The Sin of Moloch

by Andrew Gordinier

  “Mostly, they’re all linked. We’re not sure why, but to me, it seems kind of obvious.”

  “Obvious?” John hated it when people said that.

  “If you’re going to create a major artifact that holds that kind of power, you might want to keep track of who has it.”

  “They do anything spectacular when you bring them together?”

  “No. Why?” Sherry asked with a laugh.

  “It’s just that Augie seems hell-bent on taking mine, for safekeeping of course.”

  “If there is one thing you need to know about this group, it’s that we are a careful bunch of survivors. We don’t take chances with our safety, and that makes some of us get all tinfoil hat paranoid. A lot of people wanted to take your Primer by force, but that’s not what we’re about.” Sherry looked around as she spoke.

  “That’s why you’ve all stayed in hiding? You guys have the Primers, you have the power, you could reshape mage society and change things.”

  “Like you and Conrad are?”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “The two of you are stirring things up, John.”

  “Yeah, so what?”

  “There are still a lot of things you don’t know.”

  “I swear to god if you say ‘you know nothing John Snow’ I will bring this all to a fiery end.”

  Sherry laughed. “No. It’s just that you’ve complicated things, and Augie still has a lot to explain to you, and… He probably hasn’t told you everything.”

  “Great.” John threw his beer over his shoulder into the darkness without concern.

  “John, don’t be like that. You can do what you want, but this is all I have left. All any of us have left. They saved me and gave me a home when I thought there was no hope.”

  “So, what is this about then?” John gestured towards the bonfire and the now dancing mages.

  “We don’t really call ourselves anything for a reason, but we think of ourselves as family. We’re not out to change the world, we’re out to survive it.”

  “Huh?”

  “We intend to be the last ones standing.” Sherry smiled like a cat telling a secret. “Other mages are going to fight and struggle over scraps, killing each other off, all the while the world goes to hell. We’re just not killing ourselves off fighting them, we’re going to let the rest of you take care of each other. Then when there aren’t enough mages to put up a fight… We don’t have to worry.” Sherry shrugged. “I doubt we will live to see it. Our students will survive, that’s the idea in a nutshell.”

  “Funny you should say nutshell.”

  “It makes sense, John.”

  “No, it doesn’t make sense. What about the rest of the world?”

  “They don’t need to know about us. Ever.” Said Augie from the shadows.

  “I doubt that.” John mumbled

  “Sherry, would you mind? I need to talk to John.” Augie leaned his spear against the pile of booze and started searching through various boxes.

  “See you around, John.” Sherry danced off towards the bonfire. Her silhouette against the fire was pleasant, but not the same shape as Radha’s, and John felt a pang of guilt for watching her too closely.

  “If I told you the truth before tonight, you wouldn’t have agreed. Then we would have had to kill you.” Augie sat on an empty beer keg and opened a can of Guinness.

  “So you gave me the nice guy treatment by telling me I’m a jerk while you teach me basic survival skills and higher magical theory?”

  “John, this is exactly why this group exists. We need to control the knowledge of magic, too many people use it in wild and stupid ways. Look at what humanity has done with technology, all the pollution and now climate change. Knowledge is a dangerous thing, especially to people who use it for greedy, short-sighted means.”

  “Let me guess, you’re the ones who will judge who is wise enough to use this knowledge?”

  “No. We’re just gathering the Primers and keeping them safe. Odds are that not even our students will be the ones who have to choose, but someone will.” Augie sipped from his can loudly.

  “What about all that dangerous science?”

  “Humanity, in general, will survive or fail by their own merits. We won’t save them or push them over the edge.”

  “You’re saying you’ll wait them out too.”

  “No. I’m saying we don’t have a responsibility to look after them.”

  “You knew I would never agree with this-“

  “We voted, and the majority decided that you were in a unique circumstance. You were already causing too much of a stir to vanish, and you were unwilling to join. A lot of people here saw you as a rogue element in the world. When you survived your duel and started this revolution, we had another vote about what to do with you.”

  “Let me guess, you voted to have me eliminated?”

  “I was the one who would have to kill you, I wasn’t allowed to vote.”

  “Good to know.” John eyed Augie's ever-present spear. “ As long as we’re talking about secrets, what about the message in the Primers? That princess.“

  “She feared the coming of Moloch’s devils and created an order of mages to carry on the traditions in secret. Most of them died during the plague, the black death, during the dark ages. They made an effort to rebuild and were betrayed by the Knights Templar. Fortunately, they never got a Primer. Most of them were hidden under the Temple Mount in Jerusalem in a secret chamber. Our founder uncovered them while looking for the Grail. He understood what had to be done and founded this group just before the Great War. I’m sorry, you ‘Americans’ call it World War 1.”

  “So, if I’m such a wild card, why are you guys allowing me to try and change things?”

  “I don’t think it will work. I think your efforts will only hasten the end. And…” Augie looked at the fire and the dancers. “Many of them are sick of living in the shadows, they need to be reminded why things have to be this way. In the end, you’ll be dead, the others will be terrified enough to walk the path, and we will have your Primer.”

  “You’ll kill me.”

  “No, John. You’ll get yourself killed. You have tampered with the very principals that have kept the world from falling into chaos. I won’t have to do anything but watch.”

  “I’m going home.” John was disgusted.

  “John?”

  “Yes.”

  “Don’t forget, I have a lot of people to protect. So, keep the secret.”

  “Augie, I was hoping this was some lost order of mages that wanted to bring about a better world.”

  “We do.”

  “No, you don’t. You want to hide, keep it all for yourself, and ignore your responsibility.” John walked away.

  “You’re not one to talk, John.” Muttered Augie.

  Chapter 6

  John stepped into his apartment from the sands of the outback and felt disgusted with himself. He had assumed that Augie and his group were aimed at some higher goal than other mages, but they weren’t. It made John angry that he hadn’t been able to uncover the truth before the stupid trial and party. It had wasted time that he could have done something better with.

  Frustrated, he unplugged his cell phone from its charger and winced when he saw ten text messages and three waiting voice mails. Before reading any of them or checking who they were from, John sent Radha a text message so that she would know he was home and safe.

  The first few messages were from Radha and had a frantic tone to them, with many of the words miss-typed. John got the idea that someone had shown up looking for him and scared Radha, not much else. There were other messages from Deanna about their project, but they were much less important to John than Radha’s safety. He thumbed several buttons and called her.

  “Hello?” She sounded sleepy.

  “I just got home and read your messages, are you okay?”

  “John, I missed you.”

  “I missed you too, what happened?
”

  “This guy showed up at my internship and asked about you and the Primer. He had an English accent and was really creepy.”

  “He just asked questions and wandered off?”

  “No, he left me a number and said to have you call him. I texted it to you.”

  “I’ll take a look at it, maybe I can-“

  “Eric is tracking it.”

  “As in Conrad and Eric?”

  “Yeah, I called him, and he had some people pick me up. He flew into town yesterday.”

  “Where did you tell them I was at?”

  “I said you were out of town, but I didn’t say where. I didn’t know what else to say.” Radha’s voice tightened slightly.

  “It’s all right. I’ll tell them… something.”

  “Did you pass your test?”

  “Yeah, it was miserable and hot.”

  “What’s the rest of the group like?”

  “It’s hard to explain.” In the back of John’s mind, he clearly heard Augie making threats to protect the secrets of his group. John had to do what he could to keep Radha safe, even if it meant lying to her or keeping secrets.

  “I need to get back to sleep anyway. Call me later?”

  “Try and stop me.”

  “I love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  John sat slowly on the corner of his bed. There was a growing hollow in the pit of his stomach. John hoped it was just a reaction to drinking poorly filtered water and not fear of the conversation he was about to have with Conrad. John had been careful not to tell Conrad and Eric about Augustus and his merry band, they would have been rightfully concerned about it. As it was, there were too many players on the field and loyalties were getting confusing, to say nothing of people's goals. At least it wasn’t as bad as it had been before their little revolution. No challenges had been called against anyone lately, and there was a surprising amount of support from other mages. That would all melt away if it were suddenly revealed that John had been working with another group that wanted them to fail and fall to violence. John was not the leader, not even close, but people had a clear sense that he worked for or with Conrad, and that was enough.

  John swore under his breath as he scrolled through his contacts to Conrad’s number.

  “I’m sorry I can’t come to the phone right now, please leave a name and number where I can reach you.” Conrad’s voice had an ‘I hate talking to machines’ tone to it.

  “It’s John, thanks for letting Eric look after Radha. I’m back in Chicago, give me a call when you can.” John thumbed the red button and ended the call with a sense of relief. It was early in the morning, so Deanna would either be about to go to sleep or just getting up. John dialed her number from memory, he felt it was safer not to store it on his phone, for a lot of reasons. It only rang twice before she answered.

  “Where the hell have you been?” There was no hiding the frustration in her voice.

  “I told you I had to be out of town for a few days. So what-“

  “Lie to me again about why you are working on this computer program.”

  “What?”

  “Tell me again why you are working on this, or I’m done.”

  “Why? What happened?” John wondered if she had finally found something.

  “If I have to repeat it…”

  “All right, I can’t tell you the whole truth. Suffice it to say the FBI is involved in it, and I have to keep secrets.” Not a total lie. “I found parts of the equation, and it got me into a lot of trouble, but I need to solve it so I can figure out what it means. If people knew I was still working on it, then I’d be in trouble, and so would you.” There was no way John was going to tell Deanna about magic, mages, and everything. She was smart, perhaps brilliant, and very much an outspoken rebel soul, a volatile combination. Was this how other people felt dealing with him?

  “You goddamned jerk! Do you mean to tell me that I have unencrypted files on my hard drive that the FBI is looking for? Had I known, I would have kept my machine offline or stored them externally, and I sure as hell wouldn’t have been googling data sets. How much trouble can I get in?”

  “Not much with the FBI since I’m working with them. Other people, you’re better off not knowing.”

  “Whose your handler?”

  “My what?”

  “You work for the FBI, then whose your handler and are you getting paid? Are you doing contractor work, or what?”

  “I can’t tell you who my contact is, and she’s not my handler, it’s more complicated than that.”

  “Is the pay complicated?”

  “I offered to pay you more, and you refused. If you’ve changed your mind, I’d be happy to pay up.”

  “Good because it’s gotten creepy, and you’ve let the FBI out of the bag. Jerk.”

  “Fine, I’m a jerk. Now, what were you saying about googling data sets, and things getting creepy?”

  “I don’t want to talk about it on an open line now that You’ve told me all this.”

  “Deanna, come on-“

  “Meet me this afternoon in the corner office.” Deanna hung up.

  John showered, trying to wash the sand and frustration off before going to bed. He didn’t think he would fall asleep quickly, but a soft mattress can work magic after three nights in the wilderness.

  Chapter 7

  As John rode the red line south, he texted Radha to let her know he would meet her for dinner as promised. He put his phone back in his coat and enjoyed the fact that the L was more or less empty. Too often, he had to fight for a seat or simply stand until he made it to the Jackson stop where he had to switch to the blue line. It was a stop favored by performers and street musicians of every variety and caliber, so it was always loud and frequently crowded. He went down the dirty concrete stairs. Through the white-tiled tunnel that usually stank of urine or feces, and occasionally hosted a few homeless souls, before going up another set of steep dirty steps. John thought of this part of his trip as the tunnel crawl. At least he only had a few stops after this one to get to UIC and the computer lab.

  The computer lab was more or less what you would expect it to look like. There were long rows of tables with computers chained to them, students staring at screens, typing, and many struggling to stay on task. There was seldom if ever a time when the labs were empty if the door was unlocked, there were three or four people perched on chairs working. It was not in the corner of the building, nor was Deanna’s “office.” Her desk was an L shaped monster leftover from some cold war. Someone had attempted to build a bomb-proof desk to protect valuable librarians in the event of a nuclear sneak attack. The piles of papers and computer parts that shifted across its surface in slow glacial speeds hid everything except for what was used daily. John suspected that if Deanna didn’t get up to get coffee once in a while, she would be lost to the tide of parts and paper.

  “All right, I’m here. Can you please tell me why you are so freaked out?” John tried not to sound frustrated, but the nap had not been enough rest.

  “Yeah, hang on.” Deanna reached into a desk drawer and dug around as she did so John watched the dragon tattoo on her arm twist and dance. It ran the full length of her right arm and vanished up the sleeve of her shirt. Deanna pulled out a smallish plastic box with dials and antenna sticking out one side. John didn’t need to see the pattern to know that it was homemade and know that it was most likely illegal. Deanna flipped a switch, and John watched as the box flooded the room in irregular blue patterns. It was a radio jammer. John considered the fact that he might not be paranoid enough.

  “I don’t think you need that.” John pulled over a chair and sat as close to the desk as he dared.

  “I don’t give a damn what you think. You didn’t tell me the truth, and I doubt you ever will.” Deanna whispered harshly.

  “It’s not a big deal-“

  “Yeah, act all casual about the FBI and ‘other people’ not being happy about our project. Tell me agai
n-“

  “Shut the hell up and tell me what you found.” John said sharply.

  “I ran your little math formula, and it spit out some crazy data sets again, nothing really interesting, or so I thought.” Deanna turned the monitor so John could see and opened a text file that had several pages of seemingly random numbers. “It then crashed again, crashed my whole machine, I was lucky to pull this out of the buffered memory. I decided to take a different approach and started searching on the internet for big chunks of the data. I figured maybe someone else had something similar.”

  “You must have gotten a couple billion hits.”

  “Yes, and no. After getting nothing, I ran a search for the most complete part of the formula we have, and some of the data set it created.” Deanna opened another file that was archived on her desktop. “This is from research into M theory-“

  “M what?”

  “For a math major, you don’t know much, do you? Do you even go to class?”

  “No, I spend most of my time wandering the outback dealing with Luddites.”

  “The basic theory is that all matter is made up of vibrating energy as it moves through 11 dimensions, string theory. There are like 5 different equations that work for strings, but not with each other or in all places. Some of those strings are parts of larger objects, membranes. That is M theory, it points to the possibility that all the equations don’t make sense because they are smaller parts of the whole. One aspect of this theory is that we could be living in a space created by three membranes while reality is much bigger. So your little math toy is describing parts of a formula that solves huge sections of these equations! This is Nobel prize type work here!” Deanna was struggling not to shout.

  “And that’s creepy?”

  “I found a lot of other stuff in there too.”

  “Such as?”

  “Huge sections of Pi that match number for number, and references to god.”

  “Huh?”

  “I did an extensive search and found that there are a lot of people doing numerology work on a lot of religious texts, like all of them. No one text matched completely, but every text had similar numbers that showed up in the same pattern.” Deanna opened several pages with color-coded numbers highlighted and arranged them so John could see that they were in the same order.