a couple of confusing quotes in a sci fi novel, asking for explanation?

[mmm2]

quote 1. The Conventional Rules of Duty constituted, or rather replaced, all metaphysical systems within the Eternal Galaxy.
quote 2. Cley's chambers were built of one of the new metals created through the exigencies of war. Cley himself had a sheen as of metal metal about him. His temples were pallisades against the world of outside iniquity.
quote 3. In a case beside the encyclopaedia stood a solitary cube. Marnya occasionally activated it for Cley. The cube contained the works of a poet. On the last pages of the cube, the infant Cley had inscribed a map.
question about quote 1. what is the "metaphysical system"? I totally dont have a clue...
question about quote 2. what does "Cley himself had a sheen as of metal metal about him" mean? like when the character was in his chambers, his body reflected a sheen of metal?
and what does "pallisade" mean? I can't find this word anywhere not even in the oxford dictionary.
question about quote 3. what is the so called "cube"? what does it look like? I mean is it an electrical device like ipad or e book reading device or something? help me
thank you!
one more thing, the quote 2 is "ley himself had a sheen as of metal about him", I accidentally typed twice of the word metal.
and speaking of the quote 2, "his temples", were these temples something religious within his chambers or what?

 

[caulk2005]

1. It's "palisade" (one L). A palisade is a fence of pales or sticks forming a defense barrier or fortification.
2.The temples are the spaces, on either side of the head, back of the eye and forehead, above the zygomatic arch and in front of the ear. There was a shield preventing the evil from outside from penetrating the brain (through the temples).
3. The cube is a kind of memory similar to a pen drive or other storage devices.