Eden Shock

By Arturo Hernandez

It would have been a routine mission, one that would have taken the Harbinger and her crew from Earth to Mars and back to Earth again. Their latest mission however had not turned out that way. The Harbinger, after having departed Mars with its usual load of essential minerals and vitamins for the Earth's depleting supply, and after having journeyed half way back towards Earth, undisturbed, had been seized by an invisible force and made to weave down a dark and starless tunnel spiraling through space.

No one had been hurt. Nothing had been damaged during the strange ordeal. A few bumps and bruises, though nothing permanent.

Oddly, the Harbinger had been transported back to Earth's orbit in about the same length of time it had taken the Harbinger to spiral down that strange tunnel--ten seconds. Compared to the months it would have taken the Harbinger to journey to and from Mars, this was with out a doubt an amazingly quick trip through space.

This strange ordeal lead Captain Marcus Ivano of the Harbinger to come to the conclusion that the Harbinger had somehow, someway, been seized by a smaller than average black hole and transported back to Earth via a warp in space. The Captain couldn't imagine a different explanation, other than that one, and neither of the other two crewmembers felt it right to disagree with their leader. He was the Captain, after all, and a far more experienced space traveler than they.

As the Harbinger drew closer to the designated landing area, something even stranger appeared: the landing was nowhere to be seen. The entire city had vanished as well.

And in its place a flourishing jungle...

The first officer, Lt. Lance Conrad, a large, broad shouldered man, came up instantly with a theory as to where the landing, the city, and everything that had been part of the city, had gone to: nuclear war.

However, that theory made no sense, for even though the man-made things had disappeared, there thriving all around them, as the three stepped off the cargo ship, were an abundance of trees, shrubs, vines, flowers; an opulent jungle begirding the Harbinger. A nuclear war would have leveled the beauty that is this place, and the remnant radiation from such a gruesome conflict would have surely killed the three of them by now. No, a nuclear war could not have occurred here. Perhaps somewhere else, but not here.

The Captain took in a deep breath of the (he could hardly believe it) clean air that was rolling over the grassy plain--There hasn't been clean air on Earth for hundreds of years; and this air was just that, clean and sweat smelling.

The Captain could taste the ambrosial scent of flowers on his tongue, enjoying every savory second of it--flowers were nearly all but extinct on the Earth he had come from.

He gazed up into the sky, with dreamy eyes, and beheld no unsightly smog, just a beautiful blue sky spotted white with billowy clouds and alive with innumerous birds. There were insects everywhere: buzzing bees, swarming butterflies.

This couldn't be Earth, the Captain pondered.

"There's life, animal life, plant life. If there had been a nuclear war, Lieutenant, do you really think we'd be seeing all these thriving lifeforms?"

"Stupid theory, I know. Don't rub it in," Lance replied, drawing a Marlboro out of his flight jacket; he stuck it in his mouth, and lit it.

"Do you really have to do that," Dr. Marciana Lang asked, pointing at the fuming cigarette hanging from the Lieutenant's mouth. "So soon, Lt. Conrad. Some people do like to breathe."

"If I couldn't smoke on the ship, Doc, I'm sure as Hell going to smoke off it," he responded childishly, taking a defiant puff from the burning stick in his mouth.

"Is this Earth, Captain?" Doctor Lang asked, watching interestingly  a flock of birds racing across the sky and over the dense jungle ahead.

"The geography matches it, that hasn't changed. We are in Florida, possibly what was, or perhaps even what will be, Cape Canaveral. The computer can verify that," he said, patting the portable computer slung over his shoulder.

"What do you mean by, 'what will be' Captain? You're not suggesting that we traveled back in time?" Lance, with a look of utter puzzleheadedness, asked. Suddenly, a piercing shriek emerged from the jungle ahead, wiping, at once, that puzzleheaded look off the lieutenant's face, changing it to a startled one. "I'm going to get the laser rifle," he said.

But before he could start back towards the ship the doctor stopped him. "What's the matter with the one you have around your waist?"

"Nothing," he replied. "It's just that I prefer bigger guns in situations such like these. You, being a woman, should know bigger is better," he said with a dirty grin on his face.

"Captain," Dr. Lang huffs, waving a fist at the Lieutenant, "I'm not going to tolerate any more of the Lieutenant's derogatory comments.  Please, have him keep his tiny insights to himself; I've not been known to take lives, but under certain situations, it might just warrant such action."

"Show Dr. Lang some more respect, Lance. I need you, now.  You wouldn't be any good to me dead. Is that clear?"

The Lieutenant nodded, painfully. "Aye, aye captain."  He gave Marciana a mean and troublesome glance and started back towards the ship.

The Captain and the Doctor waited momentarily for Lance to return. Then, together, civilly, they started towards the dense umbrage where that disturbing shriek had come from.  The Captain, as he moved across the grassy plain, stared cautiously at the jungle. The Doctor, on the other hand, was observing the scenery with great reverence and taking notes.  While Lance lead the way, his rifle held steadfast in his hands and aimed at the mysteries ahead.

The jungle wasn't just alive, it seemed sentient:  Its breath the warm jungle breeze filtering through the leaves, its watchful eyes the extraordinary flowers growing off the countless trees, its skin the soggy ground, its blood the milky white sap pumping through the vines that were hanging from every branch.

Marciana was entranced by the spectacle of flowers; she put her notation on hold for a moment so as to touch a few that were growing just a foot away from her head.

"Spotted tiger lilies," she muttered to herself as she carefully fondled the lilies' leaves and delicate petals--touching them as if they were holy relics.  "Amazing."

"What's so amazing about a bunch of flowers?" Lance, who was standing a few feet away from the Doctor, curtly interjected.

The Captain, who was not too far from the Doctor and Lance, dropped what he had been studying, and watched to see if his first officer would commit to another blundering remark.

"Boy," she responded, letting the branch of flowers go, then added, "you don't know much about anything do you."

"I know enough, Doc," he said, sounding a bit hurt as he lowered his laser rifle.

"Perennials no longer exist on Earth," she informed him in her holier than thou way.

"I thought those were flowers?" He remarked.

"Perennials are flowers you," but she decided not to finish.

"Don't move," the Captain whispered.

Lance turned his head. "What?"

"Not you, Lieutenant. Doctor Lang, stay still," the Captain said, moving towards her, his pistol removed and held securely in his hand.

Lance then discovered what he was talking about and quickly raised his rifle at the Doctor.

And then, from behind her, there sounded a  growl.  She froze, gulping in air.

"I've got it targeted, Captain. It's a big one."

"Don't shoot, Lance, not yet."

The animal (a very large tiger) growled again, then slowly stepped out from the bushes it had been hiding in. It was now only inches away from the good Doctor's legs when it began to rub against her; a deep purring was rumbling from its chest.

The Doctor, though somewhat fearful for her life, quickly returned the creature's affection with some of her own, softly caressing the thick fur on its back. And after a while, as the creature continued to purr and rub, her fear simply melted away.

"Shoot now?" The first officer asked, preparing to down the beast with the heavy rifle held tightly in his hands, his eyes glaring at the show of affection.

"No!" The Doctor barked. "Don't you see it's tamed.  It's just a big baby--aren't you," she said, rubbing the big cat's face between her hands.

The big cat rose, placing its paws--its claws safely retracted--upon her chest, knocking her down on her bottom.  It started licking her face with long harsh stokes of its large tongue. She started to titter giddily.

  "You sure it's not tasting you first?" Lance asked her; that familiar grin of arrogance glowing off his face.

"It must have escaped its owner and gotten lost in the jungle," the Captain conjectured, finally lowering his pistol and placing it back in its holster.

Suddenly the Lieutenant jumped, startled by something moving in the bush to his right.

"Come on out!" He shouted at the intruder, his rifle aimed at whomever it was.

The Captain squinted in the direction of the intruder, but then stopped squinting, as the intruder stepped clearly into view.

The intruder was a man, of average height, blonde-brownish hair cut short, medium built, and totally nude. He stood there, with a disconcerting look upon his face, staring at the three of them.

"I see you've met Juki. Juki, come here," the nude man said, motioning the large animal to his side. "Did God create you?" He asked the Captain.

The large cat slowly retreated from Dr. Lang, passing close by the Captain, and found a spot next to his nude owner.

"I beg your pardon?" The Captain finally replied.

"Did God create you too?"

"Is this some kind joke?" The Captain replied.

  "What is your name?" Doctor Lang suddenly asked the naked man, her eyes staring down at his generously endowed manhood.

"Adam. And may I asked what your name is?"

She was startled by his answer; but then responded: "Marciana Lang. I'm a doctor."

Like some deranged madman, the Lieutenant charged forward, grabbing the naked man by the arm. "Don't play games with us, mister. If this is some kind of trick, I'm go'na hurt you so bad that you're go'na wish you were dead."

"Dead?" Adam responded, eyeing the brute with concerned eyes. "Only God can make dead?"

"OK, Buster Brown, I see I'm go'na need to bust you up a little to get some answers out--" he was suddenly silenced by the Captain.

"Cool it, Lt. Conrad!" The Captain roared, yanking Lance off the naked man.

"But, Sir?"

"Enough," Ivano growled, hate brimming in his eyes.

"Sure," the brute replied.

Though not truly understanding the whole situation, the naked man called Adam smiled.

"Please," the Captain grinned at Adam, "you must excuse my first officer; his manners need working on."

Adam nodded; a benignant expression was blossoming on his face. "Come, my friends. There is much to be said and done before the Lord returns from his trip from Heaven."

Shouldering his bulky firearm, Lance shot the Captain a furious glance.

The Lord, Heaven?, the Captain wondered.

 The Captain shrugged, then followed Adam. The Doctor sauntered behind the Captain and Adam, keeping a good eye on Adam's firm buttocks. And behind her, slowly marching over the soggy ground as he mindfully watched the jungle grow denser by the seconds, was Lieutenant Lance Conrad; an ugly expression was all he seemed he could muster.

Twenty minutes went by. The jungle had grown thicker. The warm rays of the sun were barely making their passage through the dome of treetops. The chirping coming from the denizens of the vast jungle had, during the twenty minutes, gradually become more abundant. There, in the trees above the traveling quartet, were monkeys playing joyfully; a game of tag if studied correctly.

Marciana had grown weary and asked if they could rest for a moment.

Adam nodded, that same smile creasing his handsome face.

"Is this Earth, Adam?" The Captain asked as he sat down on a large stone dressed with moss and grass.

Adam looked at him strangely; then responded: "It is the name given to the world by Our Lord God." And he smiled, stroking the large animal's back. The creature seemed to enjoy the attention and began to purr loudly.

Lance had settled down on the ground upon a jutting root from the tree directly over his head. He pulled out another Marlboro, stuck it in his mouth, and lit it, his eyes closing as he dragged in smoke.

"Is she bone of your bone, flesh of your flesh?" The naked man asked the Captain, his eyes studying the small woman from afar as she took notes of the marvelous flora and fauna creeping and growing about her.

"No. And she's not my wife. She is a helper. And we are travelers from afar."

"You seem to appear as I, however, your arms and legs, and most of your body is covered by," Adam couldn't find the word to describe the Captain's clothing, and so, with his pointer finger and thumb grasped the Captain's shirt and continued, "these things?"

"Clothing," the Captain replied, smiling.

Adam nodded.

Suddenly, from where he was sitting peacefully, smoking his cigarette, Lance called out: "Captain, she's gone."

The Captain stood up to look around for the missing Doctor.  "Get up Lieutenant," he told him.

"Aye," he replied, dragging himself up off the comfortable ground.

"She should be fine, Captain," Adam replied nonchalantly.

Somehow, Adam's assurance had no effect on the Captain and he stumped toward the spot where Doctor Lang had been, Lance following behind him like an obedient dog. Adam, with his trusty, hairy companion beside him, went after them.

A ways through the jungle, the three men and beast finally came upon the Doctor. She was marveling once again, this time at a round tree (the tree was shining brightly of gold) populated with ripe yellow fruit; some of fruit that had fallen to the ground was lying about her feet, shining like gold. And in her hand she held one of those fruit; it was dripping and oozing yellow sap.

Adam nearly fell over, his face deformed by the horror he was watching before him; he yelled out to Dr. Lang, "No!"

She was startled by his scream, letting the yellow fruit drop to the ground; it landed hard, with a thud and popped open, yellowish blood seeping from it.

Lanced smirked, he had enjoyed watching his nemesis get rattled.

The Captain appeared stupefied, his eyes awe-stricken and sparkling. Never in his whole entire life had he seen such a glorious sight. The tree was astounding.

"No," Adam continued, yet not as harshly. "One must not eat from or touch that tree. God has said so. For God said if we do we would surely die. For He has the power to make death. Only He, Our Lord God. But you have touched it, and yet you have not died?"

Marciana sighed, relieved that nothing drastic had befallen her.

"You don't mean this tree here is the tree of life--this one?" She asked Adam, a hint of disbelief in her voice.

Adam approached her slowly, still afraid, peering up into the sky every so often as if to see if something, or someone, above his head had been watching them. He took her hand and slowly drew her away from the glowing tree. "Yes. The tree of knowledge, of good and evil. God has said that if we were to eat from it we would surely die."

The Captain, having finally snapped out of his daydream, approached the Doctor and Adam. "Are you all right?"

"Yes," she replied. She then turned her attention towards Adam. "You had said, we, is there another person living with you Adam?"

Her question was answered, however not by Adam, but by a woman emerging from the jungle; she too was disrobed.  "I am Woman. I came from Adam," she informed the other.

Lance nearly spat his tongue out when he saw her, for she was incredibly beautiful.

Being himself only a man, the Captain had become enthralled  as well.

He'd been watching her wash herself under the waterfall for almost an hour with a lust in his heart hot enough to burn through the thickest rock. His tongue, like a snail poking out of its shell, was peeping out the side of his mouth.

Lance decided it was time to make his move;  he left the bush that he'd been carefully hiding behind and made his way for the woman. Not watching where he was stepping, his eyes glued by fascination to the beautiful sight before him, he stumbled over a rock, nearly falling face first to the ground.

The naked woman, roused by his clumsiness, turned her head to see (Man, another one) Lance happily make his way towards her. He had a dangerously lustful look on his face; however, not knowing bettermost, she did not run. On the contrary, the naked woman innocently beckoned him towards her with a come hither smile, unaware of Lance's true intentions.

"Hi," Lance said; a sinful smile was forming on his face.  His hand touched her shoulder gently; water fell on his fingers and ran down his arm.

"Man would like to shower as well?" She asked him.

"Call me Lance," he grinned. "Sure, I might just do that."  He started stripping off his shirt.

She smiled, raising her arms into the falling water, her fingers stretching outward and her eyes closing to the water splashing off her face.

However, before Lance had the chance to slip off his pants, he was snatched away from the waterfall and its beautiful user by the strong arm of the Captain.

"Are you out of your freaking mind, Lt. Conrad?" The Captain bellowed, scaring the naked woman somewhat.

"Hey, man. Relax," Lance replied, angrily.

"I'm really sorry, Ma'am. It won't happen again," The Captain explained to her as he held his first officer firmly by his pants.

"I assure you, there'd been no harm done," she informed the Captain. "He merely needed to refresh himself."

"He wanted more than that, my dear lady," the Captain said, yanking Lance back and away from the waterfall.

The naked woman looked confused by the Captain's last remark; she then returned to the wash.

"We're having a meeting, right now," Captain Ivano said sternly to his first officer.

Adam had been asked to leave, politely, so as the three members of the Harbinger could talk in private.

"One of these days, Lieutenant, I'm going to lose my temper with you, and you're not going to like it," the Captain told Lance, staring at him angrily.

"Now. It seems that we've landed on a planet, very much like our own planet, but from a very different time. The computer has informed me that Adam and his wife are the only humans on this planet--I must admit, that's strange. There's no evidence that a war had occurred on this planet--at least no evidence that the computer could gather--evidence which would perhaps explain the scarce human population."

"It baffles me," the Captain remarked. "I'm actually starting to believe we've landed in Eden."

Lance stood up. "Are you crazy? Eden? Come on Captain.  Maybe you've been sniffing to much of that computer lubricant."

"Don't you believe in the Garden of Eden, Lt. Conrad?"  Doctor Lang asked him.

"No," he replied bluntly. "Not really."

She looked amazed. "Oh."

"What, just because I'm some grunt you think I can't think for myself. God, Satan, they never really attracted my attention."

"Whatever this place is, I suggest we leave as soon as possible," the Captain gravely advised, starring, with utter concern, at the umbrage surrounding him.

"Why? I like it here. All the food you can eat for free.  Sex even. I seriously believe we should start thinking about living here with the two naked ones. Shit, I think I'll even run around naked; I've been on a nude beach once or twice."

"The thought of watching you walk around the Garden naked only amplifies the idea of leaving here, Lt. Conrad," The Doctor told him grimly.

"You don't need to watch--unless you want to, Doc." He winked at her.

She huffed at him.

"Don't you get it, Lt. Conrad? We can't stay here. We must return to our Earth, and soon. The people of Earth need our shipment. So, I'm asking you to refrain from any thoughts other than the ones that will get us back to our Earth. Do I make myself clear, Lieutenant?" The Captain's eyes were on fire.

"I don't think I need to be taking orders from you any more, Captain. I think I'll just make myself at home."

But before Lance could leave the meeting the cocking of the Captain's pistol halted him. Lance turned around to see the end of it pointed directly at him. He just smirked.

"Now, now, Captain Ivano, you don't really believe you'll shoot me with that. You don't have it in ya." He turned around and proceeded to leave once more.

  Lance was right. The Captain did not shoot. Reluctantly he placed the pistol back in his holster, grumbled a curse, and said to the Doctor next to him, "He's right. I don't have it in me."

"Don't worry about that, Marcus. It takes a bigger person to do what you just did," she told him kindly, placing her hand on his shoulder; she then gave him a soft kiss.

"Who knows what damage us being here could do. If this be Eden that is."

"You don't seriously believe that Captain?" She asked.

"We can't take any chances. We must leave here, and if by force, we'll bring Lance with us.

"I'm a very religious man, Doctor, and I'm getting a very strong feeling about this place."

"And I'm a woman of science, Sir. However, I can't seem to find any answers that could logically explain this place.  The Garden of Eden--that is a wonderful thought."

"Come on, let's get Lance and get the heck out of here."  The Captain lifted himself up off the grassy floor, and then helped the Doctor up as well.

Darkness had begun to creep over the garden.

Lance had managed to elude the Captain and the Doctor, secreting himself within a thick bush. It was time; he felt it in his bones, to get some sleep. So he closed his eyes to the colors around him and sank deeply asleep.

He started to dream: he was ten years old once more, at his mother's bedside, holding her bony hand, and weeping softly. She was dying again.

She had incurred an allergic reaction from a deadly chemical called mortin in the smoggy air; the infamous chemical known to have killed millions of people on Earth.  There was no cure to her illness, no drugs to help prevent the pain she was receiving from it; and so she died, two weeks after the affliction, painfully. However, she did her best not to show her pain to her young boy who was there by her side every second of those harrowing two weeks.

"Mama, please don't leave me," little Lance pleaded softly.

"Have faith in God, my little boy, and soon everything will be all right. Have faith in God," she told her little Lance, her voice crackling as she spoke.

"I will mama," he replied; half believing it, half making sure she would die believing he believed it.

And then, it happened. She let go of the sickness, of the nasty world, and of her little Lance.

Lance started to sob, and sob, saying her name as he wept.

Slowly, he woke from the dream; his eyes and face damp of tears. He cocked his head and wiped the wetness from his eyes. He reached for the rifle that he had placed upright against the tree beside him, slung it around his shoulder, and stood up. A glow up ahead of him beckoned him on into the jungle as the calls of the Captain and the Doctor echoed for his answer behind him.

The glow had grown increasingly brighter as he made his way through the jungle. He could hear, too, the sound of the naked woman's voice softly breaking the air just in front of him.

And then the tree, with its bright gold light, came into view; the naked woman was standing beside it, talking to something in its branches. Lance watched as the branches moved suddenly above her. He came closer. The woman, however, did not notice him approaching.

Drawing closer to the glowing tree and the woman beside it, he could now hear and see the thing she had been speaking to: a large serpent, its tongue whipping the air.

"Do not worry. You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you, my dear lady, will be as God, knowing good and evil," Lanced heard the serpent say to her.

Hearing this, Lance quickly raised his laser rifle, aimed it at the serpent hanging in the tree, and fired. A streak of lightning-fast laser exploded from Lance's rifle. Hissing through the twilight air, the beam struck the creature in the head, splitting it asunder--a thin stream of gray smoke  ascended off the headless snake as it fell to the ground.  Adjusting the intensity of the laser beam for maximum firepower, the Lieutenant then trained his weapon at the glowing tree and fired. The powerful beam slammed into the tree.  The tree instantaneously erupted into an awesome ball of fire and smoke, trails of thick black smoke rising quickly from it.

The naked woman gasped at the display of fire and smoke, carefully backing away. She turned towards Lanced and said, "But why? We would have been as God it had said. Why?"

Lance sighed, walked over to where the burning serpent now lay smoldering, then kicked it into the air; ashes flung off it.

"Good," he muttered.

Runnings out of the jungle's thick foliage were the Captain and the Doctor.

"What in God's name have you done, Lance?" The Captain hollered at him. "Do you know what you've done, man? Have you the slightest?"

"Yes, Captain. I do. I stopped us from destroying the Earth all over again. No more pain, no more suffering, no more dying." He lowered his head, buckled to the ground, and started to weep.

The Captain was at a lost for words. The man had actually tried to do something good. But, was it really?

Then, suddenly, the rifle in Lance's hands began to evaporate--like steam in a boiling pot. The Lieutenant, weeping still, didn't notice the rifle rising like vapor from his hands.

"What the Hell?" The Captain however did, gasping at the uncanny sight.

Soon after the serpent and the tree were destroyed, and after the strange evaporation of the laser rifle, more strange events then occurred.

The two competent officers (Lance, after having killed the serpent and destroyed the glowing tree, found it extremely hard to refrain from mumbling over and over as tears guttered  from his eyes, mama, I've saved you--mama, I've saved you) Doctor Lang and Captain Ivano, after having raced back to where they had landed the Harbinger, found that the cargo ship was no longer there.  Not even a trace of where the landing gear would have made obvious marks on the ground. It was as if the ship had never landed. The only problem was that they were still here.

"Where did it go, Captain?" She asked, sitting on the grassy plain as she watched the clouds swarm above her head.  There was child like nervousness in her eyes and in her voice.

"I'm afraid we've altered history; that was Eve Lance had stopped from eating from the tree."

She looked at him strangely. "You must be joking, Marcus.  The Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve, that's just all fantasy."

"Perhaps to a woman of science as yourself. But it's the real thing to me, Doc."

She shook her head, holding in a snicker.

"How else can you explain the vanishing rifle; the missing cargo vessel. If Lance hadn't of fired that shot, the serpent of the tree would still have been alive to tempt Adam's wife; Eve would have eaten from the fruit, and like Lance said, we would have surely destroyed the Earth all over again.  We would have brought back the toxic wastes and deadly mutant chemicals; the mass extinctions wouldn't have been prevented; the ozone layer would still be depleted; over half of the Earth's vitamins destroyed. Cancer, death, war, famine."

He gaped at her, hoping desperately that she would believe his fantastical explanation.

She just smiled and replied, "Captain, really. It is an extraordinary theory, but--" and suddenly she could not speak. She looked at her leader, an expression of utter oblivion blooming on her face as she watched the same expression mark the Captain's face. And as this was happening, both their uniforms were gradually lifting off their bodies--like rising steam. Until finally they were both as naked as Adam and Eve.

"What is your name?" The naked Captain asked the small,  naked woman sitting beside him.

"I don't know," she replied.

As seconds passed, two, disrobed persons were left to decipher the world around them all over again. And soon after, as more seconds ticked away, two lost persons slowly evaporated--like angels rising towards Heaven.

The End

Copyright © 1997 by Arturo Hernandez