“Welcome to humanity,” Barman commiserated with a sad smile. “I'll make you another drink anyway.”
“No, no,” Thales smiled faintly.
“I'm making one for myself anyway,” said Barman.
“No thanks, I've still got work to do,” said Thales and took the glass anyway.
“Cheers!” Barman's glass clinked with Thales'.
“Cheers!” Thales replied.
The stranger went out to roam the station. Its walls bore shades of an artificial sunset. He finally stopped on the observation bridge. The bridge rose above the station's recreational plaza, a central intersection between the various residential quarters. The plaza was filled with ornamental trees, a small waterfall, a lawn and benches scattered here and there. Above, through the colored beams of light, stretched an infinite view of outer space. He watched the inhabitants of the station below enjoy the serenity of the garden. For a moment, he felt a glimmer of hope that he was on the brink of remembering something, but it passed immediately.
He watched a couple stroll by slowly. Although they did not display any outward expressions of affection, as was customary for Pythagoreans, he noticed their restrained love.
He thought about Sophia. 'Could I be in love with her? Hold on, I need to take a step backward here. What's happening to me? Have my loneliness and fear caused me to attach myself to Sophia? Are these emotions not truly genuine?' He stayed on the bridge for a long time and his mind swarmed. He remembered love; he could not remember who it was that he loved, but he did recall the pain of love and felt its sting once more. From the observation bridge, he looked out into space.
Sophia sat opposite the display in the control room of the station and tried to calibrate the movement of the spheres. The station, swathed in rays of light, peered at her from the screen. She lightly touched the sound calibrator and tried to reach the exact tone that would achieve harmony in the spheres' movement. The station's computer rejected her again and again. She understood that she would not succeed as long as her emotions were raging inside of her. She continued anyway despite her agitated state. The stranger awakened feelings in her that she did not even know existed. She was overcome with longing for her father. The beams of light on the display shone more brightly than usual. The deep blue reminded her of the underwater cave that Thales had shown her. 'What has he got to do with this now?' She tried to push the thought of him out of her mind. 'What does that man awaken in me? Why do I have to exert all my efforts to restrain myself from bursting into his room? And if I were to do that, what would I even say to him?'
The station's computer rejected her again. She felt a tingle in her right forearm and touched it lightly. When she remembered how Thales had held her arm in support when she stepped off the boat onto the banks of the canyon, the tingle began to burn. She was astonished by the sensation. The words clamored in a dizzying cacophony inside her head: 'Father, hole, pain, stranger, desire, Thales. Enough!' She set the computer for automatic calibration, shut off the display and left the control room hastily.
Sophia took another deep breath. The feeling of the water under her floating body did not disappoint. After about half an hour of relaxation attempts, she finally felt at peace. The storm quieted but she still felt the burning sensation in her arm. When the automatic dryer finished drying the last drop of moisture from her skin, she knew where she was headed.
The stranger continued to look out into space. He wondered if one of the suns opposite him was shining on his home, wherever that may be. He longed for something—though he sadly did not know what that thing was—but did not know why.
Again his thoughts turned to Sophia and the sensation of her touch. She appeared in the garden below him, as if he had summoned her with his mind. His eyes lit up. For a few long moments, he garnered up the courage to approach her. 'I should get to her before she crosses the garden.' Instead, he froze in his tracks when he saw Thales approaching quickly from the opposite side of the garden. Sophia noticed Thales before Thales saw her and smiled broadly at him. The stranger noticed the surprise on Thales' face when he greeted her. Thales looked tense and said something to her. Sophia gestured toward an empty bench and they sat down. The stranger observed their body language and facial expressions. Even though he did not remember where he had acquired this skill, he found that he was able to decipher what was going on between them.
It seemed like Thales was hesitant to speak. He looked down at his hands and muttered something. Sophia silenced him with a finger to his mouth and drew closer to him. Thales looked up at her in surprise. Sophia's eyes sparkled and a stream of whispers gushed forth from her like a dam that had had burst open. The stranger understood that she was very excited judging by her quickening breathing and flushed face. Thales appeared to be mesmerized judging by the look in his eyes and the way his stomach muscles tightened. While she was talking, a change materialized in Thales' composure. His eyes widened as if in disbelief of the words he was hearing. A faint smile crossed his lips, replacing his usual forlornness. His smile slowly widened as she continued speaking and he sat up straighter. Sophia held his arm. He looked into her eyes. The stranger tried to convince himself, with little success, that this was not love.
The people of the station continued about their business as usual. He shuddered as he leaned against the bridge's railing. The harmonious sounds of the station closed upon him in a deafening uproar. His knees collapsed under him and he sank to the floor of the bridge.
He closed his eyes. His head ached and his body convulsed. Fragments of images began to flicker before his eyes. He saw a chick fluttering in his hands and chirping weakly. He saw his mother's back as she left his bedroom door and sensed fear. He saw people surrounding him on all sides and identified his teachers from various stages of his life. At the sight of a feminine figure, a rush of love erupted in him. The feeling of love was soon replaced by gloomy sorrow. He felt a wave of nausea when he saw empty balloons of alcohol around him and the odor of vomit rose in his nose. The chain of emotions continued to wash over him. His heart pounded furiously, his head felt like it was about to burst and he broke out in a cold sweat. He saw the academy. He began to calm down. He heard the deafening sound of applause of the audience he saw before him. He felt proud and strong.
The noise stopped and his true name echoed in his head.
CHAPTER 8
Atar followed Sin out of the shining laboratory and into one of the dusty cars. Sin steered the car through the network of tracks.
“Do you smell ammonia?”
Atar detected a faint odor. “Yes.”
“There is an explosive charge in the crack in the wall to your right. It is just one out of a hundred bombs that are scattered throughout the complex. Here's another one to your left, underneath the railway sleepers. All the one hundred charges will explode simultaneously, igniting the ammunition warehouses on the floor below.” Atar shot him a surprised glance but did not interrupt him. “I know that there is no danger of you spoiling my plans. You understand as well as I that there is no other way to stop the Gnostic destruction,” said Sin calmly. He spoke like one who had made an agonizing yet inevitable decision that had matured in his heart after much contemplation.
“How can I help?”
“Everything is ready.”
“So why then are you telling me all this?”
“In order to relieve my loneliness during my final moments and to allow you to prepare yourself to leave this world. Only one day remains until the destruction of the compound. Tomorrow, the module is slated to be transported from here.”
'One day?' Atar thought to himself. The screeching of the brakes jarred him back to reality. Sin stopped the car on the ground level track. In the light of the blinding white sun, he led Atar into an empty building. Atar thought about the tunnels of the Uruk compound filled with lives that will soon perish and about his entire life that would soon be gone in a momentary flash. “On the way here, I saw some children marching in proces
sion. Who are they?”
“They are Gnostics.”
“So young?”
“The Gnostics loathe natural reproduction, so they prefer to kidnap young children and indoctrinate them over the years until they become the most devout Gnostics.”
“When the complex explodes, the children will perish as well,” he noted apprehensively.
“I wish I had a better solution, but when I weigh the fate of the children versus the fate of the galaxy, I have no doubts, despite the pain.”
“And why not just destroy the module?”
“Because the technology used in creating the module still exists within the compound. The devices, the programs, the materials, the computers and the scientists who possess the knowledge in their heads—all of them are here in the compound. It would only be a short matter of time before a new module would be created. The only way to truly make this effective is to destroy the compound.”
“And how are you planning to destroy the compound?”
“The explosive system is operated by remote control.” Sin carefully removed a small container from his pocket. “Because of the complexity of the system, the remote's range is limited to a radius of five hundred meters. All I need to do is press this button and the complex will go up in flames. I am prepared to die along with the complex in order to save the galaxy. Just a few more hours of sunlight and then...” He stopped talking for a few moments as a lump had formed in his throat. He continued, “And then we will all die.”
“All of us?” Atar whispered.
“Yes, you too, Atar. Even if |I don't blow up the compound Nergal will never agree to allow you out of here, and without his permission you have no way of escaping.”
Atar had still not become accustomed to the idea of never leaving the compound alive, and now he was dealing with the reality that he would not survive even the coming day.
Atar had always excelled in problem solving; he was better than his colleagues at seeing alternative options in situations where others had completely given up. He did not give up this time either. He recalled all that he could remember about the complex's courtyard and its surrounding wall. Could he climb the wall? And assuming that he could, how would he get past the electric fence?
Sin was silent; it appeared as if he was aware of the ideas racing through Atar's head and was waiting for him to come to the conclusion that there was nothing else he could do. Only upon hearing Atar exhale a great breath of air did he turn to him again.
“Are you prepared to offer your Pythagorean prayers in anticipation of meeting your maker?”
After a few long minutes, Atar replied affirmatively with surprising calm. “Thank you,” said Atar.
“For what?” asked Sin, surprised.
“For enabling me to say goodbye and pray before death. Thank you for trusting me. You could have executed your plan alone, without telling me about it and thereby endangering yourself in doing so.”
“As I said, it's hard to die alone.”
“I think there was another reason for you to tell me these things.”
Sin looked at him, puzzled.
“You told me so I could take your place.”
Sin's astonishment increased.
“So that I could detonate the charges instead of you.”
“Why would I want that?”
“So that you could escape.”
“You are mistaken, my friend. I have no intention of leaving. All my life has been dedicated to the Gnosis and I have no other reason for living.”
“No, you are mistaken, my friend,” replied Atar. “You are destroying the compound because you found another reason for living.”
Sin shot him a puzzled look.
“It's for the good of humanity and the galaxy. If those ideals are indeed your motivation for destroying the compound, you will surely agree with me that you must save yourself.”
Sin's eyes widened.
“Yes, you must leave this place and warn the rulers of the other inhabited planets about the danger they will be facing in another twenty, fifty or hundred years from now, when the Gnostics succeed in building another module,” said Atar sternly.
Sin was silent. He mulled over Atar's words but could not refute them. He felt a slight sense of disappointment. Earlier, he had anticipated the end to his suffering in an impressive expression of death, a model of self-sacrifice. But when he contemplated the situation, it turned out that Atar was right.
“What you say is true.”
“And why didn't you want to know that?”
“Because I wanted to die.”
A profound sense of peace mingled with his grief. Atar breathed a sigh of relief. The purpose of his spiritual training became apparent to him now more than ever. In his Pythagorean mind, he viewed the matter as a meeting that had been arranged eons ago between the soul residing in Sin's body and the soul in his own body. He had fulfilled and achieved his destiny. All at once, he heard the sound of thousands of strings playing the melody of his birth. He embraced Sin and they looked at each other sadly, one mourning his own death while the other his life.
About half an hour had passed since Sin had left the complex. 'In another couple of hours, Sin will be in outer space and then I will discharge the remote,' thought Atar. He could not help but think of the notion that perhaps this was all a dream, but he did not need to pinch himself. The pain preceding death was as sharp as a razor. He tried to grasp the glory of heroism and the harmony of the music of his destiny, but he had no control over his consciousness. Instead of the awesome sense of transcendence that he had felt in the presence of Sin, he now felt deep trepidation. Extraneous thoughts continued to trouble him. 'Maybe I will escape,' he thought, and then the rage overcame him. 'Maybe it's better that I wait and stand opposite Nergal. That way I can at least watch my revenge.' The difficulty of giving up did not leave him.
Finally, he transcended the dimension of time. When he understood this, it became easier for him: he could live another day or even another fifty years in another world, achieve another destiny; but when else would he be presented with such a direct opportunity to contribute to the sake of humanity and the entire galaxy?
The shuttle was on its way to the Atheist planet of Dust. Sin looked down through the window toward the Earth, which was quickly growing ever more distant. At first, all he could see was the trail of smoke from the shuttle. After that, he could see the launching pad. In a matter of seconds, he saw the view. He saw the airport with many launchers, a portion of which held shuttles while others sat empty after having already launched their loads. He did not bother responding to the stewardess who greeted him and asked if he wanted anything. He concentrated on a single point below him.
After a moment, he noticed a green line surrounding black dots. From above he could not see, but he knew. He came from there. Those were the reeds that grew wildly around the swamp. Another moment passed and the broad delta of the Euphrates river became visible. Like most of the passengers, Sin wore sunglasses to protect his eyes from the blinding glare of the sky; but his glasses were particularly dark. Shades of mustard stretched from the other side of the shuttle towards the horizon. The great desert as well as the seam between the desert and the swamps was dotted with step pyramids, which looked like tiny triangles from above. These ziggurats were over five thousand years old. They were archeological remnants of the Sumerian civilization. Some were worn and crumbling, others were preserved and some even restored.
Atar contemplated the remote control in his hand. He tried to move his finger but it would not budge. An unexpected terror seized him.
Sin focused on the small green mark that was growing ever smaller. He glanced at his watch and strained to find the complex beside the ziggurat. He waited. Without especially dark sunglasses, one would not have been able to discern the flash of white against the backdrop of the blinding desert glare. Then, a few seconds later, came the flash, followed by a string of smaller white flashes. None of the other passenger
s noticed the tiny change on the vast landscape.
In a short while, the rest of the inhabitants of Earth and the other planets would learn of the news of the destruction. He sensed deep sorrow over the destruction of his handiwork and the loss of the warriors' and children's lives. His heart wrenched as he thought about the sacrifice made by his only friend in the world, Atar. He leaned back in the shuttle chair and could not avert his tearing eyes from the window.
He was the loneliest man in the entire universe.
CHAPTER 9
She lay in her bed and stared at the ceiling. Her body felt like it did not belong to her. Could it be that she had become someone else?
The changes that befell her during the days since the stranger arrived at the station had turned her world upside down. The stranger exposed the breakdown she experienced upon the loss of her father, revealing to her—unsolicited—the depths of her soul. And now, she could no longer maintain the Pythagorean disregard of her emotions.
From the moment that she allowed herself to feel pain, the floodgates had opened. Her grief over her father awakened another emotion, one that had been suppressed within her for a long time. It became clear to her that she had been in love with Thales for years, even before he had turned down a promotion in order to stay close to her. How easy it had been to repress her feelings under the guise of Pythagorean ethos and tradition.
This emotional jolt also awakened her fear regarding what was to come. 'Will I be able to continue my function as master of the station? Will I be able to continue living as a Pythagorean?' Despite the collapse of her social structure from beneath her, she recognized that the path that had emerged before her was the correct one, for now she was approaching the truth.
Mesopotamia - The Redeemer Page 14