Divine Deception: The Will Traveller Chronicals (25 page)

“My Son believes
you are a God” He said softly “Not just a member of this so called
Supreme Family, but a real one” He waited quietly for my
answer.

“It would seem
that I have whatever power it takes, to insure the will of the
people is complied with” I told them evenly “I am certainly not a
God, or even a more important member of the Creator’s family than
you or anyone. He sees all of us as equals”.

“Yet you have
powers no man has ever possessed” Peta protested.

“Peta, reality is
not always what it seems” I told the young officer “If you see
something you believe impossible actually happen, you consider it a
miracle, when, in fact, it is merely something that was always
possible, you just didn’t know it” I added grinning.

“Lord Robert, are
you saying the things you do are merely tricks?”.

“Perhaps it would
be wrong to describe my gifts as tricks” I told the much relieved
young man, in fact, all four seemed relieved to hear those words. I
wondered how to explain it to them.

“The few who hold
power rarely surrender that power of their own freewill” I told the
little gathering. The four men laughed in rueful agreement, even
Zoran allowed himself a wry chuckle “If one is charged as I am,
with insuring that the will of the people is done, then grace
equips one to do the job” I continued, adding “Just as a dancer is
blessed with balance and a singer with a voice” I looked at the
young man who had just opened this soon to be useful door. “Do you
really think you developed your great propensity for high end
engineering here?” I asked. As if to stress that point, our Captain
called in just then, requesting the officer’s aid on board, to fix
a technical hitch which had occurred. Father and Son embraced
again, then each returned to being who they were in their
worlds.

Turning to me
after his Son had left, Captain Millwell asked

“Do you have a
plan, we will help if we can, but I don’t see how”.

“Can you hide
that?” I asked, pointing to our T.T.V., which continued to be the
best show in town, though no one went too near to the gleaming
black craft. His face went blank at first, and then a smile began
to grow on his handsome face.

“I believe that we
can” Captain Millwell replied. The next few hours saw all of us
work a miracle that I couldn’t have done alone. We made the T.T.V.
disappear! Known only to the island’s elders, for it was once the
heart of their industry, there was a huge cave just a few
kilometers North of Stonebridge. That was where the pirates took
their captured trading boats, unloaded them and stored the
spoils.

It was a tight
squeeze getting the T.T.V. into the entrance tunnel, but once we
passed through it, we were in a stadium sized cavern, with the
rotting remains of a miniature harbour all around us. Now
dilapidated jetties and collapsed sheds bore testament to its
history.

“When the tide is
in, you can’t even see that entrance” Captain Millwell told us,
drawn between fascination with our modern day ‘battleship’ and his
pride that our pilot was his Son. We had talked briefly of my plan,
which was still formulating in my mind, now, with our craft out of
Lady Ursula’s reach, we returned to the town, all the men now in
‘civvies’, for some serious discussions. Our pilot took the rest of
the crew and the six guardsmen off, to settle them in for their
first-ever “shore leave”.

The Captain had,
very respectfully, but quite firmly, asked to join Zoran and I.
When Zoran gently tested him, he admitted being ‘uncomfortable’
when we saw Supreme fleet T.T.V’s attacking the House Of Red
retirement resort, but he felt it not his right to question us. He
gave me a garbled page of numbers, which he said he believed was a
message to me from Miss Proust, as a way of demonstrating that he,
like his young pilot, navigator and the guardsmen, had decided that
I was the one to whom they should be loyal. He’d flown for my
younger siblings and long found their ruthless behaviour
‘disturbing,’ but, again, ‘a good soldier never questions his
command’. Unfortunately. The message was from Susan, using a code
I’d shown her, so only she and I knew it.

“Lady U. knows
you’re in the NW coast, Lord Elton comes with three. He really
believes you killed M & P to take over. Be careful. All is well
here. Love Susan” The note read. I thanked the Captain.

“You didn’t kill
Lord Peter and Lady Margaret did you Sire?” He Captain asked. Zoran
took his arm, led him away and enlightened our Captain, at a table
some distance from where the Arc Island leaders and I sat, dining
on home cooked style stew and chunks of soft crusty bread. Susan’s
note had given me an idea. Captain Millwell was a shrewd leader, he
believed ‘no commander had the right to join his men in battle,
unless there was a real chance of victory’ and that to ‘die in a
winnable war was not heroic, it was plain suicide.’

He was obviously
glad that my plan did not involve pitting our T.T.V., with his Son
in it, against three of theirs which were just like it, but
intrigued to know how the old man and I were to beat them. I’d
pretty much figured it out. With our T.T.V. now totally switched
off, there was no way Elton could track it, beyond knowing it had
come this way. But, he was sure to come here. So I gave the leaders
a story to tell him when he did. Yes Lord Robert had come here,
with a handful of much bedraggled men. They would show him some
knocked about guardsmen’s uniforms. Their T.T.V. ran out of fuel or
something. It’s out there in the ocean’s depths. Lord Robert and
his men took a boat and went to Port Rualé. The town of Stonebridge
was in mourning, for the Son of their leader, who was lost at sea
navigating my T.T.V.

I and my
‘stragglers’ would leave evidence to support their story.

“There is no way
Lord Elton will bring three ships to hunt me down, if he believes
I’m on foot” I told my five man planning team, sensing everyone’s
excitement rising.

“I think your
right Lord Robert” Agreed Zoran “He will park two here and take
just one after you” The old man grinned..

“Then as soon as
he’s gone, you zap them with that thing you have” Ken Blarty
exclaimed excitedly to Zoran “And that’s it! Then the odds are
even” He added expectantly.

“There’ll be no
need for damage or injury to anyone Supervisor Blarty” Zoran
corrected him “The Captains can tell the two T.T.V. Captains that
Lord Robert is really here and has them both hostage” Zoran
explained.

“They know my
weapon can destroy them, but they have no means to defeat me” I
picked it up “Zoran can fire a blast, to convince them, and they
will surrender”.

“I believe you’re
right” Our Captain agreed “Only because they are to do so to a
member of the Supreme Family. Otherwise they would choose death” He
added proudly. After a knowing look at me, Captain Millwell turned
to our T.T.V. Captain.

“Well Sir, it will
be up to you to persuade them that, to choose otherwise, whatever
the reason, would not be at all heroic, it would simply be suicide”
Captain Millwell told him. Our Captain went to argue, but I held up
my hand.

“Gentlemen, we all
are entitled to our views, however, Captain Millwell is right” I
told our Captain “The fate of your Supreme fleet colleagues does
depend very much on your own powers of persuasion” I told him and
he looked back at me with gratitude.

“I shall, as
always, do your will Lord Robert” He pledged. We got down to the
details. The plan was to be circulated by word of mouth to all in
the city. All but Zoran, our Captain, the three State leaders, and
my soon-to-be three local companions, believed I would dress as one
of them and join three crewmen on a small fishing vessel that
evening. I was in fact, going to visit Port Rualé alone. There was
some concern about my solo venture among the five of them, till I
pointed out some realities to them all.

“Lord Elton does
not know he can’t harm me, why endanger others whom he can when he
tries?” I asked them. The plan settled, we got to work. My three
would be fishing friends and I made sure Elton would believe the
Captains’ story. I blew neat, metre wide holes, just at the
waterline, of three ships that flew the Supreme House ensign in the
Arc Island harbour, giving the crews plenty of time to disembark
and get to dry land. Then I punched similar holes into an old
looking Supreme House warship and two more of their freighters that
were anchored in Port Rualé, when we got there. The three men
bravely begged to be allowed to continue their service to me, but I
insisted they return as fast as possible, on the boat we’d towed
behind us.

That way, we were
able to leave the fishing boat that I and my three crewmen were
suppose to have used to get here, on the beach just south of the
port. I exchanged my pirate style clothes for those more typical of
the mostly European folk who lived in Port Rualé. With my bright
red kaftan in a smart looking shoulder bag, I began the twenty
minute walk into the now-on-high-alert city. Having been here
often, the Arc Island leaders were able to provide me with maps,
showing the key Supreme House building and plenty of solid and
useful information. Like its counterpart over on the South East
coast of this continent, Port Rualé was as famous for its houses of
pleasure, as for being the biggest ports on the planet.

Unlike Sentoria
however, Port Rualé’s red light district formed a two block deep
ring of clubs, cheap hotels and mostly open air restaurants,
serving food from around the planet. Any sailor who actually wanted
to visit the city itself had to ‘fight’ his way past some of the
most tempting of invitations imaginable.

“Although I’ve
never heard one of them ever complain” Laughed Captain Millwell, as
he told me of this town. When I neared the South of the city, I was
passed by three silent running personnel carriers. Each driver in a
small, four wheeled cabin, towed a separate trolley, with twelve
uniformed and very well armed men sitting back to back on it. Their
faces stern beneath their helmets, not one of them even looked at
me. My ‘attack’ on the port had everyone running every which way.
But no-one knew who or where the ‘enemy’ was.

In fact, he was
sipping fine coffee, in one of the city’s better eating houses. I
waited till the hue and cry had died down a bit, then walked a few
blocks to the Supreme House clearance building. Like many in the
city’s centre, it was a ten story brick edifice, with huge glass
windows. Unlike most others, it had a forest of ariels on its roof
and the Supreme House insignia emblazoned all over it. This was the
control centre of the ultra busy port, but it had very few people
in it right now, just a few lights on the ground floor. Donning my
red kaftan, I strode out of the dark shadows of this mostly
deserted city, not too surprising, given that it was almost
midnight, and walked across the street to the small guard house in
front of the Supreme House clearance building.

There were two
uniformed men in there, they instinctively leapt to their feet when
they saw me, saluting smartly. Both young, they would never have
seen any of us live before, but they had all our photographs
beautifully framed along the main wall.

“Lord Robert” They
began in unison, but I waved them silent.

“Tell everyone to
get out of this building” I ordered quietly. They looked at me
blankly “Now!” I added sharply. Within five minutes, the building
was empty. The two guards and some twenty men and women, of several
nationalities, stood behind me on the opposite side of the road. I
took out my little black weapon and proceeded to quickly demolish
the whole place, taking care not to damage the buildings either
side of the well protected compound.

Not one of them
said a word, what could they say? There was no doubt who I was now
and the guards could do nothing against any member of the Supreme
Family. With a cape-like flourish of my kaftan, I rose up into the
darkened sky, leaving the small crowd gasping, as they stood
opposite their now destroyed place of business. I slipped back out
of the darkness and perched on top of the city’s tallest building,
then just watched the commotion below. Two of the twenty or more
troop trolleys that now separated the red light district from the
city, came speeding silently to the scene of my recent attack. The
twenty four men were quickly and very professionally deployed. When
their two commanders were told the details by the building’s
guards, they found themselves caught, like the guards, in an
insoluble dilemma.

Within minutes,
both of the vehicles and their troops returned to their place in
the defensive ring around the port district. Soon three sleek,
silent running limousines, escorted by four of the thirteen man
troop trolleys, pulled up below the building I watched from. A
dozen elegantly dressed men and women alighted from the shiny black
vehicles and were hurried into the building. They were either very
important, very afraid, or both. Though not a match for the Supreme
House’s forest of antenna, there were enough of them up there to
tell me this building also had a communication centre in it. I
decided to go down and see what they were up to.

“No of course we
can’t Julia” I heard a man in his fifties saying to very stylish
young woman, when I reached their room’s door.

“But Lord Elton
can, he is of the Supreme Family” She argued.

“The Supreme One’s
orders are not optional” The older man replied, his voice stiffly
formal.

“I’ve often
wondered what would happen, if there was ever a dispute among those
from inside Supreme House” A pretty young blonde woman said
worriedly.

“It’s not that at
all Louise” Came another tall thin man’s answer “It’s simply a case
of one of their own has turned renegade and they’re coming to take
care of it” He told her.