Chapter 10: Confession

“A good man? A man who successfully conceals his evil actions.”

― Bangambiki Habyarimana, The Great Pearl of Wisdom

“When was Papa Zora last on board, Cherie?” asked Jason. “I want to understand him better. I know I’ve already asked you about him, but I want more.”

“Patriarch Zora had unfettered use of this ship until four months ago,” said Ship.

“Who pays the crew?”

“The Empress supplies the crew, marines, fighter pilots, and a first-class Captain. This ship is part of her house fleet.”

“How do the houses work?” Jason asked.

“The empire uses a system of government that superficially resembles your old feudal system. It is different as it allows the ‘subjects’ to influence decisions and change the leaders of a house. The ‘subjects’ are also shareholders in the house enterprise. Houses own planets and many large businesses but do not own all the businesses on their planets. Houses describe the people within the house as members. The Emperor is from the biggest and most powerful house, and the Empress came from a family from the next biggest house. She runs Cassius’s house and her own,” Cherie explained.

“How is the empress involved with the priests?”

“The Empress is the Matriarch, the female head of the Guild of Priests, and leads the Ascension Project, while Papa Zora is the Patriarch responsible for daily religious observance. The Empress and the Patriarch loathe each other. He resents her abilities and influence. She lent him the ship when she tried to get on with him soon after he took over the priesthood. I’m pleased she has taken the ship back. She’s responsible for protecting Nirvana, not the Patriarch,” said Ship.

“You told me most of that, apart from mentioning the ascension project. Why do they loathe each other?”

“Jason, I know a lot more than I can tell you. It’s there, but I can’t get it out.”

Jason again asked Robert’s opinion of Papa Zora when he saw him at dinner.

“I transferred off the ship when it came under the control of the Patriarch. I loathe the slimy hypocrite and his no-good priests. He is a dangerous, powerful, perverted man. I begged the empress to release me once I saw what the Patriarch was like. I transferred back to the ship as I liked your great-grandfather and was happy to do as the Empress asked. If you want to learn more about him, you will find the history of our religion in the learning machines.”

“When you say perverted, what do you mean?”

“Marie previously mentioned he had young male acolytes. They started happily, but soon after spending time with him, they became distressed. Most only lasted a few months. We never saw them again. One killed himself when I was on board.”

“Zora must have stored information on the ship,” Jason stated.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if you find reports and communications filed somewhere. I catered for many meetings, conferences, and planning sessions when I worked for him. I’ve seen communications extending back centuries in the chef’s mailbox.”

Jason searched through the databases and found several repositories of information. After an exhaustive search, he discovered a file of passwords in a note sent by Papa Zora’s secretary to him. It included one belonging to Papa Zora.

Jason uncovered an incomplete draft report written by an Empire intelligence officer in an encrypted directory. The intelligence officer reported he successfully infiltrated Papa Zora’s inner circle. The description was brief and ended mid-sentence.

The report described Papa Zora’s childhood and subsequent rise within the priesthood. The agent believed Papa Zora created a false history to justify his behavior.

Jason unlocked thousands of emails from Papa Zora directing priests to undertake kidnapping, extortion, and espionage in the Empire. Subsequently, he found a second email repository showing Zora’s involvement in human trafficking and organized crime. He found board reports which described how Papa Zora used the children of prominent families as hostages. Zora had links to the Mob and regularly communicated with them. Jason prepared a file of incriminating information to send to the Empress when he could do it securely.

Jason learned that Dan Jones, the former Patriarch, was an IT genius who helped ensure the victory of the Empire in the first war against The Mob. During that war, priests acted as medics. The Empress rewarded Dan Jones handsomely when the conflict ended. She licensed the priests to build and service replicators and manufacture medical pods.

Papa Zora rose through the ranks. Dan Jones promoted Zora to be his deputy, but he died in an accident a year later. Zora became the Patriarch.

After dinner, Robert and Marie joined Jason as he sipped an aged brandy. He poured a glass for both.

“Robert, you have known the Empress for ages. Can you tell me a bit more about her?”

“What do you know about her?” Robert asked.

“Empress Alana is a scary, intelligent, but warm woman. She runs a formidable intelligence service, her house, and Cassius’. Alana also has a fleet of her own. That is what I know so far from you and Ship.”

Robert nodded, as did Marie. “The Empress is a well-regarded academic and is a formidable intellectual. She is the chancellor of the university in the capital. She can be all friendliness and light, but if someone says something she knows is incorrect, she will bite their head off. Her reaction varies. She gently corrects errors in those she respects but goes for the jugular if someone she doubts makes errors or supports poorly supported assertions. Her family is large and powerful, and she is the business brain behind the success. She runs the largest fleet of scout ships in the Empire. Her house discovered 11 superb planets and hundreds of planets she mines. She controls her family resources with an iron fist and administers Cassius’s business interests. Cassius also has an excellent business brain but is not administratively minded. Alana has built a powerful intelligence apparatus that focuses on business intelligence. There are rumors she uses Empire intelligence to investigate the activities of Papa Zora.”

“What is her background?”

“She was a top athlete when she was younger. She is a highly regarded mathematician and lectures in her specialty area.”

“How do you get on with her, Robert?”

“She loves my cooking. She maintains a distance from most people until she knows them well. Even then, she is a great boss but not my friend. She is not trusting and open unless you are close to her. She reads people well. I would never lie to her. Cassius complements her well. He is charismatic, a wonderful leader of people, and highly respected by the AIs. He can think outside the polyhedron in a way many cannot.”

“Wouldn’t people see it as strange, sending this ship for me?”

“No one would question her decision to send this ship for you. Zora resents her taking it from him and using it to fetch you, as the mean-spirited man he is, but he couldn’t say no,” said Robert. “She makes plans on many levels. Nothing is ever simple. There is always a plan beneath the surface of what she does. Then there is a second plan hidden in the clouds, and yet another hidden behind a satellite in the atmosphere.”

Jason scratched his head. “Alana removes the ship from Papa Zora. She knows he will take offense. What does she expect him to do?” Jason asked.

Robert shrugged. “The Empress wants Zora to react and make a mistake. Perhaps she is testing you.”

“That is an interesting set of ideas I will think about. Please tell me more about the Emperor?”

Robert smiled broadly, “I like him. On the surface, he’s a relaxed man. He’s never stuffy or pretentious. He’s cheerful and chats with everyone. The Emperor has a good memory for names and will call someone by name a few thousand years after meeting them. He’s fit, athletic, and an impressive martial arts exponent. He is easy to underestimate.”

“I like him and trust him,” said Marie. “When you meet Cassius, you will discover he is a decent human being, kind and compassionate, but he can make the hard decisions. I heard he was top of his class at the best university in the subjects he took. Many underestimate him as he never flaunts what he knows. He doesn’t behave like an intellectual snob. Cassius can listen to people in a way few can. When he is with you, you feel he attends fully. He recalls conversations he had with you centuries previously. He can also remember what he ate when I last cooked for him.”

“How did he meet Alana?” Jason asked.

“It was an arranged marriage between the two most powerful families in the Empire. They’re very close and support each other. Many think she’s the nobelium in the spine of the Emperor, but that is because she behaves like an academic and is fiercely critical,” said Robert.

“I’d never underestimate him,” said Marie thoughtfully, “I observed how he led the Empire during The Mob Wars and recalled one of the admirals saying how impressed he was with the Emperor’s thoughts and suggestions. He doesn’t direct; he discusses. Yet, if he had an idea, he would tentatively bring it up for their consideration, always respect their ideas, and never overrules his military. A senior admiral said the Empress was an impressive woman, but her intelligence skills were her forte while Cassius was a strategist.”

They sat together, sipping their drinks convivially.

“Jason, I noticed men are bigger and look stronger on your planet. Has that always been the case?” Robert asked.

“Yes, and we have slightly more men than women.”

“Do men have more than one wife?”

“Occasionally, but rarely. Women have more than one partner in a few societies, but that is even rarer. Have women always been stronger in the Empire?”

“No, but men deteriorated over a long time. Our fertility has also been reducing.”

“Do men have more than one wife in the Empire?”

“It is uncommon, despite us having many more women than men,” said Marie. “Fertile men are in high demand and often have fleeting relationships and many liaisons. Men from your planet would be in high demand in the Empire.”

“Sex for us is much more casual than it is on Earth. Lauren pointed out that the youngsters have much more casual sex than older people on Earth, and they frown on casual sex in adults except in groups she called swingers,” said Robert.

“Most of us would be considered swingers by Earth standards,” said Marie.

“Yes, I am well aware of that. I struggle to reconcile my values and beliefs with those of the Empire. I can understand why you act as you do. Furthermore, I have had a lifetime of beliefs shattered by my resurrection into a society with a radically different culture. While I can adjust intellectually, I must drag along my emotional deadweight.”

Jason returned to his wardroom and slipped into bed. Jason fell asleep in seconds and slept deeply.

Rosie barked furiously, waking Jason from his sleep. Rosie continued to growl ferociously. There was the noise of running feet, followed by a frantic scratching of claws on the floor as Lilly accelerated out of the door. There was a thump, a high-pitched scream inside, then screams interspersed with growling from outside, the buzz of a weapon repeated several times. Something fell heavily in the anteroom. There was a crunching noise and a wail. There were shouts and screams outside the wardroom, followed by a cry that slowly petered out, then calls and running feet receding into the distance.

Jason groggily sat up. The lights brightened the room. Lilly barked in the distance. Rosie growled, followed by a wail. There was a wapping sound, then intermittent scraping sounds coming closer. Rosie dragged a voluminous briefcase behind her. Jason absentmindedly patted her head as she dropped it next to him and dashed out.

What was going on? Lilly’s rear end appeared at the door as she reversed, pulling a shrieking and crying man into the wardroom. As Jason picked up the case, Rosie darted forward and clamped her jaw on the man’s other shoulder. Both dogs growled ferociously as they pulled an unkempt man wearing a faded red robe towards Jason. Jason shook his head and opened and closed his eyes. He glanced at his watch. It was 3:30 am.

Jason looked carefully at the priest’s narrow face, weak chin, and thin, tight lips.

Jason climbed out of bed and poked him in the chest. “State your name and why you are here,” said Jason threateningly.

“François Bechtold is my name. I’m a priest. I’ve done nothing, let go of me, or you will face the consequences,” sneered Bechtold defiantly through his clenched teeth.

Lilly loosened her grip and shifted position.

Bechtold tried to sit up. Rosie growled.

“You will tell me exactly what I want to know. Lilly, attack!”

Lilly leaned down and sank her teeth back into Bechtold’s shoulder. She clamped her powerful Rottweiler jaw and shook her head again, producing the wap noise. Bechtold swung side to side. Lilly shifted position and adjusted her grip before she crunched Bechtold’s shoulder again. There was a sound of snapping bone. Bechtold screamed and passed out. Jason threw half a cup of water from his bedside table on Bechtold’s face.

“You will tell me exactly what I wish to know.”

“Yes, I’ll tell you everything; stop the animal.”

“Lilly, hold!” Lilly kept her jaw clamped on his shoulder. “Speak the truth, or I will get them to break both of your legs.”

Rosie stood over Bechtold, her slathering jaw close to his groin.

“I’ve come to put supplies into your replicator, that’s all.”

Jason quickly opened the briefcase. There were hundreds of corked transparent tubes with brownish liquid in all of them.

“You lie. Rosie, attack.”

Rosie sank her teeth into his thigh. He screamed shrilly.

“No, stop! The animal is biting me! Stop, and I’ll tell you,” he pleaded.

“Rosie, hold.”

“That’s a mixture that the priests put into replicators, and it affects the functioning of males.”

“Is it poison? Answer me, or the dog will bite again!”

“Yes, it is. We’ll have our revenge on the Empire; no one will stop us. We’ll get you, Kargo. We’ll make you suffer, you ... animal.”

“How many of you priests are on this ship, and where are you hidden?”

“You will never find us. Soon we’ll have our ship back, and you will suffer in our hands.”

Jason could see him manipulating his mouth and grinding his teeth.

“Ship, transport us to medical, put him into a pod, sedate him, and remove the poison from his mouth.”

Jason found himself and the two dogs in medical.

He waited for ten minutes before one of the doctors spoke.

“We can’t save the priest. The poison is rapid-acting, and we do not know it. The poison is destroying the priest’s cells. Soon he will be a pool of chemicals and the remains of the non-organic components of his bones. The pod removed all traces of the poison from his body, but it had already done critical damage. He’s dead and decomposing.”

Jason returned to his wardroom, patted both dogs and praised them. They stood wagging their tails and nuzzled him. Both snouts were bloody. They accompanied Jason as he strode out of the wardroom and along both sides of the passageway. He found pools, drops, and streaks of blood extending for a hundred meters.

Jason returned to his suite. The lounge room had spatters of blood and blood smeared on the floor. He followed smear marks for ten meters. The dogs had wounded at least two priests inside and several others outside.

These events left Jason with a feeling of unease and disquiet. How could he find them? Who could find them? Whoever tried to find a hidden group would find the task difficult, if not impossible. A thousand people would find the task difficult. “Ship, at least one group of priests is hidden on the ship. Can you use your drones and cameras to locate them?” Jason asked after thinking for a while.

“Jason, I can’t think for some reason and have forgotten the question. When I look for the question, it’s no longer in my memory.”

Why would the ship AI not think about a problem involving the priests? Come on, Jason; it’s not new. The Ship already told you the priests interfere with her functioning. I am a fool. Why didn’t I connect my ears to my brain? It was obvious; how could he be so stupid? The priests had advanced skills in AI programming. They could program AIs, and they were messing with Cherie. Yes, this is not a profound insight Ship told you.

Bechtold, the priest, said they poisoned the men. They put poison in the replicators all over the Empire.

Why had the Empire not found out?

Why did the pods not recognize the poison? Who built the pods and programmed them? The Priests and their Guild made the pods. The priests put toxins into the food replicators and programmed the pods not to recognize the poison. It was a clever scheme. That, at least, was his original thought.