The Star Series: Book Two of Seven

By Vincent Havelund

There are many people living on Earth who have come from a distant planet called Orbseyand others who have come home. The price for the return trip was all memory of their time on Orbsey, but even their technology cant fully eradicate all memories. So many experience small glimpses of what could be a dream of their past lives on an alien world, but they are afraid to speak of them, for fear of being ridiculed. But the hidden burden of their experience cannot be denied.

Stolen from Earth and forced to serve on Orbsey for at least five years, these lost children of humanity struggle to rebuild their lives upon their return to Mother Earth. Taken for research purposes, they were the subjects of Orbsien studies on the very human predilection for violence. But despite the methodology, the motives were noble: the scientists of Orbsey want to find the cure for violence. But two thousand years of observation and research have failed.

Now, two Orbsien students have been given a grant to travel back in time to do a full-time study on Earth. These young aliens take human wives and settle into Earth culture. When they devise a plan to return to Orbsey with their wives, their plans become complicated by temporal issues: can these women from Earths past adjust to life in its presentlet alone the future on Orbsey?

T

hese students risk it all in the name of loveproving that some things are universal after all.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Apr 27, 2012
• ISBN: 9781469745244

Vincent Havelund

Vincent Havelund has worked in the financial industry around the world. For five years, he served as a church-sponsored missionary in America. His lifelong interest in the possibility of intelligent extraterrestrial life inspires his fiction. Now retired and living in Australia, he has grown children and sixteen grandchildren.

Book preview

Chapter 1/

The study of planet Earth

Planet earth: The two first students had made all arrangements to travel to earth, and their families had gathered at the space terminal to bid them farewell. There were general scenes of goodwill, but their parents were fairly emotional although they were confident their sons would be safe on earth. After all they were descended from the original settler to Orbsey, and there were still lots of family connections on earth should they be needed? The inter action between the two planets had been extensive for almost two thousand years, and earth was still protected by Orbsey, the only ones that knew that though were the Kauri tree spirits in New Zealand’s far North.

The two men were very excited and couldn’t wait to leave! The journey to earth had become well travelled over the centuries; many Orbseyns with relations were living there, or just tourists wanting to have the personal experience of spending time within an ancient, to them culture. The actual travel time had been reduced to four days, including the time spent in the terminals. The unloading time on Earth was very quick, because there were no terminals and all passengers had to beam themselves down to the planet’s surface. On arrival they would then be able to beam themselves to where ever they wanted to go. The students had agreed they would first go to New Zealand and introduce themselves to the Kauri spirits, and then move back to the first century AD; and begin their studies from the time of Julius Caesar and the Roman conquest of Egypt

The students had been taught just what they had to do, from instructions left by their ancestress, when they went to visit the Kauri Trees. There was nothing in the instructions however about producing gold; obviously she didn’t want the trees to be harassed by Orbseyns; only wanting to produce and take away gold. This had been one of the final guarantees she had given to the tree spirits on her last visit to earth to say goodbye.

On their arrival and after their five full days of tiring interplanetary travel, the men decided to rest under the shade of the trees for a few hours; then they would try to start up a dialogue with the tree spirits. The tree spirits on seeing them asleep realized they were descendants of Li and Orlos, so over two hundred of them gathered around the sleeping visitors, and waited for them to awake. A few females spirits who had the image of Li ingrained within their systems, manifested themselves and waited. Their images were exactly like Li when she had first come to visit as a young woman, they were breath takingly beautiful.

The two men finally awoke and were much surprised to see their visitors and to hear the spirits talking and laughing among themselves. The students understood every word, but to make them feel more comfortable the spirits because the two were now awake; switched to the Orbseyn language.

The students could see the spirits that looked like their ancestor when young and were astounded, Gosh! We didn’t know our ancestor was so beautiful, they said after the spirits explained who they were images of.

The spirits decided that only fifty of them who had known Li and Orlos very well, would manifest because there was just so many of them; they realized the students would only become confused.

Instantly there were fifty manifested spirits standing in front of the students, but there was none that imaged Orlos; because they could only hold in their memories, Earthlings. The students stayed for a week while the spirits told them their own spirit history, but also that of the student’s ancestors! There were many wonderful stories, and they could both visualize their first reports, which would be about this period of time spent with the spirits. Some of the spirits said they had been to Orbsey at Li’s request for help, and it had been a wonderful experience.

The tree spirits explained they had been around for many millions of years, and like their ancestors; the young men if they ever needed help they should contact the tree spirits at any time. Several reference names were given for spirits that had been around before Julius Caesar was in his prime, and the younger spirits would be around in the future to help if needed. In other words throughout the entire period the students were going to travel on earth, they had friends among the spirits of the Kauri trees.

The Spirits said this is the advantage of living for over 3,000 years; we will always be here as helpers or advisors to you both.

Chapter 2/

Julius Caesar & Cleopatra

The students now bid farewell to their spirit friends, they had decided their next move into the past would be Rome. Within five minutes they had found themselves in Rome, and what a shock they got. The city was swarming with poor people trying to make a living; all of the best men were enlisted in the Legions of either Julius Caesar or his rival Pompeii.

There were three classes in Roman society, the very wealthy, the middle class or the very poor, but in all classes most of the eligible men were in the military. The two students arrived in Rome in Dec 76 BCE; and after spending time studying the local conditions, which ranged from the elegance of the area of wealth with the mansions and luxurious life styles, to the areas of the traders and leaders in the military. The dominant area occupied by the poor was really unimaginable, and were seen as an area to live in but unfit for human beings!

They next went to Egypt to meet up with Caesars legions before they defeated Ptolemy’s, Caesars rival, none-descript army. The rulers of Egypt the Ptolemy’s were direct descendants of one of ‘Alexander the Greats’ Generals from his all conquering armies. Egypt had eventually been ceded to General Ptolemy, after Alexander’s death and his descendants had been rulers there for several hundred years.

The Pharaoh a wimpish looking fellow dressed in the finery of his class, and hoping to gain favour with Julius Caesar had the head of Pompeii in a casket preserved with salt, which he had one of his servants present to Caesar. Instead of being pleased Caesar was angry, and had made his feelings very clear to the Egyptian ruler.

The two students were present in the crowd when Pompeii’s head was pulled out of its casket and presented to Caesar one of them was immediately sick, he was throwing up and almost fainted. People standing around where astonished why they asked was this fellow so affected by the sight of a man’s severed head? Perhaps these two are evil spirits or God’s they said among themselves, we must be very careful of them. Let’s not give them a chance to act against us; in fact perhaps we should honor them just in case.

To the astonishment of the students when the sickly one Ebor had fully recovered, they were being prayed to by a big group of Egyptians, and being asked for a god’s blessings. The student named Euno’s held out his arms, and dramatically said, We both bless you my children, your crops will be good this year and your families will flourish. If you would all like to come back tomorrow we will give you an accurate forecast of your coming near future. ‘There was a cheer from the large crowd as they all agreed to come back the next day to hear what the future held, then they all dropped onto their knees and continued their praying with a renewed vigour’.

When they were finally alone the student Ebor asked, how are we to tell these people tomorrow just how their near future will be we aren’t fortune tellers, well at least I am not so blessed?

Why it’s very easy we simply go forward say twelve months, and check out what is going to happen in the future for them, then we return to them and tell them the exact truth; they will be delighted. It’s sad we cannot stay longer to see them when our predictions come true, we will have to move on but they will be so happy and looking for us to tell them more of their future, Euno’s said with a smile.

‘They both transported themselves into the future by one year and much to their delight the year ahead were very good. The river Nile would flood its banks and bring a rich top soil to the farmer’s paddocks, and the families would be strong and healthy’

The next day when they returned there was a ‘bigger crowd waiting for them, all very happy convinced that they had found two living God’s. The students were able to speak fluent Egyptian, and had changed their appearance to appear as if they were well dressed local people, all quite feasible for gods in the people’s eyes.

Euno’s because he was the more vocal of the two prepared himself to address the crowd. We have just travelled into the future for the coming season and can now fully confirm what we told you all yesterday, there is a time of prosperity ahead for you all, but we also have bad news we must tell you of so you can all be warned. The Romans are going to defeat the armies of your leader Ptolemy and he will be killed during the battle. The leader of the Romans will confirm Queen Cleopatra on the throne by herself, and she will bear that leader a son who will be named Caesarean. What we have told you is true because we have actually seen it all, what we here tell you will come to pass. We cannot tell you further into your future because we have only looked at the next twelve months.

The crowd had got bigger and bigger as Euno’s spoke, ‘hail to our new gods they all shouted we believe you both and will be well prepared for the future’. We all believe that eventually the Greeks (Ptolemy’s) will be deposed by the Romans, but one day all of these foreigners will be gone, and we will have our own land with an Egyptian Pharaoh on the throne.

Suddenly out of the milling crowd three hard looking men stepped forward, they were all burly and moderately dressed and spoke with the local dialect, perhaps you should have looked into your own future, we now arrest you as spies inciting the people and filling them with false hope. We are servants to the Roman military, and we intend to take you before our Caesar so he can personally punish you both. My prediction is you will both be executed as enemies of the State, and we will receive a big bonus, hows that for prophecy? the speaker said with a laugh.

The man after having finished speaking, arrested the two students went with them, and the next day went before Caesar, who with Cleopatra; was judging those who had been arrested for various misdemeanours. Caesar was in full military dress and looked every bit the great man for many roles in life that he was. Cleopatra was looking stunning as always, in one of her elegant gowns, she wore little makeup but a large amount of precious jewellery adorned her dress; so that she looked like an image of sensuous beauty. It was obvious that Caesar was captivated by the Queen as he involved her in all decisions; even though she had little real authority. Looking at the imperial couple the two students were suddenly over come with nerves, not for their own safety that was never a risk? They could leave anytime, but they now realized that the spies had more to lose than they did; when and if they had to leave abruptly left by the simple changing of their time zone, their accusers would be left in a very difficult position.

The speaker for the three spies stepped forward and reported what they had heard, then having fully explained the charge and embellishing their story somewhat, he stepped back expecting to be congratulated for being so supportive of the Roman’s, and to be told how much they would get as a cash reward. Sadly for them the words of Caesar; after a private discussion with Cleopatra weren’t good for them at all, really they were disastrous?

We should have the three of you flogged for stupidity; there is nothing wrong with what these two men have said in fact in my opinion most of it if not all will come true, I like the idea of a son by your queen. Now release the prisoners and send them forward to talk to us privately, then get out before I change my mind and hand you over to my guards to be given fifty lashes, Caesar said in a calm voice.

Their accusers having been so chastised left the court in bemusement, We have offended our Queen and the leader of the Romans, this is a bad day for us because we have judged badly.

Euno’s and Ebor stepped forward as Caesar had instructed and stood quietly before both of the Rulers.

I believe most of what you have said will come true, now predict what will happen between Queen Cleopatra and myself, Caesar said with an enigmatic smile, that seemed to say speak openly we want to know.

We have seen both you and the Queen back in Rome with a baby son carried by her majesty, and we see you declaring patrimony of that little boy, said Euno’s with a smile while Ebor just nodded his head. Both of the students had no fear because they knew that at any time they could leave simply by using their time travel device.

That is wonderful you will be fully rewarded if and when you are right, and if you are; come to me in Rome and I shall reward you both generously.

After they left the students agreed they would be back in Rome the day before Queen Cleopatra made her grand entry to Rome with Caesar’s son. They weren’t interested in the gold they didn’t know how it would affect their future as yet, but they wanted to watch the spectacle live

Chapter 3/

Love comes to Eunos

Both Ebor and Euno’s knew they couldn’t change anything past or future, this saddened them because they couldn’t warn Caesar of his coming assassination, but they knew everything they had predicted was accurate, because they had travelled in all the relevant time zones to check their facts.

Eunos had met and fallen in love with a lovely Spanish Jewish girl; and she had told him she loved him passionately in return. He was trying to get around to telling her they were aliens, but he didn’t know how because they couldn’t afford to break the terms of their contract with the Orbseyn govt. He knew he must find a way to confirm his love for her or else she may move on and leave him, and to him the idea of such a loss had become unthinkable.

They had met on a beach in Spain, when they were both just strolling for exercise purposes they had nodded a greeting to each other in passing, but there had been no conversation between them. Eunos had felt a twinge of excitement from his first sight of the girl he thought she was the most beautiful he had ever seen. She had also felt an attraction to this handsome well dressed man, even though as a Jewess she was wrong to feel as she did?

They both went back to exercise at the same time the following day, and Eunos plucked up the courage to say hello. Sarah the girl had reacted in a positive manner immediately, so they had both stopped and started a conversation. After that they had met on several consecutive days; Sarah explained to him her parents were strict Orthodox Jews, and that any friendship between them would be strenuously opposed. Eunos was at first bewildered by the problem, but was willing to do anything to ensure his friendship with Sarah could be developed, and hopefully expanded.

Eunos had been introduced to Sarah’s parents, and as expected they had objected to him strongly, as a partner for their daughter because he wasn’t a Jew! Sarah being very strong willed had rejected her parent’s control; and insisted that Eunos was going to be her partner for life. Two weeks after the confrontation Sarah’s parents introduced her to an eligible Jewish bachelor, who they wanted her to marry! The suitor was twenty years older than Sarah, very handsome and wealthy; she had found him attractive, but her heart still longed for Eunos so she rejected her parent’s choice, although for a brief moment she had been tempted to accept.

The two young lovers then proceeded to break all of the traditions of both families by making love before marriage, it was debatable which one had initiated the first contact, but that was irrelevant very quickly. Both had defied their families, but Eunos wasn’t going to divulge his misdemeanour

Sarah’s parents who were unaware of the position the lovers were in, and were still trying to pair her off to several eligible Jewish bachelors, but she was now too involved, and there was no chance she would change her mind. Eunos was totally committed to his love, and nothing could change his mind either, so the solution being dreamed of by Sarah’s very correct parents was out of reach now, in the eyes of God, and themselves they were married.

When they found out the position the young couple was in it was much to Sarah’s parent’s deep distress, but she had made up her mind and nothing anybody said or did was going to change that. Eunos had decided in his own mind that if necessary he would agree to live in Spain, but Sarah because she was now estranged from her parents didn’t seem to care where they lived, just as long as they were together.

Eunos after much discussion with his Cousin Ebor had decided he would tell Sarah he was from a society that had pioneered time travel. But because he was under contract for seven years he couldn’t tell her the details until the contract expired; Sarah was delighted at the prospects of seeing the future, but being a very pragmatic Jewess, accepted she had to wait almost seven years to know the full details. She trusted Eunos so completely she asked no more questions of him accept ‘when are we going to get married’? This was most important to her and she insisted they must formalize their relationship.

There are no restrictions in my contract against marriage, so we can do that just as soon as you want to, but we cannot have babies until we return to my home, that’s if you still want to go through one of our simple ceremonies, Eunos said with an encouraging smile.

Of course I will want to marry you again; since I have been rejected now by my family I am no longer a nice Jewish girl, so none of my race would marry me and my parents would never bless me. So for us there are no alternatives; marry me here you must; then I will marry you again after the seven years are up, Sarah said with a brilliant smile. At the same time she was sad because she knew her parents were unhappy with what she was doing, and would no doubt refuse to recognize the marriage", but she didn’t tell Eunos what she was thinking?

Neither of Sarah’s parents attended their small wedding, but the young couple were so engrossed with each other they neither cared nor noticed. They were married in a small civil ceremony; the bride was radiant and more beautiful than ever, but sorry they had to miss the traditional Jewish ceremony, and later celebrations. Eunos looked handsome and extremely proud of his bride, but sadly there was only twelve guests including Ebor to see them off. Had all those present known where they were going for their honeymoon (into the future), none except Ebor would have been there.

After the ceremony the newlyweds left on their first trip together into the future within a few minutes they had been whisked into Egypt in the year 70 AD. Both enjoyed the sights then Eunos knowing that the Jewish temple in Jerusalem would soon be destroyed by the Roman’s they went there for a guided tour. What a dazzling experience it was for Sarah; they were able to enter the outer sanctum of the temple because she was a Jewess.

It was in the holy land they experienced their first disaster! One day while sightseeing, and not being careful enough, they were suddenly accosted by Egyptian rebels. Before Eunos could get a hold of Sarah’s hand so they could escape by going into a different time zone, one of the rebels had grabbed her, and with a laugh hauled her onto his horse; in front of himself and galloped off with her.

The leader of the rebels then demanded a large ransom for Sarah’s safe return! He threatened that unless Eunos paid the ransom he would hand Sarah over to his gang; and after they had finished she would be killed. Eunos was terrified for his wife’s safety, but didn’t know what to do because he couldn’t see how he could raise the money to get her released, unless he made contact with; and asked his parents in Orbsey for help.

The newlyweds had been mistaken for wealthy citizens of Rome, because they were obviously on holiday well dressed happy and gay! The more Eunos tried to convince them that they had no money, the more their captors insisted they must have money! When Eunos said he would go and get the ransom money, but first they must let him see his wife and kiss her goodbye, because he wanted to reassure them he could get the money quite quickly. If they didn’t let them say goodbye he wouldn’t be able to get the ransom, because his wife could instruct him on how to get family help in their desperate situation.

The Leader had refused to bring Sarah to see Eunos he seemed to sense there was some sort of trick to get his prisoner free as indeed there was; Eunos was desperate because he knew Sarah’s captors were serious, and would kill his wife if he didn’t somehow get the money to pay them. Then remembering that Julius Caesar had promised them a generous reward if their predictions came true, Eunos decided to pick up Ebor and then went to visit Caesar, the day before Queen Cleopatra was to arrive in Rome and claim the reward. If the reward wasn’t enough; he would explain his situation to Caesar, and ask if he couldn’t give them a little more?

Ebor was shocked when Eunos arrived with the bad news that Sarah had been captured, and the amount of the ransom that was being demanded! Both men knew they could get the money from their parents, but they also knew that if they did they would have to go home, and abandon their contract with the govt. Ebor agreed with Eunos they should go to Rome and ask Caesar for help!

It took only a few minutes for them both to be transported to Rome they knew Cleopatra hadn’t yet arrived, but Caesarean had been born, and Caesar had acknowledged his infant son while he was still in Egypt, publicly as his heir.

When at some time in the future Caesar died Cleopatra was unsure what Caesarean was heir too, because he had other sons by different mothers, and she was certain that on Caesars death, the boy’s claim if any would be rejected by the governing Senate. This had created a crisis for Cleopatra who was ambitious for her son, but also her own position as Queen of Egypt needed to be consolidated! The support given her by Caesar had been crucial to her attaining and retaining her position at home; there had never been a female Pharaoh, and she was after all of Greek descent. Her redeeming characteristic among the Egyptian people was that she was the only Ptolemy to speak their language, but this was minimized in their minds because she did speak nine languages fluently. Cleopatra was a beautiful woman, but she was also a highly skilled, intelligent and sensual one; who didn’t hesitate to flout her charms to the world.

The students had no difficulty to arrive in Rome, but it took them several days to get an audience with Caesar, they eventually did but only because of their persistence. Caesar when he did see them was pleased they had come because everything they had prophesied had happened; exactly as they had said and he had been very impressed. The only thing still left undone was the entrance of Cleopatra and Caesarean into the Roman capital. Caesar was basking in his success, and was preparing to greet his mistress in a few days, he was very proud of Cleopatra and his son Caesarean!

Caesar as he had promised to do have given them the reward, and it was substantial, but not enough to meet the ransom demanded by the rebels, so Eunos had no choice, but to explain his problem to the Roman leader. There was a controlled outburst of anger when Caesar understood what was going on, and the two beneficiaries of his largesse; were in fact going to get nothing. He told the students they should tell him where the rebels were, and he would send out a cohort of legionnaires; to rescue Sarah and kill the band of rebels. This terrified Eunos so he pleaded with Caesar for the small extra amount, so he could go back and pay the ransom immediately.

Caesar refused the request for 24 hours until he had a report back from one of his legions in the area; he still preferred to search out and kill the rebels. Eunos decided he would go back to the rebel’s camp, and try to get them to accept the slightly smaller amount they had received from Caesar; Ebor was to wait for him in Rome. When he arrived at the camp the rebels only laughed at him the full amount was demanded, or they would do with Sarah what they had threatened. As a compromise Eunos asked to be able to talk to his wife and he would get them what money he had immediately. He asked that they do nothing to Sarah for an extra two weeks, as he was paying almost 90% of the ransom demand. Much to his surprise the rebel leader agreed to let him stay with Sarah for one night; in return for the money he had; and provided he paid the outstanding amount within seven days.

Eunos left immediately and returned the next day with the money, the rebels were delighted, how they asked did you get back so quickly?

Oh I had this money hidden close by, the problem was that I couldn’t get the full amount because my benefactor wouldn’t give me more, that’s why I need more time to find the rest, Eunos had replied.

Well you may spend the night with your wife and we have decided to give you the extra time to find the rest, but it must be paid as quickly as possible. Now you have paid so much we are reluctant to hold your wife too long, said the rebel leader with a smirk like smile.

‘Sarah was being held in a very dirty shack with several other women who were there to keep a guard over her. The moment she saw Eunos she let out a squeal of delight and kissed him, then took a hold of his hand. At that very moment before the astonished eyes of the guardians; the two of them vanished and were quickly in Rome with Ebor’. When Sarah’s guards had reported the escape to their leader he was furious, but relieved because he had received the large part of the money he had demanded. Sadly for him, his career as a rebel against the hated Romans was soon to end in violence, and his money all confiscated.

The next day by Caesars command he met with the two men, at the Senate with Sarah along too, and Eunos confessed he had managed to get her out, but had paid the rebels the total reward money that Caesar had given them. Caesar told them one of his commanders knew the rebels, and where they were hidden out? A large cohort were at this moment marching to their camp and would wipe them out, they would also return the reward money to Caesar within two weeks, and the full amount would be returned to Eunos and Ebor.

While the young people were grateful to Caesar it wasn’t really very important to them, they suggested instead he get them ringside seats for the welcome, that was being arranged for Cleopatra. They told him the day plus the time she would be arriving, and even what she would be wearing.

Caesar was intrigued he knew the information they had given him could be turned into a lot of money, because there was much speculation and professional punters were giving good odds. He was able and happy to provide free places to watch the parade, he gave them a letter stating ‘free entry’ and preferential positions by order of ‘Julius Caesar’ it was signed and sealed to prove authenticity. Finally he insisted they come back in two weeks to pick up the reward money.

There was over two weeks before the Queen of Egypt was due to arrive? The two men decided it was time to meet Mark Antony to gauge, his integrity even though they knew what was going to happen to him; and Cleopatra eventually.

There was a lot of tension evident in Rome among people for and against Cleopatra, but also a lot of thieves hoping to steal money from travellers. The young trio were once again ‘targets for greedy, and very hungry poor men trying to feed their starving families’ They had found their way onto one of the busy streets, and within a short time had been held up again for money. The two men burst out laughing, ‘Gosh they said this is becoming a habit,’ so joining hands with Sarah they vanished from the vicinity of the thieves.

There was great confusion created by their disappearance and again the onlookers started to shout, we have offended those two god’s what can we do they may curse us now and destroy our crops, and all because of stupidity by these roving thieves. The thieves were then caught by several men and beaten up, let us hope they forgive us they all prayed earnestly in their efforts to placate their new god’s.

The three now returned because they knew what had happened and they didn’t want to be prayed to, they wanted to try and explain they weren’t god’s just travellers from a far off land, with a few special gifts. The crowd by now had become quite large and when suddenly they reappeared there were shouts of joy, they had been forgiven because the god’s had returned. Eunos rose to speak to them all being careful to hold Sarah’s hand at all times!

As he started he sensed the crowd would become angry if he was too hard and explained to much, they just needed to be reassured once again of the future. Eunos changed his mind and told them to return the next day; and they would return and tell them again what was going to happen for the next 12 months. The people cheered and