The Misbegotten
The Shadow Spark - Earth Summer 2385

They came streaking from the super-structure of theMaglev station. They raced across themiles-deep ice sheet at four hundred and fifty kilometers an hour. The vista spread before them. Though there were scars, blackened streaksand damaged, New Jerusalem sparkled. Itgleamed before spewing smoke that boiled up into a massive cloudformation. It shone with a light ontoitself – resilient, beautiful, as stubborn as it inhabitants.

The Islamic Federation of Europa had come to theirdoorstep back in the middle of the twenty-first century. Their loyalty and silence proven, theconstruction of New Jerusalem had been one of the first projects awarded to theSynod. It took over twenty years tocomplete. But when finished, upon thisjumbled section of a never-ending ice sheet, stood something short of amiracle.

It was an exact replica of the Old City of Jerusalemcomplete with the Haram Esh-Sharif, known as the Temple Mount to the givencommoner. Also reproduced was the Churchof the Holy Sepulcre, the Lady Tunshuq’s Palace, the great Citadel, the WesternWall Plaza and the Monastery Compound. As its predecessor, New Jerusalem divided into four quarters. Only these weren’t given onto differentreligions. Here, on Europa, the mainbranches of Islam itself carved up the city. The Sunni lived in what was the old Islamic Quarter on Earth. The Shia had taken the ChristianQuarter. The Sufi occupied the Armenianpart. Meanwhile, the Kharijite,Ahmadiyya and the Quranists shared the Jewish section. This included the Wailing Wall or Kotel. On Earth, rumors spoke of the Kotel as theonly remnant of the ancient wall surrounding the courtyard of the JewishTemple.

It is common belief construction of the original beganin 19 BCE by Herod the Great himself and finished sometime after hisdeath. The Jew’s of Earth considered itto be one of the holiest sites on the planet.

Though he was well versed in the history of theancient Near East, all this meant little to Estefan at the moment.

They blazed across the barren snow-scape toward NewJerusalem, his mind made heavy with thoughts of Jacob. He kept wondering how his captors had beencapable of defeating the ‘Spider implanted in his cousin’s skull.

The technicians at ExTech had sworn they wereinfallible. Their confidence wasironclad, because ‘Spiders operated robust, 2048-terabtye encryptionprogram. So powerful in fact even thenewest Neuro-Nanoswarm Farm-nets couldn’t crack it.

Some of the ExTech engineers had even gone so far tosay the ‘Spiders could be as smart as a low functioning Human brain.

That had impressed Estefan. And yet, someone had defeated the securitymeasure within a fortnight of install. It baffled the Keeper. He knewthere was no one out there that could overcome Jacqueline’s cronies. She employed only the best. Plus, she made a habit of removedunderperformers within hours of failing to meet the metrics she assigned tothem.

He knew the Walach Group or the Milandry Sistersdidn’t have the resources. None of thesub-governments and business entities vying for influence within the CombinedCorporate Board possessed the labs or the tech.

The Synod dominated the Board, and had for manyyears. Draxis Corp’s financial windfall madeit so the moment it began to fill their coffers beyond belief. None of the Space-Jacks or Dark Pirates woulddare cross him, so he didn’t even bother considering them.

The once almighty military of the N.I.A. paled incomparison to the vast armadas he had sailing about the Solar System now. In fact, none of the sub-governments coulddefeat Synod Tech. The operative thoughtbeing the Synod itself supplied them with what they needed to defend themselves. Estefan would never sell the cream of histechnology or armaments. So, there wasno way any of them could mount an assault upon his family and hope to win.

So, who then,genius? he questioned himself, harsh,staring out the Diatainium-plexi covering both sides of the Maglev. “Hamza, my friend,” he called to their stillcowering host.

“Yes, my Lord,” he asked. He came up through their ranks to the frontof the sub-sonic bullet train. Heclasped his hands, fingers rubbing before his chest.

The security forces Hamza had brought with him, stayedback. They mulled about the tube-likecabin, on high-alert. The sneak attackhad unnerved them for obvious reasons. They didn’t want to make the same mistake twice.

“When we complete our business here, I would like afew samples of any machinery or parts left behind in the attack. Anything foreign, I would like our labs toinspect. Whatever the Federation canspare is fine. It doesn’t have to be allthat much. Do you think you could makethat possible?” He spoke with his usual,calm voice.

The man nodded, head bouncing with vigor. “Y-yes, Your Eminence, I don’t think it’ll bea problem in the least. Our Imams willwant to know of the infidels who attacked our home in such a cowardlyfashion. And, they know the Aegis Synodcan gather information faster than any other group in the Sixteen Worlds.” He paused to smile, some of the congenialityhe’d displayed earlier in evidence. “Itmight not be samples at all, my Lord. Itmight be everything we scrounge from the rubble of New Jerusalem they will shipto you.” His eyes twinkled.

Estefan had to chuckle at the other man’s enthusiasm,even in his darkened state. He could seeHamza shame over what happened to him and his wives, though it hadn’t been hisfault. He was still trying to make it upto them. “Good, good and thank you,”said Estefan, a mild dismissal, peering over at Flavia.

Her eyes met his, then glanced down at his side wherehis fingers signed.

“Anythingnew?” he had asked.

She shook her head in the negative, her eyes stillred-rimmed and moist.

Jacob’s betrayal had shocked them all.

“How much canwe assume the new enemy knows of the Shadow Spark?” was his second silent question.

She glanced away, but her fingers still signed. “We canassume the enemy of ours knows the Shadow Spark is here. But judging from our little encounter, ourenemy didn’t seem to know where it was exactly.”

“Why do yousay that?”

“He wantedus. He knew, we knew where it was. He needed one of us to tell him, but hehadn’t counted on Sandy.” She peered back at him, one eyebrow raised,shrugging. “There mustn’t be Shields where he comes from”

They both shared a look at the tall, athletic woman,sitting next to Leda. She had one handresting upon the others still flat belly, oblivious to the others around them.

It was clear to Estefan, they were talking about herpregnancy. Since Leda had never givenbirth herself, she must be brimming withquestions.

“He did seemshocked by his inability to touch her with his Mutation,” agreed the Keeper, thinking his wife’s logicsound. “What do you make of his Mutation, now that were on the topic?”

“Like nothingI’ve ever seen or felt before,” repliedFlavia at once, her fingers twining and twirling about. “I washelpless against it. In fact, we allwere. If it hadn’t been for Sandy,things could’ve gone bad, real bad.”

Estefan nodded, though he was no longer peering in herdirection. He was looking out theDiatainium-plexi, seeing the super-fast train was approaching another station. Though it was minute, he could feel the decelerationbeneath his loafers. Since cold nevertouched him, he hadn’t bothered to change into thick, fur-lined boots as hadhis wives. His dress shoes would suithim fine.

New Jerusalem was about them before they knew it asthey shot into the bowels of the monolithic structure. Its makers built it of miraculous, if notgigantic, blocks of ice. They stackedand piled them high to house the massive amount of trains flying in and out ofit.

The Maglev stopped without sound, the doors of theirparticular cabin, opened with only the slightest hiss. Within seconds, the security detail pouredforth securing a wide swath of the terminal. Methodical, but firm they pushed back civilians and the like.

“I was half-expecting to see Dr. Ball here waiting forus,” said the Keeper to their host.

The man’s head was jerking this way and that, lookingfor anything out of the ordinary, anything threatening. After a few heartbeats, the man regardedEstefan. “He is one of our primaryagents stationed on Earth, and a distant relative to boot. He is a fourth cousin of mine, or somethingalong those lines. It is unfortunatethough, M’Lord, for we will never allow him to set foot upon this most holymoon.” Hamza leaned closer. “He has lived far too long amongst theinfidels of the Sixteen Worlds. It hascorrupted his soul, I’m afraid.” Then,he glanced at the eight women filing out of the bullet train and seemed toswallow something thick. “I didn’t meanto imply, my lord, that you and your -.”

Estefan didn’t let him finish. “We know what we are, my friend. Infidels, unbelievers, the fallen – call uswhat you will. It bothers us not. We are the Aegis Synod. We answer to no one, man or god alike.”

Hamza swallowed again.

Estefan knew his words where of the highest heresy.

“Come, Your Eminence, we have a large Skycar waitingto take you to your destination.” Hamzaspoke in a hurry, eager to change the subject.

“Lead on, lead on,” was all the Keeper said as hegestured for the other to show the way.

Hamza nodded and led them down a side corridor. A few minutes earlier, commuters might’vecrammed its confines, but now it was devoid of all passengers. The entire expanse was clear.

The security cordon moved as they did. The guards formed a bubble-like wall of humanflesh. It flexed and contorted to theirenvirons and the speed with which they walked.

They strode four hundred meters down the hallway,every once and a while passing doors on either side. They came at uneven intervals, some largerthan others, some doubled. A few were sonarrow one would have to turn sideways to past the threshold.

There were many and where they might’ve led, Estefanhad no clue.

The corridor ended with floor to ceilingDiatainium-Plexi, three sets of automatic doors cut into it. Hamza led them through the center set andthey emerged onto a wide avenue. It hadfour lanes traveling one way and four traveling the other, sidewalks at bothsides and a rather broad island in the middle. A dome covered the entire construct.

In fact, domes covered all the buildings and edificeson this side of the juggernaut train station. The sizes varied accordingly. Butthey flowed creating a frothing mass, like monstrous primordial soup. Man-sized Eco-Halogens illuminated thestreet. The air about themsparkled. It was harsh, butsufficient. Since the weather above thedomes had turned for the worse, little sunlight reached the ground. Great masses of tumbling clouds and massiveswaths of snow fell at ten times the rate Estefan would’ve seen on Earth.

“My Lord,” prompted Hamza.

Estefan saw the nine super-stretch Skycars beforethem, parked in a long line. They wereMaserati-Gravs, beautiful, elegant works of art – pregnant with style andpanache. Each sold for upward of fourmillion exchange credits, pure sex appeal. Yet, they were piteously lacking armor and weapons.

Vehicles manufactured by Chaz Motors would look thesame. And, they would have thecapability to withstand a twenty-first century Tomahawk cruise missile.

Well, maybethey wouldn’t quite look like works of art.

The Synod took the fifth car from the front and onlyMr. Bhall joined them. The other eightSkycars the security detail filled to capacity. Within seconds of the last door hissed shut against the outsideenvironment. The cars rocketed out intothe empty avenue. Almost at once, theytook a sweeping right hand transition to the main artery of transportation. Then, they zoomed into the still smolderingcity.

Traffic on the opposite side of the highway wasbustling, but on their side there was none. More Maserati-Gravs, at least a score, blocked the crush of vehiclesfrom behind. Another, smaller, group madesure there were no stragglers up front. Thus, no traffic could get within one and a half kilometers of them ineither direction.

Their speed was fantastic. But it still paled in comparison to Flavia’sdisplay when she and Estefan had been trying to shake the Fermonist back inAngel Free Town. When she’d switchedtheir car to manual and went on afterburner, they’d traveled twice as fast.

She must’ve been thinking the same thing, because shesigned with swift fingers, “Why so slow?”

He grinned at her like an idiot. It was strange how sometimes his wives, anyone of them, could read his mind.

They came streaking down the highway. They darted through a replica of the JaffaGate, passing Omar Ibn El-Khattab Square. Then it was onto a thoroughfare known only as David. But that too was gone in a flash and theymerged onto Silsileh Road.

“Our destination is the Temple Mount?” asked Estefan,his brow furled.

Hamza Ahmed Khali-Bhall shrugged apologetically. “One could say it is and not be far from thetruth and would still, in a technical sense, be lying.”

Estefan scowled. “Isn’t the Mount a rather conspicuous place to hide something asvolatile as the Shadow Spark?”

“If it were atop the Temple Mount, then yes, it wouldbe a horrible place to hide something as precious as the Shadow Spark,” was allhe would say.

Estefan was still frowning when he realized a decentsection of the wall ahead of them was coming apart. Beyond, there was nothing but darkness. It was then he began to get an inkling ofwhat his host was hinting at.

The Temple Mount on Europa was hollow.

The entire caravan flashed through the opening in thehillside and into an open space roughly three hundred meters square. Behind them, the doors were almost closed,lights flickering on only after they had shut completely. The drivers lined up the Skycars parallelabout ten feet apart. They disengagedthe engines, unsealed the doors. Thesecurity team jumped out of the vehicles first, forming a protective ringaround the Synod.

Estefan and his wives exited their Skycar with Hamza.

The Keeper glanced about. The chamber was roughly hewn. Its’ surfaces were uneven and scarred withDiatainium wrought x-beam. Thesereinforced the lopsided arch wherever needed. The spray of some unknown substance covered the ice below them. The ground was level, dull grey and dimpled,giving it a degree of traction when stepped upon.

To Estefan it appeared like tartan. The spongy, brick-red material used to coatthe running tracks of the world when he was teenager. Only this stuff was the wrong color.

Brilliant Eco-Halogens circled them, ensconced inheavy copper-like bowls, bolted onto the surrounding walls. There was only one other portal aside fromthe one they used to enter the chamber. On the opposite wall, hacked into the ice, stood twin metal doors, theywere large.

Looking at the space all together, Estefan could tellthis was no more than a parking garage, emptied for their sake.

“My honored guests, if you would follow me,” gesturedthe guide. He stood a few feet away fromthe knot of them, pointing toward the doors on the other side of the chamber.

The Keeper nodded.

The Synod formed up about him.

He reached out to hold Leda’s hand, walking beside herthe entire way to the portals.

She smiled up at him, somewhat surprised at the opendisplay of intimacy, but then again, she’d never been pregnant before. She wasn’t used to the “Royal Treatment”.

Hamza strode up to a large round, glowing sensor. It was inset at the center of a pattern ofintricate filigree where the two doors came together. He leaned forward, his face was almost pressedagainst it, his lips moving fast as he spoke into the half-sphere ofradiance. When he finished, he waited afew heartbeats. Next, he put his handsto either side of his face, palms forward, splayed. His thumbs and forefingers touched his chin andtemple respectively. He remainedmotionless until a rumbling; baritone thrum reverberated throughout theroom. It twanged their bones like tuningforks. A series of clicks and clacks followedfrom within the doors, and they opened.

Hamza was through them before they gaped in full.

The rest of their group stepped through after.

Estefan and Leda found themselves bunched between adouble-loop of bodies. The passagebeyond was ten meters wide, but it was still crowded with some many peopletraversing through it at once.

Their host led them down the long hall until itcrossed an identical one, a third of a kilometer into the heart of theMount. He turned to his right withouthesitation, leading them another seventy meters before coming to anotherintersection. This time he turnedleft. Then turned left again aboutninety meters form their last turn. Heled them down a flight of stairs, turned the right, then left and then anotherseries of right hand turns. He did notpause when they came upon a threshold of stairs. He walked them down that spiral staircasethat seemed to have no end.

By then, disorientation overwhelmed Estefan and hiswives. They knew they’d need helpgetting back to the Skycars on their way out. This was likely the intent of their roundabout journey in the firstplace, but none of them worried too much. After the fiasco upon their arrival, not even Flavia expected anythingclandestine to occur soon. Hamza wouldsee to that personally. The symbioticrelationship between the Federation and Aegis Synod was too important tojeopardize.

Next, he led them down corridor after corridor ofcurving, canted and sloped passages. These were even more confusion than the right-angled ones above.

The Keeper gave up trying to guess how far under theMount they’d traveled. He pushed allthoughts of what direction they walked and decided to follow Hamza AhmedKhali-Bhall’s lead. He cleared his mindof all else.

Finally, after what seemed an interminable time, they cameto a colossal door. It blocked the wayfrom floor to ceiling, a door unlike any they’d seen thus far.

Estefan lips lost symmetry as he gave Leda a crookedsmile.

He shrugged his shoulders at Katie when she glancedtheir way a moment later.

It was a hinged door to a vault, complete with spokehandwheel, keypad punch, timelock and palm print reader.

Estefan hadn’t seen anything like it in almost twohundred years.

It looked brand new.

Their host walked straight up to the Diatainium-steelalloyed behemoth. He began working theredundant safety measures. Within ninetyseconds, he had the enormous, fifteen foot thick obstruction swinging open onperfect balanced pivots.

Behind it was the last thing any of the Synod hadexpected to see – the folding doors of an elevator.

Hamza spoke in rapid Arabic to the commanding officerof their security detail.

He, in turn, shouted a brisk command to histroops. At once, they came to attention,divided into equal lines along either side of the passageway.

“They will be guarding us from here,” explained theirguide. “Only a selected few have accessto the Holding.” His smiled, a littlenervous. He was not accustomed to havingunbelievers this close to the heart of their guarded society.

He entered a fourteen digit code into yet anotherkeypad and the elevator opened. Lightsthat had been dark up to this point came on as they stepped into it theelevator.

It consisted of -Plexi, held together by thin bracketsof metal. But once their descent began,they could see they were within a triple-hulled conveyance. It was more pill-shaped than cube-like, notyour typical configuration at all.

Their speed was gradual at first, but increased as asteady pace. Before long though, thesupport beams within the shaft – some twenty meters apart – were flashing pastthem quite swift. It was difficult tokeep track of them. There must’ve beenmotion dampers built into the elevator itself. None of them felt as though they plummeted downward at close to whatpeople on Earth would say was terminal velocity.

After a couple of minutes, Estefan leaned towardHamza. “How far are we going down?”

“Quite a ways,” replied the other man, rocking backand forth on his heels. He had his handsclasped behind his back.

Estefan had to nod when their host said nothingelse. He kept his face as rigid as hecould manage. He preferred gettingcomplete explanations when he asked a question.

“It’s making me feel funny,” Leda said, hugging herwaist.

“It’s always like that in your first trimester, sis,”said Mena with a mollifying tone.

Sandy sniggered, playful. “She’d know, girl. She’s given birth to more babies than therest of us.”

That’s right,huh? thought the mother-to-be, gazingat her sister-in-marriage in a different light. She’s done this eleven timesalready! My god!

As her side, Estefan gave her hand a reassuringsqueeze and seemed about to add something to the conversation. He stopped cold when they burst forth fromthe frozen tube, still plummeting.

Gasps of pure amazement rippled through them, amiraculous sight unfolding. They foundthemselves beneath the thickness of the two-mile ice sheet. Surrounding them on all sides was a hidden,planet-wide ocean.

“The colors!” exclaimed Tirza, stepping toward thePlexi, her face a fraction of an inch away.

They never should’ve been able to see through thestunning azure of Europa’s ocean. Concealed underneath an impenetrable layer of ice only inky blacknessshould have encircled them. It hadn’t. They never should’ve been able to see at adistance, but they could. Everythingshould’ve been as black as coal. Itshould've been a featureless void no light could pierce, yet… it was theexactly opposite.

It was like gazing through a man-made aquarium, thewater crystalline, the light ubiquitous. Tirza was certain she could see for kilometers through the chillydepths. It was so vivid, so infused withclarity, she forgot breathe.

“How is this possible?” she asked out of breath.

Hamza shuffled to her side. “It is the proto-bacteria in the wateritself. It is bioluminescent. In fact, almost every microbe, organism andfull-formed creature in our ocean gives off its own light to some degree. Our scientists have come to the conclusionthis is a defense mechanism. It targetsthe specific aspect of concealment.” Hebobbed his head as if the concept overwhelmed him as well. This despite the fact he’d been born andraised upon the Jovian moon. “Thenon-predatory life-forms are usually the brightest. Some can set a hectoliter of the ocean ablazewith light, which is quite incredible. Don’t you think?”

“Oh, yes,” muttered Tirza, her eyes dancing about ascreatures of wondrous variety began to come into view.

They watched in silence as they continued theirdescent into the primeval depths. Itwasn’t long before larger organisms began to shimmer and dance intoexistence. Some were not all thatdifferent than those living in the abysses of Earth. Others, though, were otherworldly andterrible.

There was a school of eel-like creature. They coursed through the frigid waters withlong dorsal and ventral ridges. Theseended with a large posterior, fanlike fin. Its’ head was bulbous, almost spherical with large eyes and a mouth nobigger than a tiny slice at the bottom of its’ rounded head.

There were avian-looking fish with beaks and long,long wings, though they swam instead of flew.

They saw beetle-shaped coruscations attached in greatswaths along the tub containing the elevator. They appeared as chitinous as would earth-like bugs. But, they were gone so fast none of themcould make out much more than their exoskeletons.

In the distance, swam some sort of leviathan, no morethan a darker shade of blue against the lighter closer to them. It billowed like a cumulonimbus cloud, but itwas indistinct and amorphous. Itcould’ve been a large school of oceanic beings, rather than a singleentity. As they watched, it seemed likethe first one moment and then the second a moment later.

There were hundreds more, all shapes, guises, andforms. Some were infinitesimal. Some were broad and sweeping as their limbsmeandered through the currents of this hidden water world.

They had been so wrapped in the scene before them;they had forgotten they were moving. Inthe ten minutes they’d scrutinized the vast array of life through the tube,they’d been descending. It wasn’t untilan overpowering glow from below made them stare down even further. Their eyes went deeper, to unimaginabledepths. The fantastic shape of theHolding came into view and, for the second time, there were gasps abound. It was gigantic, a kilometer in diameter.

“It is round?” asked Ruby. Both of her hands and forehead pressed ontothe transparent side of the elevator. Her eyes she glued to the vista below.

“The correct term for its shape is a truncatedicosahedron, a more rounded version of a twenty-sided sphere. The extra surfaces not only allow for acleaner appearance, the added strength they give is tremendous. This is crucial, because the Holdings outersurfaces are withstanding a fraction less than 199,736 kPa. This is the equal to 1,971 earth atmospheres– an unequivocal crush if you ask me,” explained Hamza.

Estefan did a few quick conversion calculations in hishead. The true nature metric weights andmeasures still eluded him. He’d learnedthe English system in school as a child. A few seconds later, his eyes bugged out of his head when he figured thepressure in terms of psi (pounds per square inch) – 28,969.224!

Holy shit,that’s a lot of weight!

He peered down at the Holding through the transparentfloor, marveling at the splendid feat of engineering. Estefan could only guess at how they hadmanaged to build it, let alone keep it moored in place at such a depth. He wanted to ask, but decided againstit. Hamza most likely didn’t have theauthorization to disclose such delicate secrets concerning the Federation’streasure trove. There was a reason theytucked it within the middle of Europa’s endless ocean.

His long-time allies had been busy these many years.

The Holding came at them fast. Within ninety seconds it swallowed them, andthe beauty of Europa’s hidden seas vanished. They traversed a no more than a quarter of a kilometer, decelerating theentire time. At last the elevatorstopped and opened, revealing another corridor. This was long, but much narrower. The floors, walls and ceiling were all made of Diatainium and steel,thick and bulky, devoid of decoration. Things in the Holding were pure functionality.

They walked from the elevator, passing so many doorsEstefan lost count after a hundred meters. Hamza led them to the third to the last on the left-hand side. He produced a two-pronged iron key andinserted it into the locking mechanism. He had to turn it five complete rotations, while internal levers andtumblers clinked and clanked from within. With the final turn, a hissing sound emanated from every end of thedoor. It was pressure-sealed, the airwithin heavier than that in the hall, leaving a sweet, brunt scent in theirnoses.

Hamza pried open the door as tiny Eco-Halogenstwinkled on. They radiated with enoughlight to show another spiral staircase, going down. It wasn’t a long trip, only a few decks. It deposited them before a transparent wall,three feet thick, flawless, clear. Behind it, there was nothing but a small dais atop which stood apedestal, one meter in height. Restingin the center of the pedestal’s upper surface sat an innocuous pair ofsunglasses.

“Finally, my Lord, we are here,” announced Hamza. He looked proud.

“Where?” asked the Keeper, trying to keep the incredulityfrom saturating his one-word retort.

“Why at the vault of the Shadow Spark, of course.”

Estefan’s brow furled. “But there’s nothing but a pair of sunglasses in there.”

Hamza Ahmed Khali-Bhall’s smile was so broad it wasborderline ridiculous.

The Keeper stared at him in silence for a time, then,“You have got to be kidding me!”

Their host gave the merest of nods.

“Are you’re telling me the greatest weapon ever knownto Mankind you've hidden within a pair of Ray-Ban Aviators?”

Hamza rocked back and forth upon his heels, lookingquite smug. “It is the final securitymeasure, my Lord, its’ very appearance. We can hide the Shadow Spark in plain view without anyone being thewiser.

“Sonofabitch!”exclaimed the Keeper.

Estefan’s wives laughed and giggled like schoolgirls.