Chapter 2: The Plans of the Intelligencia

[veritas]

Alton's mouth opens, his face twisted momentarily in surprise or possibly anger before hesitating and, finally, relaxing again. With the appearance of serenity replacing the previous agitation, Alton nods to King Bal.

"Yes, my king. I believe you are right."

[Trogdor]

"Thank you for your consideration, your majesty," Orion says with a bow. Then he turns to the councils other questions.

"I can offer no guarantee of my word," he starts. "And I can understand if you wish to be careful about listening to my words. All I ask at this point is that you listen to my words and look into them. In time, I hope that you'll come to believe me."

"I have only my own word that I don't work for the A'Qal. But if you're concerned about me seeing your archives, then your man Alton Zet can do the research and I can be kept isolated from them."

"I have not contacted the surface dwellers yet. I came here first since you were the most advanced civilization on the planet. I would welcome your advice on how to approach the surface dwellers, since they are at as much risk as you are."

"I'm afraid my ship is not large enough to evacuate your entire city. I'll be happy to bring one of you, perhaps Alton Zet, to see the ship. In fact, that might be useful for transferring information to him."

[veritas]

Alton looks much older at the mention of the surface dwellers, tired in a way that someone of his young appearance should not be.

"Approaching the surfacers will likely be problematic, Orion. Recently there has been an evolutionary split in their DNA causing the offshoots to develop mostly beneficial, if occasionally dangerous, mutations. As a result, the surface of our planet has become embroiled in a war that affects us all, even we Atlantians.

"I would be surprised and humbled if you could get them to cease their fighting and unite against the A'Qal, though it would certainly be a boon to all involved."

[Trogdor]

"Might these mutations give them the power to fight the A'Qan?" Orion asks. "Even a benighted race will unify to defend itself, unless it's gone truly mad."

[veritas]

"They have significant power which would no doubt be of great help, but there are very few of them compared to the others. Most of the time they have their hands full simply surviving the onslaught of the unmutated surfacers."

[Trogdor]

Orion nods. "Well, we shall have to do the best we can with the resources available to us. Hopefully it will be enough."

[veritas]

"Hmm, I just had an idea. In the previously mentioned investigation, we uncovered evidence of a secretive group calling themselves the Intelligencia. The group consists of Humans (the unmutated surfacers), Mutants, and Atlantians. We do not know their goals, nor have we made contact with them to my knowledge, but that may be a starting point.

"They would likely have greater resources, considering their success in staying hidden, and perhaps a few ideas as to how to unite the rest of the surfacers."

[Shurijo]

King Opar Bal glances over at Alton but doesn't interrupt Alton's conversation. The recently gained information concerning the supposed elite cadre of geniuses that shape surface political and military events in their favor is new information to the Atlantians and few, other than the King and Alton and those investigating the matters know of such group.

Quickly seizing on this and hoping to avoid further inquiries by the council, the king changes topics, "Then it is settle. Alton will work with the visitor to search the archives." The king turns and looks at Alton, "And continue their research to wherever it might lead them."

He purposes doesn't bring up the topic of the Intelligencia since it's just a rumor as of now and it's likely that the council might make matters worse by starting their own investigation on top of the current one lead by the Atlantian Security and Defense Forces.

After the council grumbles a bit amongst themselves, they nod and state. "Alton Zet you will provide an escort to the visitor as we vote on permitting you access to the archives. It may be wise to interview the few mutants who have been granted refugee here to get a better feel for surface tensions and politics."

And with that the meeting is adjourned. The King stands and walks over to Alton patting him on the shoulder, whispering to him he says, "Stay sharp. I too believe that is the best lead. Perhaps they are both connected in some way."

He and his entourage depart the room and the civic council members are filing out. Still standing alone in the open area of the chamber stands the visitor, Orion.

[veritas]

Alton nods to the king as he leaves before approaching Orion:

"It would appear that we are left to our own devices at the moment. Where would you like to start?"

[Shurijo]

The visitor from space and Atlantian scientist has a varied array of options. Beginning with Alton Zet could provide a quick overview of Atlantian society and history and a tour of the city, or the two could head directly to the archives building hoping that the civic council will have approved the King's request and granted Alton Zet access to the historical records.

Although, many of the Atlantian records were destroyed or lost when the city of Atlantis fell many generations ago, the ancient civilization were smart enough to keep remote back-ups of their files and such nearly all of the archives were recovered.

On the other hand, the two could return to Orion's spaceship, collect the pertinent data files , explore the surface world, exchange information as needed, or seek out Orion's companions on the surface.