Star City Stories: Enter Sandman

"Denton, as you know, I've gotten you over the years to get several people positions in Star City. Most of those old friends of mine were part of the Church," she said.

It just didn't go the way it was supposed to. I was supposed to get you to fall for me so I could stay close to you and get information and other things, but Denton it didn't work.

"Sure it didn't," he said. I could see that my brother was on the verge of tears. She got up and went over to him. She pulled him close to her nestling his head in those incredible breasts of hers.

"Denton, you idiot, It really didn't work," she said. "Because I fell for you long before you fell for me. I was supposed to get you so that you were so desperate for me that you'd do anything for me. I ended up chasing you. You never even asked me for a date. I started thinking there was something wrong with me. Remember when you told me about how a lot of those women who were dating the scientists had ulterior motives? Remember you told me about how what you really wanted was a short, fat woman who loved you. Denton, I wanted to be a short, fat woman so badly at that moment."

"After that party, I still had trouble getting you to go out with me. You simply didn't believe that I was attracted to you. And even when we did go out you always pointed out other guys that you thought were more suited to me. I ended up having to pretend to get sick in your house just to spend the night. And while you thought I was asleep, you finally said a few things that let me know that you had feelings for me."

"Denton, before I met you I'd had years of regular sex classes. They wanted to make sure that all of us would be prepared to handle any and all needs of our targets. But you were the first person that I willingly had sex with outside of those lessons. To make sure that what happened to me didn't happen, we are supposed to have sex with men other than our targets."

"What do you mean what happened to you?" asked Denton.

"What have I been trying to tell you, stupid?" she said. "Denton, I love you. I always have. Since the day I met you, I haven't had sex with anyone else until I was forced into it yesterday? Doing it with anyone else was just impossible. I couldn't do it. But they've been watching me so much more closely lately. I've been missing meetings and I guess I've been shooting my mouth off so they put someone on me to watch me.

I guess I should tell you that they've been worried about me for quite a while. I've allowed things to happen that just weren't a part of the plan.

"Like what," I asked. Denton asked too.

"Denton, I tried to quit several years ago and a couple of times since then," she said. "But they threatened to let you find out all of this and I couldn't risk losing you."

"What made you want to quit?" asked Denton.

"Silly things," she said. "Like how much you love me. And I kept getting in trouble for doing things that weren't in the plan."

Now I was curious. "Like what?" I asked again.

"Like going off of my pills and letting Denton get me pregnant," she smiled. "And then after the baby was born, I did quit. They let me go for almost a month until they needed something from me and then they launched all of the threats again and pulled me back in. With our baby, I was even more desperate for us to stay together."

"But what do they want?" asked Denton. "What is this all about?"

"Oh I know that one," I said. "It's about faith, right sister in law?" She looked at me crazily.

"The great high muckety-mucks in this church, no longer believe in what they're supposed to believe in. It's not about faith in God anymore. It's about faith in the church as an institution. Over the years, the church amassed a great deal of power. In the early days, it was because stupid, easily influenced people took the bible and the church as being their saviors. The church was the voice of God on Earth and as so was the ultimate authority. Kings bowed to the church.

Then during the renaissance era, you upstart nerds like DaVinci and Gallileo came along and started to either question or prove false the doctrines of the church, especially those involving the world of science. The church persecuted several of those scientists and subjugated even more.

Over time, as society became more secular, the church kept its power by becoming increasingly rich. Money became power and the church had a lot of fucking money. By the time that Shiva was discovered, the Catholic Church alone had more money than a lot of countries do. But it was all based on people's belief that the Church spoke for God.

Shiva shattered a lot of people's belief in the church and now the battle between the church and the scientists has reared its head again. But this time people are not as uninformed. They aren't going to be swayed by a bunch of boola-boola and cheap wine. Science at least has a plan to get us past this one and they're working towards it. The church has bupkiss.

"When they needed it the most, the church was unable to pull a miracle out of its ass and people aren't going to wait for the hand of God to appear out of space and swat the asteroid away with his holy flyswatter. Society is going to hell in a hurry and even the upper crust of the church, aren't really willing to wait for help from on high."

"So they put together a team of nasty nuns or holy whores to infiltrate the ships that are going to get off-world, just in case the angels don't appear. Am I right?" She nodded.

The main thrust of the plan is to ensure that a lot of the leaders of the church are ensconced in secret on almost every ship.

We talked on into the night and I noticed that Denton got angrier and angrier. He had never paid much attention to religion before this. While it wasn't for him, he'd never minded it in others. He'd considered it a minor vice, like smoking. But by the end of our talk, Denton had truly forgiven Beth and he was ready to go to war with the church.

The very next morning Denton marched into the office of the main controlling board of the project and he spoke to them. He told them everything he knew and everything he intended to do. Most of those people didn't give a shit. As long as he got them their ship, it was his show.

That was when my brother gave his first speech as Regent of Science. It had taken him all day long to reach out to all of the other major projects around the planet and explain what was going on and form alliances with them.

By the early evening, all of the projects worldwide were working together to get as many people off the planet as possible. The projects would share information and collaborate, sharing resources whenever possible as well.

Denton addressed a nearly universal population and declared war. He reminded people about Gallileo and all of the other scientists and how the church had persecuted them. And he planted a seed in their minds that was left over from an old sci fi TV show. Denton stared right into the camera and asked seven billion souls at once the same question that James Tiberious Kirk once asked. "Why does God need a space ship?"

There was silence all over the planet as people pondered that question. Denton started talking again after that. He talked about the different ships and jobs openings that building them had created. He talked about the length of the project and what our lives could be like if we all just worked together. He talked about how he had nothing against religion, he thought it was funny, but they had attacked science in general and him in particular out of greed and lust for power.

Throughout the entire speech my brother held almost an entire planet in thrall. He gave them a vision for the future. He gave them ideas and most of all he gave them hope. His speech excited most of the people who heard it. It frightened a few more people. And one group of people, one very specific group of people, he put to sleep. The priests all over Star City were that group. And Denton didn't put them to sleep through boredom, nope the war had been declared. So Denton put them to sleep with the Sandmen.

* * * * * *

Epilogue

Dalton

Denton's speech was only the beginning for Star City. I wish that I could have heard it with a crowd or on a big screen TV. I'm told it was awesome. But as usual, I had to work.

I was watching my brother speak on a small television in the bedroom of an older man, who like most of my targets, had no idea that I was there. He listened to the same words that had inspired a planet to truly reach for the stars and he sneered.

"If God does need a ride on a spaceship," said my brother over the TV. "It won't be on one of mine."

The old man watching the TV began muttering to himself angrily. He didn't bother to turn the TV off. He just swept it off of the table and sent it crashing to the floor in a hail of sparks.

"You should have taken the deal that Beth offered you, Padre," I said from under my cloak. The old man was startled. He looked around him in every direction and saw nothing but he could sense my presence. I think he thought he was in the presence of a miracle and despite his faith or the pretense of it, was scared shitless.

"Jeezus," he said as I appeared suddenly.

"Nah," I said. "Just Dalton Woods. You pissed my brother off royally. He really loves Beth. You got her so upset she almost committed suicide and left my nephew without a mother. You'd have also left the world without its inspiration."

"But he was a famous scientist long before they met that's why he was targeted," sputtered the priest backing up.

"Yeah I know," I said. "But love does funny things to people. Beth warned you. When it comes to science, my brother loves that shit. He's like a monster. But Beth is his inspiration. Without Beth, he's like a limp dishrag. Ya bothered Beth and woke the monster up, so now he's pissed. Not at you in particular, at the Church in general."

"So, I'll make it up to him," he sputtered. "The Church is not without resources."

"My brother doesn't care about money, Padre," I said. "He cares about science. He's always studying something or other. Right now he's studying balance."

"What does that have to do with me?" he asked.

"You hurt Beth so badly that she almost committed suicide. She would have if I hadn't been there to stop her. So now in the interest of balance, you're going to commit suicide, only I'm going to let you."

"No I'm not," he said. "You're a sandman. You can't act unless I call you or ask for your services."

"That's not true anymore, Padre," I smiled. "My brother also controls the Sandmen now."

"But I..." he began. I pulled my breather up and spoke through it as he back away from me in terror.

"Father, don't you want to see Heaven?" I asked, the breathing mask distorted my voice and gave it an eerie timber.

As he tripped over the cord of the forgotten TV, I flicked my wrist sending a shower of rapidly dissipating sand towards him.

"Say your prayers, Father," I intoned. "We're off to never-never land."

He was found the next day kneeling in front of his own altar with a note clutched in his claw-like hand. The note explained how he had forced women to do things against their will and against the teaching of his own church, but he himself had been ordered to do it by those higher up the food chain than he was. He couldn't live with the shame or the pressure anymore so he'd called a Sandman.

By morning, priests all over the planet were being hounded the way witches once were.

Denton and Beth lived happily together until they both died of natural causes ten years before the arrival of Shiva. As time went on, their love only grew. And over time, I also saw far more clearly how my anger over a situation that at the time I didn't fully understand had almost cost us all dearly. I had planned on taking Beth out of this life, even though the events that occurred weren't her fault. I did take the life of Robert Lynch, which I also regretted somewhat until my dying day.

I say somewhat because, I did keep my promise and arrange for his wife and child to be brought to Star City. In a very strange turn of events, ten years later, Robert's child, his daughter, met my nephew Donnie who followed his father as chief scientist. They married and now have three children all of who'll be leaving on the ship next year.

As I write this, my old body is giving me so much pain that I no longer want to live. I thought that I might like to live to see the arrival of Shiva, just to see if that Holy Flyswatter does exist. I'm not sure if I can survive two more years of this. The temptation to taste my own sand grows stronger every day. But don't mourn me. I lived a full and exciting life. Although I never found the kind of love my brother had with Beth, I had many adventures. I even hooked up with that crazy woman who thought she was a witch for a while. It didn't work out but life goes on and there are far more tales of Star City than one old Sandman could ever tell.

The End