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James Axler - Outlanders - Devil in the Moon
Di-rectorate existed only as an appellation and a myth created by the predark
government agencies as a con-trol mechanism. Lakesh referred to it as the Oz
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Effect, wherein a single vulnerable entity created the illusion of being the
representative of an all-powerful body.
Balam himself may have even coined the term Ar-chon to describe his people. In
ancient Gnostic texts, archon was applied to a parahuman world-governing force
that imprisoned the divine spark in human souls. Kane had often wondered over
the past few months if Balam had indeed created that appellation as a cryptic
code to warn future generations.
Even more shocking was Balam's assertion that he and his ancient folk were of
human stock, not alien but alienated. They still didn't know how much to
believe. But if nothing else, none of the Cerberus per-sonnel any longer
subscribed to the fatalistic belief that the human race had had its day and
only extinc-tion lay ahead. Balam had indicated that wasn't true, but was only
another control mechanism.
Though the myth had been exposed, the barons, the half-human hybrids spawned
from Balam's DNA, still ruled. Although each of the fortress-cities with its
in-dividual, allegedly immortal god-king was supposed to be interdependent,
the baronies still operated on insular principles. Cooperation among them was
grudging despite their shared goal of a unified world. They perceived humanity
in general as either servants or as living storage vessels for transplanted
organs and fresh genetic material.
The barons were not in favor of Baron Cobalt's proposal to be recognized as
the imperator. However, they really didn't have much of a choice Cobalt had
arranged matters that way. After the destruction of the
Archuleta Mesa medical facilities, the barons were left without access to the
ectogenesis techniques of fetal development outside the womb. Not only was the
baronial oligarchy in danger of extinction, but so was the entire hybrid race.
Baron Cobalt occupied Area 51 with the spoken assumption of taking
responsibility to sustain his race but only if he was elevated to a position
of high authority, even above his brother barons. It wasn't a matter of making
an incursion into another baron's territory, as most of Nevada was not part of
an official baronial territory.
Since Area 51's history was intertwined with ru-mors of alien involvement,
Baron Cobalt had used its medical facilities as a substitute for those
destroyed in New Mexico. Of course, he couldn't be sure if the aliens referred
to by the predark conspiracy theorists were the Archons, but more than likely
they were, inasmuch as the equipment that still existed was al-ready designed
to be compatible with the hybrid me-tabolisms.
In any event, Baron Cobalt reactivated the instal-lation, turning it into a
processing and treatment cen-ter without having to rebuild from scratch, and
trans-ferred the human and hybrid personnel from the Dulce facility those who
had survived the destruc-tion there, at any rate.
However, the medical treatments that addressed the congenital autoimmune
system deficiencies of the hy-brids weren't enough to insure the continued
survival of the race. The necessary equipment and raw mate-rial to implement
procreation had yet to be installed. Baron Cobalt had unilaterally decided
that the con-ventional means of conception was the only option to keep the
hybrid race alive.
Because of those metabolic deficiencies, the barons lived insulated, isolated
lives. The theatrical trappings many of them adopted not only added to their
semi-divine mystique, but also protected them from con-tamination both
psychological and physical.
Although all the hybrids were extremely long-lived, cellular and metabolic
deterioration was part and parcel of what they were hybrids of human and
Archon DNA. Just like the caste system in place in the villes, the hybrids
observed similar distinctions of rank.
The hybrids, at least by their way of thinking, rep-resented the final phase
of human evolution. They
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James Axler - Outlanders - Devil in the Moon created wholesale, planned
alterations in living organ-isms and were empowered to control both their
en-vironment and the evolution of other species. And the barons were the
pinnacle of that evolutionary achieve-ment, as high above ordinary hybrids as
those hybrids were above mere humans.
When Baron Cobalt dangled the medical treatments before his fellow barons like
a carrot on a stick, war was the inevitable result particularly after Sam,
sup-ported by none other than Balam, hijacked not only
Cobalt's plan but also the title of imperator.
Bry returned to the operations center, holding the interphaser between two
hands. He walked carefully, as if the machine were made of spun sugar and
cob-webs. Lakesh was irritated by the exaggerated caution the man displayed.
Acidly, he said, "It's not a Fa-berge egg, Mr. Bry. No need to handle it like
one."
Kane and Grant swapped grins. Lakesh caught the exchange and demanded, "Is
there a joke I'm miss-ing?"
Kane stared into Lakesh's bright blue gaze, but the man never flinched. He
still hadn't grown accustomed to dealing with a robust relatively
speaking La-kesh whose eyes weren't covered by thick lenses and whose voice no
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