Judgment Day (35 page)

Laughter and cheering erupted at the same time. Except Shelly, who now understood the risk they had taken and why Micah was pale and thin.

"It's a good world, friends, but it's not the Earth. The equatorial region is too hot for humans, but there are habitable regions in both the northern and southern hemispheres. Most of the seeds we planted sprouted and grew, but not all, and there are insects to deal with like nothing on Earth. The day is more than twenty-seven hours long, and the gravity is a bit stronger than Earth's. You need to remember that it's a planet of unknowns. We saw only a small percentage of the animal life. There will be predators to deal with and beasts in the oceans we can only imagine. Worst of all will be dealing with disease and infection. Except for an intestinal bug, we caught only colds, but there will be more terrible diseases. It's not the Garden of Eden, friends."

"Can our children pray in school there?" someone asked.

"Can we put up nativity scenes in the town square on this planet?"

asked another.

"Will there be drug pushers selling poison to our children?"

The shouting continued, every member voicing their frustrations with being Christian in a secular nation. When all had been vented, they quieted, letting Micah speak.

"There will be nothing on this world except what we bring to it," he said.

"Then let's go," came a shout from the back. Others echoed his call and then cheering drowned every sound.

Smiling at their courage—perhaps foolishness—Micah waved them to silence.

"All right, Floyd. Let's show them what their new home looks like."

The lights went off, the wrall screens turned blue. Abruptly a planet appeared on the screens, shot from a port of the
Genesis
—a blue-green marble in space, nearly indistinguishable from Earth. Clouds obscured large sections of the planet, but seas could be seen and unfamiliar land masses, mottled green and brown.

"There's a small moon, too, but not on this recording," Floyd said. "It's only a third the size of our moon. At night it looks like a baseball."

The image changed, shot from one of the spheres descending into the atmosphere. The audience leaned forward, anticipating their first view of a new world. Then they were through the clouds and land could be seen below. Missing from the scene were the sharp angles marking civilization where forests were cleared, the cities laid out, the roads paved. The coloration below was uneven and unpredictable, the shapes free-form, created by wind, fire, and flood.

The land rushed up to meet them. They could see mountains in the distance, and distinguish forests below. The land was lush, unspoiled, ready for the discipline of man.

"This is the region where we think we should build," Floyd said.

Murmurings of "how beautiful" sprinkled the hangar.

A lake flashed by, then two more, eliciting more excited murmuring.

"This region is well watered and the topsoil is deep."

"What about winter?" someone shouted.

"It was late winter in the north when we arrived but there was no snow on the ground," Floyd said. "We got dusted only once. We've got weather stations monitoring the climate there and six other places."

As they slowed and dropped lower, a distant bright green patch appeared—a meadow in the forest. A herd of animals stood in the center staring up at them, then as if of one mind, they bolted for the cover of the forest. Shorter than deer, with thicker necks and brown striping, the animals were graceful in flight, galloping rather than leaping to safety. Zooming in on a retreating trio, they could see it appeared to be a family unit with a larger male carrying forked horns, a smaller female marked by a dark mane, and a fawn, all tan without the brown striping. Then they disappeared under the thick overhang of the forest, the crowd excitedly jabbering.

"That's a common animal," Floyd explained. "We found them up and down the western end of the continent."

Micah nudged Shelly and whispered, "And they taste good too."

"You ate one?" she said in surprise. "But they're so beautiful."

"So are deer, dear."

Shelly was uncomfortable with her husband's pioneer sensibilities.

Another mountain range loomed and the sphere climbed to clear it, picking up speed with altitude. Occasionally there were editing jumps in the scene, the mountains coming closer by leaps. Then, passing close to the mountaintop, they shot over the peak, revealing an ocean on the other side. Again the crowd quieted, only the fidgety children could be heard. They crossed more lakes, then a range of hills, traveling through a pass, the ocean now only a short distance away. The coast was rocky, and as they approached they could see large formations jutting from the ocean, as if this end of the continent had broken off in large junks. Slowing again, they turned, following the coast that was cluttered with similar large formations offshore. There was no beach, the continent ending in a cliff. The waves beat against the cliff wall, sending spouts of spray into the air. Ahead a beach appeared with two large dome-shaped rocks, their crowns white as if covered with snow. Suddenly the crowns erupted in a fury of flapping as hundreds of birds lifted from the rocks. The screen was filled with snow-white birds, wings flapping fiercely as they fled from the sphere. Except for the fleshy lips and bulbous eyes, the birds could have been from Earth.

The beach broadened, the sandy expanse running into the distance. Occasional birds were scared from hiding, crossing in front of them. The beach ended at an outcropping and the sphere lifted up and over. On the other side was a sheltered cove with a crescent-shaped beach. High cliffs extended into the ocean, completely isolating the cove. Stretched out on the beach were animals—black bulbous bodies, long, thin necks, and long tails ending in a fork. Four flippers were spaced along the body and as the sphere passed a dozen animals bolted for the water, laboriously pushing themselves through the sand. Awkward and slow on land, as soon as they hit the water they rocketed beneath the waves. Dozens of necks protruded from the water as they stared at the camera. The heads were round but hardly distinguishable from the black necks that held them. With one more pass over the bobbing animals the sphere was off again, out to sea.

It was cloudy now and the sea gray. The monotonous expanse of gray suddenly ended, the picture jumping to an island. The sphere dropped to near wave-top level. Tall trees lined the shore, long slim trunks covered in green leaves, topped with an explosion of yellow. Nearly perfectly round, they resembled giant dandelions.

Filling in between the trunks was thick leafy vegetation. Suddenly out of that vegetation something shot toward the sky, flapping furiously. It was featherless like a bat, with bright green skin on top and dark skin underneath, but much larger and trailing a long whiplike tail. Four smaller limbs could be seen pulled up tight against the body. The sphere turned, following it as it headed out to sea. This animal was the strangest they had seen yet and Shelly shivered at the thought of the countless species yet to be discovered.

Suddenly the image veered away from the retreating creature, the screen now a blur of sky and sea. Then the camera focused on the sea below. Bright blue, the surface was calm and shades of blue and green could be made out in the depths. Then someone gasped and pointed and Shelly saw it. One of the shapes was moving. Shaped like a submarine, there was an animal moving beneath the surface. Scale was impossible to judge, but Shelly sensed it was big, maybe as big as a whale. Smaller shapes swam past it, moving much faster, seemingly unafraid of the monster nearby. The camera followed it for several minutes, but the shape never surfaced and finally disappeared into deeper waters.

Turning back to the island the sphere approached again and settled onto the white sand, panning the beach first—there were no crabs or birds in sight, just acres of white sand, sprinkled with unidentifiable seaweeds. Then the camera rotated inland and they could see detail. It could have been a tropical island on Earth, waist-high plants filling the space between the trees. A botanist would quickly see the unique qualities of the unclassified plants, but to the layman it was all vegetation. Occasionally, large insects buzzed through their field of view, but too quickly for details. Then something skittered around the trunk of a near tree. Shaped like a squirrel, but tailless and yellow in color, it resembled a chipmunk with bulbous eyes. Then it ran headfirst down the tree and across the ground toward the sphere, disappearing from the screen. The camera panned down until the curve of the sphere could be seen but the creature was gone. After panning back up, the camera again focused on the vegetation. Then suddenly the creature was crawling on the camera, its body blurred, its face looking in the lens. Laughter erupted in the hangar as the cute yellow creature wiggled its nose and seemingly studied the Earthlings who had visited its home. Then the image froze, the fuzzy yellow face on the large screens. Micah stood.

"That's a quick view of the new world, friends. It's wild, untamed, created by God and held in trust for His people's future. We know very little about it, but we know not all of the animals there will be as friendly as this little guy."

"Let's go" someone shouted, and a chorus of amens followed. Now Mark stood and the crowd quieted, waiting for their leader to give the final word.

"From this moment on, all our resources will be devoted to moving God's chosen people to their new home," he said, pointing at the screen.

The wild celebration that followed lasted until late in the evening and ended only when Mark called them to worship.

CHAPTER 65 REACTION

For life as we know it to exist, it must have water in liquid form, an atmosphere, and moderate temperatures. Around each star, whether a large red or a twin of our sun, is a small zone called the "ecosphere" where these conditions can exist.

—
ALONE IN THE VOID?
, WILLIAM JEFFERS

C
opies were made of the digital video that Floyd had produced on the
Genesis
during the voyage home, and meetings were called in churches, barns, and hangars at all Fellowship properties, timed so all would see the recording at the same hour. Unlike those at the California and the Mexico sites, few of the others in the Fellowship were privy to the visions given to Mark and Ira. They had been faithful followers who trusted God and the men whom they believed had been anointed to lead. Most trusted the leadership enough to turn their lives over to the Fellowship—income, property, decisions about where to live—but would they follow them to a planet full of unknown dangers? Would they leave television, radio, movies, shopping malls, hospitals, cars, and all the other modern conveniences behind to live a pioneer life?

At nine A.M. West Coast time the videos were set to run. Before the showing the congregations were admonished not to share what they were about to see with anyone outside the Fellowship. Mark and Ira knew they couldn't keep the secret for long, but they wanted government and media kept at bay as long as possible. The return of the
Genesis had
been front page news, but during the month that it took
Genesis
to reach the New Hope, the public had tired of the story and the Fellowship had done nothing to reheat it.

An hour after the video was run at a Fellowship church in San Francisco, Roland Symes received a call at the
Journal
. Over the years he had cultivated contacts within the Fellowship, never asking them to betray their leaders or friends, but rather asking them only to "share anything that might actually help the Fellowship." By pretending friendship and concern for their well-being, Roland could usually find a few people willing to supply information anonymously. It gave them a sense of importance, and Roland a pipeline.

"This is Rhonda Carter," the voice said. "Do you remember me?"

"Of course, Rhonda," Roland said, calling up his source database. He spoke as he was scanning her file. "Did your little girl get her braces?"

"Yes, she did."

"The kids haven't been teasing her, have they?"

"No. Half her friends have them too."

"Sure. That's the way it was in my school too."

Now Roland paused. He'd made her feel special—remembered. Now she would tell him what she knew, and maybe more than she originally intended.

"I'm calling because we've gotten some really good news and . . . well, I don't know why they're keeping it secret."

"I suppose sometimes secrets are necessary," Roland said, "but usually they do more harm than good."

"I feel the same way," Rhonda said.

"Besides, most secrets come out in the end anyway," Roland said, encouraging her.

"That's right, and this is so incredible."

Again he paused, waiting for her to get her words in order. When she spoke he could hardly believe what he heard.

"Our spaceship the
Genesis
—the one that just returned? Well, it found another planet, a planet where we're all going to move to live. Isn't that amazing? Everyone's so excited."

"Rhonda, do you mean Mars? The Fellowship is going to move to Mars?"

"No, not Mars. This isn't one of our planets. The
Genesis
flew to another star and found a planet there, and that's where we're going to live."

Roland's pen was flying across a yellow pad, one part of his mind recording Rhonda's incredible story, another part of his mind lining up questions.

"Rhonda, it would take at least twenty years to get to the nearest star and that's if you could travel at the speed of light, and it's impossible to travel at the speed of light."

"I don't understand any of that stuff, but they got there somehow."

"Are you sure the planet was orbiting another star? Maybe it was Mars, or perhaps the moon?"

"I've seen videos of those and this planet isn't anything like that."

"Tell me about the pictures."

"Oh, they were marvelous. It's a beautiful planet, and the animals are so strange."

"There were animals on this planet?"

"Oh, sure. We saw birds, some deer things, and a little yellow chipmunk."

Roland wrote furiously, filling in details inferred from her brief descriptions. If there were animals, he knew there had to be vegetation. If there were animals and vegetation then there was a complete ecosystem with everything from bacteria to top predators. He could be getting the scoop of the century but still he couldn't shake the nagging feeling he was being suckered.

"Rhonda, don't take this wrong, but I'm still having trouble believing this."

"I know the feeling," she said.

"Is it possible the pictures were faked? You know what they can do with special effects. It could be they are trying to increase giving by making you think they can take you someplace they really can't. Did they ask for more money?"

"They already have all our money," Rhonda said. "If we had anything more to give we would do it gladly."

"There's no chance the pictures are fake?"

"There's no way to fake the animals they brought back."

"They have specimens? They brought back live animals from this planet?"

"The birds are the strangest-looking things. They don't have beaks."

Again Roland's hand recorded Rhonda's words while another part of his mind was struck by the importance of what she was saying. The crew of the
Genesis had
traveled to another world—something thought impossible. As exciting as that was, he was appalled at their carelessness. They had contaminated the Earth's ecosystem with life-forms from another world. Even if the alien animals were contained, they carried microbiotic life-forms that could be devastating—plague with no cure.

Roland thanked Rhonda profusely, assuring her she had done the right thing. Then he said good-bye and punched in Cindi Winslow's number. It would be twelve hours before the next edition of the
Journal and
lives were at stake. The receptionist recognized his name and transferred him immediately.

"Hi, sugar," she said. "Are you in town?"

"The Fellowship did the impossible," he blurted. "They left the solar system and traveled to another star."

"What?"

"There was life there, Cindi, and they brought it back with them."