00044

Brother Simon Kaul went from one member of the house church to the next, shaking hands and hugging each one affectionately. Jane Ashton wiped tears from her eyes. She glanced at Albert Zoeniga, who tried to hide it, but he, too, touched, shed a tear. "Darn allergies!" he grumbled. She smiled and held Albert’s hand.

Bro. Simon told Kelli O’Mally, "I don't know how long it will take on Earth, but I know I will miss you. I will miss all of you here, everyone!"

Brango Garmetz and his wife and two teen-aged sons also showed their love for their departing shepherd. "I don't know who the Lord is gonna replace you with, Simon, but whoever it will be, I don't think it will keep me from missing you, until you get back here!" said the father.

"Thank you." Simon treasured their love and appreciation of all his efforts to lead them when he tried to replace the irreplaceable Bro. Billy Boy. "But watch out, you just may change your mind forgetting me, depending on how long I’m gone! Ha ha. Seriously, though, I know sometimes it takes so looong to reach a bureaucrat, so pray for my mission to be fast, so you won't have time to miss me.”

Bro. Brango assured him that he would.

Nina McCleer wished Bro. Simon luck.

Simon Kaul went up to the ambo at the front of the room, next to a small box filled with offerings. "Brothers and sisters, thank you all for your sacrifices, all you have given for my rocket fare, so that I can return to Earth. It’s been a year since my last visit there, and this time I am going on a much more serious note. I now have enough to pay for a ticket, and tomorrow morning I will launch my trip. I am impressed with how quickly this congregation got the money I needed. And I still have valid travel permits, so I am glad we got the major problems and hurdles for my flight out of the way."

Kelli O’Mally said, "Bro. Simon, the money and the travel permit- those are the easy parts! Don't forget, you are going to Earth to report all that is happening to us on the World of Hope. Gov. Bright won't like that. You know he is vindictive. Watch out! You must be on guard, be careful! See that nothing happens to you before your trip!”

“I know, Sis. Kelli, I know. I am in God's hands. Whatever He has in store for me, I am ready, whether He wants me to continue in my service to our house church here, or whether He will allow trials to befall me. Either way, here am I."

The next day, after getting his ticket, Simon went through customs and checked in his luggage with the help of a robot. He packed lightly, expecting harassment and that he would be made to empty his suitcase deliberately by the customs agents, and more than once, too.

Surprisingly, none of the customs agents at the rocketport seemed to recognize his name, or the open secret regarding his association with the unapproved house church.

When he made through customs, and nobody had taken him aside to a solitary room with no witnesses, Simon Kaul figured there wasn't much Gov. Bright could do now out in the open public, with plenty if tourist witnesses, who would take reports of his abuse back to Earth. Gov. Xavier Bright did not want reports like that to happen.

Nobody paid him any mind. Either the governor didn't take Simon Kaul’s ultimatum very seriously, or Bro. Simon had acted so quickly in getting his ticket and scheduling his trip already that Gov. Bright hadn't had time to ready a counter move before his trip to Earth.

“So far so good, Lord. But whatever you want, Lord,” he muttered softly as he boarded the rocket.

Simon found his seat. "Sorry to complain, Lord," he murmured, "but really, can't these rockets come up with better seats than these?"

A flight attendant passed by with a beverage cart. "Something to drink while we wait for lift-off, Sir?"

"A ginger ale, please. Thank you."

Bleah. Simon noticed the drinks had gotten worse since his last trip. Very flat, stale. Well, wasn't having a body more important than having a fresh soda?

The illegal pastor strapped himself in his seat, as per the Captain's orders. While the engines warmed up, the stewardesses, in different locations around the flight cabin, gave safety demonstrations of what procedures to follow in case of any accidents. Then the countdown began.

"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, zero- blast off!" they all counted, everybody remembering his or her first time coming to the World of Hope in a rocket through the wormhole from Earth, and now they were going back. Many in the rocket were tourists or business folks, who finished up on this planet and were finally returning home. For Simon Kaul, it wasn't a homecoming, not anymore. He had made his home on Hope now.

The Arrow climbed into the sky. Simon had a good seat by a window. He viewed the scenery under them, the landscapes shrinking and shrinking the higher they went. He got a bird's eye of Sparkle City, the Sea of Fun, the elevated rock mountains on the other side of the city, the farms crammed into a tiny tract of land between the dessert and the city, the desert wilds beyond the city, the mining mountain in the distance, the accelerated forests off to the side of the desert... 

At first, Simon Kaul hadn’t thought much of the world when he had arrived five years ago, but now... now it occupied a special place in his heart.

The rocket pushed into outer space, toward the blinking lights ahead which marked the entrance of the orbiting wormhole. Patrol ships scurried out of the way, some heading to a minor base on the smaller moon for refueling.

The people on board the ship eyed the black hole in front of them with excitement- growing the closer they got to it-the opening of the space tunnel. Simon, too, enjoyed the show. The hole in space resembled a yawning mouth, gaping, waiting to swallow them, to gulp down the rocket whole... Unease began to creep into Simon as they neared the anomaly. He tried to remain calm, but he could swear he saw fangs lining the tunnel's mouth. "N-nnoooo...." he gasped.

The few who heard him paid him no mind. Often the enormity of the wormhole experience awed and unnerved a few of the passengers.

"Wait!... wait..." Simon softly whispered. "Don't go... don't go in there—!"

And then the Arrow shot ahead into the tunnel, and outside the rocket everything changed into wild, illogical shapes and lights. The passengers at first enjoyed the show, all except Simon Kaul, who rocked back and forth in his seat, moaning and groaning. "No... no- see, I said we shouldn't go in there- see- Ahh, the monsters ahhh..."

Suddenly Simon jumped up from his seat and screamed in terror. He ran for an emergency exit. "C'mon, people, let's go, let's get away from them! Hurry! Hurry!”

“Hey, stop that man!" a concerned passenger yelled. Someone close to the emergency hatch pulled Simon Kaul away, but Simon pushed him aside and ran back to the hatch. "Let me out, let me out!" he screamed wildly.

The head stewardess grabbed him by the shoulders. "What are you doing? We're okay, we're okay, you're just having a panic attack, be calm, you're safe-"

Her soothing words seemed to be getting through, and Simon eased up, letting go of the door. He turned to face her, shaking like a leaf in the wind. He glanced at a window, saw the strange show outside, and again freaked out, yelling and hollering. He turned back to the emergency hatch. The attendant tried to pull him away, but he proved too strong for her. "Help me, help me, " she called to the others.

The nearest passengers and stewardesses formed a group and hastily came to her aid. Together they took him down to the floor. They piled onto a frenetic, flailing Simon, who tried to fight them off. He struggled and struggled as they weighed him down with their numbers. He wiggled and twisted and turned, but he found them too much for him, despite his sudden maniacal strength.

Somebody took off a belt and tied Simon's kicking legs together. Another person roped Simon's hands behind his back. After much effort and perspiration, they finally subdued him, securing him to a chair. He called for help all the way through the tunnel, screaming in terror.

Many of the passengers felt anger at Simon Kaul, since, because of him, nobody had enjoyed the flight back to Earth. When finally they landed on the mother world, the authorities already had been notified of Simon's outburst. As soon as the engines were shut down, the rocket port police were aboard the Arrow.

Now that he was out of the space tunnel with all its frightening sights, Simon Kaul began to quiet down some. He continued to mutter and prattle nonsense, clearly dazed and confused.

"I wonder what brought that on," said one of the rocketport police.

His partner shrugged. "Nobody aboard has any idea. The flight attendants all say he seemed normal, until they entered the tunnel. Then, it was like he flipped his lid."

The head stewardess helped them locate Simon's carry-on with his papers inside. When one of the police opened the bag looking for his travel permits, his eyebrows arched, and he said to the other officer, "Well, I think we know now what his problem is."

"Do tell."

The officer produced from the bag a few tablets stashed inside the inner pocket of the carry-on, packed right alongside his papers. "Space Trip pills. Guaranteed to give you one heck of a space trip, whether you go in a rocket or just stay right on Earth."

The stewardess shook her head in disgust. "No wonder he acted like a crazy man. Huh. Why do these jerks  have to decide to do their drugs while going through the wormhole? And always on my flights! I can't believe anybody is so stupid!"

The police confiscated Simon's luggage and also found an ample supply of the pills of a suitcase. "I don't see how port security on Hope missed this," a bewildered officer marveled.

Shortly thereafter, back on the World of Hope, in the guest suite at the Governor's House, Nina McCleer sat in front of the screen, taking in the news show.

X-9 asked, "Ma'm, would you like me to turn down the volume so that you don't damage your hearing over time from unsafe decibels?"

The doting robot distracted her concentration.

"No thank-you, X-9. Now shush, I am trying to hear the news."

"Yes, ma'm."

"Shhh!"

"Sorry, ma'm."

Nina rolled up her eyes. Sometimes X-9 outdid himself in being a nuisance.

On “News from Earth”, a clip showed Simon Kaul being led away in handcuffs while the reporter voiced over, "Bro. Simon Kaul, leader of the illegal house church on the World of Hope, today arrived on Earth to presumably spread the Good Word, but, as it turns out, he also planned to make a little money on the side dealing in narcotics."

Bro. Simon faced the cameras, the high wearing off, as police tried to lead him away. He denied having anything to do with the drugs, and then adding, "I was set up pretty good. It looks like from now on I will have a new ministry, a prison ministry.”

The news shocked Nina McCleer. She stared in disbelief. Then, she scowled. "Is there no low that he won't stoop to, in order to cause pain and grief?"

"Who do you mean, Ma'm?" X-9 politely inquired.

"Forget I said that," she told him.

"Very well, ma'm."

"It looks like I better get them to organize for Plan B," Nina McCleer said to herself.

"Pardon, Ma'm? I don't understand.”

She smiled at the robot. "It's okay, X-9. You don't need to worry about that stuff. Sometimes I envy your simple life."

"Oh? Do you think robots have life, Ma'm?"

Nina said, "It's getting late. Can you please tell Sheila- Miss Bright- that again I don't feel quite up to company yet, so I must respectfully decline her invitation to her birthday party, but also be sure to tell her I am thankful for her consideration in asking me at least."

"Yes, Ma'm.”

(c) drk 2012