HGE - Episode 05 - Priesthood

The Holy Galactic Empire
Episode 05 - Priesthood

Doctor Anderson wore a full medical suit. It was little different from a space suit one would wear in the vacuum of space. The most obvious difference from the outside was the mark of Caduceus upon her left shoulder. It was a black staff entwined with two white serpents. While the room she stood in was not a hard vacuum it was kept at a roughly half that of the building. The low pressure was a safety precaution as Doctor Anderson had no desire for whatever had caused the deaths of the three people on the tables to be allowed to spread. The low pressure meant that any air flow would be into the room instead of out. 

Patricia was preparing to start the second autopsy. Subject 2, the adult male. Patricia had to force herself to think of the corpses with dispassionate labels. Subject 1, the adult female. Subject 2, the adult male. Subject 3, the adolescent female. If she let herself think of them as mother, father, and daughter, she wasn't sure she would have been able to complete her work. Completing it with as clinical a mindset as possible was disturbing enough. She had completed the dissection of Subject 1 almost three hours ago. She had needed a break and then the Duke's son, a Lord Jason, had requested a report. 

Subject 2 was covered in the same black pus filled blisters as Subject 1. The black pus was pooled on the cold steal table the corpse rested upon. Scans showed that the pustules weren't just on the skin. They were on internal organs as well resulting in the body cavity filling with the black pus. The pus filling the lungs had been what had likely killed them. Suffocated by the black pus filling their lungs. Some of their bones had also been deformed. Their ribs seemed and spine seemed the strongest affected. The odd spiky calcium growths on those bones appeared to have caused some small amount of internal bleeding.

While all of that would likely haunt Patricia's nightmares for the rest of her life, the most disturbing thing was the lack of any apparent cause. She had run multiple tests on every sample she could think of, the black pus, blood, tissue, bone, the calcium spurs, brain tissue, everything. And yet...there was no sign of any unknown virus, bacteria, fungus, or foreign body of any kind. There were no unusual levels of radiation. The black pus seemed to be a organic liquid the subject's bodies had spontaneously begun manufacturing in massive quantities. The small spikes of calcium on their bones seemed to have grown with the same lack of any apparent cause. 

"Doctor Anderson?"

Patricia started at the sudden intrusion. While she was being observed by two of her colleges, they both generally didn't speak while she was working. But the voice wasn't one she recognized. And it wasn't coming from her suits comms. She turned and saw a priest standing inside of the room with her. 

"This room is in quarantine, how did you get in here?" 

"I assure you they are no longer contagious," the priest said calmly. The man wore the gray robes of a priest but there was no sigil marking which priesthood he belonged to. His head was shaved bald. Many priests shaved their head although it was not a unique hairstyle to the priesthood. Patricia could see no tattoos but those long sleeves of the robe could hide many. 

"How did you get in here?" Anderson repeated. She glanced at the single entrance into the quarantine room. The airlock was far from quiet when some past through it.

"I can explain everything if you would just come with me," the priest said and held out a hand towards Doctor Anderson.

Patricia looked down at her own hands. Her gloved hands were covered in the black pus and blood. 

"Ben, Chris, how did this priest get in here?"

"Your colleagues are unavailable at the moment, though I assure you they are perfectly alright." 

"Who are you?" Anderson demanded.

"While you are not a priestess, you do wear the white mark of Caduceus. You have sworn oaths to Caduceus, the god of Life, that you will protect life to the best of your abilities. I do not serve Caduceus, but I swear this to you. If you come with me, you will save more lives than you can imagine. In addition, I believe coming with me will be the most effective way to fight what caused the death of these poor people."

Patricia looked this strange priest in the eyes for a long moment. Then she looked down at the three corpses on her examination tables. That was when she made her decision. 

Patricia took the priest's offered hand and they both disappeared from the quarantined room. 

Jason reentered the library aboard the ducal yacht with a sigh. He had just escorted Captain Brisbin to the shuttle bay and seen her off to her own ship. While the countess was one of the highest ranking nobles in the Dukedom, she had rarely been at court while Jason was growing up. She would come for special occasions like Odin's Day but on those days she had always been just one face among a sea of faces. Jason most remembered what his father the Duke had said of her. 

"Son, our house owes her a debt that I fear we will never be able to repay. Even still, she is amongst our houses fiercest supporters."

When Jason had asked what debt, his father had said that he had personally failed her but refused to say more on the subject. 

"Just know that there are very few people I trust more than Countess Brisbin."

Jason sat down in the chair he had so recently vacated in order to escort the Countess off the ship. He let his head roll back and closed his eyes. He didn't sleep for his brain was too full for rest. His mind worked the problem. He found no answers and grew only more frustrated. 

Jason's frustrated contemplation was interrupted by a knock on the door. Sarah had taken her position outside of the door. 

"Enter," Jason called, turning to look at the door. "Mother Regina, I wasn't aware you were on board," Jason said as he quickly stood up to great her.

Mother Regina was the Odinian Bishop of the Dukedom. She oversaw the Odinian Priesthood within the Dukedom. She was also chaired the Bishops Council within the Dukedom. The fact that she was on the ship was more than surprising. She was a busy woman and not one for spontaneous drop ins. Particularly when Jason had specifically ordered that as few people as possible were to know where the ship was going. But who was going to tell the Odinian Bishop no?

"Well, yes, it was rather sudden," Mother Regina said, "I was only ordered to meet with you a few hours ago."

"I...," Jason started, but trailed off in confusion. A few hours ago, the ship would have been in space and the only rendezvous had been with was the Countess's shuttle. And who was giving Mother Regina orders? "Did someone from the Synod come that I wasn't aware of?" Jason glanced back at the door and saw that Sarah had taken up a position behind the Bishop. Jason could see the tension in her body.

"Not exactly," the bishop said, "I am to tell you to instruct your Pilot to take you to the Garden."

"The Garden," Jason repeated, "Which garden is that?"

"The Garden of Life and Death," the bishop said.

There was a long silence before Jason asked, "Isn't going there supposed to be, well, mostly death?"

"If you were going there without an invitation it would be," the bishop said, "But your presence has been requested." The bishop held out a black envelope to Jason. 

Jason took the envelop. It was sealed with a white wax seal imprinted with the seal of Caduceus, two snakes entwined along a staff. In white letters and a flowing script the other side of the envelop said simply, Lord Jason Falklor. Jason broke the seal and pulled out a white piece of paper. In the same flowing script but in black lettering was the following short message:

Lord Jason Falklor,

Upon receiving this missive, please come to the Garden of Life and Death at your earliest possible convenience. Your Pilot knows the location. There are several subjects we must discuss.

Regards,

Caduceus 

"Where did you get this message?" Jason asked the bishop in a more forceful voice than he usually used with the priesthood.

"From the same Messenger which brought me onboard your ship," Mother Regina said, "I... it was made clear to me that the seal is genuine." 

That was when Jason realized that the bishop's outward demeanor of calm was a thin veneer. Her fingers kept twitching into fists and then she release them. 

Jason reread the short message. Earliest possible convenience. From a king that meant drop what you're doing and come immediately. From a god....

Jason walked over to the wall and pushed a small button and said, "Pilot."

"Yes, my lord," a voice said from a hidden speaker.

"Can you take us to the Garden of Life and Death?"

"I'm afraid not," the same voice said after a short hesitation.

"What if we were invited?" Jason asked.

"If we were invited, I could Pilot this ship to the Garden, yes."

"Great, prepare for departure," Jason said Turning to Captain Thomason he asked, "Who all is on the shuttle back to the Osprey with Captain Brisbin?"

"Just Cochran and Coleman, sir."

"Let them know we will come pick them up whenever we get back and ask Captain Brisbin if she would be kind enough to host them aboard her ship for the time being."

The story will continue with...
The Garden of Life and Death