Previously:

Pizoku barely registers this rather vague explanation. He is too busy staring in slightly detached fear at the figures of the Great One and his two Nine guards.

"They aren't attacking." Raul sounds more than a little surprised and edgy. "Why aren't they attacking?"

Izanami grasps onto her son's arm as they all stare. "Because they can't," Pizoku realizes. "Time is standing still."

--

"What about them?" Raul asks as he looks to the Great One and the Nines.

Taylor is the one who speaks. "The Great One is regaining." His voice sounds strained or restrained, Pizoku can't really discern which. He watches his parents ushered through the portal by Reese. "We must leave quickly."

Pizoku looks at Neah and to Reese. "What do we do now?" No one answers.

Episode One Hundred and Three

"Movers and Shakers"

The earth moves and shakes and rumbles and quakes. The Great One is quite unhappy with the way events have played out in Cairo. "Defilers!" He screams and a building nearby explodes. "Heathens!" A rushing gurgle of water is heard as a wave in the Nile breaches the banks. "Upstarts! They dare to make a mockery of the Great One!" Lightning strikes down upon a nearby mosque. "The insolence! The nerve!" A great chasm rends the ground about their feet. "Vengeance shall be had and brought down upon these, these, peasant types! They dare to infringe upon me!"

The East hovers about the rubble that once entombed him. "What about the Representative of the South?"

"What about her?" The Great One literally begins to fume in his anger.

The East is quite thrown. "Well they killed her!"

"Oh pfft, she's dead then and no longer matters." The Great One says with a wave. "I am still here and I have been slighted. Nine of Nine!" He cries out. Sparks fly from his mouth in the direction of Marisol. "Raze the city to the ground." He indicates to Cairo in a great movement. Winds whips outwards.

"Eight of Nine," He turns on the other girl beside Marisol, "Take the children of Cairo to Tibet and begin their conversion."

The Great One looks over at the sulking Representative. "East, go into the desert and free the trapped Four."

"And what shall you do, oh Great One?" Marisol asks in her sweet young voice.

The skin on the Great One's hands begins to blacken as if charred by fire. "I shall seek the land of the Rising Sun."

Meanwhile, in the Hub

Reese stands and watches him. He wants to move closer, to provide comfort, but he isn't sure that there is much that he could say that would prove to be effective. So instead, Reese leans against the tree and watches Taylor stare into the Lagoon of Time.

"They've taken her into the Temple." Reese turns look over his left shoulder as Neah walks over to stand beside him. She speaks softly. "We should probably go as well."

Reese glances around. There has been a definite lack of curiosity. "Where are the others?"

Neah watches Taylor. "Japan."

Reese blinks in surprise. "You sent them back?" He thinks on the Takenouchis and Raul. "All four of them?" He frowns uncertainly. "Is that safe?"

"They would expect us to hide them," Neah replies thoughtfully. "But who hides things in the most obvious place?"

Reese smiles. "Apparently you do."

Neah shakes her head and looks somewhat defeated. "It wasn't really my idea," She replies and turns away from Taylor. "I get the feeling we'll be seeing the boys again soon."

Reese sighs and looks at the dark-haired boy who seems to be in the midst of brooding. "He won't be all right, will he?"

"You're asking me?" Neah replies with a wry grin. She turns to walk back into the Temple of the Mother. "See if you can get him inside."

Reese turns back to look at Taylor, still seated and staring into the Lagoon of Time. He can't seem to stop the image of digital red numbers that flash into his mind. 10 days. 1 hour. 45 minutes. 15 seconds and dropping.

To Be Continued...