Shadows of Golstar (56 page)

He bowed, “Lieutenant Sutner, at your service, Honored
Keeper. Please forgive this intrusion.”

She rose to her feet and dutifully smiled, “Forgiven;
you may enter, Lieutenant.”

He straightened and walked towards her, stopping at
the prescribed five paces from where she stood. He bowed again and said, “The
Founder protects his children.”

“And his children protect his legacy,” she responded
automatically. “Rise Lieutenant; what business brings you to me?”

He did not hesitate. “Members of the crew have asked
me to represent them to you. First, and with the utmost respect and affection,
they inquire of your health.”

A tiny frown formed on her face, then vanished as
quickly as it appeared. She asked, “My health?”

The Lieutenant looked slightly discomfited. He
hesitated then continued. “I assure you their concern is expressed out of a
deep and abiding affection for you, Honored Keeper. When you first boarded the
ship, some crew members were present and they observed that you wore unfamiliar
clothing and appeared, ah… unsettled.”

She nodded slowly, “Yes. I admit I was not at my best.
I was somewhat disheveled but truly, not in any real distress. I remain puzzled
the crew saw it necessary to petition me.” She allowed herself a small smile of
amusement. 

 “I suppose that, by itself, it would not have
caused the crew to contact me. Honored Keeper, you understand the crew was not
provided the details of our mission. Of course, this is not unusual. However, a
great, great urgency was placed upon its success. Every crew member was
compelled to perform their duties at the highest possible level.”

“I am most thankful they took those directives to
heart,” she said. “Please tell the crew I am pleased by their diligence.”

“Thank you Honored Keeper. I will convey your
appreciation.” He went on, “Of course the crew did know we were on a rescue
mission, but not informed of any details. Only fleet officers were privy to
that information. When we finally reached our destination, it was not long
before we were told the mission had been successful. ” He hesitated, “Soon
after that, your shuttle docked with our ship. Your unexpected appearance made
it evident you were the likely objective of our mission.”

“Understandable,” she said.

He added quickly, “And so, as they have not seen you
during any of the Services in the past two days and coupled with your ah,
disheveled condition, it was natural their concern only increased.”

Service! The Founder help her. How could she have
forgotten? Her hand went to her throat and her face paled.

Misinterpreting her reaction, the Lieutenant flinched,
and in an urgent voice said, “Honored Keeper, please forgive me. I see now,
though you bravely try to conceal it, you
are
unwell. Shall I send for
the medical technician?” His eyes flicked to the call box on her side table.

She managed to quell her rising panic and responded
with forced calm. “No. No, Lieutenant, I assure you it is only a transitory
weakness. Medical assistance is quite unnecessary.”

 His eyes returned to her face and he looked at
her with open concern.

She sighed, “I am sorry I cannot confide in you or
crew but suffice it to say, I was on a very important errand which I regret, must
remain a state secret. I confess the undertaking did unexpectedly tax my
strength. As a result, I find myself overly tired. I have since been resting
here in my quarters to regain my strength.”

She took a deep breath, as if trying to stay her
flagging energy.
 
“Please…, please convey
to the crew my sincere appreciation for their concern, but they truly need not
worry after me. Albeit somewhat slower than I would like, I
am
recovering my strength.”

She could see her words were having their intended effect.
The Lieutenant’s expression lost much of its urgency, but a look of temperate
concern still remained on his face.

“For the time being, I am forced to take Service in
solitude. Please let those concerned know, should I recover sufficiently I will
lead a Service before we arrive home.” She allowed her voice to fade into
little more than a whisper.

He now looked abashed, “Honored Keeper, I must again
ask for your forgiveness. I can see this audience has unduly taxed you. Please,
continue your recovery. Do not concern yourself with a public Service. I will
relay what you have said to the crew. Be assured the crew and its officers will
not bother you again unnecessarily. May the Founder watch over you.” He quickly
backed out towards the door and into the corridor. He completed another bow and
the door shut.

Sharné sat down in the chair. “And may the Founder
watch over you,” she whispered to the closed door. Her face had paled and she
clutched at the chair’s arms for support.

What is happening to me, she asked herself. How could
she have forgotten Service? Barring the few days when she was genuinely ill,
she had attended Service virtually every day of her life. What is wrong with
me? She lied to the Lieutenant to cover her transgression, first the lies to Owens
and now this. Sitting alone in her quarters, her resolve momentarily forgotten,
Sharné began to cry, the sound of her racking sobs vanishing into the thick
tapestry that covered the walls.

● ● ●

As Sharné cried aboard her ship, Owens stretched, his empty
plates remained on the table, ignored. He had just finished his tale. He made
sure to edit out his budding relationship with Sharné. He still wasn’t sure
where it would lead. He glanced at the wall chrono and was surprised that he
had been talking for over three hours. He took a long pull from a glass of
beer. He swallowed the last of the now-warm liquid with a grimace.

“That’s pretty much what happened. Sharné’s on her way
back to Berralton; she’s less than a day ahead of us. So, what do you think?”
Owens asked.

“I don’t know, Boss. I mean who would have ever
guessed these people have been hiding an alien presence for all these years?
Hah, it’s good thing my logic pathways are buffered, or I might have smoked a
circuit. It’s a lot to take in, even for a modified AI.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean. I think I smoked a few
brain cells myself.” Owens grabbed another beer out of the dispenser. “But that
isn’t the half of it. Think about the Controllers sitting smugly in their underground
fortresses, brimming with alien technology.” He paused. “Now think about the
technology used on us by Golstar over three hundred years ago. See any
connection?”

For the first time in their short acquaintance, it
appeared to Owens Hec was rendered speechless. When Hec didn’t immediately
comment, Owens asked, “Hey! You okay? You’re not caught in some sort of logic
loop or something are you?”

Hec immediately responded, “Sorry Boss, I was only
off-line for a second. I just finished searching the ship’s library for
references and descriptions of the weapons Golstar deployed against us. Guess
what? You’re right. These technologies were way beyond Confederated Planets’
science at the time. Of course, since then we’ve made a lot of progress. Where
we are now in relation to what they threw at us centuries ago, I couldn’t
guess.”

A thought occurred to Owens, “You know I find it
interesting that none of my briefings included any speculation on how Golstar
was so advanced over Confederated Planets. Did you happen to come across
anything related to that in your search?”

“As a matter of fact, I did. There are a few
references to unpublished papers that pondered that very question; the
rationale behind Golstar’s technological superiority. It’s pretty dry stuff. Most
of them related to possible breakthroughs in quantum physics. Supposedly, these
breakthroughs could build on one another, like toy blocks, to create a family
of technologies that lent themselves to military applications. Much of it was
just groundless speculation. In sifting through the synopses, the bottom line
was that Golstar had been extremely lucky and must have made some sort of
scientific breakthrough that fed the technologies.”

Owens snorted, “Well, they
were
right… about
the lucky part anyway.”

Hec went on, “Of course there were a few souls brave
enough to link Golstar to some unknown, dark, alien influence, but they were
written off as part of the UFO fringe.”

“Yeah,” Owens agreed. “The UFO crowd remains a faction
within the government. I’m amazed their views have survived the centuries
without producing a single shred of hard physical evidence. I can see where the
thinking back then would reject the alien angle. Confederated Planets has not
encountered a single alien, dead or alive… or, for that matter, any evidence
that an alien civilization has ever existed. When we left Confederated Planets,
the consensus was that humanity was alone in the universe.”

He drummed his fingers on the table. “So now it
appears this General Light, their benevolent Founder, stumbled on the remnants
of an alien culture, technologically advanced far beyond humanity. Somehow he
gained access to the Controllers and the mother lode of technological
advancements. And what did he do with this new knowledge? Was it the beginning
of utopia for his followers? I don’t know, but I think we can be fairly certain
he used some of the technology to create an unstoppable military machine.
Confederated Planets never had a chance.”

“Well,” Hec said, “that will certainly change if and when
we get back.”

Owens frowned and said nothing.

Sharné walked down the empty corridor, heading toward
the ship’s small chapel. She could feel a slight vibration from the ship’s
engines as they pushed the ship doggedly towards its destination. After her
experience on the
Light Saber
, her awareness of the ship around her had
increased. Often she found herself listening for unexpected sounds or other
changes in the ship’s environment, so it was not surprising she slowed for a
moment, trying to sense any change in the subtly quivering deck. Not able to
discern anything out of the ordinary, she resumed her pace.

Soon, she found herself standing before the
gold-rimmed threshold and absently touching the platinum headpiece that had
been thoughtfully included with her wardrobe, she hesitated. She had not
attended Service since boarding the ship. She discovered herself reluctant to
conduct a formal Service. But now as they were less than half a ship-day from
Berralton, she felt the need to resume her worship, at least on a personal
basis, if not an official one. Perhaps she would receive guidance to counter
her current state of bewilderment.

She entered the chapel and immediately felt more at
ease than she had in some time. The familiar setting soothed her. She looked at
the pews arranged on both sides of the single center aisle. As she had
expected, the chapel was empty. She carefully chose a time between the posted
worship schedules for the crew.

She kept to the aisle and slowly walked towards the
altar. The familiar and comforting feeling of contentment gradually grew within
her. She knelt on the thick, red runner that led up to the altar and bowed her
head. She began to recite the Founder’s prayer for forgiveness. As she spoke
the words of reverence, she could sense the Light of the Way lift her burden
and begin to warm her soul.

For a while, she was simply content to bathe in the
holy Light shed by the glowing eternal symbol suspended above the altar. After
a time, she said another prayer, this one of thanks. Finishing, she declaimed
her pledge of faith to the Founder and smoothly regained her feet. She stood
and gazed at the floating representation of the Light of the Way. The shining
sphere bathed her in its gentle glow.

For some time she stood motionless, staring at the
holy icon of her faith. As she continued her observance, a tiny errant thought
began to form in her mind. It flitted at the edge of her awareness, not yet
fully formed. She continued to gaze at the ball of light and a gradual feeling
of alarm began to grow, displacing her feeling of well-being.

Confused by this change within her, she began to back
away from the altar. Her feeling that something was very wrong increased with
every step she took. She was now at the threshold, still facing toward the
altar. The thought hovering at the edge of her mind finally broke through. Her
mouth opened in astonishment as the truth flooded her mind and threatened her
consciousness.

She knew then that she had to leave. She turned
quickly and hurriedly strode out of the chapel, into the corridor. Her heart
was beating rapidly as she paused and looked down the corridor, back towards
her quarters. As she had hoped, the path remained clear. She resumed walking,
away from the chapel, fighting to keep from breaking into a run. After what
seemed like an eternity, she made it into her room and collapsed into a chair,
flinging the platinum headpiece onto a nearby table where it bounced and landed
unceremoniously on the polished wooden floorboards.

She was badly shaken. She could not escape the import
of the revelation she had just experienced in the chapel. Unfortunately, it had
not been a revelation associated with the divine; it was not a holy vision from
above. Instead, it was a sharp hammer blow between the eyes; a connection
between facts to equal a corporeal, horrifying conclusion. She kneaded her
forehead with the heel of her palm, trying to understand what had just
occurred.

She carefully reviewed each clue that led her to her
to the awful conclusion. She recalled her unsettled feelings as she walked
along the corridor leading up to the chapel, the gradual feeling of peace and
contentment that came over her once inside. And finally, she shuddered at the
remembrance of looking at the symbol of the Light of the Way. The brightly
glowing orb was suspended on invisible fields just as its twin had been not so
long ago, so many miles below Selane’s surface.

It had to be, she thought, there was no other answer.
Her feeling of contentment was induced, false. Instead of receiving the gift of
healing from a divine, Holy Spirit, she was instead bombarded by subliminal
sound frequencies tuned to provide an artificial sense of well being. The
so-called spiritual guidance from above was rather the product of brain-altering
emanations from an alien mechanism. She shook her head. She could not deny her
experience or the logical conclusion. It was just as Owens had described; it
was mind control.

She continued to think about this troubling notion for
some time, and gradually she became more rational. A chime jarred her from her
contemplations. Automatically, she toggled the intercom. The firm voice of the
ship’s captain informed her that the ship was entering its final approach
before entering a parking orbit around Berralton and the shuttle would be
launching within a quarter ship-day. Sharné thanked the captain distractedly
and switched off.

She resumed her worried reflection. The thought of
manipulating the minds of her people was abhorrent. Though the simple induced
feeling of well-being associated with worship appeared harmless, it was still
horribly wrong. Why were the alien mechanisms used in such a manner? Did the
subliminal frequencies induce more than just a sense of well-being? Questions
formed in her mind, questions for which she must seek an answer, questions she
would pose to her father.

In spite of her discovery, she didn’t immediately
fault her father. Decisions that drove the use of the alien technology had to
have been made centuries before his birth. She knew his intentions were noble
and all for the benefit of the people. She realized she did not have the
complete picture and was confident once she rejoined her father, all would be
explained. It was possible he did not know the full extent of the mind alteration
properties of the orbs. Or perhaps he did know and the people were already
being weaned off the alien orb’s influence. If not, surely she could convince
him to do so.

This led her to another thought. She wondered if the
crisis that brought Owens to Golstar could be in any way related to the light
globes... a question to add to her growing list.

She knew then there was more her to father’s original
explanation for bringing Owens to Golstar, much more. At the very least, her father
had not revealed the complete plan to her. And now, with their recent
experience on Selane, he would be obligated to tell her everything. She was
confident her father would carefully reconsider his plan regarding Owens and
perhaps even take some of her suggestions in light of this new information.
After all, she was in line to be his successor. It was time she took on
responsibilities beyond those limited to her role as Keeper of the Way.

Her resolve grew, and she was pleased that much of her
fear and confusion had lifted. Some things now made more sense; yes, a good
many things. At the very least, she would view her world with fresh, clear
eyes. Her mind would remain unclouded by alien influence. Her thoughts were
interrupted once more by a steward offering to help her pack for her return to
the palace. As she absently agreed to his assistance, she continued to consider
her upcoming reunion with her father.