The Pathfinder Project (54 page)

From his position kneeling on
the floor, Durgon opened his mouth and screamed…

THE PATHFINDER PROJECT

Captain Dennis Kaufield was
sitting on a rolling, grassy hill staring at the setting orange sun when Adam
Roh found him. “What’s new Adam?” he asked curiously, his arm wrapped
protectively around Joseph. “Is the universe managing to get along without us
for once?”

Adam chuckled lightly in
response. “You could say that,” he replied. “We’ve rescued more than a billion
refugees from Earth, and more are arriving every hour. Noah wasn’t kidding;
these people are geared up to handle refugee problems. Their Point-to-Point is absolutely
astonishing to behold. What we’ve done with ships and small fighters, they do
with
people
. And they’re doing it at thousands of points all over
Earth’s surface simultaneously.”

On the horizon, white puffy cumulous
clouds were turning pink and orange as they caught the day’s last few remaining
rays of sunlight. Listening to the scientist’s report, Kaufield smiled. “What
do you think Joseph?” he asked his twelve year old with a warm grin. “Can you
learn to like it here?”

“Sure,” the young boy replied.
“It beats going back to live with the Brotherhood.”

“I concur,” his father nodded.

“It’s
doubtful they would let us watch a sunset without permission,” added Adam with
a harsh chuckle. “Maybe after sixteen hours of forced labor, once we collapsed
from complete exhaustion.”

“After all
the centuries our country spent helping the world, we finally lucked out and
found someone else who is as generous and compassionate as we are… and right
when we needed them most.” He glanced upward briefly, long enough to study Adam’s
eyes. “Are you a believer yet… in Intelligent Design?”

“I’m
getting there,” the elder Roh told him. He picked up a small stone from the
grass and dropped it, watching gravity take hold and tug it immediately back to
ground level. “You see? There’s certainly magic to be found here too, just like
back on Earth.”

Together
the three of them breathed in the flower-scented fresh evening air and
continued to watch the sun set.

I have
always lived in small town North Dakota in pursuit of the simpler lifestyle. I
appreciate a good cheeseburger or the fresh air on a lazy summer evening as
easily as a rich man would fall in love with a snazzy sports car or yacht.

During my
college years, I wrote a couple of really crappy novels that taught me an awful
lot about writing. After more than a decade working in programming and
analysis, I was able to merge life experience with a wild imagination and begin
writing science fiction.

I am a
lifelong Star Trek fan. If you are too and are in search of new episodes, visit
FanFiction.net
and search under the author name
SonOfTed
. I have
also written dedication episodes to this wonderful science fiction series that
are available for FREE. They are best read in the order written:
Absolution,
Eternal Soul, Dark Archon, Reign of Terror, and Infinite Diversity
. Each of
these stories utilizes characters and elements from all of the “Star Trek”
television series and some of the movies. To date, I have not heard of anyone
who has equaled this achievement.

If you like
detective stories, there is also a wonderful little story to be found there
that I put together called
Mr. Monk Meets Lieutenant Columbo
.

Here’s
hoping you thoroughly enjoyed reading Pathfinder. It was my Dad who challenged
me, as a youth, to wonder what’s lurking beyond the boundaries of our galaxy
and universe.

Thanks for
purchasing (and supporting) Pathfinder!

Sincerely,

Todd