Chapter 14. A Bit of Truth.

From the point of view of Jenkins, the sequence of events from the time of their ambush to the point when they discovered the beryllium conduit in the sensory deprivation cell could be summarized as a huge amount of fear of impending death, followed by a mental withdrawal into a "happy place" which wasn't actually very happy, just mostly running away from any sense of reality. There was a momentary pause to come up for air and check how things where going, which resulted in a close up and personal view of the Reverend Lon's body falling to the ground, bleeding, relatively close to Jenkins. More fear. A sense of a familiar voice, but no recognition, more death. Voices, talking, cheering, bright lights as he was being pulled and pushed by Kless and stared with fascination at every lighting unit they walked by. They seemed like small suns, bright not burning him, and in different colors, whites, pinks, reds, greens, and more. More voices, talking, noises. Moving. Not moving. Moving. Lights. Loud noises. Shouting. Shooting. And the beryllium wire, or rather the phrase "beryllium wire", repeated again and again.

While accurate in some sense, certainly this is a rather high level summary of the events and Jenkins missed a number of significant details. Kless had a different perspective on the events that transpired.

After leaving Brother X'til or rather the new Neutron Star, Kless and Jenkins made their way to Section B. Jenkins was generally cooperative in terms of moving, though required the occasional shove to help guide him when a change in course was needed or to maintain a fast pace towards their destination. When left completely to his own devices, Jenkins' head would tip upward and he would slow down and, if permitted, stop under one of the bright lighting units that illuminated the corridor. Kless discovered that a good shove just before approaching one of the lights would keep him moving.

Kless kept one hand extended ahead of him, just behind Jenkin's shoulder, so he could give a quick push if Jenkin's showed any sign of slowing down. Kless' other hand was on the holster of his pulse gun. If needed, he could draw and fire it given a moment's notice. He had spent a lot of time practicing his fast draw.

As they approached the crossover from C-Section to Section B, Kless reached out to grab Jenkins' shoulder and slow him down to a walk, saying, "OK, T.S. Jenkins, let's slow it down for a minute. I want to get the lay of the land, and I'm not talking about your dead girlfriend." He paused a moment, and when Jenkins had shown no reaction, he said, "It's just a phrase, man. Don't get so bent out of shape."

He walked up to a command module on the wall and connected to the security subsystem and ran a few system diagnostics. The first reported the number of people currently in Section B, their locations, and their movements. He noted that the corridor branched off 100 meters distant from them, and that branch was more or less deserted and none of the current 400 current people in Section B were in that branch or immediately heading in that direction. He also activated a number of doors between that branch and the Detention Center, causing them to close and lock, so they could only by opened by him. While he studied the route and made his plans, he let Jenkins stare at a lighting unit in the ceiling panel above them. Jenkins seemed quite content.

Getting to the detention center would be relatively easy. The branch ahead of them should be empty. And even if the monitoring system was wrong, it would be a small number of people, easily dispatched by his weapon. Clearly X'til was getting the word out that people need to head to C-Section, as the majority of people in Section B were headed to one of the cross-over points.

But once they got to the detention center, it would get more difficult. The two bays, port and starboard, were still occupied. It looked like anywhere between 30 and 50 people would remain in each bay. These were probably the ones who identified themselves as X or Y and nothing more. They didn't hear the siren song of the Star Cult, and the movement of all the lemmings to C-Section held no interest in them. However, the good news is that they most likely would not be patrolling the area—they would remain in their bay and defend it from enemy incursions. And if he could arrange for some enemy incursions, that would keep both groups busy.

And then there was the interrogation center. At least 50 former prisoners were moving around that section, especially near the sensory deprivation chamber.

"Damn it," he said quietly. "Why'd you have to have me release all those prisoners. It would've been much easier if they were all still locked up."

Jenkins stared at the off-white, with a hint of pink, lighting panel, smiling blissfully, oblivious to Kless' comments.

Kless wasn't quite sure how he could get in there, have time to search the place undetected, and leave before anyone noticed the bodies that marked the massacre that would be needed when he first arrived. Even if he had two functioning weapons, it would be unlikely that he could hold off that many people. If Jenkins were functional and had two weapons of his own, then each of them would only need to kill 10-15 people with each hand before getting shot or attacked.

He pulled out his pulse gun. He looked at the number of charges it had. He could certainly kill 10, but not 15. And not 30. Or 50. Or 60. He holstered the gun.

Damn. That just didn't sound good. There had to be a better way.

He stared at the map display with the various colored moving dots. There were a lot of dots, but they weren't all together. There were clusters of them, but not as many at the edges. He smiled a little, although it looked more like a feral snarl. He went back to the security interface and gave it a new set of commands, locking and unlocking doors, and had the system generate some voice call-outs to him in response to certain queries.

He took his gun out again and leveled it at Jenkins' head. He tapped in a small code on the side of the weapon which engaged the targeting previewer, something he usually hated to do. He never liked people to know when they were about to get shot. The gun painted a rotating circular pattern on Jenkins. The pattern alternated from red to green, and contained little mini-grid patterns on the inside of the circles. The diameter of the circle was the size of Jenkins' torso, so the colorful Christmas wreath of destruction extended from the middle of his chest to almost a full head's height above him.

Kless played with two adjustment settings: the power level and the channel width. First he shrunk the blast zone down to the size of Jenkins' head. Then he altered the power setting, reducing it, since less energy would be required for a smaller area, but also he wanted a different effect than his usual maximal tissue thermal disruption (generally referred to as "blasting"). He shrunk the target zone again, so it was now the size of Jenkins' forehead. Jenkins' smile faded a little, as the target laser no longer shined pretty green and red light in his eyes.

Kless took a breath and set his jaw. He tilted the gun in one motion, so it pointed to the ceiling and he could see the display on it. He saved the previous configuration so he could quickly return to it and saved the new settings as the weapon's current configuration. He disengaged the target mode and put the weapon in safe mode and holstered it.

There was an old saying that if you're stupid enough to draw your weapon, you should be smart enough to fire it. Somehow this felt like a breach of that ancient wisdom, if only by the letter rather than the spirit of the guideline.

"Not this time, old pal," he said. "Not while you still can be useful. Even if as nothing more than a shield."

True, the previous setting of his blaster could probably tear a hole through Jenkins and Kless and a third person standing behind them; but, that was his preferred weapon setting. Most people used far more conservative settings. And most of the prisoners had simple weapons like knives and blunt objects.

Kless smiled his snarl, put a hand on Jenkins' shoulder to guide him, asked the computer for a status call-out on the routes (no changes), unlocked a door and headed down the main corridor towards the detention center. They would not be taking the by-pass.

****

For the first time since the evacuation, the PA system in the detention center broadcast a message.

BROTHERS AND SISTERS, AMAZING TIMES ARE UPON US. WE HAVE BEEN BLESSED WITH A NEW NEUTRON STAR. HE HAS INSTRUCTED US TO MEET IN C-SECTION, DECK 60, AT THE BOTTOM OF THE WELL. THOSE WHO ARE THERE AS WE ENTER THE DEEP PART OF GRAVITY WELL SHALL KNOW ENLIGHTENMENT AND ACHIEVE THEIR DESIRES. THE CHILDREN OF THE EXPANDING LIGHT WISH YOU PEACEFUL ORBITS AS YOU ARE GUIDED BY A NEW LIGHT.

Groups of former prisoners looked at each other. By now it was clear who valued "religion" more than their clan identity. In both groups, the X'tonu'u and the Y'valatic, none felt like those who wanted to join the Star Cult were abandoning their clan. Had someone hinted that they were going to join the other clan, they would have been skinned alive. But going off to join a religious cult was seen as mostly a passing phase.

Unlike the rest of the ship, there were few routes into and out of the detention center. That was part of the ship's design. Multiple, alternate routes did exist, in case of fire or environmental problems, but relatively few of them.

Y'rtra had been feeling the call of the Stars. Actually, after having been imprisoned for 4 months, he had seen their propaganda, and especially some of the Y'valatic Sisters who testified as to their love of the Stars, and felt a deep longing. He wasn't sure exactly how one went about joining the organization but after hearing the announcement, he at least knew where to go.

He was the first to approach his clan head and say that he would need to investigate this organization. His clan head smirked and said, "when you are ready to rejoin us, we will remain here and welcome you. Do as you wish."

As Y'rtra left, one of the sub-heads said to the clan head, "Do you really think he will return?"

"I think, once he has gotten his 'religious desires' out of his system, he will return. And I'd rather he do that there than with any of the women in our enclave. We have had a few close calls and had to keep a watch on him. You think he will not return?"

The other said, "I know not why, but I do not think he will."

Y'rtra was a big, stocky man. He had worked as a manual laborer down on Y'valatic, but got drawn into the rebellion army with promises of violence and financial reward. He did get the violence he had hoped, but no riches. And then he was caught by an X'tonu'u patrol. Apparently they had been looking for him. But at that point, his view of the X'tonu'u was not about to get much lower.

He was a good fighter, but there mostly for the fighting. He wasn't a true believer. He also wasn't the bat-shit crazy sorts that would simply kill anyone and everyone. But he had worked with some of those, and his captors aboard the Circle's Edge felt that they had no idea how close to the edge he was but none believed they could control him. The attempted rape of his own clan members only cemented the verdict.

As he walked down the corridor, he thought of the chorus of Y'valatic Sisters in the promotional video. All of them wore the heavy brown robes of the Star Cult, but there were subtle hints of the shape of their body underneath. It didn't take much to get his imagination going, and one it did, he was oblivious to all else. At least until he ran into some scrawny guy in a dirty gray jumpsuit headed in the opposite direction.

"Move!" Y'rtra said and shoved the guy away. There was no resistance, the man slid back 3 meters and fell on his ass and then sprawled out helpless. No reaction beyond that. That wasn't exactly the reaction Y'rtra was looking for. Mostly fear or pain. First fear. Pain would come later, since he hadn't put much thought or effort into the shove.

Another man stood where the first had landed, his back to Y'rtra, looking down at the sprawled man. "I'm so sorry," he said over his shoulder. "You see my friend's been riding the G-root. He had quite an active phase before and is pretty deep into the inert phase now. He's kind of a dick. But then so am I..." and with that he turned and faced Y'rtra, charge-pulse gun in hand aimed high at Y'rtra's forehead, and before Y'rtra could register what happened or react, he fired.

****

Kless cursed while he moved as fast as he could down the corridor, one hand out giving Jenkins a motivational shove every five seconds and the other hand clutching his mid-section. His hand grasped a mass of the uniform he wore. He was simultaneously pulling in and holding up his trousers and stopping his shirt from flapping in the breeze as he moved.

He continued to curse under his breath. "The first person I find has to be 3 sizes bigger than me. What the hells? Were the guards feeding him Go-Grow? Now no fucking time for anything else. Damnation..."

The computer had informed him that they would be past the lip of the white hole's gravity well in 15 minutes. The term "lip" was relative, but in this case it was defined with respect to the ships position and potential energy and the kinetic energy it could impart to its escape pod, plus whatever engine power might exist. Once past that point, they possessed nothing that could get them out of the area. Also, things would get worse, quicker, as the pull from the hole's gravity would increase as they got closer to it. There were some wild cards, such as LaGrangian points and time-space disruptions similar to what they first encountered, but they only complicate the math; they would not get them out of the white hole's gravity well.

The computer announced that a group of 8 Y'valatic former prisoners were approaching them from the opposite direction, no energy weapons detected. Closing time of the two groups was 25 seconds.

This would be the test. On a wide area blast Kless felt he could probably kill or lethally wound all 8 of them, but that would force him down the route of blasting his way in and out of the Heart of Darkness, and the longer that could be delayed, the greater his chances of success. Plus, he didn't want to waste any more time. Based on the curve of the corridor, he guessed that he would have maybe 5-10 seconds before the other group was upon him. He counted down the time quietly to himself.

Just before he heard or saw anyone, he started barking sharply to Jenkins, "Come on, you. Keep moving. You've got a lot to answer for. Keep going!" as he shoved him forward. His shoves were more frequent, but more gentle. He wanted Jenkins to remain in his current unresponsive, but predictable, state. Because his pushes were not as hard, Jenkins didn't move as far or as fast, and Kless stayed about an arm's length away from Jenkins.

As they passed the group, Kless kept a hand on Jenkins' shoulder and had his head turned to him. Between admonitions and curses to Jenkins, he said briefly over his shoulder, "this one has to answer to the clan head. You'll see his handiwork down the hall a ways. Unfortunately, no helping that one, and we're all short on time." Then back to Jenkins, "keep it moving and keep your hands where I can see them. You won't be doing that again, not to ME." And he kept on moving.

Kless didn't change the cadence of his pace or his berating of Jenkins and he didn't turn around to see their reaction. He just kept counting upward now and listening for a change to the cadence of their fast walk or some challenges from them. Nothing happened. After a count of a minute, he risked a quick glance behind him. The other group was out of sight. His brief impression was that they were in a hurry to get where they were going. Most likely the Star Cult, and were probably happy that he didn't stop them to ask for directions or help.

"Well," he began, "when they see the big dude in the corridor, they'll chalk it up to a situation that's already taken care of, so they can keep going. And the further in we go, the more people we'll see who will know we passed others and weren't challenged. A sort of unspoken approval, when in fact they all just want to get out of here. The same thing with the body. The more people who see it and do nothing, the more who will continue with that trend. At least that's my theory."

He looked over to Jenkins who smiled blissfully as they walked underneath an orange-white lighting unit. The computer warned that two more groups were approaching, to arrive within 30 seconds and 90 seconds. Kless breathed in, held it for a moment, exhaled, and continued onward. Within a minute or so, he'd have a better idea how his theory was doing.

****

The Reverend High Lord Neutron Star X'til, as he was currently known, passed through a crowd and watched as people cast their eyes down or made the exploding star gesture. Every now and then he would stop and speak briefly with someone.

"Tell me, for I wish to hear in your words what you think will happen next."

Or "Do you know why you are here and not on the escape fleet or dead from the damaged following the T-space drop-out?"

Or "What do you think I am capable of doing, and why should I do it?"

The answers he received were infinite variations on the same theme. Merging with the White Hole would be a form of eternal life, eternal power, eternal peace, a wild orgy (eternal, of course). People were selected by the Star because of their moral character or because they were important or something like that. But most telling was that people believed he was wise, that he had "Powers" though no one knew the nature of the Powers or what they could do. And no one would speculate or second guess what he could or would do. He was the Neutron Star, they mere mortals (at least until they joined the Star). It was their job to obey and believe. It was his job to do...whatever it was he would do.

The trust they placed in him was phenomenal, amazing, misplaced, daunting, and strangely appealing. He did not conduct any tests of his followers' faith, though he did smirk every time he passed an airlock. He decided that before he could go to the escape pod, there was something he needed to do first. The PA system could be routed from anywhere, but some locations seemed better than others. The top of the ship would be the most appropriate, but was no longer attached, so the forward-most part would have to do.