Chapter Seventeen: A Last Message From Captain Fortworth

The man in the vehicle escaped, somehow. It was over a day before he returned. His clothing was covered in dust and he was limping, but he was alive. Jonathan didn't have a chance to ask him how he had managed to live through his ordeal; he was too busy in conference with Marcelle and Grinder.
"It's not our usual proceedure to preform two operations in the same week. It's too damn risky." Grinder was against moving too soon.
"Yes, but it won't take them long to figure out what we were doing in the scrapyard," Marcelle argued. "We have to take action now, or we will never be able to. The Tapert family will report the Norton system to the Spacing Commission, and the system will be locked down. Any unschedueled ship will be destroyed as soon as they arrive in system."
"We could take them."
"We don't have a fleet. Dammit it, James, you still think like you're in the Commission sometimes. We don't have the resources. The only way we can move from world to world is to hijack ships from the families and the Commission, and none of them take too well to it."
"If i can interject," Jonathan asked "I have to agree with Marcelle. If you got to Earth, byt now who knows what light speed travel has developed too. I know my flight used the first functional theory, but the scientific possabilites were far beyond the technology we had. If we can get to Earth, with my science and your technology we might be able to give you an upper hand in transportation. Just out of curiosity, why can't we go to Earth directly?"
"It's simple, really," Marcelle explained. "Nobody knows where it is."
"We need the data from your spaceship on Norton to get back to Earth. From that planet, we can use your telemtry to get back to Earth."
A knock came at the door to the office. The young girl from the mission, Sam, came in with a data reader. "Excuse me, miss Oberholtzer, mister Brooke, mister Grinder. I have the data from the module. In reviewing the files the day before the crew went into the Mind, I found a recorded diary that I though might be important. I think, perhaps, that mister Brooke should read it. Um, immediately." Sam seemed very self conscious of herself. Her voice matched her stature. It was almost hard to hear what she was saying.
Jonathan took the proffered data reader from the girl and looked at the text on the screen. He read aloud, "'It's another seeding mission. Micro-satellites going into orbit around another planet, so we can see if one of the families can claim it and rape the world of everything it's worth. Sometimes I wonder why I even do it all. I don't feel like I'm doing the right thing. I'm not protecting anything by spying on empty worlds. Teh only reason why I'm doing this mission is because of Jonathan. He's an unfortunate soul, that's for sure. I can barely look at him anymore, knowing that I have to lie to him.'" Jonathan faltered at this. He recalled the last days with Captain Fortworth, how he had seemed to avoid talking to him. "That explains a bit. 'The Elders seem to think that Jonathan should not be told a number of things. He was not told about Marcelle Oberholtzer and her anti-Idealist philosophy. They hinted at the conflict, but would not tell him. Maybe they thought it would be better if he didn't know; maybe they thought the Realists would try and take him to lead him to Earth. All I know is I've been ordered to keep the poor man busy while they take care of the problem. Somehow, I don't see the Realists going away in a few weeks. They've been around for at least three years already, and instead of shrinking, have only grown in numbers, as far as we know. It isn't fair that I have to keep this information from Jonathan. Worse still, they did not tell him that his villian, the destroyer of Earth is actually the lost hero of our society, the martyr who sacraficed his life to cut the people off from Earth so the Destruction could not take the colonies as well. Why didn't they tell him that Septimus and Warren Jones were brothers? It doesn't make sense. The more I think about the whole disscussion, the less sense it makes. I think the best thing to do would be betray the Commission. I have to seek out the Realists, I have to find their leader on Vaudeveldt and tell her what is going on with Jonathan Brooke.'"
"Your captain was looking for me?" Marcelle asked.
"Apparently," Jonathan replied. "He said nothing of this to me at all. He could nto tlak to me. It's as if he was debating wether he should or not."
"He knew that sometimes they monitor the audio on ships," Grinder said. "Keeps mutiny and treason down. If he figuired all that, then i have no doubt the Elders were listening in on everything that was said on that ship. Maybe they even got that text - maybe that whey were were shot down."
"Why would they elders want me taken care of? Why couldn't I go back to Earth? And why didn't they want me to find you?"
"I think," Marcelle provided, "That the reason why they didn't want us to know about each other was because they knew I would try my damndest to get you back to Earth. And I would go with you. Why they wouldn't want us back on Earth, I don't know."
"The grand picture is best seen from a distance," Grinder muttered. "But all we've got is a microscope."
"I think the best way to deal with this issue would be to go to Earth and find out first hand what is happening."
Grinder considered Marcelle's statment for a moment before nodding curtly. "I conceed. We're going to have to move soon."
"Before we plan anything," Jonathan said, "I'd like to know something."
"What is it?"
"Captain Fortowrth said you were the genesis of the Idealist movement. Is that true, Marcelle?"
She looked at Jonathan for a minute. "I guess there's no harm in admitting that I was an Idealist," she said. "We all were, once. Except for you, of course. I was a thinker. In fact, I went introspective. You do know what that is, right?" Jonathan nodded. "Well, you probably know that all introspectives have proved so far is that the mind is a lonely place. The Elders always highly discouraged it because they were afraid that some sort of discovery would be made, one that would damage their Idealist culture. You see, when Warren Jones first understoof The Mind, it was becaus ehe had been introspective. Unfortunetly, Warran Jones was wrong. As much as the Idealist society seems to work, there is one major flaw. It entierly cuts our the true Transcendental Power - The Mind is essentially Idol Worship. I managed to access some racial memory when I was introspective - or, at least, thats what it seemed like. I'm not sure it's possible to have your ancestors memories, but a religious text known, among other names and versions, as the bible became very prominant in my memory. It showed me how using The Mind was Idol Worship and took away from the true Transcedental Power, Elohim. This name swirled before me, and I realised - it was the God of old Earth." Marcelle's voice lowered as if she was saying something she had never admited before. "My introspective revelation may have been a message from God."
Jonathan could hardely believe what he was hearing. The last person who had claimed to be a prophet of the Lord had been destroyed by an arsenel of nuclear weapons.
Marcelle continued onward. "It was revealed to me that the Idealist philosophy was wrong on a fundamental level. I tried to explain it to people - particularily the Elders, but was odered to death immediately. Ordered to death! They don't execute people, and even if they did, i didn't have a trial! What choice did I have but to go into hiding? I had to spread my message - the human race is destroying itself out here. I thought earth was gone, we all did. I thought that these colonies were all that was left of the human race, and I know, I know dammit, that this culture cannot hold itslef together any longer. It's too corrupt, and it's going to self destruct any time now. I have the message that could save the people, but too few will listen to me! Too few..." Marcelle's frustration led to tears. "Excuse me." She said as she wiped her eyes.
Jonathan sat, stunned. He felt a great respect for Marcelle in that moment. She was leading a small group with the grand plan of saving the very people they were fighting. It must have been so painful to watch the corrupted idealits destroy each other. It must have been terrible to have to fight the idealists, just so the realist message, the one that would save the idealits, could be heard. In that moment, all Jonathan wanted to do was comfort Marcelle. the only problem was, he didn't know how.