by Steve M.
“Where are you?” Duvi screamed.
“I am here, but only for this moment,” came the reply.
Duvi watched as three large clear golden balls formed. A tix later they left the temple at high speed. Duvi ran towards the small box on the floor in the other room. He held it in his hand and was examining it when it activated.
He was ash in an instant.
Far away, the soldiers of Allor saw the blast. Even further away they saw their Lord God crossing the sky in his flaming chariot. Men and women on horses rode across the border. Other men and women set fires in Ceros cities and towns.
The destruction of Ceros had begun.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Ceros lands were crisscrossed with roads. The soldiers of Allor moved to the intersections of these arteries. Control the flow, control the land. The few night travelers scattered from the road upon seeing the charging soldiers in the light of the moons. But they were not chased as they expected. They were not robbed as expected. They did not die. Instead, the soldiers rode past them.
In the cities and towns, Allor’s agents used oil bombs to ignite the barracks of the religious police. As men ran from the buildings they were met with a line of archers that ended their escape. This happened simultaneously throughout the land. To observers and victims, it appeared to be chaos. But to the military mind, the madness that descended was precise, orderly, and focused. And across the Ceros lands Allor’s men and women shouted the same message in the streets.
“Devotees of Ceros, Ceros is dead. The High Priest Duvi is dead. The Grand Temple at Pyramos has been destroyed. You are free from the religious police. You are free from high tithing. Tomorrow at noon come to the center and learn of new ways, better ways.”
Most people are afraid of radical change. Some people are vested in the old ways. Some people are victims of the old ways but their victim’s role is well understood and predictable and they are experienced in the role. These were some of those that picked up their swords to fight the advancing troops of Allor. Some died that night defending something that deep down they hated.
There was no large battle with opposing armies. Ceros did not have a standing army. The religious police force was large and worked as an oppressor and soldier. As the barracks burned, as the archers dropped their foes with their arrows, the possibility of a counterattack faded.
By sunrise, Allor’s troops were at the intersection of all the roads on the western and southern side of Ceros. At the intersections of the roads, the soldiers stopped travelers and asked their name, their destination, and their occupation.
It was not long before the first Ceros priest arrived and demanded uninterrupted passage. He was taken into custody and held for Tal and The Expected.
Tal came over the border on horse, leading The Expected. The fanatics of her column talked to each other like nattering newlyweds. The conversation was much the same. How many priests would they get? Would they be injured? Would they die? Would they torture the priests before killing them? What good was being merciful with a Ceros given their history? Tal listened to the conversation behind her. She was pleased. She hoped they would still be as enthusiastic once they were ankle deep in gore.
Tal’s contingent began as hundreds on horseback. At every intersection they would grow smaller as The Expected fanned out across the land. The larger group was coming on foot. They carried the wagons of supplies, thousands of arrows with arrow makers being dropped at strategic locations along their route. And they carried wagons for the heads.
Tal had learned from Ceros the value of terror. It was a long-used strategy with its roots tracing back to Primus Earth to the times of the Brahn dynasty. For Tal, it was all about power and how to use it. But for Canto, riding beside her, it was the thrill of the kill. She was like a sport hunter in the woods, her prey was about to be flushed out into the open. But she used different means than animal calls and men with drums. Her prey would be handed over by their own, willingly in exchange for influence and power.
By noon, some of the towns began to be subdued. People stayed in their homes with their doors bolted. Crops in the bright midday sun were left unattended.
Canto left Tal at the first large city, Ulutor. The young woman with long black hair rode with her smaller team towards the city. She would meet Demos’s local commander at the still-standing temple. It was one of the temples determined to be of value and worth saving from the torch. She thought about the floors of the temple. Would the blood of the priests stain the stone? She hoped so.
As she rode, a young woman almost her age rode beside her.
“What do you wish for today?” asked Arkla with the curly hair.
“I wish for ten heads,” replied Canto with a laugh.
“What will you do with them?” Arkla asked.
“I will put them in special glass jars given to me by Allor’s scientist. And I will fill them with a special liquid that will keep them from rotting. And I will put then on the shelf near the entrance to my quarters so that every time I enter or leave I will be reminded of the wonderful feeling I felt today.”
“I have never taken a head. I look forward to it,” said Arkla.
“The first one is special, like your first time with a man. But don’t let the excitement cause you to make mistakes. Else you become pregnant with death,” Canto said with a laugh. “Always look around you before you take a head. Know how far to anyone with a sword or an arrow.”
“It will be good to get our network in place,” said Arkla as she bounced up and down, not used to riding a horse.
“My brother gave me a book. A book that taught me to read,” said Canto.
“But you already know how to read,” replied a chuckling Arkla.
“But I didn’t know the language of the book. That is what it taught me.”
“Was it a good book? Was it worth learning the language?”
“It is the most important book in history. It contains the knowledge from people that live out in the stars.”
“How did you get it?”
“One of their chariots crashed here. But let me tell you what I found in the book. It was filled with stories from other places like Earth 7. There was even one called Primus Earth. And on Primus Earth there were people that believed they had developed a way of living that was fair and just. And as a destination, the place, the society they wanted, reading about it did seem fair. No hungry people, everyone with something to do.”
“That sounds like a wonderful place,” said Arkla.
“It does,” replied Canto. “But each time these people or other people in a different place tried to put the plan into place, it failed. And I don’t mean it failed a little, but a lot. And they spent significant effort convincing their own people that it had been a success. But their people were not fooled for long and eventually they understood the truth of it.”
“That sounds horrible. What went wrong?”
“Each time they replaced old rulers with a new ruler, and each time the new rulers became as corrupt as the old leaders, just in a different way.”
“What a shame. But that won’t happen to us,” said Arkla confidently.
“And when the government realized that no one was fooled except the foolish, they did the only thing they could do to remain in power,” said Canto.
“What?”
“Abuse their own people.”
“Like the Ceros police?”
“Yes. But they had better organization than the Ceros police. They are just the corn on the toe, the burr in the saddle. But on Primus Earth they organized their abuse on a very small level. For every fifty people they had one that was part of their group. That one would be given better housing and other benefits in exchange for watching their neighbors closely and reporting those that did not recite the propaganda as their own opinion.”
“What happened to them in the end?”
“In the end people got tired of that system and t
he system of the old bosses too. They moved to something much better.”
“What is that?”
“Direct democracy.”
“Why is that better?”
“It abolishes the ruling class.”
“Do they still use it?”
“Yes, everyone carries a small device that lets them vote, and do many other things,” replied Canto.
“And this is better?”
“Yes, out among the stars this is how things are decided.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Koven and Rusa followed Tal. She had taken them deep into Ceros, now to be called New Allor. The day was filled with many things, but mostly death. Tal had presided over the execution of nearly two hundred priests before returning to her quarters.
Most priests were not afforded an opportunity to plead. Tal was immediate and final in her sentencing. “All Ceros priests must die,” she repeated as they were brought before her. Those that tried to plead had their heads taken mid-sentence. Those that didn’t were permitted a moment to prepare themselves. Tal made sure that she performed the first execution. Her sharp sword cleanly detached the head of a young priest trying to argue that he could adapt to the Cult of Allor. It rolled ear over ear a few times before it came to rest.
When she arrived back at the temple, she took off her blood-soaked robe and threw it on the floor of her quarters. She reached out and pulled the insignia of her PPS and the millions of little black metal shavings snapped away from her body and formed her shape as if on an invisible mannequin.
Koven and Rusa came into her room cloaked just as she began to wash the blood from her face. Koven marveled at such a fine-looking woman of her age. Her naked body was tight, and she had the muscular arms of a woman that did military training. She leaned over the bowl of water to rinse the last of the blood from her face. Then she went into the room with a pool and a balcony overlooking the city. She dove into the water and came back up after a long time under the surface.
Koven enjoyed looking at her and he felt himself getting aroused. If Rusa wasn’t with him he would have stayed and watched her longer. He found her striking features attractive, her dark black hair, her brown eyes, her long, thin nose. Her breasts were beginning the natural droop of age, ever so slightly.
Koven went to the table and bed and took Tal’s PPS and her comms device. He and Rusa looked for her transport device, but it wasn’t to be found. They made their way to a secluded place and then used their transport devices to return to the cruiser.
Koven was logging the tech into the inventory. Finding the model numbers and serial number on the devices is often not easy since the advent of micro printing. As he held the comms device under the microscope lens, Rusa came up behind him. She put her arms around his waist and hugged him slightly.
“Did you know that I am programmed with a hundred forty-one distinct pleasure apps?” she whispered in his ear.
“No, I didn’t,” he said as he continued to look for the serial number.
“I am capable of highly pleasurable performance in areas from anal to bondage to vaginal muscle massaging.”
“I had no idea,” he replied nervously.
“Yes. You are welcome to take advantage of these capabilities. In fact, if it would help clear your mind and thus contribute to the effectiveness of our communications, then I strongly recommend it,” she added.
“I don’t think that will be necessary,” said Koven, and regretted his words as they left his mouth. His words contradicted the physical evidence now very visible through his PPS.
“OK. If you change your mind,” she said.
“I want to go back down to the planet and wait to see if we can get other devices while they are sleeping,” Koven said. He turned and left the bridge. Rusa followed.
When they arrived, they had hoped to find everyone asleep. It wasn’t to be. There were guards running down the hall. Stomping her feet as she walked, Tal walked past them. She had an angry look on her face. Her dark blue robe was flowing as she walked, and her hood bounced slightly off of her shoulders. Koven remembered how pretty she looked in the pool. She walked within three maatars of him as he stood quietly with Rusa beside one of the large columns of the temple. If his PPS hadn’t been activated, his nose would have detected the scent of cucumbers as she passed.
“Yes, wake him up,” she ordered the woman walking beside her.
“Yes, Mother Tal,” said the woman, and ran ahead.
Koven and Rusa followed her.
Tal went into the nave of the temple. Pilgrims were permitted to wait, and at night sleep in the massive room while waiting to see Allor during his morning healing. Pilgrims didn’t bathe often and they were dirty, very dirty. Behind Tal were twenty men and women of The Expected.
“Go to the far end of the room and stop them from leaving. I’m going to search every single person in here. My sword will show no pity.”
A man in an ugly green robe yelled orders.
“First ten, go block the exits.” And the ten men and women ran to the far end of the hall.
“Something has been stolen from me,” Tal said in a loud voice, standing at the pulpit and looking down at the pilgrims. “And I intend to find it. You will all be searched. If you come forward with it now, I promise your death will be swift. Else I will cut your limbs from your body one every one hundred tox until you die. A wise person would choose the first.”
“Let’s go. Nobody is going to be asleep tonight,” said Rusa.
“Agreed,” said Koven. They made their way back through the long hallway behind the altar. They moved quickly to the side as they saw Allor and Pens walking down the hall together. Allor had the same annoyed stomp as Tal.
“There is a man that lives on the outskirts of this city, Eckly Bik,” said Allor. “He specializes in finding things. He tried for years to find me and catch me when I was a young thief,” Allor said. “He failed, but only just…several times.”
Pens motioned for one of the men walking slightly behind them.
“Make it happen. Bring him to us. ALIVE and unharmed. No chains,” said Pens to the man in the red robe, who turned around and pointed at two others to accompany him as he walked back from where they came. They would go to the tithing records office to find Eckly Biks’s address.
Tithing records were the most accurate records on Earth 7. Everything from births and weddings to deaths were recorded in the tithing records. And it was the responsibility of followers to make sure the records were kept accurate. A parent dying not recorded at the Tithing Office could result in additional tithing demanded from the children.
People in the Tithing Office wore purple robes because one night, after too much wine, Canto thought it would get them more respect. But just like everywhere else that had taxes, it gave the hatred of the many a visual focus. Most that worked in the Tithing Office changed from purple robes to a different color after work.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
“You clapped. You stood up like you supported it,” said Sipley. He was leaning forward over his desk. His fat face was red, and Wingut was concerned about the man’s health. He sighed before responding.
“I do support it,” replied Wingut.
“Why?” came the demand from a fiery face.
“Several reasons. One, Trill is correct: in this crisis we could use the extra manpower. Two, I believe the money that has come to the History Department has made us lazy and wasteful. Third, I often question anyone’s right to administer to the quarantine planets.”
“Lazy and wasteful? I consider that to be a personal insult,” Sipley spat out.
“It’s not meant as one. I just feel we spend too much time in well-catered off-campus meetings in exotic places,” replied Wingut.
“And you don’t feel that we deserve this? After all we sacrificed? We are the reason humans are still here. You, specifically, are the reason humans are still here. And you don’t believe you deserve
it?”
I’d better tell you a little about Wingut’s big moment.
The man who saved the universe didn’t really intend such a noble outcome. Actually, at the time he was desperately trying to disarm an explosive that he himself had set only a few tox earlier. Because of an attack right after arming it, he wasn’t be able to escape before detonation. Worse still, he had lost his personal transport device.
And at the exact moment when it mattered, Wingut forgot the PIN code for the explosive. It was the most important number in his life. He had repeated it hundreds if not thousands of times since setting it up. But on game day, he blanked. He stood looking at the keypad for an entire tox trying to remember it. Finally, as the final tix began to run out, he ran to the huge steel door and stood behind it. It was the only substantial structure to hide behind. But it had a flaw. From his ankles down would be exposed.
They found Wingut an entire rev later in the ruble. His feet were gone, turned to ash at the end of his legs. Beyond a remedium. Fortunately, the detonation had cauterized the stumps at the end of his legs, else he would have bled to death. His bionics fit him perfectly and now provide superior performance than his natural feet. Wingut was so impressed with the performance that he took up dancing. Being an agent is the most dangerous job in the galaxy. Best to dance when you can.
“Sure. Once every couple of hundred revs is good. But we’re going to expensive offsite conferences every fifty-four revs. And the costs of the retreats is too high in my opinion.”
There it was, the word opinion. It was one of the words rarely used by historians, and it always denoted significance.
“Are you saying you’ve lost confidence in my ability as head of the History Department?” asked Longley. He leaned back in his chair waiting for an answer.
“Yes. Ever since Earth 4.”
“That was a commercial decision and I have commercial authority for the department,” replied Longley adamantly.