Skyfire (35 page)

SIDDHA

“I decided that it was not wisdom that enabled poets to write their poetry, but a kind of instinct or inspiration, such as you find in seers and prophets who deliver all their sublime messages without knowing in the least what they mean.” –Socrates (469BC – 399BC)
 

             
Siddha leaned her frail, four-foot tall frame against the meticulously carved stone railing that wrapped around the outdoor portion of the Sacred Mandapa.  She was dressed in the flowing black robe representing her status as a priestess of the Upadhana.  Her ceremonial obsidian dagger hung at the left of her bony waist, enclosed in a sheath adorned with carvings symbolizing the cycle of conscious biological awareness.  The Mandapa was an elaborate temple built atop a grandiose pyramid, resembling many of Earth’s Mesoamerican structures that have been aligned with cosmic constellations for millennia.  Inside the temple was a sacrificial altar used in the ceremonial killing of only the most devoted followers of the Upadhana. This process was designed to commit the energy of one’s will to what was simply referred to as “Tarana”. 

              Siddha was the high priestess of the Upadhana, widely recognized among her people as the conduit through which the cosmos make their intentions known.  She stood looking out at the supermassive black hole dominating the sky.  The celestial abyss served as a constant reminder of what was the single most important phenomenon in the sky. It was responsible for keeping the galaxy gravitationally bound together as it hurdles through a sea of visible matter, photons of light, and dark matter. By comparison, were a black hole to have the mass of Earth, it would only have a diameter of 1.8 centimeters.  This particular black hole was enormous, with a mass totaling more than 4.1 million of the Earth’s suns. The distance from end to end would take twelve and a half hours to traverse at the speed of light.  Siddha’s collective simply referred to it as the dark star.

              By planetary standards, Siddha’s home planet of Ira was also quite massive.  Gravity was exceedingly strong compared to Earth’s, causing time to move at a crawl.  Although Ira was atmospherically similar to Earth, human beings would find it exceedingly difficult to function on Ira without becoming physically exhausted very quickly.   The planet was just far enough outside the galactic center not to be swallowed by the black hole’s event horizon, and close enough to a series of twelve nearby stars of varying distances, ages, and intensities to ensure the planet did not plunge into a deep freeze as it orbited the Upadhana.  Weather from season to season varied quite drastically, but not so much that it disrupted the carefully balanced ecosystem.  Ira’s existence was a miracle of nature, an event of extremely low statistical probability. 

             
The beauty of Upadhana never ceases to amaze me.  We truly are blessed.  For this, I emit my sincere gratitude into the cosmos.  But Tarana is volatile as of late.  Could this be the Pavitra Yuddah described in the ancient traditions? 

             
It was the year Ekah Vetasa.  The season was fourth-fall, brisk in temperature by human standards, but magnificently beautiful.  The foliage surrounding the Sacred Mandapa reflected its radiant colors as it basked in the glow of two suns.  The perfectly manicured lawns surrounding the temple and pyramid were beautiful.  The gardens nearby were a beautiful place to walk on a nice day.  To humans, it would have been difficult to reconcile such beauty with the practices that occurred inside the temple. 

              Siddha stared into the distance at the surrounding capital city of Nava Ananta. It sprawled toward the horizon in every direction, a pristine river snaking down its north-south axis.   

              The western portion of the city was the newest.  Everything had stemmed from the Sacred Mandapa.  It was constructed eons ago, and had sprung forth a society that still lived by the traditions and practices that those within the Mandapa held dear.

Siddha removed the ceremonial head dress worn by the high priestess and rubbed her head.  The circlet was heavy, and dug into the ridges at the top of her head that formed into two symmetrical orifices used to process sounds and smells.  Her large, dark eyes, set in dull, sickly-looking skin, were more accustomed to staring into the great infinity of the supermassive black hole than looking at mundane objects. 

In addition to the visual, tactile, and olfactory senses, Siddha’s species possessed three glands in their cranium, bordering their pineal gland.  These three glands, in conjunction with the pineal gland, were simply referred to in Irarean culture as “balance.” One gland sensed gravitational intensity.  It did not rely on how hard one’s feet pressed on the ground, nor did it need to visualize a stone dropping to the floor.  It sensed gravity in a way human beings have never known.  The second gland did the same thing, but with electromagnetic radiation, and the third gland with both strong and weak nuclear forces.  Finally, the highly developed Irarean pineal gland allowed for significantly higher states of consciousness compared to humans, coupled with mental abilities completely foreign to all Earth-dwelling organisms.  Sensory perception at this level was extremely complex, and would not have formed as it did without eons of evolution near the galactic center point.  Having the ability to biologically detect all four fundamental forces that govern the laws of physics in our universe was so incredible that were it not for science, humans would believe it to be magic.

The mass, electromagnetic charge and angular momentum of the center point were more intuitively familiar to Siddha than anyone else in her order.  She felt an intimacy with the Dark Star that was not unlike the passion between two lovers.  Yet now something was different about the Upadhana. Something had changed. 

I must gather the conclave immediately.  We must make preparations for a Niza Anusthana.  It has begun.

THANK YOU

Thank you for going on this journey.  I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.  This may not be my actual job but goddamn was it an awesome experience! 
Be on the lookout for the second book in this series “Divine Equilibrium”
to be released as fast as I can write it. 

SPECIAL THANKS

My wife Rachel read this book before anyone else and encouraged me to keep going.  Thank you and I love you.

Christian Robinson read through this book twice.   The first time he provided valuable input about the pacing as well as encouragement to continue.  The second time was after it had already been edited and he found 17 more errors that helped me make the book appear more polished.  Thank you.

Chris Whitehead edited this book for me, line by line.  He acted as close to a professional editor as I will ever have and he did an amazing job.  You’re a better writer than me and you make me a better writer.  You have since college when you proofread my papers.  Thank you.  Also thanks for the help in Air Assault School when we were 20.

To the other 30 people who took time out of their lives to read test copies of this book - Thank you.  Your feedback has been invaluable. 

NOBODY CAN MAKE IT THROUGH LIFE ALONE.  APPRECIATE THOSE AROUND YOU WHO GIVE A SHIT.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Doug Vossen is some guy from Jersey who wrote a book while working full time.  He is a West Point graduate and two tour infantry veteran of the Iraq war.  He has an MBA and enjoys video games and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.  He is married to the best person on the planet, Rachel, and is currently enslaved by a cat named Kitty who was found under a dumpster in Philadelphia.