Space Knights: The Arrival

by Gregory Samuelson

  “I am a messenger. I was sent to encourage you and show you what is going to happen. I’m also here to let you know that all of this has to happen to fulfill the Lord’s plan for this world. Also, I’m to let you know that this is going to fulfill His plan for the world your family is going to. All of these events are for His glory,” revealed the man. Then with more tenderness he went on, “I must also tell you that you are not going to the new world. Don’t be dismayed for you will see this world redeemed. I have also been sent to let you know that your grandson, who is not yet born, will fulfill a prophecy on another world. His arrival will set into motion events that could lead that world and others toward redemption. He will be strong in faith and have his courage greatly tested. He will face many great obstacles. His faith will be inherited from you through your son, his father. If he remains faithful he will find greatness and glory beyond his dreams. He must be brought up right to be ready to fulfill his destiny.”

  Claude stood there stunned. A grandson yet unborn will fulfill a prophecy on another world? It was too amazing to be true. His mind questioned, was this really a vision or just a dream? How could this be true? Yet there was something about this man that made him believe. If this were a real vision then what an amazing future awaited his grandson. Slowly comprehension donned on him. He looked heavenward and said a small prayer of praise. As he gazed upward while praying and thanking the Lord his eye caught sight of one of the escape ships.

  His eyes traveled along its length until he spotted the number on the side, ship fourteen. A memory struck him. Usually in sleep people don’t see numbers very clearly. Yet here he was dreaming and seeing the number on the side of the ship as clearly as if he was awake and reading it. He lowered his head and asked, “Is this real? Are you an angel?”

  The man in white smiled broadly and answered, “This is all real, and yes I am an angel. I was sent to give you this vision and bring you comfort. I am also here to ask you to speak to your son about getting married and starting a family. Will you speak to him and encourage him?”

  “Yes,” replied Claude at once. “I will speak to him. I’ll do what I can to encourage him and see what happens. I’m sorry I won’t get to see the new world.”

  The angel touched him tenderly. “You are needed here yet and your salvation is here. I also have a request for you and that is to buy the first eagle you see for your grandson. Now before I go I want you to see something else. Look, there he comes, the one who will bring about events leading other worlds to salvation.”

  In a blur, Claude turned and saw a boy of about seventeen walking toward him. The boy turned toward him and had a brief look of surprise on his face. Claude noticed that the boy was tall, maybe not quite six feet, a fairly athletic build and a round boyish handsome face. Claude’s eye fell on the boy’s nametag, but as he read it the dream changed and he saw an image he’d seen from Greek mythology, a Griffin. As the Griffin turned, he noticed a military emblem on the Griffin’s shoulder, five stars.

  Claude awoke with a start and felt sweat cascading down his face. His wife awakened and looked at him with concern. “Are you alright?” she asked as she sat up and reached to comfort him.

  “Yes, I think so. I just had a very strange dream. At least I think it was a dream,” he said. Then he went on to tell her about the dream and what he had seen before waking. “What do you think it meant?” he asked.

  His wife looked at him carefully. Before she answered his question she asked him a question of her own, “Do you think it was a real angel talking to you? Do you believe this might be a real message from God?”

  Claude sat up and thought about what he had seen in his dream and what the angel had said to him. The dream had been so real that he had felt everything around him. He had felt the warm air, heard all the background noise (along with the angel), birds had sung, mechanical sounds had come from the ships, and of course there was the group of people that had passed them on their way to the ship.

  “Wait a minute,” he thought aloud and remembered. Was the boy that was pointed out to him by the man in white his future grandson? Was the man in white a real angel? Yes the man in his dream had to be an angel. Then he wondered if he had truly seen the future? Where was his grandson going and how would he help lead the other worlds to redemption?

  “I think that the man in my dream was a real angel. Actually I do believe that my dream was a true message from the Lord. Yet there’s something I don’t quite know. What am I supposed to do?” Claude said as he looked at his wife.

  His wife understood and tried to find an answer to his question. “I think you must do what you think is right. You could talk to Evan and encourage him to marry Eileen. If you’re right and your dream was a real message from God, then he’ll bring about what he revealed to you.”

  “How do you think our future grandson will lead other worlds to redemption?” he asked her.

  “I don’t know, but as we know from what the Lord’s done in the past, he’ll help him and use him to bring about his purpose,” she replied.

  They fell silent sitting there in bed. They embraced each other for a minute and then they began to settle down. However, sleep eluded them for a while. They continued to have questions about the future and about what their grandson would be like. When Claude got out of bed later that morning he spotted one of his hunting magazines. By chance he flipped it open and stared at a picture that stood out. It was an ad for a bowie knife that had the head of a bald eagle at the base of the hilt. Moments later he ordered it.

  ***

  Three days later Claude was working at the observatory when he took the opportunity to talk to his son. “How are you doing Evan?”

  “I’m alright. What’s up,” Evan replied as he saw the expression on his dad’s face.

  “I was just wondering how you were doing, and…,” Claude hesitated before continuing, “how you’re getting along with Eileen?”

  “We’re doing fine,” Evan replied, surprised that his dad was so curious about his relationship with Eileen. “Why are you so interested?”

  “Well, you’re still young and there is still time for you to have a family,” Claude said slowly and carefully. “If you had children you would have a chance to raise them a bit before we have to leave in the escape ships.”

  Evan looked at his dad with curiosity. He now had the strong impression that his dad was trying to get him to marry and start a family, but why. “Why are you so insistent about my getting married and starting a family all of a sudden?”

  Claude took a deep breath and carefully planned and considered what to tell his son and what to leave out until later. “I was just thinking that you’re starting to get older. I know that the two of you are living together in that large house. I just thought that it might be time for you two to make it legal and start a family.”

  Evan looked at his dad, still not quite convinced. He felt sure that there was some other reason his dad had brought up a subject like this all of a sudden. “Okay dad, what’s going on? You’re usually not interested in my relationship. I like my life with Eileen as it is. We’ve talked about marriage but that’s about as far as it’s gone. I have a loving family already. I’ve got Eileen, you and mom, and there are Martin, Tony, and George’s kids.”

  Claude then decided to tell him about the dream. He watched his son’s face as he told him everything the angel had said and what he had seen. “So what do you think? Do you think I’m crazy to believe that it was a real angel and a message from the Lord?”

  Evan looked stunned. He would never have guessed that this was coming. His mind pondered what his dad had just told him. “So you’re saying that the Lord wants me to marry Eileen and start a family because one son is going to somehow lead other worlds to redemption?”

  “I don’t know if he will directly lead them to redemption, but maybe his part will be like David’s in the Bible. That through him
Jesus came. Maybe he won’t be the father of their savior, but instead the start of a chain of events that will lead to redemption.”

  They discussed the issue for several more hours, debating what the dream might mean, and what role Evan’s son would play. Finally, they both took a moment to pray. Evan then told his dad that he would talk to Eileen about the dream, and make plans accordingly. Together Claude and Evan prayed for the wisdom and sensitivity to do the will of the Lord. They had faith that things would work out as they were meant to. They couldn’t begin to guess what the boy was going to be like and how far he would go.

  ***

  A week after Evan’s talk with his dad, Evan found the right moment and brought up his dad’s dream with Eileen. She was surprised and asked him questions about what he thought about the dream. He told her about his discussions with his dad about it. “What about our plans for getting married on the new world?” she asked. “Do you believe that his dream was real?”

  “I do,” Evan said with conviction. “My dad is convinced that the dream was real. The dream was too detailed. What do you think? There is enough time for the dream to become real.”

  She took a couple minutes to think before answering. “It certainly sounds like a real vision that your dad had. Are you sure that we should do this.”

  He nodded yes as he replied, “I do. If the dream was indeed real, then it was a message from the Lord.” He tried to find the right words to finish his thought, “I believe we should trust in God and let him guide us.”

  “That sounds very good except one thing,” she said with a sly grin on her face.

  “What is that?” he asked, unsure what she had in mind.

  “You know, you haven’t ever really asked me to marry you, officially that is.”

  A broad smile spread across Evan’s face as he reached into his pocket and pulled out the ring he had bought on his way home four nights ago. As gracefully as he could he got down on one knee and proposed.

  Eileen was taken aback as she gazed at the elegant ring. Tears appeared in the corners of her eyes as she held out her left hand and breathed out, “Yes.” Evan stood and they embraced and kissed. They knew that they were now going to take a leap of faith and prayed that God would lead them and help them along the way.

  They quickly started making their wedding plans. There was a lot of excitement from both their families as they made their plans known. Eileen’s mother was really taken by surprise and she quickly went with Eileen to pick out a wedding dress. The days seemed to fly by as the day of their wedding drew near.

  Six months later they were married at their church in Golden, Colorado where they lived. Almost a year later they had a baby boy. To everyone’s surprise they named him Terrance, a name his grandfather had recommended. It was the name of the boy in his dream. Claude had remembered seeing the boy’s nametag. By chance however, Terrance would soon get a nickname that would follow him the rest of his life, and would be thereafter considered his name.

  One of his cousins mispronounced his name one day and called him Trance. He would be called Trance from then on. Trance grew and was treasured by his parents and grandparents. Three years later he became a brother as his sister Heather was born. Three years after Heather was born, Evan and Eileen had another son and named him Sammy after his great-grandfather. All three children would grow and learn all they could before the day that they knew they must leave the Earth in the global escape ships. They would grow believing in the new world that their father and grandfather said was waiting for them.

  Chapter 3

  Leaving the Earth

  Trance awoke in the morning still wanting to sleep, but it was time to start the day. He stretched and yawned, oh he wished he could sleep some more, but the family had a strict schedule for the day. He stood up and walked to the bedroom door.

  Carefully he opened the bedroom door so as not to wake his sleeping brother. He shut the door just as carefully and walked only in his underwear, which is what he usually slept in. He walked down the hall to the third door, the bathroom. After he relieved himself, he showered. Now feeling clean for the day he went back to his bedroom to find his brother starting to stir.

  “Haaaa! Pt, pt. What’s for breakfast Trance?” Yawned Sammy as he sat up in bed and rubbed his blue eyes.

  “I don’t know yet,” answered Trance as he gathered up the clothes he was to wear and started to get dressed. “Come on, get up and shower so you can get dressed and be ready to leave.”

  “Come on Sammy get up so we can eat breakfast. I get the next shower!” said their sister from the doorway. She glared at her older brother who was now completely dressed except socks and shoes. Her reason for being upset was because, although he may wake before her, she always got the first shower.

  “Sorry Heather, I waited, but you were still asleep, so I got in,” Trance replied.

  “Are you guys awake?” called their mother’s voice from down the hall.

  “Yes mom!” the reply came from all three of the Sonderson children.

  “Good! Heather you can take your shower. Sammy come here and take your vitamins and get breakfast. Trance come here, I’ve got a job for you,” their mother called. Eileen Sonderson was a thirty-nine-year-old five feet eight inch mother and housewife. She had shoulder length brown hair and blue eyes. She was getting very nervous about the prospect of being put in a deep sleep chamber on one of the global escape ships and blasting off and going into deep space and flying to a planet in the Andromeda galaxy that her husband said was there.

  Evan, her husband, was tall, six foot two, with graying brown hair that was starting to bald. He had green eyes that were half closed at the moment as he had just woken up. He got himself up and went to the master bathroom to have his morning constitutional, as his dad used to call it, and shower.

  “Don’t sit in there for an hour!” Eileen hollered at him. She knew he probably would anyway. She had already showered and dressed.

  “Morning mom, what do you need?” said Trance as he greeted his mother in the dining room. He waited patiently for her orders so he could go do what she needed. He didn’t like to do housework very well, what seventeen-year-old does, and besides it would literally be several thousand years before he’d have to do it again.

  “I want you to strip the beds and put the bedding in the car please,” she requested. She watched him go off down the hall to do her bidding, him and his bright intelligent hazel eyes, and the medium length brown hair that he always parted on the left.

  Breakfast was served to everyone in turn as their jobs were done and they had all showered and dressed. Breakfast consisted of pancakes, bacon, eggs, milk and orange juice. After they were through eating breakfast, the Sondersons washed their dishes and packed them in the car. They took down their beds and loaded them into a trailer that was already attached to the back of the car. They had loaded all of the rest of their belongings into another trailer two days earlier and had already taken it to the launch center located beyond the Denver International Airport where the escape ships were stationed. By now their belongings had been catalogued and put in the storage area on the massive ship.

  After they had gone through the house one last time and said goodbye to it and the yard they had enjoyed so much, they climbed into the car and headed off to the launch center. They didn’t talk too much because each one of them was busy with their own private thoughts and fears about the day ahead and what the new world was going to be like. Would they survive the trip, die in space or worst of all sleep forever and never land anywhere?

  It took them forty-five minutes to get to the launch center. Evan stopped at the gate and showed the guard their registration cards and his identification cards. The guard let them through and watched them drive up to the main parking lot that was already three quarters full. The family got out and started to unload part of their stuff. Evan went to the building carrying a
box and was greeted at the door by another guard.

  “How are you doing today Dr. Sonderson,” said the guard who recognized him at once and reached to shake hands. “It looks like a good day for take-off.”

  “Yes it is,” Evan replied as he looked up at the beautiful blue sky with some nice white fluffy clouds floating by. He rather enjoyed being referred to by his title; after all he did have a doctorate in astronomy and was half responsible for locating the planet they were headed to. He led his family into the building, where they saw numerous other families like themselves that had registered for the global escape. They also saw many other guards and scientists moving about.

  Evan led them to where they were to check in and they stopped in a line to wait. They stood in line and slowly moved forward. Finally after several minutes they were at the counter and had their registration checked. They were led back to an area where they had their photographs taken for the official name badges that they would receive as they got their uniforms for the flight. While they were being vaccinated and given shots of certain vitamins and minerals that would help keep them in good shape for the trip across the stars, technicians were sent to see that their trailer of belongings was taken to be sorted, catalogued, and stored on the great ship that they were going to board and fly in, Sparrow XIV. After being examined and checked to see that they were healthy, they went to receive their uniforms and name badges.

  Their uniforms were white and very form fitting, with a slot over the left breast where the name badge was to go. They had long sleeves and there were even shoes to go with it that were more like warm padded slippers. They handed over their regular clothes to the technician at the uniform station and received the name badges that carried a photo of them, their name, date of birth, and their chamber number as well as their flight information. Also on the badge was a bit of their medical information. Once in their full uniform they waited together with the rest of the crowd in a vast waiting room. They had been there waiting for six minutes watching more and more people arriving when a lady dressed in an administrative outfit came in, called for attention, and addressed the crowd.