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The Series Episode Eight The slaves of Titan On entry to the pyramid, Diana admires the ornate golden carvings on the walls and ceilings which tower thirty feet above her, the floor inclines following a mosaic path in the shape of a gigantic SPIRAL which leads to another emerald studded door, this door opens as Diana stands on the mosaic entrance, she senses Ares will be in this chamber. Just as she thought he was seated before her looking surprised as he speaks. "You have been able to do what no other person has ever done, what manner of being are you, where do you come from?" Diana bows to King Ares. "Pardon this intrusion Sir, I will try to answer the questions to your satisfaction, my name is Diana, I come from another dimension in TIME & SPACE, my people have been in existence for millions of years, they evolved into energy beings who once had human form." Diana pauses then continues. "They conquered the UNIVERSE and have acquired all the knowledge that is possible to acquire, they became bored with their position and created me." Diana pauses again. "Sadly I've made some mistakes, they exiled me to your solar system." Ares sits listening to Diana with an intense look in his gray eyes his resemblance was like no other she had seen, he had a domed bald head with waspish features and pale gray skin. He says. "Why do you seek me?" "King Ares I have information of great importance, I've discovered your planet will face terrible danger, I'm here to help you if I can, first I must take you on a journey to prove my warnings are valid." "Diana I haven't left this place for many years and have no desire to do so." "Unfortunately you don't have the time or a choice sir, there is terrible danger if you don't listen." "Diana our satellites and our ships have not reported any odd occurrences anywhere in the Solar System, we have a grid complex of pyramids controlled by my CLONES who run all the functions of Atlantis, if anything WAS wrong I would be the first to know." "King Ares there are always exceptions to every rule." Diana passes her hand over her RUBY belt, an APERTURE appears on the wall of the King's chamber, the king stares in disbelief. "I don't understand this technology please explain?" "Sir this is a WINDOW to my domain, I can WILL it to be anywhere at any TIME, will you please come with me so I may prove these things to you?" "Is there a breathable atmosphere Diana?" "Yes I've provided one for you at your planet's temperature." Ares follows Diana through the APERTURE, she beckons him to join her at the WALL, he gasps as he finds himself looking down at his planet of Atlantis from far out in space. "To prove myself to you king Ares where would you like to go?" "Diana I can't leave my complex for longer than an Atlantian day" "Don't worry sir, I'll bring you back almost at the exact moment you leave." "If that's possible take me to the fourteenth moon of the sixth planet from the SUN, we have extensive mining interests there." "My people call that planet Saturn, and the moon you speak of we call Titan." Diana gazes into a section of the WALL, then Titan's surface comes into view. "Ares would you like to go and take a look around?" "We can't Diana, the atmosphere is different to Atlantis, my slaves have been modified to breathe the gas." "We will visit anyway King Ares." Diana creates a transparent bubble round them with seats in it, they move through the Aperture and travel across Titans' surface. There was a hazy orange sky in a twilight zone of vaporous gas, spuming volcanic ridges and hot steamy sulfuric seas, a hideous unlivable place. "King Ares where are your mines?" "Everything is underground with the exception of our spaceport, we have to find the port if you want to see the mines Diana, we mine for gold, silver, copper and rare minerals, smelting and refining is done here too." They travel high above the surface until the spaceport is located, on sighting it they land in the same way an Atlantian space ship would, they go through air locked doors where service robots were in attendance, a metallic voice speaks to them through a wall that has a surveillance device next to it. "Welcome visitors from the mother planet, please get closer to the SCANNER so I can check your authorization." Ares and Diana step closer and experience a light scanning them. "Authorization is completed, we detect Atlantian DNA ..... please continue to identify yourself." Diana replies. "This is King Ares of Atlantis and I'm Diana of Earth." "King Ares of Atlantis, and Diana of Earth what a great privilege and honor, such an unexpected pleasure, you both have complete freedom of our humble mining complex, please go through the third portal, refreshments will be waiting for you, if it pleases you there are visual displays of the entire operation to look at." Diana views the mines on the screens. It was evident at first glance this was a terrible place of death and misery beyond belief, the miners worked in horrible conditions, they were being irradiated by deposits of radium and barium under the volcanic ridges, extreme heat, extreme dampness and long hours of laborious work, their only reward after endless days of 16 hour shifts was to be fed. Diana turns to Ares with compassion in her eyes. "King Ares where do these slaves come from, how long can they survive in these conditions, why don't you use robots?" "My dear Diana we have a plentiful supply of them from the planet you call Earth, we take them from their tribes, program and modify them, give them work quotas and food rations dependent on the quantity of work they do, they have a vacant look don't they, we take their memory and homing instincts from them, equip them with back-packs to breathe, then they go to work." Diana has a stunned look on her face as Ares continues. "They usually last about one revolution of our planet round the SUN, there are plenty more in suspended animation for replacements, we have hundreds of mines and thousands of slaves, how could we maintain so many ROBOTS in this corrosive gas?" Ares pauses with a proud look on his face. "Anyway Diana, robots indeed, they are LIVING robots!" Diana answers. "All this is very nice for you and your people Ares, now let's look at why I'm here, you will see why I've made contact with you." DIANA takes Ares to her WALL in her DIMENSION, on it was a model of the SOLAR SYSTEM displaying a HOLOGRAPHIC MODEL, there was a TENTH PLANET, a twin sister to JUPITER had become a rogue planet rushing away from the SOLAR SYSTEM at high speed, then returning, towing with it a family of enormous chunks of ICE, COMETS and ASTEROIDS WHICH WOULD THREATEN THE ENTIRE SOLAR SYSTEM. |
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