One Nation, Under Jupiter

JUNE 1, 2766

"Deep in the dreary den, concealed from day, sacred to Mars, a mighty dragon lay." The lights went out. Steam flooded the room. Servius clutched my arm, paralyzed in fear.

"Let go," I whispered. "I'm trying to pay attention." I pulled away from the slave, crossing my arms.

"Bloated with poison to a monstrous size, fire broke in flashes when he glanced his eyes," the voice on the speakers continued reading, trying his hardest to scare any kids that might be around. A pair of glowing bright yellow eyes appeared in front of us, glaring at the audience. "His towering crest was glorious to behold, his shoulders and his sides were scaled with gold." The lights returned, if only faintly. The vague outline of an animal could be seen behind the eyes. "Three tongues he brandished when he charged his foes." The voice was starting to grow more intense. A loud growl came from the scene up front. "His teeth stood jaggy in three dreadful rows!" The room lit up, revealing a vicious roaring dragon. The beast snarled, snapping its jaws at the crowd. Servius ran behind me, cowering in panic.

"Oh, Pollux, pull yourself together!" I groaned. "Not even the children are freaking out like that." I pointed at two young boys, watching the dragon with wide amazement. The animatronic dragon roared and chomped at the crowd again, repeating its motions from before. The kids ran off to the next room, their mother trailing shortly behind them.

"The kids love the dragons," said Quintus Pernus with a chuckle. The director of the Museum of Faith and Science patted the mechanical beast on its snout. "We're all about fun here, you know. To the kids, a museum means boring stuff. So we put a dragon in the very first room, try to reel them in. Just like that," Quintus snapped his fingers. "Now the kids can't get enough. They think it's cool, they want to see the rest of the museum. They're looking at all the displays, and they're having so much fun, they don't even realize that they're learning."

"And what exactly are they learning?" I asked. "Servius?" The slave was still staring at the dragon. "Servius!" I snapped.

"R...recording, sir," said the slave, readying the device.

"As I was saying," I turned back towards the director with a smile. "And what exactly are they learning?"

"Well, that much is simple," answered Quintus. His voice carried a sweet tone, like he was just talking with a child. "We're here to teach kids about science. Real science. Not the lies they tell in schools these days. You wouldn't believe what's happening to this country, you know. A bunch of blasphemous teachers go around telling kids, 'Hey, this story isn't true, and this one's not true.' Soon those kids'll grow up, thinking they don't need the gods. Our country's about to have a whole generation of...of atheists! They'll ignore the rituals, slip into all kinds of degeneracy. We'll have people with no sense of modesty, no honor, no idea what it means to stand up and fight for the good of their country. Jupiter would swallow us up in a second if we let that kind of thinking keep going! So you see, we're not just helping kids' minds, we're trying to help their spirits here as well."

"And, uh...just what would that entail?" I asked. Quintus' grin went even wider than it already was.

"Well, if you just take a look at the rest of the museum, you'll see that, won't you?" Quintus turned around, making his way towards the next room. "Follow me!" The two of us trailed behind the director, only to find a room of almost total darkness. The occasional beam of light flashed across the room's ceiling, though never long enough to get a good look at where we were. The room's speakers blasted an endless track of horrible discord. Pots banged against the roar of a thunderstorm, itself barely audible above the stampede of a thousand feet. You couldn't even hear your own thoughts in a place like this. I put my hands to my ears, with no avail. Through the room's faint visibility, I could see Quintus' lips moving.