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Answers -- Chapter 25
1. Onimex was investigating a newly terraformed
world, of no particular importance to any species that he was aware
of. Corlos had asked him to visit this particular rock and
observe while awaiting new orders.
2. He set down to a hover per usual on the edge of
a forest clearing and was about to skim across the wild grass when he
spied a Theite saucer streak laterally through the atmosphere and
stop. Purely as a precaution, he phased out of the planet's
resonance to appear invisible.
3. If the Theites
had spied him too, they would be discussing whether to contact him;
ignore, attack, continue or abort. Machines are generally not
susceptible to extreme curiosity, but Onimex had a thousand questions
pervading his current knowledge of Theite SOP.
4. The saucer descended to the opposite edge of the
forest clearing and landed. Three beings Universally recognized
as 'greys' descended the saucer gangplank and began to collect samples
of the indigenous species. They didn't notice Onimex.
5. The greys
were Theite robotic explorers programed to collect genetic materials
abroad. When physical contact with a foreign astral body was
required, SpaceCom used expendable robotics to save wear and tear and
the possible loss of life. Each explorer had a symbient operator
on a base station or at SpaceCom. Everything that the robotic
explorers felt and sensed was controlled by a biological operator at
home.
6. For all
intents and purposes, the greys were believed to be animated by those
who didn't know any better. Generally, Theos preferred to keep
their robots and saucers away from less developed species, but
sometimes, economics demanded that genetic materials be extracted
anyway.
A significant part of Theotian trade relied upon their vast genetic
warehouses
and terraforming technology.
7. Onimex had
never witnessed a Theite genetic exploration on-location, in-person
before.
To him, this was a genuine treat!
IN KOR'S
AUDIENCE CHAMBER
8. Dal
El avoided casual references to Ireana because he was certain that she
belonged to covert operations and he did not want to appear stupid in
front of Kor. Kor
could read Dal El's mind as clearly as if it was his own. Kor
could also see with equal clarity 'who
and what' Ireana was in her mind, and she was not the least
bit mysterious to him:
9.
Although Kor could see everything clearly, he
chose to play along with what Dal El believed to be true. Kor
practiced his own special brand of tact when
dealing with the psionically inept. He would let the subject
believe
whatever it wanted to believe and respond only to information that was
volunteered. The technique was less intimidating to subordinates,
but provided Kor with several alternate potentials alongside
reality.
10. Kor
afforded Ireana this same courtesy, and apparently,
she didn't know the difference. "Covert operatives must be known
to
someone other than these two," Ireana concluded. She did not want
another person to expose her. Kor
withheld his grin. He even admired the absent part of her anatomy
commonly found on the male gender.
11. He sighed when he discovered that 'she' was the
creator of that offensive time-traveling 'little bastard' that had
vexed him
since he
was
15. He played it very cool, and imparted a calmness that soothed
Ireana's nerves. The little
bastard had a name, "'Onimex, she calls it.... a Corlos
operative." She had no idea just how transparent she
was:
12.
Ireana was a virtual encyclopedia of everything
that Kor wasn't supposed to know. As tempting as it was to probe
the future, he didn't feel a pressing need to know. Could Corlos
really be this
stupid?
It doesn't say very much for the so-called premier intelligence
gathering
agency in the Universe!
13. Did
Corlos honestly believe that they could plant an operative
right next to 'Him' and...'He' not notice? "This will go
down into Tactical Hell," Kor bemused.
14.
Underestimating Kor had been his greatest strategic
advantage, and his adversaries' last greatest mistake. When he had seen
all that he cared to see, Kor
found himself admiring her...for her. Why was there no other
shellan like this?
15. He read another detail, "A colonist.
M'trol-1 was destroyed."
16.
Maybe he could convert her -- into the image that Dal El
already thought she was.
17. Is
Dal El really this psionically inept? The Vice Elite can
not see what I see -- even a little?
18. Ireana could never have predicted when she
activated Onimex, that
following her intuition would save her in the future.
19.
Ireana stopped Onimex from divulging the mystery of his ‘other
self’ during their final moment on M’Trol-1.
20. Kor could not pry an answer out of her that she did
not possess. Her prudence paid off.
21.
Ireana did not know.
22. Onimex had vacated the messenger ship once he knew
that Kor was
within range.
23.
Kor would have captured Onimex for certain, and Onimex would have been
finished.
TETRA
KOLOB
24. Tetragammeton
reached to every point in space and felt every moment, every heart beat
and every thought.
25. A ball of fire morphed into a fiery cube with each face
representing a polarized extream with unlimited gradients in between.
26. "Knowledge to one extreme can not be assessed without
experiencing its opposite," Uhura said.
27. The fiery cube
represented the time construct and the parameters in which time exists.
28. Any act of ignorance could unravel the fabric of time,
where time is a filter for experience.
29. Anti-time is contractive - it destroys the canvas of
sensory perception and music.
30. Azoth pointed out lust, "It is a carnal state of mind,"
he said.
31. A Reptillian species appeared. "It is a different
type of carnality," Uhura said.
32. Tetragammaton reached to every point in space again and felt
every moment, every heart beat and every drop of blood.
33. The construct that I-20 created appeared encased in a round
luminous ball with silky, gold, gently swaying wings.
34. "Matter," Azoth said, "powered by light and death."
35. The fiery cube disbursed into a Milky Way
representation; zoomed far into the new spar of Andromedea, glided past
Alpha Centuri and stopped in orbit around the 3rd body circling
Sol.
37. The symbols used were the ones Ra gave to Thothma's
mathematicians.
37. In orbit was I-20 and his entourage, although they had no
idea that they were being watched. Tetragammaton was shifting to
various points in time at will.
38. Uhura could see that their thoughts had tremendous
potential. "Beauty and Savagry," she said.
39. "Chaos has
to occur in a temporal construct." The Reptillian symbol for
chaos was disobedience. Reptillians oppose machines because they
chose life over knowledge in a chaotic construct, where machines chose
knowledge over life in a cosmic construct.
40. "I-20's construct is in our likeness," Azoth said, "it
ignores disobedience." Tetragammaton assumed a gentle infinity
symbol. "Lust is imperative," Uhura said, for matter to
exist.
41. "If they learn to control their passions -- they will become
like us," Uhura observed.
42. Uhura and Azoth were very much aware that thoughts became
reality in their environment; their glory was knowledge. "The
construct will have to chose," Uhura said. "The entire construct
is about 'choice,'" Azoth said.
43. "We will create an introversion filter to remove anti-light,"
Uhura said. "Tetragammaton will shield them from Perdition,"
Azoth said.
44. "Have Conscious seed the planet here..." Tetragammaton
displayed the Earth with it's watershell intact.
45. I-20 and his entourage were signaled by Conscious to
proceed.
46. "Ready the Children to inhabit these bodies." The
form of a Human man and woman appeared.
47. "Some of the Angels are restless, My Love," Uhura
said. Tetragammaton showed the Light Race hollowing out the
caverns on Sunova.
48. "I-20's construct is inately chaotic; cosmic in
function
and serves the fusion of light into biomass. The restless Angels
will mate with mortals at the appointed time."
Tetragammaton showed Daniel in one of his dreams; always on the edge of
reality. Azoth smiled, then returned his focus to Earth..
49. "We can collapse the watershell and start over," Azoth
assured Uhura.
50. "But save the best family," Uhura cooed.
51. "So that they can build a tower and shoot arrows at me?"
Azoth said incredulously. Tetragammaton presented an epic
barbarian battle.
52. "You can change their languages like usual, Darling," Uhura
said. "They don't call you The One for nothing." "Yeah,"
Azoth said, "it works every time."
BACK
ABOARD KOR'S DESTROYER
53. Kor
made it a point to honor Ireana everywhere they went. “They
don’t even want to question you,” Kor said, with a touch of
amusement, as he handed Ireana a copy of the Theos issued APB.
54. “I
imagine, if I was truly aligned with the Elite, I
would be proud of this,” Ireana thought. Kor perceived her
thought but
gave no reaction.
55.
Ireana did not know whether Kor was reading her or
not - if he was - his ability to conceal it was as good as her acting.
56. To
truly underscore the importance of Ireana's
heroic achievement, Kor invited her to witness the destruction of that
unnamed
body in the 10-planet system, locally known as Earth. Just in
case
the Cardship 'did' land -- there would be nothing to relaunch
from. Other variables were involved, but Ireana avoided
'thinking' about those variables.
57.
Ireana
coyly played along and thanked Kor for his courtesy, so Kor continued
the charade until Ireana became comfortable in her new role.
58. She
remembered Onimex
warning her, "don't think," so she did her level best, believing that
it really protected her from Kor's psionic probes.
59.
There was the question of 'why' Kor would annihilate Sol-3 in
reprisal to a Cardship landing in a different..."don't think," she
reminded
herself.
60. Kor
was impressed with her effort --it might have worked on anyone
else.
61. Kor
surmised that with Elite-style training Ireana could become
formidable indeed. In fact, she was formidable, but her
expertise lay in the advancement of biocybergenics, rather than war.
62.
When Kor gave Dal El the order to assemble a
full-scale armada to execute “Earth,”
Ireana became undeniably
distressed.
63.
Everyone aboard Kor's flagship referred to Earth as Sol 3 in the the
10-planet system. The word "Earth" was of no etymological
relevance. Without an Enochian intonation, the native symbol for
"Earth" did not exist.
64.
There was only one way that Kor could have learned Earth's proper
name. Ireana began to suspect that Kor might be onto
her.
65.
Ireana still reserved her deeper cognative functions that Kor
underestimated.
66. For
a moment, Ireana abandoned her defense against
Kor, so that she could more ostensibly probe the entire crews
psychological profiles. Nobody new the word "Earth." As
that minor linguistic discrepancy dawned on her, she found herself
quietly chuckling.
67. The
charade was over.
68.
Kor was aware of her discovery.
69.
"Unfortunate, that you aren't truly one of mine," Kor whispered to her
psionically.
70.
Another spy might have gone into total paralysis, but not her.
Kor admired her.
71. Her fearlessness was casting a spell on him!
72. Far
be it from Ireana to forget the social dynamics
of her situation, after all, Kor had publically awarded her a status
virtually equal
with Dal Ell.
73.
"What exactly was my mission again?" she asked psionically. She
was thinking about the destruction of Earth.
74. "I
can't tell you all
of my secrets," Kor answered. That was curious -- it wasn't
the answer she wanted, but it did lead to other answers.
75.
Ireana could see everything clearly: Kor's personal psionic shield, the
additional guard’s shields around his... plus her own silly effort.
76. She felt resigned, "I
can see how you won them over with charm."
It was absent minded and carelessly idle.
77.
"Oh, you wish to flatter me?" Kor replied in a way that seemed
genuinely curious. "Is that sarcasm or mockery?" she
wondered.
78.
Ireana entertained notions of the unthinkable. The very thought
seemed like perdition. "Would I really?"
79.
Her emotions became increasingly unguarded. She was feeling
somewhat drunk without the aid of alcohol. Almost slap happy.
80. Kor found himself obliged by Ireana's spontenaiety.
If
'she' wasn't going to observe moral constraints... perhaps He...
81. Yes, the keyword, "moral." What is that
anyway? If
it was not for the brute ruggedness of Kor's
commanding face, he could have passed for a 24-year-old athlete in peak
physical
condition. Kor was admitting that he might have an attraction to
someone for the first time.
82. An attraction to someone who was his polar
opposite, short of being a Psionic Guard.
83.
With no previous experience to guide him, Kor surrendered some
open-ended
thoughts of his own.
84.
The concept of becomming a Goddess was intriguing. Just how far
could a woman be tempted?
85. Didn't Kor destroy everything good in
Vejhonian society? Didn't he force the rightful owners of
Vejhon
to evacuate?
86. She
thought the unthinkable and wanted to violently succumb to her
passion.
87. Kor
looked at her with a penetrating sympathy. Ireana would be the
only woman that he truly respected as much as El Sha.
88.
Then Kor came to his senses: The indulgence ended. Perhaps the
entire
Universe is a woman -- but not this time.
89. Still, for a
fleeting moment, Kor found himself feeling…’Human’…
another word that he learned from her. On a world that he
was
going to destroy.
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