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This Is Where -- Chapter
34
1. The
temple on the Psionic Guard compound had not been properly used since
the evacuation. The Elite considered it contaminated but Kor did
not want it destroyed. Vicar
Wexli's grandson had become a Psionic Guard and was the first Psionic
Guard to inaugurate the perennial 'shellwatch.' "Your Grandfather
would be so proud of you," Miles assured him. "I feel that he's
watching," Solar said. "Indeed," Miles agreed, looking all
around, "I think all of them are."
2. Solar took
his seat and shellwatch resumed as it had in Dan's past. It
wasn't long before Solar captured
something that broke his heart. Other Guards instinctively
joined him, some taking shellwatch seats
prematurely. There was a distressed child huddled under a
bathroom sink in a motel room. The child was afraid and Solar
felt the boy's fear. The Director tapped into Solar's empathic
suffering and joined him.
3. "There
are
lots of remote places that we can't easily get to," Miles said, "which
is why we do shellwatch." Solar felt
emotionally compromised. "It's OK to have compassion," another
Guard consoled him. Solar drifted into the boy's mind. He
had been used for illicit
purposes by depraved locals and abandoned when the Exiles
returned. Not everyone was able to enjoy the festive
atmosphere. "My son," Solar said softly to the child's
mind. The boy could hear him, and being Vejhonian,
understood. The child was too stressed to speak, and Solar
understood why.
4. "My son, I
am coming to save you. Be brave until I
arrive." Solar's heart was breaking because he had been made
aware of many similar atrocities committed by Kor's
oligarchy. Some of the most hideous crimes occurred when the
Elite learned that the party was over and that the rightful owners of
Vejhon were coming back. Miles dispatched some reconditioned
super kids to retrieve the child and bring those who hurt him to
justice. The super kids, born and bread to serve Kor, swore an
oath to Vejhon's Constitution and accepted the Psionic Guard Director
as Vejhon's highest corporeal authority. "I think I like
them," Miles said, "now that they're on our side."
5. The
shellwatchers observed the super kids, who lived closer to the scene,
round up those who had hurt the child and bring them to justice.
"Do you need
to be relieved?" Miles asked Solar sympathetically. "My
strength, right now, is all this boy has," Solar answered, "I will
remain with
him." For every crime the Psionic Guard discovered, 10 others
were untraceable because the perpetrators fled and left the victim for
dead. "I want him," Solar said. "Solar," one of his
friends injected, "You can't shellwatch if you adopt every kid in
distress." "I don't want all of them," Solar defended, "He has
no family -- I want to raise him right. I need too."
6. Solar only needed Miles' warrant. There was
a back story that nobody knew anything about. Solar's father was
very disappointed that he chose to learn guardianship rather than
embrace the colonial frontier. He was proud of his son's
choice, but he felt abandoned as well -- it was difficult for all
involved. Solar wanted to give the child a normal life while a
normal life was still possible. "He wasn't always a slave,"
Solar reasoned, "he just needs a chance. He needs me."
Only Miles knew the whole story. With reluctance, he said, "I
warrant." Solar's friends started ribbing him, "Dad!" they
teased him, because Solar now had a son. "My child," Solar said
to the boy. The boy calmed a little -- he was riding on one of
the super kids shoulders. "You're mine," Solar said to him.
The boy smiled, "Father," he said.
SENTENCING
7.
Onimex returned in three
days and downloaded his findings into Sunova, who forwarded copies to
Vejhon and Conscious. Conscious admitted the footage into
evidence on behalf of Kor's defense. Finding an impartial jury
was out of the question so a tribunal was commissioned to decided the
fate of all
defendants.
8. There was no
way to mitigate a death sentence for Kor. As expected in a free
society, self righteous moralists began asking, "What function does a
pretentious trial serve? If Kor's sentence is automatically
'death' -- why go through the formality." There was no prison
that could hold Kor and appropriating 6,000 Psionic Guards to keep him
confined was an inexcusable waste of State resources. "Why 6,000
Guards?" the press asked, "Are they that incompetent?" "Good
question," Miles agreed while watching the holo from his office.
9. Theos
wanted one of Kor's grid-boards
to be refurbished in order to send a strong message throughout the
Universe. It would be used only for the
most henious Elite
criminals, like Dal El: "It was good for everyone else -- let's
see how he likes it."
"Revenge is not justice," Conscious ruled. The trial exposed the
brutal massacre of millions of innocents, "...whose only crime was
being
in the way." The testimony of survivors
was taken into account. Vejhonian dissidents had suffered
unthinkable depravity without mercy. Entire species had been
annihilated with no known survivor. Jol wanted to eat the
condemned, rather than waste perfectly good food.
10. Kor had not been invited to sit in the courtroom during his
trial. He was allowed to watch the proceedings from his orbiting
cell via
closed circuit. When
it
was time for pre-sentencing, the court showed the entire Universe clips
of mass grid-board executions, where thousands died in less than
an hour. Star charts with missing planets and rare footage of
planetary destructions was presented. After all was said and
done, the essence of Kor's regime was an unimaginable horror:
Those who were not among the upper crust, had barely escaped a
waking nightmare.
JUDGEMENT DAY
11. After relentless deliberation by the Theite judges, Conscious
conceded to allow the gridboard since sentient machines
were not among the condemned. The affair was transmitted throughout
the Universe on every available channel -- even children were
permitted to watch. Most of the lessor-known criminals were
destroyed without fan fare, but the names of well known criminals were
read one by one, with dossier highlights. At times, the
presentation mirrored a sports telecast. There
were only two Universally
recognized names that the Universe needed to see destroyed: Kor
and Dal Ell. Indeed, Uhura and Azoth would be watching this one.
12. When the
time came for Dal El to mount the drop dias, he was
booed by thousands of angry Theotians who watched from the
stadium. For every spectator in the stadium, 250,000 others were
watching across 15 star systems. Even secure channels carried the
telecast. Huge stadium monitors presented the Theotian Senate
floor, where the actual order to release Dal El's drop disk would
come.
13. As Dal
El awaited his fate, he fixed his gaze upon Kor, whom he had
dutifully served to a fault. He remembered the day when he first
heard Kor speak; how Kor made him plunge a dagger into his heart, and
then brought him back to life. After all was said and done,
Dal El had only one thought, "If I had it to do over again, I would, my
friend." Kor could
not remember shedding a tear for anyone, but he felt
more pain for Dal El than he did for
himself. Besides Mantra, Dal El had been his only true friend and
confident. For his faultless devotion, Dal El deserved better
than this. If Kor was going to pull one more trick out of his
sleeve -- it should be for Dal.
14. Kor
reached out with his arms and closed his eyes -- the disk that Dal El
stood upon was only a few inches above the searing lazers that would
cut Dal El into cauterized cubes. A split
screen showed their faces. Dal El was not concerned. At the
moment his disk shattered, it was unclear whether he had fallen through
or if he had vanished in mid air. The Psionic Guard had not
applied the same security measures to Dal El because he did not pose a
security risk. Most of the spectators assumed that he fell
through the grid so fast that there wasn't anything to see, but instant
replays told a different story: Dal El did not fall through -- he
vanished!
15. As the
instant replays began to confirm the reality of Dal El's disappearance,
Kor vanished too! Panic swept the Universe! "Oh Guards!"
one commentator wailed, "The game is over!" Director Miles got
personally involved in the search. When it seemed certain that
evil would triumph over good, Father Bri
stood up to calm the crowd. He was given a microphone. "Citizens," Bri said. "Don't
feed fear with more
fear -- we've had 70 years of fear! Stop what you're thinking and
listen to me right
now." The
stadium became quiet.
16. "Right
now, the entire Universe is listening to my
voice," Bri continued, "This is an Elite trick!" Bri waved toward
the spectators to include all who might be watching, "Do you
think that
the collective consciousness of the entire Universe is helpless against
two wayward souls? Do you think that the entire Universe can be
defeated by the sinister
motives of two murderers? You're
selling yourselves short," Bri admonished
them, "There is too much good in all of you, to cave
into your fear. Don't allow these criminals to distort your
reality any longer." Bri had their attention, just like the
old days. "But how
Farther Bri?" they asked, "We want
to...but how?"
17. "Think them back!" Bri said to
them. It sounded innocuous and lacked complexity, "Think them
back!" It was terribly oversimplified. Over thinking was precisely the
problem. "Think them back," Bri continued, "we could have done
that 70 years ago, but we had to circumnavigate the Universe in order
to discover that it really was
'all in our heads.' We had the answer all along. Think them
back!" If Father Bri was saying it -- there must be something to
it. "Think them back?" The entire Universe heard it and
echoed the line curiously. "They cannot hide in a
state that is unnatural to them," Bri explained, "and they cannot be
very
far," he assured them.
18. The audience began to calm.
"Think them back," Bri coached, "... your thoughts can
become reality." The shellans believed in Bri. "Yeah," some
of
them agreed, "Think them back! Maybe it isn't so stupid?"
Voices gradually swept across the stadium and spread to the outter
reaches. Even the Theotian Senate chimed in. Bri was
pleased to have so much support. The crowd chanted it two more
times and then a ball of light exploded above the point where Dal El's
drop disk had
shattered. This time, Dal El reappeared and fell through the grid
beyond any reasonable doubt. His demise was beyond question and
the cameras could prove it definitively.
19. It would normally be considered rude to cheer when someone
died, but this particular individual had instigated the deaths of
millions. "You did that!" Bri congratulated them, "You did that!" The
sudden change in psyos helped the
Psionic Guard to locate Kor and return him to his
holding pen. He had not gone far because a psionic wall
surrounded his holding pen in multiple dimensions. If the 'fear'
had
continued to fester, Kor might have
slipped through a crack, rescued Dal El and fled to safe house to
regroup.
20. "You
would betray your own brother?" Kor said out loud.
Those were the only words that Kor spoke since his
capture. The crowd quieted to hear if Kor would say
more. The media replayed his comment for those watching the
telecast. "So,
what does that mean?" one commentator asked,
"...betray your own brother? Who's he talking to?" Nobody knew that Kor had a brother;
the entire Elite were his brothers. One cameraman displayed Kor
and Bri, side-by-side, and dug up available stock footage that went as
far back in time as possible. It did not take a computer morphing
genius to see a striking resemblence. It was almost supernatural
how the stadium achieved that realization. Nobody could believe
it, yet, it made perfect sense: They were so polarized, that
nobody thought a relationship was possible.
21.
"Amazing," one commentator said, "You can certainly understand why they
wouldn't want to draw
attention to their relationship... wait... " Bri was about to
speak, "You made this choice, Kor," Bri said, "You've hated
me since we were kids. You wanted to kill me. You said
because of 'me' ... millions of shellans would
die." It was an emotional moment for Bri, "I would love to have
talked to you for
just 5 minutes on the level. I wanted
us to be brothers, but you
didn't want me in your life... and I never
knew why!" There was an introspective pause, then Bri added, "You
only associated
with that... wizzard one."
22. "Well,
he's obviously talking about Mantra," a female commentator said, "We've
learned some things about Father Bri that for obvious reasons, could
not come out until now." "The incredible pain that he must have
carried with him all these years," her co-host continued, "knowing that
your arch enemy is your own brother." "We just had it confirmed
by Bri psionically," she said, "that they are twin brothers." The
entire Universe had been made privy to an intimate conversation between
the two most influential figures for the last 70 years. "It's too late
now," Bri whispered sadly, "I can't help you."
23. On
Corlos, Daniel was making a call to El Sha. She would have
pardoned Kor for preserving her home, since the area was under Kor's
personal protection. She had flatly refused to attend her son's
execution or sit in the VIP box with her other son. It was the
'plural' dichotomy of the scenario that concerned Daniel. After
70 years, El Sha looked like she had aged maybe 1 or 2 days.
"Darling," she told him as serenely as possible, "you never asked...
are you saying that you ..."
she omitted what didn't need to be said, "... of all shellans, didn't know something?" It
was certainly too late to change things now. Daniel thought her
insinuation was unfair. "I don't think knowing would have changed
anything," she added.
24. Kor's
holding pen was mobile: It was anticipated
that the entire pen might might need to be dropped through the grid
boards. "You
don't have to do that," Kor said, as his jailers began
to maneuver his pen. "I can go out like a shellan." His keepers sought a Psionic Guard
for guidance.
Miles looked at Bri who nodded his head. It was unlikely
that Kor would try any more tricks since the entire Universe knew how
to contain him now. His only friend was dead. "What else
does he
have to live for, really?" one commentator asked. "It certainly
wasn't for any of
us," his co-host replied. "This is unprecedented," the Balipor
anchor interrupted, as a sky camera zoomed in on Kor's holding
cage...
25. "They're going to let him walk, on his own, to the drop
disk. After an impressive display when we nearly lost him,
they're going to let him 'go out like a shellan' the Guard
reports." Another host commented, "This is the shellan who gained
the entire Universe, and lost it all." The penkeeper opened
the cage door and permitted Kor to walk the path to his disk. Kor
made no attempt to deviate. This time, the Guards had him wrapped
so tightly that his farts would have become diamonds if the gas had
leaked.
26. "I don't need the disk," Kor said out loud, "You can hurl me
through if you wish." That was
precisely what happened. Shellans had been duped by him one too
many times. They didn't want
to torture him, they wanted his corporeal form to cease to exist.
The cameras caught everything: Kor was levitated by a psionic
power that was not his own and violently slammed through the
grid. His cauterized
pieces dissolved into the acid mat below. Some shellans jumped
at the suddenness of it. "There was no time for sentiment with
that one," a commentator said, "it was as if everyone's collective
thoughts slammed him right through." "Wow!" exclaimed another, "I
thought there would be some 'final word' or a... dramatic end, but it
looks like the Universe just wanted it over!" "I'd say!" another
commentator agreed.
27. A
spiritual silence fell over the stadium and
a soft luminescent glow appeared. Nothing within the
glow
looked tangible, but it felt like the presence of God, The One.
"There's some other phenomena taking place above the stadium," a
commentator said gently. "We're witnessing live history," another
added. All eyes looked up at the Presidential platform to
acknowledge Bri's grief. President La Nasha knew that they were
looking at Father Bri, like she was. He raised his arms once more
in salute and blessing, "Vejhon has been restored!" he said, and he
said no more.
28. "What
an
incredible life and an amazing
shellan!" a commentator said emotionally, "I'm grateful I
lived to witness this day!" Shellans reached out to touch Bri
because he had led them through
difficult times and suffered more grief than any one shellan should be
expected
to bare. All throughout, his concern was for them. Bri
was very touched to be the focus of so much affection. He was
still hurting and trying very hard to repress his pain. They
cared for him in spite
of his resistance.
So he quit resisting.
29. "What's
happening to
him?" a commentator observed. Unusual bands of light began to
swirl around him and the grid boards suddenly exploded, as if destroyed
by a higher power. The entire stadium began to glow within a
translucent fog that felt like the presence of God. There were
flashes of dry heat without rain and the effect was spectacular.
President La Nasha felt the loving touch of an Angel's hand gently
remove her arm from Father Bri. His chest suddenly exploded into
brilliant beams of light that stabbed outward until his whole body
became inflamed in a radiant glorified form. The radiance was
blinding!
30. "If I
hadn't seen
this..." a commentator whispered without finishing. Glorified
beings descended from the light and mingled with shellans in the
stands. "Are those loved ones of the deceased?" a commentator
asked. The sight was indescribable -- it seemed like Heaven was
mingling with mere mortals. "He really was from The One," another commentator
said
reverently.
31. Father Bri's glorified form gravitated toward the cloud of
light, where The One would would receive his
translated servant in person. Other personages seemed visible
below the cloud, personages who had played a significant role in Bri's
early life; Wexli, Aqu'Sha and Kyle'yn among them.
32. Bri spread his arms in blessing
while yet
rising and a soft, subsonic, rumbling voice said, "My Peace, I Leave
With You."
33. Many got religion
for the first time that day.
34. For
all of the euphoria, which would last for many weeks, there was
still one untidy loose end...
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