A Warrior's Return (27 page)

Eleanor still looking very much in pain
said, “Yes that’s the word I’m looking for! Big ouch!”

Eleanor glanced up at the big glowing wall
of blue glass and said, “What a way to kill the cat! They ought to
have a sign or something! Don’t touch or hand will fall off
followed by whiskers!”

Roric stepped up to the bluish wall of
energy and reached out a hand toward it.

“Are you daft man! That’s gonna…..hurt.” She
said trailing off as the wall parted around his finger like water
with no corresponding shock.

“What’s this! You shock me, but not him?”
Eleanor said addressing the wall looking mad enough to slug it, but
thinking better of it she held back and glared balefully at it
instead.

“DNA coding. Tadias was here!” Ellanara said
softly.

Roric nodded, “Come over and stand on the
other side of me son.”

Talaric and Roric both stepped into the
watery blue veil and after joining hands above their heads and
touching their feet together a clear space appeared between
them.

“Alright step through quickly now.”

We did just that one by one until we were
all through, except for Titus who stood staring stony eyed off to
the side.

“Well Captain I guess dis is where we part
ways. It’s been good knowing you.”

“Oh don’t be ridiculous Titus! I’m sorry I
didn’t think of it before.” Ellanara said, as she got down onto the
floor of the cave and connected with her father’s and brother’s
feet to form a wider shaped structure, as both men moved back
farther.

Titus’s face instantly brightened. Beaming a
wide pearly smile he stooped to step through the wider opening.

“God bless you Miss Ellie! You’re alright in
my book!”

She smiled up from the floor, “Glad you
think so Titus, but please don’t step on me.”

Titus just chuckled, as he finished stepping
through the wider gap and then he helped Ellanara up to her feet.
The level of excitement was high, as everyone began to feel that we
were almost to the end of our journey.

The terrace turned back into a cave and I
noticed that it wasn’t so hot anymore, but rather just about right,
temperature wise. We came to the end of the tunnel and stopped to
stare in awe at the breathtaking space that opened up before
us.

A huge domed cavern rose up before us. The
top and two sides reflected a crystalline blue, which probably
meant ice. The other two sides however were red-hot and glowed
red.

Dimly I realized that it was actual magma
flowing up against the shield of the dome, which was the force
field we had just walked through.

What kind of power requirement there must be
to hold back so much magma and sheer weight of ice!

The rest of the domed enclosure was barren
and devoid of anything, except for the bar-Seth. The bar-Seth
rested proudly in the center of the large cavern created by the
force field dome.

Big wasn’t the word and massive could hardly
describe it. I didn’t know much about world history and a lot of
what I did know I had gleaned from reading the Bible.

The enormity of being here in this place and
looking at the creation of something that dated back from before
the great flood, when hardly anything else did was mind numbingly
awesome!

Sparky looked around, “What are we waiting
for? Let’s get down there!”

We started out stumbling down the dry bank
towards the bar-Seth.

It wasn’t what I had expected. While it was
huge it looked more like a large oblong smooth river stone, then it
did a spaceship.

The outer hull of the ship was smooth and
had a glossy dark patina to it. I could see the intricate grooves
of geometric looking patterns sprawled out across the great expanse
of the hull, as I got closer to it.

I could see calligraphic engraving embossed
all over the ship’s sides in a harmonious pairing with the
geometric patterns that decorated the outer panels of the ship.
This ship was a work of art!

The comparison that came to mind, as we came
to a stop in the dry sand before it was that of an ant looking up
at a boulder. There appeared to be no entrance or portal into the
smooth hulled ship that rested in the sand of the dome floor.

There was such a quiet stillness to this
place, like walking through an abandoned cathedral or a forest of
tall trees. The magma boiled and seethed against the far wall of
the dome, as it cast its angry red light over the ship before us.
Then I saw something that had me blinking to make sure I wasn’t
imagining it.

The sunken engraved lines of the ship’s hull
had started to glow an iridescent light blue, which got brighter
and brighter until the engraved lines glowed in sharp contrast
against the darkened metal patina of the ship. It was
beautiful!

The light was such an intensity of blue
flame that it lit up the cavern all around us, as if hinting at the
presence of some rare jewel hidden within the heart of the ship.
Fog began to peel off of the traced outlines like blue smoke.
Tendrils of the blue smoke began to encircle us. I hoped it wasn’t
dangerous.

“Father it’s just like your sword!” Talaric
exclaimed in the same hushed wonder that we all felt.

Roric nodded and stepped up to the side of
the bar-Seth. Reaching out he laid his hand full against the side
of the hull.

Immediately an intense gold color lit up
where he had touched the ship. The gold color fractured outward
away from his hand along the smooth surface of the ship. The
embossed calligraphic lettering lit up, as if backlit by pure gold
and added its color to the scene of the bar-Seth coming to life
after its long sleep. Roric stepped backward toward us, as the
bar-Seth started to change.

The metal of the hull seemed to flow like
liquid, as the ship began to metamorphosis out of its hibernation,
into something else. The pebble like appearance of the bar-Seth
disappeared as it re-shifted its mass into something else, like
some giant robot reassembling itself.

“Stasis mode for an entire ship!” Ellanara
breathed out.

“Oh she’s so pretty!” Eleanor said, as she
practically vibrated with the intensity of the desire to fly
it.

“He Eleanor. He.” Sparky rejoined
abstractly, as he never took his eyes off the great ship unfolding
itself from its cocoon.

“Oh right, well he’s a handsome boy he is!”
Eleanor said just as distractedly as Sparky had.

Now this was a spaceship!

The metamorphosis seemed to be complete and
the glowing lights blinked off for a second and then returned as
the ship began to purr with sound that echoed within the enclosure
of the dome.

The hum of the ship got louder and louder
and seemed to reach a peak, as the ship floated up off the ground
to hover in the air above us. Colors of blue and gold swirled along
its glossy black sides in a kaleidoscope of color.

‘Was it leaving without us?’ I thought,
suddenly concerned.

It came too hover directly over top of us.
Was it going to fall and crush us?

The blue smoke seemed to gather and thicken.
It turned into a whirlwind of fast-moving color beneath the ship
that reminded me of a tornado that had been electrically charged.
The column of swirling color suddenly split into multiple columns
that shot down towards us and swirled around each of us
individually and then like smoke retreated from the ground faster
than one could blink and in the next moment we found ourselves
standing within the ship itself looking at each other and our
surroundings in a state of awed appreciation for what we were
experiencing.

The inside of the bar-Seth was a rich
experience to behold and offered a glimpse into what the far past
had been like. The early people of Earth had not been shy
decorators.

Colors of every hue in the rainbow were
twisted and weaved into the fabric of the hall we stood in.
Beautiful murals of bygone scenes of nature and life swept up and
down the hall to either side of us.

There was no lack of light. Light seemed to
illuminate the space from a thousand sources all at once. There
were even exotic looking plants here and there. Sparky reached
forward and pulled a leaf off of one only to see that it was fully
real.

“How’s this possible?” He asked in awe.

“Everything has been in stasis. I would
never have imagined that such a scale of stasis could be achieved
though!” Ellanara said looking as happy as a kid in a candy
shop.

Wow! Was all I could think.

How my life had abruptly changed yet again.
I felt a hand in mine and I glanced up to see Talaric smiling down
at me, “Thank you for bringing me along with you!” I said softly,
as I fought the urge to lean up and kiss him.

His eyes registered an understanding of my
unexpressed desire and he winked at me, “Thank you for coming!”

Was all he said, but I felt if we had been
alone a lot more would’ve been said and done. I noticed movement
and gasping I pointed to the source of it, which was coming towards
us down the hall.

The others turned and we watched as the
figure came to a stop before us and bowed at the waist
slightly.

“Hello and welcome to the bar-Seth. I have
been created to help you integrate with the ship’s systems and to
answer any questions that you might have.”

He was by appearance a clean-cut young man,
but apparently not fully human or human at all.

Roric asked quietly, as Krista stood within
his arms, “You served Tadias?”

An image of tinged sadness crossed the young
man’s face, “Yes I did, for many years until his time drew short.
He left me here so that I might help those that followed in his
footsteps. It is sad knowing that my master has long since passed
away, as it has been a very long time, but I am glad that just as
he was given to believe by his Creator even so it has come true and
that all of our planning has not been for nothing. Welcome Roric,
Talaric, and Ellanara to the heritage left to you by the father of
your blood line. The bar-Seth is yours to command. How may I serve
you?”

Sparky glanced at Ellanara and shook the bag
at his waist slightly.

Ellanara quickly cleared her throat and
asked, “How is it that you know our names? We have not spoken them
in your presence?”

“The names of Tadias’s descendents who would
follow in his steps were given to him in a revelation by God. It
was not difficult to determine which of you corresponded with the
names, as the ship has already scanned your biometrical
properties.”

Ellanara nodded, “I see. Do you have a
name?”

“Levyon.” He replied simply bowing his head
respectfully once again.

“Levyon do you know where these go?”
Ellanara asked, as she pulled the two crystals out of the bag, as
Sparky held up the uniquely faceted diamond.

Levyon smiled openly and beckoned to us to
follow, “Come I will show you.” He said, as he led us down the
hall.

Exiting the hall we drifted over to yet
another and we all began to get an appreciation of how massive this
ship truly was. Countless doors lined the halls we passed through
and here and there galleries opened up showing that there were
multiple floors both above and below us yet.

This ship had been built for thousands upon
thousands, but yet it’s only passenger to date had been one man.
The hall ended opening up into a wide room that had to be in the
nose of the newly emerged spacecraft. There were a series of
descending levels that were set back from each other in a
semicircular pattern, as that of an amphitheater, only the focus in
this case wasn’t a stage, but rather series of glass panels which
allowed the eerie shifting red light of the outer dome world to
filter into the ship.

Each level had rows of consuls and screens.
This must be the primary control room. We followed Levyon down a
central stairway to a flat circular floor in front of the glass
paneled nose of the ship. With a whisper of sound three floor
panels slid to the side and out of the floor rose three pedestals
which held nothing.

“Take the crystals and hold each over the
two side pedestals and hold the diamond over the center
pedestal.”

I held one crystal suspended, while Ellanara
held the other and Sparky the diamond.

Levyon nodded, “Good now let go of them.
It’s alright to let go they won’t fall.”

Unsure of what was going to happen I obeyed
and let go of the crystal, ready to catch it again if it fell, but
the crystals and the diamond slowly moved downward. The material of
the pedestals gave way to them and re-materialized again, as if the
hard metal was just a viscous heavy liquid.

The pedestals sank back into the floor and
the floor tiles clicked back into place. If I had thought the ship
impressive before I thought doubly so of it now, as every console
within the room flickered alive with an electric whirl of binary
thought.

Screen displays flickered alive, as they
hung in midair all throughout the room and appeared to be made up
of only colored light that one could pass your hand through. The
glass panels at the nose of the ship displayed large amounts of
information, as they were put to double service.

“The ship is going through a system wide
analysis. It will take a while. How about we spend the time
familiarizing all of you with your new duties on board ship. Now
for the first question, who wants to fly the ship?”

Eleanor’s hand shot up.

Levyon smiled and approached her, “Okay then
our first volunteer. Let me check a few things first please.”

Levyon ran a finger over her skull behind
the ear and then to the other side.

“It tingles some.”

“That’s because I’m scanning to see if your
inner ear needs augmenting, as well as a neural pathway
analysis.”