The Klaatu Terminus by Pete Hautman

But Master Gheen took him by the hand and knelt down before him and said, ‘You are our greatest prophet.’
    “And the old man said, ‘I am?’”
    Emma sat back in her chair. “That is how I first met the man you say is your brother.”
    Kosh, shaking his head, said, “Adrian is no prophet.”
    “Master Gheen would disagree with you.”
    “But . . . how did he get so
old
?”
    “I suppose he lived a long time. I know of no other way.” Emma tipped her head, then continued her story. “For hands of days, we stayed in the cabin in the forest. Master Gheen gave Father September the bed. The rest of us slept on the floor. There was food in the cabin, grains and beans, and berries in the forest. During the day, Tamm, Koan, and the others worked on the scaffold the old man had started, building a tower to reach the Gate above the ruins of the pyramid. And every day and every night, Master Gheen talked with Father September. Master Gheen can be very persuasive. He speaks with God’s voice.”
    “He sounded kind of whiny to me.”
    “Father September did not think so. He listened with both ears open. Master Gheen told him of the Medicants, of the Plague of Numbers. When the old man realized that his lost wife had fallen to Plague, he was filled with righteous anger. In time, he came to accept that he was Father September.
    “Master Gheen had a plan. He wished to use the Gates to return to the time and place of the birth of the Lah Sept. But there were forces at work that tried to stop us. A maggot appeared outside the cabin and attacked Master Gheen. He destroyed it with his
arma
. This happened several times.”
    “Maggot — you mean like that thing in the park?”
    “Yes. Creatures sent by those who would destroy us. We could sense them coming by their sound. Master Gheen became very skilled at destroying them with his
arma
before they reached their full size.
    “Finally, the scaffold was complete. We climbed the scaffold one at a time and entered the Gate. Tamm and I were the last to go. As I was about to enter, I looked down and saw a strange woman standing at the base of the pyramid. She waved to me. It was very odd . . . She looked like me.”
    Kosh’s heart lurched. How many Emilys could there be?
    “But she was older. Tamm didn’t see her; he was looking up at me. He yelled for me to go, and I stepped into the Gate and came out here. I mean, on the roof of the hotel in downtown Hopewell.
    “We took over the small church downtown, and Father September began preaching the gospel of the Lambs. At first, people came to the church out of curiosity, but soon they were amazed. Father September told of marvels and tribulations to come — the arrival of the pigeons, the coming of the Digital Plague, and the tornado that tore through the town of Ghentburg. These things we knew from
The Book of September
, and when the marvels he prophesied came to pass, word spread quickly. The congregation grew, and soon we had to hold our services in the park, where Master Gheen declared the Cydonian Pyramid would one day rise.
    “One night after services, a maggot appeared above the altar. This time, Master Gheen was prepared. Tamm and Koan captured the maggot and affixed it to a metal frame. The maggot could not move or close its maw. It was rendered helpless, as you later saw in the park.
    “We waited then for the arrival of Tuckerfeye, Father September’s son, as was foretold by the scriptures. It is the most important story in the Book, and Master Gheen was determined to see it come to pass. It is called the Shaming, when Father September becomes a martyr by sacrificing his only son, and he is imprisoned. It is the first and greatest tribulation of the Lambs. Only a chosen few would pass the test.”
    “What test is that?”
    “In the scriptures, Father September commits the greatest of sins by killing his own son in full view of his flock, and those whose faith is weak turn away from the church. The Lambs enter a