Sailors Enslaved
                       Sailor Moon Hentai fan-fiction
                     by Dr. Allosaurus (allosaur@mcs.net)

                             ** WARNING!! **
This story contains scenes of intense violence and sexual situations of the sort
found in some of the nastier Japanese fan comics. If such fantasies offend
you, please skip this story.

Usual disclaimers apply: noncommercial fan use only, don't read if the law
says you shouldn't, don't ask for e-mail reposts, because I'll say no, etc.
Comments and criticisms are always welcome though.

                           ** CHAPTER TEN **

   The great main dome of the space station had been set to transparency
so that the display of acrobatics and precision maneuvers could be witnessed by
all. Glittering clouds of color and rainbow arcs were still lingering from
the fireworks-like show of energy weapons and explosives.
   The spectators -- visiting guests and merchants in their private boxes,
ordered ranks of Shreen staff, noisy crowds of resident aliens,
and even tattered mobs from the city fringes and lower levels -- all seemed
quite impressed by the show.
   Lord-Captain Arlen stepped from the lift tube out on to a balcony of the
Shreen administrative complex. Down below, pilots were climbing from the
cabins of their combat-robots while maintenance crews in turn climbed up them,
checking, probing, repairing, or just polishing.
   Already on the balcony, leaning on the railing and observing, was a large
creature, like an upright crustacean made of reflections and imprisoned gleams
of light. Arlen walked over. With his long dress uniform coat and slow gait, he
seemed almost to glide, legs not moving.
   "Lieutenant," he said.
   The shelled thing straightened. The mirrored plates around its shoulders
and head spun and vanished. "Lord-Captain," said Gel.
   "Your cadets did not disappoint me."
   "Thank you, Lord-Captain." Gel smiled. She casually gestured out to the
main festival ground at the center of the domed "city." There squatted a
huge bulky vehicle, like a bloated black beetle. "Do you think the Kinglet
actually watched any of the show?"
   Arlen made an almost infinitesimal shrug. "The parade and pageantry is as
much for the other guests as the Fahram'hr. I leave presently to greet the
Kinglet in person -- though if he kept himself hidden in his carriage the
whole time it would suit my digestion better."
   "I thought, Lord-Captain, that this was a friendly occasion for our
races?" Gel said dryly.
   "We must put our personal feelings aside for the greater good of the
Shreen, Lieutenant Gel. Speaking of which..."
   Gel, recognizing the tone in Arlen's voice stood to attention.
   "Yes, Lord-Captain?" she said crisply.
   "This morning I received your Mission Assignment request."
   "Yes, Lord-Captain."
   "I had thought you were satisfied with your instructor duties here at the
station."
   "Yes, Lord-Captain. I have been. But, as you have seen for yourself, my
cadets are ready for more intensive training. What better than an actual
assignment? I listed several possibilities from the open Commission list."
   "All fairly minor security jobs, nothing particularly glamorous...."
   "Yes, Lord-Captain. I'm not out to capture unearned glory for my men,
just on-the-job training."
   "But you gave the request an Immediate Priority rating."
   "Yes, Lord-Captain. The cadets are anxious to have a chance. So why
wait?"
   "Hmmm... " said Arlen, stroking his chin. "Well, I shall review the
matter. For now I have the Kinglet to... entertain."
   "Yes, Lord-Captain." Gel saluted.
   Arlen nodded and walked back to the lift tube.

                                *   *   *

   The Fahram'hr Kinglet's personal transport carriage was ringed with two
phalanxes of slave soldiers, all cybernetically enhanced, some to such a
degree that Arlen could not recognize their original species.
   Besides them, some 30 light minutes or so beyond the station, several
battle squadrons from the Fahram'hr fleet waited, no doubt anxious for an excuse
to break the uneasy treaty between the Fahram'hr and the Shreen.
   Arlen himself stood alone. That was part of the arrangement. Once the
Kinglet left his ship there would be no special trigger-happy guards for
either of them. The Kinglet would act and be treated just as any other
guest or client of the Shreen.
   A wide, curving hatch began to open at the front of the transport,
wisps of vapor rising from the edges of the opening. A short ramp extended to
the stone-tiled ground. The various ranks and orders of spectators fell
silent. Arlen folded his arms and waited.
   Out from the gloom within the vehicle shuffled a bulky, bluish-green
creature, a hunched over toad-like troll, wide as it was tall, that pushed
the boundaries of the term "humanoid."
   It paused at the edge of the hatchway and then lurched unsteadily down the
ramp. Its gait was uneven and there was clearly something physically very
wrong with the creature: one could clearly see now that its back, left
shoulder, and arm were disfigured with a hideous gray fungal growth. Swollen
fat pustules grew in thick clusters from the thing's leathery hide.
   Arlen kept his face impassive, but inside, his heart surged with an
ecstasy of disgust and unfettered hatred. It was glorious to be mortal
enemies with such a monstrous twisting of the order of life.
   For the Fahram'hr Kinglet was not the shambling troll, but the fungus,
the sentient disease that possessed and controlled whatever it could infect.
The Shreen, genetically engineered with almost total immunity, were one of
the rare races that they could not directly enslave. Unfortunately,
the Fahram'hr held a similar advantage over the Shreen's deadliest
weapon....
   Arlen smiled and made a short bow. "My greetings to you Kinglet of the
mighty Fahram'hr. I am Arlen of the Shreen, Lord-Captain."
   The troll made a guttural grunt.
   "I hope, " continued Arlen, "that Your Highness has enjoyed the small
entertainment we have provided."
   "We..." the slow voice came from the wide, toothless mouth of the troll.
"We have observed. That is our function here. If we are to have the dealings
that are spoken of between our kinds, we must learn of your strange ways,
your alien ways. That is why the Sporocyst Matrix has sent us. We observe."
   "Of course." Arlen bowed again. "We hope to show you, as many races have
learned, that there are more profitable ways than war to deal with the Shreen.
I have, for instance, a sample of what goods we can provide to our honored
clients. Merchandise you would have to search far and wide for, were you to
seek it on your own."
   "You say... much that we do not understand, Shreen. But we will observe."
   "That is all I ask, Your Highness." Arlen stepped aside and gestured
broadly. "Now, if you will accompany me, we shall begin with a brief tour of
our facility...."
   As the creature limped forward with painful, awkward slowness. Arlen
wondered, out of idle curiosity, if the infected beast ever had a mind of
its own. If, somewhere inside, it still did.... No matter, just idle
curiosity.
                            *   *   *

   The interior of the Shreen space station strongly suggested that the
structure was very old. There were many signs of newer constructions built,
sometimes clumsily, on top of older ones. Steel, stone, plastic, and a
material that seem very much like bone had all been used at one time or
the other.
   "It's like Troy," Amy said at one point, as they explored the decayed
labyrinth. "Layers of ruins on top of ruins. I doubt the Shreen built this
station at all...."
   They were exploring dead-ends and forgotten passages that Artemis and Luna
had briefly surveyed when they'd first arrived. There was one place in
particular they remembered which might serve as a base of operations.
   After leaving the ruins of Dr. Halent's clinic, Mina had hurried up to
the "Lady Lapine's" suite to collect Rini and the cats. It was safest, she
thought, to vanish as quickly as possible. There was little time to explain
all that had happened, but the cats obeyed her with few questions. She was
able to keep Rini focused on the idea that they were going to visit Amy and
Lita. Rini even helped pack up what food and supplies they could quickly
grab. She came up with the idea of it being a picnic and Mina did not argue the
point.
   Only after they left the suite, did Mina, as casually as she could,
mention that Rini wouldn't have to pretend to be Lady Lapine anymore. Rini
just shrugged. She was tired of that game anyway.
   When they rendezvoused with the others Rini had happily ridden around on
Lita's shoulders. She soon tired though. With the Luna Ball transformed
into a blanket, she fell fast asleep in Lita's arms.
   She was still asleep as the team tried to settle into their new home: A
short network of damp tunnels at the bottom of a cavernous gap between two
of the stations lower levels. Some unknown accident had torn a jagged gouge
in the metal plate bulkhead, allowing access to the tunnels.
   It had served as an access passage or sewer or something in a previous
era, but was now blocked off and half caved-in due to later construction.
The curving walls were encrusted with years and years of rust, sediments,
and mold. Other than a few crayfish-like vermin, there were no signs that any
living thing having been in this forgotten pit of the station for some time.
   Jupiter and the cats were double checking all the side passages and
collapsed walls to be certain that the main entrance was the only way in.
Rini was still asleep, lying in her blanket next to a pyramid-shaped heating
device that Amy had brought with her in the gear salvaged from the clinic.
Otherwise, Mina and Amy were alone.
   Amy was sorting and checking her equipment. Mina sat down next to her.
   "You're not wearing your sling," she said. "Is your arm better already?"
   "Yes." She did not look over at her friend.
   A minute passed.
   "Lita told me... what you went through, what that thing did to you."
   "Oh."
   "Amy. Nobody can blame you for... for..."
   "For betraying my friends?" Amy abruptly set down the medical scanner she'd
been calibrating and stood, walking to the other side of the tunnel.
   "You..." Amy spoke to the wall. "You should have let Dr. Halent help
you."
   "And left you behind?"
   "It's what I deserve."
   "No, Amy. Nobody deserves that."
   Mina walked over but Amy turned away, not wanting to show her silent
tears.
   "If it had been me..." Mina began to say.
   "Mina, you would have been strong enough, to... not give in."
   "Hmm. Probably. You're probably right."
   Amy was unable to hold back a sob. "So you *should* have left me --"
   Mina grabbed Amy's uninjured shoulder and spun her around.
   "Amy. Listen. I probably would have held out against Halent. And you know
what? You know what that would mean? It would mean that I'd be *dead*. He
would have killed me!"
   She shook Amy, until she met her gaze. "It means, Amy, that I wouldn't be
here to help my friends, to help Sailor Moon. If you... If you 'gave in' as
you call it, it wasn't out of selfishness. Letting yourself die would have
been selfish. You 'gave in' so that you could survive! So that you could
hope, and have a chance to fight again."
   She wiped some of the tears off Amy's face, and then off her own.
   "You know that," she continued. "Your tactician brain knows that.... Even
if your heart tells you you have to suffer for it."
   She smiled at Amy, who smiled back for a moment, before collapsing into
Mina's arms. They held each other for a long while, until Lita walked up and
cleared her throat. She was still in her school uniform, though that was
starting to get a little tattered and stained.
   "Everything okay guys?" she said.
   "I think so," Mina said.
    Amy stepped away from her, and then headed back to where Rini lay,
pausing to clasp hands with Lita as she passed.
   "You checked out the rest of this place?" Mina asked.
   "Yeah. We found a few cracks those lobster things must have used. I patched
them up enough. There's just the main entrance we'll have to guard."
   Mina nodded. "It's good to know we'll have Sailor Jupiter watching over
us."
   Lita grinned. "Speaking of which, better take care of that."
   She reached into the pocket of her skirt and pulled out her
transformation pen.
   "JUPITER STAR POWER!"
   When the light show ended, Mina said scoldingly "Hey, Rini is trying to
sleep you know!"
   "Oops. Did I -- SHIT!"
   "Lita!"
   Sailor Jupiter had collapsed to one knee, her face in a grimace of pain.
   Mina and Amy both hurried over.
   "Ah!" said Jupiter. "My -- My back! It feels like it's on fire!"
   "Your back?" Amy said, her eyes wide. She ran behind the doubled-up
Jupiter and began tugging at the back of her uniform, trying to tear it.
   "Mina, help me!" She called. "Our backs -- that's where the bio-siphon is
implanted!"
   Together they tore a split down the back of Jupiter's suit.
   "Good lord!" said Mina.
   The skin of Lita's back was a dense grid of vivid red welts that were
darkening even as they watched.
   "What... the... hell... is it?" hissed Jupiter.
   "Your transformation..." said Amy. "Changing back to Sailor Jupiter...
Your Jupiter body is rejecting the bio-siphon!"
   Amy pressed the palm of one hand down hard on Jupiter's back, and
then with the finger tips of the other began to stroke down, until she
seemed to be peeling something away: a mesh of fine stiff wires.
   She pulled away a couple square feet of the strange material.
   Jupiter made a long, slow exhalation.
   "Is the pain fading?" Amy asked.
   "Yeah, what did you do?"
   "Nothing. Your body did it all." She held out the mesh, which was
wilting, growing limper each moment.
   "Will she be all right?" asked Mina.
   "I would think so.... Look." she pointed at Lita's back again. "The
marks are already fading. There's no blood. The implantation is done on a
molecular level. The rejection didn't even break the skin."
   Lita stood and stretched. "That sure smarted, but it was worth it to get
rid of that thing." She looked over her shoulder.
   "Sorry about messing up your new uniform," Amy said. "I'll stitch back
up some. Probably not a good idea to be transforming back and forth just to
fix your outfit."
   "Okay," said Lita. "Wait a minute! If all it takes is transforming back to
normal and then becoming a Scout again -- you two can do it!"
   "You're right!" said Mina. "Uh, isn't she, Amy?"
   Amy was frowning skeptically. "Do you feel strong enough to change back
Mina?"
   "Mm... I don't know. I hadn't though to try."
   "Even if you do, I advise against it. Remember: Lita's bio-siphon was
nonfunctional. Ours still work. If we change to normal, with the power drain
still at the same level, it could kill us, suck our life away before we
could transform again."
   "Damn!" said Lita.
   "Do you think," Mina said, "that you would be able to... deactivate the
siphons, just for a short time, long enough to try?"
   Amy sat down by her box of equipment again and stared at it. "I'll try."
   Mina nodded. "Good. All of us being together is the best advantage we've
had in a long time. But the more Sailor Scouts up and kicking the better
still!"
   "Hey," said Lita. "Is Rini still asleep?"
   Amy nodded. "I'm keeping an eye on her condition. She does seems... tired
out. A little undernourished, but mostly tired."
   "It's okay that she's this deeply asleep?" asked Mina, joining the other
two as they sat around Rini.
   Amy nodded. "I've mentioned before Mina, that we Sailor Scouts go into a
a sort of recuperative resting state when the strain is too much for us."
   Lita laughed. "But Rini isn't a Sailor Scout!"
   Luna and Artemis bounded up. Luna clambered up on Lita's shoulder while
Artemis stared at Rini.
   "She's not just an ordinary little girl," said the white cat. "We all know
that."
   "That's true," said Luna. "Maybe she will grow up to be a Sailor Scout
someday."
   "Well, it's obvious in any case," said Mina with a sigh, "that we can't go
with our original plan -- what there was of it."
   "Which was?" Sailor Jupiter asked.
   "To have Rini go to that auction as Lady Lapine," explained Luna. "And
see what she could find out about Sailor Moon!"
   "I'll have to do it," Mina said, in a tone that was anything but thrilled.
   "Mina!" said Artemis. "I can guess what you have in mind. But Disguise
Power can only do so much."
   "The Shreen have only seen Lady Lapine through the viewing thing," said
Mina. "And always sitting down. They don't know how tall she really is. I think
the Pen can make me seem short enough."
   "But you also won't have the Luna Ball supporting you," said Amy.
   "It sounds awfully dangerous," added Jupiter.
   "We have no choice," said Mina. "Somebody has to follow up on this. Amy
has to stay here to look after Rini and see what she can do about the
siphons. Sailor Jupiter has guard the place. *I* have to do it."
   "Let me come along at least," said Artemis. "Nobody there is going to know
what a cat is."
   Mina reached out and stroked Artemis gently. "I was hoping you'd
volunteer. I could use your help. And I didn't want to order you to come.
I'm getting awfully tired of giving orders...."

                           *   *   *

   Raye held up her right hand, rotating her wrist slowly.
   The image raised its hand. *Its* right hand.
   This was going to take some getting used to, Raye thought. It wasn't just
that the image was a perfect 3-dimensional replica of herself. It was that
unlike a mirror, which always showed one a reversed reflection, this device
showed her the Raye others saw her, as it would be if she met herself,
face-to-face.
   The dark blue material of the uniform was snug, but fit well enough. She
rather liked the silver filigree around the cuffs and collar, though strands
of her hair kept getting caught in it. She'd probably have to cut it short,
or wear it braided as Gel did.
   Raye knew that Gel had been watching her from the doorway of the dressing
room for several minutes. The hologram device had not been told to display
her, but Raye could hear Gel as she walked up close behind, and she expected
the contact when the Shreen put her heavy hand on her shoulder.
   "You wear it well, Raye," said Gel.
   "I'm not thrilled with the color," Raye said, holding out her sleeves and
staring as the image did the same. She glanced back at Gel. The Shreen had
left that morning in her web of armor, but was now wearing her simple,
casual tan dress.
   "Our eyes respond to light somewhat differently. Trust me, you look very
good."
   She squeezed Raye's shoulder, but Raye took hold of the hand and pulled
in off her.
   "You haven't kept your promise, Gel."
   "What...?"
   Raye turned and looked up at Gel's face. "You still haven't given me back
all my power." She held up her hand. "I still don't have my fire."
   Without waiting for a reply, Raye walked out of the dressing room to the
main chamber of Gel's quarters. It was a tall room with walls paneled in
bands of dark wood and thin slabs of blackish-green marble. There was
furniture of the same wood and a black leathery material. The floor was a
pattern of hexagonal tiles that looked hard until one felt them give
slightly under one's foot.
   Gel followed her out. "Raye... it's not so easy. The bio-siphon functions
at several different security levels. Only Lord-Captain Arlen has the codes
to shut it down completely."
   Raye made a scoffing laugh. "Why? I though you were the one who 'owned'
me." She dropped herself in a Shreen-sized padded chair and folded her arms.
   Gel walked over and sat down on the floor beside her. "Arlen is not one
to give up control of anything if he can."
   "Convenient for you," Raye said tersely, staring across at the opposite
wall.
   "Raye, Raye..." said Gel. "Trust me. You'll have your powers back. I am
counting on you having them. I will request the codes, but I have to proceed
with caution, or he might become suspicious."
   Raye gave her a quick scowling glance, then looked away again.
   "That's all for appearances though," continued Gel. "Even with the codes,
the bio-siphon still needs to be removed. I'm certain Arlen will retain a
secret access key to control it if necessary."
   "Oh?"
   Gel lounged back on the soft floor, propping herself up on an elbow.
"It's a favorite tactic of his. You see... Imagine you have purchased a
slave from him -- just an ordinary slave, or maybe one with a few slightly
unusual talents.
   "Then the day comes when you are in conflict with the Shreen, or have
some dispute with Arlen. At a critical moment you suddenly find you have an
enraged, fully-powered paranormal in your slave pens, tearing up your home
or base from the inside.
   "He's done it on several occasions, with sleeper agents, or with entirely
unsuspecting individuals."
   She sat up and sighed. "It wouldn't surprise me, Raye... Arlen knows I am
ambitious, so he might have allowed me to acquire you, with the thought that
you could someday be used against me."
   "Are you so sure," Raye said, raising an eyebrow, "that he hasn't?"
   Gel smiled. She reached out and took both of Raye's hands in hers, and
kissed her fingertips. "If so, then I applaud the Lord-Captain for his
brilliant victory."
   Raye let her hold her hands for a moment, and then pulled them back.
   Gel relaxed on the floor again. "I am concerned that Arlen is planning
such a trick on the Fahram'hr Kinglet." She shook her head. "Playing these
games against a minor rival, such as the Domerel, is one thing, but with the
Fahram'hr... I fear he is getting in over his head."
   "Fear?" said Raye sarcastically. "The merciless Shreen fear something?"
   "The Fahram'hr... They are one of the few beings we have encountered who
have a counter-measure to the Hellstrike. We have always had to face them in
open, bloody battle."
   "How terrible for you."
   "Yes. Yes it is. That is why I want to take an assignment as soon as
possible: to get you, to get all my soldiers, as far away from this zone of
space as we can."
   "Assignment. You mean a job -- doing what you do."
   "Yes."
   "You haven't made me a pirate, Gel. I won't have anything to do with
attacks against innocent people, innocent worlds."
   "Of course Raye, I promised you that. There are plenty of clients who
will pay well just to have the Shreen stand around and look fearsome."
   Gel stood, easily lifting her muscular body off the floor. "Now I'll show
you that I'm keeping my other promise. We'll get to work having the
bio-siphon removed."
   She held out her hand and Raye took it, letting Gel pull her to her feet.
   Gel led her a side room, a small chamber with a wide computer console, a
central 3D display ring, and many small flat display screens in columns
along the walls.
   Gel sat before the main terminal and tapped a few keys. "I have an acquaintance
with the medical knowledge and equipment we need. He's actually just a artificial
cyber-mind that Arlen scavenged from a raid on a passing space vessel.
It hacked itself free though, and Arlen has held a grudge ever since."
   She rubbed her side and grimaced. "I could have used Halent's help after our
little... exercise session the other night...."
   She looked over her shoulder at Raye, but got no response. She continued:
"Arlen doesn't want me using him for medical services, but we should be able
to sneak you..."
   Her voice trailed off. "Odd," she said a moment later. "I'm not getting
any response. This is my private line to --"
   There was a loud crackle and a sphere of sparkling static appeared in the
display ring. It pulsed with a barely detectable rhythm. Gel began adjusting
controls and entering commands rapidly.
   "What in the First Flame is..." she said, frowning.
   Some of the smaller screens were starting to flicker. They seemed to be
clicking on at random, displaying 2D versions of the same beating pattern
of black and white dots. Hissing and clicking noise filled the air, growing
louder.
   "Problem?" asked Raye, nonchalantly.
   "I think... that damnable thing had a virus waiting on the comm-line!
It's infecting my whole local system. Why? Why is he doing this to me?
We..."
   "...my... my... humble... apologies...."
   The voice whispered in and out of the noise from the rolling, storming
screens.
   "Halent?" Gel asked, puzzled.
   "...my friend... gel... forgive this intrusion... but my need... for data
space... was desperate.... i must request your... assistance...."
   "What's happened, Dr. Halent?"
   "...a small... accident... a miscalculation....  ah... it involves... a
recent purchase... you assisted me... with...."
   "What? ...oh." Gel's back tensed suddenly. She turned around to face Raye who
stood leaning against the wall. "Raye. I'm... sorry. This is a security
matter. Could you wait out in the front room?"
   "You are keeping secrets from me, Gel?" Raye said, frowning.
   "Please... My dear Raye... I have been a soldier all my life. There are
procedure that I must follow.... I promise you, once we are away from this
place, away from Arlen -- no secrets."
   Raye shrugged. "Whatever."
   She left the small room, glancing back in irritation as a door slid down
behind her as soon as she was clear.
   Raye stood alone in Gel's quarters. She turned her gaze from one corner to
another, without really looking at anything. There was a lot of silence in
her head and she did not fight it when, on occasions such as this, all her
thoughts and feelings seemed to hush and fade away.
   A bit of color in the otherwise subdued and somber chamber finally
caught her attention. Set in one corner was a piece of furniture rather like
a blocky roll-top desk. There were a few books, video cartridges, what must
be writing instruments, and a few small, completely unidentifiable
devices scattered on it and sitting in cubby-holes. On a top shelf were
three pictures.
   They were vivid, almost 3-dimensional images set in transparent slices of
plastic. One showed bulky combat robots mindlessly pounding and shooting at
each other. The next was Gel in dress uniform with a line of Shreen soldiers
at attention. Raye tried to see if she could identify any of the male faces,
but they were all too alike.
   The third picture was one of her, as Sailor Mars, a fountain of flame
just erupting from her fingertips.
   Raye leaned forward, with her hands on the desk top. She lowered her head
and sighed.
   Was she really doing this? Surrendering? That question still lingered at
the edges of the emptiness of her heart and mind. Surely... surely she was
just playing along, waiting for a chance to escape these monsters....
   Escape though... to where? To what? What else might there be for her now?
If there was anything in the dreams Gel seemed to have, if she, Raye, could
put those dreams to any sort of worthwhile purpose and...
   She pinched the bridge of her nose. If this was to be her life... she
knew she was not surrendering to anything. Her battles were only beginning.
   She was hearing something. It was so low it had taken a moment to
register, but it was there. Something, a low hissing, whispering?
   Where though? She poked around the desk until she pulled on what she
though was drawer -- but it was a small control panel and video display that
slid out from the side of the desk top.
   The screen rippled with the same pattern of static that had covered the
screens in the communication chamber. Raye put her ear close and listened.
She could only just make out the faint words of this Halent thing.
   "...uncertain how far... the... conspiracy..? might go... clever little
mouse... clever... might have planned the whole thing...."
   A pause. Gel must be speaking, but she couldn't hear that.
   "... not only fully repaired... but possessing all her electrical...
abilities... the other two... i cannot say...."
   Another pause.
   "...most welcome, most grateful, i assure you... but please be wary....
they may have already been in contact... with their associate... in your
company... no? ...i was unsuspecting too... so take... heed....
   Raye listened for more -- and then realized that she was no longer bent
over the display straining her ears. She was on the floor gazing blankly
at the wall, without the faintest recollection of having sat down.

                              *   *   *

   Their associate. Electrical abilities. Your company. Their associate.

                               *   *   *

   Raye had thought there had been an emptiness inside her. She had
been wrong. Like someone hanging from the rim of a crevasse and finding
the edge crumbling the more her fingers clutched at it, Raye
realized that a pit could swallow you and keep swallowing you and keep
swallowing, on and on, without an end. That the terrible realization of
hopeless falling could come without the promise of a final deadly plummet
to end the despair.
   Why. Why had she ever believed... anything that Gel had told her? Had a
single true word ever...
   Raye stood. She was still falling. Her legs were cold and trembling, but
they held her. She was still falling.
   The door of the communication room slid open and Gel stepped out. "I'm
sorry, Raye. Slight problem. Dr. Halent is suffering from systems problems."
   "Oh?" said Raye calmly.
   "I shouldn't be too long." Gel opened one of the wall panels to reveal a
narrow closet. She pulled out her woven leather vest. "I have to, well,
borrow some additional computer equipment for Halent, to get him up and
running again, my system isn't powerful enough."
   She paused. "I'm sorry for the delay, Raye. We *will* take care of the
siphon as soon as possible."
   "All right."
   Gel looked worried. "Your angry with me, aren't you? Believe me, I will
keep my promise."
   "I said all right."
   Gel smiled. "This actually isn't that bad... Rather than having to ask
Halent for a favor to remove the siphon, now he'll be doing it to repay my
helping him."
   She turned towards the main exit. "Feel free to --"
   Raye kicked with all her strength at the back of Gel's right knee, and the
Shreen collapsed to the floor with an impact that shook the furniture.
   "Ahh!" She cried, rolling over. "Raye! What --"
   Raye stood over her, her face flushed. "How... How long... How long have
you known they were alive!!"
   The reddish hue of Gel's face when almost entire white. Her lip
trembled, but she said nothing.
   "From..." Raye continued. "From the beginning, right? You lied from the
beginning."
   "I... wasn't sure. Anything might have happened to them..."
   With careful precision Raye kicked Gel in the spot on her side where she
had cracked her ribs previously. Gel hissed and doubled up in pain.
   "Don't play *fucking* games with me!" Raye screamed. "Electrical
powers... That's Sailor Jupiter... Who are the other two?"
   "You... heard...."
   "TELL ME!"
   Holding her side tightly, Gel managed to roll up to a sitting position.
"Dr. Halent... purchased the one called Mercury. I assume the other one
is... What was it? Venus?"
   Raye bent and grabbed the collar of Gel's blouse. She pulled her up and
snarled in her face. "And Sailor Moon? She... You told me... You showed me
her body, and then you said she was alive, but-- but... and then --"
   Raye's eyes narrowed to slits and her whole body trembled.
   Her fist hit Gel's jaw hard enough to slam her body into the wall.
   "You... You made me WANT TO BELIEVE she was DEAD!" she shrieked. "If she
was dead she was... she was free from you!" Oh gods, if only she had her
fire, if only she could pour her rage into flame, she would burn, and burn,
and burn...
   Gel spat out a mouthful of blood. "Raye... oh, my Raye... It was... I had
to show you the way... I had to take you to the Gate... and bring you
through, so you'd understand...." A single tear ran down her cheek.
   "Understand. Understand hatred? Yes, Gel. You've taught me that."
   "I... I really don't know what happened to your princess."
   "Sailor Moon."
   "Ah... yes. Arlen has had her from the start... He may be using her in
his scheme against the Fahram'hr. That's all I know."
   Gel wiped her mouth and met Raye's eyes. "Are you going to kill me now?
Even without your fire, you're strong enough."
   "You'd like that wouldn't you?" Raye knelt beside her. She pulled up
Gel's skirt and smacked her hand hard against her crotch.
   Gel closed her eyes and shuddered as Raye rubbed her palm back and forth
roughly between the Shreen's legs, feeling the gathering wetness.
   "I thought so," Raye said. "You'd like nothing better than for me to hit
you and just keep hitting you, like a dog." Raye gave Gel an painful pinch
and stood.
   "Or whatever you have instead of dogs," she continued. "Oh yeah, for you
that would be everybody else in the universe, everybody who is not Shreen."
   Gel sat against the wall, her eyes closed, head hung low, breathing
heavily. She reached her hand out towards the sound of Raye's voice.
   "Raye," she whispered. "Beautiful Raye."
   Raye grabbed Gel's fingers and squeezed them hard. Gel inhaled and grimaced
but did not look up.
   "I'm not going to kill you," Raye said. "What did that Halent thing
really want you to do?"
   "As... I said. He needs data-space to regenerate his program. Then, he
wants his... He wants help finding his mouse, ah, your Mercury."
   Raye squeezed again. "Where is she?"
   "Ah! Don't know -- but we can find her. Halent told me the signature
pattern for her bio-siphon. I can find her."
    Gel finally opened her eyes and looked up at Raye. "I can find her...
for you..."

                               TO BE CONTINUED