by Bruce Burk
Gavin slid himself into the middle of the doorway as the officers were leaving, “Wait … I need to show you something,” he said to the guards. Clark quickly pulled up a holo-gram in front of him and moved some sections of block code around, disabling the cameras and locking the doors. Gavin grabbed his dog tag, “You see these sir? I got these for defending my country. And I’m about to do it again.”
Clark closed his hologram and quickly withdrew a metal disk from his belt and tossed it through the air near the ceiling of the bar. Quickly, Gavin used his wrist-mounted blaster to shoot the two guards at the door. Then, he fired a success of four perfectly timed blasts, which bounced off the disk and hit the four guards surrounding John, leaving only the officer holding Kaslov. Some of the people in the bar fled, while other stayed. Kaslov looked at John with complete shock and awe. “It’s you! You are the rebels I’ve heard about,” said Kaslov. Gavin brought the officer to John on his knees.
The OSS guard cried, “What are you doing! You can’t do this! Let me go! This is high treason! You have broken the law! Aiden will have your heads for this!” “Eidolons laws are no laws at all. The enforcers of that law stand as complicit executors of his will and equally guilty of it,” John responded. “The man you save is a criminal! A leader of black market! A terrorist! How can you save him?” the OSS guard said. “Because criminals in violation of the laws of the unjust have done nothing wrong and stand as close to the freedom fighter as a soldier,” John said. Gavin blasted the guard away and he fell slowly to the ground.
“I owe you my life,” Kaslov said, “Anything you need I am your man. The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” he added. “Tell me where the Christian prison camp is; one where they would take special prisoner’s,” John requested. “I know of one in Buffalo. That is where they take the Christians from the area that they don’t want to kill yet – maybe to be used as pawns for the One State. I’m sure you will find your girl there.” John and Kaslov embraced and shook hands. “Anything for you sir. My men are yours to command. You must come to meet them,” Kaslov exclaimed. “We will. We just have some other matters to take care of first,” John said in a determined way. “Begin to spread word to the other leaders of the black markets that they are requested to join the Global Rebel Army and help end Eidolon’s rule,” he added. “Of course my friend … of course,” Kaslov replied.
The man in the wilderness opened his eyes to a nice damp rag being tapped against his forehead by a beautiful native woman. They were in a hut built out of leaves and wood. As his eyes fluttered open, he stumbled to get up in a frightened way. “Who are you?” he asked. “Relax, you have quite the bump on your head. My name is Aiyana. Here … sit,” the woman said. The man saw that she was a beautiful woman wearing a dress of flowers. Her hair was long and reached down to the small of her back; she was curved like the mountains yet her voice was soft and sweet.
“Why was I captured?” he asked. “You were not captured, you were saved. You cannot be wondering around in the forest like that alone.” “Here eat this,” Aiyana said, handing the man a bowl of fruit and vegetables, which the man scarfed down profusely. “Oh my… this is the best fruit I’ve ever eaten,” the man said. “Thank you,” Aiyana said while her eyes stared at the man with a look of shock and awe. “You know we don’t see people from the outside very often. You are a rare find. Come, I must show you the village. The chiefs will want to meet with you,” Aiyana said.
Then, Aiyana escorted the man out of the tent. The man saw a large village of natives. There were children chasing each other and playing. There were people picking berries and planting seeds. There were men wrestling; there was boats departing for fishing. There were people living amongst the trees, and multitudes of animals amongst the people. The natives were dressed in animal skin and radiated as the most happy and peaceful people that that the man had ever seen.
“Come … let me show you around. Aiyana and the man walked through the village. Children ran past them through the dense forest and bumped into the man as they walked. “This is my people’s village. We have lived here amongst nature in peace and harmony for hundreds of years. Very few outsiders have ever seen this place,” she said. The village was organized in the shape of a galaxy with a large central tree in the middle and various huts orbiting it. A river flow through the center out into the ocean and the entire village was covered in dense rainforest. “As is custom, I must take you to meet the elders,” Aiyana said.
John and the others walked down the side of the street planning their next move. “Do you really trust those guys John? They’re scoundrels and thieves. Be easy for them to turn their back on us,” Clark said. “I trust them to be themselves; to be selfish; to seek profit and run a black market cartel of illegal goods under the One State’s nose. They are but a stream of anonymity and a resource base for us to use. They oppose Eidolon’s power and so do we; it’s that simple. Right now, our priority is to protect the holy works and rescue Sofia. Then we will return to the chambers and finish our training,” John said.
“You know, it’s awfully ironic you carrying all those books around,” said Gavin. “Weren’t you raised as a Christian? Isn’t your loyalty to Christianity?” Gavin asked. “Of course it is. But I made a promise to God that I would protect the books of other faiths with my life, John replied. Gavin smirked and said, “But doesn’t the Bible say that Christ is the way the truth and the life and that no one can get to heaven without him?” “Yes it does say that,” John said. “But don’t you see John? You hold the last copies of those books in the whole world! If you believe that Christ is the true way to heaven, how can you preserve other books that you know to be a lie? I mean … I think if I were you I’d just burn all the other ones and only preserve the Bible,” Gavin said.
John was stunned by Gavin’s inquiry. Thoughts of sitting in church with his parents filled his mind and he felt an intense pull of loyalty to the Bible over the other books. He knew deep in his heart that if there was one book that had to survive over all others, it was the Bible. John again grabbed the cross around his neck and stared at it.
“I … I can’t destroy the other books. It’s not for me to decide which religion is better. If I did, I would be no better than Eidolon. Yes, the Bible says that it is the only way, but that doesn’t mean the other books are completely wrong … right? Shouldn’t humanity as a whole be able to view all of them and decide for themselves which one they want to believe?” Gavin replied, “But none of what you’re saying is in the Bible. Don’t you think some people will not go to heaven because of your actions? Because you’re giving them the opportunity to be wrong?” “People deserve the right to be wrong about God,” John said. “But the way you determine whether or not you should destroy the other books isn’t coming from any instructions in the Bible, it comes from … something else?” Gavin asked.
“Yes, perhaps it is further proof of the natural law that grandfather was speaking about,” John said continued, “That’s why anyone who wants to take these books from me will have to pry them from my cold dead … ”
Suddenly, a man bumped into John, cut the two straps holding the books on his shoulder and ran off with his messenger bag. John took off running after the stranger. However, a large mass of people cut off Clark and Gavin from John. The mass of people pushed John and Gavin along with them as they were lost among the masses.
The stranger ran towards an empty skyscraper overlooking the central square where Aiden was hosting a mass demonstration of obedience. Hundreds of people were listening to Aiden’s speech as was required once a day below a giant One State flag. There were screens in the background showing the same demonstrations happening in the various capitals all over the world. There were no countries anymore. The screen showed crowds from places like Old Russia, Old China, Old Germany, and every other pre-One State land. The world would be forced to bow in unison to Eidolon to demonstrate the solidarity of the One State. The One State wanted to appeal to the baser urges of the
populous and have dissenters fight OSS members in hand to hand combat to the death. The fight was occurring on the screen behind Aiden as he spoke to the masses.
[omitted omitted omitted omitted omitted omitted omitted omitted] “Behold the power of the One State! A global family! A Global culture!” exclaimed Aiden as he stomped his fists. Rows of Chinese men bowed in unison to Eidolon, and the same went for Russians, Europeans, Africans, South Americans, etc. “I ain’t bowing to this tyrant,” Gavin said proud and patriotically to Clark.
“Just do it or we’re going to be eviscerated in front of the whole world,” Clark said. Clark then smacked Gavin on the back of the head to push him into bowing position. The two rebels bowed along with the others in the massive crowd. “We are only as strong as our weakest link. Look what happens to those that dissent,” Aiden yelled as he pointed to the holo-screen, “The One State brings justice to the terrorists and the traitors!”
The thief entered the market place. There were various vendors out selling robot parts, food-mostly unhealthy junk-, and other gadgets and gismos. The market was heavily controlled in the One State. All the main industries were state controlled, but smaller dealers of goods could obtain a license and sell goods for profit; the small amount they could keep after taxes. There were no blaster salesman because blasters were outlawed for civilian. But that never stopped anyone from going to the black markets and getting one anyway.
The thief threw racks of vegetables all over the ground that John stumbled over. He then through a transport that contained dogs and cats in cages and John quickly followed. The thief ran into a clothing tent and disguised himself in rags. John ran through the aisles of rags, scanning for the thief. For a while, John could not find him, but ending up seeing his messenger bag on the floor by a man covered in rags. Then, the thief took off running again. He ran into an abandoned building that was under construction that overlooked the mass obedience demonstration. The thief ran up several sets of stairs and began climbing a ladder as he fled. John was able to jump and grab a hold of his feet as he hung from the ladder.
“Give me the bag!” John shouted as he tried to yank the man down. But the thief smacked John across the face with his boot and John fell several feet down. He moaned and tried to get up. He took out his blaster and tried firing at the thief but he missed several shots. The thief ran up a scaffolding and began firing several blasts towards John as he climbed after him. Some of the scaffolding bent and sent John into a wall which collapsed on top of him. John, weakened and injured, opened his eyes to see the thief taking out two of the books, dousing them in lighter fluid and burning them. Dazzled with excitement, the thief watched the books burn as he muttered some Latin while he was doing it.
“Noooo!” John cried. John blasted a switch on the wall which sent a crane flying toward the thief knocking him onto the edge of the scaffolding with the bag falling two stories onto the ground. The last Holy Books on Earth lay scattered across the floor. Simultaneously, the thief grabbed a set of chains and swung towards the books while John sprinted towards them. John quickly picked up the bag which had fallen several feet away from the books, and slid on his knees, swiping all the books into the bag while the thief swung over the top of him. After securing the books, John turned around and shot the thief in the chest. But the thief ran away from John onto the roof of the building. John cornered him on top of the building as they saw the mass crowd of people bowing to Eidolon. John cornered him at blaster point.
“Who are you?” John asked angrily. The thief threw up his arms in innocence. “Are you one of Aiden's pawns! You better start talking or you're dead.” John said. “I do not wish you any harm. I only mean to rid the world of the false teachings,” the man said. “What are you talking about?” John asked. “I am part of a group called the ‘Will of the Cross,’” the thief said as he inched slowly towards the buildings edge. John could see a OSS officer battling a ‘terrorist’ in the background; some small Muslim man who appeared to be slowly doing worse in the fight. Perhaps they drugged them so that the OSS officer could look good defeating them.
“We believe that Christianity is the only true religion and that if the opportunity came to preserve it while the other religions were destroyed then we must assure the false teachings are removed from the Earth and salvation for all of humanity secured,” the man said. John looked puzzled, “How did you find me?”
“Your friend Clark, we know he has been hacking the database. He is not the only one. He goes by the moniker ‘$4INTR4V3N.’ He is not the only one capable of hacking the universal database. We have been monitoring his activity. Please, you must allow me to destroy the other books before it’s too late,” the man said. “Never!” John replied.
“Then the Lord has spoken. I wish you luck Mr. Shepard,” the thief said before he leaped off the roof of the building and disappeared into the scaffolding to his certain death. John looked down in disbelief. On the screen, the OSS officer then finally killed his Muslim opponent. Crowds all over the world roared in applause. He checked his bag fluttering through the books to make sure the Bible was still there. The torn up Quran, the Buddhist and Hindu teachings were still there as well. John let out a huge sigh of relief but was also saddened that the other older religious beliefs such as the Book of the Dead and Pagan religions had been lost. The Hindu teachings had burn marks on the sides and had also lost several sections of pages.
“I can't do this father! Please help me! Please do something! How can you let the one Bible rest on my shoulders! Please do something!” John cried out to God. And there was only silence. A few droplets of rain fell onto John's face as he stared up into the sky and felt only anger to God.
Later, John met up with Gavin and Clark back and the ground. Gavin was looking down. “I'm getting worried about the people of this Country,” Gavin said. “There are no more countries,” Clark said in reply. “I feel like the more time that goes by that they live under the One State, the more and more they are forgetting about how to live free. Maybe they're losing the desire to live freely. What if grandfather was right? What if we kill Eidolon and the people are just zombies that find a new leader to control them?” Clark said. “Then we will remind them and they will chase the freedom they once had. And if they are old and their kids are born into the One State with no understanding of what a republic is, then we will educate them. That is our duty,” John said. David’s arm emerged from the rubble.
CHAPTER 11 - WANTED
The man in the wilderness came to the hut of the elders. There sat several decorated native men with tattoos and animal fixings all over them. “For us to let you stay here, you must receive a blessing from Fysi. Go, outsider, and see if you are worthy,” the elder said. Aiyana took the man up the mountain. She led him behind a waterfall where he saw a rainbow and hundreds of fish swimming downstream. They came to small wooden house on top of the mountain. Aiyana opened the door. There was a house full of tribal drawings on the wall; carvings made out of wood. It was almost as if all the particles of matter drew closer to one another.
“Hello Aiyana! How are you?! It’s so good to see you again,” Fysi said. Fysi embraced Aiyana and kissed her on the face. This was no ordinary embrace. Fysi hugged Aiyana like he had not seen her in 20 years and she was the love of his life. Fysi was a short, dark skinned boy, although he looked very young. “And I’m so happy you brought your new friend,” Fysi said as he hugged the man as well … like the warmest embrace a human could give. “Let me get you some fresh fruit,” Fysi said as he went into the other room.
“Who is he? Why is he so happy?” the man asked. Aiyana replied, “Fysi is very special. You see … when he was a boy, he went on a hunting expedition with some of the elders to sacred grounds. He was very young, somewhere around 1460 sun passes. While he was hunting, he climbed a tall tree in an attempt to get a vantage point to kill a bird. But he misplaced his foot and fell down onto his head. The elders thought he was dead. But three sun passes later, he awoke from his
sleep and was as exactly as you see him now: this happy and peaceful person.”
“I’ll be right there,” said Fysi. Aiyana leaned into the man to whisper in his ear, “The elders believe that when he hit his head, he became, how you say, frozen in time. They believe that he is frozen in the initial human state: that he is frozen in beginning stage of human nature – untainted by the evils of the world. He can learn new things, his memory works fine, but his nature at its very core is frozen in time. If you want to know how you saw things, acted towards other people, understood good and evil before you became corrupted by the world, you can just come here and ask Fysi,” she said. The man replied, “My God,” said the man. “Do you have any idea what this means? He is the key…”
“Here try this,” as Fysi shoved some apples into the man’s mouth. “Mmm, thank you,” the man replied. Fysi stared into the man's eyes. Fysi spoke in a gentle way, “There is sadness in your eyes. Lost a loved one, have you?” The man stood silent. Fysi came close to the man and touched his face. He put his hand over the man’s heart, closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. “You are a good man,” Fysi said.
Suddenly, Aiyana unwittingly brushed against a pedestal, knocking over one of Fysi’s prized art pieces, a vase, that he had spent three years painting and crafting. The vase shattered onto the ground in hundreds of pieces. Aiyana, with extreme shame said, “I'm so sorry Fysi.” Fysi simply went and picked up some of the broken pieces and smiled. It was almost as if he lacked the ability to be angry. “There is no need to apologize. As long as you are not hurt, Aiyana, there is no problem at all. The true treasures in life are not material things, but the wonders of nature around us. You must also know that art is not about the end result but the journey of creation,” Fysi said. "Thank you so much for seeing us, but we must get back to the elders now,” Aiyana said. Fysi put his hand on the man’s shoulder, “It was very nice to meet you. I hope to see you again soon.”