What's Behind the Sun? A Science Fiction Tale of Hubris, Nemesis and Redemption

By Lincoln Beals

Come with me and visit the other earth that's hiding behind our sun with a game of 'What If?
What if...there was another planet revolving around our sun in the same orbit, but never seen because it's always exactly opposite our earth?
And, what if...that planet was populated by people created at the same time we were who resemble us physically, but because evil was never allowed in their world, they are loving and peaceful and have bodies that never decay? And, what if they have vast mutually-shared knowledge and skills that we can only dream of? And, what if...in their caring for their brothers and sisters here, on our earth, they keep watch care over us from their mother ship and occasionally send missions to our earth to prevent us from wantonly destroying ourselves?
And finally, what if...one of their people becomes a renegade with every intention of wiping out his home planet? What's Behind the Sun? takes you on a wild ride of hubris, nemesis and redemption.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lincoln Beals
• Release date: Apr 8, 2016
• ISBN: 9781310370793

Lincoln Beals

Lincoln has been told many times; “you should write a book.” But busy in his 40 year career as a psychotherapist, time and energy were not available. He is a graduate of Wheaton College in Illinois and the UCLA School of Social Welfare. He maintains state licensure as a Clinical Social Worker and as a Marriage and Family Therapist.Lincoln taught for seven years in the California State University system and four years at two California Community Colleges where he taught courses in substance abuse prevention and Native American wellness. He was a pre-licensure candidate examiner for ten years for the California Marriage and Family Therapist Examining Board. Lincoln was in private practice for 22 years and served in state mental hospitals, prisons and a Native American community clinic. He volunteered his services on the boards of directors of several community mental health and substance abuse treatment agencies, the California Society for Clinical Social Work and the Solano Partnership Against Violence.Most recently, Lincoln provided counseling to military members and their families on military installations in Alaska, Germany and California, where he won commendations and awards for his service.Now, in retirement, time and motivation are both available and with the help of mentors, support of his soul-mate wife and the grace of God, his first book of the Irish Odyssey series is complete.Lincoln is married and lives with his wife in Fairfield, California.

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What’s Behind the Sun?

A Science Fiction Tale of Hubris, Nemesis and Redemption

by Lincoln Beals

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2016 by Lincoln Beals

All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, (except for short quotations used expressly for reviews or classroom study) without express written permission of the publisher.

Caveat!

This novel is a work of science fiction fantasy. It relies on the great literary theme of the hero’s journey. Any references to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locations are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity and are used fictitiously and may be modified at the author’s discretion for advancement of the story. All scenes, characters, incidents and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and the use of real places and real people is entirely fictionalized.

Guardian angels and extra-terrestrials play an important role in What’s Behind the Sun. They appear in dreams, as apparitions, bodily forms and, as always, they are watching from the background.

Any errors or omissions are the sole responsibility of the author.

Edited by Nancy Beals, MMJC

Cover art iStock Getty Images

Also by Lincoln Beals

Three books of the Irish Odyssey series:

Take the High Road, an Irish Odyssey

On the High Seas, an Irish Odyssey

High Hopes and Dreams, an Irish Odyssey

For more information or to purchase a copy of Take the High Road or On the High Seas or High Hopes and Dreams go to http://lincolnbeals.com/.

Dedication

To my brother-in-law, Carl Lunsford, and all dreamers who hope and wonder about the possibility of sentient life somewhere else in the universe.

Table of Contents

Copyright

Also by Lincoln Beals

Dedication

Prologue: Birth of the Two Earths

Chapter 1 Trouble in Heaven

Chapter 2 Germany, Late Winter, 1945

Chapter 3 Ft. Bliss

Chapter 4 Renegade Alien, the Present Day

Chapter 5 University Village, UCLA, Graduate Student Housing, 1985

Chapter 6 The Present Day, Early March, Army Missile Base, Alaska

Chapter 7 The Call

Chapter 8 ‘E’ Ticket Ride

Chapter 9 Pentagon Entry

Chapter 10 New Mexico, High Desert, 1947

Chapter 11 The Sheriff and the Doctor

Chapter 12 Doctor Wright

Chapter 13 Back in the Pentagon, the Second Day

Chapter 14 Espionage, a Mole in the CIA

Chapter 15 New Mexico High Desert, 1947, Arrested

Chapter 16 Alice’s Mission

Chapter 17 Alice is Missing

Chapter 18 Reagan International Airport, Present Day

Chapter 19 Trouble Aboard

Chapter 20 Wind in the Face

Chapter 21 Surveillance, the Present Day

Chapter 22 Alamogordo Army Air Base, 1947

Chapter 23 The LBJ Space Center, Present Day

Chapter 24 Lecture Hall, Day 2

Chapter 25 On the Road, New Mexico, 1947

Chapter 26 Still on the Road, 1947

Chapter 27 Finding Miss Alice

Chapter 28 Greed

Chapter 29 The Other Man

Chapter 30 Change of Plan

Chapter 31 Rescued

Chapter 32 Cookies ’n Treats

Chapter 33 The Mother Ship

Chapter 34 Arrival on Eden, the Other Earth

Chapter 35 Visiting Eden

Chapter 36 A Perfect Spot

Chapter 37 The Master Teacher

Chapter 38 Exploring Eden

Chapter 39 Groom Lake

Chapter 40 Albert’s Hubris

Chapter 41 Albert’s Nemesis

Chapter 42 Back to Groom

Chapter 43 Return to Eden

Epilogue

Glossary

Acknowledgements

Further Reading

About the Author

Prologue

Birth of the Two Earths

Multiplied billions of years ago, a hot young star was born near the outer edge of a still-forming galaxy that we now call the ‘Milky Way.’ With its powerful gravitational field, over more billions of years, it gathered to itself space dust, asteroids, comets and other debris which was swirling and cascading, helter-skelter in the vast emptiness. Much of that dust and debris fell into orbits and began circling around the young faraway sun. After more billions of years, the dust and debris formed clumps with weak gravitational fields of their own and settled into orbits of their own around the sun. With thousands of wildly crisscrossing orbits forming around the massive sun’s much more powerful gravitation, collisions were inevitable and rampant. And each collision formed new and larger balls of gasses and solids that revolved in its own new orbit around the sun.

Astronomers have speculated that there must be another earth-like planet somewhere in the galaxy. But, no one ever, in their wildest imagination, even dreamed that it would so nearby.

Our proto-earth was then an enormous gas giant. It was gargantuan! It had settled into an orbit, roughly circular, somewhere in the neighborhood of the two young planets that we now recognize as Uranus and Neptune.

For more billions of years this young proto-earth was pummeled repeatedly by meteors, asteroids, comets and other celestial objects until it became so massive and heavy that its distant orbit began to erode as the hungry sun tugged it closer.

This proto-earth consisted mostly of churning gasses, but it had a heavy core of molten iron. Its voracious gravity field vacuumed up all sorts of space debris. In its new and slower orbit, its gravity gobbled up a nearby planet. The impact vaporized the icy surface of the attacking planet, turning its surface into swirling steaming vaporous clouds that were carried along by its heavy metal core which streaked, flaming, down through the gasses of the proto-earth and impacted on its iron core. The impact was so massive that the proto-earth exploded. It was knocked out of its orbit and broke into two enormous fireballs that went careening after each other, in a new orbit that took them both racing toward the sun. Some of the material, dislodged by the gigantic explosion, was captured by a young Saturn, forming its rings and moons. On clear nights, we can see this material as it orbits around its mother planet. And Jupiter gained a few moons from the massive explosion’s wreckage, as well.

If you had been watching and estimating the trajectory of these two immense remnants, you would have been certain that the sun, which was many times larger, would swallow them up. But, the gravitational pull of planets that they passed on their rush toward the sun, altered and slowed their course just enough, so that, when they reached a distance of about 93,000,000 miles from the sun, they slowed and their mass balanced with the sun’s gravitation and they fell into an orbit around it. The second part of the duo slowed first and began orbiting while the first part continued on around the sun in the same orbit, until reaching a spot exactly 180 degrees further on, where it fixed itself and remains to this day. Thus, two new planets were born, destined to revolve around the sun in the same orbit but exactly opposite each other. Three chunks of debris from the explosion followed the two new earths in their dash toward the sun. One of the remaining chunks became a single moon that revolved around its new planet and the two remaining chunks became the two moons that settled into orbit around the other planet.

Chapter 1

Trouble in Heaven

The Archangel, Lucifer, was enraged. He was an angel of light, one of God’s greatest created beings. He was created by God to serve Him perfectly and do His Divine bidding. But, because he was created with free will, he was able to object to God’s perfect plan. And that’s exactly what he did.

God was planning to create humans upon whom He could shower His love. They would be of a lower order than angels. Lucifer disagreed and was offended, suffering from wounded pride. Angels, like himself, served the Creator God. But humans, whom he considered to be beneath his high position as an archangel, NO WAY!

The all-knowing God was instantly aware of Lucifer’s pride, defiance, angst and rage. With the speed of a tremendous bolt of lightning, God tossed Lucifer and one-third of the angels out of heaven that Lucifer had persuaded to follow him.

Fallen Lucifer called out to God, not for mercy or repentance, but because he wanted to bargain with Him. He demanded, Hey,…look at me. I’m an archangel of light. I’m really not so bad. In fact, if you’d only give me a chance, I could prove to you that I deserve to be readmitted to heaven.

God loved Lucifer, so He listened to him. He lovingly said, "I created you with free will and as much as it grieves me to have you desert my Divine Will, Lucifer, I will give you this one chance to test whether or not you can function successfully outside of it. You will have My permission to control the new earth that I am creating, but only for one eon. You will be able to show Me whether you can manage the earth that I have created. You will be given permission to test the humans that I place on the earth under your control. If you are able to persuade them to defy my Will, like you have done, they will suffer greatly, but I will provide a way for them to reject you and come back to Me.

"I have created another earth, similar in every way to the earth that I am allowing you to control and I will place humans on that earth, too. You will not be able to tempt them because I will shield them from you and they will demonstrate the peace, beauty and joy of lives lived completely in My Divine Will. But now, you have chosen to follow your own will in total disregard of My Divine Will. Your pride and jealousy have blinded you.

All was harmonious when you and your followers lived only to do and to be in my Divine Will. Repent now of your self-absorbed and arrogant ways and you will be forgiven before any more harm is done. On the other hand, if you refuse, you will end up spending forever separated from My presence. You and your cadre of angels will be cast into outer darkness. You will be swallowed up in a ‘black hole.’ I will give you only this one warning.

Lucifer, stripped of his angelic glory and blinded by his self-importance, refused.

God said, Go now! And take your demons with you.

Lucifer, now known as Satan or the Devil, departed from the presence of God. He was unrepentant and convinced that he was more than an equal with God and that he would be a better ruler of the earth and eventually, even the whole universe. He roamed the earth trying to convince humans that they, too, had no need to serve their Creator and live in His Divine Will. His lie was that they were too intelligent to need help of any kind from God.

As he sulked away, his thought was, ‘I’ll show you!…I’ll gather the humans to myself…They’ll be glad to follow me and my angels…The war is on…They won’t see me, but I’ll be everywhere.’

Chapter 2

Germany, Late Winter, 1945

Chaos reigned. It seemed as though the eastern front countryside was crawling with millions of ants. But they weren’t ants. They were humans. Frozen wagon tracks in the snow that passed as roads were lined with the bodies of the dead and dying, military and civilians alike.

The skies above thundered and roared with the engines of Allied bombers and fighters punishing the Nazi war machine and sadly, inflicting collateral damage on civilians and their cities, factories, homes and farms.

Millions were dead and even more millions had lost their homes. The displaced persons, who were still strong enough, wandered about the frozen war-ravaged countryside seeking food and shelter. They were ordinary citizens caught in the massive Nazi retreat. They were fleeing westward, barely ahead of the advancing Red Army that was intent on exacting its final revenge on the Nazi regime by eventually laying waste to Germany’s greatest city: Berlin. And from the west the allies, after the Nazi’s terrible siege on Bastogne, were fighting their way eastward squeezing the last gasp, the last ounce of will to fight out of the Third Reich.

The Allies relentlessly bombed Peenemünde, on the Baltic Sea, the V-2 rocket research and development center. In mid-January, their director, Wernher von Braun, concerned for the safety of his team of engineers and scientists and in order to avoid his team falling into the hands of the advancing Soviet engine of revenge, decided to abandon Peenemünde and move his team south, to a safer location.

* * *

From high above Peenemünde, a small space module hovered silently and invisibly. It was from Eden, the other earth, and it was piloted by a man from Eden, named All-Bright. He was tracking the feverish activities going on below and reporting back to the leader in the mother ship that was poised, invisible in space, much further above.

The people of Eden were motivated only by God’s love, nothing else. They were of one mind. They were seriously concerned for the fate of the earthlings. Their earthly brothers far below seemed to have lost control of themselves and were killing each other wholesale as they waged a horrific war. Eden’s people did not intervene, except indirectly, to slow the carnage by causing test failures of new equipment and to sow dissension and doubt among earth’s scientific teams, thus delaying new weapons development.

Eden’s people feared that if the carnage continued much longer, all of earth’s people would be wiped out. Their modules maintained surveillance over many locations around the earth, including southern New Mexico, USA, where another secret weapon of mass destruction was in the works and plans were being made to unleash its nuclear devastation. The stage was being set for global annihilation. The people of Eden watched in horror and waited.

For Eden’s people, All-Bright was monitoring the development of horrific rockets at Peenemünde, which, already, had proven themselves capable of mass destruction. Day after day and night after night, All-Bright watched. One day, he noticed heightened activity at the railhead and on the roads within the compound. Peenemünde was being packed up and shut down. Trucks and railroad cars were being loaded with tons of equipment. All-Bright watched as the convoys left Peenemünde and headed south. He watched as the trains and truck caravans disappeared into tunnels in the ground at a place called Mittelwerk. Then, after a few days, a smaller exodus of autos left Mittelwerk and continued further south ending up in the foothills of the Alps at Oberammergau.

He continued his surveillance from far above. All-Bright, himself, and the rest of the Eden community agreed that he should continue his mission even after the Nazi rocket scientists had surrendered to the Americans. His chance came after the scientists came under the control of the Americans in early May, 1945. All-Bright arranged for his space module to be returned to the mother ship. He landed, disembarked and watched, as it, controlled from the mother ship, rose up into the clouds and disappeared. He hid in the forest near where the Nazi scientists were housed by the Allies. And at his first opportunity, he mingled with the rocket scientists as they lined up to be processed by the U.S. OSS, which was the forerunner of the CIA.

It was not unusual that none of the German scientists knew him. Neither was it unusual that none of them questioned him about his part in the development of the V-2 rocket. The project was very secretive and many of the team members worked at different locations and had not known each other. It was easy for him to pose as one of the German engineers. He spoke regional German idiomatically and flawlessly. And, like every person from Eden, he maintained vast technical knowledge and even all other knowledge, as well. He was able to pass for a German rocket scientist with ease. When asked by the American sergeant, he gave his name as ‘Albert Bright.’ With no questions asked or verification of ID, he was given forged papers by the OSS allowing him to travel along with the whole von Braun team. They were relocated, en masse, to the United States to continue designing inter-continental ballistic missiles.

All-Bright became an alien from the other earth living among us.

Chapter 3

Ft. Bliss

Once Albert and the former Nazi rocket scientists, chemists and engineers set foot on U.S. soil, one might surmise that they were home free. But, that wasn’t the case. While their specialties and their potential usefulness to the United States Government was being evaluated, the rocket scientists, along with Albert, were sequestered at Ft. Bliss, Texas, some of them for up to five years. For Albert, who had never mingled with earth people, those years were lonely, but not entirely wasted. The former Nazi scientists treated him with suspicion. He was excluded from their ‘Stammtisch’ reserved supper tables and other socializing. When they talked among themselves, no one claimed to have known him in Germany. One of the scientists remarked, He has a certain charisma, but I can’t exactly put my finger on what it is. Another chimed in, Yes, and he has the sharpest mind I’ve ever known. But being polite Germans, they were formal to his face and did not ask him questions about his past. Their final consensus was that he had worked alone on some kind of highly secret project. Once they had placed him in their imaginary category, the matter was dropped. It was sufficient that they left him alone and he left them alone, as well.

He observed and studied the scientists and he discovered a quality in them that was new to him, but seemed to be shared by all humans on this earth. They were all competitive with each other. He didn’t know the term, but he soon saw the effects. He watched as a hierarchy, a sort of ‘pecking order’ developed, with the brightest and most aggressive rising to the top. He noted that some of the scientists formed small exclusive cliques which shared information in order to propel themselves to the top in a small exclusive group. Their payoff was to be awarded the most prestigious and lucrative jobs. Some of the German scientists and engineers were offered plum positions at the new Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. It was of greatest interest to Albert that those men had won their positions through competition, subtle, nevertheless, and, at times, even vicious. He compared them to a pack of wolves snarling and jostling for the best parts of the body of their prey.

Albert considered himself far advanced in every way when compared to his new colleagues. And, the truth was, he was right. He didn’t care a whit about becoming friends with any of them, but he was fascinated by the way they set up a pecking order and battled for recognition and position. He felt an emotion that was new to him: envy. Day and night it consumed him down to his bones, but, as a citizen of Eden, he was not able to act on it. He craved the chance to join the competition and demonstrate his superiority. He wanted in on the game.

He usually slept well, but one night was different. He tossed and turned in his bed and lay awake well past midnight plotting and planning how to become part of their competitive game. For the first time in his long life he wanted to compete. Here, on this earth, things were so different from Eden. There, everyone was perfectly tuned in to their Creator God and through their connection to Him they were lovingly connected to each other. Wanting and doing His perfect Will eliminated self-will and competition. Everyone already had all of God’s gifts and were absolutely happy. Competition didn’t exist. For the first time, he thought in terms of wanting to excel above his peers, to get what he wanted, to be recognized as the best, to have more and be more. He knew that he was better than any human and he wanted to be rewarded for his knowledge and skills. He hungered for power and recognition. He wanted to be a leader. These thoughts tortured his brain, until exhausted, he finally fell asleep.

He dreamt of being back home on the Eden where he was safe and part of the one big family. In his dream, he was standing on a grassy hillside behind the compound where his family lived. He felt the soft breeze on his face and savored the peaceful panorama spread out before him. But something about the scene was different from what he remembered of his home. It seemed artificial, unreal, too bright, larger than life.

A handsome young man walked up behind him and stood at his side admiring the scene with him. The young man spoke in his language. You want more, don’t you? You already have vast stores of knowledge. Your body is ageless. You won’t ever appear any older. You are part of a community of like-minded people. What more could you ever want?

Before he had a chance to answer, the young man continued, "I know what you want. You want power! You want to compete with others and gain power over them because you are better than they are. Just think how you would be, having infinite knowledge, an ageless body and the power I have to give to you, too. Add what you already have to the power I’ll give you and you’ll be unstoppable. You’ll rise to the top. You’ll rule the world. It’ll be yours for the taking.

That’s my offer.

The young man turned his back on Albert and surveyed the panorama spread out below.

The man’s offer intrigued Albert, but part of him doubted. After a time, his curiosity got the better of him and he said, Am I dreaming?…You’re too good to be true…Who are you, anyway? I don’t know you…You just came out of nowhere…Do you have a name?

The young man replied, his voice soothing, smoother than silk, but carrying a mocking tone. "Of course. My name is Lucifer.

"Think about it. I’ll check in with you tomorrow. I hope you’ll have made up your mind. My offer won’t last forever.

Oh, by the way, once you decide, one way or the other, you can’t change your mind. There’s no turning back. You’ll live and die with whatever decision you make.

The young man disappeared and the dream ended. In the morning and the whole following day, Albert was obsessed with the thought of having unlimited power along with the knowledge he already possessed.

The next night his dreams were filled with images of power and glory, of ascendancy to lofty regions of authority over vast armies and nations. Toward morning, his dreaming changed, it became more vivid. He was transported to the edge of a precipice. It appeared to be the edge of a volcanic caldera. He trembled as he peered down through the acrid smoke that choked him as it drifted up from the pit below. It seemed as though there was a roiling lake of fire in the pit, but he couldn’t be sure because the noxious smoke obscured his vision. Heat boiling up from below was hot enough to singe his eyebrows. The dream troubled him so much that it shocked him into wakefulness. He sat up in his bed, shaking and chilled by a cold sweat.

In the morning and throughout the following day, the intensity of his dream haunted him. But, nevertheless, the discomforting dream didn’t shake his craving for power offered him by Lucifer. What was worse was that the single-mindedness of the Divine Will shared by all Eden’s people had deserted him. In his anguish, his soul cried out, Dear God, what am I to do? Help me!

He fell into a trance-like state and the answer came from God through his whole Eden family that spoke to his heart with a single voice. It’s not too late. Come back. On the earth where you are now you are not protected from the wiles and lies of Satan. Don’t give in to his temptations. Abandon vanity and ambition. We plead with you, come home.

Then, the sweet voice of the young man from his dream of two days ago drowned out the voices of his great Eden family. A sarcastic note was in his voice as he whispered in Albert’s ear, You and I, together, are stronger than everyone on that Eden that you called home. What do they know? They’ve surrendered their power and authority to their Creator God. Here and now, if you accept my offer you will be powerful. You, yourself, will be like God. Think about it: you’ll be a god on your own terms.

Albert, pondered his choices for a short moment, then, throwing caution to the winds, said, OK, Lucifer, let’s get on with it. Give me power. I can’t wait. I want to rule the world.

In a split second, Albert’s body changed. The garment of light that he wore disappeared and he was standing in his room, naked. Other changes were more subtle, but noticeably, his translucent, halo-like, glow was gone, too. He hadn’t paid any attention to the robe and slippers that came with his room, because he could morph his light garment to appear as whatever clothing he desired. But now, in his shame, he scurried to his closet and wrapped himself in the white, terry cloth robe.

His contact with the people of Eden was summarily cut off. He sat on the edge of his bed with his head in his hands. He felt tiny, isolated and alone. He screamed, What, in hell, have I done to myself? A tiny far-off voice in his head said, ‘You got that right, mister. You made your choice. Now live with it.’

He cried aloud, Mister Lucifer, help me. You didn’t tell me I’d lose my knowledge and wisdom. You never told me that I’d be like an ordinary human.

Sorry, son. I’m finished with you. My bargain was to make you powerful. That, I’ve done. You have power over men and over this earth. Now you’re on your own. Don’t bother me again. You won’t hear from me again until you’re dying and I come for your soul. And as far as I’m concerned, the sooner, the better.

* * *

Albert immediately noticed a significant change in how the German and the American scientists treated him. They went out of their ways to favor him with great deference and respect. He began to be recognized as an authority in clandestine spying and intel gathering. His rise was nothing short of meteoric. He was placed on a fast track in the newly formed CIA. His leadership was recognized by the Company and even heads of state around the world. His decisions were always accepted and he was treated with near reverence by colleagues and enemies alike. He seemed to be invincible. People believed his lies and his cunning, beguiling ways opened doors propelling him swiftly and dramatically up the ladder of success. His security clearance was the highest ever given. No charges made against him or efforts to discredit him ever stuck. He rose to the ‘top of his game’ and, among other things, was placed in charge of very secret Government investigations of everything having to do with UFO sightings. No one disputed the spin that he placed on the myriad stories of UFO sightings. He was instrumental in diverting the public’s suspicion that these sightings could be real. He even invented a few stories of his own that he was able to easily show as having no validity. And from these debunked stories, it was simple to add stories of real UFO events and label them as fictitious, too.

But, none of this made him happy. Anger and resentment boiled dangerously in his heart and mind. He wanted revenge. One would think that he would have focused his anger on Satan because he was the one who lied to him. He was the one whose lies caused him to be stripped of the gifts and graces that had been his birthright. But no, he raged against God, his Creator. In order to carry out his revenge, he vowed to destroy the people of his home planet who were committed to the Creator God’s Divine Will. To effect revenge, he planned and schemed on how to invade and enslave the population and strip the planet of its resources. He would destroy their peace and harmony, just as his had been destroyed. He would reduce Eden to death and ashes. This is how he would use the power given to him by Satan. All he needed to make his plan a reality was the technology to build space vehicles able to travel to Eden and return to this earth. He was confident that, if he were patient, one day, the technology would be his. Yes, he was powerful. But his vast powers did not satisfy.

He had morphed into a renegade