Titans of Chaos

And, bloody hell, I was the heroine here, wasn't I? The human race, all those planets, the sun andmoon and stars, time and space-all the beautiful things Archer talked about-it was not going to bewiped out because of me. Not while I was leader. Not on my watch. No sir. No.

Thrinax: Phaethusa's silence passes verdict on the world of Saturn. Arrest theThousand-Dimensional Object! I see countless strands of ethical and entropic energy stream frommy garments into the blank spot of Saturn's dead world, but one returns bright as silver,untarnished. Phaethusa would forgive her slayers. She was raised as human, thinks as a human,and yet she reached the conclusion Helios foresaw, even in a world where moral facts cannot beseen, only imagined. The universe is proved. Spare it.

A new voice spoke, a feminine voice, but not human-sounding, as if a harp of fine crystal wereplaying: Lampetia, save for Phaethusa, youngest daughter of the Bright One, addresses mybrothers. In my glass I see the universe of Saturn is now within our debt, and by the foolish rulesthat Cosmos uses, this means Captain Thrinax wins another victory, to us instantaneous, even if,to her, many weary aeons of suffering must pass.

Indeed, the weapon of light, stronger than any weapons of the material world: a weapon not in hishand, but in a girl's heart. The mercy of bright Phaethusa is mightier than the Scythe of Time,more far-reaching than the Thunderbolt of Jove.

I admit I was wondering what good this would do me, when a second woman's voice, this onesounding much more lively, and more human, spoke. Sister, I am Circe, Enchantress, daughter ofHelios the Bright and lovely Neaera the Dark of the Moon. I alone of our folk have dwelt for atime within Saturn's realm, and studied its lore. The tiniest part of the debt the Cosmos now owesyou I use to transform you to a new shape.

All transformations are by knowledge: Knowledge changes you into something other than youare. For this purpose you were incarnated. Receive now the secret of how to escape the Olympianpower of destiny control...

At that same moment, a hurried group of messages passed back and forth between Leucosia andParthenope. They screamed.

One was a shriek of fear. "She must be slain before she drinks this knowledge!"

But the other was a victory scream. 'Too late! They are too late! Phaethusa dies this moment! Themaenads are here!"