QBLH
Three of Cups
Abundance
XXXIX
Semiramis and Company
Understanding how richly
Waters of emotions flow
Antiope devoted herself to the languages of the age. She understood that communication with the local populations would determine whether they survived as phantoms or became forces. To that end, she constructed complex historical and cultural scenarios within Genie’s virtual space-time simulator. Genie did not judge her imaginings; it accepted them as boundary conditions, returning structured possibilities proportional to the depth and clarity of Antiope’s intent. Cause was offered. Outcome followed.
During what could be measured as hours or years of orbital observation, the Box compiled extensive data on Earth’s geography, settlements, and population distributions. With that intelligence in hand, Jim chose to breach the Amazon defenses indirectly—through Antiope and Helen.
The Amazon base was surrounded by layered warning systems designed to detect intrusion long before it could be seen. Jim surfaced the Dutchman on the Black Sea just beyond the visible horizon of any observer. Idiot confirmed the perimeter was clear before allowing materialization. Under cover of darkness, Jim brought the vessel to shore, folded it into the Box, and proceeded inland carrying Genie as a compact hand instrument.
He recognized the land immediately.
He had lived here before the Flood.
Nothing of the earlier colony remained. Isis had chosen the site again. It was inevitable that she would establish a primary center at Ephesus, with a secondary Grecian counterpart at Attica.
Venetian sensing devices protected the area, seamlessly integrated into the natural terrain. Idiot cataloged them effortlessly, warning Jim of every trap. Antiope and Helen moved silently through the shadows, maintaining orientation via small crystal globes—interfaces linking them to Genie and Jim. To the people of the time, such devices would appear as sorcerous artifacts, feared but accepted, fitting comfortably within the folklore of the age.
Without Isis’s awareness, Idiot reasserted control over the Pegasus. Shaltain’s connection to the vessel was no longer live, and all conflicting command structures were quietly neutralized. Idiot maintained first-level security authority over the ship’s higher functions, operating strictly within Jim’s established parameters.
Jim destabilized the antimatter main reactors just enough to drive the Pegasus into a subcritical state. Isis was now consuming more energy than she could generate. She dared not attempt atmospheric flight; there was no means of refueling on Earth, nor could she permit herself to construct one without catastrophic historical consequences. Fully aware of the dangers of paradox now that she understood humanity’s future, she chose instead to establish an Amazon colony and continue her intricate contest with Jim.
First, however, the ship had to be stabilized. The Pegasus computers resisted correction. From Isis’s perspective, the damage appeared mysterious—residual faults from an unexplained system crash.
Isis maintained emissaries throughout the great civilizations. Kings ruled at her discretion. Hatshepsut, Ayesha, and Medea were among her agents. Semiramis proved the most effective. Through her influence, Nimrod was persuaded to establish the deification of the Queen of Artemis. In exchange, Semiramis transformed a brutal population into a literate, disciplined civilization—Sumer. They fought in her name and obeyed her word as law. She taught them the seasons, agriculture, and the elevation of women.
The king, however, demanded recognition equal to hers.
Anat rose as high priestess under Hammurabi and his successors, effectively ruling Babylon and the Amorite kings.
Semiramis, being non-human, never regarded herself as Nimrod’s equal. She claimed to have been the strength behind his hunts, and there is little reason to doubt her dominance. Isis approved of her effectiveness and intervened when Semiramis became the object of obsessive desire—particularly from a prince raised without restraint.
Semiramis allowed rumors to flourish. Many claimed intimacy with her. None survived long enough to contradict one another. Amazon physiology rendered such unions fatal to unmodified humans; the ambrosia that sustained them was toxic. Those who believed themselves favored did not endure.
This gave rise to darker legends.
Isis resided in Egypt during Semiramis’s ascendancy, overseeing the revitalization of the Pyramid complex and systematically erasing physical evidence of prior interventions. The objective was flexibility—maximizing options for withdrawal while maintaining operational freedom.
On the final day of Nimrod’s life, he claimed Semiramis as kings of that age believed they could—by right, by fear, and by delusion. The act bound him to her fate. He did not survive it.
Semiramis bore twins: a son and a daughter.
Fear of her intensified. No challenger lived long after voicing dissent. When her son’s birth fulfilled prophecy, the people exalted him as Nimrod’s heir. Babylonian religion deepened into mystery. Semiramis ruled unopposed while indulging the prince.
She declared herself a goddess. Her son was proclaimed divine—the miraculous offspring of a goddess. Nimrod, long dead, was recast as a heroic ruler. His cruelties were forgotten. Semiramis remained the true tyrant.
Her son later attempted to conquer the empire of Xiang and Xuang, whom he regarded as false gods. Ignoring counsel, he launched a catastrophic war. His defeat was absolute. His generals defected under economic inducement. His empire fractured.
What became of him was never resolved. Some claimed murder. Others whispered survival. The deaths of his betrayers fueled the myth that he still lived.
Isis would never forgive the recklessness of attacking her children during their sanctioned education on Earth. Nor would she acknowledge initiating the Chinese empire. The matter was classified as a Venetian Top Secret undertaking. Any breach warranted execution.
Semiramis completed her mission. She abandoned Babylon after her son declared judgment against her, believing his lineage sufficient protection. She allowed his world to collapse. To Babylon, she was declared ascended. To Isis, her work was done.
The daughters of Semiramis were granted sanctuary on Artemis.
Genie updated Qblh.
“Jim. Xiang and Xuang are aboard the Pegasus. Isis has also deployed an elite Artemis storm division.”
