Rogziel

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ROGZIEL

Angels figure prominently throughout the history common to elohim and hu- man, but they were never the man-like wise and powerful beings depicted in scripture and art, nor did they have halos and wings. A real angel was sim- ply a mechanical artifact. It was the will of an elohim frozen into physi- cal shape, a device that could be manipulated by remote control, and in this way a being who existed only as a living sun could reach out across space, explore planets, and make many things happen on them.

Just as humans can pour their ego into the character of a video game and have the illusion they are in the game, so too elohim have the sensation he is in the angel he operates. In short, an angel is simply the avatar of a god, and it was vivid human imagination that gradually transformed this simple concept into the winged messengers of tradition, even organizing them into nine "choirs" according to their rank.

Of the five elohim who have anything to do with humanity, only two actually ever possessed angels: Belial and Binah. The angel of Belial followed one of the many designs established by some of the most ancient beings among the trillions of other elohim who exist in the universe. Arrogant as he is, Belial never pretended to be particularly crafty.

Binah from the beginning (due to illicit maneuvering by Belial and Mastema) had no access to those designs, but true to his name, which means the dou- ble portion of understanding given to women, Binah was very clever, practi- cally a techno-nerd as elohim went, and he created an angel from scratch to fulfill his need to explore beyond the Alpha Centauri C system.

This need was rooted in the sheer ennui of living in the core Proxima, an ancient red-dwarf star with absolutely no planets.

Binah used his angel to cross the nearly 15,000 AU of real space between Proxima and Rigilkent, between himself and Chokhmah, a voyage that took a full century even with the enormous velocity change his fusion-powered rockets could deliver. Star travel was exceedingly difficult, even for gods.

With the angel Binah could speak directly to Chokhmah, and Binah threatened to take the angel to one of the suns outside of Belial's enclave, no matter how long it might take.

To forestall this, Belial granted Binah read-only access to the Library of Ull, which was the nearly infinite pile of elohim lore.

Later, aided by knowledge from the Library, Binah discovered that his angel could be moved in a single instant from Centauri to Sol, and also between the Centauri suns, using wormholes inflated to a somewhat larger diameter than the ones of only a meter or so which had been used to populate Gorpai with human colonists from Earth. But the quantity of dark matter required to open and maintain such large wormholes required at least three elohim working in concert.

It was not a question of strong effort on their part but simple flow capac- ity, like amps instead of volts. The exotic particle interactions that transformed matter into dark energy diverted power from the steady mainte- nance of life at the center of a sun.

If core temperatures varied outside of an extremely narrow range elohim could actually die. The sun-body would reach a new equilibrium by itself, and become ready to bear life again, but the living pattern of stellar nu- clear reactions, the individual being with self-awareness and life, would be gone for eternity.

Two such wormholes operated at Sol on a long-term basis to complete the terraforming of Venus and Mars, and also to reduce the Earth's hydrographic profile from 71 to 50 percent. This left barely enough capacity among the elohim to operate the wormholes in space that permitted travel between the systems. They could only be operated one at a time, on a case-by-case ba- sis. Hence the necessity of ID Grids as gateways.

But long before the nephilim took to the skies over Gorpai, the wormholes were used by Binah and Belial to move their angels about. El, the daughter of Binah, had borrowed her mother's angel to lead the House of Israel out of Egypt into Canaan, a migration that took forty years to complete.

Soon after the Exodus the angel of Binah was seen by many nephilim inter- fering with important events surrounding the ministry of Chokhmah-Ariel in the time of the world war on Gorpai. Belial avenged the affront by destroy- ing the angel of Binah, and Binah never constructed a replacement angel because it was a painstaking process and in any event his attention had moved on to preparations for the joint creation by the elohim of the Land We Know.

When the nephilim of Gorpai became a space-faring race and developed a navy, Belial with the sole remaining angel formed the invincible heart of the fleet, and the ultimate protection against a possible coup taking con- trol of part or all of that fleet. For Belial's angel was created in the very heart of the star Agena which was his body, where temperatures reach tens of millions of degrees, so it stands to reason that only similar temperatures can destroy his angel. Only with a direct or nearly-direct hit by the fireball of a nuclear weapon do nephilim stand the slightest chance of destroying the angel of Belial, and given a battle arena in clear space where the angel of Belial was free to maneuver and fire back, the chance of mere nephilim warship destroying it approached zero.

But in repose on the surface of the moon Palato, the angel of Belial was just as vulnerable as any other vessel to a sneak attack by a nuclear war- head, of which there was certainly no shortage.

For protection, the actual location of the angel of Belial inside one of the thousands of identical hangars scattered across the surface of Palato was kept a state secret of the highest order. A spy might note the hanger it landed in, but after the retractable roof closed, the angel of Belial was taken by underground rail to another hanger chosen at random, any dis- tance away, and only the Eyes of Belial knew the precise location. At odd intervals the angel was moved yet again.

So it was that when Captain Barakiel flew Major Rogziel to the surface of Palato in Exiler Sidekick, he settled in for a wait of indeterminate length, because the angel of Belial could be anywhere, even on the far side of the little moon. But Barakiel kept the lander ready to launch at a mo- ment's notice. If anything went wrong and Rogziel fell under suspicion, the Eyes of Belial would soon come calling with their rusty pliers, eager to get a crack at his fingernails and teeth and eyes and testicles.

Neither Barakiel who was patiently waiting on the surface nor the other officers orbiting aboard Exiler had any illusions they would survive an escape attempt from the heavily fortified moon of Palato, which sported so many missiles and guns it resembled a gray cactus, but neither were they willing to just walk into Belial's torture chambers of their own power. If the Eyes of Belial wanted them for questioning, they would need to make an effort, and the crew of Exiler could make that an enormous effort indeed.

But Belial, speaking and observing now only through the angel of Belial, was quite pleased to see Rogziel again when he was brought into the large pressurized hangar where the angel was now hidden. The Major had been one of Emperor Azibeel's closest and most trusted aides, a fact that always in- spired jealously in many of the Eyes of Belial, and sometimes in a back- handed way they said certain things to Belial trying to paint Rogziel in a bad light, but that was a very dangerous game.

"Hail, Rogziel," Belial's voice was heard to say, and it was not with an overly loud voice, for Belial had no need or desire to intimidate his ne- philim friend, neither did Rogziel kneel before the device, and Belial did not expect him to do so, because both of them knew it was only a mechanical probe operated by Belial and not Belial himself.

"Greetings, Lord," Rogziel began. "Are you well?"

"My memory of events before the end of my life as Azibeel is confused. Events were a just series of disconnected episodes. I remember pain. Much pain."

"Your injuries were terrible to behold, Lord. I did not see the actual com- bat, but I am told you fought Hunky, the number two woman in the Femina Caelestis, and she just slid her blade into your guts before you were ready without ob- serving the traditional opening rituals of personal combat. It was what the humans of Earth call a 'sucker punch' but the ways of women are strange. Then you fell a considerable distance, which broke some ribs, and you were dy." scalded by hot steam, which destroyed the skin over much of your bo

"It was such agony as I have never known before. I found that I could not even contrive an escape. It was as though the pain formed a trap for my mind."

"That is a very strange thing to learn, my Lord."

"I put Ariel to torment long ago when sha was possessed by Chokhmah, and I taunted Krista until she also experienced crucifixion in her human form as Yeshua, but only now after I have been on the receiving end of that level of pain do I see the power of its psychological and deterrent effect. Rog- ziel, you might have the barest glimmer of understanding after I say to you that I, your god Belial, am terrified of Femina Caelestis. Such suffering!"

This had the effect of causing some of Belial's true believers standing there to murmur.

Rogziel said, "Lord, we tried to keep you under heavy sedation as much as possible, which is no doubt why your memory of that time is cloudy. So it may be news to you that Thammuz your son is now successfully posing as Azi- beel, as though you survived the ordeal. At least, hy was still carrying it off when we parted ways."

"How is that even possible? Thammuz doesn't even have a beard."

"Lord, hy wears black armor which hy says hides his injuries and keeps hym alive, and hides hyz face behind a metallic mask that changes the timbre of hyz voice to resemble yours. Hy caused your body to be cremated, except for your head, which Thammuz embalmed for the purpose of creating new photo- graphic seals for hyz documents. But to our people at Sol, Emperor Azibeel still lives, and before coming here today I alone knew of Thammuz' decep- tion."

Rogziel looked around at the Eyes of Belial, and now they knew it too, but there was little they could do. With access to Sol, which Rogziel knew was now impossible, an ambitious one among them could expose Thammuz and dis- credit hym. But one or more of them might betray themselves now with their eyes. Rogziel made mental notes.

Belial said, "Then I take it my mission ended in a total failure."

"No Lord, that's the astounding thing! Thammuz managed to salvage the mis- sion by threatening to vaporize the severed head of Dory, who is the number three woman in the Femina Caelestis, if they did not assist in getting you medevac'd to one of your shuttles and also if they did not permit Thammuz to leave with one of their macros in a pre-assembled state. It worked because Hunky was not willing to allow Dory to experience a break in her continuous thread of memory."

"They call it the True Death. A very quick young dirk, that Thammuz. But alas! Hy may have come through fire and foes to obtain a macro, but the mission was a failure after all. Thammuz never returned here to Gorpai and I have been unable to send a warship through the wormhole to Earth. The ID Grid there apparently no longer exists.

"Yes Lord, that is indeed true. The ID Grid at Sol has been destroyed."

"I thought it must be so. At least, I seem to remember that being said, but I could not be sure it was truth or the delusion of a nightmare induced by my agony and the drugs you provided to remedy it."

"Lord, before we could bring Trespasser home to Gorpai a Women's Democratic Forum warship found the ID Grid and took it out with several torpedoes, trapping all of us there. The shock and disappointment of learning that fact was like cutting the last thread that kept you alive. You seemed to despair, Lord, and died very soon afterward."

"I see. That explains why none of the other elohim will aid me in sending someone to Sol to learn what happened. The other mouth of the wormhole still potentially exists in space near Earth, but it is adrift, and it seems the other members of my order have had a sudden epiphany, and they now adhere to the verbatim letter of our covenant rather than the spirit of its intent. The other elohim have become aware the radial distance of the terminus is much closer than our agreed-upon 4 AU so they refuse to pass any ships though, the obstinate fools."

"Yet the ID Grids are said to be the work of the gods, Lord. It's hard to imagine Binah would consent to the casual destruction of that which he created himself, Lord."

"Binah is . . . silent. The woman he Possessed died seven years ago, and Binah comes not again, but I do not know why. I do know that at some point I myself in Possession of Azibeel must have died, for I was released and found myself back here.

"Now Rogziel, I do remember you were present when I living as Azibeel died, so tell me everything that happened after that. It has been seven months now."

"Lord, after we arrived at the position of the ID Grid and found only de- bris and a defiant Femina Caelestis vessel, the radio room transmitted a contingency report to Palato, lest the Trespasser subsequently perish in battle and no news was sent out at all."

"Of course the report will take more than four years before it is received here," Belial said needlessly. "But there was still the Imperial embassy to the Organization of the Nations of Earth and the back door."

"Yes Lord, our ambassador to ONE had access to Centauri through the FC, and Femina Caelestis by agreement could not hinder him even in wartime, yet Thammuz did not fully trust your ambassador with what he had to tell you, so hy ordered hym recalled to Trespasser instead.

"And what news did Thammuz not trust to convey to my ambassador that hy trusted to convey to you?"

"That hy was immediately preparing to carry out your plan to slay El and Bat-El, Lord. Hy did not provide any further details, I asked none, for it seemed a weighty matter. The ambassador wound up hyz affairs and arrived aboard Trespasser about a month later. Then Thammuz in the guise of the Em- peror gave into the keeping of the ambassador hyz precious macro and com- manded hym to take it immediately to Ganymede to be analyzed by naval engi- neers."

"So the object of my Luna raid was secured after all," Belial said, and Rogziel could tell from the tone of Belial's synthesized voice that he was very pleased. "Soon the Femina Caelestis monopoly on macros will be broken, and my ships will assail the Astrodyne fleet without the danger of being turned into instant derelicts by remote control."

"May that glorious day come soon, Lord! But as for myself, Thammuz drafted a document in your name which appointed me, in effect, the new ambassador to ONE, and I was sent to Earth with orders to make contact with the Wom- en's Democratic Forum and pass through the Land We Know to Gorpai. There was also the issue of how to get to Earth without being destroyed, because a state of war now exists between the Empire and the Femina Caelestis, and cis-lunar space is now packed with Astrodyne ships. By the time I landed on Earth to approach the Femina Caelestis and exercise transit rights, two months had passed since your death."

"That still leaves five months to be accounted for, Rogziel. Why did it take you so long to get here?"

"Lord, only four women in the Femina Caelestis know the location of the lone wormhole linking the Earth to the Land We Know. Those women are Robyn, Hunky, Dory, and Bravo. They alone do not succumb to vanity and share their memories with the other members of theFemina Caelestis by releasing their bodies before death to get new ones. Robyn and Dory are dead. For reasons unknown Hunky refuses to restore them to flesh or to leave Fortuna herself, and that left on Earth only Bravo to escort me."

"So why was that a problem?" Belial demanded.

Before that moment, Major Rogziel had told Belial nothing but the truth. Some of what he said was independently verified by Belial, because he was also there. Rogziel hoped he had built up a sufficient store of credibility with his god, because from that point forward he would slip into the mode of a prolific liar.

Rogziel said, "Bravo was preoccupied with the outbreak of hostilities be- tween Egypt and Greater Israel."

"Yes, yes," Belial said with some impatience. "I myself caused that discon- tent to break out into open warfare to keep Bravo away from Luna at least for the duration of my raid. It would have failed otherwise. Hunky is a clumsy schoolgirl compared to Bravo."

"Yet my Lord contrived the distraction too well," Rogziel said. "Bravo was tied down for three months dealing with a salient of well-supplied Egyptian troops and tanks wedged in the Sinai desert, where they continual- ly assailed the cities of southern Israel by making repeated reconnais- sance-in-force. After she put that affair in order and returned to Seattle, it was many more days before Lilith agreed to take me to the Land We Know. She was not too keen to suffer the same True Death that Thammuz threatened to inflict on Dory, which is what she feared would happen. It was that same fear that Thammuz turned against the Femina Caelestis to make good his escape."

"Yet I see in the end Bravo carried out her duty to ONE and took you through Krista's wormhole to the Land We Know. Where is the portal mouth actually located on Earth?"

"It is in a thickly wooded area near Seattle, my Lord. I was not even blindfolded. Bravo told me it didn't matter, because no nephilim would be allowed to set foot on the Earth again after the Battle of Luna anyway. There were so many forks and turns in the path we took, I would never be able to retrace our steps. Those women are so paranoid they refused to even let me wear my own clothing, lest one of my shirt buttons be a SATNAV re- ceiver, which in fact all of them are. I'll give them credit for being thorough."

"That portal would have taken you to the Pool of Bat-El in Hamar. Why did- n't you then make your way immediately to my Temple at Eniph? You could have come directly here to me."

"Lord, from Nyduly Wood it is another six or seven days journey overland to your temple, but only one day to reach the temple of Chokhmah, and I deemed that enough time had been wasted. In Alodra I showed my diplomatic creden- tials to the Amazons and was permitted to pass through to Central between Hybla and Dia."

"To hell with the Amazons, show me your credentials," Belial demanded. He wasn't actually being suspicious, this was more a demonstration for the dozen Eyes of Belial standing around them in the hangar bay, because Belial planned to put Rogziel in authority over them presently, and he wanted to put their every possible question to rest.

Rogziel held the document up to a dark electronic eye that he knew existed on the exterior of Belial's angel. Belial saw the holographic photo of Azi- beel's face, complete with a pattern of burnt patches that he remembered all too well. The document was a perfect forgery. Belial wondered how long Thammuz would be able to pass as the Emperor, but as far as Rogziel went, Belial believed everything was in order. There were only a few more loose ends to wrap up. "How did you get from Hybla-Dia to here?"

"Lord, there was a frigate making a port call at Central, commanded by one Commodore Lahatiel Gerash. I told the Commodore my errand, and at hyz com- mand the liberty of hyz crew was cut short. They brought me here."

"A Commodore was commanding a frigate?" That, at least, did not seem to gel. A frigate was hardly larger than a shuttle-bomber. Even a major such as Rogziel would be overqualified as the commanding officer of a mere frig- ate.

One of the hovering Eyes of Belial stepped in to help Rogziel here, and so perhaps ingratiate hymself to a yang he perceived was a rising star in the opinion of Belial. "Lord Belial, if I may, Commodore Lahatiel, a decorated hero of the Eggbeater, is putting together a special unit of troubleshoot- ers made up of hand-picked officers. Hyz little ship is the Exiler which just came out of the yards. New production. I understand they are yet to be assigned their first mission."

"Rogziel, I know your stay aboard was brief, but do you judge the crew of Exiler ready to be sent into combat?"

"I do, Lord."

"You see, Rogziel, I have a problem and maybe this Commodore on Exiler can solve it. Do you know of a retired field-marshal named Ithuriel Gerash?"

"Yes, Lord, hy is the Imperial Astronomer. You have posted hym to Proxima, where hy and his colleages and servants are the only inhabitants of that entire star system."

Belial said, "Ithuriel has many sons and daughters by his eight wives, and some of his sons have distinguished careers of their own in my armed forces. But his sister-wife Lauviah was very young when he gained her hand in his first laraji, you see. Really, sha was just an infant. Only when Ithuriel was forty and she was twenty did he go to har and sire sons and daughters, but now hy is sixty while Lauviah is forty, and all his days of bearing offspring are over.

"In his golden years Ithuriel has become weak. His youngest son born of Lauviah, named Marou, has become in a human expression the apple of his eye. Ithuriel cannot bear the thought of possibly losing Marou in the death-combat, so he withholds hym from the military with Lavuiah's assent.

"And I, for my part, will not push Ithuriel on this matter. He has given me enough. His genetic contribution is secure, and his mind remains sharp. Ithuriel is close to rendering to me a service far greater than siring a dozen elements of cannon fodder, and if he would rather train his youngest dirk to be an childless astronomer than a soldier, then so be it.

"Unfortunately, young Marou, who is now a student at the University of Xan- tho, has been abducted by members of a criminal organization there called the Iron Fist, and they have certain demands for ransom. This would be a small matter unworthy of my attention in other circumstances, but in this case, Ithuriel is very distraught, and he cannot find it in hymself to keep working on my special project while the fate of his youngest and most be- loved son remains unresolved.

"Here then are my orders, Rogziel, so listen carefully: You are once again appointed my chief aide, with authority over all the Eyes of Belial throughout the Centauri Realm. Note that appointment, gentleyeng. Rogzi- el, you will direct Exiler to proceed to Xantho, discover where the dirk named Marou Gerash is being held, and neutralize the Iron Fist elements holding him in such a way that it will deter any future kidnapping attempts of suchlike nature."

"Lord, your pardon, but it may be impossible for even the Exiler to carry out those orders without killing the dirk as well."

"It is often unavoidable to take civilian causalities when servicing a tar- get with an air strike. After the campaign, Exiler shall proceed to Proxima to bring Field-Marshal Ithuriel news of the tragic loss of Marou. Commodore Lahatiel shall offer my sincere condolences, and he will also provide what moral and physical assistance the Imperial Astronomer might need to accel- erate his research to a successful conclusion. When Ithuriel completes his necessarily brief mourning process he will understand exactly what I mean. Do you have all that?"

"Yes Lord."

"Welcome back, Rogziel!"