by Gary Starta
When I awakened, Brahms had freed us. Charlize, Nephthys, Brahms and I found the remaining Ennead members alive but groggy.
But Briana reacted quite differently than someone awakening from slumber.
She was hurled into a ball, in a fetal position. She cried and cried for long moments before any of us could encourage her to tell us what had happened.
Charlize was able to coax her to talk, singing soft, dulcet notes in her ear.
“It was horrible. My every fear imagined,” Briana began.
As someone connected to Caitlin, I didn’t have to imagine how bad this made us—Caitlin and I—feel.
Briana hadn’t been anesthetized. She’d been forced to give the location of the sistrum coded with Hathor’s biological key.
She’d also been forced to use her elemental magic to affect the tidal surge in the Nile.
With the aid of Brahms, we discovered the Entourage and their ships had created a portal in the Nile, and steering their ships directly into a vortex, they had escaped the noxious effects of this world.
Except for emotional scarring, we had been left unscathed. But that still left Bastet, who had posed as Brahms on the Virmana, not only in harm’s way but in a different timeline. I surmised Hathor had uncovered the glamour and realized she had another bargaining chip. In total, she had two chips, one being my goddess friend, the feline Bastet as well as Diggs’s beloved pet.
We not only had to pursue Hathor to save both Bastets, we also had to thwart her plans for manipulating the past. Brahms readily realized that this quantum jumping would affect the present world. We assured ourselves any direct threat to this world was all but over. Hathor would not dare be weakened again. But what Hathor could achieve in the past might enslave this world’s future. At the very least, I envisioned her using the people of ancient Egypt to fuel her goddess hood. She would begin the genetic experiments again knowing full well that the chance of success remained a statistical improbability.
But I peered into her crazed ruby eyes during her last moments here. I knew full well she didn’t care either way if experiments succeeded or not. She was avenging herself for our foolishness. Only that foolishness had nothing to do with arrogance and the grandeur of godhood. What Hathor was really angry about was that she’d been caught. We had no red no beer to quench her hated now.
These realizations haunted me as I worked with Brahms to find a way for us to pursue this world’s most wanted. We scoured the tapes again. This time Brahms manipulated the interactive menu of the skull video logs as a scientist and not a star-struck child. He would use the Fifth Force to return to the past. It was another possibility I’d never pursued. I’d never realized anyone would ever want to go backwards in their lifetimes.
We had to create a tidal force in the Nile to accommodate us. There was no way I was requesting the guilt-ridden Wiccan to perform elemental magic. We would utilize the Labyrinth to affect the necessary changes.
But Brahms argued that even if we could follow the Entourage into the past, we had no vehicle capable of pursuit.
The only obstacle we faced was time, I assured Brahms. The Labyrinth could change its composition from marble and stone to alloy steel. In effect, it would become the largest spacecraft in the universe. As we programmed the necessary changes, one other problem still niggled at Brahms.
He didn’t like the man named Fenton. I didn’t either. But the man possessed knowledge of the oscillator built into the Capitol Building. The same building now probably resided in Earth’s past. He could be of assistance.
He resisted at first. “Is this going to be permanent? Can I be changed again?” Fenton inquired, pointing an accusatory finger at us.
Yes, we felt guilty about demanding an alteration of the man. But it could be reversed.
What we did was manipulate the man’s amygdala, the center of the brain responsible for fear and anxiety, two states that can trigger aggressiveness.
“I won’t risk you giving in to urges,” Brahms warned Fenton. “I realize that even though Charlize has helped heal you, at heart, you can never accept her. And given that probability, I can’t allow the inevitable to ever happen. So choose. I will give you two options. Either stay here or come with us after we make the necessary adjustments.”
The man cried as we watched him in the tube. But he risked the unknown to aid us. I had to hope that gamble would pay off. We healed his knee completely as well. I must remind you that I feel a lot of Agent Diggs’ persona has rubbed off on me. I can only conclude that to be a good thing.
I had to hope Caitlin would have agreed it was in the best interests of humanity to pursue our nemesis into the past. Being dormant, I couldn’t be assured she’d agree in the present. All I had to give me strength was the possibility of the future which would no longer be limited by linear outcomes; a future where Agent Diggs and I might coexist.
Chapter 21
Revolutions
I awakened as a single being, the coolness of the floor reaffirming my humanity, the absence of clothes revealing my humility.
I jumped to my feet, then staggered, not quite sure where I was or how I’d gotten there.
Charlize scurried to me with a white robe in hand. I allowed her a moment to shuffle me into it. Then I launched into investigator mode.
The where’s, why’s and how’s, the questions, cascaded off of me as if I’d initiated a mental avalanche. When my gaze met a woman, the exact duplicate of me, I began to understand. As my eyes scanned my surroundings, I understood a bit more.
“We’re still in the Labyrinth,” I said to my look-a-like. Charlize, Briana and Brahms, whose trademark fidgeting oddly comforted me, were also in attendance. I surmised if my scientist friend was here, answers couldn’t be far away.
I faced the woman whose eyes sparkled in sapphire. Her skin, smooth and alabaster, goddess-like, encouraged me to deduce. “You are Isis.”
She nodded. I nodded in kind. Brahms moved me towards her with deliberate steps, slow and careful.
I allowed him to interlace his arm with mine. I breathed slow and deep. “Tell me,” I said.
“We’re in the past. Egypt’s past to be precise. We came here to pursue Hathor and the Entourage. It appears they’ve abandoned plans for our world, but they’ve no doubt come here to enslave ancient Egyptians and alter the timeline to their advantage.”
I interrupted. “Like, go back in time, like they do in the movies?”
Brahms nodded. “It was possible thanks to manipulation of the Nile via vibration. I always surmised travel into the past was doable. Forgive me if I sound callous, but it’s not the journey itself that gives me concern. I mean…look Agent Diggs. You’ve come back to us. And you’re no longer, genetically commingled with Isis. Obviously…”
“Obviously,” I mimicked, my voice tinged with a mechanic resonance I quite didn’t recognize. “You mean we just separated?”
Brahms released my arm to clap his hands together. “I posit because you and Isis didn’t share genetic coding in the past, this world had no choice but to separate you. I believe this is a good thing, Agent Diggs. It happened only moments ago.”
I stared at him a moment. I wanted to ask why Isis appeared younger but there was no time for narcissism. “There’s bad news, isn’t there?”
Charlize volunteered to take over, sensing her father’s obvious discomfort. “Thanks to Isis, we uncovered some navigational panels. We’re pursuing Hathor and her ships as we speak. We’ll need to engage them. To stop whatever they’re up to. But…”
I finished her thought. “We really don’t have a clue as to how we’re going to accomplish that.”
Isis intervened. “Agent Diggs, this ship is as powerful as a universe. It could obliterate them. But we’ve all talked, even with our guest, Fenton; we’ve agreed to attempt a negotiation. Hathor came to the Labyrinth and held us all as her hostages; she exited without harming us, with the exception of some mental scarring of your partner, Briana.”
> I stared at Briana with alarm.
Briana raised her hands to deflect my concern. “Nothing to worry about, Caitlin, she made me aid her escape. If I am in any way scarred, I am scarred by guilt.”
I’d regained consciousness long enough to realize Briana was downplaying whatever happened. So they didn’t kill her. Didn’t change the fact Hathor was psychotic. I also recalled with a large twinge of regret the Entourage held Bastet, the goddess and my beloved feline, hostage. We had to hurry to find them. No doubt. We also had to hurry with a plan as to how to do that.
Isis explained the remainder of the Ennead were aboard but resting. The return to their former world would restore them. But the transition was taxing so they rested in beds as did our resident White Knight Fenton who I came to understand had also experienced some alterations.
Isis took my hand and led me to Fenton.
“We have a plan in formation, but it’s going to disturb you.” As we ambled down shiny hallways, Isis gripped my hand tighter, trusting I could withstand the darkness.
By the time we reached Fenton, I learned what Hathor had done. How she’d used my hybrid state with Isis to murder poor President Fleming and why she’d motive to set up Charlize for Tut’s murder. But a chink in her plan had me believing the demon disappearance wasn’t intentional. At least not by any divine hand from the past…
* * * *
I was mad enough to spit. So I did. It hit the wall behind a cowering Fenton.
I leered at him, teeth gritted, hands on hips. “You made this happen!”
He twisted a blanket around his slimy dichotomy. He was a murderous, lecherous traitor of my world’s present. But here he was a toothless, cowering gangsta wannabe slithering for protection in Earth’s past. I surmised it had something to with Isis’ adjustments.
He sat up, Isis assuring him I wouldn’t strike him. I promised no guarantees but backed away to appear demure. I knew he didn’t buy my posturing. My eyes burned in their sockets. I wanted this man dead for what he and his cohorts had done to the demons. He at least owed us an explanation, I wasn’t going to take no for an answer.
“We were working with harmonic technologies for decades. An array was installed in the Capitol Building. Your precious government knew, they cooperated, even. For years we brainstormed then we came to an agreement with a shadow organization of your country. The only way to rid the world of demons was to take it back in time, to a place when demons never existed. A time before our ancestors opened portals to allow them access.”
I couldn’t help think of Seals as a conspirator. No wonder he played nice with the Ennead, at least at first. Then as the power shifted from the Ennead to the Entourage, freaking Seals allowed Nephthys to be captured by Hathor on purpose. I presented this theory to Fenton with immediate results.
He held up his hands to shield his head. I was back in his face. Isis didn’t attempt to corral me.
“Okay, okay. You’re correct. But doesn’t it make you wonder whose side you’re on?”
I reared back on my naked heels to initiate an attack, but stopped, realizing my bedroom loungewear didn’t exactly quantify me as a ruthless interrogator.
“Isis,” I pointed at my robe with fingers resembling guns, “we’ve got to do something about this.”
She waved a hand. Not a second later, a blue satin dress fell from thin air into my outstretched hands.
I wanted to change badly but resisted. I needed to know how the White Knights and traitors of the U.S. government had rivaled a feat equal to gods.
I surmised it had something to do with how the Ennead had built pyramids, by using elemental magic. But as those words slipped from my tongue, Fenton was quick to reprimand. “Your scientist mumbles about Zep Tepi. It’s the reason why our plan succeeded. We could never attain the correct oscillation or frequency before. But the coming of the Ennead and/or the return to Zep Tepi enabled us to tweak the ley lines. Oops…I mean the dark energy stream as your scientist argues.”
Isis continued for Fenton. “It’s no coincidence your modern world constructed government buildings over the seventy-seventh meridian. The architects obsessed over Egyptian engineering, no doubt realizing our pyramids were built to align with the stars. The shafts of our pyramids do point to the stars. Some incorrectly hypothesized this would lead pharoahs to heaven. But we constructed them so-we as gods and goddesses--might find our way back at some point. We realized the Siriusites would catch up to us, locate the world we’d inhabited for the purpose of our experimentation. If they succeeded in killing us, we would have escaped via this path. But there was an intervention…” She paused, attempting to mask a bad memory but failed. “We also manipulated this pathway as a ley line to the stars. The dark energy Brahms speaks of is also up there. It’s a gateway.”
“Well,” I said to both of them, “The Ennead’s coming created the right harmonic to create overlapping timelines. We just need to create the wrong harmonic, and fast!”
I observed Fenton and Isis who exchanged glances. Were they laughing at my plan or considering how to make it a reality? “Okay, I said, “I know it’s not that simple, but it can be done, right?”
Fenton nodded. “If we locate the Capitol Building in this past timeline I might be able to reconfigure it. Change the oscillations. But it’s not a quick job. So to make it faster, I’m going to ask a favor.”
* * * *
I changed into my blue dress, my blue eyes peering back at me from my reflection, filling with a blue mood.
Isis stood behind me, radiating positivity into the stand-up oval mirror.
“You are regal, Agent Diggs. Egypt would be proud of you,” she said.
“I’m not sure.” I fought back tears. “I know I look all Cleopatra in this outfit but I’m not feeling so queen-like right now.”
She patted my shoulder. “How did you think the Ennead felt when the weight of our arrogance bore down upon us? We always knew, in the back of our minds, our past would catch up to us. We were failing in our genetic manipulation even with the Labyrinth at our disposal. When our brothers and sisters came to stop us, we still resisted, putting our beloved Egyptians at risk. Some died. Some of them, like Hathor, are now regenerates. We had to save their essence before we were exiled. You couldn’t imagine the wave of guilt that washed over us. An intervention happened shortly after. We came to an agreement. All the Ennead agreed to evacuate the planet along with the regenerates. I resisted. I made a deal that I’d lie dormant until such time humanity might find justification for our return. I’m not sure about that justification. But, I do know…” She paused and took my hand into hers. “You gave me life again. I won’t squander it. I will help make things right.”
“Part of that means ending the timeline, ending Zep Tepi.”
I didn’t get an argument from the goddess. She nodded.
We’d left Fenton to rest. The favor he asked still sizzled in my mind. How could I ask Brahms to cooperate? It meant risking the most precious being he had in any universe, in either timeline.
* * * *
Brahms cowered away from us as we laid out Fenton’s plan. He paced backwards, with deliberate stride, hands stuffed into the pockets of his jacket.
“I don’t know. I don’t know,” he repeated. He rested meekly against a white marbled wall.
“Do you not think Fenton’s plan will work?” Isis inquired.
“Yes, yes. I do. But at what price!”
I shuffled towards him in baby steps. I found I couldn’t proceed in any other fashion as the blue high-heeled shoes I had acquired were quite uncomfortable. That was a good thing because Brahms appeared to me as a cornered animal. I couldn’t rush the man, swamp him with phony assurance. I had no idea if we could promise her safety. Yes, you probably imagined who we were talking about. Charlize’s vocal talents had been requested by Fenton. She would need to accompany him to the Capitol Building. Her voice could help him reconfigure the oscillator. Her ability to do that and her courage were
not in question. I resigned myself to that outcome. The singing mage would no doubt aid Fenton in his quest to pull the plug on the dual timelines but also hopefully disengage Hathor’s ships from doing more harm. Brahms posited a change in the dark energy stream could either drain Hathor’s ships of power or overload them.
He reiterated this point several times, loudly.
A meek voice, melodious and dulcet floated in from behind.
“Yes, I’ll do it. You all have no choice. I’m going.”
Isis and I pivoted to meet her gaze. Charlize scooted around us to fall into her father’s embrace. Instead of arguing, he rested his chin upon the crown of her head. How could she be so demonstrative in such a loving tone? It’s probably the reason why I loved the teen. Why I wished she were my daughter. It was no doubt the reason why Brahms kept living—for her. The scientist finally said softly, “She needs to make the universe a safe place for her. For that, I’m in total agreement.”
Brahms vibrating hands were out of his pockets and resting on Charlize’s shoulders.
I stared at them, as if they might answer a question. I also marveled at how a cold and rationale scientist seemed to agree that the life of one person was important.
Charlize broke from her hug to maintain she hadn’t been spying on us. She had come to the navigational room we were all huddled in to check monitors. They gave us good and bad news.
The Capitol Building, a smear of only red and green streaks on a screen, was within reach, buried in a dune of sand.
But a swarm of black dots on another screen told us the domed building was not very far from where Hathor’s ships congregated. The screens couldn’t tell us what they were up to, however. I turned to Isis who confirmed she had no further insight. I put my hand on the screen to jumpstart a vision but I was too taxed from my reawakening. It was the first thing that had transpired since I reawakened that didn’t surprise me.
* * * *
Minutes later we were close enough to experience what exactly was happening via view screens.
