The Unseen Eye Part One: Blinded Followers
08 Sep 2021Orwell Vandeman
Orwell adjusted his signature mask and tweaked the settings on the respirator to cool the air it took in. He tended to get hot on stage, and the discomfort undercut his preaching style. The cooling suit helped him stay comfortable and added to his aura of mystique. Raising his hands, he had one last check in the mirror. The golden glow of his luminescent tattoos highlighted his pale mask. The metallic eyes on his palms and arrows running to his fingertips truly did look suitably arcane as the light of the tattoos pulsed along with his heartbeat. With a faint smile, High Seeker Vandeman stepped out of his personal sanctum.Vanderman ignored the two crimson hooded women that bowed as soon as he emerged. They picked up the hem of his heavy blood-red robe and kept their eyes on the floor as they escorted him to the stage, taking care not to let the white trim drag. His followers cheered the moment he stepped out, and High Seeker Vandeman stood still, soaking in the adulation as his Agitant-Supplicants straightened his rob and took their place on their knees beside him, hoods up and faces down.
When High Seeker Vandeman raised his hands, his followers chanted.
“The eye shows us the way. The way is our purpose. We shall lead, so others may follow. All shall be shown the way”
The crowd had increased over the months, and Orwell couldn’t believe so many people had become followers of his movement without him actively recruiting. It seemed the galaxy was full of people that needed a little direction in their life, and that is what Seekers of the Hidden Way offered. Soon, his little farmstead on Sothis 6 wouldn’t be large enough for everyone that had answered the call. It was time to take the next step.
“Seek and the way shall be seen. Thank you brothers, thank you sisters, I am humbled by your faith, and your faith is soon to be rewarded brothers, your obedience repaid sisters and you efforts rewarded tenfold. Thanks entirely to the generosity of the Order; the crystelsmiths have completed the tablets”
Glancing to the left Orwell saw his Protector Senior suddenly pay attention; this was off script after all. The wiry man shifted uneasy in his white-trimmed robes of the orders' leadership, as if he didn’t believe Orwell would want him to open the Quarts chamber. High Seeker Vandeman pointed his arrowed fingers at the chamber doors and the Protector hurried to the panel, trying to look official and calm.
“Behold, the Nine Tablets of Record”
The large doors opened, revealing a strong room. It was tall, but not very deep, and it was almost full thanks to nine slabs; each one was taller and wider than a man. There were three rows of three tablets that reflected halls’ florescent tubes back in a multi-hued kaleidoscope of crystalline colours.
“Magnificent are they not?” asked Orwell over the awed gasps and murmurs of wonder coming from his crowd. The followers from Sothis 6 knew Crystalline Gold when they saw it.
“But they are no more than blank sheets of paper without the mighty pen of the cosmos scribing what we seek upon them”
The followers’ were animated to know they were on the last steps of their journey, and phrases Orwell had repeated in his sermons were spoken on many dozens of lips.
“The eye will show us the way. We will find the eye”
Raising his hands for calm, Orwell continued.
“Yes Seekers, yes. We are indeed ready; our ark is fit to protect us from the ravages of our journey to the convergence where we will work tirelessly brothers,-”
The tempo of his speech raised, and he talked louder now, half believing his words, helping him to absorb himself in the theatrics of a religious leader.
“-diligently sistersss-ah, to brace the tablets beneath the path of the convergence where the eye will see we are ready to receiveeee-va cosmic wisdommm-ma!”
His hands were in the air, and he was breathing heavily. His followers were cheering, calling for more from their wise leader; Orwell was more than happy to deliver. He just had to make sure he didn’t contradict himself.
“Thanks you” Orwell randomly pointed at one of his followers “and thanks to you” Another random person was singled out causing him to fall to his knees in religious favour.
“Thanks to all of you that devoted your bodiessss-ah, and souuuls-sa to me, that POWWWER turned a lone maaaans endless star gazing into a quest for a universal truthhh-ah that will unite humanity and let us puncher the intergalACTI BARRIER-”
He let the word hang in the air for a moment before relaxing his body and calmed his voice when he continued.
“-and leave them behind if they will not follow. Follow us to a new galaxy where we will be the mothers and fathers of a new, and better humanity fortified by universal wisdom”
The room was alive with the cheers and cries of his followers and there would be no calming them for a while yet, so High Seeker Vandeman let his flock frolic for now. Once it was quiet enough for him to be heard again, he started warming up his followers for the last big ask.
“Now brothers and sisters, this is the reason I called you all here today, I have the greatest news, news from our Far Seeker out in the dark looking for the light. This is no coincidence brothers; this is not mere chance sisters. You, my dedicated followers completed the Tablets of Record, and not a few days later, our Far Seeker alone, out far beyond Colonia, has found the point of convergence”
The room was silent, so Orwell took the moment to see if his flock would find a way to supply the last piece he needed to get the Crystalline Gold and the crystal growth ‘ark’ to a planet with a perfect crystal cultivation atmosphere many thousands of light-years away.
“All we need now, loyal seekers, is a ship large enough to carry the ark, and sturdy enough to brave the blazing ice hurricanes that protect the point of convergence from unworthy seekers”
As his fellow Seekers revelled and celebrated the wondrous news, Brother Burton, looking at his feet, double-checked his line of thinking. A few months ago, Burton had been a low level enforcer for a cartel a few jumps away, and that cartel had an Imperial working with them that had a liner company with dozens of ships that would fit the bill. The Imperial woman knew doing the odd job for the cartel was as normal as business tax in Robigo, part and parcel of running a legitimate company in independent space.
He had been with the Imperial as a passenger when she had to smuggle some people off station before a court appearance. She had managed to lose some security ships by dipping into the violent atmosphere of a high gravity planet near the drop-off point, and got out again without letting her cargo get too hot. Not much of an achievement until he remembered they were on Conda equipped as a passenger liner. She would be the right woman for the job.
Continued in Impartial Observer