by Bruce Burk
“John. What if someone deleted that record on purpose?” she said. “Does the Red Party have access to do that sort of thing?" John asked. “I mean, I wouldn't say they wouldn’t. But I think it really depends on which party is in power. Both President Zola and the Senate Majority Leader have access authority for editing the contents of the database.
What if other records had been deleted? How would we know? What would we check it against to verify?” Sophia said. “I don’t know. It’s possible other records have been deleted. I guess the only way we would know is if we had seen them before,” John said. “What are we going to do? What are you going to do with your report?” “I don’t know I guess I’ll have to start over,” he said shrugging his shoulders. “You think they did it because of the bill? That they would just delete any information that gave them a reason to support the bill and people wouldn’t care?” Sophia questioned. “I don’t know. I have a bad feeling about this,” John added.
Sophia glanced out the window, and her jaw dropped. “… John,” she muttered in a disturbed voice. “… Maybe I just didn’t do the search right,” John said to himself. “John ... ” “… Maybe they moved it to a different area of the database.” “John!” she screamed. “What?” he asked. “Look!” she said pulling him to the window.
Together they stared out the window as a large alien ship slowly descended on the town square. The blue and red lights shined on its silver glow. “John?”
Suddenly, a pigeon flew up and landed on their window as they watched the large ship land. Crowds of people swarmed the ship, and the military immediately came to the scene. The pigeon tapped his beak against the window several times in an odd way until finally, John opened it. Then, the pigeon revealed small note that it was carrying in a container on its leg. John opened the roll of paper and read the message, “John, come to me at once. – Grandfather.”
CHAPTER 4 - ARRIVAL
Grandfather had never called for him, so John was worried.
“Stay here,” John said to Sophia. “At least until we know it is safe.” Then, John left for his grandfather's house when dusk had fallen. He carried with him a specialized cloaking device that was hidden in his pocket to block the drones and surveillance cameras from detecting his presence.
John’s grandfather was very particular about John’s anonymity when he came to his house that was off in a rural area outside the city. John could only come at night, and no electronic devices were permitted except for the one that hid his presence. His grandfather was a little old fashioned.
John started having flashes of the alien ship like he had seen it before. “Give me strength, oh Lord,” he prayed to himself as he left the city. After walking for many hours through the woods, he came to a river out in the wilderness. John looked up to see a survey drone up at thirty thousand feet.
“Can’t see me,” he said as if speaking to it. John grabbed a canoe and cast himself off using the paddle. He paddled downstream for a while until he could see a house on the river. Finally, he came to the house which allowed him to enter underneath. He exited the canoe and walked up a staircase into the basement.
Back in Central Square, the large gray ship had landed. The center of the ship began opening. Dark beings were cast out of the ship and flew up into the sky to disappear. The center began to open. Then, the sky filled with surveillance drones. The military had the ship surrounded by troops and tanks. Reporters were on the scene, and the whole world watched as a US Ambassador approached the ships door. Lights shined from the door as a large dark figure began to emerge.
Eidolon emerged from his ship dressed as if he was royalty. Dark clouds chased the sun from the area. The birds flew away from the area. The military stood in awe as he marched slowly down the platform to the ground. The ambassador cowardly asked, “Who are you?” Eidolon looked at him for a while and grinned, “I am,” he said.
“I am that I am. For over two millennia the people of Earth have waited for my return. Now is the time. I am God. I am Alpha and Omega,” Eidolon added. The military men stood ready. The commander gave stand-down orders. Eidolon was very powerful. A small handicapped woman sat in a wheelchair near where he had landed.
Eidolon said to her, “You there. Why do you only sit? Please. Stand up and walk before your fellow man.” Eidolon then zapped her legs with a blue electric beam. The beam reconstructed the tissue in her legs. She began to wobble. Slowly and sure, she rose to her feet. The crowd gasped. Soldiers dropped their guns. Priests fell to their needs. People began to weep and gasp at the sheer awe of what had occurred. Senator Powell pushed through the crowd and greeted Eidolon. “Come with me your highness,” he said.
Meanwhile, John finally connected with his Grandfather. “Hello my son,” he said. “I am happy you came. Time is of the essence. Come!” The house had ancient paintings, inventions, and musical instruments all throughout. John saw the desk where his grandfather had shown him pens that he used to write. John look worried, “Grandfather what is going on? What’s happening?
“Come. I fear the world is in grave danger. It is time for me to complete your training,” Bellos said. John’s grandfather pulled on an earth shaped statute that opened a door with a pathway down a spiral of stairs. Bellos lit a candle, and they both headed downstairs. They traveled down a hallway that had paintings on the walls of various heads of state and formulas written over them in chalk. John, they passed a room that had hundreds of seeds in glass tubes. They came to a large chamber. “Grandfather … what is all this? Why have you never showed this to me before? What is going on?” His grandfather pulled out an actual book from the shelf. It was the Bible. “Grandfather! Isn't that illegal? How do you have this?” he asked.
“John, for years I have been teaching you how to write in secret. I have taken you into nature and showed you its beauty. I have taught you how to be a good person and think everything through to make proper moral decisions. All this time, I have been preparing you for this day. I had hoped that we would have had more time to train you, but based on recent events, your training must begin now. I am a member of a group that has been charged with preserving human knowledge as well as all living things on Planet Earth. We operate in secret, concealing ourselves from the powers that be. We record human thought and attempt to preserve it in its unaltered form. Our loyalty is to the Earth as a living organism. We use force when necessary to preserve the Earth’s species and all forces of nature that sustain life on Earth. We are the Earth’s white blood cells. We are the Knights of the Living Earth,” Bellos said.
He continued, “For years, I have been trying to slowly introduce you into our group. We are also charged with the interpretation of natural law. When all the Knights of the Living Earth assemble for the interpretation of natural law, we have another name: The Order of Shadows. There, we decide the Knights’ affairs and what actions will be taken on issues of Earth’s security.” John stood with his heart in his stomach. He was shocked and nervous.
“For centuries, our order has looked at the powers that be to make sure no person would ever become so powerful as to cross over the line to threaten the natural order of the Earth. By now you must be aware there is a foreign entity in our presence; a dark presence that threatens the natural order. We don’t know much about Eidolon, but we do know he is quite powerful. I now grow weak and old. Certainly, I was quite the knight in my day, but I must now pass this knowledge onto you,” Bellos said. “We must complete your training so that you may become a Knight a defeat whatever danger this dark force brings our way.”
Then, his grandfather handed him a Bible, as well as the Quran, the Torah, the Sutras, and a book that contained the holy writings of all the other main religious systems in human history. John opened the Sutras slowly. He pressed the cover of the book as if it was a touchscreen but nothing happened. John had never turned a page of a book before. He opened it to a verse reading, “The universe is a vast body, and the Earth is his throne. All realms and sentient beings were bor
n from this body.”
He looked up to his grandfather. “My son, we have to follow certain procedures when we are invaded by a foreign power. If he is capable of doing what we think he can do, the existence of the Knights and the planet are in grave danger. Protect the books I have given you. Hide them away. Our order holds that a shadow represents a small amount of light hiding in the darkness. Go and hide this light in the darkness. Do not allow it to fall into the hands of Eidolon or his men. I am giving it to you for I fear they are coming for me. I believe you now carry the last remaining hard copies of these texts on Earth,” his Grandfather said. John placed the books into a messenger bag is grandfather had given him.
“I’m only one man. How am I supposed to beat this all-powerful God-like creature?” John said. “I have faith in you. Protect these works as I have protected them. Now, go. We will speak again when Eidolon has made his plans known,” Bellos said.
John left his grandfather’s house and walked through the forest towards his living square. He was filled with doubt as to his ability to protect these works. These words in these books were just on paper. Anyone could simply walk up and take them from him. For all anyone else knows, he’s just carrying his tablet in his bag. Think of the penalties if someone found out. The Blue Party would probably have him put in prison for life. It seems the greatest protection against a tyrannical government is the anonymous act. He heard a drone fly over his head. He ran to a group of trees and hid. He realized he was standing in piles of white bird poop. He looked and saw that there hundreds of pigeons hiding in the trees.
“Why were there so many birds around here?” he asked himself. The drone passed by slowly and faded off into the clouds. John hated the constant surveillance that the Blue Party had put them under. John entered his apartment and a piece of metal out of the corner of his eye under his bed. He bent over and pulled out the matter sword. His memory was fuzzy as to how he had acquired the sword. It felt powerful in his hand. Then, he accidentally took a swipe and sliced the front of his bed frame in half. He heard a knock at the door. He quickly put the bag of books under his bed and checked his tablet for who it was. With a sigh of relief, he saw Gavin and Clark.
“John! Thank heavens we found you. Have you seen the holo-screen lately?” said Gavin. Clark pulled up his holo-projector, and there stood an image of Eidolon in the town square. Crowds from all over the country were gathering around him. He was performing what appeared to be miracles in front of everyone.
“John, he made a child float the other day. He made a sword out of thin air. How is he doing this? Do you think he really is God? He’s gained quite a following,” Clark said.
Gavin was chewing gum and said, “It's obviously a bunch of cheap tricks; sleight of hand. He’s a snake oil salesman just like the rest of them. You know I don’t believe in that God mumbo jumbo.” They exited John’s apartment and quickly left for the town square. In the back of John’s mind, he wondered if he should be bringing his books with him but thought it would be too risky. They’d be safer at home, they thought.
The three friends hustled down the streets with the blue and red lights from the election on each side. The advertisements were not changing at the same pace they usually were. It was quiet. Traffic was bad. They came past a group of Jewish protesters with signs saying that Eidolon was not God. Eidolon was speaking to a group of 10,000 in the town square.
There were groups of religious people quoting from the Book of Revelations and other religious texts trying to reconcile their writings with Eidolon as God. There was one group saying that he was God because the time was right and he was capable of miracles. The different religious groups fought and bickered about him, and all wanted to claim him as theirs. John and the others finally arrived at the square. Eidolon stood Godlike amongst the crowd, and the Blue Party was around him.
Eidolon Spoke, “I have returned to Earth to give you a strong leader. For centuries, your leaders have given this planet nothing but war, inequality, disease, and death. They make promises, only to fall short. They have failed you. Many of you have seen the miracles that I have given you, but the real miracle is yet to come. I will transform the world. America is the greatest country on Earth. Your politicians have produced nothing but division and scarcity in these lands. It is time we grew the boundaries of this great Empire and created the world’s greatest society.” The Senators all came forward.
Senator Powell spoke, “This is why today we are convening with all States united to declare Eidolon as the President of the United States. All States have voted unanimously. He will be in charge of the military as well as signing the bills from Congress as we saw in the old republic. The American flag was raised, and people pledged their allegiance to Eidolon and America. Some supporters of President Zola protested in the streets. However, many of them began to grow tired all of a sudden, and the very wind was taken from their lungs.
John and his group stared in amazement at what was occurring. Then, Clark spotted some strange figures on the rooftop. He zoomed in and saw that they had long-range blasters. “Guys! We have some company on the roof!” he yelled.
The men on the roof were dressed in Muslim garbs with drone-scrambling camouflage. John and Gavin quickly ran into the building next to them. They hurried up the stairs with blasters drawn. The men on the roof slowly put together their blasters and were aiming at Eidolon’s head. John and Gavin burst through the door on top of the roof. Their eyes were red, and their faces were black. Gavin quickly pulled out his blaster and shot at the men. Then, John and Gavin dove behind a wall for cover as blasts grazed by them.
Clark then spotted some other shady looking men in the area. Multiple men with wires in their ear appeared to be rigging some explosives. This was something he was familiar with, so much so that he could smell them. He turned on a heat-scanning feature of his glasses and realized that the Red Party leaders were being targeted. Clark left the crowd and opened his computer in the corner and began to work.
Back on the roof, John was firing his blaster at the two Muslim dressed men who were able to evade him by creating an electromagnetic barrier that caused John’s blasts to bounce off. The man began aiming his long-range blaster. Luckily, Gavin had seen these barriers in the Iran War and blasted it in its one vulnerable point. The shield quickly vanished, and Gavin shot one of them dead. The other man ran after him. Gavin went up to the dead body and saw its strange red eyes. “What the hell are you?” Gavin asked himself. Then, the creature disintegrated into smoke. John shot at the figure but missed. The mysterious creature then disappeared from John's view. Back where Eidolon was speaking, Clark was quickly trying to scramble the bomb. Eidolon was still speaking to the crowd, “We will usher in a new era of American dominance. I will assist your people in curing all diseases and provide jobs and better homes for everyone. We will defeat our foes overseas and have one nation: an undefeatable empire!”
Clark tried to scramble all electronic signals in the area, but the systems were too strong. It was rare that Clark was unable to best a computer system. He slammed his computer in frustration. “Come on, come on,” he said. The Muslim dressed creature quickly jolted out the door on the ground floor and ran towards the Red Party leaders, including Sophia's father who stood in the back of the crowd glancing down at Sophia’s baby picture. Some Red Party leaders jumped to their feet in fear, but they were blocked in, unable to move. The creature raised an explosive charge in his hand and shouted, “Allah Akbar!” John began having flashes from when he was on the ship. He remembered something familiar about the creature; something that disturbed him in the pit of his chest.
The creature then detonated the charge in a prideful suicide bombing. A massive explosion ensued which triggered packed explosions under their seats. The blast leaped high into the sky and through the Blue Party members backward. In the blink of an eye, all the Red Party leaders were engulfed in flames and killed. “Noooooo,” John exclaimed. The crowd shrieked in panic. Chaos ensued. The c
rowd disbursed and quickly ran from the area screaming in terror. There was too much smoke to see the bodies or what was left of them. Eidolon immediately ordered the area to be secured. John watched in disbelief. Sophia’s father had been killed instantly. Gavin grabbed John, “Let’s get out of here! Where’s Clark?” Clark ran up to them with shrapnel in his leg. Gavin threw him over his shoulder and fled the scene.
CHAPTER 5 - FREEDOM IS SECURITY
In a nearby building, Gavin removed shrapnel from Clark’s leg with pliers. Clark was kind of a nerd and wasn’t really used to this sort of pain. “Ahhhhhhhh!” he screamed in pain. "Leave it! Leave it in!" he said. John turned on the holo-screen to see Senator Powell in front of the capital building surrounded by military officers and priests. The whole world was watching.
Senator Powell spoke, “We have learned the actions taken yesterday in the square are the result of Muslim extremists. They decided to attack us because we are free and they hate that the one true God has chosen our country to take part in. Today, we mourn the death of all the Red Party leaders. Their memory will live on! They died in service to their country. These religiously-based terrorist attacks have plagued our nation for too long. It is time we put a stop to them! Today, for the good of our blessed country, we are suspending congressional procedure and temporarily removing the power of the courts in this dangerous time. For the good of the country, we are establishing martial law until new Red Party elections can be held and the perpetrators of this terrorist crime are brought to justice. We are setting a curfew starting tonight. Those wanting to run for positions in the Red Party should come to the capital building and apply. State Officers may come door-to-door searching for terrorists so please be patient and comply with their orders. We will have order. If you see anything suspicious, please report it to your local police. May God Bless America!”
