Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 130317 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 652(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130317 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 652(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
“He’s probably just a charismatic asshole,” Mia said, scowling. “One of those bastards that can trick gullible people into believing everything he says—like some politicians can.”
“Yes, but we believe there’s more to it than that,” Sylvan said, frowning. “You see, we’ve done an extensive background search on ‘The Prophet’—whose real name is Chud Brumpkin, by the way. And we found that up until a few years ago, he was nothing but a janitor at one of the major universities on Chakioun Prime.”
“Chud Brumpkin?” Mia exclaimed. “What kind of a name is that?”
“Not the name of a galaxy-renowned prophet,” Commander Sylvan said dryly. “He no longer goes by that name of course—now he’s simply ‘The Prophet’ or ‘The Prophet of the People.’”
“He’s clearly taken a step up from menial cleaning services, too,” Sev said thoughtfully.
“Yes, and what we want to know is why,” Sylvan said, frowning. “We speculate it might have something to do with that shiny piece of jewelry he was wearing in the ad.”
Sev remembered the shiny object he hadn’t been able to make out while they were watching the ad for the PPP.
“You think it’s some kind of artifact, giving him the power of persuasion?” he asked.
Sylvan nodded.
“That’s very possible because it’s certainly altered his appearance—he looks much different now than he did in his past. So I’d ask you to be on your guard around him—if that object or artifact really is what’s giving him the ability to control other people’s minds, it’s dangerous.”
“You want us to try and steal it? I mean, if it is what’s giving him his charisma or power or whatever you want to call it?” Mia asked.
Commander Sylvan shook his head.
“No—I would say the best thing would be to destroy it, if you safely can. An object powerful enough to raise a male who isn’t in any way qualified to rule over so many is too dangerous to be handled by anyone.”
“So you don’t want us to bring it back to you?” Mia looked confused.
“So that I could make myself into some kind of idol or false god?” Sylvan shook his head again, firmly. “No. I believe you humans have a saying—‘absolute power corrupts absolutely.’ I wouldn’t want even the temptation of that kind of power.”
“All right—so we go undercover and expose this bastard for what he is and try to destroy the source of his power,” Sev said slowly.
“Only if you can safely do it—I don’t want the two of you putting yourselves in unnecessary danger,” Sylvan cautioned him. “This mission is mainly about gathering enough information to prove to the World Council that they don’t want the PPP anywhere near Earth.”
“Will we be wearing wires or, uh, listening or recording devices of any kind?” Mia asked.
Sylvan shook his head.
“I’m afraid the PPP does a very thorough search of anyone who seeks to join them—if they found any such devices on the two of you, you’d be thrown out before you could even start the initiation period.”
“So we’re going in there under deep cover with no backup and no communication,” Sev asked, raising his eyebrows.
“I’m afraid so,” Sylvan said apologetically. “But I wouldn’t be sending you if I thought you were going to be in danger—I imagine you’ll have to deal with a great deal of social pressure but no life-threatening scenarios. And if the situation gets too intense for either of you, please know you have my permission to end the mission early and come back to the Mother Ship.”
Mia frowned.
“Sev and I aren’t going to give up just because things get a little ‘intense.’”
Privately, Sev wondered what her definition of “intense” was. If what was going on in the PPP was what he suspected, he didn’t think Mia really understood what they were getting themselves into.
Still, his partner seemed so eager to take this mission, and he didn’t like to say no to her. Besides, this Prophet asshole needed to be taken down before he could infect the Earth with his PPP bullshit. The humans had enough trouble as it was, without adding a super cult to the mix.
“Mia’s right,” he said to Commander Sylvan. “If we take this mission, we’re in it for the duration—for the long haul, as humans say.”
“Then you’ll take it?” Sylvan sounded hopeful.
Sev glanced at Mia who nodded her head.
“We’ll take it,” Sev said. “When do we start?”
FOUR
MIA
“When you asked ‘when do we start’ I didn’t expect the answer to be ‘immediately,’” Mia remarked as they walked down the long silver corridor back to the Docking Bay.
Commander Sylvan had asked them to go back to Sev’s ship and fly at once to the main headquarters of the PPP—the rainbow dome they’d seen on the desert world of T’zgaria. He’d explained that they didn’t need to change their clothes or bring anything with them—apparently new initiates to the PPP were provided with everything they needed and no outside objects or accoutrements were allowed inside the Dome.