Enoch's Challenge

by Warren W Ward

  They stopped at an unmarked door with only a number. He was welcomed by a young lady who gestured for him to sit in what looked like a standard barber’s chair.

  “Hi!” she said with a smile. “I’m Sarahbeth.”

  “Hello yourself,” Jason responded. “I’m Jason.”

  “I know!” she said enthusiastically.

  “Everyone knows I’m here?” Jason asked.

  “Just about,” Sarahbeth answered. “You’re the guy who tried to get from Earth to Mars in a little closet with a few carrots and some candy bars. That was brave of you!”

  Jason laughed and said, “That about sums it up!” Then he changed the subject, “Did you get this chair from Woolworths, too?”

  She smiled and said, “Oh my, no! My husband got this for me from Houston Barber Supply.”

  “Of course,” Jason said grinning. “What was I thinking?”

  Sarahbeth asked, “So, how would you like it? Human or bear?”

  Jason thought for a moment. “Human would be fine. I’m a little tired of bear.”

  “You got it!” she said.

  Fifteen minutes later he felt human again. It was actually a very nice haircut.

  “Thank you so much,” Jason said. “What do I owe you?”

  “Fifty pesos would be nice,” she responded.

  “I’m a little short right now. Can I catch you later?” Jason asked half joking.

  “Oh, Ben will pay me later at home.” she said.

  “Oh, Ben’s your husband?” Jason asked.

  “No. He’s my brother. I’ll make him fix my hair dryer. Then we’ll be even.”

  Ben said, “Sure Sarahbeth. No problem.”

  Jason thanked her, and she shook Jason’s hand. “It was nice working on an Earthling,” she said with a smile.

  Ben said, “Let’s go before she starts snipping at all the little mistakes she made. She’s a perfectionist.”

  Sarahbeth stuck out her tongue at Ben. He gave her a kiss on the cheek.

  Soon they entered what appeared to be a typical cafeteria. This ship must be pretty large to have so much space for eating, Jason thought to himself.

  They found a seat and Ben explained how to order food and drink. It turned out to be quite simple, actually. Touch a picture in the hand-held menu twice and the order was placed. The funny thing was that the menu was more of a TV screen than paper. At first Jason didn't notice, except that it was a really good picture. Then he saw movement. The pictures were alive!

  Ben noticed Jason’s interest in the menu and said, "These menus are made of flexible video screens. They are as thin as paper and are computer controlled. The chef updates them every meal. If we are out of something, then the picture doesn't appear. Sometimes he shows the food being prepared, if it’s a special dish."

  "Where’s the computer that controls all this? It must be huge!"

  "Actually the computer and its power supply are in the binding of the menu you are holding. It is quite small actually, but it only has about 12 gigabytes of memory. It isn’t like our personal units. Those average about ten terabytes of memory. So, it can't do a whole lot more than show pictures and video and then transmit the order back to the kitchen. It’s just a very basic unit."

  Jason exclaimed, "This little menu has 12 gigabytes of memory? Isn’t a gigabyte a thousand megabytes? There's a computer in the binding of the menu? Are you kidding me? The Apollo 6 only had 2 kilobytes of read/write memory and 36 kilobytes of read only memory in the whole Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) system. And it was state-of-the-art! And it wasn’t battery powered!"

  "Well, I guess we have a few things you don't have yet. But I'm sure Earth will have it soon enough."

  Jason looked up as a cart came his way. There was no driver, no cord, just a cart with food on it. It seemed to follow a specific path and stopped at his table.

  "Oh good, your food is here." Ben reached over and picked up a tray with a cover over it.

  "You will notice it ignored one of your choices. It seems that the good doctor is limiting your fun. Some foods have not been approved for you quite yet. Sorry."

  "How did it know it was me?"

  "Oh, your face has already been entered into the facial recognition database. I did it when you sat down. I waited until now, so that the A.I. wasn’t always looking for a Great Ape. No offense."

  Jason laughed. Then paused, "The what? A.I.? Facial recognition? How?"

  "I keep forgetting that our basic technology is unknown to you. This is not a book I have in my hand. It is a complete computer, display and output system. I have 24 Terabytes of memory in mine and a display with 2048 x 1536 pixel resolution, a touch display, voice command capable, and a wireless connection to the ship's computer. Am I going too fast for you? I don't mean to confuse you. It's just that things like this are normal for us. I forget you haven't developed them yet. We call these Grapemats or The Grape. I don't know where the name came from, but it's what we call it. There’s even a slot in the side that you could put in a special packet and it will make hot chocolate!"

  Jason took all this in while he ate his dinner.

  “Wait,” Jason said. “Hot chocolate?”

  “I was just kidding about the hot chocolate,” said Ben grinning. “Maybe I should shut up and let you eat!”

  Jason went right to eating. He was hungry for solid food. He was surprised how quickly he filled up, however. Soon he just couldn't eat another bite. The food was unusual, but quite tasty. He suspected that it was also very nutritious, as he didn't see overweight or sickly people anywhere!

  Finally, he put his fork down and said, "I don't mean to be wasteful, but I just cannot eat all of this."

  "That's alright, Captain. I was under doctor’s orders to let you have as much as you wanted. She said that you would be hungry, but your stomach would be so small that it couldn't hold too much. You needed to find that out for yourself."

  "Well, I did. I really pigged out on it. It was great. I don't think I will ever eat again!"

  "I doubt that, Captain. But we’ll see how you feel in a few hours and find out if that is true. With your smaller stomach, you will get hungry faster for a while. You'll see."

  "Well, what's next?

  "I'll take you to Dr. Vickie's office now. She asked to see you after lunch."

  Jason tried not to smile. He would be very happy to see that doctor again.

  As they walked down a different corridor than they had previously used to get to the cafeteria, he noticed how many cabins there were. He wondered just how many people were on this ship. Just getting to Vickie's office he could see doors and passageways that could have been in a hotel. Strangely, there was nothing to indicate that he was on a spaceship. Weird, he thought.

  He was escorted to Dr. Vickie's office and Ben turned and left him there. He barely had time to say goodbye as Ben quickly rounded the corner going back to the clinic.

  Before he even knocked on the door he heard her voice say, "Come in, Captain. I hope you are feeling well."

  Dr. Vickie had a small office not far from the hospital room in which he had been staying. He knew this only because he could see his hospital door down the hallway. Otherwise, he was lost. She looked up from what must be a computer screen on her desk.

  She smiled and said, "Well, Captain, you look different. I think I liked you better when you were smelly and hairy. Hmmm."

  "Well, doctor, that can easily be corrected. Just give me a few months in a capsule with little food and no shower."

  "Actually Captain, you're beginning to grow on me clean-shaven. Maybe there is hope for you."

  "Maybe there is hope for YOU, doctor. I'm a certified astronaut. And you?"

  Vickie looked overly-humble and said, "I guess you got me there. I’m just an ordinary Martian doctor who travels amongst the stars like any normal everyday earthling does."

  Jason said laughing, "You got ME there."

  "Well, we can't all be heroes, Earth astronaut Captain Jason Hots
on. So, Hero, here is the plan. In a few weeks we will go and see the big boss. He wants you to put some weight on and gain your strength back, or, at least as much as you can in that time. Until then, you need to exercise and do everything I tell you."

  "Yes, m'lady," Jason said with a bow.

  "Mmm. I like that. M'lady. Sounds so special. Just call me Vickie, Captain Hero."

  “Just call me ‘Sir’,” he said with a grin.

  “OK, Jason,” she grinned back.

  The next week was interesting. He could feel his strength returning. His physical therapy was painful at first, but then he seemed to get through it and had some wonderful workouts. It felt good to be normal again.

  Of course, he looked forward to his daily visits from Dr. Vickie. She was an amazing woman and was quite familiar with Earth and its customs. He learned from Ben that she was first in her class in medical school, the first woman to perform a certain brain operation that proved to be groundbreaking, and she was their version of an Olympic champion in Fencing. Impressive! But she only referred to herself as his doctor. He would have to tease her about that sometime, he thought. Fencing?

  She met him one day after therapy and led him down the hallway and turned right. He was afraid that he would need a map to get around the ship without getting lost. Maybe just a map from his room, to the cafeteria, and to her office. That should do it for a while, he thought.

  They walked in silence down the hall, up some stairs, and through a large open area. He figured it was some sort of hanger, or maybe a repair facility. He hoped they would share their technology with him and maybe let him get the big picture. Although very curious, he was patient. He believed they would let him know what they wanted him to know when they were ready. He just wondered where they were going.

  "What is this place? Where is everyone?” Jason asked.

  "Oh, this is the docking bay. Most of the crew is on the Mars base. We don't come here that often, and it is a chance for them to stretch their legs and do something different. We spend a LOT of time in space. You may not know this, Earthling, but space is really, really big and a really, really unfriendly place."

  "I think I'm beginning to understand that,” Jason said smiling.

  “I just thought it would be an interesting thing for you to see before we go to the Bishop’s office,” Vickie said. "Well, I think you are ready to meet with the Bishop. He has been asking when you would be able to sit and talk with him."

  "Will you be with me?" Jason asked.

  "Are you afraid of the big, bad Bishop, War Hero? Of course, I will be with you. I wouldn't miss it. Besides, he asked me to join you."

  Jason winked at her and said, "Hmm. I could use a pretty escort."

  Vickie blushed. Jason blushed. He couldn’t believe he said that! But he was glad that he did…

  Chapter 16–Answers

  Jason was led into a large, paneled room. There were windows that showed the planet below them. This was the first time he fully realized that he was in space. There were pictures of interesting landscapes on the walls, and some sort of strange lighting he didn't recognize. The floor was a textured material with which he wasn't familiar. Otherwise, it was just a nice office. But the image of Mars below them stood out the most!

  "It is an amazing sight, isn't it Captain?" she said softly.

  He hadn't noticed Bishop Rhodes sitting at his desk until Vickie said, "Well, Bishop, here is our Earthling as requested. Shall we cook him tonight or wait until we've fattened him up a bit?"

  Bishop Rhodes tried to look serious. "Oh, Dr. Vickie, you'll scare the boy. Then there'll be too much adrenaline in the meat."

  Jason looked at both of them. He smiled and just shook his head.

  "We all know I'm too old to eat. At my age they just put us out to pasture."

  "Well said, my boy. Have a seat. Doctor you are welcome to stay if you like. I don't think we have any more Earthlings to rescue at the moment."

  "I'm sure it is just a matter of time Bishop, but I would like to stay and hear you explain “us” to the new guy."

  "Very well. Have a seat next to him, if you don't mind. That way I don't have to turn my head far to see if you think I'm giving him too much, too fast."

  Vickie sat down in the plush chair next to Jason. She made it a point to sit right up against him. She smiled at him and straightened her dress. She looked like an angel to him with that smile which had caught his attention from the start.

  "Well, let's get down to business, Captain Hotson."

  "Please call me Jason, sir. I don't have a ship to captain at this point. And I've no sea to sail it on, either."

  "Very well, Jason. You can just call me Bishop. It's tradition, here."

  "Thank you, uh, Bishop. And if I haven't said it again lately, thank you for saving our lives."

  "You are very welcome, son. It means a lot to us that you are here. It was very brave of you to volunteer for such a dangerous mission. I understand your country was preparing for a mission to your moon. Mars is significantly further away, you know."

  It was nice that the 'Bishop' had a good sense of humor.

  "Well, I guess I had better set the record straight. I didn't volunteer. I was shanghaied."

  "Hold on a minute, Jason."

  The Bishop turned to the bookshelf behind him and pulled down a well-used Miriam-Webster dictionary. Jason could see from the cover it was fairly old. Surely this was published on Earth, Jason thought.

  "Shanghaied. Shanghaied. Got it. To join a ship lacking a full crew by drugging them or using other underhanded means.”

  “Is this true, son?"

  "Actually yes, sir. We were supposed to be going into orbit to test our EVA skills and assemble two modules that had been sent to orbit the week before. We had no idea that we were actually assembling a ship that was going to Mars–with us in it! They didn't tell us until the computer orbital change maneuver had sent us on a trajectory to Mars, instead. We thought there had been a problem with the computer-control firing of the main engine. We all thought we were doomed. And I think you know the rest."

  "Wow! Why do you suppose they did that? Wouldn't you have volunteered?" Jason could see the Bishop was stunned!

  "I'm sure we all would have, Bishop." Jason was getting used to calling him Bishop. "But they didn't ask us. They assumed we might not agree to such a dangerous and premature mission, since NASA had never done such a thing before. Shoot, sir, the U.S. hadn't even been to the Moon, for heaven's sake! Yet we decided to go to Mars first? It seemed a little reckless."

  "I know our message must have rattled them up a bit, but to, as you say, to shanghai someone seems a bit extreme," the Bishop said wryly.

  "Well, really, sir, not much more extreme than you asking us to come to Mars in the first place, since we were so new in space travel!"

  "Touché, Jason.”

  They looked at each other for a minute, each sizing the other up.

  "Well, I guess you are wondering who we are, where we come from, why we know English, and why we aren't small and green with antennas coming out of the tops of our heads like in the TV show My Favorite Martian."

  "Yes, Bishop, that about sums it up. But wait, you know our TV shows?"

  Jason was surprised how easy it was getting to calling him Bishop.

  "Well, yes, Jason. We get a particular chuckle out of that one. And Gilligan’s Island, of course. Half the crewmen likes Mary Ann, the other half likes Ginger.” The Bishop paused to see Jason’s response. “Too bad we didn't have antennae. It would have been fun to see your reaction."

  Bishop Rhodes shuffled his papers and thought for a moment, and then he continued. "But let's get down to business. Do you read the Bible, son?"

  "From time to time. I am a Christian, sir."

  "Good. Then this won't come as that much of a surprise."

  The Bishop turned around to his bookshelf again and put the dictionary back. Then he pulled out a clearly ragged copy of the King James edition of the
Bible. He handed it over to Jason and told him, "Turn to Genesis, Chapter 5 verses 18-25. Go ahead and read them aloud."

  Jason took the old Bible and turned to Genesis. He was glad his mom made him go to Sunday school, so that he didn't embarrass himself in front of Vickie. He knew Genesis was the first book in the Old Testament. He was just glad he wasn’t asked to turn to Habakkuk!

  "OK, sir. It says:

  18 And Jared lived an hundred sixty and two years, and he begat Enoch:

  19 And Jared lived after he begat Enoch eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: