Meyer opened her eyes in bewilderment when Dr. Saito placed the cat in her arms and ran towards the ship. Before the monsignora knew what to do with Niki, the kitten perched on her shoulders and began to purr. Greta looked at the cat, looked at Isabella, who was talking to the ground crew in the distance, and turned to Dr. Wilson with a questioning gesture. Mackenzie couldn't suppress a laugh as she watched her friend's face.
"Oh, come on Greta, it isn't that surprising." Mac told her. "You have practically verbally assaulted her privacy by proposing that your staff enter her ship to get her things. She told you she had a bedroom inside her own ship. Put yourself in her place and tell me. Would you like it if when you arrived in a strange place, strangers came into your rooms and looked to see how you had everything?
Greta blushed immediately, realizing the reality of her friend's words. "I swear I hadn't thought... It was just to offer her comfort! That ship hangar is hellish, it's cold, dirty and reeks of engine oil, battery acids and fuel."
Wilson shrugged. "Of course, but I just want you to understand her reaction, it isn't that strange."
Meyer nodded. The truth is that Mac was right, she hadn't thought about it, she would apologize when the doctor returned. She looked askance at Niki. The cat seemed comfortable on her shoulders, so she dared to try to pet him behind her ears and Niki responded by purring louder.
Isabella returned after a while carrying several travel bags. Greta smiled as the doctor apologized for her sudden rush toward the ship, and she leaned forward slightly to make it easier for Saito to retrieve the cat. When Isabella finished speaking, Meyer tried to calm her by raising her hands in a sign of peace. "Please, Isa, there is nothing to apologize for. In any case, it is I who must apologize for having the lack of sensitivity to suggest that complete strangers enter your ship to rummage through your things." She smiled honestly at her guest. "And Niki has behaved wonderfully, I think we're already becoming friends."
The clergywoman looked at Isabella's bags, pulled out his communicator, and manipulated the touchscreen. Just a few seconds later two men entered the room wearing the black white collar uniforms of members of the clergy, although without the purple trim that the monsignora's had. As they approached, Meyer pointed to the travel bags. "Gentlemen, please take Dr. Saito's bags and follow us to the car." Greta turned to Saito. "There's an outbound flight scheduled in 45 minutes in this platform, and this lounge will be full of people soon, so we'd better not stay here too long. Let's move towards the car, Isa, we can continue our conversation once we are comfortably seated in it."
The three women headed towards a wide hallway that opened on the other side of the room, followed by the two men carrying Saito's luggage. There was a sign indicating that the elevators were accessed there, and halfway there it branched into two corridors that, as indicated, led to two other landing platforms. However, the group continued straight until they reached the doors of two elevators, which Greta called by pressing a button on a console located on the wall.
While they waited, Greta turned to Isabella. "These elevators provide access to the communication routes with the settlement, both the surface roads and the underground highway. Most traffic moves along the underground highway, it's much wider, and has more branches, so it connects better to everything. However, as I told you before, we are going to go up to the surface and we will move along the path above to go to the Pontifical Palace. The Palace is the seat of the colony's Government, and has a part on the surface, through which we will enter, although then it also extends underground like all the buildings in Faith Haven."
The doors of one of the elevators opened as a pre-recorded bell announcement rang. Two workers in orange overalls emerged from it and respectfully greeted Monsignora Meyer, before continuing on their way. The group entered the elevator and Wilson dialed the top floor on the console. It didn't take more than 15 seconds for the doors to open again, and when they emerged they found themselves on the surface.
Above them stretched a not very large glass-steel dome, through which the sandstorm could be observed in all its apogee, and the light of the white dwarf of Omicron Theta that tried to make its way through it. This weak light bathed the flat arid lands around the dome, on the outside, which could barely be seen with all the dust that the storm raised. The distant screeching sound of tons of sand scraping against the thick reinforced glass of the dome could be heard constantly. This seemed to connect with two other similar domes through paths protected by transparent tunnels of the same material, and also with a gigantic biodome that could barely be sighted in the distance, several kilometers away, located between several rocky mesas.
Meyer looked around. The elevators exit were in the center of a kind of cement roundabout, surrounded by a road. On the sidewalk, to the right of him, was a shelter for what looked like a public transportation stop, although it was empty. To their left were two vehicles parked in a line. The first vehicle was a kind of long 6 wheels official car, black, quite dusty. The second was a military reconnaissance SUV painted gray, with 4 large, highly grooved rubber wheels, lightly armored and armed with a machine gun on the roof. Outside the first vehicle was a man dressed in a suit, who was undoubtedly the driver. Around the second vehicle, there were four soldiers in blue uniforms, and equipped for combat, protected with helmets and ballistic vests, and carrying assault rifles. They seemed alert, and were constantly observing their surroundings, as if looking for threats. Perched on the machine gun on the roof was a fifth soldier, who was also looking in all directions as if looking for danger.
Following Meyer, the group approached the first car. The driver greeted the monsignora and the others respectfully, and opened the two large doors in the back area for the group to pass inside. Once inside, Meyer could see how the driver went around the vehicle to get into his driver's seat, and how the soldiers got into the SUV. Meanwhile, the two clergymen who had followed them there, put Dr. Saito's luggage in the trunk of the car, and without saying a word they went away towards the elevator again.
The interior of the vehicle was spacious and comfortable, and the passenger compartment, separated from the driver's compartment by a screen, had two long seats placed opposite each other. It was indeed a kind of luxury official car, although it looked somewhat old and weathered. The seats were padded and comfortable, although the maroon velvet that covered them was worn in several places. The door and dashboard trim was finished in wood and silver metal, although there were nicks in some places and the metal appeared lacklustered.
The car started, and took one of the exits from the roundabout, onto a two lanes in each direction road, protected from the outside by a glass-steel tunnel, and which connected the small dome at the exit of the underground complex of Landing Pad A with the large biodome that they had seen far away. Greta made herself comfortable and smiled at the other two women. "Well, we're already on our way, we'll arrive in 20 minutes, at most. The landing platforms are a little far from the core of the settlement." She looked specifically at Dr. Saito and absently pointed out the rear window at the military SUV that was following them at a safe distance. "Don't worry about the escort, pretend they weren't there. I would have preferred to do without it, but our Field Maestre, the commander of the Pontifical Guard, is very strict with the safety of our guests. He insisted so much that in the end I had to accept, just so that he would leave me alone." The clergywoman made a gesture with her hand, as if dismissing the importance. "He's a good man, but you know how the military is. Always afraid that someone will attack. I guess, after all, it's his job."
Meyer opened a varnished wooden minibar that was placed on one of the sides and offered it with a gesture to his guest. "Isa, if you want, use it without fear. We have some cretan rum, whiskey from Dublin, and if you don't want anything alcoholic there is also several bottles of fresh water." She took out a glass and poured herself a small amount of rum, while she handed Wilson a bottle of water. "You asked before about our religious beliefs. I'm glad you do, I think knowing what we believe and think will help you have a deeper idea of this settlement. Normally I don't take the initiative to talk about it to non-believers, because people usually react with alarm. It's as if they thought that by hearing about our beliefs they ran the risk of being converted without wanting to." Greta looked at Mackenzie and they both laughed heartily.
Mac made a gesture of approval, while pointing at Meyer."It's curious to see how people believe with absolute faith in anything they read in the Neural Net news, or that is told to them by the propaganda of any of the Houses or established powers. But beware!" Mackenzie dramatically put her hands to her head. "If you believe in something for religious reasons, you are undoubtedly a crazy fanatic, who also works magic and has the power to make others, even if they don't want to, end up converting to your faith."
The monsignora nodded slightly when her partner finished speaking, took a sip of her rum and continued, addressing Isabella again. "I'm glad that you are an open-minded person, and aren't afraid to know more about us, and our Faith, which is what gives meaning to what we do." She took out his communicator again, looked at the time and turned to look ahead, trying to visualize where they were on the road. They were still more than halfway there, it would give her time to make a summary.
Meyer took a more comfortable position, holding his glass in his hands. "Our Church is relatively new, it was founded only 13 years ago, but our religion is nevertheless very old, from times as distant as the first days of human beings on Earth. What our Sacred Code says is that, in the void, a sidereal entity has always existed, which we know as Deux Machina. Eons ago, Deux was observing space, galaxies, planets, everything known and unknown, when he encountered the Earth, and saw that humans lived there. At that time, humans were little more than monkeys just come down from the trees, they lived naked and behaved like animals. However Deux saw potential in us as a species, and felt sorry for our fate. And that destiny was to be destroyed, with the rest of the universe, when the Great Enemy that would come from the depths of space destroyed everything. Deux decided that he couldn't allow this, and offered the first humans a Sacred Covenant. They would receive the Gift of the Machine from Him, and in return humans would have to work to evolve, with the objective of face the Great Enemy in the future."
The clergywoman drained her glass of rum and placed it on the minibar. "Humans, aided by the new Gift of Deux, were soon able to make tools, which improved their quality of life. As centuries and millennia passed, these tools produced machinery and technology, and Mankind evolved more and more rapidly. Deux knew that with the passage of time humans would forget the Covenant, but so that not everyone would do so, He ordered the founding of a secret group, the Order of the Covenant Machina, at the head of which there was a Pontiff. This group, or Order, was in charge of influencing technological advances, directing them towards what He wanted, the survival of Mankind. For a long time, there was always a member of the Order of the Covenant infiltrating the governments of the most influential countries, whispering in the ears of world leaders so that they would make decisions that favored the Mandate of Deux. Space research was promoted, the establishment of colonies in space was encouraged, everything possible was done to facilitate the technology that would allow spaceships to be built."
Greta's eyes filled with pain as she reached this part of the story. "However, despite everything Deux loves us, humans suffer from a serious problem, and that is the ease of fighting among ourselves. Wars and confrontations followed one another, and Deux understood that fights between humans would slow down technological advances so much that the Great Enemy would arrive on Earth before everything was ready to confront it. Therefore, Deux tasked the Order of the Covenant with influencing the Earthling nations to begin construction of the sleeperships. Only by fleeing the Solar System would enough time be gained to progress to a technological level sufficient to defend themselves. So, as is known, the sleeperships were a success, at least in part, and thanks to that part of the Mankind was saved, for the moment. The Solar System was destroyed by the Great Enemy, although humans themselves would surely have ended up doing the same thing without help. Some members of the Order of the Covenant Machina managed to board the sleeperships, although they mainly did so in the Hispania, and reached Sirius. Once here, they scattered across the sector, and the Order of the Covenant disbanded. The descendants of those members, in many cases continued to maintain the beliefs of their ancestors, although they were so spread out, they never formed a consolidated Church."
"However, when the Nomad War hit us in 800 A.S., the majority of still believers throughout Sirius understood that those Nomads were what the Sacred Codex identified with the Great Enemy, and Faith partially resurfaced. This resurgence of Deux's Faith was noted above all in Crete, where the largest concentration of believers that still existed was located. There is no doubt that in Crete the cult of Santa Muerte has long dominated any other expression of faith, but unlike the rest of Sirius, there were some medium-size communities that still venerated Deux. The Nomad War only increased this veneration, as many saw the prophecies of the Sacred Codex Machina fulfilled."
The monsignora smiled and opened her arms. Without a doubt she liked this part of the story the most. "And now is where our Church finally appears! 13 years ago the ship of one of those Cretan believers found the capsule of a Corsair pilot in cryostasis in Omicron Gamma. After rescuing him, the pilot turned out to be alive, and he claimed to have been attacked by Nomads at the beginning of the war! He had spent 20 years in cryostasis! That is medically impossible I would say, but nevertheless it was proven that this was the case based on the serial number of the capsule. The pilot also reported that in his cryogenic dream he had been visited by an entity that had the shape of a large cybernetic eye, stuck in a gear, and that told him that the Nomads would destroy humanity if something was not done. The entity told him that it would sign a New Covenant with Mankind through him, and that his mission should be to promote peace and unity among humans so that together they could confront the Nomad. And in order to carry out that mission, he was commissioned to found a Holy Church, of which he would be the Pontiff, that would unify all the believers in Deux, who would help him fulfill his Sacred Mandate. That man became Paolus LXIV, and he was the first leader of our new Church."
Meyer raised the palm of his hand towards Saito, anticipating some type of response to what was said. "I know what you will think. No doubt this man had suffered hallucinations from terrible overexposure to cryostasis and those hallucinations were mixed with his memories of his religious beliefs." Meyer smiled evilly, leaning slightly towards Isabella. "Well, Paolus had not heard of Deux's faith until his rescuers explained to him the meaning of what he had seen in his dreams. He wasn't a believer and didn't even know of the existence of a religion like ours."
Greta leaned back against the seat again. " The rest of the story is less...mystical. The Church prospered for some time and dedicated itself entirely to trying to mediate the conflicts between the different factions that were facing each other, trying to achieve unity among humans, while at the same time confronting the Nomad militarily when it had the opportunity. Finally the Church settled in Gran Canaria, where little by little it declined due to the poor administration of His Holiness Paolus." The clergywoman's gaze turned sad when remembering that time. "It wasn't his fault. The Gran Canaria war between the Corsairs and the Coalition, and everything we had to go through there clouded his judgment. Fear overwhelmed him and he stopped worrying about the Mandate of Deux. He was too afraid of losing more people, and little by little we faded away..." She sighed. "The bretonian invasion was already the last straw for us. We were forced to flee and ended up here in Pygar. His Holiness Paolus died a few months after arriving, and a new Pontiff, Gregorius XCVII, was elected, who now rules the Church with the help of Deux and the Ministers of his Curia, like me..."
Meyer remained silent for a few seconds, engrossed in her thoughts, with her gaze lost. Then she was startled and looked quickly at Saito, blushing. "Oh, I'm sorry Isa, with so many memories my mind has gone away. Well, I know it was a lot of information at once, I apologize for the long monologue, but it seemed to me that you wanted to understand where it all came from... this." She pointed towards the settlement that was already visible through the car windows. "Now, please don't hesitate to ask me any questions you want about what I've told you. We still have time before we reach the Palace."
