Chapter 2: ... The dream confronts reality

“Me and Re ... yes Meskhenet and Renenutet are much too long and awkward names to keep using ... besides having to type it out on a text chat is just too much effort. So from now on they are Me and Re. Anyway they have had time now to ... to ... analyze Richard’s condition and as we feared he was cursed by something somewhere ... sometime in the past and it’s irreversible at this time. Richard has always been faithful, and I have been the one with the Power in the family. With the help of my loa we have always known when and where to invest our money and how to read the changing tides in the world around us. With Me and Re’s help it will only get better from now on.” Gisele informed everyone around the table.

“Me and Re have also informed us that Harry is much too young to get web at this time. If he was wed society would expect him to at least try to be monogamist to his wife. So we have all decided that Harry will remain a eligible bachelor at least until he finishes college.” Gisele went on.

“But I love Harry and he loves me...” Monique started.

“Which remains unchanged Monique dear, I assure you in his own way Harry will always remain faithful to you. Well as faithful as any male to one female. But we need Harry to be ... well appear to be free to ... to ... well flutter around and pollinate the other flowers in the Alpha Gamma Delta Sorority garden and other flowers from time to time and that would be publicly unacceptable Monique dear if he was publicly married to you.” Gisele went on.

“Well aren’t you going to say something?” Monique demanded looking directly at Harry with both her hands on her shapely hips.

“Monique my love you already know I’m deeply in love with you ... it’s you that captured my heart ... it doesn’t take a big wedding to know that...” Harry started, but Monique broke in.

“But a girl ... a woman always looks forward to her wedding day...” Monique started moaning, but Gisele broke in.

“And you’ll have your big church wedding Monique, but after he graduates college Monique. In the mean time you will always know you hold his heart captive.” Gisele explained.

“But it’s not the same Mama. I’m still going to have to share him with Gabe, Emma, and Dorothy, and ... and ... and the others.” Monique complained.

“Well yes dear, but you’ll always be number one, he will always love you more.” Gisele comforted her.

“We know he has the Power, but will he be a houngan.” Richard asked the important question, well the most important question in his mind anyway.

“And why are we here?” Harry asked again as he pulled his car up to the tall towering New York skyscraper. The Rupert Building was a strange black stone monolith silhouetted against the horizon and the multi level parking structure beside it managed to dominated the entire city block. As Harry’s car pulled off the main avenue and entered the entrance gate and up ramp to the parking structure itself he felt cold dread deep in his bones.

“To investigate rumors that Agents of the Dark Force are actually running the company Harry. The Rupert Group is what’s known as an internationally diversified holding company Harry. They have interests in everything from rail shipping to airlines, from the manufacture of say ball bearings to straight pins.” Monique was telling him. In the car with him was Emma, Monique, Gabe, Dorothy, and Helen, his Alpha Gamma Delta Sorority date of the week.

“And what do we expect to happen at this party we’re to attend Monique?” Harry had already been told, but it never hurt to be sure. Me and Re showed up gave their orders and then disappeared leaving Harry, the girls, and their minions, with lots of unanswered questions.

“You know that Helen is marked by your Power, but not branded yet with your tattoo of the ankh. Me and Re, and Mama say that she will be irresistible bait to any Dark Power Agents around. They’ll be drawn to her like a moth to a flame.” Monique explained.

“More like she’s a magnet. Well a tasty snack they can’t resist tasting anyway, tee, he, he.” Gabe giggled cutely from the back seat.

“And then what?” This was the part Harry was least sure of.

“And then we confront them of course.” Monique finished.

“Confront? ... what’s that supposed to mean?” Harry asked.

“Neither Me or Re, nor Mom, the Vodou mambo, are real sure Master. There hasn’t been this much consolidated Power in one man in several thousand years. You have us with the ankh tattoo to draw Power from directly, that even includes most of Alpha Gamma Delta. And the Alpha Gamma Delta’s themselves can draw Power from anyone they are having intimate relations with...” His older sister Dorothy took up the explanation until Gabe broke in to add.

“That’s male or female Master, tee, he, he.” Gabe added.

“So I’m basically going in there to beard the lion in his den ... pull his tail in his own lair?” Harry asked everyone.

“Well it’s his “beard”, not his tail, and it’s from the First Book of Samuel in the bible.” Gabe added her two cents.

“Ok, the next stop is the roof where the party is.” Harry said as they stepped into the elevator and pushed the Roof’s button. They could actually feel the clear glass elevator car they were in accelerate as it climbed the tall tower. The lower floors flashed by only to slow down to a crawl at the very top and finally open. The single elevator door opened onto a short wide hallway with wide double doors at the other end. Stationed before the doors were two men in formal wear. Harry and his four dates for the evening approached them.

“By invitation only sir.” Said the first man holding out his hand for the invitation.

“Certainly.” Harry said holding out his +1 invitation.

“I’m sorry sir you will have to choose which of your women go with you. The invitation is clearly only for you and one other.” The doorkeeper told Harry, just as Harry sensed the taint of the Dark Power from him.

“Surely you can make a exception for the beautiful women with me Peter.” Harry said, reading the man’s name tag and taking the man’s hand when he handed the invitation back and using the Power.

“Maybe I could call...” The guard started and Harry added more Power.

“Ok your good to go. Have a nice evening sir.” The guard finally agreed. Harry was a little worried about the amount of Power he had used to change his mind, but maybe the short burst of Power would be missed. Well he could hope.

“Table for six.” Harry told the hostess standing beside the door. In minutes two tables were joined together and Harry and company were seated.

“Now what?” Harry asked.

“Now you order ... we eat, and we all see what happens.” Gabe said.

The whole table went with the same basic meal ... the prime rib and lobster tail combo, which comes with the classic baked potato and a generous helping of green beans, served alongside some delicious horseradish spread. The lobster tail is paired perfectly with the dipping butter. We also all got the clam chowder to finish it off. Of course Helen wanted the squash rings which are lightly glazed with maple syrup and butter and then roasted to make a delicious vegetarian dish. And everyone decided on the crumble-topped butternut squash and apple casserole that is a holiday crowd pleaser desert. Sliced winter squash and apples are spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg, then baked with a crunchy, buttery topping. Its rich sweetness pairs nicely with the intense savoriness of the prime rib. They went for the house recommended vintage of red wine to drink. Harry was surprised nobody was on a diet.

“Nice formal band and dance floor, don’t you want to trip the light fantastic with me Harry?” Monique asked Harry after they all ordered.

“All I know is the two step Monique, so don’t expect much from me out there on the dance floor.” Harry laughed, but got up to lead Monique out on the dance floor.

“What could be better ... my lover holding me close as we dance together on the dance floor.” Monique said as she dragged Harry the rest of the way out onto the dance floor, then draping his arm over her shoulder as she leaned into him and started to dance. Surprisingly Harry didn’t step on her toes. For several minutes ... timeless minutes for both Monique and Harry ... they drifted like that in their own cozy little isolated pocket of the world. Their dream world was shattered when another man gripped his shoulder from behind and shook it lightly.

“What the Hell?” Harry snapped back awake abruptly.

“Dinner is severed sir.” The waiter told him apologetically.

“Oh.” Harry laughed and blushed. Soon everyone was eating and the girls were babbling girl talk among themselves.

“That was so romantic, I get the next one.” Gabe proclaimed to the others around the table.

“No the next one goes to Helen. She’s what we’re all here for.” Monique told everyone. So Harry and Helen were soon out on the dance floor in short order. Doing the two step at first, then finally just like Monique before her, they were soon standing there holding onto each other swaying their bodies to the music’s beat. Slaves to the beat.

“Aren’t they cute?” Gabe asked the other girls at the table.

“Yes, but I wish that was me out there.” Dorothy grouched.

“Don’t we all.” Monique moaned aloud.

“Well I’m going to cut in. That’s been quite long enough.” Dorothy finally announced her intentions out loud, but before she could move from her seat three other dance couples on the dance floor bracketed Harry and Helen. Harry suddenly found himself on the floor when somebody clipped his right knee from behind. Just as quickly he found himself being helped up by one of the other female dancers. Looking around for Helen he soon spotted her being led away by the other males.

“Helen.” Harry called out loudly and she stopped then turned in his direction. The other male tried to pull her along, but Helen twisted out of his grip and ran back toward Harry.

“So you do have the Power.” The woman that had helped Harry up stated and laughed.

“And I take it that your an Agent of the Dark Power?” Harry laughed back sensing some kind of Power in her.

“Is that what you call us?” She laughed. “My name is Patricia Gray, you can call me Pat, and yes I work for Apep. But Apep’s Agents aren’t evil Dark Power. Apep is change ... the old gods feared change ... they fought against change. Amun-Ra feared change most of all.”

“Everyone fears something Pat ... what do you fear most Pat?” Harry asked as Helen threw herself into his open arms, and he held her tight.

“I fear that some people will just react and not listen to reason Mister Logan.” Pat responded.

“There is that Pat.” Harry answered back. “But I do try to keep everything in check, and try to be open minded about it all, but I do have to ask why Helen?” Harry asked.

“A test of your Power vs. our Power Harry.” Pat readily admitted to Harry. “Paul is quite strong in the Power ... our Power ... some in the past have called it “personal magnetism”, ha, ha. Some others in the past have called it magic. He could sense that she was drawn to you, almost bonded to you, but you hadn’t fully taken her yet ... there was no bond yet anyway. It was a irresistible challenge to him ... a unwiderstehliche Herausforderung. So he wagered with the others at the table that he could take her from you. I was to distract you while he took her away and had his way with her. Mein Herr Paul has never lost a contest of this nature before.” Pat told Harry while smirking at the red faced Paul now seated back at their table.

“This was a contest Pat?” Harry questioned.

“Certainly Harry, there will always be the wolves and the sheep. She is obviously a sheep ... well a cute little lamb anyway, he is a wolf ... the question is are you a sheep dog or a wolf, ha, ha.” Pat laughed, and Harry didn’t answer.

“Now aren’t you going to invite me back to your table where I can explain what we actually are Harry?” Pat asked, so he led her back to their table. So Harry led her back to their table.

“Millions and millions ... billions of years ago there were two races of human beings. No actually there was only one race technically through evolution, lets call the race Homo Superior...” Helen broke in at that point.

“You mean like human mutants, or Homo Sapiens Superior Pat. Humans with super powers like in the Marvel Comics universe. Mutants created by the star-faring race of humanoid aliens called the “Celestials” on Earth-616.” Helen excitedly asked.

“No Helen most of those so called super powers the mutants have would require too much energy to maintain them. Homo Sapiens Superior did not appear much different than the average human being today, but he did have “The Power” which was far less that what you think of as “mental telepathy”. Each had the ability to ... to ... well to directly effect ... influence others with their minds, and sense what they were thinking. They also had a highly developed society and codified law system they lived under. Under their system “The Power” was regulated to protect the weak from the strong, but like today there were criminals ... deviants that misused “The Power”. Most could be restrained by the drugs they had, but there were some that had to executed.” Pat paused to look around the table, then continued.

“They were a star-faring race and explored and settled on many worlds in many parts of the universe, but there was never a shortage of more planets or energy and their galaxy was not running down. Well it was, but nobody takes it seriously if it’s going to be a million years in the future and you only expected to live for a couple of hundred years. But like today the race separated into two distinct groups over an ideology. I’m not even sure now what the original issue was today. War broke out between our two groups and we were caught up in it. In the last battle our ship was a giant sphere of metal. Your sides ship was a classic giant pyramid. I guess you could have chosen a cube and been squares, ha, ha. There was no need to streamline the ships in outer space, which is a vacuum, ha, ha.”

“Like the Borg you mean?” Helen put in, but was ignored.

“Our two ships fought our last battle here in this solar system and we managed to nearly destroy both our ships in the battle that resulted ... One, ours, well what’s left of it anyway, is at the north pole and the other at the south. Homo Sapiens, and the genus Neanderthals, and Cro-Magnon, are just devolved examples of our ancestors that landed here those many years ago. Remnants of Homo Sapiens Superior. The technology used to make our ships might as well be magic by today’s standards Harry. We had no way to repair them, so the hundred or so crew members left the ships and set off to colonize other more habitable regions of the planet we found ourselves on. The rest is history, ha, ha.” Pat paused at that point, then went on.

“You on the other hand Harry are unique. Your some kind of mutation we haven’t seen or heard of before. This bonding ability you have is something new and throws the balance of power we had out the door. We have a choice now, kill you, or surrender to you...” Harry broke in.

“How do you even know about me?” He demanded.

“Jordan Nash the first Alpha Gamma Delta Sorority girl ... you ... you enslaved ... bonded to you was one of ours, ha, ha. I mean what were the odds of that ... a billion to one ... Hell a trillion to one. So we’re pretty sure you can’t read minds, ha, ha, but you own her now. If you asked her the right question she would tell you all about us. Some of my more impectious hot headed sisters were all for killing her when they learned that. Of course they all wanted to kill you too.” Pat paused and Harry took over.

“Yes, I noticed that Jordan had secrets, but didn’t pry too deeply. I just thought it was because she was drawn to other girls, ha, ha.” Harry laughed. “I’m personally all for mutual surrender Pat.”

So Harry found himself linked to yet another female dominate group, and wondering why there didn’t seem to be any male dominate groups. Soon he had told them all about the Coin of Destiny, him having the Amun-Ra golden tattoo on his right hand, and those bonded to him the golden ankh, or “key of life” tattoo, Gisele being a powerful mambo, Voodoo or Vodou, about her loa, Meskhenet and Renenutet visiting him and Gisele in their dreams, and him being imbued with some of Amun-Ra’s Ka, whatever Ka is.

“And where is this Coin of Destiny now Harry?” Jane, a new girl added to the group asked.

“It disappeared Jane.” Harry answered honestly.

“Ok, Ok, there have always been legends about this Coin and others like it.” Jane started. “Legends that say that it allowed leaders to bind followers to his cause by Charisma. Charisma after all is a Greek word invented in approximately 3000 BC meaning “favor”, or “gift”, from God most likely. But what’s new is this time is Meskhenet and Renenutet, Egyptian goddesses showing up to you, and this Vodou mambo Gisele, in your dreams. All these Egyptian gods and goddesses are from around 3000 BC too Harry.” The new girl Jane said, as she pulled up her chair to the table and joined them.

“I don’t think we can ignore the link to the pyramids. These same structures have been created by several other different cultures around the world ... the ancient Egyptians, the Babylonians in Mesopotamia, and even the native tribes in South and Central America. Pyramids have been viewed as a way to send the soul of the dead pharaoh, well leader anyway, directly to the home of the gods. The Aztec and Mayan’s in Central America used pyramids too.” Jane elaborated.

“This Gisele Izmery I ... we figure, if we did some digging we could trace her roots back to those Central America cultures that the Spanish conquered and enslaved. We figure they’re root DNA would be Aztec or Mayan. Haiti where they came from is part of the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean. In 1492 Christopher Columbus discovered it and it became known as the “Gateway to the New World”. It really became the “Melting Pot” of the New World, there’s no telling what DNA got mixed there, ha, ha.” Jane paused to allow anyone to ask a question then went on.

“Now link that with the fact that your branch of Homo Sapiens Superior that crashed here on Earth was in a giant pyramid space ship. Then add in the fact it crashed in the South Pole, and they still refer to us as the Dark Powers. I think after using Occam’s razor, the “keep it simple stupid rule”, and cutting away the extraneous material we can arrive at the truth. Once you eliminate the clearly impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth, ha, ha.” Jane laughed.

“And that is?” Harry asked.

“The core of your ship still lives Harry.” Jane told everybody at the table. “Evidently the Coin is a device operated by the Ship’s Intelligence Core to find the genes of Homo Sapiens Superior among Earth’s population today. Now that we know what it is we figure there might be hundreds ... millions of these Coins out there as loose change sifting through the Earth’s 7 billion population searching for Homo Sapiens Superior genes. Once it identifies the genes it gives the genes owner, you in this case Harry, a genetic advantage ... this Amun-Ra’s, Ka thing on your hand. The thing Meskhenet and Renenutet talked about. This Ka allows you to ... to ... influence women ... women you mate with to bond with you. You in effect enslave them insuring you can continue to mate with them...” Harry broke in at that point.

“But my own sister?” Harry demanded.

“Eugenics is the study of how to arrange reproduction within a human population to increase the occurrence of heritable characteristics regarded as desirable Harry. It’s stated goal is to improve the human condition by “breeding out” disease, disability, and other subjectively defined undesirable characteristics from the human population. Some traits had a legitimate genetic reason to be eliminated, things such as heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, Huntington disease, hemophilia. That’s in addition to such chronic diseases as diabetes, cancer, and others, but others were purely subjective and wrong.” Pat told everyone.

“In this case your older sister is your closest genetic match to breed true and pass on your improved genetic inheritance to your offspring, and there are no negative genetic markers in either yours or her DNA to worry about. Your offspring will be fine Harry. At the time you enslaved your big sister you still had possession of the Coin and I think we can safely assume that the Coin directly influenced you to enslave your older sister Harry.” Jane told everyone around the table.

“The ankh, or “key of life” tattoo on them, and your own tattoo, gives the Ship’s Intelligence Core the ability to track all of you. Meskhenet and Renenutet themselves are Ship’s Avatars created back there around 3000 BC we figure. Of course I ... we think your the first man that can use the link to draw Power from your bonded women Harry. That’s something new ... that’s the mutation ... that’s the inheritance they ... we want to pass on.” Jane finished up.

“Do you think we can contact the Ship’s Intelligence Core, the AI that was running the ship Harry?” Pat asked.

“My contact with Ship, if it is Ship, is through Meskhenet and Renenutet, who we are calling Me and Re now, and yes for me that is when I sleep Pat. The good news is it’s an interactive chat so I can talk to it, and I do remember our little interactive chats when I wake up even it is a dream. It ought to be pretty easy to get me to call them up and ask them questions. What worries me is if this is the Ship’s AI why is it still using avatars of ancient Egyptian goddesses. I mean 3000 BC is 5000 years ago and you would think the AI would keep his avatars current. It should be using a Britney Spears, or Milley Cyrus, look-alike today it would seem to me.” Harry put in his observation.

“I don’t know I think it’s sort of cool, I kind of like Cleopatra, the Queen of the Nile.” Gabe voiced her view on things.