The Lost Enclave

by Fredric Shernoff

  “Are you okay, sir?” the servant asked.

  “Aye. I am fine. There is a familiarity to all of this.”

  He expected confusion from the woman, but she simply nodded politely. “You can sit right over there. Your companions will join you shortly.” She indicated an empty table in the crowded room.

  Nathaniel thanked her and took a seat. He could sense the eyes on him, but that was nothing new. As a mature Great One, he had a certain level of musculature that was not often found amongst the mortals. “Bodybuilder” was the term Lilli had used, and though he did not truly understand the meaning, he had a sense of what she was getting at. The muscles were not a guarantee for Great Ones, but selective breeding over such a long period of time had made it extremely likely. There was more about the Great Ones that attracted attention, he knew. There was a sense among normals that they were in the presence of something different. Something powerful.

  He looked at the other people in the room, trying not to make uncomfortable eye contact with those who were casually studying him. They were Authority, and in his gut that made them the enemy. But he had dealt with Authority members for most of his life and had found most of them to be just fine. Likely many of them in his territory did not even know what Gustavus or previous leaders had been up to. They just did their jobs. He told himself it would be in the best interests of everyone there for him not to prejudge anyone.

  Lilli entered the room before Goldman. She took her seat across from him and smiled.

  “You seem well rested,” he said.

  “I am. Pretty nice accommodations. But then, I guess you weren’t surprised by how things are here.”

  “This is not my palace. And even my palace changed once the Authority was all that was left. But yes, the level of luxury is not altogether surprising.”

  “It’s hard for me to imagine the life you had back when there were more like you.”

  “It was in many ways a simple life. We had customs, holidays, various causes for gathering and celebration. And for the young people, there was school and training. But mostly we served as a deterrent on behalf of the Authority. Nobody among the normals would rise up if they thought that the Authority had the might of the Great Ones behind them.”

  “You didn’t get bored with just hanging out for all that time?”

  “It was not always so plain. We were free to research whatever we wanted, though it seems now that may not have been as true as it appeared. We could study things. Grow gardens. Master chess.”

  “Yeah, I don’t know. That’s a long life to be living as an army without a battle to fight.”

  “There were battles, occasionally. The mutants rose up more than once, but unlike those outside the territory, they couldn’t put up much of a fight against Great Ones.”

  Goldman entered the room and grinned at them. “My friends!” he exclaimed, loudly enough to get the attention of many of the people in the hall. “I’m so glad to see you. I had the best dreams.”

  “Goldman, sit down,” Nathaniel said.

  “I’m just in a jolly mood, Nate. I fell asleep like the dirty scoundrel I am, but I took a shower in the morning that was just awesome. My brain keeps telling me that these places shouldn’t have plumbing, but the shower and the use of the toilet that followed it say different.”

  “Must you discuss using the toilet right before we eat?” Lilli asked, shaking her head.

  “I thought that was a perfectly civil way to express my thoughts,” Goldman said. His smile when he looked at Lilli was so much more genuine and warm than the nonsense mask he wore the rest of the time.

  “You all had your clothes exchanged.” Nathaniel observed.

  “Yeah,” Goldman said. “Someone came to the door and asked for them.”

  “And the energy weapons?”

  “I’ve got mine in the waistband of my pants,” Lilli said.

  “Me too,” Goldman said. “It’s kinda becoming a pain. We need to steal a holster for these things. It’s not like people haven’t figured out we’re packing.”

  “Do you think Marisol is coming to meet with us?” Lilli asked.

  “It would be making a bold statement,” Goldman said. “I feel like she’d rather talk with us in private.”

  Just then, Marisol entered the room.

  “There’s also the chance I don’t know what the fuck I’m talking about,” Goldman said.

  “Good morning, travelers,” Marisol said. “I trust you slept well?”

  “We did. Thank you,” Nathaniel said. “Will you be joining us?”

  “I will. Your breakfast should be served shortly.” A servant pulled a chair up to the table, and Marisol sat down. “While we wait, I want to talk more about the nature of the Authority and what we do here. I know you have some experience with another version of it, but that’s all the more reason for me to be open with you.”

  “You promised to tell us about your meeting with the Prophet,” Nathaniel said.

  “Well, it’s all tied together,” Marisol said, “because it was the Prophet who first told me what I had to do.”

  “Very well. Go on.”

  “During my time working for the Authority, I had proven myself enough to be chosen as one of the possibilities to replace the former leader. But, as I said, only the Prophet can decide. I think some of the people believe either that it’s all nonsense or that the Prophet speaks in the minds of those who have the control here. I probably leaned more toward the latter before I learned that he was a flesh and blood being.”

  “So you were chosen,” Goldman said. “And then what?”

  “Then I went through the inauguration, and after that I was led to a chamber within this palace. Remember, by my time, this was already the core of the Authority. The days of living among the rest of the population and going to work for the government were long gone. We live, eat, socialize and work within these walls.”

  “And at what point did the Prophet make himself known to you?” Nathaniel asked.

  “Three days after the inauguration. In that same chamber I mentioned, which served as my office and home. Still does. It was evening, and I had retired to my quarters for the night. There was a knock at the door, so quiet I thought I was imagining it. Then it came again, and I knew someone was there. I told them to enter, and the door swung open slowly. It sent a chill down my spine.”

  “Like out of a horror movie,” Goldman said.

  “A what?” Marisol asked.

  “Never mind. Sorry to interrupt.”

  “Very well. The door opened and there was a dark figure standing there.”

  “Dark?” Lilli asked. “Like dark skin?”

  “No. He was wrapped in dark fabric. Like a giant scarf that surrounded most of his face. He came in and closed the door. I asked who he was and what he wanted, and at first there was no reply. I was terrified. I should have called for the guards but I was too frightened to move. Then the man unwrapped the scarf and revealed a face with powerful, if weathered features. He was white, and his hair was silver and carefully trimmed.” She turned to Nathaniel. “He didn’t look all that different than you.”

  “Do you think he is a Great One?” Nathaniel asked.

  “From the second I saw him, I believed that to be the case,” Marisol said. “There was a power to him, though he wasn’t quite as big as you. He looked at me with a kind of mild curiosity, and a hint of boredom. Like he’d been through all of this many times before.”

  “Did he introduce himself to you?” Lilli asked.

  “He did. ‘I’m Weber the Prophet,’ is how he greeted me.”

  “Weird,” Goldman said.

  “I was stunned,” Marisol said, ignoring Goldman’s comment. “I couldn’t speak at first, and he guided me to a chair. ‘I am here to discuss my expectations, as I have always done with all the leaders of the Authority.’”

  “Interesting way to put it,” Lilli said, “since there have been multiple lines of Authority leaders.”


  “True. I am still wrapping my mind around all of that. At any rate, I eventually found my tongue, and introduced myself. A strange and silly thing to do, since he had selected me and come to see me. I asked him what he wanted me to do, and he said, ‘The most important thing for you to remember is that the people only need to know what they need to know.’ Of course, I got the gist of what he was demanding of me, but I asked for clarification anyway. He told me that there was more to heaven and earth than I knew, and that it was my job to keep the people from asking questions. I should keep them happy in their lives, and step in when anybody got too close to disrupting the natural order of things.”

  “Anything more?” Goldman asked.

  “Not really. He left shortly after, telling me he knew I’d make him proud. He had a strange charm to him, but there was an undercurrent of something that was terrifying. It haunts me to this day, and I can honestly say even though you all are telling me things I already believed, I wouldn’t be so open with you if there wasn’t a Great One in your midst.”

  “So if you know the truth, or even some of the truth,” Lilli said, “why not tell the people?”

  Marisol frowned. “If you’d seen the Prophet, you’d understand.”

  “You have all this power at your disposal!” Lilli said. “It’s not a matter of the Authority versus the citizens. You could unite everyone together to make a better future. And the Prophet is just one man.”

  “She speaks true,” Nathaniel said. He thought of telling Marisol that none of it would matter if he could get what he needed to overthrow the Prophet at the dawn of his reign. Then he thought better of it. They had told enough of their plans. Let her piece it together herself if she was able.

  “What would you suggest?” Marisol asked. “You want me to tell everybody that there is a world outside the walls?”

  “Might not be a bad thing,” Goldman said. “Give them a chance to go out into the world and find their own way. And your squad could set the other territories free.”

  Marisol shook her head. “What you’re asking me to do is to spit in the face of the Prophet. That is beyond imagining, and the people here won’t all turn on him even with the revelation of a larger world. He is worshipped. I can’t risk my position…my life to do this.”

  “You’re making a mistake,” Lilli said. “You won’t be around forever, and who knows when the next Authority leader with the right kind of suspicions will come to power? You could change things now, or you could doom these people to literally thousands more years of imprisonment.”

  “Their lives are not as awful as you want to believe!” Marisol said defensively. “I have done my very best to give people ample opportunity to live their lives as they see fit. We do not tax excessively. We provide education and medical care for all who seek it. This is a good land. What do they need of the outside world?”

  “Just think over what we’re suggesting,” Goldman said. “Listen, for all we know, you’re totally playing us for fools, but we want to believe you. You have a chance to make a real difference, potentially for everyone left in the world.”

  After the meal, Nathaniel, Goldman and Lilli walked through the courtyard in the center of the palace. They still got strange looks everywhere they went, though Nathaniel could not tell if their very public meetings with Marisol had made things better or worse.

  “What do you think?” Lilli asked. “Did we make our point?”

  “Not sure if it matters,” Nathaniel said. “And I think we may be off the mark.”

  “How do you figure?” Lilli asked.

  “Our goal is not to overthrow the Authority. It is to break the back of Weber’s control in your time, assuming we are correct and all of this is connected.”

  “The suicide mission,” Goldman muttered.

  “What?” Nathaniel asked.

  “That approach may be the right thing, but it’s fucking scary. In my time we are just ants waiting to be stepped on. And if we somehow succeed, we wipe all this out. Maybe. Or maybe we create some kind of Back to the Future paradox shit and take out the whole universe.”

  “I know not what that means.”

  “Hard to explain,” Goldman said. “I guess it’s like if we are only here fixing things because of the crazy shit that happened and how you accessed the magic book, if we make it right, there is no magic book and nobody to go back through it.”

  “I see.”

  “Yeah. So it could all make things so much worse. But I agree it’s something we have to do. I know fixing things here won’t make things better for the billions who lived and died between our time and yours.”

  “And yet you hesitate?”

  “Not hesitating. No. I don’t know. I just think Marisol is more likely to help us free her land than to help us prevent it from ever existing. And we need to get to the clearing.”

  “Exactly,” Lilli said. “This is our one chance to try to do some good here. It just feels right.”

  “I think you are both being shortsighted,” Nathaniel said. “Maybe that is harsh, but just meddling with the operation of things here in this time risks ruin before we even have a chance to make things right.”

  He saw Goldman look up into the clear sky with widening eyes. “Guys, is that what I think it is?”

  They turned to follow his gaze. A black beast was passing overhead. “What is that creature?” Nathaniel asked. “It is a machine, is it not? Like the drones.”

  “Fuck, it is,” Lilli said. “It’s an airplane. How? How the hell is that here?”

  “It’s flying really low,” Goldman said. “Getting lower, like it’s gonna fucking strafe us.”

  Suddenly, bluish-grey blobs dropped from the bottom of the flying machine. They heard thuds as whatever it was landed nearby. Then there was screaming.

  A servant appeared in the courtyard, rushing toward them. “You need to come with me!” he shouted. “The leader needs to see you.”

  “What is this?” Nathaniel asked.

  “An attack,” the servant panted. “An attack from the heavens. Monsters!”

  “Mutants,” Nathaniel said to his companions. “Those were mutants dropped from that thing.”

  They followed the man back into the palace. People were rushing every which way through the halls, with panicked looks.

  “Right in here,” the man said. “The leader will be with you sh—” He was cut off by a powerful explosion. Nathaniel had never heard anything like it. It reminded him of the sounds of the guns in Ethos, but many, many times louder. He saw the others place their hands over their ears and wince in discomfort.

  “Bomb!” Goldman shouted. “Someone’s bombing this place!”

  They rushed into the meeting room. Marisol stood looking out the window at the chaos unfolding. She turned to them, and there was no trace left of the intimidating side of her she’d shown at their first meeting.

  “I don’t know what’s happening!” she said.

  “Someone’s attacking!” Lilli said. “Do you know if this is going on beyond the palace?”

  Marisol nodded. “Mostly beyond. My people are panicking. There are monstrosities rampaging through the streets and fire coming from the heavens!”

  “It’s Weber,” Goldman said. They all turned to look at him. “It has to be.” He pointed out the window, where two sleek, black flying machines zoomed into the distance, before dropping cargo that erupted on impact with the ground. “Airplanes. Drone bombers. This is the same shit he used to win the Civil War. Except they weren’t dropping mutants then.”

  “How is this happening?” Marisol asked. Her jaw dropped as realization set in. “He knew. He knew we were talking, and that there was a chance I could tell the people the truth.”

  “What the hell does he want?” Lilli asked. “What is there to gain by hurting so many people?”

  “It’s all he’s ever known,” Goldman said. “That fucker knows nothing but to attack anyone who speaks against him. Anyone who might threaten his power or his
self-esteem. Thousands of years as a magical figure and he still can’t take any dissent.”

  “We need to get you to safety,” Nathaniel said. “In my home palace, there was a lower level. A stronghold.”

  “Yes,” Marisol said. “I know it. The place where they would transform the Great Ones for their time in normal society.”

  “Aye. We need to go there.”

  Marisol turned to her team of heavily armed guards. “Get us to the catacombs. Now!”

  The guards spread into formation and started to maneuver them out of the room. They went down the hall, turning right, then left, then proceeding down the longest corridor. All of it was familiar to Nathaniel, but there was no time to admire it with the continued sounds and tremors of the bombs. The Prophet was destroying the territory, or at least the Central Enclave of the territory. All Nathaniel could do was go along and hope that if it came down to it, he could protect those under his care.

  Ben Goldman ran, surrounded by his traveling companions, an Authority leader who had lost total control, and the small contingent of guards that stood between them and whatever it was that was after them.

  The entrance to the basement level of the facility appeared. Marisol had called it the “catacombs,” and that thought gave him shivers of impending claustrophobia. He tried to tell himself it was going to be okay, that being locked in the lower depths of the palace was better than being blown up in the open air.

  “In here, quickly!” Marisol yelled. Goldman had let go of the animosity he’d felt toward her when she’d squeezed his jaw like a stress ball. She had to do things her way, and confronting a gang of invaders in a world that had never seen outsiders put her in the position of trying to display control of the situation in front of her constituents. He got that much. But now they faced true invaders with uncertain goals, though it sure as hell seemed like the plan was to kill them all.