by J A Bouma
The morning came quickly, a clear sky and ample sunlight greeting the two priests when they awoke.
Alexander stretched standing in the middle of a pool of water that had puddled overnight before a small window overlooking the barren island. There she was: Their rendezvous with the past.
He was startled by a thud at the door and a rattling of the handle. Soon, Father Jim entered bearing two large mugs of coffee.
“Good morning!” Father Jim said. Things may have come and gone with change over the centuries, but a good cup of morning joe wasn’t one of them.
“Ah, thank you, Padre.” He took the mug then promptly took a swig of the hot nectar, closing his eyes and humming with pleasure.
Father Jim sat at the edge of his bed and joined him in the simple pleasure. “How are you doing, my boy?”
Alexander sat down on his own bed and held the mug, looking down at the floor with a peaceful smile. “Surprisingly good. I mean, as good as anyone could expect before jumping headlong back in time.”
“Just think, though, you’re doing what no living creature has done before!”
“And that’s what scares the heck out of me!”
“Sasha will take good care of you, I’m sure. Now, let’s get to work. Where’s that belt?”
The two set down their mugs and fished out the sensory receptor cap and time travel device in the case stowed safely under Alexander’s bed.
Alexander placed it on his lap, opened it, and shook his head at the sight, at the sheer preposterousness of what he was being asked to embark on.
What he was in fact hours away from embarking on!
Suddenly, a thirst began to well up within him for his narcowafers. An ache so strong from the weight of it all crashed into him that he thought he would topple right over the side of the bed onto the wet, soggy floor of the hostel sitting on the godforsaken hunk of rocks. His hand started tingling as doubt started cascading over him.
What the heck am I thinking? I’m not made for this. For racing across seas and continents—much less through time!—chasing the proverbial unicorn that will save Ichthus from the clutches of ultramodernity. Who do I think I am? Nothing but a simple parish priest of a backwoods town in a forgotten corner of the Republic, that’s who. And a badly broken and bad priest at that!
No, worse: a Doubting Thomas that played dress up, hanging onto life by his fingernails with the help of translucent wafers, strung along from one day to the next by the burst of a narcotic high that kept him from plunging into the depths of despair and doing what he had nearly done a year ago.
Joining his father in ending it all.
A tremor overtook him, ricocheting through his hands to the box he was still holding on his lap. He closed his eyes and took a breath, then crossed himself and said, “So where should we go to do this? I’m thinking it wouldn’t be good if people from our world saw me disappear. Nor would it be good if I reappeared in someone’s kitchen.”
Father Jim snorted a chuckle. “I suppose not! I’d say a field, away from the town but walkable would be the best bet. For centuries, the island has been mostly a barren wasteland, and it wasn’t widely settled but for the defensive acropolis built upon it in the 3rd century which later housed a Roman guard. But that occupation led to the island’s decline where it was used as a place of exile. I don’t think you’ll have any problem running into anyone—”
“Except a Roman guard!” Alexander interrupted.
“Maybe, but I’d imagine they’d assume you were banished to the island along with the others. You should…I don’t know how to say it…beam out now? Time travel or jump phases? Whatever you’ll be doing, you should do it near Saint John’s cave, which is still marked as a holy site. You’ll have a greater chance of finding him if you head toward his dwelling where tradition says he received God’s revelation about the apocalypse. Oh my, how exciting, Alex! I wish I were going, I really wish I wasn’t an old bag of bones…”
Alexander closed the box and placed it next to him on the bed. He stood and placed a hand on his mentor’s shoulder. “Father, I couldn’t be doing this if it wasn’t for your encouragement and support…you old bag of bones!”
They both laughed. Father Jim stood, and they embraced in the middle of their soggy room before heading out into the hot morning.
The Aegean air was thick with salt and fish, a humid cloud hovering over the island made worse by the clear skies and high sun. They set off from the hotel toward the Cave of the Apocalypse as it was locally known.
For nearly a millennium, the Monastery of Saint John the Theologian marked the spot as a sort of shrine to where tradition had John the Seer holed up while he received the word from the Lord concerning the end of the world, which he then wrote down and which led to the last book of the Bible, the Book of Revelation.
A recently re-paved road led the way through the normally rocky terrain that looked more like a martian planet than a Mediterranean island. It’s no wonder it became a place of exile, barrenness begat barrenness with only a few housing complexes of steel and concrete clumped together near the town. The rest was a light brown and green mess of colors splashed against the deep blue of the Aegean.
They walked in silence as they passed the local town folk, not receiving so much as a glance or nod. It wouldn’t have been unusual for two unknown Ichthus priests to stroll through town, especially toward the cave. As they neared, Father Jim spotted a clearing a half mile east down away from the spot where John had received his vision. It was far enough away from prying eyes, providing the perfect spot to jump from the present phase to the past. There was no path, however, and a steep incline nearly cost Father Jim his life as he slipped on his way down the rocky, putty colored hill into the gully that would serve as Alexander’s launching pad. When they reached the bottom, they were drenched in sweat from the afternoon sun. They eyed the surrounding hills to make sure they were alone before pulling out the two items they hoped would save the Church.
“Let me help you with that, Alex.” Father Jim fastened the cap onto Alex’s skull, pressing the top button when he was finished. Five tentacles sprang from beneath to attach to his head. What happened next unnerved Alexander.
His vision dimmed for a moment, his hearing following the same pattern as the cap connected to the synapses of his oral and aural brain neurons.
“How does that feel?” Father Jim asked.
Alexander squinted and shook his head, then turned it from side to side. “Alright. But I feel like there’s some sort of delay in my vision and hearing.” He wobbled his head again. “It’s slight, but it’s funny. Like I’m in a dinghy on the Mediterranean. Some sort of vertigo sensation.”
“Probably the microchip recording your immersive experience. Let’s get the belt on you. Here you go.”
Alexander fastened the time transport belt around his waist, then engaged the screen situated on the front while Father Jim used his mobile device to phone Sasha on speaker.
“It’s about time you be calling me.” Sasha complained with worry. “I was thinking you were drowned in the Aegean!”
“Thanks for the concern, friend,” Alexander said to the scowling image of Dr. Pavlovich on the face of Father Jim’s mobile. “You ready to make history?”
“Am I ready? Are you Ponce de Leon?”
Ponce de leon? Alexander mouthed to Father Jim. He shrugged.
“You know, the ancient España explorer. Oh, never mind. Did you engage the time transport device?”
“The little screen is on and there’s a green…something. It looks Cyrillic.” The word идти was staring back at Alexander.
“Yes, it is probably being the word for Go. This is meaning that you are ready to jump phases.”
Alexander’s heart leapt then dropped to his stomach, anxiety beginning to course through his veins. He started breathing heavier as his pulse started picking up pace, realizing this was it, the moment of truth. He was either going to jump the present phase to the past phase o
f the early Church—or end up a scrambled mass of atoms and molecules at the floor of Patmos.
“So what’s next?” Alexander said, his mouth running dry from the sun and his nerves.
Sasha said, “We need to set the time coordinate. What phase you be going to?”
Alexander looked to Father Jim for help.
“Sasha, most scholars put the apostle John on Patmos receiving his vision at AD 95.”
“Ooh-kee-doh-kee, Padre. I just set the coordinates for AD 95. That big green Ukrainski word should be flashing now.”
Alexander looked down to see that the Cyrillic word for Go was flashing green. “It is. Now what?”
“Press it. And then hold on for the ride of your life, my friend.”
Alexander’s gut twisted with anticipation. His frayed nerves were beginning to hum with excitement now for what he was about to embark on. And a peace began to descend upon him as his fingers flexed in readiness to take the red pill, jumping feet first through the looking glass of the Ichthus’s past.
“Father Zarruq,” Father Jim said, “are you ready?”
“For Christ and his Church’s sake, I hope so.”
“Before you go, take this.” Father Jim took off a cream-colored cloak he had been wearing for the journey. He placed it around Alexander’s shoulders. “Now you look the part of an exiled Roman! May the Lord be with you, child.”
Alexander nodded and the two embraced.
Then he closed his eyes, heaved a breath, jammed his finger on the flashing screen, clenched his jaw, and waited for the journey that would take him where no human had yet gone.
Chapter 17
Island of Patmos, AD 95.
All at once, Alexander’s body began vibrating in long, undulating waves, the sensation warm and fluid, like being thrust into a simmering jacuzzi while a live wire was thrust inside. The sensation was positively delightful and all at once maddening!
As he zoomed through time, every one of his molecules humming, set on edge by the electromagnetic force field. He felt every fiber of his being tingling with static shock, as if walking across the carpet in wool socks and kicking up a charge that reverberated across his body. The feeling was more superb than he could have dreamt!
Then there was the smell, as inviting and electrifying. It reminded him of the moment right after a midsummer Tripolitanian storm, when the Mediterranean air was charged by spiderwebbey streaks of lightning, sweet yet salty. It was also bright, like a nuclear explosion had detonated around him. The words of Oppenheimer, after witnessing the first artificial nuclear explosion from the twentieth century, popped into his head: ‘If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the mighty one.’ He squeezed his eyes closed as he vibrated and tingled from the present to the past, wondering if he’d go blind from time’s movement.
Then all at once it stopped, as suddenly as it started. No more tingling, no more warm fluidity, no more static scent of thunderstorms, no more blinding luminescence.
Was he dead? For a brief moment, Alexander thought he was, his atoms ending up in a rearranged pile of goop as Sasha had jokingly warned. It was dark, and the distinct smell of burning Tamarisk trees wafted through his nostrils.
Had Father Zarruq died and gone to hell?
Alexander snapped his eyes open in wild-eyed panic, heaving heavy breaths for relief and searching for any sign of familiarity.
He was standing in a clearing at the bottom of a basin in the middle of the night. He recognized the same bland soil and small shrubs from what seemed like a few seconds ago, yet there was no Father Jim. Instinctively, he snapped his hands to his chest and began racing them across his body, feeling his arms and legs to make sure they were alive, still there—still where they were supposed to be. His eyes followed his arm’s movement to reconfirm visually what they were telling him.
He had made it—and in one piece!
He spun around to take in his surroundings, the gravity of the moment sinking in deeper and a euphoric high rivaling anything those narcowafers could muster coursed through him.
Father Alexander Zarruq had just traveled through time—from AD 2123 to AD 95!
He let out a drunken giggle at the thought of it all, then took in a deep breath and huffed it back out. He drew in more air and exhaled it in several violent fits, his mind and body reacting to the fact of the destination as much as the reality of the journey.
“Holy moly, I did it...” Alexander huffed, mouth turning upward in a wide grin while continuing to take in air and sigh it out through his gaping mouth. “Thank the Lord I did it!”
He did a little jig of thanksgiving before hunching over and bracing himself with outstretched arms on his knees. Then he arched his back and began taking in his surroundings.
It was difficult to discern under the darkened sky, but he could tell the world he had jumped into was much more barren than the one he had just left. In the distance, he saw the island’s fortified, walled acropolis dimly lit by small torches with a long trail of smoke rising from its main dwelling. His mouth watered and stomach rumbled in protest at the scent of burned wood and grilled meat carried along by a gentle breeze.
He was surprised it was nighttime, since he had left the future in the middle of the day. But what did he know? Figured there was a mystery about it with the time-space continuum. Or the space-time continuum, as Sasha would surely have corrected him.
He grinned and chuckled at the thought of his friend. “You did it, ol’ chap. You did it…”
He shook his head at the craziness of it all, then grabbed hold of the time belt to check for damage. It looked alright, the indicator panel flashing green—which he took that everything was good to go. He carefully removed it and looked for a place to stow it until his return back to his home phase.
A large, gnarly tree caught his attention a few yards away. It stood alone, guarding the parched basin like the fortified acropolis in the distance. It would make for a perfect hiding spot and would be easy to find when he needed to return to the real world. He searched around the tree’s base and found a series of intertwined roots that had been exposed as the surrounding soil washed away, creating the perfect cell for his items.
Alexander removed his shoes and stashed them with the belt, then ruffled up his hair and splashed dirt on his clothes, trying to play the part of an exiled Roman prisoner. Before he left, he glanced over himself again to make sure there wasn’t anything else he was wearing that would draw suspicion from a first-century apostle of Jesus, or a Roman soldier for that matter.
Satisfied, he drew the cloak Father Jim had given him over his head to hide the most important piece he was still wearing from the future world: the neural sensory recording device to capture his immersive experience. He prayed it was still functioning, or else his trip would be for naught. And since he couldn’t see it, he had to trust the Lord for the rest of his mission, that he would be able to retrieve part of the Church’s faith from Ichthus’s past in order to encourage and correct the Church of the future.
He sucked in a steadying breath and crossed himself, then set off toward where he remembered the Cave of the Apocalypse sitting.
The moon was full and bright, casting an eerie but welcomed glow over the countryside. The midnight air was dead, no sounds from people, animals, or otherwise could be heard. Which was quite fine for Alexander. Though Sasha said it didn’t matter who he ran into, he was skeptical that the space-time continuum wouldn’t be altered. Better that he not run into anyone needlessly; better safe than sorry.
After scrambling up the face of the hill, he started down a narrow footpath across the barren terrain into a small forest toward the cave. Adrenaline coursed through his body, keeping him alert to any sounds or sights, as minor as they might be. Moonlight filtered in through the leaves and branches of the trees, casting eerie shadows across the—
A rustling caught his attention off to his right.
He froze, standi
ng mid-step, arms outstretched for balance. He strained to see or hear the source, but the visual and aural sensations from before the jump back in time messed with his head.
Then moonlight caught a large furry creature rushing past his path, trying to evade the predator that had invaded his territory.
Alexander sighed and relaxed his pose, relieved it wasn’t another exiled prisoner—or worse.
He continued down the path trying to remember where his destination had been, his eyes and ears primed for anything else that might come his way.
His attention was drawn to the right, down another hidden path that curved toward what looked like a grouping of boulders. He realized they were part of a larger hill that was obscured by some larger trees. A glow emanated and pulsed from within. Slight sounds bounced off of the trees from behind the boulders.
This could be it...
He drew closer, casting a glance over his shoulder and eyeing the surrounding trees as he padded forward ever so carefully, so as not to make any noise and disturb the forces of time.
As he drew closer, he stopped short when he heard what sounded like a male voice.
“Look, I am coming soon!” Alexander heard from what seemed like the cave. “My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”
His eyes widened with disbelief; a grin tugged at the corners of his mouth with recognition.
Alexander had heard and read that line countless times before. It was from the Book of Revelation! Was that the apostle John? The angel Jesus sent to him? Christ himself?
He stood still, his throat growing thick with emotion at the realization he was hearing the original moments where the Word of God was revealed, being spoken before his very futuristic ears!
“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches,” the voice continued. “I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”