The Prophesy: Book 3 - The Hammer of Atlantis

 

The first few days after the battle were spent recovering from the accumulated fatigue. But before long, the royals began collecting reports from their officers and analysing in detail what had happened in the three-day long battle. The first order of the day was a review of casualties. They were few and far, mostly caused by accidents, and rarely by facing Orcs or Ogres. In fact, apart from an occasional sighting, Ogres remained a total mystery to most Atlanteans. The biggest cause of injury had been falling rocks due to the nine point nine earthquakes that had marked the first series of volcanic eruptions. All had been ported to a stasis chamber for treatment, still leaving quite a few of these free for a resumption of long-term treatments, which had been suspended for the duration of the conflict.

The next order of the day, after assessing the condition of the troops, was surveying the kingdom's condition. There, things were far from green! Several areas were covered with a hundred or more feet of ash; lava flows covered other areas, blocking river flow, or covering previous layers of ash. Wind blew the ash right to the stratosphere, giving the continent a foreboding appearance. Water, where it flowed, carried a thick sludge of ash. Lakes and river shores revealed dead fish everywhere. They had died due to lack of oxygen in the water and their gills getting clogged by the rocky sludge. Huge areas of the kingdom were now deserts, atmosphere unbreathable, venting toxic volcanic gases, the surface too hot to walk on.

The Royals, well aware of the issues caused by ash, took to porting in a bubble above the atmosphere to check on things. They could see long red tongues of molten rock descending on both sides of the borders, covering ever wider areas with lava; grey clouds of ash were blown far and wide, covering most of the Atlantic right to Europe. Giant plumes of ash marked the volcanic belt, as it continued to spew millions of tons of cinders, boulders and gases in the atmosphere. The royals returned to Thebes to discuss what they had witnessed and its consequences.

"First thing, I noticed lava entering the Tunnel on both ends. If this continues, we won't have to worry about the stuff the Ancients left in there. It will be melted, burned and imprisoned in a rocky coffin," said Sitar.

"You didn't go check?" asked Iridia.

"I like roasted nuts, just not mine!"

"What worries me there, son, is that there must be a tremendous build-up of pressure!"

"Mom, right now, the lava is filling in the lower levels. These have vents leading to the upper levels, so pressure is climbing more slowly then what we might have expected. The volume of lava flowing in the entrances is considerable, but let's not forget that the upper second level has a door wide enough to allow vehicles to enter. If things burst, it should be that way, or, at worse, the two giant garbage piles that cover the entrances. By then the temperature and pressure should be enough to insure that any bacteriological weapon is neutralised; as for nuclear components, they will simply melt, effectively disarming the weapons, should any still be functional."

"Anyway, mom, magic sensors indicate the pressure inside the building at five bars and climbing. If this rate continues, the pressure should reach ten bars by matins, and fifteen by lauds," replied Harp.

"What is the current temperature in the danger area?"

"Two thousand degrees. Steel must be getting soft. I just hope the concrete can hold until the lava reaches that layer."

"What if it does not?" Harold asked Harp.

"Then the layers collapsed catastrophically into the lava below, bringing the lava layer quickly up."

"What about the explosives?"

"For now, I've seen several spikes in pressure congruent with the detonation of chemical explosives. However there has been no pressure surge matching the explosive power we witnessed in Washton. I think that these nuclear devices were inherently more stable then chemical devices and required a specific firing sequence, which a simple ammunition depot could not match. There are occasional bacteriological signals, but they do not last more then a fraction of a second, probably because the vectors get eradicated by the high pressure and temperature combination."

"What about leaks outside?" Annabelle asked.

"Sensors show none, either from the service tunnels or from the trash pile."

"What is happening to the glacier?"

"It's melting at a very high speed. There were several lahars already that flooded down from the upper valley and covering vast areas of the King's Land. The lake created by the lava flowing under the glacier busted the ice dam, and that produced a catastrophic water flow travelling at well over sixty miles per hour. You wouldn't recognise the countryside, Samson."

"All right. Keep monitoring the Tunnel and the surrounding area, Harp. What about other regions of the kingdom?" Harold asked.

"Lake Solon is no more. It is filled right to its secondary flood plain with cinder. The streams that were feeding it are also clogged," Enron replied.

"All five upper lakes marking the northern border of the kingdom have suffered a similar fate," commented Typhoon. "In fact, the hydrography of the Kingdom is severely compromised. Rivers are digging new pathways in thick layers of ash, swinging wildly and jumping from one to the other path of minimum resistance. Prince Paschal, your maps of the Kingdom no longer hold."

"Even the Roars have suffered. It's now a trickle compared to its previous majestic power. The only thing this has been good at is it has covered what was left of the Forbidden Forest below the Roars with so much ash radiation has dropped below six hundred fifty millirads per year," commented Yamato. "That is still high compared to the average of two hundred and fifty millirads per year the Ancients mentioned as the global background radiation level, but a far cry from the previous level of two hundred rads per year the area presented before the eruptions. The Spiders have been walking the ash and reported a considerable drop in radiation levels near the kingdom. However, it's not tomorrow we will be able to walk outside. They also reported wide areas of windblown ash and very hot spots of underlying lava. I've sent out Spiders on foot to explore the extent of the ash blanket. It extends some eight hundred miles west of the border, right to the Hippy. South, it extends well past Washton, which is covered by fifty feet of ash. Unfortunately, that is not enough to fully mask the radiation there. It is still well above security levels, even for the Spiders. As you already know, the ash covered a wide swath of the Atlantic, and is slowly descending to cover the ocean bottom. That too has positive effects, as radiation levels are dropping. The only bad side effect is the ash is acidifying the ocean considerably, which attacks the calcium carbonate shells of the invertebrates. Reefs are suffering as well. North, the ash extends to what was once the Canadian border."

"Are there any orc activity?"

"I monitored that aspect, Harold. I think they are cornered in their nests, unable to leave to forage for food. Those that ventured drowned in their own blood as their lungs got corroded from breathing rock dust."

"Have you found any corpse to corroborate your analysis, Dunbar?"

"Oh yes! Several thousands. Whole armies on the move were caught away from any shelters and died on the run. They are piled up along gorges, covered with ash, and literally clawing the rock for air. Fortunately for other animals, we had taken to porting them out of the Orcs' way well before the assault in an effort to starve the Orcs. The losses for other populations are minimal. The only big sufferers were the vegetation, but I think trees can withstand ash a lot more easily then air-breathing animals."

"Is there anything else?"

"Viola performed well with his centurie. He lost nobody and accomplished what was expected of him under the circumstances. I am waiting on the reports from the centurions that commended Banjo and Cello," commented Sitar.

"Did the Pegasus do as expected?"

"Their precision bombing was vital in many circumstances. The weather for that kind of task was far from ideal, and there were no friendly casualties, which is a miracle. As for the Dragons, their carpet-bombing and interdiction bombing worked flawlessly, even if they dropped their load from thirty thousand feet. There were some close calls, but no one got hurt."

"Iridia, what about your Fairies?"

"They managed to track the Orcs undetected. There were few direct engagements, and the Orcs never figured out where the hits came from."

"Enron, what about the Elves?"

"Our archers pelted the columns with arrows. The problem was wind and lack of visibility. Our hit rate was one dead Orc for three arrows, well below our usual one on one."

"Annabelle, what about the legions?"

"The terrain was not favourable for manoeuvres due to the snow; however we managed to keep the Orcs on their toes. Several hundreds of ours got wounded but none were lost. Our kill rate was three orcs for each wounded. Air support was vital in letting us disengage and reorganize after each assault. We did not make contact with Ogres. They must have been kept in reserve."

"Thorsten?"

"We have about the same result as the legions. We did not make contact with the Ogres either. The use of the axes to fall trees in line against advancing Orcs was a genial idea, Sitar."

"Lance Master?"

"The combination of Dwarfs with our warriors worked perfectly. The result was unexpected as the Orcs found themselves confronted with way too many arms and legs to mount effective attacks. Our forward units did see Ogres but did not engage them, since there were more then enough Orcs to satisfy our blood thirst."

"Nestor?"

"The combination of Mages with the Unicorns worked perfectly. As one recharged, the other took over. This offered a continuous front of offensive spells and defensive wards. We too saw Ogres. A few spells showed it was useless engaging them so we contented ourselves with evasive manoeuvres while decimating the Orcs."

"Lord Agramon?"

"The war horses, zebras and other Equines did well with the aid of cavalry. I must give particular thanks to the young teens that rode our donkeys and other smaller breeds. They were particularly bloodthirsty, and saved many an Equine from an Orc. We too have reports of Ogres, but no direct confrontation were reported, as the Ogres were following the lower valleys and our assault always began from the ridges to use terrain to our advantage."

"Timor?"

"We were mostly used to intercept and break engagement when the others wanted to disengage. We have lost no one, but over half of ours are now in stasis chambers under treatment. Proportionally, we suffered the most."

"Greywolf?"

"The harassment of their rear lines worked as planned. The Foxes are the most severely hit, as the absence of Bushtail Fox testifies. He is in stasis. The next group to suffer the most were the Hyenas, followed by the Dogs and the Coyotes; Wolves also suffered, but our size advantage helped us minimize these inconveniences. Everyone got recovered due to Paschal's little porting gadget."

"Did I forget anyone?"

Silence followed Harold's question. After waiting for a few minutes, Harold called for a suspension of the meeting, to reconvene an hour after sext.

"While you do your duties, think about what we need to do from now on. What should be our priorities?"

Everyone dispersed, some to get a quick bit of food, others to visit the hospital wards.

***

The second part of the meeting was spent distributing tasks.

"Paschal, I want you to assess the Spiders we used during the battle. The question is simple: do they pose a risk to us? Harp, you check on the stuff collected by the underwater Spiders in the Atlantic. I want you to verify the inventory and any health risks. It's not enough to know the Spiders have restored so many tons of gold, platinum or silver, we must insure that everything is first secure, then what it tells us about the history of these wrecks, and third, what we can understand the cultures that produced the artefacts. Samson, verify the situation in the wards. I suggest you ask Manasa to go check on Francesca's health. It seems she has been in stasis an eternity. Dunbar, Williams, and Yamato, see to restarting the Eden and Ark projects as soon as possible. Annabelle, restart the training programs. Sitar, see to the inventory of weapons. Diamondcutter, check on the inventory of raw resources in store. See with Paschal for the use of mining Spiders. Timor, verify the state of those rescued from the United Kingdoms of Americus. I have heard there are discipline issues. You know what to do. Apply Atlantean laws. Nestor, restart the College of Magic; I'll be sending you Viola, Banjo and Cello for a rush training, since Harp is busy. Amethyst, I want a plan to establish contact with the humans in what was Brazil. See if the Orcs there are salvageable. Enron, I want the list of promotions and demotions on my desk tomorrow. Sort them by priority. Ian, see to organizing the cleanup of Thebes. I want two-hour shifts with people wearing full body suits and breathing equipment, twenty-four hours a day. Thorsten, check on the Centaurs and Unicorns; Typhoon, check on the Dragons and the Pegasuses. See to restarting the bonding program with the new clutch of dragonlings, which should be near hatching. Greywolf, check on the Canines, Silver Moon, check on the Equines; if any need irons, tell me, I'll personally replace them. Did I forget anything?"

"What about the two lost Spiders? Their location has been yelling in my face the whole time I was in the map room directing the air offensive," said Ian.

"What was done so far?"

"Apart from marking the area off-limits for the Spiders, nothing. I was going to look into the Ancients' books for any anomaly in the area that might explain things, but the war preparation interrupted that process," replied Harp.

"Theresa, you will be a library rat. I need you to look into the data and find anything concerning the area. Ian, bring Theresa to the map room and pinpoint the area to her."

"Should I restart producing exploration Spiders?"

"As soon as you have completed the reconversion of the Spider Soldiers, Paschal. How long to do that?"

"The reconversion is a simple question of reprogramming. Given the number of Spiders, and a reconversion rate of one thousand a day, I estimate a month before they are all underwater. I plan to keep half in their current configuration. We may need them later. They proved their efficiency against the Orcs."

"We need to deal with Africa. So far we have only rescued a few cats and the Centaurs. I think there is a lot more there then meets the eyes. The jungle on the Equator is very thick and probably hides a wide range of plants and animals," Enron said.

"That is our next objective, Enron. The issue is security of the expeditionary forces. You saw yourself how dangerous the Orcs were when we rescued the Centaurs. It needs a lot of planning."

"Yamato's right. We need a very mobile force. Paschal, can you install cooling systems in the Spiders?"

"Yes, but why do you ask, Dunbar?"

"Africa may be drying up, but it is still hot. I think the best method to deal with the Orcs is the use of an important group of Spiders left to hunt them on their own. Knowing how fast Spiders move, the Orcs better number their bits. Meanwhile, our true forces will do the search and rescue of life forms in the rest of the continent. I think Yamato is worried about the comfort of his Spider Officers given the conditions."

"There is another issue. Where is the homeland of the Ogres?" asked Paschal. "I do not think I want to send anyone there."

"I tried to get that information from the Ogres, but their notion of geography is measured in steps, nothing else. They have no sense of direction, except that they have walked innumerable number of steps in very harsh conditions."

"Couldn't that be a means of at least establishing a scale?"

"Not really. What is the step length of an Ogre? They have many feet, and their steps seem to be as elastic as their arms. Try as we might, the distance may be right across a mountain range or on the antipode of the planet."

"The issue is they have no leaf. They gain their energy from capturing and eating preys. They extract their constituents from the earth as well as from their meal, as shown by how hard their trunks are. That they complained about the volcanic glass cutting their feet tells us they are not from a volcanic area."

"What could leaves have told us, Enron?"

"Well, needle-like leafs indicate dry or cold weather; broad leafs indicate moderate to hot but wet climate adaptation. From the picture Paschal drew, they seem to have a rather spongy upper trunk, which tells me they have adapted to a wet ecosystem. Their roots or feet indicate they live in a rather saline environment, much akin to mangroves. Given their size, which is about ten to fifteen times the size of a normal Atlantean adult, they either grow all their life or live in a rich environment where they find a lot of preys. Their reproduction must be rather complicated, or we would have met them earlier."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, spores would be blown by wind, and there would be colonies everywhere. We saw no flowers, but that means nothing. Maybe they do produce seeds, but the dispersion of these seeds must be contingent on water or on their own displacement. Animal dispersion is off-limits, given any animal with good sense should stay away from them! That helps me feel somewhat better. If they dropped seeds while accompanying the orcs, these seeds probably got buried or burned by the lava. That leaves another option. Many plants can reproduce from shoots, and there were many during the battles. Again, hopefully, these shoots were buried or burned."

"You seem to believe they were from near the Kingdom?" asked Harold.

"I doubt that. I think they probably are from some tropical brine swamplands. We saw some along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. That would fit, since I do not see how the Orcs could have made them cross the oceans and stayed alive."

"That still leaves a lot of space for them to grow."

"Yes, but we have already covered most of these areas in the Americas. The Orcs probably managed to enrol all those that could be, and the others were too small to be of interest to the Orcs. By the way, I'll be asking those in charge of the Eden project if they have seen small specimens of these huge things. What should we do if they have, Harold?"

"They are kept on a diet!" exclaimed the king.

"I still can't understand how the Orcs managed to enrol them to build tunnels. How could they communicate?"

"That's one mystery we may never resolve, Ian."

"I hate mysteries!"

"So do I. What kind of diet were you considering?"

"Keep them on rodents! And do me a favour: kill the rodents first!"

"I was hoping you would allow the income tax collector in the diet. You are no fun, Harold!"

"Harp, you are pitiless! We have no tax collectors; when I said to put them on a diet, I did not say to starve them!"

"How come we saw none when we searched brine swamps?" asked Yamato.

"If the Orcs had them on the move a long time before we even began the Eden project, we might have missed them completely. Furthermore, maybe the new seedlings have a phase where they are immobile, feeding on smaller prey, such as insects, frogs, rats, and other small animals, even fish. It is not uncommon for species to change form radically as they grow."

"Anyway, Enron, the issue is moot. We need to make sure we do not have a couple of mature ones waiting to bite one of the Elves in the arse."

"I'll get on this immediately. The only issue is we need to have at least a vague idea of what to look for."

"Ignore appearances; look at the diet. I'm sure if you asked for a list of all carnivorous plants collected, you would find some of these Ogres before they are mobile. Get individual descriptions of each encounter, and look for common features; look at the video records from the Spiders. You should have more then enough to get an idea of at least variations and potential traits found in the animal-plant.

***

Enron and the Elves began searching the Eden project archives for any carnivorous plants. They found a considerable variety of these strange plants. Some attracted their prey with sweet smells, others smelled like carrion, and still others used beautiful, if deadly leafs to trap their prey.

The one resembling the most to the adult Ogre was the Pitcher Plant. There were many similarities, especially the pitcher, which seemed to be a miniature carbon copy of the Ogre's stomach, except for the cover. The Elves, driven to study that particular plant's cycle of growth by king Enron, rapidly noticed that what limited the plant's size was the number of preys it captured. It took them a few weeks to get a six-inch plant to reach a foot, but it became apparent it was going to need more and more food.

Rather then risk ending up as food, they began to restrict the diet. It was then that the second phase in the development of the plant showed up. Small tentacles began to grow and expand. A month later the plant had a bush of fifty or so tentacles that extended well over four feet on the side of the main trunk. A rat sent running through the collection of potted plants never made it by the still immobile plant: it got captured and strangled by the twigs before getting swallowed whole by the plant's stomach, which expanded to accommodate the rather big and fat rat that had been sacrificed for the test.

"If any doubts subsisted, this shows that these cute plants are Ogres in the making. I wonder what triggers their locomotor activity?" asked Enron.

It did not take long to get the answer: after a week without feeding, the cap that closed the stomachal cavity vanished, and the roots gradually extended, lifting the whole plant a foot above ground. As the Elves watched with fascination, the plant began extending its rooty feet and crawl over the vivarium that had been reserved for the experience. The plant seemed to walk aimlessly at a very slow rate, until one of the Elves dropped his pencil on the ground. Instantly the Ogre, for such was the devilish plant, charged at a remarkable speed toward where the pencil had hit the ground.

Rather then risk ending up as appetizer, the clumsy Elf threw a living rat in the vivarium. The Elves then watched, shocked, as the Ogre ran after the panicked rat. The rat had the advantage of speed over the plant, but it tired, whereas the slower predatory plant seemed to be tireless. It took the plant an hour to catch its prey, and less then ten minutes to swallow it whole, before it settled down to digest its meal.

"I've seen enough. Keep them fed, but for our own sake, keep the preys to fleas and minnows!" ordered Enron, as he left the observation room. "No one, and I repeat no one is to get into that vivarium. Feed them via a feedhole but keep that place locked down otherwise. I'll install a level five force field around the entire vivarium system. No one is to deactivate it for whatever reason."

"At your command, King Enron! Do we dispose of that one?"

"Yes. Decompress the area and bring the temperature to minus two hundred degrees. That should make it brittle. Then throw a big rock at it, and port the frozen residues into the sun."

***

Harp spent days reviewing the data on the recovered material stored on the moon. His first conclusion was that the Spaniards had lost more then they had recovered in riches. There were quite a variety of pieces, most dating from before their conquest. The other conclusion was that exposing the pieces to the hard radiation of the sun usually sterilized them more then enough. He then began recovering the elements that had been on the moon the longest, and storing them in a tessaract, indexed by recovery coordinate, until such time someone had time to identify the underlying culture.

Timor passed the next few weeks after the meeting visiting those rescued from the United Kingdoms. His very impressive size made up for his lack of tact in dealing with creeps. A few broken arms, a couple of twisted necks, a dozen of gut punches brought the hard-nosed under control better then any speech. He sent for judgement those that had committed capital crimes. The disappearance of these individuals did not go unnoticed, and spread the terror more effectively then any physical constraint. The number of executions numbered another ten thousand, mostly murderers and child molesters that had escaped the first filter; it did not constitute a significant dent in the total recovered population.

Sitar had to execute thirteen Atlanteans for dereliction of duty during the battle. He was pissed and made it quite clear to those that might have similar ideas that the cost would be far worse the next time around. The message came across loud and clear: we risk our lives in the front lines with you, we expect as much from you guys.

The busiest prince was Paschal. After verifying that the Spider soldiers did not constitute a danger for the Atlanteans, he began retrofitting some for underwater exploration. A month after that, he undertook the retrofitting of another bunch with AC units for use in desert and tropical areas.

The Eden and Ark project team resumed their work, finishing off the Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean atolls. Quite a few new species were found, clearly demonstrating the insular dwarfism typical of animals living in isolated small pieces of land. Numerous varieties of birds and plants were recovered.

***

Spring came unnoticed, except for a thick layer of snow falling over the still ash-laden kingdom. Six feet of black snow fell in a single snowstorm, clearly indicating that the ice age was gaining force. A few hundred dragons kept flying high in the atmosphere, keeping track on the progress of the glaciers, and the battle between them and the volcanoes that kept dumping ash and lava without even slowing down. The battle between ice and fire was epic.

"Do you think we went too far when we used the volcanoes?" wondered Amethyst.

"Only time will tell. But notice that the ice age was already well engaged before we pulled that trick out of the hat. We did not trigger the weather change. And who knows, maybe that volcanic activity may be beneficial," replied Samson.

As everyone was busy preparing Ian's fifth birthday, Piano and her sister, Violin, were taken out of stasis at the same time as Francesca. Nothing was said to Francesca about her exceptionally long stay in a psychiatric stasis chamber; she would open up about her experience and her personal walk through hell. Harold offered back her old posting as Royal Healer, but she declined, feeling that she had a lot to relearn and to do to earn the trust of her liege lord and his family.

"I feel I have been gone for an eternity, my lords; yet, I look at you and at myself, and it seems no time has passed."

"You have been in there for over a year, Francesca. It is, relatively speaking, an eternity. You probably needed it since the stasis chamber kept the markers to red for most of your stay. It was only a month ago that the first yellow light showed up, and it is only yesterday that all markers were green. You are back just in time for Ian's fifth birthday, tomorrow."

"I need to be updated on the events that occurred over that period."

"Oh... Not much!" said Harold, smiling.

"Not much, he says! Not much!" exploded Ian. "We flattened the United Kingdoms, Washton got blown to bits by a nuclear weapon, a soul-eater is kept prisoner in a lava lake, we got invaded by orcs, there is a continuous series of volcanic eruptions all around us, and we found so many Atlantean and Ancient artefacts they cover the Sea of Rain, we found Harp and Sitar's older brothers and sisters, we are looking for the last Crystal... Not much! What does it take you dad?"

"I was trying to reduce the shocks, Ian. I was planning to introduce her to everything gradually over the next few weeks!"

"I don't get it dad. When it comes to shocks, we kids get them on a daily basis, and when it comes to adults, we have to use velvet gloves?"

"What do you mean, Prince Ian?" asked Francesca.

"Do you really think it's fun to live with a billion lives in memory? With all the births, stillbirths, growing pains, abuse, deaths in all its forms, and knowing every detail of all these lives and what led to them? You went nuts with only a fraction of what each of us carry, Francesca. I understand your need to learn to deal with your life's experiences, but we have to deal with millions of lives, and with the Consciences we now carry, it extends to species and inter-species relations covering billions upon billions of lives. Francesca, I can see your life. Yes, yours. Like it or not, you are part of the Atlantean Conscience, and it is only your fragility that stops you from fully integrating that experience; you fear losing your identity, a fear that you still harbour strongly. It is a fear you must overcome to stay sane. The stasis only could do so much; you now must face your fears and deal with them. I told you what it was. Deal with it! Fear is what brought you down; fear is your weakness, not lack of knowledge, which you can easily fill, a belief that becoming part of a bigger whole will remove your choice, your self-worth, and your identity. You are totally missing the point: first, you never had any real choices, you are bound to our Destiny; believing in freedom is an illusion brought about by your short lifespan. You see the future and feel imprisoned by it. It is not so; we are. You could die right here, right now, and Destiny would not even have a hiccup; if, on the other hand, one of my Protectors or I were to die this instant, the consequences would be dire, because Destiny is our lot, not yours! Second point: your worth is not in a specific body but in actions you undertake given the conditions you are in. Third, your identity is in your memory; it will survive after your life passes; and it will survive even if you incorporate the memory of every member of your Conscience. We are all advanced Multiple Personalities, you and us alike! The only difference is we are able to view all these memories, contained in individual containers, without ever losing who we are, and that is what you fear the most! Grow up, Francesca! Grow up! Do not live in the past! A bird that flies looking backward will hit the tree!"

"It is easy to say for you, young man, you have nothing to lose! I do not want to lose twenty-five years of my life!"

"You didn't listen, Francesca. You do not lose who you are! Your identity is secure, protected in its little container! How do you think the Conscience works? If all memories mixed up, they would lose significance! It is in the individual threads that identity is created and maintained. Yes, I and all of us can share with the Conscience our memories, but it never becomes more then that, a sharing, not a repossession!"

"How can you say that? What about privacy?"

"Privacy is good for hypocrites, Francesca. You need privacy when you fear judgement. I do not! I do not judge people without cause; and I certainly will not judge anyone badly because that person has suffered bad experiences! I have had my share of bad experiences in previous lives, I have seen many horrors, and I have committed my share. What the Conscience has done is give me a perspective on these horrors and their long-term consequences on an individual and a society!"

"I have no secrets anymore?"

"Had you any? I looked at your memories: your life is not exceptional. Yes, you killed newborn that were deformed and would have suffered a horrible death; yes, you killed adults that were dying in atrocious pains; yes, you got sexually assaulted by your step-dad, yes, you gave birth to a monstrosity you had to kill; yes to all that. But you are no more a monster then any of the thousands that had to do the same, or to undergo the same rape. You are not dirty, Francesca. You never killed for pleasure, for unworthy reasons, and you anguished upon each death, you never felt enjoyment, only relief and a deep sorrow. I had to do the same with many of my own children! And I got killed as well, when the body that carried my spirit was unsustainable! In fact, Francesca, one of the first babies you had to kill was one of my incarnations, and I never blamed you for it. I was doomed to die anyway. You only shortened my suffering. Remember that Siamese with two heads, one normal and one suffering from advanced hydrocephalus. The pain signals were major and there was no possibility of treatment. You broke my neck, killing me instantly. It was a relief!"

Francesca's eyes opened wide and she began to shake violently.

"It was... you?"

"It was one of my incarnations! So away with the guilt! You did what was necessary and did me a service!"

"Now, Francesca, after taking a few days of rest, I want you to take your time to reinsert yourself in the Atlantean society. Ian's well known to kick butts, but it doesn't mean you can't take all the time you need to deal with what he has exposed. And we will not judge you on your past. We all did regrettable but necessary things. I could float a barge in the blood I have spilled," completed Harold.

***

As Ian was dealing with Francesca, Harp and Sitar led their three older brothers to the hospital complex.

"Why are we going there?" wondered Banjo. "I thought everyone was doing fine after the blitz?"

"Everyone with minor health issues, yes. Today, we are bringing out of stasis Piano and Violin. I think it will be good for them to see you three. They might remember me, but not Harp, since he was a newborn."

"Are you sure seeing five men around them after their experience is a good thing?"

"I understand your fears, Cello, but you are their brothers and, in their eyes we are little children. They have no knowledge of our true power and nature. It will ease things in the end, at least I hope so."

After reaching the registration desk, the chief healer accompanied them in the labyrinth of the hospital wards. There were many turns and steps to go up or down. It took an hour to reach the ward were Piano was being held in suspended animation for treatment. Her nude body showed no signs of the privations and abuse it had withstood under the iron fist of the Diviners, and then the iron hand of the Houses of Pleasure.

"I never thought this hospital had grown to such a size. No wonder Paschal designed the labyrinth in the first pyramid and gave lessons to Daedalus! If it wasn't for the magic field, I would be lost!" exclaimed Harp.

As the group of princes reached a huge room, the Master Healer indicated a stasis chamber located on the tenth row, near the ceiling of the vast room.

"This is the one identified as Violin, my lords. The other one you requested is in another room. As you see all lights are green. The person in the chamber is ready for release. Should we proceed?"

"Yes. I wonder how many chambers there are in this room?" asked Viola.

"There are fifty rows, ten high, on each side of the passage, for a total of one thousand per room. These are long-stay chambers; the therapy chambers are fewer per room as they need more monitoring. Violin was moved here a week after her arrival, as her body had been repaired, only her mind needed fixing."

As the healer explained things, he pulled out the container, and brought it down to a table. He released the outer lid, revealing a woman in suspended animation floating in the physiological liquid.

"Is this the lady you were looking for?" he asked.

Banjo, Cello and Viola looked into the still closed stasis chamber. There, they saw a woman that, although she was sleeping, showed signs of tension and sorrow. They looked at each other, and with tears in their eyes, nodded to the healer.

"Should I bring her out of suspended animation, my lords?"

"Yes," the three boys said, firmly.

The healer triggered the reanimation process.

"It will take her about half an hour to recover all her senses. We should wait. I have taken the liberty to bring with me four towels, two for her and two for the other lady you wish to be brought out of suspended animation. There are many reasons for this, your highnesses. The ladies will be cold for a while; second, they may be shy; third, given you are family, they may like to conserve an appearance of modesty."

"That is fine by us," said Harp.

"Just how far away is the other lady we are looking for, named Piano?"

The healer consulted a map of the hospital on the wall just outside the ward they were in, and came back.

"Piano is several level lower, just below us. Ramps are located five doors away from here. We will not need to walk that far to reach it and go down. I'll get a nurse to bring a wheelchair for Violin. It would be best she did not walk right away."

The healer quickly took off for the nurse station to get the required instrument.

"What do you think her reaction will be?" asked Harp, as he watched with fascination the reanimation process follow its course, the number of red lights turning to yellow and green progressing slowly along a grid marking the reactivation of physiological functions.

"I have no idea, little brother. I worry we are all males and that she might feel threatened by our presence. I just hope that Sitar and your presence will alleviate these fears."

"I hope so. As you know, she probably has a very different image of us then our current look. You were twelve the last time she saw you, Viola. You are now in your early twenties. I know she certainly does not remember me. I was not yet born or just so."

"We'll see shortly. It serves nothing to build hypotheses on no facts. Here comes the healer with the wheelchair, just in time it seems. The last five lights just turned yellow. They should turn green in a few minutes."

"Ah princes, it's almost done! Good! I had to find a wheelchair in another department. The release of patients in these units is so rare they have to pilfer material from other sections to have the proper rolling stock. Two in the same day is unheard of."

"Will you have the same issue for Piano?"

"No, I sent a runner to inform them of the impending need."

Just as the talk was coming to an end, all lights turned green and an insistent beeping was heard. The healer pressed on the auto-release button, and the inner cover rolled back on the side, revealing a still relatively wet Violin. She opened her eyes and looked at the white ceiling, not really ready to move yet, even if she felt cold.

"Take your time, lady. The reanimation process is disconcerting at best, and you must let your muscles recover their tonus," the healer said, gently, as he peeked over the cover.

The young woman tried to talk but only a raucous sound came out.

"That goes for your throat, my lady. Let the voice box reset itself."

Viola came to look over the stasis lid and took Violin's right hand gently.

"Hi Violin, do you recognize me? I'm Viola. It's been a while since we saw each other."

As Violin kept her eyes on the man looking down on her, she tried to reconcile her memories with the face she was gazing upon. Gradually, some features began to click: the little hole in the chin, the cheekbones, the ears... but the blonde hair was gone; the eyes were the same colour as she remembered as well, and the lips seemed to have lost their deep ruby colour, but kept the same general shape. This indeed could be Viola. As realization set in, tears began to flow freely out of Violin's eyes, and she fought against the residual paralysis of the stasis to reach and touch the face overlooking her. Viola understood her need and took her hand to rub it against his face, while gently brushing Violin's wet hair.

"Take it easy, little sister, take it easy!"

Viola signalled Banjo to come on the opposite side, as he held Violin's hand firmly on his face.

"This is Banjo, Violin. He too is here with us."

Violin slowly left Viola's face to look at the new arrival, and this time recognition came faster, as Viola and Banjo shared a lot of common characteristics. Another flood of tears erupted from Violin and she tried to raise the other arm to touch the new face.

"Slow does it, little sister, take it slow! I'm real and I'm not going anywhere without you!" Banjo said softly.

"Who are these ladies, prince Harp?" asked the healer as he saw the gentle, loving care with which the two brothers handled the person in the stasis chamber.

"Our sister, princess Violin," Harp replied.

Viola gave a hand signal to Cello so he would stand beside Banjo.

"And this is Cello. See? We all made it alive! We promised we would rescue you, we succeeded."

"Where...?" was heard escaping with difficulty from Violin, as she still lay in the stasis chamber.

"You want to know where your sister Piano is?" asked Cello.

The slight nod was all the reply Violin could muster.

"She is here too, several levels below us, according to the healer. We will go get her as soon as you can get out of here. Yes, you understood right, she is alive."

Viola looked at Sitar, who understood the unspoken plea; he took Harp's hand and they stood beside Viola to look at Violin.

"The taller boy is Sitar and the smaller one is Harp, our two other brothers. When the diviners came for us, they were too young to be taken away; in fact we aren't sure if Harp was born when this occurred. Harp, can't you do anything to help her recover faster?"

"No, Viola. There is nothing wrong with her; it is only a question of retaking control of long unused muscles."

"How long before she can sit?"

"The flux in her body tells me it should be within the next fifteen minutes," replied Harp as he examined his older sister from head to foot. "The legs will be a bit slower as the recovery progress is bilateral, cephalo-caudal and proximo-distal. Move your head left to right, Violin? Good. Viola; let her arm go. She should be able to lift it on her own. The fine movements will come in later, but global motor activity should be working already at the shoulder and arm level."

Violin tried to touch Viola but her first attempts were unsteady, brusque and disgraceful.

"Do not worry, Violin, eye-hand coordination will come back shortly," said Sitar.

Steadily, things improved, and, with the help of Cello and Viola, Violin was finally able to sit in the container. She began shivering violently, and, as the older boys held her, the other three quickly rubbed her hair and her torso dry. By the time this was done, she was ready to get out of the chamber altogether, and the boys used the other pair of towels to dry her lower body. Harp materialized for her a set of warm clothes, which the boys used to dress Violin, before sitting her in the wheelchair.

As soon as this task was completed, Harp pressed on the controls of the chamber to trigger the recycling process, readying it for use within the next hour.

"There you are, healer. In an hour you can put it back in use for one of those that need this kind of specialized care and who are still in cryogenic stasis chambers. Let's go get Piano."

"All right, prince Harp. Follow me."

As the procession made its way to the mobile ramps, Violin looked around, not really understanding where she was. Finally, she asked what was on her mind; just as the mobile ramp's safety doors closed on them on their way seven floors below.

"Viola, where are we?" she asked softly.

"In a hospital complex numbering thousands upon thousands of beds, stasis chambers of different varieties, biobeds, and other advanced medical support systems," replied Harp, well aware that Viola was the last person to know anything about this place.

"Another answer to this question is you are in Thebes, the capital of Atlantis," added Sitar, always mindful of strategic issues. "It is located beyond the western mountain range that delimited the western border of the United Kingdoms of Americus, where you were taken by the Diviners."

"What happened?"

"To the Diviners? They got chopped!" replied Harp, in a voice so cold icicles formed on the ceiling.

"And to the kingdoms? They got their arses wiped!" added Sitar, in a similar tone. "We flattened it from one end to the other."

"Princes, try to keep the tone civilized. I do not think an indoor snow storm is appropriate for a hospital!" said the panicked healer, as he saw the ice sheets forming on the walls.

"Do not worry, healer; however I'll ask Paschal to improve ventilation and heating here," replied Harp as he looked at an icicle fall and smash on the terrazzo floor behind them as they left the ramp. "After all, the weather is far from improving outside!"

A few minutes later they entered another room, identical to the one they had left with Violin. The healer quickly located the stasis chamber that contained Piano, and opened the outer cover.

"Is this the one?"

"Yes. Activate reanimation!" said Viola.

The process described earlier repeated itself, and an orderly brought a wheelchair for Piano. As Violin looked at her sister with fascination, Harp materialized four towels for future use, out of sight.

An hour later, Piano was in her own wheelchair, clothed, warm and dry. They left the stasis chambers behind and progressed toward the lobby, Viola pushing Violin and Cello pushing Piano.

"We are glad to see these two ladies go, prince Harp. However I need to ask you for some help."

"What can I do for you, Healer?"

"We have kept many in suspended animation that could be released. We keep them there because they would find themselves alone in the world. It is particularly hard on children, but even adults need an anchor. Is there anything you might suggest, due to your vast experience of life, my lord?"

Harp and the others looked at each other, as the two girls seemed oblivious of what was going on around them. Finally Harp spoke.

"I will talk to dad and the others about this; my instinct is to take them in with us. They would, like any other child, become part of our family."

"How many children are we talking about?" asked Viola.

"Sixty thousand and counting, your highness. We have yet to complete the genetic mapping of all Atlanteans, and quite a few lines died during the duress imposed by the Usurper."

"That will be one big case of AAKD^TMTM ("TM: Clan Short Universe")!" exclaimed Sitar.

"What is that, your highness?" wondered the healer.

"Add A Kid Disease!" exclaimed the prince.

"Are you not afraid of stressing the limits on the Royal Family?" asked the healer.

"What limits? We consider all species and all individuals as part of our family, from the Kings to the sewer cleanser! Everyone is important, everyone is valued, and everyone is equal. They are already part of our family, they just do not know it yet," replied Sitar.

"Then so be it. We will begin releasing them."

"Just wait until we are here, please. I do not think that finding themselves alone in a crowd is what we had in mind for them," replied Harp.

"At what rate should we release them? And in what order?"

"I suggest you put up a list of the adults ready for release. They should be the ones that will take the lesser load. Consider adult anyone whose bones indicate a biological age of eighteen or older. Regroup them in stasis pods, as you think of these rooms. Do you have an idea of the numbers?"

"Fine, prince Harp. Yes I do, we have ten thousand or so adults, the rest are children. I will begin regrouping the adults in ten pods as soon as you leave the premises, your highnesses."

"Fine."

"Another question, your highness, if I may?"

"Sure?"

"At what rate do you estimate the release will occur?"

"Given that the stasis chambers will be regrouped, we could do simultaneous releases... say twenty royals can process fifty a day each, that means a thousand a day. It would take us ten days to process your ten thousand adults. Telepathic assessment, and transfer of knowledge should take about an hour, which means we would take five hours of our already very busy schedules to deal with that problem. Is that acceptable with you, healer?"

"Very much so, your highness. But do not forget that these numbers are increasing as time goes by."

"We'll work with those now, and get rid of the backlog. Then we will keep up to your needs for releases, visiting this place once a week. That should be enough?"

"I think so, your highness. There you are, back to the lobby. Keep the wheelchairs for as long as you need them, your highnesses."

"If things go according to what I observe," said Harp, "you should get your wheelchairs tomorrow or the day after."

"That is perfect, prince Harp. Have a good day, and if anything should pop up, bring the princesses back right away!"

"We know. Do not worry. Paschal will be monitoring them as well as I," replied Harp.

As they left the hospital following the underground network to the Palace, Violin looked at Harp questioningly.

"What is bugging you, little sister?"

"I've been too shocked to notice until now, but the... healer as you called him keeps refering to you as prince or your highness, and as we left, he called Piano and I princesses. I dismissed this as a figure of speech, but as you walk and we roll along these hallways, everyone is discreetly doing curtsey to you. What is up?"

"It's a long story. Let's go home first, and we'll explain everything."

"Where are the others?"

"What others, Piano?" asked Sitar

"Mom, dad, our other brothers and sisters?"

"That too will have to wait until we reach home. We should be there in an hour. We are taking our time to get there first because you need to see where we are, and second, running like madmen with wheelchairs might not be safe! We'll get in a race with a little monster of ours that still plays with his wheelchair in the hallways even if he no longer needs it. Given he turns corners on two wheels..."