“Please proceed to the docking port at 33°23′39″N 104°31′22″W and prepare to be boarded.” Came the automated voice over the communication device.

“What now?” Lane asked.

“Proceed as planned.” Mike said. The nervousness in his voice was clear. He was certain that they were going to be caught.

“We are going to get caught. They are going to take you and dissect you.” Lane said.

“The prophet will make it back to Earth.” Rubin said. “It is written in the stars.”

“Well, I didn’t see it written anyplace.” Lane said. “You don’t have anything to lose, but we do.”

Special Delivery slowed toward the loading dock at one hundred six G’s deceleration. The ship was set up to do all the work automatically and would not need anyone working at the controls. All the astronauts had a handle on their abilities. Rubin did not want to participate in the meld with Sebastian to figure out what his ability was and was wary of his old friend checking to see what they were. Mike was unsure of what his title would be, but he seemed to have a little of everything albeit not particularly good. Sebastian was an investigator of sorts. He could read people by using the runes in their hands as they had a transfer of information through a telepathic link.

Lane’s ability was mysterious. It did not seem to do anything. Mike spent weeks trying to get a reaction by aligning the runes, but nothing seemed to happen. He got a pink light reaction one time that drew energy from him, but the only effect was that it made him thin and shorter, and lightened his skin tones. The flux draw was real, so Lane practiced using it over and over until his flux drew low. He would wait for it to replenish and do it again. He was adept at turning it on and off. His control was impressive. It reminded him of a time when he took karate classes. He spent two weeks working on blocking an imaginary strike at his face, and an imaginary strike at his abdomen. The blocking maneuver became reflexive. He never got good at karate. His parents got divorced, and there was not enough money for him to keep it up.

...

Jiirdrian looked like Earth with the continents all mixed up. There was the same ocean/land ratio, the air was made of all the good air stuff like on Earth. There were plants growing everywhere, there was enough water like on Earth. There were gigantic cities like on Earth. There were people in charge of ports like on Earth.

Special Delivery docked at the appointed location and awaited the quarantine wash and the people to come escort them to the holding area while the ship was inspected. Everything went as usual according to Rubin. He had made the trip hundreds of times. He was talking to his companions as the aliens in bio suits escorted them to a holding area. The landing procedures were going as planned, and Mike and the others pretended to listen to tour guide Rubin as they eavesdropped on the bio suit crew. They looked at where he pointed and nodded as needed. They did not get any intelligence on the walk, however. They were put into a comfortable looking barracks room with showers accessible for men, and another for women. They followed the procedures as directed and emerged on the other side of the showers in a light blue faded pair of coveralls with long sleeves and pin stripes.

“An engineer at last.” Rebecca said. “My dad would be so proud.”

Todd gave her a curious look, so she indicated the pin striped coveralls that reminded her of steam engine operators for the railroad. Todd nodded.

“How long do we wait in quarantine?” Todd asked.

“Sometimes it’s quick.” Rubin said. “Twenty minutes if the tests are okay. Sometimes much longer. I have been stuck here for up to eight days before.”

“Why so long?” Paige asked.

“I am not certain. It was the trip with Madam Vadoma Roma.” Rubin said. “She creeps me out.”

Sebastion glanced over at him, but he was being legitimate.

...

An hour later an administrator entered the quarantine area and looked around.

“I am Stanton Diego of Jiirdrian. Welcome to our corner of the galaxy. Rubin, introduce me to your friends.”

Rubin introduced each of them. He stated which continent they came from. When he introduced Sebastian, he said that he was from Romania which caught Mike off guard, but he did not let it show. He also indicated that Sebastian was a return guest.

Stanton gave him another assessing look before he began giving them a tour of the facilities.

“It is unusual for us to receive guests that had an opportunity to enjoy the journey. How did space travel suit you?” Stanton asked.

“I was surprised to find that it is possible to achieve FTL speeds.” Rebecca said. The rest nodded.

“Rubin, we are going to hook you up with another container full of fuel. We are starting to get concerned about payment.” Stanton said. “It has been a long time since we have seen any progress. What are your plans for finding the chosen one?”

Rubin stopped in his tracks. He was not good at lying. He was suspicious that Stanton understood that the chosen one was one of his guests on this trip. He decided to go with the truth.

“I brought him with me.” Rubin said. “He has shown me some incredible things that I never thought possible.”

“One of these three men then?” Stanton asked.

“Indeed.” Rubin said. “But you already knew that. What game are you playing?”

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“Oh, I am not playing games.” Stanton said. “I am simply happy that we can finally meet the prophet.”

“I am not a prophet.” Lane said. “That whole prophecy thing was a ruse that Jonathan set up.”

Stanton spun around and grabbed him in his enormous hand and picked him up into the air by the neck. Lane grabbed his wrist and relieved some of the stress on his neck.

“But the prophecy?” Rubin said. “The prophet needs to come back with us. Can’t you take another instead?”

“If we get what we need from this one then we will take Sebastian instead.” Stanton said as he set Lane back down.

“That’s a great idea.” Sebastian said with exuberance. “I can even help you to get what you need from him if you like.”

“What do you want from me?” Lane asked. “I don’t know anything.”

Stanton dragged Lane through a door and gave him a hard shove. Lane went sprawling out on the floor for an orderly to get into a holding cell. Stanton resumed the tour as if nothing had happened. Mike could see the runes flare up on Paige and Todd as the administrator grew aggressive with Lane, but they stuck to the plan. They continued the tour and pretended to be cowed by the experience of being abducted like they had seen in every abduction movie ever.

They were introduced to the mining areas where they mined, milled, and refined the ore used to make the three kinds of fuel and coolant. Sebastian asked questions about the process, and watched as they loaded the cargo container. After speaking with Rubin during the trip he noted that this would be enough fuel and coolant to power a fleet of ships throughout the galaxy for a hundred years.

“Can we get some chickens too?” Rubin asked. “Our chickens are inert.”

Stanton ordered that they get a dozen chickens on board as well.

“Anything else?” Stanton asked.

Rubin shook his head.

“How long until we get the prophet back?” Todd asked.

“After we run some tests, we will see.” Stanton said.

...

Lane was strapped to a hospital bed made of stainless steel. The straps were made of hard, inflexible leather and steel buckles that were too tight to escape from. Lane tried to remain calm, but he was on a distant planet strapped to a stainless-steel hospital bed awaiting testing that would be done by aliens. His anxiety levels rose until he decided to use his rune powers to make himself smaller, thinner, and whiter. It was not enough to loosen the straps to facilitate his escape, but it did give him some relief. And it took his mind off his situation.

Two aliens came in and flicked on a huge light that bathed him with a hot white glow. They drew it down from the ceiling and shone it right in his eyes. They had no masks or gloves on, which made Lane expect that he wasn’t going to survive the procedure.

One of them took a syringe with a long needle off a tray Lane had not noticed. Then the alien stuck him in the soft flesh that surrounded his eye. They sunk the needle in deep, and it hurt more than Lane would have imagined. His vision in that eye began to blur and the pair of aliens started poking the needle in the flesh around his other eye. He tried to concentrate on his runes and his abilities, but the pain was incredible. He screamed in pain and the aliens started talking in a language that he could not understand. He felt a needle penetrate his neck. The neck pain paled compared to the eye pain. He hoped that the neck jab was going to force him to become unconscious. He started counting backward from one hundred while he waited for it to take effect.

...

Lane awoke in a comfortable bed. He was still strapped down but at least this time he had sheets and a pillow. His eyes hurt but they felt like they were still there. He cautiously opened them. He could see. Things were blurry at first, but after blinking a few times they cleared up. The bright light must have scorched his corneas though, or maybe it was the injections. Everything that he could see was slightly out of whack. He blinked a few more times to clear it up but it did not help. The vision of his eyes was misaligned so that the view was higher in one eye than the other. He looked around rapidly to see if it would correct itself, but it did not. He gave it a few more tries before giving up. He was still groggy and hoping it would clear up by the time he got back to the ship. He did not like being strapped down like this. It made him feel helpless. When he took another look around the room, he figured out what was different. He was colorblind.

...

“It has been three days.” Todd said. “When are we getting our friend back?”

“Today.” Stanton said.

“Well good.” Todd continued. “So, you can take Sebastion with you. Have you been feeding our chickens?”

“We have decided against keeping Sebastian.” Stanton said. “And we have been taking great care of the chickens.”

“Perfect.” Rubin said. “When can I inspect my cargo?”

“Any time you are ready.” the administrator said. “Your prophet will be released within the hour.”

Rubin and Mike examined the cargo and the chickens. The chickens were in decent shape, but the fuel and coolant were counterfeit. They did not show any indication that they were aware. Instead, Rubin completed his inspection and entered the information into his log. When he was going through his preflight check, he noticed that the amount of fuel that he had for the return trip to Earth had decreased. It was enough to make the trip but would make the ship unable to leave the Sol system unless other fuel could be found. The administrator was unaware of the shipment on Mars. If they did not have any other source for fuel, then Earth would be cut off from the rest of the galaxy upon their return.

The crew was allowed to take the coveralls with them as well as their regular suits. When Lane was finally released to them, they crowded him into a group hug.

“Mike!” They shouted in unison as they rushed him. “Did they treat you all right buddy?” Todd asked as he helped him onboard the Special Delivery.

“They treated me like I expected.” Lane said as he boarded the ship.

The ship was cleared for departure, and they were off. Todd was curious about the gravity plating when the ship was being affected by a planet’s gravity. They held one G as they cleared the atmosphere of Jiirdrian and started back toward Earth. Rubin and Sebastian worked on the fuel mix controls to adjust for mass. It went quicker this time since Rubin had help. The flow mix color had changed due to the increase of mass and the additional strain that it would put on the engines. The variables were accounted for, and the flight computer was set up into cascade. It should not need any more adjustments to get to Earth.

...

“Lane, could you come look at my eyes?” Lane said to Mike. “They don’t feel right since those butchers messed with them.”

Mike grabbed Paige and took her over with him to look into Lane’s eyes. He was reminded of the way that Jonathan’s lock scanned his eye, and he was afraid that Lane’s replacement eyes might be set up to do the same thing. Paige looked into Lanes eyes with an ophthalmoscope but did not see anything that was not supposed to be there.

“Do they hurt?” Paige asked.

“Not like they used to, but yeah. They still hurt.”

“Can you look into my eyes Paige?” Mike said. “After you get done with Mike.”

“Sure.” She said as she used the device on Mikes eyes one at a time. “Perfectly normal.”

“May I see that for a second?” Mike asked.

“Sure.” she said, and she handed it off to him.

Mike took the device into another room that had a mirror and tried to use it on himself. It was no use. Whenever he put it in between his eye and the mirror it got in the way of itself and blocked his view. He went into the medical supplies area and found a strong magnifying glass. When he looked at his eye in the mirror, he noticed that there were runes mixed in with the rods and cones on his retina. A realization dawned on him. He realized why he could see the runes. Why he could see the flux materials. He realized how he opened that lock in Jonathan's strongbox. How the transmitter was able to send the message that enabled the prophecy to happen. He was not a chosen one. He was bioengineered.