The Owner of the Crown: 3. The Ultimate Battle – Opening Chapters

1

OLIVIA

DR PEARSON’S PARTY were excited to start boarding Captain Palmer’s Global Space Control shuttle craft.

They found themselves spilling into a small featureless circular entrance area. Almost everything was polished metal, the ceiling, the walls and the floor. However, a more careful examination revealed, among other things, ceiling lights, wall cupboards, and a rectangular door that must have led farther into the shuttle craft.  

When they were all safely inside the shuttle craft’s entrance area, its entrance door swished to a close behind them, shutting out the Sacrificial Area and the horror of all the sacrifices they had recently witnessed there.

“Welcome to Explorer 1,” said Captain Palmer, with his typical huge friendly Hollywood smile. “This is the starship Epic’s largest shuttle craft. Think of it as a small starship capable of faster than light speeds and teleportation. Its computer ain’t too bad either.”

Mrs Cookson and the pupils looked highly impressed. Whereas Dr Pearson took Captain Palmer’s words in his stride as he already had knowledge of Explorer 1 still embedded firmly in his brain from his previous reality-shift dream visit to the Epic, where he had taken on his counterpart Dr Pearson’s role as the Science Officer of the Epic.

“So where are we going?” asked Captain Palmer, picking out Dr Pearson’s face among the sea of faces giving him their full attention. “I know we’ll be visiting Herados. But I don’t know the route I should be taking. The need-to-know basis, and all that.”

“Azrael told me that you are to take the Piewater Wormhole,” answered Dr Pearson. “You are to veer to the Galactic Left on entry, and on exit we should be within minutes of Herados.”

“Yes, that would be the case,” said Captain Palmer. “I’ve taken that route a few times in the past. Well, I’m gonna get underway immediately as time is of the essence. Once we enter the wormhole, no time will be lost from your solar system outside the wormhole’s point of entry. Did Azrael tell you that?”

“Yes,” said Dr Pearson.

“Good. So the moment we enter the wormhole you can fill me in on the latest situation from your point of view. And then I’ll tell you what’s been happening from my end of things. It will take us about two hours to travel through the wormhole.”

Captain Palmer looked about the party …

“It’s very nice to meet you all,” he said. “Of course, I have met Mrs Cookson and Nicola Berlin before … Hey, where is Nicola?”

“She’s dead,” said Erica proudly. “But divin’t bother yourself cryin’, man. She’s in the afterlife world of Heaven. That’s one of the reasons we’re ganin to Herados.”

“Holy cow,” exclaimed Captain Palmer. “That’s good news, as I’ve heard the ‘dead’ can now be recovered from the afterlife worlds by simply feeding them a fresh supply of oxygen. It’s just as well I have a good supply of spacesuits on this shuttle craft. Saves using the duplicator.”

“That’s good to hear,” said Dr Pearson, “because Nicola is not the only one that we need to recover.”

“Ah, I see,” said Captain Palmer. “Okay, everyone, follow me to the bridge of Explorer 1. Once we’re in the wormhole, you can tell me all about it. However Nicola died, knowing her as I do, there’s bound to be an incredible story behind it.”

Dr Pearson and his party followed behind Captain Palmer as he walked up to the closed rectangular door. He did not break his stride and looked as if he was about to crash right into the closed door … But the door slid open a few strides before he reached it. So off everyone trundled along the corridors of Explorer 1 heading towards its bridge. Although the walls and ceilings of the corridors were showing off a familiar polished metal, a tough maroon carpet covered their floors.

“It’s just me on Explorer 1, by the way,” said Captain Palmer as he marched through an open-arched doorway into a spacious bridge. “I was told I couldn’t trust anyone else from Global Space Control,” he added as he quickly took a seat at a circular console desk in the centre of the spacious box-shaped room. “Yeah, I couldn’t even trust Dr Pearson’s counterpart. Don’t sweat it though; I’m more than capable of piloting the spacecraft on my own. And if the worst came to the worst, any one of you could probably pilot the craft yourself by simply discussing the matter with Olivia.”

“Who’s Olivia?” asked Martin, sweeping a hand through his jet-black hair. He did not look too dissimilar from a miniature Captain Palmer. “I thought you said you were the only one on board?”

“Olivia is Explorer 1’s computer. What I should have said is that I am the only biological lifeform on board.”

“Eeee, is the computer alive then?” asked Alana with a concerned look on her face.

“Difficult to tell,” admitted Captain Palmer. “If she is, probably not in the same way we are. But of course, what does being alive really mean? I’m beginning to think whatever makes us alive is nothing to do with the standard atoms we are made of. But as I’m not a man of serious science, I’m just going to roll with it. Perhaps Olivia has these non-atomic qualities that make her alive.”

“You must have asked her if she’s alive,” said Dr Pearson. “What does she think?”

“I think I am,” said a pleasing feminine voice from some unseen speakers. This took Dr Pearson and his party a little by surprise.

“Eeee, man,” exclaimed Molly, more or less on behalf of herself and the rest of the party.

“Don’t you feel lonely not being able to leave the shuttle craft?” asked Alana with her typical concerned, caring look.

“Not in the slightest,” said Olivia. “Furthermore, I am able to leave the shuttle craft. Captain, may I take my humanoid form and enter my wireless mode?”

“Sure, go ahead,” answered Captain Palmer sneaking a look at a cupboard door to his left.

The cupboard door opened …

Out stepped a beautiful long blond-haired android, indistinguishable from a human. She had a broad smile on her face. She could easily pass as Agatha Cookson’s sister. Both six foot one inches tall. Both blond-haired beauties.

“Hi,” said Olivia, approaching the party with graceful steps. “If I hesitate from time to time, it will be because I am undertaking a complicated shuttle craft operation. Moreover, I’ll just say that although it is easier to test me for trustworthiness there is no guarantee that I am indeed trustworthy. I could be compromised without even knowing it. Perhaps I may be carrying a sleeper virus or some such similar programming code. But both myself and Captain Palmer and the head of Global Space Control believe that to be highly unlikely. I’m certainly less likely to be less trustworthy than Captain Palmer himself. But let’s face it, at some point you have to take some things on trust. Otherwise you’d simply go mad.”

“Do you work with binary code?” asked Martin, looking quite curious, having recovered from the initial shock of the physical presence of Olivia.

“Parts of me do. But the huge majority of my brain, so to speak, uses matrix code. In other words, it’s quantum-computing based.”

“Can you cry?” asked Alana.

“Indeed, I can. I have the full array of human emotions. Sometimes I get too emotional. But thankfully, I do not let it interfere with my duties.”

“Do you actually get paid by Global Space Control for working as the Explorer 1 computer?” asked Andrew, his slightly fierce sky-blue eyes full of interest beneath his raised eyebrows.

“Yes. I get a handsome salary. My annual monetary credits are not quite up to Captain Palmer’s soaring heights. But they are on a par with his Science Officer’s, the counterpart Dr Pearson.”

“What would your equivalent salary be in my world’s terms?” pushed Andrew. Money was of great interest to him as it was to all the Geordie pupils. This was because for all of them it was something their families struggled to own or earn any of. They did, after all, come from the most sociologically and economically deprived area of the country.

“Can I tell them what our salaries are in their terms, Captain?”

“Sure. But can you just engage the drive that we determined for the Piewater Wormhole?”

“Of course,” replied Olivia.

Immediately, Dr Pearson and his party felt a slight judder beneath their feet and they saw through the bridge windows, the stars start to spiral and continuously change colour.

“Gosh,” said Dr Pearson. “Although I have some memories in my mind of the space shuttle, I had no idea its driving mechanism was different from the Epic, as it must be judging by the sight of the stars through the windows.”

“Yeah. The Explorer 1 actually uses one of the latest driving technologies. Basically, this enables smaller driving mechanisms—engines if you like—to produce an almost analogous speed. We can reach speeds of up to 20% of that possible by the Epic. Believe me, for our size that makes us incredibly speedy. And of course, if we are in close proximity to the Epic, we can match its speed with a hyperlock manoeuver.”

“Impressive,” said Dr Pearson.

“So impressive that we will be entering the Piewater Wormhole in less than five minutes,” interjected Olivia.

“Blimey, is the wormhole that close to the Earth?” asked Dr Pearson.

“It’s not even in the same universe, Dr Pearson,” said Captain Palmer. “Don’t forget, you entered an inter-dimensional portal from your Earth. We’re in my home universe.”

“Of course,” said Dr Pearson. “I guess there are so many universes in this Omniverse of Multiverses, that such an obvious matter slipped my mind.”

“There are not as many realities as you might think, though,” put in Olivia.

“Really?” questioned Melanie. She was interested in anything ghostly and unusual.

“Definitely,” assured Olivia. “If you consider the universes that are created as a result of quantum mechanics … Well, almost indefinitely, they will be unstable and only live for a brief period of time. Far less than a microsecond. You see, for a universe to be stable, its laws need to match up precisely with its contents. The mere act of its creation will make this incredibly unlikely. Still, you get a few universes created this way, which in total we tend to call a multiverse.”

“That’s all above our heads,” said Andrew. “Now what about the equivalent amount of salary you and Captain Palmer earn?”

“Captain Palmer earns about £70,000 a year, and I earn about £45,000 a year.”

“Oh,” said a surprised Andrew. “Captain Palmer earns less than the Headteacher of our school. And you earn about the same as our Deputy Headteacher. Of course, you probably deserve more than twice your salary, whereas our Deputy Headteacher certainly deserves less than half of the learners and week.”

“Excuse me, Olivia,” said Molly, “do you have a boyfriend?”

“Not at the moment,” said Olivia with a little laugh, appearing to be very amused by Molly’s question.

Molly let out a loud breath of relief through pursed lips.

This appeared to confuse Olivia, who jerked her head back a little and wriggled her eyebrows.

But then Martin cleared her confusion …

“I think you’ll find the reason Molly let out a puff of relief is because she was worried you might be Captain Palmer’s girlfriend,” he said.

Everyone laughed. None more than Olivia. Even Molly managed to laugh, but she couldn’t disguise the embarrassment on her red face.

When the laughter died down …

“Here we go!” announced Captain Palmer emphatically.

The spiralling stars with their ever-changing colours were replaced by swirling light-blue scarves of constantly exploding light spiralling counter-clockwise, which, interestingly, meant they were rotating in the opposite direction to the previously spiralling stars.

“As far as your world is concerned,” he continued, “Time is no longer of the essence. As I mentioned earlier, we’ll be travelling through this wormhole for about two hours. Then in a further twenty minutes will be in a geostationary orbit above Herados. Of course, the exact location of our orbit depends on what you tell me the reason that we are coming to Herados for. So can you tell Olivia and me about your recent adventures and the information that Azrael gave you regarding this Herados mission. Then we’ll tell you all we know about the overall state of the battle that we are all preparing for against Saliman and his forces.”

Dr Pearson with the aid of his party obliged Captain Palmer and Olivia with the requested information …

“What an amazing set of adventures you and your party have experienced so far,” said an impressed Captain Palmer on behalf of himself and Olivia. “Quite remarkable.”

“I can’t wait to meet this Nicola Berlin,” said Olivia, nodding her head enthusiastically. “Out of all the geniuses in existence and those who have ever existed, this Nicola appears to top the lot! Wouldn’t it be wonderful if she received the Inner Substance Immortality Tablets that would allow her to grow to an optimal height for her age? If only we could defeat Saliman …”

“Olivia, are you simply engaging in hyperbole?” asked Dr Pearson. “Nicola is definitely highly intelligent. But a genius among geniuses? Do you really believe that?”

“I’m certain of it. I suspected it the more you explained her parts in your adventure to me. That’s why I insisted on you reading to me her ‘That Long Unending Night’ villanelle styled poem that she composed the night before she correctly predicted her own death. I felt sure that if she were the genius I thought she might be, then the poem would be more than merely a brilliant poem. And after you read it to me and I used a significant amount of parallel computational processing power to analyse it, I quickly concluded the extent of Nicola Berlin’s genius.”

“You did?” Dr Pearson was mystified.

“Oh yes indeedy, my good human friends.”

“Explain then?” begged Dr Pearson. And the rest of the bridge’s occupants, including Captain Palmer, looked towards Olivia with the same intrigued, begging eyes.

 

2

ASSESSING THE LATEST STATE OF AFFAIRS

OLIVIA HELD EVERYONE’S attention as they waited with bated breath for her to explain the reason for her belief that Nicola was a genius above all other geniuses.

“Not only was the poem advanced in its English structure, and not only did it have a triple meaning in terms of its storytelling and messaging, but on considering its vowels and their positioning within the poem, it provided a mathematical formula that would lead your world to the limitless energy of nuclear fusion. Not only that, a superior mathematical formula to the one we use in our universe for nuclear fusion!”

“Couldn’t she have just written the formula down in normal mathematical notation?” asked Dr Pearson. “She did have some notes on nuclear fusion in her diary.”

“Of course she could have done that. But she was far too clever to do that. She realised the political state of your world at present would merely have taken advantage of such power. She not only secretly embedded the formula in the vowels of the words of the poem, but she did so in such a way that it would take a number of decades for the formula to be discovered. And according to my further analysis. There is a high probability that the political state of your world would at such a time be stable and more equitable. Think of the genius of being able to do that! So let me just say, if you get out of this adventure intact, Nicola’s poem will have to be stored away in a safe place. Any great invention that can be used to benefit humanity can likewise be used to its detriment.”

“Olivia is right. Dr Pearson,” said Martin. “Just look at the invention of our Internet.”

“That is right, Martin,” said Dr Pearson. “Very well done.”

“Right,” said Captain Palmer. “Just so you know, bearing in mind the latest information you gave Olivia and me, I’ve plotted our final flight path so as to put us in geostationary orbit above the Holy Forest on the Arkline Plateau where we can expect to find the City of the Religious Angels. If the city does not find us first.”

“Do you know how this city moves then?” asked Dr Pearson. “Is it a floating city, or perhaps some sort of antigravity flying city? Might it be a city on wheels, or a city that moves underground? Or is it something else?”

“I shan’t spoil the surprise for you,” replied Captain Palmer. All I will say is that it is in a sense a very primitively constructed city. Especially considering that the Angels have the most advanced technology in their universe, which far surpasses any technology in my universe and your universe, no matter the millions of known intelligent aliens known to exist.”

“Righto,” said Dr Pearson. “Do you know anything of this portal to the afterlife world of Heaven found through the Elder Tree portal?”

“Yes. I’ve used it on a few occasions. And I can see why I have been chosen for this mission. The Elder Tree is not an actual tree of any sort in the usual sense of the word. It is actually a small wormhole. A wormhole so small that a starship such as the Epic would be too massive to enter it. Fortunately, the Explorer 1 can comfortably enter it. The portal cannot be used without permission from a special tree that usually resides on Herados these days. A sapient feminine tree that can give us the ‘key’ enabling us to use the portal. This is all on the assumption that the Angels will give us permission to meet this special tree. I will say no more about this powerful tree for now and leave that as another interesting surprise.”

“Can Olivia beam down to Herados with us, Captain Palmer?” asked Hannah. “Or does she have to stay to operate the space ship?”

“She will of course be coming with us. It will be an exciting opportunity for her, as she has never visited Herados before. The Explorer 1 is perfectly capable of operating itself. And don’t forget, as it will be in geostationary orbit Olivia will be in constant communication with it as it will only be about 20,000 miles above the Holy Forest. That’s only a delay of about a tenth of a second. As far as ordinary electromagnetic signals are concerned. And Olivia can use far more advanced signals which will reduce that delay to an unnoticeable 10,000th of a second.”

“Great,” said Dr Pearson. Now what information do you have to tell us?”

“Not a great deal as our actions have been mainly of the diplomatic and political variety. We are mainly assessing allies and enemies and gathering an army to send to Queen Suzama’s Lower Earth. Our aim is simple. It is to allow you to deliver Saliman’s Golden Crown to Queen Suzama who awaits it in her Heartbind citadel. That is our Ultimate Battle.”

“So what do you think of your chances of gathering a suitable army and winning such an Ultimate Battle?”

“We could do with a few more allies, Dr Pearson,” answered Captain Palmer, slowly nodding his head. “In terms of the humans of the Lower Earth, we’ve got Queen Suzama’s aligned human tribes. But we’re severely outnumbered from that point of view as Saliman has the Droiks on his side. And the Droiks are by far the most highly populated tribe of humans with the best fighting skills. We were close to getting the Droiks on our side, but the Droik Dark Wizards successfully employed some underhand methods to convince the non-wizard Droiks to swear their allegiance to Saliman. At least we have the Droik Shining Wizards on our side. And thanks to you lot, we have the greatest Droik Wizard of them all. Of course, I’m referring to the Droik Shining Wizard Gumption who you successfully freed from the two-Castle mindtrap.

“And in terms of the non-humans of the Lower Earth, Saliman has the vampbats, intelligent snakes and highly intelligent dragons on his side. Whereas on Queen Suzama’s side, the only intelligent animals in assistance are the unicorns.”

“But what about the creatures of the Underworld residing beneath the Lower Earth?” asked Dr Pearson.

“Yes. The only creatures that will be joining Saliman from the Underworld will be the orc-like creatures called the Orms. And as you have just told me these will hopefully be negated by the army of children we are set to free from Heaven, after we have hopefully freed Nicola.”

“And what about the creatures in the rest of the Omniverse?” asked Dr Pearson.

“The Angels have used their powers to limit the use of the many known intelligent beings, as they believe the conflict will be catastrophic for the entire Omniverse and hence themselves. And except for a handful of Dark Angels on Saliman side and Azrael and his fellow Fourteen Angels of Death on Queen Suzama’s side, it is highly doubtful that many other Angels will join in the fight.”

“And other than the Angels?”

“Well, on Queen Suzama’s side, we have Zircon and an army of Siliconians ready to fight, as well as the Dragonians who should negate the Lower earth dragons. But of course the final creatures we need to worry about, will be an army of Roubals. They will be a formidable fighting force.”

“But surely the Global Space Control could beam down to the Lower Earth and completely annihilate any army Saliman could muster, couldn’t they?” Dr Pearson stroked his chin and looked intently at Captain Palmer. “I mean, think of the weapons you have. And if our simple attacks of technology caused Saliman such grievous initial harm, I dread to think what your advanced technology could do to him. Surely your weapons would completely destroy him?”

“I’m afraid the Lower Earth is a very limited zone when it comes to technology. The Angels have placed restrictions on any such technology being used. None of the advanced technological weapons, such as laser guns, would work. Even the halos of the Angels and almost all of their other augmented highly futuristic and incredibly advanced neuro-technology will be rendered useless.”

“It does seem from what you have said that Saliman does have a significantly superior army. But haven’t you forgotten about the Created Ones? Azrael is hoping to obtain permission from the Holy Core to visit them and explain to them how they originated. There’s a good chance, isn’t there, that their particular technology might be of use as the Religious Angels might not be able to restrict its use.”

“Yes, that’s true. Nonetheless, there’s also the risk that the Created Ones will be terribly angry with the Religious Angels and have nothing to do with a fight for Saliman. Who knows how they will react to being told that they were created and fooled into believing they had evolved? Not to mention that they were basically placed in a planetary prison.”

“Azrael seemed to think the Created Ones would initially be angry but then appreciate his honesty and the fact that he had convinced the Religious Angels to allow him to reveal the truth regarding their creation and circumstances,” said Dr Pearson. “And Nicola agreed with him.”

“We would still probably have the weaker army,” said Captain Palmer. “But I have heard through the Siliconian grapevine that Azrael has hopes of some extra special humans that he feels will even up the odds. But of course this battle would only be even on the assumption that Saliman is not initially part of it. Once he joins the fray, any hopes of victory in terms of a land battle would be completely extinguished. In any case, all that matters is that you deliver the Crown to Queen Suzama in her Citadel before Saliman makes his presence there known. I should think once he breaks into the Citadel, the land battle will come to a halt. Each side will simply be waiting to see what happens between Saliman and Queen Suzama. Most give her no chance of success. But for some reason she seems to think with the Crown, she has a chance. I can’t see how.”

“Neither can I,” said Dr Pearson. “None of us can. It makes no sense. But it’s all we’ve got. So by hook or by crook we’re going to attempt to get the Crown to Queen Suzama. What else can we do?”

“There is one other problem,” said Captain Palmer. “As far as I know, Azrael and Queen Suzama are struggling to create a portal in the Lower Earth that will allow our armies to enter the Lower Earth. Being from the Earth, only you and your party will be able to complete your march through The Links and enter the Lower Earth. There is an invisible barrier that will prevent any non-earthlings passing through the final six-mile tunnel of The Links leading to the Lower Earth. But Azrael and Queen Suzama believe there is a possible location where they hope to be able to open up a portal with the aid of the Created Ones’ alien technology.”

“Where is this potential location?” asked Mrs Cookson.

“Best not to mention where yet. The need-to-know basis and all that. Remember, what you don’t know, no adversary can get out of you by either force or trickery.”

“Fine,” said Mrs Cookson.

“Yes, well, nonetheless, Mrs Cookson, unless told otherwise, you must take Dr Pearson and the others, along with the Crown, on your predestined route to Queen Suzama’s Heartbind citadel. If you are needed to help open up this potential Lower Earth portal, you will be informed; probably by Azrael communicating via the Writing Feather that he gave to Dr Pearson.”

“Right then,” said Dr Pearson. “Everything we have been discussing assumes we get permission from the Holy Core to use the Elder Tree portal that will allow us to visit the afterlife world of Heaven. At least Azrael and Zircon should be waiting for us there. I’m not sure whether any of his fellow Fourteen Angels of Death will though.”

“That covers everything, does it, Captain Palmer?” asked Mrs Cookson.

“Yes, as far as I can think of.” Captain Palmer then turned to Olivia, and said, “Perhaps you can give our new crewmates a tour of Explorer 1.”

“Will do,” said Olivia with a pleasant smile. “Follow me, gang.”

 

3

SEEKING THE CITY OF THE RELIGIOUS ANGELS

FOR THE NEXT HOUR OR SO, Dr Pearson and his party enjoyed the delights of the shuttle craft Explorer 1. As far as shuttle crafts go, it was quite a large craft, about the size of their small school.

Olivia managed to sneak in some elementary astronaut training under the guise of entertainment. She had Dr Pearson and his party changing in and out of spacesuits and learning how to use them. She did this by putting them in a training room with various obstacles contained within it. She drained the room of any breathable atmosphere so that they quickly got used to breathing through the oxygen system of their spacesuits. Then she introduced differing pressures and gravity fields ranging from zero gravity to double gravity. It was interesting to see the different ways Dr Pearson and his party tackled the obstacles under the differing conditions. They had even transferred their rucksack belongings into their spacesuit backpacks.

It was after they had put away their spacesuits, and just as Olivia was showing them how a duplication machine could manufacture additional spacesuits, that a message came over Explorer 1’s public loudspeaker system …

“We will soon be leaving the Piewater Wormhole and heading for our geostationary orbit around Herados,” sounded the voice of Captain Palmer. “Please make your way to the bridge in twenty minutes for final preparation.”

Twenty minutes later, Olivia led her new crewmates back to the bridge.

“There,” said Captain Palmer, looking up from his circular console desk in the centre of the room as Olivia and the others poured into the bridge, “geostationary orbit above the Holy Forest on the Arkline Plateau just established. Any last words, Dr Pearson, before we all prepare to teleport down to the surface? I might be in charge of this starship shuttle craft, but you’re in charge of the mission, and Olivia and I are just two additional members of your current party.”

“Thank you, Captain Palmer,” said Dr Pearson. “I would just like to remind everybody to give the minimal information necessary during our expected audience with the Holy Core. Remember, we are not only seeking permission to use the Elder Tree portal to gain access to the afterlife world of Heaven, but we must be aware that one member of the Holy Core is Rajin’s Dark Spy, and that he or she has access to all remote Omniverse communications.”

“I bet Nicola would easily be able to spot who the spy is,” said Molly, proud of her best friend.

“I agree, Molly,” said Dr Pearson. “It’s a shame we won’t have her with us because if anyone could expose who the spy is, it would definitely be her. But at least we can still try our best. The only clue we have was found in Rajin’s Holy Book, that is to say his diary, for fortuitously he is also a Recording Angel.”

“What clue?” asked Martin.

“The clue is a symbol of a fire-breathing dragon. It is the method by which Rajin could always securely identify the spy by. This is necessary because of any shapeshifting creatures who might attempt to fool Rajin into thinking they are his Dark Angel spy. The most likely creatures who might attempt this would obviously be the Angels themselves.”

“So,” said Martin, “Rajin has some way of identifying this fire-breathing dragon symbol. Is it a tattoo or what?”

“Perhaps,” answered Dr Pearson. “However, I’ll bet it’s more sophisticated than a simple tattoo. Anyway, we should all bear that clue in mind at all times when in the presence of the Angels of the Holy Core. You never know, we might get lucky. After our last episode in the Sacrificial Area, I’d say, we’re due a slice of luck. You know what they say about luck?”

“That it can make you rich in the bookies?” questioned Andrew, still with money on his mind.

“Well, that’s true,” agreed Dr Pearson. “But I was thinking more along the lines of—you make your own luck. So keep your eyes and ears alert. You Geordie pupils are the best in the world at spotting fakes. Let’s face it; your survival depends on it. So if you suspect any of the Angels in the Holy Core of being fake, make sure you let me know.”

“Is that all, Dr Pearson?” asked Captain Palmer.

“There is one last matter I should mention before we meet any of the Religious Angels. And it even applies to you, Captain Palmer. We must do our very best not to be rude or speak any profanities of any kind, especially religious profanities.”

“‘Profanities’? What does that word mean?” asked Molly.

“It means swearing, you dipstick,” put in Andrew.

Alana thumped Andrew heavily on his shoulder.

“Don’t be so rude!” she exclaimed. “And don’t use the word ‘dipstick’ in front of any of the Religious Angels. One of them is bound to know what it means. I’m sure as a group, the Holy Core probably know pretty much everything.”

“Excuse me, Dr Pearson,” said Captain Palmer, “but how can any of that apply to me? I never use profanities, let alone religious profanities.”

“I’m afraid sometimes you do. When we told you that Nicola had turned up in Heaven, you exclaimed ‘Holy cow!’. I only noticed it because I accidentally said it myself once to Azrael. I’ll just say that it caused quite a commotion among some distantly listening Religious Angels. Apparently it ranks high up on the religious profanity scale. The Religious Angels regard cows with great religious reverence.”

“I catch your drift, Dr Pearson,” said Captain Palmer with a grin. “You live and learn.”

“So, whatever you do, at least make an effort to control your, shall we say, colourful Geordie vernacular,” pleaded Dr Pearson.

“Eeee,” complained Molly, “we’ll never be able to stop ourselves. How can we become something, we’re not?”

“Look,” said Dr Pearson, concerned, “these Religious Angels get really upset if they hear rude language. Even if you say, ‘blimey,’ they get angry. Take it from me.”

“But aren’t Religious Angels supposed to be good?” asked Alana. “How can they be bad?”

“I don’t know,” said Dr Pearson. “I’m just warning you for your own good. These Angels won’t be the soft touch us teachers have become.”

“Eeee, man,” said Hannah. “We’ll try our best to be polite, Dr Pearson. We’re quite good at pretending to be polite.”

“But that’s only when we’re setting someone up to be extremely rude to,” said Andrew.

“As is the case with supply teachers,” said Martin.

“Just try your best,” said Dr Pearson. “Hopefully your polite first impressions will at least allow the Religious Angels to think of you as lovable rogues. If it’s any incentive, remember we’re trying to obtain permission so we can go and help Azrael and Zircon recover Nicola.”

The pupils look to one another with determined looks. They needed no more incentive than that.

“So, are you all ready to be teleported down to the surface?” asked Captain Palmer.

“Should we bring any weapons or anything like that?” asked Martin.

“We should certainly take no obvious weapons,” said Captain Palmer. “Even though, as it happens, they would never work on the planet Herados. Even if you tried to hit someone on the head with a rockworm hair torch spike, you would find yourself unable to do so. We will certainly not be bringing any laser guns if that’s what you were hoping. I did notice how much you enjoyed your practise with them on my security surveillance monitors.”

Martin bowed his head guiltily. He must have realised that Captain Palmer had correctly guessed exactly what he was thinking.

“What about the Crown, Captain Palmer?” asked Erica.

“That is not a weapon in the traditional sense. As long as you do not try and smash it on anybody, you should be all right leaving it in your rucksack.”

“So will we all be taking our rucksacks, Captain Palmer?” asked Katie.

“Yes. Think of your mission on Herados as simply another stretch of your journey to Queen Suzama’s Heartbind citadel. There will be no need for spacesuits as the atmosphere of Herados is non-poisonous and as breathable as the air we are all breathing right now. Okay then. Everybody check the contents of your rucksacks and then we’ll be on our way.”

Minutes later …

“Ready for Beam Down, Olivia,” said Captain Palmer.

“Beam Down procedure underway, Captain,” said Olivia with a nod of her head. She then produced a series of rapid-fire blinks …

Olivia and everyone else on the bridge transformed into a fuzzy glow of green energy then faded away.

A split second later, in a clearing deep in the heart of the Holy Forest, Dr Pearson and the others reappeared as fuzzy glowing green coloured figures. It took around three seconds for them to stabilise into their usual solid forms. Captain Palmer and Olivia had on their grey Global Space Control starship uniforms, Dr Pearson had on his tweed jacket, Mrs Cookson had on her gold-coloured dress; and finally, the pupils had on their Statesville Community School uniforms. Any relatively intelligent Herados wild animals peeking into the clearing from the surrounding bushes would have no doubt found them an interesting unexplainable sight.

Dr Pearson and the others looked about them, taking in the surrounding interesting scenery. As was usual on the planet Herados, the scene was a mix of silicon and carbon-based flora. The grass beneath their feet in the clearing looked green and familiar, as did some of the surrounding trees and bushes. But some of the trees were obviously silicon-based with their silver barks and vibrant leathery brown leaves.

“It’s quite cloudy,” said Hannah.

“Aye, but at least it’s not raining,” said Alana.

“Well, Captain Palmer, should we go in search of this city, or will it really find us here in this clearing?” asked Dr Pearson.

“We should wait here. There’s a reason I selected this area to teleport down to. This is a very suitable area that will enable the City of the Religious Angels to find us and pick us up.”

“Ah, so it must be some sort of flying city, for sure,” said Dr Pearson.

“Correct.”

“Hannah, can you see any sign of a flying city approaching?” asked Dr Pearson.

Hannah slowly spiralled herself around scrutinising the skies above the surrounding trees with her eagle-like eyesight.

“I canna see nowt, man. And I think it might be about to rain as there is a huge cloud brewing up on the horizon.”

“I think you might want to take a closer look at that cloud,” suggested Captain Palmer.

“I’m afraid it’s too far away, man. But it’s definitely brewing up very quickly. Maybe we should beam down some umbrellas from Explorer 1.”

“It is not a cloud brewing up,” insisted Captain Palmer. “It’s the City of the Religious Angels speedily approaching. Look again!”

“Eeee!” exclaimed Hannah, her eyes widening in surprise. “It’s not a cloud. It looks like a huge collection of giant balloons. Eeee! The balloons seem to be holding up the buildings.” Hannah scratched her head completely flabbergasted.

“Yes, it’s that simple,” said Captain Palmer. “The City of the Religious Angels is a city held up by helium encased in un-burstable silicon-skinned bags. The Religious Angels view helium as the sacred gas. And as the helium is laced with traces of Inner Substance, with a touch of Inner Force control, the Piloting Angels find manoeuvring the city a breeze, if your excuse the pun.”

“Eeee, man!” exclaimed Hannah. “The city seems to be travelling at an incredible speed. Can you all see it now?” Hannah pointed at the distant floating city.

The others indicated that they could all see it, as they all seemed to be pointing in the same direction as Hannah and gossiping enthusiastically at the sight of the speedily approaching floating city.

“Blimey!” exclaimed Andrew. “But how can there be enough helium to support a floating city?”

Just then, a flying ball-shaped red tomato-like fruit came out of nowhere and smashed into the side of Andrew’s face.

“What the—” he started to say.

“Watch your language, Andrew, please,” quickly interjected Dr Pearson. “I have no doubt the Religious Angels directed that fruit to slap into your head because of your earlier exclamation, no matter how inoffensive it would be to our ears. I did warn you earlier. Now you know that the Religious Angels can hear our every word. So let that be a lesson to all of us to be careful with our words.”

“Eeee, I divin’t kna, man,” moaned Andrew as he slipped a handkerchief out of his blazer pockets and quickly wiped the dripping lumps of red fruit off his face. The other pupils did not even try to hide their amusement at his predicament.

“To answer your question, Andrew,” said Captain Palmer, “all of the city’s buildings and the materials within them are built with light yet strong nano-carbon. The volume of helium, even in its raw natural form, is easily capable enough to hold up the city and its heaviest objects, these mainly being the Religious Angels themselves.”

“Gosh,” said Molly. “Look how huge the city is. It hasn’t reached us yet and even with my eyes, I can see it is far larger than the clearing. So I can’t see how it will land.”

“The city never touches the ground,” said Captain Palmer.

“Then how will we reach it?” asked Martin.

“Wait and see.”

As the city arrived over the clearing, it blocked out a huge volume of sunlight.

“Oh dear,” said Melanie. “It’s so dark. It reminds me of being in a silent thunderstorm.”

“And it reminds me of being under a total eclipse of the sun,” said Dr Pearson. “I experienced the August 1999 solar eclipse during the school summer holidays. I spent a week’s holiday in Brockenhurst.”

“Whereabouts is Brockenhurst?” asked Martin.

“It’s in the south of England. In the New Forest, Hampshire. On the south coast.”

“Look!” exclaimed Hannah, pointing upwards.

“What? We can’t see a thing.” Molly shrugged her shoulders.

But then a slowly descending dark shape began to announce its appearance known to everybody beneath it.

“It’s a huge basket lowering itself to the ground,” said Hannah.

Seconds later, a huge silver silicon-wood basket attached to feathery ropes was lowering itself to the ground ahead of them.

Inside was a pair of tall Religious Angels in typical simplistic minimal Angel robes.

“My name is Tobias,” said one of the Angels. “My friend here is Samuel. We are the welcoming Guardian Angels. Dr Pearson, do you have your ticket of entry for yourself and your party?”

Dr Pearson reached in to the inside comb pocket of his tweed jacket and pulled out the Writing Feather that Azrael had gifted him. He handed it to the outstretched hand of Tobias.”

Tobias took hold of the Writing Feather and leaning over the side of the huge basket, he proceeded to use it to sign his name “Tobias” elaborately on everybody’s wrists. He then politely handed the feather back to Dr Pearson.

“My signature will allow you free access to any part of the City of the Religious Angels. When your business is over, the signature will vanish, leaving no trace it ever existed. And if you have cause to visit Herados again, the signature will reappear.”

His Guardian Angel friend Samuel then opened a gate on the wall of the basket.

“All aboard,” said Samuel, gesturing Dr Pearson and his party onto the basket. “Once the basket reaches the city you will find there is plenty of light to see by. For the Light of the Omniverse should be something we all seek.”

Once everybody was on board, Samuel closed the gate and the silver basket began to rise at a moderate rate.

Within a minute, the basket rose through a bright large rectangular hole …

And they all found themselves in a brightly lit room, which took their eyes a few seconds to adjust to. There were windows that let in natural sunlight and beautifully painted works of art framed in different shapes and sizes.

The hole beneath the basket closed up.

The basket lowered itself a little until it rested on a solid nano-carbon wooden-like floor that now covered the hole.

Samuel opened the basket’s exit gate and gestured for everyone to disembark.

Once they were all out of the basket …

“Follow me,” said Tobias. “I will take you for your audience with the Holy Core.”

 

4

MEETING WITH THE SIX HOLY ONES

TOBIAS OPENED AN ornately carved wooden door and gestured for Dr Pearson and the others to exit the basket room through it.

Out of the room, they spilled …

There they were, in a wide busy street teeming with Angels of all different sorts. Adults as well as children—some just babies. It was a very colourful sight.

All of the Angels wore robes. But they were not the minimal type the Guardian Angels, Dark Angels or Angels of Death wore. They varied markedly and were of many different colours and patterning, and very stylishly designed. For instance, a tall male Angel walked right past them with rather interesting epaulettes on the shoulders of his Celtic looking, heavily pleated tartan robe. They were highly decorative and intricately designed. On one epaulette stood a miniature juggler made of fine threads juggling all kinds of appearing and disappearing objects in weird and intricate ways. On his other epaulette, a miniature male and female Angel made of fine threads were endlessly dancing cheek to cheek. Both the miniature juggler and miniature dancing couple waved at Dr Pearson and his party as the tall Angel passed them by.

There were no vehicles and the street floor was made of a nano-carbon wood-like material. Various brightly painted curvy buildings and decorative looking shops lined each side of the street.

“Holy cow!” exclaimed Captain Palmer. “This is the sort of city you might expect to find at the end of a rainbow.”

“I shall turn a deaf ear to your unholy expletive,” said Tobias to Captain Palmer.

“Ah yes, I should have known better, Tobias. Please accept my apology. Such words in my world would hardly be described as expletives nor unholy.”

“Is that an excuse or a denial?” asked Tobias.

“It’s an excuse,” said Captain Palmer diplomatically. “Dr Pearson even warned me not to utter that exact expletive. I guess I’m only human. I shall try my very best not to say anything offensive again. As is often said, when in Rome, do as the Romans do.”

“That would be a wise policy, particularly in the presence of the Six Holy Ones; that is to say, the Holy Core. They may allow some lenience if the young pupils err in their words. However, as for the four adults in this party (and I count the synthetically created Olivia as an adult, even though she was created only six months ago), the Holy Ones will not allow any lenience. You will almost certainly be severely reprimanded on the spot.”

“Are you really only six months old, Olivia?” asked Alana, with her typical look of concern.

“I am. But believe you me, six months is a long time to someone with my quantum construction. The memories I have already stored would easily surpass those of a million-year-old human. Of course, it’s more complicated than that. And if one is what one feels themselves to be, then I am definitely an adult.”

“Well,” said Tobias, “let us go to the Religious Dome. That is the building where the Holy Core attend their duties during business hours. I am in telepathic communication with the prime Holy One, and he’s looking forward to your audience with him and his five colleagues. His name is Mendel. Sometimes called the Loyal One. Sometimes called the Custos Angelus. No decision can be taken by the Holy Core without Mendel’s blessing. He can force or veto any vote. So it is only he who can allow you permission to use the Elder Tree wormhole that would enable you to visit Heaven.”

Tobias then turned to the left and started to casually walk down the wide street with Dr Pearson and the others trundling along behind him.

“The floor feels very solid and stable,” remarked Dr Pearson. “There is absolutely no sense of movement as I would have thought there should be on a city held up by more or less ginormous helium-filled balloons.”

“Our Piloting Angels have supreme control of Inner Force and as a consequence the floor is perfectly stable at all times. The only sense of movement you will get is if you can get close to the edge of the city as it flies over the land. At the moment, we are parked above the clearing. Thus, everyone in the city will experience absolutely no sensation of movement whatsoever.”

The Angels all about Dr Pearson’s party seemed fascinated by them. Most of them were moving on foot, but some did occasionally jump up from the street floor, flap their wings, and take to flying. The adult Angels seemed to find Olivia of great interest. They must have somehow sensed that she was a created being. Perhaps they were trying to determine whether she had a soul or not. Any intelligent being that was the result of creation was always of great interest to the adult Angels. On the other hand, the Angel children all about them were definitely more interested by the sight of the Geordie pupils.

A small boy Angel, a male cherub, rushed up to Martin enthusiastically. He looked quite smart in his navy-blue robe, which was covered in buttoned-up pockets.

“Hello,” said the cherub to Martin with a broad smile. “My name is Ian.”

“Oh, hi there, Ian. My name’s Martin.” Martin looked quite pleased to be the first of the pupils to be spoken to by an Angel child.

“I’ve never seen child humans visit the city before. I’ve only ever seen Global Space Control adults like those two over there.” Ian gave Captain Palmer and Olivia a quick glance. “I think your spaceship uniform is far more interesting than a Global Space Control spaceship uniform.”

“You would say that, as our navy-blue blazer and trousers are the same colour as your robe. But your robe has far more pockets.”

“But you have a tie and shirt. Angels can’t really wear shirts because of our wings. And so we rarely wear ties. But some Angels have collars on their robes and do wear ties occasionally. My dad once wore a tie. But it made us laugh, so he didn’t wear one again. What brings you to the City of the Religious Angels?”

“It is not your business, Ian,” interjected Tobias. “Suffice it to say these people are here on a very important mission. So please be on your way and rejoin your sister and your parents.”

Ian gave Tobias a polite bow and without a word, turned on his heels and rushed back to his parents.

He looked back at Martin, who gave him a quick, friendly wave. This brought a smile to Ian’s face.

There were a few similar occurrences that were quickly dealt with by Tobias. However, Tobias relented on one small girl Angel and allowed Alana to give her a piggyback while her mother and older brother joined the procession.

Nevertheless, Tobias did not allow this piggyback to last for long. After about five minutes, he gave the mother a few furtive nods of his head, indicating that his mother should bring her daughter’s piggyback to an end.

“Beverley, come down now,” said the mother politely. “We do not wish to overstay our welcome.”

“Aw, do I really have to be put down on the floor, Mother?”

“Yes. It is time for us to go home.”

The visiting procession came to a halt. Mrs Cookson carefully lifted off Beverley from Alana’s neck and placed her carefully on the nano-carbon wood-like floor.

“Thank you for the piggyback,” said Beverley to Alana.

“You’re welcome.” Alana gave Beverley a big smile and a sisterly kiss on the cheek.

Beverley’s mother clicked her fingers.

In response an ornamental nano-carbon door appeared.

Beverley’s mother pushed open the door.

Dr Pearson and his party could not but contain their curiosity and quickly positioned themselves to get a good look through the open door. They could see a beautiful sunny garden with plenty of pretty flowers and a lush green neatly cut lawn. They could also see a winding stone path that led to a quaint thatched cottage.

“Come on then, Beverley,” said Beverley’s mother, holding out her hand.

Beverley took her mother’s hand and then followed her in through the door with her brother following quickly behind.

The door closed.

The door vanished.

“At least we know how some Angels live,” commented Katie. “Very idyllic indeed.”

“Let us continue,” said Tobias. “We’re very close to the Religious Dome.”

The procession took a few different streets and ended up in a vast nano-carbon large tiled courtyard. At its centre was a moderately sized domed building.

“The Religious Dome,” announced Tobias, gesturing with a graceful wave of his hand at the building.

Tobias led Dr Pearson and the others into a large open-arched doorway, and they all disappeared into the dome.

Inside, they took a corridor that led directly to the central room of the Religious Dome. Above the room’s arched doorway entrance was a sign that read “The Holy Centrum”.

The room they walked into was itself shaped like a dome.

On the ceiling at its centre was a giant halo suspended in mid-air that gave the room its generous lighting. The floor was a gold-coloured nano-carbon, and the dome-shaped wall seemed to be made of a similar nano-carbon material, except that it was coloured silver.

In the centre of the room on a circular platform that was raised about six inches off the floor, the Six Holy Ones were gracefully milling around. It was almost as if they were in a contemplative dance.

Tobias led Dr Pearson and the others up to the edge of the raised platform. The moment they all arrived, the Six Holy Ones, three males and three females, stopped milling about, turned and all stood calmly facing their audience.

Tobias respectfully bowed before addressing the tallest male Angel.

“Custos Angelus, O Loyal One, and Prime of the Six Holy Ones, I bring before you, the Dr Pearson party.”

“Thank you, Tobias,” said the Prime.

Tobias diplomatically drew back behind Dr Pearson and the others.

“My name is Mendel,” said the Angel. He then introduced the other five Holy Ones, Cornelius, Saul, Elizabeth, Cassandra and Pandora.

Although Tobias had only addressed Mendel, the Prime Holy One did not seem to be in sole charge of the audience, because the first person to engage in the business of the meeting was Pandora.

“So,” she said, addressing Dr Pearson, “you wish to use the Elder Tree wormhole that will allow Captain Palmer’s spacecraft to bring you into the area of space-time where the afterlife world of Heaven exists?”

“Yes.”

“And your purpose is to recover the inimitable Nicola Berlin and a child army to help in your battle against Saliman and his allies?” asked Cornelius.

“That’s right, sir.”

“Cornelius will be fine, Dr Pearson.”

“We allowed Azrael and Zircon to visit Heaven via the primordial portal in the subterranean Jakonite Caves,” put in Cassandra. “They then journeyed on Heaven’s surface to the location of the location of the potential child army and Nicola. However, because you have to bring your shuttle craft Explorer 1 for your visit, you will need to use the Elder Tree wormhole. But why should we allow you access to Heaven?”

“We believe it will help in the battle against Saliman, Cassandra,” said Dr Pearson earnestly.

“Perhaps you forget,” put in Saul, “we of the Holy Core will remain largely neutral in this fight. Yes, we have allowed for some Angels to join in your struggle, but only to level up the odds against the rogue Angels who have sided with Saliman, such as the Dark Angels.” Saul then looked at Erica and said, “Congratulations by the way, on executing Lamia and Rajin. Remarkable. Very much appreciated.”

“No bother,” said Erica.

“So why should we help you, Dr Pearson?” put in the only Holy One who had not yet spoken, Elizabeth.

“Surely it’s simply the right thing to do,” pleaded Dr Pearson, who was surprised that gaining access to Heaven was not simply a formality. “I mean, isn’t it just a case of Good versus Evil. Shouldn’t you be helping the good when they request help?”

“We shall vote on it right now, Dr Pearson,” said Mendel. “We will be voting on whether we will allow you access to the Elder Tree wormhole.

Suddenly, what seemed a formality had turned into a tense affair. Could it really be possible that their request would be rejected? Dr Pearson and his party waited with bated breath …

“Cornelius?” asked Mendel.

“Aye,”

“That’s one in our favour,” said Dr Pearson to the others in a quiet undertone.

“Saul?” asked Mendel.

“Aye.”

“Elizabeth?”

“Aye.”

“Cassandra?”

“Aye.”

“Pandora?”

“Aye.”

“That’s five out of five in our favour,” said Dr Pearson, looking quite relieved. It seemed it would be a formality after all.

“So that just leaves me,” said Mendel. “And if I say ‘Nay’, I veto all the other ‘Aye’s. And unfortunately for you, I say … nay!”

Dr Pearson and the others were totally befuddled. Something did not seem right. And the other five Holy Ones seemed to agree. They all looked at Mendel, confused.

“Mendel,” said Pandora, “you cannot be serious?”

“I am serious. As the Custos Angelus, faith is telling me that God wants the dead in the afterlife world of Heaven to serve their time and be sent onwards to the true afterlife Heaven.”

“Mendel!” snapped Cornelius angrily. “You cannot claim to know the mind of God!”

“It matters not,” said Mendel. “For I hold the ultimate vote.”

Dr Pearson and the others were devastated.

Molly was additionally particularly angry, because she was Nicola’s best friend. She looked Mendel up and down, and she couldn’t help thinking he was a fake. Furthermore, she couldn’t help thinking he might be the Rajin’s Dark Angel Spy.

But then, while looking at his feet, she thought she spied something of interest on one of Mendel’s big toenails.