The Nihilist Party Page 4

  “We have to keep you Saps healthy. If you don’t eat what we put in the fields, then this is the other option.”

  Another farmer entered the building, “Jarmu, who are you talking to?”

  “This Sap.” Jarmu Aris said.

  “The Saps don’t understand what your saying, their Saps. All they understand is grunts.”

  “Trust me, there are deeper levels of communication besides language.”

  “Boss wanted me to check on you, make sure you’re fattening up the Saps for the inspection… put the feeder on auto and go tend to the others.”

  Jarmu hit a button on the machine, and it stopped. Then both of the farm-workers left the building.

  Aris struggled to breathe around the tube as he tried to process what inspection the Damurian farm-workers were talking about.

  Chapter 8

  The Ambassador placed one of his chubby fingers in a cup of thick blood and swirled it around to make it thinner.

  Three officers entered his office, which was a less impressive imitation of his leader Dorian’s office. The ceiling wasn’t as high, and the office and desk weren’t as big. Without the grandiose, the office didn’t display the power that the office of Dorian did.

  “What information can you tell me about the missing human?” The Ambassador asked.

  “From the information we got from the GC officials, his name is Aristopher Coraemin.” Officer Marumaru said, and she displayed a holographic image of Aris. “He quit being a Universal Journalist to investigate matters that were being overlooked by his editors and the GC. They neglected complaints by lower class citizens that the Council would not investigate. From what we know, he joined the Nihilist Party, and we were a planet on their radar.”

  “How could our planet find its way on this list?” The Ambassador angrily asked.

  The officers hesitated and looked at one another. One of them answered. “I would say he had someone helping him from our planet. Most likely a Activist.” Officer Lim said.

  “Those bastards!” The Ambassador responded as if this was the first time he had heard anyone mention the Activists. He slammed his fist on his table. And his cup fell over and spilled all over him and his desk. He sat his cup on his desk and waited.

  He waited for someone to quickly come in and clean his mess like the servants of Dorian did, but no one came.

  “Umdor!! Get in here!” A clumsy long-armed Damurian limped in and clumsily cleaned up the mess. “I told you to be by the door.” The Ambassador whispered to Umdor and pinched him hard in the back. Umdor jumped at the pinch and continued cleaning.

  “Sorry great Ambassador,” Umdor said as he hurried out of the room. The officers looked at each other with a look of wonder at the spectacle.

  “Officer Dorigustus, I want you all to ramp up the propaganda on our citizens. Officer Lim, tell our Activist Interrogation officers to increase their accusation output, start pressuring some of these farmworkers for information. And Officer Marumaru,” The Ambassador attempted to poke his chess out when talking with Marumaru. She was one of the most feared officers. “have you and your officers searched the farm-factories near Guhl Island for any Sapthians that look odd?”

  “Yes, we’ve searched.” Officer Marumaru said. “Still nothing. All the farmers have not noticed any foreign-looking Sap amongst them.”

  “These bloody Activists. What are we supposed to eat? God put the Saps here for us. For us to rule over them. You all know the tale.” The Ambassador explained to the officers.

  “What are we to do about the Universal Journalist?” Officer Marumaru asked.

  The Ambassador took a deep breath. “She messaged me that she wants to visit any food source related farms or factories near the location the human’s ping was sent from. I feared this. But we will show her what she wants to see, but with discretion. Because she looks so much like the Saps, she might have sympathy for them, so try to clean up the real gruesome facilities. And I will keep a guide with her to keep the factory workers in check. I don’t want them to try anything idiotic and try to attack her. They’re not the brightest bunch. If she doesn’t find this human, and we make a good impression on the Journalist, maybe she tells Earth leaders. And we will already have a good relationship with Earth when we are in the GC, so don’t mess this up.”

  The three officers glanced at each other, but Marumaru glared down at the short, plump Ambassador.

  “N, not that you would mess this up.” The Ambassador stammered as he adjusted his collar. “Look, if we get into the GC, so many more opportunities and promotions will open up for all of you. More Sap blood, and I will tell our great leader Dorian about all of your great work. And you all will get a promotion… huh.”

  He tapped officer Marumaru on the soldier and looked at her with an awkward wide-eyed stare.

  “Is that it Ambassador?” Officer Marumaru asked.

  “Yea, that is it.” The three officers about-faced and left the Ambassadors office.

  Chapter 9

  A glider plane gently landed on a Sapthian farm-factory. Quora had never seen something so grim, but at the same time modern. The Crimson sun gleamed on the flat land of thin red grass, and it caused the metal building to stand out even more than it already did. Quora examined the structure, and she noticed that it was only two floors high, but it was incredibly long in length. The building was ambiguous to Quora because she didn’t know what to classify it as in her notes. By the location of the building, she would qualify it as a farm, but by the look of the building, she would call it a factory. Her eyes wandered above the building, and she began to gaze at the Crimson sun. She noticed how unique the Crimson sun was and the lore that it must had on the Damurian species.

  “What does your species call these buildings?” Quora asked one of her guides.

  “Farm-Factories.” Was the answer the language decoder of Quora translated from the guide’s reply.

  She approached the entrance with her guide, which was one of the Ambassadors officers. She was awaited by four farm-factory workers, who looked like they attempted to look their best for the inspection. Their orange coveralls had light blood stains on them as if they tried their best to scrub the stains off, and one of the workers even had his thin hair slicked back.

  Quora noticed one of the workers licked his fangs while looking at her, just like the Ambassador did. And he whispered to his colleague next to him. The decoder of Quora was not able to pick up what the Damurian had said.

  “Hello, I am Universal Journalist Coramin, from the Galactic Council, here to inspect your facilities and livestock.” Quora made sure not to mention the missing Journalist, even though she knew they knew what she was searching for. She chose to word it like that to make the workers relaxed because if they were relaxed, it made Quora’s search for Aris a little less stressful.

  “Hi, I’m Ribpar O’Muaruian, and these are my workers. Welcome to my factory.” The farm-factory owner with the slicked-back hair said.

  Everyone entered the building, and Ribpar showed Quora all of the machinery and how they functioned.

  Once inside, Quora noticed how everything was so clean, but that was expected. Planets always made sure their machinery was spotless when being inspected by anyone in connection with the GC. What caught the attention of Quora was how advanced the mechanisms looked. Wires and tubes came out of the machines, and the wires were attached to computers, and the tubes were attached to large metal tanks. The workers did not look like they knew how to operate such sophisticated machinery.

  She understood why they were showing her the best of their equipment, but it left her upset. The thing that frustrated Quora was that there was no livestock in the factory. She wanted to see a functioning factory, not just an empty, clean one.

  “What does your factory produce?” Was Quora’s first question.

  “The same as all factories on our planet, Sap-blood,” Ribpar said. “But ours is the finest Sap-blood on this planet, and I’m pretty sure, when we
get into the Galactic Council, a lot of other creatures would love our Sap-blood too. It would be a great contribution to the Council.”

  “I bet it will. Where are all of the livestock?” Quora asked as she continued to examine the machinery.

  “They’re out grazing. We find that it enriches the Saps blood if they are in a more natural habitat. Some factories like to keep their Saps cooped up in cages, but not us… To touch on a bit of our history,” Quora continued looking around the factory as he talked. “Our ancestors were on the verge of being extinct in the days when the sun was harsh to us. And there was no sustenance left in the blood rivers for our species to survive on. Our God, Damai, spoke to our first leader, and asked him, Damur, ‘do you want to save your people?’ and our leader said, ‘yes Lord,’ and Damai asked him what would you do for me, to save your people?` Our leader didn’t know how to answer this question. ‘You have to put me first.’ Damai said. ‘Put me first, above all in your heart, and I will save your people, and your legacy will live on forever.’ Damur thought about what Damai said and went to a sage to examine what he meant. So the sage said to him, to put Damai, the one true God, first in your heart, you have to kill everyone you love. So that’s what Damur did. He killed everyone he loved—family, friends, loyal servants, everyone. After this, on the sixth day, Damai made a wounded Sapthian wonder into Damur’s territory. The Sap was a thick, ripe female, and the blood of this Sap smelled so luring to Damur, that it forced him to consume her, and after he tasted the blood of this Sap Damur was rejuvenated, like never before. Damur let the Sap getaway, and he secretly followed her so she would show him where the rest of the Saps were. The great leader found the rest of the Saps, and there were thousands upon thousands of them, so he herded up as many as he could and cultivated them and fed them to his soldiers. After the soldiers consumed the Saps, they felt rejuvenated as well. And with the extra strength, they wiped out their neighboring tribes. And the Damur tribe flourished to what you see today. And Damur became a god himself. Now, let me tell you about the first Damurian dynasty—”

  “That’s a remarkable story. I’m sure the rest is even better.” Quora said. She turned her attention to the owner. “Mr. O’Muaruian, I have investigated many planets and heard many tales of how a civilization was saved by God and how God chose them over everyone else. And after my investigations, do you know what I end up finding out?” She waited for an answer, but he said nothing. “It’s all bullshit,” Quora said, and thought to herself, so much for not being tension in the room. She regretted it instantly, but she couldn’t control her self. She hated propagandized origin stories. She heard too many of them, and from her research, the truth was always more interesting anyway.

  “Bullshit?” Mr. O’Muaruian said, confused, not knowing the meaning of the slang word. His translator must not have had found a translation of the word.

  “Not true.” Quora studied the Damurian as she presented what her truth was. She observed him balling his fist tight and nervously glancing at Quora’s guide, as he struggled to hold his fake smile on his face. Quora had dealt with this before and knew how to, somewhat, calm the Damurian down. “I do not say this to be facetious. I only say this to get to the truth. I heard every fairytale you could think of, and on planets, twice the size of yours, and they can all be refuted, so spare me your stories. I’m on this planet to search for a missing Journalist, a GC citizen, and I came to your factory to see a functioning factory with its livestock, and I see nothing. So I’m a little disappointed because now I am starting to think that your planet is hiding something. Am I right to believe this?”

  Ribpar sharply looked at the guide and back to Quora. “Of course not.” He forced an even broader smile on his face. “Miksel, bring in the Saps.” He said to one of his workers.

  “Yes boss.” The worker said and ran out of the factory.

  She continued to observe the machines. She went to one of them and touched the tubes and wires that laid inside of a cage. She wondered what all of these wires and tubes were for.

  “And I would like to see this machine in action,” Quora said.

  “Of course, Universal Journalist,” Ribpar replied.

  Quora began to read notes as she waited. The worker took longer than she thought, so she started to walk around the factory away from the others.

  As they waited, Ribpar would whisper something to the guide that came with Quora and whispers something to his workers as well. His workers would go off running out of the factory and report back to him, and this cycle would repeat itself for nearly an hour. Quora ventured up on the upper level of the factory and would glance down, from time to time, at the Damurians on the lower level, as she waited.

  “Is there some kind of hold up, Mr. O’Muaruian!?” Quora yelled down.

  Ribpar didn’t respond right away. He took his time before he answered. “No, hold up. It takes time to gather the livestock. Simple creatures can sometimes act out of their place. My workers are just putting things in order.”

  Quora nodded her head at Ribpar. She picked up the attitude in his voice, but she didn’t understand his explanation.

  The doors opened, and Quora peered down at the entrance to see the livestock. One staggered in after another, grunting and screaming. Quora had to take a second look at what came through the door, because the herd looked extremely familiar, so she quickly went downstairs to get a better look.

  She intensely examined the livestock and noticed that they looked very similar to her own species, humans.

  Quora wanted to get an even closer look, so she went down to the lower level and touched the arm of, what looked like, a hairy human male. The male snapped at her. Quora fell to the ground in shock, and the workers quickly stepped in to save her by lifting the Sap up by the back of the neck.

  “H, He tried to attack me,” Quora said in a panicking voice.

  “No, he didn’t try to attack you. He wanted something else.” Ribpar said and pointed to the erection that the male had.

  “Wh, wh, what are they?” Quora struggled to get the words out.

  “They’re Sapthians, or most of us call them Saps,” Ribpar said and grabbed the male Sap from his worker. He gripped the Sap by the back of the neck and displayed it to Quora.

  She slowly stood up while she examined the Sapthian. His feet looked to be covered in mud, but he was so dirty she couldn’t tell where the dirt was and where his skin was. The Sapthian’s legs were muscular and hairy, and his penis had a large girth, but barley protruded from the long hair around it. His finger and toenails were extraordinarily long and looked hard as metal. His chest was broad and his stomach fat, and had thick, stitched up scars all over his chest and stomach. He had, what looked like, discarded food all around his beard and hairy chest. The hair on his head and face was so long it was hard to see his facial features. At a glance, the Sapthian looked just like an ordinary animal. But as Quora gazed into the Sapthian’s eyes, she saw something similar to a human being on Earth.

  “It, it looks, human,” Quora uttered.

  Ribpar laughed and glanced at the others, and they began to laugh as well, “I assure you they are nothing like your humans on Earth. These Saps are mere animals. Look what your species can do and look at the Saps. There is a slight similarity in the look, but inside it is very different, trust me.”

  “Wha, I, wh,” Quora stammered and struggled to put her astonishment into words as she continued to look at the Sap. This was what Aris was investigating, she thought to herself.

  Ribpar watched the reaction of Quora, and he cast a smile at her, exposing his fangs. “You said you wanted to see how this machine works? Let me show you.” He whistled, and his workers closed the gates of the other Saps, and they jogged to Ribpar. One of the workers brought Ribpar a tube from the giant machine. And they violently stretched the Sap over a metal stool, one holding the Saps hands and the other holding the Saps feet. The Sap struggled while emitting loud grunts and screams. The other Saps in the cages begun
to get agitated, and they screamed and grunted as well. Ribpar stood over the Sap with the tube in one of his hands, and with his other hand, Ribpar stuck one of his long fingernails into the scar that was on the Saps stomach, and slowly opened the wound. Blood slowly oozed out. Ribpar stuck the tube inside. “We stick the tube inside the stomach and into the liver. We feed our Saps, a peculiar blend of food that produces a unique taste of blood that can only be taken from the liver, after the blood has been filtered. We are one of three farms that provides this particular kind of Sap blood.” Ribpar looked into the eyes of Quora. “It has to be taken directly from the liver to get the unique flavor we’re searching for.”

  The machine turned on, and Quora watched as the blood slowly worked its way up the tube. The Sap kicked and screamed. So the Damurian holding the hands put a black blanket over the Saps head to calm the Sap down. The shaking and crying that came from the Sap instantly subsided, and the rest of the Saps slowly quieted down as well, until there was an eerie quietness within the factory.

  Quora did not know how to react. She realized she was on a planet with millions of creatures that saw animals that looked very similar to her own species as food. She began to be overcome with fear. She had never experienced fear like this. She struggled to control her fear by focusing on her breathing, as she was taught in Universal Journalist stress training classes. She tried to keep her hands active so the Damurians wouldn’t see her hands shaking.

  “I’ve seen enough. I must go now.” Quora stormed out of the factory. Her guide said goodbye to the workers and followed Quora out of the building.