‘What you say is true,’ the female Guardian admits. ‘The Balam was here when we arrived, we still don’t know its origins.’
The younger male steps forward. ‘Like you, we once lived on Earth as Homo sapiens. But our species was threatened by a great cataclysm-a super volcano, whose imminent eruption would cast Earth into a species-ending ice age. Some of us were chosen to begin our lives anew on Mars. Ours was the last group that managed to escape Earth before the caldera erupted. On our journey to the Red Planet, our twelve ships were seized by the wormhole, which deposited our ships in this time and place.’
Dominique covers her mouth. ‘Wait a minute… are you saying everyone on Earth will die? When will this happen? How soon?’
‘Less than a decade after the Hero Twins’ twentieth year.’
‘Oh my God.’
‘The planet we now orbit was once inhabited by an advanced race of humans. Before we arrived, this transhuman culture made a breakthrough in human evolution. By linking their minds into a collective consciousness, they were able to create a resonant “supermind,” one that would allow them to transcend the physical world into the spiritual. This discovery ultimately divided the culture in two. Those who sought to abandon their physical bodies in order to walk in God’s shadow eventually evolved into a posthumanoid species. Those who opposed this evolutionary blasphemy abandoned the planet.’
The female takes over. ‘The physical and spiritual realms are connected by a nexus-a transspatial existence that bridges the gap between our physical dimension and the spiritual worlds. By creating a collective mind, the transhumans could bypass physical death and enter the spiritual realm using high-frequency psychotronic harmonics. That gave them access to the nexus, but still prevented them from entering the higher spiritual realms they sought. In order to gain access, they needed another life-form-a host species-one capable of reproducing these psychotronic harmonics within the nexus itself. From genetic catalogues, the transhumans selected a species once indigenous to the planet. Using advances in gene splicing and cybernetics, they began cloning and genetically manipulating generations of these biological creatures to serve their own selfish needs.’
A volumetric image appears before them. It depicts a crater-shaped sea of silvery, almost metallic liquid. Moving just below the surface are immense serpentine creatures, their broad backs churning the undulating broth.
Dominique’s eyes widen. ‘It’s the creature-the one that rose from the Gulf of Mexico, the one Mick destroyed in Chichen Itza.’
‘Tezcatilpoca,’ Jacob whispers. ‘The Mayan name for “smoking mirror.”’
‘The mirror into the soul,’ the female adds. ‘These docile, intelligent beasts were genetically altered and enhanced to exist on both sides of the “mirror of existence.” It is their harmonics that summoned the wormhole. Their posthuman masters used the Tezcatilpoca to pass through the nexus into the spiritual world. Our fellow castaways-our own fallen brothers and sisters-followed them down this same dark path. Now the vanquished cry out to us for salvation. They must be saved.’
Jacob circles the female elder. ‘The Nephilim, the Fallen Ones. These are your fellow castaways?’
‘Yes. All evolved into transhumans within years after being exposed to the planet’s water supply.’
Dominique fights to remain in control. ‘What does any of this have to do with Mick, or my sons?’
‘Michael and your sons carry the Hunahpu gene.’
‘I know that! What I don’t know is what a damn Hunahpu is.’
The female answers, her motherly demeanor intended to soothe. ‘Before they escaped from Xibalba, our Guardian founders took samples of posthuman DNA. The samples were taken onboard the Balam when it journeyed through the wormhole, chasing after the Xibalban transport vessel carrying the creature. The Hunaphu are a Homo sapiens bloodline genetically enhanced with posthuman DNA.’
The older male takes over. ‘The Abomination’s plan was to send one of the Tezcatilpoca on a transport ship back through the wormhole to Earth, where the creature’s presence would create a cosmic bridge between both worlds and time periods. Fearing the Abomination would attempt to lead her people to old Earth, the Guardian downed the vessel, only they failed to kill the creature.’
‘Fortunately,’ Jacob says, ‘my father, possessing Hunahpu blood, was able to circumvent their plan.’
‘I don’t understand,’ Dominique says, looking to the elder Guardian male. ‘How can Lilith be Hunahpu? I thought Mick was your chosen one?’
‘Michael Gabriel was only one of several hundred possible genetic anomalies the Guardian hoped would evolve in time to activate the Balam ’s weapon system. Lilith’s great-uncle found a way to manipulate the Hunaphu bloodline. This mutation causes a deeply rooted schizophrenia that was passed on to Lilith.’
‘And where is Mick? What happened to him?’
‘Michael and our fellow colonists are trapped in a netherworld, a bubble of existence created by Devlin Mabus.’
‘Devlin?’
‘Lilith’s son, a pure posthuman, very powerful, conceived from two Hunahpu parents.’
Jacob sits, suddenly light-headed.
‘Who’s the father?’ Dominique asks. ‘Jake?’
‘I don’t know, Mother. Yes, it’s possible. For that matter, it could be Manny or another Hunahpu in our time.’
The three Guardian elders go silent, their minds exchanging thoughts at light speed.
Dominique loses patience. ‘I don’t care about this Devlin or Lilith, I came here to find Mick. Tell me what happened to him and how I can reach him.’
The younger male is first to speak. ‘Michael Gabriel journeyed into Devlin’s realm to save the Nephilim, but Lilith and her son had been forewarned. He remains trapped in the netherworld. Lilith uses his light to control her followers and keep them in line. Michael’s light attracts them like a moth to flame. It gives them hope, but Michael cannot escape. Now, only the combined strength of the Hero Twins can free One Hunahpu and the Fallen Ones.’
The elder Guardian male looks hard at Jacob. ‘Which means our mission has failed. Your brother should have made the journey, not First-Mother.’
Dominique ignores the remark. ‘How many years have passed since Mick’s arrival?’
‘Just over a Xibalban century,’ the female answers. ‘Approximately 114 Earth years.’
‘Oh… God, how’s that possible?’
The female takes her hand. ‘Dominique, Michael hasn’t aged in a physical sense. His body remains in suspended animation. It’s his mind that is being tortured.’
‘Tortured?’
‘By the Abomination. She is a leech to his soul.’
Jacob stands. ‘I came here to save my father and rescue the Nephilim. Tell me what I have to do?’
‘You may already be too late.’ The older male points a finger.
A volumetric display activates. The astrotopographic projection races through space, approaching a monstrous blazing red fireball of a star. As the red supergiant grows closer, its surface cools in color to that of a soft lightbulb – revealing the presence of a second star lurking behind its mass. The smaller star, a white dwarf, is under tremendous turmoil, its surface bloating.
‘The red supergiant will go supernova in thirty-one hours, seventeen minutes. When the event happens, it will disperse massive doses of radiation and energy across this sector of the Galaxy. Nothing on this moon or the planet will survive.’
‘What will you do?’ Dominique asks.
The image changes, zooming past Xibalba to focus upon the planet’s smaller moon-an immense potato-shaped starship. ‘This damaged transport was left behind by the transhuman culture that vacated the planet. Our scientists have effected repairs. With the wormhole’s passage now secured, we’ll be able to use the vessel to escape before the star explodes.’