Chapter 36: Short Reunion

-- Excerpt from The Book of Bel'dar, Tower 1, Chapter 1, Verse 4

"I the Holy am One. There is no Holy besides Me. Bel'dar the Preacher is One. There is no Preacher besides him. There is One physical reality, One set of principles that act as the governance of my universe, and One set of mathematics that acts as a mirror for My beauty. There is thus One truth, perfectly interlocked, all encompassing, all inclusive. Do not suffer the lie to exist, for the darkness, the alien, must exist outside My truth. The aliens thus must beg to be included in My light, else they must perish in the darkness and be forgotten. The era of Shaitan and Shaitan's fire has passed. Let the believer know that the principle of inclusion is absolute, and is the fourth of the eight great pillars of true faith."

Time: March 2, 8239 5:07 AM

I had just had one of the most exhausting days of my life. The Health Guild woke me with a call shortly after 2 AM on March 1'st and asked for an immediate, unscheduled meeting. I soon joined a number of Health's top executives in a conference room down the hall from my quarters. Fortunately I had turned in right after evening Prayers and had close to a full night's four hours of sleep.

It turned out that there was great disagreement within Health on how to deal with me, and Faisal's group won out. Before me was an opportunity for a conversations Faisal thought we wouldn't have for years. And over the next two hours we hammered out an outline of an unprecedented series of proposed agreements among Health, High Tech, Utility, and to a lesser extent the core Priesthood. We pushed the ideas as far as we could without the other factions' input.

I went far beyond my authority to negotiate as we explored the ideas on the table, but I think I upheld the other factions' core interests. Health had a mind-boggling way of negotiating. They would create a very rigid position, defend it fiercely for a while, and then tear it down, taking bits and pieces of agreements and reforming them into novel, new positions.

After more than two hours of intense work, I think we all thought we had created something grand, something wonderful. Our outline was fragile and untested, but beautiful nonetheless. And then at the very end of the meeting Health dropped a bombshell. They offered me the Domine ownership of the township of Dalma, on the ancient island of Barbados (431 sq km). I could barely suppress my astonishment.

My personal ramjet departed Giza as scheduled at 5:23 AM, twenty minutes before sunrise. I spent the entire trip in conference calls with the other Supreme Council members. We took a short break as my flight landed at Dakar at 7:25 AM, two hours before sunrise. My cathedral was in the middle of Morning Prayers, but I went right back into conference, with the other Domines of the High Tech and Utility Guilds joining us. As the morning progressed, more and more Ruling Royalty joined us via the quantum-secure conference links. By noon over fifty Glorious Mufeto were logged into our meeting.

Our teleconference was historic, running throughout the day and evening and then far into the next night. We did not stop until we had completed the framework of our response to Health's proposals. There was still a huge pile of unfinished details. Shaitan! The details would certainly be many months of painstaking negotiations, and the unknown points could still scuttle the whole deal. But at the end of that night, we were full of optimism.

As I approached my private quarters less than an hour before morning Prayers, I was exhausted but also elated. And a growing part of my joy was the anticipation of seeing my four wives again after almost a month of absence. I had been very abrupt with them the previous day, sending them only two curt messages of when to expect me. Anything more would have been considered odd.

As I came through my front door, I heard the chime announce my arrival and the running feet of my four wives as they raced to kneel before me. I sealed the door and activated the shields to spare them the bother. So instead I was grabbed and tightly hugged by three very affectionate and beautiful creatures, with Michal a few feet away gasping in astonishment. With the shields down in the quarters, my other wives had had no opportunity to tell her of their hidden undamaged states.

We had so much to tell each other, but my wives could also see how exhausted I was. They undressed me and then Abigail and Shephatiah also stripped and walked me into the palatial shower off the master bedroom. I had the most delightful shower of my life, standing in a dreamy daze while four eager and feminine hands expertly soaped and washed my entire body. I was dimly aware afterwards of being dried with warm, fluffy towels, and then, paradise! I was lying down and resting in a universe filled with loving warmth and softness, Abby and Sheffie curled up on either side of me in our large bed.

Four hours later...

A ray of bright light was shining in my eyes. I sighed and opened my eyes and looked at the time, almost 9:30 AM. The rising sun was just making its appearance on the horizon. I glanced down at the sleeping woman in my arms, naked Sheffie. My hand was cupping her left breast as she slept, and I could see her pink nipple wedged between my thumb and forefinger.

I felt another naked body stirring behind me. I recognized her from feel alone, Abby. Somehow she knew I was awake. I felt a friendly hand on my bare butt, petting me under the covers.

"Nice to have you back Ilias," she murmured.

"Great to be back," I replied. "The trip was a wonder, I have so much to tell you. Yet every night, I fell asleep missing you all dreadfully. My bed seemed so empty."

Chanah poked her head into the room from the hallway. "Ah, good! Husband! Would you like some breakfast?"

I smiled back. "Sounds great. Chanah! I've been richly wined and dined for the last twenty days. How about something simple?"

Chanah smiled and nodded her understanding and disappeared. I glanced down and saw that Sheffie was also awake and smiling at me. We kissed for a while, Abby softly petting my rear the whole time. The smells and sounds of the kitchen soon roused us out of bed and into some clothes. By 10 AM I was sitting down to a late breakfast with my family.

It was just what I wanted, a poached egg and a modest slice of bread, and a nice selection of fresh greens and fruits. We chatted lightly about our past month. By mutual desire, we tend not to talk business during meals. At the end of the meal Michal cleared the dishes while Chanah served us all hot tea. Then carrying our mugs, we headed to our favorite conference area.

Michal joined us a moment later, blinking in surprise that we were waiting for her before beginning. She gave me a shy smile, and then sat on the floor by my legs. After a brief hesitation, she hugged my right leg and rested her head against my thigh. I smiled and started petting her head.

"So Ilias, what's your pleasure?" asked Abigail. "Do you want to go first?"

I grinned. "Maybe for a bit. I want to tell you Health's offer for my Domine. Dalma!"

Chanah and Shephatiah took the news calmly. Only Abigail with her deep knowledge of history was correctly astonished. She gasped and stared at me.

Sheffie looked at Abigail in puzzlement. "Abby, what?"

Abigail ignored her. "Ilias! You're serious, aren't you?"

I nodded. "I was just as surprised as you are now, a fantastic gift."

Abigail turned to Shephatiah and finally responded to her. "Don't you see Sheffie, how monumental this is? Dalma! It's the Guild in charge of the evolution of the human genome, the Guild which defines what it means to be human. Don't you see how important this is?" Abby turned her head back to me. "Ilias! How fast can you run thirty kilometers?"

"Huh?" It was an unexpected question. "Full sprint? Sixty-three minutes." I said a bit proudly, and then I paused for a moment and looked at my waist. "Well, probably closer to sixty-five right now. I've been eating a lot of banquets lately."

"So," said Abby, doing some simple math in her head, "thirty kilometers at a 2:06 pace."

"That's right."

"And is this near the world record?"

"Huh? No, of course not. I don't think I'll ever be able to run thirty kilometers in less than an hour. My body just isn't optimized for speed." I paused for a moment. "And I'm glad of it. I need my power for martial arts. Some of the advanced movements require a great deal of strength."

Abby's eyes were twinkling. "Ilias, you should see some of the records we found for human performance in the crystal data. Ancient records, from before the war. It seems the world used to hold global games every four years. Two sets of games actually, interlaced on a four-year cycle. You probably could have smashed every record they had back then."

I blinked. "Even running?"

Abby laughed. "Oh yeah. I'll show you the numbers." She then turned to her sister wife. "Don't you see Sheffie? With the possible exception of Giza, Dalma is the most prized Health Guild on the planet. The Guild is of critical importance. Even in the first millennium, when they were still based at the capital, their power was enormous. It was they who re-wrote the human genome, they who pushed the boy/girl birth ratio from 1:1 to 1:3. It was Dalma who modified human DNA to be compatible with the anti-aging drugs, Dalma who is constantly refining human performance. Their power is awesome!"