Looking for the Garden of Eden

By Noemi Kitron

Two ET come to Earth to fulfill a mission. Jacob, of Biblical fame, witnesses their arrival and trakes them for angels.
He soon discovers his mistake.
The story follows closely, but not exactly, the Biblical narrative about Jacob. The complications, misunderstandings, intricate solution and denouement, are solely the fruit of my imagination.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Noemi Kitron
• Release date: Nov 21, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301900350

Noemi Kitron

I am a conference interpreter, but between one conference and the next one I found time to indulge my passion for writing. If you liked my book, you have more coming soon!

Book preview

Looking for the Garden of Eden

By

Noemi Kitron

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2013 by Noemi Kitron

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever, except for brief quotations for critical articles and reviews, without permission in writing.

This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. Thank you.

Table of Contents

Chapter I

Chapter II

Chapter III

Chapter IV

Chapter V

Chapter VI

Chapter VII

Chapter VIII

Chapter IX

Chapter X

Chapter XI

Chapter XII

Chapter XIII

Chapter XIV

Chapter XV

Chapter XVI

Chapter XVII

Chapter XVIII

Chapter XIX

Chapter XX

Chapter XXI

Chapter XXII

Chapter XXIII

Chapter I

I don't know where to start. I know I should start my story from the beginning, but I can't. I remember the beginning, but I don’t quite know what happened afterwards – there are too many gaps and hazy spots in my memories.

I was lying on my back, on something wet and slimy. I felt around, and only found more of the same slippery stuff. My head throbbed, and the pain in my ribcage was excruciating. I must have broken a rib or two. And I didn’t feel like opening my eyes and looking around - perhaps I was afraid of what I might find out. Well, of course I was afraid of what I might find out. Was I alone? Where were my companions? What had happened to me, and what had happened to them?

And mainly - why was everything so silent? Where was I? Why was I so cold?

Before I could figure out any of the answers, I lost consciousness again.

I woke up to find myself still lying on my back. My head throbbed and my ribs ached, only more so. Every breath I took was pure torture and I was thirsty, horribly thirsty. But my head was clearer, and I could see that the slimy stuff was clumps of weeds, and the strange smell was the smell of salt in the air mixed with rot. So I had reached the beach after all. But turn around I must, or else die there, on a beach, far from home, far from everybody and everything.

I gritted my teeth, squeezed the muscles of my buttocks and legs, took a deep breath, rolled over on my side and looked around.

It was the same barren, rocky moonscape. The light was getting dim, but I could see, against the horizon, the outline of a mountainous chain. The outline was grotesque, the colours unreal. The beach was strewn with debris, and the weeds on which I was lying were mixed with a kind of coarse, grainy sand that felt like the cold spit of a volcano.

Two of my former companions were within sight. That is, what was left of them. The sight of them was so sickening I retched, and had there been anything in my stomach to throw up, I would have done so despite the pain. Our shields had been of little use to them.

I had been relatively lucky, after all.

The silence became ominous. Even the lapping of the waves against the beach was barely more than a whisper. I would have given quite a bit to hear a sound, something to reassure me, to prove that the unreal landscape was not as threatening as it looked.

And then, as if granting my wish, there was a sound, very feeble in the beginning, but slowly getting stronger and more audible, and definitely coming my way.

The spaceship from Thermion was arriving, landing on the beach of Ortal exactly on time as usual, but too late for my companions, and maybe for me too.

I returned to work. The bones healed and the wounds were no more than sore spots, but what I felt inside was another story. I requested a long leave. I wanted to put some distance between me and what had happened on that beach on Ortal. Not to forget, but to soften the memory enough as to be able to sleep. The request was turned down, and no explanations were given.

But one day, as I was sitting at my desk and wondering what to do with the rest of my life, I was summoned to Sodar, the Head of the Cosmic Observation Services. The Chief. Although I had submitted my report of the failed mission, I had not seen him since my return, and judging by the smirk on the face of the colleague who gave me the message, I could expect nothing good from that summons. He would probably just take me to task, perhaps dismiss me. I didn’t really care.

Take a seat, he said by way of greeting. He remained standing. I didn’t dare tell him that I’d rather do the same. He was so much taller that I actually had to tilt my head back in order to look him in the face. So I sat down and gazed at the floor.

"It’s been a long time. How have you been?

Very funny. He knew exactly how I had been, even without reading my report, and I was sure he had read and digested every word of it.

Not too bad. I tried to keep the bitterness out of my voice.

He studied me. It was impossible to read his thoughts in his expression or in his eyes, but I could guess.

He kept silent for a long while. I wondered whether I should say something, and what. That silence! He was surely doing it on purpose. Then, How would you like to take a trip – perhaps a long one–

That was the last thing I expected, and I looked up, taken aback You mean… I stammered, You mean my request for leave has been approved?

The dark eyes fixed on me again. Sodar the Inscrutable. No, not leave. A mission. Very challenging. Your kind of thing exactly.

Ah, he was making fun of me. I could not match him on that level. This is an offer I cannot refuse, I smiled, just to show him that I had a sense of humour too.

I expected no less of you, he answered gravely.

Chief, I swallowed, and started again. Chief, please forgive me, but I think I have been punished enough. That the mission failed - that is certainly true. But five people paid with their lives, and I was saved by an undeserved miracle. And it was not our fault.

I know.

It was not our fault, I insisted. We were caught by surprise. They were expecting us. They knew we were coming. Intelligence and information failed before we did.

Since intelligence and information were part of Sodar’s brief, I was actually challenging him, putting the blame on him. Quite insolent of me, but I couldn’t help it. It simply welled up in me.

I have read your report. I also read the reports of the crew which took you there.

The ship crew? They knew nothing. We landed, our weapons were unloaded, the rest of the stuff was thrown after us, and they took off. As soon as the ship left and we were alone, we were attacked. We didn’t stand a chance. And you know what? When they came for us, they found me and what was left of the others no more than a few hundred cubits from our landing place. That is all we accomplished – a few hundred cubits inland, and five of us paid with their lives for that. The stuff you wanted was untouched. Someone else will have to bring it back.

I smelled the sand, and the rot, and the salt on the weeds. I saw what was left of my companions. I had actually been seeing them constantly, in all my nightmares.

And I smelled the scent that was so typical of Sodar's office, subtle and indefinable. It clashed with the smells that haunted my sleep. I lost all control, and went on, You will have to send another mission, and perhaps they'll be lucky enough not to get caught as soon as they land and their ship takes off.

There was a silence. And then Sodar smiled, and there was no irony nor malice in his smile.

Enko, he said, "Enko, why are you so defensive? Have I accused you of anything? Did I blame you for what happened in Ortal?

I gasped. I so desperately wanted him to understand. Blame, guilt, guilt. The words never stopped hammering in my brain. I was the head of team, right? Wonderful head of team, leading his men directly into an ambush.

Why do you feel so guilty, then? Because you survived, and they did not?

I did not answer. I suddenly understood. He was right, of course. I had nothing to blame myself for, but I had survived, and the others had not.

Nobody has made any accusation against you, he repeated, maybe because nobody thinks you are to blame. And in any case, those containers are not so important any more. We don’t really need them.

Wonderful. I felt like crying and laughing at the same time. Instead, I mumbled, That’s a relief.

I understand you are bitter. Don’t think I didn’t care - loss of life never leaves me cold. We needed the containers as proof that our dear neighbour Ortal was plotting against the Alliance. But their plans have meanwhile fallen apart – we may have had something to do with it, who knows - and proof is no longer relevant.

I listened. I could not believe my ears. Maybe I would be able to sleep that night.

Now pay attention, because what I have to tell you is a long story. We’ll start with where you are going – you are going to Earth.

Chapter II

Sodar spoke for a very long time. Dusk was falling when he finished. The glassy walls around us glowed with their inner light. I sat there, pinned to my seat.

Most of what he told me was not new to me. In fact, I had learned it at my mother's knee, literally. But he put things in a new and different perspective. His story began a long time ago, when my forefathers walked the Earth, and never dreamt of the strange events which would take them to another planet, distant and alien.

Part of the story is known even to Earthlings; part has been lost in the mists of time; some has been preserved in the chronicles of Thermion; and the rest has been distorted and twisted to such an extent, that it is no longer possible to tell fact from fiction and truth from legend.

The decisive event took place a mere thousand three hundred and fifty seven Earth years after the beginning, after the date Earthlings have set for their creation, or Genesis. One must remember that their time reckoning is different from ours: it would have been half as much by Thermion time, because as everybody knows, Thermion revolves around its sun at a different speed than Earth.

So, one thousand three hundred and fifty seven years after the creation of Earth, Thermion deviated slightly from its orbit and came a little closer to Earth. This was neither the first nor the last time it happened. It is certainly unusual, but not impossible; planets are drawn together and pulled apart. But never had there been such a converging of circumstance, time and place, and never were the consequences as significant for the history of both planets.

The event did not come as a total surprise. On Earth, the scholar Noah foresaw it and took steps to soften the blow. He correctly concluded that the convergence of the orbits of both planets would drastically change the face of Earth, triggering extremes of temperature and perhaps even floods that would cover the planet for weeks or months. He therefore built an ark, as large as he could manage, in order to save whatever could be saved.

Our scientists also predicted the impending catastrophe, and took the necessary steps. The difference in approach of the two planets was typical: while the Earthlings reacted with fear and attempts to salvage and rescue their own way of life, Thermion tried to make the most of this unique opportunity for study and research.

But unfortunately, there was no chance to do so. The planet which the Thermionians saw was entirely different from Earth as it used to be. The orbital deflection was even sharper than expected, and were it not for the presence of mind and sheer nerve of our people, the damage would have been immense – both planets would have collided and been blown to pieces. Scientists, always trying to work out new theories and hypotheses, have come to the conclusion that had this happened, a cloud of gas would have formed around each fragment, and a new galaxy would slowly have emerged, complete with its own suns and stars. Little comfort to those who would have perished in the collision.

However, there was little time for theories at the moment. When the collision was imminent, Thermion fired its rockets, or whatever it was that the scientists used at the time, and disaster was prevented - for Thermion.

On Earth, however, things were very different. Thermion’s vastly larger mass had destroyed the face of the planet. Not only had most of its inhabitants and its flora and fauna become extinct; not only had Thermion’s magnetic field changed the composition of metals and minerals on Earth; but even the Panagea, the mass of land that had existed since the dawn of time – since Genesis, if you wish – split up and divided into several continents. Where there had once been sea, there was now land, and where there had been land, the ocean ruled. The waters rose fifteen cubits above the Panagea; whatever could survive for a while in water lived – until its food supply ran out, and then it also perished.

The ruin and devastation defied description. As long as Earth remained within observation range, our stellar stations found remnants of what had once been a place teeming with life: uprooted masses of land, huge lumps of metal and whole mountains floated in the boundless sea. Bodies of people and animals were swept up in the current, and the dreadful darkness only heightened the sense of loss and despair. The Ark Noah had built seemed like a toy ship, bobbing on the crest of the waters. One can imagine what he must have felt – the cosmic darkness, the unremitting torrents of water, the doubts and the uncertainty – will it ever stop? How much punishment could this frail wooden box take? How long were the provisions going to last? Will they have to start eating each other?

Thermion immediately dispatched a fleet of ten spaceships. Two of them returned, bearing a dozen survivors. The remaining craft with their crews were lost in the cosmic night.

In the intervening centuries, the Earthlings who had found refuge in Thermion managed to grow and multiply. They became a great and populous race, totally assimilated in Thermionian society. There was no cultural, economic nor social difference between them and the original Thermionians.

But there had been little or no intermarriage, and they retained the physical appearance of Earthlings. And I was one of them.

And the Thermionians were quite obviously a different race.

Well? Sodar said. He had not remained standing while he delivered his lecture, but paced the floor, circling around me like a prowling animal ready to pounce. It made me very nervous. Well? he said. Are you beginning to understand why I want you to go back to Earth, the place of your ancestors?

Actually–

I’ll tell you then. Of course we are focused on the galaxy as it is now, not as it was in prehistoric times. But we have received some very odd information. There are rumours on Earth about another race living there. They talk about the Giants or Nephilim, for instance. Have you ever heard about them?

I shook my