2188 – June

            Xander and Nasiir rose early in the morning and prepared to push their frustrations aside for yet another day. Although they did not have to take injections anymore, that was the least of their worries now. Not only had Xander not found a suitable life mate yet, the two males had spent the last month searching for mostly dead people. It seemed as if nearly all of the Mannings’ former associates were deceased, except for two. Those two were Jay Horrell and Badru Karson.

Jay Horrell outright refused to see Xander. As Vice President of the United States, he deemed himself too busy to talk with some young college student about research that had been dead and buried for over twenty years. Jay seemed especially aggravated that the persistent young man had been able to get a message to him in the first place. His assistants knew better than to allow messages from insignificant people, no matter how persistent they were.

When Xander got the word of rejection through one of Mr. Horrell’s assistants, he did what he should have done from the beginning. He opened his spiritual eyes and examined the red-haired man’s essence. Though that examination occurred from afar while he’d been in the audience of a MIT commencement program, it had been enough to tell Xander that this was not a man that he could have trusted anyway.

Jay’s essence had been nearly consumed with darkness. The prominent color floating around in the Vice President’s spirit went beyond black. It was the absence of all light. There was so much evil within Mr. Horrell that it was a wonder the Creator had been merciful enough to allow him to live this long.

There was also much fear within the Vice President. Xander didn’t know what this high ranking man had to be afraid of, but he’d never been more grateful not to have met a person before in his life.

As for Badru Karson, Xander initially wasn’t sure if he should contact him at all. Especially since Dr. Karson had been labeled an incompetent scientist by many, a traitor by some on account of him having been the Mannings’ dearest friend when they were alive. Even Xander could attest to this friendship based on the countless references to Badru in the digital logs of his birth parents.

Yet after studying the man’s essence from afar via the window of the museum across the street from the Eyota City Library, Xander found Dr. Karson to be worthy of further consideration. He definitely found him to be the direct opposite of Mr. Horrell.

Whereas Vice President Horrell was almost full of darkness, Dr. Karson was full of a wide spectrum of colors. There was a deep crimson to denote his anger at the injustice he’d suffered in the scientific community. Yellow to denote the caution that he now viewed the world around him. Pink to denote the strength of character that he’d developed over the years through overcoming adversity. And lastly, various shades of purple, which indicated the wisdom, enlightenment, and spirituality Dr. Karson still possessed.

Yet the color that caused Xander to finally decide to present himself to Badru was the dazzling white that shined brighter than any other. From his adopted parents, the young man had learned that that light represented the presence of the Creator, but also purity. It was at that point that Xander knew that Dr. Karson had to be innocent of the charges against him. Therefore, today would be the day they finally met.

~~~ >< ~~~

“Daddy, before you go to work today there is something I need to tell you,” Afua began as she loaded the breakfast dishes into the white, side-loading dishwasher.

They’d had a very healthy meal of hot oatmeal and sliced fruit this morning. Though food was still scarce at times in the world, even with all the new government regulations, the Karson always had plenty. Thanks to the agricultural part of the Mannings’ research that Badru inherited, they were able to abundantly grow their own produce in the greenhouse out back.

“What is it?” Badru asked as his curiosity grew. Even though he was on the early morning shift, he still had time to listen to his daughter.

“You will finally meet that stranger today. God will not allow you to miss this man a second time,” Afua continued as she closed the side panel to the dishwasher and sat down at the round, white-topped oak table. “Be ready to hear incredible things, Daddy. Things that will seem so unbelievable at first. Yet you must believe them, especially since so much is at stake now.”  

Though Badru was in his mid-fifties and had seen a lot of things in life, it still amazed him when his daughter spoke of future events with such certainty. On occasion she also got glimpses into the past. “I will believe, baby girl. Are you able to tell me how I will know this stranger from any other?”

Afua grew silent for a moment, as if listening for further direction. When she’d received what was necessary in her spirit, she replied, “He will look like someone from your past.”   

~~~ >< ~~~

As Xander and Nasiir made their way towards the library on Kennel Street on that predawn morning, they were delayed by a Native-American looking woman on a white washed front porch of a small brick house.

“Where are you headed so early today, handsome?” Lakota asked the tall man dressed in all black. “Wouldn’t you like to spend some quality time with me? I’ll cook you breakfast afterwards,” she added, trying to sweeten the offer as she crossed her shapely legs provocatively in the black plastic porch chair she sat in.

Xander and Nasiir both turned to look at the brazen twenty-five-year-old woman in the extremely short, extremely tight red and white dress. Nasiir didn’t have to have the gift of discernment to know that this woman was not for his friend. Although she was a beautiful creature to behold any time of day or night, her eyes looked predatory, as if she wanted to devour Xander. Nasiir could not, would not allow that to happen. He began to growl deep within his throat.

Xander picked up on the same things as his protective friend. However, he wanted to be doubly sure before he rejected the woman. After all, Jay Horrell had seemed decent and moral on the outside, but he’d been full of evil on the inside.

I praise You, Lord, for the gift of spiritual insight. Allow me to see what needs to be seen about this person, Xander prayed as he usually did when needing to stir up the gift within him.

Because he was well-versed in yielding to the opening of his spiritual eyes, Xander was soon able to see the colors of the woman’s essence. When he saw mostly black and some traces of gray, he knew what his answer would be.

“So what’ll say, handsome? You interested?” Lakota persisted.

“I am sorry, miss, but I can not fellowship with the likes of you,” Xander replied candidly. Beside him, Nasiir grew silent, deciding to allow the humans to work this out among themselves. Even still he would be on guard.

Shocked, Lakota stood up from her seat, completely thrown off guard with the stranger’s blunt comment. “What?! You think you are better than me or something?” she retorted, standing akimbo style with anger.

Nasiir growled again, ready to pounce if necessary. Ready to take the woman down, despite her gender. He’d been trained to overlook gender when it came to danger.

“Not at all. I reject your fellowship because of the evil I detect in your heart and because of the infectious disease I sense in your female parts,” Xander replied, now really shocking the woman as his potent words sunk deep down into her spirit.

Struck with terror, Lakota instinctively clenched her abdomen. She had been having trouble in her female parts lately. No doubt that trouble was caused by her licentious lifestyle. Last night alone she’d been with seven men. She’d been hoping to squeeze in one more before daybreak in order to finally have enough to make the high mortgage payment on her home.

Despite the fact that a trip to a local doctor would solve her female problems, Lakota was afraid to go. Prostitution was illegal everywhere in the world. In the U.S., an unmarried woman with an STD could go to jail for ten years if the government got wind of her activities. And they would get wind of them since all medical facilities were federally controlled and all new cases of sexually transmitted diseases were duly reported.

“Leave me alone!” Lakota practically wailed, now wanting the stranger to get as far away as possible from her. Her eyes had lost their predatory glint a long time ago. They were filled with terror now…terror of being found out.

“I will go.” Xander nodded calmly and turned to leave. He hadn’t meant to frighten the poor woman.

Nasiir, who no longer growled, lingered a few seconds more in case the woman turned hostile again and tried to attack his friend from behind. 

Two steps away, Xander sensed the darkness inside of the woman grow in the presence of her rising fear. He abruptly turned back around, unwilling to leave without at least trying to be of some assistance. Fortunately, the gray mass of sickness had not increased with the fear in the woman’s body.

“Before I go on my way, may I ask if you wish to be healed of these things?” Xander’s face was the picture of compassion.

“How can I be, when I can’t go to the doctors?” Hopeless tears welled up in Lakota’s eyes as she sat down in her chair again. There was no sexy pose this time. This time, she slouched and her shoulders drooped with discouragement.

“If you have a holy book, I will show you how to be healed of the evil in your heart and of the disease that dwells within your body.”

“A holy book?” Lakota looked confused for a second. “Which holy book are you referring to? There are so many.”

“The one with Jesus in it,” Xander replied, moving closer to the woman’s chain-linked fence with Nasiir at his side.

In the few months that he’d been on Earth, Xander had learned that humans had many so-called holy books. He’d tried to read them all. However, he kept returning to the one with Jesus in it, not just because it was the one his birth parents left him, but also because it was the one that produced the most light. Every page of the Bible seemed to be saturated with the brilliant light of the Creator.

Xander marveled at and was saddened by the fact that Earthlings didn’t turn to the Bible more often. Especially since it would undoubtedly solve so many of their problems, if not all of them. On Katan, this holy book was revered and highly esteemed. That’s why Xander and Nasiir had been stockpiling them to take back home and distribute. They’d used gold Katanian nuggets to barter for them since earlier studies had shown that the people on Earth still greatly treasured that metal.

On Katan, gold was not as precious or as scarce. In fact, it was so plentiful that it was used to align kitchen and bathroom fixtures, including toilets. Incidentally, Xander and Nasiir had catapulted the bag of gold nuggets off of the ship and into a thick patch of bush through a hatch above the control room. It was necessary to do so since the metal could not get off the ship via organic transportation.   

“You’re talking about the Bible, aren’t you?” Lakota asked, sitting straighter in the chair now. She knew of this book well. Her grandmother, who finished rearing her from the age of ten when her father passed away, used to read to her from the Bible all the time. Nana left Lakota that large-print red Bible when she died five years ago. The only thing Lakota had ever been left by her birth mother was alone. She never knew the woman that had given her up at birth.

“Yes, the Bible. Do you have one?” Xander said, noting a definite change in the woman’s essence over the last few minutes. The dark areas were already getting lighter in shade.

“Yes, I will have to find it though,” Lakota replied, feeling hope rise up within her. Something about this compassionate, well-spoken man made her believe that she could be healed without going to the doctors. “I’ll be right back,” Lakota added, standing to her feet again. Then she hurried from her porch into the brick house, practically skipping as she went, causing her tall hairdo to teeter a bit.

“Human females are so fickle. One minute she wants you to stay. The next she wants you to leave. Now she wants you to stay again,” Nasiir said under his breath, careful not to move his dog lips or speak too loudly as to be heard.

Xander chuckled. “I know, but I find it oddly amusing.”

When Lakota returned minutes later, she seemed even 1ighter. In fact, Xander could sense that her essence was now changing to a warm orange with splashes of emerald green denoting her enthusiasm and rising faith. There was no doubt in his mind that the powerful words from the Bible would turn Lakota’s darkness completely into light[ii] and ultimately remove that gray mass from her body, as well.

For the next two hours, Xander and Nasiir went from the sidewalk to Lakota’s porch for a time of unexpected fellowship. The male human patiently took the female human from one healing and salvation scripture to the next until all the darkness and the gray within her was gone. When Lakota threw her hands up and praised the Lord towards the end of their session, Xander saw the most amazing thing in the spirit realm.

As Lakota praised God for forgiving her and for healing her body, the words from her mouth sparkled and glittered in happy colors as they drifted heavenward. Soon that brilliant light that Xander loved to behold actually came and inhabited the woman’s praises[iii], creating an even more powerful mix of colors. Even Nasiir was aware of the change in the spirit, though he could not see the light show.