From Whence They Came by Thomas Zman

Author:Thomas Zman [Zman, Thomas]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, mobi
Published: 2017-06-05T06:00:00+00:00

“’They that tarry long at the wine;

they that go to seek mixed wine.

Look not thou upon the wine when it

Is red, when it giveth his color in

the cup, when it moveth itself aright.

At the last it biteth like a serpent,

and stingeth like an adder.

Thine eyes shall behold strange women

and thine heart shall utter

perverse things.

Yeah, thou shalt be as he that lieth

down in the midst of the sea, or as he

that lieth upon the top of a mast . . . ‘”

She looked up from the parchment. “Perhaps I am wrong of what I speak, for I concede to having no divine contact; it be only what I feel in my heart. Perhaps I speak blasphemously as do the false prophets of the world who line their pockets with wealths acquired by spreading ‘their’ word of the Lord. I mean not to mislead, but only to enlighten thee as to what I feel. Go now, and may God bless you.” She crossed herself and hid her face in folded hands of prayer.

Gid nudged me to go and we silently departed from the dim-nettedness, and back into the mind-altering crimson light. Immediately I became of bewildered discord; the conversing fraternizers and melodic masterpieces of contemporary overtures stimulated my psyche to the point of pandemonium. With effort I composed my travestial thoughts and swaggered, casual yet self-assertive, about the socializing jumble. I had acquired credence in myself that I had never before experienced, feeling transcendent to all that lie around me. I turned to Gid and stated: “I find it extremely odd that Lady Sarah should read Scripture in such an environment.”

“She is closest to the fold when their minds have broadened.”

“Broadened, indeed,” I said as my eyes settled upon a young woman, making her rounds with a tray of pseudo-cocktails. She sauntered passed one patron in particular that caught my attention: the man I had seen topside at the helm. I studied him, momentarily, sipping from a goblet that surrendered him no libation.

“Imitation cocktails to satisfy the discomforted’s oral fixation,” Gid edified, noticing my interest in the non-flowing drink.

“That man.” I said to Gid. “I saw him up top on deck before. Who is he?”

“Sigmund. A regular at this place, and others like it around the city. He’s a liaison for the Sanctification -- a sociologist on the surface. Sig’s having a tough go with his marriage. His wife thinks he’s cheating on her when in fact he’s helping organize the transfer of goods to this and other cities. He can’t confide in her for his duties are to be kept confidential. He has been offered the chance to withdraw his services, yet all knowledge of the Sanctification would have to be erased from his memory. A troubled soul.”

‘Offered the chance to withdraw. ‘ The words reverberated around my mind. I wonder –

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