by Bruce Burk
“Alright. I’ve got those bastards in my scopes,” Liam said in an Australian accent. “I’ve got your back,” another fighter said. Liam fired several missiles into the hull of the OS cruisers. But very little damage was done. “They’ve got protective armor. Let’s pull around and see if we can find a weak spot,” he said. Liam and the others took advantage of the OS’s cruisers, who were powerful, but slow. Just then, the command ship entered the water. It fired several torpedoes, taking out two of the rebel fighters. “Command! Do we have a cyber-attack?” Liam asked. Clark’s hacking minions quickly tried to find the code controlling their underwater opponents. “Let’s try to draw them away from the base, head for that coral over there,” said Liam. The fighters drew into a very narrow outgrow of coral and rock. They weaved in and out of the rock. “Let’s see you catch us now!” Liam said. But the OS cruiser’s grew tired of playing cat and mouse. As expected, they did not care about destroying nature to achieve their ends. An OS cruiser bombed the coral and smothered several of the rebel ships. Liam and two other fighters remained against the whole OS Navy. “I need more ships!” Liam said. Several more ships entered the water but were quickly destroyed in a massive underwater blast. Sophia searched deep inside herself, attempting to speak to all the plant life around her for help. The large OS cruiser put Liam in their sights. “Goodbye terrorist,” the OSS naval officer said, firing a missile straight for Liam. It shot through the water.
Suddenly, a large octopus swam in the way, grabbed the missile and sent it straight for the command ship. “Got it!” Clark’s minions said. Just in time for the missile to arrive, the cruiser’s defenses were disabled. The creatures of the ocean surrounded the rebel base. Goblin sharks, whales, giant dragon fish, chimaera, vampire squid, and other alien-like creatures of the deep came to the aid of the rebels, attaching themselves to the outside of the ships and ripping them into pieces. “Yes!!” Liam shouted, watching the creatures devour his enemies. “You don’t see that every day.”
On the surface, large OS Navy ships were ripped apart by giant squid and pulled down to Davy Jones’ Locker. All naval bases and carriers were sucked down into the ocean by the creatures of the deep. They had purged the One State from their aquatic dwelling. The rebel base erupted in joy. They had won their first battle. A crowd applauded Sophia as she walked by a large glass window. Schools of fish swam around her. They seemed to bow her.
“Quickly! We must assure Aiden does not get away!” John said. They ran to the top of the ruler’s platform. They killed some of the last dark marines in the arena. They hurried up the steps to the platform. John came to the top of the platform and ran towards the back. There he saw Aiden and several dark marines retreating onto a ship. “Stop!” John said. Aiden turned around as the doors to ship were closing. “Goodbye Shepard. I hope you enjoy my parting gift for you. Aiden threw a charge onto the floor. John, Clark, and Gavin jumped out of the way. The ruler’s platform exploded. John saw Elizabeth’s limp body falling and caught her as wood and cement fell down onto the lower seats. Gavin pulled them into a lower room. John caught Elizabeth’s body and lay her on the floor of the booth. He patted her stomach and saw she was bleeding badly. “Everything’s going to be fine,” John said to her in a caring voice. “I’m finished, and glad,” Elizabeth said, coughing. “We saw what you did. You were so brave.” John said. Elizabeth stared into John’s eyes, “Tell Sophia that she was right about me. It’s better to die than to live under oppression.” “Stay with me,” John said. “No. I can see the light. Iam the trees. Iam the birds. Iam the earth. Everything is connected. And it’s beautiful,” she said. Just then, Elizabeth passed away. John stood at the top of the platform on the ruble and addressed the crowd, “Citizens of the Old Republic, the time has come to reclaim what is yours and reestablish a government of the people. Rise up and claim the freedoms that you have been denied.”
CHAPTER 29 - REVOLT
The citizens stormed out of the arena and returned to their living squares. The knights quickly disappeared into the shadows. Bob hurried inside his square and shut the door. The streets were chaos. Bob looked out the window and saw people running through the streets. No one knew what would happen. It was curious that the OSS were not in the streets that day. It was like they took the day off. Suddenly, the holo-screen came on and the media, as usual, told Bob what to think. One of the ways they did that was to tell Bob, who had no way of verifying to the contrary, that a large group of the populous was doing or thinking something as a contrivance for telling Bob what they wanted him to think. It appeared the media and the Database must have still been under control of the One State.
“Breaking news today, the terrorists are still at large and have infected the general population. State officials are saying that the terrorists attempted and did kill civilians in the arena today and that they have spread false images of Eidolon being killed. In fact, this is not the case. People are saying they believe Eidolon is still strong and the One State will seek out these terrorists. Living square sweeps will begin today to search for these terrorists. Anyone found to be in agreement or in support of the terrorists will be treated as an enemy combatant. Polls by the Universal Database show that the country is 99% in support of the One State,” the anchor said. Then, Bob heard the knocks on the door.
Meanwhile, the residents of Old Boston watched the images from the arena. The cells within their body heightened in their self-awareness, like memories of times of old became present again. The matter which constructed their bodies and the water which gave them life was the same of their ancestors. Deep down, they shared their fervor and zeal; their deep seated desire to revolt in the face of oppression. A young man named Crispus became enraged with what he had seen. He organized a group of protestors and headed for the local OS Command Center in Boston.
Back in the One State Capital, Aiden quickly stormed into the room which controlled the database. Some of the other ruling party members were there. “Aiden, now that Eidolon is dead, we demand a special hearing to see who will take his place as the new Emperor,” one OS commander said. “Yes of course commander, just let me get out of this jacket,” Aiden said as he reached into his pockets and released a handful of mind drones into the room. In a swarm of chaos, the drones flew into the brains of the ruling party. The commander covered his ears, but the drone stung the commander in the back of the neck, penetrated his skin, and crawled up his spine into his brain. “Ahhhhh!” the commander yelled. “Bow before your emperor!” Aiden said. The ruling party’s eyes turned to red and they fell on their knees. “Who do you select as your new Emperor … captain?” Aiden asked. “I Nominate Aiden as the new Emperor!” the captain said in a robotic voice. The captain then removed his blaster from his waste and blew his brains out. The other members of the ruling party also committed suicide. However, perhaps it is not suicide if you are not doing it of your own free will, like thought-induced murder.
“My Lord, we have a situation. The citizens are protesting in the streets,” one officer said. “What a predicament. Slaves cannot do their jobs when they are dead. Though I despise their treasonous acts, it might be best to make efforts to keep them alive, at least the ones who prove to be easily controlled. Commander, you are instructed to use less lethal methods until further notice. Perhaps they are still malleable,” Aiden said.
Crispus and the other rebels marched into the streets of Boston. They were a thousand men strong. Up to the former City Hall they marched. Very quickly, the red-eyed OSS were there to greet them almost instantly. “You are in breach of our natural rights! Get out of the way!” Crispus said. The OSS, behind their riot shields, stood firm. The group of protesters grew in their numbers. They formed circles and sang songs, “Come, join hand in hand, brave Americans all! And rouse your bold hearts at fair Liberty's call; No tyrannous acts shall suppress your just claim, Or stain with dishonor Old America's name!”
The Knights found their way into a boarded up church. They had brought a small grou
p of citizens from the arena with them. John observed the Church’s old religious markings had been scratched off. Once great crosses had been totally burned. The structure of the building seemed weak. Some of the alter still had tiny crosses around its outline. He reflected. He felt a strange connection to the church. John felt that the religious markings inside of him had been scratched away. He ran his hand across a painting of what would have been Jesus at the last supper. The One state had scratched all the faces off. It was hardly recognizable.
Gavin came up to John’s side. He knew how important John’s faith had been to him and the transformation he had gone through. To believe in the principles that the religions uphold, while defending the existence of all religions. He placed his hand on John’s shoulder, “It can be rebuilt. The truth cannot be defeated.” John turned around smiled at his closest friend. “Yes. The words of God must lie within the human soul. They can be rewritten,” John said. Clark put up a holo-screen in the middle of the room. “John, come take a look at this,” Clark said. “There are still people in the concentration camps. They look set for extermination,” John said pointing to a holo-screen. “We will send several squads to release the prisoners in each state and get them into the general populous,” John said. And so they did. John sent rebel groups to every Old state in the country, freeing the captivated religious prisoners. He decided to lead a small group of rebels to a nearby Christian camp. After a short battle, all the doors of the prison swung opened. Skinny Christians walked out from their cells. Some of them still had the cross tattooed on their hands. Others had tried to remove it by scratching their hands with knives or dragging it against the wall. The ones who could fight came back with John to the abandoned church. Over the course of a few days, the church filled up with members of every religious belief as well as new members of the rebel army. John stood at the defiled alter of a once great cathedral. The crowd listened to him speak.
“Citizens of the Old Republic, we were once free to worship as we pleased; to seek out truth on their own, rather than be spoon-fed lies through state’s control of information. For the greater part of human history, we have had an us-and-them mentality when it came to our beliefs. We stirred language together in a pool of historical accounts and myth. We measured our ideological structures side-by-side, pointed out the inconsistencies, and accused each other of eternal damnation and hypocrisy. And, to our great shame, we justified the use of violence against each other. The writings of holy words are meant to be beacons of light in a dark world. But they lost their transformative abilities when we used them for power, ego, wealth, nationalism, imperialism, and hegemony. We, with blinders on our eyes, simply identified with the religions of our upbringings and then passed our beliefs to our children. We operated under the delusion that anyone can have a monopoly on truth. We built fences around our holy books and kept them from alteration under the presumption that God had finished speaking. And yet, we failed to see the tree amongst the branches. We drew lines of division where there was unity. Within the words of antiquity, each of our faiths contained radiating beams of truth, like diamonds in the desert or absolute moral principles of natural law uttered from the mouth of the cosmos itself. Today, we stand united under a common enemy. While many of our ancestors have fought amongst themselves, none of us would have wished the actions of the One State on our fellow man. Today, you stand freed from the decedent prisons that kept you yet you may still be clinging to a prison of moral thought that we are somehow still divided by our ideological lines. We need you. We need each and every one of you. We come here today to unite together under a few simple axioms: that we should all be free from oppression, that government should not control truth, that we deserve to be free, and that we agree much more than we don’t. I ask that you would hold the hand of the person next to you as a symbol of our unity,” John said.
Then, the hand of a Muslim, stained with the star and crescent, brushed up against the palm of the hand of a Jew marked with the Star of David. The hand of a Christian marked with the Cross brushed up against the hand of an atheist marked with a zero. The Buddhists held hands with the Hindus, and so forth. “Together, we can accomplish great things!” John said.
Back at the protest, the rebels were unaware that Aiden had ordered a provocateur to join them. He wore sunglasses to hide his eyes. He marched along with the rebels, chanting and singing, all be it awkwardly. Standing within the rebel’s circle, he fired is blaster, killing an OS officer. The OS stood silent. Even a dropped pin hushed its noise. The commanding officer fired straight for Crispus who fell dead in the streets. “Kill the terrorists!” the commander ordered. Then, sadly, the small group of rebels was massacred in the streets. Thousands of protestors lay bloodied and dead in the streets. Crispus breathed his last breath.
Back at Old Virginia, the citizens had formed a militia. The men drew their blasters. Though they had never written before, the women drew from their ancestors the words of revolt and freedom. They placed them on picket signs and hoisted them high into the air. Millions of people marched on the One State capital. A red-eyed officer approached Aiden, “Sir, a large group marches on the capital. Are we still to use less lethal forces?” “No. Our media propaganda and threats have not been effective. We need to show the world that I am not a forgiving Emperor. We need to show the world that terrorists will be made example of,” Aiden said. “Kill them. All of them.”
Clark interrupted the speech, “Sir, the OSS have slaughtered thousands of protestors in the streets of Old Boston. A new group of protestors now marches on the One State Capital. They march by the millions! They are set to be wiped out!” John used soul speak to communicate with Sophia back at the rebel base, “Sophia. The time has come. We must attack the One State Capital.” Sophia responded, “John, they aren’t ready. We still need more time! We haven’t created enough tanks and fighter jets! The printers only go so fast!”
“John,” said Dr. Verne, interrupting them. “We found something in a hidden area of Atlantis. There are millions of birds living in this grove. They look like eagles. There is a label stone at the front of the grove near a gate. It says, ‘Valkyries.’” “I’ve had enough of this damn government,” Gavin said. It’s time we reclaim the Old American colonies! It’s time that I take my country back,” he added. Everyone waited on John’s command. “Sophia. Give the order to send everything we have. Spread the troops between Boston, The OS Capital, Yorktown, and Charleston. Dr. Verne, release all of our animals that are capable of combat or transporting weaponry. Send all of our transports to be released near the shores.” John commanded. John was having flashes of the past from other Living Earth Masters that had lived before. He seemed to be getting instructions from them. He saw a vision of an old battle where a large group of eagles were used in battle by the Knights to stop an evil force. He saw visions of strange species known only to the Knights that were brought forward in times of trouble. “Release the Valkyries,” John added.
CHAPTER 30 - VALKYRIES
Two guards stood at their posts near the outer gate of the capital in a small security office. They really didn’t get to see a lot of action and mostly served to let the ruling party in and keep unwanted citizens out. However, even they were subject to the same droll that was used on the citizens. He walked out of the office to get something out of his speeder. “Damnit! I’m sick of finding all this pigeon shit on my speeder! Everyday! It’s like its falling from the skies,” he said as he looked up into the sky and saw a massive swarm of birds flying towards them. He stood there petrified. The other officer came to his side. “Huh. More pigeons?” the other officer asked. “… Those aren’t ... pigeons. They’re Eagles!?” They ran back into the office, “we need backup!”
The front of the capital was large field of green grass with statues of Eidolon and others from the ruling party. On that day, the citizens of the Old Republic marched on that grass toward the capital. It seemed to be at least fourteen million people. Bob’s holo-screen was still o
n in his empty apartment. “If you leave your house you will be attacked by terrorists!” the anchor said. “Everyone is very afraid today. Stay in your homes,” she said, barely able to hide the red in her eyes. The same message carried on every head mounted computer, every tablet, every holo-screen on the buildings in the business square. But it did not make a sound. Because there no ears there to hear it. The crowd of protesters approached the entire armada of OSS officers. They had surrounded the capital. The OSS raised their blasters. “Stand down terrorists!” said the commander. The crowd screamed a resounding, “No!” “So be it,” said the commander. The front line of the OSS moved their fingers onto the trigger of their blasters, preparing to fire on the people. Suddenly, they stopped after seeing a shadow overcome them. They looked up into the sky. Thousands of eagles flew above them. “They’re carrying guided missiles!” an officer said. “Attack!” John commanded. The eagle in front threw a missile from his left talon. The missile flew quickly towards the ground, destroying the front line of OSS officers.
Near the coast, thousands of tanks, speeders, and animals emerged from the water, lead by Sophia. She marched towards the capital leading the army. Liam marched in front. Kaslov led a group of rebels onto Yorktown where Dr. Verne led a group to Charleston and Gavin got on a ship and headed to Boston. Clark got into a mobile specialized tank with this other hacking friends. “Alright, let’s see how many of these robotic armies pieces we can shut down!” Clark said. John, with his group of rebels from all the religions ran out of the church and joined the protestors. They held their blasters high into the air and rushed on their government, united under the natural law.
