Arin Aye: The Middle Passage

by Alan D Jones

that only your aunt Ruth remains alive.  These believe the Sisters were true gods and hide their faces for fear of retribution.  But I am unafraid.” Then the captain stepped towards me and removed her mask, revealing on her cheek the symbol I knew so well.  It was the mark of Ares.  She was a disciple of the fallen god of war.  This fact changed everything.

  I looked down for a moment and reflected on how my own mother, explained to me how people revisit the unresolved matters in their lives time and time again, and that my own first love was a clear example of this.  My first love, Sandy, was a victim of sexual assault, just as my mother had been on the night on which I was conceived. That created a need within me to “fix things”. Sandy was my opportunity.  And here was this captain, still, so many years later, seeking some form of closure.  I was her solution. It saddened me to think of how she had held on to this. I shook my head as I raised my eyes, to greet her heartbroken smile.

  The captain raised her finger towards me, and speaking in perfect English, said, “Your mother murdered my god.”

  “Yes, she killed him, after he threatened the entire Earth. And what of the countless he killed over thousands upon thousands of years?”

  “He was no guiltier than a farmer who harvests his own chickens. Should the farmer be put to death?”

  “It depends.  Is the judge a chicken?”

  “See, this arrogance is the problem with your species. You do not know your place. When we found you, you were waddling in the mud, living day to day on what you could scavenge. You are perverse in your lack of respect for the natural order of things. The infinite judge the finite.”

  “And yet Ares is dead, is he not?  We shall all be dust one day, even me, although I neither age, hunger or thirst.”

  “Serving an invisible and silent God, you couldn’t possible understand what we’ve lost, what I’ve lost.  To be in his presence, to walk with him, to feel his caress…”

  “First, the evidence of my God is all around to those with an eye to see. Nor is He silent to those with an ear to hear.“

  “Do not compare your faith to mine.  Your faith is simply another system of control to burden the living. Ares liberated us to do as we pleased.  There is but one truth, the strong devour the weak.”

  “And still this truth you claim does not satisfy you? Yes, religion is a system of control, yours and mine, otherwise neither of us would be here. But the same is true for any truth one may serve. Even love and hatred are essentially systems of control which bind. I choose to be bound by love.

  “Alchemist, what binds you, is that I am stronger than you.”

  “No, my love, you are mistaken.  Bound I am, but not by you or your devices. I am bound by a love which required me not to resist when you captured me for fear of collateral harm to the very ones I’ve served all these years.  And even now, I could be free, but this Love which I serve requires me offer you an opportunity to save yourselves from the results of that action.”

  “Stop with your lies mortal. Who allows themselves allows themselves to be bound, when they can be free?”

  “Is it not so, with you and Ares, even though he has long left this existence? And know too, that even without my gifts, you could no more bind me, than one could the wind, for the true me is spirit, not this fleshly vessel.”

  “I don’t believe you. Prove it, do your worst.”

  “Trust me, you don’t want my worst. But it would be wise to at least leave and seal this room.”

  The eyes of all of the crew fixated on the Captain, as she stood silent for long unblinking moments. But then in an instant, she blinked, “Open the door.”

  After the crew relocated outside the room, I smiled at them through the reinforced panes. Then I began.  I had not lied, this would indeed be tricky. The first task was to covert a single hydrogen atom in the palm of both hands into antimatter.  I closed and eyes and reclaimed the focus that was so hard to achieve in my youth.  Tunneling deep within, I isolated a single molecule of water in both palms.  I felt the bands of energy composing atoms therein. Carefully, I split off four hydrogen atoms allowing the two oxygen atoms their freedom.  But before I could twist either into antimatter, I had to fuse them together into helium, for where I could convert the hydrogen atoms into antimatter, I would wipe out not only the ship but anything within an area equivalent to five of our Solar Systems.  In the vastness of space, it was very unlikely such an explosion would harm anyone but those on the ship, but I didn’t want to take that chance. My mother literally fused atoms for breakfast.  But for me, it was a much more difficult task.  And yet after several tense moments of struggle, I did it.  Now, with the two new helium atoms suspended between my palms, I began the most delicate task.  Again, I reached deep into the subcomponents level of the two atoms and I began to manipulate them with willful intent.  Slowly the two helium atoms disappeared from human sight, but they remained in my vision and control.  I glanced once more towards the crew, “I suggest that you move towards your escape pods now and broadcast any emergency signal you need to quickly.”  After seeing what I had done to that point, even without fully understanding it, they didn’t hesitate.  They scattered and then quickly launched as I continued to hold the fleeting particles in my hands.

  It’s was a struggle for me to hold them that long. The old adage, “use it or lose it” was truer than ever.  At long last, I could see life-pod statuses update on a screen right above where the Captain had stood.  I focused once more and began the process of fusing the two antimatter particles together.  Like its counterpart antimatter helium was relatively stable, but the fusing of them in antimatter form did more than create an isotope.  It’s releases anti-energy, which is the perfect cure for antigravity energy.  The problem was that I really didn’t know just how much energy was needed to disable these devices.  I started with the fewest number of atoms I could manage and figured I’d simply double it, if this didn’t work.   Well, let’s just say that I didn’t need to do that.  The resulting energy not only took down the antigravity bands which encircled me, it evaporated the guns from which those beams emitted, everything in the lab, the walls, ceiling and floor of the lab.  It also, as I suspected it might, reverse charged their power system, but that I could fix (I’d done this stunt several times before so I knew what to expect).  I simply had to “lay hands” on the power core to reenergize it.  Once I restored power to the ship, I entered the command deck and broadcasted to the crew floating outside in their escape pods.  “Eh, Captain, I’m gonna need to borrow your ship for a little while.”  She didn’t respond, even though I could clearly see on the monitor that she was alive and well.

  I released a breath and took in another one as I sat down in the Captain’s chair. “Look, Captain, here’s the thing. I need for you to do me a favor.  I need for you to spread the word into the right ears, that I won’t tolerate this anymore.” We both knew that only a very few had the knowledge and funding to find and come after me. “I will not be so charitable the next time this happens.  And speaking of charity, I hope you recognize this gift that I am offering you, for what it is.  I know your people see kindness as weakness. But even if I cannot change your mind in that regard, I would think that you’d recognize the folly in seeking revenge against a woman long dead and buried. What is the point of that?”

  “You don’t understand.” She replied, at last.

  “Obviously.”

  “For thousands of years, I lived for him, and your mother took him away. In the countless time since I’ve sought to avenge him.”

  “But knowing something of your belief system, since my mother defeated Ares, shouldn’t you have switched your allegiance to her?  Not that she would have wanted that, but isn’t that what Ares taught and isn’t that your law?”

  “Yes, most of us believe just as you say.  But I could not. I simply could not.”

  I sat there silent for a moment before responding, “Despised across the universe and yet held dearly by you. Do not fret,
my love, you are not the first to ever love someone. I know such a thing is blasphemy to you, but you’ve just scratched the surface of love. There are depths of love that you cannot even fathom right now.  And if it should be, one day you will discover that there is but one love. And regardless of what you call it, if you serve that one love, you will discover that you serve the same love as do I.”

  I then spoke to the entire crew in their common tongue, “Peace and Love,” as I slowly engaged the thrusters. As for me, I needed to return to the world where I was serving to say my goodbyes.  Despite my message of retribution towards anyone that would harm the defenseless who I serve, I knew in truth that I could do little to protect them. I could only avenge them, and I had no desire for such hollow victories.  No, I decided then that I needed to limit my mission and relief work to dying worlds, where my presence would not negatively affect outcome.

  Purchase Sacrifices at Amazon