After checking one last time to make sure that the security bots were maintaining the peace, the Sentinel left Adrian and departed from Xanthe. Adrian was not done shouting at him but the Sentinel was done listening. I simply do not know what to do. I have tried to save them, but all they desire is death. The people of Xanthe have no interest in life and I see no way to change that. All I can do is hope that my bots will keep them alive until Amy can return and decide their fate. Despite what Adrian might claim, Amy does possess the legal right to judge them. Amy was the head of her civilization, just as Carroll Lane was the head of his. Lane led his planet in an attack against the network and was defeated, which lead to the conquest of his world. Amy is now, by right of that conquest, the leader over Xanthe. Earlier I stopped her when she wished to destroy the planet, but now – now I am not so sure. If the people cannot be saved then what else can be done? If they only seek to kill and destroy then should they be left alone so they can slaughter each other? I do not know.

But where is Amy? She is clearly not on Xanthe, or Tonina, or on her own depressing planet. So where else might she have gone? The Sentinel paused to think it over, and then something occurred to him. There is one more place that I can look. Perhaps this is where I should have started in the first place.

It took the Sentinel only a moment to transport himself to one of the space stations that were hidden around the outskirts of Sol. He knew that Amy had built these stations herself long ago, when she was still in the 19th century. She was the one that had strengthened the Wall around Sol so it would stand for all the rest of time. He had also heard Jones say that, one day, she would return to decide its fate. Perhaps that day has come at last, he thought. It may be that, with Xanthe turned against her, she has decided to look elsewhere for friends. But will the people of Sol be any kinder than those she has met among the stars?

As soon as the Sentinel appeared on the bridge of the space station he saw that he was right. According to the text that was displayed on the monitors, all four space stations had been deactivated and the Wall was gone. A thorough examination of the logs revealed that the Wall had been shut down on November 27th – the very day that Amy had disappeared from Xanthe.

So this is where she went, the Sentinel thought. But where is she now? She clearly has not spent the past few weeks living on this space station. Could she now be residing on one of the planets within Sol?

Rather than use the space station’s on-board scanning equipment, the Sentinel chose to examine the star system personally. He reached out and began a thorough search of each of the worlds that orbited Sol, starting with the outermost dwarf planets and working his way toward the Sun. He was not surprised to find that each planet, moon, comet, and planetoid was dead, save for Earth and Mars. At one time there had been settlements and space stations all throughout the system, but he could see that they had all been abandoned many thousands of years ago. Even Mars is on the verge of death, he thought sadly. Its atmosphere is weak and fading, and there are few life signs left. But what is this?

He halted his probe in excitement. There he found what he was looking for – a network of nanites, created by Amy Stryker.

The Sentinel quickly transported himself to Mars. He materialized in an empty part of the Martian desert. There were no visible signs of civilization around – just sand, rocks, and a bleak sky. He was surprised at the thinness of the air and the complete lack of vegetation. Mars will not remain habitable for much longer, he realized. What little life remains is hidden deep underground. This world is rapidly becoming a graveyard.

He used the planetary nanite network to scan the planet in search of Amy. His first discovery was the apartment that Amy had set up for herself, deep within the city of New Tikal. The Sentinel analyzed it with great interest. She decorated it to look exactly like her room back on Tonina, he realized. She misses her home and her family. She may not have returned, but she clearly wants to go back home. I wish I could put things back the way they used to be, but that is beyond my power.

It was not hard for the Sentinel to discover how Amy had been spending her time during the past few weeks. Her home in the underground city was proof that she had taken up residence on Mars, and the rebuilt ZPE that was near her apartment was another sign of her handiwork. Not only was its technology far ahead of anything else that was in the city, but many of its parts had been manufactured just a few days ago. He was certain that she had spent the past few weeks refurbishing it. What he did not understand was why she did it.

What brought you here, little one? Why did you create a home for yourself in this place and why did you rebuild a power plant by hand? What were you trying to accomplish? But the empty desert that surrounded him was unable to give him any answers.

After a fruitless hour of searching he was forced to conclude that she was no longer on the planet. There was plenty of evidence that she had been living on Mars for weeks, but she was now gone. But where did she go?

There must be someone here who knew her, he thought. Amy took a long time to rebuild that power plant, and I do not believe she did it secretly. There must have been people she talked with, shared dinner with, and worked with. Perhaps her friends would know why she came here and where she went. But where do I find these people?

The Sentinel began scanning the planet for anomalies, looking for anything that was out of the ordinary. After a few minutes he found something exceedingly odd. To his surprise, the anomaly was not located in New Tikal. Instead his scanners had discovered an underground bunker that was not far from him. Inside that bunker lived a single individual – a male of extreme age. What was even more surprising than his age, however, were the nanites that coursed through his blood.

This makes no sense! Those nanites are clearly a copy of Amy’s nanites, and yet they are very crude and deeply flawed. Amy would never have produced such poor nanomachines, but their design is so similar to hers that there must be a connection. Yet, the signatures within the nanites indicate that they were created two thousand years ago! How is that possible? There must be some connection between this man and Amy Stryker, but I do not have enough information to determine what that connection is. Perhaps I should speak to him and see what he has to say.

The Sentinel disappeared from the desert and materialized inside the hidden underground bunker. He found himself standing in a giant warehouse, which was filled with plastic crates that were stacked from floor to ceiling. There were dozens of other crates that were randomly scattered around the room, their contents strewn about the floor. An elderly man was sitting next to one of them, reading a book that he had retrieved from one of the containers.

“Excuse me,” the Sentinel said. “May I have a word with you?”

The old man looked up with a start. When he saw the Sentinel he leaped to his feet in alarm, and then he took a closer look. When he saw how tall the Sentinel was and realized that he was wearing a gray suit and hat, he relaxed and smiled. “You gave me a real start there for a minute there, son! I wasn’t expecting any more company today. But I bet I know who you are. You’re that Steve character, aren’t you?”

The Sentinel looked at him in amazement. “Yes, I have been given the name Steve. But how did you know? There are very few people who know me by that name.”

“Amy told me all about you,” the old man explained. “She said that the two of you were good friends, but you hadn’t been getting along lately. I don’t quite know all the details, but it was something about an argument you two had over the people that killed her family.”

“So you do know Amy Stryker,” the Sentinel commented. “Do you know where she is right now?”

“I’m afraid not. I had a feeling you’d come looking for her – I just didn’t expect you to drop by today! You’ve missed her, I’m afraid. She left here a few hours ago. I tried to get her to tell me where she was going, but I think she didn’t know herself. She just said that she didn’t want to be on Mars anymore. ‘Someplace that’s not here’ – that’s what she said. Personally, I think she was very disappointed with Mars. She had such high hopes, and we let her down.”

“High hopes? What do you mean?”

The old man sat down on a nearby crate and spent the next hour telling the Sentinel who he was and what Amy had been doing. He told him about her discovery of the planet and how she had repaired the ZPE. “So you see, the girl just doesn’t know what to do. I think in her heart she wants to restore Mars to its former glory, but she’s afraid that people would respond the same way they did on Xanthe. I don’t know much about it, but from what I heard your attempts to help those people didn’t go over very well.”

“No, they did not,” the Sentinel agreed. “And there are still problems. In fact, the situation on Xanthe continues to deteriorate over time. That is one reason why I am looking for her – I desperately need her to return to Xanthe and determine its fate. Its citizens are out of control and I cannot help them.”

“Now hold on there!” Miles exclaimed. “If you can’t help them then why do you think she can help them? Don’t the two of you have pretty much the same superpowers?”

“It’s not a question of power,” the Sentinel explained. “Both of us have the ability to terraform worlds and destroy them. The problem I face is that Xanthe is filled with murderous savages, and I lack the ability to change them. They long for death, and I cannot alter them from that course.”

“Of course you can’t,” Miles said. “Amy can’t change them either. Only God can change a person’s heart. It takes divine power to save a soul and turn a wicked person into a righteous person, and neither of you have that kind of power. All you can do is share the gospel with them and urge them to repent. Your job is to witness to them, not reprogram them! They’re not machines.”

The Sentinel sighed. “Tell me, Miles. What do you do when an entire world rejects this offer of salvation and spends all its time trying to murder one another? Do you simply step back, do nothing, and let them slaughter each other? Do you intervene and force them apart, holding them as prisoners for the rest of their lives? Or do you just destroy the planet and thereby condemn all of its residents to hell?”

“I don’t know,” Miles said.

“There is another problem as well. The people on Xanthe are dying. They are all five thousand years old, and their bodies cannot cope with their advanced age. They have, at the very most, another year to live.”

“In that case it sounds like your problem is solved! Their actions have caused their own consequences. All you have to do is sit back and let time take its toll.”

“But we can spare them, Miles. That is the problem – we can cure them! Both Amy and myself have the ability to restore each and every one of them to perfect health. We can even go beyond that and extend their lives indefinitely! It would not be difficult for us to keep them alive until the Lord returned.”

“But you just told me that they’re a bunch of savage murderers! Why would you want to extend their lives? They’re just going to keep killing each other!”

“So you would have me do nothing, and just watch as four hundred thousand people die and are condemned to an eternity of torment in Hell? Is that your advice?”

“I don’t know,” Miles said. “I mean – well, I honestly don’t know what to do. I see your problem, but I don’t know how to help them. To be honest, I’m not even sure they can be helped. It may be that you’ve already done everything you can do.”

“I think it is possible and that something can be done,” the Sentinel replied. “I believe that Amy is the key to this problem. She has what it takes to resolve this situation.”

“Why do you think that?”

“Because that is why she is here. That is why God allowed the Artilect to go back in time, save her and her family from a certain death, and bring them into the future. That is why Amy’s life was spared when the rest of her family was killed. She is still alive because the people on Xanthe need her help – just as the people here on Mars need her help as well.”

“But she doesn’t know how to help them,” Miles said. “I’ve already talked to her about this and she is just as confused as you are. She has no idea how to fix Mars, and she doesn’t know how to fix Xanthe either. In fact, I’m not even sure she wants to fix Xanthe. She’s still very angry with them for murdering her family – and I don’t really blame her, to be honest. From what I’ve heard they are not nice people.”

“That is one way to put it,” the Sentinel commented. “They are not the least bit sorry for killing the Stryker family. In fact, they would do it again.”

“Exactly,” Miles replied. “You expect a lot from her, Steve, and she’s just not up to it. In fact, have you considered the possibility that Xanthe cannot be fixed? For that matter, it’s possible that Mars can’t be fixed either! I keep telling myself that she’s going to save all of us, but honestly, that’s really just blind hope on my part. We’ve all made poor decisions, and there may be no way to save ourselves from the consequences. After all, Amy didn’t turn this planet into a corpse – we did. We may have to live with what we’ve done.”

“Then what was the point? If Earth and Mars and Xanthe are all doomed then why did God intervene to bring Amy into the future? There must be something that can be done. I simply do not believe that all of this was for nothing.”

“You may be right,” Miles agreed. “Personally, I hope you are right. I want to see this planet come back to life – not whither and die.”

“Then you see why I must find her. I need her help, just as much as you do.”

Miles paused for a moment. “Does Amy know how to get in touch with you?”

“Of course!” the Sentinel said. “She can reconnect to the network at any time and I would know exactly where she was.”

“Has she done that?”

“No, she has not,” the Sentinel replied.

“But she could, right? So, if she could do it but she hasn’t, then doesn’t that mean that she doesn’t want to be found? Maybe she just needs some space – a chance to think things through and figure out what to do next.”

The Sentinel looked at Miles, puzzled. “Are you suggesting that I stop looking for her?”

“That’s certainly an idea,” Miles replied. “I’d give it some thought if I were you. I’m sure she will come back when she’s sorted things out.”

“But how can I watch over her if I don’t know where she is?”

Miles smiled. “Based on what I’ve seen, I’m pretty sure that she is fully capable of watching out for herself. I doubt there are very many things in this galaxy that could harm her. She’s a smart girl, Steve. She’ll be fine.”

“All right,” the Sentinel said. “I will leave, then, and return to Tonina. If you see her again will you let her know that I am there and would like to speak with her regarding Xanthe?”

“Of course,” Miles said.

“Thank you,” the Sentinel replied. With that he disappeared, leaving Miles alone.

This is a mocked-up cover for the unwritten book Starman #19, Star Station One. It was one of the books that we originally planned to write and even created a brief plot summary for, but ultimately ended up skipping.

If you would like to read the proposed plot for the book, simply click on the image below to see a higher-resolution scan.

(I do not know who created the cover artwork, but it was not me.)

One fact that continues to astonish me is that many people today have no problem with slavery. You would think that in 21st century America people would have learned to abhor it, especially given the nation’s past, but that is not the case. Support for it is growing by leaps and bounds, even among people who really ought to know better.

Of course, we don’t call it slavery anymore, and we implement it a little differently than we did in the past. The institution itself, however, has changed very little. Apparently people only objected to the word, not the concept.

So what is slavery? The dictionary defines it like this:

1. the state or condition of being a slave; a civil relationship whereby one person has absolute power over another and controls his life, liberty, and fortune
2. the subjection of a person to another person, esp in being forced into work

In the old days slavery was very direct: one person owned another person and forced the slave to work for him until he died. The slave did the work and the owner reaped the benefits. The slave was forced to live on whatever the owner let him have. Society eventually outlawed this arrangement, but it kept the idea of allowing one person to forcibly take what another person had produced. People are no longer allowed to own other people, but they can forcibly take away other people’s income and keep it for themselves, without providing anything in return. The net effect is remarkably similar to slavery: one person works and someone else takes his money.

Now, it’s true that it is illegal to steal someone else’s wallet. That will land you in prison. However, you can use the government to take away other people’s money and have it given to you, which has exactly the same effect. Today we call it “redistribution of income”. Welfare is one example, but there are many others. In each case money is being forcibly taken from one person and given to someone else – and this happens on a regular, recurring basis, as if people were slaves and had no right to keep what they had earned. When a thug forcibly takes money from other people we put him in prison, but when the government does it on behalf of the thug we somehow think it’s ok.

For example, countless millions of dollars are given to farmers in the form of ethanol subsidies – even though some of these farmers are millionaires that own tens of thousands of acres. Where did that money come from? Why, it was forcibly taken from other taxpayers. Any taxpayer that refused to give up the money was prosecuted and, in some cases, put in prison. Money was taken from one person, under threat of imprisonment, and given to farmers.

Farmers are not the only offenders. There are a great many other groups of people that are the recipients of other people’s money – bankers, artists, students, and poor people, for example. If these people mugged Joe Smith and emptied his wallet they would be arrested, but since they use the awesome power of government to empty Joe’s wallet it’s somehow ok. I have to ask: how can people not realize that getting a third party to take away your neighbor’s property is just as immoral as if you had stolen it yourself? Everyone realizes that hiring a hit man to kill an enemy makes you just as much a murderer as if you had killed him yourself. But somehow, when it comes to stealing, we think that using an intermediary makes it all right.

Some would say “Well, these people need the money. How could the poor survive without welfare? How could students go to college? How could sick people get the care we need? The need is so great that it makes it all right. It’s just social justice.” That sounds all wise and noble, but honestly, it makes no difference. Think about it: if a poor person broke into your home and stole your TV, telling the cops “I needed the money” isn’t going to make a difference. The judge doesn’t care that the burglar was a student trying to pay his college tuition. It doesn’t matter how great your need is: you are not allowed to take things that belong to other people. There is nothing “just” about it.

The Bible has something to say when it comes to this sort of thing:

Exodus 20:15: “Thou shalt not steal.”

This is very easy to understand: you are not allowed to take things that belong to other people. It doesn’t matter if you are poor, or hungry, or wealthy, or want higher margins on your corn crop. It doesn’t matter if your bank is failing, or if you are behind on your mortgage, or if you made some bad investments. You cannot help yourself to other people’s money. Period.

There is nothing at all wrong with giving money to the poor – in fact, the Bible commands it. We are to love our neighbors and do what we can to help them. However, there is a tremendous difference between giving money to someone, and having that person steal it from you. The fact that the person may need the money does not give him the right to steal it:

Proverbs 6:30: “Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry;
31 But if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house.”

In this country people accept the idea that there’s nothing wrong with forcing other people to pay your bills. If a student needs money to go to college, just have the government take the funds from other people. If an elderly person needs prescription drugs, just have the government take the payment from someone else. If a person is sick, just have the government force someone else to pay their medical expenses.

People no longer have the idea that it is the individual’s responsibility to pay for the things that they consume. People should pay for their own college, or their own drugs, or their own medical bills. If they can’t then the honest thing to do is to ask for help, not arrange for someone to forcibly take money from other people. That is called stealing.

This concept has been entirely lost on today’s society. Few people seem to believe that a person has a right to the things he’s earned, and other people do not have a right to take it from him. People enjoy living at other people’s expense – which is exactly what slavery is all about.

The redistribution of wealth in any form – be it through subsidies, or welfare, or some sort of “benefit” – is a grossly immoral act that is simply legalized theft. America has not outlawed slavery; it has simply changed it into something that is socially acceptable. However, changing the name does not change the reality. Just because you call it “social justice” instead of slavery doesn’t mean you’re doing something moral.

God, however, is not amused. Just because theft is legal does not mean God is going to give it a pass. There is a peculiar thing about welfare states: they always destroy themselves. As more and more people start believing that their neighbors should be forced to pay their bills, the pool of people willing to be stolen from starts to dry up. Eventually there are more parasites than hosts and the civilization collapses, overwhelmed by debt and unable to pay its bills. Nor can it rise again, because this sort of theft has a way of exterminating the productive members of society – and without them, all you have left are leeches that demand to be paid for doing nothing at all.

Marshall University – located in West Virginia. Home of the Thundering Herd!

After leaving the tropical paradise of Tonina the Sentinel transported himself to Xanthe. He did not expect to find her there, but he was confident that she would eventually return. She cannot avoid this world forever, he thought. Amy has unfinished business with Adrian Garza. I may have inadvertently driven her off for a while, but the injustice of her family’s death will eventually draw her back here. If I remain here long enough I am certain that I will find her.

The Sentinel materialized on a small hill that overlooked Star City. As soon as he saw the smoke rising from the charred buildings of Star City he knew that he had been away for far too long. I have been a fool! I have spent weeks scanning for the presence of Amy Stryker and have neglected everything else. Why did I not realize that this world needed someone to look after it? These people are not capable of governing themselves. They require constant attention.

Overhead the sky was cloudy and gray. The metropolis that Amanda had built in the valley below was on fire, and smoke was filling the sky. By the extent of the damage the Sentinel could tell that the city and the surrounding forests had been burning for days, and no one had made an effort to put out the fire or control it.

At first the Sentinel thought that the fire might have been accidental, but then he saw the mobs of deranged people that were swarming the streets. Even as the outskirts of the city burned, mobs of hundreds of people were rampaging down the streets, setting fire to anything that looked combustible. Other groups of aged hoodlums smashed windows, tore down signs, and tried to destroy everything they possibly could.

Then he saw the bodies. They have not been content to just destroy the city that was recreated for them, the Sentinel realized. They have been attacking each other as well. A quick scan of the burning city turned up hundreds of bodies in the streets. All of them appeared to have been murdered in brutal ways. Their bodies had been left in the streets to decay as their murderers left to find new victims. Nor were the corpses confined the streets; the Sentinel found thousands more scattered in buildings throughout the city. Some had been stabbed, and others had been shot, but the vast majority had been savagely beaten. Why would they do this? I built a tower for them and gave them everything they needed to live out the rest of their days in peace and comfort. Why would they destroy for the sake of destruction? Who are these savages?

When the Sentinel checked the tower he had created he saw more destruction and chaos. Most of the building had been trashed, and bodies littered the hallways and stairwells. The few people that still lived in the structure were barricaded in their rooms. Out-of-control mobs roamed the hallways, attempting to bang down the doors and drag out the few people that had survived.

I have left this world alone for just a few weeks, and twenty thousand people have been brutally murdered, the Sentinel realized with horror. This has to stop. I may have no right to judge them but I cannot let them keep killing each other.

In a brief moment of time several things happened. First, the Sentinel connected to the nanites that Amanda had deployed into Xanthe’s atmosphere. When he had established control over them he froze every human being in place, preventing them from moving. That will stop the attacks for the moment, he thought. He then extinguished the fires that had burned thousands of acres and began restoring the city – and the surrounding landscape – to its original condition.

As he repaired the extensive damage that the citizens had inflicted on Star City he could feel the rage that was boiling inside them. Some of the people were scared and others were confused, but the primary emotion appeared to be anger – a deep, explosive anger against whoever had dared to step in and stop them from continuing their murderous rampage. The Sentinel knew that he would have to talk to the planet’s citizens, but for the moment he put it off. They may be angry, but I refuse to let any of them go until I have some way to stop them from killing each other. If I do not intervene then there will be no one left for Amy to judge when she returns. I would judge them myself – for they surely deserve it – but it is not right for a machine to pronounce a sentence over a son of Adam.

Once the city had been restored the Sentinel created hundreds of thousands of bots and dispersed them throughout the city. Each bot was a small sphere that was roughly six inches in diameter. The tiny flying machines were made out of a bright green metal that glowed in the dark. The Sentinel designed them to be easy to see, no matter where they were or how dark it was outside. When the bots were dispersed the Sentinel made sure that every last human being on the planet was within sight of at least one bot. From all outward appearances the bots looked harmless, but he knew that they were not as innocent as they appeared. He had designed them to fulfill a very specific task and he hoped that they would live up to his expectations.

After the bots were in place the Sentinel decided it was time to address the city. He spoke through the bots so that everyone could hear him. They may not listen to anything I have to say, but they will hear it all the same.

“Citizens of Xanthe, this is the Sentinel. When I rescued you from Vault 37 I did so in order to save your lives. I built the Tower of the Sparrow for you and gave it to you as a home. It had within it everything you needed in order to meet your needs.

“I had hoped that you would use the gifts I had given you to build a future for yourselves. However, instead of leading responsible lives, I have returned to find you murdering each other. Tens of thousands of your fellow citizens have been killed. If I had not intervened I am sure that this death toll would have been even higher by the end of the day. You have not taken care of each other; you have tried to kill each other. You have not taken care of the city; you have tried to burn it into the ground. You are a race of mindless savages who thirst for destruction and love death.

“Since that is the case, I have deployed a new security system throughout Star City. The green bots that you see around you are there to deprive you of the ability to harm each other. If you attempt to take any hostile action the bots will stop you.

“I wish I could judge you for your crimes, but unfortunately I am just a machine and do not have the right to pronounce sentences upon the countless murderers that are in your midst. Rest assured, however, that justice will be done. Each of you will have to stand before God and be judged on that last day, and you will be held accountable for your actions, words, and thoughts. I strongly recommend repenting now, while you still can. After you die it will be far too late to plead with Jesus for forgiveness and mercy.”

The Sentinel then released his hold on the population. The reaction to his speech was mixed. Some people simply ignored him, while others began screaming obscenities at the security bots. The angry mobs that were roaming the cities turned the attention to the bots that were tracking them and attacked them. However, their attacks were in vain. Those who shot at the bots saw their guns vanish from their hands. The knives that were thrown at them simply disappeared. The futility of the attacks caused a few people to give up, but others spent hours trying to destroy their overseers – all without effect. Their rage was only increased when they discovered that the replicators in their rooms would no longer make weapons.

Despite the Sentinel’s warning, people continued attacking each other – at least at first. One man whipped out a knife and tried to stab someone, only to see the knife disappear. When he then tried to beat the victim with his bare hands the bot gave him a severe electrical shock. The man leaped back, screaming in pain – only to attack his neighbor again, and get shocked again.

The Sentinel was dumbfounded at the murderous rage that filled the people of Xanthe. Over the next few hours the attacks gradually declined, but they did not stop. Even though the bots successfully intervened 100% of the time, people still kept trying – no matter how often they failed, and despite the pain that the bots inflicted. They were so filled with rage that they simply did not care.

But not everyone is like that, the Sentinel thought. Some people are locked in their rooms, seeking only to protect themselves. The security system should deprive the mobs of victims, but this is not a solution. I must find Amy so that she can pronounce sentence. This madness must end.

His thoughts were interrupted when an ancient man walked up behind him and started screaming at him. The Sentinel turned around and saw that it was Adrian Garza. “I should have known it was you,” the Sentinel replied. “You have a way of turning up.”

“Someone has to come out and defend us,” Adrian snarled. “Since you callously murdered Carroll Lane I guess that leaves me to take his place.”

“I did not murder Carroll Lane. He was killed in a vicious, unprovoked, and traitorous attack against the Artilect and the Stryker family. He is responsible for his own death – along with the death of billions of others, who were killed by his bot swarms.”

“He was trying to save our lives! He knew that you people were monsters and would try to kill us if given the chance. The fact that you killed him proved that he was right. You are a monster.”

The Sentinel was surprised to find that he was growing angry. He attempted to control his wrath and remain calm. “Carroll Lane murdered seven people who had done him no harm, who were not attacking him, and who risked their lives to free him and his world from the bot swarms. The Artilect was entirely within his rights to defend himself against a murderer who had wiped out most of humanity and who was intent on killing even more people. Carroll Lane richly deserved his fate. Amanda Stryker did not.”

“Liar! You’re just a bunch of petty tyrants. Why, just look at the so-called security system that you put in place. How dare you police our every move!”

“I am keeping you from killing each other,” the Sentinel said coldly. “If I did not intervene then none of you would survive. You would beat each other to death with your bare hands. I have never seen such savagery before.”

“You’re the savage monster that destroyed our pods,” Adrian shouted. “You’re the one that took away our future and left us stranded in this awful place. We were surviving just fine before you showed up!”

“What is wrong with you, Adrian?” the Sentinel asked. “You were not insane when I first met you. In fact, you were quite reasonable, and we had a number of peaceful conversations. What happened to you?”

“Amanda Stryker is what happened to me,” Adrian said bitterly. “She’s the one that doomed all of us to extinction. Before she came along I was the supreme ruler, master over galaxies, with trillions of people bound to obey my every whim. I was young and powerful and had wealth beyond anything you can imagine. Then Amanda came along and destroyed my life. Now everything I spent a lifetime working for is gone. I’m trapped in the body of an old man, living a horrible life in a horrible place. My superpowers are gone, my wealth is gone, and my future is gone – and Amanda is the one that did it. I wish I could kill her a thousand times over.”

“You and your people are fools,” the Sentinel replied sadly. “None of your wealth or power or fame were real. You traded a real world with real people for a fake world with fake people, and you stayed there so long that you ruined your health. The entire population of your planet is now dead, except for a tiny percentage of people that managed to outlive all the rest. The Strkyer family was trying to save your lives and keep this world from becoming an empty graveyard. They wanted to replace your phony wealth with real wealth, and your phony future with a real future. And you killed them for it.”

“And I would do it again,” Adrian snarled. “They had no right to impose their values on other people. We have a right to live as we please.”

“No you don’t,” the Sentinel shot back. “You have no right to murder your neighbors.”

“Says who?”

“So says the Most High God. It is written, Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man. Murder is nothing less than a direct attack on God Himself. He does not take it lightly, and He demands that justice be done.”

Adrian opened his mouth to say something, but the Sentinel cut him off. “Adrian, oh Adrian, can you not see the madness of all this? Do you not realize that the road you have chosen leads to death – not only for you, but for your people as well? You have to stop this. You have to back away from the precipice and return to sanity. You used to be reasonable, Adrian. You talked with me, and you talked with Reverend Knight. You understood the danger your people faced. Go back to that. Rethink your ways.”

“I can never go back,” Adrian shouted. “I was what you call ‘reasonable’ back when I was the supreme master of my universe, and reality was little more than a dream that didn’t involve me. Now you have taken away everything I’ve ever cared about, and robbed me of my rightful place as master of the universe. You should be on your knees begging us for forgiveness.”

The Sentinel shook his head. “You cannot bend reality to your whims. You can choose life, or you can choose death. If you continue to chase after death then you will find it. But it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of an angry God. If you reject His mercy then you will face His wrath. There are no other options, and there are none who can withstand Him. Choose wisely, Adrian.”

“I’ve made my choice,” Adrian said.

“Then may God have mercy on your soul.”

II Timothy 1:10: “But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:”

“Who hath abolished death”. I like that! Jesus Christ has defeated death once and for all. Since I am in Christ death no longer has any power over me. Even if the Lord does not return in my lifetime, my spirit will simply go on to be with Jesus – and when He does return He will raise my body back to life and transform it into an incorruptible, glorified, immortal body. Jesus has promised me everlasting life; I need not be afraid of death. Death is not in my future. What is in my future is life – an endless life of endless joy. Now that’s something worth getting excited about!

For weeks the Sentinel searched the galaxy for Amy Stryker. As the days passed and no sign of her was found he became increasingly worried. I had to stop her from killing Adrian, but I did not expect her to leave and never return. Amy is now the only one left from the Sparrow. I have failed to protect the others; I must not fail her as well. But how can I protect her if I do not know where she is? At this very moment she may be trapped somewhere, unable to call out for help. What will happen if she dies and I am left alone? Who will then decide the fate of those who dwell on Xanthe?

Now that the Artilect was gone, the Sentinel lacked a way to simultaneously scan all of the worlds in the network. He had built a crude replacement for the Artilect, but its performance was disappointing. While the replacement was able to actively connect to all of the planets and collect their data, the problem was that there were hundreds of millions of planets to scan. The Artilect had been able to process the data feeds in real-time, but the Sentinel’s replacement was far slower. His system took a full day to process the data that the network gathered in less than one minute. There is simply too much information, he thought sadly. How was my father able to handle it? I am but a pale shadow in comparison. I cannot replace him.

The report he eventually assembled indicated that Amy was not on any of the worlds of the network, but he was not entirely convinced. This report may be accurate but, given the scope of the problem, it is impossible to guarantee that nothing was missed. If I could scan each of the worlds myself then I would feel more assured that nothing had been overlooked, but there are too many stars out there for that to be practical. I need to find a more intelligent way to do this. Instead of trying to scan the entire universe, perhaps I should try to figure out where she might have gone. What would be the most natural place for her to go?

He eventually narrowed the search down to the three stars that Amy had a personal connection to. First, there was the nameless world where she had lived in the days before her family’s death. Second, there was Tonina, the planet the Stryker family had made home after they were at last reunited. Finally, there was Xanthe, the world that hated her. I have been remotely scanning each of these star systems for weeks, trying to find any trace of her presence, and have found nothing. But perhaps that is my problem. It may be time for me to visit these worlds in person and see what I can uncover. There is always a chance that Amy may also be scanning these worlds, and if she sees me there then she might come out and meet me.

The Sentinel’s first stop was on the unnamed world that orbited Amy’s Star. He materialized on the beach, in the very same spot where he had told Amy that her family had been killed. On that terrible day he had gone there to comfort her after the unexpected death of her sister, only to find himself forced to deliver even worse news. Now he was alone – the only being on the planet.

The beach was entirely deserted. There were no birds circling overhead and no crabs scurrying across the sand. He didn’t even see any insects buzzing around. It feels as if everything has died. Overhead there was a cloudy sky, ominous and brooding. It was threatening to rain and yet it felt too cold to rain. A bitter wind blew in from the ocean. In the distance he saw waves crashing against jagged rocks that were scattered at the foot of a tall cliff.

It took him a moment before he realized that the area was entirely devoid of plant life. He knew that the planet was habitable, but from where he was standing on the beach he could see nothing that looked alive. There were no trees, or weeds, or even moss. All he could see was gritty sand, an angry sea, and a cold sky. His sensors told him that the time in that part of the world was shortly after two in the afternoon, but it felt much later. The world was unnaturally dark and cold.

The Sentinel reached out and connected to the nanite network that Amy had dispersed throughout the planet’s atmosphere. A thorough scan revealed that the planet had no artificial structures of any kind. Even though Amy had lived on this world for days she had constructed no cities, houses, or underground bunkers. Aside from the nanites, there was no sign that anyone had ever visited this world.

And yet Amy did not leave this place untouched, the Sentinel realized. Captain Max once testified that this planet was a beautiful paradise. That used to be true, but it is no longer the case. Amy threw away the beauty of this world and turned it over to shadows. It has become a reflection of her. Both Amy and her world are sad and cold, and feel lost and abandoned. There is nothing sunny within the last surviving member of the Stryker family and there is nothing sunny here. How did I not notice this before? Was I so caught up in the loss of Amanda that I failed to notice my surroundings?

The nanites in the planet’s atmosphere reported that no one had used them since Amy’s disappearance. So she has not returned to this world. I do not blame her. This place was not a home to her; it was a prison. There is no warmth here, nor does it hold any fond memories for her. Amy hated this place and it showed. She will never willingly visit this world again.

Before leaving the Sentinel stopped and looked around at the gloominess that surrounded him. He considered returning the planet to its former glory but he decided against it. This is Amy’s world, not mine. This planet was given to her as a refuge, and this is what she has done with it. It is not my place to override her wishes and transform it into something more appealing. I will let her decision stand.

The Sentinel then abandoned the planet, leaving it alone and empty once more.

After a short delay he appeared on Tonina. The contrast between Amy’s world this one was striking. Here he was surrounded by beauty, on a planet that was vibrant with life. The oceans, forests, plains, and skies were filled with life and seemed to almost radiate joy. He was relieved to see that the magnificent city of La Venta was right where he had left it. Either Amanda was able to destroy the Nehemiah probes before they threatened this world, or this world was never targeted. Either way, this place has been spared, and I am grateful for that.

The Sentinel was surprised to see that the city was bustling with life. The vast metropolis, which was spread out over thousands of square miles, was bustling with rush-hour traffic. Cars filled its streets and people strolled along the sidewalk. Enormous aircraft soared over the city, filled with passengers and cargo. When he was last here the only people in the entire world were those from the Sparrow, but now there were millions of people.

The appearance of life was so realistic that it took him a moment to realize that the activity was purely synthetic. Laura Stryker always hated the artificial citizens and I believe she eventually halted the simulation. However, when she halted it she must have paused it instead of shutting it down completely. By now the timed delay has passed and, since there is no one left to shut it down again, the city has resumed its artificial life. I suppose it does no harm, although it does give an appearance of life when no life actually exists. There are no living people down there – only shadows.

In the heart of the city was Ahexotl Tower, the tallest building in the galaxy. When the Stryker family had lived on Tonina they dined there regularly, enjoying meals together as a family. Now, however, the restaurant was filled with imaginary people who were leading imaginary lives. According to the Steward’s records, Amy had not set foot in the restaurant since November 20th – exactly one month ago. How different things were back then! The last time you were here, Amy, everyone was confident that the swarms would be quickly defeated and the refugees on Xanthe would be freed. Your father was laying the foundation for a government that would lead mankind into the future. Hope was high and the future looked bright. Now all of that is gone. The people who were liberated on Xanthe were not prisoners; they were mankind’s executioners. They destroyed the future of everyone in order to extend their depraved dreams.

A thorough analysis of the Steward’s records revealed that no one had visited Tonina for weeks. Amy had not returned to her family’s home after she angrily left Xanthe. There was one member of the Stryker family, however, who was still there. When the Artilect had called the final, fateful meeting with Carroll Lane, he had rounded up everyone except for Amy, the Sentinel, and Alex, the family dog. Alex was still on Tonina, where he had been alone for weeks. I am afraid, Alex, that you are the only one left. Your family is gone and Amy is missing. I wish I could reunite you with her but I do not know where she is.

When the Sentinel tried to locate Alex he was surprised to find that the canine was in cryonic suspension. An examination of the logs revealed that a few weeks ago Alex had used the city’s nanites to place himself in suspension, extending his life indefinitely in a dreamless, peaceful sleep. He was resting in what had been Amy’s bedroom, waiting for her to return. I hope she returns soon to wake you from your slumber, the Sentinel thought. I wish I could tell you that your wait is almost over but I do not know. I have proven to be a very poor prophet.

The Sentinel had hoped to find Amy herself on Tonina, but he was not surprised to find that she was absent. Tonina was one of the worlds that he personally scanned on a regular basis. If she had stopped by her homeworld for even a moment during the past three weeks he would have known. Despite this, he had still hoped that his visit would turn up something. He lingered in the city for hours, waiting, but nothing happened. Amy did not return and no new clues regarding her whereabouts were uncovered. Everything was exactly as the Stryker family had left it a month ago.

After taking one last look around the city the Sentinel shut down the program that generated its synthetic citizens. Instantly the people, cars, and air traffic vanished. With its artificial life gone, the city quickly became quiet. The hectic bustle of city life was replaced with peace and tranquility – an almost eerie tranquility.

The Sentinel stood in the middle of the street that ran in front of Ahexotl Tower and looked around. As he stood there he realized that he could hear the noise of the wind blowing between the buildings. In fact, that was the only noise he could hear. Perhaps the citizens did serve a purpose. Their presence at least masked the emptiness of this world and the hollowness of its cities. But they were just that – a mask. Does this galaxy really need more shadows to obscure the truth?

It is time for me to go, he thought. Amy is not on her world, nor is she here on Tonina. There is a chance that she may return here, for it is the only place in the network that she has ever called home. For Alex’s sake I hope she returns soon. Yet, even if she does return, I fear that La Venta will never be filled with real people. Dr. Temilotzin laid the groundwork for the colonization of the galaxy, but mankind did not accept the inheritance that he left for them. His dream was bold but it will never come to pass. These cities were created from the dust of the ground, and to dust they shall return. That is the legacy of Carroll Lane – and the fate of all the sons of Adam.

II Timothy 1:1: “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus,”

The phrase “according to the promise of life” is really quite striking! In this life it’s so easy to think that God has promised us many things that, in fact, He hasn’t promised at all. God never promised to give us an easy life. He never said that our lives would always go well or that disasters would never happen. He never promised that our spouses would love us, or that our children would turn out well, or that we would have rewarding jobs, or that we would become important and influential people. He never promised riches or fame, or that we would do “great things”. He didn’t say that we would never be disappointed or that we would always understand why everything happens. He never promised that we wouldn’t be hurt, or that we would have supportive friends.

What He did promise was that we would face trials, but God would be with us through them; that all things do work together for good to those who love God; that our troubles and heartaches are blessings that serve to strengthen our faith; and that these periods of testing won’t last forever. He did promise to raise us from the dead so we could live forever with Him, in a perfect world where there is unending joy. He also promised that when this life is over He would reward those who lived well, and judge those who rejected His mercy.

Most importantly, He promised to love us, to be with us, and to never forsake us. He warned us that this life would be hard but urged us to keep on going because there was life and joy waiting for us at the end of the road – a life that He wants to give us not because we earned it, but because it pleases Him to give it to us. A life that we cannot lose because it is based on what Jesus did, not on what we’ve done.

So take heart. Focus on what God has promised, not on what He hasn’t. God always keeps His promises. He is faithful, and He will return to bring us home.

This is a mocked-up cover for the unwritten book Starman #18, The Starlight Maneuver. It was one of the books that we originally planned to write and even created a brief plot summary for, but ultimately ended up skipping.

If you would like to read the proposed plot for the book, simply click on the image below to see a higher-resolution scan.

(I do not know who created the cover artwork, but it was not me.)

At some point in history the Rapture will occur. Although no one knows when it will happen (despite what certain people may try to tell you), the fact remains that it will happen. When it finally does take place Jesus Christ will return to Earth and take the Church to Heaven. Those who died before the Rapture occurred will be resurrected (although the Old Testament saints will not be resurrected at this time), and those who are still alive will be transformed.

When this monumental event takes place a great many people will suddenly vanish – and an even larger number of people will be left behind. Some have argued that those who are left behind cannot be saved, but that is not true. In fact, a great many people will come to know the Lord after the Rapture takes place. This is made clear from passages such as this one:

Revelation 7:9: “After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
10 And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.
. . .
13 And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?
14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

What we see here is a tremendous number of people that are in Heaven, who come from “all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues”. These people “came out of great tribulation”. In other words, these are people who were saved after the Rapture and were martyred during the Tribulation. So, then, if millions upon millions of people are saved after the Rapture, then salvation clearly does not end when the Church disappears.

One reason why some people have thought that salvation might not be possible (and I have wondered about this myself) is because of this passage:

2 Thessalonians 2:8: “And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

In this passage Paul is talking about the antichrist. He says that after the Rapture takes place the Holy Spirit will be withdrawn from Earth, and then the antichrist will finally appear. Paul explains that this is necessary because currently the Holy Spirit is restraining evil in the world and making it impossible for the antichrist to appear. In order for the antichrist to rise to power the Holy Spirit must be withdrawn, and since the Church is filled with the Spirit it must be withdrawn as well. After the antichrist appears Paul says that “God shall send them a strong delusion” so that everyone who refused to believe the truth would believe the antichrist’s lie, and be damned forever.

For some time I thought this meant that those who rejected the Gospel before the Rapture would be unable to accept it after the Rapture took place. The only ones who could be saved were those who had never heard the Gospel at all. However, I’ve since come to realize that this interpretation is wrong. This passage is talking about those who take the Mark of the Beast. During the first half of the Tribulation the Lord will anoint 144,000 Jews to spread the gospel to everyone on the planet. (Right now this is the job of the Church, but after the Church is gone the Lord will appoint others to do it.) The antichrist will be unable to stop them until their task is done. After they’re done, the Lord will then send an angel to fly over all the world and repeat the gospel one more time. By the time this happens everyone alive will have heard the good news. There will be no one left who has not heard about Jesus.

That is when the Mark of the Beast will appear. Those who hated the truth and rejected the gospel will take the Mark, and in doing so they will be damned. However, those who loved the truth and accepted Christ will be saved. They will most likely be martyred for their faith, but in losing their life they will gain everlasting life.

So, then, salvation will be possible in the Tribulation, but it will be more difficult than it is now. The price will be higher, and those who are saved after the Rapture will not have some of the benefits that the Church currently enjoys.

To understand why, let’s back up and look at the Old Testament. Here is something to think about: how was Abraham saved? Did he believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, as we do today? Of course not! Abraham didn’t know about any of those things. He probably knew that the Lord was going to send a Savior to redeem mankind, but in Abraham’s day God had revealed very little about this coming Messiah. The oldest books of the Old Testament were not written until centuries after Abraham died, and the most explicit prophecies about Christ are in Isaiah, which was not written until long after Abraham’s time. Keep in mind that even Christ’s disciples didn’t realize that He was going to die – and this was despite the fact that Jesus told them this in person. They had no understanding of what we today consider to be the gospel – that the Messiah would live a perfect life, then die for the sins of mankind to take upon himself the punishment mankind deserved, and then raise from the dead. If the disciples didn’t understand this then I think it’s pretty safe to say that Abraham didn’t understand it either.

Besides, the Bible tells us exactly what saved Abraham:

Romans 4:3: “For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.”

Now think about this: what did Abraham believe? Did he believe that Jesus would die and then raise again on the third day? Nope. What he believed was God’s promise that he would have a son. Belief in that promise is what saved him.

Why did that save him? Because salvation has always come about by faith in God. We believe what God has told us, and that faith saves us. However, the content of that faith has changed throughout the millennia as God has revealed more truth to mankind. What God requires of us is to believe what He has revealed. God told Abraham that he would have a son, and that one of his lineage would go on to be a blessing to all mankind (a reference to the Messiah that Abraham probably understood), and Abraham believed it. That was all it took. Abraham was saved through faith in the promise that God made to him.

Today we know a great deal more than Abraham did. We know about Jesus and what He has done, and God requires us to believe it and have faith in Him. We are still saved by faith, and by believing in God’s promise – but we know a great deal more about that promise now, so God requires more of us. “To whom much is given, much is required.” We have always been saved by faith in God, and never by our own works – but it surely must be obvious that Abraham knew a lot less about the gospel than we do today. God didn’t require Abraham to believe in things that had not been revealed to mankind. What God did require was for Abraham to believe what God had revealed – and God still requires that today.

Another key difference between Old Testament believers and the Church is that the Church has the Holy Spirit. There were a few people in the Old Testament that had the Spirit, but it was a rare thing to have, and those who did have it were in constant danger of losing it.

This may seem bizarre, but it’s really not. The verses that talk about this are well-known; the problem is that we just don’t stop to consider what is being said. For example, take a look at this:

John 16:7: “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.”

What Jesus was telling His disciples was that if He didn’t go away, the Holy Spirit wouldn’t come. However, since He was leaving, He would send the Holy Spirit to minister to us. This happened on the day of Pentecost:

Acts 2:1: “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

This is the day that the Church was formed, and it began by the appearance of the Holy Spirit. Today each believer is filled with the Spirit from the moment they are saved. In fact, Paul goes so far as to say that any person that does not have the Spirit is not saved at all:

Romans 8:9: “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.”

Today all Christians have the Holy Spirit and there is nothing we can do to lose it. We may fall into all kinds of terrible sin and we may deeply grieve the Spirit, but it is still sealed up inside us. That was not the case in the Old Testament. The gift Christ gave us of the Holy Spirit is a very special one that is unique to this age.

First of all, notice that Christ said that the Comforter would not come unless He left. It’s hard to get more plain than that! The disciples weren’t filled with the Spirit until Pentecost. We have the Comforter because Christ left. Those who were alive before He came did not have it, except in a few rare cases.

Now, it is true there were some exceptions. There were definitely people throughout the Old Testament that were described as being filled with the Spirit. Samson is one example:

Judges 14:5: “Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to Timnath, and came to the vineyards of Timnath: and, behold, a young lion roared against him.
6 And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand: but he told not his father or his mother what he had done.”

However, notice that verse 6 says “the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him”. The Spirit was not with Samson all the time, as it is with us – it came and went, as necessary. Samson was also in constant danger of losing it if he ever cut his hair, a fact that he eventually discovered:

Judges 16:20: “And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him.”

As I said earlier, few people in the Old Testament had the Holy Spirit, and those who did have it were in constant danger of losing it through sin. Even King David was worried about losing the Spirit after he sinned with Bathsheba:

Psalm 51:11: “Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.”

Today we don’t have to worry about losing the Holy Spirit. The Lord has given it to everyone in the Church as a free gift, and it cannot be lost through sin. But in the Old Testament it was not like that. Very, very few people were given the Spirit, and those who had it were forced to be very careful lest the Lord took it from them.

Let me give one more example before I move on. While the Israelites were wandering around the wilderness there was a time when the Holy Spirit descended upon a whole group of people at once:

Numbers 11:25: “And the LORD came down in a cloud, and spake unto him, and took of the spirit that was upon him, and gave it unto the seventy elders: and it came to pass, that, when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, and did not cease.”

Joshua heard about this and asked Moses to put a stop to it. What Moses said in response is very interesting:

Numbers 11:28: “And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them.
29 And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the LORD’S people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his spirit upon them!”

In other words, Moses said “Stop it? Absolutely not! In fact, I wish all of God’s people had His Holy Spirit.” Back then having the Spirit was a priceless privilege that was easily lost. Today, however, that is not the case. Moses’ wish was granted: today we all have the Spirit. I don’t think we fully realize what an awesome gift that really is.

What does this have to do with the Tribulation saints? Well, as I said earlier, the Holy Spirit will be withdrawn when the Rapture happens, allowing the world to rapidly deteriorate. The antichrist will gain control and horrible things will take place. This is not to say that the Spirit will be entirely absent. Believers will still have it, but they will have to be very careful because, as in the days of the Old Testament, it will be easily lost.

Jesus warned about this in the parable of the ten virgins:

Matthew 25:1: “Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
2 And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.
3 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:
4 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
5 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.
6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.
7 Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.
8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.
9 But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.
10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.
11 Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.
12 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.”

This parable is widely misinterpreted but, despite what you may have been told, it has nothing to do with the Church. When used symbolically the Church is always depicted as the bride, not 10 bridesmaids. After all, when the bridegroom comes He’s not going to marry 10 bridesmaids – He’s going to marry the Bride! Another important point is that the bride cannot be excluded from her own wedding, nor is the bridegroom in danger of missing the bride. The whole reason the bridegroom returns is to get the bride and take her away, and there is no danger that he’s somehow going to miss her entirely and end up marrying no one. Finally – and most importantly – oil is symbolic of the Spirit, and the Church cannot run out of the Holy Spirit no matter what it does. This parable simply does not apply to the Church in any way, shape, or form.

In fact, this passage is actually talking about those who are still alive at the end of the Tribulation. When the Second Coming takes place there will be some who held on to their faith and still had the Spirit, and there will be others who didn’t and lost it. When the Lord returns, those who allowed their faith to run out will be lost forever because they won’t have time to repent. Jesus is warning them to hold on to what they have despite all the horrible things that are going to happen, because their salvation depends on it.

To us, living in the Church Age, this seems bizarre. After all, once we’re saved we cannot be lost, nor can we lose the Spirit. What we don’t realize is that the gifts of the Holy Spirit and of “once saved always saved” are very special gifts that are given to the Church and are not extended to others. As we’ve already seen, the Old Testament saints were in constant danger of losing the Spirit, and the Tribulation saints will be as well. The Tribulation saints will face an additional challenge as well, in the form of the Mark of the Beast.

One thing the Bible is crystal clear about is that if you take the Mark of the Beast you will be damned forever. This is an unforgivable sin. Taking the Mark gets you a one-way ticket to eternal damnation:

Revelation 14:11: “And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.”

There are no exceptions to this policy. Once you do this you cannot change your mind or decide to come back to God. It is an absolutely final decision. In fact, the Bible emphasizes that the only ones who will be saved out of the Tribulation are those who did not take the Mark:

Revelation 15:2: “And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.”

Today, in the Church Age, once we are saved we are sealed forever and we cannot be lost. Christians can commit all kinds of terrible sins (and, sadly, they do), but it does not and cannot affect our salvation. In the Tribulation it will be different. True believers will have to demonstrate their faith by not taking the Mark of the Beast. Anyone who takes it – no matter how much they might regret taking it later – will be damned, because there is no forgiveness for it. Plus, as we saw earlier in the parable of the 10 virgins, true believers will have to hold on to their faith until Jesus returns. Those who let it slip away will be lost.

Now, I am not saying that in the Church Age are saved by grace and during the Tribulation people will be saved by works. That is not the case at all. What I am saying is that Tribulation saints will have to demonstrate their faith by (a) not taking the Mark, and (b) holding onto their faith until Jesus returns. This will not be an easy thing to do, either: the whole planet will be ruled by the antichrist and besieged by armies of demons. Believers will be hunted down and brutally murdered. It will be a horrible time to be alive. Things will become so bad that Revelation says that Christians who get killed during this time will actually be better off than the ones who are still alive, because the dead will finally have peace.

Why is there such a difference between the Church Age and the Tribulation Age? Because circumstances have changed. Today, in the Church Age, we live in a time of faith. We believe in Jesus even though we haven’t seen Him. Thomas would not believe until he had seen the risen Lord in person. We don’t have that luxury: we have to accept the Bible’s account and believe that it is true. We don’t have constant physical proof of God.

However, that wasn’t always the case. When the Israelites left Egypt they had a pillar of cloud to follow by day, and a pillar of fire by night. They actually heard the voice of God Himself from Horeb. Later, when the Temple was built, the high priest would go into the Holy of Holies once a year and communicate with God Himself, in person. God actually had a street address, and you could use the Urim and Thummim to ask God specific questions and get specific answers. (I know we have prayer today, and I don’t want to downplay that, but imagine if God had an e-mail address that you could write to and immediately get back written responses.) You didn’t need nearly as much faith because the proof of God was everywhere.

In the Tribulation the proof of God’s existence will be even greater! Remember, by the time the Tribulation happens the Rapture will have already taken place. The entire planet will have seen Jesus Christ come to Earth, resurrect the dead, and remove the Church. This is probably something that will be broadcast on live TV, for all the world to see. (The History Channel will probably make specials about it.) Which do you think requires more faith: believing in Jesus now, or believing in Jesus after you just saw Him return in person and rapture millions of people? In the Tribulation God’s presence will be so obvious that every last person on Earth will be aware of it:

Revelation 6:15: “And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?”

Do you see that? Every single last person – from the mightiest king to the lowliest slave – realizes the day of the Lord’s wrath has come and is deeply afraid. No one doubts God’s existence or power. No one questions what is happening. There are no atheists.

The point I’m trying to make is that the Church Age is a special time with special privileges. It requires more faith to believe now than it will to believe in the Tribulation. We don’t have the constant supernatural proof of God’s existence that convinces every last person on Earth. But those who do believe now are blessed, because we have the Spirit and we can never be lost. In the Tribulation it will be obvious that God is real, but the benefits of the Church Age will be gone. Losing one’s faith – and succumbing to the Mark of the Beast – will be a genuine danger. There are no sins now that can cost us our salvation, but there will be during the Tribulation. It will be a different time.

The bottom line is that it will be possible to be saved after the Rapture happens, and millions of people will do so. However, it will be a very difficult and horrible time. Those who are saved will have to be careful to keep holding onto the Spirit, keep living in faith, and keep resisting the Mark of the Beast. Those who endure to the end shall be saved, but those who don’t will be lost forever.

The mighty hero – now long gone, returned to dust. Only the statue remains to mark the memory…

The elderly man nodded his head, smiling. “That’s just about right! You’re a little off, but not by much. I was actually born in 4898. The reason the nanites have a later date is because they weren’t created until decades later. It took me an awfully long time to build a batch that actually worked. In fact, I’m still not convinced that I got them right.”

“You came close, but, well, they’re a little off. In fact, that’s why you’re getting older – your nanites are littered with mistakes and omissions. I’m surprised you managed to live as long as you did! You got really lucky.”

“I was blessed,” Miles replied. “The Lord must have wanted me to stay here and keep working or I wouldn’t have made it this far. Still, you’ve got to admit they’re not that bad, especially considering the tools I had to work with. I didn’t have the Artilect to help me, you know.”

“That’s another thing!” Amy said. “Some of the code in your nanites is an exact copy of the code in my nanites. You didn’t design those yourself, Miles. You did have the Artilect to help you. There’s just no other explanation.”

“Well, it all depends on what you mean,” Miles said slowly. “He didn’t give them to me – well, not directly, anyway. It would be more accurate to say that they were something I overheard.”

“You overheard?” Amy asked, confused.

“That’s right! That’s also how I got the plans for New Tikal’s ZPE. The big problem I had was that there was so much I didn’t understand. It took me years to lean how to interpret the ancient dialect that the Artilect was using to communicate with the Nehemiah probes. On top of that, the plans he was transmitting were all highly technical, and used a science far beyond anything Mars ever possessed. Trying to recreate what was in those transmissions was excruciating.”

Amy was astonished. “Do you mean you had a way to eavesdrop on the Artilect?”

Miles nodded. “I sure did! But let me start at the beginning. As I said, I was born in 4898. Back then I was known as Donald Elliott.”

“You mean you founded New Tikal? But – but that’s impossible! Donald died thousands of years ago!”

“That’s what everyone wanted to believe, Amy, and so I just let them go on believing it. You see, like I said earlier, I ran into the same problem that you did. I knew that the underground city I’d built for them wasn’t a long-term solution. The real problem wasn’t technical, but personal. They needed to get their act together and get serious about their future. So I tried to push them along – but I’m getting ahead of myself.

“Anyway, I was born with a real knack for tinkering around and figuring out how things work. I also had an insatiable curiosity. One day when I was in my teens I was messing around with some equipment I’d built and stumbled across a really strange signal. It took me the better part of a year before I realized that the signal was coming from the other side of the Wall.”

“What?” Amy exclaimed. “But that’s impossible! Nothing can get through the Wall!”

Miles smiled. “That’s what everyone else thought too, but it’s not true. You see, the Wall that’s around Sol has a peculiar flaw. When the Artilect communicated with the millions of probes in its networked it used its own brand of FTL technology. The Wall does block those signals, but in the process of blocking them they get transmuted onto a different carrier wave and rebroadcast inside the Solar System. I couldn’t send signals through the Wall, but I could pick up on all kinds of chatter. The only problem I had was that I couldn’t understand any of it because it was all in a strange, ancient language.

“That’s when I went on a quest to find every last scrap of ancient Martian writing than I could find. I spent years learning how to translate the Artilect’s messages into something that I could read. There were some things that I was never able to figure out, but I finally got to the point where I could understand most of it.

“What I discovered was amazing, Amy. Amazing! Out there, beyond the Wall, was a civilization that was beyond my wildest dreams. Millions of planets had been colonized and science had blossomed to astounding proportions. My own planet was dying, but out there – out on the other side of that Wall – were countless garden worlds. It was astonishing, and it was completely unexpected.

“I knew that I had to do something. I just had to find a way to get through the Wall and reach the Rangers! But, as much as I wanted to, I knew that I’d never be able to do it on my own. That’s when I decided to take the scientific knowledge I’d learned from the transmissions and use it to bring my people into the modern era. Once civilization had been reborn I could tell people my plan and, together, we could attack the Wall and bring it down.”

Amy spoke up. “Weren’t you worried about what might happen when you brought the Wall down? After all, for all you knew the Rangers might still be holding a grudge.”

Miles shook his head. “At the time I wasn’t the least bit worried. In all the transmissions I had overheard none of them talked about Earth or indicated any evidence of hostilities. The Artilect seemed to be completely peaceful, and I couldn’t find any trace of anyone that might want to harm us. I was convinced that we had been forgotten about. I thought that if we could just bring the Wall down then the Artilect would welcome us into the future with open arms.”

“You were probably right,” Amy agreed. “He certainly wouldn’t have taken any hostile action against you. Your biggest problem would have been the swarms.”

“I know – I’m getting to that. So, anyway, I started working. Using the techniques I had learned from the Artilect I was able to build New Tikal, and people flocked to it. They knew that their planet was dying and they were excited about the underground city. I was able to build a ZPE and give them everything they needed. Once the city was in place and things had settled down a bit I decided to take things to the next level. That’s when I announced my plan to bring down the Wall, and that’s when the trouble started.

“You see, what I didn’t realize was that the mayor saw my new program as an attempt to bring him down. As long as the Wall was in place he was the highest political authority on the planet – the king, so to speak. But if space travel became common again then Mars would be just one planet among billions. All he would be is another minor ruler in the galaxy. If I succeeded his importance – and his ability to control the people – would be greatly reduced. He decided that I was a serious threat, so he incited the people to riot.”

“I know exactly what that’s like,” Amy commented. “Elder Lane didn’t exactly enjoy meeting us, either, for similar reasons.”

“I was every bit as surprised as you were,” Miles continued. “You didn’t see betrayal coming, and I didn’t see it coming either. I managed to escape the riots, but they were so violent that everyone assumed I had died. Since they wanted to kill me I decided to just let them keep thinking that I was dead, and find another home elsewhere. I came here and built this bunker, and tried to figure out what to do next. I eventually decided that it was all up to me. If that Wall was ever going to come down I would have to do it myself. No one else was ever going to try.

“I knew it would take more than one lifetime to do, though, so the first problem I had to solve was finding a way to live forever. I spent several decades trying to build the nanites. At first I thought I had succeeded because everything seemed to be working. It was only much later that I realized there were problems. Even with the problems, though, they worked well enough. They gave me the time I needed to escape the Wall.”

“Are you serious?” Amy asked. “You actually managed to escape?”

“Yes I did! It wasn’t easy, though. In fact, it took the better part of a thousand years. The key problem I had was energy. A terrific amount of energy was spent keeping the Wall in place, and I knew that it would take a similar force to open a hole in it. After a great deal of searching I finally found something powerful enough to do the job. As I had hoped, Iapetus still existed.”

“The ancient super-weapon,” Amy said. “Of course! But why did it take you so long to find it?”

“Because it was no longer in orbit around Saturn. That was the first place I looked, of course, and I came up empty-handed. When the Wall appeared the Emperor moved it, and it took me forever to track it down. I knew from the ancient records that it had really existed, and I suspected that it could be altered to do what I needed it to do, but actually finding it was hard. There is a lot of space to search, you know! But I finally located it and was able to rewire it. That was a whole lot of work too – but I had the time.

“After a great many failed tests and experiments, I opened a tiny hole in the Wall and flew my starship right through it. What a feeling! A thousand years of effort had finally paid off. It was incredible, even though I had no one to share it with. I was finally free – the first person to leave Sol since the 19th century. My dream had come true.

“For the first few days I was a pretty happy man. Instead of just leaping to the nearest star system I spent some time scanning the area, trying to figure out where the nearest Ranger colonies were located. I knew where the Artilect’s systems were, but they were extremely far away. I was hoping to find something a little closer to home. That was when I discovered the swarms.”

“I was wondering about that,” Amy remarked. “I bet they were quite a surprise.”

Miles nodded. “They certainly were! I had been listening to the Artilect’s transmissions for centuries and he had never mentioned them. Of course, he had also never mentioned any star systems near Sol, a fact that puzzled me. I thought he never talked about them because they were outside his jurisdiction. I didn’t realize the truth – that the swarms had destroyed everything.”

“You must have been devastated!”

“I was pretty disappointed,” Miles admitted. “The biggest problem wasn’t that the Rangers were gone. No, what really got me was that now I couldn’t take the Wall down. The Wall was actually our defense against the swarms; if I destroyed it they could just sweep right in and kill us all. For a thousand years I had thought that the Wall was a prison, but it was actually our protector. It had been keeping us safe for a very long time.

“Now I didn’t know what to do. My plan had been to take down the Wall, return to New Tikal in triumph, and then lead my people to the stars, but that was no longer an option. As long as the swarms were in space we would have to remain on Mars. So I retreated back to Sol, turned off Iapetus, and went home. Since there was nothing else to do I decided to visit New Tikal. That’s when I found out that the city hadn’t been maintained. It was in shambles.”

“I can’t say I’m surprised,” Amy said.

Miles sighed. “I definitely was. They were just barely surviving when I returned. It took me centuries to put things together again – well, as together as they were when you first entered the city. I tried to motivate people to take an interest in life, but it never worked. A person here or there might care, but they were pretty powerless. It was all I could do just to keep the city running.”

“Did no one recognize you when you returned?” Amy asked.

“Oh no! By that time the story of Donald Elliott had become a bit of ancient history. He had ‘died’ so long ago that no one even imagined I might be him. I just introduced myself as Miles, which was actually my middle name. It wasn’t very creative, but then, they weren’t hard to fool. In fact, to this day no one has noticed that a person named Miles has been visiting New Tikal for a thousand years now. They just don’t care, Amy.”

“So what do you expect me to do about it?” Amy asked. “I can’t make them care, you know.”

“Maybe not, but you can terraform this planet. You can make it habitable again, and coax them out of New Tikal and back to the surface. After all, the Wall is now gone and the stars are ours for the taking. We don’t have to hide from the swarms anymore. Even the Artilect’s planets are still out there!”

“That’s another question that I meant to ask you. I understand how you got ZPE technology, but how did you learn about me, and my family, and what’s been happening?”

“The probes were told everything,” Miles explained. “I guess the Artilect wanted to keep them fully informed so that they could make intelligent decisions. He trusted them completely. I’m sure he never expected them to turn on him.”

“So you knew everything that was going on?”

“For the most part. I saw when the Artilect started his time-travel program, and when he built the Sentinel. Now, the first time your name came up I had no idea who you were. I had to do a lot of historical research before I came across the story of the Sparrow and its inhabitants. That’s when I finally put the pieces together and realized what the Artilect was trying to do. You and your sister were administrators, and he wanted you so he could obtain the authority he needed to defeat the swarms.

“I was so excited when you and your sister finally made it to the future. That was a remarkable day! Then – well, then everything happened. When the Artilect was destroyed I thought that everyone had been killed. That’s why I was so excited to see that you had survived! There was still some hope left after all.”

“Is there?” Amy asked. “Miles, you know as well as I do that if these people really cared, they could have terraformed Mars and achieved space travel on their own. They’re just not interested in it. They don’t want it. In fact, they can’t even be bothered to fix their colony when their lives literally depend on it.”

“I know. But maybe–”

“I’ve been through all of this before, Miles! My sister terraformed Xanthe for exactly the same reason that you want me to terraform Mars. Do you know what happened? The leaders rose up and murdered her! And you want me to repeat that here?”

“But–”

“Think about it! Do you know why you’re spent the past two thousand years living all by yourself in this bunker? It’s because you offered a future to those people, and they tried to kill you for it. You can’t tell me that the people here are any different from the people on Xanthe. If I terraform this planet they’re not going to say ‘Oh, this is great! Let’s roll up our sleeves and start working.’ Nope. Instead they’ll try to hunt me down and kill me – just like they did you. It won’t do any good.”

“I just don’t believe that,” Miles replied. “I refuse to believe that there’s no hope. If that was true then the Lord would have let them die out a long time ago. As long as they’re alive there’s still hope. You have a lot of power, Amy. You can change this situation in a way that I cannot. You can do something to fix this.”

Amy sighed. “You don’t understand. Yes, I can terraform the planet, but I can’t change people’s hearts. This isn’t one of those situations where a group of innocent villagers are being put in danger by an evil villain, and if the villain is defeated everything will be fixed. In this situation the villagers are the problem. They’re the ones that elect their political leadership. They’re the ones that rioted and tried to kill you. They’re the ones that have chosen to do nothing while their planet dies. I can’t wave a magic wand and turn them into upright, productive citizens. It’s their choice, and they’ve chosen laziness and apathy. I can’t fix that.”

“But you can try,” Miles replied.

“We’ve already tried,” Amy said. “My family gave Xanthe their best shot, and now they’re all dead. I don’t see anything smart about doing that again.”

“So what are you going to do?” Miles asked.

Amy sighed. “I don’t know. I really, honestly don’t know. I don’t know what to do about Mars and I don’t know what to do about Xanthe. Everyone expects so much from me but these are problems that I just can’t fix. The only good news I’ve had lately is that Christmas is right around the corner.”

“Christmas?” Miles asked.

“That’s right! It surprised me too. Today’s the 20th, so Christmas is just five days away. I’ve been waiting a long time for it – it’s my favorite time of year.”

“I’m afraid I still don’t understand. What’s Christmas?”

Amy looked at him in surprise. “Seriously? You mean, you’ve forgotten about the biggest holiday of the year? How often do you get out of this bunker, Miles?”

“At least once or twice a month, usually,” Miles replied. “But I’m afraid that Mars must not celebrate that holiday anymore. I’m sure that New Tikal isn’t planning on doing anything five days from now.”

“You’ve got to be mistaken! People have celebrated the day Christ was born for centuries – since long before I was born. It’s the biggest holiday of the year! There are gifts, and Christmas trees, and lights, and snow, and Christmas carols…”

Miles shook his head. “That custom must have been lost when the Wall was erected. I was born two thousand years ago, and even back then people no longer talked about it. I’m familiar with the events around our Lord’s birth, but I’m a bit surprised to find out that people used to celebrate it. It seems like a strange choice. After all, if you’re going to celebrate a part of the life of Christ then why not celebrate the Resurrection instead? Isn’t that a far more momentous event?”

“Oh, we celebrated that too,” Amy explained. “It was called Easter. It was pretty important, but it wasn’t as big as Christmas.”

“I’m afraid that neither are celebrated today. There are a few holidays on the calendar, but none of them center around our Lord.”

“Well isn’t that just fantastic,” Amy grumbled. “This place gets worse and worse the longer I’m here. This isn’t what I was hoping to find when I returned, you know!”

Miles nodded. “I know. But I am afraid that this is how things are.”

Amy stood up. “Well, anyway, thank you for your time. It’s been fun, but I’ve had all of this planet that I can take.”

“Are you going somewhere?” Miles asked in surprise.

“Oh yes! I definitely need to get away from this place. Right now any planet is preferable to this one.”

“Where are you going?”

“Somewhere else,” Amy said. “I don’t really care where. Just – someplace that’s not here.”

“Will you be back?”

“I don’t know,” Amy replied. “I just don’t know.”

With that, she said goodbye and disappeared, leaving Miles alone.

Amy said goodbye to Noel and then walked out of the power plant. As soon as the door closed behind her she glanced around to make sure that no one could see her. When she was satisfied that she was alone she closed her eyes and vanished. The girl materialized miles away, in the heart of what was once the city of Tikal. At one time there had been a modern city on that very location, but now all traces of it were gone. All she could see was sand dunes and broken rocks, stretching out to the horizon. Above her was a cloudless sky. The sun was almost directly overhead, indicating that it would soon be lunchtime, but Amy wasn’t hungry. She was too preoccupied with the loss of her world to care about anything else.

I just can’t believe my home is gone, she thought. New Tikal is a wretched excuse for a city. This isn’t the way Mars is supposed to be! Mars should be a planet full of life, people, and culture – not broken rocks and sand. I wish I could fix all of this, but what can I do? Amanda tried to save Xanthe and look how far that got her! Are things really any different here? What difference is there between the virtual world of Vault 37 and the silly underground world that these people have built for themselves? Both are just sad attempts to escape reality.

Amy closed her eyes once more and used her nanites to take a closer look at the planet. A thorough subsurface scan revealed that there were several underground bunkers in the area, of varying size. Most of them were abandoned and in advanced stages of decay, but the largest one was still active. As she studied its interior Amy noticed that the sprawling underground compound had its own ZPE. So that’s where Miles lives, Amy thought to herself. I think it’s time I paid him a visit. He’s got a lot of questions to answer.

The girl quickly transported herself to the entrance of Miles’ secret base. When she materialized in front of its entrance she was surprised to see that there were no signs of an airlock. The only thing in front of her was an enormous rock wall, which was part of a cliff that was partially buried in sand. The wall was rocky and uneven, and the sand in front of the entrance looked undisturbed. There was no visible machinery of any kind. No wonder he doesn’t get any visitors! Why, if I didn’t know better I would be convinced that I had the wrong address.

Amy looked into the wall and concentrated, transmitting a stream of data to a receiver that was hidden deep within it. A moment later there was a gentle click and the rock wall disappeared, revealing a small airlock on the other side. The girl stepped inside and pressed a green button. Behind her the rock wall rematerialized, and air was pumped into the room. Once the air pressure was equalized the door in front of her opened and she stepped into the bunker.

In front of her was a long, dimly-lit hallway. There were at least a half-dozen doors scattered on both sides of the passage, leading off into other rooms. As Amy looked around, trying to figure out where to go next, she saw an elderly man running hastily toward her from the far end of the hallway. When he got close enough to see her he suddenly stopped. “Oh, so it’s you! I wasn’t expecting to see you today, Amy – you’ve given me quite a shock. I was convinced that something had finally gone wrong with that finicky door and some prowler had broken in.”

“Sorry about that,” Amy replied. “I didn’t mean to startle you! I would have knocked but I didn’t see a doorbell or anything. Your front door isn’t exactly inviting.”

“Quite so!” Miles agreed. He walked up to Amy and then paused to catch his breath. “That lack of hospitality is by design, you know. I intended to build a place that no one could ever find, and that’s exactly what I did. I haven’t had a single visitor in all these centuries – well, until just now, of course! I should have known that you’d be able to find this place, but I just didn’t think of it. Since you’re here, does that mean you’ve finished repairing the ZPE?”

“Yes I have – and let me tell you, it was a lot of work! Do you have any idea how hard it is to rebuild a power plant with your bare hands? I would have finished it weeks ago if you had let me use my nanites!”

“And if you had Noel would not have learned anything. Those people would have become even more dependent than they already are on machinery that they don’t understand. I realize the work was difficult, but think of it as an investment in their education.”

“I suppose,” Amy said. “But is it really going to do any good? Noel might know all about ZPEs now, but he still doesn’t have any political clout. The mayor will never let him build the self-contained air supply the colony needs, and without it they’re all going to die when Mars loses the last dregs of its atmosphere. Being able to keep the ZPE running isn’t going to save them.”

“I know. In fact, sadly, I ran into the same problem myself. With them it’s always the same old story. You see, a politician’s primary concern is getting elected. Sure, the air supply is an issue, but it won’t be an issue until after the mayor is dead. If the mayor did something about it now he’d have to make some unpopular choices, and that would endanger his re-election chances. So he’s taking the easy way out and doing nothing, sacrificing the future of mankind for short-term political gain. He’s not the first one to do that, though. Politicians have always been making that choice – even in your time.”

“That’s not true!” Amy protested. “My father was a great governor. Under his leadership this planet was an amazing place to live. It wasn’t anything like it is today!”

“But he was forced to leave, and Mars was destroyed,” Miles pointed out.

“That’s not his fault! He did everything he could to save this planet.”

“I know,” Miles replied. “I’m not blaming him. But at the end of the day the forces of evil won, and that has not changed. In all the millennia that have gone by between now and then, the only thing that reformers like us have been able to accomplish is preventing the last survivors of Mars from killing themselves. No one has been able to restore this world to its former glory. At least, not until you arrived. You have the power to change everything.”

“Now wait just a minute! I didn’t come here to talk about me. I want to know who you are and how you know so much about me. You have a lot of questions to answer.”

“I suppose I do,” Miles agreed. “But this dim hallway is not the place to have a long conversation. An old man like me needs creature comforts like chairs. Here, come with me.”

Miles led Amy down the hallway and over to a large freight elevator. The two rode the elevator a hundred feet down, then got off and entered a large, brightly-lit room. Amy saw pieces of old equipment strewn everywhere – on tables, chairs, and on the floor. Books littered the room, and there was a stack of dirty plates in the corner. A whole wall was dedicated to computer terminals, but most of the screens were cracked or otherwise damaged. The place had an air of decay about it.

“Please pardon the mess,” Miles apologized. “As I said, I don’t get a lot of visitors. I used to be neater than this but I’ve kind of let things go in my old age. My priorities are different now, I guess.”

Miles took a stack of green circuit boards off a chair and tossed them onto the floor. He then offered the chair to Amy. Once she had sat down the old man cleared off another chair and took a seat across from her. “There we go! That’s better. Now, can I get you anything?”

“No, thank you – I’m fine,” Amy replied, as she looked around the room. “It looks like you’ve lived here a long time!”

“I certainly have,” Miles said. “Why, I was just a young man when I created this little hideaway. That was a long, long time ago.”

“Just how long ago was it?” Amy asked.

Miles smiled. “Why not take a guess? Surely a girl that can terraform a planet can guess a man’s age.”

Amy was a little taken aback by this. I have no idea how to tell someone’s age! she thought. Maybe my nanites have a subroutine for that. She mentally tapped into their library of commands and used it to mentally construct a profile of Miles. The nanites that saturated the planet’s atmosphere provided a wealth of information about his physiological condition. Hmmm. He looks – well, he looks old. Let’s see. His liver is failing and his heart is weak. His mind looks sharp, but his synapses are starting to degrade. His bones have become brittle and his arteries are hardening. His stamina is really low – a lot lower than I expected. His vision and hearing are good, but they’re fading. All of that is pretty vague, though. Let me see if I can find something a little more age-specific. Oh, here we go! His DNA’s epigenetic changes indicate that he’s around 150. Wow! That’s pretty old, considering that no one else in New Tikal seems to be over 80. But – wait a minute – what’s this?

As Amy took a closer look at his bloodstream she suddenly realized that his veins were home to billions upon billions of incredibly tiny micromachines. A quick analysis revealed that they were similar in design to her own nanites, but there were important differences. For one thing, they’re not quite as small, and there aren’t as many of them. I have a lot more nanites than he does. The quality also isn’t as good – the tolerances aren’t as fine. But yet, they’re so similar! It’s almost like someone took my nanites and made low-quality duplicates of them. Some critical functions are missing entirely, and others have serious errors. But those nanites are clearly designed for biological repair, so he may be far older than he seems.

Hmm. So if I can’t trust the biological indicators, what can I trust? It’s like trying to figure out how old a house is when it’s been rebuilt several times! But perhaps there’s another way I can approach this. If those nanites have timestamps embedded in them then maybe I can read them to get a date…

Using her own nanites, Amy extracted one of the micromachines from Miles’ bloodstream and disassembled it so she could read the data that it contained. She gasped when she realized what they were saying. “That’s just not possible!” she exclaimed.

“What?” Miles asked.

Amy opened her eyes and looked at him. “The nanites in your bloodstream began operation in 4967 AD. According to them you’re more than two thousand years old!”

This is a mocked-up cover for the unwritten book Starman #17, The Venus Project. It was one of the books that we originally planned to write and even created a brief plot summary for, but ultimately ended up skipping.

If you would like to read the proposed plot for the book, simply click on the image below to see a higher-resolution scan.

(I do not know who created the cover artwork, but it was not me.)

For this week’s theological digression I’ve written a paper on the age of accountability. Given the length of the paper, along with the fact that all posts are now shown in their entirety, I decided it would be easier to simply post it as a PDF. You can find the file here:

The Age of Accountability

At some point I’d like the blog to go back to showing excerpts, so that huge posts no longer clutter up the main page of the blog. The main page would show a brief summary of the post’s content, and you could click on the post itself to see what it has to say. So far, though, I haven’t find a way to do that.