Realms Of The Gods

by C. M. Kane

  Tae leant forward in interest at Cassandra’s words.

  ‘Unfortunately for Cronus, due to the vast distances between the planets, it could take thousands of years to travel to other star systems to search out new life; even for the most powerful of their explorer class ships. Their society was dived into two classes, Warriors and Technicians. The Warriors were looked upon as the true rulers, the techs as their inferiors, but even the mighty Cronus came to realize that if his dreams of conquest were to be fulfilled, then he needed them. So he created a citadel in the last of Titan’s great mega cities for his race’s greatest minds, then he set them all to work on the problem.

  Eventually one of them found a way; she discovered what she called a weak spot in a nearby star system, it was between two hundred, and two hundred and fifty million kilometers away from the system’s sun. She theorized that the universe was teaming with them, and with the right device, each of these weak spots was capable of making a fold in space, creating a portal between star systems that they could utilize to fly through. She realized that this meant the Titans would now be directly linked to anyway they wished to go in the entire universe. As we know now she was only partially correct, these weak spots are vastly rarer than she ever anticipated, but I digress.’

  ‘She thought that they would be able to access the portals and open them with a device she had invented; all they would need to travel was a set of co-ordinates that her device could extrapolate from the positions of the distant stars. Her name was Hera; she was a young brilliant scientist, even by their standards.’

  Tae gasped at the mention of Hera’s name as Cassandra continued.

  ‘Fortunately for us, she thought herself to be madly in love with a handsome young captain in Cronus’ battle fleet, his name was Zeus. What Cronus never realized was that Zeus and his brothers, along with many others in the battle fleet, were tired of all the constant cruelty and wanton destruction. They were the first generation of Titan that had evolved beyond their forbearers. These Titans wished for a life where beauty … where life itself was considered worthwhile, not just the warring their elders craved. They wanted … balance,’ she said at last.

  ‘Hera, in an effort to impress him, told Zeus of her breakthrough before anyone else. Zeus knew immediately they had found a way out. He convinced her to keep the news from Cronus and, if their secret tests proved successful, she could escape to a new galaxy with him and some of the others. She agreed, she was only too eager for a chance of a life with this man. She imagined she would be co ruling all who came with them alongside Zeus, and that he would remain faithfully by her side forever.’

  Tae snorted before she could stop herself, just the thought of the womanizing Zeus being faithful to Hera seemed ludicrous to her. Talk about deluded!

  ‘Hera knew she could leave no trace of her work behind in case the Titans used it to follow them. She set about transferring everything of hers; and some of what other science techs were working on, straight to the Olympus, with the hope of improving on the others’ studies later and claiming the credit herself. To hide what she had done, and so they wouldn’t be discovered immediately, she planted a large Thorium bomb in the citadel itself. Once she joined Zeus with the portal generator she detonated the bomb, she destroyed the entire citadel and all those who worked within. She also contaminated the entire area for millennia. She had just effectively blocked anyone from ever following them, and all she’d had to do was kill some of the greatest minds the Titans had ever known.’

  Tae winced. How could anyone destroy others so casually, as if they were nothing? These people would have been friends, colleagues. The utter savagery and complete lack of compassion Hera had shown was horrifying.

  Cassandra continued, echoing Tae’s thoughts.

  ‘Zeus should have realized from the brutal efficiency with which she disposed of her socalled workmates that she was dangerous. But, along with his friends, he was too consumed with his dreams of freedom. When she joined him on the Olympus she discovered there would be far more following them to the new worlds than she ever realized. Word had leaked out at the last minute. Instead of being fearful of being discovered it only added to her excitement. She would be a queen over a great empire that Zeus and she would build together. Along with the original seventeen Orion class ships, fortythree Khopesh class destroyers joined them at the departure point, which was several light years from any well known route in their end of the galaxy. They now had to worry that Cronus would know they were up to something by the sheer size of their gathering. Still, they thought if they hurried they could get through in time. They had no idea they had been betrayed, and that Cronus already knew of their plans, he was already in the star system with the rest of the fleet hiding behind the nearby sun. As Zeus and the others arrived Cronus and the rest of the battle fleet moved to intercept them.

  Tae sat forward, wide eyed.

  ‘Time was now their enemy, Hera’s machine did the calculations and opened the portal as the enemy fleet moved towards them. Only when the real fighting started were the smaller ships able to start moving through, they were protected by the larger, Orion class battle ships.

  Tae’s eyes grew wide as she listened to the story unfold, all this time she had thought the gods were … well, Gods. Instead they were bloody Aliens pretending to be gods! She shook her head and tried to refocus on what Cassandra was saying.

  ‘Cronus was in his new flagship, the Ouranos. She was a totally new design, the only Dreadnaught class battleship ever built, and she was incredibly powerful. Zeus and the others knew they were in trouble; they were vastly outnumbered and outgunned. The fighting was fierce; the Orion class ships continued to protect the smaller Khopesh class as they skipped through the portal to safety. Eventually it was time for Zeus and Hera to go through. By that time they had lost six of the Orion class cruisers and fourteen of the Khopesh class destroyers whose crews had stayed behind to fight, all in less than fifty standard Earth minutes. As they were approaching the portal Cronus’ ship fired on the Olympus. She was last of their ships to go through, she was hit badly across her engine bays disrupting all of her power. Her momentum forced her through the portal’s opening, their ragtag fleet had done it, they had made it to our galaxy. Unfortunately, before Hera could close the portal, Cronus, in his rage, drove the Ouranos through the opening, releasing all of his remaining missiles as he went. Fortunately the portal closed before his ship could get through fully and it was severely crippled. Despite the missiles Zeus and the others now had an advantage. While the bigger, more heavily armored Dreadnaught was trying to recover, they turned and attacked in force. They lost a further Khopesh class destroyer when Captain Libertas drove her badly damaged ship forward, taking the brunt of the missile attack. She then rammed her dying ship into the Dreadnaught, saving countless lives with her sacrifice. The rest of their small fleet seized on the opportunity they had been given by Libertas, they pounded the dreadnaught into a wrecked hulk. They had finally won, they survived.’

  Tae leant back in her seat, her mind reeling with what she had just heard. ‘How in the seven hells do you know all this?’

  ‘All in good time, Tae. I must finish my story, it is important that you understand everything.’

  Tae frowned but nodded and Cassandra continued. ‘Cronus was dead at last, and what was left of the decimated Dreadnaught drifted slowly away into a nearby nebula. Zeus was called from the bridge of the Olympus immediately after the fight. Hera had been badly injured in the last volley of shots from the Ouranos. When Zeus arrived he found her to be almost unrecognizable. Her skull had been crushed, and her brain fluid was leaking over the bed as the med techs worked on her. They held little hope for her survival but fought for her life nonetheless. She had, after all, been instrumental in saving them all, but her will was strong and survive she did. Unfortunately the injuries to her brain were so severe they could never be fully repaired and, although she was still quite astute, she would never again come close to bei
ng the brilliant young science tech she once was. That part of her life was over forever. Over the coming years the gods discovered that there weren’t anywhere near as many potential portals as was first theorized, they were in fact, incredibly rare. Their first jump had simply taken them to the nearest weak spot to the original co-ordinates the portal device had been given. Still, thanks to it they discovered many new worlds, and Hera became Zeus’ consort for a short time; just long enough for her to give them all her secret documentation on portal travel, along with the other work she had stolen.’

  ‘Loki, a young friend of Zeus’, had never trusted Hera, in fact, he had disliked her intensely. He had the foresight to take as many science techs from an outlying station as he could cram onto his ship. Once they had Hera’s information it was unlocked to all of the fleet and portal devices were fitted to all the ships. They even invented a way to open the portals a microscopic amount so they could communicate with each other from different star systems, along with high intensity relay buoys.’

  Tae couldn’t help it, she grinned at the thought of Loki not trusting Hera. He may be a giant knob, but he was a smart giant knob.

  ‘Soon though, Zeus, being Zeus, tired of Hera. He was young, and his attention span with females had always been notoriously short. Hera had known this of course, but she had convinced herself that she would be the one to change him, that he would come to love her and only her. As a parting gift he gave her a damaged Orion class ship that had lost its captain. Hera was livid but took it. She has remained in cordial hostilities with him ever since. Although it must be said, she has still attacked several of his lovers out of sheer jealousy over the years.’

  Tae blanched. Talking about holding a grudge, Hera sounds like a total nut job.

  ‘Osiris and Yama had also taken the secrets of the nanites with them, so they were confident they could not be killed, except by decapitation, or something else equally drastic. They also had Vulcan, he was a master ship builder, so they could replace and repair their own ships as they wished. They had everything they ever dreamed of, but at heart they were a warrior race. After they arranged new supply lines and repaired their damaged ships they soon became bored.

  The beings that had served them on their own ships were growing older and beginning to die off; and the creatures in the galaxy they were now in were little more than hunter gatherers, or animals, hardly anything they could rule over and help develop into the societies they craved.

  They needed beings to help build new ships for those titans that had served with them onboard their own ships. They needed permanent populations to farm and grow food for them, as well replace their servants which were passing away from old age.

  So they set up their own ruling body and set of rules to govern themselves by. After that was done they decided they would help certain species that showed potential on some of the planets they came across, including those servants they had brought with them from their old home that served onboard their ships.

  They were the first; the Vampire and Wolven are what you might consider their original servants’ distant cousins. The gods mixed their own DNA extremely heavily with them to create newer, better versions. As the years went by they picked other species that interested them and continued the work on each of the chosen planets’ inhabitants.’

  ‘So that’s why we are all similar and can breed together, despite evolving on different planets? I had always wondered; it just seemed such an enormous anomaly.’ Tae said thoughtfully.

  ‘Yes,’ replied Cassandra. ‘That’s very astute of you, Tae. Every species can also breed with the gods themselves, if the gods so desire. They made sure of that with their genetic coding. We are all their children in a sense; we are far, far removed from the creatures we evolved from. If you had the complete history of Earth to study you would find a sudden, unexplained surge in both intelligence and population somewhere in our past.

  Each race was given something extra from the gods; for example the Wolven have some of their strength to compliment their own longer claws, the Thalien and Elven their speed and hearing, the Vampire their fangs and ability to drink blood, as well as their keen logic, the Tuvarnan their creativity, and the humans, although one of the physically weakest races, have their cunning and their ruthlessness, and all races have their fire.’

  Tae gasped. ‘The gods can drink blood?’

  ‘Oh yes, but they never do of course. They look upon their fangs as a quaint part of their evolution, nothing more. You would be lucky if you found anyone who had even seen their fangs. The only time you might see them is if they become enraged and lose control. Like the Vampire, or even the Wolven, who have small sets of incisors that lengthen in a battle. The god’s fangs can also drop if they lose their temper, but when have you ever seen anyone alive after a god loses control?’ She laughed.

  ‘At one stage they gave two planets a little time to develop on their own as an experiment. One was Earth; or Terra as they call it, and the other was Tuvarna. Well, you know what happened on Earth when they returned to check on our progress. Our people refused to recognize their authority, or to stop their wanton destruction of the planet and its other life forms, all through their own unadulterated greed. So they were very nearly destroyed for their arrogance. And I will tell you now, the only reason Earth survived at all is because of what happened a little earlier on Tuvarna.’

  ‘I’ve never heard of Tuvarna,’ said Tae, frowning.

  ‘It is the planet you passed on your way to find me,’ Cassandra said.

  ‘I don’t understand,’ Tae said. ‘From what I could tell from my brief scan, there’s nothing much there.’

  ‘No, Hera destroyed nearly every sentient being on the planet leaving behind mainly plant life, nothing higher than birdlife and water life was left alive. It was a senseless, cruel act, born from jealousy and spite. You see, Zeus had been bedding the inhabitants of the planet without revealing who he really was to them. It was a childish game that he sometimes played, most likely done out of boredom. He meant no harm; but with no battles to wage he has simply let himself become what he now is, a mere shadow of his true self.’

  She sighed. ‘When I think of what she did … their art, their history, their culture, their entire species and nearly every form of animal life, all wiped out because of one bitter, spiteful woman. All on the pretext they had abandoned their gods and refused to bow to their will.’

  Tae felt incredulous. ‘So, let me get this straight; this jealous alien bitch Hera decides that lover boy Zeus is not going to be having any fun while she’s still around, so she just wipes out nearly all the life on an entire planet?’

  ‘In a nutshell, yes, although I wouldn’t put it in quite those words.’

  ‘And where do you fit into all of this then, how do you know all of this stuff?’ said Tae.

  Cassandra paused, reflecting for a moment then continued softly.

  ‘I was a seer who tricked a god into giving me some longevity nanites, and I paid a heavy price as a consequence of those foolish actions. But one day, as I sat in the street despairing at my misfortune, I felt a vision come to me. It was the strongest I had ever had; it promised me a salvation, of sorts. I felt that there was much more to it, but at the time I didn’t question it because I was so desperate. All I cared about was escape. My vision had told me I had to come to a nebula near a beautiful fertile world. The coordinates were fixed firmly in my head. I knew nothing of spaceships or space travel, but I took a chance and petitioned Zeus. I told him through a priest that my vision showed that if I went to this nebula, it would eventually lead to not only his salvation, but that of the other gods as well. I told him that none but I could enter it, or they would run the risk of being destroyed by the nebula itself.’

  ‘Obviously Zeus had no idea whether I was telling the truth or not but he, or rather Tannan, his new advisor, was very astute. He realized that for the price of an easily replaced jumper he could erase any embarrassment my continued presen
ce caused, and possibly save his own skin in the future as well, so he agreed. A warrior took me aboard the Olympus then gave me basic instructions on how to operate the portal device, as well as a small jumper. As I already knew the coordinates from my vision, they simply filled the jumper up with food and water. I then took off, coming directly here.’

  ‘At first I wasn’t sure where I should head once I entered the nebula itself, but after a short time my destination started to become clearer to me. I travelled directly to where my mind seemed to be pulling me. Soon I arrived here to find what looked like a half ship, half asteroid just sitting here, alone in the dark. You see, when Cronus’ ship was destroyed it drifted into this nebula, and something very strange occurred.’

  Tae leant forward again, wideeyed and intrigued.

  ‘Cronus’ techs had been experimenting with something they called neural gel, it was meant for the faster relaying of commands through conduits between all sections of the ship. It was supposed to act in much the same way as a brain does, making reaction times that much faster, and the Dreadnaught that much deadlier. His ship, the Ouranos, was the only ship to be secretly fitted; she was the ultimate killing machine.

  When she was so badly damaged and her crew killed, some of the dead crews’ still active nanites, as well as the nanites stored onboard, mixed with the damaged gel conduits and the gases and differing radiations from the nebula.

  It caused something fundamental to change; the nanites began to multiply exponentially, and the Ouranos began to repair herself.’