The Emergence

The Emergence Nathan Daniels was tired. It had been 220 years of pure effort, toil and dedication to a cause. It was almost 200 years to the day , that the biosphere had been sealed from the outside world. Tens of thousands of species of plants, animals, fish, and insects had been carefully deposited in the various biomes in the dome city, and seed and genetic repositories had been methodically prepared for long term storage waiting for the fateful day when all kinds of drone air ships would be sent out in a kind of mother earth “musical concert” re-establishing ecological and atmospheric patterns around the planet. Daniels reflecting on the History of the Ark-2 Biosphere, was standing at the 59th level of the 12th Tower, which at it’s Apex stood about 750 feet into the air space inside the Dome. Each Tower was 700 foot square on the base, with vertical sides. The towers had an external framework which rose up to support a 3-D truss work, in turn supporting the Dome covering. The atmosphere inside the Dome City was self contained, balanced by machine atmospheric stabilizers and well planned interior ecosystems. Waiting the 200 years for the right conditions to emerge was difficult, but not the most difficult part of the job. During this period studies had been completed with the aid of robotic probes that periodically emerged from the 7,000 by 7,000 foot squarish dome to collect samples from the soil, water, and the air. The probes also planted microbes for re-establishing soil conditions for new growth. Yet is was the Biosphere construction that was the most challenging task. Non of the terra-forming activity was Daniels responsibility directly. He was not a Bio-engineer. As one of the original designers of the dome and framework structure Daniels was partly involved in most of the in-biosphere activity. He never imagined when he began his Engineering career on pre-WW3 earth, that the only house he would ever build for himself, would also be that which would accommodate 150,000 men, women, and children throughout the unfortunate circumstances which emerged in early 21st century earth, that is the tribulation referred to as World War Three. Early in Daniels career as an Engineer, he had worked in a military intelligence position in the Canadian Military, learning frightening facts about which most earth inhabitants only gave a passing thought to. Daniels worked in a Section of Intelligence that dealt with every threat to North America including all weapons of mass destruction, missiles, satellites and other gems of “Military Wisdom”. After being engaged in such activity, Daniels experienced several years of emotional turmoil, during which time he searched for an answer to a perceived emerging future dilemma on Earth. The dilemma was: if mankind had never laid down powerful weapons to defend an ideology, then would it not be inevitable that the clash of ideologies on earth would some time in the near future result in the use of terrible weapons of mass destruction? Destruction to the point that the atmosphere of the earth

may some day be damaged and unable to support the full spectrum of life. These foreboding thoughts troubled Daniels to the point that he searched for a solution and one day found it. He was standing in the parking lot of an Automobile Pit Stop Garage, waiting for the oil to be changed in his car, when he noticed the covering top of a Styrofoam cup sitting on the asphalt. The plastic lid top looked strong and obviously protected the ground underneath it. It sat on the ground like a miniature dome of protection. Having materialized an answer to the dilemma, that is, to build a protective dome to shelter life inside, Daniels went to work on riveting out design concepts. After 5 years of searching for a preliminary design, the 12 tower dome layout was established incorporating also 4 complexes and a city center. Then Nathan Daniels founded the organization which would proceed to build the dome, that is NJ-12. The dome Daniels decided would be biblical in nature, and the NJ-12 designation would represent the people that would live in the dome, the New Jerusalem 12 tribes. Hence it was decided by the early group of NJ-12 FOUNDERS that the dome would protect a remnant of earth kind through what was perceived as the emerging tribulation. After the persons in the dome had weathered the period of dormancy on the earth, when there would be no more negative interference from Mankind on the natural habitats, they would emerge. Emergence had been prepared for by some microbe restoration and seeding processes in the 200 year period of Dome life. Some persons emerging from the Dome would re-colonize the earth. Others emerging would proceed to colonize other planets, with spacecraft that had mastery over hyper-dimensional space/time physics, thus allowing large distances to be traveled in short periods of time. It was determined by THE FOUNDERS that pre-tribulation earth was too unstable a world to embrace the wonders of science, medicine and technology that emerged after the dawn of the third millennium. There was spreading evidence of conflict between many different cultures and ideologies. Ten thousand years of human history had only proven that age old hatreds and feuds between cultures were not extinguished, in fact they were heightened with mass communication. There was a need for a new beginning, a new earth with a United ideology, a second coming of a new faith, a new hope. The Third World War slowly marched forward to Global Confrontation early into the 21st century focused on the Middle East, and radiating across most continents, polarizing to those countries that supported Israel on the Allied side and those that did not support Israel on the Axis side. During this time NJ-12 persons were busily developing CAD models of the guts of the biosphere dome, the structure and infrastructure of the buildings within the dome, the biomes, the covering, and the atmospheric systems inside. The task at first seemed endless, to the NJ-12 FOUNDERS, but they knew that too much was at stake and they could not fail.

There were many obstacles to overcome initially, including attempted interference from off planet sentient species. The NJ-12 FOUNDERS had blinders to all such diversions and difficulties, focusing solely on the task of building the modern day version of Noah’s Ark.

The Tribal Band Council Leaders all wore a draping shirt with a cape denoting the color of the Tribe they were responsible for. Daniels reluctantly agreed early in the early stages of NJ-12 to be leader for the tribe of Benjamin. The other Tribe Leaders were chosen according to their heritage and abilities. Daniels cape was long and deep blue in color. He often stood in Council Sessions wondering by what act of God such design as the band Council had unfolded, but reflecting on the 5 decades of carnage that he witnessed unleashed on planet earth before the biosphere was sealed made him wonder less, and simply thank God that steps had been taken to preserve earth-kind. Tribal Leaders were chosen not for their knowledge as much as for their wisdom and ability to transcend time and space in their decision making and visionary planning. They had a keen awareness of what was required for preservation and progression. As Daniels looked over the expanse of the interior of the Biosphere his eyes focused on the Medical Complex. This was where Jane Margaret Daniels, Nathan Daniels’s Sister, worked, as a supervisor on the Human Longevity Maintenance Program. The Longevity program extended the life-cycles of humans in the biosphere to many centuries, beyond the usual life expectancy of 70 years. Most biosphere inhabitants were over 200 years old. Daniels was due for a Longevity upgrade. Upgrade would take anywhere from 2 to 5 weeks in a rejuvenation tank. He decided to call Jane to ask about final preparations for decontamination of vehicles leaving the biosphere during the emergence in two days time. Normal decontamination was practiced on any person or object either coming into or leaving the biosphere. Daniels turned to his wrist communicator and spoke into it saying: “Access Jane Margaret Daniels.” The wrist communicator answered: “ Accessing ..beep .. beep .. beep ............connecting” Nathan heard the connect signal and spoke, “Jane will the decontamination generators be adequate for all the transport craft?” Jane Margaret answered: “Nathan, you are 5 years overdue for regeneration... you must get rest... you haven’t slept for over three weeks. The Emergence will go fine without you.” Nathan stared at the wall in the room behind him through the picture window .. the wall inside was covered from floor to ceiling with a communications information flat screen. He replied to his sister, “ No Jane, I must continue to the Gates Opening.”

“Nathan, it will be fine”, Jane stated. Nathan heard Jane’s voice in the distant recesses of his auditory senses. He looked down at the solid gold Bar on the sleeve of his Gown. The Bar denoted Tribal Leader status and all the responsibility that went with it. He then stared back at his communication screen studying the information in a transcendental state of awareness. “Jane”, Nathan said, “ We have a communication from the Alpha Sector.... we think it might be the Progenitors. There was reference in the signal to an arrival within a few hours of the gate opening, in approximately 50 hours.” Jane was un-phased by this remark; “can you at least go into a regeneration tank for the next 36 hours?” Nathan disclosed more vital information: “ we are also getting hyper-space signals from the Vega Sector .. Joshua has put the Peacemaker Interceptors on ALERT. The whole biosphere is ready to be advanced to DELTA STATUS ...we may have to activate the DOME pods and move the city to the Mountain Sanctuary base.” Suddenly Nathan’s right leg went feeble and he crumpled onto the the balcony patio, gasping in pain. His knee ligament partly tore from the force of the unnatural fall as his upper body weight shifted in the wrong direction. Jane blurted: “Nathan.. what’s wrong? What has happened to you? The communicator in Nathan’s wrist bracelet also monitored all of Nathan’s Biomedical signs and constantly relayed this status information to a central health monitoring computer system in the medical facility. In the Life monitoring center, at the 450 foot level of the Medical Complex, a duty staff officer was alerted to Nathan’s condition of stress fatigue and subsequent injury. “Deploy medical team to tower 12, floor 59, unit 42", blurted Elizabeth Jamieson, into the Com Alert system for emergency response. Elizabeth had been working in the medical facility for over 100 years in dozens of different areas. She was born in the Eightieth year from the time of the Dome being sealed and began working at the age of 20. She had the appearance of a healthy 30 year old, engaging in regeneration every 20 years to maintain longevity and youth. When Nathan fell to the floor of his balcony he felt the pain at first, then became oblivious to his injury as he passed out from exhaustion. He woke up in a Med center Regeneration room. He could hear the gentle sound of soft chimes. There were three Med Staffers at his side to help him into the regeneration tank. Each of the half a dozen tanks in the room stood about 8 feet high and were filled with salted liquids and illuminated with shifting rainbow colors of penetrating light. The room had various electronic signal devices with a control panel area decorated with data screens. Linda Robertson, one of the Med Staffers, spoke quietly saying to Daniels: “Sir, we have instructions to suspend you in regeneration for 36 hours. Anthony Edwards of the Levi Tribe will take over planning for the emergence - Please acknowledge and cooperate with us.” Nathan, still feeling numb from the pain suppressor injection waved his hand in compliance and felt somewhat finally satisfied that he had done all that was humanly possible to complete his job.

Anthony Edwards was standing on a transport platform at the 350 foot level of the Science/Engineering complex, reviewing the Grav-Pod lift capacity of a transport aircraft when his communicator was signaled from the Tribal Council Headquarters in the City Center. Michael Johnston, the leader of the tribe of Judah and Jason Achilles, leader of the Tribe of Dan, the co-chairs of the Council, had decided Edwards would oversee the emergence when they learned of Nathan Daniels collapse. Edwards refrained from adjusting a low frequency resonator on the Grav-pod he was tuning and answered the beep... beep of his wrist communicator. The transceiver indicated an incoming call from Tribe Leader Michael Johnston, located in the Tribal Council Headquarters in the Christ Center. “Hello Mike .. I take it you have important news for me”, Anthony stated. Johnston was blunt and to the point: “Yes Anthony, Nathan collapsed approximately 45 minutes ago from exhaustion. We all know he has been working far beyond normal capacity. He has been put into regeneration for 36 hours. We want you to take his place co-ordinating the Emergence. Can you confirm this is possible? “I confirm!” Edwards answered. “I will have to go to my Tower Unit and open file access to all the activity which Nathan was Leader-shipping. May God be with me.” “Yes Anthony .. May God be with you.” Johnston replied. “Please begin coordination immediately. Stuart Macdowell will take over the transport vehicle preparation.” Anthony lay down his tools and called over to two transport workers, located just a few yards away. He explained his newly appointed commitment and asked one of the mechanics, who was also a council administrator, to assign authority for vehicle preparation over to Macdowell. Edwards then packed away his tools in a composite fibre tool-box. He hopped onto his anti-grav scooter and ascended effortlessly into the air above the platform of the Enterprise Engineering deck. Within less than a minute of being air-born his anti-grav scooter approached the balcony landing platform at the 550 foot level of his Tower Unit. A ramp door hinged down to allow easy access to the inside of the 20 foot cantilevered balcony floor. When Anthony had arrived at his spacious 2100 square foot living unit the Quadrant lighting was just beginning to cycle into early evening. Edwards looked forward to this dusk simulation approaching night ambience. This low level lighting triggered memories of pre-tribulation earth and his deceased first wife. Karen Edwards was a strong woman but had become ill in the 5th year of the dome construction. The quarantine on the biosphere personel was not foolproof, and regeneration techniques had not yet been perfected. Within a year from contracting the deadly plague virus Karen died. Edwards swore he would never marry again and dedicated his life to serving others and the Biosphere. With such a devotion and years of experience and knowledge, he became Tribal leader. In the 80th year of the Biosphere being sealed Edwards met and married Sheryl, a Med-tech. Life with Sheryl was pleasant and gave Anthony a fresh outlook. Sheryl, understanding and admiring Edwards dedication to his work, focused almost as much dedication to making Edwards happy in his second marriage. The Tribal

Council had blessed Edwards marriage and within 20 years of being joined, the council authorized the Edwards request for a child. In the 101st year from sealing the Biosphere, Joshua James Edwards was born. A blessed and beautiful child. The full wall screen in Edwards living room was showing a gentle waterfall video with the accompanying white sound. Edwards commanded the screen : “ Access Anthony William Edwards ..latest working display for co-ordinating Emergence procedures.” The screen came alive with activity. Edwards engulfed his right hand with an interface glove and began Direct Manipulation Interface (DMI) of the full screen parameters. After orchestrating DMI processes for about 10 minutes it came to Edwards attention that a marble table which weighed about 500 pounds was blocking the lower left portion of the screen. Edwards enabled the screen pause function, then after extracting the DMI glove walked over to the table and with his right arm lifted and pushed aside the massive table. It was an easy task for a man who could bench press 450 pounds on even his weakest day. Regeneration had more benefits than just longevity and Edwards had his last regeneration just two years ago. Returning to the screen Edwards saw the red flash of the Icon on the Security Alert Window. The Security alert was Universal Cosmic level 3. A level four or higher would necessitate firing up the Dome Pods to move the Biosphere to the Mountain Sanctuary. Anthony engaged his wrist comm bracelet .. “access Jason Michael Achilles”, he spoke. Achilles almost instantly answered , “Yes Anthony ... I was expecting you to call. The hyper-space signals indicate a Vega Sector Wormhole may open sometime in the next 14 hours. Security believes that Vegans are assembling a fleet to ready attack during the emergence. We have ARROW Mark 4 and Mark 5 Interceptors on Standby . What are your orders. “Hold for a reply” .. Edwards looked at the screen in front of him for a few minutes assimilating data in his mind and going into a meditative state to determine what action to take. “How many Mark 4s and Mark 5s are operational?” , Edwards asked. “About 200 of each” , Achilles answered. “Are any of our Battle-Carriers operational?” , Edwards questioned. “The Reliant and the Invincible are operational. The Intrepid and the Infinity are still in refit” , Achilles retorted. “Where is the estimated location of the corridor re-materialization for the Vegan Wormhole?”, blurted Edwards.

“About 80 million kilometers from Saturn” , indicated Achilles. Edwards responded with a set of terse commands, “Deploy 100 Peacemakers in proximity defense around the Biosphere. Rotate them on 6 hour flights around the clock .. 50 up , 50 down. Launch the Reliant , with 100 Interceptors, to the Saturn rematerialization point and hold the Invincible in reserve.” “Acknowledged” , verified Achilles. “Jason who do you recommend to be in Command of the Reliant?” , queried Edwards. “Admiral Patrick Armstrong. He has had a dozen successful command encounters with the Vegans” , reassured Achilles. “Very good” , Edwards responded. “Have the defense staff monitor all tactical information in the Security Operations Room. Relay tactical information to my tower unit and inform me immediately if there is any intercept activity.” “Acknowledged ,” spoke Achilles , “Comm out.” Edwards having dealt with the prime security issue moved on to the next priority of information. He activated full screen Intelligence information on the signal transmission from the Alpha Sector. “Oh my God.” Anthony whispered to himself. The signal transmission from the Alpha sector repeated over and over the same information in hundreds of different languages .. some from the present .. some from the past .. and some not even of the earth. For those that were recognizable there was English, French , Spanish, Hebrew, Chinees, Italian, Hindu, German, Greek and so on. The communication in all these languages translated to the same text which read ..: “IN THE BEGINNING YHWH, ELOHIM. ADONAI, THE CHRIST, CREATED THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH