Divine Deception: The Will Traveller Chronicals

by Robert James

Like his male colleagues, he wore a much decorated military officer’s uniform. The uniforms seemed to indicate the person’s rank or position in this ‘the most multi-cultural of all the New World’s cities’ according to the Captain. When it was just ten metres over the ground, Zoran came out onto the T.T.V’s landing transom and announced “Lord Robert of the Divine House of Red” In a surprisingly loud, very formal voice. He then fixed the uncertain group with a suggestive stare, cleared his throat quite obviously and bowed, ever so slightly, from the waist. The Sentoria executives took the hint and all of them bowed deeply, before the main man removed his plumed hat and stepped forward. Before the poor man could say a word, Zoran demanded his name.

  “Who seeks the privilege of speaking with Lord Robert?” Zoran asked authoritatively.

  “I am General Marsoni, Governor of the State of Sentoria my Lord” He replied, his voice trying to find an unfamiliar tone of deference. I remained motionless and silent, though still hovering a metre or so above the ground, so that everyone had to look up at me. My intuition told me that, around here, first impressions didn’t just count; they pretty much called the rest of the day’s play. And I sense that we had to play this one right.

  “This is my executive officer Admiral Davis” General Marsoni introduced as the tall fiftyish man in a much medalled uniform on his right bowed again.

  “This is Commander Richards, Chief of Operations, the younger uniformed man on his left bowed. Then Marsoni straightened and looked directly at me.

  “We were not told of your coming Lord Robert” He was still having trouble working on that submissive tone” You may be sure that we would have organised a suitable welcome celebration for such an auspicious occasion had we known” He added, smiling.

  “Perhaps there will be time for celebration later” I spoke with disdain “Right now I want answers” I told him “You may prepare appropriate chambers for me and organise a full meeting of your governmental and commercial leaders in an hour” I instructed Governor General Marsoni, who did not look too happy about being told what to do and was about to complain.

  After looking up at me floating in the air, backed up by a craft that could easily level his shiny new city, he thought the better of resisting. I hovered silently, taking a good look, for the first time, at both the administration people and the rapidly growing crowd. Marsoni and his two lieutenant’s barked orders left and right, mostly to young Asian looking women. I couldn’t help noticing that, while the general population seemed Asian or Polynesian, the leaders, to a man, were all white. The few women in the Governor’s welcoming committee were obviously not in any positions of real authority. Interestingly, the men’s secretaries were actually Eurasian, not full blooded Orientals or islanders, like most of the women in the crowd.

  A huge, open topped, old style limousine drove across the rapidly filling plaza, and stopped just below me. General Marsoni walked over to it and opened the rear door looking up none too confidently

  “May I join you on the short journey to your chambers?” He asked and I nodded. Our rapidly assembled but still impressively large motorcade headed out of the plaza and onto one of Sentoria’s main streets. Although there was sporadic clapping and an occasional yelled ‘Welcome to Sentoria Lord Robert’, the decidedly tepid welcome changed my plans for a fixed smile and the ‘royal wave’. Instead, I asked the State leader “General Marsoni, your people are the least enthusiastic about my visit that I’ve yet seen, why is that?” I kept my voice flat.

  “Please do not be offended Lord Robert” He sounded genuine “It’s been nigh on three decades since our last visit from the Supreme House, people aren’t sure how to behave” He told me honestly.

  “So there has been no preparation for my predicted visit?” I asked bluntly.

  “I was unaware of any such prophesy Lord Robert” He really did seem genuinely surprised.

  “Perhaps then, there is no great love for the Supreme House in Sentoria” I remarked dryly “Which is not hard to understand, given the circumstances of my younger brothers’ last visit” I added.

  “Lord Edmond saved this State from ruination my Lord” The General solemnly assured me “However that so many had to die so terribly was a tragic necessity” He affirmed.

  Sentoria certainly was a multi-cultural state, but the majority of the people I saw on the street were a polyglot of Eastern, Mid-Eastern and Polynesian races. There were also a few black folks on the streets but I saw no whites. We were soon out of the down town area and it was not long before we pulled into Sentoria’s official guesthouse. While similar in layout to the ones in Centropolis and Alpine Grand, it was far more opulent. The driveway took us through lovingly cared for tropical gardens, to a low bungalow style beach side mansion. My chambers were what had to be the ultimate bachelor’s pad. It had a huge Jacuzzi overlooking the ocean, all marble and glass. There were soft white leather lounge chairs everywhere and the biggest circular bed I’ve ever seen.

  It was like one very big luxurious room, because the bathroom walls were all glass. No sooner had Marsoni and I entered the place, than a discreet phone rang. The General picked it up, said “Yes” Then he handed the feather light phone to me. It was Zoran.

  “Lord Robert, they are asking if the meeting can be deferred for three hours, is that O.K.?” He asked. I looked around at my comfortable circumstances, the first I’d had for some time.

  “That’s alright with me my friend, I’m sure I’ll be fine here” I answered. When I told General Marsoni he seemed delighted.

  “That will give us time to introduce you to some of the many pleasures Sentoria is so famous for Lord Robert” He said, grinning like a Cheshire cat. He spoke on the phone for a few minutes, while I admired the pristine sand dunes and bright blue rolling sea.

  Within what seemed like minutes, the first of those famous Sentoria pleasures arrived. They had been there with the greeting party, but in their severely cut military tunics and past the knee dresses, I’d only noticed that they were Eurasian. Now, the two ministerial secretaries, if that’s what they really were, wore Polynesian style sarongs and bore large bowls of many coloured fruit. They were totally unconcerned that when they put their bowls on the table, in front of me, their sarongs fell wide open to reveal perfect golden and brown breasts. Moments later, two sari clad girls in their early twenties, their dark skin and aquiline noses indicating that they were of Indian decent, danced into the room and began a most erotic routine to the soft music.

  After allowing himself the pleasure of watching the fully dressed, yet so erotic, routine for a moment, General Marsoni rose, returned his glass to the marble bar and came to stand beside me.

  “Why not sit back and enjoy Lord Robert” He invited loud enough for the girls to hear him “All that you see here is for your pleasure Sire” The General added, then he left, after assuring me he’d be back for me in time for the meeting in three hours. I sat back as the two Eurasian girls came over and sat on both sides of me, their much revealed perfect golden bodies were a strangely exotic counter point to the still sari clad girls and their blatantly sexual dance. Whether from the wine or the two warm bodies putting fruit into my mouth, as they pressed their firmness on me from both sides, I began to feel uncomfortably hot.

  When I tried to get up and take off my thick outer kaftan the two Asian girls gently pushed me back, laughing, then they pulled away from me. The two Indian girls came over and, taking one hand each, they pulled me up off the lounge I’d been sharing with the other two. Deftly, they removed both my outer kaftan and my inner clothes, leaving me naked but for a pair of red boxer-type shorts. Then they continued their dance, with me sandwiched in the middle! Within seconds, I knew that their saris where gossamer thin and that they wore nothing else. The two utterly gorgeous creatures, eyes fixed on me, but saying nothing, pressed every part of their lissom bodies against me, often dropping low to let their lips and breasts brush over my increasingly bulging shorts.

  Just when my heavy bre
athing told them I could stand little more, they stopped, slowly reaching down to lift their flimsy saris over their heads. As they did, the two Eurasian girls stood up, slipped out of their sarongs and joined the three of us completely naked. Almost ceremonially, the four of them slowly pulled my shorts to the floor and, once I stepped out of them, I entered a true pleasure zone! Nothing I had ever experienced could match the next couple of hours, as we romped from bed to spa and back again. Those two executive secretaries had quite a few non clerical skills. All in all, it made for an excellent way to start out on what may well turn out to be a potentially hazardous mission. They certainly proved that Sentoria’s fame was fully justified.

  “All rise for Lord Robert of the Divine House of Red” Zoran’s voice boomed into the high ceilinged auditorium. The hundred or so leaders of this State, all dressed in crisp and clearly ranked army and navy uniforms, stood and applauded with considerably more enthusiasm than on my arrival. As guided by Admiral Richards and three of his men Zoran and I walked out onto the podium and took our seats. Mine, in the centre, with a barrage of microphones pointed at it, was a sumptuous, high backed affair, while Zoran’s, though also most comfortable, was to my right and clearly intended to show his subordinate role. On my left was a Lieutenant Prasad, the State’s best computer programmer, according to the Admiral, he sat at a very impressive looking computerised audio visual control unit.

  Above my audience was a large flat screen and I could see two similar, but smaller, screens in front of me, facing towards my audience. Everything I’d seen so far told me this was a very tech smart State. Like everything in Sentoria, the auditorium was laid out military style, with the Leader and his two most senior aides in the middle, right in front of me, and, as I looked out over the rows behind them, I noticed that the uniforms grew steadily less impressive, the further back I looked. With so many microphones in front of me, I felt that it would be appropriate to use a conversational level voice, to lessen the formality of this most significant meeting.

  “Good afternoon gentlemen” I began, for there were no women present “There are many reasons for this visit, and very good reasons for not forewarning you” I told them smiling. “However Governor General Marsoni has ensured that I was most pleasantly occupied, while this assemblage was being organised” I added, smiling at the beaming General. Immediately, the tension went out of the place, men exchange knowing looks with each other then returned their attention to me. “Before I begin, General Marsoni has invited me to view the answers to many questions I’ve already asked, in a short film about Sentoria”. As could be expected, the production opened with smart military precision, matched by martial music. It was designed to show this hundred year old State as having but a twenty five year history!

  All the reconstruction was referred to simply as development - it was as though nothing had existed there before it. The State was a ‘martial democracy’ that had become 'the hub of the New World’s transportation network’, all of which was quite accurate. The portrayal of how that had come to be, however, was a fanciful concoction about how brilliantly led military action had wrested this bastion of peace and prosperity from the savage hordes who once roamed freely, on the very ground the city was built on today. Their technology was indeed advanced and the brave men who once guarded the State’s borders had now been completely replaced by remotely controlled cyborgs. The robotic sentries constantly roamed the three kilometre wide defoliated defence belt, guided by heat seeker technology.

  That ensured no living creature could enter Sentoria from the wild Northern regions. When the program ended, the applause was generous, interspersed with “Good work Prasad”. These people were genuinely proud of what they had felt they had collectively accomplished. I found it interesting that the Supreme House was only briefly mentioned, when crediting Lady Ursula for having greatly assisted in the State’s decision making and development. There was not a word about the Port Authority. It seems that it had evolved into the government. So the people who now ran Sentoria, are the very same people who called on Lady Ursula to send my two younger brothers here.

  They may very well have assisted in, though most were too young to have commanded, the massacre of almost a third of the State’s population. Like many governments before them, Sentoria’s leaders had chosen to ‘bury’ the real past, rather than deal with it. A choice that invariably fosters resentment and can lead to full on rebellion, by those who have not prospered from the new order. Unemployment was at zero, because the State had created a technological manufacturing base in the hinterlands. Its biggest problem was the strict limits on child birth. Although Marsoni and his people had done an excellent job of creating a new, crime free, extremely well-to-do society, one which greatly benefited the New World, I sensed that all was not quite as it seems. Perhaps it was the ever present, well armed guards. Were they military dressing? Or was there an ‘enemy’ within, whom I’d not been told of? I had intended to just sit there and keep it chatty, however, when I spoke, my voice was so loud that the sound controllers went into panic and soon gave up, switching off their equipment.

  “People of Sentoria” It was that voice again, the ride had begun! “You are to be commended for your labours” I began “Clearly this is a major jewel in the New World’s crown” Though alarmed by my strangely transmitted voice, that comment clearly pleased them. “Aware of true history as I am” I continued “I can see why this State is not engulfed in affection for the Supreme House” I raised my hands to silence their protests “But to pretend something did not happen when it did, is to ignore future reactions to that act” I warned.

  The whole audience became visibly restless but none were more uncomfortable than Marsoni, Davis and Richards, who tried, but found that they could not rise to interrupt me.

  “No one here is too young to know that almost a million Sentorians, whose actions were making it impossible for Sentoria to continue as a New World State, were killed by Lord Elton and Lord Edmond, on the orders of Lady Ursula” My voice boomed at them. The air was thick with tension “Perhaps that was the only way to do what had to be accomplished, perhaps not. After three decades, it is of no value to sit in judgement” My voice decreed. The three in front were certainly glad to hear that

  “What must now be attended to, are the long festering wounds from that terrible act” I continued “There cannot be a single soul in Sentoria who did not lose loved ones, many would have lost hard worked for livelihoods” I paused for a moment and saw several heads nod in agreement, more the further back I looked “While authoritarianism is vital for stability and growth, there has to be a time for restitution” I told the Sentoria chieftains. This time Marsoni wanted to rise and speak and I let him.

  “It is not for me to ever question the infallibility of those of Divine birth Lord Robert” He began, and though trying hard to hide it, there was a hint of belligerence in his voice “But when you speak of restitution my Lord, may we know more detail about that which you wish?” He asked still standing, his manner confrontational. “Sire we have re-built that which was destroyed, we have ensured full and well payed for employment for the families of those displaced….”

  “You mean murdered General Marsoni” I boomed “Sentoria has to enter the realm of truth. An inquiry panel must be set up to examine all claims and, I must warn you, much of the State’s wealth will pass to the people upon whose blood that wealth was obtained.” It took a lot of power to hold still the many who wanted to voice their dissent, yet more than half present did not seek to, they seemed to agree. I let Marsoni speak again.

  “Lord Robert, surely it is wrong to ask people to pay for the sins of their Fathers?”

  “I am not General Marsoni” My voice held menace as I glared at the State leader “I am telling the State to pay for its own sins” My voice boomed at him “I hope you are not foolish enough to believe the Supreme House is only useful to do your will General” I bellowed at General Marsoni. He went to protest but I waved him down an
d continued “I’m not saying that is so General, only that I hope it is not. Because I am here to see true justice for all Sentorians, which is the will of the vast majority of this State” My overwhelming voice and inarguable logic were starting to sway many of the younger audience sitting at the rear half of the auditorium. Even some who were closer had lost their initial negative response to my words.

  “To accomplish order out of chaos, to create an affluent society, these are great achievements.” I told the rapidly relaxing leaders, “To achieve these things in a socially just society is the true mark of a great Nation” I told them, holding out the prize of independent Nationhood, if they complied. Sentoria would be a most useful ally in the battle to end the religiously based world dictatorship on this planet. Its leading edge technology and abundant transportation would be most valuable when the time came. Right now, I had to reinforce and even enhance their belief in the Divine deception, in order to eventually destroy it. I decided to put on a little show for these sophisticated but not yet truly confident people. Creating a golden aura around myself, I got up and lifted gently to about two meters, so those in front had to force their heads back to see me. There were a few gasps. I lifted Zoran’s chair a little way off the floor, so that he wouldn’t be affected, then I shook the whole building violently. Men went sprawling in all directions, some tried to regain their feet and run, I pushed them back down. After a full minute of being trapped in there, many were becoming downright hysterical, so I stopped and glared angrily at them.