Stargate Hastings

Chapter Two: The Hastings family

Richard Hastings looked at the man stood before him and saw a man more broken than himself. The last time he had seen his friend, the man was in the prime of his life but the riggers of war had clearly taken its toll on him. Physically he had changed very little in the time since they had last spoken, a few streaks of grey In his hair and a wrinkle or two starting to form on his face but apart from that, he was much the same man. It was the mans eyes that told the true story.

Once they had been full of life, even after a battle he would stay upbeat and try to take the men's minds off of the carnage, they had just lived through. Now they were only full of defeat and Richard needed the man, not a shell of the one he once was. He looked into his friends eyes and asked "Is the man I once knew still here or did you murder him and take his place?"

"He is still here, only old and tired. Why am I here Richard?" That at least sounded like his old friend, Richard thought to himself. James had never been one for beating around the bush, a trait Richard had always admired about the man.

"My uncle was explaining about the twin's yes?" He asked.

"Yes he was but I do not have the time for this Richard, I only came as a courtesy. I will stay for a day or two but I have other business that I must see to and the longer I am here with you, the more difficult a task that will become."

"Maybe I can help you with this business?" Richard asked. He knew of the business his friend spoke of and was intrigued to find out if his friend would confide in him.

"It is a personal matter but you served with the man, so you have a right to know. Donald McCain, I have received several letters from his mother over the past year. With each letter she became more and more concerned for his safety."

"You knew his mother then." It was not a question.

"I served with his father in India, not long after the crown took power. He was to me as I was to you and the other men, he showed me how to stay alive and not let the horrors of war destroy me. Donald's mother was with child when he died, I was the one who delivered the dreadful news. I have not seen her since she returned home to Edinburgh. The letters were addressed to the posting I was assigned to with her husband and they sent them on to me". His eyes betrayed the half truth he had told.

Richard was pleased he hadn't outright lied to him but once he told James the truth, he would at least no longer have a reason to leave. In fact, it would guarantee his participation, the only problem being, whether he would be there only to rescue his Son or to execute the mission? "I understand why you would not tell me you had a son but I honestly had no idea you two were related. He looks nothing like you!"

The look on his friends face turned to thunder "What did you just say?".

Richard was pleased with the reaction he had elicited in his friend. Good there is still some passion left in the man then, he thought to himself. "So you are still in there?" He did not allow James to continue "He informed me of your true connection when I recruited him. He also told me, that he did not believe you even knew who he was?".

If the man was not in a wheelchair, he would have punched him. "Where is he Richard?" He asked in a tone that left no doubt, he wanted a straight answer.

Richard knew his friend wanted him to tell the truth and more importantly to get to the point but there was no way of telling him, without it being a long and convoluted process. If he simply told him outright where his son was, he was liable to either kill him on the spot or fall down on the floor crying in laughter. No he would start from the beginning and hope his friend would understand. "I will tell you where he is but you must understand old friend, if you do not know the full story, you will probably not believe me and if you did believe me... No it is better if you hear the whole story first".

Jim did not like where this was going but if Donald, his son. A man he had served alongside for three years without ever knowing it, was in any real danger, his friend would not be so blasé about it. In the letters he had received from his mother, she had told him that when Donald had returned from India, she had revealed the truth of who is father really was. She had been shocked, when he told her that he had been serving with a man, who shared the same name and that he had taken him under is wing. The description he had given her matched and they both agreed that it was the same man. He had taken the news well and told her that he would be leaving soon on important business. He had stayed in touch, a letter every month as he always had. Until she received a final letter that simply said, 'It will be some time until you hear from me again mother. Know that I will be thinking of you'. That was over a year ago and Jim had a duty to find out if her, their son was still alive.

"I will hear what you have to say but I am not in the mood for games".

Richard wheeled his chair in the direction of the statue that his uncle had been talking to James in front of "The beginning, there are many beginnings but the best one to start with, would be my family". They arrived at the statue wearing the roundhead armour. "My uncle told you, that you were wrong about the family?".

"He did".

"They knew as well as this one did, that the crown never wished for peace. But they also knew that one self indulgent fool, would be far easier to manipulate and control than a group of greedy, power hungry politicians. Society would have become even worse than it already was".

"So why are they in shadow and this one illuminated like a saint?" Jim asked.

"It is symbolic. This was the last time a Hastings openly opposed the crown, from that day forward the family decided, that although the monarchy was an imperfect institution. If their ultimate goal was to be achieved, they would need that institution to be utterly in need of and also indebted to them".

"That goal would be?"

"That as no relevance yet. What is relevant is this house and the grounds it was built upon". Richard made a gesture with his hands and continued "All of these men were heirs to the Hastings fortune and legacy, men who died in battle, before they could ever be let into the secret of our true reason for being and also the reason this mansion was built".

Richard then headed towards the doors on the right hand side of the hall and said "Lunch will be ready shortly, we still have much to cover and I expect you are hungry after your journey here?"

"Yes something to eat would be good, what will we be having?" Jim asked.

"I will have a salad, the doctors tell me that a lack of exercise requires me to watch what I eat. I am allowed one meal of my own choosing per week but I prefer to save that for a Sunday. I believe roast beef is being served today but I can ask them to make something else if you wish?"

"Roast beef will be fine, I knew you were from a well to do family but how many people would you have to kill, in order for you to claim the crown?" Jim asked him. Although he was anxious to find out the whereabouts of his Son, it was good to see his friend again and more importantly in high spirits.

Richard laughed then replied, "No Victoria can rest easy, you probably have more claim to the throne than I". He used his claw to open the door and as they walked through a smaller hallway he added "My official wealth is not as substantial as her majesty's but my true wealth is far greater than hers and my extended families wealth at least matches my own".

As they entered the very large dining room, with an equally large dining table, Jim replied "Is that supposed to impress me, is all of this supposed to impress me?" He tilted his head and used a small facial expression, as he continued "I'll admit this place is very large and there is more moneys worth of furniture in this room alone, than my family have owned in fifty or more generations but I have been stationed back home in England for a few weeks now and the amount of homeless people on the streets of London is worse than before I left. If you truly wanted to impress me old friend, you would need to solve that problem. A big house, servants, these are things I despise. I would have thought you would have remembered that about me".

Jim didn't notice that they had walked around the huge table and were now headed towards a door in the corner of the room, until Richard used his claw contraption on the door. "Are we not eating in this room?".

"No I only use this room on special occasions. If you remember correctly old friend, it was our mutual distaste of such things, that was the reason we got on so well".

They entered a corridor that was obviously used by the staff "I believed that of you but my eyes tell me I was making friends with the enemy".

Richard let out a small laugh "All of this, is nothing more than a necessary fiction and my families wealth will be used when the time is right. To do so before that time would make useless, a thousand years of planning and preparation, that my family have died for". They reached the room they were heading for.

Once they had entered. Jim was struck by how much the small room reminded him of a tiny mess hall. The table was of a design made to look like a standard issue table but it was of far better quality. Richard rolled to the opposite side of the room and pulled a chord. As Jim was taking his seat, a serving girl entered. It was not Margaret the girl who had served Richard his breakfast, instead it was her older sister Clarissa. "Lunch will be ready soon, is there anything I can get for you, while you wait my Lord.

"Yes I would like some tea and.." He looked to James who said "Yes tea would be fine, thank you".

After the tea had arrived and Clarissa had left them in private Richard asked "Do you know anything about the Freemasons James?"

"Those boys clubs for the wealthy, with their silly handshakes. Yes we both served with a few of them. Cartwright used to tell a few tales about them as well and he said they were nothing more than favour clubs".

"Indeed old boy but do you know where those Masonic lodges came from, yes they are everything you just said they are but what did they begin as my friend?"

Jim shook his head "The word Mason suggests builders of some kind but that is all I could guess at".

"Yes, yes precisely they were builders. The finest builders in the world, with knowledge, much of which is now lost to time, that were far superior to the building techniques, that even now in the modern world can compare".

"Are you saying that your family are these Mason's?" Jim asked.

"No, well yes a long time ago but that is not the point. Where did they get this knowledge from?".

"You are the one telling this tale, you tell me".

"Very well but please wait until I have finished before you dismiss it out of hand. When men were still hunter gathering Nomads, an Alien came to this planet, who possessed powerful technology. When he first arrived on earth his body was dying, to save himself he possessed the body of a young boy, who from that day on had a glow in his eyes and his voice became unnaturally deep and loud. Using the knowledge he must have gained from the boy's memories, he took on the persona of Ra the Egyptian God of the sun. Then a beautiful girl was taken by the peoples new God and when she returned she had the same glowing eyes as the boy who was now Ra but her name was announced to be Hathor the Egyptian goddess".

The tail he was being told was interesting enough but aliens and gods was a bit of a stretch. He would hear his friend out, he just couldn't understand what any of this had to do with his son.

He continued listening "Over time more were taken, each returning claiming to be the human embodiment of a different Egyptian God. When all of the pantheon of Egyptian deities, identities had been stolen. They spread out across the entire planet, assuming the roles of the various gods our ancestors worshipped. There is reason to believe that the Nordic and Germanic gods were actually a race that did battle with these other gods but the only evidence are the ancient sagas, that spoke of benevolent powerful gods, that came down in mighty chariots and struck down mans enemies. They may not be entirely reliable sources. After their numbers grew, they returned to the stars taking many humans as slaves with them. Their former empire had been left in ruin when their species had started to die out and with the human slaves they were able to rebuild it. Although many of the slaves were taken away on ships, the vast majority, were taken off world by the use of a device".

"What kind of device?" Jim asked, genuinely interested now.

"A gateway to the stars my friend and before you mock me, I can prove it."

There was a knock on the door then and Clarissa entered with a trolley containing their meals, once she had placed their food in front of them she left the room, allowing Richard to continue. "This Stargate, allowed them to take slaves to hundreds, possibly thousands of worlds!".

"What does this have to do with the Mason's?"

Richard knew he had piqued his friends interest, so ploughed on with his explanation, "As I said before, their numbers were few and in order to build an empire here on earth they needed skilled workers. It was these workers that first realised the truth of these false gods. All of the people of the earth, were utterly devoted to them but in time a plan for an uprising was formulated, that would start in Egypt and then spread across the planet".

Jim, while absorbed by the tail his friend was telling him, could not stay quiet any longer, "Let's say for arguments sake, that I believe you but come on, you cannot expect me to believe that a bunch of primitives, beat aliens with flying ships and God knows what weaponry and then these aliens just said 'They are too much trouble, so let's just leave them alone now'. I'm sorry Richard but that is not how tyrants work, my friend!".

"No it is not and although I said that the sagas are an unreliable source, combined with that which we have actual evidence for. That evidence does suggest, that when the uprising occurred, these aliens stepped in to ensure the gods would never return".

"Why did they not step in before this, why did they just allow them to enslave humanity. Why didn't they make a move until they rebelled?".

Richard thought about it for a moment and then replied "Who knows, they could have rules about dealing with less advanced species. We have seen for ourselves what happens when a people more advanced technologically, makes contact with a more primitive one. It rarely ends well for the less advanced people".

"That sounds logical Richard but all of this sounds insane, old friend. I want to believe you but I am sorry, I will need physical proof before I could ever believe such a yarn".

A smile came to Richard's face and he knew he had him. "I have already told you old friend that I have proof and once we have finished our meal I will show you". He used his own fork to indicate his friends plate and added "Now eat up dear boy and I will show you all the evidence you need".

They finished there meal in silence but there minds were racing with anticipation. For Richard an accumulation of five years work, was about to finally come to fruition and for Jim an excitement was building, a rush of energy that he hadn't felt for many a year. Maybe his friend had not been to far off the mark, when he asked if he had killed and replaced the man he once was. Maybe it was time to reclaim his life. Even if his friend was insane, the story had awoken something in him, something that he intended to grab hold of and use to pull himself out of the hell he had been in, since Afghanistan had broken him.