Deathstalker 06 - Deathstalker Legacy

on the gun at his side. Jesamine moved quickly after him.
    The mob of her fans had dispersed, scattered now along the length of the pavements, and they were shouting and jeering at the almost military demonstration marching down the middle of the street. They marched six abreast, blocking the road, their numbers stretching back almost out of sight. Their booted feet crashed down in perfect precision, and they held their signs and banners up like troop colors. Now and again they chanted their brief and ugly slogans, in cold carrying voices, drowning out the shouted insults and disapproval from the spectators lining the street. The din reminded Lewis of feeding time at the Arenas, when new imported killer aliens were introduced. You could almost taste the bloodlust on the air.
    He recognized the demonstraters' outfits immediately, the great white cross on the chest of the bloodred uniforms. The new image of the militant Church of Christ Transcendent; ever since the Church got tired of waiting patiently for change and decided to force the pace by getting into bed with Pure Humanity. Their spokesmen were everywhere, on the news shows and chat shows and political discussion shows.
    Everyone was talking about this new, militant Church. The Church and the Neumen; a marriage made in Hell. And God alone knew what their children might be like.
    There was a hell of a lot of them in the street, marching purposefully past the tea room window, and Lewis frowned as he took in how pitifully small the official security presence was. There were hardly any stewards, only a handful of peacekeepers, and not a Paragon to be seen anywhere. Lewis's frown deepened into a scowl. All right, Emma Steel was probably still busy getting up to speed, and God knew where Finn Durandal was these days, but surely the authorities could have found someone to watch over the demonstration, even if they'd had to raid The Sangreal... or perhaps the powers that be were afraid of upsetting the Church. The militants had become surprisingly powerful surprisingly quickly. Too big a
    security presence might provoke the very trouble the authorities were anxious to prevent. Still; if things were to get out of control... Lewis looked around for Jesamine's security people, and wasn't all that surprised to find they'd retreated into the tea room's foyer, away from possible danger. Their only interest was in protecting Jesamine. Lewis didn't blame them. They were professional enough to know when they were well out of their depth.
    "The Church Militant," Jesamine said quietly beside him. "I've seen them on the news channels. Ugly people with an ugly message. Humans first, aliens nowhere. No fashion sense at all. And no sense of humor, either, from what I've seen of their spokespeople. Funny how humor's always the first thing to go as you head towards the extremes of politics or religion, and leave sanity behind."
    "And this is politics and religion," said Lewis, still looking out the window. His voice was cold, thoughtful. "A deadly combination. The Church has lost all sense of moderation or restraint since they adopted the Neuman philosophy. A human Savior, a human Empire, a human future. No others need apply-They're not the majority view yet, not by a long shot. But a lot of people are listening. And the opposition is fragmented. The best they can do is turn up at these demonstrations to shout abuse and throw things, which just inflames passions on both sides. We could be in for some real trouble here."
    "I still don't get why the Church has turned against aliens, all of a sudden," said Jesamine.
    "I can explain it, but don't expect it to make sense," said Lewis, still not looking away from the demonstration. "The Church is all about Transcendence, right? They've now decided that since only humans transcend through the Madness Maze, that proves aliens are automatically inferior beings, fit only to be guided, for which read ruled, by their natural superiors, Humanity. For their own good, of course.
    Whenever people want to have power over others, it's always for their own good. Basically, the Neumen want a return to the good old days of Empire, when aliens knew their place. As slaves or corpses. Their new partnership with the Church gives the Pure Humanity cause a new patina of respectability. If the official Church of the Empire has accepted their beliefs, then there must be something to them. People who wouldn't listen before are listening now. And far too many are