The blue planet was everybody's first choice, so they made ready to survey it first. Steve went to check out the scans. "All OK," he called back to them, "no surprises, shall we get started."

There were science stations in the c.o.c.kpit. Clare and Hope were looking at vegetation, whilst Steve and Tris were looking for signs of life. Tris fired up the rockets and set the ship in motion towards the blue planet. There were several large asteroids along the way, lumbering slowly around the sun. Steve scanned them as they went by.

"Pretty much as you'd expect," he said, "same as in our own solar system."

Once past the asteroids, they had a better view of the blue planet, it had a moon of about the same dimensions as Earth's moon, and at a similar distance. The moon looked to be lifeless and was pock marked with craters of all sizes. "No signs of water or atmosphere," Tris called out as they pa.s.sed it.

They were now in high orbit above the blue planet and could see through gaps in the thin cloud cover. "There are oceans and land ma.s.ses down there," Steve called out, "and a thick layer of atmosphere, somewhat thicker than earth's. The ozone layer is very substantial, I guess there's no pollution."

"Right," Clare joined in, "there's vegetation in abundance, and the climate seems temperate. There are polar caps too, but larger than Earth's."

"All in all," Steve concluded, "it seems like a friendly place. Now, let's start looking for signs of life."

He re-calibrated the scanners and set a search pattern into the navcom.

"I haven't seen anything that looks man made, but at this height I probably wouldn't."

Tris came away from the port to rest his neck. He went through into the living quarters and flopped into a chair, closely followed by Rufus who jumped onto his lap.

"I'm glad you're here fellah, there's nothing quite like stroking a pet to help you relax."

"I'll remember that," Hope said, picking up Lady and flopping into another chair. They were soon fast asleep. Steve and Clare tip toed through so as not to wake them. According to their body clocks, it was still the early hours.

Several hours pa.s.sed before anything stirred on board Discovery, but eventually they came to life having had a little more sleep. Clare decided it was time to celebrate their arrival and so set about building one of her culinary delights, Hope helped as usual. The boys went into the c.o.c.kpit to check the scans.

"We're about half way through the search pattern Steve, and nothing yet."

"We may not find anything Tris, it would be a miracle if we did, but it sure looks like there should be life down there."

"Come and get it!" Clare hollered.

"Oh how I love that sound," Steve said, "come on, let's go, and eat.

The food went down well, and quickly. Talk at the table was of little else other than the planet below.

"We are going to go down there aren't we daddy?"

"Yes, Hops, I can't wait either. Life or no life, I want to see what it's like too. We'll let the scanners do their work first though, we don't want to land in a storm, or something worse."

"How much longer will that take Hun?"

"Oh, a couple of hours give or take a bit. It's the orbits that take the time, but once we've covered the whole planet we'll have a fairly detailed map. The smaller ship has navcom too so we can feed the data in and use it to navigate the planet."

"Pretty neat young Einstein," Clare said, looking at Tris, "was that your idea?"

Tris blushed a little, "Yes, I thought that while we were scanning the surface we could read the contours and make a map. It will have vegetation density on it too."

"Nice," Clare said, "you've got yourself a smart one here Hops."

Hope looked back at her mom who was smiling that knowing smile.

Eventually, the scanner beeped to indicate that it had completed its task. Steve and Tris went through to check the findings.

"Just as we thought," Steve said, "no life signs as we know them, no big structures or industry, no pollution or radiation."

"Sounds wonderful," Clare said, "let's go."

Tris uploaded the data to the small ship, which Steve and Clare had packed with everything they needed for an extended stay on the planet below. They set the big ship in park mode and climbed aboard the smaller one. Once in, Tris took over as pilot and opened the cargo bay doors to s.p.a.ce. He manoeuvred the ship out of the bay and set off for the surface. Navcom had selected a suitable landing site and set the autopilot accordingly. The trip down was smooth and without incident.

On entering the lower atmosphere they could see that the white wispy clouds were thin and carried no rain in them. As far as they could see, there were no rain clouds at all, just vivid blue sky and sunshine.

"I don't see any weather patterns Steve," Tris said, "perhaps there's no wind down there."

The ship descended and began skimming over the ocean. They were travelling very quickly so it was hard to see much. Tris. .h.i.t the power switch on the radio.

"Nice idea Tris," Steve said, "set it to auto scan."

Tris did, and the system began scanning the frequencies for any transmissions, a few seconds later the ship was filled with sound.

"There must be thousands of them," Tris said, smiling.

"This is wonderful," Clare said, "I wonder where they are."

Hope almost stood up to see out of the ports, not easy when you're strapped in.

"There they are," she said excitedly, "a whole school of them."

Tris brought the ship down to one hundred feet, and slowed to a hover over the water. The Whales were just below them, swimming effortlessly in the blue sea and singing as they went.

"Look at the calves," Hope called out, as they swam in and out of the school playfully.

"It's obvious that man isn't here Hun, if he were, he'd have been stupid enough to exterminate these magnificent creatures by now."

They watched the Whales for half an hour or so and then re-set the navcom to take them to the landing site.

The ship picked up speed and headed for land; it took only a few minutes to reach it. The ship slowed automatically and circled an area ready to land. The landing was perfectly smooth, the ship coming to a stationary position two feet off the ground. A last check of the scans showed the air to be about as perfect as it could be, so the hatch was opened. Steve stepped out of the ship first followed by Clare. They breathed in deeply, "The air is wonderful kids, come out and try it."

Hope and Tris stepped out of the ship and sampled the air, which was filled with bird song, and other pleasant animal sounds.

"If it wasn't so perfect it could be Earth Hun, let's take a look around."

Steve agreed saying, "I feel only peace here Sweetie, nothing bad or evil, just peace."

"Me too, it's almost too good to be true."

The two couples set off holding hands and instinctively began singing an old Hymn, "O Lord my G.o.d, when I in awesome wonder..."

They reached the top of a small rise and suddenly went quiet. Just below them in a small valley was a man, an old man with a white beard and white hair. He was dressed in a robe with a sash of gold around his waist. He looked as though he could be everybody's grandfather. His face was so peaceful, it dispelled any thought of hostility. The four just stood and watched him for a few moments, he seemed totally unaware of them. He turned, and they lost sight of him behind a bush.

"h.e.l.lo." A voice said, from behind them. They all turned round, somewhat startled. It was the old man.

"But how?"

The old man raised his hand to silence Steve's attempted question.

"There are many things you do not know, and many you have yet to learn. Come, I will tell you all you want to know as we walk."

The old man set off at a leisurely pace back down the valley.

"I know," the old man said, before anybody spoke, "how did I get up the hill to you so quickly? Do not worry, you will soon find out."

They reached the spot where they had first seen him, only now, there were several hundred people there.

"Where did they come from Hun?"

"Search me Sweetie, but I know we'll be told in a few minutes."

Steve was right, the old man led them into the middle of the gathering and bade them sit. Everyone sat down. The gra.s.s was thick and comfortable, Hope ran her fingers through it.

The old man spoke, "Dear friends, I ask you to bid our guests welcome."

Several children came over to Steve and the others and presented each with a flower. Clare's eyes nearly popped out, "Steve, these are the rarest Orchids known..."

"Welcome," the children said, warmly and backed away from them.

"Thank you," Steve said, holding his flower up. Everyone smiled back at him with such warmth, as he had never known before.

"My name is-"

"We know who you are Steven," the old man interrupted, "and this is your lovely wife Clare, and daughter Hope, such a wonderful name, and you are Tristran. We've been watching you for a long time. My name is Abel, and this is my dear brother, Cain."

Cain rose to his feet to greet them personally.

"And these are our families," he said, making a sweeping gesture to the entire gathering.

The four travellers smiled at all before them, but were speechless.

"Now for your questions," Abel said "How could you watch us?" Tris asked.

"Here, my son, we know fully, even as we are fully known."

The answer stunned them, so Abel volunteered some questions for them.

"How did you get here so quickly? We brought you here. Time is short, and you have much to learn if you are to defeat the Serpent."

Now they were really perplexed.

Cain spoke next, "You know of the tree of life, and have eaten of it. It was the tree that made us aware of you. We too have the tree of life, here, in the midst of the garden."

A look of awakening came over Steve's face.

"Yes, Steven, that is correct, this is Eden, but not the Eden on planet Earth, that was a different Eden. Here, when he who came from the ground gave the word, the mother of all living obeyed, and rebuked the serpent and drove him away. That serpent of old, who is Satan, left our Eden and came to your Earth. We know of the consequence of that, and we are sorry for you. That is why it has been granted to us to help you now. You know not of this, but your new Eden is under threat from that same serpent. We brought you here to prepare you for the battle."

"Forgive me," Steve said, "but I have to know...Is G.o.d here?"

Both Cain and Abel smiled and looked at each other.

"Yes, child, He is here in the cool of the evening."

They both waited for the next question though they knew what it would be.

"Can we meet Him?" Steve's heart was pounding in his chest just at the thought of it.

"Alas, no. He who lives forever has decreed a time and a place for that meeting. It will come to pa.s.s as He wills it."

The look of disappointment on their four faces was a delight for the true Edenites to see.

"We see that you love Him too, in this we share your joy. Though we will never know that great day as you will know it, when He comes to you, to gather you unto Himself. You see, we have always known His presence."

Hope was now openly crying, and Steve and Clare also had tears running down their cheeks. Only Tris held his composure.

Abel waved his hand and food was brought before them. Food such as they had never seen before. Conversation stopped as they ate, only, it didn't really stop. Steve was thinking to himself, 'He didn't tell us how he got up the hill so fast,' when into his mind came Abel's voice.

"It is the tree of life my son, it allows us to do such things, you will find out as you eat more of it and allow it to teach you."

Still in thought Steve replied, "As it taught us to walk on water?"

"Yes, all you needed was some encouragement and you found that you could do it."

"Ah, then you were able to move between two places instantaneously."

"Exactly, you simply believe you can do it, and you can. See how we can communicate without words, try it with your wife."

Steve looked at Abel who smiled at him.

"Sweetie, talk to me."

Clare's head moved to one side slightly but she didn't look up.

"Hun, is that you?" She said, in her thoughts.

"Who loves ya baby!"

Hope was watching her mom, "Why are you giggling mom?" she asked.

Clare thought the answer to her, "Your father just said something funny dear, that's all."

Hope spoke out, "What did he say mom?" And stopped to wonder why she had said it.