There Is No Peace - The EOS Chronicles, Book One | SAMPLE

ENLIGHTENMENT

May 11, 2313

We sit in the front seats of Sermon Hall with other Executive Commanders' families in order of rank. My father shakes hands and makes small talk as we weave through this morning's crowds. Aeryk and I feel it is a waste going to this weekly event, but it is a duty, so I slap on the obligatory medium smile, that doesn't show my teeth, but lip corners raised enough to be recognized as one, and tailored uniform. Age matters, so I trail behind Aeryk to our seats. He enjoys delaying his coming and going longer than necessary, dragging his feet as if carrying an imaginary weight.

The clerics perch in unison, spines erect on the stage. They look small against the thirteen-foot-tall backs of their plush, ebony chairs. The seventh cleric arises and approaches an elevated lectern centered for maximum view. He is Executive Commander of the Spiritual Division Attics Warren, calm in demeanor, usually soft spoken, but when his faith touches him right, emanates a recognizable zeal. His excitement is revealed by the flight of his delicate, outstretched hands, creating yellow robe wings. Now that he's speaking, it's worth attending. The other clerics leave trails of doubt when they speak.

"Today we celebrate the anniversary of the Night of Enlightenment. Before that night we as Zerian supported the thirteen different faiths among us, lost in the clutter of thirteen false deities, we could not see the One.

The morning after Night of Enlightenment, I wonder what emotions gripped them wakening in their division.

"We awoke to the one God, and we are his chosen people. By divine inspiration, he has brought about the creation of the Caretaker to help us talk to him and preserve our way of life. The Caretaker, the primary custodian of ensuring the happiness and safety of our lives, has protected us from our Kavarkian enemies. We must press forward and spread the true word to our new planets."

I never verbally question these teachings, but if they're right, why does my father never stress them instead of encouraging self-reliance? Other families wear their faith on constant display.

The ceremony always ends with reciting the Caretaker's directives and prayer.

"The Caretaker is our savior. Its mandate is to preserve and optimize Zerian life and to serve as God's tool to document our deeds so that we may be judged worthy to enter heaven."

Father says there were older forms of artificial intelligence with their own rules. Zerians have a history of using it, but only after defeated landing on Kavarka did it increase. History is lost on how or whom defeated us. The reason for the loss of their homeworld blamed on their agrarian view on life. Zerians decided to focus on a militarized society so they would never be forced away again. Artificial intelligence perceived as the most aggressive tool to ensure it. Inspired by its makers' wishes for it to understand and mimic the human mind, the Caretaker upgraded to a system architecture based on human DNA and a neuro network engineered from Zerian stem cells.

With my eyes closed during prayer, I can sense his dusted blue gaze upon my skin, studying, leeching in, converting me to gooseflesh again. I open my eyes and turn; our eyes catch, and he darts his attention toward Warren's back. When I was younger, I noticed the intensity with which he stared at me. When I asked Father about it, he said, "Everyone knew your Mother, and you have her face. It is sometimes haunting to those who can't forget her."

But who is this frosty eyed man to Mother?