Alien Of Our Own
Page 3
Fortunately, the little couple seemed to realize exactly what was going and immediately prepared to help Juna give birth. Unable to move anything below the neck of his mangled body, Elexander watched in silent awe as his wife brought forth their child. A male child.
A son! I knew it was a boy. Elexander rejoiced on the inside, despite the pain ricocheting through his body. A bright smile rested upon his face on the outside, though it grew dimmer as his heartbeat and breathing began to slow.
Elexander felt so many things in this moment, but the most prevalent feeling of all was peace. Peace like the kind he felt when he gave his life to Christ at the altar all those years ago. For now, Elexander was just so grateful that he’d survived the crash long enough to see his child be born.
And what a child it was, too. The boy’s lungs sounded strong, his color was good, and he was well-formed. Obviously the Nico-1 water that Juna had been consuming in small portions over the last three months had strengthened the child’s immune system just as they thought it would.
Thank You, Lord, Elexander prayed as the peace that surpasses all understanding[i] enveloped him more fully this time.
Suddenly he had feeling in his lower limbs again, except these limbs were not those of the flesh. They were his spirit legs, which had been liberated from the natural ones. Oh what freedom!
Juna, you won’t believe how good I feel right now! Elexander said excitedly, unaware that his voice could not be heard with her natural ears. Nor could Juna yet see him in his spirit form.
Just then, the alien couple paused and turned to look at Elexander. Their faces were knowing. He wasn’t sure if they had heard him, but he was definitely sure they could see him. Why else would they both be smiling and nodding at him with approval. But approval of what?
Suddenly Elexander glanced back at his wife. Now that her labor was over, she, too, seemed ready to slip out of her natural body. In fact, he could see her teetering between the two worlds. Yet for some reason, Juna would not allow herself to crossover until she had been understood by the little couple. Elexander could hear her potent words echoing in his soul now.
“Please take care of our baby,” Juna commissioned the violet woman, after witnessing Elexander take his last breath and close his eyes with a satisfied smile. Her voice was strong now out of sheer willpower, despite the foreign climate, despite her injuries and the fact that she’d just given birth.
“Xander is his name,” Juna continued, looking at and naming her now softly crying son as he lay upon her bosom. “Xander,” she repeated with emphasis, hoping and praying the little woman would catch on as she turned to stare intently at her again. Juna didn’t know how much longer she could hold onto this life when her spirit seemed so eager to go on to the next one.
“Xan…der,” Noam repeated, convinced that the woman was trying to tell her the child’s name. As the head linguist/interpreter of her planet, she was able to catch on quickly to the basic syllables of any foreign language, including this one.
“Yes, Xander. Xander, Xander, Xan…der…” Juna continued to repeat in weak pants until her lips moved no more and her eyes closed in eternal rest.
Suddenly the peace that surpasses all understanding enveloped her, as well. And just as suddenly, Juna could see her husband again. What a glorious sight Elexander was, too, complete with two luminous companions on either side of him.
Angels! Juna said as she took flight from her body and went over to Elexander and the very large beings with wings. At the same time, Noam received the baby safely into her arms, causing him to immediately stop crying in this pivotal moment.
Yes, Juna, they are angels, Elexander replied with a smile, so pleased that they could communicate again as they hugged each other in the spirit.
Still holding each other’s hands, Elexander and Juna then turned collectively to look at the little couple in their midst. They both smiled wider and then looked upwards in gratitude. A suitable set of parents had been selected to look after their son. The Mannings could leave now. All was well.
Then as Elexander and Juna were escorted heavenward[ii], the little couple talked amongst themselves.
“They were obviously righteous ones. I am very pleased about that,” Noam said, even now in awe of the bright light that had surrounded the human couple as they ascended. As she spoke, she wrapped the slippery baby in more pieces of cloth from her garments in order to ensure his security and comfort.
“Yes, I am pleased about that, as well. Had they not been righteous, you and I both know that darker forces would have come to retrieve them.” Ezra pressed another button on his wrist bracelet. This bracelet emitted a purple light that encompassed all three of them.
“But what about their bodies?” Noam asked as the light transformed into a protective cocoon about them. “We cannot just leave them out here like this.”
“We will not leave them out here for very long, sweetness. My brothers and I will be back to take care of everything. But first, I want to get you and our new son home,” Ezra explained, emphasizing the appropriate word in order for his bracelet, which was also voice activated, to transport them to their intended destination.
“Our son,” the barren woman repeated with grateful tears in her eyes. Then before Noam could think more on how they finally had a child of their own, she and her newly expanded family were standing in the receiving room of their elaborate nine-room mountain home.
~~~ >< ~~~
Ezra and his four brothers did return to the crash site just as the pinkish-purple sunset signaled the close of another Katanian day. While he collected all personal effects from the wreck, his brothers moved the bodies of the space voyagers.
The personal effects would be taken to Ezra’s house and preserved as a part of Xander’s history. The dead bodies of the Mannings would be prepared for burial by fire, which was part of Katanian custom. The space shuttle itself would be sent to their laboratories for analyzing.
When everything was all set, Noam and the now sleeping babe were summoned from the house. Together they all said farewell to Xander’s birth parents.
Afterwards, Ezra thanked his brothers for their help and released them to return to the various sectors they lived in on the planet. Then he took his wife and new son home to finally begin the long awaited task of parenting.
________________________________________
[i] Philippians 4:7
[ii] Luke 16:22
Chapter 4
2168 – November
In shock and anguish, Badru Karson clenched his head in his hands at his desk. He’d just heard the most horrible news of his life. Two of his dearest friends were dead.
Dead!
Why else would H-NASA have gotten the satellite pod that contained the Mannings’ updated last will and testament? Why else would the Mannings not be home by now? They should have arrived on Earth at least three months ago based on how forceful the outward thrust of M31 was estimated to be on the small spacecraft.
Something had obviously happened out there in space. But what? Everything appeared to be going so well. All the satellite messages had been received and sent. According to the Mannings’ last transmission, the ship was still functional and their health was at an all-time high.
So what really did happen out there? Badru thought, just before one of his junior colleagues announced his presence in the room on that stormy day.
“I gather you’ve just heard about our friends?” Jay Horrell asked as he boldly entered the office of his superior without even knocking. His stride was just as arrogant as ever.
Badru inwardly bristled. Slowly, he removed his hands from his head and turned around in his swivel desk chair. Jay Horrell was no friend to the Mannings, no matter how much he pretended to be. Jay Horrell wasn’t a friend to anyone, but himself.
“Yes, I have.” Badru chose not to comment on the other man’s insolence of entering his office without permission.
There was no need to
wonder how Jay had heard about the Mannings’ plight already. The handsome red-haired man was dating the director’s plain-faced daughter and thus was privy to all kinds of classified information. That strategic courtship also explained Jay’s continual insubordination to Badru, the head of H-NASA’s technology and communications department.
“Do you have any idea what happened to cause their demise?” Jay asked, carefully scanning the other man’s dark features. Though born in Africa, Badru was raised in America by his Kenyan mother and Native-American father.
“Not yet, do you?” Badru had to ask. He fully expected Jay to start bragging about all the classified data he knew, the way he usually did when he wanted to make Badru feel unimportant and excluded.
Jay’s grayish-blue eyes narrowed a bit. “No, why would you even ask me that?” he replied with his heartbeat thundering in his ears.
“I’m asking you what I’ll be asking everyone around here until I find out what happened to my friends.” As Badru spoke, his brilliant mind silently registered the red marks appearing in the other man’s semi-freckled cheeks. The only other times he’d ever seen Jay turn this red was whenever he was around Juna and Elexander.
The Mannings weren’t here, so why was Jay turning colors now? Did the junior communications associate know more than he was letting on?
Jay attempted a nonchalant shrug, though his face continued to get even redder along the cheek areas. Even his neck was red now. “Oh. Well, let me know if you need my help on anything. I’d like to know what happened to the Mannings, as well. As you know, Juna and I go way back. All the way back to MIT.”
Badru nodded. He was aware of Juna and Jay’s graduation from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was also aware that they’d dated while at the prestigious school that was still putting out more astronauts than any other private educational institution on the planet. Elexander shared that bit of Juna’s history with Badru a long time ago, right after Jay got his affluent parents to pull strings to get him a position in the space program.
Badru had forgotten about Juna and Jay’s personal history together until just now. Now that he was reminded of it, he was convinced that Jay knew way more than he was letting on. Badru was also starting to suspect that the junior associate was somehow involved in the Mannings’ demise.
Why else would the man be offering his help? Jay never offered to help anyone unless it benefited him in some way. Furthermore, he was usually resentful if others even asked for his help.
“You will let me know if you need my help with anything, won’t you?” Jay repeated, interrupting Badru from his deep thoughts. He’d never seen the studious man this distracted before. Well, once back in late December when the call came through that Mrs. Karson was going into labor. That day Badru had left a lot of things undone. Even Jay had been called upon to help out.
“What?” Badru blinked rapidly to refocus his thoughts. “Oh, you were offering your help. I’ll have to get back to you on that,” he said dismissively.
“Do that,” Jay replied crisply as he turned around to leave out the way he’d come. With each step he took, he grew more certain that his name would probably be at the bottom of any list that Badru had jurisdiction over. If it ever even made it on that list.
Fortunately, I personally know someone that has more authority that anyone else around here. Jay smiled smugly as he exited the office door. He was a much calmer man when he entered the wide corridor of the space center. In fact, Jay decided to go to lunch early and treat himself to a salami and mustard sandwich on rye.
~~~ >< ~~~
Meanwhile, Badru stayed in his office and began to reminisce about his friends, particularly about his longer friendship with Elexander. Badru and Elexander had known each other since they were children. In fact, their mothers were best friends as children. The two Kenyan women never lost touch over the years and when they both eventually made it to America, they settled in the same Floridian city.
Badru was a constant presence in the Manning home and vice-versa. Badru was also present on Elexander’s most unusual first date with Juna.
That unusual date occurred nearly twelve years ago, when Elexander and Juna were both at a spiritual and emotional low. Juna, because she suddenly found herself dissatisfied with her shallow life and hungered for more depth, more purposeful living. Elexander, because he’d finally come to the scientific conclusion that there really was a God.
For so long Elexander had reasoned the existence of a Creator away and been satisfied with his results. Yet when he came across some very old manuscripts written by a man named Hugh Ross and some of his associates all of that changed. Elexander thoroughly studied those manuscripts from cover to cover and found that there was actually little conflict between science and the Bible when all of the evidence was properly stacked up side by side.
Suddenly realizing that he was a sinner that needed to saved, Elexander rushed to the nearest church. Fortunately, the prayer annex of that church was open to the public all night. So distraught over his spiritual condition, Elexander failed to see the beautiful olive-skinned woman, kneeling at the other end of the altar he wept at.
Juna was that woman. She was weeping, too. In fact, she’d just told God that if He couldn’t show her the way to more purposeful living, she was going to kill herself that very night. Juna literally refused to start another day with the life she currently had, even if it was full of every material thing a person could ever want.
At the moment of both of their deepest despairs, Elexander and Juna suddenly heard each other weeping. When their eyes met, two miraculous things occurred at once. They instantly felt the peace of God come into their bodies and they fell instantly in love. That very evening Elexander and Juna had their first date. It was at the restaurant Badru’s mother owned. Badru was their waiter and they both witnessed to him of their newfound faith, quickly winning him over, as well.
Oh, my dear friends, what adventures in faith we’ve had since then. Badru smiled, recalling many experiences where they knew that nobody but the Lord had aided them in their research endeavors. Like the time Juna, who loved reading about people’s accomplishments, ‘accidentally’ discovered how to make produce grow bigger while looking through old copies of the Guinness Book of World Records.
Inspired by the works of an Alaskan gardener named John Evans, Juna got Elexander and Badru to assist her with a gut feeling she had. Soon all three scientists not only found a way to super-size their own produce, they also found a way to make that produce grow faster, and without using harmful chemicals. Their discoveries made them all very rich and renowned around the world.
Badru’s smile began to fade as he realized that there would be no more such adventures with the Mannings. That knowledge deeply saddened him. I’ll find out what happened to you, dear friends. I will not rest until I do, the grieving scientist vowed.
Chapter 5
The memorial of Elexander and Juna was a sad one, despite the fact that it was such a beautiful day outside, despite the fact that it was attended by esteemed persons from all over the world. Even a few heads of countries were present at the large cathedral. Yet the most important mourners there were Elexander’s Greek father and African mother, and Juna’s Sri Lankan father and Caucasian mother.
The Mannings and the Harshals were clearly distraught over their losses. Especially since Elexander and Juna had been only children. Even the sizeable inheritance that had been bequeathed to them had not been enough to console these grieving parents.
Badru was not easily consoled, either. Even though he’d been left with all of the Mannings’ world-changing research, he’d much rather have his friends home; safe and sound. Not scattered somewhere along the Milky Way or wherever they’d met their untimely end.
Jay Horrell appeared extremely grief stricken today, as well. Except his grief was a convenient cloak that he’d put on for the occasion. Beneath that cloak of sadness was seething ire and jealousy.
One would think the man was a saint. Jay knew better than to believe the best of Dr. Elexander Manning. A saint would have never stolen another man’s woman and married her within a year, he thought, conveniently forgetting that Juna willingly left him for Elexander.
On the other hand, Jay would never forget how happy he used to be with Juna before she took that pre-graduation trip down to Florida and changed all of their lives. Before Juna left Massachusetts, she and Jay had been a serious couple. Many thought marriage and children was surely in their future. However, by the time Juna returned to MIT, her career path and her life path had shifted dramatically.
Suddenly, Juna wanted to be more than the future trophy wife of an aspiring politician. Suddenly, she wanted to put her brilliance to work and help change the world for good as a biotechnologist and an astronaut. And just as suddenly, Juna wanted to do all those things with a man named Elexander Manning.
Elexander Manning, Jay mused in disgust as he made room on the church pew for yet another esteemed mourner. He’d hated the man’s name from the moment Juna mentioned it. Hatred for the man behind the name came just as quickly.
Even though Juna was extremely repentant about breaking Jay’s heart, he had been unwilling to let her go. In fact, he’d followed her to Florida after graduation and had even gotten a job at the space center in hopes of wooing her back. Yet Juna had not returned to her former beau. Instead, she’d up and married Elexander after only nine months of dating. That had caused endless pain to Jay. Each year of happiness and achievement the Mannings had after that caused deeper pain for Jay, though he hid it well.
Meanwhile, Jay started to build up quite a name for himself by making all the right contacts. Even though his renown did not come through his brilliance or contribution to the world as Elexander’s had, Jay still continued to hope that it would impress Juna enough to return to him. Especially since he remembered how status conscious she used to be and since they’d continued to maintain a cordial relationship even after the breakup.