Seeing Stars
By Jason Ulloa
Original story by Moonsong
Continued with her permission.


Chapter 8

Ten minutes before the lunch break was over, Amy returned 
to the set. She had always made it a habit to be one of the 
first back so she could set her mind to the task at hand. It 
made for an easier return to work for the rest of the crew 
and cast if she already knew what needed to be done and 
what should be done beforehand.

The moment she walked into the room, a phone rang. Since 
she was the only one there, she rushed over to answer it.

"Anderson, here," she answered in a profession tone.

"I knew you'd be here," a male voice answered back in an 
amused voice. "You and your ten minute rule."

"G.Q.," she said with a grin. "Nice to hear from you again."

"Melvin told me that you might have some work for me. The 
'Total Eclipse' script, right?" he replied. "I told him that I'd 
call you back later with a reply, seeing that you had already 
went to lunch. Anyway, what is really piqueing my interest 
is this 'might' that you added in your request. As far as I've 
known you, you've rarely used the word 'might'. You either 
had something, or you didn't. What's the deal?"

"I'll explain more once you come down here on Thursday," 
she told him. "But what I can tell you is that I want the 
script revised so that our supporting actor gets just as 
much screen time as our star. Try to write it out so that 
there could be a possibility for a sequel, if this goes out 
as planned."

There was a pause on G.Q.'s end. "Hmm... that's a lot for 
just 'might', Amy. Are you sure you're not absolutely 
certain about this? From the sound of things, I'd say you 
are."

"To be perfectly honest, Greg, I am sure," she answered. 
"There's just a matter of confirming it, though."

"I see," he replied. "Then, I'll be down there on Thursday."

"Good," she said and was just about to say goodbye 
when G.Q. spoke again.

"Have you talked to Jason, yet," he asked in a slightly 
concerned tone. Amy froze slightly, and gave a small sigh. 
"I suppose not," he continued. "And he's supposed to be 
down there sometime this week, him and his sister, to go 
over stunt coordination. Amy, you know the only reason 
he never says anything is because he believes those 
rumors about you and I being a couple. I know him, he'd 
never try to step between two people even if he wanted 
to. He's too firmly convinced and I can't convince him 
otherwise and neither can Lita. It has to be you."

Jason Evans and his twin sister, Lita Evans, both 
worked as professional stunt coordinators and stuntpersons. 
They were the best at what they did, which was why they 
always hired themselves out with the condition that they 
worked together on the same film. Always. If you didn't 
hire both, neither one would accept. It was that 
eccentricity that made them stand out just as much as 
their acclaimed skill at stunts. To everyone else, those 
reasons alone were enough to hire them; Jason to double 
for Darien, and Lita to double for Serena.

There was another reason, unknown to many people - and 
Amy preferred it that way - as to why she had hired the 
Evans twins. She had a huge crush on Jason, which she 
had managed to hide from the public eye. Only she, G.Q., 
and Lita knew about it, just as they were the only ones to 
know about his crush on her. She wasn't really supposed 
to know about it, but G.Q. told her when he found out from 
Lita. Not that that knowledge did much good to her right now.

Amy gave another sigh as she shook her head. Talk to him? 
Easier said than done. Whenever she did manage to work 
up enough nerve to speak to him, he gave her one of 
those beautiful smiles of his that tended to strike her 
breathless and forget almost everything except work-related 
matters. She was lucky she could manage to keep herself 
from blushing where anyone could see. He was a 
handsome - no, sexy - man, and that smile of his made it 
more so. She was happy to note that he gave those smiles 
only to her, and just as happy that no one else seemed to 
notice that fact.

If she could just stop worrying about how Jason would 
take it, or how Hollywood would take it without blowing it 
out of proportion.... If she could just stop those rumors 
about her and G.Q. without making any undue public 
spectacles.... If she could just work up enough nerve to 
talk to him without forgetting what she wanted to say 
whenever he gave her one of his special smiles.... If. 
Too many ifs for her liking.

"I'll... think about it," Amy replied reluctantly, which 
received a sigh from G.Q. He'd heard that before, 
several times, from her. He knew she'd put it off again, 
saying she was too busy and she forgot. The trouble 
was that she wasn't sure whether he knew the real 
reason why, or if he truly thought that she did forget... 
again.

"Okay," he relented. "Well, I'll let you get back to work, 
which is in about... five minutes. Later, Amy."

"Goodbye, Greg," she said with a smile and hung up 
the phone. Shaking her head again, this time in 
exasperation at her own foolish desires, she took a 
quick walk around the set, checking everything in 
preparation for the next scene.

            **********************************************

Melvin sighed as his stomach grumbled. He would have 
to forget his lunch at home, wouldn't he?

A honk outside his office window caught his attention. He 
walked over to the window and glanced outside. He 
recognized that car. What was Molly doing here? She 
was supposed to be in bed today, resting.

He hurried out of his office and rushed outside, just as 
Molly was slowly exiting out of the car with a bundle in 
her hands. He noticed that she wasn't wearing her usual 
hair ribbon and her red hair seemed longer as it fell to 
just short of her shoulders.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded as he hurried 
to her side. "You're still sick! Why didn't you stay in bed? 
You'll make me worry about you."

She smiled fondly at her husband as she gave him a 
small peck on the cheek. "You forgot your lunch, silly," 
she said in her slight Japanese accent as she handed 
him his lunch. "You shouldn't worry so much," she added 
admonishingly. "I'm not as sick as you think I am."

"But, you could catch pneumonia, or bronchitis, or...."

She silenced him with a kiss on the lips. "I'm not frail, 
dear," she chided laughingly. "I should be back to full 
health by tomorrow. The day after, I can return to helping 
you with your work. By the way, how is Darien doing? I 
still feel sorry for having to terminate his employment on 
Serena's demand."

"He's doing very well," he told her eagerly. "Amy and I 
think he's a keeper. As soon as G.Q. agrees to come 
and work on revising the script, then this movie will really 
take off."

Molly nodded happily. "I'm so glad for him. He seemed to 
be the kind of person has been struggling with life for a 
while, and my firing him didn't seem to help matters. 
Perhaps once I am well enough to return, then I can 
formally apologize to him. I hope he's not still upset...."

"Nonsense," Melvin assured her. "He won't be upset. I'm 
positive he'll forgive you if he hasn't already." He gave 
her a warm hug, then steered her toward her car. "Now, 
love, I thank you for bringing me my lunch, but you need 
to be in bed resting."

She laughed softly at his urging. "Very well, dearest, I 
shall return home, as you wish. I still say you're worrying 
too much." She stepped into the car and closed the 
door behind her. "I'll see you when you come home," 
she said through the open window.

Melvin nodded. "I love you, Molly," he said fondly.

"And I love you," she replied as she shifted the car into 
reverse, backed out, and drove off.

He stared after the car, then glanced down at the bundle 
in his hands. Shaking his head in fond exasperation, he 
returned to his office to finally enjoy his lunch.

            **********************************************

The sounds of people coming back to work filled the set 
as Darien and Serena walked back into the building. The 
two of them had arrived back at the lot at the same time, 
even though Serena had left earlier. He wondered about 
that, but wisely refrained from asking anything. No need 
to give her any reason to be angry at him.

A careful glance over at Serena walking next to him 
showed that she no longer wore an angry look on her 
face whenever she was in the same room with him, let 
alone walking beside him. He noticed that she was very 
beautiful when she wasn't furious. Then again, now that 
he thought about it, she was beautiful even when she 
was furious. Maybe all that apprehension toward her just 
kept him from seeing it.

"Something happen while you two were gone?" Amy's 
voice asked behind them. They both turned to see the 
director giving them a thoughtful look. "I'm surprised 
Serena's let you come within ten yards of her, let alone 
one foot."

"We've come to an agreement, Anderson," Serena 
answered coolly. "Since we're obviously going to be 
working together for some time, I thought I'd cut him 
some slack. Besides, Shields, here, has promised to 
repay me for the damages to my dress, among other 
things."

"I see," Amy replied thoughtfully. "Well, that's very 
magnanimous of you."

"There's no need for sarcasm," Serena said 
defensively. "I can be nice to people if I wanted to. 
Just ask Shields, here...." She paused as she noticed 
that he had gone on ahead. "Dammit, Shields! What 
do you think you're doing, just walkin' off like that!" 
She rushed off after him, yelling at him the whole time.

Amy rubbed the back of her head in bewilderment. 
Something was going on between those two, but the 
end result was far beyond what what she could guess. 
Something told her that she really didn't want to know.

She gave up trying to puzzle out the situation between 
Serena and Darien and went back to work, shouting 
out orders for the preparation of the next scene.

            **********************************************

It was absolute darkness everywhere he looked. The place 
had no windows and no lights on. Seeing that it was three 
in the morning, the absence of lighting was to be expected.

Cramped within the tight confines of a ventalation shaft, Jed 
mentally went over the plan for this first procurement again. 
He had arrived here in Madrid, Spain a few days ago, where 
he had immediately left to find this museum, which was 
practically all but unknown to the world at large, and check 
it out. The security system was third-rate, but enough to 
stop an amateur thief. For him, it was a cakewalk.

There was two security cameras watching the display; 
night-vision enabled, he realized from the total lack of light. 
A small ring of infrared laser beams surrounded the display, 
evident from the emitters he noticed ringing the display on 
the floor. Not a bad attempt at security, but still a very 
feeble one.

Very carefully, he inched his way forward, toward the 
ventilation grate covering the shaft. After cutting all but 
one of the screws holding it in, he silently let it slide down 
so that it hung down against the wall. The idiots forgot to 
install cameras at the other end of the room, so his work 
remained unseen.

Next, he pulled out a small electronic device from a pouch 
on his belt. This device would send a small radio signal that 
would jam the optical transmitter circuitry in the camera, 
causing it to repeat its last transmission and effectively 
"freeze" the current picture on the security display monitor. 
Their second mistake: they placed one of their cameras too 
close to the ventilation shaft. All he had to do was reach out 
and attach the device onto the camera. One down, one to go.

He pulled out a telescopic pole and attached the second 
device to the tip. Slowly and cautiously, he extended the 
pole until the device was just under the camera. This one 
had some very strong double-sided tape attached to it. All 
he had to do was make sure the device didn't fall off until 
he was long gone from here.

After attaching the second device and counting slowly to 
fifty before he was sure that the device didn't fall off, he 
silently slipped out of the ventilation shaft and into the 
room. The night vision goggles he wore made sure that 
he didn't bump into anything.

The next part was tricky. He had to remove the item 
from the display without tripping the alarm, which meant 
that he had to avoid those infrared beams. Apparently, 
whoever designed this part of the security system had 
a good idea: the beams were so close together that 
trying to take out the item would trip the alarm. No 
matter. He had a plan for this, too.

He reached behind his back and pulled out the 
collapsed structure that he had strapped there. It 
unfolded into a device with mirrors positioned in just 
the right angles that one of the beams would be 
diverted and remain unbroken, even if it did have 
to travel a longer path. The structure was carefully 
slid into place avoiding all but the one beam it was 
meant to shift. Success! There was a hole big enough 
for his hand to reach in and take out the item.

After placing the procured item into one of his empty 
pouches, he quickly recollapsed the structure and 
climbed backwards into the ventilation shaft. The 
jamming devices would have to remain, since there 
was no way for him to remove them with out giving 
himself away. He pulled the grate up and secured it 
with a bent paper clip. It was crude, but a cursory 
glance would show nothing was wrong. He quickly, 
but cautiously, crawled backwards out of the shaft 
and back the way he came. He got what he had 
come for.

            **********************************************

"Sir, phone for you," a butler said as he stood in the 
doorway of the bathroom, while holding a cordless 
phone in his right hand. "A mister Jed, I believe his 
name was. He's calling from Madrid."

Max was taking a leisurely bath when his butler 
entered. It was a huge ornately designed bathroom 
with a porcelain bathtub built inside the floor in the 
center of the room. Beautifully woven curtains of fine 
silk surrounded the bathtub. Not exactly a choice fabric 
for bath curtains, but he never splashed when bathing. 
A huge gilded mirror stood above a black marble counter 
with bronze fixtures installed above the sink carved 
within. Two windows at the other end of the room were 
placed on each side of the white stone balcony with its 
intricate carvings lining the balustrade. The doors to the 
balcony were open so that he could enjoy the beauty 
of the city lights before him, laid out against the 
background of a field of stars. Such small things tended 
to soothe him every now and then.

"I'll take it here," he said, holding out his hand behind him 
without turning from his view of the outside. "Thank you," 
he said once the phone was placed in his hand. "I'll 
replace it myself. Oh, and while you're leaving, could you 
please remove those?" He gestured toward the clothes 
he had discarded before stepping into the bath. "I would 
appreciate it."

"Very well, sir," the butler replied with a curteous bow. It 
was never a stiff, perfunctory one as he tended to treat 
his personal employees with more respect than the ones 
at work. Besides, it made for a more pleasant living 
environment. He picked up the clothes then left, closing 
the door behind him.

"Talk to me," Max said once he was alone.

"It's done," came the quick reply.

"Great," he said in a satisfied tone. "That's one. How long 
do you think until you can get the other five?"

"Well, the red one is in my possession now," Jed began. 
"The orange one is in Washington in some private collection. 
The yellow one has always been in your possession, so I 
don't need to get that one. The green one is up in another 
private collection in Vancouver. The blue one is in a museum 
display in Tokyo. The indigo one is in another private display 
in Hong Kong, and the violet one is in another museum 
display in Sydney. It shouldn't take longer than a couple of 
weeks."

"Take as long as you need, but don't take too long," Max told 
him. "By the way, any particular reason why you're procuring 
these crystals in spectral order? I would think you'd go get 
the closest ones first."

"It's just a whimsy of mine," Jed replied offhandedly. "Geniuses 
like myself tend to have their quirks."

"A genius, now, are you?" Max laughed. "Well, pertaining to 
your work, I suppose you are one at that. I see no problem 
letting you satisfying your whimsies. Just as long as the job 
is done satisfactorily, that is. I'll be waiting for your report on 
the next crystal."

"Understood," Jed replied and hung up.

Max turned off the phone and laid it on the floor beside him. 
He was now in the possession of two of the seven Nijizuishou 
crystals. Once he was in possession of all seven, then the 
next phase of his plan could come into fruition. A smile spread 
across his face as he slowly submerged himself into the warm 
bath waters, letting the soothing warmth soak into him. Soon.

Very soon.

            **********************************************

Author's Note: I know, I know, but I just couldn't help but bring 
in my character from my own fic. I consider Jason to be a 
sort of 'signature' character; it ain't really 'my' fic unless he's in 
there somewhere. ^_^ I guess that's my ego talking. *shrugs* 
But, hey, why not? It sorta fits anyway, so it couldn't hurt. 
Next chapter: It's the following day and Jack Terrance pays a 
visit to the L.A.P.D., but it's not a social call. Diane Silver visits 
with an old friend of hers and the second Nijizuishou crystal 
is targeted. 

Disclaimer: All original materials belong to their respective 
owners. Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi and a bunch 
of big companies. No copyright infringement is intended. This 
story belongs to Moonsong and myself, and I would appreciate 
you emailing her or myself for permission before posting it 
anywhere else. Thank you.

Prologue Copyright © January 24, 2000 Moonsong.
Other Chapters Copyright © August 12, 2000 Jason Ulloa. 
All Rights Reserved.