2012 Part 26

As he reflected thus, Zeus' thought moved through L1 to L4. At the limit of L4 no one, not even Hera, could remain with him. On a far time-line, Alexander remotely heard the rumble of thunder, and shivered. Pan too heard it, as did anyone, everyone on all versions of the 'sphere. While Zeus moved up the registers, fewer and fewer kept pace with the fury and speed of the communication as he pushed higher and higher gathering up the entire Chronosphere into himself. He left all but One far behind. Still he kept driving up farther and farther where no G.o.d had been before.

Tension mounted like atomic plasma - acceleration upon acceleration - it was hardly bearable, even for him. Surely the very Earth itself would break rather than sustain this onslaught. Gaia shook. Her seas raged, Her mountains shivered, Her skies stormed. Her very centre heaved and Her tectonic plates slipped and shifted. The entire planet fell gradually to a violent shaking that threatened its very axis. A violent cosmic wind drove into the centre of the storm and promised to send the Earth into an oblivion far beyond its proper orbit.

At the very heart of the storm, in his very core, the Great Zeus increased his power and pushed the registers of time to the farthest edge of their limits - until he sensed what he sought.

'Enough! I hear you! Do not break the Universe to reach Me!'

There is no way of reproducing even a crude version of the true interaction that now occurred between - what and what? History communicating with Spirit? Life-Force with Creation. Past, present and future fusing, soaring into places beyond knowing, outside time, beyond universes? Beyond the stuff of myth!

Was what happened Zeus calling Yahweh? One Great G.o.d to another? Was it the core of Yahweh calling from within to Zeus the Great Deity on behalf of Creation. Was it life-force itself calling Creativity and Regeneration to heed its origins? Whatever it was, what happened next was to change the world for ever.

The world shifted its conceptual axis.

Invisibly.

Inexorably.

Actually.

For the next aeon, if the world was to last.

Zeus communicated with Yahweh for the first, only and last time!

Bizarrely, most mortals had more pressing preoccupations and did not notice that things had changed for ever!

Chapter 9.

It was a changed Zeus who eventually allowed his white-faced wife into the penthouse suite. Hera immediately entered a high-level meld with her husband, and once beyond the need to know he was intact after the dreadful shaking of the world, she attempted to prise from him, the full import of his work.

'I have melded with Yahweh!' His communication with Hera was less than the total of what had occurred. Hera saw she had only part of him. Although she had as much of him as she had always had, there was a new-grown part of him that was inaccessible.

'You are different, my husband. You are greater than you were.'

'Things have changed, wife. I have melded with Yhawhe!'

'What does it mean? Masterful one. Gaia spoke to us all, she shook with emotion, she frightened even the G.o.ds who know her so well.'

'It means my little cuckoo that half our work is done. This part was the hardest. I had to offer all of us, you hear me Hera! All! The Pantheon, everything! Even Chronos and Hades! Gaia Herself I gave!'

Well into a meld on L3 the Great Earth-Shaker, G.o.d of the skies, transferred some of his newness to his long-suffering spouse and sister. This G.o.ddess practised in the relations between men and women, male and female was shocked at what he had had to contribute to achieve his new trinity and she correctly guessed he let slip only the half of it.

'And in return? What did Yahweh bestow?'

'My heart's desire.' Zeus gathered his wife to his vast bosom. They reclined on a sofa entwined.

'He would have it as you would? The New Trinity?' Hera asked on L3.

'At the price as I have said.'

Alongside the increase Hera felt in her husband, there was a different authority in the nature of the meld as if there were parts beyond Zeus that led to places where she was unable to follow without his guidance.

'What does it mean My Lord?

'I only partly know myself. We have made a new settlement between us through which we add His might to our own and vice-versa. But we yet lack the third ingredient to make the Trinity whole - to make it work. To change the myth within, the one carried by mortals in themselves without the need for external symbols. So we can be free.'

'We work night and day on Ios for this,' replied Hera. Hephaestos, Ricardo and the woman Penelope work on the means. Myself, Thea and Mnemosyne work on the content. Others work on the dissemination.' She also privately wondered what exactly he really meant by being 'free'.

'Goes it well?'

'As well My Lord as it can.'

'What of the boy in Elysium? Has he brought Hades?'

'As we speak he comes. Themis, Athena and Ares will bring Chronos.'

'We must have him too.' Zeus' communication carried veiled warnings. 'You understand it must be complete, there must be no gaps for Time to leak out, no alternative timelines for mortals to follow. There is only one way now. I have melded with Yahweh. The thing is done for ever. We have no place else to go. All is given even that which I do not control. You must understand. ALL given. ALL! Hades and Chronos are crucial. The 2012 deadline remains. It is All or it is Nothing!'

Hera remained silent for a long while, she searched in their meld for more signs of the meaning of his meld with Yahweh. Some of the things he let her see were different from before. She saw a distinct shift in perspective from the time of the defeat of the t.i.tans. Then the prospect from the top of Olympus showed the dominion of the Pantheon over the things of the Earth. It was a familiar outlook. It was how things were. Even with the view shifted to accommodate a modern, commercialised position from the top of the Olympic Tower, the aspect was in proportion to her relations with mortals. Everything fitted. Nothing was too fanciful, nothing was beyond one's grasp provided a little effort was made. Even now Europa's children could be brought back to a proper sense of proportion. Hades controlled the failures and held the ever burgeoning timelines under Zeus' control. But now there were new appearances she 'saw' through their meld. Her relationship with Gaia through the Pantheon had always denoted the outer boundaries of her universe. She of course knew there were other wider limits and probably other universes elsewhere, with ever wider borders, and ultimately no boundaries at all. Just time and s.p.a.ce, one ent.i.ty. Of these she paid no mind. They were interesting in their way but inaccessible and she left them to themselves. Now, in the meld she saw Gaia clearly as one among other similar Gaia's. There were other worlds, other populations of sentient beings. Doubtless other G.o.ds too. She saw through Zeus, part of Yahweh, was interested in the possibilities of these as new diversions. She was tempted, just a little but not really interested in following them up. He clearly had the intention one day to do so. She was too 'earthed' in Gaia. As part of something greater, she could see his temptation to abandon Her Earthly mortals and try elsewhere. But not as Himself. As part of this new Trinity. A renewed power of the Divine, fit to go a-hunting. Renewed thus he might well go. Well if he went it would be without her. She was too much part of Gaia and her offspring. So too were most of her closest companions, only Zeus would play-away, she thought. But he has given ALL. Must it therefore be that we all go too?

She searched the depths of the meld for clues. She found nothing immediately to help her. Without G.o.ds men were free to choose Gaia for themselves. This was right, this she was doing. But beyond Gaia she knew she would not go, even if she could. She would rest in the souls of people and speak to them from within. Happy with the idea, she snuggled into the breast of her Lord and let it be. Soon she would be back on Ios and at work.

Back at the Circle of Time, Hades came to meet Alexander.

It was a deliberate act.

Planned.

A strange thing in itself in a futureless realm. It betrayed something of the complexity of the nature of this much accused G.o.d.

He had spoken a long time with Persephone while Alexander gathered his hordes in Elysium.

'I know who and what I am.' He spoke quietly and with dignity. 'Only you know with what hurt and vexation I accepted the gift of the Underworld from my brother. I still cleave the hurt to myself, and I relish the revenge I will have. I keep it to savour on a distant timeline as a reminder.'

'A reminder - of what my dark one?' said Persephone. 'I cannot believe it's simply because of poor luck in the lottery of selected tasks after the t.i.tanic War - is it perhaps of other matters, perhaps more malicious? Do you challenge Zeus? Do we do it together as husband and wife? I need to know, I will be quizzed mercilessly on my return.'

'I do not know, wife. I do not yet know, and I may not ever be sure. It eats at me not knowing. You understand how at first I only wanted to swap this gift of the Underworld with any of my kin who would have it. But I was unable to strike a bargain. I was constantly told by the Pantheon, and several lesser G.o.ds, (which was worse) that I had something rare and rich; as rich in its way as the present world of Zeus. So I reluctantly took my place in Erebus. And I find I relish, nay I luxuriate in it. From the moment of my transition from Olympus I found it rich and full of variety. It was a totally new experience which never wanes. Indeed, I delight in every moment. My power is as absolute as only Zeus knows it. I have a universe of souls - all mine. There may not be future, but my past swells and swells and I now have more of the world than my brother. I can now switch the tables. I come up as Zeus goes down. Do you not revel in the delicious irony?'

'My Dark Lord. 'I too cherish the sharing the completeness of Tartarus, Erebus and Elysium. More than Zeus' empire of troublesome unknown quant.i.ties. I get pleasure from the gradual and inexorable building of richness of experience, good and bad, coming to you, the world pa.s.sed down for ever. Indeed it is glorious. So what if people made you and this world into something dark and awful? It's true, Tartarus, we must own, is a bit unpleasant. But you keep its lid well bolted down'.

'Aye Lady. So I do. I was right to have pity on Chronos and released him from his banishment among the defeated monsters of the War. That was no place for such a great king - even if he richly deserved it. He grasps the timelines still in his huge fist, and needed somewhere more comfortable for his task of eternal holding-on. If the remaining nastiness heaves and strains a little from the monotony of awfulness for its own sake, it is only natural. If I let one or two out from time to time to play at a little exercise, it shows the world what is really bottled in there, it keeps the balance. It shows the real value of things'.

Notwithstanding his enjoyment of the huge richness of his House, there were still some irksome niggles which worked on him. There was Persephone's refusal to have his children, so he was without special ones to share his pleasure and help with the task. Persephone herself kept her aloofness, while she pleasured him as no other of his realm was able, bringing thirst-quenching life-force from the World to keep him in relationship with Gaia. She alone knew how he felt fastened-up, and he was ever grateful for her understanding. Hecate too understood, but offered him nothing of herself. This was the root of his umbrage. Wanting life, he had been given its opposite. There were many compensations but none to counteract the immense loss. Zeus himself had made certain there would be no significant leakage between the realms. Hades' own forays upstairs had been few. Truth to tell he now found it too complex, too frantic and unpredictable for his taste and moreover, he disliked the feeling of being in someone else's territory.

As the numbers of souls in his power waxed to match and then surpa.s.s his brother's he sought his father, possessor of time. He had a notion to persuade him to bend time to his ends. To disa.s.semble the lines and recreate them, woven seamlessly into his timeless empire and thus conduct the world from progression to circularity.

Another niggle was a temerity he felt despite himself, in confronting Zeus and the implicit challenge to Yahweh this contained. Like his brother he had ignored this newcomer, while being acutely aware of the belittling of his own role that his worshippers had adopted. Still the same had happened to Zeus - worse if anything. At least as Beelzebub his presence remained universal, which was more than Zeus could say in his forgotten penthouse.

Chronos had suggested the creation of Fourthworld to test the power of regressive forces on mortal minds. So Barboncito, ancient leader of the Navajo, was resurrected by Hades to carry out his will. He was surprised at the way Barboncito had achieved freedom of movement and had easily brought the values of the Underworld into the living realm of Zeus. At first he put it down to Zeus' laxity, his inattention. Then he attributed it to what he saw as a more serious fault, an abdication of responsibility, and this reinforced his belief in his right to usurp his indifferent brother. Mother Gaia had no interest in the type of mortals ruled by her children, so long as she was left alone and intact. He had allowed Alexander into Hades to see if Barboncito could divert him from Zeus and thereby foil Hera's work. He was not sure how far it was in the nature of mortals to prefer Fourthworld's certainties to Zeus' unpredictability. The growth of converts to Barboncito in the wake of Zeus' last will and testament, showed his own mythology of certainty stronger than the creative energy, of JNO and Hera. But he knew Zeus was wily and Yahweh was still a wild-card as far as both Hades and Chronos were concerned. All attempts at Hadean connections had yielded utter indifference. He thought this meant acquiescence in his plans, while not really knowing if were true. When Alexander came on the scene, the mirror image of his Barboncito, Hades was intrigued at this life-force freely engaging in his world as Barboncito was doing in Zeus'. He had not expected it. Zeus had till now effectively kept the realms apart. No life-force was predicted to go so far in either. Of course he had known of the birth. Such things cannot be kept secret in one realm. Pan came and went, without his permission, but so long as he amused it was well enough. So through Pan, both Hades and Zeus kept tabs on this new addition to the Family. Persephone kept her counsel about the Now in her husband's presence, and Hecate had the welfare of mortals at heart - in the end. It was of course Pan who spilled the beans. It was his nature. He wanted freedom of movement and got it by making himself indispensable to both Hades and Zeus in his own inimitable way. Fortunately they both retained a sense of humour or he would have been in Tartarus with the rest of the uncontrollables. Unlike his two masters, he had noted the new G.o.d of the Hebrews and to cover his options, had offered his services there but also with scant result. He had been considered as already His invention, and was sent packing as merely another manifestation of Beelzebub. There's no sense of humour in Heaven, Pan had concluded to both Hades and Zeus. No ultimate future for such a G.o.d as that, they had all separately agreed.

Fortunately for Hades, Zeus too wanted Alexander to traverse the Sipapu, though for quite different reasons. Hades saw the subversion of the lad as a test of his superiority, while Zeus wanted him as the means to bring Hades back into the present. Fourthworld would persuade Alexander to use his life-force positively with his shades to convince them they had a place in the world. Once convinced, the best of his Elysians, would prepare to follow the youngster into the Now and at the stroke of 2012, would flow up from the many Sipapu's of the underworld and absorb the Now into the a remade world of the past - ready, to worship Gaia as she needed. What a triumph to use Zeus' own self-made hero as a weapon against him. The plan had worked. Was not this lad come to him, bringing the hordes of the best of his realm? Were they not ready for 2012? Was Gaia not pleased? All he had to do now was to wait the short time until the date of Zeus' last Will and Testament came due. The best of it was that the Pantheon knew nothing of this. While in Hades Pan had to keep his mouth shut, Persephone was constrained to silence, Hermes dare do nothing, and Hecate would not disobey. He still held the keys to Tartarus, and any of them would do anything than be shut up there among all that need for revenge. Accordingly he walked with satisfaction up the stair of the pulpit of the Ring of Time, his consort behind him, far less sanguine.

She saw his belief in his triumph as a double edged sword. It gave him added strength which frightened her, but it also distracted him from her own doings. She needed his lack of attention but feared her own failure above all. Failure meant not only living in Tartarus for ever, but the end of the World as they had created it. The work of the greatest family of G.o.ds, re-made by her husband - a retrograde and basically unsure G.o.d. She knew from Zeus their time was done and this race of people were to go forward alone, recreated by knowing what the G.o.ds knew. There was no place for this regressive work so dear to her husband. It was now or never but their plan was very insecure indeed. Alexander had to go all the way. Only she, Hecate/NightChant and Pan could make certain he succeeded. She felt nonetheless a weight of guilt at this conspiracy to betray her husband. She understood she had few choices. She was therefore, ready for the risk. Hecate and Pan were ready, the girl Marina, was in the right place.

Only when he was at the summit of the podium did Hades suddenly remember the Erinyes. Fool that he was, they were under no one's hegemony, and acted always for themselves. He cursed himself for this omission in his thinking. Would they find this Alexander too proud and act against him, or would they help him as worthy? He should have found out before this! As he was thinking about a way to scotch them if they took the lad's side; he saw the crows launch the girl at Alexander's horse and knew everything.

It was one of those happenings which at the back of his mind he knew might occur but was too unlikely to be taken seriously and which he ignored in the welter of other things to be done. When it happened he knew exactly when and how the error was made, why it was made and that it was too late to mend it. He began thinking about the consequences even as they were actually happening.

As the Sisters crashed his mighty plans into the stuff of myth, Hades was gripped by the fiercest life-force he had known since he abducted Persephone. Events were extraordinarily swift. Marina flew at Alexander and grabbed his wrist with all her strength. A ghastly cry went up from the crowd, begun by Hades himself and sowed confusion all around. Hecate, tossed from Alexander's horse was picked up by Pan. Together they sped to the centre of the Ring of Time to open the secured door secreted in the floor of the pulpit. Hecate had the keys from Hades secretly reproduced by Hephaestos should they be needed and the opportunity contrived. Hades, aware of his mistake and recognising the significance of the moment stood over them, the keys to Tartarus in his hand, ready to unlock and thrust them in. He called to his wife for help. Persephone, ignoring him, grabbed Alexander's other hand and closed it round Hades' wrist. The regard Hades gave his wife was indescribable. Then Hecate was in the Sipapu followed by Marina who ran like the wind, pulling Alexander behind, who, maintaining his grip on Hades, pulled him with them. A moment later all four were whirling upwards through the Sipapu. Hecate with her supernatural strength wrenched Marina along. Alexander just knew he had to hold on to Hades with all his being if he were to get out. His mission to secure his uncle flooding back from the melds with Thea and Lucina. He had him now and he could not relinquish his hold. Hades struggled with all his power, and were it not for the extra capacity from Hecate, Alexander would have let him go.

Chapter 10.

Chronos in Elysium lay on his back, swinging gently in a golden hammock. The Origin of Time held the beginning of sentient life tightly clasped in a highly ornamented, vice-like device at his side. If he chose he could detach it and move on elsewhere. Even in the limitless profundity of Tartarus he had kept a rigid hold of Time, it was his work and he would never let go. He was pleased with this ownership he had from Gaia. It was her present to him at her release from Ura.n.u.s at his hand. He clung to it tightly. No one would have it from him, certainly not Zeus, not even Yahweh and definitely not mortals, who had only the smallest notion of its properties. Imprisoned in the depths of Tartarus he kept it tightly in his grasp. He had not been so unhappy in Tartarus as his offspring had supposed. t.i.tans liked their monsters. Did they not fight loyally alongside them against his traitorous and usurping children? Soon he would come into his own again. Hades at least understood the tenacity of his hold on Time. Without the renegade Zeus, they might well have made a different race of beings. one less susceptible to Zeus' endless family and Yahweh's special effects. But there had been traitors in the ranks of his t.i.tans. Particularly, Mnemosyne and Themis who had changed sides. It was Themis he feared most and since it was in her nature to find justice in all causes, she of all the t.i.tans would continue to challenge him. She would be the one to chastise him if she thought he was up to no good, which of course he was. It was she who had vainly tried to persuade Zeus to keep him in his own halls, to have Time on his side, rooted in the Now rather than in the past where Zeus was able to merely guide rather than control. The post-war clamour to banish the terrible miscreant from all sight to the farthest corner of the worst place there was, had been too great. She knew Chronos would have given anything to be forgiven for his deeds; but no one would have such crimes forgiven. Zeus too feared his father as Ura.n.u.s, Chronos' own father had feared him and with good reason. Zeus may have wanted ownership of Time but he settled for its directing, fearing its begetter more. Themis, as usual, had been right. Chronos would have responded to forgiveness and would have, begrudgingly maybe, offered Zeus his gifts.

No matter, thought Chronos in his quiet Elysian glade, all was well as it was. This way, unforgiven, he was free to conspire for himself. Weakened, Zeus could fly away to worlds anew, or be overtaken by the hordes of Hades. Hades the Uncertain, he, Chronos would eventually banish and he would have the Underworld and the Fifth-World to himself. He would keep mortals strictly in place. With Time in his hand, he would at the last be the unchallenged Lord of all. Let Yahweh do what He would, He, Time-Itself, could not be dislodged. Then his Mother the Earth and Her son, Time, would simply, everlastingly and simply - be!

He sighed deeply and rocked himself gently, happily far into his reverie. His surprise was all the greater when he felt a clear voice in the essential bed-rock of his being. It was a communication on a level used only by t.i.tans before the war and which he heard now only from his Mother. He thought it was she, but it felt wrong.

'It is not she - but almost she. It is I, your sister, the t.i.tan who would be your saviour in aeons past. I speak again once more in supplication. Stop what you do. Forgiveness is yet to be had. But free yourself of your desire for power over all and thus gain more than you can otherwise have.'

'Themis, it is you, how do you commune with me here? I had not thought it possible.'

'Have you forgotten? It has been so long that I see you have it not in mind; a t.i.tan speaks without obstacles, t.i.tan to t.i.tan, as one being. We are closer than that which divides us. We are prior to all but Creation itself. Wherefore shall we not discourse at will? Zeus may have separated his worlds from others of his ilk, but we are primordial, his sway on us is but tolerated voluntarily. This you know as well as I. You come not among us for fear of being locked in Tartarus once more. You know we would not have you released a second time from your chains. You and I know Tartarus has its fascinations, but you cannot scheme from there. Zeus has Hephaestos ready with his hammer if you stray again from the right path.'

'You think I will move against Olympus sister?'

'Not against us, against Mortals and against Hades, whom you despise as too weak for his task. Without you he would not be planning his move against us.'

'Zeus is weak also,' said Chronos. 'Our Mother tells me so. Look upon Her face, see how She wanes at this grandson's laxity. He had the world to keep, and he allowed these mortals to manage its destruction. Now he threatens to give up Gaia altogether to these malefactors - I will not have it so. Hades has the means to undo and remake Her as becomes Her glory. Zeus blames Yahweh for the rape of our mother by these mortals, whereas in truth it is Zeus himself who is at the centre of the rot. Whatever this later G.o.d of the Hebrews has done to encourage this race it is Zeus' doing that will make it the last to inhabit Her bosom. Had I won the war, a different race would have had more respect for Her. This Yahweh had His starting point in Zeus. I fear not Him and I fear not Zeus!'

Chronos gathered his timelines, and holding them proudly shook the thick skein so violently the reverberations were strongly felt throughout the Earth - it was all Zeus could do to hold on to the remaining future for humankind while wondering if he had been wise to allow Themis to make this visit.

'Enough!' cried Themis. 'More of such affronts, my brother and Tartarus gapes anew for you! Know I have Athena and Ares with me. We are at the portals of Elysium and will enter if provoked too far and we will war again with the whole of Hades - think! In what fighting condition are your monsters now? You will do well to listen to what I say.'

Chronos, bethought himself and allowed his mind to become full of Themis' thoughts.

'You plan to bring Hades to power over living mortals and hold back Time so they will no longer recreate themselves. You agree with Zeus that these will be the last humans so Gaia can be re-made whole as before. We agree. But not in your way. We know you are able to hold Time and can stop the future. Know well we believe in life. A thing for which we need Time of you. You know Zeus will not tolerate it otherwise, nor we believe will Yahweh. We all want humankind to succeed, and develop with Gaia as their support, supported in Her turn by them. You and Hades will produce nothing, develop nothing, save nothing. Your vision of reality is contrary and impossible in a living world.'

Chronos was about to remonstrate against the logic in this last accusation of his sister, but refrained. He really had not counted on so much resistance from the halls of a weakened Zeus. He had truly believed the plot he and Hades had contrived in secret was known only to them and he had had expected to have the advantage over the Pantheon. Clearly Zeus was stronger than he had thought. Chronus, as Zeus had divined, had no stomach for another unbearable war against this enemy and the thought of spending more time in Tartarus was, well, not his best option to say the least. He had not expected an army led by Athena or Ares at his gates in real opposition. Neither had he thought to confront the Pantheon again so soon, believing them to be too dispersed. It was typical of Zeus to have arranged it both ways - to condemn this race as heartily as he did himself - but to fight for their freedom to choose without interference. With his own forces still securely locked in Tartarus the mere holding of Time did not give him enough leverage to win a new war.

'So the Great Zeus will as usual have his cake and eat it?' Chronos all but spat.

'Even you cannot stop Time moving, dear brother. You can hold it and must continue to do so; a beginning was needed and this you made. Why not glorify that? It is no mean achievement. But even your greatest crimes to stop life continuing could not prevent its forward march. Why persuade a vulnerable Hades to achieve what is not possible nor desirable. Reflect, my brother, there are other ways. The doors of Elysium can be opened and you too may re-enter the real world again, have your proper place, but only as part of a forward motion. Primacy is no use any more in these times. No one has all power, not Zeus, not Yahweh, no single mortal. The future is no longer about power but co-operation and learning, wisdom not force, reality not illusion. Gaia will not be regenerated through the coercion or direction of any one being, G.o.d or mortal.'

Chronos allowed his mind to browse through his history and compared it with his present situation. Was Themis bringing the reconciliation he had once hoped for and had been rejected. He had certainly gone too far before and had been justly punished. He had unjustly not been forgiven and while he trusted Themis to deliver proper judgement; forgiveness from her would not do, he had to have it from Zeus himself. From his own usurping child! The idea appalled him still and Themis knew it, while Ares felt this antipathy so strongly he was all for entering Elysium at that moment and starting a new war all by himself. Themis stilled his fierceness and continued her discourse, 'Oh such is the pride of G.o.ds! You are more like humankind than you think. You deserve no more or less than they! Remember Zeus stopped your awful career. Think of Gaia still populated by your monsters. Would they not have devoured her as you devoured your progeny? Wherefore were you better than the creation of Zeus and Prometheus? Wherefore are you greater than Yahweh who too would have the All in his grasp? '

Chronos in the presence of his long distant sister, saw himself as the vanquished ent.i.ty he was. He was desperate to find a judgement at her hands which would justify his actions. He fired his last argument.

'But sister, consider, can it be that the Pantheon thinks in truth that this last race will redeem itself in time? Zeus has cut their timelines, or will do so soon. Look at them, are they truly nearer their salvation? Will they not inevitably perish after 2012? Are not our Hadean subst.i.tutes more beautiful? More accomplished. Even your Alexander is captivated by them and thus fails in his impossible task. Does not my Barboncito rule a Fourthworld of incomparable serenity, knowledge and ease? Already Gaia feels all might be well. What we do soothes and restores. You are all promises and deliver nothing but harm. Know our Mother likes you not. Her decay is allowed to go on as before while your mortals argue about the survival of their fittest. They must change their very natures to accommodate us as they ought. They must act on what they know and feel, each one, individually, deeply, honestly, without the trappings of their destructive culture which you and Yahweh have so much encouraged. It cannot be done in time. It simply cannot and you all know it to be so.'

He had emptied his mind and contemplated the wall of argument he had erected. There was right in this he thought, Themis must accept he spoke truly. He had an effective deliverance for Gaia, which was more than the Pantheon could manage - had ever managed - with or without Yahweh.

'In fairness, I accept this reasoning,' Themis responded.

Ares and Athena registered a strong sense of concern - could it be that t.i.tan to t.i.tan, Themis had a stronger relationship than she had with the Pantheon? They had fought the war against this powerful race and had won at great cost. The pa.s.sage of time of itself was of no concern to such as these. The war was undimmed in the freshness of recall. Was Themis to be trusted - could a t.i.tan ever be? The t.i.taness hushed their anxiety, repeated her comment and continued.

'It is true they must change their very natures. It is this we work to do in time. The race is closely run as you well know, but is hindered by you and Hades and the success of Fourthworld. (Which, by the way I always believed to be your work. Chronos acknowledged this recognition courteously.) We come to persuade you to work for, not against us. To hold Fourthworld in abeyance at least until we have proved Gaia can be saved by living mortals.'

Chronos was astonished by the sheer audacity of the suggestion.

'And lose the edge we have fought for so hard! If we do not so, what will you do? We are more than half-way to our ends. I cannot see how you together can stop us now, short of all out war. Even so, there is no certainty, a war between such as we will affect the actions of humankind in these days. What is more, even if I agreed. Hades would not!'

'Why should you not agree? If the result is the same your alliance has nothing to lose. As you say you are more than half-way there, I do not ask you to reverse the achievements of Fourthworld, there is example there for mortals as remembrance, Alexander is not all wrong in this. I ask merely a stay until we have had our chance. What have you to lose?'

Chronos grinned widely, and Athena turned her gaze from so wide and awful a gape, remembering.

'You of all beings ask this of Me! Have I not smarted from defeat for so long,'

He made as if to shake his skein again, but thought better of it, angered as he was, but not enough to act rashly, he had a certain advantage, it was admitted by his enemies. The possibility of regaining lost Power was what he stood to lose. But he was wise enough to accept a bird in the hand. They could not succeed, he would wait until then, afterwards there would be no opposition.

'I will wait until you fail!' Once more the open mouthed grin made all who felt it shudder.

'We need more than your inaction!' snapped Themis. 'I come not here to plead with a failed tyrant, I came to redeem Gaia our Mother in the right way and need your help not the mere abstinence of your hand! I repeat, if Gaia is reprieved do you not win? Power you can never have. Should Zeus quit the camp, he will see you are locked in Tartarus before he goes. Power you will never have again. Believe it! We need you as a part of the general good, for us, not against. Help us help Gaia. There is no other choice but Tartarus.'

'Is this just!' protested Chronos. 'This is no choice!'

'Talk not to me of Justice - miscreant! I know what is just punishment for the work you wrought in ages past!'

She spoke then more softly, but with an irony born of long disappointment which was not lost on him, nor on her warlike companions.

'It's an offer you cannot refuse my brother. You burned your boats aeons ago. Be glad you are not still in Tartarus. Be happy you can be of use. You may yet be forgiven. This is the best offer you will get. Power you may never wrest even from a distant Zeus. All must help in the transformation of the nature of mortals if they are to do their work in time. You will help us. There is no other way for you or for them. Come Brother, fix well your skein, embed it Firmly, it will hold fast here. Come with us into the Now.'