Chapter Four - Aria, Conquerer of Men

NATURIA and its two moons, with the Azure Sea at top right
and N'Abode at the head of the Butterfly Sea, top left.

Hesper's cottage was a little way up from the shore. There was a sandy beach that ran around the inside of his cove. Marble steps led partially up the embankment. The house was a simple, old stone structure with many small rooms, and it was just as serviceable then as it had been for over 200 years. The land only grew more beautiful with age. It was locally known as "Sea Garden Estate.” Hesper owned it before he was married, but his wife was now the true caretaker. He was too busy lately sailing around the Azure Sea.

Where the marble steps ended, the garden path began, winding into the back yard and then splitting off into a loose network of narrow clearings that were further connected by smaller paths, seeming to drift all throughout the flower gardens and orchards of the estate. Near an old fruit tree in the side yard was the greenhouse entryway. Quaint stained glass window panes, hundreds of them, were patched with pewter, their frames mortared together and then further combined with bits of antique glass. In the evening a colorful pattern cast itself, fired by the falling suns, through all that glass, across the tile floor of the greenhouse and then up the outside wall of the main house.

Aria

Aria was watching the shadows of distant trees silhouette across the face of those beautiful colors as she stood motionless and lost in thought. She held the watering can as if she were a small, pale statue. She was retired now...early...from what she thought should have been a longer musical career. She'd chosen the married life with the rough-edged, wealthy, Hesper, three years before that very day. He had finally settled her down into this domestic, but not altogether blissful, comfort. They "had” it all. They owned the house here on the coast and another cottage in the mountains of Dnalgne Wen. But their main residence was located near the International Park of the world capital, the City of N'Abode.

The "Hesparia" city estate in N'Abode was a splendid, sprawling net of marble buildings, stone walkways, small canals with bridges, flower and medicinal herb gardens. Their gardens abutted the park, and were known by their neighbors as, “the Domes.” There were many small sitting areas, each with its own tiny, seven-columned domed temple. They bought that house together. Here on the coast, Aria was freed from the public attention that constantly dogged her in the city.

She made her way to the door and up the stairs into the house with the full intention of getting some accounting work done. But she really wasn't in the mood. She was distracted. She kept escaping into her mind. Things went more smoothly there than they seemed to in the outside world.

Aria was nearly the same height as Hesper--who was considered a bit shorter than the average man, but she gave the appearance of being quite petite. With her silken black hair framing large, wide-set blue eyes, she was almost intimidatingly beautiful. But she was not pretentious. Friends and family felt comfortable around her. She sometimes considered her beauty to be a burden. Her soft, pale, violet skin and facial features were inherited from her mother. An unusually attractive grace and charming modesty set her apart from other celebrities. Still, she remained the focus of the fantasies of millions of men and women, scattered across the worlds and colonies of two star systems.

There was a time, right before she was married, when she was almost worshiped for her voice. Her name was no accident. There was a myth in the media, courtesy of her mother, that she sang instead of crying when she was born. She didn't remember of course. But her mother had told her that the melody she used in her first hit, “Land of Light,” was composed with the same notes she sang when she was born. It was a great story. And her mother was known for her great stories. But the public just devoured it when it was published. They loved her unconditionally from then on.

She played her very last hit, “Conquer of Men” in the million-seat amphitheater, at the central plaza of N'Abode. She could still hear the cheers of the ocean-sized audience in her head.

The stars mixed with the lights of the surrounding metropolis, which then blended into the seven concentric, elliptical seating stand levels of amphitheater. She remembered the schematics of the building and the seating diagram: 37,000 seats in the lowest ellipse—closest to the stage and then 74,000 seats in the next ellipse of stands, as one moved outward; 107,000 in the next, then 144,000,177,000, 214,000, with the final and outermost, cheap seats, which held240,000 viewers.

Throughout the night, immense holograms told an accompanying story during each song, in images and swirling masses of color, as the music played. During the first song of the set, “Land of Light,” a giant glowing sphere was projected at about 1000 steps up in the air, directly above the central stage of the amphitheater. And she sang along to this music...

Land of Light Ambient Instrumental

In the Land of Light

I can find my way

There are no shadows here

Even on the darkest day

Children of the Dawn

Are here inside this song...

The music immediately plummeted in volume, to one rumbling and sustained bass note. Middle tones gently transitioned in and blew over the rumble, like an audio wind, bowed instruments followed her voice as she continued...

In the Land of Light

Where the Promise lives

Where the Answers flow

Where the Parents give

Follow the Blue Dawn

LIVE! before you're gone...

As the slow-swept music rolled over the city, seven smaller spheres emerged from the main sphere. By the end of the first song, seven even smaller spheres emerged from each of the satellites. On the last note, the entire system of light-worlds began to revolve, the satellites around their mother sphere and the sub-satellites around them.

It was a new technique in graphic aerial display, designed by Hesper's company. All of the graphics were worked out, off-world, for secrecy-sake. And during that process – to Hesper's horror – the light show's graphics had failed the first three times, each leading to extensive lens burn-outs and fried electromagnetic lines. But on the last two tests the system worked flawlessly. Aria had only heard about the graphics tests – even though she had actually assisted in designing their story boards – but had not actually seen them in full size animation until that very night in N'Abode.

While these giant worlds of light circled above her, the second song began. “Youth Requiem,” another crowd pleaser, faded in. Aria's songs were very slow, hypnotic and filled with ambient, sonic imagery; morphing into light filled holographic images that themselves seemed to produce sound effects, through focused-audio engines. Minor chords filled all space with a melancholy mood. She stretched out her arms on either side, then began...

Youth Requiem Ambient Instrumental

When you were young

I told you you could dream

And when you found this dream

I knew you would succeed

But in the night

That utter lack of Light

Broke your body

And your soul

Dissolved out in the

Churning salty water...

The instrumental refrain played again. And as she began the last verse of the song, a holographic plane of shifting color tones, set in just below the giant light spheres, and then exploded into millions of flying female forms. And the chords turned into majors, as she sang...

And some one saw the candle light

But no one said the rite in time

In the middle of that starry night

The passages would burn sublimely!

Many in the crowd wept with a sentimental joy. She saw their faces in the first level seats. Each holographic being seemed realistically ecstatic and took her own random path through the sky, then down through the audience to their delight, then merging with the others occasionally and finally shooting straight up into the stars, one by one. Their movements were so fluid, the illusion was so apparently real, that they seemed like true persons, as if they had been trapped in the light for an eternity, but were now set free into the universe. The effect, a combination of other ground-based holographic imagery, laser-like flashes, artificial fog bursts and that beautiful, breathing music, was a rapturous experience... even for the musicians. No one had ever seen such a display of artistic and musical grandeur on Naturia before.

A falling-tone, from a modulated sound wave-generator slowly descended, windy and drenched in reverb. As the third song began - “Hesper the Evening Star” - the crowd was almost out of control, as they recognized the first tones.

Security pin-spot lights flashed on in dozens of places around the seating ellipses. Aria chuckled to herself as she sat remembering the ridiculous amount of emotional energy of that night. The instrumental – composed for her then-finance, Hesper – was mysterious, almost scary sounding. Pentatonic scales dripped down the core of the harmony, as a small wind instrument vamped out the exotic melodies.

Hesper - The Evening Star Ambient Instrumental

Though written about Aria and Hesper's lust for each other, it could have been misconstrued as a soundtrack for thief or a murderer. “Odd,”she mumbled out loud to herself as she sat alone in the cottage, the darkness of night filling the sky above the landscape outside her window. Waves could be heard crashing on the beach below and then sinking back into the sea.

She remembered how at the end of that ambient instrumental piece, the giant spheres slowed their movements and faded to a deep, dark, glowing red, becoming transparent and then very dim above the heads of everyone present. A holographic forest image of light faded into the ground level of the amphitheater. Green and violet holographic trees rustled and swayed in a windless breeze, gently creeping vines, flowers – at first dormant in their closed, night positions –suddenly opened. Insects and song birds darted in three-dimensional circuits around and through the performers and the audience members. What looked like a morning suns-rise of brilliant shifting, orange, that sparkled-out shards of secondary blue light through the branches and leaves of this non-material woodland image, pulsed slowly growing and then falling in intensity.

The forth song, “Okeanos” - dedicated to her good friend, former band mate and lover - came bounding in, with its playful, bouncing slap-delayed rhythmic notes. Each note turned into an elf-like creature who then skipped joyfully through the forest illusion. Above these rhythmic notes-made-light-flesh, a melody chased them around the chords.

The crowd was being blasted more frequently with security lights now. She knew that even the large 10,000-guard army of the security staff was being taxed to its limits. She recalled feeling bad for them. As she began to sing, the sky from horizon to horizon was blanketed by what looked like water. The holograms rippled and splashed, and there was the distinct impression of being under the waves of a brightly shining sea. Looking up, the refracted star light could barely penetrate the light image...

Okeanos Ambient Instrumental

Come to reign

My ocean King

Water hides the tears within

Skim the sea floor

Swim in Peace

Night and day

Release...yourself

Release...yourself

Child of Blue and golden Light

Sleeps above the waves tonight

Learned to find the distant Shore

He who walks will swim no more

Release...yourself

Release...yourself...

The show had to have ended soon, even if she didn't end it herself with the next song. The audience was getting out of hand, becoming unruly and defiant. The frustration after decades social dissatisfaction was reaching the boiling point and the crowd was expressing it, as if she had given them permission. The normally peaceful and gentle citizens of Naturia were beside themselves with the new spirit of freedom that her music seemed to impart.

It wasn't really the words Aria was singing—which were always enigmatic and left open to interpretation, nor the astounding light show that raised them into a frenzy, but rather, the need to release the collective anxiety that drove them from their common civility.

And then the rumbling bass for "Conquerer of Men" rolled in. Four notes repeated with an earthquake-like vibration, moving them out into the audience, over the city and into the countryside: |: G, F#, E, F# :|, over and over. A single horn began the melody and Aria followed it. There was only one verse, sung at the beginning and then sung again at the end followed by a chorus. She focused her memory upon the last verse that then led into the three word chorus...

Conquerer of Men Ambient Instrumental

Pilgrims move through

Out into the Age of Blue

For centuries I fought for you

Moons and worlds I bought for you

Are you ever coming back again?

Conquer of men

Conquer of men...

The chorus repeated again and again. The crowd joined in, and dwarfed the sound system with their profound power, as ONE VOICE.

The giant spheres brightened again. The holographic water surface contracted into small head-sized dots that rose and fell with the texture of the music, like a computer waveform image, while wide strips of sunlight-colored, bands turned into images of fire—without heat. They twisted around each other and weaved a tapestry of flame below the giant spheres. As the music ended – but for the four fading notes in the reprise of the introduction – the fiery surface of the holographic sky above rose through the circling spheres, ever expanding in width, continuing up and over them. When it reached a shuttle-worthy altitude, it crumbled into 99 more of giant sphere-systems, each exactly like the lower and first one. They stretched out in all directions across the sky, as far as the eye could see. And the light they shone down upon the world below illuminated it to an intensity of brightness greater that that of midday. The stars were no longer visible behind this grand and dynamic display.

For a moment – only a moment – Aria stood there on that stage in an apparent bubble of silence. She was just as overwhelmed as her fans, and they saw her as a tiny speck in a sea of light and color, caught under the focus of a seven spotlights—one for each hue of the white light spectrum. And at this moment she remembered seeing herself as just a humble, little colony girl stuck in the backwater orbit of her childhood home. How could a little girl from nowhere now be at the center of this temporary infinity; standing on the elliptic disc of that stage, surrounded by a million people who adored her? She was so small, so blown away. But she had risen to Immensity in her young life; TRULY becoming a conquerer in her own right. One of God's meekest creatures had ascended through the trials and struggles of a hard-fought career, climbing to this central isle of light; to this state of perfected glory. And she wept on that stage three years ago and also now, alone with only her memories.

Would any moment ever even come close to that one? There was a touch of the divine in the warm city air that night. A reflection of Paradise, made visible. It was so short a time. Would anything ever rise to this kind of level again for anyone. Could she ever be that happy again as she lived out the rest of her life in retirement? The time in the light...so short a time. The question kept presenting itself: Would she ever see anything or experience anything that could top that night?

YES--she certainly would!

And what loomed ahead of her, just over the horizon, would make her night on that stage in front of a million people look like a little private party thrown for a couple of friends.

But she had no idea about any of that yet. Her eyes grew heavy with the narcotic temptation of sleep, which she surrendered to, nodding off at her desk.

Things were about to transpire that would change her, Hesper, her friends, her family, her whole world, and that entire part of the star cloud which her beloved suns shone so majestically from. But there was darkness coming too—tragedy, betrayal, deception and soul-threatening destruction.

If she could have only know what she was about to face... If she could have only been able to prepare...

Chapter Three - Hesper and the Spitfish

Hesper grabbed the halyard and tugged hard, with the valued assistance of an electric winch, to raise the large gaff sails on each of the two masts, standing sure-footedly on the deck of his beloved yacht.


The sky was especially blue and seemed to shine on its own with no need for a sun. Yet, still, there it was, golden orange in the sky. The Home Star. The leaves and grass on the shoreline and hillside beyond, were taking on that typical dark green color of the late morning. There were no clouds yet.

Hesper on his yacht.

He felt rested from a long leave with his family and inlaws, and satisfied after a rather steamy going-away party thrown by his lovely wife - that only two people were invited to - the night before. He was a little sore still, but in a good way.


There was a chop in the waves, and small cool breezes batted him with love taps, while they slapped the pointy tips off of each wave, causing a tiny mountain range to become apparent. The surface of the Azure Sea was filled as far as the eye could see, with translucent water-mountains, each tipped with a whitecap, shifting, blending. Below those waves, looking over the side, brightly colored fish swam in and out of the small shadow of his vessel, as its bobbing was projected upon the white sand of the sea floor. The shadow was black, slightly tipped by the angle of the suns through the water.


Life was good for Hesper now. He'd had his issues but was dealing with them. And he was greatly cheered by the still vivid image he'd experienced, while sampling the Blue Dawn Flower seeds his friend had given him a couple weeks before.


He had seen a beautiful woman or girl (he could not tell which) appear in the his study, preceded, and then surrounded by, a wind that he could not feel, but saw and heard. She was golden orange, like the sun. He had noticed her eyes were shining and green and in the center of each, a yellow light seemed to strain out of her. She introduced herself as "Atled."


She was hard to look at because she shone so brightly. He thought at the time that he'd wished he could have controlled that aspect of the experience like he could with his computer images so he could see her better. He laughed to himself as he stood, then sat down on a deck chair, shaking his head for a moment. The sails luffed loudly in the increasing breeze above him. What a crazy thing to think about during a spirit encounter--adjusting the "image."

Atled, as she appeared to Hesper.

She had only said one thing before she shrank out of sight--speeding away, in a line that brought her directly backwards into the windy light from which she first emerged.


How he dearly wanted to have heard more.  What he did hear intrigued him...


"You and your friend Okeanos will sail toward the distant shore of the Notgnivlas Region, but will end up blown off course. When this happens, fear not. I will be with you and guide you to another place that my sister has pre-arranged for you."


That was it!


He replayed her message over and over again in his mind looking for other hints about why this had happened to him. He had a difficult time believing that it actually HAD happened to him. Aside from this visitation, the Blue Dawn Flower experience was physically stimulating, but not the least bit hallucinogenic. It had lasted for about an hour, but she was with him only, apparently, a tenth as long. When he checked the clock though, it said the same time as it did before she arrived. It seemed nothing like what Okeanos had described, with his tale of sweeping vistas filled with all sizes of "walking plants" and "flying colors" and a god-like being of light. He could not understand how their experiences could have been so different after ingesting the same plant.


The yacht slowly rocked from side to side under him. He stood up quickly and secured the sheets. In no time, he was on his way. A small robot took the helm, while he stepped below to make himself a drink.


There could be no way that his friend would accompany him on this particular voyage. He was headed to Aitnede Region, well south of Notgnivlas. He could not think of any reason why he would EVER go to Notgnivlas. It was an World Park, left in its natural state, but for an "indigenous" tribe of original settlers, called the Setidon, who had volunteered to tend it as a garden, hundreds of years before.

They were a triple gender people.  About one thrid were male, one third female, and one third hermaphrodite, but decidedly female.  There were also women, with breats, but with male preproductive organs.  All of this was not fostered in any way, by a human means, besides perhaps a subconscious "natural selection."  It was a mutation in the genes, one that favored female appearance and behavior.  There was no doubt that their island garden was the most beautiful and ornately appointed places on the planet.  In a way, Naturia was very much a cultural pipeline to the utopian civilization of the home world of Azureon.

But it was not a place of business.  And Hesper had much business to conduct.  Since his introduction of high-powered, sound-projecting, holography, synced to music, there were other colony planets with representatives sent to Naturia to obtain his software.  a large conference was taking place in the city of N'Uversa, the regional seat of Aitnede.

The Setidon might be a fascination for anthropologists, religionists and botanists, but he could care less about visiting them. He liked comforts. And sleeping in a cold, damp cloud forest was not his idea of comfortable. His uncomfortable days were in the past now. Besides, he'd heard nothing from Okeanos in over a month. Hesper had even tried to contact him after the visitation, but only got his answering service.


It was just after sundown when his computer suddenly jumped to life. Hesper, who had been dosing, stood up half asleep and rubbed his eyes.


"Yes?" he asked to the empty air.


"There is an automated signal dead up ahead Captain Hesper, it is a small vessel with its emergency beacon flashing, shall we assist?"


"Yes, Brown. Change course to intercept along the injured craft's heading."


"Actually, Sir, the vessel is not moving." Brown had a little mocking tone to its voice.


"How far is the vessel from our current position, Brown." Hesper rolled his eyes.


"One step, Sir."


"What is our current velocity, Brown?"


"Zero metric lengths/hour."


"Thank you, Brown..." This robot was in a habit lately of making decisions on its own. He'd forgotten how annoying that was from his last voyage. He should have re-calibrated the decisional scale back to its default parameters and then rebooted Brown the night before... but he had been... "distracted." He was glad now that he had chosen to spend the night before with his wife instead of with Brown who was at least awake and now functioning properly, while he had fallen asleep for over four hours. He guessed that maybe he hadn't been so rested after all that morning. He smiled.


Throwing on a fleece coat, he rushed up on deck and was met by a terrible sight. It was a large skiff, about 30 steps long and 8 steps wide, but it's bow was half submerged. The smooth white finish of the hull was covered in something... He walked cautiously toward the craft barely floating about 20 steps off his port side.


"Brown, hit the torches!"


Immediately the entire area around the Schooner was flooded in a white light. It extended out in every direction, to a radius of 500 steps.


"Hello?! Is there anyone aboard. I'm Captain Hesper of the Schooner, Roses Fly, is there anyone ABOARD?"


He could see into the bilge of the boat, but not very well. It was filled with nets and small black boxes. "It looks like no one is aboard, Brown."


"Sensors show no human life signs, Sir.  It does detect a small animal." Brown extended the lifting cranes from the port side of the 100 step Schooner and secured a fore and aft line to the smaller boat, then rolled out the side-bumpers.


"Be careful, she's heavy with water..." Hesper walked along the rail adjusting the bumpers. "What is the small animal you referred to?"


Brown hesitated in his retraction of the cranes for a moment. Then started pulling the smaller craft in again. "It is a spitfish, approximately three steps long and half a step wide, it's weight is..."


"Nevermind, Brown, I see it now."


The creature writhed and spit mucus, having completely lost the reserve of its sea water. It was obvious that it had been in the skiff for several hours already and it was not pleased. It groaned and slapped its tail against the pile of black boxes. Its sharp teeth gnashed away at the netting reshredding what it had already shred.


"OK!" said Hesper. "Calm down big guy! I'm gonna set you lose."


The spitfish was actually not a fish, but a kind of mammal-like amphibian, found only in this sea. It could breath air through internal lungs or take in oxygen through its smooth skin, when underwater. The entire body of the animal was like a giant gill, absorbing oxygen directly into its circulatory system, through a fine net of blood vessels located directly below and in the dermal layers. It was considered a nuisance by crustacean fisherman because of its obsessive desire for the giant, fat-filled shellfish that were a regional delicacy.  the spitfish used extreme sucktion from its mouth to utterly crumble even the hardest shell.


But spitfish could also be highly intelligent, performing tasks for the civil engineering planners. The only thing they seemed incompatitble for was shellfishing--a food which they could not control themselves from eating. This had earned them the nickname, "Greedy Spitters." 

When freely swimming in the sea, the spitfish always kept a gullet-full of seawater to be used as an emergency moisture source at times like this, being trapped outside of the water. The male also suspended itself vertically, face up, when advertising for a mate.  With its mouth slightly above the surface, it could spit a stream of disgustingly fetid water up to 200 steps in the air. This served a dual purpose; females would be able to judge its fitness and size by the height of its rancid spit-spout AND then locate its position afterwards by the smell in the water. The more disgusting the smell, the closer to lovin' time.


The creature was desperate now and it seemed more willing to suffer Hesper's assistance. Its almost human-like eyes fixed themselves upon Hesper's as he carefully leaned over the rail with a large net. He saw that the Spitfish had a tightly tied rope around it's middle. The rope was SO tight that it pulled the flesh in significantly. The knot looked as if it was... intentionally tied.



He slipped the long razor sharp knife out of a tool box right next to him. Then he leaned over as far as he could and wrestled the spitfish into the net. With his other hand, he sliced the rope which had been tied a short distance from the creature to an open oarlock. The Spitfish fell freely to the bottom of the net, groaning and slobbering mucus.


Brown lit another pin spot of light that followed the netted animal as Hesper quickly flung it on to the deck of the Roses Fly. The Spitfish was exhausted and beginning to die. Its mouth opened and shut slowly over and over again, and it's eyes darted from side to side.


Speaking as if to a good buddy, Hesper calmly said, "Don't worry, I'm gonna cut this middle rope off of you and set you free. OK?"


The creature did not react, it just kept opening and shutting its mouth...slower and slower. Hesper fell to his knees and gingerly reached out his left hand, placing it on the side of this sea wanderer's warm body. With the knife in his right hand, he cut a small slit in the thick rope to weaken it on top. Then he gently slid his fingers under the tight part of the rope, between it and the spitfish skin. Still the spitfish did not react. In one fluid stroke, Hesper eased the knife under the rope and cut it outward, away from the animal.


When the rope broke and fell to either side, the Spitfish twitched at the opportunity of freedom. Hesper eased the creature back into the net and quickly walked to the edge of the deck. He grasped the net right under the spitfish and tipped it into the sea. With a large splash, its body twisted and vibrated alternately for a moment, as it filled itself with water. Then unceremoniously, it slipped beneath the surface and was lost to sight.


The skiff had been pumped out by Brown, and the robot was collecting the strange black boxes and dropping them into a bait box near the wheelhouse. A specialized crane was patching the large hole in the bow, unbidden. In the pin spot light, Hesper finally saw what was all over the outside of the hull: red, congealed, and splattered...blood. He reached out and wiped up a little with the edge of his knife. He didn't want to think that it was blood, but he knew already.


"Brown..."


"Yes, Captain?"


"Run a genetic analysis of this."


"It's human..."


"Brown, you haven't even tested it yet!" Hesper dabbed the ghoulish substance on Brown's extended sensor pad. Brown, dutifully retracted the pad into its side compartment.


"It's human. Estimated time of air exposure...six hour ago." The pin spot turned off and the rail lighting turned on. The overhead floodlight clapped off too, leaving an orange glow that faded as it cooled.


Hesper walked over to the cut rope. He picked it up and threw it into a bucket nestled along the rail. A "clank" rang out in the darkness as the rope settled. Stepping to his side and peering into the bucket, he saw a small rainbow shimmer out from inside it, reflecting and breaking apart the rays of the rail light that was just above it. "A nanodisc?"


"Pardon me, Captain?"


Human blood on the outside of the boat, with no apparent gore on the inside, and a poor, tied-up spitfish. What did it all mean? "Hey..Brown there's a nanodisc in this bucket. Is it one of yours?"


"My storage discs are all present and accounted for, Sir."


"Must have come from the skiff." Hesper grasped the nanodisc and slipped it into his pocket. "Can you finish up here, Brown? I'm headed below deck for the rest of the night."


"And I will secure the sheets again and continue on our regular course."


"Thanks for at least telling me ahead of time, Brown."


"You're welcome, Sir." Brown's many ship-wipe connections kicked into a flurry of activity.


Catching sight of the edge of the second moon as it began to break over the horizon, he opened the hatch door and slowly, deliberately, but distracted mentally by a sudden string of strange thoughts, stepped down into the warm light of his ship's office area. Fingering for the disc in his pocket, he felt a small rounded object beside it, no bigger than...a seed. Drawing the two objects out and dropping them on his desk, he dropped himself into his chair and sighed.


The nanodisc was covered in stinky spitfish spout-water, but otherwise unharmed. Wiping it with a cloth easily shined it up as clean as new. And the small, dark, crescent-shaped pebble looked an awful lot like a Blue Dawn Flower seed...but he wasn't sure.


He grasped the coin-sized disc between his thumb and forefinger and slid it into the disc port of his sleeping computer. Instantly the machine's 3D image lit up in mid-air...


"Processing..." said the computer.


"Thanks, Red."


"Type one digital message, seven words:" A sentence appeared across the air-image in front of him.


He drained the melted ice water from his drink into his mouth, while lowering the light level in the cabin with a foot switch under the desk. Rubbing his eyes, and staring at the image closely, he took a moment from swallowing his mouthful to read the words out loud...


"Thank you for setting the Monster free"


Then he swallowed...choked on the remnants of his drink, coughed loudy, and swiftly pushed himself back from the edge of his desk, as if a fire had just broken out. And...in a way...it had.

Chapter Two - A Drop in the Human Ocean

Darkness connected all the shadows around him, making the trees and bushes look cut-up, as if they were suspended in the black void of some starless region of space. The air was crisp and dry, cold and clear, but filled with tension. It was dark enough now that he felt he could temporarily stop running and catch his breath. He intuited that there was something safer about this spot than the trail he had been desperately running along for over an hour.

He was able to freeze his movements and hear if they were still behind him......this would work.....for a while. His heart was still racing and so overworked that he could actually hear it beating in his chest. He took deep breaths to calm himself and doubled over to let the sweat fall directly on the grass below him instead of rolling down his shoulders.

How the hell did they find him?

Now as the anxiety of his apparent escape was easing, real fear began to take hold and brought it all back. He eased toward the edge of the forest and leaned against a large tree. What was he going to do now? He'd gambled everything on the expectation that his bosses would acquit him, not betray him. Why were they doing this?

Listening again as carefully as he could, he realized there was simply nothing to hear. A few insects maybe, but no voices, no large animals and no weapons. Again he began to relax a bit. He slid down the side of the tree. Pieces of bark broke off and crumbled invisibly upon the dry leaves of the forest floor, sounding like rain.

“I'm gonna have to go in there blind,” he said, out loud.

“No you're not,” a voice answered out of the charcoal opacity of the unseen trees in front of him.

“Who's there?” He loudly whispered.

“Don't worry, I won't harm you in any way.” It was a woman or maybe a child, he could not decide which. “I saw you running from those men. What did you do? Why are you running?”

He tensed-up. The voice seemed to be even closer now. But he heard no foot falls. Was she hanging from a tree? “Who are you? Show yourself!” His words might have been whispered but they sounded loud, and he quickly looked all around with the desperation of an animal in a trap.

“My name is Sera. Fear not.”

The voice was right in front of his face now. He rose to his feet and jumped back, nearly tripping over a root. “Shit! Where are you? ”

A tiny, blue point of light appeared about five paces in front of him. But it became so bright that he could not get a good idea of just how large or small it really was. Then a golden smoke seemed to be fading into view around the central blue light.

He looked around him again, and also off beyond this light, and noticed that its rays only fell on him and his clothes. A sound like the rushing of air, mixed with a million frequencies all tuned to different transmitions assaulted his ears. “Aaaagg!” He reached up to cover them but it made no difference. The sound came from within his head.  And he winced, tightly clenching his eyes closed.

“Okeanos, can you see me now?”

The voice was different all of a sudden; watery, and filled with music-like notes. Each word was consumed with a thousand different melodies, all playing at the same time. He slowly opened his eyes...

Sera

There standing in front of him was a beautiful, young woman, completely naked. But her skin seemed to have no marks of any kind. She had no nipples, but the shape of her breasts was obvious. Her large eyes shone, and a blue point of light occupied the each of the spots where her pupils should be. In the middle of her forehead was a small circle. Not a solid one, but a violet ring, which also glowed. He jumped back again.

“What are you?"

She seemed to consider this question to be rather humorous and looked off to one side as if she were carefully constructing an answer to it. Then her eyes met his again.  but she said nothing.

"Are you a spirit?"

“Yes.” She said, smiling. “But I am also much more than that.”

Her blonde hair was so soft looking. It was wavy and rested upon her narrow shoulders. She was about as tall as he was, but slight in build. Her voice completely calmed him. He felt protected by her presence.

“I am a keeper of the Blue Dawn.”

“How... Why... What are you doing here?”

She raised her left forearm and tilted her hand so that her palm faced him.

“It is time for us to meet. I have served with my two sisters by your side ever since you were a young boy. We first contacted your mind when you became indwelt with the Infinite Parent's fragment. Everyone on this world who is indwelt has similar companions. Some people have one like me. Some have three as you do--one like me, and two like my sisters. Some have four; two like me and two like my sisters. There are few who have six companions; two like me, two like my sisters and...”

“OK,” he interrupted, “I get the idea. I don't have a lot of time right now for a big lesson. I'm being hunted by guys from the company I work for...ah...worked for.”

“Yes. I know. And I have taken you out of time for a little while.”

“Then you also know that they will kill me if they find me.”

“Yes. But they are not going to find you,” she smiled again.  "I led you through a certain patch of bushes that masked your scent. Their animals think you disappeared.”

“That was YOU?” He grinned and thought back to the dead tree that blocked the path and caused him to veer off through some smaller brush and into the edge of the clearing where they now stood. “Thanks!”

“You're welcome. It isn't the first time, you know.” She laughed, and two small, orange forms faded into view; one on either side of her, laughing along heartily. Their images faded out again as they got control of themselves.

Ateb and Ahpla

“I take it those are your 'sisters'?”

“Yes, they are my very LITTLE sisters,” she remarked, and turned to look from one side of her to the other.

“Ha!” A tiny orange cloud faded in on her right side and then dissolved again.

He thought for a moment. “May I see them?”

She pondered the request for a moment, and then a humming vibratory noise seemed to come from behind her. There was the whooshing multi-frequency sound again, but it only lasted for a second. Then two small girls appeared to walk out of each of the angel's sides. They were lit from within by an orange light that shimmered and shifted around inside their bodies.

As he faced this incredible sight, the one on the his right-hand side said, “I am Ahpla.”

“And I am Ateb,” the other one chimed in. They both chuckled.

“They are a little shy, this is highly unusual. Seraphim have often made themselves visible through the agency of a kind of being that is much more like yourself – practically human – that is why I am able to show myself now. But Cherobim hardly ever get to be seen. They are excited right now. Usually they are better behaved.”

“These other 'beings' that you speak of, the ones who are practically human, may I see them?”

Sera was quick to answer. “No, I'm afraid that is not permitted in this case. They are TOO much like you. There is a risk that you would recognize them from their participation in certain events from your past.” She again stopped to think. “They do not have forms that you would understand, aside from the forms that they mimic; the forms of others in your race; other humans.”

He really didn't understand, but that didn't bother him.

She continued, “There are five of these other beings, one behind us, one behind you, one on either side of all of us, and one, their captain, above us. But I have not come to reveal such trivial details. Consider yourself fortunate that I have been given permission to show you my sister associates. It was foreseen that you would ask to see them, and they have been looking forward to it.” Another warm smile appeared on her face.

“Yes,” Ateb said, “We love you, Okeanos! We helped your mother name you. Your name means 'ocean blue'...”

“Well,” Ahpla interrupted, “...it is supposed to mean that. Your adoptive mother used the human version of our word.” She glowed brighter for a moment. “But Ateb is correct, we DO love you very much.”

“As do I,” Sera said with a musical tone that touched him deeply. “But the song we sing for you is awaiting your harmony. And now that we have met, we must get on to business.  You were right in your acceptance of the vision you saw during your use of the Blue Dawn Flower. Your world – our world – is quite sick. It is permeated with the selfish birthmark of one who came long ago. You saw him in symbol, remember?”

Okeanos thought back to his first experience with the Blue Dawn Flower. He had been alone in his house. He was so paranoid, having the seeds in his kitchen. They were supposed to be a legend. He had been told from his earliest memories that the plant had been extinct for hundreds of years. So, he wasn't quite sure if one was actually growing in his backyard, nor was he at all certain how it would have arrived there. And though he would find out the answer to the latter about two weeks before this very night of the spirit vision, he had confirmed the identity of the plant the night he brought the seeds indoors...by the bold and possibly foolish method of simply grinding them up and ingesting them.

And, MAN! did he find out! Until this meeting, the experience of that first night was the single most important thing that had happened to him in his whole life. “Yes,” he stammered, “I remember the vision quite clearly. The 'one' that you refer to was a great being of light. I thought he was a god...”

“Be careful, Okeanos, this is a sensitive subject with us. The being you saw is a viscous and dangerous brother. He was once our boss...until he stumbled into darkness, and took a rather large portion of the family with him. For you, this is a distant and enigmatic image. But for us, it is like a painful fact. HE is the reason why those men are trying to kill you. He wants you dead.”

“I don't understand...” he said with a laugh, “What did I ever do to him?”

“You re-discovered the Blue Dawn Flower.” Sera looked suddenly serious. “It is the lack of this plant that once guided your race, that is the work of his hands; he spent thousands of years destroying the tools this world needed to expand its consciousness... He worked at demonizing these plants and almost succeeded in wiping out every trace of them.”

“Good word for it: 'demonizing.'” Okeanos replied almost to himself, automatically. This was the word he had used to fight for the preservation of the Blue Dawn Flower, an effort and political position that was as fairly courageous as it was against the law.

A look passed between the three glowing forms. And a shiver ran up his spine.

Sera's form briefly flickered ever so slightly. Her companions turned toward her as if instinctively synced together as one. “'He' is aware that we are meeting,” she said in a mechanical way. “We need to finish up here, so that we may then depart to address other issues. Tomorrow you will aboard the yacht of one of your friends and well-hidden from the Monster of Light. It is a friend of yours, whom we contacted about two weeks ago. But now you MUST listen carefully to what I am about to tell you...”

“He is still around? This Monster?” Okeanos felt a surge of childlike fear and strong adrenalin.

“Yes.” Sera looked increasingly impatient.

“Well, please, tell me what you must. I don't want to die.”

The three luminous beings looked again back and forth at each other. “You're not going to die, Okeanos. We are quite capable of protecting you. The only way that you could be harmed is if you wish it upon YOURSELF.” As Sera spoke the last word, it buried itself like an arrow inside his mind.

“That's ridiculous! Why would I wish harm upon myself?”

Ahpla faded out for a moment and then re-appeared. Then Ateb did the same thing. The two small beings began to glow more dimly.

“I cannot answer that adequately,” said Sera. Then she seemed to sigh. My sisters must return to their natural forms now. They are about to run some interference for us all.”

Then, without warning, Ateb rushed forward to about one step away from him. “We love you so much, Okeanos, you are our gift to the world. Ahpla and I think about you night and day. There is never a time when we are not watching you. We see you even when we are not physically close to you. Do you understand? We are bound to you for your whole life. And our big sister will be with you after that life and will be your companion and confidant for millions of future and more perfecting lives, even until you reach the Center of Infinity. And we will miss you and be assigned to others. You are our first charge, but throughout the ages we will reunite with you and have happy times. We...are virgins, in a way. Our order never fails...unless...you fail...or...” Her eyes clouded slightly. “But with Sera guiding us all, I am positive that we will all triumph in the end.”

Okeanos was filled with an emotion he'd never felt before. It was something like a cross between despair and some kind of erotic urge in this slight being's presence. He could not determine exactly what it was that he felt.

Ateb put her hand out and gently touched his stomach. And he saw a vision of her crying and calling his name. She seemed to be in great pain in this flash, and his heart sank. Sensing that somethiing was wrong, she quickly removed her hand.

“What is it?” Sera asked her with some amount of concern in that musical voice of hers.

“I don't know...” replied Ateb, turning her head back to address her chief. “He is seeing something that I am not able to perceive.” She slowly stepped back to Sera's side. “I know it was something about me though.”

“It was nothing.” Okeanos lied.

Then Ahpla spoke up, “Ateb and I must depart now. Goodbye, Okeanos, we will see you again soon.” She smiled comfortingly at him and then at her complementary sister.

“I want so much to talk with you again, Okeanos,” said Ateb. And both of the other angels turned and looked at her. She paused and then returned their gaze. “When we are together next time I want to speak with him and ask him about what things are like for him as a mortal of the realm.”

Sera smiled. “Yes, patience will get us there, Ateb.”

When Sera turned back to Okeanos, a sharp bolt of light shot straight up into the night sky out of the top of her head. And the smaller sisters vanished. In the place where Ateb had been standing a small orange heart shape lingered for a moment and then dissolved in the air.

“She is smitten with you,” Sera intimated. “This happens sometimes with the little sisters, especially the passive complements--the Sanobim. Ateb, in particular, is extraordinarily curious. On the rare occasions that she is granted leave, she studies incessantly about human behavior. And...” she paused noticeably.

“What?” asked Okeanos.

“She is obsessed with you; tracing your family lines, reviewing the adventures we have accompanied you on, looking forward through reflective mechanisms for any future information about our mission and your life.”

“I don't understand.” He was surprised that such things might occupy the minds of spirits.

“Since the days of the early Local Universe, Sherobim have manifested this odd quirk. They are closer to the human sons and daughters of the mortal-inhabited planets than any of the other orders. They really do behave more like humans sometimes than angels.

"There is more that I must tell you, and you have to pay close attention to it. The end of the great war in heaven is upon us. Some of this you saw when using the Blue Dawn Flower seeds. Another great son of light is on his way here, to this world. He has been traveling for a hundred and fifty years. He is the replacement for the Monster of Light. And in the Monster's haste to do as much damage as he can do before being arraigned, he has begun his final campaign to ruin the advent of his brother's arrival.

“Now, after hundreds of thousands of years since any supermortal being was lost to his machinations, he has found a new way to influence and snare the minds of the lower orders of these beings again. This was an unforeseen development that has seriously complicated what was to be a smooth administrative transition.”

Okeanos was puzzled over what he was hearing, and it showed on his face. “I don't understand. How can beings greater than humans be so vulnerable? Can't you guys deal with such evil? If your leaders go bad isn't there a system for addressing it?”

Sera looked down at her feet. “Yes, the universe is a well-policed place under normal circumstances. And what is happening now on this world, and a few others, is the most far-away exception to the Rule. It is confusing to you, because it is also confusing to us. Who can blame a human being for not comprehending how much more there is to the story. In some ways, it is actually beyond your current ability to grasp. But listen... Our time – outside of time – together, tonight, is growing short. And I must now ask you for something.”

Okeanos stiffened but his curiosity overwhelmed him. “Anything I can do for you I will.” He blurted out, before seriously contemplating what that meant.

“I'm happy to hear you say that, Okeanos, because this is going to be the hardest thing you may ever do. I need you to give me a promise.”

“OK.” He said sheepishly.

“I need you to promise me three things: Number one, you must not reveal to anyone, especially your friend with the yacht tomorrow that we spoke tonight.”

“Done,” he said quickly. “No problem.”

“Good. Number two, you must follow my guidance until this venture is completed.”

“How will I know when it is completed?”

“Because a party the likes of which has never been seen will be our common-reward. And I KNOW you like to party.” They both laughed easily. “And here is the final thing: You must, and I mean MUST, be willing to divorce yourself from anyone, any being, of any order that you have been, or will soon be, introduced to - human or 'spirit,' if my sisters and I tell you to.” She drove her countenance into him with a force he wasn't expecting. Her gaze was almost unbearably serious. “This is YOUR choice though. I would never presume to force you to choose what I need. It is against our mandate.”

“Yes. Yes, I think I'd be willing to do all those things for you, Sera. But I need time to think a bit. This is, after all, our first date.” He noticed that her smile was less apparent.

“PLEASE don't misunderstand the nature of this third request. You, we, and the entire planet could reach a depth of pain and suffering that even I can't comprehend. The loss of your loyalty at this time in history would unbalance what thousands of generations of mortals and angels have fought for. Your world is the one of the greatest hopes of all the local spheres. To lose it would start a ricochet reaction that might reignite the war in full force.

“I come to you appearing like one of your own kind. But in truth, I am no mere woman. I am also – as are my sisters – limited in our ability to function intellectually while in these lesser forms. It is like I have to use a human mind to appear to humans. And, with no offense intended, the human mind is like a thimble. My natural mind state is, comparatively, more like river. But, make no mistake, the mind of the Monster is like an ocean. The power and experience of his order dwarfs any other person on this world – seen or unseen. His charm is more subtle and viscous than even I have been able to withstand sometimes. I will tell you that I came close to being seduced by him, on, I'm ashamed to admit, two separate occasions. This put me out of commission and required extensive rehabilitation both times.

“Honesty dictates that I tell you something that might be hard for you to take. But it is required of me, so I must relate it. My last two human charges WERE manipulated by the Monster, and actually died in HIS service, while I was distracted with his mind games. It is a weight that you cannot possibly know for me to carry around, and it has dulled the my shine. I, sadly, am not well-aware of what the soul status of these two humans is now. The current commander of my order has been very reassuring on this point, and she let me know that they are still sleeping the sleep of physical death—the “first death.” They are being held in suspension, awaiting the results of my efforts with you, and our efforts with humanity, in general. These departed, but not-yet disposed-of humans have not made their final decision about whether they want to go on after their resurrection and reintegration in the halls of the Mansion Worlds.”

“Mansion Worlds?”

“Think of these worlds as the first level of what you call, 'heaven.' Nearly all humans choose to go on after their death in the flesh. They become citizens of the Local System. And they progress upward and inward, growing more spiritually brilliant until they reach the Center; the Abode of the Original Parents.” She stopped speaking and looked at him as if she needed confirmation that he was getting what she was saying.

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Somehow I always knew that there was some kind of system like that. But our schools of philosophy have distorted that quite a bit throughout recent history I guess.”

“Yes they have.”

Just then a large bolt of light came rushing down into the top of her head. She flickered a bit with its impact. “My sisters are back and we must now leave you for a time.”

Mischievously, Okeanos looked to where Ateb had stood previously and said, “Hi Ateb!”

Sera seemed pleasantly put off. “She says, 'hello,' Okeanos. I know this is all new for you right now and you have much to think about and consider. This is NOT a game, but it is OK to think of it as a kind of adventure IF that motivates your body toward action and your soul toward loyalty. But hear me clearly again: The four of us are about to embark upon the most difficult and dangerous times we may ever face, even into the future cycles of eternity. Everything beautiful and worth living for is dependent upon what we and the other contact groups do in this coming year. You are the first to be contacted. And very much will be expected of you. You will not find another time to really rest until this is all over and completed successfully.”

Then a sparkling and beautiful look came over her face. And she said, “You have made tonight, the most important promise of your life to me. And I want to make YOU a promise in return; which shall seal a modern covenant between us--heaven and humanity:

“I promise you that, when we have successfully integrated a new and superior administrative system on this world, three things will become possible: Number one, from the day of triumph, forward, all the humans who have assisted us in this project will be given the gift of extended visual range, so that you might live out the remainder of your days able to actually visualize us as we truly are. Number two, you will be asked to serve as human executives in the first, new world-wide government, and will be attached to a special corps of leaders who function not under the authority of its human headquarters, but rather by mandate the superhuman government of the Local System...

“And, finally, Okeanos, as an ultimate reward for your bravery, loyalty to the Eternal and Infinite Parents and your personal sacrifice in the coming months, you will have the choice at some point in your elder years to SKIP the natural death of your body and translate directly to the Mansion Worlds, where you will begin your ascension career. This has never been instituted on any other planet in the Local Universe. And when I say that, I should also tell you that there are over three million evolutionary, human-inhabited worlds in this part of the galaxy! Do you fully understand our covenant?”

He stood dumbfounded and overrun with emotion. Tears crept into the edges of his eyes. “Yes. Yes. I understand you.” And shaking with a new potential purpose for his life, the promotion of the Blue Dawn Flower, and a real, substantial sense of mission. He gulped, and said, “I promise my loyalty to you and these Parents forever. I will not let you down, Sera!”

There was a small puff of orange on either side of the angel, and she giggled. “Then Okeanos, first child of the Blue Dawn, we leave you to your assignment, as we depart to continue ours. Look for our next meeting to occur on the far-away shore that you will soon reach with your friend in his yacht; the friend you will meet up with tomorrow. We will be watching you and with you completely in spirit, until we meet up with you again in person.”

And with that, the whooshing sound returned loudly again and the angel vanished, except for the small, blue point of light that first appeared to him. It lingered where she had been standing. Some distance behind it a leaf on the ground lit up, emitting a red hue in front of him, and the blue point disappeared from his sight.

He walked toward the leaf, and once he reached it, another leaf, further into the forest, lit up in the same way. He walked to it. And using them as beacons in his journey through the darkness, he made his way toward the coast, beginning an adventure that would test every aspect of his character.

Nothing would ever be the same again, in him, in the world, or in the starry realms above his head.