The Sin of Moloch

by Andrew Gordinier

  Conrad stood up and walked to the podium, he carried his cane with him but made a point not to lean on it too heavily. The theater was silent, and everyone was aware of what was at risk unless Conrad and his rebels surrendered there would be war. Conrad adjusted the microphone and looked out over the gathered crowd. The theater was not large, and there were still numerous empty seats. It was all too easy to envision the ghosts of murdered mages filling those seats, and how quickly the dead would outnumber the living. Conrad decided not to go with the speech he had prepared.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, my fellow mages. Our skill and knowledge make the very nature of reality our plaything. For as long as we have recorded history, there have been men and women to whom there were no limits, no boundaries. The only competition was each other; the only threat has been each other. And, it was because of the seemingly limitless power we wield that we were seen by our fellow man as gods. Our golden age, where we ruled the world with vanity and cruelty. An age brought to an end by a man who dared leave the planet, Moloch. What he found convinced him that magic, the alteration, and manipulation of patterns, would bring terror to our world. It HAS brought terror to our world, though not like Moloch might have predicted. We, every one of us, have played a role in that terror. We have killed and destroyed countless lives. Not just among each other, but innocent people unable to defend themselves against us in any way. The result is easy to see and painfully clear in this room. Of the billions of lives on this planet, there are not enough of us to fill the seats in this theater. We make up a tiny fractional portion of the human species, yet we are about to plunge the whole of the human race into war to preserve our rights to greed and bloodshed. If the gravity of the situation were not so great, it would be laughable. The question is, do we continue to govern ourselves in a violent feudal way, or do we change to a democracy that removes violence as a way to solve conflicts. That question confronts our greatest sin.” Conrad gave Eric the signal to text John.

  “Greed.” Conrad continued confidently. “Our greed and the greed of others. To truly understand how foolish this is, to put it all in perspective, we need answers and honesty. I would call as a witness, and to provide evidence, John Carter.” There was a murmur among some of the gathered mages who only knew his reputation, those who knew him smiled quietly. Having arrived discretely in the back of the room, John walked to the front towards the podium. John and Conrad shook hands at the podium.

  “Good evening. I have a reputation that is difficult to ignore, and a history that is unorthodox even among mages. And, as many of you have heard, I went off-world chasing after Finley.”

  While the audience gasped and there were low murmurs of anger, one of the Censors smiled. He quietly and quickly sent his own text message. Then he waited with a wry smile on his face.

  “Ladies and gentlemen. I am here to present you with facts. You can question this information, and you can doubt it. But, I challenge you to prove it wrong. This information may be hard to believe, and at first, seem irrelevant-“ Solomon suddenly teleported in, just across the stage from John. Radha and Deanna were with him, looking slightly confused and terrified, but alive.

  “I’m sorry, did I interrupt you as you were to confessing to going off-world?” Solomon stepped towards John, turning his back on Deanna and Radha. Several people in the audience stood up and advanced on the stage, John had no doubt they were censors. He could probably kill Solomon in a fair fight, but he counted four others. That would be a problem. Turning to face Solomon, John saw Radha snarl and move as though to punch him in the back, but there was a flash of silver in her hand. She moved quickly, and the blow took Solomon totally off guard. Before he could react, a two-foot blade burst through his chest. He stumbled, Radha grabbed his shoulder and stabbed him over and over again. Each time, the small blade of the knife was planted firmly in his back, a larger blade burst forth in a spray of blood. Radha let go of his shoulder, and Solomon fell to the floor, a pool of blood quickly forming around him. Radha dropped the knife and spit on Solomon's dying body.

  The shock of her attack wore off, and John saw the other censors forming patterns or drawing concealed weapons. He rushed across the stage and threw a hurried shield into place, he knew it wouldn’t hold, but he just needed a moment. He tackled Radha and pulled her to the ground, hoping to protect her from the wrath of the angry censors. He heard Deanna scream, the loud crash of weapons fire mixed with thunder, but nothing happened. Looking up, John could see that the shield not only held but was stronger than he had ever thought possible. He saw it was not by chance or skill of his own, other mages had reinforced it. John stood up and helped Radha to her feet.

  “Are we late, or appropriately cliché?” Asked Augie as he leaned against the podium, a wicked smile on his face.

  Looking out over the audience, John could see the other members of Augie’s group standing along the sides and in the aisles of the theater. They and numerous other mages had reinforced the shield saving them from the censors.

  “John, I can see the shield.” Radha whispered as she stepped towards it.

  “What?” John was still ready to fight, but no one was moving.

  “I can see it too. And it’s amazing.” Said Deanna.

  Looking at the shield, John could see that no one was supporting it anymore, it should have faded. It took John a moment to understand, but Eric spoke first.

  “You dumb shits!” Eric moved closer to the shield but kept a small handgun aimed at the censors. “You greedy, selfish, super-powered idiots! Do you get it now? Do you see?” Eric punched the shield for emphasis, and there was a faint deep ringing noise. “Do you finally see it? All the fighting and greed did what for you? It bred hatred and revenge as you killed each other and fought. All the while, censors kept the game going, killing those who organized or tried to change things. They kept the secrets, kept the knowledge, and kept you from seeing this!”

  There were murmurs in the crowd, people were looking at each other, asking questions. The censors didn’t wait, didn’t argue, they teleported away. Many in the audience took that as proof of guilt and shouted angrily for violent vengeance. As the yelling and shouting continued, people were discreetly taking the chance to leave.

  “Stop this!” Conrad shouted as he rushed back to the microphone. “Stop this at once! Before we turn this into a hunt, before we start a blood bath, there are things you should know. Let us finish what we came here to say.”

  “You’ve proven the way we have lived is a lie, that the censors are corrupt. What more is there?” Asked a voice in the crowd.

  “Much more, please let us show you. John, please tell them.” Conrad stepped to the side and gestured for John to take the podium.

  “Deanna?” John whispered quickly.

  “What?”

  “Eric has a copy of your program with him. I figured out why it’s crashing. We didn’t factor in time! Can you patch up something, anything to show them?”

  “Buy me as much time as you can, I just need a laptop.”

  “Eric will know where to find or steal one, I’m sure.” John whispered. Radha…?”

  “I’m good, do what you have to do.” Radha’s voice was quiet and flat.

  John rushed to the podium. “Ladies and gentlemen. What I am about to tell you came at a high price to learn, Finley gave his life to learn it. He worked his whole life to find all the clues, decode all the writings, and chase the evidence. He died not long ago, as a matter of fact, right after recording the message you are about to see. The message that I was sent by the censors to keep a secret. I know that all this is taboo, but I was forced by a Censor who had kidnapped my girlfriend. I was told that if I didn’t return with proof of Finley’s death, she would be murdered. I have brought back proof of much more.” John gave Eric a wave, the lights dimmed, and the screen behind him came to life with the haggard and wounded visage of Finley.

  Chapter 53

  “Is it recording?” Asked Finley.

 
; “Yes…” John said, off-screen.

  “Excellent.” Finley cleared his throat. “A long time ago, I developed a theory about the origins of magic. It was wildly impossible and ridiculous, despite the clues I had found. As I searched for archaeological evidence to disprove it, I found scant clues that it was actually very accurate. Clues that also indicated people had been aware of it to some degree or another in the past. I have detailed the nature of that evidence in my journals, and John has kindly agreed to bring them back to Earth for me. That evidence took me first to Mars and a ruined complex. I suspect it was a secret lair or sanctuary to an ancient mage predating our golden era by several thousand years. There I found proof that sent me out into the universe, much further than I planned to go, or expected to. I found proof, not only of alien life but that the vast majority of alien life is hostile. This fits the legend of Moloch and what he feared, but I found so much more. It is here on this lifeless rogue planet near the outer edge of the universe that I found what I was looking for. There are ruins here, the whole planet is covered in them, and at points around the planet, there are hidden chambers. Just like this one. John, would you show the wall, please?” The camera slowly panned across the vast wall covered with its diamond writing. “This written language matches exactly the language used in the Primers, a surprising fact at first, but once you see the whole story… It only makes sense. I was more than right, life and magic did not start on Earth. It started here, on this now-dead world.” Finley paused and coughed violently when he was done flecks of blood were visible on his hands and lips.

  “Life was created here.” Finley continued after catching his breath. “By creatures that existed outside the laws of this universe. They were scientists and explorers seeking ways to understand the mysteries of a universe different than their own. Since their machines and bodies could not function here, they created bodies to inhabit. How they did, it is unclear. They gave these bodies the ability to alter the very nature of reality, to interact with it on a level that gave them amazing power. According to the texts, this power interacts directly with the fabric of reality. As someone who is not schooled in physics, I do not understand it, but they keep mentioning nine-dimensional space.”

  “Inhabiting these bodies and using the ability we know as magic, they explored our universe. When they found that there was a vast diversity of intelligent life here, something changed. They went from explorers to destroyers, and they actively sought to exterminate all intelligent life. To their amazement, this life fought back, with primitive weapons at first, but with quickly improving skill and technology. It is unclear why, but for whatever reason, these ‘explorers’ did not understand the concept of evolution, and this is critical in what happened next. As this war was waged, more and more of them came to this universe to fight and needed bodies. So, they made more, by allowing the bodies to breed themselves. The war dragged on for thousands of years and was approaching a stalemate. When the bodies started to show signs of their own intelligence and awareness, where before they had been mindless and empty. There was an attempt to wipe them out, but it failed. There were soon two groups using magic to try and destroy each other. Those who were supposed to be enslaved and the masters.” Finley coughed weekly.

  “It seems to be a truth of warfare to never fight a two-front war. The ‘explorers’ lost ground quickly after the start of the revolution and soon were wiped out. Leaving the vast armadas of the sentient species of the universe facing intelligent free-willed beings who could alter reality. That was in no way discernable from the ones they had been fighting before. Despite pleas for peace, the slaughter never slowed down. Eventually, there was only a handful of the ‘aware,’ as they called themselves, left alive on this distant world. They created these chambers to record their story and their plan. They were going to flee across the universe. Seed life where they could, hoping the indigenous species of the universe might miss one of them, that one of their seeded planets might survive. The Earth is clearly one of those planets, and we are their descendants, our inability to alter our own patterns is proof of that. It was a fail-safe built-in by their masters for reasons the Aware didn’t understand. There are shattered worlds and ruined civilizations littering the universe, and if that weren’t proof enough, John tells me an alien fleet has tracked us here to this world. They are attempting to breach it’s ancient defenses as we speak.” Finley paused and looked somber.

  “We are hated and hunted. We are all, each and every one of us descended from a servitor or slave species. There may be others like us out in the universe, I don’t know, I will never know. In my rush to discover and find all this, I’ve exposed myself to a fatal level of radiation. I’m lucky to have lived this long, my pattern is falling apart, and I’m so very tired. This is important, though, this is perhaps the most important thing we could ever learn. There IS intelligent life in the universe, and it hates us, but there is a good chance that there are others like us. Not just other life, but life that is related to us directly, they may be mages. There may even be one of the Aware out there somewhere. If they are out there, they are in as much danger as we are.”

  The screen went dark for a moment and came to life again, showing the rogue planet with the alien fleet around it. John pointed out details as he spoke. “This is footage I shot as I escaped the planet to start my journey home. There were numerous alien ships in orbit, not all of them were from the same species, and there were several radically different designs present.”

  The screen switched to a still image of the spider-like creature that John had helped. “I found this creature on a world that was protected by a large cloud of armed satellites in orbit. Finley told me before he died that the satellites had attacked him on sight. He defended himself and destroyed a complex that seemed to be controlling them. I rescued this creature and was able to heal it.”

  The next pictures showed the blasted surface of the planet John had found. The large tunnel, and the shadow of the creature burned into the surface of it. “There is not much to say about these pictures. It is clearly a world that was devastated and left barren. This shadow is the only clue I found there about the nature of the aliens that lived there. It’s a wild guess, but it seems very likely this world was seeded in much the same way we now think the Earth was.” The screen went dark, and the house lights came up. “Finley felt that knowledge of who we are was based on where we came from.” John thought about sitting in the diner with Finley, not so long ago. “He felt that the truth might be important enough to change things, to change how we dealt with each other. I didn’t agree with him at the time, but I do now.” John paused and thought again of the lonely grave Finley occupied, among distant ancestors, so far from home. A call from the back of the audience interrupted his thoughts.

  “Is there proof? Is there something more than just this video and your words?” The woman’s voice was not accusing, and John wondered if perhaps things were changing already.

  “My own research, that the censors called illegal supports some of the details of What Finley found. Deanna, are you ready?”

  “Not at all! But give me a few minutes, and I’ll give you a miracle as long as you don’t want graphics.” Deanna shouted hurriedly from the back of the theater.

  “No graphics needed, they’ll see the patterns.” John cleared his throat. “Not long after I learned magic, I started to wonder if there was a way to use math and geometry to explore magic and patterns better. To find new ones, and perhaps better understand it’s strange limits. It was a task that was honestly beyond my abilities at the time. I started going to school and learning programming, and it was still well beyond my skills, but I met Deanna. She has developed a program based on those ideas and taken it much further-“

  “Ready!” Shouted Deanna triumphantly.

  “Cool, I think you should explain what you found. You know the details of it better than I do.” John motioned her to come to the front.

  “What?”

  “I said, Ge
t up here and explain what you’ve built!”

  Holding an open laptop on her arm and trying to type as she walked, Deanna slowly came up to the stage and the podium.

  “I’m sorry, are you a mage?” Asked a tall man in the front with a heavy Russian accent.

  “No. No, I’m a hacker.” Deanna said with a smile from the podium. There was some laughter in the small crowd, but not much. “Given what John showed me and what he told me, I don’t have to be. He warned me not to try to render any of the numbers I ran, I’m not sure that I understand why, but I tried to once and it totally fried my computer.” Deanna paused to type something very quickly and looked up again. “Eric, can you get the lights for me?” The lights dimmed again, and the screen came to life, showing a projection of what Deanna was working on.