Titan Encounter (25 page)

The doors budged.
The wind shifted. Thrown forward against the hull, Justin barely kept his grip
on the handle.  Red lights flashed and alarms sounded above the storm. A
translucent shield appeared as the doors inched open.  The wind shifted
again and Justin was thrown into the airlock.  “Thank you, God,” he said
getting to his feet.   

The holographic
image of a swirling vortex greeted Justin as he stepped back on the bridge.
“You got the engines online?”

“No,” the pirate
said staring at the approaching wormhole. “I launched using thrusters and then
Imperium attempted to jump.”

“Attempted?”

Naomi tapped the
side of her head. “Our people are saying the temple ship engines are out of
control.  The wormhole is distorting space-time.”

“We should get out
of here,” Justin said.

Ferren
nodded. “If the
engines were running, believe me I would. We’re being pulled into the temple
ship vortex.”

 Justin watched
with growing apprehension. “Can anyone reach us in…?”

“Time?”
The pirate shook
his head. “No.”  The pirate reached into a compartment beside the
captain’s chair and pulled out a flask. “Care for a drink, old friend?”

Justin shook his
head. 

The pirate one long
drink and then another.

Justin stepped close
to Naomi and embraced her.  “You shouldn’t have come to me.”

Naomi smiled. “My
destiny is with you.” She kissed him gently.

Thor nudged his way
between them.

Justin’s petted the
dog and then shifted his gaze to the approaching event horizon. “You said
earlier that your destiny was with me.” He looked at Naomi. “What did you
mean?”

“Remember that day
on the bridge when you and I did the drawings of Earth Empire warships?”

Justin nodded and
sat at one of the bridge stations.

“I said I found
things that convinced me the Titans were telling the truth.”

“Yes,” Justin
recalled. “You were doing research in the central archive and needed more time
to finish.”

“I finished. The information
is all on the slate
Becca
loaned to me.”

“What did you find?”

She reached out and
took his hand.  “I found me…and you…together.”

Thor rested his head
on Justin’s lap and seemed to smile.

The Acheron
shuddered, crossed the event horizon, and disappeared.

*              
*              
*

Mara didn’t knock as
she entered carrying a large box. 

Becca
hardly looked up
from the couch where she sat with her newborn baby across her lap.  Since
the battle, she and
Becca
had shared quarters. 

Mara pulled a slate
from the box and handed it to
Becca
.  “I think
this is the one you loaned to Naomi.”

Lying on a pillow in
the corner of the room, one of Thor’s puppies raised its
head.   

Becca
sat the slate on
the table beside her.

The black puppy
raced across the room and disappeared into the next.

Becca’s
eyes dropped to the
sleeping baby.
I’ll never see your father again and you’ll never know him.
Why did he have to die?
Over a hundred Titans dead and
thousands on the temple ship.
Why did any of them have to
die.
Why? 
She took a deep breath and let it out it
in ragged spasms.
Why God? Why did Jon die?

As Mara continued to
unpack the box, the last puppies that Thor sired ran into the room and formed a
semi-circle around the table with the slate.  Their heads tilted toward
the tabletop as they jostled around it.

“Go away,”
Becca
commanded.

The puppies crowded
around the table like there was food on top, but there was only the slate.
Becca
reached for it when one of the puppies jumped up and
rested both paws on the edge of the device. The pup cocked his head to the
side, locked eyes with Mara, and touched the screen with its front paw.

A holographic image
of Naomi appeared. “Originally, I set out to find the truth about the Alien and
Titanomachy
wars. Jon suggested that I research the
history of the Prophet.  I did and discovered my future, or is it my
past.” She smiled, but there was sadness in her voice.

Mara joined
Becca
on the couch as Naomi continued.

“There are few
surviving images of Justin the Prophet and what remains are locked away. The
Prophet’s book warns, I have been told, to worship only the creator, never the
creation, and especially never him. So, these few remaining images of the
Prophet are only seen when needed for research. Jon encouraged me to do the
research and
Olham
, keeper of the archive, allowed me
access.”

An image of Justin,
Mara’s brother, formed in the air. Several others stood in the background
around him.

“This is the oldest
image of the Prophet.”

Becca
gasped. Mara leaned
forward.

Naomi continued.
“The woman in the background is identified only as his wife.”

Mara reached out as
if to touch the people in the image. It was then that
Becca
realized the woman in the back was Naomi. Other images formed in the air
including a few drawings of both him and Naomi.

“These fragile
sketches are the work of the Prophet. It is clear to me now,” Naomi continued,
“that Justin and I will journey back in time to the end of the Alien War. I
don’t understand how, but he will come to faith in God and through him all
Titans will come to believe. The Justin we know will become the Prophet. His
life will be difficult and his death will be gruesome, but I love him and
willingly I will follow him.”