The Orion Project: A Novel

by Edward Marin

  Tonemcadu told him about the days which now seemed so distant. Just as he was describing the weeks after he left Dan and Linda’s home, Joteqi, the chief assistant to the pharaoh, came into the room.

  “The pharaoh Akhenaton requests a meeting with Tonemcadu,” he said. “Please follow me.”

  Tonemcadu did as he was told, wondering why only his presence and not Citupohet’s had been solicited.

  When he got to the pharaoh’s suite, he was amazed at how much it had been transformed in such a short period of time. It was decorated to look like a smaller version of the main room at the temple in Amarna. Akhenaton was sitting on a throne elevated to ensure that no one standing could be higher than he was.

  Tonemcadu bowed and prepared himself to be as attentive as he could, knowing there could be hidden meaning in the eccentric pharaoh’s words that protocol would prevent him from clarifying by asking questions.

  “It’s come to my attention that your mummification didn’t go as planned and that you awoke too early in another country,” Akhenaton said.

  Tonemcadu interpreted the remark as some form of criticism and braced himself for an unpleasant meeting.

  But Akhenaton said, “In a way, it’s good that you got a chance to learn about the modern world. I want you to tell me your impressions of it.”

  Tonemcadu took a few moments to organize his thoughts, then said, “I found that today’s civilization has progressed in some areas and regressed in others. Some technical knowledge has been lost over the years, but there have been extraordinary technological discoveries, a great many of which provide comfort. Yet overall, people seem to have less peace of mind than they had in the past.”

  “Why do you think that’s the case?” the pharaoh said.

  “Their values are different. They’ve created a world where they have become very good at making themselves physically comfortable, but are very backwards in making themselves emotionally comfortable. Their culture emphasizes characteristics such as ambition and aggressiveness. On the other hand, qualities such as compassion and kindness are not as prized. Furthermore, they haven’t abandoned violence as a way to solve their disputes, although now they have weapons so lethal that they can kill millions at once.

  “In their everyday lives they’re often unfulfilled, which leads them to compensate by seeking power, possessions, and approval from others. I once heard one of their wise men remark that they spend their lives buying things they don’t need, with money they don’t have, in order to impress people they don’t like. That mentality isn’t just detrimental to their souls; it also has a negative effect on the planet they’re harming by altering its climate, destroying its forests, contaminating its waters, and polluting its atmosphere. This has put the world on an environmentally unsustainable path which may end up destroying it. In addition, they often have absurd situations such as farmers in some parts of the world being paid not to plant or to destroy their crops, while people in other parts of the world starve.”

  “I see,” Akhenaton said. “This is a good time to tell you why I went to Orion myself along with the group of explorers. As you know, I ordered the mission because I wanted to find out if Orion could support human life. Then I realized that if I didn’t go myself, I’d be dead by the time the group came back with the answer. So I decided to join them; and I learned that there are places in Orion where we could establish a society.

  “It’s an amazing place. I think you’ll like it when you see it. Certainly it will be better than the modern world as you’ve described it. On one of the Orion planets, we met beings we found to be much more advanced both technologically and in their character. They could communicate with us by reading our thoughts and conveying theirs without speech. They monitor the earth by occasionally coming down to visit, especially military installations, to see what people are up to. They also recognize the moderns’ excessive aggressiveness and are concerned that they could one day be threatened if some of the new weapon systems being built become so powerful that they could be turned against them. If people continue to follow the kind of path you’ve described, they’re prepared to wipe out humanity. From what you’ve said, it seems that time may not be too far in the future. But at least we won’t be here for that. We’re going back as soon as we get the knowledge tablets from the safe buried under the Sphinx paws and some seeds to grow crops on Orion.”

  Right away, Tonemcadu regretted his response to the pharaoh’s inquiry about the modern world. His frustration at not being able to get in touch with Barbara or knowing when he’d be able to had put him in an overly negative frame of mind. As a result, he was being told in effect that he’d have to leave earth without even having had a chance to see her. He had to say something right away to try and change that situation, even if it meant going against protocol and addressing the pharaoh without invitation.

  “I hope I wasn’t too pessimistic in my assessment of the modern world,” he said. “I feel that I should have given a more balanced answer. There are many similarities between the ancient and the modern civilizations, because a lot of what exists today has roots in our culture. This is because much of our knowledge was adopted by the Greeks, then by the Romans, who in turn had a significant influence on the development of today’s civilization.

  “One of the encouraging things I failed to mention is a trend toward people being brought together across cultural and national lines, thanks to discoveries that allow them to communicate instantly from great distances and to have access to information from any part of the world. This has the potential to help eliminate conflict and separation by promoting understanding and trade between people and nations.

  “Another positive development is the improving status of women, which is in line with what you instituted in our society but was discontinued by your successors. This has had a humanizing effect on modern culture, by better emphasizing cooperation over conflict, and family over war.

  “This is also an age of tremendous possibility, thanks to a huge growth in world population which has gone from fifty million people in our day to more than seven billion today. There has also been a big increase in life expectancy, and in the number of people who study. As a result, vast knowledge has been acquired in just a few years. The time may be near when it will be possible to demonstrate to everyone some fundamental insights that for most of history could only be understood by the initiated and had to be accepted as an act of faith by everyone else. For example, the average person could comprehend that consciousness is as real as the material world and that love is the most powerful force in the universe and the solution to all problems. With acceptance of these facts becoming universal, there could be such a shift in awareness that all of human energy could be focused on positive things.

  “So if you chose for us to stay on earth, adjustment to the modern world wouldn’t be as difficult as I made it appear at first and it wouldn’t be necessary for the beings from Orion to come wipe out humanity.”

  Despite Tonemcadu’s breach of etiquette, the pharaoh maintained his impassive countenance.

  “You speak of possibilities that may never occur,” he said. “My decision to leave is final. You may go now.”

  Joteqi, who had remained at a respectful twenty feet away, opened the door.

  Once in the hallway, Tonemcadu decided to take a walk instead of returning to his suite, where he’d have to talk to Xufu and Citupohet. He was too disheartened to act as though everything was okay.

  At the press conference the following day, he again went through the process of answering old and new questions from the journalists. After about half an hour, he saw the young female reporter who’d asked about his relationship with Barbara on the day before, approaching the stage.

  When she got within a couple of feet of him, she whispered into his ear, “I need your approval to put you on TV.”

  “I’m sorry, our agreement with the media--”

  “Come on, you’re not going to let me down now,” she said.
“I’ve been running around all morning to set up your on-the-air reunion with Barbara.”

  “What do you mean--where is she?”

  “She’s in the room next door, waiting for you to come in. We flew her in last night after a reporter in our Chicago office was able to locate her. But before we can proceed, I need your approval.”

  Tonemcadu was so overjoyed that he grabbed the document the young woman was holding, signed it, and announced the end of the press conference. He then followed her down the hall to an open room that had already been set up with cameras and lights.

  He scrutinized the area, but only saw TV technicians working on their equipment. He looked back at the reporter and saw her signaling to the cameraman to start recording. Moments later, Barbara entered the room, smiling and tearful.

  Tonemcadu took her in his arms, and they embraced without saying a word. He felt her heart beating against his chest. As he held her close, he could hear the reporter’s commentary delivered in a breathless voice to create maximum dramatic effect for the TV audience. When Tonemcadu and Barbara finally broke apart, the reporter started to address them.

  “Tonemcadu and Barbara, we’re live on the air, so I was wondering if you could answer a few questions for our viewers.”

  Tonemcadu and Barbara looked at each other, then at the reporter. After answering questions for about fifteen minutes, he decided to take her to meet his friends. As they were making their way to the suites, he felt overwhelmed by the happiness of seeing her and the sadness of knowing they’d have to separate again, this time forever. He didn’t know how to tell her. The memory of the pain they’d both experienced when a few weeks back he’d told her he would have to leave her to complete his mission was all too vivid. He had an idea, but he knew it was a long shot.

  When the elevator door opened on his floor, he saw Xufu in the hallway.

  “This is Barbara, the woman I told you about,” Tonemcadu said.

  “She’s beautiful,” Xufu said. “She looks a lot like Nefisi.”

  Tonemcadu translated for Barbara, who didn’t seem pleased with the comparison.

  “Is that the reason you’re attracted to me?” she said.

  He took her face between his hands and looked into her eyes. “You’re even more beautiful,” he said. “The resemblance is one of a thousand things that attract me to you. Barbara, would you go with me to Orion?”

  “I’d go anywhere with you,” she said.

  He turned his attention back to Xufu and told him the good news.

  “That won’t be possible,” Xufu said. “The pharaoh has made it clear that only we will go back. It’s important that we recreate our society without any influences from the modern world.”

  Tonemcadu felt a mixture of anger and determination. All his life, he’d lived to do his duty at the expense of his own aspirations. And now, having done everything that had been asked of him, he was still not being allowed to do what he wanted. Once again he was being told to make a sacrifice and give up his happiness.

  The reality was that he’d never felt as much joy as during the time he’d spent with Barbara. Although duty could hardly be more important to him, it now seemed less important than doing what deep inside he knew was right, what his heart told him to do. When he had done his duty, he’d followed other peoples’ wishes. Now he intended to listen to his heart, even if it meant doing something as drastic as disobeying a direct order from the pharaoh.

  Maybe his true mission had been all along to reawaken earlier so that he could meet Barbara, choose to stay on earth, and be in a position to help the modern world by sharing the best from his culture. The fact that he’d discovered on the ship that he enjoyed teaching could have been a sign that he was meant to do that. And the many questions he’d gotten from the media and from his students while on the ship showed that moderns were interested in what he had to say.

  He could teach, write a book, go on television. If he could convince enough people in today’s world to become more peaceful, loving, generous, kind, and caring, there was still a chance that the beings from Orion would no longer view it as a threat that might have to be destroyed. If so, this society could last for over 3,000 years of relative peace and prosperity as had been the case for his.

  “Xufu,” he said, “you must express my respectful regrets to the pharaoh. I won’t be going.”

  He took Barbara’s hand.

  “What if we got started here, on earth?” he said.

  “Sounds like a plan,” she said and smiled.

  END