Children of Terra 09

Chapter 9

“Prelude to trouble”

Tethebea was convinced this was perhaps the best idea she had in her life. The queen still trapped in her Royal Barge, four jumps and five days out where Myon transponder messages took three days one way to be received. The old, but a popular leader of the True path movement knew the Queen would cook in her own rage once she received the news. But if everything went according to plan, the Queen would return to a changed Sara, as a matter of fact she would return just being a woman, no longer the Queen and facing the ′basin of hungry Amusurth’.

Tethebea had used her connections and limitless resources to fake a royal command to welcome the Terran kids to an official reception. It turned out easier than anticipated. Faking a Myon transmission was easy because Myon transmissions could not be scrambled and occurred all on one and the same level. There were no frequencies like on the old but still used electromagnetic wave spectrum. Everyone with a Myon transponder could listen in, friend and foe. Everyone with a responder could interfere and overlapping messages. For this reason transponder messages were content coded and always carried a time stamp.

The queen and everyone wanting to send a message no one else supposed to know about, the first send an identifying code sequence and a time. Then the actual message also in the code was sent.”

The receiver would first receive the identifying code and the time and then knew exactly at what time the correct message would arrive. All messages before or after would not be the correct message. Tronics could calculate the correct time it took for a message to be received based on the distance down to one-hundredth of a second and thus it was quite easy to identify the correct message.

Tethebea, or more precisely one of her associates used the correct Queen’s identifier but send the message open and to all.

Queens had stopped doing this for centuries, but it was not entirely forgotten. No one really questioned the message due to its spectacular content. Apparently proven to be true by the visuals the entire planet saw earlier and that was slowly but unstoppable and with the speed of Myon waves and courier ships spreading across the Saran and eventually to the Pan Saran empire as well.

With a proud grin, she replayed the false message received a few hours ago on every open Myon transponder. “As in ages of old, your Queen Ammothep the IXth, queen and god born daughter of Ra speaks to her beloved subjects directly and without the need for others to interpret my will and word to you! It is a message of great joy, unequaled importance and greatest impact as it may come from the Gods themselves.

From the world all Sarans; be it my faithful daughters and sons or the ones blinded by false gods banded together in rebellion; hold sacred and dear. The world of our lost colony, the world where our sisters live in primitive conditions, the world that once was known as Egypt and now called Earth has brought forth the Incarnation of RA!

The time has come! The time of the gods seem at an end and many rose up to proclaim their allegiance to other gods. She who is RA has returned to the children of Sara, to gather those who remained faithful and reward them greatly, unite those who can be redeemed and punish those who cannot.

Behold RA has taken form of a woman of great beauty and her hair is like liquid gold, her hair is grown not made. She comes to the children of Sara from a world that has been forgotten in time and is sacred to all the Children of Sara!

You all have seen her today. To celebrate her and her companions and servants arrival decreed a great reception to be held, honoring the refugees and orphans and maybe servants to the Goddess herself.

After the reception we demand that the doors of the temples are opened so the goddess may step behind the Ebony Wall and enter the Chamber of the Gods, where the presence of RA will determine if she is indeed her daughter or perhaps even her very bodily incarnation and thus remove all doubt. To reunite all that is Saran and ring in the new promised age. I then will step aside. Saran will need queens no more. All Saran will be led by RA and her chosen one, Tethebea of Luxor!”

The message included direct instructions to the palace and the court to prepare the reception for this very evening. It would be over before the Queen even knew about it!”

Tethebea really believed the vision of the seer was about to be fulfilled. She also expected the greatest rewards from the Gods as she was the one keeping the real faith. Above all the promise to be the one who would cleanse the filth. Separate believers and blasphemers.

First of all the Queen herself and the cursed and unholy Seth’s Shadow. Closely followed by the High Priestess of Sara and her nest of lying vipers; claiming to worship but doing it all for wealth, power and prominence. Oh and of course the Pan Saran Emperor and all his commanders and senators. She was certain it would be hard to find a basins of hungry Amusurth, because all these terrifying monsters used to execute blasphemers were filled to the brim of their bellies.

--””--

The oldest priestess of RA was of course not too far to hear the message. If words could actually cook a person, they would have managed to boil the last flesh of her bones. She was on fire, she was enraged as she had never been. The still young queen had struck before she could make concrete plans. There was no way she could refuse the Blonde to step behind the Ebony Wall.

Her personal chambers looked like a tornado had passed through. Everything breakable had been shattered to pieces, gowns and robes had been torn.

This was her domain, her realm. It was her who decided things and bestowed power upon little girls who wanted to be queen.

But she had to admit it was a clever move, the Queen was even shrewder than...”

The priestess stopped her train of thought, something didn’t feel right.

The one who was her oldest and dearest confidant had fled the room as the old priestess tore through her things like a mad woman, screaming and cursing.

But this was not the end of her woes. There was commotion, yelling and screaming outside her chambers. Her private apartment deep inside the temple was a sanctum and could not be entered by mere humans.

Yet there was the sound of heavy boots, she could hear her aides protest and then the characteristic crack of a Horus beamer discharged.

Her first impulse was to rush to the door, brush aside the curtain and demand to know what was going on. She caught herself just as she was about to find out the source and reason for the noise of trouble coming closer.

The old woman heard a second shot and the voice yelling in pain was a familiar voice, that of a personal servant.

She secured the door curtain with a barrier charge, making the soft material rigid and impenetrable and then she rushed back in the room trying to find a Data Comm to find out what was going on.

The door frame including the secured curtain burst in pieces just as she had found a Data-Comm in the floor beneath a cushion.

A security robot, several palace guards and the priestess, she considered her oldest and most trustworthy confidant accompanied by Hutmma Nilhs, the chief of Saran Internal security. Hutmma had always had a commanding presence, but now in her full uniform brandishing a Horus Beamer, she looked frightening powerful. “You have been the High Priestess of RA, Keeper of the old faith, once blessed and affirmed your predecessor. You are possessed by dark spirits, charged with plotting against the Queen and blasphemy against the Gods. All Saran saw your insanity and for that you must be placed under arrest until the Queen has returned and court can be convened.”

“How dare you, accuse me of all these things?”

Her closest confidant pointed at a tiny little ball hovering near the ceiling chandeliers. “You tearing your quarters apart and cursing the Gods and the queen has been recorded and broadcast all across Sara.” She spread her arms across the mess. “It is obvious by this mess that it wasn’t a fabrication either.”

The old high priestess felt numb as they slapped heavy hand cuffs on her wrists, when media people were allowed into this sanctuary and see her humiliated in all the broken mess. She could not explain why she went so completely out of her mind, why she acted like a spoiled teenager and not a woman of three hundred years of experience. It dawned to her, someone had influenced her using Psionic means. This strange power still very little understood had been used to make her do all this.

Her head seemed slowly to clear as they pushed her out into the corridor and through a gamut of more media and security personnel. No this could not have been the works of the Queen. She was still too far out to have orchestrated all this. Was this the work of RA? Was the Blonde really the incarnation? Able to destroy her with such ease?

She saw two men lifting the limb body of a temple priestess onto a gurney, with a burned and black charred cavity right in her chest.

No there were no gods, this was the doing of human hand. Human hand with the help of Psionics this had to be Tethebea.

--””--

The Royal Barge came out of hyperspace, dangerously close to Patrimem Star. While this was a bloated red star with only a few gas giants and ice balls for planets, it still was a star with tremendous gravitational pull and raging atomic fires that could burn the barge in an eye blink.

The jump calculation was off only a small percentage, jet this way of traversing space did not allow for even the smallest errors.

The Astrogator was chastised and confined to quarters, the Commander was drenched in cold sweat as, her hands cramped around the armrests of her command seat.

The pulse ion motors of the barge fought at the very maximum of their capacity against the gravitational pull of the star.

The queen had been rushed to her escape pod, a modified Seth’s Tooth that could be launched and easily escape the gravitational pull, but of course could not go Trans light and bring the queen home.

Patrimem was considered a Saran system, simply because it was used by

Saran ships as a jump point, but there were no Saran outposts or stations here.

She would have to wait for the next Saran ship to jump into the system and receive her emergency signal. The chances a ship of another society, even maybe a hostile nation were slim, but could not be ruled out. Exposing the queen to all this would have to be the last resort.

No one else of the crew even wanted to escape, if the barge was doomed they did not want to be the serving crew facing Empire justice.

While there was no physical measurable sensation, as the barge finally crawled far enough away from the star to be out of danger; the commander was certain there was a little jolt the moment the ship was outside the danger zone. Maybe it was just her heart that skipped a beat, but the ship and much more so, the Queen was safe.

“Send message to her majesty that we are resuming normal operations and begin acceleration to the next jump point. I will check the calculation perimeters myself this time.”

Several decks down, the queen was more than relieved to return to her opulent and spacious quarters.

She was the queen of a space faring civilization that spanned over thousand worlds and eight hundred star systems; the furthest Saran outpost almost

4000 light years distant; understood the dangers of space travel very well.

While the jump calculation and jump transition technology had much improved over the last thousand years, there was no real breakthrough or a new safer and reliable technology available. At least none that was accessible to engineers of her society’s technological advancement.

Sitting in the palace and listening to reports, made one easily forget that Saran was not the top civilization.

It was easy to look at the Freons or even the Earthers as primitive when surrounded by one’s own achievements and glory, but quite foolish when facing limitations that other more advanced societies did not face. Coming this close to a potential catastrophe made her realize this once again.

She sat down on her divan and stopped Sarun from crying in joy mumbling and singing her praise. “Be quiet Sarun, my faithful slave. This is the danger my brave space warriors face every day. I will make this episode a reminder and I will travel more often, visit worlds of the realm. Encourage my subjects to seek out better and safer ways to travel.”

“Sun of my life! Living wisdom of all that is Saran! Send me to the basins for what I say, Oh my queen. While my heart is full of joy and pride to serve the bravest queen that ever sat upon the Throne of the Divine Falcon. I hope you reconsider and leave space traveling to those whose deaths can be honored but who are not missed.”

“Sarun! Send word to the barge commander, that I pardon the astrogator who made the error and that I want him to feed the jump calculator with the necessary parameters.”

The bald headed eunuch knew his queen too well to even say anything but. “At once my Queen!”

“And after that, prepare a bath and my combat uniform. I myself will be on the command aft, and supervise myself.”

Sarun left to fulfill her commands.

An unseen voice said. “Assure our privacy, my queen.”

“Tronic, recognize the queen.”

“Supreme command authority recognized.”

“Secure my quarters.”

“Quarters secure.”

Out of a glimmering air distortion, the black dressed woman stepped before the queen and bowed deeply, “I have urgent news from Sara, the one known as Tethebea of Luxor, has used the image of the Blonde Terran, cunning deception and surprising speed of action to stage a coup.”

To the queen it felt as if ice cold water had been poured down her back, it took her mind a few seconds to process and all the implications frightened her more than the possibility of being sucked into a star or spending days or weeks perched up in an escape pod, drifting in space. “How...” she paused, “How do you know?”

“Shadows have access to technology and ways unknown to most. I just came from Sara!”

Ammothep did not doubt the shadow one second, but was more than alarmed that the black dressed woman represented a force that seemingly exceeded the capabilities of any known society. If she could travel that easily over so many light years, what else could they do? “Tell me about Tethebea and her coup.”

--””--

The store room was without windows, but featured cold white lights and rows of large plastic boxes. The same boxes they saw the slaves load onto their ride, back at the space port.

Melissa opened a box and shook her head. “I guess someone went through this one already. Only a pair of worn out desert boots, pants and ... eeew ... stinky underwear!”

Sigurd had started at the other end of the row of boxes. “There are way more than thirty boxes and this one certainly does not contain anything teenagers of any country would have, unless they are really perverts.”

Melissa opening the next one, looked up.” You be surprised how pervert some kids can be. What did you find?”

He blushed and held up a whip and handcuffs. “The other stuff seems right out of an adult store too, if you know what I mean.”

She grinned. “The whip can be useful. Looks like a genuine bull whip. You can dish out some mighty ass whuppin’ with that one.”

She resumed checking the box in front of her. “This one contains magazines, books and...” she stopped talking as she took a laptop out.” ... a new looking Apple laptop.”

Sigurd, now on his second box. “I guess you American’s say bingo when they find good stuff, right?”

“Yep! Jack pot works too in a case like this. What you got?” “I think this is your stuff.”

She rushed over and smiled. “Nope, it ain’t mine but it’ll do!”

With the same loving expression another girl would hold up a pair of shoes or maybe even her first born child she held up a leather holster with a large revolver. “That’s a Smith and Wesson .44 magnum and it’s loaded.”

She wanted to check out the box closer as the two Saran women appeared in the door frame. “It is time to leave for the reception.”

The two starred at Melissa and then deeply bowed. “A god child you are indeed. Goddess remember us!”

Melissa in the process of girding the heavy revolver around her hips. Making it look totally out of place, blinked at them with a questioning look. “Why y’all keep referring to me with this goddess stuff, is sure appreciated but it’s starting to creep me out, but if it keeps y’all happy I’ll remember.”

To Sigurd and out of the corner of her mouth she whispered. “Not that I ever going to keep them apart.”

Sigurd shrugged. “One would think you are used to this kind of adoration, looking like the way you do. I mean.”

Melissa smirked as she followed the two Saran guides. “And you never noticed the longing looks girls must have given you?”

He looked genuinely surprised. “No, why would they look at me anyway?”

The two guides stepped through a door and out on a small almost invisible platform. A much smaller flyer was hovering there.

Sigurd followed and Melissa was right behind him, not hearing her comment on ignorant boys.

One of their guards acting as benevolent aides snarled at him. “Know your place and remain behind the goddess.”

Sigurd was torn between his impulse to throw the guard of the small platform and find out, if she could fly or strangling both of them, but he grinded his teeth instead and stepped behind Melissa.

The blonde whispered. “Let’s honor their ways for a tad, maybe we can convince that queen to let us go home. If not, I follow you making trouble.”

That was something he could live with and he flashed a toothy grin at the two.

The other guide who had not spoken so far, held up a cloak like garment. “Goddess of Earth, Tethebea of Luxor has sent this cloak. Please wear it.”

Melissa slipped into the long white robe like cloak. “Who is this Tethebea of Luxor? Some sort of official?”

“She is the one keeping the worship true and the faith untainted. You will remember her, we are certain.”

“Yeah and I remember half of the planet, quite a feat for someone never been here before.”

While Sigurd, clearly understood the sarcastic and mocking tone in Melissa’s voice. It seemed to please the two Saran women intensely. Sigurd did not understand what they were whispering among each other, but it sounded excited.

Melissa asked. “We are the only ones invited?”

“Oh no, goddess. Your servants and companions will be there as well, but you require special attention and we would not dare to disappoint you. The male is your plaything and slave?”

Sigurd actually laughed. “Every time I think they could not possibly top it, they come up with something even more offensive. Never mind, my mistress. Maybe we can use their worship of you into something useful.”

The blonde gave him a smile. “It starts to get me too, I guess they haven’t seen or dealt with a real man in ages, but you are on to something. I was thinking the same. Every time they refer to me as goddess I somehow feel they really mean it.”

“I can see why.”

“No, not that way. I mean almost if someone would see Jesus. Lord forgive me for even saying that!”

The flyer took off and accelerated to a brisk speed. It did not take long to reach the outskirts of the gigantic city. Then the flyer carried them over open water of an ocean and towards the setting sun.

Neither Sigurd nor Melissa could tell how fast they were flying, but it appeared to both, they covered significant distance.

Sigurd, who had been critical of the Saran society and culture since he was exposed to it the first time, still was of the opinion it was overbearing, over the top with too much emphasis on feminine opulence. However he too could not deny the grandeur and sheer immensity of the royal palace as their flyer approached the very heart of the Saran Empire.

The palace was the center of an island, a pyramid of mountain size surrounded by miles of meticulous tended parks, artificially shaped lakes and water features.

The pyramid was made of a gleaming white material with a golden tip.

A broad, bright white avenue flanked on each side with towering columns of an also white stone material made them feel like ants. Everything was so tremendously huge. The flyer slowed down and lost altitude, the beautiful green parks gave way to a paved square in front of the base of the pyramid.

What looked like a dotted rectangles turned out to be soldiers in polished uniforms holding lances and flags.

Melissa whispered. “How many are there?”

One of the guides said. “This is the honor guard of the Sacred Falcon, and all 500,000 have assembled.”

The flyer had slowed significantly. Behind the huge number of armed soldiers were towering bipedal machines, robot like armed with cannons, and huge swords. There had to be five thousand or more. The guide answered her unasked question. “Lethonnht class battle walkers, Goddess all fifty regiments of the Palace guard.”

There was a ramp that rose from the square filled with war machines and soldiers to about halfway to the top and a massive gate way, the ramp turned out to be stairs. Sigurd estimated the stair ramp to be at least 1000 meters wide and maybe ten kilometers long. Men and women sitting on huge birds, just like the one that attacked Melissa flanked the ramp to the left and right.

Melissa said. “What kind of reception are we talking about? I was imagining some sort of festive banquet, not an inspection of the troops, reserved for dignitaries of other nations.”

“All Sara is ecstatic and thrilled, and soon all that is Saran. The Queens message that you have arrived, has galvanized and excited the kingdom much more than anyone could have anticipated.”

After these words she knelt down and held out a pair of underarm long gloves. “By decree of legend, these have been worn by the first visitor from the gods. It honors thy status to wear them.”

The other woman held out a pillow and on it a mask of apparently pure gold. It reminded both Earthers of the famous golden mask of king Tut, it was very similar, but that of a female face.

“Your mask, goddess! Your beauty must not be revealed to the masses until you became into your own.”

Melissa was certain now this was way more than a reception. This is how a new queen was received. She did not know what it was about, but if she was to be put into a position of prominence, maybe command; she simply could issue a decree to have her and the others taken back to Earth.

Sigurd was obviously thinking along the same lines, he winked at her and actually also knelt down.

Melissa put on the gloves and then the mask. It was lined with some fine fabric, and had some weight to it, but was not terribly heavy.

One of the women draped the hood of the cape around her head.

Sigurd could not help but notice Melissa was gone and in her place was a mysterious, regal not quite human being that seemed to have an aura of tremendous power.

--””--

As Aaron and Wolfgang followed Manjieet outside onto the scary platform of transparent glass like material, he knew there was something terribly wrong.

All the other male teenagers that had been abducted with him, wore suit like garments, not dresses and wigs like him and Wolfgang. The girl from China, Ling Bao who didn’t even wear Saran fashion, but a classical Chinese dress in fiery red and decorated with dragons started to giggle. Her giggle started a chain reaction and Sergei from Russia gave a thumps up gesture. “I think you two need something to fill out the upper chest area.”

Aaron turned deep red as the guy named Jean-Pierre from Quebec cat whistled and said. “And shave your legs too, it be more convincing.”

Aoife who had followed Sofia’s lead and also dressed the Saran style covered her mouth to hide her giggle, she had a hard time keeping her voice steady. “Guys, if that’s how they express their gender identity, we should be more supportive!”

Sofia agreed. “Yeah, that is mean to laugh at them like that.” But she too, had a hard time not to burst.

Yoko Askai from Okinawa and Sarah Guri from Jaffa both in Saran dresses also gave thumbs up and Yoko offered her arm to Aaron. “Nothing wrong with Dai-Sho.”

Wolfgang, however was not as detached as usual and felt quite embarrassed and angry. “Why do you have suits and we were offered dresses?”

One of the Saran chaperons looked puzzled. “We provided you with a selection gender appropriate garment choices. Were there none in your hygiene facilities room?”

Wolfgang snarled at Aaron. “Of course! We all used Manjieet’s bathroom.”

Aaron was embarrassed, but with the pretty Japanese seeming to admire him that way, much less than moments ago. He gave Wolfgang a sheepish grin and a shrug. “When she said, such garments are provided for you in the hygiene facility of the apartment, I assumed she meant the one we were in.”

The aides spread their arms and urged the teenagers to board the large flyer. Wolfgang begged.” Is there not time to change? This was a mistake!”

“There is no time to spare. Some men succumb to this version of female admiration, showing it openly is admirable. Now please board the flyer.”

Reluctantly he joined the others.

The big open flyer took off.

Aaron was actually enjoying it now, as Yoko kept making compliments and they seemed genuine and her hand remained in his and that was a very good feeling for a guy who tried everything to be noticed by girls, so he missed the question of Manjieet the first time. He turned to the Indian girl. “What did you say?”

“I just counted, there aren’t thirty of us. I don’t see Melissa or Sigurd and Mahmud the crazy guy from Iraq isn’t here either.”

Aaron shrugged and scanned the faces once. “The kid from the Congo isn’t here as well. Maybe they missed the ride.”

--””--

Mahmud had just finished putting on the suicide vest and racked a cartridge into the firing chamber of the assault rifle. For the first time ever since this strange ordeal started did he feel complete and knew what to do.

A noise startled him and he turned around. Two of the Saran women had appeared in the door way of what they called was his apartment. They both ignored his repeated wishes to see male officers in charge. They both served him food that was not halal. They both kept their sickening smile no matter what he told them or asked them. Always another lie!

About queens and gods and planets. All just evil lies to deceive him.

One of them said. “OH you found items of your culture and society. They look strange indeed. I am sure our specialists will be happy to talk to you about them. Now is this the way you want to participate at the...”

The woman could no longer talk. The AK 47 had belched out a short burst and three rounds had pierced the petite one on the left. One bullet went straight through her heart, she was dead before she hit the floor.

Mahmud yelled at the utterly shocked taller one. “You have seen what I will do to you if you do not comply! You will take me to this reception now!”

Mahmud herded the woman at gun point and she took him to a flyer platform and cried bitter tears. “You must take a flyer to the palace. The reception is there, not here!”

The pilot of the flyer, a man stepped out of his vehicle, seeing the woman cry. He wanted to know what was going on.

“Do you know how to operate this vehicle?” He yelled at the woman,

She nodded.

Mahmud fired, and killed the man, who stumbled back and into the also invisible barrier that made sure no one walked too far.

“Do you know how to get to this reception?”

She nodded again.

“Do I need to shoot you and find someone else?”

She was still weeping as she sat behind the controls and steered the flyer towards seat of Eternal light, as Saran’s palace was called.

Chapter 10 »