The Prodigal Sun: A Novel

by S. E. Meyer

  “Forget about him John. He’s not making any sense. He’s obviously just drunk,” said James.

  “No. Well yes, I am pretty plashtered, but I know what I mean. What I’m trying to say is that I’ve taught those details at the pulpit for decades. I’ve listened to mothers cry in anguish over babies that died in the hoshpital before being christened. They were tormented not knowing if their child would reach heaven or not. I’ve counseled people. People who anguish over the loss of loved ones to suicide, thinking they can only go to hell. There are the thousands of hours of guilt ridden, fearful pleading, that I’ve listened to in confession. People living their lives in fear of God and the horrors of hell just because of a simple thought, or something they may have said,” Nathaniel explained. Tears began to stream down his face. “I’ve seen entire congregations judge and condemn other members because their actions didn’t follow the faith,” Nathaniel bawled. He wiped his nose onto his sleeve as he sniffled.

  “Father, it’s not your fault. You were doing what you thought was right,” replied John.

  Nathaniel leaned up against the wall to steady himself. “You just don’t understand. I played a very large part in all of it,” he yelled as he began to pound his fist against the wall. “I feel as though I’m responsible for having raised several generations of religious bigots!” he yelled.

  John moved close to Nathaniel and placed his hand on the priest’s forehead. “Look Father, people believe what they want to believe, you were just there to guide them,” John said and then closed his eyes. He allowed a calm to come over Nathaniel. John removed the sadness from his mind and helped the priest to be at peace. Then he forced the alcohol from Nathaniel’s bloodstream back into the priest’s stomach. Within seconds Nathaniel spun away from John and heaved a pint of the very best single malt scotch onto the floor.

  “Thank you,” said Nathaniel after a rigorous bout of coughing. He wiped his mouth with his sleeve. ”What did you just do to me, some kind of Vulcan mind meld or something?”

  “You have obviously watched too much Star Trek,” said John and then smiled. “Are you feeling better?”

  “Yes. Much better. Again, thank you John.”

  Frank placed his hand on John’s shoulder. “We should get going,” he said.

  John looked over at James. “Frank’s right. We really should get going. The priest should be able to handle traveling with you now,” John finished

  After a final round of hugs the two groups were ready to split up. James was going north with Nathaniel, Barb and Aurora while John’s group would head for the nearest elevator that would take them to the Annunaki city, deep underground.

  “Be careful James,” John said as he hugged his brother one more time. “I will see you again.” He looked into James’ eyes with confidence, but on the inside he wasn’t feeling so sure.

  “Good luck John. I hope you’re right,” replied James.

  John gave James a final smile then turned to leave. “Alright everyone, it’s time to go,” he said as he picked up his weapon and a backpack full of supplies. Jenny and Frank followed behind him with Ninti and Ben taking up the rear. They all moved along silently through the quiet dark world around them with heavy hearts and minds. Their thoughts wandered to what fate lie below. John had been thinking about this moment ever since he rescued Jenny, but the thought of actually doing it had his stomach tied into knots.

  Oh no!” Jenny said, as they got close to where the elevator was supposed to be. They planned on using the same one they had used last time, but it was nowhere to be found. A blank wall jutted out from the ground where the doors and control panel had been.

  “What do we do now?” asked Frank.

  John moved closer, and then ran his hand along the wall. “It’s here, I can feel it. We just can’t see it.” John explained. He placed both his hands against the center of the wall and closed his eyes. He concentrated on unlocking the technology inside that was hiding their only way back underground.

  As he focused harder he heard Jenny speak up. “There, there it is,” she exclaimed as she pointed in front of her. John opened his eyes in time to see the doors appear in front of him. With a wave of his hand they opened and John gestured for everyone to get inside.

  “John, are you sure about this?” asked Frank.

  “No, I’m not sure about whether we will be successful or not, but I’m sure that we have to try. At least I know I do. As I said before, the wails of those tortured souls haunt me Frank. I guess the way I look at it is we don’t have anything to lose. If we don’t do anything, we’re as good as dead anyway,” replied John.

  Frank silently nodded. He could see there was no talking John out of this or trying to buy time to get more help. “Okay then, I guess we better get going,” he finally said with a sigh.

  There was a brief moment of panic when nothing happened after the doors closed. John thought they might have to find another way down until he felt the elevator drop. It carried them to the main Mexico hub without incident. “This seems a little strange doesn’t?” John asked Ninti. “We haven’t seen anyone or met any resistance.”

  “No, not really. They wouldn’t expect anyone to be able to get in here, so they don’t guard the elevators,” Ninti replied.

  “Let’s go topside and see if we can find a place to finalize a plan. It wouldn’t hurt to get some rest too,” suggested John.

  They took an elevator up to ground level and exited the doors. They found themselves standing in front of a muddy road next to a pump house that supplied water to a nearby village. Everyone studied the surroundings, trying to see in the dim light. They slowly moved down the sloppy trail in front of them with weapons ready. As they made their way, John noticed that it seemed to be getting brighter.

  “Is it just me or does it seem like dawn is coming?” he whispered as he turned to face everyone. Frank nodded in agreement while everyone else stared out towards the east. They continued down the road and within a few minutes John noticed the outline of a farm only a short distance away.

  “Let’s head over there,” said John, pointing in the direction of the farm. As the group crept closer they were able to make out the details of the barn, along with the small, white farmhouse next to it. John stared at the peeling paint and broken windows.

  “Is it safe?” Frank asked in a whisper as he leaned in towards John’s ear.

  “Yes, there’s no one here Frank. I can’t feel anything,” replied John and then headed towards the front steps of the tiny house. Everyone followed him inside. The house was dusty and smelled like mold, but would keep them out of sight. There were a few dishes lying on the kitchen table, but no food was left in the cupboards.

  “Alright everyone. Try to find a comfortable place and get some rest,” said John. “I’ll keep watch.” Jennifer pulled the top dusty blanket off the bed and lay down. Everyone else found a corner to lean their backs against and tried to get some sleep.

  John stood in the doorway and looked out to the east. The first rays of sunlight he had seen in three days were finding their way through the trees. As he watched the sun climb over the horizon he began to formulate a plan. He decided once they were underground and gained access to the area where the Annunaki lived, they would split into two teams. Frank would take Jason and Jenny deep underground to the container of souls. John thought that Frank might have a chance to figure out a way to open it and at the same time Jenny would be kept safe. John would take Ninti and Ben to the control room, where they would be responsible for re-directing the weapon. Both teams would go heavily armed, but John hoped they could get in and back out without ever firing a shot. He really didn’t want a conflict that would increase the chances of someone getting hurt.

  It was only a few hours before everyone began to stir in the small farmhouse. The sun had cleared the trees at the far end of the adjacent field and was shining brightly. It’s light and warmth seemed to put everyone in a better mood. Jenny looked out of the broken window at Ninti,
who was standing on the front porch, soaking up the sunshine.

  “Is she still out there?” Jenny asked. “I like being in the sunshine as much as anyone, especially after not seeing it for three days, but she’s been out there for twenty minutes John. Why is she so obsessed with the sun?”

  John made eye contact with Jenny and gave her a solemn look. “Because she’s never seen it before,” he explained.

  John explained the plan to the group over a light breakfast and they packed up their belongings. As they trudged through the muddy trail back to the pump house, John looked off to the southeast. There was a strange shape on the horizon, but he couldn’t figure out what it was. By the time they arrived at the pump house Frank noticed it too.

  “What do you think it is John?” asked Frank.

  Jennifer turned to see what Frank was looking at. “Oh my,” she said and then paused. “It’s almost beautiful,” she whispered in awe. Her jaw hung open as she continued to stare towards the eastern horizon.

  “It’s Nibiru. Only it’s a lot closer than it was before the eclipse started,” explained John. The group stared in wonder at the size of the planet as it slowly rose in the southeast. It spread across the horizon in a long arc from north to south, stretching as far as they could see. It made the hair on the back of John’s neck stand up. He didn’t like the way it made him feel. It was out of place and didn’t belong in the sky, hanging there like a constant reminder of impending doom. Everyone held a solemn expression and they all fell back into a somber mood. The ground began to shake and shudder under their feet. “It’s another earthquake,” John shouted. “It feels stronger than the last one.” John could feel the panic creep into his soul as he waved his hand to open the elevator doors and led the group inside. They all waited in horror for the elevator to move as the ground continued to shake. John felt a wave of relief wash over him as the elevator began to speed downwards and the shaking stopped.

  Frank wiped his forehead and then looked at John. “It’s getting worse isn’t it?” he asked.

  “Yes, and it’s going to get worse yet, before it’s all over,” John replied.

  It was several hours before they accessed the main hub under Baghdad. They switched elevators again and this time it wasn’t long before they came to rest on the outskirts of their destination.

  “We are going to have to be very careful now and try not to be heard or seen,” cautioned Ninti. They exited the elevator and crawled through the nearest maintenance panel, just down the corridor from where they stopped. Once inside, Ninti waved them to follow her as they shuffled along on all fours for over an hour, trying not to make a sound. She finally stopped at a panel on their right then turned around to whisper to John and Jenny. “This is where the control room is. We will need to get into the corridor on the other side of this panel and go right. Head down about twenty feet and it will become a dead end. The door will be there on your left and you shouldn’t see any guards. They are stationed at the entrance to this corridor and we already went around them,” Ninti explained.

  John and Jenny both nodded and Ninti turned back around to give Frank and Jason directions. She started to explain to them how to get to the container of souls when John stopped her. “Here Ninti, it will be easier this way,” he said and then placed his hand on her forehead. “I know I was down there once before, but I don’t remember exactly how we got there. Just show me in your thoughts Ninti.” Ninti closed her eyes and visualized the way to go. “Good, there I got it,” said John. He turned and this time placed his hand on Frank’s forehead. “Here you go Frank, special delivery.”

  John winked and Frank’s eyes grew large. “Wow, I like that. It’s like I’ve known all along how to get down there. I’ve never tried doing it quite like that before,” Frank said. “Why don’t you just get the entire layout from Ninti along with everything else she knows about this place?”

  “That would drain too much energy from her and I both, Frank. A small amount of information is okay, but too much at one time is dangerous,” explained John. He placed his hand on Frank’s shoulder. “Good luck my friend. Wait for us, we will meet you down there as soon as we’re finished up here, okay?” said John.

  Frank put his hand on John’s. “Good luck to you too. I will see you again, whether it’s here or in the afterlife,” he said, and then smiled before turning to leave.

  John made eye contact with Jenny. “Be careful, I will come for you. Just lay low until all this is over,” he pleaded. He bent over and kissed her forehead. He watched Jenny go until she was lost from sight, following Frank and Jason around a corner at the opposite end of the maintenance chute.

  “Follow me,” said Ninti, gesturing for John and Ben to follow her. She moved closer to the panel and got ready to remove it. John took a deep breath and then looked at Ben. “Are you ready for this?” he asked him quietly.

  “As ready as I’ll ever be,” Ben replied. John let out another breath and moved next to Ninti. He looked through the narrow slots in the panel next to them. After a few seconds he gave the other two a ‘thumbs up’ and opened it. They slowly crept out into the corridor and silently closed the panel before walking in the direction Ninti advised. They could hear a loud humming noise once they were out in the corridor, and then saw the door as they reached the dead end. John felt a surge of anxiety. This seems too easy. He thought as he placed his hand on the handle. Something’s wrong. John couldn’t feel anyone near him except for Ninti and Ben, but he could feel something. That something was blocking his thoughts and clouding his mind. Maybe it’s just being in this place, John thought and cast his feelings aside. He glanced over his shoulder and saw that Ben and Ninti were directly behind him. He gave them both a silent nod and pushed the door open.

  A thunderous humming sound immediately hit their ears. It reverberated throughout the room, making the trio nauseous. John scanned his surroundings. It was a large room with smooth polished floors. The walls were filled with carvings and hieroglyphs cast in a dull reddish glow. John slowly crept towards a large column in the middle of the room. It held what appeared to be a monitor screen and a control panel. The display had several points of light illuminated on it and a red circle was blinking around one of them. John ventured toward a railing that ran along the back wall. He peered over the edge and saw a deep shaft running straight down. It was too deep to see where the shaft ended, but John noticed a small bluish green circle of light coming from somewhere in the depths.

  “Ninti, do you know where this goes?” asked John as he waved her over.

  “Yes. It’s a very long way down, but at the bottom of this shaft, is the Shi Habannatu.”

  John made his way back to the monitor screen and the column in the middle of the room with Ninti in tow. Ninti stared intently at the screen while Ben made slow circles around the perimeter of the room with his weapon ready.

  “Here, see this John,” Ninti whispered as she pointed to the screen. “The dot with the circle around it is Eridu. The weapon is already aimed and ready to fire on that planet when the time is right,” she explained.

  “How do you know when the time is right?” asked John in a hushed tone.

  “Because you see this here?” she asked while pointing to a small display just above the monitor. “This is a timer, and it’s counting down in seconds, minutes and hours. It looks like we have about two hours until it’s ready to fire,” she finished. John thought it was strange that the timer was set in standard time, but then remembered something Frank had told him one morning over a cup of coffee. John remembered it so vividly because it was information that totally shocked him. Frank had explained to John how the Sumerians invented the system of time measurement. They were the ones that came up with the sixty-second minute, the sixty-minute hour and the twenty-four hour day, based on their sexagesimal mathematical system. It blew John’s mind to think that these ancient ancestors could have come up with such a precise measurement of time, and that it was the same one we still use today, t
housands of years later. “John? Did you hear me?” asked Ninti pulling him from his thoughts.

  “No, sorry. What did you say?” John turned away from the screen and faced Ninti.

  “I said maybe you could look into my mind and learn what these symbols mean. I don’t know how to operate this machine, but I’m sure it will help you to know the symbols on the keys. John placed his hand on Ninti forehead and closed his eyes. John gently extracted the information he needed while Ben continued to inspect the room. There were several thick cables that ran from the column, and then wove their way along the back wall to finally disappear down the shaft.

  John opened his eyes and felt panic overtake him. While he was distracted with Ninti, someone arrived outside the door. His heart jumped into his throat. “Oh no,” he whispered in a tone of defeat then yelled, “Ben, get ready!” Just as John spoke the last words the door flew open and six armed Annunaki guards ran in. Casually strolling in behind them with his head held high and his chest puffed out, was Traedon.

  Ben fired three rounds into the first guard as John reached for his weapon. Before John could take aim, Traedon waved his hand and the gun flew across the room, smashing into Ben’s face, and knocking him down. John reached out with is mind, but Traedon was too quick for him. He stretched out both his palms and a shock-wave of blue light hit John squarely in the chest. The force of the shock sent John sprawling across the room, crashing against the rail. Traedon sent another force of energy aimed at Ninti knocking her to the floor in a crumpled heap. She looked up in horror as Traedon walked over to her and grabbed a wad of her hair. He lifted her up off the floor and held her at eye level by the fistful of locks. “Traitor,” he sneered into her face and then threw Ninti across the room. John came back to his senses just in time to feel another blast from Traedon ripple through his body, throwing him over the rail. John grabbed the cold steel at the last second, stopping himself from falling down through the bottomless chasm below. Traedon looked down at John over the rail.