On Thu, 27 Nov 1997, Chris Davies wrote:

On Wed, 26 Nov 1997, Ranma Al'Thor wrote:


Opening Shot:  The earth slowly revolves, revealing a shining sun.  On the
earth, we can see a city which looks vaguely like a pentacle.  Silence
ensues.

SHEILA:  Hey!  Isn't someone going to say something?

Arcadia:  Something.
 

M. SHEILA:  Start the film rolling.

SHEILA:  What, no battle cry --

Arcadia:  What kind of weird holoprojector requires a battle cry?

Ami-chan:  [Ami's five year old daughter]  It's like the clapper, but with
your voice.

Arcadia: ...
 

         It was quite simple, really.  The mana level was rising.  
Ever since the event in 2034 that was still referred to simply as 
The Miracle, the level of magic in the world had begun to rise 
sharply.  Ancient arts which had long yielded no results had 
begun to flourish once more.  By the mid 2050s, most 
universities had established departments of magic, following 
the lead of Tokyo University, which had established its 
department, the first in the world, in 2043 AD.  

SHEILA:  Now this *is* interesting ... "The Miracle" is probably the
conclusion of "Dance of Shiva", but this was a spin off that wasn't
discussed in the epilogue.

Arcadia:  Our historical records are so garbled, I don't have a clue.

Ami-chan:  Yes.  Uncle Waldo was saving it for this.

Arcadia:  You call Biles Uncle Waldo?

Ami-chan:  He gets lost enough.

       What had hampered understanding of the process was the 
failure to understand that the revival of magical energies had 
begun BEFORE the miracle.  The Sailor Senshi were the key.  
Most people believed that the Senshi had been a myth before 
the Miracle and that the energies released had actually created 
them from raw belief, the same way in which such entitites as 
'ŒJohn Bull',' ŒUncle Sam'', ŒJustice', a'nd ŒBr'er Rabbit' were 
now sometimes encountered in the material world.  

M. HIROE:  There's --

HIROE:  -- an --

M. HIROE: -- extra --

HIROE: -- single --

M. HIROE:  -- quote --

HIROE: -- there.

Arcadia:  We had serious problems with converting this bloody thing to
Ascii.  Writing at home increases Biles' output a lot, but converting it
to ASCII is proving to be a major pain in the butt.

Ami-chan:  Mommy's gonna ground you if you keep up the bad language!

Arcadia:  She's not my mommy!
 

        A combination of detective work and magic, however, 
had uncovered enough proof for Henry J. Wise to conclude 
that the Senshi had in fact been real, which meant that the 
magical energies had not simply begun with a bang, but that 
they had been rising for longer than anyone thought.  

RITSUKO:  Hm.  Evidently magic follows a cyclical pattern in the "Dance"
ficton, which makes sense given its references to cycles of creation and
destruction.

M. RITSUKO:  <nods>

Ami-chan:  I see you've been reading Mommy's journal articles!  And Uncle
Tomoe's too!

Without the orb, he would have had to 
spend days gathering this much power, but with the time orb, 
it was easy.  Too easy, he thought.  There were rumors, 
rumors of creatures who hunted those who tampered with time 
too much.  He didn't want to learn the truth of the rumors.  

HIROE:  Hounds of Tindalos?

M. HIROE: Langoliers?

Ami-chan:  The boogyman who lives in the clock.

Arcadia:  I hope I don't qualify as tampering with time.

Ami-chan:  Auntie Plato doesn't like people tampering with time either.
 

        "This is a MAGICAL experiment.  You can't just do 
magic anywhere you want.  Even with your Time Orb, you'd 
have a lot harder time doing what you've done," she pointed 
around at the still seemingly 'slowed' world, "outside of a 
major ley line nexus point.  That's why Tokyo, Rome, 
Boston, Canton, Lhasa and New Dehli are magical research 
centers, while places like New York or London are not.  They 
could do the simpler stuff anywhere, but for what they've got 
planned next..." She shuddered.  "It could only be done in a 
handful of powerful nexi, thank the heavens."

RITSUKO:  Hmph.  Ley lines.  That theory was exploded --

M. RITSUKO:  And reintegrated thirty four years from now, when the process
to *build* them was finally rediscovered.  The principles used are different
from what Mr. Biles seems to be describing, however.

Arcadia:  Leylines are not constructible.  They fluctuate naturally.

Ami-chan:  Sort of.

Arcadia:  Sort of?

Ami-chan:  Well, if you have a big enough shovel, you can dig anything.

Arcadia:  Has Pluto been babysitting you again?

Ami-chan:  Yep.
 

RITSUKO:  <beat> Oh.

        The voice echoed in their heads.  It sounded almost 
artificial, like a demonic speak and spell.  I WILL SCOURGE 
THIS WORLD.  YOU CANNOT STOP ME.

RYOUKO:  Ah, it's KALI, the SHIVA backup, then.

Ami-chan:  She's scary!

Arcadia:  Kali...There's a planet named Kali.

Ami-chan:  I'm not going there.

 

         Arcadia had grown up rich, but she hadn't grown up in 
an ivory tower.  Even on Sirius, a rather wealthy world, you 
hadn't had to go very far from her neighborhood to find 
poverty and hunger.  She had studied history, and it was a 
trail of backstabbings and betrayals, murder, hatred and death.  
It didn't matter if you studied the history of the now collapsed 
Solar or Juraiian empires or the history of her homeland, the 
Federal League.  Lust, wealth, and power were what  drove 
human history.  It made her sick.

SHEILA:  Cynical, innit she?

Arcadia:  Let's see you sing 'A spoonful of sugar' after your sweet
sixteen turns into a bloodbath!  I didn't get to grow up surrounded by
Sailor Barney and friends like you!  I haven't seen YOU flee halfway
across the Galaxy dodging assassination attempts!  I haven't seen you...

Ami-chan:  You've never seen her before, big sister. [hugs Arcadia's legs]

Arcadia:  [mumbles]  I'm not your sister.  

 > M. SHEILA:  Relax.  It's a Biles story.  She'll learn
better. > 

Arcadia:  Hey! I don't NEED improvement!

        She tossed her head, and long shoulder-length purple 
hair whipped about.

SHEILA:  Oooooh ...

Arcadia:  Yes, I am a babe, even if my hair marks me for death.

Ami-chan:  I wanna have hair just like that when you grow up!  Uh, when I
grow up!

Arcadia:  [laughs]  We'll dye your hair tonight, okay?  [thinking]  Then
I'll hide for a very long time.
 

        One of them, a tall portly man with an ugly, honest face 
turned and smiled at her.  "I hope you stay long enough for 
the Fall Races, Arcadia.  I think you'd win easily."  His name 
was  Makoto Gelbenwald,

HIROE:  "Honest Yellow-forest"?

Arcadia:  Hey!  He's a nice guy!  Don't make fun of my boss!

        Rita sighed.  "Well, causing their sun to go nova wasn't 
exactly a good idea either."  She shuddered.  "No wonder they 
called Serenity XVIII the mad queen."

SHEILA: <appalled> Good Goddess.  This is like something out of the Nameless
Idiot's paranoid rants.

Arcadia:  The Serenity family went downhill fast, starting with Serenity
X.  The only good thing was that they died a lot faster than the previous
ones, so they couldn't do as much damage.



 > >        She was wrong.  A tall skinny woman with short white 

hair cut like a boy's was hugging Rita, who was blathering 
incoherently about strangling people who made her drop 
things.  Her hair sparkled like Rita's in the sun, and her skin 
was pale, far paler than Arcadia was used to.  She released her 
embrace  of Rita, then hugged Makoto, who laughed.  
"Marcus, you're getting to be as strong as your mother."

         Marcus, Arcadia thought.  Why would anyone give a 
girl a boy's name?  Marcus grinned at Makoto and said, with a 
boy's voice, "Mom will still boot me into the atmosphere 
when we get home, though."  Marcus stepped away from 
Makoto and Arcadia finally got a good look at him.  Marcus 
was clearly male, or else a rather skillful cross-dresser.  For 
one thing, he had facial hair, namely a rather feeble attempt at 
a mustache.  Still, with a little work, he probably could have 
passed as female.

RYOUKO:  Excuse me.  I think we need a little more description to understand
*why* Ms. N'goya thought this fellow was a woman.

Arcadia:  I didn't see his face, and the rest of his body was rather
slender and he had long hair, and most guys from my homeworld cut their
hair really short.  I didn't expect it to be longer than his dad's,
anyway.  Haven't you ever mistaken some guy for a girl from behind?  I
wised up when I saw his face!
 

        Her imagination restored the surrounding buildings to 

their splendour and filled them with people.  Vehicles, 
animals, humans, and aliens bustled through the streets.  And 
through it all was the beautiful music, the song that was the 
soul of Crystal Tokyo.  Sweet scents filled the air with the 
memory of her mother's perfume, of ripe fruit, of the 
fragrances she had worn on her first date with Tony.  That 
memory shattered her imaginings.  Tony had died.  She 
couldn't afford to love anyone.  It would only be a death 
sentence.  

M. SHEILA: <tear trickles down cheek>

SHEILA: ...

Arcadia:  Even happiness can bring sadness sometimes.  [stares at the
ground while Ami-chan hugs her legs again.]

        "Anyway, he didn't inherit my knack for making 
machines do my bidding,"  Makoto said.  "I'm looking at 
expanding into the Bismollian market.  I know they'll eat 
anything,

SHEILA and all the future Experts (except M. RYOUKO) groan loudly.

Arcadia:  Selling food to Bismollians is harder than you'd think.  They
can eat ANYTHING, so convincing them to actually buy food requires some
sort of hook.

          Some of the leylines moved, while others did not.  
Certain planets seemed linked in a stable fashion, while others 
crept through space.  Five hundred years ago, 200 hundred 
leylines connected to Earth.  She stared at the floating stars 
and purple lines connecting them or weaving between them.  
There wasn't a world in the galaxy with 200 leylines now.  

RITSUKO:  Definitely cyclical.

M. RITSUKO:  Are you certain of that?  Perhaps this world operates by other
rules entirely.  Perhaps "The Miracle" did create a mana surge, and mana in
this world acts as any other resource -- if used, it is depleted.

RITSUKO:  I ... I suppose that's possible.

Ami-chan:  You're both sort of right!

Arcadia:  Would you like to be more vague, Ami-chan?

Ami-chan:  The Packard flies at midnight.
 

         The taller dark-haired man spoke again.  "I'm Steven, 
Arcadia, and this is my wife, Minako."  He pointed to the 
rowing woman, who nodded and smiled.  He pointed at the 
other couple.  "This is Ryo and Ami."  He paused.  "Hmm.  
You look seasick."

SHEILA:  Um, one problem.  How does she understand them?  Hasn't there been
any linguistic drift in 1400 years?  That'd be like us going back to the
Sengoku period and expecting to understand the language spoken then.

Ami-chan:  Sort of the way Dr. Who's companions shouldn't land on Rigel VI
and speak the language?

Arcadia:  Who?

Ami-chan:  Yes.

Dr. Mizuno:  [sticks her head in]  Crystal Tokyo is covered with the Babel
effect, which translates all languages.  It's also notable that linguistic
change has greatly slowed with the spread of print literature.  As
language becomes more standardized, it changes more slowly. 

        Steven wasn't so sure of that.  After all, if the future 
couldn't be changed, what would have happened if Urawa had 
just kept quiet after his vision?  Minako wouldn't have reacted 
fast enough to catch the girl.  He wasn't going to argue, 
though, because Urawa was stubborn as stone on this issue.

RITSUKO:  So can the future be changed?

M. RITSUKO:  ... let's just say that's one of the things we're here to find
out.

Ami-chan:  Uncle Ryo thinks it is fixed in stone, but Aunt Pluto doesn't 
agree with him.

Arcadia:  As long as people continue to be stupid, which seems constant
over time, we may never find out if it can be changed.
 

"when".

        They're probably just saying that to look good, Arcadia 
thought.  I mean, even Councilman Estevan never publicly 
proclaimed he didn't pay his tickets.  Rulers always put 
themselves above the law.  Power corrupts, yatta yatta yatta.  

SHEILA:  Uh-huh.  Very cynical.

Arcadia:  Come live on Sirius for 16 years, and you'll be singing my song!
Heck, the Federal League is probably the best place to live in the entire
galaxy in my time, and it's still a mess.  
 

M. SHEILA:  The full form of the aphorism should be "Power without
sufficient enforced responsibility corrupts, and percieved absolute power
without *any* responsibility corrupts absolutely."  

Arcadia:  And who watches the watchmen?

Ami-chan:  [pulls a copy of 'Watchmen' out of her closet]  Are you big
enough to explain this to me?  I can't understand it!

Arcadia:  Ask me again in ten years.
 

       With effort, Arcadia resisted the urge to scream at Sailor 
Pluto.  "Did you bring me here?"

M. SHEILA:  You should never reist that particular urge.  It does no good at
all, but it does make you feel better.

Arcadia:  She can't snuff you with a thought.  Well, she might not succeed
with you.
 

        "Okay."  She seems nice, Arcadia thought.  I bet she and 
Professor Anderson would get along great.  They're both 
smart AND nice.  I guess I'm going to find out if all those 
legends are true.  "I'm gonna need some clothing."

RYOUKO:  Huh.  Guess it's nice to know that mom's still alive fourteen
hundred years from now --

M. RYOUKO:  Yes, isn't it a pity that she -- never mind.

Ami-chan:  Wow, mommy wasn't joking the time she said she'd ground me for
a millenium.

RITSUKO:  Given that these Archetypes appear as they are expected to appear,
Australia's appearance tells us more about Dr. Ransom than it does about
Australia.  Chiefly, that she essentially considers Australians to be
Britons with a few changes of dress.  I don't think that's quite the case.

Ami-chan:  Mommy washed Daddy's mouth out with soap after he met...

Arcadia:  [muffles Ami-chan]  I don't even want to THINK about what the
Archetype of my homeworld would look like.  
 

       "Die?  Is a meteor going to squash the entire continent or 
something?"  And how could I stop this?

RYOUKO:  Y'know, it might be nice to have her say "a space station going to
fall on the continent", like in --

M. RYOUKO:  NEVER.  JOKE.  ABOUT.  THAT.

Ami-chan:  Mommy won't let me watch Gundam.

Arcadia:  Then how do you know about that?

Ami-chan:  I think I  hear Chibi-Usa calling!  [runs off]



John Walter Biles :  MA-History, Ph.D Wannabe at U. Kansas         
ranma@falcon.cc.ukans.edu       
rhea@tass.org              http://www.tass.org/~rhea/falcon.html
rhea@maison-otaku.net      http://www.maison-otaku.net/~rhea/

     The Moon Hill Gymnasium was crowded with students, most from Moon 
Hill, but some from other schools.  The special committee to pick the 
theme for the first spring dance had argued for weeks over a theme.  Many 
ideas had been suggested:  Love--American Style, Spring Sock Hop, Can't 
Stop Doing the Monkey, The Black Plague, Enchantment under the Sea, Zinc 
Oxide and You, Space Viking Vixen Women from Venus, The Progressive Era, 
and The First Spring Dance.  After extensive argument, the sole remaining 
conscious committee member had selected the theme "Our Gym Covered in 
Crepe Paper."  
--Sailor Moon Z #7