Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Seeing Stars ❯ Chapter 33 ( Chapter 33 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Seeing Stars
By Jason Ulloa
Original story by Moonsong
Continued with her permission.


Chapter 33

It was like visiting the scene of a crime, but on the other hand, this place was like a
second home.

There. That was the spot where he had been standing when Tira burst out of the door,
knocking him over... just in time to be shot.

There. That was where her body lay as the blood slowly oozed out of her while she slowly
lost consciousness. The blood had been cleaned up, but for a long time he wouldn't be able
to pass by this spot without remembering.

There. That was where he had knelt down and attempted to stem the blood flowing out of her.
He had done all he could, and at least she was still alive, but at the time, he didn't know
that. At the time, everything depended on keeping as much of her blood in her body as
possible.

His hands had been almost covered in blood.

Her blood...

With a bit of effort, Jack tore his gaze away and turned toward the computer that Tira kept
on her desk. The power cord to her computer was disconnected, just like she said. It was
still connected to the wall, but the part that connected to the actual console had been
yanked free and was lying in a shapeless mess a couple of feet away. He really should get
some of those wire covers that kept people from tripping.

He picked up the plug and inserted it back into its proper place, then allowed the computer
to boot up. He sat down in Tira's chair with his elbows on the desk and his head propped up
in his hands, and waited. As he waited, he felt a pair of hands rest gently on his
shoulders. He looked up to see Diane standing over him.

"You looked so pensive when we came back that I thought it'd be best to leave you to your
thoughts," she explained as she let her arms slide down to where she was now hugging him
from behind. "You shouldn't blame yourself. You had no way of knowing."

The computer beeped.

"As much as I wanted to protect her from danger, it ended up finding her anyway," he said
quietly, without moving. He then turned toward her, his expression distraught. "I almost
lost her, Diane. Even though she managed to survive, the fact remains that I almost lost
her. That scares me more than anything."

"Jack, I know she's like a daughter to you, but you can't try to always protect her for her
entire life." She straightened and dragged a chair over, then sat next to him while placing
a comforting hand on his. "She's nineteen, Jack. A young adult. In two years, she'll become
a full-fledged adult. You can't keep protecting her forever, or she'll never really grow as
a woman."

The computer completed its boot process and displayed its logon screen.

"I know," Jack sighed quietly as he turned toward her and smiled sadly. "You know, there
are times when I wonder what Lee and Tasha would say about how I'm raising their daughter."

Diane took both of Jack's hands in hers and looked him straight in the eyes. "It's obvious
that you care for Tira just as if she was your own flesh-and-blood daughter. That's all any
parent could want for their child."

He stared back at her for a few moments more until he smiled again, only this smile held
more warmth than his last. "Thank you, Diane."

"Now, shall we get to recovering that file that Tira wanted us to look at?" she suggested.

Jack nodded, turned toward the computer, and logged in. Once the login process completed, he
began to search through the folders that Tira usually kept the stuff she downloaded in.

"Hmm... mp3, mp3, a couple of JPEG images, a movie clip, a few more mp3s... ah! Here we are."

"Are you sure, Jack?" she asked, frowning questioningly at the monitor. "It looks like
nothing but a bunch of numbers with an unknown file extention. It might just be a temp file,
or maybe a corrupted file...." She blanched as the thought hit her. "You don't think that it
might be...."

He shook his head and shrugged helplessly. "I can't tell. From what I can guess, it's either
that, or this file can only be read using the program that made it." He frowned and glared
at the offending file on the monitor. "However, we do know that Tira had read it."

"So, you think it might be corrupted?" Diane asked dispairingly.

"Maybe," he said tentatively. "But, I'm not sure. I think we should take a copy of it to
Christy anyway. If she can't figure out a way to view it, then we'll just have to keep on
going without it."

"I suppose so," she agreed as she stood up. "I don't want to waste any more time than I have
to. Both Hotaru and Ryoku must be so scared right now...."

Jack copied the file to a Zip disk and ejected it from the computer. "Then, as soon as we
finish with Christy, we'll depart for the location of the next Nijizuishou crystal: Tokyo,
Japan." He removed the disk and handed it to Diane, who slipped it into her purse as he stood
up after turning off the computer.

"Let's go."

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

"So, let me see it," Christy requested as she held out her hand.

Jack blinked as he handed her the disk. "That's it? Just 'Let me see it?'"

Christy turned her swivel chair around and gave him a stern look. "Do you think I've
forgotten why you're doing this, Jack? I've already overlooked some of the legal boundries
you may have crossed, you know."

He nodded and sighed in a put-upon way. "Yes, I know. And we're both grateful. I really do
owe you one for this Christy, and I mean in a big way."

Diane gave her a grateful look. "We both do," she added.

"Don't sweat it," Christy said as she turned toward her computer and slipped the disk in.
"It's for a good cause. And besides, to me, Jack, you're still a cop. And we look after our
own."

"Thanks, Christy."

A new window popped up on the monitor, displaying the file in question. "Anytime, Jack."
After a few mouse clicks, the file's properties were promptly displayed on the screen.
"Hmm... interesting...."

"What is it?" Diane asked hopefully.

"I was just looking at the file size," she told her. "It's kinda big. We're talking megs,
here, not Ks. Makes me wonder, if this used to be a document, there has to be a lot of stuff
in here. I'm guessing this used to be either a database, or a slide presentation. Documents
rarely are this big, unless they have embedded images galore. Still, I find that highly
unlikely. After all, if a company wants to disseminate a large amount of information which
would include graphical examples and such, a slide presentation is the way to go, and those
babies are huge, especially when the creator wants to get fancy and add transition effects.
But, I digress."

"You sure as hell did," Diane remarked dryly.

"Sorry," Christy apologized. "I tend to ramble while I'm thinking. It's a bad habit, I know."
She tapped the screen which showed the file's filename. "Now, here. This is the filename
compressed down to the DOS 8.3 naming convention; eight alphanumerics and three for the
extention. Now, I know that no such program uses such an extention, but what caught my
attention is this-" She tapped on the dollar sign beginning the extention. "-and this." She
tapped on the underscore ending the extention.

"What about them?" Diane asked.

"Now, the dollar sign is usually used for temp files created when editing files such as
documents, spreadsheets, databases, and so on. This temp file is where the editing is done,
while the original file is locked so as not to be accidentally deleted while being edited.
Now, the underscore is commonly used for compressed installation files which are uncompressed
and copied upon installation of your operating system."

There was much blinking.

"Okay... long story short. I think that the underscore was put there intentionally, in case
someone stumbled onto the file by accident. Person thinks, 'Oh, it's just a useless file,'
and moves on. When someone who knows what they're doing comes across the file, they can
change the extention, view it, work on it, whatever, then change it back.

"This file must be the temp file that was created when the original file was open. However,
when the power was cut off, the file remained in memory and became a permanent temp file.
However, one thing puzzles me... you said that this was the only file you found. Where's the
original? You should've had an original from which the temp file came from...."

"This was all that was there," Jack told her. "Everything else was the same thing that had
always been there."

Christy grimaced. "Well, then there's only one thing left to do. Make a copy and try to open
it. Let's see what we can come up with. First thing's first. Open it with a text editor and
look for text."

After opening the file and scanning through the contents, she sighed and closed the file.
"Good news, bad news."

"Bad first," Jack requested.

"I can't restore this file 100%," she confirmed. "The good news is, I have a contact who can.
But there's a problem; I won't be able to get his help for free."

"He wants money?" Diane asked with a sigh. "Well, I could try, but I don't know how much I
can offer. I don't exactly have access to FBI funds at this moment...."

"Actually, there are two other ways to get his help," she explained. "The first way is with
money, of course. The second, is with... well...."

"Let me guess: sexual favors?" Diane asked flatly. "Hell... no. My body's not for sale, thank
you."

"Of course," Christy recovered quickly. "Not that I would ever suggest it, of course. Anyway,
the third, and hardest of all, is to offer the guy a challenge worthy of his... 'leet
skills', as he calls them."

"A hacker," Jack said.

"The guy helped teach me most of what I know," she told him. "And he's an ex-hacker. Went
legit after almost being busted on a unauthorized access charge that would've taken away his
computer access for life. He swore off the hardcore stuff and now works as a information
systems security consultant. He still dabbles - to keep his edge, he claims - so, he's as
good as you can find without having to resort to more... dubious assistance."

"What's the guy's name?" Jack asked.

"His name is Shingo Tsukino, but he's known around the hacker cliques as 'Signal'."

"I was expecting something more... hacker-like," Diane said, slightly disappointed.

"It's a joke on his first name. 'Shingo' means 'signal' in Japanese. You know, like a traffic
signal? Besides, as he once told me, 'names are only for identifying the person with the
deed. A person with a great name and no great deeds to back it up is a pathetic fool.' Seeing
what he can do, I tend to agree with him."

"Well, if you're sure he can do the job...," Diane said as she moved to stand up. "But, can
you trust him?"

"I've known the guy since he was still in high school. I think we can trust him."

"Okay, then," she said as she stood up. Jack stood with her. "We'll leave the disk with you.
You have my cell phone number, so can you please call me as soon as you can arrange something
with Mr. Tsukino. I don't know exactly what I can offer, but whatever I have to offer is his
if this information can help me put a stop to whoever is behind Hotaru and Ryoku's
kidnapping."

Christy nodded. "I'll see what I can do. Good luck on your end. Both of you." She reached out
to shake both of their hands. "Take care of each other out there."

"We will," they replied together, then left.

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

Dian e halted in mid-step as she went past the automatic sliding doors that made up one of the
many airport entrances that dottede the massive complex. "Wait, Jack," she said hesitantly.

Jack stopped and turned back toward his companion. "Something wrong?"

"I just thought of something. Do you remember where Tira said the Blue Nijizuishou was?"

"Yeah. Tokyo. What's the problem?"

Diane's frown remained thoughtful as she started to walk again. "Well, our man certainly
knows that we're after him, now. Since we spent so much time here, and since it's going to be
a long flight...."

Jack grimaced as he figured out what Diane was getting at. "...he might've gotten the Blue
Nijizuishou and left for the next one by the time we get there," he finished.

"That's right," she agreed. "Even if it's in a museum with guards, he's already shown that
he can break into a museum with little effort."

"Like in Madrid." He folded his arms and stopped, leaning against the wall as he thought.
"So, right now, it might be pointless to go to Tokyo after him."

"I've made the mistake of trying to catch him right on his heels, only to warn him that we're
chasing after him," she continued, her countenance grim with regret. "I won't make that
mistake again."

"So, what's the game plan? Do we go to Hong Kong to warn Ms. Kaiou that her Nijizuishou might
be stolen?"

She shook her head. "No. He has too much of a head start on us, now that he knows that he's
being pursued. We'll have to warn her, but leave it to her to protect her crystal however
she can. This's not about the crystals to me; this is about finding Hotaru and Ryoku. I'm
not about to let our man get away a second time. I'll need time to prepare a proper trap for
him.

"We're heading to Australia, Jack," she declared as she walked determinedly past him,
toward the ticket counters. "One way or another, I want our chase to end in Sydney, even if
I have to steal the Violet Nijizuishou myself and hold it ransom from him."

Jack started, almost stumbling behind her. "You're not serious about that stealing part,
right?"

"Have you forgotten, Jack?" she said, stopping as she turned and gave him a beleaguered look.
"I've been cut off from all F.B.I. assistance, remember? It's not like I can ask the curator
to borrow the crystal in order to bargain with our man."

"But, are you REALLY going to try and steal the crystal, just to have a bargaining chip?"

"I promised that I would find Souichi's daughter and her boyfriend," she stated firmly. "I
will do whatever it takes to fulfill that promise, no matter what."

Jack nodded, then tilted his head as he grinned impishly. "Well, even so, you still might
need someone to watch your back... even if you decide to go steal that crystal. Might be too
big a job for just one person, you know?"

Diane just stared at him for a moment, then walked up to him an lightly kissed him on the
cheek. "You're so sweet, you know that?" she said, then walked past him, toward the ticket
counters once again. "Let's go get our tickets."

As she walked toward the ticket counters, Jack just stood and stared after her in complete
amazement while slowly raising a hand toward his face.

"You coming, Jack?" Diane called out her shoulder without stopping.

He quickly snapped out of his shock and started after her.

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

Midni ght.

He always did his best work at midnight.

There was no time to properly case the museum. Those two were probably still after him, so
he had to work fast. He hated that, since rushing things always led to sloppiness. A slip of
a hand, accidently triggering an alarm. Forgetting a tool, which could possibly be traced
back to him, directly or indirectly. Being spotted by security guards. Any one of those could
land him in a whole mess of trouble.

He had to work quick, but he had to be careful. Additionally, he had to plan as he went
along. Fortunately, he had some experience in that.

And so, he took a deep breath and jumped off the roof of the building across from the museum
and opened his parachute.

As the building was three times as tall as the museum, he had enough space to allow his
parachute to open enough to slow his decent from lethal to just dangerous. The problem was
that unless he could manipulate his decent properly, he wouldn't be able to decend far enough
forward to hit the roof of the museum. The visibility of the parachute wasn't a problem - the
material was pitch black, so it wouldn't be too noticeable against the night sky. The night
lights were a problem, but he couldn't control everything and he had no more time left to
prepare.

Several anxious moments later, Jed touched ground upon the roof of the museum, hitting hard
enough to produce a heavy grunt as he tumbled to the floor while the parachute cloth
collapsed. He pushed himself up and quickly rushed to the side of the roof to see if there
was anyone staring over at where he landed and wondering what was happening. No one seemed to
have noticed. Feeling relieved, he reached up to unbuckle the parachute, then quickly began
gathering up the parachute material. Once it was gathered up, he quickly shoved it into the
backpack and stuffed the backpack in some remote spot where it wouldn't be easily found. He
wouldn't have time to retrive it, so that would have to do.

With all that done, he turned his attention toward the glass window panes sticking up from
the roof floor. It was almost a requirement for museums to have such windows in order to
bring in natural daylight to light up their exhibits, as natural daylight seemed to be
preferred over direct lighting for aesthetical reasons. However, such panes were like a weak
point in an otherwise secure location.

First, some reconnaissance. From this location, he could actually see the Nijizuishou
crystal. Its display was a short distance from being directly underneath the window. It
would've been so much easier if it had been directly underneath, but things never did seem to
turn out that way.

Watching for two hours revealed that the guards seemed to stop by the display every half
hour. It wasn't exact, but they usually showed up within five minutes from the hour mark. So,
depending on when the guard made his or her last check, he would have between twenty to forty
minutes to take the Nijizuishou and go. Not too bad, but it seemed to be cutting things a
little close.

A quick infrared check with his IR goggles showed some alarm beams covering the window panes,
however, they were spaced too far apart to be of any use against an expert like himself. The
corner seemed like a good entry point. Around the display was several beams stacked seven
feet high. There was just barely enough space to squeeze through in mid-air, but he didn't
have the skill to pull it off yet. As good as he was, there were still limits to his skill.
The answer to his problem lay with the large metal sculpture standing next to it. Once
inside, he could leap off of the Nijizuishou display and make it back over the top.

Yes, that could work. But, he would have to work fast. He would give himself twenty minutes
at the least, but he should be able to pull everything off in that amount of time.

He pulled out his glasscutter and carved a curved section out of the corner of one of the
panes, making sure not to cross the boundries of one of the infrared alarm beams. Once the
section was cut, he brought out his rope, which had a grappling anchor attached, and anchored
it to the window frame. After a few tugs and a little bit of applied pressure using his foot,
he was satisfied that his anchor would hold.

All that was left to do was wait. The guard would be arriving shortly.

As soon as the guard made his scheduled appearance, Jed went flat on his stomach and quietly
watched. For the moment, the guard seemed to be at ease. He had no reason to glance up at
the window, but he didn't want to take any chances. Besides, the slight alteration he made to
the window shouldn't be noticeable from a distance. The ceiling had to be a good five
hundred feet up. He was safe for the most part.

There. The guard was turning to leave the exhibit room. Now was his chance.

He waited two minutes to make sure that the guard wasn't returning, then tossed the rope down
to the floor. It hit with a quiet tap. He then climbed over the window frame and slowly
lowered himself down onto the rope, making sure that his earlier assessment of the rope
wasn't a mistake.

The rope held. He quickly slid down to the floor.

Now was the hard part. He slipped his IR goggles and gauged the beam fence surrounding the
Nijizuishou exhibit. Once he made sure of the height in his mind, he went over to the metal
sculpture and checked it to make sure it wouldn't move. Seeing that it was anchored with a
two-foot thick, fifty by fifty-foot steel block, he was certain that it would hold.

He took a running leap and planted his right foot on a flat portion of the sculpture. The
section gave slightly, but it held enough for him to shift his weight and push off toward the
exhibit. He kept his eye on the highest beam as he sailed over in an inverted high-jump track
style, face-down rather than face-up. His right foot almost brushed the beam, but he quickly
noticed and pulled up just in time to barely miss it. With a quick mid-air flip, he landed in
a crouch, his knees stinging a little from landing from such a high distance. He quickly
stood up and strode over to the display, tools out and ready.

A quick check showed that the casing itself was locked and protected. Any attempts at
lockpicking would set off an alarm. The casing was also locked and bolted to the floor.
However, since the casing was made of glass....

He looked over the display inside, making sure that there were no interal safety measures.
There didn't seem to be any, but he decided to proceed with caution, should one come up when
least expected. He would deal with them as they came.

Once his glasscutter did its work, he gently removed the square panel from the display and
reached inside. Ten minutes gone, ten to go.

Instead of grabbing the crystal like an amateur, he lifted up the fabric covering the
display. There it was. A pressure-sensitive alarm trigger.

But that was exactly why he had a fake crystal made with exactly the same weight as the
original.

He reached into his pocket and brought out the fake Nijizuishou. With a deft, practiced hand,
he knocked the true Nijizuishou off of its perch while letting the fake one rest in the same
position that the first one had occupied. He made sure that at no time the weight being felt
by trigger increased or decreased. That would set it off and land him in a whole world of
trouble.

Once the Nijizuishou was in his hand, he applied some quick-drying adhesive to the glass
panel he cut and set it back into the display. There were still telltale signs that the glass
had been cut, but a casual glance would show that nothing was wrong. He would be counting on
the guards lack of alertness until his escape.

After placing the crystal in his pocket, where the fake crystal had rested earlier, he jumped
onto the top of the display, being careful not to jar it too much, causing the crystal to
fall off its display and set off an alarm, and leaped over the infrared beams once again.
Once again, no problems.

Eighteen minutes down. Cutting it close.

He wasted no time running toward the rope, but he didn't dare jump toward it. That could set
off the alarms up near the window. No mistakes this late in the game. Complacence was not an
option.

He was breathing heavily from exertion when he pulled himself up over the window frame and
out onto the roof. He turned around and started pulling up the rope, straight up, hand-over-
hand, making sure that the rope didn't sway over toward any of the alarm beams. He had
already passed the twenty minute marker and a guard could be coming any minute now. Once the
last of the rope was in his hand, he gathered it up and made his way to where he hid the
backpack. He quickly stuffed his gear in with the parachute and hid the bulky pack once
again. He could always get new gear. The important thing was to get away without being
noticed. Now that he was out of his black stealth gear, he was less conspicuous.

Looking over the edge of the roof where the ladder leading to the ground was located at, he
saw that there was no sign of anyone around. No sign of any patrolling guards. A glance
around the walls showed that there was two security cameras. They were motion cameras, but
after watching them go through one cycle, he noticed that they had a blind spot. And that he
could run from that blind spot to cover before the cameras could spot him.

It took no time for him to slide down the ladder to the ground and reach the blind spot. Once
the cameras were turned away, he sprinted as fast as he could toward the next building. He
had plenty of time before the camera would turn toward him again.

The moment he reached the parking lot of the next building, he knew he was clear. He
leisurely strolled toward his car and got in, then pulled out the Blue Nijizuishou crystal.

"Five down, two more to go," he said with a satisfied smirk on his face.

The car started and pulled out of the parking lot, heading toward the freeway. And from
there, the airport.

He had no time to waste. He would get the last two Nijizuishou crystals, and he would get
them now.

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

To Chapter 34

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

Author' s Note: I bet you'd've never expected this fic to include Shingo, of all people, did
you? How's that for being different? Mwahahahaha! Anyway, things are picking up once again.
No time to waste; I'm gonna try and finish this up as soon as I can, but not without
sacrificing the storyline, of course. I needed to make things move a little bit faster in the
movie section of the story, so I'll try and get back with Serena and Darien next chapter.
Wait and see. Things will get more interesting before the end. Next chapter: Arrival in
Sydney; Christy meets with Shingo; Ryoku makes an escape attempt; and a surprise from the
past awaits Serena.

P.S.: Oops. Typed 'world' instead of 'whole'. Looked like I typed 'world' twice. Silly me.

Disclaimer: All original materials belong to their respective
owners. Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi and a bunch
of big companies. No copyright infringement is intended. This
story belongs to Moonsong and myself, and I would appreciate
you emailing her or myself for permission before posting it
anywhere else. Thank you.

Prologue Copyright © January 24, 2000 Moonsong.
Other Chapters Copyright © August 12, 2000 Jason Ulloa.
All Rights Reserved.