Yesterday I accompanied my Aunt and Cousin/Godson to NYC to see the Intrepid.  We had a great time.  The museum was amazing although I was outraged to discover that although the entry fee was $20/person, they still charge $12 for each the 3-D movie and the flight simulator.  On a day when many of their galleries were still closed, it seemed excessive, don't they know we're in a recession and many people can't afford it?

While the museum was enlightening I was only hit the with a vague sadness at seeing the small spaces that these boys were cramped into as they voyaged into a war zone that they would never return from, because regardless of whether they returned with their lives or not the person they were when they set foot on that boat would never again see the light of day.

However the true pain came when we went over to the other pier and entered the USS Bataan.  This ship is in port for the Veteran's Day celebrations and are holding tours of their ships.

As I entered and saw these men and women standing tall and proud I couldn't help but feel inadequate.  Here were people who had joined the Navy and Marines because they believe their country is worth the sacrifice.  I wanted to cry for them and in fact I did.  I couldn't help them I pictured the tight quarters we'd just seen on the Intrepid and realized that it was their reality.

On the Flight Deck I was even more moved by the large airships that stood on it ready to drop them into some of the most dangerous areas of the world.

I was angered by humanity, because as much as I feel for these poor boys that belong to out armies I can't help but forget the fact that the armies of the nations we are fighting are also made up of boys that will die the most important death of all, a death of innocence to fight in a war that was not of their creation.  So my tears were for all of the armies of Earth.

And I got angry at the people who believe that wanting to pull out of Iraq is not supporting our troops because I feel that they don't understand that the longer we stay there the more OUR TROOPS WILL DIE, but at the same time I gained a measure of understanding for them because for a split second I felt ashamed of my disapproval of the war for here were people who were risking their lives for me...

After all of this emotional upheaval, I still managed to get my word count done:

They had soon reached the planet and were entering its orbit.  Three ships left the planet’s surface and were just as easily dispatched.  Jack now began to see that the debris was falling down to the planet.  Most of it burned upon reentry, but some of the larger pieces fell down leaving streaks of fire glowing in the sky.  The anchors were in a panic, they were unsure of what was happenning they urged everyone to hide in their homes.  Peopl on the streets were seen running aobut altough Jack was impressed to see that there was very little panic in their movements.  They were moving with purpose.  When they found shelter they stayed there before long the streets were empty and the anchor tried to calm everyone.
    Eugene locked everyone out of the computers at this point and the ship flew over the planet shooting down at several pre-programmed locations.  It took less than fifteen minutes for the bombing to end and then they were descending through the clouds as the ship rattled with the pressure of reentry.  John was enjoying himself immensely even as reluctant as he was to be in this adventure, the idea of landing a spacship in a planet was amazing.  After a lifetime of seeing the continents on Earth flying over these strange formations was bewildering.  The planet seemed to be made mostly of oceans, strings of islands covered it, the largest land mass was in the northern hemisphere and it was there that John aimed the ship.  The planet must have indeed been smaller than Earth for as large as the continent looke from space the closer John go to it the smaller he realized it was.  John felt it must have been about the size of Australia he rechecked the coordinates that Eugene gave him and flew towards the southern part of the continent.  There seemed to be a large dessert in that area and in it exact center there was a military base.  It was the only one that hadn’t been destroyed.  Several small ships floated above it ready to shoot them down.
    Drew reluctantly shot them down, the small ships disintigrating in moments.  Red dust flew up quickly as John set the ship down momentarily blinding the screens.  They set down with a small bump and seconds later the screens cleared to reveal large red mountains surrounding them in the distance.
    Excitement flew in the air as the Atlasians were glad to finally be home and in a position where they shouldn’t be afraid of being returned to dank prisons of Kaida.  The Earthlings were excited to be on a strange planet and about to step foot on a strange planet.  However, Eugene soon spoke up reminding everyone that they had a specific goal for being here and they couldn’t really sightsee.
    “This base will be our headquarters.” Eugene said speaking up.  He turned to Jack and asked him to broadcast his words across the ship.  At Jack’s okay he spoke up.  “We have arrived at the Rama Space Port.  We have more advanced weapons and technologies and it shouldn’t be any trouble at all taking it over.  I need twenty warriors to come with me and five more to go as a poliecing party into Rama’s City.  Volunteers please report to the disembarking area below the main control room.”  He signaled to Jack that he was done speaking and turned to the group, “Luke and Lenicia will join them to bring any rebels to the prisons in the base.”
    Luke and Lenicia glared at Eugene even thought they’d shared their kiss earlier, it had only been a kiss, the prospect of spending time with each other however was very off-puting they had years of knowing that they couldn’t really get along.  “What are we supposed to do in the city?”  Lenicia asked in anger.
    “You will mark people with one of the trackers from your Sensor and Luke will use the signal to tranfer them to the prisons,” he turned away form her quickly, “Drew and John please come with me I think you will be useful on the base.”
    “What about me?”  Jack asked stepping forward afraid he had been forgotten by the screen of people around him.
    “Oh, Jack!”  Eugene said turning to him, “I need you here I need you to supress all news transmissions on the planet.  If anyone tries to mibilize the populace I need you to contact me immediately and try to track the signals.  We need to know what the people on the planets are thinking.”
    Disppointed Jack nodded and walked back to his station.  The others retrieved their hand helds and everyone left the main control room to complete their assignments.

Chapter 11

    Luke followed sullenly behind the group as he watched Lenicia stamp her way down the hallway, he just knew this was going to be unpleasant.  They reached a large elevator in which everyone managed to fit.  When they exited the elevator they foudn themselves in a small room with a ramp that led down to the red dessert.  All along the sides of the room were lockers that seem to hold a large variety of weapons.  Drew and John were handed guns and holsters which they strapped on.  The Warriors were dressed in dark blue jump suits similar to those of the Zanqbar and they too strapped on guns and special hand helds whose function Luke wondered.  As they stepped on the ramp the Earthlings breathed in the alien air and were immedietely left wheezing.  While the air was breathable it forced their lungs to work twice as hard.  Eugene stepped up to them and with a slap on the back to Drew and John who glared at him he held out a hand in which four pills sat.  Each of them grabbed a pill and swallowed it quickly and were shocked to discover that they still couldn’t breath.  Eugene wilth a smile called forward a Warrior who held in his hand four small gas masks.
    Eugene smiled as he handed them over, “it took the colonists two generations to become used to this air and you really thought you could do it in seconds!”  He laughed as they placed the gas masks on their faces, “The pills will start working in two hours, you can take off the gas mask then.”  They descended the ramp and were met outside by two small ships.  Luke looked up at the ship to see that it was huge, it’s size was not betrayed by the main control room which fit only fourteen people comfortably.
    The two small ships seemed to be small passenger jets.  The pilots inside wore Zanqbar uniforms, but upon Eugene’s exit they smiled and waved down at the ground party.  Jack walked closer to Eugene and asked, “why aren’t they attacking us?”
    “They’re moles I’ve gotten set up.  You’re ship is the one on the left, the pilots and Warriors know what to do, just follow their lead.”  Eugene now turned abruptly towards the second jet.  John and Drew waved to them as they followed Eugene to the ship and the twenty volunteer Warriors followed them in two lines.
    Left in the shadow of the large space ship Lenicia and Luke looked at each other awkwardly until two of their Warriors pulled them to the other ship.  Luke and Lenicia both grabbed window seats on opposite sides of the small jets and proceeded to look out of the window.  Luke saw the other ship fly towards a large building that crounched down closed to a low hill that sat in the center of the valley.  As they moved away from from the ship and he lost the view he looked over to Lenicia ans was glad to see the delighted smile on her face.
    Lenicia could not believe the beauty that could be seen everywhere on this planet.  The sky was a perpetual pale lavender with a bright blue sun slowly setting.  The sand was a bright red that was mirrored in the cliffs, and white streaks of stones stood out against the rich red.  As they neared the top of the cliffs bright lights shined and shimmered from the top and she realized they were skyscrapers.  As they flew over the city Lenicia was shocked to see that most of the buildings were under five feet tall.  The city however spread out farther than any city that she’d ever seen.  They parked in a large plaza in the center of the city.  Lenicia all but ran out of the plane eager to see the city closer.  Once outside she realized that they were in a large park.  The area was covered in dark green and blue trees and plants.  There were no flowers that she could see.  The tree trunks and the roots of plants seemed to be veined in red and green and she wondered about the plants systems of nourishment, it was obviously very different from Earth, but similar enough that the humans could survive on this planet.
    The pilots stayed on the plane and waved them off and the Warriors led the way out of the park.
    In the streets Lenicia was awed by the buildings.  There were several large temples shaped as step pyramids, however on the large red stone steps railings surrounded them and steps on the side seemed to allow access for visitors to walk up and around the temples, these were extremely large, taking up whole city blocks and reaching five stories, they were the highest buildings around.  The other buildings in the street were obviously shops and were only one story high.  The buildings seemed to all be made of a mixture of the red-green wood of the planet and a silvery mineral that seemed to be streaked with metal.  The window glass sememed to be made from huge pieces of quartz as a upon nearing several of the windows Lenicia could see small air bubbles and deformities that covered the windows.
    Except for the strange materials the buildings were made of the houses looked remarkably human.  Both aquare and arched doorways shared equal space on the street and when they reached an intersection there was a large television screen on the side of a three story builging that reminded Lenicia of Times Square.  The screen only displayed a symbol in the strange pictogram that the Atlasian writing was made up of.  Raising the small microphone that Jack had given her Lenicia turned to the female Warrior who had deemed Lenicia her responsibility out of some female kinship and speaking into it and pointing at the large screen she asked her, “What does that mean?”
    The Warrior looked up and smiled taking the microphone from Lenicia she said, “It’s the logo for the main news network.”
    Lenicia thanked her and put away the microphone, looking at her watch she realized that the two hours had passes.  Amazed that the flight here had taken longer than the time it took them to escape from Earth after battling the Zanqbar she followed the scouting party father into the city.

I was pissed to see this morning that monks were fighting in a church!  These are men who supposedly worship the word of God as seen through his son, Jesus.  The same Jesus who said:

“You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? (Matthew 5:43-47 )

“Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets. (Matthew 7:12)

“Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”
Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:36-40)

(Cause I'm lazy I got these quotes from here.)

If this is the way that the men who follow the most peaceful man in history behave well, there isn't much hope left for mankind.

At least I know that there are churches like the Emanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church.  I believe that this church is based on Christ's true message, one of love...or so I assume from the large banners outside their door and their website, I've never been to a service nor do I plan to 'cause I'm not Christian, but still.

I was looking through the news sites doing my selective reading when I found a link to a new (for me) blog, Old is the New New.    Today's post had several posts from other blogs and they all centered around one topic what Barack Obama's winning the presidency means for the future of America and I found them all thought provoking and several were beautiful, I suggest reading this post to see a variety of opinions about what the future might hold.