QBLH
Chapter XLVII
The Princess of Cups
The Grand Dragon
Queen of the Starry space and claiming this and that as hers,
some people just seem to have everything
Yet we find out that Jim is banishing this all powerful creature from Earth once again.
Such a graceful coup and she is powerless
as he pilots the Pegasus
though hyperspace
towards Artemis.
It must be understood that Genie is accelerating the starship
closer and
closer
to light velocity
as the seconds start to turn into days.
Due to the gravitational shielding
and the maintenance of an intact Pegasus inertial space,
the crew feel no effects from the acceleration.
Isis is really quite delighted to see Jim again
and she really does intend to have her way with him.
But she has a surprise for him as well.
It seems that Jr wishes to follow in the steps of his father.
Some things just never change.
Has Jim sold out to Isis?
Not possible!
And if he did, she would have no use for him.
And don't forget,
Jim is in control of this operation.
After all, who's driving?
Has she won?
Hardly!
"I have won. Have I not?" She said to him.
"Not exactly," replied Jim. "My turn, and you are aware that I have business to tend to after I leave you again. It seems that I have a mess to clean up. Thanks to you."
"Lord Yaohushua," he cried. "We have transgressed and on Earth shall thy wrath be revealed lest thou grant my prayer. Here then, O God, Lord and mighty King, I entreat thee to grant my prayer, that a posterity may be left for me on earth, and that the whole human race may not perish; that the earth may not be left destitute, and destruction take place for ever. O my Lord, My race I shall banish from off the earth because it has offended thee, but allow my earth friends to be a righteous and upright race and establish in them a posterity for ever. Hide not thy face, O Lord from the prayer of thy servant!"
Isis was impressed. Jim had very gracefully banished her race from earth in return for a ticket home. He still was very adamant in his desire to maintain a very low earth profile. She could not argue with him, however. She and her crew, after all, were indeed his prisoners, and he was indeed currently the master of the starship.
It mattered little what she willed at the moment. Genie was well on its way navigating through hyperspace, and she was to have her brief time with Jim. She had painted Jim with a somewhat tarnished image which he aimed to rectify. It is all relative to what one wishes to believe as to whether Jim is to be considered a fool or a genius.. Jim had free will, but Isis would tell her public that he was acting out his destiny, and somewhat dismissed his claims to free will. He knew better, but the masses which she had under her control did not..
"Power is the ability to make them believe as one wills, my Qblh. You know this as true. Beauty enchants free will to conform to her desire, my love."
"Actually, my dear, I would prefer that you find my efforts to be not flawed in your sight. You know how I detest your caustic criticism."
"My eye is keen for beauty, my love. Caustic artwork irritates me and I find it insulting if you create inferior gifts for me."
"Then I take it that you are quite intrigued by this little adventure of ours. You wish it to continue?"
"That is my will, Qblh, my love. The game is not over. Come lay with me and gather your reward and my affections for a few thousand years, and then return to Earth and enchant me some more with your tales. Yet they are not tales are they, my love. Dare you to discover all that I know concerning your future, your destiny, and my memory? Come sleep with me for a while. Let our lifeforms merge as we accelerate backward through time"
"Backward in time? Isis we are returning to the future."
"Nay, my love this entire excursion is one in the past. To us it shall be as a dream, but to your friends on Earth, it shall be reality. I am aware that the return to Artemis involves a return to our wormhole entry point which is several hundred years behind us. This is why we need you, Jim. I know better than to attempt to try a simple forward maneuver. That I know will create a causality violation. I'm not as dumb as you think I am, Jimmy boy."
"Is that correct, Genie?"
"Unauthorized access to secured information. Cannot respond. Password?"
"Ho, Ho! Seems that I have struck a nerve, Jim. So your Genie has multilevel password clearance? That explains it. I bet your password is some idiotic term that you say all the time. Talk to your Genie, Jim. Let me see if I can guess your password. If I do, do I gain command? I'm sure, because we both know that Genie is nothing but an idiot just like any other artificial intelligence, and it can therefore have no free will of its own. What is your highest level password, my love? Why don't you just tell it to me, and save yourself the frustration of trying to conceal it from me? "
"I'd rather you entertain me and try to entice the password from me."
"No, Jim. I'm not going to waste my time. Xuang is most anxious to travel with you. Would you care to take your son along? Xiang prefers to return to Artemis with me and learn palace life. She has taken a liking to the term Lady Dragon.. "
"How about if I call her Dragon-lady instead?"
"I'm sure Xiang would accept that from you, my Qblh. Now about that ride through the space and time which you promised me. I would like you to tell me all about how you accomplish that which my experts do not know how to do. I have forbidden you to tell Earth, how these things are done, but you can tell me. How much of this is new technology and how much of it are you going to teach the children?"
"I shall teach Xuang only the secrets, and no other. It is tradition and he is our son."
"Agreed, my husband, and Xiang will stay with me and learn her place. I take it then that you are going to take Xuang with you, it is in his heart to be like his father, and that is you."
"So I'm a Chinese grandfather?"
Isis laughed. "Well put. I suppose that would make you the Grand Dragon. Qblh the dragon."
"No, from what you tell me, I have nothing to do with China. That project is yours. You misconstrue causality by assigning me any responsibility for China. Xiang and Xuang will have to deal with that problem in a very real manner when they return to the twenty-first century. Will they be willing to once again assume the responsibility for governing China and could we permit it. You should now be a little more aware of why we should stay as uninvolved with the governing of Earth as possible. Given our ability to time-travel and the amount of involvement we have already induced because of these Earth-Artemis time travel experiments we have created a few problems which have been very difficult to untangle. Governing Earth would restrict our ability to time travel in that space-time field. If you are beginning to understand what I am saying, we cannot time travel within our own empire."
"I am not sue I understand."
"Time travel is best accomplished with minimal involvement with the space that one is traveling through. It is a matter of minimizing real mass loss. We ourselves, are constantly in danger when we time travel, even now, because our present existence depends on our returning to whence we came. If for some reason, it becomes impossible for us to return and we are in the past, we cease to exist.."
"Well, I exist now, and always have since I left. Don't tell me... It's because you are taking me back, isn't it?"
"Why else do you think I'm here. For some unknown reason which I am sure we both shall soon learn it was revealed to me that I had to take you back to Artemis and I am here to do just that."
"Revealed to you in what manner?"
"Theoretically deduced by applying the laws of physics, the same laws which are used to pilot your vehicle and maintain your life support systems. Is that a reliable enough source for you?"
"Logical necessity, I understand that well enough."
"It is also for this reason that I must drop you off only and return in my own time which shall not be too far from your own time."
"I assume that you will be returning to the Pleasure Dome before I left then, because you left and returned immediately during Gemini's apprehension of you with the Genie. I embarked on this pursuit only after rightly guessing that you were time traveling again with the Genie."
"What do you expect me to say? I am not going to disclose to you when I am returning. It would not be good for you to know, because I need to return, and if I don't return , you don't return. Don't interfere with my trajectories, otherwise I shall get very nasty, and you will never know whether or not the calamity that you bring about could have been prevented. By not crossing my path, you will never know what the calamity would have looked like, and I really think that you rather enjoy your long life, and would like to live a few more court appearances. Look what Shaltain almost accomplished, our deaths, and it would have ruled Artemis with you, me, and the children non-existent. It knew these things when it programmed your departure. Genie has evidence of this."
Isis thought Jim was wrong. She was aware of the risk that she was taking at the time she left and she was equally certain that Qblh would have no alternative but to rescue her. She fully expected her lover to rescue her and internally she was well-pleased that he had done exactly as she expected. It did bother her somewhat, however, that Shaltain had not advised her as to the exact nature of the risk that she had taken. She had assumed that Shaltain simply did not know, because of lack of programming."
"Jim, I have an oracle for you to fulfill. It concerns your twenty-first century Earth. Are you interested?"
Jim loved her oracles. She would always play this game with him when she knew something that Jim didn't, but did want to know. Ambrosia and oracles, besides her incredible beauty were her most potent influences on Jim.
"Society can only achieve its fullest potential when women are
not barred by law, by ignorance, by tradition or custom, or
intimidation from making their voices heard."
"Stop dwelling on crackdown on the outspoken,
and be careful how matters are handled that are acutely sensitive
to the people. This is from Xuang and the Dragon Lady."
" It may be necessary to put aside questions of
democratic development for a few years and focus on housing,
education and welfare."
"If Qblh doesn't become discouraged about anything,
there is no reason for Earth groundhogs to be discouraged;
and you will have become my successful emissary."
"I know we have tried to raise mankind out of this distress longer than mankind
has tried to raise themselves; so there is no place in this Activity for discouragement! The
only difference between them and us, that they give up and quit
and we never do."
"....There is not as powerful a Healing Flame in this Universe as the Healing Flame of
Happiness. Enough Happiness could cure every bit of disease on the planet; and it seems
to Me, it is a far more comfortable method than surgery and some of the other methods by
which others try to help mankind, although We always bless every kind of assistance that
really helps mankind to be more harmonious."
"Know my beloved, that I have learned to love these Earth people even as you have loved them. We express our love differently. You say that I dominate and interfere too much, but it is only because I care for them and wish the best for my Earth people, and they have learned to love me. They will sorely miss my disappearance my love, because I have been with them for these past thousands of years. It is only now that you have managed to bring my influence to an end. But as you now see, I now stand to be just as much influence in twenty-first century Earth as I have ever been in the past. Nor did you have the power to stop me, but due to your efforts, these Earth people are going to be held with a higher regard than I had previously planned, because now you see, I have a great affection for them and I shall try to be a little more forgiving in my justice as you have been with me."
Isis kissed Jim on the brow and smiled at him. "Tell me you love me, my Qblh. Accept me and my gifts that I bestow upon you. You will never fathom the intense joy I feel each time you are by my side."
How can one man resist a woman such as that? Indeed here was the power to launch a million ships. Yet who could keep abreast with her, maintain her admiration and respect?
Once a man looked into her eyes, she could hold him captive, enchanted. He would be nothing more than a beast to her, obedient to her very will as she charmed the creature within him with her very adept telepathic ability. Her ability to control beasts and men was well known throughout the empire, and for this she was greatly respected.
Jim looked into her eyes, and gave her the kiss she demanded. Exchanging the breath of life, his will became hers, and now he would be under her influence for a few days. "First, more children. I shall give you my golden peg as well. I find it much more charming to have my turn with you now, instead of my stuffy chamber in the pleasure dome. We shall keep this secret betwixt the two of us."
"That is best my beloved, just ourselves and the children. So Xiang wishes to accompany me does he?"
"Would you be a dear?"
"I'll see what I can arrange."
