The Prophesy: Book 4 - Armageddon

 

It had been six days since they had left the solar system and Lord Agramon was in command when a report came in from Iridia.

"Lord Agramon, the sensors we left behind detected the passage of a series of spaceships headed toward us. The ionic impulse traces are typical of space drives in use by species PGMOCS0666. They are currently crossing the Oort cloud. We have a couple of sensors behind us, about a light-year off the Sun."

"Verify their trajectory once they engage their warp drive. Any other observations?"

"Apparently, they are the first but probably not the only ones. Recordings show there was an exchange of fire between at least three factions after we left. Records show molecular disruptors, photon torpedoes, and phaser firepower was in intense use three days ago. Prince Williams noted that since it was not getting closer, they are to be ignored. The sudden change of behaviour modifies the importance of this report. I just received the detonation notice of one of our monitoring devices. The others should see the light signature in about eight hours. They already detected the gravitation swell."

"Alaric! Drop 20 gravitation mines behind us dispersed at 0.1° arc, drift at 1,000 miles per hour. Set them to trigger at 500,000 miles proximity."

"Done, Lord Agramon."

"I suspect they are coming for us. At warp drive they will not be able to manoeuvre and escape that trap. Iridia! Also leave behind a sensor. We need to be notified when they reach that wall of mines."

"Done, Agramon."

"Colibri, bring us to warp 9.2."

"Warp 9.2! Engaged!"

"Warp 9.2 confirmed," replied Felicia, which acted as Engineer for that shift.

"Deflectors detect an increase in dust inconsistent with increased speed," Greywolf noted from the scientific station.

"Identify."

"Carbon, Iridium, Hydrogen spiralling toward a gravitational well located three light-years off to starboard. It is consistent with a microscopic black hole with a horizon of about 20 feet. We will pass way off its danger area. There are occasional flares of gamma rays. The graviton waves also peak slightly ahead of the gamma ray flares."

"Monitor the gravitation field. It might be of use to us."

***

Harold was watching the Royals as they gathered for their daily review of events. In the past six days, things had settled into a routine. Paschal had begun manufacturing more anti-matter mines with the help of Harp and Thorsten; Ian was all he had expected of his Heir: decisive and yet able to delegate decisions to others. For the first time, an Orc, the 12-year old that asked the questions immediately after Ian’s report, was with them. The others were still more or less confined to a tessaract while they completed their adaptation to Thebes. Ian had decided to invite the 12-year old Orc that had shown such smart thinking a week earlier, so he paid a visit to the Orc nest before the meeting.

Earlier that morning, Ian had used his memory of the individual body odour to trace the young Orcs, which were busy eating a piece of Lamb and some vegetables with the others that had been the first to be extracted from stasis.

"Good morning, M’Douala and P’Rouke. How are you doing this morning?"

"We are fine," replied P’Rouke.

"Do you know where is the older Boy that asked all these questions when we first met?"

"You mean P’Tarik? He is up in the trees over the river, trying to fish. He is always asking questions."

Just then there was a splash and then the water foamed as the young Orc grabbed with all his might an enormous Nile Perch. The Perch was fighting the Orc Boy with the utmost energy. Ian noted the Boy was about to drop his catch and converted to a male Sabre-tooth Leopard before jumping in the river and grabbing the Fish in his mighty jaws and dragging it to the shore. The Orcs freaked out at the giant Cat and took off in all directions. Even P’Tarik took to swimming across the narrow river at a speed that would have put to shame an Olympic Champion! Once the Fish was dead and pulled on the shore, Ian recovered his Boy form and called out to the Orcs to return. It took some serious encouragements for the Orc Children to climb down from the trees, and P’Tarik made his way across the river with a very slow crawl. The ease with which P’Tarik negotiated the river took Ian by surprise, but then he realised that the Orcs he had met were wearing armour, not a wardrobe very appropriate for swimming!

"Where is the big Cat?" asked P’Rouke, as he looked at the paw prints, finding none leaving the clearing.

"Amongst you. I am the big Cat," said Ian.

"You? That is impossible!" P’Tarik exclaimed.

"Would you believe your eyes, P’Tarik?"

"My eyes? Maybe."

"Okay. Children, sit in a circle around me, and do not move."

The Orc Children, 176, in fact, all of those taken out of stasis the first day, sat down in a huge circle around Ian.

"What you will see is real. Do not fear what you will see. Nothing bad will happen to you. We saved your lives, it is not to hurt you now."

Ian then crouched on his legs and converted to a Sabre-tooth Leopard, then to a Dwarf, a Horse, a Fairy, an Elf, a Wolf, a Fox, a Centaur, a Unicorn, a Pegasus, a Troll, and finally, before returning to his Atlantean base form, into an Orc.

"Does that clarify things for you?"

There were gasps and the eyes were big and shiny with wonder. A little Boy asked:

"Can you convert to a Bird?"

Ian took the appearance of a Sparrow and flew off, converting to a Parrot in mid-flight before landing back as a Kingfisher and returning to his shape.

Another series of gasps accompanied every change.

"I always wanted to know if Dragons were real?" said a little Girl, fearfully.

"They are real. And they are dangerous to our enemies. Do you want to see one?"

"May I?"

"Sure, I will pick one of the smallest species, because we do not have enough room in the circle for a big gold one."

Ian converted to a young Green Dragon and then back to his original shape.

"Are you satisfied?"

She nodded, too scared to even talk.

"Let me help you prepare the Nile Perch. It is big, and you have no tools to do it properly," said Ian, as he produced a paring and filleting knife out of thin air. A few minutes later the giant Perch was ready for cooking, and Ian produced a grill for it, cooking the Fish for the Orc Children. He spiced it up, added sliced and grilled potatoes, some cooked vegetables, and a white sauce to the finished product, before distributing the Fish in unbreakable plates with cutlery. He noticed that the Orcs were able to use modified cutlery that would let their rather big fingers grab the handle more easily than the fine Atlantean cutlery he was used to.

"I will teach you how to fish more safely tomorrow. For now, I have to go back to work. I came here to pick up P’Tarik. M’Douala, you mentioned a certain P’Tool the last time we met. Is he amongst those taken out of sleep?"

"No. I do not know what happened to him."

"Okay. I will have to check with the database. He should be about the same age as you, P’Rouke?"

"Yes. I am glad he is not around. He is such a prick. What is a database?"

"That is where we keep all the information about everyone, such as species, age, sex, and even who is your Mom and Dad."

"We will have none. Mom and Dad were killed, and we were to be eaten next."

"That will change. We have adoptive parents in line for you. You only need to select your species, since, quite frankly, we have few Adult Orcs, well, not enough for all of you."

"Can we choose the big one that hugged me?"

"Timor? He is a Troll. He is probably younger than P’Rouke! But I can ask. He would do a great big Brother, if not a Dad, but who knows? Maybe he will consider it. He is very gentle."

After some discussions, Ian left the group accompanied by P’Tarik, leaving them on these words:

"We will be back before the end of the day. I am going to make sure you do not need to fish in the river for a while. Fishes are rare, and we need to make sure there are enough. Secondly, the Perch might have drowned P’Tarik. Play in the river, but stay safe. I am assigning an Elf as Lifeguard."

***

P’Tarik and Ian made their way to the Royal living room, where the young Orc was introduced by name to those present. P’Tarik’s eyes darted everywhere, taking in the rich upholstery, the large chandeliers, the massive fireplace, and the fine, delicate furniture.

"Welcome, P’Tarik," said Harold, "please sit with us at the table."

"Why am I here?" asked the nervous Boy, just as Greywolf joined them and made his way to the table, converted to a rather big and Wolf-like biped before sitting down.

"We want you to listen, watch, and ask questions as we deal with today’s reports and decide what we are going to do. We believe the Orcs can contribute to our society, and your presence is an attempt at getting your species started on its way toward that contribution."

"I do not understand?"

"Observe and question. We do not expect you to grab a full understanding of what this means right away. Then talk to the others when you get back to the Tessaract."

P’Tarik nodded, keeping quiet.

"Let us start this meeting. Who is on the Bridge?"

"Currently in command is Bushtail Fox, Dad."

"Okay. What was the last shift’s report?"

"I was in command, my Lord. May I?"

"Certainly, Lord Agramon."

"The Scavengers were able to track us somehow. They are on our tail. I increased our speed to warp 9.2 to outrun them. I left a diffuse wall of graviton mines behind as well as a couple of sensors. We crossed path with a tiny black hole. I recorded its position and left a sensor behind. It might be of use. We are now 58 days off our objective."

"Can you tell us more about the Scavengers?"

"There are three factions that survived. They were fighting each other ferociously. The apparent truce between them is clearly broken."

"Are all three pursuing us?"

"Only one was clearly identified. But it does not mean the others are not trailing us. We lost one sensor to contact so far, and it was the one that managed to detect the signature of a PGMOCS0666 ionic space drive."

"Given the sensors were equipped with anti-matter – matter explosives, it must have burned a couple ships in the area. One pound of anti-matter can make for a formidable explosion. Any reports from the seven other sensors?" asked Sitar.

"Apart from a gravitational disturbance, nothing."

"Are there domestic issues?"

"No problems with the Pterodactyls. They just began their migration to their wintering area," Enron replied as he consulted his notes. "The Matriarch is resting. The Eden and Ark Projects are working perfectly. There are no major frictions between species. Training is going on schedule."

"We have been monitoring space for advanced life forms. The star system we have crossed has no viable planet," Williams noted. "We should be entering another in about two weeks."

"Engineering?"

"We have a stable warp drive. The slipstream drive is ready for use should we need it. So is the Quantum Jump drive. I finished calibrating it yesterday."

"When can we test-run these two drives?"

"The slipstream drive can be tested as soon as we leave the star cloud, probably after we are headed for the Wolf Constellation. The Q-Drive needs us to be in between arms of the Galaxy for safe usage, or in-between galaxies."

"I have been updating the star charts over the last six days," added Samson. "That chart is old and 17,000 years has given the stars a lot of time to move around: the Milky Way has rotated 2.72° on its axis in this neighbourhood. Further away from the galactic centre, the speed is reduced and the angular change reduced proportionally. I did the easy part first, that is the neighbourhood and the galactic fringe. The galactic centre, being more dense and speedier, will require a lot more adjustments."

"Can we actually jump, like we did in the Simulation?" asked Ian.

"I do not see why not, but it is costly Magic-wise. Let us keep that as a last resort, should we really hit on a dangerous species. So far, the most dangerous we met are the Elohim, and they got their arses beaten up badly. I do not expect we actually exterminated that species Dad," said Harp as he spotted the face Harold was doing. "Space is big, and they are spread out. We do not know if they have been able to cross the intergalactic gaps, but let us not behave as if they failed. We also have the inter-dimensional drive, that Paschal has not mentioned, but that too is something that must be used with caution."

"All right Son. Have you given thought about the role the Orcs can play in our society yet?" asked Harold of Ian as he eyed the fidgeting P’Tarik.

"We need to establish their capacities. So far, we have only reactivated Children. There may be differences with Adults we are unaware of. And we need to assess the Orcs’ potential. That is one reason I have taken P’Tarik with us today. There are many unknowns about his species."

"Such as?"

"Cognitive capabilities need to be assessed, and then motor skills. And following that, I will ask Harp to test for Magic, ESP, and the potential for a Collective Conscience. Enron will check their genetics to see if there are untapped potentials locked in by the damn Crocodile Priests."

"Why did you choose P’Tarik?"

"He asked good questions, showed a sharp mind, and had the guts to stand out, all qualities that mark him as a good candidate for the best of the best for the Orcs."

"And what if he falls short on one of these tests?"

"He already has nanobots in his body, left behind from his stay in a stasis chamber. They are dormant. It is a simple task to reactivate them to modify his body while he sleeps and re-sequence his genetics and neural pathways so he does finally gain a potential equal to all of our allied species."

«Are you not afraid they might turn against us?»

«No Dad, the risk would be greater if the Orcs felt like they were left behind.»

"When you say you would modify my body, what do you mean?" asked P’Tarik, concerned.

"Your basic appearance would be maintained. However, you would gain new capacities, such as greater stamina, strength, and live considerably longer. You would also be able to do what we do, that is, use energy directly, or, as it is commonly known to all of us, do Magic. Your capacities would probably be limited at first, but as you train, you would gain a better understanding of the proper use of these powers. You would gain new senses, and those you have would be a lot finer."

"You said we were created by Crocodile Priests. Who are they and were do we really come from?"

"These are tough questions. As for the Crocodile Priests, all we have is a stuffed one in a Museum, and the drawings done by Paschal. Computer! Display the Crocodile Priest exhibit, front screen!"

The front screen dropped and a projection of the Crocodile Priest was seen rotating slowly to display it on all sides.

"This is a Crocodile Priest. They had no females, and used Human females as vessels for reproduction. If you want to learn more, there are audio books on their culture. I suggest you get yourself a puke bucket before watching and listening to them, P’Tarik."

"It is that bad?"

"Oh yes!"

"You mentioned we were the results of their work?"

"Yes. We have found leftover trials when we explored Africa, the Continent from which you and your friends were rescued. The Australopithecus Regressi colony in the Equatorial Tessaracts you and yours are using is one such leftover. We have yet to establish if the Australopithecus Regressi were the ultimate result or their first failures."

"Can we visit them?"

"Yes, but we try not to disturb them too much, P’Tarik. They are few, and we hope to give them a good foothold in their new environment before getting in too much contact with them. Ian can probably get you there to watch. The less they see us, the less nervous they are."

"We use caches to observe them without being seen, P’Tarik. Even then, we notice they can usually sense when a cache is occupied," added Harp.

"You mentioned something with a strange name?"

"The Pterodactyls? They are flying Dinosaurs. There, we can observe them from caches as well, but we have been working in establishing a shield. The Pterodactyls are not really afraid of us, but I would not wager on their behaviour in the presence of an Orc."

"Why is that?"

"A whole generation of their young were destroyed by Orcs. These same Orcs also enslaved them to fight a war against us that cost them dearly. We have been working our arses off to fix the consequences of that genocide. So far, they acknowledge we help them, but your body odour is different from ours, P’Tarik. I am sure that odour is now associated with the smell of the enemy, and they would not hesitate to attack you should you come within striking distance."

"Why were we always at war?"

"Remember the Elohim?"

"Yes! You mentioned them in your story."

"Well, the Elohim found your planet of origin, the Earth, while it was still teeming with life. They noticed that there was a number of species that could be bred to supply them in their favourite food, spiritual energy or soul. That is why we labelled them the Soul-eaters. We had been at war with the Elohim for a long time, and they had managed, we think, to trigger our Sun to supernova, destroying our civilisation. We will never be sure until we go back home and verify what we can, but that is what we think. We had begun a migration project and a Scout ship had found the Earth, already occupied by the Elohim, and the Scout ship had figured out the Elohim project’s goal. So it began putting some grains of sand in the well-oiled research project while remaining hidden. When the only colony ship that had managed to escape Atlantis reached the Earth, it found the Scout ship and a log of its activity, and what had been done until the last Crew-member had died off. It became the goal of the colony ship to continue the work undertaken by the Scouts and undermine the work of the Elohim. Do you follow so far?"

"Yes."

"The battle for the control of the Human genome was epic. In many cases, the Elohim made inroads, only to be beaten back. At some point, there was a major astronomical event that was predicted by the Atlantean Seers, and that triggered the construction of the components of this space ship. All components were built and most were carried out to an area that would survive the upcoming disaster. Unfortunately, the timeline was off, and not all was ready when disaster struck. Most of Humanity was exterminated, as well as the Atlantean colony. We mixed up with the Humans, spreading our genome across the species, in effect poisoning the Elohim food supply, since Atlanteans are inherently toxic to them."

"Wow!"

"For 17,000 years, the Atlantean genome hid under the Human one, protecting it from the greedy Soul-eaters. They tried many times to kill us off, declaring all those with Magic persona non-grata and killing any with apparent Atlantean capacities on sight. The more they did that, the more we diffused our genes in the general population. They went so far as to try and exterminate the Humans many times, almost succeeding in their last attempt. Some 7,700 years ago, they triggered the last World War, and took to hiding until life had renewed itself from its consequences. One such consequence was the birth of the Crocodile Priests, which were already under their influence, and they, guided by the surviving Guardian, began creating a new species clean of our genetic material, the Orcs. There were other attempts done before then, as manifested by the Centaurs, and other species. The only thing the Guardian did not know is that he was the last survivor of his kind on Earth apart from one hidden in a Black Dragon, the leader of a faction of Elohim that only considered Earthlings as food and had no interest in crating a chattel for their kind. Apparently, the Guardian had begun the genetic experiences well before the Nuclear War, and had hoped to gain control of the leftover Humans once things settled, but the radiation created the Crocodile Priests by arresting their growth in some aspects. Things went from bad to worse as time passed after the nuclear war, and the Guardian, however hard he tried, failed to gain what he wanted. He encouraged the research done by the Crocodile Priests, well aware that your species was probably his only hope in gaining a new food supply. He also drove your kind to believe that we created you, along with the Crocodile Priests, for our own use. That created a lot of hatred. It was Child’s play to push the Orcs to war on us and try to exterminate the contaminated Humans."

"I do not like being taken for a ride!"

"Neither do we. Anyway, the nuclear war had an unexpected effect. Atlanteans, even if fragile to ionising radiations, were less so than Humans, and those Humans that had the most Atlantean genetic material survived better in the changed and highly dangerous new environment. The nuclear war filtered out those Humans with less Atlantean genetic material, leaving only an ever-purer concentration of Atlantean genome to surface within the Human population. What had to happen came to pass: At some point, Atlanteans resurfaced, with full, and renewed, Magic potential. In fact, the passage through the filter of Human genome has strengthened our power level by at least a factor of five, making us magical 1,000,000 times over our original level."

"You mean that the attempt by the Soul-eaters to kill you backfired and you are now more powerful than ever? How ironic!"

"Yes," replied Harold, smiling widely.

"And then what?"

"Well, we resumed constructing the space ship, whose components were spread all over the planet. The Orcs were always fighting us, due more to ancestral conditioning than a need to do so. I admit we too were taken in that deadly loop. It took the discovery of abandoned nests and their tragic end for us to realise that the Orcs were not the monsters we thought they were. Your kind has a knack for engineering that took us by surprise, and a sense of aesthetic that left us voiceless. We decided to do our best to rescue as many of your kind as we could, in the hope of finding a way to live together in peace and incorporate you as full-fledged members of our very varied society."

"When did Magic re-emerge?"

"It had always been around, P’Tarik. The real question is when did the Atlanteans emerge from the woods? That was not too long ago. I think I was the first and I have not even reached my 30th birthday. Harp, in his Merlin form, had been around, keeping watch ever since the collapse of Atlantis Two, 17,000 years ago."

"I kept a low profile, P’Tarik. I made quite a few blunders during these years, and some of them led to the discovery of Wizards and Witches by Humans under the influence of the Elohim. It was not pretty. I kept watch, in my old incarnation, for the emergence of the first true Atlantean, and was getting desperate when Harold finally showed up!"

"Atlanteans exploded out of the woodwork, P’Tarik. We always knew we would be reborn, but not in such quick succession. As the events ran headlong into their inevitable conclusion, just about every essential spirit of Atlantis Two has been reborn in this generation, either in the form of Atlantean-Human hybrid, Atlantean-Elf hybrid, Dwarf-Atlantean hybrid, or in their original form as Troll, Dragon, Equine, or Canine. We are now bonded as one in many."

"Are you telling me that every Atlantean in history is reborn?"

"No. Unfortunately, some are still missing, including some Children of the Vice-Roy of Atlantis Two. But we hope that someday, they too will emerge from the genetic recombination. And some may never re-emerge."

"I will not miss that Chamberlain I had, if you want to know. As far as I am concerned, he can stay lost!" said Samson, eliciting a smile from Jefferson.

"Could we be carrying hidden Atlanteans?" asked P’Tarik, worried.

"Maybe, but they must be deep, because the Geneticists and the Crocodile Priests were very thorough at their attempt at removing any Atlantean genetic material from your lineage. They took their base material in Primates and seeded them with Human genetic material at a painstaking slow rate."

"That means we will not have Magic?"

"Hey, I said they tried. I am not sure they succeeded! That is why Harp is to test you. Even if you cannot access your magical core, it does not mean you have no Magic lurking just out of reach. And, contrary to the Elohim, the Human Geneticists, or the Crocodile Priests, we do have Magic and it is possible for us to modify things directly within an individual to give him access to his magical core, provided he has one to link to."

"Oh, okay. If you find some, will we be allowed to gain access to it?"

"Yes, that is the reason you are here, so you understand what we are trying to do."

"Let us get some food before continuing this meeting," decide Harold. "Come along with us, P’Tarik. We will go eat at the Royal Guards Mess Hall."

The arrival of an Orc, even a Child, sent waves of comments between the different Centuries of the Royal Guards. Harold decided to put an end to speculations.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, may I introduce P’Tarik, a very bright young Orc rescued from Africa. He is with us for the day as representative of his species. May he feel welcomed!"

The Royals began applauding P’Tarik, and the others took the hint. Initially, the applause was mild, but it grew in intensity as everyone grasped the importance of the gesture offered by their leadership. After five minutes of continuous applause, it died down slowly, and the Royals sat down to a quick lunch. The constant visit of different Officers to the Royal family to report anything from maintainance to requests for equipment took P’Tarik by surprise and left him speechless.

"Do not worry, P’Tarik. It is always like that. It has nothing to do with your presence," whispered Harp.

The young Orc noded and continued eating as the others kept dispatching orders.

"How can you know what to do?" he finally asked of Harp.

"I admit we usually have the most difficult decisions, but we share with everyone through telepathy. It generally takes us only a fraction of a second to assess the situation, consult proper documents from the Artiicial Intelligences, and come to a consensus. Once that is done, it is only a question of voicing our decision with enough clarity to make sure it gets implemented properly."

"Oh."

"Are you done eating P’Tarik? I want to bring you to the Bridge so you can see for yourself what controlling a space ship means," said Enron.

"Oh yes! I have been wanting to understand that!"

"Then, let us get to the washroom, clean up, and proceed. We have to take our shift anyway in half an hour."

The young Orc was not too familiar with hygiene, but it was fun to introduce him to soap and watch him make a mess with the bubbles in the washroom. After 10 minutes, they left the room, which Ian cleansed by Magic, and walked to the Bridge.

As Ian walked in, a shrill whistle called attention to the watch, followed by a "Captain on the Bridge!"

"I hate this noise, but customs are customs!" said Ian to P’Tarik, whom had put his hands on his ears to mute the offending sound. The young Orc blinked but said nothing.

"Report!" ordered Ian, as he took his seat on the Captain’s chair.

"We are now 27 light-years away from the Sun and a bit less than 243 light-years away from our target star. At our current speed, it is still 53 days off."

Thanks, Dunbar. Sensors?"

"The Scavengers have cleared the Oort cloud and are following us. Their current speed is warp eight."

"How many groups are we talking about?"

"Two. Apparently, another Scavenger group got blown out of the race. The sensor array we left behind should detonate within 2.3 hours."

"Okay. Calculate when they will meet the wall of graviton mines left behind in their path."

"In eight and a half days if they maintain their current speed of warp eight."

"Good. You are relieved. Enron, take the helm. Paschal can you take P’Tarik to visit the Engines?"

"Sure. I will bring him back here in half an hour."

"Okay. Harp! Teleport a sensor array three and six days ahead of us on our planned course. Match their speed to ours. Williams, increase sensor range to three days ahead of us. I want to know what we are headed into."

That was the last command P’Tarik heard before the bulkhead doors closed, separating Paschal and him from the Bridge. They walked to a portal and were joined by Colibri.

"Hey Colibri. We are going to the Engines," said Paschal.

"I heard from the deck and decided to join you. I have never seen the Engines."

"You are welcomed. Step in."

A second later, after a feeling that was not all too pleasant for first users, the three Boys were in a huge room.

"Welcome to one of the way too numerous engine rooms of Thebes. Each engine room contains everything to run a propulsion system, sustain a force field, and feed energy to weapons, all simultaneously."

"How many are there?"

"As you know, Thebes is a sphere. It can move in all directions, dive through space and time, and do a lot more. It is encircled by shields that protect it from damage from collisions, not that orichalque needs it, but when Harp and I designed it 17,000 years ago, we figured redundancy was the rule. It even has ablative layers, but it would take a lot of damage for this to ever come into play. As for the number of propulsion systems, just look at this: each spindle combines propulsion, torpedo tube, phaser bank, disruptor, and a lot more. See that glow located above the currently forward part of Thebes? It is 10 seconds ahead of us, at current warp speed of 9.2, something in the order of 3,000,000 miles. As speed increases, the bubble expands. The glow is produced by the warp bubble, which lets us stream through space and time without losing mass. There is a limit to its expansion. Beyond warp 9.95, we enter transwarp and it is no longer stable so we use another method to stabilise ourselves. At even higher speeds, that is, the slipstream drive, it is not us that move, it is space itself. In Quantum drive mode, we move through time, bringing space around us. The final, fastest speed is inter-dimensional, and that implies the capacity to jump universes. That will be used only when we are done dealing with this universe and it has reached its rupture point. Thebes will use the rebound of the rupture to jump to another universe without consuming too much energy. We can do it without that slingshot effect, but we would have to reload our capacitors for several years after that."

"Would we be defenceless?" wondered P’Tarik.

"No. Just that inter-dimensional jumps require adjusting the Planck constant. We can do it by Magic, but why bother if the destruction of this universe will do it for us?"

"Are you not afraid you will end up in an unstable universe?"

"Because you think this one is, Colibri?"

"Anyway, it seems a long way off. Maybe by then we will understand what he is talking about," said P’Tarik.

"P’Tarik is right. How about giving us a guided tour of this Engine room?"

"Sure. The big cylinder you see there is a containment vessel that consumes anti-matter to feed the warp drive coils of this set of engines. The secondary warp coil feeds the shield; the ternary warp coil feeds the phaser banks. On the left are indicators telling us that all torpedo tubes are loaded, with, just below, the type of warhead. Behind the main warp drive is a fourth, almost invisible warp drive that runs a shield that should be seldom used: it makes this portion of the ship invisible. Come."

"Look over and down that hole. Below, deep below, is the slipstream drive. It looks like the empty shell of a Nautilus. Its orange colour says it is on standby. Above it, hidden by the big blue cube, is the standard ionic impulse drive, used to manoeuvre in close quarters. The cube itself is the visible part of the Quantum-Drive, or Q-Drive."

"Can we go down?"

"Yes. Everything is triple-shielded. But you cannot get a better view down there. The Q-Drive is supplied in energy by the Atlantean Crystals, and you would not see them because they are way deep, away from here, in special rooms only accessible to the Royals of the line. This is for safety reasons. Mishandling a Crystal would spell disaster."

"Oh. Okay."

"How come there is not anybody?" the Orc said, looking at the vast, but empty room.

"P’Tarik, everything is monitored from above, from either the primary or secondary Bridge. Did you notice I entered a very long sequence of numbers for the doors leading to this place to open up and that there are no direct portals to this place?"

P’Tarik suddenly remembered seeing Paschal enter something on a keyboard, put his hand on a hand pad, wince a bit, and then the door opened with slow and deliberate speed.

"It is not only the numbers! It is blood Magic!" exclaimed the very bright Orc.

"Well observed, P’Tarik. Yes, it is blood Magic. Many vital parts of Thebes are protected by blood Magic, including engine rooms, defences, and even the Bridge. You were able to come to the Bridge because you were with us. In due course, after proper testing and training, you may one day gain free access to the Bridge and some of its functions. That is why it is so important you work hard today with Harp when he brings you to the College of Magic to test you. It is the future of your species that is at stake for this generation, since you seem to be the brightest of the lot so far."

"What a nice way to remove pressure!" said Colibri as he eyed Paschal with a smirk.

"We are all under pressure, Colibri. You went through your Ordeal without even blinking. I expect P’Tarik will undergo his own Ordeal with the same grace. Anyway, back to the Bridge. I am sure P’Tarik wants to see other things then flashing lights!"

"Do you plan to put P’Tarik through the Ordeal of the Pyramids?"

"It is not my decision, Colibri. It is Harp’s and Ian’s."

P’Tarik was getting worried. What was that Ordeal that seemed to scare the young Human? He resolved to ask Harp or Ian, when the occasion arose.

The visit of the Bridge revealed a lot to P’Tarik. He learned of the Helm, the Science Station, the Sensor Array station, the Med bay, the Communication station, the Engineering station, now occupied by Paschal, and the Star Chart and Navigation room. Viewing the immediate space around the fast-moving star ship, shocked him to the core, but realising how big Space really was and how fast they were moving as a star passed on their starboard side, going from bright white to almost instant black as it crossed the light spectrum and its light waves stretched into the infrared added to the awe he felt. He could see stars, further away, changing colour more slowly going from violet to red in slow motion.

"Why do they change colour?" he finally asked.

"Well, the light acts like waves. As we head toward a star, its wave fronts pile up, changing its apparent frequency, and pushing its spectrum into the violet range, or, if you prefer, higher energy range. When it passes at our level, the light colour is real. Once it is past, the light wave begins to stretch, and its spectrum moves into the low-energy, red range, finally disappearing in the infrared."

"Are not all stars white?"

"Oh no. Some are, but there are blue, very energetic stars, there are yellow, orange, or even brown stars. And not all stars are of the same size. The Sun around which the Earth orbited is a yellow dwarf star. There are ultra-big giant stars, giant stars, medium-sized stars, dwarf stars, and even failed stars, like Jupiter. There are dead stars, like neutron stars, and there are black holes, the cadavers of giant stars that exploded when they ran out of fuel. We crossed path with a miniature type of black hole a few days ago, and the trap shield that protected us from an all-out invasion by the Elohim was driven by a microscopic black hole," explained Colibri, proud to show to the others he had really taken seriously the lessons of the Pyramids.

"Colibri, since you are so keen on sciences, would you mind taking my station while I bring P’Tarik to the College of Magic for testing? We will hop in the dining hall to feed up and wash up before going there. Ask Grandpa Nestor to clear up the arena for P’Tarik’s testing."

"Okay. Relax, P’Tarik. The test is hard, but it never exceeds what you can do," said Colibri as he saw the anxiety in the little Orc’s eyes.

***

"Hey Grandpa! Ready for another jungle expedition?"

"Do you not dare, little imp! It took me two days to remove all the Leeches!"

"Come on! Do not tell me you have not mastered the cleanup spell?"

"Oh! I did not think of it!"

"Old age seems to weather your wits!"

"I will show you if old age has anything to do with it!"

Harp made his way to Nestor and hugged him before introducing the Orc.

"I am testing P’Tarik today. Has the arena been cleared?"

"Yes, but why all the mystery?"

"We have already felt some hostility from the Royal Guards, and it took some very cold stares from Ian for the message to get across. He is on a more even keel than I when it comes to temper, and I do not want to incinerate some students, so I asked they be moved out for the test."

"I understand, Prince of Magic. Be it as it may, I believe I would have preferred some incinerated students to students unable to conform to a Royal Order. Let us walk to the arena. I was unable to clear all the hallways on time, my Lord. We may meet some students and Staff anyway."

"Well, it cannot be all perfect. P’Tarik, walk with me, while Grandpa Nestor walks behind us. We will have to walk slowly. Old age has not only affected his mind, but also his legs!"

"All that from the Prince of Twits!" replied Nestor, just as Ferriday exited his own office.

"Ah, Ferriday! Join us to the testing grounds," said Harp in a tone that broke no excuses.

The four made their way along the halls of the College toward the Arena. Few students were about, and even fewer teachers. Nonetheless, the rumour of an Orc within these venerable walls spread like wild fire in dry bushes, and by the time they reached the entrance to the Arena, it had reached the furthest reaches of the enormous building. Harp was getting pissed at what he felt, and he decided to make it clear.

"P’Tarik, go with Ferriday and Nestor in the Royal cabin. I have some discipline to impose here. Sorry Nestor, I can feel the mood of the students, and they will get an arse whipping they will not forget!"

"It is your prerogative, Harp. Just do not overdo it."

"Do I ever?"

"Yes!"

Harp stood at the entrance of the Arena, watching the students and teachers move toward its entrance. As the first students tried to pass him they felt an invisible wall.

"Who said you could leave your classrooms?" he asked sweetly.

"But there is an Orc!" said a tall student, of about 18.

"So? It is none of your business!"

"But they are dangerous!"

"So am I! Especially when I am pissed!"

"They are not allowed in here!"

"I made the rules some 17,000 years ago and no mention of across the board ban was written in them, for Orcs or any other species!"

"Laws change!"

"True! But I reinstated the old laws when I came back, notwithstanding what some old Flea-bitten varmint fart had tried to do. And there were no Orcs when I made these laws anyway."

"Anyway, who was stupid enough to bring one in here?"

"I was!" said Harp, eyes flashing dangerously at the impertinent seventh-year student.

"We want him out!"

"No. And that is final! Do not push your luck, or you will regret crossing my path today!"

"Prince or no Prince, we want him out!" said the same student unaware he was playing with his life as he pushed on Harp’s temper.

"Say that again?" said Harp, just as his eyes flashed dangerously red.

"I say get out of my way!" thundered the student, using his wand to attack Harp with a powerful and potentially deadly spell, that Harp easily absorbed.

"You went too far, prick!" said Harp, literally ripping the Boy’s Magic out of him before skinning him alive and hanging the skin on a hanger. The twitching, hollering body spilled blood everywhere before the body entered shock and stood still, twitching occasionally.

"Get back to your classes. That jerk is dead meat, if he is not dead already! And you, arse hole, are Fish food!" said Harp as the body disappeared into the oceanic Tessaract.

Quite a few students barely made it around the corner before returning their lunch on the floor.

"Clean up your mess before I get out of the Arena, or there will be Hell to pay!" thundered Harp at the retreating backs of the students and teachers that skidded in blood and dejections in an effort to get out of the hall before another one of them triggered Harp’s temper again and found out what other horror the Prince of Magic could do in the blink of an eye.

Harp turned around and entered the Arena to join Nestor, Ferriday, and P’Tarik.

"What happened? We heard a horrendous cry, and then cries of horror!" asked a shaky Nestor.

"One student tried to kill me. He got skinned alive for it. He is now feeding the Fishes in the Oceanic Tessaract. The skin is hanging in the main hall as a reminder of who made the bylaws of this College."

"You sure do not mellow with age."

"I am not wine!"

"Maybe blood wine?" said Ferriday.

"Bad humour, Ferriday, very bad humour!" replied Harp. "Anyway, we will be left alone. P’Tarik, come with me. We will get to the middle of the Arena, and I will see what you can do. Gentlemen, stay behind the shields. Uncontrolled Magic can be dangerous to you."

"We are not spring flowers!"

"I know that. It is why I want to protect you two old bushes! You might burst on fire!"

The two Mages frowned but stayed behind, watching as Harp and P’Tarik moved to the middle of the sand-covered Arena.

"Okay. Now. Close your eyes." «And raise your left arm above your head.»

P’Tarik, suffered from a mild form of cognitive impairment and could not distinguish left from right, something that had never, until that test, been of any consequence to him. Unable to conform to the command, he lifted his dominant, right arm instead. This took Harp by surprise and the Prince immediately scanned the Orc’s brain for the cause. Finding an undifferentiated neural pathway at the base of the cerebral cortex, he fixed the issue quickly and repeated the command, for the left foot. P’Tarik succeeded this time.

«Good. P’Tarik, you had a minor neurological problem which I fixed.»

"Thank you."

«Talk to me without speaking.»

P’Tarik was dumfounded, Talk without speaking? How can that be done?

«You do like you just did, P’Tarik. You thought loud and clear, asking yourself how it could be done.»

The Orc’s eyes opened wide with shock.

"It is called telepathy. That is one form of extra-sensory perception, or ESP. Let us see what else you can do." Harp materialised an onion-thin sheet of paper and placed it on the Arena’s sandy surface.

"Try to lift it up without touching it."

The young Orc tried, and after five minutes, the sheet, rather than lift off, began to move around on the sand.

"Okay. It is not exactly what I asked, but it is close enough, P’Tarik. You have telekinesis. Set it on fire."

There, P’Tarik succeeded beyond Harp’s wildest dream. It was not the sheet that took fire; it was the entire Arena grounds!

"Whoa!" said Harp as he extinguished the fire. "Pyromaniac! P’Tarik, you have one heck of a Pyrokinesic power! You probably never had issues starting fires! Okay. I will not ask you to flood the place. Pyromaniacs are usually able to flood things with water as well, and I want to stay dry."

"One last test and we are done for today. Let me show you an object." Harp produced a dice. "Examine it carefully. Note the little dots, the colour, the size and the weight. It is a gold dice. What I want you to do is to reproduce the dice."

"Out of thin air?"

"Yes, like I just did. Good luck, even my Brothers failed at their first try, so I do not expect you to Damn it!" for just as Harp was going to conclude a gold dice matching his appeared in P’Tarik’s right hand. "Okay, I get it. You, young Man, are now my student! Nestor! Ferriday! Get down here!"

The two Mages made their way on the glassy surface of the arena, well aware their feet were burning lightly from the still hot glass.

"Well, P’Tarik is now my student. I need a classroom. Also, outside of magical studies, he needs to learn to write, read, and count. Given the attitude of the students, I want him to be privately tutored by your best teachers. I will handle ethics, given it seems the ethics teachers have failed again!" said Harp, looking at Nestor with a very severe look. "I am taking the ethics classes over, from first to last year. No, Nestor, I will not be spending all day at it. Regroup all students, independent of year, into five classrooms. Each class will be the first class of the day, and last four hours, so each student will spend four hours on ethics a week. I want the ethics teachers included in the classes, as students, is that clear?"

"Yes. When do you start?"

"Tomorrow morning! We have lost enough time."

Nestor and Ferriday shook in their boots at the icy tone employed by Harp. They understood they had failed Harp again, and that he was running thin on patience, while they were skating on even thinner ice.

"Come, P’Tarik, we have some people to visit before I bring you back to your family. Nestor, Ferriday! Do not fail me again!"

With that, Harp grabbed P’Tarik and popped right back in the Royal living room.

"Wash up! We have to clean up, we smell like burned Hogs. Then we get to the Bridge so I can report my findings to Ian."

P’Tarik knew better than to say anything so he ran off to clean up in the washroom, with Harp right behind. The two Boys took a quick shower, and Harp dried the Orc quickly using Magic. He just did not feel like taking the time to rub the fur dry. His temper was already so hot he had to bite his lips several times not to holler in rage and scare the already nervous Orc. They made their way to the Bridge in silence. The arrival of Harp and P’Tarik brought the entire Bridge to a standstill, as everyone wondered what had pissed Harp so much his eyes were glowing red. No one said a word as he took his station to replace Colibri. Finally, Ian looked at P’Tarik and asked, very quietly, if all was right.

"I do not know. Prince Harp says I am going to be his student. But I do not know what that means."

"That means good news for you. But something must have happened because Harp is furious."

"I do not know. There was that old Man with long white hair and then something happened while I was with him and another Man and we heard the most horrendous cry. That old Man bleached and began shaking violently."

Ian eyed Harp, and understood he had killed a student, but not why. Harp answered his unspoken question.

"He tried to kill me, so I skinned him alive," said Harp in a voice so cold it began snowing on the Bridge. "Nestor failed us again on Ethics. I am taking over these classes."