Sailor X #1
Manhattan Project
By: John Brengman
The windows of the room let in the star-speckled
night. The light of the stars paled however to the
light of the nearby planet, it's light reflecting
blues and whites to anything nearby, and that included
the lunar base that was home to the Luna Foundation
and the operational center for the Sailors.
The light from Earth pooled brilliantly in shafts
of light shining through the windows that dominated
the far wall of the control room. The rest of the room
was lined with various computer stations that
monitored Earth, the solar system, and various other
things. No one manned the control room at this hour of
the night, so the computers seemed content to hum and
beep and whir to themselves.
All of this pleased Luna, who was basking
purrfully in the throbbing of the top of one of the
control stations. "Oh, there are times when it is good
to be a cat," was a thought that drifted lazily
through her mind as she soaked in the rhythmic
pulsing.
The lights on the control panel changed to
various shades of red and began flashing insistently.
An alarm began clamoring for attention, and this awoke
the sleeping cat. Taking one look at the control panel
that had betrayed her, Luna jumped down and headed for
the hallway to the residence quarters.
Reaching Brandy's room, Luna rushed in, reaching
the sleeping girl with a quick hop from the floor to
the nightstand to the bed. Quickly the cat pawed at
the covers. "Wake up, sleepy-head!" Luna thought, only
to be met with a hand that lightly batted her away.
"Not now, Cat," Brandy said sleepily.
Luna growled at Brandy's use of her 'pet name'
and bit her on the ear.
"Hey!" Brandy yelped as she was jolted awake,
"what was that for?" However, by the time she had
asked that question, Luna was already bolting for the
door on her way to rouse the next sleeping Sailor.
"Darn it, Cat," Brandy muttered as she began to
dress.
==> * * * <==
"How could this happen?" Bethany inquired, her
blue eyes looking worriedly toward the windows.
"I don't know just yet," Melissa replied, her
gaze intently tied to the computer monitors and the
information they were feeding her. "I'm not even quite
sure where to start."
"Ask Artemis to check for weird energy readings,"
chimed in a hollow voice from the windows. Bethany
nodded and leaned against Melissa's chair. "Yes, ask
that."
Melissa checked the computer and fed in the
question. The response was not promising.
"Infinity particles?" Bethany gasped. "What are
those?"
"They are rare, dangerous, and unstable," Vanessa
answered as she entered the control room while combing
her long white hair. As the guardian of the Timegate,
Vanessa was considered the know-it-all of
the group. "Infinity particles are combined with a
chemical reaction and they perpetuate that reaction.
Since the reaction also generates more infinity
particles, the original reaction has a tendency to
chain-react."
The others looked at each other as if Vanessa had
explained it perfectly.
Cassandra was the first to react. "Oh yeah," she
quipped. "I buy it."
An offended Vanessa was quick to go on the
counter-attack. "Well, you would understand it better
if you would pay attention more in physics class."
Cassandra was not to be mollified however. She
shook her long wavy red hair and her eyes angrily
flashed as she growled, "The TEACHER goes too fast! I
can't keep up!"
Melissa was about to chime in and remind
Cassandra that 'Aunt Amy' had volunteered to help them
out with the more difficult areas of advanced physics
when Luna stopped the conversation with a loud whistle
and, "Let's stay focused, girls!"
The voice from the windows replied, "What can we
do about this situation?" Vanessa went to a secondary
control panel and started entering inquiries into the
computer. After a minute where all attention in the
room was on her, Vanessa straightened up and turned
for face the others. "Artemis says that whatever
happened did not happen within the past day."
"In fact," Vanessa continued, "the decay of the
infinity particles suggests that the accident took
place more than fifty years ago."
Dead silence filled the room as the implications
of Vanessa's statement became clear. At about that
time, raven-haired Rachel entered the room. "Unless
the galaxy's going to explode, someone's in big
trouble!" Bethany glanced uncomfortably over at
Rachel. Although the group did not know each other
that well, one thing was etched in stone: never
disturb Rachel's sleep.
The circumstances in this case were different.
Sandra stepped forward from the shadows near the
window into the light provided by the control room
lights. "Be careful what you wish for," she said, her
face somber as she pointed toward the window.
The planet Earth was gone.
==> * * * <==
The conversation continued as the girls and Luna
neared the chamber containing the massive Timegate.
"Do we have any idea who's behind this?" Sandra
asked.
"No," Vanessa replied, "but very few people have
had access to Infinity particles. Queen Serenity
forbade anyone in the kingdom from having Infinity
particles, and even the rulers of the Negaverse were
never insane enough to use the particles they
supposedly had."
"So, let me get this straight," Brandy said with
an angry toss of her long blonde mane, "we don't even
know who has these particles?"
"You have the rather annoying knack," Luna
stated, "of being absolutely correct at the most
unfortunate times."
Not liking the verbal jousting between Luna and
Brandy, Rachel broke in, "Ok! So, we go back in time
and stop whatever happened from happening again.
Sounds straight enough. My question is, if Earth was
blown away fifty years ago, why are we still here?"
The girls reached a set of metal double doors and
stopped. "You may thank the Timegate for that,"
Vanessa replied. "It generates a field which protects
us from the timestream."
"Oh!" Cassandra exclaimed. "Sort of like those
thingamajiggies of yours?"
Vanessa sighed. "Exactly." She pushed a few
buttons on the door panel and the metal doors
separated. The room beyond the doors was dominated by
a huge translucent dome-like structure built into the
floor. While the others watched, Vanessa stepped
forward, raised her right hand in the air and shouted,
"TIMEGATE ACTIVATION!" The ring she wore on her right
ring finger pulsed then shot a green beam of
light into the dome. The light washed over the dome,
then shot back and enveloped Vanessa.
The group waited while the portal and Vanessa
communicated mentally. When Vanessa broke the link,
the green light continued to splash about in the dome
as the portal waited for further commands.
Vanessa went over to a table along one side of
the room and pulled several devices from the storage
lockers there. When she returned, she glanced at the
group. "Are we ready?"
Sandra stepped forward. "Someone needs to stick
around here in case something else happens while we
are not here. Brandy, Beth, keep track of us. The rest
of you," she gestured toward the portal, "let's go."
With that, the four senshi stepped into the
portal, and into the past.
==> * * * <==
Tinian Island August 4, 1945 7:15 pm
"One scientist bet on the chances that the blast would
ignite the atmosphere. He offered a side wager on
whether it would destroy the entire world...or only
New Mexico."
- Peter Jennings, "Hiroshima: Why the Bomb was
Dropped" (ABC News, 1995)
The staging area for a secret operation against
the Japanese homeland was a small cluster of buildings
grouped around an airfield on an scrap of land amidst
the blue waters of the Pacific. One prefab corrugated
metal building stood near the end of the airstrip, and
the building was under heavy guard.
Within the building stood a large number of
storage cases, neatly stacked in columns that reached
halfway to the ceiling. The cases dominated one half
of the building. The other half of the building was
empty except for a single bay-loaded bomb that sat
upon its storage stand in an area roped off from the
rest
of the building.
A dark figure kneeled next to the cylindrical
device. He had opened an access panel and had inserted
a flat circular object about the size of a wristwatch.
The device's magnetic bottom easily attached to the
inside of the skin of the bomb. The figure replaced
the access panel, stood and looked over to two prone
forms laying nearby.
With a slight bow to the unconscious guards, the
dark-robed man murmured, "May your aim be
true...although that is not really necessary. Either
way, my plan will succeed."
"Not if I have anything to say about it!" The
robed man looked around franticly for the source of
the voice...and found a group of women standing just
inside the huge doors of the building.
"MOON PRISM POWER!" Sandra shouted as Vanessa
placed a small star-shaped device on one of the boxes
and activated it.. Sandra's shout was followed by,
"MERCURY POWER!", "MARS POWER!", and "PLUTO POWER!"
as the senshi began their transformations.
Sailor Moon brought her fist down from the finish
of her transformation with a flourish and said, "I am
Sailor Moon, Vanguard of Justice! I will right wrongs
and vanquish evil!" The light from the pyrotechnic
display of the transformations faded, and a voice
called menacingly from the darkness, "and you, my
friend, are moondust!"
"I am sorry I do not have an equally impressive
display to greet you with," the dark-robed man said.
"Allow me to introduce myself, I am Scaramanga, Master
of Darkness. Now ladies, I will depart, and leave you
to your doom."
"Not so fast!" Sailor Mars shouted from nearby a
stack of crates. "MARS FIREBOLT BLAST!" A searing
firebolt erupted from Mars' outstretched hand and shot
angrily toward the villain. Scaramanga
quickly dodged the blast that slammed into the far
wall.
"Careful now, Scaramanga scolded, "You wouldn't
want to damage such an important part of history,
would you?"
"I hate to admit it," Sailor Moon mentally said
to the Scouts, "but he's right. No beam attacks
directed near that bomb."
"Yeah," Mercury growled, "well, direct THIS!
MERCURY SHARD!" A thick crystal shard appeared in
Mercury's hand as she called upon the power of her
patron planet. "Eat this, jerk!" she yelled as she
hurled
the shard at Scaramanga, who caught it with a grunt
and crushed it in one hand.
"You are trying my patience." Scaramanga stated.
"DARKFORCE ATTACK!" Wisps of dark energy burst forth
from Scaramanga, slamming into the stacks of crates,
showering them down upon the senshi
who tried to scurry out of the way.
As Sailor Moon picked herself up from under a
pile of debris with the help of Sailor Mars, she
mentally called out, "Pluto, are those devices still
working?"
"Yes," Pluto said. "We are still outside the
timeline."
"But I am afraid you are out of time," quipped
Scaramanga, who was now floating above the bomb. "ZAI"
With that command, a scorching energy bolt erupted
from his fingers and stabbed Mercury who
screamed and fell to the floor.
"Mars", Sailor Moon mentally ordered, "See to
Sailor Mercury." Glancing at Scaramanga, Sailor Moon
noted that the villain was hovering above the bomb,
but also beneath a heavy-looking utility hook. With a
mental "Ah!", she pulled her tiara from her forehead.
"MOON TIARA MAGIC!"
The tiara activated with a flash which
illuminated Sailor Moon's face with a pale light.
"Screwball in the side packet," she said as she threw
the tiara at the chain holding the hook.. It
ricocheted off the chain and returned to Sailor Moon
who caught it triumphantly. The hook crashed down upon
Scaramanga, who was driven upon the bomb. The hook was
deflected by Scaramanga and landed a few feet in front
of the bomb.
"I thought you said no attacks near the bomb."
Pluto remarked wryly as she approached the bomb. As
she reached it, Scaramanga faded and disappeared.
"Hey," Sailor Moon remarked aloud for the first
time, "I was being careful., unlike some people we
could mention."
Sailor Mars just looked at Sailor Moon and smiled
wickedly.
"Finished," Pluto said as she removed the
Infinity Device from the bomb. "Mission accomplished."
"Not quite," came a voice. The Sailors turned and
saw Sailor Mars staring at the bomb, its sleek metal
surface glinting in the din light. The other Sailors
could tell from the look in her eyes that Sailor Mars
intended to incinerate the "little boy".
"Mars," Sailor Moon said sternly. "Don't."
"You can't order that," Sailor Mars replied
coldly.
"I can," Sailor Moon stated, "and I did."
"You can't do this," Sailor Pluto added. "You
will alter the way history happened, and that's
exactly what Scaramanga was trying to do."
"But people will die if this thing is used!" Mars
shouted.
"Yes," Sailor Moon said as she stepped in front of
Sailor Mars. "And if you attack the bomb, you may save
the people of Hiroshima, but you will have to kill me
first."
Sailor Mars held her hands in front of her,
pointed at the bomb, ready to fire the fiery blast.
"Please move," Mars pleaded as tears welled up in
her eyes.
Sailor Moon shook her head, "Uhmm..mmm."
"We can not pick and choose here, and we
certainly can not tamper with history ourselves!"
Pluto insisted.
"She's right," Sailor Moon said.
"Yeah, I know," Mars replied as she dropped her
hands and fell into Sailor Moon's outstretched arms.
"It just doesn't feel good, that's all."
"I understand," Pluto smiled. "Doing what is
right often does not feel good."
"Yes," Sailor Moon said. "But doing what is right
when it doesn't feel good is what separates normal
people from heroes." Putting her hands around her
comrades, she smiled. "Let's go home."
==> * * * <==
Hiroshima August 6, 1945 8:02 am
A silver phoenix soared through the clouds over
the southern end of Honshu. Upon the signal from the
pilot, the bombardier released a single bomb which
fell toward its target.
From the future, Cassandra watched transfixed
through the Timegate as the ground exploded and the
atomic reaction sent its plume upward as the silver
phoenix flew into the morning sun.
==> * * * <==
A sleepy Sandra stood by the window of her
bedroom and gazed out at the lunar landscape.
Illuminating the dark gray of the nearby hills, the
blue ball of Earth glistened innocently. Squinting to
look closer,
Sandra saw that Japan was emerging from night, about
to start another day. With that, Sandra quietly
disrobed and prepared to return to bed.
** FINI **
Fanfic c 1999 � John Brengman and Artemis Publishing
Sailor X series inspired by Bishoujo Senshi Sailor
Moon,
c 1992 by Toei Animation Co Ltd. and based on
Kodansha's
manga production of "Sailor Moon", written by Naoko
Takeuchi
This fanfic is freely distributed. Release date:
August, 1998
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