The Waiting Game

June 2

Eleven hours, thirty-five minutes later.

A communication from Captain Manda Westminister:

-- Encrypted Comms to Major Siamendes -- Arriving at Zenobia. Signals coming off the aleph. Signals are similar to  headchips. Report to follow. Contacting Dr. Qui for assist. CC to Colonel MacMoragh. -- End Comms --

-----

June 4

Fifty-eight hours from the start of the Process.

Manda called with an update.

"Audrey A.W. slipped into a coma with high neural activity - which is probably causing her dangerously high fever. We are working to keep the temperature down. We are taking measures to block any signals that might be affecting the alephs. My suspicions is that we may be too late; whatever information might already be in the aleph. We will proceed with precautionary measures, tests and monitoring."

She promised a detailed report soon. Her remarks were brief. I wonder if she has slept.

-----

June 5

Hovertext graffiti was found in the council chambers on Araxes. Local authorities sent out a request for help with a translation. They had a concern that the message was from the Ta Seti.




I knew otherwise. The text contained the word Muazii. This was the native word for "Jade." It had also appeared in the letter received by Delegate Undercroft sent by the Jade Revolution.

-----

June 6

There was a Laandsrat meeting this evening.

A translation of the graffiti was presented to the council by a member of the Magistrate's personal staff. The message read as follows:

Unholy Magistrate and Morloch Khalifa 

knew ARPharma killed desert born 

for abomination blood cure. 

The Land of Rats blasphemed 

and tried to silence our Great Messiah. 

Jade's Revolution will not be quelled. 

PRAISE JADE!

Lady Rashad of House Morloch decried the message. She rejected the idea that the followers of Jade might have drawn desert people into their ranks.

Meanwhile, Calina informed the council that she had been in further contact with the members of the movement, and that they were working on scriptures based on Jade's life and beliefs.

She also presented a new communication she had received, which Major Muircastle then forwarded to me. It clearly articulated the movement's demands and immediate goals.

-----

THE SOLEMN WORDS OF THE JADIST CONGREGATION
--We won't spill water so we won't spill blood ---

We deliver this message to the Laandsrat in the hope that the Time of Strife can be avoided. Too much blood has been spilt on this world and others like it. A time of great darkness approaches but that destiny can be avoided and a Time of Divinity can come upon us all.

We ask the following.

1. That the murderer of the Messiah Jade Moonkill be delivered to the Jadist Congregation. Their fate will be decided by the Council of Ghosts.

2. That the Laandsrat will immediately dissolve and hand over power to the Beit Dawla as the Messiah demanded.

3. That the Laandsrat will be replaced by the Church of Jade and we shall administer teachings of love and prayer to the people so that they may live in happiness.  Democracy through faith.

All who believe in the Messiah Jade Moonkill will live by her teachings. Only then will peace and tranquility spread throughout the galaxy.

These are the words delivered by the Jadist Congregation through the Messiah's Emissaries.

Do not choose a path that will spill the blood of the people. Choose the path of love and forgiveness.

Praise Jade and may she bless you all.

-----

June 7

Five days now from the beginning of the Process.

I was on board the UAP Watchtower.



Orbiting high above the surface of Araxes, the primary function of this station was to monitored traffic in and out of Highport and Splintered Rock, scan all public communication channels, and generally keep an eye on things in the Mu Draco zone.

The structure itself was build for functionality, not for comfort. There were no sleeping quarters. Instead, cryo tubes were suspended in the central hub which also housed operations. The aft observation deck doubled as a meeting room or, if needed, and emergency medical bay. There was a distinct lack of personal space. Given the purpose of the station, it seemed fitting.

The crew was close, friendly to a fault. Besides their professional expertise, the men and women that served here were selected by their ability to deal with the close quarters with tolerance and good humour. I had heard there was even a T-shirt bearing the slogan: "Monitor Division. Privacy is at a minimum."



I walked up the small ramp to the operations area. The walls were bright white accented with cheerful orange. The cryo tubes glowed cyan.

We had just detected a craft leaving the Navigator Terminus.

I examined the image and smiled.



It was Lily.

No surprised really. Lily has had a bond with Ardra for years now.  It made sense that she should be here at the end.

I paused for a moment contemplating the picture, then turned and headed to the airlock to ready my shuttle.

The Education of the Masters of the World

“A Klee drawing named ‘Angelus Novus’ shows an angel looking as though he is about to move away from something he is fixedly contemplating.  His eyes are staring, his mouth is open, his wings are spread.  This is how one pictures the angel of history.  His face is turned toward the past.  Where we perceive a chain of events, he sees one single catastrophe that keeps piling ruin upon ruin and hurls it in front of his feet.  The angel would like to stay, awaken the dead, and make whole what has been smashed.  But a storm is blowing from Paradise; it has got caught in his wings with such violence that the angel can no longer close them.  The storm irresistibly propels him into the future to which his back is turned, while the pile of debris before him grows skyward. This storm is what we call progress.” – Walter Benjamin

-----

Jade had lived here.

Tucked away in one corner of the Zenobian quarter, it was an unassuming place. The front door was reached by a set of stairs below the level of the plaza. There was a small window of heavy, reinforced glass from which one could see a sliding door that opened towards the desert. 



Once she had died, the place had not stayed empty for long.

Now, to all appearances, it was a mechanic's shop. There was the sign of a gear above the front door. The sliding door was used to shuttle vehicles to and from repair. Crates with machine parts and rusty oil drums bracketed the work area. A small computer desk was located against one side.



Still, I cannot look at this room without thinking of Jade.



I walked to the far wall and pressed a slight depression in the stucco. With a fluid motion, the wall slid aside revealing a hidden tube elevator.



-----

The air cooled as the elevator descended deeper into the rock. The ever-present sand made its operation dubious, but we had been lucky. It had been a while since the lift needed servicing.

The door panel opened with a hiss, revealing a long, stone chamber.



There was a small kitchen in the corner to my immediate left.  Bunks and lockers lined the two longest walls.  A pair of tables sat in the center of the room, and the flag of the Union of Allied Planets was proudly displayed at the far end.

This was now our barracks.

I could work here undisturbed.

I now had a total of six letters from the Jade Revolution, Calina Tereshchenko’s remarks to the May 9 Laandsrat, and my examination of the vandalism to the office of Magistrate Joan al Jofar.  It was sufficient.



I set my alarm and made a personal call. I put on a fresh pot of coffee and began my analysis.

-----

I began by re-reading the six letters, looking for patterns and the absence of patterns both in form and content.

Three were addressed to people Jade had known from 34 Tauri. Notably, we had all been in the same room with Jade on Eavesdown Docks the day the Consulari bought me a gown to wear at some formal event here. Three were addressed to people Jade likely met here on Al Raqis.



Eavesdown Docks. Director Gustav's operative had also heard reference to the docks during his investigations. Eavesdown Docks remained an important part of Jade's history, part of her mythology if you will.

Five letters in total had been sent to people with direct ties with Araxes politics. I was the sole exception in this, although the writer did hold me responsible for the lax investigation into Jade’s murder.

The political system of Araxes. This was the context.

The word count was also revealing. Four of the letters were between 202 and 252 words in length.



The letter to Dr. Isaac was the shortest of all six. The writer had dismissed the entire United Systems Directorate in 127 words.
 
The letter to the Magistrate on the other hand was in excess of 500 words. It was laced with threats. Emotional investment was located here. It also appeared to be a response to remarks the Magistrate had made publicly. This was a distinction from the other five letters which were initiated by the writer.

According to Consulari Raghilda, she had received her letter at the same time as other members of the Beit Dawla. However, the content of her letter shared characteristics with those addressed to Calina and myself.

The letter to Calina was unique in several ways. While all other letters were written in plural form, her letter was written in the singular. While all other letters were addressed 'To' recipient, usually by a title, her letter was addressed 'Dearest Calina.' It was much more personal, more intimate. It included a means by which Calina could contact the writer. It was an invitation rather than a warning.

-----

Next, I numbered the lines of each letter and began to cluster them according to categories.



Several themes emerged. The evil state of current affairs on Araxes. The political illegitimacy of the Laandsrat. Jade's brave example and her continued influence. A call to social transformation. The promise of a brighter future.



The text was replete with religious language.

-----

Finally, I began organizing the themes into a sort of narrative.

The Jade Revolution shared many of the characteristics of other revolutionary messianic movements.

It was messianic in that assumed as fact the existence of a messiah figure. In this case, Jade Moonkill, a woman of humble beginnings who had been elected to become a delegate of the Beit Dawla. She had had the Laandsrat council arrested under what passes as corruption charges on Araxes and had been killed in the street for her troubles. Jade was the inspiration for this movement. To her, the writer of these letters ascribed the power of foreknowledge, ascertaining that Jade had known her own future and yet she did what had to be done. Jade still spoke to her followers and guided them.

It was millenarian in outlook in that held that the current times were dark and that society was fallen. Evil forces ruled the land and the people suffered. And yet a new dawn awaited at some vague point in the future, where justice and democracy would reign. Calina Tereshchenko was invited to become a beacon for this new dawn. Calina had a special place in their hearts. She had been Jade's dearest friend. Delegate Undercroft's campaign promises struck a chord with these democratic principles, hence the writer's exasperation with her for failing to live up to these ideals.

It was revolutionary in that it stressed human agency as the key to bringing about this utopian future. Araxes society, in particular its political landscape, were beyond reform. A radical transformation of society was required. While her followers might pray for a cleansing rain to wash away the evil and corruption from this dry, desert world, it was through human actions that this transformation would ultimately occur.

We had to earn this future.

Further, while Jade refused to spill blood or water in the pursuit of her political goals - and, in fact, she had worked within the law of the land - her followers warned that they would not be so bound.

Some would be saved. Of the six recipients of these letters, three of us were told that salvation awaited us. Again, this would happen through our own actions, not those of an divine intercessor. For example, I had to solve the murder of Jade Moonkill. My salvation lay in that direction.

No such offer of redemption was made to the Magistrate or Dr. Isaac of the USD. They would be swept aside with the coming tide. And as for Delegate Undercroft, there were no promises made to the woman who did not keep her promises.

----

My alarm began to beep softly but insistently.  

I set aside my work, stood and stretched beside the table. My coffee had grown cold.

It was June 2 now and the world had indeed changed, but not from the Jade Revolution…

I lay down on my bunk, fully clothed, and waited.



----

It was 0:43 when the first message came in.  It was from Dr. Moira Aristocrat. “I am to inform you that Audrey Aurotharius Wylder has been checked into the hospital in Albion City.”

Exactly three minutes later, I received a message from deep space.  This time, it was from Ardra. Three words.

*** It has begun. ***