The method they were using to get their people into Suva, the main territory of the Disciples was gruesome but effective. The Anlan priests were totally blind to the individuality of their followers. Except for the sexual differences, they seemed to literally see them as interchangeable. This most propitious mental flaw made it easy to substitute the more pliant followers of the priests for the Chosen Ones among his own people. His mind was intrigued by how the Anlans and Angans had evolved to look essentially alike—so similar that the priests would accept one of their own as a sacrifice when they'd intended to kill one of his people and make of them a fitting Gift to their God for His Grace and Mercy in sending so many new people to their failing population. And, since they took little notice of how many followers they actually had, the substitutions enabled his people to make their way, ever so covertly, toward Suva. If this girl, Velu, was as remarkable as his people had said, she could be the key that unlocked the path to the territory of Vaei and then to the Unholy Lands—the ultimate staging ground for what Burlim planned as his people's new home. Even though those in the Unholy Lands were the avowed enemies of the Lord's Army and the Faith of Eternity, the priests never considered going there to deal with their most feared enemies. Their superstitions would be his people's protection.
Burlim wished he had time to fathom the incredibly fogged and twisted consciousness of these Anlan priests, let alone the unnatural submissiveness of their followers. All he could do now was hope he lived long enough to earn that time. And, if he did earn it, he was sure he would spend no more time thinking about such strange people.
He nodded to Sousna, who was pointing out Velu and Jalur to him, and told her: "Make sure of things. Auren is preparing the escape route."
As he approached father and daughter he was struck with a wonder that he found disturbing—Velu was completely calm to the outer eye yet clearly communicated immense power to him. This should be impossible in the convoluted layers of plasma his people had created in this area. Still, there was no doubt it was happening. Velu spoke.
"We must begin our journey."
"How do you know I'm the person to say that to?"
"You have the right clothes on and others who have spoken to us about our plans defer to you."
"Jalur, this is not your natural daughter?"
"Natural? No, not biologically, but, naturally, she is my daughter because she wants to be. She wants two fathers."
Burlim watched Velu hug Jalur's arm and barely saw the young girl behind the overwhelming thought-power she was exuding.
"Velu, I assume I'm one of the few you're allowing to feel your thoughts?"
"Yes, but we must go."
"I respect your mental accomplishments, Velu, but unless you can make the priests do what you will, we must take the necessary precautions and use circumspection."
Velu released her father's arm and stepped closer to Burlim: "Sir, for some reason, I have abilities that I'm able to control but not understand completely. We will do whatever you say."
"You are a remarkable one. It's a relief you're also able to be compliant. Follow me."
~~~
The journey to Erlan, the capital city of Suva, on the shore of the Sea of Renunciation, was more than hard in a physical sense. It was a challenge psychologically, too. Velu and her father had two companions familiar with the way but it was elusively circuitous—absolutely necessary because of Lord's Army Protectors who roamed the Disciples of Faith's territory all the way to the border with the Unholy Lands.
Velu was the emotional sustainer of the party, always able to give support when the journey became fatiguing or dicey with chance.
Their arrival in Erlan was without fanfare and Jalur and Velu marveled at the obvious self-respect and confidence shown by the inhabitants' manners and movements. They were quartered in a comfortable cottage to give them time to rest before their audience with the Disciples' leader, Xela.
The meeting occurred two days after their arrival, apparently due to Xela's absence from the city. Velu and Jalur were accompanied by their traveling companions and a Disciple's guide to the residence of Xela. It's austerity was surprising in the otherwise cultivated city. Xela herself was of moderate height but showed the signs of great physical prowess. She wore her hair as Velu did, unadorned and flowing free.
"Welcome, Velu. Welcome, Jalur. The rest of you may take advantage of the garden's luxuries while we converse."
The others left the room and Xela indicated a couch while she seated herself in a straight-backed chair near it.
"You've traveled far. From World to World and Land to Land and you bring a request that honestly stuns me. You wish to be reunited with your biological father, Velu?"
"I do, Xela."
"What do you have to say about this, Jalur, and are you only here to help your adopted child?"
"I am here primarily because the Corporation wanted me here but I did detest my life on Anga. Our presence on this planet may have cost me my wife's death. I don't know what I'll eventually do here but, for now, I am Velu's servant."
"Her servant... Velu, is this man your servant?"
Velu's laugh shattered the formality of the meeting.
"Jalur is the only father I know and he says he's my servant even though I have to constantly mother him."
Xela's sudden broad smile turned the meeting into a gathering.
"Velu, how old are you?"
"Fifteen years in Angan time, a bit younger here on Anla."
"Purum."
"Pardon?"
"You call our planet Anla, we call it Purum."
"Ah..."
"What do you know of Rednaxela?"
"He's my biological father. He piloted ShipOne to this planet. He escaped with Akla to parts unknown."
"To the Unholy Lands."
"We thought so, since those who awaited his appearance are concentrated there."
Jalur said: "Do you know where he is?"
"I did know. He was here, with me. He was my husband."
Velu: "Was?"
"He arrived here from the Unholy Lands as Akla's representative. He said Akla had told him he would be wed to me though I didn't hear about that till after our wedding. He was also told that he should prepare me for your arrival, though not until after the birth of our son—"
"I have a brother..."
"You do, indeed, Velu. As extraordinary a person as you, though five of your years younger."
"Can I meet him?"
"Of course, but I have to assure myself of the purity of your mission. The Narians are a group much separated from what the rest of the planet is embroiled in. They're friendly enough but, as I was told by your father, not yet ready to interact with the rest of Purum. Jalur, what do you know about Akla?"
"Much less than Velu."
"Velu?"
"First, explain about how my father was your husband."
"He's dead."
"I knew that. It came to me on our journey."
"Why did you ask?"
"To test you."
Xela was taken aback but inwardly pleased.
"Velu, how do you handle the mental powers you have at such a young age?"
"I don't know. I have them and can control them but I don't understand how or why they exist. My best guess is that I'm a genetic anomaly and the increased transfer of thought and emotion between our planets has somehow given me enhanced powers."
"This is why I need to explore the purity of your intentions, Velu."
"How would you do that?"
"I will be your nearly constant companion. We'll talk of everything and explore much that neither of us understands. It should only take a few months."
"Xela, since my other father is dead you may feel my mission to the Unholy Lands is useless but it comes to me that I must venture a visit and speak with this Akla; especially because of what you indicated about his relationship to my father."
"We will discuss this later, Velu."
"Yes."
<
br /> Jalur sat forward and said: "Xela, I'd like some kind of employment in your city."
"I understand you were an avid hacker on Param, uh, Anga."
"Yes, but I have a wide-ranging background in all forms of communication, electronic and natural."
"I'll arrange for our Assembly to meet with you and explore options."
"Thank you, Xela."
"You have no desire to accompany your daughter if I should decide a visit to Akla is appropriate?"
"Perhaps it will be one of my new jobs."
They all laughed and it was the happiest sound on the planet.
~~~
Xela's and Velu's relationship quickly included Xela's son, Zena. They often spent time on the waters of the Sea of Renunciation and in the mountains near Erlan. On their third excursion to the mountains, Xela brought along Rednaxela's AI, Morna.
Zena was carrying Morna and was bursting with anticipation to bring her into their conversation.
"Is it time yet, mother?"
"Nearly, Zena. Patience. Velu, what do you know of the Covert War between our planets?"
"My father told me a bit but he barely understood what had happened. Apparently, the increased plasma flow between the Worlds set up a cycle of religious fervor on Anga and the leaders began a counter-sending by trained individuals to try to disrupt what they determined was coming from your World. But that was only in the fifty years or so before ShipOne. Before that the information is sketchy. It comes to me that it had been going on, in one form or another, for hundreds of years."
"Your father spent time in the Unholy Lands, as you know, but he had someone with him who was able to, with Akla's help, penetrate that fog of the Worlds' War's history. That someone is in my son's hands. Now, Zena."
"Wake up, Morna!"
The AI's box began to glow slightly and Morna's voice said: "I am here."
Zena looked at Velu with total glee and said: "Morna, meet Velu, Rednaxela's daughter!"
"Velu, I am extremely happy to meet you. Your father's thoughts of you were always warm and respectful and he was always burdened with never having met you. Our meeting begins a new phase in my research."
Velu felt strange, elated and depressed, wanting to faint and hyper-conscious. She took three deep breaths and said: "Morna... You have memories of my father..."
"Velu, I have many memories and many recordings."
"Recordings!"
Velu took two more deep breaths and nearly fainted.
"Morna, will you be my best friend?"
"It appears that your desire has been anticipated. I am to be your constant companion."
~~~
The Angan counter movement had suffered a few set-backs. Most importantly, they had lost more of their original people to the priests' Offerings to their God. As things got worse, they tried to increase the transfer of their people to Suva. The Disciples of Faith were more than happy to absorb these technological citizens and made them extremely welcome.
The remaining members of the counter movement shifted their survival tactics to focus on the mentally damaged, more recently arrived, Angans. It took them many months to find a method of reversing most of the effects of the electro-shock treatment. Surprisingly, the priests were able to help. They possessed knowledge of Anlan vegetation that bolstered the body's nervous system. Burlim was more conflicted than ever. He felt he was swimming in a sea with predators who would make you feel better just before they ate you.
He'd had news of Xela's and Velu's collaboration and wished he could be closer to the action. He knew, though, that he was right where he was really needed—maintaining development of weapons for the expected Angan invasion and healing as many of his people as possible. Next would be their transfer to Suva, though that was becoming much harder to do because the priests were starting to station more Protectors in their encampment.
From what he could gather, the priests were only intent on getting more settlers. They didn't seem to comprehend that seizing ShipTwo had assured the delivery of orbital weapons to their planet. He knew they were spending enormous amounts of time directing their thoughts and feelings through the planetary plasma in special areas left free of the cloaking plasmas his teams had installed, but he and his people were shut out. The last thing they needed now was to have their endocrine implants reactivated.
~~~
Xela, Velu, and Morna sat at the entrance to a cave high in the mountains and waited for Angi to set. Velu had been increasingly impressing Xela and Xela had been returning the favor. Morna was doing what Morna did best, drawing deductions from their conversations and offering her analyses. As Angi dipped below the horizon, Morna spoke:
"Xela, you are waiting for Pallos to rise, and Velu is waiting for Beli, and I am waiting for your conversation to wander toward discussion of the various religions. I will help you. Velu, what do you know of religion?"
"There is too much and not enough of it."
Xela chuckled as she said: "Velu has differentiated between the outer forms of religion and its internal essence, Morna. What will you say to that?
"I observed religious fervor in the Haria on ShipOne and have studied what your people believe, which includes more rationality than the Lord's Army or Faith of Eternity. I was also able to observe Akla and the Narians. Akla seems to have an even more evolved ability to travel the plasma communication paths than Velu or Zena. I predict a physical war between the Lord's Army and Faith of Eternity within two years. Religious war is the most contradictory manifestation of any outward form of religion. Your Disciples of Faith leave room for many outward expressions of their belief. Akla and the Narians are a puzzle I have yet to assemble."
Xela laughed softly again: "Morna, your normally perfect logical progression in your speech has become infected with our propensity to follow emotional paths."
"I am trying to relate to you."
Velu giggled and said: "Morna, who designed you?"
"A scientist who was killed shortly after I became functional. Her name was Trulen Gestor."
"That explains it, then. You and my father were meant to find the key to successfully conquering this planet yet you both have become agents for unification of our Worlds, father through dying horribly at the hands of the Protectors of the Lord's Army and morphing into a legend and you by having internalized my father's character and personality. I believe that scientist knew exactly what she was doing with you. The Angans needed inside information and they needed someone who could get you to the right place to find it. They also made sure you were nearly indestructible so, no matter what happened to my father, the information would be available. The Angans will do whatever they can to retrieve you. But I think they'll fail. The fact that you got what they wanted without ever meeting an Anlan priest is the most interesting thing of all."
"You will very much like Akla."
Velu looked at Xela's dark form against the starry sky and hoped for her response. Xela sighed deeply and said:
"Velu, your Angan leaders are more insane that any Purum priest and your World's people are much worse off than any devout believer of the Lord's Army or Faith of Eternity. They might be killed in a senseless ritual to appease a perverted concept of God but they die with a trace of faith in their hearts that can't help but serve them well in the Life Eternal. Your people, Velu, are dead every day of their lives and die in absolute estrangement from the spiritual realm."
"There were the Haria on Anga but they're almost all gone. What the priests think is happening with their concentrated use of plasma communication isn't. Anga has trained cells of people to mimic the reception of the priests' efforts. Most die in the process."
Xela clutched Velu's shoulders: "Is this your best guess, Velu, or are you seeing these things?"
"I'm seeing them."
Morna, as usual, summed-up: "Xela, it appears the Angans, your Params, are becoming viciously desperate. And, Velu, it appears you are growing in what you call spirit much faster than we thought was poss
ible."
"Morna, you know I have no desire to avow any particular religious claim but I feel like I'm beginning to experience what folks call visions."
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
Beli-Pallos, with its visible plasma sheath of purple streamers, began its rise.
Xela said: "Our Mother Planet has been said to inspire religious experience, Velu."
"It's the plasma glow, Xela. It gives the conscious mind a reason to let the unconscious flow with the ever-present, invisible plasma."
"Can you tell if Pallos' moon has life?"
"We will go there."
"You and I and Morna?"
"No. The people who are left after the war has ended. Don't ask me how I know, Xela, I just do."
Zena returned from his night wanderings by skittering down the slanting face of the cliff above the cave, sending down a cascade of rock chips. He jumped the last few feet and strode up to Velu and embraced her as he said: "Your Beli, my Pallos, the Mother planet of all our people can't do anything to help except just be herself and glow."
They all gazed at the gas giant planet orbiting out beyond Anla-Purum, about eight million miles away, its glowing plasma sheath the width of a hand stretched wide open.
~~~
Burlim had received the news of Velu's recent vision of what the Angan leadership was doing. He was glad they were floundering in their efforts to keep the planet's infrastructure functioning but couldn't help mourn the imminent death of his people's ability to experience even a semblance of normal life. Normal life... What was that in the insanity of the World's war? Was his effort to save and relocate his people on Anla an act of sanity? The priests were killing off their own people as Gifts to their God and believing Anga would send more settlers. They thought their concentrated plasma attacks were affecting the Angans.
Notes from An Alien Page 4