“Name it.”
A sternness built up in Shareef’s voice as she spoke.
“I’m bringing our girls home, one way or the other. Can you make sure they have a home to come back to?”
Hector’s face said it all as she spoke.
“Already ahead of you. Just go get them.”
CHAPTER 5
Approximately six hours after the Thracian attack of Earth, Horus’s clones reached the adult development growth stage.
The Ancient took his time inspecting each of the pods as Dr. Alexander followed behind him.
As Meskhenet’s voice projected from each pod, Horus nodded with approval while reviewing a run-down diagnostic of their health and physiology.
After the first sweep of inspections, Horus spent his time strolling between the three female clones. A half-hour later, he moved between the third pod and the fifth pod.
An hour later, Horus found himself rooted in front of the fifth pod stroking his chin.
A nod followed as his lips parted.
“She is a perfect vessel. Meskhenet, awaken her.”
“As you command, Lord Horus.”
The pod began to make a soft humming sound as Meskhenet proceeded to drain the amniotic fluid from out of it. A hissing noise began to mix with the humming as fresh air was pumped into the chamber.
Just like infants, the clone awakened, letting out a brief cry of discomfort from the harshness of fresh air entering her lungs for the very first time. With a weak flailing hand, she cracked the heavily enforced glass of the pod.
“Opening pod door,” Meskhenet announced.
On cue, Horus’s enslaved staff that was submissively waiting in the background sprang into action. As the pod doors opened, they gently assisted the female clone in sitting up to examine her.
Horus folded his arms, wearing the face of a proud father as Dr. Alexander stood next to him, looking on with amazement.
Despite his predicament, this was still the first time the doctor had witnessed the successful birth of a superhuman clone.
“Magnificent, is she not, slave?”
“She is beyond magnificent my lord,” Dr. Alexander said earnestly. “They are all the pinnacle of evolutionary perfection.”
“Well, of course,” Horus arrogantly scoffed. “They were created by me.”
Dr. Alexander answered with a head nod coupled with a submissive bow.
“I must prepare for the transfer. Until that time, this child is in your care, slave. She is an extension of me, which means she is me. Move her to the room prepared for her. Warn the other slaves to reframe all personal interaction with her, aside from feeding, cleaning, and dressing. Those that disobey will suffer greatly before they die.”
“Yes, my lord,” Dr. Alexander obediently nodded for a second time.
˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜
As commanded, the clone was transferred to the examination room, which was outfitted with a bed. While in the staff's care, she slept extraordinarily little, ate a lot, and had to be repeatedly cleaned up after.
She also critically injured a female staff member after being startled from feeling a shower for the first time.
The staff switched to bathing her by hand after that.
They dressed the clone in a white two-piece sports bra and bottoms. Like her sisters still in slumber, she was an identical triplet in her early twenties with a curly long brown mane and brown eyes. Unlike them, she was a full six foot one inches with a cocoa brown complexion and a faint white glow to her eyes.
When not being tended to by the staff, the clone spent her time examining either her bed, clothes, or denting the dull grey metallic walls with curious hand slaps.
At the top of the double mirrored observation deck, a worn-out Graves stood next to Dr. Alexander at what would have been their experiment.
“Her strength is increasing,” Graves whispered.
“And it will continue to grow,” Dr. Alexander nodded. “Like her genetic parents, she will continue to draw energy toward her. At her current level, no EVO on the planet can match her.”
Graves cleared his throat to Dr. Alexander’s answer. Both men’s attention was grabbed by the sight of Horus entering the examination room below them.
“Slaves, remove thy insignificant selves from this room immediately.”
All non-powered beings quickly exited the room, leaving Horus alone with the female clone.
He strolled up, examining her. Like a toddler, she curiously touched different parts of his body and clothing. The clone began mimicking his movements as Horus ran his hands across various parts of her body.
Horus finally cupped her face examining her eyes with the faint white glow within them. As she copied the gesture, a savage grin grew on his face.
“This one will definitely do.”
Horus’s eyes blazed a blinding white as he palmed the face of the infant clone. Her second sound was a cry of pain as she dropped to one knee. The young woman quickly grasped his hand, using her immense strength to force his painful grip from her face.
˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜
Within the observation deck, Graves and Dr. Alexander both stepped closer to the window with genuine curiosity.
“What is he doing? Graves whispered his question.
The doctor answered with an even lower whisper.
“He called it the transfer. I believe he’s downloading the memories of his Sekhmet into the clone.”
“All of her memories?”
“Yes,” Dr. Alexander nodded. “Something similar to ‘Search for Spock’.”
“I vaguely remember that movie,” Graves whispered.
“Before their defeat at the hands of the Annunaki, they must have mentally transferred all of their memories to one another in case one survived, and the other did not. The clone has a clean slate with little memory,” Alexander continued his explanation. “By imprinting Sekhmet’s memories into her, she will believe that she is Sekhmet. Becoming Sekhmet.”
˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜
A stronger Horus kept his vice hold on the clone, forcing her onto her back, which arched as she struggled to escape.
“Horus! Horus!”
Her first actual words caused Horus to power down, releasing his grip from her. He quickly picked her up, holding her in his arms.
As he held her close, Horus’s lips trembled while his eyes became glassy. There was hesitation in his voice before he asked his question in Ancient Egyptian dialogue.
“What is your name?”
The female clone had a dazed, painful visage on her face as she looked up at him, trying to focus. She slowly stretched out her left hand, touching the right side of his face with her fingers while responding in the same tongue.
“Sekhmet …I am …your Sekhmet.”
“What is the last thing you remember?”
“Our kiss, after we finished copying each other’s mind before our next scanning test. In case one of us fell. You altered the restructuring pods to increase our power so that we could slay the Annunaki scum and take rightful rule of Earth.”
She ran her hand across his bodysuit with a smile noticing how regal he looked.
“Have we succeeded?”
Horus, no longer able to contain his emotions, pulled her close as he wept bitterly, both surprising and unnerving her.
“My love, what has happened? Why does thou weep?”
With a semi-dazed expression, she scanned the foreign room.
“Where are we? What transpires here? Horus?”
˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜
Forty-five minutes later,
Sekhmet stood quietly in Horus’s designated chambers, staring into a mirror at a face she did not recognize while he stood
behind her looking on. Her hands trembled as she traumatically touched her new face, hair, hands, and different parts of her body while he debriefed her on what happened after her death, including his imprisonment and release.
“The deterioration of your original body was too great to repair,” Horus sadly said. “I found the last viable egg within you and cloned it within a restructuring pod I had built, adding the blood of a female demi-god and my seed to return your strength and bring you to your proper age.”
Sekhmet turned to him with thick tears that fell from her eyes.
“I …have failed you …my love.”
A shocked Horus rushed over to Sekhmet, wrapping his arms around her as she wept bitterly.
“I was not strong enough to stand by thy side, to toe the line …my failure casted you into an unspeakable hell! I am not worthy to …”
Horus silenced her with a deep kiss as he held her tighter.
As he released his lip lock, she gazed at him with a dazed visage.
“Never speak again of failure to me, my love,” Horus whispered. “The success of our enterprise back then was, at best, a sliver—Twas your memories that kept me sane all these centuries. Your memories gave me hope that I would find my way back to you. Now task has been completed, this world will soon bend knee to us, our enemies will be dead at our feet, and our empire will spread throughout the stars. We have won my love. We have won.”
A smile finally came to her face as he wiped her tears away with his thumbs.
“You have brought me back to your arms. I shall pay my debt to you by laying the heads of all those who would oppose us at your feet. Your name will be spoken with fear and reverence throughout the cosmos, my love. I shall make it so with blood, fire, and broken bones.”
Horus waited no longer, savagely lip-locking with her while tearing her top and bottom from her body. She attempted to do the same with his bodysuit but found it more durable than it appeared.
“Pull downward from the collar, my love,” he smiled.
Sekhmet pulled the collar realizing how pliable and elastic it was.
“Interesting.”
With one motion, she yanked it down to his shin and grabbed his bare hardened member leading him onto the bed on top of her. The ancient quickly kicked off his boots, using his legs to free himself from the bodysuit. She then spread her legs apart, wrapping them around him to carnally unite the lovers once again.
CHAPTER 6
Planet Anu,
Sophia stood silently in the Hall of Healing, waiting. Her mind had yet to process that she had stepped through an interdimensional portal and was now standing on an alien planet several billion light-years away from Earth.
Her eyes remained fixed in the direction where a medical team of six took Kimberly on a floating gurney the second they arrived. She took a step to follow them when Bastet, her escort, stepped into her path, blocking her.
˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜
“You can proceed no further, Sophia Dennison.”
Sophia was prepared to fling her out of the way when a calm Bastet dropped to one knee with her head bowed.
“Please, Sophia Dennison, allow our healers to tend to your daughter. Her safety is secured on the honor of myself and my family.”
Her gesture took the fight out of Sophia. Her answer was a slow nod, which rooted her in the spot she stood in, refusing to move until she heard the news about Kimberly.
˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜
Now and then, as she waited, thick tears fell from her eyes staining her face, and her outfit as memories, both good and bad of Kimberly, played out before her. It began when she discovered she was pregnant and watched her belly grow amidst a capital murder trial. It skipped to the day she gave birth to her and held her in her arms, and the second time, she saw her at the Mountain View facility after her third resurrection. After her fourth resurrection, she remembered hovering from afar, watching her in the care of Mark and Michelle Armitage as she went to school, had a birthday in a park, played in her room or outside, or slept.
Sophia muzzled her mouth to fight from crying on a foreign planet as she remembered the night she finally brought her home. Their first uncomfortable conversation, and the first time she almost had a heart attack watching Kimberly go orbital with just her leg power. Sophia stooped down to her knees, bawling into her hands as her memories brought back their first heart to heart under Sanctuary’s starry sky and the night they watched Frozen and sang the theme song together.
She was forced to endure the time Kimberly powered up to save her from Peace, nearly ripping her head from her body, and then again with an additional massive power boost from the Eye of Ra, snatching Sophia seconds away from entering a portal that would send both her and Peace into a blackhole trapping them forever.
Sophia’s memories beat her over the head with the day Kimberly asked to stay with her permanently and decided to take her late aunt Veronica’s name as her middle name. Her broken heart weakened her to the point she was forced to endure every single memory of her little girl, both good and bad. Laughs, disagreements, days they got on each other’s nerves, days they held each other tightly to mourn, all became a weight Sophia was incapable of holding up.
She collapsed to her hands and knees hysterically wailing, as the heaviest of them all crushed her.
It was the horrifying vision of Prince Merc swatting Kimberly out of mid-air as she tried to save her again. He then mercilessly stomped down on the back of her head and neck as if she was a little animal. Haunting Sophia was the agonizing scream her little girl made before she went dead silent.
“I should …have taken you… to Mars,” Sophia got out in between her sobs. “I should …have taken you… to Mars.”
“In the name of Geb, Seshaw, help me please!”
In a catatonic state, a powerless Sophia felt two sets of hands upon her helping her up and lifting her into the air.
“I have her Seshaw; summon a cradle transport immediately, please.”
The person holding her in his arms had an exotic flowery smell to him, clothes as soft as silk, and a strong heartbeat. Within minutes Sophia was laid down on the plushiest cushion she had felt in her entire life. If it were not for the walls and ceiling movement, she could not tell if she was being moved.
Her head slowly turned to the left to see a man walking next to her. His skin was an almond brown, while his blonde hair was worn long with half the side of his head shaven. He wore a bright green and gold themed single shoulder tunic. Her ears picked up the loud rhythmic clanging of the large silver chained pendant he wore around his neck.
She slowly turned her dazed eyes to the right. The second presence she felt walking next to her was a being made of pure gold. Its head was that of a stork with the body of a nude woman. Its eyes glowed with a yellowish hue.
The sight of the bird-woman was enough to slowly bring her out of her episode. Sophia forced herself to sit up.
“The patient is attempting to rise,” the golden bird woman indicated.
The transport she was on, which appeared to be their version of a gurney, came to a halt as the man on her left gingerly helped her sit up.
“Dr. Sophia Dennison, do you know where you are?” he asked.
“I am currently on the Eye of Ra’s homeworld, Anu.” She answered.
“Very good,” he smiled. “How many fingers do I have up?”
“Two.”
“Excellent, please follow them if you can.”
Sophia did as he requested, following his fingers. As her head moved to track his hand, he switched them up.
“How many?’
“One.”
How many?
“Three.”
“How many?”
“Two…again.”
“Very good,” He nodded. “Now, if you sit still for a minute, Seshaw will give you a th
orough examination.”
“With all due respect, ‘doctor’ …”
“Forgive me,” the Annunaki introduced himself. “My name is Thoth, the Chief Administrator for Anu’s Healing and Science. The term on my planet is healer, but you can address me as ‘doctor’ if that makes you comfortable.”
“With all due respect, Healer Thoth,” Sophia said with a shaky voice. “I would prefer to know what is going on with my daughter.”
“Respectfully, Dr. Dennison,” Thoth pressed. “Aside from the psychotic mental break you just had from the trauma you endured, you overrode your cells’ governor system to properly regulate the energies within you doing extensive near irreparable damage to your body.
Even with your regenerative healing, you will collapse if not looked after, which will not benefit your daughter if that happens. Please allow me to look after you, and then we will promptly discuss your daughter.”
A reluctant Sophia nodded in agreement.
“Seshaw, if you may.”
On command, Thoth’s golden familiar stretched both her hands out.
“Please extend your palms out face up.”
Sophia raised an eyebrow at the nude golden stork headed woman before doing as requested.
Seshaw took hold of both her hands. Her eyes began to radiate brighter as Seshaw began Sophia’s examination.
“Blood pressure is 140 over 90; pulse rate is 140-60. Detecting sixty percent cellular deterioration. Cellular regeneration to repair internal damage is steady.”
Seshaw’s diagnosis left Sophia stunned and bug-eyed.
“All of that just by touching my hands,” she gasped.
“Touching your hands allows Seshaw to get an accurate reading of your blood pressure and pulse rate while she bio scans your body,” Thoth smiled. “Patients also find it calming and soothing while they are being examined. Seshaw, please dispense a double dosage of Jerra’s Milk and Starflower.”
Seshaw released her so that its right palm could crack open, producing five capsules, four orange the size of an Earth zero capsule. The fifth one was larger, clear, the size of a triple zero pill, and glowed a yellowish-white hue.
“I take it; you will be explaining your prescription to me,” Sophia said, pointing with widened eyes. “Particularly, the pill that is glowing.”
War of Mortal Gods Page 5