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Luckily, there were only a few smaller craft and one much larger one that looked like it could hold a whole colony full of people, parked off to one side of the vast cavern. Sev wondered grimly if the PPP was intending to transport all their people to Earth using the large ship if they got the okay from the World Council.
Which they won’t,he promised himself. He and Mia were going to expose this place and its phony leader. He might have had some misgivings about taking the mission in the first place, but now that they were actually here, he was fully committed.
“Oh look—I think someone’s waiting for us. Is that ‘The Prophet’—Chud Brumpkin himself?” Mia asked, frowning at the small figure on the viewscreen who was waving at them.
Sev frowned.
“I don’t think so, though he does have the same pale blue skin and silver hair. Clearly he’s from Chakioun Prime, like The Prophet is.”
“Well, I guess we’ll find out,” Mia murmured. As the ship settled into place and Sev turned off the engines she turned to him. “Are you ready?”
“Hell yes!” Sev assured her. “Come on—we have a cult to bring down.”
He just wished he felt as confident as his words indicated. But deep down, he still had a very bad feeling about this place…
SIX
MIA
The man who had come to meet them did indeed have pale blue skin and silver hair, which was swept dramatically back from his high forehead. He had a long thin, beaky nose and was wearing a long-sleeved white shirt, black trousers, and black shoes, just like all the men in the PPP ad they’d seen. All his clothing was extremely plain—Mia thought he might almost have looked Amish if he’d had one of those chin beards with no mustache.
However, their PPP escort was clean-shaven. He was also smiling broadly as Sev helped her down from the ship and they walked over to him.
“Well, well—welcome to the PPP! Brother Severith, we’re so glad to see you and we’re pleased you brought your wife with you as well,” he exclaimed.”
“Well, thank you—of course we came together,” Sev said politely. “Mia and I are both interested in checking out the Peaceful People of the Prophet.”
“That’s excellent—the PPP really is a place for couples—we don’t have many singles here,” the man said. “I’m Brother Jonash, by the way—I’m one of the Key Holders as well as an Elder and I’ll be your Spiritual Advisor while you’re here with us.”
He shook Sev’s hand heartily but ignored Mia’s offered hand so completely she wondered if he even saw it.
“Hi,” she said pointedly, determined to catch his attention. “I’m Mia, Sev’s wife.” She held out her hand again but though he looked at it—rather distastefully, she thought—he still didn’t take it.
“I believe my mate is trying to make your acquaintance,” Sev said mildly.
Brother Jonash shook his head.
“Forgive me, Brother Severith, but we don’t believe in touching other men’s wives here in the Dome. We may bear witness to them during a required punishment if their husband deems it necessary, but touching is off limits.”
“I see,” Sev said and Mia said,
“What kind of punishment?”
It was as though she hadn’t even spoken. All of Brother Jonash’s attention was fixed on Sev.
“If you’ll come this way, we have an underground tunnel that leads from the Docking Cave to the Dome.”
“What kind of punishment are you talking about?” Sev asked, repeating Mia’s question since it was clear Jonash was ignoring her.
“Oh, you know…” Jonash waved one hand dismissively. “Usually just something mild for a minor infraction. Mostly such punishments happen in private but sometimes the husband feels like it’s necessary for others to bear witness to his wife’s shame. It’s all routine, really.”
A husband punishing a wife was just “routine?” Hot words rose in Mia’s mouth but she choked them down. If she started disagreeing with everything their new tour guide said, she and Sev would be kicked out of the PPP Dome before they even got to enter it. But damn—even her old sect back home didn’t demand that husbands physically punish their wives. This wasbizarre.
She had no idea it was going to get worse later on—for now she just watched as Sev and Brother Jonash—who still seemed determined to ignore her existence—talked.
“Why is it necessary to have your docking area so far from the Dome itself?” Sev asked as the two men walked ahead, leaving Mia to follow after them. (She noticed that though Sev was pretending to ignore her like Brother Jonash was, he was still shortening his stride, making it possible for her to keep up without running.)
“Oh well—that’s just kind of an accident.” Brother Jonash laughed nervously. “You see, we were originally going to build the Dome here—near this spot, because of the natural cave for docking purposes. But then a better source of underground water was found some distance away. So…” He shrugged his bony shoulders. “We built the tunnel connecting the two instead. Come on—I’ll show you.”
