Templum Veneris

by Jeremy L. Jones

  Althea shook her head and retrieved a pair of scissors from the bag. She cut up along the cloth and started to carefully peel it back. Viekko groaned and clenched his teeth. He wished he had something to bite down on. For now, all he could do was endure the white-hot flashes of pain.

  Althea examined the wound. “Well, the good news is I think it looks worse than it is. You’ve got some shrapnel embedded in your chest, along with some electrical burns, but not as bad as they could be. Explain to me how this happened again?”

  Viekko took several deep breaths as the searing pain subsided. “Just keep workin’. I’ll explain the whole thing.”

  While Althea pulled shrapnel from his chest, between winces and groans, he told her how he had convinced Gabriel and the Cythereans to chase down the Corsario. As Althea applied a dermal replacement to her incisions, he talked about surrounding the raiders, including women and children. Then described how he turned on the Cythereans and woke up in a village beyond the wall, as Althea covered the entire wound with an antibiotic salve and more dermal replacement.

  “So the plan is this,” said Viekko, sitting up while Althea wrapped a clean bandage around his chest. “We let history repeat itself. Only we give it a little nudge. The Corsario got folk inside the city that want to help them. We are going to coordinate an assault that even the Cytherean army won’t know how to deal with.”

  “How do you expect to do that? Unless I’ve missed something, the communication technology on this planet is nonexistent. You’ll discover a method of communicating from one end of Cytherea to the other?” Althea put on the last layer of bandages.

  Viekko looked at Captain Colton, who brought him a standard Ministry Green shirt to wear. “We’ve got radios on this ship, right? A whole mess of portable receivers that we can spread around?”

  “Well, sure, friend,” said Colton. “We’ve got at least thirty if not more. But Cytherea is built on a hill. You will need line-of-sight. Otherwise, your signal is going to cut out, and your forces on one side of the city will be in the dark.”

  “I thought about that,” said Viekko. “Cronus is still up at that ship on top of the mountain, right? It’s got radio systems. Could he use those to make sure everyone can hear me?”

  “Jayzus, I forgot about Cronus,” Althea said, securing the last bandage. “I assumed he was still with Joana. But if things are really as bad as you say, we should warn him and tell him to make his way back to the ship.”

  Viekko stood up. “Nah, if he’s still up there, leave him. He can do some good, and it’s probably the safest…”

  His voice trailed off. Through the open cargo bay door, a robed figure emerged from the mist walking toward the ship. Viekko asked for one of his guns from Colton and waited just outside the door until the oculto approached. Whoever it was kept their head down but clutched a scroll of paper in their hand.

  “I have been instructed to bring this to you.” The man held out the scroll.

  Viekko took it and unrolled a rough map of Cytherea with seven red X’s on several farms and orchards around the outskirts of the city. “You were sent from the friend of the Corsario inside Cytherea?” Viekko asked as he looked it over.

  “My masters are sympathetic to their plight, yes. And they question the rule of Rainha Isabel. I have been instructed to inform you that there are only two patrols scheduled before the long darkness.”

  Viekko glanced up at the sun moving slowly across the horizon to the East. “That doesn’t give us much time. But we will be ready.”

  Althea and Colton looked at the map over Viekko’s shoulder. “Are you quite sure you can trust anyone from Cytherea right now?” Althea whispered in his ear.

  “Corsario claim they got folk on the inside,” Viekko responded, rolling up the scroll. “They’ve been helpin’ them raid and keep their people fed up to this point. Don’t know why they’d pick this moment to turncoat. Especially if they got a bad feelin' brewin’ about Isabel.”

  “One more thing I am to tell you.” The oculto pulled the hood of his robe off his head, and both Colton and Althea gasped in surprise when they saw his face. His left eye was fused shut with a burn scar that went from his cheek to his forehead. “The other woman from Earth, Isra. She is being held by the Rainha. She suffered the loss of her eye as I have.”

  Althea searched Viekko’s face. “I heard Isra in there somewhere. What did he say? What is happening?”

  Viekko regarded the oculto, avoiding Althea’s eyes, and debated whether or not to translate directly. He chose to keep it vague for now. There was nothing Althea or anyone else could do for Isra until they got the Corsario inside the city.

  “Isra’s in trouble,” said Viekko flatly. “Use the radio and see to Cronus. And find out if he can help.” As Althea and Colton left, Viekko replied to the oculto. “Tell your master thank you. We will be ready before the sun sets.”

  The man pulled his hood back over his head, bowed and turned to walk back to the city.

  ****

  Isra tossed and turned somewhere between sleep and full consciousness. The only thing she was acutely aware of was a sense of burning. It felt like the whole side of her face was on fire, and nothing could cool the flames. She moaned and turned, which caused something to rub against the wound that stoked the heat.

  After what felt like several agonizing hours, Isra’s eye shot open. The side of her face still burned and the skin around where her left eye should be felt tight and sticky. Laying on some hard mattress and trembling in fear, she reached up to touch that space. There was a cloth bandage wrapped around her head. The spot she felt was still wet with blood.

  She heard Isabel’s voice nearby speaking English. “You are awake. Stand up.”

  Isra curled into a ball and started to softly cry. Any thoughts of her mission were gone now. Any hope of trying to escape was a memory. At that moment, the only thing she wanted was not to feel any more pain or, if that wasn’t an option, she wanted to die.

  “Stand up,” commanded the Rainha with more force.

  Isra collected herself and stretched out on the bed. She realized she was in the Rainha’s private room. Isabel herself stood by the hearth with a large, fire burning in it. She watched Isra with her arms folded, waiting impatiently.

  Her face felt swollen where the Rainha had beaten her, and it burned like someone was still holding the red-hot iron against it, but the rest of her body appeared to be fine. She rolled onto her side and sat up. Then felt dizzy and sick because of the pain, but she managed to slide to the edge of the bed and get to her feet.

  “Come with me,” the Rainha said plainly, crossing her room to a small balcony that overlooked the city.

  Isra followed, taking each step with extreme caution, till she finally got to the other side of the room. Once out on the balcony, she grabbed the rail and stood there, keeping her face neutral so as not to give the Rainha any more than she already had. But what she saw almost made her lose her balance. The streets outside the Sala Gran were packed with soldiers. The day-to-day operations within the city had ceased. What Isra witnessed was a full mobilization of Cytherea’s military might.

  “Your people have formed an alliance with the Corsario,” said Isabel, her voice as neutral as Isra’s face. “Even now, they work with factions within the city against me. Plotters in my own court work to see my downfall. My own soldiers betray me and send information to enemies behind the wall.”

  Isra clenched her teeth. “Viekko is cunning. He is a warrior unlike even you have ever seen. He is not mindless. He has found a way. Kill me if you must, but Cytherea will not be yours much longer.”

  Isabel laughed. It was a kind of full-belly cackle that echoed off the nearby buildings. It wasn’t a laugh that came from humor, but the kind of mean-spirited sound right before someone grins and says, “Checkmate.”

  “You are as blind as the eye I have taken from you. There are no plotters. My soldiers would die a thousand deaths rather than betray me,” Isabel cont
inued to look out over her city. “I control all of this. The Corsario believe they get information from the city, but it is I that give them that information. I tell them of farms run by the lazy and weak. They burn the rotting parts of the city so that the rest may survive.”

  A knock on the door interrupted Isabel’s gloating. She called for the person to enter, and, a few moments later, a soldier walked onto the balcony.

  Isabel spun around and spoke in Cytherean. “Kameron, have you done as I asked?”

  The soldier regarded Isra for a moment and then saluted the Rainha. “Corsario contacted me through the usual channels. I provided them with seven targets to raid at once. Patrols are already on their way to those locations to intercept them.”

  Isabel nodded her head at the soldier. “You have done well. Assemble your squad. Today will be a glorious victory for Cytherea.”

  Isra continued to keep her face blank, but she couldn’t stop a tiny grimace as she realized that Viekko was leading an entire army into a murderous trap.

  Isabel noticed the tiny gesture and smiled. “So you see now. The soldiers, the oculto who work, the women who tend to the hearth, the children that train for Provacao, even Corsario from beyond the wall, all of Cytherea moves as I wish. There is nothing I do not see and cannot prepare for. Your people will die. And you can do nothing about it.” She turned to her soldier again. “Take her to the dungeon. Let her live in despair while her people die.”

  Isra was unresisting as the soldier grabbed her by the arm and tugged her toward the chamber door. As she was pulled along, she thought about Viekko and a Corsario army. She remembered Isabel’s story in the garden, stopped and shook free from the soldier’s grasp. “Maximilliano, the famed warrior and founder of your house, Rainha. He led an army of Corsario up the main road directly to the Sala Gran, correct?”

  Isabel gave Isra a sly smile. “Correct. An amazing act that can never and would never be duplicated.”

  Before she could say anything else, the soldier grabbed Isra’s arm again and pulled her out of the room.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  This is where the story of Diana Adriana ends. Contemporaries claim, and historians largely agree, that Adriana left aboard colony ships bound for some unknown planet or moon. Shortly after her last broadcast, armies and civilians all over Brazil began to surrender. Military leaders from the time describe a people that had lost the will to fight. Consequently, Adriana has gone down in history as a ruthless dictator whose true cowardice showed in those last moments as she left her people to die so she could escape her crimes.

  -From The Fall: The Decline and Failure of 21st Century Civilization by Martin Raffe

  Joana adjusted the brown robe and pulled the hood over Cronus’ head. “This robe makes me itch. You wear this always?”

  Joana nodded. “It is required.”

  “I’m sorry. I’m sorry there is not more I can do.” Cronus met her eyes as Joana made her final adjustments.

  She smiled. “I feel a great change coming. Someday soon, maybe. Now, remember what I say. Do not use railcar. It is forbidden for oculto who do not tend to Rainha. No matter how heavy or how tired you get, do not put down until you reach Modesto Wall.”

  Cronus looked at two wooden crates tied to each end of a yoke. “Just how much did you put into those crates?”

  “Enough,” said Joana, stepping back. “The things you brought and some broken things from here to disguise them from soldiers. But no matter what. Do not drop it or stop to rest. And if someone stops you…”

  “Drop it and run,” Cronus finished.

  Joana nodded. “Once you are clear of the wall, you should be safe. You can find your way back to your people, yes?”

  Cronus touched his arm and felt his EROS computer under the sleeve of the robe. “Yes.”

  For a moment, the two stood together in the glowing light of several dozen working monitors. The electric lights that Joana had rigged together could barely compare to that from the ship’s computers running at nearly full capacity. His biggest regret right now was the thousands of gigabytes that he would have to leave behind. Okay, maybe not his biggest.

  “I suppose,” said Joana looking down, “that this is the last time I will see you.”

  He had let so many moments pass up to that point and he wasn’t going to let this last one go. He stepped forward, took Joana in his arms, and kissed her.

  He felt her lips on his, smelled her scent like flowers and engine oil, and tasted her breath. It was a moment of perfection as Cronus held her close to him. A moment he never wanted to end.

  Then Joana jerked away and glared at him for a moment; then her fist collided with the side of his face.

  “Now?” Joana yelled as he fell backward into a pile of debris. “You wish to love me now? This time we are together I think you might be interested. But then you run away. I think you might not like me or find my body attractive…”

  “No,” said Cronus, rubbing the side of his face. “That’s not what I meant…”

  “And now, right before you are to leave. Now, before I never see you again. Now…”

  Cronus started to get up. “I admit my timing is… poor.”

  He flinched as Joana stepped close, hoping she wouldn’t take another swing at him. But she just spoke through gritted teeth. “You know what I think? I think you want citizen girl. But I don’t think they want you. But this is your last chance for love in Cytherea, and now you think, maybe Joana will do.”

  “No, I did not think that. I didn’t know how… I mean…” Any words or thoughts that Cronus struggled to find disappeared under Joana’s withering glare.

  “Get out. Never return to me.” With that Joana turned her back to him and went to the main console.

  Cronus remained standing there, with his jaw still throbbing, trying to find any words to fix the situation, but he couldn't. He took a deep breath, bent down to take the yoke over his shoulders, lifted the crates, and walked out the door of the ship.

  He paused outside. The wind was blowing harder than it had previously, and the load on his back was already getting heavy. He dreaded the coming journey, but, on some level, he felt he deserved it. He started walking when he felt his arm vibrating and cursed himself for not disabling his EROS computer inside the ship. That kind of oversight could get him caught. But there was nobody on top of this mountain besides him and Joana, so he decided to take the call.

  “What do you want?” Cronus snapped.

  “Oh Cronus,” Althea sighed on the other end. “That’s a bloody miracle. Are you okay? Where are you?”

  “I am physically fine. I am leaving Joana’s ship and attempting to sneak out of the city. I will shut down my EROS computer…”

  “Wait,” Althea interrupted. “I need you to stay there. Viekko is working on an attack plan, and he’s going to need your help.”

  Cronus bent to set down the crates. “Viekko is attacking what? The city of Cytherea? Does he lack any sense of self-preservation?”

  “You know bloody well that he does. But, sadly, we are out of options. Isra has been captured, and it is too dangerous inside the city. But Viekko is working with the Corsario raiders outside the city walls. If he can breach the city’s defenses, he can take the city.”

  “How can I help?”

  “We’ll need radio communication, but our systems need a boost. Could you relay them through Joana’s ship?”

  Cronus looked up at the black metallic hulk with its array of strange metal antennas and dishes. “It will take me some time, but I believe it can be done.”

  “Can it be done in a couple hours?”

  “If I hurry.”

  “Then do that. Keep in touch with your progress and be careful.”

  Cronus lifted the crates back onto his shoulder, turned around, and stopped. Somehow, at that moment, the thought of returning to the ship and facing Joana again felt scarier than trying to sneak through a city filled with soldiers who would do unspeakable thi
ngs to him. At least the soldiers would kill him quickly.

  Cronus took a deep breath and tried to focus on what needed to be done. This was not about him. Althea, Viekko, and Isra needed him. And as scary as Joana was, Isra could be worse.

  He went back into the ship to the main control room and dropped the crates with a loud crash. Joana, working at the controls spun around. “What are you doing back here? I told you…”

  “The situation has evolved,” he interrupted. “The change you seek is coming. Cytherea will soon be under attack, and I intend to help.”

  “You… your people will attack Cytherea?”

  “And depose the Rainha. If that is what you want.”

  Joana let a smile crack across her face and scooted to the side as Cronus walked up, activated the radio, and started making the necessary adjustments. “I should tell you,’ he said as he worked, “my people… on Earth… I come from a society trapped in their minds. Imprisoned in their own heads. The world outside, the world that you live in, it is strange for us. There are many experiences that take place in the world that I still have no knowledge of.”