by Gary Starta
* * * *
The Tree of Life, an actual tree immersed within a vibrating, pulsating three-dimensional double helical structure of DNA produced a brilliant flash of light in Brahm’s mind. We both squinted—with our mind’s eyes—in reaction.
The joining allowed me to watch the video stream along with Brahms in synchronized fashion. I could provide a voice-over for whatever questions Brahms might still have after the amulets translated hieroglyphics to text. But data in letters, I found, was not the equivalent of understanding glyphs or images by mere observance. The ancient Egyptian people were moved more powerfully by the glyphs than any written word. In my time, the people worshipped me because of this instant, direct connection. It was later, when words replaced images that people strayed from us. But that wasn’t the only reason as Brahms might soon learn. The history books of this world were incorrect by intention. With the exception of me, the Ennead and Entourage abandoned humanity and consequently cast what Briana would label a spell over the people. In time, humans forgot ships carrying visitors from a faraway planet who instructed them to build pyramids for the purpose of keeping gods and goddesses in power. They forgot how a vicious air battle left some of them dead—many of the gods and goddesses all but destroyed except for their genetic recipe—and how the great judge of what Brahms would term a Fifth Force cast us all into a purgatory to atone for our misdeeds.
The pulsating, vibrating tree alternated between a blooming palm and a seed. It was the start; but also a means for an end to resume from a beginning.
“It was Zep Tepi. A time of creation, a place where everything came into existence from zero…” the narrator said.
Brahms interrupted the streaming. He thought, Is this zero point energy?
I persuaded him to hold his question as zero point was another new term for me. The narration continued.
“Zep Tepi was a time when positive and negative collided, when matter and antimatter merged, all for propagating new realities. Isis—I wasn’t prepared for the narration to refer to me by name—was the great mother embodied by the star Sirius, the rise of the star believed to give birth to all cycles.”
“Isis brought a great harmony to the atmospheric aether”
Brahms interrupted with a mental scream, this is the Fifth Force!
“The aether set time and shaped matter in a natural aesthetic from known as Golden Ratio.”
Again, Brahms mentally screamed, The Fibonacci Sequence!
I was getting the distinct impression Brahms had heard this all before. Only the labels had been altered.
“Isis possesses a harmonizing power called Maat.”—Note the data refers to me in the present tense—“She used harmony and proportion in all her creations.
She is quoted—
“I am the one who rises in Sirius,
I am the one called Goddess by women,
I separated the Earth from the Heavens,
I showed the path of the stars.”
This is where I interrupted the narration. Being from Sirius, an incarnate person, I did not actually separate Earth from the Heavens. Maybe they got the quote wrong? I was never allowed that ultimate power because of a cosmic judge. I did believe in creating a linear timeline for humans to exist on because any other realities seemed to be beyond their comprehension and were deemed dangerous. You can credit me for instituting this timeline.
Brahms was growing puzzled. I could understand why. There were two timelines overlapping the others. It was why the Labyrinth moved from past to present. It wasn’t my doing. It was a manipulation, by whom I wasn’t certain. But the mixed lines were creating a time period very much like Zep Tepi. In effect, we had returned to this status. And since realities could change in a blink of an eye, it was now a very dangerous time for everyone, gods and humans alike.
I would appease Brahms curiosity by fast-forwarding to a segment when Zep Tepi was projected to return. You may ask how a time of creation can return. It would be a good question for a linear-based human to ask. It’s why you can’t comprehend living in a timeline which isn’t linear. This isn’t your fault. It’s how your brains are currently wired.
Zep Tepi was thought to return with the reemergence of the Ennead. This was correct. But how could this narration conceive of this, unless the writer could either see in the future or had a hand in making this reality, a reality?
Brahms seemed even more perplexed that I didn’t know who created these history tapes. I was surprised to learn that this narration had the capability of becoming interactive, probably in response to Brahms’ ceaseless inquiries, I’d wager.
The narration began to use terminology like Zero Point Energy and even posited that it may be the source of dark energy phenomena. I believed the narration possessed a mind, one much like a human’s, filled with the need to please and even compete. It seemed to give Brahms the answers he thirsted for. But I felt ill at ease at the narration. Why was it positing? It had the Hall of Records at its disposal. For the scientist Brahms, it proved his dark matter stream was an energy which could be manipulated by oscillation, by sound, by thought. I was certain he would gloat about this when given a chance to converse with Briana. It meant for Brahms pyramids and the modern day buildings in Washington, DC weren’t built over ley lines but constructed over points of zero energy. Something he could associate with science, not magic. The Tree of Life proved DNA was living, vibrating. It was changeable. Indeed.
We were interrupted. Movie night as Brahms joked would have to cease for right now. There was a knock at the door. An arrival of what Charlize perceived to be the last Ennead member. But she was accompanied by someone who seemed to revel in changeable DNA because it could change her world to her needs. It was as expected, the arch enemy, the reconstituted, regenerated version of Hathor and she threatened to kill my beloved sister, Nephthys, if I dared not to let her in.
* * * *
I didn’t get much argument from Brahms, Briana or Charlize. We would allow Hathor and associates passage for assuring Nephthys’ safety. Fenton maintained his silence, behaving as if he were a lazy cat dozing on a hammock. Maybe he was in recovery mode. I didn’t care. I advised Brahms and Charlize to take Fenton and hide. Briana could stay if she wished. She chose to stay with us, the Ennead, in solidarity against the infected Entourage.
The remainder of the Ennead had enjoyed safe passage, giving me pause as to why Nephthys, who journeyed from the U.S.A.—a country with just about the largest security details in the world—had managed to become captured. I found I was thinking like my host, Caitlin. Could her job as an FBI agent be predisposed? Was it already in her genetic makeup? Was that why I felt influenced by her even though she was dormant? I was certain this would intrigue Brahms. But right now I needed everyone to be in place.
I perceived hesitation by Brahms and Charlize to abandon us. I implored them to stay out of sight. They questioned how this could be possible when telepathic espionage was available. I explained the Entourage, i.e. Hathor, was as Brahms stated, stressed by the environment and probably had no means to mind-search every room for their whereabouts. I finally persuaded them to leave, noting that the Labyrinth possessed over three thousand rooms for them to play hide and seek in.
* * * *
Hathor arrived with a weapon trained at Nephthys’ sweet neck. I stood in a circle, Briana in the middle, the other Ennead flanking us. If Hathor viewed this as defiance, she feigned ignorance of our intimidation. Maybe this was good thing because if Hathor was indeed psychotic from either oxidative stress or her regenerated biological makeup she might indeed have harmed my sister.
Hathor chose to joke, either to keep us off guard or indulge in her psychotic worldview.
“Seth, you appear rejuvenated from all that dancing in the Georgian mountains. But are you sure you won’t feel a need to kill poor Isis’ hubby, Osirus, now that you’re in the same room?”
Osirus, my beloved husband, gritted his teeth, offering not a word to fuel Hathor’s insan
ity. I nodded to him, my eyes glossy from tears. Osirus pulled an ankh from his pocket and flashed it to me which sent Hathor over the edge.
“Enough! All of you will be quarantined, separated from each other until you come to your senses. You have a choice, join with the Entourage and create a new kingdom or perish with the foolish humans you choose to endure penance for.”
I was the only one to respond. “I ask that during this quarantine I be allowed to join in a room with my sister. I promise no deception. I only want to see Nephthys for what might be our final moments together.”
Atum, Shu and Tefnut moved to align themselves in front of me.
“Don’t worry,” I told him. “I don’t think Hathor will punish me for defiance. We are here to negotiate, correct?”
“You are wise, Isis. But are you wise enough to continue this foolish game because of some cosmic judge? We cannot sustain ourselves here in the polluted world. We need a new Egypt and we need it now.” She paused to cover her mouth with her free hand while the other remained wrapped about an energy weapon still pointed at Nephthys’ head.
I surmised this might be a waiting game I could win. I wasn’t affected by this world’s atmosphere. Nephthys was. Would she weaken to a point of powerlessness?
I played along. “Allow us time to think. We may join you yet. We need assurances of safety.”
Hathor interrupted. “I can assure the safety of the Ennead. No humans. We will not expend any more of our weakened energy to save them.”
“Then give us time to think. For me, this is a grievous act.”
Hathor, filled with sarcasm, allowed my request. “I understand. I know how much the people loved you. I will give you an hour’s Earth time to digest their impending decimation. No more.”
Hathor just didn’t need me to unlock the unique biological energy signature I used to prevent her from manipulating the Labyrinth by remote. She was in dire need of the sistrum coded with her unique genetic makeup. The bad news was there were sistrums for every god and goddess, not just the nine Bastet had hidden in the sands of the desert. The sistrum would be necessary to allow her manual access in case her mind was no in shape to influence onboard controls. So even if she were to gain remote access, I doubted she had the mental capabilities to reinitiate her plans via remote.
The sistrum would spell our doom. Hathor was wobbly, almost to the point of shaking. But stable enough to stand. As long as she was, the sistrum was a viable key. But I myself didn’t know where any of the sistrums were at the moment. I didn’t want my mind probed as a last resort. So I had ordered Briana to conceal them. I didn’t know if that meant magic. In any event, I feared for her. She possessed dangerous knowledge.
Moments later, I shared a room with Nephthys. We were allowed to remain unbound. I believed Hathor really believed I’d acquiesce. She was that crazy.
Nephthys believed Hathor was crazy because as a regenerated goddess, she was made to perfection; that meant her genetic coding was reproduced in exact accordance with original specifications. Hathor and the Entourage were all killed in our war with the Siriusites, who in effect were us. We’d fled our home world of Sirius with the coveted Labyrinth on a mission to spread our genetic engineering to other worlds. Ancient Egypt seemed to be the best choice for our experimentation. We offered the promise of an afterlife, or what really meant an extended corporeal life, if the Egyptians were amenable to our plan to create what humans might liken to a Noah’s Ark. Only this ark would be a labyrinth filled with all different artificially created species, some hybrids. Only we didn’t plan to fail on such a grand scale. Many willing participants died in the tubes before realizing what we believed were their full potentials. We were not only interested in making hybrids, human bodies with animal heads. We wanted to unlock the potential of the human mind. It had the capability to possess supernatural talents if only it could learn to power them via an energy stream known by Brahms as the Fifth Force. This fifth element, the same element coursing underneath the Earth’s crust, is contained in the stars. It is the zero point energy, the dark matter stream, the ley lines. Whatever you called it, it allowed us hide for eons undetected, as inanimate matter. It was where we remained until Agent Diggs initiated a signal, a homing device via her joining with the crystal pendant. It brought us out of our purgatory, the punishment for taking our world’s finest creation—the Labyrinth—and using it as a means to create a galactic super race. We were reawakened and used the Fifth Force to resume our existence. Only our mission wasn’t about genetic manipulation anymore. Thanks to the intervention of a cosmic god, we were to return to Earth to serve the people we’d abused. We were paying penance.
But Hathor was a goddess who was never quite stable. It was why I believed Nephthys to be correct. She was crazy by nature. She embodied the Seven Hathors. In effect, she was many goddesses in one, possessing different faces. Some were kind like the cow goddess she embodied. But other faces, as indicated by her changing eye color, were not benevolent. As some mythologists know, Hathor once flew into a rage and threatened to kill all humankind. Sound familiar? Sound repetitive? She was only acquiesced by trickery to abandon her genocide by Re who fooled her into drinking red beer, which she believed to be red human blood. Once drunk, she thirsted for love and merriment instead of all-out destruction. She lived in a dissociative state and could easily flip from one to another. One of her states might be reasoned with.
But what would fool or appease her now?
Hathor announced via view screen half our time was now gone. She was downing a huge glass of green liquid, something I believed to be a concoction of antioxidants. She was making no means to hide her vulnerability. But what could I do with this?
As I pondered, Nephthys filled me on other grievous deeds.
President Eva Fleming didn’t die at the hands of a security guard. That security guard was glamour. And what it really covered was me and my friend, Caitlin serving snake venom to the Commander in Chief.
Nephthys had manipulated a small medium of time to see what the security camera had actually captured that night. The glamour failed and the video showed Agent Diggs heading down the hall to serve Fleming her final beverage. Hathor must have expended quite a bit of her energy—energy she couldn’t have realized would be fleeting down the road—to implant this idea in Caitlin’s and my joined minds. She then erased that memory, again probably using an exorbitant amount of power. Most goddesses would have been drained at that point, but because Hathor was reconstituted with seven times the power of a normal goddess, she persevered. Our arrogance had been turned against us.
Nephthys also posited Hathor killed Tut, again using remote telepathy. Implanting Charlize’s DNA on a statuette and then kinetically moving the object to thrust it against the head of the poor regenerated king. Tut, who gave his life in the battle against our angry brothers and sisters of Sirius was effectively brought back into existence as a clone, only to die again.
Hathor believed blame would be incorrectly directed in both instances; originally perceiving this planet’s demon population would be blamed for the president’s murder. Then, knowing full well the Ennead could never expose Isis as a killer, even if she was sharing the body and mind of a human, the investigation would grow cold. As for Tut, Hathor must have resented how alike Charlize was to the gods. Her plan to punish Charlize was probably born from hate and fear.
But as I pondered what Hathor feared in Charlize, the gifted mage surprised me.
* * * *
The singing emanated through every audio component of the Labyrinth. And since there were three thousand rooms, there were three thousand possibilities as to where it emanated.
I admired the singer’s courageousness. She could have remained hidden as instructed. But somehow, Charlize must have observed how her performance affected the Ennead in attendance at her concert.
For that reason, I was the only Siriusite not adversely affected.
Hathor appeared once more on the view screen, po
unding her fist into a console, commanding the singer to cease. But the brave mage never even acknowledged Hathor’s threats. Instead she resumed singing, draining all gods and goddesses on board via emotional overload.
But Hathor wasn’t quite finished, at least not with vengeance.
Forced to abandon her plan to terraform this world’s moon—a plan Brahms maintained could never happen because of the satellite’s small size—she went to what humans might call a Plan B. Only I wouldn’t realize this until hours later.
Before succumbing to the effects of her depleted energy reserves, Hathor flooded all rooms and passageways with amber. The same substance used in our god-making. The anesthetic effect of the amber was almost immediate on the weakened deities and humans. I remained awake for moments after they succumbed to unconscious, I recalled holding Nephthys in my arms before falling asleep.
