Listen to our son's guidance, keep thine head, and do not lose thine heart. He bowed and faded into the recesses of Tory's mind.

Her eyes opened to behold the brilliant red sun melting into the horizon of the wilderness over which it cast the shadow of night. She looked up to the stars already twinkling in their thousands above her, trying to savour every detail of Maelgwn's image.

'When the great star burns in the sky, so that two suns appear,' Rhun quoted, 'your reunion with father will be nigh.'

' The supernova.' Tory swung around to a standing position, recalling the year Rhun had said this would occur. 'Two thousand and thirty seven,' she whined.

'But that's another twenty years from now!' This realisation knocked the wind out of her sails somewhat and she sank back on her rock, disheartened.

'If it makes you feel any better, I too must endure the same wait to be joined with my one true love.'

'Bridgit?' Tory assumed.

'Aye.' Rhun smiled as he reminisced upon his wife, long since departed to the grave. 'And her "Chosen"

incarnation will go by another name, but I shall recognise her and she me as surely as day follows night and night follows day. For we are two integral halves of the same perfect whole.'

Tory recalled that Taliesin had claimed that the same was true of Maelgwn and herself. 'Twenty years without sex. Now that's depressing.'

'Granted.' Rhun could sympathise on that point.

'But, then again, it seems a small price to pay in exchange for an eternity of bliss.'

It did indeed, but there was more to this 'Gathering'

than just the uniting of lost loves and old comrades.

Who were the Evil Ones who were to do battle with the Shining Ones and their Chosen? Tory shrugged, not too worried that the answer eluded her at present. The truth was buried somewhere and she had two whole decades to dig it up.

12.

THE AFFAIRS OF.

GODS AND MEN.

H.

ere's a reference.' Noah captured Tory's attention, and read: ' Even now, many Antichrists have arisen, from which we gather certainly that it is the final hour. They went out from us, but they never belonged to us: for if they had been ours, they would have remained with us. '

'Interesting,' she mused. 'Where did you find that?'

'Here, in The Bible. The first general epistle of John, Chapter 2, paragraph 18.' He passed it to her across the large study table, strewn with the histories of the ages.

Noah and Tory spent most of their evenings here, attempting to learn as much as they could from reported interaction between the ancient ancestors and mankind.

Tory perused the paragraph Noah had highlighted, then referred back to the book she was reading on the beliefs of an old African religion. 'This foretells how the Shining Ones will overcome the Evil Ones, and of the new age that will follow. This clash would be heralded by a certain star's appearance in the sky. This will be testament to the Nommo's resurrection, who, like the Christ of the Christian faith, would be sacrificed for the purification of the universe. He will rise in human form and descend on the Earth in an ark with the ancestors of man ... sound familiar?' Tory handed the book over into Noah's eagerly awaiting hands.

'So you think that, all the way through the ages, man may have been misconstruing these extra-terrestrial ancestors for God, angels and so forth?' He had to admit he'd read many ancient accounts that pointed to ET-immortals as the sculptors of life on this planet; the Lofty Ones who glowed with beams of light.

'The question is, who or what created them? And where does Jesus Christ fit into all this? Had he been one of them?'

'That last question has driven scholars nuts throughout the ages, I'm sure. Who am I to say?' Tory wasn't touching that conundrum with a twenty-foot pole. 'But the certain star of which they speak is the binary star Sirius. Which, back in Atlantis, they referred to as Nibiru, meaning Planet of the Crossing. The theory goes that the star, Sirius A, is circled by a very small white dwarf star, Sirius B. But this circling is not an orbit, for they share the same common centre of gravity.'

She circled her two index fingers around each other to demonstrate. 'The two stars constantly revolving around one another have created a vortex in-between, a gateway in and out of a parallel universe, through which the planet, Sirius C, comes and goes into our universe.'

The notion had Noah completely fascinated. 'How is that possible?'

'Reversing a vortex?' Tory shrugged. 'An advanced form of particle manipulation maybe? If these beings can harden the Earth's crust, push back the seas and raise mountains, does inverting a molecular tunnel in deep space seem any less unlikely?'

'Knock, knock.' Ray meandered in through the open door, looking a little uncomfortable about interrupting. 'I was wondering if I might have a private word.' He directed the query at Tory, although aware that this was Noah's abode.

'Sure.' Tory made to rise, but Noah waved her down.

'No, that's okay. I was just thinking we need more tea ... I'll go make us a cup.' He picked up the empties and left them to speak.

Hardly anyone had seen Ray since he'd commenced work on the Goddess; he only paused from the mammoth task to eat or sleep. 'So, to what do I owe this rare visitation ... you haven't hit any snags, have you?'

'No, no, the Goddess is coming along fine.' Ray sat down and rocked backwards and forwards in the chair, undecided as to how he was going to air his concern.

From the look on his face, Tory could tell he wasn't a happy camper. 'I'm sorry, I haven't had a chance ask you how you're liking it here? I've just dumped you down there with a pile of work and -'

'That's not it, Tory.' He wanted to make that perfectly clear. 'This place is heaven for me.'

'Then why the gloomy demeanour?'

'I'm not gloomy!' Ray folded his arms, leant back in his chair, and laughed. 'Not at all.'

'Okay, I give up.' She raised her brows. 'What's wrong then?'

'Nothing's wrong,' he said firmly. 'Not with me, anyway.' Ray's frown returned. 'It's ... your daughter.'

'Rhiannon isn't bothering you, is she?' Tory realised this question could be taken several ways, but her inference was neither here nor there.

'Not as such.' He stared at the floor, meditative a second. 'Look, I know it's not my place to bring this up, but, are you aware of the major crush she has on your son?'

'Huh! Rhiannon and every other young, unattached female here.' But Tory knew Rhun's interests lay elsewhere, so as far as she was concerned it wasn't an issue. 'Sounds to me like you're jealous, Mr Murdock?'

Ray shook his head, disappointed that she could be so predictable. 'I just knew you were going to say that.'

'And I knew you knew, but I said it anyway.' She grinned.

'Well, you're wrong,' he impressed on her, smugly confident that he was right. 'This is more like ... a genuine fatherly concern.'

Tory could almost see him turning green, but for reasons of diplomacy refrained from saying so. 'Look Ray, the way I see it, Rhun and Rhiannon have twenty years of catching up to do. It's only natural that they'd want to spend a lot of time in each other's company ...

Brian and myself were no different after being separated for a long time.'

'Really?'

'You sound surprised?'

Ray gave a nod and then a shrug. 'I was an only child, so I guess I find it hard to relate.' He raised both brows and rose, seemingly set at ease. 'But if you reckon the situation is normal, hey, who am I to argue? After all, you're the girl's mother - right?'

Ray gave a wave, leaving Tory to ponder the reason for his abrupt change of heart.

Poor guy ... she had to smile. Didn't he even realise he was falling in love?

Sunday was still pretty much a day of rest at Watarrka, and as this particular Sunday was Floyd's 50th birthday, 'the gang' hit the booze and dope fairly hard after lunch to help him celebrate.

They retired to Floyd's base in the communications room, and were all suitably intoxicated when Nick started discussing the reasons why he and Floyd had not been able to gain access to private files in Doc Alexander's computer. Somehow they had to get the diplomat's code key.

'I could get the information you need,' Rhiannon boasted. 'Couldn't I?' She put it to her brother, who was the only one who knew the full extent of her psychic talent.

'I'm not so sure that's such a good idea.' Rhun was doubtful. Their mother would freak, yet if anyone could succeed it was Rhiannon.

'I could change my appearance.' She stood to entertain her all-male audience - Tory was down visiting her Aunt Rose, and Naomi was in the lab. 'I could start by, say ... adding ten years.'

To the overwhelming approval of the menfolk, the girl grew into a voluptuous, shapely woman.

Rhiannon accepted their adoration graciously, motioning them to refrain as she wasn't finished. 'And, judging from Mr Alexander's long and esteemed list of lady friends, it is painfully obvious to me that the gentleman prefers blondes.' She turned her back on the enthralled spectators, so they could witness her long, black hair turn golden and kink into wavy curls.

'Whoa ...!'

The men remained moderately hushed as Rhiannon swung her arms wide. 'So now, the eyes are all wrong.

Blue would be more the go, I think.' She turned around to face them once more, batting her new baby blues.

Much riotous acclaim ensued, and compliments were forthcoming from all except Ray.

'What's the matter? Don't you approve?' Rhiannon squatted down in front of Ray to focus on his mind.

What was he supposed to say? Here he'd been steering clear of Rhiannon in order to avoid seeing the likeness of the lovely Annora in the girl. Now here she was before him and it was too much to take.

'I've got shit to do.' He rose to leave.

A silence fell over the room, as everyone tried to figure out his reaction.

In Nick's view, Rhiannon looked drop-dead gorgeous as a blonde. 'Shit, you don't think he's gay, do you?'

'No, I don't think that's the problem.' Rhun saw Sir Bryce's wife in his sister, though he would never have guessed were it not for her game.

'Not a chance.' Rhiannon seconded her brother, smiling broadly, for she had perceived the memories of Atlantis whirling through Ray's head.

'So back to our plan.' Floyd had a query. 'How do you intend to get Doc's code key?

'Telepathy, of course.' Rhiannon was still dwelling on Ray.

'Ah ...' Floyd gained her full attention. 'But you can only do that by touch, so what's to stop him from reading your mind, hey? Stalemate.' He thought it was far too risky. If the Agency found out their location, that would be the game over.

Rhiannon gave half a laugh. ' Not if I no longer need to be touching the subject to know their thoughts.'

'What!' Everyone objected rather loudly, except for Rhun, who found their distress rather amusing.

'That's right.' Rhiannon confirmed to their horror.

She stood up. 'And I want all of you to know, that I think you're nothing but a bunch of dirty old men.' She resumed her true form in order to pursue Ray, leaving the party laughing in her wake.

By the time Rhiannon had reached the cavern of pools, Ray was already hard at work. From beneath the raised belly of the Goddess dangled a jungle of wires, hanging in clusters as they awaited re-direction. Rhiannon made her way between the huge ramps that suspended the vessel while it was in dry dock, to find Ray at the farthest end. He was melting a metal compound onto the tip of his soldering iron and individually joining each wire of a complicated multicore to another huge clump of wires that sprouted from the hull of the bathyscape.

'Can I be of some assistance?' she inquired politely to gain his attention.

Ray paused from his task, though he did not bother raising his eyes. 'Nope. The best thing you can do is leave me be. I need to concentrate.' He put iron to wire and continued his soldering.

This made her smile. 'You, Teo and Brian rave on while you work. You blast music while watching the sport on tele! So, why then, should my company prove such a distraction to you?'

To suppress his annoyance, Ray drew a deep breath and replaced his tool in its stand. 'What do you want, Rhiannon? I'm busy!' He looked at her, finally, and was surprised to find she was still quite cheery, despite his mood.

'I know why you've been avoiding me ever since we got here. I thought it was because you had designs on my mother -'

'That's exactly right.' He stood to interject. 'She can't stay in mourning forever.'

'Oh, man.' Rhiannon felt for him. How could she put this so as not to sound condescending. 'Are you so out of touch with your own emotions?'

'God!' He felt like strangling someone. 'Do not presume to tell me what I feel. Bloody women, they're always doing that.'

'Alright.' Rhiannon allowed that she was out of line by his reckoning. 'Then how about you explain to me where Annora fits in?' Ray went pale and silent, looking as though he'd been betrayed. 'Mother didn't tell me.'

Rhiannon read his mind and dismissed his assumption.

'Don't do that!' His natural impulse was to step back from her, but then Ray realised she'd not been touching him in the first place. 'Oh no!'

'I'm afraid so,' she confessed. 'I'm at a loss to prevent it, even if I wanted to.'

'Well, great!' He threw his arms in the air, not even his thoughts were his own any more. 'I've known some sneaky, underhanded women in my time, but baby ...

you take the cake.'

'Hey.' Rhiannon could feel his rage brewing, and was not yet so accomplished in detachment not to be affected by it. 'At least I'm not lying to myself.'

'No!' He snapped. 'You just lie to everybody else!