Flight Of The Anasazi
By David Billiot
Copyright 2026: All rights reserved
Chapter 8: My Eyes Have Seen The Coming Of The Glory Of the Lord
Captain Roma had Karen pull the Roanoke up to the side of the Taylor.
“Ok. Everyone listen up. The Taylor is the stand in for the Anasazi. Lozentz is the stand in for Adakai. The Taylor has no power and we don’t know where in the ship Lozentz is or what condition he is in.” Roma said.
“He’s hung over.” one of the men said.
“Knock it off.” the first officer said.
“Because we do not know the real conditions in the Taylor, you all have to go in with spacesuits.” Roma added.
“You heard the, Captain. Go!” Commander Stormer yelled.
The crew of 17 men rushed to start donning their suits. They had a buddy system where one man helped another man but without specialist Lozentz with them his buddy needed to get into his suit alone.
The training continued. The two ships docked to each other.
“Readings show no atmosphere in the Taylor.” doctor Fussy said.
“Any obvious hull breach?” Stormer asked.
“Negative.” came the reply.
“Using the Roanoke to pressurize.” chief engineer Jameson said.
Once the hatch was open the men searched room by room. The Taylor, like the Roanoke, had three decks and the port was connected to deck one.
“Kev’s hiding on deck three.” Bill said.
“Cut the chatter. We’re doing this by the book.”
All the men were gone and that left Captain Roma alone on the Roanoke. “I should be going over there with them.” she said.
“That would be against protocol, Captain. In this situation, your position as captain requires you to stay in command.” Karen said.
“But it feels like asking others to do the work that I’ll take credit for.”
…
“Captain, while you were sleeping I believe I made a discovery.” Al said.
“Alright.” Mark said as he took another bite of breakfast.
“There is a manmade object in orbit close to the sun. The initial scan suggests it could be an energy source. Perhaps a failed dyson sphere prototype or dyson swarm.”
“So we have to take a closer look to find out.” Mark deduced.
“I believe so, yes Captain.”
“We need to start thinking realistically.” Mark said. “If we can make it home, we’ll need to bring word of this place and that means getting as much information as possible. But also, if we can’t make it home, let’s make sure we can get back here.”
“Agreement: I fully concur with your assessment of the situation. When you are ready to depart again, might I suggest bringing some gifts for the inhabitants of the village.”
“Like what?”
“I have prepared our printer to produce several farming tools the locals might find useful for their fields. I thought it would be a nice gesture seeing as how they have left many offerings at a newly built structure about twenty meters from the Anasazi.”
The stores of material the printer could use were limited and meant to be used to make tools or replace parts. The Anasazi was designed with the idea of keeping Amanda Roma alive long enough for rescue if anything went wrong. That meant replacing parts that might break. But now the printer was being used to make the metal parts of a hand shovel and plow.
While those items were being created Mark went ahead and exited the ship. Outside he saw the shaman Buba there with some other men, including one of the elders. They were also again some young women, three of them. The shaman came up to Mark with his hands spread wide and then as Mark approached Buba hugged him. The elder with the fur on his cape came forward and then he too hugged Mark. It was then that Mark learned that the elder’s name was Gol.
The elder brought the three women forward and introduced them. Mark was able to make out that two of the women had the same first name of Tona so included with the first name was perhaps their family name or a middle name to distinguish them. The shorter one was Tona Balatini and the other was Tona Wano. The third young woman was Meta.
The gifts from the village consisted of food stuffs, a newly made spear head, a wood carving of some figure, and some kind of woven rug.
“Very nice. I will make sure Al irradiates this before I put it all in my freezer.” Mark said, not expecting anyone to understand him.
Off in the distance coming from the direction of the village a man and a woman were approaching. While they were still far off Mark only took notice of them and continued on with the pleasantries of the people already there. In a short time the two new arrivals were among them. One was an older man Mark had not yet met and the other was the young woman who had told Mark to scram from the group of women making baskets that Mark had been watching the day before. She came with such a basket but it was not possible for Mark to know if it was the same one he had seen her making. The man was introducing her. It seemed her name was Lalia. She held out the basket to Mark to give it to him. Mark looked at the basket but also at her. She was taller than the other women, at least a hundred and seventy five centimeters. That was almost as tall as Mark himself and he stood half a head over everyone else there.
Al announced to Mark that the printer was finished with the first batch of gifts and Mark considered how to handle this. Should he make them wait outside? It would be the correct military protocol but in this situation perhaps something else was called for. Mark gestured for the party to follow him in. The men talked among themselves and then decided the men would go in and the women would stay outside. The men entered the Anasazi as they followed Mark and they looked around in amazement. Mark brought them down the corridor to the printer and handed the men the tools that had been printed for them.
Upon exiting they found the women had taken up the gifts of food to be given to Mark. They had seemingly decided to carry them in and also get a chance to see inside the ship. Mark didn’t mind but the men seemed concerned. The men escorted the women as they were allowed in and Mark showed them were to place the different items. He had them bring the foodstuffs to the mess hall which was where the irradiation unit was.
Now that this exchange was done Mark really wanted to head back to the village and get a look at that religious leader’s book. However, he didn’t want to just run there as that might cause the locals to worry or misunderstand. Instead Mark walked through the field with Buba and Gol talking to him with words he did not understand. During the walk the two women named Tona and the woman named Meta began to sing.
“Maya hashi nacomi oda glowi oda lod. Hiha tampo ouda binta weda gweipa wapa stod.”
Mark could not understand the words but something in the melody was jarring his memory. Mark noticed that the woman named Lalia was not singing. She walked in silence but more than a few times she looked back at Mark over her shoulder. Unlike the jovial Tona, Tona, and Meta; Lalia seemed annoyed, or at least in a more serious emotional state.
Once at the village it seemed the people were trying to mostly go about their normal routines, but Mark was only guessing at that. Mark was brought to the elder’s home and he was given a place to sit and offered a drink. Gol and Buba spoke and Mark was patient. He couldn’t communicate with them much but it seemed important to them for him to be there with them and drink with them.
Later once Mark was free he headed for the church but didn’t want to power walk directly there. He meandered around like the church was not his destination but with every step he was getting closer to it. He arrived at the church but the door was locked. Mark didn’t see any kind of keyhole but the door was indeed shut tight and would not open. Ok. That was that but Mark was not about to give up. He knocked on the door. Why not?
Mark waited but there was no answer. He wondered if he should look in the window to see if anyone was inside. He knocked again. A hand came to touch Mark’s shoulder and Mark turned to see the person who had come up behind him. It was that young woman who had made the basket. Mark tried to remember her name.
“Lalia. Right?”
She said some words and her name was mixed in with them. Then she said something else and pointed. Mark didn’t know what this was about but she seemed to be offering to guide him so he walked with her.
“Let me thank you again for the basket.” he said though he knew she could not understand him.
She spoke again and she used the name Maak to refer to Mark.
She brought him to a house and she knocked on the door. The covering on the window near the door moved and a voice came out from it. Lalia responded and then in another moment the door opened.
The religious leader appeared to live here and Lalia was gesturing at Mark and explaining. The leader looked surprised. He then looked at Mark and said something that was definitely a question.
Mark could not answer since he did not understand but he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small object. It was a crucifix newly made that morning with the Anasazi’s printer. He handed it over to the villager to give it to him.
The leader seemed very surprised and even Lalia was looking on with curiosity.
“A present to show I come in peace.” Mark said.
“Benedictus qui venit in nomine domini.” the leader said.
Mark did not understand and assumed it was part of their native language but Al’s voice came over the radio to translate.
“Blassed is the man who comes in the name of the lord.”
“What language is that?” Mark asked, not caring if the people watching thought this was magic.
“I have it in my systems as Lingua Latinitatem.”
“Long name. Can you ask him whether I can see his books?”
“I will try, Captain.” Al said and then proceeded to say something. Mark did not understand and it seemed the religious leader also did not understand. Lalia giggled at the sound of Al’s voice coming from nowhere.
Mark did not give up. He gestured with his hands to make a book. The leader seemed to understand. He went into his home and then invited Mark. Lalia seemed to believe she was invited too and she may well have been for all Mark could understand.
Inside the home the leader had a bookshelf but instead of going there he went to a desk where it appeared he’d been at work hand copying a new copy of a text. He showed it to Mark and asked a question.
Mark went into his Jacket pocket again and pulled out his bible.
“This book. Do you have this book?”
The leader held out his hands and slowly opened the bible. He flipped through and in a few moments he seemed to understand. He turned and went to his bookshelf and took off a massive tome. He brought it to his table and cleared away a bowl that Mark guessed had held the man’s breakfast. He opened the text and it was all handwritten. Even being hand written in a language Mark could not understand he could clearly see the familiar shapes of the standard alphabet.
Lalia and the religious leader stood and watched as Mark flipped page by page, making sure the camera could see it. He didn’t need to linger. He’d told Al to inform him if the system back on the Anasazi wasn’t able to get a clean image of a page.
“This is a lot of pages.” Mark said as he continued to flip.
“It would be beneficial if we could ask the priest to recite some of the text in order to know if the letters still link to the same sound.” Al suggested.
Mark didn’t know how to ask the leader, who Mark was not actually sure was a priest or not, to recite so instead Mark started to try to read out loud based on the letters that were there. That actually prompted the religious leader to come to him and correct him. Mark encouraged him to continue to read and Mark listened.
…
The sun had gone down and Mark was waiting. The religious leader whose name turned out to be Jon was again ringing the bell and the same group as before came to say whatever prayers they were praying.
Mark walked back towards the village center and asked Al, “Do you have a way to translate what they are saying yet?”
“I could try to begin to do it now but there might be errors.” Al answered. “I would benefit from a larger sample size.”
“Conversations would make a larger sample size.” Mark noted.
“Agreement: That is a good point, Captain.”
Mark went to see Buba and the shaman was happy to see Mark. Mark gestured for the shaman to be quiet and the shaman seemed worried that perhaps he had offended Mark. However, instead Mark wanted Al’s voice to greet Buba in his own language.
“I want to thank you for your hospitality.”
The shaman’s eyes went wide and he bowed. He spoke and then Al translated.
“You again show you are a great being of the sky.”
“I am not a deity.” Mark said. “I am just a man. I have traveled a great distance to get here but I am lost and can not find my way home.”
Buba thought of the words and considered before speaking. “The great Maditona will guide you. The great Washitona will nourish you. The great Jefitona will protect you. They have brought you to us for a reason.”
Mark really wasn’t sure what Buba was speaking of. “I will need to leave soon.” Mark explained. “I probably won’t be back but before I go, I want to ask about your history. How long have you been here?”
“Please, don’t go.” Buba responded. “We sent men on horse to tell king you come. He makes his fortress by the river bend in south. Please wait.”
“You have a king?”
“He is a good king. His father was accursed. An evil man who brought much war. Always fighting. But now king is kind. We are at peace. Please stay. It could be seven or eight days. We are planning a festival in your honor.”
Buba brought Mark to see Gol. Gol was with two other elders, Nolo and Puto. Buba began telling them that Mark could use his powers to speak without speaking. Buba then encouraged the men to speak to Mark.
“You are a man truly blessed by the great Washitona.” Gol said.
“Is that the name of your god?” Mark asked.
Buba gestured with gusto. “The Washitona is the land. He gives us what we need. Good harvest. Fat animals.”
“And the rains come from the great Maditona. He is the sky.” Puto said.
Nolo joined the conversation with “Our great protector is the Jefitona. He is the sea. We live far from the sea but we do not forget him. Long ago our people were attacked and slain by the evil mamet. A weak king wanted to pay them. But the great Jefitona said no. We do not pay. We fight. The great Jefitona bless his champion, Dacato. On great ships on the ocean they fight and the evil mamet is defeated. So great is fighting of Dacato. So great is Jefitona.”
Mark listened to more of the oral history that the elders could tell him long into the night. They told him of how Washitona defeated the men in red tunics to free the people. He heard of how the great prophet Fankin preached to the people about Washitona, Jefitona, and Maditona. The spirit of the great tona was to come down and fill the hearts of the people with the constitona so they would work hard and be fruitful on the land and at sea.
…
Mark woke up and found himself on the ground and someone had placed a covering over him. The fire had gone out and it was very early morning. The sun had not yet come up but it was light enough to see. The elders and Buba were there with him. They had all fallen asleep by the fire in the center of the village.
No sooner had Mark sat up and started to get to his feet than an old woman came to him.
“It is too cold to sleep outside like it is summer. What is wrong with you?”
“I guess the time got away from us.” Mark said.
“Wake these old fools up. If the king is coming we have to prepare.”
Mark decided not to disturb the elders as they slept. He was walking around the village at an hour he had never been there before. He heard the bell at the church and he went over to see what was going on. The group gathered with the leader named Jon and they began to recite.
“Venite, exultemus Domino. Jubilemus Deo salutari nostro.”
“It seems they have church service both in the morning and at night.” Mark mentioned to Al.
“It seems they are again using a liturgical language as opposed to the local one.” Al commented. “Also, Peggy is very worried about you and she wants to know when you will return to the ship.”
“Not just yet. While I’m gone, make a flight plan for getting us to orbit and then to that object by the sun.”
Al acknowledged the command and then Mark continued to walk around the village. He went by the big circle of stones with lines in the center and the people were placing colored stones between the lines. Mark didn’t know what the colors meant. They started by putting down white stones in lines and the villagers had several piles of red stones and blue stones that were not being placed yet.
Mark made the walk all the way around the village as people were cooking, eating breakfast, or already beginning their work. He made his way back to the church and the service was over. Jon was teaching something to one of the other men as people were leaving. Mark entered the church and saw Jon showing the crucifix Mark had made for him to the other man.
The other man saw Mark approaching and bowed his head. According to Al, he told Jon he needed to go and would be back later.
“That was Tim.” Jon explained. “He is worried about what is asked of him. I have given him time but I will not live forever and there must always be two.”
“Two of what?” Mark asked.
“Pardon.” Jon said. “I forget that you do not know our ways. My role as overseer means I help the men perform their duties. Each man in our community … and when I say that I don’t mean the entire village, just our community. Anyway, each man must learn the memorial meal. If the man takes a wife he has the duty to provide the meal to them and teach his family the faith. Two of us are overseers with the full laying of hands on us so we will always be able to pass it on. My predecessor, God have mercy on him, went to his rest three years ago and I have chosen Tim to be my successor.”
“You say the men teach their families the faith. What faith is it?”
Jon held up the cross. “This. Christ. The others in the village are good people but they worship what they do not understand. When they die, they will be dead. But with Christ, the gates of hell will not be able to hold us. We do not die. We go to our rest in the hopes of rising again.”
“I have heard a version of this.”
“Do you believe as we do?”
“I don’t know. All of this is just so impossible.”
“Nothing is impossible with God.” Jon said.
“I have to ask. How long have your people been here?”
“Wood Meadow has been here for generations.”
“No. I mean this world. How long have your people been on this world? How did you get here?”
Jon looked confused. “It says it here. God made us in his own image from the mud. We are dust and to dust we will return.”
Mark took his leave and thought as he began to make his way back to the ship. As he walked Lalia ran to catch up with him.
“Maak. Maak.” she yelled to get him to stop.
Mark turned. “Good morning.”
“Have you not eaten yet?”
“Uh, no. I was going back to the Anasazi. My ship. I have food there. You brought some of it to me. Remember.”
“My father has made extra for you. Will you come?”
Mark paused and thought. Sure, he thought to himself. He followed her back to the village and she showed him which was her home. It seemed Lalia and her father were among some of the poorer people in the village. Lalia’s father was the man who had come with her to the ship before and he began to explain that he was very honored that Mark would grace them with his presence. He wanted to provide breakfast to Mark to repay him for being kind to his daughter.
The house was small, similar to the other small homes on this side of the village. The place for cooking and the table for eating were behind the house under a covered area. It seemed that the inside of the house was just for sleeping and maybe storage but it had no room for the kitchen to actually be inside.
The food Mark was given was a bowl full of a soup that tasted like water and bread mixed together. Mark waited for Lalia’s father to thank whatever god he worshiped and then they ate.
“Let me thank you again for showing such kindness to us.” Lalia’s father said.
“I’m afraid I do not know what you mean.” Mark replied. “I appreciate this wonderful meal and of course the basket you gave me. I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve it.”
“I heard that you took an interest in my daughter as she was working. I knew immediately that the basket she was making was meant for you. It was the least we could do for honoring us so much.”
Mark reached over and patted Lalia on the hand as she was eating silently.
“The basket is wonderful. Among my people it represents a value far beyond what you know. If I can make it home it will likely end up in a museum for a great many people to come and see.”
“I can’t imagine.” the father said.
After eating Mark waited as Lalia cleared the table and her father tied his belt around his tunic as he prepared to go work in the fields. He said goodbye to them and then made his way to Buba. Mark told the shaman he needed to go but would be back in a few days’ time to meet the king. Buba offered him a horse but Mark explained that he would not be traveling that way. He cautioned Buba to keep the area around where the Anasazi had landed clear.
Mark walked back through the trees and then across the large field to the ship. When he came to the exit ramp he heard music inside. The trumpets and trombones of big band music were playing and Mark knew that Al and the other AI must be up to something.
“Yo, can I get quiet please?” Mark said.
The music stopped.
“Apology: We were entertaining ourselves.” Al said as Mark went to the conn.
“Do you have that flight plan?”
“Yes, Captain. Getting the Anasazi to the object by the sun would use significant fuel in order to reduce our orbit. Therefore, even though we have a limited number of jumps, the most efficient way to get there would be to use the FTL again.”
“It can’t be helped. As much as I want to get home and report in, we gotta know what happened here.”
“I understand. Our flight plan is first to get above the atmosphere and then into orbit. Once in orbit we will use the FTL to bring us to an orbit around the sun that offers an encounter with the object.”
Mark buckled in. “Quick, do a sensor sweep outside to make sure nobody followed me and might get hurt from liftoff.”
“The area appears to be clear.”
“When we get into orbit safety first.” Mark instructed. “The ship’s never done a takeoff after landing before so we’ll have to check everything.”
“Ah, I see.” Al responded. “Understood, Captain. I am adding the maintenance routine and the time allotted for it to our plan.”
“Alright. I’m strapped in. You a go?”
“I am a go, Captain.”
“Punch it.”
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