She managed to quell her rising panic and responded with forced calm. “No. No, Lieutenant, I assure you it is only a transitory weakness. Medical assistance is quite unnecessary.”
His eyes returned to her face and he looked at her with open concern.
She sighed, “I am sorry I cannot confide in you or crew but suffice it to say, I was on a very important errand which I regret, must remain a state secret. I confess the undertaking did unexpectedly tax my strength. As a result, I find myself overly tired. I have since been resting here in my quarters to regain my strength.”
She took a deep breath, as if trying to stay her flagging energy. “Please…, please convey to the crew my sincere appreciation for their concern, but they truly need not worry after me. Albeit somewhat slower than I would like, I am recovering my strength.”
She could see her words were having their intended effect. The Lieutenant’s expression lost much of its urgency, but a look of temperate concern still remained on his face.
“For the time being, I am forced to take Service in solitude. Please let those concerned know, should I recover sufficiently I will lead a Service before we arrive home.” She allowed her voice to fade into little more than a whisper.
He now looked abashed, “Honored Keeper, I must again ask for your forgiveness. I can see this audience has unduly taxed you. Please, continue your recovery. Do not concern yourself with a public Service. I will relay what you have said to the crew. Be assured the crew and its officers will not bother you again unnecessarily. May the Founder watch over you.” He quickly backed out towards the door and into the corridor. He completed another bow and the door shut.
Sharné sat down in the chair. “And may the Founder watch over you,” she whispered to the closed door. Her face had paled and she clutched at the chair’s arms for support.
What is happening to me, she asked herself. How could she have forgotten Service? Barring the few days when she was genuinely ill, she had attended Service virtually every day of her life. What is wrong with me? She lied to the Lieutenant to cover her transgression, first the lies to Owens and now this. Sitting alone in her quarters, her resolve momentarily forgotten, Sharné began to cry, the sound of her racking sobs vanishing into the thick tapestry that covered the walls.
● ● ●
As Sharné cried aboard her ship, Owens stretched, his empty plates remained on the table, ignored. He had just finished his tale. He made sure to edit out his budding relationship with Sharné. He still wasn’t sure where it would lead. He glanced at the wall chrono and was surprised that he had been talking for over three hours. He took a long pull from a glass of beer. He swallowed the last of the now-warm liquid with a grimace.
“That’s pretty much what happened. Sharné’s on her way back to Berralton; she’s less than a day ahead of us. So, what do you think?” Owens asked.
“I don’t know, Boss. I mean who would have ever guessed these people have been hiding an alien presence for all these years? Hah, it’s good thing my logic pathways are buffered, or I might have smoked a circuit. It’s a lot to take in, even for a modified AI.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean. I think I smoked a few brain cells myself.” Owens grabbed another beer out of the dispenser. “But that isn’t the half of it. Think about the Controllers sitting smugly in their underground fortresses, brimming with alien technology.” He paused. “Now think about the technology used on us by Golstar over three hundred years ago. See any connection?”
For the first time in their short acquaintance, it appeared to Owens Hec was rendered speechless. When Hec didn’t immediately comment, Owens asked, “Hey! You okay? You’re not caught in some sort of logic loop or something are you?”
Hec immediately responded, “Sorry Boss, I was only off-line for a second. I just finished searching the ship’s library for references and descriptions of the weapons Golstar deployed against us. Guess what? You’re right. These technologies were way beyond Confederated Planets’ science at the time. Of course, since then we’ve made a lot of progress. Where we are now in relation to what they threw at us centuries ago, I couldn’t guess.”
A thought occurred to Owens, “You know I find it interesting that none of my briefings included any speculation on how Golstar was so advanced over Confederated Planets. Did you happen to come across anything related to that in your search?”
“As a matter of fact, I did. There are a few references to unpublished papers that pondered that very question; the rationale behind Golstar’s technological superiority. It’s pretty dry stuff. Most of them related to possible breakthroughs in quantum physics. Supposedly, these breakthroughs could build on one another, like toy blocks, to create a family of technologies that lent themselves to military applications. Much of it was just groundless speculation. In sifting through the synopses, the bottom line was that Golstar had been extremely lucky and must have made some sort of scientific breakthrough that fed the technologies.”
Owens snorted, “Well, they were right… about the lucky part anyway.”
Hec went on, “Of course there were a few souls brave enough to link Golstar to some unknown, dark, alien influence, but they were written off as part of the UFO fringe.”
“Yeah,” Owens agreed. “The UFO crowd remains a faction within the government. I’m amazed their views have survived the centuries without producing a single shred of hard physical evidence. I can see where the thinking back then would reject the alien angle. Confederated Planets has not encountered a single alien, dead or alive… or, for that matter, any evidence that an alien civilization has ever existed. When we left Confederated Planets, the consensus was that humanity was alone in the universe.”
He drummed his fingers on the table. “So now it appears this General Light, their benevolent Founder, stumbled on the remnants of an alien culture, technologically advanced far beyond humanity. Somehow he gained access to the Controllers and the mother lode of technological advancements. And what did he do with this new knowledge? Was it the beginning of utopia for his followers? I don’t know, but I think we can be fairly certain he used some of the technology to create an unstoppable military machine. Confederated Planets never had a chance.”
“Well,” Hec said, “that will certainly change if and when we get back.”
Owens frowned and said nothing.
CHAPTER 44
Sharné walked down the empty corridor, heading toward the ship’s small chapel. She could feel a slight vibration from the ship’s engines as they pushed the ship doggedly towards its destination. After her experience on the Light Saber, her awareness of the ship around her had increased. Often she found herself listening for unexpected sounds or other changes in the ship’s environment, so it was not surprising she slowed for a moment, trying to sense any change in the subtly quivering deck. Not able to discern anything out of the ordinary, she resumed her pace.
Soon, she found herself standing before the gold-rimmed threshold and absently touching the platinum headpiece that had been thoughtfully included with her wardrobe, she hesitated. She had not attended Service since boarding the ship. She discovered herself reluctant to conduct a formal Service. But now as they were less than half a ship-day from Berralton, she felt the need to resume her worship, at least on a personal basis, if not an official one. Perhaps she would receive guidance to counter her current state of bewilderment.
She entered the chapel and immediately felt more at ease than she had in some time. The familiar setting soothed her. She looked at the pews arranged on both sides of the single center aisle. As she had expected, the chapel was empty. She carefully chose a time between the posted worship schedules for the crew.
She kept to the aisle and slowly walked towards the altar. The familiar and comforting feeling of contentment gradually grew within her. She knelt on the thick, red runner that led up to the altar and bowed her head. She began to recite the Founder’s prayer for forgiveness. As she spoke the words of reverence, she could sense the Lig
ht of the Way lift her burden and begin to warm her soul.
For a while, she was simply content to bathe in the holy Light shed by the glowing eternal symbol suspended above the altar. After a time, she said another prayer, this one of thanks. Finishing, she declaimed her pledge of faith to the Founder and smoothly regained her feet. She stood and gazed at the floating representation of the Light of the Way. The shining sphere bathed her in its gentle glow.
For some time she stood motionless, staring at the holy icon of her faith. As she continued her observance, a tiny errant thought began to form in her mind. It flitted at the edge of her awareness, not yet fully formed. She continued to gaze at the ball of light and a gradual feeling of alarm began to grow, displacing her feeling of well-being.
Confused by this change within her, she began to back away from the altar. Her feeling that something was very wrong increased with every step she took. She was now at the threshold, still facing toward the altar. The thought hovering at the edge of her mind finally broke through. Her mouth opened in astonishment as the truth flooded her mind and threatened her consciousness.
She knew then that she had to leave. She turned quickly and hurriedly strode out of the chapel, into the corridor. Her heart was beating rapidly as she paused and looked down the corridor, back towards her quarters. As she had hoped, the path remained clear. She resumed walking, away from the chapel, fighting to keep from breaking into a run. After what seemed like an eternity, she made it into her room and collapsed into a chair, flinging the platinum headpiece onto a nearby table where it bounced and landed unceremoniously on the polished wooden floorboards.
She was badly shaken. She could not escape the import of the revelation she had just experienced in the chapel. Unfortunately, it had not been a revelation associated with the divine; it was not a holy vision from above. Instead, it was a sharp hammer blow between the eyes; a connection between facts to equal a corporeal, horrifying conclusion. She kneaded her forehead with the heel of her palm, trying to understand what had just occurred.
She carefully reviewed each clue that led her to her to the awful conclusion. She recalled her unsettled feelings as she walked along the corridor leading up to the chapel, the gradual feeling of peace and contentment that came over her once inside. And finally, she shuddered at the remembrance of looking at the symbol of the Light of the Way. The brightly glowing orb was suspended on invisible fields just as its twin had been not so long ago, so many miles below Selane’s surface.
It had to be, she thought, there was no other answer. Her feeling of contentment was induced, false. Instead of receiving the gift of healing from a divine, Holy Spirit, she was instead bombarded by subliminal sound frequencies tuned to provide an artificial sense of well being. The so-called spiritual guidance from above was rather the product of brain-altering emanations from an alien mechanism. She shook her head. She could not deny her experience or the logical conclusion. It was just as Owens had described; it was mind control.
She continued to think about this troubling notion for some time, and gradually she became more rational. A chime jarred her from her contemplations. Automatically, she toggled the intercom. The firm voice of the ship’s captain informed her that the ship was entering its final approach before entering a parking orbit around Berralton and the shuttle would be launching within a quarter ship-day. Sharné thanked the captain distractedly and switched off.
She resumed her worried reflection. The thought of manipulating the minds of her people was abhorrent. Though the simple induced feeling of well-being associated with worship appeared harmless, it was still horribly wrong. Why were the alien mechanisms used in such a manner? Did the subliminal frequencies induce more than just a sense of well-being? Questions formed in her mind, questions for which she must seek an answer, questions she would pose to her father.
In spite of her discovery, she didn’t immediately fault her father. Decisions that drove the use of the alien technology had to have been made centuries before his birth. She knew his intentions were noble and all for the benefit of the people. She realized she did not have the complete picture and was confident once she rejoined her father, all would be explained. It was possible he did not know the full extent of the mind alteration properties of the orbs. Or perhaps he did know and the people were already being weaned off the alien orb’s influence. If not, surely she could convince him to do so.
This led her to another thought. She wondered if the crisis that brought Owens to Golstar could be in any way related to the light globes... a question to add to her growing list.
She knew then there was more her to father’s original explanation for bringing Owens to Golstar, much more. At the very least, her father had not revealed the complete plan to her. And now, with their recent experience on Selane, he would be obligated to tell her everything. She was confident her father would carefully reconsider his plan regarding Owens and perhaps even take some of her suggestions in light of this new information. After all, she was in line to be his successor. It was time she took on responsibilities beyond those limited to her role as Keeper of the Way.
Her resolve grew, and she was pleased that much of her fear and confusion had lifted. Some things now made more sense; yes, a good many things. At the very least, she would view her world with fresh, clear eyes. Her mind would remain unclouded by alien influence. Her thoughts were interrupted once more by a steward offering to help her pack for her return to the palace. As she absently agreed to his assistance, she continued to consider her upcoming reunion with her father.
CHAPTER 45
The Guardian of the Way began to bow when the Grand Patriarch interrupted, “No need to stand on ceremony Talin, we are quite alone.”
Talin looked around and found they indeed were the hall’s only occupants and wondered briefly where the Grand Patriarch’s guards were lurking. Straightening, he observed that the sunlight, diffused by the leaded crystal windows mounted high along the walls, splashed the polished stone floor with bright spots of prismatic color. It brought back memories to Talin of a treasured kaleidoscope he had owned as a child. The thought of that distant childhood brought quickly forth darker, more recent memories. Pushing that momentary reverie aside, he remained standing and returned his gaze to the raised throne where his impatient leader sat.
The Grand Patriarch had been rubbing the medallion that hung around his neck. He released it, leaned forward and asked, “Can I assume you bring me some good news?”
“Yes. As you know, Sharné arrived on Berralton early this morning while you were in Assembly. It took some time to complete her medical examinations. I am happy to say she was found to be in very good health despite her ordeal. She has been asking to see you ever since her arrival. I conveyed an apology, but she still seemed most anxious when I told her told that you were attending Assembly and could not be disturbed.”
“So, she is well? Unharmed from her experiences?” The Grand Patriarch asked.
The Guardian of the Way smiled at his leader, “As it was transmitted from Selane by the admiral numerous times during the voyage back, as the medical staff confirmed and as I verified with my own eyes... Sharné is indeed safe and quite sound.”
The Grand Patriarch returned the smile, “This is truly a joyous occasion, and it gladdens me that she is safely returned and once again under your protection.”
“On my life, she will come to no further harm,” Talin swore. The vibrant sincerity in his voice moved the Grand Patriarch. “I know that my friend and I are comforted by your promise.” His smile faded, “Now, what of Janus Owens?”
“Good news as well,” Talin replied. “His ship has just entered Berralton space. A shuttle with him aboard should land late this evening.”
“Yes, that is indeed good news.” Then, as if an afterthought, he asked about the mutineers.
“They have been interrogated thoroughly. They provided names of other conspirators within the military. Some of them are assigned to very sensitive areas.
Arrests have already taken place. They are now undergoing interrogation.”
“Excellent. And the mutineers themselves, what is their current status?”
“As you directed, under your emergency powers, their rights to formal hearings were revoked. All participants in the mutiny have been summarily executed,” Talin replied.
The Grand Patriarch nodded to himself and said, “It saddens me that I am forced to eliminate those sworn to protect us, but the rot from within the military must be excised before it is allowed to spread.”
“Do you still wish Janus Owens taken to the secure site?”
The Grand Patriarch said, “No, I think not. With the additional arrests impending, I do not believe it is now necessary. I think that it is safe to bring him directly to the palace. I wish to have immediate access to him. You may redeploy your security forces here.”
Talin wondered briefly at the Grand Patriarch’s reference to ‘additional arrests.’ “It will be arranged as you command; my security forces will be stationed throughout palace and in nearby strategic vicinities. He will be well protected.”
The Grand Patriarch paused, thinking. Then he said, “It is fortunate my daughter arrived before Janus Owens. I will meet with her to glean her perception of the man and the harrowing experiences they shared. As a result, I expect the plan will require some further adjustment. Hopefully, it will be minimal.”
Talin agreed, “I, for one, share in that hope. Even so, it will still be difficult. With the opposition becoming so bold, I fear the plan will continue to put Janus Owens at a much greater risk than we had first anticipated.”
“The opposition has been seriously compromised and there are further developments that will be forthcoming.”
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