Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Blinded By Science ❯ The Once And Future Viluy ( Chapter 12 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

BLINDED BY SCIENCE
Chapter 12: "The Once And Future Viluy"

by Bill K.

"I'll try to remember to ask her later," Venus scowled. "Right now I say we trash this
place!"

"I agree with Venus," Neptune said. She turned to Sailor Moon, expecting an argument.
Mars and Jupiter glanced over, too, because they wanted to side with Neptune and Venus.

"It's the only thing we can do," Sailor Moon replied, her expression haunted. "We can't
let this go any further."

"I don't believe any of you have a say in it!" they all heard from the catwalks above the
assembly line.

As one the senshi looked up. Ringing the assembly line area on the overhead catwalks
were a dozen Viluys. Each one was armed with a deadly-looking rifle. Each rifle was trained on
the senshi, with four specifically targeting Sailor Moon.

"Please," Sailor Moon said, separating herself from the group, though Mars and Jupiter
shadowed her so they could be in a position to defend her. She looked up at the ring of Viluys,
focusing on the Viluy immediately in front of her. Her hands were extended out from her body
in supplication. "Please stop this."

"And why would I do that?" the Viluys asked in eerie unison.

"Can't you see how many people you're hurting?" Sailor Moon appealed to her.

"Perhaps this escaped you," the Viluys scowled sarcastically, "but the goal of this plan
has been to eliminate the human race. That would involve hurting them."

"But why? Why would you want to eliminate every person in the world?"

"Because humanity is a flawed, emotion-driven cancer on this planet," the Viluys replied
with such human contempt and loathing it was hard to tell which one was the real one. "It has
reached its evolutionary apex and, like the dinosaurs before it, must make way for the next
dominant species."

"That," gasped Sailor Moon, "that's so cold!"

"Logic is cold. Deal with it. Name one positive aspect of humanity's current existence
on this planet."

"Babies," Sailor Moon replied. "The purity and innocence they possess remind us of our
better sides. Do machines have that? The capacity humans have to create, whether it's a
fantastic new invention or a wonderful piece of art or music, or life itself. Can logic do that?
The ability of two people to fall in love, for love makes everything better. Love enriches us more
than logic ever could. Can't you see? What you want to create isn't a better race - - it's a more
narrow one, a more limited one."

As she spoke, the senshi all stared at her, either awed by her articulate argument or
inspired by her unassuming passion. If ever for a moment any of them doubted they were on the
wrong side, that doubt was gone for good.

"Sentimental rubbish," sneered the Viluys. "You conveniently leave out the mirror
images of those ‘lofty aspects of humanity' you so passionately speak of. You forget the
selfishness and petulance of your treasured infants. You leave out the human desire for gain that
perverts so many of their ‘creations' into trinkets to be sold to fawning, gullible idiots. And you
neglect to consider how fragile ‘love' is and how it can turn into hatred, sometimes with just the
slightest nudge. But then one of humanity's greatest talents has always been patting itself on the
back. In the world I envision, science and discovery will be all, unencumbered by sentimentality
or pettiness or other emotions bred from humans."

"But you're human!" Sailor Moon argued.

"Am I?" the Viluys replied. "Or am I the evolutionary link between species? Am I the
bridge between the end of one species and the start of another? How many humans can match
my intellect? How many have my emotional control? I could probably count them on one hand.
So how ‘human' am I really?"

"Mars," Jupiter whispered unobtrusively, "which one do you think is the real one?"

"None of them," Mars replied surreptitiously. "They're all androids."

"Then why have you been letting Sailor Moon waste her time trying to appeal to their
human nature?"

"Because the real Viluy might be listening through them. Because right now we could
use a miracle - - and who's always been our chief source of miracles over the years? I'm going to
let her play her hand. If it doesn't work - - then we improvise." Jupiter nodded.

"You're as human as you want to be, Viluy," Sailor Moon said. "As human as you'll let
yourself be. I know something must have happened in your past to make you afraid to trust
people enough to let you love them. It doesn't really matter now. You can trust me. I don't
want to hurt you, Viluy. I only want to stop you from making a horrible mistake, one you'll
regret for the rest of your life. It's not too late, Viluy. You haven't gone too far. Please. Please
stop this and be my friend."

The Viluy android she was directly facing stared down at her. Her lip curled into a sneer
and she squeezed the trigger of her weapon.

"GET DOWN!" Mars and Jupiter screamed together, knocking Sailor Moon to the floor.

At once Mars cried out, the energy beam clipping her along the left calf. Tuxedo Mask
had four roses out, prepared to take out four androids. Sailor Neptune had the Deep Aqua Mirror
out, ready to cut down as many androids as she could before the odds finally got her. Sailor
Venus had her hand to her side, moments from speaking her power phrase and launching her
Love And Beauty Shock attack, while the cats were ready to move.

"Dead Scream," echoed a voice. A burst of white noise exploded along the catwalk. It
slammed into the androids with concussive force, flailing them into pieces.

Sailor Mercury and Sailor Pluto looked to each other and nodded in satisfaction. Then
they turned their gaze to their teammates below.

"MARS!" Sailor Moon wailed.

She'd extricated herself from the pile of bodies on top of her. Mars was holding her left
leg, trying to stop the bleeding from a deep gash while Jupiter looked on in horror. The pale look
on the face of the senshi of fire said volumes about her distaste at seeing her own blood. Quickly
Tuxedo Mask knelt down beside her and took the leg in his hands. Venus and Neptune guarded
the perimeter, eyes sharp for any new threat.

"Here, we can use this to stop the bleeding," he said, removing his cummerbund and
wrapping it around her leg. "Hopefully the wound won't need stitches, but I can't rule it out."

"Oh, great," Mars almost sobbed. "Just what I need - - a scar on my leg!"

"OH MARS, PLEASE DON'T DIE!" Sailor Moon wailed, wrapping her arms around
Sailor Mars' throat from behind.

"IF YOU START CRYING, I SWEAR I'LL SLAP YOU!" fumed Mars.

"WELL EXCUSE ME FOR CARING!" Sailor Moon bellowed back, though she refused
to release her choke hold on Sailor Mars.

"She won't die," Tuxedo Mask told her.

"Unless you choke me to death, Ditz!" Mars added. Tuxedo Mask smoothed the
cummerbund in place along her calf and tied it off. Mars smiled gratefully at him. "You still
have a soft touch, Mamoru."

"MY soft touch!" Sailor Moon snapped, releasing Mars so she could grab Tuxedo Mask's
hands away jealously. Mars replied with her tongue, which Sailor Moon mimicked.

"Well, I guess this proves I'm back home again," Sailor Mercury smiled, standing about ten
feet from the group. Sailor Pluto was a few feet behind her.

"Ami?" Sailor Moon gasped, tears welling again. "AMI, YOU'RE BACK!"

Sailor Moon flew to her feet and tackled Sailor Mercury, the force of her momentum
spilling both of them onto the floor. She hugged the girl, crying deliriously, while Jupiter, Venus
and Neptune gathered behind them and Mars and Tuxedo Mask looked on from a distance.

"Oh, we were so worried about you!" sobbed Sailor Moon. "Are you all right?"

"I am now," Mercury beamed.

"Are you really you?" Sailor Moon asked uneasily.

"Yes, I'm really me." Mercury sobered. "But our work isn't finished. Not until we've found
Yui."

"And not until we've done something about this," Venus said. She looked around at the
assembly line. It was still going, in spite of the battle just fought, the automation blithely
ignoring them all. "Venus!" she snapped, jabbing her hand to her side. "Love And Beauty
Shock!"

An energy shockwave arced out from Venus along the floor of the assembly line. It
impacted with the assembly line on the floor of the room and tore through it like a tornado
through a tree trunk. Metal splintered and sheared, gears crumbled, supports buckled and
robotic arms and the android skeletons they were assembling were flayed to pieces. Venus
surveyed the destruction with grim satisfaction.

"Submarine Reflection!" Neptune's voice echoed through the room over the destruction
Venus was wrecking.

Spitting out from the Deep Aqua Mirror was a beam of energy. Lancing up to the ceiling,
it carved up the overhead carriers and the parts they were carrying. Neptune sliced and diced,
turning the plastic shells and the hooks and conveyors that carried them into bite-size chunks.
Severed electrical systems sparked and spat, raining super-hot particles onto the floor and further
damaging the assembly line below.

"Mercury!" Mercury shouted, acting quickly despite her fatigue. "Aqua Rhapsody!"

With that shouted phrase, Mercury quickly inundated the involved area in a sea of icy
water. Her aim was two-fold and ever pragmatic - - she would flood the area, further shorting
out the electronics of the assembly line while her icy flood prevented any of the sparks Neptune
and Venus had thrown up to ignite into a flash fire.

Woozy, Mercury sagged and was quickly caught by Sailor Moon. Everyone on their feet
crowded around her with concern, while Mars looked on.

"Mercury?" Sailor Moon gasped.

"I'm all right," she panted. "Just pushed myself to my limits. It's nothing that going
home and soaking in a hot tub for an hour won't cure."

Suddenly Mars' head turned, as if she alone could sense something. Her movement was
noticed by the ever-observant Sailor Neptune. Mars locked onto a figure skulking along the wall
of the assembly room.

"Look out!" Mars yelled suddenly. "She's the real one! Mars!" she snapped as everyone
ducked. "Flame Sniper!"

Her flaming bow was out and drawn, an arrow ready to shoot the weapon from the hand
of yet another Viluy. But Sailor Moon gestured and momentarily stayed her hand. She had no
shot anyway when Mercury moved between them. Mercury and Viluy stared intently at each
other. No one else in the room mattered.

"You think I won't kill you, Mizuno?" Viluy snarled bitterly.

"I think you don't want to," Mercury replied with a hint of disgust. "You've certainly had
enough chances."

"I should," Viluy snapped. "I should have done it the moment I took you! You've ruined
everything! EVERYTHING! You and your precious senshi!"

"You're such a waste, Yui," Mercury declared. "All that intellect and yet you're so
ignorant you can't even see the basic flaw in you that destroys everything you touch."

"Then enlighten me, Mizuno!" Viluy sneered. "Tell me how I can be saved by embracing
the gospel according to Sailor Moon! Tell me how I'm a wayward sinner and I can only reach
enlightenment through her holy guidance! Sing to me about that new age religion!"

"This is your idea of logic and emotional control?" Mercury asked her. "Tell me one
thing, Yui. How is such a logical creation as you postulate supposed to be born from an
irrational, paranoid, delusional borderline psychotic such as yourself? Diagram that logic for me,
Yui, because I just can't see it."

"That presupposes that your assumptions about my mental state are accurate," Viluy
smiled irrationally.

"Stop avoiding the question," Mercury countered. "How is a machine supposed to
dominate its environment solely on logic? Imagination is needed to bring about any progress
beyond accident and happenstance. And imagination is more closely associated with emotions
than with logic. Emotions such as ambition, desire, envy . . ."

"Stop it!" roared Viluy. "Humanity is no good! They're not worthy of us!"

The woman stared desperately at Mercury, the weapon wavering in her hand. She
seemed to be trying to communicate with Mercury on as many levels as possible.

"Why can't you see it, Mizuno?" she cried. "Why?"

"I see it," Mercury replied softly. "I just can't accept it."

Viluy's face twisted up into a swirl of bitterness and rage, heartbreak and loss. She
seemed about a millisecond away from firing. Everyone tensed to act.

"Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss," Sailor Moon's gentle voice wafted out over the room.

The Moon Tier was out and extended over her head. It was radiating waves of soft, supple
warmth. To the other senshi it felt like the gentle caress of a mother's hand on a cheek. What
then did it feel like to Viluy, who let the weapon fall to her side at she stared up at the gleaming
jewel in the headpiece of the tier. Her mouth dropped and she looked up at it with childlike
wonder.

"We want to help you, Viluy," Sailor Moon said softly. "You don't have to hate. You
don't have to be afraid. Let me help you. Let me be your friend. Let us all be your friends."

"A-Ami?" Viluy whispered, staring up at the crystal like it was her heart's desire.

"Love is so much warmer than hate," Sailor Moon said, pouring her soul at Viluy through
the crystal. "Surrender to your love."

"NO!" Viluy wailed, her face twisting in desperate rage. "YOU DON'T TRAP ME
THAT WAY!"

Firing wildly, Viluy pivoted as the senshi fell back defensively. Mars fired at the fleeing
villain, but in an instant Viluy was swallowed by a dazzling field of energy. The arrow passed
harmlessly through the air where she had been.

Before anyone else could act, Sailor Pluto extended her staff, talisman end first at the
point where Viluy had been. The ruby end of her staff began to glow, casting bizarre and
horrific patterns on Pluto's impassive face. The senshi of time seemed to gather herself.

"Tempus Occlusion!" Pluto demanded.

A slit in the very fabric of reality suddenly illuminated, looking like a gaping, festering
wound. It emitted a ghastly yellow-green light until bathed in the radiation from the Ruby Orb.
Maroon and black swirled around the gash, stitching, weaving, healing the wound in the fabric of
time and space until everything faded to normal. Then Sailor Pluto retracted her staff and turned
to Sailor Moon.

"Where did she go?" Sailor Moon asked.

"Back to a fantasy, My Princess, along a road that now no longer exists." Pluto glanced
at Sailor Mercury, for only Mercury truly understood what she meant. "My work here is ended,"
Pluto smiled, grateful it seemed that Sailor Moon would deign to even listen to her. She bowed
respectfully. "With your leave, My Princess." She bowed to Tuxedo Mask. "Your Majesty."

And with another swirl of ruby energy, Sailor Pluto was gone.

"What?" Sailor Venus said incredulously, "that's it?" Artemis rolled his eyes.

"Not quite," Mercury replied sadly.
- - - -
Dietman Hino sat in the office of Mr. Tanaka reviewing the first draft legislation they'd
given him. Tanaka and a pair of lesser executives, one from production and one from marketing,
sat watching him expectantly. Hino disliked being watched so intently while he read. It made it
difficult to read the draft objectively. They were clearly counting heavily on this legislation to
get their android project off the ground, so it was difficult to gauge how they would react to any
criticism he might have.

Hino still didn't feel right about this. Dietman Toguro did, but all that old walrus could
see were the campaign contributions and the power it brought. Hino knew that Toguro was aging
and was beginning to fear for his power base. One day Toguro would be toppled. They both
knew it. But until that time came, Hino had to be a dutiful soldier and obey. Otherwise he'd be
inviting Toguro's wrath and no ambitious politician wanted that.

"There are a few minor points on this I'd like to review with my staff," Hino said finally,
treading carefully. "The overall legislation looks workable, but I just want to check on the
constitutionality of a few points to make it challenge-proof."

"Would that take long?" Tanaka asked with unusual anxiety.

"Hopefully not," Hino replied. "We'll give it our full attention to expedite things."

"Good," he nodded. "Forgive me if I seem insistent about this, but this is a very important
project and I want to get started on it as soon as possible. When can I expect an answer?"

"Um," Hino frowned. He didn't like being rushed or pinned down, but was a master at
concealing it by now. "End of the week at most, but it's possible we could be finished sooner."

It wasn't what Tanaka wanted to hear, but he smiled anyway.

"By Friday then," he said, rising up to bow to Hino. Hino rose to do the same, as did the
junior executives.

Suddenly, though, there was a din from the outer office. The men turned to the sound of
raised voices, then what sounded like a scuffle. Just then the door burst open, revealing to Hino's
amazement Sailor Jupiter and his own daughter, Sailor Mars. Mars spotted him as she entered.
Anger flared in her eyes, then her face froze in unconcealed contempt.

"How many, Mars?" Jupiter prompted.

"See here!" Tanaka roared angrily. "What is the meaning of bursting into a private
conference! Get out before I call security!"

"Just one," Mars said.

She pressed one of her wards to her forehead while softly chanting the mystic phrase that
invoked its power. As her father stared in amazement, Sailor Mars let fly. The ward resisted the
pull of gravity and the resistance of the air, flying straight and true. It struck Mr. Tanaka squarely
between the eyes. The man arched back as if slapped, then hovered, frozen in position. Hino and
the junior executives turned back to the two senshi.

"What did you do to Tanaka-sempei?" the marketing executive angrily demanded. He was
too furious to see Jupiter's tiara extend its lightning rod until the air began to tingle with
electricity.

"SUPREME THUNDER!" Jupiter bellowed, calling down lightning from the heavens,
then projecting it directly at the frozen Tanaka. The bolt struck him square and Tanaka exploded
into bits. The three men were horrified by what they thought was bold murder. Then they saw the
remains gleamed of chrome and plastic and sparked of severed electrical connections and their
horror mutated into delirious shock. Unable to speak, unable to even comprehend what he'd just
seen, Dietman Hino turned to his estranged daughter for some explanation.

"Still selling your soul for political gain, I see," Mars replied bitterly. Glancing at her
father one more time as if he were something that had crawled up from under the ground, Mars
turned and left, followed by Sailor Jupiter.

concluded in Chapter 13