Janad started laughing loudly. "Oh!
That's
what they were doing."
They had run into a line of Reliance men just when they were sure they had gotten away, which made it that much harder to take when they were herded back towards the village square where the priest and the Reliance box were located.
"You now go to heaven to fight the gods' battles there. Do not be afraid to serve the gods. Do not be afraid to leave behind your old ones and your children; they will be well cared for."
They pulled the warriors from the group, easily recognizing them by their clothing and trappings. They started herding them towards the transport station.
The gods are punishing us because we ran away
, Haldeed signed in fear.
"They are only taking the warriors. We wear the clothes of peasants, of workers; we will not be chosen. "If our gods serve up our people to these aliens, then I say damn them. I will not serve such gods and I most certainly will not become one." Taleed looked down to make sure his fake hands were still in place and looked real enough. He hoped the beards he and Haldeed had grown on their trip would hide their identity. However it was obvious that Haldeed wanted badly to tell them who they were, give up and go back to the palace rather than risk being sent to heaven.
Better the demons you know
, Haldeed signed at the end of a long string of frantic signing.
The priest walked right up to them and Taleed swallowed hard.
"You there," the priest said pointing.
"Us?" Taleed asked trying to keep fear from entering his voice.
"Yes, you
. . .
You are new in our village. You are young and healthy; are you not warriors?"
"No, holy one, we are but poor farm workers moving on to follow the crops."
"I do not believe you," the priest waded through the crowd towards them, and Taleed inwardly cringed.
All the priests throughout the land knew what the Chosen One looked like. Once a year they all came on a pilgrimage to the holy city and gazed upon his father and himself. If the priest got too close he would recognize him, and their adventure would end.
Suddenly there was a loud roaring sound and a bright light streaked across the sky. All stopped as everyone turned to look at the sight in awe and in wonder. The Reliance men looked up also and became immediately defensive, which told Taleed that whatever this was it had nothing to do with them. There was a loud noise and sparks flew from the box in front of them. The Reliance men scattered looking for cover and the villagers just ran. The priest who had questioned them dropped to the ground prostrating himself and started praying loudly. He was throwing his gold chains in the air as if offering them to the gods.
Haldeed pulled on the stunned prince's arm dragging him to safety behind one of the carved rock dwellings.
A white ship just like the one the Reliance people had arrived in set down gently on the ground in front of them. The Reliance's flying ship took off firing rays of light down at the other ship. There was another loud noise and the Reliance ship exploded and fell out of the sky. Two gods with solid silver bodies stepped out of the newly arrived ship. The Reliance people still on the ground fired upon the new arrivals, but the gods were also armed with weapons of light and did smite any of the aliens who dared to show their faces. The people, realizing that their gods had come to save them from the claws of the Reliance, turned on the Reliance men and fought as they had never fought before. In minutes all the Reliance men were dead. The priest quickly moved and prostrated himself on the ground again. This time he fell before the gods and made an offering of his last gold chain.
RJ looked down at the prostrate man with tell tale burns all over his head and hair falling out. She looked at Poley who nodded.
"Janad!" RJ screamed back towards the ship.
Janad ran out to stand beside her as the others walked out of the ship.
"Yes," Janad said.
"Tell this man that all this gold is tainted and must be destroyed at once," RJ said.
In her native tongue Janad told the man what RJ said. He spat back a stream of utterances at her; she frowned.
"What did he say?" RJ asked.
"He said that these gold chains were gifts from our god and therefore could not be poisoned," Janad said.
"Tell him that the chains he is wearing are causing his hair to fall out and is making the boils that he has been afflicted with. Tell the idiot that he has radiation sickness," RJ ordered.
Janad told the priest what RJ had said, but he shook his head frantically and spat out another sentence.
"He says you are demons sent to tempt his faith in the gods, and that he therefore revokes his gift of the gold."
"Tell him I said
. . .
ah fuck it." RJ aimed her laser and shot him in the head. The old priest fell over dead. RJ removed her helmet.
The villagers looked at her in shock and horror.
"Damn it, RJ," Topaz cursed running up to her. "I might have learned much from him. Now all you have done is turn the villagers against us."
"By killing their spiritual leader I have proved the impotence of their gods, and they will not dare to anger me. Besides I doubt very seriously you would have gotten anything of value from that imbecile," RJ said. "Janad, tell the people that we mean them no harm, but that we will not tolerate such disrespect. We have come to save them, but only if they prove themselves worthy."
Janad screamed the statement to the general population.
Topaz stared at her, mouth open.
"Tell them that the Reliance is evil and is trying to kill their gods," RJ ordered Janad.
Janad made the announcement.
"What are we going to do with this radioactive waste?" Levits asked at RJ's shoulder.
"One thing at a time," RJ said. She handed him her helmet. He looked at his hands now filled with helmet, his own and hers, then turned and unceremoniously threw them into the open door of the space ship. RJ smiled at him before continuing. "First we have to make sure that these primitives don't turn on us the way they did the Reliance
. . ..
Janad, tell them that we will protect them from the Reliance and from the anger of their gods, but that they must do as we tell them."
Janad shouted the message, noticing that the people drew ever closer.
RJ noticed the stunned look on Topaz's face and asked, "What's wrong with you?"
"RJ, that isn't an alien tongue Janad is speaking," Topaz informed.
"Sounds alien to me," RJ said thinking he was probably flaking out again.
"It would to you. RJ, the language that girl is speaking is French, an Earth language that hasn't been spoken in well over six hundred years."
Topaz was following RJ and Janad to the 'temple'. Levits and Poley had stayed to guard the skiff and keep an eye on David.
A group of village children were closely following them. RJ tried to ignore them, but they were bugging the piss out of her.
"It's a good thing I can't have kids," RJ said pulling a face as one of the smaller ones reached out and touched her. "I don't think I have the maternal instincts necessary to stop myself from killing them if they annoyed me." Since the one child had touched her without disintegrating, the others had moved still closer. RJ turned quickly threw her arms around wildly and growled at them. They screamed and scattered in all directions. RJ laughed triumphantly and kept walking.
"Have you heard anything that I've been saying to you?" Topaz asked.
"The natives speak French, blah blah blah. They must be decedents of Earth-born humans, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah," RJ said continuing to follow Janad.
"Aren't you interested in the least? How did they got here? From where does their belief in a handless god come? What about their god that makes clouds?" Topaz rattled out.
"I'm not interested in anything right now except getting any tainted gold out of this village and getting out of here before Reliance troops show up to find out what happened to their transporter. I don't care how they got here, and I don't know where they came up with their armless god, but I'd say
that's
where they got their belief in a god that makes clouds."
As she spoke, RJ nodded towards the middle of the village where there stood a huge rock. Carved into the rock was the 'temple,' and spewing from the top of the temple was a steady stream of steam.
"Well, I'll be damned!" Topaz said in awe.
Two guards stood at the door to the temple. When they saw RJ and her party they moved aside, indicating by their actions that they were welcome to enter.
Janad stopped at the door. RJ turned and looked back at her. "Come on."
"It is forbidden for any mortal save the priests to enter the temple, and
. . .
"
RJ grabbed her by the arm and pulled her inside. "It's bullshit, all right, Janad?" RJ said. "You're a bright girl; you've been in a space ship. If a machine can power through space and move you across galaxies in a matter of days, how much simpler is a machine that makes low amp electricity? You hear that noise?" Janad nodded. "That's the sound of a machine. You know what a machine is, so you know that whatever is in the heart of this
temple
is more of machine than god."
Men, obviously priests because of the rule, were running around wearing simple workman's coveralls, carrying tools and wearing tool belts. When they saw the three who entered, they dropped to the ground and prostrated themselves. Most of them clearly bore the signs of radiation sickness.
"Damn," RJ laughed. "I could get used to this."
"Didn't you get enough of it back on Earth?" Topaz asked sarcastically.
"I have never seen the priests in their holy garments or carrying their holy instruments before," Janad said in a low and reverent voice.
"Those are work clothes, and they are carrying simple tools." RJ sighed. "Don't you get it, girl? Your priests are nothing but mechanics."
"How do you suppose these people came to worship what is obviously a steam engine?" Topaz asked.
"Obviously because they have been kept ignorant of the fact that it is an engine. It's simple, Topaz. The people no doubt make sacrifices of food, clothing, and items of wealth to the priests. The 'priests' figured out early what a good gig this was, and have become wealthy making sure the people didn't find out that their 'temple' is nothing but a power plant," RJ said.
"Yes, but who gave them this technology? The tools they have are obviously old, some even show visible signs of damage. As you have pointed out often, they have little metal on this world. So who brought them the materials and the technology?" Topaz asked.
"Well, obviously it was some armless, deranged, black, French man," RJ said. "I really could care less." One of the priests was wearing one of the radioactive gold chains, and RJ reached down as she passed his bowing form and took it off in her gloved hand. "Again
. . .
all I want is to gather up the tainted gold and leave this village before the Reliance gets here in force."
"Ah! Here we go." They entered what must have been the very center of the Temple, and there sat a thermo electric generator belching the steam that went out the vents in the roof. The wires running from it were nearly covered with the draped gold chains, and it was surrounded by several gold bars and thousands of little black stones.
"I have never seen so many
bercer roc
," Janad said pointing at the stones.
"Janad, go back to the ship at once," RJ ordered.
Janad didn't have to ask why; she knew. They had said there was something wrong with the gold metal and that it was making the priests sick. She didn't have to be told twice. She practically ran from the building.
"So, the priests also believe that the generator is a god," Topaz said.
"Yep," RJ agreed. "No doubt they think that their work keeps the god happy, and keeps him making energy for their villages. No doubt the maintenance work they do has become complex ritual."
"So what now,
Kemosabe
?" Topaz asked. "Radiation isn't exactly healthy for us, either."
"We aren't going to be around it long enough for it to matter, and we aren't going to touch the shit," RJ said. "So, Topaz, can you speak French?"
"Oui, je parle Francais
," Topaz said.
"I'm going to take that as a yes," RJ said with a smile. "Call the priests in here, and tell them we have come to cure their affliction."
Poley worked at the controls on the Reliance transport station as the priests loaded first the gold and then the gold-draped body of their high priest into the box. Then they started loading the bodies of the dead Reliance men as RJ had ordered. Levits had already very carefully gathered the weapons, not trusting them in the hands of the primitives, and carried them to the ship.