There was something uncomfortable about this man that made Wiley want to retreat. Were dark stormy clouds in the background an omen for what was coming?

“What are you up to, Pastor Gil?” Bruce asked.

“Trying to avoid the aliens.”

“Come inside. This is Wiley and Sarge.”

The men nodded.

The room was getting darker as the encroaching storm clouds absorbed the remaining daylight. Bruce spoke the words and the lights came on.

Pastor Gil looked impressed. “God spoke the world into existence.” He gave a nod and looked at the lights.

Wiley wasn’t sure what to take from that. Maybe it was in a pastor’s wiring to bring every conversation back to the subject of God.

Pastor Gil settled in quickly, too quickly, making himself at home. Wiley studied the man. He couldn’t explain, but this man had an aura about him that dragged people in. Wiley’s thoughts went to the aura glasses, but they were redundant now.

“What do you think about the present situation, Pastor Gil? Why are you still here?” Bruce asked.

The man started reminiscing on his pastorship, but his words soon turned unexpectedly honest.

“The key is to adapt the message to the people—keep it simple and interesting and show them how they benefit. I’d pick the verses I need to support the message I had in mind. I would tell them that God put the message on my heart. Only a few challenged what I preached about. They were the ones who studied the word.”

“Are they gone?” Wiley asked.

Pastor Gil looked at Wiley, raised his eyebrows and gave a few nods. “That’s a good question.” He pulled out his mobile and found their numbers. He placed a call and put the phone to his ear and waited. The pastor tilted his head back, smiled and then gave a brief nod as his call was answered. “Hello, who’s this?”

Obviously not the person he’d called.

“Hi, Tim. It’s Pastor Gil here. I was after your dad.”

The pastor nodded a few times. “I’m sorry to hear that.” The call ended.

Pastor Gil placed his phone on the coffee table and rubbed his hand over his face. Weariness had returned. “That was the man’s son. A teenager. A rebellious one. I can’t repeat how he ended the conversation—threatening and crude. There’s a lot of flak coming my way, as if I’m to blame why people are missing.”

“More like for not telling them the truth, the real truth,” Wiley said.

“I thought I did. Aliens. I believe it’s an alien invasion.” He straightened in his seat. “I’m kidding myself.”  

The room shook briefly as a large clap of thunder pealed close by.

“Just one of our coastal storms coming in to entertain us,” Bruce said.  

They all sat in silence for a few minutes, waiting for the next thunderclap.

“We’ll soon simply cease to exist.” Sarge broke the silence. “That what I believe, anyway. There is no hell—we will simply vanish. Death. Poof. Gone.”

Lightning illuminated the dark areas of the room, as if to add a dramatic effect to Sarge’s words. Wiley looked out the window and saw shadows. That’s all they were. Just shadows.

Pastor Gil shook his head. “My understanding is that this is only the start of our suffering. And it will continue when we die—our souls live on in torment.” The pastor rubbed his beard. “See, I can rattle these things off the top of my head. But they’re empty words to me. I read that knowledge puffs up and love builds up. I can see now I neglected the latter.”

Wiley noted a change in the pastor’s demeanour. His own as thoughts of living in torment challenged his mind.

Bruce stood and walked over to the window. “There must be a way out of this. Surely we can say ‘Oops, we made a mistake, we understand, now please forgive us’.”

Wiley looked around the room. Sarge was getting agitated.

Sarge stood up and headed towards the deck. “I’m going to find that pistol.”

* * *

Jack reached for the devices in his ears and brought himself out of Wiley’s life. He wasn’t sure if Sarge retrieving the pistol was a good idea, given the man’s frame of mind.

Leo paused the recording.

Jack thought of Cath’s term—timeline detectives. Jumping in and out of timelines to save lives, guided by God.

His thoughts were captured. “That would interfere with free will, Jack, but we do something like that,” Leo said. “It will get clearer as you understand things. Currently, the advantage we have over you is a deeper knowledge of all physical and chemical laws. It’s a knowledge that surpasses all your understanding. With it comes great power. You will soon gain this.”

Leo brought up a scene.

Numerous fire clouds formed as the enemy below launched missiles.

“It’s all futile,” Leo said. “Showing man’s arrogance. The invisible shield surrounding Adventus absorbs their missile blasts. It is the same shield protecting the Lord’s people from the nuclear disaster that will soon come upon those who rejected the Lord on the old Earth.”

“It was always going to happen, Jack,” Cath said. “The Lord had to intervene at some point.”

“Man will soon face the horrendous effects of his own sins. Men with confused power and leaders with hearts full of sin will cause the destruction of the old Earth. God didn’t want any to perish, but man had a choice,” Leo said.

What was the great power Leo had mentioned?

“You will soon understand many things.”

He kept forgetting his thoughts were no longer his own. And never had been.

49 - A belated sermon

Wiley caught a brief gust of sea breeze as Sarge opened the sliding door and ventured onto the deck. The gust brought with it the earthly aroma of the coming storm.

Pastor Gil was still in sermon mode. “Those Christians, their time on Earth as we know it has ended. They’re in the presence of God, and we’re not. I believe this is for eternity, but I hope not. Maybe we’ll get a second chance. The Bible was pretty clear on that—our names needed to be written in the Book of Life. It appears they were not.”

“But God is a loving God?” Bruce had turned from the window and stood against the wall.  “I’m sure one of your sermons was about a secret rapture or something, and the Lord would come again for those left behind.” Bruce seemed pleased that he’d remembered a sermon. “Yes, I distinctly remember telling myself I’d get a second chance. That God loves us and would return to get me.” He glared at the pastor. “So your views have changed.”

“I would say so.” He pointed to the sky. “There’s nothing secret about what’s happening out there.”

Bruce’s shoulders sagged and he spoke in a weary tone. “So we’re without hope?”

The response didn’t come straight away. “I hope not.”