To Circle the Sun

By Michael A. A'Hearn

Whether we realize it or not, God always hears our prayers. And sometimes He answers in the most amazing ways. "With God all things are possible" (Matthew 19:26, ESV).

Scott Yeager is a sixty-three-year-old man who grew up in a lower-middle-class neighborhood in a far south suburb of Chicago, Illinois, and now lives in Sa

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trilogy Christian Publishing
• Release date: Jan 3, 2022
• ISBN: 9781637698891

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To Circle the Sun

Michael A. A’Hearn

To Circle the Sun

Trilogy Christian Publishers A Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Trinity Broadcasting Network

2442 Michelle Drive Tustin, CA 92780

Copyright © 2021 by Michael A. A’Hearn

Cover design by: Grant Swank

All scripture quotations are taken from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without written permission from the author. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA.

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Trilogy Disclaimer: The views and content expressed in this book are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect the views and doctrine of Trilogy Christian Publishing or the Trinity Broadcasting Network.

Manufactured in the United States of America

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN: 978-1-63769-888-4

E-ISBN: 978-1-63769-889-1

Dedications

I dedicate this book to my family. First, to my parents, who have already gone on to the next life, for always supporting me with unconditional love and a constantly demonstrated strong faith in God through all of life’s turbulences.

And to my wife, Tina, for supporting me, putting up with me, encouraging our regular practice of reading Scripture together, and for sticking with me through good times and bad, in sickness and in health.

Then to my siblings, Dave, Meg, Packey, Kathy, and Dan, many aunts and uncles, specifically my aunt Connie, and many cousins, who have supported me throughout the ups and downs of my life.

And a special mention of dedication goes to my sister Kathy, who has always been a solid rock of encouragement throughout my life. She is the one who encouraged me to write stories.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank pioneers in creation research, such as Dr. Henry M. Morris, Dr. John Whitcomb, and Dr. Carl Baugh, who have paved the way for other scientists and Christians to discover that science actually supports the Bible. And I thank my brother Dave for pointing me to the works of Dr. Morris.

I would also like to thank Trilogy Christian Publishing and TBN for providing me the opportunity to publish this book.

And of course, I also want to thank God for giving us His Word to study and discover real answers to the most important questions we have.

Preface

Many of us have experienced grief that was beyond what we thought we could endure…from a broken family, health issues, loss of loved ones, or a weakened faith and despair that comes after experiencing such hardships. The story in this book is meant to provide enlightenment to those who have experienced sorrows like these, knowing that we can be strong and courageous, For it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you (Deuteronomy 31:6).

While this book has elements of science fiction, it also has biblical truths and storyline elements that were taken from real life. More importantly, this story is meant to serve as a reminder for all of us to keep the faith, no matter how grim things may look. In Matthew 17:20, Jesus said, For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.

What I’m offering in this book is a story of what could be possible. We don’t know what we don’t know. Who is to say what can or cannot be?

With God all things are possible (Matthew 19:26).

Prologue

Scott had a full life. He had his share of joyful memories: raising a family and a successful career. And now, years after a bitter divorce had torn up his family, he was getting old, lived alone, was unemployed, and was in failing health. He felt that he now had more than his share of sorrows.

As Scott felt his remaining days slowly dwindling toward inevitable meaningless obscurity, he didn’t think he mattered anymore. In his weakened faith and anguish, he longed to know if God was even aware of his suffering, let alone cared.

Scott didn’t ask for anything big. He just wanted to know if God was aware.

In his wildest dreams, he never could have imagined what was yet to come.

Chapter 1

It was a beautiful sunny August morning in Santa Clara, California, when the sounds of hammering and electric saws awakened sixty-three-year-old Scott Yeager, who had been blissfully enjoying a dream of being young and playing basketball. This was a recurring dream that Scott often had these days. As a youth, Scott loved basketball, spending hours every day shooting baskets in his driveway in Joliet, Illinois, a far southwest suburb of Chicago. As much as he loved shooting baskets, he loved it even more when his brothers or neighborhood friends came over to play a game. That was heaven to Scott, not only as a kid but also now as a sixty-three-year-old laid-off engineer in declining health who could no longer play basketball. He now had only dreams that brought him back to the best times of his life. Sure, he loved his kids, and memories of their births were second to none in his heart. But his kids were all grown up now with families of their own, and Scott was all alone, years after a bitter divorce split up his family. In addition, Scott had lost people close to him within the past year. First, his mother passed away, and then four of his childhood friends from the old neighborhood died within the year. Three died of heart attacks, and one died in a motorcycle accident. On top of all of that, Scott was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer, so he was not looking forward to scheduling that surgery. They told him it was slow-moving cancer, so he had a little bit of time to try to get things in order before scheduling his surgery in case he wouldn’t wake up from it. So, Scott found himself in mourning and feeling down. He escaped from reality in sleep and in his dreams. He often had dreams where he was young again, perfectly healthy, with no worries and no cares, all of his friends were still alive, and he was a happy kid in a large family.

Scott laid there for a few seconds, trying to quickly get back to sleep before the dream drifted away. Despite his efforts, as he heard more hammering and sawing, he realized that it was too late. Not only was it too late to get back to sleep to continue that dream, but even worse, it was too late to be young again and play basketball or baseball, which was another thing Scott loved to do as a kid. So, he listened to the hammering and sawing coming from the construction of a new house going up across the street. He also heard birds chirping as they started their new day.

He looked at the clock on his bedside table. It read 7:00 a.m. Sheesh, he thought, Why don’t they start at 8:00 a.m. as I used to when I built houses? When Scott had finished high school, he didn’t have enough money to go straight to college, so he got a job as a carpenter, building houses. Even though his childhood dream was to become a professional basketball player, by the time he was in high school, he had already abandoned that dream so that he could work after school to help out with expenses and start saving for college. He, of course, loved the muscle cars of the era and really liked his ’69 Camaro. Working through his years of high school instead of playing sports allowed him to buy that muscle car and start saving for college. However, after high school, one year of working as a carpenter turned into two, then three, and by the time he had enough money to start college, he was already five years older than most of his fellow students. He was in a tough engineering curriculum, so he didn’t go out for any college sports but instead focused on his school work. Then he got married way too young and soon started having kids, so his dreams of playing professional basketball or baseball were over.

This particular morning was like most of Scott’s mornings, now that he was older and unemployed. He would still wake up early, but instead of jumping up to go to work, he would lay there in bed, reflecting on his life, wishing he was still young and healthy with a full spectrum of possibilities ahead of him. In addition to playing sports, Scott had wished that he would have gotten into bioengineering in college. He had always had a dream of helping veterans and others who had lost limbs to have a better quality of life with better-looking and functioning prosthetic limbs. But that field wasn’t very big back when he started college, so he got into aerospace engineering, as that field had lots of job openings at the time.

Throughout most of his adult life, he had convinced himself that he had made the right career choice because he did like his career as a top engineer for NASA and it was exciting. However, now that he was older and laid off from his job, his dreams of being young and playing basketball kept coming back, as that was really his original true passion in life. And he loved those dreams.

Now that he was fully awake and felt the aches and pains of arthritis in his back as he rolled over to the edge of the bed, he was painfully reminded that his dreams were long over. He realized that he was a sixty-three-year-old man with arthritis and prostate cancer, divorced, laid off, and looking for work. He had applied for well over one hundred engineering-related jobs but could not even get an interview. Scott felt that he was more qualified now than he had ever been, but now he could not even get an interview. What a stark contrast to when he was younger, when recruiters were continually trying to get him to interview for new jobs. Scott reasoned that he was a victim of age discrimination. He knew that he was more qualified now than when he was younger, but at sixty-three years old, he had nobody who wanted to even give him a chance. He was desperate.

As the house construction going on across the street continued to contribute to his reflections of his past, his aches and pains and desperate feeling to find a job all reminded him of the present. As he laid there awake in bed, he started thinking about all of the things he had to do that day. He had to continue to look for a job. He had to cut the grass. He had to go grocery shopping. Of those tasks, the one that he thought about the most, the one that was hacking away at his sleep, was finding a job. He had been hunting for a new job on the internet every day since he got laid off last December. He was an engineering manager at the Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, and worked on special projects that researched new technologies for space travel. He loved his job and did it well for over thirty-five years. Then with all of the changes in the world: terrorist attacks, inflation, political battles, trade wars with other countries, pandemics, riots, etc., the country didn’t think that searching for new ways to explore space was necessary. It certainly wasn’t even in the top hundred things that people thought about these days. So, when the new administration was elected into office on the promise that they would cut unnecessary funding to direct more attention to the bigger problems of the day, Scott’s entire division was eliminated. So, there he was, sixty-three years old, looking for not only a new job but a new career. It was extremely frustrating.

Scott scooted over closer to the edge of his bed, then swung his feet to the floor and sat on the edge of his bed for a minute before getting up. This was something that he never had to do when he was in his twenties. Then, he would just jump out of bed and hit the ground running. Now, his back, legs, and feet reminded him that he was sixty-three years old. In addition, he got light-headed if he jumped right to his feet. That was something that just started happening in the past year or so.

While sitting there on the edge of his bed, he let his mind go to where it often went to these days: to his faith, or more accurately these days, his lack of faith. He was raised in a Christian home, and he used to believe very much in God. In his earlier life, he had thought that his faith was strong. After going through all that he went through in life—a very painful divorce, which tore up his family and especially hurt his kids, various health problems, and now being unemployed at his age, having prostate cancer, and not having enough savings for retirement thanks to his costly divorce and alimony payments—his faith was very weak. He realized that he had made mistakes. But he also felt like he had paid dearly for those mistakes and that he was still paying for them, with no end in sight.

He was also very lonely. Being divorced, with his kids grown and out of the house, he lived alone, which was much different than what he had been used to for most of his life. He had grown up in a large family, sharing a bedroom with three brothers. He got married right after college, and they immediately started having kids. So, he had lived with a family all of his life except for these years now when he was older and living alone. He didn’t like that.

He decided to give prayer another try. He got out of bed and dropped to his knees to begin the day with prayer. As he knelt down on the worn carpet in his bedroom, his knees sent pain signals to his brain. He blocked out the pain because he knew that prayer was more important than pain at this moment. He wanted to seek God’s advice and pray for wisdom, guidance, and good health as he started this new day.

After his brief but solemn prayer, he again felt the pain in his knees as he slowly got up. He listened to the sound of his knees popping and cracking, pushed past the pain, and stood up. He paused again for a moment to make sure that he wasn’t light-headed, then started to move. He was ready to start the day.

He made his way to the master bathroom, relieved himself, washed up, and shaved.

He opened the door of his master bedroom and stepped out into the upstairs hallway. The house is so quiet, he thought to himself as he looked down the hall at the open doorways to the unoccupied three other bedrooms in his house. He remembered the times when his kids were young and lived with him. How he missed those days! He was glad for his kids that they were grown and had families of their own. He then looked back at the stairs and headed down to the kitchen for breakfast. Again, he was reminded of how quiet the house was except for the hammering and sawing from the nearby house construction.

As he came down to the main floor and made his way around to the living room, dining room, family room, kitchen, and laundry room, he opened up the blinds to let the sun come into the house. It was a nice house, but Scott felt it was not as big or fancy as the homes of others with his age and professional experience. The divorce had cost him a lot, and even though it was lonely, he liked his home now. At least it was peaceful.

Now that all the blinds were open and letting the sun in, he went back to the kitchen, to the refrigerator, and took out some eggs and sausage. As he prepared his breakfast, he reflected on what to do first that day. Of course, it would be to look for a job, and the first step in that was following up on several of the resumes he submitted the previous week. He started the stove burner, threw the eggs and sausage into the pan, and as his breakfast was almost at the point where the eggs were just right, the phone interrupted his thoughts. Who the heck can that be, calling my cell at this time of the day? he thought to himself.

He looked at his cell. The call was showing as a restricted number. Thinking that it might be just another telemarketer or scammer, he considered not answering it. Then he got a funny feeling that it might be something special. After all, he did apply for many jobs. So, he picked up the phone.

Hello?

Scott? This is Jack Greenberg. How are you?

Scott’s mind raced with excitement. Jack was the division manager for his old division. Scott hoped that this could be a job lead.

Jack, yes, how are you? Scott replied with anxious excitement as he turned off the stove burner before his eggs and sausage burned.

I’m fine, Scott. How are you doing these days?

Doing well, looking for a new career, though, Scott replied, hiding how much he was hurting.

Well, something very interesting came up that I think is a very good possibility. Can you meet me for lunch? Jack was usually straight and to the point, so this request to meet him for lunch added to the already exciting anticipation coupled with the extreme curiosity that Scott was feeling.

Of course, Jack, I’d love to. Where and what time do you want to meet?

How about 1:30 this afternoon at the old steak house on Akron Road? Jack swiftly replied, as if he already had everything planned out.

Sure, Jack, sounds good. Just you and me? Scott asked hopefully. He knew that if it was just the two of them, then it was more likely that Jack had something specific in mind just for him.

Yes. Okay then, I’ll see you at 1:30, Jack replied with his familiar quick and to-the-point style.

Sounds good, Jack. See you there, Scott snapped back, then hung up the phone. Now his mind was really racing. What in the world could this be? The old division was completely laid off, as federal funding was completely slashed. Scott knew that Jack always liked him because he was a good, hardworking man who consistently delivered great results, regardless of the complexity and variety of projects that Jack sent his way.

Scott looked at his eggs and sausage but was now too excited to eat. What in the world could this be all about? Knowing that he would find out at 1:30 that afternoon wasn’t enough to keep his mind from racing through all kinds of possibilities. Could it be an engineering manager position in a different division? He hadn’t heard of any openings. He, his coworkers, and others had thoroughly explored every possible opening in the past several months since the layoffs. There was just no federal funding to support any new positions. What could it be? Maybe it was in a completely different company and in a completely different industry. Jack had a lot of contacts, so the possibilities seemed endless. Scott knew that, usually, when there were massive layoffs in companies, there was a lot of networking that went on at many levels, so maybe Jack had heard of an opening somewhere. That had to be it. There might be an opening for an engineering manager with Scott’s basic skill set in a company somewhere. Now Scott started realizing that it was likely something that would involve a move to another part of the country or even to another country. While Scott didn’t want to move, he would do so for a good opportunity, but he really didn’t want to move out of the country. Scott loved the good old USA, even with all of its problems. All countries have problems, and at Scott’s age, he didn’t have the desire or the stomach to learn new cultures.

After eating breakfast, Scott looked at his phone and saw that it was still only 8:07 a.m. His meeting with Jack wasn’t for another five and a half hours. What should he do in that time? He decided that he needed to blow off some stress, and so he got dressed for his workout and went to the basement, where he had a home gym well equipped with weights, a treadmill, an elliptical machine, a punching bag, and various smaller exercise equipment. It was Scott’s day to work on the weights, so he got going on that. All through his workout, all he could think about was the meeting in the afternoon. What could that possibly be? Then it dawned on him. Oh, shoot, Scott thought, I’ll bet Jack just wants my recommendation for one of my former, younger employees that might be a good fit for whatever opening Jack came across. After all, Scott had managed over fifty people, and all of them were younger than himself, so Scott started thinking that logically, statistically, it was much more likely that there was an opening somewhere for one of them than for Scott. Who else would they want to ask for a recommendation other than Scott, who was the most logical person to ask about the best fit out of over fifty people that used to work for him for a position that just opened up? That must be it, Scott thought.

Oh well, Scott thought with an enthusiasm-killing sigh as he completed another set of bench presses, at least I’ll be able to help someone out. And once again, he felt his potentially renewed faith slipping away. He really didn’t know what to think about that. He sat on his workout bench quietly for a little while, reflecting on that, then started to get depressed again. Then he said out loud, Quit feeling sorry for yourself, Scott. That won’t help your situation. Just do your workout. He then resumed his workout, doing more bench pressing, then military presses, curls, shrugs, pull-ups, sit-ups, and then some light squats.

Scott finished his workout and headed for the shower. He turned on the water, undressed, and climbed into the shower. As the water streamed down his face and rolled down his body, it relaxed Scott. Then another thought jumped into his mind. Wait a minute! When Jack asked me how I was, and I answered that I was okay but just looking for a job, Jack answered that something very interesting came up that could be a possibility. So, it must be an opportunity for me! Scott realized as he regained his excitement. Of course, he knew that he would have to, at some point, have prostate surgery, but there was no hurry for that. The main thing he focused on now was getting a job. With his education and experience, he felt that even while recovering from a prostatectomy, he could do his job, which would just require desk work. He was very excited about the possibilities.

It was now one o’clock in the afternoon and time for Scott to head to the restaurant. After a slow start to the day, it became filled with excitement, and the morning flew by. Now dressed and ready to leave, Scott was anxious to get going. He wanted to make sure that he was on time. He didn’t want to get there too early, as his anticipation would be unnerving if he had to wait a long time at the restaurant. He timed himself to make sure that he didn’t leave the house before one o’clock, as the restaurant was only about fifteen minutes away. Now that it was one o’clock, he rushed to the garage, as he also didn’t want to be late.

The usual fifteen-minute ride to the restaurant seemed to take much longer than usual, but Scott actually arrived at 1:13 p.m. He parked his late-model truck, then started walking across the parking lot toward the restaurant’s main entrance. Scott always parked far away from everyone, as he took really good care of his truck and didn’t want anyone parking next to him, dinging his doors.

While making his way across the parking lot, Scott admired the beautiful day. Even though his parents were both originally from California, his dad had gotten transferred to Chicago when Scott was a baby, so Scott had grown up in the Chicago area. He was so tired of dealing with excessive snow and cold in the winters and excessive heat and humidity in the summers that he still thoroughly enjoyed the California greater Bay Area weather, which was beautiful year-round.

Looking at the old restaurant as he got closer to the entrance, Scott realized that he was glad that Jack had picked this restaurant for their lunch meeting. It was a good old restaurant that was at its peak in the ’40s and ’50s when the research center first came into its opening and initial growth, and it still had an ambiance that reflected that era. It wasn’t overcrowded with younger visitors. It was a good place to have a quiet, private meal, and the food was great.

Scott had arrived earlier than Jack, so he told the server that greeted him that he would need a booth for two and was waiting for his friend to arrive.

While waiting, Scott again thought that this restaurant was perfect for a quiet conversation. It used to be the top restaurant in the area and still served good food, but it was now closer to seventy-five years old and needed some upgrading if it wanted to compete with all of the new restaurants that had opened up closer to the new mall on the west side. Because of this, it was a perfect place to meet and talk.

Scott was relieved to see that he didn’t have to wait long for Jack, as he saw Jack’s car pull into the parking lot. Scott watched Jack as he slowly got out of his car. Jack was a large man, about Scott’s age but not as physically fit as Scott. He had a large watermelonlike belly, built over years of fine dining accompanied by Jack’s favorite beverage, good old beer. Jack wasn’t a sophisticated man, but he was well educated and quite brilliant, building a nice career working for various branches of the government.

As Jack swung his door closed and started heading toward the restaurant’s main entrance, Scott couldn’t help but be reminded how although brilliant, Jack was a slob. His shirttail was hanging out the back and also on one side. His car was filthy, looking as though it had never been washed, with bird droppings and dirt covering the majority of the exterior and various fast-food bags and empty water bottles thrown all over the interior of the car. Scott liked Jack, though. He was brilliant, a good manager, and he always respected Scott and his work.

As Jack came through the door, he immediately spotted Scott, as the restaurant was almost empty. He signaled to the server that he was joining Scott, and she nodded. Jack lumbered over to Scott and said hi. Scott eagerly said hello and reached out to shake Jack’s hand. They shook hands as Scott thanked Jack for meeting him today. Jack was also pleased to see Scott again. The two of them had solved many significant problems through the years on exciting projects that they had worked on together.

They sat down and were immediately approached by the server, who greeted them and handed them their menus. The service here was as good as the food. Scott couldn’t wait any longer, so as soon as the server left the table, he threw out a line.

So, you certainly have piqued my curiosity, Jack! Scott found himself blurting out.

Well, Scott, Jack replied, also eager to share the news. I was contacted yesterday by Dave Spencer from the Advanced Missions Division.

Scott knew Dave Spencer was a highly respected leader who always seemed to be getting the most interesting projects from the space administration. Now Scott’s excitement and curiosity were really piqued.

Just then, the server again approached the two and asked if they were ready to order. Jack was a regular customer, so he ordered his usual rare steak and baked potato without even needing to look at the menu. Scott’s mind was consumed with curiosity over the potential opportunity that he had yet to hear about, so he couldn’t even think about looking at the menu.

I’ll have the same, except I’ll take my steak medium, Scott echoed, without even thinking or caring about what he had ordered. Food was the last thing on his mind.

As the server walked away, Jack and Scott locked eyes without saying another word. Both men were anxious to get to the point.

Jack ended the silence, Scott, I know you’re very well aware, but I must remind you that being an engineering manager for top secret programs required you to have a top secret clearance. I realize that due to severe budget cuts, you were laid off, but because of your excellent work record with the government, I was able to reinstate your top secret level. This was necessary for me to be able to discuss this potential opportunity with you. You know the drill: you must solemnly swear that you will not discuss any of this information I am about to share with you with anyone. Can I have your word on that?

Of course. Jack, I swear that I will tell nobody. What’s this all about?

Well, this is really different than anything you or I have ever been involved in. It’s very exciting. It’s also potentially very dangerous. Jack looked seriously into Scott’s eyes. Scott’s imagination was racing.

Jack continued, A few weeks ago, I was notified that our agency had discovered a wormhole that had opened up within our own solar system. They actually discovered this a few months ago, during the Dragonfly drone mission, which was intended to fly to Saturn’s moon Titan. The flight to Titan was supposed to take about eight years, but four weeks into the journey, as Dragonfly circled the Sun, it started accelerating way beyond its designed capabilities. Fortunately, we were able to get data back from it as it entered the wormhole. Again, I only just found about this a few weeks ago. Jack paused as he tried to gauge whether Scott was absorbing the enormity of the situation. Scott’s eyes were wide open. His mouth also opened, but he didn’t say anything.

Are you hearing me, Scott? Jack asked to make sure Scott wasn’t freaking out.

Yes! Yes, I hear, but I can’t believe what I’m hearing! Scott replied, finally able to form words.

Well, Jack continued, before Dragonfly actually went into the wormhole, he was slowly picking his words to make sure he was very clear, "mission control was able to reprogram it and allow more adaptive artificial intelligence programming so that it could hopefully find a way to survive the wormhole, adjust as needed,