Something can be said for the bliss of ignorance. What I didn’t know hadn’t hurt me. Indeed, I had been very happy with my life before Whitey. Now I was being tossed head over heels into a mountain of information I didn’t really want. That was just too bad for me. Whitey had told me that said information was essential to any hope of my boys and me surviving this mission.
So there I was with a major case of brain burn, trying to absorb what I had just learned. Whitey however wouldn’t shut up. He was still inside my skull and had no intention of leaving just yet.
*As I was saying before you overloaded, a small group of about eighty thousand Tellurians landed on Terra to, as you would say, set up shop. Fortunately, for the Tellurians, an advance group had already been on Terra for some time and had set up camps for the newcomers.
So time passed and the Tellurians built strongholds surrounded by cities. Fifteen of these there were, each ruled by a Great Tellurian Lord or Lady who were absolute rulers of their own domains. A planetary council comprised of fifteen Great Lords was established to reign in the more ambitiously aggressive of their number. They also watched over the hundreds of High Lords who were vassals to the Great Lords . . .*
I was drowning in a sea of information. Well . . . not really. But I still had questions to ask and the white windbag wouldn’t let me get a word in edgewise.
“All right already!! Let’s keep this history lesson on the straight and narrow, so to speak. Now – I ask the questions and you tell me how all of this pertains to our present mission. Also, try and keep things simple. Saves mind burn that way. Now, what DOES this have to do with my boys and me?”
*Do you know about an old saying which states ‘know thy enemy as well as thy self’? Also ‘Keep your friends close and your enemies closer’?*
“Yeah. What of it?”
*Someone, or something, has been controlling your actions behind the scenes. Your initial plan was to stop the attacks of the Nephilim on the outside world. That is to say, kicking them back through the hole in the wall of your basement. Correct?*
” Wellllll . . . yeah! Sounds about right.”
*Why didn’t you just seal up the hole? That solution would have been much easier than trekking down unknown corridors to who knows where. Why not admit it. The intrusion of the Nephilim gave you a chance to go exploring. To see what’s on the other side of the hill, so to speak. All you had to do was convince Caesar of the necessity of an expedition and you’d be on your way.*
I was beginning to have that uncomfortable feeling that maybe he was right. Why hadn’t we just sealed up that hole in the wall? Good Roman cement would have done that job quite nicely.
Yet here we were on that adventure to who knows where. Were me and the boys just out for high adventure and our own Triumph when we got back home? Or, was there really someone who, knowing my wanderlust, had indeed set this whole thing up? I certainly hoped not.
I was about to hit Whitey with yet another question when, running towards us like his feet were on fire, came one of my Titans, who was out of breath and gesturing with both hands. I calmed him down and he was finally able to talk.
“Y’ gotta see this boss! There’s a huge, enormous cavern down the path a bit!”
I was livid.
“How many times I gotta tell you guys, DON’T STRAY FROM YOUR UNIT!! ESPECIALLY NOT ALONE!!!”
The fellow looked abashed but not contrite.
“I had a couple of the Furries with me. They were showing me the lay of the land, so to speak.”
That’s when all Hades broke loose.
The Roman View 
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