Beyond the Farthest Star: Chapter 8

In another part of Paradise Richard Stryker was sitting at a cafe that was beside a river. Along either side of the river were fruit-bearing trees. Small groups of people were walking among the trees, talking and laughing. No one seemed to be in any sort of hurry. They were just enjoying the afternoon.

Richard had just finished having lunch with his son Tim. After their meal was over Tim left and Richard decided to stay for a while. He had nothing urgent to do that afternoon and he enjoyed soaking up the ambiance. He was so relaxed that he was startled when a voice called out to him. “Mind if I join you?”

He looked up and saw Jack Nicholas standing beside the table. He immediately got to his feet and shook his hand. “Why hello there, governor! This is a delight – a real delight! I wasn’t expecting to see you today. Please, have a seat!”

The two men sat down at the table. Jack grinned at him. “I’m afraid I’m not a governor anymore, Rick! I’m retired now, and let me tell you, I’m glad to have the time off. Today I’m just Jack.”

“I know exactly what you mean,” Richard replied. “I guess that makes us both ex-governors – which is not all bad. Life was starting to get pretty stressful right there toward the end, and it’s nice to lean back and enjoy the air. For the first time I can remember I don’t have anything urgent to do.”

“You’ve definitely earned a vacation! I’d certainly call your life ‘stressful’ – after all, you did just get killed, and that was right after your daughter Amanda died. I can only imagine how that must have felt.”

“It was terrible, Jack, truly terrible! Worst day of my life. I guess that’s why we all let Carroll Lane take us by surprise. I’m still a little embarrassed about that. After all the work we did to defeat the swarms and the probes we let him walk right into our most secure sanctum and kill us all. I really blew that one.”

“There wasn’t anything you could have done about it,” Jack replied. “You did the best you could to get to the bottom of the attacks, but even the Artilect couldn’t figure it out. It’s no wonder why you failed – no one would have guessed that Xanthe was behind them. After all, they had nothing to gain and everything to lose.”

“Exactly!” Richard exclaimed. “It just didn’t make any sense. We were no threat to them, and we told them that we’d leave them alone if that’s what they wanted. We offered them all the riches of the network, but we weren’t going to force them to take them against their will. They had absolutely nothing to gain by killing us. It was insane.”

“It was certainly a poor decision on their part, and one the Lord will not forget when Judgment Day comes. In fact, they’ve already started paying for it. Did you hear that the Artilect destroyed all their pods just before he died?”

“I did. They’re really unhappy about that, too, but I can’t say that I’m sympathetic. They need to live in the real world a while and come to grips with the consequences of what they’ve done. Perhaps a little reality will motivate them to repent before it’s too late.”

“I certainly hope so,” Jack said. “By the way, it’s great to finally meet you at last! I was hoping to meet you earlier, but unfortunately the Spanish Emperor intervened. Then things took an unexpected turn, to say the least!”

“Yes, they certainly did. I never expected to end up in the 73rd century, battling a foe I couldn’t see with weapons that I could barely understand. Things got pretty wild there toward the end. By the way, I heard that you got to meet my daughters! It sounds like you gave them some pretty good advice.”

“I remember that,” Jack commented. “It seems so long ago now, but I guess it’s still pretty recent for them. Meeting them was quite a shock! I had just spoken at their funeral two days earlier, and then there they were, sitting in Tim’s apartment. I never expected to see them alive again.”

“I can imagine. You know, I’m surprised that the news never leaked out. Amy and Amanda weren’t particularly discreet.”

“They weren’t that bad, Rick. In fact, they kept a pretty low profile. They didn’t meet that many people, and everyone who encountered them kept it to themselves. After all, who would believe that they were still alive?”

“True. So what brings you here on this fine day? Did you just happen to be wandering by or is something on your mind?”

“As a matter of fact I was just talking a walk, but I do have something I wanted to talk to you about. I was going to wait a few days but I think now is as good a time as any. Have you heard about Ramon Diano’s latest project?”

“I think so. Doesn’t he want to explore the universe? It seems like I overheard someone talking about it. Whatever he’s doing, it sounds pretty ambitious.”

“Ramon was always ambitious,” Jack commented. “But you’re right. What he wants to do is explore the universe – not this universe, of course, but the one that is to come. He’s been working with his team to handle the scientific aspects of space exploration. What he’s asked me to do is put together a group to handle the administrative aspects.”

“Do you mean he’s looking for secretaries?” Richard asked.

Jack laughed. “No, Rick, he’s looking for governors. Someone’s going to have to be in charge of these new planets. I talked to Ramon and we both thought that this would be a great fit for you. After all, you were the governor of Mars for years and you did an amazing job under very trying circumstances.”

“But we’re in Paradise now!” Richard exclaimed. “Jesus is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He’s the government. He doesn’t need us to run anything.”

“Even the Scriptures say that we will reign with him,” Jack replied. “He is the sovereign, but there are positions of authority under him.”

“But there’s no need for them! This isn’t Mars, where crime and corruption and idiocy are rampant. People govern themselves here. They don’t need a babysitter to make sure that they don’t steal each other’s furniture.”

“It’s not about that,” Jack said. “Look. There are billions and billions of people here. Some of those people – like you – have strong administrative skills, and others don’t. Any time you have a group of people you have to have a leader to keep things organized. It’s not a matter of bossing people around. Projects need leaders because there has to be someone who has the plan and keeps people organized so the plan comes to pass.”

“But people aren’t employees, and citizens aren’t slaves to the mayor. The only time that ever happened was in the worst governments in the shadowlands. Things aren’t like that here.”

“True, but cities still need a leader. You’ve been a governor before – you know what it takes to keep civilization running. A lot of the problems you used to have won’t be an issue anymore, but there are still things that need to be done. Don’t think of it as pushing people around and forcing them to carry out your whims. Think of it as a chance to serve millions of people on a planetary basis, making it easier for them to use their abilities to serve the Lord. You can call it a governor or a facilitator; it amounts to the same thing. The question is, are you interested?”

“You know, I think I might be,” Richard said. “What do I need to do to get started?”

“Right now you don’t need to do anything. I’ll drop by again sometime next week and we can start discussing things. For now I’ll leave you in peace. Enjoy your afternoon, Rick – and welcome to Paradise.”

Jack stood up and walked down the street. Richard watched him leave, then settled back down in his chair. Let’s see who else stops by, he thought to himself. You meet all sorts of interesting people here.