“Well?”

“Still nothing…”

“I see…”

Shankh dropped down heavily on the sofa and let the cigarette smoke she’d been holding in her mouth out in a single puff. For a few painfully prolonged by their psychological perspective of time moments, a very unpleasant, tense silence engulfed their entire quarters. Finally, one of the black haired women, who had leaned on the wall on the other side of the room gave off a nervous cough and said:

“General… I believe it is evident that the situation calls for an urgent decision to be made. And since the D’hivan is unavailable to make it, our Code of War decrees that you can do so instead.

Shankh took a sip from her glass, then, with a powerful wave of her forearm threw it at the wall directly ahead, where the heavy crystal broke loudly in thousands of small pieces.

“Don’t you think I know that, Colonel Raedzh’ip? Do you think that I can think of anything other than finding a way to continue our Sacred Deed against these blasphemous infidels?” She reinforced her statement by spitting on the floor. “Nevertheless, we have order and a chain of command which we must adhere to.”

And for another moment, the unpleasant silence returned, full force. This time it was Zeb who broke it:

“Unless…”

“Unless?!” Four pairs of black eyes turned towards the young lieutenant with enough force to give her whiplash.

“Unless the date is rotten from the inside”, Shakh’s voice rescued the smaller woman.

“Wait,” Raedzh’ip started. “Do you think…”

“It matters little what I think.” The general cut her off. “The only thing that matters now and forever more is the Deed.”

“But… we lost the machine”, one of the other two women in the room, who had been silent so far, muttered as if to herself. Her name was Alla.

The general got out of her seat with the speed of a sand storm and with the gathered momentum jumped on the metalline dining table in the middle of the common room. She looked at each and every one of her subordinates from up there to ensure she had their full attention, before speaking again:

“Yes, we lost the machine! We did! And so what? Did we not achieve enough with it as a start? Are those wretched Kriyan abominations out there not wallowing in despair and the ruins of their own destructive debauchery? Are they not crying, mourning their fallen ones, are they not beginning to see that their ways are unnatural, that they go against the will of our Goddess Mother?” She took the solemn silence of her colleagues as invitation to go on. “WE achieved this! We did this to them! We succeeded, although not nearly at the scale we initially planned, to break down their little house of cards. Is that not what the Sacred Deed is all about?”

“Wait…” Zeb drawled out. “Are you suggesting…”

Shankh cut her off with an impatient wave of her hand:

“I do not suggest. I command. The only thing I’m suggesting is that perhaps we are but a few of the last remaining sane women on this debauched planet. I only suggest that the D’hivan is perhaps not as pure as it once used to be. This maybe so, or it may not be. And we may never find out. But that is beside the point now.” The general looked and each one of them again to check their faces for any trace of doubt in her words. “But of one thing I am sure of, enough to wager my promised Gift in the Underworld – you know I am right. You are sure of it. You know as well as I do what needs to happen now. We’ve wounded the Kriyan beast and we must not stop now!”

Shankh fell silent a moment, relishing in the approving nods of her subordinates, before continuing:

“And if we are truly, as I fear, the last remaining True Believers, then that makes our mission all the more critical! Then that means that the salvation of this blasphemous planet falls squarely upon our shoulders. And could there be a greater honour and a more deserving calling for you than this?”

The general let the devout exclamations of her colleagues wash over her and she allowed a crooked little smile to twist her lips. Oh, yes, the infidels had seen but the beginning…

******************************

“There he is!” The whisper started in the back rows, but was amplified by each boy and man who echoed it.

The tall slender figure dressed in a heavy silver robe walked among the gathered citizens with the valour and magnificence of all the women who ever ruled on Alaiah. His gaze didn’t drift neither to the left, nor to the right, his eyes were focused directly ahead, glued to the podium that his supporters had put together, apparently in a rush, but still efficiently enough to serve his purpose this evening. Stepping onto the makeshift stage, he pulled the wide hood of his robe back, to reveal himself to his large audience. A pair of icy cold, almost alien to this world eyes, roamed every single face around, before he spoke:

“Brothers mine! The time has come! Each and every one of you is here tonight, because you have begun to see the simple truth – see past the delusion which was drilled into our heads since a very young age by the matriarchy. Our ladies, through their female-centric propaganda have but one goal – to keep us weak, disinformed and at the service of them – our ladies, who claim to be the only ones to be able to master the Gifts!” His cold eyes did another inquisitive sweep through his audience. “Fear not! For you and I know they are wrong. For are we not flesh of their flesh? Are we not blood of their blood? Is it not our blood the vessel of our Goddess and her strength?”

The quire of voices began chanting affirmations in a couple of local dialects.

“Then I ask you – what kind of deity would grant part of its subject immense power while leaving the others defenceless in the face of their cruel Fate? Does it not befit a merciful goddess, as our perfect mother Aliah surely is, to extend a helping hand to those of us who had been wronged and neglected for millennia in their own homes, in their own communities?”

The chanting returned, gaining power like a heavy wave, foreshadowing the inevitable high tide. He allowed a smile of dark satisfaction to wash over his features, which he managed to quickly transform into one of empathy and understanding.

The fatigue from the long journeys had finally caught up to him, much as he was loathe to admit it. The long nights spent in various vehicles were not conducive to good sleep and its absence was making him irritable and unfocused. The two things he could not afford to be right now. Not when they were so close to the goal.

When he thought about it, things couldn’t have fallen into place better if he had planned. The state of the world now was so unstable, that his immensely ambitious plan had a very real chance of succeeding. While the current ladies of Aliah were caught up in their power struggles, depleting their psychological strength, his movement and him could thrive, relatively undisturbed right up to the point where even if one of the women in power realized what was going on, she would have neither the resources, nor the ability to stop him.

To achieve the unthinkable… He allowed a fanciful expression on his face, which he had not had in many years. He sometimes wondered if his life had worked out differently, perhaps the way he had wanted it so long ago, would he still end up doing the same thing he was now? He was spending a lot of time thinking about that recently – what part of the things each sentient being does are truly of their own choosing and what part of them were no more than a reaction to circumstance?

And did that matter in the end? For if we believe that sentient beings have a more or less stable psychological drive, which has a given set of qualities and resources, are not reactions to circumstance fairly predictable? Doesn’t that mean that different life events just allow certain abilities and strengths, already available to the individual to simply surface, when needed?

He shook his head. He had allowed his mind to drift away from the present again. Returning quickly to the here and now, he grabbed the microphone again and his voice echoed over the gathered crowd:

“For what are we if not castaways from Fate’s mercy? What are we if not an ill-fated brotherhood, gathered here in an attempt to turn the wheel of fortune in our favour? Fear not, my brothers! The big sisters have dominated us long enough!” He paused, partly to clear his dry throat and partly – for dramatic effect. “Tell me – what is going to happen now?”

“Big brother is coming!” The quire of voices roared in response.

Oh yes. Watch out, sisters, watch out as best you can. For I am coming. I’m coming to tell you you’re wrong. That we won’t play by your rules anymore. That every citizen of Aliah has his own path and will which cannot be suppressed any longer.

Watch out… As best you can. Big brother is coming!