Earth. 3rd Planet from the star, Sol, Italy, Rome,

Eighteen Earth Years Ago

Giovana flicked on the light switch, illuminating a pine-paneled office lined with old books and even older paintings. "You still miss digging in the dirt with that damn German, don't you, Emilio?" she asked, observing her husband as he sat at his computer intently watching the Church of the Holy Man's press conference for the twentieth time.

Emilio squinted at his wife and shook his head. "No, tesoro mio...well, sì, a little," he replied, returning his attention to the screens.

"You are a liar, my husband. It is a lot more than a little," Giovana said with a laugh. She could clearly see the man's stern expression from her vantage point in the doorway; the way he stared at his panel of glowing monitors, examining the events playing repeatedly on their screens. She wiped her hands on her apron and turned, speaking over her shoulder, "Well, that is your old life, you chose me over him and his wild adventures, remember? Come along, mi amore, dinner is ready."

"You lucky bastard you, Julius Mannheim, you finally found it," Emilio whispered under his breath. "You found your 'why'."

"Are you coming?" Giovana called from the dining room.

"Va bene!" Emilio replied. He sat up and stretched, turning in his leather office chair to join his wife for supper.

Rrriiinngggg!!! 

Emilio's cellphone clattered on the glossy surface of his desk, the noise halting his journey to the dining room and the waiting warm meal. He contemplated ignoring the annoying device.

Emilio stopped and sighed, then spun back around to see who was bugging him afterhours. The Italian recognized the number on the screen. It was Julius. He slid his finger across the glassy surface of the device and placed it to his ear. "Hello? Julius, my old friend, is that you?"

Static. "Hallo?..." pops and more static. "Can...you...hear me?"

"Barely, what's going on?"

Garbled audio, static, "I...need y...help...don't have...much time."

Giovana walked in, "Are you coming..."

Emilio raised a hand indicating for his wife to wait and pointed to the phone at his ear. "Are those explosions, what is that noise, Julius?"

"...warn you..."Crackling noises and static. "The woman in...pictures...she killed..." Click!

Emilio slowly lifted the phone from his ear and looked at the device. He turned his face to his wife and could tell from her expression that she knew something was wrong.

"What is it, mi amore? Why do you look so frightened?" his wife asked. "What explosions?"

"It was Julius. He sounded fearful and that idiot is never scared. I know there was a lot of noise on the line, but I swear some of it sounded like he was in combat." Emilio shook the idea off. "That was probably his sat-phone and it's kind of noisy, however, I did hear him clearly say, the woman in the pictures killed."

"Who? The one in the photos? In the tomb? She killed somebody?" Giovana asked incredulously.

"I think so. He couldn't possibly be referring to anyone else."

"That's impossible, Emilio. I may only be a tour guide, but she is 160,000 years old, there is no way," Giovana said emphatically. "The woman was obviously mummified very well, I give whoever did that a lot of credit, but she is in no way alive. It's obvious your German friend is drunk again."

"No, he quit drinking after he met Misty and joined the Church of the Holy Man. She told me he had been sober for over a year the last time I spoke with her," the museum curator said, rubbing his graying beard.

"Maybe he fell off the wagon and is celebrating?" she asked.

"No, no, that's not like him. Maybe before..." The man thought a moment longer and ran his hands through his dark, salt and pepper hair, then slapped both of them down on his lap. He looked over at his wife and asked, "What if she is a god, Giovana? Misty and Julius were searching for some sort of convergence point between man and God."

"Or she could be il Diovolo? That might make more sense."

Emilio's skin crawled and his eyes widened as he thought about the words spoken by his wife. "Oh, tesoro mio, I hope you are wrong!"

...

Earth. 3rd Planet from the star, Sol, Africa,

Eighteen Earth Years Ago

"Such a naughty boy, Julius," Elle said waving a finger at the German archaeologist. "Who did you call on your comm just now?"

"Comm? Oh, the sat phone? Um, no one you would be afraid of, Mother," Julius said looking sadly at the shattered remains of his satellite phone. It was his last hope of warning the world what was coming. "...just an old friend."

"Well, my slave, consider me now your best and only friend. Did I not pleasure you well enough last night?" The pregnant redhead inquired. "Well?"

"Yes, you did, I'm sorry for disobeying you," Julius said, lowering his head in fearful, obedient submission. He pointed his eyes beyond his new master. The German observed the smoking remains of dozens of helicopters and other military vehicles littering the desert around the crater that used to be his temple. He then glanced back at the beautiful, extremely evil, and very naked woman that killed Misty and the others.

Elle turned to examine her handiwork. "Do my powers frighten you, Julius?"

"Yes, they do," the man said nervously.

"Don't let them. You, above all, are safe."

"Why? Why me?"

"I have already told you, you remind me of my Jay. Since he is now long dead and thankfully that fucking body-stealing Wendy as well, I have no one in this goddamned world and this place, it gives me urges...powerful urges." Elle closed her eyes. "It's practically torture." The green-eyed woman turned to face her frightened servant, pointing a finger at him and then her body. "Just keep these demons at bay like you did last night and I will give you pleasure beyond imagination."

Julius' curiosity was peaked. "Who are Jay and Wendy? Are they gods like you?"

Elle crossed her arms, a smile slowly widening across her lips until she began to laugh, "Wendy Bouri a god? Give me a break. That bionic bitch, she was nothing more than a hologram in this machine just like all of you creatures..." The Arcturan stopped laughing. "...and now me I suppose." She placed her hands on her hips contemplating the revelation. "That fucking artificial intelligence machine she built did this to all of us," Elle growled.

Julius heard thunder rumble in the distance. It was such an odd sound to hear in the desert and only made the oddity of his peculiar situation even stranger. "What do you mean, we are holograms?"

The answer never came, interrupted by the sound of another aircraft approaching.

Julius could clearly see a United States flag marked on the fuselage of the craft as it passed over their heads. He was actually surprised to see the Americans so late to the party, unless it was intentional.

Elle lifted her hand to destroy the annoying machine.

"Wait, don't kill them!" the German shouted, grabbing her arm.

The Arcturan turned and sneered angrily at the man.

The German immediately released the frightening woman, and darted his eyes to the ground. "Um, sorry, Mother. Please just listen to me for a moment."

"Very well, I am listening."

"Do you want to just stay here in this desert forever?" Julius asked, hoping he might be giving whoever this was an opportunity to kill the bitch that murdered his Misty. Maybe this could be his chance to escape from this maniacal killer?

"What do you mean?"

"The people in that helicopter, they come from the most powerful country on Earth," the archaeologist replied.

"So, they are an advanced society?"

"Yes."

Elle slowly returned her attention to the descending craft. "Hmmm, I suppose you are right. Maybe I have eradicated enough of your digital filth for now."

"Tell me what is it you want, Mother. I can go tell them...talk to them for you. Be your representative!" He was growing desperate. Julius held his breath hoping he could warn these poor men what they were dealing with and readied himself to run down toward the helicopter.

"Wait!"

Julius froze.

"I am not thoroughly convinced I can trust you yet, human. We will both go together."

"Yes, Mother."

"Know this slave, if you try anything I will destroy all of you," Elle said. "I am in no mood for games."

Julius nodded, "I understand."

The Arcturan lightly presented her hand to Julius and he led her down the rocky hill toward the sandy cloud generated by the beating propellers of a Sikorsky Black Hawk helicopter. The German released the woman's hand and raised both of his as the whirling dust cleared. He could see through the billowing dirt and undulating heat rising from the surface of the desert, two M-60 machine guns focused on him and Elle. "Wait! Don't shoot!" Julius shouted excitedly, his very clear German accent injected into each word.

Wolf-whistles emanated from inside the aircraft as the naked Arcturan came closer. A man wearing aviator sunglasses and a mismatch of urban and military clothing silenced them quickly, "Shut the fuck up you dumbass hillbillies! That woman you are catcalling could kill every motherfucking one of us with the wave of her hand! Look around for fuck's sake!" He hopped out of the open door of the machine and turned his attention to Elle and Julius. "Stop right there!" he commanded.

Julius did as told, Elle did not.

"And who might you be, human?" Elle asked curiously. She tilted her head waiting for a reply and continued approaching the Black Hawk. "Are you from the, what did my slave say? Ah yes, the United States?"

"Yes ma'am that would be us. Please don't come any closer! We can talk from right here," said the man, his arrogant demeanor dissipating. He lifted his left hand and the two gunners on the Sikorsky pulled the cocking handles on their M-60's back in tandem.

Elle continued to advance. She lifted her right hand and drawing on the invisible power of the Sub-System yanked the two gunners from the interior of the helicopter and tossed them like ragdolls into the rocks behind her. Their helmets smacked loudly against the hard surface, no protection from the sudden, violent impact. The two lifeless bodies slid slowly down the loose sandstone and rested on a red sandy outcropping.

"Wait! Wait! Okay, I'm sorry!" cried the very frightened man now backed against the fuselage of the helicopter, his self-assuredness completely gone. "I-I-I'm Gary Schmidt with the Central Intelligence Agency! I just want to talk!"

Elle was now standing only a couple of meters from the quaking human. "Talk then, Gary Schmidt," she commanded softly, no longer approaching the aircraft. She crossed her arms and rested them on her pregnant belly, the action lifting her large exposed breasts.

The man swallowed attempting to keep his eyes focused on the woman's face. "My superiors, especially the President of the United States, would like to know what your intentions are. I can clearly see you are very powerful and..."

Elle raised a hand to stop the man. "Filthy beast, do not question me like I am some servant of yours. I knew your kind when they were nothing more than animals and from what I can tell, not much has changed, with the exception of your prettier features..." Elle looked at Julius. "And your advancements in technology. If there is anything I am interested in, it is that."

"Why?" Gary asked.

Elle looked up into the sky and shouted, "I want to kill the thing that made your universe and trapped me in it!" Her outburst created dark clouds and thunder from virtually nowhere and they blotted out the hot African sun.

Gary flinched and observed the carnage surrounding him. He could clearly see this strange goddess with all of her powers was obviously insane and that he and the rest of the world were in a lot of trouble if he could not find some sort of common ground with her. "What is your name?" the CIA agent asked attempting to stay calm.

"Mother," injected Julius, now standing obediently beside Elle.

"Mother?"

"Yes, Gary. I wish to speak with your Chancellor," the Arcturan ordered.

"I can't do that, ma'am."

Elle lifted her hand and Gary slowly floated from the ground clutching at his neck.

He gasped.

"I said, take me to your Chancellor!" Elle repeated through clinched teeth.

"Okay," he said, struggling against the invisible grip on his throat.

The Arcturan released the man and he fell to his knees in front of her. He bent over with his hands before him, drew in a lung-full of warm African air, and coughed.

"Mother?"

"Yes, Julius?"

"We should get you some clothes first."