Lords of Kobol - Prelude: Of Gods and Titans

by Edward T. Yeatts III

"You're just now asking?" Thon shrugged. The older man shook his head and said, "Brixia. Near Brixia."

  Ahljaela nodded and looked over the edge of the trench. "There's a small farm village up the road. I saw it last night when we drove in."

  "Lots of small villages around here. Other than the food, it's a poor area."

  Thon bent over and placed the bracket over the cable. He pulled the mallet back and easily drove it into the planks and mud. "Good. They could use the power."

  Darro snorted. "'Power?'"

  "This will connect to the plant on the hill, right?"

  Darro glanced into the north toward the green slopes that were littered with new solar panels. "It will, but these villages aren't getting the power."

  Thon watched Darro push another stretch of cable toward the planks. "Then … they'll get the Matrix. Maybe the first time for them, right?"

  Darro sighed and rolled his eyes. "No. That second spool there has a data line." He pointed up the trench. "Still, Brixia isn't getting this." He let go of the cable and moved toward Thon quickly. "What are you playing at? We've been through this before."

  Ahljaela ground his teeth and nodded. "I know. I have to … tell myself I'm doing some good sometimes." He looked into the sky and squinted. "It makes it easier to get out here and work."

  "Oh." Darro backed away and gave Thon a soft slap on the shoulder. "I understand."

  By sunset, the spools were empty and the foreman was pleased. The workers were given water and a bag with damp rice and a few pieces of fruit.

  Ahlajaela scooped the rice toward his lips with three fingers on his right hand. He pressed the grains between his tongue and the roof of his mouth, allowing his saliva to well inside. Once the rice was sufficiently softened, he swallowed.

  "You worked with Tully before, yes?" Darro asked.

  Thon nodded as he scooped another finger's worth of rice. "Haven't seen him since we were in the north Appenines."

  "He got drafted." Ahljaela stopped what he was doing and held his rice above the bag. "Another friend of his told me he died in Gela."

  Thon's eyes wandered slowly toward the ground. Darro was tearing the rind off his fruit but the younger worker flicked the rice into the bag. "He had children."

  Darro grunted and nodded. "Doesn't matter, I guess."

  Thon inhaled and exhaled slowly. He looked over his shoulder at the shining solar panels that now reflected a deep blue evening sky. "It's not right." Darro slyly looked up at him as he continued. "We work every day of the week, making their power plants and building their datafarms. The fat patties," his voice got louder and drew others' attention. Thon's shoulders sagged and he continued, quieter, "They get to live their life of luxury, plus they buy their way into longer lives. They put their minds in the Matrix and live forever."

  Darro licked flecks of pulp out of his teeth. "Some of them just buy new bodies. They visit the Matrix. They don't live there."

  Thon shook his head. "It doesn't matter. People out here don't even have the Matrix." He reached into the bag for his fruit but stopped halfway. He sighed again and flopped his arms onto his knees. "We work and work. We get paid tiny coin. We get fed bad rice and we're given rags to wear." He pinched his dirty shirt and held it out from his chest. "We're lucky if we even get to bathe!"

  Darro lifted his hand and began to wave a little. "Alright now."

  Thon ignored him and said, "The few of us who aren't building power plants or computer plants or farming, they give them a sword and a gun and then ship them off to fight robots."

  Darro caught sight of the foreman walking toward them. The older worker stood and then sat down by Thon. He turned his mouth so that it was even with Ahljaela's ear and said, "I know, but you need to be quiet."

  Anger still welled inside him. He clenched his jaw and pounded on his knee. "I'm just … I'm tired of it not being fair." Darro nodded and watched nervously as the foreman walked past them. Thon saw and lowered his voice some. "If I was born in Tiber or Cales, I might have been a tribune's son or even a senator. But I'm a machinist's son from Gargamus."

  Darro smirked and said, "Never heard of it."

  "Exactly." Thon sighed and relaxed his muscles. "How many generations of my family just worked and worked and worked because they were told to? Didn't matter what they wanted to do. They did as they were told." Darro was silent and Ahljaela shook his head again. "It has to stop."

  Darro sat still and thought for several moments. The foreman disappeared behind a truck and then the older worker leaned toward Thon. "If you could do something about it, would you?"

  Ahlajaela turned slowly. His eyes were narrowed suspiciously, but once he saw the seriousness on his co-worker's face, he grinned a little. "Absolutely."

  LXXXVI

  ARES

  5 Years Before the End

  "We're now in Code Black," Metis said.

  The Psilons took a deep breath and left the building. Outside, the noon sun broke through the dense tree cover. In the distance, they heard explosions and aircraft.

  "Go," Zeus said.

  Ares adjusted the strap on his automatic rifle and stayed behind his father. He watched as Hermes and Leto carried the last of their large computers out of the building and pushed it toward a waiting truck. Zeus stopped near Bia and waited for her to finish talking to Polemos.

  "And when will Antaeus get here?" he asked.

  "He's on his way now," Bia said. She pushed a cart of supplies into a vehicle. "We head for the beach and whoever can't take the boat will fly." Polemos nodded and ran off.

  "I just got a note from Poseidon," Zeus said. "He and Arcas are all set up in the new facility."

  Bia clapped her hands for a moment and then wiped her brow. "Good. We get the equipment to them and we'll be alright again."

  An explosion made all of them pause. Its echo seemed to take forever to decay and Ares quietly offered, "They're still a few kilometers away."

  They didn't acknowledge him and the others kept going. Zeus stalked into the trees and pushed aside large branches. Ares ducked as many as he could before he decided to hold his rifle out front to block the foliage.

  "Zeus!" Hades ran up behind Ares. While the younger brother talked, the older brother sighed. "What do you need?"

  "What?"

  "I want to help."

  Zeus glanced toward Ares and then he glared at Hades. "Now you want to help? Where have you been the last two weeks?"

  He shrugged. "Busy."

  "'Busy?' Doing nothing?"

  "Not fair."

  Zeus scoffed and then pushed his fingers through his hair. "I do not have time for this. I really don't."

  "I'm saying I want to help."

  "And I'm saying you can't," Zeus yelled. "Right now." Hades started to turn away and his brother added, "When we get to the new facility, you can help then. There's just nothing left to do right now but run."

  Hades nodded and shuffled through the trees toward their emptying post. Zeus sighed again and darted into the trees. Ares followed suit and turned to watch the first truck speed over the freshly cleared path toward the shore.

  "I love him, you know," Zeus yelled from a few meters ahead. "He's my brother. I have to. But, dammit, he drives me frakking nuts sometimes." Ares smiled. "He's plenty happy to laze around," he paused when he was thwacked by a large branch, "when it suits him. He doesn't want to research anymore and that's fine. I understand. But he has to do …" He was interrupted by a large explosion, followed by the screeching of a low-flying plane.

  "That was much closer," Ares said.

  The pair ran even faster and two more vehicles drove past them on the nearby path. Soon, Zeus and Ares caught up with the first group of Psilons who had fled. They were trotting through the jungle at an almost leisurely pace, but when they saw Zeus and Ares, they began to run at full speed. Another plane blasted overhead.

 
"Can we tell whose they are?" Zeus yelled.

  Ares never bothered to look up. "Not from in here. Maybe at the beach."

  The group ran for several minutes before the jungle began to clear. Once they burst into the open and kicked white sand into the air, they paused and looked around to gather their bearings. Zeus immediately ran to the west where a thin dock jutted into the waves. The vehicles were already unloading and their boat was standing by.

  "Where are the airships?" Ersa asked.

  "They're on the way," Athena said.

  Ares ran to join his father and he slid a pair of sunglasses on as he did. Once he reached the dock, he saw Zeus was speaking to Bia, out of breath.

  "How much longer?" His hands were on his knees.

  "Just a few minutes."

  There was another distant explosion and the fleeing Psilons still on the beach stopped and turned.

  "Empty!" Epimetheus yelled as he began to reverse his truck off the dock. Another vehicle pulled forward to empty its cargo. Once his was in the sand, Epimetheus jumped out of the cab and ran back to the dock to help Bia finish unloading hers.

  Ares looked toward the treeline above the jungle. In the distance, he saw a pair of jets flying horizontally. "Those are Ticulan fighters." He turned to Zeus and said, "Probably Cylons." When the machines first lashed out at other nations months ago, Ticul was one of their first targets. Their formidable air force was immediately co-opted and used by them against everyone else.

  Another jet flew west to east and dropped its payload. The Psilons could see the shockwaves and the firebursts before the sounds reached their ears. "They're burning the