Alpha Rising (46 page)

Star happened to look up and saw the bird
with a vine-like twig in its beak as if carrying it to build a
nest. The twig looked like the symbol. She excitedly yelled to the
others, “He’s back! The dove is back!”

G.R. rushed to the cockpit and put his face
so close to the window the dove flew away. It circled and returned.
“He’s telling us something,” he said.

“
We’re home!” Bach
answered.

Without a word, Star lowered the ramp.
Beyond the three-piece ship’s confines awaited a lush paradise
bathed in the colors of a rainbow.

Lynch stepped forward. “Let’s pray before we
go out there.” The others gathered together and all held hands as
he prayed. “Heavenly Father, Almighty Creator of the universe and
giver of all good things. Thank you for a new beginning and the
hope it brings. As we long for eternity with you, we surrender now
to your will and seek divine guidance for our future in the shelter
of your wings. Amen.”

The crewmates spoke in unison, “Amen.”

#

The six Arkmates stepped onto Urusa.

Deni sank to the ground and ran her hand
across the plush, shamrock green grass. “This … is paradise.”

Lynch’s deep breath filled him from head to
toe.

G.R. flexed his muscular arms. “Totally
pure, the air’s incredible—like I’m not even breathing. Wonder how
an aerobic workout would feel here.”

Bach laughed and took a deep breath. “You’ll
get plenty of exercise maintaining daily life; you won’t need
aerobics.”

Star headed straight to the oasis and peered
into the water. “A miracle,” she whispered at seeing her image in
the still, clear pond.

Kaz roamed the area, touching and smelling
everything in her path with childlike excitement. She headed to the
front of the ship and walked among rows of leafy grapevines loaded
with foot-long clusters of purple, pink, and green grapes. The
tangy, sweet-sour fragrance made her mouth water, and before she
knew it she’d pulled a bunch of purple grapes from a vine and
popped one into her mouth. The tart ruby liquid burst over her
tongue, sending a jolt of pleasure through every taste bud. “Yummm.
This is how grapes are supposed to taste,” she joyously announced
to no one as she rushed back to the others with the cluster in
hand. “Hey, try these. Delicious!”

Deni snatched the grapes from Kaz’s hand.
“Stop it, Kaz, maybe we shouldn’t eat them.”

“
Why? It’s not an apple. No
apple, no snake.”

All the positive energy died and no one
spoke.

*****

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

A massive shadow moved across the ground
from high overhead. Bach, Star, Lynch, Deni, Kaz, and G.R. raced to
each other as if drawn by a magnet and stared at the sky. A
spacecraft resembling a cruise ship descended toward Urusa without
sound or sensation. The white craft’s three-tiered body had a
smaller module on top of two large bottom layers. There were no
lights or insignias.

Bach yelled, “Take cover,” and the crewmates
ran for the Ark. They were almost there when the big ramp flew
upward and closed unaided.

“
Oh, my God!” Kaz cried
out.

Scrambling around, the six looked for a
place to hide, but wound up cowering together on the ground
alongside the ship, men shielding the women.

The incoming craft hovered overhead, then a
column of blue light with two intersecting lines, like crosshairs
in a rifle’s scope, beamed from its underbelly and held a bead on
the crewmates. In a soundless vertical descent, the ship set down a
hundred yards behind the Ark.

The crewmates fought to contain their fear,
but Kaz’s body shook and she cried out, “No! No more bad stuff to
endure!”

Bach stared at the spacecraft, then
suddenly, with a total loss of reason, giggled like something had
struck him outlandishly funny. His body went slack and he started
to sing. “A magical mystery ship has come to take us away.”

Lynch clamped his hand over Bach’s mouth
from behind. “Not now, Bach.”

A panel slid open in the huge ship’s lower
level. As a stairway unfolded, a blinding silver light streamed
from the arched doorway. It was hard to see between the bright
light and the distance, but a creature of some kind moved forward,
then stood motionless at the door frame as if sizing up the
situation. Then it slowly descended the stairs. Now the crewmates
could tell that it had the form of a man—a tall one.

Kaz whispered, “God, help us!”

The man’s long legs carried him forward
swiftly. He stopped about fifty feet away. He wore a white,
unadorned spacesuit, and was without a helmet or utility belt.

The six pressed together. Then Star suddenly
stepped forward and yelled out to the man. “Are you also a
traveler, or have we invaded your home? Please forgive us if that’s
the case. We had nowhere else to go.”

The man walked closer. Now the Arkmates
could tell he was an elderly man with white hair. At fifteen-feet
away the color of his eyes became visible—steely blue, like a
Siberian Husky’s.

“
I’m Elhannon.” His voice
was deep. “And I know who you are.”

“
You know us?” Lynch
asked.

He nodded. Then he pointed at Bach. “Come
with me to my ship.”

A nervous cough preceded Bach’s fake grin.
“How about we go into my ship?”

“
You’ve been too long in
yours.”

Bach looked at his crewmates. “What about
the others?”

“
Just you for now,”
Elhannon said.

Bach stepped forward, but hesitated.

Elhannon waited.

Bach tried to appear relaxed, but as he
strode to the man’s side he felt like his feet weren’t moving.

Elhannon put his arm around Bach’s shoulders
and led him toward his ship. Neither of them spoke as they walked.
At the door of the huge craft, Bach snuck one last look back at his
crewmates as he mounted the steps and disappeared inside with
Elhannon.

Lynch stepped back from his crewmates.
“Quick, we gotta find a way to get the Ark’s ramp open.” He looked
up at the spacecraft. “If any E-module occupants are looking out
from up there, maybe we can signal them to go to the cockpit and
open the lever.”

Kaz shielded her eyes from the sun and
backed up, looking toward the viewports in the E-module. She waved,
but no return came from the windows. She closed her eyes and put
her fingertips on both temples. “I’ll try to send Ivy and Obbo a
mental message. They were in the cockpit a couple of times asking
about all the instrumentation.”

The ramp opened.

Star, Kaz, Deni, Lynch, and G.R. rushed
inside, and Star hurriedly closed the ramp. When she checked the
passageway door, it had not been opened, and Ivy and Obbo were
nowhere in sight. The ramp had opened by unknown means.

*****

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

The crew kept watch over Elhannon’s huge
ship from the Ark, wondering what fate had befallen Bach and if he
would return.

Lynch looked at his watch. An hour had
passed. He jumped up and punched the wall then strode back and
forth. “Damn! I shoulda stepped in—demanded more information from
Elhannon before lettin’ Bach go off with him to that alien
ship.”

Kaz grabbed Lynch’s arm and whispered. “What
if they don’t let him come back, or if they’re doing awful tests on
him?”

He shook his head, grunted, and punched the
wall again.

Star moved to the cockpit. “I don’t feel
he’ll be harmed.”

Deni nodded, still looking out. “Same here.
I’m more intrigued than frightened by all of this.”

Star scanned Elhannon’s ship for
communications signals, and activated voice enhancement equipment
to try to pick up conversations from the unusual craft. “Their
technology is unidentifiable,” she announced. “Comm systems don’t
register at all on our tracking devices.”

Kaz peered from every viewport on the way to
aft ship, then headed through the passageway to the E-module.
Minutes later, she returned with Obbo and Ivy. “Sit here, please.”
She showed them the stools by the table. “Look in your crystal ball
and tell me what you see surrounding the strange ship outside.”

Ivy tried several times to look into the
crystal ball, but nothing worked. Obbo polished it then waved his
arms over it several times, but his efforts were also to no
avail.

Kaz crouched beside them. “Try it without
the crystal ball. Can you communicate with anyone or pick up
anything?”

The little couple faced each other, held
hands, and entered what seemed a trance-like state while the others
gathered around. After minutes with no reaction, the couple’s
tension spread to the crewmates, whose impatience manifest in deep
breaths and shifting eyes. Soon, Ivy scowled and shook her head.
Then Obbo shook his head.

Kaz tapped on Ivy’s shoulder. “What?”

“
Can’t see,” said the
little lady.

Obbo opened his eyes. “Something here has
stopped our foresight.”

Ivy shook her head again. “Can’t see or
hear.”

“
Okay,” Kaz said. “Maybe
you’ll come up with something when you get back to the E-module.
You’ll have to go back there for now until we know what we’re
dealing with.”

Lynch pressed his face to an aft porthole.
“Bach was clearly in stress shock; not mentally fit. I shouldn’t
have let him go alone.” He looked at Star with single-minded
determination. “Open the ramp.”

Star clamped her hand over the controller to
override security. Weighing the risks, she prayed for divine
guidance. A light flashed on the control panel. At the same time,
the ship’s security systems deactivated and the ramp opened.

Lynch headed outside ready to rescue Bach,
only to see him approaching with Elhannon. Dozens of children of
all ages, races, and genetic variances followed the two men.

Bach waved across the distance to his
stunned crewmates now waiting at the bottom of the ramp. Nearing
the Ark with Elhannon, he pointed to the children and yelled ahead,
“The children were rescued from the planets.”

Elhannon turned around and signaled the
children to stop, then continued on with Bach.

Bach yelled again as he walked. “Our
passengers are parents and relatives of all of these children.”
Face beaming, he reached the Ark with Elhannon and excitedly shared
more good news. “Elhannon’s commissioned us to raise and nurture
them.”

Star stepped forward and stared into
Elhannon’s ice-blue eyes. “You’re entrusting us with the care of
all of these children?”

“
Yes.” He motioned the
children forward.

Now the nine couples from the E-module
showed up in the doorway and hurried down the ramp with shouts of
joy.

Newlyweds Urich and Rain were first into the
crowd and found their twin nieces and nephews and other twins from
planet En Gedi, including the twin boys and girls who helped Bach
and Star.

Ivy and Obbo instinctively knew where to
find their two pint-sized daughters in the group. The love between
parents and children flowed without words, and the little couple
embraced their children and a dozen other little ones dancing
around alongside them.

Betrothed couple Yin and Yang searched for
missing family members and soon located numerous young relatives
and their friends.

The long-lost children from Violet and
Noble’s planet were in the arms of taller children.

Maya and Jett found the children from their
planet, including the two young brothers who gave Bach and Star the
berries. The brothers were the last children rescued by
Elhannon.

Wick and Cyrus’s three boys and a group of
others rushed forward, their white hair flying back from their
faces and their pink eyes filled with joy.

Freeman and Hope’s three children ran to
them. They wrestled each other to the ground, hugging and crying
with joy.

Although they had no children of their own,
Zerah and Tobit teamed up with Xian and Ptero to reconnect with
dozens of children from their two planets.

Caught up in the energy, G.R. grabbed Deni
and hugged her as if she were his long-lost sister.

Lynch wrapped his arms around Kaz, holding
her so close they appeared as one.

Without thinking, Bach took Star in his
arms, lifted her from the ground and swung her around, inhaling her
enchanting fragrance with delight.

Elhannon stood aside, smiling.

*****

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

While families and friends reunited,
Elhannon gathered the six crewmates together for a meeting inside
the Ark.

Bach couldn’t wait to tell the others what
he’d learned when first taken aboard Elhannon’s ship, and started
talking before they sat at the table. “Urusa was formed by the
Creator with our mission in mind. Elhannon and his assistants
systematically rescued the children from each of the planets by
divine commission. He kept them here on Urusa, safe aboard his
craft, while they awaited our arrival with the chosen ones—their
families and friends. The children, and Elhannon’s assistants,
cared for the gardens.”

Star blurted out, “The children are Urusa’s
caretakers?” If Elhannon replied, she didn’t hear. She fired off
another question. “How did you come and go on all the planets
without detection?”

He seemed to smile. “The top portion of my
craft flies undetected.”

Star spoke to herself, “’Flies
undetected?’”

Deni shifted her eyes back and forth from
her crewmates to Elhannon, watching his reaction to their
questions, hoping to learn where he’d come from in a universe with
no other planets.