It had been three months since the appearance of The Box, and even with the best reverse engineering teams available, they had yet to even be able to penetrate the outer surface. It was just too hard. At one point, however, on the Vernal Equinox, it had gone nuts. Rocketing to the ceiling, and bouncing off every wall. Basically, nobody on Earth knew anything about it. Nobody, that is, except Della Rush. Her real name was Netii, but that would have betrayed her identity, which was not a good thing for a rogue Adept. She was an Atlantean, and though she did not know what it did, she knew where it came from. There was only one place it could come from, and that was Atlantis. But right now her problem was the man in front of her who, despite her best efforts, wouldn't believe that she was a specialist in technological anomalies.
"Sir, I told you, my name is Dr. Della Rush, and I'm here as a contractor to aid in research on The Box!"
"Yeah, and I told you, I'm the Queen of Sheba. Now go home."
She was becoming irritated. Of course, she could just will herself into the room, but she'd get arrested, and be in even worse a position than before. Although... if she were to suspend the local reality, that might work. She turned, dropping the lab coat, revealing her Adepts tunic, and reached out for the Bond, the true source of an Adepts power. The bond was the basic unit of reality that bound every particle, from quarks to the Higgs Boson to every other particle in the polyverse.
With little more than a thought, she was invisible to all of the cameras in the corridor and the guard was frozen in place. She simply walked through the closed bulkhead. Once on the other side, she dropped back into her natural state of being.
* * *
Dr. Nanette Langly stared at The Box, then looked down at her instruments. Shaking her head she chuckled to herself. She had Ph.D's in everything from microbiology, to quantum mechanics, and even a degree from UC Berkley in music composition. She played guitar. But none of it was helping her now.
"Magnificent, isn't it?"
Nanette jumped, and almost wet herself. She had been alone in the room. She turned to see who had spoken, only to be greeted by a woman with platinum blond hair falling over her shoulders, and wearing a tunic that looked like it belonged at ComiCon. "Who are you?"
"My name is Netii. I understand you are having trouble with this object?"
Nanette stared blankly at the woman who could not have been more than nineteen. "Yes, I admit, I am completely baffled."
"That is because this is an artifact of the abstract. It is not actually present in the room, what we are seeing is a transdimensional shadow of the actual object."
"Ok, lets pretend that doesn't violate the laws of physics, which by the way, it does, what you're saying is nobody can do anything to it?"
"No, that's not what I said. The only way to do anything to it is to bring it into this dimension."
"Should I put on some 3D glasses?"
The woman chuckled, "No. Here, let me help you."
The woman, Netii, extended her arm, palm up and light began to pulse in the upturned hand, then it started changing color. First blue, then progressing through the rainbow, speeding up as it went. When the colors were changing so fast that the light appeared white, a beam flashed out and connected with The Box. The artifact began to pulse with light, then lifted off of the platform it was on, and started to spin like a gyroscope. What happened next amazed both the doctor and the Adept. The Box shot straight up, and punched through the ceiling.
"That was... unexpected" Netii said as the blood rushed from her face.
"You're an Alien! Holy Crap! You're a real life ALIEN!"
"No, I'm an Atlantean, and I am sorry."
"For what? That was amaz- wait, like Atlantis Atlantean, like the LOST CITY OF ATLANTIS?"
"For what's coming, and yes, that Atlantis."
"Ok, that worries me a little bit." Nanette swallowed hard "What's coming?"
"War."
"Oh."
* * *
"Sire! The Tilom Matrix is sending the attack signal!" Meuss rushed into Daetus's chamber.
"I have sensed it, thank you young one." Daetus said looking his pupil in the eye. "Make ready the troops. You shall go to war with me."
"Thank you Sire, I am honored, but do you really think me ready for war?"
"Meuss, you are my most gifted student, and even though you have not yet completed your training, you are more powerful than many of the full Adepts. You will learn as you fight."
"Yes, Sire."
Netii had called the other Earth-bound Adepts into a council. All in all, they were six. They were on the planet because their parents had deserted during the Trojan War. Their parents had decided that the Order had become too corrupt, too hateful. They had sworn that as long as there were Adepts on Earth, they would defend it.
"The attack will be lead by members of the Chosen. Can we defend against that?" Atrea, one of the younger Adepts of the Exiled asked.
"Pitu, have you any insight into this matter?" Netii asked. Pitu was her brother, she had passed his level of connection to the Bond many years ago, but he had the gift of foresight, which she did not.
"I have seen nothing of these things, as of late the future has become... confused... blurred..." Pitu said, his head in his hands. His gift plagued him with almost constant migraines.
"Lord Naemus, have you any thoughts?"
"Only this morning I had a vision. I saw little, trees mostly, but in the distance I could hear drums. Drums of war, drums of death."
"That's not very reassuring." A timid voice from the far side of the room said. It was Pitae, at a tender hundred and fifteen, she was the youngest of the Order in Exile. She had great potential, but was unsure of herself.
Netii look at the girl, "There is often very little assurance in war."
Naemus snorted. "There is no assurance in war my child. Only courage."
"None the less, we are honor bound to defend this planet. Even if it means certain death." Pitu said, rising to his feet, and leaning on the table. "We will need an army if we are to do so. I will contact the governments of the world powers. The coming days will be dark indeed."
