When the Gods Aren't Gods: Book Two of The Theogony (21 page)

Steropes nodded. “
What is he telling you now?
” he asked.

“
He is telling me to pray,
” Al-Sabani replied.

“
Then you should certainly do so,
” Steropes agreed.

“
Wait a second,
” Calvin said. “
Is there something the rest of us should know? What is a qarin?
”

“
We’re not going to stand here and discuss old wives tales when there are things that need killing, are we?
” Petty Officer David Levine asked. “
I grew up with an Islamic friend, and that was all he ever talked about. Jinn this, qarin that. I don’t know what good they’re supposed to be; his qarin didn’t tell him not to step on the land mine that killed him.
”

“
I’ll ask again,
” Calvin repeated. “
What’s a qarin?
”

“
A qarin is a special jinni that is assigned to a person,
” Al-Sabani replied. “
The uncultured believe in guardian angels; they are really jinn.
”

“
What is the difference?
” Calvin asked.

“
Angels obey the will of Allah,
” Al-Sabani answered, “
whereas jinn have free will. A guardian angel would always help you and keep you on the correct path. A qarin might be bad and constantly try to lead you astray.
”

“
And you’ve got one of these?
” Calvin asked.

“
I have had a good qarin since I was five,
” Al-Sabani said. “
Haatan has never led me astray. He is telling me that this temple is full of evil and that we should leave. He also suggested prayer, but he doesn’t think that will be sufficient. He believes that if we stay, we will die.
”

“
There issss an anti-jinn prayer?
” Bob asked. “
Can you teach it to ussss?
” Calvin had noticed that the therapods’ lisps always got worse when they were excited. Or scared.

“
It is the Throne Verse of the Qur'an,
” Al-Sabani replied, “
but if you are not a believer, it will not work for you. That is why I do it for you.
”

“
And I, as well,
” Leading Seaman Abdul Wazir agreed, a Muslim from the Kashmir region of India.

“
Can we go now?
” Levine asked. “
I need to get back as quick as I can to
my
jinn...my gin and tonic, that is.
” He laughed at his joke.

“
Knock it off, Levine,
” Master Chief O’Leary ordered, hoping to avoid a religious war. “
Let’s focus on killing whatever’s in this pyramid. We can discuss this when we get back to the ship.
”

“
Steropes, please lead on,
” Calvin ordered. “
Anything you can do to assist, Sergeant Al-Sabani, is most welcome.
”

The
15 remaining members of the squad and their chaplain followed Steropes as he proceeded along the dark passageway. As they came to the next corner, a glow could be seen from around it. Steropes and Sergeant Al-Sabani rounded the corner to find an empty passage leading off as far as the eye could see, well lit by torches placed every 20 feet or so. Steropes stopped suddenly, causing Petty Officer Sherkov to walk into him. “
What is wrong?
” Sherkov asked. “
I see nothing out of place.
”

“
I know,
” Steropes replied. “
I don’t see anything wrong either, and that’s what worries me.
” He slowly started forward again, searching the walls and floors for any sort of marks that might indicate a pressure plate or any other sign of a trap.

They had walked almost 100 yards when Doug
asked, “
You wanted to know if we found writing, yesss?
”

“
Yes,
” Steropes agreed. “
Did you find some?
”

“
There is some on thisss torch,
” replied Doug. He grabbed the torch and tried to pull it from its holder to show the Psiclops, but it appeared to be stuck.

“
NO!
” Steropes yelled, turning around to see the lizard pulling on the torch, “
don’t touch it!
” But it was too late. Doug pulled harder on the torch, and it came free. As it did, a 20 feet long section of the passageway behind him came unhinged and dropped. Petty Officer Remy Martin, Leading Seaman Abdul Wazir, Leading Seaman Sigvar Borsheim and Irina Rozhkov went tumbling into the abyss that suddenly opened up beneath them.

Seeing what he had done, Doug slammed the torch back into its holder
, and just as suddenly as it had dropped, the passageway closed back up again, trapping the members below. For several seconds the sounds of grunts, groans and slams could be heard from the soldiers as they bounced down a tunnel in the darkness, and then there was one last “
Fuck!
” which sounded more annoyed then hurt.

“
Are you guys OK?
” Calvin asked. He brought up the display of their suits. While he could see that the four had strong life signs, their suits showed a variety of warning and danger signs.

“
Da, I am OK,
” Irina Rozhkov replied, “
but my suit is going crazy. We fell down some kind of slide that dropped us into a pool of mercuric cyanide. At least, that is what my suit says, anyway. If I had been breathing the outside air, I would be in danger of both mercury and cyanide poisoning. Otherwise, I am mostly just bumped and bruised.
” There was a pause as she looked around. “
We are in a small room with nothing but this pool of acid. I can see a door out.
”

“
I am fine, too,
” Remy Martin said. “
Just bumps, bruises and a thoroughly disgusting residue on my suit.
”

“
I am not so good,
” Abdul Wazir said. He broke off in a coughing fit. “
My suit tore on something, and I got a bunch of the stuff inside my suit.
” He started coughing again. “
My
throat and air passages are burning and trying to close on me.
” Another coughing fit. “
My eyes are burning, and I can barely see.
” He broke off, coughing again. “
The suit needs to be drained of the stuff in order to get it fixed all the way.
”

“
I also am OK,
” Leading Seaman Sigvar Borsheim said. “
We can patch Abdul’s suit, but we’ve got to get him out of both the suit and this room first.
The whole room is full of toxic vapors. My suit’s systems are going crazy.
”

“
Mine, too,
” Rozhkov agreed. “
There’s no way we can get back up to you. We will try to go somewhere that we can help Abdul and then find another way out. Rozhkov out.
”

* * * * *

Inside the Great Pyramid of Cholula, Keppler-22 ‘b’, August 12, 2020

“
All right, we’re not getting paid by the hour, ladies,
” Master Chief advised. “
Let’s see if we can’t go kill some snakes so we can get out of this shit hole.
”

“
I’ll lead,
” Steropes said. He moved off in the direction they had originally been heading.

“
And no one touches anything!
” Ryan added. “
If it doesn’t kill you, I will!
”

“
Sssorry
,” Doug mumbled.

The 1
1 remaining soldiers and the chaplain followed Steropes and made it to the next corner, turning on their helmet lights as they went back into the dark. After another 150 yards the passageway ended, with a door on the right side of the wall. Steropes surveyed the door. He didn’t find any traps and put his hand on the latch to open it.

“
Wait,
” Al-Sabani warned. “
Haatan warns us that we do
not
want to go into that room.
”

“
The jinni know what he be talking about, mon,
” Sergeant Margaret Andrews added. The black woman shuddered. “
I gotta bad feeling about it, too.
”

“
I’m not going back without killing Quetzalcoatl,
” stated Steropes. “
If you want to stay here, I’ll go alone.
”

“
Oh no, mon,”
Sergeant Andrews said, “
we not be letting you go by yourself. I just be saying that something inside that room be needing our killing. I feel it.
”

“
OK,
” Master Chief said, “
no sense highlighting ourselves. Turn off your lights.
” He put a hand on Steropes and gently pushed him to the side. “
We’ll take it from here.
” He formed up the soldiers into two lines. One would go each way as they entered the room. “
Ready?
”

He eased the door open. The door led into a room that seemed to go on forever. A dim light suffused the room
. There was just enough light to see movement, but not enough to identify it. In the distance, things were moving. Every once in a while, the things would stop and appear to bend over. Although the Terrans couldn’t see what was going on, they dialed up their suits’ audio sensors and could hear a variety of grunts and groans, as well as a wet slapping noise.

“
Listen up, people,
” Master Chief commed quietly, “
Here’s how we’re going to do this. On the count of three, I want Bob to throw an illumination grenade as far as he can to the left, and Doug to throw one as far as he can to the right. Everyone else be ready with your primary weapons in case whatever is out there comes our way. Ready? One...two...three!
”

The grenades flew out from the group and detonated
. Although the room was too big for the two grenades to light up completely, the harsh glare of the burning magnesium and the suits’ augmentation made the room almost as bright as a few minutes prior to sunrise on Earth. It was more than bright enough for them to see the 50 or so half-eaten bodies on the floor, and the creatures that were pulling pieces of flesh from them. As the grenades went off, all of the creatures’ heads spun towards the door, and the Terrans lined up along the wall. Master Chief could see two distinct types of creatures. There were about 20 creatures that were bipedal with the legs of a donkey and the horns of a goat. There were another 20 creatures that looked something like greyhounds, although their muzzles were elongated, and they had black stripes running down their sides. All of the creatures charged simultaneously, with the ‘dogs’ making a high-pitched whine.

“
Ghuls!
” Master Chief yelled. “
Fire!
” Both Master Chief and Petty Officer Ivan Sherkov fired off a long line of antimatter grenades across the incoming creatures. Some fell, but most of the others appeared to go momentarily insubstantial or invisible, only to solidify again once the detonations had ceased. Both men dropped their tridents and pulled out their rifles.

“
Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Raheem!
” shouted Al-Sabani over his suit speakers as he began firing his laser rifle. “
Allahu la ilaha illa Huwal Haiyul-Qaiyum!
”

Calvin recognized
the cadence of the Throne Verse of the Qur’an that Al-Sabani had been chanting earlier. Now that he could actually hear it, his implant translated the Arabic. “
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Allah; there is no God but He, the Living, the Self-Subsisting and All-Sustaining.
”

“
Slumber seizes Him not, nor sleep,
” Al-Sabani continued. “
To Him belongs whatsoever is in the heavens, and whatsoever is in the earth.
” All of the squad was firing now, as well as Calvin. He could see that both creatures appeared to come in three different colors. About half of both types were a putrid shade of green in color. Nearly all of these went down in the first round of grenade and laser fire. There were also six or seven of each at the start that were a sickly yellow in color; about half of them had been hit and were on the ground not moving.

“
Who is he that will intercede with Him except by His permission?
” continued Al-Sabani, his speakers as high as they would go. “He knows what is before them, and what is behind them.” The smallest group was blue in color. While there hadn’t been as many of these, they seemed to know instinctively when the Terrans would fire and would become non-corporeal. One blue dog was down, but Calvin couldn’t see that any of the blue horned creatures had been shot. If anything, they were now running even faster toward the Terrans.

“
And they encompass nothing of His knowledge except what He pleases,
” Al-Sabani was joined by Master Chief; both were yelling. “
His knowledge extends over the heavens and the Earth!
” All of the yellow ones were down now, too, and one of the blue horned creatures had been hit. Two blue ones of each variety were still coming. The first of the creatures materialized next to Petty Officer Sherkov and appeared to reach inside his suit. Sherkov collapsed with a sigh. The rest of the creatures were now 20 feet away and coming on hard. They gathered themselves to spring on the Terrans.

“
And the care of them burdens Him not; and He is the Most High. The Supreme!
” finished both Al-Sabani and Master Chief at the top of their lungs. The four remaining monsters looked like they had run into a wall. The three that were still charging at them stopped and remained motionless with dazed expressions on their faces. The monster standing over Sherkov froze, looking down at him. Blue laser beams hit blue skin over and over as the squad was finally able to target the creatures. A whistling noise like a steam kettle was heard as a number of holes were drilled through each of the remaining creatures. Like balloons with holes, they appeared to deflate, turning insubstantial and disappearing. As Calvin looked around the room, he could see the ones that had been hit earlier were dissolving as well.

“
Did you say
ghouls?
” Calvin asked. “
As in the undead?
”

“
The horned ones were ghuls,
” Master Chief replied, looking around in awe, “
as in ghul jinn. They are one of about 10 different types of jinn. According to my mother, they are nocturnal creatures who inhabit graveyards and ruins. They usually come out at night to feast on the living and the dead. You remember I told you one time that my mother was Persian? She believed in all of this stuff, although I never did. She spoke to her qarin all the time; I just thought she was crazy. She said I had one, a good one, and that I would hear it if I listened. I refused.
” He looked Al-Sabani, who was rubbing some sort of talisman that he had pulled from a pocket. “
I may have to re-think that.
”

“
The ones that looked like dogs were hinn jinn,
” said Al-Sabani, taking off his helmet. “
They are weak jinn, not much more than animals.
” He put the talisman on around his neck and refastened his helmet. “
Their color is important. Green ones are young and immature; they are easily dealt with. The yellow ones are leaders of families and small clans. They are more powerful than the greens, but less than the blue ones. Watch out for the blue ones. They are old and intelligent. Their touch can poison a person and send them into a dream world. That is where the myth of granting wishes comes from. They drink your blood while promising you anything that you want.
”

Sergeant
Andrews took off Petty Officer Sherkov’s helmet. They could see a big smile on his face. “
He will be all right shortly,
” noted Al-Sabani. “
We stopped it before it could drink heavily of him. The Throne Verse is effective against most of the lesser jinni, but not against the more powerful ones. Pray we do not run into any of the efreet or shaitans
.”

“
And what the hell are those?
” asked Calvin. His upbringing had not prepared him for dealing with creatures that could turn invisible at will.

Al-Sabani shook his head. “
They are the most powerful of the jinn,
” he said. “
They would be very difficult to defeat.
”

“Oh, thank you,” moaned Sherkov.
His head rolled, and then he shook himself. He looked up to see Sergeant Andrews’ face six inches in front of his. “Wait,” he said. “You’re not Nadia; where did she go?” A look of utter sadness crossed his face, and then he shook himself again. As he opened his eyes this time, they seemed clear. “What happened?” he asked. “I just had the strangest dream.” He rolled out of Witch’s arms and got up, still shaking his head.

As Al-Sabani told him what happened,
Calvin looked around the chamber. The room was huge; extending into the gloom in all directions. “
Master Chief, let’s get a few more illumination rounds in here so that we can see what we’re doing. I’d like to take a quick survey of the room and then get the hell out of here. This place gives me the creeps.
”

“
Yes, sir,
” replied Master Chief, “
the sooner, the better.
” He passed on the order and eight more illumination rounds were fired throughout the room, including two to replace the first two that were going out.

By the light of the rounds, Calvin could see that the room was an enormous square; with walls well over 150 yards long. Pillars spread throughout the room helped hold up the vaulted ceilings that rose to 25 feet high in its center. The additional light
gave them an unwelcome view of the corpses in the middle of the room but did not reveal any more jinn. At least 50 corpses were near the room’s center although it was hard to tell exactly how many due to the decomposition of some and the dismemberment of others. The bodies had dark skin and appeared from a little ways away to be from members of the planet’s humanoid race. None of the soldiers wanted to go any closer to confirm.

As the squad neared the other side of the room and the illumination began to
fade, they received a shock as they saw two women chained to the wall. They couldn’t be sure that they were women, as their heads hung down forward onto their chests, but from the long hair and feminine dress that was what they appeared to be. Ready for a trap, the squad formed a semi-circle around the two with weapons at the ready.

Master Chief shouldered his trident, drew his laser pistol and moved forward toward the women. He had advanced to within five feet when the illumination rounds went out. Automatically, he switched to low light/thermal on his suit’s viewers. The bodies didn’t move, but he could see a heat source on both of them, stronger than he would have believed in the cool, dank room
. Something about the women made his skin crawl. “
Bob and Doug, pop another illumination round,
” Master Chief ordered.

He watched the women as the light came back up, but nothing changed. He moved forward and started to reach forward to touch the one on the right. He stopped with his hand about a foot
from the woman as he had a thought. Straightening, he asked, “
Hey, Al-Sabani, what’s your qarin say about these women?
”

Vice Sergeant Al-Sabani cocked his head, a strange look on his face. “
That is odd,
” he said. “
He won’t tell me anything about them. The word that he uses can mean either he ‘can’t’ or ‘won’t’ tell me about them. He won’t say anything else. He has never done this before. The only thing that he will say about them is that they do not have an evil aura about them, and that it should be OK to wake them up.
”

“
Maybe he’d like to wake them up, then,” muttered Master Chief as he reached back toward the woman’s shoulder. He activated his speakers. “Ma’am, ma’am, are you OK?” he asked, gently shaking her.