Alien Mask (2)
In a northern California city near San Francisco, thirty-two people were rescued on the 51st floor of a hi-rise laboratory building seconds before the top 5 floors exploded into a ball of flames. The rescued people reported that they did not remember how they got rescued because they blacked out during the rescue and did not awaken until ambulance lights were flashing in their eyes. [Without anyone noticing, the droids flew into the building, stunned and transported the humans onto the ship, and flew out before the building blew up. The entire rescue was completed in 10 seconds. The humans were dropped off in an unmanned alley, but the droids sent a message to an ambulance about the rescued humans whereabouts.] Wed., May 4 A forest fire was unleashed on Yosemite National Park. While one group of firefighters became boxed in by trees of fire, a hovering rescue ship appeared, picked up the firefighters, and started flying away from danger. But on their way out, a fiery tree fell onto the tail end of the ship causing it to spin out of control. The ship landed safely in a nearby canyon but the ship was still on fire. After the ship door opened for the men to escape, a beam of light which appeared from the sky hit the ship [with worker droids still inside], resulting in a fizzling sound and the ship disappearing without a trace. A witness also stated that a beam of light hit the rescued firefighters causing them to become unconscious and, according to doctors' reports, probably explains why the firefighters have no recollection of the rescue. [The fire was accidentally started from the flames emitted by one of the droids' ships during takeoff for a rescue mission.] Sat., May 7 Following the departure of the space station construction engineers from the shuttle and into the space station docking area, the pilots directed the shuttle back to Earth to retrieve construction materials from a northern California manufacturer. During their fiery nighttime re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, they saw a warning light appear from a malfunctioning right wing. The shuttle pilots were unable to accurately maneuver the spacecraft. Without reason, the shuttle righted itself, and the pilots were able to steer the shuttle to the California shuttle port. The space shuttle mechanics could not determine how the shuttle landed safely with a badly damaged wing. [The cause of the shuttle righting itself was that one of the droid ships had attached itself to the bottom of the shuttle and guided the shuttle safely to the ground. Because the sun was starting to shine over the horizon, the droids jettisoned from the shuttle 5 seconds before the landing to avoid detection.] The Voice promises to Joshua that he can have control of some of their worker droids in exchange for the use of his services to scan the Rockies. Eventually, Joshua agrees to the exchange. Before Joshua ends contact with the aliens, the Voice tells Joshua that his memory of all alien encounters will be blocked until the next encounter, yet retain the desire to continue modifying his car. His sight returns to his cabin and other familiar surroundings. After agreeing to help the aliens, Joshua ignores his friends for three more weekends and becomes uncooperative with his other teammates during rescue attempts. He will either attempt a difficult rescue himself or allow the other crew members to perform the rescue with neither his leadership nor his assistance. During his time off, Joshua retrieves the necessary parts to finish adding scanning equipment to his car. Chapter VII Sat., June 4 While sleeping, Joshua envisions a disturbing dream. Joshua is in a corporate office sitting across from a man wearing a dark blue suit. The man offers power, wealth, and superhuman abilities in exchange for Joshua to sacrificing his body for a charitable cause. After Joshua agrees, the room starts swirling around until he can see the man's secretary leaving with a garment bag on a hangar. He notices that his head has been removed from his body and laying on the man's desk. The man turns Joshua around to face him and places Joshua on a stack of reports to act as a paperweight. Before Joshua can say anything, the man transforms into the Devil and wails a deep laughing sound. As the Devil walks past Joshua to exit the room, it swishes its tail to knock Joshua's head off the desk. While rolling, Joshua notices that he is now outdoors in the middle of a football game. He realizes that he is a football about to be kicked for the game winning field goal. As the kicker winds his leg to kick, Joshua wakes up in a cold sweat. Sun., June 5 Joshua completes the addition of scanning equipment to his Express. Mon., June 6 While at work and sitting by Mora and Ben, Joshua explains his nightmare from Saturday and his plane crash visions. They are not sure what they mean or have in common, but Mora mentions to Joshua that he can seek God's advice anytime and He will provide him with the truth. Later that night, a voice contacts Joshua while he is still asleep. The memories of his previous contacts with the aliens is unblocked by the metallic alien. It instructs Joshua to order chemicals and parts to build a sprayer for the car which will fly into the ozone layer and send out a mist to enhance scanning images. When the Voice finishes with the instructions, Joshua asks if this spray will harm any life on Earth. The Voice replies with a definitive "no!". Chapter VIII Throughout the week, Joshua begins to question the motive behind the aliens' plans and the modifications to his car. He also realizes that his dreams might be trying to warn him about impending dangers. Thu., June 9 After getting off work at 7 p.m., Mora, Ben, and Alex hike 5 miles down the river. Meanwhile, Sara and Joshua take a stroll from her cabin and lay on a blanket near the banks of Rocky River. They stare at the stars for several minutes, counting the number of constellations in the sky. Sara tries to ask Joshua about his problem but he ignores her. Suddenly the sky turns blurry for Joshua and he hears a voice asking him about his progress with the car modifications. Joshua hesitates. Joshua then tells the Voice that he is unsure about the validity of needing spray to enhance images and will not resume the modifications until further proof is provided. The Voice tries to convince Joshua to resume the changes by reviewing all the rescues by the droids and the benefits Joshua would receive if he reconsiders. Still, Joshua holds his ground. Joshua's sight is restored to the face of Sara staring at him in bewilderment. She tells him that he looked spaced out for approximately 5 minutes and, earlier, had shook him without success. They return to her cabin and start building a fire to prepare for their friends return. Chapter IX Fri., June 10 With Ben as a passenger, Joshua drives to the outskirts of the southern part of town in search of the new commander's house, which is still under construction. They are approaching the airport when, out of the corner of their eyes, a fireball appears from the east. A jet's left wing engine had burst into flames and it begins to flip over as it heads toward the airport. While Ben is awaiting a fiery crash, Joshua's mind begins to flash back to his own plane crash nightmare. He decides to try and save the passengers, even though Ben will become suspicious how Joshua learned this new technology, and the aliens had told him to keep his new knowledge a secret. Joshua screams at Ben to fasten his seat belt and then shifts into high gear and flips a switch to cause the car to become airborne. As the flying car approaches the plane, Joshua can see that the landing gear is still retracted and turns his car upside-down so that he can be attached to the bottom of the plane. Firetrucks and ambulances are just arriving on the runway because the pilots did not need to signal for help until their final approach. Joshua then boosts the power to his engines to guide the plane in safely. Meanwhile, Ben sits scared to do anything but hold onto the door handle and seat belt. The plane lands on a bed of foam. Sparks, flames, and smoke are billowing everywhere when the plane's front section hit the pavement. While all the emergency crews are watching the plane skid along the runway, Joshua releases the car from the plane and slides into a pile of foam. The plane skids off the runway and into a linked fence, but nobody is killed. Using 3D-holographic technology given to him by the aliens, Joshua pushes a button to camouflage his car, which causes the car to appear invisible to the naked eye. The car accidentally nudges an emergency crewmember in the leg causing her to fall. Fortunately, she blames the mishap on her own clumsiness and continues running to the crippled plane. Joshua and Ben drive away from the runway without anyone else detecting them. When the car is outside the airport gates, Joshua turns off the camouflaging and drives Ben back to his cabin. Ben sits stunned after arriving home. Ben remains in a state of shock until he finally opens up to his friends at breakfast the following morning. Joshua has already departed on a morning walk when Ben explains the airplane incident. Everybody in the group becomes very concerned with all the events concerning Joshua. Even though Alex does not participate due to his personal beliefs, he attends a group prayer which praises God, and they ask God for help showing Joshua the truth about salvation and wisdom on how to handle this unknown situation. Chapter X Sat., June 11 On a sunny Saturday morning, Joshua walks along a quiet path in the park's forest trying to collect his thoughts and to determine if the aliens are telling the truth. While resting on a log next to the river, Joshua hears strange noises. He soon realizes that it is the alien Voice contacting him. After Joshua is fully tuned to its soft voice, he hears the Voice asking him if he has reconsidered, but Joshua says that he has not. Trying to change the topic, Joshua asks if it had placed the plane crashing and devil dream visions in his head, and the Voice replies with a negative response. The alien also re-emphasizes to Joshua that if he does not cooperate, drastic measures might have to be taken against him. Following the message, the alien cuts off communication and the river noise drowns all other sounds again. Joshua arrives back at Alex's cabin just as the other group members are sitting down for an early lunch. After lunch Joshua pulls Ben aside, and they walk to the outside porch swing. Joshua asks Ben how God has helped him and why he has become so dependent on His wisdom. Ben explains to Joshua that he would constantly become burned out with attempting mountain rescues, solving life's problems, and trying to maintain an exciting lifestyle. Ben says that he was unable to achieve fulfilling happiness until Mora talked to him about how we can learn to depend on Him to guide us through life's rough spots, to love others unconditionally like He loves us, and, although He will not guarantee that you will have an exciting life according to world standards, you will have a fulfilling one. Continuing on about the type of relationship God wants with all mankind, Ben tells Joshua that God wants to have a deep relationship with us during the good and bad times. Ben converses with Joshua how different times in his life are affected by God and shows Joshua different verses in the Bible to answer Joshua's questions. This conversation lasts about one hour. Joshua leaves the meeting with a desire to learn more about God, yet has to unclutter his thoughts before making a commitment. Before going to bed, Joshua prays for answers, strength, and guidance. Sun., June 12 Joshua wakes up with a new fervor of energy and leaves the cabin for his morning walk. During the walk, Joshua praises God for his friends and all the beautiful nature surrounding him. Joshua also mulls over in his mind all the events which have affected him over the past few weeks and realizes that he had quickly become self-centered, selfish, and greedy since his aborted suicide attempt. He falls to the ground sobbing and cries out for help from God. Being too paralyzed with emotions to move, Joshua asks the Lord for forgiveness of his sins, for Jesus Christ to enter his heart, and for wisdom on how to rectify his relationship with his friends. For a few more minutes, Joshua lays on the ground until a jogger approaches and wonders if he is alright. Joshua replies that he had just asked Jesus into his heart, and the jogger continues on his way. Joshua, with peace in his heart, walks back to the cabin where his friends are still eating breakfast. After everyone finishes eating, Joshua gathers the team in the living room to apologize for the way he was acting during the rescues and their time off. He asks for their forgiveness. In unison, Mora, Alex, Sara, and Ben hug Joshua and tell him that he is forgiven. They are glad to have Joshua as part of the team again. When the excitement recedes, Alex suggests a game of holographic Team Hockey, and everyone agrees. Before the hockey game starts, Joshua announces that he asked Christ into his heart and became born again while on his morning walk. Again, everyone, except Alex this time, hugs and congratulates Joshua, while Alex shrugs his shoulders and heads towards the living room. The hockey game pits the five-team members against a very aggressive and difficult computer opponent. They wear goggle-type devices on their heads and they see 3D images from the perspective of the hockey player that the team member controls [Goalie - Ben, Center - Joshua, Left Forward - Mora, Right Forward - Computer, Left Defenseman - Alex, Right Defenseman - Sara]. With less than 10 seconds remaining in the game and the score tied at 8, Sara launches a slapshot from her defenseman just inside the blue line and ricochets the puck off the upper goalpost and the goaltender's head for the winning goal. For the first time in several weeks, the rescue team feels unified. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Proverbs 3:6 ACT 2 Earth Year: 2005 Earth Location: Rocky River, Colorado Space Location: In a spaceship near Mars Earth Date: June 13 Earth Time: 2:11 a.m. - 11:17 a.m. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Ephesians 6:13-17 Chapter XI Mon. - 2:11 a.m., June 13
Copyright © 2002 John Barnovsky |