Legends of Amacia: Mysteries of Tiamat
Revelations

Twelve hours passed and Selinawoke up, replaceing that she was using Hannibal’s chest as a pillow. She yawnedand stretched while looking at his sleeping face. She gently shook him andcalled to him telepathically, Wake up, my beloved. Wake up.

Hannibal stirred and opened hiseyes. He groaned softly and looked into Selina’s beautiful face. “This is asight I’m going to have to get used to,” he said, smiling. They heard a noisefrom outside their door and instinctively looked to see how they were clothed.They were still wearing same clothes they had on when the download occurred. Aknock at their bedroom door caught their attention and Hannibal called out,“Who is it?”

“It’sNathanael,” a voice returned from outside the door. “Can I come in?”

“Yeah…it’sopen,” Hannibal called out as Selina turned on her back, laying her head on thepillow so she could see the door. The door slid open and Nathanael came in withHarry, Dan, and Mary. They gathered around as Hannibal sat himself up leaningagainst the headboard. “How’re you feeling?” Nathanael asked.

Selina satup next to Hannibal as he answered, “Okay I guess. How long were we out thistime?”

“Twenty-fourhours,” Harry answered. “You’re going to have to stop doing that.”

“Sorry bud,”Hannibal said, shaking his head. “I didn’t know that blasted Teacher was goingto try to reload me remotely.”

“I know,”Nathanael answered, sitting on the edge of the bed. “I saw and if it hadn’tbeen for Harry, I would have been catatonic like you.”

“So youwere there,” Hannibal said. “But how did you see?”

“Selina andI are linked telepathically as father and daughter; however, she’s the morepowerful of us. I just don’t have her skill or power,” Nathanael admitted. “Itried to reach you through her and found you both caught up in that tempest. Iwas able to get close enough to see and speak to her but was unable towithstand the strength of the storm. As a result, I was forcibly ejected fromher mind. Do you remember any of it?”

“Bits andpieces,” Hannibal said. “But like the last time this happened, most of theknowledge vanished before I could retain it. The thing I do remember is Selinarisked her life to retrieve me out of that.”

“Whathappened?” Nathanael asked pointedly. “I know something happened with you two.When I was in there, I saw you two in a merge the likes of which I’ve neverseen before. It was totally strange and bizarre.”

“I don’tknow how it happened, dad,” Selina answered. “But when I made contact withHannibal to ascertain what the problem was, at first the raw power of what wasgoing on overwhelmed me and shattered my contact with him. Then somehow, I wasdrawn to him and we merged in a deep merge while it was going on. We couldn’tdo anything while in there. Our minds were seemingly fused together so we hadto wait for the tempest to pass. When we finally came out of it, I found that Icouldn’t break contact with him. It seems we’re permanently linkedtelepathically because of what happened. All I can remember once I found him istrying to shield him from the storm that imprisoned our minds. It’s the mostfrightening thing I’ve ever had happen to me…even worse than the time theZoarians tried to kill us when I was a teenager.”

Nathanaelreached out telepathically to her to verify her words and found the link justas she had said. “This is unexpected. Your minds are really bound to eachother. Do you recall any of the information?” he asked.

“Notreally,” Selina replied, shaking her head. “All I can remember of it is mainlyimpressions and feelings with just tiny bits of raw information coming throughat times.”

Nathanaelshook his head knowingly as he put his hand on her knee. “I’m glad to see youboth back,” he said softly. “I suspect this incident may unlock more ofHannibal’s dormant abilities. Can you remember anything at all while you wereunder?” he asked Hannibal.

Hannibalscratched his head as he probed his memories. “No, not at the moment,” hereplied. “When I try to remember what happened beyond what I’ve already toldyou, I run into a wall. It’s like I know there’s something there to rememberbut I can’t seem to get to it.”

“Well,don’t worry about it right now,” Nathanael stated. “You and Selina can work onthat wall later when you have time. For now, there are more pressing matters.All of the preparations are ready. We’re waiting for your word. Next, word hascome to us that your snitch in the NSA has been eliminated. In fact, his lastcommuniqué indicated that they were on to him and several other of ouroperatives and that the US government is looking into the records about recentarchaeological digs in this part of the world. They’re getting close to replaceingus.”

Hannibal’sexpression soured as he said, “Is that so? Zane was a close friend. How did hedie?”

“A car accident,”Dan said. “They ran him off a mountain road and he plunged off a cliff to hisdeath. It’s not known whom else they have discovered. But let’s hope they wereable to get away.”

“Let’s hopeso,” Hannibal agreed. “But worry not. They’ll never replace us. Just before I hadthe attack, Selina and I engaged the Temple’s defensive grid. In fact, we wereon our way to tell everyone when the attack occurred. This Temple is nowcompletely cloaked and shielded. They have nothing that can detect our presencehere.”

Nathanael’seyebrow rose with interest. “A cloaking device?” he asked.

“Yes, dad,”Selina answered. “It’s a cloaking device that cloaks this place so completelyand believably they could literally walk around on the mountain above us andnever know the Temple was underneath their feet.”

“Also, inaddition to the cloaking device, there is a shield around us as well. We areimpenetrable,” Hannibal added, smiling wryly. “So let the heathen rage. They’llnot replace this place. Even if by some strange stroke of luck they were able toget in here, I know how to reactivate the security devices from the maincontrol panel and even know where the self-destruct is for the core. If it evercame to that, this place would have to be destroyed but I don’t think that is inthe cards yet. I’ll show you how it works before I leave, Dan.”

“Do youknow how the core works now?” Nathanael asked with peaking interest, trying totease the bits and pieces out of Hannibal’s fractured memory.

“Yes,”Hannibal declared. “I do now. The core generates power on a planetary scale.When we first found it, we surmised that it was twisting the fabric of theuniverse into a knot in order to generate its power. We weren’t too far off onthat supposition. The people who made this place for all practical purposescreated an artificial singularity to power their civilization. The machine tapsinto the gravitational energy of the planet and utilizes the magma as fuel tocreate the magnetic field with the rings. The core is driven by those magnetic fieldsand it twists space-time into a helix-shaped singularity that releases morepower than most stars. The magnetic fields control and direct the power outputto the spire and thus to the rest of the station. If the magnetic fields wereto weaken or collapse in any way, the whole planet would be torn apart andconsumed in the runaway release of energy. Basically, in lay terms, they havecreated a special kind of artificial mini-quasar.”

“How do youknow all this?” Harry asked bluntly.

“You know,I’m not sure,” Hannibal answered. “It’s as if a fog is lifting and everythingis getting clearer now. I don’t seem to remember knowing this a couple of daysago.”

“It’s thedownload,” Nathanael said. “You have retained more of the information and areslowly recalling it. You said a quasar?”

Hannibalnodded. “Yeah,” he replied, “a mini-quasar. It’s the only way I can describeit.”

“That isvery interesting,” Nathanael replied. “Quasars are among the most energeticobjects in the universe. We encountered several small quasars on our side ofthe galaxy and the power they release is beyond imagination. We were able toharness and siphon the power generated by the black hole at the middle of oursystem but we couldn’t even get close to the quasars without risking suicide.The power released by them much of the time is more than entire galaxiesgenerate. We had no way of capturing or controlling it because it would destroyanything that came near it.”

“Well,anyway. This is not your run of the mill quasar like you replace in the vastnessof space. This is a special singularity that was engineered with one purpose inmind: to power a vast civilization that is obviously much bigger than theEarth,” Hannibal said, still puzzling over how he came to know the details ofthe core.

“Well, ifit’s a black hole or mini-quasar as you suggest, wouldn’t it destroy thisplanet if the self-destruct were activated?” Harry asked.

“Notnecessarily,” Hannibal answered. “You’re forgetting that this thing isartificial. Had it been a natural phenomenon, yes, it would. But this thingisn’t designed to destroy the planet when the self-destruct is activated. If,however, an overload were allowed to occur, yes, it would indeed destroy usall. The self-destruct is set up so that a gravitational pulse would occur whenthe singularity is nullified, wiping out the Temple and everything in a hundredand fifty mile radius around it. The pulse would disintegrate everything in itspath and cause a volcanic event of such magnitude that everything inside that radiuswould sink into the ocean. Let’s hope that it will not become necessary to useit.”

“Let’s not;that’s a weapon of last resort,” Nathanael agreed. “A volcanic event of thatmagnitude would have long-lasting repercussions on the climate of this planet;maybe even jump-starting a new Ice Age with the ash and dust it would send intothe atmosphere. Do you have any idea who built it?”

“No,”Hannibal replied, shaking his head. “That fact still eludes me. It’s somethingI’m dying to know.”

“So whatare we going to do next?” Harry asked, changing the subject.

“First,pray that I don’t have another massive download while I’m in a life threateningcircumstance,” Hannibal stated. “Second, enjoy the benefits of the Temple whilewe’re still here because in three days, we move. Third, check up on ouroperatives and bring them to safety if need be. The masters of the universe areon to our little endeavor. We have to be very careful from now on. All leave togo outside of the Temple will have to be monitored very carefully. Any trips tothe beach or the jungle will have to include security personnel. Fortunately, Idon’t think they have found our little beach hideaway yet. The point I’m makinghere is we will have to be on our guard from now on. We have entered the timewhen all men will seek our lives. The Temple is a safe haven. As long as weremain here, they cannot touch us. We have much to do. Dan, go and get Jerryand Chris and meet me back here. I’ll take you below and show you how tooperate the main control panel at the core just in case you have an emergency.Selina...you and Mary go and double-check the Temple’s supplies and oursupplies for the expedition. I’ll meet you in the portal chamber. Nathanael,Harry: you two go and brief the security team about what has happened and checkon our operatives. If they need retrieval, do it. Then gather everyone in theportal chamber where I’ll make an announcement has to who will run things whilewe are gone. Okay people…let’s do this.”

Nathanaelrose from his seat on the bed and said, “There’s something different aboutyou.”

Hannibaland Selina rose as well from the bed and Hannibal asked, “How so? I don’t feellike I’ve changed except for this fused telepathic link I have to Selina.”

“I’m notsure what it is, but I’m sure that it’s there; a strange aura about you,”Nathanael stated, looking Hannibal in the eye. “Maybe it has to do with yourlink to Selina. I just don’t know.”

Hanniballaid his hand on Nathanael’s shoulder. “Well, whatever it is, I hope it’s agood thing,” Hannibal stated. “Now let’s get to work. We have much to do in alittle amount of time.” He then looked at Selina and said telepathically Getsomething to eat before you start if you like.

Selinasmiled and answered back telepathically, You bet I will. I’m starving.They all turned and walked out into the living room, heading for the door.

“Dan,change of plan. Meet me in the cafeteria. I have to get something to eat. I’mstarving,” Hannibal stated.

“Sure thing,” Dan replied with an added nod.