CHAPTER 36
Colleagues, be
warned! Do not expect the masses to
value your reason, for they are governed by their passions. They will trust more in a poignant passage
from the Scrolls that speaks to their hearts, than to volumes of knowledge that
speak to their minds.
- Sarwin
Kliat Aria, 5449,
Lecture at the Kreslar University
Etyiam looked out the view port of her
chronoship at the great asteroid that filled most of the scene. She could see some of the other saucers that
ringed the great rock, but most were hidden beyond its jagged horizon. Her ship was linked with the others and was
under the master ship's control, which Sarwin piloted. For now, there was little for Etyiam to do
but sit and watch. No matter, as this
is what she was here to do. Sarwin had
trained her in the basic control of the ship, in case her link with the other
ships was somehow severed, but everything was highly automated, it was unlikely
she would ever have need to use that training.
She sat back and tried to keep still, but that was proving difficult due
to the intense excitement she was feeling.
The countdown had begun and very soon they would be flashing backward to
an earlier age.
Etyiam reached into her pocket and
pulled out the medallion that Ampharix had given her four days earlier. As she looked over the medal, it imparted
upon her mixed emotions. Becoming a
senator would give her wealth and power beyond compare. Although the wealth facet had its merits, it
was the power aspect that intrigued her most.
She had always felt her gray-skinned kind deserved more voice in the
affairs of state and in such a powerful station she might have the means to
make that happen. If Ampharix kept her
word, that is.
But for Ampharix to keep her word,
Etyiam might have to keep hers; to prevent Sarwin from bringing back anything
other than evidence that the sacred Scrolls were true, even if it meant killing
him. Etyiam didn't mind promising to
bring back factual evidence proving the authenticity of the Scrolls, because
she was sure that was all they would find.
Thus, she rationalized to herself, she had no reason to believe she
would need to kill Sarwin, as Ampharix had forced her to pledge. Still, the fact that she had promised, even
if she would never actually need to do it, troubled the girl. She tried to console herself that she had no
choice; that if she had refused, Ampharix would have surely killed her and just
sent someone else more willing to do the job.
But the thought gave her small comfort.
Although uttering the thought to the
wrong ear would mean death, Etyiam felt that Ampharix was not a worthy guardian
of the Scrolls. The old woman was tainted
with evil, even if her intentions to protect the Word of the Goddess were
honorable. The Scrolls could protect
themselves, as truth needed no protector.
It would always triumph over deceit in the end.
Although the girl didn't really need
proof of what the scripture said, Ampharix had insisted on showing her evidence
anyway. The thing the old matron had
shown her behind the alter in the senate's chapel still haunted her. Was it even real? Etyiam didn't want to believe it. If it was real, why not show the whole World, so that all would
see the truth of the Scrolls? Why lock
it away for the eyes of only a few, who were themselves already believers? Surely it was some forged icon meant to
scare her into taking the dire warnings of the Scrolls more seriously. There was no need. Etyiam was proud of her unshakable belief in the scripture. It was the very core of her being. She could not imagine how she would survive,
were it were ever taken away from her.
Etyiam sighed to herself. Ampharix had given her a small poison
injector, which she said would kill Sarwin quickly and painlessly, if
needed. But Etyiam had thrown it in the
trash shortly after leaving the old matron.
She could not kill Sarwin. Even
if it meant she would never become a senator.
Even if it meant her own death by the old crone's command. The Sacred Scrolls commanded not to kill and
the Scrolls were truth, so Etyiam would obey them.
Although she tried not to think
about it, her obedience to scripture was not her sole reason for wanting to
preserve Sarwin. The old senator was
quite right. Etyiam loved Sarwin. She knew that he was already married of
course, but it was not uncommon for senators to have concubines. She daydreamed that she might someday have
him as one. He would be her only one
and she would not need another.
It did trouble her, of course, that
many people disliked and even outright hated Sarwin. Some even believed him to be the Q'Talon, but she didn't believe
that. Yes, he was a skeptic of the
church and although Etyiam was a firm believer, she had a youthful tolerance
for listening to others with differing viewpoints. Perhaps because her opinions were often ignored, due to the color
of her skin, she felt some empathy for the opinions of others, even those she
didn't fully agree with.
Her utmost fantasy was that Sarwin
would see for himself, during this expedition, the great prophet Shradia and
the miracles she performed. He would
come to realize that the Scrolls were true and forget all his abstract and dangerous
thoughts of evolution. She knew he had
a good heart. She could see the
kindness in his eyes. He just needed
some confirmation of T'Chen's greatness; a little proof that the goddess was
there for him, as she was for everybody who sought her. Sarwin wasn't a bad person, as so many made
him out to be. He merely didn't have
the kind of strong, innate faith that Etyiam had. He would get the proof he needed on this journey and all would be
well. She just knew it. She had a good feeling about this
voyage. It would change everything.
"Chronoleap threshold in thirty
seconds," announced the computer, shaking Etyiam from her daydreams.
Etyiam placed the medallion back in
her pocket. She decided she'd better
stop dreaming and start observing, as she was meant to do. She could see the first shimmering wisps of
the chronofield starting to form along the horizon of the asteroid. It was eerily beautiful, but also very strange. Sarwin had warned her not to watch once they
passed the threshold, so she would look now while she could. She had to make a concerted effort not to
squirm with excitement. Fidgeting was
not dignified. Senators did not fidget.
"Command override number one
initiated," interjected the computer, "Chronoleap target point has
been adjusted."
Etyiam was confused. That was not a command she had heard during
any of the practice simulations. She
looked at the navigation council that showed a target date of twelve thousand
years in the past. Suddenly, the target
date moved backward so far she had to zoom out the scale several times before
she saw where it was; twenty six million years in the past! What was going on? Was this some kind of mistake?
She engaged the transmitter.
"Chronoship three to chronoship
one," she said, "Sarwin...
What's going on? My navigation
panel says we're going back millions of years.
We have to abort!"
She got no reply. After a few seconds, she tried again.
"Sarwin? Kleesic?
Anyone...? We have a
problem. Our target point is way off
the mark. We have to abort the
leap! The threshold is coming up
fast!"
Suddenly, Sarwin's gray face
appeared on the monitor.
"It's alright Etyiam. It's not an error. There's been a little change of plans, that's all. Just relax and enjoy the ride."
"A little change of
plans?!," she shouted, "We're going back to a time in which the World
didn't even exist yet!"
"According to the Scrolls, the
World didn't exist before a hundred thousand years ago," said Sarwin
calmly, "I think I can prove otherwise."
"You can't do this!" she
shouted back, "The senate would never have allowed this!"
"I know," replied Sarwin,
"That's why I forgot to tell them."
"We have to abort! I insist!
This isn't right!"
"If the Scrolls are right,
there will be no World where we are going, only fiery chaos, and we will all
die," Sarwin said, "But if I
am right, and I know I am, a younger World will be there. And upon it, we will find our own primitive
ancestors, just as Grentus predicted."
"Sarwin," she whined,
almost weeping, "How could you do this to me?!"
"I'm sorry, Etyiam," he
replied, "but I'm not doing anything to anyone. I'm just seeking the truth.
Wherever it leads. This is
bigger than you. It's bigger than
me. We can't fight the truth, we can
only seek it. Join us, Etyiam. Please...
Let your mind grow larger than those rolls of parchment will
permit. Let's see what's really
there... Let's see where we really come
from... Let's see it together."
"Please..." she whimpered.
"Too late, Etyiam," he
replied, "Time has caught up with us, my young friend. There's no turning back now. I'll see you on the other side of
yesterday." Sarwin's face vanished
from the monitor.
Then the threshold came upon them; a
tidal wave of broken time that wrenched them from the present and dragged them
back through forgotten ages.
Etyiam watched painfully as long
elapsed eons rewound past. She didn't
know which would be worse to find when they arrived at their primordial
destination; the inferno of chaos that the scriptures promised, or the ancient
world that Sarwin sought. One way, her
life was over. The other way, life as
she knew it was over. Etyiam closed her
eyes and prayed to T'Chen for guidance.