Brute force incarnate, I never heard of any commando dumb enough to challenge or question the titan. He rarely spoke, and was uninterested in rank, the commendations he had received, Academy politics or its intrigues. Commando Ajax lived to slaughter fear demons, and as long as others stayed out of his way, he had no beef with anyone.
“Sir,” he said.
“You will see to it that the cadets will not embarrass us again?”
Ajax nodded, a curl at the edge of his thick lips. “Understood,” he replied coolly, his menacing dark eyes supplying the commentary.
“Cadets?” Sett said.
“Sir, yes, Sir!” the cadets shouted, prodded to a new sense of urgency.
“All right,” Sett said, satisfied. “Dismissed!”
The cadets heaved a sigh of relief and jogged off.
“Virgil!” I called out.
My only friend among the cadets, Virgil was a handsome cupid with floppy blond hair and wholesome blue eyes. Built like a fabled Nordic god, he was also a superb athlete, and liked by most everyone. Despite his popularity and charms, Virgil was a simple and humble cadet, and the only one who didn’t pick on me.
Virgil stopped and looked back. I gave him the thumbs up. He smiled, returned the thumb, and scooted to the locker room with the others.
Again I turned to Captain Cyrus. “Sir, when do I graduate?”
“When you’re ready.”
“When will I be ready?”
“When we say so,” Volk answered.
“But I started way before those guys, and I haven’t even begun weapons training yet.”
“Your greatest weapons are your heart and mind,” Cyrus said.
“You keep saying that, but I still don’t know what it means. Virgil and the others have visited Earth three times already. I haven’t even been in the teleport room.”
“Big deal,” Volk said. “Neither have we.”
“Huh?” I said, incredulous.
“Patience, Kohai,” Cyrus said.
3
Spear Words
In another, smaller geodesic dome, rows of tables filled with ravenous, rambunctious young cadets ate, laughed, and ribbed one another in family-like fun.
I sat next to my pal, Virgil, happy that for a small part of each day I was allowed to participate in the camaraderie of my fellow cadets. Captains Cyrus and Volk, chopsticks in hand, lunched alone at a separate, smaller table behind us.
Commander Sett strolled up to the captains. “So, gentlemen, what did you think of our little demonstration?”
Volk said, “It was a joke, Sett, and you know it. The cadets aren’t close to ready for what really awaits them down there.”
“Ready as any class ever is,” Sett retorted. “They’ll do just fine. Besides, outta time. I’ve got another class of recruits I need to field right after them.”
Cyrus said, “You’re just leading lambs to the slaughter.”
“In case you haven’t noticed, Captain, there’s a war going on down there, and we’re losing. We don’t have the luxury of years of training. I train hundreds of boys to your one. Hell, I can’t even remember the last time you two put a man in the field.”
“Our one is worth a thousand of your demon snacks,” Volk said.
Sett snorted. “Until I actually see your ‘one’ in the field, I suppose I’ll never know. Face it, your methods are obsolete. If we don’t start fielding more soldiers and better weapons we are all doomed—the lousy humans and us. Apparently, I’m the only one around here who seems to understand that.”
Cyrus smiled. “Sett, old friend, if your ego were any bigger they’d have to name a galaxy after it.”
“Just a matter of time, Captain,” Sett said. “Speaking of great honors, I take it that you received the packet and memo from headquarters.”
“I did.”
“The word is that there are going to be some changes around here.”
“That’s not up to me. I will follow my orders.”
“Good. I’ll remind you of that when I’m the one who’s giving them to you.”
Sett snickered and strolled over to my table.
“You there,” he said to me, devilry in his eyes.
I stood and saluted. “Sir, Cadet Kohai, Sir.”
“How long have you been with Captains Cyrus and Volk, Cadet Kohai?”
“Sir, thirty-six Earth months, Sir,” I belted.
Sett addressed the table of cadets. “Hear that boys? Thirty-six months. Cadet Kohai must be one badass cupid.”
The cadets laughed, but I ignored them.
“Have you had weapons training yet, Cadet Kohai?”
Trying to hide my shame, I answered, “No, Sir. Not yet, Sir.”
The cadets chortled some more, but gratefully, Virgil didn’t join in.
Sett continued his bullying. “Visited Earth?”
“Sir, not yet, Sir.”
“Uh-huh. So tell me Cadet Kohai, what do you do all day while the rest of your fellow cadets are busting their asses?”
“Umm, well, it’s kinda hard to explain, Sir. I, ah, pray and meditate a lot, Sir.”
I knew how lame that sounded, but aware that Cyrus and Volk were watching—Volk casually whittling the ends of his chopsticks with the sharp edge of a demon dagger—I mustered as much conviction as I could.
“Pray and meditate, you say?” Sett shrank back, hand to mouth, eyes wide, and feigning fright. “Ooh…” He pretended to shiver, eliciting more snickers from the cadets.
“…And calisthenics,” I added. “And study. Lots of calisthenics and study, Sir.” It was all I could do to not show my humiliation. “It’s not quite what you think, Sir. It’s actually pretty rigorous,” I offered weakly.
“What do you study, Cadet? The art of surrender?”
“Sir, the archives, Sir.”
A murmur rolled across the table of cadets.
“Right,” Sett scoffed. “The legendary ‘archives,’ which even if they existed would be filled with nothing but myth and superstition.” He withdrew his pearl-handled demon duster from its holster and offered it to me. “Wanna play with the big boys, Cadet?”
I looked longingly at the gun, licked my lips, and involuntarily began to reach for it. I regained my composure, and pulled my hand back.
“Sir, thank you for the offer, Sir, but I’m in good hands. Captains Cyrus and Volk are teaching me everything I need to know to become the best cupid commando that I can, and I have complete faith in them, Sir.”
“Faith is no match for one of these, boy.” He waved the gun. Then he spun on his heels and said, “Cadet Terence!”
“Sir!” Terence bolted to his feet and hustled over to us.
“Show Cadet Kohai where your faith resides.”
Terence moved to throw a backhanded punch at me, and yelped. He gaped at his fist in amazement. Stuck in the back of his hand was a chopstick. He yanked out the mini arrow, cocked his arm for another punch, and was speared a second time. “Ow!”
The table of cadets glanced towards Cyrus and Volk, who shrugged innocently.
Terence glowered at me. “At my leisure, Kohai,” he snarled.
I picked up my lunch tray. “If you’ll excuse me.” I walked over to the captains’ table and sat down.
“Thanks,” I said to Captain Volk.
“Give me your pudding and we’ll call it even.”
“Deal,” I said with a smile, and handed him my dessert.
4
Chance Encounters
Earth, 2034
Graduate psychology student and teaching assistant, Ellen Veetal, sat typing at the computer in her cluttered university office. Opposite her, against the back wall, sat a set of large, gray, metal bookcases jam-packed with books. Decorating the other walls were calendars, university posters, diplomas, and photos of her dog, Carl; a black Labrador, named after the late Swiss psychologist, Carl Jung.
Tacked to the door hung a mock poster of FBI Agents Maulder and Scully from a popular 20th century television
show called The X-Files, whose heroes weekly pursued some bizarre enigma or conspiracy. It had a small cult following and could still be seen on obscure cable channels at three in the morning. Ellen’s poster pictured the show’s two heroes pointing at each other’s heads, and the program’s logo had been rewritten. The poster read: The Truth is in Here.
The twenty-eight-year-old Miss Veetal had wavy, jet-black, shoulder-length hair, marble-gray eyes, a flawless complexion, and a figure that appeared to require no effort to maintain. Vivacious and intellectual, she looked like a cross between the Greek beauty, Psyche, and a librarian. On one side of her was a folding chair with a stack of student exams, and on the other side, an old, black leather couch where Carl lay curled up and snoozing.
Ellen paused in thought from her typing, then shot rolling on her chair to the bookcase behind her. She swiveled, ran a finger across the spines, and chose a book entitled Beyond the Occult. She wedged the book carefully from the crammed shelf to avoid an avalanche.
Carl let out a little woof. Ellen swiveled and turned to the door. A moment later she heard a gentle knock.
Professor Chauncey Matterson, thirty-eight, stuck his priggishly handsome head into the room. “Hello…?”
Ellen rocketed back to her desk. “Come in, Professor Matterson.”
The professor, dressed in a tweed coat patched at the elbows, a white, Royal Oxford shirt, and a loosened tie, stepped into her office. Aware he was in the presence of beauty, he ran his hand through his silky brown hair, easily setting it perfectly in place. He raised himself up, standing as tall and manly as his five-foot nine-inch, doughy stature could muster.
“I stopped by to see if you’ve finished correcting the exams.”
“Last night. I dropped by your office this morning but you were out, then it slipped my mind. I’m sorry.”
She picked up the stack of papers from the seat of the folding chair beside her and handed the pile to the professor.
“How did they do?” he inquired.
“Awful.”
Matterson shook his head in disappointment. “I give you the heirs of the Facebook generation.” He gestured towards Ellen’s computer. “What are you working on?”
“My thesis proposal. If you have a moment, I’d like to ask—”
“I’m sorry, Ellen, but I have an appointment to keep. Please catch me tomorrow.”
“Sure…”
Chance noted the book on Ellen’s lap. “I hope your thesis has nothing to do with that.”
Carl bounded from the couch and began sniffing in the corner of the room. He cocked his head and whimpered.
“What is it Carl?” Ellen said. She rolled over to the dog and petted him. “He’s been obsessed with this corner all morning. Silly pooch.”
“You really shouldn’t bring your dog to campus. It sets a poor examp—I like dogs.”
“Pardon me?” Ellen said, confused.
“My ex-wife got my dog. Her lawyer argued that it belonged with the house. I’d have enjoyed bringing little Pavlov to school.”
“Professor Matterson…?”
“Enjoyed the chat, but I’ve really got to run. I’m getting fitted for a new suit. A past student of mine is getting married next Saturday.”
Carl sniffed his way to another corner of the office and sat, tail wagging, staring at the corner as if in anticipation.
“Jill Taylor?” Ellen asked.
“Yes, that’s right.”
“I’m going to her wedding too. She’s my best friend.”
“You don’t say? Well, I’d rather not go alone. Would you mind if—?”
“I’d love to.”
“Really? Fantastic. I’ll pick you up. Just email me your address, okay?”
“Sure. Thank you, Profess—”
“Call me Chauncey, Ellen. I’ve only got you by a few years.”
“A few years, two Ph.Ds., twenty-eight published articles, three bestselling books, and a PBS special,” she lauded.
“Outside of our hallowed, stuffy halls and classrooms, I’d be grateful if you’d call me Chauncey. In fact, better yet, call me what my family and friends call me, Chance.”
“Chance,” Ellen repeated, pleased. “I’ll take it. Get it? ‘Take a chance.’”
The professor smiled and exited her office.
“Huh,” Ellen said turning to her dog. “What do you make of that, Carl?”
Carl, tail wagging and head cocked, ignored her question and continued to stare into the corner of the room.
5
Dormitory Davids
Sitting in prayer atop the lower bunk in my Academy dormitory—something I did every evening while my roommate was away—the creaking door alerted me to Virgil’s early return. I almost reached for a book to pretend I was reading, but surprised myself and did nothing. Before he spoke I could sense him puzzling at me as if I were a Rorschach painting.
“What are you doing?” he asked innocently.
Determined not to apologize for my faith—something Captains Cyrus and Volk insisted was vital to it—I answered a little too petulantly, “What does it look like?”
“Praying. But how come?”
“Because I like to.”
“But there’s no statue.”
“So?”
“Don’t you need a statue?”
“Says who?”
“The Academy and, well, everybody.”
I rose and faced my friend. “Maybe they are wrong, Virgil. Ever think of that?”
“How can you be wrong about something that important?”
“If you can’t find Him here,” I said, tapping Virgil’s forehead, “then you have to find Him here.” I tapped his chest.
“Eros?”
“God,” I said.
“Eros,” he repeated, unable to compute the difference.
“If I had meant Eros, I’d have said Eros.”
“But…”
“Never mind,” I said, sorry I had brought it up. It was a subject, after all, that I was too afraid to even raise with Captains Cyrus and Volk.
Our dormitory was a small, austere room with two wooden tables, two old, hardback chairs, a single bookshelf, and a two-tiered bunk bed. Virgil sat down cross-legged on the cool, tiled floor. I joined him. We preferred sitting on the floor rather than on the wooden chairs because the rickety things tended to leave little brown splinters in our butts.
“I wish I were smart like you, Kohai,” Virgil said, having figured the reason for my squabble was some finer point of metaphysics, something Virgil didn’t think he was capable of comprehending.
“I’m not so smart.”
“You must be if Cyrus and Volk have taken you under their wings, so to speak. You’re the first cadet they’ve agreed to train in…like forever. Why else? You’re not big. You’re not strong. You’re—”
“A wimp?”
“You’re not a wimp, Kohai. And I respect you for having stuck to your guns at lunch today.”
“My guns? That’s a laugh. If I had taken Sett’s gun, I’d have shot myself in the foot.” I sighed. “I wish Captain Cyrus would start teaching me how to fight.”
“What’s praying like, Kohai?” Virgil asked, ignoring my grumbling.
“Huh? It’s…different each time. Why do you ask?”
“In a couple of days is our big test and, well, you know the stories. Cadets don’t always make it back. So, maybe it wouldn’t hurt if I, you know…prayed, like in the old days. Like in those fables we heard when we were young.”
“Sorry to break the news to you, Virgil, but they weren’t fables.”
“They weren’t?”
“No.”
“Oh. Well, can I pray for courage?”
“Courage is a great thing to pray for, Virge. Captain Cyrus says that without courage few other virtues are possible. But you don’t need me to teach you. You just do it. And don’t worry; you’re an excellent cadet. I’m sure you’ll do fine. I just wish I could be there with you.”
“You’ll get there, I’m sure.”
“Maybe,” I said, unconvinced. “Tell me again what it’s like on Earth.”
“Like I said, it’s amazing. All your senses become hyper-extended or something. It’s a little scary at first, but you get used to it.”
“Cyrus says that the more aware I become here, the stronger I’ll be on Earth.”
“Could be,” Virgil said, “but I haven’t really been tested yet, so I can’t say. But there is this sort of richness to everything down there. I remember my first day in the field. I was hardly able to walk ten feet through this park we were in without becoming nearly paralyzed.”
“Because you were scared?”
“No, because it was too beautiful!”
“Really?”
“Yeah. You can see sharper, smell deeper, hear further. Maybe I shouldn’t say this, but you feel, well, kinda godlike.”
“Wow. Why would you ever want to leave?”
“You forget how dangerous it is down there for us, Kohai. There are fear demons all over the frickin’ place. But, they are really hard to spot. You know why?”
“Because they live inside the humans, not outside.”
“Right! How’d you know that? Did the captains teach you?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, for some reason we weren’t told that until we got down there.”
“That doesn’t make much sense,” I said. “You’d think they would want you guys to be as prepared as possible.”
Virgil shrugged. “Beats me. I guess a fear demon is a fear demon, and it doesn’t really matter where they come from. Anyway, the Academy professors told us afterwards that it wasn’t always so, that the fear demons used to run around outside the bodies, but that over time they learned how to penetrate the mortals’ aura shields.”
I nodded along, despite knowing that what Virgil was reciting was bunk.
“Yeah,” Virgil continued. “My professor says that the fear demons—”
“Yetzers,” I interrupted.
“Huh?”
“In the archives they are called yetzers. It’s only been since the creation of the Academy that we began calling them fear demons.”
Shooting Eros - The Emuna Chronicles: Complete Boxset: Books 1 - 3 Page 2