The New Era chapter 13

IN THE FIRST YEAR OF THE NEW ERA
Hans entered the room, feeling much better then he did when he left. He saw Mucius was still substituting for him at his station. Hans walked up to him. "Thanks for filling in for me Mucius. I really needed that break."
Mucius yawned. "No problem buddy, always glad to help a friend."
"Anything important happen while I was gone?"
"No, no, nothing," Mucius stopped to yawn again, "nothing important."
Hans smiled. "Feeling tired by any chance, Mucius?"
"Now that you mention it Hans, a little shut eye does sound pretty good right now. If your in control here, I think I might just go home and sleep for a while."
"Go right ahead, and thanks again."
Mucius was getting out of his chair, when Antonius rushed into the room. "Guys, guys, I just saw a Nathorite!"
Mucius stretched his arms. "That's nice. I'll see you boys later."
"No, I mean in the city!"
Hans grabbed Antonius' shoulders in excitement. "You saw a Nathorite in the city?!" Since the population of the city had always been entirely human (with the exception of a few plants), seeing a Nathorite in the city was indeed shocking news.
With sleepy disinterest, Mucius said calmly, "you're a month early Antonius."
"What?"
Mucius yawned yet another time. "Fools day isn't for another month."
"No, I'm serious!"
Hans looked skeptically at Antonius, but if Antonius was playing a joke he was doing a good job of acting sincere. "I guess I might as well ask the Teacher for the truth of the story."
All three listened intently for the answer as Hans asked, "Teacher, is there a Nathorite in the city?"
"Yes."
Hans heart skipped a beat, Mucius immediately became fully awake. "How did he get here?"
"Unknown."
"Where did he come from?"
"Unknown."
Hans turned to the other two, their faces as confused as his. "What is going on here?"
"It's stranger then that," Antonius said. "He has some sort of magical powers. He said he was going to address all The Watchers at noon in the city square."
"Well what are we waiting for?" asked Mucius. "Let's go!"


By the time Hans, Mucius, and Antonius had arrived at the city square, there were still three hours before noon, yet the square was packed. On the stage, in the center of the square, the Nathorite sat. His face was perfectly emotionless, and he did not move a muscle. On the way, Mucius and Hans had questioned Antonius for all the information he was worth, which turned out to be very little. Antonius had never seen the Nathorite up close only from a distance. He would never have known the man was a Nathorite at all if his companion Crassus hadn't informed him. In fact, all of Antonius' information came from Crassus, none of it was first hand. To make things worse, Crassus information wasn't first hand either. Hans realized he had no reliable information about the Nathorite at all. He soon wished he had taken the time to ask the Teacher more questions, perhaps even watch the Nathorite's movements from the time he first appeared in the city, until now. It was too late for that now though, Hans was crammed into the city square, and there was little hope he could get out and go to a quiet place to question the Teacher.
Hans soon found himself alone in the crowd. Antonius had wanted nothing to do with him, and had left Hans and Mucius to go to the other side of the crowd. Mucius had intended to stay with Hans, but was separated by a surge in the crowd. Hans began to look around the crowd for people he knew well.
It was then that Hans saw Kyoko. She was not too far off, and he only had to weave through the crowd a little ways to get to her. After a little bit of elbowing his way through, he made it behind her. "Kyoko."
Kyoko turned around to see who had called her. When she saw Hans her face immediately lit up. Hans almost took a step back her face looked so bright to him. "Hans, good to see you again."
"Nice to see you again too. Do you know what's going on, by any chance?"
Kyoko nodded. She had done what Hans should have done, get all the information she could on the Nathorite. She related it all to Hans.
The Nathorite had arrived in the city square in a flash of light. One second he wasn't there, the next he suddenly appeared. Naturally, he was immediately surrounded by Watchers, each asking him questions. The Nathorite had refused to say answer any of them, but simply sat still on the platform, like he was doing now. The only thing he ever said was, "I will address the city at noon, from this location."


Before long, noon rolled around. The city square was more packed then Hans had ever remembered it being in his life. Kyoko looked up at the artificial sky. "Oh no," she sighed. "It looks like rain."
Hans looked up at the sky also. Kyoko was right. "Don't worry, it won't rain today. They won't let it." Hans was correct. While he was talking, Bakes was already ordering the Executor to change it to a sunny day. Soon, the rain clouds were replaced by sun. Bakes then went on the stage, and took his seat behind the podium. As the Nathorite went up to the podium to speak, a hush fell over the crowd.
"Greetings Watchers," the Nathorite began. "My people have been watching you for some time now. We are extremely disappointed. You have not used your power responsibly at all. In fact, you have misused it greatly. From the Iceler incident, to the new world order, to Gaius, it is clear you can not handle power. You leave us no choice, and it is with deep regret that I am here to announce the end of the Watchers. The doors will be opened soon, and you are all to leave the city." The crowd remained deathly silent.
Bakes leaped to his feet. He walked to the podium along side the Nathorite. "Hold on just one minute. If you think we're going to just leave the city, you've got another thing coming. This is our home." A cheer arouse from the crowd.
The Nathorite kept his calm composure. "My people are not giving you a choice. You must leave."
Bakes, who had self-appointed himself as the Watcher spokes person, responded, "Who are your people? Do you mean the other Nathorites?"
"It is not for you to know who we are. You must obey us without question."
"If you expect us to obey you, then you better tell us more about yourselves." Another cheer arouse.
"Fools! You can not possibly know who you are dealing with! Do not risk our wrath."
"If you think you can bully us into submission, your dead wrong. Guards, seize him! I want him thrown into prison. He can stay there until he's ready to give us more information." The guards that Bakes had strategically hidden among the crowd leaped onto the stage, each with their laser gun drawn. The Nathorite waived his hand, and all their laser guns disappeared. The guards then tried to subdue the Nathorite with their bare hands. In an instant he was buried under a pile of guards. Then, suddenly, as if an explosion occurred, all the guards were thrown away from the Nathorite. They fell to the ground and did not move.
As Bakes' fist flew through the air toward the Nathorite, he screamed out, "You son of a b-." His fist only inches away from the Nathorite's face, Bakes was knocked backwards, as if he'd been hit by an invisible energy beam. He fell to the ground, and rolled off the stage.
One of the guards, who had not acted with the rest of his comrades but stayed behind as a reserve, fired his laser gun at the Nathorite from back in the crowd. The laser hit the Nathorite in the back, knocking him to the ground. The crowd gasped. The laser gun was more then powerful enough to disintegrate the Nathorite completely, yet the Nathorite simply got back on his feet, appearing to have nothing more then the wind knocked out of him. With a waive of his hand, the guards laser gun also disappeared.
Kyoko squeezed Hans' arm. "Oh Hans, this is terrible."
"You're right, this has gone far enough." Hans pushed his way through the crowd until he got to the platform. Hans climbed onto it, just as the Nathorite sent another volley of guards flying. "Everyone stop!" yelled out Hans. "I'm sure we can work this out if we just sit down and talk about it."
The Nathorite sneered. "Foolish Watcher, the time for talking has ceased." The Nathorite pointed his hand at Hans, and an energy bolt flew out of it. The bolt hit Hans in the chest, knocking him of the platform and onto the ground. Hans suddenly found himself unable to breath.
"You can not possibly comprehend what you have done, Watchers." A flash of light enveloped the Nathorite, and he disappeared, as suddenly as came.
"Hans! Hans are you okay?" Still lying on the ground, Hans looked up to see Kyoko kneeling over him. Hans tried to signal that he couldn't breath, and Kyoko understood. "Just relax," she advised. "Try and take deep breaths." Hans followed her advise, and soon found himself breathing normally.
Standing up and looking around, Hans was relieved to see that no one had been seriously hurt. The guards had been only briefly stunned, as had Bakes. Bakes had already got back onto the platform, and was walking up to the podium. The crowd by this time was in complete chaos. It took some doing, but eventually Bakes was able to restore order. The crowd quieted down to here what he had to say.
"I don't know what's going on any more then you do, but one thing I do know is that The Watchers will not be bullied. I don't know what his powers are or who his people are, but no matter what, we're not giving in." The crowd cheered enthusiastically. "When that Nathorite comes back, we will be ready. I want our top scientists working on a way to stop him. I want our most powerful force fields made ready, in case we have to contain him. I want our most powerful laser guns in the hand of every able bodied man and woman. If nothing else, at least the laser guns can knock down our foe."
Hans and Kyoko exchanged worried glances. "I don't believe this," Hans said.


Everyone had questions for Bakes after his speech. Bakes had tried to answer some, but there were just too many. He had to get to work on preparing for the Nathorite's return. Locking himself in his house, Bakes was hard at work, trying to see if there was any way he could increase the power on the laser gun.
There was a knock on the door. "I can't talk right now," Bakes shouted back. "I'm busy."
"It's Hans."
Bakes thought briefly. "All right Hans, you've got one minute and not a second more. Executor release locks."
Hans opened the door and ran straight to Bakes. "Are you crazy? Don't you want to at least try negotiating first?"
"I did."
"Hardly!"
"Listen Hans, I don't know who these people are but it's obvious they don't want to talk. Remember his words to you, 'the time for talking has ceased.' The next time he comes, we'll be ready to strike back."
"You saw his power. We can't fight against that."
"Hans, I don't have time to debate this with you. The next time he comes, we'll show him what we're made off."