Antoni Uzzian

(Christian Adult Science Fiction/Fantasy Adventure)
part two Part I

The days passed, the health inspector lifted the restrictions on some areas of the port. People with business there could now come in and look through what was left for whatever they could salvage.
An official transport came in and was greeted by the military officer in charge of the recovery effort in the absence of the Port Master, who had not been released from his quarantine yet.
Two of the officials on the ship got clearance to go see Antoni.
General Rasfarian, the Hilerite was not affected by ancarteen. Ambassador Maszor wore a breath mask and gloves. A very old person of unidentifiable race and sex walked behind them, dismissing the questions from the inspector with the remark, "I have lived through a millennia. If your thing can kill me, so be it." With them went an aid who carried an official looking case and communicator.
At first Antoni didn't open his door even after the health officer released it.
"My old friend." Shouted Maszor. "It's us! Iuthor is here as well."
The door slid open.
"Why are you here?" Antoni said from the darkness beyond. "Do you come to laugh at my downfall or to share in my sorrow?"
The old alien, Iuthor, extended a hand that was covered with a wax paper thin hide that felt like leather. "I come to mourn the lost and assist the living if possible."
Antoni looked at his ancient friend. He took the hand. "Then come."
They sat in the dark of his room together for a long time.
Finally Antoni began his tale. He told them of his dead children. Of his dead co-workers. He told them about how he had helped build the docking platforms with his own hands. The joy he felt for a perfect weld completed, how he thanked his God for the ability to do such work.
"Now it is all gone. As foam from a wave on the sea is scattered by the next wave. It is gone." He lamented. "Gone."
His friends nodded together.
Antoni continued. "Why was I allowed to live on? What purpose do I serve now? I am ruined. My body is broken. I eat food supplied by others. Another man makes decisions for me because my mind is no longer under my control. I sit. I exist. In the dark, alone."
Silence returned.
Finally the Hilerite military man, Rasfarian, spoke softly. "There has to be a reason your God deserted you. Some long silent transgression. Some hidden sin. Some wrong you committed. Perhaps something your sons have done."
He took a deep breath. "The innocent don't suffer like this. Yes. They may be in a skimmer accident, they may catch an illness. But those who are in the right with Him do not suffer grievous punishment such as this. Somewhere within you there is a terrible terrible sin. Yes. My friend. A sin all but to death for you, and your family has died because of it." He bowed his head in respect to those that had passed.
Antoni shook his head. He slumped as he thought about it. Could it be possible?
He spoke after he had thought. "If only it were so. But even now as I search for the iniquity I am reminded that the light shines on the good and the wicked. The truly innocent, children, died in the explosion. The wicked were rescued as well as the pure, the rescuers not asking if they deserved to live or not. Food is given to the good and the others. ElShaddai is the judge, not life. Not people. If I have sinned, may the All Mighty forgive me and hold it not the charge of these others. If my sin has caused all this misery, then may I stand for it. If my children have done some wrong, may it be laid on me. I will stand for them, for what are they other than what I raised them to be?"
There was a fire in Antoni's eyes. He glared at Rasfarian. "Nay, the things of life happen to those that live. If this was judgment, may He that Judges be blessed. If it is a test. Then I give Him the glory for being the Tester. If this was just life, then I thank Him that I am Alive."
Rasfarian nodded in acceptance of his friend's argument.
The Ambassador was not so easily put off. He cleared his throat and looked out the window while he talked. "Your God is known to reward those that do His will. The people that live for Him. He gives them greater joy than those that live for themselves. They are satisfied with little things. They find pleasure in a good meal or a child's smile. Even those that are as successful as you were are concentrating on their family and finding reward there. They serve their God and are content. They find reward in not being rewarded in things of this life, but in things beyond."
Finally, Maszor looked at the stricken port master. "Perhaps it is so that your rewards were of your own doing and He that Gives has taken all from you. He that Blesses has withdrawn those blessings. And now. This is what you have become."
Antoni closed his eyes, begging for words and the strength to give speech to them.
"So it was written. Long ago. Far away. 'Naked I was born of my Mother, Naked shall I return there. ElShaddai gives, and He takes away. Blessed is His name.'" He said, then he looked at Maszor.
"Who is good before Him? He is Good. He is all that is Good. You claim He rewards only those that serve Him? Who lives so completely inside His will as to earn his next breath? His next meal? Let alone all the years of happiness and good living I had here. Maybe this is all I am. To become footman to the next Master here. Maybe I shall live out my days waiting for the orders of another. If so. ElShaddai be praised. It is honest work. I can earn my food. I will wear this uniform and clean the relief rooms in the waiting area. And in doing so I can serve Him to the best of the abilities that are left to me.
"If He that Gives only Gives to the pure. Then may He have pity on us that are made of this stuff that can never be pure. I am made of mud, I eat death, I put forth filth. In this body I can never be more than I am. But He that Died and Lives can, and will change this into that which can never be impure again. '...for me, I know that the Redeemer lives, and at the end, He will make his Stand.' He will judge this body of death, and make it into a body of Life."
Iuthor the Old spoke. "You speak of a judgment that is to come. What of the judgment that is? If your ElShaddai lives, could it not be that this has come to you as his judgment against you? There may not be life beyond. There is life that is. Your Heaven is here. Your judgment is now. Your punishment is in front of you. If you worship your God. Beg him to be merciful and end your misery. If he does not exist, then accept your lot. Pick yourself up, and go on."
Antoni looked at his oldest friend. "How long do I have to sit here and listen to your words of little comfort? I have no evidence other than faith. I have no assurance other than His words of Comfort. I have no proof besides my heart. Yes, judgment falls. And we must bear it. It comes, and we have no choice. Can your words of wisdom stop a great storm of the sea? Can your sage advice calm an exploding planet? I fear the final judgment. The things He must have against me! But I also long for the judgment for the Blood that covers me. Judgment in this life I care not about. Let this be His verdict against me in this life! The final court for all is coming. I stand alone, none of you can speak for me there. But I trust in the One that Died and Lives to come before Him that Judges and say to Him, 'This One. Is Mine.' Let it be so! Let it be soon! But you come in and tell me this is all there is! No sir. I refuse to believe. I have no data to say there is more. I cannot prove it. All I have is hope. All I live for is hope. And I will die in that hope."
The silence in the room grew thick.

The Ambassador's young aid had been sitting near the door quietly. She caught Maszor's eye.
"Yes?" He said to her.
"May I say something sir?"
The ambassador thought about this breach of protocol. He looked at Antoni, "If he has no objections."
Antoni looked up, he nearly smiled at the aid. "You have known me for ages, and yet you want to know if she may speak. Of course she can. She has every right you have here and no less honor as far as I am concerned. You have a title. Rasfarian has a uniform. So what? ElShaddai cares not for such things, nor I. Let her speak!"
The aid seemed shocked by this speech. She stood and stepped forward as was the customs she observed. "I could not be silent any longer. I had to try to have my say, if I was so permitted, or burst otherwise." She looked at the seated figures.
"I see honor and prestige earned in war. In killing thousands. In the destruction of countless ships, homes, and even entire civilizations. I listened for wisdom." She shook her head. Then looked to the ancient one, Iuthor. "I saw the greatest age I have ever seen in anything still alive. Years beyond count, one that has seen more sunrises in their life than I could see as stars on the transport coming here with the cosmos laid out before me. I listened for wisdom." Again she shook her head.
Lastly she looked at her superior, the Ambassador. "I saw a high title, honors for deeds done in service to his people over an entire lifetime. I listened for wisdom."
She looked at Antoni. "If these are your friends, and they have come to comfort you. Their job was poorly done. They speak of joy, of rewards, of punishment of other things that come in this life. Yet you have not lived for this life except to provide for your family of this life. He has worked for his God as he has seen fit in his own eyes, not asking for your permission or encouragement. He has lived always looking onward to that end, never wanting anything more." Her eyes roamed the room, the three that had spoken could not bear her gaze for long. "If that is what he felt convicted in his spirit to do, then peace be on him in his hour of need. Not recrimination from you. If his God has chosen this hour to test his soul, then he has passed. He has passed. And your words of doom and failure are wasted air."
Finally she took Antoni by the hand. "Sir. It has been a great honor to meet you and hear of your faith. I would like to hear more of this ElShaddai. As for them. They may have been your friends when you were powerful and influential. But now that that has passed. Maybe you should judge them, instead of them judging you."
With that, the aid walked out of the room.
Antoni sat silent. Then he looked at his three friends. "I do not judge you. You each spoke from what is in your heart. As you see the universe. My plight is not yours, you can only say what you have to say. And ElShaddai will judge. The greatest wisdom we can offer is but nonsense to Him. For me. I thank you for what you tried to do."
In a few minutes he took the hand of each of his friends and they left.
Once again. Antoni was alone.

End part II
Continued in Part III

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