The Nathan Daniels Saga: Part 1

by Sam Lippert

  CHAPTER IV

  The next morning, when Captain Daniels entered the galley, he found Remi and Omany already nursing cups of coffee. He poured himself a cup and sat at the table with them.

  “What do you know about Jesus?” He asked Remi.

  “According to legend he was born in the year zero, a prophet, claimed by some to be the son of...”

  “Not the man,” Nathan cut her off. “The planet.”

  “Shortly after the religious wars on Earth, a small desert-like planet was colonized by a group of fundamentalist Christians. The idea was to build a society around life at the time of Jesus. They abandoned technology and established primitive communities in an area around a small sea they named Galilee. I believe they even reverted to practicing the basic tenets of the Jewish faith.” Remi looked at Nathan. He got lost in those eyes for a moment.

  “Roughly a generation after their colony was established something truly remarkable happened.” Nathan took a sip of his coffee before continuing. “A young girl by the name of Mary, who was betrothed to a carpenter by the name of Joseph, gave birth to a son in the stable in the town of Bethlehem. This child grew up, became a great teacher, was betrayed by one of his followers and was eventually crucified.” Nathan took another sip. There was a look of total disbelief on Remi's face.

  “But, t-t-that's...” she stammered.

  “Impossible?” Nathan asked. Remi nodded. “No,” he continued. “Here's the impossible part. Every one hundred years it happens again!”

  Remi's coffee literally fell from her hands. She looked to Omany for confirmation.

  “I have heard of this story many times, my Princess,” the old man said. “But never have I seen proof of this claim. The story always comes third or fourth hand. Mostly because no one really knows where this planet is. There is record of the colony being established, but that is all.”

  “Five years ago, when I was leaving Rhadasia, I was attacked by pirates as I approached my null-point. The attack threw off my vector, but I engaged FTL anyway, because I had to get away. A day and a half later I was pulled out of FTL by a gravity well. I found myself approaching a small desert world orbiting a yellow star. I landed to check it out. Before I left, I found myself listening intently to a young man by the name of Jesus as he began his ministry.” Nathan stopped again, taking another sip of coffee.

  “That means...” Remi began, with the beginning of understanding in her eyes.

  “Exactly! It should be close to the end of his ministry. Hopefully we'll arrive just after he's arrived in Jerusalem.”

  “Okay... But, where's the profit in it?”

  “We have in our hold the best sandals in this part of the galaxy. Sandals are the footwear of choice on Jesus, and believe me, these are better than anything produced there. They even put to shame those worn by the Romans.” Nathan walked over and poured himself some more coffee.

  “So, we sell sandals to the locals and end up with a bunch of local currency. You can bet they don't use galactic credits! So, what do we lift with?” Remi asked, freshening her own coffee.

  “Religious artifacts, Princess,” Nathan responded. “The Holy Grail, the Crown of Thorns, the spear that pierced Jesus' side, the clothing the Roman guards cast lots for. Hell, maybe even the cross itself!”

  “And what do you do with them once you have them?” Remi asked.

  “I took care of that five years ago.” Nathan smiled. “One hundred grand per artifact. I'll leave it as an exercise for the student where we'll be taking them.” Nathan drained his coffee and put the cup in the dishwasher. He headed to he control room to calculate the jump to Jesus.

  Two days later, they were in orbit. Nathan held the orbit tight and fast, so he could do reconnaissance and find an out of the way place to land.

  “Okay, smart guy,” Remi said as she strapped into the copilot seat. “How do we hide the ship? This will stick out like a sore thumb on a planet like Jesus.”

  Daniels dialed a knob and flipped a switch. The view through the front window looked to be obscured by sand.

  “Holographic projectors,” Nathan said. “From the outside, right now, we look like a big flying sand dune!” He grinned, thumbing the control back off. “we'll land at night, so anyone seeing us come in will think we are nothing more than a shooting star.”

  “And what about clothes?” Remi asked.

  “Omany will be fine in what he usually wears. For us, I picked up a little something while we were on Rhadasia. We'll fit right in.”

  “What's the rest of the plan?"

  “We'll set up shop in Jerusalem's marketplace. Being beardless, and with my complexion, it will be assumed that I am a Roman. You will be, as is roughly the case, a woman in my employ.” Nathan paused, and a smile crept across his face. “Unless you'd rather be a slave?” He needled. “We will sell our sandals, gathering as many Denari as possible. We'll also listen to the gossip among the people in the market to get an idea of what's going on. When the time is right, we will make our move.”

  When night fell on the city of Jerusalem, they brought the Nola in for a landing and engaged the hologram.

  The next morning, dressed as locals, they realized they had a problem.

  “How are we going to get the sandals into town?” Remi asked. The sandals were packed in crates of fifty.

  “Together Omany and I can carry one of these into town, no problem!” Nathan replied.

  “That will look conspicuous as hell!” Remi countered. “If we're supposed to be merchants from out of town, we would have a pack animal of some sort!”

  “You're right,” Nathan sighed. He glanced around the hold. The crew had opened one of the crates to obtain sandals to go with their linen robes. He reached in and removed a half-dozen pair of the excellent footwear.

  “I saw a farm not too far from here when I was landing, or at least what appeared to be one. Let me go see what I can accomplish.” He headed out in the direction of the farm.

  An hour later he was back with a donkey.

  “Don't tell me you bought a donkey with 6 pairs of sandals!” Remi said, astounded.

  “Nope,” Nathan replied, “But I did rent her for a week, and got food for her as well.” The donkey was carrying two large bales of straw, which Nathan unstrapped and hid behind the hologram. Remi went inside and got a large pail of water, while Daniels and Omany strapped two crates of sandals onto the donkey. When Remi returned they let the donkey drink its fill, and headed out for the one mile walk to Jerusalem.

  When they reached the marketplace, they found an empty stall, tied up the donkey, and set up shop. They did a decent business during what was left of the morning, and by midday paid a few Denari to feed both themselves and the donkey. They heard rumors throughout the day that Jesus was teaching in Jerusalem, but nothing firm about where he could be found. By the end of the day, word had gotten around about their sandals, and the area in front of their stall was mobbed. They doubled their asking price and still the crowd was not deterred. By the end of the day, they were out of stock, and had quite a large bag of Denari.

  They headed back to the ship, tied the donkey to one of the landing pads, where it would stay behind the hologram, and put its straw and water within reach. They then retired to the ship for the night.

  * * *

  The next morning they loaded their borrowed donkey up with two more crates and made their way back into the market place.

  When they arrived, there was already a mob of customers waiting for them. They started selling the sandals at triple their original price, and still they sold as fast as they could pull them out of the crates.

  Just after midday the crowds started to die off a little. They were down to twenty sandals left, when there were sounds of a commotion at the Temple, just outside the marketplace. Sounds of coins flying and angry words could be heard above the normal din of the market.

  “Bingo!” Nathan said. “I'm going to go tail Jesus and his followers. We need to know where t
hey are staying so that when the time comes we can follow them to the passover meal. Otherwise, we will miss our shot at the grail. After that, keeping up with them will be easy.” More crashes from the direction of the temple. “Once you have sold out, head back to the ship, I will meet you there.”

  With that, Nathan departed, pushing his way through the crowd heading for the temple. As Nathan headed to the temple he reached into the pouch he had on his belt. Inside was a sub-dermal tracker. It was a tracking device that could be implanted just under the skin. Once activated it would broadcast for seventy-two hours, allowing him to track whoever it was on. He needed to find a way to implant the device on Jesus or one of the apostles. It was the only way he would be able to know what house the last supper would take place in.

  The tracking device had a small airgun with it. The manufacturer stated it was accurate to thirty meters. Actual implantation was supposed to feel like nothing more than an insect bite.

  Nathan neared the entrance of the Temple and he saw Jesus and his entourage emerging. He was worried about implanting the device on Jesus, in case he was somehow able to tell what was going on. One of the apostles would be a better bet, with Judas Iscariot being his ideal choice. He had to get close enough to be able to identify his target, but remain far enough away so as not to be conspicuous.

  Daniels followed the group through the city, staying at the fringes of the crowd. He noticed that even with the ebb and flow of the crowd, there was a core of people around Jesus that remained the same. Obviously, some segment of the group was made up of the apostles, but there seemed to be more than those twelve men. There was one woman who remained always close to the teacher, obviously this was Mary Magdalene. She would be a good choice for the tracker, but there was no historical evidence that she was at the Last Supper.

  Nathan thought about his options. He could tag Jesus with the tracker and take the chance that it wouldn't work. He could tag Mary, and run the risk that she wasn't at the last supper. He could tag one of the other men, hoping he actually hit an apostle. All in all he felt the best plan was to plant the tracker on Mary. Even if she wasn't present at the last supper, she would likely stay with Jesus right up to the last minute.

  Now it was just a matter of lining up the shot. He continued to follow the group and as they headed up a rise he saw his chance. He took aim with the little gun and 'pop', let the tiny tracker fly. He was rewarded by seeing her swat at her arm as if swatting away an insect. Mission accomplished.

  That night, back at the Nola, Nathan activated the tracker and zeroed it in on one of the ship's view-screens, with an overlay of the area they had mapped on the way down. He smiled and went to the galley for dinner. Things were in good shape. Time for another excellent meal prepared by Omany.

  “Everything is on track,” Nathan said. “Tomorrow is Wednesday, by the local calendar and Passover starts at sundown on Thursday. We should be sold out of sandals, with plenty of local currency, just in time. With the tracker planted on Mary Magdalene, we'll have three days of treasure hunting before anyone knows what the stuff is worth. We'll also have front row seats for one of the more interesting events in the galaxy.”

  Wednesday passed uneventfully for the crew of three. They finished selling their sandals and had bags and bags of Roman Denari. Nathan kept Remi up late in anticipation of the late night they would have the following evening. He wanted them both to be able to sleep in the next day. By the time they went to sleep, the sun was just starting to peak over the horizon.

  * * *

  They awoke, well rested, early Thursday afternoon and gathered for a large meal in the galley before heading out.

  “The next couple of days are going to be quite intense," Nathan reminded his crew. "We need to follow Jesus as discreetly as possible while collecting the artifacts. We have enough coin to pay what we need to in order to get them, as long as we are careful and don't drive the prices up because of our interest. Once we have an artifact one of us brings it back to the ship, that way if we run into trouble, we can lift off as quickly as possible.”

  “How are we going to prove the authenticity of these items?” Remi asked. “I have been wondering about that for days.”

  “I’m glad you asked,” Nathan responded. He sat a small case on the table and opened it. Inside were three pieces of jewelry, appropriate for the culture. He passed them out. “These are video and audio recording devices. They transmit directly back here to the Nola. Everything we see or hear for the next three days will be recorded.” Nathan pinned his on and the others followed suit. “The record will not only serve to demonstrate the authenticity of our collection but will also be worth something in and of itself.”

  Next, he passed out small bags of Denari. “Each time you return to the ship with an artifact, get more coin. We don't want too tempting of a target for thieves.”

  “We will likely be splitting up and having to regroup throughout the next couple of days. These devices will aid us in doing that.” Nathan turned on a nearby view-screen “Each camera device also acts as a locator beacon, and shows as a blue dot on the screen. Each signal is unique and allows our dots to be labeled.” Remini looked at the screen. There was a large blue dot that appeared to have the labels R, O, and N. Some distance away from the blue dot was a red dot labeled M. There was a map overlay, with the city labeled. The red dot was on the far side of the city from the blue dot. There were keys that allowed the user to pan, zoom, and scroll the display. “Because of the current zoom setting our data overlap, and are labeled with only our first initial. The red dot is Mary Magdalene. As you can see we have a bit of a hike ahead of us. Any questions before we head out?”

  “What exactly are we trying to get?” Remi asked.

  “There are two criteria. First, anything that is explicitly mentioned in the Christian Bible. Second, anything that directly interacts with Jesus, as long as you've captured a record of that interaction.” With that the small group headed out to their rendezvous with the band of soon-to-be Christians.

  After the long trek to the other side of the city, the crew of the Nola took up a position a discreet distance away from the group. They did not attempt to hide, but rather worked to blend in, because, as usual there was a large crowd around the teacher.

  They didn't have to wait long. Shortly after they arrived, several of Jesus' followers, including Mary, had a brief discussion with him, then departed, heading for the city.

  “Those would be the people going to prepare the passover meal,” Nathan informed Omany and Remi. “You two stay here and keep your eye on this group. I’m going to follow them.”

  Nathan followed Mary and the small group of apostles through the city, until they came to an old man carrying a pail of water. After a short discussion, the man led them to his home. Nathan followed.

  After spending a few minutes inside with his new guests, the man reemerged, still carrying his pail which was now empty. Nathan approached the man.

  “kind sir,” Nathan said, taking his bag of coins in his hands. “I am in need of a fine pail, such as that. I will give you seven denari for it.”

  The old man's eyes lit up. Seven denari was quite a deal for the old pail. Seeing that a deal had been made, Nathan counted out the coins and exchanged them for the pail.

  “I'll have another ten denari for you if you bring me the teacher's cup after the meal is finished,” Nathan told the old man. The excited man agreed and Nathan headed back to the Nola with his newly acquired pail, after arranging a time and place to receive the grail.

  Once the pail was safely stowed in the cargo bay, Daniels refilled his pouch of coins and set out to meet up with Omany and Remi. Glancing at the locating device, he noticed that they were still where he had left them.

  “It's a wonder Judas was needed to betray him,” Nathan thought. “He stays in one spot so much! Then again, with the crowd that always is around him, it would be difficult to arrest him with anything less than a legion! They must have needed Judas
to give them a time when the group around him would be small.

  Nathan reunited with his comrades just under an hour after he left the ship.

  “Well, I acquired a pail,” Nathan told them as he approached.

  “A pail?” Remi said quizzically.

  “Yes,” Nathan replied. “When he was asked where they should prepare the Passover meal, Jesus sent his followers into town to find a man carrying a pail of water. The apostles were told that this man would allow use of his house for the meal.”

  “And you were able to buy the pail?”

  “Absolutely!” was the captain's response. “What has been going on here?”

  “Mostly he's been teaching all afternoon,” Remi replied. “Other than the group you followed, no one has left.”

  “Except,” Omany countered. “There was the one fellow, he was obviously part of the inner circle. He slowly made his way out to the edge of the crowd, then departed toward the city.”

  “I didn't even notice that!” The Princess confessed.

  “He was very slow and subtle in his movements,” Omany explained. "It was obvious to me that he did not want to be noticed leaving. I did not follow him, because I deduced who he was and realized that we would gain nothing of value from his exploits today.”

  “Who was he?” Remi asked.

  “Judas Iscariot,” Nathan replied. “Off to set up his deal to hand Jesus over to the Pharisees. You were right, old man, no point in following him. Today anyway.”

  “I see him now, returning,” Omany nodded slightly in the direction of a lone man heading for the group.

  “Yes, that makes sense,” Nathan offered. “He has to be back here in time to go into the city with Jesus, otherwise he wouldn't know where to go for the meal.”

  Shortly after Judas returned, the teacher excused himself from the crowd and headed to the city. The sun was sinking in the sky, leaving the smaller group just enough time to venture to the proper location before sunset. The crew of the Nola followed at a discreet distance, hoping to remain unnoticed.