It's a cold September morning.


A September morning in nuclear winter.


Endeavor sits at the helm of the Hikari Maru, observing the fallout of a nova caused holocaust. A holocaust she was responsible for. When she arrived on this alternate earth some twenty five years ago, she was unaware that her arrival caused the types of eruptions that occurred on her earth after the Galatea event. During that time, with the help of stable novas, she had the Hikari Maru modified for flight. And remodeled for easier slipping into the time-space fabric.


She smooths out the hinopolymer pressure suit that she has wore before on test runs. Prepping herself for the final ride. She checks and double checks the Time-Space drive's functions. Everything must go according to plan or everything is naught. The computers hum away, calculating the quantum variances and vibrational compensations to break the reality barrier. The barrier between her, and home.


As Endeavor nervously watches the gages and computer monitors on the bridge, she also monitors the system diagnostics on the escape system. She equipped the ship with an escape vehicle. One that will allow her to re-enter home space, and land safely on earth. Without the Hikari Maru. For she intends to destroy the ship during transit, and ride the trans-universal wormhole to home. She does not want the technology of this world to cause another conflagration like the one on this earth on her home earth.


Everything looks green. Everything is set for the trip.


She looks at a picture, a picture of everyone who's helped on the mission. James, Samuel, Sarah, Nancy, Alan, Peirce... All dead. Lost in the battle to try to save this earth from itself. She's the last of that group. Endeavor slowly walks to the escape vehicle in the launch bay, and places the picture safely in a grooved slot near the main cockpit controls. She then transfers the control of the Hikari Maru to the escape ship. Sakurako begins shaking, not knowing what's to come. She starts a sequence of events to lead her home.


"Computer, start Time-Space transfer sequence delta."


"Password?"


"Omicron, Omega, Alpha"


"Password accepted. Identified as Sakurako Hino."


Sakurako sighs as the computer reads back her mission profile.


"Computer, Engage Time-Space drive, set vibrational coordinates to node set Theta Lambda."


"Affirmative, beginning Anti-gravity lifting of main ship. Self Destruct of Hikari Maru in 20 minutes..."


The enormous bulk of the refitted Hikari Maru lifts like a titanic whale, and the light from the anti-gravity lifters is almost blinding to anyone who could be watching on the ground. If anyone was left here, that is. The last Human or Nova she'd seen was 5 years ago. It's been quiet ever since.


As the Hikari Maru breaks the atmosphere, Sakurako looks back on the earth. The cloud covered orb of a once hospitable shelter for life, now all but a burned-out cinder. The few remaining enclaves of humanity flicker like burning embers of a dying candle. As the Hikari Maru reaches geostationary orbit, the ship dives into sub-space. Tunneling toward home.


The ride is bumpy to be sure, as navigating between universal membranes is difficult. The different cosmic strings that seem to reach out for her ship is cleverly dodged as if it's a game. The blue and white energy streamers seem to show her the way into trans-universal space. As the ship pops out, an amazing sight is laid out before her.


Home...


At least, the largest ball ever witnessed by mortal eyes. It's the universal membrane of Sakurako's home universe. Behind her, the universe she left.


The T/S drive starts weaving a wormhole between both universes, creating a current of electromagnetic waves. She'll need those to slip the escape vessel into the wormhole and pop back out at home.


The Hikari Maru vibrates as the pathway between universes stabilizes.


"T-5 minutes to ship auto destruct. Launching escape vessel... Good Luck, Sakurako."


Sakurako takes a deep breath, then puts her helmet on. The ride's gonna get hairy from here on in.


The Escape Vessel is a miracle of aviation and astronautics. Built to withstand the energies of the wormhole, and the jumping between universes. While it doesn't have a T/S drive or a 0-point reactor like the Hikari Maru does, it has the energy output necessary to power the various onboard systems.


The engines kick in, and Endeavor is nearly floored by the velocity. The ship's speed is augmented by the wormhole's currents. The vehicle is shaken by the forces straining on the hull. Trying to rip it apart, yet it's design keeps the ship stable, drawing on the energy to support it's integrity fields. Then, a LARGE boom is felt. The Hikari Maru, is gone. Just as Endeavor pops out.


The next large boom is Sakurako hitting the atmosphere of Earth. The ship buffets violently. She struggles at the controls to keep it level. As the ship breaches the ionosphere, and slowly enters thicker air, the heated plasma of re-entry tries to grab her ship and rip it apart. But the ship only seems to laugh it off as it's frame grunts and moans seemingly daring nature to try and stop it.


Then the area outside the ship calms. It's safe to enter splash-down mode.


Sakurako pulls a red lever on the console, and 75% of the ship sheds off like a snake shedding it's skin. The various parts of the aerodynamic hull fly away, revealing an ball-like center pod. Holding all of Sakurako's worldly possessions, and all the equipment she'll need to survive landing. The rear cone separates off, deploying the parachutes.


The jerking motion she feels is a response to the parachutes catching the air, slowing her decent. She presses a few buttons, and re-entry cushions inflate outside the hull, readying to cushion a hard landing, or help with flotation if it's a splashdown. She monitors the decent rate. The entire landing will take 15 minutes.


She flips on the radio transponder. She has a set frequency only a few trusted people she knows and has contacted know to look for. She starts transmitting a subtle radio blip, announcing her location.


As she does this, she monitors radio and op-net feeds, looking to see if she's ended up in the right time and place. The op-net's time feed almost makes Sakurako relieve herself in her suit. It's May 23rd. She then checks news feeds.


She made it. Utopia is there, the XWF is still fighting it's battles in the arenas, the Teragen are still making their rounds, it's all there.


A sudden stop of motion and a jerking sensation followed by gentle swaying interrupts her casual flipping of feeds. She's landed. In the pacific ocean. And the location is off. She went off course by 150 miles. And no way to motor back to any friendly home port...


Looks like she's going to enjoy being a cast away for a few days. Sakurako sighs as she makes her way over to the rations. She opens the cabinet and counts the number of days she has of supplies.


"Looks like I have 11 days of food and water. Lucky me."


She sits near the cabinet, and sits back against the wall. She knows someone sooner or later will pick up on her signal. Hopefully it's friendly. She sighs again as she looks up.


"I wonder what the guys are up to... I can't transmit on the op-net here... Hell, I'd bet they'd not give me the time of day. I bet they're thinking "What happened to that pink-haired schoolgirl chick" and all that... Ronin-chan..."


She curls up in the corner, wondering if he'd even talk to her after she gets back to civilization.

Walker stepped across half a world and onto the orange ‘liferaft’ that Endeavor had given him the coordinates for via an encrypted virus message, she seemed to have stopped calling herself that nowadays preferring to go by the name she had been born into the world with. Walker still thought of her by the ‘old’ name though. The raft itself looked more like something from a science fiction movie, spherical with a wide flotation skirt keeping it boyant. Walker was standing on the skirt but his weight didn’t seem to be effecting the balance of the craft very much. He sensed someone on the other side, he carefully moved round the float and caught sight of Sakurako sitting in a hatchway on the other side of the craft. She had an absentminded look on her face, a fishing line dangled from one hand over the skirt and into the water, while one foot worked a reverse osmosis pump up and down. Similar lines were strung in the hatch like a rack, strips of fish were hanging from these lines, slowly drying in the sun.

‘Hey stranger, everything OK?’, Walker called out, Sakurako turned her head quickly to face him, a harsh look on her face, after a long second recognition appeared in her eyes and a smile spread across her face.
‘Walker’, she said after another moment, ‘glad somebody came’. Walker took a close look at Sakurako, she seemed slightly different than the last time he had seen her, for one thing her raw power seemed to have increased dramatically, Walker’s node was positively tingling from it, but there was something else. She also seemed, calmer, more relaxed, more mature, Walker struggled briefly for a concept, more poise, that was it, taught like the string of a violin but perfectly in tune. He grinned and asked,
‘So then what have you been up to this time?’ Sakurako took a deep breath and said simply, ‘you better come inside’.

Some time later walker was staring through the hatch, a single deep water seabird soared through the sky, the setting sun staining the water a golden orange. He had listened for over four hours to Sakurako’s tale, mostly in a semi-stunned silence, occasionally asking a question here and there for clarification. Now he considered what had been said it in its entirety, he’d been hearing quite a few fantastic and outlandish stories of late, this was perhaps the most incredible of the lot. The craft certainly seemed to back the story up though it could be a clever fake, certainly one within range Sakurako’s talent and yet Walker found no reason to doubt the story. In his experience Endeavor, ,there I go again, he thought, lead such an ‘interesting’ life that she didn’t need to embellish it with tall tales.

Endeavor sighs, breaking Walker's concentration for a split moment...


"What's wrong, Sakurako?"


"Well... It's just that trip I had been planning with you guys."


"What trip?"


"The Moon."


"Oh, that trip... We... got some pictures. You should see 'em. Those space suits you lent came in handy."


"I'm sure they did."


Sakurako smiles. But her disappointment is evident.


"I just want to know if everything went alright."


"Well, let's just say it was an adventure."


Walker grins, knowing that telling her more would depress her. After all, the trip originally was for her.


"No problems. There is always next time I would assume..."


Sakurako sighs, looking up out an entry hatch. At the full moon, rising over the sea.


"You know, I could warp you back home, and we could start setting up a new trip."


"Nah, I'd rather get this pod towed home first. All my stuff is in the cargo holds down below."


"Can you open up a hatch and get to them?"


"Nope, all the hatches are under the water line on the outside."


Sakurako stamps on the floor.


"If I opened them, the pod would get swamped in no time."


"How about if I warped the stuff out..."


"No. No need to. I'll just call up a tow when I'm ready. Besides, I'll need this pod anyways when I build the Hikari Maru A."


"Huh?"


"What? You expect me not to build a new yacht after I lose my old one?"


"I just hope... you don't pull another stunt like you did."


"Nope. I don't plan on it what so ever."


"I did miss you. Some thought you cracked for good, and a few thought you bit the big one. You really caused a scare..."


Sakurako gets angry, an uncharacteristic glare burns from her expression.


"DON'T LECTURE ME."


Walker is shocked by her response. He backs up slightly. Walker thinks for a moment of what to say, but, Endeavor's changing expression returns to it's usual neutral self.


"Sorry, Walker. I'm just..."


"I understand. You've been gone for quite a while. It'll be hard to re-acquaint yourself with things here again. It'd be like starting over for you. If I sounded like..."


"Like who?"


"Erm... your Mother..."


"Don't mention it. That's not what you sounded like. You did sound like a mother hen. That does frost me. I'm grown up now. I can handle things myself..."


Walker chimes in; "I DON'T doubt that, mind you, you still have that affinity to pink", grinning slyly. As he points his thumb over his shoulder toward Sakurako's vacuum suit, hastily stored in a bin on the floor. It's arms and legs dangling from the bin's lip.


"So? Can't a girl have a favorite color?" Sakurako flashes a cute smile, almost in response.


"But... Your wardrobe suffers for it. I have to admit."


"Well, I have some other clothes... All boring black... grey... white... some red... Nothing more though."


"Well, also there's the issue of those sailor outfits..."


"Walker!" Sakurako feels the slings and arrows of his wit now.


Sakurako's blush is evident. Walker could see it plain as day in the moonlight.


"Really, you're living some sort of second childhood."


"Really? You think so?"


"I know so, after all that's what I'm doing", Walker says, grinning broadly.


"Well... Let me put it like this. You see any other novas wear sailor suits?"


"Only ones with the QNA..."


"Walker, That was a harsh thing to say..."


"Just kidding. I haven't seen any. It's your life, kiddo."


"Well... I could use an expansion of wardrobe. But, I'll ALWAYS wear sailor suits."


"Don't say that. You think you'll be buried in one?"


Sakurako gets a shiver up her spine off that remark, then changes the subject.


"Erm... You know... Walker... It's sort of dark in here, give me a moment..."


Sakurako concentrates for a moment, and activates the lighting system. When Sakurako spots Walker, he's leisurely sitting on the edge of the main hatchway.


"Come on... You think you would?"


"Well... Only if it was black and very conservative... Oh come on Walker, don't be morbid."


"Sorry, pulling your leg." Walker beams a grin like a Cheshire cat.


Sakurako and Walker have a laughing moment. Carrying on into the night.




"You know... I thought you had a fear of drowning..."


"Err... No."


"Then why were you wearing that life vest of yours?"


Walker points over to Sakurako's life vest, carefully hung on a pod handle, deflated, still drying from an excursion in the water earlier that day. Her goggles and snorkel right next to it.


"Well... I have to re-load a CO2 cartridge in it. I did some snorkeling, to examine the flotation skirt."


"Erm... I guess that's how you repair a puncture..."


"HUH? Er..."


Sakurako starts shaking slightly.


"Sakurako... I lied."


Sakurako hadn't processed his remark as she hurriedly puts on and inflates her vest with the manual valve. Checking for the non-existent leak, but after finally putting 1 and 1 together, her blush gets an brighter red.


"Erm... Would you believe, I was doing my Dolly Parton impression?"


Sakurako lets off a sheepish giggle.


"Sakurako... You'll never change."


Sakurako shyly smiles, and lays her hands over her covered chest, accidentally causing her vest to squeak slightly as the air moves around in it. Sakurako and Walker share a few more minutes of laughter together.


"Sakurako... I've always known you had a buoyant personality!"


"Well, I've always known I've had an overinflated ego!"

Walker stopped giggling for long enough to remember an earlier part of the conversation,
‘Yeah, sorry about that whole –dumping you in the loony bin- episode, I really couldn’t see any other way of getting you back to, well, normal. I realise that’s a relative term,’ here he smirked briefly, before continuing in a more serious vein. ‘But all joking aside I thought you could do with some professional help. I find it helps if you can keep your feet on the ground even if your head is in the clouds’.
‘You know they had me down as having some kind of super-hero identity crisis’, Sakurako had a somewhat resentful tone in her voice.
‘I can’t imagine where they got that idea’, Walker was grinning broadly again.
‘You think they were right?’
‘Well, kind of’, Walker shifted uncomfortably, ‘You just want to help out is all, you gotta remember though that you’re not a comic book heroine, real person, real feelings. World’s a messy, dangerous place and you want to help make it a bit more pleasant’, Walker gave his characteristic, who really knows, shrug.
‘It’s just a question of balance is all, you can’t solve every problem so why burn yourself out trying?’
‘Don’t they say it’s better to burn out than to fade away?’ Sakurako replied.
‘THEY say a lot of things’, Walker paused to think for a moment before slapping his wide forehead, ‘man, there I go again.’ He addressed an imaginary audience crammed into the raft,
‘Sorry everyone, sorry, annoying mega perceptive mother hen in the house, sees lots of shit but doesn’t have the mega brains to keep his mouth shut!’ Walker made pecking motions with his head and flapped his arms wildly, both of them fell about laughing again.

As the raft finished rocking, Walker steered the conversation back to more immediate matters,
‘I like to help out as well, so … this thing’s too big to fall or fit through a warp gate, my sailing skills are pretty rusty, other wise I’d go buy a boat. I could have a discrete word with a few people though, see if I can’t sort out some sort of tow for you, I seem to remember buying a shipping company earlier this year, they gotta have some contacts I can tap up’.
‘You own a shipping company?’ Sakurako was surprised, this was a new one on her, Walker waved his hand as if it was nothing.
‘A recent acquisition, they were almost bankrupt, I got it for a song. Strangely enough having a nova that can see the future as a major stockholder has reversed their fortunes quite dramatically.’
‘Don’t they treat that as insider information’, Sakurako was quick to catch on.
‘Technically yes, but I’m not asset stripping ravenously and I’m not disrupting anybody’s economy, so if they know what I’m up to, they don’t care’. Another shrug, ‘Really I’m just trying to hone my skills at seeing the future, it’s a skill I under use’.
‘I’d have thought that would have been one of the most useful quantum powers you could get’, Sakurako seemed perplexed.
‘Sounds like it, but if you’ve seen your Grand-dad die of a cancer that Triton haven’t got round to curing yet and known that not a damn thing you can do will help, you might have a different perspective’. Walker’s face took on an expression halfway between a scowl and a frown.
‘Oh, hey I’m sorry’, Sakurako laid a hand on the glowing shoulder in front of her.
‘It was a while ago, some things you can change, some things you just have to accept’, he took a deep breath. ‘Any how, don’t you go worrying about me, we’ll find some way of getting you home, even if it involves lassoing a flock of seagulls’.
‘Hmm, some sort of magneto-turtle-dynamic system maybe’. Sakurako raised an eyebrow. Once again the night air was filled with laughter.

"You know, I'll accept your offer. Just give me a few day to secure the raft and set it up for towing. Unless you have a wench that can lift a 20 meter in diameter pod on to it's deck." Sakurako scratched her head, doubtless wondering if such a thing was possible without her inventing something to do it...

Sakurako scratches her head, as the cool air off the ocean noticeably chills the inside of the pod's cabin. She walks over to the bin storing her vacuum suit, and puts it on for some comfortable warmth. She takes off the life vest she was wearing, and zips up the vacuum suit. She presses a couple of buttons, and the suit conforms to her form.


"Well, Sakurako, it looks good on you."


"Thanks... Uh... were you..."


"Watching? Uh, you didn't take anything off other than that vest of yours."


"Oh... That's right... I was wearing just my undergarments the whole time wasn't I?"


"Very conservative ones I might add..."


"Walker... Come on... Like I'd be nude under this huh?"


"Umm... No."


"Right. So... When could you get everything set?"


"Well, you said a couple of days. I'll shoot for five. Is that alright?"


"Perfect. I'll be seeing you, or your hired help."


"Good... Uh... Are you kicking me out?"


Sakurako is put agape at his remark.


"Oh no, you can hang around! The company would be welcome. I have plenty of supplies, and I could set up a spare bunk if you're interested."


Walker smiles.


"Well, thanks for the invite, Sakurako. Although I thought I wasn't thinking of being your room mate in a life pod..."


"Yeah... Well, this sort of thing is unexpected by mostly everyone. Then again, if this was a common life raft, you'd be in quite more cramped quarters now, wouldn't you?"


"True, true."


Sakurako stretches out. Her suit slightly squeaking as the material stretches with her.


"Does everything of yours make a sound?"


"Uh... No. This type of hinopolymer makes sound like this. I didn't design a sneak suit. If it didn't make noise, I'd be worried that there was some sort of malfunction."


"Ah..."


Awkward silence is all that is shared by both Sakurako and Walker.


"You know... When you get back, there will be some people quite curious about your misadventure."


"In due time, Walker... Things will come out in the open in due time."


Sakurako sits on the cabin floor, looking depressed.


"What's wrong, Sakurako?"


"Oh... It's just that... I doubt a lot of people would believe this story in the first place. I should just keep my big schoolgirl mouth shut."


"Well... That sort of decision is yours to make. A lot of people think you've just been gone for two months. Only people like me, or if Ronin stops by, will know. Your heart tells me you're speaking the truth. You also are a bad liar."


What do you mean?


"Well, you sort of twiddle your clothes with your right index finger when you lie."


Sakurako's expression shows her surprise. Her wide and bright eyes give it away.


"Huh!"


"You were doing that when you said you didn't have a fear of drowning."


Sakurako thinks for a moment, as her right index finger struggles to smooth a spot in her suit.


"And now you're thinking of a little white lie to cover that."


Sakurako is flabbergasted.


"Damn... You're good."


"I have to be. Especially trying to chase you around."


"Oh come on, I cannot be that interesting now, can I?"


Walker's smile grows to Cheshire like proportions again.


"Um... I'll take that... as a yes."


"Oh, don't take it the wrong way, Sakurako. I care about you, kid."


Sakurako sighs as she sits on a ledge overlooking the ocean. She thinks about Walker's remarks, and starts thinking of everyone. Remembering how much she missed them for all those years she was away. She realizes she hasn't forgotten about anyone on her journey, and her absence only made those memories clearer.


"I have a lot of people... who do."


She looks toward Walker, her eyes shimmering from tears. She then gets up and runs over to him. Gripping him tightly in an embrace, sobbing uncontrollably.


"I missed you... All... of... you."


Walker is astonished by the show of emotion. He had never seen her like this. Not even after her family's murder. Walker realizes, that no matter how she seems to grow up, she'll still be a little girl under any pretense she adopts. Then again, this is a good sign. At least he knows this is the same Sakurako that had left in his time only two months ago. This show of emotion only shows the Sakurako he remembers, the Sakurako that probably everyone liked seeing, had indeed returned intact. He returns the embrace.


"You always seem to be the scared little girl in the end, aren't you?"


Sakurako looks up toward him.


"Walker... You're right... I'm just an emotional type."


"Sakurako. You're more than that. You're still a kid. No matter how much of a nova you are or how many years you get under your belt. It's just your personality. To be honest though... I wouldn't have it any other way."


Sakurako first looks disappointedly downward toward the cabin floor, then back up toward Walker.


"Then... Walker?"


"Yes?"


"You'll make sure I don't get into too much trouble now, right?"


Walker sighs and runs his left hand through her hair.


"Only if the pay's good."


He winks. Sakurako has a laugh.


"See, I hate seeing you cry."


Sakurako sniffles and her mood lightens. Walker and Sakurako step slightly away, breaking their embrace but still close to each other.


"You know, Walker, if Ronin saw us like this... I don't know what his reaction would be."


"You love the guy don't you?"


"Well, you're like a big brother... Ronin... well..."


Walker's attention is hanging on her every word, now.


"Yes?"


"Ronin is..."


Sakurako holds herself and giggles. A bright blush, matching the color of Walker's skin, crosses the bridge of her nose under the eyes. Walker puts his index finger over her mouth.


"Sakurako... No need to say anything more. I know what love looks like."


Sakurako's surprised expression precedes another silent moment.


"Yeah... I guess that's what it is, Walker..."


Walker thinks to himself; "Yep, I'm starting to like this Sakurako."

Well my work here seems to be done, Walker thought to himself with a grin, then his eye fell on an object on one of the shelves of the life raft. It was a reddish coloured piece of fan shaped coral embedded in a thick irregular rectangle of perspex, Walker recognised it, he had given the coral to Sakurako a few months ago when she had been in hospital. Obviously she’d decided it worth preserving and had encased in some sort of plastic, looking at it again Walker wasn’t so sure that it was perspex probably some sort of clear plastic of Sakurako’s own invention.

‘Still got that piece of junk I see’, he remarked indicating the shelf ornament, Sakurako seemed scandalised at his flippant remark.
‘Of course’, she said with some indignation, ‘It’s priceless, a piece of alien coral from who knows how many light years away, and anyway,’ she paused suddenly looking slightly bashful, ‘It was given to me by someone special.’
‘Did you like the story I told about it how it gets made?’ Walker asked this with an air of disinterest leaning back on his elbows, streaching his legs and looking at the stars through the hatch, in return Sakurako pointed at him while saying.
‘Somehow I think you were trying to prove a point about something.’
‘Oh really, what did you think that could have been’, Walker feigned innocence.
‘Let me think … different species of polyp like bacteria making up a unified whole over generations’, Sakurako blinked a couple of times as realisation dawned.
‘You were trying to make some point about the nature of consciousness, the way different thoughts and feelings blend together to make up what a person is’, she looked at Walker quizzically.
‘Yep that was pretty much it’, Walker admitted with a grin, ‘My own amateur attempt at neurohacking.’ He looked out of the hatch at the peaceful ocean, watching the swells and eddies form and then get swept away as new patterns of water layered themselves over the top.
‘Maybe another way of saying it, is that we’re all treading water trying to keep our heads out of the briny drink, or perhaps that’s a slightly different thought’. Walker shrugged as best he could in his reclined position and broke himself away from his contemplation of the abstract motion of the sea, looking towards Sakurako.
‘It’s your mind you make it up’ he finished with.

‘And now, it’s time for me to make a move’, Walker got to his feet and gave his reacquainted friend a massive bear hug enveloping her in his glow,
‘I’ll be keeping an ear out on your radio frequency, don’t hesitate to give me a call if you think it’s needed, you make sure you take good care of yourself.’ An orange framed picture of sunny fields and hedgerows started to form in the air, Walker stepped through, waved and then was gone plunging the capsule into near darkness.

As the pod grows darker from Walker's absence, Sakurako sits at one of the control chairs, which has now become a terminal desk. A small message appears on her Instant Messenger.



"Pickup Time: 7 days. Noon."



Further information comes in over her e-mail account. Showing her the make and model of cargo ship and what registry it'll be. Strangely enough, it's a Japanese registered vessel. Sakurako thinks of the irony behind Walker's choice of vessel. It has the cargo hold and wench system necessary to pick up and store the pod for it's journey back to Endeavor Point. While the docks where the Hikari-Maru once sat, are deep enough for the ship to enter and drop off the pod.



She sits at her console, typing away. By the next morning, she had hit every chat room and forum she could, and made herself unwelcome at a few servers hosting first-person shooters. After finishing off a few missives to old friends, she logs off, and sighs. Realizing that the next few days were going to have boredom written all over them. After all, a mind like hers needs to find more stimulation than empty entertainment through digitally fragmenting someone's digital body in a spree.



She taps her pen on the console, and then rests it on her upper lip, supported by her nose.



She looks at the time... It's 1342... And Sakurako needs a bath...



Little did she know, that another visitor was stopping in.



(To be continued in: Message in a Bottle)