Among Bright Stars... (17 page)

“Barnabas, and his warrior comrades have
rudimentary awareness.” Nadia assured. She did not like the fact
that the Falcanian military used these machines, created in
near-humanoid image, for cannon fodder. Though, she couldn't argue
against the logical trade off either. Utilizing the automatons on
the battlefield spared many Falcanian lives. So, Nadia tolerated
how they were placed on the front line to take the brunt. Didn't
care for it, but it needed to be. “Apes, chimpanzees, many humans
see them as close relations. A few even fund organizations to
champion personhood for primates because of that likeness.” Nadia
could almost see Arshira begin to think. The girl's inherent
empathy shined through. “We... That is, Morningstars nearest
relatives are probably closer to Barnabas here.” She licked her
lips. “I just feel better treating our mechanical help as
individuals, not things.” And the heart of it. “The manufacture of
Morningstars can be turned into an assembly line. Where we're grown
to maturity in a matter of months. Given our... Martial potential,
I would never want us thought of as merely expendable, easily
replenished muscle to be thrown away on warfare.”

Arshira nodded, understood her friends
sentiments better.

“You must love the Synthicon Node!”

“Synthicons are rough approximations, not
Morningstars.”

“What's that you're reading?” The
Valküri-General asked as she leaned over to look closer at the
tablet Nadia had been scrolling through. “Oh, the file on Guillaume
LaSalle.”

“Yes,” Nadia moved the page downward,
enlarged a picture of a young boy to its fullest resolution. “He
has a child, a son, Luc.” Biological puzzles such as this always
made Nadia giddy with excitement. When they were directly related
to her own beginnings, more so. Turhan Korelia would have been
proud of his daughter's enthusiasm. “The magnificent, encouraging
part, it seems that Guillaume LaSalle managed to father Luc on a
human woman,” she emphasized. “Which would make his son a hybrid
homo sapien-Morningstar.” Nadia continued elated. “If it could be
done once, it can happen many more times.”

“You und Sharr have children. Why does this
surprise you?”

“Yes, but I thought only thanks to the
Rashalon Engine,” not that her first pregnancy hadn’t been without
complications. “Sharr, and I are Falcanian. It brought us into
alignment. Making us compatible.” Nadia bit her lower lip, in that
way she did when thinking profound thoughts. “Let me put it this
way.” She pointed out design similarities. “I configured Falcanians
to be as close to Morningstars as I could. For instance, both
Falcanians and Morningstars have carbon nanofiber bones. Though
only Falcanians seem gifted, or perhaps cursed by hrisanar, there
are a number of other physiological similarities.” Nadia had
refashioned Sharr and his followers into cyborg approximations of
Morningstars. Not that she ever put it to them in those exact
terms. “Of course, because of the whole egg birthing thing I
rearranged the reproductive bits. Yet for molecular purposes, we
are by default similar. It’s what I knew. My Papa improved the
plumbing. That's why we can regrow teeth, and women, both
Falcanian, or Morningstar have the robust sort of ovum producing
ability that we do. Those originated from my own construction.
Turhan thought human design inefficient, rough. That It needed
improvement. This miracle of hybridization however proves Turban’s
brilliance tenfold. Even I was skeptical if we could reproduce with
a human, given our... Curious origins.”

“Honestly, Nadia I hadn't ever considered
that.”

“Neither did I.” The Queen laughed. “When
Sharr and I first began having sex, I didn't bother with condoms,
or the pill. I figured, we’re not even the same species. I was a
virgin, and I knew he was clean. So, no worry there. Figured,
there's no way I could get pregnant. At least, not without a little
help.” Nadia took Arshira's hand. “Guess I was lucky. Though, I'm
pretty sure my parents would have been euphoric had I gotten
pregnant. Turns out, we're as fertile as rabbits. Their invention
would then have proven a double success. Of course, at the time,
Sharr never really knew he was dating a... Morningstar.”

“No pressure there.”

“Huh?”

“Oh Nadia,” Arshira sighed. “I want to be a
mother.”

“It'll happen, give it time.”

“Miss Arshira,” Barnabas said. “May I get
you anything?”

“Ah – Tea please.”

“Look at you!” Nadia teased. “Next thing,
you'll want to give him a wage.”

[Earth: Sumeria, City Of Eridu 12000 Years
Ago]

With each step, a heavy cloven hoof mark
pressed deep into the sun scorched terra firma. Hastily humans
moved aside to make way for the twelve-foot tall ram-man. However,
not just humans parted for the cloven footed being, reptilian
creatures born of the Earth, Grall servants and soldiers for the
Earth’s masters moved aside so that this emissary from far off
Tashdan could walk without obstruction toward the city’s central
Ziggurat.

Woolly black fur covered its hide, and great
curved horns crowned its head. A flat golden hued face contained
large blue eyes which shimmered with metallic irises. Its flattened
nose pierced by a silver ring. The faun stood upright on massive
split toed paws, which supported a stocky, yet lofty body. One
five-fingered hand held scrolls, as the other stroked at a fleecy
grayed beard. The Kri-Skar exhaled woefully, continued his march
through the city. A starkly white shrouded human female brushed
past him, and for a moment they shared a long look before she
retreated into the shadow of stone building.

“You have at last arrived, it is good to see
you my friend!” Amelnakru, the Annunaki greeted. He hid his own
glimmering skin beneath sky-blue robes, out of touch from the
pervasive sunlight that caused his body to surge with power.

“The trip from Tashdan was long, and
tiring.” Syrax Mor grumpily replied. “I’d love a mug of that sweet
beer you people are fond of.” From out of his nostrils Syrax puffed
out a breath. “You seem to have done well rebuilding.”

“It has been a laborious effort.”

“Annunaki labor?” Syrax grunted, his
wrinkled brows creased ever more.

“Our Adamu have helped, under our watchful
guidance.”

“That’s why you made them after all.”
Snorted the goat creature. “To quarry for your gold, and to do all
those tasks that you so disdain.” He then laughed highly amused at
his own remarks. “Rumor has it that you enjoy their females as
sexual toys.”

Amelnakru for a moment appeared angered by
the accusation, the intensity of his skin glow brightened, but then
his mood changed. “They do share our blood. Some of us forgot that
and wished to see the Adamu die in a global desolation while we
waited it out on Nibiru. It is we down here that championed our
children. Perhaps one day they shall thank us for the gifts we’ve
given them?”

At mention of the planetship Syrax Mor
glanced upward toward the sky. He had no chance to stop at Nibiru
on his way from Tashdan. Overhead, in an elliptical orbit the great
planetship that his own people helped construct for the Annunaki
after the desolation of their own homeworld lumbered through this
star system which shifted the very tidal currents on every planet
that encircled Sol. This he understood had been the cause of the
very flood which nearly catastrophically wracked Earth not so long
ago.

“Come, let’s get you that beer.” Amelnakru
placed a radiant hand onto Syrax’s leather garbed back.

“My superiors have doubts.” Syrax Mor’s
golden face crinkled up with concern from across the table.

“They shouldn’t, we’ve administered this
system well, brought to it the pinnacle of life. Thanks to the
Kri-Skar’s seeding of this system genetically, the apes that came
out of the super lizard's destruction were closer to us in many
ways. Once we refined them, made them more like us that is.
According to our treaty The Council of Anu has sovereign claim on
this planet, and all that is manufactured here.” He sipped his own
beer, and then Amelnakru added: “Surely you World-Movers are out
there seeding other systems for your use?”

Mor closed his eyes, the weight of creation
upon him. “Indeed, but you fail to see the long term picture
Amelnakru. Preparing a system to produce useful life is no easy
task even for us.”

“We want only what is best for the galaxy.”
Protested Lord Amelnakru Darisam.

“And yet you have your Grall spreading
across the universe.”

“Our reptilians serve us --”

“To make war!” Syrax nearly growled. “The
Annunaki encroach upon Kri-Skar holdings.”

Amelnakru smiled, and the intensity on his
luminous skin throbbed. “We are curious about what you hide on that
planet of yours. Out of reach, secluded, and accessible only by an
Ojrbus.” Among his people, a story from the old world of Jalutith
came to Amelnakru’s mind. “Your kind, they were the first sapient
beings to inhabit this galaxy, a mystery to us. Some even claim
that we were a product of your labs. That once a Vril, who called
himself Iblis Jinn came to your King Kelaineus, requested for him
to make children in the Vril's image, us – We Annunaki.” Darisam
stared into his beer, thought it would be interesting to have met
that Vril. “There’s a word I once heard,” Amelnakru dared.
“Aki’doh, which we came from them... King Kelaineus used a device,
a cube that Jinn stole, to create us in his image.” He laughed.
“And thus, in crude mimicry, we created our Adamu.”

“We were there at the cracking of Jalutith,”
thundered Syrax Mor in order to change the topic. Kri-Skar did not
ever talk of the deal that King Kelaineus had once made with a
fallen Vril. More than Annunaki had come out of that great
experiment. Bloodthirsty things roamed the galaxy which were also
born on that day of Annunaki creation. “We helped you build Nibiru
in its aftermath, that your kind might yet still live and
thrive.”

“The cracking of Jalutith,” the Annunaki
ruminated. “Our sin, our price for seeking to look into The Source,
to become genuinely divine ourselves.”

“The sin was not yours alone,” Syrax
grunted. “We’d our own hand to play in it.”

Slight in frame, with tan skin, the girl
quietly slipped into the room. In a thick black braid her hair
reached down to her waist. Dressed in rich saffron clothing that
barely covered her curves, a scent of almond and cinnamon emanated
from her brown skin. In one hand she held a platter, on which
rested flat bread, cheese and fruit for her master. “My Lord,” she
spoke reverently, and then bowed, a hint of rapture, or more
accurately, fear in the presence of her god could be seen in the
servant girl’s large blue, though they veered purple, almond
eyes.

“Ninlil” Amelnakru smiled.

Syrax Mor did not miss the expression on
Amelnakru face. Unabashed, he leered at the nubile human girl,
clear lust and if Syrax were to judge by the girl’s expression of
fear, the Annunaki took from her what he desired. In a blatantly
lustful manner the Annunaki touched the girl’s cheek, proudly
stated: “Is not Ninlil a picture of beauty Syrax?”

“Not enough hair for my taste.” Snorted
Syrax. He found her, as well as most humans, rather plain.

Amelnakru laughed, his voice boomed off the
walls.

“What is this?” Shura asked while the
recorded drama played out.

“History.” Her own Annunaki keeper
explained. “That servant girl is key to a most unsettling moment
for those of my kind who stepped up to defend the Adamu against
Enlil’s wrath.”

Shura looked to Ungal-zaggisi and asked:
“Why?”

“Ninlil would be the cause of Amelnakru’s
murder by a human hand.”

“Which human took his life?” Wondered Shura
in a whisper.

“The court poet, Essuru, spurred on by his
love for the servant girl, took Amelnakru’s blood.”

And then the scene shifted, as if it were
some kind of liquid, the hologram that had encompassed Shura and
Ungal-zaggisi melted away to solidify into a garden of date palms.
“Where are we now?” she asked while she walked amongst the fronds
to find a pool at the center of a palace.

“The human governor's residence.”
Ungal-zaggisi explained to Shura.

Two figures, a male and female sat beside a
pool. The exceedingly beautiful woman wore blue, aristocratic
finery and bejeweled herself from head to toe with precious gold
bands. Piercing azure almond eyes filled with an intelligence and
wonder gazed in adoration upward at a man who waited beside
her.

“Ninkasi, I despise how he treats her.” A
sharp hawk faced man exclaimed. His red-brown hair tied at the back
by an onyx band. The poet’s crimson-vest opened in the front and he
held his chest outward, a visible birthmark, a Möbius strip could
be seen over his heart. Essuru stroked his pointed beard with a
fierce indomitable pride.

“Oh Essuru!” Lamented Ninkasi. “What can you
do? She is his servant, we are all their servants.”

Essuru took the girls chin in his hand. “We
are something more, or one day we shall be Princess Ninkasi, though
they are gods, I think that even those who from the stars came fear
what they’ve created in we mere humans. In us they do not see the
stagnation that rests in their own hearts.”

To speak such words were near blasphemy,
Ninkasi felt uneasy with her beloveds talk. “Always a poet, it’s a
pity your fine words are wasted on Ninlil.”

“Essuru’s words are elegant.” A small wispy
voice admitted. “They move my heart in ways that Lord Amelnakru
cannot.”

“Ninlil, are you eavesdropping?” Demanded
the Princess.

“I’m sorry.” Ninlil looked down toward her
bare feet, where an anklet, which Essuru had gifted to her shined
in precious gold. The anklet was most expensive thing she
owned.