Chapter II Part III

Chapter II Part III

Anjali and her mother approached the Chapel of Laws from the main skyway, the lumbering Leviathans seeming to be more numerous than usual. In amongst the upper terraces of the city, the chapel seemed to almost nestle into it's position. Whilst not as large as the State Buildings, nor as grand, it had a certain presence that separated it from the other buildings, it's large, single transmission pylon helping to mark it's place within the jungle of buildings, the light from the streets below seeming to make the building as a whole glow from underneath.

The inside of the building was no less impressive, the rows and rows of benches for the faithful to come and pray, the huge bar at the head of the building where the Bhrata Lawyers would sit and pass judgement if required, the pulpit where the presiding Bhrata would give a sermon, and the ever present symbol of the Makarium.

Just below, and to one side of the Bar was the arched doorway into the Bhrata Chambers, where Anjali would meet Bhrata Vedas again.

Eye's from within a shadow in a darker corner of the Chapel watched with interest as Anjali and her mother entered through the door way, knowing full well that the contents of any discussions could be reviewed at leisure later on. Vedas was not the only one with an AV Recorder in that chamber, and he had to be watched, he knew too much already, just a little thought and logic could lead to conclusions the Makarium did not want to be visited.

Once inside the chambers, Anjali was surprised at how homely they were. Although she had met Bhrata Vedas many times before, she'd never been into his Makarium Chamber. His desk was large, covered for the most part with various volumes or Law, the odd vault-pad or two, and of course his working lights. But what stood out to her immediately was the vault-pad in the centre of his desk, left open, but deactivated. It wasn't just the fact that it was there, it was that it look so old.

What were the contents, what secrets did it hold?

Vedas was sat there, looking as old as the vault-pad, sat back comfortably in his chair. Even though he wore the Sign of Victori, she thought of him more as an Uncle, he was harmless enough.

“Come in Anjali, come in Jananii. Good to see you both again.”

“Good Morning Bhrata Vedas”, replied Jananii.

“Hiya Vedas”, Anajli could be so informal, even when she was supposed to be formal.

“So, Anjali, why have you come here today?”

“I've brought her here …”

“Please, Jananii, and with the greatest respect, let the girl speak for herself. Anjali?”

“I'm here 'cos mother says I have to be, as usual.”

“Anjali!” exclaimed her mother.

“But I do have some questions. Things that I've been wondering about recently.”

“At your age in life, we Bhrata expect most young minds to have decided what is needed of them.”

“Oh?”

“Ah! No no, I do not mean at all that you are in someway under developed Anjali, quite the contrary. I suspect that you could well have a fuller and deeper mind that most. You have no desire to go to The War, correct?”

“No I do not! Why would I, why does anybody want to? I don't get these kids that just think life is about fighting and glory. There must be more to it than that, surely, isn't there?”

“Most young adults decide at an early age that they wish to fight for a way of life. You could almost call it a lust, an instinct as strong as life itself. But every now and again we come across an individual, like yourself, who doesn't harbour this desire, who feels that perhaps they have something more, let us say more abstract, to offer.”

“What, like building tanks and leviathans? Why are those things blocking up the skyways anyway? They slow everything down!”

“Leviathans are needed by the Makarium Anajli. Building them, and tanks, is a job for those of a lesser intelligence...”

“Dad is intelligent, and he makes them, he can make anything!”

“Your father is an exception to the rule Anjali. I would class him as Architect perhaps, even though he behaves like some dock labourer some times. But you are getting off the point...”

“He's not a dock labourer, how dare you, my dad...”

“...is an enormously intelligent man who has served the Makarium well in the past. We thank him for that, and allow him to do as he chooses now, in his Golden years, Anjali. We are not here to discuss your father!”

“Right, well, you just remember that, then, ok?”

“I will always remember that Anjali. It was I that fought for his free status many years ago. Can we get back to the point now, please?”

“Well, yes, what were you talking about?”

“I was about to talk about options other than going into the forces, and The War. There are other ways that you can help society, especially with your background and parentage.”

“What have my parents got to do with what I can do?”

“Well, you see Anjali, you inherit certain skills and traits from them. I didn't know my parents, The Enemy killed them when I was just a small boy. The War was old even then, and that was a long time ago”

Anjali couldn't help but snigger at that comment, Vedas was old, but in a nice way. She looked at him more closely now, she hadn't known that he was an orphan, but then that was why the Makarium introduced laws about who could go to The War, if you had children under a certain age, you couldn't go, that was why some people did things other than fight, not because they didn't want to, but because they couldn't. In turn that created another problem, the population as a whole was getting old, the birth rate was lower than it ever had been before, because people were choosing The War over their own family. Looking at Vedas' eyes, she saw then a depth and understanding, he knew stuff, more than most people. Maybe it might be good to ask him about the trinket her Great Grandfather gave to her. Then her eyes wandered to the mark of the Makarium, the tattoo every Law-Priest had to show their devotion and conditioning, he could, and should, betray her. Could she trust him? Time would tell perhaps. For now, she would try to be as sly as she knew how, and try to get information out of him, just like she could with Ashmita. She would have to change her tac with him, lull him into thinking he was in control, and she was just a stupid teenager that knew nothing, although, when she really thought about it, that's exactly what she was, and was why she needed him.

“I'm sorry Bhrata Vedas, I didn't know you were an orphan”

“It's not something I advertise Anjali, but it's a fact of life, I'm still me, orphan or not.”

“So, what else can I do, other than go to The War that is?”

“As I was saying, there are lots of options for a young lady like you, lots of ways you could serve the Makarium, and by doing so, serve society”

“Such as?”

“Don't be so direct Anjali, Bhrata Vedas is trying to help you here!”

“It's ok Jananii, the young have yet to learn the subtleties of conversation. First of all Anjali, we need to work out just what your skills are, and to some extent your interests as well. If we can find you something that you're interested in it will make serving all the easier.”

“Well I like engines”

“Oh for pity sake, will you just forget about engines, I'll never forgive your father for getting you interested in such things. Engines are for people with a lower intelligence, Brahta Vedas just told you that”

“Ok, well, what about history, I like things from the past too, things that we don't know much about”

“Ah, now we're getting somewhere. The Makarium have an entire department devoted to examining the past, and what role it could have in the future. We think that the best way to defeat the Enemy is to find out about it's past first. But there are so many pasts, who knows which is the correct one? That, in essence, is the role of The Makarium, to show us what is true and what is false, and there are so many falsities in life Anjali.”

That puzzled Anajli for a moment, how can The Makarium decide what was true and what was false, but before the thought had taken hold in her mind, Bhrata Vedas activated the ancient vault-pad in front of him. Again the screens flickered into life.

“Take this vault-pad for example, do you know what it contains, could you guess?”

“Well, no, not without seeing it.”

“This is the Memoires of Victori herslf.”

“But anyone can get that a Library”

“Yes, that is true, but this particular one is special. The ones in the libraries are just edited copies of this one”

That single word, edited, made Anjali's ears prick up, this one contains more?

“What is so special about this one then?”

“This is the original, written by Victori herself, so long ago. As a Keeper of the Makarium, I am entrusted to look after certain artifacts, and as my speciality is in archiologic-knowledge, it is natural that such a thing should come to me. The one you have read in your education is based on this one, but written is a much more modern language, more suited to today.”

“So, are there, could there be, things in this version that aren't in the one I have read?”

“Well, not that I know of, but thinking about it, perhaps something of Victori's original message could have been lost in translation, so to speak. Would you like to see it, to hold it, even just for a moment?”

“Can I? Yes please!”

Carefully Vedas closed up the vault-pad, and handed it over the desk to Anjali.

Straight away she saw the symbol of the Makarium emblasoned on it's cover. But also the strange script she had on her tricket, or at least something similar, was embossed all around it's edges. Tentivly she opened it, and pressed the button to activate the screens, again they flickered into life, and again there was that mysterious script.

“Can I read a little of it please?”

“Yes you may, but just a little though. I am breaking so many laws by letting you hold it, but I don't see the harm, so long as it goes no further than this room.”

Again, by manitpulating the button, Anjali brought the main index up on the screen, a quick scan of it showed most of the chapters she already knew, and some she didn't, one in particular grabbing her eye;

“On The Passing of Wulfren”

So he was real, Wulfren was real.

Trying hard to conceal her excitement at the find, she knew she had to ask Vedas about Wulfren, but how?

“Can you pass that back to me now please Anjali, I need to put it back into it's safe place”

“Eh? Oh, errr, yes, of course, here you go.”

Gingerly, knowing just how precious this vault-pad was now, Anjali handed it back over the desk.

“It looks as though our time is up for now Anjali. I hope I have shown, or at least given you an idea that there is more than just The War, that there is purpose and reason, and the need for minds, such as yours, that can be of greater service in other ways. Now I have a meeting with a Master Lawyer, I'm afraid I must rush, I'm already running late, and you know that you can't be late. Tardiness is the fastest way to the front line.”

With that, Anjali and her mother were ushered out of his office.

The eye's in the shadows noticed them leaving, now all that was left was to retrive the AV-recorder, what had he told the girl, was it too much. Knowing the old fool it probably was, he could rattle on and give tell of things that the Makarium did not want to be told. The look in those eyes grew soft, even for just a moment, as they looked at Anjali, but then turned steely again, “Focus on the task in hand”, was the thought behind them. Shortly after Anjali left the chambers, Vedas did too, his long dress cloak flowing behind him.

“Now to see what you were up to Bhrata Vedas”.