Читать книгу CURSE of the HOLY ARK - Ted Miller III - Страница 5

During my first meeting with the new holy hierarchy, we briefly discussed our messianic mission to improve mankind’s existence. I passed out the initial outline I wrote of how we hoped to sell to the public the new story line about the discovery of the Holy Ark of the Covenant, which would ultimately produce a new Bible of a book that was meant to print more than a billion copies. One person in six of the world’s population would receive or purchase a copy of our creative work and it was planned that they would share our words with the remaining entire world.

Most speculative fiction is indeed fact rearranged and therefore presents the great advantage of being imaginary and not having to defend telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Although it is impossible to completely disguise a very public figure, the plausibility of disassociating the doppelganger from its original source allows some breathing space in the creation of a novel experience because of the First Amendment and the supreme court’s ruling on “actual malice standards”.

But when you conflate and fuse fact within the veil of fiction because the truth is too bold to be told, there is still always a team of lawyers on retainers waiting and willing to navigate through a legal minefield of potential libel suits.

Therefore, not wishing any reckless disregard, the twelve authors’ names have been changed to protect the innocent from the wrath of the rich. So said…this novel is not intended to damage, defame or varnish their reputations.

The twelve names chosen are prophetic in their own right, but at least the dead cannot be defamed.

Using mega money as a magnet my masters had assembled the who’s who of authorship that had collectively sold more books than all the remaining writers of the world. Their real names and specialties were all household words and now have been changed to include the following:

Simon Peter: Revengeful Espionage

Andrew the Noble: True Crime

James the Ardent: Techno Thrillers

John the Brave: Psychological Mystery

Philip the Evangelist: Master of Horror

Bartholomew the Fisherman: Mayhem and Suspense

Thomas the Doubter: Celestial Adventure

Matthew the Tax Collector: Legal Thrillers

James the Younger: Action Adventure

Thaddaeus the Jude: Forensic Criminology

Simon the Zealot: Modern Mystery

Paul the Replacement: Legal Thriller

Twelve writers were also current day lawyers, doctors, pilots, teachers, theosophists and all were trendsetters who had risen above all other authors to become the golden god heads of the publishing empire. But never before did any of them have a chance to create a God and establish the rules of a new religion that would rule the world.

My monologue continued on and after introductions and seating assignments were made, the chosen twelve who now sat behind 24 carat gold name plaques began to let their attention fade from each other and instead take in the luxury of the floating palace we were within.

The previous day the chosen twelve had been brought aboard the ship with fanfare fit for a king. The trappings of success were almost beyond words. It would require multiple adjectives to describe the creative comforts and magnanimous beauty each of the twelve plus their assembly of friends or family members would reside within. And as if the free luxury 30-day cruise wasn’t enough, each of the dozen disciples would also receive $100,000 per day. The three million dollar fee included an ironclad contract not to divulge any details of the book that they would jointly develop. But little did they know that everything they saw or heard was covered in multiple layers of lace or larceny.

The testimonial this privileged sect of twelve was to provide would prove that the original Bible was rewritten to allow the church and state control of man’s morals, instead of each and every man having control over his own state of religion. The ink of these writers would be transformed into the type set words that would change the world.

After the twelve were served coffee, tea or juice I continued our meeting as I passed out expensive jewel boxes which within each was a flawless three-carat diamond set in a pyramid of gold. My masters assured me that any form of bribery was mine to choose and I knew that I had to quickly form a bond of trust and appreciation with these twelve masters of word-craft before we could function as the team intended to win the world’s respect and wonder. Each ring had been custom sized to fit over the fourth finger of each writer’s right hand and as I placed my own on I started the dialogue I hoped would bring the message to mankind.

With a sincere sense of caring for each of these word masters I proudly announced, “Gentlemen. As you wear these priceless rings I hope they will guide your hands and bind our thoughts together in the same direction of the original disciples, as we compose the new words to direct the dogma of the devoted.”

A few of the authors looked at me as if I was far too hokey to hearken the herald of a new dawn, while others tried on their first of many gifts and seemed to appreciate what I was trying to do.

It seemed to me for a hundred thousand dollars a day that my masters were not buying a lot of conversation, so I announced we would first review our common goals and how we came about to be the team to transcend theology. I asked all of them to hold their questions and comments to the end and with a school teacher’s sense of discipline began our discourse.

“Gentlemen, for this book to read and sound true we all must want it to be true. Take stock of your surroundings and your state of substance as well as that of your pay, and understand none of this means as much as what we are about to write. Each and every one of us must want to … no, need to … change the state of the world before it destroys itself.”

I continued my hard sell to drive the point home. “Every day our own homes are in harm’s way. In the past we just asked why. Now we must band together and say, “these sins must stop”.

I paused and stared at each man deep in his eyes as if to dare him to stop me and say that what I was preaching wasn’t so. I also was checking their renal responses to determine if the hypnotic drugs we added to their beverages had taken effect. Like I said before, my masters would allow me any form of trickery to make this team of twelve be willing to serve.

The candles in the middle of the table flickered with an intensity caused by the over length wicks and special fast-melting wax which was intended to aid in increasing the concentration levels of the pharmaceutical enhanced participants. Even my style of delivery and voice range had been carefully coached by an expensive expert in hypnosis. And for additional insurance, last night while the team of twelve was wined and dined during their introductory formal dinner, little did they know that their food and drink had been doctored with controlled amounts of natural hashish and the original organic form of ecstasy derived from nutmeg. Along with this day’s dose of hallucinogenics and hypnotics and the visual and harmonic aids employed this morning, they all became willing members of our team who were now fully prepped to be receptive to the core of the message we wanted to embed on their brains.

Even I stopped thinking as an I and started speaking as only a we. “We all need to be as one with the we in thee. We need to think this biblical book through to the desired finish at the end, and then begin the job that we all are being very highly paid to compose.”

I stopped and stared at my ring dazzling in the flickering candlelight and momentarily wondered if I too had been pharmaceutic-ally prepped for this meeting, or if I was really being caught up in the creation of a new cosmic code.

“We all know that this is a lush and welcome sanctuary from the sickness and ills of insanities that have invaded even our home towns.” I continued on with the zeal of a prophet as my masters’ words came back to my mind. “Every day our planet is evolving towards the dawn of a new day. Life is never what it seems to be. Everything you touch is old or broken. Air doesn’t smell fresh or new. New diseases are discovered every day. Fish can’t survive in open waters. Tasteless fast foods don’t supply vitamins or roughage. Road rage is rampant. You can’t drink the water anymore unless you buy it in bottles and pay more for it than gasoline. Even mother’s milk is tainted with chemicals.”

“But get real. Understand we live in a virtual state of unreality. Companies and countries collapse under their own weight of debt. The least moral men always win. There is no reality, only the planned perception we all get to see.”

I knew my masters were monitoring the room and my delivery. They also controlled the sound and volume and the lights in the room had been slowly growing dimmer as my dialogue continued on.

“Only presidents and pontiffs are profiting from the world’s woes. Statesmen who think they are sly get caught doing stupid stuff. Bankers bribe bureaucrats to tax our society to death. The graft of capitalistic comforts is overtaking civilization. AIDS is overcoming entire continents. Cocaine cartels are running congress. Sovereigns and saints are going insane trying to stop our stupidness from spreading. Starvation has become a natural state of life. The Vatican can’t stop its own cardinals from committing crimes against children. Paralysis of analysis has overtaken the ordained oracles of the world. No one makes decisions anymore. The world’s rulers keep the masses of mankind managed by the media and motivated only by money. What would Jesus say about ATM’s being in church lobbies? Morals are indeed a dead issue.”

I took a deep breath as I mentally composed the closing of our sales pitch. The chosen twelve now had their eyes almost closed and their bodies were slightly rocking back and forth to the music that our masters were piping into the room. As I lowered my voice to the point of a loud whisper to encourage even greater concentration, I discovered that I really did believe in what I was about to say.

“We all are now brothers that are bound to our basic creed. We are here to do the right thing. We are here to help each other. The golden book we are about to write will create a new world order of awe and wonderment. We will make our words become more than alive while creating a celestial code of conduct for the new cosmic order to believe that their betterment rests within. We will deliver the world from doom. We need to stop feeling sorry for civilization’s current sick state of being, because it’s time to be scared of what the world has become!”

“For when the lights arise we will see with a new sense of clarity, that indeed we have been chosen to become as one with the will of the we in thee … blessings be.”