The Great Wizard of Titan

Black Angels
[In memory of Jenni Michelle 1980]

I can't remember my last visit to Titan, the largest moon orbiting Saturn, but it's like yesterday.  Still can hear the jolly voice, crystal clear within the deep icy caves. To this very day, 170 years later, it still brings chills down my spine.

Black Angels by Bari Marcus Anthony 

I was a young Field Science Officer on my second tour to Saturn's famous moon.  Just another typical day, exploring the phenomena of air pockets along the surface with sandy dunes dotted with rivers and lakes of liquid methane. 

Scientist before me made suggestions of a possible underground cavern filled with salt water. It was my job to explore this theory in detail. There were even rumors told of the possibility of oxygen trapped below.  Encased in my life preserving gear I cautiously entered deep within the cave.

I edged deeper until I found what looked like a transparent bubble. I reached my hand pressing against the membrane, poking through effortlessly. The rest of my body carefully stepped into what was an exhaust of rushing air accelerating my entire body, making me feel like a super hero. Cautiously removing my breathing apparatus, I remember the sweet taste of basil as the trapped air filled my lungs, giving me an instantaneous surge of power.

 I believe that it was then a spirit of the great gods grabbed my uniform and dragged me through a secret entrance, setting me down in front of a vast underground turquoise ocean filled with sea monsters that would make sharks look like puppies.

 Dusting myself off from the rude awakening, I realized the pearl sand resembled icing sugar. Suddenly I heard a thundering echo of laughter from a wizard disguised as an old man with a twinkle in his eye and a smile on his lips. 

He turned to me and said the words that would change my destiny, "What can I do for you young man?"

 I replied hesitantly, "Who...who are you?"

 He looked at me in the eye with a gaze that was as steady as an old oak tree, then he looked sideways over his right shoulder. That's when I noticed two bundles of fury creatures resembling what I believed to be extinct baby white tigers. At least that's what I heard from my studies of early earth history.  Passive little animals busy licking their paws, paying little attention to me.

Wizard drawn by Bill Richards

The wizard turned his full attention on me, voice echoing, " What brings you to my home?" 

Jumping back surprised and said,"I've come from Earth to discover the ocean before me."

The wizard leaned closer,looking  straight into my eyes with not even a frown, " We don't have any oceans here, my son."

I could see the cavern filled with the most beautiful turquoise ocean as far as you could see. 

 I replied," What ever do you mean? There's a huge ocean in front of us...can't you see it?"

Oh, you mean that", he said sweeping his hand across before him," Is that what you call it...an ocean?  My son, this is called the Sea of Life."

He paused for a minute, chuckling to himself," Rather, you may even say it's called the Sea of Regeneration."

He sat down on the only bleached white rock for miles around," It's obvious you never seen the 'Sea of Life'  before, so I will give you your first dip free."

The wizard reaches for something in his pocket, being careful not to reveal it to me. My eyes strained to see what was in the palm of his hand, but he clutched it so tight. He continues," This is a very good business move on my part.  You see, after you have your first sweet taste of our sea, you will certainly come back for more. As a matter of fact I can bet you will bring me all the precious gold you can get your hands on." 

Having said that, with one smooth motion he plunged me deep within the sea of Life, saying," Your life has changed forever!"

Gasping for air I came up rushing out of the salt water as if I was another man, a much younger man full of energy. A new release in life which I never felt before. Stunned and invigorated by the glowing blue light, now apart of me, I asked," What is it? What makes me feel so alive. So new? " 

The wizard and his two little fury tigers watched me with great intensity as I contemplated the orb of beauty within me. Out of complete surprise, one of the tigers spoke as you or I,saying," Now you are part of the club. You will certainly live forever."


"Forever? How is that possible?", It occurred to me my brain knew the answer even before I asked. It was if I could calculate any riddle or mathematical equation within seconds in my head.  At first it was overwhelming, but then the glow within me seemed more natural, as if I had this my whole life.

 "You see my friend," the Wizard chuckled, " Your brain has always been engineered this way. You just never knew how to access it. " Once again he paused and then finally said," Now my friend, it's important you drink a glass of my miracle water once every two days or the effect will wear off."

He handed me a blue crystal the size of a marble, " Take this with you at all times. It will remind you when your system is getting low and it's time to regenerate."

It became all so clear to me now, the cloudiness was all but gone. Regeneration of our DNA is so simple, a child could figure it out. After all of this time who knew the power of knowledge was just under the surface, just waiting to get out. All the questions were answered with ease.

I nodded with full understanding, eagerly thanking the jolly old wizard, " What a wonderful gift you have bestowed on me."

At first, the lifetime commitment sounded a little scary but at the same time exhilarating. Quickly I realized my body became this finely toned super machine with powers that I never thought existed. Not only was I much younger and stronger, I could actually fly!

With this realization I said," How much gold will buy me a couple of liters of this precious water?"

It was right there and then I knew I could never be without it again. The new potion or should I say drug that hooked me for life. True. I'm 170 years old, but at what cost? Today if I had the choice I would clearly say NO. 

Writer Bari Marcus Anthony ( copyrights 2023)  

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Space Fever - short story by J. Robb Montana

Black Angels by Bari Demers

By Bari Demers

[copyright Dec.7,2009]

The young boy gazed at the snowflakes drifting to the ground like a musical waltz.

He perch’s his little framed body onto the wooden white bench, so well crafted like the rest of the Elizabethan home.

 A blizzard had come within the night, creeping amongst the lonely barren moon in silence, and then without warning a whirling storm covers the quiet community of Tetarrais on the rocky base of  Titan.

Titan has been described as a planet very much like Earth's North Pole, if it weren’t for the icy crystal drops of methane scattering the terrain. Titan isn't your average moon, constantly being pulled by the forces of Saturn. A decade before a privately owned company named E-Zone sent probes onto the surface of this precarious moon, looking for rich gases to mine. To their surprise, on the outer region of Titan they discovered a pocket of oxygen trapped in a swirl amongst the outer atmosphere of nitrogen and heavy clouds of methane and ethane. Within a couple of years, a mission was financed to further explore this area in detailed.


E-Zone was well established on the earth's moon during the moon race for profit in 2060 where they had capitalized on the discovery of Black Diamonds deep within the lunar surface. These Black Diamonds weren't your typical diamond; when compressed, it  released an enormous amount of energy. E-Zone established profitable payloads of black diamonds and began shipping it's valuable resource to an already depleted earth with the help of high tech androids.

Black Angels - The Movie - By Bari Demers

It wasn't long before a colony of androids were shipped to Titan to begin excavating it surfaces for rich resources. After billions of dollars E-Zone diligence paid off with the discovery of a new type of Tritanium based alloy that proved to be a very valuable resource for space travel.

Five years later a small colony of scientists established a foothold within Titan's pocket of oxygen named, " The Breathe of Life" precariously swirling amongst the prominent deadly methane atmosphere.

To make their colony represent a feeling of home, specially designed homes were fashioned with Elizabethan Architecture. The colony of only twenty eight used their companies owned androids to perform house duties, not realizing the outcome.

With no children within the small colony, they began adopting the androids as their children. After all their light mechanical features were a haunting resemblance of a little boy. Each designed with Tritanium based alloy limbs with blue electronic eyes and a cosmetic touch of golden locks of gold refined hair. They were given names of their real children and started to love them as if they were their children. It was the only way to fulfilled their void of loneliness.

 The company’s policy had stringent restrictions voiding children on space mission, due to legal and safety issues.

But it wasn’t until the margin of performance of each colony did they realize how important the presence of children became evident.E-Zone was very aware to the physiological effects of human colonies, ever since the lunar disaster where two thousand colonist lost their lives due to "Space Fever". Only after a routine medical scan of the colony did they notice the twenty eight colonists had symptoms of Space Fever. Quick action was taken to prevent the dismal outcome of the lunar disaster; they had to solve this problem before another mutiny happened on Titan.

The psychological reports came back with a surprising outcome. It was obvious what had to be done.

The little android boy quickly picked out a stream of light amongst the winter storm, still perched on the bench under the safety of the enclosed warm shelter. “Oh look,” he points in excitement, “My new brother and sister has arrived Mom!"

By Bari Demers