Divine Deception: The Will Traveller Chronicals (30 page)

There were eight
men in there, all wearing boiler suit work clothes and with long
straggly hair. The tallest of them was only a metre and a half at
most. Now frozen in fear at the sight of me, each held pale white
dishes of varying sizes, beautifully carved from a material which
was unfamiliar to me.

“I will not harm
you my little friends” I advised them “I would have you talk to me,
that’s all, tell me what it is you do?” I asked quietly. None of
them moved, so I walked right up to the eight dwarfs, holding out
my hand to the nearest of them.

“May I see your
dish?” I asked, as I would a child. Wordlessly and without looking
up at me he held it out. I was surprised at how light this
intricately carved stone dish was.

“It’s very
beautiful, did you make it?” I asked him and he nodded “Why are you
so afraid of me? I have not come here to harm you” Still I got no
answer, so I sat down on the ground and crossed my legs, my eyes
were now level with the shortest of the eight men.

“Alright, we are
going to just stay like this, till one of you talks to me” I told
them in a friendly voice. It was at least a minute before the one
whose dish I’d taken finally spoke.

“What is it we
must say Lord?” The bedraggled workman asked.

“What do you do,
who are you people?” I asked him, adding “Whatever has been before
is no more. And I am truly sorry if I was any part of it” That last
bit really startled them. A Supreme Family member actually saying
sorry, that was something new!

“Are you not Lord
Robert?” The tallest of them asked me sullenly.

“I am” I replied,
adding “But I remember little I’ve come to learn.”

“Then how is it
you have no knowledge of us” He asked defiantly.

“If you will tell
me of your world, I’ll tell you of mine” I cajoled them. My
acquiesce seemed to embolden one of the younger men.

“Could it be you
have destroyed so many worlds that you have forgotten this one?”
The man repeated Rama Karak’s question.

“Be still” The
oldest man in the group warned him “Lest you die for your
insolence”. I was about to say that it was o.k. but the young man
upped the aggression stakes.

“What can he do
Milton?” The young man challenged the Elder “He is no more than the
others of his kind” He added disdainfully, so I blew a room sized
hole into the back wall of the terminal cavern with my little black
laser.

When the dust had
settled, I turned to them, a smile on my face.

“There you go
gentlemen” I said lightly to all of them “More office space. Now,
you were saying young man?” I asked looking at him. Understandably,
all eight turned white, once again terrified. The young man could
not drag his eyes from the two metre in diameter, three metre deep
hole in the solid rock face.

“Young man?” I
commanded, he forced himself to turn and look back at me, his
expression was one of total defeat.

“I most humbly
apologise for my words Lord Robert” The young man mumbled
fearfully.

“But are they
true?” I asked him, genuinely wanting to know.

Expecting death
for his true answer, the lad looked straight at me.

“Yes Sire” He
replied “I spoke the truth.” He said simply.

The oldest went to
chastise the bitter yet very brave young man.

“Milton” My use of
his name surprised him “If this young man, or, better still,
yourself, for you would remember far more than this brave
youngster” I told him “Would be kind enough to lead me to your
village, I would know more of you” I asked respectfully “I wish you
to tell about yourselves and what the Supreme Family has done to
you” I told them “There may be some way that I can atone for the
past sins of my family” I added. The old man looked at me for the
first time, his grey eyes studied me for ten seconds or so. Then he
got to his feet and got himself ready to speak.

“With all the
respect due to one of Divine birth such as yourself Lord Robert”
Milton’s high pitched gravel voice was firm, but without feeling
“It is beyond my comprehension that you know us not Lord Robert” He
stated curiously. I looked at each of them “The truth is sometimes
the hardest thing of all to believe” I said, rising a metre off the
ground “But the simple truth is, I lost my memory and found my
conscience” I told him “Now tell me of your people Milton, show me
trust, take me to your village. Hold nothing back” I urged him “I
must hear it all to judge how I can best return to you what my
family has stolen” The man could not mistake the sincerity in my
voice. Wise old eyes watched me. “You would hear of that which you
yourself have done to us Lord Robert?” Milton asked me
meaningfully.

“Not by choice no,
but that’s what I am here for” I answered, adding “I sense that I
may hear much that will sadden me, but naught will anger me, this I
pledge to you” I promised him.

“Given that we
live or die by your will, it would seem prudent to do as you wish”
The old man’s eyes seemed to smile “Please honour us by following
me Lord Robert” He and the tallest one put their beautiful
craftwork on the ground and led me to a tunnel at the back of the
terminal cave, some twenty metres from where I just blasted them
some more ‘office space’. We entered a three metre wide, but just a
metre and a half high passage way, I had no choice but to stoop.
Noticing that, the old man apologised.

“We have not
needed a passage with more height before Lord Robert, you are the
first of your people to visit this place”.

“The first from my
family you mean, right?” I asked.

“No my Lord” Came
his reply “None but Bramadin people, such as ourselves, m’Lord” He
replied. There was a growing light at the end of the passage.
Suddenly, we came out into yet another movie set. Though I’d seen
such ‘beehive’ dwellings, carved out of the side of a mountain
before, here, we were at least a kilometre underground! From quite
high on the side of the enormous, kilometre square cavern, the
place actually looked like a model, except that there were a lot of
people moving around. As they caught sight of the three of us, they
began to gather at the bottom of the steps we were descending.

The steps ended on
a small landing, with more steps from both sides, they led to a
much larger courtyard. The courtyard was packed full by the time we
got down there. My arrival was hardly a cause for celebration, on
the contrary, Milton was being criticised for bringing me to this
place. I even heard words as strong as “traitor” being used. The
old man walked to the front of the first landing and raised both
arms . Gradually, the hub bub died down.

“My beloved fellow
Bramadin” He called out to them “You all know me, and know that I
would never act to harm any of my Brothers and Sisters, even if it
should cost me my life”. His old grey eyes moved over those nearest
to us. Despite the earlier comments, Milton quite obviously had the
affection and respect of his people.

He told them all
what he and the others had seen and that, if I so wished, they
would already be dead. He tried to explain my memory/conscience
story to them, which was hard, because he didn’t really understand
it himself. After about ten minutes, he led me through all the
still scared yet curious people, to the largest of the many block
houses that were spread all around the floor of the enormous
cavern. Just before we went in, I stopped and looked around in a
complete circle. There was barely any space left of the cave’s
walls. Row upon row of identical homes, entrances without doors,
windows without shades, were connected by hundreds of stepped
pathways. The floor of the cavern was clearly for business, the
block houses were clearly workshops.

Stooping to enter,
I was given their largest chair, still a little small for comfort
but the biggest they had. It was a throne-like affair that belonged
to their leader Borony, who was ill and near death, even though
still quite young. They had no concept of medicine or doctors. They
worked hard and did all they could to stay fit, but, if they got
real sick, they died. Milton was the oldest of some two thousand
people who lived in this cavern. I felt that a different kind of
miracle was needed here. Nine men, mostly in their forties, joined
Milton, who was around sixty, and myself in the plain sandstone
block room. A beautifully carved stone table sat in the middle of
the single roomed building, with five craftsman fashioned, straight
back, wooden chairs on either side.

Once all were
settled with a hot mug of honey flavoured tea in our hands, I
pushed back my chair and stood up.

“As a way of
showing to the Bramadin people that I come to make restoration” I
declared “I decree that Barony is now well and shall remain that
way till he is older than Milton here” I stated as a certainty.
Milton smiled knowingly; the others neither moved nor spoke. Within
less than half a minute, a small cheer from the near side of the
cavern spread to a deafening roar of celebration. The chant
“Barony” rippled out and, to the delight of the ten men, their
leader strode purposely towards our block house. His long hair
flowed freely, he was powerfully built and as tall as the tallest
of the Bramadin I’d me so far. I went out to meet him.

“Lord Robert”
Barony looked hard at me “My recovery is your doing?” I nodded,
turned and we re-entered the block house together. When Milton had
done his very best to explain, Barony was still just as confused,
but he was clearly grateful for his recovery, and the promise that
the inequity would hence forth cease. Like so many others that I
had met, their tale was one of absolute disregard for their rights
or the lives of their people, nor for those of any of the peoples
around them.

“Once there were
farmers and fishing villages all around here and far to the North”
Barony told me “We Bramadin stayed in the hills, so we all had our
place and met only for trade” He went on.

“So you’ve always
lived inside these mountains?” I asked

“No” Milton
replied sharply “We used to live on them. But the Supreme One
ordered that we should live where we work and we had to build these
villages twenty years ago” He told me bitterly. There had been over
a dozen Bramadin gatherings, as they called them. Loosely
interdependent, they had all been both miners and craftsmen,
working whatever they mined into utensils and craft work. This they
sold to farms and fishing villages for sustenance. Till Lord Peter
and I had discovered the gold mountains. According to Barony, that
was the whole reason for the railway. He knew nothing of the
train’s visits to farms and fish factories to their North and
South, he knew only of their mountains. They mined an almost
luminescent slate, in thin sheets, which they then fashioned into
the beautiful wares I’d seen at the terminal.

Other gatherings
mined a black stone, which was also used for making practical items
and crafting decorative home ware.

“But it is the
gold” Affirmed Milton, with unhidden sadness “Once you knew of our
gold mountains, everything became controlled by the heavily armed
Supreme Guard” He added. At the end of our four hour,
lunch-interrupted meeting, I said I’d remove the guards.

“You must then go
and meet with those who farm and fish. All of you must decide on
how you wish to rebuild your cultures. Your produce and wares will
fund this reconstruction” I told them “I will send business people
with much experience, to assist you. But, it is only the will of
your people and the will of your neighbours that will decide the
future of the Northern lands from this day”

Declining an
invitation to stay for the celebrations, partly because everything
was so small it made me feel like Gulliver, and also because I had
a hot date on top of a downtown Port Rualé building, I left. I felt
confident that all could, with time, be restored to how it once was
here in the North. I was not near so confident about the future of
the South East of this continent however.

“How do I look?” I
asked Sharon, doing a turn to show off my party outfit.

“I think you pass
for a human” The brainy beauty grinned at me.

“I’ll ignore that”
I shot back “Now let’s go”. Smiling happily on my arm, Sharon led
me from our rooftop rendezvous to the elevator and, once on the
street, to a tiny two seater car, which looked like a large bubble
on wheels. Though the car was silent, Sharon certainly was anything
but, she was full of questions and opinions as usual. We soon went
into an underground car park, with hundreds of similar tiny cars.
Then a super fast elevator took us up to the party, which turned
out to be in the penthouse right on top, with a great view of the
harbour.

It was clearly a
very slick, high class affair. Soft lights, soft music that seemed
to come from everywhere, thick carpet, a marble bar, huge glass
doors leading out onto a wide balcony with fantastic views. As
you’d expect, the forty or so guests, tall drinks in hand, were all
virtual fashion plates. The men in ultra chic casual and the women,
who seemed to come from every corner of the planet and were,
without exception, extremely attractive, all dressed in ultra chic
sexy! Even though Sharon’s new party dress was just as skimpy as
her last one, she was one of the more modest. Also, I could not
help but notice that there were more than twice as many women than
there were men.

My date introduced
me around, mostly to women, two of whom I already knew. Sharon
watched her colleagues, Julia and Lois very closely, as she made
the introduction, neither thought me familiar, but both were
clearly very interested in working in Centropolis.

“I’m exclusively
involved in electronics” I told the two disappointed women. Perhaps
because they so outnumbered the men, the women at this party were
extremely, often surprisingly, forward. When Sharon left me for
some minutes to go ‘tidy up’, I was approached by several women,
one of whom thrust my hand under her dress to cup her naked
breast.