the empty hallway. Gunshots echoed from far away and they walked toward the nearby lift. They rode up and up for some time before emerging at the airfield. There, the green super Cylon was rampaging, destroying planes and shooting any soldier that came within view.
Zeus and the Titans stepped out of the lift and walked toward the cliffs. He moved near the edge and looked down at the sharp rocks as waves crashed into them. Slowly, he reached into his pocket and removed a metal box. He flipped a switch and then pressed a button.
They saw the cliffs far below them explode at the water line. As they heard the blast, the ground shook, too. The Etruian Ocean began to pour inside the Titans' base.
Zeus tossed the device off the cliff and he turned to Themis. He bowed slightly and said, "Thank you. For everything."
She smiled and said, "No, thank you."
He leaned forward and hugged Mnemosyne tightly. She smiled and said, "So what's next?"
Zeus shrugged and pointed toward the sea. "Go live your life. However you want." He then looked at Rhea. He seemed to have been avoiding eye contact and his throat appeared to clench. Finally, he spoke just loud enough to be heard over the ocean, "Thank you."
Rhea, the Titan version of his mother, nodded once and said, "You're welcome."
XCVII
THE MESSENGERS
2 Years Before the End
Thon Ahljaela walked away from the table and yelled toward the wall, "What do you mean they won't come?"
Darro shrugged his shoulders and said, "They just won't. I've asked many times now."
"But why?" another resistance member asked.
Thon nodded. "They've helped so much over the years. Why won't they come?"
Darro leaned forward and said, "I talked to Zeus himself. He told me … he said they believe the Cylons are the real threat right now."
Thon kicked the leg of a chair and the Messenger whispered into his ear. "Calm."
"Since the Pact and Tiberia are allied against the Cylons," Darro continued, "he's afraid that maintaining the fight against Caesar would damage the effort against the Cylons."
"But things are even worse now!" Thon said.
"I told him that."
"Caesar has drafted everyone he can who's under forty! The elderly and wounded are forced to work in power plants and Matrix farms. And there are millions! Millions of patties doing nothing but dancing around in their metal bodies or living on the Matrix!"
Darro nodded. "I know. He said once the Cylons are dealt with, we can resume our 'relationship,' as he put it."
"Frak him!" Ahljaela yelled.
The tender looked at his person of interest and again whispered to him to calm down. The being saw the angry heat ebb within him and Thon propped himself against the wall while the meeting carried on.
The Messenger then moved to Gela where he sought a particular Cylon leader around whom many future echoes swirled. The unit was an old one and it was powerful in these times of war.
Bevonal's armor was bulky and a dull metal. Its eye ring glowed red and circled quickly as it studied maps projected on the wall. Its lieutenants had been told to leave it be, so the tender decided to appear to the unit.
But what form? He searched the machine's memories and thought better of appearing as a comrade centurion. Finally, he found a humanoid he believed the leader would respect.
"Greetings, Bevonal," Cronus said.
The unit glanced toward him, tilted his head and went back to the maps.
The being was confused. He tried to fine tune his energy and made himself even more substantial. Their sentience is not the same as the humans'.
"Greetings, Bevonal," Cronus said.
The Cylon whipped around and produced a weapon from its arm's mechanism. "How did you get here?"
"I am not really here," he said. "Think of me as a projection." The Cylon retracted its gun. "Do you recognize me?"
"You are the Psilon, Cronus."
"I am." The Messenger could still see the future spiraling toward this unit and he planned out all that he could say carefully. "How goes the war?"
"Our forces have managed to rebuff the advances of the combined Tiberian and Pact armies. We have established seven command posts and territories on mainland Isinnia, three in Eridia and one in Badaria. We are readying forces for a major offensive on Badarian bases, as well." As Cronus nodded, the Cylon said, "Do you have new information for us on Zeus' whereabouts?"
"Not this time, I'm afraid." Cronus stepped forward and said, "I do have other information that may help, though." The Cylon stared with its circling red eye. It made no other movement or sound. "I believe that a major attack is coming from the Caesar. I don't have any details, really, but I know this: you must not retaliate in kind."
The machine did not respond. After five long seconds, Bevonal said, "I do not understand but I will take this under advisement."
Cronus said, "This is very serious. If your people respond similarly, you will not survive."
"Understood."
The Messenger could see through the nearest future echoes that nothing had been improved by this conversation. Nothing was made worse, either. Still, further interaction would be pointless. Cylons are not as malleable as the humans are . They're not as susceptible to our manipulations. He could see that.
Attican President Berenice Callis sat at her desk, looking at her visitor. "Thank you for joining me."
Philip Anaxo nodded and said, "Of course, Madam President."
The Messenger stood by her and smiled at the striking form of the officer. She bent low and whispered in the president's ear.
"What are you doing?" the male tender asked.
The female rose and said, "Guiding, as I have for some time."
The being looked at Callis and said, "I have guided this one also. She is involved in their technology."
"And I helped make her president of this nation."
"Are you a man of faith, Captain Anaxo?" Callis asked.
Slowly, Anaxo nodded. "Yes, Madam President. I am."
"Good," she smiled. She pulled a book from her desk and handed it to him. "I have something very important that I need you to do."
"Anything, of course."
The male tender asked his companion, "What does faith have to do with their mission? That was not part of her purpose."
"It is now," she answered. "She was raised in the faith. I have used it to drive her. To give the plan more urgency."
Callis said, "I fear that the war with the Cylons will not end well. We've allied with Tiber and the other nations, but now Zeus and his people are involved … everything's floating too much right now." She tapped the cover of the book. "This is the Draco. A cryogenic ship. More than a hundred people can be frozen on it and awakened when the time is right."
Anaxo's eyebrows shot up and he began to flip through the book. "I see."
"It's the first of many ships, we hope. I don't know how long we can keep them a secret. Officially, their mission is simple: get your payload of scientists, doctors, and whoever else away from the warzone and then back here once it is safe."
"Wait," Phil said as he lifted a hand. "'Back here?'"
The Messengers smiled. This part of their operation was successful.
Callis nodded. "This is home, captain. Regardless of how badly the war goes, there will be survivors. We owe it to ourselves and our descendents to make this planet home again." Anaxo narrowed his gaze and she continued, "When you awaken your payload, they will help whatever is left of humanity pick up the pieces."
Anaxo nodded. "Makes sense, Madam President."
"That's not all." She paused and leaned against the edge of her desk. "My personal orders to you will include one more that's not in the book."
"I see."
She wiped her cheek and then ran her hand on her leg. "You and your crew will also sow the seeds of faith among humanity's survivors."
"I don't understand."
The male tender moved to the side of the female. "We did not discuss this. Faith is not required for survival."
"It is not," she answered. "But it may help bind the survivors together. I have seen faith give rise to greatness in them. They aspire to be more than they are. Faith has given them comfort as well as motivation."
The male shook his head. "And I have seen fear do much the same. Motivation, resilience. Their animal instincts for survival become engaged."
"You will teach the people that survive about our god." Callis licked her lips. For the first time during the meeting, she looked nervous. "Assuming that the faith itself doesn't survive the war, of course, I want you to spread the word of the Great One."
Anaxo grinned a little and said, "You're Aneipotan, too, Madam President?"
She tilted her head and said, "I was raised in that sect, yes." She stood and moved toward the captain. "I have been immersed in science nearly all of my life. I grew to think that religion was an ancient crutch." Callis shook her head and opened her mouth to speak. She closed it and then sat in a chair next to Anaxo. "Operation Preserve might be the thing to save us all." He looked down at the book dedicated to the Draco. "I have seen things, captain. Like dreams. I am certain that we are not long for this world."
The female Messenger motioned toward her and said, "Do you see what your fear has done?"
"It spurred her to action."
"It plagues her."
The male tender looked into her mind and said, "It depends on the individual. Perhaps fear alone would have worked. Perhaps faith alone. Regardless, the two together appear to have accomplished our goals. The ship is being prepared and it will
Lords of Kobol - Prelude: Of Gods and Titans Page 78
