Devout Infidel

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Part 4

Ardy waited outside the restroom for Yadollah, but he was in there for over 15 minutes. Occasionally he’d cry out as he went on with his business. It was loud in there too! He cursed the chef a few times for putting extra Kashk in the aash when he had specifically asked him not to. A couple of times he would mumble something about lashing him 15 times when he returned to the ship, but Ardy did not understand what he meant.

He finally got out. His eyes had a ring around them and he looked like he was still in pain. Having been free of disease and pain for a long time, Ardy offered him a remedy which he gladly accepted and mumbled something in a language Ardy did not understand. The crowd was still there eager to find out what this alien had to say to them. Because he had gone to the bathroom, he had taken his space suit off, but surprisingly, he had pretty much the same outfit (looser, of course) underneath his suit. No one had ever seen such as attire except in books that talked about an era in Persian history when a group of religious fanatics hungry for power, but claiming ideology, had taken the country over and driven it to ground before the people ousted them and reclaimed their heritage and country.

The books had noted that after the ouster of the ancient regime of clergy, Iran had flourished in arts, sciences and commerce and in fact had become a major player in the international scientific community. The clergy had tried to make a come back by launching terrorist activities for a while but about 10 years after their ouster, the clergy and their supporters had been banned from Iran and declared an Enemy of State. They had been sent to an island in Indian Ocean where they stayed for centuries. It was reported that since the clergy mentality was corrupt and based on a false ideology, they continued to wage war against common sense and humanity even from their island. In the year 2740, the forces of the Alliance of the United Earth (AUE) landed on the island, gathered up all the clergy with their so-called followers and put them on 3 transport ships and banished them to an outpost on Europa, one of the Jovian moons. Due to the atmospheric conditions on Europa, these outposts are under ground and are not considered “friendly” for human habitation. The old books did not have a lot of details but noted that the ships that carried the exiled clergy had somehow been claimed by a wormhole and disappeared. Everyone on earth had believed the ships were destroyed and those on board had perished. It had been reported that everyone on earth was actually relieved and jubilant in learning about the demise of the ships and its passengers at the time and considered it a positive outcome.

All this was going through the mind of most of the colonists as they stared at the alien and his strange attire. The alien moved toward the two shuttles at which time the hatches opened on both vehicles and a number of figures emerged. Strangely, these figures’ spacesuits were loose-fitting material that did not betray the shape of the figure inside them. A total of 8 figures stepped outside the shuttles and stood behind the alien. Ardy was determined to learn more about these “aliens” so he walked up to them for some answers.

(To be cont'd - Only two more episodes left)