God is in the Rain

by Bruce Burk

  In the Thunderbird, John opened the Book of Remembering. The book seemed to turn cold as images of snow and ice filled the pages. “Aristotle believed the next branch is hidden somewhere in Siberia with the Kets,” John read. “Old Russia? Well I'll be damned.” Gavin said as he fired up the ship and the rebels flew towards the land of ice.

  As the ship flew through the air, Clark sat on his tablet as the rest of the crew were sleeping. Clark had built some special code that detected unusual activity throughout the world. An alarm went off on his tablet in the Old China region. He hacked into a glass camera of a Chinese man in the area to see what was going on. He saw images of a man marching through the streets of Beijing alongside a large group of protestors. Men, women and children were hoisting signs into the air and wearing traditional Chinese clothing. It was as if the longest standing cultural tradition on the planet was itself marching through the streets.

  “John wake up! John you need to see his,” Clark said. John’s eyes fluttered open and with concern, he grabbed the tablet. Looking through the point of view on the man on the street, he saw the crowd march toward a blockade of OSS officers. The man was chanting, “沒有一個世界政府.” Drones were flying all around the crowd and several tanks were filling the streets. A line of tanks moved toward the large crowd of protesters. Clark and John could see through the man's eyes as he began to walk forward. He left the group and walked toward the line of tanks. The crowd drew silent and the air stood still. The heart of the military industrial complex stopped beating. The tanks came to a hard stop as the man stood there in name of Chinese freedom. The crowd grew to a cheer. John felt his nose crinkle and eyes slightly water from what he had just seen. Suddenly, the Chinese OSS commander came onto the holo-screen overlooking the entire square: “Cease your terrorist activities immediately ... or else,” he commanded. The crowd began to yell out of anger and frustration at the suppression of their culture. Then, they rushed towards the line of OSS officers in their riot gear. The tanks rushed forward as the man dove out of the way. Clark's holo-screen shook as the camera became unstable. The protesters met with the OSS officers and the first line of them were slaughtered. The OSS penetrated the crowd shooting at many of the men. They took the Chinese dragons from them, destroyed some of the Chinese architecture surrounding the square, and murdered hundreds of thousands of the protestors. Finally, the Chinese man disappeared into a fog of tear gas. It was clear that the people were no longer free to express even non-religious traditions.

  John set down the tablet and looked out the Thunderbird as the sky flew past him. “We need to act. We can’t let this action go unanswered. It is our duty to stop this level of oppression,” John said. “What’s that?” Gavin asked as he walked into the room. “Gavin, the One State has committed a mass crime against humanity in destroying and outlawing cultural traditions that have lasted for thousands of years,” John said. “What else is new?” Gavin replied. “You said earlier that you were afraid if Eidolon’s oppression of the people got to big, humanity might no longer have the will or capability to resist. I believe your right. That is why we must act. The people must see defiance against the One State, in public so that the spirit of rebellion is kept alive. You and Clark need to go and kill the Chinese Commander,” John requested. “You mean before the revealing of the information from the Book of Remembering?” Gavin asked. “Yes. I just … don’t think it can wait,” John added with hesitation. Gavin saw the images on the holo-screen of Chinese protesters being murdered and their cultural imagery smashed and estimated.

  “Nothing would delight me more than to take that out that monster,” Gavin said. The Thunderbird’s alarm went off. “We’re coming up on the 2nd location now,” he added. Sophia came into the room. She had really recovered now and was looking beautiful and brave: a true symbol of the Old Republic. Sophia and John put on parachutes and skydived from the Thunderbird while Clark and Gavin headed to Old China. The air rushed passed Sophia and John as they held hands. The ground caught up to them as they landed in a field of snow and ice.

  John held Sophia’s hand as they walked through the snow that was as white as clouds. They came up to various Slavic idol statues. Their faces and bodies resembled gods and goddesses of nature, dancing amongst the snowy clouds. “I guess some of the older religious symbols are still around … must not be on the radar of the One State … at least for now,” John said. Sophia had a look of despair on her face. She would continue glancing at John through the thick animal fur of her hood and then she would look back into the depths of her soul.

  “This is kind of romantic don’t you think? You … me out here in this snowy paradise,” John said sarcastically. “Yea … it’s great,” Sophia said hesitantly. “Hey what’s wrong?” John asked. “I’ve just … I’ve been thinking a lot about the first natural law that we found,” she said. “Yea? What do you think?” John asked.

  “I just see you in a different light, like I understand love differently. It’s like, love isn’t some sort of emotion that I feel, its ... it has to do with consciousness with a revelation of the soul. Love is the recognition of the oneness of two souls. Almost like they are extensions of yourself, to be treated the same way you would treat your own body; you care for it, you pay attention to it, you protect it,” she said. John grabbed Sophia and kissed her. When their lips touched their souls slow danced on their insides as they expressed true love. John held Sophia close as the cold began to grow stronger. Suddenly, the wind picked up. The sky opened up and blew a harsh gust of air onto the two of them. The snowstorm was an unyielding tormenter as it blew them from side to side, while the snow encapsulated their feet. Sophia began to fall down into the snow, too weak to move forward.

  “Come on! We have to keep moving,” John said while he struggled in the storm. Her feet felt like lead as she tried to lift them to walk. She fell into the snow, fainting from the cold weather. John picked her up out of the snow and carried her on his shoulder. John too began to grow weak from the cold. He tried his communication device but it had broken from the cold weather. Once again, he looked up to the sky with a feeling of spite and anger.

  “Now you will allow me to die too? Out here in this blizzard?” John said, shouting at the sky. John began to slow even more as he carried his heavy body through the cold. His skin felt like it was crawling with needles and his heart began to grow tired of pushing the cold blood through his veins. He dropped to his knees in despair and anguish. “You truly have died,” John yelled into the heavens. Suddenly, a spiritual aurora appeared in front of him. “… Grandfather?” John said. “John, you must not lose the faith. You represent all this good in this world,” Grandfather said to him. “Eidolon … he’s destroying the culture of humanity. We’ll never be able to restore it,” he responded. “He cannot destroy what is in the fabric of the universe around you. John, the natural law is not only found in the Book of Remembering. It is also self-evident. It is all around you. It is within you,” Grandfather said as he faded away.

  “No … wait … I need you,” John said. A sled carried by dogs penetrated grandfather’s sprit as it faded away. The man put John and Sophia on his sled before whipping the dogs towards town. John and Sophia woke up in an abandoned hut near a fire and in warm blankets. “You nearly died out there my friend,” said Kaslov. “Kaslov?” John said. “I told you I had your back. My comrade saw you out in the snowstorm and brought you here. You’re both lucky to be alive,” Kaslov said. “What are you doing in Old Russia? I thought you operated in Old America?” John asked. “I get around. Running the markets behind the government’s back is a lot of work. Sometimes I want to relax at my home,” he responded. “Thank you so much for saving us,” Sophia said. “For the beautiful woman of Shepard … anything. Since we are in the business of doing each other favors now, I thought you might be interested in helping me. The government is having a ball at the Ice Palace here in town. They are unveiling a new technology that I would very much like to have for myself.
Can you help me?” Kaslov asked.

  “Wait … the Ice Palace?” John said as he opened the Book of Remembering and saw that the Ice Palace was built on top of where the book believed the second branch to be. “Yes. Let’s leave at once. Tonight ... the Knights will know two victories,” he said.

  CHAPTER 15 - ICE

  The marvelous Liyuan Theater filled with actors and actresses in a festival of lights and sounds. Clark sat amongst the crowd as the show went on. “The show has begun,” Clark said into his comlink. “Copy that Clark. I am entering the building now,” Gavin said as he shot a harpoon onto the top of theatre. The once beautifully decorated theatre was now covered in One State symbolism with a statute of Eidolon standing tall on the top. Gavin flew onto the top of the building and landed in ready position in the shadows. His face was concealed with a hood covered his face in a shadow. He was wearing the dark grey robe of the Knights of the Living Earth. It had a pin on the front in the shape of the earth. The arms and legs were covered in Native American decorations.

  The play was a marvelous show of the One State triumphing over terror and the glorious creation of the One State. However, the writers of the play had obviously taken artistic license with the timing and events of Eidolon’s rise to power.

  “The commander is in the top suite. Other OSS officers are with him,” Clark said as the Opera singer’s voice rose to the height of the theatre. Gavin then shot a harpoon onto one of Eidolon’s arms and swung down across the side of the theatre. His feet glided softly against the concrete and windowpanes while he swung. As he came to a stop at one of the windows on top of the theatre, he smashed through the window with his matter sword and entered the building.

  Clark watched as the One State leader of the play sang triumphantly while he vanquished the terrorist. They sang the One State World Anthem as the terrorist actor lie in a pool of blood on the floor. The Commander watched with a smile as they hunted for the next terrorist while sitting in his chair having a cigar. Gavin burst through the broken glass. Two guards saw him and quickly tried to turn and blast him but Gavin rolled in between, sprang from his summersault, extended his arms and shot each of them simultaneously from his wrist mounted blasters. They fell to the ground as Gavin rushed toward the top suite.

  “Allow me to provide you with some cover,” Clark said as he cut all security alarms and lights within the top suite. Now, many of the various military men and leaders were quite startled when the lights were cut. The powerful men coward as the scrambled to find themselves from the faint light coming into the room. Suddenly, the lights flickered on and Gavin was standing right behind the Commander, as if he had appeared there out of thin air. The lights went out again. The men scrabbled to find themselves. “Commander! Commander,” one of the men yelled in the darkness. The lights flickered on again. The Commander had vanished. The play began to reach a climax where the Chinese Commander was hoisted into the air by the citizens like a god. The choir’s voices rang in harmony throughout the theatre with voluminous carry. The actor playing the Commander was raised high up into the air as the citizens voices sang him praise.

  “Time for lights out,” Clark said as the lights in the theatre suddenly went out. Of course, to the audience, the darkness was simply part of the play. When the lights came back on, the Chinese Commander of the One State hung by his neck as the people below him cheered. The audience gasped in shock as pictures and video recordings of him hanging there began to flood the Universal Database. Clark made sure to capture the event himself. He set up some code so that the images would flood the database and reproduce every time it was deleted. All of Old China rejoiced in the streets as the tyrant hung. As expected, the theatre was quickly closed. The hearts of the Chinese people rejoiced. Their souls were filled with the one thing that powers soul more than anything: the hope of freedom. John and the Clark disappeared like winged birds into the shadows.

  Meanwhile, John and Sophia walked into the ball. The Ice Palace was a gorgeous scenery. Almost everything was made of ice, from the cocktail glasses to the walls, from the tables, to the sculptures of various military officer’s busts. John was dressed quite dapperly in his suit while Sophia’s gorgeous body filled her sky blue dress with the most marvelous feminine curvature. John felt strange being out in the open like this but he had clearly underestimated Kaslov’s abilities. One State military officers and leaders were telling their stories around gambling tables, cocktails and self-glory. Sophia sat at the bar with an ice-cocktail and was approached by an OSS officer.

  “Hello gorgeous,” the Officer said as he kissed her hand. “Hi,” Sophia said as he internally rolled her eyes and managed to put on one of those fake and polite smiles. “I have killed hundreds of terrorists. I’m very highly ranked in the OSS. Would you like to dance with me?” The officer asked. That was how most men in the military party measured themselves: kills and rank. “That’s going to be difficult to do when she’s dancing with me,” John said with a cigar in hand as he pulled Sophia from the bar onto the dance floor. He pulled her close as they slow danced to cool Russian Jazz piano. “I can’t leave you out of my sight,” John said. “I can handle myself,” Sophia said as she gestured to a key held snug between her breasts that she had swiped off the guard.

  “I love you,” John said. The two rebels snuck away from the party and found a strange door away from the rest of the party. Kaslov and his men blended into the party, playing the gambling tables, waiting for the OSS to reveal their new technology. Sophia put the key into the strange door and John and Sophia disappeared from the party into the basement of the Ice Castle. They entered the basement to find the sound of multiple generators and machines helping to uphold the castle of ice. John opened up the Book of Remembering.

  “We should be right on top of the second temple right now,” John said. “But where is it?” Sophia asked as they continued to walk past wires and into a small passageway carved out of the ice. Finally, they came to a room that was decorated in Slavic mythological statues and art.

  “The One State must have found this when they were building this place,” John said. He turned the pages of the book, and read “The second branch is held by Stribog in the temple of snow and ice,” he read. He placed his hands across the Zbruch idols: these long rectangular stone sculptures. John continued to read, “Sadko’s song open’s Stribog’s door.”

  John played an ancient Russian chord progression on the sculpture of Sadko. Suddenly, a small door opened in the middle of the statutes and art. John lowered Sophia down into the snowy cave below. The air was getting noticeably colder, and it was getting harder to carry their bodies toward the second branch. They jumped down several levels of pathway covered in snow and ice. The pathway became separated and they were forced to leap amongst stone pillars of ice. Then, they climbed down a ladder, further into the depths of the ice cave. Suddenly, the piece of wood that held Sophia in place gave out and she fell, screaming towards the bottom. John grabbed her arm as she hung watching the pieces of snow and wood fall from above her.

  “You’re alright,” John said as he carried her on his back down to the bottom safely. The continued down another path, forcing them through a narrow passage of ice. The rebels came to a narrow passageway up against the rock side overlooking the abyss of ice. John and Sophia shuffled their feet across the passageway. John accidently stepped on some rock’s. He shook and almost lost his balance as the rock’s fell into oblivion. They headed into the final room and found a long flat walkway of gorgeous flat ice. Suddenly, a dead body came into their vision as well as digging equipment. The rushed to the pillar at the end of the room.

  “Someone has been here already, “ John said. “You don’t think … the OSS found the branch … do you?” John asked. Suddenly, John’s comlink came on, “Where are you John, they are starting the auction. And it seems whoever wins the item will get to test it out on some old religious statutes,” Kaslov said. “Kaslov, is there a statute of Stribog?” John asked. Kaslov respond
ed, “Yes my friend, they’re auction it off soon.” Please don’t let that statue get destroyed!” John said. “I’ll see what I can do,” Kaslov said as sat down. The auction began by a OSS General speaking at the podium, “Hello my fellow leaders and soldiers of the One State. Today we grow stronger in our fight against terrorism. Voilà! View the majesty of our new weapon!”

  Some of the other guards brought him a prototype weapon. “This is the targeted EMP. With it, we can disable terrorist electronic devices while our weapons remain intact. Take this trooper to my right,” he said. The general pointed the gun at the trooper who was carrying two large blaster rifles. The trooper then blasted the wall to demonstrate that his weapons were working. The general then shot him with the EMP gun. The EMP glowed with a blue tint and made a sharp noise at is it disabled all the electronic devices on the trooper. The trooper then continued to fire his gun but to no avail. He had been completely disabled by the EMP. The crowd rose in applause to praise the marvels of the One State military industrial complex.

  “We shall use this technology in the fight against terrorism and for the security of the One State,” the general said, “Everyone is welcome to come try the prototype out in the testing area at any time during the auction,” he said. Kaslov then got in line for the prototype as his men swarmed the exits. The bidding in the auction occurred in the new world currency: the Bancor.