She, however, went on to tell me the story of the origin of the Sojonites. “After a long and fruitless odyssey, they found no traces of the Dark Ones, but plenty evidence of their recent presence. After almost five years of searching, they had come farther than any Saresii expedition. Close to the Galactic Core, they found a planet that should not have existed, at least not naturally. The world was as beautiful as any Saresii world, a green and blue world with crystal clear oceans but no higher life forms. It was clear that the hand of a sentient culture had groomed this planet and yet there were no cities. After landing and a closer survey, they found a single temple, looking much like this one, just magnitudes bigger.”
I was mildly interested and said, “I don’t think it is unusual to find the remnants of an old culture on a NiOx Garden world. To find such a world near the Galactic Core, however, is, with all the radiation there sterilizing the area.”
She agreed, “As I said, the planet should not have existed by any common scientific wisdom. There was no detectable forcefield, and the magnetic field of the planet was way too weak to deflect all the particles and radiation. The temple had the shape of a naked human, adding to the human mystery, as we determined that this statue and the technology inside was neither Pree nor Uni.”
I shifted my position. The Auto-Dresser that made me look like a girl did not change my skeleton or add that incredible flexibility girls seem to have and sitting this way had made my legs fall asleep. “I know very little about the Uni or the Pree, but I ran into Pree technology, and I know that there is this general consent between scholars, that the human mystery can be explained by either the Pree or the Uni seeding human life. I never heard of a third ancient civilization, at least none associated with the human mystery, that is.”
Again, she agreed, “Neither have we, but the statue and the rainbow temple do exist. It is there we found libraries and archives, books, scrolls, and every data recording device and medium you could imagine filled with only one topic, but in seemingly endless variations; a document describing in detail how beings of all kinds made love and procreated. Details to the finest nuances about sex and everything related to it. We realized that there indeed was another power, another weapon, or force in this universe. Between life and death, there was also love. Love and strong emotions have the power to overcome death, create life, but also to willingly go and seek death and end life. Desires and emotions are much stronger in almost all sentient beings than the basic instincts of survival and self-preservation. So, we decided to continue this pursuit, and we founded this sect, this religion. We discovered the keys to unlock a psionic power no one had ever heard of, the power to shift and change shape.”
She then added after a short moment of silence, “You are the first outsider who has been told all this.”
I asked, “But why? Why am I told all this? Why are you training me?”
“The Narth have chosen you to be a representative. We know of the Coven and we know you have been the first outsider to ever visit their planet. While we know little about the Narth and even less about the Coven, we know they were old and traveling the universe when we Saresii discovered fire.”
“It sort of happened and I think it was a coincidence that I met Narth and became his friend, and it seems that my friendship with him sparks interest in others to a point they want to abduct me to get to him. I don’t understand what you just said, and it did not sound like an explanation.”
“In many ways, you are of course just a Neo-Viking from a little-known planet, but your friendship to the Narth elevates you into a unique position. I wanted to train you and give you as much information as I can about us. As you know, we left Sares so long ago on a quest to find an alternative to defeat the Dark Ones should they ever return. We have not accomplished that quest.”
“What has all this to do with me?”
“We think that the Dark Ones might return, and we believe that if anyone has a chance to defeat them, it will be the Narth. You might be the only human, the only person in the universe, who will eventually understand and know who or what the Narth are and perhaps it is you who will fight with them, against them. We wanted to make sure that if that ever happens, you have all the knowledge possible and that you remember Sares and the Sojonites.”
My head was spinning, and I didn’t feel too good. I was certain there was more to it all, but somehow my head didn’t work as it should have. I tried to concentrate and said, “Somehow I have the feeling I am getting prepared for an event I know nothing about. I still don’t understand what all this has to do with me. All I want to be is a starship captain.”
The field screen sphere disappeared, but everything seemed as if I was inside a cocoon of foam padding. The candles had big soft auras around them, and even the Mother Superior appeared out of focus. I knew I should have been concerned, ask more questions, but I didn’t really care. Nothing really mattered, and even the smell of the incense no longer bothered me.
Her voice was distant, and she said something. I was sure I understood what she said, but I could not recall a single word. My mind seemed to dissolve from the rational, male side of my persona. A voice inside me warned me that in a state like this I would be very receptive to hypnotic suggestions, but this concern was melting away and did not feel very urgent.
She came closer, and I could hear her say, “Embrace your female side, make her part of you, and don’t shut her out even when you return to be Eric.”
Her voice became a whisper, “There is so much more to being a woman than looks and outer differences. Use your hands; trust your instincts. Let them be your guide. Forget logic and reason, and let go of the penetrating aggressive nature of maleness.”
The voice was soft, and so was the skin I touched underneath the wispy chiffon and satin I wore. It was a different corporal awareness, unlike anything I’d experienced before.
She was close, and her voice was almost like a song, a soft melody, “There are secrets of corporal existence the Narth have long forgotten, the Coven try to regain, but only humans can experience. Let the Goddess Sojo, the spirit of love and passion, give you the answer you seek.”
Something happened to me. I felt it; I was changing, not at all like the mechanical manipulations of an Auto-Dresser; it was different and came from within. The skin I touched was soft as foam and what should have been there was no longer. Pure electricity pulsated through every nerve ending in an exciting, animalistic fashion where reason had no place and thought had no meaning. I had a feverish hunger that could not be quenched with food, a desire I could not explain or put into words. Never before had I really felt the clothing I wore, but now I could feel the satin that cupped the false breasts. There was nothing artificial about the tingling sensation.
Reality and dream were no longer separate. The waxen statue of the goddess no longer looked artificial but alive.
Somehow I realized I had taken the very same pose as the statue, arching back, and then I touched something. It was like an explosion of stars, pain, and pleasure indistinguishable. Whatever happened then I could not recall.
I found myself in the cool little chamber they had given me as a room, lying on the bed and my mind was as clear as ever, but the memory of what happened was foggy and unclear. I remembered the presentation and some of the things she had told me. I knew she spoke about the history of the Saresii and the Sojonites, but the scent of the incense candles must have knocked me out. I felt like I had woken from a night of drinking but without the headache. I’d never tried drugs, and after that experience, I was certain I did not want to experience it again. Something had happened to me, something profound, and yet I could not really remember any details. I didn’t like anything had messed with my head, but something felt different.
I received more training and the last traces of this surreal experience faded fast, but the nagging question about why all this happened became stronger.
With all this, time flew, and on the first day of my fourth week at th
e Sojonit temple, the tall Sojonit from Earth told me that this would be my last day, and again I was taken to the vaulted worship chamber with the Goddess statue. This time, however, there was no burning incense or the sweet overwhelming fragrance it had produced the last time I was here.
Mother Superior was already there, and she said to me, “We would like to welcome you as an honorary member of the Order.”
I bowed and said, “I am deeply honored by this, and I respect the Goddess and your beliefs, however, and despite all my secret desires, I am a son of Nilfeheim. I swear upon Odin and ask Thor for strength. I am also a Starfleet officer and cannot put any other organization before that.”
She looked at me from behind the eye slits of her mask. “I respect that very much, and I actually expected a reaction like this from you. I don’t ask you to believe in the Goddess or abandon your religion. The Sojonit Order is not a fraternity inside the fleet. It is an honorary membership and not a commitment like a Sojonit Sister makes. It is simply a formality ritual to welcome you as a friend and not as an outsider and give you access to our network.”
“I don’t mind that, and I know I asked this before, but why me?”
“It is you who came to us for help, and you have been allowed to hide behind the identity of a Sojonit. To us, this is a religion, and to us, the commands of the Goddess are quite real and binding. Yes, we are part of the Saresii Intelligence Network, but the Order is real. Making you an honorary member will please the Goddess and make the help we gave you legitimate to our laws and customs.”
There was nothing I could say against them; they did save my life, and I knew that the members of this order took their religion and their commitment very serious. From what I knew about Wetmouth, she too took all this very seriously; so, I agreed.
I was asked by her to take everything off, and I stood naked in the middle of the room.
Somewhere a bell rang, and twenty Sojonites entered. All of them wore black versions of the outfit, and their masks had an angry, almost evil, expression and the false lips were closed.
Mother Superior stood before the statue and said, “The Goddess has welcomed a new member, and she is no longer an outsider. The gate to the Rainbow Palace is open to her. We welcome her as an honorary member of the sinister aspect of our Order.”
She took a mask from a pillow and motioned me to put it on. A wig and a similar black outfit followed, and she said, “The Goddess will know your true name. To the world, you are henceforth known as Nightshade.”
The others bowed and said in unison, “Welcome, Sister Nightshade.”
Mother Superior and I flew aboard a Mercedes flyer back to the mainland and to the very same spaceport I had arrived at four weeks ago. It did not look any different from the air and to me looked more like a garbage dump than a spaceport landing field, but now I could see how big it was, and there were space ships in the process of being loaded or unloaded. A Kartanian Megla Cruiser with heavy battle damage was being repaired by a gang of men, while another group stood guard.
Mother Superior leaned over and said, “That is the Crimson Terror, the ship of a ruthless and infamous pirate named Agus Denann, but better known as Captain Terror. It looks like he had a rough time.”
Our flyer landed next to a small, fast-looking ship. I was not certain, but judging by the sharp edges and the oversized landing gear, it could have been of Togar origin.
Without delay, we boarded the ship over a side ramp and were greeted by a thin-looking mostly humanoid being wearing a blue and yellow uniform. He bowed deeply and said with a muffled voice, “In the name of my lord and master Duke Donheer, I’d like to welcome you aboard. It is as always a pleasure to do business with the Sojonites.”
She nodded. “And business it is; when can we leave?”
He walked us through a short corridor into a luxurious and expensively furnished lounge with a large balcony-like viewport and said, “We lift off shortly and should reach Alvor’s Cove in eighty-four hours. Please make yourself at home, while I get us underway.”
She thanked him, and he left, closing the door behind us. Mother Superior unzipped her coat and sat down in a single fluid move, crossing her legs and motioning me to do the same. “Duke Donheer is one of the big crime lords of this planet, and we have a long-standing agreement with his syndicate.”
Before she could continue with what she wanted to say, the thin man opened the door and said, “I am sorry for the delay, but we are ordered to be searched.”
She stood up and said with a sharp tone, “Who dares to order such a search? This ship belongs to Donheer himself, and I am the Mother Superior of the Sojonit Order.”
He bowed again. “Yes, ma’am, it is an outrage, and the Patriarch is furious and said he is sending Enforcers, but the Port Rats aimed their turrets at us and demanded we let them search the ship! No ship is to leave without them searching it!”
She inhaled sharply. “The Port Rats answer to Duke Malvit; let me talk to them!”
The man walked over to a wall console and made the connection. Three beings appeared on the screen, two of them looking like black furred cave bats with big ears and deformed-looking naked snouts and the third one in the middle was a strong-looking bald human. It was the human who spoke, with a barking unfriendly tone in his voice. “We accept no further delays; you are to be searched or destroyed.”
Her tone was just as sharp as she responded, “Your demand alone is an insult. Is Duke Malvit really prepared to deal with the consequences of his actions?”
He barked back, “No discussion! Grant access to be searched or we will open fire. Our duke wants to know who leaves this planet, and that is all you need to know.”
She terminated the connection and said to the thin man, “Prepare to take off. I have a feeling they are going to be way too busy. A friend of mine is sending a little distraction.”
Just as she said that a huge spherical-shaped ship descended, darkening the sky. The graphite giant was engulfed in the characteristic purplish shimmer of active TransDim Shields; on its side was the logo of SII Corp. It was about to land between us and the spaceport defense batteries.
The Port Rats had probably never seen a real battleship. They fired, perhaps aiming at us, but the shots sizzled to nothingness, absorbed by shields that could deflect solar eruptions.
Out tiny yacht climbed into the sky.
The SII ship returned fire, and most of the spider-infested spaceport building and the cannon turrets were gone, replaced by a smoking crater of molten matter.
She laughed. “That was one of the reasons we had to wait, so this ship could be here and give us a little protection. You see, private corporations do not have the same political limitations as the Union Fleet. Not the Cartel, not the Worm and not even the Kermac really want to make Schwartz Intergalactic angry.”
“I said the same thing to Captain Harris.”
“Was it when the old battleax gave you command over the Devi?”
“Yes.”
“Ever since the Corporate War of 3422, corporations are prohibited from having ships armed with military-grade weaponry, with the exception of those who built ships and weaponry for the Union. They can use and build ships as test platforms for new systems and such. Of course, no one stipulated how many such test platforms a corporation can have. It’s an open secret the entire galaxy knows; SII builds over sixty percent of all fleet tech and has a state-of-the-art fleet. The real secret is that SII’s security fleet is not much smaller than the Union Fleet and, in some aspects, even more advanced.”
“Is that not very dangerous to have such power in private hands?”
“Very much so! It is a two-edged sword. It means added security to Union assets. SII also controls GalNet, owns three of the seven space bus lines, three of the main banks, and produces most of the food consumed. SII is so interwoven in the Union’s daily lives that it would be almost impossible to fight them and win if that ever would be necessary. But SII keeps out of politics a
nd most wars. They do not do business with the enemies and have saved the Sol System during the second Kermac War.”
Out small ship had left the last traces of atmosphere behind and was steadily accelerating to reach the trans light threshold. As usual, I could feel the fine vibrations and found that whoever owned this ship had not done a very good job in calibrating the engines. The harmonics of the vibrations were off.
Finally, the point was reached, and the stars outside the viewports became long streaks of light for the duration of a heartbeat and then it was completely dark. The viewport was obviously not quasi-space enabled, and normal human eyes could not see in this spatial condition.
The mother superior sat back down and said, “It will take us about seventy hours to Alvor’s Cove; there is a nice bath and comfortable cabins. The small crew will not come in so you can relax and take off the mask and the costume if you like.”
I sat down and did take off the mask and asked, “What is Alvor’s Cove?”
She took off hers as well and revealed a typical exotic-looking Saresii face with large purple eyes, ivory complexion, and long silvery hair. Despite the marks of advanced age, she was quite beautiful. “Alvor’s Cove is worse than Sin 4 in some regards, and a den of pirates and slave traders; it is much deeper in Free Space than Sin 4 and far away from Union Space.”
I felt disappointed, after the elation to finally leave that cursed planet. “I thought we were going home. I mean, back to Union Space?”
She smiled and dialed herself an orange-looking fruit drink from the Serv-Matic integrated into the coffee table before us. “We will be, my dear, but we are in the spy and spook business. This ship belongs to a crime lord on Sin 4. Its small crew always reports to him where they take me. Since there is a Sojonit temple on Alvor’s Cove, it is perfectly normal for me to go there. After a few days on Alvor’s Cove, we change identities and take a ship to Kaliment, a planet claimed by both the Togar and the Kertanians and occupied by both, a perfect place to catch a ship to Netlor. On Netlor, we become pilgrims, mingling with the thousands of other pilgrims. Several companies provide travel services from Netlor to Checkpoint 96 and they are a Union-controlled planet with a spaceport, space bus, GalNet, clipper service and a sizeable fleet base.”
Eric Olafson Series Boxed Set: Books 1 - 7 Page 60
