Both apparently start on April 13, so you may have to miss the first round or two (depending on how long Daniel will want to keep the Championship results on display), and with only in-play winner bets (where feasible).>

They traveled through the enclosed road and into a large structure that resembled the Shield’s main hallway; although it was much bigger and circled around the base of the space elevator. It was like any other urban area, with people and vehicles going about their businesses. The terminal inside the Elevator’s Base looked like any other in Tera, with buses parked around a main building that contained ticketing offices, eateries, and a couple of small hotels.

The tour guide stood up in front of the bus before they disembarked. ‘We meet again tomorrow same time in this terminal. I hope you enjoyed the tour. May I remind everyone that private luxury tours of the agro-industrial complex are also available for a mere extra ten thousand pesos.’

‘Where’s the ticketing office to the Mysterious Coliseum.’ Alwana asked, as the passengers stood up. Her new friend’s arm was around her waist, preventing her from getting up.

‘It’s right beside the hotel and eatery that I told you about. I actually own the majority of stocks there, so you and your sisters may have dinner for free.’

‘That’s so cool. I thought the Dalokistanis own everything here.’

‘I’m actually Dalokistani myself, but we don’t own everything, and not all of us are directly affiliated with the Dako Conglomerate. The whole colony is like a giant commercial mall, owned by the Conglomerate. Most of the business establishments are like the shops within a mall, private enterprises that pay a rent or percentage to the Conglomerate. Most of the Residential Centrifuges are likewise leased by the Conglomerate to National Governments or billionaires. The whole territory is nominally under the jurisdiction of the World Defense Force, as is the entire Ares and Tera. Ares ground itself outside the colony’s zone is regarded as international WDF territory.’

They got down from the bus, and entered a small hotel whose ground floor doubled as a restaurant. ‘There’s the Coliseum ticketing office.’ The man pointed to a small two story building beside the restaurant.

‘OK let’s go buy tickets,’ Oisa stated.

‘I thought you would like to have dinner with me first?’ Mr. Green hair asked Alwana. ‘Or I could show you around my hotel and restaurant.’

Alwana hesitated. ‘Alright, I’ll go with you. I have to call our guardian though in Tera. Can I use your hotel’s communication system?’

‘Sure, you can use it, free of charge.’

Alwana turned to her sisters. ‘Go ahead and buy luxury tickets for the four of us.’ She proceeded to accompany Green Hair into his restaurant and hotel.

‘Notice anything unusual about Alwana’s Prince Charming?’ Bodhi rhetorically asked.

‘Yes, he’s a Hybrid Abomination,’ Aya answered.

‘He’s a yucky libidinous Troll,’ Oisa added.

‘I think that’s why Alwana chose him as her mark. She doesn’t want to hurt a human. If anything goes wrong, there’s nothing in her programming that would prevent her from terminating him,’ Bodhi opined.

‘Since you’re talking about Hybrids, I’ve also spotted a Possessed Maranhig.’ Aya nodded toward a beautiful woman sipping coffee by an outdoor table of a café nearly a block away from them. Pedestrians and vehicles passed around her, as in any normal scenario in a Teran city.

‘We have to do our Deceptive Disguise now,’ Oisa declared. ‘It seems the Ares colony is just like most places in Tera; there are occasional Hybrids and Maranhig around. The Possessed are more sensitive to darkling presence and may sense us as avatars. I mean there must be other avatars around since there are MDEs here that can own them, but why catch unnecessary attention? We’d be hard put answereing questions on who are Maestro is.’

Without more ado, Oisa, Bodhi, and Aya went into a public comfort room in the terminal. Inside the cubicles, they went into auto mode, tapping reserves of dark energy in their bodies.

They exited the comfort room appearing the same outside, but differing inside.

‘Hhmm, I can clearly feel the difference in gravity here, about 40% of Teran G. It’s weird. We’re now practically human. I sure hope we don’t encounter any darkling where we’re going,’ Aya said.

‘It’s necessary for our cover,’ Bodhi reminded her. ‘In any case, we have the ability to voluntarily switch back to our Winged Aspect.’

‘I did not have that ability when I was Possessed,’ Aya reminded her.

A middle aged blue-haired lady in blue blazer sat behind the computerized desk, looking at avatars curiously. ‘I am Baligya, of the Coliseum Tours Company, and manager of this ticketing office. You are lucky to have come on time for the first luxury tour of the Mysterious Coliseum. We’re almost sold out.’

‘Yes, we would like to buy tickets,’ Oisa confirmed in Esperanto. ‘Luxury tickets, for four anonymous tourists.’

‘You girls sure look pretty. However, you can’t buy for your parent. She has to show up personally so we can attach her luxury class ticket bracelet on her wrist.’ Since there were three of them, the manager was assuming that the fourth was their mother.

‘The fourth ticket is for our sister.’ Bodhi emptied a purse where she had kept pre-counted Bugu coins worth 40 million pesos.

Baligya raised her eyebrows. She punched a button on her computer table. A sliding door closed the cubicle. She counted the coins, examining each one carefully. Since there were four hundred of them, it took her half an hour. An aide entered and served them tea and cakes.

Finally Baligya turned to them. ‘These are rare hundred thousand peso coins, minted by the Veiled Commission itself with powerful spells for their own special purposes. The computer confirms their authenticity. I am at your service, my ladies. Uh, where is your sister?’

‘She’ll be arriving in a few minutes,’ Bodhi replied nonchalantly.

Baligya punched in a code into the virtual holographic keys of her table computer, and then dropped the coins into a slot. It took a few minutes. From out of another slot, four bracelets popped out.

Baligya proceeded to snap them on the avatars’ wrists. ‘These bracelets are your tickets. Each one emits coded electromagnetic and ultrasound signals that identify you as a luxury tourist of the Coliseum Tours Company. They are non-transferrable; once you unhook them from your wrists, they stop functioning, so keep them on at all times.’

‘Thank you,’ Oisa said, studying her bracelet. ‘Now I guess we’ll just have to wait for our sister.’

‘If you have any questions, I’ll be happy to answer.’

‘Could you tell us the nicest places to stay in for the night?’ Aya inquired.

‘Why not stay in the Alogostani Centrifuge? As everyone knows, several governments have rented large Residential Centrifuges where their citizens, both settlers and tourists, can feel more comfortable. They sub-lease out pads there to tourists. Your expenses there and anywhere in the Ares colony will be shouldered by the Coliseum Tours Company for up to five million pesos for as long as you stay here. You don’t have to show any ID. You can live in any hotel you want, go to any place in the colony, eat in any restaurant, avail of any service. Your bracelet tickets also doubles as credit cards.’

‘That’s nice. What are the other tourists like?’ Bodhi asked.

‘Mostly politicos, businessmen, and families on tour. Which makes you somewhat unique if I might say, young women by themselves on a tour to Ares.’ Baligya suddenly looked uncomfortable. She switched to Alogostani.

‘I did not mean to pry, as Company protocol forbids me from asking the personal info of luxury clients that prefer being anonymous. I just could not help wonder why you do not have an adult escort. I know that there is no strict legal age in Alogostan; but young people below 18, if they choose to, usually have guardians that may represent them in social transactions and escort them on their travels.’

Bodhi straightened up. ‘How do you know we’re Alogostani citizens?’

‘Oh that. You speak Esperanto with a Far Isles accent, you know. Sayabi, I believe that’s what you Islanders call yourselves.’

Aya smiled. ‘Yes we are. You’re from Mainland Alogostan?’

‘No, I’m from the Offshore Islands. I may have had some Sayabi ancestors, like some people in the Offshores and most in the Eastern Islands. Since you’re Sayabi youngsters, you might know more about these groups that have been promoting Sayabi autonomy. They seem to be composed of young people and have sites and blogs all over the internet. My son and daughter in college joined a Friendme page of a group called Kaluwasan, one of these groups. They say it’s to seek out their ancestral culture, whatever that means.’

Aya glanced at her sisters and decided to change topics in order to maintain their cover. ‘Yes, those groups are having some success, even if only in the internet. We sometimes look at their sites, as probably most Sayabi do now and then. But how did you end up here, from Alogostan?’

‘What happened? Did that Troll get you pregnant or something? Did you contact our Order?’ Oisa brusquely asked.

Alwana laughed. ‘You know that we can control our pregnancies once we sloughed off our Disguises. But no I did not allow him to get that far; just enough action to make him happy. And me happy too. I did contact my ‘guardian’ Lili. Since electromagnetic communication takes several minutes to reach Tera, our conversation was limited to two exchanges.’

‘Well what did your overprotective ‘guardian’ have to say?’

‘She and the other avatars had already deduced our ‘change of plans’ when we did not return in an hour. Lili simply told me she would have done the same in our position, and bade us to use our best judgment and find Pana.’

The avatars, following public signs, were walking along toward the center of the Circular Concourse, where individual elevators inside the Ares Space Elevator where located. They entered a small building marked with the sign ‘Luxury Internal Elevator.’ It was like entering a five star hotel.

Behind the front desk in the building’s lobby, a handsome man in a suit and tie asked them politely what he could do for them. They apposed their bracelets to his table computer’s interphase pad. A man dressed in a butler’s uniform escorted them to an internal elevator. They entered a cabin that looked like a small hotel room, complete with two beds, a bathroom, a kitchen, and a balcony. Everything in the cabin was wielded to floor or ceiling.

The butler explained the set-up.

‘I’m repeating the lecture on the Ares Space Elevator 1, per protocol, even though I’m sure you must have heard it before. It’s essentially a cable anchored a few kilometers deep into a plain on Ares’ equatorial surface. On this plain is the colony’s agro-industrial complex, on which we are located at present. The Cable acts as a tether between the underground Anchor and a Counterweight off in space. Near the Counterweight, the centrifugal force pulling you away from the planet approximates one Ares G. The point where gravity and the centrifugal force balance is at geostationary orbit. Below geostationary orbit, Ares pulls you down to its surface; above it centrifugal force pulls you up. At the geostationary orbit itself, there is zero gravity. Attached to the Tether are eight paired giant horizontal bars joined by numerous vertical struts. Dozens of Centrifuges, some big and some small, spin horizontally around the struts. The Centrifuges produce one Teran artificial G directed perpendicular to the tether’s axis.’

‘There are scores of internal elevators of various sizes inside the Space Elevator, but this is one of the rare Elevator Cabins, which your luxury status entitles you to use. You may actually reside here for a hundred thousand pesos a day, if you should wish, although since it’s rather small, most tourists choose to reside in the Residential Centrifuges which are at geostationary orbit as explained. By accelerating and decelerating up and down the Space Elevator, a Cabin’s computer is able to simulate 1 G Teran gravity.’

‘The ascent of all internal elevators is automatically regulated by a central computer, in order to keep disruptive tension on the Cable at a minimum. However you may request your Cabin’s computer to increase, decrease, or even stop its rate of ascent or descent. The Space Elevator Central Computer automatically adjusts the velocity of the other elevators and the power supply to compensate for your movements. So you may view the Ares landscape as you climb up to the Residential Centrifuges at your convenience. You can stop your Cabin at any altitude and enjoy the view. You know the drills in light or zero G; every tourist is trained in Tera for that before coming here. If you have any problems, just inform your Communicator avatar.’

‘What happened? Did that Troll get you pregnant or something? Did you contact our Order?’ Oisa brusquely asked.

Alwana laughed. ‘You know that we can control our pregnancies once we sloughed off our Disguises. But no I did not allow him to get that far; just enough action to make him happy. And me happy too. I did contact my ‘guardian’ Lili. Since electromagnetic communication takes several minutes to reach Tera, our conversation was limited to two exchanges.’

‘Well what did your overprotective ‘guardian’ have to say?’

‘She and the other avatars had already deduced our ‘change of plans’ when we did not return in an hour. Lili simply told me she would have done the same in our position, and bade us to use our best judgment and find Pana.’

The avatars, following public signs, were walking along toward the center of the Circular Concourse, where individual elevators inside the Ares Space Elevator where located. They entered a small building marked with the sign ‘Luxury Internal Elevator.’ It was like entering a five star hotel.

Behind the front desk in the building’s lobby, a handsome man in a suit and tie asked them politely what he could do for them. They apposed their bracelets to his table computer’s interphase pad. A man dressed in a butler’s uniform escorted them to an internal elevator. They entered a cabin that looked like a small hotel room, complete with two beds, a bathroom, a kitchen, and a balcony. Everything in the cabin was wielded to floor or ceiling.

The butler explained the set-up.

‘I’m repeating the lecture on the Ares Space Elevator 1, per protocol, even though I’m sure you must have heard it before. It’s essentially a cable anchored a few kilometers deep into a plain on Ares’ equatorial surface. On this plain is the colony’s agro-industrial complex, on which we are located at present. The Cable acts as a tether between the underground Anchor and a Counterweight off in space. Near the Counterweight, the centrifugal force pulling you away from the planet approximates one Ares G. The point where gravity and the centrifugal force balance is at geostationary orbit. Below geostationary orbit, Ares pulls you down to its surface; above it centrifugal force pulls you up. At the geostationary orbit itself, there is zero gravity. Attached to the Tether are eight paired giant horizontal bars. The Bars are joined by numerous vertical struts. Dozens of Centrifuges, some big and some small, spin horizontally around the Struts. The Centrifuges produce one Teran artificial G directed perpendicular to the tether’s axis.’

‘There are scores of internal elevators of various sizes inside the Space Elevator, but this is one of the rare Elevator Cabins, which your luxury status entitles you to use. You may actually reside here for a hundred thousand pesos a day, if you should wish, although since it’s rather small, most tourists choose to reside in the Residential Centrifuges which are at geostationary orbit as explained. By accelerating and decelerating up and down the Space Elevator, a Cabin’s computer is able to simulate 1 G Teran gravity.’

‘The ascent of all internal elevators is automatically regulated by a central computer, in order to keep disruptive tension on the Cable at a minimum. However you may request your Cabin’s computer to increase, decrease, or even stop its rate of ascent or descent. The Space Elevator Central Computer automatically adjusts the velocity of the other elevators and the power supply to compensate for your movements. So you may view the Ares landscape as you climb up to the Residential Centrifuges at your convenience. You can stop your Cabin at any altitude and enjoy the view. You know the drills in light or zero G; every tourist is trained in Tera for that before coming here. If you have any problems, just inform your Communicator avatar.’

‘Hey, it’s Captain Sugo 101,’ Alwana exclaimed.

Oisa looked at Communicator 8 quizzically. ‘Take us up to the Alogostani Residential Centrifuge as fast as the central computer will allow.’

Communicator 8 touched his palm on the cabin’s table computer’s interphase pad.

The cabin ascended out of the Circular Concourse. It was obvious that they were located at the side of the space elevator, so they could visualize the environment outside though their balcony’s vacuum-proof transparent windows. Above them the sky shone like light through a yellow paper lantern through the dust laden Ares atmosphere. As the elevator accelerated, Ares fell beneath them like the red of a dying siren fading into pink. Dust storms the planet’s surface whirled, rose-colored paint getting stirred. They climbed into the blackness of space.

SE1C8 chimed once more. ‘Since you requested that we move as rapidly as possible, notice our acceleration is adding to the pull of Ares’ gravity. You will experience gravity more than one Teran G. As we approach the midway point between Ares and geostationary orbit, we will begin to decelerate. Gravity will drop to zero, and this Cabin will automatically turn upside down. I shall inform you when it is about to do so, and I recommend that you strap yourselves on your beds or chairs. The deceleration will once again create artificial gravity. At geostationary orbit, gravity once again will decrease to zero. During periods of zero G, if you need to move around, you may make use of the multiple handholds situated on the floor, walls, and ceiling. However, this could prove to be inconvenient for you. Thus before this occurs at geostationary orbit, I suggest that you make your way to that eletrain over there on the cabin’s corner. Strap yourselves on the seats there. It’s a movable cubicle that will take you to a Residential Centrifuge of your choosing where one Teran G is present.’

‘It looks like one of our own eletrains in the Shield,’ Aya remarked.

‘I do not know what you are referring to when you say the Shield.’

‘Are you on auto mode or something?’ Aya joked.

‘I am being me, Madame.’

‘You can’t talk more human?’

‘There are reports of ancient avatars from the Dark War that have a human mode. Dumot avatars may also act human. Avatars that guide tourists have a social mode that allows them to somewhat imitate emotive human behavior. I am not any of these. If you wish to request for one, I have no knowledge where to obtain said avatars.’

In the Alogostani Residential Centrifuge, the avatars followed the public signs pointing to the luxury apartments.

Alwana was lecturing. ‘This resembles a pathway that turned on itself and bit its tail. You could walk in a straight line until you reach the spot you started from. The apartments are located on the sides of the pathway. The whole assembly spins, creating artificial gravity of approximately one Teran G. From Ares’ perspective, our bodies are oriented horizontally.’

‘How the heck did we handle the zero G times in the elevator so easily? We did not go through any drill for it,’ Aya asked.

‘We must have had experienced with it in our past lives while in Deceptive Disguise as humans. We seem to have a reflex memory for it,’ Bodhi speculated.

‘Maybe we were humans?’ Aya conjectured.

‘Huo, yes I would love that. I would even make a boyfriend out of Mr. Green Hair Troll, as ugly and paunchy as he is,’ Alwana opined quite seriously. ‘In his private office, he turned out to be quite the romantic.’

Oisa rolled up her eyes.

Occasionally they would encounter other people walking along the Centrifuge Pathway. The avatars spotted a couple of women that had Seals on their wrists, the mark of Maestras. Some of the passersby would stare at the avatars for a few seconds, especially the teenagers. Alwana decided she had enough of it and walked up to a boy of about fourteen that was gawking at them.

‘Why are you looking at us?’ she directly asked, in Esperanto.

‘Uh, I’m not sure,’ he stammered in Alogostani.

‘Well you’re obviously Alogostani. Please answer the question. We share the same citizenship, and I promise I won’t bite.’ Alwana now also spoke Alogostani.

‘It’s because you’re so uh.. beautiful,’ the teenager finally gushed out. ‘You look like the coliseum beauty, goddess of gladiators.’

The avatars looked at each other.

‘Have you gone to the coliseum?’ Aya asked.

Now that he had an opportunity to talk, the boy commenced doing so like a gun on automatic. ‘No. I’ve seen only pictures of it. The coliseum tours began three days ago, but only for settlers. It was opened to tourists (that is non-permanent residents) just today; after the Coliseum Tours Company was doubly sure it was safe. Hover jets go there every hour. The Dako Conglomerate keeps on sticking to Teran time schedules but luckily the Ares day is just about 30 minutes longer than Tera’s, so we can easily keep up with Teran time. Every 6 hours an especially large hover jet is scheduled to go there for the luxury tour. It doesn’t matter what time because it’s summer and the sun is always up in the north pole. I want to go, but we can’t afford it. My parents spent all their savings to settle on Ares. We’ve been residing here in the Alogostani Residential Centrifuge for 1.9 Teran years already, which is slightly more than one Ares year. Only rich government officials and businessmen can pay for the Coliseum tour, like Senators Hampang, Naluoy, or Tiaw whose suites are next to our cabin-apartment. I plan to apply for work in the Coliseum Tours Company, so I’ll be able to see it myself for free.’

‘Senator Naluoy from Tubo Island?’

‘Yes. You’re tourists aren’t you? An economy apartment for tourists costs fifty thousand pesos per day to rent. As settlers, we have ours for free, following the MOA between the Dako Conglomerate and all Centrifuge leasers, along with food stamps, but my parents have to work for the Conglomerate all Teran year long except for a 60 day leave. Even on those days, they spend their time on part time jobs for other companies here that actually pay you Bugu coins. They’re off to work right now in one of the new space elevators under construction. I’ve heard it can sometimes be dangerous, but fortunately avatars do most of the work in the risky places. The resident MDEs that provide for these worker avatars get higher pay and more privileges.’

‘Where is Senator Naluoy’s suite?’ Oisa abruptly asked. ‘I would like to see where he lives.’

‘The suites are adjacent to our permanent apartment. It’s where VIPs and resident MDEs live. I can show you. My name is Puyo by the way.’

The avatars did not introduce themselves following their policy of keeping their identities secret. They followed the teenager into a side corridor marked ‘Suites and Settler Cabins.’ The corridor forked in two.

‘This is my family’s cabin.’ Puyo pointed to the first door to the left. ‘The suites are there.’ He pointed to the right fork. ‘Senator Naluoy’s vacation residence is behind the second door. He’s probably in the Circular Concourse right now though, because I do know from the local grapevine that he’s going to join the 7am Teran time luxury Coliseum Tour. It’s the first luxury tour actually; so many VIPs are joining in.’

‘Thank you, Puyo,’ Oisa said. ‘We better get going.’

‘Don’t you want to see our cabin?’

‘Maybe next time.’ Oisa tapped Puyo’s shoulder in a friendly manner and took off to the right, followed by Bodhi, Aya, and Alwana. The suite room five doors away from Senator Naluoy’s was marked ‘Unoccupied. For Luxury Tourists Only.’ Oisa touched her bracelet on the door’s interphase pad. It slid open.

Puyo was staring at them several doors away. ‘Wow! I did not know you were luxury tourists.’ Alwana waved at him as they entered the suite. The door automatically slid shut after them.

It was indeed a suite - carpeted floors, chandeliers, large beds, bathrooms, kitchens, gym, study rooms, dressing rooms with an array of clothes from which they could choose the appropriate proper sizes, and even a small swimming pool. The left windows showed the red surface of Ares; the right windows the blackness of space.

‘Do you know that Senator Naluoy was the one that initiated the planned Senate Hearing on Devolvement, upon the recommendation letters of orgs such as Kaluwasan and our own Order of the Sun and Sky?’ Aya asked rhetorically.

‘Yes,’ Oisa replied. ‘We all do. Fortunately we will get to see him in the 7am tour. He is a man important for our cause after all. Now I have to go to the bathroom. Nice thing that there are four of them in this suite.’

Alawana ignored their talk. She walked up to the swimming pool and stripped down to her underwear.

‘What are you doing?’ Aya asked her.

Oisa, Bodhi, Aya, and Alwana went down to the space elevator’s Base Circular Concourse just past midnight so as to be on time for the 7am tour to the North Pole. The journey down was a mirror of their trip up. They started at zero gravity at geostationary orbit in an internal elevator’s luxury cabin, heads down toward Ares and feet facing the stars; and ended at the Base with feet planted on the ground.

They got to the airport by taking a taxi. Oisa apposed her bracelet to the driver’s control panel interphase for their payment. He proceeded to take them to periphery of the Base where the airport was located. At a front desk, they again presented their bracelets for scanning.

‘Welcome Stars 1, 2, 3, and 4,’ the company officer greeted them.

‘What stars?’ Alwana queried.

‘Your designations, dear clients,’ the officer answered. ‘In the ticketing office, you requested that you preferred being anonymous.’

They were ushered into a private cylindrical airtight walkway, protecting them from Ares’ thin noxious atmosphere and into the runway by another officer. The end of the walkway was attached to a huge hover jet.

Their hovercraft resembled a large double deck business jet with four wings, two on each side at different levels. Four stewardesses met them at the doorway, each sporting a different hair color- red, yellow, green, and blue.

Miss blue greeted them. ‘Welcome to the Coliseum Tours, luxury star class. This aircraft has all the amenities of a five star hotel. We have 20 large private cabins each with its own comfort room in the first deck.

‘In the second deck, we have the recreational lobby,’ Miss green explained. ‘You can go there via two stairways, one near the plane’s front door, one near the backdoor. There is a lounge where the guests can socialize, a computer and game room, a gym, and a bar and restaurant. Our specialist personnel are ready to aid you on their use- a butler, computer technician, Ares gravity trainer, chef, and bartender, and five Communicator avatars.’

They proceeded through a small hallway flanked on either side by cabins, all the way to the rearmost one.

‘This is cabin 20, where you have been assigned, as you were the last to book. As you can see, it’s next to the rear staircase, kitchen, and the backdoor alternative exit. Nevertheless it’s luxuriously identical to the other cabins. This jet is scheduled to take off in 30 minutes. Before then, we will call all guests into the central area for pre-flight instructions.’

Their cabin looked like a typical hotel room. There were four beds, a bathroom and wardrobe, a study table, a refrigerator, and an air conditioner. The avatars hardly had time to settle in when an intercom bleeped.

‘Dear Star guests, you are requested to come to the lobby for your pre-flight instructions.’

They climbed up to the second deck. There were 50 guests in the substantially large lounge, many heavily attired in the accessories of the rich. Most of the crowd looked to be rich entrepreneurs or government officials, and their families; but there also was a group of five stunningly pretty ladies in evening gowns. The avatars recognized Senator Naluoy on a table computer, busy typing. He looked to be around in his 70s, but still brisk and with an aristocratic bearing. They quickly took the next table. Alwana could not resist peeking.

‘Damn, but he’s writing about the Senate Hearing on Devolvement. I thought it was postponed indefinitely because of the war with Hilistan,’ she blurted out in Sinayabi.

Senator Naluoy turned around, looking at her severely. ‘Yes, young lady. Please tone down your voice. There are Hilistanis here you know. Some may understand Alogostani. Good thing I’m sure they don’t understand Sinayabi.’

Oisa looked at him in surprise. ‘You speak Sinayabi!’

‘Yes, iha. I come from an old family in Tubo Island, some of whom still remember who they are in spite of intermarriages with Alogostanis and the national language policy.’

‘That’s great. When is the hearing scheduled?’ Alwana’s follow-up question came immediately.

‘Alwana, don’t be rude,’ Aya admonished. ‘Don’t rush the Senator. You were a war hero in WW3, isn’t that right, Your Honor?’

‘Yes, my dears.’ He was looking at them, puzzled. ‘You’re high school kids or maybe first year college. You speak fluent Sinayabi, but I don’t think it’s Offshore or Eastern Islands accent. It’s similar to Far Islets accent, but not exactly like it.’

‘This aircraft is state of the art. Each wing is equipped with three jet engines, one maneuverable to aid in controlling direction, one directed down for hover mode, and one directed backwards for the forward thrust. Our plane is powered by a mix of Bugu generated electricity and jet fuel plus oxygen taken from the Ares colony’s factories. Fuel and liquid oxygen are stored in compartments in the lower fuselage and wings. Take-off and landing can be done in the hover mode so as to minimize the discomfort of acceleration.’

Miss red hair sat down and strapped herself on her seat. As if on cue, the hover jet slowly rose. It climbed out of the airport area, and began flying toward the North with only barely perceptible acceleration. Below them, the plastic-covered farms and factory domes flowed past them. The space elevator turned into a tall needle, receding.

After a while, a bell pinged and the stewardesses stood up. ‘You may now take off your seatbelts. Feel free to explore the facilities of our vehicle, and to socialize with the other guests. If you need any assistance just press on the ‘Aid’ buttons on the walls, chairs, and tables, and one of our personnel will attend to you. We also have a team of five Communicator avatars, ready to aid you interphase with your computers for communications, gaming, and other purposes, if you so request.’

Five females, all with perfect anime-like features stood up and bowed. The four Arch Wings stood up and bowed back at them automatically. Senator Naluoy and some of the other guests looked at the Wings curiously.

‘That would be all for now. Enjoy your voyage, our dear Star guests.’

Normal human conversation immediately resumed in a low buzzing murmur. ‘Can I get you young ladies something to drink?’ Senator Naluoy asked the avatars.

‘Yes, your Honor,’ Bodhi answered diplomatically.

‘Then allow me to join your company.’ Senator Naluoy transferred to an empty seat at their computer table. ‘I would love to ask your names and where you come from, but something tells me you would feel uncomfortable answering those questions. There were four anonymous guests listed for this flight. I guess you’re them.’

He signaled for the butler.

‘What would you have?’

‘Tea.’

‘Tea for the lovely ladies and myself, please.’ Naluoy motioned at the butler.

Bodhi bowed her head. ‘Thank you. Uhmm, if I may inquire, you seem to be alone?’

‘I’m with my grandniece. She’s over there on that table.’ Naluoy gestured at a table near the front of the lounge, where four teenage girls were grouped around, chatting.

‘As you probably know from the Alogostani press, my wife, children, and grandchildren were all killed in a Unitemple terrorist attack two years ago. I kind of semi-retired, reading up on the history of Alogostan; not the official one in books released by the Department of Education in the school curriculum, but primary sources from the pre-Shift and Dark Shift eras.’

Aya perked up. ‘We have done the same thing, your Honor. The more we read, the more we’ve noticed that our history has been faked in the sense that the point of view is all pro-Tunga City, and purely nationalistic. It turns out that some of the provinces of present-day Alogostan were domains of conquered peoples that have been forcibly acculturated into the Alogostani language. There used to be 160 different non-Alogostani ethno-linguistic peoples. Now only a few remain.’

The Senator was looking at them curiously. ‘You know a lot young lady. Sinayabi is your native tongue, right?

All four avatars nodded.

‘Yet you have a peculiar accent. A non Sayabi would think you speak the dialect of the Far Islets, but another native speaker like me can discern it’s not the same. Do you know that it’s technically illegal for an Alogostani citizen to speak non-Alogostani languages except for Esperanto? You are the first youngsters I have ever heard speaking Sinayabi publicly, except for my grandnephew.’

‘Yes, sir,’ Oisa replied. ‘We don’t care though. The younger generations in the Eastern Islands have shifted to Alogostani. We thought there are no Sayabis anymore in the Offshore Islands. But that stupid ruling doesn’t deter us.’

‘That’s great news!’ Bodhi exclaimed. ‘It’s well known that the only way to resurrect a dead or new language to a new generation of students is by teaching it in schools. I sure hope it would be included in the school curriculum in the future.’

‘Not really. I had to stop it a few months ago because some of my businesses have recently failed.’

The avatars’ smiles disappeared.

Naluoy tried to assuage them. ‘On the other hand, one of the topics to be discussed in the Senate hearing for Devolvement is the teaching of non-Alogostani languages in schools of provinces that used to speak them, as part of the curriculum in order to help preserve our cultures. It might be difficult because we first have to junk that Alogostani-only law and the bias of the Nationalists for a one-language one-nation ideology. I am encouraging and inviting you to attend it, especially since you represent one of the few of the younger generation that can still speak Sinayabi, and we need support. I shall even recommend that you speak out, if you attend, in behalf of the Sayabi culture.’

‘I hope we won’t have to don old Sayabi costumes and prance around, like what some of the historical societies do,’ Alwana acidly remarked. ‘Clothes and stupid cultural performances don’t make up a people’s ethnic identity. Their language does. No speaker of Sinayabi, no Sayabi people.’

Bodhi nudged Alwana’s foot with her own, subtly telling her to stop talking brusquely. ‘We will surely attend. By the way, can we retire back to our room, Your Honor? We need to freshen up.’

‘Sure, young ladies. I hope I would have the pleasure of talking with you again,’ Naluoy gallantly told them.

Once in cabin 20, Bodhi whirled around to face her sisters.

‘What were you thinking? Senator Naluoy is obviously one heck of an astute social observer. He’s about to deduce who we are, just from our accent! Members of the Sun and Sky are the only ones that speak our dialect of Sinayabi in Tera.’

After a moment of silence, Aya spoke up. ‘You’re right. We should stay here in our cabin for the rest of the trip, and not interact with any of the passengers, if we wish to say anonymous.’

‘Good afternoon, dear Star guests. Lunch is served in the restaurant on the second deck. If you wish it served in your cabins, feel free to tell us so. We are happy to announce that our luxury food is imported directly from Tera.’

Bodhi punched on the intercom. ‘Please serve it in our cabin. Have the Communicator avatars bring it. We’ll have steamed tanige mackerel, lukon prawn, laswa assorted vegetables, and mango juice.’

After 30 minutes, five avatars came in their room, carrying dishes, plates, and utensils, which they set on a table.

‘We are J-1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. I am J-1,’ one of them announced. ‘We are pleased that you chose us to serve you. No other guest has made such a request.’

‘I’m not surprised,’ Alwana said, biting into her mackerel. ‘Guests prefer humans to serve them.’

‘Do you like your jobs?’ Aya inquired of them.

‘Yes, of course. Avatars exist for programmed purposes,’ J-2 answered. ‘We never exist for ourselves. When we abide by our purpose, we are happy.’

‘You mean you’re programmed to say you are happy when you do your job,’ Bodhi corrected.

‘We are essentially programs written into the Tela by use of the dark arts. I think that should make us think in a different manner from that of ordinary AIs that are written as ones and zeros in electronic digital code,’ J-3 asserted.

‘Therefore inasmuch as we can be conscious, we probably do really enjoy our job,’ J-4 opined.

‘You mean you’re not robots in a Chinese room?’ Alwana asked, digging up a recollection from her mostly deleted past.

‘What’s a Chinese room?’ J-5 asked back.

Bodhi raised her hand. ‘I recall that memory. You place a girl in a room, with a large library. She should be able to answer questions written in slips of paper fed into the room in an unknown language correctly, and just by consulting the library and following its instructions to the letter, even if she can’t understand the language at all. Even if the human girl is replaced by an entity that possesses no self-awareness, it would still be able to answer in a way that passes off as a self-aware human.’

Over the horizon, the glare of the Northern Polar Ice cap loomed as a brilliant white cape.

Ping! Their cabin’s doorbell chimed. The Communicator avatars promptly fell silent. J-1 stood up. ‘Our dear Star guests, I am Communicator avatar J-1. We are now descending into the Northern Ice Mine area. Your cabin has seatbelts on its wielded-on seats. Although the landing will be as gentle as ever, we recommend that you strap yourselves in. Once we have landed, please proceed to the back of the plane where pressure suits will be distributed to you. The personnel will help you get into them.’

‘Yes, we already know you’re J-1,’ Aya replied. ‘Thank you.’

The hover jet proceeded to land right outside the cavern entrance to the Mysterious Coliseum. The passengers donned on pressure suits and debarked through an airlock at the plane’s rear, accompanied by the stewardesses and several of the crew. The captain and his co-pilot remained in the plane.

The four Archs went down last. The Communicator avatars went along with them.

‘You aren’t wearing pressure suits,’ Aya told them via her suit’s radio.

‘Yes. All Ares avatars are designed for the Ares atmosphere,’ J-5 explained. ‘We can communicate to you by laryngeal microphones implanted in our throats.’

‘I somehow got the idea that you were to remain in the hover jet?’ Alwana asked, a bit surprised.

‘We go with the expedition to the Coliseum; as we are part of the guide personnel. And there’s nothing to do in our jet,’ J-1 explained.

Meanwhile, the tour group entered the cavern’s entrance and descended down a sloping tunnel. Lamps sunk into the walls illuminated their way. Just before reaching the cavern proper, they arrived at an enormous airlock.

Miss green gestured at the airlock. ‘This was installed when it was ascertained that the cavern where the Coliseum is in has no communication to the Ares atmosphere. Our Company has decided to pressurize and oxygenate the whole cavern, so you can view it more comfortably without pressure suits.’

The tour group entered the airlock and exited into the cavern. There was a rack for their pressure suits. They got out of their suits and placed them on the racks.

J-3 pointed at the ground beneath their feet and walls of the cavern. ‘All surfaces in this cavern to a depth of about 4mm is composed of silicate minerals that have a different oxygen isotope ratio from that of ordinary Ares rock.’

‘However, if you dig in anywhere, the ratios become identical to Ares’ isotopic signature once more,’ J-4 added.

They approached the coliseum.

At the front of the group were the five ladies that looked like socialites. Then came a bunch of businessmen types; followed by families with teenagers. In front of them was Senator Naluoy. With him was a teenage girl. Senator Naluoy spotted them, and he and the girl dropped back.

‘Kamusta, how are you young ladies? Let me introduce my grandniece Gamay.’

Gamay bowed. The avatars bowed back, asian style.

‘I can speak a little Sinayabi, thanks to my brother’s tutoring.’ Gamay smiled at them.

‘That would be my grandnephew,’ Naluoy clarified.

‘Who is your grandnephew that still speaks Sinayabi,’ Aya asked curiously. ‘He must have learned it on purpose, since I know of no young native Sayabi speaker in the Offshores.’

Senator Naluoy assumed a cast-down look. ‘His name was Tuman. There had been some family problems, but now that has been resolved just a few days ago. Before that happened, Tuman went missing. We had been in communication though for years, and I do know that he was intent on reviving the Sayabi language and ethnic identity, which is about to die out in my generation in the Offshore. He created an organization for this advocacy. This trip by the way is a gift to my grandniece Gamay; I thought it would cheer her up. We’re still searching for him, but the police are uncooperative as he was in their watch-out-for list as a suspected secessionist.’

They entered the Coliseum’s arena. J-5 waved her hand at the statues and machines scattered around them. ‘The MDEs believe that these artifacts originated from Telar echoes of denizens and machines from another realm.’

Alwana nudged Aya, whispering softly. ‘Some of these machines resemble cars or trucks, but that one looks like a miniaturized version of our Boat.’

‘See that’s the pentagram portal.’ Gamay was pointing to the darkly glimmering structure on one end of the arena. ‘And that’s the Coliseum Beauty herself!’

They soon reached Pana’s statue. The four Wings stared at it mesmerized.

‘Damn; but it’s still clothed in a stony version of Pana’s micro miniskirt and tube top when we last saw her,’ Alwana whispered to her sisters. ‘It has to be new, and it has got to be a Telar echo of our Pana.’

The Communicator avatars with their sharp hearing overheard her. J-1 shook her head. ‘Are you referring to the so-called Coliseum Beauty? A sample of the rock composing it has been dated to about 450 years. Therefore the MDEs believe it originated during the Great Dark Shift, and whoever this statue represents cannot be your relative.’

‘It has the features of an idealized female,’ J-2 remarked beside them.

‘So do we,’ J-3 commented.

Senator Naluoy smiled at the Archs. ‘And if I may say so, so do you four young ladies. If Tuman is correct, there is only one set of people in the whole of Tera that speaks native Sinayabi with an accent different from the Offshore, Eastern Islands, and Far Islets, although your accent is quite similar to that of the Far Islers and could be mistaken for it by a non-native speaker.’

‘There is?’ Alwana echoed stupidly.

‘Maybe. It’s up for you to tell me about yourselves, in your own good time,’ Naluoy diplomatically said.

The tourists milled about for the next several minutes, breaking into smaller groups to marvel at the other artifacts.

‘We have to transform to our natural Arch Wing form, you know,’ Aya murmured, as Naluoy and Gamay went over to scope out the rest of the Coliseum and its contents. Attached to most of the artifacts were pyramidal shaped objects. ‘We can’t sense anything preternaturally Dark in human Disguise.’

‘We stay behind, as planned,’ Bodhi stated. ‘The Coliseum Tours Company brochure did state that any tourist can stay and explore the Coliseum until the next tour group arrives for an additional ten million pesos, as long as two or more personnel guide us. We request that the Communicator avatars be the ones to stay with us just in case we need to knock out witnesses, which we can’t do if they’re human.’

The avatars went over to one of the stewardesses, who together with the other hover jet personnel were now acting as tour guides. She called in the other personnel. Coins worth 40 million pesos changed hands.

‘At least two guides must be left behind with you, according to Company rules,’ Miss blue hair stewardess declared. ‘You can choose which.’

‘How about Communicators?’

‘Yes of course, they could be your guides if you wish.’

‘Can we all stay?’ J-4 requested. The Communicator avatars had listened in the negotiations.

Miss blue hair shrugged. ‘Fine with me, but not all of you. One of you has to stay with the hover jet on the way back.’

Later the five pretty ladies also approached the stewardesses and seemed to be negotiating for an extended stay, but they eventually exited the Coliseum.

After 45 minutes, Miss yellow hair announced that they had to leave before the next tour group arrived.

Bodhi, Aya, and Alwana wandered off around the arena, requesting the J’s to come with them, while Oisa went over to the Portal. She went into a trance, sloughing off her Deceptive Disguise.

Suddenly the pyramids began glowing in Oisa’s eyes.

The Communicator avatars quickly turned towards the Portal, and quickly walked up to it, followed by Bodhi, Aya, and Alwana.

‘What is that?’ J-1 inquired. ‘There’s a surge of dark energy. Madame Oisa, you’ve changed. You’re an avatar too?’

Oisa nodded. All the avatars stared at the Portal.

‘We should report this to our Company,’ J-2 asserted.

‘What the hell!’ Oisa exclaimed. ‘Some of these pyramids are advanced dark-powered equivalents of videocams and consoles. They’re programmed to activate in the presence of high Dan darklings, not low Dans or Maestros.’

‘And we are darklings in essence,’ Aya reminded her. ‘Of the highest Dan. No wonder the Ares MDEs couldn’t activate them and thought they were damaged.

‘If I may inquire, could you please explain or elaborate on your statements?’ J-3 politely asked.

‘Maybe later,’ Aya kindly told her.

They were interrupted as five people reentered the Coliseum. They were the bejeweled socialites. They approached the avatars.

J-4 greeted them. ‘Welcome back, star guests. If I may inquire, did the human tour guides give you consent to stay behind?’

One of the ladies answered her. She was speaking Esperanto in a rather aristocratic manner. ‘We have special permits, Communicator, to go anywhere in Ares, if that’s what you’re asking. Your Company knows of course.’

‘If I may respectfully ask, didn’t they provide you with at least two escorts as per Company rules?’ J-1 motioned at the Archs. ‘We are already assigned to these girls.’

‘I convinced them we did not need any.’ The lady turned to the Wings.

‘Hello dears, so you also decided to stay? We were at the outside looking at the Coliseum architect. Different historical styles for each tier, would you say? Let me introduce myself. I am Brillante.’ The lady curtsied.

Oisa bowed Asian style. ‘I am Oisa. You’re Maranhig Possessed. I can feel it. Compeller, basilisk, banshee, naiad, santermo.’

‘That’s right, they informed the Company of that,’ J-2 explained. ‘According to international WDF rules, it’s legal for Possessed and Hybrids to be in Ares, unlike in some Nations in Tera, on the condition they do not employ their powers. If they do, any avatar is mandated to execute them by a law directly promulgated by the Veiled Commission.’

‘We certainly hope you did not use your Dark Compulsion to dissuade the human tour personnel from providing you with escorts?’ J-3 indirectly asked Brillante.

‘We can feel you too,’ another lady told Oisa, ignoring the Communicator avatars. ‘I’m Diamante by the way. Strange but we could not sense you earlier. Combat avatar aren’t you? You feel like one. Where is your Maestra? Your companions look too young to be MDEs.’

‘Secret,’ Oisa smiled at them. She realized that the Maranhig thought that Bodhi, Aya, and Alwana were humans as they still were in Deceptive Disguise, but decided not to inform the newcomers of that fact. ‘You five look like a squad Extraordinaire from the Dark War. And it’s been a long time since I have seen a Compeller. Only High Demon Kings can Make them. May I inquire what your intentions are?’

Brillante sighed. ‘We are going to activate the Portal. We intended to activate them by prepped spells in our diamond stones, but apparently you have already done so inadvertently. If you were all humans I would have Urged you to get out of here and you would have been Compelled to obey, none the wiser. Unfortunately my powers don’t work on creatures with an affinity for the Dark such as darklings and avatars.’

J-4 eyed the ladies. ‘Does the Tours Company know of your intention to activate the Portal?’

‘No,’ Diamante replied. ‘We don’t want any witnesses.’

Brillante added in a matter of fact voice, ‘Therefore, we will have to terminate all of you. The videocams your Company has placed around the Coliseum have been shut off for now by agents of our patrons. So are your communication systems. No one will know.’

J-1 walked in front of them, blocking the five ladies. ‘You must have powerful patrons. But Possessed are no match for avatars. We are Communicators but we can still beat you in a fight. There will be no murder of our clients.’

Diamante the basilisk grinned, teeth sharpening into fangs and head assuming the features of a green-scaled snake. J-2 stepped toward her and crouched in combat position.

She touched a diamond on her necklace, as did the other Possessed. The gemstones glowed and shot out rays of white light into Oisa and the J’s. The surviving Communicators promptly stopped moving.

Oisa smiled at the ladies. Wings sprouted out of her back. A flaming doble espada appeared in her left hand. ‘Paralysis spells don’t work on me, my dears. Neither will any of your powers.’

‘An aar.. Arch Wing!’ Brillante stuttered.

As fast as a bee’s buzzing wing, Oisa beheaded the five Possessed. They crumbled into nothing.

‘Pretty old critters, for them to disintegrate so fast,’ Aya observed. ‘And by the Tela, a Compeller? For the humans they were the most feared of all the Possessed, able to take over their will. These were powerful Enhanced, probably survivors of the Dark War. I wonder who hired them?’

The Communicator avatars had begun to move upon the Maranhigs’ termination. ‘We.. have .. to.. report..,’ J-3 lisped out.

‘They’re witnesses too,’ Bodhi noted.

Oisa pleaded to the Communicator avatars. ‘You must know that if you tell on us, the subsequent investigation might harm our Order. I can assure you that we intend no harm to anyone, and no one else needs to die. All you have to do is keep quiet about this.’

J-1 was already moving normally. ‘Perhaps if you tell us what this is all about and we ascertain no one will be harmed, we can delay informing our Company.’

J-4 shook her head. ‘Our programming requires us to inform our Company of peculiar events such as this, that can be detrimental to it.’

J-1 raised up a hand. ‘But it has not been proven that this event is detrimental to our Company. Our conversations with them in the hover jet indicate that they are well-adjusted to human society and value human life. I suggest we wait this out, and go into observe and record mode.’

J-3 and J-4 looked at each other. Almost as one, they shook their heads.

‘I think we better report this anyway, just to make sure,’ J-3 opined.

J-4 nodded in agreement. She and J-3 touched their tabcom’s interphase pad in order to contact their Company.

‘Sorry,’ Oisa apologized. She struck like a cobra with her doble espada. J-3 and J-4’s heads flew off their shoulders. Their decapitated bodies disintegrated.

The coliseum wavered like strings of air plucked on a harp.

‘Dark Shift!’ Bodhi yelled. ‘We’re stuck!’

The Pentagram Portal fell on them.

Abruptly they were in another world; yet somehow it was the same coliseum. It was midafternoon and the sun shone on them bright. The Ares pentagram portal now enclosed them. Around them the darkling statues and huge black-haired humans had come to life. The darklings appeared different from those that invaded Tera, but there was no mistaking what they were. The large humans averaged seven feet tall, made of robust muscle packed in bronze skin. Some of them were decapitating smaller humans, paler of features but well-formed too.

The avatars raised their heads to the tiers.

The Coliseum Beauty looked down at them from her throne-like seat on the audience box above them. ‘It’s them!’ She stood up.

[Event "rated blitz match"]
[Site "Free Internet Chess Server"]
[Date "2017.03.21"]
[Round "?"]
[White "NN"]
[Black "Quylthulg"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1922"]
[BlackElo "2055"]
[ECO "A40"]
[TimeControl "180"]

Amidst the unceasing rumbling of the crowd, Pana easily jumped from her throne onto the arena grounds. In full armor, she strode to the Pentagram imprisoning Oisa, Bodhi, Aya, Alwana, and J-1 with the haughtiness of a queen. Darklings and humans made way for her, parting like an ebbing tide of monsters before a child.

She walked right into the pentagram. The crowd in the Coliseum murmured.

‘We have to maintain appearances,’ she immediately stated in Sinayabi. ‘This Bounded Pentagram is spelled to contain only high Dan darklings, which you essentially are. Same with these collars I’m holding. Who’s this?’

‘J-1, a Communicator avatar; she’s with us by accident,’ Oisa replied.

‘J-1, whatever happens, keep quiet. Just follow our lead. We don’t know exactly what we’ve gotten ourselves into,’ Bodhi advised.

‘I’m going to observe and record mode, our protocol if put in an unfamiliar situation,’ J-1 stated. ‘You don’t have to worry about me. I understand that while Oisa destroyed my two sisters out of what she thought was necessity, before that she also saved us from those Extraordinaire Possessed.’

Pana took five pentagram-shaped collars from her arm and aggressively thrust them toward the prisoners, still acting the arrogant queen. ‘You have to put this on your necks. I’m now Suprema here and they should see that I control you. Don’t act familiar with me; make as though you are fierce tigers grudgingly submitting to their human trainer.’

The Archs looked at each other. Oisa held up her wings. The entire coliseum audience of darklings and humans gawked at her, buzzing with anticipation. Oisa swung her Wings forward, brandishing them threateningly at Pana. Pana yelled at Oisa. Oisa’s face grimaced in terror and her wings drooped in submission.

Bodhi, Aya, and Alwana nearly laughed.

At the last moment they controlled themselves and shrieked out like stray dogs getting kicked out of a house by an irate owner. All five prisoners took the pentagram collars and put them on their necks. The crowd cheered (the humans) and hissed (the darklings).

Pana uttered some mumbo jumbos and the Pentagram prison disappeared. She spoke out in a dark-powered voice in Esperanto.

‘As you can see my minions, the terrible winged goddesses have surrendered to me and have accepted the Collar of Submission. Only one of them had the temerity to transform into her Winged Aspect, but even she has submitted. The Collars spell-bind them to accept commands by myself and selected members of our planetary Hierarchy. Now we have the weapon we need to repel the Sari.’

Pana jumped back into the amply large ruler’s box. She signaled the prisoners, who did the same. They were made to sit on the floor in front of Pana. The darklings she referred to as the Hierarchy sat on luxurious chairs on either side of Pana’s throne-like seat. Human attendants moved among them carrying chunks of meat.

The darklings did not look exactly like those that regularly invaded Tera on close-up. Instead of horns, they had tentacles tipped by barbs on their heads. Their tail and some extremities also looked as if they were modified tentacles.

A darkling detached itself from the Hierarchs’ group. Oisa could sense that it was a Dan 41 Prince.

‘Your Excellency,’ the Dan 41 bowed before Pana. ‘It’s possible that our Suprema has forgotten the games in all the excitement.’

‘Oh yes. I acknowledge your reminder, Taklong.’

‘Let the celebration games commence,’ Pana announced into the coliseum in a flat but dark-powered voice. Her face was impassive, and somehow reluctant. She was greeted by more cheers and hisses.

The arena was quickly cleared. The Wings noticed small catapults emplaced randomly on the arena grounds. A smaller man of normal physique was paired against a seven foot gladiator. The smaller fighter had pale skin, and hair that looked to be bleached almost to colorlessness, unlike the usual Teran blue, green, red, and yellow. The larger man had slightly fair yellowish-tinged skin similar to the avatars, and jet black thick hair similar to Elam’s. Underneath his armor, he was clearly all robust bones and corded muscles. Both kneeled before Pana, shouting ‘Our lives for the Suprema’, then faced off. Although also armored, the smaller man seemed to cower before his mighty opponent, who promptly brought his sword down, bisecting the former’s head sagitally. The crowd roared. The winning warrior kneeled before Pana, once again, and then exited always facing toward her.

Pana gestured at the macabre feast. ‘Darklings have the ability to change sexes. In this world they have a choice to reproduce either by normal mammalian methods; or by dark-empowered methods which is akin to MDEs creating avatars. The darklings that adopt the mammalian sexual method may form families with their young, and they often go out as a group to the Bulang-Tawo coliseums for their entertainment. They get to eat the corpses.’

Round two featured 50 hesitant Esdis against a team of 25 raring-to-go Kempatays. Some of the Kempatay were women. Swords, maces, nets and tridents, went into action. Blood and gore spilled. In the end, only 22 Kempatays were left alive, two of them lying on the ground unable to get up because of their injuries. The leader of the Kempatays promptly decapitated his two incapacitated teammates. The survivors kneeled before Pana, and then exited always facing her with salutatory stiffness. More slaves entered and catapulted all the dead human bodies, Esdi and Kempatay alike, into the darkling section. Hissing and hooting with ravenous joy, the darklings devoured the corpses.

‘These Esdi gladiators are selected males with minor genetic defects that make them prone to anything from asthma to a stroke. They’re destined for the darkling stomach without reproducing, but it won’t affect the Esdi birthrate as females are preserved as much as possible until menopause. All physically fit women are required to mate with state-approved phenotypically ideal males or get artificially inseminated by their sperms for their first two children; later children are by men of their choosing that they usually marry in a normal human manner. It’s basically the same with the Kempatays; except that their gladiators are professionals working for monetary reward, and have earned the right to preferentially reproduce. Prior to any fight, they secure the right to mate with any unmarried Kempatay female and are required to deposit their sperms in a bank, to be used later to artificially inseminate volunteers of which there is no lack of. The vast majority of the Kempatay women do want to get pregnant by a Kempatay gladiator.’

A Hierarch on their right turned to Pana, puzzled why she was talking to the captured goddesses in a language he could not understand. Pana scowled at him. The darkling averted his gaze immediately.

Round three featured simultaneous one on one fights. They chose their own weapons. All were Kempatay.

Pana waved at the bodies being collected and catapulted at the end of the round. ‘The Kempatay’s families will be well-compensated by their deaths. Their relatives rise in social status thanks to the slain gladiators’ prestige, and use the reward money to pay debts, invest in businesses, and campaign for political positions, which have not essentially changed since the pre darkling era. They can rise high in the government of Bale, although mayors and governors by law have always been darklings.’

The fourth round saw groups of Kempatay in battle melees. As with all the previous encounters, the fights were usually brief. So quick, skilled, and lethal were the competitors in spite of their immense bulk. Below the Suprema’s box, a five man battle typically ended with three of the warriors getting stabbed from their blind side, leaving two men. A block, feint, and a thrust to the chest left one winner, who shortly later was killed by another survivor from the other fights.

Taklong stood up and spoke in a dark-powered voice to the Coliseum audience. ‘And now for the finale. Kempatay gladiator champions in the past decade have decided that instead of being euthanized as darkling sacrifice upon retirement, they would go down fighting in the arena, in honor of our Suprema's victory over the Winged goddesses.’

Fifty Kempatay warriors marched in with much fanfare, cheers, hisses, and salutations. They bowed and saluted Pana, ‘Our lives for the Suprema.' All of them looked to be at least 7 foot tall, made of hulking muscle beneath their armor. They stood and crouched in various fighting positions.

Pana began a narrative amidst the gory feast.

‘There used to be many human races in this world. 500 years ago, a genocidal world war occurred among the humans, triggered by intolerant ideologies and theologies, a colonial economic system that suctioned all wealth into a handful of giant primate cities that left the rest of the planet intractably impoverished, and a well-meant genetic engineering program for terminally ill patients gone wrong. After fifty years, only two world polities remained, in an uneasy cold war. The ancestors of the Kempatay then managed to summon darklings successfully in their struggle against the Esdi progenitors. The darklings turned on their summoners, subdued the whole of Bale, but their high Dans decided to keep the humans around as a food crop and as slaves. In recognizance of their summoners, the darklings’ leaders, the Hierarchy, rewarded the Kempatay ancestors with the status of Privileged and demoted the rest of humanity, the Esdis, to slavery. In order to breed the meatiest of humans for their mouths, and in order to do away with as much of wasteful veterinary human medicine as possible, the Hierarchy allowed and aided the Kempatays and Esdis to continue with a modified eugenics program that would breed their ideal phenotypes, both in aesthetics and health. Thus you see these modern humans before you. They don’t suffer much from cancer, cardiovascular diseases, cerebrovascular diseases, and most degenerative diseases. It’s not too bad for them; they retain essentially the same human families and societies as before except for that fact that darklings now rule them and harvest them. They end their lives as darkling food after old age has impaired them to the point of disability. The system has worked; there are now 30 billion Esdis in Bale, owned by 1 billion Kempatay, and ruled by a million darklings and their Hierarchy of a hundred, in keeping with the pyramidal political structure that the Hierarchy has mandated.’

One of the Esdi attendants was looking curiously at the Pana, unable to understand Sinayabi. The darkling Hierarch, a Dan 59, whom she was serving promptly bit off her head, swallowed, then drained her neck’s gushing blood into his mouth.

Pana stood up, cast her gaze around at the Hierarchs, and finally focused on the disrespectful Demon King. ‘I told you all no killings around me without my permission. You’re new to the Hierarchy, aren’t you? What did you do to deserve your position?’

The Demon, noticing the sudden danger, also stood up, bowed, but insolently kept his eyes up. ‘Yes, Suprema; I was promoted just last week after I killed my predecessor in a Challenge duel. She happened to be one of Bale’s best fighters, a Hierarchy Mistress of Arms; so I fully deserve my advancement and my privileges. Your Excellency surely must know that we Hierarchs are allowed to question your decisions.’

Pana raised her eyebrows. ‘So it was you that bested Kahadlokan. Nevertheless I must point out that you are being disrespectful. You haven’t even stated your name.’

‘I am Baskog, Suprema. May I remind Her Excellency that it is part of her duty to recognize all of the Hierarchy, even the newly promoted ones.’

‘You’re the strongest of the new Initiates. I’ve read your files. I could not take time off to do the Initiation ceremony myself because I was busy at that time. Very well, Baskog. What decision do you question?

Oisa, Bodhi, Aya, and Alwana scanned the Hierarchs as discretely as they could. Below them darklings were feasting and celebrating, but in the Suprema’s box, the tension was palpable. All the Hierarchs were staring at Pana the way a pack of wolves look at a stranded deer. Taklong stood up at Pana’s side.

‘Most of us are used to the ancient law that you have suspended in your presence, that we can eat any human anytime we want.’

‘Even that rule only applies to Esdis. You have to ask permission from a Kempatay’s darkling mayor or governor before you can eat it.’

‘But the girl I just ate wasn’t a Kempatay,’ the darkling Regent pointed out.

Pana’s bow appeared in her hands. A blue tipped arrow flew at near the speed of light and penetrated the Demon’s left eye. He fell down and crumbled into dissipating dust.

‘Taklong, what was the ancient law that he broke?’ Pana asked rhetorically.

‘No arguing with the Suprema in public,’ Taklong replied by rote.

On their right, a Dan 53 growled, ‘Baskog wasn’t arguing, just stating a position.’

‘I just stated Baskog was arguing; now you’re arguing against that?’ Before anyone could add to the argument, Pana shot the Dan 53 through her eye too. She turned to dust.

‘Anymore arguments?’ Pana asked.

All the Hierarchs placed their hands behinds their necks and bowed in submission.

The Suprema’s mine-resistant ambush-protected armored vehicle sped through a highway of Bale’s capital city Magahum. Inside were Pana, the Archs, and J-1. They were surrounded by other MRAPs acting as security and decoys. Taklong was driving and speaking in Esperanto.

‘No darkling nowadays randomly eats an Esdi without due cause, unless he’s crazy. Since Baleian law declares such individuals susceptible to legal assassination by any other darkling and given our proclivity to personal rivalry, they usually don’t last long. We already get enough humans to eat from the aged and injured people that the hospitals declare as permanently disabled. Baskog’s behavior was clearly an intended aggravation. This must be another plot against you Suprema. If I may say so, you behaved in just the appropriate manner that darklings understand and respect. I’ll get to the bottom if this new conspiracy soon.’

Pana sighed. ‘We’ll talk about it later Taklong.’

Alwana butted in impetuously, speaking in Sinayabi. ‘So Bale does have a system of checks that protects humans?’

‘Quiet!’ Aya elbowed Alwana.

‘It’s alright; you can talk in front of Taklong. He does not understand Sinayabi,’ Pana said. ‘And I have already told him I will be conversing with you a lot. Yes, there are laws and customs that protect humans from causeless darkling attacks. Otherwise the darklings would have eaten up all the humans a long time ago. Bale is an integrated darkling-human planet, well-adjusted after centuries of co-habitation.’

Bodhi gestured at the city scenery outside rushing by their dark-tinted windows. ‘Such checks are to be expected. However, I was thinking that the city center for the entire planet would be larger than this. Your Magahum capital looks like one of Alogostan’s provincial cities. No skyscrapers or large construction complexes. Just two story buildings and houses, with lots of interspersed vegetation.’

‘The original Hierarchs decreed against primate cities, recognizing that their uncontrolled growth contributed substantially to the wars and collapse of pre-darkling human civilization in Bale. Human resistance fighters hiding in buildings and waging urban guerrilla warfare also bothered them when they were first summoned. So they just literally tore down the old cities and initiated a massacre, or should I say a feast, that wiped out all but about a million humans, mostly citizens of the pro-Kempatay nation that summoned them and those from their rival Esdi nation as their slaves. You see their genetically enhanced descendants today. The entire planet resembles a continuous conglomeration of small cities and towns, with the darklings as a kind of aristocracy. I just happen to live in this particular city, as Suprema.’

Bodhi scratched her head. ‘That’s weird. An industrialized computerized slave-owning feudal society with a hereditary ruling caste made of alien beings. Yet at the same time it’s decentralized?’

‘A coincidental and beneficial effect, stemming from the darkling hostility to concentrations of political power. The numerous so-called provinces in name are more like tiny cooperative nations, and even the cities and towns possess a large degree of autonomy. As in most such systems, Bale’s local governmental units exhibit high economic productivity and political stability. I actually don’t have much to do, except to arbitrate inter-city and inter-provincial spats and terminate any would-be usurper to my title as Suprema.’

‘How did the human population balloon to more than 30 billion in 450 years?’ Oisa asked.

‘The Kempatay owners mass-produce Esdi slaves as sellable assets. We do the same all the time with farm animals. The darklings loved it of course as it translates to more food.’

‘By cloning?’

‘No, by more mundane means. Esdi females in the first three hundred years were required to take fertility drugs. A typical Esdi family used to have more than a dozen children each.’

‘You mean they were treated like cattle for the slaughterhouse?’

In the privacy of her rooms, Pana rushed to the Wings and attempted embracing them all at once. J-1 stood to one side as if on auto mode.

‘I’m so glad to have found you!’

‘So are we,’ all four Arch Wings blurted out. For a minute, they looked like a bunch of giggling high school classmates that had not seen each other since summer vacation. Pana went over to a large wardrobe and changed into cargo pants and a blouse with two breast pockets. The Wings did the same.

‘You seem to have fitted in quite nicely in this world, Pana,’ Aya waved around the room. It looked like a five-star hotel room back in Tera, except that the walls were etched with numerous glyphs that acted as wards against spies and intrusive spells. The girls had settled themselves sitting on chairs around a table.

‘Yeah, once I learned that the darklings follow the Challenge Code in deciding who their leaders would be, I eliminated any potential rival, with the help of some allies. I’ve been here for year.’

‘What!’ Alwana exclaimed.

‘You know that time runs differently in other realms, Alwana,’ Oisa reminded her. ‘It runs faster, slower, accelerates, decelerates, stops, and starts. For us dear Pana, you’ve haven’t been gone for even a fortnight.’

‘What kind of world is this?’ Bodhi asked. ‘Somehow it feels familiar.’

‘As far as I can tell, physically it’s a combination of the Telar echoes of Tera and Ares. If you notice, you feel slightly heavier here than on Tera. It’s like the two planets have fused, hence the heavier mass. In this Solar System, there is only one rocky planet in the zone where Tera and Ares are located in ours. Maybe that’s how you got here from Ares of all places.’

‘Sociologically, I believe it’s an echo of Tera where darklings have conquered the world. This would be one type of society that such conquest would result in, if the darklings somehow controlled themselves from eating all the humans to extinction.’

‘Where does the Sari enter?’ Bodhi asked. ‘You said in the Coliseum that’s the official reason for your Summoning us, as weapons against them.’

‘Oh, yes that. The Sari are an echo of Teran and Baleian humans from a planet similar to ours, although some of them have been heavily modified through genetic engineering and selective breeding. Their planet is called Saria. Our relative vectors have brought Bale’s star and that of Saria’s just a light year apart. The two star systems are almost at a head-on collision and at their shortest distance, but luckily will just miss each other. However, considering the short separation distance involved, some of the two star systems’ outer spherical clouds of icy planetesimals have merged.’

‘That’s interesting,’ Oisa commented.

‘Not if they got colonized a long time ago,’ Bodhi pointed out. The star systems would have moved apart by now. Saria must have maintained contact with them through Folded Connections. Even though travel through a Folded Connection is instantaneous, there would be no temporal paradox involved since the Folds between two points are first established when a Master of Dark Energy travels from point A to B below the speed of light before making the Connection.’

‘Yes, that’s exactly what happened,’ Pana confirmed. ‘Folded Connections exist throughout the Sari-sari Confederacy, connecting its component planets.’

Alwana tapped on her table. ‘How the heck did Bale get into trouble with the Sari? And how are we even to fight such an advanced million year old civilization?’

Pana looked at her sisters quizzically. ‘You’re goddesses, you know?’

‘Don’t be a dork, Pana.’

‘I am not. In both Bale and the Nangin-Sari worlds, beings like you are regarded as the incarnation of fundamental principles that are part of the Tela itself. It has never occurred to you, I know, but what if you Arch Wings go over to Saria and slay every Sarian there is on that planet? Suppose your programming allows you to freely kill non-Teran humans?’

Alwana, gaped at Pana aghast. ‘I would never do that!’

‘No you would not, but if you could and would, could even a million year old civilization stop you?’

‘No they would not be able to stop us,’ Oisa suddenly interjected. Her expression had turned darkly brooding. ‘When I was Black Oisa in Lima’s realm, I had flashes of memories. Perhaps most of them are of ghost realities, but I feel sure that somewhere in these ghostly or real past, or maybe future, and perhaps several times already, I together with fellow Arch Wings have destroyed advanced civilizations millions of years old, that were creating adharma in the Tela itself. Maybe that is a fundamental function of Arch Wings. We keep the multiverse as it is meant to be.’

Pana looked uncomfortable. ‘According to their legends, some of their past civilizations caused voids in the Tela, around which beings of singular purposes and possessing god-like powers appeared. They correct adharma thus keeping the multiverse as it is meant to be. Civilizations got destroyed; but new ones took their place, after the corrections.’

‘Oisa is right,’ Bodhi opined. ‘If we Archs have no programming that forbids us to slay the Nangin-Sari; and if their planets don’t have Demon Empresses, gods, or other Arch Wings to contend with us, we could just fly over there at the speed of light and mess them up.’

Alwana slammed a hand down. ‘What the heck? I won’t. What are we; death angels of the cosmos? I am not getting into a war in a realm that’s alien to me and not my own. My desires are quite simple. Stay in Tera, free our countrymen from Tunga City, stay together as a Household. Truth is that I don’t even care about slaying darklings; and do it only because my programming tells me so. Don’t you all feel it?’

‘Yes, we all do. Don’t get miffed, Alwana,’ Pana said. ‘Come on sis. Aren’t you glad I’m still alive?’

Bodhi looked thoughtful. ‘Speaking of you being alive, you haven’t died by fading, Pana. I mean I’m happy you haven’t, but we can deduce certain things from it. Black Oisa’s infusion of magic into our Seal seems to have worked. In addition, you must still be metaphysically connected to it across the Tela. An avatar can’t live totally cut off from her Seal.’

Pana suddenly looked forlorn. ‘I am fading. Our Seal is too far away. It’s just occurring slowly. I can feel it. Anytime soon, I expect that the fade-out process will accelerate. The same will probably happen to you in a year. We have to get back to Tera’s realm. I don’t have much time; maybe only a few weeks, perhaps only days. But don’t worry. I have a plan. I would never have Summoned you here so you can also fade away to die after a year or so.’

‘What’s your plan then? And the Coliseum Portal falling on us in Ares did not seem like a Summoning to me,’ Aya observed.

‘A Summoning does not necessarily look like it to the one being Summoned,’ Pana said. ‘For you, it could have looked like a natural series of events. Ares you say? I want to know what the hell happened to you. I’ll tell you about my plan later.’

Pana went over to the room’s refrigerator, grabbed four beer cans, and threw them at the Archs, who deftly caught them.

‘Beer?’ Aya held her can doubtfully.

For the next hour, the four Archs regaled Pana with the situation in Tera and their Ares adventure.

‘OK, we’ve told you our story. Now don’t squirm out of it. What’s your plan, Pana?’ Bodhi insisted.

Pana sighed. ‘It’s to merge part of our realities, here in the Bale-Sari system and in Tera. During the merge, we can exist in both realms. After they split apart again, we consciously stay in Tera. I know how to do it because I have a pre-Shift memory of such an event occurring.’

Bodhi stared at her. ‘You’ve got to be kidding. You’re talking about entire star systems. Apart from darkquakes, which are inherently mostly uncontrollable, the only way that can happen is if two great nexus events are synchronized in the two merging material realms.’

‘Yes and the Sari have scheduled such an event. They are planning to activate a Star Drainer.’

Oisa looked blank, Aya confused, Bodhi puzzled, J-1 silent as usual, but Alwana perked up. ‘I have a memory of such a Dark machine. It drains the material contents of a star in a Realm A, sending it across a Connection in the Tela to another Realm B. In order to do that, a similar machine in Realm B must do the same to a star there and send an equivalent amount of matter into Realm A. Although superficially just coincidence and serendipity, the two events are metaphysically linked across the Tela, so that parts of the two Realms or Domains merge. It’s as if there is only a single event, a single Draining of a star.’

‘Why the hell would anyone want to drain a star of its matter?’ Oisa asked.

Alwana cleared her throat. ‘Tera’s Sun, or Sol, is a g-type star which stays on the main sequence for about 10 billion years. During the latter half of that sequence, the Sun will swell up into a red giant, possibly swallowing up Tera and certainly making life there impossible. On the other hand, a k-type star stays on the main sequence for 15 to 30 billion years. Such a star possesses .45 to .80 solar masses. If one could convert Sol into a k-type or even just a lighter g-type star by draining it of some of its material, it would prolong its lifespan in the main sequence. Subsequently the conditions for life in its habitable zone would last further. It has to be calculated carefully as the decrease in the mass of the star also weakens its gravitational pull and so its livable planets would drift further away, and might end up outside the habitable zone.’