Patrick Walts - Exsilium: A Time To Die

EXSILIUM

A Time to Die

by Patrick Walts

copyright 2020 by Patrick Walts

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without the express written consent of the copyright owner except for the use of quotations in a book review.

Contents

PROLOGUE

Have you considered the possibility that youre being just a smidge paranoid?

Caldo didnt turn around. The view of the city that lay beyond the window of the Central Governors office never failed to enthrall him. Post-WET architecture was uniquely Galenian in designalmost alien.

This, he knew, was by design. The aesthetic theyd cultivated was part of a conscious attempt on Galenias part to distance itself from anything reminiscent of Earth. He found it both stirring and beautiful, and a refreshing change from the gaudy hodgepodge of mismatched structures erected by Kryuss back on the world of his births.

The towering, crystalline spires of its tallest buildings, jutting out from the morning flowerfog below and spreading out like tree limbs to interconnect with one another, sparkled brilliantly in the rays of the rising sun like stationary bolts of lightning. Woven throughout these was a system of transparent tunnels packed with people bustling to and fro, en route to their respective destinations.

In the center of this thriving metropolis, overlooking all of it, stood Adelbern Tower, the building he was in. Constructed around an ancient California redwood planted by the first settlers on the planet, the sight of it from the ground was equally impressive as the view of the city from the governors office itself.

Novae Terrae was indeed a beautiful city, and hed quickly fallen in love with it upon his arrival on Galenia a century prior. He didnt want to see it destroyed.

Is that what you think?

Governor Aviza rose from her desk and joined him at the window.

You are the Keeper, and as such Im inclined to take your warnings very seriously. The council, on the other hand

Caldo threw his hands up. The council. Why do you still have a council? I wish you could see things from my perspective, how silly it all is.

I know, she said, but traditions run deep here. People find comfort in them. Besides, the council no longer has any legal authority. We arent ruled by them.

Arent you? His eyes flashed with an intensity Aviza found unnerving. Then how do they still manage to dictate policy?

The people listen to the council, said Aviza. And as governor, its my job to listen to the people.

I was still a teenager, on Earth, back when Kryuss was just a flamboyant publicity hound, said Caldo. I knew he had a knack for marketing himself, but I dont think I gave him enough credit. Well over two hundred thousand years after his death, his presence remains with you. Even after his brief return, during which he indirectly wrecked your planet.

That wasnt Kryuss, though. That was she paused, searching for more appropriate words than the ones shed initially set out to use.

Go ahead, said Caldo. Say it. He was an artie. Like me.

Now come on, you know thats not what I meant.

Kryuss was as real then as he was when he was flesh and blood, Caldo went on. And I remember him both waysif anyones qualified to make that comparison, its me.

Look, she said, you dont have to convince me. Besides, its not so strange. Earth felt the reverberations of many an ancient religion all the way up to well, you know. The end. Even now, there are dozens of Christian churches and Muslim mosques active on Galenia. There are even practicing Buddhists here. Hindus. You name it, weve got it.

Most of them tainted by the teachings of Kryuss, said Caldo.

Youre right, they are. But so what? Im sorry, but the integration will proceed as planned. The people want a TREE system that meets the demands of our rapidly advancing technology.

Dont apologize to me , said Caldo. He waved his arm across the window, gesturing towards the city below. Apologize for the hell youre about to condemn them to. Your technology isnt going to be as advanced as TREEs, I can tell you that much.

Aviza sighed and buried her face in her hands. It isnt the same TREE. And no one was aware that yours was spreading unchecked. Ours is constantly monitored and updated. Its under our control.

For now, said Caldo. He turned and exited the office.

He took the stairs down to ground level, because no one took the stairs and he wanted to be alone. He needed a reprieve from human stupidity.

The trek down the spiral staircase that wound around the trunk of the redwood afforded him solitude from the throngs of people who persistently clamored for an audience with The Keeper of Knowledge.

He hated that name. It sounded like something from Dungeons & Dragons. Not that he had anything against Dungeons & Dragonshe would have loved to have found someone to play it with againbut it was a bit much. Everything on Galenia was.

Bunch of tryhards.

He ignored, as best he could, the excited pointing and chattering from the elevators all around him as people passed him. As always, he tried not to eavesdrop, but it was impossible to drown out every voice.

the keeper! He looks taller than I

dont trust him, I never have

he think he is, anyway?

the stairs? Showoff

Dont look at him

love you, keeper!

He was well aware that he wasnt beloved by everyone, and it didnt bother him one whit. Price of fame, after all. Besides, hed live on long after his detractors bones turned to dust.

It was the adoration that bugged himhe didnt enjoy receiving praise simply for existing longer than everyone else. That wasnt an achievement. The first moon landing was an achievement. The construction of the Great Pyramid of Giza was an achievement. The Wright Brothers first flightthat was an achievement. All he had achieved was not being dead.

He supposed that, from a human perspective, beating Methuselahs record was quite an extraordinary feat in and of itself, but on Earth, he was just another face in the crowd.

Sure, Kryuss had christened him the official historian laureate, but nobody cared about that, and he preferred it that way.

Hed always wondered why Kurt Cobain had taken his own head off with a shotgun, but he wondered no more. He got it now. Living in a fishbowl got exhausting, after a time.

The presence of the reporters gathered outside the tower waiting for him to appear wasnt unexpected, but it was unwelcome.

He cut through the crowd of people without acknowledging a single one of them, ignoring their persistent, shouted questions.

Before heading home, he paused to look up at the tower, set against an impossibly lavender sky, and at the city surrounding it.

The people vying for his attention thought these things were permanent. They took them for granted. The inhabitants of Earth in 2019 had, of course, thought the same thing about everything theyd established up to that point as well.

Unbeknownst to them, and to their Galenian progeny, a sleeping giant lay in their midst, and it didnt care about maintaining the status quo. It didnt care about their cities or their technology or their storied history of perseverance and triumph. It didnt care about anything but its own survival, and if a threat to that was perceived, it would do whatever it felt was necessary to defend itself.

He snatched the nearest reporters camera drone out of the air, pulled it to his face and spoke into it.

Enjoy it while it lasts, he said.

Frantic chatter and questions followed. More drones in his face.

Caldo didnt like to flaunt his abilities in front of people, but he liked the prospect of the reporters following him all the way to the jungles edge even less. He ran away from them at a leisurely forty miles per hour and disappeared into the flowerfog.