Mesopotamia - The Redeemer (44 page)

“Ready,” replied Thales uneasily.
His heart pounded in his ears like a drum. “Now!”

Now was the moment of truth. He had
been interested in the history of combat for years. Now was his
chance to act. He silently crept behind a badger and swiftly
pounced on him. He clutched his neck from behind with all his
strength and pressed down on his windpipe with his finger. He was
surprised at the tenderness of the flesh as he shook with the
flailing body of his victim. After a long minute of struggling, he
tossed the limp corpse to the ground.

The mighty Pasha hurled a powerful
blow at a nearby badger, breaking his nose. Before the other two
badgers knew what was happening, he grabbed the weapon out of one
badger's hand and used it to strike the second badger on the head
as he planted a vigorous kick in the third badger's stomach. In a
flash, he shot each of the four badgers to death at point blank
range.

Thales was amazed by Pasha's speed
and deftness and was horrified to see how he had killed the men so
calmly. 'I killed a man,' thought Thales as he felt a wave of
sickness washing over him.

“Take their weapons and bring the
mosquitoes,” commanded Pasha. “We must hide the four corpses so
that they won't know that we are inside. Don't move the Gnostic
corpses that they killed.”

“We'll leave three mosquitoes
outside.”

“As you wish.”

They crossed the bridge to the
processor, dragged the bodies away and picked up the weapons.

“Sophia,” said Thales on the
station's audio-visual device, “immediately open and close the
entrance to the processor.”

She granted his request. The heavy
door closed behind them. They sat down and breathed.

Pasha seemed to have risen from the
dead. He hadn't acted with such clarity and certainty for
years.

They heard voices coming from the
other side of the door. Flash and his men had set explosives at the
door. They did this carefully and precisely so as not to damage the
processor.

“How much time do we have?” asked
Thales.

“A minute, maybe two,” replied
Pasha.

“Sophia, we're inside,” he relayed
the message to her.

“Thales, are you ok?” she asked
anxiously.

“We're fine—I'm here with Pasha in
the processor.”

“Who?”

“Barman,” he corrected himself,
remembering that she did not know his real name. “I see on my
display that Gabriel is trying to get to the processor. He and his
men are stuck in combat. Contact him via the audio-visual and tell
him to follow the mosquito. Open all of the ventilation shafts in
the processor sphere.”

“At once.”

A gust of wind began to shriek
throughout Samos' corridors. Thales programmed the mosquito to
navigate the shortest route that would lead Gabriel to the
processor. With his back facing the door, he turned toward the
console. He began to type the codes into the display. He had broken
out in a cold sweat. It was likely that these were the final
moments of his life and the lives of all of Samos' residents, he
thought. He began to write the command instructing the processor to
self-generate. Self-generation was a paradox so impossible that the
processor would have no option other than to destroy itself along
with the entire station. Pasha stood opposite the door with his
weapon ready.

Minutes before, when Flash had
slipped out of the simulator, Gabriel knew that Thunder was going
to join him with the module on his way to the processor. He did not
hesitate. Once he was joined by the seven loyal badgers that had
been with him in the simulator, he explicitly permitted them to
shoot and kill any of the dissidents who stood in their way and
opened chase after Flash. He hoped he could catch him before he
reached the processor. The loyal soldiers were in a tough spot,
thought Gabriel. They would have to open fire on their fellow
soldiers. All he could do was hope that they would remain loyal at
his side.

Without warning, they were fired
upon by a band of Gnostic rebels that had been waiting for them
around a bend in the corridor. One of Gabriel's soldiers died on
the spot. They returned fire and killed one of the five soldiers
opposite them. Flash's followers injured another one of Gabriel's.
Despite the serious wound to his leg, the soldier continued to
fight. Flash's followers retreated and took cover.

Gabriel had lost precious time to
the skirmish. Finally, one of Gabriel's followers stormed out
daringly, killing one and injuring another before being shot to
death himself. Two of Flash's followers fled. Gabriel took one of
the weapons that had been left at the scene and instructed a nearby
soldier to treat the injured.

Crossfire rained down once more on
Gabriel and the remaining three followers. The fire was coming from
above, from a vent in the shaft that connected the spheres, as well
as from behind, from Flash's badgers that had come from the
platform.

One of Gabriel's men staved off the
pursuers from behind. The second did not flinch in the face of
almost certain death in order to neutralize the fire from above.
Gabriel left with the third soldier and crossed the open area,
looking for an alternate route to reach the sphere above them.
After about thirty meters, they spied another shaft that led to it.
They silently climbed up into the shaft and surprised Flash's
soldiers with a barrage of fire from behind. The soldiers fell out
through the shaft. Gabriel and the badgers slid out behind them and
joined two more soldiers, who covered them. With concentrated
firepower, they stormed the forces that had come from the platform.
Gabriel was immediately hit on his left shoulder, but the
adrenaline sharpened his senses and numbed the pain as he continued
to fire. Their enemies took shelter in a protected area. One of
Gabriel's soldiers was shot in the head and killed as a second
soldier was shot in the stomach. Gabriel had never imagined that he
would kill a Gnostic soldier with his own hands. He shook the
thought out of his head and returned to his men.

“You stay here to protect the
injured man. Drag him to the simulator,” he commanded the last
soldier. He began to run ahead alone, his left arm dangling limply
at his side.

Sophia's voice echoed through the
station. “Gabriel, follow the mechanical mosquito in front of
you.”

In a matter of seconds, he changed
his course. He saw the mosquito enter a crack in the wall. After
thinking for a few moments, he shot through the wall and punched an
ugly hole in the gleaming pearlescent wall. He stepped though it
and saw the mosquito rise up though one of the vents in the
station's ventilation system.

“Gabriel, hurry! Flash has already
reached the entrance to the processor,” Sophia urged. In the
command station of the Atheist fleet, Bruno released the third
safety and slid his finger forward to press the switch that would
activate the ray.

Although Diotima understood that
Truth had been killed, she decided to continue on to Samos anyway
and use the Redeemer's Tablet as a way to bolster Gabriel's
leadership. A group of badgers who were loyal to Gabriel led the
way as she carried the wrapped parcel straight to the processor.
Sophia, Enosh and Diotima used the simulator to watch Flash and his
men lay out the explosives. The door was designed to withstand the
pressure created by the processor, but no one knew for certain how
much force it could stand from the outside.

On her personal audio-visual
device, Diotima relayed the events to Bruno. She instructed him to
release the ray the moment she informed him that Flash was
connecting the module to the processor.

She felt a sense of grief at the
destruction of the gleaming pearly planet, the glorious Pythagorean
creation, as well as all of the residents inside it. She also felt
sadness at the loss of her own life.

“In the name of the Master of
Light, you will lose your places in the pleroma if you do not open
this door immediately,” Flash shouted to his soldiers with frantic
fury as they placed the explosives in place.

Thales typed in the code wildly and
cursed every so often as he corrected hasty typing errors, thereby
losing precious time.

Pasha remained standing by the
door, holding a heavy energy launcher in each hand and ready to
strike.

“They're going to burst in any
moment now. Hurry, Thales!”

Thales cursed again and continued
to frantically punch in the codes.

“The redemption of light has come!”
Flash yelled to his soldiers in an ecstatic frenzy. “Take care not
to damage the processor!”

Gabriel crawled behind the mosquito
through the air shafts, holding his weapon in one hand while the
other wounded arm dangled at his side. He saw Flash and his
soldiers through a small opening below him and hurried toward the
processor.

The blast sent fragments of the
doors flying to the sides.

Gabriel managed to jump down from
the air vent above where Pasha was standing just moments before the
doors collapsed. When the Gnostics burst into the room, they were
met with remarkably effective gunfire from Gabriel and Pasha. “In
the name of the Master...” a shocked Flash managed to utter before
his body was shot to pieces.

Thales' finger was frozen above the
display in anticipation of activating the final command. The shots
stopped and an eerie silence settled over the station. Only the
harmonious melody of Samos and the shrieking of the wind could be
heard.

"Done!" said Thales over the audio
visual system. "Safety back on." Diotima commanded Bruno.

The wounded were treated in the
clinics while the deceased were wrapped in bags and gathered into
the morgue. The surviving rebels were shackled and transferred to
be quarantined until their true loyalties could be ascertained. The
people of Samos started to function again and began to assess the
damage to make repairs. Everyone awaited instructions from their
leaders.

Enosh, Sophia, Thales, Pasha,
Gabriel and Diotima shut themselves in the simulation room. Gabriel
was withdrawn. Saving the galaxy had not dulled the pain of losing
the man who had been to him like a mother and a father. Thales
kissed Sophia passionately. He was happy that the danger had
subsided but was burdened by one thought: he had killed a man. He
clang to this burden as proof that his humanity was still
intact.

Diotima wrapped her arms around
Enosh. “You did the impossible,” she whispered in his ear.

“We did the impossible,” he
replied.

“Are you with us?” Diotima
addressed Gabriel.

Gabriel raised his moist eyes and
nodded. They conversed for a long time. Finally, Sophia activated
the audio-visual system so that all of the forces in Samos and
outside of it could hear and see them. They all waited in suspense
for her words.

For the first time, the
Pythagoreans, Atheists and Gnostics all found themselves in a
similar position. They tried to digest the events that had just
occurred and their implications. Their value systems had been
overturned—the principles on which they based their lives and faith
had collapsed. Had they followed the correct path? They prayed that
their leaders' words would return a semblance of stability to their
world.

“The danger has passed,” Sophia
addressed the people on the Audio-visual system. “We have lost dear
friends. I am proud of the composure you demonstrated during the
invasion, but we have much work ahead of us now. We must reassess
the values that led us to isolate ourselves from the rest of
humanity. We have closed ourselves in ivory towers and we have
ignored the sorrowful Earth for too long. But not anymore.”

Surprised rumors could be heard.
“Yes, my friends. We have yet to discuss and clarify these issues
and make many changes. In the meantime, we will suffice in knowing,
and letting our Gnostic and Atheist brothers know, that we no
longer exclude ourselves. We will no longer hide behind our
alienated harmony. We hope to reach a state of peace and
cooperation with all of humanity. We will begin and Octavia will
follow”

“We are on the brink of an
extraordinary opportunity that was afforded to us by Samos,”
continued Diotima. “We all must do everything that is required in
order to bridge the gaps created by alienation, estrangement and
war, and in its place, achieve peace. Each one of you is giving
rise to the new era that we would like to bring to the world. The
Human-Gods' Wars almost decimated humanity once; the battle of the
Gods of actuality versus the Gods of nothingness nearly destroyed
the galaxy just now. Even the death of God does not afford any
solution.” Enosh nodded in approval. “Humans need a God and we must
work together in formulating an expression of what that God is: a
God that people can turn to out of a common understanding, which is
its purpose.

“Only one leader can bring us to
this goal. He is not a saint, nor is he exalted. It is precisely
because of his humanity that he may serve as a spokesperson for all
of us.”

Diotima raised the clay tablet in
her hand and laid the linen cord around his neck. “Gabriel is the
only one who can lead the new brotherhood of man that we want to
forge,” she continued. “He knows the way. The Gnosis sunk to the
depths of human suffering, and only Gabriel the Redeemer dared to
rise above it and come back.”

At the right moment, she succeeded
in touching the hidden shared longing for brotherhood.
Interestingly, it was the Gnostic portion of the audience that
began to cheer with increasing intensity.

"Humans: Atheists, Pythagoreans and
Gnostics, those inside Samos and those outside of it,” addressed
Gabriel. “We are in need of a lengthy rehabilitative period. My
Gnostic brothers: We must infuse new meaning in the knowledge
inherent within us. We must reinterpret our roles in the world,
firstly within ourselves and then together with the Pythagoreans
and the Atheists. This is not something that will happen
instantaneously. I do not delude myself. Generations of Gnostic
faith in destruction will not disappear overnight, nor will we mend
the rifts between ourselves and the Brotherhood of Purity
overnight. But the healing process has begun.”