pdf file - Notes from An Alien

else wanted the job.
The room they were in was a storage shed offered for their use by the Lord's Army priest, Shunga, a man
to never be trusted. Burlim had told him that their endocrine implants were acting like they were being scanned
for reactivation and Shunga immediately made preparations to visit the Head-Priest. Burlim had, at most, half a
day to consult with his people and make plans. He motioned the group to find seats.
"People, we need solid plans, simple and flexible. We have a good beginning for a counter movement but
were losing too many folks to the priests. I think you all would like to never see another of our people dead on a
stake while the Anlans drink their blood."
The silence of the group spoke for itself.
"Anga will soon be sending another ship, many more eventually, and the one thing we have going for us
is the timing of the planets' close approaches. Five years between each arrival—years to educate people, years to
move our plans forward."
A small woman stood up and said: "Let me get this straight. We continue helping the priests while we
strengthen our counter-movement. But this teaming up with enemies of the Lord's Army?"
"We have to, Trelu. We don't want to return to Anga, right?"
"Not the way things are, right."
"And, we don't want to sit around pretending to pray and risk becoming the next Gift to their God,
right?"
"Absolutely, but why the double goal? Why not just strengthen our counter-movement without running
the risk that the Lord's Army's enemies are even more barbaric?
"Shunga is easy to fool because he's eager to learn everything we know. He's been appointed as our
contact with the Head-Priest because he has enough independent intelligence left to understand what we can do.
And, it's fairly obvious he wants to be the next Head-Priest. We have to trust his hints about the Faith of Eternity
and the Disciples of Faith. The Faith of Eternity is capable of rising up against the Lord's Army in open battle and
the Disciples of Faith apparently have a form of religion that can include rational thought, some at least."
"Burlim, that's all speculation built on your conversations with Shunga. How can we count on any of it?"
"Trelu, all of you, listen. We've been very lucky so far. The Anlans need us. Even though they're killing
themselves off with their Gift to God rituals and even though they see us as possible population enhancers, we
aren't strong enough to do this ourselves and you can bet the next shipment of settlers will have had their minds
severely if not permanently damaged. We're lucky to have been given a way to stop the signals from Anga that
activate endocrine alteration but the next wave of settlers could very well be incapable of using it. Anga is at war
with this planet and will overrun it with mind-controlled settlers, ship by ship, till they can rape its resources,
too. The Corporate mentality is sicker in some ways than these delusional religionists so we need to find a way to
fight the priests while we help them control the waves of robot-settlers. Of course, there's the possibility that
Anga will start using weapons against the planet..."
Trelu sat down.
"As I see it, we have three immediate goals: strengthen the resolve of our people, discover a safe method
of disabling the crews of the ships from Anga, and, somehow, begin negotiations with the Disciples of Faith."
He looked at each of them, eye-to-eye, then said: "One more thing to chew on. Shunga told me that the
Head-Priest is very happy with our technology and that such a gift from us may demand more Gifts to their God."
Velu and her father walked the long corridor that connected the orbital base to the ship. Jalur knew that
his wife, Suris, was under extreme surveillance and he truly hoped she could find a way to appease the
Corporation. If things went exceedingly well they might be reunited...
Whatever awaited them on Anla would be radically different from the oppression of the Corporation. He
certainly wasn't looking forward to religious oppression but he hoped that at least some of the people who
preceded him in this transfer of undesirables would be capable of using the Anlans' superstitions to gain a
rational foothold on the planet that was to be his new home.
"Father?"
"No 'Daddy' today, Velu?"
"Oh! Well... This is our turning point. We're leaving behind and we're approaching. I'm having to deeply
reappraise what lies in either direction."