Deleted Scene: Athena

Context: Martin Devilin has taken the elephant figurines from Marcus’ office and escaped. Marcus is speaking to his security chief on shift, Gil Polemus.

 

 

Marcus leaned forward in his chair.

“Gil, while Bonnie is scanning the video, I need to tell you what I think Devilin is up to. He’s on his way to Africa to a little spot on the eastern side of the continent where the mineral pelissium exists in a sufficient quantity to fuel Athena. Athena is the device that I’ve been working on – well, let’s just say a very long time. Athena was the warrior goddess of wisdom, an oxymoron of sorts. Our Athena is a weapon only in its function is to fight war. She is capable, when properly fueled, of disabling any lethal weapon that has sufficient technology to kill multiple human beings.”

Gil reached for the chair behind him and sat down. “Sir?”

“Athena cannot, for instance, eliminate knives, since knives have no chemical properties that define them as a weapon. But guns of any type that utilize gunpowder or similar propellants are detected and neutralized. The same is true for electronic devices such as lasers and nuclear weapons. Athena destroys the activating components by frying the circuits beyond repair. Biological weapons are also in her database. She can render most biological weapons inert. Athena’s range depends on how much fuel her cells possess. A trove the size of the one Devilin is after could conceivably neutralize every weapon in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Strategically placed, the area might even include Cuba. Double the quantity of pelissium and Athena could possibly eliminate every weapon of mass destruction on the planet.”

Marcus waited for Gil to respond.

Gil was unable to speak.   He didn’t. He couldn’t. The whole notion was preposterous. What was he thinking?

“I was thinking of removing the threat of war as we know it,” Marcus said. “Humans have reached a level of sophistication where they find certain forms of combat unacceptable. Wholesale slaughter and mayhem with swords and spears is inconceivable to the average person alive today. Bombing from the skies where you never come face to face with your adversary is now the way of the world. This type of killing somehow makes the slaughter more acceptable, impersonal.”

Marcus had the look of a man determined to make his point no matter the cost. “Looking a man in the eye while you run a spear through his gut is another story. I think if we were reduced to this kind of combat, today’s human would find the idea of war far more distasteful.” He rubbed absently at his left shoulder.

Gil considered the man sitting in front of him.

Just when you think you’re getting a handle on somebody! “So, who were you going to sell Athena to?”

“No one. Athena was not for sale, Gil. Athena was, I’m sure, going to make me an international criminal of the caliber you see in the James Bond movies. I wanted the US to think they were buying a weapon capable of neutralizing nuclear devices from space, which was not a lie. What they would find, however, was that the weapon would not just remove, say, North Korea’s threat, but our own as well. Nuclear, biological, and gas-propelled weapons would be eliminated from the arsenals of those who would wage war for a very long time. I was prepared to spend the rest of my life in prison to see that happen.”

“Wow!” Just when you think you know . . .