Prospero had also been able to use the device to contact Beatariel. “Beatariel! The merchant ship now arrived has, and it time to these Pripicans eliminate is.”
Beatariel had already returned to its project a hundred miles away when Prospero contacted it at that moment. Beatariel had still been bound to Prospero’s control and only feigned loyalty to Ceres and Gonzal. It found itself however, beginning to have its own plans and ideas after the encounter with the fellow quanta-nanocode being as well as getting to know the Calebites. It computed that it should create a large enough structure on Caleb that would remain at sub-zero temperatures regardless how hot the rest of the planet got. This structure, like the biblical ark of Noah, would become the refuge for the Calebite beings after it also fulfilled its programming to raise the temperature on Caleb enough for warm-blooded organic life. The Calebites, as well as Beatariel, wrestled with the paradox of Beatariel being the destroyer and savior of the their species. Beatariel replied to its master Prospero after zipping back to the facility. “Yes master. It appears that Ceres is still in the Observation Lab in contact with the Calebites outside.”
Beatariel returned to assist Prospero, and Prospero deleted Gonzal's programming, which got his robots once again to resume phantom matter bomb construction above the planet. As Prospero did that over Gonzal’s bloody corpse, the view port to the outside in the same room allowed the Calebite obelisk outside to see the whole thing. They immediately came up with a message to communicate to Ceres a warning for her of what happened.
Ceres and Prospero
Ceres suddenly noticed another message from the Calebites as she still compiled her response to their last message. The equipment started automatically translating the Calebite warning to Ceres. The message had been short and to the point. The message basically said that Prospero just murdered Gonzal by chopping him up with a heat weapon. The Calebites told her that Gonzal’s cells had stopped their breath.
Ceres suddenly started to cry, but instead just let out a long sigh, and pulled out her own laser pistol as she trotted out of the room. She soon found the dead body of Gonzal still on the floor of the Communication room. Her face then became frozen in fright until a tear from one of her horrified eyes animated her furry cheek.
She tried to contact Beatariel. “Beatariel, where is Prospero now? … Beatariel! Beatariel!” The lack of response made it all too clear that she had truly been on her own. The hunt had been on. She felt her way slowly down the hall with laser pistol ready. Ceres waited in stealthy silence for some noise in some direction that would tell her which way to go to find the one she hunted.
She thought she did hear something that led her to an exit portal for the outside. She walked in to find Prospero in an environment suit about to exit for some reason she had not been sure about. Prospero turned to face the laser pistol in Ceres’ hand about to shoot him to death. “You the wrong weapon to this fight brought,” responded Prospero.
Ceres had nothing to say, but just proceeded to pull the trigger on the laser pistol. Nothing happened. She kept pressing the trigger, but nothing. Beatariel had secretly flown into her laser pistol and disabled it. She looked up at Prospero who laughed. “Beatariel now! The portal outside open!”
Ceres turned to exit as the door behind her slammed shut while Beatariel replied, “Yes master.” She only felt the worse kind of helplessness as she realized what would happen next. She started to try to tell Beatariel not to do this, but the words never left her mouth. The portal outside suddenly opened and the temperature suddenly dropped over 200 degrees. There had been a sudden explosion of blinding fog as elements in the air struggled to decide on what form to take with most deciding on frozen solid.
Prospero could only feel the body of Ceres in the frozen fog as he dragged her frozen solid corpse out the door to leave her in the frozen climate outside. She became stiff as a board and frozen solid when Prospero closed the door behind him to return victoriously to the research facility, finally rid of his unpleasant Pripican guests.
“Beatariel we to for our merchant ship guests prepare have. I the bodies of these dead Pripicans of disposed want.”
“Yes master.”
“My phantom matter bomb experiment as planned will proceed.”
Prospero made contact again with the merchant ship that still approached the planet Caleb after replenishing its hydrogen supply at an outer gas giant.
“Me when your orbit established is notify. I a ground crew to as my guests for the night dine land will have.”
The merchant ship replied. “I that Prospero will do. A party of five expect.”
*
Later after the body of Gonzal had been disposed of and all his blood cleaned up, Beatariel walked outside in yet another robot body to get rid of the frozen carcass of Ceres. It paced around for quite some time trying to find her in the area where Prospero left her. Eventually Beatariel gave up unable to explain why Ceres had been nowhere to be found. It calculated over a 70% probability that the obelisk of Calebites also gone provided a clue perhaps to the explanation.
* * *
Simeonalli took a bath in the same baptismal that his now dead wife used to use for praying to her goddess Teyoo. The religion of Teyoo had done wonders for Doldorian hygiene since the dawn of civilization. He bathed in order to get ready for the trial of the Sanctuary’s High Priest who now had been accused of kidnapping as well as trying to kill his assistant gergo trainer, religious prophet, and friend Alldegallo. Alldegallo did still work for Simeonalli even though he had been regarded as a prophet of the new sky gods by many loyal followers. In fact Simeonalli also scrubbed today’s dirt off in hopes that he would see Diallo, Alldegallo’s aunt, at the trial so he could ask her to a place of eating for an ongoing courtship he wanted to begin with her. As the waters drained Simeonalli, in accordance with the religion of Teyoo, musically whispered a quiet prayer to his dead wife’s deity in what definitely sounded like a tone-deaf song.
Trials on Doldoria were held at sundown as it is written of the goddess of Justice Aternos as saying, “Make not too rash a trial of the accused for with the application of the period of time the smoke of emotional fires doth clear to reveal an objective perspective upon the remaining facts. With this formula thus applied the trial shalt be conducted at sundown when the fires of the day sun cool, and all matters find a settlement for a night. Then at sundown the judge of the trial shall thus arrive at the hour of justice.”
The judge awaited the arrival of the accused and accusers. Alldegallo showed up there being represented by his followers who had put together undeniable evidence and testimony that proved the High Priest guilty of kidnapping and attempted murder. Alldegallo sat in the courtroom while feeling his mandible, which didn’t fall off after all, but had still been really sore whenever he tried moving it.
Most of the public appeared there on behalf of representing Alldegallo, to include his aunt Diallo and employer Simeonalli who were sitting right next to each other in the courtroom. The High Priest had not been there, and had waived his right to confront his accuser by just having his lawyers represent him. For the most part, this alien trial had been much like modern Earth.
The judge even pounded on a bell with a small gavel to silence the room. Everybody on queue became silent as the ringing of the bell faded. “Herest now in silence, and thus this trial shalt ensue. Hearest thou representatives of the High Priest of the Sanctuary of Ei that there are thus many things that doth witness against thee? For surely a conviction thereof would thus bring upon the client of thy representation much wrath of my final judgment for the sake of justice.”
The Lawyers of the High Priest stood up to address the judge. Followers of Alldegallo confidently stood by with a line-up of witnesses to testify against the High Priest.
One of the High Priest lawyers addressed the judge. “Ye thou who doth sitteth in the seat bearing the authority of judgment, we who doth stand in the stead of the High Priest of Ei declare that for envy t
hey have thus delivered this accusation. We request of these accusations that they be dropped based upon the verdict that the said accuser, Alldegallo is in reality a product of the Sanctuary of Ei for being thus brought forth there from an orphaned baby. Any exertions of punishment upon the accused is but within the jurisdictions of the High Priest’s own authority over personal property as all pupils of the ways of Ei thus are decreed. We verily thus add that this accuser hath perverted the blessings of the High Priest’s teachings into another false religion of new gods produced by one’s own self-serving imagination.”
Alldegallo watched his own lawyers starting to whisper amongst themselves with noticeable panic. Then one stood up to present a rebuttal. “Ye thou who doth sit in the seat of judgment’s authority we doth plead in defense that Alldegallo, the victim in this circumstance, had been made anathema to the Sanctuary of Ei and its teachings. He was thus made to exile by the High Priest himself along with the grief of the desecration of his dead parent’s graves also by the hand of the High Priest himself. Alldegallo is thus free of any claim of property by the High Priest. For in defense of this we doth cite Aternos herself in this matter. That in matters wherein one is of the age of maturity wherein with the assertion of one’s independence to be claimed by no other as property or in debt, then they are their own property and responsibility. This then quoted as it is written in the proverbs of Aternos of the fifth chapter of Inalienable Rights and Responsibilities.”
The judge remained indifferent to the followers of Alldegallo, and looked them over like they were homeless vagrants invading his court for warmth. In fact the High Priest actually paid off the judge generously before the formality of this trial even began. “My judgment doth favor the defense of these lawyers for the priest of the blessed one god Ei. Tis in my judgment that the purpose of Ei is to cleanse our modern age of much incorrectness by contrary religions, but under one understanding we thus homogenize a purity to truth. Tis within the rights and responsibilities of the High Priest of such a monumental endeavor as that of Ei the one true god that he must be free to correct students of his mentoring that have gone astray such as the accuser Alldegallo has done. I thus rule that Alldegallo be returned to the High Priest of Ei for this correction, even if it doth require an ending of his life in the body as the High Priest doth determine.” Then the bell of judgment rang.
Even if the judge had said anything further, nobody would have heard it. Then a sudden commotion happened that seemed to be triggered when Diallo suddenly started sobbing in tears while releasing an audible sigh as if painfully struck at the moment of the verdict. Then followers of Alldegallo started to get up and move about in a frenzy of confusion. It cascaded into a commotion where Alldegallo suddenly found himself scooped out of his chair, and out of the courtroom.
The next thing Alldegallo knew he had been escorted by his own followers to a gergo cart that, as it turned out, actually had been here waiting as a contingency in case the unthinkable happened, which as it turns out did happen.
Alldegallo would now be on the run although it would be the High Priest’s own problem to go out and reclaim his property. His old friend Vamadan also sat in the gergo cart along with him. “Better then would it have been to not thus bring such a judgment upon oneself even by a subpoena of one’s own making.”
“No, I thus approved this course of action and shalt not lay blame on anyone other than myself.”
Vamadan pitied his friend Alldegallo at that moment. “For so is thy theme of woe, but be merry for you have cause of joy that we have thus escaped.”
Alldegallo really had not been at all worried, and the destination had already been obvious to the driver of the gergo cart. “Tis time to move beyond Trolluer where we live under the warrant of this judgment to thus only be spurned and ostracized until the decree of a judge of Aternos is fulfilled. We shall journey to the mountaintop to thus take our stand, and await the reunion of my prophesy to thus learn if this be for truth or mere fantasy.”
Vamadan had been a follower with more faith than the prophet. “Surely the truth of this reunion remaineth even if this stand appears as mere fantasy. Even the followers of Incaphiorio to this day still await the return of their gods from the sky.”
Alldegallo and Vamadan continued on the gergo cart out of Trolluer, both contemplating the bleak future in silence.
Incaphiorio had been one of the more obscure of the 49 gods of Doldoria. He had been one of a handful of sky gods with a non-Doldorian appearance, similar to the humanoid-like demi-gods of the Mejoldor faith. Incaphiorio had been a lizard like god who came from the sky. Also similar to Mejoldor demi-gods, they say beings like Incaphiorio were still hidden amongst the Doldorian population as serpents disguised as Doldorians, and they were called ‘those that watch.’
There were actually lots of followers of Alldegallo that were already waiting at the mountain. Even Diallo and Simeonalli had been told to meet there, and were waiting to make sure Alldegallo made it out of town alright.
Simeonalli and Diallo approached Alldegallo as he got out of the gergo cart to begin the climb up the mountainside. Alldegallo said. “This shall be where my prophesy cometh to be realized, or else I doth bear the folly.”
Simeonalli had a more constructive idea. “Do not thus wait only in vain in thy conviction young prophet. The willing followers allow thee authority to bless endeavors of matrimony. Therefore wait not in vain for I doth beseech thee to bless my matrimony to your mother’s sister Diallo for I do declare that my love for her is worthy of this.”
Alldegallo only wanted to say yes, but couldn’t say anything for the longest time. Immediately following the mood left by the unfortunate verdict, the meeting at the mountaintop then shifted from sad to festive after Alldegallo finally found the words that agreed to marry Simeonalli to Diallo. The wedding would, of course, have to be above them on the sacred mountaintop.
Not all of the Doldorians that gathered there at the sacred mountain were really followers of Alldegallo. A couple of those gathered amongst them were actually spies from the Sanctuary that eventually slipped away from the wedding being planned to report to their master, the High Priest. They appeared before the High Priest of the Sanctuary of Ei to tell him of Alldegallo’s intention to exercise the authority of marriage.
The High Priest became noticeably irritated by the news. “I have heard enough of this knowledge that you most learnedly have delivered to me. Now be gone from my presence as I brood upon it.”
The two spies left the office of the High Priest to return to their lives as common students at the Sanctuary. One of the spies actually happened to be a double agent, and he went to the cafeteria to get some food. Just like all the other students he sat at a table in the cafeteria across from one other student. As they ate they, in total silence, discussed the coming wedding by Alldegallo in a secret language of signs made by their mandibles as they ate. They were part of a secret resistance to the High Priest’s tyranny at the Sanctuary, and they tiptoed their way around the High Priest’s obsessive surveillance with this secret sign language with their mandibles. They both knew the High Priest must not succeed in his plans against their old friend Alldegallo.
Meanwhile the High Priest behind his desk closed his eyes to enter a trance-like state of mind. In silence he prayed to his god Ei about Alldegallo and what to do about the coming marriage that will solidify his claim of being a prophet for another new religion. After a while the High Priest opened his totally black Doldorian eyes again to stare in silence at the empty room in front of him. He waited as if expecting an answer to the prayer he had just offered.
That had been the moment that one of the satellites above the planet activated a quanta-nanocode holographic projector, which then beamed a message into the room of the High Priest of the Sanctuary of Ei.
Back in the room of the High Priest there suddenly appeared another being in that room along with the High Priest. The other being looked Nephrican, and appeared like a giant squ
id with layers of skin-cloth clothing. The hologram dwarfed the High Priest with a menacing single eye looking right at him. The Nephrican hologram in fact looked exactly like Admiral Mull, and spoke in the peculiar way that the god Ei spoke. “I you High Priest of Ei hear. For the kingdom all rival gods to Ei must be destroyed coming. Of thy students an army to destroy up raise. Not my will of this deny do.”
* * *
Admiral Mull eventually arrived at the planet Caleb near the star Yat in his own ship The Drameda. He happened to have all the same phantom matter singularity cargo as did The Beyonder since it had not been expected to make it there. Admiral Mull planned to use the implications of the phantom matter singularity to extort the Eagolim for control of the galactic empire. This had been the secret agenda of the Council of 32.
Outside the ship in orbit about the planet Caleb there were several robots swarming the depressurized cargo hold to unload the equipment. Some of the extra equipment would be moved to the surface of the planet where Beatariel calculated ways to use it for its own construction project.
Among the equipment being unloaded were fifteen virtual particle field generator satellites that would be used to contain the phantom matter singularity, and move it away from the orbit of Curirem to be used to feed on phantom matter surrounding the star Yat.
Admiral Mull descended to the planet Caleb in a virtual particle craft with a couple of his crewmembers. He had also decided to bring along the abandoned quanta-nanocode being equipment that he had brought along so he could show it to Prospero. After landing outside the facility they crossed the sub-zero landing pad on tentacle in environment suits to enter the research facility not far away.
Prospero waited to greet the Admiral and his crew as they entered the facility. He immediately approached Admiral Mull to share in a mysterious looking handshake with an exchange of intense glances between the two Nephrican’s single eyes. Both Admiral Mull and Prospero were members of the secret branch of the Agents of Ea known as the Council of 32, which sought after domination of the young budding galactic empire. Prospero had actually just been a probationary neophyte who still waited to be initiated in the inner circle.