Eighteen years had passed since the landing, almost to the day. Croix climbed down the stairs leading underneath the wooden platform. Dozens of apprehensive youngsters, all born on the planet, greeted him with excited eyes. They stood upright, chins up. He noticed with satisfaction that they had followed his instructions, wearing hand-made black armbands with UAE Pearseus written on them. My army. My Armbands. They had sheathed on their belts the wooden batons he had given them. He had hand-picked them for their strength and willingness to carry out any order, and had trained them personally for years. All in preparation for this very day.
He beamed his widest smile at them. “My friends, right now you’re the most important people on this planet.” Their faces lit up. “You’re all that stands between order and chaos. Today will be the first day you will serve humanity, but not the last. In a few hours, all of our people will gather here. Although you are too young to remember this, brave warriors like you always protected Earth. You’re here to ensure that peace prevails. Watch for my signal and remember! At the first sign of trouble, I expect you to restore order. Use any means necessary. Is that clear?”
“But, sir, there’s never been any trouble,” someone said.
His eyebrows met as he stared down the short, squinting teenager that had dared interrupt him. The boy cringed behind his smirking classmates. Croix made a mental note to teach the teen a proper lesson afterwards, then wore his sad face. He touched the boy’s shoulder and squeezed, hard, ignoring his painful grimace.
“Sadly, son, that doesn’t mean a lot. We’re now a proud people of thousands. Everyone’ll be here today. Do you know what happens when a crowd that large wants to cause trouble? Do you want to risk it?”
“No, sir,” the boy mumbled, lowering his eyes to the ground. The others snickered at his discomfort.
He let go of his shoulder and rubbed his hands together. “Good. Now, here’s your instructions one last time: surround the square, but don’t move until I give you the signal. Are we clear?”
“Yes, sir!” they shouted together.
“What?” he grimaced, pointing an ear in their direction.
“YES, SIR!” they shouted loudly enough to be heard over the entire village.
He threw them a satisfied grin before climbing the stairs up to the platform, where he would meet the others in a couple of hours. He whistled a sprightly melody, remembering an old saying. People are hard to govern when they are clever, they say. Luckily, I don’t need to worry with this lot. If only the rest of them were as accommodating…
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Pearseus: Schism
FantasíaThis is the entire Schism, the first book of the Pearseus series that reached #1 on Amazon, that lays down the back story to Rise of the Prince. It's New Year's Eve, the year of 2099, but the distinguished guests aboard the Pearseus won't get to cou...
