Catalyst Part I

by L D Strawser

  Chapter Five

  4000 years ago… Earth, Oracle of Delphi, Greece

  The supplicant waited patiently with the rest of the pilgrims. This Temple was known throughout the empire for its Oracle. She was blessed by the Gods and Goddesses with the ability to see into the fog of the future and divine its secrets. Most of these here had questions relating to their own personal lives, why ask about anything else. Those who were sent by various rulers would be asking about waging war on their neighbors or whether or not to embrace peace and commerce with this or that nation. The supplicant who sat so quietly away from the rest was different and her question was important not because of its significance for those around her but for future generations of humanity to come.

  What the priests and priestesses around her did not know was that she had visions of the future. Unfortunately, she was having these visions more often and one of them revealed to her that she must make this journey to the Oracle and ask what these visions were and how far in the future did they take place. She had already been here for a week knowing that the Oracle was delaying their eventual visit but not knowing why she would do so. She was royalty so they could not send her away without insult and they could not refuse to see her much longer for the same reason. One of the older priestesses was approaching even now, perhaps it was finally time.

  “We apologize for the delay. We would ask that you reconsider your question.”

  “Your apologies are not necessary. I understand the Oracle is very busy. I am confused by your request. Why would you ask me to reconsider my question when you do not know what I am here to ask?”

  “We have seen your arrival and it will cause great upheaval and many will die because of it. We beg you to reconsider.”

  This was unexpected. How could my question cause people to die? The ritual could be performed privately, it didn’t have to take place publically. Of course the rumors would be incessant since she was of a royal house but then rumors were practically a way of life at this point.

  “Would it help if my questions were asked privately?”

  “Unfortunately we see the same results if you ask you questions privately or publically.”

  “Since you seem to be so well informed already, what if I don’t speak my questions or go through the ritual and you just advise me based on your current knowledge.”

  The priestess looked stunned, as if this solution had not occurred to her or any of the others. She closed her eyes for a moment and when she opened them she looked as if she were torn between dilemmas.

  “Follow me.”

  The priestess led her through the Temple to a doorway in the back. The doorway let out into a small courtyard. The garden was simple but beautiful. They continued to a stairway that went below ground back towards the Temple itself. The stairway went deep into the ground and ended at the natural opening of a cave. A pathway had been worn into the rocks of the cave. They must be under the Temple by now. There was a strange mist on the air and strange smells as well. They stopped in a small underground chamber with a visible crack in the floor and the obvious source of the mists and smells. The other priestesses had already gathered here.

  “Will she not relent,” asked one of the younger novices.

  “She has presented us with a solution that we could not see.”

  The other priestesses looked stunned as if another solution could not be possible unless they had foreseen it for themselves.

  “We will advise her without her speaking her questions aloud and without ritual.”

  When presented with this information the others closed their eyes and for a moment they all seemed in harmony with each other. When they opened their eyes they had the same look on their faces as the older priestess had had up above.

  “My advice is for you to stay with us and never return to your kingdom, it will only bring you sorrow to return and no one will listen to your warnings or your visions and you will eventually be blamed for the destruction that comes about.” She was probably the youngest of the priestesses there and her advice was disheartening to say the least.

  “My advice is for you to take your own life and allow your spirit to serve the Gods and Goddesses for eternity.” I had already considered this option but it would not help the people of my kingdom, my family, nor the world for that matter.

  “My advice is for you to take the herbs that block visions so that you may live out the rest of your life in peace.” Their advice so far had been personal rather than referring to the actual visions I was having. This was not unfolding as I had foreseen, but then I had changed the rules so now things were different. Regardless, their advice was next to useless so far.

  “My advice is for you to embrace your destiny, knowing that you will be unable to change anything you see.” This was probably the most frustrating bit of advice of all, to know what will happen and to be helpless to do anything to change it.

  “Since I cannot ask a question and all of your advice has been personal, could you now advise me on the actual visions I am having?” This seemed to upset all of them. The oldest priestess addressed me again after looking at the others.

  “Your visions jump about in time, some of what you see will happen in the next 20 years. Other visions you have seen will happen hundreds of years from now. Your most frightening visions will take place in the far distant future where we can have no control and can only hope that the Oracle of that time will be able to affect the events and prevent the catastrophe you have foreseen.”

  “You want to write down what you have seen so that the ones in the far distant future will be forewarned. You can do this but it will be futile. Your writings will not be found until after most of what you have seen will have come to pass.”

  “The spirit you see cannot speak our language and her language is just as much a mystery to us. That is why you have trouble communicating with her. She wants your help but without a common language, she has no way of establishing communication with you.”

  “The spirit understands art and pictures, your best chance at understanding will be through pictures.” Now this was helpful, I had been about to give up until they started talking about the spirit woman I have been seeing. All I know for certain about this spirit woman is that she is from the far distant future and she hasn’t been born yet. The Gods definitely have a hand in these events if they are going to bring the spirit of someone from the future into the distant past.

  “This is the limit of what we can tell you, I know we have been guarded in our words but as I have explained, it would have been catastrophic for us otherwise. To tie into the visions you have had, all of us at the same time, it was simply too much. We thank you for not speaking your questions. May Apollo light your path and guide you in the future.”

  Kassandra bowed to the priestesses and exited the caves. She knew she would warn everyone of the danger, she had no choice. Knowing what the outcome would be when she gave them the warnings, she decided to make preparations of her own. She refused to believe that the spirit woman was just there to observe. She had made several attempts to actually communicate. It was time to find a way to do exactly that. Perhaps the spirit woman would have an advantage that the priestesses had not considered. Having visited them and spoken with them she had found that they were not as infallible as they would like everyone to think.

  After Kassandra left the eldest priestess decided to consult with the youngest and most powerful of their order. She was not full grown to womanhood yet but in her small body Apollo had gifted her with great and terrible power.

  “Is the spirit woman she sees the Oracle of the future?” the eldest priestess asked.

  “Yes, the Oracle from the future is very powerful, more powerful than me. She worships a different god, not Apollo, but her power is much greater than even mine.”

  This information seemed to disturb the young priestess, not because she was vain about her gift, but because she knew the price of such power and the sacrifices necessary to maint
ain objectivity. Would the Oracle of the future be able to do what was necessary to ensure the very survival of the human race?

  Present… Earth, Chillicothe, Ohio

  To think that the future of our species depended on this frail, beige skinned, human. Dreaming of her as I have for the past forty years, thinking I would never find her, and yet here she was, my wife in all but official ceremony, and looking very angry.

  “What did he mean when he said ‘wives’?”

  She was angry alright. It was not common on this planet since humans were so ridiculously fertile but surely the concept of males and females having more than one spouse was not that unusual. In our case it was necessary for our very survival.

  “I have several wives and each of them has several husbands, why are you angry?”

  She hesitated—again. It was as if she were going over the conversation in her head before responding. She did this a lot, enough that it was at once irritating and an endearing quirk. Perhaps it was simply human. Since I had had little opportunity to have discussions with other humans I was not sure if that was the case or not.

  “Why did he attack me again?”

  Ah, a rebuke and a reminder of my earlier abuse of her person and her freedom. Would she ever forgive me for how I had treated her? Would I ever forgive myself? How could I ever make it right between us? She is my wife now. She has accepted me, so now I must be as honest with her as possible. I bent down and offered my hand to lift her up off the floor. Her skin was not soft and smooth like mine—it was almost rough but smooth at the same time—much more interesting to my sense of touch. Just contact with her skin was tantalizing. If she only knew what her skin alone was doing to my concentration. Of course her eyes were even more fascinating. The pupils were black and round, the color around them seemed to change from grey to blue to green depending on her mood perhaps. Just touching this exotic creature was a joy beyond all measure. I could never let her know the absolute hold she had over me, it would be too dangerous given her gifts. She was waiting expectantly for my answer.

  “He was doing his duty both as my bodyguard and as my brother. In our culture it is inappropriate for a male to touch a female or for a female to touch a male without asking the permission of their family members first. In my case I must apologize to your family when we meet them for having violated this rule repeatedly. It will be very expensive since I know your family is rather large but it was worth it in the end,” I smiled at this last. She knew nothing about me really but I knew many things about her and her family. She smiled back, the small smile that told me she was still a little upset but well on her way to forgiving me. It was surprising how good it felt to know her moods so well already.

  “How many wives do you have and why do you have more than one in the first place?”

  “I have thirteen now,” I said as I placed my other hand on her cheek, “the other twelve each have between four and nine husbands at last count.” Her eyes had widened at this revelation. It was a mystery to me why. Her reactions were never what I expected. This was another of her charms—she surprised me with almost everything she said. Sometimes what she said made me angry but then she had to be given allowances for not knowing anything about me, my gifts, my world or my responsibilities. Her face warmed to my touch. I could hear her heart rate increase. This seemed to happen every time I got close to her or touched her. I wondered if it was a normal reaction of arousal in her species or if it was just fear. In her case it could be both I guessed.

  “You have twelve other wives? Your wives have other husbands? Are they here with you? Do you expect me to be ok with that?”

  I was right, she was still angry and it seemed she was angry over the number of wives and the other husbands. Should I have had more or less? She did not know that our kind had trouble reproducing so it was a necessary fact of life that we all had multiple partners until that union produced a child. It ensured the continuation of our species and as much genetic diversity as possible—not to mention the fact that females of our species could only successfully conceive one child from any particular male. I had not been able to produce any children so far. However, I knew that I eventually would so I was not worried about that the way another husband might be. I knew that Cassandra and I would have several children together unlike my other wives and me.

  The only reason I had as many wives as I did was because of my gifts and the requirements of my position. The only really important criterion on my world was whether or not you could have children. Families with more children had more prestige and respect than those that did not. If a family had numerous children and those children had a gift then that was even more impressive. In my case I had been given two precious gifts that guaranteed my position in life and both my father and my mother had produced over thirty children between them. My mother had nine children before she died and my father had twenty-three other children. All twenty-three of my father’s wives had had children by him which made each of us a desirable match for many. This accident of birth—I had used to leverage myself into a position of power and influence not seen in all the history of the Brenthin Empire.

  “I will not apologize for the realities of my existence. You humans are excessively prolific in your ability to reproduce. My people do not have that luxury. My other wives and all the other husbands are on board another ship that is located in the outer part of this solar system. As for my expectations, I honestly have no idea what to expect from you. You exasperate me at every opportunity as if that is your mission in life. You constantly tempt me with your words then you inexplicably gentle at my touch. I am as confused by your behavior as you seem to be by mine.” At least I had her attention now.

  “You think that I purposely try to upset you?” She seemed bothered by this for some reason.

  What other explanation did I have? She could see the future just as well if not better than I could. She acted as if she could not see how her words would affect me. She behaved as if she could only see fragments of the future and not the specific details. Could that be the problem? She could only see some things or perhaps only remember bits and pieces from her dreams? Did she not also have conscious flashes of future events the way I did?

  “Tell me something, when you see the future, what do you see and how much of it do you remember?” She looked angry again and puzzled by my question as if the question itself was irrelevant.

  “Answer my question first.” She took a step back from me breaking the contact I had had with her face and her hand. She must be very angry now. I had to be careful. Without any controls on her mind she could kill every living thing on the planet including me. Her gift was subtle but extremely powerful. She could set things in motion that would bring the destruction of everything I had been fighting to save.

  “No I do not believe that you would purposely try to upset me, you do not understand or know enough about me to be able to do that. Now will you answer my question?”

  “When I dream about the future it is usually in relation to my family or me and how it will affect them or me. Sometimes I see glimpses of the future that have nothing to do with me. For instance major events like plane crashes or wars but they are vague in details. I usually remember most of the dreams but as time goes on I sometimes forget aspects of the dreams until I am faced with the actual event in real time.”

  “Do you have flashes of the future while you are awake?”

  “No, only dreams,” she said.

  Well that explained a lot. Her other gift was vastly more powerful in comparison and my gifts of seeing the future and influencing people while not as powerful were more reliable and predictable. My future sight would warn me when I was about to make a mistake but making a mistake in handling her could result in very dire consequences. If I had dared to touch a female from my world without the express permission of both of our families first, she would have done everything in her power to kill me, Cassandra had reacted completely opposite to this.

  In fact
it was as if she wanted my touch before it was permitted and my future sight showed me this and that she would welcome my touch. She was at once fascinating and exasperating at the same time. Normally forbidden to touch other women without permission she had become an instant temptation. Every time my fingers touched her skin it wrenched me deep within my body. I had never felt anything like it before. I recognized my obsession but I was helpless to do anything but continue to feed it as much as possible.

  My brother was right though, she would not be acceptable to the other wives and I would be outcast. They would have nothing against an alien but she would be unacceptable to them for other reasons. I could see it now but it had the same dual quality that all of my visions of her had. Right now I had the urge to touch her again and even as the urge presented itself a vision came to me that she wanted my touch just as much as I wanted hers. She is my wife now in all but ceremony, why should I deprive either of us of what we both want. As I took a step towards her, her eyes widened and I could hear her heart quicken pace. Everything about her was the opposite of what I was used to in a woman—her skin was rough against my fingertips, her hair in contrast felt like the finest geralti fur, her eyes were exotic with their round pupils and flecks of three different colors, her ears were small, smooth and delicate with no ridges or spines, and her lips were an enticing light red like the exotic flowers of Brenth.

  When I enfolded her in my arms I felt a rightness that I had never felt before with any of my other wives. We were meant to be together and our children were meant to be, but again there was the dual quality to the vision. I had promised not to do anything to her against her will but our children would be in danger from her if I did nothing. If I could only make her understand the need to put controls on her gift and prevent what would be a disastrous future. She looked into my eyes and I felt the depth of her feelings for me. How we could feel this way in so short a time was beyond precious.