Ignorance is Bliss

[exetus]

First off, if any of you are/were members of the Relic Forums, I first posted this story in one of the short story competitions (back in 2008). Second, I hope that my writing style isn't too weird. Third, please enjoy!

 

Ignorance Is Bliss

 

There wasn’t much that Adris and Peltan didn’t know about their country. Murento was a member of a number of other provinces that made up the country of Nuriman, a large island nation that was surrounded by the harsh seas of Isamar II. There were other nations on the planet, that much the schola had told them, but that was as far as the teaching went. As for the province of Murento itself, there was little not to love about it. Deep forests, caves to explore, plentiful water and a warm year-round climate made it ideal for raising vast crops of grains and other produce.

 

At each harvest, the two young friends would watch the large land carriers come in with their foreign crews and the funny-looking man wearing red robes with a stylish skull/robot design set on a cog pendant. He never talked to the boys when they tried to speak to him, but after their first efforts, a pair of large men with wires sticking from them had moved to prevent them from coming any closer. They stank of oils and looked rather unhealthy but were big enough that the boys daren’t ask them about why, not that they talked anyways, they just stared ahead.

 

Both Adris and Peltan were your typical young men who were not yet at the age of adults. Their duties amongst the large grain farms were negligible and after their studies, they were mostly free to do as they pleased for at least another year or two and so, being boys, they ran off into the woods with their friends and played war games, based off of the tales that the village ancient told them at the harvest festivals. Oh how they longed to go fight. Ancient Zima told of battles amongst the stars where more men than they could count fought wars against alien enemies with hundreds of claws or hyper-advanced weaponry, but no matter the odds, the humans always won. “The Imperium endures, forever!” he had said and the boys believed him. And so it came to pass that they would fight out these stories and there was always a fight after the “aliens” were chosen, because no one wanted to lose.

 

“Adris, this is not fair! You played the General Allima and the Glorious Armies of Mankind the last three times! Give another a chance. You cannot always be on the winning side!” Peltan didn’t care which side he was on, because he always won his duels… he would accept “heroic death” if it meant glory in “life” during their mock battles. Eltor, however, hated losing and he had been picked to play the enemies of man eight times in a row. No one else had played on Mankind’s side as much as Adris. “Adris, come, let Eltor play as Mankind at least once this week! Everyone rotates… that’s the rules!”

 

“Come now Peltan, if little Eltor wants to play as General Allima, then he needs to tell me himself or, better yet, take the staff from me to prove he deserves it!” The staff was but a whittled stick that the boys had painted to represent the power rod that the General had carried on his campaign to cleanse the stars of the alien menace. “If he can take the staff from me, then I will gladly step down and play as the enemy! Eltor, come! Come depose me!”

 

It was a no-win situation for Eltor. The smallest of the group, he had no chance of besting Adris and so he just sighed and shook his head. One day, he thought, …one day I shall make him pay for always bossing me around! The smaller child simply took up his “gun” and walked off, dejected.

 

“Adris! Give him the rod, he deserves it!”

 

Adris laughed at his friend and stayed exactly where he was atop a rock so he could look down on all the other children. “Peltan, if he can’t take it, why should I let him? He’s weak! He’s lucky we let him play at all! I tell you what… since you two are such good friends, YOU come and take it from me!”

 

“Oohs” and “aahs” came from the few dozen children who were around. A challenge! Fights were common, but rarely were they a completely even match. Adris and Peltan, however, were as close as it would come to choosing the exact same fighter against the other. Both were larger boys and both were fast and smart. They would make fine militia some day if they chose to pursue that path.

 

“Fine, Adris, I’ll fight you but if I win, then you have to be on the losing side for an entire month and Eltor plays as Mankind!”

 

“Bring it, swine’s breath!” jeered his friend as he hopped off of the rock and tossed the “rod” to one of the other kids encircling the two best friends.

 

“Always an insult from you, grox-brains!” shot back Peltan and the two charged, each tackling the other, colliding and crashing to the ground. A wild swing from Adris went high and Peltan slammed his fist into his friend’s ribs, blasting the air from him and causing him to gasp for a second and then grin at the well-aimed blow. If nothing else, both Adris and Peltan loved a challenge.

 

Adris came back in, acting as if he were feinting right to go left, but instead kept coming right. Peltan didn’t fall for it and moved to his right lashing out with his fist, but knowing that Adris would dodge it. As his friend warded off the blow, he stepped into the block, grabbed the blocking arm and put his hip into Adris’ pulling suddenly and tossing the other boy over his shoulder. His friend’s startled yell caused the other kids to laugh until Adris slammed into the ground and deep, resounding “boom” echoed throughout the clearing. They all stared at the fallen Adris and the stunned Peltan who had both stopped moving and were looking in horror at their feet.

 

All around them, the ground was sagging and leaves and dirt were sifting away through fissures that had sprung up. “Adris, get back! All of you, back up!” shouted Peltan, but all of the children were rooted to the ground, staring in fright. Only little Eltor moved, grabbing a rope that they used in their games and slinging it around a tree, grabbing the other end to anchor and throwing the loose end to the two boys in the center.

 

“Grab on!” Peltan and Adris scrambled for the rope, the ground heaving beneath them as another echoing “boom” sounded in the open area, shaking the earth beneath the kids and knocking many off of their feet. As the two friends grabbed onto the rope, a sudden “crack” shot through the air and a huge slab of earth flipped into the air, tossing youths from the heaving area and revealing a yawning hole, blacker-than-the-black. Stale air, dense with ancient particles shot into the air, making the youths choke with the musk before settling and allowing them to catch their collective breath.

Adris and Peltan scrambled along the rope but Eltor couldn’t hold it and there was no help from the other kids. He grabbed frantically, trying to stop the end from slipping from his grasp.

 

“Adris! Peltan! I can’t hold to the other end! I can’t keep us from falling!” He finally let go of the tighter end grasped the free end with both hands, hanging from it as the ground continued to heave and the earth the tree was lodged in broke free as well, lifting into the sky, leaving all three children dangling from the tree by the rope, Adris and Peltan on one end and Eltor on the other, sliding towards the trunk and the two heavier boys were too much of a weight on the other side of the rope.

 

“Eltor, let go! Save yourself!” cried Peltan as he fought the panic of the gaping hole while Adris struggled to keep ahold of the rope, nodding at his friend’s advice. For all his bullish ways, he did not wish Eltor to die should he and Peltan perish. “Yes Eltor! You will always have our thanks for trying, but do what you can to save yourself and the others!” But it was too late… the slab of earth broke free of the roots and detritus, flipping into the air and sending all three boys, to the horror of the other children, into the now gaping chasm that had formed.

 

They stared about themselves in shock… two others had disappeared, but Adris, Peltan and Eltor had all vanished into the hole. One of the young girls bled from a heavy cut over her brow and four were unconscious and they knew they had to get help so, as a group, they collected their injured friends and made their way back to the village with their tale of tragedy.

 

● ● ●

 

The darkness seemed absolute as Peltan awoke, his head throbbing. He could feel a trickle of blood along the left side of his face, but nothing seemed broken. Everything ached and the air was heavy and still. He reached about him, searching for something to use to guide his way when he felt the giving form of another body. Adris! Eltor!

He moved his hands along the body until he found the shoulders and he shook them lightly. “Adris… Eltor? Are you ok?” The body stirred and groaned, but made no other acknowledgement. Peltan continued to make an assessment, feeling that nothing seemed broken and deducing that this was, indeed, his friend Adris. He fumbled about in the darkness trying to find a safe place to prop his friend when he hand came across something he hadn’t expected… a… grate?

 

A coughing and scraping noise to his left caused him to start and he stared into the blackness. “Eltor!” he hissed, “is that you?” There was a paused in the movement before it began again. “Eltor? Please tell me that it’s you, little friend…” The scraping continued and sweat broke out on Peltan’s brow as his fear mounted.

 

He continued to search frantically for something and came across a branch and remembered the fire starter in his pocket and hurriedly tried to set the bough alight. The flames from the starter flickered and he could only catch a glimpse of the movement beyond the feeble radius of light, but it served only to heighten his panic. His starter finally caught on the edge of the bough and he held it before him, trying to encourage the flame to grow and provide him light. It started small but then, as the leaves dried in the heat, the branch exploded into light and he stared in shock before him.

 

Eltor was dragging himself closer, his throat a mass of bruising which indicated why he had not answered and his eyes shone with pain as he tried to get closer to Peltan. Peltan, however, did not help his younger friend for he was affixed to his location in awe. Eltor didn’t understand why Peltan was not helping him, though he realized that the older boy’s gaze was locked onto something behind him. As he tried to turn to see what it was, he hissed in pain and a gurgle came from his lips in agony, shaking Peltan out of shock.

 

“Eltor, oh my gods! I am so sorry!” He rushed to the smaller child’s aid and helped him beside Adris who was still unconscious and then evaluated both in the light of his burning branch. Eltor had clearly broken a leg and maybe some ribs. Adris had a huge lump the size of a guarna melon sticking from his head and had heavy bruising around it, possibly a concussion.

 

In the failing light of the limb, Peltan hurriedly collected the splintered wood of the trees that had fallen with them into the pit and built a fire within the reach of Eltor. “Eltor, you must maintain the fire. I will search around this place and see if I can find a way out. And then… well… then we must tell the ancient and the village elders of that.” And in the brighter light afforded by the now roaring fire, Eltor’s eyes opened in shock as well…

A mass of metal lay twisted and broken, but still massive as it formed a huge wall in front of the youths ending in a sharp point with the other side of the wall vanishing into the dark. They were in a large cavern beneath the ground and the wall of metal soared into the heights where the faint light provided by the opening in which they had fallen shone upon the uppermost parts. The bluish tint lent by the light edged the massive beak of an eagle’s head, giving it the appearance that it was looking down, disapprovingly on the three young men below. Dirt still cascaded down from the edges of the hole far above and lent an eerie mist to the massive shape of the wall.

 

Peltan had never sent the like before and for a few minutes he just kept looking at the mass before him. It was the gurgle from Eltor that once again brought him back to the present and he looked to his two friends once more before grabbing a few branches as torches and wrapping the torn remnants of one of the children’s capes that had fluttered down with them around the sticks to provide a better torch and light. Lighting one, he moved off into the dark, the shadows cast by the torch dancing like sinister spirits waiting to consume him.

 

As he edged farther away from his friends, Peltan felt a renewed sense of purpose start to override his fears. He had to find a way to rescue them both or they would perish here beneath the earth. It was his job to make sure that they were all safe as he was the only one capable of doing anything. I must make sure that I can at least get help for my friends… and what must be inside of this? It appears to be the work of men… that hatch over there… that’s the right height and I can recognize the letters, but not the words. Maybe there is help inside!

 

Peltan moved to the hatch that was at a level he could reach and pushed as hard as he could, but it wouldn’t budge. He saw a panel with some buttons and looked around him to ensure that Tech Adept Monsur wasn’t around. Whenever he tried to mess with machinery in the village, it seemed that the Tech Adept was always there to berate him which always earned him a stern beating from his father. When he saw no one around, he started pushing buttons. A faint light kicked on and he heard a slight whirr, but then the panel went dark and no matter what he did, he couldn’t bring the light back. ;), I’ve broken it! I’ll find another way in and act like I’ve not been here before… the last thing I need is another beating.

 

The young man continued to search for a way into the massive wall, his first torch guttering as it ran out of cloth and wood to burn. He pulled the second from his waist and lit it before tossing the spent torch upon the ground and moved on. The rivets were strong and the metal as well, but the rust was everywhere and Peltan knew that whatever this was had been trapped underground for a long time. He muttered a brief prayer to his gods as he continued on, hoping that any spirits that had died when this thing had been buried would be appeased. He almost missed the opening as he finished his prayer, but his foot struck the uneven edge of sheet metal and he stumbled to the ground with a cry of terror, his torch flying from his hands.

 

His skinned knee burned and he knew that if it had gotten any rust it in, he must see the medicae for a shot. He had accidentally fallen on a rusty nail when he was younger and the medicae had given him a painful injection that he’d rather not go through again. In the dying light of the torch, he looked at his knee, but it looked none the worse for the wear and when he picked up the torch, it flared back to life and he saw the opening in the metal. Eyes wide, he poked the torch in and heard and saw the flight of the critters that had inhabited the metal structure.

 

Nodding that it was safe if there were small creatures inside, he pushed farther into the rent metal and saw that the opening widened with beams crossing here and there and old wiring tightly bundled against the metal sheets between the rivets. Awestruck, he continued to push on, delving deeper into the metal mass, the air growing more and more stale, but breathable. His torch only shone a few feet in front of him, but with the clutter, that was all he needed anyhow.

Rust fell from the girders as he moved by them and he grimaced as he coughed up a lungful of the red air. He needed to get beyond this somehow. He kept moving until he sensed, rather than saw, the opening to his right and he moved the torch to the area, showing a large grate covering. He frowned as he thought of the metal grates he had seen in the village, for they were too strong to break, but maybe because of the rust… he kicked hard and the grate flew into the interior beyond and Peltan smiled.

 

He knelt and thrust the torch into the dark which revealed a long passageway the led to both the left and right but was almost perfectly preserved. There was little to no rust on the walls and a lubricant came off on his fingers when he touched the surface. He raised an eyebrow… Has someone been here recently? He moved more cautiously now and as he took a step, he heard the unmistakable sound of metal falling and hitting metal from not too far to his left.

 

Scared, he ran to the right as fast as his feet could carry him, the sound growing more faint, but regular… the sound of footsteps! He continued to run until he couldn’t hear anything else and his torch slowly brightened back up as he slowed down, chest heaving with exertion. He leaned against a wall and shouted out in surprise as the wall hissed and gave way, tumbling him into a room where he sprawled across the floor and lost his torch again, watching it bounce off into the dark. As it flew from his hands, he caught brief glimpses of the room around him, shelves of tomes, screens and wooden furniture.

 

He groaned as he lay on the ground and then started as the door hissed shut. As he rolled over and moved to his knees, Peltan suddenly grabbed at his ears as a piercing shriek went off. Light sprang into the room as a series of blue nimbuses flared to life around the now visible cases of books and parchments, data stacks and cogitators. Peltan himself was encased in a blue shield that he couldn’t get out of, no matter how hard he struck at it. Outside of the shield he suddenly heard a calm voice and a sharp hiss.

 

“All library occupants please remain calm as the fire is extinguished.” He looked around for the source of the voice, but he could see none. The voice was clear and without static, so it could not have come from a radio or speaker, reasoned the youth. All around him, vents opened up powerful jets of gas quickly filled the room and the torch guttered out almost immediately. The vents then quit emitting gas and then, in a reversal, sucked the gas from the room. Peltan stood there in amazement, watching this all and then jumped again as the blue nimbus around him disappeared. He stood there in the dark, smelling the extinguished torch and was about to light another when a soft glow started to fill the room.

 

He continued to stand there as the lights slowly flickered on… well half of them, at least and revealed the room in its entirety. Desks lay in neat rows, fastened to the floor by heavy bolts, their aged wood well maintained, but still the lacquer was cracked. The chairs around them were solid, but their cushions and upholstery were tattered and rotting. The floor was clean of debris and the shelves immaculately clean and orderly. Ladders lay on rollers that could move around the great room which was larger than any the young man had ever before been in. Peltan didn’t know what to do and so continued to just look around.

 

When the door hissed open again, he jumped and scrambled for a place to hide, reaching a ladder and climbing up it, smacking his face against one of the rungs in his haste. What came into the room next shocked and terrified him. A man-sized figure ambled in, its hands replaced with tools and a number of pumps providing a leaking trail of liquids. The flesh of the thing was gray and bruised, but largely intact though covered in now calcified lesions… it looked sick. With a whirring click, the thing moved through the room with a limp, its metal/flesh feet the sound Peltan had heard earlier. Cleaning the trail of fluids was a small machine with brushes, ensuring the floors were left unmarked by the passage of the servitor.

 

The youth continued to stare as the machine ambled over to the remains of the torch and gathered up the debris without saying a word or making a noise other than the leak of fluids and the creak of its joints… the shuffle of its limp. As the construct moved back to the entrance, it paused for the door to open and as it stepped through, a flickering image flashed in front of Peltan’s eyes, startling him and causing him to fall from his perch with a yelp.

 

He started at the apparition in fright and made a sign of warding as the image of a face tried to initialize. “Gr…gr…gr… greetin… ng master. Ple… ce your han… itor for …quencing and author… of access to this lib…” A small panel tried to open on the side of the ladder and after a few tries, the covering slid open to reveal a little glowing pad. “… eetings young master. Please pl… hand onto the monitor for… rization of access… this library.”

 

Peltan was terrified, but the voice was soothing and he understood the words except for library… he’d never heard that one before, so he reached out his hand and placed it on the monitor that had opened and gasped as a small current shocked him, causing him to jerk his hand back. He stared at his hand, but there were no marks and he backed away from the monitor.

 

“Young master… cords indicate that you a… the descen… Lord Altair of Eurynix… please confirm.” Peltan didn’t know what else to say and so he just mumbled a tentative, “yes?”

The scrambled ghostly face went away.

Peltan sighed in relief.

 

“Young Lord of Eurynix, please come this way for your morning lesson!” Peltan screamed and spun around, staring into the eyes of an old man standing his height. He once again made a sign of warding and pressed up against a stack of tomes with a few tumbling to the floor. He looked at the figure from head to toe in fear, but it stood there looking at him expectantly and in amusement. “If you are quite through with the thea… ng man, please follow me to begin your morning lesson.”

 

It was only then that Peltan realized that the figure was but an image. A ghost? He put his hand into the image and it wavered, but did not feel cold as the stories had said about spirits, nor did it move to attack him in any way. “If you are quite through with the theatrics, young man, please follow me to be… esson.” And without a clue as what else to do, Peltan followed the apparition to a terminal, his curiosity getting the better of him as the spirit had said “lesson” twice now, so evidently, he was expected to learn.

 

Peltan sat down at the terminal and stared as it flickered to life…

 

● ● ●

 

Four hours later, Peltan knew what he had to do to save his friends and ran from the room with his newly acquired knowledge, following the maze of corridors of the giant vessel. It was an interstellar colony ship, he had learned, capable of travelling beyond the stars It was thousands of years old and had crash landed upon this planet, disgorging its savior pods to save the settlers as its plasma core had ruptured, venting deadly gasses throughout the entire hull and killing many before the others could make their escape. Peltan’s family had been amongst the survivors that had made it to the surface and started their life anew… the Lord of Eurynix reduced to commoner by the fate that had befallen the starship.

 

None had known where the vessel had crashed and, indeed, at the time of the crash, the cavern had been underwater, but a massive earthquake had lifted land and the vessel had become landlocked beneath the tons of shifting earth that was now above the sea level, though this much, Peltan did not understand. What he did know was that there were things on board that were still good that could help his friends and so, with that knowledge, he ran to them and out of an open escape hatch.

 

They remained where he had left them and the shame of his leaving them for so long filled Peltan’s heart with grief, but now they would not die!

 

“Peltan!” cried Adris, “You’ve come back!”

 

“Oh Adris! You wouldn’t believe what I have learned and what knowledge we can take back to the village! We will be heroes! Eltor too!”

 

Adris had awakened not too long after Peltan had left, a splitting headache preventing him from getting up initially. It had subsided, however, and he had spent the rest of his time tending to the much more severely injured Eltor who had nearly died to protect him even with all the abuse he had heaped upon him. Eltor was weak from loss of blood, but he still lived and between the two, Adris and Peltan made a litter on which to carry him, Peltan leading the way back into the massive ship.

 

“Adris, it is a spaceship! It is capable of travelling to the stars and beyond! It is thousands of years old and it is how our people came to be here!”

 

Adris, of course, had his doubts. “A space ship? Who thinks of such things? And why, if it is meant to travel the stars, is it here, beneath the ground?”

“It crashed and because of the contamination, our people could not come to get the things they had lost. They also did not know where it had crashed! Now we know where it is and with what this ship can teach us, we can improve life by so much! I found this place called a library that is full of wondrous information. Hundreds upon hundreds of books and it still has power because the generator for the library is not the same for this ship. Its… plasma, I think it was called, is still generating power. There are caretakers that look human, but are not! They aren’t really alive, but they keep this place running. They look sick and some are broken or aren’t working completely, but enough are left that could take care of the library! After we have treated you and Eltor, you MUST come to learn as well!”

 

And so it was that Peltan, led his best friend Adris and their young companion Eltor to the Library of the Ancients where they spent over three days learning until finally attempting to make their way back to the surface, emerging from a cave not too far from the village after Peltan had travelled far and wide to find a way out, finally seeing where a stream was flowing into the cavern and tracing it back to where it entered the dark. The ship had taught him that much… he had pored endlessly over geological texts of underground caves in an attempt to find an escape route for the three. When they came forth, Eltor still on a litter, albeit a much better one from the materials of the vessel, they came upon a dejected search party, one of many who had given up on finding the children alive. They were armed with “lasguns” that had been in the sealed armory and had stayed alive in the dark by killing the large rodents that were within the cavern and cooking them, drinking the fresh water that flowed past in the stream. They had also discovered that the colony ship was many kilometers long… a feat of engineering none believed until they saw it themselves.

 

They were heroes, but Tech Adept Mansur had mysteriously disappeared shortly after their arrival, though he was not missed. He was unnecessary now that the villagers had gleaned the knowledge of how to repair their machines for themselves and the schola began teaching the new sciences discovered in the library and children from the neighboring villages and towns would travel dozens of miles each morning and night, just to attend the school that they might learn the knew knowledges. The blights would not harm their crops anymore… fending off predators from livestock with lasguns would be so much easier… it was certain that the village would prosper greatly. They would hail the thirteen year-old Peltan as “the Discoverer.”

 

● ● ●

 

The wind was blowing gently along the ridge as Peltan and his two friends looked down upon their village. Business was doing well in the months after the discovery and already there were new inventions sputtering around in the fields to harvest the crops. Today’s lesson at the schola was one about artificial intelligences and computers and the children were fascinated. They were learning of how electronics worked and how it was possible to create machines that imitated intelligence, such as the learning machine that was being used to teach the schola instructors and Peltan, Adris and Eltor who had unrestricted access because they had found it.

But that was not all that was being taught. Curiosity was given as the impetus for change and discovery. “How could you ever know that which you did not before,” the learning machines queried, “if you do not ask questions? Knowledge is power! Learn all that you can, that you may better serve those whom you walk amongst.” And so there were questions about everything and slowly, the world became less one of mysticism and one of science… there was no faith but that of science. If you could not explain it, find a way, do not attribute anything to miracles. If there was a god to any of the village and the surrounding towns, it was that of Eurynaya, the fabled goddess of science of the world their ancestors had left so long ago.

 

Peltan and his two companions were now lost in the designs of one of the inactive servitors. They had it opened up and taken apart and were trying to figure out what it was that made the construct work. The bits of machine interspersed with the diseased, yet still living tissue was a puzzle. The poked and prodded and thus none heard the footsteps approaching, nor did they see the group of individuals coming along the path towards them. A loud clearing of the throat caused all three to look up in surprise which morphed rather quickly into masks of fear.

 

“Greetings, young masters!” The voice was cheery enough, but the countenance from which they had been uttered was anything but. The man who addressed them stood at an impressive height, towering over the three young boys and their dissected servitor with a manual bearing the seal of the Adeptus Mechanicus opened to a page describing the vascular system. “And what have we here?”

 

His accent was funny, but he spoke their dialect without error. Flowing black robes covered his shoulders and upper torso, opened at the neck to reveal the tiniest hint of armor beneath. His left arm lay casually at his side, his right hand rested upon the pommel of an ornate sword, sheathed in a scabbard of dark reds, whites and blacks. His legs were covered in black armor, edged in silver and on each kneecap was the golden image of a sun rising out of the darkness. His feet were shod in rugged boots.

 

But his face… his face held their attention; in specific his eyes. Icy pools of grey, framed by frowning brows and slight crow’s feet. A long scar ran from his forehead across his face to his mouth, but there appeared to be no lasting damage. His mouth seemed locked into an almost predatory smile of perfect white teeth. His face was so riveting that the boys did not even pay attention to the twenty heavily armed men who flanked him.

 

“I’ll ask again, younglings… what have we here?”

 

Adris was rooted to the spot in terror. Peltan didn’t know how exactly to respond. Eltor stood in defiance. “What does it look like, good sir? It is but a dysfunctional servitor. We are trying to figure out its workings that we may repair it to better serve us, praise Eurynaya!”

 

The other two youths looked at Eltor in shock. Not because of the content of his answer, but because he had answered at all. The small, shy youth he had been months ago when they had discovered the colony ship was gone, replaced by a young man with a solid grasp of science and the convictions to argue any point he felt valid. Was it not right to defend their good work here? Had they known the results of Eltor’s response, they would have beaten their friend in order to force him to hold his tongue.

 

“Praise Eurynaya, boy? Is that to whom you look for guidance? Who was it that taught you of such a being?” The predatory look was in full effect, but Eltor did not care.

 

“What does it matter? She blesses us with science that we may better understand the world. She guides us in life and she has provided us with a bounty of knowledge. I know of her through my own research as do we all here. I teach of her to those who would listen. To whom do YOU pray, good sir?”

 

For a moment, the imposing figure seemed taken aback by the choler of the youth’s response and he chuckled to himself before answering. “To the Emperor of all Mankind, foolish boy! To worship any other is heresy and I am charged with ensuring such an occurrence does not happen.”

 

Sensing that Eltor was in trouble, Adris stood up to defend his friend, but Peltan stood faster and pushed Eltor behind him. “I am the one who found the ship, whoever you are. I am the one who brought the knowledge to our village and beyond. Be gone if you have not come here to learn! By whose authority do you come here with such harsh words! The ancient and the other village elders shall hear of this!”

 

Another chuckle sounded from the man before the youths as he slowly brought his left hand up for them to see. As they looked closer, they saw a glittering ring on his finger with a stylized “I” on it, three lines cutting across the letter. “That same Emperor of Mankind to whom I pray and whom you serve by the very fact of your existence, whelp!” The ring meant nothing at all to them, but the sheer malevolence coming off of this man rang warning bells in all of their heads. “And what answer do you have for that? What answer do you have for a representative of the Emperor’s Holy Inquisition, youngling? What answer do you have for me, Inquisitor Patris Tirado?”

 

Inquisition! The learning machine had talked of inquisitions and they were fanatic examples of persecution throughout history and this man was a representative of just such a society! Their eyes wide in fright, the three turned to flee towards the village, but out shot the man’s hand, faster than could be imagined, grabbing Peltan by the throat, choking him with its steel grip.

 

“Peltan!” Adris leapt to break the hold by the Inquisitor and was then flying through the air, a broken mass of flesh with a hole the size of his head blasted through his chest. Eltor, too, turned to help free his older friend but Tirado’s backhand blow from the hand holding the smoking bolt pistol crashed into his skull and the youth crumpled to the ground in a heap.

 

“Peltan? You are the Peltan who found the fallen vessel and did not report it, in secrecy, to Tech Adept Mansur? You are the same Peltan who has encouraged the learning of knowledge banned by the Imperium? You are he who seeks, as is evidenced here, knowledge sacred to the Adeptus Mechanicus?” Peltan struggled to answer, but he could not with his throat being squeezed, not that it mattered anyhow. “Your denials do not interest me, heretic. You are charged with the fomenting of heresy against the Emperor of Mankind and his Imperium. Your knowledge and continued worship of a false idol forces me to name you Idolater and false prophet to the masses!

 

“You are subsequently charged with endeavoring to seek out forbidden knowledge as decreed by the Emperor’s Holy Inquisition. In addition, you have violated fourteen protocols and treaties between the Imperium and the Adeptus Mechanicus, safeguarding the secrets of the Mechanicus and the preservation of society due to restriction of knowledge.

 

“For your actions, I declare thee Heretic! Peltan the Deceiver, your crimes are numerous and by the power invested in me as an agent of the Divine Emperor’s Will, I sentence you to execution. Your heresies are an abomination to mankind and I shall see to it that the foul stench of your corruption shall not go further than this land! Look now, upon that which you have wrought!”

 

Patris Tirado, Inquisitor of the Ordo Hereticus, stood on the hilltop, his retinue behind him and held the disbelieving boy out over the hillside so that he could see the great plains and the various villages within few miles. At first he could see nothing, but the beautiful land before him and tears started to cascade down his cheeks as he thought of his two dead friends whom he was sure he would follow into death. Then he caught a flash from above and looked skywards in time to see a lance of light streak from the heavens and slam into his home where his mother was no doubt cooking supper and his father was most likely playing with his two little sisters. When the smoke cleared and the motes of light stopped dancing before his eyes, a smoking crater was all that was left of his family and home. As he started to cry out, more lances struck from the heavens and, in that moment, Peltan saw his entire world vanish.

 

He screamed in rage and terror but then settled into a shocked silence as other villages within sight vanished beneath the fires from heaven as well. The clouds boiled away as the lance strikes seared through them and a firestorm washed across the grasslands, engulfing hundreds of workers, livestock and homes that were outside the boundaries of the villages and town.

 

“This is the work you have wrought, Peltan the Deceiver. You have brought this upon your world and you have forced my hand. Your heresy ends here, traitor of all mankind. Would that you had simply revealed the location of your colony ship, that those privileged to such knowledge could have ascertained their dangers. Your zeal for that which is forbidden is what has ended all that you know. I remand you into the light of the Emperor. May he have mercy upon your soul, heretic. Have you anything to say before this servant of the Emperor?”

 

“I… I…” Peltan couldn’t get the words out, “I…” and finally as he gathered himself enough to speak, he screamed. “I DIDN’T KNOW! I… WE… WE ARE ALL INNOCENT! HOW WERE WE SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT KNOWLEDGE WAS FORBIDDEN!?!?! WE ARE INNOCENT, DAMN YOU! ...Innocent… innocent... inno...” and Peltan broke down into heaving sobs, physically and emotionally spent.

 

Inquisitor Patris Tirado looked down at the youth, contemplating the shattered soul that sat in a crumpled heap amidst the sea of flames and smoke that swirled about the base of the hill. He knelt down and lifted the boy’s chin with his left hand, his eyes grabbing that of the child’s with their intensity and yet within them was a hint of compassion. “There is no such thing as innocence, youngling, only degrees of guilt.”

 

Peltan wasn’t even aware of the single shot from the bolt pistol as it erupted from his upper back and ended his life. All he knew was a bright light that engulfed him and his misery was at an end.

 

The inquisitor picked up the youth’s shattered form and threw it down the hill to burn with the rest of Nuriman. “Ignorance is bliss…”

[Taranis]

A truly great story about the dark side of our empire and a clear link to our past.

It's one of the best I've read in several months! Thank you.

[exetus]

Glad you liked it... had to get away from power-armored supermen for a change.

[Dorns Padawan]

That is a very intersting story mate, I really like it! Certainly shows the cruelness of the Imperium. Very nicely done!