Secrets
Chapter 16 - Sleep

    Shingo trudged through the snow, shivering. There were much fewer people out today, so he was making fresh tracks through the virgin snow. It was coming down even harder now. And they said it was going to get a lot worse.
    He walked up to the house. He saw that his mother had given up sweeping the walk. A broom wasn't much use against half a meter of snow. You would need a shovel. There were places on earth where they did have shovels to move snow. But Tokyo wasn't one of those places. At least not until the last three days.
    As soon as he opened the door, he heard the footsteps. His mother walked briskly into the hallway. She smiled. "Welcome home, Shingo."
    He could see it in her eyes. The disappointment that it hadn't been
*her* at the door. So there had been no news. They hadn't heard from her. He still asked. "Were there any calls?"
    "The phones are still out. They say it's the ice on the lines."
    "There's a whole section of Juban with the power out. It's pitch dark there, I had to take the longer way home."
    "They must have closed the school really early then."
    "Not even half the people were in homeroom, so they just cancelled the whole day. I'm sure they'll close permanently, especially if the snow is getting worse."
    "Well, you look frozen. Go into the living room and I'll make you some hot chocolate."
    "Thanks Mom." He hung up his coat and went into the living room. "Hi Dad."
    "Hi Shoji." His dad hadn't even bothered going to work today. The highways were paralyzed and most of the trains weren't running, he would have had no hope of getting to the office.
    Naturally he was watching CNN. Shoji sat down. "Anything new?"
    "They found the wreckage of that Space Shuttle that was caught in orbit. Somewhere in California. They figure the crew tried to de-orbit on their own and something went wrong."
    "They would have run out of air today," Shingo said.
    His mother brought hot drinks for them. They were all wearing sweaters and they had the space heaters on. Like most Tokyo homes, this one just wasn't built for the sort of temperatures they were getting.
    "I managed to find a telephone booth that was working when I went shopping today," his mother said. "But I was only able to reach the Aino house. They still haven't heard from Minako."
    None of Usagi's friends had been heard from. Not since the darkness had descended. Their parents had all been calling each other regularly, hoping for news. That is, until the phones started going down.
    "Did you call Hotaru's school again today?" his father asked.
    "Yeah. They still haven't seen her." He had also left daily messages on the answering machine at her home. Begging her to call.
    His mother sighed. "I'm still certain they all went off to a hot springs without telling us. That would be so like Usagi. Now they're probably snowed in up in the mountains. They'll probably be there until this cold spell ends." She had been trying to convince herself of that for the past three days. It was sounding less and less convincing all the time. Both the part about Usagi being at a hot springs, and the part about the cold spell ever ending.
    They kept watching the news. Reception was spotty, and there were many intervals of dead air. With all the satellite links down, the networks were virtually paralyzed. They still managed to get some pictures in though. Lots of pictures of snow falling on palm trees, that was a favourite one. But they were all dancing around the simple fact that nobody had a clue what was going on. Naturally the millennial doom cults were having a field day. But now they had good company. There were also all sorts of pictures of droves of people in shrines and temples and churches and mosques and synagogues, all asking the same question, all asking why.
    The doorbell rang. "I'll get it," his mother said. Shingo's heart picked up when he heard the door opening. Somebody who had the key. He watched his mother walk into the hallway. He saw it on her face before she even said it. "Usagi!"
    Shingo was on his feet in a moment, running for the hall. His mother was already squeezing the life out of Usagi, scolding her in an increasingly tearful voice. But Shingo hardly noticed that. "Hotaru-chan ..."
    "Shingo-kun!" Unlike Usagi, Hotaru had been given time to remove her boots. She stepped up from the entranceway and ran into his arms. He was about to ask her where she had been when she smothered him with a kiss that went on forever. Then she just crushed him to her, as tight as she could. He no longer cared where she had been, he just held her. He became aware of his surroundings again. Mother had let go of Usagi long enough for her to take off her boots and go hug their father. When Hotaru finally let him go it was Usagi's turn. She held him then stepped back to look into his face. Seeing her close up it was obvious that something was different. She seemed so ... he searched for the word. So serene.
    "Onesama, where the hell have you been?"
    Her smile was warm and comforting. "Shingo, there are some things we need to tell you."

    *****

    The hummer pulled up to where Minako was waiting. Smith grinned at her. "Hi Minako. You haven't got much snow on you so I guess you weren't waiting long."
    "Just a couple of minutes," she said. She was happy it was somebody she knew coming to pick her up. She climbed in beside him, removed her fur hood and mittens. "I'm sure glad you lent us this arctic wear."
    "It's thirty below now," Smith said. "You wouldn't want to be standing out there without it." Smith sent the hummer ploughing through the snow. Even with its enormous tires it was slow going in places. Had it been a couple of days later they probably would have had to pick her up in a snowmobile. In some of the northerly cities, that was the only viable means of transportation already.
    "So how did it go?" Smith asked.
    "It went good."
    "We were getting worried, you didn't call until the last minute."
    "They really didn't want me to leave."
    Smith grinned. "Even after you've saved the world, you'll still be their little girl. When you wake them up five hundred years from now the first thing they're going to ask you is whether you've been eating properly."
    She giggled. "You know, I can picture that." They had bought the part about her being Sailor V and Sailor Venus. Mom and Dad had always suspected she had some sort of weird part-time job she wasn't telling them about. They had just been afraid it was something that would ... well, something that would take advantage of her exotic beauty. It was the part about the suspended animation that had been difficult, she couldn't explain it all nearly as well as Ami could. Dad had wanted to know how his bond portfolio would be doing five hundred years from now. At any rate, they had promised her not to leave Tokyo for any reason.
    There was virtually no traffic. The city was essentially paralyzed now. They drove through sections of the city where the power was down and it was pitch black. City crews were out all over the place trying to keep up with the damage, but it was a losing battle. It was just a good thing their destination could be seen from such a distance, Smith had no trouble zeroing in on it.
    He stopped the car at the base of the tower. "I guess you'll be a lot older and wiser the next time I see you," he said.
    "Yeah. Maybe I'll get some respect then."
    His expression sobered. "Minako?"
    "Yes?"
    "When you're done, don't count the dead. Count the living."
    She smiled. "Thanks, Smith-san."
    "By the way, my real name is Zwierciadlowski."
    She winced. "Ouch."
    "Best of luck to you."
    "Take care." The guards admitted her into the tower. Officially it was closed to the public now. But the Director had made special arrangements. They seemed to be pretty much occupying the place now. The Suit in charge escorted her to the elevator. There she got another surprise. "Saori! Is this really in your job description?"
    She smiled. "Well, at least they didn't tell me to dress up as an elevator doll." She closed the door and the elevator started going up. "The Director called again ten minutes ago. You're the last one, they were getting worried."
    "Zero-hour is still almost an hour away."
    "Mister Brown doesn't like leaving things to chance." They emerged from the tower base. The windows were half frosted, but they still provided a panoramic view of the city. Even through the driving snow, she could see that much of the city was in blackness. The heroic attempts to keep the utilities running were slowly being overwhelmed by the worsening weather. The infrastructure that supplied people with the necessities of life was breaking down. People were starting to die by the hundreds.
    The time had finally come.
    "Are you staying here at ground one?" Minako asked.
    "That's ground zero. Yes, I am."
    Which was a mixed blessing. Theoretically this was the best place on earth to be right now. But Ami had warned that there might be some unexpected side-effects right at the epicentre. Well, they had a better chance than the ones that were still out guarding the Palace. Even by the most optimistic estimates, the effect would come nowhere near there. She wondered how many of the troops there understood what was going to be happening today.
    The elevator came to a stop and the door opened. It was another parting where Minako wasn't sure what to say. What do you say to somebody you won't see in centuries? "Be seeing you."
    "Be seeing you."
    Minako walked onto the observation deck of Tokyo Tower. The glowing crystals they had brought from the Palace were keeping it warm. Which meant the windows were almost completely frosted over. All of the Sailor Senshi were there, sitting in big cushy chairs that had been brought up here for them. They had all transformed. Minako did likewise.
    Serenity walked over to her and took her hands. "You told them?"
    "Yes."
    "And?"
    Venus smiled. "You and Rei were right. It was the proudest moment of my life."
    "That's what everybody's been saying."
    It had been their compromise with the Director, who was deathly afraid of leaks. They could each tell their immediate family. Those with no immediate family could tell one friend or significant other. Over some heated objections from the others, Serenity had agreed to comply with his request. But Minako knew that Serenity was the one most suffering under this restriction. There was one special person she probably ached to tell what was going on. Minako had encouraged her to cheat. Hopefully she had.
    "Sorry I'm late. I stayed at the cathedral for a while before getting them to drive me to my folks' place." They had all at least dropped by there in the past couple of days, to say goodbye to Luna and Artemis. For Minako that had been a parting just as painful as that with her parents. The centuries would weigh more heavily without her beloved friend and mentor. He had muttered about being put on ice again like 'some damned popsicle.' But the cats were probably not as long-lived as the Senshi. It was for the best.
    "Actually, you're just on time," Serenity said. "In just a few minutes we'll be starting the exercises Rei has been teaching us."
    While Mercury had been doing a lot of calculations and preparations, the rest of them had been doing a lot of meditating under Rei's direction. They would have to lend Serenity their power as they never had before. They had to make sure everybody was in the best possible shape to do that.
    Minako took her seat. "Serenity, are you really going ahead with that message you wanted to send out?"
    She smiled. "Yes. I've been practicing until I can send it out without even thinking, just by using the Ginzuishou. Even Pluto is happy with the idea now."
    "I didn't say I was happy," Pluto said. "I said I don't think it can do any harm. We're not even sure if it will do what you intend."
    "Shall we begin?" Mars asked.
    Serenity nodded. "Okay. Tell us what you want us to do."
    Minako wanted to ask everybody how their own meetings with their families had gone, she had only heard from Usagi and Hotaru. But there would be time for that later. There would be plenty of time for that later.

    *****

    "It looks like half the city is out now," Umino said, looking out through the little spot of the window he was keeping clear with occasional wipes of his hand. "I hardly see any lights at all."
    "Umino, come to bed," Naru said. "You'll freeze over there."
    "In a minute. I'm still trying to figure out what's going on around Tokyo Tower. The whole tower is lit up now, it's like they've got floodlights on it."
    "Well, if they've got power to spare for that, why can't they spare some for us?" If it wasn't for the kerosene lamp Umino had the presence of mind to get on the first day of the darkness, they would have nothing but their flashlight now.
    "It's not lack of power, it's distribution," Umino said. "The ice is still bringing down all the power lines."
    Naru sighed. She reached over to the postcard sitting on the nighttable next to her, scooted up in bed and read it again. It was definitely her handwriting, as terrible as ever.
Naru-chan:
I'm sorry I haven't been able to come and talk with you the past few days. A lot has been happening, and I've been very busy. But please don't worry, we'll meet again soon and everything will be fine. Tell Umino and your mother to just stay home and wait. I'll be coming to see you soon.
Your friend, Usagi

    She realized how spaced out she had been when she suddenly saw Umino sitting on the bed beside her. He smiled at her. "I'm sure she'll be okay. She's never failed before, right?"
    She returned his smile. "Right."
    "Should we put out the light?"
    "Could you just put it down real low? I don't like to be in pitch dark."
    He looked like he wanted to lecture about conserving kerosene, but he just nodded. He reached out and turned the knob to lower the wick until the lamp was just barely lit. Then he climbed under the quilt with her. She snuggled up to him. "I wish I'd asked mom to be here. She's all alone. And there are looters."
    "The looters are after food, not jewellery," Umino said.
    He was right. And to be fair, there really wasn't a lot of that going on. A couple of days ago, before the power outages started getting really serious, the Prime Minister had addressed the nation. He had finally admitted that they had no idea what was happening, nor any power to stop it. He encouraged everybody to do what they could to weather the storm, to hold on to the hope that it would pass. They would do everything they could to survive, the would not go gently into the long night. But if this truly was the end and go they must, then they would go with dignity and grace.
    It would be overstating the case to say that his speech had galvanized the nation. But there now seemed to be a bit more resolve to either endure the storm until it lifted or to face the end bravely. There was just a little less panic, a little less frantic raving about God's retribution. But there were still many people who felt that this was punishment. Punishment for having unleashed a horror on themselves, and for having stood by and let it kill a fifth of their numbers.
    Naru didn't buy it. This was just another of the monsters that Sailor Moon would fight and defeat.
    "Naru-chan," Umino said. "Is it getting lighter?"
    "What?" She turned her head to look over at the window. She thought she was imagining it, but the frost on the window did seem to be faintly backlit now. "Maybe the power's back in the next block." Even as she said it, she didn't believe it. This was something different. She gasped, abruptly sat up in bed. "Umino, do you think it's over?"
    "It's a moonless night," he said. "Even if the blackness went away, the sky would still be dark."
    "I want to go look." She threw back the quilt, shivering at the cold air that bit even through her warmest pyjamas. She was just about to slip her feet into the fluffy bunny slippers when it began. She crawled quickly across the bed and they wrapped their arms around each other. "Umino, what is it?"
    Wisps of sparkling silver mist were descending on them, like they were falling straight through the ceiling. She couldn't tear her eyes from it. In her mind there was a battle between mortal dread and awe over the beautiful, unearthly spectacle.
    An image like a mirage began to form within the mist. "Usagi ..." she breathed.
    It was her, and it was not. It was somebody as different from Sailor Moon as she was different from Usagi. She had white robes and wings and a beatific smile just like an angel. Her lips did not move, and there was no sound, but Naru heard it nonetheless, heard a single word spoken to her.
    *Sleep.*
    All the tension washed out of her. She melted into Umino's arms and let the shower of silvery mist envelop her. She was no longer afraid. A pleasant drowsiness came over her, and she surrendered to it. Just before she closed her eyes, her vision of their room seemed to blur and break up into segments, like she was looking at it through a beautiful clear crystal.
    "Good night, Umino," she murmured.

    *****

    Hotaru woke up thinking surely some great weight was lying on top of her. She couldn't move, her limbs felt like they were being held down by lead weights. She opened her eyes to find there was nothing over her but the ceiling of the observation deck. Tentatively, she tried lifting a hand again. It came up a bit, then dropped back down like a magnet had snatched it.
    There was movement. Mercury walked towards her and crouched down over her. Her sad, worried eyes were covered by her translucent blue visor. Little blinking lights played all over the visor. Some of the worry left her eyes and she smiled. "Don't try to move for a while yet. You're very weak."
    Hotaru opened her mouth to ask the question, but all that came out was a squeak.
    "Just relax, Hotaru. It's over. We did it. Everybody will be fine."
    Her mind eased somewhat, Hotaru was content to just obey doctor's orders for a while. Over a period of minutes, some of her strength returned. When she was ready, Mercury helped her sit up and take some water. She looked around to see Serenity and the other Senshi lying on the floor around her, more or less where they had been when Hotaru had finally blacked out. Mercury had left them where they dropped, just positioned them to be more comfortable.
    "How long?" Hotaru finally managed to ask.
    "We lasted for two hours seventeen minutes. I woke up after fourteen hours. That was three hours ago."
    Had it really gone on for just over two hours? That was longer than they had hoped for, which was good. But it had seemed like an eternity of agony. "So you passed out too."
    "Yes. I was hoping I wouldn't, since I was just providing the form of the magic, the rest of you were providing the power. We were lucky, nobody needed medical attention."
    "So they'll all wake up soon?"
    "Serenity may be out for a day or more. It was a near thing, her life signs were just barely stable when I woke up. She went on long after the rest of you had passed out. She and I must have collapsed around the same time."
    "That's sad," Hotaru said. "You'll be putting Endymion in cold sleep pretty soon, these are the last days they'll have together for a long time. Do you think there's some way you could wake her up sooner?"
    "I'd like to, believe me. But that wouldn't be a good idea. After what we've all been through, we need to let our natural healing processes run their course."
    "I guess you're right. Did you call Endymion?"
    "Yes, I told him everybody's fine. He said the Order is pulling out from around the Palace."
    "I wonder where they're going?"
    "The Director never said," Mercury said. She smiled, pointing down. "And we won't be able to ask him for a very long time."
    Hotaru knew they had already talked about this, but she had to ask. "Mercury, if we did it on a smaller scale, could we-"
    "No," Mercury said flatly. "It will be weeks before we could even think to attempt this again. By then it would be too late."
    Hotaru felt like she could get up now. Her legs were more or less steady. "My Glaive ..."
    "I saw it disappear when you passed out," Mercury said. "Same as Pluto's Garnet Rod. Neither of you should try using them anytime soon, you'd probably just black out again."
    Hotaru walked over to Pluto and knelt beside her. She put her hand just over Pluto's forehead, almost touching the jewel held there by her tiara. She probed lightly with her healing touch. "She's having nightmares."
    "Her sleep has been very agitated. Same as Mars."
    It was a while before Hotaru spoke. "It's not over between them, is it?"
    Mercury walked over and crouched down next to her. She withdrew her visor, making her eyes look that much sadder. "Hotaru, sometimes Rei says things she doesn't mean."
    "Ami ... I don't know what to think. I can't hate either of them."
    Mercury sighed. "Neither can I." She smiled, reached out and lightly stroked Hotaru's hair. "It's something they'll have to sort out between them, we'll just have to trust them." She stood up and held out her hand. "Come on, I want to show you something."
    They walked over to the elevator. The doors were standing open. "I had to open them by brute force," Mercury said.
    That was when Hotaru noticed. "The power's out." The crystals they had brought from the Palace were providing the only illumination. To her Senshi eyes they far outdazzled the electric lights, Hotaru had hardly noticed that the latter were missing.
    "It was out when I woke up. All the people who were working to maintain the power grid are now in cold sleep." She led Hotaru over to the elevator.
    Saori was lying on the ground encased in crystal.
    "Why didn't she go back down to the ground level?" Hotaru asked.
    "I advised her to. If there were any negative side effects, they would be strongest up here. I'm not sure why she didn't. Maybe it's a gift to us. She knew we wouldn't have the strength to leave this room for a long time, to check on them. Maybe she wanted to give us positive assurance that we succeeded. Come look." She pulled out her palmtop computer and entered the elevator, crouching in front of Saori. Hotaru did likewise. Saori looked very peaceful.
    Something was coming up on Mercury's computer. "She's alive. And the crystals are perfectly formed. They'll preserve her for as long as she needs."
    "Then ... they're all okay." Hotaru said.
    "Yes. And look here." She tapped something and a map of Tokyo came up. It looked like a radar image. "The white is where the crystals spread."
    They had been looking at maps over the past few days, so the waterline around Tokyo Bay was very familiar to Hotaru now. The white practically filled the screen.
    "That's a lot more than what we thought," Hotaru said softly.
    "Yes. We did well." Ami folded her computer closed. "I'll want to examine a sample close up, but it's looking very good." She sounds just like a doctor, Hotaru thought. A doctor making another diagnosis.
    Hotaru took her hands. "Ami, you did it." She just gave Hotaru a puzzled frown. She still didn't get it. "You're a miracle worker. If not for you we would have had no hope at all. You should feel proud."
    Mercury smiled, but he sad eyes did not brighten. "Maybe it will sink in a little later. Right now I just feel kind of numb."
    Hotaru wanted so much for Ami to feel the joy and pride she deserved. She tried to take a guess at what was bothering her. "Ami, are you worried about Ryou?"
    She shook her head. "No, I'm sure he's safely asleep like the rest."
    "Did you tell him what's going on?"
    "No, I only told my mother, as I agreed. But you know, he didn't even ask. Maybe his intuition told him that he would be okay."
    "I think he just trusted you."
    Ami's smile looked a little brighter now. "Serenity told me that you and she spent the whole night at her mother's place."
    Hotaru felt a flush coming to her cheeks. "Yes."
    "Shingo must be very proud of you."
    Her blush deepened. "We ... talked, and we're kind of engaged now."
    Mercury chuckled lightly. "That's very clever of you." Hotaru frowned in puzzlement. "Marrying into the royal family, I mean."
    They both laughed as they had not in a long time. It felt wonderful.

    *****

    "I think we're lost," Makoto said.
    "No we're not," Minako insisted. "We just need to go lower."
    "We have got to be three klicks underground," Makoto said. "How much lower can it go?"
    "Oh look!" Minako said brightly. "There's a down ramp! What did I tell you?"
    Makoto sighed. "I guess you won't be satisfied until we hit magma."
    "Don't you mean lava?" Minako asked.
    "Magma is ... yeah, I mean lava." Makoto put her hand against the ramp entrance and concentrated. A mark appeared on the door showing the direction they'd come from. They'd learned that trick a while ago. She followed Minako down the ramp. It went down a fair ways. "Just remember, we have to come back *up* here, Minako. We took the elevators down as far as they would go."
    "I think I see the bottom already."
    She was right. This time the ramp did not lead to another maze of corridors, but just one narrow corridor leading straight ahead. This was starting to look more interesting. There was a double door at the end of the corridor. "Want to take bets on whether this is it?" Minako asked.
    "Pass."
    Minako gestured for the doors to open, giving it rather more flourish than what was required. They swung out. Even before they had finished opening, Makoto could see that she had been right. Minako was all smiles. "Good thing you didn't take that bet."
    They walked into the high-ceiling round room. Each of the twelve segments in the wall held a steep pointed lancet arch like the one they had come through. There was a triangular column embedded in the wall between each wall segment, going from the polished floor to the pointed dome ceiling far overhead.
    In the middle of the room was a dais like a truncated cone, a meter high and five meters across. In the middle of it was a brightly glowing spire like a little obelisk, three meters high. It was exactly like the room Endymion had showed them a hologram of in the thirtieth century. Except in the hologram the four Inner Senshi were gathered around the obelisk, faced outward with joined hands. They were providing the power needed to protect the palace in the absence of Serenity and her Ginzuishou.
    Makoto's jaw dropped down as Minako took a running high jump to the top of the dais. "Hey!"
    Minako turned around, sending her white dress swirling. "What?"
    "That could be dangerous. I mean, this is like the engine room or something."
    "Well, Serenity said there's no power source. The saved up energy is already fading."
    It was true. The corridors were already getting dimmer. Serenity said they would eventually fade to a very dull glow, just like most of the garden would be in virtual darkness.
    "The Palace needs both the Ginzuishou and the manna of Earth to awaken its full power," Minako said while walking over to the obelisk to get a closer look. "That's what Serenity said. It was supposed to symbolize the alliance between the Moon Kingdom and the Golden Kingdom."
    And the Earth would provide no power until the Null Field started to fade. That wouldn't be for centuries. Makoto was still trying to get her head around that. They would be in here for a dozen lifetimes.
    "You know what this means, don't you?" Minako said, waking back to the edge of the dais.
    Makoto wasn't quite sure what she was referring to. "What do you mean?"
    Minako jumped back down to the ground. Makoto made sure she was in a position to catch her if she stumbled. The floor here was smoother than elsewhere, and none of them had gotten all their strength and coordination back yet. But Minako landed gracefully. "It means this really is the Palace we saw in the thirtieth century. This is the room we'll be in a thousand years from now when our former selves come to fight the Black Moon clan."
    Makoto took a few moments to let that sink in. She hadn't been giving any thought to the thirtieth century recently. "Pluto keeps telling us that's not a definite thing," Makoto said.
    "Think about what Endymion told us when we went into the future," Minako said. "The world will go into a cold sleep for a thousand years. Then Neo-Queen Serenity will awaken the world and rule it from a crystal palace somewhere near Tokyo."
    Having it spoon-fed to her like this, it was making a lot more sense. "Gods, Minako, it could all still happen. Nemesis, Black Lady, everything."
    "It's being set up just like he told us. Like it's all been planned."
    Minako's grim expression completed the thought without words. Makoto shook her heads slowly. "No, I can't believe it. Pluto couldn't do it."
    Minako's expression softened. "No, I don't believe it either. The point is, there's somebody else who might believe it."
    Makoto didn't even to say it. "I don't think Rei and Setsuna have even spoken since we teleported back here from Tokyo Tower."
    "I've talked to the others. Nobody but Hotaru and Serenity have really seen her. She's been staying in her room."
    "She was hit harder than most of us," Makoto said. She had been unconscious even longer than Serenity, and the teleport back here had nearly knocked her out again. Serenity had confided to Makoto she suspected Pluto had done some sort of temporal thing to help them, make time run slower around Tokyo Tower so that the crystals could spread further, or something. "She's still resting."
    "Or maybe she's trying to give Rei time to cool off."
    "Well, Rei's been looking ... okay."
    "You're right, she's under control. But she's smarter than me, Mako- chan. She's probably thought of the same things I have. Only she might not believe that it just happened this way."
    Makoto saw what Minako was getting at. She didn't want to even think it, but she forced herself to evaluate her friend honestly. Yes, she could see it happening. She could see Rei doing that. "Maybe we should talk to Serenity."
    Minako sighed. "I already have. She just said they need to sort it out by themselves."
    "That could mean one of them will be killed."
    "I don't think she believes that. It's like she has a ... a blind spot where Rei's concerned."
    "What do you think we should do?"
    "I really can't think of anything. Maybe Serenity's right and it'll just work out. Hell, maybe we're wrong and Pluto really did plan it all. I just don't know what to think."
    Makoto could see that she was getting upset. "Minako, are you really afraid that something's going to happen?"
    "Yeah. Makoto, I've made a lot of bad decisions lately, mostly because I didn't think things through properly. I'm trying to change that. I just don't want to mess up again."
    "Well, as far as I'm concerned, you've already done the right thing," Makoto said. "If you told Serenity what you told me, then you did exactly what a second in command is supposed to do. She's dealing with it in her way. If it was up to me I'd just march up to Rei and ask her whether she intends to harm Setsuna, just because that's the way I do things. If I were in charge that's exactly what I'd do. I don't know if it's the right answer. Maybe Serenity is just as unsure, I don't know. But I trust her."
    Minako managed a weak smile. "So do I."
    Makoto thought this place might be souring Minako's mood, it had bad associations. "Come on, why don't we go find the others and tell them about the exploring we've been doing? They're probably all wondering what's happened to us."
    They retraced their steps, and got to an elevator that took them straight up to the garden. But they got off a couple of levels below it. It was easier now that Mercury had started marking things. She had found a way to link her computer directly into the Palace. A combination of Serenity's sketchy knowledge and her own ingenuity was allowing her to control their environment somewhat. Like coaxing some real living quarters to grow out of the bare rooms they had found here. They had picked a cluster of them here under garden, so now everybody was sleeping on comfy beds again. It had just recently occurred to Makoto that they would be on a vegetarian diet for a very long time. As well as the fruit the garden had a variety of root vegetables and other things they were just starting to discover. Serenity had assured her that enough of the garden would escape dormancy, more than enough to sustain them.
    Near their quarters Mercury had conjured what could best be described as a common room. Makoto had actually watched some of it happen, Mercury touching a few keys on her computer and suddenly having furniture grow out of the floor and walls like living things. This one was just a round sunken conversation pit, a circular couch with a notch cut out of it, like a crescent moon.
    Ami, Haruka and Michiru were sitting together there. They returned Minako's cheerful greeting, but not very enthusiastically. Minako caught on to it pretty quickly too. "Hey, is something wrong?"
    "Endymion had trouble waking up today," Michiru said. "Serenity had to use the Ginzuishou to revive him."
    "Oh no!" Minako walked down into the crescent and stood before them. "I thought he had a few more days at least."
    "He does," Ami said. "But without a boost from the Ginzuishou he would barely be coherent even when awake. And Serenity can't keep doing that, it's too risky for him."
    "Where are they?" Makoto asked.
    When Ami hesitated, Michiru spoke. "They've chosen a room for him to lie in suspended animation."
    Minako gasped, her hands shot to her mouth. "Ami, you didn't ...?"
    "No," Ami said. "She's with him right now. When he's asleep, she will come tell me. Then I'll do it."
    So that was why Makoto had the impression they were sitting waiting for something. Makoto sat down. "That's awful, it coming so suddenly. We didn't even get a chance to say goodbye."
    "From his point of view it isn't goodbye," Haruka said. "As far as he's concerned, he's going to wake up tomorrow morning and we'll still be here."
    Except we'll be centuries old, Makoto thought. "How is she taking it?" And if anybody says 'with serenity' I'll kill them.
    "I think she's prepared herself for this day," Michiru said. "But however much she knows that they will meet again it still has to feel like losing him."
    "How long have you been waiting here?" Minako asked.
    "A few hours," Ami said. She smiled a bit. "Haruka and Michiru just stumbled upon me a while ago and asked why I looked so depressed."
    So she had waited here by herself without telling anybody. Makoto felt bad about having been out wandering around, but she still wanted to scold Ami. She still seemed to see not wanting to be alone as a weakness. "Do the others know?"
    "Serenity told Rei," Ami said. "Hotaru was with her." Makoto didn't need to ask where they were. This had to be very hard on Rei, she would be alone somewhere. And Hotaru would be with Setsuna, the one she usually went to when she was upset.
    "Ami, you should have called us instead of just waiting here by yourself," Minako said. It sounded like she felt the same way Makoto did.
    "It's okay. I was collating the data K'Theelm sent us."
    Minako looked up to heaven and gave an exasperated sigh. "Ami, you'll have centuries to do that."
    "It might take centuries to fully understand the phenomenon," Ami said. "Who knows, I may even be able to come up with a way to speed up its decay."
    "Well, just don't get obsessed by it."
    "Obsession is not necessarily a bad thing," Haruka said. "We have Ami's obsession with millennial doom prophecy to thank for saving humanity."
    Ami's face fell. "Well, one in one thousand of humanity anyway."
    "Ami," Minako said sternly. She continued more gently. "Remember what I told you. The living, not the dead."
    Ami smiled. "I know."
    "So what have you two been up to?" Haruka said.
    Minako smiled. "We found some cool places." Makoto let her sit down and tell everybody about it. They had found that the Palace visible above the ground was like the tip of an iceberg. Either that, or the Palace had sunk very deep roots into the earth. Most of the open spaces were still above ground. It would have been easy to get lost, there were thousands upon thousands of open areas of all sizes. The largest were the windowed ones, the garden and the ziggurat. The latter had a palace within a palace sitting on top of it when they had seen it in the thirtieth century. Right now its top was just a vast open space, the very space Saturn had first found Neo-Queen Serenity. They had also found something that they couldn't decide whether to call a lake or a reservoir. As Makoto expected, that really perked Ami and Michiru's interest.
    The talk died down when Neo-Queen Serenity entered the room. They all stood up, knowing what this must mean. She smiled at them, then walked up to the edge of the crescent pit and looked down at Ami. "He's asleep."
    Ami took a couple of steps closer. "Serenity, are you sure?"
    "Yes. We both agreed it's best to do it now."
    "I understand." Without another word, Ami left the room.
    "I'm sorry everyone," Serenity said. "I'm not going to be very good company right now. I'll be in my rooms for a while."
    "Serenity, are you sure you won't stay for a while?" Minako implored.
    She smiled warmly. "Thank you but no. I'm a bit tired. I'll try to make it for dinner." They had already gotten into the habit of eating dinner together in the garden. It helped anchor a daily routine in a world with no day and night.
    "I hope she's not keeping this bottled up for our benefit," Haruka said with barely suppressed frustration. "We know how she must feel, she doesn't need to hide it from us."
    "She's just a lot stronger now," Michiru said. "She probably thinks it's because of what her mother gave her, but I think it has more to do with herself."
    Makoto had her own idea about why Serenity was taking this so calmly. But she didn't say anything.

    *****

    Everybody was gathered in the garden for dinner. The edges of the garden far away were already starting to fall under darkness. The area under the light from above would be getting smaller and smaller. It was more or less a picnic, or at least that was what Minako would call it. Makoto was having fun with her new toy, a makeshift barbecue using crystals that generated heat somehow. Some of these roots had a flavour and texture that if you used your imagination was like some sort of meat. Serenity hadn't been able to tell Makoto the names of any of the fruits or vegetables that grew here, so they were starting to try and decide what to name things. Minako hoped the result wasn't an indication of how hard it would be to come to a consensus when they were all advising Neo-Queen Serenity, ruler of earth. Well, it wasn't like they were in a hurry.
    Minako was happy to see that Setsuna was finally showing her face now. She looked a lot better than when she had virtually disappeared. They were all pretty much recovered from their ordeal at Tokyo Tower. But Ami, Hotaru and Rei had been examining them all daily and still said it would be days at least before they had fully recovered their abilities as Sailor Senshi. Not that it mattered, there was not a soul in the world to worry them now. Well, almost. She knew that Setsuna had been monitoring the airwaves with sensors that Ami and Serenity had helped her coax from the structure of the Palace and set up on top of the central spire. "Did you hear anything from that American ship today?" she asked Setsuna.
    "No," Setsuna said. "I suspect they've moved south. The ice must be getting treacherous even at this latitude now."
    "Do you think they might have spotted the Palace?" Makoto said.
    "I doubt it," Setsuna said. "I think they lost an aircraft trying to do a sortie over land yesterday. The winds are getting very treacherous, and with the snow they can't spot anything unless they're close to the ground."
    "I guess we can assume the Palace doesn't show up on radar," Haruka said. "Otherwise it would be pretty hard to miss."
    "I'm surprised they didn't come snooping around sooner," Rei said. "After all, it must have been obvious that the Null Field originated from somewhere in central Japan."
    "I suspect that was the Director's doing," Setsuna said. "He probably got the government to forbid any sorties, so the Americans held back until they were desperate enough not to care what the JSDF might do. Now the weather is driving them away."
    "It's too bad we can't tell them not to bother," Hotaru said. "Those poor men should be home with their families."
    "Hopefully that's where they'll be headed soon," Setsuna said. "Though they don't have much time. The temperatures are dropping even more rapidly now."
    "I finished those calculations," Ami said. "The temperature is going to more or less stabilize about a month from now. It'll be about minus ninety celsius. We'll actually be seeing carbon dioxide snow before then."
    "What will that look like?" Serenity asked. Minako was almost surprised to hear her speak, she had been very quiet today.
    "Like regular snow, I think." Ami said.
    "Not something you'd want to try and make a snowball out of though," Haruka said.
    Minako smiled. Somehow or other, they were all getting used to it.
*It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine.*
    "I thought it would at least be another colour," Serenity said. "That would have been worth waiting for."
    "You won't have to wait very long," Ami said. "A couple of weeks or so."
    "No, I don't think so."
    Minako frowned. "What do you mean?"
    Serenity put down the crystal glass she had been drinking fruit juice from. She sat up and folder her hands in her lap. "Everyone, I've been thinking about something and I've come to a decision. Ami, tomorrow I want you to put me into cold sleep."
    Everyone was stunned to silence. It took a while for Minako to realize what she meant. She meant permanently.
    "Serenity," Rei said in a tremulous voice. "Why?"
    Serenity took just a moment to compose her thoughts. "I'm sorry, I really feel like I'm abandoning you all. You're my dear sisters and I love you more than I can say. If it were my own fate alone I was deciding, I would be overjoyed to spend a thousand years with you all. But I have to think of my husband as well. Endymion will be waking up a very long time from now. I want him to awaken to the wife he knew. Not to a stranger who has not seen him in centuries."
    Nobody spoke for a long while. Minako could see her own feelings reflected in everyone's faces, something like grief. To live without Usagi ...
    "I can't."
    Rei was controlling her trembles, and her voice was more or less steady. "Serenity, I couldn't live without you for even one lifetime. If you're going into cold sleep, I have to go with you."
    "I understand," Serenity said. "I thought you would say that."
    "Serenity, you must have known we would all feel the same way," Makoto said. "We've been kidding ourselves, we're not going to be spending hundreds of years huddling in a glass tower in the middle of an ice field. We'll all go into cold sleep."
    "We can't do that."
    They all looked to Setsuna. "It's Ami's modification to her own powers that allows the cold sleep. When she is the last one left, there will be nobody to put her into suspended animation. We would be condemning her to centuries spent alone. It would be unthinkable."
    "Oh God ..." Rei choked. "Ami, I didn't even think ..."
    "Rei," Ami said, quickly moving over and taking Rei's hand. "Calm down. It's okay." She turned to face Setsuna, she looked angry. "You didn't need to upset everybody like that. You should have asked me first. And I'm surprised you didn't think of the solution yourself."
    Setsuna frowned. "What solution?"
    Ami sighed. "The area effect version of the spell. I don't need the Ginzuishou for it, I can do it on a small scale myself. And I've already told you that the spell dissolves at anything over forty degrees celsius."
    The penny dropped and Setsuna let out a groan. "I'm sorry Ami, I could kick myself."
    "What is she talking about?" Rei asked.
    Ami caressed her hand. "It's simple. I shoot it straight up and it comes back down on me. And I set up a heat emitting crystal hooked to a timer."
    "Ami, wouldn't you do those two things in the other order?"
    They all stared at Serenity for a couple of seconds. Then everybody laughed, either hysterically or indulgently, Minako included. She didn't think it was that funny, but she hadn't realized just how the centuries to come had been looming over her like a curse. Now they seemed as light as a feather, just a bridge to be crossed with another of Ami's miracles.
    "I guess we're decided, then," Serenity said.
    They were feeling so much better they decided to all go skinny dipping in the reservoir thing Minako had found. Nobody seemed to buy that it should be called Lake Aino by right of discovery, but that was okay.

    *****

    Only Setsuna knew it as a prayer tower. Compared to other wonders of the Palace it was unremarkable, a slim eight-sided tower rising twenty meters into the air, capped by a stylized castle. From just appearances it was notable more for its position than its form. It stood in the middle of an open space at the very top of the central spire, covered by the clear crystal pyramid that capped the spire. Setsuna had been coming here each day since they had discovered the place and she had realized what it was. Over the centuries she had paid homage to the spirit world in a hundred different ways, said prayers in a hundred different languages. But never had she thought to find a prayer tower fashioned after the one beside which she had sought communion with the Ancient Ones so many times in her youth.
    She knelt before the tower once again, as she had so long ago. But the sins she sought forgiveness for now were beyond anything that young woman in the Moon Kingdom could imagine. A dubious present erased to make way for what could be an equally dubious future.
    She came silently, Setsuna was not aware of her presence until she was quite near. But she was making no attempt to hide her presence. She came up close on Setsuna's left side and stood there.
    Setsuna did not look up at her. "I thought you might seek me out here."
    As she spoke, her voice became increasingly bitter. "You've really sewn it up nice and neat, haven't you? All in one fell swoop you've handed the world to her. You've eliminated all possible opposition and you've given her a palace to rule from. You even managed to arrange loyal subjects. Their last image upon falling asleep was her, and they will awaken to a world of her making. They will all worship her as a goddess whether she wants it or not. And all you had to do was wipe out five billion people."
    Setsuna looked up. Rei had a sword thrust through the belt of her robe, and the hilt of a dagger protruded from the front of the robe. Takada's blades. "Are you willing to hear the truth?"
    "Are you willing to speak it?"
    "Before the tower I can do nothing else."
    "Then speak."
    Setsuna faced the tower again. "Ten thousand years ago I was inducted into the order of the Guardians of Time. I found out that what they guarded was not time but a tear in time. How this tear came to be nobody knew, but in time they were able to fashion it into the Gate of Time and move through it. The Gate allowed generations of Guardians to see what they understood to be a variety of different futures for this world. Most of what we saw in those futures we had no way of understanding. But through long study, we were able to identify three futures whose probability seemed strong and whose history we could trace and understand.
    "The first was the Moon Kingdom triumphant, ruled by a great and terrible queen. She had eliminated even the possibility of pain and death from her realm. It was a horror beyond imagining. It was a world of soulless people who could not die, who would repeat the same meaningless acts until the end of time.
    "The second was a new kingdom that would arise ten thousand years after the fall of the Moon Kingdom. It was a kingdom of engineers who would move worlds and build new ones of their own design. Its dominion over nature was complete. But in all the worlds it created, there was not a single being that was even remotely human.
    "The third was a kingdom to arise a thousand years after the fall of the embryonic kingdom of engineers. Its main legacy would be from the Moon Kingdom, but it would also draw from the world of the engineers. It was ruled over by a queen whose rage against those who would hurt the innocent was terrible to behold, but whose capacity for mercy seemed infinite."
    Rei waited just long enough to be sure that Setsuna was done. "Are you telling me that you also engineered the fall of the Moon Kingdom?"
    "We allowed it to happen."
    "Had it never occurred to you to share your knowledge? Had it never occurred to you to tell Queen Serenity of the direction her kingdom was in danger of going? Had it never occurred to you that she might be willing and able to do something about it?"
    "We saw no future in which that was possible."
    "Of course you didn't!" Rei exploded. "It wasn't possible because you never tried to make it possible!"
    "That is the contradiction of the Gate of Time," Setsuna said. "We can only see the future built by those who have not seen it. That is why those who saw the Gate were kept few, and they sought out points where small interventions could push the world towards a new path. A path set by those who did not see its true destination."
    "You know what the Gate of Time really is?" Rei asked. "It's an Oracle. It's just like the fire I used in a temple. It gives me glimpses and I act on them. But it doesn't give me carte blanche. I can't just go kill someone because I saw a vision of him killing two other people. I can only punish people for what they've already done."
    "And is that what you are here to do?"
    "What do you think would be a suitable punishment for the willful murder of five billion people? Oh, excuse me, four billion. I forgot, one billion of them were already dead. And most of the rest were probably as good as dead anyway, there was bound to be a nuclear war or something. I guess we won't count them either."
    "Rei, you don't need to tell me what I've done. We both know that I've brought us to this point and I would do the same again. I can think of nobody with better right to judge me than you. Tell me what you would have me do."
    The dagger clattered to the floor in front of her.
    Setsuna understood immediately. It occurred to her that her posture of prayer was the same as somebody in the ancient past of Rei's country would take for ritual suicide. Setsuna looked up to Rei in disbelief. She gestured towards the tower. "Here ....?"
    Rei unsheathed her sword. "Here. Now."
    She looked at the dagger for a long while. Strangely enough, she felt no fear. Her life ... no, her many lives had never been her own. Her existence had always been a means towards and end. Now that end was all but assured. Perhaps this is what would seal it. Briefly, her thoughts went out to Hotaru, the only one who would truly mourn her passing. But her pain would be brief as compared to the joy waiting for her in the beautiful new world they would help their queen make.
    "Very well." She unsheathed the dagger and took the hilt firmly in both hands. She raised it slowly to her throat.
    "No. That's not what it's for." Setsuna shuddered. She had been almost in a trance, pushing herself through the screaming survival instincts that had been striving to bar her. She looked up at her executioner. Rei pointed. "Your hair is in my way."
    It took a few seconds for her hands to become steady again. She gathered her long hair behind her, and pulled the dagger through it. The sharp blade cut easily, and the hair spilled on the floor around her. She sheathed the dagger, set it down and folded her hands in front of her.
    She heard the sword being sheathed again. Rei walked in front of her, bent down and picked up the dagger. She stepped back and placed it back into the front of her robe. Setsuna looked up into her cold eyes. "Rei, is it your intention to mock me?" There was no bitterness in her voice, just disappointment.
    "It was my intention to convince myself that you are willing to take responsibility for what you've brought about."
    "And have I convinced you?"
    She ignored the question. "Right now Ami is drawing up her master plan for how we're going to get through the next five hundred years or a thousand years or however long it takes this Null Field to disappear. She's got all sorts of automated timers and such planned to wake her up every hundred years so that she can check up on things. It's all very clever but the fact is there are a thousand things that could go wrong. Never mind that she's working with magic and technology she barely understands. There's also the things we can't plan for. We've found remnants of old enemies holed up underground before. There could be more. There's a whole galaxy of planets out there, we could get unfriendly visitors. The Null Field could suddenly do something different. The Palace could suddenly do something we didn't anticipate. The simple fact is, we'll all be lying in here unconscious and helpless."
    Setsuna had already figured out where this was leading. "You want me to watch over everybody."
    "Now tell me whether you think you can do it."
    "I will do it."
    After a few seconds, Rei bowed. "I apologize for intruding on your prayers." She turned to go.
    "Rei?" She stopped and looked back at Setsuna. "I have every intention of carrying out your wish. But Serenity has already told us that even in its semi-dormant state the Palace has means of sensing danger and protecting us. It will be child's play for Ami to tap into those mechanisms and have us woken up at the first sign of danger. You truly believe that I deserve to die and you have no reason to spare my life."
    "Are you asking me why? It's very simple. Sometime in the future the two most wonderful people in the world will have a beautiful pink-haired daughter. One day she will count you among her dearest friends. That's reason enough.
    "But the fact is, Serenity would weep for you. And I wouldn't make her cry for anything." She turned and walked away.
    Setsuna sat and thought about the long road ahead. So her life would be a means towards an end once again. That was nothing new.

    *****

    Usagi had wrestled ghosts before. She had been deluged with them on the day she had woken to her former life, woken to the memories of Princess Serenity. So it was familiar territory she tread on now. It was more intense this time, the ghosts could bubble to the surface at any moment. They were not individuals that she could identify, but rather just impressions of all the people who had touched her mother Queen Serenity, all the people who had helped make her what she was. They hovered like her conscience, convening in committee and gently pushing her in the right direction. Words had come to her unbidden, and she had taken action with no conscious thought.
    But she was fully aware of the process now. She still did not completely understand the ghosts and the rules by which they worked. But she could judge their words when they spoke, decide to make them her own words, or not. For the most part they guided her true. But they were harsh in judgement, where she was not. They would have her rule by decree, where she would win trust through compassion. They could guide her, but they would not rule her.
    From the top of the vast ziggurat she looked out into the utter blackness around her, master of the Palace and all that surrounded it, keeper of the Earth and its future. She took in a breath and spoke the words in a soft but clear voice.
    "I am Tsukino Usagi."
    Her last and greatest battle finally done, it was time to join her husband. With a thought, she opened the portal in the floor which she had not known to be there the first time she had been on this spot. She stepped over it and was instantly overcome by a feeling of weightlessness. She floated down. A corridor and another elevator took her to the place she must visit first. The rooms they had thought to live in for the next thousand years and beyond. Now only one of them would be occupied. She came to that one and bid the crystal doors to make the gentle chiming noise Ami had taught them to do. She had to smile. The sound would not have been out of place as a doorbell of somebody's home, it seemed so out of place here.
    The doors opened and Setsuna bid her to enter. "You're on your way now, Serenity?"
    "Yes."
    "Pleasant dreams."
    Serenity took her hand. "Setsuna, are you really sure about this?"
    "My queen, we've already talked about this at length. I am the one best suited to the task. I've spent longer times alone in the void. I have long since built defenses against the madness that could bring." She smiled. "I promise you, I'll be the same person I am now when you awaken."
    "I'm glad. I would miss you." She reached up and ran her hand lightly once through Setsuna's short hair, which was now styled something like the way Uranus wore hers. "I hope you'll let this grow back. It looks fine on Haruka, but somehow it's just not you."
    They both laughed. "I daresay I'll have more than enough time to grow it back."
    Serenity leaned forward and kissed her. "Promise me that if you get lonely you'll wake me."
    "I promise."
    She had resolved not to say goodbye to any of them. "See you later."
    "See you later."
    She walked over to the next set of rooms where she had asked her other friend to wait. She had thought it best this way, that they be separate. They had resolved what was between them, and Serenity knew that what had happened to change Setsuna's appearance and change her fate was part of that. She could see it would take a while for the bad feelings to resolve themselves, she would have her work cut out for her in the future. But Rei trusted Setsuna now, trusted her to watch over them. That was something Serenity could work with and nurture. Rei had asked to be the last, the last save Ami of course, to directly follow Serenity. Ami had encased the others over the past couple of days. Now it was their turn.
    Rei answered her call immediately, like she had been hovering around the door. "Hi Rei-chan."
    "Hi. Ready to go?"
    "Yes." Serenity walked in and they joined hands. "I wish you would tell me what's bothering you."
    Rei smiled weakly. "I'm not sure why I'm making such a big deal about this. Ami keeps telling us it will seem just like waking up tomorrow morning. I guess it just seems unnatural somehow. Like I'm cheating time. It's silly, I'm the one who asked to do this."
    Serenity stroked her cheek. "It's not silly. I'm nervous too. I'm thinking about how the world will have changed when I wake up. And about all the work that I'll have to do. To fix what's been done." She could see that had struck a chord. "I'm not sure where I'll even begin, but with everybody's help I know we can do it."
    Rei seemed to know that she had failed to hide her anxiety. "Minako keeps telling us to count the living. I think that's good advice. But I can't stop thinking of the dead. We'll be ... I'm sorry, but to me it's going to look like a world of corpses and lost souls."
    Serenity didn't want her friend to be going into her long sleep in this state. She decided to play her trump card. "Rei, I want to share a secret with you. It's something I've only told Endymion, but I'm sure he'd like you to know too." She took Rei's hand, guided it to her abdomen and pressed it there. She winked. The look of astonishment on Rei's face showed that she understood the meaning. "It's her. I'm not sure how, but I know that it's her. It's the real reason I'm going into cold sleep. I know she must grow up in a lonely world, but she deserves to at least have her father with her."
    "Usagi-chan ..." Rei reached out and hugged her tightly. They stood like that for some time. When Serenity looked in her eyes again, she saw the joy and hope she had been praying to see.
    "I think Ami-chan knows too, but she hasn't said anything. She's getting more and more devious, I think Minako has been a bad influence on her." She cradled Rei's face and kissed her. "Rei, let the new life growing in me give you hope."
    Rei nodded, her eyes misty. "It has. Thank you."
    Serenity stepped back and waved casually. "See you soon."
    "Baka."
    Serenity moved to her final stopping point before heading to the place where it would happen. The doors to Ami's apartment opened. "Sorry to keep you waiting, Ami-chan."
    Ami stepped out into the corridor. "Are you ready?"
    "Yes."

    *****

    Pluto stood in the vast entrance hall. She wasn't sure what had drawn her here today. The excuse she was using was that the sensors Ami had helped her set up had been giving intermittent alarms for the past hour. They were little blips of energy near the Palace, but nothing that showed up for more than a second. Ami had warned her that she would have to gradually adjust their sensitivity, learn the right levels that would tune out the background noise. Not that there was likely to be anything turning up at the door. As Ami had predicted, the temperature was starting to stabilize already. Carbon dioxide snow had been fluttering down over the past few days. By now she and the plants in the garden were the only living things on the surface of the planet. Only creatures deep in the ocean that took their warmth from the earth and not the sun would still be clinging to life.
    Well, that was not quite true. She knew of others who had their own dark citadels to retreat into. Others who had magic both old and new that would sustain them through the centuries of darkness. Others waiting for the return of the light.
    The state of the Palace had stabilized as well. A few of the key rooms like this one were more brightly lit, but most of the rooms and corridors glowed with just enough light to see by. As Serenity had predicted, just the centre of the garden remained alive under a narrow beam of warm light cast from the crystal ceiling far above. The spaces in which she would be spending the next few centuries were few indeed.
    She would not be idle. There was much yet to be learned about the Palace. Ami had showed her how to use her marvellous computer, and how Serenity had helped her link it to the Palace. Setsuna had promised to wake her if she needed help or wanted to consult with her. But she doubted she would be doing that. Certainly Ami was better suited for this sort of research, but Setsuna was by no means helpless. In its current state there was little the Palace could actually do save provide her with the necessities of life. But they had already uncovered tantalizing pieces of great treasure troves of knowledge hidden in Palace, a legacy from the Silver Millennium. Ami had tasked her to try and find anything she could about the Null Field. She rather doubted there would be anything. Classified information, as it were.
    Setsuna walked along the huge double doors, still marvelling at how the Palace shrugged off the deep freeze that surrounded it. Even the windows that faced the outside were warm to the touch, and no snow, the water variety or otherwise, clung to it. Looking from above she had seen that even the plaza in front was clear. She touched the door, which was also warm. Another gift from the people who had tamed the torrid days and freezing nights of the moon.
    There was a knock at the door.
    Behind the shock that nearly stopped her heart came despair. *No, I couldn't be going mad already.*
    It came again, the thick crystal door ringing like a great bell, the sound barely audible but deep and unmistakable. She willed the computer into existence and opened it with trembling hands. She called up the front sensors. One person. Some low-level magical energy. It hadn't triggered an alarm because it hadn't been considered a threat. Magic? That wasn't possible, not under the Null Field. Only the Senshi who were linked to other celestial bodies could draw on their powers.
    From the beginning they had agreed that much as it pained them they would have to turn away any seeking sanctuary in the Palace. It could only sustain a handful of people in its current state, and anyone brought in would be condemned to grow old and die in a prison surrounded by darkness. Thankfully, nobody had come. Until now.
    She couldn't bear it. She had to find out.
    Setsuna transformed into Pluto and brandished the Garnet Rod. She gestured for the doors to open. They swung in. There wasn't nearly as much mist as she had thought there would be. Somehow the Palace was keeping the frigid air at bay.
    A figure came in between the partially opened doors, shrouded in the mist. Pluto willed the doors to shut behind it. The mist cleared. Pluto lowered the Garnet Rod from the defensive position she had been holding, too stunned for words.
    Daniel smiled. "Thanks. It's a bit nippy out there, even with the heat spell."
    Almost without thought Pluto phased her talisman out of sight. "Daniel ... I thought you had been in Tokyo."
    "I was," Daniel said. "It's embarrassing, I'd even forgotten about that ward spell Serenity put on me. It's a bit weak these days, it took this long to break through Mercury's crystal."
    Pluto shook her head. "It's snowing carbon dioxide outside. You should be dead."
    "I nearly was," Daniel said. "Barely had time to get the heat spell up."
    Then it came to her. "Your magic. You draw power from the moon."
    "Serenity taught me the trick. I can't draw more than a trickle, but it was enough."
    "Daniel ..." she approached him and they embraced. "Thank goodness." She stepped back. "You're freezing!"
    "A heat spell only does so much. But I can still feel my toes, so I guess that's good."
    "You walked all the way here. You must be exhausted."
    "Well, I could do with something to drink if you've got it to spare."
    "Of course, let's go to the garden." She took his arm and they started to walk.
    "Are the others in cold sleep?" Daniel asked.
    "Yes, days ago. How did you know?"
    "They're young. The thought of centuries in this place would terrify them."
    Setsuna chuckled. "Are you saying it wouldn't terrify you?"
    "No, I think it will be fun."
    The meaning registered. Setsuna stopped walking and looked into his face. "Daniel, you don't have to worry about that. I can easily reawaken Mercury and have her put you in cold sleep. I may have to wake up Mars and get her advice, but I'm sure we can find some way around the ward."
    "No, that won't be necessary. I'd rather stick around and keep you company."
    She shook her head. "Daniel, no. I can't let you-"
    He raised his finger, brought it near her lips. "Setsuna, this is going to be a very long relationship. Let's not start it with an argument."
    It shocked her, finding how badly she wanted what he was offering. "Daniel, it could be centuries."
    "So much the better." His glib manner had vanished.
    As if on a hidden signal, they moved together. The kiss was one that had been waiting for ten thousand years. It lasted an appropriate length of time. When it finally ended they just stood there and held each other.
    "Setsuna?" he said softly.
    "Yes?"
    "What the hell did you do to your hair?"
The End
Postscript

    As in my previous stories, I did not decide on a title until after I had outlined the story (I tend to start with fairly detailed outlines, and I rarely make any major deviations from them). It simply occurred to me that events were being driven by a set of people who all had very deep secrets of one sort or another.
    Yes, the Order is essentially a cross between the 'men in black' of urban legend and the Dark Guard of Supernatural Beast City.
    The bit about Rei's tattoo was inspired by a painting by Naoko Takeuchi. It is a group shot of all the Senshi in black evening gowns. Rei's scandalously low neckline reveals the tiny tattoo.
    Yes, in another reality, the young boy Akira could have become *that* Akira.
    The ending was inspired by what is probably the shortest horror story on record, which I can quote verbatim: *The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock at the door...* I couldn't resist.
Note: this story also contains one character created by S.M. Stirling as noted below. I didn't want to mention this in the preface because I wanted his 'cameo' appearance to be a surprise :-)
Dramatis Personae
Note: Japanese names are given family names first, for no other reason than that reversing them ruins the 'pun names' that Takeuchi-sensei gave the Sailor Senshi :-)

The Sailor Senshi
Tsukino Usagi - Sailor Moon
Mizuno Ami - Sailor Mercury
Aino Minako - Sailor Venus
Hino Rei - Sailor Mars
Kino Makoto - Sailor Jupiter
Tomoe Hotaru - Sailot Saturn
Tenou Haruka - Sailor Uranus
Kaiou Michiru - Sailor Neptune
Meiou Setsuna - Sailor Pluto

Other characters taken from Bishojou Senshi Sailor Moon
Chiba Mamoru - Tuxedo Mask/Endymion
Oosaka Naru - Usagi's childhood friend
Umino Gurio - Naru's boyfriend
Urawa Ryou - Ami's boyfriend
Nagashima Saori - Mamoru's former classmate (She appeared in the fourth season of the TV series. I made up the family name, as far as I know it was never revealed).
Kenji - Usagi's father
Ikuko - Usagi's mother
Shingo - Usagi's brother
Queen Serenity - mother of Princess Serenity, Usagi's former incarnation
Rei's grandfather (as far as I know we never find out his name)

The Ancients
Himiko - the Matriarch
Kaori - Himiko's granddaughter, head of a large household near Tokyo
Shoji - Kaori's son
Yui - Shoji's girlfriend
Akechi - Shoji's friend
Hitomi - Yui's friend
Megumi - Kaori's sister
Akira - Megumi's son
Aiko - Himiko's most gifted precognitive

The Order
Note: These are all assumed names. Their real names are classified :-)
Takada Hitoshi - acting director of the recently formed Tokyo office
Allen Smith - agent from the New York office
John Brown - director of the Hidden branch
Noriko - Takada's assistant
Lafarge - agent from the New York office (character from S.M Stirling's novel 'Drakon')
Ichiro Hori - Buddhist priest

The Refugees
Jeneth (assumed name: Jennifer Constantine) - the healer
Thetan (assumed name: Thom Russell) - the monk
K'Theelm (assumed name: Tony Harth) - the engineer

Other characters of my own making
Cyrus (latest assumed name: Daniel Churchland) - the immortal
Miho - shrine maiden

    One might suspect from all the background I've set up in this story that I plan on creating a "fanfic universe" for lack of a better term, a framework within which to place further stories. To be honest, I have no idea whether I plan to write any more stories in this series. Time will tell. I hope everyone has enjoyed what I've written so far. If you've read up to the end of this sixteen chapter (whew!) monstrosity, I guess it must have at least kept your interest. My warmest thanks to all those who wrote to me about my previous stories.
    Best regards to all my fellow Sailor Moon fans

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Ken Wolfe Ken_Wolfe@mbnet.mb.ca