How did the hell did they find us? More to the point…how had they found out about her? He could only guess he must have left some clue behind. When he’d 'died' and dropped off the radar, he must have stupidly left something that had ultimately led them here.
‘Teacher?’
Mason stirred from his thoughts and looked up at the earnest man hovering over him. A young brother-initiate. ‘Yes?’
‘This…this is…very difficult.’ He looked uncomfortable, like an errand boy sent to do someone else’s dirty work.
‘What’s the matter?’
‘The Hall elders….they know you are with the…’ he nodded towards one of the small symbols on the wall, not willing even to say the word 'Awoken'. ‘They ask that you…’
‘Leave?’
The young man nodded, crimson blotches of shame on his pale cheeks.
Mason shook his head and tutted. ‘They hang the prophet’s image in here…and yet they can’t even offer me sanctuary?’
‘They are worried about harbouring…a-’
‘A terrorist?’
The brother’s pale cheeks turned a darker, blotchy, shade of pink.
‘You tell them I’ve got no other place to go. I need to hide here for now. I need to establish contact with my colleagues.’
‘The elders, they…they do not wish to attract the Administration's atten-’
‘Listen!’ Mason got up off his knees slowly. ‘Listen to me very closely young man…’ He glared at the brother-initiate. He could see the shame written across his face; shame, and disgust with his Hall's elders for their cowardice. Their lack of conviction. Their hypocrisy.
The brother-initiate reminded Mason of the young man who had masqueraded as Ellie’s friend, an earnest idealist; youthful energy looking for a cause to fight for, to seek martyrdom for.
He could understand the elders’ reticence. The Administration tolerated the Rebornist faith largely because it was too widespread to consider outlawing it, but also because it preached peace and forgiveness. As far as the Administration were concerned if it kept countless billions of citizens quiet and content as they patiently awaited the never-going-to-happen arrival of their Final Prophet, well, that was just fine with them.
The Awoken, on the other hand…they were a problem.
Mason played the only card he was holding. A threat. ‘Tell your elders…it is their sworn duty to help me. And they will do this…or I’ll arrange for some of my colleagues to pay each of them a visit and teach them a harsh lesson about duty.’
The lad's eyes rounded. His lips widened with the hint of a smile. ‘Yes…y-yes of course I will, Teacher, I will tell them that.’
‘You tell them…they are obliged provide me safe haven. Or an example will be made of them.’
Mason watched him turn and go, leaving him alone once more in the Prayer Hall. It was quiet now, save for the softly playing endless loop of sung prayer, and the dulled sound of New Haven’s busy streets beyond the thin habicube walls.
He settled back down on the prayer mat and knelt before the altar. To any casual observer, he would appear a pious man in silent communion with God. But in truth, Mason wasn’t wasting his breath or time with prayer. He sighed at their primitive superstitions. There was no Great God out there listening to the faithful's prayers, granting or denying wishes like a genie. The universe was largely cold, black and soulless.
Instead of praying. he was quietly contemplating his next move. And thinking about her. Wondering where she was, wondering whether she was safe. Wondering if she understood yet how incredibly important she was.
OMNIPEDIA:
[Human Universe open source digital encyclopedia]
Article: Old Earth Religions (By Flynn Wurterman. Aged 9)
The main religious beliefs on Earth before the development of between-system portal transport (often referred to as the pre-colonial period) were numerous. There were hundreds. The most widespred faiths were the Islambic, the Kirstians, and the Jewes. They all believed in a boss called God. God made everything in the universe and an extra-specially nice place called Heven where all the best-behaved people could go after they die.
These main religions had a BIG problem with each other though, because they didn’t agree on what God’s correct name was or what heven was like, or on which people would be allowed into Haven when they died.
There were loads of wars on Old Earth long before the colonial era over these things. The most famous of those wars were The Crusades, where the Kirstians and the Islamics fought over who should control a city called Joosalem, because, apparently, there were very holy things buried underneath it. The other famous religious wars were between two sub-groups of Kirstians called the Catalysts and the Protestants, they fought over whether God or his son, Jesus, were the most important person to worship. And, another war, called The Schism, which happened between two groups of Islambics over who’s method of worship was the best one.
Many people died in these wars and horrible things were done.
And no one was right. Or wrong. And no one really won.
User Comment > Dr Plop
I read this article and laugh out loud at the historical errors. Then I looked at the header and realised a kid had written it. I think this article should be taken down. Omnipedia is meant to be an accurate knowledge source, not a place for stupid kids to put up their homework assignments!!!
User Comment > Dobber78894
The historical errors withstanding, I think the author of this article makes some pretty salient points. No one wins when it comes to discussions on faith. It’s circular ‘logic’ that inevitably leads to be people being killed.
User Comment > JacobTheFrugg
To the total turd-brain above. Dr Plop. Omnipedia is for everyone to use!! Even kids!!
User Comment > PrayerMaster50000
You putting on too much flab? Eating too many proto-snax between meals? Are you looking like a merco-whale when you look in the mirror? Well fear not, help is at hand! Pray those calories away! For 5000cr a month, a team of dedicated prayerMasters will pray night and day for your flab-rings to vanish. Visit our site [Pray-It-Away] to see before-and-after pictures of faithful ex-flabbies who’ve used our service!!!
User Comment > XXX-come-buy-XXX
I tried Pray-It-Away. Just a warning people…it doesn’t work. I gained a hundred pounds since paying…and they don’t do refunds.
CHAPTER 4
‘Mother?’
The holoscreen in front of Ellie flickered and the computer system’s cartoon avatar appeared; a kindly-looking old lady with silver hair in a bun and round framed spectacles perched on a small snub nose. Beady black eyes peered inquisitvely at her over the top of the rimless frames.
‘Yes, Ellie? How may I help you?’
Mother’s manner seemed so compellingly human, despite her crude cartoon charicature. It felt odd talking to an operating system that looked and sounded like someone’s lovely old granny. ‘I…just wanted to check with you on something.’
‘What exactly would you like to check on, Ellie?’
‘Shelby…he mentioned something about an automated shuttle?’ She was desperately hoping that Shelby hadn’t made that up. If he’d actually lied to her about the shuttle…well, given what she’d discovered down below, she didn't want to think about that.
‘Yes, Ellie, this facility has an ongoing service contract with a shuttle courier company. One arrives once every system-year.’
She breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn't lied to her then. ‘When’s it due?’
‘Six weeks and three days.’
‘Six weeks?!'
Mother looked over her glasses at her. ‘Are you not happy here? Is there something I can do to make your stay more agreeable?’
‘No, it’s fine.’ She felt the need to smile at the operating system. ‘You’re looking after us wonderfully.’ Six weeks. She'd blurted that out because she'd fully been expecting Mother to say six months. Six weeks
she could cope with.
‘Ellie?'
'Yes, Mother?'
'Considering your raised voice, the sudden dilation of your pupils…and the big smile, I suspect you are relieved?'
'Yeah…I thought we were in for a much longer wait.'
'Where do you wish to go, Ellie? Where else is more welcoming than WonderWorld?'
She wanted to tell Mother everything. To confide in her. Ridiculous really. If this same AI had had a bland, standard customer-services voice and the avatar had been a simple corporate logo, she wouldn’t be considering sharing her secrets with it. She desperately needed to talk to someone though.
‘Could you connect me to Jez?’
‘She’s over in World Two right now with Graham, I believe.’
‘I know. I haven’t seen her in days. I’d like to speak with her.’
Mother smiled. ‘Of course, my dear. One moment.’
Her avatar disappeared and was replaced with a rotating call-waiting icon. Ellie listened to the soft chime of the ringing tone. Finally, after a dozen rings, the icon disappeared and she saw Jez settling down on a seat in a luxurious fur-lined bathrobe.
‘Hey there, stranger!’ said Jez. She waggled a hand at her.
‘Hullo…uh, are you busy?’
Jez smirked and cocked a brow. ‘Five minutes ago I was.’
‘Can you talk right now?’
She shrugged. ‘Guess so. I need to rest him or he'll break.’
Ellie smiled.
'So, my dearest darling cube-chik, how’s your gloop-army brewing up?’
Shelby and Gray’s idea of 'fun' had been to arrange one of their war games in World Three The girls had been set the challenge of designing and fabricating their own little armies of gene products to hurl at each other in an orgy of mindless violence. Not exactly Ellie’s definition of fun, but Jez had leapt on the idea.
‘Mine's doing okay, I guess.’
Jez narrowed her eyes. ‘Are you trying to squeeze out of me some clues on what I’m brewing? Cause if you are….tough boots, girl. My lips are zip-sealed!’
‘No. I wasn't actually. That would be cheating, right?’
‘Uh-huh. And you know how Shelby feels about cheating, right?’
‘I just wanted to talk to you about…something.’
‘About what?’
She could say…but she didn't want to say right now, not over the comms. Gray might be listening in out of shot. ‘Just fancy some some girl talk.’
Jez shrugged. ‘I could do with some juicy chik-chat. Gray’s great at dork-talk…but he’s totally crud at doing girl-goss.’ A thought suddenly occurred to her. She leant forward and lowered her voice. ‘Don’t tell me you and Shelby-?’
‘NO!’ Ellie knew what she was getting at. ‘What? Shelby? No! Definitely not!’
‘Awww…’ she pouted. ‘Boring!’
‘No, I’m not boring. I’m just not a sex-addicted troll like you.’
‘Oh, puh-lease. I just have a high drive. I need to scratch the itch. I need my daily sha-’
‘Anyway, Jez? Can we meet?’
Jez pursed her lips. ‘Sure! You want to come over to Gray’s world?’
She didn’t fancy that. The place was done up like The Underworld. It felt like the inside of some insane monk's mind.
‘How about in the CandyBliss gardens over here?’
‘Righty-right. It’s a date. An hour?’
‘An hour.’
*
Ellie was busy stroking the bristly stem of a strawberry-flavoured CandyBliss bulb when Jez finally arrived, huffing and puffing from her walk up the sloping meadow towards the plaza.
‘Hah! I caught you!’
Ellie let go of the stem. It twanged backwards like a flag pole. She stepped back quickly as if she’d been caught doing something wrong. ‘I’m just sniffing the pollen.’
Jez flopped down onto a garden bench. ‘Sorry, I’m late, El’…’
‘Oh, I don't need to know all the shlukky details.’
Jez grinned at her. ‘So…how’re you getting on here in SleepyTown with Mr Charisma?’
‘I like it here. It’s beautiful. And peaceful.’
‘Yup. True. How’s Shelbs?’
She really hadn’t interacted all that much with him in the last twenty-four hours, not since she’d made that discovery down on the service decks. She’d met him in the gardens for breakfast - the morning routine that seemed to have established itself here. He’d updated her on the fabrication progress of her army of furry little critters. Apparently they were about ninety percent complete. He’d told her that World Three was now being reconfigured for their big battle and if she wanted, he’d take her down later to watch the machinery assembling the terrain.
She’d been non-committal about that. Said 'maybe later'. She didn't want to be dragged off down one of those long service tunnels to be all alone with him. Not until she'd had a chance to talk to Jez about what what she'd discovered. Maybe Jez would put her straight, tell her she was being silly. Being paranoid.
‘So, you ready to play ‘war’ against me an’ Gray?’
Ellie really didn't want to do this now. The idea of sending her little creations out to die for mere entertainment was beginning to feel appalling. It had sounded like a cool idea a week ago. But now she could see her little furry creatures floating in their fabrication pods, curled into foetal positions, eyes clasped tightly shut, little paws twitching and stretching as their simple minds dreamed their dreams…the notion was beginning to feel unnecessarily cruel.
‘Can’t wait to show you my monsters,’ said Jez.
Ellie couldn’t begin to imagine what horrific grotesques she’d come up with.
‘Jez…I need to talk to you about something.’
‘Uh-huh.’
‘I found something.’
‘What?’
‘On the service deck.’
‘Where’s that?’
‘You remember when we first arrived and were dropped off in that hanger?’
Jez’s lips curled. ‘Oh, that grubby dark place. Hee-yuk.’
‘I was exploring and I found….’ Ellie paused. You had to do that with Jez, tease her curiosity, or her attention tended to wander off. Usually back onto herself.
'What?'
'This…secret room.'
‘A secret room?’ She sat forward. ‘What was in it?’
‘Things…personal things, belonging to the others. The rest of the crew.’
‘You mean the ones that died?’
‘Yeah. They were laid out all carefully. Someone must have gathered them up and put them there after they died.’
She looked disappointed. ‘Oh, well…that’s nice, I guess.’
‘No. It didn’t feel like something nice. It looked more like…like a trophy room.’
'Trophy room?'
'Yes! Remember that shlocky horror videe you forced me to watch?'
Jez frowned for a moment, then suddenly curled her lips. ‘Oooh, kinda creepy then?’
‘Very. It's…worrying me a bit.'
'You mean like, someone-murdered-them-all-and-that's-their-gloating-room, kinda worried?'
'Well, yeah, that but….'
‘What did Shelbs say about it?’
‘I haven’t told him yet.’
‘Why not?’
Ellie looked around quickly. 'What if it's his trophy room?' She was joking. Kind of. It was only the two of them near the bed of CandyBliss plants. Across the gardens she could see one of the jimps tending to some flowerbeds, too far away to hear them. All the same she huddled closer and lowered her voice. ‘I…look, seriously, there’s something, I can’t figure out what it is…but there’s something that worries me about what happened to the others.’
‘It was an accident, right?’ Jeez shrugged. ‘Shelby said it was an accident?’
‘Yeah, he did say that….but…’
Jez frowned and cocked her head. Then suddenly she laughed. ‘What? You seriousl
y reckon he murdered them all? Shelby?’ The idea did sound preposterous, blurted out loud like that,
Ellie turned to look at her. ‘I’m…well…no, I’m not saying that…but, we don’t know anything about him. Or Gray. They’re just two men we met a few days ago.’
Two men, who’ve been alone on this abandoned theme park for just over a decade.
Jez nodded. 'True. They are both a bit odd-job, I’ll agree with you there, Ellie, particularly Shelby-’
‘And Gray.'
Jez raised her brows. ‘Huh? Gray's not as weird as Shelby!’
‘His world? His creatures? It’s all kinda dark and weird don’t you think?’
She laughed again. ‘What?! Then…you're saying you think Gray murdered everyone?!’
‘No! I’m not. I…I don’t know. I’m not saying that…I’m just kind of worried that we’re marooned here with two people who might have gone…’ she was trying to find the right word and ended up with something that sounded pretty lame. ‘…peculiar.’
Jez chuckled. ‘Oh, they’re peculiar, all right. Both of them. Which, Ellie-girl, makes a nice fregging change from the regular dick-sticks in New Haven who’ve only got one thing on their minds and speak in monkey grunts.’
She twisted round to face her and grabbed both her shoulders. For once quite serious.
‘Listen, Ellie, I get it. I know you’re worried about what’s going on out there in the system. There are bad people out there looking for you. You and me…and we’ve already been through some crazy shit together. I know we’re not out of whatever fix, this is, but,' she narrowed her eyes, squeezed her.
'…relax. Look around you, silly. We’re totally safe here. No one knows we’re here. No one!’
That didn’t sound entirely reassuring to Ellie.
‘You and me, we just got to lie low here for a while. Let things die down. Maybe the Administration will think we managed to escape the system and the system quarantine will loosen up again. Huh?’