The Chronicle of Belthaeous

by John W. Steele

Chapter 43: The Aura

Assisted by a team of Genibolic medical personnel, we prepared the Archon for his journey to the United Nations. For three days, Dr. Nacroanus inspected every detail related to the Avatar’s release from oblivion, doting over him as if he were a beloved child. Belthaeous looked eerily enchanting, like an animated statue of wax.

Baron Xenotula assumed control as director of operations for the mission. Under his command, Colonel Falkenhorst sent forth a contingent of Enukai agents to prepare the General Assembly hall for the arrival of the Archon. It was their responsibility to deal with the major news networks and assure the safety and security of the Avatar.

Falkenhorst worshipped Xenotula and did whatever the Vulpeculan bureaucrat demanded. He carried out the Baron’s orders with fanatical allegiance, like the bootlicking lickspittle he was. Together they formed the eyes and ears of the Cryogenics Lab.

Xenotula was well acquainted with dealing with “light monkeys,” a moniker he applied to anyone not of Vulpeculan descent. He asserted his authority with regal pomposity and enforced his will with an iron hand. Torture formed the foundation of his diplomacy and he had no compunctions about using this method for even the most minor infractions.

The Baron had given up walking several hundred years ago. His typical mode of locomotion was to lie on a plush semi-circular lectus. The anti-gravity platform hovered gracefully in the air and supported the enormous bulk of his frame most adequately. The bed served as a maneuverable throne. Burgundy-colored cushions adorned with glimmering gemstones and golden tassels formed the mattress. Acrid fumes that reeked of vomit vented from the lounger; they were presumably the stench of the fluids that leaked from his body and stained the velvet-textured fabric.

The highly maneuverable divan made not a sound. With it, Xenotula traveled nearly undetected anywhere in the compound. Several times I turned to find him lurking behind me; his ponderous belly swollen from gluttony and his disgusting nakedness exposed through slack open fabric of his chartreuse kimono.

I tried to ignore this hulking excuse for nobility and pounded away at my terminal in an attempt to understand the Eye of Mammon. I programmed the probabilities of my equation on a mainframe in a computer room. No one understood their meaning anyway. The meaning of the symbols lay locked in my head and their variables were entirely subjective. I’d cracked the sequence and predicted Mammon’s willpower would be at its most vulnerable point at exactly 3:33 a.m. I had to find my way to Level Nine tonight. This would be the only window of opportunity. If I failed, there would be no second chance.

I felt a chill behind me. The scent of sulfonamides saturated the air. Like a startled animal, I spun around. Xenotula was lying on his throne of glory, one knee bent and his legs spread apart.

“Dr. Nacroanus tells me you’re one of us now, heretic. You may have fooled him but you can’t fool me. Your colors tell me you’re hiding something,” the sybarite said.

I looked up at him and frowned. “You can’t prove anything, Xen. I’m what I say I am.”

A strand of yellow mucous dangled inside his mouth when he spoke. “Do you actually believe you can outwit us, you despicable worm? When the time is right, I will expose you to the Vulpeculan Council for the hypocrite you are. I shudder to think what will happen to you when I reveal the motive in your heart. You’ll wish you were never born.”

I hated this alien pustule. The idea we shared the same air made my stomach churn.

“You think you frighten me, scumbag? Because of the demon god you and your ilk have sold mankind, I died to this world long ago. I’m just beginning to understand what you’ve done. I’ve beaten you to the punch. I wish I was never born already.”

I’d been waiting for this moment. I pulled a sealed test-tube filled with Phosphor T-5 acid from the vest pocket of my lab coat and held the vial before him. “You might be a venerated sodomite in another Density, demon, but on this planet you’re subject to the same laws of science I am.”

I shook the tube, and the chlorate grew vibrant with its unmistakable cerulean hue. “If you sneak up on me again, I’m going to burn so many holes in you that you’ll look like a slug that crawled beneath a magnifying glass in the desert, got it?”

The thing recoiled and drew its robe tight. Its cheeks sagged like the bullocks of a goat. A drop of purple exudate rolled from the corner of its varicose eye.

“You simians have a saying, Neumann: you can fool some of the people some of the time. But I am a direct descendent of the Vulpeculan royal bloodline, and you cannot fool me ever.” He laughed a phlegm-filled chortle and cruised out of the lab.

Nacroanus sat at his command module in the center of the room. He turned his head and motioned to me. I walked across the marble tiles and entered the chamber. His face bloomed with the flush of Eternulum, and his movements were quick and sharp. “I want you to observe something, Dr. Neumann, the crowning touch of magic I will demonstrate to the faithful eyes of humanity.”

Adrian adjusted a controller on the panel and the Archon began to glow. His skull gleamed and his body shone with a brilliant diamond-hued shell of light so dense it permeated the heavy fabric of his robe. The nimbus gave the Avatar a look of supernatural splendor and the effect was absolutely dazzling.

I stood dumbfounded. “What is this halo surrounding the Archon? It’s glorious,” I said.

Nacroanus gazed at his watch and tapped his finger on the crystal.

“It’s a gift from our benefactors on the Fifth; a form of inert liquid xenon developed by the Vulpeculans. Quite impressive, wouldn’t you agree?”

I couldn’t believe my eyes. The Archon looked absolutely divine. His aura shone with brilliance like chrome, so reflective, it gleamed like a mirror in the sun. The radiance contrast against the luxuriant black fabric of his robe created a nimbus that was nothing less than spellbinding. Belthaeous glimmered like a deity.

“It’s a miracle,” I said. “How does it work?”

“Observe, Dr. Neumann.” His fingers danced on the controllers of the module as if he were a master pianist absorbed in a virtuoso. The Archon sat motionless, and the colors in the aura swirled and pulsed. Shafts of light cascaded in patterns of red, silver, gold, and green, flowing like a rainbow of energy from the crown of its skull. I fell in awe of the splendor.

Nacroanus faced me. “At this time the Archon’s vital signs are entirely regulated. His heart beats in a strictly monitored depolarization and his respirations are depressed. His body must adjust to the plasma Eternulum until the full effects alter the enzymes in his central nervous system.

“The xenon substrate is completely soluble in the plasma Eternulum. Titrated amounts are transfused through the subclavian artery. The gas travels through the circulatory system until it enters the capillaries in the epidermis. By manipulating magnetic fields in the shroud surrounding the entity, I can stimulate the ions locked in the plasma and create an aura of any color and intensity I choose.

“What you see now is only a shadow of the grandeur I can produce in the archon. With a chelated infusion of hydrogen peroxide, the magic will increase threefold. When I infuse the final bolus of Eternulum, the magnetic forces dormant in its cells will bloom to life, and Belthaeous will be reborn as a synthesized deity.”

I shook my head in disbelief. “The science of Mammon’s realm is a miracle in itself, Dr. Nacroanus. How could I have ever doubted its wonder?”

“There are no miracles inside the Matrix, Dr. Neumann. That is why knowledge is the only power in the realm of matter. Virtual matter is an illusion created through mind magic. Knowledge is the key to the hypnotic effect of mass psychosis. Through knowledge, the chosen can rule in Hell.”

He lowered his eyes. “Mammon is a lesser god; his magic is entirely empirical. That is why it is necessary we act quickly. We cannot tarry any longer. The walls of the Matrix are beginning to implode, and we must contain the Light before it awakens.”

Nacroanus stared into space. In a voice sweet as the warble of a nightingale, he cried, “And the theomorphs will beat their swords into plowshares, and use them to till the earth until they drop from exhaustion. The miracle of Eternulum will emerge as the master of life, their only salvation. And we shall reign as gods of the Matrix forever and ever...”

“Amen, Adrian.”

The visionary expression drained from his face. He fixed me with a penetrating gaze. “Are you prepared for the final battle?”

“I’ve never been more prepared in my life, father.”

“Excellent, my son, I pray that the hand of Mammon may be upon you.” He handed me a data stack. “I need probability densities allocating the mean value in these figures. Eight hours should be sufficient to analyze these variables, wouldn’t you agree?”

I thumbed through the pages, the wheels of my mind stimulated by the reams of raw data. “With Mammon, all is made crooked, Adrian. You will have the results of my research in the morning.”

“Tuesday the thirteenth is three days away,” he said. “Our numerologists have predicted this is the perfect moment to launch our final assault on the world.”

“Three days? We’re cutting it kind of close aren’t we? It will take at least two days to transport Belthaeous to New York and prepare him for the resurrection,” I said.

Adrian frowned. “We have plenty of time. Everything has been prepared in advance. The journey to the U.N. will take only three minutes by time cruiser. The logistics of this mission need not concern you, Dr. Neumann. I need those statistics. Get moving.”

I returned to my room. Malcolm brought me a steaming pot of tea. I programmed the first log and filtered the entries. This would be child’s play. I’d anticipated these multivariates in the normal distribution a long time ago. I opened the software I’d developed and fed the data.

Ever since I met Heidi, I had a wild idea about moving to Maine to live in a secluded tract of forest along the shores of the ocean. Now that my son, Jerus, had entered the picture, I wanted to raise him to understand the things that had taken me so long to see.

My thoughts churned in a carousel of broken images swirling in the aftermath of a shattered lifetime. I had learned the truth does not set you free unless it first drives you insane. But, for the first time ever, I now sensed a glimmer of True Light I could never imagine before. I no longer felt confined to Hell for eternity and, for the first time in this meager existence, I sensed the winds of freedom.

I now understood why the grand illusion persisted through the ages. To accept the truth about Mammon and his counterfeit creation is terrifying. So deep is the programming that masquerades as truth that one must die before he can live. To stand alone and know that this world is a sham is tantamount to severing the umbilical cord and leaping headlong into the void. And now that I had done so, I knew I would never be forced to return to a world such as this.

The atomic clock read 9:37 p.m. I had six hours to vaporize the Eye, six hours to complete the biggest challenge of my life.

I felt bone-tired. The sixteen-hour days were beginning to take their toll. I set the alarm for 1:00 a.m. I reasoned I could convince the Reptilians on Level Nine that I was there to test a theory on the particle generator. But I knew I was a dead man if I went there. They would surely alert Nacroanus to my whereabouts, and the whole charade would fall to pieces. Despite my newfound knowledge, the circumstances of my life were as impossible as ever. I knew this battle would never end until death proclaimed its hollow victory.

I rubbed the temples of my skull. Not even Agent 007 could pull this off. I lay back for a moment just to rest my burning eyes...

Proceed to Chapter 44...