"Just because he's not here doesn't mean he's gone!" Taheed screamed. He played his words back in his head, and shook his head as if to clear his thoughts. "What I mean to say is just because he's not on the palace grounds doesn't mean he's left." He played these back as well and decided they didn't sound any better. "All right! All right! You pompous old snit! The Prince has run away again. In fact he has been gone longer than ever before, and we have no idea where he is. Perhaps you made some mistake. Perhaps he was not the Chosen One at all. I've had twenty sons born this month. Test them see if one of them isn't The Chosen."
"For all the generations since the soul of The Ancestor first moved, the Priests in the Service of the God of the Clouds have picked the Chosen One, and never have we been wrong. He must be found and brought back here, or we will all lose face." Ziphed sounded more thoughtful than angry.
"Let me worry about my son. You worry about curing this disease," the King said looking at his mottled skin. "We look and feel worse with each passing day, and yet the commoners walk around with no sign of this plague on their flesh."
"The two are linked," the priest said. "The God of the Clouds punishes us all because we have let the Chosen One escape. Worse, we have made him so unhappy that he feels he can only be happy by leaving us. We must find the Prince. Only then will the gods intervene on our behalf."
"Then we shall find him," the King/God said. "I shall double my efforts." He pointed his stump towards the door, and the priest knew better than to stay.
"If I'm a god, then why is my flesh rotting?" he asked his mute manservant, who just shrugged. "Perhaps my son is right." He stared out the huge window at the night sky full of the glow from two moons, both full. The smaller one, whose name he could never remember, cast a pale blue light. He often thought of himself and the Chosen as these two moons in this cycle. The one brighter and over-powering the other, but the other different and therefore more impressive. As the large one faded the blue one came into its own radiance – the smaller one waiting for the bigger one to cycle out so that it could shine alone.
"If my son is right, Yashi, bringing him back will not save me. It will not save any of us that have been so afflicted."
If Yashi could have spoken, he would have pointed out that
he
wasn't sick. He would have told the King that he thought their ailment was related to the gold metal the Reliance had traded for their people. After all, it wasn't until after they had fashioned chains of it and all the priests and the King had worn them that they had fallen sick. But he couldn't talk because having been chosen to serve god they had cut out his tongue. Also having been chosen, they had never taught him to write. He pointed frantically at the King's chain, making a gurgling noise.
"No, Yashi, how many times do I have to tell you? Gold metal is for priests and gods, not for servants. I would give you one anyway, as you are my dear companion, but the priests would be displeased," Taheed said.
Yashi sighed and slumped against the wall.
"So how radioactive is the gold?" Topaz asked RJ. She turned to look at Poley.
"Nine gray," Poley answered.
"So what does that mean?" Levits asked.
"It's dangerous but not immediately lethal. Exposure at a distance of several feet probably wouldn't even be detectable. More immediate exposure for a longer length of time is going to cause radiation sickness, and prolonged exposure will cause death," Poley said.
RJ let out a long breath shaking her head.
"What?" Topaz said seeing the look in her eyes.
"Don't you see, Topaz?" RJ said. She got up suddenly, practically dumping Levits on the ground. She started pacing back and forth with a look of concentration on her face. She was obviously calculating.
"What!" Levits demanded as he tried to get comfortable and regain his dignity, after having been dumped so unceremoniously on the ground. "God, I hate it when you do that. Start to say something and then stop. What already?"
"The Reliance isn't just giving these people radioactive gold to get rid of something that would be otherwise useless to them. They did it on purpose to kill off the planet's leaders," RJ said. She stopped pacing and looked down at them. "They give them cotton and wool cloth, farming and cooking utensils, and gold. The priests make the distribution just as the Reliance knew they would. The cloth and utensils are distributed to the families of the people the Reliance takes away as a form of payment, and the priests keep the valuable stuff – i.e. the gold – for themselves. Of course they share some with the King, who is also a god. The people don't know about the gold. Or if they do, they no doubt believe it was gifted to the priests and their God/King by the bigger god. The one we all know is no more than a series of antiquated thermo electric power plants."
"The King and the priests deck themselves out in this gold. They drape it all over the power plant and throne room where they live and work, slowly killing themselves with radiation," Topaz said with sudden realization.
"How does that serve the Reliance?" Levits asked in confusion.
RJ gave him an
I'm so tired of mortals
look and explained. "No leaders, no leadership. No leadership, no resistance. No resistance when the Reliance comes down, states that they have killed the people's impotent gods, and now they own them. They send the war-ready population off to Earth to destroy the New Alliance and leave the rest of the population with the mess they have created. The only people left here to try to rebuild their civilization would be the old, the sick, the crippled, and the very young. They take generations of work on genetic uniqueness and perfection and destroy it in one generation. Then they continue to trade with the inhabitants for the items they want, screwing them worse than ever before, and making sure that they can never again raise an army that the Reliance might ever have to worry about."
"Could they do that?" Janad asked.
"Could they?" RJ huffed. "Hell, they already are."
"I never trusted them," Janad said of the Reliance. "Let's hope that the runner you sent out can make people believe him. Make them fight the Reliance. Many in my village also didn't trust the Reliance. No one wanted to go, but the priests
. . .
Well, they ordered it, and we are used to obeying the priests. We saw the Reliance weapons, how they pierced through even stone with nothing more than light." She looked over at where the two boys from her planet stood having their own conversation and she lowered her voice. "There was talk among my clan of revolt against the priests and against the gods. None of us thought it was right to leave the planet. None of us wanted to get into machines we didn't understand for reasons we didn't understand to fight a battle that wasn't ours. But in the end my people would not oppose the priests. They would not oppose the gods. They acted as if they had never had any doubts."
Topaz nodded. "It makes sense. When the priests tell the people that god orders them to do something, they are too afraid to revolt. They will turn off the voice in their head that is telling them that something is wrong and follow blindly. Every evil thing that has ever happened on Earth can be traced back to religion. Faith, a belief in a higher power, can be a very helpful thing to people. It makes sense of things that are wrong in the universe and explains things that cannot otherwise be explained. But
religion
.
Now that is a different matter all together. Religion is what happens when one group of people wants to take control of another group of people they consider inferior. You take a small child and you tell him
If you do this good thing I'll give you candy, but if you do this bad thing I will whip you
.
Religion does that in the biggest possible way.
Do this deed and you will be rewarded with heaven and eternal life, do this deed and go to hell – or its equivalent – and burn forever
.
Depending on the ultimate goal of the religious leaders, these commanded deeds could be anything. In this case it just happens to be
Go fight this war
."
"That's very interesting, but not really very helpful," RJ said and continued pacing. Suddenly she turned in her stride and said to the native girl. "For the record, there is nothing stronger than light."
She stopped and looked in the direction of the two boys. She was silent and still, just watching them. As if sensing her eyes on them, they turned and started towards the fire.
"Well?" Levits asked, knowing what she had just been doing.
"The mute boy is afraid, probably believes we are gods. The other one
. . .
He puzzles me; he seems to have a great need in him. I think he thinks we can give him what he needs."
"Can she see in peoples thoughts?" Janad asked, more than a little afraid. No doubt because she'd had thoughts she didn't want people knowing.
"Only their emotions," Poley informed her.
From the look on her face Janad obviously didn't feel very comforted.
"Did you have gold on this planet before?" Topaz asked Janad curiously.
"What the hell does that have to do with anything?" Levits asked.
"If they didn't, how did they know it had value?" RJ asked, giving him that
stupid mortal
look again.
"Quit doing that to me! I think it makes me stupider," Levits said with a smile. RJ smiled back and shook her head.
"In the Holy of Holies, wherein lies the things which belonged to The Ancestor, there are an earring and a pendant of gold," Taleed said as he and Haldeed arrived at the fire. He had heard part of the conversation as he was walking over. "Once every cycle of
Luisant Luna,
the King dawns the Silver Suit of the Gods, puts on the Regalia, and rides through the streets in the Holy Vehicle. The priests follow behind him carrying Religious symbols of power
. . .
"
Haldeed threw his arms around and Taleed nodded.
"The people carry their sick into the street, and the priests give them potions and pray for them," Taleed said.
Haldeed made some more signs.
"They don't care about that, Haldeed," Taleed said dismissively.
"Try us," RJ said.
"Excuse me?" Taleed asked not understanding.
"What did he say?" RJ asked with a sigh.
"The Chosen One walks at the rear of the procession, and when his brothers and sisters see him they must bow down," Taleed said. "See? That information is of no use."
"You mean only the Chosen One of all the King's descendants has any importance? Only the Chosen One lives in the palace?" Topaz asked.
Taleed, Haldeed and Janad all laughed loudly.
"What's so funny?" Topaz asked.
"The King, our god, has over four thousand children," Taleed said. "The palace would have to be very large, indeed. Besides women aren't allowed in the Palace. Only menservants, the King, and The Chosen, may enter the interior rooms of the palace. Even the priests are not allowed anywhere but the throne room and the outer halls."
"OK, I'll bite," Levits said. "How does a man sire over four thousand children if no women are allowed in the Palace?"
"He goes to the Temple and the priests bring him women in their cycles. A different woman every night. Some times more than one," Taleed said. "It is his duty to impregnate as many women as possible."
"Hell of a life this guy's got. He gets to have all the fun, and he doesn't have to put up with a woman," Levits said, giving RJ a meaningful look.
RJ glared back at him not wanting him to be disappointed and he smiled his very best, just kidding, smile.
"Is the Prince chosen because he is born with no hands?" Topaz asked.
RJ watched the boy carefully now; she even noticed the way he looked at her to see if she was looking at him. He knew that she knew. She wondered how he would play this out.
"No. He is chosen and then the priests cut off his hands when he is an infant," Taleed said bitterly.
"Christ on a crutch!" Topaz exclaimed.
"What does he mean?" Janad asked Poley in a whisper.
Poley shrugged and whispered back. "I don't know. I only know that he says that when he is shocked by something, or very agitated."
"It has to be a belief imbedded pretty deeply within them to maim an infant," Topaz said more to RJ than to Taleed.
"Or these priests are just some blood thirsty bastards. Remember what you just said about religion. Create a god, cut off its hands and make it dependent on the priests for its livelihood. A handless man is helpless in a world like this," RJ said. She looked right into Taleed's eyes as she said it, and he glared back at her. "Such a man may want to go against the priests, he may even try to escape his servitude, but how far can he get without help? How can he take care of himself, and how can he hide? Who wouldn't know this handless man on sight?" She looked away from Taleed then, and back at Topaz. "Look at what we already know about them. They encourage their people to have as many children as possible and then have them wage war with each other to keep the numbers down. Thus insuring survival of the fittest. They cut out the tongues of the palace servants so that they can't tell anyone what goes on there."