Well, this is weird. It's an out of body experience. I think about all I've read about these kinds of experiences. Do I have some kind of thread connecting me to my body? I wonder if I can survive long outside my body, if my body needs me to survive.

After a bit, you realize  your nose is snotted up, or well and truly congested.  You see no cord.

My physical nose or my spirit-nose?

You only have one nose.

Okay. The one on my body I presume then. It's not that I have the feeling of a congested nose as a spirit floating above my body.

Right, biblically spoken life was breathed into man by the nose. Since it's congested I might have to find another way, or maybe not. A spirit has no trouble with physical obstacles I think.

I try to enter my body via the nose.

If that does not work I'll try via the mouth. Airways are airways, right? I that proves difficult there might be another loophole.

The ear connects to the mouth via a tube to regulate pressure. I might be able to wriggle myself in through that.

If none of the above work, I'll have to see what I can do. A spirit is not meant to be outside the body, at least not without a guide. Ezechiël and Daniël both had angelic assistance, and Paul (or 'somebody he knows') was taken up into the third heaven (or something like that), suggesting he's had help. I haven't blindly been ignoring an angel, have I?

Perhaps its English translation errors.

At some point, you realize you're not a spirit floating above your body.  Your body is floating in micro-gravity above a healing bed.  Your nose is clotted up (which happens in micro-gravity).  Your spirit is fully inside  your body.  You've just woken up, and have evidently been recovering from some very serious damage, which involves doing something to your left eye (which matches what your future self had).

You seem to be all alone.

Last you remember, you were on a planet, with Louie, your crew, the Ruling Council, and lots of spectators.  Someone attacked you, and you wake up somewhere else, alone.  It could be that you versed out, but that seems unlikely with the healing scar on your head and upper face.

No spirit travel, no angel, just you floating in a rough room with a healing bed.

Alright, so I'm not out of body. I'm in my body, floating above a bed. I'm in a weightless situation.

If it doesn't hurt I'll try to stretch my arms and yawn. I guess I survived. I wonder what happened back there. Can I sense the blue people nearby?

Your arms are stiff, but from disuse.  Your stretch sets you to moving slightly, and soon you bump into a wall.  It has handles in various spots, all painted like a barber shop pole, but blue and green instead of red and white.

No blue people are sensed, but a blue ball floats up from the floor.  From it s hines a light which creates a hologram.

"Emperor." There is rush and noise in the background as the Avian speaks. "I apologize for leaving you, but pirates have attacked us at this hidden base of the Great Ships of yours, and we go to draw them away from here.  They have sensors to detect us, of the Three Races, but not you, so we cannot leave anyone behind.  We pray to the Creator to see you again, your loyal servants."

You hear shouts, and see a rough Kringsta face you recognize even with its bandage.
"You done? then hurry, for our lives."
BOOM. Sounds in the distance. BOOM. And you see dust shiver from the outer walls of your chamber through the viewing field.

"Transmission shut down for lack of further content. Do you wish replay, storage, or deletion of message? As you are Emperor, you have the legal right to re-transmit any stored message as well."

Shock.

That's what it feels like.

Shock and panic.

These are my people, my responsability! From the bottom of my heart I sent out a prayer. "Oh God! Please save them. Protect them!"
I sit in silence after it's over and stare at the blue ball.

"Replay", I say. And I sit there, taking in the image, constantly praying the same prayer over and over. "Please, God, protect them. Please God, Save them."

I can't remember how many times I reviewed it and for how long I prayed. But at one moment, the message at the end repeats itself saying that I can re-transmit any stored info.

"Where am I exactly?" I ask the orb, hoping that it has info stored about that.

At the end, you are transported from your body.  You see five ships that cause fear in your soul to look on them, and your two ships fighting back as they rise from a cluster of asteroids very far from the local sun.  Looie is terrifyingly  effective, and could have won free, but he hangs back to protect the lesser ship with its crew of cadets.

And one of the pirates is about to ram with its pincer front, and another is about to fire its forward cannon which is a one use weapon, butvery powerful.  And things look bad.

Something changes. You're not sure what.  Its like the universe has been edited.

The shot inexplicably misses, hits a neighboring asteroid as it turns, right on a vein of ice.

Instant cloud.

When it disperses, your friends are escaped.

Am I still out of body or have I snapped back?

Regardless of the answer I praise God, a bit dumbfounded. This is an experience alright!

And you're back in your body, rejoicing.  Your voice echoes down the empty halls and tunnels of the interior hidden base of the the asteroid.  But even being so very far from anyone else does not bother you, but instead reminds you of David saying he could not flee from God.

Ah, that famous psalm. "Even if I'd flee to the highest mountaintop or hide me in the deepest depths of the ocean. Still He would find me, still His eyes would see me." It was a paraphrase, but that's kind of what was there. Nobody can escape God, is what it means, but indeed, it's not only from His judgement, but also from is love that there is no hiding.

"Where am I exactly?" I ask the orb, hoping that it has info stored about that.

"Imperial Solar Storm Base, a Hidden,,,Top Secret level facility, sire."
i
Further questioning reveals its factory of origin, its estimated duration of use before failure, and the nearest relay which is several hundred thousand klicks away.  Its 'eager' to serve, with you have sysadmin privileges, but its a very limited device.

I'm not really a tech-head, allthough I'm generally better with the computer or machineries like copiers than the average teacher. Some teachers, however, have been around a considerable amount of time before the first personal computer was around...

I spend some time with it, trying to learn to handle it. Perhaps it has a tutorial or manual or something. Having nothing much I can do at the moment I'll spend my time exploring the base, learning to speak 'computer from the future' and praying formy crew and my people.

Let's say we pass a week of time like this unless I get interrupted somehow.

It has a tutorial and a manual.  Neither is that extensive as the machine is rather simple.  And its rather easy for you to grasp.

+@1 to Computer use or similar skill.

You find access to its source code as well...

The base has three levels connected by 'float thru' tunnels.  Its again fairly easy for you to grasp the design.

Most of the twenty rooms per level are globular and small, but there are a few larger rooms.  One is a cafeteria, another is clearly a prayer room.

The primary purpose of this base seems as a waystop for ships like Looie.

Lets spend another week. I'll try to read up on the files the computer has about the station, learning it, and keep praying for the return of my friends. I suspect the computer will have some sort of bible version on it. I'll study some out of it. I also try out my new eye. Does it have any special functions?

1@4 Zero G Movement.
+1 to Newtonian Physics.  All this action-reaction movement is giving you a deeper, and very practical understanding of Newton.
The computer has your favorite Bible version on it.
It also has questions linked to it. You can see only one now.

"If a man saw someone completely happy, and he knew by honest manipulation that he could lead that  being to interfere for the good of many, but it would cost that perfect happiness, should he?"

The eye has ten power units.  These can be wholly rnefreshed by a electrical connecti slon or a night's sleep.
Dangerous laser. 3 units.
Hologram projection. 1 unit.
Lasercom for one minute. 1 unit.

I sit and think about it, probably for a day or two, and reply to the computer:

"Humans are social creatures by design. As such it would be a good thing for someone to give up his perfect happiness for the sake of the common good. We have seen the ultimate example of this in the incarnation of the Christ and His subsequent Sacrifice. That, however, was a personal choice of the Man in question, and even then of a perfect Man. It was a personal conviction from which the Man acted, either by the choice to obey the Father or the choice of obeying His personal compassion for the people They had created.

"That Man was also at the same time God and as such had the authority to do so. But for a fellow man to manipulate someone for the greater good is something I don't know is good. I am confused by the term 'honest manipulation'. Please define honest manipulation. The term manipulation could be used in various ways. Some good, some very, very bad."

(also, can you PM me my sheet or something? So I can take the burden of updating my sheet of off you.)

...to openly seek to 'press the buttons' of another.  Especially of one who is not human, and not aware of human needs....

"In that case I think it would depend on the authority of the manipulator over the other's life. If the person has authority, either hierarchal or social over the other then the answer is yes. If not then I'm not sure. I think it will depend on the need for it. So I think my final answer is generally yes, but there may be exceptions. Contextual variables and stuff."

(Sorry, my brain is not good in binary thought :))

The computer then goes to Gen. 1:1....

"All universes in the Multiverse are sustained by the will of the Creator. In essence, by magic which is just another name for miracle.  In this universe such is considerably more obvious, although it has been hid for good reason."

'Your next test..."

The lights go out.

Its pitchblack.

I smirk, this is obvious: "And then God said: 'Let there be light.'"

"Conditions established for existence of light." Echoes out of the dark. Its like you're in a far wider space than you were.

Not really feeling threatened yet, since I'm still feeling alone, I am a bit curious as to the change of sound.
Computer tells me that the conditions for light are established, so I opt to finish the bible verse: "... and there was light."

Should that not turn the lights on I would just ask the computer to please put the lights on.