The Sin of Moloch

by Andrew Gordinier

  “I broke up with one of my X’s because he wanted to tie me up, and I wouldn’t let him. He would love this.” Deanna sat with her feet hanging over the edge and tried not to remember the feeling of falling or the sight of sharp rocks at the bottom.

  “Guys are just too damn kinky, and outright sick sometimes.” Yvonne braced herself as best as she could and pulled the rope tight between her and Deanna. Radha stepped next to Yvonne and took a firm grip on the linen.

  “No comment, Radha? I’ve always pegged John as a kinky creeper.” Deanna suddenly had a new understanding of gallows humor.

  “I’m a virgin.” Radha said softly.

  “What?” Deanna’s eyes widened.

  “No sex before marriage, I told John if he didn’t like it, then I wasn’t worth it.”

  “Wow.” Yvonne let go of the rope and stepped back to take a long look at Radha. “So he’s out to rescue a damsel in distress?”

  “I’m here because of him, if I loved someone else, this never would have happened. I might have to slap him when I see him again. He promised me I was safe.” Radha’s tone left no doubt that she was telling the truth.

  “Yvonne, we better be careful.” Deanna said.

  “Why’s that?” Yvonne took a firm hold of the rope again.

  “She’s a virgin, and John is her true love. We may as well be wearing red shirts.” Deanna smiled.

  “I don’t get it.”

  “Star Trek? The red shirts die first?” Deanna’s smile faded a notch.

  “Never saw it.”

  “Witty banter successfully murdered! Lower away. Slow and steady.” Deanna slowly moved over the edge and lowered herself till she was hanging by her fingertips. She searched for a toehold, but there was none to be found.

  “let go, we’ve got you!” Called Radha over the edge.

  Deanna let go and promptly clutched the makeshift rope. She was terrified, and letting her hands hang free was too much confirmation that there was nothing to save her. They lowered her slowly, bringing the rope up had been fast, but this took forever to Deanna. She tried to focus on the dull gray of the rock as it slowly slide past her face, but she kept thinking of the blur that it had been as she fell, and it unnerved her. She thought about closing her eyes, but she knew that she wouldn’t want to open them again. She cursed Yvonne for messing up her witty banter about storyline formulas, she had wanted a good laugh before dying. Now she could hardly breathe with the rope crushing the breath out of her, never mind laugh. Then her descent stopped.

  “You’re as far down as we can get you, are you ready?” Yvonne sounded distant, and her voice competed with the noise of the waterfall.

  “Yeah…” Deanna gasped and tried again. “Yeah!”

  “Are you all right?” Radha shouted over the edge.

  “The rope is crushing me!” She had to catch her breath before saying more. “Start swinging me, this hurts!”

  “Here we go!” Yvonne called, and Deanna could feel the rope starting to sway from side to side.

  To make it go faster and catch her breath, Deanna braced herself with the rope and hoisted her feet to the rock face and tried walking back and forth in time to the swaying motion that was slowly building. The waterfall had worried her, but it tumbled far enough away from the rock face that she slipped behind it and back out the other side, slightly damper but no worse for wear. The effort and the pressure of the rope left her breathless, and Deanna was starting to feel light-headed, but the side of the cliff face was getting closer and closer. She reached out her hand to grab a handhold, but her fingers only brushed exposed roots.

  “Almost there!”

  The next pass was closer, but she timed her reach for the edge wrong. Frustrated, Deanna was starting to see spots, she knew she wouldn’t last much longer. On the next pass, she grabbed a handful of roots and clung there despite the feeling that she was slipping. Gasping and despart, she clawed her way up through the vegetation and over the edge, promptly collapsing on the other side. The side of the mountain was mostly open fields on sloops too steep and rocky for trees, but not rough grass and small bushes. Climbing down was going to be hard work, but nothing compared to hanging from the rope.

  Undoing the knot around her waist, Deanna gasped for air and felt her stomach muscles move more naturally. Holding the makeshift rope, she called out. “I’ve made it! We should be able to climb down, no problem.” She climbed higher to secure it and bring the others and the supplies out.

  Chapter 22

  “Good evening, and thank you for joining us.” The newscaster didn’t smile, but he had an air of positivity about him that Eric distrusted intensely. “Our lead story tonight is the continuing economic tensions between the United States and the European Union. Documents continue to be leaked online. Each detailing an intensive program of industrial espionage by the CIA that now seems to have been supported by several major US-based corporations. Today details about information regarding German companies and their CEOs were revealed to be allegedly gathered by CIA agents and sources. In these details was intensely private information about families and private lives, in one case involving photos clearly taken from the cellphones of family members. A spokesman for the German government has called this an insult to the dignity of-“

  Eric thumbed the remote, and the channel changed.

  “-a bomb exploded outside the American embassy killing three wounding dozens.” The woman looked at the camera with blank eyes as she read the teleprompter. Behind her played edited video of rubble stained with blood. “While no one has taken credit for the attack, regional separatists are suspected because of a recent protest against the US support of the current government. In domestic-“

  Again Eric thumbed the remote, and the channel flickered.

  “-getting sick of the American attitude of superiority, and their assumption that they are the leaders of the free world.” The man’s heavy accent confirmed that Eric had found the BBC.

  “Let’s not forget that America faced off against a soviet threat since the second world war. Without them, we would have stood alone against a vastly superior force.” The woman spoke sharply, but her tone was calm and confidant.

  “Did they? Did they really help us? Or did they use us, like they do everyone else? I would even go so far as to say that they antagonized the Russians and on several occasions came close to provoking a third world war.” The second man seated on the far right of the table was older than the other two hosts and had a tiny flag pinned to his lapel.

  “And, might I remind you that we stood alone against a vastly superior force once before. It didn’t work out well for the Nazis, why would the communists have been any diff-“

  Once more, Eric pushed buttons on the remote, landing on a channel he hated with a passion.

  “Welcome back!” The blond woman was pretty and vibrant enough to be distracting from the stock numbers crawling along the bottom of the screen. Figures that were clearly showing a rapid decline for the day. “Our guest today is retired general Sherman. Good Morning general, and welcome to the show.”

  “Good morning, Ann. It’s a pleasure to be here.” The man looked every bit the aged and battle-tested veteran trapped in a suit.

  “So tell me, general, what do you think of the situation in the world these days?”

  “To be honest, Ann, it sickens me. Our brave soldiers are all over the world, protecting the rights of people in other countries. Keeping the peace, making sure there are basics like food and water, ensuring the rule of law, and getting killed for their efforts. Is the life of someone's child worth feeding people who hate us and our freedoms?”

  “What are you suggesting we do, change our policies?”

  “They hate us, they want us to leave, and we are spending millions of tax dollars on this. End it, bring our troops home. Let the world remember what it’s like when the US. isn’t there to protect them or save them.”

  “Are you suggesting that we end missions that are strictl
y humanitarian in nature?”

  “The military is not a humanitarian instrument. It is the spear of American politics and might. Soldiers have no place digging wells and planting crops, that is what other organizations are for.”

  “Isn’t that view contrary to modern thinking, winning hearts, and minds?”

  “Winning hearts and minds?” The general laughed loudly. “Where has that ever happened? Where in the world do you see it happening now? That thinking is flawed and the world today is a result of it. You wanna get results, send in ground troops with a real mission, not bags of rice and flour.”

  “General, what is your view of the current administrations' decision to-“ Eric shut off the TV and considered throwing the remote across the room.

  “It would seem, this is not a problem that will be solved quietly among mages.” Conrad said quietly from his favorite chair.

  “No. Mages don’t have a corner on cruelty or stupidity.” Eric toyed with the remote and still had not abandon the idea of throwing it.

  “Is something bothering you, old friend?”

  “Yes.” Eric said softly. “You don’t have a way out of this one.”

  “I’m too old to run. This is an all or nothing game. If you have doubts-“

  “I won't leave, old man. Not while you’re alive, and I believe the same things you do. But…”

  “Say it.”

  “This is big. Very big. This could easily turn into a conflict where we all lose. John may come home to a dead world, like that one he sent those pictures of. It may not be mages that do it, they could push people so close to the edge that some windbag psycho patriot does it. Then no one could stop it, no one.”

  “Do you remember when we first met?”

  “Oh yeah. Worst hit of my life.”

  “It wasn’t your fault, they hired you to die as a distraction. It was to your credit that you were smart enough to survive.”

  “And to your credit for not cooking me with that lightning bolt, as you should have.”

  “I didn’t think you were a threat after all your first shot missed most of my vital organs. Most.” Conrad chuckled.

  “What's the point, old man?”

  “There are layers of deceptions and strategies. At some point, we are all pawns and at the mercy of what happens as things unfold.”

  “No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy.”

  “More than that. We survived that day because we realized the real danger was the people there to finish us both off to clean up the mess. I’ve lost count of how many times we’ve saved each other's lives since then.”

  “I could say the same.” Eric examined Conrad's face and felt respect for the old mage and his wisdom.

  “The point is, the strongest allegiances are born in painful times. We have to have faith that things will work out, right to the last moment when they don’t.”

  “I’ve never been good at faith. I haven’t seen it stop a bullet yet.”

  “Then trust me a bit longer, old friend.”

  “I’ll follow you to hell and back, old man. Hell and back.” Eric turned the TV back on and settled on a channel running old Three Stooges shorts. At least there he found the stupidity amusing.

  Chapter 23

  “You’re doing it wrong!” Radha couldn’t hold back her frustration anymore.

  “How would you know?” Deanna stood up and threw the improvised fire bow to the ground.

  “John has been watching these stupid survival shows for months now. So I’ve been forced to watch a few here and there too.” Radha sat on the ground and picked up the fire bow and tried to emulate the awkward-looking position she had seen. Holding the wood with her feet, the fire bow in one hand, and the improvised spindle in the other.

  “Oh, that’s right! You two have to do something together since you aren’t screwing.” Deanna dusted herself off.

  “Will you two please shut up!” Yvonne all but shouted, and it seemed to echo through the deep shadows gathering in the jungle around them. “It’s getting dark, and I don’t care who starts the damn fire so long as one of you does. And, I could really care less which one of you is, or is not, getting laid. Just shut up and start the damn fire!”

  “I’m not screwing him.” Deanna leaned against a tree trunk and did her best to look cool and aloof. “He’s a jerk, and more than a little stupid at times. Besides, he couldn’t tell the truth if his life depended on it.”

  “Deanna, knock it off.” Yvonne said softly as she watched Radha work furiously.

  “I’m just saying-“

  “Holy crap!” Yvonne quickly knelt by Radha’s feet and blew on a tiny but bright spark that smoldered on the wood. “Quick, we need small leaves! Tinder, we need tinder.”

  Deanna quickly joined in to help to put tinder on the fragile flame. Soon it was a small smoking fire, and it rapidly became their only source of light in the dark jungle. It banished their arguments and worked the age-old magic of dancing flames on the human mind. Each woman sat and stared into the fire, lost in their own thoughts.

  “So, what do we do now?” Radha looked at Deanna and Yvonne, watching the shadows play across their faces and set their eyes ablaze.

  “We take turns sitting watch.” Deanna said into the fire. “Who knows what kinda nasty is lurking out there, and we don’t wanna wake up with Solomon standing over us.”

  “Speaking of nasty.” Yvonne pushed a giant insect away with a stick as she spoke. “I’m not sure we wanna sleep on the ground here. I have no idea what this bug is, but it's ugly.”

  “Could we build a hammock out of what's left of the sheets and things?” Radha wondered aloud.

  “Maybe between these two trees?” Yvonne pointed to a couple near their fire.

  By the light of the fire, the two women made several attempts to tie sheets to branches and trunks. Eventually settling on a simple design of knots and loops that looked as if it should hold. To be on the safe side, they used four sets of sheets held together by twine at the ends. They didn’t feel like falling to the ground in the middle of the night. Cautiously, Yvonne slid into the middle and slowly trusted her weight to the fabric. “It seems sturdy, do we wanna try for two of us?”

  “I’ll take first watch, so you go ahead, Radha.” Deanna had no intention of falling through the flimsy-looking fabric, better to let others test it.

  Radha steadied the hammock and slowly eased herself in and laid down, so she was at the opposite end of the hammock. “So far, so good.”

  “Who wants the second watch?” Deanna didn’t want to get stuck staying awake all night.

  “I’ll do it, I’m used to getting up in the middle of the night.” Yvonne said after yawning.

  “I guess that means I’ll take third.” Radha said confidently as if she looked forward to it.

  “Get some sleep, I’ll tend the fire.” Deanna didn’t intend to sound protective, but there was something in those words that spoke of vigilance and care. She sat on a log next to the fire, her shotgun across her lap. She hoped she looked protective and confident to her friends.

  Christine knocked on the unmarked door and waited.

  “Come in!”

  She opened the door and stepped in. Her unnamed master’s desk was crowded with printed reports and folders, many bearing red ink declaring they were classified. There was also a large specially designed paper shredder next to the desk, one of the rare ones that only existed at the very top, it shredded then burned. Christine was unsure how it worked without generating smoke, but there were always more secrets to keeping secrets.

  “Please, sit down.” The large man closed the file he had been reading, it was from the science team that had been studying the teleportation used by John and other mages.

  “Thank you, sir.”

  “So, as you have guessed by now, this office has had dealings with Conrad before.”

  “I had assumed as much before he made a comment.”

  “Dangerous but accurate. When C
onrad and Owen went rouge back in their younger days, this office offered them a generous deal for their help. They refused, but to the other mages, it looked bad, and a Censor was sent to resolve the issue. Of the ten or so mages that sided with Conrad, only he and Owen survived. We aren’t sure why they were welcomed back into mage society, but I’m sure it will come out eventually.” To Christine, his deep voice seemed natural to telling tales of intrigue and betrayal.

  “Is that why we accepted their terms so quickly this time?”

  “No.” The man smiled broadly. “We accepted their terms because it would let us get a better idea of what’s going on here. Sure the information they’ve given us has been invaluable and saved lives. I’m not in the business of saving lives. I’m in the business of controlling threats, and sometimes doing so in unpleasant ways.”

  “I understand.”

  “No, you don’t. It means that it is your job to control those threats as well and eliminating them. Aggressively.” The man paused and locked eyes with Christine. “So tell me why you let that brat off the planet without the kit.”

  “How, exactly, was I supposed to force him to take it? He’s a mage.”

  “By any means necessary. Threaten the lives of the people around him if you have to, but if I tell you he needs to take it with him, then you cram it down his scrawny throat if you have too.”

  “Our only way to threaten him is currently in possession of a Censor.”

  “Yes, her name is Radha.” Her unnamed boss lifted a thin folder from the bottom of a pile. “According to our profilers, John has a few screws loose where she is concerned. They warn that his actions could become violent, extreme, and unpredictable if she is harmed. My least favorite adjectives for someone capable of breaking the laws of physics.” He handed her the file.

  “I could have told you the same thing, sir. As a matter of fact, I included a similar statement in my reports on the events in Chicago before he became a Regent.” Christine looked at the cover to the report and saw that it was stamped with a security rating higher than the one she possessed. “Sir?”