When the Prophet of Adam finally stood, he wore the outward form of Yousef Al-Hamadi, Eridani, Caliphate Minister-at-Large in Charge of External Relations. On the floor, at his feet, was a naked corpse that bore the form of Ms. Columbia.
The new Yousef looked down at the body and shook his head. “You should have accepted.” He sighed and picked up the corpse, which was fairly light in the weak gravity.
He needed to return the body to the cell and arrange for its disposal. The death at Yousef’s hands would go unquestioned by the men running this facility. The news of it would never reach beyond the borders of Yousef’s private little prison.
Within an hour, the corpse was replaced in the interrogation room, and all signs of tampering had been flushed from the systems. Another hour, and the person who had been Mr. Antonio, and Ms. Columbia, left the small moon Khamsin 235 in a human body indistinguishable from the late Yousef Al-Hamadi. He left in Yousef’s ship and set course for Khamsin and the capital of the Caliphate itself.
There was much work left to do in preparation for Adam’s arrival.
APPENDIX
Alphabetical Listing of Sources
Note: Dates are Terrestrial standard. Where the year is debatable due to interstellar travel, the Earth equivalent is used with an asterisk. Incomplete or uncertain biographical information is indicated by a question mark.
Aeschylus (525 Bce-456 Bce) Greek playwright.
Amiel, Henri Frédéric (1821-1881) Swiss philosopher, poet, and critic.
Bacon, Francis (1561-1626) English philosopher, statesman, and essayist.
Bakunin, Mikhail A. (1814-1876), Russian political philosopher.
Balzac, Honoré de (1799-1850) French novelist and playwright.
Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama (563 Bce-483 Bce) Indian spiritual leader.
Burke, Edmund (1729-1797) British statesman and philosopher.
Celine, Robert (1923-1996) American lawyer and anarchist.
Charles the Bold (1433-1477) duke of Burgundy.
Cheviot, Jean Honoré (2065-2128) United Nations secretary general.
Clausewitz, Karl von (1780-1831) Prussian military philosopher.
Darwin, Charles (1809-1882) English naturalist and author.
Diderot, Denis (1713-1784) French philosopher.
Erasmus, Desiderius (1465-1536) Dutch humanist and theologian.
Frederick II, “the Great” (1712-1786) Prussian monarch.
Galiani, August Benito (2019-*2105) European spaceship commander.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von (1749-1832) German playwright.
Harper, Sylvia (2008-2081) American civil rights activist and president.
Hazlitt, William (1778-1830) English essayist.
Holmes, Oliver Wendell Jr. (1841-1935) American jurist.
Horace (65 Bce-8 Bce) Greek poet.
Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784) English lexicographer and essayist.
Joubert, Joseph (1754-1824) French essayist.
Kalecsky, Boris (2103-2200) Terran Council president.
La Rochefoucauld, François de (1613-1680) French author.
Lincoln, Abraham (1809-1865) American president.
Marx, Karl (1818-1883) German political philosopher.
Mill, John Stuart (1806-1873) British philosopher, economist, and civil servant.
Moltke, Helmuth von (1800-1891) Prussian general.
Nietzsche, Friedrich (1844-1900) German philosopher.
Olmanov, Dimitri (2190-2350) Chairman of the Terran Executive Command.
Osler, Sir William (1849-1919) Canadian physician.
Plato (ca. 427 Bce-ca. 347 Bce) Greek philosopher.
Rajasthan, Datia (?-2042), American civil rights activist and political leader.
Shane, Marbury (2044-*2074) Occisian colonist and soldier.
Socrates (470 Bce-390 Bce) Greek philosopher.
Still, John (1543-1608) English bishop.
Tacitus, Cornelius (ca. 55-120), Roman historian.
Tocqueville, Alexis de (1805-1859) French writer and statesman.
Virgil (70 Bce-19 Bce) Roman poet.
Voltaire (1694-1778) French writer.
Whitman, Walt (1819-1892) American poet, essayist, and journalist.
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