Dusts of Creation (Confederation Reborn Book 7)

by Bernard Schaffer

  Saris stopped walking and folded his hands behind his back, waiting for the man to finish speaking.

  "That is Brother Kenham," Lugan whispered. "His numbers have grown. When I left, there were but twenty who followed him."

  "Mother, is your son a sinner?" Brother Kenham said, aiming his finger at the women in the crowd. "Son, is your mother impure? Stand up now and declare your faith, for otherwise, doom is your eternal reward! Now, in the name of mak'rut, I command any who are impure to make themselves known!"

  People in the crowd took notice first of Lugan, and then of the odd-looking man beside him. They spoke fearfully in low tones, but would not interrupt the sermon. Soon, Brother Kenham noticed their whispers and stopped abruptly, looking out over the crowd to see what everyone was looking at. His eyes centered on Lugan and he smiled. "As you can see, the will of mak'rut is all. I have commanded the impure to appear, and there one stands."

  He looked then at Saris and his face froze. "Who is this?"

  Saris addressed the group and said, "My name is Commander Saris of the ICSS Endeavor."

  There was barely-concealed anger in the man's voice then, "And what, exactly, are you doing here?"

  "I have come on a mission of peace and exploration."

  Kenham turned his gaze on Lugan, "You have come with one who is no longer welcome here. One who has turned from the path, and been cast out."

  Saris looked at Lugan briefly and said, "It is my understanding that the basis of your purity law is found in an illness that struck your crew during space travel."

  "That is when mak'rut first showed me the path, in order to save our people," Kenham said. "The illness was a result of impure filth like that one! His very presence here threatens us!"

  "On the contrary," Saris said calmly. "Based on Lugan's description of the symptoms of the illness, I have surmised that Acer's Disease was the most-likely cause. I am curious though, vaccines for that disease have existed for centuries. No one in your crew should have been affected."

  The people in the crowd slowly turned to look at Brother Kenham, who shook his head quickly and said, "The Great Deceiver's poisons will not be spread among the people who serve mak'rut. The righteous refuse to be subjected to such abuses!"

  "Acer's Disease is preventable," Saris said. "Had your children received the inoculation, they would be alive now. That is simply a fact."

  The crowd stirred at Saris' words, with the phrase "Acer's Disease" being whispered throughout. Brother Kenham stepped back slightly as they turned their heads to him, and he shouted, "Lies! Every word he speaks are lies! Does mak'rut not say that you know the impure by the company they keep? These two are agents of the Deceiver! Any who is swayed by them will burn for all eternity! That is the law!"

  Saris was about to speak, but he felt Lugan brush past him, stepping forward. His voice rang out with a strength and clarity that Saris had not heard before, "Brother Kenham speaks of law, but it is unlike any law I have ever encountered in any of my years of study. Gravity is a law. Motion is a law. Reflection is a law. They are provable. Demonstrable. Quantifiable." Lugan raised his finger at Kenham, mimicking the preacher, and said, "The same cannot be said for what falls from his mouth."

  A great stir erupted from the audience, some shouting for Lugan and Saris to be seized, and others shouting for Brother Kenham to explain why no one ever researched the diseases of space travel. They fell silent when Saris raised his portable scanner and aimed it toward the cavern wall, shining a bright geoformation light that revealed the glittering veins of rare metals beneath the stone.

  Saris pointed at the cavern wall and said, "You are surrounded with a great source of infinite power, and you do not realize it. There are ways to harness this power, and provide you with the paradise that you seek. However, you will not earn it sitting in the darkness, hoping it comes to you."

  He snapped the portable scanner off, filling the room with darkness once more. As he and Lugan turned to leave, many of the crowd had gone over to the sides of the cavern and bent close to them, peering in wonder as they discussed all of the great many possibilities that awaited. Already, many of them were debating how to use the power of the cavern in the purposes mak'rut intended.

  "They will never abandon their faith," Lugan said sadly, once they were out of sight.

  "Perhaps they will learn to incorporate their faith with their learning, as opposed to doing the opposite. They will need you to guide them."

  Lugan turned to look at him, "It would be better if you could stay and help guide them with me."

  Saris shook his head, "I must return Doctor Kelley to the Endeavor. In fact, I believe I now have a plan on how to return everyone to their appropriate time. I will need your help, Lugan. I am sure I can return myself and the doctor to our time, but in order to return Captain Kirn, it will take quite some effort on your part."

  Lugan laughed and said, "I would do anything you asked, Saris. I think I owe you. May I ask you a question?"

  "Of course."

  "Your people, do they have anything like purity laws?"

  "No," Saris said. "Perhaps long ago, but not since—"

  His voice trailed off as Lugan turned to him, green eyes flashing wildly, just inches away from Saris' face. Lugan reached up and pressed his fingertips to the Valkar's cheek, leaning forward as the two of them pressed their lips together and embraced in the dark.

  6.

  Captain Kirn pushed past the shattered glass of the case and reached for the portable scanner mounted in the center of the display. He went to remove it, only to find that it was attached to a long cord that ran down through the case, all the way to the floor. He pulled the scanner free and inspected the cable, seeing it was a kind of makeshift power supply, mounted to the casing.

  Kirn unsnapped the cable and switched the device on, amazed to see it was still operational. The voice that came through the speaker was pleasantly familiar. "Captain Kirn, if you are listening to this message, it means you have arrived at the temple and recovered the scanner I left for you approximately two hundred years ago," Saris said. "And that the device is still functional."

  Kirn smiled as a map appeared on the scanner's display. "Please follow the map to these coordinates, and await further instruction."

  He walked past the moaning guards as he exited the temple, searching for any sign of Minister Aig, but she'd run off when the melee started. It's better off, he decided. She looked too mean to try and fight.

  He wound through the woods, following the map through a cluster of trees toward the blinking red dot on the screen. Finally, he came to a large tree, so big at the trunk that he could not have wrapped his arms around it. Saris' voice came on again, "Embedded within the trunk of the tree is a metal case that was placed inside when the tree was a sapling. Use the scanner to locate the case, and blast the tree open with a low-level burst from your pistol."

  Kirn did as he was instructed, zeroing in on the exact location and depth of the case, getting a good picture of it with the scanner. He adjusted the settings on his pistol and pointed it at the tree, turning his head as he fired, spraying thick splinters and bark in every direction.

  Inside the tree, burrowed deep within the pale wood, he saw the metal case and began digging it out. He pulled and pried until his fingers were bloody and sore, but finally he'd wrenched the thing free and was able to open it. Inside the case, he found a dark glass ball, exactly the same as the one that had brought him there.

  "Saris, you magnificent bastard," he whispered aloud.

  He ran the rest of the way to the altar, leaping over fallen branches and fighting his way through the tangled shrubbery in his path. He could see the altar ahead, surrounded by hundreds of colonists now. Word of his arrival, it seemed, had spread.

  At the center of the altar stood Minister Aig, her arms raised high as she proclaimed, "True followers of mak'rut, join me in the destruction of this false idol! Come forth with all the strength you possess and remove this stain f
rom our glorious world!"

  Kirn was about to draw his pistol when he saw several of the worshippers run forward, thinking they'd destroy his only chance of getting home, but instead they seized the Minister and dragged her screaming from the altar. The worshippers shouted joyously upon seeing him, but he had to press the scanner to his ear to hear Saris say, "Remove the third brick beside the portal and you will see a long cable. Plug that into the orb, and you will be transported back to where we departed. Good luck, Captain."

  He headed up the altar steps, focused on searching for the third brick. It was colored slightly different than the others, and he found that he was able to lift it free. There was a cable there, exactly as Saris had described there would be. As he reached down to insert the cable into the orb, he looked back and saw all of the worshippers were on their knees, bowing before him. Three of them were even holding Minister Aig down, forcing her to bow, despite her sobbing.

  Kirn stood up and said, "Release that woman."

  "Kirn the Redeemer has shown mercy," someone droned, and Aig was immediately released. She leapt to her feet and ran into the woods, desperate to get away. One of the men turned to run after her and Kirn shouted for them to stop.

  "Please, Kirn! Bless us! Forgive us for worshipping mak'rut! Forgive us for following Minister Aig!"

  "Bless us! Bless us!"

  Kirn looked out over the sea of tear-stricken faces and he shouted, "Get up, all of you!"

  They leapt to their feet with near military precision, snapping to and waiting for his next command. Kirn scowled at them, "Look at yourselves, so eager to replace one form of worship with another. Where are your free thinkers? Where are your scientists? Your philosophers?"

  People in the crowd groaned in dismay that they had failed him, grabbing the collars of their jumpsuits and yanking at them, trying to rip them free. Kirn waved his hand to stop them and was about to speak when the scanner beeped and Saris said, "Captain, if you have not departed yet, be advised that the scanner will soon become inoperative. You have activated it after an extended hibernation, and it has limited time remaining."

  Kirn sighed and said, "Listen to me carefully. I am not what you were lead to believe. None of this is what you were lead to believe. For your entire lives, you have been living in a delusion. There are other worlds, other places and beings far beyond anything you can imagine. You've wasted centuries on this world burying your head in the sand, trying to enrich yourselves with nothing more than an illusion. If any of you want to serve someone, serve your own people. I have been to every corner of this galaxy and I have yet to find a more worthy calling than that."

  He stepped backwards onto the disk and moved to plug the cable into the orb. "Where do we begin?" the young man called Vahan cried out. "Tell us!"

  Kirn looked around at the woods and sky and said, "Begin with all of this. Try and understand it. Be curious about this world and what lies beyond it, and before you know it, we'll be seeing each other again."

  He plugged the orb in and felt the portal opening up beneath him, rumbling as it prepared to activate.

  "See each other again?" Vahan turned to say to his father.

  "Yes," his father nodded knowingly as the altar flashed with light and stood empty. He turned to the rest of the worshippers and shouted, "Kirn the Redeemer now waits for us on the other side of the sky, and we must find our way there, no matter what it takes!"

  Kirn rematerialized in the cavern, deep below the surface of Sirvat, standing in front of the device that had sent him back, just moments before. He immediately released the glass orb and jumped off the pad, elated to be back. He saw medical staff from the Endeavor huddled over Doctor Kelley on a portable stretcher, their equipment glowing and humming in the dark. Lieutenant Cho was standing next to Kelley, saying, "If you'd stop complaining so much, this would all be over."

  Kelley turned to see the Captain walking up and said, "What the hell took you so long?"

  Kirn smiled and said, "I was surrounded by a flock of worshippers who were willing to do anything I asked. It was nice for a change."

  "Well don't get used to it," Kelley said, wincing as one of the nurses moved his leg aside. "Be careful down there!" he snapped.

  "What did you do?"

  "I fell off a ladder. Broke my damn back."

  Kirn looked down at the medical scanner in the nurse's hand, "How badly?"

  "Just a few small fractures, Captain," the nurse said. "He'll be up on his feet in no time."

  "Easy for you to say," Kelley said. "As ship's Chief Medical Officer, I'm recommending myself be put on two weeks of Shore Leave at the nearest K'oryiin pleasure resort. No exceptions."

  Kirn patted the doctor on the shoulder and said, "I'll see what I can do. Get some rest." He found Saris standing near the walls of the cavern, collecting data with a portable scanner. Kirn handed him the one he'd brought back through the portal and said, "I believe you left this for me."

  Saris took the scanner and checked it to see if it activated, but the screen remained blank. "Just as I suspected. Hopefully, we will be able to restore it on the Endeavor. Its records of the time that elapsed during its stay on Sirvat will be most illuminating."

  "Have we located the colonists yet? I'd like to get us and anyone else off this planet as soon as possible."

  Saris shook his head, "There are no colonists on Sirvat, Captain. Whether they used the portal to head back to an earlier time, I am not certain. We have no way of knowing at this point."

  "Based on what I saw, I would not be surprised if they managed to make themselves extinct," Kirn said.

  "That is, unfortunately, the most likely scenario, given their inclination toward superstition rather than fact."

  Kirn folded his arms across his chest, staring hard at Saris, until the First Officer noticed. Saris stopped scanning the wall and said, "Is there something else, Captain?"

  Kirn's eyebrows raised, "Something else? You mean beside the fact that you told those people I was a God? Beside the fact that you lied to an entire population and convinced them I was there to fulfil some kind of prophecy?"

  Saris nodded slightly and said, "It seemed the only feasible way to ensure they would leave the scanner and time portal undisturbed until your arrival."

  From behind them, Doctor Kelley barked at Lieutenant Cho, "If you think I'm teleporting anywhere after all that, you're out of your damned mind!"

  "How else are we going to get you back up to the surface, Doctor Kelley?" Cho said.

  Kirn flipped open his commlink and said, "Kirn to Endeavor, teleport Doctor Kelley and the medical staff immediately."

  "Aye sir," came the response.

  "Like hell—" Kelley said, his voice digitizing as the teleportation field activated around him, distorting him into multiple, shimmering fragments, and he was gone.

  Kirn shook his head and said, "We are never going to get him on a teleporter ever again."

  Unimpressed, Saris turned back to the wall, scanning it for the remaining information he would need to study later. Kirn watched him for a moment and said, "So what happened to you after I left? How did you wind up in the past?"

  "I activated the portal in the same fashion you had, hoping to find you. Instead, we arrived shortly after the initial colonists who settled the planet."

  "That's fascinating, Saris," Kirn said. "I look forward to reading your report."

  Saris nodded and said, "I will have it to you as soon as I am finished with my analysis."

  Kirn clapped him on the shoulder and said, "It was brave of you to do what you did. Thank you for figuring out a way to rescue me. I don't know what I would have done if I'd been stuck in the past with those people."

  Saris looked down the long, dark corridor to the opening that had once served as Lugan's dwelling. For a moment, he pictured him standing at the entrance, staring back at him. Saris aimed his scanner back at the wall and said, "Nor do I, Captain. Nor do I."

  Authors' Dedication

  To
Alan Turning and Bill Nye -

  Who've each fought the good fight, in their own way.

  LLAP,

  Bernard and Tony

  Author's Note by Bernard Schaffer

  The greatest thing about science fiction is that it allows us to take difficult, sensitive subjects and reframe them into less threatening, more user-friendly concepts. Casual types will read these stories and enjoy them on the surface level, while those who wish to dig a little deeper will find more challenging subtext. It's like that in the best science fiction, and it's a tradition we're proud to carry on in Confederation Reborn.

  It's probably no great leap to discern what themes we were playing with in this story. There are plenty of clues. Several character names are direct shots across the bow, and even the title of the story itself is a clear indicator of the kind of groups we're taking those shots at.

  This is something, I think, Gene Rodenberry would have approved of. Gene's own humanist views influenced me heavily as a child, without me or my parents even realizing it. The more I was told I was not allowed to question certain beliefs, the more I observed a sense of panic in the people trying to protect unsupportable ideas. That didn't seem very logical.

  Star Trek, in a very real way, laid the foundation for my personal belief system, and has continued to influence the way I view politics, religion, science, and humanity. It likely will for the remainder of my life. I can't think of a better legacy than to inspire others to pursue truth instead of fable, discovery over parable, and to always look forward to the future rather than cling to the ways of old.