The World of NightsEnd

Those who go down to the sea … They see the works of the LORD, And His wonders in the deep … Their soul melts because of trouble. Then they cry out to the LORD in their trouble, And He brings them out of their distresses. He calms the storm, So that its waves are still. Then they are glad because they are quiet; So He guides them to their desired haven.

Psalm 107

Another perfect morning dawned over Haven as everything and everyone continued as they always had. And, as he always had, Judson rose from his hammock and took a quick dip in the warm South Sea waters. It was only when a dolphin rolled over a few feet from him that Judson remembered the tube car and where it would take him in a few hours.

Back on the beach, the young man sat cross legged in the sand and said his morning prayers. He read several pages from the newly translated book of Psalms, put the parchments away, and gazed toward the horizon. It took a monkey’s laughter from the dense undergrowth behind him to shake the young man from his thoughts. Something was missing. What had always been the same was no longer.

Judson jumped up, brushed the sand clinging to him off, and nodded. Now knew what was different. He had not dreamed the night before. For the first time since he was twelve he couldn’t remember anything from the previous night besides laying his head down to sleep. And somehow he knew that he would be a Dreamer no more.

“Hey, dreamer boy.” It was Wesley.

“Yeah, what you want book worm?” Judson realized how good it was they had not lost their youthful spirit in spite of the weight of what lay before them.

“I came to see if you wanted some company before the big send-off.” The relied evident in Wesley’s voice as well.

Judson laughed and ran over to his friend. “Thanks. I think if I have to explain this journey to one more old woman I will scream.”

Wesley returned the laugh and headed toward the village with Judson following. “So, what do you think it will be like out there?”

Judson didn’t know how to answer that question. He knew what they had learned from the vids in the GRAV-LEV tunnel. The haunting problem was that the vids they had were from a Chinese point of view of over one hundred years earlier.

“I’m not sure Wesley. I mean, it looks pretty bad from the vids but I can’t believe that we have the whole story. Surely some of the great assemblies are left. And then there’s TruePath. Maybe it has found its way back in the last century.”

Wesley shrugged and kept on walking. “Yeah … maybe.” He paused on the trail allowing Judson to come beside him.

Judson placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder; “Even those who scoff at the idea of leaving Haven secretly long for for what we do. They want to believe there was something more out there even thought their afraid to voice it. They need to believe there are more teachers out there to show us more about the way.”

Wesley nodded and then broke the tension hanging over them. “Hope you’re right Judson. I sure would hate to think that the fate of the world rested on your scrawny shoulders.”

Judson laughed and scooped up a handful of sand depositing it on Wesley’s head. He screamed in protest and returned the favor. The two played like school boys from years before. Their laughter was just a slight bit too forced as though they knew this day could never be repeated again.

Nearing the village, Judson stopped abruptly and declared, “I didn’t dream last night.”

“What’s that?”

“I said I didn’t dream last night. I don’t think I will be anymore. I guess that means I’m no longer a Dreamer.

The dreams are over. I’m not a Dreamer anymore.”

“Then what are you?”

“I guess I’m just a plain ordinary follower. Sure not a translator and now not a Dreamer. Doesn’t leave much does it?”

Wesley’s look turned serious. He leaned against a palm tree and studied his friend’s face for a long minute. “My father once told me a story about the Teacher’s wife. She often complained that she had no talents like her husband. She had no linguistic skills and I don’t think either of them were Dreamers. The one thing Mary did was love her husband and give him four Christ following boys. After the teacher died she prepared each of those boys to carry on their father’s work. She didn’t even understand all the books she taught them to read but had confidence they would follow in their father’s footsteps.Mary raised those boys to manhood with no man to point to. And, when the time was right, they married women of the island and as you know we all trace our lineage back to them.”

Wesley paused as he waited for a light to turn on in Judson’s head. All he got in return was a blank stare.

“Don’t you see Judson? You were a Dreamer when you needed to be. Now you are to walk the way of the teacher’s wife. You are being sent to be an example. You are taking the word of the living God to those who have lost it. None of us understand all of it but we are sure its truth liberates those who embrace it.”

Judson eyes brightened. “So maybe the world out there doesn’t need teachers and dreamers so much. Maybe they just need what we all work for here. The truth.” As quickly as they lit up the spark in his eyes faded.

“What’s wrong Judson?”

“I just realized I have been called to the most difficult task of all. In this safe and hidden place we have been translators and dreamers untested by the realities of the world we see on the vids. Now I am going into that dark world with the task of being a true Christ Follower where there may be no others. This seems to be the hardest calling of all.”

Wesley smiled and patted his friend on the shoulder. “Yes my friend and I think the most wonderful of all as well.”

The two friends walked on in mutual silence as they made their way to the entrance to the GRAV-LEV tube at the northern end of Haven. The short trip from the serenity of the island to what lay beneath it was sobering.

Hundreds of linen wearing islanders poured over technical manuals and stared at diagnostic screens. An outsider would have taken these people as religious simpletons but he would have been very wrong. Over a century of dedication to learning and discovery showed itself in the Havenite’s quick study of the technology before them.

After nearly a year of study they were no closer to understanding how the Gravity powered system worked. But they did understand how to use it. A double dolphin headed car hung suspended in mid-air ready and waiting to whisk Judson off on his journey. Testimony to what quick studies Judson’s people were.

It seemed like everyone had some last minute instructions to give or advice to offer. Jim and Elizabeth handed Judson their first full copy of the book of Matthew and offered their encouragement. Graham hurried over to Judson to tell him excitedly how he had begun to dream the night before.

Two hours later Judson had yet to sit down as he was inundated with well wishers letting him know their thoughts and prayers were with him. At last the time came for all to back away to the far platform. One of the translators that had been in charge of deciphering technical information pulled Judson aside. “You’re sure you understand what to do once you arrive?”

Judson nodded.

“Just sit back and enjoy the ride then. Our best estimate is that it will take between eight to twelve hours. That’s as close as we can narrow it down to.”

Judson looked down the tunnel and back at his instructor. “Do you have any idea where it will stop?”

“I wish I could tell you. This things sat here for a hundred years. Who knows what’s changed …” The man stared down the seemingly endeless tunnel and added. “out there.”

There was a grand ceremony with singing and prayers. Wesley was the last to say goodbye and then Judson walked toward the tube car accompanied by the Speaker of the Counsel. The old man stopped as they came near the seamless door of the car. He looked down the tunnel and then into Judson’s eyes. “Judson, were you at the naming ceremony for Jim?”

Judson nodded.

“Then you know he is named for a great adventurer of another time. The one he is named for went with four other men to contact a murderous and mysterious people in the rain forests of the Southern Americas. They went in peace to share the good news of the Scriptures with those people but their intentions were misunderstood. None of them returned to their families.”

Judson knew the story well and understood why the Speaker had just recounted it as though he never had. “That is true but those people they went to were forever changed by the encounter.”

The Speaker’s eyes danced with delight at his pupils insight. “They all were changed Judson; both those who they went to and those who went.”

He smiled, patted Judson on the arm, walked back across the docking bay. Judson returned the smile and walked toward the door. It parted as if on command when he neared it and then Judson could be seen no more.

Several tense minutes passed as the last steps were checked and rechecked. Finally the moment came. All was silent in the tunnel except for the increasing throbbing sound. Like some giant heart beat that was ready to burst it grew louder and louder.

For the briefest of moments Judson considered running out the door and forgetting this madness. What was a dreamer like him doing headed off away from all that he had ever known? All that was worthwhile to him was out there with those good people. His family and his friends were out there.

He didn’t know these people he was going to. Couldn’t they just find God on their own? Why did he have to go and dream such foolishness? But then he remembered the words Jim and Elizabeth had translated, “As you are journeying make learners of all the nations.”

And then a clam resolve filled Judson’s heart. He sat down and waited for the jolt of the car being shot toward a far away continent. A warning siren blasted loud enough to be heard inside the car and then it happened. To his surprise there was no jolt. The departure was sudden both for Judson and those watching. One second the car hung in its place and the next it was almost out of sight. Then it was gone.

Everyone went back to the village leaving Wesley and the Speaker alone still looking to where Judson had once been.

“Do you think we will ever see him again Speaker?”

“Oh, we will see him again; one way or another.”

Judson wondered the same thing as he sat in the silent car reading from his translations and preparing for what lay ahead. This car had no projection vids so the windows remained gray and lifeless. The effect was what the original GRAV-LEV developers had encountered. The thing felt more like a tomb than a transportation vehicle.

A strange sensation crept up Judson’s spine and gnawed at his brain. He felt as though he couldn’t breathe and stood to pace around. What was this feeling that so consumed his being? He had left everything he knew; everything he trusted and lived for to go into a world totally unlike him.

Then Judson knew what it was that gripped him so. He was alone, so very alone. Perhaps in some small way he now knew how the Savior felt as he stepped away from his eternal throne to come to mankind. Perhaps; but only in a very small way.

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NightFall: Second Revision July 2008

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