Equilibrium of Terror: Part 2

by Eddie R. Hicks

  The cleaning crews had just departed as the twins entered via its large doors at the front. The brilliant blast of sunlight that was let in highlighted their presence as they walked down the halls, past the shelves holding figures of the gods and ancient texts. The temple was devoid of all activity from what the two were able to see and hear.

  The two knelt in front of a lifelike sculpture of the three gods in preparation to say a prayer but were then interrupted. Footsteps were coming closer to them, someone was here. They both turned away in unison from the sculpture and faced the source of the unexpected guest. An elderly Javnis draped in the white robes of a Patriarch had entered, acting Patriarch Cendarei, was holding a strange staff with a shimmering orb perched up top.

  “Your eminence, I had no idea you were here,” Queenea said to Cendarei.

  “Is that a new staff?” Ienthei asked.

  “Never seen such a design,” Queenea said to her dear brother.

  “No we have not.”

  “Do not let my presence interrupt you my children,” Cendarei said as he walked closer, eying them with the four eyes on his head. “Or was there something I can assist you with. You do seem troubled, as if something isn’t right in your life.”

  The closer Cendarei got the more their heads become attracted to the orb on his staff. It was as if the staff had a mind of its own, and it wanted to show them something, something that not everyone had the chance to see. The sensation died almost instantly as a bullet hole passed through Cendarei’s head, right between his four eyes. Neither of the two flinched at the sight of Iey’liwea as she stood behind the Cendarei’s dead body, with a smoking magnetic pistol gripped in her hands and her tail wagging slowly.

  “Iey’liwea,” Queenea muttered slowly.

  Iey’liwea looked down at Cendarei’s body as it oozed blood all over the newly cleaned carpet. She wore a black coat and matching pants as her visor covered her face and displayed to her financial data she couldn’t bear to look away from, not even when she was in the process of ending someone’s life. She quickly picked up the staff and threw it toward the back entrance she had slipped in from.

  “Why am I not surprised he was going to do that,” Iey’liwea said as the two stood.

  “You killed the acting Patriarch,” Ienthei said.

  The twins didn’t need to say anything to convey the fact they were both thinking of the same thing. They were both considering the possibility that Iey’liwea may have been secretly a member of the Celestial Order.

  “Trust me, it’s better this way,” Iey’liwea said as she looked around to see if there were any other witnesses. They weren’t, only the twins knew of the murder that took place. “He was a member of the Celestial Order, Marchei as well I’m starting to guess.”

  “How can you be so sure?” Queenea asked her.

  “That staff is what the order uses to indoctrinate people into their organization. I saw my ex-wife’s mind slip away when we visited Dalhakei.”

  “This is madness,” Ienthei said.

  High pitched Rabuabin laughter bellowed out from Iey’liwea. “Is it now? Tell me, didn’t you feel you feel overjoyed the closer his staff rather the orb on it got closer to you?” Iey’liwea faced Queenea. “Come now, Queenea, you are a woman of full of knowledge, there is something not normal about that staff. Your scientific mind must want to inquire more about it no?”

  “She is right,” Queenea said. “I did feel something strange, blissful about it,”

  “Then when it was thrown aside, that feeling went with it,” Ienthei said.

  Iey’liwea put her pistol away and began to drag Cendarei’s body away by his limp arms leaving behind a trail of blood still seeping out from his head. “Help me with this will ya?”

  They hesitated at first, helping her would make then an accessory to murder. Then again Iey’liwea was member of the council, how could they say no to the rest of one of the leaders of the union?

  “If what you say is true why didn’t you get indoctrinated along with your former wife?” Ienthei asked as he and his sister helped remove the body.

  “I’m from Morutrin Prime, you see weird stuff, you leave no questions asked,” Iey’liwea said. “Days after the encounter she kept telling me to visit Dalhakei repeatedly. Eventually our marriage ended over it. She took off to serve the order as a ranger I gathered, and left me with the kids!”

  “And you never went to the authorities about this?”

  “With what proof? Dalhakei would have called me a heretic to defend himself, everyone would have believed him.”

  They placed Cendarei’s bloody corpse into a body bag provided by Iey’liwea. They were quick to notice there were three bags. Iey’liwea came to the temple prepared to kill three targets if need be, no doubt they were to be among those three had Cendarei indoctrinated them.

  “And now we’ve killed his acting replacement,” Ienthei said to Iey’liwea. “We look like the heretics now.”

  “Oh please,” Iey’liwea said as she sealed the bag shut via its holograph interface. “You want to be on the council? Then you’re going to have to get used to the life of getting your hands dirty.”

  “Like this? You can’t be serious!”

  “No, not like this, we usually get the Whisper to do that. But they can’t be trusted right now, I however trust myself and now you two.”

  “What do you want?”

  “The way I see it, we’re all going to face imprisonment or execution now. Get me proof that Marchei is working with the order, which will prove this fool is as well. This will make us look like heroes and heroines in the eyes of the union.” Iey’liwea handed the two of them cleaning tools out from the janitor’s closet. “Before we do that, let’s clean out the blood stains on the carpet?”

  Evidence of the acting Patriarch killing was erased as Iey’liwea stored his body inside of her personal transport ship. The three of them were grateful nobody else passed by the temple during their actions. A sign of how times within the union were changing, believing the gods was law, direct worship lately was not. The council would rather see people be productive any way they could be especially in a city like this. If that meant forgoing temple prayers, so be it. Little the council knew they were just making themselves more of an enemy to the heretics with those rules.

  Queenea stood next to the strange staff, and became hesitant of stepping closer to it or gazing at it any longer for that matter.

  “Should be fine,” Iey’liwea said to her over her shoulder. “From what I gather it only responds to the person that owns it.”

  “Biometrics scanner?”

  “Something like that.”

  Queenea stepped closer and felt nothing happen to her mind as the orb on the staff had long became dim. “So it’s technology more than just an elaborate staff.”

  “That’s my guess, how else would it brainwash people so easily?”

  With her fears cast aside, Queenea picked up the staff. It was warm to touch and she felt that there was more to it on the inside.

  “You want to study it, don’t you?” Iey’liwea said. “That’s perfectly fine with me, because I want to let you do that. Crack open its secrets, learn how it works. And where it came from.”

  “How did you know we were coming here?” she asked her.

  “Marchei has people following and stalking me. I have people doing the same, I did the math, threatened some people and found you two here.”

  The three of them left with Cendarei’s staff and climbed aboard Iey’liwea’s personal transport. It was a slick vessel with her personal assistant psionic upfront and a pilot. The rear cabin had soft black leather chairs in which they sat. Nightfall came hours later and Cendarei’s body was tossed in the back of a waste disposal transport as it hauled trash to a disposal plant. The operators of the truck were asked to exit for a surprise inspection as they made the exchange.

  Powerful plasma fires vaporized all trash dumped inside the plant, including the body bag, buried
in trash collected from the city. The trio spoke at great length as the night went on, Ienthei saw Iey’liwea become relaxed and lay back as she stared at Queenea’s body with fascination. Their mother had always intended for Queenea to have seductive natural looks, it would seem those genetic enhancements were enough to attract women as well. After a long talk the twins concluded they needed to play the part handed to them, they needed to make the Celestial Order believe that Cendarei was successful in indoctrinating them.

  The next day Queenea played her role exactly as planned, and made it appear as if she and Iey’liwea’s deal fell through. Ienthei reached out to Marchei afterward and weaved a lie stating he’d seen the light and the true path and didn’t know what to do next. His data pad beeped with a text message sent from Marchei hours later. It was an invitation for him to gather at Marchei’s residence.

  Marchei’s residence, Veromacon, Aervounis, Luminous system

  Night once again blanked the floating metropolis. Ienthei arrived on time at Marchei’s place, a tall condo on the edge of the downtown core of Veromacon. Ienthei felt like a giant as he entered as most of the people inside were Vorcambreum. The furniture was also designed for their species as they were all twenty or thirty percent smaller than one normally expects. Bookshelves were no higher than three feet and if this had been a suite on the Vorcambreum home world or colony, Ienthei would have had to duck his head lower just to enter. But this was Aervounis and buildings had to be built to union spec favoring Aryile needs heavily.

  There was a lot of consumption of booze and insects from those that were of the Veromacon race. Marchei appeared from a crowd of people socializing, he waved to Ienthei and directed him to the patio that overhung the brightly lit city below.

  Outside he felt the humid air of the planet once again as the winds blew through his blond hair. The two were alone as Ienthei walked closer to Marchei while he took another sip of his drink. “You saw the acting Patriarch, yes?” Marchei asked.

  “Yes, the vision and clarity. I had no idea.”

  “Many do not, this is why we join the order. To spread the truth throughout the galaxy.” he looked up at Ienthei. He was slightly tipsy as Vorcambreum were never known to hold their drinks well. “So, your sister?”

  “She’s seen the light as well,” Ienthei said, then looked back inside his suite. “Family?” he asked him.

  “Some of them, others are associates from my home world. As you know our home world is the furthest way from the rest of the home worlds of the five races. The order’s influence there and the surrounding colonies as a result isn’t a strong. I’m making sure that changes and by doing so, making sure all xenethereal crystals are mined by order loyal people and provided to order loyal companies at a generous discount.”

  “Who else on the council sides with the order?”

  “Ha!” Marchei’s intoxicated voice roared. “Just me, getting those fools to visit the temple or say a prayer for that matter is harder than you think. Even more so since Dalhakei has left for Rasi and Oyuri and might have gone missing due to some complications!” Ienthei took a step back from Marchei’s loud statement. “Hey, not too loud,” he said awkwardly. It puzzled Ienthei as Marchei was the one who was loud, he hadn’t said anything. “We’re trying to keep that covered up right now, I convinced other members on the council to deal with it, this way if the truth is discovered the council will look bad.”

  The drinks were making Marchei reveal probably more than he should to a new member, or was it perhaps he really wanted Ienthei to get in deep with the order? In any case Marchei was in a generous mood. He sat with him at an outdoor table and opened a bottle of Talsyk rum. Ienthei poured two glasses of the opaque brown liquid and offered it to Marchei. After several sips of the fiery drink, Ienthei convinced him to speak more about the staff.

  “It took us a while to acquire a new staff and temper the mind of the acting Patriarch,” Marchei said.

  “Can’t you force everyone to bend to the will of the order with the staff?”

  “One’s mind needs to be in vulnerable state, attacking and forcing it on them won’t work, they’d be too fearful. This is why having religious elders tempered to our cause works great. Most people that visit the temples are lost people looking for guidance from the gods. That’s when we show them the one true path.”

  “You versus the other four, must be a tough job.”

  “We plan to replace the council soon with loyal members as the imperial throne will be replaced with an order loyal one soon. It’s a shame you never got nominated, with your loyalty to our cause we’d only need to get rid of Iey’liwea.”

  “Oh please do tell,” he topped up their glasses, and hoped the drinks wouldn’t affect his judgment as well.

  “Sit my friend!”

  We are sitting; or has he forgotten I’m taller than his species?

  “I may be the only of our kind on the council, but Byikanea and Armuzei; they can be converted or at least bribed to vote for our needs.”

  “With the order controlling the union and the empire.”

  “And the UNE. In fact we’re planning on holding a meeting after the empire lays waste to half of Earth. Humans will be desperate to survive and will need a new home. They’ll reach out and ask to join the union knowing they aren’t strong enough to defend their race on their own. The admiral in command of the imperial fleet is one of our members, he’ll see to it the imperial fleet holds back just enough for humans to survive, then withdraw when they officially join the union.”

  “I see, with the humans in the union they will be under control of the order as well.”

  “That’s only one reason. The other is so we can have enough human test subjects for a project on Rasi. As I said there’s been a setback in that system recently, but I think we can sort it all out when humans are officially part of the union.”

  “Why not just take humans by force then?”

  “Bad blood that’s why. Humans are resourceful. They’ll find out and build a resistance group. Trust me this was a plan we considered at first, until the seer Hannah said not to go with it. Our best course for maximum success is to make them part of the union, make them feel safe in the arms of Radiance while we switch the loyalties of the leadership in the empire and union.”

  “How do Byikanea and Armuzei fit into all this?”

  “Quite the inquiring mind!”

  “If I’m to assist you I need to know what I have to work with,” Ienthei said, sitting back and nearly fell off the chair.

  “I like that,” Marchei said. “I’m going to do everything in my power to get you back. We need you on the council.”

  “Tell me more, I need to know.”

  “Eiri, remember that?”

  “I do, yes.”

  “Those two along with Dienei are planning to acquire large plots of land for themselves; they just need to manipulate the votes to make it happen. They are corrupted and are here only for their personal gains. If that’s the case, we in the order will give them whatever they desire via corporations we control as long as they vote for our needs.”

  Marchei began to laugh, Ienthei couldn’t help but join in as their drinks started to take hold. Several glasses later and Marchei blacked out, leaving his data pad unattended. Perfect, Ienthei thought as his drunken body struggled to stay upright and move toward the data pad. It took him five minutes before he was able to pick it up, another five to stow it away in his bag.

  He needed to get out before Marchei woke up, and before the other patrons at the gathering realized Ienthei wasn’t really a member of the order. Drinking had a strange way of making one reveal the truth whether they wanted to or not. Step by step, he walked back inside and began to the stressful task of not tripping over Vorcambreums in the process.

  Veromacon, Aervounis, Luminous system

  Ienthei woke up the next morning. His body was angry, angry at all the booze that he put inside his body the previous night. It punished him with a hangove
r as he lay on the bed he shared with his sister. She sat at the foot of the bed with Marchei’s data pad in her hands and viewed the incriminating contents within it.

  “This better be worth it,” Queenea said as Ienthei rose from the blankets naked.

  Wait, where are my clothes? He thought, as he had no memory of shedding them, then again, he had no memory of coming home either. “I hope so,” he groaned. “It won’t be long before he realizes what he’s done and I stole the pad.”

  The two viewed the contents together and saw a listing of order members within the union and empire. “A dossier,” she said.

  “An organization such as this will need one to keep track of who is loyal and who isn’t.”

  “The proof that we need.”

  “The information we need, we’ve done it.”

  They stared at Marchei’s profile on the screen of the pad and grinned as they looked at each other. A new plan was in the works. Queenea contacted Iey’liwea with their findings, findings that were quickly doctored by the twins. The new evidence before them would suit their needs perfectly.

  The day progressed as chaos gripped the capital. Rangers stormed into the homes and businesses of suspected Celestial Order members going about their regular day. Most incidents ended without violence, though order members within the military did put up a fight. Military outposts throughout Aervounis quickly became the location of a bloody siege.

  Armed rangers kicked in the door to the home of Queenea, Ienthei, Dienei and their mother Marrea. Dienei was enjoying a dip in their pool as eight rifles aimed toward him when he came up for air. Marrea screamed horrified at what was going on, Queenea and Ienthei remained in their room, laughing with joy.

  Everything is coming together.

  Byikanea was arrested as she exited the train station near the council towers while Armuzei’s private yacht was boarded by six rangers with the assistance of a psionic teleportation. Too bad he was in the process of using illegal narcotics at the time of the raid.