by Reilly, Jim
Steven, Cynthia, D’Shawn, and Marcus were alone with the Lieutenant when she told them, “Please call me Hailey.”
With D’Shawn in agreement, Marcus requested, “Hailey, can you please get me information about whatever weapons were developed since we were away?”
At the same time, Cynthia requested, “Please get us all cultural and social information of this time period. If we are to interact with the people of this time, we’ll need to understand them.”
Steven didn’t say a word as he was overwhelmed sitting in the Captain’s state room wondering how they were going to have the ability to combat such an evil and powerful entity now in their path.
Outside New Jerusalem in orbit around Earth a delivery vehicle’s computer nearing the station had a clear avenue to the number four docking bay when without notice the vehicle stuck an object with immense force. The Captain of the delivery vehicle went forward to the control room to understand the situation. As the computer immediately pulled the vehicle back, the Captain could now observe the object of the craft that was hit. With his eyes he could see the long range transport, but his instruments did not detect it. Whatever it was, he needed to report it.
In the interior corridors of New Jerusalem a weak Walter Sikes blended into the flow of people as they went about their day. In the floating city were large complexes, fifty stories high holding space for all kind of business and industrial needs. On the walkways were shops selling everything from synthetic flowers to attitude adjustment drinks to government approved memory cafés. Each structure throughout the city was decorated with unique designs in vibrant colors with every viewable site clean as if brand new.
Sensing the beings around him unsuitable because they showed no wanting or desires, his mind wondered around the city, and he sat on a bench in an arboretum. It was then that he saw an opportunity. A gardener pruning a Japanese maple tree finished and began to stroll by him. Seeing the image of Walter Sikes materialize in every corner of the city, he needed to move quickly. Without hesitation, he stood up and walked up to the gardener, placed his hand on the man’s shoulder and whispered into his ear. In a moment, the man trembled as he viewed Satan’s secrets.
As the gardener experienced the dark presence enveloped him like a tremendous ocean wave trouncing him, city peace assistance drones approached hovering six feet off the ground.
One of the drones addressed the gardener, standing alone in the arboretum, after a quick scan, “Citizen Glenn Casarona, have you seen this individual? It is believed he could be in this area.”
As he felt the emotions of his new vessel, he replied to the drone, which was about the size of a coffee cup and was displaying a life-sized image of Walter Sikes in front of him, “No, I haven’t.”
Without hesitation, the drone continued along with the others to scan the area as the gardener walked away with a smile on his face.
“Hailey, prior to the transformation I made on the Ancient Visitor’s craft, I thought I was in superb physical shape,” he told her as they sat in the ship’s galley to eat lunch. “I was one of the top wrestlers in the country. Then after my abduction and the changes made to my body, I had a hard time accepting what happened to me.”
She questioned him as drones hovered around them to bring food and drink to the table, “Why would you find that difficult? You were stronger, faster, and smarter than the people around you. Whether you wanted it or not, you were better for it.”
“That’s the point, I didn’t ask for this. I was happy living my life. A life I had planned for me.”
“You saved the world,”
“Maybe, but I feel I lost much more than I gained.”
“That’s fascinating,” said Hailey. “I too, have wondered if the continued enhancements to our bodies are for the better. We have accelerated evolution and along the way we’ve upgraded our bodies with technologies that improved upon that. The thing is, where do we draw the line between improving our humanity and becoming engineered cyborgs?”
“Let me say this,” Steven pondered. “The Ancient Visitors were an old race. Some of us were able to communicate with them, and from what I could tell, they crossed that line at some point in their existence. However, it wasn’t the advanced technology or any enhancement done to them physically, it was their mind or soul. Whatever they started out as, after being created by the Ruler of the Realm, they evolved into cold soulless beings. I didn’t sense one iota of love in their entire existence, and for that, I felt sorry for them, if you could believe that.”
“You think they are worth saving?! The Peace, Love, and Serenity movement says all are worth saving, so you must have followed the movement in its early days.”
“I don’t recall any such movement; it must have started after we left,” Steven started to say before being interrupted by a communication from Marcus telling them to report to the Captain’s state room.
“All of our returned friends have been awakened and healed from their wounds,” Marcus stated. “In an hour’s time, we’ll be in New Jerusalem to track the whereabouts of Walter Sikes, or at least his image. The city’s sensors detected the transport that left this ship near a docking station. Since that detection, there’s been nothing.”
Sitting at a finely polished mahogany table with a view of the vast emptiness of space, were Cynthia, D’Shawn, Marcus, Steven, and Hailey. Cynthia offered, “It may be a waste of time looking for Walter if this being can change forms.”
“I don’t need my eyes to see this pure evil creature,” D’Shawn expressed without doubt. “He—or it—pulsated anger, hate, lust, and greed. In this peaceful society, shit, he’ll stick out like a sore thumb.”
Cynthia asked, “What do you suppose is his endgame now that the ship he was going to use to open a gateway to bring his army through to terminate the Ruler of the Realm has been destroyed?”
Before anyone of the Returned could answer, Hailey, the history expert, offered, “In the time of the Followers of Divinity conflict it was believed by some that there was a correlation between religious Scripture and the events that were unfolding. It was believed that Scripture, whether purposely or coincidently, provided insight. With that said, let’s understand what may be happening. Satan after losing a battle was cast into a prison for a thousand years. This entity or Prince was last seen about a thousand years ago being sucked into a black hole. In Scripture, Satan escapes to battle God and Jesus Christ one last time. He assembles an army to battle God’s army of good.”
“We destroyed his ship with his army of Ancient Visitors and freed their slaves,” Steven added. “Where’s he going to get an army? The people of Earth are a peaceful people and have a communal society.”
Marcus thought for a second and offered, “It can’t be all roses. Someone’s not happy. All he has to do is find a little unhappiness and exploit it. This evil being can easily spread the seeds of discontent and grow his army. Hailey is there, how can I say it, an underbelly to this society?”
“I assure you, we are all about peace, love, and serenity. We treat all with respect and dignity, even the ones who need our help the most.”
Marcus who had taken up the mantle of leader with approval since Matt Moran died on the Ancient Visitor ship during the battle asked, “Who would that be?”
A hesitant Hailey explained, “You see, not all in the past thousand years since you left have fully agreed to be enhanced. There’s also some whose DNA wouldn’t fully accept enhancement. These people might not be at the level the enhanced are, but they are full citizens with all the rights I have. To be honest, we treat them fairly well, being sure to include them or being there in their time of need.”
“We’re going to start there,” Marcus ordered. “If some of them feel full equality is not their perception, then maybe there are a few seeds of discontent. Hailey, are there pockets of these people in New Jerusalem?”
“I don’t understand why, but yes there are parts of the city where they inhabit.”
�
��Great,” Marcus expressed. “I’ll stay here to organize the other twenty-five Returned survivors to improve Earth’s defense and to provide protection for world and local governments, as well as important officials in case the Prince does gather an army and proceeds with an attack. We’ll also be getting our computer implants. You three will get yours when you return.”
Once the ship docked with New Jerusalem, Hailey showed the three many aspects of the city and its, to them, advanced technology. Cynthia thought aloud, “Beautiful and stunning to say the least. Nowhere in my dreams would I have thought mankind would be capable of such extraordinary achievements.”
“If you are impressed by this, you’ll really be impressed when you go down to Earth. This is just a taste.”
Anxiously, Steven asked, “Hailey, maybe we should head to our destination?”
“Of course,” replied Hailey as she led them to a lift or elevator that not only lifted vertically but also horizontally without a feeling of movement. Within seconds the lift stopped at the lowest level of the city.
Walking out of the lift, Cynthia commented, “This place may be more advanced than anywhere in our time; it seems, though, different from the main part of the city on this space station. It’s not as beautiful or as stunning.”
D’Shawn added, “I was hoping this wouldn’t happen in the future, but I guess where there are folks who are different, you’ll find them segregated somewhere. Whether it’s by choice or by desperation, people find themselves sectioned off from the more affluent. They’ll tell you we’ll have equal rights and equal pay, but it’s not the case. In the end, they can make the neighborhood look pretty, but it’s still a ghetto.”
Hailey had left for a moment and had returned with two of the local officials. One was a slender, taller Chinese man with partial enhancement. The other was of Scandinavian descent but showed no enhancement at all. She introduced them, “This is Donny Chin and Sven Abramsen, and they’re the section’s area captains.”
Donny told them, “As I’ve stated to the Lieutenant, only authorized personnel have scanned in and out the past forty eight hours. As it stands, the only people not recognized by the scanner are the four of you.”
Sven added, “Other than you all, no one has set foot in this section.”
“Who or what we’re looking for may resemble one of the people here,” said Steven.
“I may be a lowly dumb human,” responded Sven. “But I’ve got to tell you, these scanners scan right down to your DNA. It knows what your kids will look like before you ever decide to have one. If it says it’s you, then it’s you.”
Hailey asked, “Do you know who these people are?”
Donny nodded, and Sven replied, “Yes, they’re the Returned and you all are searching for the Prince character. He’s also referred to as Satan.”
“Then you know the importance of this matter,” Hailey ascertained.
“Please, tell us if you’ve seen anything out of the ordinary?” Cynthia asked with a little more kindness.
“No.”
Steven then asked, “How about telling us if you have any unhappy citizens in this section? The Prince or Satan has a knack for manipulating the disenfranchised.”
“Are you kidding?” Donny asked with disbelief. “We’re the undesirable or to some, the unclean. The fully enhanced look down upon us and don’t treat us on an even keel. What was it like in your time? Was everyone treated equally?”
D’Shawn was quick to answer with disgust, “Pretty much the same. Shit, we’d start a riot to get recognition to our cause. That reminds me, has anyone been angrier than they were before or shown any recent discontent?”
“There’s a Citizen Complaint meeting starting in a few minutes in one of the municipal assembly virtual rooms,” Sven said. “But the odd part is that Glenn Casarona is chairing the meeting. He lives in the same complex as I do. He’s usually not too interested in these sorts of things, but I guess something ruffled his feathers.”
Hailey then dismissed the two, and confided with Cynthia, D’Shawn, and Steven, “I don’t register any such meeting in the city.”
Overhearing Hailey while he walked away, Sven responded, “I’m only saying this because I know the Prince is bad for all of us. If you want to find him, turn off your filters and access the janitorial meeting rooms. The Enhanced generally find themselves too good to venture into places only undesirables go to gather.”
Feeling a bit embarrassed by what Sven said, Hailey bowed her head as she would an esteemed enhanced toward Sven and thanked him.
Steven then asked, “Hailey, can you get us in there with our headgear?”
“Let me access all unfiltered meetings originating from this section of the city as per Sven,” Hailey told them, her head twitching as she accessed information through her internal computer. “I found it. Now let me access the meeting so we can enter. Oh yes, let me also do this…”
Realizing that the four of them were fully enhanced and would stick out like sore thumbs, Steven tried to stop Hailey, “Wait!”
Then the four were mentally whisked away to a large Bavarian beer hall with an 1880 era look. It held a few hundred people who were quieting down as the meeting was about to begin. While Steven’s mind started to focus and his arms were out to help his balance, he noticed his hands looked strange but familiar. His fingers were not long and he felt closer to the ground. His hands weren’t enhanced like they’d been since his first abduction; and he wasn’t as tall. He guessed what had happened, however. He looked at Cynthia to confirm that they were changed back to their original appearance, to how they looked before being enhanced.
Cynthia gazed at Steven, “I remember that face.”
“You got that dumb Kansas farm boy look back,” teased D’Shawn in his original human appearance.
“So that we weren’t looking like the enemy in an anti-enhancement meeting, I figured that we shouldn’t look like an enhanced,” said a blond haired blue eyed Hailey looking as if she had just walked out of a college psych class before anyone even thought about being enhanced. “I accessed historical data and can change your appearance, as well as physical capabilities. I hope I was accurate enough.”
“It’s going to take a little time to get used to the old D’Shawn 1.0.” D’Shawn stretched out to adjust to his old body.
“This was what I assumed, by analysis, I would have looked like as a non-enhanced,” Hailey admitted as a smitten Steven looked on.
Moments later, Glenn Casarona took the lead in the meeting now in a full hall. “Welcome friends. I come here today to let you know that there is more out there for us to achieve. Why do we have to settle for the crumbs that the Enhanced don’t want?” Why is our station in life set in stone? Why are we limited by other’s expectations?”
Someone in the crowd yelled out, “The Enhanced wouldn’t like that!”
Glen continued, “That’s right, they wouldn’t like that. We are supposed to be equal citizens but are we really equal? Are equal citizens segregated to be out of sight? Do we have equal services? Or even equal educational opportunities? I don’t think so. If we did, you all wouldn’t be sitting here feeling slighted, would you? I know I’ve felt the way the Enhanced look at me like I’m an inferior life form. Just the way they acknowledge me when they walk past me, tells me I shouldn’t be at their level in life.”
As Glenn continued, Cynthia turned to D’Shawn, “What do you think, could he be an agitator under the Prince’s influence?”
“I can’t say,” he admitted. “The words he’s saying are not words said by the devil. No, these are words said out loud by great people sticking up for the oppressed. Whether it’s Susan B. Anthony for women’s suffrage, Martin Luther King for civil rights, or Mahatma Gandhi for freedom of the oppressed, these same words were spoken by great people. Quite frankly, I’ve felt the same way back in our time. So far, he’s expressed nothing I haven’t felt before.”
Hailey told the three as they stood in the back of the
hall, “If history tells us anything, it’s that some of the worst periods in human history started on a platform of common social issues. I imagine Adolf Hitler standing in a beer hall just like this talking about the long bread lines and low wages of a depressed Germany. The issues may be genuine, but what’s the intent?”
Still gazing upon Hailey’s face, Steven said, “Then maybe we should ask him a question?”
As Steven walked up closer to be in range, a concerned Hailey grabbed his arm, “Be careful. I’ve accessed his profile and nothing indicates he would be such an agitator. In fact just about all his evaluations indicate he is an unassuming individual with no ill will toward anyone. So something may be up.”
He acknowledged what she said, but he went on to ask, “Excuse me, Glenn, could I ask a question?
Glenn allowed it.
Steven asked, “What should we do about it?”
“I believe everyone in this room should have the opportunity to reach for the stars. You all deserve wealth and prosperity. It’s the goal we should all leave this hall with. However, to achieve this goal, we should demand equality and not take the crumbs the Enhanced give us. That was a good question Steven.”
As Steven looked surprised that he knew who he was, Glenn continued to speak to the crowd, “The Enhanced are here to track us and keep us under their foot. They appear as one of us, just to deceive us. Go now and spread the word that we won’t be kept under their control!”
Immediately the crowd started to dwindle as each person left the virtual meeting until Steven realized that the only ones left were him, Glenn, Hailey, D’Shawn, and Cynthia.