Redemption: Supernatural Time-Traveling Romance with Sci-fi and Metaphysics (32 page)

HEAVEN

Heaven. No Time Place

Chapter Thirty

W
hen she opened her
eyes again, she was surprised to find herself still on her feet. Michael
dropped his hand and Ann gasped in surprise. The cabin, which only moments
before had been dark and gloomy, was now bathed with white light streaming
through its window.

“Welcome,” said Michael, pushing
open the door to reveal, not the gardens, but a vast room whose walls and
ceiling seemed to glow from within. “Welcome to Heaven.”

“
Heaven?” Ann stared out through the open doorway trying to make
sense of what she saw. The maples and Japanese cherry trees that had been there
when she walked in were gone. Instead there was this vast, cathedral-like room,
glowing with its strange white light. She looked up to see a vaulted ceiling, beautifully
carved from what looked like glass or crystal, towering far above them. A
movement caught her eye and she realized that there were amazing constructions
of glass and crystal visible beyond the room she stood in, visible through vast
windows stretching away to the right and left. These objects were rotating
around their own axis, sparkling in all the colors of the rainbow.

Awesome
, she thought.
It reminds me of the kaleidoscope I had as a
child with its rotating patterns and colors. I wonder what those things are.
They’re just hanging in space like, well, spaceships!

Glancing around the room, she
caught sight of several people standing next to desks with sleek computer-like
screens, their faces bathed in the soft, white light.

She turned to Michael. “Is this
some sort of trick?”

“It’s an impressive trick if it
is!” he said with a smile. “But no, this is Heaven. Come on, let me introduce
you to some people.” He headed out of the cabin and, after a brief moment of
hesitation, Ann followed. She stepped tentatively onto the softly glowing floor
and was surprised to find it firm, her feet cushioned as though by a deep
carpet. As she entered the large room a woman, wearing a loose, light robe,
which Ann somehow associated with Ancient Greece, approached her. She looked
around fifty years old, her face friendly, her body slim and athletic.

“Welcome, Ann,” she said. “We’ve
been expecting you.”

Ann’s eyes widened in amazement
as she realized the woman’s smile did not move as she spoke. Instead the
greeting seemed to make its way directly into Ann’s mind, as though it was a
cloud of thought instead of speech.
She’s
speaking straight into my head,
she thought.

“That’s right!” said the woman,
and again no actual sounds came out of her mouth. “This is how we communicate
here.”

Here?
thought Ann.
Could this really be Heaven?

“That is correct.” Again the
cloud of thought. “Welcome. My name is Elizabeth, or Beth for short.”

“I
—
” Ann
began, thinking the word instead of speaking it. Beth nodded, encouraging her
to continue. “I am pleased to meet you, Beth.” It was a strange sensation to be
communicating in this way, though, far from being uncomfortable in any way, Ann
felt a sense of peace and belonging as she did so. Michael’s hand, which rested
on her shoulder, added to this feeling of safety.

“And we are pleased to meet you
too, Ann,” said Beth. “Let me introduce the team to you.” She turned and
gestured towards the others gathered around their screens. “We are God’s front
line, a part of God’s taskforce. We are the supervisors of the humans on the
Earth. We oversee the human beings, helping nations and shaping events as
required in accordance with the Great Plan. This is Eva.’

A young woman emerged from behind
a desk, her chocolate-colored skin covered with fine white cloth, her hair long
and dark. She glided across the floor, her hand outstretched, and Ann noticed
that she really
did
glide. Her feet
did not touch the ground and her legs made no walking movements.

“Nice to meet you,” she said,
using the same thought cloud as Beth. Ann almost jumped as Eva gripped her
hand, shaking it firmly. She had almost expected her to be like a ghost, with
no tangible, physical presence. Instead of replying, Ann just stood there with
her mouth open as Eva released her hand and glided back to her desk.

“It’s okay, Ann,” said Michael’s
voice in her head. She turned to look at him, her eyes wide. “I know this is
all very strange and new, but trust me. There is no trickery here. You will do
all these things too, with a little training.”

One by one the members of the
team were introduced, each one gliding forward to greet Ann and shake her hand
before drifting back to whatever it was they were working on. They were all
very good looking and friendly, but there was something else about them.
Something that Ann could not quite fathom at first, but which they all had in
common and which set them apart from the normal, everyday people that Ann knew,
like Nina, Peter, Tomo and others. It was not only the way they moved and
smiled and communicated with each other, but it also had to do with the way
they made Ann feel, somehow at peace as though surrounded by friends, and the
light that seemed to emanate from each of them. Their faces, and even their
arms and other parts that were not covered, seemed to shine from within, which,
together with everything else, created an overwhelming sense of belonging, of
being at home, somewhere you would always be welcome.

This is all so surreal,
thought Ann,
as the last member of the team, a tall man called Julian, completed his
greeting and floated back behind his screen.
I must be dreaming or something. Maybe I’m still on the psychic’s couch
in some kind of trance.

“It’s all very real,” came
Michael’s thoughts as he wrapped her hand in his own, very real, fingers. “In
fact, you might say this place is even more real that the world you have lived
in until now.”

“But
—
” said
Ann, again, concentrating as she tried to communicate with her mind instead of
her mouth. “But why me? What am I doing in this place? Why am I in…” she paused
as she considered the word she was about to say, then realized it must be true,
“…in Heaven?”

“Ann.” Ann turned, recognizing
the feel of Beth’s thoughts. “As you know, as we have allowed you to see, you
sacrificed four of your physical lives for what we call the Highest Intangible
Values.”

Ann frowned. “What are they?”

“In your case,” Beth continued,
“they were Freedom, Love, Courage and Peace. You achieved Hope in your fifth,
current life, when you declined the engagement proposal from Tomo, keeping a
hope for true love alive. As a result of that accumulated karma, you have
achieved freedom from the reincarnation chain. You no longer have to go from
life to life, in an attempt to attain Redemption
—
you’ve
done it, Ann. No more pain. No more struggle. No more death. Instead you have
been granted
Immortality
, a single
life without death anymore.”

Michael gave a light handshake to
Ann.
“In your last, fifth life, you have also acquired knowledge of
high-technology as well as the ability to achieve your goals and targets, which
along with the gain of spiritual awareness have made you a very desirable asset
here in Heaven. Now you can stay here with us, helping to oversee the humans
and increase their knowledge of higher things, should you so wish.”

“Should I so wish?” Ann looked
from Beth to Michael and back again. “You mean that’s what the last few months
of struggling with the spiral, discovering my past lives and meeting Michael
has been for? To get a deeper understanding of myself? Preparing me for… this?”
She waved around at the sparkling room and up towards the enchanting dome far
above her. And as she did so, she realized that the cabin she had arrived in
had disappeared.

“Exactly!” said Michael. “The
Spiral of Evolution was given to you to show your own sacred path within
Spiritual Eternity. The sense of unease was coming from the reincarnation chain,
which was trapping you for unresolved karma. But not anymore.”

“And if I had accepted Tomo? What
would have happened then?” Ann asked hesitantly.

“You would be given another
chance to break the chain, but perhaps not in this current life.”

Ann nodded, assimilating the
awesome information. “So, what do you do in here?” she turned to Michael.

“We have tasked Michael with
taking on the role of overseeing your training and partnering with you in the
work you will be doing here. He will be your guide and will help you through
every aspect of your job here,” Beth replied.

“And what is this job, exactly?
What work will I be doing here? I won’t have to sit staring at a computer
screen for the rest of eternity, will I?” Across the room, Eva’s head popped up
from behind her screen and for a moment Ann was concerned she had said
something wrong. “Sorry,” she said. “No offense meant.”

In her mind, Ann heard Eva laugh,
a pleasant sound that filled her with a feeling of reassurance. “None taken,”
said Eva and returned to her work.

“Much of your time will be spent time-space
traveling and learning on the job. Our equipment is pretty complicated. You are
supposed to not only use it, but also know how and why it works,” said Beth and
turned to point at an empty desk. “But we also have a workstation here all
ready for you.”

Ann looked around again at the
others in the room. “So who exactly are you? You don’t really seem like humans.
After all, this is supposed to be Heaven, right? I thought angels lived there.”

“From the human point of view we
are angels.” Beth paused for a moment and looked at Ann thoughtfully. At last,
as though having made up her mind about something, she said, “I can see this is
all a lot to take in, and this is not an easy decision to make. However, I
would like to offer you an incentive to join us.”

“An incentive? Like what?”

“That is up to you, Ann. Is there
anything from your lives that would make your transition here easier? Anything
you wish us to give you?”

“Anything?” said Ann, after some
thought. “From any of my past lives?”

“Indeed.”

“When I was in the Stone Age, I
had a son.” Ann looked nervously at Michael, who smiled and nodded encouragingly.
“Can I… Can I get my baby boy back?”

“Yes, you can,” said Beth, a
smile spreading across her face.

“Really?” Ann’s eyes widened in
delight.

“Sure. And don’t worry, we will
adjust his physique and intellectual capacity to the current moment. It will be
as though you gave birth to him in your current life.”

“Ah.” Ann sighed.

“So, would you like to join us,
Ann?” Beth held out her hands towards her and, for a moment, Ann stared at them
as though unsure what they were. Then, with a burst of joyful laughter, she
took them in her own hands.

“Would I ever!” said Ann, and
felt the wave of delight from the others in the room wash over her.

Michael drew Ann into a hug. “It’s
great to have you on the team,” he said. “You’re going to love it here. Come on.
Let me show you around.”

Epilogue

A
short while later, though exactly how long it was hard to tell as
the passage of time seemed somehow hard to measure here, Ann found herself
standing in what appeared to be a room without walls. In every direction the
softly glowing floor stretched away and in the distance she could see tall
towers of white marble and great palaces built from crystal. Far to her right
there was the shimmering sparkle of a waterfall, which must have been hundreds
of meters high.

As she gazed around in wonder,
she heard Beth’s thoughts nearby. “I have someone to see you, Ann.”

Ann turned round to see Beth
entering through the archway and she gasped in amazement. There, in the woman’s
arms, was a young boy, not much more than a year old.

“Ann,” said Beth. “This is. . .”

“Wu!” Ann knelt on the floor,
holding her arms out to her son as Beth lowered him to the floor. He smiled at
Ann from beneath his brown curls and she realized that, although she had never
actually met him, or at least not in this life, he recognized her.

“Mommy!” he said, as he walked
towards her, more surefooted than she expected. She felt a lump in her throat
and blinked away the tears as she wrapped her arms around Wu, overwhelmed to be
rejoined with him again.

She kissed him on the head and
whispered in his ear, “My special boy. Mommy’s here for you. Always!”

She got back to her feet,
sweeping Wu up in her arms and turning back to the magnificent vista around
them.

“Look at this place, Wu,” she
said, stroking his head, her son’s head, affectionately. “I wonder where we
are!”

“This is the Portal,” said
Michael, standing by her shoulder. “It is here that we will do most of our
work.” He stepped forwards and pressed his hand against something which
shimmered beneath his touch. Ann realized that, although the room seemed to
stretch out to the distant horizon in every direction, it was in fact contained
within four walls, though, except for a slight shimmer to indicate their
presence, they were almost entirely invisible. As she watched, Michael drew out
from one of the walls a pair of huge white wings, bigger even that those she
had seen on a swan.

“Angel wings?” she said, her
thoughts laced with incredulity. “Really?”

Michael laughed. “I guess you
could call them that, yes. Actually this is a very simple and convenient way to
travel around in the past.”

“Travel? In the past?” said Ann,
even more incredulous.

“Sure. These wings are
non-expensive and ecologically friendly.”

“So are you saying you have time-machines
to go back in time?”

Michael nodded. “Yes. We have
developed a number of methods to travel both to the past and to the future. We
shall start our training from the simplest one.”

“Wait. Are you saying that I,
that
we
,” she gestured to herself and
Wu, “are going travel to the past?”

“Yes, you are. We have all of
human history to oversee. And since you have a sound knowledge of Russian
language and culture, we have decided to give you responsibility for the
country of Russia from the six to the nineteenth century.”

“Six to the nineteenth century
Russia?” said Ann, hefting Wu onto her hip. Immediately the young boy reached
out to the wings, still clutched in Michael’s hand, and began to play with the
snow white feathers. “But Russia’s vast, and that, well, it’s a long time!
Hundreds of years. That seems a lot to oversee.”

“Well, you’ve got plenty of time,”
said Michael, with a reassuring smile. “And you don’t have to do it all at
once. Our work is intimate and personal. We deal with one situation, even one
person, at a time.”

“And should I wear these?” asked
Ann, pointing to the wings.

“Not yet. They’re going to take a
bit of training to use, though it’s actually quite similar to hang gliding. You
remember that don’t you?” said Michael with a wink. Ann smiled and nodded as
Michael slid the wings back into the wall, which swallowed them into
invisibility. “I just want you to get a feel for the equipment we’ll be
employing. For now, though,” he continued, pulling something else from the
wall, “We’ll be using this.” The object that he drew out was a cube, its sides
roughly a foot long, fashioned from what looked like pearl. From one side a
large glass eye stared out unblinking.

“What is it? “

“We call it the Projector. This
is a simple tool that will enable us to travel through time without ever
leaving this room. It’s all very safe and keeps us out of harm’s way.”

“Out of harm’s way?” Ann frowned
and hugged Wu tighter. “You mean we’re going somewhere dangerous?”

“Well, this is medieval Russia
we’re dealing with here. Times were pretty cruel back then, so you never know.”
Michael looked her in the eye, his face serious. “Are you scared?”

“No,” said Ann, and realized this
was true. Ever since she had stepped out of that cabin and into this new world
she had felt somehow peaceful. Not just because it was a calm place, but for
the first time since she was a five-year-old girl, back when her parents were
alive, she felt completely at peace with herself. There was no more fear, no
more worry, no more struggles. She was perfectly content. “No,” she repeated. “I
feel great.”

“Well, even if you were worried,
your days of risk and worldly troubles are over now that you’re with us. You
are safe, trust me.” Michael reached into the wall again, pulling out a bundle
of clothes and handing them to Ann. “You’ll need to put these on,” he said. “There’s
some for you and your son.”

They were soon dressed in
medieval attire, with Ann wearing a long dress, her head covered with a veil,
while Wu wore a simple woolen tunic. As Michael made a few adjustments to the
Projector, she picked Wu up, enjoying being close to him again.

“I’ll never leave you alone
again, my love,” she whispered in his ear.

Suddenly, one of the invisible
walls burst into bright light as the Projector fired up.

“All right,” said Michael. “Is
everybody ready?”

“We’re ready!” said Ann.

“Ready,” said Wu, copying the
word and making Ann laugh.

Michael ran a hand over the
Projector and Ann was amazed to find herself looking out across a sunlit field.
Wild grass stretched away into the distance, where a small cluster of wooden
houses huddled together at the end of a narrow path. Along this path, his gray
head bent down under the weight of a bundle of sticks, his short pants and
tattered shirt held in place with a knot of rope, was an old man making his way
slowly from the houses.

“I don’t understand,” said Ann. “Is
this like a film, or is it actually happening?”

Michael glanced at her. “Oh, it’s
happening. The year is 1217, but by using the Projector, we’re able to see and
be seen, to hear and be heard.”

“So this old guy here can
actually see us?” asked Ann, hoping that he couldn’t also hear her thoughts in
the way Michael could.

“Sure. Wait a moment… Ann and Wu,
get ready. I’m switching it on…. now!”

Even as Michael thought the
words, the man stopped and craned his neck to look up at them. Ann watched as
his eyes widened and he suddenly dropped to his knees on the stony path,
reaching out a hand towards her.

“It’s the blessed Virgin!” he
cried, and though his Russian was archaic, Ann understood him well enough. “See!
She is holding the Christ child! God has blessed me!” And with that he bowed
his head down to the ground.

Michael passed a hand over the
Projector and the image faded, the old man, the field and the houses vanishing
to be replaced by the softly lit room and the distant columns and towers.

“What was that all about?” said
Ann. “Did he think we were Mary and Jesus?” She nodded to her son, still
snuggled in her arms.

“Mommy,” he said, looking up at
her, and she kissed him gently on his curly hair.

“It looks that way,” said
Michael.

“But shouldn’t I have said
something to him? Do we even know who this guy is?”

Michael smiled up at her. “He’s
someone who needed a little nudge, something to help him on his spiritual path.
That’s what our job is here, to develop people’s spiritual awareness. And I
reckon you did just fine in that score. Perfect in fact! Do you want to see?’

“Er, sure.” Ann bent down to
watch as Michael began to fiddle with the Projector again. He was turning a
small wheel that was set into the pearl casing. “What are you doing?” she
asked.

“Just tuning it, that’s all. It’s
quite simple, a bit to the right and we move into the future, a bit to the left,
into the past. Difficult?”

“Piece of cake!” said Ann with a
smile. “Especially after Rob.”

“Great! And now we’re shifting
forwards a few days ahead and moving to the church in the nearby village.”

He ran his hand across the
surface again and an image burst into life across the wall. Ann stared out into
the inside of a small church, its wall covered in icons of Jesus, the Blessed
Virgin and various saints, the air full of the sound of the choir. There was a
large crowd of people, kneeling before the altar, their lips moving in silent
prayer as a priest, dressed in his immaculate robes, a black hat perched on his
head, spoke blessings over them.

“It’s alright,” said Michael. “They
can’t see us this time. I’ve set it to project one-way only.” But Ann wasn’t
worried about that. She was busy studying one of the icons.

“Michael,” she said at last. “The
handsome guy in the icon, with the long, blond hair, thrusting a sword in that
dragon-like creature… is that you, by any chance?”

He walked across to stand next to
her, taking her hand in his, their fingers intertwining. “Yes, that’s me all right,”
he said, peering at the icon. “‘And there was war in heaven: Michael and his
angels fought against the dragon.’ Not a bad likeness either! That was painted
a few hundred years ago though, back when I had my own mission to Russia. Good
times! You’re going to enjoy working here.”

Suddenly the door of the church
flew open and, for a moment, the choir faltered in their singing.

“Ah!” said Michael. “Here’s our
old friend, right on schedule.”

Ann watched in amazement as the
old man, still in his short trousers and shirt, though without the bundle of
sticks, hurried towards the priest.

“Father!” he shouted. “Father!
It’s a miracle, a miracle, I tell you. The Lord has blessed me with a vision. I
saw her. The Blessed Virgin and the Lord. I saw them both as clear as I see you
now.”

The priest had made his way
through the crowd towards the old man.

“Is this true, Ivan?” he asked,
holding the man by the shoulder and looking him in the eyes. “God has granted
you a sacred vision?”

“O Father! You should have seen
it. Such a blessing!” Tears were welling up in the old man’s eyes.

“Come,” said the priest, placing
an arm around him as they walked together. “Let us talk about this great
wonder, and pray together.”

The image faded once again and
Michael turned to face Ann. “That old guy, Ivan, hadn’t been into a church
since his wife died seventeen years ago. As I told you, our work is close-up
and personal, helping, guiding and shaping one individual at a time. And today,
for that fellow, Ivan, you made a real difference. That vision of you and Wu will
last him for the rest of his life, and he is only forty-five now and, without a
doubt, his story will spread. There will be icons of you two, encouraging
people to believe that God watches over them and blesses them, reminding them
of the importance of the Blessed Virgin and the power of motherhood and of woman.
This has been a great start, Ann. Congratulations!”

She took a step closer to him. “Come
on, Michael. All I did was stand there. You were the one who did all the, whatever
it was you did with the Projector. You were the master here.”

“Let’s say it was both of us,”
said Michael. “The three of us, even. Wu played his part, after all.”

“Yeah, he did pretty well, didn’t
he?” She let her son down so he could stand next to her and ruffled his hair
with her fingers, while he seemed quite content waving around an angel’s
feather, which Ann realized he had pulled out of the wings.

“It’s wonderful to be reunited
with Wu. I love him.”

“Oh?” said Michael, slipping a
hand around her waist and drawing her closer. “And what about me?”

Ann turned her face up towards
his, enjoying the warmth of his body pressed against hers. In the distance the
waterfall sparkled, its light reflecting in her eyes, and from somewhere the
sound of gentle birdsong could be heard. She smiled as a wave of deep
contentment and joy washed over her.

“Let me show
you,” she said.