From his fetal position on the ground, Jenkins could see the Reverend Lon Kalopello, once he slid down the far wall he was leaning on. He watched the Reverend slide until he was sitting on the floor, on the opposite side of the corridor to Jenkins. A pool of blood was collecting around him and his head was slumped forward.
Jenkins expected that to signal the beginning of the melee, but nothing more followed. He looked around and realized no one was near him, everyone was facing away from him. He was completely ignored. There were words and voices, but they were all a blur to him. He only heard the rush of blood in his ears from his racing heart. He backed away from the bloody body, scooting on his butt, until his back was against the far wall and then kept on backing up until he had pushed himself to a standing position.
No longer surrounded by a sea of legs, he could see what had happened. Kless was still being held against the far wall by a few prisoners. The remainder of the them were surrounding the other Star Cult member, facing him in a sort of semi-circle, for his back was now against the wall.
He had a strange, faraway look in his face. His arms hung loosely at his sides, and one of his hands held a knife. A bloody knife.
"Kless, do something! Make them stop!" he shouted.
Kless turned his head to the Sergeant, looked him up and down for a moment, and then nodded. "You're right," he said to Jenkins. With one of his hands, he snapped his fingers loudly, and then to the prisoners said, "OK, that's good enough. Stand down." The two prisoners holding his arms immediately released him. The others, who were holding him, took their lead from the other two and released him. Before anyone else could say anything, he said to Brother X'til, "Heresy must be punished."
"The way of The Stars must be maintained, that is paramount to all else," replied X'til.
"People...you are in the presence of your religious leader. Your new leader. Respect must be shown," Kless said. At that, all save for Jenkins, X'til, Clark, and Travers, bowed their heads and made the Sign of the Radiating Star.
The silence was broken by a shriek as another robed figure came running down the hallway and lunged at X'til, trying to wrestle the knife from his hands.
"Save the new Leader!" shouted Kless, which was immediately echoed by Clark and Travers. In less than a second, a dozen of the new converts converged on the hooded attacker, grabbing arms and legs. But before anyone could do anything else, Kless stepped in front of X'til and fired a point blank blast of his weapon into the hooded attacker's torso. The figure dropped to the ground at X'til's feet motionless and silent, as more blood pooled on the floor.
Kless turned to the new converts and said, "Go forth, tell all of the good news. Of your leader. Of your salvation. Tell the X'tonu'u, the Y'valatic, the Children. We must not have any further such incidents. Go now!"
A quick confirmation of "We must!" by Clark and Travers and the group quickly dispersed in all four directions. Now the three found themselves standing alone in the corridor.
"Who...?" Jenkins started to ask.
X'til looked at the two bags that had been slung around the attacker's shoulder's. Lifting both bags, he set down one that was light, practically empty. He opened the other bag that appeared to have a number of objects in it. Surprise registered on his eyebrows.
The Brother removed two individually wrapped packages, each the size of a brick, and passed one to Jenkins and one to Kless. Then he shut the bag and slung it over his shoulder. "The less you know the better. Anyway, if you do make it out, any one of these will be enough to finance ... most anything for quite a while."
"And you keep the lion's share?" asked Kless.
"I can put them to good use. There is much that needs to be 'blessed' on this ship. You are welcome to the other pouch."
Kless laughed. Then held up the brick, "This is of value? No lies?"
"That can be turned into great riches. Your friend knows the formula, he knows how."
"Well, I guess that's better than nothing, which is what I currently have. Besides, time's running out. Let's see that pod," said Kless, and he and X'til continued moving down the corridor. Jenkins found himself following them in a blur of consciousness, holding the wrapped brick in his hand.