Lords of Kobol - Prelude: Of Gods and Titans

by Edward T. Yeatts III

had been lined up together. Hermes, Athena and Metis' computers were still attached to them with cables snaking across the floor as lids opened. Selene helped Hestia from her tub and Ares reached into another to grasp Poseidon's hand. Hera was already out and cleaning herself up next to Demeter.

  Zeus slumped over and rubbed his head. "The migraine's gone. Hurt like hell, but the program worked."

  "Demeter?" Poseidon said. He took a few steps over and hugged her. She began to cry and he held her close.

  "What happened?" Hades asked.

  Athena handed him a towel and said, "You were caught like the others."

  He chuckled and said, "I don't remember. I remember breaking my leg and Hermes running into the room …"

  Zeus stood and caught Hera's gaze. Her eyes were wide and she slowly moved toward him. He glanced down at her nakedness and smiled before putting his hands on her shoulders. "How are you?"

  She shook her head and softly said, "I was burned alive."

  Zeus' smile faded and he hugged her. Feeling her warm body made him feel the ache of her absence again. He held her tighter and closed his eyes. After a few moments, he looked down and saw that tub goo was dripping from his body onto her freshly cleaned skin. "I'm sorry." His voice shook. "I'm getting you dirty."

  She nodded and backed away. Hera kissed him briefly and said, "It's alright. Thank you."

  Zeus held her arms and stopped her retreat. "You never have to thank me. I will always be there for you." She grinned a little and turned.

  Athena took Zeus' wet towel and handed him a new one. He nodded and she asked, "How are you?"

  He sighed and said, "Good. It went … well." Zeus waved Bia over. After a quick peck on her cheek, he said, "It's time to leave Attica."

  LXXXII

  THE MESSENGERS

  7 Years Before the End

  "I, too, have seen the fire," the male tender said.

  The female drifted and said, "I have sought a means to quench it. To prevent it."

  The male Messenger shook his head. "It is inevitable." She turned to look at him and even in her ethereal form, which only the other Messenger could see, it appeared that she had tears in her eyes. This stunned the being and he said, "This world will end. We can insure that it is not humanity's last."

  The female nodded. "There are other worlds. Yet I remain … hopeless."

  "It is now our task to safeguard some sprig of mankind that they may grow anew."

  The female blinked away from her companion and found herself by young Corol Gaber. In this young woman, the tender saw generations of Gabers. Whole branches of humanity were embodied in this sleeping teen. Ages of free will and decisions compounded to give breath to a person, one who could aid the tree's growth as well.

  The child stirred in her sleep and the Messenger forced herself to look away. If Larsa's inhabitants were to have a legacy, she may need to abandon her focus on this family.

  "I have spoken with other leaders of the Pact and we agree," Attica's president said. "We cannot, at this time, become involved in the war between Tiberia and Gela. We will decline their request for aid."

  The Messenger stood in the middle of the large table and scanned the faces of the president's cabinet. He looked deeply into each of them and settled on the science minister.

  Berenice Callis was forty years old. She was not very tall and she was beginning to go through a mid-life change in appearance. Her petite form was expanding thanks to hard work and poor diet. It was not the exterior that intrigued the tender, though. Inside, he saw twin sparks of hope and ingenuity.

  "From our best sources," the president nodded toward his intelligence minister, "we believe the Caesar's forces have been halted in their advances. They appear to be preparing for a major assault in the Majellan Mountains. If the Cylons can drive them back there, ..."

  "I have a recommendation, sir," the prime minister said. "As we issue our answer to Thera, we include, covertly of course, the intel we have."

  "Sweeten the medicine," the president said. He nodded and continued, "I will consider it."

  The Messenger stood behind the wide-eyed science minister and listened to her rambling mind. She pored over data and calculations. She organized the rest of her day. She imagined the spacecraft that she and her agency were constructing. She didn't seem to be paying much attention to the important diplomatic information being discussed around her.

  So the being pricked her ears.

  "Is there a chance the Cylons could invade Tiberia?" The foreign minister leaned forward and continued, "That could create huge problems throughout the Empire with refugees and the like. And what if the Cylons don't like our answer? Could they attack us?"

  Callis blinked and her mind reeled in new directions.

  The president laughed and said, "I think we're getting too far ahead of ourselves here. A counterinvasion would be a long way off."

  Callis didn't hear the president's dismissal. She was busy thinking of her spaceships again, but this time retrofitting them to hold hundreds of passengers.

  The tender smiled and allowed her to continue.

  LXXXIII

  GAIA

  6 Years Before the End

  When she opened her eyes, the old woman didn't know where she was.

  The room was dim. A small light glowed near the door, or what she thought was the door. She turned toward her left and saw the panel of her hospital bed. With a crooked finger, she reached toward it and pressed the red square. It beeped and someone asked, "Yes?"

  She opened her mouth to speak and only croaked and wheezed. She coughed and then managed to ask, "Where's Karin?"

  Pause. "I'm sorry?"

  Gaia blinked and looked around the room. No, she still didn't know where she was. "Where's Karin? Bia? Zeus?"

  "Alright, ma'am," the nurse said through the panel. "I'll call them right now."

  She smiled and closed her eyes. She fell asleep.

  "Gaia?"

  She looked up. Her vision was blurry but she could see that the sunlight had bathed her room. She widened her eyes a bit and tried to focus on the person hovering over her. She saw a white fluffy halo above their head and she smiled.

  "Zeus. So good to see you."

  He smiled and leaned over. After a kiss on her cheek, he stuck his leg behind himself to wrap around a chair leg. He pulled it toward him and sat down. "How are you?"

  "You don't have to speak so quietly," Gaia said. "No one's dying in here."

  Zeus laughed. "Well, you don't look so bad for a woman of one hundred fifty."

  She smiled and patted his hand. "You're so kind to leave off the first twenty-five years."

  "Growth acceleration or not, tank time shouldn't count."

  She smiled again and closed her eyes. Once she adjusted herself on the pillow, she squinted and asked, "What brings you here?"

  Zeus hesitated and then said, softly, "You called me."

  Gaia blinked a few times. "Oh. I don't remember." She squeezed Zeus' hand again and whispered, "Don't think poorly of me …"

  "Of course."

  "But where am I?"

  Zeus nodded and leaned in close. "You're in a special home, in Tylos."

  "Tylos," she repeated. "Why Tylos?"

  Zeus glanced at the panels along her bed to make sure her intercom wasn't engaged. "Cronus and the Titans attacked the Institute a couple of years ago."

  "Oh."

  "We had to abandon it." Gaia was nodding now. "It wasn't safe to bring you with us so we brought you here."

  "I remember." She cleared her throat and reached for her water cup on a nearby table. Zeus leaned back and got it for her, knowing she never would have reached it. After a few sips, she asked, "And where are you now?"

  As he replaced the cup, he said, "Eridia. We've set up a nice little place for ourselves."

  "Eridia. Desolate."

  Zeus nodded. "In places. Car
alo is nice, though."

  Gaia relaxed a bit and let her head slide down the pillow. She closed her eyes for a moment, making Zeus nervous. She slowly opened them and said, "Is Cronus still bothering you?"

  Zeus sighed. "I don't want to burden you with the details."

  She smirked. "My eyes aren't good enough to watch any programs lately. Your visit's the best entertainment I've got."

  He scooted his chair a bit closer and began, "You remember that he made these soldiers to come after us and steal our transfer signals? He made them with Ouranos' DNA?"

  She nodded. "Typhon was the big one's name, right?"

  "Yes." He licked his lips and put his hand on hers. "We freed the Psilons he captured, but Typhon's people are still after us. Cronus is still hunting us, moreso since our little trick. They've gotten close a few times. We've set up decoy facilities around the world … hoping to distract them from the real one." His voice began to trail.

  "You're worried you can't run forever." Zeus nodded. Gaia pushed her head into the pillow to wriggle herself a bit closer to his face. "Well, you can't. You'll trip or run out of breath, one or the other."

  There was a long silence. She simply looked at him and Zeus hated to break the quiet.

  "Here," she said, "you use what you have. You use what you have on what they have." Zeus squinted as she continued, "They still have Cylons?"

  "Well, they're not …"

  "The dumb ones?" Zeus nodded. "You're smart. Figure out a way to turn them against the Titans. If not the Titans, then Tiberia."

  Zeus nodded. "It's something we've thought about. It could be hard, though. All the safeguards they have …"

  "You've figured out hard stuff before." Zeus nodded. "There's something else, too."

  "What's