Kaldean Chronicles: Kaldean Sunset (Book I) (2 page)

The palace's location was a closely guarded secret that changed every 24 hours. Only the fiercely loyal captain of the Jihadis was allowed to know of its location. Whenever somebody visited the palace, they were taken by escort and the location was encrypted in the ship's system so that neither the Jihadis nor the visitors could access it. Nobody traveled to the palace by any other means, even supply freighters traveled by escort.

The Kaldean Emperors were secretive, every one of them. They were always so concerned with security. Many people believed that the people should have greater access to the Emperor, and that their precautions were unnecessary. There hadn't been an assassination attempt since the final years of the Blood Jihad, and that was thousands of years ago, but the Emperors preferred to keep the security measures in place. If they died, the Empire would crumble.

Cornel was waiting at the end of the hall next to the lift, tapping his foot. It was a terrible habit, and the old man did it every single time he was about to lose his patience, which was often. You'd think that at his age he might've learned how to wait, but this wasn't the case with Cornel.

“Are you waiting on the Jihadi?” Antoni walked up to where Cornel was standing.

“They're always late, and they are always getting in the way.”

Antoni couldn't argue with that. Everywhere he went, his father made sure that he had a guard by his side. “They'll be here soon.” A light above the lift door turned on and the guard walked out, wearing the customary crimson robe, with his puffed ginger face creeping out from underneath. It was red from drink. He was always drunk or about to be drunk, and that's why Antoni liked him.

“Hurry it up,” Magnus barked and stepped inside so they can enter the lift.

“Was it approved?” Cornel turned to the man.

“Was what approved?” Antoni turned towards the men who ignored him.

“I don't see why you want to take him out on a transport anyways.”

“A transport!?” His poor attitude melted away. It was rare that Antoni was allowed to leave the palace.

“I don't expect you to understand.” Cornel turned to the guard, “You have the mind of a child.”

The guard grunted, looking like he wanted to strike the man, but he held his temper and led them to the transport bay. Antoni was anxious. It all felt wrong. He'd never been in a transport before. The pods were usually reserved for hull maintenance and thruster repair, things that were normally handled by slaves.

Nonetheless, he was taken out onto the metal grate floors, where slaves wearing black collars around their myriad forms, were moving around maintaining the ships. All of their freewill had been taken from them, but he imagined that if they didn't have to wear their collars they would be staring. Nobody like him ever went down there.

The guard walked beside him, looking from left to right, displaying the usual paranoia you always find in the Jihadis. To them, everything was a threat. Magnus wasn't as bad as the rest, but he took himself far too seriously.

Cornel led them to a small pod at the back end of the bay, which had been outfitted with what looked like plasma cannons. That must've been a recent addition. The slaves wouldn't have been allowed to drive a ship with a plasma cannon, even if they were wearing their collars.

Antoni stared at it for a second while Magnus opened the door and rushed in. Cornel was tapping his feet. “After you.” He motioned for Antoni to go inside. He walked in slowly, taking in everything. It was simple circular room with a control console at the front where there was a window and an array of sensors, none of which he recognized. There was also a bench where he was allowed to sit and wait while Cornel manned the controls. He looked back at Magnus and said, “I'll have to ask you to keep quiet while I try to give the boy his lesson.”

“I'll fucking do as I please. Now hurry up.”

The docking port opened and the ship began its departure. Antoni felt nothing at all except for the anticipation that was moving over his skin. Even thought the ship was moving, it felt like they were sitting still. “Why is it that you can't feel the ship moving,” he whispered to the Jihadi.

“There's no resistance in space. The movement that you feel when you are in a transport is from the air rushing by.”

“Strange.”

They waited silently while the ship slowly left the bay and moved out into space. When they stopped they were only a few hundred meters away from the palace, but it felt like lightyears. All Antoni could see was the stars laid out before him.

He wanted to get into a space folder and visit every one of them. He hated being stuck in the palace. He was young. He should be allowed to move around. Normal citizens his age were allowed to own their own ship, and many were even allowed to marry. They were adults, and he was being treated like a child.

Cornel turned back to Antoni. “Tell me about the events that led to the Blood Jihad,” he said.

“It began in the Second Millennium after the Lorian Sisterhood developed the artificial mind.”

“But why?”

“I don't know,” Antoni said truthfully.

Cornel tapped his foot softly. “Tell me about the Lorian Sisterhood,” he said. He was leading into something, that's how he did his lessons, impatient that Antoni never quite caught onto his secret message. It was infuriating.

“They began in the Alpha Centauri System, well into 6
^th
century. They were a secret society, who established itself against the anti-technologist Crusaders that ruled the twin systems at the time,” he responded.

“Why was the Sisterhood formed?” Cornel questioned.

“In response to the lifestyle that the people had been forced into because of the fact that only prehistoric technology was allowed.”

“What happened?” he questioned again.

“They took over.”

“What made them better?”

“They had hope. They believed that man could do better and that through science man can accomplish great things.”

“What was the result?”

“A golden age that led to space exploration. The people built a society in which empirical research took the place of the religious beliefs that drove the Crusaders to enact their failed system. In time, their beliefs became a religion of its own, even though it had no metaphysical cosmology.”

“Why did we begin the Jihad?”

“So we could have more.”

“That's a foolish statement. It's more than that. Look out at the stars.” Antoni did. “You know many of them, some you've visited, others you will visit soon, and all the ones you see now are a part of your father's kingdom. But imagine that the whole of the human race was confined to just two planets, but that every night you could look up at the stars. They know there are creatures out there, amazing landscapes, things they'd never seen before, and could barely imagine. They also believed that they would never reach them. Both of you have one thing in common. You have an innate belief inside you that you own those stars, and an inescapable urge to explore them. They are yours. As men, we all feel that way. You feel that way, and it drives us.”

Antoni did want to leave. He'd make a home for himself out there with nothing but the simplest amenities. At least he'd have that little bit of time with nature by his side rather than his prison.

Magnus ignored his obvious inclinations. “Where does the word Jihad come from?”

“The ancient universal language of Earth. It was a complicated mixture of all of the languages that existed before it. The word Jihad means holy war.”

“Exactly, and why do you think they chose that term?”

“Because they believed that it was man's right to rule.”

“No. It's not just that. That was what they said, but it's also because of the feeling that people get when they look out at the stars. It's a part of all of us, so many believe it to be sacred.”

Antoni turned to Magnus. “I want to explore a planet.”

“Out of the question,” the guard grunted.

“We can't make that decision, Antoni. Eventually, when you are older you will be allowed more freedom, but you are far too young. You don't know what it's like out there.”

“So this is the lesson. You want me to feel what it's like to want to explore.”

“Yes, but why?”

“So I can understand what people felt like before the Empire was established and the sentiment that led to its establishment. Can we leave?”

“No, but you're right.”

Antoni sighed. He didn't want to sit and look at something he couldn't have. It wasn't fair.

“The people felt the same drive you do now, and it's hard. Isn't it? That's what it feels like to want to reach the stars, and I want you to understand that.”

“Okay. What else then?”

Cornel began tapping his foot softly. Antoni wanted to get up and sock him, and something told him that the guard would've let him, but he didn't. He just waited to hear what the old man had to say. “What is Artemis?”

“Artemis is the artificial brain that was developed after the discovery of the particle that allows ships to fold space.”

“Oh,” Cornel laughed. “It's so much more. Artemis has long been referred as a lesser deity because of its ability to surpass the cognitive reasoning of mankind. This set of quantum neurons, as they are called, can fit into a data stick the size of your thumb, which allows ships to move through the galaxy without being connected to a network. But that's not the most important thing about the brain. It is capable of clairvoyance, something that has alluded man for most of his history. It can sense things before they happen.”

“And?”

Cornel went on tapping his foot, and Antoni nearly stood up to stamp it down. “And there's a lesson to be learned. The human mind is not capable of foretelling the future, which is based on any number of factors, many of which we might not be aware of.”

“What does that mean?” he prodded. At this point, the walls were getting closer, and Antoni just wanted to leave. This was pointless, and the old man's oratory style was grating on him.

“That you can't be rash. You need to think everything through. You don't know what's going to happen. The Crusaders thought they ruled by divine right, and that they couldn't be overthrown, but they were. The republics of the twin systems and the Lorian Sisterhood thought they had built a Utopian society that would last forever, but it didn't. They didn't expect a coup. You don't know the future. Even Artemis, for all of its processing power, can only tell what's going to happen right before it happens.” The old man bent down and got in the rebellious boy's face. “Don't get cocky. Do things right, and remember that no ruler has been able to stop a rebellion if he goes too far and gets too sloppy. You don't know the future, but you can prepare for it.”

The boy nodded his head and said, “It's time to leave.” The man was crazy.

“Yes, it is.”

Antoni preferred to eat alone in his small recreation area. It was outfitted with a number of holographic projectors. He wasn't in the mood for much stimulation, so he decided to use a simple ancient library with walls of books and an old model of Earth. He'd seen one in a bookreader once, and had a model created so that he could visit it whenever he wanted to. He even added in a domed ceiling made of made of glass that gave him the perfect view of Earth's blue sky.

He'd never been to the planet, but he had been told it was once a green wonderland, filled with various landscapes that ranged from deserts to jungles, each one more beautiful the next. That was difficult to imagine considering the face that it had been transformed into a thriving metropolis. The entire planet was covered in carbon and steel structures, and had to be maintained with atmospheric generators that kept greenhouse gas buildup at bay and replenished the world's oxygen supply.

Antoni had simple tastes. He had two blue eagle’s eggs and a piece of dry wheat toast. He didn't want to take too much time eating, and he didn't have the same rich tastes his father had. He finished his breakfast quickly, ignoring the small piece of cake they always left on the side, and ran up to the door, where he pressed his thumb on the console for a bot to come and take his tray.

He might not be allowed much freedom when it came to leaving the ship, but he was allowed some recreational time when his schedule allowed it. It was boring. He could go to the antigravity chamber and play with the bots or make use of virtual reality. There were things to do, but there was nobody to do them with.

The heir was not allowed to have friends. That was too dangerous. He was allowed tutors, guards, and servants, but he was not allowed to get close to anyone. If he got close to somebody, he might begin to trust them and tell them secrets. There were times when he was with his father and overheard things. They didn't want state secrets getting out.

He had to be careful, and he was, but he was not going to live a solitary existence with nobody but Cornel and the Jihadis to talk to. They were far too temperamental, and didn't know how to have fun. Antoni needed to have fun.

He walked into the hallway, ran at Magnus who was nursing a flask of wine and wrenched it away. He pretended to take a swig while he was running, but that was just for effect. He knew how much it would infuriate the man.

“Give that back boy, or so help me.”

Antoni darted around the corner and quickly pulled out a vial of sleeping powder that was given to him by the doctor when he was faking insomnia. “Here.” He handed it back as soon as Magnus rounded the corner.

“You can get the shit any time you want to. What'd you do that for?” He took a swig and fell on the ground.

Antoni stepped over him to get to the lift. He got in and headed towards the servant complex. Servants were skilled workers who handled the tasks that slaves couldn't be trusted with. They were trained in every major vocation, from doctors to nurses, painters, even concubines from the Orchid Society. Every one of them was the best of the best, and they were treated according to their level of training.

The complex was the size of a small city, where the servants had their houses and their own transports, even bazaars where they could trade goods and cafes where they could enjoy freshly made food and the company of others.