“These must be your friends,” he shook their hands one by one, “Hello, hello, hello.” He pointed to the living room, “Everyone please take a seat on the couch.”
He quickly walked into the kitchen as the five of us sat down in the living room. The TV was playing a golf tournament.
The house was clean and organized. It reminded me of how my grandma Letita’s home used to look like. There were printed designs on the couches, and pictures hung on the walls. Among them were pictures of him standing alongside two other women.
John walked into the living room carrying a wooden serving tray with two onions and a few servings of cake on it.
“Onions, anyone? Or a slice of cassava cake?” he said.
Everyone shook their heads.
“No thanks.” I said.
“I’ll take an onion,” Kay-ani said.
He sat the tray on the coffee table and handed her an onion. She bit through it like an apple. The rest of us looked at her with a peculiar look.
“I still don’t get how you can eat an onion like that,” James said.
Kay-ani shrugged. “Thank you…”
“John…” John said.
“What do you know about Rasadians John? Why did you write a book about Rasadians and name them Tier Travelers instead,” I said.
“Well, let me first introduce myself. My real name is Rudy-John. I am not human. I am Rasadian like you and her,” John pointed at Kay-ani and I. “Years ago I escaped from a T.S.I prison with the help of a woman named Amelia. She brought me here into her home and protected me. I have a shapeshifting device here,” he touched the back of his neck. “...that I created myself. It enables me to look human.”
“How did you know we would all be here today at this exact point in time?” I said.
John pressed in his glasses. “The Creator. He is the one who told me you would all be here and He is the one that told me to write the book.”
“If I was instructed by God to come here today, that means that God is…” I said.
“Yes. The Creator. Humans call Him God. Rasadians call Him, The Creator.”
“I see.”
“We have about 1 hour before we have to leave. Everyone, follow me.”
We followed John into his basement. He turned on the lights and sitting there was a spaceship. The ship resembled a long, flat, oval shape, similar to an egg and it stood about 12 feet tall. It was adorned with a stylish black pattern of abstract geometric triangles. It was painted Vantablack, the deepest black color known to man. There were two large black tinted windows, one in the front and one on the side. The ship was not too big, it seemed spacious enough to only accommodate about 20 people.
John, proudly looking at the ship, began to speak, “The ship was meticulously crafted out of old airplane parts. It took months of dedication and countless hours of delicate work. I hand designed the triangles with a special material and color which gave the ship its unique structure,” he said. “The final outcome is what you see in front of you today. Before I escaped the prison, I was able to grab three jewels. I placed two of the jewels in the ship to power it. The other jewel I used in my shapeshifting device.”
“Is this the spaceship that the Tier Travelers used in your book? This looks just like the illustration!” James said.
He chuckled. “Yes, it is.”
He pressed a button that was hidden on the side of the ship. A door opened and a long set of stairs slowly folded out towards the ground. We all entered the ship.
It was cold inside. There were four leather seats in a row that sat behind the motherboard. Behind those seats were four additional seats for passengers. Throughout the ship were circular tables with stools, cabinets, and compartments.
In the center of the ship was a wooden stand with a glass box and from it, a bright yellow and blue light was emanating.
“I did not plan on writing Space Tiers,” John said. “But The Creator instructed me to do so. Space Tiers is based on the history of Rasad but with a few twists. The rocks and materials the Tier Travelers traveled across space for, is not the reason why us Rasadians traveled. Rasadians traveled to merely explore the universe. Somehow many began to like the book and it got popular amongst the humans.”
We all took a seat at one of the round tables.
“So what exactly did God tell you? I mean, what do my sister and I have to do with Rasadians?” Marley asked.
“Your father.”
“You know about our father?”
“Yes. I started building this ship so I could get back home to my planet. When the ship was halfway completed, The Creator began to speak to me. He told me that once the ship was completed (which would be roughly in 4 years), five kids would arrive at my door. Two of you would be of Rasadian blood, and two would be sisters looking for their father. The fifth member would serve their purpose by assisting the other four in achieving theirs. When He spoke to me He said, ‘MY CREATION, I KNOW YOU HAVE SUFFERED MUCH. I HAVE SEEN WHAT THE DISOBEDIENT HAVE DONE TO YOU AND YOUR PEOPLE. THEY WILL NOT GO UNPUNISHED. THE PROPHECY MUST BE FULFILLED. YOU MUST BRING BEN-ANI AND KAY-ANI HOME WITH YOU, TO YOUR HOME PLANET. YOU MUST HELP THE TWO SISTERS RESCUE THEIR FATHER, JOSEPH WILLIAMS, FROM THE ONES THAT ARE HOLDING HIM CAPTIVE.” This is how I knew who you all were when you arrived.
He then turned to James, “You were meant to be here to help fulfill what The Creator said. He instructed me to tell you that you have more strength and courage than you know.”
“Whoa,” James said.
“So our father really is alive?,” Naomi responded.
“Yes, he’s alive.”
“So why did you send the invitation to James and I?” I said.
“What invitation?”
“To your conference.”
“I do not quite know what you are referring to, but I did not send an invitation,” he said.
Hmm - I wondered. If John didn’t send the invitation, then who did?
John looked at his watch. “We have thirty minutes. I’ll warm up the ship,” he walked to the motherboard and took a seat. He began clicking some buttons. Then we heard a roaring sound. “I suggest everyone prepare your minds before we go. The Top Secret Institute is a dangerous place!”
“Marley, you can’t go inside the facility,” Naomi said.
“But I want to go…”
“Those Jewels can kill you! Promise me you’ll stay on the ship.”
“Fine.”
I went over to John. The loud engine sound began to fade away and the voice of a woman began to speak throughout the ship.
“HELLO. T-MINUS TEN MINUTES TILL TAKE OFF!” it said.
The blue and yellow light inside the box began glowing brighter.
“Are those the jewels?” I pointed.
“Yes,” John said.
“I mean this is amazing! How did you build all of this by yourself?” I asked him.
“I didn’t do it alone. Amelia had a daughter named Mary. She was an engineer and helped me build this ship. It took us eight years to complete it.”
“Where’s Mary now?” I asked.
“Mary moved away after our mother Amelia died. She has a family of her own now.”
Now that I was closer to the glass box, I could see through the beaming light, that the yellow jewel was floating above the blue jewel, perfectly in a straight line. I was not quite sure how they were floating in mid air, but my guess was that the energy between the two jewels made them levitate.
“Those Jewels are powerful, no wonder the T.S.I wants them,” I said.
“They really are. The T.S.I mines them to give them to our enemy.”
“Who is our enemy?”
“Some think that the evil humans are, but there is also a much greater evil that is the cause of most of our suffering.”
“Who would that be?”
“The Conquestors of Planet I.”
“Wait, that name shows up in your novel. That part is real too?”
He slowly shook his head, troubled by the thought of it.
“Yes, it is.”
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