcadia had never seen anyone with 
such hugely spikey hair before, although it was a rather subdued 
brown, unlike most spikey hair.

        She thought a moment.  "You'll be Ryu the First, right?"

        He nodded.  "Yep.  Son of Emperor Tenchi and all that, may he 
live forever, blah blah blah."

        Arcadia had only a vague knowledge of Juraiian history.  All 
she knew was that Jurai went to hell in a handbasket, starting 
around 700 SY.  "Do you think you'll be alive in SY 700?"

       "Yeah.  Should be.  I might even be Emperor by then."

       "Is your sister likely to murder you?"

       Ryu paled.  "I...uh...I certainly hope not."

       "I suggest having fewer children so your descendants can't 
squabble over the throne as much.  Other than that, I can't 
remember much."  And you don't want to know what I do 
remember, she thought.  "Oh wait, you didn't marry your sister, did 
you?"

       "She's married to Lord Stingray."  Nene said.  "Better known as 
the biggest..."

       Ryu clamped a hand over her mouth.  "Anyway, Pluto will 
probably come in and thwap me if I pry more.  I hope you're 
enjoying your stay."  He sounded nervous.

        "What happens to me?"  Ami-chan asked.

       "A vicious mob of dustbunnies attacks you tomorrow because 
you didn't clean your room."  Arcadia said.  Most of the people at 
the table laughed.  "Then I shaved you bald and spraypainted your 
head."

        Ami-chan shrieked and jumped over into her mother's lap.  
"Don't let her shave me bald!"

        "I was just teasing.  I won't do that,"  Arcadia said.  "Sirian 
honor."  

        "Oh, okay."

*********************
       
       Arcadia went walking in the garden after dinner.  She wanted 
some solitary time to think about everything she'd seen.  The 
garden was beautiful, full of towering trees, and more kinds of 
flowers than Arcadia had ever actually seen outside of books 
before.  Sirius didn't have very many kinds of flowers, although it 
had several unique breeds of tree.  At least she had thought they 
were unique.  She was shocked to find a Sirian silverleaf 
surrounded by Rigelian Silverspray, a kind of delicate silver flower 
that looked somewhat like violets, located near the heart of the 
garden, which was literally shaped like a heart.  She laughed a little 
at the carpet of reddish grass that formed a perfect heart around a 
white wooden gazebo covered with vines.  A long swinging bench 
sat in the middle of the gazebo, just like the one that she had sat on 
with Tony during her birthday party, just before he died.

       Her eyes misted up, and for a moment, she wanted to run 
away from it, but she steeled herself to approach it.  Grimly, she 
forced herself to sit down on it and swing.  She enjoyed swinging, 
she told herself.  

       Her father had built the gazebo in their backyard in his spare 
time.  While he was a successful investment broker, Arcadia 
suspected he had really wanted to be a carpenter.  Half the 
furniture in their house was handmade from rare woods by her 
father, and she had learned just a little from him, enough to make a 
really tacky picture frame for a birthday present from him, and 
three stools that tended to fall down.  

       She lost herself in remembering him and all the things he had 
made as she slowly swung the bench back and forth.  Unwanted 
memories struggled to surface, but she tried to tamp them down.  
Mary and Andy had died in the gazebo when the Black Moon cult 
had attacked.  They had snuck off to make out and a shot from the 
first vehicle had blown it off the face of the Earth.  Arcadia 
hunched over and plugged her ears, not that this was any good for 
fighting off remembered noises.  

        They also didn't stop real sounds very well.  A voice cut 
through her misery.  It was soft and female.  "What's wrong?  Are 
you okay?"

        Arcadia didn't recognize the voice.  She lifted her head and 
turned around.  "I'm fine," she lied.  

        A girl her own age faced her.  She had pale skin and a slender 
figure, with long blonde hair done up in two balls with trailing 
ponytails, one on each side of her head.  She was wearing a plain 
white blouse with a small red bow pinned with a golden brooch on 
her bosom, and a short blue pleated skirt that went down to her 
knees.  The sleeves were poofy and gathered at mid-arm.  "You 
don't look fine," she said softly, stepping a little bit closer.  "Have 
you been crying?"

       Arcadia wiped the tears from her eyes and decided not to say 
no, since she didn't like to lie blatantly.  "A friend of mine died in a 
gazebo like this."

        The girl finished moving over and placed a hand on the bench.  
"I'm sorry.  You must miss her very much."

        "Mary was my best friend.  We'd known each other since we 
were five."  Her brain tried to barrage her with a 'This was her life' 
pastiche, but she fought it off.  "She died at my sixteenth birthday 
party."  Her voice was flat.  "Along with my boyfriend and several 
dozen of my other friends."

        The girl's eyes misted up, and she looked ready to cry herself.  
"That's horrible,"  she said, her voice trembling.  "What...how did it 
happen?"

        "These maniacs drove skimmers into the party and started 
killing everyone.  They were after me, and I still don't know why, 
really."  Arcadia began to cry again, cursing herself.  It was months 
ago, why am I crying now?  "They chased me halfway across the 
galaxy for months, and then I thought I had finally lost them and 
then they found me again and..."  She couldn't talk because her 
voice was choking up.  

        She looked up and saw the girl was crying too.  Whoever she 
was, she reached over and clasped one of Arcadia's hands with 
hers.  "Are they still after you?  Don't worry.  You're safe here."  
Her voice was shaking almost as much as Arcadia's.  "No one will 
hurt you."

       "I...I'm sorry,"  Arcadia said, looking away, but grateful for the 
hands holding hers.  "I didn't mean to make you cry.  I seem to 
bring trouble wherever I go."

       "Don't be sorry.  This isn't the first time I've cried for someone, 
and if I melted from my own tears, I'd have melted away a long 
time ago."  She laughed a little bit.  "Just cry.  If you hold in your 
pain, it will devour you."

        "I...my name is Arcadia." Shame over crying in front of 
someone she didn't even know warred with a desperate need for 
comfort in her soul.  

        "I'm Usagi.  You have a lovely name, Arcadia.  I bet you like 
trees and gardens a lot."  Her arms moved and wrapped around 
Arcadia, who knelt on the bench, burying her face in the space 
under Usagi's chin.  

        "Y...yes,  I do,"  Arcadia stammered.  "I like to run too," she 
babbled.  "I seem to be doing a lot of that lately..."  Marcus, Makoto, 
Rita...I'm sorry I left you all behind.  I didn't mean to run away, to 
leave you.  Tears took her completely, and she had no idea how 
long she knelt on the bench, hugging a girl she had just met, and 
crying enough to irrigate the Andal desert.  

       By the time she finished, she had turned Usagi's blouse into a 
tear-stained mess, and she felt rather dehydrated.  "I bet you're 
thirsty,"  Usagi said quietly.

       Arcadia laughed a little.  "I feel like I haven't drunk anything 
in months."  Her stomach rumbled.  "I shouldn't be hungry this 
soon!  I've been so hungry since I got here."

       Usagi's stomach rumbled in reply.  "Crying is hard work," she 
said quietly, then giggled.  "Follow me, and we'll raid the 
refrigerator."

       Arcadia got up and smiled.  "Are the defenses very tough?"

      "I'm supposed to be on a diet, so Luna will probably stay there 
all night trying to keep me away from it.  But I think I have a 
clever plan."

        Famous last words, Arcadia thought.

*******************

        Arcadia looked around as she and Usagi ran down the hallway.  
Spotting a spiral staircase with a long handrail going down to the 
next three floors, she handed Usagi one of the bags of food, picked 
her up, put her on the handrail and gave her a push.  "Meet me at 
the library," she said, as Usagi began to spiral downwards, 
shrieking.

        She looked back at the angry black cat chasing them and 
waved the bag in the air.  "Catch me if you can!"  She sped up, 
trying to remember how she had run so fast at the track.

        The cat sped up, transforming into a rather scary looking 
black panther, but Arcadia ran as fast as she could.  Doors slammed 
open and shut as she ran past, blurring through a maze of barely 
remembered hallways.  The black panther, which had an golden 
crescent moon on its forehead, fell behind, finally losing her 
completely.  She found the grav chute she was looking for, and 
jumped into it, drifting down three floors to the level she wanted, 
then pushing off the wall to jump out of it.  

        The Great Library was much as she remembered it, except 
even bigger and better decorated, although the walls were not as 
crowded with salvaged art as in her own time.  At first, she couldn't 
spot Usagi, but then a pair of blond knobs poked out from behind a 
book shelf.  "Did you lose Luna?"

       "Yeah."  She closed the library doors, huge slabs of mahogany 
carved with geometric patterns and the Senshi symbols.  "I wish 
you'd told me your diet enforcer transforms into a panther, though.  
That was kinda scary."

      "Venusian cats shapechange.  Luna tends to forget she has other 
forms, though, unless she gets embarrassed or angry."  Usagi began 
spreading out their loot.  "You did get the donuts, right?"

       "A world without donuts is on the brink of apocalypse,"  
Arcadia said, quoting 'Bimrax Hergen', one of her favorite movies.  
"Yep."  She pulled out a donut and ate the entire thing with one 
bite.  I'm turning into a pig, she thought.  But I'm a happy pig.  She 
laughed.

       "Gimme!  Gimme!"  Usagi said frantically, sticking her face into 
the donut bag.  

       Arcadia laughed and started eating.  "I feel like such a pig.  I 
can't believe I'm eating so much.  I'm gonna gain 2000 pounds and 
look like a gorilla."

       Usagi started scarfing down food as well.  "You've probably 
been using a lot of magic.  One way you can fuel magic is to eat, eat, 
eat.  Your body converts the food into energy and you can use it to 
do magic.  This works especially well if you're just running really 
fast, or becoming super strong, or something else that just lets you 
do something normal at a magical level, like outracing a skimmer 
on foot."  She ate an apple in four bites. "So where are you from?"

       "Umm..."  Arcadia decided to be honest.  "About 1500 years in 
the future."  She ate half a sandwich with one bite.  "Don't ask me 
about the future.  You don't want to know."  There's not a lot of 
room for nice people like you in my future, she thought.  I wish 
there was.

       "Time travel really does wear you out.  I bet everything seems 
very strange to you."  Usagi's voice had dropped from the high 
pitched merriment of before to a more serious tone that was almost 
a little sad.  

       "Yeah.  It's so picture-perfect I could almost gag."  She finished 
her sandwich.  "Okay, that's an overstatement, but it's just like...I 
can't see how it works.  I haven't met anyone who wasn't nice.  
Well, one person did get kinda mad, but I can't blame her.  It's just 
so...It's all...It's this big fairy tale of happy shiny people, and I can't 
see how it turned into the horror story I'm from."  Arcadia stared 
at her food.  "Everyone's so hopeful and cheery and...I feel like the 
evil witch at a princess' christening.  People ask me about the 
future, and all I can tell them is that everything is going to go to 
hell in a handbasket.  That everything they've fought for is going to 
be destroyed.  And then the whole business with the museum and 
all..."

       Usagi chugged some coke, then asked, "Business with the 
museum?"

       "Well, in my own time, all we have are really goofy legends 
about how the Great Ice ended and where it came from.  Basically, 
as far as I can tell, the people running this place screwed up really 
badly, got their ass kicked, and only stopped everything from being 
destroyed by sheer luck.  I mean, if that one guy hadn't insisted on 
going along to try to get his Time Orb back or if the Juraiian 
Emperor hadn't been there to help fight the Sun-Eater or..."  She 
snarfed some chips.  "I mean...you should earn what you get 
through hard work, not just stumble your way into a Golden Age.  
We work our asses off on my homeworld, and we're pretty 
miserable."  She paused.  "Okay, not miserable, but we're not THIS 
well off.  I mean, everyone seems to live like kings here."

        "You're leaving out the Great Ice,"  Usagi said quietly.  "The 
world suffered for nine hundred years.  Dark magic slowly 
poisoned those in suspended animation.  Monsters ate those who 
scrabbled out a desperate living on the surface.  Life was nasty, 
brutish, and short.  They paid in blood, sweat, and tears for what 
we have now.  Magic has its price, but they paid that price for the 
generations to come.  I wish it could have been different.  I wish no 
one had had to suffer."  

       "No one should have to suffer,"  Arcadia said.  "But we do 
anyway."  She drank some coke, then started on an orange.  "Life is 
a haze of pain and misery, and death is our only way out."  She 
sighed.  "I'm not made for a wonderland like this."

       Usagi reached over and squeezed Arcadia's hand.  "I think this 
is exactly what you need.  Life is more than just pain.  If we 
pretend there is no pain, we're fools, but if we pretend joy doesn't 
exist, all we can know is pain.  Your life hasn't been all pain, has 
it?"

        "No.  You're right.  I've had a lot of good times too, but I 
just...The universe isn't fair.  Why did my friends have to die?  I 
was the one they wanted, but my friends died instead.  I'd kill 
myself if it would bring them back."  Arcadia felt the tears coming 
again.

        Usagi squeezed Arcadia's hand again.  "Killing yourself or 
living as if you were dead won't bring them back."

        "I know.  I just..."  She wiped her eyes with her free hand.  
"Every time I'm happy, I expect something bad to happen to ruin 
it."  I will not cry anymore, she told herself.  

        Usagi held her hand tightly.  "Would you like another hug?"

        "Yes,"  Arcadia blurted out.  They hugged silently for a long 
time.  Finally, Arcadia said, "Thank you," quietly.

       Usagi said, "How about if I take you somewhere fun tomorrow?  
I think I know something you'd like."

       "Sure.  Ryo was going to take me back to the Museum for more 
history lessons tomorrow, but we didn't have anything planned for 
the morning."

       She laughed.  "You've got a good tutor.  He usually knows your 
questions before you even ask them."

       "I bet he's hard to play practical jokes on too."

        Usagi nodded.  They stayed up late talking, and Arcadia wasn't 
even sure she dragged herself into the right bed when she finally 
got home.

******************

       Michael sat at the table in their hotel room and tried to read 
'The Book of Truth'.  'And lo, the wrath of the most holy Rei is 
terrible to behold, her anger a fire that consumes all it touches.  For 
she is the Wrath of the Most High made flesh, the avenging angel, 
the one who destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah at his command for 
their sins.  Yet too, she is the Angel of Song, her voice the cool 
breeze of the morning, her light that of the morning star, that 
heralds the coming of day.  And the people listened to the words of 
Imoron, as he spoke the words of the Most High, and they did 
dance and sing, and feast upon...'  Michael put down the book.  
"Damn you for making me read this stupid thing, Gabrielle.  I still 
think this is a stupid plan."

       "Do you have a better one?  All you two have to do is to 
pretend to be lay followers of the cult and spout two or three 
verses and a blessing or two if necessary.  Serenity worshipers 
tour the palace all the time.  No one in their right mind will WANT 
to look at us, and anyone who is in the cult will trust us implicitly."  
Gabrielle put down the robes she was sewing together.  "Now, do 
you want the pattern that indicates you're especially devoted to a 
particular Senshi or the one that indicates you have yet to choose a 
patron?"

       Michael glanced over at Raphaelle, who was busily sewing a 
green robe with gold thread.  "What did you pick?"

       "I'm gonna be a Jupiter worshiper, I think.  We both do 
lightning."  She grinned.  "You should be a Small Lady devotee."

        Michael gagged and only barely resisted the urge to throw up.  
"What I want to know is why what we told Albrecht made him 
decide we have to sneak into the palace and put that," he pointed at 
a reddish gem lying on the table, "in her room.  Especially since he 
wouldn't say what it is."

       Uriel looked up from watching the news on holovid.  "It's a 
jumping gem."

       "A what?"

       "You can use it and the matching gem to bypass teleportation 
barriers.  Basically, the gems are linked through subspace and you 
enter one, go through a tunnel, then come out of the other one.  
Spies use them all the time to get into places that lock up at night.  
You go in as a tourist, drop it somewhere it won't be found, then 
come back later and run wild."  Uriel pointed at the holovid, which 
was showing a star map of the local galactic arm.  "Take a look at 
this."

        The announcer said, "Senshi Mercury announced today that 
preliminary surveys have been completed for the following worlds:  
Winath, Rimbor, Dor, and Calaxis III.  Those interested in 
emigration to these new colonies should apply at their local 
emigration office for a stake in these worlds."  Four worlds lit up on 
the map.  "Also, the Juraiian Empire is seeking colonists for the 
following worlds..."

       Everyone else watched.  "So what?"  Gabrielle asked.  "Who 
cares about these idiots colonizing planets?"

        "We have a base on Winath, although I don't know much 
about it.  Or we DID, anyway.  We'd been mining the system for 
minerals and crystals, I think,"  Uriel said quietly.  "Something must 
have happened to it."

        "Damn them!"  Michael shouted.  "We should send our fleets 
and crush them now before they take over the entire galaxy!  I'm 
surprised they haven't driven us off Nemesis the way we got 
driven off the Earth."

        Gabrielle looked thoughtful, while Raphaelle said, "Once we get 
the Time Key, it won't matter.  She's the key to the Time Key.  
Probably, he'll send us back later to grab her."

        "Yes, indeed she is."  A voice boomed through the room, 
reeking of death and bitterness.  It was a voice they knew too well.

       Everyone fell to their knees.  Raphaelle buried her face in the 
bed and didn't even look up.  Michael said quietly, "Hello, sir.  How 
can we save you?"

        The Wiseman stared at each of them, fondling the orb he 
always carried.  "Ahh, respect.  A rare commodity.  So you want to 
know what you're doing?"

       Michael stared mindlessly for a moment.  How much does he 
know?  "It would...uh...help us plan better."

        "If any of you breathe a syllable of what I am about to say to 
anyone, even the Prince himself, I will ensure that you suffer 
centuries of agony without death.  Do I make myself clear?"

        "Like crystal,"  Uriel said very faintly.

       "Albrecht is a fool who doesn't understand how to do anything 
right.  You will ignore his orders.  Now, this is what is going on and 
what you are going to do..."

******************

Earth,  Angelica's Needle, 2365 AD (Serenity Year -627, 3116 Years 
after the founding of Rome, Juraiian Year 22529, Federal Year -
1619)

        Only one thing preserved human life upon the frozen Earth.  
Two things, actually.  One was a fact, the other a being.  The fact 
was that the Winter Queen was too insane to carry out a methodical 
plan of extermination.  The other was a being, known only as 
'Wiseman', a sage of great power who traveled between the tiny 
settlements clinging to life against the cold, the monsters, and the 
Winter Queen's rages.  

        'Wiseman' was presumed to be male because of his name and 
his voice, but no one really knew for sure.  Indeed, the prophet 
Andros had been burned to death for claiming that 'Wiseman' was 
actually the Winter Queen in disguise, simply playing with the 
Kingdom of Albernia, like a cat plays with a mouse.  Few really 
believed that, and they burned as well, for any community that 
spurned the Wiseman's help was left to wither on the vine before 
the assaults of the Winter Queen, the monsters, or simply the 
vagaries of the weather.  

       And yet, he claimed no reward.  He would accept a meal, but 
that was it.  All he asked in return for his aid was that if he one 
day came for help, that it would be given.  In three hundred years, 
he had never called upon that claim as far as anyone in Albernia 
knew.  Indeed, years might pass without his presence.

       Even so, if you met him once, you could never forget him.  
Thus it was that Nin, who had seen him when she was five, 
recognized him instantly when she looked up from her hoeing.  She 
had no idea how long he might have been watching her.  "Uh..."  She 
dropped to her knees and bowed.  "How can I help you, Wiseman?"

     His voice was terrifying, for it sounded like he was inside some 
sort of vast echoing chamber even when he stood, as now, in an 
open field.  "Take me to Queen Cerise and King Mikal."  

      All over the field, cleared of snow and ice by the power that lay 
within the royal line, peasants fell to their knees and bowed their 
heads to show respect.  Nin gulped.  "Yes, sir."  She turned and 
began walking towards the small town that clustered around the 
Royal Palace.  She had spoken with the royal family before, nearly 
everyone in Albernia had, but she had never sought them, outside 
of days on which court was held.  Indeed, Wiseman needed no one 
to escort him, for none would have challenged his right to enter.  He 
always did this, however.  During his last visit, fifteen years earlier, 
her uncle had been the one chosen to escort him.

       The Royal Palace was a three-story building of stone and dried 
clay, mainly distinguishable by its flag, which was a golden needle, 
and the stone pillar that jutted out of its heart over the roof, 
Angelica's Needle.  It was here than the King and Queen lived, that 
they communed with the great goddess Albernia who watched over 
the kingdom and preserved it from the ice.  Many gods and 
goddesses had died three centuries ago when the Winter Queen 
conquered the world, but their sacrifice had not been in vain, for 
the Winter Queen was cut off from the heavens, severed from most 
of her power.  Those few kingdoms that endured had the protection 
of some patron deity and of the Wiseman.

        The guards recognized Nin, and more importantly, they 
recognized the Wiseman.  There were only two of them anyway.  
Harry stepped out of the way.  "Be welcome in this place, 
Wiseman."  He dragged Andy out of the way, since Andy was too 
busy staring to move.

        The ground floor of the Palace contained the kitchens and 
servant quarters, but the majority of it formed the Great Hall, a 
pillared chamber with the royal thrones on the far side, one on 
each side of Angelica's Needle, the heart of the kingdom.  It was 
named after their first queen, who had saved them all from the 
first onslaught of the Great Ice so long ago.  It also doubled as a 
dining hall, and currently the tables were being laid out as a 
discussion finished at the foot of the throne. 

        The room fell silent as Nin slowly crossed the room, nervously 
pulling on her skirt, which she imagined was starting to slide off.  
The servants stared at Wiseman, though all they could see were his 
pale hands.  All else was hidden inside his voluminous robes.  
Queen Cerise paled and dropped the goblet she was holding.  It 
rang as it struck the ground, but its crystal did not shatter, 
although the ale it held splashed all over the legs of her eldest son, 
Richard.  

        Richard scampered out of the way, and bowed to Wiseman.

        "Queen Cerise.  King Mikal. I come bearing good news."  
Wiseman said, his voice echoing as none other did in the hall.

        Nin heard virtually everyone in the room, including herself, 
give a sigh of relief.  

        "First, the army your scouts have spotted massing to the North 
will not come.  The wandering people slew its leader, Duke Thorn, 
and it has broken up."  The wandering people were a race of curly 
haired, short men and women, darker skinned than the people of 
Albernia, who knew secrets that enabled them to survive in the icy 
wastelands ruled over by the Winter Queen's monsters.  While they 
sometimes visited Albernia to trade, they never stayed anywhere 
for long.  They had been both friends and enemies of the kingdom 
at different times, but Queen Cerise's mother had formed a compact 
with them that still kept the peace.

        "More importantly, I have had a vision of the future."  His 
voice altered subtly.  While he still sounded like he was in an echo 
chamber, it was no longer stern, but pleased.  "The Great Ice will 
not endure forever.  One day, a boy will be born of your line with a 
silver crescent moon upon his brow.  It will be his destiny to marry 
the woman who bears the yellow crescent moon, for she will be the 
Queen of Summer, and he the king, and their union will heal this 
world.  They will be the ones who cast down the Winter Queen and 
end the Great Ice.  Watch for that boy, for when he is born, you will 
know that a new age of joy is at hand."  He turned and began to 
walk away.

         The Queen's eyes lit up, and the King looked pleased as well.  
Nin quietly stepped out of the way.  Richard said, "Stay with us a 
while.  Surely, you must grow weary of constant traveling."

        He turned around slowly.  "I cannot rest.  Long ago, I made a 
mistake and helped to destroy all I held dear.  I failed those who 
were depending on me.  I cannot rest until one day, the Winter 
Queen falls, and my penance is complete."  His voice was sad.  "I 
pray that day come soon.  While I still can...It must come soon.  It 
must."

        He turned and walked silently, out of the building, out of the 
town, out of the kingdom.  It would be long before they saw him 
again.