Judgment Day (34 page)

"What could I do?"

"Approach our own government, and the U.N. Propose a treaty. We'll agree not to place an exclusive claim on Mars if they agree not to interfere with our right to travel into space."

"I'll contact Congressman Crow. He's been the mainstay of the financial support for my reconciliation center. I'm sure he'll take your proposal to the president."

"Didn't I hear he's running for the Senate?"

"That's the rumor. He's supposed to announce next month."

Christy finished her meal, satisfied her trip had been a success. Ira and Ruth were once again part of the Fellowship, and they had agreed to share Mars with the world. Knowing Mark and his followers could be reasoned with would go a long way to dispelling the suspicion people felt for the Fellowship. With those issues resolved, her mind was left with only one burning question. As if reading her mind he looked up at her and smiled, his eyes fixed on hers.

"Christy, why aren't you married?"

"I've never been asked," she said evasively.

"Everyone in the Fellowship thinks I should get married. It's not that I don't want to—actually I've thought about it a lot, especially lately."

Christy suppressed a smile.

"It's just that every time I think we've reached a point where I can put some energy into a family some new crisis comes along."

"My work interferes with my relationships too. It takes someone special to understand why you might be called away at a moment's notice to mediate some crisis."

"I thought you'd understand. Christy, we'll be reaching a crossroads soon—the Fellowship I mean—and when we're past that point I think . . . well, things will be different."

Now Mark looked uncomfortable and confused, like he didn't think he was making himself clear.

"I understand what you're saying, Mark." He looked relieved so she continued. "My work is satisfying, but recently it hasn't been enough. I guess I want more out of life than I've been getting."

"When the
Genesis
comes back things will be different," Mark said.

His feelings were still veiled, and his time line vague, but Christy could see it was a commitment. Surprisingly, she felt as warm inside as if he had proposed. Now she could only hope that someday the
Genesis
would return from wherever it had gone.

CHAPTERS 64 JOURNEY'S END

Because the goal I sought lay far In cloud-hid heights, today my soul Goes unaccompanied of its own; Yet this shall comfort me alone, I did not seek a nearer goal.

—THEODOSIA GARRISON

S
ix months after the departure of the
Genesis
, the tabloid press pronounced the ship destroyed. Reasoning that the family men on board could not go six months without communicating with their wives and children, the media concluded the ship would never return. Over the next few months the tabloids ran stories about aliens capturing the
Genesis
, a collision with an asteroid, and that they were secretly building a base on Mars. When Mark Shepherd signed the U.N. Mars treaty in New York, he was peppered with questions about the location of
Genesis
. He answered none. The story in the weeks following was speculation about when the Fellowship would honor the Mars treaty and announce the existence of their colony. Instead, the Fellowship signed a contract to provide transportation for a joint Europe-U.S. project to build the first permanent base on Mars.

Judith took her first steps at eleven months, and said "mama" by her first birthday. Shelly encouraged "daddy" as her second word, but it was "cookie." Each month John Jr. talked less and less of Micah, although they prayed for his safe return every night.

On the anniversary of the
Genesis's
departure they held a worship service in Christ's Home. The media photographed them filing into the church and ran footage of the
Genesis
departing on news broadcasts as Wyatt Powder intoned about "loved ones lost in the void."

Genesis
was gone eighteen months when its twin,
Exodus
, delivered the Euro-American colony to Mars. With a dozen huge supply modules stacked on its nose, the fully loaded
Exodus
had transported enough equipment and materials to build a self-contained station that could run for a year. The media gave the fledgling colony big play, running live broadcasts from the Martian surface—a red desert—showing what the inhabitants would be up against as they tried to tame the hostile planet.

Six months later the
Exodus
returned with more cargo, doubling the number of residents and extending the reserve supplies by another year. By now the colonists had bored under the surface of Mars, burying their homes to protect them from the ultraviolet radiation passing nearly unimpeded through Mars's wispy atmosphere.

As the luster of settling a new world wore off, concerns about the cost of the project began to be heard. The billion being spent on maintaining a handful of people on Mars could be better spent on the poor at home, the argument went. Chief defender of the Mars colony was Senator Crow, who staunchly reproved those whom he called "shortsighted." The future was in space, he argued forcefully, successfully blocking efforts to end the project. Only if you listened carefully, did you also hear his concerns about the monopoly the Fellowship maintained on the space technology. "After all," he said one Sunday morning on
Meet the Press
, "can we really trust the lives of the brave Americans and Europeans living on Mars to religious fundamentalists?"

Junior's first day of kindergarten came and went without Micah. Shelly cried herself to sleep that night. Two months later Daniel Remple ran away. He had marijuana in his pocket when the police picked him up in San Jose. Stephen got him off with probation.

Unlike the first two anniversaries of the
Genesis
mission, the third was not joyous. Knowing your loved ones could be gone for years didn't prepare the families for the agony of actually living without them. Seeds of doubt sprouted and grew. After the anniversary worship they held an open meeting and there were calls to send the
Exodus
after the
Genesis
. Mark did not send
Exodus
.

Daniel ran away again in June and they didn't find him until August, living with Josh in San Francisco. There was a brief court battle over the boy because Daniel claimed continued abuse. But with his father lost in space, and Mark careful to never be alone with him, his claims could not be supported. Even so, with help from a lawyer hired by Josh, Daniel petitioned to be emancipated from his family. The story created a brief tempest and the press revived the old stories of sexual abuse. Surprisingly, the judge ruled that Daniel was to be returned to his family. There were rumors that George Proctor had visited the judge before his ruling.

A month later Shelly received a call from the New Hope station—a message had been received from the
Genesis
. There were messages for all of the
Genesis's
crew's families. Micah's message was a short "I love you, Shelly, and miss you. Tell Junior and Judith that Daddy is coming home." Shelly cried long and hard, frightening Junior and Judith into tears themselves. When she could control herself, she explained they were tears of joy. During the month it took the
Genesis
to reach the New Hope, Micah spoke often with Shelly and the children. Junior warmed up quickly, building on memories he still had of Micah playing with him. Judith was nearly mute when speaking over the radio, not knowing what to make of the voice that was supposed to be her daddy.

Communication from the
Genesis was
coded, but Micah's carefully worded messages made it clear the mission was a success. Shelly visited both the Christ's Home and Mexico sites during that month, finding spirits high and great excitement about what news
Genesis
might bring.

New Hope station could not accommodate the number of people who wanted to be there, so it was limited to families and the leadership. Fearful a broadcast would be intercepted, the thousands of other Fellowship members spread across the country would have to wait impatiently for a representative to bring the news to their churches in person.

Shelly was on New Hope, waiting with Judith and Junior, the children nervous about who this "daddy" might turn out to be. Evelyn was there with Faith, now nine, tall and slender. Daniel stood apart as usual; just hitting puberty he was already taller than his mother and his physique muscular—Evelyn was afraid of him, as were all but the biggest children in the Fellowship. Daniel's face was tanned and weathered from running the streets day and night, and his pale blue eyes glowed from deep sockets. He was a good-looking boy, well on the way to being a handsome man, but the gentle, loving boy he had once been was buried under a mountain of anger and false memories.

Mark and Ira waited by the hatch to the connecting tunnel while the controllers directed the
Genesis
in. Shelly listened to the commands and Micah's

clipped replies piped over the loudspeaker. Micah's voice excited her to the point of giggling and then crying.

"Oh, Mom!" Junior said. "Not again."

Judith took her mother's hand, squeezing it tight. Shelly picked her up and hugged her, realizing Micah had missed more than three years of these hugs.

The vibrations of the docking could be felt through the floor and the crowd hushed in anticipation. The few minutes it took to dock and pressurize the tunnel were interminable, but then Mark and Ira cranked the wheel, releasing the hatch, and their men were back. Jim, Steve, and Jason rushed out, hugging their wives and children, exclaiming over how big they had grown. They were the youngest men on the voyage, barely out of their teens when they left and the three years in space barely showed in their faces—but time for them had been different. Others followed, adding to the cacophony of laughing and crying. Then Floyd Remple pushed his way through to Evelyn, hugging her tight, then swinging her around. He wore a full beard now, reddish like his hair. If the monkish bare spot on his head had expanded, Shelly couldn't tell. Kissing Evelyn passionately, he then squatted before Faith and held open his arms.

"Do you remember your daddy, little girl?"

Faith answered by throwing herself into his arms and knocking him over. They rolled on the deck, arms wrapped around each other, laughing with joy. Shelly looked for Daniel and found he had retreated down a connecting tunnel, glaring malevolently at his father. Bob Morton, Micah's copilot, and Gus Sampson, the first engineer, appeared, looking for their wives. Then Micah was there, pushing through the mob, carrying something in each hand. He barely managed to set his load down before Shelly pinned him against the wall, kissing him indecently. Then, she broke her embrace, letting him get a look at the children he hadn't seen in more than three years.

"This can't be Junior, can it?" he said. "And you're not my little Judith?"

They both nodded dumbly, letting him pull them into his arms. Shelly studied him as he kissed and hugged his children, who took the attention of a virtual stranger well. Had he aged? There were wisps of gray in his hair, but maybe they were there before. There were creases around his eyes, but were they new? The only thing she was sure of was that he was paler and thinner than when he left. Now she wondered what she must look like to him? Would he be disappointed? As if in answer he left the children and hugged her again, kissing her passionately.

"What's this . . . Daddy?" Junior said, stumbling over the unfamiliar word, and pointing at Micah's two bundles.

"You asked me to bring you a present, didn't you?"

"For me?" Junior said. "Can I open it?"

"This one is for Judith," he said, holding up a cloth-covered dome.

When Micah sat it on a table, the crowd quieted and all the families gathered to see. Ira and Mark wrere pushed to the front.

"Just lift the cloth off, Judith," Micah said.

Like opening a birthday present, Judith lifted slowly, peeking underneath.

"Oh, boy, it's just what I wanted," she squealed, lifting the cover to reveal a homemade bird cage, woven out of reeds.

Inside was an orange bird that hopped nervously from perch to perch. As it fluttered back and forth it revealed a black underside to its wings and yellow streaks down its sides. Instead of featherless bird legs, this bird was feathered down to its toes. Most striking of all was its head. Instead of a beak, the bird had lips and a tongue that slithered in and out. Instead of flat eyes, they protruded, looking like halves of a cat's-eye marble.

"What is it?" Mark asked, uncomfortable with the creature's oddities.

"We've been calling it a bird, but that's only for convenience," Micah said. "It eats more like a frog, and its chicks are born alive—no eggs."

"Incredible," Ira said. "There are more, I presume?" he said dumbly.

"A whole planet full."

Cheers reverberated through the small enclosure, painfully loud to the children, who covered their ears. Then Micah felt Junior tug on his arm.

"What about my present?" he asked.

"It's right here," Micah said, lifting the other bundle to the table. This one was square, and again covered with a cloth.

Impatiently, Junior threw the cloth off revealing another cage, this one made of wire. Inside, the floor was covered with wood chips and in one corner was a hollow chunk of wood.

"There's nothing here," Junior said, disappointed.

"He's just shy," Micah said. Reaching into his pocket he took out something that looked like small seed pods. Holding the pod through the bars, he pursed his lips and sucked air, making a squeaking sound. The piece of wood rocked briefly, then an animal ran out, skittering up the side of the cage to take the pod in its mouth. It then retreated to the top of the wood to eat.

It was the size of a mouse and milky white in color. It had a long furry tail that forked on the end, ending in two puffs of dark fur. It had round ears that stood erect, listening, rotating nearly 360 degrees. Its nose was black and its eyes the same protruding marble shape as the bird's. It had two even rows of flat teeth, bright white. Its two back legs were larger than the front, and there was a noticeable pouch on its stomach. Most striking were its front legs that functioned as arms when it sat on its haunches to eat. The arms forked, giving it two paws on each arm. Again the children squealed with delight, but the adults stared in uncomfortable silence.

"It has four paws," Ira said. "What on Earth for?"

"Not on Earth, Ira," Micah said. "It's a common feature on his world. Instead of a prehensile thumb, many of the animals have two paws on each arm. It gives them incredible grip and they are very agile, especially the tree dwellers."

"I must study it," Ira said.

"This one is Junior's," Micah said. "But we've got specimens for you too, Ira."

"The planet," Mark said, taking Micah by the shoulder. "People can live there?"

Now the cabin was silent, even the children sensing the importance of the question.

"We did for six months," Micah said.

The crew and their families had reserved seats in front with Ira and Mark, and the standing room only crowd applauded as they came in, waving and thanking God for their safe return. Then they took their seats while Mark led them in a prayer of thanksgiving. Instead of "Amens" the prayer's end was greeted with loud cheering. When Mark had them quieted again he turned the meeting over to Micah.

"As you all know by now, we found what we were looking for."

Cheering erupted again. When Micah held up his hands to quiet the crowd they cheered louder. Finally, Mark and Ira had to stand to quiet them.

"The planet is like Earth in many ways. It has oceans and lakes, it has blue sky and mountains. There are forests and plains, deserts and tundra. Animals roam its forests, swim in its seas, and fly across its sky. There are trees for lumber, meadows of grass for pasture, and fruit hanging from trees. We breathed that air for six months, fed the grass to our goats, ate the fruit, and lived to tell about it. Although," Micah said, rubbing his stomach, "I wouldn't recommend eating the things that look like purple grapes."