INTERLUDE Establishing Shot: Darkness. YURI (V.O.) WHISPERED Kei? BEAT Kei? KEI (V.O.) FLAT What. YURI (V.O.) I can't sleep. There is a long silent moment. KEI (V.O.) Try again. Try harder. YURI (V.O.) How are you supposed to try hard to sleep? KEI (V.O.) I don't know, but I'd guess that it involves *not* talking to your roommate who is also trying to sleep. YURI (V.O.) So you're having trouble getting to sleep too? There is another long silent moment, broken by the sound of something hitting a wall repeatedly. YURI (V.O.) What was that? KEI (V.O.) What do you *think*? Me hitting my head against the wall! SHOUTS Lights! The lights come up, revealing their bedchamber. KEI has the top bunk, YURI has the bottom. They are dressed in flannel pyjamas. KEI Why are you having trouble sleeping? YURI We haven't been able to get any more information about the situation, and it's starting to worry me ... KEI We've gone into situations without knowing anything before this, Yuri. YURI And what always happened? KEI QUICK Nothing that was ever our fault. YURI But we always looked like idiots. KEI Which wasn't our fault. YURI suddenly jumps up onto KEI's bunk, and KEI scrambles out of the way. YURI looks at KEI intensely and holds her hand out. YURI Let's *do* it. KEI stares at the hand, not comprehending, and blinks. Suddenly, understanding dawns. KEI Oh! The psychic thing! Right! I thought ... never mind. KEI takes YURI's hand in her own, and they both concentrate fiercely. Cut to a shot of Earth from space. A gentle song can be heard being sung in many faint voices. Suddenly, burning cracks cut across the Earth, causing the song to become a scream. The cracks pulse outward, and the Earth explodes. A horrific laugh is heard. WOMAN'S VOICE I! WINNNNNNNNNN! More laughter. Cut to KEI and YURI. KEI suddenly jerks back, a horrified look on her face. KEI `I win'? What the -- YURI Is that what happens if we go along with the plan ... or if we give up on it? An Inevitable Outcome Feature Written and Directed by C. Richard Davies TOGETHER AGAIN 2937 Chapter Based on the works of Naoko Takeuchi, Rumiko Takahashi, Suzuki Toshimichi, Haruka Takachiho, Hiroki Hayashi, Yuuki Masami, and various interpretations therof. Dedicated to Gryphon, MegaZone, and ReRob. And to Ellen DeGeneres. (Even if it *is* intended as a ratings ploy.) ACT FOUR Establishing Shot: The emergency room from the previous Act, now in shadows. Everyone and everything is at rest. In the distance, we can hear a clicking noise. A door slides open, and MERCURY steps in, deliberately moving quietly ... and pausing as she hears the noise. She turns towards an office space, under the door of which we can see a faint green light. MERCURY frowns, and heads slowly towards the door. She pauses, listening, for a moment, and then suddenly flings the door open. JUPITER, her left arm in a sling, is seated behind a desk, looking up at a holographic display that hovers above the desk, working a mouse with her free hand. She looks impassively at MERCURY, who is startled to see her. MERCURY Lita, I'm glad that you're up and about, but you really should get your rest. JUPITER The truth doesn't rest. There is a long pause. MERCURY Have you any idea how corny that sounds? JUPITER NODS But it's accurate, somewhat. There was a breach in our security yesterday, and it's my job to under- stand why it happened, so that we can make sure it can never happen again. BEAT So I can't sleep. MERCURY I see. Well, what have you figured out? JUPITER It's not so much figuring -- that's your department -- as it's putting the pieces that we have together, and trying to see just what sort of picture they present. BEAT And I can say that it's a very ugly one, Amy. A very, very ugly one. JUPITER taps a control, and the holographic display twists to present itself to MERCURY's view. It's RYOUGA's medical information. MERCURY lifts an eyebrow. MERCURY You really should not be prying into my patients' medical -- JUPITER Hibiki Ryouga. Born 1977. Victim of a Jyusenkyo curse, the exact details of which have been kept under a privacy seal that I couldn't crack. BEAT And also not, as our intelligence had led us to believe for quite some time, a vampire. In fact, his exceptional longevity is the result of having partaken of mermaid's flesh. But not in the most common form of that very rare condition -- eating mermaid's flesh and risking transformation into an inhuman entity -- but through an occult ritual involving replacing one's liver with a mermaid's liver. BEAT There are three main drawbacks to the ritual. One -- the subject must be dead before the ritual begins. Two -- the subject will be driven by an uncontrollable urge to consume the livers of other beings. And three, which is the most crippling -- all the memories of the new immortal's life before his or her transformation will be lost. MERCURY I know all this. JUPITER clicks the control again, and the display changes to a page of text with a diagram of a human body, indicating the exact location of the liver. JUPITER You should. The section on mermaid flesh in "Means of Immortality", your first major work of magickal scholarship, is very complete. BEAT But the connection might be overlooked except for one little fact. Hibiki said that *we* created him. MERCURY The ravings of a madman would have little weight in court. JUPITER ANGRY God's sake, Amy, this isn't a matter of courts! BEAT And if I've learned one thing from all this it has to be that Hibiki wasn't insane. Dedicated, fanatical, possibly even obsessed -- but very, very sane. BEAT I know that I didn't do this. I wouldn't know where to start. Raye might know, but she'd never do something like this. Mina -- no. If Serenity wants someone to be immortal, she can use the Silver Crystal. I'd guess that Pluto has her own ways. We both know where Saturn is. BEAT And that leaves you. And you know how. MERCURY has made her face a mask. She stares silently at JUPITER. MERCURY What do you want me to say? JUPITER I want to know why, Amy. MERCURY is silent, staring down at the floor for a long moment. MERCURY Lights. The lights in the darkened office come up to full power. MERCURY looks up, and we can see that her eyes are beginning to water. MERCURY It was ... the early 2050s. We had just perfected the braindump based on what we learned from the Sigma Narses probe -- the entire mind of a human being, contained on a single optical disc. And a decade before, Romanova ... Nene ... had given us a way to look at magic that we could use within the scientific paradigm. BEAT We all experimented with our powers, didn't we? JUPITER NOD That was when I discovered my ultimate attack. MERCURY I developed most of the techniques I ... derived from Neptune at that time, as well. BEAT But most of my enthusiasm went towards discovering -- or maybe rediscovering -- the workings of the magical science of the Silver Millenium. BEAT It was around then that he came into my life. JUPITER looks as though she's about to say the name, but MERCURY holds up a hand as she gathers her thoughts. MERCURY He was as slow to age as any who are subjected to a curse from those pools -- or are the originators of them, but that's another story. But his rival had blundered into true immortality with our help. JUPITER He got you to take sides. MERCURY I didn't think it would be that way. I hoped to help him deal with his obsessions. But as I worked with him ... he's so sweet, Lita. So very gen-- JUPITER stands up with the aid of a cane, and stares at MERCURY. MERCURY When he's not in battle. BEAT In any event, after I finished doing the research for the book, he asked me if there was really no way to preserve a subject's mind after the Mermaid's Liver Ritual. I thought about it, and I realized that the mind of a person newly resurrected by the ritual wasn't all that different from the mind of a newly grown clone ... and since we had been preparing to play back brain- tapes onto clones for at least twenty years ... BEAT We made a recording of his mind, and I promised that after he died, I'd use the ritual to bring him back, as an immortal, and upload the recording onto his brain. And then he went on his way. BEAT I didn't find out that I was pregnant until he'd been gone a week. JUPITER Oh, Amy. MERCURY continues as though she had not heard. MERCURY He came back sooner than he'd expected -- there was a plague on the colony where he'd been training. There wasn't even time for an update of the braintape. BEAT He died. I view what happened next as heroic measures. CLOSES EYES JUPITER You performed the ritual, and played the braintape back onto his brain. BEAT What went wrong? MERCURY I thought ... I really thought ... that it would be resurrection. Not cloning. BEAT He came back, but there was a coldness in him now. The gentleness was still there, so was the fire ... but they weren't the same. Before the operation, I hadn't had time to tell him about our child. Afterwards ... I didn't want to. MERCURY's eyes open, and they are swimming with tears as she looks at JUPITER, who gazes back with a gentle expression. MERCURY BROKENLY I was *just* trying to do the *right* thing! MERCURY begins to sob, and JUPITER rushes forward to gather her in an embrace. JUPITER I know, Amy. Believe me, I know. Eventually, MERCURY has calmed down. She rests in JUPITER's arms, her face bleak. MERCURY What are you going to do? JUPITER's face is also bleak. JUPITER What can I do? This situation was out of control from the minute it started. You were only fulfilling your duty as you saw it. I can't judge you. BEAT You're going to have to tell Serenity. MERCURY shudders. JUPITER Amy! You don't think she'll punish you for something like this ... MERCURY No. Worse. She'll *look* at me. BEAT Those eyes that are so like Serena's and so unalike will look at me, and see right through me ... and then she'll forgive me. BEAT And that will be worse than anything ... JUPITER nods, and leans on MERCURY as they start to walk out of the room. MERCURY I suppose I should be glad that Raye wasn't here for this ... I can just imagine her reaction. Cut to a close up of RAYE sneezing. The scene changes to show RAYE sitting across a chessboard from SHAMPOO in a posh room. A window shows the stars. SHAMPOO Someone talking about you? RAYE Guess so ... She gazes intensely at the chessboard, and finally moves a white knight. SHAMPOO Intriguing. RAYE Um-hm. SHAMPOO Check in two. RAYE ANGRY Explain! SHAMPOO demonstrates, smiling superiorly, by moving a black pawn within striking range of the knight. She then moves the knight to capture the pawn, which leaves the white queen open to another black pawn. RAYE opens her mouth to protest, but SHAMPOO holds up a hand. She replaces the knight ... and then moves the black queen to take it, imperiling the black queen but once more leaving the white queen open to the black pawn. RAYE fumes. SHAMPOO returns the board to its state just after RAYE's last move, and smiles even wider. SHAMPOO Pa-ass. RANMA (O.S.) Would you mind telling me why you're wasting time playing that dumb game? SHAMPOO turns smiling (but her smile doesn't reach her eyes) to look at RANMA, who is sitting in front of a large picture window that shows a distant, slowly retreating Earth and moon, and beyond them, the sun. SHAMPOO How do you think I ought to waste my time, *husband*? RANMA Don't *call* me that. SHAMPOO's smile drops. SHAMPOO You are coming of your own free will to Mars, Saotome Ranma. The minute that your feet touch Martian soil, you are *mine*. BEAT There's not a court on Mars that would fail to uphold my claim to be your wife. If I feel like it, I can drag you before one of the Martian Elders, and demand that we be bound once and for all. RANMA I'd rather die, thanks. SHAMPOO I'm aware of that. So I'm not going to press the issue this time, if you don't push. RANMA shakes his head, almost amazed. RANMA You don't get it, do you? How can I *not* push after what you've done? BEAT Not four hours ago, you admitted to having been happy at the *murder* -- SHAMPOO SOFT Execution. RANMA -- of the only other woman I've ever loved anywhere *nearly* as much as Akane -- after which you informed me that Ucchan had been responsible for *her* death, without any sort of explanation as to how this absurdity took place! SHAMPOO You weren't ready to listen to an explanation then. RANMA jumps up and looms in front of SHAMPOO. RANMA SNARL I'm ready to listen *now*. RAYE studies the chessboard intensely as she speaks. RAYE No you aren't. You're ready to yell denunciations and beat people up. Listening isn't part of that. RANMA stares at her. RANMA Do you *mind*? RAYE looks up and glowers at RANMA. RAYE Yes. I do mind. You see, Shampoo's sort of a friend of mine, and you're sort of someone I don't care one way or another about. RANMA Do you have any idea what -- RAYE Sort of *hell* she made your life in Nerima? BEAT Yes, she's told me about it. I find a lot of things that she did reprehensible -- SHAMPOO And I like you too. RAYE pauses to poke her tongue out at SHAMPOO. RAYE -- but I believe in letting bygones be bygones. BEAT I'm not going to tell you to listen and mark well what she has to tell you, Saotome. If I didn't have a healthy respect for your brains, I'd tell you to do the opposite, trusting in your learned stubborness. RANMA glowers at RAYE, who meets his gaze calmly. Blue lightning crackles out from his eyes to a point halfway between their faces. Nothing comes from RAYE's eyes. RAYE SNEERS Not in *this* lifetime. RANMA crosses his arms over his torso, and turns to look down at SHAMPOO. RANMA Please, please, please tell me. SHAMPOO How can I refuse such a sincerely phrased request? BEAT Picture it: Japan, 1983. RANMA Oh, for godsake ... SHAMPOO SMILE Let Shampoo tell story own way? Japan, 1983. Two young martial artists meet. A crayon drawing of a superdeformed version of Ranma and Ukyou appears on the screen and tinny music plays under SHAMPOO's narration. SHAMPOO (V.O.) Each is the sole heir to their families' schools of kempo -- what the Chinese call ch'uan-fa, and the Westerners have called kung fu. Each young fighter is capable and proud. Needless to say, they are off to a rocky start. With tinny battle cries, the SD Ranma and Ukyou charge each other, and the animation displays chaotic violence. Eventually, SD Ranma is stting on SD Ukyou's shoulders, grinning. SD Ukyou cries tears of frustration. SHAMPOO (V.O.) And it only got worse ... Quick series of shots from Ukyou's arrival episode of Ranma 1/2 ... Genma running off with the Okonomiyaki cart, Chibi-Ranma waving bye-bye, Chibi-Ukyou chasing after them and falling down in the dirt, Chibi-Ukyou silently bearing the whispers of her classmates, Chibi-Ukyou cooking okonomiyaki against the raging sea. SHAMPOO (V.O.) So, because she was dumped by a suitor while in kindergarten, and teased about it, she elected to abandon her gender and live as male. Cut back to SHAMPOO's dubious yet amused expression. SHAMPOO Doesn't that seem a little ... over the top? RANMA Say *what*? You, who chased me over most of China, have the *nerve* to suggest that what she did was -- SHAMPOO This isn't *about* me. This isn't *about* what I did or didn't do. Please don't interrupt. BEAT Near the end of your first year in Nerima, she caught you, but you made her forget the years that she'd spent hating you by telling her that she was cute. BEAT This caused her to reclaim her original gender, and to abandon her plans to beat the crap out of you. An easily deterred girl ... RANMA snorts. SHAMPOO Over the next year and a half, she tried many schemes to eliminate the one that she saw as her primary competition for your heart -- Akane -- from the game. She was, it must be said, less violent in her aims than ... others, but -- RANMA Like, say, *you*. SHAMPOO sighs, and counts to ten in Mandarin. She smiles, and picks up where she left off -- accented. SHAMPOO But still show no respect for what Ranma want -- only think of what she want. True, try to match Akane with Ryouga ... but think Ryouga dumb! BEAT All come to boil at wedding that parents of Ranma plan -- Ukyou go after Akane with death in -- RANMA THAT WASN'T HER FAULT! SHAMPOO stares at RANMA, calmly. RANMA glowers. SHAMPOO You want tell part this? RANMA BEAT A few weeks before the fight with Saffron ... Ucchan got really sick. Everyone thought it was just flu and overwork ... but it wasn't. It was a disease that attacked her mind ... BEAT When she attacked Akane, that wasn't really her, it was the sickness ... but Konatsu made her go to a psychiatrist, and she got better. A little while later, she explained what had happened ... Ucchan was so upset! She couldn't even bring herself to talk to Akane, she was so horrified at what she'd done. BEAT; ANGRY You see? She had an excuse for what she did, Shampoo! What's *yours*?! SHAMPOO stares at him angrily. SHAMPOO I am a warrior. I live my life according to a Way. That Way demands that you be my husband -- regardless of what *I* think about the matter -- and that those who would oppose our union must die or be eliminated in another way. I do *not* intend to apologize for my Way, Saotome Ranma. I do not ask for any to justify their Way to me. RANMA What do you mean, what *you* think, what about what *I* -- SHAMPOO You think I *want* a lying, foul- tempered, sex-changing freak for a husband? RANMA jerks back from the venom in SHAMPOO's tone. When she speaks next, she imitates female RANMA's voice. SHAMPOO "I try to keep it secret, but the male side is just a disguise." RANMA opens his mouth ... then slowly closes it. RAYE looks slowly from one of them to the other. RAYE That was a little over the top, I think ... Cut to PRISS' sleeping face. There is a sudden, repeated buzzing noise. Her face clenches. The noise comes again. PRISS opens her eyes, and she's not happy. The noise comes once more. PRISS rolls over, picks up her cellular phone, and taps a button. PRISS Assisted-Suicide-on-Demand, please name your chosen mode of death and we'll be happy to facilitate your desires. NURIKO (TEL.) Ms. Asagiri? This is Lieutenant Nuriko. PRISS Why the hell are you calling me at ... CHECKS TIME six A.M? NURIKO (TEL.) We've had a breakthrough in the investigation. If you could come to the station at once -- PRISS Sure, sure, sure ... I'll be there in twenty minutes. NURIKO (TEL.) Than-- PRISS hangs up, yawns, and gets up out of bed. Cut to the posh room. RANMA, SHAMPOO, and RAYE have not moved since we left them. SHAMPOO In any event, not long after you became a bigamist, I felt compelled to investigate why Ukyou had not attempted to interfere in your final wedding to Akane. My investigation was rather profitable -- I found out all that you have related to us. RANMA You did? SHAMPOO Or, to be more accurate, I found out that that was what Ukyou wanted you to believe was the case. BEAT The truth was similar, but contained a grave difference. Ukyou told you that she had been cured of her mental problems. That was not the complete case. She had been cured of the disease that had *caused* the mental problems. They themselves still troubled her. RANMA How'd you find out all -- SHAMPOO Most of it, I worked out from the files of information on her mental health that her `therapist' wrote, before she abandoned therapy. BEAT I stole them, and found out a lot more about her psychology than I ever wanted to know. SHAMPOO abruptly stands up, and walks to stare out the window. SHAMPOO It was awful. And the worst part was that I had no one to trust with the knowledge. You wouldn't have believed me. Obabasama would have told me to kill her -- to cut her down like a mad dog. But you would have defended her, and I knew that I was not ready to defeat you. I had found friends ... but I did not want to add to their burdens with this knowledge. BEAT So, I watched as she continued to enjoy your respect, while I was hated and despised. She even reconciled with Akane ... or at least, let Akane think that she was all right with matters. BEAT And then a certain group made the fatal mistake of offering her anti- agathics. RAYE It seemed like a good idea at the time. You, Ranma and Akane were naturally long-lived due to the Jyusenkyo. Lita and Ukyou became pretty good friends in the wake of the crisis in Nerima, and she was sponsored for agency ... and you sort of failed to warn us that she wasn't entirely sane. SHAMPOO I hoped that she'd die in your service. BEAT In any case, when you moved the Joketsuzoku to Mars in 2023, Ukyou came along, claiming that she was seeking her spatula- heir. In reality, she was seeking to learn our secret tech-- RANMA Oh, come *on*. If she'd wanted to learn the Joketsuzoku techniques, she could have asked *me*. SHAMPOO turns back to look pityingly at RANMA. SHAMPOO SIGH And you would have wanted to know *why* she wanted to learn how to do the Tenshin Amaurigaken with her spat, and she couldn't tell you that she was seeking to liberate you from the demon that secretly ruled your life, now could she? You would have misunderstood. BEAT In any event, Ukyou learned many of the secrets of my people. The years passed, and she aged only a little. By the mid-2040s the Joketsuzoku were joined on Mars by the first colonizers, and the Nu Ucchan's was one of the first restaurants opened in Graviton City. BEAT Another two decades passed ... and a pair of travellers from Earth came to visit an old friend. They didn't pay any calls on another old friend on Mars -- RANMA Because you weren't our friend! SHAMPOO -- and when you went to leave, the disaster occured. BEAT Why was it that you weren't on board the shuttle when it blew up, Ranma? RANMA I ... I was paged ... there was a call for me at one of the phones in the terminal ... SHAMPOO And why didn't the airport comm officer transfer the call to the phone on board the shuttle? BEAT I answer my own question -- he was bribed. RANMA How -- SHAMPOO I beat it out of him. RAYE looks at her with an exasperated expression. RANMA Okay ... so the phoney phone call that I got was a little irregular, you still can't tie Ucchan to any of this. SHAMPOO The man who bribed the comm officer worked at the Nu Ucchan's. He was also a known member of the Free Mars movement, which may have been why he was recruited, to throw an ordinary investigator off the scent. *I* wasn't fooled for a minute, of course. RANMA Of course. SHAMPOO So I went to ask Ukyou whether or not she'd done it. RANMA and RAYE stare at her, shocked. SHAMPOO She already knew that I hated her. I had nothing to lose but my life. BEAT She confessed to everything. RANMA You're out of your mind! SHAMPOO crosses the distance between them in an instant, and leans over him. SHAMPOO NO, Saotome, I'm *not*. She said, `Of course I blew up the shuttle that Akane was on, Shampoo.' RANMA She was making a j-- SHAMPOO You were still in the hospital from the blast! Do you think she would joke about something like that? RANMA If she was as insane as you're making her out to be -- SHAMPOO There was always a pattern to her acts, Ranma. She was completely, utterly, and psychotically dedicated to the vision of your well-being that she had conceived. BEAT I will not repeat those of her plans that she told me about that day. Suffice it to say that you would have gone mad within a year. RANMA And how the hell did this pattern include telling you all this? SHAMPOO She wanted to provoke me into challenging her. She believed that the techniques that she'd learned would give her the edge in our final conflict. BEAT That is to say, she *mistakenly* believed -- RANMA Why? SHAMPOO ticks off the points on her hand. SHAMPOO One. Eliminate one she saw as a rival -- even a potential one -- for your affections. Two. Eliminate one who was aware of her madness. Three. Ukyou really hated me. RANMA Okay, bright eyes, then how come you didn't challenge her? What happened to the Amazon "never-ever-back-down" way? SHAMPOO It learned a measure of subtlety, from the devious outlanders it came into contact with. RANMA makes sarcastic injured noises. SHAMPOO Since I knew that I could have made her into ramen with *very* little difficulty, knowing as I did the counter to every secret technique she had learnt, I chose to retreat instead. If I had dealt with her as I wanted to, I would have seemed to be in the wrong. Instead I made certain plans. RANMA's eyes bulge out. RANMA You did. My God, you *did*. You *did* set her up to fight Cologne! SHAMPOO stares at him impassively. Cut to TENCHI's sleeping face. His eyes slowly open, and he rolls over ... to see AYEKA's sleeping, smiling face. TENCHI is shocked. He starts to move out of AYEKA's clutches. AYEKA's eyes remain closed and her smile doesn't change as she speaks. AYEKA Don't move, Tenchi. I've waited long enough to get this close to you, I'm not letting you go just yet. TENCHI Ayeka ... AYEKA Do you remember how much I cried? TENCHI Yes, Ayeka. And each tear hurt me just as much as they did you ... AYEKA I know. BEAT I think you have two virtues that make one curse, Tenchi. An overly gentle nature and an iron sense of duty. I don't know how you manage to live with them both. TENCHI The same way that I was going to live with -- BEAT How can you forgive me? AYEKA I love you. It comes naturally. TENCHI You shouldn't do this sort of thing. AYEKA Nothing happened, Tenchi. TENCHI The scandal mongers wouldn't think so. AYEKA SAD Do you truly care so much for your -- TENCHI Not for mine. For yours. BEAT I love you too much to let them paint you as a concubine, Ayeka. It's bad enough having to watch them snub Ryouko because they think she's one. AYEKA FAINT I know. Just let me rest here in your arms ... AYEKA is silent for a moment after trailing off, and then begins to snore delicately. TENCHI smiles at her, and gently presses a kiss on her forehead, which makes her smile broaden. TENCHI leans back into the pillows. TENCHI SOTTO VOCE I wonder how she got Ryouko out of the way ... Cut to a balcony on the side of the Crystal Palace. It is a cold, gray morning. RYOUKO is perched on the railing, shivering slightly. RYOUKO "Meet you back at the balcony," she said. "We'll pick up where we left off," she said. "I liked the way the conversation was going," she said. BEAT I'll give her fifteen more minutes, and then I'm out of here. Cut to the posh room. SHAMPOO has not moved from where we left her, but RANMA has gotten up and is only being held back from doing her bodily harm by RAYE's held Mars Flame Sniper, with which she is targetting him. RAYE One move, one hint of a ki build up, Saotome, and we'll see just how immortal you really are. RANMA I can move faster than you can even think, Senshi. RAYE I don't *need* to think to let this go. BEAT Sit down. RANMA sits, his battle aura still very much in evidence. RANMA I can't believe you're letting a self-admitted murderer -- RAYE As I said. She's my friend. BEAT; MORE TO SHAMPOO THAN RANMA Even when she pulls surprises like *this* out of her bag of tricks without telling me about them ... SHAMPOO I was saving it for a rainy day ... RANMA You set Ucchan up to die. Yes or no? SHAMPOO One thing at a time, Ranma. BEAT You recovered in the Graviton City Hospital, under Ukyou's careful supervision. She eased you through the worst of your anguish at having lost Akane to the one opponent that you could not def-- RANMA SKIP THE GODDAMN POETRY! SHAMPOO Ukyou slowly but surely worked her way back into your heart. I don't know all the details of how you and she finally came together, and I don't want to. By 2065, the two of you were right on the verge of making it legal. BEAT And then the Senshi called you back to Earth for a final mission. RAYE decides that RANMA isn't going to attack SHAMPOO any time soon, and lets her Mars Flame Sniper down. Her hand is still glowing red. SHAMPOO It wasn't long after you left that Ukyou learned of her pregnancy. The mission proved to be of greater complexity than they had imagined, and you were so far undercover that you couldn't get in touch with Ukyou at all. The weeks stretched into months. Kuonji Gennosuke was born, January 16, 2066. And then the false news of your death in that secret martial arts tournament came to us. BEAT If I had been a bit wiser, I would have declared all debts null and void, told Ukyou to take your daughter and get the hell of Mars. But I wasn't. SHAMPOO turns to look back out at the stars, and the Earth (which is measurably smaller in the window than it had been). RANMA shifts in his seat, and RAYE glares at him. SHAMPOO Perhaps it was the thought of your daughter in a madwoman's care that made me do it. Perhaps it was just me being who and what I am. BEAT Decades before this, when I had first duelled Cologne to take her place on the council of Joketsuzoku elders, I had spared her life on one condition -- henceforth, in any battle that I held an interest in, she would win or lose as I saw fit. BEAT I told her the story that I have told you, and told her, when the time came, to win. A forged note from one of Ukyou's informants among the Joketsuzoku, saying "Cologne knows all", took care of the rest. SHAMPOO turns to look at RANMA, who is glaring at her with a fury unlike any that he's ever shown before. SHAMPOO And then, being you, you turned up alive, well, and more powerful than ever. And you were as angry then as you are now. RANMA Oh no. No I wasn't. SHAMPOO continues as if she hadn't heard him. Her eyes are far away. SHAMPOO The warriors of Cologne's school formed a human wall to keep you from her. You moved through them like a hot blade through butter, and stood before her at last. She had known you were coming -- and she was ready for you. BEAT The Martian heavens rang with the sound of your battle -- RANMA casually breaks the table and chess board by tapping it with a single finger. RANMA I know what happened. I was there. Skip the poetry, I said. SHAMPOO stares at the ruins of the table in shock. SHAMPOO How -- RANMA Practice. BEAT In short, what you're saying is that you set up the murder of a woman I loved, who had given birth to one of my children, because you *thought* that she had killed Akane. TO RAYE Great friend. You must feel special. RAYE looks at SHAMPOO with a faintly disturbed expression. RAYE Shampoo ... is this all there is? Is there anything that you can say in your defense? SHAMPOO is silent for a long moment. SHAMPOO One thing. BEAT Have you never wondered, Saotome Ranma, why it was that in the years between your marriage to Akane and my humbling of Cologne, that my attempts to ... interfere in your relationship decreased in number? RANMA ICILY At the time I thought you'd gotten it through your head that I wasn't interested. Evidently -- SHAMPOO shakes her head, and there is a long pause. SHAMPOO ACCENTED This part of story need be told this way. No can tell otherways. BEAT Realize, with final marriage, that Ranma love Akane. Is shock. Akane *beat* Shampoo in war of hearts. Should give kiss of death? No ... Ranma protect. Realize, after first week of marriage, that Akane only win *battle* of hearts. Not war. War can still be won. If Shampoo learn *how* Akane win battle, Shampoo prevent ever winning again. Stop fluke. So study Akane. Study carefully her ways. As SHAMPOO continues to speak, her accent becomes less and less distinctive, fading out completely in her final words. SHAMPOO Shampoo know already that Akane not equal in true battle. So how she win? Slowly, Shampoo came to see parts of Akane's person that she had not seen before. She saw kind nature, often hidden by rage that she was learning to control. She saw a courage equal to that of the bravest person that Shampoo had ever known. She saw someone that she could have liked ... if she wasn't in the way of what Shampoo thought she wanted. In the end, I saw someone ... that I wanted to be like. RANMA is staring at her, clearly bewhildered by this vocal performance. SHAMPOO So I went before the other Elders of the tribe, and told them the whole tale of my dealings with Saotome Ranma and Tendou Akane, and asked them to dissolve the three ties I had to you: the kisses of death I had given to her and your girl form, and the declaration of marital intent I had given to you. BEAT As I expected, they did not give me permission to end my engagement to you, Ranma. As Cologne did, they valued the potential children of our union too much to let you slip by. With regards to your female form, they strongly urged me to take any steps necessary to reverse your curse -- which I was planning on doing anyway -- and in the event that I was unable to do so, undid the blood feud. SHAMPOO turns to stare out the window again. SHAMPOO I was reprimanded for having given the kiss of death to Akane. After all, she had never beaten me in any concrete way. And the elders were intrigued by the tales that I told of her. For you see, it is only if an outsider woman defeats a Joketsuzoku that she must die. Other women ... are sometimes welcomed into the tribe. BEAT In short, Akane was declared a provisional Joketsuzoku -- RANMA SHE WAS WHAT?! SHAMPOO -- and the penalty for the murder of a provisional Joketsuzoku, prior to her formal initiation, is death. RANMA stares, boggled, at SHAMPOO. RANMA You *murdered* Ukyou ... because you thought that she'd killed Akane ... whom you suddenly decided that you *liked*? SHAMPOO Grossly oversimplified, but more or less true. RANMA turns to stare at RAYE, who meets his gaze calmly. RANMA And you're *buying* this? RAYE HESITANTLY Shampoo ... can you back any of this up with evidence? SHAMPOO Most of my explanation, yes. Any of my theory, no. BEAT The papers I mentioned have long since gone to dust, but the archives of the Council of the Joketsuzoku Elders will bear out the part of the story involving Akane's unknown induction to the clan. RAYE I see. RANMA *I* don't. How can you just stand there and listen to how she planned and executed a conspiracy to commit murder? RAYE gives RANMA a look of mixed disgust and exhaustion. RAYE Saotome, where are we? RANMA On a spaceship heading to -- RAYE Mars -- a planet where I have no jurisdiction. I am in pursuit of a fugitive from my Queen's Justice, and one of the Princes of Mars has graciously consented to let me pursue her onto Martian soil. As Shampoo recently said, Joketsuzoku law is the basis of the Martian legal code -- and so, if the act that she performed nearly eight hundred years ago was not a criminal act in the eyes of the Joketsuzoku, the authorities are unlikely to turn Shampoo -- who I believe possesses folk hero status among the Martians? SHAMPOO Last time I checked ... RAYE So you see my problem. They're not likely to let me arrest her. RANMA This *stinks*. You're letting her walk after she admitted to having planned -- RAYE Saotome, why are you so unwilling to even listen to Shampoo's reasons? You've completely dismissed any possibility that she might be telling the truth! RANMA glares at RAYE. RANMA Let me ask you something. Suppose someone said that your Queen had done something terrible, but this someone was someone you really, really hated -- who'd been a thorn in your side for a thousand years. BEAT Would you believe it? RAYE No. BEAT But there's a problem in your logic, Saotome. The last time I checked, Shampoo hasn't been a thorn in your side for a thousand years. When did you see her last? RANMA That's not the point! RAYE ANGRY She's left you alone for the better part of eight hundred years, you insensitive jerk, so don't start whining about thousands of years to me! RANMA comes to his feet in the blink of an eye, and his battle aura is fully active. RAYE cooly meets his gaze. RAYE Well? What are you waiting for? After all, beating up people who like Shampoo is almost as fun as beating *her* up, isn't it? Come on! Prove you're a man! A manly man! RANMA looks like he's about to explode ... then slowly his aura fades, and he marches towards a pair of doors on the far side of the compartment, which slide open to let him past, and slide shut behind him. RAYE looks on with a satisfied expression. RAYE Showed him ... SHAMPOO VERY COLD That wasn't necessary. RAYE turns to look at SHAMPOO, who is glaring at her furiously. RAYE Shampoo ... SHAMPOO We're going to need him, when we get to Mars in a few hours. And more to the point, no matter what he's done to me, *I* *still* *care*. BEAT I can no more stop caring about him than you can stop loving your Queen when she does things that you disagree with. And gods know you've told me enough times how often she does that. BEAT And it was *four* hundred years, not eight. SHAMPOO suddenly heads for the door that RANMA just exited, but turns down the passage in the opposite direction than the way that he went. RAYE stares at the doors, nonplussed. Our view focuses on the scattered chess board. One of the white knights has broken in half. Cut to a city street in Crystal Tokyo, down by the waterfront. The sky is still thick with cold gray clouds, and the entire ambience screams that it's about to rain, but it hasn't started just yet. A sallow-faced man in a black trenchcoat (TRAKAL) walks down the street, before ducking into the front door of a large building, whose sign proclaims it the Hidalgo Mining Company, Closed for Repairs. The interior of the building has been converted to a temporary staging area for several stolen police Labors, which are currently being gone over by several teams of technicians, who seem to be preparing schematics. Watching over this is the figure of DZARTENKIN, a large man with a full bushy beard and a bald head, who is watching with amusement. He turns at the noise of TRAKAL's entrance. DZARTENKIN speaks with a "cinematic" Russian accent. DZARTENKIN HEAVY SARCASM Ah! Trakal, my dear friend, so *nice* of you to join us so *promptly* -- TRAKAL We may have been busted. DZARTENKIN SHARP How? TRAKAL One of my agents at Immigration got word to me that Internal Affairs was doing a crackdown, and that he expected to be taken for the false I.D.s he's issued us. DZARTENKIN Zdrastvyute! We're this close to cracking the secret! He indicates a minute amount of time with his fingers, and then runs his hands through his beard. DZARTENKIN How long will your agent hold out? TRAKAL He won't. But he only knows that he was contacted by agents of one of the better known Anti-Monarchist secret societies, since that's what I let him think that we were. We have a few hours before they figure out what we *really* are. There is a sudden explosion of noise, as though several hundred police sirens have suddenly blazed to life. DZARTENKIN jumps. NURIKO (AMP, O.S.) Attention! This is the Police! We have you surrounded! Come out at once, or we will be forced to come in after you. DZARTENKIN looks at TRAKAL with a betrayed expression. TRAKAL's own expression doesn't change. TRAKAL Huh. Wrong for the first time this century. Outside, dozens of hovercars have encircled the building at several altitudes. On the ground, seven large Labors, each slightly larger than the ones being examined in the building, have their large blasters trained on the entrance. NURIKO is standing up in the sliding top window of one of the hovercars with a bullhorn at her mouth. NOA is at the wheel, looking pensive, while PRISS is in the passenger seat, covering her ears with her hands (even though her ears, like both NOA's and NURIKO's, are already protected.) PRISS So these guys are actually agents for a foreign government? NOA Yes. Your suggestion that the thefts were an inside job prompted the Internal Affairs department to do a complete sweep. BEAT Just in time, too, with the vote coming up ... PRISS But why would they want to get ahold of -- NOA Perhaps rumors of the Centauri Republic's vast Mobile Suit forces are greatly exaggerated. BEAT Nuriko, has there been any movement yet? NURIKO No ... wait a minute ... scanners picking up a buildup in sector -- The right front of the building disintegrates in a blinding flash that also takes out of the nearby Patrol Labors, knocking it down for the count. One of the stolen Labors, carrying a large energy cannon that is mounted on its right arm, bounds out of the hole that it has just blown, and starts to target another of the Patrol Labors. (It needs to be emphasized that the stolen Labor is moving with MUCH greater fluidity and speed than the others.) NOA All units, Evasive Scramble! The hovercars immediately begin to move out of their encirclement, trying to avoid stray fire from the firefight that has begun below, as several of the Patrol Labors bring their weapons to bear on the rogue, and begin firing. NOA OUTRAGED WHICHEVER ONE OF THOSE IDIOTS STARTED FIRING FIRST IS GOING TO BE EATING HIS BADGE FOR LUNCH! NURIKO Chief, I think *they* fired first! NOA Is it Alphonse?! PRISS mouths the word with a confused expression. NURIKO No. One of the others. NOA All right. We'll let it go. THIS time. The stolen Labor collapses under the massed blaster fire from the Patrol Labors, its torso burnt and melted. Another stolen Labor ducks out of the hole in the building, getting off several shots from a heavy rifle, before ducking back in. The car with PRISS, NOA, and NURIKO is now high above the firefight. PRISS Let me guess -- milspec weaponry? NOA A familiar situation to you too? PRISS Yeah ... but we had some heavy gear of our own back then. NOA So do we. Is Ikari ready? NURIKO touches a hand to the headset. NURIKO On your orders. NOA closes her eyes, and lets out a long breath. NOA Execute. At her word, a hoverplatform drops down from the sky rapidly, carrying a single Patrol Labor and a heavy tripod mounted laser rifle with multiple emitters (it looks like a gatling gun) that promptly opens up at the partially covered stolen Labor. The rogue gets off several shots before going down, one of which hits the platform's controls, causing it to spin out of control, dumping the Labor and rifle to the ground before dropping into the bay. NOA Is he -- NURIKO is silent for a long moment. NURIKO Banged up, but alive. NOA lets out a deep sigh of relief, then notices that PRISS is looking at her confusedly. NOA Ikari Kaoru was on guard duty the night of the thefts. He viewed them as a personal affront ... and was very insulted that the thieves only disabled his Labor, instead of killing him. BEAT Death is light as a feather, duty heavier than a mountain. Or so some believe. PRISS looks as though she's trying to decide whether or not she's been insulted. NOA Two down, two to go. NURIKO Maybe not. Sensors indicate that there's only one large body inside. NOA No. Dammit, they can't have gotten one of them off-world this soon. NURIKO No ... but they're getting it disassembled in a hurry. NOA is very still, then nods. NOA Taking us down. The car descends to ground level, wheels lowering from the chassis a second before touchdown. NOA steps out of the drivers side, carrying a heavy helmet in one hand and a large pistol in the other. She grimly puts on the helmet, fastening it tightly. PRISS rolls down the window. PRISS Hey, could I get an update here? NOA There's a fifty-fifty chance that the Labor they've got left is my personal Labor. I'm going in to find out for sure. PRISS Okay ... what if it is? NOA Then I'm going to bring him back. PRISS And what if it's not? NOA Then they've murdered him, and I'm going to tear *them* apart. Slowly. Inside the now burnt out building, several technicians are scrambling over a labor, trying to get it in perfect order. TRAKAL watches over them, almost seeming to pout at the way things are going. Suddenly, one of the mechanics dashes over to him. MECHANIC Sir, we've got it up and ready. TRAKAL Good. Mr. Ramirez, you're a credit to your profession and to the cause of Centauri. The MECHANIC salutes reflexively. MECHANIC Allegiance or death! TRAKAL Both, actually. TRAKAL produces a holdout gun and shoots him, and begins to mow down the other techs with a series of well-placed shots. Finally, he drops the gun, reaches up to his head, and pulls away his face -- actually a very life-like mask -- revealing himself to be a semi-humanoid alien who bears a vague resemblance to a rodent crossed with a canine. TRAKAL now leaps up to land in the Labor's exposed control console. He seats himself, and the console lowers into the main body of the Labor. In the darkness of the cockpit, he straps himself in, and puts on a helmet similar to the one NOA is wearing, which he connects to the control panel. He clasps his hands, and closes his eyes in concentration. Outside, the Labor comes to life, just as NOA rushes into the staging area. She looks up. NOA Alphonse! TRAKAL (AMP) So this is the neuropsychoimpulse operating sytem ... very clever of you monkeys to have come up with this. NOA Operative Trakal of Centauri Intelligence, I presume? TRAKAL (AMP) I see no reason to deny it. You certainly won't be able to make a report of my remarks. NOA Then it's true that the Centauri still haven't mastered thought control. TRAKAL (AMP) Oh, they're very close ... but you monkeys managed to get there first. But like the history of your species in the galaxy proves, it's not who got there first, but who wrote up the deeds. After the Centauri put the thought control in all their mobile suits, I imagine that it will have been a Centauri invention all along. NOA You just don't get it, do you? Time and again it's been shown that it's not the technical tricks that win a conflict, it's the heart and soul of the one struggling. That's what determines the victory -- not a new operating system that's filled with flaws, anyway. TRAKAL (AMP) Like what? NOA Like, the controls tend to attune themselves to a single pattern of thoughts. And that in Alphonse's case, that pattern is mine. TRAKAL (AMP) So what you're saying is that you, because you're `attuned' to the system, are going to be able to take control of this thing from me, when I'm actually hooked into it? BARKS Don't make me laugh. NOA Here's where we find out. NOA quickly reaches up to flick a switch on the back of her helmet, and her face clenches in concentration. Inside, TRAKAL is startled to see that the control panels are starting to go berserk. He snarls, and begins to concentrate himself. A savage battle of wills ensues -- there are several closeups of NOA and TRAKAL's faces, sweat beginning to pour down their brows, TRAKAL's eye beginning to twitch, ultimately leading to a sudden explosion of blood in NOA's nose that causes her to let out a shrill cry and collapse. TRAKAL relaxes for a moment, clearly exhausted. TRAKAL Guess ... *my* heart and soul ... is better than yours ... monkey. One of Alphonse's arms lifts up halfway, clenched in a fist ... then suddenly stops. TRAKAL What? TRAKAL exerts himself, and the fist comes further up ... but it seems to be quivering. TRAKAL What's going *on* here? What's fighting me? TRAKAL strains, and the fist swings out to hover just a few feet over NOA's collapsed body. TRAKAL continues to strain, but the fist just quivers. TRAKAL FURIOUS WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! CRUSH HER YOU STUPID GIANT ROBO-- TRAKAL's cockpit suddenly shoots up to become exposed, and his words are suddenly cut off as Alphonse's arm bends back smoothly, delicately plucks him from the cockpit, and flings him at high speed against the wall. There is a splurting noise as he hits off camera. NOA lifts her head, still bleeding from her nose and obviously a bit out of it. NOA Well ... well. I guess all those theories were right. BEAT Good baby. Good Alphonse. NOA loses consciousness. Slowly, Alphonse takes a step forward. It bends down to give the appearance of looking at NOA. It slowly, ever so slowly reaches down to pick her up, and moves her up to set her in the cockpit, which is then slowly lowered back into the body. Alphonse then seems to power down. Cut to a Martian spaceport. RANMA storms out of a passageway and into the main concourse, which is filled with people dressed in traditional Joketsuzoku garb holding up signs saying "Welcome Revered Elder" and chanting SHAMPOO's Chinese name. RAYE and SHAMPOO follow a few seconds later, not looking at each other. SHAMPOO looks more resigned than anything in response to the outpouring of "affection". She tries to work her way through the crowd, but encounters difficulties in getting past a certain group of her "fans" -- who oddly resemble Lum's Storm Troopers -- until RAYE comes to help her out, physically moving the people who are trying to come into contact with the greatest warrior that the Joketsuzoku have ever produced. SHAMPOO gives RAYE a weary smile of thanks, and they make their way through the crowds, reuniting with RANMA (who seems to have gotten through unmolested and unobserved) on the other side. RAYE Your contacts said that Gennosuke landed at the Barsoom spaceport a little over three hours ago. TO RANMA How far is Barsoom from where you buried Ms. Kuonji? RANMA thinks for a moment. RANMA No idea. RAYE STARES Are you going out of your way to be difficult or -- SHAMPOO Mars. RAYE -- do you just not care what will happen if your vampire daughter uses the Dark Crystal to -- SHAMPOO Raye. BEAT Barsoom was only founded four hundred fifty years ago. RAYE looks wordlessly at SHAMPOO, then turns to look at RANMA, who is looking back at her with a bored yet annoyed expression. RANMA Never been there, never wanted to be there. RAYE I see. BEAT How far is the grave from Graviton City, and in what direction? RANMA gives this question even more thought. RANMA Roughly 250 kilos ... south-east. RAYE thinks for a moment. RAYE Barsoom is a bit over five hundred kilos east-north-east of here. BEAT I presume that she knows the location. RANMA NODS I took her out there the last time I visited, when she was thirteen. RAYE Okay. She's got a lead, but we can cut it down a bit. RANMA Why not just teleport there? I know you can do that schtick. RAYE We can, when we're inside Crystal Tokyo's magical defense grid, or when there's two or more of us acting in tandem. BEAT It's been theorized that it could also work if I had the `assistance' of someone with a lot of magic in their veins, but I'd have to enter into a deep telepathic link with whoever it was. BEAT And I'd really rather avoid going into your mind, Saotome. During the following exchange, our focus is on SHAMPOO, as she looks back and forth between RANMA and RAYE, like someone watching a ping-pong match. RANMA Not as much as I'd rather avoid having *you* in *my* mind. RAYE Of course. Vile darkness always fears purity and light. RANMA My thoughts exactly. RAYE I'm *so* glad we concur. RANMA It happens *so* rarely. SHAMPOO WEARY Are you finished with the veilled insults yet? You're cutting our lead down to a few seconds ... RANMA and RAYE glare at each other. SHAMPOO sighs. SHAMPOO I'll go and get a car. Try to get them out of your system before I get back. SHAMPOO strolls off. RAYE follows her with her eyes, and then turns to look back at RANMA with a flat, unfriendly expression. He meets her gaze easily. RANMA You really don't like me. RAYE I didn't when we met, and my opinion hasn't changed in the years since. BEAT You are a pig-headed, obnoxious, impolite, chauvinistic, *jerk*. I don't understand what she sees in you. RANMA Genes. BEAT Good genes for tough warriors, on both sides. A rarity among the Joketsuzoku, but the basis of one of their most sacred laws. That's all that she or her great- grandmother were ever concerned with. BEAT I don't understand what *you* see in *her*. She's just as pig-headed, obnoxious, impolite and chauvinistic -- in terms of culture *and* sex -- as you seem to think that I am. RAYE steps towards RANMA, her eyes glowing dangerously. RAYE When I was twenty-five years old, the two people I loved most in the world were taken from me in a single night. All I wanted to do was curl up in a ball and die myself. Do you know who held me while I cried myself senseless? BEAT She *hates* that sort of thing. Any kind of female intimacy is abhorrent to her. She once told me that when she glomped onto you in your girl body, it was all that she could do to stop herself from screaming. RANMA looks startled at this. RAYE But she stayed with me all that night. BEAT Have *you* ever done something that you hated for someone that you cared about, Saotome? RANMA stares at her in silence. RANMA Yeah. RAYE Then maybe once you understood the concept of gratitude and respect, but gods forbid that you ever show any of it to the crazy chick from China. RANMA takes a step towards RAYE. RANMA She has done *nothing* to earn my gratitude *or* my respect, Hino. RAYE Oh yeah? She kept your memories of your precious `Ucchan' pure for close to nine hundred years. RANMA They are *still* pure. I don't buy word *one* of what her lying mouth poured out. There is a honking noise off to one side. SHAMPOO has rented a car that resembles an Aston-Martin with a hovercraft system instead of wheels. It pulls up the curb at about a hundred kph (60 mph), braking very swiftly. SHAMPOO is seated behind the wheel with a maniacal expression. RAYE and RANMA stare at her with vaguely frightened looks on their faces. RAYE YELL *I'm* driving. TO RANMA Well, I hope you have a marvellous life, Saotome. RANMA Huh? What are you -- BEAT You need me to tell you where the -- RAYE No I don't. You just told me. 250 kilometers, southeast of here. The only thing that we'd need you for would be a more precise location. It can't be that hard to find. RANMA Wanna bet? RAYE I *am* betting. BEAT I don't like you, Saotome, and I don't need you for *anything*. RANMA I'm coming anyway. I'm not gonna let you kill my only surviving daughter. RAYE turns to walk towards the car. She speaks without looking at RANMA. RAYE Come with us, or don't, exactly as you please, Saotome. RAYE walks up to the driver's side, and gestures for SHAMPOO to slide over, which she reluctantly does. RANMA stares at them for a few moments, then quickly walks over to silently open up the rear door and slide into the back seat. RANMA Let's go. The car speeds off. Cut to the doorway of PRISS' appartment. The large window in the doorway is marked with a number 5. PRISS approaches it, yawning and seeming otherwise exhausted. She pulls out her key, starts to fumble with the lock, and suddenly twists and draws her heavy combat pistol from its side holster on someone standing behind her, her face tight with anger. Our view changes to display a certain MR. YOTSUYA (a tall robed man in his mid to late thirties with a constant bored expression) who is holding a stopwatch which he has just clicked. YOTSUYA A remarkable display. You exceed the typical fast draw by at least one half of a second. PRISS looks as though she is seriously considering pulling the trigger. Ultimately, she sighs, replaces the gun in its holster, and turns to continue opening her door. PRISS No, Mr. Yotsuya, the party to celebrate the outcome of the vote is *not* gonna be in my room. BEAT Was there anything else you or your alchoholic floozy wanted to know? ROPPONGI AKEMI (a redhead in a negligee that leaves very little to the imagination and who seems to be more than a little tanked) pops out from behind YOTSUYA, and gives PRISS the evil eye. AKEMI That's not very neighborly ... PRISS Neither was trying to lift the keys to my bike and go for a joyride. PRISS finally gets the ancient lock to work, and steps into her appartment. PRISS Do us all a favor. Don't try and break in. She goes into the appartment, shuts the door firmly behind her, and we hear the sound of several security measures -- deadbolts, electronic systems, and the like -- being set up. AKEMI She's no fun at all. YOTSUYA Ah, for the good old days. Inside, PRISS doffs her jacket, and slumps onto the bed. PRISS Well, at least that's over. BEAT Maybe I should go vote. BEAT Nah. PRISS turns her head to see the Journal. She stares at it for a long moment, as if half expecting to have yet another hallucination of SYLIA's head. Nothing happens, though. PRISS slowly reaches out, lifts up the book, and rolling into a sitting position, sets it down in her lap. She stares at it for another long moment, before opening the book to the first page. MACKIE (V.O.) This journal was written over a thirty year period by Dr. Katsuhito Stingray, the father of modern robotics, and his daughter, Dr. Sylia Stingray, who is now known to have created the Knight Sabres, and who is widely believed to have been personally responsible for the nuclear explosion which devastated Genom Tower four years ago. Aside from the commentary and footnotes, there has been no editing of the manuscript. The original journal is believed to be the only volume of the journal of Dr. K. Stingray (hereafter referred to as Dr. Stingray, while his daughter shall be referred to as Sylia) which survives, comprising his reflections from 2011, when he first began to achieve the breakthroughs that would eventually lead to the creation of the first cyberdroids, to 2016, when he turned the journal over to -- PRISS abruptly begins to flip through the pages of the journal. PRISS MUTTERED 2016, 2016 ... She arrives at the page. [SYLIA (AGE 6) sounds much like SYLIA in a good mood, with just a bit of hyperactivity thrown in.] SYLIA (AGE 6) (V.O.) Daddy wants me to write in this book every day, he says its very very important. BEAT But it's HARD to write something every day! I don't wanna write "Nothing happened, same as usual", all the time! Momma said I should just write how I feel, but I don't know all the words for how I feel sometimes ... PRISS CHUCKLES Now there's something I never thought I'd hear her say ... `I don't know'. PRISS flips ahead a few more pages. Something catches her eye. [SYLIA (AGE 8) has gained a little more maturity and sounds a little sadder.] SYLIA (AGE 8) (V.O.) Momma is gone. BEAT Daddy has said that she won't be coming back from America. She hasn't stopped loving me, and it's not Mackie's fault, and it's not Daddy's fault, but she's not coming back. BEAT Why can't she come back? MACKIE (V.O.) Footnote: Rally Stingray (born Irene Vincent) disappeared while on a personal trip to the United States in 2018. She was never found alive or dead, no ransom note was ever delivered, and her fate remains a mystery to this day. PRISS Geeze ... She flips a few more pages, and stares at one for several moments. [SYLIA (AGE 12)'s emotional state is obvious and her maturity is irrelevant.] SYLIA (AGE 12) (V.O.) WHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY? PRISS flinches, and turns a single page. SYLIA (AGE 12) (V.O.) Oh father father, what have you done to me? BEAT My mind feels as though it should explodespontaneous combustion never proven but I think it may happen soon. BEAT The hardest part is seeing your face as he kills youmustdiemustdiemustdie for you aren't afraid, you pretend to be afraid, but in your eyes is only the cool certainty of your vengeanceburntheyburntheyburn. BEAT Whose thoughts am I thinking is this you, some part of you that you have tricked fate into letting preserve even after your mortality is consumed by fireburnburnburn. Is there room in my mind for me? Or are these horridbeautiful weapons that you have given me the tools to create meant to take my place? PRISS is growing more and more perplexed by all this. PRISS What the hell? Cut to the throne room of Crystal Tokyo. SERENITY is seated on the throne, her hands resting on the arms, as NOA (who looks like hell) and JUPITER enter and come to stand before her. SERENITY Good day, Chief Izumi. BEAT I apologize for summoning you before you have had a chance to recuperate from your injuries. NOA I'm all right, your Majesty. Just a bit ... exhausted. SERENITY Yes, understandably. Attempting to interface with a thought controlled mecha which is being dominated by another mentality can be exceedingly draining. NOA visibly swallows. SERENITY Izumi, would you please explain to me exactly how it came to pass that a military system such as the neuro- psychoimpulse operating system was installed in your Patrol Labor? JUPITER coughs, drawing SERENITY's attention. JUPITER If *I* may explain, your Majesty? SERENITY If you are better able to, please do so. JUPITER Around three months ago, the Realm Intelligence Agency uncovered an incredible military secret of the Centauri Republic -- while their mobile suit fleet is vastly superior to ours in numbers, they lack a great deal of our fleet's technical sophistication. Notably, they had not recaptured the neural interface systems of previous eras. In theory, that evened up the odds in any direct confrontation. SERENITY A theory I would rather not see in practice. JUPITER Of course. No more than would the Centauri. And our agents discovered that the Centauri were aware that we *had* discovered how to implement direct thought control. Naturally, seeking to triumph in a potential conflict with us with a minimum of bloodshed on their part, they had begun a project to acquire the technology. Interestingly enough, the elements of the Centauri government involved in this project were closely allied with those elements of their government which had an interest in gaining control over Earth and the Sol System. SERENITY An understandable congruence of interests, wouldn't you say? JUPITER Indeed, your Majesty. BEAT Of course, our agents alerted Lady Mars and Lady Mercury, who as Commanding Admiral of the Fleet and Chief Scientist of the Realm, held the greatest responsibility for preserving military technological secrets. BEAT They immediately contacted me in the interest of increasing security at any of our installations which might be targetted. JUPITER pauses as if she expects SERENITY to say something. But SERENITY just gestures for JUPITER to continue. With an uncomfortable expression, she does. JUPITER I was already aware that the Centauri had conducted alliances with various anti-monarchist groups on Earth, and the beginnings of an active espionage ring ... disturbed me. And then, as I was authorizing an increase of security for the Lunar base, it occured to me that what we were doing was assuming a defensive posture, as if we were already under seige. I wanted to take a more aggressive stand. And that's when the plan developed. We -- SERENITY You decided to install thought control systems into Patrol Labors, well aware that they are generally kept under less intense guard than Mobile Suits, in an effort to lure the members of this espionage ring into a trap? JUPITER pauses, considering, then nods quickly. JUPITER If the agents had gone after the Mobile Suits, they would quite probably have been killed in their efforts, and we wouldn't have had any idea as to how many more that we might have to deal with. Since the police are supposed to *catch* criminals, I believed that it would be more likely that they would be intercepted for questioning. SERENITY I see. *Were* any of the agents captured? JUPITER NODS One of the pilots of the stolen labors, a Mr. Dzartenkin, whom we've had under surveillance for some time as a potential agent of the Centauri, suffered only minor injuries in the battle. Having considered his options, he has elected to tell all. Of course, we're verifying all that he reveals with a psychic probe. BEAT In any event, after the theft of the labors was successfully commissioned last week, we realized that if we began looking immediately for the agents that had infiltrated the police, we would alert them to our knowledge of their existance. So it was proposed that a Palladin should be brought in from outside. Palladins, as your Majesty is aware, are brought in because of their non-traditional way of doing things. SERENITY I see. BEAT Essentially, you placed technology that could potentially tip the balance of power in the galaxy in easy reach of the agents of an unfriendly government, in the hope that they would prove to be easily captured and made to reveal the full extent of their operations on Earth, and used Ms. Asagiri to do *another* fool's errand. Is that correct? JUPITER nods once. SERENITY turns to NOA. SERENITY Have you anything to add, Chief Izumi? NOA Yes, your Majesty. Two things. BEAT The first, that I was the one who approached Lady Jupiter with the ideas she has described today, after she had discreetly asked for input as to how to handle the situation. SERENITY looks at JUPITER, who nods a second time. NOA And the second is that as an unforseen outcome of this affair, my Labor has developed sentience. JUPITER clearly was not expecting this *at* *all*. She whirls to look at NOA with a mixture of horror and awe on her face. SERENITY is also surprised, but seems to be more interested in JUPITER's reaction than in the news itself. SERENITY How extraordinary. To what do you credit this? NOA The fact that the computer systems of the Labor were constructed to imitate the neural pathways of a human brain, and so when they were combined with the thought control mechanism, the sudden input of data previously unavailable forced them to develop sentience in order to be able to handle the new information. BEAT I also believe that the fierce emotions that the developing sentience was exposed to as the Operative and I struggled for control of the system may have had something to do with it, but this is not supported by any theories about self-awakening intelligences that I am familiar with. SERENITY Well. I hope that you are ready to assume responsibility for this new intelligence which has been created. BEAT In light of the fact that you did, I am sure, take all reasonable precautions to prevent the thought control technology from being misappropriated, despite the necessity of it being briefly in unfriendly hands, I find no fault in your actions, Chief Izumi. I hope, however, that you considered all the potential for disaster *before* you suggested this strategy to Lady Jupiter. NOA Yes, your Majesty. BEAT If I may ask, is it permissable to inform the members of the Division what exactly this affair was about? Thus far, the only ones who know about the situation are my second, Lieutenant Nuriko, and Chief of Maintenance Morisato. SERENITY Of course. They deserve to know, beyond any doubt. NOA Thank you, your Majesty. BEAT And Ms. Asagiri? JUPITER's face hardens. JUPITER Ms. Asagiri does *not* have a need to know this -- SERENITY MILD Oh? JUPITER turns to look at SERENITY, who is gazing at her placidly, and cannot quite meet her gaze. SERENITY As the Palladin is not under your supervision, you are not obligated to do so, Chief Izumi. Rest assured that she *will* know, soon enough. NOA Thank you, your Majesty. Well, if you'll excuse me, I've a new kid to take care of ... NOA begins to back away from the throne. SERENITY Yes, once more, congratulations on the birth of your third child. Has he been given a name yet? NOA pauses, and looks a bit startled at SERENITY, who is gazing at her calmly. NOA suddenly smiles. NOA Actually, when he achieved a mental age of about eight years, he decided that he didn't like the name I'd given him when he was born. So he chose a new one for himself. SERENITY Remarkable. And it was? NOA Shinji. BEAT Good day, your Majesty. SERENITY's smile grows as she watches NOA walk cheerfully out the doors to the throne room, not diminishing as she turns to look at JUPITER, who is staring at her with blank incomprehension. SERENITY A somewhat obscure joke. JUPITER Serenity, I wouldn't blame you if you were furious with me but -- SERENITY Lita. I am not angry with you. I am not even upset with you. I *am* somewhat concerned for you. JUPITER Huh? SERENITY I am concerned that you did not feel that you could trust me with this information. BEAT Why? JUPITER looks at SERENITY, who is looking at her with forgiving eyes and a peaceful expression, and closes her own eyes in a face of anguish. JUPITER Because we're supposed to *protect* you! SERENITY From whom or from what were you trying to protect me this time? BEAT Lita. I am the ruler and guardian of this world. You *are* supposed to defend me against all threats, but information which will allow me to fulfill my duties is not a threat. BEAT Now, if this was an attempt to allow me to retain some measure of innocence -- JUPITER WEAK Yes ... SERENITY -- then you are in even greater need of a day off than I had believed. BEAT Lita, I have long since come to terms with the realities of my situation. The responsibility of protecting the citizens of the realm has required that I reconsider my definitions of integrity. Only as long as the things that I must sometimes do or permit to be done continue to bother me, shall I rule in Crystal Tokyo. If ever there comes a day when the minute guilts that I feel no longer bother me, I shall forthwith resign, destiny be hanged. JUPITER But that's just it! I didn't want to add to the burden of guilt by transfering -- SERENITY WEARY Lita! You would not have transferred anything -- you would have allowed me to carry some of your burden! BEAT Is not that the way that it was when we were young? JUPITER does not look directly at SERENITY as she says her next line. JUPITER Too much has changed since then. SERENITY looks at her with an anguished expression, then sighs. SERENITY Jupiter, you will take the remainder of this day and the entirety of the next as a holiday. Hopefully, the rest will allow you to regain some perspective. BEAT And in two days, you will tell Ms. Asagiri the facts of this matter. JUPITER's face goes hard. JUPITER I -- SERENITY There will be *no* debate on this matter, Jupiter. I have made a promise to Ms. Asagiri, and I will *not* let your anger against her interfere. JUPITER Don't you realize -- SERENITY Yes. BEAT I am also aware of all of the circumstances. I know why it happened, and I know exactly what was running through her mind *as* it happened. If you also possessed that knowledge, Lita, I do not believe that you would find it so easy to condemn her. BEAT Do you remember a night when you tried to fool the Dark Kingdom into believing that Serena wished to abandon the Sailor Scouts? JUPITER BROKENLY, CLOSE TO TEARS And to ... complete the trick, Serena ... gave the Scepter to ... BEAT why didn't y-- Serena trust me to not give it away? SERENITY Because she knew that you were too gentle to watch her suffer if you could alleviate it. And while Raye is many things ... soft-hearted is not one of them. She could bring herself to wait until the last possible moment to save her ... which is why she is a general, and you are a bodyguard. Or will be, when you have rested a while. JUPITER nods once, and turns to head towards the door. She pauses just as she has opened the door, to look back at the Queen on her lonely throne. JUPITER I wish ... BEAT I wish a lot of things. I wish that I understood why you can trust her ... SERENITY For the same reasons that I could trust Raye, then and now. JUPITER But Asagiri's nothing like Raye! She's l-- BREAKS OFF JUPITER is silent in frustration for a moment, as SERENITY gazes at her sadly. And then she exits. SERENITY She is ... and she isn't. BEAT Oh, Lita ... Cut back to PRISS' bedroom. She is reading the journal intently. [SYLIA (AGE 21) is more or less the SYLIA of the series, but a touch more cooly analytical. *Just* a touch ...] SYLIA (AGE 21) (V.O.) I may have found my second agent, a recidivist female musician of the genre termed "retrothrash". Her police record indicates that she possesses remarkable strength for a female, and a degree of expertise in dirty infighting that rivals men twice her age. She came to my attention when she began making a nusiance of herself at an ADPolice precinct, asserting that they were, to quote from the transcript of an interview conducted during her brief incarceration as a public nusiance, "fucking up completely" on the investigation of her boyfriend's death. Her assertion that her lover had been murdered by agents of GENOM was the factor that truly attracted my attention. I shall be observing her closely. PRISS Recidivist? What in hell is that? SYLIA (AGE 21) (V.O.) I have recruited her without much incident. PRISS You call me trying to put a knife through you not much incident?! SYLIA (AGE 21) (V.O.) She has agreed with my aims of bringing down Genom, claiming to desire revenge for their murder of her love. I have conducted my own investigation, and discovered the truth behind the affair. First, the gangleader's claims of possessing secret knowledge of the activities of a "certain organization", which were interpreted by Ms. A. as referring to Genom were a) grossly exaggerated, and b) in reference to one of the few yakuza syndicates that the corporation does *not* possess a significant measure of control over. He was, it is clear to me, killed as part of a conflict within his gang that Ms. A. appears to be unaware of. PRISS is beyond shocked by this, her mouth is hanging open. SYLIA (AGE 21) (V.O.) Ms. A.'s quick identification of the largest megacorporation in the world as the body possessing the largest degree of responsibility for the death of her lover -- and I use the word in a loose way, since according to the information I have gathered, their relationship had deteriorated to the verge of a complete breakup shortly before his death -- is also easily understood as a symptom of her self-destructive personality. She desires a death in flames, and an assault on Genom Tower would be a suicidal move if ever there was one. Set against this is a clearly shown desire to be a part of *something* -- joining her gang, her band, and ultimately my team. I could find parallels in the tales of many of the Grail Knights, whose desire to be a part of the quest was more than enough to compensate for the almost certain death that they courted, and also the Bushido code that allowed a samurai to willingly die at his lord's command. A useful trait, if it can be properly channeled. As I intend to do. PRISS sets the book down, looking completely stunned. Slowly, her face twists into an expression of utter rage and humiliation. PRISS You. BITCH!!!! She flings the book across the room. It slams into the wall and falls to the floor, falling open to a page marked "2033". As we hear PRISS sobbing in the background, our view closes in on the page. [SYLIA (AGE 23) is the SYLIA of the series ... but this is a side of her that we rarely saw.] SYLIA (AGE 23) (V.O.) How could I do that to her? BEAT She was crouched there, weeping over the husk of one she loved ... and I asked her to betray that final plea. BEAT "I won't! I won't betray my friends!" I would never have asked her to betray Green or Pink ... why did I allow myself to believe that what she felt for S. was any less a bond -- simply because it arose from her "enhancements"? Rather, because I allowed myself to believe that it did. I allowed myself to believe based on "facts" that only existed because I allowed myself to believe in them, and Blue is shattered. BEAT How could I do that to her? Cut to the Martian dessert. The car carrying RAYE, SHAMPOO, and RANMA speeds along through the frigid wastes, towards a large rock formation. The GEV system is very noisy. RAYE SHOUTED Is that where it is? RANMA SHOUTED Yes. RAYE SHOUTED, DISGUSTED Let me guess -- you hewed her tomb from the living rock with your bare hands. RANMA SHOUTED Yup. Suddenly, the orange sky of Mars is split by black lightning, converging on the rock formation. The car slows to a stop. SHAMPOO What's wrong? RAYE tries to start the car repeatedly. RAYE It's gone dead. Completely. BEAT Can you feel it? SHAMPOO looks confusedly, while RANMA stares with a sick expression. RAYE We're too late. She's started. Our view moves swiftly across the plain to come to the rock, moving up onto the very top of the stone -- where GENNOSUKE stands, her vampiric nature never more apparent than right now, holding the Dark Crystal in her hands. Dark power surges all around her. For a moment, all is as silent as death, a silence broken by a single word. GENNOSUKE Mommy. And then the dark power explodes forth. Beneath the rock on which GENNOSUKE stands ... something shifts. Cut to an darkened office, where SHEILA is seated at a word processor, typing furiously. Her phone rings, and she picks it up while continuing to type with one hand. SHEILA Hello, Sheila Tenkai. A few breaths are the only response. SHEILA stops typing, and looks at the phone with an annoyed expression. SHEILA Heavy breathing. Listen, whoever you are -- this doesn't frighten me, and it doesn't turn me on. Now, if you were to start talking about how much you've been admiring me from afar -- provided that you're a -- PRISS (PHONE) Sheila? SHEILA Priss? BEAT Priss, what's wrong? PRISS (PHONE) I ... I tried phoning Raye, but she doesn't seem to be ... SHEILA Priss ... are you alright? PRISS (PHONE) No. BEAT I ... I need -- SHEILA Hang on. You're in Ikkoku-kan, right? PRISS (PHONE) You know -- SHEILA I lived there when I was getting my -- that's not important, I'll be there in a minute. See you soon. PRISS I -- SHEILA hangs up, stands, pulls on a jacket ... and takes off at a run. We see her dash out of a university building, jump into a car, and lift off in the blink of an eye. Moments later, she arrives at Ikkoku-kan, and rushes in, through the hall, up the stairs, and to the door of room 5. She listens, for a moment, but hearing nothing, slowly opens the door. PRISS is sitting, curled up in a ball, on her bed. The book is lying in front of her. SHEILA Priss? PRISS FLAT Hey. Howsit going. SHEILA steps into the room, closing the door behind her. SHEILA I've been better. Is that -- PRISS Tell me about yourself. SHEILA Huh? PRISS You know everything there is to know about me, and I don't know anything about you. Tell me about yourself. SHEILA Uh ... full name, Sheila Ten'ou- Kaioh, born 12 September 2001 -- Virgo, blood type AB. Height 170 cm, weight -- PRISS That's *not* what I meant. BEAT You had ... two mothers. How'd that happen? SHEILA As I understand it -- it involved this cursed spring in China and artificial insemination. One of my parents splashed herself with this ... "instant" variety of water from this spring, and ... well ... Aunt Amy always got really embarrassed telling me about it. PRISS What happened to them? SHEILA SIGH A few months before my second birthday ... they were both killed in the same battle that caused the death of Serena. You know about that. PRISS doesn't answer, doesn't look up. SHEILA Anyway, they both died ... before I really developed any clear memories of either of them. BEAT Mom was really broken up by all the death. She'd loved Serena, of course, but I think my parents' loss hurt her almost as much. She took me in ... and for the next thirteen years, there was no Lady Jupiter. She refused to talk to any of the others about "Sailor business" ... and she wouldn't talk to Serenity at all. She told me, later, that she wanted me to have a normal childhood and adolescence. She succeeded ... for a while, anyway. PRISS What went wrong? SHEILA Boy, that's really cynical. I mean, you don't know that anything went wrong. Something could have changed for the better. BEAT What went wrong? There was this crazy woman. I forget her name. She saw me in a shopping mall this one day, and just up and decided that I was some girl that was responsible for all her problems -- like her brother's death. I never did understand ... anyway, she kidnapped me, tying me up with these weird ribbons in this deserted mansion. BEAT And Mom came to get me with Aunt Raye. It was the first time I'd ever seen them in their uniforms. They were so ... magnificent. BEAT Mom blasted the crazy woman with one of her lightning bolts, and she went down. Then Mom, she came and untied me, asked me if I was all right, and when I told her that I was, she gave me to Aunt Raye, and said that she'd follow after a while. Aunt Raye ... she took me out of there -- I think that she knew what was going to ... anyway, I got loose, and I ran back to grab hold of Mom, and hold her and all that ... and I found that she was hitting the crazy woman. BEAT Over and over. The poor maniac couldn't fight back, she was just lying there, letting Mom hit her again and again and ... BEAT Finally, there was this crunching noise ... and I heard myself let out a scream. Mom turned around then, and she was staring at me as though she couldn't grasp the idea that I'd seen her doing ... BEAT You have to understand, she didn't *hurt* me. She just *scared* me. But when Serenity arrived, after she did something to turn Mom's power off, she explained to me that Mom was ... sick. That she'd been sick ever since Serena died, and that Mom'd just shown that she had been right to avoid using her powers -- Serenity said something about great power and great responsibility that I later found out she'd gotten out of a manga. Anyway, since she was also too sick to take care of me, I was going to be put in cryo- sleep for a while, until she was well. BEAT That's how I spent most of the next eight hundred years. They let me out now and then ... first time in 2038. Mom had been given back her powers by then, but I didn't see her. I didn't get to see her until ... BEAT Priss, what's wrong? Why did you call me? PRISS looks up. Her face is tearstreaked. PRISS I found out that my "mom" did some questionable things too. SHEILA Your mom? BEAT You mean, in Ms. Stingray's journal, she had found out some things about your m-- PRISS No. BEAT That was how she thought of herself, at the end. "It's not right for a mother to outlive her children." That was the last entry in her journal. She'd started to think of me, and Nene, and Linna as her kids. BEAT I could have handled that, I mean, she always seemed so much older than I was, not three years, more like ten ... but ... PRISS reaches out to shove the book towards SHEILA. PRISS Read. SHEILA Uh ... are you sure that -- PRISS *Read.* SHEILA comes over, sits down on the bed beside PRISS (keeping a safe distance at all times), picks up the book, and starts to read aloud. SHEILA "23 April 2034. I completed the upgrade early this morning. I am very pleased with the improved arnament systems on all of the suits, even the strange ECM-based equipment that Nene designed last month, that I still can't quite figure out. A preliminary field test indicates that it's workable, however. I will contact the others tomorrow, to get started on the contract that we have just been offered. I think I will actually contact Blue this evening ... she apparently has a concert." BEAT; TURNS A PAGE "She hates me." SHEILA blinks, stares at the page, and looks at PRISS, who is sitting with her head in her knees. SHEILA looks back at the page. SHEILA "She hates me. It's obvious, now. And I can't blame her." BEAT "I was late for her `gig', which was apparently a farewell concert, since she intends to move onto `the big time' starting tomorrow. I hoped to at least congratulate her on her success, so I stayed, standing in the shadows of the club." BEAT "After everyone had left but the janitor, she came back out onto the stage, examining the instruments, the lights ... and last, the mike. She stared at the mike for a long moment before she picked it up and started to sing, a capella. It wasn't one of the songs that she usually did -- it started soft, and slow, and --" PRISS Play. The sound system in the corner of the room begins to play as per PRISS' spoken request. The song is "What A Fool I Am", as recorded by Raye Hino, 2896. SONG I -- I've never realized What I've given up for you You -- you never gave me the chance To be what I wanted, to love you as I am Just like the love you never gave me Doesn't stop me from wanting you, And all the crazy lies you told me Doesn't stop me ... from loving you What a fool I am What a fool I've been Falling in love with you Helplessly What a fool I am Oh, what a fool I've been Begging my love for you Endlessly Now -- now that I've come to know You never really cared Still -- still in my heart I hold This everlasting love If only you reach into my heart If only you could feel the love I have Then maybe you'd come to realize There's one in a million ... me. Still I got to want you Still I got to need you Still I come begging ... For your love ... PRISS FLAT Off. The music stops. SHEILA looks at PRISS (who is still curled up) with a shaken expression, then resumes her reading. SHEILA "... it can only have been about me. No one has ever asked her to give as much up as I have ... and for what? A crusade against a foe that I long ago realized that we could never defeat?" BEAT "She has given everything for *my* causes, and when have I ever shown her any gratitude ... or even compassion for her losses?" BEAT "The hardest part is the idea that she loved me. For so long, I have been struggling with my attraction to her ... she is so beautiful, so vulnerable, so ... needing love ... and to learn that she could have loved me is almost more than I can --" PRISS does not look up. PRISS She goes on like that for a few pages. "I am such a terrible person that no one could ever love me, boo hoo." And you know, not too long ago I would have agreed with her. BEAT It wasn't about *her*! I didn't even *think* of her when I wrote it! It was about -- someone else. Someone I realized, after it was too late -- that she might have been just using me. That she might have not even known what love was. I wrote it the morning after ... and I only ever sang it that one time ... and it had to be the one fucking time that *she* came to one of my shows ... Suddenly, PRISS looks up with a furious expression, reaches out, and tries to grab the book from SHEILA, who is startled but doesn't let go. PRISS DAMN YOU, SYLIA! WHY THE HELL DID YOU HAVE TO BE SUCH A GODDAMN EGO FREAK?! IT WASN'T ABOUT YOU! HOW DARE YOU FALL IN LOVE WITH ME AND NEVER TELL ME ABOUT IT! WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY SOMETHING?! WHY COULDN'T YOU -- SHEILA -- give you the chance, to be what you wanted, to love her as you were? PRISS YES! BEAT; WHISPERED Oh fuck. She drops her grip on the book, and SHEILA gently sets it down on the floor. PRISS has a completely horrified expression on her face. SHEILA That's the problem with love songs. What they mean to someone will depend on what that person feels ... and like any true piece of art, what the songwriter intended isn't the issue. PRISS WHISPERED No ... no, I *couldn't* have ... I ... PRISS suddenly begins to cry. SHEILA looks at her a moment, before holding open her arms. PRISS collapses into her embrace, sobbing. Cut to outside the door of room 5. We can hear PRISS' sobbing, and SHEILA's gentle words of solace. Our view rotates to show JUPITER, who is standing just outside the door with a furious expression. Her hand crackles with lightning momentarily. She shakes her head, and turns to walk away. JUPITER MUTTER She's going to break her heart. I *know* that she's going to break her heart. Cut to a passageway in the palace. SERENITY walks aimlessly through the hallway, examining the crystal structure idly. Suddenly, a MALE PAGE runs up to her. PAGE Your Majesty! The results of the vote have just been released! SERENITY closes her eyes. SERENITY And what were they? PAGE Approximately 52% of those voting *rejected* the proposition of ending the alliance with Jurai, your Majesty. SERENITY lets out a long, shuddering breath. PAGE Voter turnout was the highest since the last monarchal referrendum, at 97%. Would you like a complete summary of the results, your Majesty? SERENITY opens her eyes, and smiles at the PAGE. SERENITY No, young man, that won't be necessary. BEAT Please inform the Royal Publicist that I shall make an address on this topic ... shortly. PAGE Yes, your Majesty. SERENITY starts to walk away, then turns to smile again at the page. He smiles back, but looks somewhat confused at the same time. She turns to walk away again, to the doors of the throne room. She rests her hand on the door for a few moments, as if preparing herself for something ... then opens the door. Inside, a reddish-brown haired woman in a black leather jumpsuit (FUJIKO) is sitting on the throne, with one leg thrown over the arm. FUJIKO Hello, your Queenship. Congrats on the vote going your way ... it's gonna be the last thing that will for a while. SERENITY Really? Tell me, Ms. Fujiko, what is there to stop me from summoning enough guards to fill this room -- or if you are jamming the radio, to defeat you myself? I am very far from helpless ... FUJIKO My employers took that into consideration. FUJIKO produces a bracelet, and tosses it to SERENITY, who catches it easily. FUJIKO Standard power dampening bracelet. If you'd put it on, please? SERENITY Why in the world would I do a silly thing like that? FUJIKO produces a grenade-like device, which she keeps a very firm grip on. FUJIKO Thermal detonator, with an unusual trigger mechanism. First, there's a standard "dead-man's" switch. If I release it, boom. But there's also a magic-sensitive trigger -- any significant build up of magical energy within a few hundred feet, boom. In other words, you can always try to blast me ... but even if you build up the energy to do it in under a second, it'll still go off when I release it. And while you can probably teleport away before the bomb goes off ... can everyone else in the Palace? SERENITY is very still for a moment. SERENITY There are over two hundred people in the palace at any given time. Your employer desires to see me so much that he is willing to kill -- FUJIKO Looks like it. So? Are you gonna put that thing on? 'Cause my thumb is starting to ache ... SERENITY SIGH I really do not understand why some people cannot stand to make appointments ... very well. SERENITY places the bracelet around her right wrist, and clicks it shut. We see a brief sizzle as it clicks, but nothing else seems to happen. FUJIKO Hey, I can see your point. But on the other hand, I'm getting paid a lot to escort you to my employer -- so I'm just as glad that he didn't. Shall we go? SERENITY I suppose we should. FUJIKO hops off the throne, walks to the door, and holds it open for SERENITY, smiling nastily. SERENITY walks calmly out the door, and FUJIKO closes it behind them. To Be Continued. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Together Again: 2937 Chapter, 04/21/97