by Kyle Pratt
The admiral nodded.
Justin reached out and touched his hand. “One son lived, loved and had children, Simon my ancestor.” There were more questions, but he had all the answers he needed for now. He stood, rested a hand on the admiral’s shoulder, and said, “Thank you for fixing the ship, but we won’t be leaving.”
* * *
The skylights glowed dimly as Justin arrived for his first day of formal, psychic training. Fitful sleep had provided little rest. He strained to open one of the school’s great doors. Once inside he approached the Prophet’s book, still open to the last page, and began to read.
I race to Lepanto where my Titan brothers and sisters will be.
I did not know You then, but You knew me.
I will stand among the brothers and sisters, but I will not see You.
When the light drives out the darkness You will be there with me, but no one will see You.
Reluctantly I will walk the path You lay before me, but You will be patient.
I came toward Lepanto not knowing You, but I will serve You before I leave.
I am content.
Titan history begins when we meet at Lepanto. Come quickly. Amen.
Pulling his copy of the prophecies from his side pocket, he wondered if all of it was as confusing as these few lines.
“Have you read it?”
Startled, Justin turned to see the white robed man beside him. “Good morning, Olham. Yes, a little more since we last talked. I can’t say that I understand it. Why did he write it so…cryptically?”
“You’ve been reading the harder parts.” Stepping up to the volume, he turned to the first page. “Start at the beginning. The Prophet describes his first meeting with God. We don’t know where this happened, but Justin and his friend Jon are imprisoned by his enemies. Jon guides Justin to faith before he is killed.” Olham flipped through the pages slowly. “He struggles to understand the mission God has sent before him. He argues that he is unworthy and unable but, in the end, he journeys to those Titans of long ago and tells them of a loving, caring God that we can know.”
“But the last part?”
He turned to the end. “These are the actual prophecies. The Prophet saw that we would receive psychic abilities and that they would be both a burden and gift. The Prophet said to be wary of norm leaders because they would betray us, but many of the less powerful would help us.”
“And those things came true,” he mumbled thoughtfully. Then he shook his head. “But I don’t understand…the last page?”
“It says he will be here with us, but exactly what it means, well, I don’t think we were meant to know—until after the event.” He shrugged. “Perhaps we will understand it later today.” He gave Justin a fatherly smile, gestured down the hall, and said, “Are you ready for your first lesson?”
He remained skeptical about the Titan religion. He doubted the Prophet would miraculously appear later that day, but if he did, Justin wanted to be there. “Will you be at the celebration?” he asked Olham.
“Wouldn’t miss it.”
Justin nodded and followed him down the hall.
They entered a small gymnasium about ten meters square. Olham opened a locker in the wall, pulled out a staff and pair of goggles and handed them to Justin.
The goggles had dark lens. Justin put them on his head, but not over his eyes.
“When we begin, the lights will dim and white noise will fill the room. You won’t be able to see or hear anything. Your goal is to find me. I’ll stand at some spot and you point the staff at where you believe I am. If you are successful, I’ll move around. Are you ready?”
Justin nodded and pulled the goggles down over his eyes. He knew, from years of experience, that he could sense people on the other side of a door or around a corner. Olham soon recognized his ability and moved around the room at an ever-quicker pace. Later still, Olham donned goggles and both men used their minds to find and tag the other. Hours later Justin’s head hurt and he struggled to focus on the increasingly harder tasks. He was glad when Olham said it was time to stop.
Together Justin and his teacher traveled to the stadium. He wanted Naomi to go with him to the celebration, but she declined saying she would be studying the history and religion of the Titans. She assured him that the Prophet would not be there. He suspected that she was right, but still wanted to see the event.
Due to the threat from imperial ships, Jon and his team worked on the FTL engines every day. Mara was probably on the bridge with him. As Justin walked the last few meters to the arena he imagined Mara in the cocoon with Jon nervously hovering around her. Mara hates the interface, but loves the attention.
Even from the outside, it was clear the site of the celebration was huge. The curve of the stadium was hardly visible as they came up from the rail station. He could see thousands pouring in through dozens of entrances.
Once inside Olham led him high in the stands.
“This is the stadium where we hold major sporting events and celebrations.”
They entered an elevator with others and within moments, it shot upward.
Justin took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
Olham pointed the way forward. “The senior staff shares a box at the upper level. Leonidas asked me to bring you up if you attended.”
Queasy, he nodded, not even attempting to speak.
Once inside the skybox Justin spotted Leonidas sitting up front. Officers flanked him on either side. Olham walked forward and spoke to the admiral. Within moments, two seats were made available beside Leonidas.
Justin felt like a man at the edge of a cliff looking down at people in a deep valley. Tens of thousands packed the seats and thousands filled the field.
Sitting beside Justin, Olham gestured toward the crowd. “People have come from all the other ships to be here for this moment.”
Giant screens displayed a choral group at the far end as they prepared to sing. “When does it begin?”
“When the sky shutters start to open,” Leonidas said pointing up.
The thousands on the field swayed back and forth as if they were a single entity as an A cappella song rose spontaneously from the crowd. Quickly it spread throughout the arena even to many in the skybox.
Holy, Holy, Holy!
You remembered us even when we did not know You.
You are the creator, we are Your creation
You are forever, we are the momentary
Holy, Holy, Holy!
You remembered us even when we did not know You.
You are the God of the Prophet.
Remember us as we remember You
Holy, Holy, Holy!
The huge sky shutters, locked in place for more than twenty years, creaked and moaned as they inched open.
All went dark.
Chapter 23
Startled, Justin shot to his feet. Shrieks and shouts rose from the crowd as his eyes searched the darkness. Quickly he became aware of lights sprinkled about, some over exits and others in the crowd. A spotlight came on, and then another, bathing the stage in a harsh white light. Looking over the top of the stadium, he could see lights in the nearby buildings. Casting his gaze still farther, he could see distant stars through the still-opening shutters. They turned the sky lights out as they opened skylight portals. Smiling he turned to Olham.
The teacher gave Justin a quizzical look. “I will stand among the brothers and sisters, but I will not see You.”
“What? Why are you quoting that?”
He shook his head and looked up at the growing view of stars.
Justin, firmly gripped the railing as he watched the crowd below. The stars glided across the open sky and within seconds an eerie glow grew in intensity. As the first golden beams of light reached down, the crowd sent up a deafening roar. The group on stage sang, “Holy, Holy, Holy,” as a second dawn graced the day.
“When the light drives out the darkness You will be there with me, but no one will see You,” Olham
again quoted the prophet.
A prayerful roar spread through the crowd at the end of the first hymn. Many glanced up at the sun, but most seemed to bath in the warm glow.
Through several hymns Justin stood, eyes closed, and let the emotions of the crowd flow through him in a way he had never before experienced. Finally, as the rotation of the ship brought a new dawn he sat.
A man walked to center stage and lifted his arms into the sunlight.
“Who is that?” Justin asked.
Olham shrugged. “There are many people from other ships here today.”
As the singing faded the man on stage dropped his arms and looked out at the crowd. “God, has told us, through his Prophet, that when the light drives out the darkness he will be there with us, but we will not see him. We are also told that through some miracle the Prophet is here and that our history begins now.” He shook his head. “I don’t claim to understand any of that, but I know God’s word is true. He told us we would be betrayed and that we would make it here to this place.” He lifted his arms into the air, “And I know that when this light fades his light will still shine on us.”
The singing continued, but as Exodus pulled away from the Lepanto sun, the light waned as well as the excitement of the crowd.
Leonidas turned to Justin, “It’s been good to see you again, but I’ve got to get back to the bridge. With the help of Mara, we hope to test the FTL engines tomorrow.” Others departed with him. Soon only Olham sat with Justin in the skybox.
Justin stayed behind with a growing sense of disappointment. So many had hoped for the return of the prophet, but as the sun slipped ever more toward the stern of the ship. No one miraculously appeared before the crowd. As the shutters closed, the crowd slowly dispersed.
Olham leaned toward Justin, “Will I see you tomorrow for your next lesson?”
Justin nodded and followed him from the box. Together they reached the main floor and joined the throng leaving the stadium. Around them people expressed their doubts and questions. “Where is Justin?” “Where is the Prophet?” “If they do not appear is it all a lie?” Their doubts seemed to infect him. Where was the Prophet? Was there a prophet? Is there a god? He would have liked a miracle to dispel his doubts. He turned to ask Olham a question, but his teacher had disappeared in the multitude. Alone Justin walked through the crowd.
Sluggishly, he wandered toward the rail station and then to his empty room. He didn’t know why, but he felt the need to be with friends. There was no answer at Mara and Naomi’s quarters. He had no idea where Naomi might be, but Mara should be in the cocoon on the bridge. He had never been there, but he was sure he could find it.
Usually civilians were not admitted, but when he arrived at the bridge, the guard allowed him to pass. Once inside he found Mara plugged into the cocoon and Becca hovering over her like a worried mother.
After greeting him Becca said, “Her vital signs are good, but is it normal for pilots to sleep in the cocoon?”
Justin looked down at Mara lying in the pod and nodded. From long experience, he knew that she was analyzing lines of code and testing controls. “She isn’t really sleeping, just busy.”
Moments later Becca’s eyes widened as the image of Mara appeared and began discussing system specifications with Jon.
Justin grinned at her astonishment. It was then that he noticed Naomi sitting at a table off to the side of the bridge.
As he approached, she looked up. “Did you see the Prophet? God maybe?”
“Sarcasm does not become you. What are you doing?”
“I may not believe in any gods or prophets, but what I found while studying today convinced me that the Titans…our people…are telling the truth.” With sad eyes she looked silently off in the distance. After several moments she continued, “I decided to help by drawing the various imperial ships for the intel people.”
He looked at her crude drawings and pointed to his head, “Send me a mental image of the ship.” She did and taking the slate she used, he began to sketch. “What did you find that convinced you?”
She sighed and again sadness filled her face. “Drawings and a photo.”
Justin looked confused.
“I found them in the central archive. I copied them onto the slate back at my quarters, but I need more time to understand them.” She pointed to Justin’s sketch, “Gun ports there and there.”
“But these drawings convinced you?”
She nodded. “Particle cannon on the bow here.”
“I’d like to see the drawings you found.”
“Give me a couple of days to finish researching them.”
He agreed and handed the slate to her. She typed in the class, top speed, duration, and other details she could recall and then saved the file.
After more than an hour of work she said, “This final class of ship was my home for the last several years.”
Forming in his mind was the image of long slender vessel wrapping around a central sphere. Numerous nacelles indicated the stern of the craft.
“This is a Temple class vessel. The Nephilim use these as command ships.”
“I get the sense that it is huge.”
She nodded. “Not as vast as Exodus, but still enormous. 9,000 meters in length, much better armed and fast.”
“A ship that large and still fast?”
“The engines create a gravitational vortex that distorts space-time. Over short distances, a few million kilometers, travel is instantaneous.”
As he drew, Justin struggled to imagine such a ship. Surfeit, the ship they had stolen from Galt, was a mere 250 meters in length. Most CFS warships were less than a 1,000 meters. Titan warships appeared to be of similar size. The ship he was on might be twice as long as a Temple ship, but Exodus had minimal weapons and, until they got the engines fixed, it was slower than many sub-light pleasure craft.
“There are gun ports every ten meters along the keel and a large particle cannon at the bow.” She waited for him to finish drawing then added, “The ship has four sensor dishes built into the hull of the vessel, on the bow, stern, port. and starboard.” She pointed to each spot. “The dishes are very distinctive. They have the insignia of the Imperial Navy above them and the emblem of the Nephilim painted on the dome.”
“Dish? Dome? I’m confused about what you mean.”
She concentrated and the image of a huge sensor dish covered by a protective dome formed in his mind. “Four bulging eyes covered with an eyelid. Got it.” He began to draw. “I’ve heard of triple redundancy, but quadruple?”
“It is not quite redundant, if one is destroyed it creates a blind spot.”
“So it has a weakness.”
“Every vessel has a weakness. That is why they build different types, but I would not want to fight this ship. The Nephilim spare no expense for their protection.”
The two quickly finished up and handed the pad to Leonidas.
He looked at each carefully and asked questions. “Nice drawings. Thank you. I’ll get the intel division to download the information into our database.” He handed it to an aide. “The repair crew has brought your ship alongside Exodus. They told me that some secondary systems still need repair and the FTL drive hasn’t been fueled. You said the other day you won’t be leaving, do you still want the craft?”
Naomi touched his hand. You never know when you might need a ship.
A grin slowly spread across Justin’s face. “I stole it, I might as well keep it.”
Leonidas smiled.
Naomi let Justin feel her satisfaction, then excused herself and left the bridge.
“I can work on the electronics,” Justin said, “but I’m sure you don’t let just anyone handle anti-matter, so, how do I get the ship fueled?”
The admiral called Jon over and explained the situation to him.
“I should be able to do it tomorrow. We’re making fantastic progress.” He turned to Justin, “Mara has been a great help. I’ll meet you at the shuttle port fi
rst thing in the morning.”
Justin thanked them both and walked over to where a holographic image of Mara talked with several technicians. “How are you doing?”
“Great. I see that Surfeit has been brought alongside Exodus.”
“How did you know that? I thought you were just working on the FTL systems?”
“I got bored waiting for the engines to initialize and spin up and wanted to see and hear what was around me so I entered the sensor and comm systems.”
“What do they think about that?” he said, gesturing toward the two technicians nearby.
“As long as I fix their engines I don’t think they care what I do.”
Justin laughed. “I’m going with Jon tomorrow to fuel Surfeit.”
The next morning Jon wasn’t hard to find in the crowd. He was the only person with an armed guard. The two very conspicuous men stood against the bulkhead with a large, red, canister between them. As Justin approached, he noticed the biometric lock and the stickers warning of explosion and death. Without delay, the three men boarded the shuttle. The two friends spoke casually as they sat in the empty passenger section with the fuel canister between. The guard parked himself in the corner. Immediately the pilot departed for the short trip to Surfeit.
When they arrived, the guard remained on the transport. Jon took the fuel to the engine room. Justin headed to the bridge. Upon entering he was caught short. Mara was there talking to a technician. He had expected to find someone on the bridge, but Mara? “What are you… Oh,” he said realizing she was holo projection.
Upon seeing Justin the tech turned to Mara and said, “It’s been nice talking to you.” He then turned to Justin, “You have the con.”
He nodded and the man headed aft to the waiting shuttle.
“Did you spend the night hooked up in the cocoon?”
“No, Becca wouldn’t let me, but we returned to the bridge early this morning. I think I scared that guy when I appeared here about an hour ago. I stayed, talked to him, and waited for you.”
They continued the small talk as Justin began at one end of the bridge inspecting systems. Occasionally they would pause as he pulled a panel, slid under a workstation, or she needed to check something on the Exodus FTL drive. Almost an hour later, Justin was on his back examining the environmental backup system.