Imperium Lost

The Forefather

Instant recap: A secret war took place in 1984, in which Ronald Reagan faced down the Soviets with the covert threat of a nuclear first strike if they did not abandon their support of OPEC and opposition to Israel. Convinced that hostilities were imminent, Marcus ordered the import of his secret cache of armaments. The move turned out to be a disaster when the Russians backed down.

9. Imperium Lost

Marcus considered holing up in Ramarland, confident that the Colombian government wouldn’t cooperate with U.S. extradition efforts; or even if they did, the nature of the terrain could make it possible to hold out indefinitely against attempts to arrest him, which would require an all-out military assault ~ very costly in terms of money and manpower. Many kindred urged him to do it, pleading that only his presence among them could enable the sodality to endure, and fulfill the ultimate plan to overthrow the Ophidians and re-establish the white Imperium. Marcus, however, did not like the idea of being a de facto prisoner in an isolated enclave, and was ready to sacrifice himself if it was the Dharma for him to do so.

Because he was uncertain he decided to consult with his spiritual master, the Acarya Vasudeva in Srinagar, India. Marcus had heard of certain arcane experiments in using technical devices to contact spirits and the souls of the dead; it was called Instrumental Transcommunication (ITC). It struck him as similar to his psychic telephone talk with Vasudeva when he was in Vietnam (as recorded in R. Marcus Part 3). Following procedures recommended by ITC experimenters, Marcus and his inner circle tuned a television set to a dead channel (of which there were many in pre-cable days), assembled themselves in front of it, and did a group meditation. To reduce the psychic element to the bare essentials, Marcus then made a physical phone call to Vasudeva by prearrangement. The voice contact enabled the Acarya to bring the full force of his spiritual dexterity to bear on the situation. The “snow” on the TV screen began to coalesce into an image, and the static into a voice. And lo and behold, there was Vasudeva in living color, in real-time visual communication with Marcus and the others in the room. Some who were present said later: “We made the first Skype call twenty years before it went on the market.”

Marcus explained the situation. Vasudeva was visibly saddened, and questioned him on whether there might be another way out of the dire straits. When it became clear that there were none, the Acarya said gravely: “The Dharma, then, is for you to make the final passage from flesh to spirit. Working from the realm you call the metasphere, you’ll find many ways to be of continued service to your kindred, some of them more powerful than anything that would have been possible while incarnate.”

Marcus took the news stoically, but his soulmate Saxon was distraught, as well as his first wife Gail and Victor Noble, who was then in process of writing R. Marcus. It was Victor who broke the heavy silence, pleading to Vasudeva: “But if Marcus dies now, he won’t be able to fulfill his mission as a new white Avatar! The Imperium will be lost forever!”

Vasudeva said, “The Ascended Masters will never allow our race to perish, for we are the bringers of light to the entire species. Whether we call ourselves Aryans, Solarians, or Thuleans, our sacred mission can never fail, even when it appears to be ground up in the mill of history. The wheel turns as always, and we come forth again in the dawn of a New Aeon.”

“But when will that be?” said Marcus’ eldest son Eric, who was twenty then. “It seems that in this century we’ve suffered one agonizing defeat after another. When will we ever rise to our destined glory?”

Vasudeva’s face lit up. “It will be very soon,” he said. “My Jyotishis have informed me that the charts are full of prodigies at century’s end, and the great wheel of the Yugas will turn in time with the calendrical millennium. There is even a strong portent for the birth of an Avatar. If they are fulfilled, he’ll be just as formidably endowed for the mission as Marcus, and will be empowered to strike with the hand of fate itself, because it will come at the divinely appointed moment.”

“So I came too soon?” said Marcus.

“To be an Avatar, alas, that’s so. But of course time is always ripe for every Dharma, and I have no doubt that at your death your true life’s mission will be fulfilled, although it’s not the one you hoped nor your followers expected.

“It’s also very likely that your work has directly paved the way for the Avatar. He may spring from your root in the sense that he hearkens to your teaching. Or he may be born into the sodality, even in your personal bloodline. But in either case, you will certainly be his forefather.”

Marcus asked Vasudeva about the Dharma for the best way to die. He replied: “Not in the manner of your namesake Western Avatar, for his sacrifice was attuned to the requirements for turning that past Aeon.” This was a reference to Marcus’ surname Christiansen. “You are a Kshatriya, a warrior, just as you were when I knew you two centuries ago as Pravahan. And a Kshatriya’s Dharma is a warrior’s death.”

“So be it!” said Marcus, breaking into a broad grin and clenching his fist.

10. Betrayal, Revenge

Coming soon!