The Fathers Page 3

  No world ever threatened the Fathers’ dominion since the Laamorians fled known space. The worst dangers came from small, poorly armed, badly trained, and often self-warring guerrilla gangs that harassed outposts and trade routes. Occasionally, some brave ones launched an attempted coup, only to fail, resulting in the purge of millions.

  The empire grew swiftly, becoming the dominant force in the little galaxy, feeling entirely immune to any opposition. The mere thought of failure seemed impossible, unthinkable, unbelievable. Generations of citizens born under the Fathers’ eyes knew nothing more than lifelong obedience and were rewarded with extended health and material perks sauced over with recognition, titles, and power over others. As behemoth as the empire became, there were always more bodies to move the empire along, like a centipede with many legs. Trillions of humans walked on the skeletons of billions, to the satisfaction of the the grinning, toothless, hate-filled Fathers.

  “Clear the chambers,” snarled Pathos, speaking aloud in his gravelly voice. The other Fathers nodded their sickly gray shriveled heads in agreement. The entire staff turned and, as gracefully as possible for animals frightened beyond reason, proceeded to exit the Fathers' inner chambers as quickly as their crisp spit-shiny black boots allowed them.

  Little bots sanitized the floor space while others tended the Fathers' pods. Pathos waited for them to leave. The Fathers learned from many mistakes that even mindless service bots could act as ears for usurpers among the military. Loyalty never seemed to be lifelong, always leading to purges of the unfaithful. When the little bots scurried away, the inner chambers of the Fathers fell into a tense silence.

  “We are going to lose this war,” said Lathious flatly.

  Chapter Four

  The long silence in the chamber unnerved the Fathers, even Lathious, who once walked the world as a giant of a man never afraid of any danger. No noise from outside or communications could penetrate the electromagnetic insulation lining the sparkling white marble walls. Their collective minds ensured a further barrier of thick interference surrounding the chamber. They rarely left the space, as everything they required to keep the body alive existed in the complexes surrounding the room. The Fathers sat in a circle, facing each other, to ensure none felt uneven in powers and authority.

  Pathos finally broke the awkward silence. “I have a proposal, brothers. I believe we can make use of an asset that has recently come into to our purview. I believe we can turn the war in our favor.” Pathos, the current chairman of the Fathers, knew the timing was perfect to present his plan.

  “Asset? You must explain, Pathos,” Lathious, the oldest of the Fathers, said, trying his best to hide his curiosity.

  Since the Civil War thousands of years past, Pathos and Lathious bickered over almost every issue and decision. Lathious always said playfully that he liked to keep Pathos on his shriveled toes, but in truth the ancient men had despised each other since the day they met. A time far different than the worlds they now controlled, in those days, they walked as men in much younger bodies, applying youthful energy, carrying explosive devices designed to cause as much damage to the then illegitimate ruling generals. Their shared ideology, built on ancient, honored family traditions and the strict military careers they both led, drew them together and to this day remained the same. They differed on the methods, sometimes quite viciously, often requiring the other Fathers—in particular, Amanitos—to settle arguments before too many innocents died in blind hate.

  Lathious and Pathos were the two oldest of all the original Fathers and the first to define the future of the empire that came to be known as the Fathers Empire, then later, Empire of the Fathers. In reality, the name meant nothing. The Fathers ruled as absolute dictators. All the Fathers understood that as much as Pathos and Lathious bickered, the two immutable pillars always sought the greater good of the empire.

  Pathos suppressed a smile on his wrinkled, toothless face and said, “Let our arms of influence reach into another container of stars.” An uproar of protest and disagreement ensued, but Pathos persevered until he regained their attention. The chamber again went quiet as they pondered the meaning of what Pathos proposed.

  “We have discussed this many times, Pathos,” said Lathious. “Why must you continue wasting our time?” His voice attempted to whine but fell into a grumble.

  The others nodded their heads in agreement except for Amanitos.

  “Why must you continue to thwart Pathos at every turn, Lathious? We teeter on the edge of existence. Shall we not at the very least give an ear?” said Amanitos. Always looking to smooth over arguments with her distinctive humor, she was the only female of the Fathers.

  Lathious felt rage press in his chest, straining to burst out with liquid fire. “This is no time, woman, to blur your judgment based on old flesh emotions,” he said.

  Amanitos snarled the best her parched lips allowed before she could retort a reminder to Lathious and all the others that any feelings she and Pathos had were gone, buried with the emotional skins they stripped away a thousand years past.

  “Enough,” said Pathos. “We argue as the generals and admirals do. Let us be the leaders we are and not the slaves of misguided anger.” Pathos waited for the murmurs to subside.

  “All of us remember well our past decisions to remain in this container of stars. As powerful as our minds became, we cannot project our minds and physical presence to subdue life forms we sense in other containers. We all agreed on the risk of seeing the places we do not understand. We cannot forever resist attracting attention. Here we are, facing a force we fail to contain, let alone subdue, no matter the powers we possess. We are losing this war against that false Queen and her so-called Knights. Fear of other intelligence discovering our existence and then overcoming the distance, a feat until now we have been unable to entertain, is a fear we can no longer ignore. Our survival has always been our foremost consideration. Now, we must take measures to ensure this. No matter if all we lord over is destroyed, the humans, the technology—we will sacrifice everything to maintain the purity of our purpose. We all have sensed the presence of other human life far from our reach, primed for our guidance, ripe for our gathering, and that will strengthen our position to regain what we have lost and, brothers, energize our revenge. Both are sound paths for our continued future. None of us have sensed any powers greater, either here in our domain, or from outside our stars. Until now.”

  Pathos stopped to let his words penetrate the stubborn minds. Also, it gave him the opportunity to catch his breath.

  “Think about it, my brothers,” Amanitos interjected. “Our empire is stagnating. What else remains but a few guerrilla operations from want-to-be rebels nipping at our metal heels? Now, this day, we face a serious threat to our existence. Is it not true this state now unfolds around our empire? Our patrols operate for what purpose? Until the rebel Queen appeared, our Might Armada did little to justify existence. And what of our Ultimate Project? We seed and reseed the same worlds only to hear the same results. We require new blood to fuel the empire. We need to focus on our forces as well as ourselves. Do you all not agree?”

  Several Fathers openly agreed in hoarse tones. Amanitos mustered the best smile her wrinkled lips could.

  “Thank you, Amanitos. You are very correct,” Pathos said. “Please, for the sake of our mortal flesh, let us use Internal Vocals.” After a few seconds, Pathos felt the others connect; first Amanitos, and as usual, Lathious last. The connection of their powerful minds allowed complete privacy, and because Pathos sat in the Chairman's position, he could keep control of the conversation’s flow. If required, he could quiet his ancient lover rather than let her passion cause further divisions.

  “Permit me, my brothers, to brief on my—rather, our—discovery. Might Armada Navy reconnaissance forces discovered a sole human drifting in an Iteron transport not far from the Doragon System. This event occurred a standard month after purging the Doragon planet surface of all life. This man seems to be made of more than ordinary, weak flesh. Upon boarding the disabled transport, he made quick dispatch of the armed men with a hand weapon. A simple sword. The only reason the thoughtful commander of the intercepting cruiser did not outright dispose of the transport and the sole occupant was the way the odd-looking man raved about flying reptiles, metal soldiers with mysterious light weapons, and a traitorous princess. It took multiple interlock fields to bring the absurdly dressed man to his knees. His existence was brought to my attention. Now, brothers, what caught my curiosity were the words of the commander of the cruiser. I shall quote: ‘I, no we, the entire crew, felt something like pressure. As if, sir, as if something hated us with a desire to kill us all. It is hard to explain. But it felt so real. Like death walked among my crew.’ A simple product of our incubator who should have no concept of space travel, just as the world he lived on. His words were: ‘Take me to your leaders.’”

  Lathious sputtered a half laugh. He said, "A boring planet called Doragon. Why did we bother in the first place to seed an Incubator? I recall reading the reports myself. Lowest numbers for any positive results. The Incubator package, a mockery of research. What came of it? A low-functioning society with the intelligence of children. No chance of evolving into anything better than numb-minded warring factions with no ambition to better the world we gave them. Our last reports showed no science, no religious motivation, nothing more than basic emotions of mistrust and greed. Now you want us to entertain this leftover trash of a broken system?" The chamber echoed his angry words.

  Amanitos was the first to speak, her tone sharp and direct. "And yet that boring planet produced this rebellion."

  Everyone heard Lathious growl.

  Pathos felt the queries into the reports fill the minds of the others. Even the proud Lathious dug in. Pathos continued, “I acted within my authority as Chairman of this council. The man was silently taken to research facilities, then tested in every possible way. He was not cooperative at first. Upon my virtual visit, I reasoned with the man, bringing him under a controlled state of mind. At that time we did not believe, in our arrogance, I may add, that the rebel Queen would become the issue she is this day. Hence, I placed him in a stasis field container where he existed, while you were all away, completely unaware of the time passage. Orders were dispatched to wake the man and then transport him to us. He is here today to speak with the council.” Pathos cued the staff to bring the man to the chambers.

  The time crawled by slowly, then Lathious finally said, “Unbelievable.”

  “This man is not ordinary. First, he is the only original specimen from Doragon captured since the Incubator failed for our study. Second, and most importantly, the man emits hate vibration strings difficult to quantify by our standard measurements. Please reference the test results,” said Pathos. His nose, long dead, wanted to wrinkle from the imaginary growing stench of burning fear filling the room. The whole Doragon affair left all of the Fathers stunned. They had become far too complacent.

  Once again time crawled, then Lathious said, this time with more emphasis, “Unbelievable.”

  Pathos waited until he had their attention, then said, “I have secured him in a silence cage away from our collective senses so that none could feel his presence. No, I did not wish to deceive this council, but once all of you see and feel his strengths, I have no doubt any will object. Please prepare yourselves. Once he is before our presence, with great care, please devote your attention to this human’s mind, but do so quietly, so as not to make him aware of our probing.”

  “What these report documents show about this man should give us great pause. Do not deny it. Yes, he has latent abilities he is unaware of, but the question is, can we maintain control of the beast within him?” asked Amanitos, always the cautious one.

  “We give him all that he wishes, and he will do our bidding. Simple. After all, brothers, is he nothing more than a human with a corruptible heart? He will want the one thing we have that he cannot achieve with his strength,” Pathos said.

  Lathious spit out with palpable anger in his words. Any nearby human’s unprotected flesh would have been scorched deep red from burns. “What is that? Our very seats of power, perhaps? Is he not fueled by greed just as all humans are, just as you ascertain? What of his desire for pathetic, barbaric emotions? These waves show an apparent attachment to the rebel Queen. The mere mention of her name sends the readings off the scales.” The others launched questions one after another into the fray.

  When Lathious decided to stop ranting, Amanitos snarked, “The attachment the man has is called lustful revenge, you fool, Lathious.”

  Pathos chose his next words carefully. The Fathers’ existence hung on their next decision. Now was not the time to think in one dimension. Natural order demanded forward movement. They stagnated for too many years. Too many mistakes. The Civil War haunted them to this day in their darkest dreams. Pathos in his own way enjoyed the feeling of danger the captured man with the mysterious strength radiated. It somehow ignited his ambitions lost to inactivity.

  “Lathious,” said Pathos, “the mortal man has no idea of his true abilities. We can control him by giving him what he wants. Before his abilities mature, we can terminate him. This step is part of the proposal.”

  “What need is this, Pathos?” asked Lathious.

  Pathos paused for a moment, then said as loudly in his real voice as possible, “Revenge. Is it not obvious? Just as our lovely, thoughtful Amanitos has indicated.” He continued with a smile for Amanitos. He wished he could still wink at her like he used to. “The man wants revenge, and so do we.” All murmured their agreement. Pathos continued, “We all wish to see the cursed traitor captured alive or dead. Our once most trusted confidant. Do we all want to see the rebel Queen also dead and the worlds following her purged from existence? Then, my brothers, we shall have our dessert; revenge on the ‘Them.’” He felt those words sink into the minds of the rest. Revenge on the Them. The thought got grunts from all the Fathers. When they quieted, he continued, “Above all, we wish for continued existence. I am confident to say this man will light the path. Do we all want unlimited power to forever prevent this same conversation from occurring ever again?”

  “And Pathos, how can this human do this for us?” asked Lathious.

  Pathos sighed. Sometimes he worried the others, especially Lathious, were becoming dull in thinking of the future. But not Amanitos; she always knew his mind. He could still count on her support.

  “Obviously,” Pathos started to speak with a sarcastic tone into the channel but corrected himself, not wanting to agitate the others and cause divisions. “What we shall require from him is to do our bidding. To be our agent, an extension of our collective host. In short, brothers, he will take us to where we cannot go in our flesh and where the boundary prevents the full reach of our minds. Where he arrives, we can use him as our conduit to that place and time. There we will extend our reach safely, with little risk to our domain, and draw upon deep pools of bitter hate we have agreed to exist in those distant containers of stars. In time, we shall rule many star containers. Our powers will multiply beyond our imagination, and so our existence will continue unthreatened. We will have the force to defeat the rebel Queen and torment the traitor as we desire.” Pathos paused once again to make his point sail deep into their thoughts, to reach their most treasured desires. “Yes, brothers, one day we shall achieve the pinnacle of our evolution and become complete, immortal, beyond the hands of time itself. Time will bow to us.”

  Lathious attempted an audible sigh, but it sounded more like choking. “I must agree with you, Pathos. Your proposal is making sense. I will concede.” The others grunted in unison. Pathos smiled again, this time inside his protected mind where the others could not see. They were coming together, working as one, as they did in the past when they were young and filled with purpose.

  “What other requests will he seek that we have to give?” asked Lathious.

  “He will wish for immortality as we do?” Amanitos posed the thought as a question.

  Again, the channel burst into random objections. Pathos struggled to calm them. “Quiet, please, allow me to answer. We shall not grant this, ever. For as much time as we require his assistance, we shall cast an invulnerability field around him in which his own hate will wear. His misdirected fate is a sufficient conduit for us. We have done this before in a limited way, but now we have a subject with energy that can be harnessed and connected with ours. Look inside his heart, see the hate.” Pathos almost heard the hunger across the gray toothless faces. “We control his living and dying with our combined thought. The distance he must travel will not thwart the quantum string connection.”

  A choir of agreement filled the channel with the reluctant Lathious adding, “We are playing with a very dangerous fire, Pathos. If the man gains understanding of his strength, all twelve of us must resist him. That alone may not be enough to stop his reach.”

  “This is understood, Lathious. Please look outside of this one problem and remember, where this human takes his hateful revenge, we ride upon his coat. Do you dare yourself to imagine, old man, the wealth of virgin energy that awaits us? The rich, thick power we can drink in like the wines we used to do when we had warm bodies to enjoy the sweetness. Brother, can you not taste the sweet red wines? Is this not worth the risk?”

  “And what of the rebel Queen's forces?” asked Lathious.

  “All of us are aware of the fleet departing her world destined to arrive in our home systems. Our home fleets will provide a sufficient stalling defense to protect these assets. If the home fleets fall, we shall regroup elsewhere, drawing the enemy away from our sanctuary here. The rebel Queen shall conquer no other worlds to call her own. What we are to lose, we shall purge from existence before her forces can land and place her flag of the disgusting, hideous flying creature. If we have the opportunity to capture the traitor, then we drink to the joy of torturing his body and mind. The death or capture of the traitor we called our Chancellor will certainly stifle their enthusiasm. I am convinced, brothers, the rebel Queen stands on weak legs, and without his knowledge to assist her, she will falter. Her Navy has reached too far to support further campaigns without refits. Supply lines are extended to a thin trickle. Her blitz will end. This action plan will give us the needed time to probe the actual source of energy behind the rebel Queen and time for our new agent to do as we wish. Then, my brothers, we shall turn our disgust upon our true enemy.”