The Sin of Moloch

by Andrew Gordinier

  John didn’t know what to say, so he remained silent.

  “You think I am a fanatic that I would let children burn and suffer. I think the same as many others, perhaps with good cause. The human race is not exactly brimming with kindness or tolerance. You can’t force people to stop killing each other over petty differences, you can’t show them the error of their ways. Sometimes, you have to take a hard position and kill. Even a slaughterhouse has a purpose. To an animal, it is terror, but to the masses that it feeds, it is salvation. You claim to build a house intent on peace, yet your house clearly risks a war of the likes not seen since the Golden Age. You always have to pay the price, John. No one escapes that, especially not mages.”

  “Haven’t we already paid the price? Mages killing each other. Every day people still are seen as pawns and peasants in our power plays. We keep paying this price and get nothing for it. If I must bleed, I want it to be for the reason that I believe in it, not some pointless challenge to keep or gain territories.”

  “I respect your idealism. Hell, you don’t have a bad goal, I just don’t think people will ever change. I also knew you wouldn’t change, wouldn’t live a quiet life. That eventually you would do something, or get tangled with something that would conflict with this group.”

  “You just said-“

  “I know what I said, and it hasn’t changed. I don’t have to like it.” Augustus gave the lizard a slow turn over the fire. “After you left the party, people felt insulted. Sherry didn’t so much defend you, as explain why you were upset. You made an impression on her. After that the party broke up, since then people have been quietly discontent. Don’t get full of yourself and think you caused this, they have been unhappy for a long time.”

  “You’re losing control over them.”

  “I think it would be better to say they have lost faith in our purpose. I know that several of them are breaking the rules, putting down roots, or contacting their families. There have always been a few, but never this many. I think that this all used to be easier, that people used to be able to accept a thousand miles of distance. When those miles vanish to technology like webcams and cell phones, well… It gets to be harder to give up.”

  “Perhaps it’s time for everyone to change. Evolve or die.”

  “Perhaps.” Augustus was silent for a moment. “Please do not follow me, or trace this thread, I won’t be gone long.” Then he vanished, teleporting away to some distant place.

  John was careful to tend to the cooking lizard while he waited. He saw no reason to ruin Augie’s meal or let it go to waste. It gave him time to think it through, time to consider the analogy of the slaughterhouse. Whose blood would he spill, and who would be nourished by his death? It was a repulsive way to see the world, and it made John wonder about Augustus. What had happened to him that he had become so cold and withdrawn from the world?

  From the first moment he had seen him sulking at his father's funeral, Augustus had always been a mystery to John. Every time he started to get a grip on the man and understand him, there was something more, something new that made him question things. He supposed that there were some people in the world who just never wanted to be understood, but that seemed alien to John. Almost as foreign as living in an isolated corner of the world as a hermit, giving up virtually every human contact. To see the world as a slaughterhouse from that far and distant campsite seemed like a sad and empty life to John.

  “Here, this one was mine.” Augustus’s voice preceded him slightly, and when he arrived, he was holding out a Primer with a key affixed to it with a wax seal.

  “Your Primer? Why?”

  “I don’t know. I could have given you one of the ones no one has touched for… I don’t know how long. I think there is a change in the wind, John. I don’t think it is what you want, or what any of us wants. When creatures evolve, it is because there is a new threat, a new danger. It’s often the same way with people. We change when it gets too painful not to.”

  John accepted the Primer. “I will bring it back, and I’m going to reconsider giving you mine.”

  “That’s decent, if a bit late.” Augustus noticed that his dinner had been tended to. “Thank you for not ruining my meal, he gave me a merry chase.”

  “No problem. I’ll see you when I get back.” John teleported to New York.

  No one was there. John looked around and wondered what could have happened. He wasn’t gone that long, was he? He checked his cellphone to see several text messages and a voice mail. They were all from Eric, saying, “call me now!” John punched several keys and waited.

  “John?”

  “Yeah, where is everyone?”

  “Long story. You got a gun on you?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Leave it at the hotel. Then teleport to the GPS coordinates I’m sending you. When you arrive put, your hands up and don’t make any sudden moves.”

  “Am I teleporting into a standoff?”

  “No, worse, I can’t talk about it on an open line. Just keep your mouth shut and your hands up.” Eric hung up.

  John dropped his pistol on the bed, thought better of it, and put it in the drawer next to the bible. He supposed there was a commentary there, but it was better than letting housekeeping find it in the morning. His cell phone buzzed, he looked at the message, transferred the coordinates to a google map, and wondered why he was going to Virginia

  “Put your hands up and don’t move! You move you die!” John couldn’t see anything besides the bright light in his face, but the angriest voice he had ever heard was enough to convince him to do as he was told. His eyes adjusted, and he could see figures with rifles at the edge of the light, and hear others moving around to his sides. “I’m asking once, then we shoot, what’s your name?!”

  “John Carter.”

  “Hold still.” Someone walked up, shoved a camera phone in his face, a took a picture. After a few tense moments, the phone rang.

  “Yes, ma’am.” Said the angry man into the phone. There was a brief pause as someone on the other end spoke. “Right away, ma’am.” There was some commotion behind the lights as weapons were lowered, and the spotlights were shut off.

  “You’re to follow me. If you try to do anything other than follow me, we will kill you. Do you understand?” The man with the angry voice was in full military combat gear.

  “Yeah.”

  “Let’s go.” The man gestured to several other soldiers, and they quickly stepped in next to and behind John on all sides. Clearly, they meant what they said.

  They fast marched John towards a doorway, looking around, John saw that he had arrived outside a large hanger or warehouse that was poorly lit. The door opened into a hallway that was well lit, and he took a moment to examine the people who had just taken him prisoner. Their uniforms were black and lacked any kind of insignia or markings. Clearly, they were special ops. Had Eric sold him out? John couldn’t put it together.

  The hallway turned several times, all of the doors were unmarked. John saw no one but his guards and was starting to think that he might be better off to make a move now while they were escorting him. He might not get a chance later. As they approached a set of double doors that marked the end of the hallway, John heard Conrad yelling and decided to wait and see. His guards burst through the doors unannounced and marched him directly in front of Agent Harris. She looked at John with a dark expression as the guards presented him to her.

  “This is him, ma’am?”

  “Yeah, that’s him.”

  “Please remember the base is on alert, ma’am. So movement is restricted for everyone.” The soldier turned and left without saluting, which John thought was odd.

  “On alert? Restricted movement, did he mean you too?” John looked around at his surroundings. Racks of equipment and boxes were stacked to the high ceiling creating narrow rows that vanished in shadows. Conrad was arguing animatedly with several men wearing ties, Eric was there as well as Shades.

  “What the ni
ce soldier was doing was reminding me that if any of us go wandering around outside this room, they are authorized to shoot us without question. That includes me.”

  “Great. Next question, why are we here?”

  “To help you.”

  “Yeah, this feels like help.” John started walking towards Conrad and the others, Christine kept pace with him.

  “Conrad called me. He said your dumb self has gotten into trouble and had to go out into space. He said he needed to know how much radiation you would be facing, things like that. I called some people, and we quickly ended up here. I got told to tag along in case any of you miracle workers started showing off.”

  “Plug the leaks with some bullets?”

  “No. These people are familiar with nondisclosure and secrecy acts. I’m here to debrief them as much as they are allowed to be.”

  “Oh.”

  “John!” Conrad held up his hands, and his anger was replaced by a smile. “Your generation watched Star Trek, right?”

  “Yeah-“

  “Then please explain to these engineers that we don’t need them to build-“

  “First things, first!” Said a man with a harsh hair cut and a dark blue tie. “We work in research and development, and I’m not saying that we can’t build what you’re asking for. I’m saying that no one can build what you are asking for!”

  “What are we asking for?” John looked at Conrad, hopefully.

  “Camping gear and a spacesuit. And, perhaps a space gun or two.” Conrad sounded like he was reminding someone what to get at the store.

  “A space suit that can survive in almost any environment… Camping gear, like a tent and water filter, that can function in any environment!” Said the man with the blue tie.

  “I said any reasonable environment. Clarified Conrad while pointing at the man with his cane.

  “There is no reasonable environment that we know of beyond-“

  “Yeah, yeah. We’ve heard that all already. Can we just get on with this?” Shades looked at his watch in an irritated fashion.

  “Very well.” Conrad adjusted his suit. “Special Agent Harris? If you would be so kind as to get the tent we brought with us?”

  “Conrad, do you have any idea how much paperwork you are about to make for me?”

  “I’m very sorry, but this is taking way too long, and we have already lost a lot of time.”

  Christine walked over to a large pallet hefted a small box on to the table. It had a colorful picture of a couple cuddling inside a small tent. John realized that Conrad and Eric had been shopping. Shades opened the box and pulled out the small tent, and started unpacking it with Eric's help.

  “This, gentlemen, is your average overpriced tent. What would it need to be useful on an alien world?” Conrad looked down his nose at the handful of men in front of him.

  “It would need to be airtight, there is no way to alter-“ Conrad put a hand on the tent material, and John saw him change its pattern so the fabric wouldn’t let air escape. The alteration also slightly changed the color and texture of the fabric, it was clear that everyone else in the room saw that too. The man with the blue tie stepped forward and examined the tent.

  “It would also have to protect from radiation.” Mumbled the man.

  “How much radiation?” Asked Shades.

  “Depends-“

  “How bad can it get?” Pressed Shades.

  “On a planet? Really bad.”

  “Just make it as strong as you can. John will have to reinforce it as he goes.” Conrad said as he studied the expression on the man's face.

  “Sure.” Shades moved his hands across the fabric. It’s pattern altered quickly. The material got thicker and more rigid. “It might be easier if we make panels that bend at points so that it can be folded. That way, we wouldn’t have to worry about the poles being strong enough to hold it together.”

  “How did you…? It’s a trick, it has to be! That fabric just changed-“

  “Listen to me, doctor.” Christine stepped forward. “What you have seen is part of a government project. I’m not authorized to give you details. All I can tell you is that these men… Have skills and abilities that are difficult to explain-“

  “That’s not a damn skill or special ability! What he just did violates the laws of physics!” Said one of the men.

  “Shut the hell up!” Shouted Eric. “I have been here for the last hour listening to you egg heads tell us we can’t do things. What you just saw is magic. Reality altering and mind-bending as it may seem, these guys can all bend the world into tight little knots whenever and however they want. That does not mean they know about Mars or surviving in deep space, and we need to go there. We need to go there, and I mean now. So were going to pick your overstuffed brains for what we need so we can get on with it.”

  “But-“ The man with the blue tie looked incredulous.

  “Thanks, Eric. Thanks a lot.” Christine looked like someone had partially deflated her.

  “John?” Eric said sharply.

  “Yeah.”

  “The man looks stressed. Take him someplace warm to relax for a few moments.”

  “You got it.” John walked up to the man with the blue tie and offered to shake his hand. “Have you ever been to Australia?”

  “What? No, I’ve never been there.” He shook John's hand, hesitantly.

  “Now, you have.” John teleported and dragged the man along with him.

  The man with the blue tie quickly became the man with the vomit-covered tie. Once they arrived in the Australian wilderness, the temperature and pressure difference sent the man reeling, with the predictable result of him puking all over the sand. John waited for him to stand up again and tried to conceal that he felt terrible for the guy. John felt it was time to play the big tough mage image for all it was worth.

  “You could have warned me.” Said the man standing up again.

  “You never would have believed me. What’s your name?”

  “Thomas-“

  “I’m John. I think we should ignore last names for the moment. As Agent Harris would say, the less we know, the better.”

  “Right.” Thomas looked around and blinked in the sunlight and the heat. “How long till we can go back? Do you have to rest or recharge?”

  “I’m not a battery. We can go back at any time we want.”

  “Can I take this back with me?” Thomas carefully pulled up a small handful of scrub grass and shook the sandy dirt from the roots.

  “Sure. It’s not like we have to go through customs or anything.” John randomly picked a direction and started strolling with no real intent or destination in mind.

  “I know the less we know, the better, I’m more than used to government jobs. But why are you going into space?” Thomas kept looking around at the horizon as he walked and talked.

  “My girlfriend and another friend of mine have been kidnapped by another mage. If I don’t do what he asks, he’ll kill them.”

  “Why does he want you to go into space though, it seems kind of silly.”

  “Another mage went there after stealing something, I’m being forced to chase him. Leaving the Earth is taboo for mages.”

  “Why?”

  “It’s a long story, but the big points are that the one mage who did it found things he called demons and was driven insane by it. Or, at least seemed insane, I’m not so sure anymore.”

  “How long ago?”

  “Ancient Rome, before Christ.”

  “Wow.” Thomas paused. “And by demons, he meant-“

  “Aliens is pretty much everyone’s guess.” John stopped walking and looked back at Thomas.

  “That is world-altering kind of stuff. Did he talk about-“

  “I don’t know. Most everything about him is lost or confused. We call him Moloch, but there is nothing that says that was his real name.”

  “I have a lot of questions that I know will never get answered.” Thomas looked up at the vast cloudless sky.r />
  “I know the feeling.”

  “How does magic work?”

  “We call it magic for a reason.”

  “Are there limits to what you can do?”

  “Some. I thought you weren’t going to ask questions?”

  “Yeah.” Thomas laughed. “I did say that, didn’t I? We had better get back.” John wordlessly held out his hand. Thomas took it and braced himself for the trip, he handled the return much better than the trip there.

  “Holy sh-“ Their arrival startled several of Thomas’s co-workers.

  “How was Australia, John?” Conrad toyed with the modified tent as he spoke.

  “Boring. I need to go to someplace besides the middle of nowhere.”

  “Thomas! Did you really-“

  “Yeah, I brought back proof.” Thomas handed the scrub he had pulled up to one of his co-workers. “John kind of explained whats going on.”

  “Thanks, Johnny, between you and Eric I have a lifetime of paperwork and explaining to look forward to.” Christine said as she made a mental list of forms to be filled out.

  “You’re welcome.” John smiled.

  “I think I have a better idea of what they need and how we can help,” Thomas said to himself as much as anyone else. “Eddie, get the rebreather rig. Dave? Where is that suit prototype that didn’t work? Christine? We need as many MRE’s as the troops can get together for us. John, how long do you think this will take?”

  “Either a few hours or…” John shrugged. “I have no idea. Teleporting is instantaneous, but I will eventually need to rest.”

  “Do you have to carry everything?” Asked Dave as he pulled out a note pad.

  “It would be best if we kept it as simple as possible, gentlemen.” Said Conrad sternly.

  “Can you guys do a mind-meld kind of thing? It would make this go a lot faster.” Thomas asked quickly with a smile.