Volume 6: Gamma-11, Chapter 6.14

It was hard to keep track of time on a planet that didn’t have any real night, and those weak light fades barely helped you maintain a real schedule. But everyone was so exhausted, no one wanted to be the first one to greet the harsh new sun.

But eventually we had to get up for the day, and when I left my tent, I saw we had more than a few visitors interested in what our clan had to offer.

Crisson and his team had already started the bartering process with the interested gojen clans, and it wasn’t a quick thing either. They were all about respect and posturing, so it would take hours before an actual trade was made. For now, the visitors were led around the camp while our people showed off the goods, mostly just swapping stories about their travels and recent trades.

The visitors also brought a little food with them, nothing fancy—certainly not a feast, but it was always polite to bring a small offering when you visited another clan whether you ended up trading or not. From what I could see the few visitors brought along a small tray of dried meats—like jerky, or a bowl of some cactus fruit that was little more than an appetizer.

I bowed respectfully to any visitor I passed, and a few offered me food from their tray or bowl in a friendly manner, and I took them tentatively at first—not sure how the real alien food would taste. But after being surprised how good and authentic it was, I wasn’t shy from that point anytime a gojen offered me a treat.

I’d already gotten dressed for the day in my tent, wearing a red robe with some purple face wrappings and a dark blue sun visor. You couldn’t do much to clean yourself in the tents, so it was a quick process to get up and go. Unfortunately, keeping yourself fresh was a rather rare occurrence for the traveling gojens since water was such a precious resource in the desert, so a full washup was infrequent and instead they used fragrant rags on themselves to cover up the smell and give themselves a quick “whore’s bath” of sorts just using a washcloth on the vital spots. That certainly wasn’t something I was looking forward to dealing with, but considering I went camping and hunting for weeks on end back on Earth, roughing it for a while wasn’t something I was unfamiliar with.

I made my way over to Eve’s statue and put a hand on it, “Morning sweet-thing, hope you slept well.” I said quietly.

I couldn’t hear a response from Eve, but I’d expected that; I figured she was going to remain silent while there were strangers in the camp—that or she was still sleeping.

A visiting gojen walked over to me then, wearing simple grey robes and matching head wrappings, but he wasn’t wearing a visor so at least I could see his eyes.

It was kind of funny we were on an alien planet, but because everyone was so wrapped up to protect themselves from the sun and sand, you really couldn’t see much of the aliens at all.

The gojen bowed to me respectfully, careful to keep his eyes on face and not bow too deep—the right amount of respect for a stranger.

“Greetings to you.” He righted himself and looked over at the statue, “Rare have I ever seen such fine work. Where does it come from?” The gojen asked, his words stiff and protected—not wanting to reveal too much of his interest in something he might want to acquire.

The gojen language was weirdly garbled, sounded like a jumble of words that had no real rhythm, so I was glad the translator was able to alter tones as well so you could really understand what they were saying.

I bowed back the same gesture, “Our clan’s founder worked tirelessly to gather the materials over many light fades to create it; we brought it to Coralia with the hope we can make an offering directly to the one they say has brought New Light to our world.” I said with the same careful cadence.

The gojen nodded once, “Ah.” He turned back to the statue and nodded again, “I am sure it will make a great offering, provided the praetor allows you inside the temple.”

I nodded too, “That is our hope and ambition in coming here.”

The gojen turned back to me and bowed once more, “Then I wish you success in your ventures.” He said simply, then walked away to look over some of our other goods.

I let out a weary sigh, not at all liking how stiff I had to talk to come across as a believable gojen—it wasn’t like I had agent or even actor training or anything.

After my brief interacting with a local, Dryden made his way over towards me.

“What did you tell him?” He demanded.

I fixed him with a flat look he wouldn’t be able to see, “I told him exactly what we’re supposed to say; it’s an offering we want to present to their new god or whatever.”

Dryden nodded once, “Good.” He turned and gestured towards the far end of our camp where the rest of our team was gathering, “We’re about to head into the settlement, don’t waste any more time dealing with the locals when that’s not your job.”

I had to grind my teeth to keep from barking back at the insufferable man; it wasn’t like I was going around trying to show myself friendly, the stranger came to

me

to ask about Eve’s statue.

“I’m ready, let’s go.” I said instead.

The settlement team the Lord Generals picked included me and Dryden of course, then Endynna and Thorria. Kinn would be with us, as well as Giamma, Winnin, and Bodda too.

Everyone was dressed up in their robes and wrappings, and they were all wearing their sun visors too—honestly, it was pretty much impossible to tell who was who now.

“Is that Kinn?” I asked the person wearing a blue robe, looked like a man’s frame.

They shook their head, “No, it’s Winnin.”

A purple robe raised their hand, “I’m Kinn.”

“Is that you, Adam?” A female voice in a red and blue robe asked.

I nodded, “Yeah.” I cocked my head to the side, “That you, Giamma?”

She nodded, “You got it.”

Someone in the group sighed, “This is ridiculous.” They said, and it sounded like Bodda, “How the hell are we supposed to tell each other apart?”

A person wearing grey robes with white head wrappings sighed, “We’re all wearing different colors, shouldn’t be hard to figure out who’s who.” They said—sounded like Endynna, the female agent.

We took a couple moments to reacquaint ourselves in our robes so we could actually tell each other apart, and it was all pretty funny, but of course any amount of fun was against the Lord Generals’ orders.

“Alright, let’s knock it off and stay focused everyone.” Dryden called, reigning everyone it.

A few looks were exchanged, and even with the visors on I felt like we’d all have the same expression on our faces—annoyed and beyond tired with this mission commander.

Dryden waved toward the group, “From here on out we’re going to be heading for the heart of the settlement, and remember we’re just looking around as a curious young clan, so it’s important we don’t overstep our place in their hierarchy.” He explained.

Endynna nodded and stepped forward, “Right, it’s okay for clans to explore the settlement, but we’re not to walk through certain territories or try to barter with any older clans; to them, we’re too far beneath them and not worthy of trading until we prove ourselves by building up our reputation.”

Kinn held up his hand, “Does that mean we’ll need to build up our reputation

before

we can get a blessing from the elder clans so we can meet with their praetor?”

Dryden shook his head, “That’s what we’re going to find out today; learn what we can about the elder clan structure and how exactly they’re involved with the temple and the praetor on a daily basis.”

Once we were set to go, we formed up in a single line behind Dryden same as we did while traveling through the desert, with me in the back as usual. We left the rest of our team behind as they were all engaged in trading with the visitors, heading out from our clan’s circle and towards the heart of the settlement.

All around us on the outskirts of Coralia were other clans in their rings, most were far larger than ours, and I could see them trading and bartering with visitors same as ours. Apparently, this was how the day-to-day worked; wake up and barter with visitors, or go and visit other clans to barter.

Our line made sure to keep our distance from the other clans’ territory so we didn’t look like we were coming to barter, but even so people would wave at us and try to get our attention, hoping to get us interested in a trade.

The farther we traveled into the city, however, the less people tried to grab our attention, and eventually it got to the point where we were completely ignored by the surrounding clans.

Kinn leaned back to talk to me, “I guess this is where the older clans start settling in, the ones too good to trade with the newer clans.”

I nodded along, “Fine with me, I’d rather just be ignored.”

Kinn shrugged, “Yeah, but don’t we need help from the other clans if we’re to get into the temple?”

I didn’t have an answer for Kinn—not like I knew the specifics of the Lord Generals’ plan. We knew our mission operations and protocols, knew the general idea for gaining access to Gamma-11, but we’d need to report back on our findings for the day before the Lord Generals would devise a strategy how to get the blessing from an elder clan.

We continued deeper into the settlement so the clan circles were replaced by actual structures now, stone buildings to make it all look like a real city—still some desert bazaar of course, with wooden carts and goods organized in smaller circles inside larger circles, territories changing to have more public access.

The rules of younger clans not being allowed to trade were more relaxed here, and I could see any number of markets were open for anyone to visit. Honestly, I kind of wanted to check them out just to see what all the primitive alien merchants offered, but I wasn’t going to risk Dryden’s wrath by suggesting a detour.

We traveled in our line for about an hour, twisting through the sandy streets on our way to the center of the settlement, ducking around and away from vendors who didn’t seem to care about respect and instead wanted to make as many trades as possible. I wondered if that change in how those people traded was due to the development of this new centralized settlement—all because Gamma-11 came to disrupt how they lived.

As traveling nomads and merchants I was sure there was a concept of greed amongst the gojens, but with this newly created civilization I wondered if Gamma-11 disrupted the balance they’d had created—an influx of newfound greed as the settlement developed.

Would it all be from the rise of civilization, or did the Predazoans bring out the darkness in people?

Finally, our line made it to the temple, and to say it was busy would be an understatement. There were people and clans completely surrounding the immaculate white structure, some kneeling right next to the walls, others standing in a ring outside the temple grounds. It looked like the people were praying, and I could see on the corners people had dropped off smaller offerings in a collection of baskets; food, materials, precious gems, even some fantastical works of art like Eve’s statue, it seemed most of the offerings were made outside the temple, so I wondered how rare it was for a clan to get a blessing to hand-deliver their offering inside.

At the front of the temple there was a huge staircase leading up to an entrance, and all around it were dozens of armed guards, gojens with large bone-white spears, wearing white robes with some simple white leather armor on top. They had white leather helmets with black sun visors built in so you couldn’t see their faces at all—with white armored gauntlets and everything so you couldn’t see anything underneath, no skin or fur, just white on white on white.

The visitors to the temple kept their distance from all the guards, and I saw no one even attempted to make it towards the steps—no one dared to try and go inside.

At the front of our line, I saw Dryden and Endynna talking, and they waved over Thorrio to join in with the discussion.

Kinn leaned back towards me once more, “What do you think they’re talking about?”

I shrugged, “Probably wondering who we can talk to so we can connect with an elder clan for a blessing or whatever.” I gestured towards the temple entrance, “Doesn’t exactly look like there’s a tour guide or anything.”

Kinn nodded along, “Wonder how long it will take the gojens to develop the concept of nametags.”

I wasn’t sure how structured everything was in Coralia; sure they had their cultural rules to keep things organized with trading and all, but the new fledgling settlement didn’t have a formal government or anything—no city hall or visitor’s center to access. So far it seemed like it was all centered around a religion, and things randomly filled in to fit with that.

If I was on my own the first thing I would’ve done would be to go question a guard, but I wasn’t about to step out of my role now that the mission was my remedial training—I wasn’t even going to ask Dryden what they were planning. I was set to wait there and follow along with whatever orders they gave me.

In the end, I couldn’t tell what kind of decision Dryden and the others made, but instead of just waiting around for something to happen, he had our line start walking around the temple in a wide circle, keeping an eye out for anything that might help the mission.

After another couple hours of just walking around, finally our patience seemed to pay off as something was clearly happening at the front of the temple to draw a massive crowd.

We made our way over to see a convoy of people, another dozen white guards escorting a person in immaculate white robes with a fancy golden vestment with tassels trailing on the ground.

The man (I assumed from his build) held his hand up to the people as he walked towards the temple steps, and people cheered and chanted for him as he started making his way up to the temple entrance.

If I was a betting man, I’d put all my credits on that being the praetor.

Once the praetor was at the top of the steps, he turned back to the crowd and bowed once, then left his guards at the entrance as he stepped inside and shut the doors behind him.

The crowd cheered for a little while longer, then began to disperse and resume their normal activities, either leaving the temple grounds once the show was over, or going back to kneeling to pray at the temple walls.

Dryden hooked our line back so it was a small circle and gestured for everyone to move in, “Gather round, everyone.” He ordered.

We pulled ourselves in tight and bowed our heads, probably looking like we were praying together for anyone watching, but obviously just trying to be secretive about our discussion.

“That was the praetor, I assume.” I said.

Endynna nodded along, “Yes, from the intelligence we acquired yesterday we heard he was draped in golden ceremonial vestments, but this is the first time I’ve seen him.” She confirmed.

“Any sign of the elder clans?” Giamma asked.

Endynna shook her head, “Not that I could see; I know we need their blessing to meet the praetor, but honestly I’m not sure how often they interact on a daily basis.”

“Is this a daily ceremony then—the praetor going to the temple like this?” Kinn asked.

Endynna shrugged, “I don’t think it’s a ceremony so much as he just goes to the temple pretty much every day—multiple times a day even.”

“Didn’t have anything with him—wasn’t bringing an offering to Gamma-11. I wonder what he’s doing up there…” I mused aloud.

Giamma shrugged, “Maybe he prays directly to Gamma-11—or asks her what she wants from the people. Maybe he just goes up there regularly to show he engages with her frequently to secure his position as the leader of their new religion.” She reasoned.

Dryden shook his head quickly, “We’re not going to get anywhere with baseless speculating; we need more intelligence—concrete proof and data.”

I looked over at the lieutenant, “Okay, so how should we go about getting all that?” I asked.

He gestured towards the temple, “First, we need to see if this

is

a daily ritual, and how often he does it. We’ll see if there’s any changes in his schedule or a pattern we can decern from when he goes to the temple and if he brings anything else with him—offerings and the like.”

I quirked up an eyebrow in my sun visor, “So we’re just going to hang around and

hope

we can gather some useful intel?”

Dryden turned to look directly at me, and I was sure underneath his coverings he was glaring at me, “Are you questioning my orders, Agent Adam?”

I held my hand up to halt his accusation, “Of course not, sir, just confirming them.” I said evenly.

Dryden nodded once, “Very good.” He turned to the rest of the team, “From this point on we’re on regular surveillance duty; we’ll continue circling the temple to see when the praetor leaves, and over the next few days we’ll try to establish the praetor’s schedule, then see if we can discover what kind of interactions he has with the elder clans—which ones he sees regularly, which ones he favors, anything like that.” He confirmed.

Even with everyone fully covered I could tell no one was happy with our new orders—maybe Endynna was fine since she was an agent used to intelligence gathering, but I could tell the soldiers were annoyed we’d be on such a tedious detail.

But no one said anything, acting as good soldiers following along with our commanding officer’s orders, and it was then I realized how different I was from everyone else; I usually kicked up a fuss if I was given orders I didn’t agree with, always voiced my opinion when I disagreed with a decision. I wasn’t sure it was the human side of me or maybe it was just a part of my personality, but my problem with authority seemed unique to me and wasn’t shared with any of the other Imperial races.

Yet despite all I’d dealt with so far, getting involved with the Predazoans and even having the genetic enhancements performed on me, locking down my rebellious spirit with the hope I would pass the remedial training made me feel less human than ever before—and I hated every second of it.