I didn't curse God as my time came to be sent into the pit. My name is Aeraliss Cardann, and I am a believing Christian. I don't glory myself by saying so. It is simply who I am--what I am. Its my comfort, as it was at that horrible moment. The Order-thug, one of about 30 that had seized control over a planet of 30,000, repeated his tiresome request.
"Swear your soul over to Lord Ghidorah, and you shall live as a True Human within The Cleansed Universe to come."
The inverse was clear, as well, but I wasn't buying.
"I swore an oath when I was 13 to oppose your master and all his works. That hasn't changed."
He raised his weapon, but he never did fire. When I opened my eyes, only his empty clothes and some spattered blood remained. The lockdown was lifted, and people were able to leave their homes. The worst seemed over, and I maintained the private conceit that my God had protected me directly. Perhaps that was the sin that sparked the rest. Perhaps not. I don't pretend to know The One's will.
The news footage played on the screen in the town's square. I could scarcely credit it. Hardly any of us could. A young man, human by appearance, was punching out what looked like a gray dragon. Flying and glowing, he cut an awesome figure. When the pictures and narrative were done, there began to be some whispers. I thought nothing of them, as I walked home, still feeling safer in my house than on the streets, after being rounded up by former neighbors who were actually raving bigots.
"Then all the prophecies are real."
"He and his lady---are The Rock."
"They'll be in my prayers."
"Is that enough? Should we do more?"
I thought little of the flying young man as the weeks passed. I did not care who his wife was, or who their common adoptive father was, nor all his sufferings, since I consider that all his private business. But as I went to and from work, I saw houses of worship fly up where emptied shops had been. A picture of a small mountain was seen on a flag above these places. It chiefly reminded me to pay my insurance premium. Along the way, I proselytized a bit, to those wanting to listen. There were fewer than I would have liked, given my druthers. But this planet has never been strong for any of the twenty-seven great monotheistic faiths. Colony life produces nihilists, they say.
One day, I received my first glimpse of something that would rapidly go horribly wrong. I was offered a pad-chip.
"Sister, are you aware that body and soul, only the Rock can save us from Ghidorah?"
"No, I was not aware of this."
As politely as I knew how, I returned the pad-chip to the lady only two years older than I myself. Had I known that doing so marked me, I suppose I'd have taken and later discarded the silly thing. But I suppose it made no difference. You see, I also failed to attend the rallies that were being held. My neighbors began to admonish me.
"Aeraliss, some of these people are quite fervent in their beliefs about Saavik and Peter Kirk."
"I'm pleased that they found something to believe in."
"Opposing them may not be the best idea."
"I'm not opposing them. I'm simply not supporting them."
"They--may see it as the same thing."
"They do--or you do?"
That usually ended the conversation, then and there. Then came what I saw as a last-ditch effort on their part to bring me over.
The leader I knew. Just not by name. Before he was found to be a multiple adulterer, he had a high position in a Christian sect that adhered to the inerrancy doctrine. I had always considered him a hypocrite and an opportunist, and had in fact called him that to his face on a few occasions. That he had risen so rapidly to lead this frenzied movement did not change my opinion, but rather reinforced it. He pointed out at a crowd of people who were suddenly better dressed than normal. The One knows us as we were born. As long as we don't look like bums, why the Sunday Best?
"Madam, I would like you to explain to these good people why you want our planet to die?"
A good thing I have no children. His next question would likely be when I stopped beating them.
"Sir, I don't want that. But I pray in my way, as you apparently do in yours. I don't see the conflict--or the need for this confrontation."
He shook his head so hard, I thought it might fall off. I had to actively fight back thoughts hoping it would do
so."We see the need. And so there is one. Give up the false God who did not protect Qonos, Romulus, Tellar, Andor, and who will not protect Vulcan. Turn to and embrace The Rock. These two holy young people have endured suffering--on your behalf. They have opposed small evils, and will soon face the great grand high evil--Ghidorah itself. If we wish to be noticed by beings such as they, we must all pray to them with one voice, undiluted."
If I had wondered how the Order had thrived in secret, I had only to look out at the faces before me. They needed a scapegoat to offer up. I did the math, and grew defiant.
"If these Rocks won't help a planet in need just because it doesn't genuflect and curtsy for them, and lay prostrate at their feet, then they're not very good messiahs, are they?"
As I was dragged off, I saw my home torn down. At least the jails were empty, with so many prisoners having 'embraced The Rock'. But as I was held, without charge, food or trial, I merely clung more tightly to the image of a True King born as a pauper, and killed as a common criminal. But while he could give me strength, he could not fully prepare me for my 'trial'.
"Little one--did that vile woman touch you?"
"Her?"
"No, the one up front."
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"Yeah, even when it became obvious that The Rock was The All, she kept right on with her outdated books and studies. Printed--books. I was glad to see those burn, lemme tell ya."
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"Yes--she did attempt to lead me and my family away from the one true path. I didn't want to turn her in. I though she'd relent."
And so it went. But again I was unprepared. The sentence was not life imprisonment, as I had thought.
"As with your books, so with you. Unless you relent."
I saw the bonfire being readied, and decided that my God would
understand and forgive this betrayal."No. I will not relent."
God would understand and forgive me. I never could. But as I was to be led up, atop the pile of sticks, someone unfamiliar cried out to get attention. It was a woman's voice.
"Excuse me? Where is this colony's governor?"
Two young Starfleet officers, one human, one Vulcan, appeared. The hypocrite answered for the crowd.
"The governor was deposed for conduct unbecoming, Lieutenants. Why are you here?"
The male human answered now.
"We're from The Enterprise. We have to leave orbit within the hour, but Captain Kirk asked that we help you with any emergency food or water requests."
The crowd grew hushed. Their temple floated overhead.
"Lieutenant, do either of you perhaps know The Captain's son, Peter?"
The young man's eyes darted about.
"Er---I am Peter Kirk. This is my wife, Saavik. Now, would you prefer rations or an upgrade to your existing replicators?"
He was talking replicators and they were thinking fishes and loaves. I will never, so long as I live, forget that young man's face as the crowd fell down at his feet. He and his wife looked puzzled and terrified. But she managed to speak, where he could not.
"Please. You must rise up and tell us how we may best help----"
She stopped, as one of them touched her pregnant stomach.
"I am forever blessed, now."
For all his supposed power, Peter Kirk was quick to reach for his sidearm. Someone had touched his wife, and he looked angry.
"I'll ask that you not touch me or my wife, ever again. Now, we can beam down---"
Another cry came, and I realized then that these two were wholly unprepared for this situation. Oddly, I found this refreshing, that someone else seemed not to have all the answers.
"Touch My Baby---he's been ill!!"
The woman, Saavik, answered.
"I can ask Doctor McCoy to set up a shipment of pharmaceuticals for most of the known...."
They then surged forward, screaming sometimes incoherently. A kind of Pseudo-Religious frenzy had replaced soul-eating despair, and its effects were just as toxic. Peter Kirk vanished beneath a sea of bodies.
"The ROCKKKK!!!!"
"Speak my name, so I'll be included in The Book Of Life!"
"Tell me how I may live and die happier."
"Our souls for you....our souls for you!!"
"I beat my children each night until they pray to you properly!"
"Make me into an angel, so I may fight by your side at Armageddon!"
"If you are the Anointed One, is your father......"
"WE WILL FIGHT THE ENEMY!!!"
Saavik Kirk yelled into her communicator. She, her husband, and myself all vanished, and I will never return there, not for anything. And I refuse to feel good about what happened next.
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The howling mob looked at their leader.
"They left us--because you were an unworthy receptacle for their word!"
There was a burning at the stake that day, in any event.
The next month, food and water both ran out.
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I saw them calm Peter Kirk in their Sickbay. It turns out he has suffered, including a brutal kidnapping and rape when he was only 13. The feeling of bodies smothering him plus a desire not to hurt the worshippers left him mortal in front of those who believed in his divinity. He asked if his wife and myself were safe, then passed out.
As I write this, I have, with Captain Kirk's permission, been preaching the word in the ship's chapel. Although I try for an ecumenical feel, I am what I am. I do what I must, as the chapel has been flooded with parishioners following Vulcan's destruction. Others who do what they must include a tired young man and his pregnant wife, whom I sometimes see in the chapel, praying for the defeat of a dread enemy, and wondering if, somewhere, someone isn't praying to them for a good harvest.
It must all be quite humbling.