Empire Three: Sanctification: The Space Empire Trilogy, #3

Empire Three: Sanctification

by

Michael J. Findley

© Michael J. Findley 2010

Findley Family Video Publications

Empire Three: Sanctification by Michael J. Findley

© 2010 Findley Family Video Publications

No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher. Exception is made for short excerpts used in reviews.

Findley Family Video

Speaking the truth in love.

This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to persons living or dead is coincidental

Scripture references are as follows: The Bible: The King James Version, public domain. The New International Version, from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. The New American Standard Version: Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission.

One

Anything you leave behind you’ll never see again, growled Tera. Let’s get going. He embraced and kissed his wife and walked out the front door.

The five others followed him away from the waterfall to the top of a small knoll. When they crested it, they saw the ever-present forest become a thicket, which deepened into darkness. As they descended into it, the thicket darkened and became a large hole. The slope did not change as the shrubs and trees gave way to walls of compacted Earth. The daylight was still quite strong even though they had walked 20 or 30 meters since entering the thicket. Suddenly the Earthen walls gave way to metal as the light behind them began to fade. Beneath their feet the slope steepened slightly, revealing a small pinpoint of light in the distance. Tera switched on a small light attached to his belt and the group continued down the incline in silence.

After nearly fifteen minutes of descent, the pinpoint seemed to grow slightly. Gradually the dot of light grew until it seemed that the walls themselves were giving off the light. However, as they drew closer it became apparent that the light was behind the walls and that the walls themselves seemed transparent.

When they reached the light they stopped to gaze at the breathtaking beauty before them which only a few steps before had been so distorted as to be unrecognizable. The Earth itself seemed transparent, apparently enabling them to see the side of a golden spacecraft.

I’ve never seen anything like this, said Michael. The taper is so slight that only from this distance does it appear to change in diameter. And how do you manufacture a skin without any visible seams, cracks, openings and any interruptions of any kind? And what kind of propulsion system does she have which allows her to come to a point at each end?

She was widest about two-thirds back. Immediately behind this point were eight enormous fins, the only thing to break her lines. The nearly rectangular fins were of two sizes, spaced equidistant around the hull, with the much larger fins in the horizontal and vertical positions. The tunnel they had walked down ended abruptly against the widest part of the hull, immediately before the fins.

As an underground society, said Tera, ignoring Michael’s questions, we had to be able to get from one population center to another very quickly. So what you see is nothing more than a global shuttle, though it has been to the Moon. Michael and Randolph exchanged glances. Please gentlemen, don’t ask, Tera added. The current volume of shuttle traffic would make a lunar run suicidal. Even our trip to Olympus is dangerous.

What is the power source? Michael queried again.

Tera smirked, You Imperialists think you’ve harnessed the atom. You merely ride atop a nuclear blast, which you believe you control. We harnessed the atom’s real power hundreds of years ago. The exact principles you’ll have to discover yourself, but in a few moments you’ll have irrefutable proof that it can be done.

At that Tera walked on and everyone followed quickly. The distance to the shuttle was much greater than first appeared, perhaps 50 meters. When they arrived at her side, Tera stopped and turned to talk to Michael.

"Even though this is an older craft, you will find that it is equal or superior to your latest vessels in every way except one.

We have no acceleration absorbers like your chairs of green gelatin. Since you are used to whipping around with no more discomfort than you would find in an easy chair, you might find this ride somewhat disconcerting.

Tera touched the uniformly smooth hull. A door appeared and slid out sight. The interior was narrow and long, with nine seats and a storage compartment in the rear. The six paired seats aft were wide and comfortable, which left little room for the aisle. To the fore of the door, there was no room for an aisle, so the seats were staggered. Tera wove his way to the pilot’s seat, slightly off center to the left. Michael sat in the seat immediately behind him and slightly to his right. Lorelei sat behind him. Randolph sat opposite Aidan in the first of the paired seats. Mel sat behind his daughter, behind and opposite the opening for the door.

The instrument panels, which completely surrounded the pilot and stretched from floor to ceiling, consisted of nothing more than rectangular red lights. Tera touched several buttons. Numerous banks of lights turned to yellow. After another pause they became green. The door slid closed, leaving no evidence that there had been any kind of break in the smooth hull.

Please sit all the way back in your seat and place your arms on the arm rests, the pleasant automated female voice intoned. Each passenger complied and was immediately fastened in place by a series of gas bladders, followed by an injection.

This mild stimulant is not pleasant, but quite necessary, said Tera over the speaker system. Its full effect will be felt in less than 30 seconds and it will wear off in approximately one hour. Also, you will feel much better if you do not pass out.

By the time he finished speaking, all of the lights had turned green except the rearmost panel over the pilot’s head, which had one light three times larger than any other. Tera’s last free finger touched a sequence of switches. The front of the windowless hull dissolved before them, revealing a long tunnel. Only the panel of red lights remained visible. One by one, each of those lights went green until only the large light was red. It began flashing and ETA 16:00 appeared before each passenger, suspended in midair.

The light turned yellow and each of them felt the crunch of g-forces. The tunnel did not rush toward them. It simply disappeared.

*****

Sire, the military does not like your position of waiting and watching, said Sir Andrew. The two men were enjoying a private game of Othello before going to bed.

And what, pray tell, good Sir Andy, would they have me to do? smiled the king as he captured a corner.

Mobilize at the very least. Put ready strike forces into position, said Sir Andrew as he captured the opposite corner. Drill, put forces on alert, do anything but nothing.

Don’t you understand, Andy, asked the king as he captured the fourth corner, probably winning the game, this is primarily a propaganda war and that is exactly what they want us to do. They can’t win. Only in the worst-case scenario can they even inflict light casualties on us. But if we go into some sort of alert status, their news media can make us out to be the aggressor.

Commander Markham thinks you’re right militarily, answered Sir Andrew, conceding the game, but that they might, in a surprise attack, inflict a lot of civilian casualties. You might at least talk to him for form’s sake. After all, he is a rather convinced and convincing opponent to this policy.

Very well, you make the arrangements and I’ll see him tomorrow afternoon. But my mind is made up.

For form’s sake. Good night, sire. He rose to leave.

For form’s sake. Good night, Andy.

*****

Before you leave, the Church has a favor to ask of you, said Richelieu.

And what might that be? asked the Baron, with more than a trace of suspicion.

We want your sincere friendship, said the Cardinal. Nothing more. But friends grow part without constant contact. So I would like you to contact me at least once a week and let me know how things are going. Oh, the Church is not interested in military things like numbers of battle cruisers, strategic locations or anything like that. But we really do want to keep in touch. Perhaps we can be of more assistance to you than you now realize.

What if contacting you would reveal the location of a strategic military target? asked the Baron.

We don’t want you endangering either your lives or the lives of others, said Richelieu. Friends don’t ask that kind of thing. But we do want to hear from you regularly. Will you promise us?

Father and son looked at each other.

We promise you that either one of us or someone representing us will contact you once a week, said the Baron.

Good, said Richelieu. I have appointed several people to help with the technical arrangements before you leave for Olympus.

*****

The floating clock readout inches in front of their faces ticked off the seconds, as the only thing before them was the sky deepening to the blackness of space. The strain of the constant g forces made each of the shuttle’s occupants struggle to remain conscious.

At 10:14 the shuttlecraft violently altered course to center on the distant dark horizon. It was very different from the gentle change in course that the veteran space travelers were used to.

One hard jerk and the course correction was complete. The only accompanying sound was a brief roar of wind, but that was quickly replaced by a slight whisper of wind gliding past.

Just below the horizon a faint point of light in the pre-dawn darkness gradually grew until it was recognizable as a small pyramid. With no other noises besides the whisper of wind, the pyramid gradually grew until they were almost over it.

A second violent course change aimed them at the pyramid’s base. The part of the sky they could still see lightened into the familiar blue as they approached the thin cirrus clouds. The wind became more noticeable and the g-forces decreased as the pyramid increased in size.

The pyramid city of