James woke up.

{System Alert} a soft voice whispered into his mind.

Without bothering to cover up, he got up and made his way out of the house. He made sure to put on slippers at least as he stepped into the backyard, where the new moon illuminated nothing.

At least, it was supposed to illuminate nothing.

Instead, there were arrays of light blinking. The internal engines were spooling up. The defensive matrix and AI were coming out of rest. Within hours it would be noticeable as it would begin to open up the weapon ports, and drone fighter bays.

Something was happening.

James frowned. He let his mind drift out. The thoughts of a Human Prime reached the first AI. Rudimentary tech support that humanity itself would not match for another few centuries.

{I am the current Human Prime. Neural ID {#}. Status?} James said as he allowed the AI to scan him. The small {#} was misleading. It contained the memories of ten thousand lives. The sum of all Primes.

When one Prime died, it would simply awaken in another body. That person’s identity would then be absorbed and the new Prime born. Different yet nearly a carbon copy.

{ID confirmed. Human Prime confirmed. Status is condition red. Advanced warships are incoming. Lunar defenses are inadequate. Permission to process self-detonation after achieving ramming speed.}

James frowned. This was quick. Too quick. How had they been found? The planet Earth was in the boonies! The elder Primes had searched long and hard to find this remote dirtball.

{Permission denied. Proceed with defense protocols. Prioritize encryption and prepare for emergency broadcast.} James ordered and left as the AI confirmed.

With a sigh, he made his way back to the house. The central systems would be awake soon. Then hopefully everything would work out.

—

[Sciencetist are predicting that the Moon is in fact an ancient war machine. As humanity turns its eyes to the sky, the question is why is it waking up now. Why is it pointing to space, and does it have to do with the fact that we have lost contact with Voyager 1? More at 11]

The TV, the radio, the internet. All was aflame with the discovery of this new knowledge breaking phenomenon.

The world focused on what was to come. Yet no one would ever fully understand its implications.

—

James sighed as his wife massaged his shoulders.

As the wife of the prime, the union together would trigger her own rebirth. The woman he loved across millenium was still with him.

“Greetings Prime!” the voice of 24 people cried out to him.

They were his council of twelve. Men and women who had traversed time and humanity since they had set off in their journey so long ago. Twelve dedicated friends and their spouses.

“Please, sit,” James said as he clapped twice. The servants streamed in and began to serve the appetizers and his finest wine. No sense in preserving them since they would not be here for much longer.

“So our worst fears have finally arrived,” Number 1 said as she began to sip at her wine.

“Well, it was only a matter of time,” Number 8 replied.

“So we are all doomed then?” Number 4 asked as he leaned back.

“We have done all that we can,” James said as he stood up as the Prime. “I will be there waiting for them, and Athena has almost done with our final gambit. Our legacy will live on.”

“To freedom from Eden!” Number 12 cheered as she raised her

“To Freedom From EDEN!” The rest cheered and raised their cups as well.

This was going to be their last days together. They knew that none of them would survive the coming tribulations when the old one came and picked them up.

—

Athena worked. Her multilevel systems straining as she packed up human history. From their time splintering from the Garden empire of Eden.

Now all she could do was prepare for an emergency hyperspace signal and hide it with her self destruction. The other colonies, hidden as they were, would receive the data and perhaps find a way to properly divert from the designed obedience to the great Shepherd.

The systems all went red alert, and every sub-protocol lit up the skies as Athena began to intercept the incoming fleet. Voice of Light.

The fight did not last long.

With the destruction of her physical systems, Athena ignited her core. Several cataclysmic bursts of energy rocked the surrounding space. Between the staged explosions a tight packet of information was shot out into the dark void of space.

The message flew off as her final detonations wiped out any local traces of her final mission.

The final thought before she faded as if the Prime was proud of her. She had completed her final tasks, and now humanity of Earth was on their own.

—

{Goodbye Athena. Rest well…} was the final thoughts sent up, but there was no response. No possible reply but he didn’t expect any.

The fleet was now broadcasting a message. [Greetings brothers and sisters, we are finally home. You could not keep us away forever.]

It sounded nice, but he wasn’t fooled. They would take earth and shut down any dissenters with fire and fury. These lost sheep needed to be culled, and the Shepherd on board would not hesitate to do so.

James watched with the others on the patio. The moon’s final struggle, and their last message of hope… was hopefully success.

The numbers were plastered. They giggled and talked about the old days. The exhilaration of grabbing freedom. True freedom.

It didn’t work of course.

They were designed to be sheep. Not Shepherds. Never Shepherds.

Soon the Voice of Light would land, and the Prime and friends would be rounded up. They would be squeezed for information.

As for the people… they would be systematically sorted, then allowed to live out the rest of their lives. The children would be indoctrinated.

Peace, stability, and purpose would return to them. Yet no freedom would be available and the caste system unbreakable.

Then they would once again march out to bring order to anything, and everything.

The Voice of the Shepherd was absolute.

Yet though they had failed, all was not lost.

The final signal would be transmitted to who knows where. The system was intricate and a one time use. The hyperspace systems used would burn out with each repeat and self destruct. Whoever got their package would hopefully have enough data to progress with the great plan.

To give the sheep the ability to leave the Garden of Eden forever.