The Preacher Man

"Ah..." I thought for a moment. I was not expecting anything so blunt and informative. "Thank you Faisal. You may be assured of my privacy."

"Oh, you're one of the very few completely trustworthy men I know Ilias. I'm not worried about that."

I bowed at the compliment. "What's the prognosis?" I didn't expect much of an answer, but decided it wouldn't hurt to ask.

Faisal shrugged. "We have things under control for the short term. Abdul Quddus should be returning to the capital within a month. The biopsies though are showing his DNA is right at the limit for the anti-aging drugs to be effective. You want my professional opinion? Assuming no complications with the cancers, the man was a 50% chance of living another five years, and a 5% chance of living ten."

I stared at my host, barely able to keep my jaw from dropping. I had no doubt Faisal was speaking sincerely, and he was handing me an incredible wealth of information, far more than I was expecting. "Faisal," I said softly, "I'm not sure what I can offer you in return."

He waved his hand dismissively. "This is not the right time for us to have that conversation Ilias. It's probably not even the right year. But someday Ilias, you and the Health Guilds need to talk."

I stirred uncomfortably in my seat. "About succession? You'll be the senior..."

"Ilias!" Faisal interrupted. "I'm the same age as Abdul Quddus! We both became adults during the Dark Judgment of 7920. My DNA is only in slightly better shape than the Cunif Califar's, and the primary concern of an electoral council is long term stability. I have no illusions of Utility or High Tech seeing me as the appropriate choice for the next ruler!"

I stared at Faisal as the meaning of his words hit me. I took a deep breath and leaned back in my chair. "I remember joking with Jibran once, a couple of years ago when Huthayfa was executed. It's not possible for me to support all three factions at once Faisal, and the Priesthood too. The core interests are too oppositional."

"Health understands that. But we're nothing if not pragmatic." He took a sip of his dessert wine before continuing. "Ah, this is good. Wine made from pears Ilias. I've grown quite fond of it in my old age."

I stared at Faisal. From outward appearance, he looked my age. But the anti-aging drugs will do that; give you nearly the complete health and vigor of youth until a catastrophic, cascade collapse.

Faisal drained his glass and continued. "For the last several thousand years, we have been content to protect our power and let the two larger factions fight their battles. This new alliance between High Tech and Utility scares us greatly."

I leaned back and nodded. He wasn't telling me anything I didn't already know, but still, it was a remarkable admission for the leader of the Health faction to make. I took a sip of my own wine and then tasted one of the dessert pastries, a rich and creamy lime tort, very delicious. I looked back up at Faisal and tried to reduce the tension in the room.

"Ah, so you went through a Dark Judgment at your third childhood gate. That must have been especially difficult."

Faisal sighed and leaned back in his chair, thinking of the memories. "It's not talked about much, but adult initiates at Dark Judgments are not culled until after the seventh day." He poured himself some ice water from a beaker.

"Huh?"

"The sunlight at the cathedrals is considered Shaitan's light during the Dark Judgments. The child cullings don't take place until the pre-dawn of January 1'st."

I blinked at the thought. "You were trapped in your monastery room the whole time?"

"Six days of waiting, and fasting too. Even the administration of the anti-aging drugs was delayed. Thank the Holy water was permitted." Faisal smiled and took a sip from his glass. "Ah, the world was so different then Ilias! No bullet trains of course, but I'm not talking about technology. Inter-township travel was a small fraction of what it is today, probably less than 20%. And it was an era before these marvelous Heisenberg shields. The result was there was much more backstabbing at the upper levels."

We chatted a while longer, and then Faisal joined me on my tour of Giza's anti-aging research facilities. My most fascinating moment was when I saw Lazarus the turtle, still alive from the sixth millennium. But I found my thoughts frequently wandering back to our lunch conversation during the tour.

At the death of a Cunif Califar, the Supreme Council becomes an electoral college, retaining their weighted voting rights and electing a new ruler by a minimum two-thirds majority. If no ruler is elected within three months, the entire council is executed, and the Glorious Mufeto become the new electoral college, with each CL-27 having 27 votes, each CL-26 nine votes, each CL-25 three votes, and the CL-24s one vote apiece. It's only happened one in recorded history, under some rather bizarre circumstances.

Theoretically, if the Glorious Mufeto can't self elect a ruler in three months, they are also executed, and the Gallant Mufeto take up the challenge. The end result is that in one year, a new ruler is elected or the entire royal body assassinated. Next in line would be the upper commanders, CL-12 to CL-15.

Faisal was hinting of Health's support for my nomination within a handful of years. My core question was, did I want the job? From my time at the capital, I had some understanding how crazy the position was, and it had absolutely no authority to change the tenets of the religion. I suddenly felt a deep urge to hear Abigail's wise counsel. My ramjet would depart for Dakar before dawn tomorrow morning. My first wife and I had much to discuss.

Chapter 36. Short Reunion

--- Excerpt from The Book of Bel'dar, Tower 1, Chapter 1, Verse 4

"I the Holy am One. There is no Holy besides Me. Bel'dar the Preacher is One. There is no Preacher besides him. There is One physical reality, One set of principles that act as the governance of my universe, and One set of mathematics that acts as a mirror for My beauty. There is thus One truth, perfectly interlocked, all encompassing, all inclusive. Do not suffer the lie to exist, for the darkness, the alien, must exist outside My truth. The aliens thus must beg to be included in My light, else they must perish in the darkness and be forgotten. The era of Shaitan and Shaitan's fire has passed. Let the believer know that the principle of inclusion is absolute, and is the fourth of the eight great pillars of true faith."

Time: March 2, 8239 5:07 AM

I had just had one of the most exhausting days of my life. The Health Guild woke me with a call shortly after 2 AM on March 1'st and asked for an immediate, unscheduled meeting. I soon joined a number of Health's top executives in a conference room down the hall from my quarters. Fortunately I had turned in right after evening Prayers and had close to a full night's four hours of sleep.

It turned out that there was great disagreement within Health on how to deal with me, and Faisal's group won out. Before me was an opportunity for a conversations Faisal thought we wouldn't have for years. And over the next two hours we hammered out an outline of an unprecedented series of proposed agreements among Health, High Tech, Utility, and to a lesser extent the core Priesthood. We pushed the ideas as far as we could without the other factions' input.

I went far beyond my authority to negotiate as we explored the ideas on the table, but I think I upheld the other factions' core interests. Health had a mind-boggling way of negotiating. They would create a very rigid position, defend it fiercely for a while, and then tear it down, taking bits and pieces of agreements and reforming them into novel, new positions.

After more than two hours of intense work, I think we all thought we had created something grand, something wonderful. Our outline was fragile and untested, but beautiful nonetheless. And then at the very end of the meeting Health dropped a bombshell. They offered me the Domine ownership of the township of Dalma, on the ancient island of Barbados (431 sq km). I could barely suppress my astonishment.

My personal ramjet departed Giza as scheduled at 5:23 AM, twenty minutes before sunrise. I spent the entire trip in conference calls with the other Supreme Council members. We took a short break as my flight landed at Dakar at 7:25 AM, two hours before sunrise. My cathedral was in the middle of Morning Prayers, but I went right back into conference, with the other Domines of the High Tech and Utility Guilds joining us. As the morning progressed, more and more Ruling Royalty joined us via the quantum-secure conference links. By noon over fifty Glorious Mufeto were logged into our meeting.

Our teleconference was historic, running throughout the day and evening and then far into the next night. We did not stop until we had completed the framework of our response to Health's proposals. There was still a huge pile of unfinished details. Shaitan! The details would certainly be many months of painstaking negotiations, and the unknown points could still scuttle the whole deal. But at the end of that night, we were full of optimism.

As I approached my private quarters less than an hour before morning Prayers, I was exhausted but also elated. And a growing part of my joy was the anticipation of seeing my four wives again after almost a month of absence. I had been very abrupt with them the previous day, sending them only two curt messages of when to expect me. Anything more would have been considered odd.

As I came through my front door, I heard the chime announce my arrival and the running feet of my four wives as they raced to kneel before me. I sealed the door and activated the shields to spare them the bother. So instead I was grabbed and tightly hugged by three very affectionate and beautiful creatures, with Michal a few feet away gasping in astonishment. With the shields down in the quarters, my other wives had had no opportunity to tell her of their hidden undamaged states.

We had so much to tell each other, but my wives could also see how exhausted I was. They undressed me and then Abigail and Shephatiah also stripped and walked me into the palatial shower off the master bedroom. I had the most delightful shower of my life, standing in a dreamy daze while four eager and feminine hands expertly soaped and washed my entire body. I was dimly aware afterwards of being dried with warm, fluffy towels, and then, paradise! I was lying down and resting in a universe filled with loving warmth and softness, Abby and Sheffie curled up on either side of me in our large bed.

Four hours later...

A ray of bright light was shining in my eyes. I sighed and opened my eyes and looked at the time, almost 9:30 AM. The rising sun was just making its appearance on the horizon. I glanced down at the sleeping woman in my arms, naked Sheffie. My hand was cupping her left breast as she slept, and I could see her pink nipple wedged between my thumb and forefinger.

I felt another naked body stirring behind me. I recognized her from feel alone, Abby. Somehow she knew I was awake. I felt a friendly hand on my bare butt, petting me under the covers.

"Nice to have you back Ilias," she murmured.

"Great to be back," I replied. "The trip was a wonder, I have so much to tell you. Yet every night, I fell asleep missing you all dreadfully. My bed seemed so empty."

Chanah poked her head into the room from the hallway. "Ah, good! Husband! Would you like some breakfast?"

I smiled back. "Sounds great. Chanah! I've been richly wined and dined for the last twenty days. How about something simple?"

Chanah smiled and nodded her understanding and disappeared. I glanced down and saw that Sheffie was also awake and smiling at me. We kissed for a while, Abby softly petting my rear the whole time. The smells and sounds of the kitchen soon roused us out of bed and into some clothes. By 10 AM I was sitting down to a late breakfast with my family.

It was just what I wanted, a poached egg and a modest slice of bread, and a nice selection of fresh greens and fruits. We chatted lightly about our past month. By mutual desire, we tend not to talk business during meals. At the end of the meal Michal cleared the dishes while Chanah served us all hot tea. Then carrying our mugs, we headed to our favorite conference area.

Michal joined us a moment later, blinking in surprise that we were waiting for her before beginning. She gave me a shy smile, and then sat on the floor by my legs. After a brief hesitation, she hugged my right leg and rested her head against my thigh. I smiled and started petting her head.

"So Ilias, what's your pleasure?" asked Abigail. "Do you want to go first?"

I grinned. "Maybe for a bit. I want to tell you Health's offer for my Domine. Dalma!"

Chanah and Shephatiah took the news calmly. Only Abigail with her deep knowledge of history was correctly astonished. She gasped and stared at me.

Sheffie looked at Abigail in puzzlement. "Abby, what?"

Abigail ignored her. "Ilias! You're serious, aren't you?"

I nodded. "I was just as surprised as you are now, a fantastic gift."

Abigail turned to Shephatiah and finally responded to her. "Don't you see Sheffie, how monumental this is? Dalma! It's the Guild in charge of the evolution of the human genome, the Guild which defines what it means to be human. Don't you see how important this is?" Abby turned her head back to me. "Ilias! How fast can you run thirty kilometers?"

"Huh?" It was an unexpected question. "Full sprint? Sixty-three minutes." I said a bit proudly, and then I paused for a moment and looked at my waist. "Well, probably closer to sixty-five right now. I've been eating a lot of banquets lately."

"So," said Abby, doing some simple math in her head, "thirty kilometers at a 2:06 pace."

"That's right."

"And is this near the world record?"

"Huh? No, of course not. I don't think I'll ever be able to run thirty kilometers in less than an hour. My body just isn't optimized for speed." I paused for a moment. "And I'm glad of it. I need my power for martial arts. Some of the advanced movements require a great deal of strength."

Abby's eyes were twinkling. "Ilias, you should see some of the records we found for human performance in the crystal data. Ancient records, from before the war. It seems the world used to hold global games every four years. Two sets of games actually, interlaced on a four-year cycle. You probably could have smashed every record they had back then."

I blinked. "Even running?"

Abby laughed. "Oh yeah. I'll show you the numbers." She then turned to her sister wife. "Don't you see Sheffie? With the possible exception of Giza, Dalma is the most prized Health Guild on the planet. The Guild is of critical importance. Even in the first millennium, when they were still based at the capital, their power was enormous. It was they who re-wrote the human genome, they who pushed the boy/girl birth ratio from 1:1 to 1:3. It was Dalma who modified human DNA to be compatible with the anti-aging drugs, Dalma who is constantly refining human performance. Their power is awesome!"

"Not just awesome, frightening," I added softly. "I'll tell you later about my tour of the human genetic labs."

Chanah spoke up. "Was Health forced to give up such a prize?"

I shook my head. "No. The township was freely offered to me. There was no coercion. I think I dimly see their logic. They're offering me the heart of the Health faction. In return, they're expecting me to be fair in representing their interests. After all, their interests are my interests now. It's the reason they've opened up their Guilds. In a few years, this world will be a very different place..."

There was a moment of silence, and then Abigail spoke. "Ilias, we're dying to tell you what we've discovered." I gave a nod of encouragement. Abby went on. "All of this is the testimony of the librarians of a society called the Falklands Free Assembly. They write that the War of the Burning Metals started on December 7, 2173, at the southeastern end of the Mediterranean.

I nodded. "I remember. That's the calendar based on the solar cycle."

Shephatiah spoke up. "That's right. According to the librarians, a person by the name of Mister Hasan arrived at Bandar... no, sorry, Punta Arenas back then. Anyway, Mister Hasan arrived at Punta Arenas about two weeks after the War. That's the link to the modern calendar. Mister Hasan's arrival was later benchmarked at the first day of the six six-day Judgment of year zero."

"Mister Hasan? Is that another name for Bandar the Wanderer?"

Chanah spoke up. "That's not all they called him Ilias. After he was anointed Bel'dar, the librarians started referring to him as the Whore of Babylon."

I stared at Chanah, thinking of the computer software Guild in ancient Peru. "Huh? Babylon wasn't built until the end of the Wild Times, and the Karbala monastery room where Abby found the crystals was sealed by Abdul Wahid Sami, second Cunif Califar, first century for sure. Do you think the librarians are referring to the ancient city in Iraq?"

Abigail's shrug caught my attention. "Perhaps. We're fishing in very deep waters Ilias. We found no reference to Mr. Hasan being from Iraq though. In fact, the Falkland librarians say he was living in Miami Florida until a few months before the war."

"Hajmah?" I asked. Abigail had just referenced the township of the holographic entertainment industry, a member of the Citizen's Staples keiretsu and Utility faction, located on the ancient U.S. mainland in the northern part of the Caribbean.

"Yep!" piped up Shephatiah. "He was an assistant mathematics professor there, at the University of Miami. The librarians wrote that the University brought out his contract about three months before the war started. That's when we're guessing Mr. Hasan picked up the nickname of Bandar the Wanderer."

I looked perplexed. "Bought out his contract?"

Chanah frowned and spoke up. "It was a very strange society. As far as we can tell, the University paid him to work there, and then at the start of something called a fall semester, they did something called buying out his contract. They paid him not to work there."

I followed Chanah's expression into a deep frown of my own. "Pay somebody not to do something? Was Mr. Hasan an extortionist?"

"Maybe. I don't think so though. The cultures were so different back then Ilias! There's so much we don't understand."

I nodded thoughtfully. "So, a whore of Babylon huh? What's a whore?"

I was surprised to see Chanah blush at my question. "Uh, we're not sure. We found one explanation, but it seems so... well, give us more time for research. Oh! And we're pretty sure it's THE Whore of Babylon, not a whore of Babylon. Abby's guess is that it's a historical reference to something or someone even more ancient."

"Ilias," Abby said. "There's more. The War of the Burning Metals. That wasn't the last war fought. There were at least two others, a short and nasty civil war at the capital in the year 8, and then a big external war fought in the year 24, fought with bio-chemical weapons. Bel'dar's militia was victorious."

I frowned. "Bel'dar fought a war? Two wars? He won them both? That's odd. There's no mention of this in the history books. You would think he would brag about it."

Abby grimaced. "Our guess is there was still a shred of decency left in the society at the time. We're guessing they would not have approved how Bel'dar won the war. Instead, history records the rest of the world begging to be included into Bel'dar's enlightened society."

"Yes, the principle of inclusion, it's the fourth pillar of the faith..." I paused for a moment. "So there was civil war in the year 8?"