Δ
The following day we had the first official conference, in the major conference room of the embassy. Breakblade and four companions attended. On our side was Galactic Info's maximum leader Snow Leopard, our own Ambassador James Wester alias Thinker, the Prof, Nan the Man, Saka and me. We sat around a giant gleaming table that was too big for the number of attendees. Hot dox and cold calansi was available for all. After some feel-good formalistic foreplay, we got down to business. Saka and I had our questions all printed out so that made it easy.
We wish to inquire about the asteroid that recently departed an asteroid belt in the system of the planet Terra, location shown on this starchart, I telepathed. This asteroid was guided towards the planet Terra by a plasma pulse deflection unit, shown here. We slid some images across the table to the Brights. We were concerned because the asteroid was targeted directly on Terra and would have struck the planet with catastrophic destruction and widespread loss of life. It appeared to us that this was a deliberate act of war against Terra. Our initial information indicated that this installation was built by Brights. We did not understand why you would do this. We subsequently visited the asteroid, destroyed the deflection tower, built our own, and nudged the asteroid's course away from Terra. Can you comment on the asteroid, the installation, and the motivation for targeting Terra?
The B's all examined the images carefully. We had given them plenty to look at. The B's were flashing thoughts back and forth and Saka and I were eagerly attempting to read them. There did not seem to be any effort to shield their thoughts. I captured telepathed thought-fragments interrupted by other thought-fragments.
What's this? What's this...deflector…why would anyone do that…I've worked with deflectors, this is…do they think it's us…Terra, Terra. They're the ones who just declared war on us, right…haven't seen anything like…no, they wouldn't do that without…well why didn't they ask us?
Finally Breakblade directed his thoughts to us. This device is not one of ours. We did not construct it. We know nothing about this asteroid. We are checking with Central right now, but I can confidently assert that we have never visited this asteroid and certainly have no plans to target Terra for destruction. Why would we do that? How can you believe we would do that after welcoming us as friends and allies? Was your welcome insincere? Saka interpreted the answer into Inter and it caused a little stir. Snow Leopard answered.
"Please tell his Excellency that we apologize for the question but we note that the illegal regime on Terra recently declared war on Bright Haven and we thought that might have prompted this unusual action." I telepathed that to the Brights.
Breakblade smiled when he responded. Words are not important. The declaration of war was amusing but of no concern to us. Should they take any action against us we will retaliate by instantly annihilating their military capabilities. Sending an asteroid to devastate their planet seems to us to be a slow and very messy way of expressing our displeasure. Also it would kill billions of innocents. We prefer to avoid that whenever possible. After all, we think of ourselves as messengers of God. Yes, he is a vengeful God but he is also merciful to the innocent.
"Another reason we thought it might be a Bright action," Snow Leopard said, "was that one of our prophets had a vision of the asteroid strike and saw a Bright starcraft flying over the devastation after the strike."
It is impossible to comment on that, Breakblade telepathed. Prophesies can be very tricky. Sometimes what you see is only a possibility. Had it actually happened, we might have sent a recon craft to document the event. As you know, our forces are still pursuing pirate gangs in Terra's sector. But we did not send that asteroid to Terra. Had you consulted with us, we would have told you that and might have been able to help you.
"We have so far been unable to discover exactly who constructed the device and activated it to destroy Terra," Snow Leopard said. "But when preparing the deflector tower for destruction we were attacked by numerous spiritual beings from Dimension Two, which is the dimension where our departed souls normally dwell. These were malevolent spirits who attempted to take possession of some of our soldiers. You can see from the images what the tower looked like. We have been unable to identify who constructed it. It certainly was not constructed by departed souls. Do you have any ideas?"
Your report indicates a pressurized gas inside the modular units – presumably for life support for the builders. What was the composition of that gas?
The Prof did some quick research and then reported the result. "Nitrogen seventy nine percent, oxygen nineteen point five percent, the remaining one point five percent is a mixture of argon, sulfur dioxide and several other gasses. Does that tell you anything?" I did the telepathing.
Ah, yes. Yes it does, Breakblade said. He consulted with the other Brights for some time, but I did not catch anything understandable in their thoughts.
"This leads to a subject which we had been planning to raise with you," Saka interpreted from Breakblade's telepathed thoughts. "You once asked why we had returned to your universe. It is because of broken pledges, unfinished business, and ancient missions carved into our hearts by our ancestors. Sacred missions which we must address, or we lose our souls. We have no choice. We must do this, or die."
Free for the moment from other tasks, I listened to Breakblade's telepathy. In the days when your race was young, a great power struggle occurred on the planet Terra and several other habitable planets in your universe. Two alien races, both from another universe, penetrated your universe and fought each other. One race had been defeated in a great struggle with the other, and fled to this new universe with the intention of conquering the primitive inhabitants of Terra, enslaving them all, and beginning a new life as a master race, godlike and invincible. The second race learned of the first race's sanctuary in the new universe and followed them there, determined to continue the great conflict until one or the other side would triumph. This was not because they lusted for war, or for victory, but because their God called on them to do it. The clash between the two races was elemental, light against dark, good against evil, love against hate, freedom against slavery, free will against totalitarianism, innocence against savagery. The first race embraced evil and power and was chased from its universe by the second race, which embraced goodwill and mercy. This does not mean the second race was weak. There was to be no compromise with the forces of evil. We pursued them and destroyed them, and chased them away from your universe, leaving them no refuge. The survivors fled your universe back to ours. And you were left in peace. For thousands of years.
That was in your prehistory, Breakblade telepathed. Your legends speak of the great battles between Satan and his Demons and God and his angels. The legends are true. But Satan was not a god. He was a flesh and blood creature from our universe. So was God. All involved were flesh and blood, just as you humans are, just as we Brights are. Breakblade paused, looking into nothingness.
Then he resumed. Satan was quiet for many years. But his followers, the Demons, continued stirring things up in our universe. They are flesh and blood creatures as well, as you know, but they follow Satan. They inhabited many worlds in our universe. When they would attack us, we would strike back, and sometimes drive them from their worlds where they became too troublesome. We did not want a full-scale war with them as we were weary from the protracted struggle with Satan, and we wanted to leave them in peace. But it was not to be. Our agreement with the survivors of Satan's armies was that they would not again invade your universe. But the Demons did so, as you know, quite recently. We were forced to respond, in Galinta and Veda. And we fought by your side to victory. We thought they had, once again, retreated back to our universe. But they had not.
The composition of the gas you found in those pressurized housing units on your asteroid is identical with the atmosphere of the home world of Satan. You could not know that, of course, but we do. It is similar to the air we breathe but slightly different. The malevolent spirits that you en
countered are faithful servants of Satan. He has many followers from other dimensions. So that's the answer to your question. Satan and his slaves built that deflector tower. And his motivation is clear. Terra was his greatest defeat. So he wants to eradicate it from history. And announce his presence here, once again, and challenge us to the final conflict. He must be confident, to make such a bold move. But he knows we are here. We learned of his presence here, and that is why we are here, once again. To counter him. We are blood pledged to this battle. And we are very, very sorry that humanity is again involved.
Please check with us the next time you have a problem. We may be able to help you. Do not fear us. Thousands of young Bright knights are on their way here, right now, pledged to die for their people and yours. The final battle is at hand. We have no idea of Satan's strength. But for us, the mission is simple: victory or death.
Δ
Saka and I were busy all day and most of the night at the Bright embassy. There was a whole lot to do, and with only two of us telepaths, it was frantic. We accomplished a lot. We got the Inter language classes going, with the help of the Sisters. That was a priority. Those girls were very well motivated, and they loved the Brights. Honeyhair visited once in awhile to monitor the Sisters and ensure they were running effective language classes. Every Bright in the embassy – uh, pardon me, liaison office – was learning Inter, even Breakblade.
It seemed that every government agency in ConFree was anxious to have a conference with the Brights, but we held them off, as the Brights were not anxious to meet everyone and Saka and I were awfully busy. It was clear the Brights were busy with their own business, which probably focused on the upcoming war.
Saka and I missed the exorcisms of Ice and Doctor Dorak. Dorak had been fighting his parasite frantically, but within days he was exhausted and close to death. Father Speirs was evidently the only one qualified to tackle a spirit as powerful as Galistos. Speirs was a very large man, mostly muscle, and he dressed in black with a funny little white collar. It was scary just watching him walk in the door. He exuded power and confidence and spirituality and his eyes were like ice.
Arie told me what happened. Speirs warmed up on Ice. Speirs draped Ice in a holy stole, laid a crucifix over her, splattered holy water over her, and calmly recited an especially powerful prayer while glaring into Ice's eyes, his face so close to hers they could have been kissing. "God curses you for all eternity, evil one," he said. "You will burn in Satan's ovens, forever and ever. Begone now! Fly away quickly, very quickly, for God will pursue you. He will pursue you forever, without pause, until you are once again roasting in hell!"
The malevolent spirit inside Ice had vanished abruptly, just as Speirs ordered.
Then Speirs turned to Dorak. That was an especially intense exorcism. Galistos did not want to leave. But Speirs was God's representative in this dimension – or so it seemed. He thundered, he raged, he bombarded the Worm with holy threats and holy prayers. He was God's stand-in, pouring holy water right down Dorak's throat, cooking Dorak with the crucifix until he looked like a victim of a plasma attack.
The Worm struck back with a heart attack that almost floored Speirs. It only took him out of action for a brief time – then he stalked back into the room and laid a bible on Dorak's face. It sizzled like frying bacon. And, finally, the Worm fled.
Arie said it was just like a miracle, when the silence settled over Dorak's isolation room. The bible was the Christian holy book. Bees always had a copy, I remembered. I guess it must have been a very powerful book. Maybe that's why Satan had tried so hard to exterminate that religion.
Δ
When Ice and Bees were sufficiently recovered to receive visitors, I left Saka behind in the embassy to cover for me, and zipped back to Delta Research in an aircar. It was only about five marks away. I found Ice in a small lounge behind a closed door with a huge sign: NO ENTRY. Smiley was guarding the door.
"Hey, Prophet! Good to see you! Ice is in there. Go on in."
Ice was flat on her back in a gloriously luxurious reclining leatherette lounge, sipping on a frosty bottle of calansi, vacantly gazing sat the ceiling. Her face was covered with black scars.
"Ice. How are you," I asked.
"Hello, Prophet. It's damned good to see you. Old friends. It's amazing how many old friends I've got."
"We all love you, Ice. You know that." I settled into a nearby airchair.
"I sure do, Prophet. I do."
"Are you really all right?"
"The parasite is gone. Father Speirs kicked its smelly ass. And I feel like a new person."
"That's great!"
"You know what, Prophet? Bees was right. She was right all along. It was God that saved us. Look at Dorak. I thought he was a clown. He's a secret Christian. A fearless Christian warrior. And so is Speirs. Where do these people come from? They surface, when you need them. I thought Christianity was some kind of ancient, primitive cult. And now I owe them my life. Bees was always trying to convert me. And I just laughed at her. No more."
"Is Bees all right now?"
"She's fine."
"Do you remember when we were in the deflector, setting the charge? Do you remember what happened?"
"Only very vaguely. I've been brainscanned and told the techs what I know. But I'll tell you too, if you want." She paused for a sip of calansi.
"God, I feel so good! So relaxed," she said. "Well, remember it was so hot and stuffy in there I was having trouble breathing."
"Yes."
"And my tacmod turned up the heat, the bitch. It was so hot! And I felt I was going to pass out. And you and Saka were just screwing around with the charge, taking forever. Then Bees started swearing at me. I could hardly believe it. But she enraged me, and I cursed her. Then she shot at me. After that everything just turned red hot, and I don't remember much. I guess those spirits possessed both Bees and me. I remember parts of the exorcism, but not much."
"Wow. Well we're glad you're back with us, Ice."
"Honeyhair and Blondie and Mary have been taking real good care of both Bees and me."
"How is Dorak?"
"Still in recovery. It's all right, the spirit is gone. But he's in bad shape."
"Prophet! Hello." It was Bees, walking in the door. She looked – weak, her face all scarred up.
"Bees! How are you feeling?" I shot to my feet.
"Relax, Prophet. I'm fine. Just tired, that's all." She fell into a second lounge chair and set it to full recline. "Oh, that's good."
I resumed my seat. "We were just taking about what happened in the deflector," I said.
"What happened was insanity," Bees said. "Ice and I have talked about this a lot. Neither of us remembers it very well. Listening to the tacmod recording, it's chilling and horrifying. Those satanic beasts got ahold of our souls and twisted everything. All that love was instantly transformed into hate. It is a perfect example of what Satan does. And it has made me more determined than ever to spend my life as a servant of God, fighting Satan and all his filthy minions."
Ice struggled out of her recliner and stood by Bees, looking her over. Bees sat up. Ice embraced her. Bees returned the embrace. They stayed that way, locked together, cheek to cheek. Ice was shuddering slightly. They were both crying, silently. Neither made a move to stem the tears.
"I love you," Ice whispered.
"And I love you," Bees replied, "forever."
"Black bitch!" Ice said.
"Inbred mutant slut!" Bees replied. Then they both laughed and pulled away from each other. "Love forever!" Bees exclaimed, holding out a fist.
"Love forever!" Ice replied, striking Bees' fist hard with her own.
Love forever. How the hell was Satan going to fight that? I wasn't worried about the war. We were going to kick Satan's ass!
Δ
"Hello Prophet. You missed the meeting," the Prof said. I had just entered his office. There were only the two of us.
"Sorry, Prof. Somebody had to cover the embassy."<
br />
"Oh, it's quite all right, Prophet. I understand. I just want to give you this news personally – rather than having you get it second-hand."
"Well, thank you, Professor." He was sitting behind his desk and I was standing before him. Rather formal, I thought. The Prof is usually a lot more casual. I wondered what it was.
"Do you remember when you enlisted?" he asked.
I smiled. "I'm not likely to forget that day, Prof. It sure changed my life."
"What year was it?"
"What year? Um let's see…it was 379."
"That's right, Prophet. 379, month 06 to be exact. We all enlisted at the same time, and were thrown together, by sheer chance, into the same squad." He was smiling faintly. "That was six years ago."
"Six years!" I exclaimed. It sure didn't seem like six years had already passed. "Well, I guess time flies when you're having fun," I replied.
"Six years was the term of your contract with the ConFree Legion," the Prof said. "Under normal circumstances, you would now have a choice of leaving the Legion, or re-enlisting."
"Leaving the Legion! Why…I didn't realize…I hadn't even thought about it. Six years!"
"Yes, Prophet. Nobody else in Delta had really focused on that date, either. Including me. But the galactic situation is changing rapidly. And we are no longer in normal circumstances. The Legion expects big trouble, very soon. And when that happens, terms of enlistments can be extended indefinitely, for reasons of national emergency and national survival. We’re not quite there yet, but we're certainly approaching crisis mode. Enlistments have already been extended for personnel in critical units. Delta Research has been so designated. So, until the national emergency is over, we will all continue in service to the people of ConFree. And only after the emergency is over can you leave the Legion."
Prophet and the Blood March (Prophet of ConFree) Page 28