“It’s not like we stole them.”
“Ethan, we stole them.”
“I left them Dad’s cell number. He’ll take care of it for us. Besides, doesn’t he still owe you?”
“I don’t work for your dad, you do. I’m an illegal alien, remember? So technically, you still owe me. Big time.”
“Oh, yea.”
The pair rode side-by-side down the interstate as the sun rose behind them over a clear cold morning.
“Ty?”
“Hmm?”
“Something you said earlier, when we were talking about the differences between gods and humans. Where did we come from, the Ra I mean?”
“You’re still thinking about that? We’re just people, Ethan.”
“We’re not from some other world?”
Ty looked at Ethan riding beside him, his eyebrow going up under his helmet. “We’re just a lot further along on the evolutionary scale.”
“You don’t think we were created? By God, I mean.”
“I’ve thought about that. What do you think?” Ty avoided answering the question.
“I thought I used to know, but learning about the Ra kind of tossed a huge conundrum into that.”
“We’re just different people, Ethan,” he evaded. “It doesn’t mean God doesn’t exist.”
“We’re not just different, Ty. The things we can do—moving things with our minds—not even the old gods were able to do that from what you said.”
“Evolutionary advancement?” Ty suggested.
“It feels more like design to me.”
“We’re descended from the ancient Masters, Ethan. Maybe we are designed, like you said.”
“Still—”
“What?”
“It seems a bit of a leap to me; apes, humans, gods, reborn. All in the span of just a couple hundred thousand years?”
“The Fermi Paradox not enough for you? Now you’ve got to go and create your own? The Ethan Paradox,” Ty joked. “You think too much.”
“What’s the Fermi Paradox?”
“It’s just a question, actually. ‘Why haven’t we found intelligent life outside of Earth?’”
“So, how do they answer it?”
“One theory is that we’re alone in the universe.”
“Yea, I don’t buy that,” Ethan argued. “What else?”
“Another is that there is other life in the Universe, but the distances between the stars and other galaxies means that none of us will ever meet. It’s just too big.”
“Sure,” Ethan nodded his helmet at Ty. “Any others?”
“A bunch. Usually just variations of those two. But my pet theory is that life developed a long, long time ago and the planet just keeps recycling it. People evolve to the point where they hit what’s called a filter.”
“Then what happens?”
“They die.”
“All of them?”
“Maybe. Or maybe just most of them. Some survive to pass the filter and they keep evolving.”
“What’s this filter look like?”
“It could be anything. Stupidity. Plague. Nuclear war. Asteroid hitting the planet. An ice age. Take your pick.”
“Stupidity, huh?” Ethan grinned beneath his helmet.
“Look at the population of Easter Island.”
“The place with all the stone heads and no trees?”
“Right. The people there deforested the entire island at one point, killing off most of the population. That’s a stupidity filter.”
“I see. Did everyone die off?”
“No, just most of them. Some of them were eaten by their own people if they weren’t getting sacrificed to some cult’s god to appease him for their sins.”
“I take it religion is another stupidity filter?”
“It’s part of culture. Culture is its own filter. A big one in fact. For centuries the Catholic Church held back Human advancement by declaring it heresy to believe in a heliocentric solar system. Despite Copernicus’ and Galileo’s evidence, the infallible Church just could not bring itself to admit that it was wrong about something. I guess we could label that an ‘arrogance filter’.”
“But you said the Seven were controlling the Church.”
“They are. The Oligarchy creates its own kind of stupidity filter. They use social and political organizations to deliberately poison the culture.”
“I’ve thought about why people do the things they do sometimes. I guess culture is really strong.”
“It is. So if you destroy the culture you destroy the race. And you never ever realize that you’re being poisoned in the process. In fact, you will fight tooth and nail to keep being poisoned with nonsense beliefs and perspectives that will have you killing yourselves. Like the Church did to Galileo. It’s insidious what the Seven are doing to Humanity.”
“Why?”
“Because the blood of the gods is within Humanity, Ethan. If left alone the newbloods will emerge from the Humans, a new race reborn by design of the ‘accursed’ ancient Masters. That’s how they look at it.”
“They want to destroy all of Humanity because of us?”
“Every last one. And they’re using Humanity itself to do it to themselves.”
“Will we—I mean, will they—survive?”
“I don’t know. The question is, when Humanity turns on the gods, like they have in the past, will we survive?”
27
A light dusting of snow was falling in the small Bavarian-looking town making the streets look like they were being blown in fine powder as the cars moved slowly past. The cozy German restaurant had half filled with lunch patrons. Paige wasn’t exactly sure why Rowan had sent her here to the quaint Northwest town, but here she was, sitting alone, waiting for—something.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw someone enter. But it wasn’t really what she saw so much as who she felt. The two seemed to meet with their feelings long before the shapely pretty young blonde sat down across from her at the table. She looked really young, like a high school student.
“Hey, Paige. Nice to meet you. I’m Savannah,” the teen said with a Southern accent as thick as the Carolinas as both greeted across the table.
“You’re a little out of place,” Paige smiled.
“I know. Just when I think the accent is going away, I spend a day back home and it all comes roaring back. Where’s home for you?”
“Orlando.”
“Well, I guess you can’t get much further away from home here in the States, now can you?”
“Should I—even be talking to you?”
“Only if you want me to teach you who you are.”
“Is that why I’m here?”
“Rowan didn’t tell you, did he?”
“He’s a little shy on the details sometimes.”
“Yea. That’s Rowan. How long have been awakened?”
“A week.”
“Oh. You are green then.”
“Thanks.” She frowned rolling her eyes.
“Don’t mention it.” Savannah’s eyes twinkled with mirth.
“I might be able to get used to you.” Paige admitted, suddenly losing her frown.
“Seriously, though, Paige, Rowan asked me to give you some exercises; do a little training. Brenda usually does that but she’s like, way out of town at the moment.”
“Right. Rowan told me about Paradisus.”
“Okay, so you know. Good. Then you know what’s at stake here.”
Paige nodded.
“Well, let me carry you back home and we’ll find you a place to stay. I’ll introduce you to my family.” Savannah got up from the table.
“Savannah, out of curiosity, how old are you?” Paige asked as the two of them headed for the entrance.
“I’ll be twenty-one in a few months. Why?”
“I’m—just. Curious. It just seems like all the gods I’m hearing about and seeing are like, really young.”
“We are, Paige. Wait until you meet my olde
r brother,” Savannah smirked, leading them out of the restaurant.
* * * * *
Their helmets secured to their bikes, both stylishly leather-clad young men walked into the busy truck stop diner for something to eat after gassing up. They found a couple of empty stools at the diner’s bar and sat down.
“Well, don’t you all look nice in riding leather,” the fifty-something weathered waitress smiled while setting a couple of glasses of water and some small menus in front of the two handsome young men. “Let me know what I can get ya.”
Both nodded.
“What do you have that’s vegetarian?” Ethan asked.
“Getcha a big grilled cheese. Some hot tomato soup?”
“Ah,” Ty nodded. “That would be great.”
“Make that two,” Ethan added.
Ethan then looked casually over his shoulder. “Not the friendliest place we’ve been in,” he quipped empathically to Ty.
“Ignore them.”
Both Ethan’s and Ty’s senses had begun tingling the moment the two of them walked into the remote Alabama truck stop. A couple of men sitting in a booth next to the door apparently were not all that happy about Ty and Ethan entering the diner together dressed in matching leather.
It wasn’t long before their waitress had set plates and large steaming cups in front of them. Ty had barely taken a bite of his sandwich when the two men at the booth got up and wandered up behind them.
“Alice, looks like you forgot to get these boys some meat on those plates.”
“You boys know what ‘vegetarian’ means in Indian don’t cha? BAD HUNTER.”
Both of the overweight men began laughing a little too loudly.
Ty and Ethan looked over their shoulders askance at them. Each was a large-gutted burly man. Both smelled like cheap beer.
“You two look real nice in matching leather.” One of them mocked in his version of a lady’s voice.
“Bob. Larry. That’s enough.” The waitress glared. “Go sit down.”
“We just havin’ a little fun, Alice. We don’t get to see many homos comin’ through town.”
Ethan turned in his seat.
“Ethan, careful,” Ty warned out loud.
“OH! EEEthannnn!” One of them mocked and then both men started laughing in a repulsive uproar that sent most of the diner into quiet murmurs.
“Bob, don’t make me call the cops again.” Alice warned.
Ethan slipped off of his stool and took a step up to the one that had just mocked him. The burly trucker was a little shorter than Ethan but easily outweighed him by a hundred pounds. “Get out.” Ethan nodded him toward the door.
“Who’s gonna make me, sonny? You?”
“Excuse me a minute.” Ethan nodded again at their waitress.
The big man never saw him move. But he was suddenly turned around with abrupt shoots of pain stabbing through his thick twisted arm that was now behind his back. He felt himself being very strongly walked toward the exit. Ethan plowed the man’s face into the thick glass of one of the diner’s swinging doors and then out into the parking lot’s cold night air followed by his boisterous comrade.
The waitress pulled her cell phone from her apron and was about to dial when she found Ty’s soft warm hand over hers. She looked at his handsome face. Ty nodded and winked at her. “He’ll be alright. Trust me.”
She slipped the phone back into her apron.
A minute later Ethan entered and returned to his stool at the bar looking just like he had when he’d left.
“Hon, are you all right?!” The waitress looked at him as he retook his stool. There wasn’t a mark on him.
“Did you hurt them?” Ty asked, his mouth full while taking another bite.
“Not badly.”
A few minutes passed before both men hobbled and limped back into the diner and slipped quietly back into their booth.
“I need to keep you two around here more often,” their waitress mumbled to them while keeping an eye on her rowdy truckers. “You boys enjoy. It’s on the house.”
28
W hat is this place?” Gage asked Rowan, a bit awestruck at the massive ancient cavernous architecture. The two of them were walking along a kind of catwalk as wide as a six-lane freeway. One side was open to a half-mile drop beside dozens of huge cannon-like machines hundreds of feet tall, ornately detailed in some ancient design and mounted on thick bases allowing them to swivel in all directions—that is, if they had been moving. Right now the colossal boring machines were all still and silent.
“It’s an antique, like me.” Rowan joked. “This is a mining vessel. Pre-First Era.”
“Jesus, this is a vessel? It’s like a whole city down here.”
“Damn straight. Twenty miles across. Close to four miles high. And one helluva an ion reactor. I found a couple of these jewels just abandoned here under the outback.”
“This must be what the Wraith found,” Gage mused, looking at the massive size of the globe that housed the largest ion reactor he’d ever seen some five or six miles away.
“Yep. The Zuruahã found one in the Amazon as well. It’s where they built El Dorado.”
Gage frowned. “Yea, don’t remind me.”
“There were dozens of these bad boys at one time. Epic vessels mining the planet like a jungle crusher. Now there’s only a couple left—well, that we’ve found anyway.” He chuckled to himself.
“What were they mining?”
“You name it. Heavy metals mostly. They sank shafts into the upper mantle of the planet and just filtered out what they needed from the magma. Bloody genius.”
“It sounds dangerous.”
“Probably was. Might be the reason they abandoned their operation.”
“Where’s the other one?”
“I gave it to the Seven, a kind of parting gift to keep them off my back. It’s what took out the Leviathan.”
“So this is where all of you got the weapons.”
“Not weapons really. Just cutting tools.”
“Rowan you were blasting holes in brick walls shooting at me, remember? That’s a weapon in my book.”
“Yea. Don’t remind me.”
“Paige said the Seven sent a death squad after you?”
“Yea, bastard, Rigel. Guy never could keep a bargain.”
“I knew you’d come back,” Gage smiled.
“Did ya now?”
“It was only a matter of time.”
“I’m not exactly all Mr. Benevolent here, Gage.”
“Oh. And you think I am?”
“Bah, you’re all just kids.”
“Don’t you think we know that?”
“Yea, well, it’s about time you had an adult around that frat house.”
“Trac’s over a century?”
“Like I said. Kids.”
Gage grinned. “So where did you find Paige?”
“Trackin’ a couple of newbloods for Paradisus. Thanks for reminding me. I need to pick those two up here pretty soon.”
“But, Brenda’s already left.”
“I know. I have her number.”
Both entered a massively huge globe-like chamber, something the size of a football stadium, with rows of catwalks that ringed a huge real time glowing holographic orb image of the Earth, rotating slowly. An eighth section of the globe appeared to have been removed showing a real-time moving cutaway of the planet’s crust and the super heated mantle churning slowly below.
“Jesus, we’re sitting on top of that!?” Gage asked looking at the tiny thin layer of crust that protected them from the super hot magma of the Earth’s upper mantle just below it.
“Yep,” Rowan nodded. “This is home, Gage. The planet’s eight-thousand miles in diameter. And a mere hundred miles of rock and dirt is the only thing separating us from being shrimp on the barbie.”
“So what are we doing here?”
Rowan’s hands played over a flat control surface that pulled the cutaway eighth back into the holo
globe model to form a now fully complete surface of the Earth.
“I need you to help me with a riddle.”
“Oh?” Gage leaned into the railing, looking at the beauty and majesty of the slowly spinning place all of them called home.
“I tracked down one of the old gods, Gage. One of the former Sentinels to be precise.”
“You actually tracked one of them down? And talked to a Sentinel?” Gage shook his head grinning.
“Yea. Well, it wasn’t easy. His name is Temos. Nice enough chap; you’d like him. I overhead a conversation I probably wasn’t supposed to hear; we’re both on kind of on the same treasure hunt. We’re both looking for the Tomb of the Ancients.”
“A tomb, huh?”
“It’s here,” Rowan nodded in the direction of the globe. “Somewhere. I’ve been searching for it for centuries now.”
“What’s in this tomb, beside the obvious?”
“Rumors, mostly. Speculation. No one really knows. There’s only one place in all of the Books of God that even mentions it—well, that we know of.”
“Then you can bet it didn’t just get put there by accident.”
“Nope. It’s a test, Gage. A riddle. A little game of Hide and Seek.”
“What kind of test?”
“That’s part of the riddle. We don’t even know what we’re looking for. But I need to tell you something. Something only a couple of people living today know. The vessel you’re standing in right now. It wasn’t built here.”
“Define here.”
“Earth.” Rowan’s eyes met Gage’s.
“How do you know?”
“This is a mining and storage vessel, Gage. There are holds in this vessel, storehouses of elements and ores on this vessel that don’t exist on this world. Anywhere. Except right here, on this vessel.”
“Where’d they come from?”
“Probably out there—somewhere.”
“Are you saying the Ra aren’t indigenous to Earth?”
“Do the math, Gage. There are too many jumps in the evolutionary scales. Two hundred thousand years ago Homo Sapiens just show up out of nowhere. We’re building cities and everyone else is still playing with matches.”
“So the ancient Ra didn’t build this vessel?”
Paradisus (Awakened Book 6) Page 10