The Mandate of Heaven (11 page)

Mistaking his sudden hesitation as a sign of apprehension, Jessica continued on, confidently.  “He’s extremely powerful you know and very quick to anger.  He will take my kidnapping personally and nothing is beyond his power, or reach.  He will find you, hunt you down and when he does…” again she trailed off, leaving the unspoken threat lingering, menacingly, in the air.

Alex meanwhile couldn’t take his eyes off her, suddenly seeing her in a completely different light.  Stanton’s fiancée was sitting in his very room, just across the table from him, having been dropped into his lap, like a gift from the Gods.  Perhaps this was in recognition for everything that had gone wrong in his life, up until now, a reward for every time that he’d been wronged, or unjustly punished.  He couldn’t help himself, but lean back in his chair and laugh.

How glorious was divine retribution?

He had imagined the very many ways that he could take his revenge on Stanton.  For every one of those days that he’d been caged, alone in the pitch-darkness, he’d imagined a different way.  Yet, never in his wildest dreams had he thought that it would take the form of a raven haired, blue-eyed beauty, sitting across from him.  He would take great delight in tearing off her alluring lingerie, as he plundered her mouth—

But as soon as the idea came to him, he dismissed it, along with his laughter, still ringing with the hint of madness.  Yes, he deserved justice, if not vengeance for what Stanton had done to him and those he had loved, but not at any price.  Certainly not at the price of some innocent girl, who had no way to defend herself.  He would be no better than Stanton himself.  Taking something that didn’t belong to him, using it, and then simply discarding it. 

Suddenly he didn’t want to be here, sitting across the table, making small talk with this woman that belonged to
him
.  So standing up, he turned his back on her, instead looking out of the floor-to-ceiling windows that took up one side of the brightly lit breakfast room.  Looking out across the overgrown lawns, the weeds and flowers fighting for dominance, the once immaculate lawns, now all but gone.

It was a sad reminder, which perfectly reflected his own decline.

“I look forward to High-Lord Stanton’s arrival, we can renew old acquaintances,” Alex uttered between clenched teeth, his hand resting on his fusion pistol.  Yes, he would look forward to seeing Stanton again.  He would send him straight back to hell, where he’d obviously been spawned.

“You know, High-Lord Stanton?” Jessica asked, for the first time since she walked into the room, a note of pleading in her voice.  “What type of man is he?  The betrothal agreement was signed by our parents, over fifty years ago.  My older brother was meant to marry, but after his death…well, it fell upon me.  I’ve only met him once, a few years ago, when the agreement was renewed.  Please, if you know of him, tell me?”

Alex had to close his eyes, and his heart, to the pleading in her voice.  What could he tell her?  That Stanton was a coward, and a monster?  A man that took great delight in using his power to obtain whatever he wanted and likewise destroy anything, and anybody, who stood in his way.  As for his regard to women?  Alex could still clearly remember that dark night, Stanton’s hands around Becca’s throat, squeezing, but more than that the look in his eyes, the pleasure that he got from the pain that he was inflicting…

“I don’t know him that well,” he choked, the lie stuck in his throat.  He wanted as little to do with the vile man as possible.  “You’ll have to talk to your father, I’m certain High-Lord Hadley knows him better than I.”  Or possibly not, Alex mused, for if Hadley did indeed know Stanton, he wouldn’t let his daughter anywhere near the bastard.

“Well, I can hardly ask him now, what with you holding me here, against my will, as a prisoner in your own home, now can I?”

“You’re not a prisoner,” Alex replied unthinkingly.  “While you remain here, you’ll be treated as an honoured guest—under my personal protection.”

“I’ve already declined that invitation, several times in fact.  Hence as an
honoured
guest, there is nothing to stop me leaving then.  Good day, my Lord.”  With those parting words, Jessica abruptly stood and, without even a backwards glance, strode from the room.

She was therefore denied the opportunity of watching Alex bang his head, repeatedly, against the wall, from his choice of words.

“Don’t look at me like that.”  Alex pointed his finger at Lucifer, who had looked up from his bone, watching as Jessica had made her dramatic exit, before giving his master a reproachful glare.  It was that look that Alex was rebuking.  “Anyway, it’s hardly as if she’s going to get far.  The city is over ten kilometres distant.  I doubt that she’s ever had to walk more than a few hundred metres in her life, she’s hardly dressed for a journey.”  That thought brought him up short, as he suddenly remembered how she had looked arriving at breakfast, with the sleep tousled expression and that wrap that barely covered her at all.  Suddenly he was incensed at the thought of anybody else seeing her like that.  Striding from the room to bring her back, or at least find her some clothes, he was suddenly running out of the room when he heard her shrill scream.

A cry full of fear and terror.

*****

He was at her side less than a minute later, as she’d hardly gotten far.  Only a couple of metres beyond the main door in fact.  He found her curled up in a foetal ball on the ground, trembling like a leaf.  His first instinct was that she’d hurt herself, or had somehow been hurt.  However, a quick check for any injuries soon dispelled that notion, but something must have terrified her beyond reason, as she didn’t react in any form or manner to his hands running along the length of her body, touching her all over.  If anything, she only seemed to retreat further inside herself, curling more tightly into a ball.

Alex looked up in frustration, trying to understand what could have frightened her so.  This woman who, when faced with a knife wielding stranger late at night in her own bedroom, reacted with fury and not the slightest sense of trepidation.  But everything was still and calm, with no hint of any visible danger.  The sun was well into the sky, as she had slept late, her nervous system still recovering from the effects of the low-intensity fusion beam that had hit her.  The sun was far smaller than on Osiris, as Arcturus was further away from its star, yet he couldn’t believe that would have terrified her so.  In fact, the only reason that Arcturus was habitable, was from the massive geothermal energy produced from its core.  For Arcturus wasn’t a planet at all, but instead a massive moon orbiting a gas giant.  It was one of twelve moons, but the rest were far smaller; The resulting lower gravity didn’t allow for any water to be present and therefore the others were all barren, desolate, moons.  Looking up he could make out the massive shape of the gas giant hanging low in the sky; so large it took up most of the skyline, a colossal orb hanging there, seemingly ready to fall at any moment, and crush—

Suddenly he knew exactly what had frightened her so badly, for he had a similar reaction when he had first visited Arcturus.  His reaction had not been so intense, more an instinctive urge to flinch away every time he’d caught sight of the gas giant.  Now that he knew the root cause of her fear, at least he could try and help.

“Jessica, it’s me Alex,” at this he laughed remembering that they
still
had not been formally introduced.  Wondering what it was about their relationship that meant they always seemed to fight instead.  Filing that strange thought, to be examined more closely at another time, he turned his focus back on her, running his hand softly against her back, in what he hoped was a reassuring gesture, before continuing on.  “Keep your eyes closed and listen to my voice, feel my touch.  You’re safe here; there is nothing to harm you.  Feel the warm sun on your skin, the air filling your lungs, taste it as you breathe in, and out.  You’re perfectly safe here, there is nothing to hurt you.”  He kept repeating these same platitudes until thankfully, after a few minutes, he felt her start to relax.  Taking a seat on the grass next to her he continued to reassure her, pulling her into his arms and holding her as if she were a delicate figurine.  When he noticed her eyelids start to flutter open for the first time, he touched her chin, angling her head down and closer, until they were face to face. If he so wished, he could lean forward ever so slightly to touch her lips but, instead, just waited patiently for her to open her eyes, looking directly into his.

“No,” he scolded gently when he observed her eyes drift upwards towards the sky.  “Look at me and listen.”  He then proceeded to recite to her the full history of Arcturus and the surrounding System but, at all times, taking care to never mention any actual names.  At some point in the future she would return to her family and he didn’t want her father’s battle fleets descending upon his home.  Without thinking, as he proceeded to describe the planetary layout, he leaned back onto the grass until she was looking down at him, her eyes far from the enormous giant looming above them.

As the story finally drew to a close, silence engulfed them and Alex offered to take her back inside but not for the first time, she surprised him, by shaking her head.  “I want to see it,” she insisted.

“Then do so slowly, take your time, allow yourself to adjust to the size of it,” Alex whispered hoarsely.  Jessica meanwhile tipped her head backwards and at her sudden indrawn breath, he clasped her hand tightly, anchoring her to him.

“It's beautiful,” she whispered in awe.

Lying in the long grass, with her close to him, staring up with such childish delight on her face at the vista above, Alex couldn’t agree more.  It was the most beautiful sight that he’d ever seen and made no move to interrupt it.

You don’t realise how much you take for granted, until you’re deprived of it.  Light, touch, taste, smell—even simple conversation.  Beauty is all around us, yet we’re blind to it.

I now live in a state of constant, total, amazement.

—From the journal of
Lord Alexander Greystone

“A cloaking device,” Alex replied looking at Professor Alcubierre sceptically.  “That is what you are working on?”
 
The two of them had fallen into a comfortable routine, meeting up for an early dinner, followed by a couple of glasses of whiskey, whilst talking late into the night.

It had been several months since their first meeting, when the Professor or, Henry, as he insisted on being called, had finally confided in the purpose of his work.

“You almost sound disappointed,” Henry noticed with a grin.

“Maybe a little,” Alex confessed.  “Your inventions are astonishing; the quantum entanglement scanner, orbital ion defence satellites, fusion pistols, I just expected something a little more…”

Henry laughed, leaning back in his chair, taking a sip from the cut glass tumbler, obviously savouring the fine malt whiskey, before eying the younger man across the table.  “But it’s not just any cloaking device,” he added enigmatically.

“I don’t understand.”

“Metamaterials, optical camouflage, Retro-Reflective projection, they’ve all been tried before and they’re good, but not perfect.  The people who built those were clever, but limited, constrained by their own imagination.  Never cage your imagination my boy, let it run wild and soar freely, for if you can imagine something, then you’re already halfway there.  I envisaged the perfect cloak; totally undetectable, able to go anywhere, do anything and yet remain completely invisible across all the spectrums.  Think beyond what has gone before, forget metamaterials or active camouflage, instead consider quantum physics, string theory, and multiple dimensional trans-location, let your imagination take flight.”

“Then why are we still sitting here?  Why haven’t you taken the final step and finished it?” Alex asked puzzled.

Suddenly Henry leaned forward across the table, with a strange expression on his face, the likes of which Alex had never seen before.  “Because I have one final problem to grapple with, one that I cannot seem to overcome.”

“What problem?”

Henry eyed him warily for a moment and instead replied with a question of his own.  “What if I built such a device?  Something to render a ship, a dozen, hundreds, completely and totally invisible.  What would be the consequences?”

Alex fell silent, glancing into his glass, his thoughts blending together, merging just like the colours in his glass, thinking back to a time when such questions held real meaning.  “First strikes without any forewarning?  No time to organise any sort of defence or counter-attack? You would have to be constantly on guard, always at a high state of readiness, massive entrenched defences, thousands bearing arms, hundreds of thousands constantly ready for such a surprise attack.  A massive increase in defence spending, expansion of all arms of the military, a powder keg just waiting for a spark…”

Henry Alcubierre nodded approvingly, like a proud father whose son had just answered the question perfectly.

Alex’s expression meanwhile had turned to dismay as he thought through the consequences.  “Even worse would be if only one of the High-Lords obtained such a device; for the rest would never accept it.  The risk would be unimaginable.  I would have insisted on a pre-emptive strike.  Destroy it, before it could be used to destroy you…” He trailed off, blinking.  “That’s if it was my decision, which it isn’t,” he insisted.

“I agree,” Henry nodded strenuously.  “Such a device in the wrong hands could be a weapon of unimaginable destructive power, but if I can think of it, then so could another.  Better that we have it, in our possession, where it could be used for good, rather than it getting into the wrong hands.  Take High-Lord Lee Hyun-Woo for example…”

“Then you need to ensure that no more can be built, not ever.  That it remains forever unique, the only one in existence.”

Professor Henry Alcubierre, possibly the greatest mind of his generation, peered into his glass before finishing it in a single mouthful, deep in contemplation.

Alex came awake with a jolt.

It had been a long time, many years in fact, since he’d had that particular dream.  He wondered why it had suddenly resurfaced now.  Yet ever since Osiris nothing seemed to be the same, his new life, and old, seemingly on an unavoidable collision course.  With sleep now the furthest thing from his mind, and the glowing embers of the fire indicating that dawn couldn’t be far off, it was time to get up and start his usual morning routine.

Remembering that the most recent addition to the household was still asleep, only a few rooms distant, Alex wryly decided that the possibility of his usual morning schedule seemed most unlikely.

*****

Jessica was still awake, her legs drawn up to her chest, her gaze riveted on the door to her bedroom and, more specifically, the handle.

She’d never been so alone, or uncertain, in her life before.

After overcoming her foolish fears of the gas giant, she had returned to breakfast, where she had eaten lavishly as she had indeed been famished.  She had even agreed to try a glass of the wine, pretending ignorance over its origins, even though she had been able to read the label, having benefited from a classical education, she had been taught several of the classical languages.

Lord Greystone—Alex, as he’d insisted on being called after they had finally been introduced, was still a complete enigma to her, a mass of contradictions.  The house was huge, thirty-eight rooms, easily rivalling her father’s, based on the tour that Alex had given.  Still it seemed tired, worn out, with dust covering many rooms, others simply abandoned.  On the other hand, the wealth that he effortlessly displayed was beyond her imagination. Two bottles of wine, at least four hundred years old each and he’d opened both, to allow her to taste and discover which one she preferred.  He carried a fusion pistol, of which only a few existed, the last one of which had sold for over five hundred million credits.  From the gas giant, to the habitable moon, of which her own Pegasus System had neither, so knew she must have travelled by faster-than-light.  Alex had hinted that they had travelled here aboard his personal ship.  A faster-than-light capable ship, which only he used—only a few of the most powerful High-Lords could afford such extravagance.  Even her father used his massive flagship for travel, unable to afford such a ship solely for personal use.

But where were all the servants?  The maids, cooks and footmen that always travelled with such an important person.  Here there were none, well except for Mary, who had prepared all their marvellous meals.  Even the food was unusual.  Many different fruits, breads, cakes and sometimes fish, but no meat.  Perhaps he didn’t eat it, or had some sort of aversion towards meat?

She had finally concluded he must be one of those eccentric Lords, who used their wealth and power to spurn other people and society in general, instead preferring to hide away from all.  For the lack of other people didn’t seem to bother him in the least.  Although it unnerved her badly, having spent her whole life constantly surrounded by others, a small army of people at her beck-and-call, whilst being protected at all times.

It was because of this that she was still awake, fixated on the door.  As apart from Alex the house was completely empty, Mary having retired to her own home soon after serving dinner.  Thinking of dinner made her laugh, astonished at the sight of Alex clearing away the empty dishes and then informing her that he would wash up!  As his guest, he had politely offered her the use of his library, while he cleaned up.  Instead she’d just wordlessly followed him and watched. Before she even realised what she was doing, she found herself taking the clean, but still wet dishes for him, drying them and stacking them neatly away.  After that they had spent a comfortable evening together in his library, as she perused his books, overcome with delight.  Never in her whole life had she ever seen such a collection, many first editions that could only have come from Earth.  Many of these Jessica thought had been lost forever and realised, much to her embarrassment, that she had a small mountain of them set aside by the time she had finished.

Still, she had achieved one noticeable success that evening.  For she had managed to obtain a promise from him that she was indeed a guest, not a prisoner and if she was still intent on leaving then he wouldn’t stop her.  Instead, offering to escort her to the main settlement on the planet, where there was the one and only spaceport.  If she could arrange transport for herself home, then he would not impede her.  The fact that he found the entire idea highly amusing and hadn’t been able to stop smirking all evening, made her highly suspicious.  For she was sure there was something that she was missing and this was going to be made abundantly clear to her today, that set her on edge.  As if he had planned it that very way, his small, childish way, of exacting his revenge upon her.

It was only after she retired to her room, a guest bedroom that Mary had made up, that nerves had slowly crept up upon her and why she was still awake several hours later.  There were no locks on any of the doors.  What if Alex or someone else entered while she was asleep?  There was nobody to call for help this time.  She even lacked her own fusion pistol and found its loss terrifying, like a missing appendage.

Far worse was that a part of her desperately wished that he would come.  The idea that he might somehow enter during the night, looking at her with the same yearning that she had first observed when she had woken in her own bed.  To touch her again, like he did the first time, to hold her as he had in the garden underneath that gas giant, to kiss her. She shook her head banishing such absurd thoughts.

The sound of footsteps outside her door caused her heart to leap into her throat.  Anticipation tingling across her body, like a static charge.  Her heart only restarted when, after a momentary pause, the footsteps continued onwards, further down the corridor.  She was out of bed, hurriedly tying her robe around herself, before her thoughts could even catch up with her actions.  Hadn’t she just spent several sleepless hours worrying about this very scenario, and now she was chasing
after
him?

Hurrying from her room, she was just in time to make out his dark shape disappearing around the corner, heading for the majestic spiral staircase that spanned the entire main reception hall.  However, by the time she had reached the foot of the stairs her quarry had already vanished.  A flickering light, from beneath one of the many doors, which branched off from the main hall drew her attention.  Pushing it open she found herself in what could only be the kitchen.  The source of the light came from a small cooking stove in one corner of the room.  Obviously Mary had already arrived to start breakfast, as neatly laid out on the kitchen table was some kneaded bread dough.  Mary however, was nowhere in sight and Jessica was about to reluctantly retreat back to her bed when she spotted a shadowy figure, staring out of the large windows into the night sky, with its back turned to her.  Approaching, Jessica was dismayed to realise that the shape could only be Mary, as Alex was far taller and broad shouldered.  Still, she was curious, wondering what Mary was looking at as she stared, motionless, out of the window.

“Oh, my Lady, you startled me,” Mary exclaimed, as Jessica stepped forward to stand beside her.  “I didn’t hear you.  I was just—” she trailed off, embarrassed.

“What are you looking at?” Jessica asked curiously, looking in the direction that the older woman had been facing.

“Oh, it’s nothing.  None of my business really and certainly not my place to intrude,” Mary stammered, turning away from the windows.

Yet Jessica had already noticed what first had escaped her.  A man, Alex, she could only surmise, standing in the middle of the garden.  Facing away from the house, immobile.  “What’s he
doing
?” she blurted out.

“I don’t really know,” Mary admitted.  “But he’s there at this time every morning, standing in exactly the same spot.  He just stands there, staring, sometimes for hours upon end.  I know it’s none of my business, really, but perhaps you could go talk to him?  For he always seems so alone out there.  I do worry about him, when he’s in these moods.”

As Mary had been nothing but kind to her since her unexpected arrival, Jessica quickly agreed, passing through the kitchen door out into the cool night air.  The difference in temperature was easily noticeable, especially from the warm kitchen.  Hurrying to avoid the chill she quickly reached Alex, who hadn’t seemed to notice her arrival.  Waiting, impatiently at his side for him to notice her, stamping her feet to keep warm, she finally couldn’t wait any longer, breaking the still of the morning.

“My Lord—”

“Shush, it’ll be starting soon,” he interrupted her, not once glancing in her direction.

“What’ll be starting soon?” she asked a few minutes later.  “I’m getting cold—” but once again she was stopped, this time by a firm jerk, pulling her closer, towards him.  A moment later she felt his warm jacket being draped across her shoulders as she was pulled into his embrace.  Suddenly she no longer felt cold, but the complete opposite.  Again, about to ask what she was meant to be looking at, she suddenly noticed eddies of grey mist swirling around them, gradually start to lighten.  The shadows continued to recede, until she could make out the dew-covered grass that they were standing on.  Before long she could make out the tree line, with ribbons of colour beginning to shine through them.  As the world around them was slowly revealed, it came to life, with the sounds of songbirds trilling their morning wake-up calls.