PROLOGUE

In 2048 D.C., the human world came to an end.
       That year, a new type of fuel called the Naphon caused an ecological 
cataclysm that dramatically decimated both the human population and ecosystems 
before it burnt the planet’s surface to a crisp. 
       Prior to that fatidic end, though, some forty thousand survivors made it 
to the sole underground refuge that had been hastily set up in Siberia. There, 
deprived of the only world that they had ever known, the survivors tried to 
adapt their old ways of living to their new environment. 
       They nearly destroyed themselves once again.
Then, in the wake of those new heavy losses, emerged a new society based on the 
principles of the fabled New Age. 
	Thus was born Atlantis 2.

For centuries, Life thrived and evolved in the underground city as the Atlanti 
developed both new technologies and ways of living that were adapted to 
their limited resources while nurturing the spiritual ways.
       As a result of the Atlanti’s adherence to their new philosophy, strange 
powers of Healing and Channeling slowly appeared throughout their population, 
and then grew in strength and number over the course of the following decades. 
       From the first occurrences of such abilities, the Atlanti acknowledged 
the nearly-miraculous Skills as Gifts from their Celestial Father. 
       And so it went for some three-hundred years.
       
       
Then, the time finally came for the fifteen thousand Atlanti to return to the 
surface of their rightful planet, which had, after long centuries of recovery, 
completely regenerated itself.
       At long last, breathable air and lushness had returned to the planet.
       The Atlanti, however, were not the only ones to find out about Earth’s 
recovery as aliens, too, had been keeping tabs on the planet’s status. 
       Thus a group of Gorgons ‘met’ with a construction crew of new Atlantis 2. 
       On that fateful day, eighteen-year-old Nicholay Pavlovsky went alone to 
meet the armed aliens – and discovered that he had the thoroughly unexpected 
Ability to communicate with the alien visitors in their own language. 
Unexplainably, he spontaneously held complete and advanced Knowledge of 
the alien languages, hence could both reproduce and understand the strange 
sounds just as easily as he did any human language he had ever studied.
       That day, Nicholay became the first Galactic Ambassador of Peace for 
Mankind. 
       For the aliens, he became the King of Mankind.
       For everyone else involved, he became a question of survival… as did his 
descendants as they, too, inherited his miraculous Gift for ‘any’ given language 
in the universe.
       
       
       
Throughout the following one-hundred and ninety years, the Kings’ interactions 
with the aliens evolved into stronger yet still wary diplomatic relationships… 
       Or so the Atlanti were led to believe…











Chapter I



Time: 2538 D.C.
Location: City of Atlantis 2 (Earth)
 
For almost two hundred years, her family members had upheld their family’s 
greatest responsibility ever: to be Galactic Ambassadors of Peace for Mankind. 
       For two hundred years, each and every one of her predecessors had managed 
to maintain their people’s peace with the distant and distrustful aliens, thus 
ensuring the Atlanti’s continued survival.
       Now, though, it was ‘her’ turn to step into the intergalactic political 
arena as she, Nya Pavlovsky, had finally turned eighteen.
       It was now time for her, the Princess of Mankind and future Galactic 
Ambassador of Peace, to prepare for her critical Duty… a Duty which she wasn’t 
ready to assume yet.
	Unnerved by that worrying thought, the young woman restlessly brushed her 
fingers through her short auburn curls. 
       She simply did not feel ready to take on this enormous responsibility.
       However, soon - too soon for her taste - the fate of her fifteen thousand 
compatriots would be in her fumbling hands as her very actions while in the 
aliens’ presence would determine the fate of her whole people. 
       That prospect greatly worried her because as the first King had written 
in his journal, their family’s unique role was, literally, a question of 
survival... 
       Survival…
       She nervously bit her lower lip and locked her eyes on her family’s 
journal, which laid flat on the table in front of her; she frowned at the 
century-old words that glowed on the screen, the small movement straining the 
physical connections that fused her natural skin to the two-stranded braid of 
silvery cloned skin that adorned her forehead as would a crown. 
        ‘So much for finding answers,’ she finally grimaced, conceding defeat in 
her quest for information.
       Around her, the negotiation room was empty, but it would not last. 
       Then, she pouted worriedly, only one false step, especially from ‘her’ 
part, and the aggressive aliens would bear down on her people with nothing but 
destructive intents in mind, as their threats to her mother clearly hinted at. 
       The young woman shivered yet again at the thought of being responsible 
for such horror and nervously combed her fingers through her short curls. She 
then caught herself and dropped her hand back on the table before she sighed 
heavily in worry. 
       ‘Things are so complicated with the aliens,’ she thought, and then wished 
that she understood them better. ‘That way’, she reasoned with herself, ‘I’d at 
least know how to behave with them.’ 
       But she didn’t – not according to Aenil – and that didn’t bode well for 
her people.
       Physically tensing from her increasing concern, the simply-clothed young 
woman suddenly stood up from her wooden chair and nervously smoothed the folds 
of her new dark green sleeveless vest. Then, she purposefully repeated the 
procedure with her matching long pants, using the physical movement to focus her 
mind on something other than her fears. 
       Once she was done with her pants, she tugged on the hem of her long-
sleeved beige shirt, carefully straightening it.
       Her tactic worked for a few seconds, but the moment that she was done, 
her unease returned tenfold and she made up her mind about the day’s session.
       She would let her mother lead the negotiations while she would watch her 
from the side. 
       ‘That way,’ she agreed with herself, ‘it’s most improbable that ‘I’ will 
make dangerous false steps.’
       Besides, she shrugged easily, her mother excelled in her Duty so it was 
pointless to hasten her retirement in any way.
       Indeed, she nodded inwardly, Natalia was poised, calm, wise, as well as 
heavily experienced in leading difficult negotiations; she was a skilled 
ambassador who had learnt her ‘job’ on the field, so with her at the helm of the 
negotiations, Peace was in very good hands.
       In the Princess’ care – her care - though… 
       The young woman shuddered yet again at the troubling prospect of 
endangering her people.
	She was simply ‘too’ impulsive and curious for her own good; she just 
‘didn’t’ have what it took to be successful in her family’s unique line of Duty!  
       Irritated at her shortcomings, the young woman turned toward the bay 
windows of the meeting room and sought solace in the familiar sight of her home 
city.  
       Of course, she conceded as she gazed outside, as far as her insatiable 
curiosity went, her teachers had long since taught her how to quench it with the 
help of the city’s universal databank.
       As for her questions pertaining to the aliens, Aenil was always available 
to answer them. 
       However, when it came to her impulsiveness, it was directly attached to 
her strong Intuition, which, as a Sensitive person, she implicitly trusted and 
knew not to restrain in any way.
       Of course, Aenil kept warning her that her spontaneous attitude was ‘not’ 
a strength but a flaw for an ambassador of Mankind, but even if Nya tried to 
control her Intuition when in the aliens’ presence, she simply couldn’t turn it 
on and off at will.
       Not anymore anyway.
	Worse, ever since her mother and the Peace Council had demanded that 
Explorer’s construction be stalled until further notice, the youth had been 
fighting her temptation to ask more questions about the aliens in general and 
the Gorgons in particular. 
       Indeed, ever since that day, she had had the very strong Feeling that 
something was not right about her people’s predicament with the Gorgons; that 
some fact or another remained untold by the tall aliens.
       She had first brought the matter up with Aenil - who hadn’t been able to 
answer her - and then with her mother. To her surprise, the Queen had answered 
her by passing on to her their family’s journal. 
       ‘In it,’ the older woman had told her solemnly, ‘you will uncover the 
secrets of the past and of our interactions with the aliens. Use them well.’ 
       Confident that she would, at last, find answers to her questions, Nya had 
decided to read the content of the precious heirloom a few hours only before her 
first official meeting with the Gorgon representative.
       She had expected the century-old electronic document to shed some light 
on the origin of the Gorgons’ aggression toward her species, but to her utter 
surprise, the accounting had not begun with Nicholay’s experiences.
       Instead, it had begun with the words of Antonin Pavlovsky, the only 
Pavlovsky who had survived The End of the Old World.   
	The Wise man who had instigated the changes that had brought about the 
birth of Atlantis 2, also known as the New World.
       Unexpectedly hurled into the tumultuous and horrifying days of the 
ecological cataclysm known as The End, the young woman had been unable to tear 
her eyes from the text, her attention riveted on Antonin’s ancient words as they 
transported her back to when the horrible events had taken place. She had cried, 
had cheered, had gasped in shock; she had been downright fascinated by the 
first-hand report of the difficult birth of her multi-racial, spiritual and 
simplicity-oriented society. 
	Then, a full three hundred years later in the journal, she had finally 
reached Nicholay’s tale regarding his first encounter ever with a group of 
Gorgons.  
       She had quickly understood that, as it had been for her, Nicholay’s Gift 
had spontaneously surfaced without any rational reason as to why he had suddenly 
been able to understand the strangers’ garbled language.
	However, unlike the circumstances of ‘her’ first meeting with the Gorgon 
aliens, Nicholay’s had taken place under the threat of lethal weapons.  
	As she reconsidered the details of her ancestor’s first encounter, Nya 
dimly wondered whether she, in Nicholay’s place, would have had the necessary 
courage to act the way he had.  
	After all, her ancestor had been extremely brave to stand in front of 
armed and hulking aliens, not to mention Wise when he had quickly adapted his 
discourse to the aliens’ obvious system of hierarchy; as an Atlanti, he 
shouldn’t have accepted to be called King, yet he had for his Wisdom had been 
even greater than his beliefs in his people’s values.  
	Unbeknown to him, he had saved them all that day as nothing but the 
Atlanti-prohibited word ‘King’ would have instilled respect in the aliens.
	‘Though Nicholay obviously Knew it,’ the Princess smiled to herself before 
she turned solemn once again and resumed pondering her puzzling thoughts.
       She now knew that with or without pressure of retributions, Nicholay had 
always treated both the alien visitors and Aenil with nothing but universal 
respect and acceptance. 
       So had all his successors. 
       So, she frowned, what could possibly make some aliens still perceive her 
people as a potential threat to the universal peace of the Galactic Coalition?
       Indeed, it was utterly illogical that the aliens, who had only known the 
Atlanti as a peaceful people, could still believe that her people was dangerous, 
let alone that they were planning to attack them.  
       ‘Peace is who we are,’ she wanted to argue with the doubting elements of 
the Coalition, yet couldn’t and shouldn’t.
       She sighed yet again in frustration and let her eyes wander over the 
soothingly familiar sight that sat at the foot of the embassy’s hill. This, she 
reflected as she took in the simple appearance of her homeland; this was 
serenity and peace.  
       Wherever she gazed, there were hundreds of humble two-storey clay and 
wood houses, each construction warmed by the hot sun of former Portugal and 
surrounded by green grass, flowers and tall trees that partly hid the colorful 
shutters of open windows.  
       The youth quietly surveyed the peaceful vista, reflecting that if the 
aliens understood them better, they would finally process – perhaps even accept 
- that for her people, all living beings wwere equal between themselves and that 
each and everyone of them – the aliens included - was a sacred embodiment of 
Life itself. 
       That they would ‘never’ attack anyone.
       Aenil had understood this, as had most of the Coalition… so why couldn’t 
the Gorgons?
       Still, she pouted, the Gorgons were right in one of their arguments: her 
family’s ambassadorial Duty was ‘not’ like the other Duties in her community. 
       The difference, though, was not in the powers attached to it – their 
status was merely a title without executive powers attached to it – but rather 
in two fundamental facts related to their family history.
       Those two facts were that first, their Duty had a strategic importance in 
the continued existence of their people and, second, their special Gift had only 
been Granted to the Pavlovsky descendants. 
       Indeed, for some reason that remained obscure even to their more-Awakened 
days, no one but the Pavlovsky children had ever received a similar Gift. 
       Considering that there had been, for either personal or health reasons, 
only one male Pavlovsky child per generation already long before Nicholay had 
become King, the Pavlovskys had never had the possibility to willingly share 
their natural Gift with other families. As for teaching the languages, it had 
been pointless as no one else but them could comprehend the alien sounds, let 
alone reproduce them. 
       Thus it had been that the Gifted Pavlovsky parent had never been able to 
share his Duty with anyone except his own child while the youth had been in 
training. Then, once the new King had become autonomous in his diplomatic Duty, 
the parent had always lost his Ability to understand and speak alien languages, 
and the new Ambassador had been on his own.
       ‘It has always been this way,’ Nya thought resignedly as she gazed at her 
home city. ‘It will be the same for mom and I.’ 
       The young Princess - the second only in the history of the Atlanti people 
– turned glum yet again at the prospect of facing the aliens on her own.   
       Feeling as if an enormous burden was gradually settling itself onto her 
firm but young shoulders, she wearily leaned her head against the cool surface 
of the window and longingly sought the shape of her former haunt, namely 
Explorer’s hangar. 
       ‘Strange,’ she mused, ‘how inventing and building our first spaceship 
ever was easy compared to my upcoming nomination.’ 
       A small smile crept on her lips as she gazed at the only metallic 
structure of their sprawling city.
       Sheltering both the laboratories and the hangars of their few ships, the 
steely construction sat at the end of a golden-sanded beach, firmly entrenched 
between it and other service-oriented buildings of Atlantis 2.  
       Darn! She unusually grumbled. Her daily activities had changed only 
recently, yet she already missed going there every day to hone her scientific 
skills by working on the ships themselves--- but that couldn’t be helped, she 
sternly rebuked herself.
	Besides, her Explorer colleagues counted on her to break the stalemate 
with the aliens, so she had to start sometime if she wanted to succeed someday. 
	To achieve that, though, her mother, Aenil, and herself would have to 
convince the remaining alien opposition that the humans were no threat of any 
kind to the Coalition. 
       ‘That’, she grimaced to herself, would be tricky.
       Even though she and her mother could count on the help of their alien 
resident, the Gorgon’s opposition was as strong as it was irrational.  Even the 
Syllin woman, who was a very gifted negotiator, was unable to break through to 
the ever-belligerent representative from Gorgonite.  
       Worse, with Atlantide now floating on the sea, the Gorgons were 
unwaveringly persuaded that the humans were preparing both an air and sea 
assault on the Far Lands, thus the Coalition.
       It was a grievance that would make it just as difficult for her to 
succeed as it did for her mother and Aenil.
       Indeed, no matter how reasonable their arguments sounded to her ears, the 
aliens thought differently…  
	Now, she grumbled in frustration, if only she knew where their irrational 
ideas came from, she’d have a better chance of efficiently soothing their fears 
instead of worsening them. Unfortunately, though, finding those answers proved 
to be as difficult as finding a needle in a haystack. 
       Disgruntled, the young human turned away from the sight of her homeland 
and faced the empty room once again.
	She had really thought that her family’s journal would explain at least 
some of the aliens’ puzzling beliefs, but to her dismay, it had only deepened 
their mystery. 
       Now, she had even more unanswered questions than before!
       It really annoyed her. 
       Pouting, Nya stood still and checked the time; she had fifteen minutes 
left of solitude before the others arrived. She wearily closed her eyes, wishing 
that she had more time to prepare for ‘this’…
       This inevitable…
       But of course, there wouldn’t be more time and so, it was pointless to 
hope for anything else; her only course of action was to focus her mind and 
regain her calmness before the aliens arrived.  
       Yes, she tiredly agreed with herself, it was the only way to prepare for 
this.
       She set to it, slowly forcing herself to relax and breathe more deeply as 
she closed her eyes and drew on her knowledge of calming techniques. 
       A few minutes later, she opened her eyes once again and walked back to 
the table; there, she sat in her chair and, while her newfound confidence 
lasted, activated the writing function of her family’s journal.
       Then, like every new Ambassador had done on his first day of Duty, she 
proceeded to write down her vow as ambassador as well as what she wished to 
accomplish with the aliens throughout her reign. It was an unspoken tradition 
that she had discovered as she had read through her family’s journal, and she 
had decided to maintain it.
        ‘Today,’ she began to type as confidently as she could, ‘I, Nya 
Pavlovsky, accept the Duty of Galactic Ambassador of Peace for Mankind. Like my 
predecessors before me, I ‘will’ not fail. Despite the challenges ahead of me, I 
will hold to my heart Father's values of Peace and will transmit this Message of 
understanding to our worried alien neighbors. Our Peace with them ‘will’ 
prevail.’
       Period.
       As she waited for the old computer system to process her entry, she 
focused her attention on the six large chairs that were set around the long 
dark-brown wooden table, trying to visualize what would take place within the 
room in less than ten minutes.
       It would be yet another difficult negotiation; she could Feel it and the 
subdued tension in her stomach was not helping her to retain her fledgling 
positive attitude.  
       Darn! She mentally gritted in annoyance, if only her mother would not 
lose her Skills in a few years from now… but she, for one, was more than aware 
that her mother had already earned her upcoming release as, unlike the majority 
of her predecessors, Natalia had had a very busy ‘reign’, and not just as a 
Queen either.
       Sometimes, Nya truly wondered how her even-tempered mother had been able 
to successfully fulfill her ambassadorial duties while bringing up on her own 
not one but two rampaging children. 
       Yet, even though the fate of Mankind had rested upon Natalia’s slight 
shoulders, the introspective redhead had always found time to raise her children 
properly.  
       In itself, Natalia’s responsibility as Queen had always been extremely 
demanding and stressing, but to flawlessly combine it with the demands of 
widowed motherhood… Nya was absolutely stumped by her mom’s achievement and 
could only tip her hat to her while hoping that her reign, too, would someday 
measure up to at least half of Natalia’s---
       The hinged double-doors of the meeting room brusquely swung open, 
interrupting the youth’s pondering. Nya whirled around, startled, and then 
stared in worry at the Gorgon representative as he stormed into the chamber.   
       ‘Uh-oh..,’ she reflected even as she reflexively stood and bowed her head 
in greetings. ‘He already seems angry.’ 
       As usual, the ‘man’ wore the traditional leather and metal armor of his 
battle-hardened people and carried a ceremonial weapon strapped to his back.  
       Although the weapon itself merely looked like a long rod and could easily 
go unnoticed by unperceptive beings, its bandoleer, which was marked with red 
and yellow blood, made sure that everybody around him was aware of the weapon’s 
presence even as the blood-written warned them not to defy the bearer of the 
weapon.  
       The first time that she had consciously registered the wording of the 
warning, Nya had questioned Aenil about the surprisingly aggressive approach and 
the other had explained to her that the Gorgons valued only strength, hence that 
this was their way of discouraging weaker species from challenging them. The 
Syllin had then mentioned to her that by leaving his other weapons in his ship, 
the Gorgon ambassador was already making a remarkable sacrifice for the Peace 
effort.  
       As she gazed once again at the male extraterrestrial, Nya reflected that 
effort or not, his body language was anything but encouraging in regards to the 
upcoming talks.
       She resisted the urge to run her hand through her hair in annoyance, and 
then scolded herself for her reaction. After all, it was not Moock’s fault that 
nature had given his race a leathery lumpy face that looked worrying to the 
human eye.  
       Still, except for the Gorgon’s two eyes, the seven-foot tall, four-armed 
and leather brown alien did not have any other recognizable facial features and 
that really unsettled her, yet not as much as to hear them speak even though 
they were mouth-less. Then, there was the fact that he, like every other Gorgon, 
lacked a neck, his head resting directly on a first set of shoulders. 
       So, in short, the only part of Moock’s body that was remotely familiar to 
her human eye was his legs for he, too, was bipedal.  
       As for the alien form that followed Moock inside the room, it was 
something else entirely as the Zile representative did not have either legs, 
arms, or even a face.  Instead, the alien was no more than a blob of gelatinous 
ooze that was capable of movement and changed color from purple to orange in 
accordance to its mood. The Zile were also amongst the most intelligent beings 
of the Coalition yet they did not use individual names. They were simply known 
as Zile. 
       Although she would love to discuss with the alien and ask him more 
questions about this fact, she remembered her lessons in alien courtesy and 
remained silent; she bowed her head yet again, at the newcomer this time.
       Although she had not been formally introduced to them, the 
extraterrestrials already knew who she was as well as why she was attending the 
meeting. Yet, as both her mother and Aenil had warned her, neither of them paid 
her any attention.
       To them, she was not the ‘Queen’ yet, therefore unimportant.
       Her mother’s arrival, however, didn’t go unnoticed.  
       As usual, forty-two year-old Natalia Pavlovsky was accompanied by Aenil, 
the Coalition’s permanent representative on Earth.  
       Standing at Natalia’s side, the white-skinned Syllin wore a satiny sky-
blue robe that blanketed from shoulders to feet her slim, three-foot-and-a-half 
silhouette while it also underlined the blackness of her large ovoid eyes, the 
pallor of her skin as well as the blackened scar that marked the left side of 
her forehead. 
       Nya smiled in greetings at the familiar sight of her second best friend 
and the alien woman returned the smile with a bow of her lumpy, slightly 
triangular head.
       As for Natalia, who was walking slightly ahead of the alien, she wore 
simple dark blue trousers, a white-cream shirt and a long sleeveless mantle that 
matched her pants; as usual, her forehead bore 
a silvery crown implant that was identical to her daughter’s. 
       Like Nya, Natalia had born her crown ever since her Talent had emerged - 
during her early childhood - thus making it simple for the aliens to distinguish 
her from their non-alien-speaking compatriots. 
       Such was the purpose, and the only purpose, of their silvery forehead 
implant.
       As Nya studied how her mother welcomed the aliens to their new session of 
negotiations, she absentmindedly reflected that, except for their distinctive 
cuts, hers and her mother’s formal clothes were not much different from what 
every other Atlanti usually wore, the differences due merely to the royalty’s 
need to differentiate themselves further in the eyes of the aliens. Otherwise, 
their dressing style was similar to that of the other Atlanti.
       Only Aenil had a style all her own with her ankle-long, flowing-sleeved 
robes.
       Refocusing on her surroundings, the young Princess stepped closer to the 
meeting table and followed her mother’s lead as they all sat down in their 
chosen chair.
       For a second or two, a solemn silence hovered over the group.  
       Then, as if annoyed by it, the Gorgon representative stood up again and 
began his complaints, speaking in Syllin to do so. *I once again spoke with my 
people, Queen Pavlovsky,” he stated sternly. *We are still worried about your 
projects to explore the stars and we refuse to give you authorization to leave 
even your territory. You must make your people change their minds or else there 
will be consequences." Moock sat back in his chair, resting his upper fists on 
the table top in unspoken distrust.
       Another silence followed his latest threat before Natalia finally 
answered smoothly, also in Syllin: *Thank you for this summary of the situation, 
Ambassador Moock." 
       Nya noticed how her mother remained in her seat, then how she exchanged a 
surreptitious gaze with Aenil.
       When the Syllin barely nodded her head at the Queen, the Princess 
understood that this was how Aenil usually confirmed the Coalition’s support to 
her mother. She filed the information away for later use.
       Meanwhile, strong of her ally’s assent, Natalia locked her gentle green 
eyes with the expressionless black orbs of her Gorgon counterpart.  *We 
understand your people's worries, Ambassador," she began diplomatically.  *They 
don't know us, hence, fear us.  It is a natural reaction that we, humans, are 
also liable to experience."
       Her attention riveted on her mother’s words and facial expression, Nya 
noticed how Natalia’s subdued approach seemed to calm the two aliens who had 
come to their planet with lasting grievances in regards to their people’s space 
project. The Princess made a note to herself to remember this tactic and 
practice it because her first instinct would have been to go straight to the 
point and reassure them that it was pointless to fear them because her people 
did not seek any power of any kind.
       Considering the actual mindsets of the aliens, the youth now understood 
that she would have only worsened the situation. Indeed, no matter how much it 
had Felt like the right thing to say, she would have badly blundered with the 
aliens.  
       With her mother's approach, however, the aliens were first calmed, and 
then reassured so that they were now more open to hearing the truth behind her 
mother's words.  
       While her mother continued her quiet speech, which did not sound at all 
like an extremely important negotiation, Nya threw a glance at their sole 
centuries-old ally.  
       Aenil calmly returned her gaze, and then gave her a near invisible nod in 
the direction of the attentive Zile. The young woman surreptitiously glanced at 
him--- and gaped in shock at the Zile’s purple coloring! 
       Against all her uneducated expectations, her mother had already convinced 
the featureless alien that Explorer did not represent any danger for his people.
       The young Princess gazed back at the Queen, in awe this time. 
       Her mother truly excelled as an ambassador and she couldn’t possibly need 
her to succeed once again! Her friends were just wrong to doubt Natalia’s 
ability to break the stalemate with the Gorgons!
       In fact, the more she listened to her mother and watched her work with 
the hostile Gorgon, the more she realized that, despite her lessons and tutoring 
sessions of the past few years, she was far from done with her training.
       Indeed, her real schooling had only begun.
       She remained silent throughout the whole meeting, watching and learning 
from the actual Queen of Mankind, who had learnt the art of negotiation on the 
field, facing one alien crisis after another.




On the other side of the table, the Syllin ambassador kept a wary eye on the 
young Princess - for whom she had felt an illogical and puzzling interest ever 
since she had met her as a child. 
       Indeed, she couldn’t deny anymore her curiosity about ‘that’ young human, 
yet considering that Syllins did not bother about other races except to exploit 
them to their advantage, she really couldn’t understand her unusual attitude 
toward the human child.
       Furthermore, she normally felt nothing but hatred toward the third-rate 
humans, yet her reactions to the young ‘Princess’ were anything but.
       Of course, she had occasional fits of anger in regards to the child’s 
critical role in the creation of the humans’ new spaceship, but those sparks of 
ire were nothing when compared to her utter and continuous loathing of the 
humans in general, loathing from which she now excluded the intriguing child.
       Still, with or without that girl, the fact remained that the cursed 
humans were the reason why she had been forced into exile on 5-B4, and she 
profoundly despised them for that.  
       Tuning out the debating human and Gorgon, whom she could trust to play 
their part in her plan even without her supervision, the cunning Syllin allowed 
herself to remember that detested day, almost three hundred and fifty Syllin 
years ago, when she had been banished from her people’s artificial world 
and condemned to eternal exile and monitoring of the despised humans that lived 
on 5-B4.
       That day, Fate, as the humans would say, had caught up with her and had 
punished her for her past actions against countless races.  
       Initially, she had thought that she would be left to her own devices to 
monitor and make sure that the last free beings of the galaxy did not escape 
their planet, but to her bafflement, her arrival on 5-B4 had not taken place in 
secrecy.  
       Instead, her deliverers had directed her to land near the newly 
constructed human dwellings and, a few minutes later, had introduced her to a 
new human who had the ability to communicate with aliens. This translator, whom 
she had been told to address as King of Mankind, had warmly welcomed her and her 
alien ‘brothers’. 
       Then, to her continued bewilderment, the human had offered to share the 
planet’s surface with them.  
       Naturally, she and her deliverers, who had also been on a reconnaissance 
mission for her Lord, had taken him up on his offer.  
       Then, while she had reluctantly established herself as the humans’ new 
and ‘official’ contact with the far away headquarters of the Galactic Coalition, 
her Lord’s servants had fulfilled the other part of their mission. To her utter 
befuddlement, they had had the King’s complete collaboration for their 
investigation, thus acquiring more data about the humans than even her own 
thorough teams had ever collected in the past. 
       A while later the investigators had left 5-B4, only to send colonizing 
teams down on the surface. As per orders, those teams had landed on the lands 
that had been given to the Coalition, unaware that they had been purposefully 
kept away from the humans. 
       That orchestrated isolation had continued once the Yorek servants had 
been set up on the Far Lands, and then had been reinforced by the Syllins thanks 
to staged interactions between the King and Yorek ‘ambassadors’. Through those 
manipulated meetings, the Yoreks – she – had ‘diplomatically’ forced the naive 
humans to stay in their chosen territory.  
       Considering her fair knowledge of the ‘old’ humans, she had remained wary 
throughout the deceitful procedures, preparing herself to take quick action and 
keep the new humans from expanding their territory.  
       Time had gone by, however, and the humans had never shown even an inkling 
of an interest in expanding their territory. 
       It had taken her a while to understand their unusual attitude, but, 
eventually, she had finally processed the fact that these new humans were quite 
different from their predecessors.  
       She pondered that thought for a moment, reflecting that even to this day, 
this was true of the humans.
       Indeed, the Atlanti were still content to inhabit only their chosen area 
of the planet and even maintained stable the ratio of their reproduction,
limiting to two the number of births per couple. That way, they kept their 
number to around fifteen thousand beings, a volume of population that respected 
the capabilities of their territory’s resources. 
       What really impressed her, though, was that they achieved that by simply 
‘controlling’ their need to copulate and reproduce ---
       *We will never trust your kind, human,” Moock suddenly growled so 
dangerously that the Syllin scientific genius refocused on him for a moment. Had 
she missed some crucial detail while she had been daydreaming? 
       She frowned at the sight of the standing Gorgon; his fisted hands were 
resting on the table top, applying enough pressure on it to threaten the 
integrity of the hard surface.
       At the other end of the table, though, the passive Queen sat quietly, her 
hands peacefully folded in front of herself. *Then we will wait and earn your 
trust, Ambassador. I assure you that we would never go against the Coalition’s 
decision.”
       Beside the Queen, the child frowned at the Gorgon’s attitude, yet 
mirrored her mother’s passive attitude and remained quiet.
       False alarm then, the alien woman smirked inwardly. The humans still 
stuck to her ‘advice’ and remained aloof in the presence of the aggressive 
Gorgon, an attitude that greatly irritated the tall alien. 
       She grinned inwardly at that, malicious satisfaction coursing through 
her. 
       When properly molded, humans definitely made most obedient ‘pets’ - as 
they had proven to her many times over throughout the past centuries.
       Still, she wished that something did change and that she could be freed 
of her prison by ridding the planet of them. 
       Or at least, that was her first thought upon waking up every cursed 
morning of her wretched life.
       The remainder of the day, though, she was acutely aware that this thought 
was more wishful thinking than anything else for who knew what her Lord would do 
to her if the humans no longer existed? 
       Would he really allow her to return to their world? Or would he kill her 
as well? 
       Unless, she shuddered in renewed fright, he planned to submit her to 
slavery under the yoke of one of his cruel slave masters?
       Whatever it was, she yet again decided – as she did every morning when 
she began her active day – she had no desire to find out and she was, in fact, 
quite satisfied with the current status quo.
       Besides, she thought grimly, their people couldn’t afford to lose control 
of the richest planet of the galaxy and ‘their’ needs were paramount to hers. 
The situation simply couldn’t change in any way.
       Period.
       Focusing back on the present, she spared a new glance in the Gorgon’s 
direction, the Zile’s, and then gazed at the Princess. Good, she nodded to 
herself; the child was still in awe of her mother’s ‘talents’. 
       ‘No danger there, either,’ she reflected condescendingly as she briefly 
glanced at the Queen. 
       Like her predecessors, the woman was not aware of her status of mere pawn 
in her Lord’s game of absolute dominion, a game that was played with both the 
naïve humans and the overcame or belligerent visitors that were sent to the 
planet to help her ‘control’ the gullible humans. 
       As a consequence of her people’s convoluted web of deceit, neither the 
humans nor the Syllins’ servants and slaves knew about each other’s true 
natures. 
       Only her people and her Lord - the concealed but true leader of the 
Coalition as well as the Syllin’s Supreme Ruler - knew the truth about the 
galaxy’s residents, and especially about the free humans of 5-B4 - the last free 
beings of the entire Coalition.
       As a result of her people’s lies, the true representatives of the 
Coalition - who were light years away from 5-B4 – believed that the humans of 5-
B4 were, like their enslaved counterparts, a third-rate species.  
       In the case of the enslaved humans, it justified their slavery, and in 
regards to the last free humans, the quarantine of their planet. 
       Therefore, nobody had ever challenged the fact that, except for those who 
had the ‘Coalition’s’ blessing for exploration and research, no one was allowed 
to land on 5-B4. 
       The truth was, though, that those authorized to land were chosen by her 
Lord to either exploit the planet or help her manipulate the humans into doing 
her bidding.  
       Most of the time, she telepathically took control of the visiting aliens 
for as long as they were inside the human territory, but sometimes, like in the 
case of the Gorgons, she left the visitors to their own human-wary instincts.  
       Unlike the mentally-overcame visitors, she also allowed that second type 
of ‘ambassadors’ to remember the events that surrounded their pointless and 
irritating debates with the human interpret because it served her Lord best that 
way.
       Thinking of the Gorgons, she once again checked on the standing giant and 
reflected that he was in superb shape today, his hatred galvanized to the utmost 
by the Queen’s inadequate approach with him. The Zile, for his part, was 
properly subdued, as she had telepathically ordered it to be. 
       She refrained from smirking in self-satisfaction, yet there was nothing 
to gloat about as her small-scaled manipulation was insignificant next to 
the fact that for millions of human years, her secret Lord and his servants had 
been making the rest of the galaxy believe whatever lies and judgments they 
wished in regards to supposedly lower species. 
       The truth, though, was that ‘any’ given species was inferior to the 
Syllins, hence was held in contempt by them.
       She, like any other Syllin, had adhered to that philosophy even long 
before the ‘Coalition’ had come to be. 
       And yet… 
       Yet she ‘had’ found herself intrigued enough by the once five-year-old 
new Princess to follow her surprising progress as she had matured into an adult 
human. Worse, she had shamefully indulged in conversation with the child 
whenever she had had the chance, enjoying her exchanges with a lower being for 
the first time in her long, extremely long life.  
       She still did, too, no matter how much she tried to convince herself 
otherwise.
       She threw a discreet glance in the girl’s direction and noted that the 
inconspicuous-looking child was doing her best not to frown at Moock’s 
belligerent attitude. 
       Aenil gave her a false nod of reassurance to dispel the child’s continued 
worries; the Princess visibly relaxed once again and the Syllin breathed more 
easily.
       Even though Nya was, like the others in her community, steeped in the 
belief of a celestial guardian, the young human was also independent enough from 
even those guidelines to consider events and matters from her own point of view. 
Personally, she found that trait refreshing as well as intriguing, yet it also 
made the child a worse potential danger than any other human before her.
       Aenil wouldn’t – couldn’t - allow her to become a real danger and 
threaten her – or her people – in any way.
       Still, as much as she had tried, she couldn’t change who the child was, 
and the youth was especially unafraid of changes, an attitude that was rare in 
the quiet community of ‘content’, drowsy-like humans. The child was also 
extremely clever, a quality that the alien genius rarely found to a satisfying 
level in any being she met. 
       Thus, she closely monitored the child, but… after centuries of 
loneliness, she also guiltily enjoyed speaking with someone who had a pleasing 
level of intellect. 
       Not that the human would ever be her equal, of course. 
       Besides, she yet again rebuked herself, it was heretic to even think of 
her as worthy of her attention and should instead be ‘very’ wary of the child.
       After all, the human deduced way too much from very little, as she 
herself had discovered in a most humiliating fashion.
       She suddenly refrained from glaring at the girl, having learnt her lesson 
about the child’s quick mind and how she should refrain at all costs from poking 
it awake.
       Oh yes, she sighed angrily, she had learnt that lesson extremely well.
       She had meant to subtly teach the then fourteen-year-old child that her 
kind would always be inferior to others, but her plan had horribly backfired on 
her. That day, she had taken the girl aboard her ship and had flaunted her 
people’s technology at the starry-eyed child. She had shown her everything that 
she could about her ship, taking great pleasure in demonstrating her people’s 
advanced technology.  
       Then, less than two months later, the child had proven her ‘dangerous’ 
nature by becoming the reason for the humans' interest to reach the stars. To 
Aenil’s utter bafflement, the girl had somehow registered all the details of her 
ship - even those of the very complex engine - and then had pondered them before 
she had presented a draft of a spaceship to the more experienced scientists and 
technicians of her community. Although the girl’s designs had not been fit for 
realization yet, her plans had prompted the adults’ thoughts into new 
directions…
       And there they were, she grimaced inwardly, faced with the fact that the 
humans would soon have the ability to leave their planet. Of course, as long as 
the humans would bow to the aliens’ unanimous will - her will - they would not 
represent any further threat and she would be able to keep them stranded on 
their planet while not appearing to do so.  
       However, should the Atlanti change their minds and act against the 
aliens’ edict, the situation would no longer be that simple.
       While the mere fact that the humans could build a spaceship did not 
represent that much of a threat as long as they remained on their planet, the 
danger came from the ‘first-rate species’ potential that they would exhibit if 
they were to reach the rest of the Coalition aboard such an achievement…
       From there, another galactic brainwash and cleansing would be necessary 
to prevent the destruction of her people by the ‘true’ Coalition of the 
oppressed people… not to mention that Hyn Li would have her hide long before 
then for such an unforgivable failure.
       Personally, she had no desire whatsoever to ever face such events. 
       Consequently, her objective was no longer to stage more alien resistance 
to fool the humans, but to simply convince the humans ‘not’ to leave their 
planet. 
       So far, however, she had not had any success as the Atlanti were adamant 
that they were meant to explore the rest of the galaxy like other members of the 
Coalition could.
       But she, former Destroyer of worlds, had to keep it from happening.  
       So far, by giving false advice to the Queen, she had managed to stall the 
evolution of the Explorer project and the humans’ chances of conducting 
successful negotiations with the distrustful Gorgons were nil.
       Lately, though, the humans were slowly showing signs of weariness toward 
those delays and had great hopes that the official appearance of the young 
Princess at the meetings would help break the stalemate.
       Personally, she knew to closely monitor the youth, especially since she 
had the feeling that were the child, or the Atlanti, pushed the wrong way, Nya 
was not above taking the human ship off the planet, and that even without the 
unanimous permission from the aliens’ part. 
       As she considered some of the girl's past achievements and already strong 
leadership in her community, Aenil once again made a note to herself to not only 
monitor the youth and fool her, but to maintain her efforts to keep her - and 
her people - from being challenged in any way.  
       They were simply too unpredictable to take any chances with them anymore, 
not to mention that she was more and more worried that the child might actually 
awaken on her own. Worse, if her recent questions were anything to go by, the 
process was unfortunately already underway, inciting the Princess to test the 
fabric of the lies that had been skillfully wrapped for centuries around her and 
her people. 
       But, she promised herself, the girl would not escape her web of lies.
       Indeed, no matter how intriguing the child could be, she would treat her 
first and foremost as an enemy and a danger and would thus find a way to 
neutralize her as she had her predecessors.
       With this objective in mind, she refocused her attention on the ongoing 
debate, this time closely watching her two potential troublemakers, namely the 
impetuous and hostile Gorgon representative - who could trigger a defensive 
reaction in the young Princess - and the attentive human girl whose mind was 
undoubtedly already processing everything that was being discussed at the 
moment.
	Most probably searching for answers to her questions about the aliens who 
visited and, in a way, controlled her people.



(Atlantis 2, its characters and situations, are protected by copyright under the 
Canadian copyrights law, international conventions and other copyright laws. All 
rights to any Atlantis 2 material belong to Meryl Heavens 
(atlantis_2_2002@hotmail.com) ISBN: 141208992-1