The Red Queen (7 page)
But then the reality took hold and Zubren became painfully aware that he couldn’t rightfully bring another child into this world. His energy dulled and he refused to meet her gaze.
“What’s wrong?” Elaine said, her voice turning sour.
“It’s nothing.”
She smiled in a way that meant she was really frowning and freed herself from his embrace. He watched her leave the room and sank into the couch.
There was no clock immediately in sight, but an eternity might’ve passed there. He mulled the situation over a hundred times. He could barely stand to live with the truth. How was he supposed to raise Asher and maybe another child?
Zubren wiped his hand over his face. There was no answer he could give. But maybe someone could. He was only one man after all. He wasn’t supposed to know everything.
Picking himself up off the couch, he grabbed his keys and told Elaine he was going to see someone who wanted to purchase his antique gun collection. He did plan to sell them soon, but not just yet. Instead, he drove to the Maester Citadel, impossible to miss by the sunlight reflecting off it.
This time, it wasn’t his grandmother he saw. Inside, Elite Maester Sinclair was giving a sermon. At least fifty people occupied the rows, spread far apart. A small number for this temple, but people were still wary of going out until they received their vaccinations.
“In these dark times, we must remember to thank the gods for the good. For many of us, it is the vaccine. For others, the fact that our society remains intact shows our strength,” the Maester said ceremoniously.
The audience murmured in collective agreement.
“We must also remember to ask the gods for forgiveness. Forgiveness for our sins. For we have sinned. All of us.”
For the first time, Zubren realized what the Maester actually meant. Of course, everyone sinned in the superficial sense, but he was referring to the experiment against the Martians. Just the way his grandmother always implied they were to blame. She wasn't wrong though. He could see that now. Even though he hadn’t personally conducted the experiments on the Martians, growing up with a sense of shame and guilt would’ve helped appease the Martian gods. It dawned on him that his grandmother must’ve known the truth for all those years. She had raised a great family though. That meant he could do the same.
Something called to him from the side wall. He strolled over to a bronze plaque inscribed in the ancient language the Maesters used.
The caption label read
A Plea to the Gods.
It described a short essay, begging the gods to forgive humanity for its sins. The message was broadcast via radio to the ends of the universe in the hopes that it reached the gods. To most worshipers, this was simply a message of faith. Not something to be taken literally. But Zubren knew that it was real for the Maesters who had read the Book of Makori. If they could send out radio broadcasts, the Martian gods could hear them. It was just a matter of whether or not the message convinced them. Maybe one day they would listen to a plea and accept it.
Zubren returned to the aisle and observed the rest of the sermon. There was no place for him in Fleet Services. He understood where he belonged now. How he would raise a family and not succumb to the futility of reality.
At the end of the sermon, he approached the Maesters in their gold skin-tight clothes. He would be just one more Maester to the cause. One small voice among a Guild of Maesters. But if he had learned anything from years of fighting the Crawlers, it was that big things often had small beginnings.
THE END
If you enjoyed The Red Queen, you’ll love
The Deadliest Earthling
Follow Johnny Aldrin on his quest to stop the Anunnaki aliens from unleashing an ancient weapon of biblical proportions. A young adult sci-fi adventure novel. Book 1 in THE ALDRINVERSE series. Coming Summer 2015.
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Your Thoughts
Dear Reader,
Thank you for reading my story. I hope you enjoyed it. Let me know what you thought with an Amazon or Goodreads review.
Gibson
Acknowledgments
First, thanks to the talented team at Damonza.com for designing a great book cover at a fair price.
Secondly, thanks to my editor Crystal Watanabe for helping me to improve my story.
I would also like to thank Lin White for proofreading and formatting my story on an otherwise short notice.
There’s also my brother, and fellow writer, Vicente, who helped me conceptualize
The Red Queen
’s premise and provided feedback.
And, of course, I thank all the authors before me, who helped make me into the writer I am today.
About the Author
Gibson Morales is the author of the upcoming young adult novels,
The Deadliest Earthling
and
The Boy Who Wields Thunder,
as well as the satirical novel,
Johnny Ali vs America
. He graduated from USC and lives in Los Angeles. When not writing, Gibson enjoys boxing, most things geek-related, and truth-seeking.
To learn more about Gibson Morales and his stories, visit his website at
www.gibsonmorales.com
.