by Todd Fries
What he needed was “damage control” and quickly. This was too coincidental and if he didn’t do something soon, the “Holy-7” might become martyrs and he’d never be rid of them. If he could get them to recant their statements and apologize for their actions, he could impart an act of clemency, absolving them of past crimes and releasing them from prison. He would be seen as a benevolent benefactor who only wanted mercy for his people.
This idea seemed good to him and if they refused, he could wash his hands of the whole thing with no guilt or shame. In the meantime, he’d pull out all the stops to find this leak in his organization. It was unprecedented to have someone from his network of people involved in this scandal, but it was the only explanation. Only someone on the “inside” would have the knowledge to put all the pieces together and he was going to find out at any cost.
His first step would be to bring in Nickolas Roshenko. If he could convince him of his intentions, it would go well for the others to follow his lead. Nickolas could return to them with a message of pardon and reconciliation and in return, he’d be gracious in their defeat. No harm - No foul. So sending his lieutenant to the jail, he asked that Nickolas be brought before him and when he appeared, the General put on his best smile.
“Sit down. Sit down. May I offer you a drink?”
Nickolas looked at him in confusion, but nodded his head and said three words.
“No. Thank you.”
“How about some water or a little food. I’ll have some brought up as you must be starved. I apologize for the lack of service in your holding cell but I was only alerted to your situation within the last few minutes and I immediately sent for you so that I might apologize.”
Nickolas whispered.
“Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
General Taylor tried to ignore his banter and continued.
“As you can imagine, it’s been a little hectic around here with what you guys tried to pull and I admit that I feel bad about the whole thing. Shooting your friend was the most difficult decision I ever had to make and while I would have preferred to take her alive, I couldn’t risk the lives of the other soldiers in the room. You understand.”
Nickolas stared back at him and sensing he might not want to talk, the General continued.
“You know. I think we got off on the wrong foot with this transition. I’m totally on board with what you’re trying to do, but you should have come to me first and this whole thing could have been avoided.”
He set down his drink and strolled around to the other side of his desk.
“This isn’t my fault. I’m not the one keeping secrets and I’m not the one who lead an armed assault on the hangar, resulting in the death of one of your people.”
He nodded his head in disapproval.
“No. I had no idea what was happening and it was sheer luck that my officers were on duty at the time of your arrival. The instant the alarm sounded, I rushed to the room and found your friend threatening lives and with a loaded gun I might add. To say I was shocked was an understatement. I had little time to react and then my training kicked in. Anyway. I’m sorry for your loss.”
Nickolas remained silent.
“Do you have anything to say for yourself and your crew?”
Nickolas didn’t say a word.
The General was unsure on how to proceed, so he changed his tactics.
“Right now I have you all up on charges for treason, intent to steal government property and man slaughter. As you know treason is punishable by death. I don’t need a conviction on the balance of charges. As the defacto leader of this group, they’re your responsibility. Which means you have the ability to help them in their time of need.”
He let the last words rest on the air for a moment to give Nickolas time to think. The man had to be worried and if the lives of his friends meant anything to him, he’d do anything to save them. After all, their lives were in his hands. He didn’t need a judge or jury. He was the absolute authority in this case and he could execute or commute the sentence as he saw fit. Certainly Nickolas was aware of it and if he had any sense in that brain of his, he’d come to the right conclusion. He continued.
“I don’t need to tell you the seriousness of your situation.”
He leaned in on the arm of his chair and whispered into Nickolas’s ear.
“I can make this all go away. I can wash this from your record and nobody has to be the wiser.”
He paused.
“You may be asking what I want in return. If so, the answer is quite simple. This is a close-knit society which depends on law and order. If we lose these things in this remote outpost, what will become of our ability to govern fairly and with dispassionate equality. You of all people must understand this concept. You came from a closed society in the old Soviet Union. Do you remember what that was like and how glad you were to come to the United States?
“I’m not asking for much. In fact, I want very little in return. I want you to be the hero in this story by showing the world how sorry you are for the recent events of which you had no control. I’m a fair man who would rather see good people put to work by being productive as opposed to lying in an unmarked grave. You understand?”
Nickolas remained silent. The General proceeded.
“You don’t have to say anything. I understand how hard this must be for you. It’s not easy to take responsibility for our sins, but confession is the proper thing to do. Isn’t that what your bible teaches?”
He pulled out a bible and turned to a page marked with a post-it note. He read from 1 John 1:9;
‘If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.’
“As an example to your Lord, I am offering the same thing. I am willing to forgive and forget, for isn’t that the Christian way?”
Nickolas finally turned to him and spoke.
“You are correct in saying that I once lived in a closed society. I have seen many men with similar talents and none was worthy of consideration, let alone respect. What did Jesus say?
‘Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.’
Nickolas continued to address him.
“Do you know the 7 traits of a false teacher?”
The General stepped back. Here was the number 7 again.
Nickolas announced them.
1. Different source – True teachers don’t follow cleverly invented stories.
2. Different message – False teachers talk about how THEY can change our lives.
3. Different position – The true believers escape corruption, but the counterfeit believer is mastered by it.
4. Different character – The ‘false teacher’ is marked by arrogance and slander.
5. Different appeal – The true teacher refers to scripture by asking what God said in His word while the false teacher tells you what you want to hear.
6. Different fruit – False teachers promise much but produce little.
Nickolas concluded by pointing a finger at the General.
7. Different end – We will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom but your condemnation has long been hanging over your head and your destruction has not been sleeping.
Nickolas concluded.
“You sir represent everything we believe to be evil in this world and your attempts to quote scripture are as empty as those of Satan when he tempted our Lord in the desert for 40 days.”
With those words, Alfred went into a rage and threw his bible across the room while leaning into his ear and shouting.
“How dare you accuse me of blasphemy you puppet of Satan! I’ve done nothing but treat you and your people with respect and you refuse my offer? I should kill you where you sit!”
He yanked the back of Nickolas’s cha
ir, causing him to extend his legs in an effort to keep his balance and as he tilted backward, he looked up to see the rage in Alfred’s eyes as he was grabbed by the throat and pinned to the ground.
“You bastard. You think you’re so superior? Prove to me that God put you in charge of SM1! You can’t; can you! You have nothing but words and belief in some unseen body that nobody’s seen in over 2000 years and I’m supposed to believe that your way is the right way? Show me some sign of your great power! Convince me of your divine charge and I’ll let you go.”
He relaxed his grip and stood back while straightening his jacket. Nickolas turned onto his knees and coughed as he caught his breath. He struggled to say the words:
“It is written: Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”
The General stood his ground.
“Now understand this. I have the power to free you. I have the power to give you SM1 or anything else you desire. If you can’t do it for yourself, do it for your friends. They would do the same for you.”
Nickolas stood tall and reacted to his offer.
“Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”
General Taylor sat back in his chair and let out a long sigh.
“I’ve done everything possible to help you. If you won’t listen then I’ll go directly to your own people. As for me, I wash my hands of you and may God have mercy on your soul. Take him away!”
And with that they lead him to a small cell and shut the door. He was now alone and in darkness - and with nothing else to do. He prayed.
ALONE
Nickolas contemplated his position in the dark of the cell. It had been 24 hours with nothing to eat or drink and his stomach grumbled at the slightest movement. He thought about Admiral Byrd who was the first person to spend the winter (inland) on the continent of Antarctica. Sitting in a box; cut into the snow, the darkness of winter overcame his senses and when he opened his eyes to the world around him, they revealed wonders beyond imagination.
As he remembered the words from the Admiral’s book entitled “Alone”, they filled his mind once again.
“Each day more light drains from the sky. The storm-blue bulge of darkness pushing out from the South Pole is now nearly overhead at noon. The sun rose this morning at 9:30 o’clock, but never really left the horizon. Huge and red and solemn, it rolled like a wheel along the Barrier edge…gradually sinking past it until nothing was left but a blood-red incandescence…”
It reminded him of Proxima b, named after the red dwarf star it circled. That same star; huge and red and solemn called to him from his cell and sitting in the darkness, it reminded him of his time on that planet, where night ruled like a thick curtain of blackness, never released its grip upon the day. Only by viewing that landscape through the eyes of an ultra-violet mask did he marvel at the incredible beauty of that alien landscape.
The violets and purples, the deep blues and the crimson reds exploded into his memory and while Admiral Byrd had an entire continent to himself, he had an entire world. The only other person who could make that claim was Adam. For he was the first man and for a time, the only person on the entire sphere of the Earth. How he must have marveled at God’s creation and all the things that made up that beautiful Garden of Eden. And like himself, he craved a helper to tend to the plants, just as Jillian planned to do on this new world. If they ever made it to the new world.
Right now things didn’t look that bright. In fact, they were downright dark and he wondered if his faith had been misplaced. Perhaps 40 years had clouded his judgement but if so, why was he so driven; and what miracle could he point to in his life that might prove or disprove his faith. He still understood that there were two truths. Those who denied him were “without excuse” for suppressing what He had already revealed. Romans 1: 18-21 said.
“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts darkened.”
Darkened. An appropriate word for his circumstances. He pondered these words as they were confusing and complex. He tried to apply logic to his assumptions. The universe itself was on display for all to see. He reasoned that if there was nothing outside the material universe, then there should be nothing to cause the universe to change. But it did change. Therefore there must be something in addition to the material universe. The universe was the sum total of all matter, space and time and since these three things were dependent upon each other, then anything outside the universe was outside matter, space and time. So in conclusion, whatever was outside of the universe was not an unchanging thing, but an unchanging Source of change. In essence God.
He wondered what strange thoughts went through Admiral Byrd’s head as he sat alone in that hut as the wind blew and the cold frosted the walls of his room. Did his mind wander and did he long to become one with the polar extremes? The words of Admiral Byrd flowed from his conscience mind like water.
“I paused to listen to the silence. My breath, crystallized as it passed my cheeks, drifted on a breeze gentler than a whisper. The wind vane pointed toward the South Pole. Presently the wind cups ceased their gentle turning as the cold killed the breeze. My frozen breath hung like a cloud overhead. The day was dying, the night being born — but with great peace. Here were the imponderable processes and forces of the cosmos, harmonious and soundless. Harmony, that was it! That was what came out of the silence — a gentle rhythm, the strain of a perfect chord, the music of the spheres, perhaps.
It was enough to catch that rhythm, momentarily to be myself a part of it. In that instant I could feel no doubt of man's oneness with the universe. The conviction came that the rhythm was too orderly, too harmonious, too perfect to be a product of blind chance — that, therefore, there must be purpose in the whole and that man was part of that whole and not an accidental offshoot. It was a feeling that transcended reason; that went to the heart of man's despair and found it groundless. The universe was a cosmos, not a chaos; man was rightfully a part of that cosmos as were the day and night.”
It was those words that moved him the most. It was the way he felt when he walked along that beach and gazed upon the open plains of Proxima b. He was part of something grand and honorable. A source of order in an unordered world and while there were those who saw the process as random chance, the nature of his existence was born of everything he could see and feel. He wasn’t outside looking in, but inside looking out and part of the whole of creation. It was this feeling that resonated within him and that resonance was the voice of God making claim to the whole of creation. How could any man deny that gentle whisper and not be moved to belief. For if his eternal power and divine nature had been clearly seen, being understood from what had been made, then man had no excuse. He could either glorify Him or not, but being ignorant of His existence was no excuse because God had already made His existence plain to them.
So when he understood that the General had as much proof as himself, there remained only two choices. A choice to believe or a choice to suppress. There was nothing in the middle. Evangelism was simply a method of helping people understand the source of that small, still voice and not a mission to prove the divine reality. This could only occur when we stood in His presence on that fateful day. And then God would either accept or suppress. This was the sacred tragedy of truth and he fully accepted that truth in all aspects of his life. And so he considered himself worthy to be imprisoned and tested and only hoped to be faithful, even unto death itself.
Moving his knees to his chest, he wrapped his arms aro
und his legs and shivered. It was cold and with no wrap to hold the heat, he struggled to maintain his strength. Time was irrelevant and each minute seemed like an hour, so he kept his mind busy by applying logic to his situation and that of his friends. But his wisdom was foolishness and while he wanted to control the situation, it wasn’t possible. He could only depend upon that voice within his soul, shouting out to him with a deafening silence that left him exposed and vulnerable for the first time in years. It was here that he finally felt as one with his Father and why he finally understood how Jesus could sweat blood in the garden of Gethsemane.
To allow that voice to surface was to experience the Earth shaking or the wind blowing and in his meditative state he forgot the cold, the hunger and the pain and instead wrapped himself in the love of his Savior, falling into a deep state of bliss until a small noise caught his attention. Turning toward the entrance, he saw that a small piece of folded paper had been slipped under the bottom of the door. Reaching for it, he rolled it in his fingers, trying to determine what is was and then it occurred to him that it might be a message.
So opening the page, he crawled on his hands and knees, getting as close to the gap in the door as possible and using that small trickle of light, permeating his gloom, he read the words inscribed on the paper.
“I’m on your side. Be patient and wait for my return. I’m coming back for you. I promise.”
His hands trembled as he read the words. He shouted.
“Who are you? Wait. Come back! Talk to me!”
But nobody responded and so he listened closely for any hint of noise, but hearing nothing, he talked to himself.
“If you’re out there. I know you mean well. Do you have news of my friends? Do you know if someone will come for me soon? I could sure use some water and a blanket.”