Chapter Seven
Unwanted Journey
I walked toward the structure of the shrine staying behind father, Larc and Talaric. Nine handpicked men by my father followed after me.
The Shrine of Remembrance was a simple structure. It consisted of an elevated platform of stone that was void inside with a floor above. The floor above was an open viewing platform faced out towards the bay.
Along the back wall was a giant elongated mural that depicted the arrival of the first settlers to this world. It didn’t show any of the detail that hinted at what we had been briefed on.
The depiction of settlers moving up the beach with the vague outline of a ship in the background and a view of the great mountains in the distance didn’t seem to be hinting at anything greater that need be bothered with.
We walked up the broad stairs on the shore side of the shrine. Father went to stand in front of the mural wall and did something with the signet ring on his hand.
There was a snapping sound and the center two massive stone pieces of the four that made up the wall the mural was depicted upon began to shift and pivot out toward us and to the side.
Everybody looked at each other as if to say, ‘What just happened?’
A void in the wall had been revealed behind the stones and father stepped into it and motioned for the rest of us to follow.
It was somewhat packed, but once we were in it with him he touched the signet ring and the massive stone pieces slid back into place locking us within the void in the wall.
I was sweating heavily and it was not a good feeling to be enclosed in a small dark space inside a wall that looked very solid and hard to get out of. The space was only dark for a few moments and then the floor we stood on lit up.
How did someone encase what must be the light of a thousand candles beneath a crystal floor?
Slightly after the light came on we started to move downward, rapidly!
It was an odd sensation that I liked even less then the feeling of being enclosed in a small tight space. The platform beneath us came to an abrupt halt and I breathed again.
What had father gotten me into this time?
There was no wall on the one end of the platform we stood on any more. Lights flickered alive everywhere in an ever widening circle of color that illuminated the space all around us.
It was a massive cavern like room. Stepping off the platform I came up to the railing of what was essentially a dock slip that was full of water.
There were ten such dock slips and two of them were filled at the far end of the room. Father started out toward the dock slips at the far end of the room.
So these were the ships that the Zoarinians had invaded the Valley Lands for.
They were like no ships I had ever seen. How did they sail with no masts or sails?
For that matter why didn’t they just sink, as it appeared that they were constructed entirely out of metal?
They had sat in this salt water for who knew how long and the metal didn’t even appear to show any signs of rusting!
The ships were like big metal tubes. As we drew closer to the first one of the strange ships it was to see that it looked as if it had been in a fight with a giant squid and had come out the loser.
Its hull was scratched and dented all over with several gouges that looked rather deep. I hoped we weren’t taking that one anywhere.
The next ship was spotless of any visible defect. Colored lights showed in strips along the sides of the last ship illuminating its outer hull. Father walked down the dock slip alongside of the strange metal beast and grabbed a hold of a smoothly molded railing to start pulling himself up a series of stairs that led up to what appeared to be an opening at the top of the vessel to what lay within its mysterious hull.
There was a platform at the top of the stairs and I arrived at it only to see father already descending through an opening into the vessel itself. Light streamed up at us from the absence of his form passing through it.
Larc, Talaric and I shared a look that stated volumes, as to our unease about what we were experiencing, before following father down through the small opening.
I started down and the rest of the men followed behind me. If we had thought our environment strange before, the inside of the vessel took it to a new level of strangeness. Lights illuminated the space in a vast array of colors.
Liquid crystal displays were everywhere glowing with information that astounded the eye and imagination. How had all of this been kept secret from the people for so long?
Father had stopped and appeared to be waiting for something. Suddenly a figure appeared before us out of nowhere!
Was it an angel like the one that had visited my father?
The vision of a woman spoke, “It is good to see you once again Roric. Everything is in readiness for your men’s training. The ship appears to be in perfect condition, a testament to the skill of your ancestors to be sure.”
Father turned to us, “Men this is Abby. Abby is ….. It’s complicated to describe, but she’s a manifestation of the technology that you see all around you. She is going to teach you how to operate this vessel in preparation for your upcoming mission off world.”
Off world!
What did that mean other than the obvious, but that was impossible!
Larc usually never at a loss for worlds stammered slightly as he asked, “Roric did you say off world?”
Father looked at him gravely, “I did. You are all about to embark on a journey that hasn’t been made in over seven hundred years. You and your men are going back to the original homeworld, Earth. Your mission is to acquire a complete manuscript of the Holy Scriptures and bring it back safely without alerting anyone to your presence or the location of our world. Does that answer your question Larc?”
“Yes I’d say so Sir, but why the Holy Scriptures. What is to be gained other than a greater understanding of our faith by acquiring a full work of the Creator’s words? Is it worth the risk to our people by exposing the location of our world potentially to enemies?”
“You underestimate the impact that the Holy Scriptures will have on our world Larc and yes I think that the words of the Creator are worth the risk. I have for some time now feared that we have become involved in a war that we cannot win by force of arms alone, but by only the strength of faith to aid us will we triumph over this darkness. This new cult is spreading across our land like a plague and the people do not know how to withstand the dark power that it employs to captivate and subjugate them to its evil purposes. In the first world where man was created, the Holy Words were given by the Spirit of the Creator to man to instruct him how to walk by faith and to live righteously. We have some of those words, but only a very few. What we have left is jumbled and unclear in its meaning at times. We few have continued on through the years believing in our Creator by faith, but without the full understanding of why we believe as we do. Inerrant thoughts and faiths such as this new cult have arisen to take advantage of our lack of knowing and without the complete word we cannot refute the lies that they spew in ever increasing volume. We know that the Creator is the Almighty God and the master of everything, but now it is time that we gave our people and the people of this world a chance to know our Creator more fully. If they embrace the new found knowledge, then the few of us who still truly do believe by faith will become many and armed by the power of the entire compilation of the Holy Words. We will be able to overcome any force of darkness and win this entire world for our Creator, not by the sword, but within the very soul of man itself will we conquer.”
We all stared at father spellbound. Was I really supposed to play a pivotal role in something of such importance?
“We do not know what has transpired on Earth since our ancestors were last there, but it could well be a hostile environment that you will be stepping into. Under no circumstances are you to reveal your identity or the location of our world to anyone. If you’re caught, there will be no way that a rescue can even be attempted, because this is the last workable ship left to us. Do not allow this vessel to fall into their hands even at the cost of your own lives. I do not understate it when I say that the fate of our world now rests in your hands. I cannot accompany you on the mission. I am placing Larc in full control of the mission. Abby is going to instruct you individually, as to how to operate this vessel. Does anyone have any questions?”
No one spoke.
“All of you are to stay here for the duration of your training, until Abby believes you are able to operate the vessel sufficiently enough. Once your training is complete you will embark on the mission. I will leave you now in Abby’s capable hands so to speak.”
Abby smiled softly.
Roric continued on, “May the Creator bless you all and bring you safely back home with your mission a success. Talaric I need to speak with you a moment up on top alone.”
Father headed for the ladder and brushed by me in the process. He stopped and tapped me on the chest meaningfully and I knew what he meant. He gave me a brief hug and then he was going up the stairs, with Talaric following after him.
Once they were gone Abby stepped out toward us drawing our attention. She smiled charmingly, “If you don’t mind I’d like to know your names. Let’s start with you Sir. What’s your name?”
One by one the men gave their names to the beautiful image of technology before them that any of them would have sworn was a real person. Larc, Tenallen, Torren, Sassten, Ronice, Corrigan, Thanic, Ileyano, Janic, Orhanin, Talaric and myself. The men only gave their first names as was the custom of Thunder Ridge.
It didn’t matter what their last names were because anybody in the castle or the village of Ta’arny was considered part of the Ta’lont family and cared for as such.
Abby was speaking, “I won’t add anything to the mission, as you know it. I am going to focus on instructing you all individually on the running of this vessel. When I’m done you’ll be able to operate it and if need be make some minor repairs. There are quarters for you to rest in when the time comes for that. There is also food and drink when you require it. I apologize in that both are quite old, but my scans show that it is still nutritious and unspoiled. How it tastes I leave up to you to determine. I’m sure that it will be an experience one way or the other. Now for the big question that I’m sure you’ve all been wondering about. How does a ship that floats and submerges under water make it from one world to another? Well it’s quite simple to state actually, but far more complex in the actual mechanics of it.”
I had been wondering about that. Something she had said suddenly came to a level of alert panic within my mind.
Submerges!
Oh good Lord give me strength.
I looked around at the cramped space and imagined us all sinking beneath the water never to rise again.
Focus Zevin!
I fought back through my panic of thought to hear what Abby was saying.
“Gather around gentlemen.”
She had moved over to a table in the center of the narrow space.
We gathered around the table and she began our education.
The forms of two bubbles appeared up out of the table to float upwards and hold stationary above the table in midair glowing brightly in a 3D matrix of green light. The bubbles were close to each other but not touching. A pointer materialized in Abby’s hand that had a round end on one side. She gently touched one bubble’s surface with the round end of the pointer careful not to break it. Slowly the head of the pointer made its way past the bubble’s surface into the interior space of the bubble and then out its other side as the bubble remained intact.
“Now consider this gentlemen. The two bubbles represent two worlds that are relatively close to each other. Planets that are habitable have to have water to sustain life. If the planet has readily available water in its liquid form on the surface, then it also has water in its atmosphere. Hence the two planets resemble these two bubbles before you, in that the bubbles also have the outer layer of moisture, as can be expected on a planet with an adequate supply of water on its surface. Water along with electricity are the essential ingredients that make up the process known as water vortex travel. If there is not enough water on the surface or in the atmosphere of a planet, water vortex travel can not work. If the bubble I pushed my pointer through first had not had enough moisture it would have burst on impact with my pointer. There has to be enough excess moisture to spare that some moisture can be lost from the bubble and yet the integrity of the bubble remain secure in order for this form of travel to work. Now imagine that the end of my pointer is this vessel on this world, which is the bubble you see my pointer inside of. This vessel has to get to this second world or bubble, which in our case is Earth. Both worlds have adequate water to make the exchange needed. The next vital ingredient is electric charged power.”
Torren raised a hand and Abby stopped, “Yes Torren?”
“You mentioned electricity earlier and now you mentioned it again. What is it?”
Abby smiled sheepishly, “My apologies I forgot to explain that, thank you for asking Torren. Electricity is what you know as lightening or that shock you get when you rub dry clothes together against each other fast.”
Torren looked at her incredulously, “You have something that can generate lightening on this ship?”
“Not exactly, but we have something similar to it yes. Your ancestors through precise calculations of math, astronomy and much trial and error mapped out where the available worlds for habitation in this galaxy were. They sent unmanned ships to those destinations and when a successful pairing was made they dropped beacon devices into the deeper parts of the oceans of those worlds. Now because of that water vortex travel is made much faster and safer because of those existing beacon arrays. Tracking devices on this vessel focus in on those beacon arrays and send a burst of electrically charged power out through space towards those beacon receiving sites. Now this is what happens when the power is sent towards the beacon array on a distant planet.”
She began moving the pointer stick again. The rounded end of the pointer touched the other bubble’s surface which bowed out around the intruding force.
The bubbles bowed out surface touched the other bubble’s surface and the two joined together to form a connected double bubble sharing each other’s atmosphere at one point.
The end of the pointer, which symbolized our vessel was inside the second bubble. We looked around at each other in amazement at the process by which our ancestors had learned to travel between different worlds.
Our attention was brought back to Abby, as she began talking again. “When the highly charged energy is shot out through space at tremendous speed toward the beacon array on another world it forms a cylinder shape that is void in the middle. The void is calibrated to just fit the dimensions of this ship. As the void is created by the fast moving hollow beam of energy a vacuum occurs within the void. The charged energy is not enough to convey our vessel up the void and through space. A conductive material is required, which is supplied in abundance in the form of salt water from the ocean. Salt water is best because it is more conductive to electric charge because of its chemical content of dissolved metals and salt. The vacuum within the void is open on the seaward end and it sucks up massive amounts of seawater until there is enough water to provide a very thin coating to the sides of the tube formed by the energy beam. Once enough water is acquired the vessel enters into the electro stream and picks up speed, as it’s powered up by the electrical conductivity of the surrounding matrix of charged power. As the vessel travels through the void the charged energy vortex collapses and the water is released into space. When the vessel reaches the other world it is plunged several fathoms down into the ocean where it disengages from the particle beam. It can then travel fully submerged or on the surface of the water. The water used in this process of travel is lost forever into space so it is unwise for there to be excessive water vortex travel, as it lowers the available amount of water that a planet has. Takeoff of the vessel on the world of origin has to be centered over the beacon array of that world. If the vessel was not centered over the homeworld’s beacon array an error could occur in the calculations for the travel telemetry through space and the vessel could veer off course and be lost in space or collide with a landform upon entry of the other world and be destroyed. Another caution of water vortex travel is that if you do not wait until there is a sufficient amount of sea water taken up by the vacuum the energy particle matrix could run out of the conductive strength to hold the vessel on its journey and collapse dumping the vessel out into a vast stretch of insurmountable space. Thankfully the whole system is completely automated and you shouldn’t have any problems at all.”
Oh God! I do not want any part of this mission.
Please let me wake up to all of this having been only a nightmare and not the reality of my likely soon to be demise!
“Oh and one more thing in regards to water vortex travel. It is very obvious when exiting and entering a planet via this means of travel, as the electro stream is brightly lit up throughout the entire process.”
I heard Larc and several of the others groan. There went the element of surprise.
“It is an unavoidable part of the process I’m afraid and can’t be shielded.” Abby said on a regretful note.
We were so going to die!
Our training progressed and the trepidation we all had at the handling of the technology decreased slightly, as we became more proficient at our duties on the water vessel. We had to learn each other’s duties as well as our own, in case of casualties during the mission.
It was agreed to by all that Torren would stay on the vessel during the entire length of the mission, as he displayed the best natural ability of grasping the complexities of the vessel’s navigation system. I wasn’t especially thrilled about that because I was his understudy and with him out of harm’s way that meant I would be going ashore with the team to potentially face even greater technological nightmares.
I was such a coward.
My primary job was initializing the charged energy beam and hooking up with the beacon array and what followed until the vessel was firmly in the water vortex and moving. Torren was my understudy, as it was possible for us to do each other’s tasks from each of our assigned consoles if it was necessary.
Weeks went by until Abby finally informed us that she thought us ready to make the journey. She insisted that we rest for a few days before starting, as sleep was likely to be in short supply over the coming days.
We’d had no contact with the outside world for the length of our training and we were to have none now either, which hurt, as I hadn’t even gotten a chance to say goodbye to either mother or Gavin.
I lay on my narrow bunk, but sleep would not come to me. The intense pressure of the situation didn’t seem to be impacting Talaric much, as his snores resonated throughout the room annoyingly.
All he was tasked with doing was opening and closing the hatch!
While an important task it was none the less as simple as could be and almost impossible to mess up. If I messed up in the performance of my task we could all be blown up into a million little bits or worse yet drop out of the electro stream and drift aimlessly in the fast voids of space while our life support systems failed one by one and we all starved to death.
I rubbed at my eyes furiously.
I could see that grim future becoming an all too real possibility. I wasn’t going to sleep so I might as well get up.
I got up quietly and walked down the hall to the main operational room of the vessel and sat down in my consol chair. Abby had dimmed the vessel’s lighting to help us sleep and perhaps calm our moods down some. She appeared beside me standing, which didn’t surprise me much.
“You should get your rest Zevin.” Abby said softly.
“Not going to happen I’m afraid.”
I stared at the complexities of the screens and technology in front of me. “Were our ancestors more proficient than we are or something, because even after all my training I feel completely unnerved at the prospect of even attempting to do my task!”
Abby paused for a moment, “They were born and raised around the technology and were more comfortable with it because of long usage. It is not easy by any standards Zevin, even theirs. Something else that also helped them was that they lived longer on average than people do today and if they chose to they could encourage a higher brain output than is common today.”
“If this is supposed to be your way of offering comfort you can stop anytime!”
“I won’t lie to you Zevin. It is an extremely complex and difficult mission that you are about to undertake. And the likelihood of success is not very good, but there is something to put your hope in.”
“And what’s that?”
“There is an indefinable quality that I have seen in the men of your family over the years that has not dimmed with the passage of time and the loss of natural abilities or even the loss of the skills of handling technology. In fact I would say that I have not seen this indefinable quality shine brighter than it does in your father and I see the same quality and strength of character in you too. I am encouraged to believe that the quality I have seen exhibited throughout your family line stems from the belief you have placed in your Creator. There seems to be an undeniable validation of that belief you have in your Creator, because over the years I have seen and witnessed things happen that cannot be explained by any natural phenomena or quantifiable data that I can measure and analyze. So what I’m trying to say Zevin is that even though things in the natural sense of order don’t look good, there is still hope because of your relationship with your Creator. As your own ancestors and your father put it, ‘All things are possible for our God to accomplish.’”
I had come to like the personification of technology that Abby was made up of very much over the past few weeks. She was always there with a word of encouragement and an unmatched level of patience.
“It sounds like you have gained some measure of faith for yourself Abby.”
Quietly, as if to herself she said, “Perhaps I have.”
She left me then fading back into the nothingness that she had come from. During our training to better help facilitate our instruction she had manifested herself into a duplicate separate form of herself so she could teach every one of us one on one.
She had done all she could to prepare us. Now it was up to us to do our part.
God please help us!