Enoch's Challenge

by Warren W Ward

  Jason rolled his eyes. “Does everyone here think I’m gullible?”

  “Yes,” he said quickly with a straight face.

  Jason said, “Figures. You’ve been talking to Vickie, haven’t you?”

  “I know nossing,” Ben said in his best Sergeant Schultz impression.

  Ben was still taken aback by their knowledge of Earth TV shows.

  Jason checked out the sink. It worked as Ben described.

  "I got you a couple of sets of clothes and underwear and put them in these drawers." Ben pointed to the location.

  Jason checked out the drawer and was pleased with what he saw. He rather liked the fashions here. Simple. Form fitting. It made him look good, or at least he thought so.

  "Put the dirty laundry down this hatch, and you will find it in the bin on the left, er, port the next day. You will only have to fold it and put it back in the drawer. It doesn't need pressing."

  Jason looked around the room to see if he needed help with anything else. “By the way,” he said. “You only use the terms port and starboard when referring to which side of a ship you are referring to. You don’t use it to tell if something goes on the left or right. You just say left or right.”

  “Thank you, sir.”

  "How do you adjust the temperature in the room? I prefer it rather cool."

  "Most men do. The thermo-control is over the bed. It reads in Centigrade, so it should be easy for you to handle. Captain, if you need anything else, just dial my number. I put it in the phone under Ben. If you make any other friends named 'Ben' then I will have to add my last name, but for now I'm your only 'Ben'."

  "Maybe you should show me how it works?" Jason said warily.

  "Oh yeah, sorry. Your rotary phones in the states are a bit different. The handset is similar, so you should pick up its use quickly. There is a small keyboard with numbers and the alphabet. Just type the name you want. As you type it will assume the rest and prompt you so you don't have to type the whole name. For example, if you type the letter 'B' Ben will immediately display on the screen. If you wanted Barry then you would have to keep typing, before it would be able to guess what name you wanted. As soon as you typed 'Be' it would display Ben which you could accept. There are also numbers, just like on your home phone."

  "Great. Is there a phone book?"

  "Not really. But there is an operator. Just dial '0'–just like home, huh?"

  Jason looked at the phone for a moment with a searching look on his face.

  "By the way, Captain, I took the liberty of putting Dr. Vickie's number in for you, just in case of a...medical emergency. I just entered Vickie. Type V."

  Jason grinned. Ben grinned back.

  Ben added, "Oh, and in case of a real emergency, dial 999."

  "Just like in England. That should be easy to remember."

  "Well, goodnight, Captain. The alarm clock is by your bed. It is pretty standard, but if you need help I can–”

  "Don't worry Ben. You’ve done more than enough. Thank you for being so thoughtful and kind. You think of everything."

  "Just doing my job, sir. Then maybe you won't eat me."

  Jason glanced at Ben to see if he was serious. He wasn't.

  “And maybe you won’t use your black belt skills on me?” Jason replied. Smiling at the humor, Jason said, "Goodnight, Ben," as he shook his hand.

  Ben turned and left. The door closed automatically.

  Hesitantly, Jason reached for the phone and called Vickie.

  "Well, that took you long enough. I've been waiting to go to sleep for you to call. I thought you had forgotten me already."

  Jason said, "I'm sorry, who is this? I was calling for the kitchen."

  "Oh you silly boy. I should come over there and give you a piece of my mind."

  "You could try," Jason said pleadingly.

  "I would, but I'm too tired. Let's just say goodnight, Xailor."

  "OK. I guess so. I really enjoyed being with you today. I hope you aren't too busy tomorrow."

  "We'll see if any more Earthlings get into trouble. Otherwise, I am yours. Goodnight, Captain Hotson."

  Jason’s heart picked up at hearing her say that she was his, but he tried to play it cool. "Goodnight, Dr. Vickie… Wait! I don’t even know your last name!”

  But she had already hung up the phone.

  Jason took a while to get to sleep. There were too many things on his mind. So he opened the Bible again to Genesis and reread about Enoch. Then he looked again at The Book of Moses and read several chapters about Enoch–both the one he read in the Bishop's office and some chapters before that one. Then he spent several hours reading the history of the people of Enoch. It was truly fascinating.

  He fell asleep with the lights on, as he could not figure out how to turn them off. But it didn't matter. He was out cold!

  –––––––

  Morning came a little too soon. Jason didn't realize just how weak and tired he still was after his trip to the surface of Mars, but the thought of seeing Vickie again woke him with a rush of adrenaline. Oh yeah, he thought. I better get cleaned up. He couldn’t get that kiss off of his mind.

  So, he decided to go to the cafeteria without calling her, thinking, "I don't want to come on too eager or I might scare her away. I better take this slow."

  When he got to the cafeteria he found that his favorite table was empty. He sat down and grabbed the menu. He felt like an expert, so he selected something from the breakfast menu and pushed select. He was surprised there was no coffee or tea on the menu, but he thought, Heck. This is an alien spaceship. They probably have moon- or Mars-dust drinks.

  Just before his order, arrived Vickie walked in the door. He stood up with a smile and pointed to the seat next to him.

  "Well, you’ve already moved on, I see. You decided to have breakfast without me. Out of sight, out of mind, a phrase I think you say on Earth."

  "Well actually, I already had one breakfast with Vickie-217. You know there's a song on Earth that goes, ‘Two Girls for Every Guy’ but, fortunately, I have only met one that has worked her way into my heart. You will have to introduce me to several more. Since you are all clones of each other, is there a way to get name tags?

  Vickie gave him the 'evil eye' and said, "Maybe I should have you back in the clinic for some tests. I think you might have some brain damage that didn’t show up on the brain biopsy I did initially."

  "Oh, I don't think it is actual brain damage, but there is something that is taking over my thought processes and leaving me powerless," Jason said.

  Vickie had to smile at that. "Perhaps I have a cure for that?"

  "I don't want a cure. I'm afraid it's already terminal." Jason winked at her.

  Vickie added with a wry smile, "Maybe it's contagious."

  “I hope I'm a carrier. Wait!” Jason stopped suddenly. “You did a brain biopsy on me?”

  Ignoring him she said, looking at the menu, "Maybe I should just place my order."

  Just then the robot cart delivered Jason's breakfast.

  "Don't wait for me. Go ahead and eat."

  "How can I eat when you might have taken out a piece of my brain?"

  “Oh, don’t be so serious. Obviously you haven’t missed it so far!” She tried to look professional.

  “Well, if a beautiful woman wants to remove part of my brain, who am I to object to it?” and Jason started to eat.

  Vickie pretended not to be flattered by the comment, "OK, Sailor. Pull up your anchor, or whatever it is you Navy boys say."

  "Actually, it's anchors aweigh. I'll eat. You just sit there and look pretty."

  "Umm. Maybe I can look ugly until you're finished."

  "Sure. Maybe I can turn into a duck, too."

  "Ok, duck boy. Eat your food."

  Vickie's food came and they both ate in comfortable silence.

  Vickie looked up from her meal and said, "I think you are a mentally-deficient 16 year-old. sometimes."

  Jason looked up with a
comically-childish pout on his face. "Oh sure. You get to be the mature one."

  "EAT!" she said.

  He took a deep breath like he was about to do a difficult task, and obeyed.

  –––––––

  Thursday morning they both sat down in Bishop Rhodes's office. This time the Bishop had a video monitor set up on his desk facing Jason's chair.

  "Captain, let me continue from the other day. I hope you had a chance to read some of what I gave you."

  "Yes, I did. It was incredible. Your people have quite a history." Bishop Rhodes could see he was serious.

  The Bishop continued, "Yes, we have. I want to summarize it with you from my perspective. The City of Enoch, remember, was a country, not just a city. This country was taken to the planet we call 'Enoch' and relocated there. That was in about 3600 BC. God just up and moved the whole thing. We started on Earth, but ended up about 4 light years away on a planet orbiting Alpha Centauri Proxima. It took a little while. We think it took about two weeks for us to get to Enoch from the time we left Earth, but it happened. We are the proof of that. People back then said it looked like the stars were falling from the sky."

  "It makes you wonder how God did it," Jason offered. "And why Proxima? Aren't there three suns that make up Alpha Centauri?"

  "Yes, there is also Alpha Centauri A and B, as you call them. But He decided on Alpha Centauri Proxima for some reason. There is so much we do not know. But He is God, so it just took a word and we were removed from Earth, I suppose."

  Jason offered, "It will be interesting when He brings you back. I suspect it will be a glorious sight. Do you have any indication when that will be?"

  "Exactly, no. But we were told it will be in the last days.”

  Jason asked, “Could you do it now with your technology?”

  The Bishop laughed. “Well, it is far beyond our abilities, believe me! But I digress. After we were resettled we had a rapid succession of scientific progression. We believe it happened because we had the Spirit of the Lord with us. The people of Enoch were so righteous that they were given a lot more than you were given on Earth early on in our civilization. Read the Bible. The Lord's people went from righteousness to the depths of idolatry over and over again. The people of Enoch didn't. We stayed the course over our history. We have had many prophets among us, but that is another story."

  "I think I read about that last night." Jason admitted.

  Bishop Rhodes continued, "Good, then I can jump to the meat of the matter. We were a good, righteous people–for the most part."

  "For the most part?"

  "Well, yes. God did not remove our agency. We still get to make our own decisions. That is His plan. For thousands of years we lived in peace."

  "Lived in peace?" Jason asked. "So something has changed?"

  "Yes. About 500 years ago a faction formed. It started with one man named Thadianton. He was a troubled Enochian. He was also persuasive. Very persuasive. And he started to attract a following. His goal was simple. He wanted to return to Earth."

  "That isn't so bad, is it?" Jason said.

  "But that wasn't the point. Thadianton thought we were so much better than the people of Earth, that it was Earth’s destiny that they should be governed by him!"

  "What?" Jason was alarmed by this.

  "Thadianton wanted to rule on Earth. The people of Enoch are peaceful, and we have a government similar to your U.S. Constitution in many ways–except we stick to it religiously. It serves us very well. Most of us didn’t fall for his wicked ambitions."

  "How long have you been coming to Earth?" Jason asked.

  "I'll get to that later. But first, I need to stress, we the people of Enoch revere Mother Earth from whence we came and look forward to establishing official contact with the people of Earth in the future. That is one reason you were asked to come here."

  "Tell me more of Thadington and where his movement is today."

  "The people that follow him are called Thadiantons. They were allowed to function for hundreds of years, because they broke no laws. Then things changed. We developed space travel about 600 years ago, and that opened the possibility of contact with Earth. About 300 years ago, the Thadiantons left Enoch. They settled on another world which is part of Alpha Centauri A, as your astronomers call it. It is called the planet Gehor. Enoch circles Alpha Centauri Proxima. We have no control over what they do. We can only try and mitigate the damage they want to do to your world."

  "Damage?" Jason asked.

  "Yes. They are on Earth already–and they’re using their influence to stir up trouble."

  "So, these Thandians are already on Earth?"

  "Yes. And they are called Thadiantons, not Thandians. But you can just call them Thaddies. The kids do. Thaddies believe that they should be kings and rulers over the Earth. They tried it on our planet, but they were summarily dismissed. They even tried limited force, but the people stood up to them and defeated them. That is why they escaped to Gehor and established a society there. We leave them alone and they leave us alone, generally. Once in a while some disgruntled Enochian will leave us and join them. They usually don't stay. It isn't a nice place. We were delayed in finding out you were in trouble because they were trying to stop you, Jason."

  "Me?" Jason asked.

  "Yes. They believe you are the key to our integration with Earth, and they will stop at nothing to prevent you from helping us. One of their agents on Earth found out about your mission and was determined to make sure you failed. We were attacked and had to defend ourselves in trying to stop them. In the end, they were destroyed and we were delayed. That’s why we were out of contact with you for so long."

  "It is good, isn't it? Them being destroyed, that is?"

  Vickie jumped in, "No. Not exactly. They are still our brothers and sisters. Many of us lost family members to their ambitious schemes. We don't like to be the means of them being sent into the next life so unprepared."

  "I see. They are like family. I know it can be tough when family members go astray. I lost a brother to drugs."

  "I know. And I am sorry. Wyatt was his name, wasn't it?"

  "Yes. How did you know?"

  Vickie replied, "I will tell you another time, if you don't mind."

  Jason was beginning to get used to this process and quickly moved on. "So, why do your people leave Enoch and join the dissenters?"

  The Bishop continued, "Usually it is ambition. Or they get offended, somehow. The desire to be king is very strong in some people. Sometimes we get a very charismatic person who thinks he is better than most and tries to get himself established as a king. He acquires some followers and flatters them into thinking that he would made a great king, and then he promises to place them in positions of power and authority if they support him. It is always the same thing. They cause trouble, our authorities go after them, and often they run off to Gehor with the other power-hungry dissidents. It's a sad story, actually."

  "So, why can't you stop them?" Jason could see the problem. Advanced alien race. Corrupt politicians. Unusual technology. Ambitious bad guys. It was a recipe for disaster. It’s almost like Earth!

  "First of all, what the Thaddies do on their planet is their problem. Second, all we can do is offer advice to Earth. If Earth were to ask for our help, we could decide to help them militarily, or we could help in some other way. In either case, it would not be good for either of our cultures if the Thaddies took over Earth. They have some of our technology, although they are quite a bit behind us. It pays to be on the Lord's side. However, they seem to recruit those who can steal for them some of our best stuff.”

  He paused to make sure Jason was following.

  Then he continued, “They've not been all that successful, but they are getting better. Our people are good people, but the Thadiantons find and exploit our weaknesses. We aren't perfect. It has been a long time since there was even the threat of a war, and that was taken care of swiftly. Thadianton, himself, went to the gallows for s
tirring up the people to insurrection, which was against our laws. They have been much more subtle these days. A man cannot be punished for his belief. That is sacred. But if he steps over the line, then he is punished."

  "Sounds like a pretty good system to me." Jason said sincerely.

  "Yours is essentially the same, only your politicians and courts do not uphold it. Your society is already starting to break down. We estimate that at this rate you will lose your liberty in less than 60 years. Sadly, that is true even without the influence of the Thadiantons, and these guys are ambitious!"