I didn’t tell them about possible encounters with giants upon our arrival to the core of the Earth or that we could possibly discover our deaths in boiling hot magma. That would all come in time. For right now all I had to do was figure out how to get there, which I had no clue how to accomplish.
I designated that chore to Matt. He had the job of figuring out the crystal and the metallic petals and how they could be used as a navigational guide, while I took us along the general path that the fleet would’ve had to of taken, at least, initially.
Three long days later saw Matt no closer to solving the riddle of the Orlanis Star. I was in a thunderous mood and I kept to myself to avoid lashing out at anybody. Ortega made the mistake of approaching once and I wasn’t nice.
I had a very bad temper and this endless sailing around, while precious time wasted away, was doing me no good. I left the bridge and went to my cabin to be in seclusion, only there was nothing to do.
I craved peace of any kind, but there wasn’t any to be found. I glanced at the drawer of my desk and contemplated its contents for a moment. It certainly couldn’t hurt.
I went to the desk and ripped the drawer open and took out the worn Bible and lay down on my cot and began to read in Psalms. I found a measure of peace as I went through psalm after psalm, as if I’d found an old friend I hadn’t seen in a long time.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
I jumped out of my cot startled and the Bible that had been lying open on my chest went flying, but I caught it before it hit the floor. I set it down on the desk as I went to the door. I hadn’t meant to fall asleep, but apparently I had.
I opened the door to see a nervous looking Christina cower back from me slightly. I focused on looking calm as I didn’t like the fact that she saw something in me to be scared of, “What’s the matter?” I asked.
She pointed upwards and said, “Matt thinks he solved it.”
I quickly moved past her and went topside. I found Matt in the wheelhouse and strangely for someone who had just solved an ancient riddle he looked rather low-key even perhaps depressed.
Apprehension rose up in me as I asked, “What is it Matt? What’s wrong?”
He shrugged expressively, “Well I’ve solved it, I think.”
I stepped up beside him to see that the petals of the star were slightly glowing. I hadn’t seen them do that before. Matt picked up the crystal centerpiece and brought it out over open space and let it go. The piece hovered in midair.
Four of the five petals rose up off the chart table and hovered out to fan around the central hovering crystal. Matt picked up the fifth pedal, which was slightly different than the others, another thing of which I hadn’t noticed before.
He brought it near to the metallic outer ring of the central crystal and it snapped to the side of it magnetically. He pointed to the four outward petals that floated a foot away from the central crystal.
“These four stand for North, East, South, and West. The fifth petal is your navigational heading indicator, which I’m assuming to be targeted on Atlantis.”
Matt leaned close to the central crystal and spoke one word definitively, “Atlantis!”
The central crystal lit up at the spoken name and scrollwork letters lit up in the metallic alloy surrounding the crystal. The text was different than the text etched in scrollwork on the petals.
“The writing is from a later time period, but still of very early Babylonian origin. I was able to translate it roughly.” Matt said sounding for all the world as if he was thoroughly unexcited about what was a monumental discovery.
He handed me a tablet and cautiously I took it not understanding the level of reserve that he was manifesting. The words leapt off the page at me as I read them aloud,
“To lovers of wisdom and seekers of the hidden things, I welcome you to the halls of enlightenment. Once they were proud and full of those who sought the wisdom of the angels, who rebelled so that they might come and live among us sharing what it was meant for us to know, but was kept from us by a petty and jealous God, who would have us live our lives out in ignorance and fail to attain the immortal knowledge of the first angelic rebel, who saved the world from a corrupt power-hungry dictator of a God. The halls are no longer proud, because of the actions of a jealous God, but wisdom is still to be found as well as power. Power to become a god of your own making. Listen to one who became mighty against God and king over all the Earth. Adopt the ways of the seed of the first rebel and you like me will be enabled to make great effort in our common war against God so that we might be free and constrained no more and able to kill even the very concept of one God as we all will become gods of our own making and thus free to choose our own way. Our ally in this fight for freedom and quest for knowledge is Satan and all his angelic host along with the spirits of those mighty ones who came before. Pledge your soul to him as a fitting sacrifice and we shall win as we reject God’s authority over us. I, Nimrod, mightiest upon the Earth and greatest of all kings have spoken. Bind yourself to the path of knowledgeable enlightenment and the sea lanes will be opened up unto you, even as they were to me and I became great and if you are worthy so can you.”
I glanced up from the written words to meet Matt’s eyes. He met my gaze and shook his head negatively as he said, “I can’t agree to do that and I want no part of such an unholy agreement, but your Captain of the ship.”
There was silence for a moment which was broken by Big Jim who spoke up deeply, “They should be thrown into the sea! I no serve darkness anymore, because my Jesus saved me!”
He pointed at me and said, “I work for you for free! I no need the money!”
The big man had spoken and he’d said a lot.
“He’s right Captain!” Serena said chiming in.
I glanced at Flynn and Ortega and both surprisingly nodded in agreement. I hadn’t given either of them that much credit in terms of moral religious virtue.
I glanced from the crew around me to the pieces of the Orlanis Star hovering in the air before me.
I would lose everything.
Sometimes it didn’t matter and this was one of those times. I grabbed the central crystal piece with its blasphemous wording and chucked it out the open wheelhouse door and into the sea. The other pieces soon followed.
“Take us back to port Serena.” I said roughly before leaving the silent wheelhouse.
I made my way down the ladder quickly towards my quarters needing to be alone, as I was embarrassed as a Captain for my inability to provide for my crew just as a father would have been to see his children go hungry or go without what they needed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The pieces of the Orlanis Star splashed into the water heavily, but only for a moment did the pieces begin to sink. As one the pieces boomeranged backward toward the Celestia’s Prize’s hull under the water.
They chased through the water after the ship, as she turned around and motored for port. With loud audible snaps they magnetically clicked onto the metal plating near the propeller shaft just above the waterline.
Christina stepped backward from the railing completely creeped out by what she had just seen. What power had driven the pieces of the star to attach themselves to the ship the way they had just done?
Everything going on was just too weird and she was scared. She didn’t say anything to anyone. She just wanted this whole ill begotten experience to be over with and be back on land again so she could get on with her life and apologize to her mother for being a brat.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I sat down on my cot and held my head in my hands as all the what if’s and negative possibilities began to run through my mind as to how bleak my future now seemed and how it was about to become my reality. I grew weary in the attempt to remain positive about the future.
I had made the right decision poor excuse of a Christian that I still was. It didn’t seem to matter though as my mind was filled with negative doubts and fears
that were becoming realized.
I pressed hard on my temples and groaned out, “God make it stop!”
I fell back on the bed feeling like my fight for survival was over. My quest to remain in control of my fate and sanity was out of my hands. I felt raw, open, and exposed.
Tears came and I whispered into the stillness of the room, “God help me, because no one else can!” Strangely then I fell asleep and I dreamed.
Chapter Five
Faithful Servant
I heard laughter. The giggling sound of the merriment of children at play was suddenly very close and yet so far away in a sense. Beautiful melodies of sound that enrichened my soul with joy, as I recognized the sound of my daughters.
“I have not failed to keep the innocent young souls of your daughters or the soul of your first love who put her trust in Me. I am ever faithful even as you in the weakness brought on by your self-imposed distance from My strength and comfort have been faithful to Me once again. Well done thou good and faithful servant!”
“I’m not faithful! I ran from you God with all my might!” I exclaimed in brokenness.
“Yes you did and yet you did not outrun My grace. Are you not tired of being away from My comforting presence? Do you not mourn the loss of My presence, even as you continue to mourn the loss of your family? Stop and know My love for you has never diminished. Come back into My presence Eli and let Me heal your pain and mend your heart and cause a new day to dawn in your life filled with new joys and a new purpose. Stop your wondering in the wilderness of your desolation and feel My peace, even as I lead you to a good place. Allow yourself to fall in love with Me all over again and be no more alone or haunted by what once was, but is no more.”
Crying and jerking with emotion I fell off the cot onto the floor. I pressed my face into the floor and choked out, “Please let it be so Lord of my life! I can’t go on like this anymore! I would rather die in this instant than go on one more moment feeling empty and barren of life, because I’m not right with you!”
I felt the warm presence of love pressed down from above fill me. A love I had been so long without and I cried all the bitterness’s of my life out into the floor, until I was spent with exhaustion.
I don’t know how much later it was as I lay collapsed of all energy upon the floor, but I felt the impression of the Creator of all life once more upon me as I heard, “That which your hand finds to do, do with all your might.”
I swallowed and asked, “What is it you want me to do Lord?”
“Loosen the bonds of those who are afflicted. Give the people that have no place to lay their head a home of their own. Abolish the ways of wickedness and find a place of your own in the land that I will show you even as I deliver your enemies into your hand thou righteous servant of the Most High. Only be faithful as you were today and I will do all this and more for I am faithful to deliver those who put their trust in Me, even as I will give you a place of honor in the Kingdom to come.”
“Why me Lord? Surely there is someone who is better than me!”
“Who is better than you, a man humble in spirit, but faithful in purpose. Eli, Eli, there is nothing that I cannot do through you, if you will only give me your freedom of choice as you did this day. Now get up valiant warrior for it is I, the Ancient of Days, who has given you strength and insight to accomplish what I have purposed for you to do. Even as I have purposed it, so shall it be done!”
I was thrust up to my feet from an unknown source and propelled toward the door of my cabin, even as a voice of Divine authority said, “Follow the star that I have provided to show you the hidden places of the Earth.”
I exclaimed in horror, as if I felt guilty of a great crime, “I threw it away into the sea Lord!”
“That childish bauble cursed from its creation and inscribed with man’s vanity! It is not a star, but only a cheap thing of no importance! Behold I have given you a true star to light your path! For do not I command the hosts of heaven even as I do the seas and the beasts of the earth?”
“Yes Lord!” I said in awed obedience, as I was driven from my cabin and up the ladder and out into the night air.
I grasped the railing, as I stared up into the sky full of stars overhead, but one stood out more than all the rest and it seemed low in the sky. It was moving steadily away from us.
I turned towards the bridge to see Big Jim manning the wheel alone in the dark, “Follow that star!” I cried out.
He nodded and surprised me by saying, “Yes my Captain!”
The Celestia’s Prize hauled back around in the night as Big Jim spun the wheel to line up with the star that seemed to pause briefly for us in the night sky as if it was waiting for us to catch up. The star started to move again and Jim opened up the throttle to full and the Celestia’s Prize surged forward slicing through the waves in pursuit of the star that kept pace ahead of the ship.
Like sleepwalkers the rest of the crew emerged out onto the deck to stare at the provided wonder in the night sky ahead of us. Matt came up alongside of me and I glanced at him to see him mesmerized by the star.
He said without looking at me, “I had a dream and now I’m awake only to realize that my dream is going to become a reality!”
I patted him on the back as new life and new purpose swept into both of our lives. I was glad to share this experience with him.
“What’s happening?” Christina asked in a scared voice.
I turned to her, “Nothing to be afraid of Christina. Instead watch and be amazed by what God can do!”
The star was getting closer to the surface of the sea and Divine instruction came to me.
“Flynn!”
“Aye aye Captain?”
“You and Ortega start closing all the topside hatches and the port and starboard window covers. Tie down everything else.”
“Aye aye Captain!”
Matt and Serena went along to help and I moved over to Christina, who held the railing with a death grip. She was staring at the falling star like it was a harbinger of doom.
“What do you believe in Christina?” I asked calmly.
Her horrified gaze drifted to me and she blinked and started to cry as she said, “I don’t know!”
On an emotional cry she asked, “Am I going to die?”
“Christina we’re all going to die at some point, when that is I can’t say. Your sister has faith and she’s a good role model for you. Start figuring out the important things and start asking the tough questions, because tomorrow is guaranteed to no one. I pray that you have time to decide what your choice will be in life Christina, but be warned of this. To choose not to make a choice or to play around and only half commit is making a choice. The wrong choice Christina!”
She was crying and in general she was petrified, but she wasn’t yet ready for more. She was getting quite the show to help her believe in the miraculous though.
I pulled her tight grip on the railing free and led her inside the wheelhouse as the star really started to plummet downward.
I stepped up beside Big Jim as he manned the wheel. He gave me a big open faced grin. Jim it would appear was full of surprises lately. For starters I’d never known that he exhibited a Christian faith, as he’d never talked of religion, just as he never talked in general.
“This is the best trip out yet Captain!” He intoned deeply looking as if he was having the time of his life.
I responded to his full smile with one of my own. I had a feeling that there were bigger and better things to come, but for right now it was nice to smile again and really mean it.
The smile left me though as the star came down and streaked across the water ahead of us. A channel of water rolled back and we were in the channel’s bottom, as we watched the sea split backwards away from us to either side.
Up ahead the bright heavenly body that had been our guide swung sharply to the right and then seemed to pivot around in a circle and then was gone from our sight. Jim and I shared a meaningful look and quickly w
e stood to either side of the wheel ready to help each other.
I saw it only moments before we plunged headlong into it. The upturned waters of the sea had been turned into a gigantic whirlpool!
“Turn the wheel!” I yelled, but Jim had already spun the wheel from his end, as I pulled from the other end. The Celestia’s Prize swung to the right and plunged downward around and around the whirlpool of cylindrical flowing water that went down and down and down into the depths of the sea.
It became so dark that all we could see was the faint light of the star that we had followed here far far below us. It was as if we were in a long train tunnel and the outside light was just a brief dot of color in the distance.
The ship was beyond steering and we were all thrown around the wheelhouse as the ship’s wheel spun free making its own way down the mad white-water course. Overcome by the dizziness of our spiraling descent there wasn’t one of us that was able to keep from retching horribly as we tried to grasp a hold of anything we could latch onto in our desperation to find a solid purchase of some kind in our fast-moving world of spinning fright.
Fear began to rise up in me that we could never survive such an event as this. Somehow this had all been a terrible mistake. It had to have been.
I grasped a hold of the threads of my spinning consciousness and jerked them to stop, because what I had dreamed and seen was real and it would come to pass even as God was not a liar. Armed with that faith I looked ahead out the forward windows and almost lost my faith for the second time.
There was a lot of light ahead of us now. Red light glowed eerily up at us through a hazy mist. It appeared like we were plunging straight to hell!
The smell and steam of boiled seawater pervaded into the wheelhouse so thickly that we could hardly see each other as we coughed on the somewhat acrid fumes. I wiped at the condensation of the wheelhouse window and briefly saw a vision of what hell must look like.
Columns of red magma rose all around us as the seawater rushed around the hissing landscape of molten fire as we plunged down through a gap in the mantle of the world. The red was suddenly gone after it seemed like it had been there for an eternity and breathing became easier for only a moment, until it became clear that we were all freefalling through space.
Journey into the Deep Page 4
