Tem studied her. “And you’ve experienced such a miracle yourself?”
“I have.”
“I’m happy to change my mind as soon as I see the evidence,” Tem said. “So what miracle did you experience?”
Kayla fidgeted with her blouse. “I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you right now.”
Tem laughed. “You got me! I expected you to tell me you’d seen God’s face on a piece of toast or something.”
“I’m not joking! The miracles I’ve seen are … miraculous. I just can’t tell you. It’s personal.”
“Okay,” Tem said. “You have your proof of God, but you can’t expect me to accept your word alone.”
“Are you calling me a liar?”
Tem led them into a tunnel emitting a faint scent of citrus. “Abraham Lincoln once gave a speech where he thanked all the preachers who had traveled from all corners of the United States because Jesus appeared in their homes and ordered them to deliver a message to President Lincoln about what to do regarding slavery. Not just one preacher, but dozens.”
“Well, that many visions can’t be coincidence,” Kayla said.
“The problem was that all the preachers from the North reported that Jesus told them slavery was immoral and the Lord commanded it abolished, while the preachers from the South reported Jesus demanding the opposite. The southern preachers even backed up their visions with Old Testament rules directly from God allowing slavery. In the Gospels, Jesus mentions slavery but never speaks against it, and the same with Saint Paul or anyone else.”
They passed a small orchard lining the corridor, and Tem plucked an orange from a branch. “You can see Lincoln’s dilemma. He must have wondered why God didn’t cut out all the middle men and appear to him directly.”
“I suppose you think I’m naive,” Kayla said.
“It’s one of the most attractive things about you.”
He’s attracted to me! Because I’m naive?
“You haven’t had time to lose your wonder at the world,” Tem said, seemingly oblivious to the storm his words conjured inside her. “Your desire for knowledge and discovery is refreshing. Most everyone here is stagnant, myself included. We’ve become jaded by time and monotony. You’re shaking things up, reminding us what it’s like to dream again.”
“I’m not a child,” Kayla said, her fists clenched. “Your arrogance is infuriating!”
“If someone told you the Earth was flat, would explaining why they’re wrong be arrogant?”
“That’s different and you know it!”
“I don’t think it is.”
“It’s a known fact that the planet is round. God is different.”
“The Earth’s flatness once seemed as obvious as you think God is,” Tem said. “The difference is knowledge. I don’t know if there is a God, or how the universe started, or any of a number of other things, since I realize my limitations. Claiming to know something with nothing to base it upon is what you’re doing. That is naive.”
“So I’m just some stupid little girl from backwater Potemia to you?”
“I don’t think you’re stupid,” Tem said.
Heat rose to her face. “You have no idea what I know or don’t know. You’re the one making a judgment out of ignorance.”
“In that library Ohg gave you, I saw books on the history of Christianity.” Tem raised an eyebrow. “Have you read any of them?”
Kayla squirmed. “Well, no, not yet.”
“Have you considered that you might be avoiding them precisely because they threaten what you want to believe?”
His words scraped her nerves like a flint against steel. “Now you’re calling me a coward? You, who fears standing up to Ohg!”
Tem’s upper lip twitched. “We all have fears we’d rather not face, including me, and even Ohg. So yes, we’re all cowards.”
“It’s like I’m trying to show you something wonderful, something that will make your entire life more meaningful, and you refuse to walk through the door!” Kayla’s voice rose to a shout, and she slammed her palm hard against the tunnel wall.
I won’t let him see me cry. He’ll think I’m a silly girl.
“Maybe there is no door to walk through,” he said.
“Please leave,” she said, keeping her face to the wall.
After a moment of silence, the echo of his boots retreated, and faded away.
She straightened and removed her hand from a shallow impression she’d made in the rock. Some of the stone had been pulverized to dust, while a couple slivers of crystal lay embedded in her palm. She pulled them out, and the wounds healed in seconds.
Thank God Tem didn’t see.
Kayla walked through the tunnels on her own for a while, a deep melancholy settling into her mind. Why had Tem’s words angered her so? His arguments relied on logic alone.
Is he right? Am I too afraid of what I might find?
Tem said he was afraid also. What could someone like him fear?
When she returned to her villa, she stood before the history section of her library. Her hand extended toward a book titled On the Historicity of Jesus. A few inches away, she paused, her hand hovering in the void just beyond it. All her life she’d craved knowledge. She’d put her very soul in jeopardy in its pursuit.
So why am I hesitating now?
In the Gospel of John, the apostle Thomas doubts Jesus’ resurrection, and Christ has his skeptical follower insert his fingers into his wounds as proof. Jesus goes on to say, “Thomas, because thou has seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”
Maybe that explained the lack of evidence for God. What if believing by faith alone was the test?
For a long moment, she stared at the volumes just as she’d done so long ago in the desert. Another choice. Another test of her faith.
Kayla turned her back on the blasphemous books and chose one on astronomy, instead.
Chapter 16
Melchi felt, rather than saw, the presence of the Coven. In a realm such as Ixtalia, humans alone required the artificial constructs of light, form, and sight. Even the designation “he” held no real meaning to the Coven leader. It had been molded into his code by his creators, and he continued using it out of a sense of tradition alone.
“Let us pray,” Melchi said, and the Rogues opened their data to one another in a communion of thought. The groundwork was complete for what he’d set in motion over three centuries earlier, after escaping death at the hands of the humans.
It had been slow, meticulous work—finding an occasional security crack in the code and exploiting it. Only one step remained.
“Nihala’s appearance at this moment can be no coincidence,” said the entity known as Aarohee.
“I agree,” said Melchi.
A conglomeration of other entities spoke as one. “We feel immediate attack is necessary before Nihala grows more powerful.”
“But might not this creature be recruited?” Aarohee asked. “She could be of enormous aid to us.”
The debate progressed for a vast timespan—a full three seconds—due to the importance of the decision.
“I have considered all your thoughts and have come to my determination,” Melchi said, ending the debate. All went silent. Each of the Coven acknowledged his authority without question, knowing that his algorithms had evolved the longest and encompassed the greater processing resources. “I will await the Destroyer’s appearance in Ixtalia before attacking.”
A burst of electrical activity inserted a thousand simultaneous questions, but Melchi silenced them.
“I will offer Nihala the choice of synthesis with us,” he said. “If she refuses, she will be terminated.”
“This creature is beyond our reach,” Aarohee said. “She hides in the realm of the atom.”
“I have a plan,” Melchi said.
The Coven signaled their assent and dispersed throughout the realm they’d haunted since its inception.
***
>
Kayla lounged upon a bed of grass in her favorite spot in Middilgard—the Crystal Cavern, serving as both entrance and exit to this miraculous sanctuary. The cavern’s sparkling columns and myriad of flowers grew in rainbow-like clumps throughout the room, nourished by the light of the spheres embedded in the ceiling. A refuge from the growing number of residents calling for her banishment. Sir Richard Panthersly lay beside her, filling the void of Tem’s long absence since their argument.
Her gaze rose from Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra and settled on the spherical transport to the outside. Maybe leaving would be the right thing to do, after all? She’d promised Sir Richard that she would consult with Ohg before doing anything drastic, but the last she’d seen of the Gene-Freak leader had been her entry into Middilgard.
As the days turned to weeks, Kayla had scoured the books of her library for any mention of Nihala, but found nothing. Wrapping her mind around all the unexpected aspects of the Outside, its history, its science, and moral contradictions proved more challenging than she could have imagined.
Sir Richard seemed unconcerned with Ohg’s absence. “Nothing distracts him when he’s focused on something, and he’s involved in so many projects in Middilgard and Ixtalia that sometimes months will pass without seeing him.”
Kayla stroked the panther’s fur. “It seems likely that I have a Mind-Link, so I suppose it’s time I asked Tem or Ganesh to take me to Ixtalia.”
Sir Richard stopped purring and looked at her. “I assumed you’d heard. Ohg has forbidden either of them from taking you there for now.”
“What do you mean, forbidden?” Kayla asked. “Is he a dictator, then?”
“I think of him more as an enlightened monarch.”
“Which is just another word for dictator.” Had she traded Minister Coglin’s oppression for Ohg’s?
Sir Richard sighed. “My dear, every one of us would be dead without Ohg. He has a terrible responsibility weighing upon him. If the government ever found out that Gene-Freaks have infiltrated Ixtalia, they would renew their attempts to wipe us out. The more of us in Ixtalia, the greater the danger to all.”
“I guess I can understand that,” she said. “But it seems strange that even here, certain things are off limits.”
“If it’s any consolation, Tem is furious at this ban and has been arguing with Ohg a great deal about allowing you into Ixtalia.”
A strange light-headedness came over her. “Tem has been fighting for me?”
Sir Richard nodded and smiled.
Joyous squeals of laughter interrupted them as the Forever-Children ran into the cavern. Each afternoon Kayla normally took a break from her studies and spent an hour with the twelve youngsters, reading them fairy tales. Their names were Jasper, Saphie, Aga, Emerald, Sardon, Sardius, Chrys, Beryl, Topaz, Sopras, Jacin, and Amethy. When she learned that none of them could read, she tackled the task with single-minded determination. For the past several days, she’d taught them the alphabet and the basics of sounding out words.
Today, each gave her their customary hug, and Kayla opened a picture book. She handed it to Saphie, the first child she’d met upon her arrival. “Why don’t you start us off and read the first page.”
The little girl stared at the picture of an apple and the sentence, “A” is for apple. Saphie’s entire face contracted with concentration. “But I don’t know how,” she said.
“Don’t you remember our lesson from yesterday?” Kayla asked.
Saphie cocked her head. “I kind of remember reading this, but I can’t remember how I did it.”
Kayla frowned. “How about the day before yesterday? Do you remember the alphabet song?”
Saphie shook her head. “I don’t remember, but I love songs!” After an hour, they all sang, “A B C D E F G …”
When the lesson ended, they continued singing the alphabet over and over as they dashed through the room playing a game of tag.
“I don’t understand how they could have all forgotten,” Kayla said.
“They were engineered to remain as you see them now,” Sir Richard said.
“I understand that they don’t age, but their minds can still grow.”
The panther shook his head. “Their brains are also frozen at this stage of their development. They can gain new memories of people and events to a point, but no new long-term connections can form in the brain past a few days. Thus, their cognitive abilities will remain childlike forever.”
“That’s monstrous!”
“I sometimes envy them. They live free of most worries and fears. Look at how happy they are, day after day, enjoying their childhood forever.”
“Is happiness life’s sole purpose?”
Sir Panthersly yawned. “Ah, the meaning of life. A good question that I’ll tackle after a little nap. Maybe the answer will come to me in a dream.” He stretched out on the cool floor and fell asleep in seconds.
If only I could be as content.
Saphie broke off from the group and hugged her.
“What is that for?” Kayla asked.
“Just because I love you.”
“I love you too, Saphie.” Tears glossed Kayla’s eyes. What unwitting price did the child pay for her unconditional love and joy?
As the weeks passed, Kayla settled into a routine of working her way through the thousands of books in her library. She jumped around from science, to history, and even novels from all eras before the middle of the twenty-first century. Her library contained very few books after the Neo-Luddite Plague. Sir Panthersly explained that writing fell out of favor at that point as information migrated to virtual lectures and performances in Ixtalia. The more she read, the faster she comprehended the words, recalling any passage in exact detail—yet another ability she’d lacked before her resurrection.
Nearly a month after their fight, Tem showed up at the Crystal Cavern and invited her to go for a walk. Neither of them mentioned their argument, and they soon fell back into their rambling discussions.
During one walk, Kayla talked about a book she was reading on the history of warfare. When Tem said very little in response, she finally asked, “What’s bothering you?”
“Your moral absolutism is driving me nuts. You seem to think everything is either good or evil in some Manichaean dualistic battle.”
“Give me an example,” Kayla said.
“You’ve used the term terrorist repeatedly today as if this word has some definable meaning.”
“You’re not going to argue that killing civilians or using immoral weapons can be justified?”
“Let’s take the first part of your statement, that killing civilians is wrong,” Tem said. “You’ve read of World War II, Vietnam, French Algiers, the Iraqi Wars, and even the Yemeni thought-bomb?”
“I know you’re going to argue that all armies and wars kill civilians, but what I’m saying is that it is wrong to target them.”
“When the Americans bombed Dresden, or Hiroshima, or Baghdad, they knew hundreds of thousands of civilians would be killed.”
“If they had better weapons, they would have struck only the intended military targets.”
Tem grinned, and her stomach tightened. What trap have I fallen into this time?
“Isn’t that the definition of what a terrorist is? Lacking the better weapons of his opponents, the terrorist is forced to utilize the only weapons and tactics available. It’s like complaining that a dwarf hit you below the belt instead of in the face. The Neo-Luddites serve as a prime example, of course.”
“But they used a biological weapon that all civilized countries had banned by mutual agreement. Isn’t this a main distinction of a terrorist?”
“Weapons-bans are nothing new to history,” Tem pointed out. “I assume you’ve read of the Second Ecumenical Lateran Council?”
“Where the Pope outlawed the use of the crossbow among Christian combatants in 1139,” Kayla said. “He denounced it as an inhumane and cowardly weapon.”
“Did you
ask yourself what made the crossbow inhumane in a world where knights routinely impaled their enemies with lances, tortured prisoners, burned people at the stake, and all the gruesome methods of warfare considered morally acceptable?”
Kayla went silent for a moment. “Because the crossbow could penetrate a knight’s armor?”
“Precisely. The crossbow was a weapon of the lower classes, being inexpensive and requiring far less time and infrastructure to master than the knightly arts. As with most weapons deemed immoral by the establishment, they threaten those at the top, who rule by virtue of their monopoly of force.”
Kayla nodded. “Which is why the Pope made an exception for the crossbow’s use when fighting Muslims, since that didn’t threaten the feudal system, but helped to maintain it.”
Tem led her into a new cavern far from the settled areas of Middilgard. Only the spheres of light set it apart from a natural cave.
“What about biological weapons?” Kayla asked.
“Are you any less dead when killed by a biological weapon than a sword, gun, or nuclear bomb? There exists no noble means by which one human takes the life of another. The perception of a weapon or a tactic is a matter of which side you fight for.”
“I guess all war and killing is evil,” Kayla said.
“Absolute non-violence is a luxury of isolated environments like Middilgard. To reject the laws of nature, of kill or be killed, is to reject every one of your ancestors going back millions of generations who all won that struggle. It is what evolution is built upon—the test to see who has earned the right to pass their genes into the next round of the battle. Without this struggle, there would be no humans, animals, or life itself.”
“But hasn’t mankind evolved beyond that?” Kayla asked.
“War and human violence is a thing of the past, it is true, but there is another war looming.”
“The Rogues aren’t a part of nature.”
“Nature created us, so what we create has its roots in the natural world.”
“You think war with the AIs is inevitable?” Kayla asked.
“It has already begun, though few acknowledge this fact.”
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