"Pejor, get on the line with the team closest to the heavy munitions 
locker and tell them to start equipping with RPGs and grenades. Pull 
all units back into the building." 


"Yes, sir," the aide said, walking away. Lopez turned and saw 
Olympia and David turning a corner away from him. 


Chancellor Anaxagoras felt ridiculous wearing the "hat". It was 
remarkably effective. Even underneath the traditional robe of a 
second-order University scholar, he knew he would be recognized 
by nearly any free Citizen walking on the campus. As well he should 
be, under other circumstances; this was his University, he was their 
Chancellor. Or should have been, rightly. But this was Milephanes' 
territory now, and so he needed the hat. 


A wonderful gift from his friends across the space-time continuum, 
he thought. The hat rendered its wearer unrecognizable; it was 
impossible to focus on individuals' faces or identities regardless of 
the amount of effort put forward. Mysteriously, it even obscured its 
own presence; nobody noticed the absurd headwear atop his head, 
any more than they recognized the man himself. This worked to his 
advantage. 


The men Anaxagoras met with outside the Natural Philosophy 
complex were loyal to him. There weren't very many of those 
around, but Milephanes was by this point overrelying on technology 
just as much as the Primarch's government was. Men like 
Anaxagoras, who understood the value of personal, human loyalty, 
were going to decide this war. 


Possibly today. 


Sixty Loyalists were going to gather here, though most were still 
lying low in the surrounding quadrangle. A crowd would be 
suspicious; they would not move until the order was given. 
Milephanes had recently ordered classes to begin again, hoping to 
inspire a sense of "normalcy", to send a message that the war was 
already won, or both. Either way, the opportunity was almost here. 


The gongs rang out over the campus. Anaxagoras saw his "class" 
gather behind him as he walked over the stream towards the 
building. Robes were convenient for hiding light plasma carbines 
and counterform grenades. 


"Alea iacta est," he said, crossing the bridge, his army behind him. 


Awaken, child, a voice said behind Agent Eastman's ear. Don't 
move. 


Eastman hurt approximately everywhere; not moving was 
remarkably easy. He took in a breath, began to breathe out a groan. 


No, stay quiet, the voice said. This will help you feel better. 


Eastman felt the creaking, stabbing, and burning engulfing most of 
his body begin to abate. Since he wasn't moving, he didn't have 
much opportunity to explore how extensive this effect was, but he 
was guessing that whatever was doing this was doing it well. 


| released endorphins into your bloodstream, the voice said. Now, 
listen carefully. Anesidora believes you're still asleep. 


It all came rushing back to Eastman; the attack at Site 38, being 
captured, the trip to this...place. His heart began pounding; there 
was almost certainly someone, or something, watching him. Ready 
to hurt him more. Eastman had been hurt enough today. 


What Anesidora intends to do to you is unspeakable and 
incomprehensible, the voice said. Now, listen carefully. You are in 
an antechamber to the central throne room. Soon, an opportunity 
will arise to strike back. When it does, do not hesitate. Another 
opportunity will not be forthcoming. 


Eastman could do nothing but lie still, but he acknowledged what he 
heard. Good luck, the voice said. Eastman felt it "leave" him. 


"Are those the Minotaurs?" David asked as they walked through 
through the Site 38 courtyard, seeing the statues beginning to circle 
them. 


"Yes," Olympia replied. "Did you have any idea the Apollodorus 
concrete could do this?" 


"Be programmed to turn into enormous quasi-sentient abominations 


against God?" David asked. "Nah, cccccan't say it crossed my 
mind." 


"Fair enough." 


The Minotaurs began to close in around them. Their demeanor, 
insofar as stone can have a demeanor, became more aggressive; 
they were clearly preparing to hunt. Olympia withdrew an object 
from her belt, about the size of a golf ball. She pressed the single 
button on it and rolled it in the direction of two Minotaurs walking 
towards them, comparatively close to one another. The ball beeped 
quickly, then stopped. 


The explosion from the antimatter grenade completely destroyed 
one of the Minotaurs; the other was slightly farther away and lost 
only a leg and an arm, falling to the ground. The other Minotaurs 
stopped in their place. 


"I'm told the human expression is 'take us to your leader, 
said. 


Olympia 


As the two walked towards the concrete palace of Anesidora, four 
unmarked stealth fighter-bombers were en route to Site 38, Major 
Lopez's task force was carrying on the evacuation, and a box 
opened in a room. In the chaos of the evacuation and the Minotaur's 
onslaught, she had little difficulty sneaking out of the building. 


"The hominids did what?" Goddess Anesidora, Her regal fury 
dripping down Her flesh, demanded of the Servus instance. 


The Servus twitched. Anesidora was not overly communicative at 
the best of times, and Her wrath was severe when she detected 
failure among her subordinates. This instance was bleeding from 
every orifice in his face. She had detected a significant amount of 
failure. 


Anesidora continued to dig through the Servus's mind. She saw 


images of the hominids who had the temerity to approach Her home. 
One she recognized, the callow ape left in charge of the nearby 
human facility. The other one... 


Anesidora felt pain, looking at the image of the other entity. Similar 
to the hominids, but different, in some imperceptible way. Anesidora 
was birth in a different universe, and her perception of this one was 
subtlely different; things around Her shimmered with an alien nature, 
seemed unclean, wrong in some way. She would work on that once 
She ruled over this world. But the other creature here seemed... 
detached from this world somehow. Universal. Unbound by the 
space around her. 


Beautiful, in a way. 


But a threat. Anesidora did not tolerate threats. She instructed the 
Minotaurs to let the intruders in. 


Olympia and David stood at the doorway to the "palace." It was 
more like an enlarged concrete shack, not even the size of a regular 
home. David was not inclined to be impressed in particular, and this 
didn't do the trick. They stepped across the threshhold. 


David had seen the film Everything You Always Wanted to Know 
About Sex (But Were Too Afraid to Ask) three times in his life. For 
this reason, his vision of the sight before him was that of an 
enormous, pale breast, lying on a similarly enormous concrete slab. 
Six individuals stood around the slab. David didn't recognize any of 
them, and they weren't in uniform. Judging from the age and gender 
mix and their general similarities in appearance, David guessed 
these were two or three civilian families. One individual, a boy David 
estimated to be about seven, lay in front of the slab bleeding. 


What the fuck is wrong with these people, David thought. He knew 
what was supposed to be happening, and this was roughly in line 
with the plan the Intruder showed him, but the actual sight of all of it 
was still horrifying. And the Intruder hadn't shown him quite a// the 
little details. 


"HOMINID ESKOBAR COMMA DAVID CARTER, UNKNOWN 


ENTITY, YOU STAND BEFORE THE GODDESS ANESIDORA," a 
voice boomed. Several voices, David realized. The people around 
the slab were speaking in unison. Including the bleeding boy. 


David looked at the thing on the slab again. Porcelain white, at least 
four meters tall. Roughly spherical but sunken, like a deflating beach 
ball. The outside of it, whatever the hell it was, rippled like the thing 
was made of gelatin. 


Two of the individuals standing around the slab, aman anda 
woman, walked to the bleeding child. Seeing them next to each 
other, David could tell he was their son. They stooped down and 
lifted the child up, the father holding him to his chest. They walked 
up to the slab, kissed the child on the forehead, and pressed the 
child against the white form on the slab, back first. 


"YOU WILL NOT OBJECT TO MY DINING IN FRONT OF YOU," 
the individuals said in unison, before white tendrils exploded out 
through the boy's chest. The tendrils wrapped themselves around 
the child's limbs, pulling him in closer. The boy's eyes floated up in 
his head. The child's body began to be absorbed by the white blob. 


"YOU HAVE DISTURBED ME," Anesidora said, through the 
civilians' mouths. David couldn't help but notice the boy was still 
speaking as well. "| APPRECIATE IF YOU ARE ATTEMPTING TO 
DONATE YOURSELF AS NUTRIENT SUPPLIES, BUT AS YOU 
CAN SEE, | AM QUITE WELL FED AT PRESENT. WHAT IS YOUR 
BUSINESS HERE?" 


"You are going to die in eighteen minutes," Olympia began. "Several 
air vehicles carrying what are known as fuel-air bombs are going to 
descend on this particular piece of terrain and completely sanitize 
this area. Your present form, as well as the forms of most of your 
Servus instances, will be burned into oblivion. Your Minotaur 
servants may survive temporarily, but they will be badly damaged, 
and the cleanup operation sent in by the Foundation will eradicate 
them one at a time with explosive ordinance, if need be. And you will 
be dead regardless." 


The boy was almost completely absorbed at this point. Other than 
the sucking sound coming from his corpse, the room was silent as 


Anesidora pondered. 


"PRESUMING THAT | AM MORTAL, A PRESUMPTION FOR 
WHICH | WOULD DESTROY ANY INDIVIDUAL WERE | TO HEAR 
IT, YOU ARE SPEAKING OF A CERTAINTY. YOU PRESUME 
ADDITIONALLY THAT | HAVE NO MEANS OF ESCAPING THIS 
FATE." 


"You do not. The bombers have been specifically instructed to target 
this building with multiple thermobaric warheads, and to continue 
bombing to a radius farther than any of your servants can travel. I'm 
sure you are aware your Servus inside Site 38 have all been 
terminated. Your attempt to colonize this world has failed." 


Further pondering. "THIS ALLOWS ME THE POSSIBILITY OF 
KILLING YOU NOW IN A SINGLE, ALBEIT PETTY, ACT OF 
VENGEANCE. A FINAL SATISFACTION BEFORE MY DEATH." 


Olympia paused, sighed. She knew what happened now as well as 
David did. David thought he detected some hesitation, which was 
admirable, but pointless. This event was unfolding in real-time. 
There was no way to avoid it. 


"Say it, Olympia. Say your next line," David said. "I'm ready." 


Olympia had no reason to feel sorry for David, had no particular 
reason to like David for that matter. Yet her next, predestined words 
did seem to come out strained. Fighting fate, David thought. I'm 
flattered. 


"|..." she began. "| cannot help but notice you have no armed 
Servus here." 


Here we go, David said, taking a last deep breath. 
"LET ME CORRECT YOU," the voices said. 


There was a new voice that time, one from behind Olympia. David 
turned and looked, knowing already what he would see. Jaime 
MacGilligan stood at the threshold to the palace, holding a pistol. 
Aiming the pistol at Olympia. David snapped around, ran towards, 
then in front of Olympia. MacGilligan squeezed the trigger. The 


bullet left the gun. 


David couldn't see the bullet, of course; his brain couldn't work that 
fast. But he had seen it, before. When the Intruder showed it to him. 


When the Intruder showed David his own death. 


The bullet lodged in David's chest, barely missing the heart. The 
pain was excruciating, but David remained conscious. The dive in 
front of Olympia, straight from an action movie, had saved her, just 
in time for— 


Two more gunshots. MacGilligan had seen something out of the 
corner of her eye and had fired at it, hitting Agent Eastman in the 
upper leg. Eastman had gotten his own shot off, catching 
MacGilligan in the head. Both fell to the ground. 


"THAT..." the remaining voices in the building chorused, "... THAT IS 
IMPOSSIBLE. WHAT ARE YOU? HOW ARE YOU DOING THIS?" 


"You are now completely out of options," Olympia said, shaking with 
rage. "Murdering my colleague has gotten you nothing. There is 
one, precisely one, chance for you to survive the next half hour, and 
it is with me." 


"WHY WOULD YOU SAVE ME?" Anesidora asked. 


"| have need of you. Or, that is, a part of you. | know you came here 
in some sort of larval form, did you not? When you traveled here?" 


"|..." Anesidora paused. "| DO NOT RECALL THE FULL DETAILS 
OF MY ORIGIN. | HAVE A VAGUE MEMORY OF MY EXISTENCE 
IN THAT WORLD, LITTLE MORE. | RECALL EXISTING AS A 
SMALLER ORGANISM, YES. | RECALL A HOMINID EXPLAINING 
MY IDENTITY, MY ROLE AS THE DESTINED RULER OF 
HUMANITY. | WAS OFFERED THIS PLANET AS A GIFT. I...1 AM 
REALIZING THIS HOMINID LACKED THE AUTHORITY TO MAKE 
THIS EXCHANGE." 


"To say the least," Olympia said. "If you reproduce this larval form, if 
you can install your consciousness into a mobile form, | will take you 
with me. You and one of the Minotaurs. But you must act quickly." 


"WHERE WOULD YOU TAKE US?" Anesidora asked. 


"To have a conversation with the man who sent you here," Olympia 
replied. 


Milephanes stood in the counterform reactor room. "So this is where 
the magic happens, hm?" 


Antigonus of Alexandria nodded. "Yes, First. Is this your first visit 
here?" 


"Not quite, but this counterform reactor was not yet complete when 
last | visited," Milephanes replied. "| was but a student here then. 
This was the talk of the campus, the talk of Alexandria. Clean, nearly 
infinite energy." Milephanes paused. "Of course, we had no idea 
what that energy would do." 


"Certainly," Antigonus said. "We have begun to determine the 
pattern of porthole openings, the portholes between our world and 
the alien one. The seemingly random pattern to their openings 
actually has a geographical pattern operating in a Pingala spiral 
centering around this location." 


"So the Primarch's government has been conducting technology 
transfers at these spots? Meaning they've decoded this pattern 
already?" 


Antigonus paused. "First, this appears unlikely. Had they made this 
discovery, we would have found evidence of it when we took control 
of the lab. It is a discovery that only *could* have been made from 
this lab. / worked in this lab before you...liberated it, First, and | can 
assure you, Methodius had no connection to the Primarch's 
government. He despised Primarch Nerippa at least as much as... 
well..." 


"As he despised me, yes, | know," Milephanes responded. "But if the 
government had no knowledge of when and where the portholes 
would open, how could they exchange technology with..." 


A pause, as Milephanes recognized the depth of his error. "The 


containment area is almost sure to be examined thoroughly by them. 
They seem to enjoy toying with new things, particularly taking 
objects apart and examining their pieces. They also seem to enjoy 
attempting to figure out how things work, and as long as they are 
attempting to learn about something they are completely content to 
stay in the containment area. Contributions of objects by personnel 
have served as more than enough to keep this want for new objects 
appeased.