A H A: Angels/Humans/Angels

By JOSE E VAZQUEZ

A H A is a book partially based on passages from the Bible, specifically about the Apocalypse as described in the book of Revelation as envisioned by John, the apostle. Not all of the book is fiction; embedded in the narrative are actual events experienced by the author.<

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jose E Vazquez
• Release date: May 28, 2023
• ISBN: 9798887572376

JOSE E VAZQUEZ

I am from Merida, Yucatan, Mexico, a city in the ancient meteor crater that wiped out the dinosaurs. I immigrated to the USA at twenty-two and later worked as an engineer/scientist for IBM in San Jose, California. Now, I am retired and living in Arizona.

Book preview

Introduction

Who are we?

We are a race of beings known as humans, or homo sapiens, inhabiting a minor planet named Earth, which is the third planet orbiting an average yellow star found in a large spiral galaxy known as the Milky Way. Our star, the sun, is insignificant when we try to find it inside our galaxy; furthermore, our galaxy is nothing more than a faint speck in the realm of the whole universe.

In contrast with our ancient knowledge, where our planet was assumed to be the center of the universe, now we cope with existing in the middle of nowhere, with everything else so far away! When we look at the immensity of the universe in a clear night sky, a reality only our imagination can fathom and visualize with the aid of the modern knowledge of the cosmos; many questions surface to challenge our intellect; it is like those questions are written on the sky and compel us to read them.

What is inside our minds that we must look and search beyond our daily routine to reach a level of awareness that is way above our materialistic animal life? Our ancestors looked at the same skies; even with limited knowledge as compared to ours, they experienced the same questions. Even with few facts in their hands, they wondered about the answers; however, they spent much more time looking at the stars than we do today. They started accumulating knowledge, bringing us to the growing pinnacle where we stand today.

Who are we?

Where did we come from?

Where is our final destination?

Are we alone in the universe?

Is there a God?

Since the beginning of our existence, we have asked countless questions; some have been answered, and others still challenge our beliefs and intelligence. Are we going to have all the answers in the future? Not likely, specific answers raise new questions, and in this manner, we continue our intellectual evolution.

Who are we? An interesting question: Some believe that we evolved from apes, as the Evolution theory showed when Charles Darwin first announced it in 1858. This theory laid the ground for our modern understanding of the processes of natural selection and the genetic changes that fossil records revealed. Ultimately, it unveiled the possible evolutionary path from the first bacteria to the much later evolved mammals, which did not have a chance to roam the planet until an asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs. Finally, the most crucial step for us: How did the transition from primate to humanoid happen?

At present, paleontologists have compiled an intricate branch from the Homo sapiens back to the possible oldest ancestor of our race: the Sahelanthropus tchadensis.¹ This predecessor, which looks much more like a chimpanzee than a human, lived around seven million years ago. A long time after, between 3-4 million years ago, appeared our much better-known ancestor named: Australopithecus afarensis, whose best representative is ‘Lucy,’ a female hominid found in 1974 in Eastern Ethiopia. Back 500,000 years into the past, there were only two branches left from the practical ramifications of ‘Lucy’: the homo heidelbergensis and the homo erectus. The latter disappeared in recent times, less than 50,000 years ago, while the former split into two branches: the homo neanderthalensis and the homo sapiens.

Then, at about 150,000 BC, our Mitochondrial Eve was traced to East Africa, but it was not until 60,000 BC that the first appearance of the Y-chromosomal Adam was found. This date is likely a good approximation of the first modern humans known as Adam and Eve as they appeared on our planet. Even the first descendants of this original pair coexisted with the Neanderthals that vanished for not well-known reasons around 25,000 BC. Furthermore, in 2004 in Indonesia, a new branch of the homo family, named homo floresiensis, was discovered; they were small hominids, pygmy-sized, that survived until 12,000 BC. It is still debated if this new branch came from homo erectus.

A question arises. What was the difference between Adam and Eve and the other homo sapiens living at that same time?

To answer this question requires faith, a religious belief that a God exists and that He created the universe and us as part of it. The search for a God seems to be part of our nature because humankind has relentlessly pursued this endeavor since the beginning of our existence. For the believers, which includes a large amount of all living humans, the answer is intrinsically clear: look at the universe and us, its immensity, its complexity, plus all the requirements for our existence.

The conditions needed for us to be alive on planet Earth add to an overwhelming list; it started from the Big Bang to our present time, as everything is fine-tuned to allow the fundamental laws of physics to exist and for us to journey alongside. Even so, our survival depends on uncountable disastrous events not taking place or preserving the present status quo if such a thing is possible. Just a meteor, one super volcano, a massive solar flare, and a nearby star gamma burst are four of many doomsday scenarios; nevertheless, not to even mention our days of reckoning caused by our doings such as nuclear war, pestilence, starvation, phone addiction, or an AI (Artificial Intelligence) takeover.

For the faithful, believing in the existence of God is easy; however, it is not as easy to prove the reality of God since He is immaterial or a pure spirit entity.

The skeptics and non-believers rely on science to explain their existence, like the theory of evolution. For them, there is no difference between Adam and Eve and any of the hominids. It was a continuous process for hominids to evolve into modern homo sapiens.

Since I am a believer, I trust my faith in a compilation of writings that is the essence of my religion: The Bible.

In the Bible, the book of Genesis tells us about the creation of one man and one woman: Adam and Eve.² The Bible also mentions that man was created in God’s image.³

From my point of view, there is only one characteristic that separates Adam and Eve from all the other hominids coexisting in that era: God gave the couple a divine gift… they had a soul. Without it, homo sapiens were just like the other animals: clever and cunning beasts that would exist to satisfy their primary instincts to survive. The soul is that essence that drives us to search for answers and recognize who we are once we become aware of our existence. Two words powerfully express it: I am.

The nature of the soul is to return to its Creator; however, since Adam and Eve committed an act of disobedience, ‘the original sin,’ such an invaluable path became closed.⁴

Jesus’ main reason for coming to Earth was to reopen this unique avenue.

Only our materialistic tendencies extruding from our animal connections can prevent our souls, which are spirits, from returning to their divine origin. Since the original sin, as it relates to humans, the such divine return has become a ‘choice.’

Linked to the original sin, a new creature appears that is not human…the angel. There are two kinds of angels; the ones that serve God and the others against Him; the latter are fallen angels or demons, and they are determined to prevent us from succeeding in our quest to save our souls: Satan is their leader.

After their expulsion from paradise, because of their failed obedience, Adam and Eve reproduced projecting humanity into a brisk growth. Past four thousand years, there were numerous towns and even larger cities in the ancient lands. When God saw that evil had taken over humanity and only a handful remained loyal to Him, He decided to end the wickedness of men by a punishment called: The Great Flood.⁵

Noah, his wife, their three sons, and their spouses were the only humans who survived in an Ark: a big boat filled with one pair of all existing animals. (A possibility exists that Noah’s family had many children with them.)

The Bible claims that all living land creatures died due to the flood. There is a debate that the Great Flood could have been local and did not affect the whole planet. But for a localized early population of humanity, regardless of either way being true, for them… it was global. Another suggested prospect was a meteor plunging into the ocean, causing gigantic worldwide tsunamis, and enough water evaporating into the atmosphere to produce torrential rains. Additionally, we can find people who believe that hydroplaning of the tectonic plates caused the Great Flood or the Deluge.⁶

The primary role of the Great Flood was to eradicate sinful humanity; however, it also caused the extinction of innumerable animals and plants. Furthermore, it also erased all remaining traces of surviving hominids and any interaction with the soul-bearing descendants of Adam and Eve.

The Old Testament in the Bible is remarkable from the Judaic and Islamic religious versions; however, it is unfortunate that there were no written documents from this first block of human history. Therefore, the information known today is passed from one generation to the next by word of mouth. This caused exaggerations, misinterpretations, omissions, and distortions.

There are thousands of years from which we know so little and from which we have more questions than answers. I still believe that even when the information in the Bible (Genesis) is fragmented and, in some instances, not taken literally, it opens a window to a distant past and is an invaluable insight into the origin of humanity.

The second emergence of humanity started when Noah and his family set foot on dry land. It is to be noted that the surviving humans were skilled craftsmen after building such a large boat as the Ark and that the whole group most likely lived in a city before the Great Flood; from these locations, they learned the knowledge and the techniques required for erecting buildings plus other city-related structures; in addition, they knew supporting human activities like farming and herding of animals.

This period should have been around 12,000 BC at the end of the final Mesolithic glaciation, where there is evidence of humans starting to manage their environment. Humanity, growing geometrically, expanded from ten thousand in only a hundred years; into the millions in two to three hundred years. In the first thousand years, cities multiplied and grew as humans spread around the globe.

Could this fresh start of humans be considered the origin of world religions?

Whom is this Supreme Being we feel compelled to recognize as the creator of the universe and worship Him above everything?

In monotheistic religions such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, God is the single and central entity that defines their beliefs. However, these religions are not alone; we even find Native American tribes believing in the ‘Great Spirit,’⁷ who is like our understanding of a Supreme Being. Furthermore, old religions such as Zoroastrianism from the ancient Persian Empire, which had many deities, recognized the existence of a Supreme Lord above all the rest.

Somehow, Evil cropped in the emerging civilizations, and by first distorting their original beliefs and later diametrically opposing them, caused the great empires that evolved thousands of years later to become idolaters, pagans, and as the dictionary definition of evil is: morally bad or wrong, wicked.⁸ Some people and cities avoided the dominance of Evil, but not until the arrival of Jesus, when the great Roman Empire dominated the then so-called civilized known world, we can see a significant change in moral beliefs spreading to the whole world’s population.

How is the modern knowledge of a Supreme Being affect us today?

God is very much part of life to half the planet’s inhabitants. Sadly, we had fought against each other due to differences in our beliefs as Jews, Muslims, Catholics, and Protestants. Our history reveals that we have done such dreadful things in the past and so viciously that it is hard to believe we worship the same God!

Are we alone in the universe?

We have been trying relentlessly to answer this question in modern times to no avail; the cosmos is so vast that it is almost impossible to detect any life beyond our solar system. However, can we honestly believe that our planet is unique and that there is nobody else out there since our existence depends on so many conditions to be true for us to be here?

Many of us believe there are angels and demons, with such entities not being human. I think these beings lived in a distant past on another planet or planets, and the good became angels, and the bad ones turned into demons. There is a book named ‘The Book of Enoch’⁹ that elaborates on the life of an individual who lived generations after Adam and Eve. Enoch was so close to God that He took him to Heaven without dying.¹⁰ In the book, which the Catholic Church does not accept because of conflicts with the church’s teachings, Enoch mentions that God revealed the universe’s secrets to him. He visited other places similar to Earth and met with angels and even fallen angels. Therefore, if there is any truth left in his book, there are other planets that harbor life. Furthermore, the Bible’s description of how humans had seen these entities that we call angels is intrinsically unique.

The choirs which classify the angels point out that they are from distinct species, even from different planets: the universe is too immense for us to claim it as our own. I am sure other species had looked up to the skies and initially thought as we did… that we were alone; then, like us, they eventually realized the highly unrealistic nature of the thought. As different as they can be from us, these alien civilizations have one common ground with humans: they had or will have to choose from Good or Evil.

What is the future of humanity?

Our civilization will not go on forever. People in the past believed such an end was imminent and prepared for something that did not materialize. Even the apostles thought that the second coming of Jesus, the End of Times, would take place in their lifetimes. Only when they realized such a thing was not going to happen when they decide to write the gospels.

John, the apostle, was exiled to the island of Patmos because of his Christian faith; in this place, he drafted the book of Revelation.

The Apocalypse is included in this last book of the Bible. There is even controversy about John, the author, being John, the apostle. The book has symbolic descriptions that should not be taken literally; even so, people reading the book often do. Adding to countless confusion, the book’s visions are not chronological. The book focuses on the last conflict between Christ’s followers versus Satan’s evildoers, as John visualized it. The bloody Roman persecution of the early Christians ignited portions of his writings; however, other passages focused on specific events from a futuristic point of view, which is our contemporary vision of the end of humanity.¹¹

Human beings have gradually lost their spirituality; in our present, our technological advances that grew at gigantic steps in the 20th Century consume our available time with uncountable gadgets and games, taking from our lives more than is intellectually healthy. They have beneficial uses, but we spend too much time facing computers, TVs, phones, and video games. Our real life is becoming a virtual life in which our interaction between ourselves and other people diminishes as gadgets require more of our time than ever before. This materialistic world is moving us away from God. Are we in this world to spend half of our lives watching TV, playing games, or texting? Is this like an intellectual decadence, in which we grow complaisant and at the same time insensitive to anyone else needs? What does our daily news tell us? You only hear about war, crime, disasters, terrorism, and similar events. Everything appears to erode our moral values in the US and worldwide.

Is the End of Time or the Apocalypse rising on the horizon? Do you believe the end is near?

History tells us about individuals or groups predicting the End of Time being wrong before. In the book of Revelation, John wrote about the last days of humanity; In this apocalyptic scenario, four horsemen bring suffering, mayhem, and death to humankind.¹²

As the Antichrist rises, there are two witnesses, holy men who will preach against him. These two individuals will have divine protection from demons and evil people.¹³

In the Holy Book, there is a special mention of the fall of a great city named: Babylon. In the Bible, through the history of men, Babylon has been the cradle of evil, while Jerusalem has represented the side of goodness.¹⁴ Finally, in the last war of good against evil, God ends Satan’s desire to own humanity by defeating him; this will happen in a place named Armageddon. Afterward, there is only one thing left, where all the living and the dead will be present: The Last Judgment.¹⁵

AHA is a fictional book that focuses on a similar human conclusion. Even though this is fiction, it is still one of the infinite possible ways the future could become. When the disciples asked Jesus… When will the end arrive? He said that ‘Only the Father knew.’ This means that the future is not set in stone but is a dynamic and ever-changing prospect. God made the universe and us in the same manner that a watchmaker would build a fine clock requiring effort and planning; when finished, the clock runs and keeps accurate time by itself, with no further attempt by its maker. Likewise, the universe runs as designed by His creator. Since He has given us the power to change the planet we live on, which has uncountable possible futures, we will eventually merge into a single outcome; furthermore, such an outcome shall happen only if God allows it since it will have to fit His conditions.

In this book’s narrative, the most influential individuals are the two witnesses in Revelation, the Antichrist, who is Satan, another demon disguised as a false prophet, and their human evil counterparts. I cannot proclaim that war is ready to start because the conflict between good and evil involving humans and angels began many millennia ago when Adam and Eve were alive.

The angels, who previously fought their own battle to choose between Good and Evil far beyond the dawn of humanity, became drastically separated. The winners, still known as angels, are ready to help us fight for our salvation. The losers, recognized as demons or fallen angels, do not want our possessions; they want something that is immensely more valuable... our souls!

_________________

¹ Wikipedia.org/Timeline of human evolution.

The Human Pedigree by Kate Wong, Scientific American, Jan 2009.

² Genesis 1: 26

The New American Bible, Copyright 1970 by the Catholic Press.

³ Genesis 1: 27

⁴ Genesis 3: 1-24

⁵ Genesis 7: 1-24

⁶ ‘2012’ - A movie made in 2009 is based on this concept.

⁷ This and other related information are taken from, Religions of the World, Ninth Edition, by Lewis M. Hopfe and Mark R. Woodward.

⁸ Webster’s New World, 4th Edition. Copyright by Pearson/Prentice Hall

⁹ Translated by R. H. Charles. 24th impression, by SPCK 1994

¹⁰ Genesis 5: 18-24

¹¹ Paragraph text and information are taken from: The New American.

Bible Books of the New Testament-The book of Revelation.

¹² Revelation 6: 1-8

¹³ Revelation 11: 1-14

¹⁴ Revelation 17: 1-18, 18: 1-24

¹⁵ Revelation 19: 11-21, 20: 1-15

GENESIS

CHAPTER 1

Planet Earth is a jewel inside the solar system and the motherland of humanity. In this world, without any success, people have been searching for a lost paradise for millenniums. The first two humans, Adam and Eve, lived in this paradise free of material necessities before being kicked out for the original sin of disobedience. Nevertheless, by just looking around, we can see the unnecessary need to search; the whole planet is a paradise.

As we approach the spectacular bluish sphere of our planet from outer space, with time dashing between the 21st and the 22nd centuries, the world coming into view is one where peace and prosperity finally rule. Even so, a more essential but disconcerting fact remains… the plummeting moral values of the early 21st century have gradually sunk to new lows. In contrast, this peace is like the calm preceding the most terrifying storm because while all the doomsday prophets are silent, the apocalypse is arriving…

The warm and pleasant radiance from the morning sun, illuminating the white sand beaches of this tropical paradise in the Gulf of Mexico, made the ocean appear like a giant swimming pool, where a calm and gentle breeze barely managed to stir the glasslike reflection of the sky. Rows of tall coconut trees planted inside shoreline residences, fifty meters away from the waterfront, followed the contours of the shore, resembling a necklace adorning the undulating coastline.

A child, sitting alone on the sand and close to the ocean’s water edge, was straining large piles of refined white grains through his fingers. At about ten years old, the kid was slender, blonde, and with attractive facial characteristics. He wore a green swimming trunk, and his skin showed a golden-brown tint, a sign that he had been bathing in the sunshine for weeks.

The murmur of a little wave breaking on the beach called his attention; the color of his eyes, revealed when he stared at the crystal-clear ocean water, was like the hue of the saltwater of the sea: a light green, with shades of aquamarine in the center, and specks of yellow as the rising sun. He looked mesmerized at the wet sand dotted with multiple shells; since the tide was at its lowest, it exposed uncountable amounts of them, some broken, some whole ones. Subsequently, he slowly focused on the golden glow emanating from the sunny side of the exposed wet shells and imagined that they looked like giant firebugs. As a smile showed above his front teeth, he noticed a distant noise, like children playing… and it came from the ocean!

He got up, stretched his head higher, and scanned the watery horizon. His sharp hearing and superb eyesight quickly helped him find the incoming sound source. Far into the water, two or three children played on the third ocean wave-breaker. Locals called the breakers: ‘bajos.’ The first ‘bajo’ is when the ocean water gets deep, and the sand below suddenly rises but stays submerged. At the second and third bajos, the seawater gets gradually deeper.

The beach boy felt lonely, The water doesn’t look too deep; I should walk there and play with them, he thought.

Don’t do it; you cannot swim! A soft voice emanating from deep inside his brain gave advice.

Another voice in his head declared, You know that the water is low. Go ahead, have some fun!

After a moment of hesitancy, the lad took the second advice. As he walked into the water toward the distant children, starting from the toes going up, the warm, salty, and crystalline seawater gradually embraced him.

What seemed to be in the middle of the ocean, three boys, up to their waists inside the water, were lively playing and joyfully screaming; they splashed water into their faces, dived, and chased each other. One of the boys, an individual with dark hair and skin, suddenly stopped playing and said to his closest companion.¹

"Hey, Mike, where this guy come from?"

While pointing inland, the dark-skinned boy and his two friends stared at this new kid on the block. Mike, with brownish hair, had lighter skin than his friends; he moved forward through the water and faced the new visitor.

"Who are you? And how did you get here?" he asked.

"Oh… everybody calls me Chel." he answered timidly, then added, I just walked here.

"No way man! It’s far away!"

"I thought that you guys walked too."

Mike continued, Nope… my father has a rubber speed boat; he brought us here… Hey! We have a football; we are four now and could play teams with you! Do you want to play?

"Yesss!" the blonde newcomer jovially exclaimed.

Since all were about the same size and age, the four children joyfully played and played… As the hours went by, the tide gradually returned; furthermore, a steady onshore wind gained strength, and the waves started to grow…

Inside one of the beach homes facing the sea, in an enclosed room featuring a full wall 3-D SHD TV screen, two young men jumped out of their plush seats and screamed their heads off, yelling in unison simultaneously.

"Touchdown!"

"John, we are winning 21 to 20!" A young man exclaimed while bumping hands with the other.

John, equally young, in his early thirties, retorted emphatically.

"I know! The Tigers must win; we bet too much money on them! ... Frank, pass me another beer from the cooler!"

Frank’s blue eyes, sparkling with contentment, looked down at a cylindrical box with digital readouts. He pushed a button, and one ice-cold beer popped up. As he grabbed the beer and tossed it to John, a door slid open, and an attractive young woman with curly blonde hair walked inside the room. The TV stayed noisy, so she asked aloud.

"What is all the screaming about?"

"Honey, the Tigers are winning now!" John exclaimed.

"Hey, that’s great... And by the way, I haven’t seen Michael for hours; where is he?"

"He is playing with Ben, and… what is his name? The kid with dark skin?"

"Roberto."

"Yes, that’s it: Roberto!"

The woman somehow sensed that her husband became evasive, so she asked again, OK, but… where are they?

John paused for a second; while rubbing his neck with the cold beer, he talked with a muffled voice.

"They are playing in the third bajo."

"What!" She almost screamed while raising both hands straight up, "They are at the third breaker? Do you know how far that is?"

Lois… he is a big boy now, John tried to calm down his wife.

The woman, obviously distraught, added, John, Mike is only ten years old! Something may happen there, and you never know… even a shark may come by!

John approached Lois and lightly touched her on the shoulder; trying to be assertive, he said, Please, Lois, we have not seen a shark for years.

She stared at him and firmly said.

"Go and pick them up!"

"Honey, it is only seven minutes to half-time! I will go then."

Frank got into the conversation, trying to support his best friend, Yes Lois, just a few minutes!

Her blue eyes showed a sparkle of anger; then, she pointed his right index finger to her husband’s face and sternly demanded.

"John… now!"

Approaching the waterfront, John had a large plastic bag with him. Throwing the load on the sand, he looked for a display panel and pressed a red bottom. A plastic raft, three meters long, became fully inflated in seconds. Next, after placing the raft on the water’s edge, John jumped forward into the floating inflatable boat, so he and the boat could drift to deeper waters.

John pushed a green button and typed several numbers in a small LED panel found in the raft’s frontal section. As the vessel accelerated forward, propelled by a water jet pump, he grabbed a small stick protruding from the control panel.

The boat quickly sped away, pointing to the area where the children kept playing…

Impervious to the tide being back, which raised the water all the way up to their necks, the four children continued playing their game tirelessly. After diving forward into the water to catch the football, Mike stopped as he stared at the fast-approaching boat. An instant later, he yelled to two of his original friends, now somehow distant.

"Hey Roberto and Ben, come back... My dad is back!"

The other three children merged where Mike remained standing; by the time all gathered, the approaching raft slowed down and ultimately stopped in front of the kids. Mike talked again, Dad, you came back too soon!

"Yea, we would like to play more!" Ben and Roberto added.

John shook his head in disbelief as he spoke.

"Come on guys; you have been here for hours. Let’s go! I don’t have all day; get back on the boat," at this time, John noticed the presence of an additional child. He looked at the face of the blonde kid with green eyes, and he did not recognize him. He asked his son, Mike, who is your friend, and how did he get here?

"Oh, his name is Chel… He just walked here!" his son replied.

Isn’t ‘chel’ a Mayan word that means blonde? He thought. Then, he said, "Nice to meet you, kid!"

John shifted his attention to the other children as he helped them climb aboard the raft. He was ready to go when he typed something on the rear LED display again, and his finger moved closer to the green power button. But before he pushed it, he stared at those young green eyes again; something bothered him, like a decision was necessary. A soft internal voice suggested, The coast is far; take him with you! At once, another distinctively but different voice also advised, The kid did swim to here, push the button!

The first voice insisted, John, didn’t Mike say that he walked here? You don’t know if he can swim! The second internal voice replied, You worry for nothing; he would not be here if he could not swim! Half-time is almost over; you are going to miss the game!

John pushed the power button, and the boat turned around and sped toward the far sandy beach. For one instant, he glanced back inside the depth of the quickly diminishing green eyes before returning his attention to guiding the raft back home… and to the game.

The boy named Chel found himself standing alone in the middle of an apparently vast ocean. A little bit sad, he watched his newly met friends disappear in the distance; lowering his head, he decided to return home.

When his eyes rose toward the beach, they suddenly opened widely… This was the first time he had looked back… the shore stayed so far away!

The ocean, calm like a green inviting swimming pool when he walked inside earlier, by now had turned into menacing, gray-colored water simulating giant rolling snakes, like twisting black anacondas, which angrily broke at the shoreline… Even the tall palm trees past the sandy beach looked small at such remoteness!

The child looked ahead, hypnotized. In his mind, he considered staying at the third breaker, where the bottom remained higher. However, the tide may still be rising, and with nobody around to help or even hear his screaming, he would have to spend the whole dark and chilly night… alone. He got deeply concerned; since he did not know how to swim, he should have been afraid; however, for an unknown reason, he did not. As a result, he took the first step forward and began moving on the way to the beach.

The ocean floor suddenly deepened as he walked away from the underwater sandbar. Tiptoeing at the bottom, he could hardly keep his head out of the water… The first big wave that came rolling in made him look back. It came not just a few centimeters above his head; it soared between one to two meters taller!

As the blue sky turned to a watery green, the noise of countless air bubbles rising to the ocean’s surface was mixed with the sound of the water filling his ear canals…

A few hours later.

Lois sat on a plush chair facing a semi-circular window towards the ocean. This window, made of LCD materials, allowed graduated adjustments from transparent to a solid dark color. With the full transparency mode on, she enjoyed a full view of the beach and the ocean. In the next room behind her, John and Frank continued celebrating the incredible victory of the Tigers’ football team and behaving like noisy teenagers.

Lois kept one eye on her son Mike, who was about one hundred meters away, playing by himself on the sand; she was glad about remembering to apply more sunscreen to her child; otherwise, his skin would have been burned by the end of the day. Then, at a distance of two hundred meters, right at the water’s edge where considerable-sized waves were noisily breaking on the beach… something happened.

Numerous people, running to the water’s edge, started converging to one specific point. She saw her son noticing the commotion; after standing up and jogging to the place, he soon joined the increasing crowd.

Only one minute later, she saw her son breaking away from the group and running toward her at full speed! Her maternal instincts told her that something was seriously wrong. Quickly, she got up and touched one of the transparent panels, making it slide as a door to the outside; jumping on the sand, she moved forward to meet her incoming son. He arrived quickly and dived into his mother’s arms; he squeezed so hard that she had to pull him away to look at his face.

She could not believe her eyes. Her son was terrorized, shaking uncontrollably while twisting his arms with intense fear. Anxiously, she asked.

"Mike! What did you see? Tell me, what is happening?"

The child avoided looking at the event’s site as he tried to speak, but his lips remained trembling as hard as his body… and nothing came out.

Lois, being concerned, was now getting closer to panicking; thus, she yelled at the opened porch door.

"John! Frank! Come out; something is happening!"

Only seconds later, both young men came running out of the door; John at once noticed that Michael was in shock. The man, kneeling on the sand, held his son at arm’s length and looking directly into his face, asked him.

"Michael, speak to me! What is it?"

The boy tried to talk again, but his shaking had not stopped. Lois mentioned this to John.

"He saw something at the beach where those people are gathering that scared the hell out of him; he won’t talk to me either!"

After a brief pause, while pointing to the crowd, she added.

"Let’s go there and find out what is going on!"

The two men agreed, but when John tried to pull Michael to the gathering, the kid dug his feet in the sand, plowing it. Stopping, John asked him, Don’t you want to go?

Michael gave a nervous nod while staring at his father. The latter suggested, OK, stay at the house. Don’t go anywhere; we will be back, very soon.

All three adults briskly walked toward the growing multitude.

Lois became the first one to weave her body through the standing individuals on the edge of the breaking waves and saw that at the center of the half-circle made by the onlookers, amid tears and lamentations, there was this attractive woman; she was not in swimming attire as most of the people around but dressed in street clothes. She had both of her knees deep into the sand and felt utterly devastated; her beautiful long brown hair was in disarray, and she remained crying inconsolably. Tightly held against her body, using both hands, rested the body of a blonde child. She cried out.

"Could anybody… had a chance to help my baby? He is dead now…." Tears rolling down like a fountain choked her vocal cords.

Lois, visibly shaken, tears wetting her eyes, said to herself.

"My God, this child is about Mike’s age; it could be him lying there... My heart aches for that poor woman!"

As the crying mother moved around rocking his departed child, his lifeless head snapped backward, exposing his pale face; this was the moment when John, breaking across the crowd… first saw.

It was the face of one boy, blonde, water squeezing out of his partially opened mouth, with wide-opened green eyes… beautiful as colored marbles… equally lifeless!

John felt like the ground began swallowing him! His heart almost stopped as a deep chill from the inside propagated to his extremities. He grabbed the hair from the back of his head with both hands and pulled it extremely hard. Then, as the eyes of the grieving mother glanced at him, he could not take it anymore! Turning around, he pushed people out of his way while moving away from the multitude.

Lois followed him and confronted him. She could not believe that the event had affected her husband so much. Then, she exclaimed.

"You are scaring me; you are behaving like Michael! What is going on?"

John, shaking like he was coming out of a deep freeze, hugged his wife so hard that she could hardly breathe. Pushing him somehow loose, she nervously asked, Did you know this child?

The young man squeezed her harder again; with his teeth grinding, he sobbed and trembled. Lois stayed close to being equally out of her mind!

Pushing her husband away, she insisted, Tell me!

"Lois… Oh God, Lois! ... Yes! I did." Taking a break to inhale deeply, he continued with a broken voice, He was playing with Mike… in the third breaker!

Lois felt the same chill her husband was experiencing, that cold that comes from deep inside your bones and converts your fingers into icicles… ready to rip off your flesh. As a result, she froze all her actions, including blinking and breathing. She asked what she did not want to hear; it became like a tiny hope that what she had already heard was not the truth.

"Did I hear you say that he was playing with Michael… in the faraway breaker?"

"Yes…" He shook his head positively.

Closing her eyes and turning her hands into fists, Lois pounced on her husband’s chest. She angrily exclaimed, And you left that child alone… out there?

John, grotesquely twisting his hands and arms, answered.

"Yes, Lois… I did!"

She felt like she had no strength left. She just leaned against her husband and cried profusely. She barely spoke with a faint voice, How could you, John… how could you?

John tenderly embraced his wife and replied.

"I am sorry, sweetheart… God, please forgive me… I thought that he knew how to swim."

In our daily routine, one single incident can change our lives forever. Some of us involved in violent events may take away someone’s life; however, we seldom consider the omission of an act to be significant; nevertheless, one single omission could be as lethal as murder.

It was a miracle that I did not drown that day, and my life would have ended as written. It would have been heartbreaking; because my son, daughter, and three granddaughters, whom I love dearly, would have never existed.

In the lobby of a modern clinic, two rows of fancy and comfortable-looking swivel chairs faced this large wall with multiple screens displaying advertising, movies, and medical information. A console in the armrest allowed the seated person to select video channels and sound preferences; only the selecting individual could hear through their ears’ implanted sound chips. Around the modern and spacious room, more fixed digital images adorned the walls; digital windows looked like the actual scenic panoramic views of the outside countryside.

Of the eight people seated in this room, one woman in the front row spent her time watching prenatal care on one of the segments of a visually large screen; she attentively followed the instructions with her bright brown eyes, while occasionally pushing down a curly section of the back of her brunette hair that for some reason did not want to stay down as the rest of her silky and smooth hairdo; in addition, she wore a green and tight outfit that ended at her knees.

Her viewing screen displayed a message; simultaneously, she heard an incoming notification.

Ms. Helen Mackenzie, Dr. Hayes will see you now.

The young woman got up and walked to a side door. Her well-formed legs and dynamic walk reflected a person involved in many physical activities. After she went through a sliding door, she walked past all kinds of digital instruments and moved towards a man behind a sizeable semicircular sofa facing a large computer screen. He flipped his right hand, inviting her to come closer, and spoke, "Hi, Helen, please come and sit next to me!"

As she moved around the sofa, she shook hands with the doctor and said, Nice to see you again, Dr. Hayes. I am here to find out the results of my pregnancy profile, then, she sat.

The doctor glanced briefly into her eyes, and while looking down, he spoke, Helen, let me show you what I found out about the fetus, which is now ten weeks old, and a male.

He pushed two electronic keys from the sofa, starting a new projection from the large screen; the 3-D image of a woman’s reproductive organs appeared on the display. As the doctor pointed to a particular area, this spot enlarged; next, as the viewpoint went inside the selected organ, a fetus came into view as a hologram slowly rotating in front of the two individuals. The doctor picked a translucent rod from a pocket and pointed to a part of the fetus’s developing brain. As this specific area became highlighted and brighter, he pointed out.

"Do you see how white this area is compared to the adjacent mass? This is due to a lack of blood irrigation. We did a complete DNA analysis of your unborn child, and the results confirmed what we had already suspected."

Helen’s face showed great anxiety, and she quickly asked.

"Doctor? What is wrong with my baby?"

Doctor Hayes touched her hand and said, Helen, I have sad news for you. Your child is going to be mentally disabled and physically handicapped!

He felt her hand closing suddenly as a great pain invaded her whole body. Gasping for air and slightly trembling, she hopefully asked, Is there anything you could do to help my baby, Doctor Hayes?

He squeezed her fisted hand and replied, I am sorry, Helen; what you see in this hologram, is only a symptom. We could fix it if it were a localized defect; however, the whole DNA is defective… and we cannot fix that!

As Helen broke into tears, the doctor added.

"I am making an appointment to abort the fetus!"

"What did you say?" she asked while momentarily stopping the sobbing. The doctor added, You cannot have this child; we must abort it.

Pulling herself away from him, she angrily responded.

"I will not kill my baby! My religion doesn’t allow it, but I will not do it even if it did!"

He looked undisturbed and calmly stated.

"I understand your pain as a mother, but there is no other way. Otherwise, you and your child will have a life of suffering. He will never grow up to be anything, and you will have to care for him for the rest of your life. Why would anybody choose such misery? Do you need more time to calm down to make a reasonable decision?"

Helen’s amber eyes, wet with tears, stared and locked with the doctor’s cold blue eyes. She declared.

"I already had, and it is final!"

All dressed in white, three men sat around a table that faced large screens full of chemical equations and dynamic DNA strand segments. Further out, numerous instruments on top of tables propagating radially from the centered table actively ran tests on multiple samples. One of the men, older, in his fifties, as compared to his two younger companions in their early thirties, oversaw the group. He was a Scandinavian, heavy and tall, with light blonde hair and watery blue eyes. He addressed a dark-haired individual with cold penetrating brown eyes just next to him.

"Nasim, we did it! We finished the DNA map of a perfect human being!" And he added, "You are a magician; you swapped the nucleotide pairs in different SNP alleles as a deck of cards!"

"Thank you, Doctor Peterson!" The man with dark hair replied. Simultaneously, his companion, a German-looking scientist behind him with curly golden hair and indigo-colored irises, raised his arms and loudly exclaimed.

"Wunderbar! Great news!"

The leader of the group added.

"Tomorrow, I will draft a technical report for our NBI organization to show them the final structure of a perfect human genome; they will be delighted!" As he got up, he placed a hand on each of his subordinates’ shoulders and said, with a big smile.

"You two did a fantastic job; I will ensure you are properly rewarded."

Nasim’s penetrating bronzed eyes stared directly at his superior’s and asked, Erik, when are we starting the embryo?

The Scandinavian took off one of his hands from the German scientist and said with a diminished smile.

"Nasim… we have discussed this before; the NBI is extremely strict about this issue. I cannot do what is not allowed."

"Don’t you get excited about creating a being that would be exempt from sicknesses, of vastly superior strength and mental abilities? It is the future of humanity!"

"Believe me that I agree with your point of view. However, I still cannot do it. Just let somebody else worry about that… You guys have some celebrating to do; you two have been working very hard, have some fun tonight!"

For a scientist praised for doing an outstanding job, Nasim did not look pleased; with a tight jaw, he smiled slightly and consented, You are right, Erik; we will do just that.

"Good! I will see you at the office around 10 a.m.!"

As Doctor Peterson walked away, the two scientists left congratulated each other on the finished job; nevertheless, Nasim kept an eye on their boss. When he considered that he was far away, he changed the conversation and asked his curly blonde German associate, Derek, how do you feel about not using the genome to create a superhuman being?

"I think that it stinks! Incidentally, I noticed that you didn’t like what Erik said to you."

"You are absolutely right about that... Derek, I believe that you and I are alike; we have been working together for many years, and this is the only reason I can trust you with this radical suggestion."

"Sure, go ahead!"

The dark-haired scientist, facing away from his associate, turned sideways to stare into his companion’s blue but smaller-than-normal eyeballs. Then he coldly said.

"Let’s go forward and do it."

"I would love to finish this project this way, but I don’t think Doctor Peterson will change his mind," the German replied.

"Just listen to me. The twenty-two non-sex chromosomes are complete; the only thing left is to define the sex of the embryo: it must be a male! Therefore, I am working in the p-arm of the Y chromosome, just outside the pseudo autosomal region to activate the SRY gene. You know so that the embryo will be a male."

"That is great; what do you want me to do?"

"Today, I need all the genome files to be transferred to the annex lab in building 12C."

"OK, if that is what you want, consider it done. I would like to mention that Erik is not going to be happy. We could lose our jobs!"

Nasim turned his head to face his colleague squarely, then in a sinister tone, he suggested.

"What about if he is not around? Then, wouldn’t we be the ones in charge?"

Derek’s small eyes got wider as he moved backward away from the table and against the cushioned seat. After a pause, he asked.

"Are you suggesting… to get rid of him?"

Without moving a muscle on his face, Nasim just nodded affirmatively. Derek scratched his head and bit his lower lip; like in a trance and somber tone, he said, I am in, but he is a very important man; we could get into serious trouble.

"You have nothing to worry about. I will do it myself, and since I know Erik will be working tonight at the lab, it is tonight! Furthermore, it is going to be an accident!"

That same day, at nighttime.

Erik Peterson stayed at the bio-lab working late. In front of him stood this complex equipment with electronic displays and a maze of interconnected transparent tubing. Among formulas and DNA info, a message in red began blinking in one of the large displays.

Warning> Large amounts of nitrates are involved in the current chemical reaction.

The scientist ignored this warning sign. Instead, he focused his attention on another smaller display reading:

N23-K Solution T = 93°C

"Hvad der foregår, jeg stabiliseret aminosyre blandingen til 80° C formiddag! Hvorfor er den så høj temperatur?" He said to himself.

[What is going on? I did stabilize the amino acid mixture to 80°C this morning! Why is the temperature so high?]

He scratched his head with disbelief; then, he stared at the greenish solution running along the transparent tubes. Everything looked normal, he shook his head, and while placing his left hand against his left temple, Erik mentally calculated how to lower the temperature of the solution. In a faint voice, he concluded, To kuld vand skal gøre det. [Two liters of water should do it.]

The scientist slid open a bottom cabinet and took from a shelf a plastic bottle with an imprinted label asserting in bold letters:

H2O 5L

On the experimental overhead arrangement, he opened a stainless-steel container and with a single motion, poured exactly the two liters that he calculated inside the original mixture. Then, he closed the stainless container and placed the plastic bottle on the counter.

His blue eyes stared again at the N23-K solution’s temperature meter… However, something happened to the solution inside the transparent tubing that caught his attention. The liquid began changing from green to yellow! As his eyes opened wide, the solution was already orange, and the temperature meter started to climb fast and faster!

Erik's mouth opened as the mixture turned red, and his body shook with fear. He quickly glanced at the plastic bottle label H2O 5L and frantically yelled, Åh sikke noget, dette er vand!

[Oh my god, this is not water!]

He again looked with utter terror at the now boiling liquid!

A blinding bright flash illuminated the whole lab.

Just as Erik saw the ominous flash and barely felt the heat of the massive explosion, his burned body disintegrated along with everything around; he saw and felt nothing anymore!

The third floor of this elegant and tall building exploded away in an enormous ball of fire and smoke, which blew away all its windows and walls in a deafening blast that scattered debris all over the nearby buildings’ complex. As the thunderous sound faded, so did the ring of fire rising above and around the damaged structure… Only smoke and the cracking sound of breaking glass falling on a solid surface remained.

A modern-looking brown car, parked at a designated rest area along a busy highway, had two men seated inside on its front seat. The one on the driver’s side, a medium build, brown hair, same tint for his eyes, was busy staring at a large, centered display showing the next city’s allocation of home lots. His companion, a heavy muscular individual with a face like an old boxer, impatiently asked, Pick one, Thomas; I am tired of waiting!

Thomas ignored him while thinking, Why do I associate with Neanderthals? This man has no patience! Next, he asserted.

The southwest of the city is where the most affluent people live; let’s take 25767 Palmas Road. I am setting up a decoy, so the police won’t be able to trace us by the car’s electronic logs.

He entered a cluster of computer codes into the car’s input device. Then, he pushed a button labeled GPS and talked directly to the display.

25767 Palmas Road, Junction, Arizona…Go there!

The car started, and while speeding up, it moved automatically to the next freeway ramp and aligned behind other merging vehicles. Thomas turned his full attention into the dark eyes of his robust companion, and after rotating his cushioned seat to face him, he calmly stated, OK, Dyson, it is done. We will arrive just after it gets dark.

The streetlights of this undulating road, lined up along an upper-class suburban cluster of homes, had just turned on as the darkness of the early night took over the neighborhood. A brown car drove to the front of one of the houses; it turned its lights off after stopping. Close to the curb, a lighted display read: 25767 Palmas Road, O’Neil Residence. Inside the car, the driver said to his companion, Just a moment Dyson; I am disabling the home security for 30 minutes.

The front door of this elegant home opened silently; the face of Dyson became the first to intrude into the opening. He cautiously walked into the hallway, closely followed by his friend Thomas.

The hallway opened into a spacious room with a large sofa facing a wall with a TV showing a movie; apparently, nobody was around.

As the two intruders split to cover adjacent rooms, suddenly, a man about 60 years old walked into the main entrance room and faced Dyson; abruptly stopping, his face showing surprise and anger, he questioned.

Who are you? What are you doing here?

Without showing any emotion, Dyson quickly drew a hi-tech gun from an opening in his pants, and pointing to the head of the man in front of him, pulled the trigger.

A flash, accompanied by a high-frequency pitch, was projected to the homeowner’s head; he moved both hands to his ears as his eyes rolled inside their sockets. Uttering painful noises, he dropped to the ground, already unconscious. Dyson dark eyes looked for a second at the twisted person lying on the floor; then, he kicked him hard on the stomach.

Thomas’ eyebrows showed concern before quickly commenting.

Man, it is OK; you don’t have to kill him!

Just making sure that he is not awake! Dyson responded as he put away the gun. This was a preferred weapon for home invaders since the visual and ultrasonic blast caused mental confusion among the victims, making them unable to describe the intruders accurately.

As the two criminals turned around to face the rest of the room and the TV, they froze; because above the edge of the sofa was the protruding head of a small blonde child about five years old. His deep blue eyes stared at them; the child inquired.

Why did you hurt my grandpa?

Dyson approached the child, closely followed by his partner Thomas. Dyson’s mean black eyes stared at the youngster, trying to intimidate him; to his surprise, the child stared back; with a stern voice, he demanded again, I asked you, why did you hurt my grandpa?

Dyson’s face got even meaner, pointing a finger at the child said in a deep and angry tone.

You stupid kid, you better shut up, or I will hurt you!

Dyson used to bully people and watched with pleasure how much they got scared when he looked mean to them; now, a child in front of him remained defiant and unafraid. His blood started to boil, clouding his meager common sense. Simultaneously, deep inside his mind and inside Thomas’ brain, an evil voice suggested a dark outcome, Kill the child!

Thomas heard the suggestion and quickly dismissed it as something too drastic for him to do. On the other hand, his partner was a hardened criminal where the voice of good and reason had been suppressed long ago; for him, this stayed as a practical suggestion.

The wicked voice inside his head seemed to take control of his actions; it ordered, Take your knife and cut his throat, but first, stab him in the leg, so you can hear him scream!

Dyson, looking like a possessed man with a deepening breath, curling fingertips, and crazy-focusing eyeballs, reached into his pockets and pulled a retracted knife. He squeezed the end, and a shiny six-inch blade instantly protruded from the top. He pointed the blade toward the child’s face, who quickly moved backward.

Just two steps back, Thomas touched Dyson on his right shoulder and exclaimed with an excited and concerned voice.

Hey man, what are you doing? Leave the child alone!

Dyson rotated the point of the blade to face Thomas’ stomach and said in a deep voice that the latter did not even recognize.

Don’t move!

Thomas froze at once; hence, Dyson returned the blade to face the kid. The mean man crossed his left leg across the sofa and planted it on the other side where the child was. Then he tried to move his right leg over the furniture’s upper edge while shifting his weight to his left foot. However, the tip of his shoe nicked the top of the sofa, and he lost his balance, falling headfirst with his right hand still holding the knife. How unfortunate that the point of the blade missed the seating edge of the sofa, but his hand did not; therefore, stopping the knife and making it point upwards.

The sharp blade pierced a robust chest and a fast-beating heart instantaneously. When the head of Dyson hit the floor, he was already dead!

For one or two seconds, his hands and feet jerked out of control; a large and lifeless mass lay motionless next to the sofa and the child.

Thomas moved to the edge of the sofa and looked at the lifeless eyes of Dyson from his twisted head lying sideways on the floor. After that, Thomas shifted his widening eyes and mouth toward the growing pool of red blood spreading irregularly on the same floor. The man grabbed his head with both hands and loudly exclaimed, "Oh shit! ... This idiot is dead!"

While shaking his head with disbelief, he turned his attention to the child standing nearby. After taking a deep breath, even when his heart was still ticking too fast, he calmed himself down. Looking at the deep blue eyes of the youngster that stood unshaken by the event, Thomas asked.

What is your name, kid?

The child stared back at Thomas; with a soft voice responded.

James.

Where are your parents, James?

The child’s eyes looked down and turned sad. He answered.

They died in an accident a year ago; I only have my grandpa.

I am sorry about that… Look James… I can’t believe that you are not afraid after seeing what just happened! This huge crazy man that is now dead… he would have killed you! After pausing for a moment, wondering why this child remained so unafraid while he stood at the very edge of panic, he said, Do you know something, James? You are the luckiest kid on the planet!

A voice inside the child’s small blonde head said, Tell him: Thomas, you are the lucky one to be alive.

The child named James smiled and then spoke out.

Thomas, you are the lucky one to be alive.

The man’s eyes grew wider, How in the Hell does this child know my name? What is he talking about? became the questions rattling inside his brain. Inquisitively, Thomas got much closer to James’s face and opened his mouth to ask something, but before any words