Chapter 59

“That you are here—that life exists and identity,. That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.” - Walt Whitman

1545 pm, local time
Saturday, 21 March, 2015
The Chancellery Complex,
Haven, Province of Oregon
The Commonwealth of Haven

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the long-awaited Prophet, Charles Tremaine, and his growing tribe, here at last among us! Welcome to the very hub of the New World Order, my friend. God’s new world order. OUR new world order. We’re building a new and improved civilization, one with better, more enlightened principles, one in greater harmony and balance, one with more peace, freedom, justice, and prosperity for all. The freedom in question might not be political freedom as such, but there are other forms of freedom. Even Thomas Jefferson regarded all forms of government as means to an end, if you will, as he wrote in the Declaration of Independence.

“This is a revolutionary government in its own way. It’s also a theocracy, as you know, but as you also know, it ain’t your grandfather’s theocracy, or even your old man’s. This is all stuff that you know, but I thought it necessary to review and reinforce such matters. Haven is more than a city, it is a community, it is a nation, a new nation that seeks to absorb other nations into its fold like so many lost sheep. All of humanity is like a flock or herd of sheep ... in need of a shepherd. I am that shepherd. That is my purpose, my destiny, the reason for my birth and my existence, beyond anything else. I didn’t know that until more recent events, particularly during my brief demise and after my resurrection,” the Lawgiver, Mark Schumacher, declared to the Prophet Charles Tremaine and his tribe upon their arrival at the Chancellery Complex.

There they were, there it was, the central brain and heart of the state called the Chancellery Complex, the vast, palatial compound that hosted the rulers of the largest, most dynamic successor state to the former United States of America ... and to Canada. There resided the Messiah, the Lawgiver, the very anointed deputy of Almighty God on Earth, the new God, that was, the King of Heaven, Richard Harris, formerly an Irishman and actor native to Limerick. That was before he was chosen by Jehovah as his successor on a whim as he prepared to step down as ruler of the Cosmos ... though not without first raining fire and brimstone, quite literally, upon human civilization and Earth itself, destroying many cities in the process.

Charles and his company were, of course, more than impressed with the sheer grandeur and magnificence of the Chancellery Complex, the official residence and seat of government of the Chancellor, the Lawgiver himself. Mark Schumacher was, of course, an autocrat, but he wasn’t your classical tyrant of antiquity or your totalitarian dictator of the more recent human history. There were no gulags, show trials, kangaroo courts, etc. It was a confirmation of everything that he had come to believe in recent months ... in the more than a year since the Apocalypse took place. It was wild to see it in person, especially the Lawgiver himself and his harem. The way that they stared with frank sexual attraction at him and his tribe was amazing for a hot minute, but then he recalled that in Havenism, no one aged fourteen and above was off the table, regardless of marital status.

“Welcome, my friends, welcome home. You know your mission, of course. You are to go to Montana from here, and from there back to the Dakotas with the sacred, divine message of Havenism. The teachings of the true religion, of the true God, the King of Heaven. We have good news, of course. You can tarry here for a while before departing and we can ... get to know you, intimately, as we did with the Prophet Adam Clarke and his tribe,” the Lawgiver continued as he gave Charles the guided tour, all of the people involved naked as jaybirds.

Charles found himself admiring Natalie Portman’s bare buttocks for a second, though still listening to the Lawgiver speak. She turned around and smiled playfully, flirtatiously at him. Then she kissed him on the mouth, right in front of everyone else. Then she returned to her place right in front of him, looking back now and then in hopes that he still ogled her bottom. It was wild, being kissed like that by a former Hollywood A-list celebrity, especially with so much tongue.

The reception supper, a banquet that lay at the end of the guided tour, witnessed Natalie Portman sitting on Charles’s lap. She insisted on it, in fact, finding it pleasing that he had such use for her booty. She also fed him, and quite frankly, behaved as if she was on loan to him as one of his own wives right then ... but was she? If not, what exactly was her role and why was she so determined to be friendly to him?