Divine Deception: The Will Traveller Chronicals (8 page)

“You’re a fake
Lord Robert!” He had time to fire twice, right at my head, without
any effect on me, before a crew member knocked him flat. Again, I
had to stop my men from reprisal.

“Oh my God” The
man cried out “What have I done?” Then he tried to shoot
himself.

“Nothing” I
replied, telekinetically whipping his gun from him. “There is
nothing wrong with scepticism” I told them him and all the rest of
the stunned crowd.

“You must all
learn to discover and accept the truth as it is. No longer can you
afford to simply blindly believe” I added. If there were any more
like my would be assassin, who thought that the crewman’s gun was
loaded with blanks, his little number and my own telekinetic
finale, put an end to any doubt. Completely distraught, the man was
helped away by others from Yellow Willow Vale. My momentarily
murderous crewmember sat crying his heart out at the bottom rung of
the Dias steps, his twelve colleagues in uniform faced the now
docile crowd with pride, despite their own personal grief. A group
identified themselves as the leadership committee. I told them to
come see their old friend Zoran, when they had the body collection
and clean up teams set.

With that
situation under control, I took my twelve armed and one disarmed
and still crying ‘house-guard’ back out, across the bridge to a
waiting Zoran, he was standing on the bottom step of our T.T.V’s
doorway. The grief throughout our little encampment was palpable.
Only Susan, among all of them, had no reason to grieve. As the sun
rose in the morning sky, I pondered my next move. It was clear my
presence placed all these people in danger, yet I had no idea how
to do what I had to do, without, at least, Zoran, Susan and some
armed men. I had no idea when, or if, the laser weapon would run
out and although I seemed just about as bullet proof as you can
get, that was clearly not so for everyone else.

After long
discussions with my two aide-de-camps and even longer talks between
Zoran and all his old colleagues on the leadership committee of
Willow Vale, it was decided that the damaged but still operational
T.T.V, two crewmen, the eight injured, which included Jarrat and
the six uninjured women would stay behind at Willow Vale. I gave
Jarrat one of my two laser weapons very discreetly, only Zoran and
my ever observant Susan knew that I had done that. Now, with the
three crew, nine men and one woman in uniform, Susan had decided to
don the dead crewman’s uniform and assume his responsibilities,
along with the ever faithful Zoran, I was ready to head out, but to
where? It was not simply a matter of going back to the Supreme
House and dealing with the rest of my dysfunctional family. I might
survive that, I seemed to be indestructible, but no one else
would!

Nothing would be
achieved by doing that anyway. Zoran had positively seen Lord
Edmond during our attack and thought Lord Elton was commanding one
of the other five combat craft. With at least four laser weapons
between them, not useable from inside a T.T.V., which was most
fortunate for us in our last encounter, no direct attack, with our
T.T.V could even be contemplated. The outsides of the mountain
which housed the Supreme House communities’ crater were well and
truly wired up.

“Nothing can move
on those slopes without them knowing it” Zoran pointed out, adding
“To tell you the truth, I wasn’t sure that our coming out was the
right thing to do, yet” He told me. The first thing we needed to do
was set up an alternative to the blind belief in the Supreme One
and his family.

But to do that, we
had to head out into the so called New World.

“Only these
Supreme House T.T.V.s have the ability to reach all of the New
World and anywhere in the wilds” Our T.T.V Captain advised me, as
he, Susan, Zoran and I sat in the very comfortable cabin, in the
middle of our soon-to-take-off T.T.V. “The State’s T.T.Vs are for
local harvesting and personnel transportation” He added. The
Supreme One’s forces had the big advantage of communication; we
couldn’t even listen in, without being located.

“As we have these”
Zoran held up the laser weapon in his hand “I don’t think they will
risk more T.T.V’s by coming after us. And, if they try to hit them
here again, young Jarrat will cost them yet another ship or two”
The old man chuckled mirthlessly

“But that will
still leave them with far too many combat T.T.V’s and troops for us
to take on” Zoran added, looking curiously at me.

“I wasn’t
necessarily planning to attack the Supreme House Zoran” I told him
“At least not yet anyway” I added..

“There is no other
way to end the false truths of this world Lord Robert” Zoran’s
resolute old face looked totally convinced.

“Perhaps, in the
end, you are right Zoran” I replied slowly, choosing my words
carefully “I have great respect for your wisdom old friend.
However, even if everyone in Willow Vale were armed and all could
reach that mountain, and be prepared for certain martyrdom, we
would still not conquer that place, you know that” I looked into
his old eyes and saw that he did.

“We must first
empower the people of this world with the truth” I told him “Then,
the ramifications of that knowledge will let all begin to find
their own way. That is when we will be able to return here and
dispose of a no-longer-needed Supreme Family” I went on, all three
in that cabin had their eyes glued on me, their attention wholly
focussed on my words “One cannot rid the ground of weeds by cutting
them down, they must be dug out at the roots” I continued “Belief
in the true spirituality of every human being must be rebuilt,
before their false idol can be brought down. Right now, if we are
seen to be the enemies of the Supreme One, we will find no
acceptance anywhere” I added.

Perhaps because
the three of them still had only a limited perspective of the whole
still-confusing scenario, albeit each of them quite a different
view, none of them saw my point.

“Look, he couldn’t
exactly have admin broadcast what’s just happened now could he?” I
asked the three of them, as understanding slowly dawned, first on
Susan then Zoran, the pilot still didn’t get it “There are still
four of them” I told him “In an impregnable fortress, from which
they have run the world for almost one and half centuries. So, Lord
Robert has run off again? Big deal” I went on “This time he’s taken
his household and two world range T.T.V’s. What’s he going to do?
They know we can’t attack them” I pointed out.

“So, maybe he
wants to go somewhere and set up his own community, the further the
better, far as they are concerned” I laughed hollowly. “Why should
the Supreme One tell the world anything about all this?” I asked
the pilot.

“Then what is the
whole point of what we are doing Lord Robert?” The now fully awake,
but still confused pilot asked, looking from Susan to Zoran, then
back to me.

“When the enemies
of truth are too powerful to defeat” Zoran intoned, priest-like
“then the protector of truth must be unleashed upon them” The old
man looked at me purposefully.

“Lord Robert I can
only speak of Centropolis of course” Susan spoke formally, like the
administrator that she was “But even if everyone in that State
could be convinced to join us, there is not the physical means to
even get them there” She advised me.

“And the States
couldn’t conspire together, without the Supreme House intelligence
people knowing” The pilot chipped in “Then they would really cop
it” He added with complete certainty..

“That’s why they
feel so secure my friends” I told them “Because it would appear to
them that they are invincible” I grinned at the three of them
rather smugly “Fact is, as we very well know, they are not
invincible, but I am” I sat back and watched them digest that
reality. Zoran was the first to grasp the potential of my words,
but Susan was the first to speak, she had not actually seen lasers
and bullets bouncing off me, she’d only heard of such things.

“If all the others
in the Supreme Family can, in fact, be killed, but you can’t, then,
you must indeed be a real God Lord Robert”.

Susan made no
attempt to correct herself, she just sat on the edge of her seat
looking over at me strangely.

“I can assure you
that I am not a God” I told Susan bluntly “I have simply been given
certain extraordinary powers, in order that I may accomplish my
mission here” I told her.

“So you are not
the same Lord Robert I’ve known all these years” Zoran’s stated
curiously.

“Yes and no Zoran”
I replied “Let’s say part of me left and another part of me has
taken its place O.K.!” That answer seemed to satisfy him
personally.

“Often wondered
how my young Lord Robert was going to achieve his destiny” Zoran
mused to no-one in particular.

“You knew all
along?” Susan asked, surprised. Zoran nodded

“First saw the old
woman when I was a teenager” He chuckled.

“Do you think we
should start in Centropolis?” Zoran asked her. I was surprised that
he asked her, changes were already afoot.

“Well, I know my
way around there that’s true” Susan agreed “But isn’t it a bit too
close to the Supreme House?” She asked us both.

“I want to know
about the other States before I decide that Susan” I answered her
“It’s more a case of which one will be the easiest to be the most
effective in” I explained to the three of them. I knew that Susan
Proust was an excellent companion, for travelling with or
otherwise, now she showed why she had become a member of my
team.

As an ever-rising
executive in the Centropolis administration, first in production,
later in planning and, as she was when I met her, in the Governor’s
Office of Strategic Planning, where she was already second in
charge, which was quite some achievement I guessed, Susan had had
frequent contact with other State Administrations. While she only
knew what she’d been told, she was able to provide me with a very
clear picture of the New World. However, she was genuinely taken
aback to hear, from Zoran, that the New Worlders, as she knew them,
made up but a tenth, if that, of the human population of this
planet.

“But where are
they all?” Susan quizzed the old man.

“Ma’m” The pilot
answered for him “I’ve seen ‘em, lots of times, on hunts and
harvest runs” He told us. We all looked at him waiting for him to
go on.

“I never thought
of them being like us Lord Robert” He told me “We thought they were
just like animals” He added. It seems my Brothers and I would
frequently travel, for many hours, at high speed, just to hunt a
particular type of beast for the Supreme House table and, along the
way, we would make sport of running down the locals and engaging in
utterly one-sided skirmishes. One of the goals being who could kill
the most, in the least time! Susan added that on some half dozen
occasions, the Centropolis T.T.V’s had been damaged, while out on
their fuel harvesting excursions, supposedly from wild beasts.
Though oddly, none were ever killed or captured.

“There is at least
six tribes of the wild people within your State T.T.V’s range
Ma’am” The pilot told an astonished Susan “Some of ‘em are pretty
tough too” He added.

“You had no
defences against them?” I asked Susan.

“Well, all of
those issues, defence, policing, correctional treatment” Susan
listed them on her fingers “They are all under the Governor’s guard
authority” She explained “And the production department is separate
from us too, though the Guard have a big say with them, I know
that” She added confidentially. It was easy to see why no one other
than the Supreme One and his confidants knew the complete
picture.

After considering
what Susan told me about the other twelve States which made up this
New World, I decided that one of the smallest of them, Carabindy
Province, the most recent to achieve independent statehood, would
be ideal for our purposes. But it was almost literally on the other
side of the planet! In fact it was about the furthermost away. I
announced my choice to considerable surprise, assuring my
colleagues that I’d explain as we travelled. Just after noon we
said our goodbyes and smoothly moved away across the open fields
around Willow Vale. From the air it was easy to see why the place
had been so absolutely secure, from everything but the Supreme
House’s own forces! Without the ability to fly, no-one would even
know it was there. Steep cliffs, all around the base of Willow
Vale’s volcanic mountain, ensured that no man or beast could enter
any other way.

As we were able to
fly at an altitude of just on a thousand metres, at a top speed of
six hundred kilometres an hour, our T.T.V was going to take a
little over ten hours, just to reach the city/state of Alpine
Grand, from there we’d get directions to our destination.

“These models have
a range of over thirty thousand kilometres, from a single-load up”
The co-pilot was explaining to Susan and I proudly. Zoran was fast
asleep back there with our eight man guard unit and the other two
crew members. The constantly surprising, extremely attractive woman
was proving to have considerable stamina as well.

“So you can
actually circumnavigate the world non stop?” She asked
fascinated.

“That’s right
Ma’am” He reported “There is only four others like it in the fleet”
He was a proud man, and with good reason. This craft was
specifically designed for personal use by the Patriarchs only. It
was faster, went further and carried more fire power than anything
ever designed and built on this planet before. It’s heat scopes
could identify a rabbit in the undergrowth, at night! To all
intents and purposes, the craft we were travelling in was
invulnerable

“Except from them
laser ray things of yours Lord Robert” The friendly, thirty five
year old laughed softly. Susan used the navigator’s computer to
give me a geography lesson.