by Todd Fries
Hap pulled something out of his pants.
“Take my key-card. It will open his door. Go to solitary confinement; cell A1. First door on the right when you walk in.”
Major Brooks took the card and then dialed emergency services using the General’s phone. After giving them their location, he hung up and addressed the group.
“Ok. We have to get going. I want all of you to go straight for the hangar. I’ll find Nickolas.”
Jacob turned toward his brother.
“I hate to leave you. I may never see you again.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll be fine. Nothing you can do anyway and they’ll take good care of me.”
He pulled at Jacob’s sleeve.
“God speed brother. Look me up when you get home.”
Jacob patted his hand and then turned to leave. It was the hardest thing he’d ever done, but the Lord was opening a door and he had to take advantage. Before leaving, he questioned the Major.
“Do you think this drill is real or just a training exercise?”
“If it’s real, where would you rather be? In the shelter or inside SM1?”
Jacob thought about it and remembering the indestructibility of the craft, he had to agree, SM1 was the better choice. His only concern was for his brother. If this wasn’t a drill, could he survive in that shelter? Before he could answer, his brother touched him on the elbow.
“Go! I’ll be fine. The chances of this being real are slim to none. Probably a glitch in the system which means your time is limited. Help is on the way. So go!”
For a brief moment he squeezed his hand and then Jacob got up and followed the Major out of the room.
Once through the doorway, they bounded toward the lower level and out into the hallway below. Most everyone had cleared the corridor, so splitting ways, Major Brooks ran toward the detention center while the rest jogged toward the hangar door.
When the Major arrived at the brig, he swiped the card and seeing a green light, he entered a dark passageway with steel doors running along one side. He turned on the lights, then stopping at the first cell, he scanned his card again, causing the locking mechanism to release the door. After hearing an audible rattle, he pulled on the heavy steel which opened to reveal a disheveled Nickolas, holding his hands over his eyes due to the sudden brightness.
“Who are you?”
“It’s me. Caleb. Come. We have to go now.”
The Major grabbed his hand and helped him to his feet, but Nickolas was stiff from sitting for so long and it took a moment for him to gather his balance. Then limping along, he followed the Major out into the main corridor. Nickolas addressed the Major.
“What’s that noise and where are we going? Where are the guards?”
“No time to discuss that right now. Suffice it to say that the alarm you’re hearing is an answer to prayer. We’re heading to SM1 and to freedom.”
“What about the rest of the team?”
“They should be there now. Our job is to catch-up and get on board before this siren stops singing. We may only have minutes.”
Nickolas thought about how trumpets were used in various phases of Israel’s economy. They were sounded at times of public assembly, used to direct soldiers in war and signaled important events on the calendar. Trumpets were used on the occasion of the giving of the law, were sounded on the first of the month and served to announce almost every important occasion. He wondered if this was God’s way of announcing this important occasion.
He felt his legs starting to come back from their sleepy state and found he could start running at a slow pace. Soon they were at the hangar door and this time when they entered, there was nothing between them and the ramp to SM1. It looked like they were finally going to make it and he marveled at his sudden release from prison. It seemed there was no task too great for God and as they climbed into the ship, he glanced back one last time, remembering the spot where Kathi died and closed the door.
PREDESTINATION
Inside the ship, there was a mad scramble to initiate internal power and since Mark had been studying the fusion drive, he already had it up and running by the time Nickolas entered the control room. When he scanned the faces of his friends, he saw a different group of people. Each had been changed by recent experiences and the innocent excitement of the past few weeks was gone.
Instead he saw a quiet determination that spoke of their commitment to the job at hand. Each had trained for this day and now that it was finally here, it was surreal. Most of these people had never been to space, let alone another planet, and the struggles they endured to get to this point were far beyond anything they could have imagined. This had been one long fight against a man and his agency and by comparison, made George Orwell’s 1984 look like a Disney adventure.
Now they had full control of SM1 and with the hatch closed, there was no power on Earth that could stop them. Whatever happened next was already pre-determined by a God who had foreordained every event throughout eternity. Everything from the flight of a sparrow to the path of a hurricane, was destined to occur by God in eternity past, in the exact manner in which it was to occur. As a leaf fell from a tree, it followed the exact course God planned for it to take from the branch to the ground; and when a duck slid across the surface of a pond, the height and spacing of the ripples it made were all foreordained by God when he created the universe. The One who held the universe together (Colossians 1:17) had a plan, and His plan was now being accomplished.
Logically Nickolas understood there was still a problem with predetermination and that problem was the reality of man’s free will. If God had predetermined all things, then were humans nothing but passive game pieces, being moved about by the Divine Hand? He shook his head no. The bible also taught human responsibility, which implied free will. Jesus said,
“Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come! (Mathew 18:7).
When Jesus said that sins ‘must come’, He was speaking of predetermination. When he pronounced ‘woe’ on those through whom sin had come, He was speaking of personal responsibility. In some incomprehensible way, God’s predetermination didn’t negate man’s accountability in the choices he made. God was indeed sovereign, yet man’s choices were real.
As he took his seat at the console, he remembered how Joseph acknowledged the predetermination of God in Egypt when he forgave his brothers for their wickedness toward him:
“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Genesis 50:20)
Man’s intentions were directly contrasted with God’s intention regarding the same event. The words rang through his head like a bell in a church. It was from Isaiah 44:6-8):
“I am the first and the last, apart from me there is no God. Who then is like me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and lay out before me what has happened since I established my ancient people, and what is yet to come -- yes, let them foretell what will come. Do not tremble, do not be afraid. Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago?”
Nick concluded that what identified God as the Sovereign Ruler was in fact that He proclaimed “long ago” what would happen and those events were being fulfilled today, even as he now took the controls of SM1. But was he really in control? Was this his plan or the plan of any man? Probably not. Just as Jonah tried to do things his own way, he still preached in Nineveh. If SM1 was meant to go to another world, it was going despite their best efforts.
“Are you ready?”
Nickolas turned his attention to the control panel in front of him.
“Yes. We can move at any time except for the large hangar door in front of us. As I recall, it’s pretty flimsy. I think we should be able to push right through it if I apply enough power.”
Slowly the ship rose from the tarmac and then pushing its nose against the inside of the panel, he slowly raised the power until the hangar
door started to buckle and eventually fell into a heap at the bottom of the opening. Once in open air, he pointed the craft toward space and rocketed into orbit.
As he did so, he watched in humor as the newbies tried to brace themselves for acceleration g-forces, but there were none to be felt and to give them a little more to consider, he opened the view so that they could see a full 360 degrees around them, making the floor, walls and ceiling transparent.
He chuckled as he watched Jillian hold a hand over her mouth as she dry-heaved from the visible motion around them, and while the rest seemed dumbfounded at the prospect of launching into orbit, he could see the absolute wonder in their eyes as the blue sky gave way to the black of space.
Within moments the planet swung out from below them and for the first time they saw the circle of the Earth, the oceans and clouds and even the pole was visible as a vast sheet of ice. With Jillian hugging the floor, SM1 angled up into a high orbit where he parked her, then having some mercy on the young lady, he increased the opacity of the room until it hid the sights below them. Major Brooks erupted.
“Hey! What are you doing? I can’t see anymore!”
Nickolas pointed to Jillian and Hannah quickly helped her back up on her feet.
“You ok?”
Jillian nodded.
“I get motion sickness and I’m afraid of heights. Not a good combination for this trip.”
“Oh I think you’ll be ok. From what I understand, you can’t feel the motion of this ship when it’s flying. We just need to keep you away from the window. Why don’t we go into another room so that Nickolas can re-activate the view screen. Ok?”
Jillian nodded and they moved into one of the other spaces while Nickolas returned the room to its transparent state.
This time there was total silence as everyone soaked in the scene before them. It was like nothing they could have imagined and to see all around them was like a virtual reality game gone wild. There was nothing between themselves and the scenery. There was no glare, dust or fog and even the best glass on Earth was incapable of this much clarity. Being trapped in the center of a giant soap bubble was the best description they could muster and even that wasn’t adequate to describe their situation.
Once Nickolas stabilized the ship, he turned around to address his comrades.
“We did it! You did it! Oh heck! God did it. We’re in space!”
Mark responded.
“Finally. I had been been wondering if this thing could even fly or if it was all just wild stories, but now I believe. This thing is capable of everything you’ve claimed, and more. I’ll be eager to see how it performs at full power.”
Nickolas responded.
“I guess you’ll see that soon enough, but now that we’re out here, we never really discussed where we’re going. We know Proxima b is a sure thing and the closest in proximity, but we’ve had all this talk about Trappist-1. What was our final decision?”
Major Brooks responded.
“What would General Reynold’s want? He was the one evaluating our choices. Did he tell anyone with absolute certainty about his wishes in this matter?”
“You know he did in his letter. He wanted to return to Proxima b with the intention of growing crops and establishing an outpost of life on a distant world. That’s what we’ve been preparing for.”
Jacob interjected.
“But what does God want? We don’t know what’s on the other planets and the ‘Tree of Life’ points to Trappist-1. Isn’t that evidence enough?”
Nickolas hesitated.
“I don’t know.”
Jacob continued.
“When I positioned the ‘Tree of Life’ on the star chart, the first Sephira (Kether) fell directly onto Trappist-1 while the 10th Sephira (Malkuth) landed on Proxima b. So wouldn’t we start with the first Sephira?”
Hannah added her opinion.
“But Kether is basically Heaven. Correct? And Malkuth represents - Kingdom? So are you saying that some planet around Trappist-1 is where God lives?”
Jacob moaned.
“No. Not at all. He’s not confined to one place, but Malkuth is basically the physical world that we understand. On the Tree of Life, power flows downward and not the other way around.
Nickolas answered.
“But you said that the (Kether) was the ‘crown’ and then all of the Sephiras below it allowed the Divine energy to flow down to find its expression in this Malkuth and for our purpose as human beings to bring that energy back around the circuit to the top of the Tree. You stated that God resided above the Tree and that the (Kether) was the beginning of creation.”
“This is true. I said every one of those things, so do you understand my dilemma? We’ve been making our own choices and look where it’s gotten us. Maybe we need to understand what He wants in regards to this voyage.”
Nickolas pondered for a moment. He’d just been thinking about pre-destination and how man had a responsibility to free-will. God could do this with or without them, but it would be so much easier to get it right the first time. Lori interrupted his thoughts.
“We know that Proxima b is habitable? Correct? And we don’t know a thing about the worlds around Trappist-1?”
Jacob responded.
“But there are 7 planets around Trappist and that’s a Divine number. In addition, there are 7 of us and didn’t you find 700 items in that cave when you dug into the Shoulder of Himmon?”
Nickolas nodded his head. Jacob continued.
“Trappist-1 is about 40 light years away. We already know the significance of the number 40. We do know that 1e is .92 in diameter relative to Earth (9-2 = 7) and roughly 70% of Earth gravity. The number 7 represents perfection, totality or completion and is mentioned at least 490 times in the bible. Didn’t 7 people die to get us here?”
Lori was quizzical.
“Seven?”
“Lance Runnels, The Russian cosmonaut (both from Apollo 19) Jonathan Wood, Jin Lei, General Taylor and Kathi Fried and the man we killed in General Taylor’s office. All of them either went to the Moon or were enemies that failed to achieve their goals. I’ve already outlined the math in my first presentation. I feel that Trappist-1 is our ultimate goal.”
Nickolas shrugged his shoulders.
“Even if you’re right, how do we get there? I can’t see Trappist-1 on my view screen, so how do I select it as a target? You’re talking about a journey of over 229 trillion miles. That’s a far cry from my short hop to Proxima.”
Mark interrupted.
“Not really. I think you’re looking at this the wrong way. Let me break it down for you in layman’s terms. Norway is a small country. Correct?”
Nickolas nodded.
Do you realize that if you measure the coastline of Norway, it’s over 63,000 miles long when you include all the long fjords, inlets, numerous small islands and minor indentations?”
“So?”
“If you stretched out that coastline, it would circle the world two and a half times.”
“Wow!”
“You could attempt to drive along the coast, which would take you forever or do what the Norwegians have done for centuries which is navigate the coastline by ship. That’s what we intend to do.”
“I still don’t get it.”
“Space is already rippled, just like Norway’s coastline. We just need to navigate around the ripples. You know this to be true based on your descriptions of flying to Proxima. Remember how space seemed to bend in front of you?”
“Yes, but wasn’t the ship bending space?”
“No, that would require all the power of the universe. Space is already bent, twisted and folded like Norway’s coast. We just need to bypass all the deep crevasses. This is what happens when you engage the drive of this ship. This vehicle isn’t going to travel the full 229 trillion miles to Trappist-1, but a mere fraction of that distance. The General didn’t hire me to study this propulsion system for nothing.”
“So that still doesn
’t answer my question. How do we navigate to this distant star?”
“You plug in coordinates just like you do for your car at home. In this case, we’re triangulating on a fixed point in space based on the position of 3 pulsars. Since space is 3-dimensional, we need to enter three coordinates.”
Nickolas laughed.
“As God is three persons, he made the universe in 3 dimensions?”
“Don’t get me started on the number 3. You’re talking to a ‘numbers man’ as you recall. I can tell you that Jesus prayed three times in the Garden of Gethsemane before his arrest. He was placed on the cross at the 3rd hour of the day (9AM) and died at the 9th hour (3PM). There were 3 hours of darkness that covered the land while He was suffering on the cross. Three is the number of the resurrection. Christ was dead for three full days and three full nights before being resurrected and it goes on and on, mentioned 467 times in the bible. Now aren’t you sorry you asked?”
“I guess. But anyway, do you have these coordinates and how do we enter them into the system?”
“During my experiments, I found a sub-menu.”
Mark reached over and touched the screen. It brought up a series of boxes.
“If I touch here, it brings up a keyboard which displays the triune numbering system. Using this, I can input my three points of reference and you’ll note that the viewfinder is now locked on that empty patch of space. You and I can’t see Trappist-1, but using the data loaded here, we can easily reach our destination.”
He typed in a series of symbols and stepped back from the console.
“Now you’re in control. Simply pilot us to Trappist-1”
The Major laughed.
“You make it seem so simple. What if you’re wrong?”
Mark answered him logically.
“Then we’d miss our target and have to find our own way home. Never fear, I have those coordinates as well. Plus I packed some star charts that could help us navigate visually, but I’m quite confident that won’t be necessary.”
Hannah poked her head into the doorway.
