Prisoner One Known as Commander Chi rank General
“Please have a seat, commander. If there’s anything you need don’t hesitate to ask. We have tea and juice and water and if you’re hungry please let us know.”
“I’m fine, thanks,” the commander said.
“Okay, well let’s get started, shall we?”
The prisoner flicked his hand sideways. “It’s your game, gentlemen and ladies.” He tilted his head toward the two women. “I will help if I can and you’ll understand if I refuse to answer.”
“Certainly, we didn’t bring you here to tell us secrets. We’re interested to know what your relationship with Adim is and what that means to you.”
“Oh,” the commander said. He shifted and seemed to give the question some thought. “Well, to me he is everything. He is the reason I am who I am. He brought me into being and encouraged me to study hard at the academy and rewarded me with beautiful young wives and children and a home filled with many comforts.”
“I see, and do you think without him you wouldn’t exist?”
“None of us would.”
“So he created the disbelievers, who by the way outnumber the believers?”
“He allows them to live, if that’s what you mean.”
“Why does he do that?”
“Because he loves them enough to have us rescue who we can and leave the rest in a depleted state of existence to suffer the consequences of disbelief.”
“You do know there are many planets filled with millions of people who have wives and families and occupations and homes filled with creature comforts that don’t believe in Adim?”
“When the great deception occurred and Adim was attacked and ridiculed the disbelievers went out into the darkness and did what they will. Some may have gained material goods while others may have suffered in both poverty and belief. It is chaos out there and in the realm of disbelievers they are ruled by a consequence known as random selection. We on Zellhigh have no poverty, we all have purpose and each is shown that path through the all - knowing and time without end shared with us by his power.”
“You do know that we don’t have crime or poverty here on Triolux North and we haven’t had any violence until you brought it to us.”
“Well,” the commander said, shifting in his seat, “you can certainly understand why your radical passiveness and lack of male dominance is a threat. If your kind is allowed to grow it is in direct conflict with our teachings of male dominance. Who’s to say when your pacifist preaching will seduce some of our innocent believers into your warped universal view?”
“Let me ask you something, commander.” The psychologist leaned forward to the screen on the cage wall that separated the prisoner from the specialist. “What do you have against a universal doctrine that strives for peace and understanding and constantly evaluates itself for areas of improvement?”
“The idea,” the commander answered, “that there is something inside you that needs improvement and evaluation rather than resting in the arms of Adim and knowing that you are his creation and all that you are is perfection is a wretched walk through life that I wouldn’t wish on any of my children, including the girls.”
The commander leaned back and glared at the two women. He was filled with indignation and his temper was gaining steam. His physical being shifted and he flexed his hands from fists into being open wide with his fingers splayed out and stiff. The color of his skin was rich with blood and his agitation was obvious. He was unable to control his temperament and the specialists looked to each other and tilted their heads in consultation. They decided now was the time to push. The older of the two women mentioned that they should scan for an implant because the specimen had all the signs of someone who had reached the limits of allowable thought. “He appears to be controlled by an insert in his brain, “one of the specialists said. All five of the interrogators agreed with this assessment. Zellhigh was not known to use inserts but that didn’t mean they didn’t have them and had kept the information to themselves.
The oldest of the group, a psychiatrist said, “We are saddened to inform you that your belief in Adim has been a computer manipulation controlled by the Zellhigh elite. You have been a victim of deceit and the feelings that you’ve experienced of having a relationship with a divine entity have been the result of an insert put into your brain at an early age. How does that make you feel, commander?”
The commander leaped from his chair and charged the mesh screen, his face set in a rage and his fist clenched to the point of being red. He screamed at the five observers, “How dare you defy Adim, the all-knowing and time without end who shares with us his power!”
The psychiatrist continued, “You are our prisoner and you’ve been abandoned by your fellow believers. Someone else has taken your place as husband to your wives and your name has been scrubbed from the hall of records. You no longer exist and there is no Adim. You, sir, have been tricked into robbing other planets so that the upper echelon of your society can thrive. You’ve been a pawn.”
The commander raked the screen with his hands, causing them to bleed along the sharp edges of the tiny holes. He continued to scream with a mouth full of teeth and he was now kicking at the wall. Spit flew from his lips and the whites of his eyes swam with red threads. He acted possessed and it was then and there that the five observers felt certain there was an implant put into the mind of the commander. It was probably sending electrical pulses as it was getting signals that violated its mandate.
Three guards were sent into the caged room and a sedative was administered to the commander. He was immediately taken into an operating room and scanned extensively until the implant, of unknown design and smaller than anything they had seen before, was found. It was a delicate operation but the implant was removed by a skilled surgeon trained in the art of insert extraction. The special skill was sometimes needed for members of the Triolux family when something would go awry and the voice of Alex could not be heard or the voice could not be quieted. “If it’s made by man it will eventually fail,” was a common saying with long historical roots.
Chapter 16
Commander Chi woke with a start. He felt as if he’d been somewhere with insufficient air. He took in his surroundings. It was a sterile environment with crisp sheets and his wrist and ankles were strapped. He started to panic and realized the futility of that. So he closed his eyes and reviewed all that happened. He remembered his replies to each question in the session with the nonbelievers. He reviewed his responses. It seemed as if they were using a reasonable tone and their explanations might have merit. Yet his counter reaction had been extreme and being an educated man and now waking in this sterile room, it dawned on him rather quickly that he must have had an implant and it was removed because he was able to reason.
This infuriated him, not the removal, but the insert from the beginning. He spoke to the empty room: “I thank you, members of Triolux North, for removing the implant. Please do the same for the others. This is the first time in my life without the pollution of the gas and without the insert. I am experiencing free thought.”
This literal awakening brought hope for the survival of a distant planet. Tee heard the recording of the commander and all at the committee table brightened with the prospect of having new allies from old enemies. This was ingrained in them as a universal goal. They now saw a way forward. This was also a daunting task. With the inserts propelling the actions of millions into bad behavior, the ability to sedate so many and operate on each of them was a tall hill to climb for any conquering heroes. But of course the immediate threat was a doomsday weapon possibly being assembled by the Zellhigh that would destroy their moon and thereby possibly toss the planet into eradication.
When it came to Alex and the information delivered to the Triolux about a possible attack it was a chore to disseminate the technical from the human meaning. Was this some kind of trickery? Could the processer be interpreting the information incorrectly, especia
lly in times of war when the first casualty is truth? A team was assigned to review the information that Alex had intercepted and evaluate the conclusions. Meanwhile the mission of invading Zellhigh and now subduing an entire planet for a physical operation on each inhabitant continued with this latest knowledge.
The prisoners were rolled into the operating table with assembly line efficiency and each had the minute insert removed. The same result happened with each of them. They gained consciousness and began to babble on about how they were having thoughts based on free will for the first time. They saw all perspectives and began to entertain doubt in their previous religious leanings. If Adim were the power he was presented to be, why then would they need implants that manipulated their thoughts to such a harsh degree? They collectively, to a man, felt like used pawns in a rigged game. With the ability to experience doubt they slowly, over the weeks that followed, began to view the Triolux as more saviors than captors. Free thought opened their eyes and with the scales removed they became more animated in their conversations with each other.
It was a slow process. At first they were hesitant to express their thoughts with each other. They were cautious for good reason. They had witnessed the cost of doubt from previous captives on their planet and the brutal maiming that had followed. But things came out. Sarcasm raised its head and jokes began to spread around. The prisoners for the first time experienced a new kind of joy with laughter more robust than ever before. It was a human response uninhibited and no longer tampered with and restricted. The prisoners became like children hungry for knowledge.
“Question, why did Adim not put an implant into the brain of Rueel?”
“Answer, because he couldn’t operate on himself.”
This was the kind of talk that brought out a new facial expression, the smirk, associated with the great reveal. “All - knowing and time without end share with us your power,” no longer fell from their lips. They had the history of the people of Triolux North fresh in their minds and reason was beginning to find grab hold inside their cranial confines. Thinking outside the box brought with it a larger view not restricted to the needs of Zellhigh. But there were also the faces and the bodies of their beautiful young brides that were complicit in the scheme of Zellhigh. Did they not risk that loss in their new awareness? And so they were immediately conflicted and on some level they understood the girls were not enamored with them. In fact they were victims of the same chemical and electrical propaganda machine that had arrested their own development. The cost of utopia was higher than they had ever imagined.
Commander Chi gathered them in the cafeteria and convened an unofficial meeting. He saw his men as more vibrant and alive than he had ever noticed before. They had been caught in the slumber of possession. He was plagued with the same thoughts as them. What is the cost of freedom? What will be the ultimate change? Insecurity and anxiousness could become debilitating if not confronted and dealt with in a proper way. The psychiatrists were scrambling to evaluate their subjects. They were pressed to come up with a teachable program to deal with the emotional trauma of free will.
“Men, we’ve been in a fog and now that we see clearly our realty has shifted,” the commander said. “Our ability to question has left us with questions. The thoughts we were not allowed are now running wild and sprouting like weeds in our inner dialogue. When we look back at our households and our wives and our children and all that we knew there is an avalanche of insecurity. And it’s made us yearn for the days not so long ago of ignorance because in it there was bliss.”
The commander shifted his feet and looked around the room. “Our wives do not know us and right now we don’t know ourselves. Our children will be raised marching on the exact path that we have trampled down. All will be content and tranquil, yet it is a falsehood a lie. We have been collectively deceived and that goes all the way down to the newborn in our society.
“The Triolux peoples did not deserve the treatment we brought to their shores. Neither did the Bendobe, the Vaterian, the Gretchnian and all the rest. Being fed a narrative that if we don’t attack we’ll be attacked gave us our right to pillage and plunder and rape and murder. The truth is we’ve been drones that work for the hive. We’ve been programed to serve Rueel and the biggest lie is that we have comforts that we otherwise wouldn’t have. But have we not seen that others live as well as us and some even better. We lacked the reasoning to make that comparison until this week.
“It is up to us at this precarious juncture to decide who we are and what we stand for. Are we to continue in our mechanically and chemically induced trance the support of our precious Zellhigh and the beliefs of Adim? Or do we help the Triolux in a major conversion of our imprisoned people? And,” the commander raised a finger toward the sky, “risk losing our captured wives and the respect of our children. My guess, looking at my home and the wives I have and our age difference and all the rest, is that some will stay and see me as a hero in helping free an entire planet. Others will leave and beg to be returned to their home planet.
“And pillaging other planets is no longer going to be a sustainable occupation. The Triolux will invade our planet no matter what. They are working on a massive scheme to remove the implants on a wholesale level. So we must start thinking in terms of what our planet can offer in the way of export, and we must develop a new system of self-rule. We must bring to the table a system that we think the Zellhigh are more likely to embrace versus letting the Triolux dictate a package that they believe is the correct path, otherwise we will lose a great opportunity to govern ourselves in our own way. We have some great qualities and firm beliefs that are ours uniquely that we can build on and use to attract our own kind.
“I can’t do this on my own. I need each and every one of you to stand with me in a plan of our design that we can present to the Triolux. With it and their support we can strive for implementation. In this we have work to do and much thought and concentration will be needed. Who here stands with me?”
There was a unanimous applause and the men fell into deep contemplation. With a wavering belief in Adim, they felt in the region of their collective minds, in the place where trust resides, a rebuilding of sorts. The resting place inside, in the arms of Adim, had become a void and with the future now being addressed as something that can have an outcome and not just be left to a random and cruel fate they were experiencing hope. Hope was the fundamental emotion they needed in order to rise each day and meet the sun with gladness. They were in the act of restoration.
The latest Assessment
What the scientists found when scrutinizing Alex’s hint at a planet altering device being assembled by the Zellhigh was disturbing. It seemed from the chatter on the unencrypted communications Alex had found that not only were the Zellhigh working on such a device, but it was in its final stages. The location was a mystery. The construction was just as elusive. And so: were the Triolux breathing the last of their air? Is it time to rush home and hold the family members in the final embrace? Things were turning frantic and they began searching and working at a fever pitch.
Finally one of the electrical engineers suggested they bring Commander Chi and ask him what his best guess was. They knew he could lie as well as cooperate. It was, after all, his planet they were talking about. But everyone had been informed of the transformation of the prisoners with the removal of the inserts. The prisoners were looked upon as men hobbled and mentally crippled into the state of aggressive beings. Now they were being healed. Commander Chi heard them out as he took a seat at the roundtable with the committee.
“It’s deception,” he said. “The Zellhigh would not destroy a planet that grew life extending plankton. They are aggressive and they are just now thinking for the first time in terms of defense. This is a new stance for them and it will take them many months to create a weapon of such advanced technical knowledge. On this you Triolux exceed our abilities. My men and I want to help you save our planet and restore our people. We know that our captives
will want to return to their home planets and we feel a desire to help them do as they see fit. As to this picking up of unencrypted information, it is a ruse probably developed by Rueel our enlightened leader.”
Tee asked, “How are they feeding this information to our entire planet? It’s beginning to cause anxiety amongst our people. There are those eyeing our newly - commissioned spaceships with the idea of fleeing Triolux North and heading toward the Andromeda galaxy.”
“Check your mind ring.”
The quartz was discovered and removed. The body of the 13 year old, Gisile was also discovered. A quick scan of her implant to receive information from Alex told the Triolux who she was and her mother, along with the rest of the citizens of Triolux was informed. The citizens of Triolux were also informed of the device in the mind ring and told it was discovered with the help of the newly freed prisoners. Removing the bondage of the inserts had let these men think free thoughts for the first time in their lives.
The committee found housing for the men in an unused factory long forgotten. It was outside of town and yet close enough for the prisoners to come for supplies and their daily meetings with the psychiatrist. Their mental health was important and interesting in the annals of case studies and the documentation of progress as well as any regress, should that occur.
After the meetings the prisoners often discussed the re-education of the Zellhigh with the various doctors. They wanted to help plot a course that would move them in the right direction. Other prisoners met with the social engineers in hopes to develop a sustainable economy no longer dependent on plunder. Commander Chi and Tee Calmwater would often be seen having lunch together and when Lain asked what they talked about he told her.
Ths Sacking of Triolux North Page 11