Tablet of Destinies

by Traci Harding

  The tiny Devas stopped their din and looked to each other, rather confused by their mother’s resolve.

  ‘He misunderstands you, as you misunderstand him, but love is greater than any mistake,’ she explained. ‘Spite is never a solution. Only clarity, reason and a willingness to learn will benefit the greater good and will bring harmony in the end. Maelgwn already knows this, and you two will learn.’

  ‘Bravo!’ cheered Noah. ‘Let’s do it!’

  The scholar’s cheer incited the little Devas into an excited frenzy of song and flight.

  ‘We shall teach them to love this earthly realm and everything in it.’ Tory smiled broadly as the infants once again began to radiate with light.

  When Maelgwn suddenly appeared in the flight lounge of the Governor’s official deep space craft, Brian and Rhun were very surprised, having been made familiar with the ex-Governor’s reasons for wanting to forgo the diplomatic flight to Nibiru. Maelgwn was obviously in the foulest of moods, but Brian was overjoyed to see him all the same.

  ‘Praise the Goddess! Tell me you’ve changed your mind about accompanying me to address the Pantheon?’ the Governor appealed.

  Maelgwn nodded and took a seat to brood.

  ‘Yes!’ Brian gave a cheer and then calmed down to inquire: ‘Has the condition of your children righted itself then?’ Brian assumed it must have, if Maelgwn was prepared to leave Kila.

  ‘Tory insists she has the situation in hand,’ he replied.

  ‘You and mother have had a difference of opinion with regard to the nature of the twins’ condition I take it?’ Rhun knew he pushed his luck to ask. The answer was written very clearly on his father’s face.

  ‘That’s putting it mildly,’ Maelgwn growled.

  ‘We can handle this without you if you want to reconsider staying on Kila.’ Rhun made it sound as if his greatest concern was for his parent’s happiness, but in truth, Rhun and his father had never been in a situation were they were forced to work closely together. In fact, Rhun had avoided politics until now because of his father’s governorship. Like most father’s, Maelgwn still treated Rhun like a juvenile at times and this really irked Rhun as he was well over ninety years old.

  ‘Speak for yourself.’ Brian protested Rhun’s confidence, preferring Maelgwn’s plan. ‘Besides, you know what my sister’s like once she gets an idea in her head.’

  Maelgwn finally ceased staring vaguely into space and looked to his eldest son to explain. ‘Right now, I would rather be where my presence will make a difference.’

  ‘Absolutely,’ Brian agreed and feeling more relaxed about the mission he took the seat beside Maelgwn.

  ‘I thought you said that the first rule of marriage was never to part from your lover on an argument.’ Rhun chose to pursue the issue, finding it disconcerting to have his parents, the perfect couple, at odds with one another.

  ‘And, the first rule of survival is never to harass your father,’ Maelgwn hissed, knowing he was being unreasonable and rash. He felt terrible abandoning Tory, yet she had practically demanded that he do so. He really did want to see her point of view and trust in her instinct as he always had … then Maelgwn realised that leaving Tory to her investigation meant that he did. I sure hope she interprets my actions thus.

  The ship’s magnetic propulsion system fired up to prepare the launch tube for take off by bombarding it with waves of magnetically charged rings.

  Rhun sat himself down beside his father and Maelgwn looked at his son. Not wishing to stir up any more ill will within the family he said quietly, ‘I may not have gone about this the right way, Rhun, but I am doing the right thing. The Pantheon will be suspicious if I do not make an appearance, and perhaps that is why fate stirred up this argument. To get me on this flight.’

  Rhun’s jaw unclenched as he nodded in acquiescence. ‘Perhaps I should stay behind then. With you along the Governor shall have precious little need of my services.’

  ‘That’s hardly the point of your presence on this trip,’ Brian noted. ‘You can’t expect to win the trust and support of the Nefilim if you don’t get in amongst them and make yourself known. And besides … the three of us on a mission together will surely be invincible.’

  Rhun smiled at his uncle. ‘Or it could be a recipe for disaster.’ Sceptical, he looked back to his father.

  Maelgwn caught his son’s drift and realised that his presence was a threat to Rhun’s new authority. ‘I am no longer Governor,’ he advised Rhun, and then glanced at the man in charge. ‘Brian is in command here and I have no problem with following his instructions.’

  ‘Nor do I,’ Rhun conceded, still eyeballing his father with a cynical look.

  ‘And you are second in command,’ Maelgwn was more than happy to admit. ‘I am here to advise only when asked and that shall be the extent of my involvement in this mission.’

  ‘Well, I’ve had to take orders from both of you in the past,’ Brian reminded them. ‘So, it’s payback time.’ The new Governor rubbed his hands together, mischievously. ‘And my first order is that you two Dragons cease breathing fire and get along.’

  ‘You won’t even know I’m here, I swear it.’ Maelgwn looked at his son and held out a hand to shake on it.

  Rhun still appeared to be apprehensive, but he shook his father’s hand. Then their seats locked them in for launch.

  What his son didn’t know, and what Maelgwn couldn’t say, was that he had an entirely different agenda to attend to once they reached Nibiru. He was hoping that the Goddess Inanna might have accompanied her husband, Dumuzi, to the Senate meeting. For although she was no longer one of the Pantheon of Twelve, she was a social creature. It would be less suspicious if Maelgwn could approach Inanna on a social level about the personal effects that she took from Durak some seventy years ago, rather than having to seek a special appointment to discuss the issue. Maelgwn wanted to avoid raising the Goddess’ interest in the particular rock he was seeking. The last thing he needed was for the Nefilim to discover that they held the key that would lead to, and unlock, the Lord Master Enki’s Creation Stations. The Nefilim would rather destroy the stations than be enlightened by them, and ensure humankind did not gain access to the Lord Master Enki’s secret doctrine.

  5

  THE IMPOSSIBLE

  DREAM

  Over the days that followed the baby Devas’ arrival in this world, Tory and Noah found themselves constantly amazed.

  The babies were maturing at the inconceivable rate of about a year a day, and were absorbing information about the physical realm faster than their human carers could teach it. Only Tory and Noah saw the two babies and, having the devoted attention of the two people they’d come to trust most, day and night, all traces of ugliness had disappeared from the little beings’ presence.

  Tory imagined that the Devas resembled Nefilim babies, although she had never seen such a child. None of the Nefilim had given birth during the course of Tory’s association with them, although she knew the Goddess Inanna and her husband, Dumuzi, had been trying forever to conceive. The fairylike features of the Devas’ radiant little faces were very expressive and they were actually more beautiful and perfect in appearance than human babies of the same age. Although they could never replace the gaping hole that Avery and Lirathea had left in Tory’s life, the Devas were certainly proving a delightful distraction until such time as she figured out how to locate her own children.

  She realised now that she’d done the right thing in keeping the Devas in a positive, informative and loving environment. Had her husband had his way, the harsh, cold, segregated environment of a bio-containment laboratory would have generated enough destructive stimuli to have had an irreversible effect on the young and impressionable psyches of the twins. Tory also knew how delighted Maelgwn would be to have been proven wrong.

  Both babes had sprouted blonde hair and the pupils of their large almond-shaped eyes had turned violet like Tory’s. The rest of their form was now very human in appearance, alt
hough their fingers and toes were especially long and slender. Their sharp, pointed teeth had transformed into human teeth and the tails of the Devas had vanished. It was as if the little beings were making a concerted effort to fit in with the human race.

  Cleo, at the Institute of Astronomy, had been consulted on the conundrum of what to name the pair. They had manifested days after Avery and Lirathea had been born, and therefore it would be completely inappropriate to call the celestial babes by those names. Going back over the events of the morning when the Devas had arrived, Noah had managed to estimate their time of birth, give or take fifteen minutes. Cleo then compiled a list of names suitable for babies born within this time and, from the meanings given for the names selected, it was easy for Tory to know which ones were meant for the twins. The beings had manifested simultaneously, so once Tory had found the name most apt for the male Deva — Sacha, ‘the helper of mankind’ — the female name that corresponded to the same time of birth was Psyche, which simply meant ‘the soul’.

  On the third day of Sacha and Psyche’s development, things got really interesting, for although the beings were approaching three years of age in appearance, they had yet to speak a word, although they had no problem comprehending anything they were told.

  Both Tory and Noah wore thought-wave neutralisers in an attempt to shield the celestial babes from telepathically probing their thoughts and stumbling onto negative stimuli buried in the dark recesses of their minds. However, there was no way of knowing if the thought-wave neutralisers were effective enough to protect the Devas from human thought and memory altogether. By the very nature of their origins, the Devas were bound to be psychically gifted beyond human comprehension.

  Whilst thought-wave neutralisers prevented the wearer from probing the minds of others, it did allow for some telepathic communication. Such projected thoughts made a more solid wave that could be detected above the lesser brain wave functions that the device was designed to scramble. But, the babes hadn’t attempted telepathic transfer, only using the basic sounds and sign language akin to that of a human infant who had yet to learn to speak. The only way Tory could join with the Devas and probe their minds for information would be to remove her restraint. To open her mind, or any other human’s for that matter, to the Devas would be completely irresponsible.

  Noah appeared in the nursery, this particular morning, with an old portable computer that Floyd — Head of Communications Technology on Kila — had managed to resurrect for him. ‘More research texts,’ Noah announced with glee, holding his archaic piece of equipment up triumphantly.

  The two Deva babes were so curious about his new toy that they literally flew to the scholar’s side.

  ‘Splendid.’ Tory expressed her delight, but remained seated and waited for all to join her on the lounges. ‘Floyd never disappoints.’

  Noah struggled over to take a seat, avoiding colliding with or squashing either of the excited beings that were hovering about him.

  ‘Sacha, Psyche, give Noah a chance to settle and set up his tool.’ Tory beckoned the Devas back to her. ‘You are only delaying the demonstration by hounding him,’ she explained, whereupon the twins returned to settle on her lap and wait for their instructor to be ready for them.

  Noah put the portable computer down on the coffee table and the screen popped up to expose the keypad.

  ‘Ooh!’ gasped the twins in unison, intrigued by the development.

  He opened a case containing several different CD-ROMs and optical storage disks, and selecting a CD he placed it into drive to load. ‘I’d nearly forgotten how to use a keyboard … and if you thought I was a slow typist fifty years ago, there is no hope for me now,’ he joked, as the computer finished booting up.

  Sacha had drifted away from Tory, having taken an interest in Noah’s case of disks. The little Deva perused the titles on offer, then made a selection.

  Tory found it interesting that Sacha had chosen an encyclopedic dictionary. ‘Noah, look.’ Tory motioned with her eyes towards the boy.

  ‘Would you like me to load that up for you, Sacha?’ Noah offered, whereby the Deva nodded, and handing over the disk, he began to clap excitedly.

  Once the program had been activated, Psyche joined Sacha in front of the computer. They placed their hands on the monitor and the information contained in the encyclopedic dictionary began flashing across the screen faster than the program or the system were capable of running.

  ‘They are controlling the hard drive psychokinetically,’ Tory uttered, mystified.

  ‘But this system is not equipped with PKA capabilities!’ Noah sat back to give the Devas some room, hardly believing what he was witnessing. ‘Holy Goddess, they’re up to H already.’

  Tory raised herself from her chair and moved over behind the one in which Noah was seated to see for herself the stream of text and images that were flashing across the screen beneath the hands of the probing Devas. ‘They must be able to connect and manipulate artificial intelligence at an atomic level.’

  ‘Just imagine what they could do to us,’ Noah uttered over his shoulder to Tory, trying not to sound fearful about the realisation that he was at the mercy of a couple of three year olds with such capabilities.

  ‘Maybe we should have censored that disk, as it does not refer to this planet, but Gaia,’ Tory pointed out to Noah’s great distress.

  ‘Shit.’ He noted the Devas had reached the letter T and quickly switched off the computer.

  Sacha and Psyche were most upset and began moaning in protest.

  ‘Wrong planet and time frame,’ he explained, producing two PKA orbs from nowhere that contained the standard encyclopedic dictionary used as a reference in the Institutes on Kila.

  The Deva accepted the more advanced learning tools with pleasure and settled down quietly to absorb the information that was contained thereon.

  ‘Phew,’ said Noah. ‘I only intended to show them how to operate the system. I didn’t plan on subjecting them to the primitive concepts of Gaia’s civilisation.’ It worried him how quickly the situation had gotten out of hand. ‘There isn’t anything in our encyclopedic dictionary that should be too primitive for their consumption. Still,’ he cocked an eye in speculation, ‘as perfect as I feel the life we lead on Kila is, our civilisation and beliefs will appear as barbaric to them as the Dark Ages of Briton appeared to you. More backward even!’

  Tory was actually quite encouraged by the comparison and crouched down beside his chair to address Noah more directly. ‘As barbaric as the Dark Ages seemed, it was not difficult for me to see the goodness in many of the souls who endured that brutal, and yet defining time in human evolution. And, as Maelgwn and his kin were doing the best they could with the knowledge they had, so are we doing the best that we can … the universe can ask no more of us than that.’

  Noah was gazing at Tory, blissfully unaware of the adoring look on his face. He loved it when she started philosophising about life, the universe and her travels. He felt he could quite happily sit for forever and listen to her speak.

  Tory raised her eyebrows, wondering if she still had Noah’s full attention; he was looking at her, but she suspected his mind had gone walkabout.

  ‘I do love it when you burst into a tutorial.’ Noah explained his reverent pause.

  ‘I know exactly what you mean,’ Tory confessed. ‘I feel the same way every time you start sprouting information.’

  Noah shook his head, finding the comparison unacceptable.

  ‘Where would even the greatest theologian be had the wisdom of the ages not been compiled and recorded for his reference?’ She argued her point. ‘I rely on your research skills, Noah. I literally get high on our conversations.’

  Noah sat forward, empathising with her completely but disagreeing all the same. ‘But you open my mind to new possibilities each and every time we meet.’

  ‘So do you,’ Tory uttered, and suddenly found herself drowning in Noah’s soft blue eyes. ‘Speaking of which, you said you
’d gained access to more information about our little visitors?’ Tory shifted the focus of the conversation away from how they felt about each other and quickly began to clean up the nursery.

  ‘I haven’t actually had a chance to skim over much of it yet.’ Noah’s focus shifted back to the portable computer, although in his mind he was recounting the last few moments. ‘Perhaps I should take it back to my library where I shan’t be distracted and report any findings to you as they come to hand.’

  ‘An excellent idea,’ Tory was quick to concede, and Noah was packed up in an instant.

  ‘I’ll um … speak with you soon then.’ Noah chanced a look in Tory’s direction, to find her looking as panicked as he felt.

  ‘I appreciate your efforts,’ Tory said, wanting to explain how the moment had suddenly become so intimate … a rationale escaped her.

  As soon as Noah had departed, Tory breathed easier. Looking over at the twins, she found them both watching her intently with large smiles on their faces. ‘What do you know about this?’

  Predictably, the Devas maintained their silence.

  Later that same day, Sacha was in the tub and Tory had Psyche on the change table getting her dry. Tory was rattling on about what they were doing, as she always did, in the hope that the infants might latch onto her meaning and start communicating.

  ‘Okay, we’ll just put this over your head,’ Tory advised as she bundled the dress over the girl and popped her head through the neckline. ‘Arms,’ was the next instruction, and as Tory pulled Psyche’s garment on, she admired the child’s sweet little face. ‘My, but you do look like me,’ she commented. ‘Much as Lirathea would have I expect, were she still —’ Tory choked on her welling emotions and wanted to kick herself. She’d been doing so well at maintaining a positive outlook for the Devas, and now she was going to blow all her hard work by collapsing into a state of depression and fear. Don’t you do it, she cautioned herself and took a few deep breaths — but still her sorrow welled. Busy battling her fear, she didn’t perceive the light emanating from Psyche intensify until the Deva held out her hand and touched the Tablet of Destinies that hung about her neck.