Armageddon: The Cosmic Battle of the Ages Page 10

  When we get back in the air, I’ll activate the speed brake—”

  “Which will open the panel. Beautiful.”

  “Yes,” Mac said. “You just take her up, throttle up, activate the brake, and send that phone into the wild blue yonder.”

  “I don’t want to lose any time fooling around.”

  “Gimme that thing. I’ll do it. Won’t take more’n sixty seconds.”

  “I’ve got to copy Chloe’s message first. She’s trying to tell me something, that’s for sure.”

  “It’s about my turn for a break anyway, Ray. Once you get it ciphered, switch seats with me and I’ll study it.”

  ________

  Chang had arrived at Petra in the middle of the afternoon, and Naomi offered to give him his first look at the place. “I will leave word at the computer center to let us know when they learn anything about Chloe,” she said, “but I don’t want you to see that place until the end, okay?”

  He shrugged.

  “Abdullah got someone to take your things to your new

  quarters, which are not far from his. He will take you there so you can get settled, and then I will come by to give you your first day’s tour.”

  Chang had been determined not to let anyone immediately pair him off with somebody. Especially not Naomi. She had to still be a teenager, which was all right. He was just twenty himself. And while there was no question about her intellect and technical brilliance, they were going to have to work closely over the next year. Why complicate things?

  And yet . . . in person she was stunning. Olive skin and welcoming dark eyes were set off by her long, black hair. Chang found it difficult not to stare. She had a beautiful, shy smile, and she seemed so friendly and selfless. He had never even had a girlfriend, only girls he had been interested in in high school but whom he would never have dared let know it.

  On the way to Chang’s prefabricated quarters, Abdullah seemed to know everybody and wanted them to meet him. They treated Chang like royalty, but he was so ashamed of bearing the mark of Carpathia that he kept his baseball cap pulled low. His instinct was to remove it and bow each time, but he could not.

  “Our man inside the palace,” Abdullah called him, and people embraced him or shook his hand, and many blessed him.

  To Chang it was a foretaste of heaven. “I wonder what the chances are of meeting Dr. Ben-Judah and Dr. Rosenzweig,” he said.

  “Oh, I am so sorry,” Abdullah said. “I was supposed to tell you. They send their most abject apologies for not greeting you appropriately. They have been meeting with the elders about the issue of Chloe’s disappearance, and they have a council meeting later. They request that you join them over manna in the morning.”

  “Good, yes. Thank you, Mr. Smith. I have something I must consult with Dr. Ben-Judah about.”

  “I believe Naomi’s father would like to meet you too.”

  He could tell from Abdullah’s inflection that he was trying to say something, but Chang would not bite. “Well, I will look forward to meeting him as well.”

  When they reached the dwellings, shipped in and assembled by a team led by Lionel Whalum, Abdullah first showed Chang his own place. “You can see that I like to live close to the ground. I sit outside near a fire when I eat my manna. And inside, I sleep on the floor. If that is not your custom, you need not do that. Your place is not much different in size from what you had at the palace, but of course it is much plainer and simpler.”

  “It’s perfect,” Chang said when they arrived. His luggage lay next to his cot and his computers and file boxes sat by the door. “I will sleep tonight a free man, worried about nothing but the welfare of our comrades.”

  “I’ll leave you to unpack. If you need anything, you can see my place from here. Do you need anything at all?”

  “Just one thing. I am a little nervous about the manna. Does everyone care for it?”

  “Yes, they do. I am confident you will enjoy it. Imagine, being fed by the King. Yes, it is just sustenance, and yes, it appears to be merely bread. But it comes from the kitchens of heaven. How can it be anything but glorious? We are due a portion just before sundown, so you will know before you join the doctors for breakfast whether you like it or not.”

  Half an hour later, when Chang had his place situated just the way he wanted it, he heard a knock. “Come in!” he said, but no one did. As he approached the door, he said, “It’s open!” Still nothing.

  He opened the door to Naomi. “Come in, come in!” he said.

  “Oh, I must not,” she said. “In my culture it is improper.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “You’ll learn. Come, let me show you Petra.”

  “No word yet on Chloe?” he said as they ventured out.

  She shook her head. “It’s not going to come to a good end, you know.”

  “That’s my fear,” he said. “But we can hope and pray.”

  Naomi explained that the city was so spread out that it would take days to see it all. “We’ll get ATVs near the tech center. Then let me take you to the Treasury first, then to a few of the nearby tombs—there are many. Finally I’d like to take you to the high place where the missile hit and the spring still bubbles, providing daily water for more than a million people. If I have timed it right, it should then be close to sundown, and we can enjoy our manna with water directly from the source.”

  Chang was not used to this much walking and climbing, so he was glad when they were finally aboard four-wheelers. He was stunned by Petra’s beautiful architecture and wondered how anyone could have carved such structures out of solid rock.

  When they finally reached the crest of the high place, where the spring cascaded into cisterns and aqueducts to the entire area, Naomi cut her engine and signaled Chang to do the same.

  “Are you thirsty?” she said.

  “Always. But mostly I’m trying to get used to not worrying who is watching.”

  “I cannot imagine. Are you willing to drink from my hands?”

  Chang, usually quick and flippant, only smiled. “Whatever is proper in your culture.”

  She knelt and washed her hands in a brook, shaking them dry.

  Chang did the same. She took him as close as they could get to the center of the spring. “Ready?” she said.

  He nodded, and she thrust her cupped hands into the water, bringing them up to just under his chin. “Hurry,” she said, laughing. “My hands are not watertight.”

  He lowered his face into her hands and took a huge gulp. His throat had been more parched than he knew, and though the water could have been only a few degrees cooler than the air, it felt almost icy. He coughed and laughed and said, “More.”

  He drank from her hands again, and she said, “My turn.”

  Chang made a bowl of his palms and let her drink. “Enough?”

  he said, when his hands were empty. She nodded, and he cupped her face and wiped the dust from under her shining eyes. He spread his fingers and extended his hands, brushing through her hair.

  Naomi closed her eyes and lifted her face to the setting sun, spreading her arms and holding her hands palms up. “Here it comes, Chang. Receive your daily bread from the God of heaven.”

  Chang stepped back, looked up, and extended his arms as the skies seemed to snow bits of soft bread that covered the entire area.

  Below, the million strong emerged from their quarters with jars and baskets, and gathered what they needed for dinner.

  “Just like in the Bible,” Naomi said, “we are to take what we need but not store any. It will spoil and we will have shown our lack of faith in God to provide every day.”

  Chang sat beside her and scooped manna into his hand. “Do you ask God to bless food that he has just personally delivered?”

  he said.

  She laughed. “Would you like me to?”

  “Please.” He quickly removed his cap as she began.

  “To the great God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to the Father of our L
ord and Savior Jesus Christ, we offer our humble thanks for everything you provide.”

  Her young voice was so pure and sweet and her words so perfect, Chang found his face contorting as tears welled.

  “Thank you for safety for our mission today and for allowing us to bring Chang here. May he find refreshing peace and rest in you. In the name of Jesus we ask you to bless to our nourishment this gift you have given. Amen.”

  With tears streaming, Chang turned away and tugged his cap back on. He sat with the warm manna in his hand, unable to eat for crying. He felt Naomi caressing his shoulder. “God bless you, Chang,” she said. “Bless you.”

  He gathered himself and wiped his face with his free hand.

  “Don’t wait for me,” he managed. “Go ahead.”

  “I just might,” she said lightly. “I never grow tired of this.”

  “What does it taste like?” he said.

  “Oh no, that is not for me to tell you. I know only what it tastes like to me.”

  Chang picked two of the small, white disks from his hand and laid them on his tongue.

  “Well?” she said.

  It was as if he had been struck dumb. “Oh,” he said. “Oh.”

  “That’s all you can say?”

  He took several more at once. “Oh!”

  “I’m guessing you approve.”

  “I taste honey. Honey for sure.”

  “Yes.”

  “Almost like cookies, those sweet wafer things. And they’re so filling. I want more and yet I’ve had enough.”

  “Imagine,” Naomi said. “Everything we need for twenty-four hours comes in three helpings of this.”

  “Miraculous.”

  “Exodus 16:31 says, ‘And the house of Israel called its name Manna. And it was like white coriander seed, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.’”

  “I’m impressed,” he said. “What, you have the whole Old Testament memorized?”

  She laughed. “Hardly, but you know for all of my childhood, I didn’t call it the Old Testament. It was my Bible. I studied it every day. I still do, but it’s a whole different thing now, now that I really know God.”

  “I memorize Scripture too,” Chang said. “But I’ve never owned a Bible. I was raised an atheist, so I have to memorize off the Internet.”

  “But you do memorize?”

  “Doesn’t everybody? I mean, Dr. Ben-Judah only reminds us to about five times with every daily message.”

  “What are you memorizing?”

  “New Testament. John. I’m up to chapter three. I’m slow.”

  “But you have it memorized up to there?” she said. “That’s good.”

  “Well, yeah, I think. But don’t test me. I mean, you could test me on chapter three, because that’s right where I am, but . . .”

  His voice trailed off. Chang could have sat there next to Naomi all night, but she stood and took another drink from the spring.

  “Let me show you something,” she said, reaching for him. He offered his hand and she pulled him up. “You see my garment?”

  He shrugged and nodded. Did he see her garment? He had been stealing glances all day. He wouldn’t have known what to call it. It was more robe than dress, like something he imagined women wearing in Bible times.

  “It is the only thing I have ever worn here. I had it on when we arrived.”

  “It looks brand-new.”

  “I wash it out every night, and it is new every morning, like the Lord’s compassion.”

  “Another memorized passage?”

  “Yes. Only that was one my father led me to after we survived the bombs.”

  “You were here for that?”

  “We were among the first.”

  “What was that like?”

  “Like a dream, Chang. Sometimes I cannot imagine it really happened.”

  “What was the passage?”

  “Lamentations 3:22-24: ‘Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!”’”

  “That’s beautiful.”

  “Isn’t it? Well, I promised my father we would be back at the tech center at least by sundown. It’s near the amphitheater, so we’ll have to hurry.”

  “Am I going to get to hear your story?” he said.

  “Of course. And I want to hear yours. Maybe after breakfast tomorrow.”

  Chang found the tech center much as he might have expected, except that it was so incongruous to see the massive network of computers in a building cut from rock. By that time, however, he was much more impressed with Naomi than with hardware and software.

  “Can you find your way to your quarters?” she said. “We retire early here and rise with the sun.”

  “I can, but I’d rather not,” he said. “I think I need a guide just one more time, you know, being my first night here.”

  “I can find you one. Hold on.”

  “Naomi!” he said. “I’m kidding. Of course I can find it. I’d just rather you walked me there.”

  “In my cul—”

  “Inappropriate, of course. How about my walking you home?”

  “That would be acceptable and even chivalrous. My father is waiting for me, and it will be dark by the time I arrive. He will appreciate that I had an escort.”

  Like Abdullah, Naomi’s father tended a small fire outside their place. He was a tall, rotund man with a thick, curly beard. Chang approached shyly, took off his cap in the darkness, and bowed.

  “Chang Wong,” he said.

  Naomi’s father grasped him by the shoulders and pressed his right cheek to Chang’s, then his left. “Eleazar Tiberias,” he said with a great, deep voice. “Perhaps you know my lake.”

  Chang scratched his head and looked at Naomi, which seemed to bring no end of mirth to her and her father.

  “I have heard so much about you, young man,” the elder said.

  “I am grateful to you for looking after my daughter, and I look forward with great anticipation to getting to know you better.”

  Chang breathed deeply of the crisp night air on his way to his quarters. Abdullah’s fire was just smoldering now, and the smoke permeated Chang’s clothes. He felt so free, so happy, and so enamored that he was sure he would not be able to sleep. He knelt by his bed, hardly knowing what to pray. He tried to remember the verse Naomi quoted, but all he could come up with was “Great is Your faithfulness,” so he repeated that over and over as he climbed into the cot. Through the open window he stared at skies so clear he felt as if he could see every star in the universe. But after fewer than sixty seconds he saw nothing but Naomi in his dreams.

  ________

  Mac studied Rayford’s scribblings. “You copied every last word of this conversation, didn’t you?”

  “I didn’t know what else to do,” Rayford said. “Clearly the clue is in that Colorado business.”

  “What do you remember about it, Ray?”

  “It was so long ago, Mac. Just one of those summer things you do when the kids are little. Raymie wasn’t even born yet. It was just the three of us.”

  “Yeah, but after she tells you what to say to Buck and Kenny, she says something about this being her fault. And then the jogging stuff, she’s not serious about that, is she?”

  “Being thirty miles from home? Nah. Trying to mislead the GC, no doubt, but they’re not going to fall for that.”

  “She promises not to give anything away, and you know, I believe every word of that.”

  “Me too. They won’t get anything out of Chloe.”

  “So she says the trip was ‘so special and I wish everybody could go there again.’ But you say it was just the three of you.”

  “Right. So she, what, wants everybody in San Diego to go to Colorado?”

  “Can’t be,” Mac said. “She says herself she knows the GC is listening in. But she says her dream is that ‘we co
uld all go there right now, as soon as possible.’ Where did you go in Colorado, Ray?”

  Rayford shook his head. “I don’t remember. Where do you go there?”

  “Been there lots of times,” Mac said. “What cities were you in?”

  “Just the Springs and Denver, I think.”

  “You do the cog railway thing?”

  “Pikes Peak, sure.”

  “The place with all those big rock formations?”

  “Yeah, Garden of the Gods.”

  “That cowboy place, the ranch?”

  “Flying W, of course. Wouldn’t miss that.”

  “Air Force Academy?”

  “Drove by it but didn’t have time. We were going

  to a concert.”

  “Where?”

  “Outside of Denver. And it was outside too. Seemed like we climbed forever, and I had to carry Chloe. I was so out of breath at that altitude.”

  “Red Rocks?”

  “Yes! That was the place. Some country-music deal. Chloe loved it.”

  “You got it yet, Ray?”

  “Got what?”

  “What she’s trying to tell you.”

  “No, but apparently you do, Mac. Spill it.”

  “Red Rocks.”

  “That’s what I said.”

  “Um-hm.”

  “Oh! Petra! The GC is on to the safe house, and we’ve got to get those people out and to Petra.”

  ________

  In the morning Abdullah ushered Chang toward an area near where the elders’ council met daily. Fresh manna covered the ground all along the way, and many were out gathering their breakfasts. “I will not be joining you today,” Abdullah said, “as Miss Naomi has need of me in the computer center. She requests that you come and help when you are free as well.”

  “Is there a problem?”

  “I’m afraid there is.”

  Chang stopped. Abdullah sounded so sad, so ominous. “What is it?”

  “I’d rather not spoil your breakfast, Master Chang.”

  “It would spoil my breakfast? I am meeting with my heroes, and I am here where I can go where I please and do what I want, and still there is news that intrudes enough to ruin my day?”

  “Please hurry. Let us not be late.”

  “I need to know, Mr. Smith. Tell me it’s not Chloe Williams.”

  “She is alive for the moment, and except for the fact that the Global Community News Network is spreading the most heinous lies about her, everyone involved speculates that the GC will not execute her as long as they think they can get information from her.”