Ekron

Saturn - 3

Maria had her own problems at her lab in the lower forbidden levels of Kish. Since Carmina's body was implemented as primary source of sustenance for the Macsks, permanently tied to an armchair, with wires and hoses coming out of what was left of her brain, a growing distance between she and her cats manifested. In the first twenty years of this situation, the Macsks grew to reach five feet of height and could walk on the streets of Kish dressed like normal people.

Astarte wore makeup to hide her light blue skin, only a little on her face, neck, and hands, as her skin was almost white, with just a shade of blue. She had no fur left in her body, only the dark-blue mane on her head that kept growing to reach her waist and had acquired curls. Her factions were changing towards an exotic, middle eastern beauty. The five stars in her eyes had almost faded, leaving a black sclera in which a subtle cat pupil began to appear again.

Trimurti had started to use a turban that he garnished with pearls and gems, under which he hid a long black mane. He had also lost all other fur on his body. Similar changes affected all thirty-five members of the Macsk pack that stayed with Maria in Kish. Irkalla kept the same form that he had when he first traveled to Dobruj, meaning that he still looked like a big blue tarsier with horns. He fed mostly from his goat's blood and occasional polychaetae, in the dark forests of Qatra.

Maria became afraid of her "cats", they had transformed into transcendental entities that read her every thought and had to descend to her level to communicate with her.

Astarte was examining schematics from notes left by Maria's mother, about a laser cannon. She showed them to María and asked, "Did your mother ever build this?"

"Yes, when I was a child."

"Did it explode?"

"Yes, I think it was intended to; its explosive power was well documented way before my mother's time. That kind of weapon was developed at the beginning of the Annihilation War on a bigger scale. The original weapon supposedly overheated and caused the first atomic explosion in..."

"Prague."

"Right."

"I think that, if we redirect the backwards flow into a force field, it may avoid overheating and provide a protection layer."

Maria looked at the draw and did not understand how the force field could be stabilized in front of the cannon. Astarte was staring at her, probably reading her mind.

"Astarte, have you ever thought of blinding me, or disabling me in any way?"

"No, never, I love you too much," and kissed her in the cheek.

"I will implement a small compartment of the lab as my personal workroom, I will keep it under lock, I beg you to respect my privacy while I am in there, and you should not enter it while I am not. I will not use it to undermine you in any way."

"I know, is just sad that things must go that way, but I understand your fear, even when I know is unfounded, after all, we can't blind cat eyes."

"Can't you?"

"Of course not, they are too similar to our original eyes."

That said, Astarte waited some moments, allowing Maria to digest her words and be able to concentrate in something else, then added, "Achish has moved to Sibara, to Llacme's castle."

"He may be working for Anubis, but to what purpose?"

"Probably to find a way to neutralize us and gain full control of the cave in Dobruj."

"We must install a portal there, as wide as we can and have another one here at the lab. We will need to build ships down here."

"I see, it would be easier to escape from there than from here, in case necessary."

"I think he is planning to destroy Earth, after all."

They placed the portals and built two ships in the lower forbidden levels of Kish; a big one, enough to carry everything important in Maria's lab, and a small one, enough for a task force.

The next twenty years Maria spent and increasing amount of time alone in her workroom. The Macsks gained further skills as they fed constantly on Carmina's blood, such as a mild telekinetic ability. The Crom Queen proved to have a regenerative power superior to Theresa's, as her spiritual nature was exploited to replace her cells almost immediately. The gap between Maria and her cats became an abyss and Astarte understood mournfully that the time to follow separated paths was closer than she would have desired.