Chapter 17, Sending forth the unsustainable light
From atop the Cassini II launch pad gantry, the ocean fanned out in an azure dream. They had arrived at the Kennedy Space Center in the nick of time. Scientists and personnel were scurrying around the rocket in last minute attempts to put everything in order. It was easy to creep into the capsule and snuggle against electronic and surveillance equipment. Shirley bided her time waiting in anticipation for the rockets to ignite. She gazed up through the window of the capsule and saw the moon, pale as a ghost in the ethereal sky. She felt butterflies in her stomach, the reality of where she was and where she was going, suddenly dawned her. She was on her way to Jupiter…
The final systems checks had been completed and the rocket was on complete internal power now. Count down was seconds away from ending when she felt the mighty giant begin to shake as the engines powered up. She glanced out the window and watched the launch tower recede as the rocket ignited. “Lift off, we have lift off….”She murmured as she was catapulted into space…
She was at three G's and passing over Easter Island. She felt the shudders as the stages and booster rockets dropped away into the ocean. … She looked around trying to find something to hold onto as the rocket hit sonic booms…she managed to crawl beneath a cabinet….still in her eagle form, suddenly movement. Shirley caught something in the corner of her eye. The g force was too strong for her to move, but something else was in the capsule with her. . Her mind drifted back to the present danger. The command module had entered earth’s orbit, the path took her over North Africa and the night, where below in the sea of darkness she could see lights glowing far away in what must be the Sahara Dessert. These were the fires of nomads whose travels took them on vast journeys through the continent. She watched the earth below recede and get smaller…. She heard the engine fire the trans-planet injection burn and she realized now that she was really headed for the planet Jupiter. She couldn’t believe that everything was going as she had planned... As she reached speeds faster than any humans before, she realized she’d be the first human on the Planet of Jupiter, silently, without foreknowledge the world would never know. But she was doing this for humanity; she was doing this to preserve life on earth, wasn’t she?
Eagle Flying Bye said, "Excuse me. Sorry if I'm interrupting you."
Shirley shocked out of her reverie, looked over at him, “This was my responsibility, not yours, why are you here? This isn’t a joy ride; do you know where we are going?”
“I know where you intended to go, but you do not have to do that.” Eagle Flying Bye announced.
“Yes, I do, this is a personal matter, and I do not expect you to understand.” Shirley stated.
“I know where you think you need to go Shirley. This Rocket has two tons of plutonium on it, because it was designed as a nuclear warhead, and its trajectory is at Jupiter.” Eagle Flying Bye informed her.
“I was taking the unsustainable light to a far off place, a safe distance from the earth; I was doing this of my own free will.” Shirley implored.
“Yes, I suppose the road to hell is paved with good intentions. But you are doing exactly what Uktena wanted you to do.” Eagle Flying bye informed her.
“No you are wrong it was my idea. I wanted….”Shirley was now confused.
“Lucifer wants his light to shine brighter than the sun’s light. He wants to prove to all of humanity that he is the brighter star. You were tricked. Did he not tell you, he cannot get to heaven?” The medicine man asked. “If you bring his light to that planet, you will be doing the bidding of the fiery serpent.”
Shirley was utterly confused. “What now?” It’s too late, we are on our way, and the light is still within me. The only way to remove it …..”
“I know how to remove the light from you Shirley Cohen!” announced the elder shaman.
“And after you remove the light, then what?” Shirley looked around. Where would it go, once the light was released from her?
“Now that’s a good question, we better search the capsule, for something.”
The pair searched as Shirley looked across the vastness of dark at the blue and white orb, whispering goodbye to everything she ever knew and everyone she ever loved. This was a sobering reality along with the realization that they were so far from home, and there was a good chance, they might never return.
“There is a very small chute, about ten inches in diameter in the storage room, it opens and closes, it was built to house a camera, because I pulled the camera away from the hatch. Apparently they also used it to blow in insulation. We can allow the light to escape through the hatch, after I release it from you.” He announced as he maneuvered himself to the control panel and shut off the rocket’s engine.
Shirley was confused, but finally agreed to undergo whatever the medicine man had in store for her. He drew a diagram and made Shirley sit in the middle. He reached into his pouch and handed Shirley a wad of Salvia Divinorum leaves, and told her to chew them slowly but not to swallow the leaves, only the juice. Shirley complied, and started feeling woozy, and then sick to her stomach. All the while Eagle Flying Bye chanted.
Eagle flying bye grabbed hold of Shirley and pulled her to the open chute, “Try to projectile vomit out of the chute…..” he was yelling at her now.
Shirley did as she was told, pursed her lips and aimed the vomit, it flew out of the capsule in a long yellow strand, the vomit appeared as thousands of light dust particles, as it was released from her, it poured forth into the darkness of space, a bright aura of a long strand stretching for literally hundreds of miles.
“I can’t believe that was once inside of me.” Shirley finally spoke.
“We have no time, we must leave this capsule.” Eagle Flying bye spoke.
“But how? There’s no way, no suites, what we just jump into outer space?” Shirley laughed.
Eagle Flying bye, grabbed hold of Shirley. “We will find a way…”
Shirley looked at the hatch to the Capsule, "Houston, we've got a problem." She stood in stunned silence, as the medicine man tried to figure out what to do next.
Shirley suddenly pivoted and grabbed him in a bear hug saying, "I’m frightened."
Eagle Flying bye replied, "We'll find a way, there are no problems, only solutions.”
She said, "I don't want to die here."
The medicine man laid a hand on her face wiping away her tears. He whispered, "We'll find a way." She touched his lips with her fingers.
She said, " If this is our last time alive, I want to make it count,” Shirley unzipped his coverall trousers. Bewitched by the Doe at the gates of heaven…so near, so palpable, he surrendered to her in the trembling moment of desire. He felt her body so warm and enticing in his arms. The spicy sensation of her caress intoxicated him. Dancing feather and Eagle Flying bye would go sweetly into the darkest night….
Shirley crouched naked, hovering near the floor clasping an electric cord to a machine in her hands, feeling the effects of the loss of gravity. She looked so soft and vulnerable bathed in the solar luminescence streaming from the window. Her nude form cast in the sunlight, seemed so fragile and delicate.
The medicine man broke the silence saying, “let’s not throw in the towel yet. We have several hours of oxygen left, and I shut the rocket propellers off. We are only about one hundred miles or so from the earth’s atmosphere.”
They stared out the window of the capsule and watched the long serpentine strand of light weave and snake its way in the darkness. It was a dazzling display as it shot through space at some ungodly speed.
Up ahead in the darkness of space, Shirley spied a very large metallic looking machine, “Hey look, what the hell could that be?” She pointed curiously.
“I think that’s the space station…” T
he medicine man became excited. “Perhaps there is a way to turn this capsule in that direction. I have an Idea. I need your help.”
“Aye, aye, Captain.”Shirley saluted the medicine man.
His look reproved her, and she grew silent. “We need to take all of this equipment and move it to the east end of the capsule in the direction of the space station.”
The two of them worked feverishly to push all of the equipment to that side of the capsule, which made the capsule dive, buckle and soar through weightless space. Eagle Flying Bye used the electric cords from the equipment to baton down the various panels and electronic surveillance equipment.
Shirley looked out the tiny window….”I don’t think we are any closer to the space station, but we seemed to have gotten closer to the earth.” She surmised.
As the planet earth loomed larger ahead, she felt the pulse of life in her arteries. Their arms around each other's waists, they gazed ahead at the milky blue marble adrift in the ancient and vast cosmos. The medicine man looked into her eyes as she looked ahead. There was a mystery there which he would never fathom or try to circumscribe. It was as boundless as the infinite sea in which they had set sail. …
“We might get close enough to jump” suggested the medicine man…
“I no longer have the ability to change…I can’t jump…” Shirley looked into the medicine man’s face….”Go, save yourself. I already figured I would be the sacrifice, the proverbial virgin, sort of speak, jumping into the mouth of the volcano…this was supposed to be my destiny.”
“No, I believe we both can make it.” His voice trailed off as he watched the stream of light head straight towards the sun. “We all must go home.”
Shirley watched the stream of light reveal its knowledge through thought forms as it seemed to be sucked into the sun…. The stream of light blinked and glittered, revealing its light as it gravitated toward the luminous orb. Thoughts poured forth, one after another, running on and on, a run on…..