Titan Race

by Edentu D Oroso

  "We now have a fair idea of where we stand with our PlayToys," Numa said rising up from his seat. "And that equips us enough, information wise, to commence the reconstruction we scheduled long ago."

  Numa advanced toward the crescent of raptly listening Guardians and halted at the fringe. "A whole lot is at stake here," he stressed on. "The reconstruction will touch on every single thread in the universe. All departments of this cosmic factory must do their best. There is no room for errors or loopholes, for we seek a perfect world.

  "For some, this operation is just another boring routine in the series of changes the universe has undergone since it came into being few eons ago. For others, it would come as their first real experience of the convoluted knitting of the cosmic threads. It is for this group of Guardians that I elucidate on the nature of our reconstruction.

  "The operation is in three phases. Phase one is tagged Realignment. Phase two is Chaffing - a period of selective replanting. The third and final phase is Rehabilitation. Each phase will involve the hierarchies of the various planets in the zone with the base command coming from Blackhole’s Disc Center. Is it clear?"

  The Guardians concurred, nodding. Numa paused, wading through a pool of billowy gas on the floor and up the steps that flared to the platform on which the gigantic screen hinged. It flickered into a clear visual of a giant globe in languid rotation around the sun.

  "In Realignment, we will cause Atlantis to lose its roundness by some fractions. We will achieve this through careful displacement of the Atlantis’ tectonic plates in certain intrinsic areas. This invariably will lift the landmass of the areas not displaced and submerge the affected areas. This is because of the over-flooding of those areas by the run-off waters from the higher lands. The rifts so created in turn would form continental blocks. The interspersing gullies would become rivers, oceans, seas and lakes in defined areas due to the concentration of escaping waters. The globe after this envisioned seismic pull-out will lose its bulge a bit at the poles and would take a spherical cast instead of its present shape.

  "If the ongoing windstorm or hurricane is to be taken seriously, Finia - they call him Tonka - the incarnate Guardian in Atlantis, has preceded us with the depolarization process. So we would have little or no trouble in channelling the cataclysmic reality of his cause to our advantage. All relevant changes stated here will be done within the spectrum of life in Atlantis. Our Solar Dispenser will magnetize Blackhole energy and radiate it to Atlantis on a less intense basis. Firstly, to cause the pull-out of continents from the whole. Secondly, to sustain the equilibrium of the new shape and the fundamental elements required for new life. The Solar Dispenser like other vessels will find tentative anchor outside Atlantis’ space to avoid intense radiation from tampering with our globe. All three phases will take place almost simultaneously.

  "Remember we are not inspired to destroy Atlantis, rather we intend to subject the current breed of humans to a state of perpetual coma, at least, for some time. During the displacement of landmass and emergence of new continents, the whole chunk of the landmass we know as Atlantis would have been overrun with water. Atlanteans stand to lose their bodies - the grain of their pride and deceit - but they would continue to exist in hibernation beneath the emergent seas. Few Atlanteans, however, must be picked alive and hosted for debriefing in the Lightship, the bigger version of the Tamed Star, before the surge of water.

  “We have to select the chaff from the grains, mark you. We need the grains to keep the embers of Atlantis alive in a re-ordered dispensation. The chaff we will stow away somewhere till we find use for them, or till they reach their circle of maturity. Of course, no death as such is involved in the Chaffing phase. You may say there’ll be a sudden change in their state of consciousness.

  "And the spared humans, what would happen to them? They’ll be rehabilitated no doubt. Of course, not in Atlantis, for it would have been long buried in the wake of the tectonic shift and violent splurge of water. Our able architects, engineers, gardeners, biologists, and so forth, will come in at this point to map out a new environment conducive for human and extra-terrestrial beings to cohabitate. Such a place will be chosen on a fine bed on any of the split continental blocks, preferably on a little retention of Atlantis - a chip out of the submerged berg. The survivors will be dropped on this plain as sprouts of the new civilization. Subsequently, there’ll be a redistribution of the stock of humans all over. Their intelligence will be enhanced as they’d be crossbred with the extra-terrestrial beings from Mars, Venus, Uranus, Moon and Jupiter.

  "In the new environment, which will include certain replications of Atlantis-like structures, plant and animal life, the new Atlantis beings will be exposed to varied climatic conditions. The honing they would have received in the Chaffing phase in the hands of seasoned Guardians in the Lightship will aid them to move through Atlantis to rediscover their selves and their past. This knowledge will help them to harness the available resources and reach out to claim the future.

  "This is another important experiment for Guardians. It’ll be asking too much to expect all the human seeds we will sow to spring forth with equal vigor and intelligence at the same time. The individual constitution of body and environmental influence will not permit this. But one thing is certain, rest-assured of consistent evolution in all spheres of nurture. We will keenly watch the ramifications of this experiment for twenty-five thousand calendars as they say in Atlantis. Then, they would have reached their creative peak and the spread of the stock of humans would have reached an appreciable level. And if traits exist which negates the ideal of the new civilization, then we will have no choice but to embark on a higher experiment. We will do it all over again, and again, till Atlantis knows some level of stability."

  Numa huffed, on a tinge of mirth. His heart leapt with joy having rolled out Blackhole’s blueprint of planetary intercession and realignment, the lengthiest speech he had made in a long while.

  "I’ll entertain few questions now."

  "Yes, Father of Blackhole," said Tamis, the debonair Guardian of Venus who rose with an air of humility. She had enchanting eyes, an unblemished beauty, a broad smile that stood out among the Guardians.

  Numa gestured good-naturedly to her to take her seat.

  "Please, sit down and ask your question," he said, standing close to the screen on the platform, his wings fluttering.

  "The selected beings from Venus, Mars, Uranus, Jupiter and the Moon are to cohabitate Atlantis after the deluge for specific reasons you said, but the reasons are yet to be clarified. Could you enlighten us more on this?" Tamis probed.

  Numa grinned. "A pertinent question, I must say. What our crossbreeding tends to achieve is an issue that would interest the hierarchies of the participating planets. How do we crossbreed without the feminine stock? Except by direct projection. I don’t think we want that higher means of self-creation at this stage. The ratio of females among the total number of survivors will cause obvious scramble over time amongst the male specie except the ratio is amended to an extent. Venus, for instance, inhabited by beings of the feminine gender, supplies our need for the new Atlantis in terms of the ratio and new feminine intelligence. In the case of the Moon, there’s a marriage of ideals. If we consider Atlantis as the father in spite of the Sun's placing, the Moon naturally usurps the maternal role. Therefore, females from the Moon will complete the stock of the new Atlantis family."

  "That singles out the male extra-terrestrials," Tamis pointed out.

  "Definitely not," Numa replied. "They are not precluded in the Atlantis family."

  "Besides procreative processes, what other roles will they play?" Sujes chipped in. The broad-shouldered, handsome Guardian of Jupiter seemed to pre-empt the Guardians of Mars and Uranus.

  "I was just going to ask that question myself," Nemhi said.

  "Me too," seconded Mikuthi of Mars, grinning.

  "Well, let me expla
in this the best way you can understand it," Numa said. "It’s quite clear that in the deluge or change, we are stripping Atlantis of every single atom of perverted knowledge. The submerged humanity may continue in those ways if they choose to - but the family that emerges out of the mess and restructure will be given back every ounce of knowledge lost in the womb of Atlantis, although slowly. How is this possible? Well, through the Martians, Uranians and Jupiterians. Mars is in advanced stages of nuclear technology - the warlords permit me to say, though the planet is still within order. The infusion of Martian blood in the new Atlanteans will illumine the path of privileged ones of the family. They will draw directly from that resource and do amazing things that would lead to a climax at the tail end of the span of twenty-five thousand calendars. We don’t envisage any trouble from the use of this knowledge. But if they do eventually as we have seen in recent civilizations, we will intervene and arrest the situation through our projected plan of change.

  "The Uranians and Jupiterians will supply the other basic scientific skills requisite for such a big experiment. They might not know why they are there or even know their origin per se except they are awakened to this gilded secret by the efforts of the presiding Guardian. Our PlayToy won’t be under any threat for a long time and we would have all the breathing space there is to do other things," Numa expatiated.

  "This criss-cross construct, does it affect Mars in the same degree? Do we expect something similar or peculiar?" Mikuthi asked, somewhat disturbed about the prospect of such a change in Mars.

  Numa looked at the Martian, sensed his apprehension and nodded. "Yes, but on a subtler level." His left hand flailed towards the screen. "Look at the universe at a glance - it's a tight web of tangling, intricate strands. You can’t take one single strand out of the loom without interrupting the speed of the spin."

  The Guardians saw on the screen an an ensemble of minute balls kneaded across a void of indescribable depth, casting luminous reflections and refractions, which defined the void as a seeming sea of light.

  "As desolate or distant as the specks in the universe appear between each form, a magnetic flux binds and permeates even the greatest gulf. A shift on Atlantis, no matter how subtle, is an infringement on the magnetic field holding all the varied forms together. So Mars and the rest planets are affected in some ways as neighbouring planets to Atlantis, but not violently.

  "And there's another salient factor in the effect this mission will have on the galaxy, indeed the entire universe - the relationship of the stars to human life. Every human being, low or high on the spiritual plane, is an incarnation of a star.

  “Now, back to the point. Yes, all human beings exist in other forms beside their physical bodies. They sparkle as stars too in the cosmic void. To displace human life by any margin is to displace the position of the stars. You’d now understand why this operation is so sensitive."

  The Guardians weighed Numa’s words as he paused. "I’ll take three more questions and we’ll bring the meeting to a close," he said afterwards.

  Pata stirred from the right of the crescent of Guardians. “Will our fleet of spaceships and saucers just descend on Atlantis and carry out the rescue operation without stampeding the humans with alien presence? Won’t there be some sort of precautionary maoeuvres on our part?”

  "We won’t be that daft for sure," Numa reassured them. "The Solar Dispenser and the Lightship, as I said, will station at reasonable distances from the surface of Atlantis, about thirty to fifty thousand feet above sea level depending on the need of the operation. The other smaller vessels and saucers will also hover within the range. If landing is necessary, it will be in the Chaffing phase. The saucers from the Lightship and the Tamed Star will be the ones to make the needed landing and it will be brief. These saucers cannot be seen by human eye so there’ll be no stampede as such. The next question please."

  "Is there a criterion for the selection of the humans to be spared in the Chaffing phase or are they to be picked at random?" Fatien’s sonorous voice broke through from the periphery of Guardians on the left.

  Numa half-turned in the direction of the Guardian of the Red Stars. "The same procedure as the last operation. Analysis of each Atlantean’s activity as recorded on daily basis within the span of life will be computed in the Disk Center. If the volition of a human is positive, he or she stands a chance to be among our chosen few.”

  "I’ll like to ask the last question," said Gaam, female Guardian of the Moon who sat close to Numa at the outer fringe. Gaam adjusted her stead. "The primary objective, I figure, for all these alterations and intercessory actions in the two eons gone have been a furtherance of the advancement of the human species. On a broader scale, it implies the perpetuation of universal spiritual idyll. Besides these fundamental reasons for our endless tinkering of the forms that be, what personal satisfaction is there for a Guardian? I mean what do we hope to achieve as Guardians? First, we are delighted in creating so mammoth a vineyard. Then we try to collapse same ingenious work of fantasy. Is it just for the sole purpose of picking a few components of a once beautiful picture?" she demanded shrewdly. "Are there no better ways of maintaining stability in the system? This is not thought inspired by self-conceit, but it seems an irony I’m yet to grasp fully."

  Gaam became a cynosure of probing eyes. The Guardians could not just understand Gaam’s innuendo. She appeared to be blazing a trail way out of line. The question had its merit in spite of its sting.

  Numa read the impressions well. "Don’t be stunned by a question such as this," Numa assuaged. "It should be expected once in a while. What satisfaction does a mother derive from nursing her off-springs?” he said directing his words to Gaam. ”Is it not to see them grow from whimpering babies into adulthood of profound achievements? Does that portray a senseless adventure in the revered institution of motherhood? I really don’t think so. My dear Guardian Gaam, as a mother figure, has there never been a time when you experienced exhilaration by watching the progress and triumph of any of our kind in the universe?"

  "I have," conceded Gaam.

  "Good. I'll explain. In picking components of a once whole picture time after time, we reconstruct the whole. And it is in this manner some present Guardians made the right leap, the right spiritual ascent that got them into the rung of the Blackhole,” Numa explained.

  "If this is clear, then we will tidy up this meeting and get down to serious business. We have just about three swirls to get our departments briefed. Three swirls more to be ready for action. At seven swirls from now, the operation begins. All departments must wait for Blackhole’s signal. No unilateral actions would be tolerated. Don’t forget we will reconvene to assess our operation and the progress of each phase if need be. Meanwhile, I declare this meeting closed. Guardians, thank you for your cooperation. Go in peace!"

  The Guardians rose with a subtle fluff of wings, cutting varied scars on the film of oozing gas on the floor. They dispersed in muffled chatter as Numa walked down the platform. He reciprocated their bow and picked up his scepter by the arm of his chair and made a glorious exit through the left flank of the Wisdom Hall’s outer chamber. Seven swirls on the countdown.

  # # #

  The front of the windstorm, now a fully-fledged hurricane, spewed its venom on Songhai thirty swirls after a vicious incursion on Ditara. Because of the violent winds, debris and sand hurtling under the hood of darkness, nothing could be seen.

  Yet, as Tonka observed, trees and buildings had fallen, and Atlanteans stampeded by the force of windstorm in other cities. The storm in Songhai, however, seemed to howl like crazy bull on a vengeance mission.

  On the third floor of the Divine Theatre, within the large sanctuary, over a hundred inner circle members clustered in deep meditation. The blinding darkness and howling wind outside magnified the fears of Atlanteans. The inner circle members, however, could not afford to watch the impact of the hurricane on their city due
to Tonka’s order. Those in the sanctuary not yet in trance-flights despite their closed eyes shuddered from the resonance of the violence caused by the hurricane.

  The loud crash of an object against a window on the adjacent mansion woke Daya from his meditation. He reclined his back on the wall next to the tinted glass window in the middle of the sanctuary with his eyes still closed, afraid of contravening Tonka's orders.

  In spite of the fright caused by the hurricane all around him, even amongst his colleagues in their meditative postures and in the far corners of the city, Tonka Manu had told him the journey to safety lies within. Therefore, Daya focused inwards and sought some inspiration in Tonka’s words.

  Two hundred poles away, alone in his sanctuary, Tonka Manu sat on his meditation seat as usual and began to observe. So unruffled in the midst of nature’s overthrow of man’s strongholds, Tonka succeeded in painting an ironical picture of the whole drama as if no evil lurked in the hurricane and no sad end awaited Atlantis. Of course, he had witnessed the heavy shroud of darkness over Songhai and the gradual shift across Atlantis to that point. Nevertheless, what bothered him anchored on how few amongst them would overcome the end of Atlantis.

  While Tonka prepared himself for meditation at his sanctuary, Daya had given him the one call he waited for. All the inner circle members had complied with the directive to look inwards and never to open their eyes despite the destruction on the outside. Now he was certain, chaos or not, some Atlanteans would scale the last hurdle.

  Chapter Nine

  A troubled look lingered on Vatima Hansi's face. Her magnetic eyes dimmed in the crease of her sleek facial features as if she had aged. Her youngest son on the opposite couch, keenly watching the television reports of the hurricane and prattling about it with elder sister and brother, took notice of her sudden ageing. He had also noticed on her return from Manu Square how she had been smug, lacking in the motherly warmth she often exuded.