Titan Encounter (19 page)

“Welcome. Sit down,”
Leonidas urged.

Standing just inside
the door, he found himself in the living room. Chairs formed a semi-circle
around a low table covered with papers. Leonidas gestured toward one of the
seats. A tiny kitchen area stood against the back wall and in a corner a neatly
kept desk. To the left a door led, he assumed, to a bedroom and bathroom. The
quarters were larger than
Becca
and Jon’s, but
smaller than his old quarters on Liberty.
More than
comfortable for one man.

“The guard wasn’t
surprised to see me.” 
Well, after I got out of his face.
“Did you
know I was coming?”

He shook his head.
“I knew eventually you would come and the sentries were told to admit you
whenever you appeared. Sit down. Would you like anything?”

A
good stiff drink.
“No.” He sat.

“I was going to
contact you. Your ship will be ready late tomorrow.” Leonidas sat across from
him. “Do you still want to leave?”

“How long have you
known we were
related.
”

“The
intel
people on Lepanto discovered you were a Titan and
shortly thereafter they determined that we were related.” The old man looked
intently at Justin with a sad smile. “That is why you were brought to this
ship.”

“You knew when we
met that first day?”

He nodded.

“Why didn’t you tell
me?”

“I almost did, but
you weren’t handling what I had already told you
all that
well.”

Justin remembered
running from the plaza when Leo told him he was Admiral Leonidas.

“I decided to let
you find out the truth in your own time.”

Thor trotted in and
curled up on the floor between them.

Justin asked about
dog’s telepathic abilities.

“They seem to have
always had those skills.”

Justin’s eyebrow
rose.

“We’ve done some
genetic work on them, raising their intelligence a bit, lengthening average
lifespan several years, but the psychic abilities were there from the
start.  I’ve wondered if other animals back on Earth have similar
abilities.”

Justin pondered it
all while staring at Thor.

The dog stared back
with his tongue hanging out to the side.

The old man reached
over and petted the dog.  “Thor was Simon’s dog.” He paused for a moment
then said, “Simon was my youngest son. I think I told you that he went on the
vanguard mission.”

Justin nodded and
for nearly a minute, they sat together in silence. “How did the
Titanomachy
War begin?”

Leonidas sighed then
told much the same version as Jon and
Becca
had a few
hours earlier. Anger flared in his voice as he ended. “When we were ordered
back many said we would be betrayed.  It was what the Prophet told
us.  I didn’t believe them. We had defeated the Grays in the Alien
War.  We deserved honor and praise, but instead we were murdered.”

“Why did Titans
attack Earth? You had a fleet of ships. Why not just leave.” 

“That’s what we
wanted to do, but we had almost a million soldiers in captured alien territory
or in the colonies.  We were bringing them back to staging areas, but the
only ship capable of moving them all at once, out of norm-controlled space, was
in orbit around Earth.”

“Terra
Nova.”
 

Leonidas nodded.
“Exodus.
We hoped to capture it and leave the norms behind.
No more fear. No more war. No more killing.” His eyes welled with tears. 

The old man had once
told Justin that years earlier he had a wife and four sons. One son went on the
vanguard mission, but the others? “Your wife and three sons, they died in the
Battle of Earth?”

The admiral nodded.

Justin reached out
and touched his hand. “One son lived, loved and had children, Simon my
ancestor.” There were more questions, but he had all the answers he needed for
now. He stood, rested a hand on the admiral’s shoulder, and said, “Thank you
for fixing the ship, but we won’t be leaving.”

*              
*              
*

The skylights glowed
dimly as Justin arrived for his first day of formal, psychic training. 
Fitful sleep had provided little rest. He strained to open one of the school’s
great doors. Once inside he approached the Prophet’s book, still open to the
last page, and began to read. 

I race to Lepanto
where my Titan brothers and sisters will be.

I did not know
You
then, but You knew me.

I will stand among
the brothers and sisters, but I will not see
You
.

When the light
drives out the darkness
You
will be there with me, but
no one will see You.

Reluctantly I will
walk the path
You
lay before me, but You will be
patient.

I came toward
Lepanto not knowing
You
, but I will serve You before I
leave.

I am
content.  

Titan history begins
when we meet at Lepanto. Come quickly. Amen.

Pulling his copy of
the prophecies from his side pocket, he wondered if all of it was as confusing
as these few lines.

“Have you read it?”

Startled, Justin
turned to see the white robed man beside him. “Good morning,
Olham
. Yes, a little more since we last talked. I can’t say
that I understand it. Why did he write it so…cryptically?”

“You’ve been reading
the harder parts.” Stepping up to the volume, he turned to the first page.
“Start at the beginning. The Prophet describes his first meeting with God. We
don’t know where this happened, but Justin and his friend Jon are imprisoned by
his enemies.  Jon guides Justin to faith before he is killed.”
Olham
flipped through the pages slowly. “He struggles to
understand the mission God has sent before him. He argues that he is unworthy
and unable but, in the end, he journeys to those Titans of long ago and tells
them of a loving, caring God that we can know.”

“But
the last part?”

He turned to the
end. “These are the actual prophecies. The Prophet saw that we would receive
psychic abilities and that they would be both a burden and gift. The Prophet
said to be wary of norm leaders because they would betray us, but many of the
less powerful would help us.”

“And those things
came true,” he mumbled thoughtfully.  Then he shook his head. “But I don’t
understand…the last page?”

“It says he will be
here with us, but exactly what it means, well, I don’t think we were meant to
know—until after the event.” He shrugged. “Perhaps we will understand it later
today.” He gave Justin a fatherly smile, gestured down the hall, and said, “Are
you ready for your first lesson?”

He remained
skeptical about the Titan religion. He doubted the Prophet would miraculously
appear later that day, but if he did, Justin wanted to be there. “Will you be
at the celebration?” he asked
Olham
. 

“Wouldn’t
miss it.”

Justin nodded and
followed him down the hall.

They entered a small
gymnasium about ten meters square.
Olham
opened a
locker in the wall, pulled out a staff and pair of goggles and handed them to
Justin.

The goggles had dark
lens. Justin put them on his head, but not over his eyes.

“When we begin, the
lights will dim and white noise will fill the room. You won’t be able to see or
hear anything. Your goal is to find me. I’ll stand at some spot and you point
the staff at where you believe I am. If you are successful, I’ll move around.
Are you ready?”

Justin nodded and
pulled the goggles down over his eyes. He knew, from years of experience, that
he could sense people on the other side of a door or around a corner.
Olham
soon recognized his ability and moved around the room
at an ever-quicker pace. Later still,
Olham
donned
goggles and both men used their minds to find and tag the other. Hours later
Justin’s head hurt and he struggled to focus on the increasingly harder
tasks.  He was glad when
Olham
said it was time
to stop.

Together Justin and
his teacher traveled to the stadium. He wanted Naomi to go with him to the
celebration, but she declined saying she would be studying the history and
religion of the Titans. She assured him that the Prophet would not be there. He
suspected that she was right, but still wanted to see the event.

Due to the threat
from imperial ships, Jon and his team worked on the FTL engines every day. Mara
was probably on the bridge with him. As Justin walked the last few meters to
the arena he imagined Mara in the cocoon with Jon nervously hovering around
her.
Mara hates the interface, but loves the attention.

 Even from the
outside, it was clear the site of the celebration was huge.  The curve of
the stadium was hardly visible as they came up from the rail station.  He
could see thousands pouring in through dozens of entrances.

Once inside
Olham
led him high in the stands.

“This is the stadium
where we hold major sporting events and celebrations.”

They entered an
elevator with others and within moments, it shot upward.

Justin took a deep breath
and let it out slowly.

Olham
pointed the way
forward. “The senior staff shares a box at the upper level. Leonidas asked me
to bring you up if you attended.”

Queasy, he nodded,
not even attempting to speak.

Once inside the
skybox Justin spotted Leonidas sitting up front.  Officers flanked him on
either side.
Olham
walked forward and spoke to the
admiral. Within moments, two seats were made available beside Leonidas.

Justin felt like a
man at the edge of a cliff looking down at people in a deep valley. Tens of
thousands packed the seats and thousands filled the field.

Sitting beside
Justin,
Olham
gestured toward the crowd. “People have
come from all the other ships to be here for this moment.”

Giant screens
displayed a choral group at the far end as they prepared to sing. “When does it
begin?”

“When the sky
shutters start to open,” Leonidas said pointing up.

The thousands on the
field swayed back and forth as if they were a single entity as an A cappella song
rose spontaneously from the crowd. Quickly it spread throughout the arena even
to many in the skybox.

Holy, Holy, Holy!

You remembered us
even when we did not know
You
.

You are the creator,
we are
Your
creation

You are forever, we
are the momentary

Holy, Holy, Holy!

You remembered us
even when we did not know
You
.

You are the God of
the Prophet.

Remember us as we
remember
You

Holy, Holy, Holy!

The huge sky
shutters, locked in place for more than twenty years, creaked and moaned as
they inched open.

All went dark.

Startled, Justin
shot to his feet.  Shrieks and shouts rose from the crowd as his eyes
searched the darkness.  Quickly he became aware of lights sprinkled about,
some over exits and others in the crowd.  A spotlight came on, and then
another, bathing the stage in a harsh white light. Looking over the top of the
stadium, he could see lights in the nearby buildings. Casting his gaze still
farther, he could see distant stars through the still-opening shutters.
They
turned the sky lights out as they opened skylight portals.
  Smiling he
turned to
Olham
.

The teacher gave
Justin a quizzical look. “I will stand among the brothers and sisters, but I
will not see
You
.”

“What? Why are you
quoting that?”

He shook his head
and looked up at the growing view of stars.

Justin,
firmly gripped the
railing as he watched the crowd below. The stars glided across the open sky and
within seconds an eerie glow grew in intensity. As the first golden beams of
light reached down, the crowd sent up a deafening roar.  The group on
stage sang, “Holy, Holy, Holy,” as a second dawn graced the day.

“When the light
drives out the darkness
You
will be there with me, but
no one will see You,”
Olham
again quoted the prophet.

A prayerful roar
spread through the crowd at the end of the first hymn. Many glanced up at the
sun, but most seemed to bath in the warm glow.