The Earth Forces shuttle flew low over the Aegean Sea's clear azure water, leaving the white sands of the Grecian coastline behind. In twenty minutes the craft's lone occupant would arrive at his destination somewhere in the Middle-Eastern sector's rock-strewn emptiness. Everything operated within its course and there was nothing to be done but wait. If true to their word, the 'Aliens' — or whatever they might be, for Michael had been given valid reason to question the initial perception — would arrive before the day ended. No reason had so far been given to doubt them.
Despite the nearness of the appointed time, deep space monitoring indicated no unusual activity. Probes searching past the most distant colonies detected nothing that had not been noted innumerable times before. Gabe tracked it all, careful not to make direct contact with the Earth's dispersed citizenry least the dictated protocol against doing so be violated. The computer quite easily and surreptitiously plucked the needed information from sources transmitted throughout empty space and then, following Michael's explicit instructions, neglected to report on what had not been found. Gabe was only to advise him once actual contact with the Aliens was made. Other matters possessed his thoughts and he did not want to be distracted.
Michael sat in the pilot's seat, hands on the controls, flying manually.He intentionally brought the craft down to almost skim the placid waters, watching the altimeter scale drop below five meters. He ignored the craft's verbal warning to increase altitude and then instructed Gabe to disengage it. Flight regulations meant to ensure the safety of the shuttle and its occupant had been violated ever since departure. If the universe were ever to become normal, Michael knew he would be subject to reprimand for doing so. The possibility either of these things happening sat so remotely in the distance, he possessed no ability to care.
The brilliant Mediterranean sunlight warmed him through the command deck's windows. Shading controls were off, allowing the unfiltered natural light to be fully enjoyed. Another technical violation since it caused the pilot to squint against the glare, but again one which could not trouble him. Softly, almost inaudibly, the adagio of a violin concerto played within the shuttle as the world slipped by underneath.
As the diverging watercourses of the Nile Delta came into view Michael pulled back on the controls, gaining altitude and loosening affinity with the surface. He watched the world below go from azure to green to brown. Structures evidencing human activity rapidly came and went from sight and, only moments after having left the sea, he was thousands of years past. When passage through the sienna landscape came to an end Michael chose to handle the landing himself, foregoing the automated assistance needlessly offered. Despite a slight jarring he was pleased with his efforts.
Doffing his uniform, he dressed in short khaki pants and a matching short sleeve shirt. A foreign legionnaire's hat, complete with a cloth protecting the back of the head and neck from the sun's rays, almost completed the ensemble. Only after fastening the scanner and gun to his belt was he ready to go.
The shuttle door unsealed with a soft 'phtt' and Michael was immediately bathed in dry heat. As soon as he stepped out beneath the desert sun, the optics adjusted to it and his vision remained clear. Despite the oppressive environment everything around him felt good. Saddened by the cold gray European winter, he now sensed renewal in his spirit. It had been more than just the weather contributing to his then desolate mood. It was Nathaniel's departure more than anything else. It wasn't only the sudden lack of companionship that drew him down, there was more to it.
When Nathaniel left he took with him a hope for certainty, a chance to confirm what he had asserted to be true. Michael's experiences endured, but they were also unresolved. It would have been impossible for Nathaniel to move him about in time, and therefore with the impossible excluded, only the improbable 'God' remained as a viable explanation for him. Michael was prepared to accept the improbable as being true, if only he could prove the experiences had really happened and that they were not symptomatic of a malfunctioning mind. Once his own doubts about what had taken place, and about his own sanity, were satisfied with hard physical evidence, he would then believe. This desert place would end his quandary one way or another.
Stepping away from the shuttle he stood before an old building wreathed in decay. The dilapidated and forlorn structure had long ago been used by religious persons who believed the location marked where God once spoke to man, giving to them laws inscribed in stone by the deity Himself. As humanity replaced faith with science, the building's significance waned and its care and upkeep vanished along with the hope in something beyond themselves.
Michael as well found nothing about the building worthy of holding his interest. It had never meant anything, other than possibly as a symbol for those wanting more from their lives. The location of the building was not correct and the mountain at whose base it stood was the wrong one.
Turning in a southwesterly direction he proceeded along a rocky defile, all the while moving the scanner from side to side in front of him. It showed nothing within the range of settings he had programmed into it prior to leaving the shuttle. Michael attempted to reason away the rising traces of disappointment he felt, considering past geological activity and weather as factors altering the landscape more than he had anticipated.
Or maybe the location just wasn't right; after all, he was relying upon religious tradition more than anything else to determine his initial search parameters. But no, looking around with a trained eye he noticed enough familiar features to affirm the location as the correct one. Even so, he doggedly continued on without any success.
It was well into the evening when he finally sat to rest and get refreshment with water from the canteen he had brought. Michael removed a small dry stimulant square from his shirt pocket and placed it in his mouth. While sitting in the thin shadow of the ridge above him, waiting for the food supplement to dissolve before swallowing it, he reflected on what he was doing. Did it make any sense for him to be seeking to satisfy a personal quest at a time when the course of human history was about to irrevocably change? He could only answer himself by saying 'yes'.
There was actually less self motivation in what he did than others might think. He knew attaining his goal would assist in explaining questions too long left unanswered by both him and his species. He knew he had to proceed with what he did.
He was in a small narrow canyon between two craggy rock ridges, the environment harsh and uninviting without signs of life. As he sat in continued reflection he took time to glance along the ridge tops on both sides. Suddenly his pulse began to race. As often happens when you are not actively pursuing something, it will find you.
Dropping the canteen he ran a short distance and stopped at the base of the ridge opposite where he had sat down. Hooking the scanner to his belt, Michael rubbed his hands with dust from the ground before finding a niche in the rock wall with which to commence to climb. Within the hour Michael stood on an attenuated ledge facing the opening of a small cave. Erosion by wind and water had narrowed the ledge and enlarged the entrance from what he remembered — if he were indeed at the right place.
Cautiously Michael moved inside, the optics immediately adjusting to the dimmer light. Coming to the rear of the cave, he turned around. Other than dirt blown in by the wind and a few small stones on the rocky floor, the recess was empty. Taking the scanner in hand he looked to make sure it was activated. The scanner was on but showed no report for what the settings were assigned to indicate. Falling to his knees he began patting at the ground with his hands while sweeping back the loose surface dirt. Using his fingers he then attempted to dig into the solid underlying layer, only to find that eons of baking heat had made the ground too hard to penetrate.
Michael sat back and looked around. Over the millenniums things had changed but he was sure he was in the right spot. To make certain, he looked along the cave walls once more. Near to the entrance he saw a flat rock, loose and hanging slightly from the wall's surface. Standing up, he went to where it was and was pleased to see it had a sharp edge on one side. Grabbing hold, he moved it back and forth until it broke away. He then returned to the rear of the cave.
Using the rock as a trowel he began to excavate a small hole in the tightly compressed dirt. After only a few seconds he reached a layer of soft material. Frantically, he began to pound at the edges of the hole causing the caked earth to break into solid clods. As he pushed the broken pieces aside and the uncovered area grew larger, Michael could see that succeeding layers of wind born dirt had over time created a hard shell over a bundle of soft cloth.
Clasping the bundle with both hands he pulled up an ancient garment much faded from its original dark blue color. Flimsy to the touch and ready to fall apart, he treated it with the greatest care. Michael scanned the fabric to confirm what he already knew. The coat he held was constructed of a synthetic material first manufactured less than fifty years ago — a synthetic material which the scanner showed as having an age greater than three thousand years.
Only a few days ago, when he first encountered Nathaniel in the German village, he had worn a winter coat which he later thought had been taken away by the wind. The coat had been with him while he cleared the dirt strip in the winter field, and when he had followed Nathaniel's instruction to look down at the frozen mud where the wall once stood. This was the coat he had left in the back of the cave less than four days past, when he had first witnessed the unmoving cloud folding in upon itself over the mountain. It was the coat he now held. It was the proof he had sought.
Holding the coat respectfully to his chest Michael walked to the cave's entrance. In the distance the sun was beginning to sink below the horizon. He considered that on Earth's far side it would be seen to be rising if there had been anyone present to give witness. High overhead stars already twinkled in the fading twilight. Then while experiencing the most wonderful peace he had ever known, he heard the great sound of a trumpet blast resonating in the air everywhere at once as if falling from the sky without a discernible source. As before when Nathaniel had first placed him in an ancient time, the sound was powerful without being loud or harsh. It was a pure sound, clear free of error or effort. This time though, rather than being powerful it was reverently beautiful; the sweetest of all of the sounds he had ever heard.
As he stood listening and looking out from the mouth of the cave at the world laid before him, a faint tingle touched the nerves just below his ears.
"Michael."
"Yes Gabe?"
"I detect something."
"Observe, assess and report."
"I am...uncertain...there are innumerable lights appearing all around the Earth. They can be seen but enumeration is not possible, they keep appearing intermittently, there is no physical nature to them that can be detected, only a pure photon energy at a higher frequency than has ever been previously recorded."
"Describe."
"They are human in shape and size, luminescent... they are beginning to descend through the atmosphere."
"Engage protocol Gabe, send the images to the colonies and to those ships in transit using FTL transmission. And send out the prerecorded 'greeting' to ...whatever they are."
Smiling, Michael began to see the forms appearing high in the sky as if from nowhere. Appearing as crystalline objects of fragile complexity, subtle differences in each one with no two appearing alike, they softly drifted down from the heavens. Adjusting the lenses in his eyes, Michael saw that one stood out from the rest ...one which seemed to be wearing a golden breastplate.
"Michael, they have contacted me ...they are requesting you meet their representative at the control centre. Some have touched the surface. They are with us."
"Yes, they are Gabe ...and they always have been."