Destiny is a funny thing. One never knows when it is truly destiny or a deep seeded desire to fulfill a long standing fantasy. Do we just toss our reservations to the wind and take charge or back away and rethink our decisions. Either way, who is to say that destiny is not being fulfilled? Destined to step forward, destined to step back. Both are points of views with the same vantage point.
Chapter 20
Agegi let go of Randals’ head. He dropped to the floor like a ragdoll – lifeless. Agegi waved his massive arm in the air and recited, “Itahl, toghan, moghan. Behold!”
Randals jumped up looking like he was in a daze.
“Who is your master, one called Randals?”
His head jerked a bit. He said, “You are my Master. You are Agegi, an Ancient one, giver of new found powers, giver of immortally and new strength.” Randals, jerked walked toward Sean and Loggar. Those of the group left standing retreated to the entranceway. One of the robed fellows had his hand placed on the button to turn the force shield on.
Agegi turned his attention to the group and said, “Follow me and I will grant you power beyond your wildest dreams.” He lifted an arm and Randals lifted several feet off the ground with his arms outstretched and his feet crossed. Agegi toyed with them by displaying Randals in this crucifixion pose. Agegi said, “Who arm I?”
Randals coughed.
“Who am I?” Agegi said again, his voice echoing in the chamber and another one of the older members collapse from heart failure.
Randals said, “You are the one who controls my life and if I fail you my life is yours to end.”
“Again!”
Randals shouted, “You are the one who controls my life and if I fail you my life is yours to end.”
“Again!”
“You are the one who controls my life and if I fail you my life is yours to end.”
“Never forget it,” and he closed his fist and Randals collapsed to the ground like a puppet with severed strings.
The group looked on at the scene terrified. The robed fellow hit the power on button and the entranceway sparked into a frosty blue film.
Agegi laughed and opened his fist. “This is how I reward my minions. One called Randals, turn that device off.”
The limped body of Randals jerked several times and he inhaled a deep breath of air. He jerked up and walked toward the field. At first he seemed to be some sort of Frankensteinian monster, movements stiff and jerky, but by the time he reached the field his walk was normal, almost graceful.
Herb was on the other side of the field. When Agegi grabbed Randals head and seemed to have killed him, Herb whispered to himself, ‘thank you for killing that ass.’ But when he saw Randals get up he nearly soiled himself. He took an involuntary step back as Agegi’s new follower approached the field. The force field was a level 9 barrier. Anything moving through it would be disintegrated.
Randals felt like a new man. His eyesight sharpened and he felt like he could do anything. He understood that Agegi could cut his existence off by his will, but Randals was thinking that maybe this was indeed a blessing. He stepped toward the force field. His new body wasn’t quite working. It took a few steps. He stared at the barrier and through the frosty film he saw Herb. A burning desire to finally shut the fat fucker up drove him toward the field. He knew that Agegi was all powerful and would allow him to walk through the field and live. So, Randals placed his hand through the barrier and he felt searing pain but he continued to move forward.
The others watched in absolute horror that someone would willingly walk through a level 9 field. They heard Randals’ scream. It was loud, unnerving, completely abhorrent to a sane mind. It was the screams of souls being skinned alive. It resonated throughout the chamber and down the entranceway, deep in their bodies and bones. Randals screamed louder but continued to walk through the field.
Sean looked with a morbid fascination. He saw Randals’ fingers and then hand, wrist and arm boil up in a pink cloud of smoke. His sleeve curling up in a kind of black flake falling to the ground. Randals screamed louder and continued walking and walking and walking. Sean stared closely, then he saw that Randals’ fingers, hand then wrist were forming on the other side of the field. The appendage was a black semblance of an arm but turned pink then pale yellow. Randals walked through the field, clothes, skin, flesh, bone being burned and boiled off on one side only to be reformed into a smooth new layer of bone, flesh and skin on the other side.
What seemed like forever, Randals emerged from the barrier anew feeling like never before. He stood naked, breathing heavily, reached out his hand. The robed fellow dropped his hood and stepped aside. The power switch turned off and the barrier sparked, flashed off.
Agegi laughed and enjoyed this game. He had their attention now. He simply said, “Who wishes immortality?”
There was a moment of silence. It hung in the air for a bit. Then the robed fellow stepped into the chamber. Five others followed. Randals took his place next to his master and watched him turn his fellow scientist and Most High Goddess worshiper into Ancient One minions.
Loggar watched in utter and total disbelief. ‘What have I done?’ she asked herself. ‘I have unwittingly awakened an Ancient one.’ She gasped as Randals walked through the barrier and survived and nearly cried as six members stepped up to become Agegi slaves!
Sean caught Robin’s stare and nodded. He grabbed Loggar and moved her away from Agegi and the group. No one seemed to notice. They made it to the doorway. Two more members stepped in line. Herb, Milkens, Robin, Kurp, Loggar and Sean stepped away and ran. Sean didn’t care where just as long as it was away from the chamber.
This bears saying, “Be careful what you wish for.” This bears re-iterating. “Be careful what you wish for.” And this bears summarizing. “Knucklehead, think about what in the world you are trying to do here!”
Chapter 21
After a minute of blindly running through Necron, Sean stopped and asked, “What the fuck was that all about?”
No one answered.
He said, “Someone must know! We just unleashed some fucking thing I do not know what in the name of Most High Goddess and no one can answer me?” He squeezed his eyes tight in frustration.
Still no one answered.
He stood naked in the hallway and turned his back on them.
Loggar said, “Sean...”
He did a sideway glance.
“I didn’t think this was going to happen. You must understand our knowledge going into this was limited. This was beyond the facts presented.” She cleared her throat. “I didn’t know Agegi was an Ancient one.”
Sean turned around. He face twisted up in disbelief, bewilderment and contempt all at once. “Didn’t know? Didn’t know? And what in God’s...” He corrected himself, “…in Goddess’s name is an Ancient one?”
Loggar was hurt and ashamed. She had been the conductor of this train and it wrecked incredibly before her eyes. All her teachings told her that anything was possible and that setbacks were someone else’s problem. But this one, this one problem was of her doing, of her making. No one could assume the burden of this mistake, this train wreck, this disaster. She signed, “In the belief system of Wicca, there were but two major factions, the Elders and the Ancient ones. The Elders were the architects of this magnificent world of technology. They are the good guys. The Ancients were made to serve the Elders, but like most servants they wished to be the masters. We have plenty of stories of Ancients trying to master humans on Earth and occasionally the Elders intervening and eliminating the Ancients or reigning in the runaway maverick ways of control. Agegi is an Ancient and his behavior seems logical.” Loggar slipped in social scientist mode and she saw half a book out of this experience.
Sean said in disgust, “And you made me a pasty in awakening that thing!” He jabbed his finger in the Chamber’s general direction.
Loggar was hurt. “No Sean, I made you a part of this because I care deeply about you, I love you, and I wanted you to be a part of this.”
Robin silently gasped and held her breath for a second.
The air seemed to thicken and Sean stood there with his jaw clamped tight.
“Sean, you must believe me.” Loggar pleaded.
Herb coughed, “As touching as this moment is I think we need a plan. Everyone got an idea? Yes?”
Milkens stared at his feet and Kurp sank to the floor. Loggar, with teary eyes, turned away.
“Look you two, you’re the military minds here. Do something!”
Sean sighed and looked at Robin. “Well, Captain you got any bright ideas?”
Robin just stared.
Sean turned to Herb and asked, “First we need to get the hell off this planet. How far down are we from the surface?”
Herb said, “Ten levels. We passed the elevators.”
They backtracked and saw that the elevators were blocked by one of Agegi’s new minions. No doubt the standing orders were to keep them from getting off the planet, capture them or kill them. Not necessarily in that order.
“Herb,” Sean asked sneaking back around the corner, “Are there any other ways out of here?”
“All in front of us...wait; there are those huge doors at the end of one of the branched hallways.”
“Why so...“ Sean froze and went pale. He heard talking voices coming toward them. “They’re coming. Go!”
The group ran as fast as Herb could run. Herb clinched at his chest but kept going. His breathing was getting ragged and it hurt to take in air. He broke out in a sweat. Robin and Sean hadn’t even started sweating. This run was more like a quick pace to them. Kurp, Milkens, and Loggar barely fared better then Herb. Years of Archaeological digs never taxed them physically only mentally. The group turned one corner and then a second. Herb stopped in front of a door and placed his hand on a small square next to the door. It had a symbol that looked like a cross between a flying saucer and a twentieth century jet plane. Sean wondered as the door slide open. The room was empty save for what looked like chairs along the wall. It reminded Sean of a briefing room. They entered one more room and it came alive. Sean swore and almost jumped out of his skin. An alarm of some sort went off.
“Damn I hate this Magick shit.”
This room was a narrow passageway, a 100 meters in length that lead to very tall double doors. The doors seemed to be a solid mass of steel, and meters thick.
“Okay Herb, how do we open these doors?”
Herb shrugged and said, “I don’t know. I was hoping that it operated on Magick or something.”
Sean stepped toward Herb, who took a step back, “What do you mean Magick or something?”
Loggar spoke up, “We think that behind here is another ceremonial chamber connecting to three other passage ways. The doors are made of a material that blocks most T-wave scans. We’ve seen several, we think, passages.”
“Great, just great!” Sean said. Then he heard someone yell, ‘We’ve found them!’
“Herb!” Sean shouted.
“Okay, okay, stand there.”
Sean did so.
“And touch the door.”
Sean did so but the doors remained closed, however, the group heard some sort of mechanism click. Sean looked back and saw about five minions at the far end of the chamber. They started walking toward them.
“Damn you Herb! Think man.”
“Okay, okay, okay. I remember in the text that there was something about speaking some words to open the door.”
“What?”
Loggar said, “Sean, this place is full of technology that allowed the Elders to perform Magick. That’s how they lived their lives.”
Sean bit his bottom lip. Damn these foolish people and their equally foolish ways. “Okay, what do I say?”
Herb and Loggar shrugged.
“What?” Sean gasped.
Robin stared at them in disbelief. “You guys are the local scientist here and the expert witches, you’ve got to know the words!”
Herb shook his head. So did Milkens and Loggar.
Kurp grunted, walked over to Sean and whispered in his ear.
Sean said, “You’ve got to be kidding?”
The minions were about half way there when they heard Sean yell out, “Abracadabra!”
The doors started to open. They started running toward the group.
Sean had his arms outstretched when he said the Magick word, but dropped them as he started to run. The doors slammed shut. “What the?”
Kurp said, “Young man, you have to keep your arms outstretched as you walk through.”
Sean swept his arms open and the doors opened. He dropped them slightly and the doors closed slightly. He looked back as he ran through the now open doors – nearly 10 meters thick. He could only surmise what the doors hid. He turned around with his arms still open and faced the minions. They were about 10 meters away when he heard Robin shout, “Sean, shut the door! Now!”
Sean waited until the first two minions crossed the threshold and he dropped his arms. The doors slammed shut with a sickening wet slap. Both caught dead center of the doors. Sean turned and dropped his jaw.
The chamber was a cathedral, a very large cathedral. “What the...?”
Sean stood witness to row after row after row of glass coffins. Coffins was the best word he could come up with. Loggar, Robin and the rest stood about several meters in front of him. Dazed, mesmerized and stunned at the magnitude and expanse of the number of these things. Sean stopped counting, in one direction, after one hundred, the chamber went on forever minus a foot. Off in the distance Sean saw a bright blue-white light pulsate in the distance. The beam extended from a base and disappeared into the ceiling.. It looked maybe half a mile away. Maybe it was further it was hard to tell. He walked up to Loggar and said, “What is going on?”
Loggar stood in awe of the expanse of coffins. She walked up to one and saw the face of a middle-age woman. Her hair was brown and she looked very very human. She went to another coffin and stared at an old man for about several seconds. This was beyond her wildest dreams! This was the discovery of a lifetime! She hurried to another coffin and then another, giggling in the process. She was bursting at the seams.
“Sean,” She began, “You wanted proof of Alien life?” She impatiently shook her hand at a coffin. “Meet the Necronians!”
There are two types of salvation: Salvation through asking for forgiveness and Salvation through forgiveness. Each type has its own price to pay. One is paid by loss of dignity, control, power and influence. The second is paid by loss of influence, control, power and dignity. The difference between the two types is the order of what is important.
Chapter 22
Sean walked up to a coffin and stared deeply into it. It was absolutely unbelievable. His inner core being screamed that it was all a lie. It had to be a lie. And that this was a dream and that he would wake up in just a little bit because this place was just a construct of his subconsciousness. But he looked intently in the face behind the glass cover. It was not a dream and this was a person. Damn! Reality could be a hard slap to the face. He looked up to Loggar.
“Now what?”
“W-W-What do you mean?” She stammered.
He stared Robin, Herb, Milkens and Kurp in the eyes and simply added, “Now what? What do we do from here?” Sean wheeled around looking at the door. His anger building up and in one surge he turned back around and let it all come out. “I trusted you! I let you come into my life. I let you use me. I let you blindfold me into this Wicca thing and where has it gotten me! Where!” He screamed. “We got monsters behinds us and dead folk before us. Now I’m just asking you for a simply solution to all this. You people with all the answers.” And in a flash his anger was gone.
Milkens cleared his throat. “Umm, Commander, they are not dead.”
Sean shot him a look.
Milkens visibly cringed, but recovered fast enough to restore some bit of dignity.
“Come again?” Sean said.
Milkens cleared his throat. Herb silently willed his friend some fortitude. He had known Milkens for more than a decade and he knew he was a very withdrawn and shy guy. In a conversation, Milkens admitted to be very intimidated by the Sean. Randals he laughed at, Loggar he respected, like all the other high officials in the Most High, though Robin was a captain in the service and commanded a GRID ship she was Most High and very beautiful but Blakemore, he said, was a true honest to goodness Battlecruiser Commander, he was a hero who rescued people and fought the SI war. This man commanded loyalty and respect and authority and the glamorous and not so glamorous things in the Service. This man frightened him. Milkens told a deep breath. “The Necronians are alive.”
Sean blinked. “I thought that’s what you said.”
Milkens nodded and continued. “They are in suspended animation, just waiting for something or someone to awaken them.”
This was madness Sean thought. “What kind of people would purposely put themselves asleep for who knows how long, just to be awaken at the ‘right’ time?”
Kurp stepped up and said, “Because they were probably bored. Think about it. You can do anything you what just by waving your arms and uttering a few words and presto! Something happens. That kind of ability can get old. These people lived it from birth and they probably lived decades, maybe centuries before they started to age. Living in a place where one’s wishes were granted by one’s ability to utter the right words probably got very and understandably trite.”
Sean looked around and saw the others nodding.
“But you guys try and practice it all the time.”
Loggar chanced a touch on Sean’s shoulder. “Yes we do, but we never get there. We, mainly, speak the words and go through the rituals to bring the group into a sense of purpose. We really do want to do Magick, but we know we can’t. Not magick that makes things appear and disappear. Our magick is for making life better and helping people. Our rituals heighten our sense of our surroundings and focus us as a group. Our philosophy gets us through the day. We are Witches.”
Kurp grabbed the moment and said, “And if we were Necronians we would probably be here, laying in wait for something to happen.”
Sean suddenly looked tired. He shook his head several times and pressed his lips tight. He looked for a place to sit but found none, so he decided he was going to sit on a ‘coffin.’ The thought made him ill to the stomach. Milkens said these folks were alive, but still, they looked too still for his liking. Maybe they weren’t dead. Maybe these people could help them. Maybe not. “How long have they been here?”
Milkens spoke, “Maybe several decades, maybe several centuries, maybe even longer, hard to tell really. We do know that Necron was abandoned maybe a hundred years ago.”
Sean paced amongst several coffins. One older male in his sixties, a child in their teens, a woman in her forties. He peered in a ‘coffin,’ the person was a young woman about 30 something. Sean smiled at his attempt to guess her age. She was probably 300, maybe 3,000 or 30,000! Good Goddess this was bizarre. She had light brown skin and long black hair. Beautiful was an understatement. He touched the glass and suddenly felt dizzy. He had to sit down so he placed himself at the edge of the ‘coffin.’
“Okay, my question still stands. Now what?” Sean said.
He suddenly had this feeling that something was happening. He couldn’t place his finger on it, but something was happening. He looked over to the light in the distance. “Any idea what that is?” He asked no one in particular.
Herb said, “Good question. Since I think we are safe in here I was going to suggest we walk there...umm, did you lock the doors?”
Sean shot him a look, “I don’t know, did I?”
“Maybe we should make sure. I think you should touch the door again.”
Sean shrugged, “Whatever, I’m just a resident tool here.”
He didn’t look at Loggar but he knew she had a pained look on her face.
The group walked over to the door and stood there.
Sean, just to see if he was still connected with the doors spread his arms wide. The door opened and he saw Randals, Agegi and a handful of minions. Two of them broke from the group and raced toward the opening. Sean waited until they were dead center then he closed his arms. The doors slammed shut crushing the minions. He walked over to one of the doors and touched it. The group heard internal mechanisms and then silence. Sean stepped back and swept his arms open. The door remained closed. That was the best thing that has happened thus far he thought.
Agegi stepped toward the door. It opened and he saw Sean with his arms open wide. He told two of his slaves to stop him, but as they crossed the threshold Sean dropped his arms and effectively killed that plan. Then Agegi heard the doors lock. Randals was next to him when Agegi turned around. He looked down and said, “We have to find a way to wake the others.”
Randals bowed his head once and said, “Yes, Master. Might I suggest these?” And he held out his hand. Randals had two prototype sniffer maskers that Milkens and Herb had been working on.
“Do they work?” Agegi demanded.
Randals smiled, “Perfectly, Master.”
***
Sean turned around and dropped to his knees. The others rushed to his side.
Robin was the first to reach him. “Sean, are you okay?”
Sean, for a split second had this feeling that life was being drained from him. His head throbbed and he felt like his heart was about to burst. His muscles in his legs and arms didn’t seem like they wanted to work. So he dropped to his knees and started to shake violently. After a few seconds he said, “Damn that was strange. I felt like I was dying for a moment.”
Loggar reached Sean a second after Robin and she muscled her way between the both of them. She said, “Oh, Sean, I am so sorry. Please forgive me. I didn’t know. This is all my fault and I don’t know how to solve this one. I’m scared and I’m afraid this is not going to turn out okay for any of us! I just wanted all this to work out. It would hurt me forever to know that you hate me, but I would understand. I just want to tell you that I love you and I am so, so, sorry. And I ask only for your forgiveness.”
Sean stared into her eyes for a moment. He really didn’t have a reason to be mad at her, at least none he could think of, and she really seemed to be sincere about his feelings and he did have strong feelings for her and she was asking for his forgiveness. Here was this prominent scientist, the leader of a religious group, and a strong power within GRID asking him for forgiveness, and asking it in front of Robin. That had to mean something, really. Kathy came to Sean when he was at his worst and she helped him to get out of his hole. He was used, but it didn’t matter. The GRID has and will continue to use all for its purpose, so what was Loggar’s crime. She included him into a secret world that was very powerful. Sean hugged her and whispered in her ear, “Don’t worry, I love you and we’ll talk when this is over and done with, okay?”
She looked at Sean and wiped away her tears. She was very embarrassed to be crying in front of Herb, Milkens, Kurp and Robin. She couldn’t help it. She loved Sean and terribly needed his forgiveness. This whole mess was her fault. No amount of justifying would alter the fact that she played into Agegi’s agenda. It was her fault that Sean had to kill four good men. It was her fault that Randals and others were turned into monsters. And if they died tonight or were turned into those horrible abominations it was again her fault. She cried a little bit more. Red eyed she looked at the others. Damn them for thinking she was weak, but when she looked at Herb and Milkens and Kurp, all three had tears welled up in their eyes as well. They smiled at her and walked over and hugged her. They understood because they too claimed some responsibility over this whole thing.
Robin, however, was stone faced with military discipline. She resented Loggar for pushing her away from Sean. And when Loggar started crying, that dropped her a dozen notches in her book. Robin resented the fact that Loggar played her like some background instrument in a full orchestra.
They all heard a noise behind them and looked up.
Ever single one of them paled with surprise, shock and fear.
Sean was the first to recognize her. He sat on her coffin moments again. She was the beautiful woman with the long dark hair and the light brown skin. Now she stood in front of them, standing, breathing, alive and naked! Sean blinked several times. Was this a dream? A nightmare? Was he dying and this was the angel coming down to help him cross over?
She said, “I think I can help you out of this.” She closed her eyes and said “Ruogka!” She was suddenly clothed in a flowing sheer white gown.
There is a penalty for Arrogance. Not one of imprisonment, but one of transformation. To be transcended to levels never imagined nor dared reached by those who dare to take that one step beyond the normalcy of mediocrity. To be arrogant, one must have knowledge, to have knowledge one must be privy to information. To assume arrogance when all data, all information has not been collected is cause for punishment. May the punishment fit the crime.
Chapter 23
Agegi stood in front of the entrance to the second chamber, the one that had 12 other statues. It was several hours since they left behind Sean and the others. When the doors opened Agegi glanced inside. It was the chamber. The chamber that housed all the Elders left on the planet. And he was going to get his revenge after all. Awake, they could best him, but asleep, he could crush every single one of them. This human was going to be the instrument for getting back what had been lost: his power. Long ago the Necronians turned him and all those that followed him into these abominations. He was flesh, bone and blood transformed into polymers, metals and exotic fluids.
Once long ago he had been alive and lived like any organic creation. He was not different from any other Necronian. The reason he was the way he was lay in the reason that he questioned the Council on their decision in their deep sleep endeavor. He advocated they abandon this absurd plan to split the population into two distinct groups: Sleepers and Time Travelers. And just be explorers and creators. They had been the third oldest verifiable creation in the galaxy. The other two had vanished a million years before them in an epic war that destroyed thousands of star systems. Both had been races that lived for a hundred million years and wasted it all for dominance of the entire galaxy. Each foolishly vied to reign over the visible Universe. In the end neither won. Both succeeded in bringing about the ultimate tragedy. They utterly wiped themselves from the visible existence of the known Universe. It was a fight that either dared to risk it all. No one won; both lost. The Necronians had been able to develop on their own and become the superior species in the whole of the Galaxy. And within a million years they had become the oldest living active species in the galaxy and had visited millions of worlds. They had touched thousands of them with their seeds and only a few had responded with positive growth and potential. Agegi himself had been one of the first to visit Earth.
In three-quarters of a million years the Necronians conquered mortality and decided that they would be travelers and explorers. It was over half a million years ago and he remembered the first time he saw the beast hiding in trees and huddled in caves. They had a rudimentary understanding of fire, tools and language. He had a choice of half a dozen humanoid species to work with. So he changed them all! He pushed and pulled and prodded all the groups to converge into three distinct groups. One short, stout and muscular. One tall, gentle and powerful. The other slender and intelligent with much promise. He merged two and gave them fear and religion all in one visit. The third he let die out. He believed that the Council should continue developing new species in their image and that the Necronians had an obligation to the Universe to seed the entire galaxy and ever galaxy henceforth. But the Council ruled him down and dismissed him from the Chamber of Decisions. It had been ugly. Later, he and his followers vowed to break away from the Council, take others with them to the planets they developed and live out their days ruling over these shaped worlds.
One of the rules that the Council established long ago was that no one person or persons, without Council approval may influence another world. Doing so resulted in a harsh penalty. For Agegi to affect his plan he had to know entirely what the Council decided for all of Necronian. But his recent nature toward the Council had effectively barred him from the final plans and the in-between details. Agegi remembered the moment the Council police entered his home and searched his files. He had placed a seal over the files, but Marduk the head of the Council overrode it at the time. A few of his followers escaped, some even made it to Earth. He didn’t make it. He and twelve others were detained and jailed. The proceedings were swift. Under penalty, he was to live his days out as an Ancient – a fallen Elder. Ancient in the old tongue meant: Altered Sentient.
The irony was not lost on Agegi. The very creatures he started and his followers influenced were here to both help him and hinder him in his plans for revenge.
Randals smiled at himself to be servicing Agegi like this and was able to help bring the others alive. The maskers were taped to his chest. Agegi told him that clothing would never be needed again. Randals meant to ask him why, but he could feel his body changing. After he walked through that force field and came out alive and whole. He noticed that his body was becoming tighter, his muscles harder. He was changing and he could only guess into what. He looked back at the others, six of them left and nodded. Agegi had corrected him on the proper invocations needed to start the process. Randals swallowed hard and ‘Invoked the Pentagram of Fire.’ He spread his hands outward, palms forward and said, “In his name do I invoke thee. Mighty Father of us all - Lagh, Pen, Balen, Hernar. Cernunas - Come in answer to my call! Descend, I pray thee, in thy servant and priest." He stepped back.
The group rose.
Randals made the Invoking Pentagram of Fire toward Agegi with his athame. He turned to face the chamber. With sweating palms he grasped the athame with both hands and ‘Invoke the Pentagram of Fire’ at the statues. He took a step into the chamber, a group member came up behind him and started squirting Sean’s DNA into the room. Randals yelled, "Let there be Light!"
Intense heat and light set the room aglow. Randals counted to twenty and he could feel the mist from the squirt bottle flow over his shoulders and around his neck. It was working. It was working. Then in one bright flash and a burst of light the chamber went dark. The first second nothing, no light no sound, everything was still, then Randals heard something take in a deep breath, then he heard another and another. He counted twelve distinct breaths in all and the lights came on. All twelve statues stepped away from the wall and walked toward them. Agegi turned his bland face to them and said, “Revenge is at hand. They will pay for what they did to us.”
They all started to laugh.
***
Adruqu looked at the assortment of humans with curiosity. It was one thing to see them in her mind and another thing to see them with her eyes. They were huddled together going through some sort of bonding. Before that, the one named Sean sat on her container. He had enough of the DNA to start the activation and thus she stood before them. The travelers foretold of the humans and that Adruqu would have a hand in saving them. She knew their dilemma and offered her assistance.
Sean, she saw, recovered from the initial shock of seeing her. The Relations Council said they would be immobilized for a time, until their brains could assimilate what was transpiring. They said that Sean might recover first. He did.
Sean stepped forward. He had his headed angled awkwardly and asked, “Who are you? Are you real?”
Adruqu laughed cutely and walked to Sean. He took a step back but stopped and let her touch him. “I can give you vocal words and explain or I can just give you the information.”
“How?” Sean asked.
Adruqu got closer and touched Sean’s bare chest with hers and she kissed him deeply. The kiss was passionate and long. After a moment she broke the kiss and moved over to Loggar. “You are Kathy Loggar, Most High Goddess.” And smiled.
Loggar stammered, “Y-Y-Es, I-I am. How did you know?”
Adruqu looked to Sean and said, “We have been watching. Would you like me to pass the knowledge on to you?”
The group stared at Sean. He licked his lips as if savoring the best substance in the entire Universe. He turned to them and nodded. He chuckled at nothing in particular. “Do it Kathy. Do it for me, please.”
Loggar turned and looked into Adruqu’s eyes. Her pupils were not that much different than humans, maybe more oval. In fact, they were a lot of similarities save for some internal organ difference. Maybe even some physiological differences. She let Adruqu draw close to her. Loggar was about the same height and she was warm. She could smell her sweet breath as her lips got closer and then their lips touched and Adruqu embraced Loggar tightly. Loggar was swept up in nothing she had ever encountered. She loved the way Sean kissed her, his passive aggressive, give and take way of kissing. Sean seemed to magically know how to kiss her, but Adruqu’s kiss was beyond anything she had experienced. Energy seemed to flow from her like sweet tasting water from a glass dipped in the magical waters of the Fountain of Youth. Their tongues touched, flickered back and forth against one another. Then Loggar heard words in her mind and saw pictures and images and scenes. Adruqu was giving her information and she understood all at once what was going on and what needed to be done next. Then the kiss ended and Loggar almost cried out ‘No!’ Once she and Adruqu withdrew she looked over to Sean. He reached out and grabbed her hand. He nodded and smiled. He heard Milkens raised voice, “My turn!”
Robin was the only one to refuse. Adruqu explained that the kiss was her way of exchanging data. She was giving each person special nanobots, which was how each person understood certain things. Adruqu explained that their brains where not that much different because the human species had been shaped. She said that each person would now be able to understand her native tongue and in time would understand a great deal more.
Robin rocked back and forth as she listened. In the end she snapped that she didn’t like the way the information was given. Sean shrugged, turned his back and asked Adruqu, “What I don’t understand is why you guys settled on this plan?”
Adruqu chuckled sweetly and said, “It was the only logical and sanity saving thing we could do. I am over 100,000 years old and...”
Herb interrupted. “100,000 years old? But what about that old man we saw next to you and the older woman and the child? If I was 100,000 years old, I would rather look like I was 20!”
Kurp cut in, “Yes, young...“ he caught himself and chuckled, “...looking lady, with your technology I would not want to be this old looking, and the child? Is the child as old?”
Adruqu smiled. She was enjoying this encounter immensely. Before she slept, the others told her Aliens would awaken her. She was frightened at first, but she was told it would be by descendents from one of their developing worlds and that they would need her help. She gladly accepted the task. “Drepha is my son, the ‘old’ looking one, and he went into sleep before it was his time to rejuvenate. Andurio is my mother, as she too has to wait. The child,” she chuckled, “is our father, Maniluso.”
Sean listened and waited patiently.
Adruqu said, “But Sean’s question is still unanswered. Our civilization had been around for a million years. Our prehistory goes back maybe another 2 million years. We achieved space flight within 40,000 years and immortality soon after that. We traveled the entire galaxy in 500,000 years and started projects a little after we achieved faster than light travel. In all the other half-million years of our existence we lived, traveled, explored, created and soon became bored. We as a species had nothing else to do. In my 100,000 years I have been to the galactic center and back, I know several thousand languages and just as many sciences, I’ve given birth a thousand times. I’ve visited just as many worlds. My main disciplines are astronomy, biology, music, exobiology, physics, and chemistry. You would rate my IQ in the three hundreds and I am but average. I’ve died tens of times and made first contact as many times. I’ve built empires as well as destroyed them and I am but one single individual. Think of the millions of others lying asleep behind me. We utter words and make gestures and things appear and magickally happen.” She closed her eyes for a second and uttered softly, “tolas, kolas, yuhonki, ye ohtgi dukufa.” And a cross between a honeydew and peach appeared in her outstretched open hand. “Tock, tock, tock.” And three more appeared. She handed everyone a fruit except Robin.
Sean touched the fruit in his hand. The skin was smooth and had a gray-orange color with a texture like honeydew.
Adruqu said, “The dukufa is a very juicy and sweet fruit. It has been engineered to respond to the touch of someone with nanobots in their system.”
“Come again,” Sean said.
“Look at the fruit and tell it to open, but use the tongue.” Adruqu urged them.
Sean cleared his throat and said, “Dukufa lup aba ca na dabra.”
The fruit split into a half dozen pieces. He almost dropped a few.
Loggar and the rest tried and laughed and walloped on their new talents.
Robin stayed some feet from them. She just stared at them feeling hurt, alone and betrayed all in one. Maybe a little bit angry. Sean was willing to forgive Loggar, but Robin was not ready yet. Sean seemed happy with her and that bit of information seemed to bug her. She nearly jumped when she saw Sean looking down at her.
He had his arm outstretched. “Robin, join us.”
She looked up into his eyes, not knowing what to do. In the moments after Agegi wakened and everything got shot to hell she froze on them. She was Captain, she was supposed to be incharge, but she hesitated. She never hesitated, never! She commanded a Battlecruiser into war and came out victorious. She fought along side her crew when the SIs boarded Webster and they had defeated the SIs. But she froze back there and they all saw it. She saw it in their eyes. Sean asking “Now what?” Loggar and the rest waiting. Then Sean ran and they followed. They all followed him blindly through the corridors, passed the elevators that would have taken them to the shuttles, into this place. Then Sean yelled at them for all being fools and not being able to do a damn thing. It hurt Robin, but he was right! Then Loggar pleaded for his forgiveness. She dropped to her knees and apologized! The Most High Goddess reduced to groveling at the foot of a male, Robin’s ex-lover and ex-friend. At the moment Loggar begged, she figured Sean was getting a hard-on, but when she looked she saw that he hadn’t. He was not getting off on some power trip. She continued to look into Sean’s eyes. His hand was still outstretched. Robin summed up her entire situation. She failed herself and she was ashamed and Sean was not gloating. She reached up and grabbed his arm and pulled herself up. Then both walked over to Adruqu.
Adruqu asked, “Are you uneasy about the method of exchange?”
Robin replied, ”I don’t know if I’m worthy of it.” And she suddenly looked down at her feet. Adruqu stepped closer to Robin; Sean backed away. Adruqu touched her on the hand. Robin nearly jumped. Adruqu lifted Robin’s chin, said, “and am I not worthy to give it to you?” And kissed Robin deeply.
Robin’s eyes widened in shock and fear, but she relaxed after a bit and let the kiss take her away. Adruqu stepped away. Robin’s hands trembled.
Kurp coughed and everyone turned to face him. “I am puzzled by one thing, Adruqu.”
Adruqu smiled and said, “Yes?”
“How did you know our names and how did you know you would be awakened by Sean?”
“We have all been aware of your presence from the very beginning.”
“From the beginning?”
She nodded, “Yes, we are asleep but aware and we are all connected to one another. The project allowed us to create a paradox on Necronian. I am not the only one who uses the container. Other self is on another world, exploring. And while we have been talking someone else on the other side of the Gate has returned and exchanged places we their other self. Before we placed ourselves in sleep we made our rooms and machines with redundancies. We knew that one day a descendant would return to us and would unlock our secrets...”
Herb yelled, “I knew it, knew it, knew! Five bucks, Milk.”
Adruqu continued, “It was I who gave you information Herb. We built into our plans that one day someone would open the Great Doors and that someday someone would touch my container.”
Sean said, “What else do you know that you haven’t told us.”
“Many things, but since I have given you the nanobots, you will know. But for now the two main things I have not yet told you are that I am different; I am the third self and will make my stance with you.”
“Stance?”
“Different?”
“Third self?”
Adruqu nodded, “We are still living our lives in two different ways. One we travel through time to different places and the other we sleep here. Once every 694 days our self returns, and for 60 minutes we exchange data, and talk about the next 694 days. If we decide to make it longer then we do so. But each person has the opportunity to explore.”
Kurp asked, “How long have you been asleep?”
Adruqu said, “Only 6 months.”
Kurp shoot out, “Good Goddess! You guys have been doing this wake up and exchange all this time and we didn’t know?”
Adruqu nodded, “How and why would you know? We’ve been doing this for over a hundred years and there hasn’t been a reason for us to directly contact you. All that has been required is for you to continue to do what you do until you had been able to open the Great Doors. The rest now will be played out. The doors will open and you will make a stance.”
Sean said, “What do you mean, ‘the doors will open and you will make a stance? We can’t fight those things out there!”
Adruqu smiled and said, “You didn’t know Magick then. Now you do. And you know our language. What more is needed?”
Sean blinked at that statement and faced the door. He closed his eyes for a moment and said, “Ruogka!”
He was clothed in a white caftan. He giggled and turned to face the others. “And who said there was no such thing as Magic?” Sean walked up to Loggar and said, “My Most High Goddess should not always be nude, behold, the finest cloth in all the galaxy.” He closed his eyes again, visualizing a silk-like flowing simple gown. He opened his eyes and said, “Ruogka!”
And Loggar was clothed. She shrilled like a little girl and yelled in delight, “Sean, it is so beautiful!”
Herb discarded his robe and closed his eyes. He saw himself in a caftan like Sean’s but with gold trim and he pronounced, “Ruogka!” And he was clothed.
Milkens and Kurp did the same thing. And they all jumped up and down like giddy school kids.
Robin slowly took off her clothes and imaged her uniform. She then said, “Ruogka!” Nothing happened. She closed her eyes again, straining to make the uniform appear. “Ruogka!” Nothing happened. She turned to Adruqu who was looking at her. The others stopped their kid playing and looked at Robin.
Sean said, “Adruqu, it didn’t work for Robin, how come?”
Adruqu sighed, “She has separated herself from the group and no longer believes in herself.”
Robin almost wanted to cry. Her eyes puffy and full of tears and her bottom lip started to tremble.
Sean thought for a moment then walked to Robin. “Robin, for years I hated you. I hated you for walking away from the trial with a promotion and me with my teeth kicked in. During the trial you broke all communications with me and I waited for you to contact me.”
Robin looked away ashamed and horrified. She knew that one day she and Sean would have this conversation but she didn’t think it would be now.
Sean continued, “When you took command of the Johnson I was just furious. It was like, how could GRID Control do this to me? I commanded the Johnson throughout the war. I hated you even more, but after a time it slipped away. Robin, I never accepted responsibility.”
Robin said, “But you did Sean, you rescued them, I didn’t. You executed the rescue. I just watched. I should have talked to you during the trial, but I was told to stay away.” Then she stopped.
“I know,” He said, “You were part of Most High and Most High takes care of their own.” He looked at Loggar.
Loggar nearly crumbled and Herb, Milkens and Kurp stared at the floor in guilt and shame. Loggar felt like her heart was ripped out of her chest. Sean had to have guessed her secret and therefore hated her.
“Robin, it doesn’t matter, none of it matters. I should have been adult about the whole thing. I wasn’t. Forgive me for hating you. Okay?”
Robin sniffled and pouted for a second. Sean apologized.
Sean walked over to Loggar passed the others, who still had their heads down. Loggar wanted to die on the spot. Sean smiled at her and said, “I’ve already forgiven you, please forgive me now.”
Loggar blinked several times. “Forgive you about what?”
Sean’s smile broadened, “For not believing you.”
“W-What?”
“For not believing in Aliens and Magick and the whole process of capturing what you believe in. You let me into your world and helped open my eyes. I believe in Aliens. And I believe in Magick.” And he hugged her and they both cried.
