Archeia's Atheneum (The First Shift)

Episode Sixteen: A Stagnant Plot

It was midday. Dr. Hicks, wearing a fine old-fashioned waistcoat--with casual dress attire, was facing the meeting room window. Appearing to be fixated on the property outside. Mr. Oaks was preparing tea and red wafers at the circular mahogany table, which was the room's main attraction. If he'd not known the man for as long as he did, he might think the Doctor was absent-minded--but old Robert knew this was not the case. Dr. Hicks was in fact quite present, though in a state of meditation.

A dark earthy place was where they all stood. The Imperium's own lords and ladies. This was a place they all constructed mutually; where they safely convened in the fourth dimension, without the tiring restraints of physicality. Stagnant as the beings themselves, the Cube was a reality bubble that contained the single fractioned conscious which manifested as individuals. Their combined personas made the Cube's interior a compartment in the great pyramid of Egypt. They made the floor look like thick rich soil, as if it consisted primarily of compost; of corpses. There was a black skeleton that manifested on the floor every time, but none of the individuals knew why. None of them wanted to, save for Hicks. His mind's eye saw Lucifer and Mammon communicating. It saw Beelzebub in the shape of a man, in a wheelchair. The being was making its bodily form scream madly. He was aware of someone watching him too. Sathanus was scanning the mind of Leviathan; Dr. Hicks felt as though he were covered in a blanket of eyes--all watching him. The thought-form known as Percival Hicks was careful not to flinch at all. He made Sathanus aware he was watching him, but also that he didn't mind. Percival's vibrational changes made the lot of them uneasy with Hicks; he wished not to attract more attention. Hicks didn't like the warrior looking at him the way he did, he didn't like how Leelind conversed with Elizabeth, and he liked Beelzebub's proximity to him least of all.

Hicks withdrew himself from the Cube. Those detestable people would be with him soon, and he wanted a few moments to himself. For the first time in his life, he was nervous. He was a different man than he had been--a more present man, though not by choice. The Doctor immersed himself in darkness nearly all his life, and to this end, had acquired powerful modes of divination and an extended lifespan. He did this in envy, for he was always made to be around those more powerful than he. Only in the last fifty years had he gained enough power to stand unchallenged, for the majority. There was but one whom the Doctor could not surpass, and Francis Leelind was more than content with that.

That was why Petra was so important. Already a strong asset, all who knew of her existence also knew her potential as Earth's most coveted catalyst. Dr. Hicks had worked hard to gain the privilege of overseeing that project, and now that it was dead,  he would have to work harder still to keep it secret. You see, Francis was consumed by greed, his power based upon it. There was one thing that Hicks had over Leelind, and that was Petra. Francis didn't know this exactly, but he felt an unusual vibration around Hicks and the unknowing vexed him most.

However, keeping Petra secret had just become more a daunting task. So, through discerning ways of maintaining control, the Doctor (for the first time in a very long time), approached a positive technique. He decided to try contacting a positive being because any whom polarized as such would jump at the chance of dismantling the Ancestors in any way. Hicks told himself he would use this being's knowledge to ward off Leelind, maybe even topple him. Then he would dismiss the being, or destroy it--filing that forbidden exchange as a necessary good for the sake of a stronger darkness. That plan did not come to be, or at least, not in the way Hicks intended.

He made contact with a being, but it showed him things he had not expected, and perspectives he had not seen. Dr. Hicks had gained a small presence where once there was only void. With that, he became a sheep in wolf's clothing--as he likened it. Ergo his newfound apprehension at this meeting. Dr. Hicks would have to simultaneously hide his total nature, protect his assets, contend with Leelind, and plot against every human lodged within the Meta--wrestling with this new sense of guilt all the while. This day will be a challenging one, he thought.