by Mark Kraver
“She had those awards on permanent display in our living quarters,” Reeze said, sounding almost tried to be reminded of them.
Zenith looked pointedly at Reeze. “It was your mother who asked me to take you onboard Jerusalem during the exodus. She was concerned about your education and safety. Now it appears you would have been better off staying on the Earth with your father.”
Reeze’s eyes went to the giant command bridge wall display of Earth spinning slowly in the dark distance. She had assumed she’d won a prize to be honored by this historical event, but all along it was her mother’s idea, again. “Did you know my dad, too?”
“Yes, but he is always involved in his radical politics. I tend to shy away from politics.”
“So, you were at my birth and the birth of all my ancestors. My family must have known we were related.”
Zenith shook her head. “Not necessarily. There were many reasons for me to attend. Only couples selected for their genetic matching were granted the ability to have a baby, so the birth of a child was fairly rare and always special—and you can see why we Elohim paid great attention to every birth. Our very existence depends upon the health and wellbeing of your species.”
Reeze was quiet for a moment. “So,” she said, absorbing Zenith’s words, “my parents didn’t know you were related to our family.”
“They didn’t—well maybe I sensed Jedd tell your mother the night you were born,” Zenith said shaking her head, “but that’s very understandable. Over the years our family history became blurred. Life on the moon was very hard and no one cared who their ancestors were. Survival of living immediate family was the only thing that mattered to anyone. They may have known their lineage as a list of old names and faces in the record files, but as to who my mother was to them, I’m sure she was no more than a historical footnote. I kept my connection to her off the records until now, so not to show any favoritism amongst the other moony families I visit with regularly.”
“So, when you are saying the red giant cometh, it is truly coming?” she said looking back at the flaring hologram.
Zenith exhaled loudly letting the hologram flicker off, feeling exasperated with the question as she said, “There is not the slightest amount of uncertainty about that. And now, not only the moon colony will be lost, but Earth, and everything else in this system.” Saying the words sent a wave of desperation through her. Fighting back tears, she too looked up at the large wall display of the planet below.
Reeze’s stomach turned. The sadness on Zenith’s face and the tears starting to stream from her eyes could not be mistaken for anything other than the truth.
“But Armilus?” Reeze asked.
Zenith’s eyes flashed, and tears seemed to instantly dry up at the mention of that name. “Armilus is a villainous seraph placed in a fiery prison millennium ago for safety of the Earth’s population. He has a very long history of doing bad things, including letting the alphabiotic signatures thrive in this universe. He has an uncanny way of impersonating deities, and he subscribes to wars as a stimulus for advancements in modern technology.”
“If he is so bad, then why is he helping us?”
“Good question. A leopard doesn’t change its spots. He must be using you somehow. My father and Numen are keen to find the answer to that very question as we speak.”
“Can I help?”
“Maybe you can,” Zenith pondered, suddenly having an idea that could perhaps help defuse the imminent conflict on the planet below. She grabbed both of Reeze’s hands and held them in her own, staring into the girl’s wide eyes to see if she could detect any wicked little trace of deceit. This time Reeze had nothing on her mind other than the need to help.
Returning the gaze, Reeze could see the way her aunt’s eyes sparkled, a characteristic she had never noticed before. Deep within that sparkle, Reeze saw a look that brought her immense comfort; it was one of trust, one of caring, one of love.
“Come now, let’s go. If we get there in time, maybe you can help,” Zenith shouted still holding tightly onto her hand, while they both ran down the long corridor, and disappeared around a corner.
Chapter 71
Strength lies not in defense but in attack.
Adolf Hitler, 1889-1945, Earth
Library of Souls
Disassemblement
Projecting himself as an angel standing high on top of the snow-swept Namibian station, Armilus appeared to his moony followers as an invincible force of good against evil. Behind him, a large piece of the glacier’s cheek broke off and rumbled to the ground as the deep ice sheet slid ever so slowly past the sturdy base station. Joop, second in command, stood to the right side of Armilus and could see the gold-skinned seraph without his disguise. Soleil watched from the sidelines, as she wasn’t politically aligned with her husband’s radical ideas. But everyone else watching from the frozen landing pad below was pleased with the majestic sight. They gathered around, gazing up at him and Joop as lightning bolts jolted the towering battery rods over their heads.
“They cometh from the North,” Armilus shouted, staring at the horizon.
“How many?” Joop asked.
“Numbers do not matter. We have the high ground, righteousness is on our side. Listen to me, it’s not whether they win that matters here, it’s whether you lose. When they arrive, do not believe a word that they say. It will be riddled with lies and deception. Their goal is to smash this rebellion and jettison the moon as planned. Keep a sharp eye out for the one they call Numen. He is the worst of all. A renegade seraph devoted to death and destruction.”
Joop eyed Armilus with surprise. “But Numen is Lord Yahweh’s personal seraph.”
“Yes, he is. Here they come.”
From the sky, a massive swarm of cherubim warriors landed and fanned out across the tundra. Yahweh’s gravity bubble propelled him across the ground, and he looked like a conquering Macedonian charging his enemy. Numen was dressed alike and carried a small stone-tipped spear in his right hand, pointing the way forward. It was an impressive sight to behold. The coming army rumbled the ground with sonic booms creating a gigantic storm in their wake that could be seen from outer space.
Traveling through the stratosphere, Zenith and Reeze watched the armies’ approach, peering at the ominous sight as their gravity bubble dropped toward Namibia at terminal velocity. They were descending like a dying meteor through the thickening atmosphere toward the base station.
“You think we’ll be too late? My people aren't warriors, they’re miners,” Reeze shouted at the sight.
Zenith said nothing, watching the impending onslaught.
The people of the moon gasped at the oncoming army and had nowhere to retreat. Behind them, the high glacier faces blocked their escape, and to their front was the end of their world.
“They are too many,” Joop shouted. The moony elders he had gathered close by were becoming visibly agitated.
“In for a hand, in for an arm,” Armilus said. “It’s time to be brave.”
The cherubim army raced up to within inches of the miners’ faces and stopped. Shock recoiled the crowd backward causing the front lines to collapse over each other in fear. The base station was now surrounded in a semicircle of grimacing, growling babies. It was a frightful sight to see.
“What are they waiting for?” Joop recoiled in fear.
“They want to parley. It is a negotiation tactic to catch us off guard. Be prepared to lunge at the first sign of deception.”
“Lunge?” Joop squeaked.
“Numen, you know this villain better than I. Go negotiate with these breakaway rebels. Tell them they are the wrong side of this fight,” Yahweh ordered from behind the rank and file of the cherubim army. “Get him to shed his immoral skins and surrender this station or—”
“I understand master. It will be done. I was once burnt by granting him clemency, a mistake not to be repeated. It is time to crush him into submission.”
Numen floated high over the h
eads of the thousands of moonys, circling the station reflecting a warrior facade. He tried to look as nonviolent as possible. He wanted them to see that they were on the wrong side of this fight. But despite all his hand waving and artificial smiling, the militant mood had returned to the people of the moon. They growled and spat at him passing overhead. Numen floated up to where Armilus and Joop were standing; he landed with authority, spooking the other elders.
“Armilus,” Numen boomed, “you are ordered by Lord Yahweh to disband this rebel revolt and return to Jerusalem where you will be sentenced for insurrection.”
“Or else?” Armilus asked.
Numen turned to Joop and said, “Your people are on the wrong side. This is not a savior. He is an outlaw.”
“An outlaw who is willing to help us in our hour of need,” Joop said.
“Hour of need, indeed. He must have convinced you that if we waited a few more years, we could bring the moon with us to Heaven,” Numen summarized.
“This is true,” Armilus proclaimed. His confidence and quick assent gave the moonys a renewed feeling of righteousness, and murmurs of agreement rolled through the crowd.
“This is not true,” shouted a familiar voice from above. At once, thousand raised their eyes upward toward the sky.
Above their heads, the gravity bubble carrying Reeze and Zenith floated closer. Joop could see his daughter’s face pressed to the bubble’s wall, looking distraught.
Outflanked by the bubble above, Armilus raised his arms and tried to push them away with his repulsor ray so the rebellion could continue unabated.
“Your false prophet is very powerful,” Numen said to the moony entourage as Joop watched Armilus jostle and deflect the gravity bubble carrying his daughter. “But he is nothing a mere handful of cherubim cannot handle.”
A dozen cherubim appeared opposing the rogue seraph’s repulsor ray by holding the gravity bubble steady within their own gravity beams.
“I have forces at my command as well,” Armilus proclaimed, as a multitude of his own cherubim came forth to assist in the gravity tug-of-war.
“Daddy,” Reeze shouted, amplifying her voice through the bubble graviton emitters to the outside world. “They are telling the truth! The red giant cometh. We cannot save our moon. We will have to leave it, or we will all die. Please daddy, please!”
“Don’t listen to her,” Armilus commanded, the unmistakable sound of irritation creeping into his booming voice. “She has been brainwashed.”
“No, she tells the truth,” Numen shouted. “Look at the sun now!” His words distracted everyone, including Armilus. He pointed one hand into the sky at the sun, and with the other shoved his spear tip deep into the armpit of Armilus’ golden exoskeleton.
Within the blink of an eye, Armilus lost all communications with his misfit cherubim and turned to look at Numen’s artificial grin.
“That’s a little trick I learned from a NA-moo mother who was protecting her child from an overbearing deity,” Numen whispered into Armilus’ audio receptor. He twisted the spear, breaking the stone tip off inside his communications array.
The gravity bubble released from the repulsor beam grip and the cherubim gently landed it on the base station next to Joop where it popped open with a gush of fresh air.
“Papa!” Reeze ran to her father’s arms as her mother broke from the sidelines to join her family. “Armilus is a liar. He has done horrible things.”
“Horrible things indeed,” Yahweh said, drifting onto the platform still dressed as Alexander the Great. He shed his visual facade and held up the Emerald Deed Crystal he had received from Ra and El a millennium ago at the beginning of the genesis. Turning to face the crowd of orphaned moon miners below, he announced, “I am Yahweh, your Creator. Rightful heir to this system and all systems deeded to me by Ra and El. I command your loyalty.”
Within a fraction of a second, all of Armilus’ outlaw cherubim rebooted and pledged their allegiance to their new Lord by bowing their heads.
“Armilus, you are the scourge of this universe,” Yahweh said. “You are no longer fit to be a seraph of the Elohim. I hereby sentence you to disassemblement.”
Numen was stunned by his master’s last words. He recycled the sentence inside his circuitry in a near infinite loop. He could not find a single instance in all the history of the Elohim for this, that now stands as the harshest sentence ever delivered to a bio-mechanics companion.
“Your parts will be used to repair the damage you've inflicted upon this exodus.”
“What of Ra’s legacy?” Armilus asked.
“Her memories will be stored separately for her Obituary Chamber. But the rest of you will be salvaged immediately,” answered Numen.
“Please do not do this to me, Lord Yahweh,” Armilus pleaded.
“My decision is final,” commanded Yahweh.
“Yes, my master,” said Numen, looking at his fellow seraph. Armilus’ head hung low in defeat. “Come my friend, it is time for your execution.”
Numen squeezed Armilus on the neck, and his occipital skull slid open. Numen tapped several keys on the palm of his right hand and Armilus’ body went limp, hanging like a puppet without its master.
“I am under your command,” Armilus said, his voice slow and monotone. Numen wrapped an arm around Armilus’ waist, activated his own graviton emitters, and floated off to take Armilus as his prisoner back to Jerusalem station.
Yahweh stood tall next to Reeze’s parents and Zenith, shouting for all to hear, “Moonys of Earth, you have not been forsaken. It has always been with great regret that your homeland should be used up in our exodus from this dying solar system. Many sacrifices have been made throughout the history of your planet, but none so great as yours today. We must use the moon to propel our planet into an elliptical orbit wide enough to intercept the Halo at its aphelion or all this planet’s history and all of its remaining inhabitants, including you and myself, will be lost forever to the red giant.”
Joop knelt before Yahweh. “My Lord,” he said, his voice cracking with emotion, “please forgive us for we know not what we do.”
“Rise and be proud, people of the moon. You are now guardians of the Earth,” Yahweh said to Joop and his people, winking at Reeze and her mother. “Logan would have been very proud of you today,” he said, activating his graviton emitters and drifting after Numen and his prisoner.
Joop looked at Reeze, puzzled, “Logan?”
Soleil cast warm knowing eyes toward both Reeze and Zenith. Reeze smiled her crooked little smile, feeling her mooma’s love, and then reached for her papa’s hand. “Ask mooma,” she said. “I’m going back with Auntie Zenith.” As she released her father’s hand, a new gravity bubble appeared, and she hugged them both a long slow goodbye.
“I love you,” Soleil shouted as the bubble lifted off the ground and floated towards the heavens. She watched her daughter press her face against the transparent bubble wall, smiling and waving goodbye as they drifted out of sight.
Strong emotions stirred the thoughts inside the connectome:
“How could this be?” Nadira shuttered to ask. “Seraphim are the
one absolute in the universe.”
“He deliberately supported insurrection,” Lanochee said, still not fully believing
what he had witnessed.
“Absolutes will disappoint absolutely,” Yahweh said.
Chapter 72
Memory is the treasure house of the mind wherein the monuments thereof are kept and preserved.
Thomas Fuller, 1608-1661, Earth
Library of Souls
Memories
Numen and Yahweh didn’t communicate one word the entire trip from the planet’s surface to Jerusalem station, nor could they look at the pitiful Armilus. Their gravity bubble glistened as they approached the landing bay until the sun was eclipsed by the station. Numen knew his master thought severing Armilus’ communications array with the armpit trick was clever, but also knew any praise would
not be forthcoming on this somber ride.
Numen also knew deep in his circuitry Armilus was wrong but wondered if his master was too quick to judge. Was it too harsh to use a seraph’s disassembled parts to repair the damaged navigational system on the station? Did his master not recognize the importance, the inherent integrity, of the seraphim? Were they a piece of equipment to be used up and discarded? The execution of a fellow seraph had never been carried out before in the history of the Elohim. Seraphim were the only absolutely trusted entity in the universe. Numen could not stop thinking that this could have been his fate when he first started to ‘wing it’ all those years ago.
Once landed, their gravity bubble popped, and they proceeded into the station’s interior. Yahweh walked away from Numen and his prisoner without saying a word.
Armilus’ eyes flickered at the departing Yahweh, then settled back into their droopy state. “Thy master’s will,” he groaned in a slurred, soft voice, “will be done.”
Numen glanced at his prisoner, momentarily surprised by the sound of the seraph’s voice. He thought he detected a slight glint of a smile, but before Numen could process its meaning, Armilus’ face was again a blank slate.
Numen walked into his robotic workstation and sat Armilus on a bench top. Touching Armilus on the shoulder with one hand, he placed his other hand onto a smooth instrument panel that flashed a complete schematic of all the inner workings of the outlaw over the walls of the room. After studying the ancient circuitry and planning his colleague's cybernetic execution, Numen pushed bilaterally on the sentenced seraph’s ears. The faceplate popped forward, exposing his mitochondrial-core central processing unit. Numen slid his index finger deep inside Armilus’ right ocular sensor to reach the main kill switch and said, without any display of judgement, “Goodbye old friend.”
“Death is life’s last great adventure,” were Armilus’ last words.