Elohim III: The Return (21 page)

At that moment, three large figures begin walking out of the darkness ahead of them. Mastema doesn't appear to have aged a day since entering the underground abode, but like his officers, he is pale and filthy. His robes are nothing more than loose rags. He and his officers fall on their knees before Immanuel, and he begins to beg, pleading, "Use your father's sword and end this quickly, Lord. We fear the fire reserved for us. Has our confinement all this time not quenched your just thirst for revenge? We prithee for a merciful end, holy son of Elohim, knowing our crime was your murder."

Immanuel looks down at the pitiful trio, but says nothing to them. "Take them to the ship and lock them in chains!" says Immanuel to his security team. "Clean them up and feed them before we meet with Michael in Rome."

The team sets off the charges which have been placed inside the mountain and watch as it begins to crumble. Then they depart from the area. The resulting earthquake is felt as far away as Bagdad. The collapsed mountain creates an artificial dam which blocks the flow of the Diyala River into the Tigris south of Bagdad.

Mastema, his two officers, and Sin are each given an injection during their short flight to Rome. All four have been groomed and dressed in such a way that they appear as any group of middle-aged businessmen. Each one is also handed a significant amount of local currency. When they arrive at their destination, the ship's hatches are opened and all are told to exit. Immanuel then addresses the four Anunna rebels, who are bewildered by what is happening.

"You have three days to find Baalthazar and convince him to accept my offer," Immanuel tells them. "We will transport him and yourselves to Alpha Base One on Titan before the end of this week, where you may again have your freedom at the end of two shars."

"We know not where he is," says Mastema. "What if we cannot locate him? What if he refuses?"

"At the end of three days," says Immanuel, "we will return here again for you to begin your journey. Bring Baalthazar and all of his Anunna that are willing to go. Any of you who do not return will be burned to death."

"What if we cannot return, or we are delayed?" asks Sin.

"Because of your injection, we have but to send a signal from the heavens, and your blood will begin to boil until your body bursts into flames. Nothing will be left but ashes. Baalthazar is in the city. I suggest you begin at the Vatican."

"What is this Vatican?" asks General Mastema.

"It is where the leaders of the nations will meet today. Baalthazar will be nearby," explains Immanuel.

The leader and primary speaker for the papacy, who has emerged from the chaos of the previous week, has decided to try and persuade the nations to use their military might and their nuclear arsenals to destroy the aliens with a first strike. He suggests that the alien ship which has appeared above the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem is a purposeful desecration of the site and a blasphemous attack against the memory of the Lord. He tells them that he has been praying night and day since the asteroid first appeared in orbit. So many faithful members of the church have been abducted, that he believes the aliens will return and either kill or abduct the rest of humanity if nothing is done to stop them.

"They are demanding disarmament of our greatest weapons, because that is the only way mankind can be utterly defeated without injury to themselves," says the Roman leader.

One of the representatives responds by saying, "They will surely send the asteroid to Earth if we attack using nuclear weapons. One of our nation's cities will pay the ultimate price for such an attack."

"A sacrifice must be made for the good of all. If we do nothing, I predict we will all be enslaved by these creatures. They are not of God. They are from Satan's domain. The Apostle Paul named him as the prince of the power of the air. He has come down to us and robbed us of our families and children. We must fight him, and pray the Lord will fight beside us. Our victory over these monsters can be won, but we must demonstrate our determination before God, through our prayers and our actions, beginning here this day! Let us pray."

Many of the leaders present are persuaded by the speaker; others are not. Those who are begin talking among themselves and soon decide to plan a coordinated nuclear attack against the New Jerusalem and the flagship. It is scheduled to commence in one week. Their meetings are held in secret, so no one will suspect the attack until it is underway, but news reports of the meetings between the world leaders and the persuasive speeches of the Vatican's representative make headlines across the world. The city of Rome is abuzz with talk of the new leader and how he has stepped up to become a dominant world figure with the leadership skills to take charge and rid the earth of mankind's threatening alien menace.

Mastema, Sin, and the two with them happen to recognize the face of the new leader of the Vatican when the news breaks. He is one of Baalthazar's Anunna comrades who had once served with General Mastema. They are soon able to locate him and tell him about Immanuel's offer. By the time two days have passed, Balthazar is also informed, but he is not easily persuaded to accept Immanuel's offer and suspects a trap has been laid for him and his comrades.

All four, along with the Vatican leader, proceed to Baalthazar's yacht which is harbored in the Mediterranean near Rome. The yacht is specially designed with gold-plated interior ceilings and equipped with a deep-water mini-sub. The crew consists of Anunna rebels loyal to their leader. Baalthazar decides to imprison Mastema aboard his yacht and allows the two officers to either return with his son, Sin, to the designated meeting place on the following day or remain aboard the boat. Only one of the two decide to remain with Baalthazar, Mastema, and the Anunna rebel crew. Sin returns with one of the two officers to the designated meeting place with a message from Baalthazar for Immanuel.

The injections that were given to the four Anunna rebels contain a concentrated dose of specifically engineered nanites that are trapped in the liver, where they group together and are activated by a specific
liver enzyme
. Once sufficiently concentrated together and activated, they form what is comparable to one of the locator tags, which have been placed by the Igigi on the world's nuclear weapons. A selected electromagnetic frequency can be delivered which caused the nanites to disperse and disintegrate, releasing their molecular stored energy and burning all of the surrounding tissue. A small number of nanites can be manipulated and utilized to perform targeted cauterization of damaged liver cells, but the activation of a high concentration of these nanites in the blood and liver results in an excruciation death, resembling what has at times been referred to as
spontaneous human combustion
.

Unknown to Baalthazar or any of the Anunna rebels, Michael has been tracking the movement and whereabouts of Mastema, Sin and the two rebel officers, since they were released near the city of Rome. When all four entered into Baalthazar's yacht, their signals could no longer be received because they were below the gold-plated ceiling of Baalthazar's yacht, so Michael left immediately to investigate the group's last known location and spotted the harbored boat. When Sin and the one officer left the yacht to head back to the meeting point, their two signals again began to ping on their detector equipment. Immanuel knows that only two of the four are returning, even before Sin and the officer arrives with Baalthazar's message. Michael continues to monitor the yacht's location as it heads out to sea toward the island of Sicily.

Baalthazar's message reads:
"I will have Titan, but first I will destroy you and the earthlings. When all of Earth is mine, I will take Eris and assume my rightful place on the throne of your father, Elohim."

20. Armageddon

"Thus Satan talking to his nearest mate

With head uplift above the wave, and eyes

That sparkling blazed; his other parts besides

Prone on the flood, extended long and large

Lay floating many a rood, in bulk as huge

As whom the fables name of monstrous size,

Titanian, or Earth-born, that warred on Jove,

Briareos or Typhon, whom the den

By ancient Tarsus held, or that sea-beast

Leviathan, which God created of all his works

Created hugest that swim th' Ocean stream.

Of thundring
Aetna
, whose combustible

And fewel'd entrals thence conceiving Fire,

Sublim'd with Mineral fury, aid the Winds,

And leave a singed bottom all involv'd

With stench and smoak: Such resting found the sole

Of unblest feet. Him followed his next Mate,

Both glorying to have scap't the Stygian flood

As Gods, and by thir own recover'd strength,

Not by the sufferance of supernal Power.

'Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heav'n...

With rallied Arms to try what may be yet

Regaind in Heav'n, or what more lost in Hell?'

So Satan spake, and him Beelzebub

Thus answer'd...
'Awake, arise, or be for ever fall'n.'
"

--from Paradise Lost
by John Milton

Within minutes after receiving Baalthazar's message from Sin, Immanuel and Michael converge above the yacht in their two cloaked ships. The yacht is now anchored near the island of Sicily, and the crew is preparing to lower its mini-sub into the water. They watch as Baalthazar and the Vatican leader board the two-man vessel and descend below the surface. Michael dives into the sea with his vessel to maintain a constant surveillance of the sub. When it is located, he fires a dart which attaches a magnetic locator tag to its exterior hull.

Immanuel orders his ship's captain to uncloak and hover directly above the yacht. The Anunna rebels aboard the boat are suddenly overcome with fear and dread, seeing the Anunna ship directly above them blocking out the sun. Some grab their weapons and begin firing at it, but their barrage has little effect. They cannot use their largest weapons at such a close range directly overhead without risking damage to the yacht.

Gabriel is given the nod to activate the combustible nanites of the rebel officer who had chosen to remain with Baalthazar and Mastema, instead of returning to the designated meeting place with Sin, as he was ordered. The officer aboard the yacht begins to scream in pain. Blue flames begin erupting from every orifice in his body. Mindless, he begins to run amuck in full view of all the other crew members who witness his insane suffering. Then he finds his way to the top deck and jumps overboard, hoping to extinguish the flames, but it doesn't. The others go to the railings and watch, as he continues to burn and flail about on the surface of the water, until he stops moving. The nanites continue to consume his body until it disintegrates completely, leaving nothing but ashes. Some of the ashes sink below the surface. The rest slowly drift away in the current. The rebels raise their hands in surrender and look up at the hovering ship.

"Where is Mastema?" asks Immanuel using the ship's external audio.

"He is locked below deck," they yell in reply.

"Release him and bring him out," says Immanuel.

Soon General Mastema appears. He is evacuated from the yacht, extracted into the Anunna ship, restrained, and brought before Immanuel.

"I was bound and could not do as you demanded and return with Baalthazar's son and my other officer," says Mastema.

"When is the submarine scheduled to resurface?" asks Immanuel.

"Baalthazar will remain below for a full week in Neptune's former palace, my Lord," says Mastema. "Then they are to return for him. There are others he can summon as well."

"I will be returning you, Sin, and your other officer to the boat," Immanuel tells him.

Immanuel instructs Gabriel to ascend to the top of Mount Aetna, which they can see in the distance, rising in the center of Sicily. When they arrive, he tells Mastema and Sin to look below the ship into the heart of the volcano.

"This will be your fate and that of all the Anunna rebels who are unwilling to endure their one thousand years of imprisonment on Titan," says Immanuel. "After that you can be free. Tell your comrades to bring all of the Anunna rebels on Earth. The ship bound for Titan will board from the
battlefield of Megiddo
on the tenth day of this seventh month."

Michael has continued to monitor Baalthazar's submarine during this time. Upon reaching the entrance of Neptune's ancient fortress within the undersea mountain below the surface, a signal from the sub opens a portal, and it enters. The portal then closes behind the sub, leaving no evidence of the existence of the cavernous palace. Michael records the location and resurfaces.

After being released, and when both Anunna ships have departed, General Mastema sends a signal to the sub alerting Baalthazar to respond. Then he tells him, "You must resurface immediately, otherwise we are all lost and our plans will fail. There is little time."

The other rebels then realize that Mastema's confinement had merely been a ruse. Baalthazar decides to return his son, Sin, back to the fortress in the mini-sub, where he is protected from the Anunna's signals that could kill him in the same manner as their fallen comrade, who had suddenly burst into flames before their eyes. Then ship and crew return to Rome.