Writer: GhostWriter
Title: The Rise of the Veritas
Conclusion
Upon receiving the dispatch from Agent Amanda Forrester, the Federation wasted no time and sent a convoy of battleship to Verius VI. Within 2 months, the military convey reached Verius VI.
They discovered that Earth Return was ready.
As the convoy enter orbit, every military member in the convoy received a mind-picture of the deceased Mahmoud Pompano and Dr. Marcs Boecker along with the mind-pictures of Agent Valerie Lim, Agent Robert Booth and Agent Shane van Hook. They also saw an image that showed Article 16.
Most of the soldiers had no idea who or what the images were about but the commanding officers of the convey knew. The threat was clear. If the Federation attacked Verius VI, Earth Return will use their telepathy and inform the whole human race about Article 16 and that the Federation was responsible for the murders of their leaders.
The commanding officer immediately sent a message to the U.F.P Senate to ask for instructions. They did not have to wait long. Every senior political and military leader in the Federation received the same mind-picture; distance truly wasn’t a factor in telepathy.
A deal was quickly struck between the Federation and Earth Return. The Federation agreed to build a space station in the orbit of Verius VI and pay a yearly stipend to Earth Return; in return Earth Return will agree to send their telepaths to work for the Federation.
It was a deal both sides could live with. With the space station, the Federation could minimize the contacts normal people had with the ‘deviants’ of Earth Return. All ships arriving to Verius VI must dock at the station and only authorized personal could travel from the station to the planet surface. To further minimize the influence of Earth Return, the Federation cleared a landing area on Verius VI called the “Live Zone” and no Federation humans are allowed out of the “Live Zone”.
Only in the Live Zone and the space station would Federation personals have contact with Earth Return. This arrangement was so successful it was soon copied by other colonies. Earth Return was also more than happy with this arrangement.
Earth Return did not trust the Federation and they were happy to minimize contacts with them. Working for the Federation left a bitter taste in their mouth but with the yearly stipend by the Federation, Earth Return did not have to worry about the long-term financial problems of the colony. Their telepaths (called the Veritas by the Federation) were also in high demand as their abilities were invaluable to the Federation.
The telepaths were able to detect if a person was telling the truth, and the more advance telepaths’ empathic powers helped cool down tempers whenever things threaten to get out of hand during negotiations. It wasn’t long before the Federation started to call the people from Verius VI as the Veritas.
As word spread about the telepaths of Verius VI, more people came to Verius VI hoping to learn the mind language. However immigration to Verius VI was difficult as the Veritas only accept those people who agree and accept Earth Return’s original goal; “To live in nature; to work with nature; to be one in harmony with nature.”
Naturally most humans were unable to match the ideals of the Veritas and with the powers of the Veritas, lying about the matter would not help. The few who could match these ideals were welcomed to Verius VI with open arms, and they were sent for training with the Mind-Runners.
The potential attack by the Federation cleared all doubts the council had and they decreed that all males and females in Restart have to undergo mind training. The men in Restart were mostly willing to go along with the training but there were mass objections by the females of Restart. The council did not give them a choice and training was forced on anyone who objected.
Within 3 years, every man on Restart had some limited telepathic powers and every female on Restart was able to receive the mind language. Rules for females became stricter and within a year of the potential attack, every female seen in public on Verius VI was masked, gagged and fully covered. The Veritas uniform became the norm, though it was not unusual to see naked females forced to walk and crawled along the streets wearing only their mask, bonnet, gag and collar. Within a generation, the ideal female was one that was mindless, faceless, and voiceless.
The Mind-Runners continued to live side-by-side with the humans on Verius VI and continued to teach the mind language to new generations of the Veritas. Their influence on the humans grew and before long, humans and Mind-Runners were living together in the cities and in the herds of the open plains.
The Federation never heard from Agent Amanda Forrester ever again and when they asked about her a few years later, the Veritas informed them that she was still alive and living as a proper female on Verius VI; mindless, faceless, and voiceless.