Chapter Thirty-One: The Third Discussion

Jonathan expected the return of the gaurd the third time. The door opened as soon as he stood up from the cot. Jonathan took the data pad with him.
The walk to the conferance was almost familiar and Jonathan did not even wait to be asked to sit down. He decided that he should show some sort of self will.
Septimus stared at him steadily for a few moments before he spoke. "Mr. Brooke, the last two time we spoke with each other, I questioned you. Perhaps you would like to ask me a few questions today."
Jonathan looked at Septimus. "How are you still here?" He asked bluntly.
"That, my friend, it a very broad question. I assume that you mean how have I managed to live for over a thousand years? I'll tell you the truth on this one, Mr. Brooke. I don't know. Maybe I have some sort of devine purpose to fufil, maybe it the close relationship I have with the eternal universe. Perhaps it poured itself back into me. I know that might not be the answer you were looking for, but it's all I can offer."
"Alright, I'll except that," Jonathan told the old man "but how did you manage to escape the moon?"
"A more refined version of your earlier question, of course. Also a vauge question, I've been on many moons and escaped more than one. But again, I'll assume that you mean the Earth's moon. That one is simple, after The Beast finished her firing sequence, there were two hours before the nuclear arms arrived at the moon. I managed to change the perceptions of the Universe just in time to get this wonderous ship behind the moon, and from there I managed to take it out here to the Ranch system, where I reburied it. In all these years, this is only third time I've taken it from it's berth in the rock. Of course, your interesting experiment with the light speed ship managed to ignite the planet here and a flare destroyed that moon as well, but that escape was just a matter of flying the Beast out."
"Alright." Jonathan looked at Septimus "Why did you destroy Earth?"
"I wondered when you might get to the heavy questions, Mr. Brooke. You won't believe my answer, but I swear on your transcendental power that it is the truth. You of course remember the Apocalypists? I was the leader of their group. The ideology behind the group, I am afraid, was lost through the ages of time. I was there, I know what it was about. We wanted to save the human race, not destroy it. 'The Apocalyptists' was a title given to us by USNA propoganda. It was not our name nor our ideology. We were a religious group - Christians, if that means anything to you. I've long since seen the error in the dogma of that religion, but the principal distilled beliefs were sound. Our group could see what was happening in the world. There was a claim of equality that masked terrible biggotry, a claim of economy that masked terrible waste, and fiction of a prospering economy..." Septimus sighed. "The world was in sorry shape, and we thought that we could save the human race. We would take the worthy - a word, I might note, that was translated into wealthy in the past thousand years - to a new sort of promised land and returned to Earth to destroy the unworthy masses. I made a mistake that day. I assumed that the Beast would destroy all life on Earth. It obviously did not, as I expected. The in system colonies, I though they would destroy each other. Apparently I was merely lucky in that respect. the Colony on Mars almost survived."
Jonathan was processing the information in horror. He closed his shocked mouth, but said nothing.
"You look so horrified Mr. Brooke. Tell me, in all honesty, is what I did really all that different from what you and your companions are doing now?"
Jonathan, on the defensive, said "We were not planning on destroying entire worlds!"
"Of course you weren't. But tell me this - what of the people that reject your message? What would happen to the people that wished to continue to follow Idealism?" Septimus waited for an answer. None came. "I see that you cannot answer my question. In that case, I will permit you to ask me another."
"Why wouldn't you let anybody return to Earth?" Jonathan asked after a few moments.
"This question should have a very apparent answer, Jonathan. What if my fellow Idealists went there and found out that I was the one that destroyed their fellow humans? The worthy did not want to condemn those on Earth. The wanted to believe that they could be saved in time. Some even tried to stay and preach. I had to use another moniker when destroying the planet. I was two seperate apocalyptists. One was Septimus, the radical. The other was Warren, the saviour. It was the only way I could get the worthy out to these systems and still destroy earth without being destroyed in turn. I did have an elaborate death planed to Septimus. Thankfully, the USNA took care of that for me. Simply put, I hid the location of Earth from everybody in the new soceity and forbid people from returning. I was afraid, should they find any evidence of what I had done, they would turn against me. I could not risk that. Not even I returned. Of course, in retrospect, I feel that maybe I should have, because you led your realist friends right to Earth, and have caused the very problems that I was trying to avoid."
Jonathan and Septimus sat in silence for a few moments. There was a certain amount of tension in the air. "I suppose it might be useless to ask, Mr. Brooke, but I must. You have certainly given thought to everything I have said in these discussions. I have to ask you, will you consider renouncing realism and taking into consideration the path of the idealist?"
"I would never follow an evil man like you." Jonathan said to Septimus.
"You know, Jonathan, I expected an answer like that. I knew miss Oberholtzer would never accept my offer, but i wondered about mr. Grinder and your young friend Andy. It seems that none of them would accept. But, I am still willing to let you change your mind. In a few days, we will engage the in system drives and push the Beast into orbit around Port Orpheus. A bloody revolt has broken out there. The only way I can think to quash it is to appear, in my moniker of Lucas, of course, and make an example of the leaders of the rebellion. That would be you and your three companions, of course.The question is, Jonathan Brooke, what kind of example should I make? It's entirely up to you. Should you change your mind about what side you wish to take in this conflict, all you need do is speak to the gaurds."
Septimus paused for a few moments. "I have one last idea for you to consider, Mr. Brooke. You called me evil. What if I told you that there was no such thing as evil, Mr. Brooke, but only lesser good? What if I told you that either philosophy would be just as good for humanity, and that neither would lead the human race into eternal damnation? Is your philosophy not self destroying when it says that no interpretation of the Transcendental Power could ever be accurate? Is it not acceptable to believe that Idealism and Realism are equally as valid? What is less good, Mr. Brooke, destorying one world to create a utopia among the stars, or destroying that utopia to make a system that will condone violence and destuction, and take a bloody war that will destroy billions of people? Who here is the evil man, Mr. Brooke?"