Matthew Forty-Three made his way through the capital to his sister’s house.
“Hi Matt,” She said.
“Hi April.”
“So, big brother, what brings you here so unexpectedly?”
He sighed, and said, “The same thing that always brings me to you.”
“Really? I didn’t know you were still stressed about the exoskeleton issue.”
“I am. There is something you need to know.”
“I have not heard that level of seriousness in your voice for a very long time.”
“Yes, well, the time has come.”
“Does this regard the changes because of the new Empress?”
“Yes. I’ve spoken with many people since she arrived and defeated Thaddeus Twenty-Two in battle. From all I hear, the nobility will not yield so easily to an Empress from another galaxy.”
“Well, isn’t that as it should be?”
“I am not sure. I have been in contact with someone who is very close to her, and I find the more I learn the more I like what I hear.”
“Like what? From Who?”
“Like she is a normal person who does not see herself as superior to others. Like she is completely devoted to bringing peace and security wherever she goes.” He paused and looked down, then said, “I learned all of this from her great-niece.”
She laughed. “You little rascal. Okay, come on, spill it.”
He smiled, saying, “Okay, okay. I met a woman this afternoon. She was a younger young lady escorting the Fleet Admiral of the Empress through the healing facility. The three of us began a conversation and then he was called away, but she stayed to hear more.”
They talked for several hours and he told her the whole story, including his feelings about the encounter, but finally, once it was late, he went to his own home for sleep.
57.349.09
Early in the morning, Matthew completed coordination and contacted Lanica for a tour of the original temple. Several nobles objected, but with his seniority, he was able to prevail. They met and traveled together. Lanica did have a security team with her, a requirement of Jeffrey.
They stood outside the inner temple and Lanica was simply amazed at its simplicity and beauty. “This is beautiful. It reminds me of cathedrals I read about on our home planet, Earth.”
The structure itself was magnificent. At the time it was built, it was the largest building in the Andromeda Galaxy. It measured one-mile square, with a ceiling of three thousand feet. The entire outside was marble and granite of various hues, giving it a moving, ocean-like feeling. This reflected the majesty of the flowing stars of the galaxy.
The doors were the biggest ever created and were made from a single crystal from the planet Mendonagon. They measured fifty feet wide by two hundred feet high and four feet thick. Upon passing through them, you entered a hallway that stretched for five hundred feet. The walls were filled with statuary of past King’s, Queen’s, Emperor’s, their wives, military leaders, and saints. The ceiling was a continuous painting of the journey from the beginning to the present.
As you exited the tunnel, you entered the main chamber. The vaulted ceilings were twenty-five hundred feet high. There were huge stone columns supporting the ceiling, with the ceiling so high it felt like it reached to the sky.
Each column was fifty feet in diameter, covered in runes and sayings of Maximus One. The outer few hundred feet were filled with fountains and quiet reflecting pools, places to contemplate the meaning of life. The next several hundred feet were filled with benches and places for small gatherings. After passing through these and many other areas, they came to the central sanctuary. It was small in proportion to all they had seen, only one thousand feet square.
The walls held may sayings about peace, helping those less fortunate, the need for strength, spiritual thirst, worship of their deity. It was a place to center your mind and soul.
“Matthew, this place is wonderful. Why would there be a conflict between these sayings and your nobility?”
“What makes it so wrong today is the interpretations of the words and their use to support the new nobility. For example, the saying, ‘We each care for our own, but we must care for others equally.’ It is meant as it sounds. We, all of us, care for our own families and friends, but we cannot only care about these people. We must cultivate a strong care for all our people and learn to treat everyone equally. However, the new nobility would tell you it means we as the noble families care for our own first and foremost, caring for other families within our kingdom as they care for each other, so they are treated as equals among themselves. These two interpretations yield significant variances. I desire for the original interpretation to be the one we use, not the second. However, this creates excessive friction between my views and those of many other aristocratic families.”
“I am certain that what needs to work out will work out. But tell me, in your studies, what was Maximus One actually like? What is the ideal you believe you and your people should strive to achieve or exemplify?”
“He was a leader in the truest sense of the word. He established a vision, he gained the support and commitment of his followers to his ideas, he fought beside or in front of his followers. He simply refused to give up. He saw each challenge as an opportunity to excel. He did not take anyone for granted, but appeared to value each person, even if their ability to support him was small. He did not play favorites. He treated each person fairly and according to the need.”
He stopped for a moment thinking, then said, “He loved life, and through that showed his love for his people. He was an inspiration.”
“So why have the nobility today gone in a different direction?”
“Burdock Ninety-Nine led a revolution. He didn’t seek to overturn our world but have more control over it. He is the first Exalted Maximus to begin to utilize and then rely upon technology. He sought a greater differentiation between the masses and the aristocracy. Well, as you can imagine, most of the aristocracy didn’t mind being important. But what began as a slight elevation of difference has evolved over time to be a superior group exerting their power and control over the masses.”
Suddenly a large group of aristocratic men wearing exoskeletons surrounded them. One said, “Matthew Forty-Three, you are accused of treason for working to subvert our people and our cause to benefit the invaders.” He looked at Lanica and said, “You are one of the invaders. You are Lanica Wilson-Jackson, granddaughter to Fleet Admiral Wilson. We will take you as hostage until we remove this new upstart Empress from our people. Swarm!”
Lanica ducked and turned to her left. Her security team moved to her side, when three of them were pierced with spears. The other two grabbed her and pushed her towards the exit, turning to defend her. Each were impaled with spears. Lanica ran as fast as she could towards the exit, grabbing her com unit and screaming for help.
Matthew was quickly detained by four aristocrats and bound, so he could not help.
Lanica looked back and saw him bound, and as she neared the exit, ten men surrounded her. She knew she could not defeat or escape them, so stopped.
Stephanie was having a conversation with some officials about the political ramifications of their actions, when an aide entered her room without knocking.
“Excuse the intrusion, Your Majesty, but we received a frantic call from Lady Lanica Wilson-Jackson. She appears to be in significant danger from members of the aristocracy.”
“Where is she?”
“She is here on Aphrodite, visiting the temple to Maximus One.”
“Who let her go there?”
“I believe it was Archduke Wilson, Your Majesty.”
Stephanie got up and walked down to Jeffrey’s office, entered without knocking and walked up to his desk.
“Jeffrey, Lanica is in trouble in the temple. What is going on?”
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��What? Last I heard she was getting along very well with Matthew Forty-Three and was excited about the visit. She has a security team with her. I have heard nothing out of the ordinary.”
“Well, I just heard she made a frantic call about being in serious danger.”
“Dammit! Okay, we need to move. But our weapons are not superior to theirs. If we send in regular forces, they might not be able to prevail.”
Stephanie nodded, saying, “Call Heather.”
Heather arrived in very short order. “What’s going on?”
“Lanica is in danger in the temple. I believe we need to go there and intercede to free her.”
“Have any regular security forces tried?”
“No, we both believe they would fail. Do you think this is another moment for Andromeda?”
Diedre thought, and said, “I’m not sure. You are destined to save humanity. Showing your love for your great niece against the forces of evil only supports your calling.”
“Very well, let’s go.”
They walked out, and she found Solon, asking him to bring fifteen of his knights and Samantha, the Chief Bishop. Jeffrey also brought several hundred security forces as well, just in case, and mobilized a battalion to be prepared to move on very short notice. Once they were all on board their ship, they went immediately to the temple and landed by the main entrance.
As they were entering the temple, the aristocrats who captured Matthew and Lanica were exiting.
“So, I see you have my great niece. I would suggest you set her free, now.”
Timothy Fourteen replied, “Why should we even consider complying with the wishes of an alien like you, here, in our temple?”
Stephanie walked ahead of her group, signaling them all to stay behind her. She walked straight up to Timothy, and said, in a very quiet voice, “Because you want to live.”
He laughed. “You don’t frighten me. You had better be off, wench. We don’t listen to the likes of you. Bring Matthew, kill the girl.”
Everything happened at once. One of the aristocrats in his exoskeleton began reaching for his weapon. Stephanie saw this and surged towards him. Matthew heard what was said, saw their actions, and used his body to shove Lanica to the ground, and then moved to shield her. At the same time, Timothy began to draw his weapon. Solon and his knights saw what was happening and immediately began to draw swords and advance. Heather was closest and focused on Stephanie. She saw what was happening and leaped towards Stephanie to protect her. Stephanie grabbed the wrist of the first attacker and twisted it hard to break it and cause him to drop his weapon. Simultaneously, Timothy pulled his dagger and turning towards Stephanie, he raised his arm and began to move to stab her. Heather, seeing what he was doing, was faster than he and moved between them to take the blade in her back and protect Stephanie. Solon pierced Timothy with his sword. The remaining aristocrats fell back, but not before Solon’s knights overwhelmed them. Stephanie saw what Heather did and let out a cosmic scream, “NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!” Jeffrey was too consumed by emotion to move.
Matthew stood and moved towards Heather, mumbling beneath his gag. “Mmmmmnn, MMMMNNN.”
“Cut his gag.”
“I can help her, please cut these bindings.”
She nodded, and they did. He immediately laid her down and began investigating the actual wound. “Get us to the Chamber of Healing, quickly!”
Lanica was also freed and said, “Come this way to the chamber!”
They picked up Heather and moved quickly. When they got to the Chamber of Healing, Matthew ordered several others to prepare a bed, and then he brought out various surgical units and began working on Heather. Stephanie and Jeffrey stood, arms around each other, waiting, with Solon and his knights standing guard.
It was eternity.
Timeless.
Waiting.
Hoping.
Praying.
Matthew called for additional equipment and support from the staff. They draped a cloth around them for privacy. All Jeffrey and Stephanie could hear were the words of direction being given by Matthew.
And then, they heard a different sound. Heather took a deep breath. They pulled back the curtain to see her breathing on her own. Jeffrey and Stephanie each took a hand, staying out of Matthew’s way. After some time, she was comfortable and sleeping soundly.
“She will be fine. The blade pierced a lung and came very close to her heart. I was able to repair this damage, but she will probably feel it for some time. But physically, she will make a full recovery.”
“Thank you. Now. Why did this happen?”
“Your Majesty has many enemies in the aristocracy.”
“But you are not one.”
“No, I am not. I believe there is a potential for a grand new age for our people, if we can push away the technology and superiority of the aristocracy and find a new path forward.”
She looked at Lanica, and said, “I see why you like this man.” Turning back to Matthew, she added, “We will see what happens soon. Thank you for saving my friend.”
She and Jeffrey then took Heather and departed back to the Battleship Defiant where they could be safe and allow her to heal.
57.350.10
The next morning Matthew went to see Lanica. “Good Morning, I hope you are well and not angry with me.”
“Good Morning. No, I am not angry as I believe you were as surprised at the behavior of those men yesterday as I was, and you did save my grandmother. But after watching those people stab my grandmother in the back, well, it makes me wonder how safe I am here.”
“Rightfully so. That is why I spoke personally with Samuel Fifty-Nine last night and informed him what had occurred. He was very upset that someone had taken these actions against me, you, and the Empress, because he does believe in the rule of law. He issued an edict informing the aristocracy that this type of behavior would be punished by revocation of their house and removal of access to all technology. Based on this, I do not expect we will have any further problems.”
“In addition, I have been assigned twenty warriors, all of which I know and are loyal to me, as a security guard. I would ask if you can come with me today so that I may show you the last item I wanted to show you, the central obelisk, discovered here nearly four thousand years ago.”
“Let me call and see if it is alright. Please wait here.”
She went into a private room and called her grandfather.
“Yes?”
“Grandfather, its Lanica.”
“Oh, good morning, dear.”
“How is grandmother?”
“She is well and still asleep. It seems Matthew knew what he was doing. Our doctors were amazed at the reconstruction work he performed. Please tell him thank you.”
“I will, which is part of the reason I called.” She informed Jeffrey of the actions taken the evening before, expressed her belief she would be safe, and her desire to go see this obelisk.
“Very well, but you will wear micro-armor, carry an active tracker, and be armed. I will also assign a battalion to monitor and escort you, so wherever you go you will have strong security very close by.”
“Thank you, grandfather. I love you. Please pass my love to Aunt Stephanie and give grandmother a hug for me when she wakes up.”
Once she was prepared and her security team was in place, they departed in a large convoy of transports.
“I think we can safely say that wherever we go today it will not be a secret.”
Matthew laughed. “Yes, you are right. I don’t think I have ever been in this large of a convoy.”
“You get used to it living around the Empress. So, tell me, Matthew, what exactly are we going to see today?”
“It is an obelisk discovered several thousand years ago. No one knows who put it there, or which civilization existed to accomplish the feat.”
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“Aren’t there archeological records?”
“No, there is nothing. Ah, we are close. You can see the top of it just there.”
They were traveling through low buildings in the outer circle. An area half a mile around the obelisk was kept free of any disturbance. They stopped at the edge of this space and exited their vehicle. It was barren all around, with a single obelisk in the center of the circle. There were sidewalks to the center, in a spoke manner, all culminating in a paved circle five hundred feet around the obelisk.
“This is beautiful.”
“Yes, it is quite stunning.”
“And you don’t know where this came from or how it got here?”
“No. We have studied it and don’t understand it. There is writing on the obelisk, but we don’t know what it means.”
As they approached it, Lanica said, “This looks eerily similar to the Heliopolis Obelisk in Egypt, my birth planet. Our records show it has been standing for roughly four-thousand years as well.”
“Do you have an image of it?”
“No, I don’t. Let me capture an image of this one and I’ll send it to someone who does have access.”
“While we’re waiting, would you like a cup of our local mestava?”
“What is mestava?”
“Well, I think you could compare it to your coffee or tea, but it is a little different from either of them.”
“Does it contain hallucinogenic properties?”
He laughed, saying, “No, no, nothing like that. It has a similar ingredient like caffeine, but it just tastes a little different.”
“Okay, if you say it is safe, I’ll give it a try.”
“It is.”
They walked into one of the many café’s that were in the outer perimeter of the obelisk and took a seat. He ordered, saying he wanted to see if he could guess her tastes.
Andromeda Page 20
