Authors: Mark Henrikson
“What would you have me do?
” Postumia asked. “I remain your faithful servant and will do whatever is asked.”
“You must
immediately confess your sin to the Vestalis Maxima,” the sacred flame ordered.
“But the punishment for my crime is death,” Postumia countered.
“Yes,” Vesta replied, “For you and the man who violated you. Do this and a place on Mount Olympus by my side will await you.”
Slowly Postumia rose to her feet. “I will do as you command,” she said. As she turned to leave the room Hastelloy quickly duc
ked into the shadows of the next room and waited for her to leave.
When he heard the outer door shut he made his way
into the adjacent chamber to face the spirit of Vesta, goddess of the hearth.
“I sense a presence that is not pure of heart,” the fire said with a matter of fact level tone.
“And I sense the presence of a false god,” Hastelloy responded. “How does a deity send a follower off to die without hesitation?”
“The same way a military leader sends
soldiers on a one way mission they know no one will return from. You forced your man to violate my Vestal knowing the penalty is death for the crime. What do you have to say for your own actions?”
“I am but a man, not a g
od like yourself,” Hastelloy mocked. “Plus, my man will return through another unnatural birth as you call it.”
“You Novi have no respect for life,” the fire blasted
back. “Your very existence offends me.”
Hastelloy suddenly felt his arms and lips go numb and his stomach fall through his body to the floor.
He held out hope he was wrong, but as it turns out he could not have been more right.
“So it is you,” Hastelloy finally said. “How
is this post mortem conversation taking place? I watched you get blown to pieces above the pyramid you helped build 2,000 years ago.”
“The Novi don’t hold a monopoly on technological adv
ancement,” the flame said. “We Alpha have the same mastery over life and death as the Novi. Under the right circumstances, a person’s spirit can be retained in artifacts to live on and advise others.”
“
Would you mind explaining how your people slide around the ethical reservations you have against the process of renewing a life force,” Hastelloy protested. “It is your primary battle cry against my people after all.”
“The body stays dead, but the knowledge lives on. No mechanical vagina is involved to violate the sacred laws of nature.”
“Now let me guess, you’re the hot headed engineer who the leader keeps on a tight leash. I’m right aren’t I?” Hastelloy taunted. “Now where is the big man himself?”
“What makes you think Goron’s spirit lives on?” the flame asked.
“Because you’ve accomplished securing so much influence,” Hastelloy replied. “An idiot like you is incapable of pulling this off, so it must be from his design.”
The liquid flame grew three times bright
er with anger. In response Hastelloy blew a puff of air toward the flame, but it had no effect
“
Fool, you’ll have to try a lot harder than that to destroy the relic holding my spirit, and good luck getting your hands on Goron’s either.”
“So Goron is around
then,” Hastelloy gloated at his tactical victory. “Let me think now, the Vestals saved the high priest of Jupiter who has seen a meteoric rise to power ever since. I’m going to go out on a limb and say Goron has set himself up as Jupiter, king of the gods. How predictable.”
“
Perhaps, but you’ll never reach the relic that carries his life force. It’s Caesar’s most prized possession.”
Hastelloy cracked a smile realizing the last bit of intelligence he needed to gather was now his. Carrying a smug grin he backed his way out of the room.
“I’ll be seeing you soon Elohim, so don’t go anywhere,” Hastelloy taunted as he chuckled his way down the dark corridor to the exit.
“The last laugh will be ours,” the spirit of the Alpha engineer shot back.
Hastelloy returned to
his residence with a renewed sense of purpose. The Alpha were still a threat on this planet and that threat was growing. The only advantage he had at the moment was the stupidity of the Alpha engineer revealing Goron’s existence and the artifact that apparently kept his spirit alive.
The hour was late,
his body craved rest, but time was short. The authorities would come to arrest Valnor very soon since violating a Vestal’s chastity was one of the gravest offenses a citizen could make towards the state.
Hastelloy
made his way toward Valnor’s sleeping quarters, but found him in the central pool instead. He was naked and curled up in the corner rubbing handfuls of water across the same spot over and over. Hearing the new entrant to the room he looked up at his captain with venom only the most lethal viper could attempt to match.
“You have dirtied me to the point I will never come clean no matter how much I wash,” Valnor cried. “How could you?”
“Because it’s my duty,” came Hastelloy’s curt reply. “And your duty was to follow my orders and lay any ethical guilt you feel back on me.”
Hastelloy crossed the
ankle deep pool to stand over the broken man. “Now pull yourself together,” he said as he yanked Valnor to his feet and handed him a fresh cloth to dry his body.
“We have bigger issues than this
little breakdown,” he continued. “My suspicion is now confirmed, the Alpha are still alive.”
The news was enough to shock Valnor back to the moment for at least a little while. “Wha . . . what did you say? The Alpha? They’re gone, we all watched it happen.”
“No, they’re not,” Hastelloy corrected. “Apparently they can preserve a life force in inanimate objects they call relics. One of these relics is the eternal flame of Vesta commanding influence over the Vestals and by default the upper echelons of Roman society.”
Valnor stood motionless in silence,
still dripping wet.
“The other relic has influence over Julius Caesar by assuming
the identity of the god Jupiter,” Hastelloy continued.
Valnor finally found his words again. “This is just unbelievable. How could we not know about
their ability to do this?”
“There’s a lot we don’t know about the Alpha,” Hastelloy instructed, “but we know about the relics now.”
Though distracted, Valnor still looked profoundly ashamed of his actions earlier in the evening and vulnerable to another breakdown. The man needed to know his sacrifice was worthwhile in the end.
“
We have this invaluable intelligence now because of your willingness to sacrifice your sense of self respect,” Hastelloy commended. “I don’t know about you, but I consider that a bargain.”
Valnor forced a smile as he reached for his tunic that lay on the floor. An angry pounding at the front door startled him as he put the garment over his head.
Hastelloy stole a glance at the door then looked back at Valnor. “I almost forgot, the Vestal has confessed her violation to the authorities. You are to be arrested and executed.”
“Wonderful,” Valnor sighed. “Will the
y skip the torture at least?”
“It is wonderful news actually because I need someone to join Tomal with Caesar’s army.”
The pounding at the door grew more insistent. Hastelloy gestured for them both to walk toward the entry way. He put his arm around Valnor to deliver his final instruction.
“When you regenerate, I need you to fashion a background
for yourself to be part of Caesar’s family tree. When you finally reach Caesar’s army, I need you to do two things. First and foremost, arrange for the Eagle of Caesar’s army to be taken and destroyed. I have a strong belief this is the Alpha relic.”
The second task is for you to
ingratiate yourself to Caesar and join his inner circle. I need you to become his most trusted man, and I don’t care how you do it. Win him battles, secure him treasure, political support, or provide him women. Whatever sacrifices need to be made to disrupt Caesar’s grip on power you make it.”
“Any instructions for Tomal I
should convey when I see him next?” Valnor asked as they reached the front door.
“No, le
ave him to me, just pretend you don’t know him until you’re both in Rome again,” Hastelloy said as he wrapped Valnor in a powerful hug. It was a complete breach of protocol, but it felt right for the moment. “You can do this Valnor. You will be all on your own creating strategy and executing plans, but it’s your time to shine. Just like in chess, see the whole picture, get every piece into position before you strike, think creatively, and above all remember that no one ever expects the queen sacrifice as a gambit to win the game.”
With that Hastelloy pushed Valnor away to arms length and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck with
his right hand as he opened the door with his left.
Six armed guards filled the side street holding torches. “Get this vile betrayer out of my sight.”
Hastelloy flung Valnor into the street and spat on him. “He violated a Vestal inside my own house,” he shouted.
“
I willingly offer to burn this home to the ground to cleanse it of the vile deed if the magistrate desires,” Hastelloy concluded.
The Captain of the guards stepped forward and handed Hastelloy the arrest papers and summons to appear before the magistrate. “That might just be required of you
, Senator.”
The other five soldier
s wrestled Valnor to his feet, placed him in irons and escorted him away. Hastelloy shut the door once the men rounded the corner onto the main street.
H
e tossed the paperwork onto the side table and sighed, “What a night.”
Hastelloy stole a
few hours of sleep but was roused awake entirely too soon by the stirring household. He got to his feet, still wearing the same clothes from the night before and joined Tonwen and Gallono in the dining room. He reclined onto his side and reached for a plate of fruit and cheese with a loaf of bread on the side.
“I guess Valnor decided to sleep in this morning,” Gallono mused.
“Valnor will not be joining us again for quite some time,” Hastelloy said quietly.
Over the course of the meal
, Hastelloy informed the other two men of the events from the prior evening: Valnor’s crime, uncovering the Alpha influence, and Valnor’s pending execution and new mission to join Caesar’s inner circle.
When h
e finally finished telling the story, Hastelloy saw only stunned faces staring back at him. In everyone’s mind, any difficulties the Alpha posed ended 2,000 years ago in Egypt. The only concern since that victory was struggling to keep the four Neo Scale pans in balance for the planet’s inhabitants. This news changed everything.
Tonwen was obviously very concerned, but Gallono was tougher to read. If he had to put a word to Gallono’s feelings on the matter it would be energized.
The commander was actually excited by the prospect of fighting a dangerous adversary rather than quietly managing the development of these people from the shadows.
“
We could just attack the Temple of Vesta and destroy the perpetual flame and eliminate half our problem straight away,” Gallono suggested.
“We can’t do that,” Hastell
oy responded. “Today starts the eight day festival of Vestalia. The temple will be packed. Besides, I guarantee that flame is under impenetrable protection now that the secret is out.”
“We can’t just sit back and do nothing about this,” Gallono objected.
“The Alpha have been at this for 2,000 years without our knowledge,” Hastelloy instructed. “We need to know how deep their influence is over this society. They could have control of almost everything in Rome through the power the gods hold over these people’s minds.”
“It may not just be Rome,” Tonwen added. “Think abou
t it, the Roman belief in many gods mirrors that of the Greeks; same gods, different names.”
“I hadn’t thought of that,” Hastelloy conceded, “but you
’re right, the Alpha influence could very well reach beyond the Roman Republic.”
“Sounds to me like we need to get peo
ple to stop listening to these gods,” Gallono said. “By stripping away their followers we’ll eventually be able to get to these relics without much difficulty.”
“That is easier said than done I am afra
id,” Tonwen countered. “We cannot just tell people that everything they believe and base their life on is a lie. If anything, that will only entrench their belief system further since they feel it is under attack and must be defended.”
“Well
, is another volcano about to erupt that we can use as a display of godly power like we did in Egypt?” Gallono asked as his frustration level began to rise.
“No, I already checked,” Hastelloy teased as he shot the commander a playful look to disarm the man’s
anger a bit. “You have the right idea though. I think we can combat this new threat posed by the Alpha and bring the religious side of the Neo Scale back into balance with the same effort.”
Keeping the Neo Scale in balance was Tonwen’s primary responsibility so his ears perked up immediately at the mention of a plan to correct the religious imbalance
from which the society currently suffered. “How?”
“By having you go to Jerusalem to bring the Hebrews along in their faith,” Hastelloy said.
“We have talked about this many times,” Tonwen insisted. “The Jewish faith is not a plausible substitute due to its lack of inclusion.”
Hastelloy rolled over to lay on his back and put his hands behind his head for support as he continued. “I know, but I keep hearing more and
more reports from that area of men predicting the arrival of a Messiah who will save all people who believe, not just those of a particular lineage.
“Sounds like a step in the right direction,” Tonwen affirmed, “and it has the potential to lure supporters away from the faith controlled by the Alpha.”
“The main problem I see is that right now it is all talk in that region. This talk will get a few people following the new faith, but in the end nothing will come of it; certainly not at the world changing level for which we are looking.”
“How do I change that once I am there
?” Tonwen asked.
“You swing by our hiding place in Egypt. You have my permission to bring out a few modern tools to help
perform some miracles,” Hastelloy instructed. “Nothing will draw followers quicker than stories and people actually witnessing divine powers in action.”
“I like it,” Tonwen responded with a bright smile. “When do I leave?”
“Right now,” Hastelloy said while gesturing toward the door. Soon, Hastelloy and Gallono sat alone to talk.
“What can I do
to help?” Gallono asked eagerly.
“Nothing for now,” Hastelloy responded.
“What do you mean nothing? We’ve spend a thousand years hiding quietly in the shadows with nothing to do. Now all of the sudden Julius Caesar is poised to take over everything and it’s all due to the Alpha having a stranglehold on the spiritual side of these people.
“You send Tomal, who is about as controllable as a
rock slide, to get on Caesar’s good side. When that, oddly enough, goes bad you send Valnor, the least experienced man you’ve got, to help fix the situation. Now you send Tonwen off on his own to bring about a change in religion for these people?
“You
’re telling me that with all this going on, there is literally nothing I can do? I am your first officer, your most competent and trusted man, and all you can think for me to do is sit here and eat grapes all day long?”
“All the pieces are not yet in place
, Gallono,” Hastelloy said in a disarming tone. “You need to remain patient.”
Gallon
o leapt to his feet and flung his plate against the wall just above Hastelloy, causing him to cover his head as sharp pieces of porcelain and juicy fragments of half eaten fruit rained down on top of him. “Enough with your chess pieces damn it!”
“You’re
out of line, Commander,” Hastelloy shouted as he sprung to his feet to meet Gallono’s stature.
“What’s out of line,” Gallono growled back, “Is keeping me so inactive and bored that I actually consider killing myself just to get away from you to run things how I see fit. I can’t do that though because
, lucky for you, I still have my honor that forbids me from taking my own life - unlike some of us in this room.”
The last statement cut Hastelloy to the bone. In order to look like the beings on this planet, Hastelloy was forced to kill his crewmen so they could
avoid the dishonor of committing suicide, but Hastelloy, to his everlasting shame, did. The matter had been left unspoken for over a millennia now, but it still carried a cripplingly painful blow to Hastelloy and his confidence to command the men.
Without making any decision to do so, Hastelloy found his fist hurling towards Gallon
o’s nose. The impact sent the Commander sprawling to the floor where he remained while holding his broken nose and looking up at his Captain with both anger and regret. The look disarmed Hastelloy’s rage enough that he did not press the assault further.
“If you can’t
honorably follow my orders then you are no good to me,” Hastelloy seethed through gritted teeth. He gestured toward the front door of the house. “Go on, get out of my sight and do your own thing. If you’re so eager to die and get away from my command I suggest you fight it out in the arena and let a gladiator do the job for you.”
Hastelloy step
ped over Gallono on his way out of the dining area. Without looking back he said, “When your sense of duty and purpose returns you may issue an apology to me and the other men and perhaps earn back your place. Until then, you’re dead to me.”
**********
“Sounds like things got a little lonely for you back then,” Dr Holmes observed. “Tomal and Valnor off with Caesar’s army, Tonwen headed to Israel, and now you’ve banished Gallono from your presence.”
“Yes, the grandest city in the world at that time never felt so empty,” Hastelloy admitted.
“They didn’t just up and leave on their own you know. It sounds like you actively forced them out of your life,” Jeffrey diagnosed. “You are displaying some severe self destructive tendencies here, any thoughts as to why?”
Hastelloy let lose a frustrated sigh. “You’re supposed to be the all knowing doctor, you tell me.”
Jeffrey paused to make sure he formulated his next train of thought precisely right. “The situation you described with Valnor may be playing a role.”
“How?”
“Valnor clings to his committed relationship even though the partner is no longer in his life. The prospect of moving on and engaging in intimacy with someone new nearly destroyed him,” Dr. Holmes recounted. “Is it possible you have lost someone special and are now struggling with the prospect of moving on? The self destructive behavior of pushing everyone away suggests your subconscious is punishing you. Part of you may still think the act of moving on with your life is a betrayal of the person you are leaving behind. According to your story, back in Egypt you lost your wife, Mosa, in extremely traumatic fashion. Do you think the person she represents in your real life has anything to do with this?”
Hastelloy’s contemplative silence let Jeffrey know he was getting somewhere with his patient. He wanted to press the issue further but knew it needed to come from the patient first, so he waited for Hastelloy to collect himself.