One wonders: why is the road closed? Is it because people forgot how to properly spell the word ‘Caution’?

Noel led Amy and Miles out of the cafeteria and down the long hallway that led to the ZPE room. When they reached the door Noel opened it. “After you!”

“Wait a minute,” Amy said. “Where’s the security?”

“Security?” Noel asked.

“Yeah. Some system to keep everyone and their brother from just walking right into the plant.”

“I don’t understand. Why would we want to do that? No one comes down here unless they work here. I’ve never seen random strangers pop in and start walking around.”

“But what if they did? One crazy person with a gun could easily destroy the ZPE beyond repair. If that happened you wouldn’t have time to do anything about it – this colony would collapse and die. You’re running a real risk by not having any security.”

“She’s right,” Miles commented. “I’d never really thought about it, but we do have some exposure here. We probably should set up some safeguards to restrict this area to authorized personnel.”

“But it’s a waste of resources!” Noel argued. “We’ve never had a problem before.”

“In other words, you’ve been lucky,” Amy replied. “Maybe you’ll be lucky tomorrow, too – or maybe you won’t. Don’t you realize that if one day you’re not lucky then everyone in this colony will die? How hard would it be to put a lock on the door?”

“Way too hard,” Noel replied. “I could never get approval for something like that. The mayor only approves equipment after there’s been a problem, not before. He doesn’t believe in acting preemptively.”

Amy shook her head. “That’s foolish. By then it’s too late.”

“I agree with you,” Miles said. “I understand your point. But you must realize that the colony has much bigger problems than a lack of locks. If significant changes do not happen soon, no one will be alive a hundred years from now.”

“What are you talking about?” Noel asked, as the three of them walked through the door and into the plant.

“It’s the atmosphere. I’ve been monitoring the rate of its dispersal, and the news is not good. A century from now the atmosphere will be so thin that no amount of air towers will be able to help. If you don’t switch to a closed-loop scrubbing system in the next few decades you will all die.”

“Is it really that serious?” Noel asked. “I thought we had a lot more time than that! Do you have any idea how much effort it’s going to take to implement your plan? For starters, the base isn’t even airtight, nor is there a way to use the existing duct work. I’ve gone over your designs, Miles, and it would take a lot of manpower over many years to implement your system. We’re talking ten years, maybe twenty!”

“I know,” Miles replied. “But you don’t have an alternative.”

“We’d better have an alternative, because Thornton would never give his approval to your idea. Never. If that’s our only option then we’re doomed.”

“Why don’t you use the ZPE?” Amy asked. “After all, their original purpose was to terraform planets. They’re designed to create atmospheric gasses.”

“They were?” Noel asked. “I thought they were power plants!”

“No, she’s right,” Miles agreed. “In fact, when Don built this machine he had to hack the plans quite a bit to get it to power the colony. That’s one reason why it’s operating at such low efficiency – it wasn’t designed to be run this way.”

“But how do we fix it?” Noel asked.

“Oh, it’s pretty easy, actually,” Amy said. She closed her eyes and raised a hand, but Miles leaped toward her and grabbed her arm. Amy opened her eyes, startled.

“Sorry,” Miles said. “I just wanted to stop you before you did anything. Whatever you do, don’t fix the problem that way.”

“But why not?” Amy asked.

“Because if you do then they won’t learn anything! The problem here is not that the reactor is old and dying; it’s that the people here have no idea how it works or how to fix it. You need to address the lack of knowledge, not the defective circuitry. That means hands-on craftsmanship.”

“Oh,” Amy said. “So you want me to do this the old-fashioned way?”

“Exactly. Use the parts on-hand to fix the generator, and where necessary use the workshops to craft new parts. Show them how to do it. Don’t do it for them!”

“What are you talking about?” Noel asked. “Don’t you have to use parts to fix it? I mean, how could you possible fix it without parts? Is there some other magical way to do things that I don’t know about?

“Just give me a minute,” Amy said. “I need to think this through.”

Amy looked around the room, using her nanites to study everything carefully. The ZPE was housed in a gigantic room that was nearly a half-mile across and more than a thousand feet deep. The ceiling was eight hundred feet above them. The generator itself took up most of this space, although it was buried beneath a bewildering maze of catwalks, pipes, and wires – all of which were rusty and corroded. The room was brightly lit but poorly organized. At one point the reactor had been painted and clearly labeled, but all of that had peeled off years ago. Now everything was coated in centuries of grime.

“This, um, is really something,” Amy remarked, as she mentally tried to piece together how the machine operated.

“Yes it is!” Noel said proudly. “There she is – the pride and joy of New Tikal. This is the heart that keeps our colony alive.”

“It’s amazing that this ‘heart’ of yours is still beating! The generator is in much worse shape than I thought. It’s going to be a challenge to fix this without gutting it and starting over. It’s suffering from centuries of neglect.”

“Where are you thinking of beginning?” Miles asked.

Amy thought for a moment. “Well, the first step is to increase power production. If we can double efficiency then that will give us the power margin we need to start shutting pieces of the reactor down. We don’t dare take any modules offline until we’re sure that the colony will keep getting the energy it needs.”

“Double efficiency!” Noel exclaimed. “And just how do you propose to do that?”

“Follow me, and I’ll show you,” Amy replied. She walked up to the generator and began climbing a long ladder.

* * * * *
 

Amy spent the next three weeks working with Noel, rebuilding the ZPE. Noel quickly came to respect her brilliance. He was astonished at her detailed working knowledge of the physics behind zero-point energy – a knowledge that went far beyond his own, but one that she freely shared. Her ability to apply that knowledge was equally great. Once Noel realized that she knew what she was doing he was eager to help her. Working together, it only took them four days to reach 63% efficiency.

At that point Miles left, congratulating Amy and telling her that she was free to visit him once she was done. Noel begged him to say, but Miles said that he was too old for that kind of manual labor and was just getting in the way.

Since Amy realized that she was going to be at the colony for some time, she found a room on the top floor of the abandoned apartment building and renovated it, turning it into a cozy home. The broken furnishings were thrown out and replaced with ultramodern furniture that she materialized using her nanites. Amy also started eating all of her meals in her apartment. She vastly preferred waffles, baked beans, and chicken pot pies to the disturbing protein paste that the cafeteria served.

Under Amy’s supervision the ZPE rapidly changed. As the days passed centuries of grime disappeared and coats of paint were applied. Many long-unused pipes were disassembled and other conduits were rerouted. Day by day the output steadily climbed, until finally on December 20th Amy pronounced her work complete. The worn-out girl sat down on a chair on the floor of the generator room and proudly looked up at her work. “That’ll do it, I think” she said.

“It surpasses my wildest expectations,” Noel said. He sat down beside Amy. “We’re operating at 192% efficiency, Amy – 192%! We’re getting almost twice the power output that it was designed to produce. What you’ve done is actually better than what Don Elliott himself did!”

“It’s a step in the right direction,” Amy agreed. “If you’re going to start using it as the colony’s air supply then you’ll need every bit of that power.”

“That’s going to be the tricky part,” Noel said. “We told the mayor what we’ve been working on – we had to, of course. He’s all excited about it and has all sorts of plans. Energy has been this colony’s currency for millennia, and you just increased the amount of available energy by a factor of six. The mayor’s already talking about extensive renovations.”

“Renovations?” Amy asked.

“It’s basically a way to buy votes,” Noel explained. “The mayor’s up for re-election next year and he thinks that if he uses this energy to refurbish people’s homes, they’ll vote for him. This is exactly what he needed. Everyone will have a higher standard of living now and Thornton will take the credit for it. It’s a huge political windfall for him.”

“I don’t really care who takes the credit for it,” Amy said. “You just need to remember that if that surplus energy isn’t turned into oxygen, at some point all of you are going to suffocate. If I were you I would start changing over the colony’s air supply now. You’re going to need all the time you can get.”

“One problem at a time,” Noel said. “Thornton may be out there taking the credit, but the people who work here know who’s really responsible. Word is going to get out. People may vote for him, but no one really trusts him. They know he didn’t personally come down here and redesign the generator’s circuit boards – and when they do start asking questions they’ll discover that you were behind it.”

“That doesn’t matter! You need to focus, Noel. Focus on the air supply. I’m not important. People knowing about me is not important either. The air supply, though, is very important. Focus on that.”

“You’re probably right. Say, you couldn’t lend us a hand with that, could you? I mean–”

Amy shook her head. “Absolutely not. I don’t believe for a minute that you have no idea how to circulate air through the colony or how to scrub out carbon dioxide and other toxins. You and your men are perfectly capable of getting the job done. Besides, the hard part is going to be handling the political problems, and I can’t help you with those.”

“I guess not,” Noel agreed. “So what are you going to do?”

“I’m going to go see Miles.”

“Well, you’ve certainly earned some time off. All right. I’d be glad to take you in my tank, if you’d like. I don’t know where he lives but–”

“That’s all right,” Amy interrupted. “I can handle it. It’s not a problem.”

“I guess I could loan you my tank,” Noel said reluctantly. “I don’t normally do that, but in this case I’d be willing to make an exception. You are pretty responsible.”

“Oh, that’s not necessary. I don’t need transportation there. I can take care of myself just fine.”

“But how will you get there?” Noel asked, confused.

“Just trust me,” Amy replied.

Amy reluctantly followed Miles into the cafeteria. There were about twenty or thirty people in the room, seated at tables. To her surprise the crowd was not randomly scattered throughout the room. Instead they had formed groups and were eagerly talking in low tones. As Miles led her up to the counter she overhead several of them talking.

“They’re so beautiful!” one man exclaimed.

“I know,” another said, “but what does it mean? Did Earth do this?”

“No way,” a voice replied. “They’re even worse off than we are! This has to be the Rangers.”

“Aw, the Rangers are just a myth! They’re not real.”

“Then who did it?” a voice asked. “Don’t tell me it just happened all on its own!”

“Well, it might have. It has been a long time, you know. Maybe something just went wrong.”

Amy nudged Miles. “They’re talking about the stars, aren’t they?”

“Indeed they are,” Miles replied. “What you did last night has caught the attention of everyone. It has had quite an impact on the city. I think you’ve given them hope – and perhaps inspired a few dreams as well.”

A voice behind Amy spoke up. “Are you still carrying on with that, Miles?”

Amy turned around and saw a middle-aged man standing behind her, holding an empty tray. Amy was surprised at how short he was – he was barely taller than her, and yet he was clearly a full-grown adult. With a start Amy realized that all the men in the room were short, with the exception of Miles.

Amy opened her mouth to say something but then decided against it. I’ll just ask Miles about it later, she decided. For now I’ll just play along and act like nothing strange is going on. There are so many things that are different! It’s going to take time to sort it all out.

Instead she looked at him and held out her hand. “Hello! I didn’t see you standing there. My name is Amy.”

The man shook her hand, smiling. “It’s nice to meet you, young lady! My name is Lawson – Noel Lawson. But you can call me Noel.” He turned and look at Miles. “See, she does know our language! I told you that she was just a prospector. She was probably dazed from her confrontation with Lizzie. That’s why we couldn’t understand her last night.”

“Lizzie?” Amy asked.

“The monster that haunts the ruins of Tikal,” Noel explained. “Or, at least, used to, until it died last night. You know, speaking of that, you’re an incredibly lucky girl! If that freak electrical disturbance hadn’t happened right when it did Lizzie would have killed you before we could have stopped her. You’re lucky to be alive!”

“Freak electrical disturbance?” Amy asked, puzzled. “What are you talking about? I’m the one that killed Lizzie.”

“With what – your bare hands? You weren’t exactly carrying anything last night – unless we missed something in the dark.”

“I guess you could say I did it with my bare hands,” Amy said slowly. “It’s a bit more complicated than that. You see, in my bloodstream are all these nanites that–”

“Oh, right – nanites! Of course.” Noel looked at the girl, puzzled, then glanced at Miles. “Have you taken her to see a doctor? You know, it’s possible that she’s feeling the after-effects of being outside without an air suit. You may want to have her checked–”

“For brain damage,” Amy said sourly. “I’m not deaf, you know, and I am standing right here next to you. Look, Noel, I am not a moron. You have to understand–”

“I mean no offense,” Noel said hastily. “It’s just not advisable to be outside without an air supply and a protective suit. I just wanted to make sure you were all right.”

“If you say so,” Amy replied.

Miles nudged her. “I hate to intrude, but I think you may be holding up the line.”

“Oh – sorry!” Amy grabbed a tray, a cup, and some silverware, and stepped up to the window. A lady on the other side of the window handed her a bowl that was filled with a gray paste. She then took Amy’s cup, filled it with water, and handed it back to her.

Amy placed the bowl on her tray and stepped out of the way. “What is this?” she asked.

Miles got his bowl, placed it on his tray, and then led Amy across the room to an empty table. He sat down across from Amy. Noel followed a few moments later.

“It’s breakfast,” Miles said, as he began eating it.

Amy poked it with a spoon. “No, really. What is it? It looks like glue, only it smells much worse.”

“It’s protein paste!” Noel said, as he sat down beside Miles. “We get three allotments a day in return for our work on the ZPE. This is what we eat morning, noon, and night.”

“You’ve got to be kidding! This isn’t food. This looks more like toxic waste.”

Miles smiled. “I admit it doesn’t look that appealing, but it is nutritious. This is what everyone here eats, and has for centuries.”

“You mean you don’t have real food anymore?”

“We do, but only the rich can afford it, and even they can only have it in very small amounts. What you have to realize is that plant life cannot survive on the surface. All of our food has to be grown underground, and it takes a lot of energy to do that – energy the colony desperately needs to survive. It’s just not wise to waste energy growing plants when we can produce this protein paste much more cheaply. It may not be appetizing but at least no one starves.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Amy said reluctantly. “But can’t you do something about it? I mean, why not build a few more ZPEs to boost your energy output? Then you could have real food, instead of this horrible glop.”

Noel burst out laughing. “Build a ZPE! That would be fabulous, just fabulous! And we can start raising unicorns while we’re at it. What planet are you from, anyway?”

“Tonina,” Amy said, puzzled. “But I was born here on Mars.”

Miles interrupted. “What Noel means is that no one knows how to build a zero-point-energy plant. The one down the hall was built two thousand years ago, and people today barely know how it works. It’s been a struggle just to keep it going. Building a new one is out of the question.”

“Exactly,” Noel agreed. “In fact, it’s a miracle that we even have that one! The art of building ZPEs had been lost entirely until the legendary Donald Elliott rediscovered it. He’s the one that built our ZPE. If it hadn’t been for him we’d all be dead.”

Amy pushed the foul-smelling bowl away. “Why is that?”

“Don was a visionary,” Noel said enthusiastically. “He was one of the first people to realize that the planet’s atmosphere was slowly dying. In order to save mankind he created New Tikal – an underground home that was large enough to house everyone that was still alive.”

“It was?” Amy asked. “But this place isn’t that big! Just how many people were there?”

“A few million, maybe. I don’t know the exact number. But Don saved them all! He built New Tikal as a genuine ‘city of tomorrow’ – the most advanced city on the planet, stocked with the most modern conveniences. People quickly abandoned their dying colonies and flocked here. It was a tremendous success, and we’ve been here ever since.”

“Wait a minute. Let’s back up a bit. What do you mean, a few million? This planet used to be home to billions of people! Where did they all go?”

“Oh, that was a long time ago,” Noel replied. “There haven’t been billions of people here since the Wall was erected – if there were even that many back then. According to legend, before the Wall was built there were billions of people living on Mars in a thriving, advanced society. Then the Spanish Emperor attacked the planet with some ancient weapon and killed nearly everyone, poisoning the planet and leaving only pockets of survivors. Mankind limped on and never recovered.”

“That’s awful!” Amy said.

“I wouldn’t take it too seriously,” Noel replied. “I doubt any of it’s actually true. Sure, the Wall was real enough, but these legends of ancient golden ages are probably just myths, made up by depressed people who are longing for better days.”

“But they’re not made up,” Amy protested. “I was there, Noel. It happened on December 5th, 1867. I’ll never forget it as long as I live. I was in the spaceport with my family, getting ready to leave for Tau Ceti. We were all on the Sparrow with Captain Max and Jones. While we were there the Emperor used Iapetus to attack Tikal. It was – it was horrible beyond belief. All those people, dead, just like that. Most of the city was instantly vaporized, and what little survived was set on fire. You could see the smoke of the city rising into the atmosphere. Even from the spaceport we could see it.”

Noel frowned. “Amy, you do realize that Iapetus is a moon of Saturn, right?”

“I know. It’s also a weapon – a terrible, terrible weapon built by the Old Ones that were destroyed before the Flood. They used it to turn the fifth planet into an asteroid belt.”

“Now that’s a legend I haven’t heard before,” Noel remarked. “It’s a little far-fetched, though. It needs to be more plausible before it’ll catch on. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to get more of this great paste.”

Noel stood up, left the table, and walked back to the window. Miles shook his head as he walked away. “He doesn’t believe a word you said, even though you have told him the truth.”

“I know,” Amy replied.

“You could always demonstrate that you’re telling the truth,” Miles commented. “I know who you are, but he does not.”

Amy sighed. “I really don’t care what he believes. To be honest, I don’t care about much of anything right now. I just feel like I’ve died. I’m empty, and I don’t know what to do. Do you know what my life has been like lately?”

“I really can’t imagine,” Miles said. “I know it’s been hard.”

“Hard?” Amy exclaimed. “Miles, I watched as an insane Emperor destroyed my hometown. I saw millions of people die in a matter of seconds. Then I was taken away from everything I knew and dumped into this horrible century, where my sister, my family, and all my friends were murdered by another insane leader. Now I come back here and find that my home planet is dead and its people are cowering in the dark, eating disgusting protein paste and acting like everything is fine. I’ve had it, Miles. I’ve had enough of all of this! And I’m supposed to care that Noel thinks I’m insane? Seriously? Who cares what he thinks?”

At that moment Noel came back to the table and sat down. “I was in luck – they had a little bit left! This is my lucky day.”

“You can have mine,” Amy said.

“Are you sure?”

“Believe me, I’m not going to eat that. It is not going to happen.”

“But you’ve got to eat something,” Noel said, concerned.

“I’ll figure something out,” Amy replied.

“If you say so,” Noel said. He took Amy’s bowl and put it on his tray. “Maybe you’ll feel more like eating at lunchtime. So, anyway, what were you doing in the desert last night? Were you looking for Don Elliott’s treasure?”

“I’m fine,” Amy replied. “I had a good night’s sleep, and I’m feeling well. I’m not at all upset over the loss of my family. Thanks for asking.”

“Oh, I’m sorry! I assumed that Miles had already covered the bases. I don’t mean to be rude – I can just be direct sometimes.”

“It’s all right,” Amy sighed. “About last night – I don’t know. I just wanted to come home, I guess. I was born in Tikal. I wanted to see what had happened to it.”

“I didn’t know there were any settlements in that area,” Noel remarked.

“I wasn’t born in a settlement. I was born in the city of Tikal itself. The old city, that apparently isn’t standing anymore.”

“I see,” Noel said. “You do realize that city was destroyed five thousand years ago, don’t you?”

“Of course I do! Like I said, I was there the day it was destroyed. I actually saw it happen.”

“Right!” Noel said. “Of course. Even though you’re just a teenager, you were there when it happened, five thousand years ago. How silly of me. So, um, do you have any family?”

“I did, until yesterday, when they were all murdered.”

“Oh. I’m sorry – I didn’t know. Wait a minute! Miles, didn’t you say something about someone dying yesterday? Or did I misunderstand you?”

“No, I did,” Miles agreed. “These are indeed the same people. I just didn’t realize that Amy had survived – I thought that everyone had been killed. There were four of them, you know. Amy had a mother, a father, and a twin sister. Amy was the only one who survived.”

“And the dog,” Amy said.

“The dog?” Miles asked. “I don’t remember hearing about him.”

“We had a dog named Alex. Well, we still do, I guess. I bet he’s still on Tonina. He must be so unhappy there, with everyone gone. I’m sure he doesn’t understand what happened.”

“Why don’t you bring him here?” Miles asked.

Amy shook her head. “I wish I could, but that would mean going back. If I went back, Steve would find out where I was, and he’d want to talk, but I just can’t deal with him right now. I’m sure the Steward will take care of Alex until all of this is over.”

“Um, ok,” Miles said uncertainly. “I’m afraid I’m lost. Who is–”

“That’s it!” Noel interrupted. “This is all about being lost, isn’t it? Losing one’s entirely family is a deeply traumatic event. It’s not at all hard to understand becoming a bit disoriented after something like that. It can definitely affect one’s perception of reality. In fact, the psychological trauma could have all sorts of repercussions, and exhibit itself in unsettling ways. That explains everything! But Amy, please know that I am deeply sorry for your loss. I did not know.”

“No, you didn’t. But you’re not the one I’m worried about. Adrian Garza is the one I’m angry with. He’s not sorry now, but by the time I’m done with him he’s going to be sorry!”

“Who is Adrian?” Miles asked.

“He’s the monster that betrayed my family to their deaths,” Amy explained. “He’s the reason they’re all dead right now.”

“And you know where he is?”

“Oh yes! He’s on Xanthe, in Tau Ceti.”

“Has he been arrested for murder?” Miles asked.

“Arrested?” Amy asked. “Who would arrest him? Don’t you realize that I’m the only one left? It’s me versus that entire world!”

“Do you mean that the planet attacked your family, and Adrian was one of the leaders?”

“Something like that,” Amy said.

“So it was war, then. Did they win the war?”

“No, they lost. They killed everyone, but they lost. All of the technology on that planet is now dead. They can’t wage war any more. They’re completely helpless.”

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

“Hold on, guys,” Noel interrupted. “I know it’s easy to get lost in grief, but this is ridiculous. You have–”

“Quiet,” Miles interrupted. “This is important. Amy, what are you going to do?”

“I don’t know,” she sighed. “I wanted to destroy the whole planet, but Steve stopped me. Now I don’t know what to do.”

“That’s the second time you’ve mentioned a Steve. Just who is he? I don’t think I’ve heard of him.”

“He’s the Sentinel,” Amy explained. “He’s – it’s complicated. He’s a friend of mine, I guess – or at least, he’s usually my friend. But this time he stopped me. He said I had no right to destroy Xanthe.”

“How many people are on Xanthe?”

“About four hundred thousand,” Amy said.

“That’s a lot of people,” Miles said quietly. “Were you really going to kill all of them over what Adrian had done?”

“You don’t understand! They’re evil, Miles. They created the swarms and used them to destroy every last Ranger colony. They wiped out billions of people, and then spent five thousand years in pods, living out depraved fantasies. They’re not good people! They’re a deeply corrupt society. Why shouldn’t they be wiped out? I mean, after all, they didn’t spare their neighbors. Why should they be spared?”

“But what if they can be saved?” Miles asked. “They may not all be like Adrian. Maybe some of them want to change but just don’t know how. Maybe they’re simply without hope.”

“They’re murderers,” Amy argued. “They killed my family when we had done them no harm at all. They deserve to die.”

“That may be true. But even so, if you killed them, would that be justice – or revenge? It is one thing to arrest a murderer and put him on trial. It is quite another to hunt down your enemy and kill him with your own hands.”

“Then what am I supposed to do? Just do nothing, while he laughs in my face and tells me that he’s untouchable?”

“You could try forgiving him,” Miles said.

“Seriously? He’s not sorry, you know. In fact, he’s proud of what he’s done! He would do it again in a heartbeat.”

“I didn’t say that he was sorry,” Miles replied. “I know this is hard for you to hear right now, and this may not be the best time to discuss this, but Amy, you have a very deep hatred for Adrian and that hatred is coloring your view of an entire planet. The people of that world may indeed be as evil as you say, but what that means is that they are in desperate need of redemption. You are the only person that can possibly help them, and you can’t help them while you’re consumed with rage toward Adrian. You have to let that anger go so you can start thinking clearly again.”

“You’re crazy! Do you really expect me to just forgive and forget and act like it was no big deal?”

Miles shook his head. “I didn’t say it wasn’t a big deal. Nor does forgiveness mean that there are no consequences. I’m not asking you to trust Adrian – it sounds like he is a dangerous man, and if he was willing to kill you then he may be willing to kill others as well. You may have no choice. But what I am saying is that Xanthe needs your help, and until you let go of your anger you’re not going to be able to see clearly enough to help them. Blindly lashing out at people in anger – even people who deserve it – is not the same thing as justice.”

Noel interrupted. “And I think that’s enough doom, gloom, and despair for one morning. I don’t know about you two, but I’ve got a ZPE that needs my attention.”

Miles smiled. “I thought you were going to come over to my place to learn how to manufacture replacement parts!”

“Oh, that’s right! Of course – that’s a lot more important. Can we still do that?”

“I actually have a better idea. Why don’t you ask Amy to help you fix your ZPE? I’m sure she can answer all of your questions about it.”

Amy spoke up. “That reminds me! I was looking at your ZPE earlier today and I’ve got to say that it’s in really terrible shape. Do you realize that it’s running at only 30% efficiency?”

“29.74%, to be precise,” Noel said. “That’s a full percentage higher than yesterday! I’m very excited about it. We’ve made some great strides!”

“It’s still 70 percentage points less than what it should be. It has got to be fixed before it breaks down and hurts somebody!”

“Can you fix it?” Miles asked.

“Of course I can fix it,” Amy replied.

“Really?” Noel asked doubtfully. “You look a little young to have ZPE experience! I don’t mean to be rude, but I don’t think they teach that sort of thing in elementary school.”

“Why don’t you take me to the plant and I’ll show you,” Amy said.

Noel shrugged. “I was heading that way anyway. Sure, come on. Even if you’ve never seen one before you just might learn something. It’s really quite a remarkable piece of machinery.”

Amy sighed, then nodded. She picked up her glass, set it on the tray, and then carried the tray to the counter. After she had disposed of it she turned to Miles. “Will you be coming with us?”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Miles replied.

“Then follow me,” Noel said.

This is a mocked-up cover for the unwritten book Starman #16, The Rings of Saturn. 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.)

I’ve put together a paper that talks about the events of the Tribulation, as described in the book of Revelation. Since the paper is quite long (16 pages) I decided it would be best to upload the paper as a PDF file. You can find it here:

The Events of the Tribulation (PDF file)

A group of protestors, demanding their right to strike. Some things never change…

Amy Striker went straight to bed as soon as the Raptor made it back to New Tikal. She was so tired that she barely noticed when Miles led her to an abandoned apartment, gave her its key, bade her good-night, and shut the door behind him after he left. The girl collapsed into bed and slept all through the night. She didn’t wake up until she heard a knock at the door.

“One minute,” she grumbled. Amy opened her eyes and looked around. At first she didn’t know where she was, but then it all came back to her. I must have been really worn out last night, she thought. I can’t believe I didn’t redecorate this place before going to bed. I’m surprised this building hasn’t been condemned! Even the Sparrow wasn’t this bad.

Amy was appalled at the condition of her bedroom. The only furnishings in the room were a rickety plastic chair and a rusty metal bed. A single light bulb dangled overhead, but it was off. The room was light by sunlight that was streaming through a window in the far wall.

Wait a minute, Amy thought, startled. Light is coming through a window? How is that possible? Isn’t this colony underground?

Amy studied it for a minute and then realized that the window wasn’t real. It was just a display terminal, cleverly built to look like a window. As she moved her head the scene out the window changed perspective, making it seem that there was a grassy field was on the other side of the wall. But she knew that was not the case. This planet no longer has grassy fields, she thought sadly.

A muffled voice called out through the front door, but she could not understand what it was saying. “Just a minute,” she called out. “I’m coming.”

Amy got out of bed and left the bedroom. Since there were no fake windows in the living room she snapped on the overhead light. She was surprised to see how extremely small her apartment was. A single dilapidated couch took up almost the entire living room. Along the far wall was the kitchen area, which contained a rusted sink, a broken stove, a refrigerator that was missing its door, and a few broken cabinets. There was another door that led to the bathroom. Other than that the apartment was empty. The floor, walls, and ceiling were made of a dirty, tarnished metal that was dented in places.

“This place is hideous,” Amy complained. She shook her head, then walked over to the front door and opened it. Standing outside was a tall, elderly man who was dressed in what appeared to be blue overalls. He was wearing a pair of shoes that may have been white at one time but were now a dirty brown. He had a kind face and deep blue eyes. There was something about him that made Amy think that he was much older than he seemed to be.

“Oh, hey there,” Amy said. “You’re the guy from last night, aren’t you?”

The man smiled and put a hand in his pocket. He pulled out a few crumpled notes, browsed through them, and then held one up.

Amy read it aloud. “I don’t speak ancient Martian. Oh. Right! Of course you don’t – I should have known that. Um, ok. That’s going to make things a little tricky. If you’ll come inside I’ll try to find a way for us to communicate.”

Amy stepped away from the door and gestured for him to come in. The man nodded, stepped inside, and then sat down on the couch. He appeared to be in no particular hurry.

The girl thought for a few minutes. Ok then. How am I going to do this? Let me think. You know, I bet this is something my nanites could help out with. When Steve went back in time to the 19th century he found a way to learn the local languages. He may have written a program that I can use. But first things first – I need to create a nanite cloud that I can tap into.

Amy closed her eyes and spread her arms, and used her nanites to visualize the planet around her. She then released a small cluster of nanites into the air, transported them to the planet’s surface, and commanded them to replicate until they had saturated the atmosphere, the ground, and the New Tikal colony. As they began multiplying the girl browsed through their repository of commands until she found a section that dealt with languages. Amy experimentally activated a few of the commands, then opened her eyes.

“Well, that’s going to take a while,” she told the man. “This colony is pretty small, so the nanites don’t have a large data sample to work with. It may take them a while to map ancient Martian to whatever dialect you use today. But you don’t understand a word I’m saying, do you? No, I didn’t think so.”

Amy thought a moment, then waved her hand. A group of words appeared on the metal wall of her apartment, written in ancient Martian. The girl then left the room, went into the bathroom, and shut the door.

It took Miles a few minutes to decode the writing on the wall. The letters were very clear, but the sentence structure was oddly informal and some of the words were extremely old. Studying it made him realize just how ancient Amy actually was. He wasn’t able to translate the entire message, but he could read enough of it to understand what she was trying to say. “Looks like she’s working on the language problem and wants to freshen up,” he said aloud. “Fair enough. I’ll just sit here and wait, then.”

Amy did not reappear until nearly an hour later. When she finally emerged from the bathroom Miles was surprised to see that her outfit had changed. She was now wearing blue jeans, a yellow T-shirt, and a pair of white sandals. Her hair was tied back in a yellow ribbon. That’s odd, he thought. I’m pretty sure she didn’t have a suitcase last night, and this apartment surely didn’t have any clothing that would fit her! Where did she get that outfit?

As he watched, the girl closed her eyes and held still for a few minutes. Occasionally she made little motions with her hands, as if she was controlling something that he couldn’t see. She finally opened her eyes and looked at him. “All right, let’s try this. Can you understand anything I’m saying?”

“Absolutely!” Miles replied. He stood up. “My names is Miles. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Stryker. We’re all very happy to have you here.”

“You know my name?” Amy asked, surprised. “How could you possibly know who I am?”

“It’s a long story, I’m afraid, and it’s best saved for another time. There are more important things to attend to – such as breakfast, for instance. Are you hungry?”

“Actually, I am! I didn’t miss breakfast, did I? I’m not sure what time it is here.”

“You almost missed it, but not quite. As far as the time goes, it is currently nine o’clock in the morning. Breakfast is served until ten. I woke you up at eight because I wasn’t sure how long it would take you to learn our language. You proved to be a quick study!”

“It wasn’t too bad,” Amy replied. “It’s not that different from what I’m used to. Well, I guess it actually is pretty different, but I can see how your language is related to mine. It’s almost like we’re speaking two different dialects of the same language, only your dialect is a corruption of mine.”

“I suppose it is, in a way. Your language has not been spoken in a very long time. A lot has changed since the 19th century. Not all of the changes have been good, I’m afraid.”

“Have there been any good changes?” Amy asked.

“There have been a few. For example, the Spanish Empire no longer controls Mars. In fact, I believe that empire no longer exists at all. Mars is now an independent world, in control of her own destiny.”

“I guess that’s something,” Amy replied. “But honestly, I was kind of hoping for more.”

“Reality is what it is,” Miles said. “Unlike you, I cannot make the world change simply by wishing it was different.”

“And how do you know that I can do that?”

“We’ll talk about it after breakfast,” Miles replied. “It’s too long a story to discuss on an empty stomach.”

Miles and Amy left the apartment and began walking down the hallways. Amy briefly considered locking the door, but then realized there was nothing in it worth stealing. If they want that awful couch they’re welcome to it, she decided.

Amy was surprised at how dingy and old everything looked. She was hoping that her apartment was some kind of anomaly in an otherwise nice building, but she quickly realized that was not the case. Bare light bulbs dangled from wires that dropped out of the ceiling. Most of the bulbs were broken, making it difficult to see. The walls of the building’s corridors were made out of the same tarnished metal that she had seen in her apartment, and the floor was littered with old trash.

One thing Amy noticed was that every dozen feet or so she saw a door with a number on it. “So this is an apartment building,” Amy commented. “I’m not just imagining it.”

“It is, or rather, it used to be. As you might guess, no one actually lives here anymore. Most of the engineers who work on the ZPE live in the city and commute. I don’t really blame them – there’s no particular reason to live in the plant itself. These apartments are just a relic of the old days.”

Miles opened a battered door and stepped inside a stairwell. Amy followed him, and the two began walking upstairs.

“This place is in terrible shape!” Amy said. “Not that I’m complaining or anything, but it’s clearly seen better days.”

“It has indeed. This particular facility is actually two thousand years old. The ZPE power plant was one of the first parts of the colony that were built. The city is somewhat newer, although much of it dates back to the same period. Very little has been added in the past five hundred years.”

“No wonder it’s in such poor condition! I had no idea it was so old. Why hasn’t it been remodeled?”

“It takes resources to remodel, and no one wants to do it. Our only source of metal these days is the ZPE, and it can only produce so much. It just isn’t cost-effective. Besides, things may not look pretty but they still work, even after all this time. That metal alloy you see was designed to last forever, and it almost has.”

After walking up eight flights of stairs they finally got to the top level. Miles opened a door that led to another corridor.

“Here we go!” Miles said cheerfully. “We’ve finally reached the main level. The cafeteria is just ahead, on the right.”

“Wait just a minute. Didn’t you say that the apartment complex had been abandoned?”

“I did,” Miles said.

“Then why was I given a room on the eighth floor?”

Miles smiled. “That’s the only apartment I was able to find that had a bed. I figured you’d want one of those.”

“Oh,” she replied. “Well, if I’m going to stay here then I’m going to be making a few changes. I hope you don’t mind if I take a top-floor apartment – or if I redecorate.”

“Be my guest,” Miles replied. “I’m just glad to hear that you’re going to be sticking around for a while. We are in desperate need of your help.”

“I didn’t mean that,” Amy replied quickly. “I don’t know what I’m going to do. I just said that if I’m going to stay here I may take a few liberties with the local décor.”

“As you wish,” Miles said.

As they walked down the hallway Amy tapped into the nanites to get a map of her location. She saw that below her was the residential section. There were twelve floors and, as Miles had said, they were all abandoned. Mine really is the only one with a bed, she thought. That is going to change. The hallway they were now in appeared to be the central passage for a large power plant. Up ahead and on the right was the cafeteria – a rather large room that could hold several hundred people. Other doors on both sides of the hallway opened into workshops and storage rooms, many of which were deserted. At the far end of the hallway was a gigantic room in which was housed the zero-point-energy plant itself. She could see several people milling around.

That power plant is in terrible shape, she thought. Do these people know how damaged it is? I’m surprised it can run at all! I’m going to have to talk to them about that. If they–

“And here we are,” Miles said, interrupting her thoughts. He held the door open to the cafeteria. “After you, miss.”

“Thanks,” she replied. Amy stepped through the door and into the cafeteria. She took a deep breath, and then began coughing. “Oh my goodness! What is that horrible smell?”

“Breakfast!” Miles replied cheerfully. “Come on in and I’ll show you.”

I Timothy 6:6: “But godliness with contentment is great gain.”

This is a hard truth to live by but it’s very rewarding. It’s easy to think “Well, I’ll be content after I get everything that I want”, but it doesn’t work that way. God wants us to be content in whatever state we’re in. Things may be going our way, or life might be a terrible disaster. Our lives may be a blessing or we may be burdened by many troubles. If we can learn to be content regardless of our situation then we are blessed indeed. In that contentment there is great peace.

The key to remember is that God is more than able to change our situation. After all, God is the one that allows trials to come into our lives. He can end them whenever He wants. Yes, there are times when we do things that make our lives more difficult than they have to be, but God is in control and He is watching over us. Have we considered the possibility that we are where we are because God is working out a greater plan? Joseph spent years as a slave and then more years as a prisoner because God had a plan to save millions of lives. The Bible tells us that all things work together for good for those who love God. God wants us to be content with our situation and to simply trust Him. He is working out a greater plan that we can’t see, and He wants us to be content with the part that He has set aside for us.

Riches come and go; fortunes are easily lost, and you can’t take your wealth with you. But godliness, with contentment, is great gain. That is what we should be pursuing – the act of being content.

I Timothy 5:24: “Some men’s sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after.
25 Likewise also the good works of some are manifest beforehand; and they that are otherwise cannot be hid.”

This is an encouraging thought. There are some people who commit terrible crimes and somehow get away with it, and there are others who are secretly monsters but no one ever uncovers their true nature. (How many serial killers were never found? How many unsolved murders have there been?) However, everyone will be brought before God and judged; none will escape. Those who repented and accepted Christ will find forgiveness and mercy, and those who refused it will face wrath and eternal damnation. There will be people who thought they had fooled everyone who will discover that their deepest secrets are common knowledge. No one gets away with anything.

At the same time, there are others who do wonderful things but are never recognized for it, or who suffer terribly for doing the right thing. These people are not simply losers; the day will come when they will be honored and remembered. God will not forget them, nor will He allow their good deeds to be hidden forever. What they did in secret He will reward openly.

The key to all of this is that the books are not balanced in this life, but in the next. It is after death that judgment for sin will truly occur, and it is also after death that rewards for faithfulness will be given. If we look for justice in this life we will be disappointed, but if we wait we will find what we are looking for.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This is a mocked-up cover for the unwritten book Starman #15, Moonquake!. 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.)

Here is a question for you: how do you know if you’ve really been saved? On the surface this seems like an easy question, but what do you do when you start having doubts? Are doubts a sign that you’re not been saved after all, or are they just a temptation to doubt true faith? How can you tell the difference? When some people are faced with doubts they remember back to the time when they were saved, and they reclaim that moment. But how do you know if that moment was real? Do you just go by what your feelings tell you?

There are probably some people out there who never have any serious doubts about their salvation. They are confident that they are saved and that confidence never wavers. Other people, however, are plagued with doubts their entire life. Some become so overwhelmed that they get saved again, and again, and again. To them the question “How do you know?” is very frightening.

As it turns out, one of the reasons the book of I John was written was to help people know if they are actually saved:

I John 5:13: “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”

I don’t know if its contents will answer everyone’s doubts, but I John does go a long way toward establishing some objective criteria that we can use to determine if our faith in Jesus is actually real.

According to I John, people whose faith in Christ is genuine…

 

Point One: …admit that they are sinners. In fact, we cannot get saved at all if we don’t admit to God that we are a sinner and ask Him for forgiveness:

I John 1:8: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”

I can say unconditionally that if you have never admitted to God that you’re a sinner, and have never asked Him to forgive you for your sins, then you are not a Christian. Period. There is no such thing as a saving faith that says “I have no sins; I am perfect and need no forgiveness.” In order to be saved you must repent and ask God to forgive you for your sins.

 

Point Two: …submit to the Lordship of Christ. This means that those with genuine faith acknowledge that Jesus is in authority over them and that they must do as He says. Genuine believers seek to obey God and follow His commands, instead of simply doing as they please. This does not mean that they obey perfectly, for even the strongest Christians still struggle with sin. But it does mean that we have submitted ourselves to Christ’s authority:

I John 2:3: “And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.”

In other words, you cannot be saved if you have rejected the authority of Christ. All of those who look at Jesus and say “Don’t you dare tell me what to do!” are not saved. There is no such thing as salvation that rejects Jesus as Lord.

As Christians we may do a terrible job of following Jesus, and we may often find ourselves struggling with sin, but the one thing true believers do not do is tell Jesus “You have no say in my life whatsoever. I am in charge and you are not.”

 

Point Three: …have a love for other believers. This means that people with genuine faith have a heartfelt love for other Christians and try to help them. This doesn’t mean that all Christians are easy to get along with, or that there won’t be arguments or disputes. However, it does mean that those with real faith do not categorically hate other believers simply because they are Christians:

I John 2:9: “He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.
10 He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.
11 But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.”

I John 3:15: “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.”

I John 3:17: “But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?”

If you find yourself hating other Christians because they are Christians then you are not saved. Despising people because they have faith in God is a very strong sign that you have never known God at all. Genuine faith will naturally give you a love for other Christians. This doesn’t mean that you’re going to always feel warm fuzzy feelings whenever you’re around them, but it does mean that you will seek their welfare and do what you can for them.

Now, some might argue that when John uses the phrase “brother” he is actually talking about all of mankind, and not just other believers. I do not believe this is the case. John is actually very specific in what he means:

I John 3:14: “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.”

Notice how John specifically refers to the brethren, and then equates “the brethren” to “his brother” in the very next sentence. Now, should Christians love other people? Of course – Jesus said that the second greatest commandment was to love your neighbor as yourself, and He was definitely referring to all of mankind. But here, in this passage, John is not referring to all of mankind. What he is saying is that genuine Christians love each other.

What makes this sad is that all too often those who call themselves by the name of Christ show little more than contempt for their fellow Christians. John says that any who hate their brothers “is in darkness even until now”, and later on he goes further to say that those who are full of such hate have never known God at all.

 

Point Four: …believe that Jesus is the Messiah. This may seem obvious, but it must be said: if you do not believe in Jesus then you are not saved. If you deny either the divinity or the manhood of Jesus then you are not saved. If you deny that Jesus was crucified and then rose bodily from the dead you are not saved. In order to be saved you must believe not just in a Jesus, but in the Biblical Jesus:

I John 2:22: “Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.
23 Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.”

I John 3:23: “And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.”

1 John 4:1: “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.”

I John 4:15: “Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.”

There are a great many ways to deny what the Bible has to say about Jesus. Many cults talk about a person they call Jesus that is radically different from the Biblical Jesus. For example, Mormonism teaches that Jesus was once a man that eventually rose to prominence and became God. This is not the real Jesus, for they deny that Jesus eternally existed as God and they deny Jesus’ role in the Trinity. Therefore, since they deny the Biblical Jesus, I John 2:23 states that they are lost. If you deny the Son then you deny the Father as well, and that means you are not saved. It is not any more complicated than that. As John said:

I John 5:12: “He that hath the Son hath life: and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.”

 

Point Five: …lead a righteous life. This is a very difficult point that will need some explanation. First, however, here are the verses:

I John 3:6: “Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.
7 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.
8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
10 In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.”

I know this may seem strange, but this passage does not teach that Christians never sin. It is not saying that if you sin then that means you’re not a Christian. The reason I know this is because later on in the book John tells us that if we see a fellow Christian caught up in sin we should pray for him so that he can be rescued from that sin. Obviously, therefore, John believes that someone with genuine faith can sin.

So what does John mean? Well, it’s worth noting that John is talking about a particular sin. In verse 10 John specifically talks about people who do not love each other. Later in the chapter we see this theme repeated:

I John 3:22: “And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.
23 And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.
24 And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.”

This is the same language that we saw earlier, but here John explains precisely what he means: genuine Christians are people who “believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ” and “love one another”. Those are the commandments that John is talking about. Someone with real faith will believe in Jesus and will love those around them – which, in turn, constitutes a righteous life.

What did Jesus say the two greatest commandments were? To love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. A person with true faith will do that and a person whose faith is counterfeit will not. Those who do not love God and do not love those around them are not righteous, have not known God, and (as John plainly says) are “of the devil”.

So, then, a genuine believer leads a righteous life, and that righteousness consists of believing on Jesus, loving God, and loving others. People who do not do this are not saved. If you hate God, or if you hate other people, then you should seriously stop and consider whether you are actually saved.

 

Point Six: …seek the things of God, not the things of the world. John made this very clear:

I John 2:15: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”

Christ told us that no man can serve two masters; we will either serve God, or we will serve something else. What John is saying is that we cannot love the things of this world and the things of God at the same time – we will either love one, or the other. The reason for this is because the things this world has to offer (pride, lust, ambition, fame, riches, power, etc.) are not godly things, but carnal things. If we spend our lives trying to obtain these things then we’re serving ourselves, not God.

People with genuine faith will lead lives that are dedicated to serving God. They will have little interest in “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” because their priorities are different. However, the lost don’t have that passion for God, and because of that they will be caught up in all sorts of things. John is quite clear: those who lead self-centered lives do not have the love of God dwelling in them.

 

Point Seven: …continue in the faith. What I mean by this is that people whose faith is real keep that faith all their lives. They don’t abandon it when life gets hard, and they don’t abandon Christianity for a different religion. John puts it this way:

I John 2:19: “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.”

People whose faith only lasts for a short time before it is discarded never had genuine faith at all. As John says, the fact that they drifted away was proof that they were never actually a Christian at all. Genuine, saving faith is something that sticks with you for life.

A pair of young pro-life demonstrators…

After Jones had finished talking to Amanda in the Golden Spire he left the building. As he left he saw the girl walk down the street toward Reverend Knight, and smiled to himself. He’ll encourage her, he thought. This is a good place for her to be.

Jones casually walked through the golden city and headed to the outskirts of town. He didn’t have to walk but it was such a beautiful day that he just wanted to be outside. Besides, he was in no particular hurry. There was no need to rush and he had no deadlines to worry about.

After more than an hour he finally came to the estate of Maxwell Baker. Technically Max wasn’t a captain anymore, but people still called him Captain Max and would probably keep on calling him that for the rest of eternity. His home was located within the city’s jurisdiction but outside of its bustling downtown section. It was nestled between a range of small hills that were covered in maple trees.

His house was set back some distance from the road, but was connected to it by an elegant cobblestone path. As Jones walked down the lane he admired the tremendous job that had been done on the estate’s grounds. The grass was deeply green and neatly cut, and the grounds were artfully dotted with fruit-bearing trees. On either side of the stone walkway were purple flowers. A small stream meandered between the road and the house, and a wooden bridge arched over the stream.

When Jones reached the bridge he stopped for a while and leaned over its side, gazing at the stream below. The water was crystal-clear. He could see every fish that darted through the stream, along with a few crayfish that were hiding in-between the rocks. He glanced up and saw that the stream was coming from a mountain range in the distance. I wonder where it goes, he thought. Perhaps there’s a lake in the distance.

A booming voice called out from behind him. “Did you lose something?”

Jones turned around and saw the captain strolling toward him from the house. “No, sir, I didn’t. I was just admiring your stream. Does it have a name?”

“I suppose it does,” Captain Max replied. “I haven’t asked anybody about it, though, so I don’t know. In fact, I haven’t even seen my whole house yet! I have no idea what’s in the basement, and I’ve only just now started exploring the East Wing. There’s so much to take in.”

Jones looked up and studied the house. The sprawling mansion was so artfully placed in the landscape that at first he didn’t realize how big it actually was. From where he was standing he could see at least six floors, but he suspected there were more in the back that were hidden from view. The entire home was beautifully built out of wood, and had a rustic feel to it that seemed to fit the captain very well. He could see a wide porch, expansive windows, and a few flower-bearing vines that climbed up the side of the home.

“That’s quite a place you’ve got,” Jones commented. “It’s even bigger than Richard’s home back in Tikal.”

“It’s an astonishing place,” the captain agreed. “Just wait until you see the inside! It’s – well, it’s magnificent. And huge! It’s a whole lot bigger than I was expecting.”

“What were you expecting?” Jones asked.

“I don’t know. Something reasonable, I guess. But that house – well, it has extravagant written all over it! There’s no possible way that I deserve anything like that. I wasn’t that great a person, Jones.”

“Your greatness has nothing to do with it,” Jones replied. “The reason we’re here is because of God’s mercy and forgiveness. He paid the price for our sins. We’re here because He wanted us to be here, not because we deserve it.”

“Oh, I know. But what I mean is that a lot of people led much better lives than I did. I didn’t spend sixty years taking care of lepers in Africa. Those people are much more deserving of extravagant rewards than I am.”

“Jesus did say that in His Father’s house there were many mansions,” Jones pointed out. “He didn’t say ‘In my Father’s house are many one-bedroom apartments.’”

“True. But still, I figured the good stuff would go to life’s amazing people – missionaries, martyrs, that sort of thing. Not to people like me.”

“You did more than most,” Jones replied. “You chose to take the Sparrow to Mars to rescue the Stryker family, and you stood by them after things went wrong. You knew you were putting your life on the line and you did it anyway, because it was the right thing to do. That act of courage cost you a great deal, and the Lord has not forgotten that.

“Besides, God is not running out of space, nor is He running out of resources. After all, He uses gold for pavement! An estate like yours is very costly to us but not to Him. We serve a very extravagant God. He doesn’t give us what we deserve – instead He is merciful and freely gives us gifts that we have no right to at all. None of us deserve to be here, but Jesus gave His life for us anyway so that His enemies could be reconciled to Him. That’s who He is.”

“He’s amazing,” Captain Max agreed.

“He is far beyond amazing. The best part is that He loves us and will never stop loving us. For all the rest of eternity He is going to show us the astounding riches of His grace. This is a good place to be, captain.”

“Yes it is. But what brings you here? Did you just want to watch the fish swim in the stream?”

“It’s not a bad way to spend an afternoon, sir. But I actually came by because you’re about to have a visitor, and I wanted to be here when he arrived. He’s going to make us an offer that I think you will be interested in.”

“Really?” Captain Max asked, surprised. “How did you know that?”

Jones smiled. “I am a Seer, you know, but this time it didn’t have anything to do with that. The reason I know is because I talked to him earlier today and he told me his plans. He’s a very interesting man and he has some very interesting ideas.”

“What does he want?”

“You’ll see,” Jones replied.

* * * * *
 

It was more than an hour later before the mysterious visitor dropped by the Maxwell estate. By that time the captain and Jones had made their way inside his mansion and were sitting in the living room, having a glass of tea.

“Did you hear that Amy had made contact with Noel and Miles?” Jones asked.

“No, I hadn’t!” Captain Max replied. “That’s good news. I’m glad she finally has some friends. I think she’ll find kindred spirits in both of them.”

At that moment there was a knock on the door, and a few moments later a tall, distinguished-looking man walked into the room. As soon as the captain saw him he rose to his feet. “Dr. Temilotzin! So you’re the mysterious visitor Jones was telling me about. Please, have a seat! Can I get you anything?”

“No, but thank you,” he replied. The scientist sat down in a comfortable seat across from the captain. “So I see that you were expecting me! I take it that Jones has already told you about our plans?”

“I haven’t been able to pry a single word out of him,” Captain Max replied.

“I thought you’d want to tell him,” Jones explained.

Dr. Temilotzin nodded. “Very well. Captain, the reason I’m here is because we need your help. How much do you know about the Diano Corporation?”

“About as much as anyone, I guess. It was started in the 18th century by Ramon Diano. He founded a bunch of colonies, including Tau Ceti. In fact, I think that most of the Ranger colonies were his work. I don’t know what happened after the Sparrow was taken into the future, but apparently they built the Artilect and a bunch of self-replicating probes, and then died when the swarms wiped everything out.”

“That is quite accurate. Now, do you know what Ramon’s dream was?”

“To colonize the stars?”

“Partly. Colonization was certainly important to him, and he spent most of his life doing exactly that. But that was only a part of his dream. What he really wanted to do was explore the stars. To him each star was a treasure chest, hiding away untold wonders. In fact, he wanted nothing less than to explore each and every star system in the entire universe.”

“That was a pretty ambitious goal!” the captain laughed. “I’ve got to say he certainly didn’t think small.”

Jones spoke up. “Your Nehemiah probes were a part of that dream, weren’t they? You were taking things to the next level.”

Dr. Temilotzin nodded. “They worked out fairly well, too. Before Amanda destroyed the probes they had reached more than 93 million star systems. That is just a small fraction of the number of stars in the galaxy – much less the number of stars in the universe – but it’s more than I expected to reach before the end came.”

“Really?” Jones asked. “Does that mean you actually expected things to turn out the way they did?”

“That is correct. I had hoped otherwise, of course, but in my heart I knew that nothing less than a miracle would change things. It was obvious that mankind was simply too corrupt to inherit the stars. Those who live in the shadowlands have never been able to remain civilized for long. They always destroy themselves before they get very far.”

“As we’ve seen from history,” Jones agreed. “In the 10th century the Mayans achieved interplanetary travel, only to destroy themselves in a nuclear war. It was another 700 years before anyone was able to reach Mars again. The Spanish Empire held onto space travel for a while, but then they got into a fight with the Rangers and were imprisoned behind the Wall. Their mastery of space lasted less than two centuries. The Rangers lasted a bit longer, but eventually they succumbed to war as well.”

“Exactly. The same story has repeated itself all throughout history. That fact has only become more apparent in the millennia since I died. But here things are different. What we have here is a society of people who are not corrupt and who can never be corrupted. This civilization has the potential to inherit the stars and everything that lies beyond them. The future is quite exciting.”

“So what does that have to do with us?” Captain Max asked. “After all, the Diano Corporation is gone, the probes are gone, and the Rangers are gone. Ramon gave it a good try but things just didn’t quite work out.”

“Because the dream is not gone,” Dr. Temilotzin explained. “Ramon Diano is here, as is Dr. Mazatl – the creator of the Artilect. Ramon still intends to explore the universe, and we’ve spent millennia working on a plan to do exactly that. We want you to be a part of it.”

“I don’t understand,” the captain replied. “How is that possible? From what I understand, Judgment Day isn’t that far off. Amy is giving Earth and Mars one last chance to repent before Jesus returns, and then it’s all over. The shadowlands will be destroyed and there won’t be any stars left to explore.”

Jones spoke up. “There’s more to the story than that, sir. After the Judgment the Lord is going to create a new heaven and a new earth. The universe is going to be restored to the way it was before sin corrupted it, and we’ll live there for all of eternity. That’s what you’re planning on exploring, isn’t it?”

“Exactly,” Dr. Temilotzin agreed. “What we’ve been doing is laying the groundwork for that adventure. We won’t be able to launch anything until after the Judgment, of course, but there’s a great deal that we can do now. For example, the Nehemiah probes were a step in the right direction but they were flawed. We have some ideas for an improved design that should be far more effective. With the help of both of you I think we can hit the ground running when the time comes.”

“Hit the ground running?” the captain asked. “But why the hurry? Don’t we have all of eternity?”

“Of course! But time is still a scarce resource. Consider, captain. This evening you could have dinner at home, or you could have dinner with a friend. After dinner you could explore your house, or go downtown and listen to the orchestra, or do a thousand other things. The point is that you still have to choose how to spend your time. You cannot do everything so you must choose wisely.”

“But there will always be tomorrow, won’t there?”

“Of course – but the choices tomorrow may be different.”

“I see,” the captain said. “So am I to understand that you’re offering me a job?”

“Does that surprise you?” Dr. Temilotzin asked. “If so, it shouldn’t! You are quite good at what you do. We would truly love to have your assistance.”

“No, it’s not that – although it is an honor. I’m just surprised that people have jobs here. It feels strange.”

“It all depends on what you mean by ‘job’,” Dr. Temilotzin said. “You have all of eternity ahead of you, captain. You are not going to spend all of that time staring at a wall, watching paint dry. You will want to do something – something that uses the talents you’ve been given to honor the Lord. This isn’t about paying your bills or making ends meet, because things are no longer like that. What matters is that God gave you a very unique skill set and He wants you to use it – and you want to use it as well. You know how to reach the unreachable places and how to pry secrets out of strange worlds. You can hear the siren call of the stars, bidding you to find the mysteries that their Creator has hidden in them. There are billions upon billions of worlds out there, captain, and you have all of eternity to explore them. What do you want to do?”

The captain smiled. “I want to see what lies beyond the horizon.”

“Then let’s gets started,” Dr. Temilotzin replied.

I Timothy 5:9: “Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man.
10 Well reported of for good works; if she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints’ feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work.”

It’s interesting to notice how many “ifs” are attached to this. In today’s world society has no qualms about giving money to anyone who asks for it, regardless of their situation. It doesn’t matter if they are capable of working or not; it doesn’t matter if they are of good character or are shiftless thieves; it doesn’t matter if they have been generous or selfish. The policy is simple: give money to everyone who asks for it, no matter what.

But God holds the church to a different standard. We are to be a lot more discerning. The rules are clear: give to those who are in need, yes – so long as they are truly in need, and cannot work, and have led holy lives dedicated to service. Don’t give to shiftless, lazy people who are capable of taking care of themselves but are simply too immoral to do so.

The church would be wise to heed these teachings. It’s not a good idea to hand out money to anyone and everyone who knocks on the church’s door and asks for it. We need to start exercising discernment, instead of simply acting without thinking. Doing that tends to make a bad situation even worse.