Chapter 3.14 - Pilgrimage Council
Cathedral, Pilgrimage Council
Sergius: Now... let us pray. People of Zohar, the chosen ones. When your prayers reach the ear of God, the Zohar will open its inner eye. The great light shining from that eye will shoot through the vile Federation and cleanse their impure minds!
Sharon: This… prayer ritual… Surely the Patriarch isn’t trying to brainwash us? No, that’s not it. This light. And this sound. It’s faint, but I have a memory of it. Yes, the 'us' of long ago…
Joaquin: Mom…
Sharon: Joaquin!? I told you to stay at home with the babysitter!
Joaquin: When Papa didn’t come home I wanted to come look after you.
Sharon: Thank you. But when the prayer ceremony is over you’re going home. I’ll call someone…
Suddenly the light from the Zohar starts to flicker and becomes a bright white color. Looking up, Sharon and Joaquin see a man wrapped in a white cloak.
Sharon: Who's there…? You're…
Jan and the others have dived out and returned to the Veritas safehouse.
Alexei: You’re just in time! There’s a holomail for you! I wanted to open it, but… I wanna be someone you guys can trust…
Melisse: …Thanks for looking out for us.
Jan: Holomail… from who? …Lactis! Do you detect any viruses?
Lactis: None that I can see. Shall I open it?
Jan: Please do. Alexei! I need a private line! Do you have one I can borrow?
Alexei: Sure, use this one!
Melisse: Are you calling Doctor Rozas?
Jan: Yes. I hope she responds… Dammit! No answer!
Lactis: Captain!!
Jan: …? This mail…
Bugs: It's Erich!
Erich: "And the bowl was poured on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared." [Revelation 16:12] Heh heh heh… It would be best to be on time for the Pilgrimage Council… What will you do, Captain?
Melisse: …! What the hell is this?
Jan: He’s calling me out. Sharon and Joaquin’s lives are in danger!
Cathedral, Pilgrimage Council
Sergius: Just a little longer. A little longer and our dearest wish will be granted… the eye of the Zohar will open, and it will illuminate the path to God. Then, the Federation’s salvators will… that man will…
Carter: Your grace! The Zohar…!
Sergius: What!?
Bathed in the Zohar’s light, the attendants of the Pilgrimage Council one by one begin to writhe in pain. Then their cries are silenced.
Carter: Your grace! …They’re all disappearing!
Sergius: What’s going on!? This… There’s no mention of anything like this in the scripture! Is it Voyager!? Is he after the Zohar? No, that’s impossible. Only we, the chosen ones, can handle the power of the Zohar! It can’t be… it can’t be that U-DO… U-DO is supporting Voyager? But that’s…!
Carter: Your grace, it’s dangerous to stay here!! Hurry, find shelter!
Sergius: …Dammit! The salvators… Dmitri Yuriev! Is he trying to open the way to Lost Jerusalem!?
Dmitri Yuriev’s office.
Yuriev is holding his head in his hands.
Zora: What’s wrong? You don’t look so good…
Yuriev: T-The Zohar has… been activated… I… can feel it.
Zora: What!? You mean Sergius opened the way!?
Yuriev: No, that’s not it. …The way is not yet open. Voyager… He called out to U-DO… The fool…
Zora: …?
Yuriev: Voyager. As we speak, he’s diffusing… into the cosmos…