Prophet and the Blood March (Prophet of ConFree) (30 page)

"The angels are so understanding. We were pretty much all psycho cases by the time the Brights dropped in and slaughtered the slavers. After we arrived here, they set the angels loose on us and they were wonderful. They can’t talk, but they held our hands and looked into our souls and cried with us and kissed us back to life. They were – angels, real angels. It's like being in Heaven."

"Good Lord!" The Prof was staring at a giant colorful holo image that covered almost a whole wall. It showed the result of the Bright raid on that Earther island – a whole beach of dead slavers, sliced into little pieces by lasers, scattered over sand pooled with blood. "Do they force you to look at these images?"

"Oh no!" Raggedy Ann said. "That was our idea! They showed us those images of what they had done to the slavers and we liked them so much we had them enlarge the images and post them all over our quarters. We love those pix!"

The girls clustered around us as we strolled through Shangri-la. Their attitude had turned around one hundred and eighty degrees since Raggedy Ann briefed them on the real situation.

"Can I tell you something?" Raggedy Ann asked the Prof.

"Anything, my dear."

"Most of the girls want to go home. But some of them don't. Or can't. Because they don't have families, or homes. Or the situation has changed. And some of us have been changed so profoundly by our experiences with the slavers that our…our goals have changed. We can't just go home."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, we'll all accompany you back to the Crista Cluster. We know we can't stay here. But some of us will not be going home. We'll be going…elsewhere."

"Where?"

"We're not sure. But our lives have changed. And our goals are clear. We never knew if we'd be leaving here, but we decided if we ever did get to return to the old world, we would band together to accomplish our goals. There are quite a few of us. We call ourselves the Sisters."

"So it's kind of a sorority?" They had paused by a patio that was open to the air. The weather had changed, the sky was clouding over and a light mist was flowing in from a nearby forest. It looked like the sun was fading.

"No. Not exactly. It's more like a blood pledge."

'What does that mean?"

"It means we cooperate, and stand together, and accomplish our goals, no matter how hard it may be."

"What are your goals?"

"Killing slavers."

"Killing slavers. I see. That's going to be hard to do. Without the proper training."

"Yes. But we are going to do it anyway. Hopefully with the proper training."

"Is that what you wanted to ask me?"

"Yes. How should we proceed?"

"You could get the proper training by joining the ConFree Legion. But then you have to do what the Legion tells you to do, not what you want to do. You don't get to choose your assignments. And even if you get your training some other way, the Brights are wiping out pirates and slavers so fast they may become extinct by the time your training is over."

"I very much doubt that. We're going to do this. With or without training. We will have our revenge. Even if it kills us. They've killed us already, you see. So we don't care."

"I will help you, Annie. I don't know how yet, but I will help you and your sisters."

"We thank you, sir. You don't know how much this means to us."

"Actually, I do."

Δ

Bees was strolling through a cool mist, her mind wandering. She had left Doggie and Blackie surrounded by human girls and angels who were delighted with Blackie. It was bright – a sparkling phosphorescent dew, swirling gently around her. Above, a glowing sheet of white clouds. She was in a soft clinging dark uniform – on her left chest the Bright White Hand and the Delta Research seal were both emblazoned. Yes, that's me, she thought. They both give me life.

A figure appeared out of the mist. It was a Bright, in full armor, radiating light like a star. He had a Battlestorm lightning rod slung over his shoulder, and the White Hand on his armor. His helmet was clipped to his waist. He was young but old. He had silver hair and silver eyes. He appeared very serious. Bees stopped before him. Oh my God! This is my vision, Bees thought.

What do you seek?
the Bright thought.

I seek the truth
, Bees responded.

So do we all,
the Bright responded.
And what will you do with the truth, should you find it?

I will use it to help my people.

Or to help yourself?

No. I am nothing. I am an instrument. I seek the truth. I seek God.

Do not seek God. If you are worthy, God will seek you.

Bees was paralyzed with emotion. Her eyes were swimming with unshed tears. The Bright approached her. He cupped her head with his hands, without touching her. A peaceful, warm wave swept through her mind and body. Peace and love, she thought.

You are a knight,
the Bright thought.

I am just a soldier,
Bees thought.
Not a knight.

You are a knight. I see it. You are a warrior. Knights make themselves. Then they are recognized by God. You are a knight, in God's army. No one can stand before you. You shall lead your people to victory, over Satan. Kneel before God!

Bees fell to her knees before the Bright. His battle rifle transformed itself into a long, glittering silver sword. He touched her with the blade – tapping her on the right shoulder, left shoulder, head.

Be thou a knight,
the Bright telepathed,
in the name of God, of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. You cry. Tears of joy, for God. Arise, Sir Knight. You have been chosen by God. Your war name is Black Angel. Go forth and defend the faith and protect the innocent and fight the evil.

He slowly faded away, into the mist, as Bees watched in stunned fascination. A second Bright approached her. This was a female, surely an angel, long lovely golden hair, golden eyes, pale alabaster skin, clad in a white robe. She reached out her hands to Bees, cupping her head without touching it. Again, Bees felt a warm wave, the love rushing through her body, through her soul.

You are a healer,
the angel thought.

I am a medic. I heal the wounded.

Take my hands,
the angel thought, holding out her hands. Bees grasped them. It was like an electric shock, coursing, pulsing through her body.

"Oh!" Bees cried out.

Peace, peace,
the angel thought.
Now you are a healer.
She leaned in and kissed Bees gently, right on the lips.
Thanks be to God,
the angel thought. And she too faded away.

Bees continued walking slowly into the mist. Then the mist lifted, and it was night. She looked up and the sky was completely clear, millions of stars blazing brightly. What a stunning sight. The Milky Way – her own glorious galaxy. Swirling in frozen splendor, so magnificent she just stood there staring at the cosmos. This is the face of God, she thought. She tried to spot some familiar constellations, but could not. Not a one. Bees knew the stars. We must be very far away in spacetime, she thought. Look at that. How sublimely lovely. A warm thrill ran over her flesh.

"So you can do it?" the Prof asked Bird. I was with them, listening to the Prof at work. We were in the snack bar of the
Vampire
, on the long star run home.

"Sure. Easy," Bird replied. "We import calansi from Stormhaven, and export dox to them. Initially it's pure trade – dox for calansi. Later we can get a bit more imaginative, once it becomes clear what else we need, what else they need, and what's the best way to pay for it."

"I have full authority to do whatever cements a ConFree-Bright alliance," Prof said, "so this is the first step. And nobody is going to question it. And, as our cover company, Matheson Engineering is the logical party to do this. Later on we'll have to deal with the question of profits generated from official business, but for now we won't."

"Certainly. We'll purchase the dox from any source we want, and set up a trading company to handle the imports of calansi. And do distribution, advertising and, eventually, production, once we learn how to reproduce it chemically or grow our own."

"And for all that, you'll need help. People to run the company and so forth."

"Not really. But if you want us to hire some new people, we can certainly do that."

"The business will earn you good money, right?"

"Eventually. If ConFree is paying for the transport to Stormhaven, that will help out a great deal."

"And, eventually, you can use that money to pay for new staff."

"Sure."

"Like the Sisters. As many as you can keep busy."

"Sure."

"I'd like them to get a good percentage of sales."

"We can work it out."

"But I want them busy. Working. Not just sitting back while the money rolls in."

"We can keep them busy. We can keep them motivated."

"The plan is to keep them so busy they eventually forget their suicidal anti-slavery crusade. I've got more ideas for them. But this will be the beginning."

"You're a good man, Prof. A good man."

"I just try to do the right thing. That's all."

Δ

Calling White Knights. This is the Confederation of Free Worlds, calling the White Knights.
Ice was on the DX neural comset, in the commo center of the CS
Vampire
. All four of us prophets were there, huddled around the table, and the Prof was standing. There was no need for earsets on this unit. Just speak into the unit, and telepath, and hope somebody answers. We were in stardrive but it was a Q-link unit and it worked everywhere.

Confederation, this is White Knights. We receive your transmission clearly.

White Knights, that is wonderful! This is Ice, may I connect with Martial Breakblade?

Stand by, Ice.
We were all grinning. Contact! All right! Breakblade had told us establishing a ConFree Embassy on Stormhaven was impractical, at least at present. But he had said he had decided he was authorized to establish a liaison office on Quaba, while seeking official permission from his government for a later full-fledged diplomatic relationship with ConFree. We were pleased to hear it.

Confederation, this is Breakblade. Greetings.

Greetings, Breakblade, This is Ice. The Learned One greets you in friendship and thanks you for your hospitality to us and to the girls. And the girls, too, express their thanks for your friendship and hospitality.

Our thanks for those sentiments. The communication unit appears to be working well.

Yes. The Learned One asks when we may expect your initial embassy staff to arrive in Quaba.

Liaison office – not embassy. Otherwise I get in trouble.

Of course, sorry. Liaison office.

It will be soon. I will notify you in advance. Once we arrive there, our staff will need your assistance in communicating with the locals. And in setting up our emb…uh, liaison office.

We will assist you. And we will teach you our vocal language.

Good. How is the Learned One doing in his progression to thinking being status?

He is only beginning. Once we arrive home we will intensify his training
.

Δ

"Rags, Snax, Cats, please be seated," Prof said. They joined Doggie and me at the table with Prof. We were again in the
Vampire
's snack bar. Raggedy Ann's warname had somehow morphed into Rags, her blonde confederate had been dubbed Snax because she was seldom seen without nibbling on some kind of snack to sustain her, and the Assidic honey was Cats because she had a thing about cats, and images of cats decorated her bureau.

"Thank you, Professor. Oh! Dox! I love it!" They popped open their cups. We kept them well supplied with dox. We had left most of it on Stormhaven to motivate the Brights but still had enough for the voyage home.

"So," Prof said. "The business proposal interests you? Dox for calansi – and the Sisters will be handling the business, under guidance from Matheson Engineering."

"It sounds just wonderful," Rags declared.

"Of course, everyone who wants to can go home. But those who want to continue in the Sisters will either stay in Quaba or return there after seeing their families."

"You are so kind."

"I'm worried about you young ladies. I want you to have something to live for besides avenging yourselves upon your enemies."

"And what about that part? You promised you could help us with training."

"And I keep my promises. But before we even begin that process I wish to assure you are all contributing to society, earning decent incomes and doing meaningful work. There will be other work opportunities available on Quaba for the Sisters. The Brights will be opening up a liaison office in Quaba City fairly soon. I don't know yet how many of them there will be, but I have been assured that they will all be required to learn our language, Inter. As you know, they don't speak because they no longer find it necessary. But to function on Quaba they will need to speak. So we need teachers to teach them. There's no physical reason they cannot learn to speak. I know you all love the Brights, and you are all certainly qualified to teach grade-school Inter to the Brights. In that capacity you will be working directly for me – under contract to Delta Research. So, talk to the girls and get me a list of everyone who may be interested, please."