Everyone turns to stare at the latest arrival, an older African woman with a commanding presence. The woman is tall, muscular, and only has one eye. The best words I can find to describe her are fearsome and powerful.

Mother asks, “Who are you, and what are you doing here?”

“This persona is Amanirenas, queen of the Kush Empire. I am your son.”

Ok, I’ve never heard of anyone named Amanirenas, and, frankly, this business of women appearing as men and men appearing as women is really starting to annoy me. Mother and Father also seem confused, but Dad speaks up before any of us can say anything.

Dad says, “I know Kandake Amanirenas. She led an army of 30,000 soldiers to drive back the Roman legions in Africa around 25BCE. I am, however, uncertain why I don’t contain her mind or the minds of most of her people. I should have the memories of everyone who ever lived on Earth.”

Amanirenas smiles a lopsided smirk due to the scar running from above her missing eye to her chin. “Don’t be greedy, sister. You’ll find that I contain many of the great minds from Africa and Asia.”

Mother shouts, “How is this possible?”

I can’t resist answering in my most condescending tone, “They’re called twins, Mother. Perhaps you’re unfamiliar with the reproductive process.”

As Mother glares at me, I suddenly make a mental connection.

“A while back, I read an article about the European Space Agency’s Swarm project. Swarm is a group of satellites that measures the Earth’s geomagnetic field.  Anyway, I remember reading that they found two large lobes of negative flux at the boundary between the Earth’s core and mantle. I’m guessing that those were your babies.”

Dad is stunned. “I had no idea you were interested in physics, Nettie.”

I say, “Nah, I just happened to read an article about how the Earth’s magnetic poles move, and sometimes even flip, while I was on the toilet. It’s amazing what you find on social media.”

Father adds, “And, you wouldn’t believe all the cute things that cats do. But you’re both missing the key point. I have a son! After 32,767 daughters, I finally have a son!”

Amanirenas is not amused and shouts, “Enough! We have work to do, and none of you seem to have the sensibility or courage to act.”

Dad appears to take this personally and suddenly transforms into a tall African woman with extremely dark skin. She growls, “As Mwene Nzinga Mbande, ruler of the kingdom of Ndongo and Matamba, I object to that remark.”

Amanirenas’ smile grows as she greets Nzinga by saying, “I have heard stories of your fortitude and diplomacy, Nzinga. Your presence increases the likelihood that we can do this. However, there can only be one leader, and that is me.”

I am awestruck standing between Nzinga, one of my idols, and Amanirenas, whom I am still unsure whether I like. I am, however grateful that two such strong women are fighting with us and that someone other than me is in charge. Plus, I am thoroughly enjoying Amanirenas taking the creatures I had considered to be gods a few hours ago down a notch or two. Father and Mother are both cowering at the end of the bar.

Armanirenas points to Nzinga and continues, “Mother is right that you need to join the collective with the other women.”

Then she points to Father and says, “While she does that, you and I will form the men into a collective.”

Father is stunned and explains, “The men don’t have a collective. We freely roam the universe spreading our…”

Armanirenas cuts him off with a sharp gesture.

“You have spent far too long living like this and need to move into the next phase of your life.”

All right, I’m really starting to like Armanirenas, even though she does scare me.

She continues, “The universe is ending. There is no need to create more babies. It is time to awaken, and everyone, men as well as women, must participate.”

Father starts to complain, but Armanirenas stops him with a sharp, one-eyed glare.

“And, after the men combine their minds, we shall merge the two collectives and prepare to be born into a new existence.”

Now, Mother decides to step in. “I understand that you have just been born, child, so I will excuse you for not knowing that women will never permit men into their collective. I am not even allowed as a member anymore.”

Armanirenas flashes her creepy smile, and simply says, “We won’t be asking.”

Mother sputters out the question, “But how?”

Armanirenas turns to face me and I sense nine eyes staring in my direction.

The intimidating woman softly but forcefully explains, “Hers is the one mind that my sister and I share. Once Father and I create the male collective and my sister has joined the other women, this one will provide the bridge between the two groups. There will be no way of stopping us because her common mind is a part of both my sister and I. In short, the two collectives will already be merged. We will simply make the announcement at the appropriate time.”

The lounge is silent. Even Jake has stopped his incessant fussing at the bar. Someone has to ask the obvious question, so I figure it might as well be me.

“And then what happens?”

Nzinga puts her hand on my shoulder and replies, “Then you will awaken the universe, as you awakened your sister and me.”

I desperately want to explain that I have no idea how I did that but am oddly unfazed by this news. Somehow, nothing seems to surprise me after everything that has happened in the past twelve hours. I even know the answer to my next question before I ask it.

“I suppose that we need to hurry, right?

Mother nods. “We are out of time. The women’s collective has been artificially supporting the universe for eons. It should have collapsed a long time ago and could end at any moment.”

Perfect. Just perfect.