God is in the Rain

by Bruce Burk

  The trees soared high above his head. As he walked into nature, whispers echoed throughout the forest. He felt the voices calling him into a certain direction. He lifted his leg over branches and hacked away at brush with his knife as he passed. All day he travelled through the forest. As the sun was getting sleepy, he made camp. The night brought the voices out with particular frivolity. They twist and turned in the night like a bad dream. As he quickly got up from his forest bed, he saw the ghost-like image of old man. The figure was about 50 feet in front of him. The man exclaimed, “Hello? Who’s there? Who are you?” He ran towards the figure and tripped over a branch. Slowly, he lifted his head up from the ground and the figure was gone. He walked cautiously through the forest. The voices surrounded him in a choir of whispers. He hid himself behind a tree. The apparition appeared right behind him. After he leaped back from fright, the being was gone again.

  The voices intensified. He ran towards them yet again. Deep into the forest the voices guided him. The light from the moon began to fade as the man slowly followed the figure. The man followed it towards the edge of a cliff over water and rocks. The apparition stood there as the voices danced around him. The figure pointed out to the man. “Seek the shadow of, “Iam … Iam. Seek the shadow of Iam.” The figure faded away. He turned around and saw a strange tribe of people with spears drawn. You could see only their eyes and the torches the brandished. One of the tribesmen smacked the man across the face with the blunt of their sword and they dragged him off into the forest.

  Days and weeks passed as John, Clark, and Gavin trained. They fasted for days at a time while learning combinations of martial arts and military technique. They were gaining significant skills in acrobatic skills and the use of deception in combat. Clark provided John and Gavin with all present knowledge of military systems by hacking the Universal Database.

  Yet, sadly, John had been having nightmares about Sophia, tossing and turning in his sleep. He saw horrible images of her being whipped across the back and drenched in blood with crosses burning all around her. Like most dreams, it lasted for only the last few minutes of his sleep and the rest of it was a total blur.

  John shot out of bed in a panicked sweat. Startled, Clark woke up as well. “What’s wrong?” Clark asked. “I have to find Sophia. I can’t let her rot in Eidolon’s melting world any longer. She could be suffering. Who knows what they’ll do to her,” John said. The next morning they sat in darkness by candlelight as always. John interrupted his grandfather, “I need to leave the chambers tonight. I must go and find Sophia.” Grandfather smiled and paced slowly through the room. “You must realize that being a Knight comes before all else. The Earth is depending on you. We are the guardians of the natural law and human survival on planet earth. Surely you learned in the very early days that all relationships, even that of your family must be second. For that matter, a great deal must be second to our order,” John said.

  “She’s the daughter of the dead Red Party Senate leader. They will be inspired by her and stand by her. The people need her, if we are to restore the Old Republic. She is the symbol of the country we used to have,” John replied.

  “Very well. You can go to her. But you will not go unburdened. Gavin. Take this.” Grandfather handed him a necklace that looked like dog tags. “Son, don’t ever lose this,” he said. Gavin looked closely at the tags. There wasn’t much to see but hundreds of tiny lines. “Your eyes fail you. That necklace has the constitutions of all major republics engraved up on it in nano-print. The Knights are in the business of preserving general order on Earth and we have always supported the limiting of governments by constitutions. That is why you must keep this. It is the only one of its kind.” Gavin placed the tablets around his neck. “I shall guard them with my life,” Gavin said. “We shall leave tomorrow for the city,” John said. “It is unwise for you to leave before you complete your training and face your fears,” said Grandfather. “The Earth needs you to protect it.” “Protect it I shall Grandfather,” John replied.

  Gavin and Clark stood outside the chamber with some computers laying all over the rocks. “I’m entering the code now. We’re going to find your T-28. Ah, here it is. It’s being flown remotely over Moscow right now. Here hand me those wires,” Clark said. Gavin brought Clark a series of electronic components. Clark assembled the components so he could intercept the flight using satellite signals. Clark started the process, “alright if I can … just … intercept the Centcom encrypted communication commands … Gotchya!”

  Clark steered the T-28 off course. Immediately, Clark turned on the cloaking abilities of the aircraft. However, one of the One State fighters saw the Thunderbird-28 enter cloaking mode. The One State pilot sent some communication to his officers about the incident.

  “It’s been cleared, Officer. Records in the database shown this is needed in Northcom for terror abrogating activities,” the OS officer said. “Thank you Clark. I’ve missed my Thunderbird. I’d hate for it to be in the hands of Eidolon for long,” Gavin said. After several hours, twilight approached. The Thunderbird appeared and slowly landed in the forest. The wind from its engines blew the trees and the grass back and marvelously came to a rest on the ground. Gavin rushed to her and graced the front of the cockpit. “She’s as beautiful as ever,” he said happily. The two began to make some customizations to the Thunderbird to prepare her for her journey. The Thunderbird was a larger aircraft that could hold at least 10 people inside who could walk around. Inside were computers and high-tech spying equipment. There were laser cannons and missile launchers on each wing.

  In the morning, the three left from the chambers and were preparing to leave. “I fear for what the world has become,” John said. “We have to stick together and blend in. We will act as though we live amongst them: disappear,” he said seriously. The three of them got in the thunderbird and took off. Grandfather watched as the three men disappeared into the sky. “Godspeed young rebels. The world is in your hands,” he said with a sense of hope.

  The ship flew over the streets of the One State fluttered with military marches. The buildings were covered with One State flag states. They landed on top of a living square complex. It appeared that most people were gone for the day. They left the aircraft, which lay invisible on top of the building. They looked down onto the streets – no guards around.

  They entered the building to find a man’s abandoned living square. They broke down the door and went in. The holo-screen was on: “Today, we have brought justice to another 20 terrorists to the One State. They would not relinquish their terrorist views so they were executed as his just and nobleness Eidolon has required,” the reporter said.

  The room felt different then, a normal living square had been. Clark picked up a tablet and read through some of the news headlines, “TERRORISTS ALIVE AND WELL, THE ONE STATE PURGE, THE WISDOM OF EIDOLON, HOW EIDOLON SOLVED WORLD PEACE AND HUNGER …”

  One State flags were hanging in the room near a place kneel. Gavin poured himself a glass of water from the faucet and put it to his lips for a drink. “Pfffffffft yuck. I think this water has some heavy chemicals in it. They’re probably trying to keep everybody nice and docile with one of those chemicals that was used in the old days,” Gavin said.

  Clark sat down at the desktop holo-screen and brought up a search function. He typed in the word, “EIDOLON.” Thousands of records came up about all the great things that he was doing. Then he typed in, “EIDOLON CORRUPT.” There were no records. He typed in another word, “CONSTITUTION.” No records came up. He typed in another word, “Freedom.” There was Nothing. It was amazing just how much trust people placed in Universal Database search engines. How were they to know whether the results had been presented to them in an honest way and not curated or edited for devious ends. He tried several other words: revolution, natural law, liberty, democracy, human rights … there were no records. Gavin grabbed the tags around his neck and took a deep breath – one filled with both a sense of duty and sheer awe at wh
at was between his fingers. Suddenly, they heard the door start to open. “Quick, hide!” John said.

  Gavin and Clark jumped into a closet while John hid inside the pantry. The man walked into his apartment and threw his jacket onto the couch. He opened the pantry while looking down at his tablet and reached right over John’s shoulder to pull out some dehydrated beef which he placed into a hydration machine. He went into his bedroom and continued to brows on his tablet. His feet crossed right next to Gavin’s face. Some dust got caught into Clark’s nose and he began to squint as if he was about to sneeze. The man stopped and put his head up as if he had heard something but then continued to walk back into the living room.

  The man started preparing his meal in the kitchen. John slowly opened the pantry door and walked towards the man. As he approached he accidentally pushed the man’s tablet off the counter and it slammed loudly to the floor. The man turned around rapidly. “Ahhhhh. Who are you?” John threw his arms up innocently. John stared down at the tablet which read, “TERRORIST WATCH: Be on the look for any suspicious activity.” John said to him, “We’re … One State police. We’re undercover and we’re searching for potential terrorist activity.” The man paused briefly. “Oh well, why didn’t you say so! Please feel free to look around wherever you like. Praise to Eidolon I have nothing to hide and will assist in capturing the terrorists in any way I can.”

  “My name is Bob … Bob Loyalist. Here, let me scan my hand for you.” Clark walked into the room. “Well Bob I just wanted to ask you a few things to make sure you haven’t been engaging in any terrorist activity,” said Clark. “Yes sir! Of course here have a seat. Let me get you some food sir,” Bob replied. They sat on the couch and were fed dehydrated chicken, carbonated beverages, and pasta. Clark turned to Bob to ask some questions. The three were glancing at each other, still in disbelief that Bob was being so friendly to someone who just walked right into his living square.

  “Mr. Loyalist, would you ever disobey any of Eidolon’s laws? Do you believe in the undeniable benevolence of him? Clark said. “Of course sir! Eidolon knows what is best for us. He rid the world of the horrors of religion and has made the world one family. I could not be more proud to serve him. To question him is treason! But of course, I would never want to. I have complete faith in him and would give my life for him,” said Bob.

  Clark looked into John’s eyes with sheer despair and sadness. John turned to Mr. Loyalist and put his hand on his shoulder, “Do you believe that Eidolon and the One State are providing a society where you are allowed to be free?” John asked. “What do you mean by ‘free’? What does that mean?” Bob answered. John laughed out loud as the three looked at each other again in complete surprise. “It’s when people are allowed to do what they want without the government telling them what to do, John said. Mr. Loyalist stared into John’s eyes confused. “How would that even work? Society is based off of order and it’s impossible to have order without the people being obedient to the government. What a silly idea! That would be complete chaos! Obviously I would never desire to live in such a society. If you’re trying to trick me with questions then you’ll have to do better than that!” Bob answered sarcastically.

  “I think we’ve heard enough,” John said. As John was heading towards the door, he tripped on a box of crackers that he had kicked out when he came out of the pantry. He fell forward onto the floor. As he his body hit ground the Egyptian Book of the Dead flew from John’s bag and slid to Mr. Loyalist’s feet. He then bent over slowly to pick up the book and glanced at its cover. After a long pause, Bob handed the book back to John. I’m sure you’ll be needing this … Bob stared at the three rebels suspiciously. “Well, sir if you would please. I have work to do. I don’t want to keep you from your duties any longer,” he said.

  Having discovered the state of humanity in this brave new world, they headed out the door. “Nice going,” said Gavin. “Maybe I should be carrying those,” Gavin told John. They walked down the hallway while slowly staring at the numbers of the living square doors. “I’ve got a bad feeling,” said Clark. “Relax I’m sure everything’s fine,” said Gavin.

  Suddenly, a laser blast blew past John’s head. “You there! Stop! You’re under arrest!” John returned fire, hitting the walls near the elevators. “Run! Head back to the Thunderbird,” Gavin said. Clark went and checked the doors. “The door to the roof is locked!” Clark said.

  John blasted one of the guards while two more officers continued to return fire. Clark was pinned down against a wall while multiple blaster shots flew by his head. “What are we going to do we’re trapped!’ Clark said. John pulled out his matter sword. “This is your last warning. Drop your weapons,” the guard said. John squeezed the handle of the sword and it extended into its full form, glowing blue like a Spartan warrior sword. He gripped it with both hands and began to walk forward in the middle of the hallway.

  The guard shouted, “Drop the sword or you’re dead.” The world seemed to go into slow motion at that point. The guard fired his rifle straight at John’s head. The red beam of light exited the rifle and slowly travelled toward John at around 96 kilometers per hour. John swung his matter sword at the blast and sliced it down the middle. In doing so, the matter sword became charged with energy. Then he swung it around and pointed the end directly towards the guard and the blast was released back at him. It struck the guard in the chest and he fell to the ground. The same series of events was repeated with the second guard. The rebels went downstairs to the lobby only to find several more guards awaiting and shooting laser blasts at them.

  “Clark, see if you can hack into the system and turn off the alert. Tell the system there is no longer a threat and turn off all nearby surveillance systems,” John requested. Clark used his head mounted projector to display a hologram of code and screens in front of him. He slid a screen of code to the side and typed in many series of code. Meanwhile, Gavin was an excellent shot and was also managing to redirect all incoming blaster fire with his matter sword. Clark deleted the alert from local command stations and quickly was able to shut down all surveillance in the area. He also entered code telling the system that it was a drill. “There we go John. It’s lights out,” Clark said. John slicked through one guard on his right and another on his left. He ran through two guards at the same time with his matter sword. With just one guard left trying to flee, John threw the matter sword and impaled the last guard through the chest. Unfortunately, Clark had been unable to locate Sophia’s location. So they knew they would have to start searching for information the old-fashioned way.

  CHAPTER 10 - COMRADE

  John, Gavin, and Clark headed out into the streets amongst a bustling crowd wearing civilian clothes. This time, there were no election signs or people soliciting for various political whims. Crowds were quickly racing into stores to purchase gadgets, reality show commercials displayed on holo-screens, and the children played “Catch the Terrorist” in the streets. One of the kids ran right up to John, “Pew, Pew! I’ll get you terrorists!” The child said. The holo-screen on the sides of the buildings a marvelous array of a gladiator fight was showing. Aiden sat atop the stands as two men fought shirtless with swords. “Common, Gavin. Let’s go get a drink. Let’s see what we can learn about Sophia’s whereabouts,” John said. They headed into O'Shea's Irish Pub, swiping their hands on a scanner with the guard at the door. The bar was filled with brutes and shady looking chums. Irish music played in the background. John walked up to the bar and ordered a drink.

  “What kind of a wussy drink is that?” A man said with his back turned to John. He turned around with a smirk on his face and said, “Hello my friend, my name is Kaslov. Bartender, see to it that my friend gets a house special. So, what brings you around these parts?” “We’re just in town looking for a friend,” John replied. “Ah, searching for the woman you love. Your face and voice are a terrible cloak for what your eyes say,” said Kaslov. “I can also tell that you're hiding something in your bag,” said Kasl
ov. “What gave you such a ridiculous idea?” John said. “I'm a smuggler: a professional at concealment. And you … you are an amateur: an open e-book for me to read. My men are professionals. We can get anything your eyes desire,” Kaslov said in a thick Russian accent. “What if I desire a prisoner? Can you bring me that?” John asked.

  Suddenly, the doors flew open and several One State Police officers entered the room. They scanned the room from the door and began to casually walk around the bar. Gavin and Clark stayed hidden within the crowd, keeping a close watch on John. Two of the guards looked suspiciously at Kaslov while looking through their tablets as if searching the records for him. One of the OSS approached Kaslov. “Sir please swipe your hand here,” the OSS guard said. “There’s no problems here,” Kaslov said still having a drink. “Swipe your hand here or you’ll be under arrest.” Kaslov swiped his hand on the OSS officer’s machine.

  “Mr. Kaslov. There are records of time where you were not under surveillance as commanded by the chancellor. Can you account for your whereabouts in the last two days?” the officer asked. “Of course, my friend. I was merely painting in my home. Sometimes the cameras in my square - they break. Shitty American design most likely,” Kaslov said as he had a sip of vodka. The other officer looked at John dead in the eyes. With a curious look, he stared down at John’s bag. “What you got in there, boy?” an OS guard asked John. “Oh, just some freeze dried food for the wife,” John said. “You citizen scum make me sick.” The guard punched John across the face and bloodied his lip.

  One of the guards tapped his earpiece and then quickly pushed Kaslov onto the bar table and began to bind his hands with electronic cuffs. “Kaslov, you are under arrest for your role in the black market cartels,” the OSS said to Kaslov. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Kaslov said calmly. The OSS officer turned to escort Kaslov out forcefully. By this time, Gavin was standing near the front door, and Clark was on the side of the bar away from the group. John knew that there was something special about this man. He did not want him to slip away into the hands of Eidolon. John looked firmly towards Gavin at the door and raised his hand signaling to Gavin to save Kaslov.