Read Online Sacred Planet: Book One of the Dominion Series by Austin Rogers - Free Book Online Page B

Europe and America for millennia.”
    That didn’t make sense in Aisha’s head. He leaned over to his boss. “I thought the Christians were pacifists.”
    “They are now,” Riahn replied quickly. “Weren’t always that way. Now shush.”
    “To the pagan tribes of Arabia,” Morvan went on. “God spoke through the prophet Muhammed. Those who listened subdued many peoples and nations in the name of God and went on to form a great civilization.”
    Aisha typed a revelation as it hit him: Strong appeal to Abramists in his party.
    “To Persia, God spoke through the Bab and the Baha’u’llah. Many refused to listen. But to those who listened, to those with patience . . .” He spread his hands and gazed around the house floor. “God granted the greatest empire in the history of mankind.”
    Applause picked up somewhere in the ranks of representatives and spread through the chamber, lasting probably five seconds. Impressive, considering all were supposed to remain silent and orderly for this portion of the debate. Morvan raised his hands to stop the applause.
    “But to whom much is given, much is required.” He paused, taking on a more mournful look. “Sierra Falco, our dear prima filia, has been killed. Her death was clearly not an accident, nor was it the work of amateurs. It was a purposeful, military attack against our republic.”
    Another bout of applause began, but again, Morvan cut it off. “Today, as God spoke to many peoples in many times the message they desperately needed to hear, so, too, does God speak to us.”
    Aisha paused from his thumb-tapping and watched, listened. He could have heard a stylus drop on the other side of the chamber.
    “His message is one that echoes through the ages,” Morvan said. “In the days of Noah, God sent the Great Flood to purge the Sacred Planet of evil. In the days of Moses, he sent ten plagues upon the pagans of Egypt to free his people from their chains. In the days of Muhammed, God used the faithful to suppress the unbelievers and save the world from corruption. Today, God has a message for those who would listen. And his message is this . . .”
    Riahn leaned over the railing, watching with wide, unblinking eyes.
    Morvan’s hand balled into a fist on the lectern. “ Rise . Up. Rise up, people of Carina!” Applause built from the floor, but he kept on, talking over it. “Rise up in defense of your holy heritage! Rise up for all you hold dear! Rise up in defense of your brothers and sisters on the Sacred Planet who live, even now, in the shadow of the Heathen King.”
    He paused to let the applause taper. “There is a darkness rising in the galaxy, a new Babylon that dwarfs the Babylon of old, and we cannot afford to shut our eyes to it. That darkness is the barbaric feudalism of the Sagittarian Regnum.”
    The audience responded with a bout of ovation.
    “We must face it. We must contain it. And ultimately . . . we must eradicate it.”
    The applause reached a peak, but Morvan had one last thrust.
    “This, people of Carina, is our calling. It is our burden. We must avenge Sierra’s death. We must defend our homeworlds. And we must make safe the Sacred Planet, for now and forever.”
    Representatives stood in a wave, showing their approval. The cavernous chamber roared with praise.
    Riahn straightened, smiling, and slowly began to clap. And Aisha felt a strange sensation, like a force working in them all, powering the cogs of this political machine, pulling everyone along in its current. A movement far bigger than Aisha, than Riahn, than Morvan, or even Falco. Aisha felt the hand of God in this chamber, and it terrified him. Why would he be afraid in the presence of the loving God? And why would the God of peace and unity call them to war? Was the Sacred Planet in danger? So many questions whirled in his head.
    As Morvan stepped off the podium and the applause died down, Aisha whispered to his boss, “Why the bit about the Sacred Planet? What’s Earth got