Fragments This is a collection of scenes I did not use in the official version.

This was a scene set just after the senshi left University Hospital with the President.

University Hospital
Washington, DC
11:21 pm EDT

Sergeant Williams found someone was poking him. It was Officer Thorsen, or a nurse, he couldn't quite tell which one was doing the poking. "How are you feeling, sir?" asked the nurse.

"I've got a headache," said Williams. "What happened? Thorsen?"

"Don't know, sir. It happened all over town, but it must have hit hardest here."

"Did you feel a sudden pain?" asked the nurse, getting ready to write something on her clipboard.

"Yes. Yes, I remember . . . and that's the last thing I remember. How long was I out?"

"About twenty-five minutes now," said the nurse, scribbling away. "People passed out all the way up to the roof and down to the fifth floor, but you people seem to have been hit the hardest here. I've heard people felt the pain out to the Beltway." She felt his head. "No swelling. If you start to get dizzy or nauseous, tell a doctor or nurse about it. Don't go to sleep for a few hours. But I think you'll be OK."

Williams didn't look in the Lounge until after midnight. Naru had laid one of her better geases on it.

This scene started out as a reflection of the discussion between the senshi about what to do next. In the form I have it now, it represents a conversation taking place after Anne Kerkorian has returned to the Hoover building, FBI headquarters. It's ambiguous as to exactly what Usagi and the other senshi told the head of the FBI.

As a scene I think it's OK, but it seemed like too much of a repetition. It is where I came up with some characters who appear later in the "official" version.

"It has to be a bluff, Mr. Vice President," said General Thysson, the head of the Joint Chiefs. "If they have the bomb, why fool around with hostages?"

The Vice President said, "It was real plutonium, according to the FBI. Does the Department of Energy say differently?"

Among the DOE's portfolio was the management of nuclear energy, including the manufacture and the maintenance of nuclear weapons. Secretary Pfinney replied, "Oh, it is plutonium, I'm sure, but it takes more than that to make a bomb. We won't know if it is weapons grade material until we hear from Hanford. Refining a small sample from nuclear waste is a much easier task than building a weapon that works."

The CIA Director, Buonnarti, was not so sanguine. "Iraq and Iran built weapons and used them. We have no full accounting of the Iraqi arsenal. For that matter, we can't be sure they don't have an ex-Soviet weapon. May I remind you--"

"That the Agency discovered a secret cache in the last Administration," Secretary Pfinney said, "For which we are all profoundly grateful. However, nuclear weapons are not like wine; they do not improve with age. One reason the Russian government may have been so reasonable lately about nuclear arms control is that it is expensive to maintain their arsenal. Most of their warheads have not been refurbished in two decades."

Karol Tesla, the current head of the Department of Defense and the first one with a PhD in a hard science, said "Old thermonuclear weapons do not have to work perfectly to be dangerous. And it is not all that hard to build a weapon that will explode. None of the weapons used in the Mideast recently had yields of more than ten kilotons; some estimates say no more than three for the largest. But even a sub-kiloton detonation will cause widespread destruction in a major city. If they think of using a weapon on reactor, well, we have a problem that could be around for thousands of years."

General Thysson said, "Yes, a reactor is a wonderful target. That is why we are assigning units to every one in the country right now. But if they actually had a weapon, why not use this commando force of theirs to take over a reactor complex?"

Tesla said, "Possibly they are not suicidal, General. Possibly because they don't need to take one over; they could already have the weapon planted."

Thysson said, "Exactly my points, Mr. Secretary. If they have a bomb, they don't need commandos."

"Especially professional commandos," said a new face at the table. It was a Brigadier General Brinkman, by his single silver stars and name tag. "Sorry to interrupt, but I thought you might want to hear a little good news for a change."

"What do you have for us, Jack?" asked Thysson.

"We have positively identified Colonel Nur, the spokesman for our gallant band of freedom fighters," said Brinkman. "His name is Istvan Nagy. We were looking for a Hungarian, but thanks to a little help from the Acting Director of the FBI in handling one of the released hostages, we got his name. Nagy started out in spetznaz, Soviet Special Forces. He must have had an interesting career because he was a full colonel when the Soviet Union broke up. He was twenty-seven. Anyway, he made our little Opforce file. He's worked for a lot of different employers. Probably he's in the CIA files too, Mr. Buonnarti."

"Probably," said Buonnarti. "Possibly one of my predecessors used him. But the name means nothing to me." Buonnarti said something to his junior aide, and she started to leave.

"That's not all," said Brinkman. "There's another name, Maria Horthy. No positive ID; no pictures in our file, but she is mentioned as an associate of Nagy's."

"What about this Commander Sauron?" asked the Vice President.

"That's Sargon, Mr. Vice President," said Brinkman. "Ms. Kerkorian says her witness thinks he's called 'Fazi.' Not much to go on; pretty common Arabic name. Maybe the name he picked tells us something. Sargon is a national hero in Iraq."

"In Sumeria and Assyria, too," said one of the State Department people, the head of Mideastern affairs. State was headless since its Secretary was one of the hostages.

This first version of a scene where Makoto meets with Haruna, Wakagi, and Sakurada Natsuna has a couple of problems. First, neither Natsuna or Wakagi would not reveal or allow others to reveal the coming tax raid, however dramatically convenient it might be. Second, Makoto would at least warn or try to warn the Ayakashi sisters.

"Wakagi-san," said Makoto. "You have come alone?"

"No," answered a male voice from the darkness. Wakagi Toshio's voice. Wakagi Toshio, the Police Lieutenant, emerged from the darkness to stand beside Haruna-sensei. And a third person joined them, a woman Makoto struggled a bit to remember.

"Sakurada-san," said Makoto. "You have come too?" It was Haruna-sensei's aunt, who had been a high official in the Metropolitan Police in the days when Mrs. Nobunaga went to prison, and Uncle Giro had vanished for what Makoto had thought would be forever.

The woman said gently, "Urawa-san, this place is quite far from the apartment of the Ayakashi family. Perhaps we could drive you back."

Makoto was sure the woman was sincere. They were all good people, very good people . . . but . . .

"I came to talk. Am I to be arrested instead?"

"This is not official," said Lieutenant Wakagi, "Not yet."

Haruna-sensei said, "If you surrender now, my Aunt has arranged for the children to stay with us until this thing is settled. And you will not be kept in jail after the first hearing."

"This is kind of you," said Makoto, "But I am not ready to surrender just yet. I have sent word to my attorney that I am willing to meet with the birth parents--" Makoto almost choked on those words. "--but that is all I promise. I will not force Philip and Tammy to see them."

"That is not acceptable, Makoto," said Toshio, who had shown her great kindness in the former days. "Please, there really is nothing else we can do for you."

"How much longer will you keep the children out of school?" asked Haruna-sensei.

"I teach them myself," said Makoto.

"You know that is not enough," said Haruna-sensei.

She was right, of course . . . they were all right, by the way they saw things.

After Makoto did nothing except fight her tears for awhile, Wakagi Toshio said, "I am afraid I will have to make this official, then. We can't allow you to go on hiding those children, and we can't let you loose to warn the others to hide them."

"Warn?"

Sakaruda Natsuna explained, gently, "There is another reason my nephew cannot let you go now, Urawa-san. The tax detectives are raiding Torumatsu-san's secret places today. They were investigating him before you came here. Because your friend is one of his mistresses, she may have helped him hide income. That is quite a common arrangement, I'm sure you know. Whether your friend did wrong or not, it was your bad luck to come now . . . Please do not blame my niece for this. We waited as long as we could."

What to do now? She could blast them, of course; her mature power would leave no more than three scorched, greasy spots if she wished. She could fight off Wakagi Toshio even without transforming, if she wished; he was a policeman who worked with his brain, not his nightstick.

She did none of those things. She let Wakagi Toshio handcuff her, and waited until a police car came to collect her, talking mostly about her last year at Juuban High, when Haruna-sensei had gone to another school, and Usagi had gone to America. She began to talk about her children, but that brought more crying on, and she really did not tell her friends nearly enough about them before it was time to go.