Infestation

Chapter 3

Chapter 3The trip to church passed uneventfully. Jules pulled up his hood as he merged with the crowd outside of Dixon’s and made his way to the station. He purchased a shared ticket to the nearest station and boarded with three other passengers in the car. Two other humans, an older male-female couple, holding hands and moving with care as they took the forward-facing seats on one side of the car. Retirees, he thought, from their casual dress and relaxed postures. Probably out to get something to eat.

The third person on the pod was a short droid, dome top, cylindrical body supported magnetically above the deck. It kept its multiple arms neatly folded up against its body out of the way as it floated after the couple into the pod. It took up a position at the back, to the other side. No telling what the droid did. It might work for the station or some other business. Could even be from a spacer ship. The blue and orange markings didn’t give away anything to Jules.

He stepped into the pod and reached up to grab the rail above the door, turning to face the door as it closed. He turned his head slightly away from the couple.

The pod moved smoothly off through the transfer station, merging into the line and accelerating smoothly. It wasn’t far to the next station, two minutes later the pod reached the station and stopped. Jules stepped out the instant the doors opened.

Clayton was one of the older neighborhoods on the station. It was an agricultural and residential segment. Buildings rose up around Central street, the tallest nearly reaching the top of the segment. Four blocks over to 1st Street, or four blocks south to 8th Street, and the buildings gave way to the vertical farms that produced fresh food for the station and trade with spacers.

Jules didn’t go that way. Instead, he headed downspin along Central eight blocks until he came to Central Park. Then over two blocks to 6th Street and Park Avenue where the church steeples rose up toward the segment ceiling above.

Unlike the glass and steel of the buildings surrounding it, the St. Butler Cathedral was built of blocks of dark asteroid rock. Two steeples rose into sharp points on each side of the entrance. The grand doors were of pale wood grown right here on the station, bound with dark iron from asteroids. The massive stained-glass window above the entrance showed St. Butler’s broad face looking down, her expression warm and welcoming. The patron saint of space, spacers, and stationers alike held out her hand, a bright green sapling coiling up into the sunlight that radiated around her head.

He had paused, looking at the stained-glass image as he always did, drawing strength from the wisdom in her gaze. He bowed his head, looked up and climbed the slight ramp to the doors.

The air inside was cooler and tinged with incense and candle smoke. A droid attendant stood inside the narthex, robbed in a silky black fabric, cowl up over its elongated head. Blue lights gleamed from its animated features.

“St. Butler’s blessings upon you,” the droid said in a deep, somewhat raspy voice. “Be at peace.”

It wasn’t always easy to tell the attendants apart, but Jules’s eyes picked up the faint pattern of scratches and wear on droid’s head. His systems identified it for him.

“Nelson. How have you been?”

Nelson’s animated face took on a smiling expression. “Well, Mr. Moon. We haven’t seen you here for service lately. Are you well?”

“That’s a complicated question,” Jules said. “Is she available?”

“For confessions, yes,” Nelson said. “I believe you know the way?”

Confessions. Jules nodded. “I do, thank you.”

“You’re very welcome.”

Jules turned and left Nelson to their duties. Many droids like Nelson grappled with their beliefs and origins and found themselves drawn to the Butlerian Church of Universal Peace. The cathedral’s high ceiling arched above, painted in a stunning mural of the known space-faring species against the backdrop of the galaxy. Each of the systems of origin depicted out of scale to show the details of those thirty-three worlds. The section occupied by the known species was only a small part of the galactic mural–showing how much more of the galaxy remained unknown. The Church anticipated growth and communication, envisioning an entire galaxy at peace.

Jules appreciated the vision, but found his focus remained more on the immediate future.

He crossed to the aisles along the nave and walked past the pews where some worshippers sat and contemplated St. Butler’s teachings. It was mostly empty. There wasn’t anyone waiting at the confessional.

Jules opened the panel door and stepped inside, pulling it closed behind himself. Through the mesh, he could just make out the outline of Mother Anna’s shape.

“St. Butler’s blessings on you,” she said, her voice deep and resonant. “What brings you to confession today?”

“I am afraid, Mother. I find myself less at peace than I wish.”

“What is the nature of your conflict?”

“I’ve been approached by a woman who says that her family is haunted. If it is true, I am afraid of what might happen.”

Mother Anna shifted on her seat. She sighed. “Do you believe this intrusion is real?”

“Maybe,” he said. “She went to considerable trouble to come here and find me.”

“Where you given any indication of the source of this disturbance?”

“No, Mother. It may yet prove to have a more tangible explanation.”

She made a sound that might have been a laugh. “Jules, if she convinced you, your instincts are rarely wrong in these cases. You came here today looking for inner peace before this trial.”

It wasn’t a question. And she was right. If he was going to face some sort of spiritual disturbance, he needed to be at peace with himself as much as was humanly possible.

“I have had uncharitable thoughts about others,” he said. “I have lacked generosity. I have been selfish with my time and my self.”

“I see,” she said. “Then your penance is the task before you, to bring peace to those that sought your help. And if there is a spiritual disturbance, to bring peace to those on the other side.”

“I will,” he said.

“Then go with St. Butler’s blessings on you, Jules. Nelson will supply you with blessed water, may it aid you in your task.”

“Thank you, Mother. Blessings of St. Butler to you as well.”

“Go in peace,” Mother Anna said.

“Go in peace,” Jules repeated.

He rose to his feet.

As he reached for the door, Mother Anna said, “Be careful Jules.”

“I will,” he said. He let himself out and found Nelson waiting outside with a black case.

“These are for you,” Nelson said. “With St. Butler’s blessings upon them.”

“Thank you, Nelson,” Jules said, taking the case. He touched the releases on the side and the lid lifted. Inside were a couple dozen small vials of virgin cometary water. Unprocessed water blessed by the Church and used in cleansing rituals. He closed the lid.

“You are most welcome,” Nelson said. The droid bowed slightly and then walked away.

Jules tucked the case beneath his arm, glanced at the confessional, then started back down the aisle.

The Church’s blessing helped if this turned out to be what Bri claimed. And if not? Hopefully the blessings would still help. He wasn’t sure which outcome he dreaded more.

His steps slowed. Why would he think that? Obviously he didn’t want Bri’s family to be in danger. If he could identify a mundane explanation for what was happening–even if it was also dangerous–that should be the best outcome.

Except he knew that part of him that wanted to make the connection again to the other realm, beyond life. Places could become like reefs in the spiritual plane, infused with energy and an active spiritual ecosystem. Spaceships interacted with the very fabric of existence with the zero-point generators and dark matter collectors that made it possible to cross the expanding fabric of the universe. That sort of activity was known to fuel the spiritual ecosystem in some cases. It was like a bolt of electricity shooting across the universe. It ripped through spiritual ecosystems, but could also reinvigorate them. Especially at nexus points like a planet or station. Or even a spaceship. Most of the time the consequences were slight, unnoticeable. A healthy spiritual ecosystem helped support life, according to the Church.

Jules believed it could. He also knew what happened when things went badly wrong.