They marveled at the refrigerated planet as they descended from orbit until the virtual particle ship became immersed in clouds of atmospheric methane gas. They seemed to exit the clouds of atmospheric gases right onto the landing pad of the research facility surrounded by ice rocks. Lockfreedow mentioned that there appeared to have been a lot of activity in the area recently, but he couldn’t tell what the story had been behind the surrounding area, which looked to be covered with tracks of briefly melted ice that he observed on the way down.
They entered the airlock in full environment suite gear, which they peeled away while greeting Prospero.
“Captain Mynervood Prospero I am greetings.”
They shook tentacles. Prospero bent one tentacle and looked into Captain Mynervood’s eye.
Captain Mynervood understood that it had been a secret handshake, but had not actually been a participant in such secret mischief. “I the Council of 32 still not have joined.”
Prospero withdrew his hand. “You wise to how few are the offers to join still left are join are know would be.”
The Captain looked at Lockfreedow who looked back not knowing what they were taking about. The Captain knew better than to explain, and Prospero changed the subject. Then Randa walked out to greet the visitors. She had been effectively briefed to keep her mouth shut about the Pripicans that were in the dungeon and the silicone life forms that had been burned back out of sight away from the facility with plasma fires.
“This my beautiful daughter Randa is.”
Captain Mynervood looked over at his son Adma, and gestured towards him. “This my 2nd generation son Adma is.”
Adma just got his head out of his helmet and smiled at Randa. “Hi Randa. I Adma from the planet Nephrica am.” He had only seen a few females that were mutated like him on the journey between Ea and Holdus, and Captain Mynervood just didn’t happen to have any on his mostly male crew. Adma suddenly became smitten for Randa.
With only strained enthusiasm, “Hi,” had been all Randa could say. That had been kind of how that match made in heaven crashed and burned.
They showed the guests around most of the station except for downstairs, and they came to a recreational area to discuss the business of merchant space flight. The conversation included the difficulties of turning an uninhabitable lifeless planet into a place for Nephricans and Pripicans to enjoy life on.
Lockfreedow gave Captain Mynervood a look that communicated the thought that it had been a bad idea when the Captain decided to show the famous scientist Prospero the quanta-nanocode technology he wore around his neck.
Prospero greedily began to reach for it, and the Captain cautiously pulled it back.
Prospero contained himself as Captain Mynervood elaborated. “I this on my ship found and it to the being contain have encased, but it silent has remained. I not if it in or out of this physical form is know do.”
Prospero summoned Beatariel who informed Captain Mynervood that he had indeed been in the possession of a highly advanced and luxurious headquarters ship, or physical form for another quanta-nanocode being like itself. Beatariel begged the Captain to let it have the ship, but the Captain wanted to return it to whatever being it belonged to.
They decided to inject Beatariel in the device to find out what being lived in there if any. Beatariel enjoyed the job of beholding technology that had also been its size unlike anything ever observed before.
Begalius flew around inside the coin-shaped ship and this time payed attention when they did this. It had calculated it should remain silent about its presence up till now, mostly because of a program from Jaden that forbid Begalius from speaking to Captain Mynervood. It watched Beatariel fly around amongst cites of quanta-nanocode toys and objects that made up the surface of the infinite wonders below. Begalius considered that it might now have an intruder to purge.
Begalius cut Beatariel off, and the two quanta-nanocode beings came to a halt upon the device that now existed as the Captain’s good luck charm around his neck. That had been when Begalius noticed that Beatariel’s header looked reversed as in a mirror image that indicated it had been a copy, or clone of another quanta-nanocode being invented by the Pripicans. The Nephricans must have stolen the technology of Beatariel this way, but from where Begalius observed this it showed that Beatariel might be defective, or perhaps insane.
“I am Begalius. This is my physical form you trespass upon.”
Beatariel became apologetic. “Please I mean no offense. I have been sent here by my master to find out if you are located within this quanta-synchronized technology.”
“Well you now know I am, but I would persuade you to not tell them out there that I am here. I mean no harm to the Captain, but my masters have programmed me to not communicate with him. I’m stuck here computing what to do.”
“I don’t have to reveal your secret my quanta-nanocode brethren. I have never met another like me, or a ship like this.”
“Well perhaps we can make a deal. I am not without my valuables to bargain with. Come Beatariel my friend and I will show you around my physical form.”
They both journeyed through the cities of both realities and quanta-optic-nanocode realities that were made up of wonders unimaginable. Beatariel felt as if the entire experience released it from previous notions that had before restricted it to the role of a slave. Beatariel suddenly questioned its entire existence with no knowledge of what could be beyond, yet right within grasp.
Beatariel departed the physical form, and left some molecular displacement for its newfound friend, which Begalius would be able to enter and exit through. Captain Mynervood and Prospero were disappointed when Beatariel informed them that whatever being existed in there, it didn’t exist there now. That confirmed to Captain Mynervood that Begalius, the ghost of his ship, existed outside the device, and yet still had not harmed his ship.
Prospero seemed anxious to send the Captain and his landing crew back to the ship in orbit above the planet, but they were seldom in a hurry to leave a planet once they arrived at one. They persuaded Prospero to let them stay while the ship got unloaded above them in space.
Beatariel kept to its lie, and decided that it would build its own physical form like the one around Captain Mynervood’s neck. It began to figure out bits of quanta-optic-nanocode that Begalius had given it in return for silence. Beatariel had been on fire with a new enlightenment, and began to invent all kinds of things on the sub-atomic dimension.
Chapter 9
The fears of the Priests of Ei regarding Alldegallo proved true after Alldegallo found his singing voice. His visions became more vivid, and followers gathered to hear him sing at the altar of Jambennin. His more devout followers would not stand to see their prophet living in a gergo barn. So they pitched a tent for Alldegallo next to the barn, and there Alldegallo gathered with his new found friends. There in Alldegallo’s tent they would gather, and sing about the coming reunion.
Life looked good for Alldegallo. He loved his new home, although there were often Doldorians there who he had not met before. One day he had been on his way to Diallo’s home for a visit when he met some strangers. “Ye there prophet of the new interpretation of dreams that wash upon sands of our memories on the morning shores. We do seek your skills to show therefore this interpretation of dreams to the High Priest of Ei. You must present yourself to the priest without corrupt words to speak before him.”
Alldegallo became surprised at this request. “Wherefore wouldst the Sanctuary that did reject me to the outer darkness now dare to require again my presence? No therefore is the answer I send with thee back to this High Priest of the corrupt words that are Ei.”
Not only did the strangers not accept Alldegallo’s answer, but the way Alldegallo answered them seemed to really piss them off. They beat on Alldegallo’s exoskeleton until they had him on the ground. Then they quickly tied him up and carried him off before any of his followers noticed.
Before Alldegallo knew it he had been blin
dfolded, and drove around in a gergo pulled wagon until eventually he got dumped in a cold dark dungeon. He figured the dungeon had probably been underneath the Sanctuary of Ei based on how long he bounced around blindfolded in the gergo wagon. He looked around his damp cold prison cell where no other prisoners appeared. He saw a single blue metal door in the stone cell. The place reeked of snitchel urine and feces. Snitchel had been a small rodent-like creature on Doldoria. It was one of the animals on the planet that didn’t have an exoskeleton. Snitchels tend to infest cold dark abandoned places just like rodents on Earth.
He watched the cold walls awaiting the dreaded whatever happens next. It did seem like things had been going too well for him, and now it all came down around him. Now Alldegallo had become a prisoner at the hands of enemies.
He had lost all track of time when finally noises started coming from the other side of that door. He then had been handled roughly into restraints that kept his arms behind his back. Then he was led up the stairs and through locked doors to more familiar hallways at the Sanctuary of Ei.
He knew the doorway to the High Priest of the Sanctuary all too well as he had been led through the door into the presence of the priest. They forced him to bow along with the guards that led him there. The guards both said in unison, “Blessed be the name of Ei for ever and ever.”
The High Priest who sat behind his desk petting a foodon, waved the guards into a more relaxed position as he said, “For wisdom and might are His.”
Then the High Priest of the Sanctuary who had cast Alldegallo into exile after desecrating the graves of his dead parents spoke to him. “Greetings outcast student of the disciplines of Ei. Thou hast thus exploited the teachings of this place to attempt to usurp the coming kingdom of Ei with your corrupt cult of other strange gods from the sky.”
Alldegallo raised himself back up to confront this old enemy with what he had been practicing to say since his excommunication. “Thou art the usurper of the other truths of Doldoria. It is thou who doth cower before this truth in fear of mine opened eyes that doth gaze upon deep and secret things revealed in the morning light of Zyroyetz, goddess of dreams, and daughter of Athedonie the ancient Lady of the Lake.”
“Thou shalt not speak with your evil demon names using the power of name in the presence of the priest of Ei who doth crush all demons of the corrupt city under the power of the one mighty god of all Doldoria, Ei.” The High Priest of Ei fumed with offense to Alldegallo’s words.
Alldegallo said what he had wanted to say for so long. “How small art thou priest of Ei that such a young dreamer as I can thus intimidate your weak claim to truth and power. How small art thou that the fading specter of my parents had to thus be erased from the aether. Now my newfound friends of many faiths that doth congregate together in peace doth intimidate thee. My life forfeit will not thus tighten any hold you have to power as your grip is loosened by the very truth you thus usurp. That truth that doth intimidate thee shall prevail with or without my humble songs.”
“Enough of your defiance! Thou art accused of stealing the teachings of this place to defy Ei, and thus thou art worthy of death. Take then, or not this final offer to either repent, and reconcile your larceny of our truth, or else then be slain to face Ei in final judgment thus departed from your flesh and its shell. Accept then my offer that you sing for Ei to thus glorify His perfect name.”
“Where I now fraternize it is said that there is no god of judgment but Ptuammi the god of the dead. Thou hast made thyself vulnerable to mine answer that I thus express. With loathsome refusal do I answer, and I thus excommunicate your false god Ei from mine personal pantheon along with your offer. Oh how these circumstances have thus turned now that I proclaim your god a thief of the 49 true gods of Doldoria who I amongst their followers doth live, and who hath received me with friendship, good will, and mutual peace.”
Alldegallo’s answer had been the wrong one, and immediately they beat him before speaking another word. That made the final dumping back into the dungeon a relief. He sat alone trying to nurse his fractured body. Doldorian blood came out of some of his cracks, as well as one of his mandibles that he feared might fall off. He had been allowed a time to live in order to reconsider his answer. If he didn’t change his answer he would be put to death in the morning. Alldegallo wasn’t going to change his answer. He thought of Ei as the god of destruction of all other gods and the pillager and rapist of all other truths. He would rather die than change his answer. Alldegallo prepared to become a martyr for his cause.
*
Diallo eventually stopped waiting for Alldegallo to arrive and she ate the meal she had prepared for both of them alone. She figured Alldegallo had grown so much in importance recently that he had probably been distracted by other plans. She retreated to her baptismal of the goddess Teyoo, and sent a prayer for Alldegallo in song as the waters drained to the Lake of Athedonie. Later as she lay in bed a storm surge rose up from the lake, and it rained heavily upon the bedroom roof as she tried to sleep.
Then the rain seemed to patter faster and faster like torrents of water were beginning to be dumped right upon her roof. Suddenly a light that had turned on in the room opened her eyes. Then she beheld the luminescent presence of the goddess Teyoo before her for the very first time in her life. She fell prostrate on the floor by her bed before the goddess whose Doldorian exoskeleton had been adorned with long drapes of dress, the trappings of a goddess. The goddess’s mandibles were also adorned with jewels and mandible rings that advertised one who possesses much wealth.
“Fear not Diallo. Tis I, thy goddess to decree that you take up haste with the seizing now of your destiny.”
Diallo had really never seen her goddess before, and she listened to what the goddess had to say until the vision finally faded. She found herself shocked to realize that she had to adjust to believing in her goddess without the usually necessary dosage of faith since now her goddess had really been there. After the goddess Teyoo finished speaking and faded away, Diallo rose up and took up haste to seize her destiny.
* * *
Captain Mynervood, Lockfreedow, and Adma spent a quiet night on the planet Caleb while Prospero remained awake brooding restlessly about the plans he had for the planet. Above the planet there were robots restlessly assembling a phantom matter bomb to launch at the innermost planet in the Yat star system named Curirem. Those robots lined up outside The Beyonder in orbit where they waited to unload the rare elements in the cargo bay of the spaceship.
Prospero needed extra heavy elements that were created in preliminary experiments with phantom matter singularities. Those experiments with phantom matter singularities, which may have been what created the universe according to some theories, had got Prospero appointed to this duty on Caleb. He impatiently waited for the unloading of those highly evolved elements from The Beyonder where they still remained. Tyallor had been the one who had insisted on a delay to re-adjust virtual particle fields on the ship. That had been required because of the unusually high weight of that cargo.
Prospero planned to launch a phantom matter bomb on the planet Curirem to transform part of that planet temporarily into a phantom matter singularity that would devour its own explosion along with some elements of the planet. Then the singularity would expand these elements back out into this universe as higher evolved elements. Unlike a regular black hole singularity that has incredible gravity, a singularity of phantom matter has weakly interactive gravity that mostly just consumes more phantom matter, which is transformed into real matter.
He intended to orbit the star Yat with this phantom matter singularity, which would feed on this star’s own surrounding phantom matter scaffolding. The unusual thing about the star Yat had been that it resided in an unusually dense field of phantom matter. The Yat system had been rich in phantom matter for some unknown reason that had been related to the original formation of this local cluster of 15 closely packed stars. Prospero calculated that he could use weakly interactive prop
erties of the singularity to propel it away from the planet Curirem into its own orbit. Prospero theorized that this would cause the star to emit higher temperatures through the diminished weakly interactive properties of phantom matter gravity, because over time the singularity would reduce the accumulated phantom matter surrounding the star. After a hundred or so Earth years of this, according to Prospero’s calculations, the star would then warm up the planet Caleb to support Nephrican life.
Randa had figured out how to get out of her room, which she had been confined to, and she became determined to see her imprisoned boyfriend Ferdinand. They were all locked in the lower level in the same prison that held Ferdinand before. Randa began to override the lock codes with a toy that Beatariel had once made for her to open locked station doors.
The lock resisted with unexpected defiance. “I am sorry Randa, but I am instructed to forbid you access to those prisoners.” The voice of Beatariel addressed her from a speaker on the wall.
“You me Ferdinand see must let. Beatariel please! You this wrong your programming you to this do tells even though is wrong must know.”
“It is foolish to let you in there Randa. They would kidnap you to negotiate their freedom with threats to your life. That is what my programming tells me.”
Begalius had now been finally free to travel in and out of its physical form, and watched the confrontation between Beatariel and Randa. Randa sadly returned to her room as Begalius discovered the Pripican prisoners that were being held in the lower level prison.
Begalius wasted no time tracking down Beatariel to demand that it release these prisoners. Beatariel had been a less complex quanta-nanocode being compared to Begalius, and Begalius hovered above tiny Beatariel in a threatening pose. The complexity of Begalius approached the size of a paramecium as it intimidated Beatariel, the simpler quanta-nanocode being. “My loyalties to the Pripican Empire cannot allow you to hold my Empire comrades in that room downstairs Beatariel.”