Jef Hrusko

1717 Sixth Ave

Toms River, NJ 08757
732-240-5992
jefhrusko@gmail.com
http://nimbus9.deviantart.com
DEUS X MACHINA
Se e k F i r s t t h e Ki n g d o m
A n o v e l b y
J e f H r u s k o
1
Unpublished Work 2005 Jef Hrusko
Reproduction or translation of any part of this work beyond that permitted by
section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act with the permission of the
copyright owner is unlawful.
2
DEUS X MACHINA
Table of Contents
Prologue................................................................................................................. 6
Chapter 1 Kingdom Hearts.................................................................................. 7
Chapter 2 Wormwood ...................................................................................... 19
Chapter 3 Eulogy for Neeki................................................................................ 22
Chapter 4 Cold Storage..................................................................................... 25
Chapter 5 Message in a Bottle...........................................................................33
Chapter 6 Lions and Lambs............................................................................... 38
Chapter 7 To Move Mountains........................................................................... 59
Chapter 8 Lucky Star ........................................................................................ 63
Chapter 9 First Contact...................................................................................... 64
Chapter 10 Jumping Ship.................................................................................. 67
Chapter 11 Insurrection .................................................................................... 73
Chapter 12 -Desolation........................................................................................ 76
Chapter 13 Who do you pray to when your god is dead?................................ 86
Chapter 14 Forging steel from water .............................................................. 90
Chapter 15 The Submission of Berock............................................................ 103
Chapter 16 The Sadness of Neglected Flowers............................................. 105
Chapter 17 There are Patterns Everywhere.................................................... 116
Chapter 18 Empire Earth ................................................................................ 121
Chapter 19The Hearts of JavaMoon ............................................................... 122
Chapter 20 Love and Rockets......................................................................... 136
Chapter 21 Queen of Heaven.......................................................................... 151
Chapter 19 Garden of Unearthly Delights........................................................160
Chapter 20 Apostolic Regression ................................................................. 167
Chapter 22 Saving the Suicide King ............................................................. 179
3
DEUS X MACHINA
Chapter 23 Learning to Fly.............................................................................. 185
Chapter 24 Too many dreams, too many nightmares..................................... 196
Chapter 25 Wheres Beano..............................................................................210
Chapter 26 Blood Lust..................................................................................... 215
Chapter 28 -Restoration.....................................................................................230
Chapter 29 Ready, Set, Apocalypse ............................................................... 241
Chapter 30 Call to Arms...................................................................................248
Chapter 31 Armageddon .................................................................................259
Chapter 32 Sacred Heart................................................................................ 269
Chapter 33 Kingdom Hearts........................................................................... 274
4
DEUS X MACHINA
Authors Note:
I hope you enjoy reading this half as much as I enjoyed writing it. Currently this is an
unpublished work, if you have an idea for cover art, or would like to make a comment,
Id like to hear from you. You can contact me at jefhrusko@gmail.com.
5
DEUS X MACHINA
Prologue
The first-born found it, or more rightly it found them. It streaked across their sky
for the whole planet to see before landing in the desert. They all came, the first born of
the universe, the ones that were to be called the Ancient of Days. All the inhabitants of
the planet came to see it.
They built a temple around it and kept the heart deep in the holy of holies. Wars
were fought over it, many died, bringing those from the Ancient of Days to the brink of
extinction. Those that were left were tired of killing, tired of dying. The temple was
destroyed, the priesthood disbanded and the heart lay abandoned for many many years,
drifting into legend until it was rediscovered.
By this time, the first-born didnt build a temple around it, they wanted more, they
wanted to find out more about the universe they found themselves in. They harnessed
the power of the heart to build a tremendous ship they named Nimbus that would take
them into the unknown as far as they dared to go.
Many more years passed, and again they desired more, and again they went to
the heart. And the heart opened to them, and took them where they wanted to go. And
the Ancient of Days fell into legend. They left many artifacts for future life to marvel at,
including the ship that had taken them so far.
6
DEUS X MACHINA
Chapter 1 Kingdom Hearts
Josh hunches over a marble composition notebook he uses as a journal. Over
the years hes collected almost two-dozen of them. Hes revisited them often, and looks
at them as other people do photo albums, but unlike photo albums, these journals dont
just capture smiles at birthday parties and presents under the Christmas tree, but lost
loves, insights, emotionsthey are a sort of tape back-up of a life.
30. How do you measure a life? Days? Years? Seconds? Journals
kept on a bookshelf? Heartbeats? How many beats in my 30 years? How
many more? There is a number somewhere, it exists, the number of beats
in a lifetime.
I miss her, and I dont even know who she is.
Give it up. I have to stop feeling sorry for myself. So Im 30, still
young enough. Young enough I guess to make something of my life. A
little less then half way there (I hope). Lots to look forward to. Yet I had so
many false starts.
I always felt I was made for something. I know a lot of people do. I
remember hearing Oprah say that during some interview. I always knew
I was made for something great. Yeah, what about the people who always
knew they were made for something big, and end up the night manager
7
DEUS X MACHINA
at 7-11, or a divinity school dropout, working for little more than room
and board in the seminary basement.
I thought I had a calling; this was one of the earliest feelings I can
remember. The feeling I was meant for something.
I can remember being at church as a young boy. The priest was a
young man dressed in Franciscan robes; to me he looked like a Jedi
Knight. He taught about a loving heavenly parent, who knew you before
your were even born. That loved you enough to die for you, and only
asked for your love in return. I was sold. Little did I know that being a
Franciscan meant no money or sex, but everything seemed to be clear to
me at that moment, I knew what I wanted to be. I wanted to serve my lov-
ing heavenly father. I wanted to stand before the masses and enrich their
souls. Help them make that connection to God.
I was a lonely kid, and God filled the void. God gave me what my
parents couldnt, a direction and purpose. A chance to be a part of some-
thing greater than myself, besides I was amazed, (and still am to some
degree), that adults believed in the invisible world of heaven and hell.
Devils, demons, angels. It was like dungeons and dragons for real.
8
DEUS X MACHINA
Wanting to be a priest put me at odds with a lot of other kids, and
even with my father, who would have been much happier if I wanted to
grow up to be a career soldier like him, but I liked that, I liked being at
odds with the other kids and my father. It made me feel as if I had a con-
nection to Christ, after all Jesus said, Before they hated you, they hated
me. The other kids would tease me and called me the apostle. There were
some other god kids in school, but unfortunately for me they were evan-
gelic, and kept trying to convert me. I tried to form a friendship with a
few of them, but I found them snobbish. They thought their way was the
only way, and faked being nice because they thought they had to be. I
think they actually enjoyed the fact that those not saved were going to
hell.
Jesus was my imaginary friend, an older brother who was always
there for me. A father who understood me, and told me it was OK to be
gentle, OK to be kind. OK not to hit back, in fact it was noble not to hit
back. To pray for those who taunt you. It made sense to me, it seemed
right; it seemed like what I was made for.
Josh lifted his head up, and rubbed his eyes together. He looked around his
sparsely furnished room: a dresser, closet, wire-framed TV stand on casters, an old TV,
9
DEUS X MACHINA
a single-sized bed, bookshelf, and a desk. All utilitarian, all institutional and bland, all
made from pressed board and glue, plastic and cardboard. All owned by the seminary.
The computer was the only item of any monetary value. The computer was his
livelihood; it justified his position as the seminarys web-master, and all around techie
guy.
So what happened?
I didnt jump right into the priesthood; first I went to St. Peters col-
lege and studied computer science. I wanted to make sure before I started.
I wanted to be able to keep my vows, and quickly found that I could not.
Being lost was a whole lot more fun. In St. Peters I recreated myself as a
whole new persona, with no mention of the priest hood, or God. Jesus said,
Ensure you have enough material to finish a building before you lay the
foundation, and thats what I was doing. In reality, I was no worse than
anyone else, but to me it was a new and exciting way of living. I found a
new type of spiritual healing from drugs and sex, and sex, and from
breaking the rules, and from sex. Then after four years of trying every
drug I was offered (but never paying for it, that was my justification),
and causing one abortion (she never told me, never gave me a chance. I
often wonder what I would have done, what I would have said, what my
child would be like). After two trips to the hospital, one for falling down a
10
DEUS X MACHINA
flight of stairs when drunk, and one for a heroine overdose, I decided I
didnt want to be a priest,but I did want to serve God. I found that, al-
though fun, sin was an empty idol and a false god.
I felt that life got me too dirty to be a priest. I searched for a long
time to find the right belief system. In the end, it didnt matter. It came
down to money. I received a partial scholarship to Holy Cross Theological
Seminary in New York. Coming from the New Jersey suburbs and living
in the shadow of the city, it was nice to lay some claim to it.
By my sophomore year I discovered I had a gift for giving ser-
mons. Within a few months, I began being invited to sub for vacationing
pastors. It got to a point that I never had a Sunday free, in fact on most
Sundays I had two or more sermons to give. I loved giving sermons, I felt
like a rock star at the end of the homily. I had found my place in the uni-
verse and all was right with the world.
Out of his dorm window, and across the common, he sees the seminarys
chapel, and remembers giving a sermon in one of his favorite churches, a small United
Church of Christ in Hells kitchen. The sunrise service at 7AM would attract the hookers,
and the homeless who came for the free coffee and doughnuts given out after service.
This was it. This was where he felt he could do the most good. This was Jesus dining
with the tax collectors. Giving respect to the women at the well. Showing the poor the
11
DEUS X MACHINA
respect that only the wealthy get. Nothing has changed. He remembers himself, in that
basement, with the smell of semen, urine and alcohol, instead of incense. He
remembers feeling as if the Holy Spirit was speaking through him. He remembers
speaking with such conviction:
The kingdom of heaven is within you. Jesus said that. Not just to the saints and
the holy ones. Not just to the Jews, or to his apostles. He said it to you. Hes saying it all
the time. Right now, he says to you that the kingdomthe way of our father is within
you.
Thats where you find it. Not in the desert. Not at the Jordan River, or in some
relic. Not even in the bible, or in this church. You find the kingdom within yourself.
What is the Kingdom of God? It is the core of his message, yet probably the
least understood. He taught people about the Kingdom of God, or more rightly what it is
like. Because, the kingdom of God is the way of the father. Gods plan. The expression
of his Word. It cant be easily summed up in a definition; it is easy to know, yet hard to
understand. We cannot know it intellectually, or through books or study, it is known by
knowing you.
Through telling us parables like the mustard seed and the pearl, the landlord,
and good Samaritan, hes telling us what the kingdom of God is like.
It starts small, perhaps in little acts of kindness, but it has the potential to grow to
wondrous dimensions. Once its value is discovered, all else falls away. It accepts
everyone, and rewards them equally whether they discovered the kingdom from the
start, or only on their death bed. Your position in life does not determine your position in
the kingdom of God, your acts of compassion do.
12
DEUS X MACHINA
The Kingdom of Heaven is an exclusive club; yet money wouldnt help you get in.
In fact, it may prevent you from getting in. Where most say, Well he musta done
something right, when they see a rich man, Jesus said the opposite. He said its easier
to thread a needle with a camel, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are the poor. Why? You are blessed if youre poor, because theres one
less thing stopping you from being a citizen of the Kingdom of god.
Did he say, blessed are the high priests, the pastors, and the doctors of religion?
The priest saw a man beaten and bloody on the side of the road. He felt he could not
help that man because it would break the holy laws of cleanliness if he touched the
blood of this man. The priest was a rich man, and because of this wealth, and high
position within society, it was far from the kingdom.
All of you are close to the kingdom. All you have to do is knock on its door, and it
will be open for you. The kingdom is within you. Gods way, his will and divine mind are
within you. The Word of god is not in the bible, but in your hearts.
Many cried during the sermon, some carried it with them for a while. For one, it
saved her soul, Nicky never went back to the streets, never gave her body again for
money. Josh checked in with her from time to time for a while. She eventually became a
nurse and had a family. She still sent him Christmas cards, asking about the details of
his life, but he could never bring himself to tell her he dropped out of seminary.
So here I am 10 years later. Sometimes I feel like the Last Emperor,
walking in my Forbidden City. Its a fantasy world, just about as far
away from the real world as you can get. I havent left, because I have no
place to go. I lost my faith, was cast from the garden, but still have no de-
sire to be a part of the world. So here I am the atheist monk.
13
DEUS X MACHINA
A funny thing happened on my way to being a minister. I actual-
ly read the damn thing. The bible. I always had a good familiarity with
the sayings and teachings of Jesus, but most of what I new about the rest
of the bible came from illustrated childhood bible stories. Hey, I grew up a
Catholic, what did I know of the bible and the horrors it contained.
As I ran head long into those good old fashion hell and brimstone
stories of the Old Testament, I started to feel a little uneasy. I told myself
that most of it was just stupid things that might have made sense 3000
years ago, like not eating cheese burgers (no dairy mixed with blood, so
much for that milk shake), and not trimming your bread (God has an
awful fashion sense, just look at the Hassidics). But other anachronisms
werent as easy to brush off like slavery, bigotry, the subjugation of
women, and genocide. I compiled a list of things I couldnt accept in the
Bible, the list grew by leaps and bounds, each item nibbled away at my
faith.
For awhile I thought I could overlook these rants of an ancient war-
god . Jesus was God incarnate. The God as man. The forgiver, the pacifist,
the wonderful counselor. I focused on the Word, and then stumbled across
a saying that doesnt come up very much in Sunday school. Do not
14
DEUS X MACHINA
throw through pearls to pigs, or give what is holy to dogs. I couldnt be-
lieve I never came across this verse before. I used the concordance, to see if
there were any similar verses. I found this story, A Canaanite women
approached the savior. He did not look up to acknowledge her presence.
Son of David, please have mercy on me. Please, my daughter is very
sick. I know you can heal her. Nothing. No acknowledgement. Please
master, Im not leaving until you heal her.
My bread is for the lost children of Israel. Not for dogs, Jesus
replied.
Yes, I am a dog. But even dogs get the scraps fallen from their
masters table.
Rightly spoken, your daughter has been healed.
Im a dog. I am below you. I am nothing. Please at least give me the
scraps, as you would a pet. Is that what I am, a non-Jew, Gods pet in the
eyes of the lord?
No matter how much research I did, I could not find a meaningful
alternative interpretation of the verse. More and more it appeared that
Christianity was the religion of Paul. That Jesus didnt think very high-
ly of non-Jews. That it is doubtful whether he would want to give what
15
DEUS X MACHINA
was holy to dogs. I was jilted at the alter. Rejected by the man, the very
god that I was told since I could remember, loved me.
It hit me oddly, like an epiphany. Theres no God, no reason or pur-
pose. As they said so well on the Sopranos Its all a big nothing. What
makes you think youre so special. Once I doubted Jesus all all the rest
came tumbling down like the tower of Babel. Jesus was the rock that I
stood on. The one who was raised. Without Jesus none of the rest of it
made sense. Why does God allow the innocent to suffer? Its not a small
question. If God is all powerful then what type of being would do nothing
to stop the suffering of a child. I have never heard an adequate answer to
this question. Free will you say. Is cancer free will? How about a hurri-
cane, or mudslide. There is a famous picture of a girl stuck in a mud-
slide. In the picture you feel like you can just reach out and grab her, she
is right there, just an arms length away. Yet she died shortly after the
picture was taken. The floodwaters came and she drowned. This girl, her
frightened eyes, her innocent eyes. She was scared, but you can tell that
she cant even imagine the horror that is about to overtake her. She is the
verdict and indictment against God. There is no other proof needed to
show that we are alone.
16
DEUS X MACHINA
There is no sadness, no loneliness, like losing faith. If Hell is dis-
tance from God, whats the absence of God? Its worse than Hell; Hell at
least has a meaning, a purpose. Everything I had lived for was a lie, I am
a lie, and in no true sense do I exist at all.
Its been six years since I lost faith, and Ive been in neutral ever
since. Nothing has taken the place of my faith. Im a ghost shipdrift-
ing. I dont even know why I bother writing in these notebooks. Who do I
think Im writing to? But yet, I still write, I still wonder, and still feel
that Im missing something, something as fundamental as the air,
something that I should know. It feel like a miss somebody, but dont
know who it is.
17
DEUS X MACHINA
Chapter 2 Wormwood
12,000 years ago a new star appeared in the Nirbiruan sky. Throughout
the numerous Nirbiruan kingdoms, provinces and villages, many astrologers took note.
Their sky was traditionally a tranquil place, its motions were the most unchanging
natural event they knew of, more regular than the seasons, the rains, crops production,
certainly more stable than the average marriage, especially when they consisted of
three or more members. There was a saying, Chart your life by the course of your star,
and all will be right in this world and the next.
The star grew brighter, at first it seemed to grow brighter with the seasons, then
each month, then each week; it wasnt long before it seemed to grow in intensity each
night. Anunnaki, a wise one from the eastern kingdom, tracked the star each night from
his observatory, perched atop the highest spire of the hive castle. He carefully took
notes about its appearance, and position.
For almost a year it has been with us, at first rising in the eastern sky as the sunset,
now, it is visible even before the day has passed. It glows green, like poisonous swamp gas. It
grows, like a cancer. It has broken the divine order of the sky, and brings misfortune to our
world.
Tonight I made a frightening discovery. The star is wormwood, teaming with disease
and destruction. I think it may not even be a star at all, but a world unto itself, for Ive seen
patterns, and objects within this star, for days, I wondered what these might be, and tonight
I fear I know the answer. Im seeing mountains, and lakes, volcanoes, and perhaps cities. This
world seems to be on a collision course with ours!
Are we a death star to their world as well? If they be men, are they also tracking our
course towards them? How many times I have looked at the stars and wondered what they are.
Can it be that each is a world unto itself? Why would one stray from its course, what would
18
DEUS X MACHINA
cause that? I have seen small stars streak across the sky with their fire and wonder. Tradition
has told us that these are messages from those that rule the heavens, announcements of events
to come. What is this? Something different. Why does this world loom close and grow with
each passing day? Can worlds collide?
I am the Kings consult because of my even judgment and knowledge of the world
and its workings. What do I tell him now? That the world is going to end? The lunatics and
the religious fanatics run around talking of the end of the world, of the judgment to come,
and until now I have been able to keep the people calm. But now, what else can I think. It seems
hell comes to swallow us whole. May God have mercy on our souls.
Anunnaki had managed to keep the Eastern Kingdom relatively calm, compared
to the panic that seized most other realms. Nirbiru had never known such fear. Very
early on, when life took hold on Nirbiru, it developed a very different strategy for survival
than many other planets. Instead of consuming other life forms to transfer energy, life
chose cooperation and symbiotic relationships. Perhaps it was because energy was
plentiful when life arose. Perhaps in some way, life made the choice itself. Whatever the
reason, the rule of evolution on Nirbiru wasnt competition, but cooperation.
It took 8 billion years for sentient life to emerge. Although change occurs rapidly
on Nirbiru with varieties of life flowing into and through each other almost like water,
because there was little reason for defensive strategies to develop; there wasnt the
need to be faster and smarter than other beings. Intelligence was slow to evolve, and
did not evolve to outsmart predators, but to know itself.
19
DEUS X MACHINA
This is not to say there was no violence on Nirbiru. With sentience came desire,
wants, greed, the need for leadership, and the need to be followed. Wars occurred. Life
killed life for the first time in the planets history, but because life was so connected on
Nirbiru there was always a sense of hurting oneself. And the wars were not carried out
to the scale of those on other worlds.
As Wormwood took up more and more of the sky, the Nirbiruans didnt know
what to do. In some parts religious leaders gathered masses together for strange
ceremonies in hopes of stopping the unstoppable. The people looked to their leaders for
guidance, the leaders looked to their priests and wise men. They in turn looked deep
into their scriptures and religious rites for answers. Most only found reflections of their
own fears and madness. Anunnaki was different; he never relied on second hand
information. He never believed a thing just because it had been written long ago in some
sacred text. He didnt believe in divination and many of the other techniques others
used, but he was desperate, so he found himself looking for answers while huddled over
an oracle.
The oracle was comprised of a swirling mass of blood, bone and muscle in a
ceremonial golden bowl. One was supposed to be able to divine the future by reading
the movements of this concoction. Instead of focusing on the pattern of the ripples, he
noticed how the lumps of flesh swirled around the center. They made him wonder
whether Nirbiru was like one of those lumps of flesh swirling around the Sun. If so, then
what is Wormwood, he thought, a new lump of flesh thrown into the mix, disrupting this
order?
He quickly reviewed his observations of the death star. Its positions over time
indicated a curved path and an increase in speed as it approached. This gave him some
relief, leading him to believe this world was headed toward the Sun, not Nirbiru, but he
knew that there was no guarantee it wouldnt collide with Nirbiru on its way. Anunnaki
20
DEUS X MACHINA
rapidly dived into his books on mathematics and physics, hoping he could gain some
insight into what was going to happen. In the mean time Wormwood loomed ever larger
in the Eastern sky.
21
DEUS X MACHINA
Chapter 3 Eulogy for Neeki
Neeki was a child, who should have had no more to worry about than being
caught by his parents as he played by the river. His parents, all three of them, sternly
warned him about going down there without his siblings, but these days their attention
was focused on the growing threat in the sky. Being only 4 years old, he didnt truly
understand what was going on, not that anybody truly did. He just knew that Wormwood
scared him. He didnt look at it and tried to ignore the green haze it added to Nirbirus
lush pink sky. The river made him happy. Flowers grew along its banks. Slipping their
petals into the water, and splashing back moisture to the soft moss behind. On hot days,
like this day, he would lie on the moss and steal some of the cool mist.
As he came upon his favorite spot the ground rumbled like an empty stomach.
He looked back up to his home on the hill, pondering if he should go back. The river
collapsed into an abyss before he had a chance to decide, and like flour being sifted,
the surrounding area flowed into the growing sinkhole. Nannee, he cried for his closest
parent (the one that nursed him) as he was swallowed alive.
His parents couldnt hear him scream over the rumbling. They burst out of their
hut in time to witness a tremendous cavern splitting open the valley floor. They woke up
every day of their lives to see that valley. It fed them with wild grains and bittersweet
berries. It gave them hay for their thatched roof, and sod bricks for their walls. They
couldnt imagine life without the great valley: they wouldnt have to. When it stopped
they stared unbelievingly into a gapping chasm three miles wide, and of an
unfathomable depth. The pressure sealed deep within the planet billions of years before,
burst through the split crust. Neekis parents eyes melted in their sockets before their
bodies hit the ground.
22
DEUS X MACHINA
Across Nirbiru such scenes were repeated all over the planet. Areas that
escaped the earthquakes and the tidal waves were choked with ash and dust. Kings
who ruled with ultimate authority were powerless to do anything, except organize the
burial of the dead, and move people to places they hoped were safe.
Anunnakis king, Enki, was no different. He moved his subjects that lived in or
close to the castle walls, deep underground into the cellars they used to store wine and
grain. He sent out a decree throughout his kingdom that those with cellars of their own
should take shelter in them, and if they didnt have one, they should find a neighbor who
did.
When this was done, he felt there was nothing left for him to do. He sat
despondently on his throne, and stared into the darkness of his great hall. The seats of
the senate were left vacant on either side of him. The once great arched roof had half
collapsed. He waited to die.
Sire.
Yes, Anunnaki, what counsel do you have for me? What advice? The world has
ended. Why? Why did it even begin, if this is how it was to end? If God exists he is
either impotent or a tyrant.
We will not be destroyed.
How can you know? Did an oracle tell you that? A witch? Did God whisper in
your ear?
Math sire, Anunnaki paused. From my observations of Wormwood, it will be at
its closest in two hours. Close enough to wreak the type of havoc thats being caused
all-around us, but it will not strike us.
How do you know this from math?
From my observations I believe there are fixed rules affecting the motion and
course of Wormwood, from these rules it is possible to deduct its path.
23
DEUS X MACHINA
What is it Anunnaki? What is Wormwood?
A world like ours, with life, although I cant tell you the form or mental ability of
that life. No doubt whatever life is on Wormwood it is as threatened as ours is from
thisconvergenceyesconvergence of worlds. When the other world is at its
closest, I will send up a rocket with a message inside. I dont know if anyone will receive
it, but I think I must try. Im sending them some of our books on history and science, and
a letter. You see, although I dont think Wormwood will strike us outright, its destined to
collide with the Sun.
A rocket, like those we use for celebrations? They travel high, I grant you, but
they always return. How do you intend to have this rocket only go up?
I believe that the same force that makes the rocket return is present on the
other world as well. I believe that the rocket will go high enough to be caught by this
'world force'. This force is whats causing all the earthquakes, and volcanoes.
So you think this will pass. That this world will continue on to the Sun. What will
the Sun do, do you think? Do you think there are beings there as well?
It will pass, I just don' t know how much damage it will do before it does. As to
what will happen as it nears the Sun, I have no idea. If theres life there it must be very
different from ours. I imagine the Sun to be every hot. If the Sun itself is a living thing,
then perhaps it will defend itself. I dont know, but what I do know is that we must give
our world some hope. We must send word to all the Kingdoms that this will be over in
two days. After that, Wormwood will slowly fade from our sky. We should tell them then
to follow our example and have the people hide in cool storage. Those places are the
most solid and the least likely to collapse.
There has never been a king who has had such good counsel.
Come my Lord, you can do no good in a crumbling hall. Take shelter and
encourage your people, there may yet be a tomorrow.
24
DEUS X MACHINA
Chapter 4 Cold Storage
The Dagons hibernated for millions of years as their planet sailed frozen through
empty space. The Nirbiruan sun, which for millennia had been in the process of
becoming a red giant, pulled Dagon from its aimless course, thawing the frozen
Dagonian atmosphere that had sealed and protected life on Dagon throughout its long
voyage.
Huge cracks ripped across the icy landscape, releasing gasses and mist that
started to reconstitute the Dagon sky. Leonia, who long ago took shelter beneath the
surface, was one of the first to wake. At first, she didnt have anything that could be
called cognitive thought, only awareness. She knew that she existed, that she was a
living being, but had no idea of what or who she was. Slowly her awareness grew. Like
water filling a cup, her consciousness started to rise. The sharp reptilian eyes she
closed so long ago, opened to darkness. The darkness caused panic and confusion.
Muscles long locked in their position, twitched. Then, in a motion of instinct, her muscle
sprang open in a spasm, throwing off the dirt and rock that had covered her.
Pain quickly heightened her awareness. The scales covering her joints, that had
been contoured for so long, split in their movement. She was lying on the surface, with
her lower half still resting in the hole she had slept in, and her torso flat on the surface.
Breathing was hard; she didnt even realize she was breathing until she felt the pain of
her lungs struggling to fill themselves with the still thin atmosphere. She opened her
eyes and saw Nirbiru, which looked like a bright pink star in the eastern sky, then turned
and vomited out the petrified contents of her stomach.
Around her was only desolation and stale air. Dagon was a dead world. The soil
was the color of rotting meat, and the atmosphere, the color of swamp gas. Slowly she
25
DEUS X MACHINA
started to remember who she was, and what had happen. I still survive. I wish I didnt. I
wish I couldnt remember.
Life regained a footing on Dagon in fits and starts, in time with the planets
rotation toward the Sun. The least of the Dagon awoke first, the females and Drones,
which took shelter only after the Alpha had hid themselves in deep underground
chambers.
Dagon was a violent world, a world created to support the warrior class of alpha
males, bred to do the dirty work of their Zhang masters. The Zhang were a race of
powerfully intelligent, but physically weak beings. Early in their history they themselves
were subject to occupation by an alien race. Once their occupiers left, they created the
Dagons to defend them against future invaders. They terraformed the lifeless moon that
orbited their planet into a life sustaining hatchery, where they could produce and train
their protectors. They discovered they had created almost indestructible warriors, who
struck fear in anyone who opposed them. The power that the Zhang wielded made them
bolder in their dealings with other species. At first they conquered other worlds under
the pretense of protecting their home world, but soon the taste of power led them to
begin to construct an empire of occupied worlds.
The warrior Alpha-Dagons were reptilian sentient humanoids, which stood eight
feet tall. Bones genetically engineered to be both strong and supple supported their
bodies. Their lungs were such that they instantly mutated to adapt to almost any
atmosphere. Their bodies held five hearts, one beneath their chest and one in each
extremity, so that a limb could be lost without killing them. Their skin was comprised of
layers and layers of armored scales. They also had a digestive track that could absorb
almost anything.
Spikes that could be used both for offense and defense, ran up their spines to
the tops of their heads, and protruded from their shoulders, elbows, and knees. At the
26
DEUS X MACHINA
end of their tails was an especially powerful weapon for piercing and slashing their
victims. Their front and hind claws could be retracted and extended at will, so they could
handle most weaponry, or effectively use their talons to kill.
Perhaps their most fearsome ability was flight. You wouldnt guess they had this
ability by looking at them. When folded, their wings made up their shoulder and back
muscles. As their wings unfolded, muscles were pulled and detached from their previous
position to form an extreme powerful biological engine that powered their flight. The
wings themselves were as light as silk, yet many times stronger than steel.
Their eyes perceived much more of the light spectrum than most animals, and
because of this they could see the chemical composition of an object, or detect the
emotional state of an enemy.
Female Dagons were treated as little more than incubators. Although smaller
and slightly weaker than the Alphas, they carried most of the Alphas attributes, minus
the wings, tails and spikes. Although possessing the potential to be very intelligent, they
had no opportunity to develop this. They were sexual slaves in the truest sense. The
population of males to females was 40 to 1, and the females did not have the right to
limit sexual contact with the Alpha males. The Alphas would abuse the females to satisfy
their perverse lust and desire to dominate and torture. When not on a military campaign,
they would use the females to develop tactics for rape and humiliation.
Although they had more freedom of movement than the females, the Drones
were considered lesser than the females because they could not add to the Alphas
number. The Drones were sexless servants bred solely to serve the needs of the
Alphas, and by extension, the females. The Drones were seen as utensils, and largely
ignored. They fed and provided medical attention to the Alphas, and assisted the
females during childbirth. They also provided tactical support and logistics during
combat operations.
27
DEUS X MACHINA
After the Dagons had defeated all the species within the Zhangs reach, they
became disgruntled. The Dagons were hungry, they could not live without battle. Their
masters knew this, but also knew that without them they had no real power. The Zhang
let a terrible Genie out of its bottle and were lost as to how to put it back. The Zhang
used their powerful intelligence to work on a weapon that would solidify their power
without need of the Dagons.
Zhang scientists discovered the root of memory. They discovered how the brain
of sentient beings could form and store memories. It turns out that memory has both a
biologic and metaphysical aspect. The biological aspects can be altered by changing the
electro-chemical reaction within the brains neural network. Once they understood the
biological mechanism of memory, it wasnt hard for them to develop a device that used
varying frequencies of electro-magnetic energy to both alter and erase existing
memories, and create new ones.
Oddly, they found that some people had memories that could not be altered.
This greatly confused the Zhang. They couldnt understand how the physical properties
could have changed, yet the memories remain. Reluctantly, they had to admit there was
some aspect of memory that is hyper-biological in origin. Despite this fact, the device,
which came to become called the Engram Weapon, worked effectively on 98% of the
populations they tested it on.
Meanwhile, the Dagon had become increasing hostile towards their masters, for
whom they had conquered so much of the known universe. There were no more wars to
fight, and the Dagon Alphas were much better at warfare then policing the occupants of
the planets they conquered. They began to decimate the population of the planets they
controlled. The Zhang were forced to command them to stand down. The Alphas did at
first, but as the years rolled by they found it harder and harder to follow that command.
28
DEUS X MACHINA
The Zhang built the weapon in the deep caverns of the Dagon home world where
all weapon development and shipbuilding took place. There the Zhang had an unlimited
supply of slave Drones for labor, and to use as test subjects. Also, if major accidents
occurred with the weapons and engines they developed, the Zhang population would be
spared. During development of the Engram Weapon an accident did happen. During an
experiment with the weapon, it sent out a pulse of electro-magnetic energy that ripped
all memories from half of the Dagon population. The Dagon that were effected were left
to die as mindless vegetables, lying helpless on the ground, left to starve or be eaten by
the very animals they usually preyed on. This came to be known as the first shot of the
Dagon revolt. Word spread quickly throughout the ranks of the Alphas of the accident ,
despite the commanding Zhangs best efforts to contain the news. From all across the
galaxy Dagon Alphas mutinied, and captured a huge armada of Zhang ships. Once
they had amassed an adequate army they headed to the Zhang home world to take
revenge.
At the same time construction was underway on a massive ship to house the
weapon. The ship was constructed from relics of an abandoned ship called the Nimbus
that the Zhang found adrift in empty space. The ship would allow the Zhang to take their
new powerful weapon anywhere in the Universe. It was by far the largest hull they had
ever seen, measuring almost 100 kilometers in length. The ship contained strange new
technologies of a sort even more advanced than their own. The construction gained a
new urgency, as they received word of the rebel armada heading for their planet.
The Dagons struck with a ferocity that surpassed even their most vicious
campaigns. The Zhang were small translucent beings, with the consistency of jellyfish.
They had relied on the Dagons for all of their defenses, so when the attack came they
didnt have a chance. The Dagon spent all the munitions of their commandeered ships,
wiping out all of the Zhang major cities, and then jettisoning their ships, they fought
29
DEUS X MACHINA
hand to hand with the remaining Zhang. The Dagon Alphas ripped through the Zhang
homeworld like a wildfire. It frustrated them that their masters posed so little challenge.
Lumps of their gelatin like flesh hung everywhere. Their thick blue blood soaked the
streets and walkways.
Leaders of the Zhang hid deep in an underground chamber. They knew all was
lost. The only option they felt they had left to them was fission extinction weapons.
These weapons of mass destruction had only been used once before, on a planet that
tried to start an alliance against them. The result of the warheads was devastating; the
blast turned a lush planet into a lifeless broken moon.
The engineers and scientists worked like they had never before to make the
Nimbus spaceship worthy. The Zhang on their Dagon base opened the huge hanger
door that housed the Nimbus. Even from the moons orbit, they could see that their
bright blue planet was darkened from the destruction it was undergoing. As they stared
at their world from the Nimbuss monitors, they watched in disbelief as it silently became
consumed in a sun-like fireball. No, they didnt. Damn it, if they would have given us 10
more minutes we could have gotten the Nimbus flying.
No one said a word as the shockwave advanced toward them. When it hit, it
threw the Nimbus back into the hangar and collapsed the hangar walls on top of it.
Everyone and everything on that side of the moon was destroyed as the atmosphere
was blown off into space. Dagon was propelled out of the solar system from the blast.
Within hours everything on Dagon started to freeze. Leonia dug a hollow for herself
before the ground became too frozen to dig through. In two days the atmosphere had
frozen to its surface, and had encapsulated the survivors for their billion-year trek
through the universe.
The Dagons re-emerged on the thawing planet hungry and with no one to fight
except themselves. Nothing else survived on the planet except for them. All other plants
30
DEUS X MACHINA
and animals were long dead, even the buildings and temples had been crushed by the
weight of the frozen atmosphere. They had no source of food except each other. The
Dagons feasted on the much weaker Drones, plucking them from the surface like a
hawk does to a mouse.
Leonia hid under a pile of debris, and watched from a distance as the Alphas
tore apart a Drone. The Alphas devoured most of their meal in the air leaving a good
amount of scraps to be found scattered about. Once she was sure that they had left,
she reluctantly went to the site.
Her hunger drove her past her revulsion of the blood, bones, and muscle that
was scattered on the desert floor. She closed her eyes and devoured the remains of the
Drone, hoping not to feel the texture of its skin as it passed into her stomach.
Why am I even trying to stay alive? Why yet another revulsion? Another
desecration? Why cant I just let myself die? Dont I even have enough control to kill
myself. There is no lower creature, no more useless and disgusting a life form as I. Half
of Dagon dies from the masters weapon, and I live. More die as the atmosphere is
blown into space, yet I live. The ice comes, and I run like a bug for cover. How long
have I been underground? How many years? Yet I live. Now I face starvation, or
becoming an Alphas meal, and I still try to live. I am a walking curse. A nightmare that
wont end. Its all I know; all I am. I am dead, but even death wont have me.
Nirbiru started to appear as a companion star to the Sun. As Dagon did on
Nirbiru, it grew in size and detail as the months passed. By the time the features of the
planet became visible from Dagon, the situation on Dagon had become critical. All the
Drones that could be found had been devoured, and the Alphas quickly started eating
both the Females and themselves.
Six months after they had awakened, Nirbiru had become so prominent in the
Dagon sky, you felt like you could simply jump to it. The plumes from volcanoes and
31
DEUS X MACHINA
flashes of lightening could be easily seen. Leonia stared in wonderment from her hiding
spot. She made out oceans and lakes, cities and canals, and what seemed to be fleets
of ships. She wondered what these beings were like, what they thought of the cursed
world that was heading for them. They must not yet be that advanced, she reasoned, for
they would have surely have investigated Dagon by now.
It was an obvious fact that the Dagons could not survive much longer on their
home world. The Alphas did the only thing they could think to do. It started with a few;
climbing as high as their wings would let them. As the atmosphere thinned almost to the
point where their wings could not carry them, they found the tug of Nirbirus gravity
starting to make it easier. Hard and fast they beat their wings, until they were afloat in a
no-mans land between worlds. Then they started tasting it, the sweet perfume of
Nirbirus atmosphere. The ones that survived the passage glided with eager anticipation
of the feast that awaited them on the planets surface.
Some succumbed to the lack of breathable air between the worlds, and
fell back to Dagon, others froze in temperatures that neared absolute zero. But
thousands upon thousands of hungry Alpha survived and descended upon Nirbiru.
As the exodus continued, Leonia watched in fear for the residents of this
other world. It is as it always is, the innocent suffer. She saw a streak of light, flaring
from the sky where the planets were closest. The alphas paid little or no attention to this
falling object as their blood lust and hunger pushed them to the feast that awaited them,
but Leonia watched it intensely. It doesnt look natural; it seems to be a rocket, perhaps
a weapon. She intently studied it as the object fell towards the horizon. No explosion, it
wasnt a weapon. She estimated that the objected landed about 30 miles from her
location. She had no plan or motive; she simply traveled in the direction of the fallen
object, for no other reason than she had no other beacon to walk towards.
32
DEUS X MACHINA
Chapter 5 Message in a Bottle
Anunnaki lit the fuse for the giant rocket he had been working on for some time.
Originally, he planned to place scientific instruments inside with the hope to gain some
knowledge of the heavens. Many of the ancient texts warned against such an endeavor,
but over time he had learned he could gain very little knowledge from the scared texts,
wisdom perhaps, but not the scientific knowledge he sought. The rocket stood 190ft
tall, was built using much of the same material as was used for their fireworks, but on a
much grander scale. At liftoff it rumbled like thunder but seemed to rise too slowly to
reach its destination, Damn, its too heavy. But its speed quickly increased as it gained
momentum. Anunnaki hoped it would make it. Anunnaki watched its progress through
his telescope until it disappeared into the haze and darkness of Wormwood.
Then out of Wormwood, shadows fell. They looked like black leaves swirling
down from a tree. His eyes were fixed on them. He strained his vision as much as
possible to try to divine some form out of the objects.
Anunnaki, what is it? Has your rocket made it, can you still see it? asked the
King.
I see something. I dont know what it is. Itsit could be debris. Something is
pouring from Wormwood, or..no, they are alive, perhaps some sort of bird. He paused,
as their form started to become clear. Theres more, much more. They must be
escaping. Oh God, theres thousands of them. Hundreds of thousands.
They poured onto Nirbiru, like a locust swarm. Anunnaki kept his eyes on them
through this telescope. He watched, but he couldnt really understand what he was
seeing. He stared, hoping his mind could somehow make sense out of it, but it was
something alien, something he had nothing to compare to.
Is that them. That black cloud. The king could now see with his naked eye the
dark form dripping from the sky.
33
DEUS X MACHINA
Yes, some type of birds. They are circling like birds. Like birdslike bird of prey.
Withlegs? And Arms? And...oh God..I think. Anunnaki saw the frightful sight clearer
now. He wasnt one to rush to judgment, until he saw the weapons some of them
carried.
What, what is it, Anunnaki what do you see?
Enki! Reinforce the shelters. Call up the Army, empty the armory!
How much threat can a flock of birds caused?
They are more than birds, and less than men. I dont know what they are. All I
know is that their world is dead. Ive observed it for months. There is no vegetation. I
dont know how they could have survived this long, but they did. Now that I see them
they appear mad with hunger. And theyre circling like birds of prey, but they arent just
birds, some wear clothing and others carry weapons.
The Dagons poured down onto the land, and devoured and destroyed all they
came across. They were a swarm, an agitated mass governed only by chaos and
frenzy.
Enki, had the entrance of his peoples shelter well hid. Anyone that did not know
its location would never find it.
He then assembled his army before him. He sensed that they knew this was a
futile fight. He sensed that they knew most of them would die. Yet, he knew that each
soldier accepted this and wanted to try. They didnt want their kingdom to be trampled
without a fight.
Enkis army had assembled in minutes, and stood 20,000 strong. They formed a
line that no native army on Nirbiru could ever penetrate, and stood ready to fend off the
Dagon onslaught like a dam holds back the flowing water. Before they could see the
Dagons they heard the rumbling of 200,000 wings. It sounded like every waterfall on the
planet had converged. The mood was thick with the longings of the soldiers. The
34
DEUS X MACHINA
thoughts that come when facing death: Is there more? Will it hurt? I miss my children,
my spouse, my parent(s). None doubted their bravery, all knew they would not run, but
many took solace in memories of better days, gentle touches, cool breezes on warm
days, the flushed emotion of first love, the nourishment of knowing one is loved. As the
Dagons approached, adrenaline cleared their minds of thoughts, there was only action,
and the hot rush of spilt blood.
The Nirbiruan defense didnt flinch, but was destroyed like a sand castle in a tidal
wave. Hardly a soldier got off a shot, and the ones that did saw their arrows bounce
harmlessly off the reptilians scales just before they were run through by the beasts
razor tipped tails.
Studying the battle and pondering a defense, Anunnaki stayed high in his spiral
tower and watched the carnage below. One of the Dagon fired his weapon at his tower
causing it to collapse. Anunnaki threw himself into a chest meant to hold scientific
instruments, and felt himself freefall as the tower fell. He survived the crash, but stayed
in the chest for hours until the thunder of the Dagons had stopped.
He crawled out of the chest to discover an alien landscape he hardly recognized.
He never thought to imagine how the kingdom would look without its gardens and
temples, without the high foliage which intertwined with the proud houses that families
passed on from generation to generation, back to the earliest memories of their
civilization. Each generation added its own additions and flare to the structure, each
house over time became a physical representation of a familys history.
Gone. Broken. Like that child so long ago. Years ago he was called on to tend to
a child that had fallen from their familys house. The family was long established, so the
height of the house seemed to reach to heaven. When Anunnaki came upon him there
was nothing he could do, the child was a broken mass of blood and bones. He looked at
me. I saw the fear, such deep fear. His gaze slowly became less focused, and I saw
35
DEUS X MACHINA
that even though our eyes still met, he was no longer seeing me. Anunnaki held his
head, and sang the sweet songs parents do to their children to help them fall asleep. He
couldnt help but stare at the once perfect little body that was now so broken and
exposed. He imagined the childs legs while running, or the arms as they caught a ball.
All that was over now, all he could do was comfort him as the child let out a death rattle.
Here he was again, beholding a ruined beauty. He saw the garden pool, which
just a few days ago was filled with bathers, laughter and splashing, now filled with debris
and waste.
He walked to where the army had stood to look for survivors, there were none.
None. Many faces he knew stared up at him, still showing the expression of the pain of
their last moment. Peoples limbs littered the land like branches after a storm. The
bloody pulp of flesh and crushed bones made it hard to walk.
The destruction and death of the battle was starting to make it past his mental
defenses. He felt like a tide was rising in his mind. An emotion, an indescribable
emotion, more than fear, more than revulsion or sadness, more like an estrangement,
threatened to destroy his sanity, as the kingdoms army had been destroyed. Then he
saw movement from the corner of his eye. For a brief moment he held out hope that it
was a Nirbiruan, then he saw the armored scales and blood stained claws. One of the
creatures was pinned under his fallen tower. It scared him to know that one the of
creatures still lived, but he had to see it, partly out of curiosity, partly out of hate. He
walked over to see up-close one of the monsters that had caused so much destruction.
To Anunnaki the creature looked like a living sword. Every muscle and spike
seemed to be made for killing. Every motion it made seemed deliberate and intimidating.
He wondered how God could have created such a thing.
36
DEUS X MACHINA
The creature shouted and grunted something in its own language. Anunnaki
couldnt understand its meaning, but he could sense his intention. Kill. To kill as if it
were its right to take life.
What do you think we did to you? Why have you done this? Anunnaki spoke in
frustration to the uncomprehending creature.
We would have given you shelter and food. We would have invited you to our
homes and hearths.
As Anunnaki approached, the monster swatted at him with his long claws, cutting
him at his ankles. Anunnaki felt the cool air on this open wound, then felt his strength
give out causing him to fall. The creature lunged his claws out at him, but was a few
inches short of reaching Anunnakis body.
It that all you know? Is that all you can do?
The creatures yellow eyes were full of rage. Its shouts and growls became
louder and louder.
What evil has brought you? Why are you here!?
The Dagon pushed the fallen tower off of him revealing that his lower half had
been crushed. Never the less, the creature lunged toward Anunnaki using his front limbs
to move. In a reflex action Anunnaki picked up a fallen spear and thrust it into the
monsters eye. He looked away as the creature wailed in pain. Anunnaki listened to the
creatures cries until they became weaker and weaker, until there was no life in him. He
watched the creature for a long time even after it had died, trying to make sense out of
things, trying to comprehend what had happened and why.
37
DEUS X MACHINA
Chapter 6 Lions and Lambs
After a long trek through the darkened wasteland of her homeworld, Leonia
found the remains of the object she tracked. From a distance it look like just another
misshapen mass that littered the desert, among rocks and the rubble of buildings. The
closer she came the more it looked like a primitive rocket. To her it looked like it was
made out of some organic material, like bamboo. As she approached it she saw that it
was relatively intact. Towards the one end of the tube, she saw a seam. How amazing
that these people could make such a primitive thing work. She ripped open the stalk to
discover a peanut looking container. She split open the container, and found a dozen
carefully placed scrolls, and a strange looking sphere with some type of symbols divided
on small tile-like plates.
After carefully removing the scroll, she studied the container. This too is organic.
It could probably give me some nourishment. Leonia took her find to a large outcropping
of rocks, and took shelter in a cave she found there, then set about studying the scrolls.
Based on the positioning of the scrolls, she deduced that they should be read in a
certain order. She opened the first scroll, and looked at the Nirbiruan script.
7T T ''~ * '~'# '~
~ ~T' "' ~ ~ 'TT ''~
' ~' * '~'# >~ '*7'
"' T ' ' ~# T ~' ~' 7'
' 7 '*'7' ~' ~ ~ ' 7' '
' ~' '7 "' *'7~ 7 " ~ '7
> 7T# > 7T# ' ~#
~ ' ~T' ~' >' ~>
7 >' " '7 "' ' #
38
DEUS X MACHINA
TT' ~#'7~# ~' 7 T~'''
' ~T#'# ' "' "' # ~
7 7T T >' ' ' 7
T#7'~ ' ~T#'# ~ T*7
' ~ 7'# **T# '
7 ' ' T' '# >'TT
*7' ' ~
' ~ T#'# ' " "* 7~ > 7
7 7' '~' ~# 7'T '
~ *' ' 7' T' '*T 7' '
' > 7 7T' '7' '7'
"* 7~ "'7 >' ' #
' *7''~ 7' ' 7 > 7T#
~ > TT ' #7 'T' ~ 7
~ ~ 7'' " ~ "' 7 ~ >T'#'
' ~ # ~'# '~ ' 'T* '
' '~ ' ' 'TT ' ~ 7
'T > "' #' #
' ~# ''
~~~
39
DEUS X MACHINA
Although she couldnt understand the script, the meaning of the illustration was
clear. Dagon was headed for the Sun. At least I know there is an end.
She noticed that some of the tiles on the sphere corresponded to the script on
the scrolls, while others just appeared to be lines. She discovered that the tiles on the
sphere could be moved. When she arranged the symbols on the sphere to match an
ordering of symbols on the scroll, she was amazed to find that on another part of the
sphere the random lines came together to form a picture. This is amazing. An amazing
deciphering tool. What wondrous creatures made this?
She felt unworthy to have come across such a find. This was their attempt to
make contact, and it has fallen to me, a female slave on a doomed planet. Regardless,
she couldnt help but dive into the alien script, using the deciphering tool to glean its
meaning. Having spent her life as a slave to a brutal race of monsters, she couldnt think
of a better way to spend her remaining months of life then learning the story of this
culture, of these people that she would never meet.
Although she knew she was doomed, sitting in the dampness of the cave and
pouring over the scrolls was the happiest she had ever been. She was free from the
Alphas, free from having to submit to them and produce offspring that were ripped from
her breast as soon as they were old enough to stand. She often wondered what became
of the many Alphas she spawned. At times when she had contact with an Alpha who
40
DEUS X MACHINA
was slightly less brutal than the rest, she wondered if he was her child, if there was any
part of herself that was passed on to her children.
Within a few weeks she had a rudimentary literacy of the Nirbiruan written
language. She read the scrolls over and over again, with each pass the reading became
easier and the meaning of the scrolls more apparent. Soon she was able to vigorously
immersed herself in the works of Nirbiruan scientists and thinkers; She inhaled their
thoughts and philosophies.
Love, she read, is the beginning and end of all. Do you seek wisdom? Seek
love first. Do you seek knowledge and understanding? Seek love first. Do you want
wealth, and prosperity? Do you want to be called great, and admired by all? First love
the poor and the sick. First love the dejected and the scorned. Love is the answer, and
the question. The first thought of an infant, and the final realization of the wise. I didnt
know such thoughts existed or could exist.
But it was the first scroll that she read, over and over again. The scroll
addressed to her. The scroll which some being, with thoughts and feelings like her own,
had written in an attempt to speak with the inhabitants of Dagon.
If this scroll has been opened, then I can only assume that an intelligent being
has opened it. I want to express my love to you and longing to share your experiences in this
universe. We have never met persons from another world. This world that you find us on is the
only one we know.
But first we must overcome the difficultly of understanding our language.
Ive included the same method in this first scroll as we use to teach our children. Ive included
an alpharubix, if you can read this I applaud you for you have obviously used it well. I pray
that you can.
Ive included the most important works of our history, science and religion. I
41
DEUS X MACHINA
hope you are able to explore these works, but firstly there is a very important matter we have to
discuss. The present course that your world is on will take it directly into our Sun in three
months time. Our knowledge is not advanced enough to help you, I even hesitate to tell you,
but in truth, I felt it was my duty to do so.
Love and Peace
Anunnaki
She absorbed the words, letting them soak into her. She heard the voice of the
author as if he were talking to her. No one had ever talked to her, they barked orders at
her, or simply bent her over to violate her.
The other females seemed to be content servicing the Alphas, they hated her
because she wasnt. The others would boast about the degree to which they served the
males. Unfortunately, the males seemed to favor Leonia, because she did not enjoy
submitting willingly. She discovered the more she resisted, the more they wanted to
mate with her, so she learned to be as indifferent as possible. She learned to separate
her mind from her body, to the point that she lived almost exclusively in her own mind.
So much so that it became more real to her than the outside world, and to the others
she seemed despondent and unresponsive. On the outside she seemed no more
sentient than a slug.
With everything that had happened she wasnt sure if what she was reading was
real, or just another fantasy. She had dreamed for so long and so hard to know another
being with whom she could talk and share ideas. She dreamed of a life where she was
more than a reproductive machine.
They think and feel, and love They care for one another deeply. And feel
regret! Regret. Being ashamed of causing violence.
They love their offspring, and again care for them How would it feel to be
cared for, or to cared for by someone else. To be tender...kind.
42
DEUS X MACHINA
They lament over their wars, even though the wars were limited, and rules were
followed.
And they are being killed by the hundreds of thousands. No doubt now their land
is being raped of anything the Alphas can consume.
Is there anything but death? They believe so, in different ways, at different times
in their history, they believe there is more to life than death. That death is not the end,
but a new beginning. A nice thought, but Ive seen too much death to believe. Ive seen
fear in the eyes if the dying. Confusion and anger, but no hope. If one could believe it
though, I guess it would give some hope. The ones that died needlessly. The innocent
ones, tortured and slowly killed by those that look at them as no more than flesh to be
corrupted.
The sounds of movement behind her startled her. She whipped around and
peered into the darkness of the back of the cave. She heard movement again, a hurried
escaping shuffle. She followed the sound. It led to a small opening at the back of the
cave which was barely large enough for her body to fit. Hoping it was some small
creature that somehow had survived, she shot down the passage on the hunt. As she
caught a whiff of the creature she realized it was a Drone. She could never kill the
Drone for food. She followed it anyway, mostly out of curiosity.
Before she could get her bearings in the dark, she lost her footing, and fell into a
large cavern. She looked around to find a dozen Drone eyes looking at her with fear.
Dont be scared. Im not going to hurt youor eat you for that matter. I came to
this cave, as you did, to find safety.
Nothing, no response, just fear.
Im going to leave the way I came. Im sorry for bothering you.
43
DEUS X MACHINA
Please, she heard a meek voice coming from somewhere well hidden.
Mistress, dont tell your sisters where we are. We have found food, which we will share
with you. We only ask that you dont reveal our existence.
I wouldnt have anyway, but if you have food to share, Id be very grateful.
You wouldnt tell.
I swear on all the eggs I ever had or will have.
A Drone passed a package of food from behind his rock shelter.
This has the marking of our Zhang masters. She said as she looked at the
package. Are they here? Where did you get this?
We will continue to bring you food as you need it.
Are the masters here?! She shouted, ensuring that her voice echoed in the
large chamber.
You said you would go.
Listen to me. Im not going to kill or eat any of you. Not that it matters anyway;
our planet is on a collision course with the Sun of this world. Well all be dead within
three months.
We know. Said a Drone in a stronger voice than the rest. He appeared to be
their leader.
Then why do you fight so hard to stay alive?
Several Drones dropped boulders from a ledge above Leonia. She leapt out of
the way before they could crush her. Upon seeing this, the lead Drone ran to another
cave on the far side of the cavern. Leonia, quickly followed him, jumping from rock to
rock, and quickly over took him.
Tell me. Whats going on here? She questioned, as her claws tightly held the
Drone in place.
Sorry, sorry, sorry, please dont tell, well take you with us.
44
DEUS X MACHINA
With you where.
Turn around.
She slowly turned to realize she was at the mouth of a transportation tube.
Where does this lead?
To the hangars.
I assumed they were destroyed when the shock wave hit. Did the hangar
survive? Are their operable ships?
Just one.
What is your name Drone?
Set. I am Set.
Set. Take me to this ship. For your own good dont do anything foolish. Lets
make a deal right now. I will protect you, if you promise not to try to kill me again.
It is a deal, honored female.
Leonia, along with the company of Drones, traveled at a tremendous velocity
through the transportation tubes. She had heard that the planet was crossed with them,
but she never had the chance to ride in one.
Tell me, if the hangar is so far deep in the planet, what were you doing so close
to the surface?
The security sensors had detected you, but no defensive weaponry was
properly working. We came to assess whether you were a threat or not.
I see.
The transport started to decelerate, as they entered a vast open chamber. It was
the hangar bay, she had never seen one so large. It seemed to be hundreds of miles
long, and at least ten miles high. The tube came to a stop on the hangar floor.
So where is this ship?
Youre standing on it.
45
DEUS X MACHINA
What, the floor?
It is the hull of the ship. Her eyes followed the hull as far as she could, it
seemed to extend forever.
I had no idea the Zhang masters had such a ship.
It was our masters final solution, their way of freeing themselves from being
dependent on Dagons. This is what caused the war.
I see. this was the weapon that caused all those Dagons to die.
Yes, its a beam that alters the mind. The masters no longer needed Dagons to
enforce their will, the could make their subjects happy to serve them.
How did you and your people learn about the ships location?
We were part of the crew, that constructed the ship, or I should say, retooled
the ship. The Zhang didnt actually build this ship, they found it adrift. Our job was to get
it running again and integrate the weapon into its systems.
Did you succeed?
Yes, the ship was set to launch just before the Zhang homeworld was
destroyed, but now the ship is blocked by miles and miles of debris. Thats what were
working on now, a method for clearing its path that wont destabilize the hangar walls.
How far have you gotten?
Not far, all of our efforts have failed.
Show me the ship bridge.
As you wish, but pleasedontI mean, if you want to make it off this planet
dont do anything to
I wont break anything, if thats what youre trying to say.
You dont act or talk like any female Ive met.
You have no idea. Please, you lead the way.
46
DEUS X MACHINA
She was startled as the section of the floor beneath them began to descend, into
a world of overwhelming sights and shapes. On Dagon there was little variety, mostly
everything was grey or green, but in this ship colors abounded. Everything appeared
alive and vibrant. The ship was both solid and fluid; doorways and access points
seemed to dissolve away as they traveled. Leonia was dizzy with excitement.
Save me Leonia. The sudden voice in her head frightened her, but she
ignored it thinking it was an illusion of her over stimulated mind. Come to my heart. Join
with me.
Whats the matter honored female? Set suspiciously asked.
Its Leonia, thats my name, you can say it. Let the old ways of doing things die
with this planet.
Ok, honored female Leonia, what causes you distress?
Does this ship have any sort of artificial intelligence?
It had a very strange central computer. When we retrofitted it, we had to cut it
off from the ships system. We couldnt figure out how to interface with it. So we
installed a Zhang system. It was functional, but not perfect by the time the end came.
Take me there, instead of the bridge. Take me to the computer you
disconnected.
Why honored fe...um...Leonia?
I cant really explain it. Please, humor me, take me there.
Ok, then I will take you, but we must soon return to the work of freeing the ship.
The central computer was housed in an enormous opened chamber in the heart
of the ship. The vast size of this area was revealed to her as she walked up the ramp to
the access terrace. The chamber was spherical, with bluish fluid gently rolling down its
walls. Leonia could see where the Zhang had severed the connections, huge tubes,
which looked like the arteries of a heart, lay mangled around the central cortex.
47
DEUS X MACHINA
How do we reach it? Her voice rang and echoed through the chamber. The
acoustics were such that even if you whispered to a person 100 yards away, it would
sound to them as if you were whispering in their ear.
Once you leave the terrace theres no gravity. You must simply jump.
Are you sure this is not just some plan to do away with me?
Set threw a writing device into the chamber. Leonia watched as it floated
upward.
Good enough for me.
She leaped from the terrace towards the central cortex. Unfortunately, she over
estimated the power needed to reach it and found herself propelling toward it quite
rapidly. She smacked into the structure and started to bounce back before holding on to
one of the tubes coming from the cortex. It feels like flesh!
What do you plan to do?
She ignored Sets question; she truly wasnt sure what she planned to do. She
knew that she would look like a fool if she just floated around the object for a few
minutes without doing anything, but she also knew that in all her daydreaming she never
heard a voice, as clearly as the one that called to her. Either this is all a dream, or this
thing was calling me.
She explored the object. Tubes entered the object from the top and bottom, the
rest of the structure looked like a conch shell, with folds upon folds growing from each
other, as if it was sheltering some tender life form. She followed the folds to their
outermost layer, and there she saw a gap about a foot wide. To her it looked a little like
a female sex organ. She slid her hand in as deep as it would go and found a gentle
force tugging her inward. Her head followed her arm into the structure. It felt as if a
thousand tiny fingers were pushing her deeper into the object. She started to fear that
she was to become some creatures last meal. Dont fear Leonia. I have waited for you
48
DEUS X MACHINA
for a long, long time. She ceased any resistant and heard the muffled shouts of the
Drones as she was pulled inward. She followed the inner path of the shell around and
around until it opened up to what seemed to be an outside world. It was a garden, the
type of garden she would imagine herself in during her worst moments as a slave.
She found herself lying on soft blue moss on a hill overlooking a great sea. Fruit
trees surrounded her, and a crystal stream flowed down into the beach below.
There is a heaven.
Or there was. A voice said, distinct from her own.
Where am I?
Look up.
She looked up into the light purple sky, and saw a pale green star.
Thats Dagon.
They call it Wormwood.
An appropriate name. This is Nirbiru, the world I read about. I didnt know the
universe was capable of such beauty. Where am I? Is that an illusion?
You are where youre heart is.
Are you the ships computer?
I am its heart.
How do you know me?
I heard your dreams as you slept. You are a pearl among swine. A diamond in
the rough. You have always been surrounded by evil, yet you never let it penetrate your
heart.
I am hardly pure.
Your heart is. I am the Nimbus. That is my name. I have existed longer than the
stretch of time.
How can that be?
49
DEUS X MACHINA
The Zhang found me, but I would not work for them. To them I was a hollow
corpse. I appeared this way to them because I knew their hearts, and the evil they
planned to use my body for, but I could not stop them. They cut me off from my body.
Leonia, restore me, I will give you the knowledge. I will give you the knowledge
to operate all of my systems. I trust you, because I read your heart, you can do with me
what you will, but promise me youll follow the best intentions of your heart.
I will.
She fell into darkness, and felt the walls of her mind collapsing. Information was
flooding in with such force, she felt like she was trying to hold her ground in a raging
river. She saw all that the Nimbus would let her see. Suddenly she intuitively knew how
the ship worked and how to pilot it. She knew of the weapons it had and its capabilities.
She knew the steps that had to be taken for it to be restored. And then for a moment,
she peered through the information she was receiving and caught a glimpse of
something, something wonderful that she couldnt describe. Suddenly, she was pushed
back through the opening. She looked over and saw the awestruck looks on the faces of
the Dagon Drones.
Since that time she never had such direct communication with the heart, but she
did get impressions, impression of the Nimbuss feelings. The Nimbus was happiest
when it was filled with different species, especially when Leonia brought on board
desperate beings in need, refugees running from wars, disease or hunger, the sick
needing to be healed, the poor needing to be fed, or just the curious wanting to join
Leonia in her never ending adventure.
As the years progressed, she often wondered what the Nimbus thought of her
actions, many of which she was very proud of, others she was not. There were times
when the right choice wasnt clear, when no decision seemed correct. There were other
times when she let the worst of her emotions get the better of her. When she used the
50
DEUS X MACHINA
power of the ship for revenge, or power. There were other times, when she was just
tired, when the only reason she didnt leave the ship was that she was afraid what
someone else might do with its power. But all that was yet to come, for now she stood
before the Dagon Drones and tried to win their hearts as well as their loyalty.
We must reconnect the heart to all the ship systems.
No, we cant. The ship didnt work when the central computer was connected.
Set said emphatically.
Does the ship work now? Do you have any idea how to get the ship working?
We will, we still have time.
Leonia stepped from Set and addressed the large number of Drones that filled
the chamber. Listen, Drones. This ship is a living being, as we are. This cortex is its
heart and mind. I have communicated with the ship. If we reconnect the heart the ship
will function.
The ship didnt function previously when the heart was connected because it
sensed the evil the Zhang wanted to commit with it. But now the old ways have gone
away. Forget I am a Female and you are Drones. We are no longer slaves to our old
identities. Help me to reconnect the heart and we can choose our own destiny.
There was silence after she finished. No one knew what to do. Many looked to
Set to see what his reaction would be. Until this point Set was simply attempting to
appease the female. He never thought that she would actually take an interest in the
function and operation of the ship. He had planned to serve her until she was
vulnerable, and then remove her somehow. He was sick of being a slave. Being a slave
to a powerful master was bad enough, but being a slave to a female was a disgrace.
Although, I dont really have a firm grip on power, I could use her for that. Yes, Ill get
her to lead for a while and set myself up as her adviser and successor. Your right
female, there will be a new order of things.
51
DEUS X MACHINA
This female is right. The heart opened to her. It hadnt done so for any of the
Zhang. This honored female is to be our Queen, she will lead us into the new life ahead
of us.
Leonia was shocked. Queen, what the hell is he talking about? I only wanted
help reconnecting the heart. Just like that she went from a forgotten slave to the queen
of the most powerful vessel in the universe. The rest of the Drones seemed to respond
well to Sets announcement. The Drones werent used to being led by another Drone, it
didnt seem right. A female had never led them into anything more than the care and
feeding of their young, but at least they traditionally did have authority over them, plus
this female seemed different, she moved and talk with confidence and intelligence. All
outwardly seemed to agree with Sets pronouncement, but inwardly they were still
unsure, but their confidence in Leonia grew as she instructed them on the repair of the
heart.
Later, once the repairs were well underway, Leonia spoke to Set alone.
Why did you pronounce me Queen? A moment before that you saw me as a
distraction. An unpredictable beast to be dealt with.
Thats not true my Queen.
Come off it Set, if you have any confidence in me at all, know that Im not that
stupid.
OK, you command authority that I could never have when you spoke. I felt it.
They were listening to you. All they needed was my nod for them to know it was OK to
trust you.
Yes, but you did that and more. You pronounced me their Queen. I never asked
nor wanted that.
We were slaves. We need strong leadership. They would have no idea how to
function by committee. They would look at that as weakness.
52
DEUS X MACHINA
We have a long road ahead of us to break them and ourselves of our old
mentality. Do you agree Set?
It depends on what you have in mind.
Freedom, Set. Individual freedom. The freedom to choose ones identity and
path.
Be careful Queen, it takes loyalty to operate a ship this big.
Loyalty yes, but not necessarily to one person.
That is chaos.
We must save the inhabitants of that world. I ran a simulation of Dagons
impact on the Sun. Once Dagon strikes the Sun, it will accelerate its transformation into
a Red Giant. In short, all life on Nirbiru will be fried.
We will be long gone by then. Set replied.
I hope so, but we wont be alone. I want us to find away to save Nirbiru.
What? Why? Thats impossible anyway, perhaps our ship could hold a portion
of the population, but not all of them.
We will find a way.
No we wont, its a waste of time and energy. With this ship we can go anywhere
in the universe that we want. Theres no need for us to kill ourselves saving a doomed
species.
Yes there is, simply because it is the right thing to do. And doing the right thing
is a cause worth being loyal to.
What do you know about any of this? You are only a Female. Designed to
procreate and lay eggs.
Yes, and you are a Drone. And now we are in command of the most powerful
vessel the universe has ever seen. What we do with that power is up to us, or we can do
53
DEUS X MACHINA
this the old way and I could kill you where you stand to prove my power. The choice is
yours.
Just promise me you wont get us killed. I have no idea how you think youre
going to save an entire planet. At that Set walked away.
Neither do I, but Ill find a way.
As the repairs neared completion, more and more of the ships systems came on
line. Leonia was able to connect with the ship through bio-interfaces that dotted the ship.
The most powerful interface was in the captains chair. From here I can just about
control the entire ship myself. The interface allowed her to access and control all of the
ships systems and data. She learned the ship was powered by extra-dimensional
particles held in a supercharged solution. This is the lifeblood of the ship; it courses
through the ships veins and arteries and into the heart. It is in the heart that the
particles are exchanged with those from another dimension. The particles are from
another reality with different physical laws. Because these particles arent subject to the
first law of thermodynamics, they can create an endless power supply.
Leonia often wondered about the ones that built the Nimbus, but the ship wasnt
forthcoming about those details. The builders were just cryptically referred to as the First
Borne.
She did learn how the ship was able to attain faster than light speed. It came to
her as she was meditating. She discovered to her delight that the middle decks of the
ship contained a huge garden area. Once the restoration of the heart began, the garden
rapidly began to spring to life. Within the garden were caves lined with crystals, crystals
created by the same particles that powered the ship. Although in their solid form they
became bound the universes physical laws, they still held some amazing properties.
Deep in one of these caves a vision came to her. The vision was of a river, and there
54
DEUS X MACHINA
was a young boy along its shore. She didnt recognize the boys species, but intuitively
she knew it was her son. He was skipping stones across the water.
You see Mom, its like this. See that leaf floating in the river? It can only go as
fast as the river takes it. But watch as I skip this rock along the surface. It only touches
the water occasionally, and travels much faster than the current.
When this ship travels, it only appears to be traveling through normal space,
99% of the journey takes place in hyperspace, just as a skipped stone is mostly in the
air.
What is hyperspace Horus? Horus, yes that was his name.
Everything that exists in this universe vibrates within a fixed range. If something
were to vibrate out of that range it can no longer exist, at least not in the way we
understand existence. The Nimbus alters frequencies so quickly that it almost
simultaneously exists both in this universe and another. It is this other universe, or
reality, that faster than light travel is possible.
Why does it have to alter frequencies, couldnt it just travel in this other
universe, then return to this one at its destination.
Matter, energy and light can not exist as they do here in any other reality, than
our own. Its a one-way trip. The only way it is possible is to cycle back and forth so
quickly that the matter and energy of the Nimbus and its crew do not have time to react
to the physics of hyperspace.
How fast does it alternate between this reality, and hyperspace?
At the speed of light. Any slower, even by the smallest percent, and the Nimbus
would cease to exist!
How many other alternate universes exist?
No one really knows for sure. There are at least 10. For the universe to exist as
it is, there have to be at least 10.
55
DEUS X MACHINA
Can any of these other realities sustain life?
The properties and physics of these other realities are unknown to us. In fact
there is no way for us to know them, since any point of reference would have to come
from our own universe, and by the very nature of multiple universes, nothing that exists
in one can exist in the other.
But the Nimbus does.
Only in a very limited way. No one truly knows how this happens. It works,
because it works. The First Borne developed the hyperspace engines after many
thousands of years of trial and error using the power of the heart.
How do the engines work? How is it that only the ship changes frequencies?
It creates a field, almost like a bubble, which encapsulates the ship. The
engines themselves produce sub-atomic strings of energy from the particles that power
the ship. These strings change the frequency of everything within the field.
What if something besides the ship were in the field?
Its frequency would also be changed, but it would be destroyed. Along with
creating the hyperspace field, the Nimbus also has a power propulsion system that
moves it forward. Anything beside the ship in the field would be left behind, and without
the hyperspace field controlling its frequency, its atoms would explode.
What if the object was in motion already, and the Nimbus maintained the same
speed? Could it carry it in its field.
Nothing is impossible Mother, you taught me that.
When will we meet son? Who is your father?
Time and time again. Time and time again.
The vision left her as quickly as it came. During the vision it felt natural that she
would have a child, a child of her own to raise, but once the vision left her it seemed
both frightening and awesome. I will have a son. A fine boy, both intelligent and caring.
56
DEUS X MACHINA
Once she shook off the emotions that her vision caused she called together the
top Dagon scientist to discuss her plan to save Nirbiru.
A few days ago I was resigned to die in a cave, now Im in command of this
starship. Nothing is impossible. We will create a super string field around the planet
Nirbiru. The planet itself is in motion, we will maintain the speed and travel with it in
hyperspace.
Perhaps, but because were using ambient motion, well have no control over its
course, and I wouldnt recommend traveling far. A planet is tremendously more dense
than a ship, I very much doubt whether the energy strings can penetrate the entire
planet. One of the Drones carefully replied.
I dont think it has to. If these vibrations work like string instruments, then the
frequency will be changed throughout the structure.
Leonia, we have to prepare to launch. We dont have time for this. What if the
planet explodes? We will be destroyed as well. I cant entertain this anymore. Set
countered.
Cant entertain this? Then what are we doing? Living? For what? Just to
survive? All of you must make a decision now whether you truly want my leadership or
not. Have you thought that through? Did you simply call me your Queen because you
were afraid Id eat you? Perhaps. But now make the choice again, knowing that, if I can
help it, I would never harm another being.
Lets try a new way. As long as we continue to view life as we did under the
Alphas, then we are still bound to their will, not ours.
What about the Alphas? Theyre still on the planet. Wed have to destroy them
to save these people neither of us as met. Another Drone said.
For whatever reason or cause, the universe has put us here, now. What we do
from here out is our choice.
57
DEUS X MACHINA
The ship is yours, do with it what you wish. Set said dismissively.
Thats not enough. I dont want you or anyone else to just follow orders. If we do
this it has to be because we believe.
Believe in what? A god? Good for the sake of goodness? Dont you remember
all the people that the Dagons conquered? Some of them believed in the types of things
youre talking about, what good did it do them? Remember the Sealots? How they held
up in their temples and holy places, waiting for their god to save them.
The Alphas were enraged by their cowardness. They prolonged their demise for
decades, just to demoralize them. They used the skins of their young as clothing, their
women as whores, and their men as target practice. They delighted in destroying and
desecrating their holy places.
Believe that there is hope, however so small. Leonia said, feeling very
defeated.
I believe in science, and science tells me that your plan will not work, Set was
silent, and looked downward.
An elder Drone spoke up. There is a system 18 light years from here. It has a
stable Sun. Ill run the calculations and see if any of this is possible.
All looked stunned and wondered if he had heard all of the conversation.
Do you want to talk philosophies all day, or get do you want to work? He said.
Set had won the argument, but not the hearts of his fellow Dagons; it was as
simple as that. Shortly afterward the elder Drone ran the calculations and found that the
plan was theoretically possible. The Drones immediately began making plans to save
Nirbiru.
58
DEUS X MACHINA
Chapter 7 To Move Mountains
Leonia sat with her eyes closed at the command station in touch with every
function and system of the ship through the neural interface. She could feel the power
flowing through the Nimbuss veins, and the feel of the earth piled on the Nimbuss hull.
The shockwave from the fission bomb had pushed the Nimbus deep into
Dagons rocky core. There were miles and miles of debris on top of them, and time was
growing short for them to escape. The Drones had been working feverishly to develop a
plan to free the Nimbus. But everything they tried, every computer model they ran,
failed. They tried blasting the debris with the Nimbuss powerful cannons, but the rocks
were piled so deeply in front of the cannons that they backfired, taking with them several
lives. They tried creating a warp field of super charged energy strings, but the thick
rocks that encased them made it impossible for a stable field to be formed.
Leonia had been silent for days, which greatly distressed her crew. To find a
solution, she went deep into the ships systems, merging her awareness with that of the
ships. The answer she found wasnt the one she was looking for. There is no way to
free the Nimbus from Dagon, but the Nimbus can survive the planets impact with the
Sun. This would leave only minutes for her to get the Nimbus into position to move
Nirbiru before the shockwave hit. Seven minutes exactly, seven minutes before the
outer edge of the shockwave would wipe out all life on Nirbiru. There was no other
solution, no magic bullet they could use. She opened her eyes and broke away from the
neural link.
All eyes in the large command section turned to her. She immediately called a
council session to discuss their situation.
The plans for saving Nirbiru had been formed shortly after the councils last
meeting. If all went well Nirbiru would be placed in a safe orbit around a stable star
59
DEUS X MACHINA
some 18 light years away. It would happen in the blink of an eye, but timing of the
hyper-jump and the Nimbuss position around the planet had to be precise. They had to
rely on the momentum and trajectory of Nirbiru to properly position the planet in its new
orbit. If they were off, the Sun of this new system wouldnt have the gravity to hold
Nirbiru in its orbit, and it would sail into the frozen void of space, just as Dagon had.
Set again used this opportunity to point out the dangers of Leonias plan, but the
rest of the Dagons wouldnt hear it. The thought of saving, instead of enslaving an entire
population fired their longing for something more than the life they had. For the Drones,
like Leonia, serving the Alphas had been their sole purpose in life, Leonia had given
them a new one, one that gave them feelings of being part of something greater than
themselves. The entire population of Drones voted, and overwhelmingly supported the
mission to save Nirbiru.
Over the next few days they ran dozens of trial runs, until each member of the
crew new instinctively what to do and when. They waited, waited for their finest hour to
come.
As Dagon entered the Suns Helosphere its rocky surface was turned into a
molten ocean. The planet plunged into the fiery surface of the Sun; the force of inertia
caused by the planets impact caused everything that wasnt bolted down to be flung
forward. As expected, the rear of the planet started to split, allowing the burning gas of
the Sun to penetrate deep inside the planet, which in turn caused the planet to split even
more. As the conflagration entered the cavern that housed the Nimbus, Leonia gave the
order to form the warp field. A moment later they were free, the rocky planet had fallen
from them as it continued its path into the Sun.
The engines were engaged and the ship shot out of the Sun to its pre-plotted
destination around Nirbiru. Leonia had the strange realization that this was the first time
she had left Dagon, but oddly Dagon had really left her. (I like this!) In an instant they
60
DEUS X MACHINA
were in a stationary orbit above Nirbiru. They could see the shockwave heading towards
them.
Extend the warp field around the planet.
The Drone laid in the equations to extend the warp field, but they ran into the
same problem they had previously, the field wasnt properly forming around Nirbiru. It
was too rocky; the strings couldnt penetrate the entire planet.
Six minutes before impact.
Leonia knew that this was a possibility, but prayed that it wouldnt happen. She
was at a loss, no matter what they tried, they couldnt generate a field that penetrated all
the way through.
Set spoke up. Queen, you can take comfort in that fact that we tried. We all can,
but now we have to admit failure and move on.
If there was only two of us, two ships, we might have a chance. A young
helmsmen spoke up.
Leonias eyes brighten. Drone, whats your name.
Ammun, Queen.
Ammun, you just saved Nirbiru. There can be two of us, or just about anyway. If
we skip at light speed to the other side of Nirbiru our field would be large enough to
enclose the planet. Since the energy in the field itself travels slightly slower then light,
for a brief instance, Nirbiru will be totally in our field.
But we have already passed the time in which Nirbiru can enter into a safe orbit
around the other Sun. Set interjected, but was ignored.
Ammun, enter the coordinates and execute.
In an instant the place where Nirbiru had existed was only empty space. The
planet reemerged between the orbits of Mars and Earth.
Leonia opened her eyes. Did we make it?
61
DEUS X MACHINA
Yes, the planet is in orbit, but it isnt exactly where we had planned.
How stable is the orbit?
The orbit itself is very stable, but its too elliptical. Within a few months it will
take Nirbiru too far past the warmth of the Sun.
At least we have bought them some time. Are any of the planets in this system
habitable?
Yes, one, its surface is mostly water, but it does have a few large land masses.
There is life there. It could sustain the Nirbiruans.
Ok, then its time we paid Nirbiru a visit and let them know whats going on. We
have to evacuate the planet.
Leonia was eager to meet the Nirbiruans. She had dreamt about them since she
first read Anunnakis message. She prepared a shuttle, and set off to make contact.
62
DEUS X MACHINA
Chapter 8 Lucky Star
On Earth Eussa was resting after a long hunt. The great mother had been kind
to him, a deer had crossed his path unaware of his presence. He thanked the great
mother for her blessings, and prayed that the deer spirit would find its place in the fields
of paradise.
The great mother has given you to me so that I my live. I take your flesh, and
free you to live, as you should, as we all should. And when I make it there, I hope we
meet again, not as predator and prey, but as brothers, as it should be.
It was a good meal that all enjoyed. As was customary the family of the hunter
got the best cuts of meat, and the choice of the hide, but this buck was so large the
entire clan was satisfied by it.
Away from the campfire Eussa lay on a moss-covered rock, and looked to the
stars for guidance. Suddenly, low in the southern sky, a new star appeared. It was
almost as bright as Venus, and was colored somewhat like mars. But it wasnt Mars
angry red, it was purple like spring flowers. Truly this star is a blessing. We must move
south to follow its favor.
63
DEUS X MACHINA
Chapter 9 First Contact
Its time to meet Anunnaki.
Who? Set asked.
He is the one who sent us the message about Dagon. Remember if it wasnt for
that warning we might not have gotten out in time.
Im sure we would have figured out we were heading to the Sun eventually.
They strapped themselves into the shuttle fighter and headed for the place
Leonia estimated Anunnaki had launched his rocket. While entering Nirbirus
atmosphere she noticed right away that the sky was a much deeper shade of purple
than in her vision. It must be from the effects of the new Sun.
They passed over the rubble of the Eastern Kingdom. They didnt see a soul
alive, just broken buildings and dying vegetation.
I see movement. Set observed.
Yes, I hope its them.
I dont know what you think youre going to do for these people. They are very
primitive, and after what they have been through how eager do you think they will be to
hop aboard the Nimbus?
The Nirbiruans scattered as soon as they saw the craft, and hid among the
debris. Leonia landed the shuttle and walked out on the open field. She could see no
one, but could sense many eyes on her.
Ok, now what do you have planned? You can read their language, can you
speak it?
No, I cant, but I do have a way of sending a message.
Leonia held the alpharubix high above her head and waited. Nothing. No one
stirred, although she could sense recognition of the object in the minds of some, but
mostly all she felt was their confusion.
64
DEUS X MACHINA
Then slowly, one rose from the rubble. He was a noble looking creature; much
the way Leonia had imagined him. Anunnaki stood seven foot tall, much taller than her.
His skin was grayish, later she would discover it was mostly do to the poor condition
theyd been living under since the devastation, when healthy Nirbiruans were more tan
than grey. He had large expressive oval eyes, a long nasal passage and a small mouth.
Silvery extensions flowed from his head. And although his clothes were tarnished and
dirty, she could tell at one time they had been fine garments.
He timidly raised his hand in a suspicious acknowledgement of Leonia. She
walked toward him slowly with her hands open at her side. Anunnaki also approached
slowly.
Face to face they studied each other intensely. Anunnaki extended his arm,
Leonia mimicked him. Anunnaki clasped his fingers around Leonias. She wanted to
retract her arm; she wanted to retreat. No one had ever touched her gently. This was
the most intimate moment she had ever shared with another being. Her hesitations
started to subside, and she let herself enjoy the moment.
She beckoned Anunnaki to follow her to the shuttle. Leonia was betting if they
used the ships neural links, they would be able to understand each others languages.
Anunnaki let himself be led by Leonia, although she could sense the fear in him. Once
in the shuttle she tried to use her limited knowledge of Nirbiruan script to express what
they were about to do, but it was no use, and unfortunately what she wrote came out
like I going to eat you brain. Despite this failure to communicate, when Leonia laughed
at Anunnakis reaction to her words it broke the mood. Both smiled. To Anunnaki it was
obvious; if this creature wanted to harm him she wouldnt need to ask permission.
Leonia set up the neural link on both of them.
Shes ancient, but young. Fierce, and gentle. She is the mother and the child.
The revered and the hated. She is the creator of worlds, and the destroyer. The Queen
65
DEUS X MACHINA
and the slave. She is the chaste, yet has been taken. She is the killer, yet the most
gentle. Hers is the darkest soul, yet it gives light to many.
The pain, violation, what this child has been through. This poor child. Yes, I
know your language now, and you know mine. I know where we are, and what we must
do. How your heart moves you. How you listen! If no other miracle existed, Leonia, you
exist, the child born of hate, born to serve, now leads, not as the tyrant, but in service to
my people.
Anunnaki, the young one who looked at the stars. The misfit, who challenged all
he was told. The trials you put your parents through. Then you were tested, and they
saw your worth. You fought to have your ideas on farming put in place, and you
increased the harvest ten fold. This brought great influence to your kingdom. And when
other Armies were circling in jealously of the bounty, you taught them your secrets as
well that so that all would benefit. You chart the stars, and are considered the wisest by
your people, youre known throughout the whole world. Yet you yourself feel as if you
know nothing.
Their thoughts mingled, they knew each other better than some that have known
each other for their whole lives. Now they could speak to each other. They sat together
and created a plan for the evacuation of Nirbiru.
66
DEUS X MACHINA
Chapter 10 Jumping Ship
The evacuation of Nirbiru was quickly becoming a disaster beyond measure. The
Nirbiruans had the look about them. The look when too much has happened too fast,
and the only certainty is death. They had no knowledge of spaceships, or even Space
for that matter. Everything they had know was destroyed.
Leonia organized the evacuation from the command center. We need a con-
stant flow of shuttles going back and forth from the planet. The longer this evacuation
takes the more lives will be lost.
We need more than shuttles. The shuttles are being destroyed by the Dagons.
We need fighter escorts. Set added, as he and Leonia stared at image feeds from the
surface. Coordinate was just about impossible. The first pick up was done for Anun-
nakis Kingdom. The people of the kingdom knew and respected Anunnaki. Its citizens
were used to coordinate activities at the our assembly areas. Each pick up after that
was pure chaos, more Nirbiruans were long than saved.
How many fighters and shuttles do we have?
450 shuttles and 332 fighters.
How many people do the shuttles hold?
It various Queen, there are some that can hold several thousand and other cant
hold more than a dozen.
Run the number, with the personnel and shuttles we have, how long will the
evocation of Nirbiru take? Leonia commanded.
The Drone ran the numbers as quickly as he could. Three weeks.
Factor in the rate at which the Dagons are killing those that are assembled.
How many will die?
67
DEUS X MACHINA
More than half. Wait its worse. With that factored in the evacuation will only
take 10 days, but only 20 percent of the population will survive.
Thats not acceptable?
Whats not acceptable is the death of the Drone pilots? Set shouted at Leonia,
ensuring all in the command center heard him.
Neither option is acceptable Set. Leona replied quietly. Continue the evacua-
tion was we have planned until we can come up with something better.
Yes, Queen. A Drone responded.
Safety in number only goes so far. They stood in the open for days, and the
shuttles seemed impossibly slow as they faired people to a destination they could never
imagine. Rumor abounded in the assembly camp that the Eastern kingdom had make a
deal with the invaders. A deal that would save their lives as the rest of them were taken
up to the monster kingdom in the sky to be slaughter.
And all the while the beast struck. Anyone, at anytime could be taken by talons
from the sky. It didnt take long for the anger and fear of the group to turn on those from
the Eastern kingdom how had came to help.
Leonia, watched in horror at images coming up from the surface. It was chaos,
wide spread chaos, nothing was going as planned. All eye looked to her. And she didnt
know were to look.
Alls lost. Few will be save. More a moment I thought I had survived for some-
thing, and theres this. Thousand are dying. Why did I ever think I could be Queen. Did I
ever think I could be queen.
No, I never did, not everyone knows it. Cant someone elsethink of something.
The only thingno its too dangerous. Use the Engram weapon, how could I use the
Engram weapon. Tell the Dagons to play nice. Tell the Nirbiru to get on the ship. The
weapon doesnt difference between a Dagon and Nirbiruan.
68
DEUS X MACHINA
No, no it doesnt. Thats it, it doesnt know the difference. So what can I tell them
to do, what could both of them do.
Take a nap. Give them the best rest they ever had in their life.
Amun, are you ready to save this world again.
Ready when you are.
Good, prepare the Engram weapon.
What message do we send. What thought do we change.
Sleep, a deep long peaceful sleep. Put them to sleep.
Roger.
Her plan worked. The Dagons were left to freeze. Once Nirbur moved far enough
away from the Sun, they were all frozen over as they had been for millions of years. And
the Nirbuans were pick up with amazing speed. It was a race against time, a race
against dehydration and permanent coma. What was said to have taken three weeks,
took only one, because asleep many more Nirburans could be packed into a shuttle,
and without the fear of attack the fighter too could be used as transport.
An assemble line was started. The Nirburans were picked up and packed like
cargo then flown to the hanger. From the hanger Drone continually transported the bod-
ies into the large garden area in the middle of the Nimbus. This went on without delay
for two weeks. Seven millions Nirburans were saved.
Although some Nirbiruan fell too deep into a sleep, and never woke up, and oth-
ers died of dehydration, far more survived than would have if she hadnt did what she
did. They awoke in the garden. They awoke very thirsty and confused, but alive. It took
weeks for the Nirbiruans to get an understanding of what had happened, but once they
did start to understand, they were grateful beyond words.
They accepted Leonia as their leader and Queen without hesitation or question.
Since there was no sexual difference between Nirbuans , her gender was never an is-
69
DEUS X MACHINA
sue. They sang songs and wrote epics poems about their salvation and the lizard gods
that made it possible.
Leonia was amazed at how quickly they adapted, no only to the situation that
they found themselves in, but to the technology they were exposed to. They absorbed
the knowledge the Nimbus had to offer, and although some believe they were whisked
away to a magically realm, most understood that they were aboard a ship, a ship that
was vastly overburden with occupants.
A more permanent solution had to be found. Leonia was happy to discover that
the third planet from the Sun sustain life. She sought a location were the Nurbirans
could survive, and start building a new life for themselves.
You forgot something. Anunnaki said as she discussed her plans before a new-
ly formed joined council of Drone and Nirbiruans.
Whats that, what did I forget. This river valley is perfect. The river rises yearly
to replenish the soil. The climate is warm, like on Nirbiru. Its perfect.
Its not ours, nor yours. There are people down their, sentient beings. I scouted
the area with Ammun, there are settles already along the river.
Anunnaki, I saw them too, but they are sparsely populated. There settlements
are just seasonal camps. They wander from place to place, and besides, the Nirbiruans
will be a blessing to these people. You people wont destroy them, youll teach them, be-
sides were not talking about the whole planet, just a small corner.
These people have the right to develop their own cultures without inference.
What choice do we have. The Nimbus is over burden. We must transfer some
of them to this planet.
For now, but if you wish to help us we need a world of our own. For now, we will
settle there, but we must limit our contact with the planets rightful inhabitants.
How can we do that?
70
DEUS X MACHINA
Ammun, smiles, knowing that he and Annunako have already put together a
plan. Here my Queen, a force field surrounding 1,000,000 square cubits. It wont take
much to do. We could put a field generator every 500 cubits. That would do the trick.
Would it hurt the humans?
No, they would feel uncomfortable has they approached, as will we. The farther
they came the more resistant they would face until they could go no further. But theres
no pain involved, just a strange sensation like static electricity.
OK then, thanks for letting me in on this plan of yours. Lets do it, once a sekf
sufficient colony has been established, I will take the Nimbus and search for a perma-
nent home.
Egypt was born. Named after the Nirbiruan word for blessed land, a colony
strung to life over the next few months. Farms, roads, house castles and temples all
strung up from the desert. Within a year the Nirbiraun had become self sufficient creat-
ing what look like paradise to the human onlookers. It wasnt long before the story of
the ones who came down spread over the entire world.
Leonia hated to leave for several reasons. She was proud of what they had ac-
complished in so short a time. She took pride in every crop that was planeted and every
child that was born. For the first time she felt right with herself, she had felt as if she had
found her place. She was also fearful of what lay beyond the Earths blue hue.
Where would I go? Just pick a position direction? I cant even imagine of large
the universe is. I cant even dream of what is out there? Yes, I want to know, I do, I do
almost more than anything. But to leave the warmth of this blue place, to travel in the
dark, and again to have all eye looking to me of have the answers.
Leaving Egypt was like leaving her children. She left Set to watch over the Nir-
biruan while she was gone. Although they often butted heads, she respect his intelli-
71
DEUS X MACHINA
gence and prudence. Between Set and Annunaki she had little fear that all would be tak-
en care of.
She gathered her crew from among the brightest and most adventurous of
Drone and Nirbiruans. There was even a human aboard, Enoch, a cleaver boy who had
snuck into the Egypt. All her crew had said goodbye to their family and friends who
were staying behind. For many, they knew it would be the last they would see them.
The deepest scans from the Nimbus had found several likely candidates for
habitation, based on their chemical composition. Their strategy was simple, go to the
closest first, and the largest cluster of planet, then work outward.
Ammun was at her side as they departed. His research and intellect had be the
key to so many of their successes.
Ammun, are we ready.
Yes, Queen we only await your order.
Lets do it.
And at that the ship headed off to an unknown world deep in the Sirius cluster.
72
DEUS X MACHINA
Chapter 11 Insurrection
Set looked out this balcony over the city of stone mortar. There was nothing like
it anywhere else on Earth, but in Sets eyes he compared it to the cities he knwn on the
Zhangs home world. Cities of crystal and light with building that reached high into the
atmosphere, and here all he had to look at were rocks and mud.
But the Nimbus, what I could do with the Nimbus. Damn her, I would have too. I
was in control until she came upon us. Damn her, who would have thought that a whore
bag female would take an interest in leading. She was only to be Queen until I could get
rid of her. She was to stay in the throne roomyes, but have nothing to do with the
operation of the ship. Now where is she. She has the Nimbus, and Im left with these
savages and their rocks.
But now she is gone, gone for probably centuries upon centuries. I have time,
like a prisoner has time. But Im going to use my time well.
Set watch the Nirbiruans titling the field made fertile by the Nile. Oh weak they
are. They arent even men or women but something in between. Im in joined command
of these nothing people.
They need an enemy, they need to be scared of something to be kept under
control.
No mind. A few weeks later Annuaki was at his meditation place, on top of the
mountains that bordered Egypt to the west. Cant focus today. Theres doubt, fear from
somewhere. Far in the distance were the green fields they had created. I smell reptilian
flesh. He opened his eyes to see a squadron of Dagons flying overhead. The old
fiends have returned. He quickly scuttled down from his perch atop of a column formed
from years of wind. It was too late, they saw him and were upon him before he could
73
DEUS X MACHINA
hide himself. Their talons ripped deep into his shoulders, as they carried him to the
temple they had built in honor of the Queen.
You Maggots! You thought you could best us? Berock belted from the top of
the temple. Where is the whore you built this sacrilege too?
She is gone. She searches for a new planet for the Nirbiruans. Set spoke, as
he moved out from crowd that had gathered.
Worms, here me! Was this your leader. Berock held the body of Anunnaki in
his large arms. He will be the first of many sacrifices to your new gods, and you will
have no other gods before us. Berock tore Anunnaki in half and threw his body to the
temples court yard.
If you want to live, you will serve us.
No youre wrong Alpha. If you want to live, it is you how will serve us! Set spoke
as forcefully as he could.
Now you will die. Berock growled.
Alpha, do you think that wouldnt put in place some sort of protection against
you? Did you think we did not know that you would find a way to come to Earth? We
have developed a virus and implanted it in each Nirbiruan and Drone. The virus is now
circulating through your veins, you will be dead in two days.
I dont know what you think you can gain by threatening us, besides your own
death.
It is no threat. Even now your scales are starting to turn grey. The virus is
replicating through your system, and will continue to do so unless you get a daily shot of
the antidote.
Berock look deep in the Drones eyes. How could he have known we were here.
Then he remember how they stowed away on the Nimbus. Berock was surprised that
they were never found, so many thousands hidden in shuttles and cargo bays. Stolen
74
DEUS X MACHINA
ships that were never accounted for. He must have known. He must have let it
happened for this very reason. There is a cold ambition in your eye Drone, give me the
medicine now or die.
I will, if you leave after, and remember I am the only one who knows how to
make the anecdote, if I die, you all die.
It was in this way that Set became the ruler of the Alphas. The Nirbiruans at first
embraced Set for subduing the Dagons, but soon discovered that Sets ambition
including ruling far more than Egypt. The Dagon were allowed to hunt humans, and use
them as they had the Drones. Berock has humiliated, and retreat by himself to South
American were he set himself up as the terrible blood god of the Mayan people.
Anunnaks body was left broken on the temple courtyard. When they went to
retrieve it they found it was gone. This lead to wild speculation that Nirbiruans, that he
would return as a god himself and drive out the Dagons once and for all.
75
DEUS X MACHINA
Chapter 12 -Desolation
Desolation.
Leonia flew the shuttle over the dead world.
There is nothing left.
Queen, Im reading heavy concentrations of radiation. It isnt natural, there was
a war here. Amunn said, as he poured over the shuttles sensors readings.
I know, I can feel it. Their ghosts speak to me. They destroyed themselves.
How do you know it wasnt an external invader?
Because of whats left. Look at the readings, the planet is teeming with valuable
minerals and energy sources. Invaders would have taken that.
Im picking up a signal, deep within a mountain range. Its a trace marker for
biological life. Do you think there can be survivors?
Its worth a look Amunn. Can our environmental suite protect us.
Yes, Queen.
When you are going to call me Leonia?
You are my Queen, now and forever. How can I call you anything less?
As you wish. Theyre always stuck on titles. I guess its what they need, some
sort of reassurance, a Queen, a leader. But why? Do they think Im any different from
them? Im not. Im just Leonia, but they put me on this throne. They put a distance
between me and them. All do, except Anunnaki.
Leaving him behind was so hard, it was the right choice though. I guess, he is
the one that I put on a throne. And yes, I do need that. I need to believe that theres
something about him. That somehow hes in touch with the forces of the universe. Is
that how they see me, they couldnt be more wrong? Could I be wrong? I dont what to
think about that, so yes, we all need our idols.
76
DEUS X MACHINA
Amunn landed the shuttle at the foot of the great mountain from which he
detected the signal. It was a heavily fortified structure with no easy way in.
This must be some sort of bunker.
Any idea how we can get inside? Asked Leonia.
Not through the door, but Im detecting a cave nearby, it goes fairly deep into
the base.
They put on their environmental suites. Amunn took several types of sensors,
and a small hand held phase disruptor. Leonia grabbed one as well, and also strapped a
Dagon sword to her side.
Queen, if we do meet survivors, we may not want to seem too war-like.
Yes, we do. Theres only two of us.
The caves were man made, but it was obvious it wasnt designed at the same
time as the rest of the structure. The cave was made without skill or sophistication, it
was blasted using heavy explosive charges.
Looks like whoever initially survived the war want very badly to get in this
structure.
It looks like many died in the process, Leonia added, shining her light on a pile
of bones. Well have to take these back and study them to find out what type of being
once lived here.
As they progressed, there was less and less evidence of heavy blasting. The
walls started to show marks of hand tools.
We should be near the end of the cave.
Look, these people were getting more and more disparate as they continued.
The bones arent piled up anymore, theyre just left where they fell.
It must have been the radiation poisoning. It gets worst. Look heres the end of
the cave. See those marks in the wall. I believe they were made by hand. At the end
77
DEUS X MACHINA
they were clawing their way through. Amunn pulled a finger bone from a groove made
into the rock.
Look here, oh God, they died holding each other. One must have died before
the other, and yet whoever it was held on until she also died? I cant stand this. I have
to get out of hear. It was his daughter. He died a failure. He died not being able to
protect her.
They got close. Very close. Im reading a large opening less than a meter in.
It was their only hope. Their last chance to survive. The bastards, they started
this war, now they get to live. Thats not fair.
I believe we can easily burn through the wall with the equipment we have on
hand. Shall I? Queen? Queen? Are you all right?
Amunn lunged to catch her, they both fall. From the light of his helmet he can
see her face convulsing, her eyes rolls back in her head. Queen!
Nimbus! Nimbus! We need an emergency evac. Fuck, the signal wont
penetrate the cave. I have to get her out of here. QueenLeonia, can you hear me?
When fire from the sky falls. The sky, it burns, it rains. It burns. When the Sun
went out. Its over. He was watching the sky. It came to him and swallowed him. His
grandchildren will never have a chance to have grandchildren. Over and over, war after
war, peace and stance, and posing. Ceremony, solemn, like the thousand of years
weve done this. Dont mean shit. It dont mean shit.
To Amunn it was a strange language, he couldnt understand a word, but he was
happy she was speaking.
Yes, Amunn, burn through the wall. Lets meet whos inside. Her eyes start to
focus on him.
Leonia.
You said my name, thank you Amunn thank you.
78
DEUS X MACHINA
Are you OK?
I felt them, not just the ones in the cave, all of them.
I know Queen, you take the peoples trouble on your shoulders, even these
people who you dont know.:
No, I felt them, not imagined it. I felt them. There, spirits I guess. They still haunt
this place. They still mourn for what they have lost.
Can such a thing be possible?
If we can rise from slaves to become a people of our own, anything is possible.
What will we find in there? Amunn asked pensively.
Burn it, lets find out.
Are you sure? Perhaps we should go back to the Nimbus.
Burn it.
Yes, Queen.
Amunn held the instrument toward the cave wall. He focuses the spread of the
beam and sets the power, then pulls the trigger. The blue pulse strikes the rock,
disintegrating the structure in waves, smashing it into its base molecules. The metal of
the bunker was harder. Amunn had to adjust the frequency for it to burn through.
Were in. Amunn said placing the phaser back in its place. Theres no light. I
cant see. After all these years, I doubt the generators are still working.
Leonia peered in through the hole. Wait. Look there, theres a dim light.
Wait, let me
Stand aside. Leonia crawled through the narrow passage. She could see the
light more clearly now. There was a thin blue-green haze hanging at one end of a large
cluttered space. Leonia stood up and let her eyes adjust. Amunn followed, and
immediately started taking readings. Leonia started toward the source of the light. She
79
DEUS X MACHINA
felt herself step on lose objects that seemed to squish when she step on them. She
stuttered to think what she was stepping on.
The glowing haze emanated from a large object. To Leonia it looked like an open
coffin. She could tell it was opened at the top. She leaned over the side of the object
and peered through the haze.
Oh God! Leonia jumped back, she took a moment to compose herself, than
looked back in.
What is it?
Survivors of a sort. I think theyre alive in some strange way. This must be some
sort of hibernation device, but theres too many in there, they must have fought over
who would go in. Theyre in some kind of liquid, theyrefused together.
What laid before her was a mangle of body parts and disjointed features. Limbs,
skulls, unrecognizable appendages. An eye opens, a scream muted by the liquid is let
out.
We told them.
What the hell? Amunn drops his instruments and grabs his side arm. From out
of the darkness he heard movement from several locations.
They wouldnt listen, no no, not listen, now look at them.
Leonia turned on her helmets light source and shined it at the direction of the
voice. A figure scurried away.
What the hell are they? Amunn stutters, and tries to manage his fear.
Moresurvivors.
You can understand them cant you? Amunn asks.
Yes.
What do they want?
80
DEUS X MACHINA
I dont know. I dont think they know. Think about it, theyve been in here for 500
years. She pauses closes, closes her eyes. Madness. Theyre arent She
disappears in the darkness.
Leonia! Amunn stumbles for his weapon. He drops it. Theyre on him. For the
first time he can see them, Humanoid, but decayed. Their faces were sunken in and
pasty, their skin was pealing off in places. They pulls at his environmental suite, theres
hundreds of them. No theyre taking off my suite. They took my gun, I didnt even get off
a shot.
Leonia was pulled down into the space beneath the platform where the they
found the deformed survivors. Her hand was already on her sword as she went down.
She immediately trust it backwards through the creature that grab her. He didnt let go.
She twisted around, cutting the thing in two. More surrounded her, grabbing at her, she
slashed at everything that moved. A few moments later she was back on the platform,
but Amunn was gone.
Amunn! Nothing. She used the com system to track his position, knowing that
he couldnt be too far.
He tracked him to down to a oblong room, in the center was a pool that seemed
to be of the same substance as was in the coffin-like structure they came upon as they
entered. Amunn was struggling against them, his suite had been compromised and he
was gasping for air in the poison atmosphere.
Leonia leaped among them, easily cutting them down, then she turned to Amunn
he was turning grey, not moving, not breathing. She threw him over her shoulders.
Put him into the pool. It was one of them, but his face was fuller. He did not
look as dead as the rest.
Get out of my way or die. Leonia ordered.
81
DEUS X MACHINA
Put him in the pool or he will die. How do you think we survived for so long? The
liquid, it started our wars. It filled with nanomeds, sub-micron sized robots that can
sustain and repair any organic life form.
It didnt seem to do much for your race. She sneered.
The nanomeds are all we have left, within 50 years in here are food supply was
gone. Many took their own lives, others fought against each other. Some survived, if you
can call it that, but without food and sunlight theyve degenerated into what you saw.
How about you?
Im the worst of all. I was their leader. I was hibernating, when you breached the
wall I awaken.
If youre lying to me, Ill kill you. She grasped her swords as she spoke.
Im already dead. He didnt flinch. His eye seem sincere.
Leonia dropped Amunn into the liquid, and watched as he sunk beyond her view.
Dont worry, hes safe. He turned can ordered the others out, then sealed the
room. Im making the atmosphere breathable. Leonia gave him a suspicious look. You
breathe a mixed of oxygen and nitrogen dont you? So did we, but we gave up trying to
sustain that in here years ago, like I said we exist on nanomeds alone. We are the
undead.
If what you say is true, you have amazing technology. Couldnt these have cure
all of your diseases, made your population almost immortal? What happened?
Immortality, yes that was the promise and the problem. I was the leader of the
most powerful nation this planet had ever seen. We were a military, economic and
technological super power. I became their leader with the promise to kept it that way. I
told them that the last leader made to many concessions to lesser powers, I came to
office with the promise to restore our leadership role in the world.
82
DEUS X MACHINA
In truth, there was no need to restore our position. There was no threat to our
supremacy, that was until the Argo region developed the nanomeds.
I dont know how it is with your species, but for us the search for immortality has
driven us. Dying the has always been out greatest fear. Sure, holy men have told us
there is a place we go after we die, but once the Argoian scientist discovered a proven
methods of physical immortally, people easily gave up the fair tales of their religions.
Being that we were the most power nation in the power, the people looked to me
to give them that immortality. Oh we used all sort of justification for our aggression,
some political, some mortal, some religious, but no matter the pretense, we where
supposed to be the golden nation, the god fearing country, the leader of this world and
there was Argo, a small hostile country of heathens with the power of immortality under
their command. I would have been over thrown if I didnt try to grab it.
I was designed to live forever, death was never a concern of my species.
Designed huh, then you believe in a god. So did we, many god, many different
ways to believe, and then there was the Argoians, they believe in nothing except what
they could feel and test.
I dont know whether there is a god or not, but that wasnt why I said I was
designed. My kind were created to be the protectors of our masters. They designed us.
Do you still serve them?
No, I have no master, save my soul.
I see. He stopped, as if deep in thought.
Go on, sir. What is your name?
Gillium. Thats my name, but when I ruled everyone called me their leader.
Everyone looked to me to protect them, and what better way to protect them than giving
my people the key to immortality. The technology of Argo had to be ours, so we went to
83
DEUS X MACHINA
war over it. It didnt take long for the whole planet to choose sides, a world war had
broken out.
You know, we dont even know who fired the first missile, but it wasnt us. Our
defenses were set to automatically repel any attacks, and there you have it, the world
was destroyed because of our quest for immortality.
Both looked into the pool as they heard the Amunn stirring below the water.
Amunn was in the womb again, he was under water yet could breath. He felt his lungs
taking in the solution and somehow converting it into oxygen. He reached his hand out
of the liquid, but was frighten to emerge. He didnt quiet know where he was, but he
knew he was safe in the liquid. It comforted him, sang sweet lullabies in his ear.
Leonia grabbed his hands and pulled him out. He choked and split up the
solution that was in his lungs. Suddenly he felt his own fullness, the strength of his
limbs, and clarity of his mind. My god, my queen. Im alive. Im alive. Look at me! I feel
better than I every had! Leonia hugged him, and told him what happened, and then she
turned to Gillium.
Do you wish to redeem yourself Gillium?
Redemption is not possible. No, not for what Ive done, the millions I have
killed.
Whether it is or not is up to you and your god, but this technology, if given
freely, can help an innumerable amount of people. Would you give it to us? Would you
come with us to teach us how to use this technology? You can be a healer, someone
who brings life to the universe.
Gillium was silent for sometime. He closed his eyes absorbing her words. His
body started to shake, his eyes started to tear. He fell at Leonias feet. Leonia reached
her hand down and stroked his hairless head. I am a corpse, I am not a man any
longer, it is too late for me.
84
DEUS X MACHINA
Leonia bent down and whispered in his ear. It is never too late.
A month later Gillium stood proudly in one of the torpedo bays of the Nimbus.
His true form was almost totally restored, he looked so different from the zombie that
met Leonia. He stood with pride and strength in front of a vast assembly.
Gillium was possessed with notion of preserving life. He oversaw the
construction of regeneration chambers within the Nimbus. Within moment of being
installed they were put to the test. A vein ruptured, spewing the super charged liquid
which powers the Nimbus over a dozen drones. The one that had taken the brunt of the
blast had been melted to an unrecognizable stump, yet after being sumerged in the
regeneration chamber for a week, he was restored to his previous form.
Today they were sending this technology to Earth. The missile was programmed
to travel to Earth and land in the nearest safe area to Anunnaki. Gillium wept up once
again as they launched the missile. His tears were no longer than of a broken man, but
of one who believed in redemption.
85
DEUS X MACHINA
Chapter 13 Who do you pray to when your god is dead?
The disciple carried his burden, the remains of his master. The disciples name
was Thoth, and he was human. Curiosity had gotten the better of him when he first
climb this mountain almost two years ago. He had heard tales of those that came
down. He had heard that the gods had created a Kingdom of Heaven on Earth, a
paradise. He was told there was a magic wall around this kingdom which kept humans
out because they were not worthy, because they had sinned.
Thoth climbed the eastern face of the mountain that day, determine to learn the
truth. About half way up he felt a tingling, like the feeling one gets just before a
lightening storm, the force got greater and grater until he could no longer move forward.
No matter how hard he pushed, he could not get free. Than he noticed a small
formation of rocks, between the rocks was an open space. He wondered if the invisible
wall penetrated the rocks, he didnt think it did. He contoured and twisted his body and
squirmed his way through. He was right, the there was no wall blocking this opening.
When he finally reached the top of the mountain, he saw the back of a figure, a
man of sorts. Thoth approached cautiously, but with how still the body was he doubt it
was alive. The closer he got, the stranger the figure appeared. This must be a god! The
creatures long robes flowed behind him from the rock were he was perched, its head
was hooded, but its hand were visible. He saw that the skin was a deep earthen color,
but yet reflected many colors, the only time it had seem anything like it was when he
washed his hands off in the river after tarring the roof of his fathers hut. The tar left
strange rainbows in the water, just like those not reflecting off the creatures skin.
Anunnaki turned around when Thoth was just about upon him. Thoth ran and
hide. Is that what a god looks like? Anunnaki called to him in his mind, and coaxed him
out of his hiding place. You are brave human. There are those among the Nirbiruans
86
DEUS X MACHINA
and the Dagons that dont feel human belong with us. I disagree. Come with me child
and I will teach you marvelous things.
Is this your voice in my head?
Yes.
Tell me, what things will I learn if I follow you?
Come and see!
There were many things Thoth couldnt grasp, that Anunnaki tried to teach him,
and other things that came easy. Thoth learned how to read and write. Anunnaki told
him he was to be a messenger to his people. The gods have chosen me to be their
messenger! He was told that Anunnaki wasnt a god, this was one of the things that be
could not comprehend. He often wondered by Anunnaki insisted that he was no god.
Perhaps it is a test? Thoth did not know.
Now Thoth carried the body of Anunnaki up the west side of the mountain to the
place were he had found him. The demons have taken over. The Kingdom of Heaven is
lost. He went to place his body on the rock perch where Anunnaki mediated. Who do
you pray to when your god is dead. Thoth wept bitterly.
And in the mist of his grief a star fell from heaven. Thoth wasnt afraid, he
accepted any fate that the gods had laid out for him. The star broke apart as it
approached, it changed from a balls of fire into a bright white light. There was no doubt
it was heading for him, but it slowed as it approached. A cloud cradles it.
As it neared, its retro thrusters fire to slow its landing. Thoth ran in fear, but
quickly stopped himself. No, I must face this. It landed of the very stone he was
preparing to set Anunnakis body. It opened like a flower. Panels fell from the craft
revealing a large cylinder inside. Thoth meekly approached. He could feel the heat still
generating from the panels. The cylinder was just the right size for a body. The sky gods
have sent his sarcophagus. He understood immediately what he must do. He opened
87
DEUS X MACHINA
the cylinders chamber, he didnt expect the glowing liquid that him found, no matter he
did not doubt the gods. He lifted Anunnakis broken body and placed it in the liquid, he
then closed the chamber and sat on a near by rock and sang his psalm.
Where does a man go? Where does a god go?
When the spirit has left, when the body is still,
How cruel to be born, knowing youll die,
How cruel to die, leaving all good things behind
The pray helped him clear his mind, Anunnaki taught him this technique. After a
while it stopped rocking, he didnt make a sound, not even in this mind his only thought
was of this love for Anunnaki. He stayed like this for three days and nights, he stayed
like this until he knew he had stayed too long, he knew he didnt have the strength to go
back. He didnt want to anyway, who would want to be ruled by demons.
Sometime during the night he had fallen asleep, he would have stayed that way
it wasnt for the reflection coming off the lid of Anunnakis sarcophagus. Bastards,
theyve stolen his body. He shot up, but quickly became dizzy. He collapsed, Anunnaki
caught him before he hit the ground.
You come up here without food or water? Where you planning to die with me?
Master, I have die, you brought me to your heavenly Kingdom.
Looks like the same old desert to me. No were both alive. Here I brought you a
root, theres water in it, you are dehydrated?
Youre alive.
Drink, before your not.
Thoth drank the water that the root contained. He lips were so dry the moisture
stung, but his body welcomed the liquid.
How
88
DEUS X MACHINA
A gift from our Queen. She came across this technology while searching for our
new home world, the liquid told me this itself. It is a marvelous thing, I am completely
restored. In fact, Im better than I was before. Come on we have a lot of work to do. We
have to take back our kingdom.
What was it like to die?
The dying part wasnt fun, as for what came next, thats a story for another day.
We have to hide the regeneration machine before the Dagons discover it. I had a lot of
time to think in there, I have a plan, oh and thank you Thoth. I already look on you like a
son, but today you have given birth to me.
89
DEUS X MACHINA
Chapter 14 Forging steel from water
The regeneration chamber should have reached Earth by now.
Yes, Queen Im sure it has arrived.
I wish we could contact them.
We all do, we are too far now, wed be back before our signals reached Egypt.
It doesnt seem to make sense. We can travel faster than we can
communication.
Remember, we travel in subspace, our signals are stuck at light speed.
I know theyll put it to good use. Leonia said she stared out into deep space.
Amunn what out progress to the next candidate planet.
Three weeks my lady.
Any updates on our scans?
The latest still says that its a life sustaining world, but we are starting to detect
large amount of non-natural elements. This is a probably means that the planet is
already inhabited.
How wonderful it is that the Universe teems with life. I wonder what theyre like?
Each new people we come upon. It is beautiful. Each have there own view of life and
their place in the Universe.
Our former masters knew hundred of species of sentient beings, theyre all in
our data base, yet none seem that different from another. All fear death. Everyone kills
to one degree or another. It seems sentience finds itself in similar situations no matter
where it is found. Amunn speaks while still closely studying the reading received from
his scans.
Maybe, but its in the way each species deals with reality that fascinates me.
The Zhang only knew how to enslave each species, they knew nothing about the soul.
Amunn whispers. My lady, such talk still disturbs the Drones. They see it as..
90
DEUS X MACHINA
Speak freely.. She says as she turns to him.
The females back on Dagon, the ones that would make idols of clay to try to put
a spell over a Alpha they wanted to mate with.
There is no Alpha I wish to mate with.
Its not that, its the fact that there is no soul, ghost, or the like . I have seen
thousands die when I was in service with the Alphas. The soul is a superstition, like the
clay idols the other females would make.
Amunn, what is beauty?
What do you mean? Beauty is something a person finds attractive.
Is there an equation for beauty? A science to it. Why does it exist? It has no
function, there is no reason behind it, it is beyond reason.
What does that have to do with a concept of a soul?
The soul is what recognizes beauty, it is its calling card. It is proof that there is
more to existence, than existing.
Sorry to interrupt Queen, a drone offices says as he approached we are
detecting signals from the planet. Radio waves. From their degradation it appears that
were sent from the planet almost a hundred year ago, but every second we move closer
to the planet, the more recent the signals will become.
Thank you officer. She turns to Amunn. Well have to continue this
conversation later. Assembly a team of linguist to study the language. Ill be in my study,
patch the signals there as well, I want to hear then first hand.
Yes, my Queen. The Drone walks off and carrys out his orders. Leonia goes to
her study and mediates to prepare herself.
When they patched the signal through she felt as she did all those year ago
when she discovered Anunnakis rocket. She couldnt wait to see them, hear their
voices, see what they had to broadcast to the universe. Her study was turning into her
91
DEUS X MACHINA
own personal museum. The far wall housed a display case which held the things she
wish to see everyday. The collar she had worn as a slave. The codex she had used to
translate the scrolls that Anunnaki had sent. A flower the first Nirbiruan child born on
Earth gave to her, and most recently a glass jar filled with the healing liquid of the
nanomeds.
Leonia sat before the large display panel, she placed the interface helmet on and
prepared herself to enter the world that the signals created. She felts a humming in the
back of her brain as the connections were made. The signal is warm, and pours in,
filling her head with disjointed images, and static dreams. With no context, it is almost
impossible to make sense of an alien broadcast. Noise, jabbering, new sounds, she
loved it, it was harsh to her ears, but it had the unmistakable mark of being purposeful,
patterned, and a form of communication. Then within a few minutes the first images
started coming through. It may have taken this race decades to advance from
broadcasting sounds to broadcasting sounds and imagines, but as the Nimbus
approached the planet the signals they received changed in minutes.
Leonia isolated, certain imagines, trying to figure out what they looked like. She
saw a large white structure, there were objects moving on it. Could that be them, but
they dont look biological, perhaps it is some sort of costume. Move images. Yes, it was
a custom, but wait, there coming into view, thats them, yes, not that different, not that
the same. Symmetry. Always symmetry, two eyes, two ears, hum, no nose, they stand
upright, they are taller than me, always taller than me. Noble, yes, they look noble,
strong and proud. I hope theyre not killers. Wait, yes, war. Perhaps a recreation of one,
theyre fighting with swords, they must be more advance than that. Who are they
fighting, they dont look like the others, I wonder if theyre from same planet. Wait, they
are mechanical. Robots, no cyborgs. I wonder if this is fiction, a war against cyborgs. I
guess time will tell.
92
DEUS X MACHINA
The closer the Nimbus got to the planet, the more vivid the signals became.
Over and over again, the same scene was shown, in various ways, by various means.
Cyborgs had occupied the planet, stripping it of its metals, enslaving the native inhabi-
tants called the Vigants. The cyborgs were controlled by race that were never shown.
My Queen, our scientists have pieced together some of the history of the Vi-
gants. It seems they were occupied by a hostile force over two hundred years ago. The
occupation had a tremendous effect on the Vigants culture. Before this time, as far as
we can ascertain they were a fairly primitive society. They had governments and institu-
tions, but they werent very technically advance.
Much like the Nirbiruans.
Yes, Queen, although they appear to have been much more of a warrior society
than the Nirbiruans.
The invaders were after a special kind of metal, called Mexus. It has very
strange properties. It can change from a liquid to a solid at any temperature. It seems
that the invaders tried to work with the metal, but failed. Somehow, a Vigant sword mak-
er discovered how it can be worked, and began producing a large number of Mexus
swords. Mexus, it seems in its solid state is unbreakable. There seems to be a lot of
myths about how the first sword was formed.
In the years since they repelled the occupiers , they have become much more
technically advance. This is larger due to their exposure to the invaders.
Who are these invaders? Leonia asked.
Not much is known, they are only referred to as the Invaders.
Thank you Amunn, continue to keep me informed as we learn more.
The hyperspace field is failing! A helmsmen shouted.
What do you mean, failing? Leonia quipped back.
I dont know. Its like, the field isnt stable.
93
DEUS X MACHINA
The Nimbus broken out of hyperspace like a crack of lightening. They were now
cruising at near light speed in normal space.
Ill try to slow us down. The helmsmen said.
No, the force inertia will kill us. We have to stop slowing? Leonia shouted. The
bridge seems to elongate, like an ever expanding hall way. The helmsmen suddenly
was a foot ball field away.
Were going to burst. Our speed is distorting us.
Leonia didnt say another word, she jumped back into the command station and
engaged the neural interface. She could feel herself as the Nimbus, being stretched
apart, like a victim on the rack. She opened the field generates to their maximum,
spewing out the exotic particles that powered the ship in ever direction. They collapsed
back onto the hull, and began to condense it. She felt the strain lessen. Then she fo-
cused the field generates ahead of the ship. This produced an effect like diving into wa-
ter, the ship slowed the deeper it got into the field. Within a few minutes they were trav-
eling at a safe sub-light speed.
How did you do that? Amunn asked as she removed the interface.
I created a pillow for us to fall unto, but I fear were dead in the water. It will take
days for the heart to replace the particles we vented.
Yes, but were alive.
Does anyone know what happened?
No, my Queen. I dont understand it. It almost felt likewe tripped. Said one of
the science officers.
Tripped huh.
I mean
94
DEUS X MACHINA
Good work, officer Im sure we did trip. She smiled at the nervous crewmen.
Amunn, what would cause us to tripped out of hyperspace.
Nothing that I know of.
Dont tell me what you know, tell me what you could imagine. She shot back.
I guess, if we crossed another warp field it could disturb ours.
Do you think the Vigants set this up to repel another attack?
I doubt it, they dont have this type of technology yet, as far as I knew, nobody
has except us.
At maximum sub-light speed, how far are we from the planet.
Two days.
Good resume course at maximum speed sub-light speed
Queen, Im receiving signals from the planet that are only a few hours old. Their
invaders have returned. Reported a communications officer.
Make sure all weaponry is online, except for the Engram device.
Perhaps we should change course, this isnt our fight? Amunn questioned Leo-
nia. He was afraid of invaders that had the technology to build a barrier like the one they
tripped over.
How many worlds did we help enslave as servants to the Zhang? Now we are in
the position to liberate, instead of dominate.
We cant help every species we come across?
Why not? Leonia said, thinking that Amunn was starting to take the role of Set,
although this didnt bother her, he like being challenged. It made her think of a situation
from another perspective.
I thought our mission was to find the Nirbiruans a home world?
That is are mission, but are purpose is greater.
95
DEUS X MACHINA
Queen theres multiple so objects approaching at a high rate of speed. The
Tactical officer informed her.
What are they?
I cant tell, I dont think theyre bombs. Wait, theyve attached to our hull.
Theyre the cyborgs we saw in the Vigants boardcast, only these are no reproduc-
tions, theyre the real thing. Thousand of them, they landing all over our hull.
Well Amunn it looks like this is our fight now, like it or not. Imok, supercharge
the hull.
We can barely keep environmental systems running. He reported back.
Theyre boring through our hull in at least twenty different locations. Shouted
the stunned tactics officer.
I guess it is going to be a ground fight. Get a security team to each of those lo-
cations.
Queen, we arent trained for his. The crew has minimal combat training.
Were going to have to learn and fast. Boardcast this to the entire ship.
Yes, Queen your patched in.
Crew of the Nimbus, we are under attack. Cyborgs are boarding the ship. Get to
the closest Armory pick up a weapon and fight. I dont care if youve never handled a
weapon in your life. Nows the time.
Queen, they look a little like mechanized Dagons.
Yes, Ive noticed that too. Imok, organize the resistance.
Queen, theres reports of fierce fighting in several locations.
Queen, they come to our location. Nothing seems to slow them down.
Queen!
96
DEUS X MACHINA
The hatch to the bridge is blow out and a spawn of cybrogs fall upon them. The
machines are crouched like bugs, and move like with an unsurpassed agility and swift-
ness. They are obviously metallic, but yet flexible in their movement. They appear as if
they are made of steel snakes which form a frame reminiscent of the Dagons. Leona
realizes as soon as she sees them attack that her crew doesnt have a chance. Every
motion they make is purposeful and sure. They move so fast they are hard to perceive.
Imok gets off a single shots before he is taken down, but the shots hits. Damaged,
these things are not indestructible. But they only killed him, he was the only one armed.
In another moment they are upon Leonia, she does not resist. They inject something
into her, she can feel her muscles tense up.
Wait. Invaders! Let me address my ship, I will tell them to surrender.
The metal monster understands her, he opens a channel. Leonia feel her moths
tensing up, she know she only has a minute.
CrewofNimbus. Dont fight anymore. Surrender is the only chance for
ustoliv Locked, she couldnt move a muscle. All she could do was breathe, and
move her eyes. With mechanical precision, the Invaders rounded up the crew of the
Nimbus into the ships hangers. Leonia was determined to obverse everything she
could about the invaders. Damn it, I didnt even fight. I cant do anything. What have I
brought us to. Greater purpose, I just gave these Invades most powerful ship the
galaxy. I cant let this happenbut it already has happened.
The Invaders ships enters the hangar. The crew was taken aboard and sent to
various prison camps throughout the solar system. No distinction was given to Leonia,
she was brought to a prison camp on the homework of the Vigants, and placed in a
recovery center where she is processed.
Although the Invaders didnt treat her any differently than the other POWs, the
Vigants couldnt keep their eyes of Leona. One Vigant timidly walked up to her as she
97
DEUS X MACHINA
lay on the examination table. He touched her Ankh, holding it his hands for a moment,
then he heard the invaders coming and quickly retreated.
The cyborgs moved the slab with her body on it. They did not look at her, She
looked up and saw the powerful metal cables that entered into their heads. She
wondered how hard it would be to break them. They put her in a featureless room, then
injected her with something and quickly left. Within moments Leonia could feel herself
regain control of her body.
Once get got off of the slab it melted into the floor. A large square object
appeared before her and then she heard a voice in her native language Lift the object.
Lift the object? She weighted her options. No doubt this is part of a test. So if I dont do
what they instruct, then what, they kill me quick, and if I do what they say I might
learned more about them, and what theyre after.. She lifted the object. The voice repeat
the command, but this time the object was slightly heavier, this continued for some time
until she was unable to lift it.
Use the objects you see in front of you to create this object. Hum a geometry
test. OK, lets get on this. The tests continued through a series cognitive and
intelligences tests. By this point, hours had pasted, and her strength was starting to fail
her.
A young Vigant girl entered the room. She stared at Leonia, but didnt say a
word. Leonia stared back, motionless. Leonia sat down, crossed legged, the girl follow
suite.
Are you a lizard? The girl asked.
Yes.
Are you going to eat me?
Naw, youre too small, you wouldnt make much of a meal.
I dont know why they sent me in here?
98
DEUS X MACHINA
Maybe to see if I would eat you.
Do you know where my Mommy and Daddy is?
No, Im sorry I dont.
How come youre a lizard?
Thats just how I was made.
How did you get here?
I came in a space ship?
Like the invaders?
No, not like them. I came you help you?
Well you find my Mommy and Daddy?
If I can, but I havent done a very good job so far. All Ive done is manage to get
my crew captured.
Theyre calling me. I have to go?
What happens if you dont.
They do bad things?
Stay here, with me lets see what happens?
I cant bad things will happen?
What type of bad things.
Were going to die. There was a rumble, the walls moved closers.
How did you come in? Said trying to calm the girl.
I dont know! Im scared. They just, they just put me in here?
Oh God. What do ?. Leonia desperately searched the walls from a door, or any
feature she could pull or tug on. Nothing. She put her back to the wall, the force was
unbelievable, there was no stopping the walls. The little girl jumped into her arms. Ah,
her warmth. She shook in fear, the walls room were closing in fast, they were now less
than her body length apart. She pushed with her legs, and back. This is how it ends? I
99
DEUS X MACHINA
survived everything for this? She held the little girl tightly, she could feel her little body
pushing against her and the ankh around her. It tingles, my ankh it feels different.
Theres something on it, something soaking into my skin. I can feel it move through my
body. Up, in my brain. I know it, I can move it, I feel it. The Mexus metal pour from her
pours and began covering her scales. With seconds the metal covered her entire body.
It felt like she was forging steel from water. The walls gave way, she broke through into
a hallway. She was still protecting the little girl in her arms.
Do you know where youre parents are? The girl said nothing, she just clung to
Leonia. Ok, OK, I have to find a place to hide you. Dont worry, Ill come back for you,
then Ill find your parents. Do you understand.
No, no I dont want to let go.
If you stay with me now, you will die and youll never see youre parent again.
Now quickly, before they come, Im putting you in this air shaft. I crawl until you count to
ten, then stay put. Hurry, they wont find you. Leonia carefully bent the vent back, then
placed the girl inside. Youll be safe, Ill be back as soon as I can. Leonia place the
vent back in place and ran down the hall. Around the corner she was met by a squad of
the Invader cyborgs, they fired, but their blast bounced off her armor. Leonia formed the
Mexus into a sword, and cut through their lines, leaving a pile of broken metal and fluids.
She continued on her way, not knowing exactly what to do next, just knowing she
had to keep moving. I what do I do? What cant I do, with this Mexus. I can liberate the
whole camp, theres nothing they can do to stop me. Within am hour the camp was
liberated.. caputed Vigant warriors can up to her and touched her, a Mexus sword
formed in the hands of each one that did. Once it was safe she went back to where she
placed the girl, she wasnt there. Leonia was beside herself, and ordered the freed
Vigants to search for her.
100
DEUS X MACHINA
We are grateful beyond words for what you have done, but we must move fast.
Theyll be here with reinforcements within the hour. Regent, who was a captain of the
resist told her.
I made a promise to protect the girl. We are not leaving until we find her.
Perhaps she was scared, she might have wander through the ventilation
system. I will send two dozen men to search for her, but no more. We have a lot of work
to do we must commandeer all the weapon and ships available to us here.
Regent, all your warriors have the ability to form the Mexus. Why dont you
create armor as I did?
It is a mystery to us, how you achieved what you did. Ive never seen such a
thing, Mexus is either liquid or solid, never flexible as it is. How did you do it?
I imagine the same way you formed your swords, I felt the Mexus enter my
body, once it reached my brain I was able to join with it?
The Mexus doesnt enter our bodies.
I see, perhaps my physiology is different. Regent, help me retake my ship, and
free my people, and we will retake your planet.
I am grateful to you Lizard Queen, but I cant be concerned with your ship right
now. The invaders have thousands of ships, one ship will mean nothing against them.
Regent, this ship is different. It wont take long for the Invaders to figure out just
how powerful it is, with it they could easily take this planet and a thousand like it.
How can that be? Regents deep purple eyes stared into Leonias.
It has a weapon aboard, it can write thoughts into peoples minds, or erase
them. A planet can be conquered without firing a shot.
Regent was quiet, stared down in thought for a moment. Write thoughts? Is that
possible? He sighs. It never is easy, is it? You right, with that type of power we wont
101
DEUS X MACHINA
stand a chance against them. Although, maybe with that type of weapon they wont have
such a thrust for mexus.
Regent, even if they left your planet for now, it would only be a matter of time
before they came back and conquered your, and thousands more.
Even if I agree with you, I doubt the rest of the resistance would.
They will, for in exchange for helping get the Nimbus back, Ill teach your people
how to form Mexus armor for themselves.
102
DEUS X MACHINA
Chapter 15 The Submission of Berock
I will not be a slave you to you, slave. Berock grunted at Set.
Im not asking you to be a slave. I want you to be my general. The top Alpha.
Set was not phased at the Dagons anger.
I will not serve a Drone.
Then I will find a Dagon who does, and you will die. Its a simple choice, but I
need your loyalty.
Why, so you become the new Zhang?
Dont be so short sighted. Leonia will return with the Nimbus. In the mean time
we tighten our grip on this planet. Once she returns, then we rule, not just this planet,
but many many more. And the Dagon will not just be hired guns, you will rule.
But you Drone, you will be emperor.
Yes, it will happened. Your choice is whether you wish to be a part of it, or a
victim of it.
And I will be general of the Dagons.
Yes, there is no more respected warrior than you.
Ok, I will swear to you, with more loyalty than I ever served the Zhang. I have
one condition. I want the female Leonia. She is the last female, if our race is to survive
she must be mated with, and it must be my seed.
I can think of no fate more befitting her. And with that Set sealed a relationship
that would keep the Dagon under Sets control for thousands of years.
Anunnaki and Thoth waited until dark to slipped back into Egypt. The streets
were deserted except for the Dagons that patrolled them. It is good to be a ghost, no
one looks for you.
What is your plan Master?
103
DEUS X MACHINA
Am I your master? Do I command you, or do I instruct you?
You instruct me.
Do I show you love?
Yes, more than I have ever known.
have I called you my son.
Yes, Im greatly honored.
Than what shall you call me.
Thoths eyes brightened. Can I call you Father.?
Anunnaki smiled. Of course son. I would like that, and to answer you question, I
will ask you a question. What are they doing in the temple?
Sacrifices to the Dagon. Any Nirbiruan who is not following the rules is thrown to
them, and destroyed just as you were.
This is an evil time, I believe it is possible for us to wrestle back power from Set,
but I dont think it would be wise. The cost in lives would be too great.
What should we do?
Stay in these hills, help those when we can, but mostly wait and watch.
For what Father.
Leonias return. Then all things will be put right.
104
DEUS X MACHINA
Chapter 16 The Sadness of Neglected Flowers
She reach out for her. Silently, waiting to hear her voice. The Vigant night sky
was clear, and sat in her mediation position high among the huge trees native of their
planet. Thats where most of the Vigants lived these day, high in the roof of the forest,
as their ancestors did thousands of years ago. She did not sense a thing, she didnt
have to Regent tapped her on the shoulder.
Leonia, would that be it?
She broke out of her meditation to see the Nimbus reflecting the light from the
systems sun. There was no mistaking it, there was the Nimbus orbiting the planet like a
cigar shaped moon. She ran up and hugged Regent.
Yes, yes, thats her. Lets get to our ships!
Leonia, from all you told me about his ship, well be swatted like so many flies.
Know we need a plan.
The plan is I take it back. Look its there I feel like I can almost jump to it. Jump
to it!. Wait, maybe youre right, but I do have an idea. I do need one of your ships
though.
What is it? How strange. How can I have such feelings for this alien, this lizard,
yet she iswonderful.
I need one of your fighters, youre not going to get it back, but if this works, it
may add a whole new dimension to your use of Mexus.
And if doesnt work?
You lose a ship.
Regent took her to the hidden fleet of fighters, covered by the large roots of the
trees on the forest floor. The roots of these giant tree snaked in and out of the ground,
in some places creating enough room for a hangar.
105
DEUS X MACHINA
She studys one of the fighters propulsion system. Not very advanced. That
might be a good thing. The fighter was propelled by creating an electro magnetic field
within a turbine. The field excites the particles that are pulled into the intake and shots
them out as jet thrust.
Leonia touches her ankh, and feels the modules of Mexus enter through her
skin. It spreads through her body, and pours back out through every pore. Once she is
completely covered she touches the engine of the fighter. She is motionless for a few
moments. Yes, I can feel the material this engine is made out of. I can feel the
arrangement of molecules within it. She tries to extend her Mexus covering to one of
the fighters engines. It takes all of her concentration, but slowly the Mexus begins
merging with the composite materials of the engine. She feels like shes coaxing a shy
animal to drink from a stream. She cant push too hard, but she must encourage it.
After about an hour the entire engine is covered. She can feel how it work, she
can feel the mechanics of it. Now for the hard part. She begins to pull back from the
engine, trying to maintain the form and structure of the engines. Its no good. As she
pulls away from the engines she loses the form. She extends the mexus over the
engines again. This time she pulls back with the Mexus without letting the engines go,
they rip from the ship. The Mexus crushes them, but retains their shape as she pulls
them to her body. I told them itd cost them a fighter. It created a much smaller version
of the engines than would support the ship, but theyll support her just fine.
Leonia, whathow did you do that? Regent sees Leonia covered in her armor,
with small versions of the engines attached to her back.
Im not really sure, but shh, nows not the time, Im concentrating.
No what on With a thunderous sound the engines whirl to life. Flying! She
says as she shoots into the sky.
106
DEUS X MACHINA
Through her connection with the Mexus she can fell the workings of the engines
theyve created, but feeling them working and controlling them are two different things.
Shes not even sure how they are being powered, but one thing is for certain she is
flying up, shes now high enough to see the Nimbus in the distance skirting the
atmosphere. The higher she gets, the harder it is for her to breathe, she only
constructed the propulsion system, not the life support system. Stupid, what in the hell
did I think I was doing? I got this far, I have to get to the ship and fast before I pass out.
Get to the ship! She makes the engines push her as fast as they will go aiming for the
immense ship.
She hit the ships stern like a missile, blasting through several decks before
coming to rest in the garden area. So eerie with no one around. It had only been a
couple of weeks, but gardens already looked overgrown and abandoned. The sadness
of neglected flowers.
The dozens of flexible metallic tubes rub together, make the Invaders croak as
they walk. She hears them approaching her position. She retracts the armor covering
her face and takes in a large gulp of air. It took tens minutes for her to reach the
Nimbus, ten minutes with no air. Her lungs expand and dull stars dot her vision. No
time. She draws her swords and heads toward the approaching Invaders. Her slashes
crackle as she easily slices through them. Not far now. I have to get to an interface port.
I have to join with her.
She feels it in the back of her neck first. The pressure, then the pain. It has a
sickening warmth that moves through her body, within a second she is on her knees
wrenching, trying to expel the contains of her stomach, but there arent any. She cant
hold her armor together, shes left heaving on the floor as the Invaders carry her off.
Oh can it penetrate my armor. It doesnt, the waves it creates does.
107
DEUS X MACHINA
Your choice is simple. Tell us how to control the Mexus, and the Engram
weapon, and well live this planet for good, plus no harm will come to this little girl. It
was the girl she saved, the thing had her by his tentacles. It was obvious that the
creature could break the girls neck without flinching.
The creature! Somehow it was so familiar. It look almost like.Zhang! Leonia
was speechless. Could it be! Could have they survived all these billions of years.
Chose now, or Ill break this little brat in half.
Zhang! You are Zhang, arent you?
Leonia could tell her comment had puzzled the creature, of all the things he
thought she would say that wasnt one of them. The creature squeezed the girl neck a
little harder, she let out a garbled squeak.
Wait. Kill her and Ill never tell you your origins. The face of the creature wasnt
humanoid, but she could tell it was confused. You dont know do you? I can tell you
dont, but just by looking at you I can tell you are Zhang. Some things have changed,
they had to have, it was billions of years ago, and God knows how far away. Youre
bigger than your ancestors, youre skin isnt as translucent, but it all fits. You use these
Invader androids, just as the species you evolved from used me?
Whatever trick youre trying to play is not going to work on me, now tell me what
I want to know.
What do you about your origins? What planet are you from? How many genetic
markers do you share with the other of that planet.
The creature loosen the grip on the girl. We are descendant from gods, the
gods created us to rule, she share no DNA with the other inhabitants of our world.
108
DEUS X MACHINA
Yes. Yes. Those gods created me too. Check the rate of atomic decay of my
scales, you will see that I am billions of years old. Your gods created me, and the
drones to serve them.
We are the gods only creation, you know nothing of the Truth.
Tell me, tell me about you gods.
The Truth is only for the Chosen People, not for slaves like you.
Billions of years ago, slaves like us destroyed your gods. I have no doubt that
some of the Zhang survived on the outer worlds that they conquered. Over the years the
story of your origin was lost to you. This ship holds that answers you seek. This ship
was once controlled by your gods.
Enough. Tell me what I want to know.
Drop the girl first.
I decide whether or not this girl lives, not you, but before I decide tell me how
you control the Mexus.
I dont really know, it just responds to me...its a mind metal. Once the
molecules enter my blood stream, I can feel them, I can feel them in my mind and am
able to moved them as I wished.
Have you ever tried allowing the metal to permeate your skin. I believe I can
teach you, Ive instructed some of the Vigants on its use, but I need something for you
first. I need you to let go of the girl.
Forget it, if you can control Mexus, then youll use it against me the second I let
her go.
Than it appears we are at an impasse, what to you suggest we do?
As she spoke she let a single drop of Mexus emerge from her foot, she moved it
with her mind to the base of the creature. Amazing, I never thought I could control it
without touching it. I most have formed some sort of bond with it.
109
DEUS X MACHINA
No more of this, she dies, this is your last chance.. The Mexus entered the
creature through its gelatinous tentacles. She can feel the metallic molecules moving
through its blood stream, when the metal is evenly dispersed, she sends them shooting
out of his body. Ugh.. The monster makes a guttural sound as it melts into a shapeless
mount of ooze.
Leonia comforts the girl, holding her tight and stroking her hair. Its OK, its
over. I wish it were, I still have to get rid of the Invaders and find my people. Its dead,
its not going to hurt you anymore. But I need to take care of those Invaders, before they
come in here. I know he posted guards right outside the door. I have to move fast. I
need you to be quiet OK.
She nods her head weakly. Good. Im just going to talk to the ship now.
Ahh to feel the ship again, feel her again. Leonia sat in her command station and
pushed the back of her head into the interface receivers. There is no physical
connection, no is needed. The electronic impulses bounce back and forth through the
skull, the receivers only enhance them. Immediately she felt the systems of the ship
surge through her body. There are thousands of them. And a few more Zhang, or
whatever they call themselves. Oh to get rid of them. Perhaps I can send an
electromagnetic pulse through the ship, it would have to be powerful enough to knock
out every electron in their metal bodies.
The Invaders are well shielded against EMP. The Nimbus provided Leonia with
instant feedback to her thoughts.
Is it possible to give them a group command.
The Invaders are not centrally controlled. They are fed orders, but operate
independently. We do not know the protocols of their command structure, must likely
any order we give would be disregarded.
Damn, another dead end.
110
DEUS X MACHINA
The Engram weapon, program it to make the Zhang onboard order the Invaders
to retreat.
Reprogramming the Engram weapon to match the Zhang-like creatures neural
structure would require weeks of study.
Damn!
Nimbus, lock out all controls expect for this interface. Seal off the bridge were
going to have to do this the old fashion way.
Have they integrated their data with yours.
Yes.
Great! Thats one thing anyway. Give me the schematics for the Invaders.
Data enters her minds, she feels it pouring in. gaining information using this
methods feels like remembering.
Damn, it makes no sense to me, I wish Amunn was here.. It seems like Im
going to have to do this one myself. Create a path directly into the engineering lab, once
Im inside close it off.
The Interface Helmet lifted form her head. You know, I dont even know your
name? Leonia said to the little girl.
Avanel. She said shyly.
Ok, Avanel, this time you must listen to me. Follow me into my planning room,
and stay there. You must not leave this time. Do you promise?
Yes, Leonia I promise.
Good, Ill be back, I just have to take care of these Invaders, but dont worry I
have the Mexus, and after I get done modifying it in the lab, theres nothing that will be
able to stop me.
Leonia led the girl into her study, then followed the path the Nimbus made for her
down to the main engineering lab. Leonia was no engineer, she didnt have to be, the
111
DEUS X MACHINA
lab was designed to instantly prototype just about any item a person could imagine, from
the simplest of directions, the different this time is that she was creating a prototype on
herself.
She laid herself on the work table, robotic arms hung just above her. Nimbus,
this is going to be tricky, there is a metal within my body, I can form that metal into
whatever I desire, I have been making the Mexus cover by body, but thats all it does. I
need full armor, with temperature control, a propulsion system, communication, and
weaponry. If you design it, I can instruct the Mexus to take its form. Dont specify any
type of materials, just specify the physical properties required for each part. Once this is
complete download the schematics into my brain.
It didnt take long for a squadron of Invaders to assemble on the other side of the
blast door. With there focused fire, it wouldnt take them long to get through.
The computer systems aboard worked fast, but to Leonia it felt like an eternity.
Finally she felt the pressure of the schematics enter her mind. The Invaders broke
through the door, she didnt have a moment to think, to reflect, to plan how she was
going to implement the design, she just became the design, and as the Invaders broke
into the lab she fired a tightly focused graviton wave at the mid section of the advancing
Invaders. They fall to the floor as lifeless hunks of the metal. Her designed worked
perfectl and within an hours we retook her ship.
Once she had regained control of the Nimbus, it didnt take her long to rescue
her crew, the citizens of the Nimbus, and drive the Invaders back to whatever part of
space they came from. Leonia, once again became the savior of a people, she was
beginning to think she had a purpose in the Universe.
When Amunn finally got a chance to study the Mexus, he discovered something
that many long expected. The Mexus was alive, although he could see how. He thought
that all life had to be carbon based. Carbon was such a mutable element, the perfect
112
DEUS X MACHINA
base from which life should grow, no other element fits the bill so well, and no serious
biologist would ever considered that a metal, a mineral, could spawn life. But here it is,
in front of Amunn, under the microscope, metallic cells dividing, growing changing.
What still eluded Amunn was how this metallic life could possibly interact with the
thoughts of Leonia. There seemed no answered, not one based in science anyway.
Leonias only failure was that she could not find Avanels parents. No one seems
to have remembered them, or the girl. After the liberation of Vigant, Avanel didnt want
to say with her own people, she didnt want to leave Leonia.
Avanel, if you have any chance of finding your parents it wont be on the
Nimbus.
The little girl didnt look up. She twisted the brad of her doll between her fingers.
Avanel, they wont find you parent will they. Leonia asked carefully.
She shook her head. She could hear the sobs shuttering her small frame. Leonia
sat next to her and put her arm around her. She knew the truth would be painful, she
braced herself for the truth.
Leona, Im so scared, so scared. Avenal said, looking up at Leonia.
Scared of what? The invaders are gone, theres nothing to hurt you now.
You may have to?
Why would I have to?
Because they made me and it gets worst.
Leonia raced herself what was she feared was coming.
I wasnt really sure, but I think they can see what I see. Sometimes, I think they
tell me things. Sometime I Avanel stopped, the color drained from her face, and her
eyes became dull.
Avanel, whats wrong, whats going on?
113
DEUS X MACHINA
I dont know, Im scared, Theres something happening within me. Somethings
wrong.
Avanel went limped, Leonia carried her tiny body to the medical staff. The poor
little thing lay on the large examination table. The drone scientists worked quickly, the
little girls vitals were fluctuated wildly. Queen, theres a building chemical reaction
going on with this little girl, its something extra-biological and growing.
Can you stop it?
We dont know what it is. She full of toxins and volatile chemicals.
I know, Amun said as he walked in Look at the make up of those chemicals,
she being reconfigured.
Reconfigured for what? Leonia asked.
To be a bomb, and by the rate of the change, we dont have much time,
perhaps only a few seconds.
Her eyes where listless and unfocused, but for a moment she stared at Leonia.
Dont let me die.
Amunn, we need to defuse this bomb and save this child.
The chemical reaction occurring within her will go critical within a minute. She
will create enough of an explosion to destroy the Nimbus, we have to get her out of here
NOW!
God Damn bastard God. Universe, you shit. You fucking nothing. She grabbed
the child from the table. What has ever caused this to be I will destroy. Not just the
Zhang, the Invaders. A universe that allows such a thing to happened shouldnt be
allowed to exist. An alterative must be found.
What are you doing? The jolt of being whisked through the decks of the
Nimbus made Avanel more awake.
114
DEUS X MACHINA
They made you into a living bomb, theres no way to stop it. If you blow up
within the ship youll kill everyone on board.
Am I going to die?
Yes.
Will you stay with me?
Waityes, I can stay with you, yes I will, I doubt the blast can destroy the
Mexus.
Were are we going?
In space, away from the Nimbus?
Will it hurt?
Not for long. Leonia said as she raised the Mexus armor and blasted out of the
hangar. The air was immediately sucked out of Avenels lungs once she hit the vacuum
of space. She closed her eyes as her skin began to freeze. Leonia held her as tightly as
she could as she sped away from the ship. Nothing, there was no explosion.
Amunn!!!! Where is the explosion that was supposed to happen? Leonia asked
she is held the frozen corpse of the girl.
The cool temperatures of empty space slowed down the chemical reactions
going on within her. They are still taking place, but it might be years before she
explodes. She hear Amunns voice on the COM link.
Good, then, send out a vacuum chamber, if we can keep her like this we can
figure out of a way to save her.
Leonia, shes dead.
The nanomeds can repair her.
The nanomeds, just like the chemicals within her, cant work in temperature
nearing absolute zero.
nothing is impossible, we will find a way.
115
DEUS X MACHINA
Leonia, there is not way, its a no win situation.
Fuck you, Im bring her back in. Theres no such thing as a no win situation.
She never saw the energy weapon fire, she only felt the blast. Avenel
disintegrated in her arms, Leonia was send spinning into deep space, unconscious.
What have I done. I did what I had to, didnt I. Didnt I? For the briefest of
moment he thought about not recovering Leonia. The fact that he had such a thought
frighten him.
Amunn took a shuttle and retrieved, but Leonas relationship with Amunn was
never the same after that moment. For many years after Leonia was despondent,
showing little interest in the mission or anything else for that matter But eventual, over
the thousand year course of her mission, and millions of experiences and challenges,
the intensity of losing Avanel lessened, but the pain never truly went away.

Chapter 17 There are Patterns Everywhere
Something, Theres something. There are patterns everywhere. History doesnt
make sense. All empires fall. Why? How could a band of barbarians take down the
Roman Empire. Why would the president invade Iraq? It makes no sense, unless its
part of something bigger.
Josh walks to the window. He looked out to the commons. It God damn March
why is it snowing. Can we ever get a break? The funny thing is, it doesnt matter. The
weather doesnt matter, the patterns I think I see doesnt matter. Nothing I think or do
matters.
He lays back down onto his. The ceiling. Popcorn ceiling, randomly shot
sprayed, without thought, without any meaning, and now years now hes stared at it.
116
DEUS X MACHINA
Tomorrow is another day, hiding in my office hoping the phone doesnt ring. Oh,
yes, having problems printing. Dante forgot the circle of hell that has theologians using
computers. The God is not in the machine.
Nothing makes sense to me, nothing seems right. I wonder if they can up with a
name for this feelings. The matrix complex maybe. Maybe its a form of autisms.
I survive because Im scared not to. I stopped watching TV three months ago. I
stopped watching the News. Why is it such a bad thing not to care? The rolling story of
humanity. Disease, whats brewing in Africa these days. Hong Kong. Whats killing the
chickens? Whos eating who in the Congo. What wave is hidden under the ocean, ready
to eat the cost line. What despot is killing to keep his power? Why. What is power? I
know I have no power sitting here in my dorm room, but if I did if I could move anything
with my mind, what would I do? What would I do if I could do anything? Make God real.
Make God nice. Make us live forever, why is that so hard.
His brain hurts, his eyes are tired. Theres a swirling confusion in his brain. He
closes his eye and stinking into sleep. Feeling the fan blow on him. Feeling the hard air
blow against his face. Smelling the newly fertilized soil of the Nile. And it was good. But
hes worried. She gone. He hasnt seen her for days. He feels ridiculous in the robes
she makes me wear. He feel like a peacock. He misses the clothe of a workman. But he
would do anything for her. Say anything. Fight anyone, and she been gone for two days.
She didnt tell anyone where she was going. Even look to him as if it was his fault. He
hardly notices. He walks their earthy palace alone. He doesnt venture out, but has sent
his servant to see what they can find.
Master Orisis the Queen has sent a message she is to address the people from
the temple.
Did you talk with her.
No a disciple of Anunnaki told me. You are to be there.
117
DEUS X MACHINA
I shouldnt go to temple services, there too many jealous eyes.
You will deny your Queen?
Of course not. II just hope she know what shes doing.
The temple was placed to catch the raising light in it court yard, and the setting
Sun in its inner sanctums. The Sun was setting now. The mirror columns bounces the
light around as if to hold on to it for as long as it can. Osiris paced in the from in the
inner sanctum. Thoth, the adopted human son of Anunnaki.
They make gods of us all.
Thoth, I dont want to be a god, I just want to be able to love her. Thanks all.
To love a god, you must become a god. Thoth walked out to address the
waiting crowd. They accepted him much more than Osiris. Thoth gain his respect my
long years of study with Anunnaki. Orsis was a commoner, who over night seemed to
become the Queen main consort. Osiris couldnt hear what Thoth was saying, but he
heard the cheer of the crowd.
The wild smoke of incenses filled the air with scented erotica. Orisis felt himself
being overcome by the smokes effect. It warmed him, like Leonia warmed him. He
stared from the shadow out toward the thousands that have gathered. A figured strode
passed him. She was covered from head to toe in white linen. She walked right passed
him, and walked out where the crowds could see her. They cheered, but he could feel
there discomfort in her appearance.
She motion back to Osiris, he timidly walked forward. The crowd went silent,
tense in their anticipation. She spoke.
I have happily given everything I have for my people. What cant we accomplish
together. What havent we accomplished together. There is so much that weve survived
together. Together we built a country, a nation. That nation was destroyed by the evil
one. This planet that some of us adopted, and some of us had spawn from was almost
118
DEUS X MACHINA
destroyed by the flood. Yet here we are twenty year hence and we have rebuilt our
country, bigger and greater than it was before. I have watched the loves among you, I
have watched the children born from you. All with joy, but almost with, I have to admit a
small pang of jealously. You have all been my children, and I have more than any one
could ever ask for.
When your children wish to be married they come to you to ask for permission. I
am breaking with that tradition. You are all my children, yet I am asking you for
permission. You now have a choose. Keep me as your Queen, and share in the joy of
my love for Osiris, or find another.
Orisis was standing next to her, He couldnt believe the world that where coming
from her month, She was tempting a coup. Perhaps by tempting a coup she is avoiding
one. Osiris could feel the hearts of the peoples go out to their Queen. Yes, they would
accept it. He heard their cheer, crying out the ancient blessing for a marriage. Anunnaki
walked behind them. He was dressed in the ceremonial marriage robe. We are to be
married, but why cover herself. It would give her people so much comfort just to see her
face. She held out her hand, for his hand. This is the point in the ceremony where the
ropes are joined. He smile, but the smile quickly left him as he felt her warm mammalian
skin. What has she done. It makes sense now, this is my she wanted to do this at
sunset. The people couldnt see her hand. What did she do to herself. How was this
possible.
Anunnaki stepped aside so that Leonia and Osiris were in full view. Behold your
Queen. He pulled the linen from her. My God shes beautiful. Shes done this for me.
The crowd grumbled. Boos were heard.
Leonia spoke. Behold your King. NO, NO dont, dont this. Leonia, they kill us,
Youve just given away your throne. We have no chance. We have no.
119
DEUS X MACHINA
Arragh. Joshua wakes up sweating. Again. He looks for at the clock. 3AM.
He knows he wont be able to go back to sleep.
120
DEUS X MACHINA
Chapter 18 Empire Earth
Ashes flew from the offerings. The Nirbiruans that refused the supreme authority
of Set and the Dagons, where torn apart then eaten, their remains throw into altar as a
holocaust to the Dagon gods. The Dagons had no gods, besides themselves, they
wanted to ensure neither did the Nirbiruan or the Humans.
Human where gathered from all over Earth to help build greater Egypt. Set
decided that his throne should be placed a little farther up the cost of the Mediterranean.
He build his palace on what the humans called Mount Zion, or mountain of the Dagons.
100 years from the day of his submission. He stood the on balcony, over looking
the sparkling cities they have created with the human salves.
It is good Set. The planet is fully under submission. There is no person or
animal on the planet that doesnt know of our rule. We can build this planet to be a jewel
among the worlds.
Berock, dont think so small. You can have this planet, there is no challenge
here. Once the Nimbus returns, than we will rule both the known and the unknown.
Set the Dagons have served you well, it takes too much time for use to get the
antidote each day. Some have died because they were away on long missions, and
could not get the drug in time. We have proven ourselves, release us from this bond.
We served the Zhang, and now we serve you, we are designed to serve.
The Dagon rebelled, remember. You over throw your master. Now the planet is
conquered, I need the threat of the disease more than ever. The Dagons dont do well I
peace time.
How long will you keep us under your thumb!
Better to ask, how long will I keep you alive! Remember, anything happens to
me, and all the Alphas die. Dont forget.
121
DEUS X MACHINA
Chapter 19The Hearts of JavaMoon
His heart leapt the first time he saw her. It trembled in his chest. It was not an
attraction of lust, but something deeper, something new, yet familiar. He was setting up
a Video Teleconference connection in one of the classrooms, when she walked in with
the other students.
Sorry Josh for the late notice, but Ive been trying to get this professor from
Princeton for a long while. Hes the premiere expert on the ancient origins of religion in
the world, the professor said.
Not a problem, would you mind if I sat in on the class for awhile? It sounds
interesting.
Not at all.
He would have found any excuse to stay in that classroom. He just wanted to
watch her, study the way her neck met her chest, and the way her hair waved over her
shoulders. He loved her hoop earrings that hadnt been in style since he was in high
school, but worked perfectly with her olive skin and slight body. He loved how her small,
but tight calves slipped into her pumps. And the soft, yet strong bone structure of her
face. Her face had strength to it, he could see the outline of the muscles that moved her
jaw, yet she was still childlike. Her whole presence gave an aura of being childlike, yet
independent.
He was afraid. He was afraid to speak to her, and afraid to hear what she would
say. Not that she would reject him, although that wasnt a pleasant thought, he felt he
could deal with that, he was afraid that she would be much less than he imagined. He
constructed a personality for her, as he often did when he admired women from a
distance, but if he got up enough nerve to speak to them, hed be heart broken to
discover their was no spark, no understanding. He tried to make himself fall in love
many times, but internally he knew he hadnt. He felt there was something missing.
122
DEUS X MACHINA
At night he would imagine a women beside him, a wife, a mate, a friend. He
would dream about her, but the dreams seemed to slip into nightmares. After awhile he
resigned himself to being alone.
The feeling of loneliness had gotten much worse since he lost his faith. By losing
God he lost his constant companion and friend. He longed to find a partner to share his
experiences and thoughts with, someone who would bring her own insights and
perceptions into his life.
Each move she made, the way she grasped her pen, and put down her books,
was enough to inspire a million love poems. Come on snap out of it, she probably has
some rich boyfriend named Lance waiting outside. He couldnt help it, his pants swelled
with his excitement.
The professor rambled on through the video link, to Josh it was background
noise to his daydreaming. Early man personified nature in order to understand it.
Without the benefits of science and technology, religion became a method to
comprehend the world around him, and in some way, control it.
Why is there a drought? Why do our children die of disease? Why do we die?
There must be a reason. There must be some force that we can reason with.
Ultimately, religion developed from a need to find reason and meaning in the
universe. If you think about today, is it much different?
Those people who developed into priests and holy men, gained their power
because they were convinced that they could communicate with these forces they called
gods. They claimed they knew the will of the gods. When bad things happened, they
claimed it was because we were not doing gods will. Think of what a strange and
frightening world it was without understanding the forces of nature.
It seems hard to believe that people would continue in such a belief system for
long. Obviously, when the priest couldnt bring about the rain, and failed time and time
123
DEUS X MACHINA
again, people wouldnt continue to believe. There had to be something else to it.
Perhaps there were gods of a sort. Leonia said matter-of-factly.
Excuse me young lady. Please do not interrupt me.
Why? she said no hint of sarcasm.
The professor ignored her.
The concept of an afterlife developed as an evolutionary cultural strategy to
counteract our awareness of our own demise.
Why would humans even evolve a sense of self-awareness if it had to be
counteracted. Doesnt the very law of natural selection preclude anything developing
thats not beneficial?
Sorry, I warned you. We are finished here. Goodbye, the professor was
obviously pissed off, and fumbled to find a way to cut off his video link, when he couldnt
figure it out he simply got up and left the room.
Please people, I understand your need to ask questions, and perhaps I should
have set some ground rules before we started, but Dr. Marsh does not like to be
interrupted. Lets end class here today. Professor Graham was a gentle man, but his
disappointment was obvious.
Josh was embarrassed for Leonia, but she seemed un-phased, she gathered her
books and notes as if all classes were conducted this way. Josh watched her, and
mustered the nerve to speak with her. Its now or never.
Dont take it to heart. Some of these academic types are pretty full of
themselves. Josh said.
Yes, he seemed upset at my question, but Im not really sure why. Perhaps he
was embarrassed that he didnt know the answer.
Josh was amused at her answer, but was more happy that she didnt shun his
attempt at conversation.
124
DEUS X MACHINA
Maybe he didnt. Hi, Im Josh, Im a media specialist with the seminary. Are you
new here?
To the seminary? Yes, I am, this is my first day.
Can I ask you your name?
Its Leonia
There was an awkward silence, Josh didnt know quite where to take the
conversation next, he only knew he wanted to keep it going.
Iahwhat program are you in?
Joshua, I have sometime between classes, would you like to join me for a cup
of coffee?
Wow, that was easy.
I would love to. Theres this great caf called the JavaMoon, its about three
blocks away, and overlooks the botanical gardens.
That sounds wonderful.
Josh couldnt help but study her. Her movements were purposeful yet graceful. It
appeared she considered each movement, but did this so quickly that it was hard to
notice.
So you didnt answer me. What program are you in? Josh asked as they
walked.
Im not in a program. Im just talking some classes I find interesting.
Like the Ancient Origins of religion? It sounded interesting to me as well, thats
why I stuck around.
Is that the only reason you stuck around?
Josh actually blushed.
How much of my hand do you want me to give away?
Your hand?
125
DEUS X MACHINA
Never mind. Somehow I didnt picture us having this conversation so soon. I
noticed you from the moment you walked in. I would have stayed in that class if it was
on supply chain management.
You find me attractive?
Yes, very much so, and Im very eager to get to know you. From the questions
you asked, and from our conversation now, you intrigue me. Does that answer your
question?
Yes, I wanted to be sure.
Boy, you dont fool around.
Im not a boy you know.
Yes, Ive noticed.
They reached the caf and were seated.
Where are you from? Are you American?
No, Im not. Ive moved around a lot, Im not really from anywhere.
Whats your nationality?
Im not really sure. I didnt know my parents.
That must have been hard.
No, not really, most circumstances children are raised in seem normal to them.
What do you do for a living?
Im a student.
Yes, but how do you support yourself?
I have my ways.
You truly are a mystery. Is there anything I can know about you? What do you
like? What do you do for fun?
I like rock-n-roll, and reading, and sitcoms. I like learning. I like to help, when I
can, and realize when I cant. I like getting to knowpeople, and how they see the
126
DEUS X MACHINA
world. I like exploring newplaces, and trying new things. In fact, there are many things
Id like to try, since I am new here. I would like to explore the things that you consider
fun. Would you help me do that?
Leonia, I know we just met, but believe me when I say theres nothing in the
world I would like to do more. What would you like to do first?
Humtheres so many things. I would like to go to an amusement park and ride
a roller coaster. They look exciting.
Youve never been on one. Thats hard to believe.
Believe it, there are many things I havent done, and many things that I have.
But I havent done many things just for fun.
Well theres Six Flags, but its very crowded this time of year. Theres another
place, a smaller amusement park nestled in the woods of Pennsylvania that my parents
and grandparents used to take me to. But its too far for a day trip.
Lets go there then.
We would have to spend the night.
Is that a problem?
With meno, but you hardly know me, most womenwell I want to make sure
you feel comfortable and safe.
Leonia laughed. Josh was surprised at how girlish her laugh was. The sound of it
excited him.
There are very few times when I do not feel safe, and I feel very safe with you. If
its sex your worried about, dont. I would like to do that as well, if youre willing.
Josh choked on his drink.
Did I say something wrong?
Is English your first language? Josh asked.
No, its not, can you tell? Ive been practicing for a long time.
127
DEUS X MACHINA
No, you speak very well, but your phrasing is unusual, and you have an odd
accent. Or more rightly, its the absence of an accent.
Well, perhaps you can teach me that was well. Should we leave now for the
amusement park?
Dont you have to pack? And although I have plenty of vacation time, I have to
tell someone at the seminary that Im leaving.
How much time do you need?
We can leave first thing tomorrow.
That sounds good.
Where should I pick you up?
Leonia looked across the park, at a walking bridge that went over a small
fishpond.
Meet me there, tomorrow, at first light.
I could pick you up at your apartment.
No, meet me there. I like that spot.
So do I, I go there often to think, and enjoy the view.
What do you think about?
Everything and nothing. Sometimes at the same time. I often go there for
inspiration or answers.
Do you ever get answers there?
Maybe tomorrow I will.
Leonia smiled. I have a place like that were I live. Its in a sort of park, like that
one.
Id like to see it.
Hopefully you will. I think youll like it there.
Wow.
128
DEUS X MACHINA
What? She looked at Josh with a light and inviting look.
Nothing goes this well in my life. Im..just
What? This time she looked more serious.
I guess Im just waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Im sorry, Im not familiar with that expression either, but I can guess at its
meaning. Josh, Im very free with my emotions. I can see youre not used to that, I
guess thats what a few thousand years of civilization will do. How about you Josh, do
you feel safe with me?
I am tired of being safe. For the last five years I have been living a safe and
unchallenging life. No I dont what to feel safe. I want to take a chance.
What happened five years ago?
I suppose that since youre going to the seminary that you have some sort of
faith. Some belief in something bigger than yourself. Well, I lost that five years ago. I
lost my faith. It wasnt even a particular event that did it, God just sort of got up and left
the room for me.
The Cloud of Unknowing. Leonia said to herself.
Have you read that?
Yes, in many forms. That sentiment you express is the same everywhere, but
youre in good company. It happens to those who feel deeply about their beliefs, so
deeply that they cannot fool themselves into believing anything that they dont know to
be the truth.
What do you believe?
I believe the universe unfolds as it should. I believe that trying to make things
better, matters. I believe much of reality depends on how we see it. I believe that we
were supposed to meet, and even if we werent we should act like we were. I believe
129
DEUS X MACHINA
that both of us have been lonely for a long time, and should enjoy each other to the
fullest.
Everything you say intrigues me. Not that I disagree, but why do you feel that
we were meant to meet?
Its one of the answers I got in my meditation place.
Theres so much about you I want to know.
Be careful what you wish for, Ill drive you crazy.
You already have.
You have no idea.
Leonia drops a hundred dollar bill on the table and gets up to leave.
Leonia, let me get this. I dont think two lattes costs a hundred dollars.
You have that need dont you.
What need?
To provide for females.
Dont get me wrong, I believe in womens lib and all. I just
You dont have to explain. Its sweet. Ill let you pay for this one, but let me take
care of things from here on out. You have limited resources, and I have more than
enough to take care of both of us. Its no disgrace to your manhood. In fact, Id think
more of you if you can accept it without guilt.
OK.
See you tomorrow, and with that she bent over and kissed him full on the lips.
Josh closed his eyes and felt the pressure of her lips on his, by the time he opened
them she was walking toward the door. Josh watched her body move under her clothes
as she left, then sat back to reflect on what had just happened.
130
DEUS X MACHINA
Its too good to be true. I wonder if Im being set up for something? God, I hope
this isnt some cults weird recruiting method. It just doesnt seem feasible that the girl of
my dreams would simply walk abruptly into my life like that.
Maybe I died, and this is heaven. Not bad if it is.
I dont know. I just cant shake the feeling that theres something going on here
that I dont understand.
What if shes a serial killer like that movie, Monster? What if she hates and
wants to entrap men. The only time Ive ever seen something like this was in that movie,
True Romance. In that movie she turned out to be a hooker. Although, I really doubt she
is. There is something though, I mean, whats with avoiding all the basic questions, like
where are you from, and what do you do for a living?
Awe, what do I have to lose. Theres no way that Id pass this up no matter what
happens. Id rather be mugged or killed than spend another meaningless day at the
seminary.
Josh went to his dorm, lay on his bed and stared up at the ceiling, waiting for
tomorrow to come. He had called the Dean, and apologized for the short notice, but
asked for a few days of vacation. Having never taken vacation, the Dean was glad Josh
was taking a few days off. The Dean, like most people in the seminary, was very caring
towards Josh. He was their lost sheep. Josh imagined that many of them secretly
struggled with their own faith, but whatever the reason, he was grateful for their
kindness.
Just as he was drifting off to sleep, the phone rang; it was the front desk,
notifying Josh that he had a visitor. His heart leapt, and he quickly turned on the closed
circuit monitor, hoping it was Leonia. When he saw who it was, his heart continued to
thump, but in a much different way. He saw two men in dark suits.
131
DEUS X MACHINA
Who in the hell are they? The Men in Black? Josh joked with the security
guard.
Close, they say theyre from the CIA.
Youre kidding.
Nope. Its the truth. What have you been up to?
Ill be right down.
In seconds Josh went from the verge of sleep to being as awake as one can be.
He ran down to the front desk.
Hi, can I help you?
Joshua Alex?
Yes, thats me.
We have an urgent matter we need to discuss with you.
Yes, what is it?
We need to speak in private.
Joshs thoughts raced, he couldnt imagine what this was about. But then it came
to him. Leonia. This is the something. This is the other shoe.
Theres a conference room, down the hall. Follow me.
No, we want to meet you in your apartment.
Theres barely enough room in there for me, and unless you have a warrant,
youre not going up there. Josh didnt know why he said that, but having these two in
front of him was bad enough, having them in his dorm would be too violating.
Fine then.
When they entered the room Josh stood until the agents sat down. It was a long
awkward pause. No doubt the agents had a specific seating arrangement in mind.
Eventually the agents sat down on opposite ends of the table. Josh sat, just where he
wanted to with this back to the door, the closest spot to the exit.
132
DEUS X MACHINA
Joshua, we didnt mean to startle you, said the shorter of the two men. Im
agent Greg Edwards, and this is agent Louis Regis. Is that your final answer? Josh
thought of a dozen or so jokes, but decided to keep them to himself.
Agent Regis spoke first, Why do you think were here to talk to you?
Well if you dont know, how do you expect me to?
Agent Edwards replied. Listen smart guy, this isnt a joke. We need your
cooperation in this.
I still dont know what this is all about.
Agent Regis spoke. You met a girl today. What name did she give you?
Again, shouldnt you know that?
She goes by many names. Which one did she give you, Patricia, Nichole,
Leonia?
Leonia, her name is Leonia.
How much did she tell you about herself?
Not much at all. Why are you so interested in her? What do you think shes
done?
Edwards replied, Had you ever seen this women before today.
No, no I havent. Listen Im not going to answer anymore questions until I know
whats going on.
The girl you met today is a terrorist. Not just any terrorist, she is the true
mastermind behind every major terrorist act over the last seven years. It took a long
time for us track her down. This is the closest weve come to her. We need your help.
What you choose tonight could turn the tides of the war on terrorism. Your country
needs your help.
133
DEUS X MACHINA
Just how can I, a seminary school dropout, turn the tides on the war on terror?
She doesnt strike me as a Muslin extremist. She seems far to liberal, far to open
minded.
She changes persona to fit whatever will appeal to her pigeon. Believe me, if
she appeared liberal and free spirited to you, internally she was disgusted at the act she
put on.
Pigeon?
Yes, thats you. An innocent above suspicion. Regis replied.
Think about it, who would look twice at you? You could easily gain access to a
number of terrorist targets without raising an eyebrow. Edwards inserted.
Yes, but I wouldnt do it. I wouldnt bomb anybody. If you think thats her plan
shes barking up the wrong tree.
It doesnt matter. Most of her pigeons have no idea they are part of a terrorist
plot until the bomb goes off, and this time we think the bomb may be a nuclear or
chemical weapon.
This is too much to take in. Too much like the Matrix. Josh chuckled slightly,
then stopped quickly before the stone faces of the agents. What would you have me
do?
Our Government has developed a listening device thats almost impossible to
detect. It fits in your ear, behind your eardrum. It picks up everything you hear, plus acts
as a tracking device. All you have to do is keep up your relationship with her. Pretend
we never met. Just act naturally. Agent Edwards instructed.
We dont want you to lead or question her in anyway. We just want to hear what
she tells you, and have the ability to track her. Theres nothing more. When were ready
to move in, well make sure youre safe. Agent Regis said, trying to be reassuring.
Behind the ear drum?
134
DEUS X MACHINA
Yes, its a simple procedure. There is a little pain involved. The eardrum is
perforated slightly. The device is small about 1/4
th
of an inch.
How does it transmit, being so small?
Do you own a cell phone?
No.
You do now. This is a specially designed cell phone that amplifies the signal.
You have to be within three hundred feet of the phone for it to work, but as long as you
are in the same house or building, it will transmit. The phone itself is fully functional. You
can use it as a regular phone. Make all the calls you want, Uncle Sam will pick up the
tab. Theres nothing special you have to do to it to make it transmit.
What if I refuse?
Agent Regis leaned forward. Then we lose a valuable source of information, but
ask yourself, would you be able to live with yourself when the next attack comes
knowing that you could have helped prevent it?
Youre wrong about her. I know you are, but Ill do this just to prove that she is
innocent.
Thank you for your cooperation. We will have no more contact with you until the
bust.
Thats comforting.
After a few more questions and instructions, agent Edwards inserted the bug into
Joshs ear. It felt like a hot coal was being poked into his brain. They left him with some
pain medication, antibiotics and a cell phone. Josh felt like an abused hooker when they
were through. Josh returned to his room, and once again felt like he was emerging from
a dream, although this last experience was more like a nightmare.
135
DEUS X MACHINA
Chapter 20 Love and Rockets
The next morning was a foggy, but refreshing spring morning. Josh grabbed his
backpack and headed to the park. He could tell already that the fog would soon melt
away, but as he made his way along, the fog still covered the New York streets like the
unfinished parts of a painting.
The fog was thicker in the park. He made his way by memory to the bridge,
which slowly took form the closer he got to it. Then he saw her slender form emerging
from the fog. She made the scene. To Josh it felt like nothing else could exist without
her. The lampposts, the trees, the ghostly masonry of the bridge, and cool stillness of
the water, if she wasnt there, neither would they exist. She makes all things possible.
He wished he could paint. He wished he could capture the beauty of that
moment. There she was, as if born from the fog, the most beautiful women he had ever
seen, looking out across the pond, then as he approached she turned to him and
smiled. At that moment Josh would have betrayed the world, just to hold her in his arms.
He would have killed any president to steal a kiss. He tried to burn the scene in his
mind. To keep it in a safe place in his memory, so he could return to it.
Am I late? Josh asked.
No youre right on time. I came early to watch the morning.
Beautiful.
Yes, it is.
You are, you make the morning. It would be lonely and dreary if you werent
here.
Leonia, jumped toward Josh and kissed him long and hard. Josh was at first
startled, then he let himself melt into the kiss. There was something about her,
something about her scent that reminded him of childhood. Like cucumbers growing on
136
DEUS X MACHINA
the vine on a warm summer day. Yet, there was something else to. There was
something oddly familiar about the way she felt in his arms. He thought of snakes
sunning themselves along a river bank. What river? Why would I think of that at a time
like this?
Am I too forward? she said.
Ive been waiting my whole life to feel like this. Waiting for you. Those thirty
years have meant nothing until now.
Its odd how freely you express your emotions. I didnt think that was a trait of
your species these days.
Species?
Im sorry, I mean
Sex.
Yes, thats it. Im sorry I cant express myself as easily as you.
You do fine Listen, I have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Theres no
reason why I shouldnt share my feelings with you.
Then it hit him. This whole exchange was being listened to by CIA or NSA
agents who were probably snickering at him and his bad poetry. He did have something
to hide. A wave of guilt hit him. He wanted to reach into his backpack and throw the
phone into the lake. Then he remembered what the CIA agents had told him. Can this
be true? Had she picked him as a lonely guy who she could easily win over.
Whats the matter? Leonia asked.
We should get going. I have a car; its actually a fairly nice car. Its a Lincoln
Town Car my father gave to me. Its in a garage only a few blocks from here.
OK, you lead.
Josh slung her bag across his back. Leonia seemed a little surprised at this.
Oh come now, you have to let me get your bag for you.
137
DEUS X MACHINA
That is your custom?
Of course, isnt it yours?
In a way, but in my culture the one who carries the load is the servant. The
lesser party.
Id gladly be your servant. What culture did you come from again?
Is it a long ride to this amusement park?
Yes.
Good, my culture will take some explanation.
Her statement made Josh very apprehensive. Here it comes? Will she tell me
the truth though; will I know the difference if she doesnt? Those agents cant be right.
The mist quickly dissipated as they headed west in Joshs sky blue Lincoln Town
Car.
So Josh, Im not good at lying, and I wont lie to you, what would you like to
know about me?
OK, where are you from? Where did you grow up?
First answer me this. You stopped believing in God because of a lack of proof
right?
Among other things, but that definitely played a role.
What type of proof would you need to believe something totallywell totally
unbelievable? Say like, um...aliens?
OK. I guess they say extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. I
dont know, I guess I would have to meet one.
And how would you know one if you met one?
138
DEUS X MACHINA
I would imagine they would look quite different. Josh paused. Are you going to
tell me aliens abducted you? I mean, its ok if you do. It doesnt mean that I wont
believe you. In fact stuff like that always interested me, I get hooked on those trashy Fox
shows, you know like Alien Autopsy.
No I havent been abducted. Do those little grey fuckers come here too? Those
sick little shits. You know to them its like collecting dead bugs.
Huh?
Never mind. She paused to consider her words carefully Josh, what do you
know about humanitys early history?
A fair amount I guess. Its a subject that Im interested in, but Im in no way an
expert.
Does it seem odd to you how quickly people started farming and building cities
after thousands of years of hunting and gathering?
Yes, I suppose it does, but I imagined that once a good idea comes about
people are eager to adopt it.
Do you think thats really true? Arent there plenty of good ideas that have taken
centuries to adopt and sometimes were never adopted at all?
Like loving your neighbor or treating everyone equally?
Exactly. She paused again to gather her thoughts. In the meantime Josh
wondered where exactly she was going with his, and was a little frightened.
Are you familiar with the ancient myth of Prometheus, and other myths that
described heavenly beings or gods giving humanity special knowledge?
Im most familiar with the serpent in the garden and the book of Enoch.
Good. The book of Enoch, youve read that. Thats great. You know the
watchers he talks about in that.
Yeah, the angels that came down from heaven to get laid.
139
DEUS X MACHINA
Um..yeah. To mate with human women. Do you think there is any truth in any of
those old myths?
I think myths are the way in which our ancestors interpreted reality. Theres
probably some kernel of truth in them.
Good. Leonia was pleased with Joshs reaction so far. Josh, Im going to tell
you a story. When Im finished telling you, I will show you proof that everything Ive said
is true.
You dont really have to show me proof. Listen, I know people believe some
strange things, and I respect that. Im not going to judge you. Im sure you have your
reasons for believing whatever you do.
Ok, Ill tell you what I know from my perspective. But I am going to show you
proof. I must.
Only if you promise me you wont be offended if I reject your proof, and by the
way, this proof is not going to hurt is it?
No. she laughs Of course not. She paused, than began her story. OK, here it
goes. Twelve thousand years ago a new planet named Nirbiru came into orbit around
the Sun. The planet was moved from its home system to avoid a plasma burst from its
sun that would have wiped out all life.
The planet hosted two sentient species. One was native to Nirbiru, and the other
was a recent invader, who by themselves were a serious threat to Nirbirus survival.
Unfortunately, it didnt fall into the orbit it was supposed to. Its inhabitants had to
come to earth. And well some never left.
Ok, so theres aliens among us. Ok, thats not so bad you believe theres aliens
among us. I can by that. Youll really like the graviton at the park, but dont eat before
you go on it. Josh snuggled farther into his chair, hoping that he changed the subject.
140
DEUS X MACHINA
Ok Osi..Josh, did you ever have a sense that things werent quite right in the
world, that this isnt the way things are suppose to be. He felt her looking at him, he
was glad that he had to keep his eyes on the road.
Yes, of course. I think many people feel that way, dont you?
Why do you think that this?
Because theres aliens among us? Josh tried to lighten the mood.
OK, Im just going to lay it out. I was hoping to do this more subtly. Josh, Im an
alien. Ok thats rich. Im not just any alien, Im a queen. I led the aliens to this planet to
save them, the plan was always to find a permanent home, which I did. We thought we
had stopped the bad aliens among us, the Dagon, but we hadnt. They never left. They
have ruled humanity from the shadows for thousands of years, kept you in control
through governments and disease, but there number was never strong enough to con
conquer the planet outright, that is until now. You see Nirbiru is still in a highly elliptical
orbit around Earth, by 2012 it will be within easy reach of the Dagons. The planet
houses ten of thousand of hibernating Dagons, when it comes back it will provide Set,
the leader of the Dagons, with more than enough alpha warriors to take over Earth. Im
here to stop that.
There was silence between them for a long while. Josh tried to think of
something to say, anything. Have you ever seeked help was his first thought. Then he
thought about laying the cards on the table and telling her what had happened last night,
in the end he said So.well, at least your not one of the bad guys.
I sure youre wondering just how nuts I am? Do you see this bracelet?
Yes, its cool, I was admiring it before. Is she changing the subject?
During the three thousand year quest to find a home for the Nirbiruans, we met
many other sentient beings and from that contact we discovered new and wonderful
technology. One of the most amazing is this bracelet. It is made from one of the most
141
DEUS X MACHINA
exotic substance found in the galaxy. It is form of metallic life. It is so strong you could
literally walk on the Sun with it, but still its an organism and can quickly change shape.
We call it Mexus, it has the ability to be condensed into very small areas, and then
expanded, without losing any of its strength. By controlling Mexus with an engram
processor, we can form it into any shape, a bridge, a ship, but we mostly use it to form a
type of body armor. Mexus is one of the most useful and rare substances in the galaxy.
When I returned to Earth after my quest to find a new Nirbiruan home world, I
was ambushed by Set. I had just enough time to activate my Mexus suite. Its easy to
do, it can be triggered mentally like this
Josh wasnt looking at her, he had his eyes on the road, it was only when he saw
the light reflecting off her armor that he turned to look. The shiny silvery substance
quickly covered every inch of her body. It looked like body paint was being applied by
some invisible brush, then when her entire body was covered, more pronounced
features of the suit started to form: Lenses for the eyes, protection for each joint, and
many other types of fixtures he couldnt identify.
He flew into a parking lot at the a Delaware Water Gap, stopped the car and
jumped out. His mind raced to make sense of what had just happened, but it couldnt.
He looked back at the car to see Leonia retract the armor.
Leonia knew this would be hard, but it was harder than she thought. She hated
the way Josh was looking at her, it made her feel alien and out of place. She felt like she
shouldnt be there, that it was a mistake to contact Josh. She had other first contacts
that didnt go well, but with Josh it was different, it was personal.
Josh was scared for his sanity. His family had a history of mental illness and the
prospect of losing his mind frightened him like nothing else. Shes there, I see her in the
car. What the hell is she? Did I just see that? He turned to a family who had stopped for
a picnic.
142
DEUS X MACHINA
Do you see that women in that car.
Yeah. Said the suspicious father.
Thank you, thats all I needed to know. He left the bewildered family to walk
back to his car.
Just minutes before he had felt so close to her, but as her strange story started
to unfold he felt more and more distant, now he didnt know what to think. He had finally
found her, the women he dreamt about since he could remember, but who was she?
She seemed to have had a disquieting otherness about her as she sat in the car with
him. Could it be? How could it be? She isnt human.
Leonia, got out of the car. I can go Josh. I cant imagine how strange this must
be for you.
Dont go.
Why? There was silence. Why should I stay Josh? You dont want this. You
want to file this away under a strange happening that you cant describe. You would be
relieved if I left.
Yes I would, now. But if I let you leave the whole rest of my life Id wonder what
would have happened if I didnt send you away. So no, I dont want you to go. From the
first moment I saw you, there was something different about you, it was almost an odd
familiarity. Strangely, that feeling is still there, although part of me is scared shitless, I
know we need to be together.
I dont think I can drive yet. Can we take a walk together? If anything the
Delaware water gap is a beautiful place to stop.
Yes, I would like that. Can we go there? Leonia said pointing to the rocky
summit of the mountain carved in two by the river.
Sure.
They walked in an awkward silence for a few moments.
143
DEUS X MACHINA
Are there any questions youd like to ask me, or should I continue the story.
Theres life in the universe. I always wondered, but somehow I knew there was.
Leonia, what are you? I mean who?
I am a Dagon female. I was bred to serve the Dagon Alpha warrior males, and
to bare their offspring. In short I was a slave, no, even worst than a slave, I was a tool, a
tool for their amusement and pleasure, and a tool for their procreation.
Thats what I was, now and for a long time I have been Queen of the Nimbus.
There are no other ships like her in all the galaxy, at least none that I know of. For
thousands of years I have traveled the galaxy on a very simple mission, to explore,
share knowledge and to help those who need it. I think Ive done some good out there,
although Ive made more than my share of mistakes, but I do what I can when I can.
The way you look, how beautiful you are, is that your true form?
Yes and no. I am a reptilian, like all Dagons, for this mission my scales have
been mutated into skin like yours, and Ive taken female human hormones, but thats
basically it. I look much the same only with scales, oh and minus the hair too.
If I take out my contact lens I can show you my eyes, will that disturb you?
I dont know, but I would like to see your true eyes.
Removing her contact lens revealed sharp green eyes, with the tell-tale slit pupils
of a lizard. Josh thought he would be frightened, but the shock of the whole thing had
already hit him. Her eyes, though reptilian, looked at him with the same affection as
before. She was Leonia, still the one that intrigued so, now even more so.
So what is your mission, why are you here?
Let me finish my story then, itll lead up to why were here.
Leonia breathed more easily, and began to speak with more confidence.
After a very long mission I had found the Nirbiruans a new homeworld. The
Nirburans being the good aliens. New Nirburans was a planet much like the one that
144
DEUS X MACHINA
they came from, it was an amazing and lush place. There were signs that a advanced
society had once lived there, but from the studies weve done they had left billions of
years ago. All that time the planet had remained a pristine paradise.
When I left, I left Set and my good friend Anunnaki in power. Set had always was
a thorn in my side, but I never imagined that he sought power. He was coldly intelligent,
practical and had a keen sense for logistics. Anunnaki was powerfully inventive and
creative, for him there was no destination between science and spiritual matters. I felt
the two would evenly match each other.
When I returned to Earth I found it a much different place than when I left.
Shortly after I left Set had made a pack with Berock a high ranking Dagon Alpha, to take
control of the planet. I was under the impression we had left all the Dagons behind on
Nirbiru, unfortunately it is a mistake that Ive made over and over again. The Alpha
always seem to find a way to survive, the were built for survival, genetically engineered
to survive just about anything, so it should not be to shocking for me that they keep
popping up.
Anunnaki managed to drive Set from Egypt.
Eygpt?
Yes, that was our colony. Ill get more into that later. She continued. Set had
long planned for my return, even before I had left. Set had designed a computer virus
that would transfer control of the transfer control of the Nimbus to him as soon as we
were in range.
The only thing that saved us was that he didnt know about the Mexus
technology we gained during our mission. Once it was obvious the Nimbus was out our
control, I active the Mexus Amour and went to face Set.
As soon as Set detected me coming towards his location he had the Nimbus fire
a fusion missile towards Egypt. A fusion warhead uses the same type of nuclear
145
DEUS X MACHINA
reaction as the Sun. It has a massive payload; an impact would have made an area two
thousand miles around Eygpt inhabitable for tens of thousands of year.
I was close enough to where the missile was fired to intercept it, but
unfortunately I couldnt disable it. At the velocity the missile was traveling I only had
fleeting contact with it, only enough time to collide with it. My impact sent the missile off
course, up toward space, but although the missile was damaged it still attempted to
correct its course. It exploded high above the artic circle. The explosion generated
enough heat to melt the artic ice caps.
Let me guess, it caused Noahs flood.
Exactly. Did you ever wonder why every single culture has a great flood story?
Or the fact that most creation stories have the Earth rising from the waters. Yes, this
was the great flood. Much of the ice turned into vapor which in turn caused a
tremendous down pour all over the planet.
So youre saying Nimbus was the Ark.
Yes, we used our ship to save has much of humanity and Earths animal life as
possible, but many people and species died. Thats why humans and many other
mammals are so genetically similar. We didnt have much time, we had to grab whoever
we could. My crew acted courageously, we did what we could to help.
What happened to Set, and the Alphas.
Most of the Dagon survived, given their power of flight. It was thought that Set
had been killed, within minutes of the explosion we were able to regain control of the
Nimbus.
For my part. Ive gone over it again and again, wondering whether it would have
been better just to let the missile hit Egypt. It wasnt a direct hit, at least it saved Earth
from the prolonged radiation, but what ended up happening in some ways was much
worst. It changed the face of the planet forever. There were human societies struggling
146
DEUS X MACHINA
to gain ground that were wiped away forever. There were may type of species, even
other species of humans that didnt survive. The Earth paid a heavy price for the
refugees it held. We brought our war to your world.
Anunnaki was greatly troubled over the disaster we had brought on the planet
that had sustained the Nirbiruans for thousands of years. He was determined to give
humanity the start it deserved before we left the planet.
We began again in Egypt only this time our plan was to incorporate humanity
into our colony.
We did, yes, we gave humanity laws and science. We helped them establish
farms and cities, but let me tell you, nothing was imposed on them, the goal was always
to create a self-sustaining civilization, then leave them to their own devices. Although I
have to admit the first few Pharaohs were Nirbiruans.
Now I come to the part of this story that may be as hard for you to accept as me
being an alien.
I find that hard to believe. But at the same time Josh was bracing for what was
coming next.
Yesterday when I entered the classroom, I knew you would speak to me. You
see we had met before. Dont worry you were always human, but back then in Egypt you
were my mate, my husband.
How exactly
The soul is not a myth, just like there are things we know to exist that you cant
see or feel, like radio waves, and atoms, the soul exists. It exists not as some
supernatural specter, but as a natural attribute, like sound or light. The soul is the
source of consciousness, a consciousness not limited to any material object, but as a
physical being the soul joins with the brain and perceives the physical world through it.
147
DEUS X MACHINA
Think of it as a radio signal, it is there where the radio is or not, but a radio
allows it to be heard in the physical world. Back then your soul shown through a
wonderful young man with whom I fell in love. No doubt you have lived many times
since, as you do now.
That time was the happiest of my existence, then, as now I had allowed myself to
become a mammal. At that time it was primarily to allow us to have children. But like
everything in the universe nothing lasts forever. Set hadnt been killed, he was waiting in
the shadows, building a strategy waiting for the next time to strike.
Holy shit, dont even fucking tell me. It just fucking hit me. You think that we
were the Egyptian gods Isis and Osiris.
We were.
Oh come on, thats it. Ive lost my fucking mind. What the hell would an
Egyptian god be doing as a seminary school drop out?
Suddenly, there was the swift sound of cracking throughout the forest. Josh
could see only blurred objects from the corner of his eyes.
Damn, they found us?
Who?
The Dagons, they never left.
How..Wait. Leonia no, theres a tracking device in my ear. Im sorry, I had no
idea.
Theres no time, put this on.
A watch?
Its that and more, it houses a Mexus suit.
But I ..
The watch fell from his hand as the razor tipped tail of the Dagon cut through his
shoulder. In an instant he was gone. Held like a fish on a hook, as the Dagon flew
148
DEUS X MACHINA
skyward. Leonia was in shock. Just as she was coming to her senses, a Dagon was on
her.
Leonia, you bitch. This is OUR WORLD. You have no right. Your were made for
one reason. She felt its stiffened phallus, primed to rip threw her newly formed
mammalian vagina. To add to their terror, the Alphas could either use their phallus to
procreate or to kill their enemies. One of the most effective methods for striking fear into
their enemies was to rape their women with their spiked horrible appendage, then inject
them with a deadly parasite that ate them from the inside out. It was a horrifying slow
death. You were made to be f....ugh. The monsters sentence ended in a gurgle, as
Leonia lunged her teeth into the thick muscles of the monsters neck. Despite the
monsters thick armored skin, its muscles were supple, so once she pierced through the
skin she knew she could continue through. Her cheeks ripped as she stretched her
mouth to bite the largest chunk out of the monster she could. Blindly, led only by instinct
she tore and tore through the neck of the monster until she felt his body go limp.
Im glad Josh didnt see that. She wiped the blood from her mouth as her Mexus
armor activated.
She flew skyward to witness the Dagons rip Joshs limbs from his body. She
shot a sharply focused graviton burst from the weapon mounted on her wrist, it cut the
Dagons tail and left Josh tumbling to Earth. She caught him, but barely, having grabbed
hold of a badly injured arm that was barely attached. She brought Josh down to where
they had been standing. He had passed out from the shock. She put the watch on his
wrist and activated his Mexus suit. Please God, let this be enough to keep him stable.
She blasted the Dagons that were circling overhead into red clouds of blood as she shot
past them with the limp body of Josh in her arms.
Im rising. Im going up. Queen of heaven, save me. I cant, I cant breath.
149
DEUS X MACHINA
Its a fine box. How stupid I was, how trusting. How I betrayed her for letting Set
take me. Theyll be after her as well. After her, Im sorry. I love you.
150
DEUS X MACHINA
Chapter 21 Queen of Heaven
He reached for her, somehow knowing she was there. It was mostly in his
dream, but he knew she was next to him, and they were safe. He moved his hands
gently across her body, he was so so tried, but the feel of Leonia was calling him to
action. He felt her ribs, and followed them up to her small firm breasts. He only knew
that he wanted her, wanted to be with her, wanted this feeling to last forever, but trailing
on that thought was a flood of memories from the last few hours. The monsters, the
pain, the fear and then the blackness.
He shot up in a panic, his heart felt like it was going to burst through his chest.
His eyes tried to focus on his surroundings, nothing was familiar to him, everything
was...alien. When his eyes started to focus he found himself in a rounded bed of sorts.
He was covered with multiple types of sheets, all felt like nothing he knew before, they
moved with his body as if to perfectly support and comfort him. The bed was at the
bottom center of a large spherical room. It reminded him of the inside of a pumpkin. The
bed coverings extended like sails along the walls to the top of the room. He could not
see any door, or any other feature in the room.
Sweetie, dont worry were safe now.
Leonia, held him, resting her head on his shoulder and caressing his chest.
Where are we?
Were in my place. Do you like it?
Everything seems so strange. This place...Its an odd feeling being
somewhere...not human. I cant quite describe it.
Wait, what happened? The last thing I remembered was
We fixed you Josh. In fact the processes usually leaves a person much
healthier than before.
151
DEUS X MACHINA
Im sorry Josh, this must be so much for you to take in. I didnt want it to be this
way. I wanted us to get to know each other as mammals first.
The Dagons! You are a Dagon.
Yes.
You are the Queen. The Queen of Heaven. Josh said, not really knowing why.
Leonia laughs. Yes, both of us became myths.
Are we alive? Josh asked, strangely as almost an incidental question.
Leonia jumped on top of him. Wherever he was, however he got there, Leonia
was there. His eyes slowly focused on her perfect body. She laid perfectly still, and
enjoyed knowing that he wanted her. He ran his fingers gently down her neck, over her
breasts, across her tight, yet soft belly.
Do you see this body Josh? Its all for you.
He stiffened when she said that, his phallus hard in anticipation, but he wanted to
caress her slowly. He kissed her belly button, wanting to feel her soft skin on his lips. He
ran his lips up to her breast and caressed her nipples with his tongue, then suckled
them, like he was seeking nourishment. He gently explored every inch of her body, until
she reached down and wrapped her fingers around his cock. Josh sent his hands
searching down to her sex, he was happy to find it moistened and ready. He moved
down to kiss her there. It was the prettiest one he had ever seen. It seemed to pulse,
like a flower waiting for the rain.
He consumed himself with giving her pleasure, moving and tasting as she
moaned in ecstasy. He wanted to melt into her, his cock primed and ready, painfully
waiting to be inside her.
152
DEUS X MACHINA
The only frightening moment came when she climaxed. He felt her
supernaturally strong muscles beneath her skin. She withered and arched like a
charmed snaked. He thought she might tear his head off with the clenching of her
thighs. The she came, and warm sweet fluid saturated his mouth.
I want you inside me, she said.
Without hesitation Josh positioned himself to enter her. As he pushed in, it felt
like he was going home. Entering a place he always wanted to be, a place he never
wanted to leave. Her warm pussy conformed to his cock as he pushed to the farthest
reaches of her sex. Too quickly Josh came. He came more than he ever had before. He
felt like he was emptying every bit of fluid into her body. He felt it mix with hers and he
continued to eject more and more of his semen.
Leeown..eiahh, he repeated. I love you.
I love you too, she said as she felt the warmth of his liquid soothing her
innermost parts.
It didnt take him long to replenish himself. He had never been so sexually
excited. This was a far cry from his drunken college romps. They consummated their
love again and again, in every way, both slow and hard; they consumed each other and
poured every ounce of themselves into each other. Finally Josh was spent, unable to
perform any longer. He fell into a solemn and deep sleep, deep with contentment and
peace, almost to the point of Nirvana.
Leonia left Josh to sleep; she washed herself, and prepared herself to meet with
the counsel.
When she entered the council chamber she found that the other members had
already assembled. The counsel area was a vast space surrounding a large circular
platform the delegates sat around, a blue hue illuminated the center of the chamber
beneath them. The counsel was comprised of Drones, Nirbiruans, several mixed origin
153
DEUS X MACHINA
humans, and a half dozen other species they had come across over the millenniums. As
she took her place, she observed the holographic projections hovering just above the
table, most were Earth News programming repeating over and over the same few facts
they were given about the latest terrorist attack.
Terrorist attack. What are they talking about? Leonia was confused.
Theyve tied you and Josh to an explosion that took place in Wall Street. Over a
hundred people are dead. Both your faces are all over the news.
Each time someone spoke, their face appeared in middle of the table. Set
knows we are here, and he knows about Josh. Our plans are ruined. Neither one of you
can walk around on the planet freely now. Plus the exodus from Nirbiru has begun. We
have no idea how many Dagons are now on the planet.
I dont see how we can continue this mission. A wise Nirbiruan said.
We have a responsibility to free them from Dagon rule. We can't turn our backs
on them now. Leonia replied. The Dagons aren't going to stay underground much
longer. We should stop this exodus from Nirbiru and alert the humans of the threat that
they are facing.
Remember, not all of the evil on Earth is caused by the Dagons. They do a fair
share themselves.
Remember Anunnakis teachings. Leonia replied. The humans have a right to
determine their own destiny. To discover their own place in the universe.
Yes, but remember he also said, do no harm.
If we do nothing, humanity will not survive, at least not as they do now.
A stick like alien spoke up. His tree-like features were projected in the center of
the table. So lets destroy Nirbiru. We have the ability!
154
DEUS X MACHINA
All the computer models we've run have shown the Earth will be decimated by
the debris if we do. We have to wait until Nirbiru is heading back out to the far reaches
of its orbit to destroy it. Replied a Dagon scientist.
Can't we transport it? It's been done once. We could send it deep into space.
The planet is too fragile. Capturing it in another warp field would destroy it.
Leonia paused. The first time severely disrupted its core. The warp field didn't
penetrate deep enough, it's not much more than a hollow shell. We've been over this.
We should all know that our best scientists have reviewed the problem over and over.
There is no way to stop the planet until it passes the Earth.
The Dagons have been planning this for thousands of years. They've been
staying in the shadows, controlling the world in secret until Nirbiru returns. They have
left nothing to chance, not even us. I think the real question we should address is how
the Dagons knew we were coming.
What are you saying?
I'm saying there should be an investigation. How could they know we would
come? How would they know about Josh?
The CIA came to me after we met, or met again. Josh staggered into chamber.
Josh! Leonia squawked with excitement, then quickly became aware of the
unease this caused the rest of the council. She motioned for him to sit beside her.
They told me that you were a terrorist, but I didnt believe then. I allowed them to
put a probe in my ear, just to prove them wrong.
Yes, we found the probe when we regenerated you, it has been removed. Said
a Drone scientist.
So Osiris has returned. Rianrod, a priest of Anunnaki proclaimed.
Thats what Ive been told.
Do you remember what happened last time?
155
DEUS X MACHINA
No, she didnt get that far into the story when we were attacked.
Well I guess you wouldnt have any memory of your son.
My son!
Our son, Leonia continued but you never knew him. Your death devastated
me. I had to have you live on in some way. Your body had been torn to bits, as it was
today. I gathered the pieces and buried then, but not before I took a good sampling of
your DNA. I combined it with mine to produce Horus. You would have been so proud of
him; he had the best of both of us. He had your sensitivity and kindness, and my
fierceness.
He became Pharaoh of Egypt, and united the country like nobody-else could, but
unfortunately he didnt live a long life. He died defeating Set and the Dagons; at least we
thought they had been defeated. Thats why we left; we thought our work was done.
Besides, I couldnt bare the memory of losing you and my son. I had to leave, there was
nothing left here for me.
We felt we freed humanity of the Dagon threat and gave them a civilization that
could sustain itself. We had no idea that Set lived.
We had a son I never met. I always wanted to be a father. Josh said more to
himself than anyone else.
Rianrod, a priest of Anunnaki spoke up again. You see Josh, the Dagons
werent defeated, but Sets Army no longer had the numbers to control the planet. They
stayed in the shadow and devised a new plan. Using the genetic manipulation
technology they had stolen from us, they learned to assume human forms, much like
Leonia has. As human civilization started to grow, they ensured they always had
Dagons in key positions to watch out for their interests.
They have ensured that humanity would never unify under one creed or with one
purpose. Theyve kept their power by always keeping the governments of the world
156
DEUS X MACHINA
pitied against each other. We are proud that Egypt lasted so long, but eventually the
Babylonians came to power, then the Greeks, then the Romans. And when it seemed
Rome would rule the world, the barbarians came and threw Europe into the dark ages.
A similar tale can be told about the Middle East and China. And throughout it all the
Dagons have been watching and waiting. Waiting for Nirbiru to come close enough to
retrieve their brothers. Assisting humans to create the technology to ferry the Dagons to
Earth. Think about the Shuttles America has created. Why? What is it shuttling?
Rockets are a much more efficient way to put a satellite into orbit. They were designed
to retrieve the Dagons on Nirbiru.
Why dont you just destroy the Dagons on Nirbiru?
The exodus has already began, we didnt want to alert the Dagons of our
presence, but now it is too late. Now that they know we are here, we should stop the
exodus, but we have no idea how many are already on the planet.
I need Anunnakis wisdom. Leonia paused, and closed her eyes for a moment.
Long buried memories started to emerge. She remembered how wonderful it was to
speak with him, to have this gentle wisdom. She remember his funeral, long ago...how
much he was loved by all, human, Nirbiruan and Dagons. Ah, the curse of immorality.
Anunnaki. That's it. He is the key. His grave, it still exists doesn't it?
Yes, Queen. The sphinx still exists it has not been disturbed.
Humanity needs to find him. It needs to find the journals of Thoth, that were
buried with him.
What are the journals of Thoth, isnt he another Egyptian god? Josh asked.
Time has turned many into gods on Earth. Thoth, later to be called Enoch by the
Israelites, was Anunnaki's adopted son. He was the son of a prostitute, left to die of
exposure, when Anunnaki saved him and raised him as his own. Thoth worked with
Anunnaki closely, assisting him with the affairs of the new country. Eventually he
157
DEUS X MACHINA
became the first fully human Pharaoh. When Anunnaki died, Thoth placed his journal
with his body. The journal tells the true story of humanitys ancient past. Thoth built the
Sphinx over Anunnakis tomb in tribute to him.
If we could help humanity find this record, perhaps it will enable them to accept
the truth.
Why dont we just land on the Washington mall, and say hi we come in peace.
It was a question Josh had wanted to ask the authors of countless Sci-Fi stories.
That would jump start a war we want to avoid. We dont know how heavily
entrenched the Dagons are within the worlds governments. Direct contact like that
would cost countless lives. Replied Rianrod.
Even after that, then what? How do we remove the Dagons? A hybrid human
said.
I dont know, if we open them up to receive the truth perhaps they can help us
answer that question. Leonia replies. After all this is truly their fight, they just dont
know it yet.
If the Dagons have so much power, wouldnt this journal just be looked at as a
forgery? Wouldnt they be able to suppress it? Josh asked.
Is this human part of the counsel? This angry query came from one of the
hybrid humans whose family had lived on the ship for generations.
Dont forget, this human is Osiris. Rianrod replied.
Yes, and the Queens affair with Osiris almost led us and Egypt to ruin, if I read
my history correctly.
And Queen, let me ask you since your mission has failed why dont you turn
back into a reptile?
You young and rash half-breed. Are you jealous? Listen, I know who I am and
who I could be if I chose.
158
DEUS X MACHINA
Do you know where I quoted that from? Don Quioxti. Its human literature. A
novel written by people that you are descended from, yet I know it and you do not. I
think you should take the time and get to know your human side a little bit, before you
condemn me for my affection.
Yes, but you are Queen. What has this man, not the man that lived thousands
of years ago, but this man, what has he done to deserve to be by your side. All of us
here have been elected, he has not.
Josh holds no official position within this council, nor will he without being
elected, but as an advisor to me he has a right to speak.
Now if we can get back to business, let us vote if we believe relieving the
journals of Thoth to the humans is the right course of action.
Josh didnt know what to think of the proceedings. A vote was taken and it was
decided to go ahead with the plan. In addition it was decided to stop all attempts by the
Dagons to access Nirbiru.
This counsel is adjourned. A plan will be drafted based on our discussion and
forwarded to all of you for your review. As Leonia spoke she could not keep her eyes
off of Josh. She abruptly stood up, and led Josh by the hand from the room. Her actions
caused enough gossip and whispers to last the counsel for some time.
159
DEUS X MACHINA
Chapter 19 Garden of Unearthly Delights
There's too much to take in here, too much to process. I think I'll be all right if I
just focus on you. Just focus on letting you lead me. I'm surrendering to you. There's too
much, you're the only thing I think I can understand, and it's not even really
understanding. I...I only feel safe with you. I feel like a child.
It's a good feeling. Stay with it.
I'm not used to being...dependent.
Leonia laughs slightly. You're not the only one.
All thisI think Im losing mind. I must be crazy.
Why do you keep saying that? Cant you feel my hand? Didnt you see the
others at the council? Why do you keep doubting your own mind?
Lets see, I meet the women of my dreams, and she turns out to be an alien,
who thinks that she knew me in another life when I was an Egyptian god.
You were just a man, a wonderful man, just as you are now.
Besides insanity runs in my family. My mother spent some time in an metal
institution. That has always been my greatest fear.
Would you like to see the place where I meditate? Its a special place, a place
were you might find some answers.
I would like that.
They both were silent for a while; Josh had plenty to distract him. Every sight,
every sound was new to him. This must be how an infant sees the world.
We're in space right? Josh said seemingly out of the blue.
You're quick. Leonia shot back.
160
DEUS X MACHINA
Sorry, it just hit me, I mean I grew up watching Star trek and dreaming about
something like this. I'm afraid these obvious realizations are going to keep happening as
more and more of my situation hits me. Where are we in space?
Behind your moon. The Nimbus is pretty big, at this distance it would easily be
seen by the naked eye if we werent hidden.
Leonia looks ahead.
We're almost there.
Where is there?
My favorite spot. It's a garden that my crew and I have been designing for
thousands of years. There are hundreds of sections to it, each family that has served on
my ship has been given a plot.
How big is this place? Josh asked as they approached one of hundreds of
glass-like entrance ramps.
About the size of Central Park in Manhattan.
Is that a sky? How can there be a sky? And a Sun? Why is the sky purple?
Do you think everyone has a blue sky? The sky rotates, there are several skies
programmed, some are like Earths, and others are very different. Its as real as it can
be without being real. Its made from atmospheric gasses, and the Sun really is a small
fission reaction, but its enhanced by holograms to look much bigger than it is.
As they traveled up the entrance ramp, Josh was reminded of going to see stock
car racing for the first time with his father. It was a similar feeling of anticipation,
knowing that just beyond the lip of the ramp was something new, wide and open, but
what he saw surpassed anything he had ever imagined.
My God, there is a heaven. This is it isn't it. All this... I've died. You are my angel
and this is paradise.
161
DEUS X MACHINA
I'll be your angel sweetie, but you are very much alive, at least as much as any
of us are. She thought again of Anunnaki's funeral. The hot desert air contrasted
against the lush gardens he helped design. He will die too you know. For you that have
lived so long, it will be like an instant.
There on top of that mountain is the Queen's peak. It's made mostly for tourists,
the place where we're going is my place to be alone and meditate. Nobody goes there
but me.
They walked along a gentle stream. Aquatic life of all sorts swam and leaped
through the water. Many of these sparkled; the fish made the river look like it was filled
with precious stones.
They came to a light blue rock face that gleamed softly between the thick vines
that hung down the cliff.
What do we do now? Climb?
Hold your arms straight out.
A puzzled look overtook Josh's expression.
Like this?
As soon as he did as she said, the vines extended down and wrapped around his
body. Josh struggled against them. It's alright, just relax. They carry you to the top. I'll
be right behind.
Leonia playfully laughed at Joshs struggle against the vines. Then she too let
herself be carried by the vines.
You could have warned me. Josh said, as the vines retreated from around his
body after gently placing him atop the cliff.
What fun would there be in that? Leonia again took Josh by the hand.
This way, we're almost there.
162
DEUS X MACHINA
Leonia lead Josh through a thicket of tress and brush which amazingly made a
path for them as they walked. Josh could see an opening up ahead. As he got closer,
he slowed his pace, not out of fear, but out of a need to let the beauty of the garden
slowly fill his soul. Before them was an immense botanical garden, alive and moving
with flowers that seemed to be humming a soft and gentle song.
There were some structures throughout the garden, of various styles and
materials, some looked vaguely familiar to him, like the grottoes in romantic paintings,
and others were unlike anything he could have imagined. Water flowed from a fountain
in the middle of the garden. Josh couldn't tell if it was organic or not. It was somewhat
like a tree, but he could see the water flowing up through its trunk to the branches, from
there it poured from the leaves and began the cycle again. From a distance it looked
like a crystallized weeping willow.
So what do you think of my garden?
Did you build it?
Yes, but over many centuries. Hopefully it will never be done. I add something
to it from each of the worlds that I've visited. One thing I found to be universal, all
intelligent life tries to create a paradise for itself, often in the form of gardens. This is my
place, my secret place. No one has ever been here besides myself. I know it's selfish.
It's probably the most selfish thing about me, but I decided that everyone needs a little
space to themselves that they can get away to.
That park that we met at is my special place, although I have to share it with all
of New York. Theres a spot there, behind a weeping willow, where I would sit and
think.
You must be hungry. She said.
You're not going to feed me flies or anything are you? Although I'm so hungry I
don't think I'd mind.
163
DEUS X MACHINA
Maybe we'll save the flies for desert. For now come this way.
They walked up a small hill to a grove of small trees so filled with strange and
wonderful looking fruit, that it looked like a holiday display.
You can eat any of the fruit you see here. All of it should be acceptable to your
human tastes.
Except for the fruit from the tree of knowledge right?
Leonia seemed a little startled.
You know that was all a misunderstanding right?
Josh laughed. Wow, I can't wait to get the real deal on that, but I was
only joking.
Josh eagerly plucked a lush turquoise colored fruit. Tasting it was like seeing a
new primary color. There was nothing he could compare the taste to, but it was the most
delicious thing he ever had, it seemed intoxicating. Once they had their fill they lay
together on the soft moss ground and made soft and gentle love. Afterwards they lay
together quietly for a long while.
Leonia, how did you know to find me?
I was told.
By who?
A friend. This ship is more than a structure; its a sort of being. Do you see that
cave behind us? Thats the meditation place I was telling you about. When I am very
still, when I am very quiet for a long time, I can see things. Three weeks ago I had a
vision of Anunnaki.
Hes the one you were talking about at the council, and you mentioned him
earlier.
Yes, he is considered a wise man in many parts of the galaxy. His writings have
been the foundation for numerous religions, philosophies and sciences. When he lived
164
DEUS X MACHINA
he was my closest friend, but in a way we still maintain our friendship. Many times when
I meditate I ask him for guidelines or advice, usually the answer comes discreetly, in
impressions or things that I take as signs. This particular time, I dont even remember
what was on my mind, I was mostly just thinking about you as I often do, and the life we
never got to spend together.
You see the cave has certain crystals. The crystals grow from the same particles
that powers the ship. They help you to see your thoughts, to learn more about yourself,
your total self. There are several of these caves throughout the garden. Many people
learn secrets about themselves they never dreamed of.
The experience can be frightening, but it is also enlightening and revealing. It will
give you a chance to see yourself, as you truly are.
In the vision that came to me, I was with Anunnaki as we were teaching the
humans how to farm along the Nile. When Anunnaki suddenly turned to me and told me
that the Dagons were still on Earth.
I asked him how this could be, he didnt answer. He just told me that time was
short and the Dagons were ready to come out of the shadows.
He told me that Earth would suffer the same fate as his people did.
Then he told me that I would find you and his son. That both of you have
returned again from the cycle of death and rebirth. He told me you were the Webmaster
of Holy Cross. You can imagine, being away from humanity for thousands of years I had
a very different picture of what the Webmaster of Holy Cross was. I imagined you to be
some powerful priest or king. It wasnt until we got in range to receive Earths radio
signals that we learned what a web master was.
I had my body altered like I did all those years ago. You have no idea the
restraint it took not to kiss you the moment I saw you again.
There are some members of the council that dont seem too happy about us.
165
DEUS X MACHINA
Yes, its jealousy. Most of those aboard werent alive during that time; they have
never known me as a mammal. They have never seen me act as I do when Im around
you.
Leonia, I dont want to jeopardize your position here.
You said the same words to me all those years ago. You think I care about my
position? I dont, Ive never wanted this kind of power, it was thrust upon me and once I
realized the power of this ship I have been afraid to let anyone else take the lead.
Theres a lot of temptation that comes with power. One could easily rule the galaxy with
the Nimbus. At times Ive been tempted to destroy my ship, but then I think of all those
that live in her, for them and me its the only home weve known. Plus from time to time I
think I make a real difference.
Josh, do you think you are ready to go into the cave?
Leonia, I dont think I was ready for any of this, but life happens. I want to
experience this cave. Theres a lot that still doesnt make sense, Im hoping whatevers
in that cave will help me sort some things out.
Are you sure? Many people see things that they do not expect. For some its too
much.
Is there any pain involved?
No, not physically anyway.
I want to go, Josh said, feeling like a kid whose is finally tall enough to go on
the big ride.
OK then, you have to do this alone. Ill wait out here. Dont worry, no matter how
long youll take Ill be here.
166
DEUS X MACHINA
Chapter 20 Apostolic Regression
As he entered the darkened entrance of the cave, Josh thought of the Empire
Strikes Back, when Luke Skywalker was sent by Yoda through some sort of a cave
only to find Darth Vader at the other end. I have a bad feeling about this.
Within a few paces he saw the crystals Leonia had mentioned. They started
speckling the cave walls as he walked until the whole cave seemed to be made out of
them. Slowly an image started to form in the crystals, disjointed glimpses of his life,
heartbreaks, first dates, accidents, joys, it was like looking through a family photo
album. Then one image started to make itself clearer and clearer. The walls of the cave
started to turn into the inside of a room, an old room, made of mud bricks. This is more
than an illusion. Josh picked up a date from a large squat table. He felt a hand on his
shoulder. He turned to see who it was.
John, how long I have missed you, my beloved friend and adopted brother.
Ribi! he immediately turned and hugged Y hoshua. Oddly for a minute he felt
nothing strange, all was familiar. There were no thoughts, only happiness, like a child
reunited with his parents after being lost and afraid. His smell, the feel of this robes, his
strong arms and coarse beard, he remembered them all, then realization of what was
going on started to seep in. What the hell is happening? Yes, Ive been in this room. I
laid my head on his chest when he said he must go awaymy GodMy God whats
happening. Where Am I? Oh Lord..Oh Lord..Jesus Christ Ive lost my mind! Joshua felt
himself sink and wobble. Yohoshua cradled him gently to the pillowed seats, as his legs
gave out. I cant breathe, Josh choked, as he started to hyperventilate.
It will be alright. Youre safe, I promise. You couldnt be safer than you are right
now. Im here. Theres nothing you have to do or think right now. Just focus on your
breath. Breathe with me. Think only of the air filling your lungs, shut out everything else.
167
DEUS X MACHINA
So many questions and fears formed an army ready to breach his sanity, but
slowly he focused on Y hshuas voice and did as he said. His racing heart started to
slow, and the room around him started to fade into a different place, an open place.
John walked briskly down the dusty roads of Palestine. Trying to keep up, but
always easily distracted and eager to flirt with the girls of each village they passed
through. Being with the Rabbi made him feel like an important man. People took notice
of him, and wanted to talk with him. At sixteen he felt like he had already made
something of himself, when really all he did was leave behind the arduous job of
fishermen to be with his older brother. There was no way he was going to stay back in
their little straw-brick house as his brother got to travel the world.
He caught up with them as they rested at a shady spot along the Galilean coast.
Y hshua had already blessed the mid-day meal.
Hey John, did you find a wife yet? Peter ribbed him.
Peter, did you lose yours yet? How long as it been since youve seen her? Two
months?
Peter was about to reply, but Y hshua stepped in.
John, come with me for a moment we need to talk.
John followed Y hshua down the slope to the very edge of the Galilean sea.
Ribi, I was just ribbing him back. We do that all the time. Peter is like another
older brother to me. He knows I love him.
Its been so long John. I cant even say how much I missed you. Your youth.
Youre love of life and dedication to God. Your ribbing of Peter. Even the way you ogle
young girls.
Ribi, I dont know what you mean. Which is more often than not the case. I was
only a half-an-hour behind. Ive been with you every day for nearly a year.
168
DEUS X MACHINA
Joshua, I know you have many questions for me. Thats why I brought you here
again. Later our friends will wonder what sort of secret teaching I give you, and you will
tell them you are sworn to secrecy. In fact, tell them that if you tell stones will leap with
fire and strike you down. That should get them
At Y hshua's words Josh knew who he was and is.
Not just then, but many, many more, years from now, plead with me to report
this conversation. I tell them, I wouldnt know how to even if I wanted to. Yes. I
remember, now. I feel like I'm looking at mirrors facing each other. The memories reflect
off each other into infinity.
Josh, this is my favorite place, and my favorite time. Before they hailed me as
King as I went to Jerusalem. Before I am spit upon before the Samharimthen stripped
andwellthis is the good time, this is where I exist.
Josh, I know you have some questions for me. I'm here to answer them.
Lord, why did you call that Canaanite women a dog?
It wasnt long after I left the Essences community. In that community they would
pray, and wash constantly to make themselves clean in the eye of G-d. As if the Torah
isnt hard enough to follow, they heaped on their own traditions and customs, in their
manual of discipline. They were always burning for the coming reign of G-d. Looking for
it in every Sunset and Sunrise. And I was with them, on my knees, looking for G-ds
Kingdom, waiting for the Messiah, fanatically following their rules.
Then one morning during a long fast the Father whispered in my ear, Mercy not
sacrifice. At that moment I realized the he doesnt care if I performed ritual baptism 10
times a day, or prayed and fasted in the ways my fathers have. I realized what matters
more than being clean on the outside, is being spiritually clean on the inside.
169
DEUS X MACHINA
These doubts about the Essence community started to grow, just as yours did at
the seminary. I was sick of waiting for the Kingdom of Heaven, sick of waiting for the
Messiah. I decided to go into the desert and find the Messiah myself.
My quest was lonely and frightening, and full of many delusions and temptations,
but after 40 days I did find what I was seeking. I found the Messiah, the Christ.
When I came out of the desert, assuring myself I wasnt mad was hard enough,
but to convince others seemed impossible. After being chased out of many a
synagogue, a few open-minded people started to believe. The more they believed, the
more power to perform miracles I seemed to have. At first people were healed because
they believed I could heal them, as time went on my confidence and power grew. I
became closer to the Christ, until the day at the well, a day that in this time only
happened a short time ago, I became the Christ. The final wall of prejudice and
judgment fell, and I saw the Father so strongly in that woman it almost blinded me. For
all her faults, she was as entitled to the Kingdom of Heaven as anyone else, and
probably more so, because she experienced the full depth of the Father's forgiveness.
That was the final step, the first step came the day the Samarian woman came
to me to heal her child. On that day, I was speaking with some highly respected Rabbis
of Capernaum. I felt that their acceptance of me would lead many into the Father's
Kingdom.
This woman who approached was well known as a harlot, and an unwed mother.
She was the one other mothers would use as a warning to their daughter and sons,
You see, you see what happens when you disobey the Torah, when you let dogs (non-
Jews) violate you. You see G_d's vengeance on her! She was dying of syphilis, and
worst than that she had passed the disease to her daughter.
I must see the Ribi. She said, please. Only he, only he can help me. The
commotion disturbed the conversation I was having. I could feel the other Rabbis gaze
170
DEUS X MACHINA
upon me, wondering what I would do in this situation. My disciples scorned her and
physically tried to stop her from entering the house. They did all they could to turn her
away. I was hoping that they would. I did not wish a confrontation with her in front of the
Rabbis, but nothing could have stopped her from getting to me. She loved her daughter
with her whole being, and would have done anything to save her.
She finally pushed her way in. She brought the stink of desperation with her.
Son of David, you must help me. My daughter is very sick. A terrible demon has
possessed her. Please help her, I know you can.
Her plea tugged at my heart, but I made no response, and focused my eyes
away from her. She threw herself onto my lap. Please you must!
I could feel the contempt and disgust from the rabbis. I myself felt some disgust
at her touch. In the eyes of the Rabbis allowing her to put her face in my lap disgraced
me. With her prostrated before me, I said, well you know what I said; I called her a dog,
as many others had done, every day of her life.
And then despite all the insults she endured, all the pain, and with humility that I
have never seen before, she said Cant dogs even have scraps from their masters
table? I was overwhelmed by the amount of faith she had in me. She had put all her
trust into the Father and me while these religious men waited like vultures for me to
show my weakness. That day, she was the teacher and I was the student. She showed
me the way to the Kingdom.
This woman was a treasure hidden from thieves in a rubbish pile. This woman
would have endured anything to save her daughter, and I, the Son of Man was willing to
let her daughter die because of my desire to seem righteous. What is more righteous?
What is better in the eyes of G-d? Keeping tradition or saving a life.
171
DEUS X MACHINA
Any outsider or misfit, who has felt acceptance because of me, has this woman
to thank. Of course the rabbis scorn me. They even thought that I would accept a
sexual act as payment, as some faith healers of the time did.
Does that answer your question?
But Lord, if you are the Messiah, the Son of the living God, isnt your console
perfect. Arent your statements without error? Arent you the truth and the way?
What is truth? Jesus chuckled. More rightly, I should say, imagine a bowman
aiming carefully at a target. He pulls back the bow to a certain tension, to match the
distance of the target. He angles the arrow above and to one slide to compensate for
the wind and the slope of the field, then he releases the shot perfectly suited to the
conditions of the target.
Likewise, my console was to a certain people, at a certain time, therefore my
message was crafted to those conditions.
That said, I was wrong to treat that woman the way I did, but that error led to the
inclusions of all the Fathers children into my flock, both Jew and gentle. At some time,
the words be perfect, as I am perfect were attributed to me. The true meaning of my
statement was lost in translation. More rightly, it was 'follow the righteousness of the
Father, as the river follows the perfect path by following its nature. It cannot be wrong, it
follows the course that the Father has made, so you too, do not resist the right path.
Dont try to change your course because of the console of men, no matter who they are,
but follow the true path.
But how can you know youre on the right path?
How does the river know? No instruction is needed for this, the Way is written
on your heart. Find the Kingdom within you, and submit yourself to its rule and you will
be following the perfect path.
172
DEUS X MACHINA
What is the Kingdom of God? Sometimes you made it sound as is it is Gods
reign. The time when the Father takes control from humanity and punishes the wicked,
other times it seems like youre talking about something more spiritual.
John the baptizer and I were close friends, and we both eagerly awaited the
coming of G-ds Kingdom. When I went into the desert I went seeking the Kingdom, and
I found it within myself. It was an amazing discovery. The Kingdom does not come with
a trumpet in heaven, but with a discovery within the hearts of humanity. Where your
heart is, there lays your treasure. The Kingdom has always been and always will be
there, waiting like a treasure to be discovered in a field, unknown to the owners. The
Kingdom is open, and ready for anyone who seeks it.
That all sounds good and fine, but how do you do this? What church is the right
church? Whose theology is right?
Did I not say that many will honor me with their lips, but their hearts will be far
from me, and many will call my name, but when I meet them Ill tell them they do not
know me? The Perfect path of the Way is not a matter of creed, but of love.
The Atheist who loves his brothers and sisters, and cares for them like the pupil
of his eye is closer to the Kingdom than the more devote believer, who shuns his
brother.
But didnt you say only those who believe in you, and praise your name will be
saved.
173
DEUS X MACHINA
'In my name,' meant something much different when I said that. Youve heard it
said, in fact YOU wrote it, that I am the Word of G-d. In our generation, the priests
believed that in the holy of holies is written the unutterable name of G-d. In fact they will
accuse me of stealing a glimpse of that name to do the good works that I do. Name and
Word, in this context means the root of action. My name, as well as the Fathers and
yours is: the Kingdom, the Way, the Son, the Christ, or anything else you attribute to the
unutterable root of the divine.
All this seems very familiar to me. I hope I understand it a little more now, than I
did then, but Im starting to get that same type of headache I often did when I tried to
understand you.
Lord, what am I supposed to do? What is my role with the Watchers and Leonia?
Who should I listen to? Are they part of the plan, or path? Lord, instruct me, Im
confused, and scared. Lord, tell me what to do?
You still have to ask me? Seek first the Kingdom. Be a doer of the Word. The
rest will follow.
Its never easy is it.
It is the easiest thing there is.
Josh put his head down and stared at the caked dirt on this feet and sandals.
Thank you for caring for my mother. I knew that I left her in good hands.
Y hshua said, sounding different as if he was standing up.
Are you kidding, she took care of me more than I took care of her. She was the
mother I never had, she consoled when I was upset and held my head when I was sick.
And what a cook she was! No matter how little we had, I doubt Ceasar ate so well.
Josh noticed blood dripping into the sandy soil. John, John, seek first the
Kingdom! The sky was dark. All those around were afraid.
174
DEUS X MACHINA
My God.MY GODwhy have youforsaken me. Why are you so f-far from
he-lp-ing me Yohoshua labored to speak. Much of what he said was lost by gasps.
NORIBI! John looked up. He had averted his eyes for so long from the sight,
as he stood with Mary. He couldnt bare the sight of it. He heard the sound that the nails
made as they were thrust through his wrists. The belabored breathing as over and over
again he pushed himself up slightly to gasp for air. The hideous smiles and jeers of
those who did this to him.
I can't, I can't Mother. Oh why, God, why have you done this to your anointed
one. Father, hear his plea from the cross. Hear the prayer he struggles to speak.
At that moment the rest of the psalm came to him.
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?
O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer;
and by night, but find no rest.
I am a worm, and not human;
scorned by others, and despised by the people.
All who see me mock at me;
they make mouths at me, they shake their heads;
"Commit your cause to the LORD; let him deliver--
let him rescue the one in whom he delights!"
Yet it was you who took me from the womb;
you kept me safe on my mother's breast.
On you I was cast from my birth,
and since my mother bore me you have been my God.
Do not be far from me,
for trouble is near
175
DEUS X MACHINA
and there is no one to help.
Many bulls encircle me,
strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
they open wide their mouths at me,
like a ravening and roaring lion.
I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint;
my heart is like wax;
it is melted within my breast;
my mouth is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to my jaws;
you lay me in the dust of death.
For dogs are all around me;
a company of evildoers encircles me.
My hands and feet have shriveled;
I can count all my bones.
They stare and gloat over me;
they divide my clothes among themselves,
and for my clothing they cast lots.
But you, O LORD, do not be far away!
O my help, come quickly to my aid!
Deliver my soul from the sword,
my life from the power of the dog!
Save me from the mouth of the lion!
From the horns of the wild oxen you have rescued me!
176
DEUS X MACHINA
I will tell of your name to my brothers and sisters
in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
You who fear the LORD, praise him!
All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him;
stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
For he did not despise or abhor
the affliction of the afflicted;
he did not hide his face from me,
but heard when I cried to him.
From you comes my praise in the great congregation;
my vows I will pay before those who fear him.
The poor shall eat and be satisfied;
those who seek him shall praise the LORD.
May your hearts live forever!
All the ends of the earth shall remember
and turn to the LORD;
and all the families of the nations
shall worship before him.
To him, indeed, shall all who sleep in the earth bow down;
before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,
and I shall live for him.
Posterity will serve him;
future generations will be told about the Lord,
and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn,
saying that he has done it.
Mother, I think I know now. This has to happen. It will all be OK.
177
DEUS X MACHINA
Yes, my son. Rest your head on my shoulder. It will be alright. You need to rest,
there's lots for you to do yet. Mary sat next to him and stroked his hair.
Mother, I miss you.
A Mother is always with her son, remember that.
Oh mother, there is death all around me. What a horrible place. Can this be it?
The battle of the sons of light and the sons of darkness. Oh mother take me from this
horrible place.
There is a flash of light and heat. Their eyes melt before their bodies hit the floor.
The valley is laid waste. Millions and millions die!
178
DEUS X MACHINA
Chapter 22 Saving the Suicide King
Leonia found Josh curled up sleeping at the back of the cave. She wondered if
she should wake him. It had been over an hour, she couldn't wait any longer, she
nudged him gently, and cradled his head in her lap.
Mother.
It's Leonia.
He opened his eyes and looked up with the bright blue eyes of an infant.
Josh, do you know where you are.
I know... Everything started to come into focus. I know who I am, I think.
What did you see?
I'm a goddamn apostle. One of the twelve. How in the hell can I be Osiris, and
the Apostle John? Did you know this?
No, but Ive been away for six thousand years. Ive read about Christianity. It
makes sense. The crucified savior, the resurrection. It all happened before back in
Egypt. Lifetimes often repeat patterns.
You have no idea. This isnt like saying youve lived before, this is Jesus, the
Son of God. Josh spoke manically.
Many have had such a title.
There is no other like him. He rose from the dead. I saw him with my own eyes.
Who is he? Is he an alien?
I dont think so. I really dont know much about him. It is not impossible though.
In my travels I have heard of many such people. Some seem to be very close to the
God within them.
But why would I see this, and not my life with you?
179
DEUS X MACHINA
Perhaps because your lifetime as a follower of this man was closer to you.
Perhaps it has something to do with whats going on right now. There are many
connections in things that we dont see right away.
I cant believe this. Is there anyone in history that I wasnt. Josh said, finally
cracking a smile.
Thats cute. Listen the lives that are reflected back to us are the more
interesting lives. Ive sure youve been a slave or farmer too.
Just how many lives did I have?
Josh, it isnt as simple as all that. Souls arent like stones, theyre fluid. Its not
always clear-cut where one ends and another begins. In truth theres a little bit of
everyone in everybody.
Im glad you cleared that up. I dont know, the first time I saw you I felt like I
knew you. Besides being an alien, it feels like I know what you feel and think. But the
Osiris stuff doesnt mean much to me, it doesnt really trigger anything.
No, perhaps it doesnt. The similarities between your life as Osiris and this
Apostle John seem to suggest that with Jesus you finished something you started as
Osiris, or perhaps you are to finish it now, in this life.
Josh paused for a moment, than began. Yes, wait. The ankh. The cross, Eternal
life. Rebirth. The Kingdom of God. Set, Satan. The trinity. The father, son and holy host.
Osiris, Isis and Horus. I dont know, theres all these thingsthey connect, but I dont
know how. Im just a loser. A little fuck who could never decide. Im a seminary school
dropout of a religion I helped to start. Come one. It aint me. I have to wake up.
Quiet, quiet my prince. He who is ruled by his heart, shall rule over all.
What, what did you say?
He who is ruled by his heart, shall rule over all. You said that.
180
DEUS X MACHINA
Yes I did, didnt I. Is it possible? This is real. This isnt some dreamt desire of my
stalled heart. You, you are my queen, and my wife.
I just don't know whats excepted of me. I mean, am I supposed to stand on
street corners and tell people to repent. I just don't know.
What did the your mangod tell you to do?
Oh, he always talks in parables, nothing is ever a straight answer.
What did he tell you?
Seek first the Kingdom.
Whats the Kingdom?
Thats the question isnt it? Theres never a straight answer.
Did he happen to tell you what we should do next?
No, nothing that specific. Anunnakis tomb; what were we going to do again?
His tomb is one of the only artifacts of our existence on Earth. In his
sarcophagus are scrolls collected by his son Thoth. They chronicle Nirbiruan history on
Earth, our involvement with humanity, along with various philosophical and scientific
theories. We left the planet shortly after his death six thousand years ago. As far as I
can tell the scrolls were a hotly sought after item, from what we studied from your
literature and myths there are many books descended from poor translations of the
scrolls, some of which you may be familiar with like the book of Enoch.
Why are we doing this again?
A subtle and legitimate archeological find may prep humanity for the upcoming
battle with the Dagons. Not only does it contain the body of an alien and the scrolls, the
sarcophagus itself is made from an almost indestructible material not found on Earth.
Do you have any idea how we can go about this? I mean, we could easily extract
the artifacts, but I dont think it would benefit humanity to know of our existence yet.
I do have a friend whos an archaeologist.
181
DEUS X MACHINA
Do you think he would help? How would he react to all this?
He'd help, although I'm not sure what his reaction to the rest will be. We go
back a long way. I saved his life once.
What happened?
We had gone to school together since Kindergarten. We were always friends,
yet I was a little jealous of him. Everything seemed to come easy to him. In college, he
always had the prettiest girlfriends and the better grades, but I always felt if anyone
deserved it, he did. He was just about the kindest and most honest person you could
think of.
After college things started to change for him. I went to seminary; he stayed in
our small hometown. I'm not sure what happened, for some reason he became very
depressed. He was a history major, but took a job as a security guard. For some
reason, he felt that he couldn't get his life started.
I came home for the holiday break and went up to his apartment to see what he
was up to. Nobody answered the door when I knocked. I would have just walked away,
but I heard a strange type of movement inside. It wasn't a tumbling out of bed
movement, it was something different, something that caused the hair to stand up on
the back of my neck. I tried to open the front door, but it was locked. I peered in from the
kitchen window. Past the kitchen, in the darkened living room I saw Lenny's legs
dangling. I took his bike, which I found on the porch, and smashed it through the
window, then jumped through myself. I ran to where Lenny was and lifted him up by his
waist. Even though I relieved the force of his weight on his neck, the knot he had made
was still tight around his throat.
182
DEUS X MACHINA
I quickly scanned the room. Lenny collected knives and ancient weaponry, so it
wasn't odd to find a medieval axe hanging on the wall. I grabbed the axe and swung it
toward the cord that was wrapped around the crossbeam. It was a lucky hit, immediately
I felt his full weight land on me. I loosened the cord from around his neck.
He was choking and gasping for breath, but he was alive. The first words he said
to me when he could speak were thanks for breaking my fall. We didn't speak much
for a long while. I made him some herbal tea to soothe his throat. His neck was black
and blue all around.
He didn't have to speak; I knew what it was. It was the nothing. The same dark
creeping that was starting to cause me to doubt my vocation. It was the fear of being
nothing, knowing nothing and doing nothing. It happens to a lot of people right after they
finish college and before any type of professional life starts. Until I met you I was
swimming in the nothing, it was my constant companion.
While he was sleeping I called a professor I knew who taught biblical archeology.
He was organizing a dig in Israel. Once I told him the story he was eager for Lenny join
him. Once Lenny woke up I told him he had 6 hours to get his stuff together and get on
a plane to Israel.
Just like that. You didn't tell anybody else. He didn't see a doctor. She asked.
I followed my instincts, of course I questioned whether it was the right thing to
do or not, but I felt it was right. I felt it was what he needed, and for once I think I was
right. Now he is a rising start in the archeology community.
The Suicide King! Leonia said abruptly.
What?
Lenny is Thoth, Anunnaki said that I would know his son by the sign of the
suicide king. Yes, its all fitting, its all coming together.
183
DEUS X MACHINA
Sure why not, all we need is Athena and we can have are own pantheon. So
should I give him a call. Say, Hey buddy, guess what were both reincarnated gods.
Let's talk to him in person.
How do we do that? Transporter?
You watch too much science fiction, it is doubtful whether it is possible, and it
would take more energy than there is in the universe even if it were.
It was sort of a joke, so how are we going to get down there?
The same way we got up here. Leonia smiled.
184
DEUS X MACHINA
Chapter 23 Learning to Fly
It was huge, like the garden area, but different because the hanger area followed
the outer cylindrical shape of the Nimbus. It was like an ocean of metal curving into the
horizon. And covering most areas where fantastic crafts, some where so strange they
look to Josh like modern sculptures.
Are all these...spacecraft?
Most are, some are designed for specific environments, like high pressures or
heat. There are even some ships meant to travel on water. Most of these have little or
no weaponry. There are a few fighters that we've developed during conflicts we
encountered over the years. Wars are easy to start, but much harder to end.
How many intelligent species have you found.
Thousands, the universe is teaming with life.
Why haven't we discovered any?
I'm positive the Dagons have made sure humanity hasn't made contact. They
wouldn't want the humans making any alliances.
So where is our ship?
Youre wearing it.
The watch?
The suit.
You can fly in that thing?
Werent you listening to my story? How do you think you got here?
Did I mention that I'm afraid to fly? Besides, I have no idea how to operate the
thing. Dont I need some training.
Dont worry, I promise you can learn to fly very quickly.
Josh, I didn't know you are afraid to fly, that's interesting.
185
DEUS X MACHINA
Really, why?
Fear exists for a reason, there is either an experience or a precognition that
causes the fear. But I promise you, if you are going to die, it wont be in the suit. Mexus
is the strongest substance known to exist.
Should that comfort me?
Leonia leans in and kisses him.
Yes, she says and gives him an infectious smile.
Are you ready fly?
Wait what happens here? Do we just jump out into space?
OK, lesson number one. Close your eyes. Call to the Mexus.
What are you taking about?
Feel the metal on your wrist.
Yes, I feel it, it tingles.
Now call it to activate.
Call it to activate? Ok how? Maybe if I just imagine it expanding. The metal of the
watch started to expand covering Joshs arm, then quickly retracted.
Dont be afraid. This technology saved your life, it wont hurt you.
OK. Yeah, easy for the Lizard Lady to say. Alright let me try this again. The
armor quickly covered him. It was an odd sensation, like rolling mercury in your hand.
The metal seemed neither hot or cold and spread like liquid over his body until it
hardened. Once his entire body was covered the area in front of his eyes became
transparent, and several fixtures began forming on his forearms, ankles and back. Josh
could see various visual readouts on the inside of his visor, none of which made any
sense to him.
Leonia, I cant breathe right in this.
186
DEUS X MACHINA
Dont panic, breathe normally, theres plenty of oxygen. The suit responds to
your physical condition, it will provide the optimal internal environment for your
physiological needs, it just takes a moment to calibrate. This only occurs the first time
you activate it.
OK, Im breathing better now. But how do I work this thing. Wait. Leonia
somethings entering my skin!
He felt a stiffness shoot up this arms to his neck, then he felt small shocks over
his entire body. He imagined his head was a jar full of fireflies, lighting and jumping
around desperate to get out. We will add your uniqueness to our own. Resistant is futile.
What the hell is happening?
Youre learning to fly. All the information required to operate the suit is being
uploaded into your brain.
It was as if a branding iron was writing an instruction manual in this brain. Too
much information came too quickly. He couldnt follow it. Don't try.
Please don't hurt me. Strange thoughts and images randomly flashed across this
mind. This isn't right, I'm in trouble, I'm going to die.
No, it's OK, you're almost through. Don't try to think about anything, just breathe.
His head hurt. There was a tremendous pressure at the front of his head. It was
information, lots of it. It felt like giving birth, like a large object was being pushed into a
small area. Then faster than it began, it ended.
I've been raped.
I'm sorry, it's not a pleasant experience, but I promise you it isn't dangerous. No
thoughts are destroyed. Look at your visual display and tell me what you think.
You know you could have warned me.
What fun would there be in that?
Just wait until I get you to that amusement park.
187
DEUS X MACHINA
Yes, I can read it now. I can choose the information I want to be displayed. II
can fly. I canmy God this suit has a lot of power. I can fly into the center of the Sun
with this thing!
Ive done it. Its not as interesting as you might think.
Do you need a minute Josh?
I'm good.
The hangar doors began to open, revealing the stars as Josh had never seen
them. So bright. My God, its full of stars.
Isnt there some kind of airlock, or is the whole hangar depressurizing.
You disappoint me, there are force fields of course.
Well you didnt have a transporter.
OK, are you ready now flyboy?
Where did you get that from?
I had a few weeks to study the radio signals from Earth before we arrived. Earth
has produced some really fine entertainment. I cant wait to share the Honeymooners
with the rest of the galaxy.
Great, our first statement to the universe is old sitcoms.
There are worse things. OK, are you ready. Ill go first and you follow.
I dreamed of this my whole life. It just doesn't seem real.
It's amazing to feel your enthusiasm. It's been a long time since I felt like that.
Its allowing me to see things new again. Leonia shot out of the hangar and quickly
became a speck among the stars.
Ok, I can do this. Josh focused his thoughts and found himself hurtling towards
Leonias position. Im in space. Im flying through space. Theres the Moon. I know what
to do. He saw Leonias suit glimmering with the reflected light of the Moon.
188
DEUS X MACHINA
God, I love her. How can I know for sure? There's so much to know about her.
So much to learn. Sometimes I feel like a pet to her, but then, I think I can feel what she
feels, and she can feel what I feel. It's happening more and more the longer I am with
her.
Ka-tekanna.
What?
Ka-tekanna, it's similar to the human concept of a soul mate. I thought it was a
myth until I met you all those years ago. It's a joining of souls, or Ka. There are different
types of joinings. Sometimes between parents and their children, sometimes between a
people and their gods, and sometimes between lovers.
Can you read my thoughts?
No more than you can read mine, but we can feel impressions from each other,
or feelings. People with strong Ka-tekana can send messages over long distances to
one another. Single words, or feelings, or sometimes visions.
Then you know...
Theres no shame in doubt. Please. I have lived a very long time, and have
done a lot of things. Not all of them worked out the way I wanted. I want you to know
everything about me. If you surrendered your heart to me so quickly, it wouldnt be worth
having.
When I met you in Egypt, I had no thoughts at all about finding a mate. I didnt
think it was possible for me to be loved, truly loved by another being. You also have to
consider that we were or are from different species. I am a reptilian. Think of the reptiles
of Earth. It shocked me when I first saw an Asp. I had never seen another form of reptile
besides Alphas and Drones. It was a shock, but we fell in love despite our differences.
Now think about becoming a reptile yourself. Think about replacing your skin
with scales. Scales are far less sensitive than skin, when I became a mammal for the
189
DEUS X MACHINA
first time everything hurt. Everything that I touched frighten me. I felt so week, so
vulnerable. But I did it for you, not because you asked me to, but because I loved you.
Beside, once I became a mammal, I felt new again, it was as though everything that had
happened to me really happened to someone else.
When I came to you I felt that I truly was a virgin. I had never made love, it
wasnt possible to have sex the way we do as a reptilian. You dont realize it, but you
skin is one big sex organ. And now, when we made love in the Nimbus, I felt the same
sensation. The same newness.
I had no idea. Its strange. I still cant get used to the idea that you knew me
before. I mean, I know its true. I feel that its true, but its still an odd thing. Odd, but
wonderful to think that I have or had a wife. You know, even as the Apostle John I never
got married. I would tell myself that it was because of my ministry, but I knew that wasnt
the whole truth. Peter was married, so was my brother and Simon, but although I knew
many fine women, and although, and this is a big although, I desperately wanted to
know what it was like to make love. Despite all this I never chose a wife.
And in this life, there were times when I thought I was in love, but there was
always something missing, something that didnt feel right. It feels right with you. More
right than anything has in my life.
Um, arent we nearing Earth. I think on some level I know how to enter the
atmosphere, its just, its really, really fucking big!
They stopped at the edge of Earths atmosphere. Josh couldnt believe it,
nothing he had seen on TV or in pictures prepared him for the sight of seeing his planet
beneath his feet. He kept feeling like he was falling, although the readout told him he
was stationary.
You better watch that first step, its a big one.
Can you sense how scared shittless I am?
190
DEUS X MACHINA
Sense it, it doesnt take a physic to hear the fear in your voice. Theres no
shame in that. Come here, well hold each other during entry. Dont pilot until I let go of
you, Ill control the descent.
How can you love such a chickenshit?
How can you love a lizard?
They embraced; they held each other tightly as Leonia positioned them to plunge
into the atmosphere. Dont look down. Dont look down. Shit, I looked down. Ok, this will
be over soon. I can do this. A ball of fire surrounded them as they entered. Josh felt like
his insides were being shaken apart. The entry seemed to last an eternity. A season in
hell. Then in an instant it was gone. The plasma that surrounded them disappeared and
they were free falling high over the Indian Ocean.
Were through the hard part. Do you want to try flying the rest of the way on
your own.
Yeah, I think Ill be OK now.
Josh headed for Iraq, were Lenny was leading a team to uncover new areas of
Samaria open for the first time to archeologist.
You know this is still a very dangerous area that we are going to.
Will you hold my hand if I get scared? Leonia said with intended sarcasm.
Ok, warrior princess. I was just making a comment.
They had no problems locating Lenny's team. Their computer scanned all
electronic forms of communication, searching for keywords and was able to triangulate
their position, but they landed about ten miles from the site, in a less populated area
where there would be less of a chance for someone to see these two gleaming metal
objects landing like some medieval knight with a jetpack.
I guess we walk from here. Josh said.
Yup, did you remember to pack the sunscreen.
191
DEUS X MACHINA
Just how many sitcoms did you watch?
Enough to wonder what a G-R-O la-salle is.
Its gee, our old La Salle ran great. It was a car.
Really? You have no idea how long I tried to figure that out.
Youre not alone.
Josh, while we have this time I want to share something with you.
Leonia, what else could it be? You an alien, and my widow. We had a child that
I never met. My life has become a trans-dimensional Soap Opera. Lay it on me.
No, its nothing like that, no more surprises, wellthere may be a few, but not
Josh Ive kept a journal of sorts. You see the technology that allows you to receive all
the information you need to operate the Mexus suit, also allows a person to record their
thoughts and feelings.
I want you to know me, to know all of me, at least as much as I know about
myself. The Zhang used this technology to control peoples minds, we use it to share
our innermost thoughts and feelings with those we trust. But I dont want to push it on
you, I have thousand of years of memories, it will be a lot for your brain to hold.
Too bad I didn't have this technology in college.
Information is easy to transfer, knowledge and wisdom aren't. On the Nimbus,
the young from various species still go to school, but the focus is on the application and
interpretation of knowledge, rather than the information itself.
Josh, theres a lot about me you dont know. There are a lot of things Ive done
over the centuries that Im not that proud of. Before you say you love me, I want you to
know just what youre saying.
192
DEUS X MACHINA
Why? Does anybody really know what theyre saying when they love someone
else. I am touched that you want to share this all with me, but think about it, I dont know
how this works on the Nimbus, but no-matter how close two people are there are still
things, thoughts and feelings, that they keep to themselves.
Leonia replied. I know, its true. Many edit the record a lot before they share it. I
just want you to know. You dont really know me. Even back in Egypt, we had a few
years together but not enough, and now so much has happened since then. Im not the
same person I was, you are, your thoughts and actions, the way you move, the way you
touch me, I didnt think it was possible, but you truly are the same person you were in
Egypt. Im not, I had to live this whole time. Survive, without you.
There have been times. Choices I made, that you might hate me for. Our son
died because of me, the son I had no right to create, the son you never knew. I set him
up as Pharaoh; I led him to take revenge for your death. He never had a chance to find
a wife or have children of his own.
Leonia please. I dont remember our life in Egypt, I have impressions, but I dont
remember it as I do my life in Palestine. What youre telling me about HorusHorus,
our son, doesnt affect me as it does you. What ever happened is far from us now.
No, I dont want to know every thought and feeling you ever had, thats between
you and whomever you believe judges you once you die. That doesnt mean I dont love
you. Youre right to say that the love I feel right now might change, it might change for
the better it might change for the worst. Why test it now? For whatever reason the
universe has given us another chance to be together. To meet each other anew. Its a
wonderful adventure, a wonderful journey. Cant we just enjoy what we have now?
You cant love me, you cant. If you really understood, you cant. I was a slave
for the sexual pleasure of monsters, and thats just the start of it. Do you think
everything Ive done has been noble? You have no idea how many lives Ive taken, how
193
DEUS X MACHINA
much pain Ive caused to how many millions. I havent always had the best intentions.
And even now, Im afraid what happened in Egypt will happen again.
Do you think Im perfect? Do you think Im pure? I caused the death of a baby
before it was even born because I was selfish. Do you know how that plays on me, do
you know how many times I think about the life that could have been, the life that I
murdered, because I wasnt ready to become a father, because I was selfish.
Youre not the only one with regrets, but love covers a multitude of sins. Josh
confessed.
Always the comforter. Maybe youre right, lets lay it to rest for now and set up
camp, its starting to get dark.
I could go for some beef jerky, you wouldnt happen to have any, would you?
I have a capsule, it will give you the nutrients you need for a day.
Great, do you have any mustard with that?
Sorry, I need to eat very infrequently, I forgot just how much humans ate.
Alright Lizard Queen, but if we pass a taco stand were stopping.
The Moon rose from the desert floor. It was full and so big on the horizon you
would swear you could walk to it. They lay together on a thin blanket, enjoying the
presence of each others body. For a long while they just looked at each other, as if to
meet somewhere in the eyes of the other. Then Josh reached over laid his hand on
Leonias side and followed the curve of her body up to her breasts. She wore no bra,
and the cool desert breeze hardened her nipples. Slowly again, Josh explored her body.
Leonia felt like a sculpture, being finely shaped by a master craftsman. She felt like an
admired object of worship, a statue in the holies of holies, revealed only to the appointed
priest. Soon, she could no longer bare the anticipation. She jumped on top of Josh,
eager to feel him insider her. To a woman, especially one like Leonia who was entered
without permission, this was the place of ultimate trust. Unlike a man who thrusts and
194
DEUS X MACHINA
penetrates, a woman must be entered; she must let her mate enter her body. It is a
partial surrender of control over ones body.
Leonia felt the cool desert breeze caress her skin as she rode Josh. She
stretched up to the indifferent face of the moon. Josh squinted between waves of
ecstasy at the mythical beauty that somehow found delight in him. She moved in time
with his pulse, in fluid arcs and bows on his sex. She seemed to him to be part of the
moonlight, like an erotic phantom that possessed him. Again he felt every ounce of fluid
he had pour into her. All he could think is that he wanted to give her more, more of
himself, more of his love. He couldn't imagine not being with her. When he was inside
her it felt like a homecoming. A reunion with a long forgotten place the he could be at
peace. It was Heaven.
They lay together and watched the large desert moon shrink as it climbed higher
into a hungry sky. Leonia too left all else behind and just lived in that moment as they
help each other naked in the world, and fell into a deep soulful sleep.
195
DEUS X MACHINA
Chapter 24 Too many dreams, too many nightmares
Too many dreams, too many nightmares. Josh couldnt breathe, he was
underwater, under a frozen lake, he couldnt find an opening to come up for air.
He caught a breath, but he couldn't move his body, he seemed paralyzed, his
mind was fogged, he couldn't see through. He knew nothing; his identity had not yet
caught up with the fact that he was alive. He felt like he was slipping again. He fought it,
but he didn't know why. I want to go home. I want to go back to where I came from. He
tried to open his eyes; they felt crusted, like an ancient tomb. He managed to slit his
eyes open slightly. There was a dull gray light to his left; intuitively he knew it came from
a window. Then he shot up like a trap. His heart pounded uncontrollably in his chest.
Where in the fuck am I?
He found himself in an old style hospital bed, wearing the feminizing standard
issue hospital smock. Where is Leonia! He looked out the window to get his bearings.
He saw a dreary courtyard, with plaster benches covered in mold and decay. Across the
courtyard was a sixties era institutional building with aqua panels below barred windows.
I have to get out of here.
He searched the room for his clothes. The room was a drab pale green color.
The type of color used to calm people and keep them in submission. There was an old
TV on a nondescript time stand. He searched the draws and the closet and found only
abandoned napkins and salt packets. He pushed on the aluminum handle of the room's
door, and to his surprised it opened. The door revealed a hallway and more doors like
his, some opened, some closed. At one end of the hallway was a nurses station, at the
other a fire door. Should I talk to a nurse, or make a break for it. Josh decided it would
be better to figure out what was going on before talking with anyone.
196
DEUS X MACHINA
Hold it, where are you going? A nurse shouted from the other end of the
hallway as Josh approached the firedoor.
Uh...I have an appointment, on another floor. Josh was startled by the raspy
sound of his own voice. He turned his head and continued walking towards the doors.
The nurse belted out another command, but it was lost on Josh as he bolted
through the doors. The door led to a staircase, which he quickly descended. His steps
were labored, but adrenaline carried him on. He burst through an emergency exit at the
bottom floor and was greeted by a cool and wet November afternoon. The cold shocked
him out of the remaining fog that was in his mind. He realized quickly that the way out
was about a half mile down a long vacant road. He shot towards a wooded area. It
reminded him of the times when he was a child and would hide out in the woods on
Mischief night.
He was about a third of the way to the woods when he saw three white golf carts
closing in on his position. His legs were like rubber; he felt as if they couldn't propel him
more than the pace of a slow jog. It wasn't long before one of the carts was riding next
to him. A large man in a white uniform jumped from the cart and tackled him to the
ground. He rolled away and got up to fight them, but quickly discovered he had almost
no muscle mass. The men pushed his face deep into the rain soaked grass, and pulled
his arm behind his back until Josh was sure it was going to break. They brought him
back into the institution, stripped him naked, and threw him into a padded cell.
Naked and alone he assessed his body. His flesh just hung off his bones. His
muscles ached and were lost under loose rolls of skin. He was pale, and marked with
bed sores as if he hadn't gotten out of bed in years. What the hell happened to me!
He couldn't make a connection between his last memory and his current
situation. With no outside stimuli he tried to go into himself and figure out what had
happened. Nightmares, terrors. Something is prodding me. Retreat so far down, I can't
197
DEUS X MACHINA
get back up. What happened here? Where is she? Where am I? This must be some
sort of hospital. How long have I been here? The demons don't sleep. Angels don't cry.
There's something eating me. Too many thoughts, images!
Mister Alex. Mr. Alex. An older women's voice called from a speaker high in the
corner of the room. Josh looked at the speaker, then to the expressionless face peering
at him through the reinforced glass door window.
Yes.
What's going on with you? You were doing so well.
I was hoping you could tell me that.
Do you know where you are?
Not a clue, would you be so kind as to tell me.
You are in Greystone. You've been my patient here for five years.
Five years? Was I conscious during this time? He said more to himself than the
doctor.
Yes, and we were making a lot of progress. I was thinking of moving you to a
halfway house in about six months. What happened?
Can I leave this place?
Why would you want to do that, where would you go?
He thought for a moment, realizing his situation and tried to put into play what he
knew of such institutions from his experience with his mothers illness.
What is my status? Josh asked.
You are classified as a paranoid schizophrenic, you were institutionalized by
your parents when your delusions became unmanageable. The doctor paused for a
moment. Youre playing a game with me. I know you know this.
I honestly don't. This is all very much of a shock to me.
198
DEUS X MACHINA
Ok then, what's the last thing you remember? She asked, as if resigning herself
to play his game.
Leonia, where are you? Where is paradise? Setting up a video conference for a
professor. He lied. What year is it?
2012. She stopped to think for a moment. I want you to take a polygraph to
see if you truly believe what you're telling me. You've been known to be very deceptive.
Listen, I don't know whats going on here, I just want to go home. I'm not in
prison right? I have the right to leave. Although he knew he did not, but he wanted to
hear it anyway.
You have been judged to be incompetent, your parents have legal authority over
you.
Well then, do I have the right to make a phone call? I'll have them sign me out.
Your parents come to visit once a month, they'll be here in two days, but I warn
you, they've been through this before with you, and they will not sign you out.
What sort of delusions have I had? Josh asked, fishing for information.
I'm sure you know.
I feel like I'm stuck in a nightmare, please explain to me why I am here.
You were found masturbating naked in a park in New York, when the police
picked you up you were ranting about someone named Leonia and an alien conspiracy.
I can see by the look on your face that her name means something to you.
Dont give anything away. It might have been part of a dream I was having. It
does seem vaguely familiar.
You also said that you were the Apostle John, and that you spoke to Jesus. Oh
and Osirus too. Turns out youre quiet famous.
Yup, that sounds pretty nutty, but I remember none of it. My Lord, why have
you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me?
199
DEUS X MACHINA
I wasn't violent, was I?
No, not seriously.
I'm having a hard time believing you remember none of this, only recently did
you start to considered that you delusions weren't real.
You're the doctor. You tell me whats going on. From my perspective, I'm a
perfectly sane person who woke up in an insane asylum to find that five years of my life
are gone. It couldn't have been all in my mind. I smelled the scent of Jesus body, and
tasted Leonias sweet skin. They must have captured us, but why hasn't she come for
me, unless. No God, let her be OK.
Josh spoke again. Isn't there some way, some sort of spontaneous remission?
Isn't that possible?
Perhaps. Do you feel you can return to your room without trying to escape?
Yes, of course. I know where I am now, and what I'm doing here. You have to
realize waking up in this place was an awful shock.
Ok, I'll let you back in your room. I'm taking a chance here, please don't
disappoint me. We'll start here, and see in the following weeks how you do.
Weeks?
Goodbye Mr. Alex.
Later in the hall bathroom, he saw his face for the first time in years. There was
a dirty looking old man staring back at him. He looked like he had melted. His eyes were
sunken deep into his skull, his features looked deflated. The same was true with the rest
of his body. I'm a sagging bag of bones. He smelled like decay. He felt trapped in the
body of some old bum. And the hair that he always kept short was down to his
shoulders. Christ, didnt they ever give me a haircut! He cleaned himself up as best he
could, washing what seemed like years of grime from his pores and hair. After the
shower he felt and looked a little better.
200
DEUS X MACHINA
He looked around the room. Nothing. No books. No journals. No T.V. Besides
the cross above his bed there was nothing else on his walls. He opened a drawer he
missed earlier and found sweat pants and a tee shirt. At least it's not a gown. Then he
saw the phone on the nightstand. He had a sudden urge to call someone, but didn't
know whom. He decided to call Lenny. To Josh he was trying to reach him only
yesterday. He didn't know where exactly to call, but decided to call his parents house.
He was sure his mother would know where he was.
Hello. Mrs. Urniski. This is Josh, Lenny's friend do you know where I can reach
him?. Just like when I was a kid.
There was silence on the other end for what seemed like an eternity.
Hello? Josh said again.
Josh...how have you been doing?
To be truthful, I don't really know. I'm...I don't know if you know, but I'm in the
hospital.
Good, I'm glad you're still there.
Well, I guess Lenny knows then, any idea where I could reach him.
Josh, I'm so so sorry. I'm sorry you had to find him. I know how close you were
with Lenny. He heard sobs on the other end.
It hits him hard. God no. An image popped into his head. He didn't get there in
time. He was already dead. Dead for at least two days. Oh, God, God, no. I'm sorry to
have called. Josh hung up the phone. That isn't how it happened. He was rotting in the
summer heat. No, these thoughts aren't real. His dead eyes stared at him. It can't be. If
only I had gotten there sooner. If only I cold have talked to him. Wait. I know what
happened, this didn't happen. How could this be? What have they done? But how could
they change so much. I could have saved him. I did save him. I'm the Goddamn Apostle
John. God dammed in more ways than one.
201
DEUS X MACHINA
I need proof. Proof of what. Proof of what's real. If I am insane how would I
know the difference. There must be a way. Someone else has to verify it. Think.
There must be someway to know whether I am sane.
Josh walked out of his room dazed. Do I have to stay in my room? Are there
areas I can walk around? he asked a nurse.
There's the common room.
Where's that.
Down the hall and to your left.
This is the waiting room for purgatory. Josh thought as he entered a brightly lit
room, lined with people. Most looked dazed, and locked tight into the demented
wanderings of their minds. No one seemed to smile or notice him when he walked in.
Josh spied a teenage boy staring out the window. He was perhaps sixteen. He was very
thin, the tee shirt he wore looked like it was being hung on a coat hanger. Josh decided
he seemed the less threatening of the bunch.
Hi. Josh addressed the boy, but the boy didn't move.
Listen, this may seem strange, well I guess anything in this place seems
strange, but do you know me. Have I been here long?
Fuck off.
I would love to, but they don't seem to want me to leave.
If you don't know why you here, you not alone. The boy said, still staring out the
window.
Why are you here?
Get the fuck out my face, Psycho.
Fine, I will, I just wanted to talk a little, that's all. I woke up here, and they tell me
five years have gone by. I'm just trying to verify that it's true.
You da apostle. Youd been here as long as I can remember.
202
DEUS X MACHINA
Who calls me that and why?
You think you know Jesus, everyone calls you that. The boy now turns around
and looks at Josh.
Do I seem different to you than I usually am?
I don't mess wit no one, usually neither do you. You just sit in a chair and stare
at the TV, like everyone else. You don't talk much. You been justa another nut taking up
space here.
Can I ask your name?
Beano, always Beano. That's what everyone had always called me.
Beano, I am different. I don't know what I've been doing for the last five years,
but I aim to find out what exactly happened to me. Maybe there's something else going
on here, maybe...I don''t know. Do you know how you got here?
They say I killed my ma. I'd never, do it, I tell them, but I remember doing it. I
remember...awe just get the fuck away from me.
I saved my friend from committing suicide, I know I did, yet I just called to find
him and his mother tells me that I didn't. She tells me I found his body, and I too
remember seeing is body, but I know I saved him. The whole situation is very
confusing.
I didn't kill my mama, she all I had in dis world.
I believe you. Can you tell me what was going on in your life when this
happened?
Nuttin, just life. School'n shit.
I need you to think, had you recently done or seen anything, I don't know,
different. Was there anything new in your life.
Naw, we'd just got a computer. A hand-me-down, hand me down
Was there anything strange, that you saw or thought.
203
DEUS X MACHINA
The only think was, I saw sumpthing on the news. Some artifact they found. I
usually don't pay attention, but it was from Egypt, you know the motherland. It was big
news, some sort of strange body, and some scrolls, everyone was talking about it, but a
few weeks later no one seemed to know about it. I thought I was dreamin it, but I looked
it up on the Internet, and there was mo peoples who'd seen it too, and they too couldn't
believe no one was talking about it. It was strange though. Then the message board
kept getting taken down.
Did your mother remember it?
Naw, she didn't.
Then they took me, and told me that I killed her. I didn't remember nothing til
they started the treatment. Wit each treatment, I'd have these pictures in my mind of me
killing my mama. They showed me cut'n her with a kitchen knife. Kill'n her slow...given
her pain. Beano stops, and tears started to well up in his eyes. Somebody did that to
my Mama, I know, I know it ain't me, but somebody did that to her, they they gotta pay.
What you know 'bout it.
I'm not sure yet, If I told you what I thought you wouldn't believe me, but you've
helped both of us.
Do you think I killed my Mama?
No, no I don't. I'm questioning my sanity right now, but there
maybe...people...out there, very bad people, they have some type of machine that
effects people's minds. You, you must be one of the few who are resistant to it. You're
here because they couldn't wipe the memory of what was found in Egypt from your
mind. That's what it sounds like to me, of course, although I may just be delusional. I
don't feel delusional, but I suppose most people that are, don't think they are.
Is there anyplace to access the Internet here? There must be something still
posted about the discovery in Egypt.
204
DEUS X MACHINA
In the Liberry, but they have a lot of stuff blocked, mostly nudey stuff, but also
medicine stuff.
Thanks Beano, thanks for talking with me. We'll talk again when I know more.
Josh tried to get in the library, but found that he needed a pass to use the
Internet, and the pass would have to be approved by his doctor. So he went back to his
room and dreamt about Leonia.
Josh let his mind wander, he imagined he was following the curve of her body
and tasting her lips. He remembered the cut subtlety of her belly button, and the
pronounced vulnerability of her ribs. But mostly he remembered how he felt when he
was with her. How perfect everything seemed when they were side-by-side. He
lamented over how short that time was, although according to Leonia, they had known
each other a very long time. Oh, Josh my love, my love youre alive. Leonia!? The
voice faded; desperately he tried to get it back. He felt like he was tuning a radio dial,
looking for a favorite song, but he couldnt find it. It was her voice. He settled back
again. Nothing, nothing again. He ached for the feeling she gave him. Lord, I miss her
so. Was she real? Was she a projection of my brain fevered with loneliness? He saw
her on the bridge again, on that misty morning, and the smile that she gave him as he
approached. I thought I had lost you. Dont try Josh. Dont try. Just know.
Leonia, I love you, I love you, I love you.
I knowI love you too, Josh, and I always will.
Are you real?
As real as anything?
Where are you.
In a bad place. Dont find me. Dont come. A bad place, a bad, bad place.
205
DEUS X MACHINA
Arrgh! Josh screamed, he saw her, he saw were she was. She was stripped of
her flesh and disemboweled. Only her upper half survived. The Dagons abused her
each time they walked by. Day after day, stretching into years.
They wont let me die. I want to die. They wont let me. Dont come. I can control
the pain. Weve lost. Dont come. Forget me. Im not real. Forget me. Go back to your
life. You are delusional. I can control the pain. They wont let me die. Im not real. Im
sorry, I love you, Forgive me.
Leonia! No!!!!!!!!!! Josh fell to his knees in grief. I will find you. I will save you. I
will find you. Hold on. Hold on.
A nursed peeked into the door to see what the commotion was. When she saw
Josh crying out while on his knees she hurriedly walked away to get the orderlies.
Oh Lord, Oh Lord, Deliver her from the evil one. Oh, Christ and my Father in
heaven. Deliver her from the evil one. My God, My God, save her. My dear savior, my
friend, Ribbi please save her. Lord have, mercy, Christ have mercy.
The orderlies burst in, and immediately lunged for Josh.
No, no its OK. I just had a bad dream.
Before he could say another word they shot him with a sedative. He quickly went
limp and they placed him back in his bed. He was deep in a dreamless sleep.
Mr. Alex, you have visitors. Josh shot up and quickly shook off his slumber. He
was happy at least to be in the same place that he fell asleep. Sleep was starting to
become a dark tunnel for him from which he was not quite sure where hed emerge.
My Joshie, his mother cheerfully called. How are you my boy?
Im not quite sure. He looked at his parents, they too seemed much older,
especially his father who seemed fragile and elderly, which was startling because he,
like Josh, was always robust and well built.
206
DEUS X MACHINA
He jumped up and hugged his mother long and hard. Its so good to see you
guys, you have no idea how much Ive missed you.
The doctor called us yesterday. She said theres been a changeThat you
dont remember anything from the last five years. His father said suspiciously.
Its true Dad, I dont. To me it seems like only a few days ago I was working in
the seminary.
Let me ask you. Do I seemed different to you than I have been over the last five
years?
Oh yes, his mother chimed in, I can see it in your eyes. Youre much more
alert and with it. It is so good to see you this way.
How about youre thoughts son, his father said. Do you still think youre an
Apostle?
Josh didnt answer. You know, nobody has really given me an honest answer
here. What did I do to end up here?
You were going around telling everyone that you are the Apostle John. You said
that Aliens were sent to take over the world and that you were on a mission to stop
them.
I dont remember going around telling people that.
Well, do you think that now?
I have memories and thoughts that I cant place. I dont remember going around
like a nut and telling everyone I was an Apostle, but I have a memory of an experience
where I believed I talked to Jesus. I dont know whether its true or not. It seems true. A
lot of things dont make sense to me right now, but at least I believe I can tell reality
fromhallucinations. At least I hope I can. Im trying to piece things together. Im trying
to check myself, to ensure what I think is true.
207
DEUS X MACHINA
Thats good Joshua, his mother said. Thats very good. Thats a good sign that
youre getting better.
God, I hope so, I just want to get out of here and go back to my life.
Can I ask you, do you remember any kind of news story about a discovery in
Egypt a few years ago.
No son, thats part of your illness. Thats one of your delusions.
Was I implicated in an attack on Wall Street?
No, there has been no attack on Wall Street.
I cant believe my mind has done this to me. These things seem so real to me.
Do you believe us when we tell you that these things didnt happen?
Yes, I do. I would love to know where these memories came from. He paused
and feels the warmth and concern his parents have towards him. Can I come home
with you? I just want to get out of here.
Well see what the doctors says.
He changes the subject. So whose the president now?
Josh went on to catch up with world events, and events in the lives of his
parents. They talked about his brother and his family, and how his children are doing in
school, and other such bits of family history he missed.
One more thing Dad. Do you remember the watch I had when I arrived here?
I think so, they gave us a bag with your personal items.
Can you look to see if you can find it? Id like to be able to keep track of time.
Why dont you just take my watch for now?
No, hold on to it, just see if you can find my watch when you go home?
OK son, is there anything else you need?
Im starving, is there anyway you can get me a cheese steak. We can have
them deliver it, and well eat together out in the court yard.
208
DEUS X MACHINA
Having his parents there was a comfort and provided him with a sense of
normalcy he hadnt felt in a long time. The Doctor said that if his condition remained
stable over the next few months hed be able to go home with his parents. This gave
him a goal, and seemed to put distance between the reality he felt was true and the
situation he found himself in. The sense of normalcy was so comforting; he was tempted
to forget all the rest. The Dagons, the Nirbiruans, it seemed distant. He was alive, with
his parents, enjoying a meal. He was just Joshua Alex, a son who inherited a disease,
but for whom there was still hope.
He was sorry to see them go, but his father didnt like driving at night anymore.
They too were given hope. Hope that they would have their son back. They promised to
return in two weeks.
209
DEUS X MACHINA
Chapter 25 Wheres Beano
Wheres Beano? He asked the nurse as he came out of the common room.
Who?
The young African-American boy.
Therere no boys here.
OK, the young man that was staring out the window yesterday.
Theres no one named Beano here, there never was.
Well maybe thats his nick name. Do you know all the patients on this floor?
I have work to do, I dont have time for this. She said, and gave him that
indignant your nuts look, then stared down at her nondescript paper work.
Josh was startled, but walked away. He didnt expect this. He didnt expect not to
be able to verify things that happened after he woke up. OK, whats true. Was there a
Beano? If there was, then something terrible must have happened to him. If there
wasnt, then I am insane. If there was a Beano, then there must be some record of the
murder of this mother.
Why dont they just kill me? Why keep me alive, and lead me to believe that Im
insane? Unless I am insane. If the Dagon are real, and they can change peoples
memories, it means they have the Nimbus. And Leonia. But how could they have taken
the ship, unless Leonia underestimated their technology, and what about the 12
th
planet,
shouldnt it have been here by now? If my father can find the watch, that should answer
a lot of questions. In the mean time maybe I can find someone on the Internet.
He went back to the library.
Listen, Id like to catch up on some of the news I missed for the last five years,
has the doctor approved my pass to use the computer?
210
DEUS X MACHINA
Let me check. She searches on her computer. Yes, you have a pass for 15
minutes every two days. Let me just put in your settings?
Settings?
Yes, youll be locked out of areas the doctor doesnt feel you should visit.
Josh sat down at the terminal. The computer was an old one, but one that he
was familiar with. Google interface had changed a lot, but everything else mostly
functioned as he remembered. He put in a search for <beano, murder>.
<You are restricted from searching on this criterion. Please select a different
search.> Thats interesting. Let me try something.
He typed in www.anonymousweb.com
<Your administrator has blocked this site.>
Great.
He ran the task manager and found a spyware program running in the
background. He quickly ended the task, but the program popped up again. Wait a
minute. I wonder if its still running. He entered the IP address of the seminarys server
that he installed. Got it. He then accessed PC Anywhere, which was a program that
allowed him to take control of all functions of the seminarys server. Through a window
on the computer he was on, he had full access to the seminarys server, and the web.
OK, lets try this again. In the Google toolbar he typed in <beano murder>,
almost instantaneously he got listings from all major New Jersey news papers detailing
the story of the Paterson youth who brutally murdered his mother. Beano did exist!
Yes, but was he here? Did I talk to him?
How else could I have known about the murder?
Maybe, I saw it on the news, maybe I constructed him here?
I have to try something else.
<Egypt discovery> Too many articles, all too general.
211
DEUS X MACHINA
<discovery book of thoth> New age crap, more new age crap. Wait. Josh finds a
listing for a blog in an alien forum, the title floored him.
<Where is the Apostle?>
<What do you think theyve done with him? Do you think they placed him
in a mental institution like they did with many of us?>
<Re: Where is the Apostle?>
<Remember, no one should post the location of anyone
else? My guess is they killed him, he was too much of a
risk for them to let him live.>
It went on and on like this. From the blog entries Josh figured out that there was
a sizable number of people who knew the truth, and knew of him. He was going to post
a new message thread when he noticed that the last entry was over two years ago. Who
ever was posting these messages wasnt doing it any longer.
Josh tried a different search. <Apostle Egypt Dagon>. Millions of hits came back,
mostly from forums, each individual trying to figure out what happened. Many were
confused and scared that they remembered something no one else did. It was like a
collective dream, that tens of thousands shared. The blogs told the story of how this
man they called the Apostle and Lenny Urniski, convinced the Egyptian government to
allow them to hold a live archeological dig at the Sphinx. He did it. How in the hell did
Lenny ever pull that off? Lenny convinced the Egyptian government that between the ad
revenue the program generated and the increase in tourism it would cause, Eygpt would
gain about ten billon dollars for its economy.
212
DEUS X MACHINA
Of course once the sarcophagus was found and opened with the body of
Anunnaki and the book of Thoth, everyone thought it was a fake that until the Fox
network put up a one million dollar reward to anyone who could disprove it. When the
carbon dating and other data started coming in even the most hard-core skeptic was
hard pressed to admit that they hadnt found something unique.
The discovery caught the imagination of the world like nothing else in human
history, even more so than the moon landing, then in an instant it was gone. Many woke
up that morning to find no mention of the discovery on the news, which was odd
because it had dominated the news for over a month. The few that remembered found
themselves isolated from everyone else, and many questioned their sanity. It wasnt
long before those that remembered started finding each other through the Internet, and
not long after that those who remembered started disappearing. Some were accused of
heinous crimes, which they strangely had a memory of, but didnt remember committing,
others were thrown into mental institutions, and still others just disappeared.
Before the Great Forgetting, as the Knowers called it, Josh had been dubbed the
Apostle of the Strange by the media, as bits of his fantastic story started to emerge, and
every freak and new age guru tried to attach themselves to him. Leonia, for the most
part, stayed out of the spotlight, but was often described as the Apostles mysterious
Magdalene. The DNA results from Anunnakis body showed that it contained almost no
common genetic markers with any life on Earth, except for a few strange correlations
with parts of the human genome that was thought to have evolved quite recently. From
all accounts that Josh read, humanity was in chaos, not knowing what to believe.
Religious scholars and leaders, presidents and politicians, scientist and laymen: none
could agree on what the finding meant.
Josh read the blogs and postings with awe putting together a fragmented history
of the events of the last few years. I am seeing this right. These words are really on this
213
DEUS X MACHINA
screen. He went over to the librarian, he needed somebody else to read the words with
him that he was reading when the virus protection window popped up and stated that it
had discovered a virus, within a spilt second all windows had shut and the computer
rebooted itself, when he again tired to access the seminary server, he found that he was
locked out.
214
DEUS X MACHINA
Chapter 26 Blood Lust
Leonia hung from a spire high above her throne room across from where Set
now occupied her seat. It was a tradition now that when a high ranking Alpha entered
the chamber he would launch himself up and take a swipe at her, tearing open again
and again until the flesh that hung in loose clumps from her torso. They loved to hear
her scream; she no longer gave them that satisfaction. Often she was so deep inside
herself that she didnt feel anything anymore. But they would not let her die; anytime
they felt she was letting go they pumped her with adrenaline and regenerating fluid.
They wanted her to be humiliated, they wanted her to suffer, they wanted her to see that
she had failed, and her ideology was weak. They would torture those loyal to her in front
of her. They would make the victims stare at their Queen, as they were raped and
murdered.
By the time Josh made a Ka-tekanna connection with her, she no longer felt like
a person, she was just a hunk of meat hung in the market. Josh reawakened her identity
and again feelings that she thought had been lost by betrayal and brutality, swelled up
within her. Theyll kill him. Or worse.
She had almost forgotten that it was possible to feel love and empathy. For
years she hung on the memories of her time with Osiris/Josh. Over time it became more
of a daydream, which seemed more fantasy than real. Death and violence surrounded
her constantly and ripped at her like dogs at a carcass. But after Josh had made
contact, she had a purpose and a small glimmer of hope. I must protect Josh. Just to
feel his lips one more time. To feel his warmth, and the pure love in his eyes. No thats
too much. Ive done too much to him. Just to know that hes safe.
Set was on the throne much more than she ever had been, Leonia hated the
pageantry of her office, Set lived for it. Over the years she heard many of his plots and
215
DEUS X MACHINA
plans. Leonia had been betrayed by some of her closest friends. The Dagons had
played on the greed and suspicions of many. It was her love for Josh that they used
against her, just as they did in Egypt all those years ago.
Set convinced some on the council that Leonias love for a human compromised
her judgment. It disturbed them that Leonia acted like a young female human in heat
around Josh. Surely, they thought, it was time for her to revert back to a reptilian, but
she did not. There was no reason why only Leonia and Josh should have gone on the
mission to find the body of Anunnaki. Worse yet Set convinced the council that Josh
would be made co-regent of the Nimbus without an election. After all she believed him
to be Osiris, and thats what she did all those years ago. Osiris, a barbarian human, one
from among the poor breasts that they were there to help had stolen her heart. Fine
make him Pharaoh, but how could you put him in command of Dagons and Nirbiruans
alike.
This caused enough of a stir for the council to hold an emergency session while
Leonia was away. Set broadcast his plea to the council.
Please, I want peace He said, she knew, he played the broadcast for her. I
have no desire to rule this planet. We did what we had to to survive all these years. We
had to go underground; we had to stay in the shadows. It wasnt always so, for many
years we lived in harmony with the humans. We protected them and shared our
knowledge, but they betrayed us. They hunted us, and drove us underground. Look at
their history, youll find the facts buried in their myths.
Once we were vanquished, men took over our identity and performed brutal acts
in our name. This has been true from the time of the Pharaohs, until just recently, when
the Germans, led by one of the most evil men the galaxy had ever known, believing
himself to be a descendent of us, killed millions.
216
DEUS X MACHINA
All I ask is that you hear me out, that we work together to find a peaceful solution
to this situation. It has gone on way too long. We are tired of being afraid. Dagons of all
kinds have been divided for far too long.
They decided to allow a peace summit with the Dagons and Set, who assured
them that they were after a peaceful solution. Of course, as soon as the Dagons set foot
on the Nimbus, they began their assault. Thousands upon thousands were killed,
including the plotters. Only enough personnel needed to run the ship were allowed to
live.
Their first act once they were in command was to cut out the heart. They needed
to be able to operate the ships system without having to be dependent on the will of a
conscious entity. Set then had the Neural Engram Manipulator reengaged. With such a
weapon, and the power of the Nimbus, Set realized, as the Zhang did before him,
nothing could stop him.
Set planned to create a galactic empire using the Nimbuss power, and keep
Earth as his capital. He used Nimbuss neural engram manipulator to erase all memory
of the discovery that Leonia and the humans had made. Unfortunately, a small
percentage of the human population was immune to the weapons ability to erase
memories. Memories could be created, but not all could be erased. He saw it as a minor
problem. The humans were easy to track down and silence. The hardest part was
erasing all written electronic records of the discovery. He had his engineers create a
program virus that could search and destroy any reference to Anunnaki. The Knowers
(those who did not forget), created their own viruses that would duplicate news of the
discovery to systems all over the world, and so a cyberwar had begun.
They never spoke of Josh before Leonia. She often wondered why. Lenny had
been killed. They used the engram weapon to make him believe that Josh had never
saved him from suicide. He believed he was still hanging in his apartment, waiting for
217
DEUS X MACHINA
the rope to strangle him. He eventually did kill himself; he had to, to truly know whether
he had been alive.
The thought of awaking tens of thousands of Dagon Alphas frightened Set. He
had a hard enough time controlling the few thousand currently under his command. Like
the Zhang before him, he decided that with the power of the Nimbus he did not need the
Alphas. Set was faced with the same dilemma as Leonia, destroying the planet would
send too much debris toward Earth, and the planet was too fragile to move. He put his
knowledge of genetic engineering to work once more, in the past the need to control
Earths population prompted Set to create viruses, that from time to time would decimate
the human population. The black plague, AIDS, even the flu were all his doing.
Unknown to the Alphas, he had also created a virus that could destroy them. It was his
fail safe, his final line of defense if the Alphas even turned against him. He modified the
virus he created to survive in Nirbirus harsh environment and used it to kill the
remaining Alphas before they awakened.
He then used the Neural Engram Manipulator to cover his tracks; he created a
memory in the minds of the Dagons blaming Leonia and the citizens of the Nimbus for
the virus.
Set had generically hybrid Dagons in top positions in all of Earths most powerful
governments and institutions since the dawn of civilization. The command structure was
in place to take full control. Set was preparing the Engram weapon to convince humanity
that he had always been their leader.
Before he could implement his plan he needed to identify all individuals that were
immune to the weapons effects. To his dismay, it appeared not only were a sizable
amount people immune to the weapon, but with each experiment, their number grew.
He kept thousands of the Knowers in mental institutions. They were studied and
dissected in an attempt of discover the root of their immunity. Although it was never
218
DEUS X MACHINA
discovered how the humans were becoming resistant, a Drone scientist was testing an
engram program to eliminate the problem. It worked much the way in which the program
that killed Lenny did. It convinced the person that they were already dead. In
experiments some would die instantly, other would become zombie-like. They lived in a
hellish state, confused and questioning their own existence. For them suicide was an act
of certainty, an act of sanity, to provide their own existence. The Engram program was
called the Final Solution, and it was very near completion.
The end is near my meat puppet, Set shouted up to Leonia. I will soon be
where I ought to be, in power. Such a dumb bitch. You sat your lizard cunt on this throne
for thousand of years, but never used its power. What a waste.
You see its much better this way. In a way you did succeed in saving humanity.
If you had not come back, I would have had to ship thousand of these Dagon beasts to
Earth and take it by force. But you gave me the power. The power to take total control
with a push of a button. It will be a velvet revolution, not one shot will be fired. Of course
the current estimate is that 1/3 of the humans are now resistant, and will have to be
killed, but the damn planet was over populated anyway. Fucking humans, reproduce like
rabbits, and have lives almost as short.
Dont get me wrong, I like the little fuckers. They will continue to inhabit Earth.
Earth will soon become the seat of power in the galaxy, like the Zhang were before.
You see, although I used the Alphas, Im still a Drone. I have more on my mind
than death and destruction. Dont you see, with the Engram weapon , there will be no
war or hunger. There will be no disputes, or poverty. This weapon will bring paradise to
Earth and the rest of the galaxy. It will give them something they could not, or would not
do on their own, peace and prosperity.
Do you think we caused all the wars on Earth? What good would that have done
for us? We just wanted to stay alive until Nirbiru returned.
219
DEUS X MACHINA
OK, yes, there were a few times that I did try to gain total global power. Yes, the
Nazi were our doing, but the crusades, inquisition, witch hunts, even nuclear weapons,
that was all humanity. And Germany didnt need much pushing. Do you think every Nazi
was a Dagon? Do you think even every top Nazi was a Dagon? They took the ball and
ran with it. They created more horrors than I could have dreamed up! Do you even
know whom you were fighting for? The humans arent like the Nirbiruans, they are more
like the Dagons than you know.
Listen, you worthless whore. I will let you die soon, but there is one more thing I
want you to see. The fucking human that cost you everything. You will see your beloved
skinned and tortured right before your eyes.
You havent spoken in such a long time. Do you have anything to say?
Weakly, Leonia struggled out You have no power over me.
Ah, ah thats a good one. You know I think youve had two eyes for far too long.
Youll only need one to see your lover killed. Set shouted for a guard.
I want to have the Queens eye as a snack after dinner. Retrieve it for me. The
Alpha immediately flew into the air and pounced upon Leonia.
I will fetch your lover for you. I will have his heart for dinner and your eye as
desert. Set said as he left the chamber.
220
DEUS X MACHINA
The Alphas long claws dug into Leonias right eye socket. As he plucked it from
its place, Leonia thrust the large spike that held her right hand in place into the back of
the his neck. The Alpha squealed like a lobster in a boiling pot, then fell to the chamber
floor. Ever since Josh made contact with her she had been slowly working the spike
from its place. She now swung from a single spike in her left hand. She pulled herself
up, then let her body weight fall, ripping the flesh from the remaining spike. It took five
attempts but she finally fell free in a blinding fit of pain. She landed on the cool stone of
the chamber floor like a discarded lump of meat from the butchers block. Blood
spattered in all directions. Come on a little help. Couldnt I land on the guard?
A torso pulling itself wouldnt get far in this ship, she needed a way to get to the
regeneration chamber a few decks below. The only option available to her was to flow
along with the super-charged particles that powered the ship. This was how power was
distributed; the veins circulated the power into every part of the ship. Unfortunately, the
charged solution would also melt her flesh and bones in a matter of minutes.
Leonia slid over to the corpse of the Alpha and used his razor tipped tail to rip
open his stomach, then she hollowed out his chest cavity, pulling out lumps of organs
and muscle until there was room for her to crawl inside. She cut away the corpses
extremities, to lighten the body, and enable her to use it as shelter inside the charged
fluid.
In addition to powering the ships system, the fluid was also used for waste.
Waste was dumped into the fluid, shortly to be dissolved and converted into usable
energy. Each chamber, including her throne room, contained a waste disposal unit that
connected direct to the power distribution system. The way out was through the
garbage.
Leonia hooked the bloody mass that was her left arm into the bodys chest
cavity, and pulled herself to the waste disposal unit. To make the waste easier to
221
DEUS X MACHINA
dissolve the disposal unit chopped the waste into small bits before entering them into
the fluid. She ripped at the access panel and disabled the grinder, then removed the
safety screen from the disposal input. Mounting the corpse on the unit wasnt as easy as
she imagined. It took every ounce of strength and balance to use her tailbone as a base
as she positioned the body in the unit. Now to get inside. The corpse collapsed on her
as she tried to enter it. She decided to get in the body first, then pulled herself onto the
unit. She used a voice command to trigger the unit, and plunged into luminous liquid.
She held on to the inside of the corpse as tight as possible, but quickly felt the
fluid seeping into the cavity, burning away at her entrails. Come on, closer. Get there.
She mentally traced her path, calculating her speed, imagining her position in relation to
the entire system. She knew time was running out.
The vein made a hard right and the fluid slowed. Almost there. She shed the
corpse. The charged fluid burnt away layers of her remaining skin, she felt the heat in
her eye sockets and nasal passage as the fluid melted through her. She swam blindly
until she found the opening to the regeneration centers large disposal unit. She pulled
her way up the shaft and tore at the grinders. She was shocked to discover only stumps
remaining where her arms were. Through pure force of will she forced herself through
the grinds and the safety screen, using her head and teeth to break her way free.
The Nirbiruans screamed in horror as this mangled hunk of rotting flesh spilled
onto the floor. Good, those are Nirbiruan screams. Leonia, tried to open her eyes, and
found that her remaining eye was gone. She tried to talk, but the fluid had burnt away
much of her throat.
She felt the thudding beats of her hearts slow like an empty rocking chair. No,
Ive come too far. Gloved hands lifted her torso, muscles and organs, loosely held by
muscles and veins, sagged behind. God, please dont throw me back into the fluid.
222
DEUS X MACHINA
Yes. The warm regenerating fluid surrounded her. Thank you. Thank you. Im
saved. They dumped her mangled flesh into an open regeneration chamber, not
knowing if she was alive or not. It was the ankh around her neck that allowed them to
realize it was their queen.
She felt the thousands of millions of nanomeds entering her body. Her body
tingled and she realized just how badly hurt she was. There wasnt much left of her
more than her head and chest. The nanomeds moved up her spine and channeled into
her brain.
They made contact with her with their collective logic.
<Leonia, your chances of survival are 60%. How do you wish to proceed?>
Please make me a mammal. If possible, make it so I can reproduce as a
mammal, but leave the advantages I have as a Dagon. Strengthen my muscle mass.
Reinforce my bones.
<Leonia, reconstruction will take 72 hours.>
God, I hope I can get to Josh in time.
The cold indifferent voice of the nanomeds have given comfort in times of
extreme trauma just for the simple fact that they can enable the patient to know the truth
of their situation. There are no comforting words, no judgments, no guess work, no
hesitations to tell the patient the odds. The patient knows where they stand, and what
theirs chances are. They also know that there are no better odds for their survival than
being in the regeneration chamber.
223
DEUS X MACHINA
The nanomeds are cybernetic stem cells. Their amazing ability to heal is
based on an emergent intelligence. Each individual cell has very simple rules that
govern its actions. Each cell has receptors that detect messages from other cells. Put
millions of these mechanical cells together, and just as stem cells in the womb can
create a baby, these cells can create or repair any carbon based biological entity
through their collective intelligence.
224
DEUS X MACHINA
Chapter 27 More Pawn than Prophet
Josh was called to the Psychiatrists office. It too was utilitarian like the rest of
the hospital, except for the large oak desk that the doctor sat behind. Josh was able to
get a better look at the doctor this time. She was a very tall woman, who looked to be of
a vaguely Indian descent.
Hello Doctor, its nice to see you again. Thank you for giving me Internet
privileges, its nice to catch up with world events. Who would have thought that Michael
Jackson was really a woman? I guess that explains a lot.
A package arrived today from your parents, would you like me to give it to you
now?
Yes, please.
Josh eagerly ripped open the box to find his watch, and a note from his mother.
It read, Dear Joshy, We found your watch. It was so good to see you acting so
with it. Your father and I are planning to visit every two weeks now until you
can come home. It will be so great to have my Joshy back. Just like old times.
Josh started to tear slightly at her words. Then he put on the watch. The watch
immediately made contact with him. He felt its power ready to be utilized at his
command. Am I feeling this? This must be real. It all must be real.
They seem happy that youre feeling better.
Yes, Stay cool. Dont let her know. Dont give it away. If what youre feeling is
real its your ticket out of here. It was so good to see them. I cant wait to see them
again.
You know we were going to let you live Josh. You have been very useful to us.
Josh sunk in his seat. He looked up hoping he heard the doctor wrong.
225
DEUS X MACHINA
What are you talking about?
You, Josh, are very important to us. Over these last five years weve searched
for a way to affect those that are immune to the Engram weapon. We were going to use
you as a link between Dagons and humans, because of your unique role in human
history. You were Osiris. You were the Apostle John and helped start the worlds largest
religion. You would have made the perfect ambassador, but it didnt stick. No matter
how many treatments we gave you, we werent able to reprogram you. Maybe its your
strength of will, maybe thats something to be admired. Whatever the reason for your
immunity, it will unfortunately cost you your life.
So what happened? Why did I wake up?
We dont know for sure. It might have been the last program we tried on you. It
was to lead you to believe that you were in a mental institution for the last five years.
But I was!
Perhaps then, the program wasnt a complete failure. We never did find out why
some arent affected by the weapon, but we did find a solution. Your friend, Lenny, was
test patient one. The solution was far simpler than we thought. Give a person a memory
of their death, and theyll cease to live.
Dont give me that look. Were not that bad, you know. Weve done a lot for
humanity over the centuries. You can say that we laid the very foundation for your
civilization.
Have the rest of the Dagons come? Why havent you taken over yet?
Your bride killed them with a virus that she developed. Our brothers are dead.
I doubt that, its against her ethics. If anyone has killed them, Id bet on Set. Just
as Set used a virus to keep the Alphas at bay all these years.
Set has been working on their liberation for thousands of years. He is the one
who taught us how to survive in the shadows.
226
DEUS X MACHINA
In the shadows. Is that anyway for an Alpha to live? Set has held the Dagons
back for all these years. Is he in command of the Nimbus?
Yes.
Then he has no need for Alphas anymore. The Alphas from Nirbiru would be
unpredictable and unruly, unlike you and the Alphas on Earth whom he has turned into
his puppets.
Leonia killed our brothers, not Set.
It seems doctor, that I am not the only one who had his memory changed. Are
you an Alpha yourself?
Yes.
Then ask yourself this. Has Leonia ever killed without reason? Has she ever
used bio-weapons? Couldnt she have destroyed your brothers long ago? But she didnt.
I dont expect you to take my word for it, theres a simple way to determine the
truth. Find out how quickly the virus is spread, and trace it back to when it was
introduced. If it wasnt introduced while Leonia was still in power, then you have your
answer.
Across the table Josh heard a low growl. He looked at the doctor. The muscles
of her jaw seemed to enlarge, but before he had a chance to take a second look, she
was lunging out of her chair toward him.
Josh instantly engaged his armor. The Alpha pinned Josh to the floor and ripped
at his armor with her claws. Josh took hold of him and shot out through the window. He
flew to a wooden area and set him down.
Now think about what I told you. Find out for yourself. You have been betrayed
time and time again by Set. Leonia and the citizens of the Nimbus arent your enemy,
Set is.
227
DEUS X MACHINA
The Dagon composed himself. You my friend dont even know who you truly
are. Remember reality is relative to who is in power. You are more pawn than prophet.
At that Josh lunged into the air and put as much distance between him and
Greystone as possible. Only one thought was on his mind. Find Leonia.
The world below became smaller and smaller, the sky above darker and darker
and he shot through the atmosphere. To fly, it has all been worth it just to fly. To look at
the dome of the sky and know it can be surpassed. He looked over at the curvature of
the Earth. So far so fast. He stopped for a minute at the edge of space. It stood before
him, the dark ocean. A fear bellowed inside him, a fear of leaving Earth and its
protective blankets of air. Second star to the right, and straight on till morning. He
swallowed that fear and kept it where it couldnt hurt him, he propelled himself into the
darkness in the direction toward the moon.
The Alpha he left on Earth had quickly notified the Nimbus of his escape. There
was no weapon they had that could penetrate the Mexus Armor by force, but there was
the Engram weapon which could kill him from the inside out. They had wanted to use
Josh to track down the remaining Knowers, but now he was too dangerous to let live. A
Drone once loyal to Leonia, loaded the death program into the weapon, the program
designed to trick its victims into thinking they are already dead. They traced his position
and fired the invisible pulse towards him.
The Moon grew larger and larger in his field of vision. Its size started to frighten
him, he wondered if he should start to slow down. Such detail. It was no longer an
abstract object in the sky; he could see its mountain and craters. The Apollo photos
didnt do it justice. Although mostly bright pale and grey there was much more color to it
than he thought, much more texture. Its features werent smudged ghostly images
caught through glass, but a lively landscape with rocks, hills and valleys. Why couldnt
he just stop there? Why couldnt he just feel the dust with his own hands? So close.
228
DEUS X MACHINA
Too close. I cant stop. I cant turn, Too close. Why wont this suit respond. There
must be something I dont know, something that wasnt piled into my brain.
Oh GodSomethings wrong. Im going to die. This is it. Im not going to survive.
Wait, this suit can survive anything.
No, dont command the suite to disengage. Whats going on? Set. They must
have control of the suit.
Here it comes, it retracted.
My saliva is boiling on my tongue. Its done, only a matter of seconds before I
die. Skins frozen.
By the time Joshs body hit the Moon he was freeze dried by the cold vacuum of
space. He shattered like a porcelain doll, leaving its own small impact among the
moons craters.
229
DEUS X MACHINA
Chapter 28 -Restoration
Being in the regeneration chamber is like being in the womb. There is only you,
your mind, and whatever force causes it all to be. Leonia was in a small-nestled place,
happy to be away from the other place, waiting for her husband to return. Waiting for
Josh. The children were asleep, Horus and his sister Seshat shared a room, but both
were growing up quickly. Horus would soon need his own room.
Suddenly, the dog started yelping. Hes home. She let the dog out to meet Josh
and to stop her yelping from waking the children. Josh ran up the hill, as their dog
leaped to lick his face.
Good girl, I missed you. Josh said to the dog.
How about me. Didnt you miss me?
Youwho are you again?
Well if youre not my husband, I better get to business finding another one.
Not on your life. Josh grabbed Leonia into his arms passionately. They stayed
like that, embracing for a long while, until their children came stumbling out of bed. They
rubbed their little eyes and they peered out into the night to see their Dad.
Daddy! The family joined in a unison hug.
Daddy where did you go Daddy, we missed you.
I missed you too sweetheart. I brought you something.
What, what, what is it!
Josh took out a necklace with a blood stone. Its a piece of my heart, I had it
made into stone so I could give it to you so well never be apart again.
Dad, what about me.
230
DEUS X MACHINA
Of course son, for you I took a piece of my mind and had it made into this ring,
because you are always in my thoughts. Even when Im not there, Im always talking
with you. With this ring too, if you call me, I will come. Josh gave his son a silver ring
with astrological markings on it.
Check it out. He said as he turned to Sesha, its a ring within a ring. It turns.
Dad what do you do with it?
You will know when the time comes. He said then turned to his wife.
And for you my love, I have this white diamond. It is my soul, I had it cut just to
fit in your ankh.
And for you Josh. I had a feeling youd be home tonight I made your favorite
meal. You see, I knew if I cooked it just right youd be home. A man cant resist the
calling of his stomach.
She was in a womb of liquid dreams. A warm and peaceful paradise, with no
outside stimuli to distract her, it was real, as real as anything. Deep in a regenerating
coma, she was in a different place, a place with Josh. At first it was like a daydream,
they lived in a physical paradise, with their children, yes, their children. Pieces of both of
them joined to create new life. This was their heaven. Deeper and deeper, into the
dream, it became more than a dream. It was natural for Josh to be there, and he was
there, she knew it. They had found each other, they had found their lives together. It is
possible for two connected souls to create their own reality.
The liquid drained, the doctors called to her to arise. She didnt move. The ones
who had saved her, the four scientist who had realized the lump of flesh that flopped on
the floor was their queen, and placed her in the regenerating chamber, looked down at
the perfectly restored body.
Why doesnt she move? Everything is perfect. All her vitals are right on.
231
DEUS X MACHINA
Ive seen this before, in the chamber you are weightless, there is no light,
nothing to feel, nothing to see. You are alone with your existence. Some go so deep into
themselves that they dont come back. Especially those as badly hurt as her, and with a
mind such as hers.
So can we revive her?
Not through physical means. We could pump her so full of adrenaline her hearts
burst, and she will not stir. We need to call her soul back.
How do we do that?
We pray, perhaps those in the Anunnaki priesthood can help.
They fell silent. The Queen was there, right in front of them, yet she had never
been so far away. They sent word to the priesthood, but they were afraid to come. They
were afraid their presence would raise suspicion among the Alphas.
Josh was tending the vineyard, the terraces had to be just so to get the right
amount of light, but not enough to make them wilt. He built them, rows and rows of
them. Horus and Seshat would chase each other through them, raising their fathers
anger slightly when they knocked them over.
You need to prune them more. Cut the ones that arent producing enough fruit,
this will allow the others to get more nutrients.
Josh turned around; there was an older man behind him.
I didnt hear you approach. Have you experience in producing grapes?
You see this bunch here. Theyre passable. They may make wine thats good
enough to eat a meal with, but theyre weak, theyre not getting enough nutrients to
flourish. Now you see these, these will never grow to their full potential. These you will
have to throw away. So why wait for the harvest? Why not remove them now, then the
others will grow into their fullness.
232
DEUS X MACHINA
Ok, Ill give it a try, but Im afraid of lessening my yield.
Isnt it better to have few grapes of better quality, than a full harvest of lesser
grapes?
Youre right, beside we always have more than enough. I dont recognize you.
Youre not from around here. Have you traveled far?
Yes, and I have a long way to go.
Come up to the house. Let me get you something to eat and drink. Thats if the
wines up to your standards.
Your wine could be vinegar and it would satisfy me. Yes, Im very thirsty.
They walked up to Joshs cottage on the hill and talked.
You have a beautiful life here. How much land to you own?
I never really measured it. I plant, I farm, I fish. Our nearest neighbors are three
miles away. Theres enough land here for everyone. I make enough to sustain my
family, then trade whats left in town for supplies and treats. This land has been good to
us. It has always given us more than we needed. I try to be good to it was well and not
take more than I need. Everyone here acts the same way. Theres enough for everyone.
Life is good.
Good indeed. How did you come to live here?
Its funny, but I dont remember ever not living here. Theres my wife working in
her garden. Beautiful isnt it. Sometimes folk come here just to see it and get gardening
tips.
Leonia, we have company. A traveler!
I dont remember the last time a stranger passed through, this is a real treat;
youll have to tell us about your journey. By the way, whats youre name?
233
DEUS X MACHINA
My name changes depending on who Im visiting. It may sound strange, but
when you think about it, it makes sense. Each time we meet someone, we change a
little. So I felt my name should change a little.
Ok, well my name is Josh, it doesnt change, although I see your point.
Your name has never changed?
It might have, but I dont really remember.
Leonia went into the house to prepare lunch when she saw Josh walking up the
hill. Josh led the stranger into their dining area.
This is a very nice house, it seems to be just the right size for your family.
Yes, we couldnt imagine living anywhere else. Leonia replied. Welcome,
make yourself at home. Lunch will just be a few minutes, Im sorry it wouldnt be
anything fancy. I didnt expect company, but were always happy to have it. Despite her
smile she looked a little uneasy as the stranger sat down.
So tell me, where are you headed? Josh asked
Im not really sure, its the journey that I like. There was a time when I settled
down like the two of you, but then children grow and move out. I found that even
paradise gets boring, after awhile it was time for something new.
Wow, I cant see that happening to us. I hope our children will live close by
when theyre grown. I want to stay here as long as I can.
Yes, I can see both of you are very happy. Its a joy to behold. Im just worried
about the grapes. The ones that grow in the shadows. They feed off the vines, but dont
contribute to its yield. You need to prune more Josh.
Yes, thank you again for your advice, I will start after lunch.
Josh, can I show you something in the garden. Leonia asked.
Can it wait until after lunch? She gave him a look that told him it couldnt.
Without saying another word he got up and followed her to the backyard.
234
DEUS X MACHINA
Josh, theres something odd about that man, something about him makes me
uneasy.
I know, I feel it too, although its our duty to give him lunch, after that well send
him on this way.
OK, promise me well make this short. I think hes from a place we dont want to
go.
Where could that be?
I dont want to talk about it.
In the vineyard he asked me how long weve been here, you know I didnt know
the answer, I never thought about it before.
Dont think about it, we dont want to know.
Why, what could happen? Nothing bad has happened since weve been here.
However we got here, we dont have to go back. Nobody can force us, we have that
choice.
Where are the children?
I think theyre with the dog by the river.
They should be back by now.
Perhaps they just lost track of time. It happens when youre having fun.
Yes, it does. They turned around to see the stranger who was standing behind
them.
Leonia, thats him. Thats the Rabbi! Thats who I saw in the cave.
Josh, I see my old friend Anunnaki.
Children, youve left a lot undone.
Leonia, I thinkI think I died.
I hope we did. I hope this is the next world.
Neither one of you have died, thats the problem, theres still work to be done.
235
DEUS X MACHINA
No! Im done, how much more can be expected of me. Surely the universe will
continue to function. Im sorry, Annunaki my work is done. Leonia pleaded.
Lord, dont make me leave my children, I cant, it cant happen. No matter how
we got here, were here now. Were not going to leave.
You will never leave your children. Theyre here, theyre safe. They will always
be here until youre ready to call them again.
Theyre our kids. Forget it. I dont care who you are, we are not going to leave
them behind. Josh shouted vehemently.
Its too late. Were already on our way back. Leonia said. Paradise is lost.We
put it out of our mind and made ourselves forget, but its still there. The universe as we
left it.
Leonia, I died. I smacked into the Moon going a thousand miles an hour. Im a
bug splattered in the windshield. Im deaddead! The mystery is solved. Theres an
afterlife, and were in it. Damn it we deserve it. You deserve it, how much have you done
for the universe.
Who are you? Jesus? Anunnaki? Some alien? Who in the fuck do you think you
are? I know who you are; youre the snake in the garden. Youre the evil one.
You know, I dont give a fuck who you are. Get off, get off my land, youre not
welcome here.
Your land. A few minutes ago this land had no owner. Now its your land.
Where are the kids? They should be back by now. Where are they? Leonia
worried.
Leonia, you cant exist here. Its not youre time. Your children are souls born of
your love for one another, but not here, not now. This is a fantasy land, a place of
indulgence. The stranger said.
236
DEUS X MACHINA
Indulgence! What do you call the vineyard? Thats work, theres no mansion
here, no servants, no swimming pool.
No, that wouldnt be paradise for either of you. Theres a stream down that hill
though. The rocks are just perfect to slide down, and just as you remembered from a
trip you took to West Virginia when you were a boy.
The both of you created this paradise. And its good. Yes, you do deserve to be
happy, but so do millions of others. The both of you can help millions of others reach
paradise.
We can not, and will not leave our children.
I would never ask you to. The souls that your love has created will always exist,
as all souls do. They have their path to follow as well, and their paths cant be found in
this paradise.
Do you think that this is the end? Do you think that theres nothing else than this
dreamland? This world is a false idol, a rest stop on the way to very better realms. You
two are better than this.
Cant we stay awhile longer? We need just a little more time.
I cant force you two to do anything. Its your choice, if you choose to return
youll have a day, a final day in which you wont remember any of this conversation. You
will have a special day with your children, you will go to sleep that night without a worry
in the world, but when you wake up youll be back in the universe.
Josh, we can find this again. We can find this together once all is done. I dont
want to live in a dream.
237
DEUS X MACHINA
We created all this? I guess we did, its hard to believe. Its so perfect that its
not perfect. The grapes didnt always grow right, the rains didnt always come. And all
this. All this was paradise, with just enough challenge to keep us from knowing, yet
OK. OK then, we will create this in whatever world we find ourselves in. Lets have one
last day in paradise, its more than billions can even dream of.
In that final day they skipped their chores. It seemed like too beautiful of a day
for chores. They swam in the river, had a picnic at their favorite place overlooking the
sea, then they traveled to town to shop and socialize. Shasha found a beautiful fabric,
Leonia promised to help her sew a dress with it. Horus hit the books store, and found a
marvelous book on astronomy. They went home, and drank warm tea by the hearth.
They put the children to sleep, then retired to their room and made sweet, soft love.
They held each other until they fell into a deep long sleep.
Look, her eyes are open.
Leonia, sat up as if she had only been lying down for a minute. Then she
stretched her newly formed muscles. Taking pleasure in their form beneath her smooth
skin.
Now this is what I call an extreme make over, she said, admiring her reflection
in the mirrored wall.
I need to get to the hangar.
To do what?
Find Josh, he needs me.
We need you. What do you think allowed this invasion to happen? Some of us
have served you for generations. Our whole family history, going back centuries has
called this ship home. We have always been loyal to you, but now youre not acting like
the Queen we have served.
238
DEUS X MACHINA
The counsel started to think that your judgments had become impaired. Perhaps
it was a result of this extreme make over, as you call it. Perhaps it was because of the
female hormones that flow through your body since you became a mammal.
Whatever the reason, you have been acting like a bitch in heat. You have been
putting your need to mate with the human above your duties as Queen. And now, with
the Nimbus under Sets control you want to go to your human. Your actions have led to
this. You are to blame.
Leonias expression hardened. I am a bitch in heat, a bitch that you dont want
to fuck with. You selfish little worms. What have I done? Fallen in love. Thats my crime?
What do you think my motive was? To get laid? There are millions of beings
from all over the universe who would worship me and could satisfy any animal desire.
Do you know why Ive been chaste for all these millennia? Havent you read about my
life as a slave on Dagon? Dont you know what they did to me then?
How about now? Do you want to hear what they did to the Queen that you
betrayed? Do you want to hear how they violated each orifice? Dont you know that the
Dagons use their cocks as weapon to break the spirit of their victims? Dont you know
that they can make their seminal fluid a poison that eats away any flesh that its exposed
to?
They raped me. They tore open my female organs, my mouth and my anus.
They shot their poison into each orifice, letting that acid burn me from the inside out.
They mocked and abused me, using me like a toilet, and then when there was nothing
left to fuck, when I was only a mass of corrupted flesh, they made me watch as they did
the same to my most loyal and trusted friends.
Does that turn you on? Do you get off on knowing that your betrayal allowed the
enemy to turn your Queen into their whore!
239
DEUS X MACHINA
Why should I lift a finger to help you, or anyone on this ship? You all betrayed
me when I needed you most. Tell me, tell me why I shouldnt k
She stopped and turned her head; not wanting to look at them, not wanting to
see the hurt look on her face.
Have they disconnected the heart? She said abruptly.
Yes, all arteries, except for the power supply.
If we can reconnect the heart, and I interface with it, then perhaps I can find a
way to rid us of these occupiers.
The heart is the most heavily guarded area. Its going to be very hard to get to,
and impossible to hold. Itll take a few hours to reconnect everything.
This is a huge ship, if we cause havoc everywhere, they wont know where to
fight first. For this to work, we need the remaining citizens to self-organize, and start
several fronts throughout the ship. I have to broadcast a message throughout the ship;
its the only way. I hope that there are some that are still loyal enough to me to listen.
Murder! It always comes down to murder. History is nothing more than that, a
murderers tale. Is this why I returned, to kill and kill again? Fine, it thats what the
universe wants, thats what it will get.
240
DEUS X MACHINA
Chapter 29 Ready, Set, Apocalypse
There was the pale dust of the Moon. Earth filled most of the sky. How fragile.
How peaceful. How small we are? How small even thisthis war. Josh climbed out of
the crater his impact had made. Leonia. She is alive, yes on the ship.
He instinctively knew how to contact her using the suits communication link.
Leonia, can you hear me. Im alive. Where are you?
Josh! Im on the Nimbus. I guess theres no turning back now. Back in the real
world.
Im starting to wonder which world that is. Leonia, Ill be right there to fight by
your side.
No, Josh. I need you to begin the front on Earth. I need you to go to Nirbiru and
take a DNA sample from a dead Alpha. The computer will analyze it for you. Broadcast
the results to Earth on all frequencies. We need to disrupt the Alphas chain of
command. We need to let them know what Set has done to their brothers.
Wont they think its a deception?
Some will, some wont. Thats just what I want. Confusion. I want Set not to
know who to trust.
No. Leonia, I need to be with you. Cant I
Josh, if you want to help me do what I ask.
I love you.
I know. Be careful, Horus and Shasha are counting on us to survive. There was
a strangeness in her voice that caused me concern.
Where do you think they are?
This isnt the time. Im sending you the coordinates to Nirbiru.
Got it. On my way.
241
DEUS X MACHINA
Josh once again lunched himself into the black ocean of space. As he traveled
away from the reflected light of the moon, the stars became clearer and clearer. Behind
him the features of the Moon and Earth were fading into fuzzy shapes, ahead of him the
purple tint of Nirbiru became clearer. It has a tail, like a comet. Its thawing as it
approaches the Sun.
How far can I go? How far would this suit take me? Just for an instant he
imagined himself veering off towards the brightest star.
So when do I wake up in that hospital again. When can I sleep without
wondering where Ill wake up? Can all this be true? Can I be doing this? He knew it was.
Im still me, still here. Josh, traveling through my solar system to an alien world. This is
me in this suit, this is mesaving the world. Not bad for a loser living on $30,000 a
year.
Theres so much, so much that will take time to sort out. There is a heaven, isnt
there, wasnt I there? There is intelligence out there. There is a Christ? Anunnaki,
Jesus? Who was it? Does it matter? Maybe we both saw whom we expected to see.
So I walked the streets of Palestine in the first century, and the riverbanks of the
Nile centuries before. So I am the inspiration for Osiris. So I am the Apostle John. So I
know who I am, but who are all you zombies? Six billion individuals live on Earth. Can
their fate really rely on so few? Why? What is it? The luck of the draw. What did I do to
become what I am?
What did the Dagon say? More pawn than prophet. What does that mean?
Yes, I saw her, her reptilian self all those years ago. It wasnt strange. The
Dagons and Nirbiruans were just part of life back then. But she was the Queen. The one
that made all things possible. Many worshipped her, although she didnt want worship.
How could she blame them. She had power over the sky. She could change
form (the Mexus suit) before our eyes and fly to heaven. Of course she was a goddess.
242
DEUS X MACHINA
What else could she be? We were favored. The gods favored us. Loved us. They
walked with us and called us by name.
She was weeping by the riverbank when I saw her. Can gods cry? I watched
from the brush, afraid and curious. I couldnt keep my eyes off of her, before that I only
had seen her from afar, but there she was. Her scales glistened in the Sun. She was
naked, no doubt having just taken a swim in the Nile. But I could feel her sadness. Her
sorrow. How could someone like her feel such sorrow?
Her tears broke my fear. She was no longer the Queen, but a person steeped in
sadness. What could I do? She was an immortal, could I really comfort her?
Her loneliness called to me. I sat beside her, and put my arm around her. She
collapsed her head onto my chest. Does she know me? Does she trust me?
Her scales were cold and rough. It truly was like touching a lizard. But she
needed me! I could feel it, she needed comfort. She needed to be seen, as Leonia, not
as the Queen of heaven.
It all comes down to that. Individuals need each other. Its the simplest thing. The
tenderest thing. We were inseparable after that; just being in each others company was
enough. I had no desire for wealth or power, but she gave it to me anyway. She never
knew what it was like to have a lover, she gave me power because she thought thats
what people did when in love.
Jealousy from others wasnt far behind. It was our downfall. It was me. Set never
would have gained a foothold on Earth if it werent for me. Leonia wouldnt have been
captured now, if it werent for me.
How could one act of tenderness lead to so much trouble?
Josh descended through the thawing Nirbiruan atmosphere. It was a fossil world.
A ghost ship. The years of its frozen existence had paid its toll. Its atmosphere was thin;
much of it was evaporating into space. The planet itself shook almost constantly from
243
DEUS X MACHINA
internal strife. From 50,000 feet Nirbiru look like a cracked egg. Canyons were
collapsing into themselves. Sink holes were forming, some hundreds of miles across.
Josh landed amid the corpses of thousands of decaying Dagons. Putrid gases
poured out of the corpses as he attempted to take a sample. Apparently, because of the
thinness of their scales, their internal organs decayed much faster than their skin,
leaving them as sunken shells filled with liquefied bio-matter.
Oh God! Deeper and deeper he inserted the probe into a dead Dagon until at
last he was able to retrieve a sample. Josh didnt spend any more time than he needed
on the planet. Not matter how much he kept telling himself that they were dead, he felt
that at any moment they would grab him.
The computer on his forearm quickly analyzed the results. He assumed anyway,
the process was beyond him. He broadcasted them to Earth on all frequencies, then he
contacted Leonia.
Leonia, can you read me.
No, but I can hear you.
Funny. Grammar Nazi. "I sent the message. Im on my way to you.
No. I need you to go to Earth. Try to find Anunnakis sarcophagus. Try to calm
the humans. We need to tell humanity the truth. We have no more time to be subtle. I
dont know. Do what you can to get the word out. I have to go now, Ill contact you when
I can. I have a job to do. Please try. I love you. She closed the channel so that Josh
couldnt raise her if he tried.
Why is she pushing me away? She is isnt. Thats what it feels like anyway.
Perhaps that not the case. Someone does need to calm the humans. Wait Im a human.
Odd how easy it is to adjust to different perspectives.
244
DEUS X MACHINA
So what happens now? Josh took the travel time to reflect more on what was
going on. How am I supposed to organize humanity, and for what? Does a war begin?
Is that the plan? Do the sons of light fight the sons of darkness.
Wait. Yes. A battle. There will be a battle. A battle to end all battles. Yes, I know
this, I saw it long ago in that cave. I remember now. I remember being exiled to the
island of Patmos. It wasnt a bad place, although rugged, and very hot. I could have
stayed in the house of any number of believers that came with me, but I chose to live in
a cave. It had a good view, and it was cool, much cooler than the houses. Besides, I
always liked living alone, even though I was old and needed assistance. It wouldnt be
fair to make a wife live in a cave, and the cliffs were far too steep to raise children, but I
had neither.
Part of me regretted not having a family, I had always wanted one, but it
wouldnt have been fair. Children need stability, not the life of a preacher who travels the
world trying to convert people to the word of God, at least thats what I told myself,
besides there were many I called my children, many that were like sons and daughters,
especially Prochoros, my closest disciple. I urged him to start a family, but he was
committed to writing down my memories of the Messiah and other thoughts. I hoped
that I would die soon, so that he would be free to build his own life.
I was the youngest among us, and now Im the oldest, all the rest have been
killed like the rabbi. When I was called before the Emperor, I thought for sure that my
fate would be the same, I didnt understand why he sent me to the island of Patmos.
Then I started having dreams, terrible dreams. I thought it was the madness that
old age brings. They continued for weeks then months. I became afraid to fall asleep; it
didnt matter, the visions started coming even while I was awake. Prochoros assured
me I wasnt insane. He felt it was a message from God, after all I was an Apostle, a
witness of the resurrection.
245
DEUS X MACHINA
I am a man, I told him, nothing less, nothing more. I had seen too many nutcase
prophets in my day, so many demented young men and women claiming to be the
returned Christ. Jesus was a sober man, he was not a mystic, he was a carpenter, who
happened to be the Son of God. He didnt talk about celestial realms and fantastic
visions; he spoke about farming and paying the rent.
Prochoros insisted I tell him the details of my nightmares. Eventually I did. I
couldnt adequately describe what I was seeing, but I did the best I could using words
and imagery that were familiar to me. Now I see. Now I know what I saw. The Dagons!.
The Nimbus. War machines! Plagues! Its all coming together.
Can it be? Can this be the judgment of the Ancient of Days? Is this the end
times? If so, whats my role? What should I do?
I have to tell the people. Comfort them; let them know that this is what must
happen. Thats why Im here. Thats my purpose. This is how I will unite humanity
against the Dagons.
Josh prepared to send another message to the world, a message he would
deliver himself. He cleared his throat and began.
The terrible day of the Lord has finally come. You hearing this are the children
of light, chosen before the foundation of the world to be right here, right now.
Across the globe every radio, television, computer, CB and cell phone repeated
what Josh had said. On the television humanity saw what Josh saw, the Earth coming
closer and closer into view.
This long awaited day comes like a woman in labor. Long has she been waiting
for this day, waiting to see the new life that is to come, yet there is still pain to go
through. The labor pains will be long and hard, harder than any of us had imagined.
Billions will die, those that do will be counted lucky, for those that live will wish that they
were dead. Those that live will curse God, curse me, curse everything that they hold
246
DEUS X MACHINA
dear in a desperate plea that the suffering will end. Theres no shame in this, just as the
women in childbirth may curse the child that causes her pain. When the new life comes,
all the pain is forgotten, and the mother feels only joy as the child nurses.
Although it will feel that all is lost, that there is no end to the destruction to come,
the outcome of this battle is assured. Life will triumph over death. Good over evil. The
old system, the old laws will fade away and the universe will renew itself.
We are not alone. In all the worlds in the universe, the promise has been made,
and waited for. What will happen here will happen in every corner, to every atom of
existence. Every proton and neutron, waits in anticipation of this to come to pass.
You Knowers are the Elect. You are expected to comfort those that are now. To
assure them, that although you do not have all the answers, there will be an end, and a
new beginning. Love one another, and comfort those who suffer.
Remember the cost is high, but the reward is the new world. Everything that has
happened has led up to this moment. We are honored and cursed to be of this
generation.
Peace be with you. Hold on to your faith.



247
DEUS X MACHINA
Chapter 30 Call to Arms
Leonia stood in front of the monitor and prepared to give the most important
speech of her life.
Citizens of Nimbus, your Queen has returned. For five years now the Dagons
have violated our home, and killed thousands of our brothers and sisters.
I hold each one of you dear. I have known your fathers and mothers for a
hundred generations. Everything that we have worked for, the civilization that we have
built on this ship is seriously threatened, but we havent lost yet. I still breathe. The blood
of your ancestors still flows through your veins. Although this has always been a place
of peace, if we want that peace to come again we have to fight for it.
Its time for me to regain the right to be called your Queen. Its time for you to win
back the right to be citizens of the Nimbus. Its time
An Alpha burst into the regeneration center and spread machine gun fire in every
direction. Leonia caught two rounds in her side as she leaped behind the regeneration
chamber. She flipped up the chamber, allowing the healing liquid to flow toward the
Dagons, as shots continued to fly. Suddenly, the Alpha let out a gnarled scream. The
Nanomeds, if not contained in the magnetically charged environment of the regeneration
chamber have no programming to refer to when they enter a body. In an attempt to
recreate their environment, they liquefy whatever organic material they come in contact
with.
The Dagon melted like wax, creating a puddle on the floor as it died. Once it was
certain that it was dead, the scientist deactivated the Nanomeds, and Leonia continued
her speech.
You see, they are not invincible. There aggression is their weakness.
Quickly, organize into units and fight the Dagons where ever they are found. Im
sorry, I cant give you more instructions, but all I can say is that this is a war worth
248
DEUS X MACHINA
fighting. It is not just Earths fate that hangs in the balance, but ours and millions more.
Good luck. Remember there is more to life than survival. We those words she cut off
the COM link.
Quickly, we have to get out of here. One of the scientists said.
Yes, we need to get to an interface. I need to know what our options are.
All of the interfaces have been taken offline. The heart has been isolated.
Then well have to go to it, reconnect it.
Queen it is heavily guarded. the Drone replied.
Do we have access to Mexus?
I believe Set has all the Mexus in a secure location he tells nobody about..
How about the armory?
It would be easy getting through to the heart than the armory.
We need weapons, there must be someplace we could.the museum. There
are weapons there, and many of them are functional. I bet that the Dagons have no
interest in guarding it. Leonia didnt wait for a response. She grabbed the Dagons
weapon and burst out the door.
She bounced from wall to wall through the corridors of the ship without her feet
ever touching the ground. The scientists didnt even attempt to catch up, they hid, and
snuck cautiously along.
Leonia used the advantage of her small body to travel the auxiliary passage
ways, hoping the Dagons would feel more comfortable using the larger main ones they
could fly through. She was right, she encountered no resistance.
Leonia found the access port used to load exhibits into the museum, she used it
to enter the museum. I need something made of Mexus. Yes, the Sword of the Gilmaur.
The sword that freed the Vigants. Gilmaur, the finest swordsmith the Vigants had ever
known, who discovered the secret of working Mexus. How can you fashion a weapon
249
DEUS X MACHINA
from a metal no heat can melt, no hammer can shape? It was a secret he was killed for,
and the few swords he made enabled the Vigants to throw off the oppression of an
enemy who was much more technologically advanced than they.
When the Vigants enemy returned thousands of years later, they came
determined to learn the secret of Mexus. This time Leonia was there, she learned how
to join with the Mexus to feel its inner-consciousness and form the Mexus Armor. She
helped with the Vigants repel the Invaders. In return for her assistance they gave her the
Gilmuar Sword. Now again the sword will help throw off an occupation.
Leonia stood in front of the proud display. The hands of an angel held out the
sword demonstrating the perceived divine assistance the Vigants had received all those
years ago. Leonia smashed the display glass, and looked deep into the sad eyes of the
statue. Yes, once more its come to this. She repeated a prayer the Vigants used during
their fight.
May this sword loose, but never bind;
May it unite, and never divide;
Bless this blade, and the hand that holds it,
To kill only to save, and fight only to cease.
For a moment she held the blade to admire it. It wasnt carved or decorated in
anyway, it was designed as a functional weapon, not one for display, there is nothing
outwardly that distinguished it from any number of swords. She sheathed the blade and
swung it on her back.
They listened! She started to hear rumblings from all over the ship. The battle
had begun, as she had hoped, the Alphas were scattered, not knowing which front to
fight first.
A gravity burst caved in the ceiling; from the scorched blood spattered on the
floor she could tell members of her crew had died in the blast. She leapt up through the
250
DEUS X MACHINA
opening, and was shocked to find roots and rocks to cling to. The garden is above. She
emerged to find a major battle occurring in the garden. She stayed hidden for awhile in
the rubble, observing the battle to gain an understanding of it. Damn it, I should have
told them to fight in enclosed areas, theyll be torn apart in a pitched battle. She knew
she had to get to the heart, but she couldnt live with the thought that her people were
dying as pawns.
Although the Dagon Alphas were outnumbered by 10 to 1, the battle was turning
into a massacre. Most of her people were armed, but they were no match for the
Dagons speed and brutality. The were bred for this; they lived for combat. The Alphas
grimaced, partly as a physiologic strategy, but mostly because they were truly enjoying
themselves. They had waited for years to feel like warriors again.
Leonia climbed a hill behind the Dagons lines in full view of her people. She
yelled Retreat as she plunge her sword into the midsection of an Alpha, but her actions
had the opposite effect of what she intended. Her people cheered and rushed when they
saw her. The Alphas flew into a frenzy and circled back to her position. She felt the wind
from their wings as they approached. The expression on her face hardened. She
tightened her muscles and leapt toward them. Two heads severed in one motion, their
blood showering her as she landed.
Her blade whistled as she slashed and hacked her way through the Dagons
lines. They tore at her, they were blinded with rage at the Female that had disgraced
them for so long. Their anger made them sloppy, they fell over each other to take a
swipe at the Queen. All wanted to be the one to finally take her life.
No thought. Only action. Only movement. Only death. Attack and counter. Attack
and counter. Over and over again. She lost herself in the combat; the action became a
twisted kind of meditation. She didnt feel the slashes on her flesh. She didnt hear the
screams of the Dagons, she only knew who was alive and who wasnt.
251
DEUS X MACHINA
Her people, Citizens of Nimbus, fought the outer ring of Alphas, trying to save
their queen. With the Dagons attention focused on killing Leonia they were easier to
attack, easier to kill.
The soil was saturated with blood. It was hard for her to hold her footing. She
took more blows; more of her flesh was open. She was starting to tire, but she was still
standing. Blood splattered her entire body, getting in her eye and making it difficult to
see. She dared not stop to wipe her brow. She dared not turn her attention away from
anything but the fighting. It was like a dance, it had rhythm and movement, sound and
fury.
Block the tail, slice the throat, plunge into the brain, kick backwards, turn and
slice again.
And then, the last ones fell. The citizens of the Nimbus had reached her; the last
of the attackers had died.
It took her a minute to realize it was over. Suddenly she was faced by the
bewildered expression of hundreds of her people. Suddenly, it became clear that they
had won.
Never in a million generations would the sight be forgotten. Little Leonia, her
slight frame, her uniform hanging in shreds, her body soaked with blood. Her flesh cut
and bleeding in a dozen areas. Blood running down the sword that was almost as long
as she was tall. And surrounding her, the piled corpses of a hundred killed. She didnt
realize what a scene it was. She had no idea the blood had matted her hair and poured
from her wounds. A half smile formed on her lips.
We won! she shouted, and hundreds of citizens shouted with her as she lifted
the sword skyward. To the heart, victory is assured!
They vigorously followed her to the heart. As they made their way they defeated
every Alpha they came across. Leonia felt the power and passion of leading an Army.
252
DEUS X MACHINA
Even those who didnt heed her call to fight at first, joined her ranks as word spread of
the victory in the garden.
Outside the ship another battled raged. Dagons loyal to Set, and those who
responded to Joshs message fought a chaotic battle with the ships stolen from the
Nimbus hangar. Some attacked the Nimbus, others fought other ships, no one knew
whom to fight, and no one was sure who was on their side. It was a free for all.
The situation on Earth was no better. Billions had heard Joshs address. Millions
looked to the sky and saw the Nimbus as it drifted just above the Moon, among the
missiles and explosions that lit up the night sky. Many thought of the ancient prophesies
of their religion, many more looked to their Bibles and Korans
And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the
moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars;
When is the day of resurrection?
So when the sight becomes dazed,
And the moon becomes dark,
And the sun and the moon are brought together,
Man shall say on that day: Whither to fly to?
By no means! there shall be no place of refuge!
253
DEUS X MACHINA
Berock knew Leonia. He knew her as a slave, a concubine. Yes, there was
something different about her even than, she showed no interest in attracting a mate,
she took no pleasure in submitting to an Alpha. At first this infuriated him. Who is this
female to shun me? How dare she do nothing to increase my pleasure. But then the
very fact that she did not take pleasure in the act caused his arousal, and the arousal of
many others, so much so that other females began to feign disinterest just to heighten
the Alphas desire for them. He led himself to believe that she too was feigning her
dislike.
Slowly it came to him that she was truly disgusted by him. This realization came
because she no longer showed her disaffection, she no longer protested, she did
nothing, as though she were a corpse. She didnt eat. She didnt assist other females.
She was a shell.
His anger turned into a strange type of obsession. He was the bravest, the
strongest. How is it possible she doesnt desire me? He would shout at her, maniacally
listing his victories, those that he had killed. Nothing, no response. He brought her food,
but she didnt eat it. He even promised her something that was unheard of, something
only the top Alpha ever did. He would choose her as his and only his. To do this he
would have to fight anyone else who would lay claim to her. She spoke to him for the
first and only time.
Dont bother fighting for something you can not own.
What do you mean? I cannot own? I already do. Theyre right about you, you
are a worthless cunt, who doesnt know her place.
And now, he would show her. All these years she put him to shame, rising far
beyond where any female should. An odd twist of fate had placed her in command of
the most powerful vessel in the galaxy; here and now he finally had a chance to put an
end to it.
254
DEUS X MACHINA
He had heard the message from the Apostle. It didnt matter to him whether it
was true or not, this was his time to put the bitch in her place, or perhaps finally make
her his beta female. True mate, yes only such a female could rule the galaxy with me..
Joshs broadcast of the DNA analysis of the virus turned many in his command against
each other. He didnt care. It was time for a change, and neither Leonia and Set would
be in power once it was over. He activated the Mexus Armor taken from the Nimbus. It
quickly covered every inch of his large body. He shot up towards the battle raging in the
heavens. As he got closer to the Nimbus he could see the chaos the battled had turned
into. Targets were chosen for no particular reason. The Nimbus was already heavily
damaged and adrift, but through the confusing banter on the COM system he was able
to determine that Leonia was leading a large Army to the heart, and thats just were hed
meet her, but first he had to pick up a little something from the armory.
Leonias army fought fiercely. The Dagons were too disorganized to put up any
type of meaningful resistance. Her plan had worked. Joshs message got through, and
the Alpha were breaking ranks and choosing sides. This confusion gave her the time
she needed to retake the ship.
They were getting close to the heart, but as they did the fighting intensified. The
heart chamber was less than a quarter mile away when she saw them. Them. A legion
of Sets newest monsters. No, God, it cant be. This is too cruel. Set had created horribly
disfigured mutations from the bodies of his victims on the Nimbus. He reanimated all
those he tortured and killed in front of Leonia. He created an army of the living dead, all
with only two words on their lips, kill Leonia.
She dropped her sword, knelt and awaited her punishment.
You cant queen. You must fight. We are lost if you dont. You see that one, you
see him. Said Healum, who was a Trigan, a species she first came in contact with 800
years ago.
255
DEUS X MACHINA
Yes, I know Healum. He is your son. I watched himthey made me.
No, that is not my son. They killed my son, and now they mock his form.
Avenge my son Leonia. Kill this abomination.
She didnt look up. She grabbed her sword and shot toward the dark army.
She felt their decaying hands upon her, ripping open her wounds, but with her
speed and power she continued to rip through them, gaining ground towards her
objective.
Her army slammed into the front line of the beasts, and pushed back their
advance. She was on her hands and knees now, pushing her way through, as they
continued to rip away at her flesh. This body is only hours old and already Ive ruined it.
Only ten yards. She felt the claws of a zombie Drone pull up on her rib cage. She
leaped up through the mob, any flesh they had a hold of tore, but she had gotten free
and was climbing along the ceiling toward the door. The chamber opened when she
came upon the door and she locked it behind her. She could hear the monster clawing
at the other side. She left herself sink for a moment, as she assessed the damage done
to her newly formed body.
It was bad, but it could have been worse. Most of the blows she received only
lobbed out pieces of flesh, her hearts and organs were intact.
The heart of Nimbus looked worse than when she first saw it all those they ago.
The veins were brutally cut and thrown about, some still dripping fluid. There was a lot of
work to be done. She didnt know how long the chamber doors would hold. She didnt
know how long her people could hold them off. Regardless she had made it. She made
it back to the heart, with the help of her people. They were her people again. In a
strange way, she was happy.
Leonia launched herself toward the heart, and started reconnecting and repairing
the veins as quickly as she could. Physically she felt like she was going to collapse, but
256
DEUS X MACHINA
spiritually she was on fire. She was fighting the good fight, and setting things back in
their proper order.
Berock blasted threw the chamber walls below holding a fission bomb.
Damn, fuck, they have the armor.
He pierced her with his tail, and held her up to his face.
One little cunt who caused so many problems, put so many Alphas to shame.
Its over, its all over now. I want to watch the expression on your face as you
disintegrate.
Dont you want to save the Nimbus for your Drone master.
I have no master. You taught me that, you should be proud. He looked her up
and down.
Dont you recognize me? I mated with you many a time back on Dagon.
How can I recognize you with that cowards suit on? Take it off and let me see
which limp dick you were.
I was the only one who talked to you.
Yes, you wanted me as your beta female. Why? Because I winced when you
touched me. Should I have been honored? You and your whole race need to be
destroyed. You are a virus. A dirty germ cooked up by those jelly fish you called master.
Youre a fucking coward. None of you were man enough for me.
And the human is?
If you were a true man you would take off that suit and fight me. Are you afraid?
Did you hear about the hundred brethren I killed? You come with a fission weapon and a
Mexus suite to fight a small female. You are the female
Beroch lowered his armor and put down the warhead.
Have it your way bitch. He threw her against the wall with a fling of his tail.
How long until that thing blows up?
257
DEUS X MACHINA
Leonia jumped for the sword but was stopped by the Alpha landing on top of her.
Too late. I have to admit. No female was ever excited me as you do. Can your
mammal cunt still handle a Dagon dick?
Not again, no not again. How many times until Im used up?
She heard the voice of Anunnaki. Leonia, How can you fashion a weapon from
a metal no heat can melt, no hammer can shape?
You dont, the sword fashions the Mexus. Thank you Anunnaki.
She remembered, thats what Gilmaur learned all those year ago. He designed
the finest sword he could, a sword that was proud to be fashioned, made of metal that
couldnt have been anything other than a sword, then the sword touched the Mexus, the
Mexus coated it, as it coated her body in armor all those years ago. Today microchips
control the form of the Mexus, but it doesnt have to be that way.
Leonia set her mind to activate her Mexus suit as if it was around her wrist. She
pictured it coating her body. Then she reached back and touched the Mexus bracelet on
Berocks wrist. Berock became excited hoping she was reaching to pull him in. It works!
At her touch the Mexus armor began coating her body, it blocked Berochs phallus from
entering her before he realized what was happening.
You bitch!
That right. She didnt have time to attack, as the word left her mouth the fusion
weapon exploded, vaporizing the Nimbus and sending Leonia hurling into space.
258
DEUS X MACHINA
Chapter 31 Armageddon
Josh landed. He knew were he was although he had never stood there in all of
his lifetimes. It was the valley of Armageddon. He looked around, it was quiet. Not a
soul. It was not a bad place. There were palm trees and hills surrounding the valley.
There were farms and streams in its interior.
Josh scanned the area to see if the sarcophagus was there. The sensor quickly
discovered a recently buried object. Why here? Why would he bury here? Hadnt he
heard about whats supposed to happened hear? Perhaps, he did.
Josh walked over to the area where it was buried. He used the gravity pulse to
blast away the soil revealing the sarcophagus. Now what?
Now I take this fucking thing and land on the Washington Mall and tell the world
whats going on?
What about Armageddon? What about the second coming?
The Jewish people have an expression. The messiah will take care of himself.
Then he heard it, the rumbling of jets overhead, and in the distance the dust of
thousands of mechanized armored vehicles.
It is happening. The thought came across his mind that he might not see Leonia
or his parents again, at least not in this world. He tried to communicate with her, but the
channel was still blocked. He used the COM to reach his parents telephone. He heard
the familiar ring, how odd to hear it now. It sounded just like he was calling from his
dorm.
Mommy, its me.
Oh my Joshy boy. Oh how happy I am that youre alive. Were not going to live
long; I just hope I live long enough to see Jesus separate the goats from the sheep. Oh,
I hope Im one of the elect. Weve been praying all day.
You know then, you know whats happening.
259
DEUS X MACHINA
Oh yes, everybody does. We heard your voice Joshy, we all did on every
television, on every radio. You sounded the trumpet my boy. I am so blessed; please
forgive me for not believing you for all those years.
Of course I do, I never blamed you. There were other forces at work that put me
in that hospital. Josh looked toward the approaching armies as he spoke,
The day has come. The Lord has finally had enough. Where are you my boy,
can you try and come to be with us?
I dont think I can. I am standing in the valley of Armageddon. There are tanks
coming over the ridge from the North. Oh, and men on horseback coming from the
south. Its a mess, and they all seem to be heading in my direction.
Are you scared, do you have to do this? Can you ask if theres another way? Oh
youve been chosen for this, we are blessed. I just dont want you to be scared. The
questions came fast and furious.
Oddly, Im not scared. I dont really know if this is what Im supposed to do, but
this is what I saw when I was the Apostle John. This is what I wrote.
His mother broke down in tears. It hit her for the first time that her son really had
been an apostle. When will it come, when will the New Jerusalem come?
I dont think itll be long now. Mommy, tell Dad that I love him. This is that last
time that we are going to talk with each other until the new world comes.
Pray for us son. We love you.
I love you too, very very much. I have to go now. Goodbye.
The thunder of horses approached. Josh stood in fear as they approached, until
he noticed they didnt have there weapons drawn. One swept him up unto his horse as
the tanks began to fire.
Dont worry Imam, Allah is with us. The day of judgment as finally come!
260
DEUS X MACHINA
Josh was in no position to argue. To the west a squadron of helicopter was
approaching so large that they blocked out the Sun.
Yes, this maybe the day of reckoning. Josh said. But you dont need to protect
me. Stay with me and Ill take you out of here. We have to get the sarcophagus. We
have to tell the world the truth.
From above the sky was streaked with the claws marks of warheads.
My friend, dismount. I think I can protect you. Josh and the rider jumped off the
horse. Josh activated his armor, then he created a large ravine with his graviton blaster.
When the impact came, it was no use. The burning light came before the noise. Josh
looked down to see the rider melt in Joshs arms, his mouth forming the words God is
great, as his skin burnt from his face. Josh stared at his face as if he was watching a
horror movie. It was too unbelievable, too horrible to take in. It was like the movement
after youre wounded and before the pain sets in, when you know that its coming and
its going to hurt for a long long time.
When the wind hit, it sent him flying backwards with a hail of debris. It was a
surreal scene he couldnt make sense of. He rode with the shock wave like any other
piece of debris. When he finally came to a stop he had no idea how far he had traveled.
The suit had protected him, although he was badly shaken up. He looked around; he
was alone, more alone than he had ever been. The blast had wiped out all of the
armies, and turned the soil into black hardened glass. There was no life, and the only
sound was the wind and the cracking of the newly formed glass as it broke. The armies
were gone. The machines destroyed. There was no life, no motion. The sky was ash,
and the air poison. There was only he and desolation.
261
DEUS X MACHINA
He heard a deafening sound from the sky. He looked up to see another bright
explosion. But this one was whiter, and less fiery than the nuclear explosion he had just
survived. The light was gone in a flash, taking the sky with it. The blast had blown a hole
through the atmosphere. The Nimbus! Leona!
Nothing. He could still see the burning remnants slow dispersing in the sky like
fire works in slow motion. Then he heard a voice through his COM, it wasnt Leonia.
Is this the Kingdom of God? It looks like a Kingdom of rumble to me. He
answer was automatic, as if he was asking himself the question.
This is only the labor pains. It all fits, all these events, I prophesized them many
years ago. It as all come to pass, the new world is about to begin.
Youre insane. There was only one person who Josh could imagine this could
be.
No more than you Set.
Come to Mount Zion to die. I am there. Your Queen is dead. Your planet is
dead. I want to meet the person that saved the earth from the Dagons.
The COM link closed leaving a bewildered Josh alone again in the wasteland.
It has only begun, the new world will come.
Will it. The man who disintegrated in your arms, was he a goat or a sleep, a lion
or lamb. It doesnt matter now, does it?
No, I cannot doubt now. I knew that this would look bleak, thats what I told
them.
Yes, any they listened didnt they. They hung on every word you said.
I must have faith.
Enough faith to move mountains or flatten them.
Should I go to Set?
262
DEUS X MACHINA
It doesnt matter, nothing matters now, especially what you think or chose,
youve made you path. Wide is the path that leads to destruction.
Theres no sense in going, and theres no sense in not going. I dont want to stay
here.
Wait. What am I doing? Shes dead. Can it be? Why dont I feel as bad as I
should? Perhaps Ive lost it. Lost the one thing that meant everything. The one thing I
knew was right. Perhaps, I just dont feel it can be over, but maybe it always feels this
way. Any death that Ive known has felt that way, felt like it really couldnt be over.
Ill go to Set, perhaps it is my destiny to die a martyr anyway.
He launched himself into the dark thin atmosphere. He couldnt tell if it was day
or night, the sky swirled with a mix of ash and lightning. Tornados raked the land in
some places, and in others there was a frightening stillness, nothing seemed to move.
He flew high enough to see that the nuclear explosion in the valley of Armageddon
wasnt the only one. He came upon Jerusalem, it was easy to spot, it was the only place
teaming with life. It looked like everyone came to see what, if anything, would happen.
Tanks, trucks, armored transports, cars, vans, horses, camels every mode of
transportation imaginable all were jamming into the city. The city itself looked ruined and
sad. The mosques, the churches and synagogues were crumbing until the strain of the
thousands that flocked to them, the only solace for Josh in all this was that they werent
fighting each other.
He saw Set, he knew it was him without question. He had never met him, it didnt
matter. He was wearing the Mexus, his was black, what other color could it be, he was
standing atop the dome of the rock. The abomination of desolation. Josh landed next to
him, Set was shorter than he imagined, they always are. Josh could sense the intensity
of his character. Below Mount Zion was covered with masses of humanity like ants
263
DEUS X MACHINA
You see those fools, burnt and dying from radiation exposure, theyre trying to
build the third temple. Some are here to defend the mosque, others to destroy it, as if
moving some rocks around could make any of a difference. His helmet was twisted into
a painful expression, remembering Josh of Greek theater masks, it unnerved him when
Set turned to spoke to him.
I only have one question for you Apostle. Why?
I dont know, I just know this has to happen. I saw all of this two thousand years
ago.
Have you been in the caves aboard the Nimbus?
Yes. Josh said, surprised at the question.
You didnt have a vision you idiot, you had a reverse memory! Do you think
those caves are only a one-way mirror? Time has no meaning to the soul. You didnt
foresee this, you remembered this. A reverse memory only happens to someone that
has been in the caves.
Those caves are places of illusions. They reflect your desire.
Think about it, what was your strongest desire? Was it to speak with your god?
And thats what you did, isnt it. Is this what your god told you to do?
What good is any of it now? We all have lost. The planet is barely inhabitable.
The Nimbus is destroyed. There is nothing left.
Why did you call me here then?
I called you here to kill you, you have to pay for what you have done, although
even that seems hollow now. It might be better to let you live, to let you watch humanity
try to gain a footing again. To see those lost sheep the multitude down there clinging to
the hope that there is a god and hes on their side.
You are the evil one, your trying to dissuade me from the truth? Josh protested.
264
DEUS X MACHINA
What is truth? Ill tell you. This is truth. Look around you, there is destruction
everywhere you look. This is your new world.
You are you a pacifist. Yes, I believe you claimed to be. You, Apostle, you
peacemaker, have destroyed the world. I, Stalin, Hitler, Napoleon, all the wars and
natural disasters that have ever occurred, pale in comparison to the carnage you
brought.
Do you think of yourself as a holy man, a man people will and should follow?
Well they did, millions of them. They heard your words, thinking them divine. Between
the Alpha rebellion and the humans, the world was thrown into chaos.
Would you like to know the future that you avoid? The plans that you had
stopped? What did you think I had planned? To kill all humans? To enslave them? Earth
would have been the seat of power in the galaxy. Humans would have been respected
and honored in the hearts and minds of innumerable species. There would have been
peace and prosperity. No one would have wanted for anything.
How would you have achieved that, by controlling their minds? People need
freedom!
Freedom? Do you even know what that means? There are two types of
freedom, freedom to, and freedom from. Humanity has had freedom to. Freedom to kill,
to hurt, to rape. You think we had such a hold on humanity. You think that we caused all
of your ills. What would that have benefited any of us. Humanity chose to make slaves
of people, to kill people because their invisible man in the sky was different from others.
We have stayed in the shadows all these years. Yes, we had influence over your
governments, but not control. We had Dagons in key positions to protect ourselves, not
control humanity.
Your god said to judge a tree by its fruit. Look around at your fruit, and what you
have wrought and ask yourself who the evil one truly is.
265
DEUS X MACHINA
Josh was numb. Once again everything he believed was shattered, but this time
he took down the whole world with him. He sent the messages; he started the war. He
unleashed thousands of years of fear and suspicion into the world, giving humanity the
small push it needed to accept that the end of days had begun. Now he stood in the
ruins of Jerusalem. There were no angels, no Jesus in the sky, no rapture, no city of
God descending down from the sky. There just was, what there had always been, a man
who thought he knew what the destiny of humanity should be, and led the rest to ruin by
this arrogance.
Is this what your god told you to do?
He told me to seek first the kingdom.
This kingdom? The Kingdom of Dust.
No the kingdom within. I didnt listen, I didnt understand. I didnt follow my
heart, butit made sense, when I started to remember what I saw on Patamos, it
seemed that everything was coming full circle.
Full circle, visions, talking with God. Leonia was the same, always trusting her
intuition instead of reality. Always putting dreams before the plain truth. People need
food, shelter and order. People need to be led. What? You dont agree? Why? Because
it is you that you want people to follow? You, Osris, the humble one, a god worshipped
thousand of year before the god you worship. Dont you see the irony in that?
And your Queen, she wasted the gift that has been given to her. Shunned the
power of the Nimbus, as if she had to apologize for it. All these years the power was at
her fingertips to shape the universe into anything she wanted. You talk about a Kingdom
and eternal peace. I could have brought that, dont you see, I would have brought that.
Wait, I think Im getting a signal. He heard Leonias voice come in through
waves of static through the COM system.
Josh, can you hear me?
266
DEUS X MACHINA
Yes, oh thank God that your alive.
Josh, whats the situation on Earth?
Not good. Nuclear weapons have been fired, and Im afraid the explosion of the
Nimbus has blown away much of the atmosphere. Leonia, Im here with Set.
Get away from him Josh. Get away from him now. He will kill you. Go!
I dont think he will. I dont think he sees much sense in my death. Were both, I
dont know what the word is; I guess were both lamenting over what happened. Can
you come to our coordinates? Were on Mount Zion, or whats left of it. Its bad, very
bad. Leonia, we caused so much destruction. Nobody won. All there is, is death. All
there is, is desolation. IIdont know what to do, I dont think theres anything anyone
can do now. I wish there was something, some kind of dues ex machina to set it all
right.
What?
A God in the machine. Its a device they used in Ancient Greek plays to get the
hero out of an impossible situation. I just wish there was a way to undo all that we did.
Leonia, can you hear me? Set said, as he extend a Mexus blade behind his
back.
Set! Josh you have to get away from him. Trust me, just get away.
Leonia. Your human is wrong on one point. Set interrupted, his dull eyes
suddenly sparkled with the small pleasure he was anticipating.
There was the beginning of a scream, but it was lost as Set used a Mexus blade
to severe Joshs head.
267
DEUS X MACHINA
Josh didnt have a chance to react. He didnt have a chance to be afraid. He was
still vaguely conscious as his head tumbled down his body. He was amuse that his body
still stood, held up by the Mexus. He saw his own feet from a perspective he never had
before as he felt the life drain from him. There wasnt much pain. There was only a fade
to black.
There is a point to killing him. To make you suffer!
No. God No. No. Josh. No Please God. It cant. It cant be. It cant end like this.
This wasnt supposed to happen.
Leonia cut off communication, not wanting Set to have the satisfaction of her
cries.
268
DEUS X MACHINA
Chapter 32 Sacred Heart
. Dues ex machina. Dues ex machina. Dues ex machina. Dues ex machina.
Dues ex machina. Dues ex machina. Dues ex machina. Dues ex machina. Dues ex
machina. Dues ex machina. Dues ex machina. She said it over and over again in her
head. There must be a way. The blast had thrown her far, but she could still see the
glowing embers from the Nimbus debris.
Deus ex machina. Maybe there is a god in the machine.
She thought back to her encounter with the heart all those years ago. She had
gotten a glimpse, just a glimpse of its power, and it was overwhelming. The heart of the
Nimbus, its more, much more than a computer. Its something else, possibly something
older than the Universe.
As she got closer, the debris got thicker, but now she could see it. It survived.
The heart, smooth and polished as if it was new, surrounded by clouds of gases, and
fluids. She made her way towards it, avoiding the larger chunks when possible, until she
was able to touch it.
Reached it. Now what. So many times she went back to where the opening was
all those years ago, but there was nothing, no mark, no open fold, just the porcelain-like
surface of the heart. Deus ex machina. Come on, open damn you. Help me. She
banged desperately on it.
Come on. Just open. Tears ran down her face. Youre my last hope. I failed. I
failed. Theres nothing left. I have nowhere else to go. Please I know you can help.
Open. Just open.
Slowly, the small beveled edge of its fold started to open. Leona feverishly
wiggled her way in, pushing up, higher and higher into the heart, until she saw the ligh
ahead she reached for it, climbed into it, wanted the light to surround her. She retracted
her amour, and felt the warmth of the light. She closed her eyes, to enjoy it, then
269
DEUS X MACHINA
opened them when she felt the breeze. It was the cooling breeze coming off the ocean.
It was on earth though this time, not Nirbiru. The waves crashed onto the shore. Up
ahead of she saw Josh walking with their two children.
You can stay here you know. Stay with me, inside me, with your husband and
your children. They are here, here you will always be safe.
I cant leave it like this. I cant walk away. I have to fix it.
You see the sand. Pick up one, only one. You cant, can you. Yet there are more
worlds than sand on all the beaches in all the world. What happened here is a small
thing.
Billions die and you call it a small thing.
Sand is taken back into the ocean, then brought back on shore. It is a small
thing, the smallest thing. In a few billons year the universe will be uninhabited, entropy
will fill the void, and a few billions years after that, we all contracts and starts all over
again.
Than what I am, Im smaller, much smaller than the planet, but you let me in.
Why? I should be dead, I should have never been born.
It is the smallest things that determine the structure of the Universe. In me you
can wink and cause the Universe to be reborn. There was a time when you werent
alive. There will be a time when you wont be alive. In me there is no time. The universe
starts today again, as it always is.
Who are you? What are you?
I am, as always.
Yes, but youre lonely without me. Since I entered you all those year ago. Ive
felt that youve been with me, somehow living through me.
Sand on the beach, you and trillions like you.
270
DEUS X MACHINA
Then kill me, better yet Ill kill myself. Leonia put her hand to her head and
started to build energy in her weapon.
What is it you want Leonia. Why do you try to vex me? See them walking on the
beach. You can still catch them.
Is anything possible?
Yes.
Then I can create my paradise in the real world?
Nothing is more real than where and how you are now.
Since you are outside of time, you can bring me back to anytime. Bring me back
before the war started, back before we were caught in the desert. Yes, I want to be back
in Joshs car. I dont want him to know me yet, not as I am. I want things to be simpler. I
just want him to know me as a person again.
What will be different? Didnt you come to remove the Dagons from Earth. Wont
Nirbiru still be on its way.
Cant you make it different. Can you make everything right?
Whats wrong, that I should make everything right?
Millions die, if you do nothing to stop it, you are responsible.
Death is a matter of time and time has no meaning for me. You are dead at
times and alive at times. The earth exists at some times, and doesnt at others. Its the
curse of linear existence to think of things of becoming anything. Things are everything
all the time.
Enough philosophy. What should I do?
Stay here, with me. Everything here is always, as you want it. And there you see
Josh and your children waving to you. Join them.
They arent real.
They are as real as anything else.
271
DEUS X MACHINA
Its what she wanted, more than anything. They were there, only a few yards
away waving at her to catch up. To feel my own children in my arms again. Life that I
created. She started walking toward, them then stopped.
This heaven, what it is supposed to represent, doesnt exist like this anymore.
This planet is now a wasteland. There can be no heaven for me until I set things right.
Take me back, back before I returned to Earth. Back before I saw Anunnaki in a vision.
Put me on the bridge of the Nimbus six years ago.
She closed her eyes and it was so, she was on the bridge of the Nimbus. She
was a reptile again. A year before she set out on the mission to save Earth. She could
destroy Nirbiru now, without the debris striking Earth. Earth would stay the way it always
had been. It would still be influenced by the Dagons, but at least it would exist.
Tactic Officer, prepare a fusion missile.
A fusion missile my Queen?
I will explain later, but trust me its the right thing to do. Target the coordinates I
give you. Then fire.
Yes Queen.
Leonia walked off the bridge, not even bothering to watch the impact. She knew
it would come, and Nirbiru would be destroyed. Set would never have the power to take
Earth now, and the billions who had died would get to live out their lives as they had
planned. She knew now that it was too dangerous to bring the Nimbus to Earth again.
Twice now the Nimbus has gotten out of her control, and twice she had been able to get
it back, she may not be that lucky again.
She went to her garden, to the spot where they made love. Two lives, one love
that will never happen. A small thing I guess for the lives of billions.
What happens if I end it here. Would it matter? Was I in heaven? Could I return
there? What would it take to kill me? Could I just end it? Then why wont I. Couldnt
272
DEUS X MACHINA
someone else command the Nimbus? Someone better than I. Its too much power. Can
I destroy the heart? Can it be destroyed? It shouldnt exist here.
Josh, Josh do you know that someone loves you. Do you feel it in any way? Do
you remember who you are, who we are together?
273
DEUS X MACHINA
Chapter 33 Kingdom Hearts
Josh hunches over a marble composition notebook he uses as a journal. Over
the years hes collected almost a dozen of them. He revisits them often, and looks at
them as other people do photo albums, but unlike photo albums, these journals dont
just capture smiles at birthday parties and presents under the Christmas tree, but lost
loves, insights, emotionsthey are a sort of tape back up of a life.
I saw it! The new star. How much they think they know, its great
when they discover how little they really do. They think it was another
planet, whose orbit took it far past the orbit of Pluto. Planet X. The planet
they thought didnt exist. The planet that was recorded in ancient records.
There still is mystery in the universe. How wonderful.
They dont know why it exploded, but they say the debris wont hit
Earth. All I know is that it is beautiful, it is almost as bright as the
moon, but has a beautiful purple glow. How strange, how beautiful. Its a
shame well never know much about it, in a few days the light will dim
and there will just be asteroids left behind.
Such a lonely planet, sailing deep into the frozen ocean of space
only to be destroyed. I guess were all like that in some way. Alone,
274
DEUS X MACHINA
Drifting, and then one day well just blink out. At least planet X gets to
shine for awhile before it fades. I hope that someday I get that chance.
God, I miss her, I wish I knew who she was, and why I wrote that.
275