Page 96 of The Sovereign: Part One
“God,” Lev interjected.
“Excuse me?”I asked, blinking as if he’d just spoken in a foreign language.
Lev cleared his throat.“The Vale didn’t secede just because they reject Supplicants and advanced systems.They believe Hyperion is committing a moral atrocity, creating beings without souls.To them, it’s cruelty.They’re equally disturbed by the way children are engineered within The Cradle.”
I shook my head.“Butwhy?If we’re truly on the precipice of war, why risk sending their oldest son to Hyperion Proper?”
Lev didn’t answer right away.He exhaled through his nose and pushed back from the console, clasping his hands loosely on the desk as his gaze fixed on some distant point beyond the paneled wall.
“The Auren are not like us,” he said finally.“They never were.Their society wasn’t just built in opposition to ours, it was built in devotion.Every law, every cultural practice, every breath they take revolves around their God.Not metaphorically.Literally.”He acknowledged my confused expression with a few short nods.“They believe they’re called to act.To evangelize.To reach Sovereign who, in their view, have been cut off from their Creator.For years now, they’ve sent missionaries through tunnels carved deep beneath the surface, beyond our sensor arrays.You wouldn’t know, of course.Most Sovereign don’t.But there are pockets, small, discreet gatherings of Sovereign who meet regularly in secret.They’ve come to faith.”
Lev tapped in a few lines of code, and an interface instantly cast the shape of Hyperion’s rarely seen underbelly, floating above his desk.
My lips parted, but the words caught before they could form.
“They gather in abandoned sublevels, in maintenance tunnels, old subterranean network hubs.They pass scripture by projection, but rebellion lives in the verses scratched onto barkleaf, smuggled in from The Vale at great risk.No one speaks aloud unless the room’s been cleared of AI presence.”
“How many?”Maxim asked.
Lev gave a slight shrug.“Not enough to shake the system.But more than you’d be comfortable knowing.The Citadel considers them an infection.A slow, festering problem that’s begun to spread.”
I crossed my arms.“But faith?That’s what all of this is about?I thought the secession was political.”
Lev’s gaze snapped to mine, sharper than I’d expected.“God leaves questions no system can contain.Free will wrapped in divine purpose is combustible.Hyperion couldn’t build order while tethered to the idea of a higher power.So, they did what all human-led empires eventually do—they declared themselves god instead.”
Silence pressed into the corners of the room.
“You’re a Believer.”I breathed the words not in judgment, but pure disbelief.The phrase barely felt real in my mouth.
Maxim’s hand brushed against mine, a silent offer of comfort.I didn’t look at him, but I let my fingers curl gently around his.
“Was it Joss?”I asked.“Did it start with him, in one of those tunnel meetings?Are you… are you helping them?”
“Not Joss, no.He was surprised to learn the Navons had preserved our sacred traditions all this time.Is that so hard to believe?My lineage traces back to Judah, one of twelve tribes from a nation folded into history—like every other the world once knew.But faith like that… it endures.”
“Have you helped them?”I pressed, needing the truth more than he seemed willing to offer it.
“When and where it mattered.”
I sighed.“So, Joss is protected.”
Lev continued, “He wasn’t sent merely to witness.He was sent to embody the cause.When a leader sends their firstborn, it’s a declaration.Not just of belief, but of intent.Joss is both message and messenger.Yes, he’s helped Sovereign escape, guided them through the tunnels, past the checkpoints.Some reach The Vale.Some don’t.But the act itself, the defiance of it… it’s enough to be seen as sedition.Should Joss and the others be found out, The Citadel wouldn’t just see him as a missionary.They’d see him as a fuse.”
I blinked.“You said he’s helped Sovereign escape.Escape from what?”
Maxim studied the map, eyes tracking each forgotten artery.Every corner.Every exit.Every way out.
Lev’s next words were heavy with regret.“From the silent kind of persecution that doesn’t leave bodies, only vacancies.Sovereign who believe aren’t simply released to The Vale.They’re Defectors.Apostates.They rarely receive warning.They’re processed and erased.The Citadel can’t afford to let them return and continue the spread.”
I felt a chill work its way beneath my skin.
“They’re not escaping the city,” Lev added.“They’re escaping exposure.Most Believers stay, hoping to change the system from within.Once they’re exposed, there’s no middle ground.There’s only deliverance or disappearance.”He touched two points on the projection.“Here.And here.Those are his confirmed exit points.We estimate Joss has helped at least twenty families disappear.”
“Families?But Supplicants aren’t allowed in The Vale,” Maxim noted.
“No,” Lev said, his eyes heavy.“They’re not.They stay behind and are typically recast or dismantled.Those who’ve tried to live hidden in the wilderness in hopes of moments with their accordants during the hour or two they’re allowed in The Vale always stop returning after two or three nights.”
I squeezed Maxim’s hand, staring at the web of data before me.“If you’re on the same side, why did you want Maxim to protect me from Joss?”
