by Dane Bagley
For the next two days, Tammy suggested that Steve only come in periodically to check on things in the lab. She didn’t think that Aspiria, or he, would be up to their regular exercises. Tammy continued to let Aspiria take time to make herself up, and she continued to share her cosmetics and clothes with her. Tammy and Aspiria talked, but Aspiria was not as open as she had been before. Tammy did not pry, and instead opened up more with Aspiria. She told her about the earth and many things about her culture. She talked about her family. Aspiria listened, with particular interest, when Tammy discussed her family. Towards the end of the second day, Aspiria shared, for the first time, that she had a husband and a son. Tears came to her eyes again as she talked of her love and concern for them. She asked if there were other ships, and if others had been taken. Tammy assured her that her family was fine, and that this was the only ship.
Aspiria had many questions, but she was careful to not share, or ask too much. Still, to the extent that she had cooperated with these people from another world, they had been more open with her. She was living much more comfortably among them now. She still slept in her cell, and certainly she did not have free reign throughout the ship, but she was no longer under constant surveillance. Instead, she was treated with respect and kindness. She still felt that her welfare and destiny was controlled by Tammy, even more than by Steve. She wanted to bond with Tammy as much as possible. Aspiria genuinely liked her, though she felt very concerned about some of Tammy’s cultural norms. When Aspiria expressed some shock or concern, Tammy seemed to smile at her condescendingly.
The next day, Steve decided to return to the lab and continue working with her on their languages. He came in and grabbed the tablet. Aspiria’s language had improved over the past two days which she had spent talking with Tammy. Aspiria was back in her own dress, but she had spent time on her hair and make-up; her countenance had improved significantly. They worked together for a couple of hours. Neither Steve, nor Aspiria, worked as intensely as they had before. Still, progress was made. Steve worked on her language. She was a little guarded at first, but slowly opened up. Steve asked her to teach to him her family’s member’s names. He wanted to be able to speak their names, as clearly in her language as possible. The inflections and tones were extremely difficult, but he made some progress. Aspiria appreciated the interest that he was taking in her family. Danny let Steve know that lunch was ready, over the intercom. “Bring Aspiria’s and my lunch here,” he said back. He had never shared a meal with Aspiria before, but he didn’t want to stop.
When he turned back to Aspiria, she was staring off into space, and seemed very deep in thought. She began to doodle on a new page on the tablet. She drew a small filled in circle in yellow, and then she drew a smaller blue circle to the side of it. She made a fine black line go through the blue circle, and encircle the yellow circle. She looked up at Steve, and said, “This is my world.” She then drew another yellow circle on the other side of the tablet, with a blue circle and a black line through the blue circle encircling the yellow sphere.
“This is your world,” she said as Danny walked in with their meals. Danny looked on as she continued to draw. She turned the color to brown and she drew a long vertical line down towards the blue circle that she had labeled, ‘your world.’ She then drew a shorter horizontal brown line about three quarters of the way up the vertical brown line and intersected it. The two men looked on. “Is this your world?”
Steve’s eyes narrowed, as he looked on. He looked up at Aspiria, with a questioning expression. “That looks like a cross,” said Danny.
“Did He live and die on your world?” she asked. Steve began to feel a feeling that he had not experienced in a very long time—a warm sensation and a peace slowly came over him.
“Who?” he asked.
“God’s Son,” Aspiria responded.
“Yes,” said Danny. “He did die on a cross, but He lived again.”
“Yes,” said Aspiria. “I know.”
“How do you know about that? Have you and Tammy been talking about Jesus and religion?” asked Steve perplexed.
“No. We have talked about your world, but not about God’s Son. God’s Son has been to our world, and He has told us about your world. I did not know if it was your world that He lived and died on. I am glad to know that you are from His world.”
“You know about our world?” asked Steve.
“I know about a world that killed God’s Son. If that is your world, I know that about your world. I didn’t know if that world was your world.”
“What do you know about our world?” asked Steve again.
“I know that He came among His people. He chose twelve great men. He died for all of the worlds. His own people killed Him. I know that your world has very good people—and very bad people.”
“Danny, have you been talking with Aspiria about Christianity?”
“No, sir. But I want to now. I know that He died for the entire world, but I didn’t know that it was for all worlds. I didn’t know that there were other worlds until we found yours, Aspiria.”
“There are many worlds, Danny. God’s Son has visited many worlds. He can only spend a short time on the worlds. He spent a long time on your world. He did great things on your world. My world would love to know all that your world knows about Him.”
Tears began to well in Danny’s eyes. Here was a man who never shown emotion. He was touched. His heart burned within him. “I have a Bible; may I bring it now and show it to her? It has pictures in it. I could show her pictures of Jesus, and where He lived. I could read it to her.”
Steve felt a kind of warmth inside that he had not felt since he was a child. He nodded to Danny and looked at Aspiria. She smiled warmly. There was so much more to her than what he had perceived.
Tammy had been wandering in and out of the lab. She had not taken any interest in any of the morning’s proceedings with Steve and Aspiria. Unnoticed by Steve, she had taken some of her own blood, and had been running tests. After a machine beeped, Tammy had just entered the lab again, and gone over to the machine. She read the results, and then put her hands on the counter, bowed her head and leaned on the counter for several moments. “Steve, we need to talk.”
Steve was in a particular mental state, such that he didn’t really hear Tammy at first. It took him a few seconds to recognize that Tammy was speaking to him. “Oh, Tammy, what’s going on?” he said as he turned towards her in his chair.
“I need to talk with you privately,” said Tammy. Not with her authoritative non-negotiable tone, but in a meek and more submissive manner.
Danny had not left yet. He was just preparing to do so. “Danny, take Aspiria with you. I’m sure that she would love to look at your Bible with you.”
This was only the second time that Aspiria would be leaving the lab. The last time didn’t go so well for her. Her heart rate picked up at the mention. She was conscious of the physiological response, but she couldn’t imagine anything else that would bring on such a reaction as her last visit out of the lab. She got up dutifully and went with Danny.
When the footsteps were no longer audible in the corridor, Tammy walked over to Steve. She was shaking, and had a look of fear and great concern on her face. “I’ve not been myself lately. For the longest time I have attributed this to the unusual circumstances that we are in, and the stress and long hours. I’ve been on a rollercoaster of emotions, but I figured that it was reasonable. But, I’ve been just feeling off. I’ve been trying to figure out what has been going on. I’ve not had a period in six weeks, but that happens sometimes in space. Sometimes it happens with stress, as well.”
Steve was trying to listen, and he did care, but he was still distracted by the magnitude of his previous conversation. He’d comprehended she has been stressed lately, and that wasn’t new information to him.
“So, I thought, ‘why not, I’ll check and make
sure,’ and sure enough, it’s positive.”
The curious look on Steve’s face told Tammy that he didn’t get it. “Steve, I’m pregnant.”
Chapter 27