Divine Deception: The Will Traveller Chronicals (20 page)

“You mean murdered
General Marsoni” I boomed “Sentoria has to enter the realm of
truth. An inquiry panel must be set up to examine all claims and, I
must warn you, much of the State’s wealth will pass to the people
upon whose blood that wealth was obtained.” It took a lot of power
to hold still the many who wanted to voice their dissent, yet more
than half present did not seek to, they seemed to agree. I let
Marsoni speak again.

“Lord Robert,
surely it is wrong to ask people to pay for the sins of their
Fathers?”

“I am not General
Marsoni” My voice held menace as I glared at the State leader “I am
telling the State to pay for its own sins” My voice boomed at him
“I hope you are not foolish enough to believe the Supreme House is
only useful to do your will General” I bellowed at General Marsoni.
He went to protest but I waved him down and continued “I’m not
saying that is so General, only that I hope it is not. Because I am
here to see true justice for all Sentorians, which is the will of
the vast majority of this State” My overwhelming voice and
inarguable logic were starting to sway many of the younger audience
sitting at the rear half of the auditorium. Even some who were
closer had lost their initial negative response to my words.

“To accomplish
order out of chaos, to create an affluent society, these are great
achievements.” I told the rapidly relaxing leaders, “To achieve
these things in a socially just society is the true mark of a great
Nation” I told them, holding out the prize of independent
Nationhood, if they complied. Sentoria would be a most useful ally
in the battle to end the religiously based world dictatorship on
this planet. Its leading edge technology and abundant
transportation would be most valuable when the time came. Right
now, I had to reinforce and even enhance their belief in the Divine
deception, in order to eventually destroy it. I decided to put on a
little show for these sophisticated but not yet truly confident
people. Creating a golden aura around myself, I got up and lifted
gently to about two meters, so those in front had to force their
heads back to see me. There were a few gasps. I lifted Zoran’s
chair a little way off the floor, so that he wouldn’t be affected,
then I shook the whole building violently. Men went sprawling in
all directions, some tried to regain their feet and run, I pushed
them back down. After a full minute of being trapped in there, many
were becoming downright hysterical, so I stopped and glared angrily
at them.

“Because with just
a flick of my hand I could destroy you all. Does that give me the
right to do so?” I asked the frighted and astonished audience. Then
I flew out of the building and back to our TTV. About an hour after
my brightly illuminated, unhurried return to our craft from the
State Central building, a sight witnessed live by thousands and on
TV by the whole State, Zoran arrived with the Governor General,
Admiral and Commander dutifully in tow.

Clearly, Zoran had
added something significant to my performance with his words. I
asked him what he’d said and cracked up laughing when he told me.
After the meeting broke up, in most unusual disorder, Zoran had
‘confided’ in the three of them, that, upon the Supreme One’s
imminent death, Lady Ursula’s control would cease and my two
younger sibling would be put under house arrest, pending an
investigation of their activities throughout the New World. Having
confirmed the ‘accidental’ deaths of Lord Peter and Lady Margaret,
with the suggestion of complicity by Lady Ursula’s own minions in
Supreme House, the old man had made them feel safest by deciding to
swear allegiance to me. Not out of any moral sentiments, I was
sure, but simply to stay on the winning side. Sadly, the Supreme
One, feeble as he was, could not be relied upon to make this
fiction real anytime soon.

Zoran ushered the
three men into the slightly cramped but very comfortable main
cabin. I remained standing in the doorway while the three men got
settled.

“Why do you need
heavily armed guards everywhere?” I asked softly, looking
around.

“Not everyone
agrees with the way we govern” Admiral Davis replied
cautiously.

“So you just shoot
dissenters?” I asked rather flippantly.

“Oh no Lord
Robert” Exclaimed General Marsoni, trying to smile

“The weapons
simply act as an effective deterrent” He declared.

“In fact it has
been sometime since we’ve had to actually use them” He went on to
tell me..

“But you do use
them if someone persists in their dissent, right?” I challenged
quietly.

“Only if they use
violence to achieve their goals” Commander Richards replied
defensively.

“And what are
their goals?” I asked him “Why aren’t they happy?”

“Well, not long
after the raids, we, that is General Adams and his staff” Commander
Richards explained, adding “He was State leader at the time.
Anyway, he decided to cease issuing licences for places of
entertainment to private individuals. He created the State
Amusement Board. It was an important industry to the State and it
needed to be controlled” Richards told me confidently.

“Only the State
had the capital to rebuild the whole district” General Marsoni took
up the story “With better quality establishments and strict
controls, there is no crime and no-one gets ripped off up there” He
pointed to where the famous red light district used to be.

“So now the State
owns the entertainment industry as you call it, the Port itself
and?” I paused “Is there any private enterprise at all in
Sentoria?” I asked the three men.

“We have created
generous grants for anyone who is willing to set up an industry in
the hinterland and we have had quite some success with that”
Admiral Davis answered; I’d seen that in their film

“The biggest
problem we have now is finding staff, and I can’t see that getting
much better unless the childbirth restrictions are eased” The
Admiral added, looking at me meaningfully.

“I hereby Divinely
decree that, for the next ten years, all childbirth laws are
rescinded in Sentoria” I pronounced in the expected way. The three
men began to thank me profusely “However, there are more immediate
problems and I want them dealt with now” I stated. I gave them an
order to go on television and declare that a compensation board
would begin to hear claims, at the start of the following week.
They were also to announce that they were seeking respectable
individuals to apply for licences to take over State owned
entertainment venues.

Of course they
were only too pleased to announce the lifting of birth and marriage
restriction, but none too happy about the privatization of their
lucrative little sideline. By the time our little onboard meeting
was over, I felt that I had done what really was the will of the
majority of Sentorians. Although these three men ran a racially
imbalanced, highly chauvinistic military dictatorship, they had, in
truth, done well by most in the State. Their television
announcements would return this State to the path of fairness, if
perhaps not decency. After all, with its birthright of pirates and
brothel keepers, Sentoria had a rather jaded sense of morality that
was all its own. Now, at least, justice would be done and the door
to true prosperity opened for all.

That evening they
did exactly as I had ordered and the City/State erupted into
spontaneous gaiety. We watched from the transom of the TTV, about
fifty meters up, as happy people poured out onto the streets.
Thousands upon thousands of prayers to marry and have children had
been answered, those people whose lives had been destroyed could
now rebuild them, the government was finally loosening its
monopolistic grip. Reasons a-plenty to celebrate, and celebrate
they did, till the wee hours of the morning. At one stage, more
than ten thousand people stood below our T.T.V. and chanted my
name. General Marsoni called, quite early the next morning, to
invite Zoran and I, along with the crew and guards, to a ‘grand
festival’, at which we’d be banqueted and entertained.

I had to remind
the Captain that I could adequately guard our craft in their
absence, before my loyal travelling colleagues would agree to come.
I was quite sure they would enjoy Sentoria’s unique interpretation
of entertainment, and, anyway, they’d not been off the craft since
we left Supreme House. Having parked the TTV in the centre of the
main plaza, and disembarked, I placed a pale golden mist around it.
There was no need to tell the interested crowd not to go too near.
A cavalcade, led by the Governor and I, in the old style, open
limousine, received a really enthusiastic reception this time. The
crowd was four to six deep all the way to the Sentoria exhibition
hall. The magnificent building was adorned in keeping with its
traditions and extremely broad morality.

It was, quite
literally, covered with life sized, if not life like, statues of
naked women of all shapes and sizes. Though we were taken through a
special entrance, at the rear of the building, I got a good look at
the excited men and women who were waiting to enter. They were
definitely there to party, exotic outfits seem to be the order of
the day for the women, regardless of age, and exposed bare chests
under colourful shirts, tucked into pirate type pants were the norm
for the men. Except for the ever present guards, there was not a
uniform to be seen. We were ushered to our luxury VIP box and got
settled in. From our elevated position, above the centre of a
slightly raised dance floor, it seemed as if the festivities had
already begun.

Cameramen, located
around the dance floor, flashed brazenly sexist shots of the
gyrating bodies on the dance floor onto large flat screens which
were arranged along the walls of the circular show room. Our food
laden glass table was most enjoyed by the Captain and his crew,
looking super impressive in their Divine House T.T.V. uniforms. The
six young guardsmen, who looked far more striking in their uniforms
than their Sentoria contemporaries, seemed to have trouble deciding
whether to eat or just stare at the stunning, skimpily clad girls
on the floor. The whole place was ornate, the domed ceiling held a
multitude of lighting grids, and there were perhaps two hundred
tables down there.

As the pulsating
music gradually increased in volume, more and more of those seated
came down and joined the dancers. By the time we’d finished our
sumptuous meal, that floor was one solid mass of human sexuality.
Jammed together and swaying to the now pounding music. In fact, no
one seemed to really care who did what to whom! With our tables
cleared and removed, leaving a ten metre oblong space around us,
six strikingly attractive girls came over and invited the guards to
dance with them.

“It might be an
idea to divest yourselves of the weapons and body armour gentlemen”
I suggested knowingly. Politely refusing their beautiful new
companions’ help, the young guards did as I suggested, placing
everything at the Captain’s feet.

“Guess I’m the guy
who doesn’t get to have fun today” The Captain joked. So I put a
protective golden mist around the lot.

“My sincerest
thanks Lord Robert” The Captain thanked me, as three more extremely
beautiful women, all Eurasian, entered right on cue. Within a few
minutes Zoran and I presided over as erotic a dance party as one
could imagine. The entire place seemed to move, as if it were
breathing with the music. Suddenly, the music slowed to a mellow,
soothing feel and the kaleidoscope of lights dimmed to a pale
coloured darkness. Neither Zoran nor myself needed any explanation
for the semi dark, nor for the still quite loud romance inducing
music that played on.

A large, formally
attired black man entered our darkened box and spoke directly for a
minute or so into Zoran’s ear. The old man leaned over to me,
grinning in spite of himself.

“Lord Robert, it
seems that because of your position they don’t feel right
entertaining you in public” Zoran told me, adding, with just a
touch of understandable envy “You’ve been invited to a private
room, where Sentoria’s famous pleasures await you”. I grinned back
at his impish old face as I rose

“You know, one
could really get to like this place Zoran” I murmured in his ear,
then followed the black giant just ten metres, to a beautifully
carved door. He opened it, I entered the dim room and he closed it
behind me. The lights came up slowly, revealing three totally naked
Indian girls, each of them with the most perfect body and exquisite
face. When the music started, they began to dance very intimately
with each other. Then, two utterly gorgeous white girls entered,
removed their flimsy clothes and proceeded to erotically undress
me. In no time I was surrounded by five virtually perfect naked
females, doing things to each other, and to me, that I had never
even thought of. When Sentorians say ‘let me entertain you’ they
really do mean it!

As we flew low
over Sentoria’s so-called safety band, we saw several of the
crab-like cyborgs prowling around. Commanders Richards and Davis
had accepted my invitation to do a little aerial exploration of the
vast lands to the north; they stood beside me.

“That’s one way to
insure no illegal immigration” I commented, as two of them chased
down an unfortunate deer like creature, the beast had strayed onto
the desert strip. It was virtually disintegrated by their two rapid
firing machine guns. The previous evening, at a far more sedate
dinner, after the day’s wild festivities, Marsoni, five of his male
colleagues and myself had a very fruitful discussion. I had
suggested, among other things, that the State’s labour shortage
might be more immediately relieved, by importing suitable people
from the North.

The two older men
came as close to scoffing at the idea as they dared, but Richards
and the other three, who, like him, were in their thirties, saw
some merit in the idea. It seemed logical that there would be many
millions of men, women and children living in this vast Northern
continent, much of which had never been seen by white men.
According to the history proffered as truth by the Supreme House,
and totally accepted by the people of Sentoria and the men on board
our T.T.V. we were travelling over what was easily the most
dangerous place on the planet, at around fifty kilometers an hour,
just meters over the treetops