don't know." There was obviously another party somewhere that Cronus couldn't see.
"Who is that?"
Cronus straightened himself and waited for the image to fully resolve. When it did, nearly everyone on the other side of the monitor stared back with their mouths agape.
"Greetings, mother." He glared at Karin Baraz. A moment later, he caught sight of Gaia, too. "Ah, 'mothers,' I should have said."
He waited for a response of some sort. It took several seconds, but Baraz finally said, grimly, "What do you want?"
"No need to be glum, mother. I call to share information. Information that you," he looked to the people standing behind the women, "and our children should know."
"We are not your children," a tall, silver-haired and young-faced man said.
Cronus smiled, "But you are."
Baraz held up a hand to silence the Psilons. "What is the information?"
The praetor narrowed his eyes and scrunched up his mouth. "I thought you'd be more proud, mother. The Titans rule all lands east of the Baetican Mountains. We are the governors of more than a billion."
"And hated by much more," Gaia said.
Cronus nodded. "As you say." He folded his arms across his chest. "I simply called to let you know that I've informed the news media and certain other … interested parties of your location." He smiled. "Good day."
LIX
ZEUS
114 Years Before the End
"Wait!" Karin yelled as the monitor blanked. After a few seconds, it pixellated and showed the confused expression of Dr. Lisa Onesi.
"What happened?"
Gaia looked at Baraz and then at the screen. "We'll explain later. Get back here now." Onesi nodded and turned off her monitor. Gaia turned to the Psilons standing near. She looked across their angry and shocked faces before saying, "Gather everyone else. We'll meet in twenty minutes in the main chamber."
"Bia, Zeus," Karin said as she held the back of her chair. "Stay."
He looked over at Bia. Her dark skin glistened in the low light of the conference room. She was breathing slowly and glanced at Zeus. "Will you be alright?"
Zeus didn't react for a few seconds. Then, he simply said, "I believe so."
Gaia and Baraz stood. Gaia spoke softly, but Zeus could hear her. "What do you think the reaction will be?"
"It depends on what he told people." She looked at Zeus and said, "If Cronus said, 'The children of the Titans are living in Fardan,' there will be outage."
Gaia nodded. "I think it's safe to assume he'd want to provoke the most outrageous reaction possible."
"Agreed," Bia said.
"Zeus," Karin said. He didn't respond. His eyes were glazed over and distant. She touched his arm and his head snapped toward her. "The transfer facilities, can they be disconnected and ready for moving by tomorrow?"
He inhaled through his nose and thought. "Yes. They can."
"We'll be vulnerable while in transit," Bia said.
"A risk we'll have to take," Gaia answered.
Zeus balled up his fist and looked toward a painting. It showed an ancient river with the fayrakh's temples along the shore. "What do we do about Cronus?"
"There's nothing we can do," Gaia said. "Not yet."
Baraz watched Zeus' jaw flex as he ground his teeth. She touched Gaia's arm and nodded toward Bia. "Go. Gather everyone. We'll be there in fifteen minutes."
As they left, Karin slowly walked around her chair and stood in front of the painting. "Zeus."
He blinked a few times and lowered his head. "I'm sorry," he said. "Seeing him … I wasn't prepared for how I would feel."
"Tell me."
He looked up and smiled for a moment. He flexed his mouth and forced the grin away. "Sad. Disappointed. Angry." He tilted his head and mumbled, "I was actually happy in that first moment."
Baraz nodded. "I understand. I really do." She stepped forward and took Zeus' hand. "We need you now. We'll have to evacuate tomorrow. As soon as possible." He nodded. "I'm going to need you to coordinate with Bia."
"Yes."
"You're a good team. I can count on you two to get everyone ready."
Zeus looked into the doctor's eyes. He felt oddly comforted and walked away.
"They're coming over the fences."
Zeus looked up from the glass screen in his hand and out the large window. Hundreds had gathered early in the morning with protest signs and sticks. A few climbed over at first, but they were arrested by security.
"Don't worry about those boxes," Bia said. "We'll have enough supplies at the new place for a while."
"And what about the gel tanks?" Zeus asked. "We have what's in the spare body canisters now but that's all."
Bia looked at the crowd again and then turned toward a monitor. The local news was reporting on them and had a camera trained on the campus of Fardan Scientific College. "That will have to do. We can make more later."
Zeus nodded and pressed a light on his screen. Bia walked toward the monitor and turned up the volume.
"… since last night's report. We know that the Mehet Building was closed down more than twenty years ago. Shortly after that, it was rented by an unknown corporation. Sources within FSC say they had no idea the Titans were using it and would have done something if they did."
"Lumped in with them," Prometheus said. He shook his head and looked at his brother.
"We're damned by association," Epimetheus said.
Baraz clapped her hands as she entered the room. "The second group has departed. That leaves only group three. Get everyone toward the roof."
Zeus looked around the room and then out the window. He didn't focus on angry mob. He looked kilometers away toward the huge monuments by the river. Bia hugged him and said, "Let's go."
He sighed and turned away. He quickly grabbed Bia's hand and squeezed it tightly before she ran the opposite way down the hall. Zeus trotted past several doors and met Hera emerging from their room with their child in her arms.
"It's time," Zeus said.
Hera didn't look up from the boy. "I know." Zeus pulled two straps over his shoulder and stood up. He put an arm around her and led her toward the elevator. Prometheus, Clio, Thalia, Epimetheus and Hephaestus joined them with their bags. It was crowded and the baby began to cry.
Clio smiled sympathetically and ran a finger across the baby's hair. "It'll be fine, Ares. Shh, shh." She then looked at her own baby and kissed the sleeping child's forehead.
Hera leaned against Zeus and said, "Is everything we need gone?"
"Yes. The last of the trucks left before dawn. Gaia destroyed everything downstairs."
"Good," Hephaestus said. The young man bounced a little on his feet. He seemed excited but restrained. "We can't let them have any of it."
The lift doors opened and the group walked out into the utility area. They looked left toward the stairway to the roof. Phocus was standing there with a computer slate and a communicator. He lifted it to his mouth and said, "The next group is here." Another elevator opened and a few more Psilons exited it.
"We're the last," Polemos said from the back.
"Send everyone up," Gaia said over the communicator.
Phocus waved them forward. Hera and Ares were the first on the stairs and she went up them quickly. Zeus maneuvered the large travel bags in the narrow handrails and followed. A moment later, they emerged onto the windy roof. Three gyrocopters were sitting among the air processors with their rotors going. Gaia ran toward them and began directing Psilons to the vehicles silently.
Zeus took Ares, who was screaming for all he was worth thanks to the buffeting air and the head-pounding noise. Hera got buckled in and Zeus handed the baby back. Once he was in and secured, he helped take bags from Hephaestus and Bia. Gaia and Baraz entered next and tried speaking with the pilot. Zeus looked outside at the other gyrocraft and saw one of them close their doors. Phocus was
the last to enter the third.
"Help me," Hera yelled.
Zeus looked at her and saw her trying to fit the headphones around Ares' small skull. He shook his head to free himself of the too-large devices but he screamed at the sound that surrounded him. Zeus pulled a blanket from Hera's shoulder and folded it up. Then he positioned it against her bicep and wrapped the ends around Ares' head. He didn't struggle any longer but he still cried. Gaia leaned over with the headphones and clasped them around the blanket. Hera smiled and nodded.
"Eagles one, two and three. Taking off," the pilot said in their headsets.
The craft shook a little and then they began to float. Zeus looked to his left out the window and watched the college campus recede. Home for twenty years, he thought. Tiny dots of people were visible even further below. Little fires leapt from their hands as they threw gas bombs over the walls toward the building.
"Altitude achieved; heading for the coast."
The three gyrocraft spread out abreast and moved east. Zeus leaned back in his chair and sighed. Beeping filled the cabin and everyone looked around.
"Signal lock. Repeat, signal lock on us." It wasn't their pilot in the headset. Zeus looked out the window in time to see a small tendril of smoke leave the ground. "Incoming!" The furthest gyrocraft banked hard but the missile found its mark. Their headsets poured static for a moment and the vehicle rocked in the shockwave. The boom was barely audible over the rotors.
"Eagle three down. Eagle three down."
Karin frantically grabbed for Gaia's computer panel. "Who's in Eagle three?!"
Zeus stared at Hera while the pair pressed lights on the glass. Hera's eyes were closed and she
Lords of Kobol - Prelude: Of Gods and Titans Page 41
