The crystal city, somewhere in the darkness between galaxies...
Viktor sits by the window in the great tower watching the darkness, wishing for some kind of light. He looks down at his father's followers. Many of whom are watching him, hoping that one day he will lead them to a new golden age.
"Come from the window, son. You are keeping them from their work." Divis says striding into the room.
Rage is trying out the new weight equipment she had made for her. She wants to set a good example of activity for her son, and she wants to be in top shape when they get to earth. Gwen always did all the weight-lifting and exercising for the both of them when Rage was being quiet. Rage found that stuff monotonous and boring. But if she knows Gwen, at this very moment Gwen will be back to Olympic-level training preparing herself for the battle on earth, and Rage doesn't want to be caught as the weaker twin, physically anyhow. She's pretty sure she's surpassed her double in quantum powers.
She looks up when Divis enters the room, and smiles. "Hello, my love." she calls to him-- wanting to set a good example of being affectionate. She'd read a long time ago that children of loving parents grow up being better adults all around, and if there's anything she and Divis want it's that their son be the best.
Divis smiles at her. "Training I see. You could learn much from that, Viktor. Your mother is making her skills razor sharp any free moment she has to be the best and strongest." he says.
Viktor looks over and nods. "I know, Father. When will we reach home?"
"A few more years, my son. Time enough for you to grow up and be strong and train your skills."
"Don't worry, Viktor. It will go by fast! Enjoy the quiet moments when you have time to yourself. And treasure every word that your father tells you. He is wise and powerful above all and loves you very much." she says while doing pull-ups with compact 20-ton weights strapped to her ankles.
Viktor sighs. "I know I just wish we were there. There's nothing but darkness outside the window. You told me about trees, and water, and I want to see those things."
"You will and it will all be yours if you take to your training and mind your lectures," Divis says. "The whole of the world will be yours."
Rage does a last pull-up and then grabs a towel, slinging it around her shoulders as she walks over to join the guys.
"The fact is, darling, that there are people who don't think it should be yours, and they will fight you for it. So we want you to be so powerful that you can prove to everyone why it should be yours, and defeat anyone who tries to take your birthright from you."
She sits beside him and ruffles his hair with a doting smile. "I wish we could show you those things now. When you see how beautiful much of earth is, you'll be so filled with desire for it that you'll be glad you're powerful enough to take it and hold it."
Viktor shrugs. "Alright Mother. I'll learn my lessons and train." he says. "Tell me about earth first please?" he says.
Divis sits on the divan and looks over at Rage. "Tell him."
Rage smiles and snuggles closer to Viktor. She tells him about all the most beautiful places found on earth-- the red canyons, green forests, snowy northern lands, tropical beaches, green rolling fields where fat white sheep feed, mountains and lakes...everything that she can think of. She tells him about all the different kinds of animals...birds and fish, too...and of insects, and of all different plants and flowers she can think of.
Then she starts telling him about the history of the planet. She tells him about her favorite topic-- the cycle of war and peace that humans cannot seem to escape. She tells him about how humans cannot seem to handle peace, and so will invent controversy in order to attack and start another war. She tells of their hypocrisy and violence and treachery and traitorousness...how they will backstab another just to rise above them. She finally tells of how they even invented weapons that could destroy their own planet, and how they are so irresponsible with them that they are doomed to destroy themselves AND all the beautiful places and plants and animals that Rage had previously told Viktor all about.
"Then we should stop them!" Viktor cries. "We should stop them and preserve the planet."
"We will Viktor. That is our purpose. Humanity has reigned over earth long enough. We will halt their destructive progress and remind them that they must live as our slaves and restore the balance." Divis says.
Rage nods, stroking Viktor's hand. "Yes. It's called evolution. Once there were caveman who could only grunt and bash things with clubs. Then after a time there came humans, who also only seem to be able to argue and destroy things. Then there are novas. We were given our powers so that we could be stronger than the humans-- stronger, even, than these horrible weapons they created to destroy each other-- so that we could finally take their destructive power away from them and reign them in as an animal-handler reigns in animals and controls them to do productive work."
"Human cannot handle having choices. Some humans make rather good choices for a human, but most of them make bad choices, and the humans who make good choices are too cowardly to stop the bad humans. We will destroy the bad humans and keep the good humans to serve us. They will be so happy to finally have the burden of making choices taken from them, and to be rid of the bad humans! Finally they will have someone to instruct them and tell them what to do, and there will be no more wars or destruction. The beautiful planet will stay controlled and beautiful for everyone!" Rage sighs dreamily.
"Yay!" Viktor says throwing his arms in the air. "We're going to save the planet!" he shouts.
"Indeed your mother is very wise." Divis says standing up. "Humans often have no singularity of purpose. They are all motivated by self-interest rather than the interest of the whole. The individual means more than the whole of humanity, so to speak yes?" Divis says. "This is true evil. True good recognizes that the whole is worth more than the individual and what is good for the whole is good for the individual."
Viktor furrows his brow trying to comprehend that concept.
Rage sees that Viktor is confused, and tries to simplify it for him. "What you father is saying is that everyone needs to band together and help everyone else instead of just caring about themselves and ignoring everyone else."
"For example, let's say that you want to build a play-house, and you are really good at designing the best play-houses but you have no crystal to build it with. In a perfect society, the person with the best crystal would come to you because you have the best idea for a playhouse, and he'd share all his crystal with you if you would design all the playhouses. That way everyone has a great playhouse made of the best crystal and everyone is happy! This is good."
"If only one person had a great playhouse, everyone else would feel bad about their lesser playhouses and would start grumbling and maybe try to steal your playhouse, or wreck it so you don't have the best house anymore. This is evil. Does that make sense?" she asks.
Viktor nods. "I think so. Why are humans so greedy?"
"Because that is all they have ever known, Viktor. Pain, greed and strife. It is their hallmarks. It is why they must be stopped and shown the way. They have forgotten the rule of evolution. They are to recognize their betters and allow them to rule in their stead." Divis says.
Rage nods. "There are many humans who have recognized how wise your father is and who are eager for him to return and rule over earth. They will welcome us home when we arrive, and help us fight the bad humans and reign in the good humans. All the other humans are gullible and believe whatever their bad leaders tell them because they think that their bad leaders are good people who are doing good things. This is how the bad leaders can get away with being in charge. And it's these bad leaders who are telling the people that novas are bad. Once we get rid of the bad leaders and bad people, we can finally show the good people our plan to make the earth perfect."
Rage pauses. "Have you ever felt angry, Viktor?" she asks curiously.
Viktor nods. "Yes mother. I'm angry at the humans for hurting the planet."
Divis listens to Rage considering where she's going with her question, he remains silent for now.
Rage nods, feeling her heart swell with pride for what a sweet boy her son is!
"Anger is a very important thing. Anger is the fuel that gives us energy to do what we need to do. When we arrive on earth, it's very important for you to remember why you're angry so you can use that angry energy to make you stronger and more determined when fighting the bad humans."
"However, if you let yourself get TOO angry it can make it hard for you to think and make good decisions, and that's when you might make mistakes. When you feel yourself getting TOO angry, it's better to either go off alone and get some of that anger out where your enemies can't find you, or use that energy quickly and get control of your thoughts again."
Rage sighs and strokes her son's hand again. "There will be times when we get back to earth that I am going to be filled with so much anger that I will probably be out of control, so I'm going to try to direct that anger at big targets that will require lots of power. Then once that big anger is gone, I will be able to think better so I don't make mistakes when fighting our enemies. Your father is an expert at directing his anger. He hardly ever gets out of control. I hope you're more like your father than me! You'll be a better ruler!" she smiles at Divis in admiration.
Viktor nods. "You're going to do great mother." he says. "I want to be there when you both are taking it to the bad guys. Can I please?"
"Of course, Viktor. I'd can think of no one else I'd rather have by my side." Divis says. "You will be there so that the humans can see what a merciful ruler they will have once the anger and destruction is over."
Rage smiles and nods, seeing Divis' plan. "Yes! If you want your father and I to do most of the punishing and destruction, we will! We will be your police. Then the humans can direct their fear and anger at us, and give you credit for the beautiful peace that follows when you are ruling them. I can live with that!" she smirks. "They don't call me 'Rage' for nothing! I have to live up to my name, right my son?" she smiles, poking at his ribs playfully. "And I look forward to it!"
Viktor smiles and laughs. He opens his arms and hugs his mother.
Divis smiles and stands. "I must get to the engines if we want to get there quickly," he says with a smile at his family. "Continue your lessons, Viktor, I will be back to tuck you in." he says.
"Bye Father." he says.
Rage smiles and waves. "The faster the better, my love! We've got some trees and water to show Viktor!"
Rage watches Divis walk from the room, and then turns back to Viktor. "I want to tell you something sad for a minute, Viktor." she says, her face turning a little serious. "There are some novas who don't want to accept that they are novas. They still think they're humans. Because of that, sometimes they ACT like humans-- being selfish and untrustworthy. That's why your father and I will keep you by our sides. We'll protect you from any novas who try to come up to you and pretend they're your friends, when in reality they either want to make you act like a human like they do, or to hurt you. I'm very sad there are novas like this when novas have so much potential! Your father has worked for centuries to try to weed out the good novas and bad, but it's been very long and hard work."
"How do I know if they are good or bad, Mother?" Viktor asks. "Are they novas like Sin or Bounty? Or are they powerful like you and father?"
Rage thinks for a moment. "There are some who are like Sin and Bounty, and some who are powerful enough to be dangerous, my darling. But no one is as powerful as your father or I. Only one nova was ever a close match to your father, and that was his brother Supreme. But no one knows where he is. Your father thinks he is dead. If he is dead that would be a merciful thing because he was also your father's biggest opponent. Supreme wanted all novas to think that they are humans and act like humans." she says, her jaw tightening a little.
"Then he was a fool." Viktor says. "And I hope he's dead." he says. "It would be merciful because no one that powerful should act like a fool."
Rage smiles and nods, hugging Viktor tightly. "That's right! And as for how you can tell if they're good or bad, if they're bad they'll tell you that your father and I are bad, or tell you to not to trust us, or tell you that we're wrong, or tell you that humans should be free to continue ruling over the earth...foolish things like that. If they're good they'll support us and try to help us."
She pauses. "My sister is with the human-loving novas right now." she says regretfully. "She went by the name Aura for a while, but then she wanted to use the name 'Lady Supreme' because she's Supreme's wife. She has a lot of potential because she has a lot of anger towards the humans and how they're running things. We might be able to save her, Viktor. I really hope we can. You look a lot like our side of the family, although you have your father's eyes and smile..." she says, touching Viktor's blond hair and musing about how much he looks like Pete and Richie and Nick.
"How can we save her, mother? Didn't Father say that all of those corrupted must die?" Viktor asks. "Or is she different? If she's different who else is?" he asks with wide eyes.
Rage gives a sad little sigh. "Your father is a very patient and forgiving man. He saw the potential in all novas to become enlightened, and so he gave many of them chance after chance to join him. My twin, especially. It was hard for some novas to go from being humans to being novas. They weren't born novas like you, your father, and me. They still thought and acted like humans. That's why your father was so lenient with them."
"However, there ARE some novas who have shown the spark that they DO want to be full novas, and they just need that last little push to bring them over to our side. For example, I saw so much potential in a nova named Damage. I asked him to join me, and he did. But then something happened and he died." she says with a little sigh.
"However, two centuries have now passed since your father's first offer to the novas, and he feels that all novas have had plenty of time to make their final decision, and so any nova who refuses to join us this time will be killed. With the exception of my twin. I have asked your father for one final chance to save her because I came so very close the last time I tried. If that fails..." she says, giving a tiny shrug with regret on her face.
"I hope she joins us, Mother. It would make you so happy." Viktor says. He smiles and hugs her. "I love you, Mother. I don't want her to make you sad anymore. I'll get her to join."
Rage hugs him back, looking at him in surprise. "Really? You'll do that for me? You're such a sweet boy, Viktor! You're right-- I WOULD be so happy if you could save her! If I had your aunt by my side, our family would be complete!" she smiles, looking hopeful. She kisses his forehead.
"Do you know what you would do to try to save her?" she asks out of curiosity.
"I would show her the truth, Mother. That she's wrong and that humanity is destroying the planet. Surely she would see the truth for herself, right?" Viktor says. "If she's your sister she must be smart like you."
Rage feels a lump in her throat when Viktor calls her "smart" and hugs him close to her again so he won't see her blinking back tears. She quickly swallows and gives him a shaky smile.
"She's a little slow up here at times--" she says, tapping her finger against the side of her head, "--and it frustrates me, but deep down I know she feels the same way that we do about what humans have done with their reign on earth. And I know that when she gets to earth and sees all the new mischief that they've been up to that it will finally push her over the edge to our side!"
She hugs Viktor again, marveling at how much joy and completion having her own child has given her.
"Speaking of nova women, what do you think of Sin? And what do you think of Bounty?" she asks curiously.
"They are ok. Bounty is weird. She never talks, and when she does it has nothing to do with what you just said. It creeps me out," Viktor says. He shrugs. "Sin seems ok...why Mother?" he asks. He looks up at her with big innocent eyes. "Do you like her?"
Rage gives a little laugh. She's finally encountered a question that she's got to be careful how she answers.
"I would really LIKE to like her, my son. She would be a perfect best friend if I were sure I could trust her. She keeps dropping hints that she's going to be 100% obedient to your father and I until the earth is under our control, and then after that...well, she won't commit to me how she's going to act after that. It makes me wary of her."
"She won't talk about her son Nikolai, so I don't know if she loves him or not, or if she's jealous or not that your father is giving you the earth instead of her son, and if she's jealous I don't know if she's going to try to team up with Nikolai to take the earth from you...I just don't know. I could be completely wrong and everything is OK, but...can you see why I'm a little paranoid?" she asks hopefully.
"I think so." Viktor says. he shrugs. "They won't do that Mother. They are novas-- they understand the truth." he says. "Just like you and Father." he says. He takes his mother's hand and smiles. "Fly me around the city Mother? I love that."
Rage feels a little guilty at Viktor's simple faith in Sin and Nikolai-- the same faith she'd had when she first joined the Teragen...the same faith she wishes she could get back. Maybe she really IS way off base. She kind of wishes she could take back what she just said, but...she'd really been wanting to talk to Viktor about her paranoia and get his take on it. At least now he knows all the facts and can make his own judgment.
Rage beams a big smile at Viktor and slings the towel off her shoulders and onto the nearby divan. "My pleasure!" she says, taking his hand and walking to the window with him. "Viktor? Your trust in novas is a beautiful thing, and I don't want to discourage that. Just forget what I said, OK?" she smiles, ruffling his hair.
She stands behind him and puts her hands under his arms. "Ready...set...GO!" she cries, and the two soar off through the window and into the city.
