Chapter 21: Crystal Display

Time: November 28, 8236 10:10 AM

By the time I got back to my private suite of offices ten minutes after the close of morning Prayers, it already seemed as if I had put in a full day. I had been up since sunrise seven hours ago, but that wasn't it. It was my 5 AM holocast call with Abigail. As she was giving me the scheduled status report, she flashed a secret hand signal. She was asking that I recall her immediately. With the multiple rail and ferry connections needed to get back to my cathedral from Stanley, she wasn't due in my office for another half hour.

I had a sharp image of her in my mind from the holocast. She was dressed in a full burqa with several of the top Priests of the girl's monastery by her sides. The three rings of purple, red, and blue on her upper robes marked Abby as an emissary of a CL-25 Ruling Royal, one who also just happens to be the Domine of Karbala. The combination resulted with the Priests at the monastery actually treating Abigail with almost a bit of respect, something unheard of in my world.

Abby also gave me a hand signal telling me not to worry, but during the four long hours of the morning service at the cathedral... my cathedral... Well, it became hard to stay focused on the Prayers.

I looked around my "inner" office, still shaking my head in wonder after more than a month of being here. A better description would be an auditorium with magnificent windows and panoramic views of the ocean and city. Across my vast expanse of rich carpet were occasional islands of rich furniture, designed to support almost any conceivable desire of work, reflection, or relaxation. It really was a bit embarrassing to be surrounded by such opulence.

My coronation to Ruling Royal and Domine transfer ceremony were a shock to the world. Four of the ten S.E.R.C. members under Abdul Quddus, Servant of the Holy, were originally scheduled to fly to Karbala last month, plus a few handfuls of other Ruling Royals and about sixty Non-Ruling Royals. It would have been a full flight for one of the standard eighty-passenger transport jets.

Everything changed when on the morning of October 22'nd, Abdul Quddus himself suddenly decided to come. There was a mad scramble as all available passenger jets in the area were diverted to the capital. The Karbala airport was a logistical nightmare, commercial jets and private Guild jets arriving throughout the late afternoon and even after the start of evening Prayers. The Karbala cathedral was packed, and it is a huge stone edifice that seats over four thousand in the main sanctuary.

I gazed at the ocean, sitting back in my office chair and smiling at the memory. The hotels were so packed, we had more than a few Priests sleeping in the pews later that night, commanders and even some CL-16 Royals. And the Servant of the Holy even took the time to walk over and congratulate me himself. He was warm and amiable to me, a complete shock. His reputation is to be very reclusive. This was Abdul Quddus's first public appearance in over a decade. His handshake was an incredible honor, and it completely changed the political landscape around me.

My secretary buzzed me out of my daydream. Abigail had appeared on time in my outer office. I ordered that she be sent in. Abigail walked into my office meekly, wearing a full burqa, her face completely covered. She approached to within the required four meters, and then knelt and waited.

I was brusque and efficient with her. I snapped my fingers to signal her to lie prostrate on the floor and then I began barking out my orders. I commanded Abby to follow her map of the cathedral complex and go immediately to our private quarters, and there to prepare an interim report on her historical investigation, summarizing all her notes from her trip. I made her repeat twice that it would be ready by end of today's evening Prayers.

I stood with my boots centimeters from her head and warned her that she would be punished if the report were not done on time or incomplete, and that her punishments would be just the ones that I knew she feared the most. I left the threat hanging in the air and waited until I saw her body start to tremble beneath the burqa, and then I curtly dismissed her.

She obediently rose and left my office. As she went through the door, she gave me one small hand signal, very discreet, a brief outward stretch of ring finger and thumb with her left hand. It was our private signal for a playful, mocking, "I'll get you for this" laugh. Ah, the things I do for my video public.

The rest of my work day was packed. There was my rescheduled staff meeting in the late morning, a working lunch with the Sheep Guild, mutton of course, a review of Holy court nominations in the early afternoon, health care budgets after that, and finally an early working dinner before evening Prayers with the station commanders of the Guilds in the transportation keiretsu. I surprised them by flying in a banquet of fresh crab and lobster from Aleppo and shore points north. They seemed very happy with it.

I have so much power here, and there is so much to do! Under the old Holy Administration, there was no incentive to care for the people's needs. The focus of the high-level administration had degenerated in tangled political battles over turf. No more!

The four hours of Evening Prayers began at 6 PM. The large stained-glass cathedral windows and prisms face the ocean to the west, and for the first hour I enjoyed watching the sunlight illuminate the sanctuary with beautiful displays of color.

I retired to my private palace within the cathedral complex shortly after the closing Prayer. Abigail looked tired. I wasn't surprised. She had been at Stanley for six days, and this was the very first time she could let down her guard. Michal enjoys watching the sunrise, and had shifted her purge cycle to 11 PM to 3 AM and soon would be backing it up even more. A few minutes after 11 PM, Abby and I were in our large bed next to a sleeping Michal.

The lights were low, but Abby and I could see each other's eyes clearly. She asked me silently one last time if it were safe to talk.

I took another look at my private monitoring system, green board across. Not that it doesn't pay to be paranoid about this. A few days after my ruling coronation to Karbala Domine, the system was flashing red.

I had spent hours thinking how to respond. Monitoring a person during the hours of low impurity is a capital offence, and the Priesthood prides itself on its truthfulness on this issue. I reluctantly decided to pursue the matter vigorously. A few days later my decision caused a Non-Ruling Royal to be executed.

I'm certain he was just a scapegoat protecting his superiors, but the point was made. There were no further attempts.

I have the active support of the Security Guild in keeping my residential area bug free. There is also the very friendly vibrating wind. There's no way anyone could bounce a microwave beam off a window and listen in. Not that I'm not testing for that anyway. End result? My bedroom is among the most private rooms on the planet, second to none.

"So Abby, what's up?"

She got right to business. "For the last three days, I was working in the ancient ruins of the restricted library at the girl's monastery."

I nodded. "Alone? Were the priests okay with that?"

Abigail giggled. "As an emissary of a CL-25?! Sure. You're held in absolute awe at the monasteries Ilias, the boy's too. The Priests were more than happy to leave me where I couldn't see them trip up over something."

She snuggled against me. I snuggled back and caressed her. This really is a delightful way to debrief someone. I had pulled off her panties before we jumped into bed.

Abby continued. "In one of the library sublevels, off a deserted corridor near the center of the complex, there was a sealed room. I could still make out the personal stamp in the dura-plastic, very faint, Abdul Wahid Sami."

I blinked. "Wow, Servant of the Ineffably Sublime and second Cunif Califar. I didn't know he ever came to Karbala!"

Abigail laughed. "The islands weren't even called Karbala then! We're talking about the early part of the Wild Times! Did you know he was rumored to be one of Bel'dar's sons?"

I stared at Abby in the dim light. "I had no idea."

"I don't think anybody else does either. I've found a few vague references about this, up until about the year 300, and then nothing after that. A lot of information was destroyed by the end of the Wild Times."

Abigail took a slow deep breath as my hand cupped her breast, and she nodded her head in approval. Then she continued, "Anyway, stamped above Sami's mark was the imprint of his successor, Abdul Jabbar, Servant of the Compeller. It stated that all the records found in this archive had been destroyed."

I lay silent for a moment. Abdul Jabbar was probably the most ruthless man in history. It was he who formalized the creation of the permanent inquisition and execution councils, he who was the first of the Nikahaldi, he who formalized the destruction of all women's memories after their wedding days. I sighed and looked at Abby. "I take it you went in anyway."

"Sure! There was some diode lighting and ventilation installed in the room, I'm guessing from the looks of things early in the second millennium. I had to admire the design. The lighting still worked, and I don't think the room had been entered for seven thousand years." Abby turned and sat up, smiling and sitting on me, her butt resting easily on the tops of my thighs, my cock pressing lightly against her pubic fur. Abby reached into a drawer of our night-table, and then raised her closed fist near my head and shook it. There was the rattle of something inside.

"What?" I asked.

"Take a look!" said Abby happily, opening her hand. In her palm were a dozen sparkling crystals, oval in shape, about one centimeter in length on the long axis. "I pushed these into the hem of my burqa. I think they're as hard as diamond. One of the old plastic shelves in the room had a small secret compartment along the back edge."