The Sin of Moloch

by Andrew Gordinier

  “I don’t get to practice English much, sorry. Please come in, I will help.” Yvonne thanked the bus driver, and he left quickly. Together they carried Radha into a small but clean exam room. It appeared to be well equipped despite their remote location.

  “What happened to her?” Asked the doctor.

  “She was attacked by a jaguar. She was fine for a couple of days, then she started to get a fever and acting crazy.” Explained Yvonne as the doctor examined her wounds.

  “She was lucky, despite the obvious infection, Most of the damage is to muscle, and it will heal. But, this infection is serious.” As he spoke, he opened a small fridge and retrieved several small vials. He quickly had several syringes out and was skillfully drawing up the contents, “Does she have any medical allergies?”

  “I don’t know.” Mumbled Deanna.

  “Well, we are just going to have to take our best chance then. I am going to give her some penicillin. Then we will have to give her antibiotics intravenously. He quickly swabbed Radha’s arm and injected her with the first syringe.

  “You haven’t even asked how we ended up in the jungle, where we come from.” Deanna asked as she watched him work.

  “I don’t have to. It’s no mystery to me that the killer brought you here to die. I’ve just never heard of anyone escaping him.”

  “You know about him?”

  “He owns this town and all the land around it. These people here are all but slaves to him.”

  “You know he’s a mage?” Deanna asked and drew a harsh glance from Yvonne.

  “Mage?” With a confused look, he turned to Yvonne and asked a few questions Deanna didn’t understand Yvonne’s responses, but the doctor laughed. “No, he is a narco, a drug dealer. Just another petty criminal with too much money.”

  Deanna scolded herself, of course, he would either pose as a drug lord or actually be a drug lord on the side. “What a charming human being he is.”

  “I doubt he is human at all, senorita.”

  Chapter 44

  John stood on the moon, looking at the Earth and felt humbled. He had learned so much. Been so far away, and it only added to the gravity of the moment and emotions washing over him. Somewhere on that tiny world, Radha waited for him to rescue her, on that tiny world was everything and everyone he had ever known. Suddenly the desperate struggles for power and money seemed even more foolish than before; they seemed truly counterproductive and greedy. In the light of all that he had learned since becoming a mage, and going out at what was nearly the edge of the universe, he saw the folly of human avarice. Why should people work so hard to prevent others from what brought them joy and peace in life? When faced with the vast expanse of the universe, filled with natural forces that were beyond imagination and their ability to destroy and create, John saw humans as petty creatures.

  He looked down at his feet and knew that his footprints in the lunar dust would last millions of years if undisturbed. Lifetimes without end, but still nothing in a cosmic sense. As powerful a mage as he was, little that he did would change the course of the universe. So he had a choice. He could accept that nothing he did mattered or would ever matter, embrace the despair and nothing that the stars swam in. Or, he could embrace the blazing stars and their fleeting light.

  John pulled out his tablet and took a few pictures of the Earth as it hung just above the Moons horizon. He wanted to share this moment, this feeling and realization of rare and amazing this tiny world were. John thought of the message hidden in the primer that he had found a seeming lifetime ago. “They would bring this world to flames.” He whispered the words, they sounded solemn and ominous.

  John looked at his tablet and saw that it had finally connected to his home network again. He smiled and placed a video call to Conrad while he waited his tablet asked if he wanted to adjust the time and date. John was puzzled by this, but his thoughts were interrupted when Conrad's smiling face appeared on the screen.

  “John, my boy! You’re alive after all.”

  “Yeah, and I found… I know the truth, Conrad. Finley found it, and told me before he died.”

  “You killed him?” Conrad asked softly.

  “No. Finley died of radiation poisoning. He wasn’t careful enough about teleporting.” John felt bad for saying it was Finley’s own fault that he was dead. “Have you found Radha?”

  “No. Eric has some ideas, but we have other issues to deal with as well. Things have gotten worse since the last time we talked, and we have had to make an alternative plan.”

  “I’m not surprised, it’s been almost three weeks. I’m just-“

  “A week and a half.”

  “What?”

  “The last time I talked to you was almost a week and a half, maybe two.” Conrad looked at something off-camera. “Yes, almost two weeks to the day.”

  “That doesn’t make-“ John stopped his mind racing. He had been teleporting over vast distances across who knew how much of the universe. His mind stuck on that word; Distance. “Conrad! When we teleport, we move instantly, right?”

  “To the best of my knowledge, yes.”

  “That violates the speed of light and all kinds of other laws. What if, when we teleport, it moves us backward in time a little bit?” John spoke rapidly and excitedly.

  “Is that possible?”

  “The clock on my tablet keeps trying to update, it says that it is off by a week. We never noticed before because we only ever teleport short distances! Going further, light years, like I’ve been doing, would make the differences huge. Even if I take into account the distortion of the black hole!”

  “John, I don’t see how-“

  “That’s what's wrong with Deanna’s program! She based it off my ideas and rough equations. We never accounted for time.” John laughed almost hysterically.

  “Are you saying you make the program work? John, we need that program.”

  “I can’t make it work, Deanna’s coding was way past me, but I know what it needs.”

  “John, we need that program to work, it might be the solution to all of this. Or, at least part of the solution.”

  “Conrad, there’s more, a lot more.”

  “About the program?”

  “No, about what Finley found. It’s pretty big.”

  “All right. Where are you?”

  “I’m on the Moon.”

  “Come straight to my place. We clearly have a lot to talk about.”

  Chapter 45

  Radha was at last feeling better, well enough to get up and walk around for a while, at least. The small clinic felt cramped and sterile after so many days wandering the jungle, not that she missed the jungle. Having clean clothes and being able to bath again felt like luxuries to her, to say nothing of food and clean water. Then there was the young doctor to be thankful for too, he was polite and gentle whenever he had to clean her wounds, and that made her much more comfortable with him.

  “I should be happy to be alive, and I am, but… Will the scars be bad?” Radha felt disfigured by the wounds, and their location along the top of her chest made her very self-conscious.

  “I’m sorry, but there will be some serious scars there. A skilled plastic surgeon would be able to make them less noticeable, but..” The doctor paused to think for a moment, his English was getting better with practice but was still rusty. “But, because of their depth, there is not much that can be done.”

  “I understand.” Radha said quietly. She watched as he placed fresh gauze over the last wound and tapped it in place.

  “You can get dressed now.” The doctor set about putting away the bandages and scissors.

  Radha gently pulled up the straps on her bra and pulled on her loose-fitting shirt. “While I was in the jungle, and feverish, I hallucinated.”

  “What did you see?”

  “The goddess Kali, in all her forms. She was asking me to dance with her.”

  “I do not know of her. It is not uncommon, though, for people to see religious figure
s or images. You were very dehydrated, and your fever was high. It should not be surprising that you saw things.”

  “I’m not surprised. I just…” Radha still could clearly see the goddess dancing. “Are you religious?”

  “I go to church, my mother is always praying.” The doctor smiled at her in a very disarming way.

  “I never used to think about it, never used to worry. Now, I have to wonder, though.”

  “As I said, it is not uncommon in that state to see things. And, so long as you didn’t see the devil, there is no harm in it. Is there?”

  “I guess.” Radha felt that the doctor had no idea who Kali was, and it wasn’t something she could easily explain. As she got up to leave, she heard a scream outside.

  “Please, it would be best if you did not try to run. It only makes him very angry.” There was a tone of sadness in the doctor's voice. “I’m sorry, but my first obligation is to the people of this village.”

  The screaming continued, Radha heard his words, and on some level understood them. But, her mind was already on Yvonne and Deanna. She ran from the room in a near frantic state.

  “Yvonne! Deanna! Where are you?!” She could hear the fear and panic in her own voice and hated it. “Where are you?!” She called again, more controlled as she rushed into the small town square.

  There was a large military-style jeep idling in the center of the square. The Censor stood in front of it. Deanna was kneeling on the ground in front of him with her hands on her head. He had a small shiny pistol pointed at her head and a cruel smile on his face.

  “Deanna is right here, Radha, so please calm down. As a matter of fact, please join us here.” He motioned with his pistol and pointed to spot on the dusty ground next to Deanna. “Please, while it would amuse me to kill you, it would complicate my plans.”

  Wordlessly Radha walked towards the man who she had no doubt would be her killer. She looked at Deanna and could see the anger and frustration written plainly across her face. Radha felt the same, felt that she had been cheated, after all their suffering and work they had been cheated. She slowly got to her knees next to Deanna, but rather than put her hands on her head and submit, she hugged Deanna as tightly and warmly as she could.

  “We tried.” Deanna whispered and hugged Radha back, starting to sob gently.

  “We did-“

  “Let them go, you fucking soulless monster!” Yvonne’s voice was filled with rage and hatred that was strong enough to strike sparks. She stood in an open doorway with a rifle shouldered and aimed at the creature she hated most in the world.

  “I was wondering where you were, my dear. It upset me when I got home to find that you hadn’t done your chores, and you know how much I despise cooking for myself.” The Censor's voice was smooth and held no tone of malice.

  The only response was a single gunshot ringing out in the humid tropical air. Radha wanted something to happen, expected something to happen. Some part of her wanted to feel a spray of blood from the bullet ripping through the Censor, to see him fall heavily to the dusty ground at her knees. Time did not stop, though, and he did not fall, and Radha knew it was only a darkly pleasant fantasy to wish him dead so easily. She heard him laugh gently, without mirth or real amusement. Radha wondered if anything the man ever felt was real or human.

  “Die!” Yvonne shouted as she fired again and again, to no obvious effect. Once the rifle was empty, she threw it to the ground and yelled incoherent rage at her personal devil. Collapsed to her hands and knees, she weakly clawed at the dust as she spat obscenities between tears.

  “This is all very dramatic, ladies. And, I have questions to ask, such as, was it really necessary to steal every sheet in the house?” The Censor chuckled. “Now, if you please, ladies. Get into the car.”

  “No.” Deanna stood up slowly. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

  “This is getting tiresome. Do I need to pistol-whip you till you get into the car?”

  “I’m not doing anything for you.”

  “You will, all three of you will.” The Censor smiled. “You will eventually do exactly as I ask of you, because if you don’t… These threats are getting tiresome, to be honest. They just sound like lines from a 3rd rate villain in some dreadful North American movie. So, no more games. Do as I say, now, like good little women.”

  Radha stood up next to Deanna and smiled at the Censor. It was the same smile she used on John when she was trying to get her way, the one that he called an unfair advantage as he laughed. Then she spit in the Censors face.

  The few villagers daring to watch the events unfold in the square were shocked and briefly inspired by the courage these women displayed. They were left terrified, though when all four of them suddenly vanished, leaving the jeep to idle in the town square. No one dared touch it or go near it, so it sat there idling till the engine died.

  Chapter 46

  John sipped his coffee and couldn’t help but feel that there was nothing like coming home. Eric had taken one look at him and insisted that he take a shower and put on some clean clothes. Saying, “Man, you really stink. Dead homeless guy kind of stink.” John didn’t argue with him, a very long hot shower and clean clothes later, he felt so much better.

  “So, still no word about Radha?” John asked while looking into his cup of coffee.

  “No, but no one has seen the Censor either.” Eric commented.

  “I don’t doubt that the current situation is keeping him and the others busy.” Conrad set his cup of tea on the kitchen table.

  “So, where is the conclave set to happen?” John asked.

  “Rome, a regent has been kind enough to make the arrangements at a very old hotel. The perfect place for history to be made, for the better or worse.”

  “When?”

  “Tonight.” Eric said flatly.

  “We don’t have much time, do we?”

  “Technically, we are out of time.” Conrad commented.

  “So, what's the plan?”

  “We were going to give a demo of Deanna’s program to prove that we have access to knowledge and patterns they don’t.”

  “You were going to bluff?” To John, it sounded out of character for Conrad to not have a better plan.

  “I was going to buy us time, at least till we could make our case to some of the other weaker regents in Europe. The real trick to this is getting enough numbers on our side to avoid an open conflict.”

  “Hearts and minds.” Eric said with a sharp smile.

  “As it turns out, we were all wrong. Finley had the right idea for the wrong reason.” John still found it hard to feel bad for Finley but found it equally hard to hate him.

  “So, now that we have a way to make the program work. And, we have proof Finley sent you home with. How do we make them listen?”

  “We put a gun to their heads and tell them to shut up and sit down.” Eric said with a wicked smile. “There’s no way to make a person think, but we can make them pay attention.”

  Chapter 47

  “I brought you a peace offering.” John said with a smile. Augie accepted the small paper bag with a smile.

  “Cheeseburgers?”

  “Double cheeseburgers, with fries. From Byron's, the one on Lawrence in Chicago.” John smiled.

  “I don’t know why, but their chips taste better. So what do you want?”

  “You’re gonna have to talk to the others about this, and we’re short on time.” John took a deep breath. “I need you and the others to come out of hiding.”

  Augie laughed as he sat down on a rock. “That won’t happen.”

  “It will because things are about to change.”

  “You and your friends are about to usher in the very war that we have expected for years.”

  “We are trying to avoid it and bring about peace, a lasting and unifying peace.”

  “You are an idealist, John. Nothing is going to change.”

  “Everything is about to change. I was developing a program to find
new patterns, I know how to make it work now.” John saw Augie’s eyebrows come up a notch.

  “I’m also about to let the rest of the world in on the truth.”

  “And what truth is that, John?” Said Augie with a smirk.

  “Where life on Earth came from, what Moloch found, and how it relates to where magic comes from.”

  “John, you never cease to surprise me.”

  “Augie, you and this group aren’t wrong, but you sure as hell aren’t right. The truth is that we need you, we need everyone. It’s no good unless everyone is involved, it won’t be a real peace otherwise.”

  “Us suddenly coming out of the woodwork is going to do nothing but make people paranoid. As it is, your little rebellion has brought out people who were hiding, mages that no one knew about. When things are over, they are going to wish that they could back into hiding, Censors and Regents are very unforgiving. Your truths are unimportant.”

  “It’s not my truth, as it turns out it’s our truths.”

  “So there are aliens out there who want to kill us all. So life here was seeded, either on purpose or accident, it won’t change anything.” Augie unwrapped the first burger and smiled. “Thank you for not getting lettuce and tomatoes.”

  “It’s more than that. Much more than that, the pattern of violence, the death…”

  “The cruelty and greed of humanity are a constant that we can’t escape. At best, we can learn to control it and slowly try to deal with our own failings.”

  “Are you even listening to yourself? You talk about trying to control our greed and failings, but here you are sitting in the middle of nowhere, hoarding Primers. You’re sitting on some of the most complete records and extensive libraries of magic left. And you won’t share. You kill anyone who won’t join your little club of do-nothings. You’re gonna wait here till the world burns, and you’re the only ones left! Why? Because you’re more enlightened? Get fucked, Augie!”

  “What do you want me to say, John?” Augie said in an even tone between bites of his cheeseburger.