Divine Deception: The Will Traveller Chronicals (19 page)

After looking up
at me floating in the air, backed up by a craft that could easily
level his shiny new city, he thought the better of resisting. I
hovered silently, taking a good look, for the first time, at both
the administration people and the rapidly growing crowd. Marsoni
and his two lieutenant’s barked orders left and right, mostly to
young Asian looking women. I couldn’t help noticing that, while the
general population seemed Asian or Polynesian, the leaders, to a
man, were all white. The few women in the Governor’s welcoming
committee were obviously not in any positions of real authority.
Interestingly, the men’s secretaries were actually Eurasian, not
full blooded Orientals or islanders, like most of the women in the
crowd.

A huge, open
topped, old style limousine drove across the rapidly filling plaza,
and stopped just below me. General Marsoni walked over to it and
opened the rear door looking up none too confidently

“May I join you on
the short journey to your chambers?” He asked and I nodded. Our
rapidly assembled but still impressively large motorcade headed out
of the plaza and onto one of Sentoria’s main streets. Although
there was sporadic clapping and an occasional yelled ‘Welcome to
Sentoria Lord Robert’, the decidedly tepid welcome changed my plans
for a fixed smile and the ‘royal wave’. Instead, I asked the State
leader “General Marsoni, your people are the least enthusiastic
about my visit that I’ve yet seen, why is that?” I kept my voice
flat.

“Please do not be
offended Lord Robert” He sounded genuine “It’s been nigh on three
decades since our last visit from the Supreme House, people aren’t
sure how to behave” He told me honestly.

“So there has been
no preparation for my predicted visit?” I asked bluntly.

“I was unaware of
any such prophesy Lord Robert” He really did seem genuinely
surprised.

“Perhaps then,
there is no great love for the Supreme House in Sentoria” I
remarked dryly “Which is not hard to understand, given the
circumstances of my younger brothers’ last visit” I added.

“Lord Edmond saved
this State from ruination my Lord” The General solemnly assured me
“However that so many had to die so terribly was a tragic
necessity” He affirmed.

Sentoria certainly
was a multi-cultural state, but the majority of the people I saw on
the street were a polyglot of Eastern, Mid-Eastern and Polynesian
races. There were also a few black folks on the streets but I saw
no whites. We were soon out of the down town area and it was not
long before we pulled into Sentoria’s official guesthouse. While
similar in layout to the ones in Centropolis and Alpine Grand, it
was far more opulent. The driveway took us through lovingly cared
for tropical gardens, to a low bungalow style beach side mansion.
My chambers were what had to be the ultimate bachelor’s pad. It had
a huge Jacuzzi overlooking the ocean, all marble and glass. There
were soft white leather lounge chairs everywhere and the biggest
circular bed I’ve ever seen.

It was like one
very big luxurious room, because the bathroom walls were all glass.
No sooner had Marsoni and I entered the place, than a discreet
phone rang. The General picked it up, said “Yes” Then he handed the
feather light phone to me. It was Zoran.

“Lord Robert, they
are asking if the meeting can be deferred for three hours, is that
O.K.?” He asked. I looked around at my comfortable circumstances,
the first I’d had for some time.

“That’s alright
with me my friend, I’m sure I’ll be fine here” I answered. When I
told General Marsoni he seemed delighted.

“That will give us
time to introduce you to some of the many pleasures Sentoria is so
famous for Lord Robert” He said, grinning like a Cheshire cat. He
spoke on the phone for a few minutes, while I admired the pristine
sand dunes and bright blue rolling sea.

Within what seemed
like minutes, the first of those famous Sentoria pleasures arrived.
They had been there with the greeting party, but in their severely
cut military tunics and past the knee dresses, I’d only noticed
that they were Eurasian. Now, the two ministerial secretaries, if
that’s what they really were, wore Polynesian style sarongs and
bore large bowls of many coloured fruit. They were totally
unconcerned that when they put their bowls on the table, in front
of me, their sarongs fell wide open to reveal perfect golden and
brown breasts. Moments later, two sari clad girls in their early
twenties, their dark skin and aquiline noses indicating that they
were of Indian decent, danced into the room and began a most erotic
routine to the soft music.

After allowing
himself the pleasure of watching the fully dressed, yet so erotic,
routine for a moment, General Marsoni rose, returned his glass to
the marble bar and came to stand beside me.

“Why not sit back
and enjoy Lord Robert” He invited loud enough for the girls to hear
him “All that you see here is for your pleasure Sire” The General
added, then he left, after assuring me he’d be back for me in time
for the meeting in three hours. I sat back as the two Eurasian
girls came over and sat on both sides of me, their much revealed
perfect golden bodies were a strangely exotic counter point to the
still sari clad girls and their blatantly sexual dance. Whether
from the wine or the two warm bodies putting fruit into my mouth,
as they pressed their firmness on me from both sides, I began to
feel uncomfortably hot.

When I tried to
get up and take off my thick outer kaftan the two Asian girls
gently pushed me back, laughing, then they pulled away from me. The
two Indian girls came over and, taking one hand each, they pulled
me up off the lounge I’d been sharing with the other two. Deftly,
they removed both my outer kaftan and my inner clothes, leaving me
naked but for a pair of red boxer-type shorts. Then they continued
their dance, with me sandwiched in the middle! Within seconds, I
knew that their saris where gossamer thin and that they wore
nothing else. The two utterly gorgeous creatures, eyes fixed on me,
but saying nothing, pressed every part of their lissom bodies
against me, often dropping low to let their lips and breasts brush
over my increasingly bulging shorts.

Just when my heavy
breathing told them I could stand little more, they stopped, slowly
reaching down to lift their flimsy saris over their heads. As they
did, the two Eurasian girls stood up, slipped out of their sarongs
and joined the three of us completely naked. Almost ceremonially,
the four of them slowly pulled my shorts to the floor and, once I
stepped out of them, I entered a true pleasure zone! Nothing I had
ever experienced could match the next couple of hours, as we romped
from bed to spa and back again. Those two executive secretaries had
quite a few non clerical skills. All in all, it made for an
excellent way to start out on what may well turn out to be a
potentially hazardous mission. They certainly proved that
Sentoria’s fame was fully justified.

“All rise for Lord
Robert of the Divine House of Red” Zoran’s voice boomed into the
high ceilinged auditorium. The hundred or so leaders of this State,
all dressed in crisp and clearly ranked army and navy uniforms,
stood and applauded with considerably more enthusiasm than on my
arrival. As guided by Admiral Richards and three of his men Zoran
and I walked out onto the podium and took our seats. Mine, in the
centre, with a barrage of microphones pointed at it, was a
sumptuous, high backed affair, while Zoran’s, though also most
comfortable, was to my right and clearly intended to show his
subordinate role. On my left was a Lieutenant Prasad, the State’s
best computer programmer, according to the Admiral, he sat at a
very impressive looking computerised audio visual control unit.

Above my audience
was a large flat screen and I could see two similar, but smaller,
screens in front of me, facing towards my audience. Everything I’d
seen so far told me this was a very tech smart State. Like
everything in Sentoria, the auditorium was laid out military style,
with the Leader and his two most senior aides in the middle, right
in front of me, and, as I looked out over the rows behind them, I
noticed that the uniforms grew steadily less impressive, the
further back I looked. With so many microphones in front of me, I
felt that it would be appropriate to use a conversational level
voice, to lessen the formality of this most significant
meeting.

“Good afternoon
gentlemen” I began, for there were no women present “There are many
reasons for this visit, and very good reasons for not forewarning
you” I told them smiling. “However Governor General Marsoni has
ensured that I was most pleasantly occupied, while this assemblage
was being organised” I added, smiling at the beaming General.
Immediately, the tension went out of the place, men exchange
knowing looks with each other then returned their attention to me.
“Before I begin, General Marsoni has invited me to view the answers
to many questions I’ve already asked, in a short film about
Sentoria”. As could be expected, the production opened with smart
military precision, matched by martial music. It was designed to
show this hundred year old State as having but a twenty five year
history!

All the
reconstruction was referred to simply as development - it was as
though nothing had existed there before it. The State was a
‘martial democracy’ that had become 'the hub of the New World’s
transportation network’, all of which was quite accurate. The
portrayal of how that had come to be, however, was a fanciful
concoction about how brilliantly led military action had wrested
this bastion of peace and prosperity from the savage hordes who
once roamed freely, on the very ground the city was built on today.
Their technology was indeed advanced and the brave men who once
guarded the State’s borders had now been completely replaced by
remotely controlled cyborgs. The robotic sentries constantly roamed
the three kilometre wide defoliated defence belt, guided by heat
seeker technology.

That ensured no
living creature could enter Sentoria from the wild Northern
regions. When the program ended, the applause was generous,
interspersed with “Good work Prasad”. These people were genuinely
proud of what they had felt they had collectively accomplished. I
found it interesting that the Supreme House was only briefly
mentioned, when crediting Lady Ursula for having greatly assisted
in the State’s decision making and development. There was not a
word about the Port Authority. It seems that it had evolved into
the government. So the people who now ran Sentoria, are the very
same people who called on Lady Ursula to send my two younger
brothers here.

They may very well
have assisted in, though most were too young to have commanded, the
massacre of almost a third of the State’s population. Like many
governments before them, Sentoria’s leaders had chosen to ‘bury’
the real past, rather than deal with it. A choice that invariably
fosters resentment and can lead to full on rebellion, by those who
have not prospered from the new order. Unemployment was at zero,
because the State had created a technological manufacturing base in
the hinterlands. Its biggest problem was the strict limits on child
birth. Although Marsoni and his people had done an excellent job of
creating a new, crime free, extremely well-to-do society, one which
greatly benefited the New World, I sensed that all was not quite as
it seems. Perhaps it was the ever present, well armed guards. Were
they military dressing? Or was there an ‘enemy’ within, whom I’d
not been told of? I had intended to just sit there and keep it
chatty, however, when I spoke, my voice was so loud that the sound
controllers went into panic and soon gave up, switching off their
equipment.

“People of
Sentoria” It was that voice again, the ride had begun! “You are to
be commended for your labours” I began “Clearly this is a major
jewel in the New World’s crown” Though alarmed by my strangely
transmitted voice, that comment clearly pleased them. “Aware of
true history as I am” I continued “I can see why this State is not
engulfed in affection for the Supreme House” I raised my hands to
silence their protests “But to pretend something did not happen
when it did, is to ignore future reactions to that act” I
warned.

The whole audience
became visibly restless but none were more uncomfortable than
Marsoni, Davis and Richards, who tried, but found that they could
not rise to interrupt me.

“No one here is
too young to know that almost a million Sentorians, whose actions
were making it impossible for Sentoria to continue as a New World
State, were killed by Lord Elton and Lord Edmond, on the orders of
Lady Ursula” My voice boomed at them. The air was thick with
tension “Perhaps that was the only way to do what had to be
accomplished, perhaps not. After three decades, it is of no value
to sit in judgement” My voice decreed. The three in front were
certainly glad to hear that

“What must now be
attended to, are the long festering wounds from that terrible act”
I continued “There cannot be a single soul in Sentoria who did not
lose loved ones, many would have lost hard worked for livelihoods”
I paused for a moment and saw several heads nod in agreement, more
the further back I looked “While authoritarianism is vital for
stability and growth, there has to be a time for restitution” I
told the Sentoria chieftains. This time Marsoni wanted to rise and
speak and I let him.

“It is not for me
to ever question the infallibility of those of Divine birth Lord
Robert” He began, and though trying hard to hide it, there was a
hint of belligerence in his voice “But when you speak of
restitution my Lord, may we know more detail about that which you
wish?” He asked still standing, his manner confrontational. “Sire
we have re-built that which was destroyed, we have ensured full and
well payed for employment for the families of those
displaced….”