Rhun had arrived by this time, and noticing his mother's excitement he was curious. 'What is it?'

She gasped, too overwhelmed to speak right away.

'It's him.' She shoved the binoculars in her son's hand and took off toward the horizon as fast as her legs would carry her.

'Damn it, Tory,' Brian pursued her, again angered by her lack of caution. 'You don't know that for sure.'

'Yes I do!' she insisted, picking up speed to escape her brother. This attempt proved useless, and he tackled her to the ground moments later.

'Let me go.' She fought him off.

'Please, Tory, listen! You've waited an eternity for him to return, I know, but a few more minutes isn't going to kill you.'

Tory gave up her struggle, cursing Brian's good sense even though she knew he was right.

Rhun caught up to them before the eleven darkly-clad figures advancing across the plain got too close.

Eight of the eleven were females, and having feasted his eyes already, Rhun passed the binoculars to his uncle.

'Take a look,' he prompted, with a devilish grin.

Brian discarded the glasses after only a moment's use. 'Naomi.' He'd spotted his love and was off across the dry, grassy plain to greet her.

'I guess that means it's safe now.' Tory commented sarcastically, rolling her eyes as she and Rhun pressed on.

The sun was higher in the sky now, and visibility was better. As Tory neared the line of advancing people, only some of whom she recognised, Maelgwn's dominating form stood out a mile.

'Tory!' he called to her, breaking into a run.

Just when she thought she could move no faster, the sound of his voice nearly caused her to fly. The next thing she knew, Tory was wrapped up in Maelgwn's arms mumbling his name over and over.

'I must be dreaming.'

'This is no dream,' he assured, giving her a kiss that was long overdue.

'Do you two need a private room or something?'

One of Maelgwn's male associates jeered, coming to a stop beside them.

'Yes, please,' they both replied, parting for breath.

Then Tory realised it was Sir Rhys who addressed them, or rather, his perfect incarnation, Sir Robin of Loxley.

'Well, if you'll kindly tell me where I might find my other half,' Robin said, 'I'll gladly leave you to it.'

'I suppose we should help him out?' Maelgwn looked down upon his love, his smile as broad as could be.

'But what of your transport?' Tory quizzed. 'The Air Force is going to be combing this place before long. In fact, I'm surprised they're not here already.'

'They won't find anything, bar a few holes in the ground. I have my vehicle right here.' Maelgwn gestured to the rather complex-looking module he wore around his left wrist. Then, noting Tory's concern, he laughed. 'I haven't gone mad,' he assured her, as they began to walk after the others. 'Let us collect Nin Bau, and I shall demonstrate for you.'

'What do you want with Rose?' Tory wondered, jealous already.

'It is not I who wants her, but the Lord Marduk. It is my charge to collect her and take her to him.'

'And where might he be?'

'He's back at base,' Maelgwn announced casually. 'I thought that after we drop Nin Bau off, you might like to come back to my place ... or is that being a bit presumptuous for a first date.'

'Hardly,' Tory quickly replied, thrilled at the prospect of going anywhere with him.

At the massive reunion, many inhabitants of Watarrka recognised their other half immediately, due to the dreams or past-life experiences they'd had during their time in exile. Others experienced an instant affinity with a total stranger.

Naomi's 'Chosen' incarnation looked more like her Atlantean self: dark eyes, long, dark curls and an olive complexion. She was the Middle Eastern Queen, Candace of Shamar, a wise and benevolent ruler who had been a contemporary of Alexander the Great. Even with his blond hair and blue eyes, she recognised Brian as the great warrior who had stolen her heart back in the third century BC, when he'd saved the life of her son. Brian found it hard to accept her claim that he was once the legendary King of Macedonia, for he had met Alexander's daughter, Neraida, and she had not seemed to identify him as her father.

'You did not part on the best of terms,' Candace told him. 'In fact, you banished her in a fit of rage when her lover, your cook, found the water of life you were seeking and gave it to Neraida instead. To punish her lover, Andreas, you tied a millstone around his neck and had him flung into the sea.'

'Oh,' Brian said, feeling a little guilty. 'Then I shall apologise.'

'That won't be necessary, because Andreas has been returned to her this day in the form of his perfect incarnation, King Cadwell of Gwynedd.'

They couldn't help but marvel at how intricately interwoven their lives had been throughout history. In one way or another, they had all assisted each other to greatness at some time; souls threading their way through the fabric of time until their turn for greatness came. Brian found it hard to believe that the Gods would choose his present incarnation over that of Alexander the Great. But when Candace pointed out how ruthless the great ruler had been when it came to achieving his desires, Brian began to understand why he might have been the preferred choice.

Daniel finally met the beautiful redhead of his dreams, whom he was bowled over to discover was the great Queen Cleopatra, who at once recognised him as her beloved, Mark Antony. As it turned out the classic film image of the great Queen was all wrong, for she was not an Egyptian, but a Greek.

The one woman amongst the newcomers whom Tory would have initially pegged as Cleopatra turned out to be Queen Hatshepsut, the first female to rule Egypt, in the year 1665 BC. She and Cadfan stood regarding each other fondly, as he knew her to be his beloved wife and Queen who had died giving birth to their son, Cadwallon.

Nicholas was completely unaware of who he was supposed to be looking for. Yet he had no complaints when the woman whose face had launched a thousand ships stepped forward to introduce herself as Helen of Sparta. Paris, she called him, the Trojan prince who had risked everything to have her.

As there were only three women among the ranks of those inhabiting Watarrka - Jenny, Rose and Tory who were all spoken for - Tory was wondering who the other male in Maelgwn's party had come in search of.

'We call him Season. His real name is hell to pronounce,' Maelgwn whispered to Tory confidentially.

'He ruled for a time in Memphis, around 3000 BC, and was hailed as a great and wise Pharaoh until he refused to marry, having fallen in love with another man. This so outraged the Gods of Enlil's flock, that they forced Season to witness the brutal murder of his lover before being stripped of his title and place in history. He was then banished into the desert to die like a dog. Your great-grandfather, Enki, seeing Season for the great and honest man he was, selected him as one of the Chosen, and promised him that there would come a time when his homosexuality would not be frowned upon.'

Tory realised that Season had come to claim Patrick, who was both excited and relieved to find his perfect other half was a male and not a female, as Patrick had feared.

Floyd found his Boadicea, and Rhun was reunited with Brigit's perfect incarnation, Sybil, the prophetess of Atlantis. Thais and his love recognised each other immediately, despite the fact that they were both in human form. She was a centaur, as was he, named Hero, whom Thais had not seen in over six thousand years.

The last member of Maelgwn's party was a beautiful Indian squaw. 'John ...' she approached Noah shyly, 'it is I, Pocahontas, though you used to call me Rebecca.

Do you remember?'

'I do,' he lied, so captivated by her beauty that he could not bring himself to disappoint her. I must have been John Rolfe once, he surmised on the quiet; Noah had recalled many of his past lives, but this had not been one of them.

Rebecca caught his mind, however, and thought his lie a sweet one. 'I remember every second of our time together. I could tell you about it, if you like.'

'I like,' he assured her, and they walked away to talk in private.

'Well,' concluded Maelgwn. 'I don't think that we'll be missed here this evening. Shall we away?'

'Please,' urged Rose, eager to join her lover in the heavens.

'So be it, then.' Maelgwn raised his left arm, aiming the module he wore at the pool before him, then clamped his right hand over the top and uttered the words: 'AN-ME-A-DU.'

The language he spoke was Atlantean, thus Tory understood the instruction to mean: Heavens Flying ship Water Initiate. And from what happened next, she knew her translation to be correct.

A blue beam shot forth from the module and formed into a bright ball of light several feet away. Once the beam was spent, the ball of light expanded and began to assume a physical form.

'Oh, my lord,' Tory mumbled, as a large disk-shaped object, made of the strange black metal she had come to associate with Nefilim construction, took form. It was not a perfect disk shape, however, as two opposing sides of the craft curved slightly down and under.

'Wow.' Rhun was mind-blown. 'Total particle manipulation.'

'And this is only one of the various forms these craft can assume,' Maelgwn advised his son, 'depending upon the conditions one is dealing with.'

'What's the power source?' Rhun circled around the edge of the pool of water to view the ship from another angle.

'Simple crystal-generated energy blasters to get it airborne, then what you might know as an A-frame propulsion system kicks in.'

'Never heard of it.' Rhun pleaded ignorance.

'It's a form of magnetic propulsion, whereby magnetic rings are shot forth from of the front of the vessel. The ship, being made of a highly conductive metal, is pulled into the magnetic field. As the vessel moves forward, the magnetic energy is sucked back into the rear and recycled.'

'Incredible.' Rhun shook his head in amazement.

'What's the maximum speed?'

'Ah, I knew that would be the next question.'

Maelgwn grinned. 'By your terms of measurement, about nine-hundred thousand kilometres a second, in free space.'

Rhun's eyes parted wide. 'But that's over three times the speed of light - nearly a parsec per second!'

'Very good. I'm glad to see they're teaching something down here. Ladies,' Maelgwn motioned Tory and Rose into the vessel, as a hatch on the side raised itself to grant entry.

The long, slender, inner body of the craft was designed to accommodate eight people, including the pilot and co-pilot. But the cockpit was not a mass of switches, buttons and flashing lights as were modern, Earth spacecraft. A large, round telekinetic plate was positioned beside the joystick that steered the craft, along with a couple of round plates that Tory assumed were screens for communication and tracking.

When Rose was comfortably strapped in, Maelgwn invited Tory to sit beside him in the co-pilot's seat.

'Word has it you've become a pretty good pilot yourself?'

Tory shrugged modestly, as this craft could hardly be compared to the archaic equipment she was used to operating.

'We'll have to get you onto a simulator,' Maelgwn suggested. 'I'm sure you'd be able to operate one of these with your eyes closed.'

As Tory planted her butt in the co-pilot's seat, the safety harness startled her by automatically locking her in. 'I don't think so,' she said warily.

'It's easier than it looks.' He grinned, settling into his seat. 'If you can think, you can fly.' Maelgwn placed his hand on the telekinetic control panel and, as the thrusters lifted them above the surface of the water, he guided them towards the opening in the roof of the cavern.

Rhun made a dash around the pools to the far end of the cavern to watch the craft depart. The rounded flanks of the transport folded underneath it to form a long cigar-shaped object. The thrusters cut out as the vessel was catapulted forward, and was gone in the blink of an eye.

'Hey,' Sybil called to Rhun. 'If that's what it takes to get your attention ...' She held up her arm, exposing the craft module on her wrist.

'What a woman.' He smiled gleefully, making his way back to her.

Their craft was out beyond the stratosphere of Earth before Tory had fully realised they'd even taken off.

There was no evidence of the massive forward thrust that was a feature of existing twenty-first century spacecraft.

Tory could have been sipping a cup of tea during their ascent and not have spilt a single drop. There was no loss of gravity, either, and their flight was completely silent.

'Tell me ...' she had a thought. 'Couldn't we have simply willed ourselves to your base craft?'

'Sure,' Maelgwn conceded, 'but this is more fun, and I get to show off.' He kept well clear of the space stations and satellites that were orbiting the planet.

'Cadwaladr's been busy, I see.'

'Oh, you bet he has,' Tory confirmed. 'But I'd say all the phenomena you've manifested over the past twenty-four hours has got him worried.'

'Don't count on it,' Maelgwn scoffed. 'He knows Shamash is on his way, although from our calculations we're maybe a week ahead of his fleet. A good thing, too, as it buys us some time.'

'Some time for what?'

'Oh no.' He avoided answering. 'That's business, and business can wait until tomorrow, hey?'

'Agreed.' Tory was all for that. Her gaze shifted back to the front window and she noted that they seemed to be heading for the wormhole. 'You're not taking us in there?'

'No, no.'

'Then where? I can't see any vessels out here.

Certainly nothing big enough to be a space station.'

Maelgwn found her guesswork somewhat amusing.

'Do you think we'd leave the ATEN sitting out in the open for all to see?' ATEN translated into 'imperishable star' - Tory recognised the word from ancient Sumerian texts. 'Cloaking device?' she assumed.

'Correct.' Maelgwn placed his hand on the telekinetic control panel, whereby a headset lowered from the roof to encompass his eyes and forehead.

Dragon One requesting permission to dock, landing code, CX 509.

Permission granted, Dragon One. Please proceed to Docking Bay Seven.

A ripple penetrated the space before them, and was seen to rip a hole in the fabric of the universe. As their craft proceeded through the illuminated tear, the massive body of the ATEN suddenly appeared before them.

'Holy shit.' Tory had not expected their destination to appear so large, so quickly.

'Relax. This is home,' Maelgwn advised. The headset retreated back into the roof from whence it came. He guided their craft around the huge bulk of the ATEN and into a long, circular tunnel that became smaller and smaller until the craft finally docked comfortably within its circumference.