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Cain was awoken by Sissy in his hostel room. She said, ‘I want to let you know what I’ve decided.’
He sat up in his basic bed. She smiled, ‘I’ll deal with Siddha, alone. You can be too close to somebody, and I think his concern for your wellbeing will cloud his judgment. His instincts will be to protect you from Brady, and his influencing on you.’ He nodded sleepily, she continued, ‘I am more detached. I have the power of office as being so close to Bodhi. I will make him come around. It’s what I used to do.’
‘Are you sure you don’t need me? I don’t want to be seen to be shirking my responsibilities - not after yesterday’s events.’
‘No. You concentrate on your speech for this evening and trust me to do what I’m good at. I need to return to the HQ with everything back on track for Bodhi. I won’t let Siddha become a problem.’ She smiled and put a soft hand on Cain’s naked shoulder, ‘Mingle with the town’s folk, talk about the settling in process and be upbeat and reassuring, but don’t bring up the Brady situation.’
‘But what if they mention Brady?’
‘Then be calm and treat it as a storm in a teacup. You must reiterate how the future plans are unaltered - if you need to - talk about the Suits™ in development.’ She kissed him on the forehead and left. He noticed she had made her appearance change on the way out of the room to a style she would have adopted when she used to be the Governor of California. He knew she wouldn’t fail.
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A FEW DAYS LATER, AFTER successfully calming the residents of Green Ramona, and setting them stretching targets to complete the town’s refurbishment. The three high-ranking representatives of Sattva Systems™, and the personal envoys of Bodhi Sattva; set off in their four-seater FusionPlane™ to speed through as many locations as possible across the Western Seaboard of the United States of America.
Cain hadn’t understood the power the three of them possessed as they landed in any of the Green Communities. Cain was always aware of his spiritual charisma, but it was only now that he recognised that his gifts had been used almost exclusively to deliver good news. In this environment of distrust and fear, Sissy shone. She exuded power and confidence, she did the one thing Cain couldn’t do, she gave them the impression that she was a formidable force to be reckoned with by any threat to their Community. The biggest persuader came when Siddha spoke. He had always been the biggest sceptic of Brady Mahone’s activities, but when he said of his change of heart, and that it was, in his honest opinion, that they should go about their business, the same as before, then the townsfolk were relieved. It seemed, all they needed was for someone in authority to tell them that everything was going to be alright, there was nothing to worry about, and the future was bright.
The most significant problem area they encountered was when they landed in Santa Clarita. There had been an outbreak of religious revivalism which had infected the key players in the town. As they landed, they saw burning crosses and bonfires with effigies, which they deduced were of Brady Mahone.
A flustered Disciple came to greet them as they left the FusionPlane™. He had adopted the appearance of a man going to a banquet in a tuxedo, with a red silk sash, mistakenly thinking that Garcia must mean she had pride in Mexican traditions. ‘I’m so sorry you have to see us like this, but I cannot convince them. They think that it’s the apocalypse and that without a sign of the second coming of Christ to save us, then we will be punished for the way we have treated the Trads. We have treated them terribly - haven’t we? We deserve our damnation - don’t we?’
Sissy smiled, nonplussed, ‘This is Cain, the Regional Disciple of the Western Seaboard, this is Siddha the Disciple of the Green Community of West McFarland, and I am Genesis Garcia...’
‘Of course. Please forgive my outburst - and my manners. I’m Oleg Faustbender. The Disciple of the Green Community of Santa Clarita.’ He thrust out his hand sharply. She shook it firmly, in a business-like manner. ‘Please, call me Sissy.’ She added, ‘You’ve lost control of the situation.’
He looked at her sheepishly, ‘You don’t understand the strength of feeling here.’
The breeze changed direction, and smoke engulfed them. She coughed, and instinctively felt down to her unborn child with her hand, ‘For pity’s sake, douse those fires.’
‘But...’
‘Do it. That’s an order.’
Oleg looked around nervously before he summoned enough courage to call over a couple of the welcoming committee to him. He argued with them in heated whispers before Sissy intervened, she barked, ‘I am here on the authority of Bodhi Sattva to sort out this mess of a town. Now, put out those damned fires.’ She added, ‘We are very busy, we are trying cram in as many Green Community visits as we can. As you can probably tell from my condition...’ She coughed and choked on the fumes.
Cain intervened, ‘Take us to the heart of the trouble, and hopefully we will find a place for Sissy to sit down. Have you got any transportation on hand?’
‘Yes. Of course.’ He clicked his fingers and pointed, and a young woman who looked like she could be his daughter boarded a FusionCoach™ and brought it over to his VIPs.
As they boarded the coach, Sissy was still choking. Oleg ordered, ‘Turn on the filtration systems.’ As the air became fresher, Sissy began to regain her breath. She said, ‘The baby hasn’t got any Suit™ protection, so I have to reduce my Orange™ protection to enable unfiltered air into the blood. It’s an anomaly which the team are working on. It’s a rare vulnerability which only affects pregnant women.’
Siddha handed her a glass of water. She drank, more out of the need to clean her throat than to quench her thirst. She said, ‘Where are the ringleaders?’
‘The Christ Lutheran Church. It’s only a short journey.’
When they pulled up outside the church, the crowds of demonstrators were fervently waving placards either praising Jesus or denouncing Satan. Some had bible passages on them. Sissy thought the marketing skills for these were abysmal, as you couldn’t read and decipher the messages quickly, therefore what was the point of going to the trouble to make them and wave them in front of people’s faces.
She left the coach, fearlessly. Oleg followed. She looked at the unimpressive building, which called itself a church. It was grey, with ungainly and angular slabs which made the design look more suitable to a split-level oven than a place of worship. The church was packed with an audience of whirling dervishes being whipped up into a frenzy by a loud preacher.
Oleg pleaded for quiet as Siddha followed them in. Siddha walked to the pulpit and forcefully removed the microphone from the Preacher. He said, ‘Is this how you greet your representatives of Bodhi Sattva? Now be quiet. We have come, to halt these unfounded stories about Brady Mahone, with all the authority of Sattva Systems™, and the ability to impose any appropriate sanctions. This includes withdrawing your Green Community status, which means Santa Clarita would return to Traditional Culture restrictions.’ He looked around the room, where a semblance of calm had returned, but the suspicions of the crowd were still apparent. ‘You are behaving like Trads, maybe that’s what you really want?’
The audience was then stunned into silence, not by Siddha’s appeal for calm, but at the sight of Cain moving noiselessly through the crowd in his white robe and walking on bare feet with his crystal green eyes set into a distant gaze. Then a scream of pain was heard as Sissy went into labour.
He went to her, and a crowd gathered. Cain said calmly, ‘Is the baby on its way?’
Sissy was breathless, she moaned then tried to bring her breathing under control. ‘I believe so. This is my third child, but they are early.’
She moaned loudly, and this removed any doubt. Cain said, ‘Tell me what to do. I know you have reduced OrangeSuit™ protection...’
Sissy looked at Cain, ‘It will reduce the pain, and produce the correct levels of hormones - it will even monitor and produce the correct rate of dilation changes. All I need from you is to bring my child into the light. It won’t be long now.’
The congregation around Cain and Sissy gasped at her choice of words, the Chinese whispers spread like a shock wave through the church and out into the streets, ‘It won’t be long until a child brings us back to the light.’ Siddha gently urged the crowd around them to give them more room and ushered anyone, among them, to bring whatever they thought might be needed. Siddha wanted them to feel useful, a spirit of helpfulness had a calming effect on Santa Clarita’s townsfolk.
People rushed off to find blankets, sheets and jugs of water, while the Preacher went to retrieve his bottle of Holy Water.
Sissy let out short screams of pain, and each time she looked at Cain, figuring that he needed more reassuring than she did. She smiled, ‘Don’t worry, Cain. This is normal. I need you to be in the moment with me.’ He held her hand. Her clothing dissolved away from her body until she was naked. Cain didn’t know if this was her doing, or whether she had lost control of her YellowSuit™, there were so few babies born since the introduction of the Green Parent cost of child commitment. She panted and said, ‘It’s time.’
The baby’s head appeared, and Cain moved to help deliver it. An elderly woman appeared at his side to assist him. When the baby was born, Cain brought the child close to him, his robe was stained, but he didn’t allow the self-cleaning of the Yellow™ to operate. The stained robe held significance to him, he felt honoured to be a part of Sissy’s moment of joy. The old woman cut the umbilical cord and handed the baby to Sissy and then attended to Sissy, making sure she was physically and spiritually sound, and just as crucial to Sissy - comfortable. The baby cried for a short-while until it was brought against the comforting warmth of Sissy’s skin.
The word spread through the crowd that the new-born member of the Green Community of Santa Clarita was a boy.
After a few minutes, Sissy passed the child to Cain, ‘Please, display my child to the crowd.’ He looked at her oddly. She whispered, ‘Trust me.’
He took hold of the child and held it high above his head, and the crowd cheered. The Preacher came forward and said to Sissy. ‘I wish to introduce the child to our Green Community. It is our hope that you will give the child its name in our sacred home and complete the formalities in the New Green tradition.’
She said, ‘I will.’ She stood up, and she became fully clothed in her cream-coloured Sattva Systems™ business suit. She looked immaculate. Nobody would have known it had only been a few short minutes before that she had given birth. All of her NanoSuits™ were now fully-functioning.
The Preacher asked formally, ‘What are the names and occupations of the people in this arrangement of bringing a new child into the GreenWorld?’
She thundered, ‘I am Genesis Garcia. Marketing Director of Sattva Systems™. Although many of you remember me more for my old job as the Governor of California. Until the moment of the New Green Day of the Revolution.’
There was nervous laughter, and the Preacher smiled and nodded his encouragement for her to continue.
Sissy said, ‘My partner in the arrangement of the child’s development is Annabelle Mason. Xe will be the homemaker to them and our other two children.’ She looked across at a young man writing the information into a leather-bound ledger, which she knew would be displayed like a holy relic in this church.
The Preacher said, ‘And what are the sexual preferences of those in the arrangement?’
She said, ‘We are both Asexual. We chose not to be led into temptation.’ There was a murmuring in the congregation as this was unusual, but not utterly unheard of. It was a choice among the most pious of the Green cause.
‘And who is the seed, planted in Her ground?’
She could smell the incense, and she looked around the room, which was rammed full of people, as more people tried to squeeze into the church to witness this historic moment first-hand. She spoke softly but clearly, ‘The Father is unknown. It was chosen by Bodhi Sattva himself, and he stated that it could be his own, but we should never know this truth so that all people of the New Green World should treat the child as if he was the Father.’
The scribe gave a puzzled look at the Preacher, who shrugged and then indicated that he should write what he saw fit. The Preacher looked at Sissy and said, ‘I wish to use the Holy Water upon the child’s head as you name him. This isn’t a Green custom but would be an honour, and a confirmation of the truth that dwells within the soul of the child. Do you consent?’
‘Of course. As long as it is noted that my baby is them, not him, xe will be brought up as gender fluid as that will be the future way of all children born from now.’
A look of consternation crossed his face, but he was dealing with the wishes of Bodhi Sattva and Genesis Garcia. She added, ‘The old ways are the Trad ways. We have promised to abandon the Traditional Cultures. If anybody considers this to be abhorrent to them, they can always choose to regress and live among the Trads. The Security Protocols™ are to be enhanced to prevent Gender hate and discrimination.’
She waited until the expected uproar reached a crescendo and then quietened quickly, as the realisation hit the congregation that they could be Filmed at any moment. The Preacher took a moment to understand that he was free to practice his religious freedoms, but he couldn’t rebel against the people who had promised and were delivering Heaven on Earth. He unconsciously gripped his bottle of Holy Water, and then he relaxed, he didn’t want the religious significance of his breaking of the bottle - not here, not today. He completed his service, ‘And what is the given name of the child?’ He added, to prove that he had listened and received her message, loud and clear, ‘What are they to be called?’
She said, loudly and proudly, ‘Century...Brady...Garcia.’
He looked at her, astonished, he declared, ‘In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. In the presence of the Green Community of Santa Clarita, I name this child, Century...B...Brady...Garcia. So, help me, God.’ He put the sign of the cross in Holy Water on the baby’s forehead. The child gurgled and smiled as the water touched his brow. Cain moved in close to Sissy, his robe was pure white, once more. He looked at Sissy, she smiled and turned to her child and gazed into his brown eyes. Cain looked at Siddha and nodded, he then looked into the congregation and smiled warmly, as he scanned the audience with his crystal green eyes, and he caught the gaze of as many as he could.
Cain then moved slowly forward, and the congregation parted before him. He led Siddha, Sissy and Century out of the Christ Lutheran Church and back to the haven of their FusionCoach™, where Oleg the Disciple and his daughter were waiting to take them back to the FusionPlane™ to fly Cain and Siddha onto their next problem district and to take Sissy back to Boulder Creek to deliver the baby into the arms of Annabelle.
Sissy, still holding her child, looked Oleg up and down and said, ‘I’ve done my bit. Sort the Brady Mahone situation out. Do you understand?’
He nodded, but his daughter stepped in and said, ‘Don’t worry. It will be done - I’ll spread the word, far and wide.’