Creation
by Brian Lawrence

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The wormhole disgorged the ship and its four person crew, hurtling them through space at half a billion miles per hour.

“Target star is three point two parsecs away,” Lieutenant Sky Richardson said.  “E.T.A. fourteen hours.”  She then bowed her head.

Sky’s husband, Trey Richardson, captain of the Galaxy II, watched his wife’s delicate lips move and waited for her to finish her short prayer.  He didn’t share her faith, but figured any help could only benefit them.  However, the hard part was behind them, the thirty-six hour trip through the artificial wormhole.  And they’d set a new distance record.  Six months ago, the Galaxy I traveled through a wormhole manufactured for two point five parsecs or eight light-years.  Her crew had circled the star Sirius.  During that trip the star SR-4433 had been discovered.  Four light years beyond Sirius and masked from Earth’s view by the larger star, no one had known it existed until the images from the Galaxy I had been analyzed.  And once the data had been crunched, the similarities to Earth’s sun made the next deep space destination obvious.

When Sky looked up, Trey said, “Check.  Fly-by set at point zero four five eight parsec orbit.”  He addressed a monitor showing the hawkish face of a man.  “Lieutenant Androchek, commence scanning.”

“Check,” answered the Ukrainian-born science officer who was seated in the tail of the ship with his high-speed imaging equipment and banks of computers.

Their mission, the crew’s first outside their solar system, was simple.  Circle SR-4433 and take readings to get a more precise composition, and identify planets and other astral bodies orbiting it.  They had approximately thirty-two hours at current speed before they’d reenter the wormhole and return to Earth.  If the data revealed anything interesting, another mission would be sent to explore.  And after that, the possibilities for other missions were endless.  Therefore, this mission had to be perfect, so they’d be on the top of the list for future exploration.

Trey asked Sky, “Could you request a perfect mission from your God?”

Before Sky could answer, Androchek piped in.  “God?  Ha.  The only thing her god is good for is turning people into sheep and collecting money.  Superior science will make our mission succeed.”

Trey secretly agreed with Androchek, though his lieutenant’s tone could have been softened.  Growing up Pentecostal, he’d seen his parents succumb to the church’s brainwashing.  More than once he’d been denied something he’d wanted because his parents had to tithe.  He found it ironic that his wife, a Christian for only three years, had been reared in an atheistic family and had turned to the Lord, and he, who had the Christian upbringing had turned away.

Sky smiled and said, “My God, who, by the way, is also your God, and yours too, Uri, will do what we ask if we approach him with a pure heart.”

“Humph,” Androchek replied.

Trey said nothing, having heard it all many times.

“You watch, *Captain*,” Sky said.  “I think *our* God will surprise us on this mission.”

“Why’s that?”

“Not only did I pray for a perfect mission, but I prayed that He would reveal something about Himself to us.”

Trey was about to ask what God could reveal when they were interrupted by Cassiopeia Denares, Cassy for short, a five-foot nine Italian astrophysicist who had attended the University of Houston’s astronaut training program with Sky and Trey.  She had hair as black as space and eyes as sharp and piercing as her mind.  Both her parents were astronomers with dreams their daughter would go into space, dreams that had been realized.

“God.  Or Gods.  What does it matter?  We control our own destiny.  If you want perfection, Trey, you must achieve it yourself.  And if not in this life, then in the next, or the next.  Eventually, it’ll sink in and you’ll find Nirvana.”

Sky ignored her, shaking her head.

Trey suppressed a laugh and asked their Catholic turned Buddhist buddy, “What’s the point of trying to achieve Nirvana if I keep coming back?  I think I’d rather keep on living.”

“My poor deluded soul,” Cassy answered, patting his shoulder.  “We all strive for perfection.  We’re uncomfortable with chaos.  Eventually, after enough horrible lives, we turn the corner and realize there’s only one way.”

“We’re punished when we don’t strive for perfection?”

“Exactly.”

Now it was his turn to shake his head, and then he asked, “Anything, Lieutenant Androchek?”

Silence for thirty seconds as the three crew members in the cabin watched their Ukrainian companion on the computer console.  He was looking to the left, his amber eyes wide, running his bony hand through his tangled dirt-brown hair.

Finally, they heard a soft, “I don’t believe it.”

“Believe what, Lieutenant?” Trey asked.

“It just can’t be.  Stay there, I’ll be right up.”

Androchek disappeared from the camera’s view.

“What was that all about?” Sky asked.

“We’ll know in a minute,” Trey replied.

While waiting, they watched the blackness of space passing outside the cabin windows.  Their ship was modeled after the old space shuttles of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, except it was much lighter and did not require a runway to land.  Thrusters below and on each side allowed the ship to be maneuvered like a helicopter.  Windows were in front and on the sides of the cabin, though when traveling through the wormhole, shields covered them.  The onboard navigation computer had opened the shields as soon as they’d cleared, but so far, they’d seen nothing outside.

Androchek burst into the cabin.  “Look at this!”  He shoved a stack of papers under Trey’s face.  “Something has gone wrong.”

Trey frowned and grabbed the papers.  He scanned the statistics of SR-4433.  Nothing obvious registered.  But then he read the planetary report.  Ten planets orbited SR-4433.  He re-examined the numbers on the star.

“What is it?” Sky asked.

Androchek said, “Mass, 2.19 x 10 to the 27th tonnes, diameter 1,392,000 kilometers, surface temperature, 5575 degrees Celsius.”  He paused for a breath, then resumed.  “Density, 1.409, volume, 1,303,600 Earths.”

“Why are you giving me the statistics of our sun?” Sky asked.

Androchek continued.  “Composition identical.  Spectrum analysis identical.  Age identical.”

“Identical to what?” Cassy asked.

“SR-4433, if that is SR-4433, is identical to our sun.  And there are ten planets orbiting it.”

No one said anything for several seconds.

“Go ahead, Captain, look at the rest of the report.”  With a quivering finger Androchek pointed to his report, his eyes wild, his breathing ragged.

Trey leafed through the pages feeling three sets of eyes on him.  Sweat broke out on the back of his neck.  Had he made a mistake?  Had something gone wrong in the wormhole?

He handed the report back to Androchek and turned to his console.  “Comlink to Earth,” he ordered.  “Alert, phase 1, request confirmation of location.”

The computer replied, “Alert response will be returned in 37.75 hours.”

“According to the computer there’s no mistake,” Trey said, “we’re not in our solar system.”

“Possibly a glitch,” Androchek muttered.

Sky grabbed the report from the Ukrainian.  “Didn’t we already know SR-4433 was similar to our own sun?  Wasn’t that the point of this mission?”

Cassy nodded.

“It’s not similar, Lieutenant,” Androchek said more loudly than necessary, glaring at both women.  “It’s exactly the same.  And notice the planetary distances.”

Trey had noticed them.  Sky’s soft dark eyes slid over the pages.  A shock of honey-colored hair fell in front of her face.  In a sudden and deep tenderness for his wife of six years, he longed to tuck the stray strands behind her ear, to caress her smooth cheek.  Uneasiness washed over him, a feeling that things would never again be the same.  Something was going to happen, he was certain, to rattle their very existence.

Sky finished reading.  “What do you think happened?”  Eyes locked on Trey’s, she handed the report to Cassy.  “I can think of two options.”

Androchek asked, a little too disdainfully for Trey’s taste, “And those options are, Lieutenant?”

Gaze glued to Trey, Sky answered, “The first is the most obvious, a glitch in the wormhole.  We’re back in our own solar system.  Maybe the wormhole folded around on itself.  After all, we tried to travel fifty-percent farther than the last mission.”

“And the second?”

“The design of our solar system is not unique.”

“What do you mean ‘design’?” Androchek asked.  “The universe was a random event.”

Sky remained silent, chewing on her lower lip.

“We need more information,” Trey said.  Reluctantly, he broke eye contact with his wife.  He could tell she had more to say, but for her own reasons was being reticent.  He addressed Androchek.  “What about the planets we’re near now?  What additional data do you have?”

“Very little.  We need to be closer to get good readings.  Size, orbital speed, distance, is about all we have.”

“This is incredible,” Cassy said.  “Absolutely incredible.  Do you think we’ve crossed a time-space boundary into another dimension?”

Normally, Trey would have dismissed this idea as another one of Cassy’s Zen mumbo-jumbo, but not this time.  It might be the only explanation and it wasn’t any crazier than Sky’s design theory.

“We don’t know, yet.  We need more information.”  Trey turned to his computer console.  “Did the computer save the coordinates of the planets?”

“Yes, Captain,” Androchek answered.  “Computer, display SR-4433 planetary coordinates.”

The computer complied and Trey slid his finger over the screen.  For ten minutes no one spoke as Trey worked.  When he was done, he announced, “I’ve adjusted our course to pass within at least one-hundred million miles of five of the planets that are on this side of the star.  We’ll swing by numbers eight, six, four, three, and two.  It will add thirteen hours and thirty-six minutes to our total flight.  We should receive confirmation of our signal to Earth before re-entering the wormhole and have enough time to decelerate and reverse course, if necessary.”

Everyone nodded.

“We have a little over four hours before we fly by planet number eight.”

Androchek walked toward the back of the cabin, his magnetic boots whumping on the metal floor.  Over his shoulder he said, “I’ll begin scanning.  Please leave the vidcomm on so that I may participate in any conversation.”

“Will do,” Trey answered.

As Androchek reached the cabin door, Sky jumped from her seat, floating high enough to force her to duck to avoid contact with the ceiling.

“What about star patterns?” she asked.

Androchek stopped, then turned.  Sky floated slowly to the floor.

“Uri, the star patterns as seen anywhere from our solar system should be in the computer, right?”

Androchek nodded.

“Compare those to the star patterns we can see from where we are now.  If they match, we’ll know something has happened and we’re back in our solar system.”

“But what if we’ve gone through some kind of time warp?” Cassy asked.

Both Trey and Sky frowned at her.

“Just a thought,” Cassy said.

“We should still be able to match the patterns,” Androchek said, “by using time-lapse.”  He turned away and muttered, “Why didn’t I think of this instead of a mere pilot?”

“Lieutenant Androchek,” Trey called, feeling his face flush.  “Don’t forget, this mere pilot--”  Sky’s hand touched his arm and she shook her head, smiling softly.  He left unsaid that Sky had a Ph.D. in thermodynamics.  Androchek left the cabin.

*****

Three hours and fifty-seven minutes later, Trey, Sky, and Cassy silently contemplated the darkness outside.  For the past half hour no one had said a word.  Their earlier conversation had centered around space / time continuums, time travel, and tears in the fabric of space.  Cassy had insisted they’d gone through the type of time warp postulated by Andrews, Wycheck, and Martin seventy years ago, in 2030.

But Androchek compared constellations as seen from their home solar system going back five thousand years and forward ten thousand years with those constellations seen from their present location.  Nothing matched.  Therefore, they doubted they’d done any time traveling.  This was further confirmed when Androchek said the star pattern they could now observe matched exactly to what it should if observed from their current position relative to Sirius.  In other words, what they saw now was what they should be seeing if they were where they should be.

Trey’s head spun.

“Look at your screen,” Androchek said.

All three crowded the main console now showing a rich blue planet surrounded by four wispy rings.  A darker patch of blue on the surface, a giant eye watching them, mesmerized Trey.  A storm, he knew, and one probably larger than Earth.

Androchek’s voice droned through the vidcomm.  “Diameter, 49,500 kilometers.  Mass, 17.2 Earths.  Volume, 57 Earths.  Surface temperature, -220 Celsius.  Do I need to continue?”

No one answered.

“Captain, do I need--”

“No, Lieutenant.  We understand.”

They all stared at the planet Neptune.  Or one heck of a copy.

After a moment, Trey broke the silence.  “We have five and a half hours before we pass the next planet.  Let’s get some rest.  I think we’re going to need it.”

Cassy left the cabin area.  Trey switched off the vidcomm so he could talk privately to Sky.

Her expression was that of a child staring into a store window watching automated elves make toys.  She was all wonderment and joy, while his insides chewed him up.  How could she be taking this so well?

“Looks like your God decided a perfect mission is out of the question,” he said.

They turned and faced each other.  Sky placed a hand on each of his knees.  He felt their warmth even through his insulated pants.

“Darling, you’re missing the point.”

“What point?”

“This trip.  What we’re seeing.  Maybe it’s exactly what God wants you and the others to see.”

He studied her a minute.  Her gaze was intense, her eyes sparkled.  She looked like she could not control the grin on her face.

“Don’t you see?” she asked.

“No, I don’t.”

“What’s one of the big arguments used by atheists and naturalists?”

Trey thought a moment, but Sky didn’t give him a chance to answer, not that he had an answer to give.

“The randomness of the universe.  Right?”

He nodded.

“What have we found?”  Sky flung her arms up and around.

“A solar system similar to ours,” Trey answered.

“Not similar, exactly the same.”

“We don’t know that.”

“Oh, don’t be so dense.  Darn your parents, anyway.  If only they’d had real faith and not just religion.”

“What do my parents have to do with this?”

Sky’s grin disappeared.  She shook her head.  “You’re blinded.  Don’t you see?  Two solar systems exactly the same.  What are the odds?”  He started to answer, but she cut him off.  “Astronomical.  Virtually impossible if one believes the universe was a random event.”  She stood and faced the window.  “But if the universe was designed, created...”  She turned.  “There may be thousands of solar systems just like this one.”

Trey’s throat felt dry.  He stood and stared at Sky for a minute.  She came to him and they embraced.

Her hair smelled like strawberries.  He breathed in her scent then whispered, “I don’t know what to believe, Sky.  I just don’t know.”

He released her and walked away.  When he reached the door, he heard her say, “Just keep an open mind, Trey.  Watch what God shows us.”

He nodded and went to lie down for a few hours.

*****

With a trace of edginess in his voice, Trey said, “We have ten minutes to make our decision.”

Androchek’s voice came over the vidcomm.  His features in the monitor were twisted.  As he talked his hands waved in the air.  “This is ludicrous.  If we do this, we will have no choice but to land or stay in orbit.  If we decelerate, even by ten percent, we will not have enough fuel to make it back to the wormhole.”

Mildly, Trey said, “If we do this, we’ll land.”

Androchek stared at the camera.  Though both their faces held apprehension, Sky and Cassy said nothing.  They agreed with Trey.  This opportunity could not be ignored.  And they all knew if they landed, in six days another crew would arrive with enough fuel and supplies to make the two month journey back to the wormhole.

“Nine minutes, Lieutenant,” Trey said.  “Are you in or not?”

They were two hours past the sixth planet from SR-4433, an exact replica of Saturn.  They’d all stared in wonder at the yellowish planet ringed by bands of ice particles.  At their current position, Androchek had been able to focus the onboard telescope on the third planet.  When Trey saw the blue of water, the browns of earth, and the whites of clouds, he’d made the suggestion they decelerate and fall into orbit around the planet with the intent to land.

Only Androchek objected.

“Landing is not our mission.”  Androchek’s voice was softer.  “We are to take measurements and return.  The next mission will explore individual planets.”

Trey paused, looked at Sky, who shrugged, then said, “And we won’t be on that next mission.”

Androchek looked stung.  With a resigned tone, his head hung, hands digging into his eye sockets, he said, “Okay.  I’m in.”

Trey initiated the deceleration sequence.  They would be in orbit around the third planet from SR-4433 in four hours and twenty-seven minutes.

*****

Androchek had abandoned the computer room.  The crew members crowded the flight cabin and watched out the right side window.  They’d entered orbit minutes before.  Below them swirls of white covered a mostly blue surface.

Sky gasped.

“What?” Trey asked.

She silently pointed.  The land mass they now passed over was shaped exactly like North America.  The one below it was shaped like South America.  In minutes, the Asian continent, then Europe rolled past the window.  Trey had selected a high initial orbit to avoid detection and quickly examine the entire planet to confirm what they already knew, that it appeared identical to Earth.

Trey broke away from the group.  At the console, he initiated a landing sequence and selected coordinates that would put them in the middle of, what would be on Earth, the Mojave desert.

“We land in one hour,” he said.

No one said a word.  Cassy and Androchek left the cabin and returned to their stations.  Sky sat.

“Pray with me, Trey.”

He hesitated.

She took his hand.  Hers was ice-cold.

“Please,” she said.

They bowed their heads and Sky recited a short prayer.  Something in Trey’s heart stirred, something that had been dormant for many years.

*****

The ship approached from the east.  They passed over jagged mountains, then scattered cities in flat, brown land dotted with patches of green, and finally nothing but desert.  All of Trey’s concentration was on the landing procedure.  Though automated, he had to ensure the coordinates he’d selected did not put them in a canyon or on top of a butte or worse.  The ship stopped abruptly and hovered, waiting for the final okay to land.  Through a camera mounted on the ship’s belly, Trey saw nothing but flat sand below.  He glanced at Sky.  Her head was bent and her soft hair hung over her face.  Either she was praying or intently watching her monitor.  He squeezed her shoulder.  She turned her head and smiled, the corners of her mouth quivering.

Trey confirmed the landing area.

Amidst a whirlwind of sand, the ship landed.

Silence draped over them.  Neither Trey nor Sky moved.  Trey’s throat felt as dry as it looked outside.  His heart pounded high in his chest.  He’d brought them here.  Now what?  It would be 20 hours before they received confirmation from Earth on their location and another nineteen hours before Earth learned what they’d done.  Until then, they were on their own.

Cassy breezed into the cabin.

“What are you two sitting there for?  Let’s go.”  She already had her space suit on, her helmet under her arm.

Trey started to respond, but over the vidcomm, Androchek said, “You won’t need that helmet, or the suit.”

“Why not?”

“Air composition matches Earth exactly.”  Androchek’s voice had taken on a muted tone.  “Temperature is 32.4 degrees Celsius.  IR and UV radiation lower than Earth’s.  Gravity, identical.  Where the hell are we, Captain?”

“We’re on the third planet from the star SR-4433.”

Cassy vibrated with excitement, her eyes wide, her hands twitching.  She’d placed her helmet on a shelf and was undoing the space suit, her fingers fumbling with the clasps and zippers.  In contrast, Sky sat patiently, her face serene, her expression a half smile.  What did she know the rest of them didn’t?  And was that it, or was she just not afraid?  Trey shivered.  He was scared stiff.  But a small voice in the deep recesses of his brain kept telling him not to be afraid.

Trey sighed and said, “Or we’re somewhere in eastern California.”

“Not possible,” Androchek replied.  “Unless we are so far into the future that the entire galaxy has changed.”

A shrill beeping jerked Trey’s attention to their radar, where a bright yellow blip moved from top to center.  A screen below showed a view from the camera mounted on the top of the ship.  It zoomed in on a horde of vehicles careening toward them.

“Lieutenant Androchek, a scan, quickly,” Trey barked, his fear evaporating as his training kicked in.

Cassy stopped messing with her suit and leaned over Trey’s shoulder.  Sky had her own identical set of screens and she watched them intently, all of them waiting for Androchek’s report.

The camera focused on the lead vehicle.  It was shaped like a fan boat, a craft still used in Trey’s native state of Florida, but hovered two feet above the sand.

Androchek reported, “Speed, three-hundred and twenty kilometers per hour.  Distance, one-hundred and six kilometers.  Does not seem to be any exhaust, so probably not powered by fossil fuels.”

“Weapons?” Trey asked.

“Nothing identified, yet.”

“Occupants?”

“Four per vehicle.”

The camera zoomed revealing two helmeted heads with mirror-like face plates behind a glass windshield.  Behind them were two more helmeted occupants.

“We have about twenty minutes,” Trey said.  “Arm yourselves.  And put on body armor.”

The crew jumped into action and in seven minutes they were all in the flight cabin watching the vehicles approach.

At twenty kilometers the pack fanned out and surrounded the ship.  They formed a perfect circle, every vehicle equidistant from it’s neighbor.  For a moment they hovered without advancing, but then slowly moved forward until they were within one-half kilometer, where they stopped and apparently killed their engines, for the vehicles settled onto the sand.

Five minutes passed.  Nothing outside happened, the only movement an occasional tumbleweed bouncing past.

A low beeping sounded.

“They’re scanning,” Trey announced.  “Nothing locking on, though.”

The other three nodded, said nothing.

The beeping stopped.

Another minute passed.

“Look,” Sky whispered.

In unison, doors on each side of each vehicle rose.  From each stepped four occupants, human in shape.  They took positions in front of their vehicle, shoulder to shoulder.  The camera scanned 360 degrees.  Identical all the way around.  After three full rotations, the camera stopped on the vehicle directly in front of them.  The four people, if that’s what they were, marched toward the ship.  When they were within one hundred meters, they stopped.

Just as the waiting became unbearable to Trey, Sky said, “Let’s go out and meet them.”

“They could kill us,” Androchek said.

“They could have already killed us, Lieutenant,” Sky replied.

“Sky’s right,” Trey said.  “We should go out there.”

“Why?” Androchek asked.

Trey pointed to the screen.

The four outside extended their arms, palms up, and held that position.

“Leave your weapons here,” Trey said.

“Are you crazy?” Androchek replied.

“No.  Taking weapons could be considered an act of hostility.  There are 140 of them, only four of us.  Any hostility on our part is stupidity.”

Sky laid her gun next to Cassy’s helmet.  Cassy followed suit, then Trey.  Finally, with the three of them staring at him, Androchek did the same.

Trey led them out of the ship and onto the hot desert floor, where they waited side by side.

Together, the four natives removed their helmets.

“Holy shit,” whispered Androchek.

They were human.  Three men and one woman, two of the men and the woman with dark hair, the other man had blond hair.  All the men had buzz cuts.  The woman’s hair was straight, curling just below her jaw.  All of them smiled.

Trey couldn’t help but smile back, and he noticed the rest did as well, even Androchek.

The four approached the crew and when they were within an arm’s reach they stopped.

The blond-haired man said something in a language Trey did not recognize and then held out his hand.

His stomach bubbling, his breathing ragged, Trey extended his hand.  The man across from him grasped it, shook once, and released it, but the feel of the man’s rough skin lingered.  The four of them turned, the blond looking over his shoulder, and when the crew did not follow, he signaled that they should.

“Well?” Trey asked.

“I say we go,” Sky replied.

Trey started forward, the others followed, Androchek bringing up the rear.

*****

The glimmering line on the horizon grew as they approached.  Trey watched, fascinated as the city skyline rose above them.  He heard a faint whine of machinery.  They slowed and descended, only the slightest bump as they touched down on four lanes of pavement leading into the city.

During the hour-long trip, the blond man had never touched any controls, instead he’d stared amicably at Trey and his crew, giving each one equal study.  Now, their host ran his hand over a small computer screen, then resumed his study of his guests.  Oddly, Trey felt no fear under the man’s steady gaze.

Suddenly, they were surrounded by traffic, vehicles similar to theirs, though different sizes.  Sidewalks were crowded with people.  Buildings rose on all sides, made of light-colored brick or glass, massive, two-blocks square, rising at least one hundred stories.  They passed parks with trees and grass, people walking pets that looked like dogs, breeds Trey didn’t recognize.  One large animal looked like a beagle, but was three times the size and had longer hair.  He was amazed at the similarities to his own world and remarked as such to his crew.

“Yes, but did you notice the one big difference?” Sky asked, her eyes glinting with excitement.

Trey shook his head, as did Cassy and Androchek.

“Study the people on the sidewalks,” Sky said.

They did.

A moment later, Cassy said, “Everyone’s happy!”

“Exactly,” Sky affirmed.  “See how they’re all smiling, greeting each other as they pass?”

Trey nodded.  Sky was right.  Everyone looked happy.

They slowed before a large, smooth stone building.  Numerous stone steps led to massive columns supporting a ledge that surrounded the building.  On the ledge above towering main doors stood a huge statue.  Trey stared in disbelief at a blind-folded woman holding a set of scales.

Before he could comment, the vehicle entered an underground garage.  Similar vehicles were parked between glowing white stripes.  Their driver pulled into a vacant spot.

The doors swung up and the five of them stepped out.  Their driver smiled and motioned them to follow.  He led them to an elevator where they ascended seventeen floors, then stepped out into a wide, high-ceilinged reception area.  A dark-haired, thin woman sat behind a desk.  She smiled at them.  A group of people passed.  All of them smiled and waved.

Their guide, or captor (Trey wondered which) walked beyond the receptionist and toward double wooden doors, ornately carved with patterns of leaves unlike any Trey had ever seen.  Their guide pushed open the doors and gestured for the crew to enter.

Sky stepped forward, but Trey grabbed her arm and forced her behind him.  She scowled, but did not resist.  Trey led the group into a large, round room.  Three levels of tables formed near circles, broken by a gap large enough for two to pass through abreast.  Every seat was occupied.  Three smiling men sat at a rectangular table in the center of the room.  Trey noticed no women in the room, except for Sky and Cassy.  All the men wore collarless shirts of various earth tones, matching slacks, and soft-soled shoes.  In front of each was a book and an electronic device shaped like a legal pad.  Most of the men had their book open, some paging through it, others reading, and others watching the crew as their guide led them to a corner table with four empty chairs.

For the next hour animated conversation flowed from the forty-eight men.  Though sometimes boisterous, they always seemed amicable.  Often after a loud exchange, laughter burst out.  Occasionally, someone stood and read from their book.  The room would go silent, some men nodding their heads, others writing on their electronic pads.

Finally, all conversation ceased.  At the center table, an elderly man with a full head of white hair and creases in his sun-tanned face rose.  He regarded the crew, then swung his gaze to where their guide stood at attention by the doors.  The elderly man said something.  Their guide nodded once, then motioned for Trey and his crew to follow.

*****

They entered a small room.  Electronic equipment lined the walls.  An inclined bed with a metal frame occupied the middle of the room.  A young pretty woman smiled and indicated that one of them should lie down.  A man and another woman wearing long white coats worked at a large monitor housed in a metal cabinet.  A giant mechanical arm sprouted from the top of the cabinet and hung over the bed.  At the end of the arm was a conical shaped device aimed at the pillow.  Trey thought of a dentist’s x-ray machine.

“What the hell do you think that contraption is?” Androchek whispered.

Trey replied, “Not sure.  But they seem to want to use it on one of us.”

The two at the monitor turned toward them, their expressions expectant.  Another man, this one with charcoal hair, gray at the temples, stepped from the far corner and motioned toward the bed.

None of the crew moved.

The younger woman smiled and approached Sky.  She said something, her voice soft, reassuring.  Sky glanced at Trey, then shrugged.  She allowed the woman to lead her to the bed.  Trey stiffened.  His pulse raced.  But something held him back.

Sky reclined on the bed and turned her head to look at Trey.  Though he saw a little apprehension in her eyes, her expression seemed to tell him not to worry.

When the mechanical arm was positioned over Sky’s forehead, Androchek lunged toward the bed.

“Get up, Sky.  Don’t let them do this to you.”  He grabbed her arm and tried to pull Sky off the bed.

The man from the corner grabbed Androchek’s arms.  The Ukrainian Lieutenant swung around, fists raised.

“Stand down, Lieutenant,” Trey shouted.  “That’s an order.”

Androchek shot a glance a Trey, but quickly returned his gaze to the man in front of him, whose lips were pursed in confusion.  The man kept glancing at his co-workers, then back at Androchek.

The lieutenant gestured behind his back, indicating Sky should get off the bed and get behind him.

“I’m fine, Lieutenant,” Sky said.  “Please, let’s see what they want.  Trust them.”

For a long moment, everyone remained frozen to their spot.  Finally, Sky spoke again.

“Please, Uri.”

Trey was ready to issue another command, but Androchek backed away, still hovering close to the bed.  Trey wondered why he wasn’t more scared for Sky than he was. Inexplicably, he trusted these people.

The two by the monitors returned to their work.  When the cone rested within millimeters of the center of Sky’s forehead, it stopped.  The man at the monitor looked over his shoulder at the other man, now back in the corner, who nodded.

The only indication that anything was happening was the flutter of Sky’s eyelids and the twitching of her head.  Again, Trey stiffened, ready to jump to her aid.  But in less than a minute, the mechanical arm retracted.

Sky sighed deeply.  The woman said something to her and Sky smiled.

She sat up and said something.

“What did you say?” he asked.

Again, she spoke gibberish, but stopped when the woman touched her shoulder and whispered something.  Sky chuckled.

“Sorry,” Sky said.  “I can understand them.”

“What?” Trey answered.

“I can understand their language.  That’s what they did.  They put their language into my mind.  I can speak it, think in it, and understand it.”

“They brainwashed you?” Androchek asked.

“No.  They gave me their language.”

Twenty-five minutes later, after all of them had undergone the procedure, their blond guide led them up two flights to a room where he said they could sleep.  He opened the door and ushered them into a large suite.

Their guide said, “Tomorrow you will speak with the council of elders.  They’re anxious to hear about where you come from.”

He started to leave.

Trey said, “Can you stay awhile, talk to us?”

“Tomorrow,” the guide said over his shoulder, smiling.  “Tomorrow we’ll talk all day.”

He closed the door behind him.  They all heard the click.

Androchek rushed to the door and flung it open.  Trey heard the guide say, “Is there something wrong, Lieutenant Androchek?”

Androchek mumbled no and closed the door.  Another click, just the latch, not a lock.

Trey examined their quarters.  Three bedrooms, one on the right, two on the left.  The main room had a desk, two easy chairs, and a long sectioned sofa in an “L” shape.  A large flat monitor was mounted between two windows on the far wall.  Television?

Fatigue suddenly weighed heavy on Trey.  Outside, darkness had settled.

“I think we’d better get some rest.  Tomorrow could be a busy day.”

“You go ahead,” Androchek said.  “I want to look around.”

Trey nodded.  “Coming, Sky?”

She was bent over the desk flipping through a book.  Her shoulders shook.  A dark, round stain appeared on the page.

“Is something wrong?” Trey asked.

She turned, the book clutched to her chest.  Tears streamed down her face, yet she smiled.

“What is it, honey?”  Trey approached her.

She wiped her eyes with one hand, then held the book out to read, a book he now recognized as being the same one the men in the council chambers had been reading.  In a wavering, husky voice, she said, “Listen to this.”

She paused long enough so that everyone was listening, then, in their host’s language she read.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.”

She looked up, then continued, “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.”

She stopped, tears pouring out of her eyes.  Trey realized he too was crying.  And so was Cassy.  Androchek just stared, eyes wide, expression blank. They all realized what Sky had read came from their Bible, from the book of John.  Trey said as much.

“Except in this book,” Sky said, “It’s from the book of Zaron.”

Together, Trey and Sky fell to their knees.  After a moment, Cassy joined them.  The three of them looked at each other, tears in their eyes.
Then, they all looked at Androchek.  He also had tears in his eyes and seemed to be struggling with himself.

Softly, Sky said, “Join us, Uri.”

He did.

They held hands while Sky lead them in prayer.

Copyright 2001, Brian Lawrence