Victim of Circumstance (The Time Stone Trilogy Book 3)

by Robert F Hays

  “The people here who were deaf weren’t just missing one ability, they were missing two. That’s why more of them died than the ones who can hear. If all of you had the visions even fewer of you would die at a young age.”

  “God gave us hearing,” Bye said. “It is natural, visions are from Satan.”

  “Nothing to do with Satan. We just have an ability that you don’t. As I said, to us visions are natural.”

  “You also have the visions?” Bye said.

  “Yes, we all do. To us it’s normal.”

  “Are you saying we are not normal?”

  “To us you aren’t. You have lost the ability.”

  “An evil ability is not natural!” Bye yelled. “We are normal, you are not! You are the depraved ones! Your visions come from Satan!”

  “Your people lost the ability due to a disease.”

  “Disease? An illness? That’s illogical. A disease is from Satan, it cannot protect a person from a diabolical affliction.”

  “There’s just one fault in your logic, the visions are good, they’re a gift from God. You said illness was from Satan, could it be that Satan destroyed God’s gift with an illness?”

  “The Bible says you are wrong!”

  “I have read the Bible many times, but nowhere could I find any condemnation of visions,” Colin said.

  “I’ve got you, I’ve got you. You said you couldn’t read!”

  “I can read quite well, but not the same way you do.”

  “How’s that possible?” Bye yelled. “There’s only one way you can read and at my house you admitted to me that you couldn’t. Were you lying?”

  “The visions give me that ability.”

  “Blasphemy, blasphemy!” Bye yelled. “You have condemned yourself with your own words! Evil like that cannot be allowed to live!”

  “In that case you should also kill all of your animals,” Colin said. “They have the visions. They don’t see the way you do. Your sheep, cows and pigs don’t have to grunt to find their way.”

  “They don’t have the visions!” Bye yelled. “They are guided by God! We have souls and the ability to see for ourselves! We have no need for such guidance! Your blasphemy gets deeper and deeper!”

  “Kill them!” Miri yelled.

  The crowd broke into shouts of blasphemy, evil and punishment.

  Malia pushed her way through the crowd and into the open. “No, no,” she screamed at Bye. “They’re not the ones that are evil, it’s you!”

  “What do you say?” Bye yelled.

  Colin stepped forward. “Malia, don’t say a thing! We can handle it!”

  Malia ignored his words. “I have the visions and they aren’t evil, they’re beautiful!”

  “They have afflicted you as well? This has gone too far. We must protect ourselves and cleanse the land.”

  “No, I’ve had them since I was born!” Malia yelled.

  “Then you’re also in league with Satan! If we’re to free this town from sin you will suffer the same fate as these blasphemers!”

  “No,” Farren said, “Malia is a good person. There’s no evil in her.”

  “You too Farren?” Bye said. “You’ve been affected by these disciples of Satan?”

  Sounds of anguish came from the crowd.

  “Kill them before they infect more of us!” yelled someone in the crowd.

  The crowd advanced, day workers Kelsin and Marlo in the lead.

  “Stunners!” Colin commanded. The Rangers drew their weapons.

  “Who should I drop?” Yuri said.

  “The one in the front, Kelsin, only him!”

  A bright blue flash accompanied by a loud crack streaked its way to Kelsin’s torso. Kelsin convulsed and fell to the ground.

  “What was that?” Marlo said.

  Colin noticed some close by the fallen man sniffing the air. A discharge from stunner created a smell of ozone. “It’s a weapon!” Colin yelled.

  Marlo turned and felt for Kelsin. “Where’s Kelsin? Has he been taken to hell?”

  “No fool!” Malia yelled. “He’s at your feet!”

  Marlo reached down. “He’s here. Is he dead?”

  “No,” Colin said, “he’s asleep. He’ll wake up soon with nothing more than a headache. However, we do have weapons that can kill.”

  “See, see,” Bye said, “they are evil and ready to kill!”

  “We’re ready to kill only to defend ourselves,” Colin said. “Any rational human would do the same.”

  “Malia,” Farren said. “How did you know where Kelsin was?”

  “The visions told me.”

  “Colin,” Farren said, “can any of us get the visions with that medicine of yours?”

  “I believe so.”

  “No, no,” Bye said.

  “Shut up,” Colin said. “Any more from you and you’ll be lying unconscious on the ground too.”

  Tanni pushed her way through the crowd and into the open. “I want the medicine! Malia said it was beautiful, I want to know the beauty!”

  “Kill them all!” Bye yelled.

  “No son!” Hansel commanded, breaking his silence. “There will be no killing here!”

  “Father?” Bye said.

  Hansel stood, assisting himself with his cane. “Be quiet son. I have things to say on this.”

  The crowd went silent.

  “In the time since I passed the task of ministering to the town on to my son I have needed something to do. I occupied my time by reading the Bible and the other holy works. They’re very lengthy and take much time, many sun highs. As Colin here said, I also found no condemnation of the visions, but I haven’t read all of it. I kept telling myself that the condemnation was there, I just haven’t found it yet. I have just realized that there are many other things I thought were there that I haven’t found yet. But time has me questioning, are they really there?”

  “Father,” Bye said. “It was you, yourself that taught me on the evils of the visions.”

  “These things I learned from my father and grandfather by word of mouth. I presumed they had read it. I was thinking, is it true, is it there, or is it just something that someone, sun highs back, invented and passed on as fact.” Hansel turned to the Rangers. “Could that be true?”

  “I haven’t read all of it either,” Colin said, “but I know people who have.”

  “Then if it isn’t the truth, how did it get started?” Hansel said.

  Colin shrugged. “Fear, fear of someone who’s different. Jealousy, the hate of a person who has something that they don’t have.”

  “Father,” Bye said, “you don’t…”

  “Son, obey me, be quiet. ‘Honor thy father and thy mother.’ That I did read. You will honor me by staying silent.”

  Bye bowed his head.

  “Malia,” Hansel said, “you said the visions were beautiful. What are they like?”

  “I can’t explain. I think they make the world bigger. You all only see what’s in your reach or as far as your voice can look. I know where the mountains are. I know of things far above us that are like lumps of wool from our sheep. They move from one place to another, all different.”

  “You can touch things far above you?” Hansel said.

  “No, they’re too far for me to reach, I’ve tried,” Malia said. “If none of you can understand these beautiful things then I’m one of these people now.”

  “I want the visions,” Tanni said. “I want to know these things. I want to know what these people feel.”

  “I want them too,” Farren said. “These are good people. I know they wouldn’t do me harm.”

  “Son,” Hansel said, “I know you were about to speak. Honor me, say nothing.”

  “It’s the great unknown,” Colin said. “There may be a lot of fear in something you haven’t experienced before.”

  “I’ll do it,” Tanni said, “as long as Ken holds my hand. Have I your permission Ida?”

  “You have.”

  “Ida,�
� Colin said, “how should we go about this? You’re the med specialist.”

  “I’d have to take them back to the scout. I have med exam gear there and a genetic sequencer I’d like to use first. I don’t want to do this without confirmation from Pellan.”

  “I think we should risk getting in touch with Pellan for advice.” Colin turned to Hansel. “We’ve left tools some distance from here.”

  “I have to speak father,” Bye said. “Two of our women going with strangers. The immorality stacks so high until there’ll be nothing left of this town except the ravages of Satan. They mock our moral customs with their evil.”

  “I give my permission for Tanni to court Ken,” Ida said.

  “And I’m betrothed to Malia,” Colin said.

  Malia ran to Colin and hugged him.

  “We can be chaperone for each other,” Tanni said.

  “I’ll come too,” Farren said.

  “Then we will all go,” Hansel said.

  “We?” Tanni said. “Elder Hansel, do you want the visions too?”

  “We shall see.”

  Chapter 17

  “Council will reconvene in ten minutes,” Jim’s house computer announced.

  “Oh poo,” Carol said and screwed up her face.

  “What’re you ‘Oh pooing’ about?” Jim said. “I’m the one that has to go in there.”

  “Yes, but when you come out you’re so grouchy.”

  Jim smiled. “I’ll take a pill.”

  “Take three.”

  Jim walked to the door of the 3V conference room and it dutifully opened. Inside, his armchair was in the middle of the room. He sat down and paused for a moment to relax and tell himself not to lose his temper, again.

  “Computer, connect me with the Commonwealth Council room on Pellan.”

  “Connecting,” the computer replied.

  The walls of the room flickered, flashed and slowly expanded into a gigantic room crowded with armchairs, half of which were occupied. The armchairs were arranged in a number of rows set in a semicircle around a central dais. On the dais were three desks, one for the chairman, one for the assistant chairman and one for the Secretary of State.

  The House of Representatives was the more important of the two houses of the council. It composed a single representative from each of the inhabited planets plus one representative for all of the Commonwealth colonies.

  Casia was an unusual addition to the house. With a population of only seven hundred thousand it was by far the smallest. Its addition to the House of Representatives was a historic anomaly. Most newly converted planets were either colonies of other planets or of the Commonwealth itself. They were represented by the member for the parent political unit. Casia, on the other hand, was declared a sovereign state from the beginning, its original population being one person, the President, Sam Carlisle.

  The fact that Jim represented such a small constituency in comparison to the others had annoyed many in the house. A number of moves were made to limit his voting rights and powers but they would have taken major changes to the constitution.

  Although the subject of ridicule by the political community, the general population of the Commonwealth loved Jim. His speeches in the house were short and to the point. He argued positions with basic logic rather than long winded political rhetoric.

  The ones that appreciated him most were the talk show hosts on the various 3V networks. Jim’s occasional unguarded comments and outbursts gave them a lot of material. They weren’t laughing at him, instead, they laughed with him as he usually said what everyone else thought but didn’t say.

  Jim touched a control on the armchair that stopped his voice from being heard in the room and disguised the holographic image of his mouth so no one knew he was talking. “George?” he said. “Are all my advisers online?”

  “That’s affirmative,” came a voice that only Jim could hear.

  Most politicians had a direct connection with all of their online advisors. Half a dozen voices talking at once confused Jim. He only had one he talked with directly. The others communicated through him.

  A man suddenly appeared in the armchair next to him. Jim turned and smiled. “Hey Bill,” he said. “Are you really there or have you gone for a walk?”

  The man laughed. “I’m here for a while. When it gets too boring I’m going to go have a chat with Philips about the water conservation project on New Hope.”

  “Haugen has booked time to talk,” Jim said.

  “I think that’s about the time I go for a wander. If you say something to my holographic image, don’t be insulted if I don’t reply.”

  “Yeah,” Jim said. “I have to go talk with Patty when she’s available.” Jim touched the privacy control again. “George, contact Patty Tinney’s controllers and tell them I want to talk with her.”

  “Contacting now,” George said.

  Jim looked around the room as chair after chair suddenly filled. “How many do you think are actually here?”

  “Less than half,” Bill said.

  “Secretary Tinney said she wants to speak with you too,” George said. “Just give her a couple of minutes.”

  “The House of Representatives of the Commonwealth Council will now come to order,” said Chairman Mendoza. “First order of business, Representative Garciano of Nova Roma has requested, and been granted, additional time to speak on the proposed new regulations regarding the registration of shipping agents in the basic commodities field. Representative Garciano, are you present?”

  The holographic image of a man suddenly appeared to the left of the three desks on the dais. He started to speak but his words had lost focus in Jim’s mind.

  “George,” Jim said, “leave my image in place. I’m going for a walk.”

  Jim stood, leaving a holographic image of himself still seated in the chair. The only image the rest in the chamber could see was the one he left behind.

  He glanced back at his image and smiled. “George, could you make me look a little more interested in Representative Garciano’s speech?”

  “Some things are beyond the capability of technology,” George chuckled. “But I’ll try.”

  Jim’s other self suddenly straightened and its facial expression tightened into an appearance of interest.

  “George.” Jim said. “Move me to the cabinet member section.”

  Jim suddenly found himself in the center of the semicircle of chairs, front row, where the cabinet sat.

  “Connecting with Secretary of Defense Tinney,” George said. “Private conference mode.”

  “George, turn down the volume on the council chamber.” He then looked down at the seated image of a woman in her fifties. “Patty, are you there?”

  “No, I’m behind you,” a voice said.

  Jim jumped in mild fright and turned. “Does everyone have to keep sneaking up on me and suddenly appear like that?” he said.

  “Sorry,” Patty said. “I keep forgetting to announce myself before connecting to someone’s system.”

  “I’ll get right to the point,” Jim said. “We need a loan to buy new troop carriers for the Casian Home Guard.”

  Patty’s face soured. “So does everyone else,” she said. “But before talking about that, I have something to ask you. This is in the strictest of confidence.”

  “Go for it,” Jim said. “They can torture me by showing me re-runs of the Howard Collins Show on 3V and I won’t talk.”

  “We’re missing a mobile infantry battalion,” Patty sighed.

  “Missing, as in lost?” Jim said.

  Patty nodded. “Yes, the 3rd Battalion, 15th division of the Nippon Home Guard. They were at the Regis spaceport with the Casian 3rd battalion after the war games that ended last week. After that, the system lost track of them.”

  “What’re you asking?” Jim said. “Did they all go on vacation to Casia?”

  “No. Your troops were not using your usual, small freighter as a troopship; they were using a bigger one you got from
the Montoya Company. We were thinking that they may have been accidentally shuttled to your ship instead of their own. We’ve looked everywhere else.”

  “Yes,” Jim said. “We had to borrow a ship from the Montoyas. Mine is in the shop having a carburetor rebuild.”

  “Having a what?” Patty said.

  “It’s in dry dock. They’re trying to figure out why it can only get warp two, it should get warp five. Working on it a week and no one can figure it out.”

  “Those things are complex.”

  “Yes, where’s Scotty when you need him?”

  “That Montoya ship is big enough to carry eight battalions, you have only three. Could they have ended up on it by mistake? You’re aware of the mass confusion at the end of a military exercise.”

  Jim raised his head. “George, could you put me through to Harry? He should be home by now.”

  “Calling.”

  “Thanks,” Patty said. “And please, not a word to anyone. I don’t want it to get out that we misplaced a whole battalion.”

  “Hey Jim,” said the voice of Harry. “Just got home. I was going to call you tomorrow and brief you on the war games. Right now I’m exhausted.”

  “Just a quick question,” Jim said. “Did about a thousand very polite gentlemen with a distinct Japanese appearance get on that ship with you when you left Regis?”

  “Uh…” Harry said. “Not that I know of, but that thing was a monster, it has eight decks. We only occupied the top three. They could have.”

  “Thanks Harry, talk with you tomorrow.” Jim then turned to Patty. “I’ll call the Montoya Company and ask them. I’ll be on a commercial line so we’ll have to disconnect so I can talk.”

  “Please do,” Patty said then suddenly disappeared.

  “George, connect me with Peter Harvey,” Jim called into the air. “Full privacy mode.”

  Jim paced back and forth while half listening to the speech in progress in the council chambers.

  “Connecting with Peter Harvey,” George said. “Private conference mode.”

  “What is it ducky?” Peter said from behind Jim.

  Jim jumped in mild fright and turned to see Peter. “Another one sneaking up on me?” he said.