A piece of the Moon is missing. While this is kind of a big deal, the public has not been informed of this because nobody knows where it went. This has made a lot of people really worried.
NASA took it very seriously, as did the people who fund it. This is the reason why, a little over a month after it happened, one of the satellites orbiting the Moon has been assigned to monitor this particular spot on a daily basis.
Vesta waits for the satellite to disappear over the horizon before landing on the Moon. She’s wearing her usual outfit, consisting of an orange tube top and orange jeans.
Her bare feet touch the lunar soil, inside the giant crater which formed when Noriko accidentally teleported part of the Moon above New York City.
She takes a moment to enjoy the view: she’s always loved the beautiful silence of the Moon.
“I really miss flying here just to get a tan, vacations were easier before they invented the telescope…there’s just no privacy anymore. Oh well, back to work” – she thinks.
The crater is currently lighted by the Sun, which means the temperature is enough to boil water but not nearly enough to bother the goddess of the hearth.
Vesta looks very carefully at her shadow: something is growing on the ground, no longer sterilized by the heat of the Sun. Something green.
“Amazing…the Many is still alive. Noriko vaporized her before teleporting us back! She must’ve left behind…what, a couple of cells maybe? A couple of molecules!?”
Vesta’s thoughts are interrupted when the green goo quickly forms a human hand, that tries to catch her ankle. Vesta steps back, disgusted, and the heat of the sun kills the hand leaving behind only the smallest amount of cells.
“Good Gaea, is there anything that can stop this thing from replicating!?” she wonders, waiting.
Without a shadow, the Many can’t seem to be able to move again. Then Vesta understand what happened: the Many recreates its body each night, probably more than one body, and is killed again every time the Sun rises. There isn’t a mountain or a crater or even just a rock for miles, so the Many has died something like forty times already.
Taking it back to Earth is probably a bad idea, but there doesn’t seem to be another way. Vesta gently grabs the green blob and holds it in her hand, setting it on fire.
“So far so good, it’s not returning to human form yet. Let’s hope this works” she thinks, flying back to Earth.
If Vesta cared about these things, she would wonder how she’s able to create fire in a vacuum…but she’s too busy wondering if a goddess can pray for a desperate plan.
Null Tower, New York City
The board of directors looks at Bob Null like he’s from another planet. Not only he’s the only one not wearing a tie here, he doesn’t even know what the board does.
<I’m sorry, what was the question again?> he asks.
<“Where is your daughter?”>
The man who repeated the question is Mark Stewart, the Chief Operating Officer of Null Technologies, looks like the polar opposite of Bob Null.
Bob is in his mid-thirties, has an head full of hair and not a care in the world. Mark is in his mid-fifties, no hair to speak of, only slightly balanced by a nicely kept goatee, and looks like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders.
<She’s busy inventing, uhm, stuff. She’ll be back soon.>
<Really. Do you know how your daughter hired me, mr. Null?>
<She offered you a ton of money?>
<Well, yes. But she also told me that she founded Null Technologies not just for profit, but to change the world. And the things we’re already building…holographic projectors, artificial intelligence, even the sound nullifiers…I believe we can. That’s why I accepted.>
<What’s your point, mr. Stewart?>
<My point is Noriko is supposed to brief me on any new projects, so don’t try to sell me this bul###it about her being too busy inventing stuff. She’s burned out, isn’t she? She pulled out the last of her impossible inventions.>
<Hey guys> Quantum says, appearing out of thin air.
He looks around, noticing the board of directors is looking at him. They’re visibly scared.
<This is a private meeting, Quantum> Stewart greets him with the most glacial tone imaginable.
<Yeah, sure, whatever. You’re the rich guy Null hired to manage the company, right?>
<I am.>
<I told her to keep an eye on you. You look like an 80s movie villain, y’know? Middle aged, bald, goatee, trying to steal the company.>
<…>
<Quantum is here to assist Noriko in one of her experiments, mister Stewart. In fact, we’re just on our way to her lab> Bob explains.
<Of course. Please remember her to keep me updated> Stewart answers, watching Quantum vanish in the blink of an eye and Bob Null walk out of the room.
There’s a full ten seconds of silence. He then addresses the board:
<I think we should discuss Leiko’s proposition now.>
On the top floor
The round-shaped rock called the Heart of the Universe is still sitting on the pedestal, hooked up to dozens of wires.
<Are you sure this is gonna work?> Bob asks.
Quantum and Vesta look at each other. Her right hand, which holds the last cells of the Many, is on fire. His left hand is now made of lightning.
<Nori said this thing works by thoughts, right? Enough electricity should jump-start it> Quantum answers, trying to sound like he knows what he’s talking about.
<And the Many may be able to take Noriko back…somehow> Vesta adds, understanding how desperate the plan is when saying it out loud.
<Whatever; I just hope you’re able to bring Nori back> Bob concludes, holding his daughter’s leather jacket.
Vesta and Quantum look at him, puzzled either by his actions or by the jacket’s horrible shade of green.
<What? She left her clothes behind. If we take her back naked, she’s going to be upset.>
The Heart starts glowing blue. It’s very faint, but it’s there.
<It’s definitely doing something. IRIS, is this good or bad?>
<Insufficient data for a meaningful answer> is the computer’s answer.
<I’m gonna go with “good” then. Ready?> Vesta asks.
<Ready> Quantum answers, touching the Heart of the Universe together with the goddess.
There’s a blue flash of light, bright enough to fill the entire room.
When Bob Null open his eyes, Quantum and Vesta have vanished. Together with the horrible green jacket.
Tokyo, Tanaka Mansion
Leiko has fallen asleep on her extremely expensive chair, surrounded by laptops and holographic screens. She doesn’t like to depend on her daughter’s technology, but has to admit it’s far more comfortable than laptops or tablets. She strives to look like a towering figure of power over her employees, but it does take a lot of work to be the head of Scion Corporation.
The sound of her cellphone ringing awakens her. It takes a while to recognize the sound: nobody calls Leiko Tanaka. She is the one giving the orders.
She looks at the phone, puzzled and half-asleep: she can’t recognize the number.
<<Hello?>> she answers in Japanese.
<What did you do to our daughter?>
That English voice is like an electric shock. She hasn’t heard it in fifteen years.
<Robert!? How did you get this number!?>
<Father of the smartest girl in the world. Remember? The girl you abandoned but promised you wouldn’t harm!?>
<I didn’t do anything to your daughter, Robert.>
Despite accentuating that “your”, Leiko has regained her composure. Judging from his voice, however, Bob Null is simply furious.
<You want my grandfather’s rock, don’t you? The Heart of the Universe. It’s what you’ve always cared about, isn’t it? A f###ing rock!!!>
<I sent the Many to recover it. I haven’t heard anything back from her. You know why I’m telling you this, Robert? Because I didn’t have anything to do with your daughter’s disappearance.>
<So you DO know she vanished!>
<Of course I do. After the fight in New York your daughter is the most watched over teenager on the planet; you have two FBI agents infiltrated in your own building.>
<Let me guess: one of them actually works for you.>
<Don’t be ridiculous. They both take orders from people who work for me. Since you’ve suddenly become smart enough to contact me, Robert, you might also be reasonable enough to understand my next offer.>
<If the price is the Heart, you already know the answer’s no.>
<Do you seriously think I need your permission? I hold all the cards, as I always do. I’m simply giving you one last chance of losing gracefully.>
<I’m not falling for that. I’ve already told you: I’m the one person you can’t control.>
Bob Null hangs up the phone, another thing that’s never happened to Leiko Tanaka.
She doesn’t care. She has everything under control. She always does.
<<Then I guess I’ll have to make you even more irrelevant than you are>> she replies in Japanese.
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