Jella and Jobie couldn't
believe their good fortune when they were awarded their diamond passes.
Few
people had the chance to travel on the cruiser which carried the elite Explorer
Corps across the galaxy to the mysterious worlds on its perimeter arms. Out
towards the void the skies were dark, spangled by distant stars, not ablaze
with the suns clustered near its centre.
Jella
and Jobie would return to a different home world, but that was expected.
Everything changed sooner or later... into what was a matter of choice. Jella
had chosen wings and Jobie wanted to communicate with the minds of other
creatures, however alien. When they came out of stasis after the long flight,
the transformations would be complete. No longer hatchlings
barely out of their eggs, the companions would be mature enough to
explore the weird and wonderful Cosmos. Educational mind transfer was all very
well, but there was nothing like the reality in all its unlikely manifestations
encountered by the Explorer Corps.
Jella
and Jobie belonged to a species who saw their destiny
amongst the stars. The idea of conquest was incomprehensible to them. They were
driven by the need to find other people inhabiting the galaxy, preferably the
friendlier ones, though the chance of encountering those that weren't made
belonging to the Explorer Corps all the more exciting, if not dangerous.
Jella
and Jobie performed the ritual of parting, an acknowledgement that they would
never meet up with those they knew in the same time cycle again.
Deep
inside the star cruiser’s stasis chamber the young travellers entered their
cubicles, thrilled to know that they would shed their juvenile bodies to emerge
as different people. While time virtually stood still for them, life on their
home world would proceed at its normal pace. Those they were leaving behind
would soon be greeting explorers who left thousands of years before, bringing
back knowledge of other worlds, many with populations now extinct.
When
Jella and Jobie reached their destination, a fraction of the age of their
companion hatchlings, they were trainee explorers with remarkable powers. Jella
was much taller to accommodate the large wings which lay folded against their
long back. With one flick they opened into gossamer curtains strong enough to
fly through a gale. Jobie was not so large, but with a brain many times its original size and eyes radiating the ability to see into
the thoughts of others.
Before
disembarking the companions were given their first comprehensive examination to
test their suitability for the Explorer Corps.
They
easily passed.
The
Universe now lay before them, or at least that small solar system protected by
a mysterious shell of cosmic matter. At its centre was a pretty planet
illuminated by a yellow sun. The world moved inside the orbit of three stately
gaseous giants, the largest banded and patterned by atmospheric storms.
This
mission would decide whether Jella and Jobie were true explorers.
Before
leaving they were required to recite the main principles of the Explorer Corps.
First
rule: - Do not reveal your true nature to less evolved species.
Second
rule: - If you do, ensure whoever sees you isn't believed. Take on a different
form if necessary. (To do this, refer to emergency manual.)
Third
rule: - If you aren't able to prevent a conflict - don't start one!
Being
inexperienced, Jella and Jobie were accompanied by a senior explorer, Collis,
who had the ability to become invisible, an invaluable asset to the Explorer
Corps.
Other
space travellers had visited this world, provoking endless conspiracy theories
about aliens amongst its inhabitants - most of them true. But, being an easily
alarmed species, their governments endeavoured to suppress the truth. This
evolving planet already had enough unrest and climate problems to deal with.
Some
intergalactic tourists who had attempted to make contact came to a sticky end,
so Collis decided to take Jella and Jobie to an island where a small religious
community had isolated themselves from this busy, easily panicked, world. Their
modest lives of contemplation and lack of electronic communication meant the
explorers would be safe enough if the recruits encountered a problem.
Collis
had already engaged in interesting conversations with their abbot whose
meditative state of mind accepted that he was talking to an invisible angel,
perhaps even the Metatron, the voice of God.
Despite
the environment of quiet contemplation there was malice in this place of
devotion. The old abbot had been overheard in conversation with Collis by a man
determined to usurp his position. He did not believe in angels and came to the
right conclusion.
The
monastery’s revered leader was communicating with a being from another world,
one who was not part of their God's creation. This senior monk contacted the
mainland authorities with a mobile phone secreted it in the niche of his cell.
When
Collis arrived with Jella and Jobie to see the abbot, the trap had already been
set.
Before
they levitated down to the monastery's courtyard where the abbot sat in
contemplation, Collis extended his cloak of invisibility to conceal his
companions. The holy man was delighted to have two more visitors, albeit
invisible, and conversed enthusiastically with them about planets he could only
imagine. The abbot was explaining how his benign view of existence shaped his
world when Jobie's empathic senses detected that something was wrong.
“We
must go now!” the young explorer warned.
But
it was too late.
The
monastery was already being overflown by fighter planes, cutting off escape to
the explorers' shuttle. The mother ship waiting for them above the atmosphere,
shielded from detection, could have easily swatted the primitive machines from
the sky, yet did not do so.
They
were the intruders.
The
senior monk who had alerted the authorities summoned the others of the order to
the courtyard. They surrounded the abbot and his visitors as troops landed
outside the monastery walls.
The
old man was devastated by this act of treachery by someone he had always
trusted. Jobie knew that it was pointless to try and remonstrate with the
traitor and instead planted a disturbing thought in the back of his mind, where
it would lay dormant to only betray itself at a crucial moment.
The
fighters overhead had broken the beam the explorers depended on to levitate
them back up to their shuttle, and it was too risky to bring the small craft
down.
There
was no escape.
“Drop
the invisibility shield,” said Jella.
Collis
was apprehensive, but obeyed.
The
courtyard was suddenly filled with the glory of a magnificent angel. The
astounded monks were dazzled by the huge, shimmering wings filling the
courtyard and reaching the chapel's roof.
They
watched in holy ecstasy as the heavenly visitor lifted its companions and
carried them heavenwards. As they ascended, Jobie infiltrated the thoughts of
the pilots in the fighter planes. They all felt unaccountably compelled to
return to base without seeing the miracle ascending towards them or launching
one missile.
The
beam was restored just in time, as the weight of Jella’s companions started to
pull them back to the ground.
Jella
and Jobie's resourceful thinking qualified them as full members of the Explorer
Corps.
After the visitation of the
angel the island became a place of pilgrimage, and the ambitious senior monk
who had betrayed the abbot left the order to take up politics. As he stood on
the verge of success, that thought Jobie had planted
in the back of his mind was triggered.
One
day he looked in the mirror and saw himself for what he really was.