Red Sky in the Morning (The Covenant of the Rainbow Book 1)

by Elana Brooks

  “Guardians keep watch,” Rabbi Sensei said, indicating dark windows high in the walls. “Unobtrusive equipment is embedded within each cot which monitors heartbeat and breathing. Should a body become distressed while its spirit is traveling, the guardians give aid and help guide the soul home if necessary. I would ask that, for now at least, you refrain from attempting to go forth in your astral form unless your body is safely housed in one of these alcoves. Even those of us with years of experience prefer to make sure our bodies are secure when leaving them for any significant length of time, and do otherwise only at great need.”

  Beverly could see that this would be a far better place for an unconscious and helpless body than the floor of a convention center or leaning against a wall. “I promise. Will you be teaching me more about meditation and astral projection soon?” She gazed longingly toward an empty alcove.

  “In due time. There are preparations which must be made first, however. Let’s return to my office, and I’ll begin your instruction.”

  “Okay.” Beverly hated to leave the garden, but she was ready to get started learning.

  Chapter 6

  Back in Rabbi Sensei’s office, Beverly took a seat where he indicated, in one of the chairs facing his desk. To her relief, he didn’t take a place intimidatingly behind the desk, but pulled the matching chair around to face her and sat in it.

  “Turn your chair so we’re knee to knee, please,” he requested. Beverly complied. It was a little uncomfortable staring straight at him like this, but better than facing him across the desk like a criminal before a judge.

  “Take my hands.”

  Beverly did so. His skin was dry and papery against hers, but his grip was strong.

  “May I have your permission to share my thoughts with you telepathically and access your thoughts in turn?”

  “Um, yeah, sure. I guess.” Beverly squirmed under his dark, intense gaze. “I mean, I don’t know how—”

  “Close your eyes and relax your mind. I’ll make the connection. In the future you’ll learn to handle your side of the exchange, but for now simply let your thoughts go blank.”

  Beverly nodded. It was a relief to shut out his searching eyes by dropping her lids. But it wasn’t so easy not to think. No matter how hard she tried to envision blackness and silence, stray ideas kept popping up. She had an itch on her left foot. Had she packed enough clothes to last until she got moved into her new apartment? What was Adrian doing right now? Had he thought of her at all since that awkward but strangely enjoyable conversation over dessert?

  Suddenly, a powerful thought that wasn’t her own echoed through her head. The leader of the first Eight wished to preserve an account of his experiences with the aliens for future generations. Writing hadn’t yet been invented, and he feared even the most careful oral record would become garbled over the thousands of years it must endure. So he formed his memories into a series of fixed packages that can be transmitted whole from one mind to another. Each of the first Eight were entrusted with the Memories, which were engraved into their brains. They’ve been passed down through the years, just as they were first given.

  I’m going to share the first of the Memories with you now. The experience is something like watching a movie. Simply relax and let it play out before your mind’s eye.

  Beverly swallowed. It was freaky having Rabbi Sensei talking in her mind, but she thought she could get used to it. And she was finally going to learn the full truth of what this whole thing was about. A mental movie didn’t sound so bad. She squeezed Rabbi Sensei’s hands and nodded.

  So it begins…

  A swirl of colored light washed across the back of Beverly’s eyelids. It distorted sickeningly for a moment, then sharpened into focus. She looked out over a landscape of soft greens and golds and browns. Sheep and goats cropped waving grass in a rolling pasture, tended by men in loose robes with long staffs. Other men toiled to plant seeds in long furrows. A calm sea lapped a rocky beach where a cluster of round stone shelters with thatched roofs stood. Women stirred pots over fires and hunted for shellfish in tide pools. Naked children scampered everywhere, in the water as easily as on land.

  A voice sounded in Beverly’s head, deeper than Rabbi Sensei’s. It spoke in a language she’d never heard, but somehow she understood exactly what it meant.

  I am Noh. This is my home as it was before. We were happy in those days. My sons, my daughter’s husband, and I tended the fields and the beasts. My wife, my daughter, and my sons’ wives tended our hearths. The sea was our friend, providing us food, giving us a cool refuge from the heat, rising and falling at the appointed times while staying always within its bounds.

  A series of images flashed:

  A white-haired woman, lovely despite her years. The mental voice was warm. My wife, Nama.

  Two bearded young men and a young woman, bearing a distinct family resemblance to each other. Our children.

  One of the young men, his arm around the waist of a tall woman with darker coloring. My son Sem, and his wife Ohr, who came to us from the mountain people to the south.

  The other young man, exchanging teasing grins with a laughing girl. My son Am, and his wife Eneh, of the village across the waves.

  The young woman, lovingly rubbing the shoulders of a short, thick-chested man. My daughter Bet, and her husband Jeth, who wandered for many years before settling with us.

  Another wide view of the little settlement, touched by the gold and red of sunset, a dozen years sliding by in unchanging rhythms. Slender canoes plied the water, exchanging goods and news with the others who lived around the shore of the sea. Babies were born, elders passed away and were buried in the sacred caves. Crops grew and were harvested and were planted again. Beasts from the herds were slaughtered and consumed while the rest bore young to replenish their numbers. Children grew to man- and womanhood, mated with each other, and bore young of their own.

  Life was good in those days. Before the flaming serpent spoke to me with the voice of God, telling me what we must do to survive. Before the eight of us battled the sky-serpents who sought to destroy all creation. Before everything we had known was lost and the world remade.

  Before the Flood.

  Startled, Beverly opened her eyes, blinking and shaking her head. “Wait a minute. Is this—?”

  “Wait.” Rabbi Sensei gripped her hands. “Keep watching.”

  Obediently Beverly closed her eyes again, sinking back into the Memory.

  Thus my tale begins. Late one night I woke from sleep and beheld this vision.

  The interior of one of the huts appeared, thick with shadows. The only light came from the banked coals in the central fire pit, a dull glow which tinted the haze of smoke a hellish red.

  A bright form sprang into being, hovering in the center of the enclosed space. The view shifted as the man whose eyes Beverly looked through sat up and gazed at the apparition. Noh’s astonishment washed over her.

  A glowing creature floated before him. It was vaguely snake-like, with a long sinuous body bent into gently undulating curves. Pairs of wide, ribbed wings, or perhaps fins, fluttered at three points along its length, and a frill of smaller fins flared from the back of its head. Its snout was long and pointed, with a mouth full of tiny, sharp, backwards-pointing teeth. Flaps over its nostrils flared open and sealed shut as it breathed. The intent, forward-focused eyes of a predator fixed on Beverly with unmistakable intelligence.

  Its mouth cracked open and emitted a series of whistles, moans, and creaks, more similar to a dolphin’s vocalizations than any human language. But just as with Noh, Beverly’s mind understood the meaning of the strange sounds.

  “Do not fear, creature of this world. I come bearing tidings to any who can hear me of things that are to come. The time is swiftly approaching when water will swallow your home. Rains will fall, the like of which you have never seen. The sea will rise. This place will drown beneath the waves.”

  Noh’s words echoed in Beverly’s ears. �
��Thank you for your warning. Should we retreat to the mountains?”

  For a moment the creature seemed surprised that Noh had spoken, but it quickly responded. “The nearest mountains tall enough are many months’ journey from here. It is already too late for you to reach them in time. If you wish to survive, you must build a boat, large enough for all your people and livestock. Fill it with food and fodder to last for many weeks, until the rain ceases and the wind and currents carry you to dry ground where you can build a new home.”

  “Why will this disaster befall us? Has God judged us unworthy of his favor and determined to punish us?”

  The creature jerked, transparent lids sliding over its eyes and back again. It stared at Noh. “You know of God?”

  Noh’s emotions were surprisingly calm in Beverly’s head. “Are you not His messenger?”

  Fins waving, the creature dipped his head. “Yes, I’ve come to warn you because I serve Him. But I didn’t expect to encounter others who follow Him among the creatures of this world. Few of my people do. None besides me who sail the heavens in our small craft.”

  “I and all my family worship God Almighty.” The scene bobbed as Noh inclined his head, then raised it to focus on the creature again. “He will save us from death?”

  “If you do as I say, you should survive.” The creature undulated closer. “You hear my voice more fully and speak more clearly than any other of your kind I have approached. I wish to converse with you further, but first I must carry my warning to the rest of your people who are threatened by the coming flood.”

  “Do so. I will follow God’s command and build a seaworthy craft.” He put out a hand toward the creature. It appeared in Beverly’s vision, weathered brown and spotted with age, translucent and softly glowing as her own astral form had been. “When you have completed your mission, return to me and tell me more of God, and of you and your people.”

  The creature extended one fin until its tip brushed Noh’s hand. Beverly felt the contact, the creature’s skin cool and smooth against her palm, stretched taut over the bone beneath. “I will do so. May God be with you and keep you until that day.”

  “And you also, my friend.”

  The creature faded from view. Its dimming glow dissolved into a blurry wash of colors as the Memory ended.

  Beverly blinked. She pulled her hands from Rabbi Sensei’s and scrubbed at her eyes. “That… that…”

  His voice was gentle. “The experience can be intense, especially the first few times. Give yourself a moment to recover.”

  She pulled her hands from her face and glared at him. “That was Noah! Like, and the Ark. From the Bible. Wasn’t it?”

  “For the most part, yes. The story was passed down among Noh’s descendants, including those not in the Covenant, told and retold. Eventually a version was recorded in the Torah.” Rabbi Sensei sat back in his chair and watched Beverly steadily. “Other groups of people who survived the Flood also passed down their accounts of disaster and salvation to their children. It’s said the mythology of every culture in the world contains a similar tale. The Covenant has collected and studied them to glean more grains of truth about our mission. But Noh’s memories are the primary source of our knowledge, the only first-hand account we have, the only one we can be sure hasn’t been altered or distorted over time.”

  “That’s crazy. You’re trying to tell me you believe Noah really existed? And that he was psychic and talked to aliens? And there really was a big flood that covered the whole world?” Maybe this wasn’t a scam, after all. Maybe it was a cult of insane people all feeding off each other’s delusions.

  Although she couldn’t quite bring herself to believe Adrian was crazy. And Rabbi Sensei certainly didn’t seem like he was nuts, either.

  “Yes, and yes. And not exactly, but close enough. The Flood didn’t inundate every landmass, but it did affect the whole world. It caused massive overflowing of all rivers and a significant rise in the level of the ocean, wiping out a great many people who were either unable to receive or unwilling to believe the Seraph’s warning.”

  “Seraph?”

  “In his narration, Noh calls the creatures we now understand to be alien beings ‘flaming serpents.’ The language he speaks is a very early form of what eventually evolved into Hebrew. The words he uses became the Hebrew word ‘seraph,’ ‘seraphim’ in the plural. It came to refer to one of the orders of angels. Messengers from God.”

  “Angels are aliens?” A giggle escaped Beverly. Or maybe it was more like a sob.

  “At least in this instance, we believe so. Over the ages members of the Covenant have interpreted the Memories in many different ways, according to the surrounding culture’s changing understanding of the natural world and the various religions members of the Eight have followed. For most of history the creatures he saw were believed to be beings of a spiritual nature, angels and demons in truth.

  “But over the past several centuries, since the invention of the telescope, as humanity learned far more of the true nature of the universe than ever before, certain aspects of Noh’s experience took on a whole new meaning. It was first proposed in my great-grandfather’s time that the Seraphim might in fact be biological creatures native to another planet who had traveled to Earth in a spaceship. For a time controversy threatened to split the Eight as never before. But the advance of science caused Noh’s memories to make more and more sense. New discoveries revealed the meaning behind previously cryptic aspects. Eventually even those most ardently opposed to the theory were convinced. For over a hundred years we’ve all accepted that interpretation and used it to guide our preparation for their return.”

  Beverly shook her head numbly. “I’m sorry. This is all too much. That thing—it was bizarre. You can’t expect me to accept this just on your say so.”

  “That’s why I stopped after the first Memory. Almost everyone suffers a similar reaction on viewing it for the first time. We’ll give you time to adjust mentally and emotionally before we move on to the next. In the meantime, we’ll focus on the physical and psychic aspects of your training.” He regarded her with serene compassion.

  Even a session in that awful gymnasium seemed preferable to more revelations that shook her whole concept of reality. “All right. Whatever. Lead on.”

  Rabbi Sensei glanced at his watch. “Let’s break for lunch. There’s a cafeteria downstairs. Eat something nutritious but light, give it a little while to digest, and meet me in the gym at one. The women’s dressing room has a variety of exercise wear; choose something comfortable that you can move around in.”

  “Yes, Sensei,” Beverly said, resigned to her fate.

  Chapter 7

  Beverly was considerably less resigned a few hours later. The training session had begun innocuously enough. Rabbi Sensei had accompanied her on several laps around the balcony track at a moderately paced walk. Then he’d introduced her to a few of the weight machines and demonstrated how to use them, setting the weights light enough that even the eight reps he wanted didn’t strain her much.

  But when he led her over to one of the big square mats, things got interesting. For a long time they did breathing exercises, which although they required tons of concentration and left Beverly feeling lightheaded, didn’t tax her endurance. After that, though, they progressed to more strenuous work.

  Rabbi Sensei explained that he intended to continue teaching her yoga, since that’s where she’d started and it had been successful in helping her access her psychic abilities. In addition, it was fairly easy for a beginner and would quickly help her gain strength, balance, and confidence in her body’s ability to learn new skills. Later he’d introduce her to karate and the other martial arts that would serve as physical analogs of the psychic fighting skills she’d need to learn.

  Some of the yoga poses weren’t too bad, but even the easiest strained her endurance when he asked her to maintain them for more than a few seconds. Who knew that something as simple as holding your arms straight out
could get so hard in such a short time? The balancing poses were even more of a joke—in Tree Pose, where you were supposed to stand on one foot with the other foot resting on your thigh, she couldn’t even manage to lift her toes off the ground without swaying and falling over.

  But the breaking point came in Plank Pose. It was more or less a push-up, something Beverly had never been able to even come close to doing. Rabbi Sensei modified it for her, only asking her to rest her weight on her knees, instead of her toes the way he did it. And she got to start up on straight arms instead of down on the floor. But even when she stuck her butt quite a bit higher than the ideal flat-as-a-board position, her arms started to shake after an embarrassingly brief time.

  “Now slowly bend your elbows and lower yourself to the mat,” Rabbi Sensei directed, doing so smoothly and without any apparent effort.

  Beverly blinked, sweat stinging her eyes. “You have got to be kidding.” What he asked was impossible. Her arms were barely holding her up now. If she bent her elbows even a tiny bit, they’d give way. She’d bellyflop onto the floor.

  “If you aren’t able to go down all the way, do as much as you can.” He didn’t sound angry, but how could he be anything but frustrated at her weakness?

  Beverly stared at the mat. Mustering all her concentration, she bent her elbows back maybe a degree and lowered her body perhaps an inch. Her muscles screamed protest.

  “Now back up.”

  Mentally calling him every filthy name she knew, she tried to force her arms straight. It felt like she was lifting a house. With a sob, she collapsed onto the mat and buried her face in her arms. “This is impossible. I can’t do it.”