Titan Encounter (13 page)

The older man
nodded. “But you have had a lifetime to deal with your actions and the
resulting feelings.”

He shook his head
slowly and tried to bury the resurrected memories.

“For them it is as
if just yesterday their mother died, they were abandoned, enslaved, struggled
to survive, and killed people.” He held up an antique slate. “I read the report
while I waited for you to wake.”

Justin stared at him
trying to understand. “They feel everything from my life as if it happened to
them just yesterday?”

The old man nodded.
“For them it all
did
happen yesterday.”

It was hard for
Justin to feel empathy for his interrogators, but they had paid a price for
what they had done to him. He had spent a lifetime building dark corners in his
mind that he rarely visited. He sighed and no longer wished to add to their
pain.

“We will watch them
for a time to ensure they do no harm to themselves.”    

Putting on his
shirt, he pushed the grilling from his mind. He turned and faced Leo. “Who are
you? Where is Naomi?  Is Mara okay?”

“Mara is recovering.
Naomi is well and the people looking after her are fine—as long as they keep
their distance.”

Justin grinned as he
remembered his own first moments struggling with Naomi. “Where are they? I want
to see them.” He paused. “Where am I?”

Leo motioned for him
to follow.  “I need some breakfast.”

“I need some
answers,” he growled.

Standing at the
door, the older man looked back at Justin with a grin. “And you shall have
them, but patience is a virtue.”

Answers would only
come, Justin realized, when Leo was willing to give them and that appeared to
be during breakfast. Frustrated, he followed the older man out the door with
the dog close behind. They stepped into a large, well equipped, but nearly
empty, medical ward. The gleaming pastel walls, polished floors, and shining equipment,
seemed to announce the care of the staff.

Justin turned and
smiled at a young, very pregnant, woman. She smiled back and returned to caring
for one of the few patients. The two men continued down the length of the room
toward large double doors.  Only as they neared the exit did he realize he
had sensed the woman’s presence before turning to see her.  While ahead of
him, leading the way out, Leo remained a blank slate, like a holographic
image. 

Desperately he
wanted to know who these people were. The two interrogators, with their
incredible mental powers, seemed to be Titans, but Leo’s mind didn’t register
with Justin at all.
How would I phrase it? “I’m curious, are all of you the
criminal traitors who committed genocide against the human race?
Just wondering.”

Leo looked over his
shoulder with a quizzical grin at Justin. The doors before him opened and he
stepped through.

As Justin exited, he
decided just to ask.  “Are you a Ti…?” He stopped and stared out the
window before him.  Slowly he stepped forward. The arch of a giant
microworld
stretched out in the dim morning light before
him. From his left the great oval rose high above. There, hanging over him,
were great bodies of water, farms and forests. Then on his right the arc
continued down until it disappeared beyond a hill.  He looked straight
ahead trying to gauge the length of the vessel. The far end disappeared in the
mist. Obviously, it was many times larger than Liberty, the
microworld
he had so recently fled.
I’m not on that frozen planet, Lepanto.
 

Leo stood beside
him. “An engineer friend of mine once described this ship as a world on the
inside of a tin can,” He pointed to vast fields and forests that appeared to
hang down from the surface several kilometers above, “but I think that minimizes
the beauty of it.”

Far above, banks of
huge lights were just coming on, simulating dawn. Justin shook his head slowly.
He had heard stories of vessels constructed on such a scale for the
Nephilim
, but they were part temple, part warship. This mammoth
vessel appeared to be a complete ecosystem and at least one city, all hanging
in an arch before him.  Justin turned toward Leo his mouth agape.
“Terra Nova?
Is this the
microworld
Terra Nova?”

“Not what I would
call micro, but yes it is—or rather was.”

“But at the end of
Titanomachy
War, the Titans destroyed it during the Battle
for Earth.”

“Is that what your
history books tell you?” He turned and strolled toward the building exit.

With eyes on the
vista beyond the glass, Justin followed. Several dozen people lingered in the
lobby. With his gaze only occasionally darting from the window, he hardly
noticed the people glancing in his direction.     

As they stepped out
of the building, Leo continued.  “We rechristened the ship and gave it the
name Exodus because….”

“You took the
ship—why?” Justin hurried to catch up.

“We needed it.” Leo
shook his head. “Why
would we would
destroy such an
impressive unarmed vessel?”

Because
you’re Titans, and you were designed to kill or destroy everything in your
path.
But,
the old man didn’t seem like a killer so Justin held his tongue and simply
shrugged.  

Leo led him down
along a broad sidewalk with the dog close behind.

At the sound of
splashing, Justin looked over the rail and discovered a stream following the
walkway on their right.  Water dashed over and around rocks on the way
toward the plaza just ahead.  He looked back up the gentle slope behind
them, but couldn’t decide which of the several large buildings on, or near the
top they had exited.

The older man
followed his gaze. “That is the hospital complex.” He pointed. “You were in the
smaller clinic just to the left.” Turning, he gestured. “Just ahead, in the
plaza, there is an excellent little restaurant that overlooks what we call
Sunrise Park.”

The dawn grew
brighter as they walked. Justin glanced up at the massive banks of lights high
above. “Why do you call it Sunrise Park?”

“Because
many of us start the day there.”

Leo walked to a
table as they entered the square, but Justin went to the rail that overlooked
the commons.  With the dog seated beside him, he took in the vista. 
The stream flowed along one side into a reservoir about one hundred meters
away.

In front of him, and
just below, a large grassy field filled with people. Formations of men and
women in sweaty, athletic gear jogged into the park then lined up.
Those in
the military formations were probably Titans, but others mingled at the edges?
Civilians?
Families?

Justin watched the
growing crowd.  Three groups formed to his left. Justin moved in that
direction, but bumped into the dog. “Ah, excuse me.
I,
ah want to….”

Thor moved out of
his way.

“Thanks.” He
followed the railing to a better position.

Two men, each
holding a flag, trotted to positions near the center front of the
formation.  No breeze stirred, but the flags fluttered as the men trotted
into position. One flag was inscribed with a number, 33, while the other bore a
fish symbol like the one etched in Naomi’s medallion and on the uniform of the
officer in his painting back in what had been his home.

A man in a neat
green uniform and gray hair at his temples took a position in front of the
middle unit. The uniform was like that of his interrogators and Justin assumed
he must be an officer.

Slowly the man
scanned along the men and women before him. “Platoon sergeants, report!”

One of the sergeants
saluted. “Sir, first platoon is present and accounted for.” In turn, the other
two sergeants reported.

After the reports,
the officer gave the plan of the day and then slowly scanned the men. “Okay
Marines, when you’re dismissed form up along the service road for physical
training. Platoon sergeants dismiss your men.” 

As the platoons
moved out a young man ran up to one of the sergeants standing almost
immediately below Justin.

“
Sarge
,
what about the rumors of strangers on….”

“Haven’t I told you
jarheads not to listen to rumors?”

“But
Sarge
, the prophecy.”

“No news is true
unless, or until, I tell you it’s true.” He looked back over the group. “Come
on, get a move on.”

Back in the CFS,
Justin had visited a few military installations as part of his business and
seen similar morning gatherings. 
If they are Titans, they seem very
normal—in a military kind of way.

“The food is getting
cold.”

Justin turned at the
sound of Leo’s voice. The older man sat at a table with two breakfast plates
not three meters away. “Go ahead. I’ll be right there.” He returned his gaze to
the park below as a man about his age walked into the plaza carrying a child
and holding the hand of a woman.  With the woman at the soldier’s side
Justin could not see his uniform, but something about it drew his
attention.  The couple strolled into the empty space left when the
previous unit jogged off. Just below him they stopped. The man kissed the child
then handed the infant to the woman.  Still holding her hand, the man
spoke to her, but the words were lost in the noise of the plaza. Then he kissed
her and jogged off toward one of the other formations.  It was as the man
jogged off that Justin saw his uniform. The soldier was a shadow warrior, the
elite shock troops of the Titan.

Cold fear gripped
him.

Thor whined and
rubbed his head against Justin’s leg.

Taking a deep breath
he found the mother and child in the crowd below. Anywhere else and he might
have assumed, from there casual affection, that they were a family. 
Shadow
Warriors have feelings?  Titans have families and children?  Perhaps
the Titans have changed over the centuries. 
He sighed and a smile
spread slowly across his face. Images of Naomi and Mara flashed through his
mind.
Perhaps, just perhaps, we have found a refuge.
He turned to speak
to Leo.
“Oh, the food.”

Leo looked up from
his mostly empty plate and, with mouth full, motioned for Justin to join him at
the table.

Justin stepped from
the rail and immediately caught the eye of a passerby staring in his direction.
The man turned away but, as Justin sat, he noticed another person watching him.
Once again, he quickly turned away. Then as a woman walked by, she turned and,
just for a moment, their eyes locked.

Leo pushed his plate
away. “What did you want to ask me?”

Justin’s eyes darted
about the plaza. Even the dog stared at him.
Why is everyone looking at me?

Leo smiled as he
leaned back in his chair. “Everyone is looking at you because you broadcast
your every thought to them.”

Justin stared at the
older man. Nothing emanated from him. He looked at the people in the plaza,
some of whom still stared in his direction, but he could only sense them with
his eyes.
I sure would like to learn how to hide my thoughts.
He fixed
his eyes on Leo. 
I’ve wondered how to ask this and now
appears
to be a good time and this seems a good way—are you
a Titan?”

Leo seemed about to
laugh. “Yes. Most of us are.”

“Most?”

“There are some
Norms with us.”

Justin tapped his
fork on the table as he recalled the pregnant woman he had sensed on the
hospital ward. “Why would Norms willingly go with Titans?”

“Even during wars,
people fall in love.”

He studied the face
of the older man. Leo had an easy smile and although Justin tried to remain
skeptical, it was difficult. The smell of the food diverted his
attention.  Hunger got the best of him. He reached for the fork and took
the first bite of his breakfast. “The war was a long time ago….” The elder
seemed about to speak, but he was impatient to ask his questions.  “Why
did your people turn on normal humans and attack Earth?”

“They are your
people also.”

Justin reluctantly
nodded. The evidence that he was a Titan appeared insurmountable. His eyes
drifted to the plate of food. It looked like scrambled eggs, pancakes, butter
and syrup, but it tasted better.  He remembered the factory back on
liberty that produced all sorts of dry, cracker-like food. It kept him alive
for years until he could afford real food—occasionally.

The elder continued.
“Before I share our history, tell me what the Norms say of those events.”

“The Titan soldiers
turned against normal humans.”

“Why?”

“The Alien War was
over, but the Titans didn’t return for decommissioning. They didn’t obey the
orders of Earth.”